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Author: Ron Thornton

  • The Final Word – After New Hampshire, we are down to three contenders heading to Dover

    The Final Word – After New Hampshire, we are down to three contenders heading to Dover

    No one wishes Matt Kenseth any bad fortune, but if something should happen, like a 35th place at Dover next weekend, I am sure a dozen other fellows would not be terribly upset.

    Things have gone so right for the 2003 Cup champion since moving from the Roush to the Gibbs racing stable. For the first time, he has won seven races in a single season, and for the first time in 28 starts he is a winner in New Hampshire. All this in his 500th career start, where only Richard Petty was victorious on the day he reached the same milestone.

    Come to think of it, bad things for both Kenseth and team mate Kyle Busch probably would not tear up the opposition terribly much. Rowdy has ran second in both Chase events, and trails Matt by 14 points in the chase for the title. Let us sum up. Over the past five events, Carl Edwards won a race, Kyle won another, and Kenseth has claimed three. So much for sharing.

    Jimmie Johnson remains in the hunt, and as of right now he is the only other invitee to this party. A fourth place result, following a fifth at Chicago, has him 18 points in the rearview. That is just half the distance the fourth ranked team of Edwards is sitting, with seven of the 13 contenders now 40 or more points back. They need to see smoke, bad tires, bad handling, loose lug nuts, a broken jack, a meeting with a wall, an alien abduction of a certain somebody, something to get them all back into contention.

    Rating New Hampshire – 6/10 – I believe I have seen more exciting soccer games. It was not an entertaining broadcast by any measure, not visually and certainly not from the announcers, unless you were cheering for Kenseth or Shrub. If so, give it a 9. With ESPN departing after next season, do not expect things to improve anytime soon. Well, not until February.

    Expect Johnson to do well at Dover on Sunday, where he has won 7 in 23 attempts, compiling 16 Top Tens. Mind you, nine Chasers have wins there, with Kenseth having a couple himself. Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, and Kasey Kahne have not yet tasted victory on the Monster Mile. In nine races, Logano has led just one lap, but considering what went down at Loudon he just might win the damn thing. Well, maybe if he still drove for Joe Gibbs.

    But that honor belongs to Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch, with Jimmie Johnson a Hendrick co-star in this production as they move to Delaware. As long as that trio continues to run well, this Chase is over for the other ten. Enjoy the week.

  • Hot 20 over the past 10 – Montoya soon to be rid of fenders, NAPA soon to be rid of Michael Waltrip

    Hot 20 over the past 10 – Montoya soon to be rid of fenders, NAPA soon to be rid of Michael Waltrip

    So, what have we learned lately? Well, if one cheats, one must not do so in a fashion that allows them to be quickly caught. Caught by everybody. Caught on scanners, radios, and in full view of millions at the track and watching on television. Nothing good can ever come from that. That is, if one decides that they must cheat in the first place.

    Since February, 2001 NAPA and Michael Waltrip have been synonymous in NASCAR. That comes to an abrupt end at the conclusion of this year when the company terminates its association with MWR, and it is all due to the events at Richmond. It is a very high price to pay and as much as I did not condone that team’s actions, as much as I applaud NASCAR’s reaction to them, I hate to have seen it come to this. I understand why the team did what it did. I understand why the fans reacted as they did, with those actions affecting two drivers who have become sentimental favorites. I understand why NAPA did what they did, being sensitive to public perception. However, it gives me no joy to read about it. The price has been paid. It is time to move on.

    Juan Pablo Montoya is moving on. After seven seasons and two victories in NASCAR’s Cup series, he returns to the open wheeled racing in which he thrived between 1999 and 2006. Over the course of those eight campaigns, he won 18 races, claimed the CART championship as well as the Grand Prix of Monaco in claiming seven Formula One events. Ironically, while he joins the Penske organization in IndyCar, he has run only one race in that circuit, winning the 2000 Indianapolis 500. We look forward to his return to the track in St. Petersburg, Florida in late March.

    Matt Kenseth returns to the track this Sunday at Loudon, New Hampshire. Unlike the other five drivers among our hottest half dozen, which includes the Busch Brothers, Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, and Jeff Gordon, Kenseth has never won at Loudon in 27 attempts. Then again, he has never won six races in a season before, either, and that Joe Gibbs car of his might be just what he needs to break that streak in New Hampshire.

