Just another day in the desert for Kevin Harvick, who has now won five of the last six contests at Phoenix International Raceway. The 2014 Champion edged out Carl Edwards by a mere .010 seconds, the same margin of Denny Hamlin's victory or Martin Truex Jr. in the Daytona 500. ""I knew I needed to get a good run off the (final) corner and that I was going to have to get into his door. And it worked out, just barely," said Harvick. It was Harvick's eighth win at the track- extending his own record in NASCAR's top series.

Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney have impressed so far in their young careers.

When we were in Daytona for Speedweeks at the season's start- there was a lot of chatter surrounding the exciting 2016 rookie class. Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney proved why on Sunday by each finishing inside the top-10 in the Good Sam 500. "My guys have been bringing such fast race cars to the racetrack every week since Daytona, and I haven't been doing a very good job of getting the finishes that they deserve," said Elliott. It was the first time since October 2014 that two rookies finished inside the top 10. The race was Blaney's second consecutive top 10.

Kyle Busch not satisfied with success so far in 2016

He's led in every race this season. He's finished inside the top-5 in every race this season. But the defending NASCAR champion hasn't come away with a win in any race this season- and he's not having it. “You could be happy with top-five and you could be happy with running up front and doing those things," said Kyle Busch “Those are the things you're supposed to do, but ultimately we've got to get to Victory Lane." Busch is currently tied with Sunday's race winner, Kevin Harvick, atop the NASCAR points standings, but for someone who earned five victories in 25 starts during last season's championship run, he's ready for the wins to start flowing in.

The low downforce package should shine in California

Asphalt baking under the California sun has led to some excellent on-track action in Fontana, and NASCAR's low downforce package should only make things even more exciting. As the race goes on and the track gets slick, fans can expect to see quite a show on Sunday. Kyle Busch, who's excelled racing with the new package at each stop this season, could be due for his third Fontana win in four years on Sunday.

Brad Keselowski wins in Vegas

Not wind nor (dust) storm could keep Brad Keselowski out of Victory Lane on Sunday. Keselowski passed Kyle Busch to take the lead with six laps to go, and held on the rest of the way to earn his first win in 33 races. Teammate Joey Logano, who led 74 laps on Sunday, was happy for the 1-2 Penske finish, but admits he's anxious to get back into the winner's circle himself.  "Gosh, we finished second so many times, Daytona and qualifying. We will go get them next week. … I know we are only three races in, but I am getting antsy." We remember Logano feeling similarly earlier this season.

Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s new fire suits

You've seen what they'll be driving- and now you can see what they'll be wearing. Hendrick Motorsports released images of the Batman and Superman-themed firesuits Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson will be wearing for the #HeroFaceOff at Auto Club Speedway later this month. 

NASCAR chimes in on Peyton's retirement

The sports community bid adieu to one of the all-time greats this week, as Peyton Manning announced his retirement from the NFL after 18 Hall-of-Fame caliber seasons. The NASCAR world took notice, as current and former drivers took to the Twittersphere to pay their respects to the two-time Super Bowl Champion and five-time NFL MVP.  “He’s somebody I really admire and look up to and have the utmost respect for. I’m glad he’s done all this on his terms," said Tony Stewart, who plans to retire from driving full-time at the conclusion of the 2016 NASCAR season.

Kevin Harvick

If you bet against Kevin Harvick at Phoenix, odds are you're going to lose. But despite the fact he's won five of the last seven contests in the desert (including four in a row from 2013 - 2015), Harvick is keeping things in perspective as he prepares for this weekend. "You go there with a fresh start, like you’ve never won there before," said Harvick, who's currently tied for second place with Jimmie Johnson in the early-season standings - seven points behind Kyle Busch. "The hardest thing about having success is that you must have an open mind to try new things and keep moving forward. If you don’t, and aren't willing to try a fresh approach, it will get stagnant. You’re going to become stale and get left behind."

Jimmie Johnson ties Dale Earnhardt for all0time career wins 

The career accolades on Jimmie Johnson's Wikipedia page already rivaled that of the all-time great athletes. Six-time champion (territory Michael Jordan is familiar with), five-time Driver of the Year (Mickey Mantle had three MVP awards) and he's the only driver to have qualified for the Chase every year since it's inception in 2004 (the kind postseason run Bill Belichick is familiar with). But with his win Sunday, Johnson found himself in truly hallowed company- tying Dale Earnhardt Sr. with 76 career Cup wins. "I don't have a problem calling him the best of this generation even as a competitor of his and having to go out there and race against him,"said Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Drivers had glowing reviews of the on-track action in Atlanta


NASCAR debuted its new low downforce package at the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 in Atlanta on Sunday- and the drivers loved it. "We were sideways, sliding around, the cars were moving," said Joey Logano, started 27th but raced his way into the top five without a caution. "This is real racing. We're driving hard. That's a tough race and just a lot of fun," said Carl Edwards, who finished fifth on Sunday.

The new downforce package reminds Brad Keselowski of the 70's

Almost every driver had glowing reviews of how their cars handled with the new downforce package in Atlanta, noting how it felt like a throwback to the racing of yesteryear. None were more explicit in their comparison than Brad Keselowski, who suggested the racing style might even inspire a new look for the Penske driver. "That race felt like I was in 1975.  That was kind of awesome.  I should grow my sideburns out after that one." We decided to see what it'd look like if he did, and we think he could pull it off.

Kevin Harvick dominated the West Coast swing last season.

