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  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

    With new paint schemes under the lights, as well as pink for breast cancer awareness abounding, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 55th annual Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Surprising: In spite of the championship not even being close to secured for 2014, there was a surprising amount of discussion about champions after the checkered flag flew at Charlotte.

    Past champs Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski had quite the confrontation in the pits after the race, as well as exchanging some beating and banging on the track during the race and at the end of it.

    “The race had ended, and he’s running into cars on the cool-down lap,” Kenseth said of Keselowski. “I mean, the race is over, and he comes down pit road and drives into the side of me. That’s inexcusable. He’s a champion, and he’s supposed to know better.”

    Denny Hamlin was also a participant in the melee on and off the track with Keselowski, calling the driver of the powder blue deuce “out of control.”

    “He’s desperate, obviously, and it’s either four or five of us are wrong or he’s wrong because he’s pissed off everyone,” Hamlin said. “That was unfortunate. Matt (Kenseth) was nearly out of his car, and he just plowed into Matt and then ran into Tony and then went in through the garage and cleared out transmissions and did burnouts in the garage.”

    “Just acting like a dumbass instead of a champion.”

    Not Surprising: Although he won his 26th race, tying Hall of Famer inductee Fred Lorenzen for 25th on the all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win list, as well as securing his spot in the Eliminator round of the Chase, Kevin Harvick seemed more than willing to turn over the wheel of his No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet to another driver for next weekend’s race at Talladega.

    “I’d park it because it’ll be one hell of a race to watch,” Harvick said simply when asked about the potential mayhem at ‘Dega. “That’s what I’d do.”

    “I’m parking it and watching it. It’s going to be fun to watch. It’s going to be crazy, offensive racing.”

    “You want to drive, DeLana?”

    Surprising: It was a surprisingly good night in Charlotte for the Ganassi Racing team, with Jamie McMurray finishing third and the rim-riding rookie Kyle Larson finishing sixth.

    “Yeah, it was a really good night for our whole group,” McMurray said. “When I got to second place at one point I looked at my mirror and Kyle was catching me. We certainly went through a couple of really tough years as our group at Chip Ganassi Racing, and it’s so great right now to have both cars run that well every single week at a lot of different type racetracks.”

    “I was not only thrilled for our group but also for the 42 car and just everybody. This is a big weekend for all the race teams. There’s a lot of crew guys that get to bring their kids here to watch their dads or their moms work that sit in the stands, so that’s pretty special I think for Kyle and I to have a good showing.”

    “Top groove got going, and I was able to run up there and get to the front and lead for a little bit and the yellow came out and we lost some spots on pit road,” Larson said. “I was able to get back to second and then got into the wall in 3 and 4 chasing down the 11, and messed up the aerodynamics and was really tight after that and just kind of held on and I was lucky with that green-white-checkered, we came down and took four, restarted on the outside and was able to follow the 22 up around the top to get to sixth.”

    Not Surprising: Although he finished second in his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, restarts continue to be the Achilles heel for Jeff Gordon.

    “I didn’t want to see another restart, because every time we start on the inside, we seem to lose positions; there at the end, and the whole race,” Gordon said. “We were just trying to tune to make it better.”

    “I’m really proud of that finish and really proud of that effort.” Gordon continued. “It looked like we were going to be second. We got off a little bit and lost some track position. I had some terrible restarts. Kevin was tough. I knew when he got out in front it was going to be hard to beat him.”

    “I’m really happy about this second (place finish). It doesn’t make us, by any means, comfortable going into next week, but a lot better than it could be.”

    Surprising: With all the post-race drama, one of the most dramatic turn of events at the race start was lost in the shuffle. Matt Kenseth was penalized at the start of the race for an unapproved adjustment on pit road, which was reportedly a bumper decal.

    After his crew chief vociferously argued the call, Kenseth was forced to start the race at the rear of the field, which perhaps led to his anger and frustration that spilled over at race end.

    Not Surprising: While there was much drama for the Chase competitors, there were many non-Chasers that were having quite their own little races as well.

    Both Kurt Busch and AJ Allmendinger were satisfied with their finishes at Charlotte, taking the checkered flag in eleventh and twelfth places respectively.

    “I would call it a really good effort,” Kurt Busch, the driver of the No. 41 State Water Heaters Chevrolet, said. “The lap times were there. We were running second at half-way and ended up finishing 11th. But all-in-all, it was nice to run up front with the guys, and to show a turn in the right direction from where we had been running.”

