Category: Featured Stories

During NASCAR’s visit to the Bristol Motor Speedway we watched another round of “Bad Brad” looking really good. We watched new milestones in the Nationwide Series and we watched some bizarre circumstances that led to the latest round of a high profile driver feud. With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin with:

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”244″][/media-credit]HOORAH to Brad Keselowski who once again overcame the pain of a fractured left ankle to win a physically demanding Sprint Cup race at Bristol. The win was his third of the season and, more importantly, guarantees him at least the first wild card berth that will place him in the line up for the Sprint Cup Chase For The Championship. If Keselowski, and his Penske Racing Dodge team, can keep up their torrid pace, it’s very likely that he will be in the top ten of the points which means he can use the bonus points from his three wins to get a high seed position in the official Chase line up. In his last four races Keselowski has finishes of first, second, third and first. This is all quite remarkable especially when you consider that just a few weeks ago this team was mired down in 25th in the points with no hopes of making the Chase.

Speaking of Keselowski making the Chase, WAZZUP with Speed Channel analyst Jimmy Spencer having to eat a cigar during an upcoming live edition of the network’s “Race Hub” program. In recent weeks Spencer went on record as saying there was no way Brad Keselowski was going to make the Chase line up. Then Spencer further stated that he would eat one of his signature cigars if he did. Bon Appetite Mr. Spencer. Keselowski is in the Chase.

****************

HOORAH to the handful of teams that did their homework in terms of pit stall selections that helped them get around the electronic scoring loop that measures pit road speed. Bristol is unique in the fact that it has two pit roads but only one scoring loop on each of them. Through careful pit stall selections after qualifying a driver could exit his pit hard on the throttle, stab the brake pedal just prior to approaching the scoring loop and then speed down the remainder of pit road. This turned out to be a huge advantage for these teams in terms of gaining valuable track position. It was a huge factor in Keselowski’s win.

Despite appearances on television, these teams were actually not doing anything wrong. However NASCAR was watching closely and, in the days following the race, announced that they would be adding more pit road scoring loops when the series returns to Bristol next spring.

************

WAZZUP with Kurt Busch not getting the rhythm with that pit road scoring loop? He was busted by NASCAR two times for speeding on pit road. The pass through penalties killed his track position and led to a 17th place finish.

WAZZUP with Busch having an even worse day the following Monday. Busch was one of five drivers participating in a Goodyear tire test on the newly installed surface at the Phoenix International Raceway. Unfortunately in that process he blew a left rear tire and crashed hard into the turn one wall. The team had to roll out a back up car.

*************

WAZZUP with the performance of Tony Stewart’s Chevrolet during the Bristol race? The car was terrible during both practice sessions as well as qualifying and Stewart found himself starting the race from the 42nd position. Prior to the race he announced he wouldn’t be back there very long but it was a prediction that just wasn’t meant to become reality. He languished all during the race and finished 28th, three laps down. Stewart started the Bristol race tenth in the points just 24 markers ahead of Clint Bowyer. The saving grace here was the fact that Bowyer also had a bad night at Bristol and finished 26th, two laps down.

Heading into the Atlanta race next Sunday, Stewart remains tenth in the standings 21 points ahead of the red hot Brad Keselowski and 18 points behind Dale Earnhardt Jr in ninth. If Stewart is going to make the Chase line up he needs some strong improvement in the car’s performance level and he needs it now.

On the brighter side of the race for the Chase, HOORAH to the five drivers who have already clinched their Chase berths. Series points leader Kyle Busch came to Bristol already in the Chase. Following Bristol, drivers Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick are also now locked into the Chase. The remaining seven berths are going to get very interesting with only two events left until the Chase officially starts.

*************

WAZZUP with Sprint Cup driver David Stremme not following his own advice? During pre race introductions the drivers were asked to choose their own walk on music and make a brief statement. Stremme said “have a nice night and hopefully we’ll all keep a cool head.”

