Showing posts with label Ryan Blaney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ryan Blaney. Show all posts
Matt Kenseth

The 2016 season has certainly been an uphill battle for Matt Kenseth. Fast cars have put the No. 20 driver in the lead for 11 of the 12 races this season, but monstrously (get it?) bad luck has kept him from finishing in the top-10 in eight of them. No doubt he'll be sleeping a little easier after Sunday's win in the AAA 400 Drive for Autism. "It feels good to get this one for sure," Kenseth said. "We were tight all day on restarts. And on that last one, I got so loose, I thought Kyle (Larson) was gong to get by me. ... Kyle gave me all I wanted that's for sure." Kenseth held off a late race charge from Larson to join JGR teammates Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin as 2016 race winners and Chase-eligible drivers.

Who's Hot and Who's Not Coming Out of Dover

Every NASCAR season has it's ebbs and flows, and 2016 has been no different. Last weekend's race in Dover punctuated some of the driver streaks that have developed over the year, and FOX Sports' Tom Jensen takes a look at who's hot (race-winner Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, and a pair of rookies) and who's not (Joey Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and others) heading into the Sprint All-Star Weekend.

New rules for All-Star Race

A few weeks ago, NASCAR announced the new rules for the 2016 Sprint All-Star Race and Sprint Showdown and they have a fast fan in driver and All-Star race contender Brad Keselowski. "What you're going to see is the modern-day format of excellence for that type of race," Keselowski said. "We've seen aerodynamics come into the sport and make it so much more difficult to pass than ever before, and this format is meant to combat that challenge." You can check out all the details on the new format here.

Kyle Larson, Matt DiBenedetto, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Danice Patrick are the top five leading vote getters in Sprint Fan Vote.
While 15 of the 20 slots in the 2016 Sprint All-Star Race have already been decided, fans have the chance to vote not one, but two drivers into the race this weekend. With Jeff Gordon's retirement, both the Sprint Fan Vote winner and the Sprint Fan Vote runner-up will earn a chance to compete for the $1 million purse. As of last week, Ryan Blaney, Matt DiBenedetto, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Danica Patrick (in alphabetical order) were the leading contenders. Click here to cast your vote now.
3:13 PM
 Kyle Busch wins at Kansas

At just 31 years old, Kyle Busch is close to accomplishing something nobody has ever done in the history of NASCAR. After his Kansas win on Saturday night, there are just two tracks on the Sprint Cup Series circuit at which the defending Champion hasn't won. Both of those tracks - Charlotte Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway - are both fast approaching on the NASCAR calendar. "There's been a lot of rough days (at Kansas)," said Busch following the win. "I certainly found the boundaries that you need to have here being able to feel the race car and I’m so used to just attacking all these race tracks that sometimes I over-attack and that may be what has bit me here in the past, but tonight I really felt this race car all night long."

Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott

Thanks to a fifth-place finish by Ryan Blaney on Saturday, a rookie has finished in the top-5 in four of the last five races (Richmond being the only exception). It was Blaney's first top-5 finish to go along with four top-10's for the Wood Brothers this season, while fellow rookie Chase Elliott has more top-10 finishes (seven) than any other Hendrick driver, in addition to three top-5's.

Axalta signs on as founding partner

Daytona's new motorsports stadium will get a "fresh coat of paint" with Axalta Coating Systems coming in as the fifth and final founding partner. "Axalta has been a long-standing and strong sponsor of our sport for many years and we’re thrilled to welcome them as a partner at Daytona International Speedway,” said ISC Chief Executive Officer Lesa France Kennedy. “Their activation will enable us to further enhance the fan and spectator experience which is a main focus of our new stadium.” Their activation includes naming and branding rights within the center injector at the facility and is a part of Axalta's 150th anniversary celebration.

