The Sun is setting on the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. The championship will be decided on Sunday. But for the third time in four years, NASCAR demonstrated inconsistent officiating in a pivotal Playoff race at ISM Raceway.
Yesterday Kurt Busch was held a lap for passing the pace car on pit entry.
“When following the caution vehicle during a caution period, drivers must maintain their position in relation to other vehicles in the field or as otherwise directed by NASCAR and will not be permitted to pass other vehicles or the caution vehicle when preparing to enter pit road.”
I don’t take issue with the enforcement of the rule. By the letter of the law, Busch was in violation of passing the pace car on pit entry. What I take issue with, however, is its inconsistent application.
Earlier in this same race, Chase Elliott appeared to (TV camera cut from an aerial shot to a ground shot) have passed the pace car when he hit pit road.
It *looks* like Chase Elliott came pretty close to passing the pace car at the end of the first stage — what Kurt Busch just got penalized for.
While that’s ambiguous, this one from March at Phoenix isn’t.
It’s close, but Kurt Busch passed the pace car heading to pit road in the 2018 spring race at Phoenix and didn’t get penalized. pic.twitter.com/fRSg1Kptze
I looked up the penalty report from the Phoenix race in March, and Busch wasn’t penalized for passing the pace car on pit entry.
While it was more blatant yesterday than in March, that’s a missed call on NASCAR’s end. And one could argue that it put Busch in the position that led to him being taken out in a wreck.
And this isn’t the first time this has happened. Two years ago, Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. were dinged for this same thing. In the race at Phoenix earlier that year, however, NASCAR no-called Carl Edwards for the same thing.
This is a screenshot from pit stops earlier this season at Phoenix.
Given the layout of the pit road entrance at most tracks (particularly Phoenix and Darlington Raceway), passing the pace car is unavoidable.
I understand that things will sometimes slip through the cracks, but it’s an incredibly bad look on NASCAR when there are multiple examples through the season of cars not being penalized for passing the pace car on pit entry.
And keep in mind that this is the third time in the last four years in which NASCAR made inconsistent penalty calls in the November race at Phoenix.
It also doesn’t help that this comes a week after NASCAR mistakenly sent Jimmie Johnson to the rear of the field at Texas Motor Speedway for failing pre-race tech inspection multiple times (except he didn’t fail a third time, which would’ve resulted in that). Now to NASCAR’s credit, they came out after the race and said it was “unacceptable” and that they dropped the ball.
NASCAR, I can live with you either enforcing the “pulling up to pit” rule 100 percent of the time or not at all. The “somewhere in between” amount, however, has to stop. If not, we run the risk of it marring Sunday’s championship race.
The very poorly kept secret of Martin Truex Jr.’s plans for 2019 is out of the bag.
After months of speculation, Truex will take over the driver’s seat of the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing next season. He’ll bring along crew chief Cole Pearn.
“Anytime you have an opportunity to bring two people of this caliber into your organization, it’s certainly an exciting time,” said team owner Joe Gibbs. “They obviously have developed a chemistry that has led to tremendous success, including a championship. We’ve gotten to know them well over the past few years through the alliance and having been part of the Toyota family. They both make us stronger as an organization.”
Sponsorship will be announced at a later date.
Where this leaves Daniel Suarez, who’s being displaced by Truex, is unknown. As of the publishing of this piece, Joe Gibbs Racing hasn’t responded to our request for comment on Suarez.
The dominos to this decision were triggered during the summer, when 5-hour Energy announced that they would leave the 78 car – and by extension, Furniture Row Racing – at the end of the season. While team owner Barney Visser said at Watkins Glen that not running in 2019 wasn’t an option, he announced on September 4 that the organization would terminate operations at season’s end.
For longtime journeyman Truex, it’ll be his fifth team in 13 years. His stint at Furniture Row was his most successful, with 17 of his 19 career victories came behind the wheel of the 78 car and his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.
