Category: RC NASCAR Cup

When you’re pushed into a corner and need to win a race (or completely out-perform your rivals), can you do it? That was the question for Kasey Kahne, as he was the only Hendrick Motorsports driver not in the chase.  He answered with a thrilling victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday night.

“Yeah, we are locked in, and I hate that it comes down to this Atlanta or Richmond just about every year for me,” Kahne said after the race. “Sometimes we are in, sometimes we are out. But thankful that now at HMS (Hendrick Motorsports), I’ve been in all three years now. We have the pressure all the way to Richmond, but we made it again, thankful for that.”

Kahne entered the race 33 points behind Greg Biffle, and based on the way Biffle has been running all season, a couple of top three finishes could have done it for Kahne. But the driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS wanted to do it the right way, by winning.

The first 300 laps were admittedly uneventful and saw Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick lead 195 laps. It looked as if the No. 4 team would get their fourth win of the year and put Harvick’s name at the top of the Chase grid. But on a late restart with 24 laps to go, Kahne was able to not only get around the dominate Harvick, but pull away to almost a full second lead before a caution involving Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. resulted in the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish.

During the pit stops, Matt Kenseth and Paul Menard took two tires and lined up in first and second for the restart. Harvick lined up fourth, and Kahne lined up fifth. Throughout the entire night, the outside lane just wouldn’t go on restarts, and it showed again in the first attempt at a green-white-checkered. Menard spun his tires and Harvick plowed into the back of him, causing a multi-car accident with Harvick taking most of the damage. He would finish the day in 19th.

This set things  up for a second attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, this time with Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth on the front row, and Kasey Kahne and Danica Patrick behind them. On the final restart, Hamlin tried his best to hold off Kahne into turn one but Kahne, on four fresh tires,  sailed past the No. 11 of Hamlin. Off of turn two, Kahne nearly cleared Kenseth, but Kenseth hung on to Kahne’s rear quarter panel and was able to stay side-by-side into turn three.

But two tires just wouldn’t cut it at Atlanta, and Kenseth’s car wiggled off of turn four, allowing Kahne to clear him and go on to win the Oral-B USA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, clinching his spot in the chase. Kenseth also officially clinched a spot with his second place finish on points which means all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers, and all three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers will be part of the 16-driver Chase grid.

Denny Hamlin finished in third place followed by Jimmie Johnson in fourth and Carl Edwards in fifth. Danica Patrick was sixth, capturing the best finish of her Sprint Cup career. Ryan Newman, Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola and Greg Biffle round out the top 10 finishers at Atlanta.

Jeff Gordon remains the leader in the Sprint Cup standings with Dale Earnhardt Jr. 21 points behind in second place. Kenseth (-78), Joey Logano (-81) and Brad Keselowski (-90) are in third through fifth respectively.

Also of note, Tony Stewart made his return to racing at Atlanta since missing three events after being involved in a sprint car accident that took the life of Kevin Ward Jr. on August 9. Stewart started in 12th and ran as high as fourth in the early stages of the race.

Unfortunately, Stewart’s night came to an early end after a restart on lap 123 when Kyle Busch made contact with him, causing damage to both cars. Although Stewart’s team was able to make repairs, a blown tire on lap 172 resulted in more extensive damage and sent him to the garage. Stewart ended the night with a 41st place finish.

Next week the series travels to Richmond International Raceway for the final race of the regular season. With only two spots remaining on the Chase grid, it will be the last chance for drivers such as Kyle Larson, Clint Bower, Paul Menard and Tony Stewart to race their way in on points or to secure a spot by winning. No matter what happens, it’s sure to be a fun ride.

Go to nascar.com for the complete results. http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/standings/results/2014/oralb-usa-500.raceResults.results.html

 

 

 

By Seth Livingstone via NASCAR Media

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Joey Logano believes he has the car and Team Penske believes they have the team to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

Logano took the lead from Matt Kenseth with 44 laps remaining and scooted to his third Sprint Cup victory of the season in Saturday’s IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“We can win the championship. We’ve showed it at every kind of race track. We’ve just got to keep doing it,” said Logano, 24, who held off his Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski in the final laps.

