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  • Not Only are Matt Kenseth and Roush Fenway Racing Back in Form, They’re Better Than Ever

    Not Only are Matt Kenseth and Roush Fenway Racing Back in Form, They’re Better Than Ever

    It’s an old cliché but nowhere else does it fit perfectly than in NASCAR and Roush Fenway Racing has been putting it to work in 2011. That cliché? What a difference a year makes.

    The flagship Ford team has turned around their embarrassing 2010 campaign to become familiar with victory lane again and become serious championship contenders. Saturday night in Charlotte RFR driver Matt Kenseth won again and team owner Jack Roush couldn’t have been happier with Ford’s seventh win of the season.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”241″][/media-credit]“I’m really proud of what Matt and Jimmy [Fennig, crew chief] did tonight,” said Roush. “With all the engineering and technical support behind these teams, it comes down to decisions, the last 20 percent of the decision is worked out between driver and crew chief.”

    Roush praised his championship quality crew chief and the performance of Kenseth. Saying that he was sitting back waiting, knowing that Kenseth would break loose from the middle of the pack and get to the front. The victory was Kenseth’s third of the season and 21st career. As the season turns toward its final five races of the season, Roush believes Kenseth and Fennig who will be one of the factors in the championship.

    However, Saturday night was about Kenseth and more. For RFR it was further prove that they are indeed back in form. Not only are they back in form they’re better than ever. All four RFR drivers led at least one lap Saturday, combined they led 117 of 334 laps and they all finished inside the top 15.

    “I don’t know if you saw the same race that I did, but we had seven of our cars tonight that ran in the top 10 most of the night except for the problems we had,” said Roush about Ford when asked about the race.

    “We are at the top of our game as far as our mile-and-a-half program,” he said. “There’s other teams that have got good programs but nobody has got a better mile-and-a-half program than us and including tonight there was three races left, mile-and-a-half races left in the Chase and I felt really good about that. Ford has given us great stuff for our Fusion, we have a good aero package and mechanics work well based on the lab testing and engines make a lot of power.”

    Roush has good reason to be satisfied and say that his teams are the best of the best on mile-and-a-half tracks. The statistics back it up. Kenseth and Edwards together have won three races on mile-and-a-half tracks and if you count the non-point events held at Charlotte in May RFR has won five such races.

    Charlotte in fact, has been nothing but sweet to Roush. David Ragan won the Sprint Showdown, Edwards won the All-Star race and now Kenseth wins the Bank of America 500. RFR even won both Nationwide Series races held at CMS this season and had it not been for a fuel mileage gamble in the Coca-Cola 600, they might have won every race held at CMS in 2011.

    And just for giggles, throw in the fact that Ragan’s girlfriend, Jacquelyn Butler, won the “Better Half Dash” charity race Saturday afternoon. Kenseth capped off an what continues to be an incredible season for Roush and it shouldn’t be surprising that he was the one to do it.

    Driving the same car that he dominated with at Texas and won, as well as dominated the Coke 600 but finished 14th, Kenseth scored his second win at CMS. His first came in May of 2000 when he won his first career Sprint Cup Series race; he’s also won the non-point Sprint All-Star race, 2004. It doesn’t end there; Kenseth also has three NNS wins at Charlotte.

    Not only has RFR turned things around, Kenseth has as well. He went winless in 2010 after winning the first two races of 2009. Now he’s got three checkered flags in 2011 and the season isn’t over yet. He’s looking to win his second Cup title in five weeks too.

    “I’m happy to have won obviously,” said Kenseth. “It’s been 20 races, which doesn’t seem that long because I don’t know how many before that, I think it was 70 some, so you’re always thankful. I’m always thankful to get to victory lane. You never know when you are going to win your last race – I’m certainly in a great position to be able to win races and these give me the cars and the crew and the opportunity to do that.”

    Kenseth went on to say that another reason he was glad they won was because he didn’t want to be the weak link. Feeling as though there were other races they should have been first to the finish line, Kenseth said he was glad he wasn’t the one who cost the No. 17 team the victory. Roush though wasn’t ‘embarrassed’ that his teams had not won more because it was strategy not performance that cost them.

    “But we are in championship form,” said Roush. “And in my 24 years, I’ve never had better cars for the championship stretch than we have got and we are anxious to see how it’s going to work out.”

    And says Roush about having those great cars and wining in the Chase, “I don’t feel vindicated, I just think that the hard work everybody’s done is paying off, and we re getting what we deserve.”

