NASCAR Cup Series

Michigan International Speedway officials are proud to partner with FireKeepers Casino, another Michigan-based company, to bring fans the FireKeepers Casino 400 on June 12.

The final race in the Contender Round is taking place this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway and when it’s over there will be eight drivers remaining in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Ford’s Brad Keselowski needed a win at this point last year in order to advance to the Eliminator Round and he got it in dramatic fashion. That win was the 21st for Ford at the 2.66-mile track, including once each of the last three seasons.

Phoenix International Raceway President Bryan R. Sperber announced today that the track’s grandstands are sold out for the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday, Nov. 15. The sellout occurred nearly a month ahead of race day, and it is the fifth-consecutive sellout for the fall race at PIR, making it arguably the toughest ticket in all of NASCAR.

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.

Kansas Recap: Denny Hamlin finished second in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, after fighting an ill-handling FedEx Express Toyota for most of the event won by Joey Logano. Following the race’s final caution, Hamlin lined up second, next to Logano on the front row for a green-white-checkered finish.

At this stage of the game, only a dozen drivers really matter in Cup racing. Twelve still have a shot at the championship, 18 more either have the results or the resources to at least theoretically be of interest, while 13 others are just there and rarely, if ever, matter.

In racing there is one objective – to win. Does that mean that winning by any means is justified? I suppose that depends on your point of view.

Under clear blue Kansas skies, Brad Keselowski led the field to the green flag at 2:34 p.m. Drama hit the No. 4 car of Kevin Harvick early when he cued up his radio to say that there was a vibration in the car and, "it's going to blow up."

"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.

When the No.32 C&J Energy Services Ford Fusion arrives at the Talladega Superspeedway for the CampingWorld.Com 500 race weekend the familiar No.32 will have a different look. In support of Breast Cancer Awareness month, the No.32 will feature pink where silver is normally seen.