It’s official, the Sprint Cup series will soon move in a new direction.

Earlier this week, NASCAR officials approved a lower downforce package for all races next season. The decision comes after fan and driver outcry over the lack of passing for many events this season.

In a Wednesday press conference, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O'Donnell, said series officials are hopeful the changes will lessen the importance of clean air and create the sort of back-and-forth drama featured during the races at Darlington and Kentucky this season.
 

NASCAR announced today the base NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rules package to be used during the 2016 season. The package was delivered to teams after an extensive collaborative process between NASCAR and industry stakeholders.

The base package will include a 3.5-inch spoiler, a 0.25-inch front leading splitter edge and a 33-inch wide radiator pan. These components will provide lower downforce on the cars, and Goodyear will develop tires to complement them. Earlier this season, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Kentucky Speedway and Darlington Raceway featured a similar aero package.

Not every race can be a classic. If they all were classics, then there would be no need for the word. Fans would jump out of their seats when the winner crossed the finish line and say, "That race was another one!"

Woo. Hoo.

Besides, there's a lot more to this racing gig than just close finishes, lead swaps and crashes. In NASCAR, fans have all sorts of stuff to follow. The Chase. Debris. Free passes. Wave-arounds. The pulse-pounding pathos of pit road.

Joey Logano dominated the rain postponed Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on a day which saw mistakes made by many of his fellow Chase competitors.

Leading a race high 227 laps and grabbing his fourth victory of the 2015 season, Logano punched his ticket into the next round of the Chase.

Bristol Motor Speedway is the second smallest track located in the second smallest city on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit, but speedway officials continue to conjure up big schemes.
During an elaborate press conference Wednesday morning, BMS executive vice president and general manager Jerry Caldwell unveiled the latest bold move.

Before next year’s two Sprint Cup races and the historic Sept. 10, 2016 Battle at Bristol football game between Virginia Tech and the University of Tennessee, the track’s existing pylon and screen frame will be removed for a 700-ton creation dubbed Colossus.

Due to inclement weather, Saturday’s Bank of America 500 has been postponed. Green flag is scheduled for Sunday at 12:30 p.m. Gates will open at 9 a.m. The ticket office will open at 8 a.m.

Where Charlotte Motor Speedway is concerned, Austin Dillon doesn’t mind being a creature of habit.

After experienced veterans Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne knocked themselves out of contention on Lap 151 of Friday night’s Drive for the Cure 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at the 1.5-mile track, Dillon streaked away from Erik Jones to win by 2.809 seconds over the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.

Every year when autumn rolls around and NASCAR’s top teams head to Dover, Delaware to race I unfailingly think back to the magical fall of 1991.

Just as resplendent as the forest foliage that year was Harry Gant, an immensely popular driver from Taylorsville, N.C.

Gant won four in a row 24 seasons ago,  and except for the failure of a 10-cent O-ring in his car’s braking system, he almost certainly would have made it five straight.

Twenty-two drivers have three days to compete for a spot in the motorsport industry’s top driver development program, the NASCAR Drive for Diversity (D4D), set to commence at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., Oct. 19-21, 2015.
 
Now in its 12th year, the annual Combine invites promising ethnically diverse and female drivers, ages 14 to 26, from across North America to test their skills over a three-day period in order to identify members of the NASCAR D4D Class of 2016.