Greg Engle

2 weeks ago | cupscene.com | William D. Byron |Greg Engle

At Michigan, the cruel mistress of motorsport proved once again she has a taste for irony Sunday. Two of the day’s fiercest contenders—William Byron and Carson Hocevar—had their eyes on victory, only to be mugged by physics, fuel math, and fate in the final laps. Let’s start with Byron. The man led a race-high 98 laps. He looked fast, confident, in control—like a pilot who knows his plane inside and out, even if it’s on fire.

2 weeks ago | cupscene.com | Greg Engle

It came down to calculators and fumes. And while the rest of the field tried to wring every last drop of fuel from their tanks, Denny Hamlin managed to coax his Toyota to the finish line like a man trying to sneak home past curfew. The result? His third win of the season—and possibly his last full night of sleep for a while. Because while Hamlin was fending off fuel-starved foes at 200 miles per hour, he was also on baby watch.

2 weeks ago | cupscene.com | Greg Engle

Alex Bowman’s season of woe continued Sunday at Michigan. And frankly, you’d be hard-pressed to find another Cup driver with worse luck this side of a black cat driving under a ladder with a broken mirror in the back seat. On Lap 67 of the FireKeepers Casino 400 — just as everyone was settling into Stage 2 — Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet became an innocent bystander in a moment of unintended slapstick between Austin Cindric and Cole Custer.

2 weeks ago | cupscene.com | Greg Engle

It’s official: Dodge is coming back to NASCAR. Sort of. Almost. In a way. After 13 years of sitting on the sidelines, the Ram truck brand that used to be part of Dodge has decided it’s time to throw some elbows again—at least in the Craftsman Truck Series. They made the big splash on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, in the hometown shadows of their Motor City rivals, Chevrolet and Ford. Subtle, this was not.

2 weeks ago | forbes.com | Greg Engle

AVONDALE, AZ - NOVEMBER 09: Ryan Blaney, driver of the #29 Draw-Tite/Mopar Ram, drives during the ... More NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 9, 2012 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)Getty Images for NASCARIt’s not every day NASCAR holds a press conference on a stage in front of thousands of fans to confirm a secret that’s been about as well kept as the location of pit road. But here we are.