There’s only four races in the regular season of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, before the deck gets reshuffled for the playoffs and only twelve drivers are eligible for the sport’s 2013 championship. As the circuit readies itself for Sunday afternoon’s Pure Michigan 400 (1 PM ET, ESPN), seven drivers continue to hold steady as the leaders.
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.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is back to where it started after the Daytona 500. After a spring and early summer of seeing Greg Biffle atop the standings, his recent struggles have finally caught up to him and Matt Kenseth is back on top for the first time since winning the Daytona. Its Kenseth’s only win of the year but a strong consistency kept him on Biffle’s heels the last several weeks and have now resulted in a 10-point lead in the wake of a standings shakeup following Joey Logano’s surprise win last week.