
Brett Winningham
Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
NSCS: Logano Wins in Shootout Style at Texas
Joey Logano captured his fourth win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this afternoon at the Texas Motor Speedway after having a very strong run. Logano dominated the field after leading a total of a 108 laps today. With a late race caution after Kurt Busch blew a tire with two laps remaining, Logano’s chances of winning nearly faded as he had to come down pit road, and had to restart third after teammate Brad Keselowski was too fast on pit road. Logano drove hard around leader Jeff Gordon to win his first race of the 2014 season.
Coming home in second after leading a total of 40 laps this afternoon was Jeff Gordon. This was Gordon’s best finish this season since finishing fourth in the season opener at the Daytona International Speedway. He lost the race this afternoon by just 0.476 seconds.
Kyle Busch will bring home a third place finishing position this afternoon after being a front runner all day long. Busch led a total of 10 laps this afternoon for his second best finish of the 2014 season. Today was his eighth total top-10 finish at the Texas Motor Speedway after 18 total starts. He finished in third by a total of 1.006 seconds.
The next race for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be at the Darlington Raceway. You can catch it on Saturday April 12th at 6:00 p.m. Et, live on FOX. The Motor Racing Network will carry the live radio broadcast of the event. You can listen to MRN on many stations around the country, TuneIn, MRN.com, or on AudioNow by dialing 1-832-999-1717.
NSCS: Tony Stewart Wins Pole for Duck Commander 500
Tony Stewart captured the pole this afternoon at the Texas Motor Speedway after posting a fast time of 27.628 seconds, 195.454 mph. His pole lap came within seconds of the conclusion of the final round to capture his 15th career Sprint Cup Series pole. This is his second pole at the 1.5-mile, Texas Motor Speedway.
For his fifth time of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, Brad Keselowski will start on the outside front row after posting a fast time of 27.636 seconds, 195.397 mph. It will also be his fifth time of starting inside the top-10 after twelve starts at Texas. Keselowski was beat by just 0.008 seconds when Stewart posted his fast time.
Starting from the third position will be Kevin Harvick after a fast time of 27.648 seconds, 195.312 mph. Harvick will start from inside the top-five for his second time of the 2014 season and looks for that second win of 2014. Harvick was 0.020 seconds off of the pole sitter. Harvick shattered the previous track qualifying record this afternoon in the first of three rounds held today.
Four cars will go home after failing to qualify. Those being, David Stremme, Ryan Truex, Joe Nemechek and JJ Yeley. This will be the first race in 2014 for Dave Blaney as he will start this Sunday from the 35th starting position.
NNS: Chase Elliott Scores the Victory at Texas
With about 15 laps remaining of tonight’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300, Chase Elliott flew by teammate Kevin Harvick to capture his first career NASCAR victory in only six Nationwide Series starts. This also makes the second Nationwide Series regular to capture a win this season after six races complete. Elliott led a total of 38 laps this evening at the 1.5-mile oval.
After leading a total of 38 laps, the same number as the race winner, Kyle Busch came home in the second position. Busch was going after his third win of the season but restarts lost him the race this evening as his car was better on the short runs. This is the fourth time this year that he finished inside the top-five. He lost the race by just 2.666 seconds.
Finishing in third was Auto Club Speedway winner, Kyle Larson. Larson was upfront this evening as he led a lap during a green flag pit cycle. Tonight was his fifth consecutive top-five finish after six total starts this season. Larson was 2.799 seconds behind the race winner when the checkered flag fell.
The next race for the NASCAR Nationwide Series will be at the Darlington Raceway next Friday on April 11. You can watch it live at 7:30 p.m. Et, on ESPN2. The Motor Racing Network will carry the live radio portion of the event. You can listen on many stations around the country, TuneIn application, MRN.com or on AudioNow by dialing 1-832-999-1717.
NNS: Harvick Wins Texas Pole
Kevin Harvick earned his 24th career NASCAR Nationwide Series pole this afternoon at the Texas Motor Speedway. Harvick posted a fast time of 29.195 seconds, 184.963 mph, which is his first pole in the series this season out of three starts. This is his first ever pole in the series at the Texas Motor Speedway.
