By Jared Turner One quick look at the Monster Energy Series standings reveals a hard-to-miss fact: Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne are in big trouble. With this weekend’s playoff elimination race at Dover looming, Busch and Kahne are 15th and 16th among the 16 championship-eligible drivers, respectively, and face such a steep points climb that they probably need to win on Sunday at the Monster Mile to advance to the next round. Busch is 17 points behind bubble driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 12th, while Kahne is 21 points in arrears of the bubble spot. It’s going to be an extremely tall…

By Jared Turner While most of the attention in the first two races of the Monster Energy Series playoff has understandably been focused on the 16 championship-eligible drivers, it’s important not to forget that more than half of the field consists of drivers not in title contention. On Sunday at New Hampshire, drivers already eliminated from championship contention made their presence felt by taking four of the top 10 finishing positions. While championship-eligible drivers made it a clean sweep of the top five, the four non-playoff drivers in the back half of the top 10 certainly deserve some props — and that’s…

By Jared Turner With the entire country abuzz about President Donald Trump’s Sunday morning Twitter comments criticizing professional athletes who choose to take a knee rather than stand during the national anthem, all NASCAR team members stood at attention — in their customary fashion — during Sunday’s Star-Spangled Banner at New Hampshire. Meanwhile, two prominent team owners and NASCAR Hall of Famers — seven-time driving champion Richard Petty and six-time champion owner Richard Childress — were asked to weigh in on how they would react if a member of their respective race teams refused to stand during the national anthem. Petty said…

By Jared Turner After spending a good chunk of Sunday’s race at New Hampshire in his similar front-running form, Martin Truex Jr. endured a major setback when his car suffered damage from his involvement in the multi-car crash triggered by Kevin Harvick’s spin at the end of Stage 2. But following some repairs on pit road, Truex recovered to finish fifth — a downright impressive result, all things considered. Of course, considering how strong Truex and his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyotas have been all year, Sunday’s rally was perhaps to be expected. “We had a fast racecar that was definitely…

By Jared Turner With two playoff races in the books, four drivers have clinched berths in the Round of 12. None of the four who’ve punched tickets to the next round is a surprise. Of the four, three of them — Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch — have been hands-down the season’s most dominant drivers. The other, Brad Keselowski, is a former Monster Energy Series champion who boasts considerable playoff experience and is aligned with one of the sport’s top organizations in Team Penske. While the names at the top of the playoff standings aren’t the least bit surprising,…