Category: RC NASCAR Cup

Race Central NASCAR Cup Series news and information

Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway postponed due to rain

Due to persistent rain showers throughout the day, NASCAR officials were forced to postpone the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway to Monday April 7th at noon EST.

This marks the third Sprint Cup Series race affected by rain this year, but the first in which NASCAR was unable to run and complete it on the original scheduled date. The Camping World Truck Series did have their Martinsville event postponed from the Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening last weekend.

When the race goes green tomorrow, it’ll be Tony Stewart leading them to the green flag.

April 6, 2014
Kurt Busch Goes from Wreckers to Checkers and Snaps 83-Race Winless Streak at Martinsville

Kurt Busch snapped his more than two year drought this afternoon at Martinsville Speedway in true Outlaw fashion. His last win was on October 2, 2011 at Dover International Raceway.

“A win like today is a great step forward,” Busch said. “I don’t want it to camouflage any of the work, though, that we still have to do to make our car stronger and to be more competitive week in and week out, but don’t think that I’m not going to enjoy this for one moment.”

He continued saying, “This is an unbelievable feeling to get back to victory lane after this tour that I’ve been on, to find this opportunity with Stewart-Haas, and to win, it means the world to me.”

After contact with Brad Keselowski on pit road on lap 40 that continued onto the track with retaliation by the No. 2, Busch proclaimed that he was “done” on the radio to his team. But the No. 41 crew chief Daniel Knost rallied him, calmed him down and he was back up inside the top 10 racing some of the fastest cars of the day in no time.

There were 14 cautions throughout the afternoon at the paperclip, involving many drivers. The first one came on lap 2 when Parker Kligerman smashed into the barriers in turn three. Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon, Casey Mears and Justin Allgaier were also involved.

The race restarted on lap 11. The top-five were pole-sitter Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, who dominated the race most of the day, Denny Hamlin, who eventually fell back due to electrical problems, Matt Kenseth, who had an up and down day and Joey Logano in fifth. Matt Kenseth moved to the lead on lap 18, passing his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, but by the time the competition caution came out on lap 40, he fell back to eighth place as he was stuck on the outside lane and couldn’t get down. Under this caution is where the aforementioned skirmish between Bush and Keselowski began.

Jimmie Johnson led the field back to the restart on lap 47 of 500, followed by his teammate Jeff Gordon. The third caution of the afternoon came out for the No. 17 car of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who wheel hopped the car trying to get past the feuding Keselowski and Busch on the track. After another restart on lap 109 led by Joey Logano, Travis Kvapil helped David Gilliland into the wall, bringing out the fourth caution of the afternoon. Michael Annett, Kyle Larson and Jeff Gordon, who was caught in the accordion effect trying to slow down, were involved in this caution.

Greg Biffle, who has never finished in the top five at this track or won a race on a short track in his whole career, took the lead after the restart on lap 119, as he got by Logano and Johnson. AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose also made their way into the top five under this green flag run, drivers you don’t usually see run up front at Martinsville.

The fifth caution of the day was for Casey Mears, who had some help spinning from David Gilliland. On lap 178, Ambrose led the field to the green flag after he won the race off pit road, followed by Biffle and Johnson.

Jamie McMurray brought out the sixth caution of the afternoon when he hit the wall hard with some help from Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet. Kenseth led the field to the green flag but fell back to 10th as the seventh caution came out for the No. 23 of Alex Bowman.

The two BK Racing cars (Bowman & Ryan Truex) had some trouble this afternoon, just another part of being a rookie at the paperclip. Kevin Harvick’s string of bad luck continued as he came into the pits in fourth place but came out in the 15th position. This was due to a left rear chain breaking on the No. 4 car, which caused them to have slow pit stops all day long. They rallied to finish in seventh place at the end of the day.

At the halfway mark with 250 laps complete of 500, Jimmie Johnson led as Ryan Truex brought out the eighth caution of the afternoon. On the next restart, teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Johnson traded the lead back and forth but the No. 48 prevailed.

