Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After a trip to the smallest track on the circuit for some great racing at Martinsville last weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to the Lone Star State and Texas Motor Speedway to continue with the Round of 8 in the Chase with Sunday’s running of the AAA Texas 500. First joining the circuit in 1997, the 1.5 mile Texas track has provided some great racing over the years, especially as the track surface has worn out over time. With the new low downforceRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Since winning his sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in 2013, the world has wondered when or if Jimmie Johnson would capture a record-tying seventh championship. On Sunday, Johnson moved one step closer to making that seventh title a reality. Prior to the start of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports as a whole were struggling, with his chances of being able to advance through the Chase to the championship round at Homestead being very slim. However, since the startRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series made their final visit to a restrictor plate track last weekend at Talladega, the series kicks off the Round of 8 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup by visiting one of the most historic tracks on the circuit, Martinsville Speedway. Last weekend’s race featured the biggest and fastest track on the circuit at Talladega, but as we fast-forward to this weekend, the series rolls into Martinsville, which is the smallest on the circuit. Racing at the twoRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor On the outside looking in heading into Sunday’s Hellmann’s 500 at Talladega, Austin Dillon needed strong runs or a win to be able to advance onto the next round of the Chase, but when the checkered flag flew, he found himself still in the bottom four and eliminated from championship contention. Dillon started the day tied with eventual winner Joey Logano in the points, with Logano having the tiebreaker as a result of a higher finish in the three races of the Round of 12,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The Round of 12 all comes down to this. After races at Charlotte and Kansas to set the stage for Sunday’s elimination race, the 10 drivers not locked into the next round will battle the massive 2.66 mile superspeedway for the right to be able to advance to the Round of Eight when the checkered flag falls on Sunday. Racing at Talladega has always been crazy from the time the track opened back in 1969. From the driver boycott of the first race that ledRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After a weekend at home in Charlotte for the Bank of America 500 that left some Chase contenders scrambling, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads west to America’s Heartland to take on the fast, treacherous 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway for this Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, the second race of the Round of 12 in the Chase. First joining the circuit as a relatively tame 1.5 mile track with 15 degree banking in the turns, Kansas underwent a massive reconfiguration in 2012 that transformed it into aRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After being shut out in the win department in the first round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Team Penske’s two drivers, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, will be looking to make a splash as the second round of the playoffs kick off at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Logano will be looking for back-to-back Bank of America 500 wins after winning last season’s rain-delayed race, while Keselowski will be looking for his first Charlotte win since the fall race in 2013. Beginning with theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With persistent rain from Hurricane Matthew churning just off of the Carolina coastline, NASCAR cancelled all on track activities on both Friday and Saturday, moving the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series to Sunday for a doubleheader, where weather is expected to be much more favorable. The Bank of America 500 will kick off at Noon ET, with Kevin Harvick and Alex Bowman leading the field to green, while the Xfinity Series race, the Drive for the Cure 300, will take place 45Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After just one top-10 finish in the first round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Carl Edwards and his No. 19 team will head into Charlotte to start the Round of 12 needing to step up their performance in order to be able to move on to the next round of the Chase. Edwards’ average finish of 11.67 may have been enough to allow him to move into the second round with relative ease, but with four less drivers in the running forRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With the first round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup complete after last weekend’s race at Dover, NASCAR’s premier division heads home to Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend to kick off the Round of 12 with Saturday night’s running of the Bank of America 500. As the first race in the Round of 12, Charlotte will play a big role in setting up how the remainder of the round will play out at Kansas and Talladega in the next two weeks. The 1.5Read More