     

    Name Points Pos LW Rank W T5 T10
      Kyle Busch  354 1 1 (2) 2 4 6
      Kurt Busch  339 2 2 (6) 0 5 7
      Ryan Newman  328 3 5 (8) 1 4 6
      Matt Kenseth  327 4 3 (1) 2 3 5
      Kevin Harvick  326 5 6 (4) 0 3 5
      Jeff Gordon  312 6 8 (7) 0 1 7
      Jamie McMurray  310 7 4 (15) 0 1 2
      Carl Edwards  304 8 11 (5) 1 2 4
      Greg Biffle  299 9 13 (11) 0 0 3
      Kasey Kahne  293 10 10 (10) 1 3 4
      Brad Keselowski  293 11 15 (14) 0 2 4
      Joey Logano  280 12 7 (12) 1 3 6
      Dale Earnhardt, Jr.  279 13 9 (13) 0 1 5
      Jimmie Johnson  271 14 14 (3) 1 3 5
      Juan Pablo Montoya  269 15 12 (20) 0 2 4
      Paul Menard  261 16 17 (16) 0 2 3
      Marcos Ambrose  256 17 16 (21 0 0 2
      Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.  247 18 20 (19) 0 0 2
      Clint Bowyer  245 19 18 (9) 0 2 4
      Aric Almirola  239 20 21 (18) 0 1 1
      Jeff Burton  230 21 22 (22) 0 1 2
      Martin Truex, Jr.  227 22 19 (17) 0 2 3
  • The Final Word – Matt takes Chicago, Jimmie to take Loudon, leaving Junior and Joey to split the final eight?

    The Final Word – Matt takes Chicago, Jimmie to take Loudon, leaving Junior and Joey to split the final eight?

    After the week’s worth of who is in, who is not, who has been naughty, who has been wronged, we got back to racing. Sadly, the most exciting thing about the day was watching Kyle, Larry, and Kenny discuss the week that was. The race, for me, turned out to be a bit of a let down.

    One lap kind of looked like the last one, that looked like the next one. The contenders moved into the front half of the pack and other than an official messing up Jimmie Johnson’s pit stop and Kurt Busch caught speeding, there was not much drama in the proceedings.

    Then the rains came. Five hours went by before things got back on track, by which time we caught the PGA event taking place about 70 miles north of Chicagoland, at least until they got washed out. We got to view some NFL action, at least when lightening was not delaying things in Tampa and Seattle. We had time to see the Yankees taking on the Red Sox. Well, not enough time, as I had to watch that game finish before they returned to the race track.

    I could have watched it live on computer or got Sirius about it, but I thought I would wait for the tape delayed version after the ball game. I should have known better, but like Clint I just sat there and scratched my arm. The race returned, live and in progress and with just 50 laps left.

    I know, I should dwell on the fact Matt Kenseth increased his points lead by winning his career high sixth race of the season. With his 30th career triumph he now sits eight points up on Chicago runner-up Kyle Busch. There was Jimmie Johnson, just 11 points out, after recovering from a failed jack as well as the official problems on pit road, to bring it home fifth. I could seek happiness at the discovery Joey Logano had blown up and would finish 37th, but then Karma bit my butt.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr was leading when the action returned to my screen. He then pitted and was buried way, way back, but not for long. He blew up spectacularly in a huge white plume to finish 35th and, like Logano, sits more than 50 points out.

    For the rest of the Chasers, they took the top six positions, ten of the top dozen, with Greg Biffle bringing up the rear among those who did not explode in 16th spot. The Biff is 11th in the standings, 31 points in arrears. Still, nobody is out of it yet if history tells us anything.

    Rating Chicago – 6/10 – Maybe it just rained on my parade. Kenseth fans no doubt thought it one heck of a great contest.

    In 2006, Jimmie Johnson started the Chase by finishing 39th at Chicago, though his 10.8 average Chase finish that year was the worst of the nine among series winners. Over the past six seasons, the eventual champion has averaged 3 Chase wins, 8 Top Tens, and 9 Top Twenties and an average finish of better than seventh. For Junior and Joey fans, that means a Top Five next Sunday would not be good enough.

