Elliott Sadler going to Roush in 2015

Elliott Sadler, a former Sprint Cup driver who went back to the Nationwide Series in 2011 following the closure of Richard Petty's #19 team, will be driving for Roush Fenway Racing in what will soon be known as the Xfinity Series in 2015. Sadler will drive a #1 Ford Mustang, presumably replacing Trevor Bayne, who will take the #6 car with him to Cup for his first full-time gig in the series come February.

Sadler has spent the last two seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing and won at Talladega in May. Before that, he drove for Richard Childress for two years and won four races in 2012. He also drove in a few Cup races with RCR in the #33 car before most of the #33 team was sold to Joe Falk. Sadler's last appearance in cup was in the last four races of 2013 with Michael Waltrip Racing, subbing for Brian Vickers.

The Motorsports Group to start a Cup team in 2015

The Motorsports Group, a current Nationwide Series team, announced plans on Wednesday to form a Sprint Cup Series team in 2015, and they could debut as early as the Daytona 500 in February. TMG will stick with Chevrolet as its manufacturer. They have not yet chosen a driver or number for their Cup car.

TMG previously operated in what was then the Busch Series as Key Motorsports from 1993 to 1998. They have also fielded trucks in the Craftsman/Camping World Truck Series. They returned to competition in NASCAR's number two series in 2008 under their current name. In recent years, TMG has been criticized for their frequent practice of start-and-parking, mainly with the #40 and #46 Chevrolets driven by various driver such as Josh Wise, Matt DiBenedetto and Chase Miller. For this reason, it is not uncommon to see TMG cars at the tail end of the running order in a race, and this is why fans do not see them as contenders. But TMG could be ready for a Cup operation despite this, although they would really have to prove themselves to fans.

Chase standings after 7 of 10 races

Here is the Chase grid after the first race of the Eliminator round.

1. 24-Jeff Gordon - 4,044 points, 4 wins (1 in Chase)
2. 31-Ryan Newman - 4,041 points
3. 22-Joey Logano - 4,040 points, 5 wins (2 in Chase)
4. 20-Matt Kenseth - 4,039 points
5. 11-Denny Hamlin - 4,037 points, 1 win
6. 99-Carl Edwards - 4,024 points, 2 wins
7. 2-Brad Keselowski - 4,013 points, 6 wins (2 in Chase)
8. 4-Kevin Harvick - 4,011 points, 3 wins (1 in Chase)

The Eliminator round continues at Texas on Sunday and ends at Phoenix on November 9 with four driver going to the Championship round at Homestead.

More tempers flare at Martinsville

Short track races usually lead to short tempers, and that's what happened with some drivers in Sunday's race, for the second time in the last three races. First, Brian Vickers and eliminated Chase driver Kasey Kahne had a couple of run-ins with each other on the track. A few laps after the second incident between the two drivers, NASCAR reported that Vickers and Kahne were "done", meaning not that they had been parked for the remainder of the race, but simply that officials had told them to stop the antics and just race. Kahne was later caught up in a crash with Chaser Brad Keselowski and other drivers.

Later in the race, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick went after each other while on the track. Harvick had spun earlier, causing damage to his car that his crew scrambled to fix so they wouldn't lose too many championship points. He spent the rest of the race with his car's front sheetmetal removed, and it was in this condition that his car came into contact with Kenseth's. Kenseth got into a fight two weeks ago with Keselowski at Charlotte, after the Saturday night race there that Harvick won to make the cut for the Eliminator round.

Earnhardt spoils Chase party with Martinsville win

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was eliminated from the Chase after last week's race at Talladega, made himself and his fans feel better about his elimination by taking the win at Martinsville on Sunday, the first race of the Eliminator round of the Chase. It was Earnhardt's fourth win of the season and his first at the Virginia short track. All prior Chase races this year had been won by a driver still in the Chase. The race to get into the Championship round still has all eight remaining drivers up for grabs.