After Kenseth went one lap down and Denny Hamlin fell back due to an electrical issue, the ninth caution came out for Joe Nemechek, who slammed the outside retaining wall. Johnson won the race off pit road, followed by the No. 15, No. 99, No. 88 and Brian Vickers. Kyle Larson then brought out the eleventh caution of the day after he spun coming off of turn two. Johnson won the race off pit road again, followed by the same four drivers.

After Kevin Harvick worked his way back into the top ten after falling back due to repairing his chain problem, the 12th caution came out for debris. With 100 laps to go, Johnson led Edwards, Kurt Busch, Harvick and Logano.

This is when the eventual race winner started to flex his muscles. The 13th caution came out for Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 48 won the race off pit road yet again, but what happened next was a rarity. With 50 laps remaining in the STP 500, Johnson slipped up just a tad, opening the door for Clint Bowyer to move past him and take over the top spot. But that was short lived, as Johnson got right back by the No. 15 car of Bowyer. Kurt Busch was watching this all unfold in third place, plotting his next move.

On lap 458, Carl Edwards brought out the 14th and final caution after spinning while running in fifth place. The final restart of the race came with 35 laps to go as Jimmie Johnson led Logano, Kurt Busch and Almirola. With 27 laps to go, Kurt Busch took the lead away from Johnson, leading for the first time all day. Johnson then took the lead back from Busch, but Busch wasn’t going down without a fight. He took the lead back and with a mere 10 laps to go, held on and won the race, snapping his long dry spell.

When asked about chasing down the dominant No. 48 car, Kurt Busch told FOX’s Krista Voda in victory lane that he “didn’t know if [they’d] be able to catch him, you know. The No. 48 is king here.” He added, “I’ve been on this journey for awhile, every time you come to Martinsville you just cross a line though it!” When asked about his comments on lap 44 about their day being “done,” Busch said, “We won; we’re not worried about that right now!” His car looked beat up, but he got the win nonetheless.

Runner-up Jimmie Johnson said that he was “loose in the final third of the race,” adding that he was “hopeful that [Busch] would wear his stuff out. That’s all I had, man. I ran the rear tires off the car. We had a very fast race car; I wish we could’ve gotten this win for sure.”

Next weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Fort Worth and Texas Motor Speedway. We now have six different winners through six races. Will we have a seventh new winner next weekend? We’ll find out as we go from under 100 mph and tight corners to 200 plus mph and high banked corners. Hopefully the Duck Commander 500 will be as good a race as these past two weeks at Fontana and Martinsville.

March 30, 2014
Kyle Busch Survives Tire Troubles, Punches Chase Ticket and Repeats at Fontana

The craziness started before the green flag flew to get today’s Auto Club 400 from Auto Club Speedway underway. J.D. Gibbs announced about 30 minutes prior to the command to fire engines that Denny Hamlin wouldn’t race due to a sinus infection that affected his vision. He was transferred to a local hospital and Sam Hornish Jr. filled in for him in the No. 11 FedEx Camry, which eventually finished in 17th position. Also, something non-human gave the command to fire engines. It was Gonzo from The Muppets. Now, let’s get to the actual racing aspect of today.

Fontana set the track record for lead changes with 35 today, and Goodyear almost set the record for blown tires as around 15-20 cars had tire troubles. Some Goodyear executives said that it was due to the aggressive setups and the bumps on the backstretch, but nonetheless, Kyle Busch survived the troubles and came home with the win for a second straight year after an exciting green/white/checkered finish.

But let’s go back a few laps. Jimmie Johnson was leading the field, like he was for most of the day, but the tire trouble struck him with fewer than 10 laps remaining as a left front blew, spoiling his bid to win at his home track as he did to get his first career win. That handed the lead over to Jeff Gordon, who was experiencing a vibration as he was trying to chase down the No. 48 car. But with 2 laps to go, Clint Bowyer lost a tire and spun in turn 4 prior to the leader getting the white flag, bringing out the ninth and final caution of the afternoon.

