Sprint Cup Series AdvoCare 500 Preview

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet and Greg Biffle, driver of the #16 3M/Manheim Auctions Ford, lead the field at the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 2, 2012  Photo - Brian Lawdermilk-Pool/Getty Images

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet and Greg Biffle, driver of the #16 3M/Manheim Auctions Ford, lead the field at the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 2, 2012
Photo – Brian Lawdermilk-Pool/Getty Images

Sprint Cup Series drivers head to Atlanta Motor Speedway to continue a Labor Day tradition reaching into NASCAR‘s formative years.  The AdvoCare 500 race is on Sunday, September 1st and television coverage begins at 6:30 pm ET on ESPN, with radio coverage on PRN, Sirius XM channel 90.

Great racing and legendary winners have ushered out summer and – in recent seasons – solidified the lineup of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™. This weekend looks to be no different as the series heads to the penultimate race of the regular season.

Drivers have claimed three Chase spots, leaving nine more for the taking, either at Atlanta’s 1.54-mile asphalt track or next week at Richmond International Raceway. Sunday’s race may be more about who doesn’t have provisional Chase standing than those who may punch their tickets for NASCAR’s post-season. Continue reading

Nationwide Series’ Great Clips/Grit Chips 300 Preview

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(L-R) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #6 Cargill Beef Ford and Kyle Busch, driver of the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, lead the field at the start of the NASCAR Nationwide Series NRA American Warrior 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 1, 2012
Photo – Brian Lawdermilk-Pool/Getty Images

NASCAR’s Nationwide Series teams head to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Great Clips/Grit Chips 300 race on Saturday, August 31st. Television coverage begins at 7 pm ET on ESPN2 with radio coverage on PRN, Sirius XM channel 90.

In a points battle too close to call, Nationwide Series contenders are swapping the points lead, among the drivers near the top of the standings. Sam Hornish Jr is watching his narrow advantage over the rest of the field shrink further after Friday’s Bristol race.

Finishing third at Bristol, Austin Dillon followed Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski to jump from fourth to second in the point standings. Hornish’s 13-point advantage over Elliott Sadler is now at six points over Dillon with only ten races left in the season. Sadler who now sits 11 markers behind Hornish, dropped to third.

How close is the points battle? Continue reading

Camping World Truck Series Chevrolet Silverado 250 Preview

Ron Hornaday is the only driver with truck experience on a road course. But will that help him this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park?  Photo - Justin Edmunds/Getty Images

Ron Hornaday is the only CWTS driver with truck experience on a road course. But will that help him this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park?
Photo – Justin Edmunds/Getty Images

The Camping World Truck series returns to road course racing at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park this weekend. Drivers will race the road course on Sunday, September 1st with television coverage on FOX beginning at 2pm ET and radio coverage on MRN, Sirius XM channel 90. Continue reading

Kwasniewski Earns Fourth Win – Hayley Claims Sixth Pole

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Dylan Kwasniewski leads the Biscuitville 125.  Photo - Sara D. Davis/Getty Images

Dylan Kwasniewski leads the Biscuitville 125.
Photo – Sara D. Davis/Getty Images

NASCAR Next driver, Dylan Kwasniewski won his fourth K&N Pro Series event on Saturday, taking the checkered flag at the Biscuitville 125 at Virginia International Raceway. The 2012 K&N Pro Series West champion leads the East series standings by 28-points heading into the Labor Day event at Greenville Pickens Speedway.  Saturday’s win was the ninth K&N victory for Kwasniewski, spanning both series.

On the opposite end of the country, fellow NASCAR Next driver Cameron Hayley claimed his sixth K&N Pro Series West pole en route to a third place finish at the Toyota/NAPA Auto Parts 150 at Spokane County Raceway, an event won by teammate Greg Pursley.

This week will see the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour at Langley Speedway, The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ont, and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will close out the holiday weekend with an event at Greenville.

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Sprint Cup Chase Tracker – Bristol

ChaseTrackerBristol300x400This week’s Sprint Cup Chase Tracker after Bristol holds some interesting insight into the Race to the Chase with just one more race (Atlanta) before the series travels the Road to Richmond.

Bristol is a Wild Card race en route to qualifying to compete for the Sprint Cup championship trophy and interestingly, there are three previous champions on the outside still chasing a Wild Card ticket. An intriguing note, is that all three are winless this season.

It’s also worthy to note that last year at this time, the average-finish performance was at a higher level with eventual 2012 champion Brad Keselowski consistently running an average-finish in the top-five range. This year, with the new Gen 6 car, most are outside of top-ten performance, with only two drivers (neither is NASCAR’s five-time champion) at or slightly better than top-ten results since Kentucky. Reviewing the most recent five-races, there’s only one driver in the top-five average-finish range, and most will be amazed to discover which driver.

Similar to previous Chase Tracker analysis, this week’s review includes average-finish performance of top competitors from Kentucky through Bristol – Race to the Chase – as well as, the most recent five races from Indianapolis through Bristol. Also taken into consideration is the new point standings after all the action at Bristol. Continue reading