NASCAR Cup

Ten months ago, Kyle Busch was sitting in a hospital bed wondering if his season was over before it began. Sunday night, he was back sitting in victory lane as the 2015 Sprint Cup Champion.

Every NASCAR champion has a story about their amazing run to the title, but the four drivers taking center stage this weekend as the final four in the Chase for the Sprint Cup each had a unique journey that brought them all here.

Ryan Blaney will run the full 2016 schedule of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events for Wood Brothers Racing, the team and Ford Motor Company announced on Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Denny Hamlin played the role of spoiler by taking the pole in Friday night’s qualifying for Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, denying any of the four finalists in the Chase for the Sprint Cup a chance at the coveted front row in the season-finale race.

If the four men on the dais at the Diplomat Resort & Spa had been a vocal group, rather than the four Championship Round drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Jeff Gordon provided a ready name for the ensemble.

Some days, it’s better to be lucky than good. Sunday, after rain delayed the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was a little of both.

NASCAR chairman Brian France met Monday with Matt Kenseth three days after the suspended driver defiantly promised to remain aggressive when he returns for the season finale this weekend.

A serendipitous sequence of pit stops and a drizzle that turned into a downpour made a winner of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in Sunday night’s Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, the start of which was delayed from day to night by rain in the afternoon.

When Matt Kenseth wrecked Joey Logano at Martinsville Speedway and put his title hopes in dire jeopardy, there were more cheers than boos from the grandstands at the legendary short track.

When a driver wins four straight races at a single track, there has to be a reason. Right? In the case of Kevin Harvick, who has been to victory lane after the last four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events at Phoenix International Raceway — not to mention five of the last six — there are several.