LONG POND, Pa. (RacingWire) – As the deadline to make the NASCAR Chase for the Championship nears, drivers outside the top 10 in point’s positions are working overtime to get into the playoffs.
Author: SM Staff
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IndyCar – Dixon/Franchitti finish 1-2 at Mid-Ohio
Scott Dixon overtook Dario Franchitti on a Lap 61 restart and went on to win the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
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Robin Buck Conquers GP3R 100 at Circuit de Trois-Rivieres in the rain
Being a road course instructor has it perks as Robin Buck was able to use those skills on his way to dominating the GP3R 100 at Circuit de Trois-Rivieres on Sunday. This marks the second win of the season for the driver from Campbellville, Ontario.
Buck quickly made his way to the front, passing L.P. Dumoulin on lap six and led the rest of the event on the 1.53-mile temporary street course. Dumoulin was able to take the lead early in the going on lap two when pole sitter Andrew Ranger made a pit stop due to not having good visibility. Ranger was able to work his way back through the field and finish in second after winning the three previous races at Trois-Rivieres.
The event saw two cautions as the first was for J.R. Fitzpatrick and Dave Thorndyke making contact on lap 11, followed by a second caution at lap 35 for debris. The second caution set up a green-white-checkered finish in the 40 lap race, in which Buck was able to hold off Ranger.
Points Leader Scott Steckly finished third after solidly running in the top 10 throughout the entire the race following a 20th place finish in Saskatoon. Jeff Lapcevich finished fourth, followed by Dumoulin, Jason White, Derek White, John Farano, DJ Kennington and Dave Connelly. With his finish of third, Steckly extended his points lead to 47 points over Kennington.
The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is in action next on Saturday, Aug. 20 for the NAPA Autopro 100 at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
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Kevin Harvick Survives Two Day Pocono Truck Marathon for First Season Win
In a rain-delayed race at Pocono Raceway, lasting from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning, one driver, Kevin Harvick, survived the marathon to take the checkered flag. This is Harvick’s first victory in the Truck Series in 2011.
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[/media-credit]The driver of the No. 2 Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Chevrolet, for team owner and wife DeLana Harvick, won the 2nd Annual Good Sam RV Emergency Road Service 125, securing his 10th victory in 110 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races.“You just hope that the truck didn’t screw itself up overnight,” Harvick said of the marathon race event. “Luckily it was fast and we were able to manage our fuel.
“It didn’t detune itself overnight.”
“Harvick admitted that this particular race truck has been fast for the last several weeks. He also acknowledged that he had to go into fuel conservation mode for the final green, white, checkered finish.
“They’ve been working hard on a lot of things to make the truck better,” Harvick said of his team. “You just have to not make mistakes.”
“They told me we were good on fuel and I knew I had saved at least a couple laps of gas,” Harvick continued. “All in all I think the fuel mileage thing went out the window with all the cautions.”
“And then it was all about track position, which was important.”
When asked what difference the marathon, two-day race meant to Harvick, it apparently at least meant him getting out of bed a bit earlier than normal on a Cup race day.
“I feel like I’m a lot more awake than I would have been,” Harvick said with a laugh. “It just never hurts to get out and get in the rhythm.”
“You just have to change your suit and go back after it this afternoon.”
With his Pocono Truck win, Harvick also secured his own place in history by tying Bobby Hamilton for 12th on the all-time Series wins list.
Bruce Cook, Harvick’s crew chief, echoed his driver’s assessment of the race truck and the fuel situation. But he also admitted that he had little to no sleep because of the rain delay from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning.
“Our truck was really good,” Cook said. “Having the rain basically meant not sleeping overnight.”
“We knew we were close right off the bat,” Cook said of the fuel mileage challenges. “But with the caution coming out, we were OK on fuel.”
“Kevin took over conserving but there were no major concerns,” Cook continued. “The race speaks for itself.”
Kyle Busch finished in the runner up position. The driver of the No. 18 CocoaVia.com Toyota scored his first top-10 finish at a track that he has always found a bit tricky.
This was Busch’s ninth top-10 finish in 2011.
“It certainly was a good run for us, yesterday and today,” Busch said. “We unloaded here Friday and felt we were pretty decent off the truck but we were definitely off the 2 truck. He was stellar.”