    Now that we have put the controversy of the past week behind us, I wonder if the boys at Michael Waltrip Racing get it just yet? The boss seems to, saying they now know what they can do and what they can not. Clint Bowyer might, though his reputation takes a hit for the perception he can do one thing then lie about the circumstances surrounding what happened. To be honest, he would have been some kind of idiot to confess right after Richmond what he had done. It is like the teacher asking you about your homework assignment, and you reply how the family pet digested it. Clint didn’t raise a stink in his car, the dog did it. We have all been there. He will be forgiven, in time. Just not in enough time to see many wanting him to take the title this year.

    Martin Truex Jr does not get it. He figures if Ryan Newman gets in, he should, too. Wrong. He might not have done something wrong, but his organization did. It is the same as when a car has an illegal set up and the team gets sanctioned. The driver may have been an angel, but he gets penalized just the same. To be honest, with MWR being something of a pariah at the moment, no one really gives a damn what they want. As for Brian Vickers, he says he would do the same thing again if asked, which only means he does not mind running for negative points. What they did was fix the outcome of the race, and no professional sport allows that. If he did not get the memo, NASCAR has just reminded everyone that they will no longer tolerate it. End of story.

    Thus Sunday, it is off to Loudon and the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Chasers have done well there. Three time winners include Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch. Bowyer has won there twice, while victory has been celebrated by Logano, Biffle, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Busch. If fact, the only ones who have never done so are Carl Edwards, Junior, and Kenseth. As for having the best average finish there over his career, it could be a good day for Jimmie Johnson. Enjoy the week.

  • NASCAR, we have a problem

    NASCAR, we have a problem

    It has been said that there has been cheating going on in NASCAR since they first started. Yes, advantages were sought, but usually it was to make the car go faster in order to win, not to throw the race in order to fix an outcome.

    Richard Petty, the King himself, got caught winning with an engine that was not just a bit too big but more like super sized. Country singer Marty Robbins turned down rookie of the race honors after racing at Talladega in 1972 as he had modified the restrictor plate just to see what it was like to run like Richard Petty. Some boys have run with nitrous oxide bottles, some with expanded gas tanks, others with modified car frames, and the list goes on and on.

    So, what is the big deal? Well, fixing the outcome of a contest gets you tossed for life out of baseball. Shoeless Joe Jackson would have been in the Hall of Fame 60 years ago if not for that 1919 World Series. Fixing the outcome in NASCAR should come with consequences, as well, if you do not want it to go the route of professional wrestling. Goodbye six figured prize money, multi-million dollar sponsorship deals, national television contracts, and goodbye to all those fans who expect to see a real contest presenting an outcome not fixed before or during a race.

    If not for Michael Waltrip Racing, Joey Logano would probably have finished 25th instead of 22nd at Richmond. If he had, Logano would have needed to use his wild card eligibility to make it through, beating out both Martin Truex Jr and Ryan Newman, with Jeff Gordon advancing by finishing 10th in the standings. If not for David Gilliland, Logano would have finished 23rd, tied with Gordon in points but still finishing tenth due to having a win, something Gordon does not yet have this season.

    From listening to the in-car radio, it appears Logano’s team big wigs made a deal with Gilliland’s outfit to allow Joey to move past and into 22nd spot on the final lap. Just some insurance, as in the end the spot was not crucial to deciding the final pre-Chase standings. Still, the fix was in, even if it turned out to be unnecessary. Of course, it become unnecessary only because of Bowyer’s spin and the fact both his car and that of Brian Vickers made, some contend, very unnecessary pit stops to allow Logano to move up a couple of spots in the first place.

    More worrisome, there was already chatter to play “Let’s Make A Deal” between Penske and Front Row before Bowyer even went for his slide. That should be a huge red flag for anybody. It may have turned out to be unnecessary in the end, but that was not the case when they started talking.

    Just as you can not fix a baseball game, in this day and age you can not fix a NASCAR race. If you do not believe me, check out the reaction of those MWR sponsors who do not seem very happy about all this. If I have not yet made my point, imagine a major league baseball player going on Twitter to even jokingly discuss fixing a game. That boy’s ass would be grass and the Commissioner would be just jumping at the bit to take his mower to that lawn.

