Aimee
It was Jeff Gordon’s championship to lose just a week ago after his record fifth win at the Brickyard. Then Dale Earnhardt Jr. completed a season sweep at Pocono and now he’s the guy to beat.
Jeff and Junior, two of NASCAR’s biggest stars heating up during this lazy summer stretch of racing. NASCAR really couldn’t ask for anything more.
Well, it wouldn’t hurt if Tony Stewart threw his hat into the ring, too. As of Tuesday, it will be one year since the broken leg that ended his season, and Stewart has now gone 14 months without a victory. He is on the outside looking in on the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field.
Stewart is one of the very few drivers who move the needle for NASCAR, and he has just five races remaining to grab a win he desperately needs to make him automatically eligible to race for the championship. For now, the only noise Smoke is making on the track is his constant sniping against blocking (do as he says, not as he does), but it might be time for him to block his way into Victory Lane.
That would give NASCAR the trifecta for its highly anticipated Chase, which for the first time will feature elimination rounds and a winner-take-all finale. Picture the glee on Brian France’s face in Phoenix if it’s some combination of Junior and Jeff, Smoke and Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick all jockeying to make the Final Four showdown at Homestead.
