Posted on by Holly Cain

Kyle Busch’s victory over Kevin Harvick Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway marked the third time in the season’s opening seven races that these two championship drivers have finished a combination of first and second in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race.

Busch, the 2015 champion, is riding an amazing streak of five consecutive top-three finishes. In addition to Sunday’s victory, he was second to Harvick at Las Vegas and Phoenix and to Clint Bowyer at Martinsville. And he was third at Fontana.

Harvick has five top-five finishes – three wins (at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix), a fifth-place at Martinsville and the runner-up Sunday in Fort Worth.

RELATED: Kyle holds off Kevin in Texas | Full race results

The two have led a dominating 869-laps of competition between them (Harvick-520, Busch–349).

And yet for Busch, especially with all his near-misses, the victory Sunday was as much relief as it was celebratory. All the good runs were just that, “good,” but the trophy in hand is the golden ticket to the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, where Busch has been a perennial contender.

In fact, Busch’s recent streak of second-place finishes, began where it all ended last year – at the championship finale in Homestead-Miami. So counting that runner-up finish to Martin Truex Jr., Busch has four second-place efforts in the last eight races – 50 percent of the time: so close.

“Certainly being that close, it gets a little old a little faster, you know,” Busch said of his results this season. … “But if you’re finishing fifth or tenth, whatever, you’re just not capable of winning, it certainly will draw out longer, as well, too. But you know you weren’t there yet. Your stuff’s not there yet, or you’re just not getting the job done yet.

“But being as close as you are, that kind of hurts a little bit more, especially that final one, that one that matters, that Homestead one.  That’s probably the one that stings the most. We just got to make sure that we can do the right things that that don’t happen again this year.

Regardless, Busch certainly appreciated the impact of the win, even if that first trophy took a little longer than he expected.

Texas Motor Speedway isn’t necessarily his best venue – even though he is one of only three drivers (Jimmie Johnson, 7, Denny Hamlin, 2) with multiple wins (three) at the 1.5-track.

“Especially here at Texas, this is probably not one of my best racetracks,” said Busch, whose work Sunday tied him with NASCAR Hall Of Famer Bill Elliott with 44 career Cup wins. “We’ve definitely run well here or run better here the last few years.  But, you know, you tend to struggle sometimes at some places, and this one is kind of one of those, especially with a repave. For me, they’re just not my favorites.

RELATED: Busch family celebrates in Texas | Brexton Busch predicts dad’s win

“To be out front and to have the track position when we did, how we did, was really great for us. My guys did an amazing job on pit road all day. We had that close call there with that one restart in one and two with Chase on our outside. From there we were kind of able to work our way back up through traffic, you know, kind of jump a couple guys under the pit stops there.

“Overall I felt like our car was either first or second all day long.”

And that has been the case the entire season, truly. It has produced exciting finishes and established an early season duel between himself and Harvick, who is also off to a fast start. And the reigning champ? Truex won at Auto Club Speedway (California).

One of the bigger questions about the strong start to the season was whether these two could sustain the effort on the 1.5-milers that the reigning champ Truex so dominated last year.

“I think as you look at the 1.5 mile program in general it has been really good for us,” Harvick said Friday before the Texas race. “I think the thing you guys forget up until last year is that we had dominated the 1.5 mile race tracks and have continued to do that at the end of last year and the first part of this year.

“We did switch manufacturers [Chevrolet to Ford] last year and it took some time to get everything situated and where it needed to be. I think once the Playoffs started last year you really saw where the cars were and the increase in performance, especially on the 1.5-mile race tracks. It just took us some time.”

And the results are very apparent. Harvick’s amazing season start, combined with Busch’s, and counting in Truex – who won at California and is second in the standings – has created a high performance championship fight.  A fifth of the way into the 2018 season and these three continue to establish themselves top-shelf, the drivers to beat.

RELATED: Harvick: ‘We’re better than Truex’

This week’s always-trying Bristol Motor Speedway venue will be another interesting test for the three. Busch has six wins there, including last summer. However, he had three consecutive DNFs before that. Harvick has a pair of wins in 34 starts, including the summer of 2016. And Truex is winless at the track, with only one top-10 in his last 11 races there.

“Bristol is going to be fun,” Harvick said. “There is still nothing quite like Bristol and I am looking forward to it.”

Posted on by Steve Luvender

Ahead of the fourth NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series race, Steve Luvender offers up his Power Rankings of the top drivers in the series.

STREAM LIVE: Las Vegas race Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET

1: Ryan Luza (–)

Even a broken collarbone can’t stop Ryan Luza, who’s coming off a win at Auto Club Speedway and holds the title of defending winner at Las Vegas.