On lap 299 of the race there was some contact between Stremme and David Reutimann. The television replay clearly showed that it was one of those no harm no foul racing deals typical of racing at Bristol. Unfortunately Stremme turned it into Bristol road rage and rammed Reutimann’s Toyota causing major damage to both cars. Stremme is driving for Inception Motorsports, a new Sprint Cup team that ran it’s first race last April. This team doesn’t exactly have the financial support of a full time primary sponsor and having to repair that much crash damage, that should have never happened to begin with, is something this team didn’t need.

**************

HOORAH to Kyle Busch for winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Bristol while setting more NASCAR records. The event marked his 50th series win, in 219 starts, and puts him on top of the series’ all time winner’s list. No matter what your opinion of this driver is, you have to at least respect this milestone in the Nationwide Series. To earn 50 win series’ wins, at the age of 26, is simply astounding.

HOORAH to the stunning one-two finish from Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing team mate Joey Logano in the Bristol Nationwide Series race. The side by side finish had a margin of victory of 0.019 seconds reported to be the closest finish in the 50 year history of racing at Bristol.

**************

With all due respects to those accomplishments, WAZZUP with Kyle Busch’s behavior during the course of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Bristol? During this race there was some contact between Busch and Elliot Sadler. The contact caused the Busch truck to slam into the wall. He drove away from the incident and no yellow flag was thrown.

The television replay clearly showed that this was a racing deal. Both drivers thought they were clear of each other before the initial contact was made. However, an angry Busch slowly motored around the track waiting for Sadler and then hit him hard in what was clearly an intentional act of retaliation. This action nearly caused an even larger wreck among the race traffic behind them. This was especially true in the case of James Buescher, a major player in the series championship, who barely got by unscathed.

The bizarre element came when Busch actually tried to blame Kevin Harvick for this incident citing the fact that Sadler is an employee of Kevin Harvick Inc. It’s true that Sadler drives a KHI owned car in the NASCAR Nationwide Series but in the truck race he was driving for Joe Denette Motorsports. During a SPEED Channel interview, Busch was asked to justify his belief and said “who signs his, (Sadler’s), paychecks, I’m not putting up with it anymore. ”

While all of this was going on Kevin Harvick was on the track collecting a HOORAH for winning his third, consecutive, truck series race.

*************

In some final thoughts, HOORAH to the children of the MRO: Motor Racing Outreach, who sang “The National Anthem” prior to the Bristol Sprint Cup race. It was a precious thing to watch.

HOORAH to the near capacity 156,000 fans, from 50 states and nine countries, who attended the Bristol NASCAR Sprint Cup race. HOORAH to the Bristol Motor Speedway for its 50th anniversary. As a special tribute the speedway had the names of 1,000 season ticket holders placed on the retaining wall at the exit of turn four.

Not many drivers would pass up the opportunity to drive for Hendrick Motorsports but Brad Keselowski isn’t any driver.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”235″][/media-credit]Following his win at Talladega in the spring of 2009, Keselowski stated he wanted a full-time Sprint Cup Series ride for 2010. Already driving full-time in the Nationwide Series (NNS) for Dale Earnhardt Jr., while doing select Cup races in a fifth HMS car, Keselowski felt he was ready for the Cup Series.

There was only one problem; there was no room for Keselowski. Adamant about making the move, the Michigan native started exploring his options. Roger Penske came calling and Keselowski signed a multi-year deal to team with the Captain and 2004 NSCS champion Kurt Busch.

“Well, there’s no doubt that that was a very difficult decision,” said Keselowski Saturday night in Bristol after winning for the third time in 2011.

“Sometimes in life you have to step back and look at the complete picture and be able to see the complete picture and know that you have to let go to get what you want,” he said. “Let go of what you have, leave your comfort zone to make it to the next level. And I’m sure, although I did not have a spot at Hendrick for the 2010 season, I’m sure Rick and his team would have figured something out.”

Keselowski never gave them the chance, jumping at what Penske was offering. Drawn by the loyalty Roger Penske displayed while meeting with him, feeling it was the right time to join the organization and seeing many positives ahead of him, Keselowski made his decision.

“If I had gone to Hendrick or waited it out, there was a long list of bad things that could have happened and a very short list of positives things that could have happened,” Keselowski said. “And I didn’t see that at Penske. I only saw a list of thing that were good that could have happened and the biggest negative that could happened was everybody telling me I was an idiot.”

