Author: SM Staff

During the previous NASCAR weekend at the Phoenix International Raceway we watched Sunoco Race Fuels create a new level of drama in the Chase standings. We watched a driver redeem himself by sweeping the Phoenix victory lane and then swinging a very large hammer. We also shared a very emotional moment with “The Onion.” With those thoughts in mind let’s begin with:

HOORAH for the state of the Chase. The Sprint Cup Series left Phoenix with the closest championship numbers in the Chase history heading into the final race of the year. Denny Hamlin’s points lead was shortened to 15 points over Jimmie Johnson while Kevin Harvick also picked up points on Hamlin and is 46 points from the top.

WAZZUP with Hamlin’s fuel mileage issues? Saying that he wasn’t told he needed to conserve fuel, Hamlin had to come down pit road, with 14 laps remaining, for fuel and two tires. He exited pit road in 19th one lap down. It could have been much worse. Race leader, and eventual winner, Carl Edwards was in fuel mileage status and that allowed Hamlin to make quick work of passing him to get his lap back. He also managed to pick up an additional seven positions to minimize the points damage.

WAZZUP with the in car camera shots of Hamlin punching his steering wheel and dash board after the race. He had every reason to be disappointed, and even angry, with a 12th place finish. He was a dominant factor all during the race and his 190 laps led allowed him to pick an extra ten bonus points. But the last thing he needed was a right hand injury when he’s so close to winning his first NASCAR championship.

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HOORAH to crew chief Chad Knaus for calmly guiding his driver through the process of saving fuel. It led to a fifth place finish and the points gain on Hamlin’s lead. Knaus told Jimmie Johnson to turn off his in car fans, stay off the brake pedal and run the lap times that he told him to. The pay off turned out to be huge in light of Hamlin’s fuel issues.

This week’s HOORAH for making chicken salad out of chicken do do belongs to Chase contender Kevin Harvick. Harvick pitted on lap 224 only to return to pit road a lap later for a penalty because a lug nut on the left rear tire was missing. He fell from fifth to 18th on the leader board. A caution flag came out on lap 235 and, with virtually nothing to lose, crew chief Gil Martin called Harvick in for gas and tires. It loomed large at the end of the race where Harvick’s sixth place finish also allowed him to gain points on Hamlin’s lead.

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HOORAH to Carl Edwards for a Phoenix weekend that was simply astounding. The Roush Fenway Racing Ford driver did a double back flip after winning both the NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup events. He also became only the third driver, in the history of NASCAR at the PIR, to sweep the weekend.

Saturday’s win in the Wypall 200 was a dominant performance by Edwards. He led 153 of the 200 laps for his second, consecutive, series win and his fourth win of the season. His margin of victory, over runner up Kevin Harvick, was a whopping 5.2 seconds.

Edwards led 93 laps of Sunday’s Sprint Cup race and won the Kobalt Tools 500 to complete the Phoenix sweep. After his second traditional back flip of the weekend, Edwards ran up into the grandstands much to the surprise and delight of the fans. He had every reason in the world to be happy. Edwards’ win snapped a 70 race win less streak that stretched back to nearly two years. Swinging that giant Kobalt Tools hammer in victory lane had to feel like sweet redemption for Edwards.

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WAZZUP with the fuel mileage issues with Juan Pablo Montoya’s Chevrolet? In the waning laps of the Sprint Cup race Montoya was riding second poised for a possible win if race leader Carl Edwards had to pit for a splash of fuel. He was told over the radio that he was good on gas and even had enough for at least an additional lap past the scheduled distance. Imagine every one’s surprise when the car ran out of fuel on the white flag lap. A sure fire second place finished spiraled downward to a disappointing 16th place finish.

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WAZZUP with the pit road troubles with driver Kasey Kahne and his Red Bull Racing Toyota team? On the first round of pit stops Kahne missed his pit stall and had to take an extra lap around the track in order to return to pit road.

That was nothing compared to what happened during the next pit stop. With pit road service complete the car came off of the jack, Kahne sped out of his pit stall only to discover that the handle of the gas can was stuck on the car’s spoiler. That leads to a HOORAH to Sunoco Race Fuels whose company logo got a lot of television during that slow lap around the track so Kahne could come back to pit road to have the gas can removed.

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HOORAH to Todd “The Onion” Bodine for wrapping up his second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship last Friday night in Phoenix. Bodine and company won the title a week before the season officially ends. Another HOORAH goes out to team owners the Germain Brothers who funded this Toyota operation out of their pockets when a race sponsor was always available.

