By Aaron Burns Dale Earnhardt Jr. began the 2015 Sprint Cup season on a tear, posting three consecutive top-five finishes. It all went downhill Sunday at Phoenix Int’l Raceway. Earnhardt was busted for speeding on pit road while running in the top 15 early, then made his way up to 21st before a blown right-rear tire sent his No. 88 Nationwide Insurance Chevrolet SS into the wall. He ended up 43rd. Earnhardt said the culprit was more than just a tire. It was a loose-handling condition, coupled with overheating brakes. The good news for Earnhardt? He won’t need to brake as much…

By Jared Turner Harvick’s Still Happy It’s way too early to even pencil anyone in as the favorite to hoist the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion’s trophy, but Kevin Harvick is certainly off to a terrific start. In four races this season, the 2014 series champ has two wins and two second-place finishes, with the two victories coming the past two weekends. Even more impressive is that Harvick’s string of top two finishes goes back to the final three races of last season, bringing the total to seven races in a row. Only two other drivers in NASCAR history – Richard…

By Ben White The yellow 1966 Ford Galaxie owned and built by NASCAR legend Junior Johnson ranks as one of the most controversial in the sport’s 65-year history. Due to a disagreement over the 1966 rules package, Ford Motor Co. elected to sit out the season, even though they won the Cup championship with driver Ned Jarrett and team owner Bondy Long the previous year. Johnson built the specially designed Ford and hired the very popular Fred Lorenzen, available because of Ford’s departure, as his driver. A win in a major event with a well-known driver might prompt a return to the…

By Jared Turner It’s extremely rare in this ultra-competitive age of stock-car racing that one driver enters a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race weekend as a clear and undisputed favorite to come out on top. This Sunday’s showdown at Phoenix International Raceway would be one of those rare instances. Fresh off a commanding victory and overall dominant performance last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where he led a race-high 142 of 267 laps, Kevin Harvick is the odds-on choice to prevail this Sunday in the Valley of the Sun. That’s because in addition to starting the season off with three finishes…

By Jerry Bonkowski Journalists are not supposed to show emotion or favoritism toward subjects they write about. That’s one of the first things they’re taught in journalism school. But this one time, I’m going to break that rule – and say “good for you” to Martin Truex Jr. Let me explain: The New Jersey native has gone through more adversity in the last 16 months than arguably any other driver on the Sprint Cup circuit. An attempt by an official of Michael Waltrip Racing in September 2013 to influence who ultimately made the Chase for the Sprint Cup not only led to…