Martin Truex Jr.

Martin Truex Jr. won the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Dover International Speedway on Sunday

With the famed No. 3 on his car and memories of the late Dale Earnhardt fresh in his mind, Austin Dillon took the fabled number out of hibernation and straight to the top at Daytona.

Ryan Newman used a track-record lap to fuel his run at a championship. Newman set the New Hampshire Motor Speedway qualifying record with a lap of 136.497 mph to win the pole and headline a top 12 loaded with Chase drivers for Sunday's race.

LOUDON, N.H. (AP) — Michael Waltrip is willing to let driver Martin Truex Jr. leave for another team if Michael Waltrip Racing is unable to find sponsorship for the No. 56 car in 2014.

NAPA Auto Parts said Thursday it will end its multimillion-dollar sponsorship of Michael Waltrip Racing at the end of the year, the latest fallout from the team's attempt to manipulate a race to get Martin Truex Jr. into NASCAR's version of the playoffs.

NASCAR added Jeff Gordon to the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field Friday, a stunning and unprecedented step in the fallout from at least two attempts to manipulate the results of the regular season-ending race at Richmond last weekend.

Ryan Newman replaced Martin Truex Jr. in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship on Monday night when NASCAR penalized Michael Waltrip Racing for manipulating the outcome of last weekend's race at Richmond.

NASCAR is reviewing evidence to determine if Michael Waltrip Racing deliberately attempted to manipulate the outcome of the race that set the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field.

NASCAR will have a new champion at the end of the season. For now, it has yet another conspiracy.

The post-race party was a blur after Martin Truex Jr.'s first win in 2007. The celebratory cool-down lap, the burnouts, the drive to Victory Lane all happened so fast. So he planned to savor every minute of his next win. He just didn't think it would take six years.