Tony Stewart doing his best to make up for early season misses

When Tony Stewart made his season debut in Richmond he was 112 points out of the 30th place, the cutoff mark for drivers with a win to qualify for the Chase. Just three starts later, he's almost cut that margin in half to a mere 59 points. Thanks to a sixth-place finish by the No. 14 at Talladega and Stewart's 12th-place showing on Saturday, he is poised to continue his season surge this weekend at Dover where he has three career wins.
11:43 AM
Joey Logano down pit road

There's Racin in Richmond
NASCAR might have taken the Easter Weekend off, but Richmond fans managed to their racing fix early as Goodyear held a testing session at America's Premier Short Track earlier today. Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Danica Patrick and Greg Biffle all took part in the opportunity to tune up before the TOYOTA OWNERS 400 on Sunday, April 24. "This is drivers' favorite race track," said Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. "If you polled all of us drivers about which tracks we like to race the most, Richmond's always going to be in the top of the list. There's always some great racing and with the (switch) from day to night there's going to be a lot of changes the fans are going to see."

Danica's getaway

From oceanfront to court-side and everywhere in between, drivers took the Easter weekend to get away from the track before NASCAR comes to Martinsville, Virginia for the STP 500 on Sunday. Check out how drivers spent their early season break.

Glen Wood at MVS in 1953

Wood Brothers racing hasn't competed in Martinsville since 2011, when then-Daytona 500 champ Trevor Bayne raced the No. 21 Ford to a 35th-place finish at Glen and Leonard Wood's hometown track. Before that it was 2008 and "Wild Bill from Dawsonville" behind the wheel. This year, they return to the track with Sunoco Rookie of the Year hopeful Ryan Blaney, who has five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races under his belt there. “It’s really a home race for those guys," said Blaney. "It’s really neat to go back and bring the Wood Brothers back there and have them in their hometown and home state. Hopefully, we’ll see a bunch of Wood Brothers fans out there. I think we will.” 
 
Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano all have a chance to earn their first MVS Cup wins

Only six of the 40 drivers entered into this weekend's STP 500 have taken home a storied Martinsville grandfather clock, so there's a chance Sunday's race winner will be a newbie, and FOX Sport's Tom Jensen focuses in on three who have as good a chance as any to race their way to an MVS win. One is Kyle Busch, who has nine top-5's and 487 laps led at Martinsville for his career and it's the only short track at which the defending champion doesn't have a win. The other two are Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth, who had a run-in last October that broke a three-race winning streak and essentially ended Logano's Chase dreams. Expect plenty of eyes to be on this trio on Sunday.
3:02 PM
Just another day in the desert for Kevin Harvick, who has now won five of the last six contests at Phoenix International Raceway. The 2014 Champion edged out Carl Edwards by a mere .010 seconds, the same margin of Denny Hamlin's victory or Martin Truex Jr. in the Daytona 500. ""I knew I needed to get a good run off the (final) corner and that I was going to have to get into his door. And it worked out, just barely," said Harvick. It was Harvick's eighth win at the track- extending his own record in NASCAR's top series.

Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney have impressed so far in their young careers.

When we were in Daytona for Speedweeks at the season's start- there was a lot of chatter surrounding the exciting 2016 rookie class. Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney proved why on Sunday by each finishing inside the top-10 in the Good Sam 500. "My guys have been bringing such fast race cars to the racetrack every week since Daytona, and I haven't been doing a very good job of getting the finishes that they deserve," said Elliott. It was the first time since October 2014 that two rookies finished inside the top 10. The race was Blaney's second consecutive top 10.

Kyle Busch not satisfied with success so far in 2016

He's led in every race this season. He's finished inside the top-5 in every race this season. But the defending NASCAR champion hasn't come away with a win in any race this season- and he's not having it. “You could be happy with top-five and you could be happy with running up front and doing those things," said Kyle Busch “Those are the things you're supposed to do, but ultimately we've got to get to Victory Lane." Busch is currently tied with Sunday's race winner, Kevin Harvick, atop the NASCAR points standings, but for someone who earned five victories in 25 starts during last season's championship run, he's ready for the wins to start flowing in.

The low downforce package should shine in California

Asphalt baking under the California sun has led to some excellent on-track action in Fontana, and NASCAR's low downforce package should only make things even more exciting. As the race goes on and the track gets slick, fans can expect to see quite a show on Sunday. Kyle Busch, who's excelled racing with the new package at each stop this season, could be due for his third Fontana win in four years on Sunday.
12:16 PM
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