Race Weekend Central

Juniors Martin Truex, Bubba Wallace Top Saturday Daytona 500 Practices

2019 Cup Daytona martin truex jr, zach catanzareti

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series took to the Daytona high banks for two practice sessions Saturday afternoon (Feb. 9) that kicked off practice for the Great American Race. Martin Truex Jr. topped the first Daytona 500 session charts as the leader of a Joe Gibbs Racing train that opted for drafting practice. Last year’s Daytona 500 …

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Menards Now Title Sponsor of 2019 ARCA Menards Series

ARCA Menard's Series Garage Logo

Saturday’s ARCA race at Daytona will mark the first race of the 2019 ARCA Menards Series. Menards, the Midwest-based hardware chain that has long been a presenting sponsor of the series since 2010, announced Saturday (Feb. 9) they have now become the title sponsor of ARCA’s premier racing tour. Financial terms were not announced, but …

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Joey Logano, Ford Win Crash-Marred Advance Auto Parts Clash Practice at Daytona

Joey Logano - 2018 Ford EcoBoost 400 Practice

(Photo: Christian Koelle)

Joey Logano proved it’s good to be the champ, posting the fastest speed in an eventful Advance Auto Parts Clash practice Saturday (Feb. 9) at Daytona International Speedway. Logano led another strong performance by Ford, which saw its cars take five of the top 10 positions on the speed chart. The new Mustang, whose manufacturer …

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NASCAR, Build That Bridge!: A Tale of Two Daytona Speedweeks

2017 daytona cup zach catanzareti austin dillon

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

The hotel I’m staying at for NASCAR’s Daytona Speedweeks, site of the sport’s 2019 Daytona 500 next Sunday, is just like the rest of the development called “OneDaytona.” It’s the perfect architectural complement across the street from NASCAR’s “Daytona Rising” grandstand: clean, modern, and above all commercial (name another racetrack anywhere in America with a …

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2018 NASCAR Driver Reviews: Joey Logano

2018 joey logano talladega cup

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

It’s perhaps poetic that Joey Logano won his first Cup title in 2018, as his Ford 400 win came on the same Sunday that Matt Kenseth’s career came to a close. After all, had it not been for a run-in with Kenseth at Martinsville in the fall of 2015, Logano may well have had a …

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2018 Top NASCAR Storylines: Inspecting Inspection

2018-Chicago-CUP-pack-racing-NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

“To the rear for inspection failure” Those words were all too common in 2018 as NASCAR’s race weekend inspection process has become more and more technologically based. The precision optical sensors used to scan each race car are meant to catch even the tiniest variance from NASCAR’s rules, and they certainly caught plenty of teams …

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2018 Top NASCAR Storylines: Austin Dillon’s Controversial, Season-Opening Daytona Win

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

(Photo: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP)

The 2018 Daytona 500 left the longest lasting impression I’ve had from the Great American Race since seeing Trevor Bayne score his improbable triumph in 2011, returning Wood Brothers Racing to relevance. As memorable a race as that was, and as stellar as the No. 21 driver was throughout that Speedweeks, I have never been more …

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What to Do About ISC’s Acquisition of Racing Electronics?

2018 xfinity new hampshire zach catanzareti fans

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

It’s hard to view any acquisition by International Speedway Corporation (er… NASCAR) without massive trepidation as a race fan. The company monopolizes the schedule to the point that the substantive changes needed to give stock car racing’s big leagues the needed flavor and novelty to excite fans new and old aren’t going to come in …

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ARCA Racing Series Breakdown: 2018 Kansas ARCA 150

2018 Las Vegas KN West Sheldon Creed Nigel Kinrade Photography

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

On a lap 92 restart, Sheldon Creed rode off into the sunset of the 2018 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season, scoring a picture perfect restart to drive away from Harrison Burton and Michael Self to win his fourth race of the year. Creed, who clinched the 2018 title after qualifying for Friday’s race, …

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ARCA Racing Series Breakdown: Shore Lunch 200 at IRP

2018 ARCA IRP Christian Eckes Winner ARCA Photo

(Photo: ARCA Photo)

Rain delayed the start of the already-rescheduled Shore Lunch 200 for hours, but once the race finally went green on Saturday night, it was a largely uneventful affair, with polesitter Christian Eckes leading 171 of the 200 laps en route to his third ARCA win of the season. Points leader Sheldon Creed finished second and …

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Where Racing Lives: Charlotte 2018 Marks NASCAR’s Newest Success & Failure

2018 cup charlotte roval zach catanzareti

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

Where Racing Lives is still emblazoned on backstretch billboards at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, so it’s perhaps fitting that NASCAR’s biggest success of 2018, and what will likely prove its biggest failure in 2019, both were on display at CMS this season. Let’s get this out of the way. I took last weekend off as …

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ARCA Racing Series Breakdown: Fall Classic 200 at Salem

Chandler Smith - ARCA Nashville

(Photo: Christian Koelle)

After dominating the spring race only to cut a tire battling for the lead on the final lap, Chandler Smith laid waste to the field in his return to Salem Speedway, taking the lead from polesitter Zane Smith on Lap 1 and leading 199 of 200 circuits to take the Fall Classic, his second career …

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