NASCAR Features – Page 3 – Inside Circle Track

Archive by category "NASCAR Features" (Page 3)

Brett Moffitt, Hattori Providing Great Story in CWTS Playoffs

It is believed by many that only teams with major sponsors that are affiliated with Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams and drivers can succeed in the sport’s two lower divisions. However, independent Hattori Racing Enterprises with driver Brett Moffitt have gone a long way toward proving that theory wrong throughout the entirety of the 2018 season and during the playoff rounds in the Camping World Truck Series. Over the course of the season Moffitt has scored five wins along with 12 top-5 results. And more, the No. 16 team roars into the ‘Championship 4’ race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on…

Stewart Friesen Enjoys Just Being Himself … And Going Fast

Stewart Friesen came close to picking up that elusive first win on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series this past Friday night at the Texas Motor Speedway. However, a pit road speeding penalty forced the No. 52 Chevrolet to rear of the pack on a restart, but the Canadian driver was eventually able to get back up to 11th place when the checkered flag waved to end the event. But winning has not be so elusive for the 35-year-old driver when he competes in his Big-Block Modified machine on the Super DIRTcar Series. Friesen scored a series-leading five wins in…

Kyle Larson Set for Game 7 Moment in Kansas

When NASCAR’s Brian France announced the change in the way his sanctioning body would determine a champion going into the 2014 season, he talked about his desire for the sport to create “Game 7 Moments” that would provide long lasting memories for fans and competitors alike. One competitor on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is facing just such a moment this weekend in the Hollywood Casino 400 at the Kansas Speedway. Following a disappointing race last Sunday at the Talladega Super Speedway in which he was involved in an incident and then his team incurred a 10-point penalty, Chip…

David Ragan taking a positive attitude to Talladega

When the green flag waves to start the 1000Bulbs.com 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Super Speedway on Sunday afternoon it is very likely that Front Row Motorsports driver David Ragan will be among those in contention to end the day with a good finish. The Unadilla, Georgia native has proven himself to be very proficient on the massive eastern Alabama facility along with its sister track in Daytona Beach, Florida. Those two tracks, because of their size and configurations, require teams to fit the engines of their racing machines with power-robbing restrictor plates. The 32-year-old racer…

Did Ross Chastain do enough?

No one ever said that racing is fair. The fastest car doesn’t always win. The team that works the hardest sometimes sees their car caught up in a crash that a driver other than their own caused. And top flight rides sometimes go to drivers who haven’t really proven themselves but do have sponsorship money instead of to drivers who have proven their talents to be worthy of said rides. We are about to find out if last statement is true regarding Alva, Florida native Ross Chastain. In the three recent NASCAR Xfinity Series events held at Darlington Raceway, Las…

Martin Truex, Jr. trying to “block out all the noise” in search of second title

Under normal circumstances the defending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion would be in the spotlight at the beginning of the NASCAR Playoffs, and that certainly is true of 2017 title winner Martin Truex, Jr. However, these are far from normal circumstances for the Furniture Row Racing team as their title defense begins this weekend in the South Point Casino and Hotel 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. As has been well documented, Furniture Row team owner Barney Visser recently announced that the No. 78 operation would be shut down at the end of the 2018 season due to…

Kasey Kahne plans to race more on dirt following NASCAR retirement

Kasey Kahne announced earlier this week that the 2018 campaign would be his final season as a full-time driver on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The Enumclaw, Washington native who has taken 18 checkered flags at NASCAR’s highest level cited a desire to spend more time with his family and to seek other business opportunities as reasons for his departure. After leaving industry powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports at the end of the 2017 season, Kahne has spent this year piloting Leavine Family Racing Chevrolets with limited success. One top-5 finish in the July event at Daytona International Speedway along with…

Do Ford teams have reason to worry about the switch to Mustang?

This past week the performance arm of the Ford Motor Company unveiled the Mustang that will be used in competition by its teams on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2019. The announcement, made at Ford’s headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, was well timed with the series heading to the heart of American auto industry for the Consumer Energy 400 at the Michigan International Speedway. Former MENCS champion and current co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing(a Ford team) Tony Stewart drove the new Mustang onto the stage where it was greeted by a host of Ford drivers, owners and other dignitaries. Needless…

Jeremy Clements looking forward to Xfinity Series hitting road courses

Last year Jeremy Clements shocked the NASCAR world, or better yet the entire racing world, when he pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory by winning the Johnsonville 180 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. It was the first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win for the driver whose family-run team operates out of a shop in Spartanburg, SC. The victory not only provided those who enjoy rooting for the Davids of the world in their perpetual battles with the Goliaths a reason to cheer but it also allowed the 33-year-old racer to achieve one of his…

Blake Jones looking to achieve big goals following first NASCAR Cup start

Sometimes it takes a lifetime to realize a dream. And sometimes those dreams are never realized at all. This past Sunday at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway racer Blake Jones realized one of his lifelong dreams. Even while growing up as a small child in Sevierville, Tennessee Jones wanted to be a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver and when the command to start engines was given after a persistent New England rain shower delayed the start of the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, the 21-year-old racer had accomplished that goal as he fired the No. 23 BK Racing Toyota to…