Author: SM Staff

Following Richmond, Clint Bowyer and team were warned for getting close to breaking the rules.

At New Hampshire, Bowyer’s team again pushed the boundaries, though this time went to far.

NASCAR announced today that Bowyer would be fined 150 driver points as the “car body location specifications in reference to the certified chassis did not match NASCAR-approved specs.” Also, car owner Richard Childress was fined 150 owner’s points, crew chief Shane Wilson was fined $150,000, and both Wilson and car chief Chad Hanley were suspended for six weeks.

Childress said in a statement that they would appeal and the failure of tech was a result of contact made to the rear bumper of the car post-race by the tow-truck.

“First of all, I’d like to apologize to our sponsors, our fans and everyone at RCR for the situation that has resulted from this ruling,” Childress said. “RCR has a long-standing reputation of integrity on and off the race track. We pride ourselves on working within the rules established by the sanctioning body.

“NASCAR informed us after the Richmond race that we were very close to their maximum tolerances. They also told us they were going to take our New Hampshire car to the NASCAR Technical Center after that race. It does not make any sense at all that we would send a car to New Hampshire that wasn’t within NASCAR’s tolerances. I am confident we fixed the area of concern and the New Hampshire car left the race shop well within the tolerances required by NASCAR.

“We feel certain that the cause of the car being out of tolerance by sixty thousandths of an inch, less than 1/16 of an inch, happened as a result of the wrecker hitting the rear bumper when it pushed the car into winner’s circle. The rear bumper was also hit on the cool down lap by other drivers congratulating Clint on his victory. That’s the only logical way that the left-rear of the car was found to be high at the tech center. We will appeal NASCAR’s ruling and take it all the way to the NASCAR commissioner for a final ruling, if need be.”

Robin Pemberton specified during the teleconference earlier today that the infraction could not be caused via an in-race incident, referencing contact with other cars. He added the car was built in this way to purposely bend the rules.

Pemberton added in the conference, though, that the warning delivered after Richmond played no part in the penalty.

“Two years ago, we had a penalty that was this big with the Red Bull team that dealt with the body, so this follows suit.” Pemberton said.

When accessing the penalty, NASCAR took no consideration in removing Bowyer’s victory.

“We don’t consider taking away the win,” Pemberton said. “We’ll leave the winners as they come off the track. If you ask some, they would consider a 150-point penalty with nine races to go in the Chase a pretty hefty penalty.”

Before the penalty, Bowyer was second, 35 points behind Hamlin. Following the penalty, Bowyer now sits 12th, 185 points behind.

Pemberton said in the conference that NASCAR does recognize all teams push the boundaries, however, it is their job to keep them in line. He also went to add that we may see penalties increase in the future, becoming 200 points per infraction.

My Opinion

Richard Childress’ defence – I’d have to agree with that as we saw no contact of the degree that he’s speaking of following Richmond and they were cutting it close there. I think this is just RCR as a team pushing the boundaries further to try to gain a bigger advantage to therefore win the Chase. As it was stated earlier this week in my ‘Creative Interpretation’ article, teams are always trying to find an advantage without getting caught. Here’s just an example of a team pushing those boundaries too far.

No Relation to Richmond – I’d have to disagree with Pemberton on this as NASCAR does not like when teams begin to find ways around what they’re doing and this is what Childress was out to do. I think this has a lot to do it with as normally had this been a first-stance, you’d see 100 points. Though because of that, you’ve now seen 150 points. As Pemberton clearly stated, it does mean a good size.

Bowyer’s Chase Chances – So how big is this? This is huge. In a field like this where it’s expected that they’ll be some who get no finishes lower than 15th, this is going to hurt Bowyer. Though if everybody has a mulligan as we’ve seen some other years, this would have to be considered Bowyer’s and he’ll have to run clean from here on in. It’ll be interesting to see how he does and how close he becomes as if it’s less than 150 that he’s behind the champ, we’ll all refer to this day.

Not Taking Away The Win – I read over Pemberton’s words in the fact that he said they’d never take away a win. Well, if you’ve got a team that’s out there just for the wins, does not care about the points now or such, then what’s stopping them from cheating and getting that satisfaction they want?