Earnhardt's teammate Jeff Gordon, the defending champion of the race, led the most laps and finished second. There were two red flags for crashes in the final laps, one involving Casey Mears and another Hendrick driver, Kasey Kahne, with Danica Patrick and Brad Keselowski also getting damage. Other Chase drivers, both eliminated and not, also ran into problems throughout the race such as speeding penalties and engine failures. The Eliminator round continues next week at Texas.

Wendell Scott honored at Martinsville

Wendell Scott, the first black driver to win a race in NASCAR's top series, will be one of the inductees of the 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame. In honor of this, two drivers showed up to Martinsville this weekend with special paint schemes paying tribute to the #34 Chevrolet that Scott drove to victory on December 1, 1963 in Jacksonville, Florida. Scott's victory was not immediately acknowledged by NASCAR due to the state of affairs at the time, but it has nevertheless proved to be historic.

Saturday's Camping World Truck Series Race featured fellow African-American driver Darrell Wallace Jr. driving one of Kyle Busch's Toyotas, whose number was changed from #54 to #34. Wallace was the defending champion of the race, and he also joined Scott in the history books with that win, which was his first in the series. He started from the pole and led 97 of 200 laps on his way to his second straight Martinsville fall win. making for a perfect tribute to Scott. The truck race had its share of spins and crashes, including one that saw John Wes Townley and Brandon Jones take hard hits, and prompted a red flag for cleanup. Defending series champion and Martinsville spring winner Matt Crafton continues to lead the point standings, followed by Ryan Blaney.

The number 34 in Sprint Cup now belongs to Front Row Motorsports. David Ragan, the current driver of the #34 car, will carry the same paint scheme as Wallace on his Ford in the Sprint Cup race. Ragan took the number 34 to its first Cup win since Scott's historic win in last year's spring race at Talladega. There was a bit more history involved in Ragan's upset win, since along with Scott's win, the number 34 has won one other time in the Cup series. That race was the very first ever held in the series, at the original Charlotte speedway in 1949, which was won by Jim Roper.

Ten years later, ten lives remembered

On October 24, 2004, a plane from Concord, North Carolina carrying ten people affiliated with Hendrick Motorsports went missing en route to a Nextel Cup race in Martinsville, Virginia. That evening, the remnants of the plane were found on a mountainside near the track. All ten people aboard the plane - eight passengers and two crew members - were killed in the crash. The fatalities included Ricky Hendrick, the son of team owner Rick Hendrick and a former driver in the Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series, along with Rick's brother John and his twin daughters, engine builder Randy Dorton and team general manager Jeff Turner.

Hendrick's Cup lineup at the time consisted of two of their current drivers, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, with veteran Terry Labonte and rookie Brian Vickers. Johnson ended up winning the race, but instead of celebrating in victory lane, he was taken to the NASCAR hauler with his teammates and told the unfortunate news. For the rest of the season, the four Hendrick cars displayed a picture of the ten people lost in the crash with the words "Always in Our Hearts". This weekend at the Martinsville track, the Hendrick cars - two of which are now driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne - will have that same decal on the top of the car, next to the driver's name, to mark the decade that has gone by since that tragedy not far from where they will race on Sunday.

Ten years later, Rick Hendrick still remembers that day. He lost a big part of his family, including his own son, who was shaping up to be the next-generation leader of the Hendrick team, and several of his racing friends. Jimmie Johnson also remembers it, as he won the race that day but did not get to celebrate it. Johnson also won the following week at Atlanta, helping to ease some of the pain, but not a lot of it. And a decade later, it still returns from time to time, despite all of the race victories and championships the team has accumulated since. The people of Hendrick Motorsports will certainly be thinking about that day during Sunday's race.

Chase standings after 6 races

Here are the current Chase standings at the beginning of the third round. The eight remaining drivers have each had their points reset to 4,000 due to the elimination of four more drivers.

