Josh Wise got in the Sprint All-Star race, and at least managed to still be running at the end. His sponsor, Dogecoin, got all sorts of publicity, and Danica Patrick, Kyle Larson, and Austin Dillon got screwed.
There are three major stars in NASCAR’s constellation of drivers. They are simply called Jimmie, Junior, and Jeff, and few could argue that this trio has shone the brightest. Jimmie Johnson has six championships, including five in a row.
Surprising: Weird and freaky things continue to happen at NASCAR races and the Kansas race was no exception. The lights went dark on the back stretch, the speedy dry truck lost a gear, and the car that was ‘Freaky Fast’, starting from the pole with a new track record, just could not pull off the victory, coming in second instead.
On the final set of pit stops, Jeff Gordon took the lead from Kevin Harvick during Saturday night's 5-Hour Energy 400 at Kansas Speedway and was able to hold off Harvick by two car lengths at the finish line and capture his 89th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career victory.
Kevin Harvick took the Coors Light Pole Award for the 5-hour ENERGY 400 Benefiting Special Operations Warrior Foundation with a new track record of 27.799 seconds or 194.658 mph. This is Harvick's eighth pole in 477 Sprint Cup Series races and his second in 17 races at Kansas Speedway.
Kansas is not as sexy as Talladega, I admit. It is not a Daytona, a Darlington, and it is no Indianapolis. I think having the race named after a series of sponsors instead of seeking a real identity might have something to do with that. Still, some big names have been among the 16 winners there since they first started up the engines back in 2001.
Gordon ran up front much of the day at Talladega before he was collected in the “Big One” on lap 137. He finished 39th, his worst finish of the year, 32 laps down, but held on to the lead in the Sprint Cup points standings.
Gordon led 173 of 400 laps at Richmond, but his quest for his first win of the season fell short. He finished second behind Joey Logano after a spirited four-car battle for the win during the final laps. Gordons leads the Sprint Cup points standings, five ahead of Matt Kenseth.
There is a reason we read the entire book, rather than rely totally on the CliffsNotes version. For example, the shortened description of Saturday night’s Southern 500 action at Darlington would read that Kevin Harvick dominated and went on to win his second of the season.