Race No. 1 of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase to the Championship is in the books and it provided lots of drama for all fans. 

Clint Bowyer came out as the hero on top as he took the win, holding on at the end with enough fuel. Coming in a bottom of the chart, Bowyer knew he needed a good run and it turned out perfect as now he sits second, 35 points behind Denny Hamlin.  

Hamlin stuck to the theory that consistency wins you championships as despite getting spun out, he came back to finish second.  

Kyle Busch played the same card as after his spin, he came back to finish ninth. He now sits fourth, 62 points behind Hamlin.  

Sticking it out between in third is Kevin Harvick, who now sits 45 points behind Hamlin with his consistent fifth place finish. Harvick proved during the regular season that consistency can equal being at the top and he plans to continue that show.  

Jeff Gordon is also following the theory as he came sixth and now sits fifth in points, 75 points behind.  

Following Gordon, you’ve got Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson sitting sixth and seventh, who both experienced an adventure at Loudon.  

Kurt Busch, who sits 86 behind, said in post-race that he was overdriving the car and as a result, caused some incidents. He added that he had a top-10 car, though due to trying to get that elusive top-five, he ended up 13th.  

Johnson, meanwhile, experienced an adventure of a day as trouble seemed to find him no matter what spot he was, relegating him to a 25th place finish. Though nobody is saying the drive-for-five is over as he’s started out the chase like this before and only now sits 92 points behind Hamlin.  

Roush-Fenway drivers Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle sit ninth and tenth after finishing 11th and 17th, respectively.  

Tony Stewart drops from sixth to fifth after running out of fuel while leading with two to go, which resulted in a 24th place finish.   Rounding out the top 12 is Matt Kenseth, who sits 136 points back after finishing 23rd.   So who is going to win the championship this year?  

Well, it’s still anyone’s game as a 150 point swing is possible in one race so numerically, Matt Kenseth could be leading after Dover.  

The next Chase race this weekend takes place at Dover International Speedway, known to most as the Monster Mile. Action is quick on this track as a lot of people say that it’s Bristol on steroids. Drivers can quickly be caught up in wrecks and quickly be down and out of the Chase.  

So, who’s got the best shot?   Statistically, Edwards is the best driver at Dover with an average finish of 7.9. In 12 starts, he has one win, five top fives and eight top 10s. Recall last year that it was Edwards and his teammates Biffle and Kenseth that put on the Roush-Fenway show with their entertaining battle for the lead. A good run at Dover could put him right back in the thick of things.  

Another driver looking for a good run is Johnson, who has the second highest average finish of 10.2. In 17 starts, Johnson has five wins, seven top fives and 11 top 10s. Also if you look at the past three races at Dover, Johnson has gained the most points (+515), with Kenseth having the second most (+500). Johnson is also known for being hot in the Chase and going on a hot streak of top fives. With this being a good track for Johnson, he could very easily start that streak this weekend.  

Points leader Denny Hamlin has the worst average finish of the Chasers at 22.8. In nine starts, he has two top fives and three top 10s. Hamlin has been doing a lot of talking and a lot of bragging about how good his team is; he’ll need to prove that and run better than average if he wants to show what he means.  

The second lowest ranked of the Chase drivers is Kurt Busch, who has an average finish of 19.6. In 20 starts, Busch has no wins, four top fives and six top 10s. Busch is in need of a good run as he now sits 86 points behind so keeping in mind that he should take what he can get and not overdrive the car again will be key.   The other Chase drivers’ Dover averages go as follows:

• Clint Bowyer – 14.7
• Kyle Busch – 15.5
• Kevin Harvick – 17.4
• Jeff Gordon – 12.1
• Greg Biffle – 10.5
• Tony Stewart – 11.4
• Matt Kenseth – 12.7

No clear favorite has been declared yet as this year seems closer than any. Though if the past is any indication, look for Johnson to claim his spot back atop at the standings.

There are roles in racing that have been distinguished since the beginning – the officials create the rules, while the crew chiefs and teams job is to discover an advantage.

