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  • No Room in NASCAR for Racism, Bigotry

    No Room in NASCAR for Racism, Bigotry

    Can I be up front with you guys for a second?

    How many of you are parents to biracial children? I am. My oldest, Meredith, is Mexican-American. You may have seen her in some of my photos on social media. Maybe you’ve read the article I wrote about her trip to Texas Motor Speedway last year. Maybe not, but hey, that’s beside the point.

    For those of you who have seen her, did you notice anything that would set her apart from any other child you know; anything about her build, makeup, anything at all? Surely not. She’s just like every other 11-year-old out there in that she loves talking to her friends, playing Roblox, and takes forever and a day in cleaning up her room. There’s nothing that differentiates her from any other child or any other individual out there.

    So when I go on social media to find that Daniel Suarez, one of NASCAR’s most popular and genial drivers, is getting assaulted for his Mexican heritage and roots, needless to say, I take that personally. He’s won in NASCAR, both races and championships. He’s proven his worth by scoring top finishes on a variety of race tracks. He’s earned the respect of his peers and fans, including your favorite driver. Yet somehow, that’s not enough for some folks.

    No, they want to disparage him because he’s brown. They want to disparage him because English isn’t his primary language. They want to disparage him because he was born in Monterrey, Mexico. It angers the bigots, the narrow-minded racists, because they can’t seem to let go of the fact that, in their mind,” he’s not one of us.”

    No. No way. There’s no way a mindset like that gets to win in this sport. NASCAR has evolved in a great way from the days when a black man named Wendell Scott was almost robbed of his first career win. Has anyone checked the genetic makeup of the race day crowd lately? There’s black fans, white fans, Asian fans, German fans. and more. Last year when Meredith and I were at TMS we were sandwiched in a line between a British family and a Japanese family.

    Let’s dig deeper. I hate mixing politics and religion with sports but despite NASCAR being stereotyped as a “white, Christian, conservative sport,” it’s surprising the number of fans you can meet on a race weekend that not only have a different skin color but a different religion as well as different political beliefs. They are liberal, conservative, black, white, brown, Muslim, Christian, and Atheist. These numbers are growing because NASCAR is a sport for everybody. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are from. It doesn’t matter what your race, nationality, creed, gender or sexual preference is. This is a sport that is lightyears more evolved from what it once was all those years ago for the betterment of all involved.

    It’s a sport where the minority role now belongs to the ignorant who call themselves “fans” but who are now outdated, antiquated, and who truly do not belong. This isn’t a matter of political correctness, persecution or whatever label they want to call it. The idea that a Mexican driver doesn’t deserve the same respect as Kyle Larson or Bubba Wallace should not have any credibility at all. This is a viewpoint that has no grounds, no validity and no place in the sport.

    This is still a NASCAR article, though, so let me reel off some racing stats. Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Coca-Cola 600 is going on at the end of May during Memorial Day Weekend. In regard to Suarez, Charlotte has been kind to him. In a combined eight starts across NASCAR’s top three national touring divisions he has four top-10s at the track including a pair of top-fives in XFINITY competition.

    Why bring up Charlotte when there’s Kansas to worry about? Well, although Suarez could just as easily take a trip to Victory Lane at Kansas, he knows his way around Charlotte well. From a race fan’s point of view, that’s just stating facts based off of results. But from the point of view of an angry father who has had to calm his little girl because she was afraid after a peer at school told her she was going to be deported once upon a time? Well, in that case, there’s something about a Mexican driver winning with a Japanese-based manufacturer on a day we celebrate those who sacrificed all for the freedoms we have today, that makes me wish the detractors of race, the ignorant of color and talent, would just eat salt. The Coca-Cola 600 is notorious for first-time and surprise winners, although if Suarez did, in fact, win it wouldn’t be much of a surprise.

    There’s no room in the sport for those kinds of people and for that kind of talk. There’s room for anyone and everyone from all walks of life. Come one, come all, and let’s enjoy the sport. But there is no room for hatred and bigotry. There is room for driver rivalry and fandom, even for disliking a driver because they’re rivals with your favorite driver. But to hate and discredit a driver because of their color? Well, to quote A Tribe Called Quest, “Take that garbage to St. Elsewhere.”

  • Larson finishes 10th, after elevator day at Dover

    Larson finishes 10th, after elevator day at Dover

    To call Kyle Larson’s run a roller coaster day would be an understatement.

    He dropped to the rear for the initial start, because his car failed pre-race inspection three times. Starting 38th, he was up to 36th after caution flew for the first time on the third lap. He worked his way up to 28th, when Corey LaJoie’s blown engine brought out the caution on Lap 21.

    Larson and Alex Bowman opted to stay out while the leaders pitted, and restarted second. He spun his tires on the restart and briefly held up the inside line. While he recovered and held off Keselowski’s attempt to get him loose on Lap 35 and Lap 39, he couldn’t do it a third time and Keselowski usurped him for second in Turn 4 on Lap 42. Staying out got Larson to the front, but his used tires were no match for the leaders that pitted under the second caution.

    A cycle of green flag stops on Lap 95 allowed him an opportunity to stay in the Top-10, when it cycled out, but an uncontrolled tire penalty forced him to serve a pass through penalty and trapped him two laps down in 31st.

    Larson was 30th when the caution flew for the conclusion of the first stage. With most of the field pitting under the caution, he took a wave-around, regained a lap and moved up to 26th.

    Larson came a car short of the lucky dog when caution flew on Lap 154. While he was in position to get it at the end of the second stage, Harvick put more cars down a lap in the closing laps, a result of a long green flag run, and Larson remained trapped a lap down in 22nd.

    He got back on the lead lap when Kyle Busch suffered an engine failure with 129 to go and worked his way up to 15th when rain put the field under the red flag with 84 to go.