1. 22-Joey Logano - 5 wins, 2 in Chase
2. 4-Kevin Harvick - 3 wins, 1 in Chase
3. 31-Ryan Newman
4. 11-Denny Hamlin - 1 win
5. 20-Matt Kenseth
6. 99-Carl Edwards - 2 wins
7. 24-Jeff Gordon - 4 wins, 1 in Chase
8. 2-Brad Keselowski - 6 wins, 2 in Chase

The Eliminator round of the Chase starts at Martinsville on Sunday, then goes on to Texas on November 2 and Phoenix on November 9. The top four drivers after Phoenix will have their points reset to 5,000 and take part in the Championship round at Homestead on November 16.

Danica Patrick, Kurt Busch to switch crews

Another crew switch has been ordered at Stewart-Haas Racing. This time, it will be between the #10 Chevrolet of Danica Patrick and the #41 Chevrolet of Kurt Busch, and will become effective at Texas on November 2. While Patrick's former crew chief Tony Gibson will be Busch's crew chief starting at Texas, Busch's former crew chief Daniel Knost will just be an interim for Patrick for at least the last three races of 2014. Patrick is coming off a run at Talladega in which she ran up front late in the race, while Busch was one of the first four Chase drivers to get eliminated following Dover, with his brother Kyle having since joined him.

Previously, SHR's other two drivers, Kevin Harvick (#4) and team co-owner Tony Stewart (#14), swapped their pit crews on September 9, just before the Chase for the Sprint Cup started at Chicagoland. They kept their respective crew chiefs, Rodney Childers and Chad Johnston, both newcomers at SHR this year like Harvick and Busch. Since then, Harvick has gone on to advance to the second round of the Chase on points, then to the third round with a win at Charlotte on October 11. Stewart missed the Chase for the second straight year due to skipping some races in August.

Another NASCAR veteran calls it a career

Terry Labonte made his 890th and final Sprint Cup start at Talladega on Sunday driving the #32 Ford of Go FAS Racing. Labonte had said earlier this year that he was considering a full retirement after 2014, so the announcement this weekend confirming it was not much of a surprise. Fans were delighted to see Labonte pull off a top-ten qualifying position; he started ninth in the 43-car field on Sunday. Labonte got a piece of a multi-car wreck on lap 104 that also led to Chase driver Kyle Busch (who coincidentally replaced Labonte in the #5 car at Hendrick Motorsports in 2005) getting eliminated when the race was over. Labonte still managed to finish the race just one lap down.

Labonte made his Cup debut in 1978 at the Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina, and the following year he was in the same rookie class as Dale Earnhardt, the eventual Rookie of the Year that year. His first and last Cup wins both came in the Southern 500, in 1980 and 2003 respectively. He won a total of 22 races in those 23 years. Labonte is a two-time Sprint Cup champion, winning the championship in 1984 with Billy Hagan and in 1996 with Rick Hendrick. After going into semi-retirement following the 2004 season, Labonte ran for a variety of other teams, including a part-time Hendrick car, Michael Waltrip Racing and Petty Enterprises. His younger brother Bobby Labonte also won a Cup title in 2000, and last ran the full schedule in 2012.

For Earnhardt, a season to remember

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Sprint Cup championship hopes came to an end when he was eliminated from the Chase on Sunday at Talladega. But it's still been a great season for Earnhardt, and it started with a win in the Daytona 500. With wins at both races at Pocono, Earnhardt made 2014 his best season since 2004, when he won six races in the series. But during the second round of the Chase, his performance slipped and it eventually led to his elimination.

But Earnhardt shouldn't feel too disappointed, because he has proved this year that he can be successful with car owner Rick Hendrick. After a slow start with the team a few years ago, he has returned to being the competitive driver he once was, and was a serious threat to win the championship. Although he came up short, Earnhardt can truly look forward to next season with new crew chief Greg Ives.

Keselowski sneaks into Eliminator round with Talladega win

Brad Keselowski was the victor in a suspenseful race at Talladega on Sunday. It was the final race of the Contender round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, meaning that another four drivers were up for elimination coming into the race. One of those drivers was Keselowski, who was coming off a series of incidents following last Saturday evening's race at Charlotte, including getting jumped by Matt Kenseth by his team's hauler. Keselowski's win changed his luck and locked him into the Eliminator round, which starts next Sunday in Martinsville, Virginia. Keselowski's teammate Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick claimed their third-round spots with wins as well. Many fans still angry about last week were even more mad to see Keselowski win.

