Tag Archives: Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup

Ganassi Loses Two Drivers from Chase after Hard-Luck Dover Race

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Photo - Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

Photo – Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

It was a double-departure Chase day for Chip Ganassi Racing.

CGR drivers Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray entered Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400, the first elimination race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, riding on the ragged edge. Larson, 12th in the Chase standings, was five points above the cut line, and McMurray, in 13th, was five points below.

Long before the end of Sunday’s 400-lap marathon at Dover International Speedway, both drivers saw their hopes to advance to the Chase second round essentially evaporate. Continue reading →

“Best in Class” isn’t where Kyle Busch Wants to Be

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Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Core Toyota, is introduced prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on October 2, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo - Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Core Toyota, is introduced prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on October 2, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo – Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Runner-up Kyle Busch finished a whopping 7.527 seconds behind Martin Truex Jr., winner of Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover International Speedway.

Though the Joe Gibbs Racing organization that fields Busch’s cars gets its engines from Toyota Racing Development (TRD), as does Truex’s Furniture Row Racing, and though the organizations maintain a technical partnership, Truex’s team has enjoyed an edge in speed of late, winning two of the first three races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Don’t think Busch hasn’t noticed. Continue reading →

In One Sense, the Pressure’s Off Chris Buescher at Dover

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DOVER, DE - SEPTEMBER 30: Chris Buescher, driver of the #34 CSX - Play it Safe Ford, speaks with the media prior to practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo by Sean Gardner/NASCAR via Getty Images

DOVER, DE – SEPTEMBER 30: Chris Buescher, driver of the #34 CSX – Play it Safe Ford, speaks with the media prior to practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo by Sean Gardner/NASCAR via Getty Images

When racing pundits were making their Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup predictions at the start of the 2016 season, it’s doubtful that Chris Buescher made anyone’s top-16.

Nevertheless, Buescher defied the odds and qualified for the Chase on the strength of an unlikely victory in the rain-shortened Aug. 1 race at Pocono.

But the opening two events of the playoff didn’t go the way the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford would have liked. Buescher finished 28th at Chicagoland and 30th at New Hampshire to fall into last place in the Chase standings, 30 points below the cut line. Continue reading →

Qualifying Rainout puts Keselowski on Pole for Elimination Race at Dover

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DOVER, DE - SEPTEMBER 30: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, practices for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo by Sarah Crabill/NASCAR via Getty Images

DOVER, DE – SEPTEMBER 30: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, practices for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo by Sarah Crabill/NASCAR via Getty Images

For the second time in the first three Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup races this year, rain played havoc with Sprint Cup qualifying, forcing cancellation of Friday’s knockout time trials for the first elimination race of the playoffs.

This is the third straight Sprint Cup event at Dover for which qualifying has been cancelled because of rain.

With the field set by the rule book, Brad Keselowski, whose No. 2 Team Penske Ford leads the owners’ standings, will start Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400 at 2 pm ET on NBCSN from the pole. Martin Truex Jr., winner of the first Chase race at Chicagoland Speedway, will take the green flag next to Keselowski on the front row. Continue reading →

Despite Last Year’s Failure, Johnson Likes his Chances at Dover

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Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo - Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo – Chris Trotman/Getty Images

On a rainy morning at Dover International Speedway, Jimmie Johnson was hopeful lightning wouldn’t strike twice—figuratively speaking, of course.

A year ago, in the third race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the failure of a rear-axle seal eliminated the six-time series champion from NASCAR’s ten-race playoff.

Never mind that Johnson has owned the Monster Mile with ten victories in 29 starts. Last year’s 41st-place finish in the Chase race reminded the Dover dominator that freakish bad luck can strike at any time and dramatically change the course of a season. Continue reading →