NASCAR’s elimination-based, playoff-style Chase for the Sprint Cup has its fair share of ups and downs. Playoffs up the drama, sure, but the championship doesn’t always go to the driver who wins the most. The insane videos they produce for the Chase, however, are by far the best thing about it.
NASCAR has been visualizing the 2016 Chase season in these insane no-holds-barred footraces through urban locales. Drivers push each other out of the way, leap from roof-to-roof like Batman, and even take to jet skis to visualize a sopping wet Texas race.
Today is NASCAR’s season finale, so let’s relive a bit of the madness. We’ve previously featured their first video on the Round of 16 since we were so amused, but let’s revisit it one last time since it’s the grand finale.
This is better than most of the action movies I’ve seen in the past few years. It’s dark. It’s gritty. Kevin Harvick does a backflip over a laundry basket. Kyle Larson falls off a roof beam. It’s got that eerie sci-fi soundtrack going on in the background. Holy crap, man—that’s intense.
Next up is the Round of 12. Our intrepid competitors start off with a sprint through the woods, which sees two drivers fall into the brush. Brad Keselowski gets pushed over a log.
Joey Logano suddenly has a jack tied to him, making light of the Talldega snafu where a jack got stuck under Logano’s car out on track. Truex gets trapped in a net, Keselowski gets chased off by a bear and the remaining eight steal a boat.
I’m not sure I’d even be mad if a bunch of NASCAR drivers stole my boat like this. I wouldn’t be able to explain why a bunch of dudes in full racing gear were in the woods, but that’s the beauty of it. It’s so insane, that you might as well roll with it.
Finally, there’s this week’s video wrapping up the Round of 8.
Texas, our Texas, the rain jokes never cease. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get tired of seeing NASCAR drivers push each other into the sand, either.
We’ll be tuning in to see if there’s the making of a good Round of 4 video for sure this afternoon.