Being called an idiot is something he said he’s used to. So, he became a full-time Cup driver while still running a full NNS schedule, now with Penske and the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge. In 2010 he finally won the title that had eluded him for two seasons at JR Motorsports when he finished third in points.

The NNS program is something Keselowski is especially proud of. It was a team that he built with Paul Wolfe from the ground up from their vision. They clinched the championship early and by almost 500 points, winning six races in the process. But on the Cup side it was anything but a fairy tale.

Keselowski finished 25th in points with no wins, no top fives and only two top tens. It wasn’t the reward that Keselowski thought he’d get by joining Penske.

“I’ll be honest, last year in Cup I was miserable,” he said. “There were a lot of people that told me, ‘You should have waited, you should have waited.’ But there just wasn’t an opportunity and it’s such a tough question to answer because no one here can sit here knowing all the pieces to the puzzle.”

With just two races before the start of the Chase for the Championship it’s easier for Keselowski to say that he made the right decision. Coming into the year the puzzle pieces changed when Keselowski was moved into the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge that had been driven by Busch as Busch moved to the newly formed 22 team. Wolfe was prompted to Keselowski’s Cup crew chief and they haven’t looked back.

Three wins, rocketing from 21st to 11th in points over the last four weeks thanks to finishes of first, second, third and first. He’s most likely going to make the Chase either through moving into the top 10 in points or the wild card. Even if he only has nine top 10s and six top fives.

Just as NASCAR intended, winning means a whole lot more this season. Keselowski is winning in more ways than one, something he’s glad he’s proving was possible to everyone who doubted him.

“I’m glad we’re able to perform now and prove to everyone that it was [the right decision],” said Keselowski. “I think the performance at the end of the day is always the proof. I’m really proud of this whole group to be able to prove that this was the right call. It certainly wasn’t the easy call, but this was the right call.”

For Keselowski, where he’s at now and what he’s doing means more to him. And while he’s currently outrunning those he would have been running with at HMS, the test becomes doing it for another 12 weeks and into the season finale.

“Not the easy call, for sure,” said Keselowski. “But it’s looking real good right now.”

Streaks are an integral part of the sporting world. A common theme with streaks, though, is that they often are not very surprising. One expects Peyton Manning to throw numerous consecutive 400 yard games or for the Pittsburgh Pirates to finish a season with a losing record year after year.

[media-credit name=”Ed Coombs” align=”alignright” width=”265″][/media-credit]It is this which makes Brad Keselowski’s streak so stunning.  How a driver, who prior to this stretch was most often found mid-pack on race day, can rattle of such an impressive streak of finishes defies expectations. It is as astounding and surprising as it is unprecedented… or is it?

To find a driver with a similar meteoric rise in the Sprint Cup Series, Keselowski merely has to look across the Penske Racing shop at teammate Kurt Busch. Many forget that Busch’s arrival to the top of the Cup series was just as quick and just as surprising.

Heading into the 2002 Cup season, Busch was most known for a sole spectacular season in the Craftsman Truck Series and for being the last person Dale Earnhardt flipped off. While there were flashes of brilliance during his rookie campaign and his sophomore season, culminating in a surprise first victory at the spring Bristol race, he found himself hovering just outside of the top ten in points with seven races remaining.

At the time, many made note of his vastly improved performance in his second year of Cup racing, and many thought more thought it likely that Busch would sneak into the top ten in points by the end of the year. What occurred over the last six races shocked virtually every one covering the sport and cemented Busch as one of the future starts of the sport.

In those last seven races, Busch accumulated 3 wins, 6 top 10s, lead nearly 25% of the laps, and had an average finish of fourth. By season’s end, Busch sat in victory lane of Homestead-Miami Speedway watching Tony Stewart celebrate his first championship while contemplating his own third place points finish.

Just two years later Busch would earn his first, and so far only, Cup championship, thus solidifying him as one of the elite drivers in the sport.

Where Keselowski has an advantage is that he is reaching his potential prior to the start of the Chase for the Championship. There is some irony in that fact that Kurt Busch’s 2002 season was used as one of the justifications for a change to a new championship format.