  • Old System At A Glance: Carl Edwards 5 races away from second title

    Old System At A Glance: Carl Edwards 5 races away from second title

    Carl Edwards took over the championship points lead away from 2-Time Champ Jimmie Johnson as Jimmie had a vicious crash near the end of the race. Carl’s teammate Matt Kenseth won the race and took the bonus points along with it to try and climb back into the championship battle with just five races left to go in the season. The standings now look like this:

    [media-credit id=2 align=”alignright” width=”227″][/media-credit]1.Carl Edwards LEADER
    2.Kyle Busch – 15 (Finished 2nd to Kenseth. Led most laps. Earned extra point. Talladega will be make it or break it for Kyle.)
    3.Jimmie Johnson – 25 (Still has chance to get #3, but will have to wait until after Talladega to see for sure.)
    3.Kevin Harvick – 25 (Sixth Place Finish has him tied for third with Johnson.)
    5.Matt Kenseth – 32 (Win helps his cause, but maybe out of contention.)
    6.Kurt Busch – 76 (Another ho-hum finish dampens championship hopes.)
    7.Jeff Gordon – 78 (Started to come on late, but was involved in a spin when David Ragan tried making it three wide into one. Kahne was also involved, but they still finished well. Gordon finished 21st and it looks like the Drive for 7 will have to wait until 2012.)
    8.Tony Stewart – 111 (Too little too late for the Two-Time Champion.)
    9.Ryan Newman – 117 (One win won’t get you a title.)
    10.Brad Keselowski – 140 (Under the lottery system, you have a shot at the title, but you need to be consistent all year not just in the middle of the season to be a contender, but big rebound from 2010! I will give you that!)
    11.Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 154 (Well a big rebound this season for Jr. compared to 09-10, but the crew can’t seem to put their nuts in place and Jr. has little or no confidence in himself. That alone will destroy a championship run.)
    12.Clint Bowyer – 210 (The departing Bowyer is the only bright spot on RCR besides Harvick.)

    Who is missing? Denny Hamlin.

  • Something is fishy at RCR and it’s not even the team orders; Burton should be the one let go!

    Something is fishy at RCR and it’s not even the team orders; Burton should be the one let go!

    Trimming down a race team from four cars to three cars has now taken it’s second and possibly final trip with Richard Childress Racing. At the end of 2009, it was Casey Mears who was given the pink slip after just one season behind the wheel. Now, as we are in 2011, it was time for Richard to let Clint Bowyer go, but was Bowyer the correct choice in letting go? I can think of one driver in particular that ought to leave RCR.

    [media-credit id=26 align=”alignright” width=”218″][/media-credit]Jeff Burton. Come on, Richard. This is a guy that is in his mid 40’s now and he simply isn’t up to par anymore. This year Burton has only managed to finish in the top-10 one time at Michigan and his team used fuel strategy to get that finish.

    I have split the standings into different sections. There are 30 drivers this season who have run the entire schedule thus far.

    Seven of those 30 drivers have accumulated 1,000 points or more this season they include: Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, and Jeff Gordon. As you can see here… one of RCR’s four cars is in the “awesome” list, so you can’t get rid of Harvick.

    Four drivers have 900-999 points. They include: Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.  No RCR cars in the “Approaching The Awesome List.”

    Now, we have the drivers from 800-899. I call these guys the “Up And Comers List.” These guys include: Clint Bowyer, A.J. Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle, David Ragan, Marcos Ambrose, Juan Montoya, Mark Martin, and Paul Menard. Ah, there is Menard….but RCR can’t let him go. Why?? His daddy is rich and sponsors him. If he dumps Menard, Richard will have sponsorship issues and that stinks.

    Unfortunately from 700-799 are the snoozers this season. And notice how Burton has not appeared thus far. I will give Truex and Logano the benefit of the doubt for being at 790 and 791 respectively, but to be this far down at this point in the season is just unsatisfactory. These guys include: Logano, Truex, Burton, Vickers, Smith, McMurray, Reutimann, Labonte, and Gilliland.

    Jeff Burton (761 accumulated points) or Bowyer (868 accumulated points). Who really is the one that should have left RCR at the end of the season? Burton is 317 points behind championship leader Carl Edwards (1078) and second place Kyle Busch (1063).

    And heck this is the 43 to 1 points system! Can you imagine what the number would be with the old system in place?

    I want to hear from you guys. Email me at rosharppromotions@gmail.com or Twitter, or right down below!

