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Category: NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR Cup Series

  • 48 and 24 to change crews for remainder of season

    48 and 24 to change crews for remainder of season

    Hendrick Motorsports has announced that the 24 and 48 crews will trade duties for the remainder of the 2010 season. The change is limited to the seven primary over the wall pit crew members. Additonal team members and personell will not be affected.

    This change comes on the heels of the trading of pit crews deep into the race at Texas Motorspeedway on Sunday. This change was brought about by 3 stops by the 48 crew that put the 4 time champion, Jimmie Johnson deep in the field. It appeared that the front tire carrier and right front tire changer struggled on each stop costing Johnson as many as 10 positions on the track. The change though not of unheard of rarely occurs in the middle of a race. It was felt that to perserve Johnson’s Championship hopes the teams should be switched since Jeff Gordon had fallen out of the race after a wreck on the backstretch with Jeff Burton. Chad Knaus, Crew Chief for the 48, stated, “Ultimately the decision is mine” when he was asked who made the decision to change crews.

    Gordon’s crew has consistently pulled 12-second stops this year and is leading the fastest pit crew competition sponsored by AT&T.

    Chad Knaus and Steve Latarte will address the media Tuesday morning.

  • The Ballad of Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Setting the Record Straight

    The Ballad of Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Setting the Record Straight

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. Is about to close out his 11th year of Sprint Cup competition. He’s consistently one of the most talked about figures in the sport. Speculation about his career, why he runs where he runs, his personal life and his professional decisions are all fair game it seems.

    Before we go any further, there’s one thing that I think I should make clear up front: I like Dale Earnhardt Jr. I’ve never met the guy, but he seems likeable enough. He’s about my age and from my part of the world. It’s easy for me to identify with him, and I’m sure I’m not alone.

    He’s in an enviable position. He’s one of the most recognizable NASCAR drivers in America, and I’m talking about beyond the sport. People who have never watched a lap of a race can recognize him on sight.

    He’s rich.

    He probably gets all the free Pepsi products he wants. Amps aren’t cheap. I had to finance the one I’m drinking now while I write this. That’s a pretty good perk right there.

    He mingles with celebrities, including Jay-Z, and that guy is married to Beyonce! How’s that for six degrees of separation?

    He has his own race team, and employs one of the most talked about Nationwide drivers in recent memory in Danica Patrick.

    He’s won 18 more Sprint Cup races than most of us will ever dream of winning, including the Daytona 500.

    He’s racing royalty.

    Earnhardt Jr. is a treasure in NASCAR. He’s a third generation competitor and that’s become rarer in a sport that has become more diverse in terms of the areas from which the drivers hail.

    His father was perhaps the most iconic figure ever to sit behind the wheel of a stock car. He was, and still is, my favorite driver. I still don’t watch a race to this day and not think about him at least once. For me, Big E. is the yardstick by which all other drivers are measured.

    For a lot of people, that day the Intimidator passed away was the day they became fans of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    For now, Dale Jr. is the center of the NASCAR universe. He has been for a while, and I don’t see a way that it will change anytime soon. Year after year he’s the sport’s most popular driver: legions of fans don their hats and t-shirts every weekend to pull for Junior.

    That’s just not going to stop, and in fact I suspect his fan base is actually growing, though I’ve never counted the green t-shirts or hats at any of NASCAR’s tracks.

    That’s a completely unscientific estimation on my part, but it’s mine and I’m entitled to an observation.

    Of all the eyes on Dale Jr., there seems to be three sets of people watching Dale Earnhardt Jr. that most readily make their presence known.

    The first set is comprised of his detractors. They just don’t like him. They will point to his statistics; use the mighty accomplishments of his father or another successful driver of the moment as a comparison, and claim with disdain that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would never be in the Sprint Cup Series if not for his last name.

    I don’t think that’s true, and if you’re among that group, you’re entitled to your opinion, but there’s a lot of less accomplished drivers who have managed to have long careers in NASCAR. Try to figure out how Ken Schrader kept showing up all those years if I’m wrong.

    The second group is Junior Nation. They are his most rabid fans and lately his most staunch defenders. If you’ve ever read an article about him online that allows readers to post comments, ‘Nation is not hard to find.

    I can pick them out, you can too, or maybe you’re a part of it. They range from those who feel a paternal draw to him out of watching him experience what he went though in 2001 (which is entirely understandable), to those who feel he has some unbridled talent that is just waiting to be unleashed.

    Both are entirely understandable sentiments. The loss he suffered in 2001 was so public and so painful for so many fans that a lot of people felt the need to pull for him as if it were their own child.

    Those who feel he has an uncorked talent harbor the belief that you couldn’t have that last name and not carry some of that ability in your DNA. At times, he’s shown flashes of that brilliance.

    Then there is the third group: the pragmatists, like me. I don’t dislike him because of some bitterness that he didn’t earn his spot, nor do I own a Dale Jr. T-shirt. Again I like the guy personally, and he’s a great race car driver.

    Consider this: After the race at Texas, Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits 19th in points.

    If you subscribe to the belief that the drivers of the Sprint Cup Series are the best stock car drivers in the world, after Texas using the points one can credibly come to the conclusion that as of November 8, 2010, only 18 men on the face of the earth are better drivers than him.

    That’s pretty heady company. There are more than 6.8 billion people on Earth. He’s better than all but 18 of them when it comes to driving a stock car.

    The interesting thing though is that even with the credentials he holds, it has seemingly become fashionable to create an alternate history for Junior.

    There’s nothing wrong with fans wanting to highlight the performance of their driver. It makes for great debate.

    The problem emerges when the alternate narrative of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s career gets so ingrained in the NASCAR consciousness that it replaces the reality. The alternate history is dangerous because it has a strange way of distorting our expectation of him.

    It’s sort of become a fishing story for racing; a sermon for the converted. A narrative for the ‘Nation: The Ballad of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    It goes something like this:

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. made his Sprint Cup Debut in 1999 after much fanfare and success in the Nationwide Series. He made five starts that year, and ran for rookie of the year in 2000.

    He did it in style. He won twice that season and competed with his father, who finished second in the final points standings. Some would say later that Dale Sr.’s career was revitalized by competing against his own son.

    The following year, Dale Earnhardt Sr. passed away in a last lap crash at the Daytona 500. Dale Jr. was forced to mourn publicly, and in the process took on millions of fans not only for his talent, but for his charisma.

    He dazzled the fans at Daytona that July, conquering the track that took his father and beginning a meteoric rise to dominance.

    By 2007, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s career became something out of a Dickens novel.

    After years spent languishing under the oppressive management of his stepmother Teresa at DEI, Dale Earnhardt Jr. felt it was time to have some control over the racing empire his father built.

    He wanted a piece of the company, or he threatened he’d walk.

    He walked straight to Hendrick Motorsports.

    His 2007 news conference announcing the move was live on television, and came as welcome news to Junior Nation. They felt certain that the move would put him in the equipment that would propel him to a Sprint Cup Championship.

    However, many Amp drinks later, we discovered that Hendrick wasn’t the place for Jr. to rejuvenate his career.

    After a promising start in the Budweiser Shootout in 2008, the slow decline began, and it became increasingly apparent that Dale Jr. was once again the victim of management.

    Rick Hendrick unscrupulously began to shuffle resources, personnel and equipment to ensure the continued success of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon at the expense of Driver 88.

    The machinations at HMS have ensured that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will not be able to exhibit his superior talent as long as he remains under the employ of Rick Hendrick.

    He remains there a prisoner of his contract to this day, waiting for the release from HMS that will allow him to once again dominate the way he did just a few short years ago.

    In a nutshell, this is The Ballad of Dale Earnhardt Jr. It’s a parallel history offered while his fans await the championship form they remember.

    But it’s not entirely the truth. The skeleton is right, but it includes a few embellishments and omissions along the way which change the Ballad from the true story.

    At the core of the narrative is the notion that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would win all the time if it wasn’t for his circumstances.

    His 18 career Cup wins, his 2004 Daytona 500 crown, and his back to back Nationwide titles in 1998 and 1999 are often cited as evidence of his bottled up talent.

    Maybe that portion of his career is a lot further away than everyone thinks.