And while there are still many miles to race, Keselowski now appears to be one of the front runners for the 2011 Sprint Cup championship, a fact that is as unbelievable to write as it is to contemplate.  Despite the controversy which has followed him since the start of his Cup career, Keselowski has handled the obstacles with an increasing level of maturity.

The only question that remains is precisely how good will Keselowski be once he is completely healthy? That question alone should be enough to cause the juggernauts of Hendrick, Roush and Gibbs to sleep a little less soundly at night.

And for Brad Keselowski? Well he’ll be sleeping like a baby…

Thunder Valley is the site of the mayhem that will unfold Saturday Night in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. It’s another Wild Card race this weekend with huge Chase implications on the line for drivers that are on the cusp of being IN or being OUT.

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”208″][/media-credit]Since this is the first Matty’s Picks column for a race at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS), I’d like to share some insight about my experiences in Thunder Valley.

I first attended a race at BMS in August of 2000 at the age of 13, and the only other track I had been to at that point in time was my home track, Watkins Glen International. The trip started with my mother interviewing each and every guy I was making the 13-hour trek with, and ended with a night of racing that I will never forget.

“Mom, I’m in good hands” is what I told her as she analyzed the less than reputable characters that my Uncle Ed called his ‘Racing Friends’. These were the guys that showed me the ropes and gave me the grand tour of Bristol. It all started when I was in charge of gathering 15 or so cases of beer that I was told “should last us until Saturday Morning”, WOW!

After the adventurous 13-hour hike to the great state of Tennessee, we arrived at Bristol just in time to see the morning fog lift and reveal the monstrous ‘Coliseum’ that is Bristol Motor Speedway. We were camped on top of the hill above the Drag Strip, so looking down on the track for the first time really put things into perspective for me. This was the largest sporting event I had ever been to…

In utter disappointment, I found out I wouldn’t be able to step foot into the grandstands until Friday morning, due to the fact there is no on-track activities on Thursday’s at BMS. I was like a kid (literally was one at the ripe old age of 13) on Christmas Eve for the entire day on Thursday, anxiously waiting to set my eyes on the high-banks of BMS.

I managed to sleep just a couple hours Thursday night, and was in line to enter the track at the crack of dawn on Friday. I made it a point to drag my Uncle Scotty (who woke up with a massive headache Friday Morning – I wonder why?) to the track first thing on Friday. I think he was just as excited for me to see the track for the first time as I was. “Get ready Matty” he said, as we walked underneath the grandstands and finally got a glimpse of the morning sun peaking through the cracks of the aluminum seating.

I was in awe; it truly was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It looked like God himself had carved the track with his bare hands. My jaw dropped and I was halted in my tracks by the enormousness of the 160,000 seat arena.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of setting your eyes on Bristol Motor Speedway, as a race fan, I would put it on your bucket list. BMS has been keeping me going back for years now (couldn’t make this race weekend unfortunately), and I will keep returning until the day I die.

Michigan Recap

It was another great weekend for my picks last weekend at MIS, with me taking home a Top-5 and a Top-10 for my two picks. I’ve had a bit of a ‘Summer Showdown’ myself the past 3 weeks, with a combined average finish for all my picks of 4.8. Averaging a Top-5 each week is good enough to make The Chase, so if I can keep the momentum going, I think I have a real shot at the ‘Nostradamus of NASCAR’ title at the end of the year.

My Winner Pick last week was Roush-Fenway Racing driver, Matt Kenseth. Kenseth was one of three drivers to average a Top-10 finish going into Sunday’s race at Michigan International Speedway (9.5), and kept his strong finishing reputation going with his 10th place finish in the Pure Michigan 400. Despite leading 4 times for a total of 15 laps, Kenseth fell off throughout the day, failing to capitalize on his fantastic track position he had all day.

Kenseth spoke of his finish after the race, “We ran okay. Most of the day we had really good track position but we didn’t have the balance or the grip that we had here in June and we weren’t a threat to win which is disappointing. Overall we stayed up front most of the day, except the last lap.”

