Danica Patrick joins breast cancer survivors to paint curbs pink at Martinsville

               

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and each year folks in NASCAR do their part to spread the word.

On Wednesday, Danica Patrick met up with a group of breast cancer survivors to paint the curbs pink at Martinsville Speedway prior to the Goody's Fast Relief 500, which will kick off the Round of 8 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

It looked like a big time for a great cause.

Radioactive:Kansas -"Get our [expletive] head out of our [expletive]."NASCAR RACE HUB

Check out all the best scanner audio from the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway

Kevin Harvick crashed the Toyota party at Kansas

When you looked at qualifying and the practice sessions at Kansas Speedway this weekend, I felt like the Hollywood Casino 400 was certainly going to be a Toyota day. Toyotas swept the first two rows in qualifying and Matt Kenseth was fastest in Happy Hour.

Early on, Kenseth made it look like that was going to be the case. He led 116 laps, but close to the halfway point, he got against the wall and the handling changed on his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. And that pretty much took him out of contention to win the race.

Again, how many times this year have we talked about it: Chase Elliott, drives up there, takes the lead and just — he just can’t have any luck, that’s all you can say. He and his teammate Kasey Kahne had the same problem with tire rubs at the back of the car that made me go, “Hmmm?”

I knew watching practice on Saturday that Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet maybe didn’t have that short-run speed, but he definitely had long-run speed and that showed up yesterday.

And as much as we think that once you get them in a hole, they’re not going to get out, they continue to prove, yes they will get out. It’s almost like this situation that they were in motivates them. We’ve seen it for 2 ½ years now. Nobody probably does it better than they do.

The last seven races at Kansas, Harvick has been with two different organizations, and had to race with rules packages all over the place, and yet still, he’s finished first or second five times in those seven races. Harvick told me he’s figured something out there, but he wouldn’t expand on it, and I think the numbers support it.

After his victory, then you look at how the Chase is formatted and how the Round of 12 is playing out.

The top six finishers were all Chase drivers. Austin Dillon raced his guts out and he finished sixth and basically gained three points. He’s still on the outside of the Chase bubble looking in.

Joey Logano finished third and gained six points, but he’s still just barely above the cut line. So that, to me, is what makes this whole format interesting.

But I will say this in closing: For a track to have a repave not too long ago, that place is racing nice and it has a groove from the top to the bottom. So I commend the job that was done on that race track.

Normally, when a mile-and-a-half track gets repaved, you dread the racing for five, six or seven years, knowing you’re going to have one, maybe, two grooves. But at Kansas Speedway, they’re running from the top to the bottom of that race track. And that’s a good thing.

Kevin Harvick - Kansas -'NASCAR Victory Lane'

CUP: Kevin Harvick checks in with the 'NASCAR Victory Lane' crew after winning the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Chase Elliott:I don t know what to do following another bad finish

Chase Elliott looked like one of the drivers to beat for the better portion of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, but things quickly took a turn for the worst.

After starting 13th, Elliott methodically made his way toward the front early, wrestling the lead from eventual race winner Kevin Harvick on Lap 169. Five laps later, Elliott relinquished the lead for a green-flag pit stop.

Immediately after, Elliott was forced to give up the lead once gain to come back down pit road for a left-rear tire rub. The problem eventually caused him to hit the wall and finish 31st.

Elliott’s crew chief, Alan Gustafson, told him over the radio during the race that he thought he knew what the problem was, but didn’t go into detail.

“I don't know if we got the left rear getting up on the race track, or something and it got into the fender and cut it down,” Elliott said of the issue after the race. “I don't know what to do man, we were trying as hard as we can. We had such a good car today (Sunday) again, and....I don't know what to do. Just keep after it and try to move on."

The rookie is now 25 points behind eighth-place Joey Logano in the Chase standings. Heading into Talladega, it’s not mathematically impossible for Elliott to advance to the Round of 8 on points, but he certainly has his back against the wall in a likely must-win scenario.

"I just will go there, and race our hearts out and try to win I guess,” Elliott said. “That's about all we can do.”

Despite another tough race following a 33rd-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway a week prior, a dejected Elliott still managed to look at the positives.

“We have something to be proud of in the way we have been running,” he added. “There are just some things we can't control. I don't know how to fix that stuff. These guys deserve better on this SunEnergy1/ NAPA team.  We are bummed, but what do you do. You just have to move on."

The Chase heats up with its most intensity in Round of 12

On the final restart of the 2015 Talladega Chase race led to a pile-up on the front stretch that collected several cars.

The biggest wild-card in the existing Chase for the Sprint Cup format is the race at Talladega on Sunday Oct. 23.

