Ain’t Easy: Contender Round Poses Tough Task
Drivers Discuss Difficult Second Round During Contender Media Day
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 1, 2014) – With NASCAR’s home to history
as a backdrop, members of the Contender Round discussed the perils that face them over the next three weeks.
Brad
Keselowski, who finished the recently completed Challenger Round first
in points, described this upcoming round thusly: “You look at this
round,
the Contender Round with Kansas, and you've got Talladega at the end. …
Two of the three races are as much of a wild card as you can get in
NASCAR racing these days. I think when we get all said and done, and it
comes to Homestead and the champion’s crown,
whoever wins it will have earned it.”
This
was Contender Media Day, a two-hour program held at the NASCAR Hall of
Fame to set up the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint
Cup. The three tracks that will test the versatility of all 12
Contenders: Kansas Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Talladega
Superspeedway.
Hosted
by ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi, drivers still in contention for the 2014
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship recapped the thrilling Challenger
Round and looked ahead to the 12-driver three-race Contender Round
which starts Sunday at Kansas (2 p.m. ET on ESPN, MRN and SiriusXM
NASCAR Radio).
Wednesday’s media day, streamed live on
NASCAR.com,
was the first of its kind under the revamped Chase format. Starting
this season, the Chase is broken down into four rounds. After each of
the first three rounds – each consisting of three races – four drivers
are eliminated, setting up a four-driver finale at Homestead-Miami
Speedway. The first to the finish line among the
remaining four contenders at Homestead will win the title.
And
speaking of Miami, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship race just
got bigger. Announced today during Contender Media Day, country music
superstar Jason Aldean will perform a pre-race concert in the infield
prior to the start of the race (Sunday, Nov. 16 at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN,
MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The
elephant in the room during today’s media sessions: Talladega
Superspeedway, now a cut-off race. Always a wild card in the previous 10
editions
of the Chase, it is even more so under this revamped format.
“It
will be interesting to see how Talladega plays out from the guys that
have a good lead going into the last race, whether they're going to
maybe
try to hang back,” said Denny Hamlin. “Then you'll have a group that's
going to want to be aggressive and lead laps, so it will be very
interesting to see how the final Chase cutoff race for this round plays
out.”
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