    Can we stop cheating in NASCAR? Nope. Can we make damn sure those on whom we have evidence that they did cheat pay the price? Damn right we can. Cheat if you must, bu if you get caught cheating there should be hell to pay. If NASCAR prefers to continue having its big awards banquet at venues like the Wynn Las Vegas Luxury Resort and Casino instead of the Economy Motel in Rockingham, North Carolina, they damn well better make sure that is the case.

  • Hot 20 over the past 10 – Newman gets justice while Gordon will have to rely on vengeance

    Hot 20 over the past 10 – Newman gets justice while Gordon will have to rely on vengeance

    Sometime over the next ten weeks, at one of ten tracks hosting the Chase, Clint Bowyer will be sailing along. He will feel a sudden nudge in his left rear quarter-final, just a touch but enough to cause him to feel the car getting out from under him. Bowyer will try to save it, and come close in doing so but, alas, his car will find the wall. His race and his Chase hopes, done in an instant.

    Over the car radio we will hear Jeff Gordon, “I did not mean to do that; I sure hate it.” Then silence, at least over the air waves, as laughter explodes from behind the wall, just beyond the #24 pit box and spotter’s stand. High above the track, Mike Helton will look on, a hint of a smile appearing behind that bushy mustache. He will know, just as was the case with Bowyer at Richmond, that he will not have definitive proof that Gordon did anything intentional. No doubt just a racing deal. Just like Bowyer. Then, all will be right with the world.

    Bowyer was not penalized for intentionally spinning out to cause that late caution at Richmond. Not enough definitive proof, though enough to tarnish the reputation of the personable driver for the foreseeable future among fans. No, this was not an individual penalty, but one aimed at an entire organization for attempting to manipulate the outcome of an event and the standings to benefit one of their own. A $300,000 fine to Michael Waltrip Racing, a indefinite suspension of General Manager Ty Norris, 50 point penalties to each of the organization’s cars and drivers, and probation for all three of its crew chiefs.

    In order for Martin Truex Jr to make the Chase, Ryan Newman could not win and Joey Logano had to claim a Top Ten spot in the standings in order to keep him out of the wild card scenario. When a startled Brian Vickers was ordered to the pits, just before the re-start, in order to allow Logano to move ahead of him on the track, combined with Bowyer’s dawdling on pit road to do the same, the proof was there. Logano made it, taking Jeff Gordon out of the Chase and allowing Truex to slip into the final wild card position.

    At least until the penalties. They dropped Truex behind Newman in points, so Newman takes over that position. Logano was simply a pawn, so there was no reason to sanction him. Other than to invent a rule to award Gordon an extra Chase place, NASCAR’s hands were tied. Bowyer gets penalized from his season total, which will not affect his Chase standing going in. He was going to be tied for 8th at Chicago, penalty or no penalty. Where is the justice, you might ask. For Gordon, the best he can do is discover an itch in his hot car, just enough for him to need to scratch it, sometime over the next few weeks as his right front fender nears Bowyer’s left rear quarter-panel. We know it could happen. We have all already seen it.

    As they enter the Chase, five race winner Matt Kenseth takes a three point lead over Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch in to Chicago.  The leader has been as hot as Johnson has not, as of late, but Rowdy is the one to watch. He has won there, while Kevin Harvick has done so twice. While they have not yet claimed a victory at the track, the two we will be watching who have the best average finish at Chicagoland are Johnson and Bowyer.  Ironically, Gordon owns a piece of one of those cars and would like just a piece of the other.

