CHICAGO — During a weekend of hot, high-speed friction against the asphalt of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race course, thousands of tires burn out and wear down. After a few dozen laps, they lose their grip and become obsolete.

But their life cycle doesn’t end there. Each NASCAR race weekend, most of the 3,000 tires provided by Goodyear ...Read more

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson is open to NASCAR returning to Chicago, but hinted Tuesday the city may need a better deal before stock car drivers again race through its streets.

NASCAR has 90 days to request a contract extension with the Chicago Park District. If the racing authority wants to win city leaders over, it could need to change ...Read more

CHICAGO — This year the downpour waited until after the NASCAR Grant Park 165 was finished. After previous years were interrupted by storms, fans came ready for the weather Sunday.

Aaron Moy, 52, from Morton Grove, crafted an “Anti-Rain Vortex” hat to wear to today’s race: a strip of laminated printer paper spiraled around a plastic ...Read more

CHICAGO — Katherine Legge is used to being in the spotlight after years of driving Indy cars, so being the only woman competing in Sunday’s NASCAR Chicago Street Race would be no big deal.

Legge, the only female NASCAR driver, entered Saturday needing to qualify for one of the final four spots in Sunday’s Cup Series race. She understands ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Daniel Suárez is a free agent.

The driver of the No. 99 Cup car will leave Trackhouse Racing at the conclusion of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, the team announced Tuesday.

The decision is a mutual one, according to the team and Suárez himself. He will continue to compete for Trackhouse in the interim as the team ...Read more

The lasting impression of the new movie F1 isn’t of the spectacular racing sequences on an IMAX screen but that of Brad Pitt. No one should look like that at any age, much less 61.

It’s not inspiring. It’s not motivational. It’s just depressing.

The hairline is intact, as are the abs and muscle tone. While I crushed pretzel bites in ...Read more

CHICAGO — The NASCAR Chicago Street Race is still more than a week away, but Mother Nature is already burning up the track.

The heat dome that descended on Chicago last weekend with unrelenting 100-degree temperatures caused buckling pavement on a stretch of the pop-up race course, forcing the city to close some streets ahead of schedule to ...Read more

CONCORD, N.C. — Margins in NASCAR have never been smaller.

Whether it’s the leveling effect of the Next Gen car or the evolving technological arms race among teams, the Cup Series has never been tighter. And as parity grows, so does the need to uncover even the slightest competitive advantage.

That’s where artificial intelligence comes ...Read more

CHICAGO — Could the rain delays that dogged NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race in its first two years have inadvertently become its superpower?

“Wet weather road racing is really exciting,” four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon told Chicago’s City Club on Thursday night. “The most exciting type of racing is not only slick (...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — After NASCAR driver Ross Chastain went from worst to first and won the biggest race of his life at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, N.C., he smashed a giant watermelon to honor his family’s farming history.

Then, he pulled out a photo of U.S. Army Specialist Kevin McCrea, a Philadelphia native who was disabled after a ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When the legendary Dale Earnhardt died in a final-lap crash at the Daytona 500 in 2001, Dan Lindsay was about to graduate from the University of Missouri with a degree in marketing after he’d spent most of his time at MU studying accounting.

He had a vague notion of Earnhardt but was no NASCAR fan. To the contrary: In a ...Read more

CONCORD, N.C. — Cliff Daniels shook his head.

Chad Knaus stared in disbelief.

Kyle Larson, one of the greatest drivers in all of motorsports who woke up clinging to the hope that this Sunday would be equal parts remarkable and redemptive, rested his hands on his still steering wheel, wondering how this all could come undone again.

This wasn...Read more

CONCORD, N.C. — Trackhouse Racing has captured NASCAR Cup Series wins on various stages.

Long before Ross Chastain became the first driver in 54 years to win a Cup Series race from the tail of the field at the Coca-Cola 600, Shane Van Gisbergen captured the inaugural Chicago Street Race in his debut, and Daniel Suárez got the best of the ...Read more

CONCORD, N.C. — Watermelons often play key roles in Memorial Day picnics all across America, so it was fitting that one took center stage at the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday night.

Before a sold-out crowd at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Ross Chastain reeled in William Byron with six laps to go, then held him off for a fruitful victory.

As is Chastain�...Read more

CONCORD, N.C. — Richard Childress Racing picked up Kyle Busch’s driver option in his contract for 2026 on Saturday, keeping the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion on one of the most decorated organizations in motorsports.

And during the press conference announcing the news, two drivers were asked about a bunch:

Kyle Busch, obviously.

But...Read more

CONCORD, N.C. — Austin Dillon started his Friday with a fresh cut — and he got a fresh reminder.

A fellow barber shop customer asked about local events happening. The customer said he was looking for something to do in the Charlotte area over Memorial Day weekend with his daughter.

Dillon’s barber interjected.

On top of being the ...Read more

CONCORD, N.C. — Ryan Blaney vividly remembers hitting the halfway mark of his first Coca-Cola 600 — and wondering how he’d ever finish.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Blaney recalled with a laugh, thinking back to what he told his spotter during the 2015 running of NASCAR’s longest race. “I’ve got nothing in the tank. I’m ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When you think of the Coca-Cola 600, you probably think of a few things.

Maybe first you think of it as the longest race in NASCAR: its unending 600 miles, its man-vs.-machine lore. Maybe next you think of Charlotte Motor Speedway architect Bruton Smith, or of Coke 600 race all-time wins leader Darrell Waltrip.

Undoubtedly ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — What channel is the race on?

This has been a common question from NASCAR fans for years, given the alphabet soup of networks on which the sport’s top series air: Fox Sports, NBC, TNT, USA, The CW, FS1 and so on.

But the answer to that question on Sunday, for the Coca-Cola 600, will be different than it’s ever been ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Intimidator. The Man in Black. Ironhead. One Tough Customer.

Dale Earnhardt was called all of those — he was such a legendary NASCAR figure that just one nickname wasn’t enough. Considered by many to be the best driver in the sport’s history, Earnhardt died in a last-lap crash at the 2001 Daytona 500 and has since ...Read more