Spencer Neff

Twitter:@NeffOnSports11

Good afternoon and thank you for reading as we look into the weekend’s top racing headlines.

1. The second race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup will be this Sunday at Loudon. One of the interesting things to watch throughout the race will be how restarts are handled. Last week, there was some controversy about a restart where it was determined Kyle Busch spun his tires and Jeff Gordon went before him. Judging by the restart issues the past few weeks, it may be time for NASCAR to adopt the IndyCar rule that the flag-stand controls the start. Doing this would cause less confusion among drivers and may even be more exciting for fans.

2. The second round of NHRA’s Countdown for the Championship will also take place in St. Louis this weekend. Right now, all four points leaders (Antron Brown in Top Fuel, Del Worsham in Funny Car, Erica Enders-Stevens in Pro Stock and Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle, who also won the event last weekend in Charlotte.

It will be interesting to watch the former champions try and parlay this success into a run at another. Other contenders like Tony Schumacher (TF), Jack Beckman (FC), Greg Anderson (PS) and Eddie Kraweic (PSM), who have also won championships and will be looking to continue their regular season success in the Countdown.

3. The Xfinity Series will be in Kentucky, while the Truck Series will run with the Cup Series in New Hampshire.The standalone event will be a great opportunity for some of the lesser-known drivers to get some exposure, while it will be great to see the points leaders like Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Ty Dillon contend for the win.

In the Truck Series, some of the young guns like Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick and John Hunter Nemecheck (last week’s winner at Chicagoland) to go up against veterans like Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter and Kyle Busch to contend for a win.

Have a great weekend and see you soon.