When all was said and done, three of the four eliminated drivers were from Hendrick Motorsports. The race took two green-white-checkered attempts to finish, and during the first attempt, eliminated Chaser Greg Biffle set off a wreck that collected Dale Earnhardt Jr., Paul Menard and other drivers. Earnhardt, who had restarted the race in 16th place, was already about to be eliminated from the Chase at that point, but the wreck did him in for sure and he ended up finishing 31st. Earnhardt's teammate Jimmie Johnson led the most laps but fell back at the end, ending his chances for a seventh championship. Earnhardt and Johnson were the other two drivers needing a win to advance to the third round. Their teammate Kasey Kahne never contended for the win. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch's fate was determined by a lap 104 crash that also took out Aric Almirola, A.J. Allmendinger, J.J. Yeley, Austin Dillon and polesitter Brian Vickers.

In the last few laps, the battle for the win was down to Keselowski and fellow Chase driver Ryan Newman, who unlike Keselowski was never in danger of elimination from the Chase. Newman went on to finish fifth. Several underdog drivers led throughout the day, including Danica Patrick, Ryan Blaney, David Gilliland and Cole Whitt. There was also a bittersweet touch to the race in the form of veteran and two-time champion Terry Labonte making his final series start. Labonte has only competed at Daytona and Talladega, NASCAR's two restrictor plate tracks, in recent years. Restrictor plate expert Michael Waltrip also made one of his handful of annual starts since going part-time.

The eliminated Chase drivers after Sunday's race:

• 5-Kasey Kahne
• 18-Kyle Busch
• 48-Jimmie Johnson
• 88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Truck race, Cup qualifying at Talladega prove eventful

Saturday's events at Talladega featured several notable events with the Camping World Truck Series race, followed by Sprint Cup qualifying. During the Truck race, there were a number of crashes, including one in which Turner Scott Motorsports' Ben Kennedy went on his side for a few seconds, and one a few laps into the race involving German Quiroga of Red Horse Racing and other drivers. Championship leader Johnny Sauter and his ThorSport teammate Matt Crafton also encountered issues with their trucks, with Sauter exiting the race with a dead engine, while Brad Keselowski's driver Ryan Blaney, another championship contender, fought his way back up front after leading several laps but then having to serve a drive-through penalty on pit road. Blaney's teammate Tyler Reddick had won the pole, but soon dropped back to about mid-pack. The race was won in a green-white-checkered finish by Quiroga's teammate Timothy Peters, with two underdogs, Tayler Malsam and Spencer Gallagher, finishing second and third.

Up next was Cup qualifying, which had a few tweaks to it to accomodate the superspeedway's restrictor plate racing style, including the first round being split into three segments with different drivers in each segment. There was some confusion regarding the qualifying times of some of the 46 drivers entered into the race. First, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch attempted to start one last lap during the first round at almost the exact moment time ran out (the rules state that if a driver starts a lap near the end of a round, it counts as long as the lap begins before the clock hits 0:00; the lap still counts if the clock runs out in the middle of that lap). NASCAR reviewed this moment and declared that Logano and Busch were a fraction of a second short of the line when the clock ran out, and thus threw out their last laps.

After the second round, it appeared that Joe Nemechek had taken the #29 Toyota of RAB Racing to the team's first Cup start. The third round ended with Michael Waltrip Racing driver Brian Vickers on the pole, and Terry Labonte, driving for Frank Stoddard, qualifying ninth in what is planned to be his 890th and final series start, in a throwback paint scheme different from the one he planned to race in, but was disallowed by NASCAR. The three drivers initially reported as having failed to make the race were Justin Allgaier of HScott Motorsports, Reed Sorenson of Tommy Baldwin Racing and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. of Roush Fenway Racing (the second straight week a Roush car has failed to qualify for a Cup race). However, Nemechek's car wound up failing post-qualifying inspection. NASCAR disqualified him as a result and put Sorenson in the race in Nemechek's place. RAB Racing was obviously disappointed at this turn of events. Also notable is that Tony Stewart had to use his past champions provisional to get into the race because he had one of the slowest cars.

