In the first race of the 10-race Chase to the championship here is what was surprising and not surprising from 15th Annual myAFibRisk.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
On September 8 while playing basketball, Denny Hamlin suffered a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in his right knee. Despite the injury, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has committed to running the rest of the 2015 Sprint Cup Series schedule as he is one of the 16 drivers that will be chasing after the championship.
Over the course of the last 11 races, eight of them have been won by Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, with Kyle Busch snagging four wins, Matt Kenseth winning three races and Carl Edwards scoring a single win. With all four drivers within the organization qualified for the Chase for the Championship, it would look as though the chance are in their favor for success. There are even some predictors that have placed more than one of the four drivers in the final round at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.
When Jimmie Johnson takes the checkered flag at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 22nd, it will be the end of fourteen straight seasons with Chad Knaus on top the pitbox of the #48 Chevrolet. The results of the partnership have been legendary so far. 72 wins. Six Sprint Cup championships, including five in a row from 2006-2010. The 2013 Daytona 500. Four Coca-Cola 600 victories, along with wins in the Southern 500 and Brickyard 400.
Eleventh place may not seem like anything to brag about until you realize that everyone ahead of him has Sprint Cup backing. Surrounded by names like Roush Fenway Racing, JR Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing and Joe Gibbs Racings, Jeremy Clements Racing is David to their Goliath.
So it begins. Sixteen drivers, each trying to avoid being one of the four eliminated from contention for the championship after each round of three races.
Kenseth led 352 of 400 laps and cruised to an easy win in the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond. The win was Kenseth’s fourth of the season, and places him atop the points standings for the start of the Chase.
Richmond, where the final battle royal would take place to decide the final line-up for the Chase. Richmond, where we discovered that only six cars mattered at all the entire night, and all of them already had their tickets punched to the party.
In the last race of the regular season and the one to set the Chase contenders here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 48th annual Federated Auto Parts 500 at Richmond International Raceway.
Ford Racing’s NASCAR Cup Series drivers visited the Kansas Speedway media center ahead of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400. Joey Logano will sit on the pole position for tomorrow’s race by virtue of NASCAR’s metric after both practice and qualifying were rained out.
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Kansas Speedway.
