NASCAR’s great redemption story of recent memory came to a close with AJ Allmendinger’s first career Sprint Cup win at Watkins Glen on Sunday. With the close of that story comes the beginning of another; his quest to find consistency as a proven winner.
Things are not rosy at Roush Fenway Racing. Lately, they’ve lost their top driver to apparently Joe Gibbs Racing, and today they lost 3M as a primary sponsor on the No. 16 Ford of Greg Biffle. The performance has been putrid at best all year even though Carl Edwards has two wins, but Biffle and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. have not had the performance that a top team should have.
As the NASCAR community mourned the death of sprint car driver Kevin Ward Jr., which led to Tony Stewart’s decision not to participate at Watkins Glen, the racing did go on at one of the sport’s more challenging road courses.
Watkins Glen might have hosted the action on Sunday, but it was Saturday night at the Canandaigua Motorsports Park a hundred miles away that drew our attention.
As the events of the tragedy at at Canandaigua Motorsports Park unfolded late Saturday night and into Sunday morning, I was glued to twitter, searching for answers. I was hoping for the best but fearing the worst. When it became clear that a young sprint car driver named Kevin Ward Jr. had lost his life, I was at a loss for words.
With drivers racing with heavy hearts following the tragic incident involving Tony Stewart and Sprint Car driver Kevin Ward, Jr. The world's best stock car drivers knew they had to put on a great show to allow the fans to forget about the events that occurred, even if it was for just a few hours.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Driver Tony Stewart hit and killed a driver during a sprint car race at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park, a half-mile dirt track in upstate New York, following an on-track encounter
Ambrose led two times for 48 laps but the win was more difficult than it looked on paper. It was his fourth victory in the Nationwide Series, all at Watkins Glen.
Gordon was ecstatic after winning the pole and dedicated it to his son saying, “Luckily I got three shots at it today with this format and that last one was just a really, really solid lap. Today’s my son’s birthday so this is just an awesome way to give him a birthday present.”
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe was made available to the media on Saturday after willing the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
The two-time Southern 500 champion from Mitchell, Indiana, clocked in a pole-winning lap at 186.065 mph in 51.466 seconds for his first Cup pole of the 2026 season and the 10th of his career at Talladega.
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Kroger Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “That’s solid. We had a lot of speed here today. I know it’s single car, but it translated really well at Daytona..."
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in a panel with fellow Chase contenders, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney, in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway.
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway.