It was indeed a wild day of racing at Talladega. And with Sunday's Cup race being important due to being the end of the Contender round of the Chase, it will end with four drivers eliminated, and those four drivers could be some that almost nobody expected if the race is as crazy as the Truck race and Cup qualifying session.

Talladega as unpredictable as ever

Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Talladega could be more of a defining point of the Chase than the season finale at Homestead next month. The fall race at the Alabama superspeedway, a track notorious for producing huge crashes and surprise winners, is the last race of the second round of the new Chase format. Many fans are expecting the Chase grid to get shaken up dramatically on Sunday due to the typical nature of Talladega races. For this reason, the four Chase drivers eliminated at the end of the race could be different from those who are currently facing elimination, and essentially have to win in order to avoid that happening to them. So Talladega could very well come right behind Homestead as the second most important race of the Chase now.

Chase standings after 5 races

Here is the Chase grid halfway through the Chase and entering the Contender round finale at Talladega.

1. 22-Joey Logano - 3,088 points, 5 wins (2 in Chase)
2. 18-Kyle Busch - 3,082 points, 1 win
3. 4-Kevin Harvick - 3,081 points, 3 wins (1 in Chase)
4. 31-Ryan Newman - 3,077 points
5. 99-Carl Edwards - 3,076 points, 2 wins
6. 24-Jeff Gordon - 3,074 points, 4 wins (1 in Chase)
7. 11-Denny Hamlin - 3,073 points, 1 win
8. 5-Kasey Kahne - 3,057 points, 1 win
9. 20-Matt Kenseth - 3,056 points
10. 2-Brad Keselowski - 3,038 points, 5 wins (1 in Chase)
11. 48-Jimmie Johnson - 3,031 points, 3 wins
12. 88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. - 3,031 points, 3 wins

Kenseth, Keselowski, Johnson and Earnhardt are the four drivers who would be eliminated after Sunday's race at Talladega under these standings. Logano and Harvick have already advanced to the Eliminator round with wins at Kansas and Charlotte.

Toyota aiming to improve NASCAR reputation in 2015

Toyota hasn't been a favorite with some NASCAR fans since its foray into Nationwide and Sprint Cup racing in 2007. They also haven't been very dominant: their first Cup win didn't come until 2008 with Joe Gibbs Racing, and this year their only two Cup points victories have been provided by that team, through wins by Kyle Busch at Fontana and Denny Hamlin at Talladega. All of the Cup championships since Toyota's entry have been won by Chevrolet or, in 2012, the then-outgoing Dodge. They have had more success over the years with Busch in the Nationwide Series, despite him being a Cup driver for ten years now. They have also been dominant in the Camping World Truck Series, especially this year with Busch.

A few days ago, Toyota unveiled their new-look cars for Cup and what will soon be known as the Xfinity Series. This is the first revision any manufacturer has made to the Gen-6 models in Cup. The Nationwide/Xfinity Series still uses the Gen-5 (better known as the "Car of Tomorrow") bodies. The most obvious differences are the new, bigger grille, with more emphasis on aerodynamics, and less rounded corners. The side windows also take up slightly more space than the 2013-14 model. Toyota clearly wants to start being more competitive in NASCAR's top two series and take away some of the advantages that Ford and especially Chevrolet have had over them. In the past year, one former Toyota team, JTG Daugherty Racing, has switched to Chevrolet, while another, Swan Racing, merged with BK Racing. But they still have some competitive teams like Gibbs, who is increasing to four cars with the addition of Carl Edwards, and Michael Waltrip Racing. So 2015 could be a better year for Toyota.

Has Keselowski gone from hero to zero?

Brad Keselowski was in perfect position to compete for a second Sprint Cup title in three years a couple of weeks ago. Now he is on the verge of elimination heading into Talladega, and adding to that is the run-ins Keselowski had with Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth after Saturday night's race at Charlotte. Keselowski had won the 501-mile, 334-lap race last year after missing the Chase and it was his only win of the season.