Starting in the second spot this evening on the outside front row will be Matt Kenseth. Kenseth posted a fast time of 29.274 seconds, 184.464 mph, which was just 0.079 seconds slower than the pole winner. Out of five races already through this season, this will be his best starting position since Bristol two races ago. Kenseth is certainly one of the favorites going into tonight’s race.
Qualifying third fastest when the third and final session ended was Regan Smith. Smith posted a fast time of 29.295 seconds, 184.332 mph. Like Kenseth, tonight will also be Smith’s best starting position of this season with his best at Bristol. He goes into tonight’s race looking to capture his second win of 2014. Smith’s lap time in the final round was just 0.100 seconds behind the pole winner.
Many drivers had rear toe/camber issues going through technical inspections prior to qualifying. Drivers that wasn’t able to make a lap was Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Ty Dillon and Chris Buescher. A total of 40 drivers showed up for qualifying which will mean no drivers will be going home.
NNS: Texas Motor Speedway Preview
This weekend the NASCAR Nationwide Series will return to action Friday evening at the Texas Motor Speedway for the 18th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts 300. This will serve as the sixth stop on the schedule during the 2014 season and the first of two Nationwide Series races at the 1.5-mile oval.
Entry List:
This weekend’s entry list currently features a total of 41 drivers. This means that one car will go home following qualifying on Friday. Few notables include Kevin Harvick, Matt Carter, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Blaney, Jason White, Derek White, Ryan Sieg, David Starr, Derrike Cope, Mike Harmon, Chad Boat, Kevin Lepage and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Storylines:
Regan Smith and Trevor Bayne enters this weekend tied in the NASCAR Nationwide Series point’s standings. Smith, who captured the win in the season opener at the Daytona International Speedway, looks to grab another top-10 finish at Texas like he did in the last two starts there. Although that Bayne captured a win back in 2011, his finishes has been all over the place in his other starts. He hopes this weekend will go much smoother than the previous.
The Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings separated a little bit after Auto Club Speedway nearly two weeks ago. Chase Elliott finds himself leading the standings by three points over Ty Dillon. Both drivers go into this weekend looking to grab their first career Nationwide series win. Dillon will be one of the favorites as he won the truck race at the 1.5-mile oval last November. Elliott will be making his debut at the Texas Motor Speedway but finished fifth at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway nearly four weeks ago.
Two drivers, including one crew chief, will be looking to perform solid runs this weekend as it will be their home track. James Buescher, who is a native of Plano, and Chris Buescher, native of Prosper, will be looking to score the victory. The crew chief of the No. 43 driven by Dakota Armstrong, Phillippe Lopez, also hopes to guide Armstrong to the victory.
Jamie Dick, who drives the No. 55 Viva Chevrolet, will make his 40th career NASCAR Nationwide Series start. He made his debut at the Kentucky Speedway in 2011 where he started from 38th and came home in the 30th spot.
Where to watch:
The NASCAR Nationwide Series race can be seen Friday evening at 8:00 p.m. Et, live on ESPN2. The Performance Racing Network will provide the live radio broadcast of the event. You can listen on many stations around the contry, PRN application, or on GoPRN.com. Kyle Busch is the defending race winner.
Mother Nature had other plans this morning at the Martinsville Speedway for NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying. NASCAR will set the starting field per the rule book by fastest speed out of yesterday’s two practice sessions.
Darrell Wallace Jr. will roll off on the pole later today afternoon for the second time of his career. His first career pole came at Dover last season. Wallace’s fastest time came in the first practice session with a time of 19.590 seconds, 96.662 mph. He comes into this weekend one of the favorites to win as he won at this track last October.
Starting on the outside front row will be Ryan Blaney after posting his fastest time also in the first session. Blaney posted a 19.666 seconds, 96.288 mph, and was 0.076 seconds slower than Darrell Wallace Jr. This will be the second time of the 2014 season to start inside the top-10.
Starting third will be Timothy Peters after posting a fast time of 19.676 seconds, 96.239 mph, during the first practice session of the weekend for the series. This will be the first time in 2014 that Peters will start inside the top-10 out of two races this season. Peters is another favorite as he won at Martinsville previously.
