Can Kenseth, Stewart, others win again in 2015?

Some of the dominant Sprint Cup drivers in 2013 were not as good in 2014. One of these drivers was 2013 champion Jimmie Johnson, who finished 11th in the final standings, making it his first such finish outside the top ten in his full-time Cup career. Johnson, who also won every series championship from 2006 to 2010, still pulled off four wins, but it took him twelve races - a full third of the season - to get his first win of the year, which finally came in the Coca-Cola 600. After winning two of the next three races as well, Johnson made the chase with his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates, but was eliminated at Talladega in the second-round finale.

But Johnson, who has never been considered to have had a truly horrible season especially given his six championships, had it good compared to other drivers. Matt Kenseth, who was ultimately Johnson's main opponent for the championship in 2013, won seven Cup races last year, more than any other driver. And while Kenseth started 2014 with a win in the first Budweiser Duel qualifying race at Daytona, he didn't win a single points race all year, shocking many fans who believed he would be a championship contender again this year.

Then there's Tony Stewart, whose last Cup win came at Dover in June of last year. Since then he's been involved in a sprint car crash that broke his leg and caused him to miss the rest of the season, followed by another sprint car incident leading to the death of young driver Kevin Ward Jr., after which Stewart sat out three more NASCAR Cup races. Stewart's failure to win this year broke his streak of 15 consecutive seasons, starting in his 1999 rookie season, in which he won a race. He will certainly be hungry for wins in 2015 along with Kenseth.

Other drivers who won in Cup in 2013 but not 2014 are Greg Biffle, David Ragan, Brian Vickers and Ryan Newman. Clint Bowyer, Trevor Bayne, Marcos Ambrose and Paul Menard hadn't seen victory lane in NASCAR's top series in two or more seasons. Similarly, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch broke winless streaks in 2014.

Paint scheme posts coming

Since there's no offseason news from any official NASCAR sources right now I'm going to start preparing a series of posts about my favorite NASCAR paint schemes that I've been thinking of doing   for a couple of months. I already posted a lot of them on some video slideshows that I uploaded to my second channel on YouTube. Most of the pictures on my blog will be the same exact ones on my YouTube videos. Now I have a chance to explain those pictures in greater detail on this page, like explaining why I like these schemes.

NASCAR drivers give thanks on Thanksgiving

Many NASCAR drivers had reasons to be thankful today. That especially goes for Kevin Harvick, who just won his first Sprint Cup Series championship in his fourteenth season on the circuit. Harvick is grateful to car owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas as well as his crew chief Rodney Childers for helping him toward his championship, as well as the moments he has shared with his wife DeLana and son Keelan. Also posting pictures on sites such as Instagram and Twitter were Michael Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and other drivers. NASCAR themselves even photoshopped a bunch of raceday pictures from this year with Thanksgiving stuff like turkeys and kitchen aprons. It just goes to show that these people celebrate Thanksgiving with the rest of us.

Cole Whitt not driving for BK Racing or Front Row Motorsports in 2015

On Tuesday, a tweet on Twitter stated that Cole Whitt was leaving the #26 Toyota of BK Racing for the #34 Ford of Front Row Motorsports to replace David Ragan. While it's true that Whitt is no longer at BK Racing, Front Row Motorsports has denied that he has signed with them for the upcoming Sprint Cup season. It can be assumed from that that Ragan, who gave FRM their first Cup series win at Talladega last May, will stay in the #34 in 2015 for a fourth season with the team. It is unclear how the rumor that Whitt was headed to FRM was created, and why it was posted on Twitter without confirmation from NASCAR or NASCAR-related sources.

Austin Dillon to compete in majority of 2015 Xfinity races

Austin Dillon will pull double duty in NASCAR in 2015, running the full Sprint Cup schedule as well as most Xfinity Series races. Dillon is staying in the #3 Chevrolet owned by his grandfather Richard Childress, despite rumors to the contrary, and running for points in the Cup series. In Xfinity, Dillon will drive the RCR #33 Chevrolet that was mostly driven by Cale Conley and Dillon's Cup teammate Paul Menard in 2014. He drove the #33 at Texas three weeks ago, while Matt Crafton drove it at Las Vegas in March. Dillon will probably not compete in the standalone Xfinity races since he will continue to drive for points in Cup. He last ran for points in what was then the Nationwide Series in 2013, when he won the championship but not any races.

Phil Parsons replacing Darrell Waltrip at Fox?

We all know that unlike TNT and ESPN, Fox is keeping NASCAR coverage in 2015, adding more Cup races and also getting back the first half of what will soon be known as the Xfinity Series. But what could be uncertain is three-time Cup champion Darrell Waltrip's status as a commentator with Fox. Since its debut in 2001, NASCAR on Fox has featured Waltrip, Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds as its commentators in races (except standalone Xfinity races from 2001-2006) and some practices and qualifying sessions. But Waltrip's latest contract with Fox had him through the 2014 season, which is now over. Furthermore, fellow former driver Phil Parsons has appeared in place of Waltrip during many practice and qualifying telecasts on Fox Sports 1 this year.


