NO.88 CREW CHIEF GREG IVES FINED, OTHERS RECEIVE WARNINGS POST-KANSAS

NASCAR officials handed down a P2 penalty to the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports team for not having lug nuts properly installed during Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

The infraction also brought a fine of $10,000 to Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 88 Chevrolet. 

The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team received a written warning and a loss of 15 minutes practice time for failing pre-race LIS three times.

The cars of Carl Edwards, Kyle Larson andMartin Truex Jr. failed pre-race LIS twice and received written warnings.

The cars of Austin Dillon and Regan Smithfailed pre-race template inspection twice and received written warnings.

Cole Whitt's No. 55 Chevrolet failed pre-qualifying LIS twice and received a written warning.

The cars of Jamie McMurray and Martin Truex Jr. failed pre-qualifying template inspection twice and received written warnings.

Other warnings issued after last weekend's events at Kansas Speedway:

The XFINITY Series cars of Cole Custerand Brandon Brown failed pre-race LIS twice and received written warnings. 

Also, the cars of Brennan Poole andDerrike Cope failed pre-race template inspection three times and received written warnings.

Kevin Harvick outruns Carl Edwards to win Hollywood Casino 400

Kevin Harvick took advantage of Carl Edwards dueling with a teammate to lead the final 30 laps and win the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Harvick clinches a spot in the third round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup with the win.

The No. 4 was followed by Edwards, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch.

Harvick, who led 74 laps, has won the second race in both rounds of the Chase so far. He won at New Hampshire in the first round.

“These races are hard to win and these guys are so good at the details,” Harvick told NBC Sports. “You put their backs against the wall and they get better.”

Harvick first took the lead on Lap 126 from Matt Kenseth, who led 116 laps before the halfway point before fading to finish ninth. Harvick then led 43 laps. In the middle of the race, a slow pit stop sent Harvick deep into the top 10, but Harvick returned to the point on the final restart. Edwards got into a tense battle with Busch, allowing Harvick to jump out to a 2.5-second lead.

Since the elimination format of the Chase debuted in 2014, Harvick has never been eliminated from a round.

“It’s hard to keep yourself motivated and perform at a high level, so to be able to come out and do it for three years says a lot about the character of this team and the things that they do,” Harvick said. “I’ve done a poor job (on restarts) the first half of the year. We struggled with some ratios and timing. We came up with some good ratios and things that really fit what we are doing.”

Harvick’s fourth win of the year gives him 35 Sprint Cup victories.

MORE: Race results

MORE: Point standings

HOW KEVIN HARVICK WON: Harvick overtook Carl Edwards on the final restart with 30 to go and led the rest of the way unchallenged.

WHO HAD A GOOD DAY: Carl Edwards led 61 laps and earned his first top five since Kentucky in July … Joey Logano finished third a week after placing 36th at Charlotte … Jimmie Johnson followed up his Charlotte win with a fourth-place finish … Alex Bowman bounced back from early contact with Jamie McMurray and an unscheduled pit stop to finish seventh for his career-best finish and his second top 10 … A.J. Allmendinger finished eighth for his sixth top 10 of the season and his first since Bristol in August …Kasey Kahne‘s 10th-place finish gives him six top 10s in the last seven races.

WHO HAD A BAD DAY: Aric Almirola andDavid Ragan caused a caution on Lap 37 when they got together. Almirola finished 40th, Ragan in 36th … Jamie McMurray hit the wall on Lap 44 after making contact with Alex Bowman. McMurray finished 37th … Kyle Larson hit the outside wall on Lap 177 to bring out the caution. Larson finished 30th … Brad Keselowski was turned by Denny Hamlinas they exited Turn 4 on Lap 190. Keselowski went sliding through the frontstretch grass, receiving significant damage. Keselowski finished 38th, earning his first DNF since the 2015 Daytona 500 … Denny Hamlin finished 15th after having to pit three times under one caution for splitter damage and being called for three pit road penalties late.

Notable: The last four Kansas races have been won by a different driver … Chevrolet has won 11 of the 22 Sprint Cup races held at Kansas.