    Larson restarted 10th with 75 to go. In the final 50 laps, however, the handling of his car went towards the freeside and fell out of the Top-10. He broke back into the Top-10 when Bowman made an unscheduled stop, and brought his car home to a 10th-place finish.

    “Yeah, it was a hard-fought top 10 for sure,” Larson said. “We were three laps down at one point. I guess happy about the Top-10. I was hoping we could pick off some cars there that last run once we finally got on the lead lap, but it was just so hard to pass. Everybody was the same speed until the very end of the run and then you could kind of move around. Found a little bit of time and was catching a few of them in front of me, but just ran out of time.”

    Larson’s 10th-place finish was his seventh Top-10 finish at Dover International Speedway, a track at which he maintains an 8.2 finishing average.

    He leaves Dover 10th in points, 159 back of Kyle Busch.

  • Harvick puts on clinic at the Monster Mile

    Harvick puts on clinic at the Monster Mile

    Dominant victories are just routine now for the driver that carries the nickname “The Closer.” While the smoke and confetti rained down on Kevin Harvick’s victory lane celebration at the Monster Mile, he maintained an expression that said “Been there, done that.”

    “The first thing I’ve got to do is just thank everybody on my team — everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing, Roush Yates Engines, everybody from Ford for just continuing to put the effort that they put into these cars,” Harvick said. “Three cars in the top five says a lot about where we are as a company, but everybody from Jimmy John’s and Busch and Ford, Fields, Haas, Mobil 1, Morton Buildings, Textron Off-Road, Liftmaster and the fans, especially. It was great to see those fans stick around for the finish, but it’s fun racing your teammate. That says a lot about our company and one of your good friends as well.”

    Harvick led a race high of 201 laps on his way to scoring his 41st career victory in 621 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts, and second at Dover International Speedway.

    He mentioned in victory lane that his son Keelan broke the arm of the Miles the Monster trophy he got from his first win at Dover in 2015.

    “Miles is pretty popular, as you can imagine, with the kids. We took the last‑‑ the first one that we won, we took it home and put it in his play room, and I said, you can keep it in your play room,” Harvick said. “First day I came home and he had the arm broke in half off of the thing. When we talked‑‑ when I talked to him after the race, he said, “Dad, are you bringing that trophy home?” I said, “I’m bringing it home, but do not break the arm off this one. I have no idea how he broke it, but it is hollow, so he must have landed on it or hit something with it.”

    He then revealed that his line to his son about not breaking this trophy was more tongue-in-cheek.

    “Oh, he can break it, it’s fine. Yeah, we’ll put it in the same spot. We’ll put it in the same spot in the playroom for a while,” Harvick added. “We’ll have to go hose it off first because it smells like beer. It’s always strange trying to explain to people why his playroom smells like beer.

    “But no, we’ll clean it up and put it in his playroom. We glued the other one back together. It’s fine.”

    Teammate Clint Bowyer led 40 laps, on his way to a runner-up finish.

    “Well the biggest thing was just if we had a chance to adjust our car in clean air, like he (Harvick) did. He had that luxury all day long, and that was the first shot at tires, and clean air,” Bowyer said. “It took off and it was turning really, really good. It really kind of needs to be kind of tight and work into that. I knew when it took off as good as it did and it was rotating as good as it did, I was in trouble. Sure enough, I just got way, way, way too loose.

    “But awesome Ford Fusion, Rush Truck Centers, Haas Demo Day. We won with that Haas Demo Day on the car at Martinsville. I thought maybe it was going to be again.

    “But the opportunity Gene (Haas) and Tony (Stewart) give all of us at Stewart-Haas Racing makes this a lot of fun. It’s fun to be running like this and competitive and upfront in the limelight.”

    Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch rounded out the Top-five.

    DOVER, Del. – MAY 06: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s for Pros Chevrolet, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway on May 6, 2018 in Dover, Delaware. Photo: Jerry Markland/Getty Images

    “It was good,” Suarez said of his run. “Very proud of everyone on this team, Scott Graves, the rest of the guys, Stanley (Tools), everyone that makes this happen. We had a little rough start in the first few weeks, month and a half. Now we’re definitely moving in the right direction. So just very proud of this team, Joe Gibbs Racing, TRD Engines, everyone that makes this possible. It’s pretty cool to finally get moving in the right direction.”

    “Frustrated a little bit. We could never make it any better,” Truex said of his day. “We talked at the rain delay there, just so tight on exit. Just couldn’t get the thing turning off the corner. And I could catch anybody who was in front of me, at any point in time. After 15 to 20 laps into a run, I just stuck there. So it was very frustrating. And the harder I tried, just the more I hurt my tires. It didn’t go any faster. At the end, I was really struggling hanging on. We took a swing at it there, at the last caution, and it was definitely a swing and a miss, because if anything, it was worse.

    “Frustrating day, but battling back from that tire issue and then having to do some things to compensate for that definitely hurt us. And as bad as our car drove, I’m surprised we finished fourth. So everyone else’s must’ve been really bad.”

    “It’s all about the team effort. Good day for us,” Kurt Busch said. “The way that the pit stops went we had to come back from a penalty. Restarts went fair the early part of the race and went good in the latter part. Those restarts are close quarters and you need to grab spots then. These cars are really aero-sensitive. Thanks to Haas Automation and Ford we had a top-five day.”

    Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Larson rounded out the Top-10.

    RACE SUMMARY

    DOVER, Del. – MAY 06: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Jimmy John’s Ford, takes the green flag to start the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway on May 6, 2018 in Dover, Delaware. Photo: Robert Laberge/Getty Images

    Because Kyle Larson failed pre-race inspection three times, he was sent to the tail-end of the field for the initial start. This moved Kevin Harvick up to first for the green flag at 2:01 p.m. He led the first lap, while Martin Truex Jr.