HOORAH to Sprint Cup driver Clint Bowyer who, driving the #2 truck for Kevin Harvick Inc, made his first series start since 2007 and won Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150.

WAZZUP with more harsh racing luck for Ron Hornaday Jr. His Kevin Harvick Inc Chevrolet Truck was collected by Austin Dillon and the four time series champion was sent crashing into the wall. This incident marked Hornaday’s sixth crash related DNF this year. You can bet he can’t wait until this season ends next week.

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The final WAZZUP of the week goes to Jamie McMurray and that accidental car wash he tried to do on Jimmie Johnson’s Chevrolet during Sunday’s Cup race. The two cars were racing together when all of a sudden an errant water bottle came flying out of McMurray’s driver’s window. The bottle landed of top of the Johnson car and sprayed water all over his windshield. It turned out to be a case of no harm no foul but it’s the last thing a driver, in the midst of trying to win five consecutive championships, wants to see in the middle of a race.

The final HOORAH of the week goes to Stewart Haas Racing for the special paint job on Ryan Newman’s #39 Chevrolet. In honor of the recently observed Veterans Day, Newman’s U.S. Army sponsored car was decorated with the pictures of over 500 veterans. The total affect was stunning and it was a highly unique way of thanking the men and women of our Armed Forces for their service.

As the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams arrived for work Sunday morning at Phoenix International Raceway, for the Kobalt Tools 500, they were greeted by something familiar from home on the east coast.  The garage opened this morning at 7AM local time as the sun was barely visible and the thermometer was hovering at the 40 degree mark.  But by the time the green flag dropped at 2:18 PM we were all reminded that we are here in the desert with a bright sun and 70 degrees.  This was ideal weather for the fans and the teams alike, except of course for the #71 team and driver Brendan Gaughan.  On the second lap, Gaughan had a right front tire go down sending him into the outside wall with heavy damage.  The TRG crew worked on the #71 car, but the front end damage was too severe for them to fix. The car was loaded up and readied to limp back home.

The angels were not looking over Brad Keselowski either as he cut down a right front tire on lap 58 sending the #12 Dodge into the outside wall resulting in heavy damage.  After being treated and released from the infield care center, Brad headed to the garage to watch his crew working feverishly to rebuild the right front of his car.

On lap 101 with Denny Hamlin leading the race, the third caution of the day came out for debris.  Seems that an errant water bottle splashed all over Jimmie Johnson’s windshield.  As the field pitted  the top 5 were Edwards, Hamlin, Kurt Busch, and Tony Stewart.  It was speculated that Jamie McMurray was the guilty water bottle thrower, but he did get that needed lucky dog to put him back on the lead lap. Hamlin wasted no time retaking the lead from Edwards after the restart.

By lap 200 the #12 team had given up the battle and loaded up the car for the long ride home.  The result for Brad Keselowski will be a 42nd place finish, heading into the final race. On the track, Denny Hamlin continued to pace the field under green until the caution flew one more time on lap 222 as Robby Gordon spun in turn three.  In the ensuing pit stops, Kyle Busch and his crew outperformed the 11 crew and took over the lead. Harvick was forced to return to pit road for a missing lug nut which resulted in restarting 18th.

On the restart, Hamlin rocketed past Kyle to retake the lead.  On lap 223 it was Hamlin, Edwards, Busch, Johnson and Newman rounding out the top five.  The green flag run was short lived as Travis Kvapil spun out on the front stretch on lap 235.  On lap 266 Carl Edwards squeezes past Hamlin to retake the lead, and two laps later Edwards has an 8/10th second lead over Hamlin. Montoya passes Jimmie Johnson for fourth and Ryan Newman joins in passing JJ for 5th place.   By lap 278 Harvick had worked his way up to 12th and was threatening.

With 22 laps to go, Hamlin was looking for a caution, constantly telling his spotter there was debris.  Obviously NASCAR and many of the other teams saw no debris, in addition Johnson was too short of fuel to make it.  Meanwhile Gil Martin had told was  Harvick he had just enough gas to finish the 312 laps.  On lap 296 Chad Knaus was telling JJ to start conserving fuel.  Jimmie asked how much and Chad told him that he would tell him how fast to drive.

On lap 300 Hamlin could wait no more and was forced to pit, barely able to return to the lead lap.  Meanwhile Edwards continued his charge up front while Johnson was slowing and holding onto 5th place.  Harvick moved up to 7th and Chad ordered JJ to cut all the fans and not use the brakes at all.  With 5 laps to go Johnson was told to do whatever to keep Harvick behind him, as Johnson slipped to 6th with Harvick right behind him.