Quote of the Day: “With this format I had a big points gap coming in. With this format it is probably the smart thing to do but I don’t want to race like that. I want to race my guts out and go for wins. I don’t want to points race. I don’t care what the damn format is, I am going to give it my best.” – Brad Keselowski after finishing 38th

NEXT: Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. ET on NBCSN

Watch LIVE:NASCAR America at 6 p.m. ET: Dover recap, look back at Tony Stewart’s final season

A 90-minute episode of NASCAR America begins at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN and recaps the first elimination race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Mike Massaro hosts with Dale Jarrett and Parker Kligerman in Stamford, Connecticut. Jeff Burton joins them from Burton’s Garage.
In today’s show:
• The Round of 16 is complete as four drivers have been eliminated from the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Gone are Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray, Chris Buescher and Tony Stewart. The second round is set and the 12 drivers in it are led by Martin Truex Jr., after winning two of the first three Chase races. Jarrett, Kligerman and Burton weigh in on the advances and the surprises, comparing how they their Chase Grids compared to the actual after results of the opening round.
• NASCAR America takes a look back at Tony Stewart’s storied career. He has been eliminated from the playoffs after finishing 13th at Dover. Our analysts reveal how they will remember Tony Stewart’s final season.
• We’ll also feature Sunday morning’s Xfinity Series race where Daniel Suarez joined Elliott Sadler in the second round of the Xfinity Chase. We’ll also get reaction from top-seeded Erik Jones, who now faces elimination this week at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
If you can’t catch the show on TV, you also can watch it via the online stream at http://nascarstream.nbcsports.com
If you plan to stream the show on your laptop or portable device, be sure to have your username and password from your cable/satellite/telco provider handy so your subscription can be verified.
Once you plug-in that information, you’ll have access to the stream.
Click here at 6 pm ET to watch live via the stream.

Sprint Cup Chase grid: Truex, Harvick lead 12 drivers into second round

The Sprint Cup Chase grid has four fewer drivers now after the completion of the first round.
No longer eligible for the championship are Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart, Chris Buescher and Jamie McMurray.
Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick advanced to the second round off wins while the rest of the 12-driver field was based off points.
Round two will be made up of Truex, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Brad  Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon.
The second round will take place at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
Click here for the full Chase grid following the first round.

Austin Dillon: ‘A lot of guys in this don’t think we should be here, and I’m proud’

DOVER, Del. – Exchanging hugs with team members, Austin Dillon pumped a fist skyward and shouted what could be the mantra for his No. 3 Chevrolet.
“That’s all we want – another shot!” Dillon exclaimed. “Next round, baby!”
The Richard Childress Racing driver was the surprise qualifier for the Round of 12 in Sunday’s Citizen Solider 400 cutoff race, but the biggest surprise might have been how Dillon advanced in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
He finished eighth – his first top 10 in seven starts at the 1-mile oval where his previous best was 20th – and emphatically proved his championship bid was deserving of continuing after a 400-mile race in which several title rivals faltered.
The former Xfinity and Craftsman Truck series champion, who hadn’t finished higher than 20^th in the points during his first two seasons in Sprint Cup, said it simply ranked as the biggest moment of his career.
“It’s amazing,” said Dillon , who had entered the race five points out of the final transfer spot. “It’s huge for RCR. I want to keep upsetting these guys, man.
“There’s a lot of guys in this that don’t think that we should be here, and I’m proud to be that car that’s here.”
Dillon wrapped up the final transfer spot by comfortably finishing 11 points ahead of Tony Stewart, whose final shot at a championship ended with a nondescript 13^th.
Dillon’s two biggest threats for advancement seemed to be Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray, but the Chip Ganassi Racing Chevys both were out of contention before the midpoint. Larson, who had a five-point cushion on McMurray and Dillon entering the race, had a loss of power and hit the wall in a 25th-place finish. McMurray finished last with an engine failure.
Even if they’d been at full strength, though, Dillon still would have been a threat with a car that he said was good enough to finish in the top five. After a mediocre practices Friday and Saturday, his car “came to life in the race” – particularly after the second pit stop.
“That’s when we really made it all up,” he said. “We made the Chase through that run.”
It was a major turnaround from last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where Dillon crashed his primary car, stated in a backup and flirted with a disastrous finish until rallying for 16^th and setting up his impressive performance at Dover.
“We just stayed focused, and once again, God just blessed us because I’m still awestruck,” he said. “Things like this just don’t happen. I’m proud to be going on to the final 12 and having race cars that are capable of keep on moving on.”
It’ll get much tougher from here. Dillon will be an overwhelming underdog battling for one of eight spots in the next round against Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson.
It’s a formidable list.
But for Dillon, it’s another shot — and it’ll begin at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which Dillon says his is best track on the circuit.
“I’ve got three really solid tracks coming up,” he said of Charlotte, Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superpseedway (where he finished third in May). “I’m going to drive the wheels off it and have fun while we’re here.”

