NASCAR Southern 500 2015: Preview and prediction
Who’s Hot?
Having won two out of the last three races, Joey Logano has emerged as one of the elite drivers in NASCAR. He’s aiming for his first Sprint Cup Championship, which would match him with teammate Brad Keselowski, who also won his first title in 2012.
Every week of the summer, it seemed like Logano was in contention for the win. While he continued to fall short, Logano persevered and finally broke through for a couple of wins over Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, who were the two main counterparts to Logano.
Joey Logano has yet to add to add a Southern 500 win to his resume and this year he’s been all about adding signature wins. He finished 35th last year, but if his racing this season is any indicator, then Logano should be a race favorite.
The defending Sprint Cup Champion and the defending Southern 500 winner, Kevin Harvick hasn’t won a race since Phoenix, but has finished second several times and has almost 20 top-5 finishes. He has been a threat to win almost every single race this season, and he’s likely to pick up one soon.
At the Southern 500, all eyes will be on Harvick as he always shows up under the lights with the national spotlight on the sport of racing. If Harvick is going to defend his Sprint Cup Championship, another win at the Southern 500 would give him some momentum going into “The Chase.”
Harvick has already shown it’s going to be tough to pry the Sprint Cup Championship from him, and if he keeps driving the way he is, he will be winning his second Sprint Cup Championship in a row.
Two weeks ago Denny Hamlin showed he won’t be the forgotten member of Joe Gibbs Racing. With one win on the season, Hamlin has sort of flown under the radar behind Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth who have multiple wins and Carl Edwards who carries a great media presence.
At Bristol, Hamlin was the pole sitter and finished third on the night showing some impressive driving. It’s exactly what he needed to do to build some momentum as “The Chase” draws near. Going into the Southern 500, Hamlin should feel good about his chances.
Having won the race in 2010, Hamlin is familiar with Darlington and has been successful in long races before. With a strong team around him, Hamlin should be successful again on Sunday.
Kyle Busch ruled the summer and is looking to rule the fall as he aims to pick up a Sprint Cup Championship. Even better news for Kyle, is that he can officially clinch his spot in “The Chase” this Sunday, at the Southern 500 at Darlington.
While Busch’s spot is all but locked up, he could very well slip out of it if something drastic happened. If Busch is 48 points ahead of the 31st place driver by the end of Sunday, then he will officially clinch a spot in. Right now Busch is 46 points ahead of Cole Whitt, which means he’s all but guaranteed to be postseason bound after Sunday.
He’s won at Darlington before, and he’s coming off a performance at Bristol which he should have won if not for a speeding penalty down pit road that led him to finishing eighth. The summer of Busch may be over, but the fall is rolling in and so are the chances of him dominating the stretch run.
Jimmie Johnson won four races early on and looked like he was going to put together an incredible season with several wins to add to the resume. Truth be told, he’s had quite the year and is tied for the NASCAR lead in wins, but Johnson has been struggling for a while and so has the rest of his team.
However at Bristol, Johnson looked like the driver that competed for wins and the six-time championship driver he is. With a week off and the reset button being hit, Johnson can now focus on winning his seventh Sprint Cup Championship, which would tie him with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.
To be put in elite company is all the motivation that Johnson should need. It all begins with Southern 500 this Sunday, where Johnson and the No. 48 team will have two tuneup races before the postseason begins. Johnson has won the Southern 500 before and is no stranger to the track.
If he wins Sunday, he will be back in the conversation for Sprint Cup Championship contender and he will have a NASCAR-leading fifth win.
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