Kevin Harvick won from the pole at Texas Motor Speedway to secure a spot in the Championship 4. He fell back in the middle of the race before dominating late and closing out a comfortable win. Harvick was leading after a disastrous first stage, which featured those six cautions in the first 81 laps, the most yellow flags of any Stage 1 this season. Many of the wrecks looked the same: A driver would go high around a turn — running onto the traction compound put on the pavement — and then get loose and spin into the wall....

He has come a long way since a terrible wreck during the Xfinity race at Daytona International Speedway at the start of the 2015 season. Following surgery and intense rehab, he put on a dramatic performance that included five wins in 25 races. MORE: Track history favors Carl Edwards | Homestead-Miami schedule His final win of the season was in last year’s Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami. That victory sealed his first Sprint Cup title after 13 years of racing....

“I kind of look at it like a win-win, if we go out there and do well that is great and if we don’t just being able to get back in a race car is incredible,” Vickers told reporters Friday. “No matter the outcome I am happy to be here.” MORE: Vegas preview | SN’s NASCAR Power Rankings | That Moment When: Vegas’ first race After several tests showed that his body was rejecting an artificial patch surgically attached in 2010, doctors performed corrective surgery to repair the hole with a new patch....

The NASCAR driver inexplicably decided to don a full animal onesie Sunday afternoon in the iRacing Pro Series before getting booted from the event for intentionally ramming into Ryan Preece. He also recorded a bizarre video while still wearing the costume. Cringe comedy, it seems, is still in vogue. MORE: How does iRacing work? “I got really hot and I sweat a lot,” DiBenedetto said to the camera before letting out an awkward chuckle....

He loves to watch the cars zoom around the track at nearly 200 mph. He likes to see flames and sparks erupt from beneath the cars as the drivers light up the brakes on pit road. PHOTOS: Inside the Goodyear Blimp | NASCAR Media Day But mostly, he likes to the see the wrecks. Particularly the big ones. Yet unlike most fans, Dougherty can see them before they happen. He can see them unfold right before his eyes....

Drivers’ starting positions for the Toyota Owners 400 (3 p.m. ET; Fox, TSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) were based on four factors: Driver’s finishing position from the previous race (25 percent) Car owner’s finishing position from the previous race (25 percent) Team owner points ranking (35 percent) Fastest lap from the previous race (15 percent) NASCAR is conducting qualifying and practice for just eight Cup Series races in the 2021 season....

With so many over-the-top TV streaming services carrying Fox in 2020, there are more ways than ever to watch the network’s NASCAR presentations, which this year feature its first ever two-man booth for NASCAR Cup Series broadcasts. Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon will call all the races, but they’ll have help from analysts Jamie McMurray and Larry McReynolds, plus pit reporters Jamie Little, Matt Yocum, Vince Welch and Regan Smith....

Here are odds and final driver ratings for Sunday’s race at the Monster Mile. More: Dover betting deep dive Micah Roberts’ Top-10 Rated NASCAR Drivers AAA 400, Dover International Speedway Rating. Driver Odds Practice 2, Practice 3, Start Pos, Dover May* Kevin Harvick 9/2 4th, 1st, 15th, 2nd No wins in 29 career starts at Dover, but needs one here to keep championship repeat hopes alive. Jimmie Johnson 9/2 8th, 8th, 5th, 1st Track-record 10 wins and 2,999 laps led in 27 starts; no wins since last Dover race in May....

After Ryan Newman’s battered race car came to rest last Monday at the end of the tri-oval in a brutal wreck at the finish of the Daytona 500, it took only 19 seconds for the first emergency vehicle to arrive, according to a chronology provided by NASCAR officials during a question-and-answer session with reporters on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “The tool truck arrived at the vehicle 19 seconds after it came to rest,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer....

Now, it looks like the weather might get in the way of another race, with potential showers putting Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in jeopardy. Here’s a look at the weather forecast for Charlotte, N.C., and what that means for Sunday’s race. NASCAR weather forecast for Cup Series race at Charlotte According to weather.com, the hourly forecast for Charlotte, N.C. calls for scattered thunderstorms throughout the afternoon. There’s a 55 percent chance of rain from 4-5 p....

The No. 2 driver led 115 of the scheduled 160 laps and kept brothers Kyle and Kurt Busch at bay on the final overtime lap to claim his first win at Daytona International Speedway. Keselowski, regarded as one of NASCAR’s best restrictor-plate racers, had never finished in the top five at the track in seven previous starts. MORE: Johnson, Junior, Danica crash | Wild race makes Chase seem much closer...

Keselowski was hanging around the middle of the pack for much of the race, but down the stretch he came on strong and was able to win holding off Alex Bowman who finished in second place for his third consecutive race. The race was looking to be all but decided, but thanks to a caution on behalf of Matt DiBenedetto it was forced into overtime with four laps to go....

NASCAR has had eight of the same 10 tracks on its Chase schedule since its inception, and rumblings of a change just to spice up NASCAR’s version of the playoffs appear to be louder. With Ford’s 10-year deal to sponsor the season-ending event at Homestead-Miami Speedway expiring after 2014, NASCAR (or track owner International Speedway Corp., which is controlled by NASCAR’s France family) could more easily move that race. ISC also controls the opening Chase for the Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway, where NASCAR fights significant competition in the market in mid-September....

I was in England with my daughter Montgomery Lee, looking at Welsh horses. My son Adam was at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway with his red-and-black No. 45 Sprint PCS Chevrolet. His regular guys were at the track with him. A rising young racer and his crew, all good friends, doing exactly what they wanted to be doing with their lives. The Busch 200 was set for Saturday. Friday was for practice and qualifying....

Earnhardt’s reasoning was this: If fans are booing, at least you’re inspiring a reaction. It’s when they don’t respond at all that you start to worry. It’s a philosophy that Jeff Gordon and other drivers have adopted over the years. They had to, because fans both loved them and hated them. Many of NASCAR’s most popular stars are polarizing figures who have a love-hate relationship with fans. Though many are beloved and have large fan bases, some also have fans who don’t like them, or love to hate them....

Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer qualified second and third, respectively, on Saturday. Busch and Martin Truex Jr. won last year’s two Pocono races. Other drivers to watch Sunday are Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman. Blaney, who is looking for his first victory of the year, won at the “Tricky Triangle” in 2017 for his first Cup win. Bowman has rocketed to 10th in the standings in the past month, up from 21st....

The explosion occurred after a suspicious vehicle blew up outside of an AT&T building. Three people who were taken to the hospital have been reported with injuries so far, according to the Tennessean. Nashville Mayor John Cooper told local media that roughly 20 buildings near the explosion were damaged by the blast. The impact caused building windows to shatter. “It looks like a bomb went off,” he said. Pictures and videos of the scene depicting flames and smoke as well as structural damage to buildings and streets were shared across social media....

Of course, Rinne is the longtime starting goaltender for the Nashville Predators, so his primary responsibility is to stop pucks from entering the net; however, the 14-year veteran took full advantage of an opportunity on Thursday to add his name to a short list of netminders who have registered a goal in an NHL game. With the Predators leading the Blackhawks by two goals late in the third period in Chicago, Rinne collected a loose puck behind his net after the home team had dumped it into the Nashville zone....

The veteran point guard — a Seattle native and Washington product — took to Instagram on Sunday to show his excitement at various points of Seattle’s come-from-behind victory over Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game. MORE: Worst NFL playoff collapses | Super Bowl odds | Super Bowl primer Robinson first posted a video following Marshawn Lynch’s touchdown in the fourth quarter. He then yelled, “You gotta risk it to get the biscuit” at the end of the game....