JOEY LOGANO

Martin Truex Jr. is racing for his second career NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Alex Bowman spun Denny Hamlin out of the lead at Martinsville Speedway and then won in overtime as the field for NASCAR's championship race was set Sunday.

Brad Keselowski is in the final two races of his NASCAR career with Team Penske and would love nothing more than to close his 12-year run with another Cup championship.

Kyle Larson drove to his ninth victory of the season and most meaningful to date in his new job with Hendrick Motorsports.

A conversation on driver code and on-track etiquette is raging in NASCAR, and with it comes debate about the expectations of non-playoff drivers.

Kyle Larson is the first driver in NASCAR's championship four.

The third round of NASCAR's playoffs are getting started in Texas.

NASCAR has ordered a cease fire in the feud between Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick, warning of severe consequences if the two drivers continue to tangle on the track.

Kyle Larson rallied from early electrical issues Sunday to win for the seventh time this season and storm into the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs.

Ryan Blaney has wanted a leadership role at Team Penske.

NASCAR's playoffs shift to Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday for the middle race of the second round.

According to Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott doesn’t race very smart.

NASCAR will open the 2022 season inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in one of the biggest shakeups to its schedule in years.

Martin Truex Jr. assumed the lead when Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch was penalized with about 50 laps to go and won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.

Denny Hamlin held off Kyle Larson after their cars hit nose to tail racing to the finish line Sunday night in the Southern 500 to open the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Some of NASCAR's top drivers are taking extra health precautions for the playoff chase.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be the busiest track in motorsports this weekend.

Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International, building a big lead in the final stage and keeping Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott at bay over the final laps.

Chase Elliott is going for a threepeat at Watkins Glen International.

Josef Newgarden is the toast of Nashville.

With darkness closing in, Aric Almirola sprung to life late Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and pulled off a surprise for Stewart-Haas Racing’s first victory of the year.

Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott are looking for redemption at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Kurt Busch has welcomed the uncertainty of this season as he chases a playoff berth while pondering his future in NASCAR.

William Byron, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott paced the first ever Cup Series practice at Nashville Superspeedway in yet another display of how dominant Hendrick Motorsports is right now.

Chase Elliott raced to a short and slippery victory Sunday as rain spoiled the end of NASCAR’s debut at the Circuit of the Americas, where drivers struggled to navigate the winding course in the first rain race in Cup Series history.

NASCAR is set to race the Circuit of the Americas for the first time and all eyes are on Chase Elliott and a wet weather forecast that could make the inaugural Texas Grand Prix a wild one.

NASCAR unveiled its new car for next season and believes the sleek new pony cars have put the stock back into stock car racing.

Kyle Busch celebrated his 36th birthday Sunday by winning a two-lap sprint to the finish at Kansas Speedway.

Brad Keselowski did it exactly right this time and finally got that last-lap victory, winning in overtime Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.

Roger Penske doesn’t want a repeat of the Daytona 500, when teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski took each other out racing for the win on the final lap.

Alex Bowman passed Denny Hamlin on a restart with 10 laps to go and drove away at Richmond Raceway for his third career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Martin Truex Jr. won a stirring, laps-long duel for the lead with teammate Denny Hamlin in the delayed NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday night.

Rain forced the postponement of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway after just 42 laps Saturday night, setting up a doubleheader Sunday.

BRISTOL, Tenn. – 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. The Logano victory closed a weekend of uncertainty and even some hysteria as NASCAR launched this drive through the dirt. “It’s only my fourth dirt race ever, so I had a lot of fun trying to figure it out," Logano said. It was impossible to handicap this first dirt race because the teams had no idea how to prepare and the drivers had wildly varying experience. "In dirt racing you don’t have a windshield in front of you, so you can pull a tearoff.

FILE - Roger Penske looks over the track from the grandstand at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, in this Thursday, July 2, 2020, file photo. There will be fans at this year's Indianapolis 500, Penske said Monday, March 22, 2021, but how many remains a moving target based on pandemic restrictions. (AP Photo/Jenna Fryer, File)A fully vaccinated Roger Penske is hard at work at Indianapolis Motor Speedway preparing for a full season of racing that will include spectators at his showcase event. There will be fans at this year's Indianapolis 500, Penske said Monday, but how many remains a moving target based on COVID-19 restrictions. Penske noted Monday that the positivity rate for COVID-19 for Marion County, where Indianapolis Motor Speedway is located, was 3.1%.