Keselowski sure made a lot of people mad with his driving during the final laps of the race, and three drivers made that very clear after race winner Kevin Harvick took the checkered flag. Keselowski seems to have gone from a championship favorite, with five wins on the season and the winningest driver at one point, to the "enemy" of the 12 current Chase drivers. Matt Kenseth, a fellow former Cup champion, said Keselowski wasn't thinking like a champion, and that's what drove everyone crazy. But maybe Keselowski will clean up his act next week, and something could happen that allows him to advance to the third round after all. Some fans and drivers would love to see him eliminated next week, though, after what has gone down between him and the other drivers, Chase and non-Chase.

Kevin Harvick wins at Charlotte, with plenty of action along the way

Kevin Harvick won the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte, the second race of the Contender round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, on Saturday evening. This is his first win in the Cup series since Darlington in April. Harvick will now join Joey Logano in the Eliminator round, which begins at Martinsville on October 26.

The race's television coverage encountered an interesting situation when the race was about to begin. A TCU-Baylor college football game on ABC, the channel on which ESPN was broadcasting the race, went well over their time slot, and the beginning of the race was moved to ESPNews. But the Heat-Cavaliers NBA game in Brazil on that channel went into overtime, and the start of the race wound up on the ESPN3 online service. ABC finally joined the race in time for the lap 25 competition caution prompted by a rain shower earlier in the day.

Jeff Gordon and polesitter Kyle Busch traded the lead early in the going. Rookies Kyle Larson, Justin Allgaier, Austin Dillon and Michael Annett, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin also led laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr., after leading briefly during the first caution, later had a broken shifter and fell to one lap down, leaving him in danger of elimination from the Chase. The race was marked by a crash involving Danica Patrick and her former teammate Ryan Newman, after Patrick was mad at points leader Joey Logano, as well as a heated radio disussion between Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus. Johnson later pitted from the top five with a few laps left, potentially costing him a good finish. Finally, Keselowski and Denny Hamlin had an altercation on the final lap, which carried over to the garage area with Hamlin's current teammate Matt Kenseth and former teammate Tony Stewart getting involved as well.

The Chase is now at its halfway point, with five races down and five to go. The Contender round ends next Sunday at Talladega, a track known for its unpredictable racing and huge crashes. There could be yet another shakeup in the Chase grid as four more drivers are about to be eliminated.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. turns 40 years old

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is celebrating his highly anticipated 40th birthday as he prepares to race at his home track in Concord, North Carolina on Saturday. Earnhardt, an 11-time most popular driver in NASCAR's top series, has rebounded on his performance in the past couple of years after a somewhat slow start with Hendrick Motorsports and is once again a competitive driver, like he was with Dale Earnhardt Inc. in both Nationwide and Cup. Now that he is 40 years old, some fans say he isn't exactly a "Junior" anymore, even though most people still prefer to call him by that nickname.

Charlotte fall race overshadowed by Coca-Cola 600

There are a few tracks in NASCAR that play host to a prestigious Sprint Cup race along with a lesser-known race. Daytona is one example, with the Daytona 500 standing over the Coke Zero 400. Another case that no longer exists is Darlington, which along with the original Southern 500 has a spring race that is moving to Labor Day weekend. Talladega could count too, as what was then known as the Winston 500 was part of NASCAR's Grand Slam and later No Bull 5 money bonus programs. Then there's Charlotte, nicknamed NASCAR's backyard, where the Cup series races on Saturday evening in a 500-mile race that is largely overshadowed by the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend, the longest race in all of NASCAR.

The Coke 600 is held on the same day as IndyCar's Indianapolis 500, adding even more prestige to the race. But Saturday's race is just a normal one, with the exception of the fact that it marks the halfway point of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and of the second round of the new Chase format. It's also been held at night since 2003, and is the only night race of the Chase, so perhaps it is something special after all. But it still doesn't compare to the glory of its spring counterpart.

Chase standings after 4 races

Here are the point standings for the 12 Chase drivers after 4 of 10 races.