    “We started off a little bit off,” AJ Allmendinger, the driver of the No. 47 Scott Products Chevrolet, said. “There were a couple of runs that I thought we were really good. I’m happy with it and stayed on the lead-lap all day.”

    “We have to keep working. I think there are little, small things that we are missing instead of big things. Getting better.”

    Surprising: After Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne was the only Hendrick driver to finish top-ten, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. having shifter problems and Jimmie Johnson testily telling crew chief Chad Knaus that he was going to crash every lap.

    “It was better than we ran most of the night,” Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Pepsi Chevrolet, said. “The only way I could get it to turn in the center was to be so loose. Then it would still get tight after 15 laps so we would go slower at that point. So we just tried a lot of things.”

    Johnson soldiered on to finish 17th and Junior ended the race in the 20th spot.

    Not Surprising: While Joey Logano did not even have to finish the race given his race win at Kansas last weekend, he was still very pleased with maintaining his points lead position. In fact, he remarked prior to the race that he was thrilled to see his hauler and car in the garage area at the front of the pack.

    “Obviously, this doesn’t do a whole bunch for us because we’re in the next round,” Logano said after his fourth place finish. “But we still need to keep that momentum like we have been. It was definitely a hard-fought day for this whole Pennzoil team and they did a good job.”

    Logano leads the point standings by six points over competitor Kyle Busch.

    Surprising: With the focus more on tire concerns, the real issue of the race was the incredible number of blown engines. In fact, there were five engine expirations, including Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, Josh Wise, Michael Annett, and Brian Vickers.

    “I had a really good car,” Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Schrock/Menards Chevrolet, said. “It’s too bad, awesome car, we had a pit stop problem and went to the back, but drove our way back up into the top 15 or so. We definitely had a top five car, just unfortunate. Something let go in the motor.”

    Not Surprising: Next week’s race is the infamous crap shoot of Talladega and not surprisingly, the drivers have different opinions on just how that race will play out.

    “It wasn’t a win – which is what we really want – but it’s another solid finish for us,” Kyle Busch said after his fifth place run at Charlotte. “We just need to go to Talladega next week and try to avoid the ‘big one.’ ”

    “We had a good finish for our Fastenal Ford,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford, said after finishing eighth. “It’s fun racing here at Charlotte and now we get to go to Talladega and have a little fun. We’ve got 20 points on ninth-place so it went pretty well for us.”

    “We’ll go on to Talladega, but I’m just glad we got out of here clean,” Edwards continued. “I don’t think we made any enemies, so we’ll go have some fun at Talladega and hopefully make the next round.”

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

    With Kansas City Royals Manager Ned Yost commanding the drivers to start their engines, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 14th annual Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

    Surprising: There were surprisingly two drivers after the checkered flag flew that thought that they had won the race.

    One driver, Joey Logano, did indeed end up in Victory Lane, securing his place in the Eliminator Round of the Chase competition, while Kyle Busch, who has so often had tremendously bad luck at Kansas, finished third in a run that felt to him more like a win.

    “It’s a dream come true,” Logano said after winning his fifth of the season and his first ever at Kansas Speedway. “It’s a dream season so far. We’ve just got to keep finishing it off.”

    “It is awesome to be back in victory lane again,” Logano continued. “We were able to capitalize and do what we needed to do. It was fun.”

    “I won today, I just didn’t get champagne and a trophy,” Kyle Busch said after posting only his third top-10 finish in 15 races at Kansas Speedway. ““To get through Kansas feels nice.”

    “I set my mind to it that there is no reason why we can’t run good here. There is absolutely no reason and other guys can do it so I can do it and my teammates can do it — there is no reason,” Busch continued. “We did that here today and it felt good.”

    Both drivers also had winning days in the point standings as Logano is just six points ahead of Busch after the Kansas race.

    Not Surprising: One of the first gestures after the race was over was from rookie Kyle Larson, demonstrating with about an inch between his index finger and thumb just how close he was yet again to winning.

    This was Larson’s 15th top-10 finish of the season and he was again the highest finishing rookie, in fact for the 21st time.

    “We were good all weekend long,” Larson said. “I thought me and Joey were dead even there at the end. It was hard for me to gain on him. We would go within a hundredth of each other it seemed like on every lap. I was able to close on him at one point, but just couldn’t do anything.”

    “Good finish. We’ll get some wins here soon hopefully before the end of the year, and I think once we get one, we should be up here more often as a winner.”