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Joey Logano has won a few times at Phoenix Raceway and knows a good restart when he feels one. Truex blew past Logano on the final restart and pulled away for his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season and 28th overall. Logano — who led 143 laps — won the second stage after leading the final 35 laps during a long stretch of green-flag racing. But he couldn't hold back Truex, who won his ninth race with JGR. Hamlin was fast early in the race, leading for 31 laps until the competition caution midway through the first stage.

Larson wasn't sure he'd race in NASCAR again until Rick Hendrick took a chance on a him. Last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Larson raced to his first NASCAR victory since he was reinstated from a nearly yearlong suspension. He was hired by Hendrick Motorsports when NASCAR said the suspension would lift at the start of this year. KEEP IT COOLLast year's spring race in Phoenix was a hot one, with temperatures pushing close to 90 degrees. ... Jason Biggs, host of “Cherries Wild” on NASCAR broadcast partner Fox, is the grand marshal.

LAS VEGAS – Kyle Larson is back in NASCAR and back in victory lane. On Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Larson raced to his first NASCAR victory since he was reinstated from a nearly yearlong suspension. Larson is considered one of the top talents in NASCAR but won just six times in six seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing. Larson isn't exactly a surprise and Las Vegas was supposed to be the track in which the large teams finally took control. He was one of eight drivers tied for the longest odds to win Las Vegas.

Joey Logano (22) and William Byron (24) battle for position during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021, in Homestead, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)HOMESTEAD, Fla. – William Byron gave NASCAR its third surprise winner in three weeks, this one not quite as stunning as the first two at Daytona International Speedway. Byron entered the weekend as a 28-1 shot to win a race many expected would provide a return to normal for the racing series. When Byron’s former crew chief, Chad Knaus, moved up at Hendrick Motorsports, Rick Hendrick hired Fugle and paired him with Byron. The Roush Fenway Racing driver led five times for a total of 57 laps, but he started to fade when as sunset neared. Josh Shipplett complained of rib soreness after Xfinity Series driver Daniel Hemric overshot his pit stall and hit one of the right-side tires Shipplett was carrying during an early pit stop.

Christopher Bell celebrates at the finish line after winning the NASCAR Cup Series road course auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)HOMESTEAD, Fla. – NASCAR’s postseason landscape has been altered after just two Cup Series races. “The number of unique winners is really going to change how many cars get in on points, right? Although Bell drives for powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing, he was a rookie for that top team and in his second full season in the Cup series. The Cup Series opened on a superspeedway, then raced on a road course, and now heads to an intermediate track. Whether that’s different markets, different racetracks, it has to be different from year to year.

Michael McDowell was the surprise Daytona 500 winner and then Bell earned an earlier-than-expected first trip to victory lane. The 26-year-old Oklahoman is a longtime Toyota development driver who won 16 Xfinity Series races driving for Gibbs. Ty Gibbs, the 18-year-old grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs, won the Xfinity Series race Saturday night in his first career national series start. Kevin Harvick finished sixth and AJ Allmendinger, in his first Cup race since the 2018 season finale, finished seventh. It was the highest finish in three Cup races for Kaulig Racing, an Xfinity Series team formed in 2016 that wants to be full-time Cup next season.

It was the very first NASCAR national series race for Ty Gibbs, who jumped two steps from ARCA to Xfinity for his debut. Ty Gibbs is the second-youngest winner in Xfinity Series history. But as his grandson crossed the finish line, his glasses fogged and he hugged a Joe Gibbs Racing team member. JGR has yet to announce a full 2021 schedule for Ty Gibbs, but his grandfather said the details are decided by Coy Gibbs. They picked the Daytona road course for his debut because Ty Gibbs finished second here in last year's ARCA race.

(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A truce has yet to be called in the Team Penske camp amid friction following the last lap Daytona 500 crash between teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski. To me, the biggest heartbreak of this whole thing is that there are 400 people at Team Penske asking where their Daytona 500 bonus is and it’s up in a ball of flames up in turn three.”Three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin bristled at Logano's deflection. The Daytona crash belied Roger Penske's edict that his drivers are permitted to race one another hard so long as they don't wreck. That’s a great problem to have.”It remains to be seen how Keselowski chooses to work with Logano going forward. Logano, also a Cup champion and the 2015 Daytona 500 winner, doesn't have the same job security concerns.

Daytona Beach, Florida — Somebody had to make a move to win the Daytona 500, and maybe Michael McDowell would have pulled out of traffic to take his shot at a monster upset. It was the journeyman's first career NASCAR Cup Series win in his 14th season, notes CBS Sports. "Such a great way to get a first victory - a Daytona 500. Denny Hamlin was trying for a record third-consecutive Daytona 500 victory, and the team he started with Michael Jordan was debuting with driver Bubba Wallace. "I wanted to make the pass to win the Daytona 500 and it ended up really bad," Keselowski said.

