Hamlin enters this weekend with a head of steam after winning five days ago at Richmond International Raceway to close the regular season. So no matter how much they may have studied, this is one exam that’s tough to pass on the first try. He is confident, even though he has only four top-fives, 10 top-10s and one pole position coming at Fontana, California, in March.
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“I always tilt it toward an experienced guy, just because the pressure is so great and you never know how you’re going to act when you’re under that pressure”, six-time champion Jimmie Johnson said. I guess I’d also look at (Kyle) Larson. “It would certainly be egregious from everything we’ve seen before”, he said.
Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski pace the rest of the 16-car field that will eventually dwindle down to the Final Four and that pundits have determined is a wide-open run for the Sprint Car championship.
Fellow RCR drivers Ryan Newman and Paul Menard didn’t fare as well as Dillon at RIR, having been involved in crashes on laps 266 and 364, respectively. Gordon then slid up the track, making contact with Elliott. “We’ve been friends a long time and we were teammates, so I respect him a lot”. “I’ve just got to beat them once”. I’ve never had to go through I’m sure they haven’t, either, all the stuff we went through tonight, so hats off to them, fixing our vehicle multiple times.
“I’m very excited to be in”.
In 2014 Kenseth tackled Brad Keselowski in the garage area after a Chase race.
Can’t believe the editors here at ESPN.com want a Chase for the Sprint Cup outlook. It was his third win of the season.
His Chase chances, however, appeared doomed when he wrecked in two of his next three races at Dover and MI, dropping him to 39th in the points.
The Chase for the Sprint Cup begins Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, where defending race victor Denny Hamlin goes for his second straight victory in Sunday’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 (NBCSN, 2 p.m. ET). Some dominated early in the regular season. Ward was hit by Stewart’s vehicle and died. As the cars scattered in the turn, Buescher nearly made his way through unscathed, but hit right front bounced off of Newman’s vehicle.
“Chicago is a great place to start off the Chase”, said Johnson. “I mean, I was ready at the end of the year last year to retire”.
Buescher was involved in the wreck, but on the flip side for the driver of the No. 34 CSX – Play it Safe Ford Fusion, Ragan’s vehicle was heavily damaged, and he was unable to continue.
Sadler has some previous Chase experience, as he qualified for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase field in 2004.
“Now we talk a different strategy”, Buescher said.
“I don’t know what the secret sauce is, but I know we need to be consistent and I know we need to be running in the top five, so that is our goal to start”, he said.
“[It is] Just really cool to be a part of it at this point”. “We wanted to make sure the door wasn’t open for the teams to take advantage of the rules that we’ve had in place for the first 26 [races]”.
” Jamie McMurray – McMurray made his second Chase in a row off consistency as Chip Ganassi Racing put both cars in The Chase, but points racing won’t get it done here”. Kenseth responded by purposely crashing Logano at Martinsville, knocking Logano out of the playoffs and earning Kenseth a two-race suspension. The next three races at Michigan, Darlington and Richmond were all about survival for the team. They are eliminated four at a time in three three-race segments before the final four survivors compete for the title in the last race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Two races remain on the K&N Pro Series West schedule, which guarantees an exciting duel for the championship between at least nine drivers separated by 105 points.
And then there were 16. Stewart is in the final-10 races of his Sprint Cup career and, despite being a three-time champion, the last few years gave no indication he would be a victor in 2016 and find himself in the Chase.
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These are the variances Stewart, who’s already announced this would be his final season as a full-time NASCAR competitor, will now have to adapt to when the 2016 Chase begins Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway.
