MATT KENSETH

Joey Logano celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)If you need help with the Public File, call (313) 222-0566.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Joey Logano spent the final 40-plus laps at Kansas Speedway keeping an eye on Kevin Harvick in his rear-view mirror. Now, he can look ahead to the NASCAR Cup Series finale at Phoenix. Using every bit of the track Sunday to hold off the winningest driver this season, Logano took the checkered flag on a cold, blustery Sunday to secure a spot in the championship round of the playoffs. Hamlin managed to hold off the 2014 series champion to win his 10th stage of the season. Then, midway through the final stage, he began to notice a problem in his car.

Ross Chastain snagged one of the coveted open Cup seats on Monday in a promotion at Chip Ganassi Racing to drive the No. Chase Briscoe began the year chasing eight victories, the number he believes will earn him a Cup ride, and he won his seventh race last weekend. Carpoff in November 2018 named Chastain the driver of a full Xfinity Series ride at Ganassi that would be sponsored by DC Solar. The sponsorship money evaporated, Ganassi shuttered the Xfinity Series team and Chastain was out of a job about six weeks before the 2019 season opener. He ran 35 Cup races, made 19 starts in the Xfinity Series and raced for the Truck Series championship for Niece Motorsports.

"Racing in the Cup Series with a serious contender has always been my goal, and I’m looking forward to joining what is a very strong team. Chase Briscoe began the year chasing eight victories, the number he believes will earn him a Cup ride, and he won his seventh race last weekend. Carpoff in November 2018 named Chastain the driver of a full Xfinity Series ride at Ganassi that would be sponsored by DC Solar. The sponsorship money evaporated, Ganassi shuttered the Xfinity Series team and Chastain was out of a job about six weeks before the 2019 season opener. He ran 35 Cup races, made 19 starts in the Xfinity Series and raced for the Truck Series championship for Niece Motorsports.

The crash meant his racing career would end without a record-setting eighth Cup Series championship. Johnson looked like he might escape the carnage, but Logano spun into Matt Kenseth, who made a hard right into Johnsons driver-side door. Johnson and Knaus were together for all seven titles in the 48. Cliff Daniels and these guys on my team, they pour their guts out for me, Johnson said. He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer with a racing career that will be hard to match, let alone top, for anyone moving forward.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Racing at Daytona International Speedway always comes with a hefty dose of drama. Nearly half the field is looking to clinch a postseason berth with a victory, including seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson. Crazy things will happen.Thats exactly what NASCAR envisioned when it moved Daytonas summertime extravaganza to the regular-season finale. Cup races at Daytona already were considered wild-card events in which just about anyone could end up in victory lane. Throw in the raised stakes, and it's sure to create an ultra-intense couple of hours on the track.

NASCARs most popular driver won the Cup Series road course race at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, holding off hard-charging Denny Hamlin following a late restart and notching his third consecutive victory away from ovals. The 24-year-old Elliott also won on road courses at Charlotte and at Watkins Glen last year. Elliott, Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. had the cars to beat. Making up that kind of ground on a 14-turn, 3.61-mile road course was a nearly impossible tough task, especially considering Elliott was turning mistake-free laps at the front of the field. Newman was one of the few Cup drivers with experience on Daytonas road course.

NASCAR takes to the retooled road course at Daytona this weekend for what surely will be a unique unprecedented, really experience for dozens of drivers who have only raced it online. The Xfinity Series race is Saturday, followed a day later by the Truck Series and the Cup Series. Both ran the Rolex 24 endurance race on the road course in January. Kenseth and Ryan Newman have victories on the Daytona road course, each winning IROC races in the mid-2000s. While Busch and Allmendinger surely provided teammates help learning the tracks nuances, many teams eager to gain an advantage turned to road course experts for assistance this week.

Kevin Harvick, on far side of wall, celebrates with his crew after winning the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Sunday, July 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)SPARTA, Ky. The Kentucky Speedway winners' club is exclusive just five drivers have combined to win the first nine NASCAR Cup races. That trio also has multiple Kentucky wins, which speaks volumes of their mastery of the 1.5-mile oval. 48 Chevy again after missing his first career race last week in Indianapolis following a positive COVID-19 test. Kyle Busch remains the perennial Kentucky favorite with sevens wins across NASCARs three national series, including two in Cup, and a slew of top-10s.

