Paul Menard

Sixteen drivers begin their 10-race quest for the 2019 Monster Energy& NASCAR Cup Series championship beginning with Sunday's South Point 400. Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson might be missing from that postseason field but the list still includes plenty of star firepower. Reigning champ Joey Logano will attempt to hold off a bevy of challengers beginning with Sunday's race at the 1.5-mile oval out in Sin City.

For years, the Brickyard 400 has been known as NASCAR’s crown jewel race that always struggles to meet expectations. Everyone wants to kiss the bricks but the actual taste you get when you do it? That’s how too many fans feel watching the racing itself. The same goes for the sport’s regular-season finale, no matter the racetrack, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff era.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to Pocono Raceway this weekend for the Gander RV 400 and filling out your daily fantasy NASCAR FanDuel roster is always difficult for the track affectionately known as the Tricky Triangle. This 2-and-a-half-mile, three-turn course is one of the most unique on the NASCAR schedule, making it a track that some drivers have a knack for — and others not so much.

Eighteen races down, 18 races to go. The 2019 Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway kicks off the second half of NASCAR’s 36-race schedule, one of the longest in sports (February through November). Technically, just eight races remain in the regular season before the 10-race playoff kicks in to crown the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion.

The biggest news in NASCAR this weekend may not have come from the 2019 FireKeepers Casino 400. Instead, it happened over 1,000 miles away in a Gander Outdoors Truck Series race in Fort Worth, Texas.

That’s where 49-year-old Greg Biffle, the former NASCAR star won in his first race back in the sport since Homestead-Miami Speedway in November 2016. Biffle, the 2000 Truck Series champion, earned $50,000 for the Triple Truck Challenge and put himself in position for more opportunities.