“What a year we’re having. I’m having so much fun. The past six or seven races have been unbelievable.”

Logano has finished no worse than sixth in any of the last five races but took special pride in winning at the track known as the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile.”

“It’s just the baddest mamma jamma race track ever built,” said Logano, who two years ago was struggling with a loss of confidence at Joe Gibbs Racing.

“At that point, I would never think I’d have a year like this,” he said. “That’s why the mental side of this is just as important as the physical side. But I’m happy I went through all that. It’s made me what I am now and made me aware of how I have to be, mentally, to win these things.”

It was a big weekend for both Penske and Ford Racing with Keselowski winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event in a truck he owns, Ryan Blaney winning for Penske in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race and Logano and Keselowski finishing 1-2 in the main event.

“I think we’re legitimate threats to win a championship this year and I’m proud of that,” said Keselowski, the 2012 Sprint Cup champion and the ‘old man’ of the group at 30. “To have all three drivers win races, I think that’s a testament to how bright the future is. I think the results speak for themselves. We’ve just got to keep rolling.”

It’s also the first time that Ford Racing has swept a NASCAR weekend series since 2006 when Mark Martin won in truck and Kenseth won both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races at Bristol. Ford’s nine Sprint Cup victories this season are its most since 2008 when it won 11 times.

Like Logano, Keselowski has three victories this season. The difference between the two drivers on Saturday was minimal.

“I think our two cars were really, really equal,” Keselowski said. “Whoever got out front and got the clean air first was going to win the race and Joey was able to do that.

“The last lap I just dive-bombed it in there on a prayer, kind of hoping it would stick or he would slip or something would happen for me. It made it look cool but it really wasn’t that close.”

Team Penske Executive Vice President Walt Czarnecki couldn’t be happier with the way things are working out with his team in its second year with Ford.

“When Joey came on board, we told him, ‘There’s no No. 1. There’s no No. 2. Everybody’s equal. We all contribute, we all have the came access to information, the same access to resources. I think it’s really been demonstrated in the performance of the team this year with six wins.”

Saturday, Logano had fresher tires than Kenseth, who elected not to pit under caution when he took the lead from Jamie McMurray during the race’s ninth caution which came out on Lap 433 of 500.

McMurray, who led a race-high 148 laps, said his car “got really tight” in the final 100 laps and settled for eighth place. “As the track rubbered up, it just didn’t suit our car as much as it did the other guys,” he said.

McMurray remains one of a handful of drivers who now need a victory at either Atlanta or Richmond to have any realistic chance of making the Chase.

Clint Bowyer (17th) and Greg Biffle (10th) remained on the positive side of the points bubble for non-winners. Kyle Larson (12th) trails Biffle by 26 points and Kasey Kahne is 33 points behind Biffle for the 16th and final Chase spot.

Kahne Led 40 laps but suffered recurring issues with his right front wheel and finished 35th on Saturday. Denny Hamlin, who ended up 40th, was as upset as Kahne was disappointed.

Hamlin was leading the race when Kevin Harvick sent him spinning on Lap 162. Dale Earnhardt Jr. side-swiped Hamlin on the way by, putting both Hamlin and Earnhardt (39th) behind the wall and ending promising runs for both.

“It was a misjudgment. He knows better. He made a mistake,” said Hamlin, who fired a piece of his HANS device off the rear end of Harvick’s car as the new leader circled the track. “He thinks he knows everything. I just wish I had some kind of car left to show him the favor back.”

Harvick led the first 37 laps from the pole but finished 11th. Jeff Gordon, shooting for a third consecutive victory, finished 16th while his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson overcame a pair of early-race speeding penalties to finish fourth.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race – IRWIN Tools Night Race
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, Tennessee
Saturday, August 23, 2014