On the final lap, Montoya runs out of gas as Edwards wins the Kobalt Tools 500, with Ryan Newman 2nd , Logano 3rd with Johnson and Harvick finishing top 5.  Denny Hamlin finished 12th while Montoya managed to finish on the lead lap in 16th place.

As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to their final race at Homestead, Denny Hamlin leads the Championship points 15 points ahead of Johnson, with Harvick 3rd, 46 points behind Johnson.

Unofficial Race Results : Kobalt Tools 500

Kobalt Tools 500

November 14, 2010 – Race 35 of 36

In the “Valley of the Sun” the track was slick and the desire, especially among the three Chase contenders, was even thicker.   Here are the surprising and not surprising moments from the Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix International Raceway:

Surprising:  After leading the most laps, dominating the majority of the race, and securing those precious championship bonus points for doing so, Denny Hamlin maintained his points lead but failed to bring home the race win.  Hamlin ended up being short on fuel and had to pit with just a few laps to go, valiantly fighting his way back to a 12^th place finish.  A dejected Hamlin, now ahead of Jimmie Johnson by just 15 points, could only say after the race, “It’s pretty disappointing.  It’s tough to not be happy having the points lead.”

Not Surprising:  Carl Edwards, who was dominant throughout the weekend at Phoenix, including a Nationwide win, back flipped his way into Victory Lane, taking the checkered flag and slamming the door on his almost two year winless streak.  Edwards, who celebrated the win by creating a victory mosh pit in the midst of the crowd, also pulled off his first double.  Edwards summed it up succinctly saying, “We had a fast car, we got good gas mileage, and whew, we won.  Man, this is unreal.”

Surprising:  It was most surprising that a mistake on pit road actually benefitted Chase contender Kevin Harvick.  Although Harvick had to come back down pit road late in the race to address a missing lug nut, he and his crew topped off on fuel, which served them well and led to a sixth place finish.  Harvick, now 46 points behind points leader Denny Hamlin, pronounced himself “just lucky” while his crew chief Gil Martin made it abundantly clear there would be no crew changes on his team, in spite of the pit road miscue.

Not Surprising:  Speaking of crew swaps, the one that was made permanent between Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, worked beautifully and, to no one’s surprise, garnered Johnson a fifth place finish.  Gordon’s former crew did a phenomenal job on Johnson’s car, while Gordon, with Johnson’s former crew, finished 11^th.  Johnson also did a fine job himself behind the wheel, feathering the throttle to make it to the checkered flag with just enough gas to spare.  “Today showed that it’s not over until the last lap,” said the four-time champion.

Surprising:   After a most eventful race, it was most surprising to see Jamie McMurray bring his No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet to the checkered flag for a top ten finish.  About 100 laps into the race, McMurray hit the wall hard, severely damaging the back of his car, including major damage to his spoiler.  In desperation, McMurray threw his water bottle out of his car, which exploded all over Jimmie Johnson’s windshield, bringing out the third caution of the day.  While McMurray was the ‘lucky dog’, he was penalized and held one lap by the NASCAR officials for intentionally bringing out the caution.  All of the drama did benefit McMurray, especially in a fuel mileage race and he finished in the tenth position.

Not Surprising:  With 500 faces of veterans gracing his race car, it was not surprising that Ryan Newman had the motivation and determination to do them all proud.  Newman was able to bring home his No. 39 US Army Veteran’s Day Tribute Chevrolet in the runner up position, proving that he too was ‘Army Strong.”  He also managed to finish the entire race in spite of being on baby watch, with his wife Krissie scheduled to deliver their baby girl at any time now.

Surprising:   Joey Logano had a surprisingly solid day, starting tenth and finishing 3^rd in his No. 20 Home Depot Toyota.  This was the youngster’s third straight top-5 finish, a record which Logano fully intends to continue to build on for next year.

Not Surprising:   Mark Martin, who has one of the best performance records at Phoenix International Raceway, had a solid day, finishing in the top ten.  Although he had to battle his way through the field, qualifying 28^th, Martin was the highest Hendrick finisher next to his teammate Jimmie Johnson, bringing home the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet in the eighth spot.

Surprising:  While Kasey Kahne is undoubtedly still getting used to his new Red Bull Racing team, it was surprising just how discombobulated he and his crew seemed to be.  In one of the early rounds of pit stops, Kahne completely missed his pit stall and had to circle back around, costing him dearly as far as track position.  In one of the more bizarre moments of the race, Kahne’s crew left one of the Sunoco fuel cans on the back of his car.  When Kahne pulled out of his pit stall, the can hooked the spoiler pulling it upright and making for a most unusual sight as Kahne drove around the race track.  Kahne eventually finished in the 30^th position.