“We just tried to minimize our losses and come out of here with the best finish we could,” Busch continued. “A few of those cautions helped us and fortunately that moved us back up to second.”
“It was fun racing the trucks here and it was certainly entertaining.”
Young up and coming driver James Buescher, behind the wheel of the No. 31 Wolfpack Rentals Chevrolet came in third, posting his first top-10 finish at Pocono Raceway.
“It was definitely a good day for us,” Buescher said. “We unloaded really fast off the truck yesterday or two days ago, whenever we practiced.”
“We worked hard to find a good balance,” Buescher continued. “It’s been a good race yesterday and today.”
“It was a good day for us and we’re on a roll.”
Joey Coulter, another up and coming driver, was the highest finishing rookie. The driver of the No. 22 Darrell Gwynn Foundation/RCR Graphics Center Chevrolet finished sixth.
“It went well,” Coulter said. “It was a drag race until the end.”
“It was pretty wild,” Coulter continued. “It was probably the most fun race I’ve been in.”
Johnny Sauter, behind the wheel of the No. 13 SafeAuto/Carrier/Curb Records Chevrolet, and Austin Dillon, driving the No. 3 Bass Pro Shop[s/Tracker Boats Chevrolet, rounded out the top five.
Unfortunately, point leader Sauter failed post race inspection with his right rear exceeding the height regulation. NASCAR advised to expect penalties on Tuesday of next week.
Unofficial Race Results Good Sam RV ER Service 125, Pocono Raceway http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=14 ============================================== Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points ============================================== 1 1 2 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 0 2 2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 0 3 6 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 41 4 16 13 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 40 5 8 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 39 6 12 22 Joey Coulter * Chevrolet 38 7 5 32 Mark Martin Chevrolet 0 8 13 88 Matt Crafton Chevrolet 36 9 7 33 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 35 10 11 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 34 11 19 9 Max Papis Toyota 33 12 10 5 Todd Bodine Toyota 32 13 4 29 Parker Kligerman * Dodge 32 14 3 8 Nelson Piquet Jr. * Chevrolet 30 15 18 60 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 29 16 21 6 Justin Lofton Toyota 28 17 20 23 Jason White Chevrolet 27 18 17 81 David Starr Toyota 26 19 14 7 Miguel Paludo * Toyota 25 20 15 4 Ricky Carmichael Chevrolet 24 21 23 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 23 22 9 62 Brendan Gaughan Toyota 22 23 25 28 Wes Burton Chevrolet 21 24 28 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 20 25 31 66 Peyton Sellers Chevrolet 19 26 22 7 Chad McCumbee Toyota 18 27 26 84 Chris Fontaine Chevrolet 17 28 27 138 Mike Garvey Chevrolet 16 29 24 93 Shane Sieg Chevrolet 15 30 29 175 James Hylton Chevrolet 0 31 30 189 Chris Lafferty Chevrolet 0 -
Teammates Having at It: Edwards and Stenhouse Jr. Feud to a Fantastic Finish
Both say they’re going to stand their ground, one says the other is too aggressive. No, it isn’t two rival drivers trading barbs. It’s Roush- Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Saturday night in Iowa it was Stenhouse who got the best of Edwards in a fantastic finish that had both drivers wrecking across the finish line when Stenhouse blew his engine coming to the checkered flag and Edwards slammed into the back of him sending them both spinning across the line.
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[/media-credit]A fitting end to a race where team owner Jack Roush said he saw plenty of opportunities for things to go horribly wrong.“Happily the tempers didn’t rise above the boiling point and everything was OK,” said Roush. “Carl is exactly where he should be as an elderly statesmen right now in this business and Ricky’s where he should be as a young guy with a lot of enthusiasm, motivation and anxious to make a name for himself.”
Roush continued saying, “Ricky races pretty hard and Carl I’m sure sometimes wishes Ricky wouldn’t race him so hard. In five years Ricky will be in the same place Carl is today and there will be somebody else pushing him harder than he wants to be pushed.”
Early in the event while racing for the lead the two traded paint as Edwards got into Stenhouse Jr. The young driver came over the radio and told his team that Edwards was “done when I get to him.” Cooler heads eventually prevailed, Edwards said they were even but the RFR competitiveness wasn’t done.