     

    Name Points Pos LW Rank W T5 T10
      Kyle Busch  350 1 2 (2) 2 4 6
      Kurt Busch  337 2 1 (8) 0 4 7
      Matt Kenseth  326 3 7 (1) 2 3 5
      Jamie McMurray  326 4 9 (14) 0 2 3
      Ryan Newman  323 5 8 (8) 1 4 5
      Kevin Harvick  318 6 5 (4) 0 2 5
      Joey Logano  312 7 3 (6) 1 4 7
      Jeff Gordon  309 8 6 (13) 0 1 7
      Dale Earnhardt, Jr.  302 9 10 (8) 0 1 5
      Kasey Kahne  294 10 11 (8) 1 3 5
      Carl Edwards  294 11 14 (4) 1 2 4
      Juan Pablo Montoya  285 12 17 (19) 0 2 4
      Greg Biffle  280 13 15 (6) 0 0 3
      Jimmie Johnson  268 14 13 (2) 1 2 5
      Brad Keselowski  266 15 18 (15) 0 2 3
      Marcos Ambrose  258 16 16 (21) 0 0 2
      Paul Menard  253 17 19 (16) 0 2 3
      Clint Bowyer  251 18 4 (8) 0 3 4
      Martin Truex, Jr.  238 19 12 (17) 0 2 4
      Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.  238 20 22 (20) 0 0 1
      Aric Almirola  236 21 20 (18) 0 1 1
  • The Final Word* – Who wins NASCAR’s Cup title matters less than that MWR does not

    The Final Word* – Who wins NASCAR’s Cup title matters less than that MWR does not

    Carl Edwards jumps the late re-start and NASCAR says nary a word as he beats Kurt Busch for the win at Richmond. Yet, that is not the story of the week.  Carl may have stole three bonus points for the Chase, may have kept Busch from taking his Furniture Row team to Victory Lane, but few fans were lost to the non-call. What happened a few laps earlier to bring out that caution with seven to go, well that is entirely another matter.

    With seven to go, Ryan Newman is leading the race. If he managed to hold off Kurt Busch he would have earned his second win and a place in the Chase. Kasey Kahne was outside the Top Ten, but with two wins the first wild card spot was his. Jeff Gordon held the 10th spot as they ran, moving Joey Logano out, and Martin Truex Jr found himself potentially with no hope for a wild card if Newman won or Logano finished outside the Top Ten in points. What to do, what to do?

    Truex had a team mate already locked in the Chase in Clint Bowyer. In-car audio shows Bowyer was informed of the situation on the track, that “the 39 is going to win the race.” About 20 seconds later, we heard the comment “well that kinda sucks.” We heard Bowyer asked “is your arm starting to hurt” and if the car was getting hot inside. The in-car video shows Bowyer shortly after jerking the wheel going through the turn, we saw him spin out, and we heard him claim that Dale Earnhardt Jr got into him. We also heard Junior say it was the “craziest thing I ever saw.”

    “He was hemming around on the brakes and jerking the car around” and he wondered if NASCAR might take a look at the telemetry to see exactly what took place. Earnhardt said he almost got in to him. Almost. The resulting spin caused Bowyer to come into the pits, and sit. And sit. We also saw team mate Brian Vickers slowing down to within 20 mph of pace car speed on the final lap. Bowyer finished 25th on the day, 2 laps down with Vickers 24th, a lap down. This help ensure the 23rd place Logano, also a lap down, got the spots he needed to finish a point ahead of Gordon in the top ten in points. Newman’s pit crew messed up the last stop so he dropped from first to fifth for the re-start and finished third on the day. Truex was within four positions of him to make the Chase on a tie-breaker. .

    A lot of fans seem rather upset with how things went down at Richmond. Even if NASCAR decided to lay penalties of any kind, it would not change the fact that Newman and Gordon are out and Truex is in. They could park Bowyer for a race to ruin his title hopes, I guess, but you know they won’t. Was it illegal or did they simply take advantage of the rules, or lack of them? Was it unethical? I guess that all depends on what your ethics are.

    I almost forgot about MWR’s beginnings, the illegal fuel additive discovered in Waltrip’s own car in qualifying for the 2007 Daytona 500. Toyota did not like that then, so I wonder how this will play considering their corporate culture in Japan? I wonder what a man of principle like Joe Gibbs, also part of the Toyota family, thinks of how this went down? All I can say, for myself, I do not care if MWR, Waltrip, Bowyer, Truex, Vickers, or even Toyota ever win another damn race.

    Rating Richmond – 8.5/10 – With all that was at stake, with drivers coming and going as far as their fate was concerned for the Chase, along with the controversial conclusion, it was damned entertaining to watch.

