11:26 AM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In his den overlooking the 14th hole at Quail Hollow, there are a handful of reminders of Felix Sabates’ 30 years in NASCAR — a photo of the team owner at one of his first races; a bobblehead of close friend and rival Rick Hendrick; in the

5:50 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Cole Pearn, considered one of the top crew chiefs in NASCAR, is leaving the sport to spend more time with his family. Pearn won the 2017 NASCAR championship with Martin Truex Jr. and guided Truex to the title race in four of their five years together, including

9:30 PM ET Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Chase Elliott‘s run as NASCAR’s most popular driver hit two consecutive years when he was voted as the sport’s top star. Elliott won the award last season, the first since Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired to end his streak of 15 consecutive years as winner. Earnhardt Jr. fell

8:51 PM ET Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Joe Gibbs was honored with the Bill France Award of Excellence, capping a year in which he was elected to NASCAR’s Hall of Fame, won his fifth Cup championship as a car owner and thoroughly dominated the competition. Gibbs was surprised with the honor, given at the

8:43 PM ET Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Joe Vaughn, a longtime volunteer and leader with the South Carolina-based Project HOPE Foundation that serves the autism community, won the ninth annual Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award on Thursday night. Vaughn received the award and $100,000 donation to the Project HOPE Foundation during NASCAR’s season-ending awards

9:02 AM ET Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. — NASCAR has signed Busch Beer, Coca-Cola, Geico and Xfinity as its “premier partners” in a change to its traditional sponsorship model. The premier series starting next year will be known as the NASCAR Cup Series and not feature a title sponsor. Winston, Nextel, Sprint and most recently

10:14 AM ET Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Three-time Grammy Award winner Darius Rucker will perform a pre-race concert before the Daytona 500 in February. It will be Rucker’s fourth appearance at Daytona International Speedway and first at the “Great American Race,” which will again serve as NASCAR’s Cup Series season opener. The 500-mile

5:47 PM ET Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR has fined three car owners $50,000 each and penalized their teams for manipulating the season-ending Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in an alleged scheme to collect a higher bonus payout. Jay Robinson (Premium Motorsports), Rick Ware (Rick Ware Racing) and TJ Puchyr (Spire Motorsports)

6:15 PM ET Associated Press CONCORD, N.C. — Jimmie Johnson handed out mini bottles of Patron at his retirement announcement — so perfectly on brand for the cool Californian who stormed to a record-tying seven NASCAR championships yet somehow bored fans who found him too vanilla for their liking. Nothing about Johnson was ever boring,

1:07 PM ET Jimmie Johnson has announced that 2020 will be his final season as a full-time driver in NASCAR’s Cup Series. Johnson made the announcement Wednesday in a video posted to his Twitter account, saying he is “so thankful for 18 incredible years of racing in NASCAR.” #Chasing8 one final time pic.twitter.com/ZoldabKy9M — Jimmie