Tony Stewart sees title hopes end but applauds team for effort

DOVER, Del. — His championship hopes over, Tony Stewart walked away into the crowd.

And disappeared.

Gone also were his title hopes. Although a 13th-place finish was his best result in the last seven races, it wasn’t good enough to keep his title hopes alive. Stewart was one of four drivers eliminated from Chase contention Sunday at Dover International Speedway. Also failing to advance were Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray and Chris Buescher. 

Still, when Stewart is enshrined into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Hall of Fame it will be as a three-time champion.

But hope remained when the day began of a fourth title.

“We will give 110 percent this whole day and take whatever it gives us,’’ Stewart told his team on the radio before the start of the Citizen Soldier 400. “I’ll tell you one thing, this one race, whatever happens, is not going to define the season this team has. Win, lose or draw, we keep our heads up.’’

That wasn’t enough. He was a driver in a car that lacked the speed and handling to run with the leaders. Cautions helped him stay on the lead lap past halfway but couldn’t stop the inevitable. He eventually was put a lap down on Lap 267 of the 400-lap race.

“I’m pretty excited about our day,’’ Stewart said as he walked away from his car. “We were much better than we were yesterday. Really proud of our team. We kept making it better all day. That is good as we had.”

That’s all he had to say.

Jimmie Johnson the leader at the halfway point in Dover

Jimmie Johnson is the leader at the halfway point of the Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover International Speedway.
Johnson started eighth and has led 11 of 200 laps. He took the lead on a restart on Lap 190, passing Martin Truex Jr. Truex started second and has led 81 laps. He took the lead for the first time on Lap 6, passing pole-sitter Brad Keselowski.
Kyle Busch is the only other driver to lead during the first half of the event. Busch has led twice for 102 laps.
Chase drivers were eight of the top 10 at halfway with Johnson leading Truex, Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Busch, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, and Jeff Gordon.
There have been four cautions in the first 200 laps. Chase driver Kevin Harvick, who already is locked into the Round of 12 after winning last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, brought out the first caution on Lap 33 when he suffered a broken track bar mount. Following repairs in the garage, Harvick returned to the race on Lap 77 and was running 39th, 44 laps down at halfway.
Under the same caution, Chase driver Kyle Larson lost power in his No. 42 Chevrolet and had to be pushed to pit road. Larson lost a lap while the team worked on the car and then was called for a pass-through penalty for having too many crew members over the wall.
The second caution was for Ryan Blaney, who blew a tire coming off Turn 2 on Lap 104. Larson then brought out the third caution when he blew a tire on Lap 182. The fourth caution was for Larson’s teammate, Jamie McMurray, who blew an engine on Lap 193.

Jamie McMurray loses engine a few laps shy of halfway at Dover

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Chase for the Sprint Cup hopes suffered another blow as Jamie McMurray lost an engine just shy of the halfway point in the Citizen Soldier 400.
McMurray’s No. 1 Chevrolet had been off the pace for many laps before it gave up the ghost on Lap 193.
McMurray, who qualified for his second consecutive Chase, had entered Dover International Speedway 13th on the Chase grid. The top 12 drivers will advance to the second round.
This was the first year owner Chip Ganassi had put both of his cars in the Chase, and it seemed neither will advance from the opening round.
McMurray’s championship aspirations ended while teammate Kyle Larson was running in 32nd, four laps down after a series of miscues and problems.
During a caution for Larson hitting the wall on Lap 183, McMurray told his crew “I have to be down at least two cylinders, maybe three.”
Less than four laps after the restart, McMurray’s car began belching smoke.
“I was really happy with the car; we’ve had good cars for the last two months,” McMurray told NBC Sports. “I’m proud of my team, proud of our guys for all the hard work we put in. It stinks that it’s over this way.”