    Back when Dale Earnhardt Jr. was cutting his teeth in the Nationwide Series, it was a much different series than it is now. It wasn’t heavily populated with Sprint Cup drivers like it is today.

    Among the final top ten rankings in the Nationwide series in 1998 were only two drivers who are currently driving in the Sprint Cup Series today (Elliott Sadler and Matt Kenseth) and a laundry list of people who are residing in the “where are they now files.”

    He was seriously challenged by Kenseth in a Roush car, but also was chased by icons like Elton Sawyer, Tim Fedewa and Buckshot Jones.

    Take a look at the Nationwide points standings after Texas. There are currently six full—time Cup drivers in the top ten, including of course the series champion Brad Keselowski in a Penske Dodge.

    Imagine if back in 1998 there were drivers with similar Cup experience as there are now.

    If you take those six drivers currently in the top 10 in Nationwide points (Keselowski, Edwards, Ky. Busch, Menard, Harvick and Logano) and figure where they are in the Sprint Cup standings and then apply those rankings to 1998, Earnhardt Jr. would have been fighting the following Cup guys for that 1998 Nationwide title: Brett Bodine (25th in Cup points), Rusty Wallace (fourth), Jeremy Mayfield (seventh), Ricky Rudd (23rd), Dale Jarrett (third) and Chad Little (16th).

    Among that list are two guys who won Sprint Cup titles in their careers and a couple of less than stellar performers, but they all had something that Jr. didn’t have at that time: experience.

    It’s a much different series now than it was then. There are more drivers with more experience in better stuff.

    That’s not to discount those titles. Dale Earnhardt Jr. handily beat the guys he was racing against. He wore ‘em out week in and week out. It’s simply to point out that Nationwide titles in the 1990s aren’t what they are today.

    But what are Nationwide titles? Do they mean anything anyway?

    Jr. won back to back Nationwide titles in 1998 and ’99. Randy LaJoie also won back to back titles in the 1990s (1996-97). He professed he never wanted to go Cup racing, but he never even was seriously approached by the top echelon teams of the time to drive one of their cars.

    Larry Pearson won back to back titles in the 1980s (1986-87). He was a second generation driver, and in the 80s his father David Pearson was still fresh in a lot of people’s minds. His Cup career never went anywhere either.

    On the other hand, not winning a Nationwide title doesn’t exactly mean you’ll fail at the Cup series either.

    Jeff Gordon has four Sprint Cup titles and 82 victories. The closest he ever got to claiming a Nationwide title was in 1992. He finished fourth to Joe Nemechek, 222 points back.

    At least Gordon won five Nationwide races. His teammate and current flavor of the last four years Jimmie Johnson never got that far. In 91 Nationwide starts, Johnson managed one win in 2001.

    His futility at the Nationwide level sure didn’t come with him to Sprint Cup.

    53 wins and four titles later, people are biting their nails trying to figure out if he’ll win a fifth straight. NASCAR fans are either salivating over the idea of seeing Johnson make more history or watching him implode with two races to go.

    For some, he’s so good it’s boring.

    Jr.’s best run in the Sprint Cup Series was 2003-2004. He won two races in ’03 en route to a third place finish in the final standings. He backed it up with a fifth place run in 2004, and that’s the season that people remember.

    He started it with a bang at the Daytona 500. After dominating all day, he won the race that eluded his father for 20 years in just his fifth attempt.

    The Daytona 500 is a huge part of any driver’s career, and it certainly was a near obsession for his father. But does it really mean anything in terms of greatness?

    Dale Earnhardt Sr. was great long before he won his only Daytona 500 in 1998. He had won 70 races and already was a seven—time champion. He had greatness covered before he won the 500. While it was a wildly popular win, history probably wouldn’t have judged him any differently if he hadn’t won it.

    On the other hand, both Derrike Cope (1990) and Ward Burton (2002) won the 500. It didn’t make either of them great. Together they won seven Sprint Cup races.

    That’s one fewer than Denny Hamlin has won this year.

    Dale Jr.’s 2004 Daytona 500 win kicked off a season in which he won six times and posted 16 top five finishes. It’s one of two seasons in which he was won more than twice. 2001 was the other with three wins.

    Interestingly, both of those seasons were campaigned at DEI, where he ultimately left because he didn’t feel he could win and compete for titles. They also happened after the death of his father and under the widely perceived ham—handed management of Teresa Earnhardt.

    Off to Hendrick Motorsports for 2008.

    His beginnings were promising. First time out, he grabbed his first win for Hendrick Motorsports in the 2008 Budweiser Shootout. He went on to chalk up another win at Michigan in June.

    He hasn’t been to victory lane since.

    Before everyone begins to cultivate the reasons he doesn’t win at Hendrick, it’s useful to note that Rick Hendrick dealt with Jr.’s sister and hired his uncle and cousin to help make a seamless transition to Hendrick.

    They’ve thrown engineers and crew chiefs at Jr.’s woes, including current Stewart—Haas ace Darian Grubb. Grubb had guided Jimmie Johnson to a Daytona 500 in 2006, then moved over to oversee the No. 88 and the No. 5 cars for 2008.

    He then moved on to the opportunity of a lifetime in September of ‘08. He had the chance to crew chief for two—time Sprint Cup champ Tony Stewart and his new operation. Some have suggested he was taken away in 2008.

    He wasn’t. He pursued a great opportunity.

    The idea that he was taken away is about the same as saying Ray Evernham was taken away from Jeff Gordon. He wasn’t. He left to pursue a great opportunity in team ownership.

    Over the years Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had a solid career. He’s amassed 18 wins at the Cup level.

    Of the 12 drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup this year, that puts him right about in the middle in terms of win totals.

    Six guys have more than 18 wins: Johnson, Gordon, Kyle Busch, Stewart, Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton. Of those six, three got to their totals in fewer starts than Dale Jr. (Kyle and Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson).

    On the other hand, of the six that haven’t gotten to 18 wins, only Matt Kenseth has had a career as long as Dale Earnhardt Jr. They’re tied at 18 apiece and are one career start apart.

    Junior has 397 starts, Kenseth has 398.

    The point of all of this is maybe Dale Earnhardt Jr. is just doing what Dale Earnhardt Jr. does and is running where Dale Earnhardt Jr. runs.

    His average finish right now is 18.4. That’s about in the middle of all of his seasons. Six seasons he’s posted better average finishes, four have been worse. His career average finish is just about 17th. He’s a little more than one position off for 2010.

    Just about everyone in the sport wants Dale Jr. to win more. I do. I’m pretty sure NASCAR does too. They know the excitement he generates when he does win.

    What gets missed sometimes is the distinct possibility that he’s had his best years in terms of results. He’s 36 years old, and the fields are getting younger.

    That’s not to say he’s washed up, because I certainly don’t think that. There are wins ahead, and maybe even a shot at a title.

    In the interim, he still brings excitement to the sport, puts fans in the seats and eyes on the television. No matter what he does from here on, his place in the sport is secure.

    But there’s no reason to panic because Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn’t running good. He’s running about where he usually runs. He just doesn’t have the occasional trips to victory lane.

    His father went through a slump in the 1990s, and then came back. Jr. could do the same thing.

    For the time being though, look at Dale Jr. and recognize he’s one of the last links to the multi—generational feel that NASCAR once had.

    No matter what Jr. does with his career from here, that name of his symbolizes a different time in NASCAR. It’s worth remembering, and we owe Jr. a lot just for that.

    That part of the Ballad of Dale Earnhardt is true whether he returns to victory lane or not.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: AAA Texas 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: AAA Texas 500

    There was a shoot out on and off the track at the OK Corral, otherwise known as Texas Motor Speedway. Here are the surprising and not surprising moments from the AAA Texas 500:

    Surprising:  Two well-known veterans of the sport took each other out on the track, off the track and perhaps even in the ambulance ride back to the care center.  From Jeff Gordon’s perspective, Jeff Burton just wrecked him, driving him hard into the wall.  “I never thought that would happen,” Gordon said.  “I’ve lost a lot of respect for Jeff Burton.”  Burton, on the other hand, took the blame, saying “I wrecked him under caution.  I don’t have a bit of problem with what he did.”  No matter the rhetoric afterwards, Jeff Gordon got out of his decimated car, took a long walk to find Jeff Burton, and started swinging.  After both drivers were restrained by the NASCAR officials, they were loaded together into the ambulance, where Gordon emerged still fuming.  Burton was able to return to the race, albeit in a badly damaged car, to finish 36th, while Gordon officially retired from the race, ultimately finishing in the 37th spot.