    We must give credit where credit is due. If what took place is how we believe it took place, it was masterful manipulation of a situation in a relatively short period of time in order to pull this off. You could say it was brilliant. I just do not have to like it or respect it. As a fan, it gives me a car brand, a team owner, and a bunch of drivers I do not have to respect or support. If they have the same luck in the Chase as Jimmie Johnson has had over the past few weeks, with finishes of 40th, 36th, 28th, and 40th, it would put a big ole smile on this face. It would appear that to be one of my favorites, all you need to do is drive a Chevy or a Ford and not be part of MWR. Except for Logano, and I still like Kyle Busch and Coach Gibbs. Maybe Toyota just needs to rethink the company they keep.

    Some thought Stewart-Haas was bringing in the bad boys of racing under one umbrella next season. Me thinks that honor goes to MWR, from top to bottom. Now, to make this one fan a happy man, let us commence to beat and bang on those boys in the black hats from Chicago right through to Homestead this fall. Trusting Karma to do her worst, let the games begin. Enjoy the week.

    *This was written last Sunday, just as NASCAR is reportedly investigating the spin. This might not be the “Final Word” after all on the events at Richmond, depending on the outcome of that investigation.

  • Hot 20 over the past 10 – Two hot wheelmen heading to Richmond will be left in the cold come Chase time

    Hot 20 over the past 10 – Two hot wheelmen heading to Richmond will be left in the cold come Chase time

    It is a good thing for many that the Chase is decided over the first 26 races of the season, not just what they have done lately. Not so good if you are Kurt Busch or Jeff Gordon. Both could use a win at Richmond, both seemed destined on making the Chase only if one beats the other for a Top Ten spot. Both have run very well over the past ten events. Busch has been the best out there, averaging 33.5 points per race, with Gordon sixth best at 31.5. Both have done enough lately to earn a place, but it is doubtful both will make it.

    Ryan Newman needs to either win or be the best one win guy in points. Possibly bound for Childress Racing next year to replace Jeff Burton, Newman has been picking up an average of 31 points per weekend. Jamie McMurray needs to win, period, to have even a shot. His 30.5 point average is good, but may be too late to be of use. If nothing else, it explains why he got an extension to his contract.

    While Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Greg Biffle have not exactly set the world on fire in recent weeks, they still remain strong. Biffle sits 15th on this list, and a perilous ninth in the standings, yet even he has averaged better than a 16th place finish over the past ten. Do that over the course of the season and one would have 700 points and 14th place in the standings. There are a lot of boys and a girl who only wish they had it as good as Biffle has it bad right now.

    If you check their career finishes at Richmond, give Junior, Logano, and Biffle a berth, with Kurt and Gordon going down to the wire to see who gets the ninth invite. The final wild card should be no contest. Newman is nearly a dozen spots better, on average, than Martin Truex Jr on the Virginia mile. Of course, we have to wait and see if this will wind up an average Saturday night in Richmond.

     

    Name Points Pos LW Rank W T5 T10
      Kurt Busch  335 1 6 (10) 0 4 7
      Kyle Busch  334 2 2 (5) 2 4 6
      Joey Logano  324 3 5 (8) 1 4 7
      Clint Bowyer  320 4 1 (2) 0 4 5
      Kevin Harvick  319 5 3 (3) 0 2 6
      Jeff Gordon  315 6 15 (11) 0 2 7
      Matt Kenseth  312 7 4 (6) 2 3 4
      Ryan Newman  310 8 12 (14) 1 3 4
      Jamie McMurray  305 9 13 (16) 0 1 2
      Dale Earnhardt, Jr.  303 10 16 (7) 0 1 5
      Kasey Kahne  302 11 8 (12) 1 3 5
      Martin Truex, Jr.  299 12 10 (13) 1 3 4
      Jimmie Johnson  299 13 9 (1) 1 2 6
      Carl Edwards  288 14 11 (4) 0 2 4
      Greg Biffle  284 15 7 (9) 0 0 4
      Marcos Ambrose  279 16 17 (20) 0 0 3
      Juan Pablo Montoya  267 17 18 (19) 0 2 4
      Brad Keselowski  261 18 14 (15) 0 2 3
      Paul Menard  243 19 19 (17) 0 1 2
      Aric Almirola  236 20 20 (18) 0 1 1
  • The Final Word – After the march through Atlanta, it is on to Richmond

    The Final Word – After the march through Atlanta, it is on to Richmond

    Damn engines. They can put you in front, as it did for Brad Keselowski for 31 laps. They can break your heart, when he had to drop back as it went from an eight to a six cylinder. They can leave you parked in 35th when it finally lets go. It left the defending series king with pretty much of a must win situation when they resume Saturday night in Richmond.

