By Mike Harris | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
LOUDON, N.H. – The debate over Denny Hamlin calling his shot or not at New Hampshire Motor Speedway can now begin. Whichever side you take, Hamlin walks away with a dominating win.
After he ran out of fuel on the final lap a week earlier at Chicagoland Speedway, costing himself and [...]

LOUDON, N.H. – Jeff Gordon knows he can’t afford to worry about what the other 11 drivers in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup championship are doing.
A week after a crash relegated him to a 35th-place finish in the Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway, four-time champion Gordon is determined to keep his focus on the future [...]

RacinToday.com
Less than a week after a 35th-place finish appeared to kill the momentum Jeff Gordon established at the end of the regular season, the five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion has officially inserted himself back into the Chase for the championship mix.
The penultimate car in Friday’s qualifying session, Gordon piloted his No. 24 Drive to [...]

By Mike Harris | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
LOUDON, N.H. – For years, people expected Dale Earnhardt Jr. to emulate his famous father and race for NASCAR championships.
And year after year, there has been nothing but disappointment for Junior and his legion of fans.
Now in his 13th full season in the elite Sprint Cup series, the 37-year-old Earnhardt [...]

Racin’ thoughts after first week of playoffs and an end to a season:
Driver gets off to a decent start in a race; he and crew chief improve performance as race wears on; look pretty good but not great heading into final scheduled pit stop of the day; kick crap out of everybody else on the [...]

NASCAR has reinstated driver AJ Allmendinger upon his successful completion of NASCAR’s Substance Abuse Policy Road to Recovery Program.
Allmendinger had been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR on July 24 for violating the sanctioning body’s substance abuse policy.
Prior to his suspension, Allmendinger had been driving the No. 22 Dodge for Penske Racing. After failing his drug test, [...]

RacinToday.com
Brad Keselowski passed then – leader Jimmie Johnson during the final series of pit stops and went on to win the first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday.
The Penske Racing driver will head to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the second playoff race with the points lead [...]

RacinToday.com
Five-time champion Jimmie Johnson will start the 2012 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup from the pole.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver won the pole on Saturday for Sunday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway after covering the 1.5-mile distance in 29.530 seconds (182.865 mph) and waited for the rest of the field to try to knock him off the [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
LEAWOOD, Kan. – Ty Norris’s tone shifted noticeably toward serious when the conversation shifted toward Sprint Cup driver Martin Truex Jr.’s victory total since joining Michael Waltrip Racing for the 2010 season.
Norris, MWR’s general manager, made it clear that it was not zero victories that have defined Truex’s time with [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
Racing thoughts from the last week or so:
Quick: Who won the race at Richmond?
The point: Probably the most irrelevant person in racing every year is the driver who wins the Sprint Cup race at Richmond in September. Unless, of course, that driver needed the win to get into the Chase; [...]