2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

ESPN had covered the second half of the Sprint Cup season since 2007 while Turner Sports ended a thirty-one year relationship with NASCAR on TBS and later TNT.

Beginning this year, NASCAR eliminated traditional single car qualifying in its top 3 series for all races except the Daytona 500, the Mudsummer Classic, and non-points events.

In an effort to avoid this, a new procedure was implemented:[60] On January 30, 2014, NASCAR announced radical changes to the format for the season-ending Chase for the Sprint Cup.

During the first practice session on Wednesday, a five-car wreck happened and ended with rookie Parker Kligerman on his roof; several teams had to use back-up cars.

The first 35 laps featured Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch taking turns leading, and Kyle Larson struggling with two flat tires.

During the second caution for an engine problem on Martin Truex Jr.'s car, it began to rain, and by lap 39, the red flag was displayed with Kyle Busch as the leader.

Round 2: The Profit on CNBC 500 Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano took the front row for Team Penske, but Kevin Harvick dominated most of the race.

Round 3: Kobalt 400 Joey Logano took the pole, and after a race with several different strategies and leaders, Dale Earnhardt Jr. found himself in the lead trying to make it to the finish on fuel mileage.

Gordon, who had a large lead, slowed his pace and almost made it to the finish, but Clint Bowyer spun with less than three laps to go, thanks to a flat left-rear tire.

Other drivers had problems as well, with Alex Bowman cutting a tire and Denny Hamlin getting a windshield tear-off stuck over the opening to his left-front brake duct.

The eleventh caution flew on lap 340 as 20th-place Kyle Larson spun out of turn two, and the leaders pitted once again, with Johnson and Bowyer keeping their first and second-place positions.

On lap 459, Carl Edwards spun to bring out the 14th caution, and Bowyer fell back to tenth during pit stops, allowing Johnson to retake the lead ahead of Joey Logano.

Teammate Jimmie Johnson received some damage from the dirt dug up by Earnhardt Jr. Joey Logano made a last lap pass on Jeff Gordon to win the race.

Round 10: Aaron's 499 Denny Hamlin scored his first victory of the season, and first career win at Talladega Superspeedway, after taking the lead from Kevin Harvick with two laps to go.

On the restart for the last segment, which was ten laps, Jamie McMurray passed Edwards and held off Harvick to win his first All-Star race.

Jamie McMurray hit a piece of concrete in turn two, which resulted in a second red flag in order to repair the hole in the track.

[69] Round 15: Quicken Loans 400 Jimmie Johnson took the lead with ten laps remaining to take his first win at Michigan International Speedway.

"[76] Round 21: Gobowling.com 400 Despite having Kevin Harvick filling his rearview mirror, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to maintain the lead to complete the first Pocono sweep since Denny Hamlin did it in 2006.

"[77] Round 22: Cheez-It 355 at The Glen A. J. Allmendinger held off a hard charging Marcos Ambrose with two laps remaining to score his first career Sprint Cup Series victory.

"[78] Round 23: Pure Michigan 400 Jeff Gordon took the lead from Joey Logano on the final restart and sailed to victory lane for the 91st time in his career.

"[80] Round 25: Oral-B USA 500 Kasey Kahne took the lead on the second Green-White-Checker attempt and held off Matt Kenseth to score his first win of the season.

Chase driver Aric Almirola was leading on series of green flag pit stops with 37 to go when his engine blew and was forced to retire.

We’ve got to keep our eye on the prize and think about the big trophy at the end.”[84] Round 29: AAA 400 Kevin Harvick started on pole and dominated most of the first half of the race.

[85] Round 30: Hollywood Casino 400 On the final restart with 28 laps to go, Ryan Newman lost the lead to Joey Logano and he held off a hard-charging Kyle Larson to score his fifth win of the season.

"[91] Round 33: Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the lead from Tony Stewart with four laps to go and held off a hard charging Jeff Gordon to score his first career win at Martinsville Speedway.

This team on pit road was great and Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and the guys did a real good job all day.

"[94] Round 34: AAA Texas 500 Jimmie Johnson held off Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick to score his 70th career win.

I said, ‘You’re the problem, get in your own fight.’ ‘’[98] Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's senior vice president of competition, said that series officials will review what took place to determine what, if any, penalties will be issued.

"[104] Kevin Harvick (with the much-needed win), Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, and Ryan Newman were the four drivers who will race for the championship, which also meant that NASCAR will be having a new Sprint Cup Series champion.

“That's disappointing, but like I said, it was an awesome team effort, and I think, again, this is a great racetrack to have a race like this, and I thought there was some amazing passing, and we don't get that at every racetrack.” (key) Bold – Pole position awarded by time.