    Surprising: For at least one Chase contender, the Kansas race ended up being what has traditionally been defined as “a potentially lethal game of chance in which a “player” places a single round in a revolver, spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against their head, and pulls the trigger.”

    “It was just Russian roulette and it was our turn,” Brad Keselowski said after a tire issue sent him into the wall for a 36th place finish. “We blew the right front tire. I am not sure why. We didn’t have an aggressive setup or anything, we just blew the tire.”

    “We didn’t do anything,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford continued. “Like I said, it was a game of Russian Roulette and it was our turn at the gun.”

    Not Surprising: After the euphoria of welcoming his first born son into the world prior to the race, it was not surprising that Clint Bowyer was extremely upset with finishing 18th at a track that he considers part of his racing history.

    “We just struggled all day,” Bowyer said. “Got damage early on and our pink lemonade 5-hour ENERGY Toyota was never the same. Hate it at my home track.”

    Surprising: For once in a very long time, Richard Childress Racing had a better day at the track than Hendrick Motorsports, with the former having all three of its drivers in the top ten, while the latter had major issues of some sort for every one of its four drivers.

    Ryan Newman, driver of the RCR No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet finished sixth, Austin Dillon in his RCR No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet finishing eighth, and Paul Menard, in the RCR No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet finished ninth.

    “Just a good run for the Caterpillar Chevrolet, it was nice to lead some laps,” Newman said. “First time in a long time we have done that.”

    “That is good. That is a motivation for our company.”

    “We fought hard all day,” Menard said. “We didn’t quite have the speed our teammates did. We made some really good adjustments to get the car balanced out good. I’m pretty happy with a top 10 after struggling most of the race. We hit on a couple of things throughout the race that got us better.”

    Jeff Gordon was the highest finishing Hendrick Motorsports car, with a 14th place run. Kasey Kahne finished 22nd; Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson finished 39th and 40th respectively.

    “It was a handful,” Jeff Gordon said. “We were having a pretty solid day with the Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet until the No. 1 car (Jamie McMurray) got loose and got into our left rear.”

    “We had a little damage but we just lost all that track position,” Gordon continued. “It is so hard to get it back at this place.”

    “A lot of people had trouble today. So today was a real survival day. We did that. It just felt like we could have finished a lot better than that. We had a good race car. We actually really had a great race car.”

    Not Surprising: Pleased but not satisfied was how Brian Vickers felt after almost wrecking all day, throwing the kitchen sink at his race car, and finishing tenth in his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota.

    “I think we wrecked 15 times and didn’t hit anything,” Vickers said. “We didn’t get much practice yesterday — we had a couple shock issues that kind of messed us up for the two practices. Then we finally got that figured out on the last run of practice. Basically, today’s race was our practice.”

    “It just took us until the end of the race to kind of get it figured out,” Vickers continued. “There were a few runs there where we were horrible and trying to learn and trying things that didn’t work and did work. Then that last run the guys said, ‘Screw it,’ and threw the kitchen sink at it with a couple changes where we were trying to learn something for the future and it was just awesome.”

    “Considering everything we had to overcome this weekend I would say we’re pleased, but not satisfied.”

    Surprising: In a race with so many blown tires, it was a bit surprising that Carl Edwards’ two tire call actually worked out for him. The driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford finished fifth, keeping his hopes alive in the Chase race.

    “That was an awesome finish for us,” Edwards said. “I appreciate everyone coming out here and supporting this 99 team, it means the world. We did not run very well all day but that was awesome at the end, a lot of fun.”

    “We put it on the top and ran around and it was a lot of fun,” Edwards continued. “You keep saying we are going to fall out of this and we will keep doing what we are doing. I am so proud of my guys, they did great on pit road. Everyone on the Fastenal crew did a great job and Jimmy Fennig made the right calls and we came home with a top-five, so it was a good day.”

    Not Surprising: After another top-10 finish, there was no doubt that Denny Hamlin was in a smooth mood after his seventh place run.

    “I’m proud of my team — no mistakes on pit road, just nice smooth day,” Hamlin said. “I saw those guys having a lot of issues. We don’t have a lot of the speed that those guys have, so maybe if we can get them out this round, then maybe there’s a fighting chance we’ll get to the end of this thing.”

    “This is a good run for us and this is obviously the type of runs that we need to keep moving on. We’ll take sevenths all the way out.”

    Surprising: This team just might have finally turned the corner after a struggle and back luck filled season to date. Martin Truex Jr. scored his best finish of the season with a fourth place run in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet.