Martin Truex Jr. dominates at Dover for his fourth win of the season

Martin Truex Jr. further established himself as championship favorite by dominating the Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover International Speedway.
Already locked into the Round of 12 following a victory in the Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway, Truex picked up his second win of in the first round after leading 187 of 400 laps Sunday afternoon. The victory is the second at Dover for Truex, a New Jersey native, who earned his first career win at his home track in June of 2007.
It is also his seventh career win and fourth of the season. Truex finished first, seventh, and first in the Chase’s first three races while leading a total of 360 laps.
“We’re not messing around, I guess,” Truex told NBC Sports of his first round performance. “I don’t know. What else can you say? We are here to get it done and golly, the best bunch of guys you could ever ask for and just amazing to drive their racecars and do what we’re able to do. I’m just ecstatic.”
MORE: Results and statistics from the Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover
MORE: Martin Truex Jr. takes point lead after Dover win
Truex took control of the race after Jimmie Johnson, who led 90 laps, was penalized for having too many crew members over the wall during a round of green flag pit stops on Lap 280. Johnson had been leading at the time but would finish seventh, the first car one lap down.
The No. 78 of Truex then took the lead for the final time on Lap 374 after the race’s final round of pit stops. His margin of victory was seven seconds over Toyota teammate, Kyle Busch.
The top five were Truex, Busch, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, and Matt Kenseth. The first four drivers eliminated from the Chase were Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray, and Chris Buescher.
HOW TRUEX WON: Truex cycled to the race lead by seven seconds with 26 laps to go following the final round of pit stops.
WHO ELSE HAD A GOOD RACE: Chase Elliott earned his second top-five finish in the Chase with a third-place run … Team Penske put both cars in the top-10 with pole-sitter Brad Keselowski finishing fourth and Joey Logano finishing sixth … Jimmie Johnson recovered from a pit road penalty to finish seventh … Jeff Gordon earned his first top-10 finish in the No. 88 car with a 10th-place effort.
WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Kyle Larson finished 25th, six laps down after losing power in his Chevrolet, being issued a pit road penalty, and hitting the wall … Kevin Harvick broke a track bar mount and finished 37th … Ryan Blaney blew a tire and finished 38th … Jamie McMurray blew an engine and finished last, 40th.
NOTABLE: With his fourth win at Dover, Truex is now tied with Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch for the most in the series. Dover is also the first track where Truex has scored multiple race wins. Truex has also now led more laps in the last six races (588) than each of his prior seasons entering 2016.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “It feels good. Now it’s time to knock some more of these guys out because we’ve got this opportunity and I’m going to say we’re going to be the underdog in this next round, so let’s go do it.” — Austin Dillon on advancing to the Round of 12 in the Chase.
WHAT’S NEXT: The Round of 12 begins at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the Bank of America 500 on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. ET on NBC.

FOUR TEAMS SET FOR GOODYEAR TIRE TEST AT MARTINSVILLE

Four NASCAR teams will converge Tuesday and Wednesday for a Goodyear tire test at Martinsville Speedway, the lone short track left on the Sprint Cup Series schedule.

The four teams invited will help confirm the tire compound for the Oct. 30 Goody's Fast Relief 500, the seventh event in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs. Those participating at the .526-mile track are:

The Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevrolet with driver Jamie McMurray
The Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 Ford with driver Greg Biffle
The Richard Childress Racing No. 27 Chevrolet with driver Paul Menard
The Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota with driver Martin Truex Jr.

Two tests remain on the Sprint Cup schedule for the rest of the year.

Another Goodyear tire test is scheduled at Kansas Speedway on Oct. 17, the day after the 1.5-mile track completes its second NASCAR weekend of the year. NASCAR is also scheduled to conduct an organizational test Oct. 18-19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of the season finales for all three national series as part of Ford Championship Weekend.

Chase Analytics: Kevin Harvick enters the playoffs as favorite

Kevin Harvick starts the Chase with a 34 percent probability of being the 2016 champion.

Just like last year, with the help of Andrew Maness from the racing analytics firm Pit Rho, we ran the numbers to show every driver’s shot of moving through each round of the Chase. As usual, the mathematical model was designed by both Maness and myself, taking into account past driver performance to predict future results. By running 100,000 simulations of how the rest of the season might play out, we can see what the most likely outcomes are.

Technically speaking, every one of the 16 drivers has a chance of winning the title. Even that 0.0 for Chris Buescher is actually 0.016 percent. That means if he ran his 10 best races, while everybody else ran less than their 10 best, he could pull off the upset.

2016-chase-probs

At the top of the list, you see the usual culprits, like Harvick, Brad Keselowski, and Denny Hamlin. Remember that the Chase sets up weird incentives: You need to win or at least run consistently to move through the rounds. And making it through the rounds isn’t the same as winning the title.

Notice the difference between Kyle Busch and Jamie McMurray. They have very similar chances of advancing to the second round (Busch at 81 percent and McMurray at 78 percent). But Busch has a real solid shot at winning the title (6.8 percent) while McMurray’s is much closer to zero.