Some cars took 2 tires (Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart), some took 4 tires (Kyle Busch was the first car off the pit road with four fresh ones) and some stayed out on the track (Landon Cassill) because they had nothing really to lose! On the restart, the No. 40 of Cassil was eaten up quickly as Kurt Busch and SHR teammate Tony Stewart ran first and second for the first lap and a half or so. They finished 3rd and 5th respectively. Then, Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson, Saturdays TreatMyClot.com 300 winner, got by the cars on two tires to battle for the lead and the race win.

The No. 42 car dive bombed it onto the apron in turn 3 as the No. 18 was just above the apron, but Busch had just enough momentum to get up off turn 4, clear Larson and secure a spot in the 2014 Chase for his No. 18 Interstate Batteries team.

As for the drivers that have already punched their tickets to the chase, Dale Earnhardt Jr. came home in 12th after having some tire issues, Kevin Harvick came home in 36th place, multiple laps down after blowing two tires. Brad Keselowski also had tire issues and came home in 26th place. Carl Edwards finished in 10th place after, yup, you guessed it, having a tire issue just past halfway in this afternoon’s race.

Almost every single car that had the lead under green at some point in the race had tire issues. But in the end, the one that prevailed after a last lap pass was Kyle Busch, who only led 5 laps today, but also led the most important one.

So, what did we learn today? 1).Tony Stewart is back, no matter what anybody says getting his 2nd straight top-5 finish. 2). Goodyear might have to tweak the tire for the race at this track later this season. 3). Auto Club Speedway might need to repave this race track in the next couple years, although the drivers and fans love the racing here due to the multiple grooves and last but certainly not least, 4). Kyle Busch is a wheel man, but I think we all already knew that one.

Next week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads back east to Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, the oldest track on the circuit. The Hendrick Motorsports cars (No. 24 and No. 48 in particular) have the momentum heading into one of their favorite tracks, even though the results today might make it seem otherwise. If you’re a NASCAR fan and you watched the NNS & NSCS races this weekend at Fontana, there isn’t one reason you shouldn’t walk away smiling at the racing that took place this weekend, because it was nothing short of stellar.

March 24, 2014

Matt Kenseth Wins the Pole for the Auto Club 400 at Fontana

Kenseth conquered Knockout Qualifying and drove his No. 20 Dollar General Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to first place at Auto Club Speedway, earning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Coors Light Pole Award with a speed of 187.315 mph. It was his 12^th career pole and his first pole at this track.

When asked the importance of track position, Kenseth responded by saying, “Track position is important everywhere. This is probably one of the best tracks we go to though, as far as passing.” He continued saying, “There’s a lot of options here, this place is really wide. It’s very challenging as a driver but very fun as well.”

His car was consistently fast all day in practice and qualifying. Kenseth was scored fourth quickest in the first elimination round, second in the next round and captured the top qualifying spot in the final round.

Notable drivers that did not advance to the second round include McMurray, Kahne and Danica Patrick who qualified 25^th, 26^th and 27th. Those not advancing to the final round include Denny Hamlin (13), Kyle Busch (14), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (15), Ryan Newman (16) and Kurt Busch (17).

Brad Keselowski will start on the outside pole for the Auto Club 400, his fourth consecutive start on the front row.

“We’ve got a lot of great momentum going,” he said, “so we’ve got to keep it up. Obviously qualifying up front is always fun and always a great start to the weekend. But there’s more to be done in the race.”

Jimmie Johnson, Harvick, Bowyer, Gordon and Logano will begin in positions three through seven respectively. Rounding out the top twelve are Marcos Ambrose, Edwards, Stewart, rookie Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr.

The Auto Club 400 race will consist of 200 laps/400 miles. It will be televised on FOX with race coverage beginning Sunday at 3:00 pm. The green flag is scheduled to drop at approximately 3:18 pm.