At the beginning of a race season, teams, no matter the level of game, read over the rules to see what they’ve got to follow. Though, sometimes, they’re not just thinking about what’s on the surface; sometimes it’s not what’s on the surface. The geniuses of racing are always looking between the lines, trying to find what they can do, without being called a cheater. Simpler, we can call this “creative interpretation”, as per short track racer Brian Love calls it.

Throughout the racing game, the rules have been subject to this “creative interpretation” as there have been those who’ve come up with their own ideas.

Smokey Yunick was one of the most famous people for doing this as he always was looking to see what he could do within the rules. There’s a story where in tech inspection, NASCAR removed his fuel cell and Smokey turned around, asking, “Are you done yet?” and they told him. He then proceeded to drive away from the officials, but how’d he do that?

He had a fuel line of 11 foot coils of two inch diameter (equaling five gallons) and had enough fuel still in the car. He did that to therefore gain more fuel millage but most importantly, because the officials forgot to write that rule. Now if you read the rulebook, you notice there’s a length specified.

Then there was Ray Evernham, who came out with the car T-Rex at the 1997 Winston, dominating the show. After the show, Evernham was pulled aside and NASCAR specifically told him that he was not to bring that car back.

“We went through the rule book and wherever there was a real gray area or no specifics regarding certain components, we worked hard in that area with new things,” Eddie Dickerson, manager of Chassis Engineering at Hendrick Motorsports, said in an article on NASCAR.com. “There are no major changes you can make to components on these cars. So we worked hard in different little areas. It was a combination of things. … [But] we did not do anything illegal with the car.”

Now-a-days leading the charge is Chad Knaus, who has pushed the envelope to help his driver Jimmie Johnson score his four-championships in a row. Yes, Knaus has been caught and suspended. Though he said that he is doing it as that’s what he’s paid to do by Rick Hendrick – find an advantage and win races; sometimes you get caught while sometimes you don’t.

Robbie Loomis, ex-crew chief for Jeff Gordon and now a lead executive at Richard Petty Motorsports, agrees with the sediment.

“I think that’s our job, to find those areas of interpretation, the gray areas, and do just that,” Loomis said in an article. “Interpret. There is a lot less room in there to find an advantage than there used to be, but that’s part of the challenge.”

There are list of others that have pushed the envelope in the past, including NASCAR’s own employee now, Gary Nelson. That’s probably one of the reasons why Nelson was brought on.

So is it cheating? According to top NASCAR team owners, it’s not cheating unless you get caught.

“I’m going to sit here and lie to you,” Robert Yates said in an article on NASCAR.com. “I’d never cheat.”

Richard Petty is quoted in the same article as saying, “I always told my guys, ‘Cheat neat and you’ll get by with a bunch of stuff.’ I don’t particularly tell my guys to cheat. I just tell them not to get caught.”

Some would even say that those who push the rules are not rule breakers, yet they’re rule makers. After some of the antics pulled by the names mentioned above, more rules were enforced by officials to keep them more so in-line.

Some would also add that people whom do push the boundaries will always be remembered as they’ve left something that’ll always be implemented on the sport.

This same theory extends to the short track realm, where there are teams that push the rules. There are some that try to do things to the car and then some that will even bring stuff up to the officials to see if they’d be able to get away with it. Then when drivers do this and begin to gain the type of advantage, they’re purely accused of the cheating and called out for it.

Though if you look towards the NASCAR stars, they’re normally applauded for finding an advantage. Why is it different in the two different levels of competition?

Welcome to how perception works on this theory called, “Creative Interpretation”.

So, now that I’ve laid the frame work, what’s your take? Do you like “creative interpretation”? Or do you feel that it’s something that shouldn’t happen? Also, how far do you like to see the theory go?

Over the previous weekend we watched a very happy race driver very carefully hold up a giant lobster in victory lane at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship officially began and we were amazed when the guy who should have been eating that lobster ran out of gas. One of the largest motorsports fan clubs in the country found their smile again and NASCAR’s favorite “rowdy” driver spent Saturday doing what he does best: winning. With all of these thoughts in mind let’s begin with:

HOORAH to Clint Bowyer for an outstanding driver performance that led to him winning last Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire. Bowyer and his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was a major player all through this race and led 177 of 300 laps. But he was running second with two laps left when race leader Tony Stewart heard the heartbreaking sputter of an engine that had ran out of gas.

