You couldn't blame Matt DiBennedetto for feeling like he had been a punching bag as he arrived in Bristol last week. He had been jabbed at for a month about his future at Leavine Family Racing when they slugged him a few days before the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, knocking him out of the 95 car next season

Over the weekend, Martin Truex, Jr. proved to be the new king of the road at Sonoma Raceway, winning there for the third time and becoming the first back-to-back winner in northern California since Jeff Gordon in 1999-2000.  It was also Truex's 23^rd career Monster Energy Cup Series win, tying him with Joey Logano and Ricky Rudd for 34^th on the all-time victory list.

When I was on Fast Talk with Doug Rice last week, he asked me, "Do you think we'll see the number of different winners on the Monster Energy Cup Series get to double digits before the end of the regular season?" To be honest my answer was kind of wishy-washy, "We might get to 10 but it'll be pretty tough to do."

In 1960, Bruton Smith wanted to do something that would put Charlotte Motor Speedway on the motorsports map. He was thinking big and wasn't willing to play second banana to any other track, even the

When it comes to races on the mile and a half tracks this season with NASCAR's new rules package for the Cup cars, I thought Texas was entertaining and Kansas even better yet. And it leads me to believe the next two weeks at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Monster Energy Cup Series All-Star race and the Coca-Cola 600 could be too good to be true.

As Darrell Waltrip spoke at Bristol Motor Speedway last Friday, declaring when Fox ends its season at Sonoma he'll bring to end his broadcast career, I thought to myself how lucky I've been to experience DW as one of the best to ever get behind the wheel and a microphone.

Last Sunday's Monster Energy Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway was better than any we've seen in recent years on the 1.5-mile track and I will argue as good as we seen in a while on any track that size or a little bigger like Fontana or Michigan. The reason why was simple, it was the first place this year where NASCAR's new low horsepower-high downforce rules package really came into play.

When I first got a look at the new 2020 Monster Energy Cup Series schedule, the first word that came to my mind was "wow". Having been around this sport since the early 80's, NASCAR has never made as many changes in a single season. 

Kyle Busch is one win away from claiming 200 checkered flags on NASCAR's top-three series, which is a remarkable achievement and he didn't want anyone comparing it to Richard Petty's 200 Cup victories.

NASCAR'S new rules package for the Monster Energy Cup Series for the cars on the intermediate speedways is like the kid, let's call him "Little Johnny", who's starting his first semester in college. It'll take at least one semester, if not two, for him to figure out just how good a student he can be.  The first week or two he's just feeling around in the dark, unsure of his surroundings, and just trying to figure where he stands.