The complete starting lineup for the Auto Club 400:

Position	No.	Driver	Sponsor
1	20	Matt Kenseth	Dollar General Toyota
2	2	Brad Keselowski	Wurth Ford
3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s Spring is Calling Chevrolet
4	4	Kevin Harvick	Jimmy John’s Chevrolet
5	15	Clint Bowyer	PEAK Toyota
6	24	Jeff Gordon	Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet
7	22	Joey Logano	AAA Southern California Ford
8	9	Marcos Ambrose	DeWalt Ford
9	99	Carl Edwards	Subway Ford
10	14	Tony Stewart	Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet
11	42	Kyle Larson	Target Chevrolet
12	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Chevrolet
13	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota
14	18	Kyle Busch	Interstate Batteries Toyota
15	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	National Guard Chevrolet
16	31	Ryan Newman	Caterpillar Chevrolet
17	41	Kurt Busch	Haas Automation Chevrolet
18	47	AJ Allmendinger	Charter Chevrolet
19	55	Brian Vickers	TreatMyClot.com/Aaron’s Toyota
20	3	Austin Dillon #	Cheerios Chevrolet
21	43	Aric Almirola	Farmland Ford
22	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford EcoBoost Ford
23	7	Michael Annett #	Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet
24	16	Greg Biffle	3M Aerospace Ford
25	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald’s Chevrolet
26	5	Kasey Kahne	Time Warner Cable Chevrolet
27	10	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy/Get Found Chevrolet
28	51	Justin Allgaier #	Brandt Professional Agriculture Chevrolet
29	38	David Gilliland	Love’s Travel Stops Ford
30	27	Matt Crafton (i)	Duracell/Menards Chevrolet
31	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Chevrolet
32	30	Parker Kligerman #	Swan Energy Toyota
33	35	David Reutimann	MDS Transport Ford
34	26	Cole Whitt #	Swan Energy Toyota
35	32	Travis Kvapil	SK Hand Tools Ford
36	36	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet
37	33	Brian Scott (i)	Whitetail Chevrolet
38	98	Josh Wise	Trench Shoring Company Chevrolet
39	23	Alex Bowman #	Dr.Pepper Toyota
40	83	Ryan Truex #	Borla Exhaust Toyota
41	34	David Ragan	Taco Bell Ford
42	66	Joe Nemechek (i)	Land Castle Title Toyota
43	40	Landon Cassill (i)	CRC Brakleen/FiberLock Chevrolet

# Rookie

(i) Ineligible for Driver Points

March 21, 2014

Mother Nature, Carl Edwards Share Victory in Marathon Day at Bristol

Rain was the name of the game Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway. It delayed the start of the race and went on to cause much more havoc when it brought the entire day to an end. When the skies opened up with two laps remaining, it was Carl Edwards leading the way after strategy paved his way to victory lane. The No. 99 team decided to stay out on a late caution and that move ultimately won them the race.

The wild events of the day commenced early in the going. The third caution on Lap 65 was triggered by Parker Kligerman spinning. However, a battery pack fell out of Alex Bowman’s car, sending debris all-over the race track.

When the massive cleanup ended, Jimmie Johnson was pacing the field. A few laps after being passed by Matt Kenseth, Johnson’s day took a turn for the worse as a tire went down, causing Johnson to make an unscheduled pit stop. The issue put the No. 48 team too far behind to be any sort of factor in the race.

Rain drops started falling once again on Lap 118 which prompted a three hour and 19 minute delay. Once the race resumed at 7:05 p.m. EDT, Kenseth maintained the lead.

Trouble struck for Kenseth on Lap 156 when a spin by Cole Whitt forced drivers to check up in order to maneuver around the stopped car. As Kenseth checked-up, Timmy Hill didn’t and Hill plowed into the back of the No.20 car. Kenseth suffered damage to the back of his machine, but the damage didn’t keep him down as he was able to stay in contention for most of the night.