Is this a sign that Parsons has been lined up to replace Waltrip in race broadcasts? It's possible since Waltrip has yet to sign another extension, but I don't want to start any rumors either. Either way, Parsons is no stranger to commentating. He first appeared on telecasts with Joy as early as 1984, a good three decades ago, and was one of the standalone Xfinity commentators on Fox/FX during their original six-season NASCAR television contract. Some things like Waltrip's famous "boogity boogity boogity" would be gone, and NASCAR on Fox wouldn't be the same as it once was. But maybe this is all speculation and Waltrip could be staying after all.

#17 Roush Cup team penalized

The #17 Sprint Cup team of Roush Fenway Racing has been penalized for rules infractions discovered following last Sunday's race at Homestead. It was a P3-level penalty that involved the confiscation of an unapproved rear suspension. While driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. managed to avoid a 50-point penalty, his crew chief Mike Kelley has been fined $50,000 and is on probation from January 1 through June 30, including every Cup race from the Daytona Speedweeks events in February to just after the series' first of two annual road course trips in Sonoma, California on June 28. Car chief Patrick Magee is also on probation during the same period.


The Roush penalties are part of a number of middle to upper-level penalties handed out by NASCAR in the organization's top series in 2014. These have also included a P5-level penalty given to the #11 team at Joe Gibbs Racing resulting in the suspension of Denny Hamlin's crew chief Wesley Sherrill, who along with Hamlin, fellow JGR driver Matt Kenseth and other crew members were later involved in two separate scuffles with Team Penske's Brad Keselowski following the Chase race at Charlotte in October, as well as penalties given to the #5 and #24 teams at Hendrick Motorsports for another incident with Keselowski, this time with #24 driver Jeff Gordon. The #5's crew chief Kenny Francis was notably put on probation and has since been moved to another position at Hendrick, putting an end to his professional relationship with driver Kasey Kahne.

My offseason plans for this blog

Now that NASCAR is in its offseason, I don't have any race previews, write-ups or points standings updates to post for three months. So I'll mainly be doing news about drivers and crew members along with posts about some of my personal NASCAR favorites like past races and paint schemes to fill the gap. I also plan to report on the Sprint Cup awards banquet at Las Vegas and also announce the official changing of the Nationwide Series to the Xfinity Series on January 1. I like NASCAR too much to not post anything between the Homestead championship weekend and the net year's Daytona Speedweeks. And besides, there's always plenty of NASCAR news during every offseason, as in all other major sports. So I'm still going to keep busy on this blog fro now until February, when I'll get right to work on blogging about Speedweeks.

Kahne signs extension with Hendrick through 2018

Kasey Kahne has signed a contract extension with car owner Rick Hendrick in a deal that goes on through the end of the 2018 Sprint Cup season. Kahne took over the #5 Chevrolet at Hendrick from Mark Martin in 2012. He is coming off his third season with Hendrick and has won five Cup races with the team. It has also been announced that Keith Rodden will be Kahne's new crew chief in 2015. Kahne's previous crew chief Kenny Francis is on probation for his involvement in the altercation between Kahne's teammate Jeff Gordon and Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski following the Cup race in Fort Worth, Texas on November 2. Francis has since been reassigned to a vehicle technical director position at Hendrick, thus ending his nine-year partnership with Kahne.


Recent speculation by fans had reigning Nationwide/Xfinity Series champion Chase Elliott going to the #5 Cup car at Hendrick around 2016 or 2017. Elliott, who signed with Hendrick in 2011, drives for JR Motorsports, a joint venture between Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. since Earnhardt's move to Hendrick in Cup in 2008. Now that the #5 won't be vacant until at least the beginning of the 2019 season, it looks like the rumors will be back to Elliott replacing Jeff Gordon upon Gordon's retirement, and the #24 car possibly being renumbered to #94. But that's all speculation. Earnhardt and Gordon are both signed with Hendrick through 2017, and Jimmie Johnson through 2016. That creates yet another rumor that Elliott could replace Johnson in the #48. The only thing that's certain is that Elliott could race in a part-time fifth Cup car at Hendrick in 2015. But with Kahne signing an extension, he's not going to the #5 car.

Kyle Larson worked hard for Cup ROTY title

Kyle Larson replaced Juan Pablo Montoya this year in the #42 Chevrolet owned by Chip Ganassi and got into the running for the Rookie of the Year award. Some fans were skeptical of this move when it was announced last August, as Larson had just made his Nationwide Series debut that February, in a race at Daytona that saw him finish in spectacular fashion, airborne against the catchfence. His debut with Ganassi in this year's Daytona 500 was less than spectacular, and at first it looked like Richard Childress's grandson Austin Dillon in the reactivated #3 Chevrolet was the top rookie contender.


But Larson slowly started to prove himself, both in Cup and Nationwide. He got his first Nationwide win in Fontana, California in March. This delighted many fans, since California is Larson's home state. The next day, Larson finished second in the Cup race to Kyle Busch, who has defeated him in a number of races in what will soon be called the Xfinity Series, including two straight spring races at Bristol. Larson then won the 300-mile race the day before the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May, and soon he was running in the top-ten in Cup almost every week. Larson finished in the top ten in the first two Chase races in September, at Chicagoland and New Hampshire. He finished the season with a good run at Homestead, after almost winning the Truck and Nationwide races, and ultimately won the Rookie of the Year award over Dillon. Larson has now proved the haters wrong, and now fans are eager to see him take it to the next level in his sophomore Cup season in 2015.