1. (5) Joey Logano, Ford, 500, $357931.
2. (9) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 500, $241438.
3. (16) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 500, $227116.
4. (6) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 500, $198916.
5. (7) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 500, $136605.
6. (21) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 500, $161120.
7. (3) Carl Edwards, Ford, 500, $135995.
8. (18) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 500, $161609.
9. (17) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 500, $142484.
10. (8) Greg Biffle, Ford, 500, $155070.
11. (1) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 500, $154368.
12. (40) Kyle Larson #, Chevrolet, 500, $139880.
13. (11) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 500, $119285.
14. (22) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 500, $128643.
15. (25) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 499, $145693.
16. (2) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 499, $152346.
17. (14) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 498, $143351.
18. (28) Michael McDowell, Ford, 498, $103785.
19. (19) Justin Allgaier #, Chevrolet, 497, $131218.
20. (23) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 497, $134318.
21. (15) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 497, $138935.
22. (39) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 497, $105010.
23. (29) David Ragan, Ford, 496, $126493.
24. (36) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 496, $115318.
25. (32) David Gilliland, Ford, 495, $121182.
26. (43) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 495, $110010.
27. (24) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 493, $109390.
28. (26) Austin Dillon #, Chevrolet, 493, $146616.
29. (30) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 492, $100770.
30. (34) Cole Whitt #, Toyota, 492, $101635.
31. (41) David Stremme, Chevrolet, 491, $97525.
32. (27) Alex Bowman #, Toyota, 489, $97415.
33. (37) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 489, $97305.
34. (10) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 480, $123490.
35. (12) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 477, $116410.
36. (4) Kyle Busch, Toyota, Accident, 442, $144866.
37. (33) Ryan Truex #, Toyota, Engine, 338, $96784.
38. (38) Michael Annett #, Chevrolet, Accident, 243, $91165.
39. (20) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 176, $95165.
40. (13) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Accident, 160, $96565.
41. (42) Aric Almirola, Ford, Accident, 123, $116101.
42. (31) Brett Moffitt, Toyota, Engine, 78, $83165.
43. (35) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, Overheating, 37, $71665.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 92.965 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 52 Mins, 00 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.390 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 9 for 64 laps.
Lead Changes: 16 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Harvick 1-37; J. Gordon 38-54; Kyle Busch 55-62; K. Harvick 63; M. Kenseth 64-103; J. Logano 104-132; D. Hamlin 133-160; K. Harvick 161-197; K. Kahne 198-237; J. McMurray 238-265; B. Keselowski 266-311; J. McMurray 312-360; J. Logano 361; J. McMurray 362-432; J. Logano 433; M. Kenseth 434-455; J. Logano 456-500.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): J. McMurray 3 times for 148 laps; J. Logano 4 times for 76 laps; K. Harvick 3 times for 75 laps; M. Kenseth 2 times for 62 laps; B. Keselowski 1 time for 46 laps; K. Kahne 1 time for 40 laps; D. Hamlin 1 time for 28 laps; J. Gordon 1 time for 17 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 8 laps.
Top 16 in Points: J. Gordon – 845; D. Earnhardt Jr. – 818; B. Keselowski – 776; J. Logano – 761; M. Kenseth – 751; J. Johnson – 726; K. Harvick – 721; C. Edwards – 716; R. Newman – 710; C. Bowyer – 699; G. Biffle – 694; K. Larson # – 668; K. Kahne – 661; A. Dillon # – 654; P. Menard – 649; J. Mcmurray – 634.

On a restart with 17 laps to go, Jeff Gordon kept even with Joey Logano on the restart and was able to clear him off of turn two to take the lead. From there, Gordon would hold off Logano’s attempt to pass him with 16 laps to go before cruising away from the field for the victory. It marks Gordon’s third victory of the 2014 season and the 91st victory of his Sprint Cup Series career.

“It wasn’t easy. It’s never easy to win especially at these tracks especially with aerodynamics and track position meaning so much,” Gordon said. “Alan (Gustafson) called a perfect race. Kept getting into that inside lane and not getting good restart. I knew with Joey and Kurt that it’d get it interesting and Kurt got loose. That final restart there – I got a good jump and was able to get ahead. It seemed whomever got out front was able to get ahead. I give him credit – he tried to get back by, but wasn’t able to. We set sail and next thing, I saw the checkered flag. It was a great race!”

For the fourth consecutive race at Michigan International Speedway, Kevin Harvick would pick up a runner-up finish as he continues to show the strength that has carried him to three wins this season with Stewart-Haas Racing.