With less than 25 laps to go the two blew by leader Elliott Sadler and went after each other again. Stenhouse held onto the lead and went on to win for the second time in his career. He also sweeps the Iowa events for 2011.
“We both race really hard, doesn’t matter who it is,” said Stenhouse about his teammate. “At the same token we probably raced a little too hard. I felt like he ran us up the race track in turn four and got into us and then after that I was going to drive as hard as I could to get back by him and that’s why I didn’t cut him any slack passing him for the lead.”
After finishing second to Edwards on a few different occasions already this season and letting a win get away at Lucas Oil Raceway last weekend after dominating, Stenhouse wasn’t about to let it happen again. According to him, Edwards has won his fair share of races and he [Stenhouse] wants to win a little more right now.
It won’t come easy when Edwards is in the field; the two teammates are not seeing eye-to-eye. They also had contact last weekend, which they had to end up talking about. This week they’ll do the same.
“Ricky and I are fine,” said Edwards. “Jack came over said this is exactly what’s supposed to be happening. You’re supposed to have a young guy that’s fast, that’s frustrating everyone because he’s too aggressive. That’s all that’s going on with Ricky, he’s really, really fast.”
Edwards says Stenhouse got a little excited on Saturday and that he’s being over aggressive. Stenhouse admits that he gets frustrated but says it’s because he wants to win and knows his team is capable.
While sometimes they have to rein him in during parts of the race, it hasn’t been too detrimental to the No. 6 team’s season. They currently lead the points with two win – more than any other NNS driver competing for the championship – and the most top fives of any other driver. Teammate or not, Stenhouse isn’t going to back down.
“This is a business where you have to race people the way they race you and you have to stand your ground,” said Edwards. “Whether it’s your teammate or not, sometimes it’s not all roses.”
It doesn’t have to be roses if it results in more finishes like Saturday night. It was almost like they didn’t even realize they had two wrecked racecars in their one-two finish.
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Juan Pablo Montoya: One Driver, Many Facets
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[/media-credit]Given his history with Formula One, his status as an Indy 500 winner, and now his five year tenure with NASCAR, Juan Pablo Montoya is most certainly one of racing’s most recognized figures.[media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”138″]
[/media-credit]But this one driver, now securely behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing for this season as well as next year, most certainly has many facets.One of Montoya’s most visible facets is his passion for racing, of all sorts and types, as well as winning in whatever series. But for this talented driver, NASCAR is one of the most challenging forms of racing in which he has ever participated.
“For me it’s not just stock car racing, it’s racing in general,” Montoya said. “I have been in all kinds of racing and it’s just a passion for winning.”
“This sport is the hardest,” Montoya said. “There’s so many, many more drivers than any other series I’ve been in that winning is that much harder. You have that many more competitive cars, so it’s always tough.”
How does Juan Pablo maintain his passion even when he is not winning and in spite of sitting 20th in the point standings for the NASCAR championship Chase?
“It’s just one of those deals,” Montoya said. “You look at people that win races and sometimes you outrun them all year and they get a lucky break. Probably at first it’s nice to get a lucky break.”
“But for me, I want to try to win a race without the lucky break,” Montoya continued. “You know, I’ll take a lucky break any day, but you really want to win the races spinning everybody out there.”
With this passion and extreme desire to win, another facet of Juan Pablo Montoya, at least one that is highly perceived, is that he is not only assertive but a bit aggressive. And with that, has come some hard racing in return.
“It depends on the moment,” Montoya said of his aggressiveness. “If you’ve got to run smart, you run smart. If you’ve got to be aggressive, you’ve got to be aggressive, you know. It’s whatever comes.”
“I think everybody races everybody differently,” Montoya continued. “For me, it’s always different.”
“Some guys are good to you and you’re good to them,” Montoya said. “And when people are bad to you, you’re bad to them.”
One facet that Montoya thinks most fans do not know about him is that his racing is not only calculating but very precise.
“I think you’re the first person to say that and I think that’s pretty accurate,” Montoya said. “That’s something that I do.”
“I always try to be consistent,” Montoya said. “Just the way you run in open wheels, you try to adhere as well.”