    The leaders ducked onto pit road on Lap 22, after Corey LaJoie brought out the caution for a blown engine. Austin Dillon exited pit road first, but Alex Bowman opted not to pit and led the field back to green on Lap 26. His used tires were no match for Brad Keselowski on new tires, as Keselowski passed him down the backstretch to take the lead on Lap 52. Lap traffic allowed Truex to reel him in, but he surrendered second to pit on Lap 95 and triggered a cycle of green flag stops.

    Keselowski and the others didn’t pit right away. He wanted to ride out for a caution or the end of the first stage. Regardless, Harvick ran him down and passed him exiting Turn 4 to retake the lead on Lap 110. Even as he and others ran out of gas in the closing laps of the stage, he rode it out and won the first stage.

    Back to green on Lap 128, Harvick pulled away from Keselowski. The over two-second gap was erased when Derrike Cope spun out and slammed the inside wall in Turn 4 on Lap 154.

    DOVER, Del. – MAY 06: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Jimmy John’s Ford, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway on May 6, 2018 in Dover, Delaware. Photo: Robert Laberge/Getty Images

    Keselowski exited pit road with the lead and led the field back to green on Lap 159. Harvick reeled him in after 20 laps, but couldn’t make the high line work to pass Keselowski. On Lap 200, however, Keselowski’s loose car allowed Harvick to hug the bottom and pass him exiting Turn 4 to retake the lead and win the second stage.

    It was more of the same on the ensuing restart, with Harvick pulling away from Keselowski. He surrendered the lead to pit under caution with 129 laps to go, brought out by Kyle Busch’s engine failure.

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. opted not to pit and led the field back to green with 119 to go. While he initially pulled away, his old tires couldn’t hold off Clint Bowyer, who passed him exiting Turn 2 to take the lead with 103 to go.

    Caution flew with 84 to go for rain. The field was brought down pit road and the race was red-flagged with 80 to go. It was lifted after 41 minutes and one second.

    DOVER, Del. – MAY 06: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Jimmy John’s Ford, celebrates with a fan as he is handed the checkered flag after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway on May 6, 2018 in Dover, Delaware. Photo: Jerry Markland/Getty Images

    Back to green with 75 to go, Harvick took advantage of Bowyer getting loose going into Turn 1 with 63 to go and passed him the following lap going into Turn 3 to retake the lead and drive on to victory.

    “Well, I was holding my own as loose as I was and I about lost it off of 2, and I was obviously going for a win and giving it my all. But I knew you just can’t buzz the tires like that on a track like this, and every time you do that, it’s a step. It wasn’t, what, two laps after that and he was all over me, and then I was in trouble,” Bowyer said. “When you’re loose like that getting into the corner and those guys get behind you, you’re in trouble. Then obviously when you’re loose and they get to your outside, you’ve got to give it to them. They’re going to turn you around. But he’s obviously a champion of this sport, and you hate to lose him, know what I mean? We could beat him at this racetrack. We come back in the fall, and when all the marbles are on the line, maybe we can.”

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted three hours, 28 minutes and 37 seconds, at an average speed of 115.044 mph. There were 17 lead changes among six different drivers, and eight cautions for 48 laps.

    Kyle Busch leaves Dover with a 40-point lead over Joey Logano.

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  • Kurt Busch Pounds Wall Twice in Dover Cup Race

    Kurt Busch Pounds Wall Twice in Dover Cup Race

    By Lap 65, Kurt Busch was in second place and looked to have a car to run up front Sunday at Dover in the AAA 400 Drive for Autism. However, by Lap 97, he was in the garage and out of the race after hitting the wall a second time.

    Busch lined up inside of Kyle Larson on the Lap 65 restart and edged ahead of him going into Turn 1. But rounding the turn, Busch got loose underneath Larson. He overcorrected, turned up the track, hit Brad Keselowski, who swerved up to the high line to avoid the spinning Busch and sent him into the outside wall in Turn 2. Busch continued his slide through the turn before coming to a stop near the exit of Turn 2 in the middle of the track.

    “I got loose on a restart, it’s my bad as a driver. My bad,” Busch said. “We had good speed in our car and just couldn’t finish. You can’t make mistakes out here and we did.”

    “Yeah, one of them racing deals,” Keselowski said. “These cars rely so much on aerodynamics. We saw that early with guys being able to stay out on two tires even with a lot of tire wear. I don’t know if it was Kurt’s fault, just one of them racing deals. We line-up double-file and somebody got loose and just took us out. What a bummer. Just one of them racing deals.”

    Busch soldiered on in the race until his left-rear tire came apart entering Turn 1 on  Lap 97, sending him spinning through the turn and rear-first into the outside wall.

    Keselowski leaves Dover seventh in points, 135 back of leader Martin Truex Jr. while Busch leaves 16th, 254 behind.

  • Johnson Wins on Late Restart at the Monster Mile

    Johnson Wins on Late Restart at the Monster Mile

    Jimmie Johnson got the better of Kyle Larson on the final restart of the AAA Drive for Autism 400 to win for the 11th time in his career at Dover International Speedway.

    Larson got a lousy restart on the outside lane, allowing Johnson to pull ahead. Ty Dillon got loose exiting Turn 2 and came down in front of Ryan Newman. His car turned back up the track and was t-boned by Erik Jones, triggering a multi-car pileup on the backstretch and ending the race under caution as Johnson had crossed the overtime line and the caution flew when he was rounding Turn 4.

    The win ties him with Cale Yarborough for fifth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.

    “I never thought I would end up here in NASCAR as a kid racing in the dirt out in Southern California,” Johnson said. “I was a big Cale Yarborough fan and I remember going to a race in Oklahoma with my parents and my brother. We were driving across the country and we pulled up to a Hardee’s. I had no idea it was a burger stand and I really thought when I walked in the door I was going to Cale Yarborough’s race shop (laughs). It was very disappointing. I had a burger and left and then understood the world of sponsorship.

    “To be here and tie him at 83 wins is amazing. We just got the tribute helmet. I wasn’t sure how quickly we’d be, or if we’d be able to go there, and get it done. But, Cale, you’re the man. Thank you for all you have done for our sport.

