The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs have officially advanced to the Round of 12, and its time to speculate where each remaining playoff driver could win, and advance to the Round of 8. The Round of 12 features races at Las Vegas, Talladega, and the Charlotte Roval. The Cup Series raced at Las Vegas before the pandemic, and Joey Logano was able to snag a win. I have four drivers who's best chance of winning is at Las Vegas. Las Vegas is Harvick's best chance because he can avoid the calamity of Talladega, and the Roval. Harvick's playoff points from his 9 wins has essentially already earned him a bye to the championship race. Brad Keselowski has been great at both Las Vegas and Talladega. Keselowski's best bet is to lock this up at Vegas so he can be as aggressive as possible at Talladega. Joey Logano the most recent winner at Las Vegas, has been fantastic here winning the last two spring races. Just like his teammate Brad Keselowski, Logano will be looking to win Vegas, so he can race for the win at Talladega. Las Vegas native Kyle Busch has had an awful season by his standards, but could he resurrect his season at his home track. Although he is not great at any of the three tracks in the round Las Vegas is a track where he runs well even though he only has one win there. In June the Cup Series raced at Talladega in June, and Round of 16 boot Ryan Blaney won. I have four drivers who's best chance to win is at Talladega. Denny Hamlin entered the playoffs as a championship favorite. After a rough first round where he easily could've won at each of those three tracks, this round sets up less than perfect for Hamlin. Talladega is Hamlin's best chance because of his prowess at Daytona. Hamlin's regular season success should help him easily advance. Austin Dillon's magical playoff run hinges on success at Talladega. Another driver who struggles at the Roval, and is average at Las Vegas leaving Talladega as his best bet to win. Kurt Busch has a horrible round setup for him, even as a Las Vegas native he has never won at his home track. A decent history at the Roval helps, but the wildcard of Talladega proves to be his best bet. Aric Almirola the winner of the 2018 fall Talladega winner is one of the best superspeedway racers in NASCAR today. Talladega presents an awesome opportunity for Almirola to win and advance to the Round of 8. Clint Bowyer a 2 time winner at Talladega is a solid superspeedway racer. Although he is good at the Roval Clint has not had race winning speed this entire season. The Cup Series returns to the Roval for the first time since Chase Elliott's win at the Roval in 2019. Although he didn't win in 2018 Martin Truex Jr, is one of the two best road course racers in the Cup Series. Truex has consistently been a competitor at both the Roval and Las Vegas, but I think the competition is a little easier at the Roval. Chase Elliott the 2019 Roval winner, and winner of the Daytona Road Course in August. Elliott is arguably the best road course racer in the Cup Series makes him the favorite in my opinion at the Roval. Clint Bowyer a 2 time winner at Talladega is a solid superspeedway racer, but he is one of two drivers with two top 5's at the Roval. The fact that others are not as competitive at the Roval makes this his best bet to win. The other driver with two top 5's is Alex Bowman, and finished second to Chase in 2019. Bowman is not seen as a good road course racer, but Bowman thrives here. Both Bowman and Bowyer are sleeper picks to win the Roval.

Saturday night was a throwback of sorts, a vintage-feeling Bristol Night Race that was dominated by Kevin Harvick. The bottom line returned to fame as the bump and run was the best method for passing, especially the first 400 laps of this race. Overall an underwhelming Bristol race considering modern day multi-grooved Bristol barely showed up, and the bump and run being a forgotten art, but the finish really saved this race. Chase Elliott won stage one, but Kyle Busch was in hot pursuit after he started in the back for failing pre race inspection. Stage one was fairly clean except for contact between Jimmie Johnson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. while they were trying to pass a lapped car. Stage one felt like the calm before the storm. Spoiler alert...the storm never showed. Stage two was the Kyle Busch show. He put on a dominant performance, and the crazy part is, this was the best he's looked all season. There was an incident on track between JGR teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. Truex was coming off of pit road after a tire issue. After getting back on track he slid up in front of Hamlin, making contact with both the #11 Toyota and the wall. Another incident occurred when Christopher Bell and William Byron got stacked up behind a lapped car ruining Byron's night and playoff chances. Stage three started off a bit dull, but after a caution with roughly 75 laps to go it was a battle between Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. Two of the best going head-to-head at arguably NASCAR's best track was amazing. The two champions navigated the constant flow of lapped traffic while battling each other at the same time. It was intense. They swapped the lead a few times, but in the end Kevin Harvick made the final pass for the lead. None of the four drivers that entered below the cut line were able to advance. William Byron and Cole Custer were involved in early race accidents that ended their chances. As for Matt DiBenedetto and Ryan Blaney they showed decent speed at times, but in the end the strategy just didn't work their way.

