Five To Go!

Things are beginning to get even more exciting in the fast-paced world of NASCAR racing. Now there is only five races remaining on the schedule until the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins. It's starting to become very crucial for drivers outside the top ten in the standings to win a race.

The Chase for the Sprint Cup series championship was introduced about seven years ago in an attempt to create NASCAR's version of the playoffs. Over the years the rules have been slightly adjusted to the liking of the fans and drivers. This season the top ten in the standings will be automatically eligible for the Championship, but there will be two other drivers eligible as well. The two drivers with the most victories that are sitting outside the top ten in the standings will also become Chase contenders.

NASCAR has seen three different drivers win their first career Sprint Cup series victory this season. All three times this happened, it took place on a legendary auto racing circuit. Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500, Regan Smith held off Carl Edwards to win at Darlington, and Paul Menard held off Jeff Gordon to win at Indianapolis. These first-time winners and other unlikely winners have prevented any drivers from dominating when it comes to having the most wins this season.

Brad Keselowski suffered a broken left ankle and damaged his right foot in the process. This happened when Brad was racing on Wednesday August 3rd while test driving a race car, he hit a wall that was not protected with the "safer barrier" material that is used at most NASCAR circuits to prevent injury. However, Keselowski managed to pull off an incredible victory at Pocono this past weekend. Both cars owned my Roger Penske elected to pit under green flag racing conditions before the rain began, knowing the track is too big for them to go a lap down from pitting while everyone is racing. The rest of the drivers pit under the caution for rain which gave the Penske cars amazing track position.

Brad Keselowski managed to take the lead on a restart with just 16 laps to go. The "blue deuce" driven by Keselowski was fast enough to hold off his successful nemesis Kyle Busch for his second victory of the season and third of his career in the Sprint Cup series. Kurt Busch earned an impressive third place finish after trading paint with Jimmie Johnson on the final lap. Johnson claims he didn't cut off Kurt Busch coming out of turn two, but it's clear as day on the replay that's exactly what happened. Both drivers exchanged words after the race on pit road, but pit crew members of the #48 team separated the furious NASCAR warriors.

Watkins Glen is the next track these talented drivers will compete on. It's the second of the two road course events that NASCAR travels to for the Sprint Cup series drivers to race. NASCAR has been coming to Watkins Glen International once every year since 1986. Most auto racing experts know Jeff Gordon is the most successful driver at the road course Infineon Raceway, however Tony Stewart is the master of Watkins Glen. Tony has six victories at "The Glen" and they have all been within the last ten years.


Juan-Pablo Montoya emerged victorious in last season's race at Watkins Glen International, Kyle Busch won the event in 2008, and Jeff Gordon has four wins at this particular road course... any of these three drivers could be the one to take the victory away from Tony Stewart. Kurt Busch won the race at Infineon Raceway earlier this season by using a strategy which involved only pitting on two occasions instead of three. Jeff Gordon finished second, Carl Edwards finished third, Clint Bowyer finished fourth, and Marcos Ambrose finished fifth. Make sure you tune in this Sunday!



Current Standings... ON THE BUBBLE:
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr -79
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11. Denny Hamlin -102
12. Clint Bowyer -120
13. Greg Biffle -123
14. Paul Menard -133
15. Mark Martin -153

Written by: Tyler McMurter