    Since the Chase began, Truex has an average finish of 9.25 and had the second best result at Kansas of all of the non-Chase drivers.

    “A lot of effort and a lot of patience have gone into our resurgence,” said Truex. “Everything seems to be clicking much better right now and I look forward to taking advantage of what we have learned and trying to get a win.”

    “As I said last week, we’re also getting ready for 2015 and right now we’re seeing the fruits of our labor.”

    Not Surprising: He may not have advanced in the Chase but AJ Allmendinger was celebrating what he perceived as a stand-out weekend at Kansas.

    “This is the best weekend we have had in a long time for sure,” the driver of the No. 47 Clorox Chevrolet said after finishing 11th. “Happy with the car throughout the whole race, we are just lacking a little bit of overall speed.”

    “It was a good car, by far the best we have been,” Dinger continued. “That is the best 1.5-mile car I’ve had in over a year. Hopefully, we learned for the next race at Charlotte.”

  • 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.”

     

  • Kevin Harvick Freaky Fast Yet Again to Score Monster Mile Pole

    Kevin Harvick Freaky Fast Yet Again to Score Monster Mile Pole

    After a celebratory hug from son Keelan, Kevin Harvick proved that he was ‘freaky fast’ again in his No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet, scoring the pole for the AAA 400 at the Monster Mile with a speed of 162.933 mph and a time of 22.095 seconds.

    This was his first pole at the Monster Mile but the seventh pole of the season. He has six poles combined in his entire career prior to 2014.

    “Just really proud of my guys,” Harvick said. “There’s a lot going on with the Chase and they just keep bringing fast cars to the race track. Hopefully tomorrow we can evolve a little bit more. It’s a lot of fun when you unload well.”

    “This used to be a huge hurdle for us,” Harvick continued. “We’ve had some bad days here. It’s been a long time but over the last three or four years this has been a good race track for us, been enjoyable and a lot of fun to drive.”

    “We just have to keep doing what we’re doing.”

    Kyle Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, was second in qualifying with a speed of 162.404 mph and a time of 22.167 seconds, followed by Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, in the third starting spot, with a speed of 162.250 mph and a time of 22.188 seconds.

    “So far, so good,” Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, said. “This was a good opportunity to start up front here at Dover. I look forward to this weekend’s chance to bring Interstate Batteries back to Victory Lane.”

    This was Busch’s 14th top-10 start of 2014 and his 11th in 20 races at Dover.

    Although Hamlin was pleased with his third place starting position, he acknowledged that he will be driving the race of his life hoping to avoid elimination from the Chase competition.

    “Obviously excited to start off on a good foot and a good position to start the race,” Hamlin said. “But this is going to be the hardest race that I’m ever going to drive.”

    “I have to be as aggressive as I can but this is the most important race of my career at this point. We’ve got to get the job done and I have to do my part to make sure that I’m successful.”

    “If we’re going to live to race another day, we have to get past this race.”

    While Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski qualified fourth in his No. 2 Wurth Ford and was the highest Ford qualifier, his teammate Joey Logano only secured the sixteenth starting spot.

    “We’re strong,” Keselowski said. “The 4 car is a little bit better. We seem to be right there with everyone else or maybe just a touch better, but we’ll keep working on it. We’ve got tomorrow’s practice and we’ve got a good starting spot for Sunday. It’s not a pole, but you can’t always get poles. Still, it’s something to be proud of.”

    “We just didn’t go fast enough, I don’t know,” Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford said. “We unloaded pretty far off today and we spent a lot of time on race trim. We got started behind the eight-ball and trying to make that up and didn’t put a great effort into qualifying today, so we’re gonna start a little further toward the back. We’ll just work on it tomorrow and try to make our Shell/Pennzoil Fusion a little better.”

    Jamie McMurray, fresh off his streak of three consecutive top-10 runs, rounded out the top-five qualifiers, with a speed of 161.936 mph in his No. 1 McDonalds Chevrolet.

    “I really didn’t even know we had advanced to round two after the initial round,” Big Mac said. “We just barely got in, and made some good changes. The car was really loose on that second run. So I was surprised that I ran quicker than I did the first time. The McDonalds Chevy has been really good in race trim, so I am really excited that we qualified well. This is a tough place to pass at. Good pit selection and good starting spot, so off to a good start for the weekend.”

    Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, qualified seventh, scoring the top starting rookie spot as par for the course.

    “I was hoping for a little bit more in qualifying,” Larson said. “We were pretty tight through one and two, which is where we gave up most of our time. Seventh is still not bad. We can get a good pit stall and hopefully have a good race on Sunday.”

