Brad Keselowski Says he Owed it to Team to Race at Iowa Speedway

Photo - Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Photo – Christian Petersen/Getty Images

While most of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage will take a much deserved weekend off for Father’s Day next weekend, driver Brad Keselowski won’t and will drive the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang in the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Iowa Speedway on Sun., Jun. 19.

Keselowski will make his sixth XFINITY start of the season at the NASCAR-owned short track, but the 2012 Cup champion said it was more than just liking the track as the reason for giving up some coveted downtime. Continue reading

Upcoming Kentucky Test Adds New Variables to Lower-Downforce Equation

Photo - Robert Laberge/Getty Images

Photo – Robert Laberge/Getty Images

For more than a third of active NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, there will be no rest for the weary.

One driver from each Cup organization is eligible to participate in a test of newly repaved Kentucky Speedway on Monday and Tuesday. The test is a continuation of NASCAR’s proving-out process for a new lower-downforce competition package earmarked for 2017.

Last year, as the sanctioning body solidified the rules for 2016, races at Kentucky and Darlington were used as benchmarks for the progression toward lower downforce for the Cup cars. This year, in selected events, NASCAR is taking an additional 500 pounds of downforce and 125 pounds of sideforce away from the cars by chopping the size of the spoiler, reducing the surface area of the splitter, tapering the rear deck lid fin and eliminating rear axle offset. Continue reading

Saving Fuel Gets Kurt Busch a Sprint Cup Win at Pocono

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Working with a substitute crew chief, and saving enough fuel to get to the finish line and complete a celebratory burnout, Kurt Busch won Monday’s rain-delayed Axalta ‘We Paint Winners’ 400 at Pocono Raceway.

Busch won for the first time this year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and for the third time at Pocono, a 2.5-mile speedway featuring three widely different corners. And Busch claimed his 28th victory in NASCAR’s premier series with race engineer John Klausmeier leading the team in place of crew chief Tony Gibson, who was serving a one-race suspension for a lug nut violation last week at Charlotte.

Told he was two laps short at the start of the last 33-lap green-flag run, Busch saved enough fuel to get to the finish while keeping race runner-up Dale Earnhardt Jr. behind him. Continue reading

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Axalta ‘We Paint Winners’ 400 at Pocono Preview

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Sprint Cup Series teams  are racing 400 miles over 160 laps today in the Axalta ‘We Paint Winners’ 400 at Pocono Raceway. FOX Sports 1 coverage begins at 11:30 am ET with a green flag around 1 pm ET. Radio coverage is available on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

Moment Of Truex:

Furniture Row Driver Goes For Second Straight Win, Pocono Repeat

Martin Truex Jr., from the one-car Furniture Row Racing team based in Denver, Colorado, set a NASCAR record and Charlotte Motor Speedway record on his way to his first victory of the season in the Coca-Cola 600.

Truex’s 588 miles led in a single race were the most in NASCAR history. The previous-best total was Jim Paschal’s 502.5 miles led in the 1967 World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Continue reading

Five Drivers Advance to Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway

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Top row L-R The segment winners, Trevor Bayne, driver of the #6 AdvoCare Ford, Greg Biffle, driver of the #16 Cheez-It Ford, and Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Target Chevrolet, pose with the fan vote winners Chase Elliott, driver of the #24 3M Chevrolet, and Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 Nature's Bakery Chevrolet, in Victory Lane after the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 21, 2016 Photo - Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Roush Fenway Racing showing they are here to compete won the first two segments in Saturday’s Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday. Trevor Bayne and Greg Biffle swept the first two segments advancing into tonight’s Sprint All-Star Race and keeping Roush Fenway’s streak of now 27 consecutive All-Star starts.

On a late restart, Bayne was fourth and took the lead with his No. 6 passing the No. 24 car by only five-thousands-of-a-second at the finish line. Continue reading