Summary of the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup

Here is a summary of the ten races that made up this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup, the first with the new format.


Chicagoland, September 14: Rain sets the field based on practice speeds. Polesitter Kyle Busch and Jamie McMurray lead early. Kevin Harvick takes the lead around the middle of the race. During pit stops late in the race Aric Almirola has a blown engine while running fifth. McMurray's teammate Kyle Larson then finds himself in the lead but is passed by Harvick and Brad Keselowski after two final cautions. Keselowski goes on to win his second straight while his teammate Joey Logano blows his engine, but still finishes fifth.


New Hampshire, September 21: Dale Earnhardt Jr. loses a couple of laps early after an unscheduled pit stop and has to fight his way back to the front. A crash involving four Chasers including Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch takes place on lap 188. Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth get into each other a few laps later. With seven laps left in the scheduled distance Jeff Gordon crashes, and one last crash with Tony Stewart and David Gilliland sets up a green-white-checkered finish. Joey Logano, after crashing in the July race, pulls away to take his second series win at the track, and seventh overall.


Dover, September 28: This was the last race of the Contender round and four drivers were facing elimination. The Chase grid gets shuffled many times throughout the race. There are few cautions and several long green flag runs. Polesitter Kevin Harvick leads more than 200 of 400 laps, but he cuts a tire while leading and has to go to pit road, he finishes 13th one lap down. A similar problem befell Harvick late in the June race. Brad Keselowski leads some laps, but then Jeff Gordon finds himself out front. Gordon leads the last 71 laps to get his fourth win of the season and advance to the second round of the Chase, along with Keselowski, Logano and nine others. The first four Chase drivers eliminated are A.J. Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch, who was making his 500th series start.


Kansas, October 5: Once again, Kevin Harvick wins the pole, but after a pair of early cautions he falls back. Dale Earnhardt Jr., driving the same car with which he swept Pocono, eventually takes the lead, but then hits the wall after leading several laps and has to get repairs. Earnhardt's teammate Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle also get into a crash on the backstretch with Josh Wise and Justin Allgaier, who also had a hard crash with David Gilliland during the May race. Chasers Brad Keselowski and Kasey Kahne run into problems as well. Joey Logano first takes the lead at lap 123, and ends up leading 122 of 267 laps to score his fifth win of 2014 and his second of the Chase.


Charlotte, October 11: The first 25 laps are missed by TV due to other sports games that ran over. ABC finally joins the race during an early competition caution. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who turned 40 years old the day before, takes two tires and comes out in the lead. Several cars have issues and cause a string of oil cautions. Earnhardt later breaks his shifter and ends up a lap down. On lap 247 Danica Patrick and Chasers Joey Logano and Ryan Newman get in a crash, leading to some frustration on the part of all three drivers. Brian Vickers also spins and then later lays down some oil on the track. During the final caution, Brad Keselowski makes Denny Hamlin mad. Kevin Harvick leads the most laps to get his first series win since Darlington in April. and after the checkered flag Hamlin hits Keselowski's car. On pit road a few minutes later, Keselowski bumps into Tony Stewart and Stewart retaliates by backing into Keselowski's car, damaging both cars. In the garage Hamlin and some of his crew members go after Keselowski. When Keselowski is walking to his trailer, Hamlin's teammate Matt Kenseth comes out of nowhere and jumps Keselowski. After exchanging shouts, Keselowski, Kenseth and mayn crew members are sent to the NASCAR hauler.


Talladega, October 19: This race is the Contender round finale. Two-time champion Terry Labonte makes his final start, qualifying ninth in a weird session that sees a driver from a top team (Ricky Stenhouse Jr. of Roush) fail to qualify, Joe Nemechek disqualified and Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon having to get in on champion's provisionals. Truck Series driver Ryan Blaney leads several of the opening laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr., on the brink of elimination, slowly makes his way up front, but later gets shuffled back due to getting stuck in the middle lane. Kyle Busch gets into a crash that collects A.J. Allmendinger, Brian Vickers and others. Martin Truex Jr. and Danica Patrick both get up front late before Ryan Newman gets on the point. A caution with a handful of laps left prompts a green-white-checkered and on the first attempt, Greg Biffle touches off a crash that also involves Earnhardt and Paul Menard. Then on the final lap, Brad Keselowski gets by Newman with help from Matt Kenseth to win and advance to the Eliminator round. Busch, Earnhardt and Earnhardt's teammate Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson are eliminated from the Chase.


Martinsville, October 26: Jamie McMurray wins the pole and leads the first 83 laps. Soon, Jeff Gordon takes over and his teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets up to the lead pack after starting in 23rd. Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne have a couple of angry run-ins on the track, and NASCAR tells the to stop. A little later, Matt Kenseth gets into Kevin Harvick, after Harvick had been in the garage for repairs from a spin into the wall. Several spins and debris cautions later, there are two red flags for big crashes in the final 100 laps, one of which involves Kahne, Brad Keselowski and Danica Patrick. After the first stoppage, Earnhardt gets by Clint Bowyer to take the lead. After the second red flag, Gordon leads at the restart but Earnhardt passes him to take his fourth win of the season and his first at Martinsville.