    Probably the most disappointed of all of the Chase contenders was AJ Allmendinger, who qualified 28th in his No. 47 Hungry Jack/ACME Chevrolet.

    “It sucked,” Dinger said of his qualifying effort. “We are just not fast enough.”

    The full qualifying order for the 45th Annual AAA 400 is as follows:

    2014 NSCS AAA 400 Starting Lineup

    Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
    1 4 Kevin Harvick Budweiser Chevrolet 22.095 162.933
    2 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 22.167 162.404
    3 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Toyota 22.188 162.25
    4 2 Brad Keselowski Wurth Ford 22.203 162.14
    5 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald’s Chevrolet 22.231 161.936
    6 24 Jeff Gordon Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet 22.281 161.573
    7 42 Kyle Larson # Target Chevrolet 22.297 161.457
    8 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet 22.319 161.298
    9 15 Clint Bowyer 5-hour Energy Toyota 22.41 160.643
    10 3 Austin Dillon # Dow Chevrolet 22.429 160.506
    11 55 Brian Vickers Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 22.431 160.492
    12 5 Kasey Kahne Farmers Insurance Chevrolet 22.473 160.192
    13 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet 22.333 161.196
    14 20 Matt Kenseth Home Depot Husky Toyota 22.342 161.132
    15 14 Tony Stewart Mobil1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 22.358 161.016
    16 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 22.377 160.879
    17 9 Marcos Ambrose Twisted Tea Ford 22.387 160.808
    18 99 Carl Edwards Fastenal Ford 22.401 160.707
    19 27 Paul Menard CertainTeed/Menards Chevrolet 22.411 160.635
    20 31 Ryan Newman Quicken Loans Design A Scheme Chevrolet 22.413 160.621
    21 43 Aric Almirola Nathan’s Famous Ford 22.418 160.585
    22 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation Chevrolet 22.426 160.528
    23 51 Justin Allgaier # Brandt Professional Agriculture Chevrolet 22.437 160.449
    24 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Zest Ford 22.441 160.421
    25 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard Chevrolet 22.444 160.399
    26 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Chevrolet 22.48 160.142
    27 16 Greg Biffle Post-it Ford 22.51 159.929
    28 47 AJ Allmendinger Hungry Jack/ACME Chevrolet 22.519 159.865
    29 26 Cole Whitt # Uponor Toyota 22.54 159.716
    30 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 22.613 159.2
    31 38 David Gilliland Long John Silver’s Ford 22.624 159.123
    32 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 22.749 158.249
    33 36 Reed Sorenson American Muscle Driving Experience 22.76 158.172
    34 23 Alex Bowman # Dr Pepper Toyota 22.772 158.089
    35 7 Michael Annett # Cypress HQ Chevrolet 22.789 157.971
    36 40 Landon Cassill(i) Newtown Building Supplies Chevrolet 22.91 157.137
    37 34 David Ragan Plimpton & Hills Ford Owner Points
    38 33 David Stremme Little Joe’s Autos Chevrolet Owner Points
    39 32 JJ Yeley(i) CorvetteParts.net Ford Owner Points
    40 37 Mike Bliss(i) Accell Construction Inc. Chevrolet Owner Points
    41 66 Mike Wallace(i) Toyota Owner Points
    42 83 Travis Kvapil Burger King Toyota Owner Points
    43 44 Timmy Hill Phoenix Warehouse Chevrolet Owner Points

    (i) Ineligible for Driver Points in this Series, # Denotes Rookie, * Required to Qualify on Time

    Source: Timing and Scoring provided by NASCAR Media/NASCAR Statistics

    – See more at: http://www.catchfence.com/2014/sprintcup/09/26/2014-nscs-aaa-400-starting-lineup/#sthash.OvymXWvG.dpu

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Federated Auto Parts 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Federated Auto Parts 400

    In a far less dramatic and controversial race than last year, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 57th Annual Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

    Surprising: While the top seed is often coveted in other sports, from basketball to tennis, one NASCAR driver was dead set on achieving that distinction going into the Chase for the championship.

    Brad Keselowski not only achieved his top seed goal by scoring his fourth win of the season, but also dominated the Richmond race, leading 383 of 400 laps and scoring the 400th victory for Team Penske.

    “It was just a phenomenal night for our team here and everyone at Team Penske,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford said. “Car was fast. Pit crew was flawless. We put all the pieces together tonight.”