    “To be a part of one team and one sponsor, Lowe’s, Chevrolet, Valvoline, Gatorade, and with the support of the fans, this is an amazing day.”

    Larson came home second after leading a race-high of 241 laps.

    “Jimmie did a good job. A lot better job than I did,” Larson said. “I spun my tires. I just spun my tires pretty bad. I tried taking off not using a lot of throttle and still spun my tires pretty bad. I knew we were both probably going to spin pretty bad, but I wasn’t getting great launches all day. I was always having to fight people off into Turn 1 when I was the leader. But, you know, my team gave me a great Target Chevy again. I thought we were the best car today, me and the No. 78 (Martin Truex, Jr.) I thought we were really good. I definitely, obviously, didn’t need that last caution there. I was just cruising trying to log some laps, get to the end. I saw the lapper in front of me blow a right-front and wasn’t too worried. I thought maybe the outside lane would take off good. I just didn’t do a great job.”

    Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the podium.

    Ryan Newman and Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five.

    Daniel Suarez, Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick rounded out the top-10.

    Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag at 1:19 p.m. When he left pit road under the first caution, his left-rear wheel came off completely. This was caused by the air gun used to fasten the lug nuts into place being set to reverse. This handed the lead to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    On the ensuing restart, Martin Truex Jr. took the race lead and only lost it under the fourth caution when Larson opted not to pit.

    Going down the backstretch on lap 79, Truex gave a tap to Larson to loosen him entering Turn 3, took the lead and won the first stage. Larson, as well as 11 others, opted not to pit under the stage break caution and assumed the race lead.

    Aside a few laps under the seventh caution that were lead by Michael McDowell, Larson led most of the second stage. It was on the lap 211 when Truex passed under Larson in Turn 1 to take the lead and drove on to win the second stage.

    Larson took back the lead from Truex prior to the restart of the final stage and controlled the race until a cycle of green flag stops occurred with 65 laps to go and caution flew, in the middle of green flag stops, with 62 to go when Regan Smith suffered a tire failure and slammed the wall in Turn 2.

    The caution cycled Ty Dillon to the race lead, who held it for 23 laps. Meanwhile, Larson powered by Johnson’s outside to take second with 42 to go and drove by Dillon’s outside in Turn 4 with 39 to go to retake the lead.

    In the closing laps, Larson was pulling away from Johnson and had the race in check. But with four to go, David Ragan suffered a right-front tire failure and slammed the wall in Turn 2, sending the race into overtime and setting up the run to the finish.

    Ryan Sieg brought out the first caution for a solo spin in Turn 1 on lap 17. Stenhouse suffered a right-front tire failure and slammed the wall in Turn 2 on lap 47. He slammed the wall a second time in Turn 4 and brought out the third caution on lap 62. On the lap 65 restart, Kurt Busch got loose rounding Turn 1, overcorrected and turned up track into Brad Keselowski, taking both of them out. On lap 96, his left-rear tire came apart, his car spun out and slammed the wall in Turn 1. Danica Patrick spun out in Turn 4 on lap 144. Joey Logano suffered a right-front tire failure and slammed the wall in Turn 3. Paul Menard and Chris Buescher were collected in a two-car wreck on the backstretch with 58 to go.

    The race lasted three hours, 52 minutes and six seconds at an average speed of 104.955 mph. There were 17 lead changes among nine different drivers and 15 cautions for 72 laps.

    Truex leaves Dover with a nine-point lead over Larson.

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  • Dover in the Rear View

    Dover in the Rear View

    It’s time to put a nice little bow on everything that went down at the Monster Mile.

    The Challenger Round came to a conclusion Sunday at Dover International Speedway and it was defending series champion Kevin Harvick who conquered Miles the Monster to punch his ticket to the Contender Round. You couldn’t get any more dominant than “Happy Harvick” with leading 355 of 400 laps and a 149.7 driver rating. If qualifying hadn’t been rained out on Friday, I truly believe he would have led all 400 laps. Harvick wasn’t even passed for the lead on the track under green. The only time he lost the lead was on pit road because his pit stall was behind the start/finish line.

    The finishing bridesmaid was Kyle Busch, who led 19 laps. Afterward, Busch said, “it was a really good day for us. I can’t say enough about this entire Interstate Batteries team. They did a great job today. Adam Stevens gave me a great piece and when you look at the amount of practice time we had, it was pretty hard to figure out what you had. We had a second–place car and we finished second with it; nothing to hang our heads about.”

    Focus on the phrase, “we finished second with it; nothing to hand out head about.” I find it amazing that these words came from the same Busch that not long ago would have responded to a second–place finish with something like, “yeah, but we didn’t finish first.” If you weren’t convinced that “Rowdy” had become a new man after his wreck at Daytona, this should do the trick.

    The biggest shock of the week hands down went to the master of Dover, Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (and yes, his middle name is Kenneth). All he had to do was finish 25th or better and he would  have been racing in the Contender Round. At a track where he has an average finish of 9.1, that should have been easy. Unfortunately, the racing gods were not with him Sunday as he went behind the garage after making an unscheduled stop on lap 103. He would go on to finish 41st and get bounced out of the Challenger Round.

    After making a gutsy outside pass on Jamie McMurray in the closing laps, Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the podium in third place. If he hadn’t won either Daytona or Talladega in the regular season, “June Bug” would’ve been bounced along with Johnson and McMurray would’ve moved on.

    I was also impressed with the silent fifth place performance put on by Aric Almirola.

    After being sent to the rear of the field for an unapproved adjustment, Martin Truex Jr. drove to an 11th place finish. I don’t have much to say on that other than a solid day at a track where passing is at a premium.