My Dark Horse pick last week fared a bit better than my Winner Pick in regards to finishing order, netting me another Top-5 for a Dark Horse pick. Brad Keselowski is the hottest driver in NASCAR at this point in time, and I used him to my advantage last weekend at MIS.

I’m not really sure it was fair to pick him as a Dark Horse, but his average finish going into last weekend’s race spoke for itself. Brad hadn’t had a finish inside the Top-20 at MIS, the grounds for me to coin him as a Dark Horse for last Sunday’s race.

Keselowski never made it to the point on Sunday, but did run in the Top-10 for the majority of the 200 laps at MIS. His 3rd place finish marked the Blue Deuce’s 5th Top-5 of 2011, also his 3rd straight Top-5 finish, and marked my 3rd straight Top-10 Dark Horse pick.

Bad Brad spoke in the Media Center following his 3rd place finish, “We were decent today. Probably not as good as we needed to be to run with the 48, the 24, 18, those guys. But probably a 5th to 10th place car. Just executed really well. Had some good restarts. Had some good moves in traffic. Good pit stops, good strategy. Found our way up into the top 5 there with 75 to go. Just really solid effort. We need just a little bit more speed.”

Bristol Picks

It’s extremely tough to make picks this week because Bristol is such a juggernaut. With just 2 races remaining before The Chase for the Sprint Cup, drivers aren’t as willing to take risks and drive above themselves in August as they might have in the March race at BMS. There are a few drivers like Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, and Dale Jr. who are pushing for a win to solidify their chances at taking one of the Top-10 spots going into Richmond, and other guys like Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, and Kurt Busch who might be out there just trying to stay out of trouble and salvage a decent finish in an effort to gain maximum points for their efforts Saturday Night.

Winner Pick

There is one guy that I can guarantee will not be on-track trying to salvage a finish on Saturday Night. When you talk about Bristol Motor Speedway, you can’t help but talk about Sprint Cup Points Leader, Kyle Busch’s recent dominance (besides the Camping World Truck Series race Wednesday Night) in Thunder Valley.

Before Wednesday Night, Kyle Busch had won the past 5 NASCAR events at Bristol Motor Speedway. He hasn’t finished outside the Top-10 since March of 2008, and has won the past 4 out of 5 races in the Sprint Cup Series at BMS. You could say that Kyle Busch is a bit of a ringer at Bristol, but as everyone knows, nothing is for certain at ‘The World’s Fastest Half-Mile’.

Traditionally, Kyle Busch hasn’t started in very good position when the green flag flies at Bristol, which might be why it’s so fun to watch the 26-year-old wheel his car to the front. Busch has started in the Top-10 just one time in his 13 Sprint Cup starts at Bristol, but has wasted no time in establishing his dominance throughout the duration of the 500 lappers.

Triple-Duty assignments have helped Busch master the high-banks of BMS, and another trio of races this weekend will give Busch the experience he needs to visit Victory Lane Saturday Night.

Dark Horse Pick

Kasey Kahne made his name in short track racing by catching the eye of Steve Lewis at Williams Grove Speedway in early 2000. Kahne won the season-opener at Williams Grove in Pennsylvania that year on this way to being named USAC National Midget Series Champion later that season. He joined the likes of other great Short-Track drivers like Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart who had also been named USAC Champions in prior years.

Many parallels can be established from USAC racing and Short-Track racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and historically those with USAC Racing experience fare pretty well when it comes to the Short-Tracks in the Sprint Cup Series.

Kahne has a decent history at BMS with three Top-5’s and six Top-10’s, but it’s his efforts in the March race earlier this year that has me turned on as my Dark Horse this week. He averaged a running position of 6.59 on his way to a 9th-place finish in the Jeff Byrd 500, and his pit crew had a hand in his excellent finish.

The No. 4 Red Bull Racing machine ran just one lap outside the Top-15 in March, so look for Kasey Kane to qualify and run towards the front all night on Saturday.

That’s it for this long-winded edition of Matty’s Picks, but I couldn’t help to share my experience with Bristol Motor Speedway.

Stay tuned next week for my insight on the final race before the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup begins.

Until Next Time…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!