Inside Circle Track

Kevin Harvick and Team Fighting to Again Contend for a Title

Kevin Harvick and his Stewart-Haas Racing team are on somewhat unfamiliar ground as the AAA Texas 500 approaches this weekend. After having qualified as one of the four drivers to compete for a title in four of the past five season, the No. 4 crew is currently outside the NASCAR Playoffs cutoff with Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway and next week’s event at ISM Raceway in Phoenix remaining before the four racers who will contest the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship are decided. With Martin Truex, Jr. already locked into the Championship 4 by virtue of his win…

Good Thing That Scuffle Happened at the End of the Martinsville Race

Here we are several days removed from the First Data 500 contested last Sunday at the Martinsville Speedway and despite being closer to the running of this weekend’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at Texas Motor Speedway, the vast majority of talk, print, and television content revolving around the sport is still focused on the paper-clip shaped track located in southern Virginia. But unfortunately, not much of that talk is centered on the racing that took place the half-mile. Instead, most who are discussing Sunday’s race are chattering about the altercation that occurred on pit road following the checkered…

Drivers Looking to Claim a Crown Jewel in All-American 400

One of pavement short track racing’s premier events will take place this weekend when the 35th annual All-American 400 takes the green flag on Sunday, November 3rd in the state capital of Tennessee at the Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville. This race along with the Snowball Derby at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway, the Winchester 400 at the Winchester(IN) Speedway, the Oxford 250 at the Oxford(ME) Plains Speedway, and the Winter Showdown at Kern County(CA) Raceway Park are considered among the the crown jewels of Asphalt Late Model racing. A simple glance at the list of past winners in the All-American 400…

Chase Elliott suffers engine failure in Martinsville practice

It did not take long for one of the contenders in the NASCAR Playoffs to suffer a significant issue during preparation for the First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Chase Elliott just slipped into the ‘Round of 8’ with a late rally last weekend at the Kansas Speedway which ultimately placed the popular driver in the sixth spot in the current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings. But after just five laps of practice on Saturday morning smoke and flames came belching from underneath the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet which caused the car to slow to a stop on…

Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin enter Martinsville with decided advantages

Martinsville Speedway currently holds the distinction of being the first track to host a race in the ‘Round of 8’ portion of the NASCAR Playoffs. That means that at the end of the day on Sunday followers of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series could potentially know who one of the four drivers with a chance to be crowned as the 2019 champion will be. The winner of the First Data 500, provided that driver is one of the eight still remaining in the title hunt, will be issued an invitation as one of the Championship 4 contestants in the…

Playoff Racing: You have won me over

Matt Kenseth drove to such an impressively consistent season in 2003 that he wrapped the NASCAR Cup Series title even before the green flag was waved over the field at the season finale race at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Despite the fact that he only scored one victory that year, the 25 top-10 finishes Kenseth compiled were enough to allow him to be crowned as the series champion following the season’s penultimate race in Rockingham, NC. Even though he had won more than twice as many races as any other driver on the series that season, Ryan Newman could only muster…

Mike Marlar hoping for more NASCAR opportunities

Mike Marlar is one of the most accomplished Dirt Late Model racers in America today. During the 2018 season he was crowned as the World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion which, added to major event victories such as his two Knoxville Late Model Nationals triumphs and his two Hillbilly 100 victories, gives the pilot of the No. 157 car a résumé that would be the envy of many in the sport. But even with all of those accomplishments, the Winfield, Tenn. driver wanted to add even more to his list of achievements. And this past summer, he did exactly…

Stephen Nasse Hopes Winchester 400 Victory Will Lead to More Crown Jewels

Sometimes you can just see that something big is about to happen. That very well could have been the case for those who follow Super Late Model racing on pavement leading into the 48th annual Winchester 400 held at the historic Winchester Speedway this past Sunday. For those paying attention, many signs leading into that race pointed to all the pieces falling into place for Pinellas Park, Florida native Stephen Nasse taking the checkered flag on the venerable old track located in the eastern half of Indiana and known for its worn surface and steep banking. After all, the 24-year-old…

Are the big tracks giving NASCAR a Formula 1 type feel?

The biggest and fastest tracks on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule have always required drivers to work together by using the draft in order keep pace with the competition and pass other cars. This has been true since the 1950’s when the first of what we have come to call the ‘plate tracks’ was first built. But lately it seems as if the teams, and perhaps more importantly the manufacturers, have decided that working together to achieve the goal of placing one of their own in the winner’s circle supersedes all else at Talladega Super Speedway and Daytona…

Live Updates: Lucas Oil Late Models at Rome Speedway(10-13-19)

InsideCircleTrack.com in conjunction with InsideDirtRacing.com will be providing live updates from the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series sanctioned event at Rome Speedway in Rome, GA on Sunday evening, October 13, 2019. The updates will be provided by Richard Allen(@RichardAllenIDR on Twitter and @RichardAllenIDR on Instagram). These updates are brought to you by Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn. The 2019 season has concluded at SMS but schedule information for next year will be released in the coming weeks. Classes in action: Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series for $10,000-to-win(50 laps) as well as the track’s regular divisions. *Please Note: These…