A little over a week ago we were all commenting on how Clint Bowyer slipped through the NASCAR Sprint Cup back door, following the Richmond Race, to claim the coveted 12th and final berth in the Chase line up. There was commentary that indicated that he wasn’t expected to be a major player in the Sprint Cup championship. However, Bowyer’s first win in 88 races vaulted him from 12th to second in the standings and he now has every one’s attention.

Here’s hoping that Bowyer is going to treat his pit crew to the finest steak and lobster dinner available in the state of New Hampshire. Led by crew chief Shane Wilson, that crew deserves a rarely issued double HOORAH for their flawless performance on pit road that kept their driver at the front of the field all day long.

HOORAH to the winning team’s sponsors General Mills and their Cheerios and Hamburger Helper brands. After being sponsors of NASCAR Sprint Cup teams for 14 years, General Mills scored their first ever race win at New Hampshire. A team celebration dinner featuring Cheerios, Hamburger Helper and that giant lobster actually sounds pretty good despite the fact that Bowyer admitted, on Monday afternoon, that he’s not exactly sure where the giant lobster is.

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Denny Hamlin’s second place finish earns him the HOORAH award for turning chicken do-do into chicken salad. While running fourth, with 85 laps to go, Hamlin’s Toyota was hit by a very loose Ford driven by Carl Edwards. Hamlin spun out and, amazingly, the on coming race traffic managed to avoid hitting him. Following a trip down pit road for new tires, Hamlin restarted the race in 22nd. It turned out to be a good situation. That unscheduled stop also allowed the team to pack the tank with fuel. Hamlin was one of the few front runners at the end of the race who had more than enough fuel to finish the race. When the checkers fell on the race, Hamlin had managed to cut Bowyer’s lead down to a mere 0.477 seconds.

Kevin Harvick also deserves a HOORAH for making the chicken do-do to salad transformation in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. For someone whose nickname is “Happy”, Harvick was not feeling any joy at all during much of the Sylvania 300. Harvick became increasingly angry over the way his car was handling, how pit road adjustments didn’t seem to remedy the situation and even expressed anger over pit road calls and performance. Some of the transmissions from his in car radio were often brutal. But, true to his form all season long, this driver and team returned to reading from the same page and Harvick was able to turn a non effective day into a fifth place finish. It also allowed him to maintain his rock solid status as a bonafide Chase contender.

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WAZZUP with Chase contenders pushing the fuel mileage limits during this race? The trend started late in the race when Jeff Burton’s potential top five finish turned into a disappointing 15th place in the final running order.

Then there was the gut wrenching matter regarding Tony Stewart. This team was strong all day and the Sylvania 300 clearly belonged to them. But no one expected a long green flag run in the late stages of the race. The additional yellow flag that crew chiefs were counting on never arrived. Stewart’s tank ran dry with two laps left. He helplessly limped across the finish line to a 24th place finish while Bowyer was doing victory burn outs directly behind them.

However, Stewart more than deserves a HOORAH for being a class act after the race. After making it a point to congratulate Bowyer and saying how much fun it was racing with him, Stewart shouldered the blame for his situation by saying “I ran myself out of fuel. That’s racing; you never know who’s going to win until it’s over. That’s what makes this sport so exciting.”

Even the race winner was not immune from the stress of fuel mileage. His tank was perilously low during the final two laps of the race. But he couldn’t afford to back off of his pace because a hard charging Denny Hamlin, with plenty of fuel, had Bowyer in his sights.

Bowyer later stated that he clearly hear the nervous tone in his crew chief’s voice when they were discussing fuel issues during the final moments of the race and he did his best to heed that warning. How close did Bowyer push the fuel limits? He required the services of a wrecker to get him to victory lane.

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WAZZUP with four time Sprint Cup champion, and pre Chase favorite, Jimmie Johnson and his long day in New Hampshire? First off, there was that extremely aggressive racing with Denny Hamlin within the first five laps of the race. That action became so tight that even Chad Knaus, Johnson’s always stoic crew chief, felt compelled to get on the radio and tell his driver “there’s no need to go three wide this early.”