  • More of the Same: Kyle Busch Again Finishes Second But Gains in the Championship

    More of the Same: Kyle Busch Again Finishes Second But Gains in the Championship

    Kyle Busch still hasn’t won a Chase race during his career but on Saturday night he came the closest he could. Busch dominated the second half of the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte and looked to be headed toward his fifth win of the year until a few late race cautions changed everything.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”248″][/media-credit]“It was a good race for us,” said Busch following his second place finish. “Certainly we started pretty deep in the field and made our way up through there slowly and steadily, but it was really tough to pass and make up ground. You could be two-tenths faster than the guy in front of you and run him down and catch him and slow down and just get stuck.”

    Busch said drivers had to be creative in order to pass. After qualifying 25th yet starting at the rear of the field because of an engine change, the No. 18 made his way through the field as patiently as he could. The lack of passing though started to cause some frustration for Busch as he vented over the radio but through cautions and pit strategy he got out front and didn’t look back. Busch would lead the most laps, 110 of 334.

    “I don’t think we made a change to the car all night,” he said. “We just kept running with it and just kept letting the race play out, and let it do what it was supposed to. Low and behold we thought we were going to win and you get down to all these late restarts and give it away.”

    Crew chief Dave Rogers complimented his driver on the performance, saying Busch did a tremendous job being patient. Knowing they had a fast car Busch just had to take care of his part on the track while the crew did theirs on pit road. Rogers says they ‘nailed it’ in every aspect from being solid and fast over the wall to making the right calls.

    “I was thinking four [tires] and they were both tugging on my shirt and saying no, no we need two, let’s get track position,” Rogers said of his engineers. “It seemed to be the way to go. So, total team effort. I really wish we could have gotten the win. Kyle loves Charlotte Motor Speedway, and we would love to be in the media center celebrating right now. To start 43rd and finish second, I don’t think we can complain about that.”

    For the second straight night Busch came up one position short and to a Ford no less, a Roush Fenway Ford. After stating on Friday that he felt they had superior power, Matt Kenseth charged in the final few laps to catch and pass Busch for the lead. Then he held him off during a fury of late race cautions.

    Left balancing the frustration of not closing out the race, yet bringing home a decent finish, Busch said he was glad the team finished where they should have. The first four races of the Chase haven’t played out like the Joe Gibbs Racing team anticipated after having another solid regular season. At Charlotte, the whole package almost came together.

    “Just got out-drove there by Kenseth on the restart,” Busch said. “He just flat out drove right past me like I was standing still. The frustration is, again, we did not finish where we wanted to, which could have been a real win, a real highlight.”

    Then of course, comes the fact that Busch knows he still hasn’t won in the Chase. Something he says he’ll keep hearing about but hopes to end soon. Perhaps next week at Talladega where he’s won before or at Martinsville two weeks from now where he’s steadily improved.

    More importantly however, Busch gained four positions in the Chase standings. He’s now just 18 points behind with five races left in the 2011 season. It means winning a Cup race at Charlotte for the first time will have to wait but he showed on Saturday that even when starting last he can still be a contender and he’ll have fun proving it.

    “There was a point in which the leader was going into [turn] one and I was coming off of [turn] two,” said Busch of early in the race, “so, that kind of leaves you a little bit worrisome. But you just have to let it play out. Certainly there’s going to be some cautions in there that will allow the field to bunch back up and everything like that. It’s all fun I guess when you can start back there and run well.”

    And while Busch knew that there was the potential he could get caught up in a wreck like a few of his fellow Chase contenders, Busch made sure he was careful. Seeing others in front of him get out of shape kept him on his toes and didn’t help his nerves as he made his way to the front. Even at the front though there were still a few close moments.

    “There was a couple of cars that came off turn four within the first 10 laps pulling sideways and I don’t know how they didn’t wreck,” he said. “I was checking up to see what was going to happen, whether they were going to go shooting through the grass or keep it straight … but overall, that’s just a product of racing.”

  • Hornaday wins at Las Vegas

    Hornaday wins at Las Vegas

    Ron Hornaday Jr. survived Saturday’s crash-filled Camping World Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and captured his second straight victory.

    Hornaday held off Matt Crafton and Timothy Peters in the closing laps for his first win at Las Vegas, fourth this season and the 51st of his career.

    “Woo-hoo! I won Vegas!” Hornaday said.

    The track was slick due to temperatures in the 90s which attributed to 10 caution flags with one red flag on lap 31 after a four-car pileup.

    “There’s some teams out there with more horsepower, but they’re not going to outguess us or out-think us in the pit strategy. I tell you, I didn’t feel it being slick other than (a) 15-lap run.” Hornaday said.