Not Surprising:  Although unfortunate, it was not surprising how miserable Kahne’s Red Bull teammate Scott Speed was throughout the race.  With his future uncertain, Speed was absolutely irate with his crew as he battled an ill-handling race car throughout the day.  Speed finished 35^th, several laps down, soldiering on to the end of a very disappointing season and an even more unsettling future.

With the championship still up for grabs, the Cup Series will head south to Homestead for the last race of the 2010 season and the crowning of the Sprint Cup Champion.  The Ford 500 will run at 1:00 PM ET at Homestead-Miami Speedway in celebration of Ford Championship weekend.

Denny Hamlin, race car driver. A man barely cracking the top-20. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to rebuild a race car driver’s ACL and get him back on the track in Chase contender form. Denny Hamlin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger faster. 

When the 2010 NASCAR season kicked into gear, speculation and conspiracy theories ran rampant that this would be the year that we saw Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet win his fifth consecutive championship title.

With an unheard of 35^th place finish in Daytona for the No. 48 team, we secretly breathed a sigh of relief that maybe; just maybe, we’d see someone dethrone the Johnson Empire.

Not so fast.

Johnson quickly proved that Daytona was just a fluke by winning three of the next four races.

Sigh, here we go again.

Quietly waiting in the wings was the walking wounded, Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Fed Ex Toyota, ready but unable to make his move.

Hamlin had torn his left ACL on Jan. 22 playing basketball, leaving the driver and his fans unsure of how his injury would affect his performance on the track.

Knowing that this type of injury was one that doctors recommended an immediate surgical intervention, Hamlin opted to wait until the off-season, but with lack-luster results in the first five races, Hamlin’s injured knee proved too problematic and the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota made the decision to have it operated on and during the Sprint Cup’s long Easter bye-week.

Was this to be a new start or would it be the end of any hopes to make the Chase?

Post-surgical time would tell, but Hamlin proved to the world that he wasn’t going down without a fight by winning a rain delayed race in Martinsville that had been postponed until Monday, Mar. 29, the same day that his procedure was scheduled to take place.

Hamlin got behind the wheel for the first time after his surgery in Phoenix on Apr.10.  Despite being in pain and having Casey Mears standing by as his relief driver, he opted not to use him, work through his torment and finish the race in the 30^th position.

Prior to his surgery, Hamlin stated,  “Trust me, when I come back, I’m going to come back strong.”

OK then, prove it!

Hamlin did just that by winning the very next week in Texas and four more times during the regular season. When the Chase started on Sep. 19, Hamlin sat pretty in the no. one position, 33 points ahead of Jimmie Johnson.

We fans know that in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing, anything can and will happen.

The No. 11 team maintained a comfortable lead until Kansas and just like that, with seven races left in the Chase, Johnson and his team took the lead by just eight points.

Johnson’s lead grew to 36 points over Hamlin in Fontana; then to 41 in Charlotte, The man dubbed “Superman” was making his triumphant return.

Hamlin’s fight returned once again in Martinsville, where the Virginia native proved that one victory at that track just wasn’t enough. He closed the gap between he and Johnson, trailing the former champ by six measly points.

Talladega gave Johnson a seventh place finish and Hamlin a ninth, increasing Johnson’s lead to 14 points.

Heading into Texas, some would say that even though Johnson’s lead was just 14 points, it was a lead none-the-less.  Chad Knaus would do anything in his power to ensure that his driver would stay ahead of the rest of the pack.

He demonstrated that “anything goes” mentality by dismissing his No. 48 over-the-wall crew after a series of horrific pit stops, replacing them with Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 crew; but it was a little too little too late, the damage had already been done.  Johnson’s loss in track position during the race snatched away his lead, replacing it with a 33-point deficit with just two crucial races to go.

Hamlin started the Chase 33 points ahead of Johnson and has come full circle to maintain that lead once again.

Who will cross the finish line the victor in Homestead? Unlike years past, thankfully we won’t know until the nail-biting, bitter end.

While Hamlin and Johnson are swapping headlines week after week, don’t count out Kevin Harvick, who lies in wait a mere 59 points back.  One thing is guaranteed, it’s going to be one hell of a three-ring circus and undoubtedly the most exciting Chase for the Sprint Cup since it’s introduction in 2004.

So, in the end was Hamlin’s surgery the fix he needed to put him on top? Indeed it was; with a series-best total of eight victories this season and estimated winnings of $5,432,645 so far, after the next two races Hamlin could easily emerge the 2010 Sprint Cup champion and NASCAR’s six million dollar man.