No drivers will be going home as the 37th truck entry of Ted Minor withdrawn from the event prior to qualifying. Ben Kennedy will be the highest starting rookie as he will start in the seventh spot later on today. Weather will possibly will be an issue today so stay tuned to all of your NASCAR sources for the latest updates.
NSCS: Kyle Busch Wins Martinsville Pole
Six minutes into the final round of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying, Kyle Busch posted the fastest lap to earn the pole for Sunday’s STP 500. Busch posted a fast time of 18.998 seconds, 99.674 mph. The pole today is Busch’s first pole of the 2014 racing season and will be the sixth different pole winner of 2014 in six total races. Busch will try to become the first repeat winner of the year on Sunday.
Starting outside will be Busch’s teammate of Denny Hamlin who is certainly one of the favorites heading into this event. Hamlin posted a fast time of 19.022 seconds, 99.548 mph. Out of 17 totals starts at Martinsville, Sunday will be his 11th start inside the top-10. He was just 0.024 seconds off of the pole sitter’s fastest time.
Rounding out the top-three starters will be Joey Logano with a fast time of 19.045 seconds, 99.428 mph. Logano will make his fifth top-five start this season this weekend and his sixth at the Martinsville Speedway. Logano missed the pole position by 0.047 seconds. This is the first time since Daytona where the front row will not be occupied by a Team Penske driver.
Points leader Carl Edwards will start Sunday from the eighth position. The one driver who didn’t qualify for the STP 500 was David Reutimann. Alex Bowman who will start 19th on Sunday was the highest qualifying rookie.
NSCS: Race Preview Martinsville
This weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will move to the Martinsville Speedway for stop six on the 2014 race schedule. This will be the 65th annual STP 500 and will serve as the first of two races scheduled to run at the half-mile this year.
Entry list:
A total of 44 drivers is featured on this weekend’s entry list and will mean that one car will go home following qualifying tomorrow afternoon. A few notables include, David Stremme, David Reutimann, Joe Nemechek and Michael McDowell. Dave Blaney was entered but the team has withdrawn.
Storylines:
Hendrick Motorsports will celebrate its 30th anniversary and will also mark the anniversary since the team’s first win on April 29, 1984 at Martinsville. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon both respectively ranks first on the top of wins list at the track located in Virginia. Kasey Kahne, who drives the No. 5 Chevrolet, has finished inside the top-five in two of the last three races. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had his own success at Martinsville but still looks for a win. Last fall, Earnhardt Jr. finished eighth.
Kyle Busch looks to reach a milestone this weekend by being the 15th driver to lead a total of 10,000 career laps led in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. In order to reach this achievement, he will need to at least lead 62 laps this Sunday afternoon.
The Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings are starting to separate a little bit as Larson leads by four points over Austin Dillon. Larson capitalized last week on numerous drivers’ misfortune to take his No. 42 Target Chevrolet to a second place finish at the Auto Club Speedway. See full rookie standings below.
Driver | Points |
Kyle Larson | 58 |
Austin Dillon | 54 |
Justin Allgaier | 40 |
Michael Annett | 38 |
Cole Whitt | 37 |
Alex Bowman | 34 |
Parker Kligerman | 25 |
Ryan Truex | 23 |
Where to watch:
You can catch the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET, live on FOX. The Motor Racing Network will provide the live radio portion of the event. You can listen on many stations around the United States, TuneIn, MRN.com or on AudioNow by dialing 1-832-999-1717 on your phone.
NCWTS: Race Preview Martinsville
This weekend the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to the Martinsville Speedway for the 16th annual Kroger 250. This will be the second stop on the schedule this year and the first race for the series since February at Daytona.
Entry list:
The entry list features a total of 39 drivers this weekend as three drivers will fail to qualify for the event. Some of the faces you will see this weekend include, Cole Custer, Ray Black Jr., John Hunter Nemechek, Chase Pistone, Ted Minor, Jeb Burton, Gray Gaulding, Joey Coulter, Ben Kennedy, Ben Rhodes, Brandon Jones, Raymond Terczak Jr., Justin Jennings, Josh Williams, Clay Greenfield, Alex Guenette and Jason White.
