The Daytona 500 ushers in the start of a new NASCAR Sprint Cup season on Sunday (Noon ET, Fox). With the strong presence of Joe Gibbs Racing, named for and run by the former legendary head coach of the Washington Redskins, the Sprint Cup circuit can be fairly described as where Redskins fans go to experience winning on Sunday. There are four drivers for Joe Gibbs Racing, all prominent contenders. Here’s a look at each one:
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series postseason makes its second visit of the year to Kansas City and the Kansas Motor Speedway, with the running of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (2 PM ET, ESPN). There are three drivers in command of the race, several other hopefuls and countless other drivers not eligible for the overall championship, but still hoping for individual wins that can salvage a season and line the purse.
The NASCAR Chase For The Cup is on. The playoff qualification talk that has dominated this space in recent weeks is all settled. The standings have been re-calibrated with an emphasis on wins, rather than point accumulation and the field is narrowed to twelve drivers who have a chance to win it all over the next ten weeks. The races will have their customary full fields, but only the following dozen are eligible to win the championship in November…
Atlanta Motor Speedway is the center of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series world on Sunday night, as the track hosts Advocare 500 at 6:30 PM ET on ESPN. This is the penultimate race of NASCAR’s “regular season.” Starting September 16, the Chase For The Cup will reduced to the top ten drivers in the points standings plus two wild-cards. While the races will still have full fields, only the 12 surviving drivers will be eligible for the championship. So without further adieu, TheSportsNotebook dives into the key storylines for Atlanta…
The NASCAR Sprint Cup series comes to Michigan International Speedway on Sunday (Noon ET, ESPN) for the Pure Michigan 400, as four more races remain for drivers to position themselves for, or qualify for, the Sprint For The Cup that concludes the season.
Jimmie Johnson is now the points leader for the first time this season, quite a turnaround from the points penalty he took in February for essentially driving a car on steroids. JJ only leads Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth by one and two points respectively, although as we’ve discussed in previous race previews, the scoring system for the playoffs make the standings cosmetic and total wins more important. In that area, Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart continue to lead the field with three outright wins and if the Sprint For The Cup started today these three drivers would be tied for first when the standings get the re-set button hit.