“I want to personally thank Martin and Cole for their contributions in making Furniture Row Racing a championship-caliber team,” Visser said in a statement. “There’s no doubt in my mind that they will continue to be a winning driver/crew chief combination with Joe Gibbs Racing. They are outstanding representatives for NASCAR and I am proud to have been associated with them. But before Martin and Cole depart for a new endeavor we still have two races remaining, and hopefully we will be celebrating another championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.”
It turns out that Kevin Harvick isn’t locked into Homestead after all.
The No. 4 team was handed an L1 Penalty, after it was discovered that the spoiler on Harvick’s race-winning car from this past Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway violated NASCAR regulations. As outlined in Section 20.4.12 a & b of the NASCAR Rule Book, “Vehicle spoiler must conform to the CAD file and drawing. Spoilers must be used exactly as supplied from the manufacturer.”
As a result, the team has been assessed with the loss of 40 driver points and 40 owner points. The win can’t be used to advance Harvick into the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
He enters Phoenix fourth in points, three points above the cutline.
Crew chief Rodney Childers has been fined $75,000 and suspended from the next two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship points events. Car chief Robert Smith has been suspended from the next two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship points events.
Stewart-Haas Racing won’t appeal the penalty, and Tony Gibson will man the No. 4 war wagon for the final two races of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.
Tony Gibson will be Harvick’s crew chief for the rest of the season. SHR will *NOT* appeal penalty. Statement from SHR’s Greg Zipadelli: pic.twitter.com/MWoz8qlFmH
NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller issued the following statement: “It is not our desire to issue any penalties, but will do so when necessary to ensure each race and championship is contested on a level playing field.”
The No. 12 (Door Front Crush Panel) and No. 20 (Package Tray) team’s were also issued L1 Penalties. Both were assessed 20-point penalties. Both team’s crew chiefs were fined $50,000 and suspended for the next two races. Both team’s car chiefs were suspended for the next two races.
Kevin Harvick wore his signature shades and sarcastic smile, on pit road after the race. He was disappointed that a dominant victory slipped away, and a good points day didn’t make it better.
“I don’t care about points. I’d rather win.”
It was Harvick’s race to lose, and he found a way to lose it.
In the midst of a woodshed whooping, Harvick pitted from the lead with 80 laps to go. He pitted again a lap later with a loose wheel, caused by a lug nut knocking off the valve stem to his right-front tire. He returned to the race a lap down.
“I can’t control where the lug nuts fly. Our Busch Beer Ford was really fast, and that’s about it.”
A caution got Harvick back on the lead lap. He avoided the multi-car pileup on the backstretch with three laps to go.
“Yeah, we were just lucky there. We were dodging and weaving and being in the right place. I guess that makes up for the bad luck on losing the race with a dominant car.”
His charge through the field stalled out at sixth, where his day ended.
He took command of the race on the 16th lap. Aside from a few laps during two green flag pit cycles and Joey Logano beating him off pit road under the first caution, it was his to lose.
Harvick led a total of 251 laps and swept the stages.
Jimmie Johnson sits sixth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list. He’s tied with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most championships in NASCAR history. He’s never failed to qualify for the playoffs. There virtually no doubt that he’s a first-ballot hall of fame inductee when he decides to hang up his helmet.
The career statistics, however, paint a far more rosy picture than his 2018 numbers.
Johnson enters the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs 15th in points, in the midst of a career-worst season.
Even for the ever stoic Johnson, the subpar performance isn’t lost on him.
“You’re not human if it doesn’t bother you, and I do know that I have a role in the performance of this car and a leadership role in the team,” he said yesterday at playoff media day. “I don’t know that I am responsible for where we’re at as well. It has been hard on me. There have been days and weeks and, unfortunately, months when I’m much stronger dealing with it and other times when it’s a little more difficult.”