1. 22-Joey Logano - 3,048 points, 5 wins (2 in Chase)
2. 18-Kyle Busch - 3,042 points, 1 win
3. 99-Carl Edwards - 3,039 points, 2 wins
4. 31-Ryan Newman - 3,039 points
5. 11-Denny Hamlin - 3,037 points, 1 win
6. 4-Kevin Harvick - 3,033 points, 2 wins
7. 20-Matt Kenseth - 3,031 points
8. 24-Jeff Gordon - 3,031 points, 4 wins (1 in Chase)
9. 5-Kasey Kahne - 3,023 points, 1 win
10. 2-Brad Keselowski - 3,009 points, 5 wins (1 in Chase)
11. 88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. - 3,006 points, 3 wins
12. 48-Jimmie Johnson - 3,004 points, 3 wins

Kahne, Keselowski, Earnhardt and Johnson would be the next four eliminated if the standings were like this after Talladega on October 19. One thing for sure is that the Chase grid has drastically changed from before the race on Sunday, with drivers who were at the top now at the bottom.

Sam Hornish Jr. going to Richard Petty Motorsports in 2015

Sam Hornish Jr., currently a part-time driver for Joe Gibbs in the Nationwide Series, will reportedly be replacing outgoing Australian driver Marcos Ambrose in the #9 Ford Fusion at Richard Petty Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series in 2015. The news was reported on Tuesday and is expected to officially be announced on Wednesday morning during a press conference at RPM's headquarters in Concord, North Carolina, where Nationwide and Cup incidentally race this weekend.

Hornish previously drove in Cup with Roger Penske, driving the #77 Dodge from 2008 to 2010, the #22 Dodge in 2012 and the #12 Ford in a couple of races in 2012 and 2013. He also had a brief stint with Front Row Motorsports in 2011. Before NASCAR, Hornish competed in the IndyCar series, winning three series championships and the 2006 Indianapolis 500 in a photo finish.

Kyle Larson getting better each week

Kyle Larson has had a good rookie season in the Sprint Cup Series even though he was hastily promoted to the series, after just one full Nationwide season. Some skeptics believed it would be like Joey Logano getting rushed into Cup in 2009 after Tony Stewart left Joe Gibbs Racing one year earlier than planned. Logano had only experienced half of a Nationwide season. Similarly, Larson quickly found himself in Cup when Juan Pablo Montoya left Chip Ganassi Racing after last year along with former Dale Earnhardt Inc. co-owner Teresa Earnhardt. Fans thought Larson wasn't ready, and in the first few races of this season it appeared they were right.

But Larson has slowly gotten better as the season has gone on, and he is now the prime contender for Rookie of the Year honors this year, a position that Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Dillon was originally thought to be in. He won the pole at Pocono in August, and also started first at Richmond in April after rain set the field based on practice speeds. He hasn't gone to victory lane in the series yet, although he has come close several times in recent races. He has picked up his first two Nationwide wins this year with Turner-Scott Motorsports, who gave Larson's car in that series a new look to match his #42 Target Chevrolet in Cup. Larson also almost became one of the first rookies to make the Chase.

So it looks like Chip Ganassi made a good decision after all to choose Larson as Montoya's replacement in NASCAR's top series. The attitude toward Larson in Cup has gone from "this kid needs more time in Nationwide" to "this kid is going to win in Cup soon and be the Rookie of the Year". And he is certainly one of the drivers who are leading this new generation of champions in NASCAR.

Logano takes Kansas, becomes first two-time winner in Chase

Joey Logano picked up his fifth win of the season and his second of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Kansas on Sunday. He will now advance to the Eliminator round, which begins in Martinsville, Virginia on October 26, no matter what happens to him at Charlotte and Talladega in the next two weeks. Logano is now tied with Penske teammate Brad Keselowski at five wins, the most of any driver who has competed in a Cup race this year, and they have combined to win four of the last five races. The Penske duo both advanced to the Challenger round of the Chase with wins at Chicagoland and New Hampshire.