RELATED: Luza wins at Auto Club

2: Keegan Leahy (+1)

It’s fair to give Keegan Leahy the title of rookie sensation — the points leader is three-for-three in top-five finishes this season. And three-for-three in his career, I suppose, too.

 

3: Ray Alfalla (+1)

Driver No. 2 is up to P2 in points. The three-time champ has improved his finish in each race this season, including a third-place finish at Auto Club. If you like numbers, Alfalla started and finished in fourth place in last year’s race at Las Vegas.

RELATED: Full schedule and results for series

4: Logan Clampitt (+1)

Logan Clampitt has started to turn his season around, coming off consecutive top-10 finishes. Clampitt scored a top-five finish in the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series’ most recent trip to Vegas.

 

5: Jimmy Mullis (+2)

Lockdown Racing had a banner day at Auto Club Speedway, and it looks like Jimmy Mullis is on the upswing, coming off consecutive top-five finishes. Mullis finished in the top 10 last year in Las Vegas, making him a solid bet (sorry for the Vegas pun) for Tuesday.

 

6: Michael Conti (-4)

With over 100 starts under his belt, a disappointing 25th-place finish at Auto Club speedway shouldn’t derail Michael Conti’s season. Although in six starts at Las Vegas, he’s finished in the top-5 just once — a runner-up finish in 2015. His five other finishes have been 20th or lower — a rare weak spot for the 2014 champ.

 

7: Bobby Zalenski (-1)

This season, Bobby Zalenski’s playing the consistency game as it was intended, putting him fourth in points after three races. Sometimes it’s smart to stay under the radar at Las Vegas, where Zalenski made his sole start in the series last year and earned a solid seventh-place finish.

 

8: Taylor Hurst (NR)

Taylor Hurst scored an impressive second-place finish at Auto Club Speedway, continuing a trend of an improved finishing position throughout 2018. Hurst won at Chicagoland — a track similar to Las Vegas — after making a gutsy two-tire call in 2017. Keep an eye out for T-Dawg in the desert.

 

9: Zack Novak (NR)

After a rough start to 2018 — two finishes of 30th or worse — Zack is back. Zack Novak led 17 laps en route to his first top-10 finish of the season, a trend he’ll likely continue if he can keep the sophomore slump at bay.

 

10: Darik Bordeau (NR)

Even though Bordeau’s 18th-place outing at Auto Club Speedway wasn’t spectacular, there’s something to be said about consistency. The Canadian finds himself seventh in points after three solid races to kick off 2018. A threat to win Las Vegas? Maybe not, though a top-10 finish isn’t out of the question.

Posted on by Staff Report

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series head to Bristol Motor Speedway, while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is off. Check out the tentative full schedule below, subject to change.

Note: All times are ET

Monday, April 16
1 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 (On Lap 204 of 500, postponed from Sunday due to weather), FOX (Results) (Canada: TSN 1, 4)

Press Pass (Watch live)
3:15 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

Saturday, April 14
8:30-9:25 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, FS1 (Results) (Canada: TSN GO)
9:35 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, FS1 (Results) (Canada: TSN GO)
11:05-11:55 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1 (Results) (Canada: TSN GO)
1 pm.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 (300 laps, 159.9 miles), FS1 (Results) (Canada: TSN 3, 5)
6 p.m.: Trackside Live

Press Pass (Watch live)
3 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race

Friday, April 13
Noon-12:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, FS1 (Results) (Canada: TSN 3)
1:05-1:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series first practice, FS1 (Results) (Canada; TSN GO)
3:05-3:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, FS1 (Results) (Canada: TSN GO)
4:45 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, FS1 (Results) (Canada: TSN 3)

Press Pass (Watch live)
10:30 a.m.: Kyle Larson
10:45 a.m.: Trevor Bayne
11 a.m.: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ty Majeski
11:15 a.m.: Jimmie Johnson
11:30 a.m.: Xfinity Series Dash 4 Cash drivers Christopher Bell, Cole Custer, Daniel Hemric and Ryan Preece
1:20 p.m.: Kyle Busch
1:45 p.m.: Erik Jones
5:45 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying

Posted on by Staff Report

Longtime Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Chad Knaus and wife Brooke Knaus are expecting a baby boy in August, Brooke announced via Twitter on Monday night.


Chad Knaus, a seven-time champion as crew chief for Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Chevrolet team, and Brooke married in August 2015. This will be the couple’s first child.

Given Knaus’ well-earned reputation for preparedness in the garage, we imagine Brooke’s hospital bag is already packed.

Congrats from all of us at NASCAR.com.