    Leaders Austin Dillon and James Buescher had trouble early and Hornaday is now only 21 points out of the series points lead with four races remaining.

    Buescher and Blake Feese got together on lap 28. Buescher finished 21st, 40 laps down and drops to third in the standings, seven points out.

    Dillon spun into the wall coming around Turn 4 on the third lap. He was able to make repairs and finish 17th and held onto the series points lead over Johnny Sauter by five points.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Smith’s 350, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
    ==============================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    ==============================================
    1 1 2 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 48
    2 5 88 Matt Crafton Chevrolet 42
    3 11 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 42
    4 4 13 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 41
    5 13 5 Todd Bodine Toyota 40
    6 7 8 Nelson Piquet Jr. * Chevrolet 38
    7 20 119 David Mayhew Chevrolet 37
    8 12 60 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 36
    9 21 62 Brendan Gaughan Toyota 35
    10 3 29 Parker Kligerman * Dodge 34
    11 22 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 33
    12 9 4 Ricky Carmichael Chevrolet 32
    13 19 32 Blake Feese Chevrolet 31
    14 23 23 Jason White Chevrolet 30
    15 33 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 29
    16 16 81 David Starr Toyota 29
    17 2 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 27
    18 26 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Dodge 0
    19 14 6 Justin Lofton Chevrolet 25
    20 17 33 Cale Gale Chevrolet 24
    21 6 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 23
    22 18 22 Joey Coulter * Chevrolet 22
    23 24 93 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 21
    24 28 7 Butch Miller Toyota 20
    25 32 66 Max Gresham Chevrolet 19
    26 25 73 Brent Raymer Chevrolet 18
    27 10 7 Miguel Paludo * Toyota 17
    29 15 9 Max Papis Toyota 15
    29 8 18 Brian Ickler Toyota 16
    30 29 138 Mike Garvey Chevrolet 14
    31 31 0 Wayne Edwards Ford 0
    32 30 165 Lance Fenton Chevrolet 12
    33 27 127 Chris Jones Chevrolet 11
    34 34 175 John Borneman III Chevrolet 0
  • NASCAR Mixes Chase, Charity and Gout Awareness at Charlotte

    NASCAR Mixes Chase, Charity and Gout Awareness at Charlotte

    This weekend marks the midway point of NASCAR’s closest yet Chase for the championship, with just eight drivers within 20 points of the top of the leader board. Yet in the midst of the Chase, charity has also been a major theme at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the race weekend.

    [media-credit name=”goutpitstop.com” align=”alignright” width=”223″][/media-credit]The major charitable focus, as expected in the month of October, has been for breast cancer awareness.  Almost all of the race cars have been adorned with some sort of pink accents, from the recognizable pink ribbon logos, to pink lanyards and gloves worn by the NASCAR officials.

    “Breast cancer awareness month is one of those unique opportunities in which the NASCAR industry and NASCAR fans rally together for such a special and important cause,” Sandy Marshall, executive director of The NASCAR Foundation, said. “Each year the program gets bigger.”

    Other charities featured in the Chase race weekend at Charlotte include the USO on Clint Bowyer’s No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevy, as well as the No. 16 machine of Greg Biffle sporting a paint scheme for the 3M/Give Kids a Smile effort.

    The most unique charitable initiative, however, is one led by Kevin ‘Bono’ Manion, crew chief for the No. 1 Bass Pro Shop/Arctic Cat Chevrolet driven by Jamie McMurray. Manion has been leading the charge for a new gout awareness campaign in conjunction with the Men’s Health Network and Takeda.

    Manion suffers from gout, a form of arthritis that affects over 8.3 million people in the United States. It is often misunderstood as a disease afflicting those who are rich who indulge in too much food and alcohol.

    “It’s an educational campaign to bring awareness to anyone suffering from gout,” Manion said. “I’ve had it for about ten years and for awhile I didn’t know what it was.”

    “I suffered a lot until the pain got so unbearable that you couldn’t sleep because the sheets couldn’t touch your foot,” Manion continued. “I’ve heard of gout before but always thought of somebody that drank a lot or that it was a rich man’s disease.”

    “I’m basically trying to get the word out there and to let others know that they are not alone.”

    Manion has partnered in the awareness campaign with Men’s Health Network and Takeda. His participation as a spokesperson has not only helped to educate himself about the disease but also to reach others who may be suffering.

    One of the biggest issues related to gout is the shock of receiving the diagnosis, particularly due to the stigma and stereotyping of the illness.

    “When I got my diagnosis, I was surprised for sure,” Manion said. “I’m not a heavy drinker and don’t do those things that they say trigger a flare up.”