Specifically, he referenced his run two weeks ago at Darlington Raceway as a race in which he finished worst than he should (oil pump failure relegated him to a 39th-place finish).
“We had a great car and we could have run up there in the top three, but I made a series of mistakes that triggered other mistakes within the team and we had a terrible night.”
To be fair, Johnson’s performance isn’t isolated. Hendrick Motorsports has run mediocre for the last two seasons. Chase Elliott’s win at Watkins Glen International was the organization’s first since Johnson’s last victory at Dover International Speedway in June of 2017.
But the lackluster results, whether or not it’s fair, are magnified when it involves a driver who’s won 83 times in his career.
Riding a 47-race winless streak, Johnson hasn’t been a front-runner at any point this season. He’s finished Top-five twice, eight Top-10’s and led a meager 29 laps this season. To underscore the laps led point, both Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick have led over 1000 laps this season.
Having won at least two races in every season of his career since 2002, Johnson faces the prospect of his first winless season.
“It would be a disappointing year if we didn’t win a race,” he said. “I’ve set a high bar to win since my rookie year, so winning a race seems like something we should be able to do. If that doesn’t happen, I’d certainly be disappointed. I do know that we have not left anything on the table and poured everything we can into it. Not that it would be satisfying on every level, but making sure we acknowledge the effort that went into it and not beat ourselves too hard on it. But I certainly hope that doesn’t happen.”
The 10-race playoff lineup might favor a season turnaround for the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet. Johnson has won at every track on the 10-race playoff lineup. At six, including this weekend’s stop, he’s either the winningest driver or winningest active driver.
But for the 48 team to pull off a miracle finish to the season, the performance must crank up to 11. And with Busch, Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. having career seasons, and Brad Keselowski running at “The Big Three’s” level, that’ll be a Herculean task.
Not one driven by stats, however, Johnson is taking inspiration from Green Bay Packers starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who not only returned to the Packers Week 1 matchup against the Chicago Bears, but overcame a 20-point deficit in the 4th Quarter to beat the Bears 24-23.
“I watched the game. It is so inspirational to see that happen, and I’ve been able to live through and create a few of those moments on my own,” Johnson said. “It’s amazing to experience it and when you reflect back you’re like, ‘Wow, I really did that.’ You want to believe you’re capable of it, but until you do it and see it you just don’t know. I know what we’re capable of and I know we’ve done the unthinkable in the past. To win this eighth championship, we’re going to have to do something that’s never been done before, so I have optimism and belief that we’ll have another look at an eighth championship. I don’t know if it’s this year, next, the year after, but we have everything stacked up around it to make it happen. I don’t expect it to come easy; no championship does.”
This story has been updated to include statements from both Brian France and NASCAR on France’s indefinite leave of absence.
Brian France will take an indefinite leave of absence, after he was arrested for drunk driving and illegal possession of Oxycodone, according to Sag Harbor Village Police. Jim France will take over as the interim Chairman and CEO of NASCAR.
NASCAR issued the following statement on the matter: “Brian France has taken an indefinite leave of absence from NASCAR as chairman and chief executive officer. Effective immediately, NASCAR Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President Jim France has assumed the role of interim chairman and chief executive officer.”
Jim France has been involved with NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation since 1959. While serving as NASCAR’s vice chairman and executive vice president, he’s largely overseen the sports car operations of NASCAR.
Brian France also released the following statement: “I apologize to our fans, our industry and my family for the impact of my actions last night. Effective immediately, I will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from my position to focus on my personal affairs.”
France was pulled over last night in Suffolk County after he failed to stop at a stop sign on Main Street. During the traffic stop, the officer suspected he was intoxicated and conducted a field sobriety test, which he failed. Upon further inspection, he was found in criminal possession of a controlled substance.
He was arrested and held overnight and was released this morning from the custody of the Sag Harbor Village Justice Court.
NASCAR issued the following statement on France’s arrest: “We are aware of an incident that occurred last night and are in the process of gathering information. We take this as a serious matter and will issue a statement after we have all of the facts.”