Texas, November 2: Jimmie Johnson leads much of the 500-mile race. The top-ten doesn't change much during the race. As usual, there are multiple debris cautions. There is a long string of yellow flags near the end of the race, starting when Brett Moffitt gets into the wall. Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne also get into trouble. Clint Bowyer brings out a caution to prompt a green-white-checkered finish, and on the first attempt Jeff Gordon is bumped from behind by Brad Keselowski, who has fresher tires. Gordon gets a flat tire and spins, causing a second GWC. Johnson ultimately wins, while Kevin Harvick pushes Keselowski on pit road and then Gordon and Keselowski get into a scuffle along with crew members.


Phoenix, November 9: Four more drivers prepare for elimination as the four who advance get set to race for the championship. Denny Hamlin wins the pole but has some early issues. Joey Logano also spins and has to fight his way back to the front to stay in championship contention. Jimmie Johnson has a pair of spins and ends up in the garage. Late in the race, Matt Kenseth finds himself suddenly pushed out of the running for the championship round. Kevin Harvick once again dominates and pulls away from the field on a late restart to take his sixth series win at the Arizona track and the season sweep. Meanwhile, Ryan Newman sends Kyle Larson into the wall on the final turn to send Jeff Gordon out of the Chase. Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski are also eliminated.

Homestead, November 16: Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman and Kevin Harvick prepare tp compete for the Sprint Cup championship, which none of them have won before. Polesitter Jeff Gordon leads the most laps and stays out of trouble. The race sees a mixture of cautions for debris and crashes. Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes an unscheduled pit stop but later gets a lucky dog. There is a long series of yellows in the closing laps, one for a crash involving Blake Koch. Joey Logano's pit crew loses a lot of time on their last stop, sending Logano way back in the field. On one of the last restarts, Harvick and Newman get by Hamlin. Harvick pulls ahead of Newman during the last laps to win the race and the championship in dramatic fashion.

ESPN leaves the NASCAR business

Sunday's race at Homestead was the last Sprint Cup telecast for ESPN, ending an eight-season stint broadcasting the last 17 races of that season as well as the entire season of what will soon be known as the Xfinity Series (previously the Busch and Nationwide series). ESPN's final trio of NASCAR commentators - former Motor Racing Network and NBC announcer Allen Bestwick, 1999 Sprint Cup champion Dale Jarrett and former Dale Earnhardt crew chief and Cup and Truck series team owner Andy Petree - said goodbye as race and championship winner Kevin Harvick celebrated on the championship stage with his crew and family. They gave a shout-out to other NASCAR on ESPN crew members (pit reporters, infield studio reporters, etc.) such as Dave Burns, Dr. Jerry Punch, Marty Reid, Jamie Little, Vince Welch, Brad Daugherty and Ray Evernham.


ESPN's first Cup Series telecast came in 1981 at the spring race in Rockingham, North Carolina, which was won by that year's series champion Darrell Waltrip. ESPN continued to broadcast various races in the Cup and Xfinity series until the end of the 2000 season. They also carried Truck Series races from 1995 to 2002. From 2001 to 2006, Cup and Xfinity telecasts belonged to Fox and NBC, and their respective cable partners FX and TNT. In 2007, NASCAR returned to ESPN, which became the exclusive home of the Xfinity Series for eight seasons, and the home of most of the second half of the Cup season, until the end of the 2014 season, which we have now reached. TNT, which split from NBC after 2006 and continued doing Cup telecasts with the six-race Summer Series in those same eight seasons, also had their final telecast at New Hampshire in July. From 2015 until 2024 the Cup and Xfinity series will once again be split between Fox and NBC, but this time with new cable partners Fox Sports 1 and NBC Sports Network.

Kevin Harvick wins Sprint Cup championship

Kevin Harvick took the 2014 Sprint Cup Series championship by winning the race at Homestead on Sunday. Harvick held off Ryan Newman, who finished second in the final points with his second-place finish. There was a long series of cautions near the end of the race due to crashes and debris, setting up a three-lap dash to the checkered flag and the showdown between Harvick and Newman. Harvick had a faster car and Newman, who barely made it into the final four coming to the finish at Phoenix last week, couldn't catch him. It was a close race, as Harvick beat Newman in the final standings by just one point.


This is the first Cup championship for the almost 39-year-old Harvick, coming in his 14th season in the series. He won two championships in what was then the Busch Series (soon to be the Xfinity Series) with Richard Childress in 2001 and 2006. Harvick spent his first 13 years in Cup at Richard Childress Racing as well, making his series debut in the second race of 2001 in Rockingham, North Carolina, following the death of Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500 the week before. Earnhardt's #3 Chevrolet was changed to the #29 upon Harvick's sudden promotion to Cup. Harvick finished third in points three times with RCR, in 2010, 2011 and 2013. After the 2013 season, Harvick replaced Ryan Newman at Stewart Haas Racing in the #39 Chevrolet, which became the #4. Newman did the reverse, going from SHR to RCR to replace Jeff Burton in the #31 Chevrolet. As it turned out on Sunday, the championship this year would come down to Harvick and Newman, with Harvick coming out on top with five wins in his first year with a new team.