As the 2020 regular season for the NASCAR Xfinity Series drew to a close, we were treated with a solid race at the Last Great Colosseum. The young Xfinity drivers never cease to put on a show, and Friday Night was no exception. This is one of the few times this season fans have been in attendance at an Xfinity event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. These fans were definitely treated to a Bristol classic and were certainly not disappointed. While 11 of the 12 playoff drivers came into the race having already clinched a spot into the playoffs, the playoff drama did indeed add some excitement to the short track racing. NASCAR decided to add in the PJ1 Traction Compound to the track which did enhance the racing product. Fans have been extremely critical of the PJ1 at other tracks, but Bristol has seemed to be the exception. The compound helped to provide multiple grooves of racing while still keeping that old school Bristol feel to the race. Justin Allgaier led the field to the green flag and got an exceptional jump at the start of the race. It wasn't long, though, until Ross Chastain took the lead from Allgaier. The battle wasn't over. Chastain and his aggressive driving style proved to wear out the tires pretty quickly in the run, which combined with lap traffic allowed Allgaier to get back by Chastain for the lead. Stage 1 treated us to a classic Bristol wreck as well. The #0 of Jeffrey Earnhardt made contact with his teammate, the #6 of BJ McLeod, sending McLeod into the wall and back down into the #99 of Vinnie Miller. The #44 of Tommy Joe Martins also got involved trying to avoid the wreck. This incident proved not to matter much in terms of the leaders or the playoff picture, but it gave fans that classic Bristol feel. The race stayed under green through the end of stage 1. Allgaier carried his momentum from Richmond to grab his 11th stage win of the season. Haley, Briscoe, Cindric, Chastain, Gragson, Jones, Annett, J. Burton, and H. Burton rounded out the Top 10 in Stage 1. Stage 2 proved to be a two man show up front as Allgaier fought off the hard charging Austin Cindric to grab his 2nd stage win of the night and his 12th of the season. There was one caution for incident in stage 2 when Brandon Jones got together with Joe Graf Jr. on lap 121 which, in turn, sent Graf into Michael Annett who was on the outside of him. Annett was starting to figure his car out on the high side move through the field, but ultimately he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Later in the stage, we saw the two aggressive natures of Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson tangle. The two got together fighting for position. The contact didn't result in a caution, or change the outcome of either driver's race. The contact did show just how hard these two drivers were willing to fight for every position on track which could translate well to the playoffs. The battle for the lead was clearly between the #7 and the #22. It seemed like nobody was going to catch them in the second stage, and that ended up being true. Allgaier grabbed the green and white checkered flag with Cindric, Briscoe, Chastain, Gragson, J. Burton, H. Burton, Herbst, Alfredo, and Sieg all getting stage points at the end of Stage 2. While the first two stages proved to be Allgaier's for the taking, the remainder of the race wasn't the same. Allgaier lost the lead and drop out of contention. Austin Cindric took over the lead and had a steady battle with Ross Chastain for the large portion of stage 3. Another caution occurred on lap 255 when Dexter Bean in the #90 car got into the wall. The single-car incident allowed the drivers to come down pit road and get fresh tires. After that, it was a battle between Cindric and Chastain again for the win. However, with about 15 laps to go Chase Briscoe began to come to life. He was able to make it around Chastain for second and take advantage of Cindric's loss of power steering to grab his 7th win of the season. The win was Briscoe's first at Bristol and the 9th win of his Xfinity career. Chastain, Cindric, H. Burton, Allgaier, Alfredo, Jones, J. Burton, and Herbst completed the top 10. With no real change in the points situation, Brandon Brown locked up the final spot in the Xfinity Series playoffs. The Food City 300 at Bristol was a good race to cap off the Xfinity Series regular season. There was a lot of good, hard short track racing which fans love to see. Briscoe's win allowed him to tie former Truck series teammate, Austin Cindric, in playoff points. The win also reestablishes Briscoe as a championship favorite. After going on a major run at the beginning of the season, Briscoe fell off slightly in the summer months. This also allowed Cindric to clinch the regular season title. However, Briscoe has proven not to count him out of this championship fight just yet. Now that the points are reset, the fight is on for the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship. Only time will tell who has what it takes to be called a champion.

