Ever since 1987, Charlotte has hosted the all-star race. Some, including Kevin Harvick, figure it should be rotated to other venues like those other sports do. I would agree, only if I had a veto as to what tracks it went to. Even then, I am not sure I would ever agree to the change.
When Andrew Murstein entered into negotiations to purchase Richard Petty Motorsports from George Gillett in 2010, he didn’t have to look further than the name of the team to come up with a partner. While the President of Medallion Financial Group was eager to become a sports owner after raising $220 million to establish a sports fund in 2008, he didn’t know much about NASCAR.
Nevertheless, I was pleased to drive Ona because I'd heard that The King himself, Richard Petty, had raced there in the 1960's. So naturally, when Petty showed up at last week's Mecum auction in Houston (which I co-host for NBCSN), I asked him if he remembered racing at “West Virginia International Speedway,” as it was then known.
Jimmie Johnson started at the rear of the field after a spin in Coors Light Pole Qualifying required the team to change tires before the green flag. The seven-time champion passed Joey Logano with 17 laps to go to capture his first win of the season, 81st career and his seventh win at Texas Motor Speedway. Johnson led 18 of 334 laps and finished 0.340 seconds ahead of runner-up Kyle Larson.
Every father who is a NASCAR fan can agree with me on this. You want to pass that love down to your children. You want them to be able to revel in it the way you do. You want them to enjoy the noise, the commotion, the fight of it all. You want them to understand those weekends where you were in front of the television, reading the magazines, or talking about it with your buddies. In short, you want to see them become a fan.
Enough with the contrived fake news. No, I am not talking about folks who think their candidate was robbed for being of a certain gender, or obviously the victim of the actions of a foreign power, or that they lost to someone who just has to be Darth Vader incarnate.
Jimmie Johnson took his seventh Texas Motor Speedway victory and his first victory of 2017 on Sunday, holding off Kyle Larson by 0.340 seconds to win the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500. Johnson, who has struggled mightily in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, also earned his second top-10 of the season.
Fans can tune in to watch the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, March 22 at 3 p.m. EDT on FS1, MAX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, will not compete in at least the next three NASCAR Cup Series races as he continues to recover from vertigo.
Spire Motorsports has logged two top-10 and three top-15 finishes. Corey LaJoie (September 2024) and Carson Hocevar (August 2025) both earned team-best ninth-place results at "The Lady in Black".
All three of NASCAR’s top national series will be in action this weekend as Darlington Raceway hosts a tripleheader beginning Friday night with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