    “When I went to the doctor finally, I thought I had a broken foot or a broken toe,” Manion continued. “I went to get X-rayed and they told me that I had gout instead.”

    “It was surprising but you wouldn’t believe the people that I’ve met who are suffering too.”

    Manion has learned many lessons after being diagnosed with gout. Other than having some occasional pain climbing up the ladder to the top of the pit box or running around on race weekend, he has been able to manage his symptoms.

    “What I’ve learned is that you have to take care of yourself,” Manion said. “Like your race car, you’ve got to take care of your body”.

    “As we get older, things change and for me I hopefully have not done any damage by not taking care of myself,” Manion continued. “Everyone’s different.”

    “There’s surely ways to manage through medication, exercise and watching your diet,” Manion said. “But it’s basically being cautious of what’s going on.”

    This weekend, Manion has spent time in the Fan Zone sharing his experience and educating race fans on this illness.

    “A lot of people I’ve met haven’t been to the doctor so encouraging people to see their health care provider to get checked out,” Manion said. “We have information at the ‘Gout Pit Stop’ booth and people can also visit the website www.goutpitstop.com for more information as well.”

    While Manion and many of the other drivers and teams in the sport focus on charitable endeavors throughout the race weekend, they have just one other goal in common. All want to chase the win in the Bank of America 500.

    “Our goal is to win the race,” Manion said simply. “We have a great record and Jamie loves this place. We have a win here so with a 500 mile race, we hope to have a good car for the long haul.”

  • Edwards Wins Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage

    Edwards Wins Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage

    courtesy of www.onpitroad.com

    Carl Edwards has won the 30th Annual Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage here at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was a rocky road to the backflip tonight, but in the end it was a restart from hell from Kyle Busch that allowed Edwards the win.
    Bypassing the first 180 laps of tonight’s 200 lap event, it all boiled down to 3 drivers when the checkered flag flew over the hood of the No. 60 Fastenal Ford.
    Paul Menard won the Coors Light Pole Award earlier today in NASCAR Nationwide Series Qualifying, but led only the first 26laps of tonight’s event when points leader, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. threw his hat in the mix as possible contenders for the win.
    A late race caution was not the issue for then-leader Brad Keselowski, it was slowing down off of Turn number four here at Charlotte Motor Speedway that took Keselowski out of contention for the win tonight. The spin under caution put Kyle Busch to the lead with around 20 laps left, but the incident would not mark the end of the fireworks in the last 30 miles of tonight’s race.
    Fast-forwarding again to the final restart, with just 4 laps left, Kyle Busch chose the outside line as his preferred line of restart. The restart dragged all the way within 30 feet of the pink Start/Finish Line before the throttles were hammered. Busch squandered heading into turn number one, and the fight was on for the win with Stenhouse Jr., Edwards, and Rowdy Busch all in the hunt for the point.
    It was Edwards that flexed his muscles by the time the field may their way back to my vantage point off the end of Pit Road here at Charlotte, and it was a 6 car-length lead that Edwards would take with 3 miles left to run. Kyle Busch made his best efforts to reel in the battered No. 60 Fastenal Ford Ford Mustang (the car was seriously trashed, Jack Roush said he would actually kiss the car later tonight for staying together) but would only manage to sneak a peek under Edwards in the final turn.
    Kyle Busch blamed the Toyota horsepower for the squandered attempt to take the win, but it was the Fastenal parts of Carl Edward’s No. 60 Ford Fusion that held up after he put a “Charlotte Stripe” on his torn racecar.
    Edward’s victory is his 37th in 241 NASCAR Nationwide Series Starts, and his 8th this season. Trevor Bayne finished third as the highest finishing Nationwide Series points contender.
    In the points, Elliott Sadler trimmed Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s lead to just 15 as the Nationwide Series takes a two week break from on-track action.
  • Kyle Busch Still Says Fords Have an Advantage, Not So say Edwards and Roush

    Kyle Busch Still Says Fords Have an Advantage, Not So say Edwards and Roush

    A monkey could win in that racecar. Those were the words of Clint Bowyer back in July of 2008 about Joe Gibbs Racing and how good they were and how the competition didn’t have a chance to win races.

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”291″][/media-credit]The domination of JGR in the Nationwide Series, led mostly by Kyle Busch, has been one of the biggest story lines the last few years. Busch has won a drivers championship and become the winningest driver in series history. To date, he’s won eight races in 2011.

