SM Staff

With chaos happening all the way around them, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick both were able to avoid the chaos, bringing home solid finishes with Truex in sixth and Harvick in eighth. More importantly, they have themselves above the cut line, nine points for Truex and seven points for Harvick, heading into the second race of the third round of the Chase Championship.

Through the first two rounds of the Chase for the Championship, Kurt Busch has quietly put together a string of consistent finishes that have had him transfer to each round. On Sunday at Martinsville, he was on the road to doing that once again till he got taken out in a late race incident.

In race number 33 of the 2015 NASCAR season here is what was surprising and not surprising after the completion of the 67th Annual Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

The championship playoff known as the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has had more turns that a West Virginia mountain, but Sunday’s campingworld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway took the cake.

In the final race of the Contender round and with the elimination of four more drivers, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced earlier this week that 2015 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Champion Spencer Pigot will run at least three Verizon IndyCar Series events in 2016.

With finishes of 28th and 21st in the last two races, Dale Earnhardt Jr. currently sits 11th in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Standings, 31 points out of the top eight to advance to the third round.

"If it comes down to Homestead and he is one of the four and maybe somebody else isn't, they ain't going to make it easy on him," Kenseth crew chief Jason Ratcliff said. "Are they going to wreck him? No. I don't think anybody would do that. It's just uncalled for regardless of the situation.

With Michael Waltrip Racing set to close their doors at the end of the season, Clint Bowyer has expressed the want to give the employees a win before heading off to HScott Motorsports for 2016. Unfortunately, heavy contact with the wall on lap 171 would see Bowyer's day at Kansas Speedway end early.

Fresh off the announcement of the rules package for next year, here is what was surprising and not surprising from this year’s second race of the Contender round from the 15th annual Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.