Carl Edwards began to show his nose towards the front of the field when he restarted fifth on Lap 285. He slowly moved forward from that point on. He exited pit road second during the ninth caution of the race, right behind Kevin Harvick.

Just like last week in Las Vegas, Harvick’s problems didn’t start until he held the top spot. Smoke began trailing out of the back of the No. 4 car two laps before his motor let go and Harvick slammed into the wall.

Harvick laid down some oil on the track, which made it difficult for other drivers to slow up in order to avoid him. Keselowski couldn’t as his tires slid through the oil and he plowed into the back of Jamie McMurray, causing extensive damage to both cars.

Edwards held the lead on the ensuing restart. He opened up a commanding two second advantage over teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and cruised to the finish.

The finish wasn’t when the checkered flag flew, however. A mysterious caution came out with two laps to go. At the time, the reason for the caution was unknown.

Following the race, NASCAR Vice President of Competition, Robin Pemberton, issued a statement saying, “After review of the situation post‑race, what happened in the closing laps of the race, it appears that in the flag stand one of the flag people leaned on the switch that is the manual override for the caution lights. When the flag stand realized that the caution lights were illuminated, the flag man threw the flag, and then after that happened we froze the field from the tower.”

A few seconds following the caution lights coming on, rain returned to the speedway, bringing a fitting end to the race. Edwards was still out front at that point and he proceeded to cross the finish line under the yellow flag to claim victory.

The victory is his first of the season and will likely earn him a spot in the Chase. He joins Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Brad Keselowski as drivers with likely guaranteed Chase positions.

“We’re in the Chase. We’re gonna win this championship” a very confident Edwards said in victory lane. The No.99 team now has 22 weeks to prepare for a title run as they no longer has to pursue victories in order to earn a Chase spot.

March 16, 2014
Stenhouse and Almirola Press Conference

Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes: Food City 500 – Bristol Motor Speedway

Sunday, March 16, 2014

ARIC ALMIROLA AND RICKY STENHOUSE JR. PRESS CONFERENCE

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 17 Nationwide Insurance Ford Fusion

“It helps our confidence for sure. It’s been nice working with Mike and the guys again. We’re having a lot of fun. We’re just slowly working and getting better and better. I thought we were a lot better than our finish last week at Las Vegas, except I sped on pit road.  So I think we’ve got some good cars and everybody back at the shop is working hard on building those, but for the race we didn’t qualify as good as we wanted. We thought we had a pretty good race car throughout all the practices this weekend. I was looking for the race track to rubber in – right before the rain I thought that run right before the rain we were coming on pretty strong when it was laying some more rubber, but after that rain delay it seemed to get kind of cold and it didn’t seem to be laying as much rubber for us. We were fighting the
balance.  We were a little bit loose and a little bit tight and could never really zone in on it, but Mike made some good calls. We stayed out there and kept our track position and ended up second, so it was cool to have a 1-2 finish for Roush Fenway this weekend.”

ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion

“It was a good night for us. The first half of the race was just a struggle to get to the front. We had a
really good car, but we qualified back in the field so we had to pass a lot of cars. Like Ricky said, before the rain I thought our car was really good. It seemed like a lot of people were struggling for drive-off and my car was really good on drive-off, and when it cooled down it seemed like not as many people were struggling – they could hold on longer in the run. That was kind of our strong suit. It seemed like our car got better and better as the run went on. It’s frustrating because I had one shot to race Carl for the lead and these races are so hard to win, obviously. It was a great day for us and I’m not disappointed at all with third, but when you see it and you can taste it and it’s that close, you wonder what could have gone different. If our car would have taken off a little bit better, things might have gone different, but, all in all, it was a great day. Our pit stops were really good. I’m really proud of everybody on our team. We changed every part and piece on our race car this morning because we weren’t very good in practice, so
I’m really proud of Trent Owens and all of our guys. They gave me a really good car.”

RICKY STENHOUSE CONTINUED

HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO RUN THE CORNER LIKE YOU DID TONIGHT?

