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Champs will be crowned

The final event of the 2016 Elkins Raceway Season will take place this Saturday evening at the annual awards banquet, as the champions are crowned and other drivers are recognized for finishing in the top 10 in the points in their respective divisions.

The champions this year are Billy Holbert in the Jenkins Ford Super Late Models, Garrett Paugh in the Budweiser FasTrak Crate Late Models, Brent Trimble in the Performance Chevrolet AMRA Open Wheel Modifieds, and J.P. Tallman in the WV Pools Street Stocks and the BCT Construction Mini-Mods, while Luke Hyre took the A Group title and George Casto III was the B group champion.

Hope you’ve got your ticket and will be there to help our racers celebrate their season accomplishments. This is always a time of great food and great fellowship for fans and competitors.

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This past weekend the NASCAR top divisions made their way out west to the tricky one-mile oval track at Phoenix, Arizona. Phoenix International Raceway was host to all three traveling series.

The action started Friday evening as the Camping World Truck Series took the green flag for the Lucas Oil 150. Mexican driver Daniel Suarez picked up his first win in this competitive division. Veteran drivers Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton finished second and third. Canadian driver Cameron Hayley came home in fourth. Veteran Timothy Peters finished fifth.

These drivers are in a battle to see who will be able to “Chase the Championship” at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Four drivers are now ready to race for it all. Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton, Christopher Bell and Timothy Peters will decide who will be the Truck Series Champion.

Rookie sensation William Byron came up short after having a dominant truck and appeared to be headed to win number 7.  The engine in his Toyota expired in the final stages of the race, ending his championship hopes. Any of the four drivers still in the Chase could be your champion. It will all come down to the final laps in the Ford EcoBoost 200 on Friday evening at 8 pm.

The Xfinity Series raced last Saturday at Phoenix. The Ticket Galaxy 200 was also a deciding race for those in the Chase for the Championship.

Kyle Busch once again dominated the competition and took the victory. Fellow Sprint cup drivers Austin Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished second and third. Next season these races will be off-limits to Cup Series regulars. Xfinity series regulars Justin Allgaier and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top five.

In the Chase for the Xfinity Championship, four drivers will do battle in the Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Elliott Sadler, Daniel Suarez, Justin Allgaier and Erik Jones all enter the race with the same points. This too will be a battle right to the checkered flag.

The Sprint Cup stars ran their final elimination race on Sunday afternoon at Phoenix.

The CanAm 500 was won by Joey Logano, followed closely by Kyle Busch in second. Kyle Larson grabbed another top five, finishing third. Kevin Harvick fell short of advancing to the Chase but finished fourth. Kurt Busch rounded out the top five.

Matt Kenseth was leading on a late-race restart. They raced hard toward the first turn and Matt cut to the bottom of the track and Alex Bowman made contact with him, sending him spinning into the outside wall and out of the Chase for the Cup. Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. were both charged with passing the pace car during a caution and were never able to recover.

On Sunday, the Ford EcoBoost 400 will decide the Sprint Cup Championship. The drivers who will be battling it out in Homestead-Miami are Jimmie Johnson (who is attempting to grab his seventh Sprint Cup title), Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch, who is the defending series point champion.

There will be plenty of left turns this weekend as champions will be determined in all the top divisions. Who are your picks? Here are mine and there’s no particular reason. Trucks: Johnny Sauter (he has a strong team and experience). Xfinity: Daniel Suarez (he is just so consistent).

Sprint Cup: This is a hard one. Logano has momentum, but I don’t feel he will do it. Jimmie Johnson may get number seven, but I really feel Kyle Busch will be a back-to-back Sprint Cup Champion. This time it won’t be overshadowed by his injuries. Don’t miss any of the action and remember, at the end of the straight there’s Another Left Turn.

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