    Seven in, five to be decided. After Atlanta, we know the Chase will feature Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, all in by points.  We know that even if Kasey Kahne finishes outside the top-10, he is in as his two win total can be matched but can not be beat among wild card entrants. That reduces further to four openings if Dale Earnhardt Jr can manage to finish among the top-30 this weekend.

    Four spots, nine contenders, unless you want to include Paul Menard, who would need to win and hope for something just short of an alien abduction of Martin Truex Jr and Ryan Newman to make it.

      Driver  Wins   
    		 Points     Diff
    7   Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 0 750 37
    8   Joey Logano 1 729 16
    9   Greg Biffle 1 727 14
    10   Kurt Busch 0 719 6
    11   Jeff Gordon 0 713 -6
    12   Kasey Kahne 2 709 -10
    13   Martin Truex, Jr. 1 704 -15
    14   Ryan Newman 1 699 -20
    15   Brad Keselowski 0 691 -28
    16   Jamie McMurray 0 680 -39

     

    Jamie McMurray could make it with a win, but he would need neither Truex or Newman to appear in the Top 20 at Richmond.  All could still make it on points, though the odds get longer the deeper they are in the pack. Wins by Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Truex or Newman would lock them in one way or the other. A bad day outside the top-30 and the wrong guy winning has all on this list vulnerable.

    Rating Atlanta – 7.5/10 – It should have been higher. Two leading the race, Keselowski and Clint Bowyer, disappear due to engine woes and a botched restart leaves both Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson with sub-par days, ESPN even had some decent camera shots, if they bothered to use them. In the end, this one seemed to drag on despite the drama. NASCAR is like baseball at 190 mph in that it often seems that little changes from lap to lap, or pitch to pitch. Unless the broadcast weaves a narrative it can get rather monotonous.

    While it is likely Junior will make it, a win at Richmond would end all speculation. He has three there, though the last was in 2006. Jeff Gordon always seems to run well there, but the last of his two victories at Richmond came in 2000. Newman won back in 2003 and has a great average finish ratio. Kurt was a winner in 2005.  In the end, I think the present standings gives us the best clue as to how this all will finish. My prediction is that Logano and Biffle will get in on points, while Gordon and Kurt battle to the end for the tenth spot, with Truex and Newman in a tight fight to see which gets the second wild card. No point talking about additional wins, unless you are talking about Kyle Busch.

    Now, on to Richmond! Enjoy the week.

  • Hot 20 over the past 10 – Kurt replaces Newman at SHR and could soon replace him in the Chase

    Hot 20 over the past 10 – Kurt replaces Newman at SHR and could soon replace him in the Chase

    It would appear that Tony Stewart is not the only dog who can bark in the SHR dog pound. Gene Haas not only has a share of the team, but his own money to spend on sponsorship, and he was not going to spend it on Ryan Newman. Kurt Busch was his man, and he got him. It might not have been what Stewart wanted, but without a sugar daddy of his own, Newman got shown the door and Kurt found himself a new team for 2014.

    Ironically, Newman is the only one from the current roster with a Chase place, as he holds the second wild card spot going into Atlanta. Stewart is gone with his broken leg, while Danica Patrick has not been seen near the front much since February. Harvick remains hot as his swan song for RCR should be as a Chaser, while Busch needs to jump six track positions ahead of Joey Logano to move in himself for Furniture Row. If he does, that could very well mean Newman would be out of the mix, just to add insult to injury. The way things are going, with the Earnhardt Ganassi opening going to Kyle Larson, maybe Ryan could at least replace Kurt at Furniture Row. If nothing else, maybe Gene Haas could use a smart guy behind the counter. You know neither he nor Juan Pablo Montoya are going to end up as start and parkers.