“Our car handled great all day,” Harvick commented. “We just didn’t have the speed that the 24 had today. All in all, it was a good day for our Jimmy John’s Chevrolet. Gotta thank everybody at SHR for working hard and keeping these cars running well. We’ve been doing a lot to get things consistent and run strong, but we have a little more work to do to catch that 24.”

For Logano, it marked a disappointing third place finish after leading the most laps throughout the afternoon as he was able to take the lead early from pole sitter Gordon in the race, only giving it up throughout the race when he hit pit road.

“We were battling those restarts pretty hard and basically you use every trick that you have,” he commented. “Every game that you could play was played and I was clear of him. I should’ve pulled down and pulled off the draft, but he was able to get to my quarter panel and get by. Gosh, it was close. It’s a really good show for us to make sure that we’re in the contention for the Chase.”

Paul Menard battled hard in the late stages of the race to finish fourth, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin. Earnhardt Jr. and Hamlin had a discussion post-race with regards to a disagreement during the final laps of the race. Brad Keselowski finished eighth while Jimmie Johnson fought back to finish ninth.

Johnson fell back to 35th early in the race, before having the shifter knob break. The crew would hand him a pair of vice grips to attach, however he wasn’t able to. The crew would then re-install the shifter under a pit stop, putting Johnson a lap down. He then fought back throughout the second half of the race to get back on the lead lap, before fighting his way through the field to finish ninth. The fight back through the field wasn’t clean, though, as there was some contact with Ryan Newman during the final 15 laps. Post-race, Newman would approach Johnson and the pair had a discussion.

“Its just normal Ryan Newman stuff,” Johnson commented after their discussion. “Anybody whose been around racing knows the frustration in racing Ryan Newman. I don’t want to take anything away from this team as they were able to salvage a good finish. It sucks that we weren’t able to get up further today.”

Greg Biffle would round out the top 10, ahead of Newman, Marcos Ambrose, A.J. Allmendinger, Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kasey Kahne, Casey Mears, Danica Patrick, Brian Vickers and Aric Almirola.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch both didn’t have the days that they were looking for as Kenseth got heavy rear-end damage during a incident initiated by Patrick spinning on lap 26. Patrick would get loose on the restart, spinning sideways, collecting Justin Allgaier, Michael Annett, Martin Truex Jr., Trevor Bayne and Kenseth. For Busch, he’d find his day end real early in the race as he got into the wall on lap three.

Rookie Kyle Larson also ran into issues, blowing a right front tire, causing him to plow into the wall on lap 97, causing the car to catch fire. Larson would get out of the car quickly, unharmed.

“It’s a shame. We’re just going to have to work extra hard to make the Chase,” Larson commented. “I thought we had a car to win the race for sure, and then on pit road, 88 and I got together on pit road and it screwed the toe. The crew worked hard on the car, but a blown right front tire took us out there.”

Jeff Burton was brought into sub for Tony Stewart as Stewart misses his second straight race, however Burton would not have a good day, either, finding his day end early with electrical problems on lap 82.

“I first smelt it and didn’t see anything. Then I saw a lot of smoke and it was getting pretty bad. I couldn’t see any fire at all,” Burton said. “I was terrible in traffic; I couldn’t drive it all. But once we got into clean-air, it was pretty good. It’s not how I wanted it to go, but I’m proud of all these guys for stepping up in how they handled the situation.”

With the victory, Gordon takes the points lead ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Earnhardt Jr. by three points.

Jeff Gordon won the Coors Light Pole Award at Watkins Glen on Saturday with a lap time of 1:08.126, edging out former Glen winner Marcos Ambrose by .173 seconds. Gordon’s fast time on the 2.45-mile New York road course also comes as his 75th career Sprint Cup pole and the 22nd consecutive year that he was won a pole.

Gordon was ecstatic after winning the pole and dedicated it to his son saying, “Luckily I got three shots at it today with this format and that last one was just a really, really solid lap. Today’s my son’s birthday so this is just an awesome way to give him a birthday present.”

He hasn’t won at the track since 2001 and Gordon commented about the significance of starting from the pole at Watkins Glen.

“It’s very important here,” he said, “and it’s really, I think, contributed to our lack of success the last several years here. You know it’s been a while since we’ve won here and really been in contention to win and a lot of it has had to do with qualifying.”

