Denny Hamlin

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.

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.

What France just did was ensure that Logano becomes a high-speed pinata come Talladega. He already has two wins, more than enough to guarantee himself a spot in the next round no matter what takes place on Sunday.

Logano won his second straight race, bumping Matt Kenseth out of the lead with five laps to go to win the Hollywood Casino 400.

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.

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.

Lower downforce in next season’s rule package is supposed to reduce grip and make the cars more maneuverable. In short, passing should be more commonplace in 2016. If that is how it works out, we shall be happy. However, forgive me for waiting until at least February before I start celebrating.

Starting off the Chase Contender round, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

I get it. Racing cars can be dangerous. We have lost people in NASCAR, and one sad day, despite all the advances that have been made regarding safety, we just may lose somebody else. I hope not, but that is the reality we must face. All we can do is greatly reduce the odds.