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

Logano is Two-for-Two with New Aero Package

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In the second race that featured NASCAR’s new lower-downforce package, Joey Logano lowered the boom—again. 

There was one major difference between Joey Logano’s victory in Sunday’s FireKeepers 400 at Michigan International Speedway and his win May 21 in the Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte. This one counted in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings and punched Logano’s ticket into the Chase.

But it remained abundantly clear that Team Penske already has a handle on the aerodynamic configuration the sanctioning body is considering for 2017.
Continue reading

Despite Penalties, Brad Keselowski Battles Back to Third at Pocono

Photo - Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Photo – Chris Trotman/Getty Images

A long day ended with a good result for Brad Keselowski and his No. 2 Team Penske team in Monday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Axalta ‘We Paint Winners 400’ at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.

The event’s pole sitter had to rally from the back of the field after NASCAR ordered him to pit road on Lap 27 after determining his Team Penske pit crew made unapproved body modifications to the right-side of his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion during the previous rounds of pit stops. 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