    “I’m very proud of the result that comes from a win and what it means to the bigger picture of having the first seed entering the Chase. That’s really something. We want to keep that going as we get through this next 10 weeks.”

    Not Surprising: Leave it to teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. to try to make his teammate feel better. Junior was parked behind his HMS teammate Jimmie Johnson when he saw that Johnson was not feeling well after the race.

    “It was super-hot tonight,” Earnhardt Jr. said after the race. “I thought I might have some trouble with it because I had a sinus cold all week. …Jimmie is the most fit guy in this series and he must have something going on — something that didn’t agree with him today that he ate or drank.”

    After helping Team 48 assist Johnson out of the car and to the infield care center where he was pumped full of IV fluids, Earnhardt Jr. stopped by to proffer some chocolate milk, hoping that would assist in the six-time champ’s recovery.

    The milk offer must have helped as Johnson did attend his Foundation’s Wellness Challenge the day after the race, although he did not participate in the event as scheduled.

    Surprising: They may both be in the Chase, but Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin have at least one thing in common. They are both looking for speed, for Harvick on pit road and for Hamlin under the hood and on the track.

    “I can’t fix them, but it’s probably the biggest thing that we have to fix in order to contend for the championship,” Harvick said of his pit crew hiccups. “I think our cars are as fast as they need to be. The guys do a great job of bringing fast cars every week.”

    “It’s just one mistake after another every week on pit road,” the driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet said. “Hopefully they have a plan as to what they think they need to do in the shop with the two teams in the Chase, but that’s not my department.”

    “Pit crew would be our strength right now,” Hamlin said. “You know, we’ve got a lot of pieces of the puzzle put together for a championship run.”

    “As important as track position is nowadays, you’ve got to have great pit stops, and we feel like we’ve got that part licked, it’s just you’ve got to have faster cars, you’ve got to qualify better,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota said. “There’s a lot of things that go into a championship run, and we’re missing a couple of them very important pieces, and that’s speed.”

    Not Surprising: No doubt that there was no one more disappointed than Clint Bowyer, who had a good run at Richmond, finishing third, but still failed to make the Chase.

    “The boys brought in the best they could possibly build, put a lot of effort into it, I raced as hard as I could,” Bowyer said. “Have some work to do.”

    “Hell, everybody does looks to me like.”

    Surprising: While Jeff Gordon, the runner up at Richmond, stated that he believes the cream will rise to the top in Chase even with the new format, he also thinks the championship competition will be, well, intense.

    “I believe, no matter what the structure is, I still believe the best team wins,” the four-time champion said. “ I’ve always believed that and I still believe that. If it’s meant to be because you’ve prepared and you have the strong cars, the best team, I think you’re going to make it to Homestead and you’re going to win the championship.”

    “But it’s going to be intense,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet continued. “Oh, yeah, it’s going to be really, really intense. I think you actually have to try to balance out that intensity to try to make it not too intense for yourself.”

    Not Surprising: Even with the exemption granted by NASCAR for Chase eligibility with a win, it was not surprising that Tony Stewart, with all on his mind and his heart, simply could not pull of that feat.

    Smoke had a problem on pit road with a missing lug nut, setting him back to the tail end of the field. The driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet finished 15th.

    Surprising: Although Roush Fenway Racing got two drivers into the Chase, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, marking the 11th time in 11 seasons of the Chase that RFR has gotten multiple entries into the playoffs, it was a still a surprisingly disappointing race night for their three team drivers.

    Biffle was the highest finishing Roush Fenway Racing driver in 19th, Carl Edwards finished 22nd and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 26th.

    “I’ll tell you what, it’s got to be the toughest race of my life,” Biffle said. “Man, I drove so hard, and we just missed the setup. It was clear that our whole company did, Carl and Ricky and myself.”

    “We were way off tonight, which is frustrating because five top 10s in a row put us in this position, but tonight was not pretty.”

    “I drove as hard as I could, and it was enough to get us in. I knew I needed to be in the top 20, and like I said, it was all I could do.”

    “We just missed the setup,” Edwards said, echoing Biffle’s sentiments. “A year ago we won this race with our Kellogg’s Ford and we went on to finish last in the Chase. Hopefully tonight’s poor performance will bode well for the final 10 races.”

    Not Surprising: Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick had the best repartee when it came time to discuss the drunken fan who climbed the Turn 4 catch fence, bringing out a caution with just 63 laps to go in the race.

    Here is their conversation when asked about the fan on the fence:

    DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, I saw that.

