Phoenix Recap

Well, it's been awhile...again.  The end of the 2014 NASCAR season is upon us with 1 race to decide who will win the 2014 Sprint Cup Championship!!  4 drivers: Kevin Harvick (Phoenix winner), Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman, will race and compete to win the championship.  The highest finisher of the 4 drivers will win their 1st title.

So, how did we get here.  The Eliminator Round proved to be exciting with Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning in Martinsville and Jimmie Johnson winning at Texas.  Both of those drivers were eliminated after Talladega's race in the Contender Round, so going into Phoenix, 8 drivers vied for 4 spots and nobody was safe.  However Logano, Hamlin & Newman controlled their own destinies by finishing near the top-10, while everyone else needed a win-and-in.  That's how Kevin Harvick did it and by dominating the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 in Phoenix, leading 264 of the 312 laps run, including the final 187.  Jeff Gordon finished 2nd, but with Newman passing Kyle Larson for 11th position on the last lap, was eliminated from the Chase.  Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski (who has been the target of other drivers due to driving and postrace incidents at Charlotte & Texas) and Carl Edwards were also eliminated after Phoenix.

A wild 9 races in the Chase all comes down to a 400-mile showdown at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, FL will decide who wins the title.  With this, the highest finishing driver will win the title.  All 4 drivers are tied with 5000 points so basically, it's race for it all.  This race will be on Sunday.

Meanwhile, we won't have a title race in the Nationwide Series as 18-year old rookie Chase Elliott, driving for JR Motorsports, secured the championship Saturday in Phoenix and did that by beating his teammate Regan Smith to the finish line, so this Saturday's race in Homestead will be more of an exhibition race and points still count.  In the Camping World Truck series, Matt Crafton has a 25-point lead over Ryan Blaney going into Friday night's race in Homestead.  Basically, Crafton needs to finish 21st or better to win his 2nd straight Championship.  Blaney needs misfortune from Crafton to win, so it will be hard on the rookie, who will be driving Cup races part-time for the Wood Brothers in 2015.

FORMULA ONE
The F1 season is also winding down.  The penultimate race occurred yesterday in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the Brazilian GP,  Nico Rosberg dominated the weekend, leading every practice session, won pole and the race, ending teammate Lewis Hamilton's streak of wins at 5.  Going into the final race of the season in 2 weeks at Abu Dhabi, Hamilton leads Rosberg by 17 points.  However, double-points will be awarded in this race so it's still game for both Mercedes drivers.  Well see what happens under the lights when the day comes.

Speaking of F1, silly season has already started.  Sebastian Vettel will leave Red Bull and go to Ferrari, while Fernando Alonso leaves Ferrari, going to McLaren, leaving Jenson Button in doubt.  Replacing Vettel at Red Bull is Daniil Kvyat, who has really done well at Toro Rosso.

After the seasons end, I'll be going Silly Season updates about once every 2 weeks to see whats happening in motorsports.