Finishing third in the championship and seventh in the race was Joe Gibbs' driver Denny Hamlin, the runner-up to Jimmie Johnson in 2010. Hamlin won one race this season, the spring outing at Talladega. Fourth was Team Penske's Joey Logano, a former teammate of Hamlin. Logano had a bad pit stop late in the race and ultimately finished the race in 16th place. Logano's teammate, 2012 champion Brad Keselowski, who won more races (six) than any other cup driver in 2014, finished third in the race, while Newman's teammate Paul Menard, who had a tire explosion in this race last year, finished fourth. Polesitter Jeff Gordon, one of the four Chasers eliminated last week, led 161 of 267 laps and finished tenth. Last year's champion Jimmie Johnson finished eleventh in the final points, making this his first-ever points finish outside the top ten in Cup excluding his three-race practice run at the end of the 2001 season. Following the race, Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus was called to the NASCAR hauler for an undisclosed reason, and this along with Harvick's race and championship wins were widely discussed on social media.


It was a wild season, with moments such as most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. having his most successful season in a decade, including his second Daytona 500 win in a rain-delayed marathon, underdogs Aric Almirola and A.J. Allmendinger winning races, that crazy rain-filled weekend at Daytona in July that was the site of Almirola's Cup win, the spring race at Bristol getting rained out until after dark and then ending under caution due to an accidental light trigger, the new Chase and qualifying formats, and all of those fights during Chase races, including those involving Brad Keselowski at Charlotte and Texas. And it all led to the final battle at Homestead on top, with Kevin Harvick getting that much-awaited Sprint Cup trophy.

A farewell to the Nationwide Series

Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Homestead marked the final time NASCAR's number two series operated under that name. It was announced in August that the series will be known as the Xfinity Series, after the Comcast Xfinity cable and internet service, effective January 1. Matt Kenseth won the race on Saturday and will therefore be known as the winner of the last-ever Nationwide Series race, although he has been a Cup driver since 2000. Similarly, rookie Chase Elliott, who clinched the title in Phoenix last week, has the honor of being the last Nationwide Series champion, as well as the first rookie and youngest champion of a NASCAR national series.


This was also the last series broadcast for ESPN and the broadcasting team of Allen Bestwick, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. ESPN had been the exclusive home of the series for eight seasons, starting in 2007 when it was still known as the Busch Series. It was renamed the Nationwide Series in 2008. Starting next year and through 2024 the series will be split between Fox and NBC, as it was from 2001 to 2006. Nationwide is not leaving NASCAR; in fact, it is expanding its presence as it has been selected as the official insurance provider of NASCAR. Nationwide is also replacing the National Guard as one of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s primary sponsors in the Sprint Cup Series on the #88 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports. Nationwide already appeared on Earnhardt's Cup car in a few races this year.

Matt Crafton wins second straight Truck Series championship

Matt Crafton locked up his second consecutive championship in the Camping World Truck Series with his ninth-place finish in the Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead on Friday evening. Crafton, the 38-year-old driver of the #88 Toyota at ThorSport Racing, won twice this year, at Martinsville in March and Texas in June. It was the first multiple-win season of Crafton's career, which has seen 338 consecutive starts. His rookie season in the series was 2001, but he did not visit victory lane for the first time until 2008. Crafton also won once in 2011 and 2013 en route to his first championship. Crafton's second championship makes him the first driver in the history of the Camping World Truck Series to win back-to-back championships. The series debuted in 1995 and has seen non-consecutive repeat series champions in the past.


Finishing second in the final standings was 20-year-old (soon to be 21) Ryan Blaney, who won at the road course in Bowmanville, Ontario in August with a narrow victory over German Quiroga. Blaney encountered a loose-handling truck and a broken shifter during the race on Friday, but came back to finish fifth. Since Crafton finished higher than 22nd place, Blaney kept his runner-up position in the points. Blaney drove the #29 Ford owned by Brad Keselowski this year but is not returning to the team in 2015. However, he plans to stay in trucks full-time, and also compete in some Xfinity and possibly Cup races. Blaney's teammate in the #19 Ford, Tyler Reddick, who spun late in the race after also getting loose, finished a close second to Ben Kennedy of Turner Scott Motorsports' #31 Chevrolet in the running for the Rookie of the Year award.


Darrell Wallace Jr. was the winner of Friday's 200-mile, 134-lap race. The 21-year-old driver of the #54 Toyota owned by Kyle Busch held off Busch himself, Blaney, polesitter Kyle Larson (who also led the most laps) and Timothy Peters to pick up his fourth win of the season. This gave Busch a total of 14 wins this season as an owner, seven of which he also got as a driver, and he easily took the 2014 Truck Series owner's championship. Busch has also selected ARCA driver Justin Boston, who signed with Joe Gibbs earlier this year, to drive one of his trucks in 2015. With that, another Truck Series season has ended and the 2015 season begins at Daytona in February.