France has operated as the Chairman and CEO of NASCAR since 2003.
We’ve had six weeks of positive energy from great racing and a truly momentous victory by possibly the most popular driver in NASCAR today. And what is the big story nearly 24 hours removed? It’s the arrest of the sport’s leader for drunk driving.
If you’ve not heard by now, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France was arrested last night in Sag Harbor, New York for driving while intoxicated and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
By no means is a DWI/controlled substance arrest a conviction (legally speaking). With that said, however, you can’t allow the head of the sport to behave in such a manner. Especially considering he was cited for “Aggravated DWI,” which in New York means you supposedly had a blood alcohol content (BAC) level more than double the level at which you’re considered legally intoxicated.
What isn’t up for debate, however, is that France’s decision to drive intoxicated just two hours after Chase Elliott scored his first career victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Watkins Glen International not only stalls the optimism and positive momentum that been built up over the last six weeks, but puts the sports back in the spotlight for the wrong reasons yet again. Outlets that don’t regularly talk about NASCAR are picking up this story, rather than Elliott’s momentous victory from yesterday.
My local paper here in Portland, which I’ve never seen tweet about anything NASCAR-related, is picking up the AP story. This is going to make headlines everywhere and overshadow everything positive that just happened. https://t.co/4NaPtS26Ws
This was one of many missteps by France over the years, from his short-sighted decision to publicly endorse Donald Trump for president to the way he handled the Confederate Flag dilemma after the racially-charged mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in June of 2015. The missteps also extend to his time as Chairman and CEO of NASCAR, most notably his atrocious handling of the series of run-ins between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano in October of 2015.
Furthermore, and no matter how hard he or any executive in the big office in Daytona spin or dance around it, NASCAR’s biggest — and ongoing — decline in TV ratings, viewership and attendance have happened under France’s leadership.
These many embarrassing moments and poor leadership demonstrate why France is unfit to continue on as Chairman and CEO of NASCAR.
NASCAR is bigger than any single person, especially the people who run the operations. No amount of relation to the founder and his successor should excuse the fact that Brian acted in a manner unbecoming of the head of a company, particularly an automotive-centric company.
Ninety-eight was the number of times Chase Elliott fired his engine without winning in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Eight was the number of times he finished runner-up. Every time he came up short the last two and a half years, there was no one harder on Elliott than Elliott. Over and over, he walked into the deadline room after a race in which he dominated and beat himself into the ground.
However, it was never a matter of if. Only when the kid who not too many years ago posed with his father Bill Elliott in victory lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and roamed the garage with him would do the same.
On August 5, 2018, there was no dejection and there was no “Elliott was his own worst enemy.” Instead, to the thunderous applause of a sold-out crowd in attendance at Watkins Glen International, he took the fight to and passed points leader Kyle Busch for the race lead, he led the remaining 63 laps, drove his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to and over the limit and held off defending series champion Martin Truex Jr. to finally win for the first time in the Cup Grand National Series.
“Holy cow! What a thrill! I don’t know what to say. I’m just so thrilled and so emotional,” Elliott said. “There’s so much relief you know; it’s been working on three years and I hadn’t won a one and came here with a good opportunity today. I was able to get it done. But, just thanks to all the fans. I hope all my buddies are ready to get rowdy tonight because it’s going to be a good one.”
During the post-race cool down lap, Elliott ran out of gas and came to a halt down the short chute. As a number of drivers slowed down to congratulate him, teammate Jimmie Johnson pushed him to the start/finish line to start the post-race celebration.
“Well, I just appreciate the support and the respect on the race track,” said Elliott. “Jimmie (Johnson) has been one of my heroes for a long, long time. I leaned on him a lot over this past off season and I always lean on him, but certainly a lot throughout this off season just about the opportunities I’ve had in the past and not closing them out. He has been a big supporter of mine and that was one of the coolest things ever and I will never forget it.”
