NASCAR

8:41 PM ET Associated Press Clint Bowyer was as puzzled as anyone last May returning to Darlington Raceway about whether NASCAR could handle a pandemic. He remembers seeing scores of people camping out at a dragstrip not far from the South Carolina racetrack — “Packed to the gills with people in the pit area,” he

10:00 AM ET ESPN Betting Insiders After William Byron picked up his first career Cup Series win in the final race of the regular season last weekend, the NASCAR playoffs begin with the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday (6 p.m. ET). Who will take the checkered flag? Editor Scott Symmes and

4:32 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR has decided it will not grant COVID-19 relief during the playoffs, meaning a positive coronavirus test will end a driver’s championship bid. The playoffs begin Sunday at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina without a safety net for the 16 participants during the pandemic. It’s up to

3:46 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — William Byron, fresh off his first career Cup Series victory, now has a contract extension through 2022 at Hendrick Motorsports. The extension was finalized in early August and announced Tuesday, just days after Byron’s win at Daytona International Speedway earned him a berth in NASCAR’s playoffs. “I’m

4:21 PM ET Associated Press MADISON, Ill. — Sheldon Creed beat Sam Mayer on a restart with 13 laps to go Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway to win his third Truck Series race of the season and a $100,000 bonus. Creed’s victory pushed his bonus earnings to $150,000 this year in the Triple Truck

1:42 PM ET Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Long after a fireworks extravaganza lit up Daytona International Speedway and well after William Byron and his Hendrick Motorsports team ended their celebration in victory lane, Jimmie Johnson found a moment to reflect. On his night. On his emotions. On his legacy. He pretty much covered

10:48 PM ET Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jimmie Johnson‘s final season as a full-time driver will end without another title. The seven-time NASCAR champion missed the playoffs in the Cup Series regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway after being involved in a multi-car crash with five laps to go. Johnson’s teammate at Hendrick

10:49 PM ET Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Justin Haley won the Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway on Friday night after his teammates wrecked on the final lap. AJ Allmendinger was leading when Kaulig Racing teammate Ross Chastain tried to make a move on the inside. Chastain made contact with Allmendinger, turning

2:57 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR drivers do not plan to skip Saturday night’s race at Daytona International Speedway to raise awareness of social and racial injustices in the wake of another police shooting of a Black man, this time in Wisconsin. Bubba Wallace, the only full-time Black driver in the elite

9:45 AM ET ESPN Betting Insiders After a double-dip of racing that saw Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick come away with victories last weekend in Dover, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to Daytona for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET). It’s the final race before the playoffs. Who will take

1:37 AM ET ESPN News Services Bubba Wallace, the lone Black driver competing full time in NASCAR at the national series level, took to Twitter on Thursday night to say that the sport’s drivers remain committed to fighting racial inequality, even though they’ll be racing Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway. Teams from the NBA,

7:47 PM ET Associated Press DOVER, Del. — Kevin Harvick regained the NASCAR Cup Series victory lead with his seventh, dominating Sunday at Dover International Speedway. A day after Denny Hamlin opened the doubleheader weekend with his sixth win to match Harvick, the Stewart-Haas racing driver one-upped his closest rival to claim NASCAR’s regular-season title.

3:52 PM ET Associated Press DOVER, Del. — Chase Briscoe called his shot at Dover International Speedway on Sunday and won his sixth Xfinity Series race of the season. Briscoe won five of the first 13 races this season but was winless in the last seven. That streak ended at Dover not long after Briscoe

7:22 PM ET Associated Press DOVER, Del — Denny Hamlin zipped past teammate Martin Truex Jr. with less than 10 laps to go and won the NASCAR Cup Series race Saturday at Dover International Speedway. Hamlin matched Kevin Harvick for the season victory lead with six, matching his total from last season and closing within

3:09 PM ET Associated Press DOVER, Del — Justin Allgaier held off a streaking Austin Cindric to win his first Xfinity Series race of the season Saturday at Dover International Speedway. Cindric had been the driver to beat, coming into Dover with a staggering five wins in the last six races, and he seemed in

9:55 AM ET Associated Press DOVER, Del. — Erik Moses has been named president of Nashville Superspeedway, the first Black man to hold that title at any NASCAR track. Moses most recently served as president of the XFL’s DC Defenders and now leads the charge of the scheduled Nashville reboot in 2021. The 1.33-mile concrete

7:40 PM ET Associated Press DOVER, Del. — Zane Smith won the NASCAR Truck Series race at Dover International Speedway on Friday night. Smith pulled away in the No. 21 Chevrolet on a late restart to win for the second time in three races. The 21-year-old Smith won at Michigan to earn one of the

9:00 AM ET ESPN Betting Insiders The Indianapolis 500 has always been held in May. But the 104th edition, scheduled for May 24, had to be moved amid the pandemic and will now take place on Sunday. That makes for an especially big weekend for racing fans, because there’s also a double-dip of NASCAR races