One additional thing: I started a Tumblr account to count down to the 2015 Daytona 500. When that race is over I may do other posts on it. Here is the link:

NASCAR teams come up with hashtags for championship

Once again, NASCAR is using social media like Twitter to get fans hyped for the Sprint Cup season finale in Homestead, Florida on Sunday. Richard Childress Racing is supporting the #31 team of Ryan Newman and his fans with the Twitter hashtag #b31ieve, which has carried over to other sites like Facebook. At Joe Gibbs Racing, the #11 team of Denny Hamlin posted a picture with the text "We Can, We Wi11," with the #11 logo placed within the text. Of course, NASCAR is still referring to the fanbases of the final four drivers as "Nations," as in "Hamlin Nation", "Logano Nation", "Newman Nation" and "Harvick Nation", all of which are obviously properly formatted as hashtags on Twitter. Maybe after Sunday NASCAR will take a break from hashtags until Speedweeks at Daytona in February, when they will definitely fire up again on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites.

What should we expect at Homestead?

The first edition of the new Chase for the Sprint Cup format has been wild and unpredictable. Several of the winningest drivers all year have been eliminated, and two of the final four have just one win between them. There have also been a lot of short tempers, like at Charlotte and Texas involving now-eliminated Brad Keselowski. This has arguably led up to what could very well be a spectacular finale at Homestead on Sunday. Of course, the Truck and Nationwide series races are before that, and the race for the Truck championship is still alive. But most of the attention this weekend will be on the battle for the Sprint Cup championship, and which driver will be the next new series champion.

Cup will have a first-time champion this year

None of the final four drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, determined at Phoenix on Sunday, have won a championship in the series. Of the original 16 Chase drivers, the former series champions were Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski. Busch was eliminated after Dover, Johnson after Talladega and Gordon, Kenseth and Keselowski on Sunday. Johnson has six championships under his belt, Gordon four and Busch, Kenseth and Keselowski one apiece. Tony Stewart was the only full-time former champion to miss the Chase this year, while champion brothers Bobby Labonte and the now-retired Terry Labonte only started a handful of races.


The four teams represented in the final four at Homestead will be Joe Gibbs Racing (Hamlin), Richard Childress Racing (Newman), Stewart-Haas Racing (Harvick) and Team Penske (Logano). SHR and Penske are Newman's two former teams, RCR is Harvick's old team and JGR is Logano's former team. Harvick has been in Cup full-time since 2001, Newman since 2002, Hamlin 2006 and Logano 2009. This gives the four drivers 42 full seasons of experience in the series, yet none of them have won a Cup championship. But that will change at Homestead on Sunday.

Elliott celebrates Nationwide championship

Chase Elliott has made many headlines in 2014 as a rookie of the Nationwide (soon to be Xfinity) series. When Dale Earnhardt Jr. signed him to JR Motorsports to drive the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro in January, he made a decision he won't regret. Elliott won three races en route to wrapping up the title at Phoenix on Saturday, and now has one more chance to get a fourth win on the season in the finale at Homestead this coming Saturday. He beat out his teammate, former Sprint Cup driver and winner Regan Smith, who won this year's opener at Daytona in which Elliott made his series debut.


Elliott, who turns 19 years old later this month and is just six months out of high school, is the son of 1988 Cup champion Bill Elliott, who was at Phoenix to see his son win the title. The Dawsonville, Georgia duo are the fifth father-son combo to both win championships in a NASCAR national touring series (Cup, Nationwide/Xfinity and Trucks). All signs point to Elliott driving for Rick Hendrick in Cup, possibly starting in a few races next year. It's a fast start for the career of one of NASCAR's newest champions.

Harvick wins Phoenix, three others join him in Championship round

Kevin Harvick won Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Phoenix, the last race of the Eliminator round of the Chase and penultimate race of the season. This was Harvick's third straight Cup win at the Arizona track, his sixth overall and second season sweep of the track, after 2006. Harvick, in his first season at Stewart-Haas Racing after more than a decade with Richard Childress, joins Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano in the Championship round, which will be contested at Homestead next week with the highest-finishing driver being declared the 2014 series champion. None of the final four drivers have won a Cup championship, although Harvick is a two-time Nationwide champion, in 2001 and 2006.


The race contained several debris cautions as well as a number of crashes. During the first caution, polesitter Denny Hamlin, after leading the first 24 laps, broke a valve stem on pit road, putting him a lap down. Casey Mears appeared to blow a tire early while running in 12th and spun. Last week's winner Jimmie Johnson got damage from another early incident, then spun later and went to the garage. On a restart approaching lap 200 Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer got caught up in a crash along with Cole Whitt. Championship contender Joey Logano had problems of his own and also found himself a lap down. Hamlin and Logano both rebounded to finish in the top ten.


As the race drew to a close, Jamie McMurray spun and hit the wall, and the final caution came after Landon Cassill and Mike Wallace tangled in turn 4. In that turn on the final lap, as Harvick took the checkered flag, Ryan Newman, the former driver of Harvick's current car at SHR, practically wrecked Kyle Larson to squeeze past Jeff Gordon and get the last spot for the Championship round. Gordon said he had no hard feelings toward Newman and that last week's incident with Brad Keselowski still upset him more. Keselowski was also eliminated after the race. He and Gordon had won a combined ten races this year and were top contenders throughout the Chase, although they almost got eliminated on previous occasions.


Harvick led all but 48 of the race's 312 laps, including all of the last 187 laps. Logano also led 17 laps, while Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan and Michael Annett led some laps under caution during pit cycles.