He hi-fived his crew, before hopping on the roof of his car to soak in the moment, as the fans showered him in cheers.
“That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen and I just want you all to know that. And, I am very grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Let’s go get some more.”
The adulation continued in victory lane, as Darrell Wallace Jr., teammate Alex Bowman, the aforementioned Kyle Busch and his father, NASCAR Hall of Fame member Bill Elliott, congratulated Chase Elliott.
“I don’t know how to describe it,” said Bill Elliott. “I was standing over there and kind of letting the laps run down and I was thinking, you know, what’s going to go wrong now? He (Chase Elliott) held it together and low and behold, (Martin) Truex runs out of gas. It’s just that luck went our way today.”
While Chase Elliott and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports organization struggled for most of the season, he picked up his the last three races, with stage victories and Top-10 finishes in each.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – AUGUST 05: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 SunEnergy1 Chevrolet, leads Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops Toyota, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GoBowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 5, 2018 in Watkins Glen, New York. Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images
Starting the afternoon in upstate New York third, Elliott quickly challenged Denny Hamlin for the race lead snaking up the esses, before being usurped by Busch in the inner-loop on the second lap. On the 27th circuit, Elliott hugged the tail-end of Busch from the bus stop to Turn 10, before Busch pulled aside to let Elliott take the lead.
While he didn’t lose it again, Martin Truex Jr. took the fight to him in the closing 14 laps, getting his closest to passing Elliott in the final three laps. Truex missed a mark in the inner-loop with two to go and Elliott pulled away. Heading into Turn 1 on the final lap, however, Elliott carried too much speed into the turn and ran wide, allowing Truex to pull alongside him briefly. The fight ended down the short chute when Truex ran out of fuel.
“Yeah, so I had a decent gap coming to the white and I felt really good about it,” Elliott said. “I felt too good about it apparently. I got into (Turn) 1 a little hard and started wheel hopping and had to knock it out of gear to keep from spinning out and got… obviously I missed the corner because of that. Luckily, I had a good enough gap to where he didn’t get up next to me and didn’t miss it too bad. So, what a day.”
Elliott’s victory was the 250th Strictly Stock Series victory for Hendrick Motorsports. It also made Elliott the 192nd different driver to win in the series.
He leaves Watkins Glen 11th in points, 315 back of Kyle Busch.
Here are some thoughts I had of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort and Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
BREAKOUT RACE FOR ARIC ALMIROLA
Prior to today, Aric Almirola never led more than 78 laps in an entire season. While he didn’t lead the race-high (that was claimed by Kurt Busch), we’ll probably look back at today as the day he went from journeyman to a driver who can compete for wins.
LOUDON, N.H. – JULY 22: Aric Almirola, driver of the #10 Smithfield Ford, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 22, 2018 in Loudon, New Hampshire. Photo: Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Almirola first took the lead after running down and overtaking teammate Kurt Busch, using lap traffic as a pick to drive by him on the inside line in Turn 1, with 89 laps to go. While teammate Kevin Harvick cycled out ahead of him for the lead during a cycle of green-flag stops with 74 to go, Almirola again used lapped cars as a pick to power by Harvick in Turn 3 and regain the lead with 69 to go.
After teammate Clint Bowyer tagged the wall in Turn 3 with 45 to go, forcing a caution, Almirola exited the pits in third. He fell to sixth on the final restart, before rallying back to a third-place finish.
“I laid back off of Harvick’s bumper a little bit, was trying to time the restart to roll up to him and Kyle,” he said. “Kyle went right at the beginning, maybe even slightly before. He went right at the beginning, if nothing else, of the restart zone. It caught me off guard. Earlier in the race they had been dragging the restart out further in the restart zone. I was kind of anticipating that. When Kyle fired, I was caught off guard. When I fired, I just spun the tires because I wasn’t prepared. That was totally my bad. Instead of giving myself a fighting chance to go up there and win, race those guys for the win, I fell back to sixth and had to battle back to third.”
