Jeff Gordon says he "will be here as long as they need me" for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Speaking in his weekly media availability at Pocono Raceway, the substitute driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was asked how long he's prepared to fill in for Earnhardt and if there's a plan in place for next week at Watkins Glen International.
It's an unspoken opinion among many NASCAR pundits and competitors: Alex Bowman is a talented, capable driver. Granted, there's been an absence of trophies in his record, with a 13th-place at Daytona in 2014 being his career-best finish. But with the right equipment, Bowman could very well pull off some strong performances.
Busch stretched his fuel mileage at Pocono and came away with the win, his first victory of the year. “The race was called the ‘Axalta We Paint Winners 400,’” Busch said. “At least for me. For 39 other drivers, it was called the ‘Axalta We Ain’t Winners 400.’”
Since they dropped the racing from 500 miles to 400 miles at Pocono, it has drastically improved. I can't explain why, but eliminating those extra 100 miles changed the way the drivers attack the track.
It's no secret that Kasey Kahne has struggled to contend for wins in the past three seasons. In his last 84 starts, Kahne has just one win, eight top five finishes and an average finish of 17.3. Those certainly doesn't sound like the numbers of a Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Busch held off Kevin Harvick down the stretch to win the GoBowling,com 400 at Kansas. Busch is second in the Sprint Cup points standings, four behind Harvick.
Harvick finished seventh at Bristol, posting his seventh top-10 result of the year. He leads the Sprint Cup points standings by a single point over second-place Carl Edwards.
With a fifth-place run at Saturday's Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott, and his No. 24 crew have proved that the 2016 Rookie of the Year competition is in their favor. Not only was it his first career top-five, it was also his fourth top-10 in seven races.
I still can't imagine that it has been 23 years since we lost Alan Kulwicki in a plane crash as he was headed to Bristol Motor Speedway. The sight of the No. 7 hauler taking the lap around Bristol before leaving the track still brings a chill up my back.
