Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s win at Martinsville last weekend marked the first non-Chase contender to win a race in the Chase this season. After being eliminated from championship contention last weekend at Talladega, Earnhardt Jr. held off a hard-charging Jeff Gordon to claim his fourth win of the season, first at Martinsville and 22nd overall for …
One: Final Four Up for Grabs Two races remain until we learn which quartet of drivers will contest for the Sprint Cup championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Most of us, myself included, had assumed we would find out at least one of those four names at Martinsville, but for the first time in seven Chase races …
The Eliminator Round is underway and already multiple drivers are in trouble. The tight confines of Martinsville Speedway proved challenging for some as new rivalries were ignited and older ones brought back to life. Yet, some championship hopefuls escaped with little more than a scratch and one driver – unfulfilled by last week’s restrictor plate …
One of the interesting things about the fantasy world in NASCAR is that as the Chase field narrows, just who is in the Chase in real life means less and less for your fantasy picks most likely. It’s just simple numbers. With just eight drivers remaining in contention for the title heading into Martinsville, that …
Did You Notice?… How ratings keep declining in this Chase? Talladega, the Russian Roulette 500-miler of the playoffs should have been a “can’t miss” race for those interested in the sport’s new format. There’s no event more unpredictable for an “elimination” event, whereby the checkered flag Sprint Cup’s postseason field was trimmed from twelve to …
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s failure to move onto the next round in the Chase Grid might perhaps be the best thing to happen to the Chase detractors who want to see the end of it all. I mean, Earnhardt was doing so well and was poised to potentially win his first career Sprint Cup Series championship, …
As predicted, it took until the checkered flag before we knew who would be moving on to the eight-driver Eliminator Round. Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Matt Kenseth all knew what they had to do to continue their bid for a championship: win. Johnson led the most laps, Earnhardt, Jr. led the …
This season’s Chase for the Sprint Cup is like watching the final season of a really good, violent drama. You’ve come to terms with the fact that characters are going to be killed off, but you’re hoping it’s done the right way. In other words, don’t kill off Walter White and Rick Grimes in the …
One: Bracket Busters Hands up for anyone who still has a completely accurate 2014 Chase bracket. Silence? Crickets? Tumbleweed? Yep, thought so. Don’t even vaguely try to convince me that you had a final eight that didn’t include six-time champion Jimmie Johnson or the sport’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., not to mention either Kasey …
Key Moment – The caution flag flew with four laps to go for a piece of metal on the race track. The No. 22 of Joey Logano had it on his grill under caution and rubbed it off when the yellow flag was in the air. The end result was a green-white-checkered finish that brought …
Welcome to Friday Faceoff! What do you get when you take some hot-button NASCAR topics and hand them over to our dedicated and… er, opinionated staff? A little disagreement and a whole lot of thought-provoking insight! Check out this week’s edition to see what everyone is arguing… um, we mean, discussing this week! 1. The …
It’s a race that real NASCAR teams and fantasy NASCAR owners as well have been anticipating and dreading at the same time. The restrictor plate race at Talladega Sunday could likely be the best of times and worst of times for teams. With such significant drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski …
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