DOVER, DE – SEPTEMBER 30: Chase Elliott, driver of the #24 Mountain Dew Chevrolet, 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
As a Sunoco rookie in his first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Chase Elliott has found the first two playoff races surprisingly “normal.”
Elliott comes to the elimination at Dover tied for ninth in the standings, 16 points ahead of Jamie McMurray and Austin Dillon, the first two drivers below the cut line.
But Elliott expects that, as the rounds of the Chase progress, the intensity will ratchet up significantly. Continue reading →
Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota, speaks with the media after practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Solider 400 at Dover International Speedway on September 30, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images
If you don’t consider Martin Truex Jr. one of the favorites to win this year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, you haven’t been paying attention to the first two races in the Chase.
Truex won the Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway and had perhaps the fastest car a week later at New Hampshire, though he dropped to seventh at the finish after a late restart.
Now he comes to Dover, the track closest to his childhood home in Mayetta, N.J., full of confidence—and not just because he’s locked into the Chase’s Round of 12 by virtue of the win at Chicagoland. Dover gave Truex his first Sprint Cup victory in 2007; in addition, he notched two poles and ten top-tens at the track. Continue reading →
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 →
So far, so good in Kyle Larson’s first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
The No. 42 Chevrolet driver holds the final transfer spot to the Round of 12 by five points over his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jamie McMurray heading into Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400 Chase cutoff race at Dover International Speedway at 2 pm. ET on NBCSN.
Larson finished 18th in the Chase opener at Chicagoland and tenth last Sunday at New Hampshire, but still has some work to do. Continue reading →