Montoya plans to continue his calculating facet of racing even with his new crew chief, Jim Pohlman. Prior to the Brickyard 400 last weekend, Pohlman was named to replace Brian Pattie, Montoya’s crew chief since 2008.
“We’re just starting a relationship,” Montoya said. “It’s very early.”
“I think the start of the relationship is really good so far,” JPM continued. “Of course, we’re going to have good moments and bad moments but Jim is doing a really good job and he’s very open to anything, which is pretty cool.”
One of the most important facets to Juan Pablo Montoya is one that he is quite proud of, bringing more of an international flavor to the traditionally all-American sport of stock car racing.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” Montoya said. “A lot of people international pay attention now, I think more than people in America understand and believe.”
“I think NASCAR knows how many people watch international but they don’t make a big deal of it,” JPM continued. “They try to keep it an all-America sport but it’s cool that people international are paying attention.”
Another facet of Montoya that many fans are well aware of is his penchant for utilizing social media, especially Twitter.
“I think it’s cool for the fans,” Montoya said. “Somebody that follows me wants to know what I do in a regular day.”
“I don’t think I’m that exciting,” Montoya said. At that moment, his teammate Jamie McMurray walked by, muttering that he definitely did not think Montoya was exciting either, to which Montoya shouted after him, “I agree!”
“I don’t do it to promote this or promote that,” JPM continued re his Twitter usage. “I just do it for fun, you know what I mean?”
“I fly my remote control planes and wind surf, although I haven’t done a lot of wind surf this year, and I play a little golf,” Montoya continued. “It’s fun for people to see what I do. I don’t do it for anything else.”
“There’s days when I don’t feel like tweeting, so I don’t tweet.”
A critical facet of the racing personality of Juan Pablo Montoya is his dedication to trying to maintain balance with his career and his family. Yet, he openly acknowledges that he is challenged in that area by his own ‘child-like’ behavior, which often creates just a wee bit of strain between he and his lovely wife Connie.
“It’s really hard because I’m a kid,” JPM said with a chuckle. “So, you’ve got to balance the family, the toys and the work. So, that’s always really hard.”
“I want to be with the kids and the wife and kids want to do things and I want to do things,” JPM said. “So, it’s always really hard. So, you don’t balance, you fight, like a regular marriage.”
The last facet of Juan Pablo Montoya is his dedication not only to his own family, but to other families in need. He and his family have been supporting the charity Formula Smiles for quite some time, raising funds and helping Columbian children who are burdened by poverty and violence.
“We keep doing a lot of different things for the Foundation,” Montoya said. “We try to keep growing it.”
“It’s never easy to get the support from the people,” Montoya said. “But it’s fun to be there.”
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Elliott Sadler grabs US Cellular 250 pole at Iowa
NEWTON, IA — Elliott Sadler used a lap of 23.794 seconds to grab his ninth career NASCAR Nationwide Series start, and will lead the field to green in tonight’s running for the US Cellular 250 presented by Enlist Weed Control System.
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[/media-credit]The top speed also served as Sadler’s third pole of the season.2011 Daytona 500 Champion Trevor Bayne qualified second for his 15th top-10 start of the season.
Sam Hornish Jr., who is taking the place of injured Brad Keselowski this weekend at Iowa Speedway, qualified third.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Drew Harring rounded out the top-five qualifiers. Justin Allgaier, Jason Leffler, Kenny Wallace, Michael McDowell and Brian Scott rounded out the top-ten qualifiers.
Carl Edwards, who climbed into his car just a few minutes before the 60 car took to the track, will start the race 17th.
Forty-three drivers signed entry blanks for the race, therefore all who made a qualifying lap will start tonight’s race.
The 3rd annual US Cellular 250 is slated to start at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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Kasey Kahne Takes His Juggling Act on the Pocono Road
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[/media-credit]Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, has been juggling to keep many balls in the air as he motors into Pocono race weekend.One of the balls that he has been most worried about juggling is qualifying well at the ‘Tricky Triangle’. But Kahne need not have worried as he scored the outside pole, his 10th top-10 start in 16 races at Pocono.
“It’s always good to start up front at this place,” Kahne said. “You can definitely pass here but it’s good to start up front too.”