    Now that “Big Daddy” Jeff Gordon survived the Challenger Round with a 12th place finish, I believe the Contender Round puts the ball in Gordon’s court. He has historically run great at Kansas Speedway and finished fourth back in May plus he is the all-time points-paying restrictor plate race winner in NASCAR history at the Alabama roulette wheel known as Talladega Superspeedway.

    Overall, this race was a “meh” for me. It was far from the worst race I’ve seen at Dover, but not one of the best.

    Here are some tidbits to nibble on. Matt Kenseth ran the fastest lap on the ninth circuit with a lap of 22.471 and a speed of 160.206 mph, Matt DiBenedetto was the Sunoco Rookie of the Race and Harvick was the Mobil 1 Drive of the Race with a 149.7 driver rating.

    This Saturday, NASCAR races in their backyard at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Coverage of the Bank of America 500 starts at 6:30 p.m. on NBC (if the Navy vs. Notre Dame game doesn’t go into overtime) and the radio broadcast can be heard at 6:00 p.m. on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

    I hope you enjoyed reading this piece. It’s my first for Speedway Media and I hope it’s the first of many. Until then, I’ll leave you with this fact. An ounce of platinum can be stretched 10,000 feet.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Monster Mile AAA 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Monster Mile AAA 400

    The first elimination race, otherwise known as ‘It’s Over in Dover’, produced some very surprising and not surprising moments in the 46th running of the AAA 400 at the Monster Mile.

    Surprising:  Typically there are a few monstrous wrecks at Dover that collect several drivers at a time. But with the surprising lack of any major crashes and thanks to an unusual parts failure, six-time champion Jimmie Johnson was eliminated from further Chase contention.

    The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet finished 41st, with just Jeb Burton, who solo crashed twice, and Brett Moffitt, who solo crashed once, finished behind him.

    “I don’t know exactly what happened,” Johnson said. “That’s racing. I’ve lost championships this way and I’ve won championships this way. It’s not the way we wanted to end the season, but it’s racing and there’s not much we can do.”

    “It wasn’t meant to be.”

    Not Surprising:  Promises were made and promises were kept on this race day. Kevin Harvick promised that he would stay the course, keep confident, and believe in his team. And that promise not only led him to Victory Lane but also to fulfill his other promise, to allow son Keelan to keep the Miles the Monster trophy in his room for the night after the race.

    “He’s been asking for the Monster trophy for a couple years,” Harvick said. “Before the race started, we got him a little figurine just in case things didn’t work out today so he wasn’t disappointed.”

    “I’m just so proud of everyone from Stewart-Haas Racing to do what we’ve done the last three weeks,” the driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Jimmy Johns Chevrolet continued. “We weren’t in a great position coming into today. But that’s what this team is made of and that’s what teamwork is all about.”

    “This is what it’s all about, those big-time moments.”

    This was Harvick’s first-ever win at Dover International Speedway, which made his promise keeping all the sweeter.

    Surprising:  Although advancing to the next round of the Chase for his final time ever, Jeff Gordon admitted to a major freak-out moment.

    “I wouldn’t call it ‘drama-free’, the driver of the No. 24 AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet said. “I was freaking out there at the end.”

    “We’ve gone through a lot and it hasn’t been pretty,” Gordon continued. “That’s kind of the way today was. We knew we needed to be in the top 10 or top 11, or maybe 12th, if we were lucky. We did that.”

    “Until the end, when that caution came out and people swapped-up their strategy; we just got ate up on that restart and were falling back and I didn’t know what was going to happen. So, it wasn’t easy.”

    “We’ll reset and go see what we can do in the next three (races).”

    Not Surprising:  It was the best of times and the worst of times for the driver of the No. 15 5-hour Energy Toyota. Clint Bowyer started the race in Dover in the worst of positions due to a significant penalty and then finished 14th, which was not good enough to advance to the next round of the Chase.

    “Our 5-hour ENERGY Toyota was good today – I’d say a top-five car,” Bowyer said after the race. “We just had some bad luck with that loose wheel early on. We got two laps down but were able to make those up.”

    “Real proud of everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing for all their hard work to get us in the Chase. Just sorry we aren’t able to go to the next round.”

    The MWR driver did experience the best of times prior to the race, however, as he secured his future racing prospects. Bowyer announced that he will race for HScott Motorsports in 2016 and then will fill the seat of the retiring Tony Stewart in 2017.

    Surprising:  Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates had a great Dover race, with Jamie McMurray finishing fourth and Kyle Larson finishing ninth.  And even though he missed the Chase due to a tiebreaker with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., McMurray was surprisingly able to celebrate that good finish.

    “We were driving so hard those last few laps,” McMurray said. “We haven’t run this well so I’m thrilled with our performance today. We weren’t able to make it to the next round, but it was a good day for this team. We just needed one more point.”

    Not Surprising:  It was the good, the bad, and the ugly for the driver of the No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion.

    “We survived kind of ugly today, but I’d rather survive ugly than not survive pretty,” Keselowski said after finishing 16th while still moving on to the next round of the Chase. “We’ll take it and move on and realize that everything we’ve done from this point in the season doesn’t really mean anything.”

    “Everything is back to scratch and that’s probably a good thing for us this year.”

    Surprising:  Aric Almirola, behind the wheel of the No. 43 Nathan’s Famous Ford, was the highest finishing Ford, snatching a fifth place finish from the Monster.

    “That was a good run for us,” Almirola said. “I’m really proud of the guys.  That’s two top-5s in a row here at Dover.  It was a really good job.  We just struggled with getting the car in the racetrack most of the day and right there at the end four tires paid off for us.  That was some really good adjustments by Trent and the guys and the pit crew did a good job getting me off pit road and just a really solid day for us.”

    Not Surprising:  There was another weird animal sighting during this race, following squirrels, foxes and other various critters at some of the other tracks. This time, it was a duck that caused a bit of chaos, landing on the track and then flying off to rest on pit road.

