NASCAR

Dale Earnhardt Jr. once again is the highest paid driver in NASCAR, according to Forbes. But NASCAR's most popular driver, according to the magazine's estimates, saw his total earnings drop from $28.2 million the year before to $25.9 million this year. The $25.9 million is based on a $12.9 million...

There are two certainties heading into the Daytona 500: Kevin Harvick is the favorite, and no one is sure what the action will look like in the "Great American Race." Harvick remained perfect through Speedweeks on Thursday by winning the first of two 150-mile Budweiser Duel qualifying races, and the...

Johnny Sauter passed Jeb Burton for the lead on a restart with 17 laps to go Saturday and won the NASCAR truck race at Martinsville Speedway. It was his second victory in as many races in the series this season. Sauter earned his eighth career victory in the series, and...

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) Jimmie Johnson has led more laps at Texas than any other NASCAR Cup Series driver, and won a record six times there. But all that was before the entire 1 1/2-mile track was repaved, and Turns 1 and 2 were reconfigured. ''It's a clean sheet of paper....

Sam Hornish Jr. didn't know the name of Saturday's race until he went to the drivers' meeting for the Sam's Town 300. "That's a pretty good one for me to win," he thought to himself. "Already got my name on the trophy." Hornish survived two restarts in the final 15 laps...

Quiet most of Speedweeks, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made a little noise Saturday. Earnhardt topped the speed chart for the final practice session before Sunday's season-opening Daytona 500. The 2004 Daytona 500 champion turned the fast lap by averaging 198.592 mph around the 2½ -mile superspeedway. David Gilliland was second, followed...

Ryan Truex will make his Sprint Cup debut for in the April 27 race at Richmond International Raceway for Phoenix Racing. General manager Steve Barkdoll told ESPN.com the 21-year-old younger brother of Cup driver Martin Truex, Jr. also will drive in the June 2 Cup race at Dover and the...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) The Latest on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s announcement that he will retire from racing at the end of the season (all times local): 4:55 p.m. NASCAR's chairman and CEO is praising Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s passion for the sport, saying it will ''leave an impact on NASCAR that will...

Kevin Harvick thought he could win the debut race of NASCAR's new Gen-6 car, and he had a solid reason for his confidence. "Nobody in the whole field had any clue what was going to happen," he said, "so we felt like we had a good chance." Harvick dominated Saturday night's...

Kasey Kahne's bumper-banging battle with Brad Keselowski was just the warm-up act in an action-packed race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Former teammates Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano exchanged words after the race -- in person and on Twitter -- because Hamlin spun Logano as Logano was racing for the...

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) Hendrick Motorsports has replaced driver Kasey Kahne's crew chief for the rest of the season. The team named Darian Grubb the crew chief for Kahne's No. 5 Chevrolet for the remaining nine races of the NASCAR season. Kahne is in the playoffs and finished 21st Sunday...

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) Things keep going right for Kyle Larson. Hours after saying he hoped qualifying for Sunday's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race would be rained out, he got his wish, giving him the pole position on a track where he has struggled. ''I think it will be a good...