The next anxious moment for team #48 came with 78 laps to go. By his admission Kurt Busch came too hard into a turn and collected Jeff Burton. That in turn led to the proverbial accordion effect which saw Johnson spinning after contact with Kyle Busch.

But the WAZZUP factor concerns a very rare mistake made on pit road by this team. With 45 laps left in the race, Johnson reported that he felt one of the wheels were loose. An unscheduled green flag pit stop uncovered the fact that the problem was the right front wheel. Johnson returned to the track nearly two laps down while the team watched a strong top five finish turn into a 25th place finish.

However, Johnson does get a HOORAH for displaying the attitude of a champion prior to the Sylvania 300. The ESPN television team did a series of interviews with the 12 Chase contenders asking them who among them was the biggest threat to win the 2010 Sprint Cup. Most of the replies were vanilla soaked and diplomatic. While the #48 team was mentioned often, most of the replies were centered around the fact that any and all Chase teams were capable of winning the title. When Johnson was asked the same question he quickly replied “I am the biggest threat for the championship, I’m going down fighting while thinking that all the way through.” That, racing fans, is the true sign of a championship caliber driver and team

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You also have to send a WAZZUP to Matt Kenseth for the harsh luck he received during the opening race of the Chase. While fighting handling issues all race long, in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford, Kenseth got tagged, with 67 laps to go, by pole sitter Brad Keselowski. The Kenseth Ford spun and slammed backwards into the wall. The team was able to get their driver back into the race but the net result was a disappointing 23d place finish.

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A double HOORAH goes out to Dale Earnhardt Jr, crew chief Lance McGrew and the entire #88 team for their strong fourth place finish. With the disappointing results this team has seen all year long a solid run like this one had to seem like a win for them. The #88 team was actually the strongest of the four Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets and nobody remembers the last time we’ve been able to say that. During a mid race recap ESPN broadcaster Brad Daugherty actually yelled “hey, look at June Bug,” the long time nickname given the driver by his famous father. The Junior Nation will be smiling this week.

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HOORAH to Kyle Busch for winning the Race Day Raffle Series Dot Com 175 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event Saturday at New Hampshire. Busch started the race from the pole and led 156 laps while earning his fifth series win in only 11 starts this season. It was also his 80th win in a NASCAR national touring series event.

Another HOORAH goes out to Busch and Kevin Harvick for their non stop, all race long, side by side racing efforts. What we had here was two full time Sprint Cup drivers, who are also truck team owners, putting on a show that thrilled everyone who watched it.

HOORAH for James Buescher, the 20 year old Texas driver, who almost stole the show from the series veterans. With ten laps to go, Busch and Harvick were again side by side with some occasional contact between the two trucks. Meanwhile Buescher reeled them in and made a beauty of a low line pass to jump from third to the lead.

But the appearance of a first time series winner evaporated three laps later when the eighth and final caution flag came out to turn the race ending into another green-white-checker finish the series is so famous for. In those final laps, Busch performed a slide job on Buescher to reclaim the lead. But in the process of making that pass, Busch slammed hard into the backstretch wall and nearly took Buescher with him. Busch would later say that he hit was so hard that “it knocked my racing helmet sideways.” Somehow Busch managed to keep his truck under control and took the win with Buescher a mere 0.280 seconds away from his bumper.

Buescher was less than thrilled about the way the race ended and presented Busch with the one finger wave during the cool down lap. He gets a WAZZUP for that gesture. But it’s not because it was the wrong thing to to. In fact, it was pretty funny. Buescher has been in the truck series long enough to know that a hand gesture is only going to fuel Kyle Busch’s sarcastic sense of humor and the gesture isn’t going to phase him at all. That’s the reason for the WAZZUP.

It was back to the left and right turns for the 25^th running of the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at Watkins Glen in upstate New York.  The Cup Series took 90 laps around the 2.45 mile road and here is what is surprising and not surprising from the race at the Glen this past weekend.

Surprising:  After two consecutive failures to win due to four tire pit strategy decisions, crew chief Brian Pattie finally made the right call and took Juan Pablo Montoya and the No. 42 Target Chevrolet to victory lane.  This was Montoya’s second career win in the Sprint Cup Series and Pattie’s first ever win as a crew chief and undoubtedly has gone a long way to easing the tensions on that Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team.