Keselowski, however, was among the unlucky ones during the race. On lap 161 of the 267-lap, 400-mile race, he had a tire going down and spun in turn 2. This could be regarded as an opposite of Chicagoland three weeks ago, where Keselowski took the checkered flag but Logano's engine blew on the final lap, although he still pulled off a fifth-place finish. Also, all four Hendrick Motorsports cars interestingly ran into trouble. Jimmie Johnson, who spun during qualifying on Friday, got collected in a crash on lap 86 with eliminated Chaser Greg Biffle, Josh Wise and Justin Allgaier. 26 laps later, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had one of the best cars during practice and qualifying, had a tire issue similar to the one Keselowski had later, and hit the turn 4 wall while leading. This was the first race in which Earnhardt had led since Michigan on August 17, making for a disappointing day for the series' most popular driver. Jeff Gordon, last week's winner at Dover, and Kasey Kahne later had issues with their cars, with Kahne bringing out a potentially unneeded caution for minor contact with the backstretch wall.

There were eight cautions, the same amount as in the first race of the season at the track in May, and one fewer than Saturday's 300-mile Nationwide Series race. All but one were for crashes and spins. The Chase grid once again looks different than before the race today, with Ryan Newman in particular gaining several spots, and Earnhardt and Johnson down to the last two positions, 11th and 12th. Next up is the 500-mile race at Charlotte next Saturday, the only night race of the Chase, and then the Challenger round finale at Talladega on October 19.

Nationwide Series at Kansas filled with crashes, spins

The Nationwide Series had their one annual race at Kansas on Saturday (Cup has had two since 2011) and just like in previous races at all levels of racing at the track, there were many cautions resulting from crashes and single-car spins. The first spin was on lap 3 of the 200-lap race by Milka Duno, making her series debut with low expectations after failing to qualify for a number of races in the series during the past few months. Duno is an Argentinean driver competing in ARCA, whose season wrapped up at the 1.5-mile track on Friday.

Other incidents included a collision between Matt DiBenedetto and John Wes Townley, who had just been out front a few laps earlier, and a crash in which Kyle Larson self-spun and was then hit by Chris Buescher. There were nine cautions overall, three of which came within the first 25 laps. The race was ultimately won by Kyle Busch in another anticlimactic finish. Kansas has been prone to caution-filled races ever since the track opened in 2001. However, it is also a fairly competitive track with plenty of lead changes during most races.

Harvick knows how to win poles now

Kevin Harvick picked up a whopping eighth Sprint Cup pole this season at Kansas on Friday, by far the most of any driver in the series this season. Harvick, in his first season driving for Tony Stewart and Gene Haas after moving from Richard Childress Racing, has won two races this year, at Phoenix in March and Darlington in April. His Darlington win came from the pole. Harvick is also one of 12 drivers who advanced to the second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup after the race last Sunday, during which he led the most laps.

Harvick had a combined total of just six poles in the Cup series from 2001 to 2013, during his tenure at RCR. So his new team probably has the equipment that has made it easier for him to qualify up front. The new qualifying format for this year also may have helped. Now Harvick needs to get back to victory lane in NASCAR's top series to put his qualifying success to good work.

NASCAR Chase standings after 3 races

Here are the standings of the 12 Chase for the Sprint Cup drivers who made it to the Contender round. These drivers have all had their points reset to 3,000 because four drivers have been eliminated.

1. 2-Brad Keselowski - 5 wins, 1 in Chase
2. 22-Joey Logano - 4 wins, 1 in Chase
3. 4-Kevin Harvick - 2 wins
4. 48-Jimmie Johnson - 3 wins
5. 24-Jeff Gordon - 4 wins, 1 in Chase
6. 18-Kyle Busch - 1 win
7. 88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. - 3 wins
8. 20-Matt Kenseth
9. 31-Ryan Newman
10. 99-Carl Edwards - 2 wins
11. 11-Denny Hamlin - 1 win
12. 5-Kasey Kahne - 1 win

Newman, Edwards, Hamlin and Kahne would be facing elimination if the Chase was currently heading into the Contender round finale at Talladega, two weeks from now.