Nov. 5, 2017 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Tex. – Martin Truex Jr. isn’t invincible after all. Kevin Harvick put a serious dent in Truex’s sense of invulnerability on Sunday afternoon, passing Truex with nine laps left in the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway and pulling away to win by 1.580 seconds. In beating this year’s unrivaled master of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ 1.5-mile intermediate speedways, Harvick earned a spot in the Nov. 19 Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which Harvick won the first title contested under an elimination format in 2014. The driver…

Nov. 4, 2017 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Tex. – There was no keeping up with Erik Jones on Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway – though Ryan Blaney tried his level best over the closing laps of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300. Jones, the pole winner, swept the first and second stages of the event, led 142-of-200 laps and completed the season sweep of NASCAR XFINITY Series races at the 1.5-mile track – the first time that’s happened since Kyle Busch won both races in 2009. The victory was Jones’ third of the season, his third in six…

Nov. 3, 2017 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Tex. – It was a case of déjà vu for Johnny Sauter on Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway. Now the defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion hopes history repeats itself two weeks hence, when he races for his second straight title at Homestead-Miami Speedway. After taking over the lead on Lap 135 of 147 of the JAG Metals 350 Driving Hurricane Harvey Relief, when John Hunter Nemechek ran out of gas while leading at the end of a cycle of green-flag pit stops, Sauter kept fellow Round of 6…

Oct. 29, 2017 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – The sun went down, the new lights came on, and all hell broke loose at Martinsville Speedway. In a wild overtime finish that took Sunday’s First Data 500 to 505 laps at the .526-mile short track, Kyle Busch beat Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leader Martin Truex Jr. to the stripe by .141 seconds to take the checkered flag and earn a spot in the Nov. 19 Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. As Busch crossed the finish line, a multi-car wreck behind him scrambled the running order and left…

Oct. 28, 2017 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Blowing around two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton after a restart with 10 laps left, 19-year-old Noah Gragson scored his first victory in Saturday’s Texas Roadhouse 200 at Martinsville Speedway. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender frustrated Playoff competitors Crafton and Johnny Sauter, who finished second and third behind him. After talking the checkered flag, Gragson parked his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota near the flag stand and climbed to the top of the frontstretch catchfence in celebration. After Bayley Currey spun in his No.…

October 21, 2017 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 may have been the opening race in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR XFINITY Series Playoff, but the real drama involved two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates outside the championship battle. On Lap 197 of 200 at Kansas Speedway, Christopher Bell caught and passed Erik Jones for the lead, clearing Jones’ No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a slide job and drifting up to the outside wall right in front of his JGR teammate. Under a full head of steam, Jones plowed into the…