Not Surprising:  After calling Hendrick Motorsports rivals Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon ‘pretty boys’, both of whom have also annoyed him on the track as well, Kurt Busch flexed his road course muscle at Watkins Glen with a second place run.  With his runner up finish, Busch was also the biggest winner in the point standings, advancing three positions to fourth place.

Surprising:  Marcos Ambrose, who scored his third Nationwide win at the Glen on Saturday, was in contention yet again for another victory on a road course on Sunday.  Unfortunately, the racing gods and an ill-handling car resulted in another disappointment for the Australian, who finished the race in the third position.  Ambrose noted it was just another down in the up and down roller coaster ride of his season, from his surprising gaffe at Sonoma to his announcement of his departure from JTG-Daugherty Racing at the end of this season. 

Not Surprising:  Carl Edwards, who started the race from the pole position, had a solid run at the Glen.  He brought his No. 99 Aflac Ford home in the fifth spot, advancing up to the ninth position in the Chase race.

Surprising:  Hendrick ‘pretty boy’ Jimmie Johnson was nowhere to be found on the leader board at the Glen.  Johnson had a Tiger Woods type day, colliding with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch after a three-wide attempt through the turn, ending his day in 28^th and falling to the fifth position in the point standings.

Not Surprising:   Hendrick teammate Dale Earnhardt, Jr., never one known for his road racing abilities, lived up to that reputation with a disappointing 26^th place finish.  Junior lost two more spots in the point standings falling to 16^th, 690 points behind and undoubtedly out of contention for the Chase.

Surprising:  After signing a multi-year contract with Richard Petty Motorsports, AJ Allmendinger became not only the alpha dog at RPM but also a top five finisher at the Glen.  The ‘Dinger brought home the No. 43 Insignia HDTV Ford in the fourth spot, after qualifying it in that very same position.

Not Surprising:  Jamie McMurray, who started the race on the outside pole, has continued to prove his prowess on road courses as well as ovals.  He brought his No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet to the checkered flag in the sixth position, notching another top ten finish for the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team.

Surprising:   Tony Stewart, with one of the best records overall at Watkins Glen International, was not really a contender for the win during Sunday’s Cup competition.  Stewart had a top ten, coming in seventh, with his teammate Ryan Newman following behind in 12^th.

Not Surprising:  Jeff Gordon, proud second-time papa to son Leo Benjamin born after the conclusion of the race at the Glen, was strong all race long.  He was able to pass point’s leader Kevin Harvick, who was struggling with a tire issue at the end, to secure a top-ten finish, taking the checkered flag in tenth position.

Surprising:  The final foursome of the Hendrick Motorsports team Mark Martin had a top twenty run at the Glen, finishing in the 19^th position in the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.  But even more important, with that finish Martin has now climbed to the coveted final position in the Chase race, up one spot to 12^th in the point standings.

Not Surprising:  While no one seems to be paying much attention, veteran Jeff Burton had a top-10 finish on the road course.  With his ninth place race finish, Burton climbed two positions closer to the top and now rests third, right behind the other Jeff in the Chase race.

Surprising:  The so-called ‘road course ringers’ had a heluva bad time at the Glen.  Boris Said, who was finally in good equipment with the Red Bull team, tussled with Tony Stewart and finished a disappointing 38^th.  Fellow road course aces Ron Fellows and PJ Jones fared no better, finishing in 40^th and 41^st respectively.

Not Surprising:  Kyle Busch pulled out another good finish after an eventful race.  Yet even after an eighth place finish, Busch dropped one position in the Chase standings to the seventh spot.

The Cup Series will now head to the Irish hills of Michigan for the CARFAX 400.  The race will be broadcast at 1:00 PM ET on ESPN from Michigan International Speedway.

Last Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway showed that there may actually be a light at the end of the tunnel for the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports team. That light is still pretty dim and quite a ways away, but it’s there.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. — who missed his third chase in four years — battled back from 32nd place starting position and adversity on pit road to finish fourth.

[media-credit name=”Kirk Schroll | Speedway Media” align=”alignright” width=”400″][/media-credit]In fact, after several races of being the worst finishing Hendrick Motorsports driver, Earnhardt earned the best finish among his HMS comrades.