    Surprising:  While every other driver was worrying about the points and where they were running, there was one driver who was taking a devil may care attitude towards it all. Kyle Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, finished in the runner-up position, which was good enough to move forward with his championship hopes.

    “I wasn’t doing any thinking about the points,” Kyle Busch said. “I think when you’re in the position that we were in when we were running second there the whole race, you don’t have to watch it.”

    “You just do the best you can and that was the best that we were going to do today. Fortunately, we came out with that finish and second-place was what we needed to do.”

    “The points reset so we’re back even with those guys and hopefully we can have a good, solid next three races.”

    Not Surprising:  In spite of not having a single driver in the Chase, Roush Fenway Racing continues to improve as they look to the 2016 season. Their best finishing driver at Dover was Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., who finished top ten, in fact in the eighth position.

    “I’m really proud of my team,” Stenhouse said. “We didn’t get much practice this weekend due to the weather but felt like we had a strong Fastenal Ford during the limited practice we had on Saturday. We’ve been focusing on being consistent and we have finished inside the top-20 the past four races. We will keep building and take the momentum into the off-season as we prepare for the 2016 season.”

    Surprising: There was one driver that was still upset in spite of working his way from the rear of the field to finish ninth. Martin Truex Jr. was sent to the back from pit road due to the right rear being bowed out and had to work his way forward in order to move to the next round in the Chase.

    “We don’t do anything that any of the other teams don’t do,” Truex Jr. said. “They tried to make an example out of us for some reason today. We just stayed focused. We didn’t have a great car, but we fought it and fought it.”

    “We did what we needed to do.”

    Not Surprising:  Forget the Monster, at least one driver moving forward in the Chase had his eye on the next biggest challenge, Talladega. Joey Logano pulled off a tenth place finish at Dover but was definitely looking ahead to the next round.

    “It’s nice to race that way, but we’re back to zero now,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford said. “I think this next round is the most important. It’s really hard to get through it when you look at Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega in particular.”

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover AAA 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover AAA 400

    With advancement into the Contender Round for the NASCAR championship on the line, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 45th annual AAA 400 at Dover international Speedway.

    Surprising: After experiencing a tire valve stem issue early in the race, one driver surprisingly seemed to have turned his attention to the upcoming holidays instead.

    “The inner valve stem got knocked out just like the first race here, except this time it was on the left-front,” the driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet said after finishing 13th from the pole. “A lug nut got in between the wheel and the brake rotor and knocked the valve stem out.”

    “So unfortunate, but probably our own fault for not finding a solution for it the first race,” Harvick continued. “Just handing out early Christmas presents to people for winning races that we should be winning.”

    “It’s just unbelievable that it can happen.”

    Not Surprising: As has played out for much for the season to date, the Monster Mile was also two-team dominated. Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon won the race, while his usually strong at Dover teammate Jimmie Johnson finished third.

    Team Penske also had a great day at Dover, with Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano finished second and fourth respectively.

    “I knew we could compete with the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) car,” Jeff Gordon said in Victory Lane. “The No. 2 was really good on short runs, but we could run him down. Of course he made us work for it there at the end.”

    “Certainly wish we were in Victory Lane, but good solid third-place run,” Hendrick teammate Johnson said. “We had a solid car.”

    “All I could think about was how I wanted to win all three races,” Brad Keselowski said after his runner-up finish. “Three more races and we’ve got to keep our head on straight t and push forward these next three like we have these last three.”

    “It was a hard-fought day, which is pretty normal for here at Dover,” Logano said of his fourth place finish. We got something good out of it and now we’ll start the next round and try to move on to the next one.”

    “We’ve got to focus on what we do to go fast and not what other people are doing or who our competition is,” Logano said about the Team Penske vs. Hendrick battle. “There are 11 other guys right now who are our main competition, so we’ve got to look at them all just like we did going into this round. We look at every one as a contender, no pun intended, and we’ll be able to focus on what we’ve been doing with our race cars and go from there.”

    Surprising: It was surprising to see just how disappointed so many drivers were who actually advanced to the next round of competition after the race at the Monster Mile.

    “It was off a little bit,” Matt Kenseth said, after taking the checkered flag in fifth as the highest finishing Toyota. “I couldn’t do very good on restarts and that really hurt us bad. I’d lose so many spots over the restart and just too hard to get them back.”

    “There were times when the car was better than where we finished and other times when it was worse.”

    “We did what we had to do today with our Interstate Batteries Camry, but I’m not sure what the problem was on the last couple funs of the race,” Kyle Busch said after finishing tenth. “We were tight all day, but it just got worse at the end.”

    “We didn’t run good obviously,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said after finishing 17th. “We struggled with our car all day long. We never had a moment during the race where the car was very good and competitive.”

    Not Surprising: Although he did not make it into the Chase race, this rookie driver has big plans for his participation during the remainder of the competition rounds.

    “It was a really good finish for us,” Kyle Larson said after taking the checkered flag in the sixth spot. “Hopefully I can be the guy that wins Kansas and Charlotte so all the Chase guys can be nervous going into Talladega.”

    Surprising: While everyone else who made it to the Contender Round of the Chase had Talladega on their minds, one driver surprisingly indicated that he could not wait to get to the superspeedway.

    “This is built for us,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford said. “We’ve got to capitalize on it and go run well at Kansas and Charlotte.”

    “We know we can win Talladega, so I look forward to that race,” Edwards continued. “That’s the first time I’ve ever looked forward to Talladega in the Chase, but I’m looking forward to it.”

    Not Surprising: At a track that he claims as one of his own close to home, it was not surprising that Martin Truex Jr. had a good run, finishing seventh after starting 26th. Truex scored the second best finish among non-Chase drivers and this was also his second best finish of the season.

    “Dover has always been a special place for me,” Truex said. “I don’t know what it is about this track – maybe it’s just home field advantage for me because it seems like the longer the race goes here the better we get.”

    “Just like last week (New Hampshire) I wish the race was longer. I never thought I would say that.”