    And everyone knows that Busch doesn’t like losing, there’s nothing else left to say or write about it. Friday night in Charlotte Busch lost to Carl Edwards, who also won for the eighth time, and the JGR driver suddenly sounded a lot like Bowyer did a few years ago.

    “Really good on long runs, slow on short runs,” said Busch. “Didn’t have enough under the hood to keep up. Got out motored on that last restart, finished second. Got out motored. I didn’t have enough under the hood. Unfortunately, the Toyota’s don’t have enough horsepower.”

    End of statement, end of story as Busch didn’t offer anymore about his race. The statement made anti-Busch fans giggle. As it did to Edwards when he heard about it in his post race interview.

    “I sit in these racecars every week, twice a week and been doing it for a long time and we do not have a horsepower advantage,” Edwards said. “Those are political statements that people make to try and get us back to where we were for years, at a disadvantage.”

    While Edwards believes there is one manufacturer that is better than them on the NNS and NSCS side, the engines are has close as they’ve been he said.

    Team owner Jack Roush took it a step forward and said that the Ford camp has just caught up and is running where they should be after getting their new FR9 engine. What it has done is give JGR and the rest of the field better competition through his team.

    “We’ve all got the same parameters,” said Roush. “The Ford was disadvantage in those things for years until we got the FR9 going last year. So, he certainly doesn’t have the advantage or the Toyota’s don’t have the advantage that they had over the Fords before.”

    Roush went on to say that it would be a ‘travesty’ with all the money they’re spending on the 2013 version of the car to have had built an engine they don’t need. Further saying that if Toyota got a new engine then every other manufacturer would have to get one, Chevy, Ford and Dodge.

    According to Roush, there’s no need for a new engine because they all have the same parameters. The difference is how much carburetor jets and ignition timing a team puts to it.

    The engine doesn’t appear to be the problem, who Busch loses to is. With each and every one of Busch’s wins, mention of being at an advantage or having been lucky to win with his equipment, doesn’t make an appearance. Yet, when Busch is staring at the rear bumper of Edwards’ No. 60, that becomes the big story and Busch makes it clear that he thinks the Fords are better.

    A common theme it has become. Busch and Edwards have been the classic of rivals – see Bristol 2008 – and have had the classic of late race showdowns. See any race they’ve entered together. Losing to such rival isn’t easy to take, especially when battling for a championship.

    Following Edwards win on Friday he closed the owner championship to three points with three races left in the season. The No. 18 for JGR currently leads.

    Perhaps little solace to Busch is that Edwards in his Ford did not dominate the race. That would have been Brad Keselowski in his Dodge, who had it not been for a flat right rear tire, might have run away and won the race. It would have saved Busch the frustration of another Edwards win.

    Instead Busch was left with his side of the story, Edwards and Rough theirs and even Keselowski’s. He wrote on his Twitter page Friday night, “As much as I hate to say it. The HP advantage Ford has wasn’t the reason why The 18 lost. Carl just executed on the last restart.”

  • 43 to 1 Points System Would Be Perfect Without A Chase

    43 to 1 Points System Would Be Perfect Without A Chase

    Brian France got something right for once this off season by implementing the 43 to 1 points system, but the system itself would be absolutely perfect if there were no dang Chase format. I have said it time and time again. NASCAR should not have a playoff system. Yes, NASCAR is a sport, but it’s a different type of athleticism. One person even asked me, “Why isn’t Major League Baseball using a Chase system?” Uhh…what? How would that work in baseball? The team with the most wins gets to skip a round in the playoffs? That sounds silly to me. And speaking of best teams…how far did the Phillies go in the playoffs? Yeah…they got knocked out of the first freaking round by the St. Louis Cardinals. Nope, no Chase system in baseball.

    [media-credit name=”(c) CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”246″][/media-credit]But think about it guys. Is it fair that we re-seed the points based off wins? The fans have been complaining time and time again that the Chase system only benefits Johnson. Well…you need to do some recalculating of the old system in order to figure out something is way different this year than in previous years. Jimmie Johnson had only won 1 race before the Chase begun. Heck, Johnson had won more races during his rookie season during this time and yet under the old system, Johnson is the points leader. The link that used to show the old points system got taken down, so I took it upon myself to figure it all out. I only calculated the top 30 cars since only 30 cars this season have participated in all of this seasons races thus far. Well, let’s take a look at how the season looks under the old system.