    Not Surprising:  Kyle Busch, known for antics of his own, got into big trouble with none other than NASCAR itself.  On lap 159, Busch wrecked and headed to the pits for repairs.  NASCAR determined that Busch was too fast out trying to beat the pace car and ordered him back to his pit stall to be held for a lap.  While sitting on pit road, Busch decided to take his frustrations out on the NASCAR official, giving him the middle finger salute.  NASCAR ordered Busch to be held two more laps for his indiscretion, which left him several laps down, finishing in the 32nd position.

    Surprising:  With Joe Gibb’s good guy image, it was surprising to see the Coach in a black hat.  But there he was in Victory Lane after his driver Denny Hamlin drove like a demon, beating out Matt Kenseth for the checkered flag.  Hamlin not only performed the Texas sweep, he also claimed the points lead, now 33 points ahead of former point’s leader Jimmie Johnson.  “My goal was to win the race, nothing else,” Hamlin said simply, notching one more win on his Chase belt and moving ever closer to his championship dream.

    Not Surprising:  Both Chase contenders Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick had decent finishes, with each one overcoming challenges of their own.  Johnson had all kinds of problems on pit road, from losing a tire to poor pit stops by his crew, while Harvick slapped the wall in the waning stages of the race.  Johnson finished ninth and lost the points lead, falling to an unfamiliar second place in the Chase.  Harvick finished sixth and is now 59 points back in the standings, but still within striking distance of the championship.

    Surprising:   Speaking of Johnson’s pit road struggles, crew chief Chad Knaus took some swift action to resolve the issues.   Knaus summarily relieved his own struggling pit crew and swapped them out with Gordon’s No. 24 pit crew, who almost immediately began pulling off improved pit stops.  Johnson’s former pit crew members were left to wallow in their indiscretions as they handled the task of disassembling the No. 24 pit box.

    Not Surprising:  During an interview after the race, Chad Knaus, looking a bit more rattled than usual, nevertheless took full responsibility for making that most difficult call to swap out the pit crews.  “It was sad we had to do that,” Knaus said.  “But it was in the best interest of Hendrick Motor Sports.”  Knaus reaffirmed that the “4-8 and 2-4 teams are one,” making his decision a bit easier, at least in his eyes. 

    Surprising:   There were some surprising drivers finishing in the top five at Texas.  Probably most surprising and surprised, however, was Joey Logano.  Sliced Bread admitted that he was not fond of the track, but still went out to lead laps, ultimately finishing in the fourth position.  “I never thought we’d be in front here,” Logano said.  “This is fun!” 

    Not Surprising:   While Greg Biffle may not have had as much fun as Logano, especially after having transmission problems late in the race, he still managed a top-five finish.  Biffle inarguably had the most dominant car of the race, starting from the outside pole and leading the majority of the laps.  “It was really tough,” Biffle said.  “We had bad drive train vibration problems and today it bit us.”  With his solid run, however, Biffle jumped two spots to ninth in the Chase standings.

    Surprising:  Probably most surprising was the driver who finished in the runner up spot, Matt Kenseth.  At one point, Kenseth was a lap down, however, he rallied back to give Hamlin a run for his money on the final laps.  “That was disappointing I didn’t finish it off there,” Kenseth said.  This was the fourth time that Kenseth finished second, but his bridesmaid run hoisted him from eighth to fifth in the point standings.

    Not Surprising:  David Ragan, under the tutelage of crew chief Drew Blickensderfer, had a great run deep in the heart of Texas.  The young driver, who has not had the best of seasons, started in the fifth position and finished in the eighth spot.  He most likely would have finished even higher had not he too had problems in the pits, in his case a loose lug nut issue.  “That goes to show you how good of a car we had today,” Ragan said.  “It was a good job by Drew and our UPS team, but we just need to get better on pit road.”

    With the “No Limits” experience at Texas Motor Speedway in the rear view mirror, the Cup Series will head for the next-to-the last race of the season at Phoenix.   The Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix International Raceway will run on Sunday, November 14th at 3:00 PM on ESPN.

  • Matt Kenseth Goes From One Lap Down to One Lap Away from Victory at Texas

    Matt Kenseth Goes From One Lap Down to One Lap Away from Victory at Texas

    Matt Kenseth called his shot on the radio before the Green-White-Checkered finish and he almost hit it right out of the park. Except almost doesn’t count in racing and he came home with a second place finish.

    “Yeah, it’s been an interesting day,” Kenseth said.

    “All our cars were fast today. Greg probably had the best car if he wouldn’t have broken his transmission or whatever happened there. Our pit stops were really good today, they were better than they have been.”

    “I didn’t speed on pit road today, which was a bonus. I’ve been doing that too much lately. Just all day we had a mistake-free day. Even when we had trouble we were able to stay calm and fix our problems and get back in the lead lap.”

    He continued, “So just everything went just right today in the pits and on pit road and pretty much on the track, too. I wish I could do the last lap one more time and try something different, but other than that, everything went as good as we could have expected today.”

    Texas Motor Speedway has always been a racetrack that the No. 17 have excelled on. Seven top fives, 10 top 10s and 497 laps led and three straight second place finishes (2006, and twice in 2007) led Kenseth into the day.

    With a win in their pocket, 2002, Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 came at great time for a team that even while making the Chase, hasn’t had many highlight reel moments in 2010.

    Fords were dominant in both the practice sessions and qualifying, sweeping the top three positions and five out of the top 10. The Roush-Fenway Fords more specifically, were on track to steal the show coming off a Carl Edwards victory in the Nationwide Series race Saturday afternoon.

    Kenseth and company went about their business in their usual quiet manner. Having to start 19th wasn’t a big concern for a car that was primed for race trim. Once the race arrived though, it was a good thing that there were 334 laps and plenty of time to make changes. Kenseth went a lap down early after an unscheduled pit stop for a vibration.

    From there the car came alive upon getting the lucky dog and his lap back and tore through the field. All eyes remained on the leaders as teammate Greg Biffle led 224 laps, covering the field. Or they were on former teammate Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon when the two got physical on the backstretch after a wreck.

    Kenseth later joked, “I heard there was a fight today, did everyone take their helmets off?” In 2006 at Bristol Kenseth was on the receiving end of a Gordon shove after the two tangled on the track. Gordon hadn’t taken his helmet off.

    Back on track, Kenseth and company continued to climb finally reached the top 10 and joined the real fun. After passing Mark Martin for the second spot on lap 311, he needed to erase over a near two-second lead by Denny Hamlin to have a shot at the victory.

    When Patrick Carpentier spun his No. 26 and the caution came out with six laps remaining, that’s when Kenseth spoke his confidence over the radio. The restart was one of the most exciting ones of the night as he took the lead coming off turn two and then lost it going down the backstretch.

    “I got a really good restart and he pulled as close as he could to me to get the wind off of me, which in lap 100 you wouldn’t do that to somebody because they’d be mad, but over last ten laps that’s totally fair,” said Kenseth.

    “I’d probably be trying to do the same thing as much as I could to get the inside guy loose and get him uncomfortable. So surprisingly my car was pretty stable and it lasted for a lap, and I just lifted real early because we were side by side and I wanted to actually keep him outside of me, and I thought if we left turn 2 at least nose to nose and I could get into 3 and still have him outside of me that we’d have a shot to the finish line,” he said.

    Kenseth’s race would be over by turn three however.

    “I probably shouldn’t have been holding the wheel as much as I did but I wanted to get a nice run off the corner, and as soon as he got away from my side for whatever reason and got behind me, my car just took off. It just felt like it raised the car half an inch and went straight, and I had to get out of the gas, so I had to keep from hitting the wall.”

    “I don’t know, it was a heck of a race down to the finish … you hate it when you get beat.”

    Getting beat at Texas is something that Kenseth is unfortunately becoming all too familiar with. In 2007 Jeff Burton passed him on the last lap coming off turn two when Kenseth again got loose. Later that season he and Jimmie Johnson had a fierce battle over the final 10 laps before Johnson passed him for good with two laps to go.