    Surprising: While many, including Mr. Hendrick have stated that they are witnessing the rebirth of race winner Jeff Gordon as he drives for his fifth championship, another driver felt surprisingly renewed after squeaking into the next round of competition.

    “I feel great,” Denny Hamlin said after finishing 12th in his No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota. “We’ve got another life.”

    “This is going to be a great comeback story if we can keep going,” Hamlin continued. “This is a new life.”

    Not Surprising: There was no fairy tale ending for the two small Cinderella teams battling for their place in the Chase, as both Aric Almirola and AJ Allmendinger were eliminated.

    “It just didn’t work out for us,” Aric Almirola said after his 28th place finish. “I hate it. We picked a bad day to run the way we did and we can’t blame anybody but ourselves. I’m sure we’ll be able to look past this another day, but right now it’s pretty disappointing.”

    “It was an awful day,” Allmendinger said after finishing 23rd. “We didn’t give up. We just missed it all weekend.”

    “It’s disappointing to miss it by two points, but we didn’t deserve to be in it with the run that we had,” Dinger continued. “We have to look at it – I’m not going to take a moral victory out of it to miss it by two points, it’s disappointing, but we know we are making steps in the right direction.”

    “We have seven races to go. I will be disappointed tonight, but be ready to go tomorrow morning.”

    Surprising: One driver was surprisingly gracious in defeat, just missing the next round in competition.

    “I felt like we were in good position to advance, but you just can’t expect to advance by running 15th,” Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 HAAS Automation Chevrolet said. “You have to be more competitive. We gave it a good run, you know?”

    “We put this team together pretty late,” Busch continued. “Gene Haas believed in me to come in here and do this and thanks to Haas Automation and Chevrolet and great associate sponsors like Mobil 1 and State Water Heaters and Monster Energy.”

    “We don’t get to advance to the championship, but we can still run for pride and run for wins.”

    Not Surprising: Perhaps with a small nod to fellow racer Michael Waltrip’s stint on Dancing With the Stars, Kasey Kahne, who just squeaked into the next round of competition, told his pit crew that they would have to step it up after some struggles during the Dover race.

    “Well, these guys work hard,” Kahne said. “And we’ve struggled all season with that. But they work hard and I know they’ll keep working hard.”

    “I just told them if you guys want to go further, it’s time to step-up,” Kahne continued. “It’s time to put our best stuff out there. I know they want to. They’ll work hard this week.”

    “I’m going to work hard and we’re going to be prepared when we get to Kansas and hopefully we can keep moving on.”

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover AAA 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover AAA 400

    Under picture perfect skies in the Delmarva, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 44th annual AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.

    Surprising:  Probably the biggest surprise was that the ‘monster’ that usually lurks at the track known as the ‘Monster Mile’ was nowhere to be found.

    In fact, at a track where one driver’s misfortune can also collect others in the process, there were but 4 cautions for 21 laps, including 3 cautions for debris and one for fluid on the track from the Blue Deuce of Brad Keselowski.

    “I’m not exactly sure what happened but something in the rear end housing went out and burned itself up,” the reigning champ said. “We tried to get off the track as fast as we could with the Miller Lite Ford to not bring out a yellow, but obviously wasn’t quite quick enough.”

    “We’re getting all of our bad luck out of the way this year.”

    Not Surprising:  When your driver breaks record after record, including surpassing Richard Petty and Bobby Allison for eight wins at Dover, it is not surprising that the crew chief is proud. But Chad Knaus was absolutely effusive when it came time to talk about his driver Jimmie Johnson.

    “It’s been an honor to be able to work with Jimmie over the course of the years,” Knaus said. “I think he’s able to pull out some things that are pretty spectacular.”

    “He’s able to dig deeper, pull out his cape, make things happen in winning moments of these races that other people cannot do,” Knaus continued. “It’s pretty spectacular.”

    “I think Jimmie is probably the most underrated champion we have in this industry,” Knaus said. “He is by far and above the most powerful driver over the course of the last 25, 35 years in this sport.”

    Surprising:  Dale Earnhardt Jr. emerged from his second place run at the ‘Monster Mile’ with a renewed confidence and an obvious fire in his belly to get to Victory Lane.

    “I feel we’ve been able to really show what our team’s capable of,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet said. “The changes we’re making, everything seems to be going in the direction you want.”

    “We came really close today,” Junior continued. “I don’t feel like today was a highlight for us.”

    “I think this is how it’s supposed to be every week.”

    Not Surprising:  With his eye out the front windshield, it was not surprising that Joey Logano, who finished third had no idea what happened to his teammate Brad Keselowski. In fact, he did not even want to take the time to find out, adopting his version of a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.

    “I try not to ask questions,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Chevrolet said. “I know for me, when I talk on the radio, I slow down a lot.”

    Surprising:  In spite of a pit crew swap with RCR-alliance Nationwide team partners, Kurt Busch had issues, again with a loose wheel. The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet finished a disappointing 21st, the second lowest of all of the Chase drivers, losing two Chase positions from seventh to ninth.

    “A loose wheel did us in,” Busch said. “Nothing went our way today.”

    “This is the Chase and you can’t afford to have these problems,” Busch continued. “We need to regroup and get it together for Kansas next week.”

    Not Surprising:   While certainly disappointed to not be in Victory Lane, Kyle Busch was not surprisingly satisfied with his third straight top-five finishes in the Chase to date.

    “Certainly, I wish we definitely could have gotten more,” the driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota said. “We were about a fifth to seventh-place car much of the day and we ended up fifth.”

    “The Interstate Batteries Camry got what it could out of it.”

    Surprising:  As a last minute addition to the Chase, it has been surprising to see Jeff Gordon progress in the way that he has, in fact climbing out of the basement to the fifth place in the standings due to his fourth place finish at Dover.

    But even more surprising was the fact that the driver was having such a great time just watching his teammates battle for the win.