The four Championship round drivers, with points reset to 5,000:

1. 11-Denny Hamlin - 1 win
2. 22-Joey Logano - 5 wins, 2 in Chase
3. 31-Ryan Newman
4. 4-Kevin Harvick - 4 wins, 2 in Chase

And the four eliminated drivers:
     5.  2-Brad Keselowski - 2,320 points, 6 wins (2 in Chase)
     6.  24-Jeff Gordon - 2,312 points, 4 wins (1 in Chase)
     7.  20-Matt Kenseth - 2,296 points
     8.  99-Carl Edwards - 2,278 points, 2 wins

A wild truck race at Phoenix

Friday night's Camping World Truck Series race, the penultimate race of the season, will probably be remembered more for the multiple delays than the actual racing. It started about an hour an a half late due to a power outage in parts of the Phoenix suburbs, including the track. It took a while for the lights between turns 3 and 4 to come back on, but once they did the race was finally able to get started.


However, a couple of seconds before the green flag came out, the Chevrolet of Brandon Jones slowed, causing a chain-reaction crash that collected Bryan Silas, John Wes Townley and German Quiroga. The caution came out as the leaders entered turn 1, making the race's first green flag run just a quarter of a lap long. After a long caution, the race restarted on lap 19, but then there were three more crashes in the next 23 laps, one of which involved top drivers Jeb Burton and Timothy Peters, and another, in which Joey Coulter hit the wall, briefly putting the red flag on lap 43.


After going green for 55 laps following the red flag, there were two more crashes, and then the lights went out again on lap 125. The red flag was thrown again, and shortly afterwards the race was called 24 laps short with Kyle Busch's driver Erik Jones winning the race for the second year in a row. Jones led all but 114 of the 126 laps completed, once again showing the dominance of Kyle Busch's truck team this year. The series championship is now down to defending champion Matt Crafton and Ryan Blaney next week at Homestead.

Chase Elliott could make history at Phoenix

Nationwide Series driver Chase Elliott could clinch the series title on Saturday after the race at Phoenix. This would make him the youngest NASCAR top series champion, at just under 19 years. Elliott is ahead of JR Motorsports driver Regan Smith by 48 points, and he is hoping to have a good race on Saturday. The son of former Cup champion Bill Elliott has had a great rookie season in the Nationwide series, considering just over a year ago he was a full-time K&N Pro Series East driver and had yet to make his first Camping World Truck Series start. But Elliott has shown that he is a fast learner in NASCAR's number two series by being one of the series' top drivers in 2014.

"Harvicking" gives NASCAR another Twitter moment

The aftermath of Sunday's big fight after the Cup race at Texas has led to the rise of a Twitter trend known as "Harvicking". This is defined as "the act of pushing someone from behind." It is named after Kevin Harvick, who pushed Brad Keselowski as Jeff Gordon was walking up to Keselowski's car to confront him. For this reason, many fans have credited Harvick with triggering the fight between Keselowski and Gordon, and this is how #Harvicking quickly became a trending hashtag on Twitter. Many NASCAR fans and figures, including most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., posted their own versions of Harvicking in tweets on Monday. Interestingly, it was Keselowski who helped make Twitter a prime social media outlet for NASCAR during the 2012 Daytona 500, when he posted a photo from his car of the fiery aftermath of Juan Pablo Montoya's crash into a jet dryer, a tweet that earned him thousands of followers in a few hours.


Some people believe that NASCAR is trying to make fighting seem like a good thing, and they are trying to use this as another thing to get their ratings up and create yet another side-story for the already dramatic Chase for the Sprint Cup. These people are upset because they think NASCAR should focus more on racing and less on what they see as manufactured drama. Nevertheless, Harvicking has already been immortalized on some websites that explicitly state "the 2014 AAA Texas 500" as its origin, and it has created another fine social media moment for NASCAR on Twitter.

Chase standings after 8 races

Here are the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings after Texas, the eighth of 10 races.

1. 22-Joey Logano - 4,072 points, 5 wins (2 in Chase)
2. 11-Denny Hamlin - 4,072 points, 1 win
3. 31-Ryan Newman - 4,070 points
4. 24-Jeff Gordon - 4,060 points, 4 wins (1 in Chase)
5. 20-Matt Kenseth - 4,059 points
6. 99-Carl Edwards - 4,059 points, 2 wins
7. 2-Brad Keselowski - 4,055 points, 6 wins (2 in Chase)
8. 4-Kevin Harvick - 4,054 points, 3 wins (1 in Chase)

Once again, the standings have changed a lot in the last week. Kenseth, Edwards, Keselowski and Harvick, the latter two being top contenders last week, are currently facing elimination at Phoenix.

Penalties given to Hendrick crews

NASCAR has penalized crew members of the #24 team of Jeff Gordon and the #5 team of Kasey Kahne at Hendrick Motorsports following Sunday's fight after the race at Texas, that involved Gordon, Brad Keselowski and to a lesser extent Kevin Harvick. Keselowski, the driver of the #2 Ford at Team Penske, and his crew did not receive any penalties probably because Gordon was considered to be the instigator in the fight.


