NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

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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

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

Kenseth Clinches Chase Berth with a Win at Bristol

Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, races to the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 53rd Annual IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 24, 2013  Photo - Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images
Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, races to the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 53rd Annual IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 24, 2013
Photo – Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

A familiar end to a Sprint Cup race this season – Las Vegas in March. Kansas in April – and again, Saturday night under the lights at Bristol Motor Speedway, it was Matt Kenseth holding off Kasey Kahne in the closing laps.

Kenseth won a heated battle against Kahne to claim victory in Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race and he did it on worn tires with his fuel tank teetering on empty. Kahne took on the challenge after taking over second-place on lap 473 of 500.

His fifth win of the season guarantees Kenseth at least a Wild Card spot in the Chase for NASCAR’s Sprint Cup.   Continue reading

Sprint Cup’s IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Preview

Cars race during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 25, 2012  Photo - Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Cars race during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 25, 2012
Photo – Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

NASCAR‘s Sprint Cup Series drivers are at Bristol Motor Speedway for the IRWIN Tools Night Race on Saturday, August 24th. Television coverage begins at 7:30pm ET on ABC (check your local listings) and radio coverage is on PRN, SiriusXM channel 90.  Catch all 266.5 miles of action throughout this 500 lap event.   Continue reading