That’s because we know Busch can win races, but he also could blow up at any time. We can’t trust Busch to guarantee a second round spot, but if he does make it, then all of a sudden he could get hot and win it all. Busch only has the ninth-best chance of making it past round one, yet he has the fifth-best chance of winning the title. That’s the uncertainty I’m talking about.

Martin Truex Jr. is the opposite. He has a 90 percent chance of making it past the first round, but only a five percent title chance. He’s a consistent driver in the top 10 but has trouble sealing the deal on winning races. Notice his 90 percent chance to make the second round is almost the same as Denny Hamlin’s chance, but they have significant differences in their title shots.

This year’s loss of Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. from the Chase has opened the door for fresher names to make it in, like Chip Ganassi’s Kyle Larson.

“If you had asked me in April, there’s no way that I would have predicted that both Ganassi cars would be running so well at this point in the season,” said Dr. Josh Browne, a former NASCAR race engineer and now co-founder at Pit Rho. “It’s a remarkable turnaround in such a short period of time. The model seems to capture this, and we give both cars a good chance of making it to the next round.”

Of course, you have to remember that these numbers are good for this week and this week only. As soon as the next race is completed, new performance results will change the data. As we know, 15 drivers are eventually going to see their title hopes dwindle away to zero by November.

Eric Chemi runs data journalism for our sister network CNBC, including a heavy dose of sports analytics. Prior to that, his NASCAR forecasts have been on Sprint Cup television broadcasts, and he has consulted for Sprint Cup teams on strategy, statistics, data, and analytics. He graduated with an engineering degree from MIT.

Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray ready to make Chip Ganassi Racing a force in the Chase

For one, it’s unchartered territory. For the other, it’s hoping that the second time around is better than the first.

That’s how the upcoming Chase for the Sprint Cup shapes up for Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray.

Larson is making his first playoff appearance. It comes in his third Cup season.

Larson, who won last month at Michigan, will start the Chase as the 10th seed.

McMurray is making the second consecutive Chase appearance. He’ll start the playoffs in the 16th and final position.

Larson has been one of NASCAR’s hottest drivers of late. Saturday night’s runner-up finish at Richmond International Raceway was his third straight top-three finish — He won at Michigan and finished third at Darlington.

It wasn’t easy, though. Larson struggled near the midpoint of the race with a loose wheel that caused him to pit on Lap 192. Still, he was able to come back for his best finish at Richmond.

The final restart, though, with two laps remaining was what sealed the deal for the northern California native.

“It felt like a video game on rookie mode, having fresh tires like that,” Larson told NBCSN. “It was a fun last restart and to get all the way to second. I felt I could get to fourth, but I got to second, so that was great.”

Given his hot streak, Larson hopes to ride into the opening race next Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway and keep that momentum going as the Chase opens.

“The Chase tracks, most of them, are good tracks for me,” Larson said. “We start at Chicago, which is one of my favorite tracks and I really think we can make a good run.

“It’s been awesome and I’m looking forward to it, the first time in the Chase. There’s a lot of new guys in the Chase, so it should be exciting.”

McMurray, meanwhile, hopes to perform better in his second Chase than he did last season.

Like Larson, McMurray has had his own momentum of late, as well: His seventh-place finish Saturday was his ninth top-10 of 2016, including four of the last five races.

McMurray knew how much was on the line coming into Saturday’s race. Because he has yet to win a race this season, he was vulnerable. If a winless driver had won instead of Hamlin, McMurray could have missed the playoffs.

So he did something he typically doesn’t do — he drove defensively.

“I was racing so different than what you normally would, not taking any risk,” McMurray said. “Really good day, both our cars ran real great again today.

“The guys at our shop need to be really proud at what they have been able to build because it’s a lot of fun to drive and be able to run that quick. I looked up at one point and I think there was the four Gibbs cars and Kyle and I. We still have a little bit of work to do, but we’ve made some huge gains and I’m really proud of all those guys.”

McMurray was eliminated after the first round of last year’s Chase. He hopes that’s not the same case this year.

“I feel better about our chances this year vs. last year,” he said. “I felt like last year heading into the Chase that we didn’t really have anything in our pocket as far as little bit better cars.

“I feel like right now we have cars capable of winning. I look forward to getting (to Chicagoland), it’s been a good track for Kyle and I and would be a great way to start off the Chase.”