    KEVIN HARVICK: Those Virginia folks.

    DENNY HAMLIN: That caution put me two laps down. Knucklehead.

    KEVIN HARVICK: It used to be okay. I remember the first race I won, the whole backstretch grandstand was hanging on the fence. They never threw a caution then.

    DENNY HAMLIN: If he wants to play in traffic, it’s his problem.

    KEVIN HARVICK: Wasn’t a NASCAR employee, was he (smiling)?

    Surprising: With so many other drivers just trying to ensure their chance at the Chase competition, Kurt Busch surprisingly advised that he was already running a Chase race at Richmond.

    “We wanted to run tonight like we were running in the Chase,” the driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet said after finishing seventh. “We ran our own race tonight, finished 7th. If you can finish 7th the first three weeks of the Chase you’re going to advance. I think you can do that again in the next round of the Chase.”

    “That’s what it takes to be a championship-contending team, and this Haas Automation team is ready, Busch said. “We’re ready. We have a nice 10 weeks ahead of us where we’ve prepared for it.”

    “Here we are, so let’s go for it.”

    Not Surprising: As with every playoff situation, there are those looking for that Cinderella glass slipper, including one from a small team and one from the King’s team.

    “I feel like if we’re at our best, we have a shot at getting through the first three races and having a shot to move on,” AJ Allmendinger said. “We did a test at Charlotte, RCR has helped us get a new car ready for next week, so we’ve got to be ready to go. We’re at least in it, so we’ve got a shot at it.”

    “We don’t want to be just happy to be in the Chase,” Aric Almirola said. “We want to go and execute for the next 10 weeks, and we’re going to have to be flawless. “We’re up to the challenge. We’ve got two good weeks under our belt with top-10 finishes, and going into the Chase with a lot of momentum I feel like.”

    “I feel like we’re major underdogs, so we’re going to let it all hang out for the next 10 weeks and see

     

  • Then There Were 16 – The Chase Grid is Set for the 2014 Sprint Cup Championship

    Then There Were 16 – The Chase Grid is Set for the 2014 Sprint Cup Championship

    With only two more positions to be filled, and one race remaining, Saturday’s race at Richmond International Raceway held the promise of a no holds barred, fight to the finish. Instead it delivered an uneventful event but a dominant fourth win by Brad Keselowski who led 383 out of 400 laps. His fourth win also puts him atop the Chase Grid.

    Keselowski was thrilled saying, “What a night! Part of me, I pulled into victory lane and I pinched myself once to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. These are nights you don’t forget as a driver, and you live for. The Miller Lite Ford Fusion was just flying, and this is, I couldn’t ask for a better way to enter the Chase than to win and take the first seed.”

    Greg Biffle held on with a 19th place finish to make the Chase by seven points and is seeded 15th on the Chase Grid. Ryan Newman finished ninth to secure the 16th spot.

    The points have been reset and all of the 16 drivers in the Chase Grid begin with 2000 points. Three additional bonus points are given for each win during the 26 race regular season.

    Keselowski is first with 2012 points. Positions second through fifth are held by the drivers who earned three victories each during the regular season accumulating 2009 points each. Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano are in positions second through fifth, respectively.

    Jeff Gordon finished second at Richmond but is excited to begin the Chase.

    “This team is on fire, and we just can’t wait to get it all started,” he said. “It’s been a heck of a year. Our fans and the way that they’ve embraced this season has been extremely motivating, and I know how proud they are. And we’re proud of the effort and the results that we’re getting this year. Ten more weeks that we’ve got to get it done, and this team is ready to do that.”

    Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick, with two wins and 2006 points each, are sixth and seventh.

    The drivers with one win during the regular season begin the Chase with 2003 points. Positions eighth through 13th, in order, are held by Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, Aric Almirola, and AJ Allmendinger.

    Matt Kenseth, with zero wins and 2000 points is in the 14th spot and is joined by Greg Biffle (15th) and Ryan Newman (16th), also with 2000 points each to complete the Chase Grid.

    Next week on September 14, the series travels to Chicagoland, the first of three races in the Challenger Round. Then it’s on to New Hampshire on September 21 and the final race in this round which is at Dover on September 28.

    The Challenger Round – 3 Races/16 Drivers: At the end of the Challenger Round, the top 12 drivers will advance to the Contender Round.  Win a race in the Challenger Round and you automatically advance to the Contender Round. The remaining top 12 drivers will be set by points. All drivers who advance will then have their points total reset to 3000 for the Contender Round.

