Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Can-Am Duels at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2016 Photo – Sarah Crabill/Getty Images
Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, celebrates winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Can-Am Duels at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2016 Photo – Sarah Crabill/Getty Images
Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, poses in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Can-Am Duels at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2016 Photo – Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
yle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s 75 Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Can-Am Duels at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2016 Photo – Sarah Crabill/Getty Images
Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s 75 Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Can-Am Duels at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2016 Photo – Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
Retaking the lead with five laps left in the first of Thursday night’s Can-Am Duel 150-mile qualifying races, Dale Earnhardt Jr. cruised to a dominating victory and grabbed the third staring spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500.
In the second Duel, reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch took the checkered flag under caution after a wild last-lap wreck took out the cars of Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, AJ Allmendinger and Danica Patrick and damaged the No. 41 Chevrolet of Kurt Busch.
Kenseth will go to a backup car and start from the rear in the Daytona 500, surrendering the second starting spot he earned during last Sunday’s time trials. Continue reading →
Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway on February 13, 2016 Photo – Sarah Crabill/Getty Images
Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway on February 13, 2016 Photo – Sarah Crabill/Getty Images
Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway on February 13, 2016 Photo – Sarah Crabill/Getty Images
Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway on February 13, 2016 Photo – Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway on February 13, 2016 Photo – Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Saturday’s Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway ended with a mere handful of cars undamaged—and race winner Denny Hamlin’s Toyota wasn’t one of them.
But Hamlin got his wreck out of the way early in a two-car incident with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s Ford on Lap 13 and won the race in overtime with a large swatch of silver tape on the right side of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry.
Hamlin triumphed in the season-opening non-points event for the second time in three years (and third time overall) and gave JGR its fourth Sprint Unlimited victory in the last five years. Continue reading →
With the Sprint Unlimited – a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series non-points paying event – just days away at Daytona International Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing could be picking up where they left off when Kyle Busch won his first Sprint Cup title last season at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
When Kyle Busch returned to racing after missing 11 races, because of injuries he sustained at Daytona in the XFINITY Series, JGR had won two Sprint Cup races at Martinsville Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway. But upon’s Busch’s return at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, Carl Edwards started a string of 11 more JGR victory celebrations. By the end of the season, JGR had 13 wins for the season, including the first two Chase races and the finale at Homestead. Continue reading →
(L-R) Team owner Rick Hendrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, and crew chief Greg Ives celebrate in victory lane after winning the rain-shortened NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 15, 2015 Photo – Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
(L-R) Team owner Rick Hendrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, and crew chief Greg Ives celebrate in victory lane after winning the rain-shortened NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 15, 2015 Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images
(L-R) Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, and crew chief Greg Ives celebrate in victory lane after winning the rain-shortened NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 15, 2015 Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images
(L-R) Amy Reimann celebrates with Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, in victory lane after Earnhardt won the rain-shortened NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 15, 2015 Photo – Matt Sullivan/Getty Images
A serendipitous sequence of pit stops and a drizzle that turned into a downpour made a winner of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Sunday night’s Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, with a delayed start moving the race from daytime to under the lights by rain in the afternoon.
But again, halting the race due to rain 93 laps short of its scheduled distance of 312 laps was hardly the satisfying conclusion Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch or Joey Logano had hoped for.
Eliminating those four drivers from the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup was disappointing, while defending champion Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. joined Jeff Gordon in next Sunday’s Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Continue reading →