This marks the first time Chip Ganassi Racing has had two drivers in the Chase in the same year. Ganassi told McMurray before the race that if both he and Larson make the Chase, it would be the “biggest thing ever” at CGR in terms of NASCAR achievements.

“When you look at Chip’s organization, he’s been so successful in Indy cars, sports cars, we’ve won some big races at NASCAR, but the NASCAR side is really hard to keep on top,” McMurray said. “It’s like that for everybody. So when you get down, it’s really hard to climb your way back up.

“Earlier this year, we made some changes as far as personnel. He moved some people around. The crew chiefs and everybody is working really well together and they’ve been able to build some great cars. He’s proud of that because when you make those changes, there’s no guarantee it’s going to show up on the racetrack – but it has.”

Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray prepare for 500th Sprint Cup starts

When the green flag drops on Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway, Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray will mark an achievement together with their 500th starts in the Sprint Cup Series.

The last time two drivers made their 500th starts in the same race was Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Terry Labonte at Watkins Glen International in 1995.

“I’m really excited about making my 500th start,” said Biffle in a team release. “It’s been a great ride and it’s amazing how fast the time goes by. I’ve got a lot of memories, wins, close races and fun times. I’ve won a lot of great races and look forward to running for that third championship.”

Biffle and McMurray did not make their first starts together, but their careers are intertwined.

The oldest full-time driver on the Cup circuit at 46, Biffle broke into the series on April 28, 2002, in the NAPA Auto Parts 500 at Auto Club Speedway. After three seasons and one title (2000) in the Camping World Truck Series and one Xfinity season, Biffle started in the No. 16 for Roush Fenway Racing.

The native of Vancouver, Washington, qualified 29th and finished 13th in the first of six starts that season.

McMurray’s debut, 20 races later, is much memorable.

A native of Joplin, Missouri, McMurray had 21 truck starts and a season and a half of Xfinity starts with no wins when Chip Ganassi called. On Sept. 29, Sterling Marlin suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck in a crash at Kansas Speedway. The injury forced Marlin from Ganassi’s No. 40 for the rest of the season.

McMurray, then 26, stepped into the car the next week at Talladega Superspeedway, where he would start fifth and finish 26th, a lap down.

McMurray would start fifth again a week later at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the UAW-GM Quality 500. He would lead three times that night for 96 laps. He assumed the lead for the last time with 31 laps to go en route to his first Sprint Cup victory.

Both Biffle and McMurray would be full-time rookies in 2003, with Biffle driving the No. 16 for Roush and McMurray the No. 42 for Ganassi. Since that season, only Biffle has failed to make a start, when he did not qualify for the third race of the 2002 season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“If I wouldn’t have missed the Las Vegas race I would have won Rookie of the Year, except he did,” Biffle said last month at the unveiling of his car for the Southern 500.

Since 2002, Biffle has driven only for Roush, earning 19 victories (the first coming in the 2004 Pepsi 400) 92 top fives and 175 top 10s. Biffle will be the second driver to make his 500th Cup start at Roush. Mark Martin made his in March 2002.

Biffle hasn’t won since the spring Michigan race in 2013.

McMurray, now 40, is in his second stint with Chip Ganassi Racing after competing with Biffle at Roush from 2006 – 2009. The two remain good friends from their days as teammates, often vacationing together and sharing plane rides to races.

“More of a friendship of any other driver, a colleague at work that you respect their talent and ability,” Biffle said. “A lot of times friendships kind of stay intact … you can usually get over, ‘Hey I cut you off or you ran into you on accident.’ Typically you can put those behind you. We haven’t had too many of those.’’

While McMurray has only seven wins on his record – and none since 2013 – his victories tend to come on NASCAR’s biggest stages.

Nicknamed the “Big Game Hunter” by Ganassi, McMurray won the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and fall Charlotte race in 2010. His second Cup win was the 2007 Pepsi 400. He also has two wins at Talladega (2009, 2013). His last trip to victory lane was the 2014 All-Star Race.

Heading into Saturday’s race, McMurray holds the final provisional spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and is 22 points ahead of Ryan Newman.

Biffle needs to win in order to qualify for the Chase.

Kurt Busch seeks NASCAR record this weekend at Pocono

Kurt Busch seeks to do something this weekend that hasn’t been done in NASCAR.

Run every lap for the most consecutive races to start a season.

Busch enters Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway on NBCSN having completed all 5,673 laps in the first 20 races. No driver has completed every lap through the the first 21 Cup races in a season.