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

The first seven races of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season have been uncharacteristic, to say the least, for Jimmie Johnson.

The seven-time champion has only recorded one top-10 finish — a ninth-place at Auto Club Speedway — and is 21st in the points standings just over a quarter of the way through the 26-race regular season.

WATCH: Johnson involved in multi-car wreck at Texas

But Johnson isn’t panicking. That’s not something champions do.

Following a 35th-place finish in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Johnson looked no further than legendary Major League Baseball icon Babe Ruth for some inspiration.

As the series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway, a track where Johnson has earned a pair of victories, maybe an inspirational quote from “The Great Bambino” is just what “Seven-Time” needed.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller gave additional context to a no-penalty call for Texas runner-up Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 pit crew during Monday’s “The Morning Drive” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Harvick’s team was not issued a penalty for an uncontrolled tire on a late-race pit stop, a penalty that remains a judgment call.

“There’s a lot of things on pit road that absolutely 100 percent indisputable,” Miller said. “ … One of the things that’s left – one of the few things that’s left – for the human to make the call on is the uncontrolled tire because there’s so many moving parts to a pit stop, we can’t automate that process. So, there’s judgment in those calls with the uncontrolled tire. And our guys’ judgment; the tires that were called got away from the guy further than these did.

“In retrospect, looking at it, I think that certainly the penalty could have been called because it has to be in arm’s reach of a guy as he’s trying to control that tire, and it’s debatable whether or not this one got more than arm’s reach away.”

When Harvick pitted late during Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, one of the tires escaped the grasp of a No. 4 pit crew member during the stop. No penalty was issued. A similar situation occurred earlier in the race with Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 crew, drawing a penalty.

NASCAR conducted a post-race review of the No. 4 call and determined that a penalty should have been issued during that instance.

“It was a judgment call, and after conducting a post-race review of the incident an uncontrolled tire penalty for the 4 car would have been correct,” Miller said in a Sunday night statement. “We missed that call.”

But Miller noted, the opportunity for review is not available for every stop.

“The other thing speculating is that every pit stop gets reviewed or things like that,” Miller said. “Well, that’s actually not how it works. When there isn’t a call made from the pro trailer, there’s no review that gets triggered by anyone. And there’s enough penalties on pit road where not every single one can be reviewed. So, we have to rely on our staff in the Pro Trailer to make those calls.

“One of the things that’s great about our sport is our ‘game’ doesn’t stop like it does in other sports when they stand there and look at the review. So, we have a race that’s continuing to run as we’re looking at these penalties and reviewing them and most of that is to learn because five or 10 minutes after the penalty happens is not the time to be calling the penalty.

“So, we use the review process to not only check on calls but to get better and to have things to talk about in our meeting of ‘Hey, this could have gone this way’ or ‘This could have gone that way’ with our people so that we can have constant improvement in our process.”

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR took six total cars — two from each manufacturer — following Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race to study in the wind tunnel later this week.

The cars collected were: the No. 1 Chevrolet of Jamie McMurray (third at Texas) and No. 9 Chevrolet of Chase Elliott (11th); the No. 4 Ford of Kevin Harvick (second) and No. 22 Ford of Joey Logano (sixth); and the No. 18 Toyota of Kyle Busch (winner) and No. 20 Toyota of Erik Jones (fourth).

The objective of running these cars through the wind tunnel is for NASCAR to gather and study data from all three manufacturers.

“The reason that this weekend got chosen by us is, it’s early in the season, we changed the inspection process, we changed the splitter rules. Those two things we knew were going to have an effect on the aerodynamic properties of all of the manufacturers’ cars,” NASCAR Senior Vice President for Competition Scott Miller said Monday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “Now that we’ve raced a few times, we’ve seen what the racing looks like, we figured it was time for us to sort of fingerprint the cars. We want to just understand as a sport where we are, to get data where we are on downforce levels and evaluate our product.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

Bobby Labonte had a hard time staying away from NASCAR competition, so much so that’s he’s ready to race for a championship again. The only twist is where.

Labonte, the 2000 champion of what is now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, announced Monday that he’ll compete full-time in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2018. He’ll partner with RDV Competition, driving a Toyota with No. 18 — the car number he carried in all 21 of his premier series victories.

RELATED: Bobby Labonte’s career in photos

“If I didn’t enjoy this, I wouldn’t do this,” Labonte told NASCAR.com. “It’ll be fun to get back out on the race track with other cars, just like I did last year.”

The 53-year-old driver got a taste of the European style of stock-car racing last season, finishing 14th and 10th in two rounds at Brands Hatch last May. This year, Labonte is back for more, opening the season with the French-based RDV team this weekend in Valencia, Spain.