INDIANAPOLIS Kevin Harvick turned up the heat on Denny Hamlin late in the Brickyard 400. It's the Brickyard, this is what I grew up wanting to do so to come here and win for the third time is something I couldn't have dreamed up." For the third straight race, Harvick and Hamlin were in a league of their own. And since racing resumed at Darlington in mid-May, Hamlin and Harvick have combined to win seven of 12 races. But the crash ended Hamlin's run of four straight top-five finishes with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Keselowski extended Jimmie Johnson's losing streak to 102 races by holding off the seven-time NASCAR champion in overtime early Monday to win the Coca-Cola 600, the longest race on the NASCAR schedule. It was the first win for Keselowski this season, his first Coca-Cola 600 victory and the first win at this event for Ford since 2002. I wanted to win the 600 my whole life and wanted to win in front of everybody, Keselowski said. But almost two hours after the race, NASCAR disqualified Johnson because his Chevrolet failed post-race inspection. I was a lap-and-a-half away from winning the 600, Elliott said.

DARLINGTON, S.C. The win by Kevin Harvick in NASCAR's return to racing over the weekend was a bit predictable considering the enormous task teams are facing in a flurry of rescheduled events. Harvick, a former series champion and former winner at Darlington Raceway, was also the points leader through the first four events. He will try for the sweep when NASCAR returns to Darlington for its first Cup race on a Wednesday since 1984, when Richard Petty scored his 200th and final victory. This anticipated midweek race is just 300 miles 100 fewer than Sunday's return race, and the same distance as next week's junior series Xfinity Series race at Charlotte but still will start a test of stamina. The Cup Series will race for a third time in a week this Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600, the longest race on the schedule.

His 50th career Cup Series victory felt like a lot like the others until he climbed out of his No. Harvick is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in each of the Cup Series' five races this season. The 48-year-old Kenseth raced in the Cup Series for the first time since the 2018 season finale. ___6:45 p.m.Two small grass fires broke out at Darlington Raceway behind Turns 1 and 2 during the final stage of the NASCAR Cup Series race. The Real Heroes 400 is underway at Darlington Raceway, without fans and with masks and social-distancing mandates all around.

FILE - In this May 11, 2012, file photo, drivers take the green flag for the start of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C. NASCAR will re-fire the engines moments after mask-clad drivers climb into their cars at Darlington Raceway. (Tyler Barrick/Pool Photo via AP, File)DARLINGTON, S.C. NASCAR will not be as you remember it when racing returns at old egg-shaped Darlington Raceway. He tested at Darlington shortly before the season was suspended and determined then he was fit to race again. Busch and Hill are adding Xfinity Series races at Darlington and Charlotte, and a Truck Series race at Charlotte to their calendar. His only victory so far this season was the Truck Series race at home track Las Vegas.

Faced with many of its teams falling into financial ruin, NASCAR is waving the green flag on a plan it believes allows the series to safely return to racing. The seven races so far announced in May are at Darlington and Charlotte Motor Speedway tracks within driving distance from teams North Carolina base. Four are in the elite Cup Series and the other three are lower-tier Xfinity and Truck Series races. NASCAR has issued two rounds of layoffs during the pandemic cuts last week decimated staffing at many race tracks and those still employed took pay cuts, furloughs or forced vacation. The move gives the France family almost total autonomy of the largest racing series in the United States and flexibility to make its own plan to survive the pandemic.

The resurrection of Kyle Larsons career began with a 25-hour drive from California to Iowa for a $15,000-to-win World of Outlaws race. Back to his beginnings and arguably the type of racing hes always favored Larson was one of 24 drivers to advance to the main event. Larson, who is half-Japanese and rose through NASCARs diversity program, was among the most promising talents in the biggest racing series in the country. Larson had been named a future superstar by Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, both who started their careers in sprint car racing like Larson, and the spotlight was immediately bright. When the season was suspended, Larson had three top-10 finishes in four races and was ranked seventh in the standings.

It was free time he never had in 22 years of racing at NASCARs national level. Id have to say it was the best summer of my life.So why in the world would Kenseth give that up? A two-time Daytona 500 winner and NASCARs champion in 2003, Kenseth was still a competitive, championship-contending driver. Ganassi was pleased because he wanted a low-maintenance driver capable of winning races who could placate nervous sponsors after the Larson debacle. It would be pretty bad if I get out there and really suck, Kenseth said.

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. I started my career in a Camaro and I cant wait to finally race a Chevy in the Cup Series. Kenseth won 15 races in five full seasons driving for Gibbs and was runner-up for the title in 2013, the year he won seven races. In choosing Kenseth, Ganassi gives his partners a low-key driver with a winning record who typically avoids controversy. Throughout my time in NASCAR, I have always admired the way Matt Kenseth raced, Ganassi said.