Storylines:
Seven drivers this weekend will be making their NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debuts. Those include, Cole Custer, Ray Black Jr., Chase Pistone, Ted Minor, Gray Gaulding, Ben Rhodes, Raymond Terczak Jr. and Josh Williams. This weekend could be dominated by these younger drivers with so many racing.
Last October at Martinsville, Darrell Wallace Jr. captured the victory to become the second African-American to score a victory in a NASCAR national touring series. Wallace hopes to be the first driver since 2007 to capture consecutive victories at the half-mile. He is definitely one of the favorites going into this weekend’s race.
Hometown driver Timothy Peters heads into this weekend looking forward to a great run. Peters is a former winner at Martinsville and hopes to back that up this weekend. In 16 starts at the Martinsville Speedway, Peters respectively holds one win, five top-five and 10 top-10 finishes. He also has one pole that he captured back in October of 2012. He has an average finish of 13.4.
Where to watch:
You can catch this weekend’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET, live on FOX Sports 1. The Motor Racing Network will carry the live radio broadcast of the race. You can listen on many stations around the country, TuneIn, MRN.com or on AudioNow by dialing 1-832-999-1717 on your phone.
Tires Not the Issue at Auto Club Speedway
This weekend at the Auto Club Speedway saw many tire issues not of Goodyear’s doing. Many teams experienced tire issues, while some did not, through the entire weekend.
During the first practice Saturday morning, Martin Truex Jr. had a tire issue that sent him up into the wall. Truex Jr. was then forced to go to a backup car because it damaged the car too severe. The move to a backup car sent Truex to the rear for the start of the race on Sunday. In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, tire issues bit Team Penske driver, Joey Logano. This too caused the team to switch to a backup. Brad Keselowski was the third driver to have problems as he flattened three tires during the final practice session. Despite having major issues, he was able to catch the problem early before spinning out.
During the race on Sunday, we saw even more issues. On lap 43, caution was brought out by Dale Earnhardt Jr. who had a left front tire flat. Before the problem occurred, he reported a vibration in the car. Earnhardt Jr. was not the only Hendrick Motorsports driver with issues, as it struck Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon later on in the event. The next issue happened to Greg Biffle on lap 115 for also his left rear tire. Later on, four laps later, Ambrose adds his name to the mix with issues. With six laps remaining, that’s where this whole thing gets crazy as race leader Jimmie Johnson, who had a huge lead on teammate Jeff Gordon, who was also having a vibration, all of a sudden blows his right front tire. With three laps remaining, Brad Keselowski and Marcos Ambrose has a tire issue that costs their day. Two laps later, Clint Bowyer blows a tire to bring out the caution. This whole thing allowed an exciting end to the Auto Club 400 as Kyle Busch won the race.
In the media center following the race, where top-3 finishers and highest finishing rookie if top-10 run are required to go, all of the drivers said it was not a Goodyear issue. Sunoco Rookie of Year contender, Kyle Larson, explained that his team had the issue in practice on Saturday. This made the team decide to go with a less aggressive setup for the race, which took him to a second place finish Sunday afternoon.
Kurt Busch, who had an issue with two minutes left in practice yesterday, forced the team to take a conservative approach. Like Larson said, Busch feels it was an air pressure and camber issue and that Goodyear has done a great job. Kurt also explained that this is what happens when NASCAR lets the teams be more aggressive with setups on the cars.
Race winner, Kyle Busch, along with his older brother Kurt and Larson, had no issues with his tire except for one but didn't feel it was bad enough. He also added that other teams running very low air pressures was a contributor to the factor. None of the Joe Gibbs Racing teams reported to have any tire issues this afternoon.
It was reported that several teams was running as low as 12 PSI in their tires. Race winning crew chief, Dave Rodgers, said 12 PSI is very dangerous for a fast track like Auto Club and that he would never, ever, run that low of PSI on a race car, even if it’s fast.
Goodyear recommends teams to running no less than 22 PSI in the left front and a minimum of 20 PSI in the left rear.