Angie’s Spin Zone

Kyle Larson drove his Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Target Chevrolet to a third place finish in the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway, earning his best result of the season. It's a track where Larson has struggled in the past which made this top five even sweeter.

Five races into the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney have risen to the top of the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings leaving the rest of the contenders to play a game of “catch me if you can.”

Ryan Blaney drove his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to a sixth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, capturing his first top-10 of the season. It was especially gratifying after a last-lap crash last week at Atlanta relegated him to a discouraging 25th place result.

In his first XFINITY race in over a year, Corey LaJoie drove his JGL Racing Young Guns No. 24 Toyota to a 23rd place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

t was announced Friday that Brian Vickers would be filling in for Tony Stewart in the Sprint Unlimited as well as the Daytona 500. It’s an exciting prospect for Vickers whose NASCAR career has stalled due to a medical condition that requires him to periodically take blood thinners. It’s also an opportunity that could lead to re-establishing Vickers as a marketable driver.

There were no helmets to conceal the raw emotion and no sunglasses to hide the tears that glistened below the surface. “Life isn’t just about living,” he reminded us. “It’s about being alive.”

Whether you believe the wreck was intentional or not, there is no definitive proof to back up either claim or to establish intent. But Kenseth, who is no longer in contention for the Chase, may have committed the one mistake that NASCAR won’t ignore; taking out someone contending for the championship.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had to win Sunday at Talladega in order to move forward to the Eliminator Round of the Chase. For a few brief moments, it looked as though he had done that just that. However, an untimely caution flag flew and it was determined that Joey Logano was actually leading the race when the caution was called, leaving Earnhardt out in the cold.

Let’s be honest. Trying to predict which eight drivers will make it through the characteristic chaos of Talladega Superspeedway to advance to the Eliminator Round of the Chase is next to impossible. With only 25 points separating the top eight contenders and the looming likelihood of the almost inevitable “big one,” the only thing certain is that no one is safe - except Joey Logano.

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.