Beyond the fact that it's a restrictor-plate race where anything can, and usually does happen, it's also an elimination race where only eight Chase drivers will advance.

I have to say that I am very disappointed that NASCAR let the drivers talk them into swapping dates in 2017 with Kansas because I think it definitely takes away a lot of the drama. Having Talladega as an elimination race in any round ramps up the intensity.

Obviously we have 400 miles to run this Sunday at Kansas and we have the possibility of another driver joining Jimmie Johnson to lock themselves into round three with a win Sunday, but I think Jimmie is really the only one who can feel safe right now.

A classic example is Denny Hamlin only a year ago. He went into Talladega second in the points and by the time the checkered flag flew, Denny found himself eliminated from the 2015 championship picture.

Believe me when I tell you that these other 11 drivers want to win more than anything this Sunday at Kansas. If any one of them could pull that off, they could go to Talladega and breathe a little bit easier just like Jimmie is right now.

Don't think that because he is locked into Round 3 that Jimmie is going to put the next two races on cruise control.

If you look at the Chase standings, he has some heavy hitters in a hole right now and he'll want to do all he can to keep it that way.

If he would happen to win Sunday at Kansas or next weekend at Talladega, that could go a long way in knocking some power players off the board that he won't have to face in on the road to Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.

Now that Charlotte is in the rear-view mirror and because of what happened to a lot of those Chase drivers, this second round is not only the most tense but also the most unpredictable in my book of all four rounds.

The old belief that once you are in you can relax is a bunch of crap.

Jimmie has some serious players behind the eight-ball and he needs to keep the pressure on them.

Sure he could play defense but why would he? Everybody wants to win, that's why we race, but winning this Sunday or next Sunday or even both would really change the Chase complexion of the No. 48 team's chances of making history.

Johnson would join only Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. with seven NASCAR Sprint Cup championships, the most all-time.

Entry list for Chase race No. 5 at Kansas Speedway

There are 40 cars featured on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entry list for Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

After many of the 12 Chase drivers experienced a disastrous race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, earning a good result this weekend will be critical before the final race in the Round of 12 at Talladega Superspeedway, which is sure to be a wild card.

Jimmie Johnson is locked into the Round of 8 after his win at Charlotte, while Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon are the four drivers on the outside looking in heading to Kansas.

An early look at the forecast for Sunday's race calls for mostly sunny skies and a high of 79 degrees.

See below for the full entry list:

Radioactive:Dover-"That was [expletive] brilliant, guys.Nice work.

Check out all the best scanner audio from the Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover International Speedway.

Preview Show:Dover International Speedway

Marty Snider and Chris Rice preview the upcoming weekend at Dover International Speedway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as drivers gear up for the first cutoff race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

After win eludes Kyle Busch at Loudon, he's taking nothing for granted

After the second race in the opening round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Kyle Busch is third in the points standings and in position to advance to the Round of 12 to continue his title defense.

Kyle Busch seemed like he was right where he wanted to be as the laps wound down in last Sunday's Bad Boy Off Road 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

He had worked his way up to third and was on fresher tires than the two cars in front of him --€“ Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth. He was turning the faster laps and appeared to be running them down.

Then a couple things happened to prevent Busch from winning the race.
He ran out of time and the harder and longer he ran on his tires, the less fresh they became and the more his lap times started equaling out to the times being posted by the leaders. Busch ended up finishing third behind Harvick and Kenseth, who came home 1-2.

Busch also lamented the lack of lapped traffic the top three cars encountered over the closing laps. That could have slowed down the leaders and enabled him to catch them for a late run at the lead.

"It's always tough here to pass and it's always tough with the more laps you get on your tires compared to everybody else," Busch said after the race at New Hampshire. "They start to equal out and then you get into that aero disadvantage a little bit and probably with not ever getting into traffic, there was never going to be a chance for us to kind of mix it up with lapped cars."

Busch admitted that his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Toyota was not quite as fast as the other two cars with all things being equal. He just hoped his fresher tires and some lapped traffic would provide enough of a difference to tilt the circumstances in his favor at the end.

It just didn't quite play out that way.

"It was just going to be car-on-car, driver-on-driver and we just didn't get to see it," Busch said. "I felt like we could have stacked up against them having the tire advantage. We wouldn't have won if it was just heads up."

They didn't win, of course, but the third-place finish gives Busch a comfortable 33-point cushion heading into the final first-round Chase race. After this Sunday's race at Dover International Speedway, the current 16-driver Chase field will be trimmed to 12.

Despite the seemingly insurmountable advantage, the defending Sprint Cup champion insisted he isn't taking advancement into the next round of the Chase playoffs for granted.