Busch tied Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the record this past weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway when Busch completed every lap on the way to finishing 16th.

Earnhardt set the mark in 2012 by completing every lap in the first 20 races of the season. In the 21st race, which was at Pocono, Earnhardt fell 18 laps short of the distance in the rain-shortened race.

Busch heads to Pocono having won the June race there. In this race a year ago, he finished 37th after he was involved in an accident, He finished 10 laps behind the leaders.

Busch’s consistency this season has led to 15 top-10 finishes, second only to Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick, who has 16.

Drivers who have run the most laps in Cup this season:

100% — Kurt Busch (5,673 laps)

99.86 — Brad Keselowski (5,665)

99.67 — Trevor Bayne (5,654)

99.38 — Martin Truex Jr. (5,638)

98.71 — Kevin Harvick (5,600)

98.55 — Jamie McMurray (5,591)

98.20 — Austin Dillon (5,571)

97.76 — Landon Cassill (5,546)

97.76 — Matt Kenseth (5,546)

97.48 — Carl Edwards (5,530)

Fourteen teams testing Monday and Tuesday at Kentucky Speedway

Fourteen teams will take part in a test at the repaved Kentucky Speedway today and Tuesday.

NASCAR is allowing a car from each organization to test at Kentucky because next month’s race will be the first on the repaved surface. Teams also will use the same lower downforce package at Kentucky as they did this past weekend at Michigan International Speedway.

Teams scheduled to test at Kentucky:

• Jamie McMurray (Chip Ganassi Racing)
• Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing)
• Kasey Kahne (Hendrick Motorsports)
• Greg Biffle (Roush Fenway Racing)
• Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing)
• Ryan Blaney (Wood Brothers Racing)
• Joey Logano (Team Penske)
• Paul Menard (Richard Childress Racing)
• Chris Buescher (Front Row Motorsports)
• Aric Almirola (Richard Petty Motorsports)
• Michael Annett (HScott Motorsports)
• AJ Allmendinger (JTG Daugherty Racing)
• Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing)
• Matt DiBenedetto (BK Racing)

Upon Further Review: Michigan

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s slide in the points could be worrisome to his fans, but how concerned should they really be?

Maybe not as much as they are.

Since placing second at Bristol in mid-April, Earnhardt has had one top 10 and three finishes of 30th or worse. He enters this off weekend 12th in the standings, 30 points ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammateKasey Kahne, the first driver outside a Chase spot.

With 10 different winners in the first 15 races, the question is how many more will there be before the playoffs being in September. That’s pivotal if Earnhardt doesn’t win a race. More winners means fewer spots to make the Chase via points.

Last year, five winless drivers made the Chase. In 2014, it was three.

Take a look at what this eight-race slide has done to Earnhardt’s position in the standings. Since Bristol, Earnhardt has scored 133 points (Brad Keselowski has scored a series-high 256 points during that time).

The four drivers behind Earnhardt in the standings who also are in a Chase spot all have closed on him. Austin Dillon has gained 35 points on Earnhardt in those eight races. Jamie McMurray has gained 42 points, Ryan Newman has gained 54 points, and Ryan Blaneyhas gained 57 points. On average they’re making up between four to seven points per race on Earnhardt. With 11 races left until the Chase field is set, they’d pass him at this rate.

Of course, one would question if Earnhardt’s struggles will continue and allow those drivers to catch him at that rate.

Among drivers outside a Chase spot at this time, Kahne has gained 35 points on Earnhardt in the last eight races, Trevor Bayne has gained 40 points, and Kyle Larson has gained 50 points. Again, can they continue to catch Earnhardt at the same rate if they don’t win a race?

Now, look at what has taken place on the track. Three times in the last eight races, Earnhardt has been eliminated by a crash (Talladega, Dover and Michigan). Dillon, McMurray, Newman and Blaney — all behind Earnhardt in a Chase spot — have been eliminated by an accident a combined three times in that stretch.

Do you think Earnhardt’s misfortune will continue? Better yet, do you think those four drivers will avoid being collected in accidents in the coming weeks?

Also, the six times in the last eight races that Earnhardt made it to the halfway mark, he’s gained a total of 40 spots from the start. In five of those races he’s been running between seventh and 11th at the halfway point.

That’s well enough to make the Chase if he can finish there.

Something else to consider is that with Sonoma next it would be easy for Earnhardt fans to fret because of how he used to run there, but he’s placed seventh and third in his last two races there. Not a guarantee he’ll do that again, but he’s been much better there than he was.

