The Biggest NASCAR Storylines Ahead of the Sprint Cup Series at Chicagoland
NASCAR’s second season begins now with a weeklong celebration and media blitz involving the field of 16 drivers that has earned an opportunity to be a part of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
For the next 10 weekends, 43 cars will start every Sprint Cup race, but all eyes will be focused on just 16—the drivers and the teams that make up the Chase field.
That may not be fair for the other 28. But, NASCAR leveled the playing field as much as it could this time around. All a driver had to do was win, and the driver and the driver's team could be part of the postseason.
The Chase is the story this week, but there are still several others worth watching as the countdown begins on the championship round of NASCAR’s 2014 season.
Toyota Drivers Struggle to Find Speed
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Toyota-powered teams have won only two races, both by Joe Gibbs Racing drivers.
The Associated Press writer Jenna Fryer reports that, “The JGR drivers have been vocal about a horsepower deficiency in their Toyota engines, and they've simply not run in the same league as Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano or the Hendrick juggernaut of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.”
Two wins out of 26 isn’t a good record, and it means that speed isn’t something that all three of the JGR drivers in the Chase will have to rely upon in the next 10 races.
Does that put them at a disadvantage? And if so, what can the JGR drivers do about it?
As Kyle Busch puts it, “I have no idea. Just fight every week and see what we can get and try to work hard."
JGR has shown speed on the big tracks (Fontana and Talladega) to be competitive with the Hendrick Chevrolets. But JGR drivers appear to be at a distinct disadvantage on the 1.5-mile tracks, a fatal flaw for them as half the Chase tracks, including the finale at Homestead, are of that length.
Will Roush Fenway Be Competitive?
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With finishes of 19th (Greg Biffle), 22nd (Carl Edwards) and 26th (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) it's apparent that the Roush Fenway teams missed the setup at Richmond.
Bob Pockrass from Sporting News reports that Biffle, who recently signed a three-year contract extension with RFR, isn’t brimming over with confidence after a mediocre night at Richmond.
“When you are that far off, it is the hardest thing in the world to drive,” Biffle said while being interviewed after the Richmond race. “Those guys that ran up in the top five probably didn’t break a sweat, but I tell you what, this is the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life, driving and trying to stay in the top-20 like this.
His teammate added that he hoped that their poor performance at Richmond meant that the next 10 weeks would be better.
“I know Greg said that (this) was the toughest thing he’s ever done, and I’m telling you it had to be because we were struggling,” Edwards said in a post-race media release. “We just missed the setup. A year ago we won this race with our Kellogg’s Ford, and we went on to finish last in the Chase. Hopefully, tonight’s poor performance will bode well for the final 10 races."
Team Penske has been able to use the same engines as RFR and parlay them into eight wins this season.
The issue here is in the car setup, and RFR hasn't been able to unload from the hauler on Fridays and show the kind of speed needed to win on Sundays, especially on the critical 1.5-mile tracks. This may turn out to be a very disappointing Chase year for both Edwards and Biffle.
Too Little, Too Late; the Best of the Rest Battle for Attention
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Jamie McMurray and Clint Bowyer join drivers such as Paul Menard, Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr. and even Tony Stewart who will fade into obscurity during this year’s Chase.
Larson and Dillon are still in a close battle for rookie of the year honors, and that is worth watching. Larson has shown flashes of brilliance and led the rookie points for much of the season, but he's been inconsistent. Dillon has kept it close, but he's largely been mediocre.
Maybe one of the drivers here will surprise the Chase field and win one or more of the last ten races like Stewart did in 2006. After not making the Chase field that year, Smoke went on to win more races during the Chase (3) than any single Chase driver.
How about that!
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The Numbers Favor the Hendrick-Powered Teams in the Chase
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Hendrick Motorsports drivers make up nearly half (10) of the victories in the 26-race 2014 regular season. If you count the drivers using Hendrick-built Chevrolet engines, the number increases to 13—exactly half. Those three additional races were won by Stewart-Haas Racing drivers Kevin Harvick (2) and Kurt Busch.
The only Chevrolet win using an engine not built at Hendrick was by AJ Allmendinger. His JTG Daugherty team uses Earnhardt Childress Racing (ECR) engines.
Between them, Hendrick-powered drivers account for 10 Sprint Cup championships, eight Daytona 500 wins, 12 Brickyard 400 wins and 249 Sprint Cup victories.
Kevin Harvick's Championship Hopes Rest on His Pit Crew's Performance
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As early in the season as the Cup race at Kansas in May, Harvick had been plagued with pit road miscues. Some have cost him a victory.
At Kansas, a mental mistake by Harvick handed the race win to Gordon. A week later, it was another pit road issue. This time a bad stop by his pit road crew, and it cost Harvick, who had the dominant car, another possible race win.
Pit road issues remained an issue throughout the season for the Stewart-Haas Racing team.
Harvick starts the postseason having won twice (Phoenix and Darlington) this season. He did, however, say that his team’s pit road performance could be its Achilles' heel.
“Our cars are really fast. I feel like we’ve overcome a lot of problems,” Harvick was quoted as saying in a post-Richmond media release. “We’ve gone 26 weeks and haven’t fixed pit road. We have to fix pit road in order to win a championship.”
Perfection is the goal over the next 10 weeks, and if the No. 4 car's pit road crew has any kind of minor issue during a race, it could cost Harvick his best chance at a Sprint Cup championship since he started in the series in 2001.
Does Brad Keselowski Deserve to Be the Chase Favorite?
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Did Brad Keselowski’s dominant win at Richmond, his fourth this season, earn him his status as the favorite in this year’s Chase battle?
Opinions are mixed.
Lee Spencer with Motorsports.com writes, ”…just one week after Will Power ended an eight-year title drought on the open-wheel side, Roger Penske appears poised to become the first team owner to win championships in IndyCar and NASCAR in the same season.”
But Jeff Gluck with USA Today writes that there is no clear favorite.
“…there are a half-dozen entrants in the 16-driver playoff field who could realistically be viewed as championship material, and that's more than usual,” writes Gluck.
One thing is for certain, Keselowski is ready to take on the rest of the field.
“We’re real. This team is good,” said Keselowski during a live, televised post-race interview after his win at Richmond. “We got our game face on, and we’ve just got to keep pushing.”
Fan Safety (and Sobriety) Become Part of the Discussion
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We all know that drinking a few beers helps to make watching any sport a better time and a better show whether it's baseball, football or NASCAR. This is especially true if you’re doing it with friends and one of you is a designated driver.
Some NASCAR fans are known for their love of the carbonated, adult beverage so much that they allow their behavior to come into question, and bad things happen.
An example of such a bad thing happened this past weekend when what appeared to be an inebriated and shirtless fan climbed onto the safety catchfence that surrounds the .750-mile Richmond International Raceway.
Believe me when I tell you, I’ve seen stranger things happen at a NASCAR race.
I love the fans, and I enjoy time spent alongside them in the grandstands watching the race.
However, drunkenness and stupidity have no place in any sport's grandstands. Fans who choose to behave that way might be better off (and safer) to stay at home and watch the race on television. And please, don’t hurt yourself with the bottle opener.
All quotes are taken from official NASCAR, team and manufacturer media releases unless otherwise stated.
Bob Margolis is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association and has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, the NHRA and Sports Cars for more than two decades as a writer, television producer and on-air talent.
On Twitter: @BobMargolis
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