Did his lack of success over recent years stunt NASCAR's growth? Maybe, it was his continued presence that kept it from sliding further down the tubes. In fact, the champion has only taken the Most Popular Driver award six times in the season they won the championship. The last was Bill Elliott nearly 30 years ago. So much for Harvick's theory.
One more silly season question was settled today with the announcement that William Byron will drive the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in 2018, the team officially announced today.
Promoting Byron to the Cup Series. He just hasn't been established enough to make a successful jump. Granted, he's no stranger to Victory Lane, but as has been proven time and again, Cup cars are entirely different animals from XFINITY, Trucks, and so forth.
1. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex and Kyle Busch wrecked as they battled for the lead on a restart with 50 laps remaining at Indianapolis. Both cars were unable to continue, and Truex's No. 78 became engulfed in flames. Truex finished 33rd.
Alex Bowman will take over as the driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet from the retiring Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, the team announced in a press release this morning.
This weekend the Monster Energy NASCAR Truck Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. With his victory at Martinsville, Brad Keselowski became the first driver to grab multiple wins this season. But did you know that Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, the two most successful active teams in NASCAR, are winless after six races?
We start off the first offseason View from my Recliner by welcoming back Dale Earnhardt Jr. He completed a test at Darlington Raceway and was cleared by doctors and NASCAR to return to driving in the 2017 season.
Asked where the 48 team's season started to turn around, Chad Knaus points to the Brickyard as being where they began their run to the championship finale.
What a difference a few months can make. Bowman has gone from being jobless in January to joining JR Motorsports for eight XFINITY races to becoming the interim driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. for what will be 10 Sprint Cup Series events.