    Following last week’s win, Jimmie Johnson has taken the lead in the points standings. Oh, crud….now the 48 haters want the Chase…just for this season though :P

    NASCAR is becoming too politically correct. Who cares if the other drivers aren’t having a ‘fair’ chance at the championship. If they lose, they freaking lose! If they win, then they get the dang trophy at the end of the season. Do you remember those days when you played little league baseball or some other sport? For example, you got ice cream if you won the game, but if you lost you got absolutely nothing. Well in this case…we are trying to give everyone a fair share so they don’t look like losers in the points standings. Brian France said he wanted to create more, “Game 7 moments for NASCAR.” Uhm…excuse me Mr. France, but there is no such thing as a Game 7 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

    Who cares if Johnson and Edwards are the only cars technically in the championship? They have been the two best cars this season, so that’s the way that it will be.

    This is what the standings really look like as we head to Charlotte. Johnson going for his third title and Edwards going for his second.

    1.Jimmie Johnson LEADER
    2.Carl Edwards – 5
    3.Kyle Busch -22
    4.Kevin Harvick -26
    5.Matt Kenseth -42
    6.Jeff Gordon -64
    7.Kurt Busch -70
    8.Tony Stewart -111
    9.Ryan Newman -115
    10.Brad Keselowski -131
    11.Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 142
    12.Clint Bowyer – 193

  • Matty’s Picks: ‘Straight from The Beast of the Southeast!’ Vol. 22 – Kansas – Charlotte – October 15, 2011

    Matty’s Picks: ‘Straight from The Beast of the Southeast!’ Vol. 22 – Kansas – Charlotte – October 15, 2011

    This weekend marks my first trip to Charlotte Motor Speedway for a race weekend. I had the privilege of touring the track three years ago as a part of my trip to the Tar Heel State to watch my beloved Mountaineers take down the North Carolina Tar Heels in a thrilling 31-30 shootout in the 2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl. Since my tour of the track in December 2008, I have been itching to make it to a race weekend at the historic 1.5-mile quad oval, and it’s almost a dream come true for me this weekend.

    [media-credit name=”charlottemotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”254″][/media-credit]This Saturday’s Bank of America 500 will be run under the lights in front of 140,000+ fans at the first modern superspeedway to install and host night racing. Until 1998, when lights were installed at Daytona International Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway was the largest track in the world to host night racing.

    It may be the history behind the track, or the battle for the Sprint Cup that has begun to heat up ever so slightly, or it may be the 4-day “vacation” I get by heading to Charlotte this weekend that has me so amped up for this weekend’s race. It might be the fact that this will be the first race this fall that I will watch with undivided attention, but I really think I might be most excited to see the monstrosity that is the HD video board that stretches 200 feet down the backstretch at Charlotte Motor Speedway. After following all the tweets this spring about the video board, I am overly excited to see how massive this thing is.

    It was announced in September of last year that CMS would partner with Panasonic to install the World’s largest HD video board at the track. The 9 million LED’s that make up the video board measures 200 feet by 80 feet, probably the best place in the World for a Call of Duty: Black Ops match.

    I had mixed results following this spring’s trip to The Beast of the Southeast, but I did manage pick the winner of May’s Sprint Cup All-Star Race, as well as the runner-up in the Coke 600. I look forward to seeing the cars in action this week, and hope that my keen eye will help me make some power picks this week for my first trip to Charlotte.

    Kansas Recap

    I won’t spend too much time this week recapping my finishes in Kansas, due to my eagerness to get to some racetracks that do not encourage three-hour naps on Sunday afternoon. The Bank of America 500 this Saturday marks the start of my amplified interest-level in The Chase schedule.

    My Winner Pick for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 was the driver of NASCAR’s “Blue Deuce”. Brad Keselowski had won the June race at Kansas Speedway, he won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Saturday at Kansas, and he was a shoe-in for the race win on Sunday.

    He started the race 15th, and made his way into the top-10 early. Fast forwarding through the 200 laps of napping, Keselowski hit the point at lap 207. He also was shown on top of the leaderboard at lap 241, but was passed for the lead by eventual race-winner, Jimmie Johnson on lap 245. Bad Brad brought his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger home in third and spoke on pit road after the race: “Everybody was a little close; we were just closer, but the Miller Lite Dodge was good. Proud of the effort. Kind of an up-and-down day. We got up to be a second- or third-place car mid part of the race, then kind of fell off a little bit, but came back. Third-place day, that’s good, that’s what you’ve got to do. Really, we want to win races like Jimmie (Johnson), but we’re making the best we can out of it. If he stumbles, we’ll be there.”

    Despite being second-fastest in Sprint Cup Final Practice at Kansas Speedway, David Ragan brought me no help as a Dark Horse pick last week.

