Logano takes out Kenseth, wins at Kansas

He didn’t have anything to lose after his win last week at Charlotte, but Joey Logano wasn’t about to lie down for anyone as he raced for another victory in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday.
Matt Kenseth, in desperate search of anything resembling a shred of momentum and title-chasing hopes, found out what that meant in the closing laps around the 1.5-mile oval.

Logano pulled off the bump-and-run on Kenseth with five laps to go to take the lead and held on in a green-white-checkered finish to pick up his second straight win and give the remaining drivers in the Contender round of the Chase plenty to think about with the next elimination on deck Oct. 25 at Talladega Superspeedway.
The proof is clearly in the points. After Logano, only seven more drivers will keep championship hope alive, and second through 10th place is separated by a total of 20 points.
That will make Talladega – already an unpredictable wild-card when the Chase isn’t involved – a viewing and racing experience that will border on downright insane.
With Kansas in the rear-view mirror, Martin Truex Jr. would be the last driver to advance to the Eliminator round of the Chase. He has a six-point cushion on Kyle Busch and is eight points ahead of Ryan Newman.
And on the flip side of the coin, Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. may want to get advice from Kevin Harvick on how to win when their backs are clearly against the wall.
Kenseth may have gone from leading 153 of the 267 laps to finishing a decent 14th, but it wasn’t nearly good enough to counter last week’s 42nd-place showing at Charlotte. He’s in 12th, 35 points behind Truex Jr.
Directly in front of Kenseth sits Dale Jr. at 31 points behind the cutoff. He may have won the GEICO 500 at Talladega in May, but there’s no amount of looking at past film that can be done to figure out a way to win again. This race, the CampingWorld.com 500, is all about keeping the car in one piece and making moves toward the front at the right times. Those who do will continue on in the Chase, while the rest will be left to lament what might have been.
For those who love drag racing, the NHRA Toyota Nationals is on deck Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It’s the penultimate stop of the season to determine the 2015 champions in the four professional classes – Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock car and Pro Stock motorcycle.
After the weekend’s action finished up at Texas Motorplex outside of Dallas, three champions could potentially be crowned in two weeks. In Top Fuel, Antron Brown enjoys a 132-point cushion over Tony Schumacher and in Pro Stock, defending champion Erica Enders-Stevens leads Greg Anderson by 154.
Enders-Stevens is not only closing in on another championship, she has ruled the day at Las Vegas with three straight event victories and an 18-round winning streak. At 20 points per round win to go with additional bonuses for qualifying position and setting new track records, don’t be surprised if Enders-Stevens exits Las Vegas with her second golden Wally championship trophy.
Brown may have the inside track on his second title in the last four seasons (2012), but Schumacher has a history of stealing thunder in shocking fashion as his eight championships in the category, including 2014, will attest.
Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycle will have title fights that go down to the wire when the series hits the season finale at Pomona, Calif. on Nov. 12. Del Worsham, who won at Las Vegas last fall, also won at Texas over Jack Beckman in the final and increased his lead to 38 points.
In PSM, Andrew Hines probably breathed a sigh of relief after teammate Eddie Krawiec lost to Jerry Savoie in the final round at Texas. The end result means Hines, in search of a second straight championship, kept a 21-point lead heading to Las Vegas.
Jason Line (2012 in Pro Stock) and John Force (2013 in Funny Car) have won NHRA championship Wally trophies in the Countdown era at Las Vegas. If the current battles are any indication, it’s worth making the trek south in two weeks to see who may be next.

Followers and comments welcome on Twitter @Tomzsports.

NEXT WEEK'S RACES

Talladega Superspeedway (2.66-mile D-shaped oval), Talladega, Ala.

-SPRINT CUP: CampingWorld.com 500, Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.

Race distance: 500 miles, 188 laps

2014 champion: Brad Keselowski

-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Fred's 250 presented by Coca-Cola, Saturday, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, Fox. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.

Race distance: 250 miles, 94 laps.

2014 champion: Timothy Peters.

Logano seizes day at Charlotte, advances in Chase

After all the rain that hit the area Saturday night, I got ready for the first day race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in a very long time with one big expectation.
When the crew has to throw out all previous plans for the car and start over, all bets are off as to who has the best car. A completely different condition -- night to day...literally -- brought that feeling to the forefront of everyone's consciousness.

Joey Logano and his crew got the adjustments right and dominated the field to win the Bank of America 500 on Sunday afternoon to become the first to get the free pass to the Eliminator round, better known as the Elite Eight.
Logano and his crew were certainly elite in winning for the first time at Charlotte. The No. 22 was so good, Logano led 227 of the 334 laps. Only two other drivers led laps in double figures.
Matt Kenseth started from the pole and led 72 laps, but couldn't figure out how to avoid Ryan Newman and ended up 42nd. Sam Hornish Jr. led 22 laps, but most were during green-flag pit stop cycles as he finished 17th.
Knowing another four drivers will be denied their shot at the 2015 Sprint Cup title after Talladega in two weeks, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were none too pleased about their problems at Charlotte.
And it all involved oil on the high side of the track.
Busch (via Twitter): "You now, can’t pass anybody – single-lane race track and then you put oil on the top lane to try to make anything happen and then you put yourself in the fence, so thanks to NASCAR for cleaning that up, but just every single year it keeps going the same way.”
Busch finished 20th.
Dale Jr. backed up Busch's claims as strongly as he could, cleaned up a bit for publication:?
"We hit fluid and flew into the freakin' wall hard. That's not speed dry. I hit the wall, I know I hit oil.
"We all hit the wall. There was oil down there. It wasn't speedy dry. I've raced this (stuff) for 20-some years I know what oil is"
It's only one race, but at the same time, the pressure of trying to not only get through Talladega with the car in one piece in addition to quite possibly needing a victory to keep championship hope alive kicks up the pressure to the boiling point.
That is, for everyone except Logano. He can enjoy the racing experience at NASCAR's biggest, baddest track, even if his No. 22 Ford Fusion whacks a wall along the way.
That's the beauty of the Chase, though. One bad day can get turned around in a heartbeat, as Kevin Harvick certainly knows.
And as the Chase field dwindles to a precious few, winning will matter that much more over the next six weeks.
Followers and comments welcome on Twitter @Tomzsports. He'll have discussion this week on the upcoming NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
NEXT WEEK'S RACES
Kansas Speedway (1.5-mile D-shaped oval), Kansas City, Kansas
-SPRINT CUP: Hollywood Casino 400, Sunday, 2:15 p.m. ET/11:15 a.m. PT, NBC. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN affiliate.
Race distance: 400.5 miles, 267 laps.
2014 champion: Joey Logano
-XFINITY SERIES: Kansas Lottery 300, Saturday, 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN affiliate.
Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.
2014 champion: Kyle Busch
-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Off until Oct. 24 for the Fred's 250 powered by Coca-Cola at Talladega Superspeedway.