By Jared Turner Widely considered an overwhelming favorite to make it all the way to the Championship 4, Kyle Larson was disheartened and understandably deflated at Kansas where he finished as the first driver on the wrong side of the cutoff line for advancing to the Round of 8. In position to easily make it into the next round, Larson missed out on the opportunity with a Lap 77 engine failure that resulted in a DNF and left him scored with a 39th-place finish. He ended the day ninth in the standings, nine points behind Jimmie Johnson — last among the eight…

By Jared Turner On the verge of narrowly slipping into the Round of 8, Matt Kenseth saw his hopes of advancing go out the window in abrupt fashion at Kansas when he was disqualified from the race and forced to park for having too many men over the pit wall working on his car following his involvement in a multi-car wreck on Lap 198. By having seven men over the pit wall instead of six, Kenseth violated NASCAR’s damaged vehicle policy — resulting in automatic dismissal from the race. Kenseth, the 2003 series champion and an 18-year veteran of NASCAR’s top series,…

By Jared Turner Jimmie Johnson arrived at Kansas just barely on the right side of the cutoff line for advancing to the next round of the playoffs. He also left on the right side of it — barely. After avoiding major damage in two separate solo spins that put his championship hopes in serious jeopardy, Johnson avoided a late multi-car crash that swallowed up some of his playoff rivals. Johnson then rallied to finish 11th — not great but good enough to advance to the Round of 8. And with that, Johnson’s drive for a record-breaking eighth series championship remains alive. “The…

By Jared Turner In a season where Dale Earnhardt Jr. has at times seemed to have a target on his back, the past two weekends have provided a nice respite from the misfortune. As with the previous weekend’s race at Talladega where he managed to narrowly avoid at least three multi-car wrecks, Earnhardt steered clear of a melee at Kansas that eliminated several contenders. And, for the second race in a row and the third time in four weekends, he finished a solid seventh. “It’s all luck,” said NASCAR’s 14-time most popular driver. “A lot of times if you just run the…