2016 NASCAR Schedule: Talladega

Alabama 500

By Richard Tix

All Times are Eastern Time Zone (ET)

Friday October 21, 2016

• 1-1:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series first practice- FS1
• 2-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series first practice- NBCSN
• 3-3:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice- FS1
• 4:30-5:25 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice- NBCSN

Saturday October 22, 2016

• 10:30 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying- FS1
• 1 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series fred's 250 Powered by Coca-Cola (94 laps)- FOX
• 4 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying- NBCSN

Sunday October 23, 2016

• 2 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Alabama 500 (188 laps)- NBCSN

2016 NASCAR Week 31 Preview: Kansas

Hollywood Casino 400

Kansas Speedway

By Richard Tix

Week 31.... Let that sink in for a moment. Another season has come and gone as we round up the final twelve drivers and crown a Champion. Another year of writing in this space about just about anything that I feel is relevant in my life or the world of NASCAR. 

With all of that being said why are you still here!? For real though, I appreciate all of you that do come weekly to check out the Power Rankings and Race Previews. I also appreciate all of the interaction on Twitter (if you don't already follow me, check out @NASCARBTW and @UNC_Coastin). The first is this blogs twitter which I do most of my tweetering, but the second is my personal twitter (which I rarely use). 

It has been a crazy year and an even crazier Fall for me. I felt like I have missed a ton of content on here (sorry guys) and a ton of action on the track. None the less, we continue to push on to Miami and then into the vast offseason where N.O.D. becomes a real scare to fans of the sport (credit @annoyingracefan).

Before we get ahead of ourselves, we still have five more races left including Kansas Speedway this weekend. So, lets get into the "Good, Middle, and Bad" drivers here.

**This section is just a quick look at some of Cup drivers latest finishes. This is not a tool for fantasy purposes and NBTW only is looking at end results. No deep statistic's are involved, but rather it is just a quick way to get ready for the race and get caught up on who has finished well at each track**

The Good

• Jimmie Johnson- Coming off a win at Charlotte, this is not what anyone wants to see except for the No 48 team and Rick Hendrick. JJ has 16 top 10 finishes in 20 Kansas starts including three wins.
• Kevin Harvick- Four times in the last six Kansas races has Harvick finshed first or second (one win). He also has three pole awards in that same time. KH need's it this week after back to back rough finishes.
• Kyle Busch- Kansas hasn't always been a good track for Kyle (19.2 average finish), but he has three staright top 5 finishes here including a win earlier this year.
• Extra Credit: Joey Logano

The Middle

• Carl Edwards- Kansas has been one of Carl's best tracks (10.6 average finish in 18 races), yet he hasn't won here yet. Can he get it done this weekend?

The Bad

• Tony Stewart- On one hand Smoke has two career Kansas wins, on the other he has six straight finishes outside the top 10 and eight out of the last nine. 
• Jamie McMurray- McMurray matches Smokes six straight finishes outside the top 10, but one ups him with only one top 10 in his last 17 Kansas starts.
• Danica Patrick- Eight career Kansas races and only one top 10, and three top 20's. It's not terrible, but it's not great either. 

About the Track: Kansas

Track Stats

• Kansas has 13 different career winners in 21 Cup races
• Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are tied for most career Kansas wins with 3
• In 2011 Kansas started to have two races a year.
• Manufacture win count: Chevy 10, Ford 6, Toyota 3, and Dodge 2
• Brad Keselowski won after starting 25th in 2011, the furthest back a winner has come from
• JJ, Harvick, and Kahne are tied for most career Poles at Kansas (3)
• Most cautions in a Kansas race was 2013 in the Fall Chase race (15)

Track Details

• Surface: Asphalt
• Length: 1.5 mile
• Banking
• Turns: 24 degrees
• Straights: 5 degrees 

2016 Pit Road Week 30: Charlotte

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Charlotte Motor Speedway

Photo: Mike McCarn — The Associated Press

By Richard Tix

Five, count them, five drivers from the Chase field of twelve finished 30th or worse on Sunday. This is not the round you want to start out like that and all five now have a hole to get out of. Lucky for them one of them can advance on points alone and all five will have a shot to win the wild card race at Talladega.