    Getting passed again on the last lap at Texas just gave him his fourth second place finish and his eighth top five at the track, which now leads all active drivers. He’s getting closer to the day when he’ll again be leading all 42 drivers to the checkered flag at Texas Motor Speedway.

  • The Final Word – They got a fistful of dollars in Texas, though Burton almost received a fistful from Gordon

    The Final Word – They got a fistful of dollars in Texas, though Burton almost received a fistful from Gordon

    So, what did we learn from Texas?

    Well, we learned that if you were going to have an old fashioned wild west shootout, there was no better place to decide matters. Who represented the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly on Saturday afternoon was determined simply by who you liked best, who you wanted to get the gold when it was all over. So we watched as Blondie, Tuco, and Angel Eyes took up their positions.

    We learned that, unlike in the original, the bad man sometimes wins. In this version, it was Blondie and Tuco lying in the dust when the credits rolled. Denny Hamlin came alive late and roared off into the sunset to pick up his 8th win of the season, 16th of his career. At least I didn’t have to stick around to watch his post-race interview. There are some drivers I like, some I don’t mind, and a very few I just can’t stand. You can guess where Angel Eyes, er, Denny stands with me. I’m not saying he would not be deserving. I am just saying that I would not be happy about it.

    We learned that sometimes unhappiness comes in the form of bad things happening to nice people. Jeff Burton made a mistake and tried to drive beside Jeff Gordon to let him know that. In doing so, he made another mistake, destroyed both cars, got Mr. Gordon upset, got into a slight physical confrontation with the aforementioned Mr. Gordon, and generally gave us all something to talk about it. Bad for the Jeffs, good for us stiffs.

    We learned that one man’s misfortune is another man’s new pit crew. Jimmie Johnson’s boys were, well, the pits, costing their driver positions on the track. Right after his team-mate got Burtonized, and faster than you could say Donald Trump, the Lowe’s boys got fired and the Dupont lads got hired. Things went better for Johnson, while his old crew took care of the custodial duties in cleaning up the #24 pit box. Johnson still finished 9th, three spots behind Kevin Harvick. Hamlin is our new series leader, Johnson 33 back, and Harvick 59.

    We learned that Greg Biffle was the star of this movie, but after losing a couple of gears his fate would be 5th. Meanwhile, with Gordon’s tough experience, Carl Edwards is now fourth. Should Hamlin finish last the next two races, with the other two contenders just about as unfortunate, and if Carl wins by leading the most laps the final two races, he would be our new champion. Then again, a rose could bloom from my butt. Hey, it could happen.

    We learned that in this old world there are few things as traumatic as seeing a guy give the finger to another guy. Kyle Busch got caught speeding, got parked a lap and, after saluting the official with one certain digit with his in-car camera rolling, got parked for another two laps. Oh, the humanity! Sure, there may be those who have lived such a sheltered life, who have such tender sensitivities, that they may view the punishment as deserving. For such people I can only say [middle finger extended].

    We learned that NASCAR is still trying to figure out how to keep Cup drivers from winning the Nationwide series. Here is the solution. You take away from any driver’s Nationwide point total the number of Cup points they have earned that season. That should do it…and you are welcome. By the way, that would have given Justin Allgaier the honor, as it should be.

    Two races to go as we head to Phoenix where Hamlin has never won, though has finishes between third and sixth in six of his previous ten starts there. It is where Harvick as claimed a couple of victories over the years. However, it is also where Johnson has won four of the last six held there. It is a track on which he has chalked up eight straight top fives, a dozen top tens in 14 tries, and a worst finish of 15th. I wouldn’t exactly count out his drive for five just yet. You could see Blondie rise up yet again as they go for a few dollars more this Sunday. Enjoy the week.

  • Hendrick Motorsports Statement – Teams will trade pit crews for the remaining two races

    HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS STATEMENT

    CONCORD, N.C. (Nov. 8, 2010) – The Nos. 24 and 48 Hendrick Motorsports teams will trade pit crews for the remaining two races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

    The change is limited to the seven primary over-the-wall members of the respective pit crews. Roles of additional team personnel will not be affected.

  • A Veterans Day Tribute, Newman’s Army Car to Feature Faces of More Than 500 Veterans

    WWII veteran to be guest of Army team in Phoenix      

    FORT KNOX, Ky. (Nov. 8, 2010) — More than 500 faces of military veterans will grace Ryan Newman’s No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. The special paint scheme serves as an extension of Veterans Day (Nov. 11), an annual United States holiday honoring military veterans.

    The 500 plus faces on Newman’s Veterans Day car represent multiple generations of men and women who embraced the call of duty, dating back to the World War I era.

    Among the photos submitted through www.goarmy.com was from World War II veteran and Arizona resident Luis Rodriguez Jr. who will attend Sunday’s race as a guest of the U.S. Army race team. Rodriguez, 85, served in the U.S. Army and was a member of the 118th General Hospital, a U.S. Army military hospital located in New South Wales, Australia. He is a resident of Sahuarita, Ariz. (15 miles south of Tucson).

    “What a cool way for us to say ‘thank you’ and honor the veterans who have served our country and fought for our freedom,” said Newman, who won the April race in Phoenix. “This is the Soldiers’ car and having the faces of these brave men and women will be a great inspiration and powerful reminder of what it means to be Army Strong.”

    Col. Derik Crotts, director of strategic communications, marketing and outreach, U.S. Army Accessions Command, added, “Every time Ryan Newman drives the No. 39 Chevrolet with the Army colors, he represents the more than one million men and women who proudly serve our Nation. For this race, with this paint scheme, we pay tribute to our heroes past and present and their families. Each picture, each face, is a reminder of the sacrifice and service of the millions who have made our Army strong and our nation free.”
    �
    About U.S. Army Accessions Command
    The U.S. Army Accessions Command (USAAC), a subordinate command of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, meets the human resource needs of the Army by transforming volunteers into officers, warrant officers, and enlisted Soldiers.  In providing the force, the 20,730 men and women of Accessions Command prepare these future Soldiers and leaders for their initial military training. Commanded by Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, USAAC is located at Fort Knox, Ky.

  • Toyota NSCS Texas Post-Race Notes & Quotes

    Camry driver Denny Hamlin earned his eighth victory of the season in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Texas Motor Speedway.  

    Hamlin led twice for 31 (of 334) laps en route to victory lane to sweep both Texas races, after also winning the April event at the 1.5-mile oval.  

    Toyota driver Joey Logano finished fourth, earning his fourth consecutive top-10 result in as many starts.   Other Camry drivers in the field included Marcos Ambrose (12th), Kasey Kahne (13th), David Reutimann (15th), Casey Mears (26th), Scott Speed (27th), Kyle Busch (32nd), Robby Gordon (35th), Martin Truex Jr. (38th), Mike Bliss (39th) and Joe Nemechek (43rd).  

    Hamlin took control of the unofficial NSCS point standings following Texas and holds a 33-point advantage over second-place Jimmie Johnson with two races remaining in the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship playoff.  Busch moved to the seventh position and is now 339 points behind Hamlin.

    DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  1st What does it feel like to win the race and take the lead in the point standings at Texas? “I just can’t say enough for this whole FedEx team.  I told everyone I’d wait for three to go and I felt like that’s the most aggressive as I’ve been on restarts all year.  I did what I had to do.  I can’t thank FedEx and all their employees enough for supporting me right from the get go.  The whole JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) 11 team, the fans, Sprint and Toyota.  I can’t say enough for this Toyota Camry to be on top.  This is a big deal for everyone in the Toyota camp.  They spent a lot of money and a lot of effort to help this sport grow and be one of the top manufacturers and I’m proud to put them number one.” What is it about Texas Motor Speedway that you’ve been so successful at this year? “I don’t know.  At the beginning of the race we were struggling.  We were running 25th and I can’t go anywhere.  We just kept working on it.  Every stop we kept adjusting and as soon as it was night fall our car just took off.  That’s why you can never look at qualifying and practice, everyone looks into it, but I know what our car has.” How important was this Texas victory? “I tell you, it’s a great feeling.  It’s unbelievable to me to have eight wins in one season.  This is absolutely unbelievable.  To do it in a timely fashion that we have and beat those guys.  I had to drive my heart out to do it.  That was the first win I’ve gotten other than maybe Martinsville where I had to just drive the crap out of the car in the last few laps.  I love racing Matt Kenseth, there’s no better person I’d rather have on the inside of me.” How does it feel to take the lead in the point standings? “Well, for me, I’m going to continue to just race relaxed, and honestly, I think back to a couple years ago, and even late in these restarts and what not — I don’t get excited anymore.  I just don’t let things get to me much anymore and just race relaxed.  I’m really not nervous going into races.  I was more nervous at the very first Chase race in New Hampshire getting ready to start that race than I was from then to this point.  For me, we’re on the cusp of trying to get our first championship, and as long as we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we should be okay.” Can you take us through that last restart? “It was exciting.  I figured I had been pretty good on the top on restarts once we got our car tightened up enough that I was pretty confident I would be okay.  But restarts have been my Achilles heel all Chase long, all year long.  I just can’t seem to get it together.  So I was able to side draft the 17 (Matt Kenseth) enough on the front straightaway to keep beside him so where he couldn’t clear me off of (turn) 2, and that was going to be very important. But, when he cleared me in the middle of  (turns) one and two, he did it by gassing up really aggressive and early and I knew it was going to be a hard time for him to exit the corner that way, and he obviously ran out of race track and it opened up the door for us to cross over.  For me, it was great to win a race that way.  I love racing for a win like that.  Any driver will tell you if there’s one guy you’re going to trust underneath you, it’s going to be Matt.  Obviously it’s great for him to have a good finish and obviously go for a win, but for me it was very gratifying to win a race that way.

    DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) How will you approach the final two races of the season? “You know, for me, I’m going to race Phoenix as if I’m 33 (points) behind to be honest with you.  There’s no comfortable margin going into Homestead because anything can happen.  So for me, Phoenix being an up -and-down race track for me, I’ve got to really be focused on practice day to get what I need to give Mike (Ford, crew chief) the information that I need and just 100 percent stay focused is all I can do.  But like I say, I’m not going to be conservative having the lead.  I’m going to want to stretch that out before we get to Homestead.  So that’s pretty much my mindset.”

    MIKE FORD, crew chief, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing How much work was this win for your team? “That was a lot of work.  We weren’t that good to get started, but we knew yesterday in practice we had a good car.  If we could get it close, it was going to have speed, and we fought for track position.  The last two races we haven’t qualified well here so I really wasn’t that worried about it.  The sun started to go down, two tires, got some track position, and that’s when our car really started to work good, and the last adjustments were probably the best of the day.  It’s a lot of the same that we were doing.  But we adjusted probably more than 90 percent of the races so far this year.”

    J.D. GIBBS, president, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing How does this win feel? “I think what was kind of fun about this race, the race starts and we’re not that good, you’re kind of waiting for them to get going.  And I kind of get panicked and you listen to Denny (Hamlin) and you watch Mike (Ford, crew chief) and they’re not worried, they’re just calm and collected, and it’s kind of a great plan, so it was kind of encouraging to watch that and just for it to pay off at the at the end of the day.  Really, hats off to those guys.”

    JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  4th Are you happy with your finish? “Yeah, we had a good day.  For me at Texas, this is great actually.   I was kind of expecting to be happy with a 12th or 10th-place finish here.  I was thinking that would be a good day for us.  Then all of a sudden I was in the lead and I was like, ‘Heck yeah, I’m leading laps.’  I thought that was pretty cool.  I’m like, ‘Man, who would’ve thought that here.’  I had a lot of fun with it.  I had a good race car, I was just a little bit short at the end.  We were good in the sun.  I think we did a good job adjusting, but I think everyone did a little bit better than us to get the car just a tad better than ours.  We finished fourth so that’s cool.  My last finishes we were seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth so that’s pretty cool.  We’re going to run out of time — we need to skip a couple spots to get to first by the end of the season.” How much momentum do four straight top-10 finishes give your team going into the off-season? “We have a lot of momentum right now and I think two consecutive top-fives is also exciting.  I’m pumped up about it.  If we were in the Chase we’d be about fourth or so right now, so that’s exciting knowing that we’d be there.   We’ve just got to do a good job next year getting ourselves in the Chase.”

    MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 47 Tomb Thumb Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Finishing Position:  12th

    KASEY KAHNE, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position:  13th

    DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Outdoor Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  15th How was your race? “That was a disappointing day to say the least.  We had a great Aaron’s Outdoors Toyota and ran up front all day long.  We raced our way into the top-five and I thought for sure that we’d be racing for the win at the end.  Unfortunately, the car didn’t agree.  As the track conditions changed so did the No. 00 Camry.  We struggled with the car going quickly from tight to loose in about five laps and after that I was just doing my best to hold on.  We brought home a top-15 finish, but we should have done a lot better based on how we ran most of the day.  I’m proud of my entire team to keep battling all the way to the end.  We had great stops most of the day and everyone gave it their all.  I’m not happy with the end result, but we’ll work on it and do better next time.”

    CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position:  26th

    SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position:  27th

    KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position:  32nd How was your race? “It was a tough day.  We had a fast race car.  The guys did an awesome job.  I can’t say enough to the guys that gave me a fast race car today, but unfortunately I got spun out there trying to get to the bottom lane.  I had guys in front of me doing it before, but I got wrecked.  Then, on the ensuing pit stop there we tried to get tires on it and beat the pace car out and I wasn’t trying to speed.  I was just two lights over or something like that I guess and I sped on pit road.  Then they penalized me for it.  I’m sorry I lost my cool to everybody on this team, to everybody at NASCAR and all of my guys that support me – Norm Miller (chairman, Interstate Batteries) and M&M’s and all of the guys.  It’s just so frustrating the way that you have such a fast race car and then you get spun out and you don’t expect to lose your cool, I guess.” How much do you think the camera in your car played into your penalty? “I don’t know.  I don’t know if the camera inside the car did or not, but it’s just unfortunate.  It’s something that I lost my cool in what I was doing and I had no worries about a camera inside the car at that point.” How disappointing is this after having such a good car? “We’ve had fast race cars this whole weekend — probably had a good enough car like Denny’s (Hamlin) to try to win the race, but it’s just real unfortunate there.  I got spun out and just everything else went downhill from there.  Through the whole day we had a really fast race car and the guys on this M&M’s team gave me a great race car that was fast, that was capable of winning, but it’s just unfortunate that I tried pulling back and getting down to the bottom lane and I got spun out in doing that.  Where I had another guy earlier in the race do that to me and I let him in.  You get spun out and wrecked like that and you’re not supposed to lose your cool — I mean, hello.  I came down pit road and we got the right sides changed and then tried to get back out there.  I wasn’t trying to speed, but apparently I must’ve been a couple lights over or something like that on my tac where it was just a small speeding penalty, but it wasn’t intentional.  Obviously, I got the penalty for that and then the ensuing ones later. I apologize to all of my guys for letting them down and for getting so behind today that we could never make it up.”

    ROBBY GORDON, No. 7 MAPEI/Menards Toyota Camry, Robby Gordon Motorsports Finishing Position:  35th

    MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Signature Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position:  38th What happened to take you out of the race? “After we spun and then lost a tire, we weren’t all that bad considering how banged up we were.  I thought we had a shot to rebound and rally back.  Unfortunately, we lost another tire and the damage it caused was too much to continue on.  It’s really unfortunate.” What has the reaction been this weekend with the special paint scheme? “I was hoping for another strong run for us because this NAPA Signature Toyota means a lot to so many people.  People came up to the car all weekend looking for names of loved ones who were on the car.  Some of them came in person to see their name on the NAPA Signature Toyota.  This has been a very impactful project for everyone involved and I was hoping to have a great run to help bring more attention to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.”

