Saturday’s Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway wasn’t a drag race, but lane choice proved critical to Joey Logano’s 28th NASCAR XFINITY Series victory in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford.
Choosing the top side for a restart on lap 196 of 200, after Ty Dillon’s spin on lap 192 necessitated the ninth and final caution of the afternoon, Logano cleared Kyle Larson off turn four after an intense side-by-side battle and pulled away to win by 0.602 seconds. Continue reading
Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Toyota, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 11, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Photo – Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
Early in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, Fords have dominated the headlines.
Kurt Busch won the season Daytona 500 in a Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Brad Keselowski won the following week at Atlanta. Kevin Harvick has won three of the four preliminary stages contested under NASCAR’s enhanced three-stage race format. Continue reading
Chase Elliott, driver of the #24 NAPA Chevrolet, races during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Folds Of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 5, 2017 in Hampton, Georgia.
Photo – Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
Chase Elliott spent much of Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 running in Kevin Harvick’s shadow.
Elliott had a fast Chevrolet, as he proved conclusively after incurring a pit road speeding penalty on lap 212. Despite serving a pass-through for the infraction, Elliott stayed on the lead lap and was running faster lap times than Harvick when a debris caution on lap 240 slowed the field and gave Elliott a chance to regain track position. Continue reading
Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 DeWalt Flexvolt Toyota, races during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Folds Of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 5, 2017 in Hampton, Georgia.
Photo – Daniel Shirey/Getty Images
Matt Kenseth overcame a double whammy to post an unlikely third-place finish in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
On a green-flag pit stop on lap 36, Kenseth was flagged for speeding while entering pit road. Under caution at the end of Stage 1 on lap 89, NASCAR nailed him again for going too fast while exiting pit lane and kept him a lap down. Continue reading
Thanks to the unintentional generosity of the dominant driver in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, opportunistic Brad Keselowski won the second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season.
Kevin Harvick led 292 of the 325 laps at the 1.54-mile track, but a pit road speeding penalty under caution on lap 311 sent him to the back of the field for the final restart.
That gave Keselowski the chance he needed, and on lap 319 he surged past Kyle Larson for the top spot and pulled away to win by 0.564 seconds. Continue reading