Now that I think about it, why doesn't NASCAR move Talladega to the first round? I know how NASCAR is with the schedule (and how tracks are), but Dega as a wild card race makes more sense as in a wild card round like the first round. It gives a team like Chirs Buescher some legitimate hope in making the next round. I would love to keep a superspeedway in the Chase, because like the road course argument, a track of every type should make the schedule. However, in the second round where all 12 guys are legit title contenders it seems a bit too fluky to me.

Anyways, they heat will get turned up another notch this weekend especially with five drivers already on the hot seat.

A review of the Chase Power Ranking Rules:

For the first three races we will have 16 drivers ranked and they will all come from the Chase field. Once NASCAR cuts the field to 12 so will Behind the Wall (again, all Chase drivers). Once we cut to 8 drivers I will still rank the top 12, but the top 8 will be only drivers left in the Chase and the remaining four can be anyone (previous Chase drivers OR someone who was never in the Chase). This type format will continue all the way down to the final (so in the end the Champion will be number one and the other eleven can be anyone in the Sprint Cup.

We're down to 12 Chase drivers so only those 12 are in the rankings this week.

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 30 (Week 29)

1. Martin Truex Jr (LW-1)- Not the finish they were looking for, especially on a 1.5 mile track. They still have tons of momentum and until they post two poor finishes in a row this spot is his.
2. Brad Keselowski (LW-2)- BK's consistency just keeps coming. If the No 2 stays away from bad luck it should be enough to advance him to the round of eight.
3. Matt Kenseth (LW-6)- Great run after starting 17th, but it just wasn't enough. That is four straight top 10 finishes this Chase and his second runner up.
4. Jimmie Johnson (LW-7)- JJ is locked in as one of the final eight drivers in the 2016 Chase after winning at Charlotte. That has to be a great feeling during an up and down season.
5. Kyle Busch (LW-3)- Quietly finishing well, Rowdy has a string of five straight top 10's going right now. He has also led at least one lap in every Chase race so far.
6. Kurt Busch (LW-10)- This round has started out much better then how last round went (one top 10), but will the No 41 team keep it going?
7. Carl Edwards (LW-12)- It was only a twelfth place finish, but after Edwards the Chase drivers fell off. He is safe for now, but still needs to run better.
8. Chase Elliott (LW-9)- What a run for Chase on Sunday until being involved in a wreck on lap 260. He led 103 laps which was second only to JJ.
9. Denny Hamlin (LW-8)- 52 laps led and engine issues, rough way to start the second round. But, Hamlin has been fast so he can work his way out of it.
10. Kevin Harvick (LW-5)- This just isn't Harvick's Chase right now is it? Head up No. 4 fans, he can win at anytime.
11. Joey Logano (LW-4)- Speaking of needing a win, JoLo had issues all day staying on the track and finished poorly as a result. It's early, but he may also need a win to advance.
12. Austin Dillon (LW-11)- Another car caught up in a wreck. Expect the same at Dega which means all five of these guys still have a shot if they stay clean.

2016 NASCAR Schedule: Kansas

Hollywood Casino 400

By Richard Tix

All times are Eastern Time Zone (ET)


Friday October 14, 2016

• 1-2:25 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series first practice- NBCSN
• 2:30-3:25 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series first practice- NBCSN
• 4:35-5:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice- NBCSN
• 6:15 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying- NBCSN

Saturday October 15, 2016

• 11-11:50 a.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series second practice- CNBC
• 12p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying- CNBC
• 1:3 0-2:20 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice- NBCSN
• 3 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Kansas Lottery 300 (200 laps)- NBC

Sunday October 16, 2016

• 2:15 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 (267 laps)- NBC