Jimmie Johnson is the Michael Jordan of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit. The 2013 champion has won six rings, the same as Jordan did with the Chicago Bulls. But the new season has not been kind to the 38-year-old driver whose presence looms large over every NASCAR race. We’re at Memorial Day weekend, and JJ has yet to win a race.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has twelve races under their belt in the 2014 season, and while there’s still plenty of time for struggling drivers to recover, it’s also deep enough into the year to start taking notice of who is having problems. And of the most significant of those still looking to find their traction is Tony Stewart.
Doesn’t it seem like the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season just ended? It was only November that Jimmie Johnson won his sixth Cup down in Miami, but here we are, back in Florida, for the Daytona 500 and the beginning of a new season on Sunday. The offseason might have been short, but it was consequential. Let’s review the big changes and take a look at what lies ahead in 2014.
It’s been almost two weeks since the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season wrapped up in Miami. After letting the championship slip through his grasp at the end of 2012, there were no such slip-ups for Jimmie Johnson this time around. The 38-year-old driver further cemented his legend as one of the sport’s all-time greats in winning his sixth Cup.
Jimmie Johnson is closing in on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship after his clutch win in Texas last Sunday moved him to a seven-point lead over Matt Kenseth. But there’s still two races left and no one knows better than Johnson how a steady lead can fall apart on Phoenix International Raceway, where the circuit heads for Sunday’s Advocare 500 (3 PM ET, ESPN).
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race for the championship is a dead heat, as Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson are tied at the top with three races to go, as the circuit prepares for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (3 PM ET, ESPN).
Everyone else has a lot of ground to make up, and Talladega Superspeedway is the place where dramatic things can happen. “Restrictor-plate racing–or pack racing means a big crackup, more often than not,” said TheSportsNotebook’s resident NASCAR advisor, my brother Bill. “Someone who drives a nice safe race can win.” He further added that if someone–for example Greg Biffle at (-58) off the pace, where to win in such fashion, while the leaders got caught in a wreck they couldn’t recover from, it would change the dynamic of the race.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship race tightened up a bit last week, as leader Matt Kenseth struggled, Kevin Harvick won and a few other drivers have at least moved into striking distance as the circuit gets set for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (7:30 PM ET, ABC).
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 Sprint Cup Series makes it second trip of the year to Dover International Speedway, with Matt Kenseth having won the first two races of the postseason, and the overall push for the championship starting to take some shape as the AAA 400 runs on Sunday (2 PM ET, ESPN).
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday for the second leg of the 10-race Chase For The Cup. The Sylvania 300 goes at 2 PM ET on ESPN, with the circuit’s consensus favorite, Jimmie Johnson, hoping to break out of his funk.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series begins its final Chase For The Cup, the 10 races to settle the championship on Sunday afternoon in Chicago, with the running of the Geico 400 (2 PM ET, ESPN). The controversy and chaos of last week’s final regular season race in Richmond have a dark cloud hanging over the sport.
Hard-core NASCAR fans know the details, but for those who may have only casually seen some reports in the midst of watching baseball or football this week, here’s the short version of the story