Kahne will turn his attention next to another critical ball to juggle, staying good throughout the 200 lap, 500 mile Good Sam RV Insurance race.
“I’ll just try to get through the corners,” Kahne said. “It’s such a rough track.”
“We looked at notes from earlier in the year and what we struggled with or were good at and what we’ve learned since then,” Kahne said. “We will take all that knowledge and hopefully make ourselves better.
“This has been a great track for myself and for our team and I think we can do good.”
Some of the other balls that Kahne is juggling are his intense attempts to make the Chase, finishing out with Red Bull and transitioning to Hendrick Motor Sports, managing his own sprint car team, as well as trying to raise money for the Kasey Kahne Foundation.
As far as the Chase, Kahne firmly believes that he and his team are still in the hunt. But he also acknowledges that he will not make it in on points.
“For us, we just need to win a race,” Kahne said. “If you can win two, you’d be a lock at this point.”
“But things can change so we just have to figure out how to win to get in the Chase,” Kahne continued. “We just got a little too far behind in the points to race our way in points wise.”
If he does not qualify for the Chase with his Red Bull team, Kahne will be disappointed, but not bereft.
“If we don’t make the Chase, it won’t be a horrible season,” Kahne said. “But it definitely won’t be what we shot for.”
“And we’ll just still have to finish the season as strong as we can and try to win.”
Another ball that Kahne is juggling is his transition from Red Bull Racing, his place holder team this season, to his more permanent gig at Hendrick Motor Sports in 2012.
“We’re always preparing for next year,” Kahne said. “Kenny Francis (crew chief) is going with me next year and we’re going to work together.”
“It can all benefit us for next year.”
Kahne admits that he will really miss Red Bull Racing, from the excitement of their brand to the special friends that he has met.
“Red Bull is a really cool partner and a lot of fun to work with,” Kahne said. “They’re exciting and they enjoy life and racing and all that.”
“I think I’ll miss some of that and some of the new people that I’ve met and been able to work with,” Kahne continued. “There are some really good people that are there. I’ll miss that kind of stuff.”
“As far as Hendrick, I’m looking forward to the best opportunity I’ve ever been given in Cup racing,” Kahne continued. “When you get an opportunity like that, it’s up to you to take advantage of it.”
Another ball that Kahne has been juggling is ownership of his own sprint car team. This has been especially difficult as his driver, Joey Saldana, recently wrecked and is out for the season and Kahne took his own wild ride in his car, flipping out of the Williams Grove track.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks,” Kahne said. “Joey’s out of the hospital but he’s really banged up.”
“He got crushed pretty much by another car,” Kahne continued. “So, he’s out for the season.
As for his own condition after his wreck at the Grove, Kahne admitted that he had “about a three day soreness.” Kahne also realized that he created a firestorm of discussion as to whether or not Cup drivers should be taking those chances racing in lower divisions.
“Yeah, I got a call from Rick Hendrick,” Kahne admitted. “And I got calls from just about everybody.
While Kahne continues to juggle those calls, his final ball that he is keeping in the air is one that he is intensely passionate about, the Kasey Kahne Foundation.
“We’re still really after it and doing as much as we can for underprivileged, chronically ill children through the Kasey Kahne Foundation,” Kahne said. “One thing that’s really neat is what Sprint’s doing, giving us the opportunity to win a lot of money, a million dollars, for our Foundation here in the next five races.”
“We got a chance to do that since these are really good tracks for us,” Kahne continued. “Sprint’s really put up a neat program for everybody to shoot for. It’s pretty awesome.”
“So, that definitely motivates me,” Kahne said. “To win a million for yourself is great, to win it for a fan is awesome but to win it for chronically ill, underprivileged children would be the best.”
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Joey Logano Makes A Statement By Scoring Pocono Pole
After weeks of speculation about his future with Joe Gibbs Racing, particularly in light of the Carl Edwards’ contract negotiations, Joey Logano made a statement about his place in this weekend’s race festivities.
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[/media-credit]The driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet scored the coveted pole position at Pocono Raceway, with a time of 52.309 seconds and a speed of 172.055 mph.This was Logano’s third pole in 96 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and his second pole and 10th top-10 start in 2011. This was his first pole at Pocono and he also took the honors of becoming the youngest pole winner ever at Pocono at the age of 21 years, two months and 13 days.