His podium finish was also his ninth Top-10 of the season, the most of any season of his career. He’s also raised his performance to a point where a Top-five finish disappoints him.
“I’m disappointed. You think I’d be really excited to run top five and I’m not,” Almirola said. “We had the best car hands-down. There’s no doubt in my mind. We gave it away on pit road and then I gave it away again on the restart. I spun the tires on the restart and didn’t even give myself a fighting chance, so I’m just really frustrated. Chicago, we had a car capable of winning and we didn’t execute today again with another car capable of winning, and we didn’t get our Smithfield Ford Fusion in Victory Lane. It’s just frustrating.
“They say you’ve got to lose some before you win some and I feel like we’ve lost some now and it’s time to stop it and go to Victory Lane. I’m really proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. They’re giving me incredible race cars and we showed up with cars capable of running in the top five and challenging to win races these last seven weeks. I’m really proud of everybody back at the shop. I’m really proud of Johnny Klausmeier and all the guys on this 10 team. We’re gonna get Smithfield and Ford Motor Company and Mobil 1 and everybody that helps us out to Victory Lane really soon.”
PERFORMANCE TURN-AROUND AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS
The lackluster performance of the Chevrolet camp this season have been well documented, and no stable exemplified the growing pains more than Hendrick Motorsports. Yesterday at Loudon, however, they exhibited signs of improved performance.
LOUDON, N.H. – JULY 22: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 22, 2018 in Loudon, New Hampshire. Photo: Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Chase Elliott led a season-high of 23 laps, won a stage and finished fifth, at a track that’s not served him well.
“I was shocked, to be honest with you, that we ran even that good,” Elliott said. “Our whole NAPA group did a great job overnight. I really have no idea where that came from. I hope it wasn’t dumb luck. Hopefully, we can keep it rolling because it’s really nice to be able to go up there and lead some laps. I know it wasn’t the right part of the race, but still, leading laps for us is big compared to what we’ve been doing. I’m proud of the effort. I appreciate everybody’s effort back at Hendrick and the chassis shop and engine shop and Chevrolet and all the folks that are working hard to try to get better. We took a step in the right direction.”
Jimmie Johnson ran Top-10 for the majority of the race (average position was 9.6). He was realistic about his performance woes, as he thought Top-10 was where they need to be.
“Top five right now on sheer speed is something we are achieving and trying to get to,” he said. “We scored some great points in the stages, I think (I) finished third and seventh or something like that. All-in-all we had a good day, always could be better, but a nice solid step forward.”
Both ran a higher average position than their season to date average.
Alex Bowman and William Byron also ran higher than their season to date average and finished higher than their season to date average finish.
Now one race is by no means an indication of season performance, but if the performance of Bowman, Byron, Elliott and Johnson improves going forward, we’ll look back at this race as the day the USS Hendrick Motorsports dislodged itself from the shoal.
CASUALLY-DRESSED BROADCAST BOOTH
While NBC’s lap-by-lap announcer Rick Allen took to pit road, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte donned T-Shirt attire to call the race from the booth.
How was it? Well as Nick Bromberg of Yahoo Sports put it on Twitter…
This NBC broadcast so far feels like three guys just sitting at a bar discussing what’s happening on the TVs in front of them.
As someone who regularly watches episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, I thought it was an interesting change of pace to see three personalities commentate on the race in a more casual fashion. While Allen did well on pit road, the booth was rough at times with the lack of lap-by-lap direction. But overall, it was serviceable.
While I think Allen is best suited for the booth, I’m fine with Earnhardt going T-Shirt casual the rest of the season. And I’m not the only one.
