The race for the postseason in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is going through some shakeups, and we’re headed to a track known for its share of shakeups. The circuit is back in Daytona, for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 (7:30 PM ET, TNT) and one of several notable developments in the push for the playoffs is that 23-year-old Joey Logano has moved into 10th place, the baseline for automatic qualification.
It’s been quite a week for Brad Keselowski. The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion got the spoils of victory with his visit to the White House. As bad luck would have it, the visit fell on Tuesday, with the nation and the sports community mourning the events of Boston. One day later Keselowski got nailed by NASCAR, with a 25-point penalty, due to allegations of illegal part usage in last week’s race. Yes, it’s been wild week for a driver who has mostly lived a charmed life since his arrival on the circuit.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series took last weekend off to celebrate Easter, but honoring the Resurrection and having two weeks to chill out, hasn’t cooled the heels of some of the tempers that are flaring. Joey Logano is rising in the points standing and making his share of enemies along the way. First it was Tony Stewart. Then it was Denny Hamlin, who suffered a serious back injury after a collision with Logano, will miss at least three weeks and from Hamlin’s public statements, there’s no peace accord anywhere in the immediate future.