    “All in all, it was a great day for the Axalta Chevrolet,” Gordon said. “I was having fun.”

    “Congrats to Jimmie as he’s so tough here,” Gordon continued. “It was a great job by Junior too.”

    “That was fun to watch.”

    Not Surprising:  When a driver competing for the championship has mechanical failures, it is not surprising that he becomes one of NASCAR’s biggest losers. But even with that, there is no quit for the driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford.

    And in this case, Carl Edwards, who experienced a broken left-rear hub, finished the worst of all Chasers in 35th, plummeting from fourth to eleventh in the standings.

    “We did not need to have that trouble,” Edwards said. “Something broke in the left-rear, so that’s tough.”

    “Overall, we gave it the best effort we could,” Edwards continued. “We don’t quit.”

    Surprising:  After convincingly clinching the first two races in the Chase, it was surprising that the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot ‘Let’s Do This’ Toyota pronounced his seventh place finish ‘decent.’

    “We kind of missed it today,” Matt Kenseth said. “We got caught with being the last on two tires and restarting on the inside, which was really bad.”

    “Still salvaged a respectable finish, but certainly I wanted to do better than that.”

    Not Surprising:  Even with his sponsor, 5-Hour Energy, renewing their relationship and in spite of his positive, image-enhancing yoga event for Living Beyond Breast Cancer prior to the race, Clint Bowyer was resoundingly booed by the crowd at the Monster Mile during driver introductions.

    The driver of the No. 15 Raspberry5hourEnergyLivingBeyondBreastCancer Toyota finished top ten and moved two positions up in the standings to the eighth spot.

    Surprising:  Jamie McMurray followed up his top-five run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with an eleventh place finish at the Monster Mile. And with that, the driver of the No. 1 Liftmaster Chevrolet pronounced his season ‘pretty good.’

    “Yeah, it’s been good,” McMurray said. “I think our cars have been even better than what they were in 2010 when we won some big races.”

    “We were able to hit on a few things that has really worked well for us at a variety of different tracks.”

    Not Surprising:  With nothing to lose after losing his Chase spot, Martin Truex Jr. was proud of the ‘Hail Mary’ that he and his crew threw at the No. 56 NAPA Shocks Toyota Camry, finishing 15th.

    “Chad (Johnston, crew chief) took a real chance with our set up and I am proud of him for it,” Truex Jr. said. “We had nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

    “Sometimes you have to think outside the box.”

     

     

  • Almirola Hopes To Capitalize On Top Five Qualifying Run At Dover

    Almirola Hopes To Capitalize On Top Five Qualifying Run At Dover

    Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
    AAA 400 Advance (Dover International Speedway)
    Saturday, September 28, 2013

    Richard Petty won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race here at Dover International Speedway in 1969 – the only year in which he drove a Ford.  One of the King’s current drivers, Aric Almirola, is looking to find Victory Lane for the first time in the No. 43 Smithfield Fusion and he’s off to a good start after qualifying fifth yesterday.  Almirola spoke about his chances after today’s first practice session.

    ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN TOMORROW FOR YOU TO GET THAT FIRST WIN?  “We still need a little bit more speed from where we were just at in practice.  We need to work on that some more here in this next practice and find some more grip in our car.  Our car seems to be sliding around a little bit more than we want it to, but we’ve got a good qualifying spot and will start up front, so that’s gonna be really important.  This place is really hard to pass and aero really comes into effect here, so I think having a good starting spot is really gonna help our chances.  If we can make the right adjustments and be solid on pit road, we’ll have a shot.”

    THIS PIT ROAD IS VERY HARD TO MANEUVER.  IS THAT SOMETHING YOU’RE PARTICULARLY CONSCIOUS OF GOING INTO THIS RACE?  “Yeah, this is a very narrow pit road.  The wall is really close, so that’s why it’s definitely important to qualify good.  You want a good pit selection and we’ve got that.  There are only two openings and we have one of them, so that’s good, and then it will be important to be solid on pit road.”

    THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS HAVE BEEN UP-AND-DOWN.  WHAT DO YOU GUYS NEED TO IMPROVE ON TO GAIN MORE CONSISTENCY?  “Everything.  We have to execute better.  We have to execute our setups better.  I have to execute my restarts better.  We’ve got to be better on pit road, so it’s just a combination of everything.  To win at this level everything has to be perfect.  You can’t have mistakes.  You can’t make mistakes on restarts.  You can’t make mistakes on pit road.  You can’t miss the setup, so it takes everything and we just haven’t been executing on all those fronts simultaneously.  We’ve got to do a better job of that and I feel like we’ve seen moments where that’s been really good, but we haven’t done it on a consistent basis and that’s something Todd and myself and everybody here at Richard Petty Motorsports has been working on.”

    HOW HAS THE DYNAMIC BEEN THESE FIRST TWO RACES BETWEEN THOSE IN THE CHASE AND THOSE THAT AREN’T?  “I think everybody is under the same understanding that they don’t have a separate playoff system.  There aren’t 12 or 13 guys going out there to race their own race.  There are 43 guys out there and everybody is on the same agenda.  Everybody wants to win, so I don’t particularly race any different.  I try to respect everybody, whether they’re in the Chase or not, but at the end of the day I get paid to try to go out and win races and that’s what I’m gonna do.”

    ARIC ALMIROLA CONTINUED — CAN YOU WIN THIS RACE TOMORROW OR ARE WE IN THAT PHASE WHERE YOU HAVE TO GET TOP 10 FINISHES AND PUT YOURSELF IN POSITION CONSISTENTLY BEFORE THAT CAN HAPPEN?  “I think our team has the potential to win at any given time.  We certainly show that we’re capable of running fast enough.  We have speed and you saw that in qualifying.  In the race, when we have restarts where we start up front, we can hold our own, so we certainly show the potential to get to Victory Lane.  It’s just a matter of executing on all fronts simultaneously.”