    MIKE BLISS, No. 66 Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports Finishing Position:  39th

    JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 Heat Redefined.com Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position:  43rd

  • CHEVY NSCS AT TEXAS TWO: Post Race Notes & Quotes

    NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

    AAA TEXAS 500

    TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

    TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE NOTES & QUOTES

    November 7, 2010

    Points Battle Heats Up for Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick after Eventful Race in Texas

    With Two Races Remaining in the Chase, Johnson Sits Second and Harvick Third

    FT. WORTH – (November 7, 2010) – Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, sits in an uncharacteristic position with two races remaining in the 2010 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup after an eventful race at Texas Motor Speedway. The four-time defending Series’ champion is now second in the standings, 33 points down to the new leader as a result of his ninth place finish in the AAA Texas 500.

    Sitting just 59 points out of the lead and 26 points behind Johnson, Kevin Harvick maintained third-place in the standings with a sixth place finish behind the wheel of his No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet.

    Johnson, who started 17th, worked his way to the top-five by lap 40 of the 334-lap/500-mile race but after issues on pit road during several stops that lost valuable track position, Johnson could do no better than ninth at the checkered flag. Following an on-track accident for Johnson’s teammate, Jeff Gordon, that sidelined him on lap 190 under caution, the crew for the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet went over the wall to pit for Johnson in the final two stops of the race. He was credited with leading once for one lap.

    Harvick came from the 26th starting spot to lead once for one lap. With 10 laps to go in the race, Harvick was racing hard in the top-three and scraped the wall twice pushing his Chevrolet as hard as he could.

    Mark Martin, No. 5 CARQUEST Auto Parts/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, continued his strong showing of the past several weeks with a third place finish.

    Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, also continued his success of recent weeks with a seventh place finish today. He now sits 10th in the standings.

    Tony Stewart stayed out on old tires to gain track position after starting 11th in the 43-car field. The two-time champion battled in the top-10 but had to settle to for the 11th spot in the final order and dropped to eighth in the points.

    Taking the biggest hit in the points were four-time champion Gordon and Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet. The two Team Chevy Chase drivers made contact on lap 192 as they were slowing for a caution. The damage ended Gordon’s day immediately. Burton attempted to return to competition but was only able to complete two additional laps.  Gordon who finished 37th, dropped to sixth in the points order and Burton, the 36th place finisher, is now in 12th position.

    Denny Hamlin (Toyota) was the race winner and the new points leader following today’s race. Matt Kenseth (Ford), Joey Logano (Toyota) and Greg Biffle (Ford) completed the top-five finishers.

    The battle for the championship continues next Sunday, November 14, 2010, at Phoenix International Raceway.

     

    TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTES:

    JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – FINISHED 9TH, NOW IN 2ND PLACE IN THE POINT STANDINGS, 33 POINTS BEHIND LEADER

     

    JIMMIE WE JUST TALKED TO CHAD AND HE SAID IT WAS A TOUGH AFTERNOON, TAKE US THROUGH YOUR DAY.

    “Yeah, it was just a long day and we had speed in the car and we would work our way forward and we had some issues on pit road and I feel terrible for my guys and that we had to make a change but the 24 guys came in and did a great job but we just gave away so much track position at the beginning and it was just tough for us to get back to where we needed to and then at the end we were coming along pretty well and the caution kind of came at a time where we didn’t need it and then in front of me on the restart was the 16 missing first and second gear and a lot of guys pitted behind us and I was at the back of the guys without taking tires and we just kind of slipped from there but it is what it is and it’s a team sport and we didn’t do our job today but we’ll come back at Phoenix and give it a try again.”

    YOU ARE IN UNCHARTED TERRITORY.  NORMALLY THIS TIME OF THE YEAR YOU ARE THE POINTS LEADER AND NOW YOU ARE 33 POINTS BACK GOING TO PHOENIX AND HOMESTEAD.  WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET NOW?

    “Well the last four years we have been in a different position.  I have lost plenty of championships in the past and this is racing and it doesn’t come easy and you are not going to get what you want every single year and every single weekend.   I can promise you this.  I am trying as hard as I can; I know my team is, and we are doing everything we can.  Thirty-three points back is not where we want to be but we are going to work to get back on top.”

    HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR GUYS ARE GOING TO REACT TO THE CHANGE MADE ON PIT ROAD TODAY (BROUGHT IN NO. 24 CREW OF JEFF GORDON TO COMPLETE THE RACE)

    “It’s something new, for sure. It’s nothing we’ve done in the past. But I just watched the World Series and when a pitcher is not doing his job, they make a change and get someone in who can. We know our guys are capable of doing it. We know it’s possible. We just had some things going on today that we couldn’t rebound from in and it really put us in a bad position on the race track and it kind of led to the bad result today.”

    SUMMARIZE YOUR RACE FOR US

    “Well, there was plenty of hope at different times. We were running pretty competitive. We worked our way up into the top three or so and then we had some issues on pit road. We lost a lot of track position there in the middle part of the race and then we were just trying to fight back from that and it’s tough with the competition this close. The long runs seemed to help us and would work in our favor, but unfortunately there at the end, on my last restart even, I had the No. 16 (Greg Biffle) in front of me and he was missing a couple of gears and it just didn’t work out.”

    IT’S SO UNUSUAL FOR A TEAM TO SWITCH CREWS IN THE MIDDLE OF A RACE, WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS WHEN THAT HAPPENED AND (CREW CHIEF) CHAD KNAUS MADE THAT CALL?

    “Well, with everything on the line, we’ve got to perform. We have to do our jobs. We’ve been having some issues and today wasn’t going any better and with the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) out of the race it was a good opportunity for us to try it. It might be different to our sport in some ways but we’ve seen (Richard) Childress and other teams flip-flop crews around all the time. Man, you watch pro sports and if people aren’t getting the job done you’ve got to pull them out and put someone else in.”

    NOW 33 POINTS DOWN WITH TWO RACES TO GO

    “Yeah, it’s not where we want to be, but there’s a lot of racing left. There are no guarantees what’s going to happen. At some point the championship run will come to an end and I’m going to try my hardest to make sure it’s not this year, but we’ll come back next week and try again.”

    DOES THE CHANGING OF THE TEAM REPRESENT A CRACK IN THE ARMOR OR DOES IT REPRESENT STRENGTH IN HENDRICK? I HEARD ONE OF THE GUYS WALKED OUT

    “I’m not really sure. It’s so fresh and I just got out of the car. I’m not sure what the implications will be through the shop. We’ve been lacking and we need to get it straightened out and it was a good wake-up call for the guys, if anything, to bring the No. 24 crew in and let them do their job and let them watch. I really do care for these guys with the bottom of my heart. They’re my guys. But, man, we have to perform. We can’t come down pit road and lose 10 spots every stop. That’s just killing us.”

    WERE YOU AS STUNNED AS EVERYBODY ELSE WHEN THAT HAPPENED?

    “No. I knew the possibility existed and at this point in the game, you can’t have feelings. You have to go out and try to win the championship. And if somebody’s feelings got hurt, that’s too bad. We’re here to win a championship and we’ve got to do everything we can.”

    DO YOU WANT THOSE GUYS NEXT WEEK? YOU TALKED ABOUT THEIR PERFORMANCE AND THEY HAVE NOT PERFORMED IN THIS CHASE

    “We might not have the options that we want next week. These guys, I know they have it in them. A lot of these guys have won four championships with me. Some have won three. So I know they have it in them, but every once in a while an athlete gets something in the head that slows them down or makes them over-think things. I don’t know what the issue was. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t know what the problem was in the pit stops but we’ve got to perform.”

    DOES THAT TEAR A TEAM APART WHEN THAT HAPPENS?

    “We’ll find out. I have no clue. That’s unchartered territory for us.”

    ISN’T IT A LITTLE LATE FOR A WAKE-UP CALL? IT MIGHT BE THE BIGGEST WAKE-UP CALL EVER

    “The alarm clock has been ringing for a while. It’s been ringing. And this is a new level to that. But the alarm clock has been ringing for quite a few months.”

    SO YOU KNOW THAT THERE WAS A PLAN THAT IF THINGS GOT BAD THAT YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO DO THIS?

    “No, there wasn’t anything discussed beforehand but when I saw the No. 24 tore up and I heard a little bit of pit chatter about collecting guys on the radio, I had a feeling what was coming.”

    DID YOU JUST NOT HAVE THE CAR AT THE END TO GET UP THERE AND CONTEND?