    Ragan started 13th on Sunday, but quickly fell through the field ending up a lap down to the leaders for the majority of the 267 lap race. The long green-flag runs that occurred at Kansas last week, allowed little time for adjustments throughout the race. Track-position was as good as gold last week, and Ragan couldn’t find any to improve his finish.

    “We just weren’t lucky today. We missed getting the lucky dog a couple of times and the chips just didn’t fall our way. When you’re back there 10th to 20th you need a couple lucky breaks and we just didn’t get them. We could have gotten a top 10 out of it, but it just wasn’t our day.”

    When it was all said and done, Ragan finished 20th and lent me no help in improving my average finish for my Dark Horse picks.

    Charlotte Picks

    Despite a busy day of media availabilities, Nationwide Series qualifying, two Sprint Cup practice sessions, and even a car wash, I’ve found a bit of time to make a couple picks this Friday Afternoon. My winner pick in the other points race this year at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards did not fare too well in his attempt to sweep the SpeedWeeks races this May.

    After winning the Sprint Cup All-Star race here in May, Carl decided to give his Ford Fusion little bodywork on the infield grass. Let’s just say the car was fast enough the way it was and it really had an affect on the 16th place finish he picked up in the Coke 600.

    As for my Dark Horse for the Coke 600, David Ragan scored me my highest finish for any of my 21 Dark Horse picks this season – not too shabby.

    Dark Horse Pick

    I will start with my Dark Horse this week because there should be no other guy in anyone’s discussions of which non-Chase driver could win the Bank of America 500 tomorrow night. Kasey Kahne is fourth among all active drivers with a driver rating of 94.5, behind Jimmie Johnson (112.8), Kyle Busch (106.5), and Joey Logano (96.5) at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Kahne became the first driver to be “Voted-Into” the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star Race in May of 2008, and come home a winner. He then went on to win the Coke 600 the following week, successfully sweeping the May races here at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2008.

    Kahne was the fastest car on the track after his 31 practice laps yesterday, and is shown second on the speed charts in this first of two practice sessions as I look out the window of the Media Center here on the infield. He has three wins here at The Beast of the Southeast, but hasn’t won here since his 2088 Coke 600 Victory.

    Kahne felt good about his car following his qualifying lap last night during Bojangle’s Pole Night: “We were really good in practice today in qualifying and in race trim. We didn’t go quite as fast tonight as we would have liked to. I think in the race it should be really good. We just need to keep up with the track and keep up with keeping the track position and things throughout the race. We’ll have a good shot.”

    Kasey Kahne is eager to leave Red Bull Racing on a high note, and a win in the Bank of America 500 Saturday Night would do just that. Be ready for some fireworks centered around the No. 4 car tomorrow night.

    Winner Pick

    One of the keys to victory here at Charlotte Motor Speedway is keeping up with the ever changing track conditions as the sun settles behind the grandstands and the lights come on. The track temperature can really plummet when the sun goes down, and crew chiefs and drivers must be ready to go for when night falls.

    One crew chief that will always put his driver in the best possible equipment to cross the Finish Line (the pink colored one this week here at Charlotte) first is Chad Knaus. Across his nine seasons as Crew Chief for the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, Knaus has scooped up 52 victories with Ole’ Five-Time, six of them coming right here at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    He is the best amongst all drivers in the Driver’s Rating category at 112.8, and averages a finish of 10.8 here at Charlotte. He hasn’t won here since the fall race of the 2009 season, but he is coming of a big win last week at Kansas.

    I think the comment before the race two weeks ago at Dover International Speedway really put a fire in the belly’s of the No. 48 team, and that is not the guy you want to piss off. With an average finish of 3.7 in the last 5 races of the Sprint Cup Series’ schedule, Johnson is about to come alive.

    Johnson sits 10th on the speed charts here after the first practice session of the day and spoke earlier this week about his feelings about Charlotte: “I think we’re going to be a threat (at Charlotte Motor Speedway). When I look back to Chicago, Kentucky, and Kansas obviously, our 1.5-mile stuff has been coming along pretty good over the last two or three months. So I feel good about it. Charlotte, with that asphalt that’s down, it is its own environment and it’s really tough to get your car right from the start of the race to the end of the race. So I feel like directionally we’re going the right way; but until I get on the track this week and understand where the grip level is and what our issues are, it’s hard to build too much confidence.”

    That’s all for this week, be sure to follow me on Twitter all night tonight and tomorrow for up to the minute action @ML_B_Lo and OnPitRoad.com for the long story.

    Until Next Week….You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!!!!