NASCAR

7:27 PM ET Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Motor Speedway could be the first major sporting venue to have fans back in the stands this summer. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced a five-stage plan Friday to reopen the state with the final phase tentatively scheduled to include a return to sporting venues on July 4

3:17 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR announced Thursday that it will resume its season without fans starting May 17 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina with the premier Cup Series racing a total of four times in an 11-day span. NASCAR joins the UFC as the first major sports organizations to announce

8:36 AM ET Former NASCAR champion Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman have been granted waivers for eligibility in the 2020 Cup Series playoffs, NASCAR announced Tuesday. Monday it was announced Kenseth would replace the fired Kyle Larson for Chip Ganassi Racing. 1 Related On Sunday, Newman said he would be ready to race again when

4:27 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Matt Kenseth had a blissful year of retirement. He had time to travel with his wife and four daughters, made his first visit to Europe and took up marathon running. It was free time he never had in 22 years of racing at NASCAR’s national level. “It

3:41 PM ET North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said that he expects one of NASCAR’s crown jewel events, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, to take place during its traditional Memorial Day weekend date of Sunday, May 24, “unless health conditions go down.” Cooper made the comments on Tuesday afternoon during his daily press

11:58 AM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former NASCAR champion Matt Kenseth will again come out of retirement to compete for Chip Ganassi Racing as the replacement for fired driver Kyle Larson. Larson lost his job two weeks ago after using a racial slur during a live-streamed virtual race. Although Ganassi development driver Ross

1:40 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Ryan Newman said he will be ready to race when NASCAR resumes competition, which could be as early as May 17. Newman suffered a head injury in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 17. The Indiana native spent less than 48 hours in the

3:38 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Talladega Superspeedway wasn’t immune from “The Big One” or a typical overtime finish, even in virtual racing. Alex Bowman scored his first iRacing victory of NASCAR’s invitational series by holding off Corey LaJoie and Ryan Preece in a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish at virtual Talladega

11:21 AM ET Associated Press WELCOME, N.C. — NASCAR team owner Richard Childress is auctioning off one of racing legend Dale Earnhardt’s cars to raise money for coronavirus relief efforts. The Charlotte Observer reports that this is the first time Childress has sold or given away an original Earnhardt car from his personal collection. A

4:43 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The governor of North Carolina said Thursday that NASCAR teams can work in their race shops if they maintain social distancing guidelines, clearing a potential hurdle to resuming the season in coming weeks. Gov. Roy Cooper extended the state’s stay-at-home order through May 8 on Thursday and

8:32 PM ET Associated Press FORT WORTH, Texas — The race is on among states willing to be the first to host NASCAR races without fans. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Monday that NASCAR was working with Texas Motor Speedway on a plan to race there. “I hope to announce the exciting details in the

3:59 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nobody did anything to get fired or lose a sponsor in this week’s edition of NASCAR virtual racing. William Byron won his second consecutive NASCAR virtual race on Sunday by holding off Timmy Hill — the driver who moved him out of the way to win an

6:09 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Scott Dixon, five-time IndyCar champion and relatively new iRacing competitor, received a brief set of instructions from boss Chip Ganassi about the world of virtual racing. “I did get a text from him that said, ‘Just lay low,”’ Dixon said Friday. What started out as a fun

1:17 PM ET Associated Press NASCAR has suspended its May 9 race at Martinsville Speedway and did not give an indication on when the season will resume. When NASCAR suspended racing four events into the season, it listed the event in Virginia as its return date. But Virginia is under a stay-at-home order until June

5:45 PM ET ESPN News Services Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace, the lone African American competing in one of NASCAR’s national series, said Kyle Larson was wrong to have used a racial slur during a virtual race, adding that he’s spoken with Larson and believes he deserves a second chance. Larson was competing in an

10:45 AM ET Associated Press Speedway Motorsports, owner and operator of eight tracks that host NASCAR’s top Cup Series, has laid off 180 employees and furloughed 100 as part of a company restructuring during the sports shutdown. Speedway Motorsports owns the Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, Kentucky, Las Vegas, New Hampshire, Sonoma and Texas tracks. The coronavirus

11:08 AM ET ESPN News Services CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Chip Ganassi Racing has fired NASCAR driver Kyle Larson after he used the N-word during a virtual race, it was announced Tuesday. Larson was competing in an iRacing event Sunday night when he appeared to lose communication with his spotter on his headset. During a check

9:40 PM ET When a race car crashes, what do we do once we know the driver is OK? We instantly try to assess the damage. How bad is the wreck? Is the car done for the day? Where will it end up in the final finishing order? Then, just as quickly, we move on,