“Our car was definitely, compared to last year, we could not roll the bottom and I thought this year with the work we did in the off-season it seemed like Aric and Carl and my car rolled the bottom a lot better than we were able to last year. We focused on that a lot in practice because if you look back at these races the cars that are up front every race here at Bristol are able to run the bottom when they need to, but I was really happy with being able to run bottom, middle, top. Enter in on the top and turn and drive across the bottom. I was really, really happy with our car and the changes that we’ve made and the
progress that we’ve made from last year.”

WHAT DID YOU HAVE IN MIND IF YOU COULD HAVE HAD ONE LAST SHOT?

“I don’t know. I was thinking I would use the bumper if the opportunity was there. If you get the win, you’re in the Chase and you can let the rest take care of itself later. That’s what I was really thinking if we went back green. I saw Aric was really strong on the restart before and I thought him and I were really pretty good on the bottom and Carl seemed to be a little too loose as soon as we went back green. I would have ran it in there pretty hard. He knows I would have. We’ve had a few races in Nationwide where they came down to the wire like that and we both drive really hard, so I was thinking
about doing whatever I could to win.”

WAS THE TRACK NOTICEABLY WET WHEN THE CAUTION CAME OUT?

“Yeah. As soon as whatever the caution was for came out it didn’t matter. We weren’t gonna get to Carl no matter what, so really it was only gonna help us have the opportunity to get that one more spot. As soon as it came out going in three it started raining pretty good.”

HAS THE START OF THIS SEASON SURPRISED YOU OR DID YOU THINK THIS IS WHERE YOU
COULD MAKE SOME INROADS?

“No, actually we’ve had a lot of positives. We didn’t run very good at Vegas last week. We struggled really bad there, but at Daytona we had a great car. We went up and led some laps and had a really
strong car there, and then had a miscue on pit road where we had to serve a penalty under green and got caught a lap down and then I was racing for the lucky dog and got caught in a wreck. At Phoenix we had a good car and ran in the top 10 all day and then those last couple of restarts we didn’t have very good restarts and I finished 14th or 15th, so we’ve had good cars, we’ve had good runs – last week was
an exception – but this is how we expect to run.  We thought when we brought Trent over that he would come with some new ideas and our cars, everybody at Roush Fenway has been working really hard and everybody at Richard Petty Motorsports has been working really hard together to get our cars better and I feel like we have some really good cars right now. I think it shows. We had four of the top five cars
tonight, so everybody has been working really hard and hard work pays off. I know everybody works hard, but we were not very happy with how our season went last year and we’ve made a lot of changes
and all of those changes seem to have been positive.”

March 16, 2014
Ford Post-Race Quotes (Press Conferences to Follow)

Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes: Food City 500 – Bristol Motor Speedway

Sunday, March 16, 2014

EDWARDS WINS THIRD NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE AT BRISTOL

Carl Edwards captured the 22nd NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of his career with today’s victory.

Today’s win is Ford’s 620th all-time series victory and the 134^th for Roush Fenway Racing.

Edwards’ third Bristol win ties him with Fred Lorenzen and Kurt Busch, who each won three times at this track for Ford.

This marks Ford’s 34th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Bristol, which is the second-highest total for the manufacturer at one track. Michigan International Speedway has been the most successful for Ford with 35 wins.

The last time Ford won consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races was 2012 when Marcos Ambrose and Greg Biffle won at Watkins Glen and Michigan, respectively.

The last time Ford swept the top three spots in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race was last season when David Ragan, David Gilliland and Carl Edwards finished 1-2-3 at Talladega on May 5, 2013.

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Ford Fusion – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW –

“I wasn’t sure about the backflip.  First, I’ve got to thank the fans for sticking around.  How about Ford?  They’ve done so much in this sport.  They make the greatest cars on the road and for them to finish tonight 1-2-3-5, that’s a big turnaround from the other night.  I’ve got to thank Kellogg’s, they stick with me – Fastenal.  Jimmy Fennig made some calls.  Subway, Aflac, UPS, Sprint, the Eco Power oil, Wiley X, Cessna, New Holland.”