Gordon's crew chief Alan Gustafson and Kahne's crew chief Kenny Francis have each been fined $50,000 and put on probation for the next six Sprint Cup points races. This means that in addition to Phoenix and Homestead in the final two weeks of this season, their probations will carry over to 2015 and continue at Daytona, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix in February and March. Also, Kahne crew member Jeremy Fuller and Gordon crew members Dwayne Doucette and Jason Ingle have been fined $25,000 and suspended through the Phoenix race in March, while another Gordon crew member, Dean Mozingo, has been fined $10,000 and suspended until after the Daytona 500 in February.


Gordon was previously in a fight with Jeff Burton in the 2010 fall race at Texas, and in a bigger fight with Clint Bowyer in the fall Phoenix race in 2012, both following crashes. This is why many people will be thinking of the Gordon-Bowyer incident at Phoenix next week, and expecting a crazy race in general since along with the aftermath of the Gordon-Keselowski fight, four drivers will be eliminated and the last four will make one last run for the championship at Homestead the following week.

Gordon has history of bad luck at Texas

Jeff Gordon's fight with Brad Keselowski following Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Texas, brought on by his spin after Keselowski's faster car got into him late in the race, was another in a series of misfortunes he has endured at the 1.5-mile track. While Gordon did win the spring race there in 2009 - his only win between Charlotte in October of 2007 and Phoenix in February of 2011 - other races at the Fort Worth speedway have not been kind to the four-time series champion.

Gordon crashed in the first four Cup races at Texas. In 1997, Gordon was caught up in a crash after starting on the outside front row and finished 30th. In 1998 he was in a big wreck on the first lap and finished 31st. In 1999 he crashed yet again and finished dead last, and in 2000 he finished 14 laps down. After that, Gordon had good races at Texas for the next few years. In 2005 a second race weekend was given to Texas in the fall. In 2010, Gordon was caught up in a big wreck in the spring race, and in the fall race he wrecked with Jeff Burton under caution and then got in a fight with him on the track. Burton, who got his first series win in the inaugural race in 1997 and won at the track again in 2007, reminded fans about Gordon's short temper at Texas on Twitter a few minutes before the scuffle on Sunday. Finally, in the spring race this year Gordon led on a green-white-checkered restart, but dominant driver Joey Logano took the lead back from Gordon and won.

So it's fitting that Gordon's latest moment of bad luck and anger came at Texas, where he's had many forgettable races in the past. This one is definitely one to remember, since it had a big effect on the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings. But now he and the other seven Chase drivers can look forward to Phoenix for one last shot to get into the Championship round.

Johnson pulls another Chase spoiler; Gordon, Keselowski fight

Jimmie Johnson snapped an 18-race winless streak by going to victory lane at Texas on Sunday, race 8 of the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup. Johnson was eliminated from the Chase at Talladega two weeks ago despite leading the most laps in that race. This means there is still no one locked into the four Championship round spots. This was Johnson's third straight win in the fall Texas race, and he did it with a special red car honoring the red-vested employees of Lowe's stores.

The big story after the race was a fight between contenders Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski on pit road in front of Paul Menard's stall, with Kevin Harvick also apparently getting in the mix. Gordon briefly led before a late caution that set up a green-white-checkered finish, and on the restart Keselowski made contact with Gordon's car. Gordon then spun to prompt a second attempt at a green-white checkered, and wound up 29th while Keselowski finished third. Gordon dropped from first to fourth in the standings, and called Keselowski a "dipshit" on live television following the brawl. The current points leader is Keselowski's teammate Joey Logano, who spun during the race but made up some ground. Just like after Charlotte, which also saw drivers go after Keselowski, Chase drivers who weren't thought to have a chance are now being looked at as possible upsets after this race.

Other current and eliminated Chase drivers like Ryan Newman, polesitter Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch and last week's winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. spent most of the day in the top ten, but were not talked about during much of the race as Johnson had the dominant car. Next week the series makes one last trip out west to Phoenix, in a much-anticipated race that will determine the final four Chase drivers for the finale at Homestead.

Jimmie Johnson gets a red car, Truck points shuffled at Texas

The Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck series at Texas this weekend have some big stories. On the Cup side, Jimmie Johnson's #48 Chevrolet, instead of the familiar blue, is red. This is in honor of the red vests that employees at Lowe's stores wear, and Johnson and his crew are thanking them for their sponsorship since his series debut in October of 2001. The Johnson-Lowe's partnership is still going strong despite a decline in performance this year for the six-time and defending champion, who was eliminated from the Chase at Talladega two weeks ago.

Friday night's Truck race at Texas also made some waves. The race saw the #51 and #54 truck of Kyle Busch Motorsports, driven by Busch himself and championship contender Darrell Wallace Jr. respectively, consistently out front, but Wallace, last week's winner at Martinsville, blew his engine late in the race. There was oil from Wallace's truck on the track that caused a red flag. Defending series champion Matt Crafton and his teammate Jeb Burton also ran in the top ten during most of the race. On a late restart, German Quiroga got the lead, and Busch fought his way back to second. Johnny Sauter, the other teammate of Crafton and Burton, then spun on the frontstretch to bring out the last caution. Going into turn 1 on the last restart Busch got by Quiroga, who was on old tires. After the white flag, Quiroga's teammate Timothy Peters bumped Quiroga, causing him to spin and giving Busch the win. Sauter was upset with Burton after the race, and his mood became sadder with the news of the death of his father Jim. Despite this, the drivers are still eager to keep racing during the rest of this weekend.