Now, all this isn’t to say there’s work to do. There is. Qualifying, as crew chief Greg Ives noted in a tweet after Sunday’s race at Michigan, must get better. Running between seventh and 11th won’t be good enough to win a championship. That’s the goal.

Earnhardt knows it and has said so in recent weeks.

Still, there’s time for this team to improve and be a title contender instead of an underdog.

YOUTH MOVEMENT

While much was made of young drivers Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson finishing second and third in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Michigan, the entire weekend showcased NASCAR’s youth movement.

Last Friday’s Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway was won by 18-year-old William Byron. Saturday’s Xfinity race was won by 24-year-old Daniel Suarez, and Sunday’s Sprint Cup race was won by 26-year-old Joey Logano.

Combined, the average age of those winners is 22.7 years — the youngest average age for winners in the same weekend in NASCAR’s top three series since last year’s season-opening races at Daytona.

The 2015 season started with Tyler Reddick, then 19 years old, winning the Truck race at Daytona. Ryan Reed, then 21, won the Xfinity race, and Logano, then 24, won the Daytona 500. Their combined average age was 21.3 years old.

“The future of NASCAR is present, and it’s going to be big,’’ Logano said after his win Sunday at Michigan in reference to being followed across the finish line by Elliott and Larson. “It’s amazing you see some of those guys that are coming in how good they are, and particularly with Chase today and Larson, as well, here recently how fast he’s been.’’

Sunday’s Cup race marked the ninth time in the last 11 points events that a driver seeking his first series win finished in the top five with Elliott and Larson doing so. It also marked the third time in the last six points races that two drivers seeking their first series win each finished in the top five in a  Cup race.

A GOOD SIGN FOR Tony Stewart

There’s still work to do, but Tony Stewart finally had a good weekend — weekend being the key point — since coming back after missing the first eight races of the season with a back injury.

Stewart was solid throughout the weekend. He was 20th in the opening practice, qualified third, ran 16th in the first practice Saturday, 19th in the final practice and finished seventh in Sunday’s race.

Not spectacular numbers some could argue, but Sunday marked only his seventh race with new crew chief Mike Bugarewicz. Compare it to what he did at Charlotte two weeks ago. Stewart was 28th, 15th and 26th in the three practice sessions, qualified 21st and finished 24th.

“That is the kind of weekend I’ve been looking for all year out of this group,’’ Stewart said after the Michigan race. “Today is proof that we can do it. I would rather have this than win a race and run 15th to 20th the next week. From start to finish all weekend, it’s been solid, and that is what we are looking for right now. I’m tickled to death.”

Stewart’s result moved him to within 45 points of 30th in the season standings. He needs to be in the top 30 in points to be eligible for a Chase spot should he win one of the remaining 11 races before the playoffs begin.

OH WOE IS JOE (GIBBS RACING)

For the first time since last May and June, Joe Gibbs Racing failed to score a top five in back-to-back races.

The team’s top finisher Sunday at Michigan was Carl Edwards, who was sixth. He was the team’s only driver in the top 10.

Reigning champion Kyle Busch scored his fourth consecutive finish of 30th or worse after an engine issue. Denny Hamlin placed 33rd after an incident. Matt Kenseth finished a quiet 14th. No Gibbs cars led a lap.

Of course, many teams would like to have the problem of being noted for not scoring back-to-back top-five finishes.

PIT STOPS

— The last seven Cup points races each have had a different winner: Carl Edwards (Richmond), Brad Keselowski (Talladega), Kyle Busch (Kansas), Matt Kenseth (Dover),Martin Truex Jr. (Charlotte), Kurt Busch (Pocono) and Joey Logano (Michigan). It’s the longest streak of different winners since there were eight from the 2013 season finale to the first seven races of the 2014 season.

— Kurt Busch remains the only driver to have completed all 4,664 laps this season. The last time a driver had completed every lap this late in the season was 2012 with Dale Earnhardt Jr. He ran every lap through the first 20 races that season.

— Hendrick Motorsports has gone 10 races since its last victory (Jimmie Johnson at Auto Club Speedway). The team went 15 races between wins last year. In the last 36 races (equivalent to one season), Hendrick cars have won six races. Joe Gibbs Racing leads the way with 18 victories during that stretch. Team Penske has won eight races in the time, followed by Stewart-Haas Racing (three wins) and Furniture Row Racing (one). No other team won during that stretch.