"We've seen anything happen in this business, so I don't like it very much at all -- but it's certainly better than having a one-point cushion," Busch said. "There are pluses and minuses in this business, but anything can happen.

"We saw it with the 48 (car of Jimmie Johnson) last year --€“ they had issues at Dover. We've had issues before and we've been able to make our way through or we've been knocked out like in years prior. You just have to go and fight it out and try to keep track of that big picture and do what you need to do to move on."

Radioactive:Loudon-"He just hit me. That's all these [expletive] do."-'NASCAR Race Hub'

Check out all the best scanner audio from the Bad Boy Off Road 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES OWNER STANDINGS

After Race 28 of the 2016 season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Pos Owner Car # Points Ldr Nxt PPos G/L Wins Attempts
1 Team Penske 2 2,087 0 0 2 1 4 28
2 Furniture Row Racing 78 2,086 -1 -1 1 -1 3 28
3 Joe Gibbs Racing 18 2,085 -2 -1 3 0 4 28
4 Joe Gibbs Racing 20 2,078 -9 -7 7 3 2 28
5 Team Penske 22 2,073 -14 -5 5 0 1 28
6 Stewart-Haas Racing 4 2,071 -16 -2 14 8 3 28
7 Joe Gibbs Racing 11 2,071 -16 0 4 -3 3 28
8 Hendrick Motorsports 48 2,070 -17 -1 8 0 2 28
9 Hendrick Motorsports 24 2,068 -19 -2 6 -3 0 28
10 Joe Gibbs Racing 19 2,068 -19 0 9 -1 2 28
11 Stewart-Haas Racing 41 2,067 -20 -1 10 -1 1 28
12 Chip Ganassi Racing 42 2,057 -30 -10 15 3 1 28
13 Chip Ganassi Racing 1 2,052 -35 -5 11 -2 0 28
14 Richard Childress Racing 3 2,052 -35 0 13 -1 0 28
15 Stewart-Haas Racing 14 2,046 -41 -6 12 -3 1 28
16 Front Row Motorsports 34 2,027 -60 -19 16 0 1 28
17 Hendrick Motorsports 5 699 -1,388 -1,328 18 1 0 28
18 Hendrick Motorsports 88 697 -1,390 -2 17 -1 0 28
19 Richard Childress Racing 31 676 -1,411 -21 19 0 0 28
20 Wood Brothers Racing 21 642 -1,445 -34 20 0 0 28
21 JTG Daugherty Racing 47 627 -1,460 -15 21 0 0 28
22 Roush Fenway Racing 17 607 -1,480 -20 23 1 0 28
23 Roush Fenway Racing 6 607 -1,480 0 22 -1 0 28
24 Stewart-Haas Racing 10 534 -1,553 -73 25 1 0 28
25 Roush Fenway Racing 16 518 -1,569 -16 24 -1 0 28
26 Richard Childress Racing 27 516 -1,571 -2 26 0 0 28
27 Richard Petty Motorsports 43 488 -1,599 -28 28 1 0 28
28 HScott Motorsports 15 484 -1,603 -4 27 -1 0 28
29 Germain Racing 13 451 -1,636 -33 29 0 0 28
30 Circle Sport-Leavine Family 95 416 -1,671 -35 30 0 0 28
31 Front Row Motorsports 38 397 -1,690 -19 31 0 0 28
32 BK Racing 23 369 -1,718 -28 32 0 0 28
33 Tommy Baldwin Racing 7 364 -1,723 -5 33 0 0 28
34 Richard Petty Motorsports 44 332 -1,755 -32 34 0 0 28
35 BK Racing 83 309 -1,778 -23 35 0 0 28
36 Premium Motorsports 98 256 -1,831 -53 36 0 0 28
37 HScott Motorsports 46 243 -1,844 -13 37 0 0 28
38 GO FAS Racing 32 222 -1,865 -21 38 0 0 28
39 Premium Motorsports 55 182 -1,905 -40 39 0 0 23
40 The Motorsports Group 30 151 -1,936 -31 40 0 0 28
41 Front Row Motorsports 35 46 -2,041 -105 41 0 0 3
42 Circle Sport - Leavine Family 59 26 -2,061 -20 42 0 0 1
43 BK Racing 93 15 -2,072 -11 43 0 0 5
44 BK Racing 26 3 -2,084 -12 44 0 0 1
45 Hillman Racing 40 0 -2,087 -3 45 0 0 1

Chase by the Numbers: New Hampshire

Here's all the info you need to know for the second stop in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, including a surprise statistic for 3-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Tony Stewart. For more NASCAR news.