CONCORD, N.C. (AP) – Kevin Harvick won the pole Thursday night for the opening race of the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs. Harvick turned a lap at 196.029 mph to earn the top starting spot Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He edged Alex Bowman, the replacement driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chase Elliott qualified third and was followed by…
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) – Kevin Harvick passed Denny Hamlin for the lead with 70 laps to go and held to win at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, ending a two-day, water-logged ordeal. Harvick led 128 laps for his second victory of the season and his second at the high-banked, half-mile concrete bullring. Fittingly for a race halted because of Saturday…
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) – Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s race team said on Twitter that four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon won’t be able to drive the No. 88 car next week in Michigan. Earnhardt has missed the past four races and will sit out the Saturday night event at Bristol Motor Speedway as he recovers from a concussion. Gordon has filled…
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) – Carl Edwards won his second straight pole at Bristol Motor Speedway, leading Joe Gibbs Racing’s Olympic-style sweep of the top three spots in qualifying Friday for the Saturday night race. Edwards had a fast lap of 131.407 mph on the concrete surface of the half-mile track. He bested teammates Denny Hamlin in second and Kyle Busch…
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) – Three days after signing Martin Truex Jr. to a contract extension, Furniture Row Racing announced Sunday that it was adding a second car to its Sprint Cup lineup to be driven next season by Xfinity rookie Erik Jones. Team owner Barney Visser said the contract with the 20-year-old Jones is for one year with the…
LONG POND, Pa. (AP) – Chris Buescher waited out a foul-weathered end on pit road to become a stunning winner in Monday’s Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway. Buescher, who drives for underfunded Front Row Motorsports and hadn’t finished better than 14th all season, was the beneficiary of bad weather on a rare Monday race that had been postponed a…
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – NASCAR has suspended the crew chief for Kevin Harvick for an improperly installed lug nut at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Rodney Childers will not appeal the suspension or his $20,000 fine. He will miss Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway. Childers is the fifth crew chief suspended over a lug nut rule instituted by NASCAR earlier this season….
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Dale Earnhardt Jr. will miss two more races as he recovers from concussion-like symptoms and retired NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon will replace him at Indianapolis and Pocono. The announcement came Wednesday from Hendrick Motorsports, which said Earnhardt has not been cleared by doctors to drive. He missed last weekend’s race in New Hampshire and was replaced by…
LOUDON, N.H. (AP) – Jimmie Johnson turned a lap of 133.971 mph and won his first pole of the season Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Johnson could use a boost after a five-race slump where he hasn’t finished better than 13th. He has crashed out of his last two races, finishing 35th at Daytona International Speedway and 32nd last…
SONOMA, Calif. (AP) – Jeff Gordon is open to succeeding Michael Strahan as Kelly Ripa’s new “Live” co-host – so long as he could continue his new job as a NASCAR analyst. Gordon is calling his final race of the season Sunday for Fox Sports and then will head into the first significant downtime of his professional career. The four-time…