NASCAR kicks off it's West Coast swing this weekend in Vegas, and eyes will be on Kevin Harvick to see if he can replicate last season's run. The No. 4 dominated the desert in 2015, leading 366 laps between wins at Vegas and Phoenix before snagging a second-place finish in Fontana. With two top-10's to start the season (including an impressive fourth-place run in Daytona) the 2014 Sprint Cup Champion could be poised to make a return trip to Victory Lane this weekend.
ESPN's Marty Smith talks about NASCAR, racing in Virginia

I'm a Virginian. Born. Raised. Educated: school and sanctuary and stadium. My body's gone to Carolina and all over the sporting world on a million airplanes, but my values and my depth and my manners are rooted in the Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia.

I adore my home state. Commonwealth, as it were. There are only four commonwealths: Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and us. I don't know why.

Virginians are a regional bunch. You're not just from Virginia. You're from Northern Virginia or Virginia Beach or Southwest Virginia or Appalachia or Piedmont. Or Richmond.

We're more prideful about our native regions in our native Commonwealth than our native Commonwealth itself. I love that about Virginia, because environmental factors are pivotal in shaping our clay.

A lot of us talk weird. Those reared in the I-95 corridor between Richmond and DC, and east to the shore, sound normal. But the rest of us, from south of Richmond all the way west to the borders of Tennessee and West Virginia and Kentucky, are a potpourri of glorious and unique dialects, immediately noticeable and authentic -- even if some folks around this country still don't believe mine is real.

There's the easy cadence of the Piedmont, from Emporia west to South Hill and South Boston, where R's don't purse the lips and I's bare teeth. Further west, beyond Martinsville and Roanoke you fall into the Appalachian drawl -- my accent -- with sentences that meld one word to the next and tend to end in vowels, and inch thicker and longer the further you move towards the coal fields in Grundy and Haysi and Big Stone Gap.

I don't know much about other states or their particular sectors. But I can't think of another one -- maybe New Jersey -- that so distinctly separates its regions.

I've been all over the world, and I've never seen any place more beautiful than the Southwest region of the state. Gorgeous purple and navy mountains tower over stunning streams and rivers, and the simple life provides a profound experience.

You learn how to work. You learn how to pray. You learn how look a man in the eye and shake his hand. You learn to hunt and fish from your dad. You learn to love high school football -- and lean on it, too. I still do, almost a quarter-century since my last game at Giles High School.

Athletes, man. Arthur Ashe and Allen Iverson and Michael Vick and Joe Smith and Anthony Poindexter and Ronald Curry and Alonzo Mourning and Bruce Smith and the Barber twins and Ralph Sampson and Russell Wilson and Kam Chancellor and Thomas and Julius Jones and JJ Reddick. On and on.

I remember the magic of watching Park View High's Allen Pinkett run the football against my high school in 1980. Magic is an honest description. I was four years old. He went on to glory at Notre Dame and the Houston Oilers, but his legend lives differently in my mind. It is a foggy image of possibility. Of hope.

And racers. They were my hope. I hitched my wagon to the Wood Brothers, the Burtons, the Sadlers and Ricky Rudd. Rick Hendrick. And later on, 2016 Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin showed up. After he won the 500, Hamlin and I took a photo together displaying our Virginia pride.

I remember sitting on the Richmond pit wall in June 1998. I'd just graduated from Radford University, and I was on assignment for the Lynchburg News & Advance to cover the Pontiac Excitement 400. Practice was underway, and the white and blue No. 2 car screamed by.

"Rusty Wallace. That's RUSTY WALLACE," I thought.

Zoom! The rainbow No. 24. Zoom! The black No. 3.

"Dale Earnhardt. That's THE Dale Earnhardt."

I was so overwhelmed by that moment. The show. I was here. I made it.

And I was at Richmond International Raceway, a place that my father always appreciated so much. Fairgrounds, he called it. My mom had passed away just before this, on May 24th. And every time I go back to RIR, I think about that moment. And I go sit there at that same spot before every race.

And I feel my dad and I feel my mom. It's special to me.

When you grow up in small town America, you fall in love with the idea of getting out. Some do get out. Most don't. And that's just fine. They drink beers with lifelong friends whom they've known since kindergarten. Some fall in love and marry their high school crush. Some meet a girl from a neighboring town and a rival high school and plant a "house-divided" sign in the yard.

And those that leave fall in love with the idea of getting back. I often consider getting back. Maybe it's the idea of what was, that blurry nostalgia of all that possibility. I don't know.

What I do know is this: When I enter the Commonwealth, regardless of which corner I enter, it feels like home.

And it's the only time I experience that feeling.

Wow. Just. Wow.
A star-studded show culminating with the closes finish in Daytona 500 history (0.010 seconds). Now THATS how you get the party started. Check out all that went down in the exciting kickoff to the 2016 NASCAR season.

2016 Daytona 500


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They might not have won the Powershares QQQ 300- but they definitely won us over.
Race runner-up Joey Logano and Virginia-native Elliot Sadler gave one of the more entertaining post-race press conferences we've seen. Here are some of the best moments:


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NASCAR's bringing out some heavy hitters to help get the season underway. I think you've probably heard of a few of them:

 John Cena
Honorary Pace Car Driver
He's a 15-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, five-time US Champion, record-setting Make-A-Wish granter and Internet meme phenomenon.

Ken Griffey Jr
 Ken Griffey Jr
Honorary Starter
"The Kid" is a 13-time All-Star, 10-time Golf Glove Award winner,  seven-time Silver Slugger, a member of the MLB All-Century Team and a near-unanimous first ballot Hall of Famer.


Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler
Grand Marshal
He's already played a Spartan King and U.S. Secret Service agent, but this time next week you can see him as a God of Egypt.


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