“It’s a really big deal,” Logano said of his pole run. “We’ve been doing a good job and building momentum. Confidence in the team is up, especially in me.”
Logano acknowledged hearing the rumors about Carl Edwards potentially taking his place at Joe Gibbs Racing. In spite of that, he refused to give in, focusing instead on getting all he could out of the ‘Tricky Triangle.’
“As far as I knew, they were just rumors,” Logano said of Edwards assuming his ride. “I focused in 100% and tried to make myself the best race car driver I can and it’s been paying off.”
“It’s in the back of your mind. When you’re watching TV, how do you not think about it,” Logano continued. “But if your owners are behind you, what do you have to worry about really?”
“I’ve learned a lot through the downs we had this season,” Logano said. “I have become a leader.”
Starting on the outside pole for the 38th Annual Good Sam RV Insurance 500 is Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota. With a lap of 52.433 seconds at a speed of 171.648 seconds, this was Kahne’s 12th top-10 start in 2011 and his 10th in 16 races at Pocono Raceway.
“It’s definitely good to start up front,” Kahne said. “I felt really good.”
“Our lap was good but Joey’s was just better.”
Kahne acknowledged that although he was pleased with the outside pole, there were many more challenges yet to come throughout the lengthy Pocono race.
“So many things will happen throughout the race and it will be like that here,” Kahne said. “We have to stay on top of it and make good decisions so maybe we will be there at the end.”
Martin Truex, Jr., behind the wheel of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, scored the third spot on the starting grid. At one of the tracks that he considers ‘home’, Truex, Jr. ran a lap of 52.480 seconds and a speed of 171.494.
“It’s been a while since I’ve qualified up front,” Truex Jr. said. “We had an interesting day yesterday and everyone knows how tricky Pocono is.”
“We struggled but worked on the car and got it the way we wanted it,” Truex continued. “We went into qualifying with an entirely different package.”
“It wasn’t a perfect lap but it’s nice to start up front at Pocono.”
Carl Edwards, driving the No. 99 bug-on-the-side Ortho Home Defense Max Ford, and Kurt Busch in the yellow No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, rounded out the top five.
Starting Lineup Good Sam RV Insurance 500, Pocono Raceway http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=21 =========================================== Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time =========================================== 1 20 Joey Logano Toyota 172.055 52.309 2 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 171.648 52.433 3 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 171.494 52.48 4 99 Carl Edwards Ford 171.474 52.486 5 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 171.468 52.488 6 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 171.448 52.494 7 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 171.37 52.518 8 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 171.367 52.519 9 16 Greg Biffle Ford 171.171 52.579 10 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 171.122 52.594 11 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 171.08 52.607 12 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 170.788 52.697 13 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 170.652 52.739 14 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 170.619 52.749 15 6 David Ragan Ford 170.619 52.749 16 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 170.59 52.758 17 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 170.558 52.768 18 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 170.538 52.774 19 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 170.506 52.784 20 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 170.438 52.805 21 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 170.309 52.845 22 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 170.28 52.854 23 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 170.161 52.891 24 34 David Gilliland Ford 170.068 52.92 25 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 170.042 52.928 26 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 169.991 52.944 27 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 169.875 52.98 28 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 169.734 53.024 29 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 169.629 53.057 30 66 Todd Bodine Toyota 169.393 53.131 31 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 169.358 53.142 32 13 Casey Mears Toyota 169.339 53.148 33 0 David Reutimann Toyota 169.335 53.149 34 55 J.J. Yeley Ford 168.909 53.283 35 46 Erik Darnell Ford 168.631 53.371 36 51 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 168.508 53.41 37 30 David Stremme Chevrolet 167.892 53.606 38 7 Robby Gordon Dodge 167.795 53.637 39 38 Travis Kvapil Ford 167.604 53.698 40 37 Scott Speed Ford 167.42 53.757 41 32 Jason White+ Ford 167.165 53.839 42 71 Andy Lally+* Ford 166.867 53.935 43 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 167.268 53.806 -
A J Allmendinger: ‘We’ve Just Got To Be Better’
A J Allmendinger, driver of the No. 43 Best Buy Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports, sits in 17th in the point standings without a win. Yet what really bothers him is his inconsistency and the need to ‘just bet better.”
