Biggest NASCAR Storylines to Watch Ahead of Sprint Cup Series at Bristol

Most weeks leading up to a race, it takes a backhoe to dig up enough storylines to whet the ol’ NASCAR palette for the forthcoming race. Not so this week as the Sprint Cup Series checks its headlights for the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway¹.

This week, there’s a team disbanding (Michael Waltrip Racing) and a team holding strong (Stewart-Haas Racing). Add to that a wild bunch of live non-winners and this could make the drive for the Chase pulse-pounding—cue 1980s jargon—to the max.

There are three races to go in the regular season, and it all gets started Thunder Alley. Read on for this week’s storylines heading to the Volunteer State.

1: Who wants to sign a petition to make Bristol a Chase race?

'Sad Day' for Michael Waltrip Racing

Bob Brodbeck/Associated Press

Michael Waltrip Racing will be, to quoth the raven, nevermore. The team, part owned by Waltrip and Rob Kauffman, announced it would not field a full-time team in 2016.

The timing of this is a bit odd given that its best driver, Clint Bowyer (more on him in a moment), is on the verge of making the Chase for the first time since 2012. No matter.

Waltrip said on the Fox Sports 1 broadcast, (h/t Jared Turner’s FoxSports.com story):

"

It's a sad day for MWR obviously. I love the culture we've built there. We just have the perfect workplace, and unfortunately in 2016, we're not going to be racing there. My hope is somebody wants to have a really nice shop full of really cool people that work together well and want to have a race team and we can provide that for them.

"

There will be a surplus of mechanics at the end of this season, yes, but what will happen to David Ragan? Brian Vickers? Bowyer?

Ragan, who filled in for the injured Kyle Busch earlier in the season, may be relegated to another season in the bullpen. Vickers still has to work out matters of the heart, and for Bowyer, well…

The Free Agency of Clint Bowyer

Bob Brodbeck/Associated Press

Bowyer needs to update his online dating profile because after this season ends—a season that could see him Chase bound—he is a free agent.

Since MWR plans on taking its shingle down after the 2015 season, Bowyer, one of the more colorful and talented drivers on the circuit, will make another team stronger. 

Had Danica Patrick not re-upped with Stewart-Haas Racing (more on this in a moment), Bowyer could have given this Chevy-based team a formidable fourth car. Kevin Harvick speaks for himself, as does Kurt Busch. Once Tony Stewart figures out the latest rules package (there’s still time!), he could roll. Imagine Bowyer behind the wheel of a Chevy.

It’s too bad Furniture Row Racing isn’t quite ready to add another car. Martin Truex Jr. and Bowyer would make a nice one-two punch. Maybe Chip Ganassi Racing¹ will add a third car to join Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray.

Either way, Bowyer is, ahem, in the driver’s seat, and a berth in the Chase, though not a given, will go a long way toward proving future employers his viability as a Sprint Cup driver.

1: Rob Kauffman, the principal owner of MWR, purchased an ownership stake in Chip Ganassi Racing. You don't need a degree in herbology to read those tea leaves.

Bubble Teams in Trouble

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

Speaking of Bowyer—16th on the grid—his Chase chances took a hit after his trip to the garage at Michigan International Speedway. As it stands, Bowyer is 32 points behind Jeff Gordon who's in 15th place.

More alarming is the meager 23-point lead Bowyer has on Aric Almirola, who sits in the lucky dog spot in the standings.

Hundreds of laps around Thunder Alley is paramount to Greco-Roman wrestling. In a few words, anything can happen, good or bad. Bowyer could benefit from a disaster suffered by Gordon or Ryan Newman, but then again, he could be victim to the same maladies around Bristol.

Bowyer finished just outside the top 10 in 12th during the spring race, won by fellow Toyota purveyor Matt Kenseth.

Bristol is the ultimate wild card late in this 2015 season. This could, no doubt, burst Bowyer’s bubble. Look no further than the spring race’s top 10. If a new winner will strike, it could be this weekend, and that will all but kill Bowyer’s chances at the Chase.

A New Winner Could Strike at Thunder Alley

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

Here’s a look at the 2015 non-winners from the top 10 at the Food City 500: Gordon (third), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (fourth), Newman (fifth), Stewart (sixth), Larson (seventh), Justin Allgaier (eighth), Patrick (ninth) and Austin Dillon (10th)¹.

Taking this a step further, remove Gordon and Newman from that list because they’re in the Chase Grid in 15th and 14th, respectively. The others ran well enough to threaten, especially Larson, who led a race-high 90 laps in the spring race.

“Everything seemed to fall our way after we made that stop,” Larson said in a post-race release, according to SpeedwayDigest.com's Dustin Albino. "I feel like it’s the first race where we haven’t had any issues really. We just haven’t had a clean race, and tonight I feel like we finally had that.”

Should Larson, or somebody else off the grid, win, it will kick Bowyer off and possibly send Gordon to the brink.

There’s a bunch of drivers off the grid champing at the bit for a chance to win their way into the Chase. They can taste it because, well, look how close they came in the spring. 

1: There were only three winners in the top 15: Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch.

Danica Patrick's Tasty New Deal

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

Patrick, purveyor of the almighty yoga pose, got a new sponsor for 2016: Nature’s Bakery.

It was welcome news for Patrick, who lost GoDaddy.com as her primary sponsor. When that happened, it raised the question: Would Stewart-Haas Racing keep her in the garage or let her go the next opportunistic bidder?

"We've extended Danica's contract,” said Tony Stewart, who puts the "S" in SHR, per Pete Pistone’s MotorRacingNetwork.com story.

Care to elaborate?

"It's great working with her,” he said. “She's the most detail-oriented driver I've ever worked with.”

More detail oriented than Harvick, your 2014 Sprint Cup champion? Someone’s trying to pump up his lesser talent.

The haters will agree, but Stewart, no doubt, sees that Patrick’s average finish has improved every year on the Sprint Cup from 26.1 to 23.7 to 22.0¹.

Patrick could shock the field at Bristol and sneak into Victory Lane. She took ninth at Thunder Alley in the spring race. Will she earn her first career win now? Probably not, but having a new contract in the books can do wonders for a driver's confidence.

1: These are her full seasons on the circuit from 2013 to 2015.