By Jared Turner The 2017 Schedule Stinks In announcing the 2017 Sprint Cup Series schedule last week, NASCAR revealed that beginning next season the schedule will go from three off-weekends to just two off-weekends over the course of the 38-race campaign. Gone from the schedule is the June off-weekend that fell on Father’s Day weekend last year and is doing the same this year. As many drivers as there are with small children, wouldn’t it have been great if NASCAR had decided to make it a tradition for its top series to be off on Father’s Day? This couldn’t happen, of course,…

By Joseph Wolkin Sitting atop the pit box for Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 team, Matt McCall is adjusting quite well to his new role. The former Robert Yates Racing developmental driver is now a Sprint Cup Series crew chief. Entering his second season with McMurray, McCall is looking to lead the team into the Chase for the second consecutive year. You guys got into the Chase last year, but what is going to be the difference this year? “As an organization, we have put in a pretty big effort to make some gains in areas that we thought we were off at…

Carl Edwards, who grew up two hours from Kansas Speedway in Columbia, Missouri, has come close but never won in 17 Sprint Cup races at the place he considers his home track. So it's not entirely surprising that Edwards has said before that winning at Kansas would mean as much to him as winning the Daytona 500 -- another race he's never captured. It seems that Edwards would also be willing to part with his most cherished and, yes, expensive possessions to go to Victory Lane at Kansas Speedway. "I can't think of a possession that I wouldn't trade and I, mean, I…