Avondale, Arizona. One week after the number 88 National Guard Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. punched his way in to the 2014 chase format, it would be time to see who would earn the second berth into the chase along with Junior. The story was Brad Keselowski earning his pole via knock-out qualifying on Friday. Also, Joey Logano, who is a native of Middletown Connecticut, joined his teammate by claiming the outside pole. That made it an all Penske front row. However it wouldn’t be that way at the end on Sunday, as Kevin Harvick would become the first driver from SHR to claim his spot in the chase and join Junior. A lot of people would say there wouldn’t be a repeat winner going into the weekend, but that shows you how little NASCAR fans know. Jimmie Johnson is yet to win a race, but he is fifth in points. I’m telling you NASCAR fans, Jimmie will have to earn everything if he wants any hope of tying the king Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt Senior. In other news and notes, MRN is off this week, but never fear, because you will still have your NASCAR coverage through the Performance Racing Network. That means that Mr. Rice will be joined by Mark Darrel, Rob Albright, Brett McMillian, Jim Noble, Pat Patterson, and Brad. You can join the PRN gang at 2pm central time on 103.3 fm, or you can join them on channel 4, the Fox Network, to see who will be the next participant in the chase. So far I like what I am seeing, because it makes number 48 have to earn it, and so far all Jimmie has been able to do is top five. In years past that would have worked, but not this year.
