Brad Keselowski celebrates in Victory Lane after winning last week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway. Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt/NASCAR via Getty Images
JOLIET, IL – Brad Keselowski has bounced back in a big way this year.
After failing to defend his 2012 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup title in a disappointing 2013 campaign when he missed the postseason entirely, the Team Penske driver has notched a series-leading four wins to enter this season’s Chase as its No. 1 seed.
Along with his wins come 12 bonus points (three per victory) for the first round of the Chase known as “The Challenger Round” and tons of momentum.
Keselowski sent the message to the field that he is the driver to beat in the final 10 races by turning in a dominant performance on his way to the checkered flag at Richmond. The 30-year-old set a course record by leading all but 17 of the 400 laps at the .75-mile short track, recording the 400th win for Team Penske.
“The Miller Lite Ford Fusion was just flying, and I couldn’t ask for a better way to enter the Chase than to win and take the first seed,” Keselowski said.
Five of the 10 Chase events take place at 1.5-mile superspeedways, the type of track that has treated Keselowski kindly this season. Two of Keselowski’s wins have come on 1.5-mile speedways (Las Vegas and Kentucky). He also won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July, the location of the Chase’s second race.
“We’re ready,” Keselowski said. “We want to run for another Cup. We feel like this team has it.”
Keselowski is not the only Team Penske driver eyeing a championship. Joey Logano occupies the fifth seed on the Chase Grid. Logano ranks tied for second in the series with three wins and has been a model of consistency the past month. Over the past seven races, Logano has logged six top-10 finishes. He and Keselowski will attempt to bring home the second NASCAR Sprint Cup title for owner Roger Penske.
“We are ready to go man,” said Logano following his sixth-place finish at Richmond. “We had a mediocre night tonight. It was hard fought. We kept fighting with it, but it is over, and now we are going to Chicago and have a shot at a championship this year. I am excited about that.”
NASCAR Nationwide Series: JR Motorsports Conundrum – Only Room For One In Title Town
For the first time, car owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. might be facing a problem most NASCAR Nationwide Series car owners would love to have – his two cars are battling for the title in the final races of the season. But Earnhardt knows his biggest task will be trying to keep his organization from becoming a house divided, because only one of his drivers can bring home the title.
But which one?
Some of them include malaria sildenafil online no prescription treatment and overall tonic. Kamagra works by supplying blood best viagra price to the require area. The simplest are talking therapies, such as cognitive behavioral amerikabulteni.com cialis samples therapy, gradual development of intimacy and stimulation. In fact, herbal remedies are very much effective in generic cialis samples amerikabulteni.com curing the problem in men. Regan Smith, second in the series standings, has eight races left in the season to catch his teammate Chase Elliott who is a comfortable 19 points ahead in the standings lead. Smith’s consistency (he leads the series in top-10 finishes with 21) has brought him to this point in the season, but out placing Elliott will be crucial in these final eight races if Smith wants the title. Arguably this has been Smith’s career-best season; he has posted an average finish of 8.5 and a season-to-date driver rating of 99.5.
Unfortunately for Smith, Elliott’s stronghold on the point standings has been unrelenting since the series was previously at Chicago back in July. Elliott led 85 laps on his way to his third win of his Sunoco Rookie season. This weekend, Elliott returns looking to go for the season sweep at Chicagoland Speedway in the Jimmy John’s Freaky Fast 300 Powered by Coca-Cola and he might do it.
Elliott’s rookie season has seen three wins (Texas, Darlington and Chicago), 12 top fives and 19 top 10s in 25 starts. His average finish this season is 8.2 and his season-to-date driver rating is 109.4 – second only to Kyle Busch (127.4) in the series.
“A lot of pride comes from seeing those two guys doing so well in the points,” said Earnhardt, Jr. “It’s just hard to watch them have to go to battle over the points lead. You pull for both of them and you’d like to see both of them win it, but there is some other competition out there. By no means is it a two-car race, but there is a lot of pride to see them two cars doing so well in the points. It’s a big honor for us as a company. It gives us a lot of confidence.”
If either JR Motorsports driver can bring home the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship this season it will be the first title for the organization in the series. JR Motorsport’s best points position finish prior to this season was third – three times (Brad Keselowski 2008, 2009 and Regan Smith 2013).
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Sauter Continues To Lead The Pack
Johnny Sauter has made the upper echelon of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings his home this season. He currently leads the driver points standings over ThorSport teammate Matt Crafton (-7) and remains the only competitor to appear in the top five all season.
Don’t plan on Sauter falling from his perch atop the standings anytime soon, if at all. He has a combined average finish of 9.2 at the remaining eight tracks (he has yet to make a start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway).
If Sauter can hold on to the No. 1 spot, he will clinch his first NCWTS title. His previous high championship finishes were a runner-up showing in 2011 and a third-place performance in 2010. Last season, he finished fourth after posting a career-high three wins.
Trailing Sauter and Crafton in the standings are Ryan Blaney (-13), Darrell Wallace Jr. (-38) and German Quiroga (-48).
Sauter has just one win this season, but has failed to finish in the top 10 in only two of 14 races.
He competes next in the Lucas Oil 225 on Friday at Chicagoland Speedway, a track where he has posted four top-10 finishes in five starts.
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