By Jared Turner As pressure cookers go, they don’t get more intense than Sunday’s final leg of the Eliminator Round in the Chase for NASCAR Sprint Cup at Phoenix International Raceway. When Jimmie Johnson, a non-Chase driver, won this past weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, it meant that three of four spots remained open for the winner-take-all Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 22. With only Jeff Gordon having punched his ticket to the Championship 4, seven drivers are vying for the remaining three spots – and the opportunity to compete for the championship in the 2015 season finale. All this…

By Jared Turner Just two races ago, Joey Logano was the toast of the NASCAR world on the heels of winning three consecutive races and sweeping all the races in the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. But now, with one race remaining in the Eliminator Round, Logano’s title hopes are all but toast after the Team Penske driver was deliberately wrecked by Matt Kenseth at Martinsville and then went to the garage area early in Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway because of a massive tire failure on his No. 2 Ford. Now, Logano absolutely has to…

By Jared Turner 5 Lessons Learned At Texas  1. Hendrick Has Returned To Winning Ways Remember just a few weeks ago when much the talk throughout the NASCAR world was about Hendrick Motorsports’ lengthy drought? Indeed, the discussion was justified as Hendrick, the organization with the most wins and championships in the history of NASCAR’s top series, went all of June, July, August, September and October without any of its four drivers pulling into Victory Lane. But with Jeff Gordon’s Championship 4-clinching win two weekends ago at Martinsville Speedway and Jimmie Johnson’s Chase-spoiling triumph this past weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, the Hendrick…

By Jared Turner ‘Bad Brad’ Gave It All He Had If Brad Keselowski ultimately fails to make it into the Championship 4 for the winner-take-all season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 22, the Team Penske driver may look back on Sunday’s race as his biggest opportunity missed. Starting from the pole is his No. 2 Ford, Keselowski was in a league of his own for the vast majority of the afternoon as he led a whopping 312 of 334 laps and basically ran alone out front and unchallenged. But when a caution for debris set up a late dash to checkered…

By Jerry Bonkowski If the way the first two elimination races in this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup played out are any indication, Kevin Harvick is in BIG trouble this Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway. Wait a minute, you’re likely saying to yourself. Harvick has won the last four races, five of the last six and seven races overall at PIR, the most wins for him on any track on the circuit. That’s almost one-third of his 31 career Sprint Cup wins. He literally owns the place. They ought to re-name the place Harvick International Raceway, right? With such a stellar…