—Jimmie Johnson being eliminated from the Chase in the first round should, in theory, be enough to convince “fans” that the sport isn’t rigged in his favor. Y’know, in addition to the sport losing popularity during his run on top, the many fines and penalties levied towards the 48 team, the relative ease of keeping a single committed sponsor happy, and the simple fact that if the sport WERE rigged in his favor, he’d have eight championships by now.
—With that being said, I figured that Jimmie Johnson being eliminated would be the most-surprising thing to happen all week. Then I saw Ryan Blaney attempt a Cup race…and it DIDN’T RAIN.
—Kudos to Shannon Koch (wife of Blake) on winning the annual “Better Half Dash” race, although to be fair, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. didn’t enter.
—Some more troubling news on the sponsorship front, with ABIn-Bev scaling back its sponsorship of Kevin Harvick to just 12 races in 2016. Furthermore, they are moving from their flagship Budweiser brand to their less-popular Busch brand of canned water.