“Qualifying has really been what’s hurting us here at Watkins Glen, and I blame myself mainly,” Gordon said. “I’m so happy today to get three shots at it. I think that really made a big difference.”

Gordon credited the new qualifying format for giving him the opportunity to put together the winning lap.

“The first lap I did okay, but I got held up a little bit coming back to the checkers, and the second one was a really good lap and got us into the top 12 and I just tried to do the same things in that last lap,” Gordon said. “I thought that it was about the same as what I ran before. I didn’t think it was going to be that much better, but, wow, what a lap.”

Ambrose broke the track qualifying record in Round One of qualifying, with a lap time of 1:08.113 but was unable to best Gordon in the final round.

“He’s a fantastic road racer, and I have watched a lot of races here where he dominated,” Ambrose said. “He’s having a standout year. You can’t discount anybody out there. Anyone in that top-12, if they had gotten the pole, I wouldn’t have been surprised.”

Jimmie Johnson qualified third with a lap time of 1:08.389 and said that he had a “very fast race car,” but they had to make some changes to the set-up for qualifying.

“We unloaded strong and found something really good for race trim.  It didn’t work so well yesterday for us in qualifying trim. We were still eighth on the board, but a pretty good gap from where we were up to the front. The No. 88 car had a great lap so we really copied the No. 88’s qualifying set-up. It had a lot of speed. So a big thank you to Steve Letarte and Dale, Jr. for a fast set-up under the car, that extra little bit, to get us up there in the top five.”

Kevin Harvick qualified fourth followed by Kurt Busch to round out the top five.

Round One began with several drivers, including Ambrose, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards, Johnson, and Gordon electing to wait several minutes on pit road while the rest of the field took to the track.

A.J. Allmendinger, who was fastest in Practice Two, took the first spot early in qualifying Round One, until Ambrose jumped in front about eight minutes in.

Early in Round One, a minor incident occurred during Kyle Busch’s cool-down lap when Kevin Harvick, running a qualifying attempt, was held up by the much slower Busch. Harvick briefly drove alongside Busch and expressed his disapproval by gesturing to Busch out his window. Soon after, Harvick’s radio communication revealed that he had been sent onto the track at a bad time, and that his crew chief and spotter should have waited for a clear track. Harvick’s misstep was corrected when he returned to the track later in Round One and grabbed the second spot.

Late-round position shifting left Brian Vickers with the last spot in the advancing group, edging out Tony Stewart in 13th place by .004 seconds.

The end of Round One produced a top five of Ambrose, Harvick, Allmendinger, Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Edwards, this season’s first road race winner at Sonoma, and Kyle Busch missed the cut-off group and will start 16th and 19th, respectively.

Ambrose jumped to the lead opening the second round, followed by Allmendinger and Harvick. With three minutes left, Jeff Gordon grabbed the lead that would solidify his pole award.

Johnson slipped into third place and Kurt Busch moved into fourth shortly before time expired.

With under a minute left, Ambrose and Allmendinger took to the track for another try at the pole, but only Allmendinger crossed the line in time to clock a lap. He qualified sixth.

1. Jeff Gordon

2. Marcos Ambrose

3. Jimmie Johnson

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Kurt Busch

6. A.J. Allmendinger

7. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

8. Matt Kenseth

9. Brad Keselowski

10. Ryan Newman

11. Joey Logano

12. Brian Vickers

13. Tony Stewart

14. Jamie McMurray

15. Justin Allgaier

16. Carl Edwards

17. Denny Hamlin

18. Cole Whitt

19. Kyle Busch

20. Paul Menard

21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

22. Casey Mears

23. Kyle Larson

24. Clint Bowyer

25. Martin Truex Jr.

26. David Ragan

27. Aric Almirola

28. Greg Biffle

29. Michael McDowell

30. Kasey Kahne

31. Austin Dillon

32. Nelson Piquet Jr.

33. David Gilliland

34. Boris Said

35. Ryan Truex

36. Alex Bowman

37. Josh Wise

38. Alex Kennedy

39. Reed Sorenson

40. Joe Nemechek

41. Landon Cassill

42. Michael Annett

43. Danica Patrick