ONE: Impending Fireworks Like the format or not — and I realize plenty who will read this column absolutely and definitively do not — one thing is for sure: the tension ratchets up incrementally as soon the playoffs get underway. Each minor on-track mistake, each pit-road miscue, each missed shift …

ONE: Is Joey Logano This Year’s Joey Logano? In 2018, we spent a lot of time debating which of the “Big Three” who had dominated the regular season — Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch — would race off with the title once the playoffs got underway. As …

Bonus Points Heading into the 2018 iteration of the playoffs, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick had a whopping 50 bonus points apiece while Martin Truex Jr. had a healthy 35 points in third place. Brad Keselowski was a distant fourth (19 points), with Clint Bowyer (15), Kurt Busch (14) and …

A Hero, Defined To many people, race car drivers are heroes, and it’s a thought echoed in the famous old Ernest Hemingway quote: “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” And yes, on some levels, what drivers do could be considered …

Taking Stock With nine races in the books – a quarter of the way through the full season — and an off weekend ahead, it seems like an opportune moment to take stock on the season so far with some quick hot takes. First things first, two teams have sprung …

The Young Guns Need Some Wins After a day that started from the pole, 38 laps led and a good deal of optimism, Sunday’s Bristol race saw Chase Elliott finish 11th after some crash damage. Ryan Blaney, meanwhile, led 158 laps and finished a creditable fourth — no one, by …

Strong Start for Denny Hamlin For the first time since all the way back in 2010, Denny Hamlin won at Texas Motor Speedway — his second win in seven races this season, and statistically his best start to a season in 14 years of running full-time at the Cup level. …

Same Old, Same Old Look back at the standings after the sixth race of 2018 and you’ll see much of the same as we do today. In fact, nine of the top 11 drivers are exactly the same and just like last year, we’ve had four winners thus far, the …

Martinsville Madness In the interests of full disclosure, there isn’t a track I enjoy more than the iconic Martinsville Speedway. For each of the last 12 seasons, I have had the pleasure of writing about the famed old paper clip. I like to make note of the fact that Martinsville …

A Crucial Race There is an argument to be made that this Sunday’s 400-miler at Las Vegas Motor Speedway might just be one of the most important races in NASCAR’s recent history. With the 2019 package due to made its “full debut,” the drivers, teams and fans will all be …