Davide Giugliano sets the first 1'37 of the meeting, ahead of Eugene Laverty and Sylvain Guintoli.
Results:
Andrea de Cesaris Francois Cevert Eugene Chaboud Jay Chamberlain
Friday
Who are the best and worst finishers at the 10 Chase tracks?
The Chase is upon us, and the new elimination format means that we've got a lot of new possibilities for determining a champion. While we can only determine so much from statistics, we can get an idea of who should be in good shape, and who ought to be very careful, based on historical performance at each of the 10 Chase tracks.
Here, we break down the best and worst at each Chase track, including the winner this season. And since Chase participant AJ Allmendinger has had a history of, shall we say, underperforming cars, we also added the second-worst for comparison's sake at tracks where he ran the worst. We begin in the Windy City:
Chicagoland Speedway
Best average finisher, last 10 races: Jimmie Johnson, 8.9
Worst average finisher, last 10 races: Denny Hamlin, 20.5
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Winner earlier this season:� Brad Keselowski
Best average finisher: Denny Hamlin, 8.9
Worst average finisher, last 10 races: AJ Allmendinger, 24.2
Worst non-Allmendinger: Aric Almirola, 21.2
Dover Speedway
Winner earlier this season: Jimmie Johnson
Best average finisher, last 10 races: Jimmie Johnson, 8.4
Worst average finisher, last 10 races: AJ Allmendinger, 27.8
Worst non-Allmendinger: Kasey Kahne, 21.0
Kansas Speedway
Winner earlier this season: Jeff Gordon
Best average finisher, last 10 races: Jimmie Johnson, 8.4
Worst average finisher, last 10 races: AJ Allmendinger, 22.8
Worst non-Allmendinger: Kyle Busch, 22.7
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Winner earlier this season: Jimmie Johnson
Best average finisher, last 10 races: Joey Logano, 10.5
Worst average finisher, last 10 races: AJ Allmendinger, 22.7
Worst non-Allmendinger: Kurt Busch, 19.7
Talladega Superspeedway
Winner earlier this season: Denny Hamlin
Best average finisher, last 10 races: Dale Earnhardt Jr., 15.0
Worst average finisher, last 10 races: AJ Allmendinger, 23.4
Worst non-Allmendinger: Kasey Kahne, 21.5
Martinsville Speedway
Winner earlier this season: Kurt Busch
Best average finisher: Jimmie Johnson, 5.2
Worst average finisher: Aric Almirola, 24.0
Texas Motor Speedway
Winner earlier this season: Joey Logano
Best average finisher: Matt Kenseth, 8.2
Worst average finisher: AJ Allmendinger, 21.7
Worst non-Allmendinger: Aric Almirola, 19.6
Phoenix International Raceway
Winner earlier this season: Kevin Harvick
Best average finisher: Jimmie Johnson, 6.3
Worst average finisher: Aric Almirola, 18.6
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Best average finisher: Carl Edwards, 6.6
Worst average finisher: Kyle Busch, 21.3
What can we divine from this? Well, Allmendinger and Almirola are going to have to overcome a lot of history to advance out of even the first round of knockouts. And Johnson can all but write his name in the Homestead Final Four in Sharpie. Recent performance suggests Logano, Harvick, Gordon, and Keselowski will be in the mix late as well.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Facebook or on Twitter.
Eugene Chaboud Jay Chamberlain Karun Chandhok Alain de Changy
Thursday
Wednesday
Tuesday
Joey Logano wins and puts both Team Penske cars into the next Chase round
New Hampshire has been very kind to Joey Logano.
Statistically, Logano hasn't been great at the one-mile track (his average finish entering the race was 19.3), but it's the site of Logano's first Sprint Cup Series win and now his latest one as he pulled away from Kevin Harvick on multiple late race restarts to win on Sunday.
He's now guaranteed to advance to the next round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup along with last week's winner and Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski after next week's race at Dover.
The race featured 15 cautions, the second-most in New Hampshire history, and after Logano took the lead from Harvick under green with more than 20 laps to go, he held on to it over the course of three restarts.
Logano got to the front with a strategy call that looked iffy at the time. Track position is always a dominant theme at New Hampshire and the first half of the race had largely been a green-flag affair. On lap 247, some 30 laps after the leaders last pitted, Logano's crew chief Todd Gordon called him down to pit road for four tires.
The call put Logano back in the pack, but it didn't matter. With fresher tires than the cars ahead of him, he sliced through the field.
"I thought we gave it away at that point," Logano said of pitting. "Man, four tires were good and we had some good restarts and were able to get ourselves back up there and had to work hard. This is my home race track. This is the coolest place to win for me. I could never pick a better place to win. I watched my first Cup race here when I was five and I won that other Cup race here and I just felt that I had to win one here the right way."
The "other" Cup race Logano refers to was on June 28, 2009. Logano, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in his first full season in the Cup Series replacing Tony Stewart, played the fuel strategy game with then-crew chief Greg Zipadelli. It was his only choice after a cut tire and a car that was nowhere near the fastest on track. But it worked. When rain arrived to call the race early with 27 laps remaining, Logano was the leader.
There was no such trickeration on Sunday. He had one of the fastest cars throughout the course of the race and while Harvick, who ultimately finished third, felt Logano might have been accelerating too quickly on those restarts, he didn't have a car quick enough to chase Logano down once the lead had been established.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
Piero Carini Duane Carter Eugenio Castellotti Johnny Cecotto
Monday
Sunday
Sportsbook installs Kevin Harvick as Chase favorite
Is Kevin Harvick your favorite for the Chase?
The Bovada Sportsbook has made Harvick the favorite for the Chase at 7/2. Jeff Gordon is the second favorite at 4/1.
Jimmie Johnson is the best value on the board. He's the fourth favorite and listed at 6/1. Brad Keselowski is third at 9/2.
Here's a complete list of the odds. We also think Kasey Kahne's a pretty good value too.
Kevin Harvick��������������������������� 7/2
Jeff Gordon����������������������������� 4/1
Brad Keselowski���������������������� 9/2
Jimmie Johnson����������������������� 6/1
Dale Earnhardt Jr.�������������������� 13/2
Joey Logano���������������������������� 8/1
Matt Kenseth���������������������������� 12/1
Kyle Busch������������������������������ 14/1
Kurt Busch������������������������������� 16/1
Denny Hamlin��������������������������� 20/1
Kasey Kahne���������������������������� 22/1
Carl Edwards��������������������������� 40/1
Greg Biffle������������������������������� 100/1
Ryan Newman�������������������������� 100/1
Aric Almirola���������������������������� 200/1
A.J. Allmendinger��������������������� 200/1
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
Colin Chapman Dave Charlton Pedro Matos Chaves Bill Cheesbourg
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