Earnhardt had reached the top-ten by the middle of the race, but lost some spots on pit road when Regan Smith blocked NASCAR’s most popular driver into his pit box. His crew had to push his car back to give Earnhardt room to maneuver his car out of his pit area, losing several spots.

That wasn’t the only adversity he faced during the day, however. Earnhardt had two multi-car wrecks happen in close proximity to his Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet that he had to avoid. He and his crew were also burdened with a broken jack-stop.

At times Earnhardt was running faster laps than the leaders. Although, in the end, Earnhardt didn’t have the track position to break his more than two-year winless streak in the Sprint Cup Series.

“The setbacks we had today hurt us a lot,” Earnhardt said. “I want to thank AMP Energy and National Guard and the team, they worked really hard. We unloaded a great car, they did a good job preparing it at the shop. We worked on it all weekend. It was pretty good in practice and we improved on it a little bit. We had an eighth place finish last time and felt like we were really fast and competitive all day long. We can’t qualify very good here, but once we get in race trim, we just kind of go to the front or get near the front.”

“It felt like we had a top-10 car and we had the jack-stop break and had to go to the back and then a miscommunication with the No. 78 (Regan Smith) on pit that cost us a half of a lap under green, just battling back from that stuff. Track position was what we needed at the end, we didn’t have it.”

While Earnhardt’s points situation is now a moot-point, he did improve one position to the 18th points position, trailing 13th place Ryan Newman by 153 points.

New Hampshire was a nice rebound for Earnhardt, who finished a disappointing 38th at Richmond two weeks ago. Earnhardt’s teammate, Jimmie Johnson, will be looking for a similar rebound next weekend.

After Johnson battled up from a 25th place starting position, he was involved in a spin with the Busch brothers — Kyle and Kurt — on lap 223, receiving minor damage to his car.

A few laps later, a loose wheel would force Johnson to pit again and lose two laps to take him and his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet out of race contention. Johnson, who entered the race second in points, dropped to seventh and will need to stay out of trouble at Dover and in the coming weeks to stay alive in the title hunt.

“We showed up today, we did what we could,” Johnson said. “We had a decent car today and ran in the top-five and top-ten but just didn’t end up finishing there. We’ll go home and get back to work and go after it again next week.”

In Johnson’s defense, he and his team are arguably the best team in the sport when it comes to digging themselves out of adversity. Which is exactly the supporting evidence used by Clint Bowyer, who said after the race that Johnson’s team is certainly not out of the championship discussion.

“Teams like the No. 48 are so good at rebounding; you can’t ever count those guys out,” Bowyer said. “For us, our strengths are how consistent we are. And we haven’t won a race yet this year. So while we’re trying to win races in these final 10, we can’t necessarily just expect it to happen; maybe like some other guys might be feeling. So we can’t afford to go out there and have a 25th place finish today.”

Johnson now trails points leader Denny Hamlin by 92 points heading into Chase race No. 2 next weekend at Dover. Johnson was the worst finishing chaser of the day and was one of three that finished outside of the top-20.

Tony Stewart appeared to be on his way to victory — until he ran out of fuel with one lap to go. By the time Stewart had coasted around to the checkered flag, he was scored 24th.

“I’m not happy, that’s for sure, but we went down swinging,” Stewart said. “It’s hard to lose one that way but at the same time it was fun racing Clint like that. He was definitely the fastest car and congratulations to those guys. It’s a tough way to start the Chase but I’m proud of my guys. Darian (Grubb, crew chief) kept swinging at it all day and finally on that last set of tires we got it halfway decent.”

Stewart dropped five points positions to 11th in points, trailing Hamlin by 124 points.

Matt Kenseth was the other chaser to finish outside of the top-20 on Sunday. He recorded a 23rd place finish and dropped one spot to 12th in the Chase standings. He is now faced with a 136-point deficit.

“Our Crown Royal Ford was just tight in the middle and needed help turning in the front today,” Kenseth said. “The guys made adjustments all race long but we just didn’t run very well. We got caught up in that wreck, had a lot of damage to the car, and it was just a really long day for us.”