Round of 8 Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer “When Homestead comes around if I am not in, he will know it,” said a disgruntled Aric Almirola who laid down the law towards Joey Logano. For the second race in a row, Logano is the center of criticism from a Round of 8 competitor after Almirola voiced his displeasure of how hard he raced him in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth. Struggling matching race winner’s and Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick’s dominant pace, Almirola was in excellent position withRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Austin Cindric started the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 weekend on an absolute low note, but will exit Texas Motor Speedway with a persevering third-place result Saturday. However, not only his finish took place after some hurdles that caused title ramifications, he trails Daniel Hemric by 61 points for the fourth and final spot to compete in the Championship 4. Therefore, Cindric is in a must win situation heading into ISM Raceway in Phoenix Nov. 10. Despite the deficit that bestow the 20-year-old, he’s just happy ofRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer In spite of surviving the mayhem, Tyler Reddick will leave Kansas Speedway a bit shameful after being denied a possible top-three finish in Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300. Throughout the 200-lap contest, Reddick had one of his finest races this season, running in the top-five for much of the afternoon and ended up sixth in Stage 1, followed by a stellar fourth in Stage 2. While quiet, his eyes were set on a top-three result, which he hasn’t achieved thus far in the playoffs, and notRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor An entire season of blood sweat and tears for Matt Kenseth and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team was wiped out in an instant late in the Can-Am 500 at Pheonix International Raceway. Kenseth started the day from the 10th position, and early on his car was fast but it just lacked a little bit of front grip. When the driver made his first pit stop on lap 88, his crew chief Jason Ratcliff made great changes and the car was dialed in theRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — With one race left before the Chase for the Sprint Cup Round of 8 is cut down to four, Kurt Busch finds himself in a not-so-favorable spot — last in the Chase Grid. After finishing 15th-or-better in every Chase event through the Rounds of 16 and 12, Busch has now racked up back to back finishes of 20th-or-worse to start the Round of 8. After his latest finish, a 20th place effort in the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway,Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — If Kyle Busch goes on to win his second-consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, likely the AAA Texas 500 weekend at Texas Motor Speedway will be remembered as a huge reason why. On possibly the most trying week of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team’s season, Busch dug deep and showed the tenacity of a champion as he gutted out a top-five finish. Busch’s week went sour before it even started. In the first practice of the weekend, Busch slammed intoRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — The weekend at Texas Motor Speedway got off to a rough start for one of the eight drivers still in championship contention in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase. Kyle Busch slammed into the wall coming to the start finish line to begin his first lap of practice. The damage from the contact with the wall was severe enough that Busch is now relegated to a backup car for the remainder of the weekend. “Unfortunate there with our practice crash that we had, kindRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor It has been a dominant season for Toyota Racing, and Joe Gibbs Racing in particular. But after the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville, one of the team’s four drivers — Carl Edwards — finds himself in an uphill battle if he wants to advance to the Sprint Cup Series championship race in Homestead four weeks from now. Edwards started the day from the seventh position, but his day got off to a rocky start as he was busted for speeding on pit road during hisRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – He did it again. Last in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings and faced with an uphill struggle to make the Round of 8, Kevin Harvick and his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team did what they do best—win with their backs to the wall. Moments after a restart on Lap 238 of 267, Harvick cleared Carl Edwards for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 at Kansas Speedway and pulled away to win Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 byRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer KANSAS CITY, Kan. – In the first race of the Round of 12 last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott led 103 laps before a wreck on Lap 258 ended his day and put the rookie driver three points behind the final transfer spot to the Round of 8 heading to Kansas Speedway. Elliott qualified 13th for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 and was one of just three Chase drivers that started outside the top-12. Elliott cracked the top-three at Lap 121 and passed KevinRead More