    Clint Bowyer takes over point this week, and while he has not been setting a blazing pace he has avoided any big disappointments since March at Fontana. The big mover this past week was Matt Kenseth, as his Bristol win powers him nine positions to the good, as runner-up Kasey Kahne jumps eight. Jimmie Johnson may still be the season leader, but his performance as of late has been ice cold. Picking up 13 big points in total over the past two races does not exactly equate into momentum.

    Here are our hottest drivers over the past ten races.

     

    Name Points Pos LW Rank W T5 T10
      Clint Bowyer  351 1 2 (2) 0 4 6
      Kyle Busch  327 2 4 (5) 1 4 6
      Kevin Harvick  326 3 1 (4) 0 3 6
      Matt Kenseth  318 4 13 (6) 2 3 5
      Joey Logano  316 5 8 (10) 1 3 7
      Kurt Busch  305 6 5 (12) 0 3 6
      Greg Biffle  303 7 10 (9) 1 1 5
      Kasey Kahne  301 8 16 (8) 1 3 5
      Jimmie Johnson  300 9 3 (1) 1 2 6
      Martin Truex, Jr.  299 10 9 (14) 1 3 4
      Carl Edwards  298 11 6 (3) 0 2 5
      Ryan Newman  296 12 7 (15) 1 2 3
      Jamie McMurray  284 13 12 (16) 0 1 2
      Brad Keselowski  283 14 11 (11) 0 2 3
      Jeff Gordon  281 15 15 (13) 0 2 6
      Dale Earnhardt, Jr.  275 16 14 (7) 0 1 4
      Marcos Ambrose  269 17 17 (21) 0 0 3
      Juan Pablo Montoya  253 18 19 (22) 0 2 3
      Paul Menard  253 19 23 (17) 0 1 2
      Aric Almirola  239 20 21 (18) 0 1 1
      Jeff Burton  236 21 20 (20) 0 1 3
      Tony Stewart  216 24 18 (19) 0 3 4
  • The Final Word – Bristol leaves three hanging in, and three seeking to take their spots in Atlanta

    The Final Word – Bristol leaves three hanging in, and three seeking to take their spots in Atlanta

    Usually we care about the big names, the pied pipers leading the way. At Bristol, there was some excitement as Matt Kenseth held off two-time winner Kasey Kahne to win his fifth of the season and locked a spot in the Chase. It was an exciting finish, but in the scheme of things as to what is most meaningful at the moment, not so much.

    Just as Jimmie Johnson running into the back of a spun also ran to take out his radiator meant little. Just as Clint Bowyer, who led 50 laps and recovered from a spin out and a collision, winding up 14th to secure a Chase place. Or Carl Edwards having his car blow up early or Kevin Havick leaving with the rear of his car torn to pieces or Kyle Busch surviving to come home 11th did not exactly make the headlines. All of those boys were going to head to Atlanta still in a playoff spot no matter what.

    Kurt Busch, now that was another story. A loose wheel led to a damaged rear hub that led to time in the garage and a 31st place result. Going in he had a six point cushion, but that deflated and now he is six out behind Joey Logano. Logano had been the first man out, but now he is in. Brad Keselowski had been in by eight, but after getting tangled up in a wreck with just over 50 to go the defending champ wound up 30th and four points in arrears. A win for the two former champs would sure come in handy about now, as it would for Jeff Gordon who is 11 points in the weeds.

    With the points from Bristol pushing Kahne back into the top ten and Logano in by points, Martin Truex Jr retains his wild card spot while Ryan Newman regains the other. At least for the moment. At least until the smoke clears at Atlanta.

    Rating Bristol – 7.5/10 – The racing was not exactly up to Bristol standards, but there was enough wrecking and other surprises to keep it interesting.

    Johnson, Bowyer, and Kenseth are locked in, while Harvick, Edwards, Kahne, and Kyle Busch should be a week from now. Barring disaster, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Greg Biffle should still be holding a spot in the Chase heading to Richmond, though a win by Kurt Busch, Gordon, or Keselowski could put Logano, Truex, or Newman in jeopardy. Sunday in Atlanta would be a good time for some of the boys to have a good day. Five times in the past Gordon has shaken the bubbly there, while Gene Haas’ new favorite has had the pleasure three times. Enjoy the week.