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:
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.
The Daytona 500 is usually renowned for its surprises, but the top of the standings last Sunday after a rain-soaked day was filled with favorites. You know Dale Earnhardt Junior got the win, and the rest of the top five looked like a who’s who of the best in the business. Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, […]
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.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is at the end of the line as the circuit comes to the Homestead-Miami Speedway for Sunday’s Ford Ecoboost 400 (3 PM ET, ESPN). It’s the final race of the season and it’s going to take a seismic chain of events to keep Jimmie Johnson from winning his sixth championship.
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).
There are four races to go in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and four drivers who have a realistic championship. Jimmie Johnson has moved into the lead after last week in Talladega, with Matt Kenseth four points back. And in a spirit of generosity, TheSportsNotebook is including Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick among those with a shot. Both drivers are 26 points out, and I’m willing to give them one more week to see if they can make a significant dent in that number.
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).