    “We weren’t the best on the short run. I would have to recover from a poor pit stop situation and drive up through the pack and really get back into a decent spot and then pit again and fall back. I feel like the long run was working well for us and we could make up time, but what really killed me in the end was the fact that the No. 16 (Biffle) didn’t have first or second gear.

    “On that restart, a train of cars went by on the inside and I was stuck behind the No. 16 because I couldn’t pass him before the start/finish.”

    WHEN DID THIS START BUILDING AND WHEN DID YOU AND CHAD KNAUS SIT DOWN AND SAY YOU MIGHT HAVE TO MAKE A CHANGE ON THE PIT CREW?

    “It just goes through the air. Everybody has kind of known in the back of their minds through the summer and all that we’ve needed a little bit of help. We’ll keep training and we’ll keep working and we’ll see what we get.”

    YOU SAID LAST WEEK IT WOULD BE MISTAKES THAT CAUSE A POINT SEPARATION. CAN YOU REBOUND FROM THIS? ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH?

    “Man, we’re going to try. We have two mistakes. We have the race at New Hampshire where we finished 25th, and then this weekend. Time will tell. All I know is that I’m going to show up next week and do everything in my power to win the race and lead laps and we’ll see what happens to the other guys.”

    DENNY HAMLIN SAID A FEW WEEKS AGO THAT THIS WASN’T OVER. DO YOU THINK IT’S OVER?
    “What’s over?”

    THE CHASE

    “Oh, no; it’s far from over. It’s far, far from over.”

    ARE YOU FEELING THE STRESS OR ARE YOU PRETTY COOL?

    “All I can do is give100 percent on my side. I don’t train the crew guys. I don’t work on the car. There’s only so much I can do. I’m going all I can and I know Chad (Knaus) is and I know these guys are. Even though today it was an embarrassing moment for my over-the-wall guys, they’re giving all they can. Sometimes you just get beat. That’s the way it is and today it just didn’t work out.”

    KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH: ON HIS DAY: “It was actually a pretty mellow day. We had a good car. I didn’t think we’d be anywhere in the hunt to tell you the truth after practice and they did a great job getting the car ready. When it got dark, our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet, we just got really loose and we got in the wall, twice actually. They fixed that and everything went as good as it could.”

    CHAD KNAUS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET: ON THE DAY: “I was a pretty rough day for sure you know. We’re fortunate that it turned out the way it did. We thought we were doing really good but we lost some track position. When you get back there, you don’t know exactly how you need to tune on the car. It got a little edgy for him. After we got back up front, then it got too tight, so we just couldn’t maintain our track position that hurt us pretty bad.”

    WHO ULTIMATELY MADE THE DECISION TO HAVE THE NO. 24 GUYS PIT YOUR CAR? “Ultimately it is my decision obviously, but we needed to do something. This is a team. The 24/48 shop has always operated as a team and that is the way that we see it. It is sad that we had to do that but in interest of Hendrick Motorsports and what we have to do, you have to do that stuff. It is not uncommon. We’ve seen it happen before and we’ll get home and try to get it fixed up and get our boys back.”

    WHAT WILL YOU DO LOOKING AHEAD TO PHOENIX? “I’m hoping we get back with the No. 48 guys and get everybody’s confidence up and get this thing going right in the right direction you know. It’s not what we want to do, but sometimes things need to be adjusted a little bit and we had to do that today.”

    MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 CARQUEST AUTO PARTS/GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET, FINISHED 3RD: ON HIS RUN TODAY: “It was a real good run for us today.  The car was stronger than we expected in practice, or stronger than I expected for sure.  It was really awesome on the long runs, wasn’t quite as sharp on the restarts on new tires, and Alan made a great, great call at the end.  I think it ran better on the ten lap tires than it would have on new tires.  It was a very good call.  Like I say, the car ran probably better there at the end by not changing tires than it would have on new tires.  It took it a while to come around.”

    DID YOU NEED THOSE RESTARTS AT THE END?  “Well, we were going to be third without it, and when those two just about tangled, I was just in the wrong position to be able to capitalize.  But if had been just a little bit different mix up, we would have been in position to capitalize on it.

    “My race team, CARQUEST, and Go Daddy, I want to give a shout out to them for their support through this tough summer, and it’s great to be a contender again.”

    TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11TH:  YOU STAYED OUT ON OLD TIRES AND WERE IN SIXTH WHEN THAT FINAL CAUTION FLAG CAME OUT. YOU OPTED TO PIT FOR FOUR TIRES, NO FUEL. HOW DID THAT DYNAMIC PLAY OUT? “Hindsight being 20/20, I probably should’ve stayed out, but we took a gamble, and really, what do we have to lose? We really don’t have anything to lose. We’re eighth in points, so who cares? I’d rather take a chance on doing something to go forward than worry about losing spots and going backward. I know there’s lots of teams that are grateful to run eighth in points, but we’re not one of them. It doesn’t mean anything to me at this point. I want to do everything we can to try to go forward and gain everything we can get. If that means taking a chance, knowing that we can lose points and lose spots, so be it. I’d rather take a chance to go forward. I thought that was the right thing to do, but it obviously wasn’t. We’d already stayed out once on those tires, and it worked out then, but I don’t know that I was good enough to stay out again. I might’ve finished a couple of spots better, but I’d rather take a chance on finishing better than finishing worse.”

    JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET – ON INCIDENT WITH JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET, LAP 192:

     

    BURTON HAS SAID IT WAS DEFINITELY HIS FAULT. HE OWNED UP TO THAT. WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY YOU WERE SO ANGRY?

    “Oh, well, I’ll walk you right through it. We went down into (Turn) 3. He went wide going into (Turn) 3. I got to the inside of him and there were four car widths between us and he drove from the wall all the way down to me; almost in the second groove up. I didn’t understand why and so the caution came out and we went down into (Turn) 1 and I just drove up next to him. I didn’t even touch him. And I don’t know, I guess he was just really frustrated with the way his car was handling or something and he just drove into my right rear and put me in the wall under caution. Of all the people out there, I never thought that would happen to Jeff Burton and me. I’ve always has a tremendous amount of respect for him. But I certainly lost a lot of respect today. I don’t think we’re going to be able to fix the DuPont Chevrolet. We were battling enough as it was but I really had confidence we were going to be able to battle back and get a decent finish, maybe a top 10 or 15, but that’s certainly not going to happen today.”

    WHAT WAS SAID IN THE AMBULANCE?

    “I was walking toward him and I started going through all the scenarios in my mind. Thankfully I had a long walk down there to him because I thought about the least amount that I wanted to do. I wanted to show him how upset I was but I wanted to do a whole lot more than that. But I held back and I’m just still in disbelief; I didn’t want to be in the ambulance with him, I can tell you that. But we got in there. I like Jeff. He’s a guy that’s usually very rational and I respect his opinion. He apologized and said it was his fault. He said he didn’t mean to do it and whatever. It’s over.”

     

    WHAT WENT ON WITH YOU GUYS IN THE CAR AND THEN OUT OF THE CAR ON THE RACE TRACK?

    “We were having a tough enough day with the DuPont Chevrolet and we were hoping when the sun went down that we would be able to get it tuned in there. But actually the car was about the best it had been right there. We were slowly making our way forward. We got up to Jeff and he went high going into (Turn) 3 and I kind of went to about the second lane up and he just drove all the way from the wall all the way down to my doors and said the sun got in his eyes. But I just wasn’t real happy about that and just drove up next to him going into (Turn) 1 after the caution came out to kind of say what was up with that and he just turned in my right rear and wrecked me. I mean it tore it up. I’ve experienced a lot of things in this sport but I can’t say I’ve experienced anything like that before and from somebody that I’ve had a lot of respect for. Jeff Burton is a great race car driver but and then afterwards I was just so mad I was just trying to think of how I could who him my displeasure. I wanted to do a lot more than that but I thought better of it. We had our words and a little scuffle and got in the ambulance and now we’re back there (in the garage) trying to get it fixed.

    “He (Burton) went up to the wall where he was running and I went down to about the second groove where I was running and by the time we got in the middle of the corner, he just turned left and got on my door and got me really loose. He said the sun got in his eyes. Then the caution came out and we got down into (Turn) 1 and I just drove up next to him to show him my displeasure about what went on and he just wrecked us; just flat-out wrecked us and turned us right into the wall and collected himself.

