NASCAR World Cup 2014 Week 2: Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin are toast

Matt Kenseth, you're Spain. Denny Hamlin, you're England.

Like the two European soccer teams listed above, the two Joe Gibbs Racing drivers above are already out of the World Cup before the third group game. And their teammate Kyle Busch needs a win and some help to make it to the knockout rounds himself.

It hasn't been a pretty stretch for JGR. Busch lost to Kevin Harvick by five spots at Sonoma, Kenseth lost by 23 to Tony Stewart and Hamlin lost by 18 to Marcos Ambrose.

All three drivers are 0-2, but Busch could sneak in by beating Jamie McMurray by more than 21 spots at Kentucky and with a Kevin Harvick win over Casey Mears. It's not impossible, but it's not likely.

The drivers through two rounds guaranteed to make the knockout round are Jimmie Johnson (Group A), Kevin Harvick (Group B), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Group C), Tony Stewart (Group D), Joey Logano (Group D), Greg Biffle (Group F), Jeff Gordon (Group H) and Kyle Larson.

The drivers already eliminated are Aric Almirola (Group A), Busch (Group B), Kenseth (Group D), Justin Allgaier (Group D), Hamlin (Group F), A.J. Allmendinger (Group H) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Group H).

The group in the biggest state of flux? That's our now-official Group of Death Group E, which has all drivers at 1-1 and within 15 positions of each other on finish differential.

Here are the final round matchups. The standings are embedded in the post below

Group A: Jimmie Johnson vs. Aric Almirola, Brian Vickers vs. Danica Patrick

Group B: Kyle Busch vs. Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick vs. Casey Mears

Group C: Dale Earnhardt Jr. vis Michael Annett, Austin Dillon vs. Martin Truex Jr.

Group D: Matt Kenseth vs. Justin Allgaier, Joey Logano vs. Tony Stewart

Group E: Brad Keselowski vs. Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard vs. Kurt Busch

Group F: Denny Hamlin vs. Greg Biffle, Marcos Ambrose vs. Cole Whitt

Group G: Carl Edwards vs. Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman vs. David Gilliland

Group H: Jeff Gordon vs. Kyle Larson, A.J. Allmendinger vs. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

NASCAR World Cup Sonoma

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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