Denny Hamlin turned in the fastest lap during Thursday night’s qualifying session at Charlotte Motor Speedway, winning the pole for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600.
One of eight drivers to beat the previous track record, Hamlin covered the 1.5-mile distance in 27.604 seconds (195.624 mph) to knock Kurt Busch (195.221 mph) off the provisional pole. Matt Kenseth (195.094 mph) [...]

By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Twenty years ago Dale Earnhardt Sr. owned Charlotte Motor Speedway during the month of May, sweeping the All-Star race and the Coca-Cola 600. At that time, no one realized it would be Earnhardt’s last visit to the 1.5-mile speedway’s victory lane.
It was an era when an inscription on a [...]

CONCORD, N.C. – Things have gone dang well for Matt Kenseth this season. So well that he was named the winner of the first quarter Driver of the Year award on Thursday. So well that he even beat NASCAR law enforcement officials by having the massive penalties he was issued after the Kansas race trimmed [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Rusty Wallace likes to talk. And when he gets going, he can say a lot of things in a short amount of time. Separating the nut from the shell takes a good ear when listening to Rusty go.
It was during one of those go-times 10 years ago, [...]

By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – With very few exceptions, loyalty in NASCAR disappeared with the arrival of the 21st Century. Therefore, when one sees the loyalty that still exists for Alan Kulwicki from his 1992 championship crew, it is heart-warming.
Twenty years after losing their mentor, their leader, in a plane crash near [...]

By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Entering Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway Jimmie Johnson wasn’t sure about his chances in the event due to an 18th-place qualifying run, but when the checkered flag waved the California native had once again rewritten a page in the NASCAR record book.
With an [...]

By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – Thanks to Carl Edwards, his Wisconsin-born crew chief Jimmy Fennig and many of his Roush-Fenway Racing crew, legendary short-track driver Dick Trickle has one more opportunity to visit victory lane.
That opportunity will be Saturday night in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In [...]

By Deb Williams | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – A cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in another. Those were legendary driver Dick Trickle’s staples, but it was his sense of humor and willingness to help others that will always endear him to those who knew him.
Perhaps that’s the reason it came [...]

RacinToday.com
Benefiting from a high-speed trip down pit road and a quick pit stop during the unique three-lap regimen in Friday’s time trials, Carl Edwards won the pole for the 29th running of NASCAR’s non-points all-star event.
With the pit road speed limit waived for the qualifying session, Edwards ran three laps—including a mandatory four-tire pit stop—in [...]

By Jeff Hood | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
CONCORD, N.C. – The only things certain in life are death, taxes and the annual tweaking of the format for NASCAR’s annual Sprint All-Star race.
Among the changes to this year’s running of the event is a potential, whopper cash payout and a throwback theme during time trials.
If a single driver [...]