The Whelen Euro Series schedule will take Labonte to five more tracks in five different countries this season, with each circuit hosting two rounds in a given weekend. During his Monster Energy Series career, Labonte typically raced at two road courses per year. This season will be largely oval-free, with later trips to road-racing facilities in Italy (May 19-20), England (June 9-10), Germany (Sept. 15-16) and Belgium (Oct. 20-21) — with the oval at Tours, France (June 30-July 1) sandwiched in.

“That’s all those guys do over there,” Labonte said with a laugh. “So you can only imagine that when you do it twice a year, right straight away you’re not going to be as good as they are, but I hope that with the style of race car that they’re not used to, that I’m used to. I’m going to go somewhere new five out of six times. I’ve never been there before for five out of six races, so it’ll be a challenge for me, but I also know that we’ll get up to speed pretty quick.

“Hopefully, the two races I ran a year for many years will pay off somewhat down the road. I think it will. It’ll be a challenge, but it’ll be fun.”

Labonte will be teammates with veteran Frederic Gabillon, twice a series runner-up, and young talent Ulysse Delsaux. Sponsorship will come from French oil company Yacco. Labonte drove car No. 1 for Alex Caffi Motorsport at Brands Hatch last season, becoming the first American NASCAR champion to compete in the Whelen Euro Series.

MORE: How Delsaux found a home behind the wheel

“Having a NASCAR champion like Bobby Labonte compete in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is a huge win for fans and competitors alike,” said Jim Cassidy, NASCAR Senior Vice President and Chief International Officer. “Labonte’s full-time involvement gives American fans an even stronger connection to the series, while offering our European fans a close look at one of NASCAR’s greats.”

Bobby Labonte followed his family’s path to racing, eventually joining his older brother, Terry, in NASCAR’s big leagues. Both became champions, with Terry Labonte winning the season-long crown in 1984 and 1996 on his way to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Bobby Labonte claimed the championship in what’s now called the NASCAR Xfinity Series for his family-owned team in 1991. He moved up to NASCAR’s top division, where he competed for more than two decades before making his last start in 2016. Labonte has since made the transition to broadcasting, taking a more prominent role this year as a studio analyst for FOX Sports.

“I’m having a lot of fun with it and want to do more of that,” Labonte said. “I’m excited that they’re allowing me to go racing a little bit, but it also helps when I talk about racing, you’re a little bit more in tune.”

RELATED: NASCAR Whelen Euro Series news

Posted on by Staff Report

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Daniel Suarez is scheduled to have his sore thumb checked out a little more closely on Tuesday, according to a team spokesman.

Suarez, caught up in Lap 2 wreck at Texas Motor Speedway that also involved Alex Bowman, Paul Menard, Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain, posted a video after the race that showed his left hand wrapped in a splint. A doctor will give it a closer look now that the driver is back in North Carolina.

“The impact on Lap 2 hurt my thumb a little bit,” Suarez said in the video. “I just left the care center at the track. Should be good, but I think they’ll look at it later in the week and see what we’ve got going on.”

Suarez was able to finish the race, logging 290 (of 334) laps to finish 29th.

“It wasn’t exactly what I was planning, obviously,” Suarez said. “We’re going to catch a break here pretty soon, I’m sure about that.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

FORT WORTH, Texas — A fourth-place finish for Erik Jones in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway didn’t have the impact of a breakthrough victory, but it marked substantial progress nevertheless for the second-year Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver.

MORE: Complete Texas results | Best weekend photos

Jones led twice for a total of 64 laps and posted his best finish since joining Joe Gibbs racing at the start of the season. More than anything, Sunday’s result gave him a jolt of confidence.

“We’ve been kind of inching there each week, getting closer and closer,” Jones said. Martinsville (where he finished 17th two weeks ago) is kind of its own animal, but each week at the 1.5-mile and 2-miles, we’ve been getting better. To get the Reser’s Camry up front and just in the top five is a big moment for us.

“It’s something I’ve been wanting to do here with this group, and we did a good job of it this weekend. Texas is a place I like. I’ve got to say thanks to the pit crew. They worked really hard. We’ve had a rough start to the year on pit road, but they knocked them out. We picked up a lot of spots on pit road today, and that was huge for us. Just a good day overall and a lot to build on for Bristol.”

In fact, Jones gained three spots each on two consecutive pit stops, the second of which handed him the lead for a restart on Lap 178.

That Jones would excel at Texas, however, is no surprise. In 2015, as a 19-year-old, he claimed his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at the 1.5-mile track and went on to win twice more there in the series.