Denny Hamlin confirmed rumors that he and NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan are indeed going to operate a single-car NASCAR Cup Entry beginning in the 2021 season. The announcement came late Monday night via Denny's Twitter feed. This comes after their mutual purchase of Germain Racing. Jordan will be listed as the principal owner. The two famed athletes have been friends for many years and Denny mentioned his relationship with the Jordan Brand as well in tonight's announcement. Their driver has been announced to be Darrell (Bubba) Wallace Jr. Further details regarding the purchase, sponsors, team name, and number were not mentioned. It will operate under the Toyota banner in conjunction with Denny and Joe Gibbs Racing's ongoing relationship with TRD. Denny states that he continues to be focused on his #11 FedEx Toyota in regards to his career as a driver. No comment from Michael Jordan at this time. Darrell Wallace on Twitter posted : "This is a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I believe is a great fit for me at this point in my career. I’m grateful and humbled that they believe in me and I’m super pumped to begin this adventure with them" Refresh this post for updates as they become available.

First reported by Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic, NASCAR's famed All-Star Event will be at its third location in three years. The event will move to Texas Motor Speedway in 2021. In exchange for the All-Star date, they will give up one of their regular season dates in the 2021 Cup Series schedule. The event was hosted by Charlotte for over 30 consecutive seasons before being hosted by Bristol Motor Speedway in 2020. All three tracks are owned by parent company Speedway Motorsports. The new opening in the schedule may allow for NASCAR's first event at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin. (Twitter.com/Jeff_Gluck)

After 19 seasons as title sponsor of the NHRA Drag Racing Series, parent company Coca-Cola shared with NHRA Drag Racing that they will ending their entitlement sponsorship agreement a year early, according to Sports Business Journal. "Recently, Coca-Cola had a change of heard, and told us they would walk away from their agreement to sponsor our professional series.." and NHRA spokesperson said. The agreement was said to last through 2023, but if halted will now end at the end of the 2022 season. At this time, Coca-Cola has not commented on the status of their relationship with the NHRA moving forward.

Kevin Harvick's #4 Busch Light Stewart-Haas Racing Ford held off Kyle Busch for the win at Bristol Motor Speedway's 0.533 mile oval Saturday night. Harvick led just under half of the 500 miles (226) while Busch led 159. Pole sitter Brad Keselowski led 82 laps and finished 34th after losing power steering and going several laps down. There were five cautions for 50 laps. 2 Cautions for stage breaks and 3 for on-track incident. This win is Kevin Harvick's 9th win of the 2020 season, second at Bristol Motor Speedway, and 58th total. Saturday night's event also happened to be the first elimination race of the playoffs, where they moved from 16 playoff drivers to 12 playoff drivers. The four drivers that did not make it were: Ryan Blaney, Cole Custer, Matt DiBenedetto, and William Byron. Top 5: 1. Kevin Harvick 2. Kyle Busch 3. Erik Jones 4. Tyler Reddick 5. Aric Almirola Notables 7. Chase Elliot 15. Kurt Busch 34. Brad Keselowski