For those who've never seen/watched a race at @NHMS, passing here is a premium. You have to set up the pass for three or four laps, before making your move. #NASCAR
LOUDON, N.H. – JULY 22: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Beer Ford, celebrates with a burnout after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 22, 2018 in Loudon, New Hampshire. Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images
While New Hampshire isn’t high on my list of favorite tracks, and I even tweeted that we should only race once a year at Loudon, the PJ1/VHT/TrackBite/Sticky Stuff and its diminishing returns as the race ran on made for an intriguing race. Yeah, it dragged a few times, but passing wasn’t a Herculean task and the leader never pulled too far away from the second-place car that clean air was the be all end all.
Loudon has been described as “Martinsville on steroids.” Well, that was the case yesterday, as lap traffic negated the clean air advantage. It allowed Harvick to reel in Kyle Busch and bump him out of the groove with four laps to go and steal the victory.
“…your goal is to not wreck him (Busch). Your goal is to move him out of the groove, get away from him far enough because you know they’re going to be mad. Today that was the situation. I knew his car was going to get wide. He was going to be tough to pass. Kyle Busch is one of the toughest to pass when he has control of the race. For me, that was the moment that I needed to make it happen, drive away, he finished second, right?”
The Foxwoods Resort and Casino 301 was the cap to a fantastic weekend of racing: From Chase Briscoe edging out Grant Enfinger to win the Camping World Truck Series race at Eldora, to Christopher Bell out-racing Brad Keselowski in the run to the finish of the XFINITY Grand National Series race at Loudon, all three races delivered.
Sitting center at the podium in the deadline room at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a disappointed Aric Almirola put on a forced smile as he elaborated on his third-place finish.
“You’d think I’d be happy (smiling). We had an incredible Smithfield Ford Fusion today, felt like it was the car to beat, for sure. We got out front there and felt really good about it, felt comfortable. That last caution there, we came down pit road leading, went out third, lost control of the race. Then I spun my tires on the restart and didn’t even give myself a fighting chance to go race for the win.
“Just frustrated on all parts that we didn’t execute the way we needed to to try and win. Chicago we had a car capable of winning, and didn’t get it done. Here again, had a car capable of winning, didn’t get it done.”
After usurping the lead from teammate Kevin Harvick with 69 laps to go and with a car that gained speed over long runs, Almirola had the race in check. That long-run advantage evaporated, however, when teammate Clint Bowyer hit the Turn 3 wall with 45 to go. A pit miscue on the left-front tire cost him the lead.
On the ensuing restart with 39 to go, he spun his tires and fell back to sixth in the running order. While Harvick nudged Kyle Busch out of the groove in the closing laps to win, Almirola rallied to a third-place finish.
“I laid back off of Harvick’s bumper a little bit, was trying to time the restart to roll up to him and Kyle (Busch),” Almirola said. “Kyle went right at the beginning, maybe even slightly before. He went right at the beginning, if nothing else, of the restart zone. It caught me off guard. Earlier in the race they had been dragging the restart out further in the restart zone. I was kind of anticipating that. When Kyle fired, I was caught off guard. When I fired, I just spun the tires because I wasn’t prepared.”
While his runs in the first two stages weren’t notable, he finished 10th in the first stage and fifth in the second, Almirola first took the lead with 89 to go when he used lap traffic as a pick to overtake teammate Kurt Busch for the lead. He surrendered the lead to pit 15 laps later and cycled back to second, right behind Harvick. With 69 to go, he used lap traffic as a pick again to pass Harvick for the lead in Turn 3, which he maintained until the aforementioned caution with 45 to go.
“It’s frustrating. But everybody keeps telling me, ‘You got to lose some before you win some.’ So we’ve lost some. Time to stop it, time to go to Victory Lane. We’re capable. We have a race team capable of doing it. Our cars are really fast. Just ready to go get to Victory Lane next week. Where we going next week? Pocono, perfect. Let’s go.”
Almirola led 42 laps (his highest since Kansas in 2012), earned his first Top-five of the season and leaves Loudon 11th in points.
