By John Sturbin | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
A self-described “old-school racer,” Kurt Busch will attempt to become only the fourth driver to compete in IndyCar’s historic Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s 600-mile marathon in the same day over Memorial Day Weekend in May.
Busch, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion in 2004, will team with Andretti Autosport in a [...]
FEATURE STORY, NASCAR - Sprint Cup Series »
Harvick Appears In Position To Fulfill Potential
Kevin Harvick's Stewart-Haas Racing Chevys may be confetti magnets quite often this season. (RacinToday/HHP photo by Harold Hinson)
By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
It’s always been tough to slot Kevin Harvick during discussions about driving talent. By the end of the 2014 Sprint Cup season – 2015 at the latest – that process will become easier.
Right now, albeit just a week into the current season, there is growing evidence that 
Harvick’s place in those discussions could make a dramatic leap upward.
Harvick has always scored well on the scale of recognizability. He was the driver who took over Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s seat at Richard Childress Racing after Earnhardt’s death on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
That in itself was a spotlight magnet.
But that spotlight didn’t wilt the charm school dropout from hard-scrabble Bakersfield, Calif. Harvick finished a very respectable 14th in his first race in the car that had previously carried the No. 3 on its door. The next week, at Las Vegas, he finished eighth.
The race after that, at Atlanta, Harvick drove Earnhardt’s car to victory. He would win again in Chicagoland Speedway’s first-ever race that autumn and would finish the season ranked ninth in driver points. Read the full story »
By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
An extra day of practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Thursday may have resulted in an extra day of discovery for some Sprint Cup drivers, but for Greg Biffle of Roush Fenway Racing, the test produced an extra day of frustration.
The first question directed at him in a post-session [...]
By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
It’s always been tough to slot Kevin Harvick during discussions about driving talent. By the end of the 2014 Sprint Cup season – 2015 at the latest – that process will become easier.
Right now, albeit just a week into the current season, there is growing evidence that Harvick’s place in [...]
By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
Kevin Harvick, fast all week in practices, was fast on race day as well as he notched a dominating win in Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway.
The win was Harvick’s fifth in a Cup race at PIR and first overall since leaving Richard Childress Racing at the [...]
By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
When it comes to racing machinery, there are very few inconsequential changes. Virtually all have the ability to produce or reduce speed – and, hence, finishing positions in races – depending on how teams and drivers deal with the changes.
For that reason, today’s Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International [...]
RacinToday.com
Kyle Busch led 155 laps en route to a third straight NASCAR Nationwide Series victory at Phoenix International Raceway.
The victory came after officials ended the race 32 laps early because of rain.
“I think just the pure dominance we’ve shown here the last few times that we’ve come here and the amount of laps we’ve led [...]
By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
Turns out, there was no need to make use heart needles during the Sprint Cup Series’ debut of “knockout qualifying”. The new procedure was interesting but hardly the fuse-blowing fun-o-rama that some had predicted/hoped it would be.
“I don’t know,” driver Aric Almirola of Richard Petty Motorsports said when asked about it [...]
RacinToday.com
Brad Keselowski won the first Sprint Cup pole utilizing NASCAR’s “Knockout Qualifying” Friday night at Phoenix International Raceway.
His Team Penske teammate, Joey Logano, was second fastest in the segmented qualifier.
Keselowski completed a lap at 139.384 mph, breaking the record of 139.222 mph set by Jimmie Johnson before last year’s Chase race in November.
“We had a [...]
By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
Speedweeks was much more than a series of races and practices driver Tony Stewart. It was also a series of tests. This week, with the Daytona 500 behind him – comfortably behind him – Stewart says that while the racing didn’t go as hoped at Daytona International Speedway, the accompanying [...]
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Joey Logano.
Who?
Logano.
Until last season, when he made the NASCAR Chase playoff for the first time following four so-so seasons, Logano had been on the outside looking in, someone trying to knock down the door and gain entry into a small fraternity of Sprint Cup racing’s elite.
To be truthful, Logano still [...]
By John Sturbin | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Two-time Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Victory Tour Across America includes a stop Tuesday afternoon on behalf of Texas Motor Speedway in Austin.
That’s neither a typo nor a geographical gaffe. And worry not, loyal TMS season ticket-holders – O. Bruton Smith’s “Great American Speedway” has not magically been relocated [...]