Yearly Archives: 2017

745 posts

Dillon’s Run Validates Progress at RCR

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series NASCAR NASCAR Wire Service Track News
Aric Almirola, driver of the #43 STP Ford, races Erik Jones, driver of the #77 5-hour ENERGY Extra Strength Toyota, and Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 Okuma Chevrolet, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 2, 2017 in Martinsville, Virginia. Photo – Jared C Tilton/Getty Images

Ryan Newman’s victory at Phoenix Raceway, made possible by staying out on old tires, seemingly came out of nowhere. After all, no Richard Childress Racing driver had won an event in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series since 2013 before Newman took the checkered flag at Phoenix.

But the speed in the RCR cars has improved, as both Austin Dillon and Newman proved in Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Dillon came home fifth, his first top-five since running fourth at Bristol last August. Continue reading →

Brad Keselowski Ends Ford Drought with Martinsville Victory

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series NASCAR NASCAR Wire Service Track News

In Sunday’s STP 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, everything worked – but nothing more than Brad Keselowski’s race-winning No. 2 Ford.

Yes, that’s right, a Ford. The car maker found Victory Lane at the 0.526-mile short track for the first time since Oct. 20, 2002, when Kurt Busch won at NASCAR’s oldest and smallest premier series track in a Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Continue reading →

Polesitter Chase Elliott Wins Hotly Contested Martinsville Truck Race

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Polesitter Chase Elliott held off defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter after a restart with 12 laps left and pulled away to win Saturday’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250 at Martinsville Speedway by 1.865 seconds.

Elliott grabbed the lead from third-place finisher Christopher Bell on lap 234, when Bell’s Toyota tangled with Austin Cindric’s Ford through turns one and two. Bell lost the top spot, and Sauter charged past into the second position before NASCAR threw the tenth and final caution of the race. Continue reading →

Kyle Busch: Parity in NASCAR Racing is a Good Thing

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series NASCAR NASCAR Wire Service Track News
Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Toyota, stands in the garage during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 1, 2017 in Martinsville, Virginia. Photo – Jared C Tilton/Getty Images

Joe Gibbs Racing, which dominated the first half of the 2016 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, is winless in five races to start the current season.

So is Hendrick Motorsports, the juggernaut that carried Jimmie Johnson to his record-tying seventh championship last year. Continue reading →