Daytona Beach, Florida — Somebody had to make a move to win the Daytona 500, and maybe Michael McDowell would have pulled out of traffic to take his shot at a monster upset. It was the journeyman's first career NASCAR Cup Series win in his 14th season, notes CBS Sports. "Such a great way to get a first victory - a Daytona 500. Denny Hamlin was trying for a record third-consecutive Daytona 500 victory, and the team he started with Michael Jordan was debuting with driver Bubba Wallace. "I wanted to make the pass to win the Daytona 500 and it ended up really bad," Keselowski said.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Michael McDowell was glued to Brad Keselowski's bumper, watching and waiting for his chance to win the Daytona 500. Denny Hamlin was trying for a record third-consecutive Daytona 500 victory, and the team he started with Michael Jordan was debuting with driver Bubba Wallace. Kyle Larson was back after nearly a year in exile for using a racial slur, and reigning Cup champion Chase Elliott was going for his first Daytona 500 win. And all the way at the back of the field, 1990 Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope made what he said would be his final NASCAR start. “I wanted to make the pass to win the Daytona 500 and it ended up really bad,” Keselowski said.

Alex Bowman and William Byron were slated to lead the Daytona 500 field to green but that's in danger following Thursday night's qualifying races. Byron was collected in a crash in the second Duel and it ruined his Chevrolet. AdAustin Cindric and Kaz Grala both earned their first berths into the Daytona 500 by claiming the two available transfer positions in the Duels. He was the leader on the final lap of the second Duel until Dillon crossed to Wallace’s inside and inched ahead. “We’ve got an incredible race car and I can’t wait for the Daytona 500.”

Brad Keselowski (2) and Denny Hamlin (11) race side by side through Turn 4 during the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Phoenix Raceway, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020, in Avondale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ralph Freso)AVONDALE, Ariz. – Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski got a big head start on Chase Elliott. Hamlin, Logano and Keselowski never got the caution flag they needed to catch up, with Keselowski finishing second, Logano third and Hamlin fourth. “I would have liked to have one of those late-race yellows like we saw in the Truck race and the Xfinity race,” Keselowski said. Hamlin won the season-opening Daytona 500 and had seven victories this year — two behind leader Kevin Harvick. “As an organization we have got to get a little better, especially on the short tracks,” Hamlin said.

Elliott did what Dale Earnhardt Jr. could not and parlayed the popularity gleamed off his Hall of Fame father into a NASCAR championship. “Chase Elliott won his first championship. Bill Elliott won the 1988 championship and 16 times was voted by the fans NASCAR's most popular driver. Elliott passed Joey Logano with 42 laps remaining and pulled away in a race Elliott controlled even as the four title contenders ran 1-2-3-4 most of the afternoon. Elliott's win at Martinsville last week not only locked him into the final four, but eliminated regular-season champion Harvick.

(AP Photo/Ralph Freso, File)AVONDALE, Ariz. – Denny Hamlin is 0-for-3 in championship chances, his shot at an elusive first NASCAR crown ending just short each time. Hamlin on Sunday will try to close his own career-defining season with the Cup title in NASCAR's season finale at Phoenix Raceway. Chase Elliott last week drove Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports back into the championship race for the first time since 2016. The 24-year-old is statistically enjoying his best Cup season and advanced to the final four after three previous failures. The last two times I’ve raced for championships I’ve had no regrets.”Hamlin turns 40 exactly 10 days after Sunday's title race and has matured greatly the last several seasons.

FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2019, file photo, crew chief Christopher Gabehart watches practice for a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla. The pressure will be intense for crew chiefs in NASCAR's championship race. With everything on the line, his crew chief went with an aggressive adjustment aimed at gaining one last burst of speed. Only Hamlin and Gabehart, in their second season as driver and crew chief, have previously raced for a championship together. “I don’t think you can really be prepared for it until you go through it,” said the veteran Hendrick Motorsports crew chief.

That's how it was supposed to play out, at least, after Harvick won a Cup series-high nine races and the regular-season title. Chase Elliott won the high-stakes race to earn his first career berth in the championship four. Just came up short," Harvick said. “It was just a move I had to try knowing that I needed one point," Harvick said. Bill Elliott was 0 for 45 at Martinsville in his Hall of Fame career, and Chase Elliott won in his 11th try.

"Wish kid" Gavin Grubbs tells Bill Whitaker what people don’t know about Daytona 500 champion Joey Logano, and why his wish was to meet the racer.