Road to the Sprint Cup: Part 2

Share: This is the second of a five-part series recapping the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, in which Jimmie Johnson would claim a record-tying seventh Cup championship. TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY After back-to-back wins at Bristol and Richmond, Carl Edwards found out once again that all good things must come to an end. His hopes for a third straight victory, at Talladega Superspeedway, were dashed when he blew a right-front tire and collided with Dale Earnhardt Jr., saddling Edwards with a 35th-place finish.There was no shortage of Talladega’s customary mayhem as NASCAR returned to superspeedway competition. At the mid-point of the race, Chris Buescher took the brunt of a seven-car crash that ended with his No. 34 Ford barrel-rolling three times after contact from Michael Annett. Less than 30 laps from the finish, Kurt Busch tapped Jimmie Johnson to trigger a 21-car melee. Twenty laps after that, a 12-car incident on the backstretch took out Matt Kenseth, who had led 39 laps. And the last of the day’s 10 caution periods unfolded in Brad Keselowski’s rear-view mirror with the checkered flag in sight. That accident along the frontstretch involved seven drivers, including Kevin Harvick. It was Keselowski who snapped Edwards’ winning streak, surviving a near-record number of cautions to notch his second victory of the season and take a firm hold on one of the 16 spots available in the post-season Chase. The Team Penske driver started seventh and led a race-high 46 laps, including the final 17 trips around the sprawling Alabama oval. The 10 yellow flags were one shy of the Talladega track record that was set in April 2004. Forty-one of the race’s 188 laps were run under caution.

None of the drivers involved in the numerous accidents were seriously injured. Race Results | Race Story | Race Photos

KANSAS SPEEDWAY The next stop was Kansas Speedway, one of those mile-and-a-half ovals that always seems to bring out the best in Martin Truex Jr. After starting from the pole, he did not disappoint in the early going and later seemed well-positioned for his first victory of the season. But with less than 60 laps remaining, Truex’s smooth drive hit some turbulence. He was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel on his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. After returning to the track, Truex could do no better than 14th in the final running order, despite leading a race-high 172 laps. At the front of the field, Kyle Busch passed Tony Stewart for his final lead of the night 37 laps from the finish and kept the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in front the rest of the way, notching his third victory of the season. Busch started sixth, took his first lead just 26 laps into the race and beat runner-up Kevin Harvick to the checkered flag by 1.1 seconds. It was Busch’s 37th career Cup Series victory but his first in 17 starts on the Kansas City oval. Kurt Busch finished third with Matt Kenseth – one of Kyle Busch’s JGR teammates – grabbing fourth place. Rookie Ryan Blaney completed the top five. Harvick’s second-place finish was enough to keep him atop the regular-season standings, though his lead over Busch shrunk to four points.

There were three drivers in the field who consider Kansas Speedway their “home track” but none cracked the top 10. Carl Edwards (from Columbia, Mo.) finished 11th, Clint Bowyer (Emporia, Kan.) ran 19th and Jamie McMurray (Joplin, Mo.) placed 21st.  Race Results | Race Story | Race Photos

DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY On to Dover International Speedway, which has been very good for Jimmie Johnson over the years. But there would be another former Cup Series champ celebrating with “Miles the Monster” in Victory Lane on this day. Johnson’s race would be noteworthy, but not for the reasons that led to his 10 career victories there. The race was red-flagged for more than 11 minutes after Johnson’s transmission failure triggered an 18-car accident along the frontstretch less than 50 laps from the finish.Johnson, who was at the front of the field on a restart, could not get his car into third gear and up to speed. Martin Truex Jr. drove into the rear of Johnson’s Chevrolet and the contact sent cars spinning across the track. After cleanup was completed and calm restored, Matt Kenseth held off a late charge from Kyle Larson to claim his first victory of the season, capping Toyota’s weekend sweep of all three races. Matt Crafton won the Camping World Truck Series event and Erik Jones followed with a victory in the XFINITY Series. Kenseth led the final 47 laps, nipping Larson at the checkered flag by eighteen one-hundredths of a second for his 37th career victory and third at Dover. Kenseth’s win in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota snapped Chevrolet’s six-race winning streak at Dover and it was Toyota’s first victory there since Busch won in 2010. Larson led 85 laps en route to his second-place finish. Rookie Chase Elliott ran third with Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch completing the top five. Pole sitter Kevin Harvick led a race-high 117 laps, all in the first half, before fading to 15th place – still enough to keep him atop the regular-season point standings.

Attrition left just 14 cars running on the lead lap at the finish. Race Results | Race Story | Race Photos

NASCAR SPRINT ALL-STAR RACE With the …

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