Race Weekend Central

The Underdog House: Independents Day

2019DaytonaMENCSJustinHaleyCarChristianKoelle

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Top of The Class Justin Haley came into this weekend’s races at Daytona International Speedway thinking that he was owed a bit of justice after having his first career Xfinity Series win taken away for going below the yellow line last summer. He may have figured the score was as close to even as it …

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Did You Notice?: Daytona’s Diversity & NASCAR’s Playoff Grid That Actually Works

2018 Daytona MENCS Field Car NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Did You Notice? … Daytona International Speedway has had a different winner for its Coke Zero 400 summer race every year this decade? Three of those were first-timers, while a fourth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., earned his second career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory. COKE ZERO 400 WINNERS SINCE 2010 2010: Kevin Harvick 2011: David Ragan* 2012: Tony Stewart …

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Who’s Hot & Who’s Not in NASCAR: Midwestern Mayhem

2019 Chicagoland MENCS Alex Bowman Victory Celebration NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series headed to Joliet, Illinois this weekend, which houses a track calling itself Chicagoland Speedway, despite being about 45 minutes to an hour from downtown Chicago. The start of the Camping World 400 was delayed for several hours due to rain, and high winds blew the covers off several cars, …

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NASCAR 101: Active Drivers Without a Cup Top 5

2010 NASCAR Charlotte All Star Challenge

(Photo: Tyler Barrick/Autostock)

156 races. That’s how many starts it took for Matt DiBenedetto to have a top five in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition. After a Cup career that began in 2015 and yielded four top 10s prior to 2019, DiBenedetto wheeled his No. 95 to a fourth-place run at Sonoma Raceway, scoring his first top …

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Ty Dillon Feeling ‘Refreshed’ in 2019

2019 Las Vegas I CUP Ty Dillon NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Prior to the 2019 season beginning, Germain Racing put a full court press on improving its Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series program. Four months in, Ty Dillon is delivering behind the wheel. Dillon, 27, entered the Cup Series full-time in 2017. But his first two seasons didn’t go as planned, finishing 24th and 27th in …

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Daily Fantasy NASCAR DraftKings Forecast: 2019 FireKeepers Casino 400

2019 Phoenix I CUP Joey Logano NKP

(Photo: NKP)

This week, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to two-mile Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400. The race runs Sunday, June 9 at 2 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 and is next on your daily fantasy NASCAR schedule. After a ho-hum weekend at Pocono Raceway, Cup Series action should be much …

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Did You Notice?: In The 2019 NASCAR Playoffs, No Cinderellas Allowed

2018 cup michigan zach catanzareti roger penske

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

Did You Notice? … If the season ended today, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series would set a dubious playoff record. Only five owners would be eligible to capture the championship, by far the fewest in the sport’s 16-car postseason era. 2019 PLAYOFF TEAMS (IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY) Joe Gibbs Racing (4): Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, …

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5 Points To Ponder: Charlotte’s Climb Back To NASCAR Respectability

2019 Charlotte NXS Christopher Bell Car Nigel Kinrade Photography

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

ONE: Charlotte Motor Speedway Battles Back NASCAR may have been created in some smoke-filled meetings down in Daytona Beach but make no mistake: Charlotte is now stock car racing’s home base. Every major team has its race shop in the area, along with a core group of the sport’s operating staff paired with the NASCAR …

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Who’s Hot & Who’s Not in NASCAR: Some Gave All

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

The Coca-Cola 600 is a marathon slog to close out the greatest day in auto racing, following the Monaco Grand Prix in Formula One and the Indianapolis 500 in IndyCar. Despite a quiet middle half, a chaotic first quarter and wild finish made it one of the season’s better races overall. Tires weren’t cooperating, which …

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The Underdog House: The Other Draft Day

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Top of The Class Ryan Preece might be one of the few drivers who would be happy with a few more races at Daytona and Talladega. He seems to have taken to the multi lane, high speed chess game quite well. Preece scored a third-place finish in the Geico 500 on Sunday (April 28), his …

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What’s 200 Mean? No One in Racing Seems to Know

2019 Talladega Superspeedway MENCS Kurt Busch photo credit NASCAR via Getty Images

(Photo: NASCAR via Getty Images)

One is the loneliest number. 200 is the most arbitrary it seems, at least in NASCAR racing. Much of the 2019 season was spent aggrandizing Kyle Busch’s 200th win. Making a career achievement out of aggregating minor-league race wins, though running three series a year wasn’t even possible until 1996, nearly 50 years after NASCAR …

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Daily Fantasy NASCAR DraftKings Forecast: 2019 GEICO 500

2018 cup talladega zach catanzareti kyle larson

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti)

Talladega Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series events are often survival of the fittest (or even just survival). Collisions lurk around every corner, waiting to claim their next victim. The Big One is just one ill-timed bump away, disrupting the race and your daily fantasy NASCAR DraftKings roster. This week’s event, the 2019 GEICO 500 (Sunday, …

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