Earnhardt hits wall, Hendrick’s struggles continue

And the most popular answer is the same thing that many believed when the Chase format was first announced – leave nothing to chance in the Contender Round finale at Talladega. While they may not face any more pressure than Major League Baseball players in a Divisional Series, the Sprint Cup drivers do carry far more of a team’s responsibility when it comes to the outcome.

Though his overall record in Kansas is not the best, no other driver has thrived as well as Kenseth on the new surface of the track, and he is presently the only multiple victor in the field since the 2012 repave. Logano inherited the race lead from Matt Kenseth by staying out. “This assists us with energizing our batteries and get prepared for the following round.”

Logano clearly deserved this one.

“Logano’s the only one is going to sleep for the next two weeks, you know what I mean?” said Martin Truex Jr., who finished third in Charlotte behind runner-up Kevin Harvick. When the race restarted, Earnhardt Jr. was 37th, one lap down to the leaders.

“When you can beat the [No.] 4 auto [of defending champion Harvick] any day, any time, that’s a big deal for us”, said Logano team owner Roger Penske. “I think that it was good that we could at least be on a level playing field with him today”. Busch had run in the top-five throughout the race to that point.

As Twitter user Rodrant64 noted, the drivers have an identical number of top-five finishes (34) in that span and are also close in top-10s (Logano has 46, Harvick 44) and average finish (Logano 9.9, Harvick 11.1). “We still have to go out there and we have to win races”.

Is there too much pressure on drivers who earn hefty retainers and purse money in the millions?

Earnhardt hit the wall several times Sunday and finished 28th. Jeff Gordon (eighth) and Brad Keselowski (ninth) wrestled their beasts of cars into good enough days. He didn’t lose ground due to his contact with Kenseth in Turn 1.

Kyle Busch: Busch had a sour Sunday at Charlotte, his day highlighted by a wacky pit-road collision with Kyle Larson.

“A lot of us went into Turn 1 on that restart, went around the speedy dry and right into the oil”, Earnhardt said.

Logano never went to the middle or upper grooves because he didn’t need to.

Harvick’s Kansas form has been unrivalled in recent events, with the best average grid position and running position, along with the highest tally of laps led.

If neither wins one of the next two races, both Earnhardt and Busch are in danger of being among the four Chase drivers eliminated before the start of Round 3 of the Chase. It was just his fifth Top 10 of the season and first-ever in four starts at the Charlotte oval. The next race is at Kansas and the field will be trimmed from 12 to eight on October 25 at Talladega.

“Doesn’t change what we have to do”, Logano said. “But we are for a few reason”. The problem is you’ve got six of the guys we’re racing in the championship right there ahead of us.

“There’s such consistency in our manufacturing process that this vehicle probably won’t be seen for the rest of the Chase”, Logano crew chief Todd Gordon said.

NASCAR fans have heard plenty about Harvick’s success this year. He has a ticket to the Eliminator Round.