(Photo Source : Twitter.com/RossChastain) NASCAR driver Ross Chastain has finally landed with the #42 Chevrolet, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. He will drive the #42 car in the cup series for the entire 2021 Cup Series schedule. The Alva, Florida watermelon farmer was believed to be one of Ganassi's long-term driver choices until their Xfinity sponsor DC Solar ran into legal trouble in 2018 and was no longer affiliated with the team. In three races with Chip Ganassi Racing at the Xfinity level, Chastain has a win, a third, and a fifth place finish. Since 2017, Chastain has 1 top 10 in 79 career cup series starts. He has driven for Roush-Fenway Racing and Spire Motorsports in 2020's Cup campaign and is known for heavy participation across all three of the national touring series. An announcement regarding the team's future will be made today that he will replace Matt Kenseth behind the wheel of the #42 for the 2021 season. The #42 became vacant this season after Kyle Larson's use of a racial slur resulted in his termination. Details on sponsorship and contract terms are not yet available.

What a week for Sam Mayer! The seventeen-year-old rookie won his first ever truck race at Bristol a few days after announcing he would race for the Xfinity Series powerhouse JRM in the second half of 2021 and 2022. In a race dominated by the GMS trucks, and the young stars of the Truck Series, some of NASCAR's best shined bright under the lights of Bristol. Even though track position seemed to matter more than other factors, it created interesting strategy calls when drivers were trying to position themselves for the final stage. Stage 1 was dominated by Brett Moffitt; he took the lead early on in the race and never looked back. GMS went first through fourth at the end of stage 1. Early in stage 1 there was an incident between Stewart Freissen and Austin Hill; Hill ended up with a 25th place finish 5 laps down. Stage 2 was dominated by another GMS driver, Tyler Ankrum. At the stage break, half of the field pitted, including Brett Moffitt. He only recovered to a 5th place finish in stage 2. The end of Stage 2 showed the value of track position, not because it was hard to pass, but it was difficult to navigate lapped traffic. Stage 3 was setup with Moffitt in the lead, and he initially drove away, but the young Sam Mayer lurked behind ready to pounce. Mayer made his move towards the lead with 29 to go. After earning the lead, he cruised to victory, and Moffitt held on to second. The finishing order had a few surprising finishes including Tanner Gray in third, and Parker Kligerman in fourth. With Sam Mayer winning and not being a playoff contended, the playoffs standings received an interesting shake up. Brett Moffitt moved to the point lead 36 points to the good, but the major note is Austin Hill falling to only 2 points above the elimination line. Ankrum's big points night helped him rise from 10th to 5th in the standings. The truck series returns next week with an event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Two time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch was expected to be a front runner this weekend at Bristol's annual night race. He, along with his two teammates Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones will have their work cut out tonight. The three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates failed inspection prior to the race and are going to start from the rear of the field. Denny Hamlin has 6 wins in 28 starts heading into Bristol, while Busch and Jones are winless. This is the third consecutive race Busch's #18 Toyota has failed inspection, also doing so at Richmond and Darlington.

NASCAR Truck Series Rookie Sam Mayer won the UNOH 200 Presented by Ohio Logistics. The race is his first win in 7 career starts. Full race results below.

After two decades of coverage on ESPN, the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) announced that they would move to competitor FOX for their nationally televised events in 2015. At the time, the president of NHRA referred to the move as a 'Game Changer'.Today they announced a several year extension for broadcasting rights said per Sports Business Journal's Adam Stern to last through the middle of the decade. The next event on the NHRA Fox Schedule will be in Gainesville for the Gatornationals. (September 25th through 27th)