Alex Bowman parked the No. 48 Chevrolet in its familiar spot in victory lane at Dover International Speedway, leading a dominant outing for Hendrick Motorsports on Sunday. Bowman led Hendrick Motorsports to a sensational 1-2-3-4 finish in the NASCAR Cup Series races. Kyle Larson was second, Chase Elliott third and William Byron fourth.
Vaccines have been available since early April to almost everyone in North Carolina, where most NASCAR teams are based, and it allowed NASCAR to put a plan in place for a reopening. There is no vaccine requirement for competitors, but NASCAR permitted teams, drivers and manufacturers to admit a total of 350 fully vaccinated guests and sponsors Sunday at Darlington.
Alex Bowman came from nowhere with 10 laps to go at Richmond Raceway to put the No. 48 Chevrolet in victory lane for the first time in nearly four years. Bowman won for the third time in his career Sunday and denied Denny Hamlin a win in a race he had dominated to become the eighth winner in nine Cup races this season.
The sport the fans have come back to is hardly the same. There are now reminders at nearly every turn of how the world has changed over the past year, none more noticeable than the health and safety protocols in place to prevent the tailgating that was once a pre-race staple of any event. Then there are the cultural shifts.
Somewhere under the thick red haze floating over Bristol Motor Speedway, Joey Logano took the checkered flag for NASCAR’s first Cup Series race at a dirt track in 50 years.
NASCAR’s hyped return to dirt is instead a muddy mess on hold at least until Monday. Torrential rains flooded campgrounds and parking lots surrounding Bristol Motor Speedway and created a rut for NASCAR far deeper than anything the Cup Series drivers encountered on the track.
Everything was new to Mike Tirico when he walked past the famed pagoda that dominates the front stretch at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, assumed his broadcast perch high above pit lane and proceeded to host his first Indy 500.
Elliott won the Cup Series' first road course race at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, holding off hard-charging Denny Hamlin following a late restart and notching his third consecutive victory away from ovals.
Harvick held off Hamlin on Sunday to complete a doubleheader sweep in the NASCAR Cup Series. He'd also won Saturday's race, and the two victories gave him six on the season -- the most of any driver.
Busch's argument -- that there should be standards to be among the top 40 NASCAR racers each week -- was never actually addressed. And here we are again: Quin Houff, in his 35th career Cup start, made a late mistake Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway that not only scrambled the finish but altered the playoff picture.
Austin Dillon stayed in front after a restart with two laps to go and beat rookie teammate Tyler Reddick to the checkered flag at Texas, giving Richard Childress Racing a 1-2 NASCAR Cup finish and quite a show for spectators spread out in the stands on a scorching Sunday.
Up to 30,000 fans were allowed to attend Wednesday night's race, NASCAR's largest with spectators since the coronavirus pandemic shut down sports in March. Attendance figures were not released, but it appeared at least 20,000 spectators were socially distanced throughout the grandstands - likely making it the largest sporting event in the United States since winter.
Cole Custer became the first rookie winner in the NASCAR Cup Series in nearly four years, surging to the lead in a four-wide, final-lap scramble Sunday at Kentucky Speedway.
Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson has twice tested negative for the coronavirus and will race Sunday at Kentucky Speedway.
The White House chided the media Monday for obsessing about President Trump's tweet on NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace and the Confederate flag, while failing to ask any questions about a surge of weekend violence in New York City and Chicago.
President Trump called out Bubba Wallace on Monday, asking if he has "apologized" after the NASCAR driver turned out not to be the target of a hate crime when a noose was discovered in his garage.
Harvick won for the 53rd time to move within one of tying Lee Petty for 11th on NASCAR's career list, and it gave Stewart-Haas Racing a sweep of the weekend following Chase Briscoe's win Saturday in the Xfinity Series race.
A race track in Colorado violated court-ordered social distancing requirements during an event attended by fans on the Fourth of July, a county health department said Sunday.
Valtteri Bottas insisted before the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday that he has what it takes to win the Formula One world championship. Lewis Hamilton, the only Black driver in F1, wore a T-shirt with Black Lives Matter on the front and End Racism on the back.
Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson has tested positive for the coronavirus and will miss this weekend's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway,
Corey LaJoie's No. 32 car at the Brickyard 400 is being sponsored by a conservative political action committee and will sport a "Trump 2020" paint scheme.
Denny Hamlin held off Kevin Harvick on Sunday night to win the second Cup race of the weekend at Pocono Raceway and flip the result of the opener.
The owner of a North Carolina racetrack said he has faced death threats, lost employees and seen "all but two" of his sponsors evaporate amid the backlash over his social media post invoking the noose found in the garage stall of Black NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace.
NASCAR released a photo of the rope fashioned like a noose that was found in Black driver Bubba Wallace's garage stall Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
Bubba Wallace said it had been "an emotional few days" for him after NASCAR found what officials thought was a noose in his stall at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, until the FBI determined the rope had been hanging in that garage for almost a year.
NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace rejected the explanation that the rope at his garage space at the Talladega track was a garage pull.