“I think we’re not as good as we want to be for sure,” Allmendinger said. “The biggest thing is that we are just a little bit too inconsistent.”
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[/media-credit]“There are certain races when we’re on and we’re fast and then it seems like something happens, like a late race yellow catching us out,” Allmendinger continued. “But when we’re bad, we’ve been really bad.”“It seems like last year when we were bad, we were 18th or 19th and now this year, we’re 29th,” Allmendinger continued. “Those are the things we’ve got to get better.”
“We’re just too inconsistent and that’s something we need to work on and build from,” Allmendinger continued. “I think we haven’t done a lot of things to shoot ourselves in the foot and taken ourselves out of races, but we just need to be better overall as a race team.”
Allmendinger is most certainly putting a great deal of faith in his new crew chief, Greg Erwin, who joined RPM shortly after being released by Roush Fenway Racing as Greg Biffle’s crew chief. In fact, Allmendinger was most pleased with their performance at the Brickyard, even though the team finished in the 22nd spot.
“Hopefully with the addition of Greg, we will improve,” Allmendinger said. “I thought Indy last week was actually a fantastic weekend.”
“The finish wasn’t what we wanted,” Allmendinger continued. “It came down to fuel and then that wreck that happened and we got some grass in the grille.”
“Assessing the weekend, I thought it was a really good weekend, especially the first weekend working together,” Allmendinger said. “Hopefully, that’s something to build off of and these last whatever races.”
“It’s a new start,” Allmendinger continued. “Greg’s got a lot of experience and it’s stuff that I can pull from and learn from.”
“There’s a lot of these race tracks that are our weaker tracks that Greg’s been really good at so I say, that’s stuff that I can learn from,” Allmendinger said. “Hopefully we can go to these races and have better luck and be better as a race team.”
With his new crew chief, Allmendinger certainly hopes that the stretch of first time winners may just extend to him. But he also jokes that the only way that will happen is by attrition.
“People point to me because there’s not a whole lot of first time winners left,” Allmendinger said. “So, it’s about attrition.”
“Honestly in the end, winning is the ultimate goal when you show up,” Allmendinger continued. “But we’ve got a long way to go to worry about that.”
“Maybe this weekend, we are good enough to win,” Allmendinger said. “Who knows? But that’s the way I look at it.”
Allmendinger also has his own unique way of looking at Pocono Raceway. And he definitely thinks the track lives up to its ‘Tricky Triangle’ reputation.
“It is definitely tricky,” Allmendinger said. “The shifting definitely added a different element back into it. And Turn One was way rougher than it had been in the previous years.”
“You’ve got to be able to get through those bumps and be solid through that corner,” Allmendinger continued. “But you can’t focus on it so much that it hurts Turns Two and Three.”
“I think that’s what happened last race,” Allmendinger said. “We were so bad in One and we kept trying to fix it that we made Two and Three even worse.”
“I think that watching some videos and talking to Greg about some things, we’re going to go in with a different game plan and keep working on it,” Allmendinger continued. “We weren’t terrible last race but we weren’t great. Greg’s brought some stuff over that he learned when he was with Biffle, so we’ll see.”
In addition to worrying about Pocono weekend, Allmendinger also has contention for the Chase on his mind.
“The door is definitely not closed,” Allmendinger said of his Chase chances. “We have six races left and we’re not that far from being that highest guy in points that if you do get the win, you move into the Chase spot.”
“But ultimately if you win a race on luck and you’re not good enough to be in the Chase, then there’s no point to being in the Chase anyways.”
Whether or not he is in the Chase or outside looking in, Allmendinger just wants to be better in the latter half of the season than when they took the green flag at Daytona.
“Chase or not, my ultimate goal is to say we’re a lot better than we were in the last races of the season than we were in the first part,” Allmendinger said. “Then, that’s a good year to me. The ultimate goal is to be better at the end of the season than when you started.”
“We’ve just got to be better,” Allmendinger continued. “That’s all that matters. And whether that puts us in the Chase or not, then whatever.”
“But in the end, we’ve just got to be better.”