HAD HE NOT MADE THAT CALL WOULD YOU HAVE WON?

“I don’t know.  Aric and those guys were really fast.  I don’t know if I could have got by them. That’s a gutsy call with all the tire trouble. Goodyear makes great tires.  We didn’t have trouble at the end, but it was just a bad matchup with the track.  I’ve got to say get well to my Uncle Dan. He’s battling something real tough, but he’s an Edwards and he’s tough and we’re thinking of him. It’s just an awesome night.  We’re in the Chase and we’re gonna go win this championship. I just can’t believe we turned this thing around. We were terrible on Saturday, so I’m just glad we turned it around. Jimmy is the man.”

MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion

“It’s just a great night for Richard Petty Motorsports.  My teammate Aric Almirola was a couple spots
in front of us, so we’re really proud of our team tonight and a great night for Ford tonight as well with Carl doing backflips on the frontstretch here. I’ve got thank the fans for sticking with us through all this rain this afternoon.  I’m really proud of this Stanley team and can’t wait to watch this one on replay and look forward to California coming up.”

IT WAS AGGRESSIVE FROM THE START.

“You had to. These cars go a lot faster around this track than the old style cars and we had to really dig in our feet. The groove went to the very fence and we had to really watch ourselves there and keep adjusting the car all night. We got a bad set of tires where they delaminated and started to cord really bad, so we lost a lap and then got it back. I passed Kyle Busch to get the lucky dog and worked our way back up to the front.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 17 Nationwide Insurance Ford Fusion

DID YOU THINK WHEN THAT LAST CAUTION CAME OUT IT WAS YOUR CHANCE TO WIN?

“I did until it started raining. I’m still not sure what the caution was for, but Mike Kelley got this Nationwide Insurance Ford Fusion rolling pretty good. We felt good about it all weekend because this was a track we were good in Nationwide, so it’s good to have him back and good to be running back up front.  It’s good for our partners – Zest, Fifth Third, Nos – it’s just a lot of fun coming back up here and running in the top five. We got a 1-2 finish for Jack Roush. The Eco Power oil was getting a little hot under cautions there, but everything held together and we were able to come home with our first top five of the year. Hopefully, we can keep that going.”

ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion

“It was a good run for us. The Smithfield Ford Fusion was good all weekend.  We worked on it. Trent Owens and all these guys, we changed every part and piece on this race car throughout the weekend. I’m really proud of those guys. They did a great job and got a top-5 finish out of it. It was a good day for us. The first few weeks haven’t been great to us, so it was a good way to come back.”

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE A CAREER-BEST FINISH?

“It feels good. You want to win. I saw it right there at my fingertips on that one restart when I raced side-by-side with Carl, but he had a lot better car than we did tonight.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion

“It was exactly where I wanted to be, just not smart enough to take advantage of it. I saw the 4 was in trouble and we had new tires and the leaders didn’t. We were just making our way through traffic
and he broke something in front of me. Everybody – me and the cars in front of me – we all knocked the wall down running in behind him. It’s unfortunate and just one of those racing deals, I guess. I should have anticipated he was gonna blow up, I guess, but that’s just part of it.”

THE RACE SEEMED AGGRESSIVE FROM THE START.

“Yeah, I thought it was a typical Bristol race.”

March 16, 2014
Carl Edwards Victory Notes

EDWARDS WINS THIRD NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE AT BRISTOL

Carl Edwards captured the 22nd NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of his career with today’s victory.

Today’s win is Ford’s 620th all-time series victory and the 134th for Roush Fenway Racing.

Edwards’ third Bristol win ties him with Fred Lorenzen and Kurt Busch, who each won three times at this track for Ford.

This marks Ford’s 34th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Bristol, which is the second-highest total for the manufacturer at one track. Michigan International Speedway has been the most successful for Ford with 35 wins.