    “It was pretty stupid and he admitted it later. But I certainly wanted to show him how upset I was and I’m not ashamed of anything I did and we’ll try to fix it and get back out.”

    THAT WAS AN INTENSITY WE HAVEN’T SEEN FROM YOU VERY OFTEN IN YOUR CAREER. IF YOU FELT THAT WAY, YOUR FANS WANTED YOU TO GO FOR IT:

    “Well, he deserved a lot more than that, I can tell you that. That kind of stuff is just ridiculous and uncalled for. Jeff and I; I just like the guy too much and we’ll be able to go on and race one another and stuff like that. I just couldn’t believe how much respect I lost for a guy like Jeff to do something like that. I thought it was really stupid. Sometimes I can’t hold my emotions back and believe it or not I was holding them back right there (laughs).”

    WHAT DID BURTON SAY TO YOU?

    “He was trying to talk to me and explain to me what happened. He felt like I came up on him and that he didn’t mean to wreck me but I’m sorry, I will never believe that. I’ve been driving a race car long enough to know what your intentions are and I know what they were there.”

    “I think maybe if a guy wrecks you prior to that but I didn’t do anything to him. I was just showing him I wasn’t happy. I didn’t touch him. And he just flat-out wrecked me. I don’t know. The last few weeks have not exactly gone our way and I feel like what happened in Martinsville, I deserved a little bit of that, not all of it but maybe I did some through the past, but I can’t think of anything me and Jeff Burton have ever had a disagreement with that should have led to that.”

    DID YOU GUYS HAVE A CONVERSATION IN THE CARE CENTER? DID YOU TALK IN THERE?

    “We talked during the whole ambulance ride in. When you’re too upset like that, you don’t care to hear about any explanation as to what went on. I know he’s sorry but he’s sorry because he got caught up in it himself.”

    WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT RIDING IN THE SAME AMBULANCE WITH BURTON?

    “Well, I didn’t want to ride in the vehicle with him, I can tell you that. I wanted to go confront him, that’s for sure, but it wasn’t fun. He talked. He talked a lot, you know? But I didn’t say a whole lot.”

    YOU’VE BEEN GETTING BOUNCED AROUND A LOT THIS YEAR. WAS THAT ANY KIND OF BOILING POINT FOR A SEASON’S WORTH OF IT?

    “If somebody does something stupid, I’m going to be mad about it and I’m going to show him my frustration. If I could have gotten to Kurt Busch after Martinsville it would have been the same thing. I didn’t see him. And I had time to calm down. And I walked down there hoping I would see Jeff, and I did. I’m lucky I had a long enough walk to think about what I wanted to say and do because if I hadn’t of had that long a walk, I would have done something I would have regretted.”

    DO YOU EXPECT A PENALTY FOR GOING AFTER HIM?

    “No more penalty than what he deserves for what he did.”

    JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET – ON INCIDENT WITH JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET, LAP 102: “Coming off of turn four, he (Jeff Gordon) drove underneath me. I should have let him go and I didn’t. The caution came out and he pulled up next to me to tell me he was upset at me and he went on. Then I went to pull up next to him to acknowledge him, to say he was right and I turned left and he was turning left and we just hung up. When we hung, off we went. I honestly don’t know what happened. It was my fault. 100% it was my fault. It was like once we got together, I couldn’t get off of him. I didn’t mean to hit him. I meant to pull up to him and tell him he was right because he was upset with me for what happened off of turn four. I should have let him go. You can’t see off of there right but you can’t see over there right now. You don’t to be side-by-side. I don’t blame him for being for mad. I’d have been mad too.”

    WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARDS WHEN I SAW HIM WALKING TOWARD YOU? “Well, like I said, I knew he was going to be mad and I don’t blame and I don’t blame him for being mad. He didn’t do anything that he shouldn’t have done. He was upset and he should have been upset. I wrecked him under caution. I didn’t mean to wreck him but I wrecked him under caution. He meant to tell me he was upset and that was ok. I don’t have a bit of problem with what he did. He was mad. He should have been mad.”

    DID YOU HAVE WORDS IN THE MEDICAL CENTER? “I have a lot of respect for Jeff. I think he has a lot of respect for me. We talked and he is still upset and like I said, I don’t blame him. He understands what happened more now. It is what it is.”

    WHAT LED UP TO THE SITUATION? “Honestly, I came off turn four with Jeff underneath me, the sun is really bad off of turn four and it is really hard to race over there right now and I should have let him go and I didn’t. Caution came out and he pulled up next to me to express his displeasure and he was right. We don’t need to be racing side-by-side right there right now. I went to pull back up to him to acknowledge him and when we did I was turning left and I don’t know, we hooked somehow and around we went. We just got hooked up together. I think it is the stupidest thing I think I might have ever done. Like I said I was pulling up next to him to acknowledge him to say ‘Look, I’m cool, I got you’ and we just got together and wrecked both cars.”

    HOW SURPRISED WERE YOU WHEN JEFF CAME AFTER YOU WITH FISTS? “I wasn’t at all surprised. I went to go see him because I knew he was going to be mad and I fully expected it. I don’t blame him. Hell, I would have been made it I had been him too. I really don’t blame him. He was mad and I was right there and he wasn’t some of it.”

    About Chevrolet

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  • Ford Texas Post Race Press Conference (Matt Kenseth)

    TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN OUT THERE TODAY “We had a pretty fast car all weekend and got some paper or something on the grille early in the race and got it real hot and had to pit under green and lost a lap there. We just kept adjusting on the car, actually about the best we had it was then. Everything actually lined up exactly in our favor. You know, short run, Denny gave me the inside, which I probably would have chosen if I had had to choose one, and I got actually a really good restart. I’ve been jacking that up most of the time lately, so got a really good restart. We were side by side there, and I just couldn’t quite get by him. I’ve lost a lot of close ones, like you said. I think we’ve been second here four times, and really happy to run that good but really disappointing to be going for the lead on the last lap and not come back with a win, either.”

    CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY HERE AND HOW IT STANDS WITH ALL THE STRUGGLES YOU HAVE HAD ALL SEASON? “Yeah, it’s been an interesting day. All our cars were fast today. Greg probably had I didn’t see the except race for the scoreboard, but it seemed like Greg probably had the best car if he wouldn’t have broke his transmission or whatever happened there. Our pit stops were really good today. They were better than they have been. I didn’t speed on pit road today, which was a bonus. I’ve been doing that too much lately. All day we had a mistake free day. Even when we had trouble we were able to stay calm and fix our problems and get back in the lead lap and be able to pit the race right and get tires we needed to work our way through traffic and get to the front. Everything went just right today in the pits and on pit road and pretty much on the track, too. I wish I could do the last one more time and try something different, but other than that, everything went as good as we could have expected today.”

    CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE RESTART THERE AND WHEN DENNY GOT BY YOU COMING OUT OF TURN 2 AND WHAT HAPPENED? “We took off, and like I said, I got a really good restart and he pulled as close as he could to me to get the wind off of me, which in lap 100 you wouldn’t do that to somebody because they’d be mad, but over last ten laps that’s totally fair. I’d probably be trying to do the same thing as much as I could to get the inside guy loose and get him uncomfortable. So surprisingly my car was pretty stable and it lasted for a lap, and I just lifted real early because we were side by side and I wanted to actually keep him outside of me, and I thought if we left turn two at least nose to nose and I could get into three and still have him outside of me that we’d have a shot to the finish line. I lifted real early when he lifted, and then I got back to the gas real early, and he must have slipped a little bit, and I got a really good run. When Mike told me clear, I was a little surprised we cleared him, and I just pulled up in front of him and starting getting off the corner. I probably shouldn’t have been holding the wheel as much as I did but wanted to get a nice run off the corner, and as soon as he got away from my side for whatever reason and got behind me, my car just took off. It just felt like it raised the car half an inch and went straight, and I had to get out of the gas, so I had to keep from hitting the wall. Part of that is the way I tried to drive the corner and part of it was maybe from not having him outside me anymore, not having the car turning as loose as it was when he was there. I don’t know, it was a heck of a race down to the finish. Like I say, you hate it when you get beat.”