The last time Ford won consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races was 2012 when
Marcos Ambrose and Greg Biffle won at Watkins Glen and Michigan, respectively.

The last time Ford swept the top three spots in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race was last season when David Ragan, David Gilliland and Carl Edwards finished 1-2-3 at Talladega on May 5, 2013.

March 16, 2014
Joey Logano Red Flag Interview on Power-Steering Problem

Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes: Food City 500 – Bristol Motor Speedway

Sunday, March 16, 2014

JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 – Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion

RED FLAG INTERVIEW ON LOSS OF POWER-STEERING:

“I’d say 500 laps is gonna be a lot longer than I thought it was gonna be around here, but Todd Gordon and the guys are putting a plan together. There’s so much load here and the car is pressing so hard down on the race track that it makes it so hard to steer. It feels like it’s working against you. I was already huffing and puffing pretty hard trying to get the thing to turn. You can’t be quick with it. That’s the biggest problem is you can’t go fast. If you get loose or anything like that, you can’t steer the car to the right and then back to the left quick enough that you get yourself in a bind and then you crash. It’s kind of just limp it until you get the caution.

“We got lucky because we got that lucky dog. We’re back on the lead lap. It may cost us a lap trying to fix this thing, but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do and try to recover with lucky dogs and wavearounds. We’ve got a fast car. We were up there leading laps. It was intermittent for a while once we restarted behind Jimmie and Matt, but then it just went away. We’ll just have to fix it. The good thing is we’re 130 laps into this thing and there’s a long ways to go. The bad news is if we can’t fix it, we’re only 130 laps into it, so, either way, we’ve got our work cut out for us today.”

March 16, 2014
Brad Keselowski Sweeps Weekend; Passes Dale Earnhardt Jr. On Final Lap

Brad Keselowski passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap of Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to score the victory. Keselowski notched his 11^th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory after leading a dominating 52 laps of the 267 laps ran in ‘Sin City’.

“Heck of a call throughout the race to get us out front,” Keselowski said in victory lane. “At the end, this car was just really fast. I’m really proud of the car and proud of the team.”

“Carl Edwards helped me out there,” Keselowksi explained. “He gave me a little break and let me go after Dale.”

Keselowski, who won yesterday’s Boyd Gaming 300 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at LVMS, inherited the race lead after Earnhardt’s fuel tank went empty down the backstretch on the white flag lap. Earnhardt was able to continue and finished an acceptable second place, which becomes his second straight runner-up finish.

“It sucks to lose like that, but we can’t let that be a negative.” Earnhardt explained after climbing from his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “Running out of gas it tough, but one thing you can’t do it let it get under your skin, get under your team’s skin. Probably would have had a better record with about a Mountain Dew can full of fuel.”

The pivotal moment of the event occurred with 48 laps remaining when the fourth caution of the race flew for debris on the front stretch. Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Paul Menard were among the front runners to hit pit lane in hopes that’d be their final stop of the race. However, considering we were in the famous gambling city of Las Vegas, Nevada, it was only appropriate for somebody to stay out and try to make it to the end on fuel.

Carl Edwards and Earnhardt were the only competitors to gamble and stay on the racetrack. Luckily, they both were able to have enough fuel in the tank to reach the checkered flag. Edwards finished fifth, which marks his first top five of the season and Earnhardt (like stated above) finish second.

Paul Menard, on the day his wife was scheduled to have her baby, finished third after sitting inside the top five all race long. Menard finished highest among the Richard Childress Racing stable and posted his first career top five at Vegas.

“It’s something we can definitely build on for more mile and a halfs,” said Menard, who was going back home to North Carolina, where his wife is due to deliver their first child.

Joey Logano, who started the race on the pole and led 44 laps, finished fourth after dying off during the middle part of the event. Jimmie Johnson, who led 34 laps today, finished sixth after being shuffled outside the top five late in the going.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to the track next Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee in what’s going to only instigate existing feuds and create new ones while it’s at it.

March 9, 2014