    The Contender Round – 3 Races/12 Drivers (Kansas, Charlotte, Talladega): At the end of the Contender Round, the top eight drivers will advance to the Eliminator Round. Win a race in the Contender Round and you automatically advance to the Eliminator Round. The remaining top eight drivers will be set by points. All drivers who advance will then have their points total reset to 4000.

    The Eliminator Round – 3 Races/8 Drivers (Martinsville, Texas, Phoenix): At the end of the Eliminator Round, the top four drivers will advance to the final Championship Round. Win a race in the Eliminator Round and you automatically advance to the Championship Round. The remaining top four drivers will be set by points. All drivers who advance will then have their points total reset to 5000.

    The Sprint Cup Championship – 1 Race/4 Drivers: The final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway will determine the new champion. The first to cross the finish line of the remaining four eligible drivers will be the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion.

    Chase Grid Set.2014

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Oral-B USA 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Oral-B USA 500

    With an intense heat radiating from the track and an even more intense return to the track for Tony Stewart, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 55th annual Oral-B USA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    Surprising: Kasey Kahne ended his Hendrick Motorsports lonely boy status with a thrilling green-white-checkered win to join his teammates Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jeff Gordon in Victory Lane and in the Chase.

    “It was kind of like you just know that you have to win,” the driver of the No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet said. “I told a friend that this week, like I just kept saying, I have to win.”

    “That was, it was all that I could think about,” Kahne continued. “I knew Atlanta was a better opportunity for myself to win at than Richmond. But I just knew that tonight was that — you know, we needed it.”

    “When I came off Turn 4 and I could see the checkered, right there is the first time I knew I was in The Chase and it was such a relief.”

    Not Surprising: He might not have been a winner, but Matt Kenseth’s second place finish, as well as his consistency all season long, earned him a place in the Chase race, post-Atlanta.

    “That was the goal, to have all three JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) cars in the Chase and we were able to accomplish that,” the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Husky Toyota said. “The ultimate goal is for one of us to be able to win the championship.”

    “I feel like we’re gaining on it,” Kenseth continued. “I’m not a huge believer in momentum, but yet I feel like everyone is really clicking together and working well together and the stops are good.”

    “I feel like we’re doing everything right right now, we just need a little more speed to be able to start getting those wins.”

    Surprising: Move over Janet Guthrie as there is a new girl in town at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Danica Patrick, after taking the checkered flag in sixth, scored the highest finish by a female at the track. Janet Guthrie had previously held that record by finishing tenth at Atlanta on March 19th, 1978.

    “It was a long night,” the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet said. “Man, that race felt like it was 700 miles. Sometimes when you are running well they feel like that because you are hoping it stays there, keeps going well, and you keep improving and don’t lose it.”

    “There were definitely a couple of times late in the race when we fell back,” Patrick continued. “In the middle of the race the GoDaddy car was very good. We took a little step back, and then it came back in the end.”

    Patrick was also the strongest running Stewart Haas Racing team member as her teammates Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart finished 13th, 19th and 41st respectively.

    Not Surprising: With the pressure of making the Chase reigning supreme, it was no wonder that all kinds of freaky things happened on the track. One of the most freakish occurred towards the beginning of the race when a cat or a squirrel ran for his life in right in front of race leader Kevin Harvick.

    “That was a cat,” Harvick proclaimed. “The cat ran across the backstretch. That would have been a big mess.”

    Clint Bowyer also experienced some freakiness when his gear shifter broke, Marcos Ambrose blew an engine, AJ Allmendinger had problems with a hub and fender brace and Michael Annett lost one of his contact lenses on Lap 150.

    Surprising: Young Kyle Larson was surprisingly dejected after finishing as the Sunoco Rookie of the Race yet again with an eighth place finish.

    “Yeah, it was a tough race,” the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “The first corner or so I felt pretty good. For whatever reason, we got pretty tight in the center and I couldn’t roll the bottom like I wanted to. Really couldn’t go anywhere.”

    “Doesn’t really matter anymore because Kasey won,”Larson continued. “So happy for Kasey, but that pretty much ends our Chase hopes.  Unless we win.”

    “But Top-10 is not bad.”

    Not Surprising: He may have had a rough night with a tire down early in the race resulting in a 17th place finish, but Jeff Gordon was still no doubt savoring his milestone 750th career start.

    “That’s a big number,” the driver of the No. 24 Panasonic Chevrolet, said. “I hadn’t thought about it a whole lot until I saw a decal made up and I was like ‘Man, that’s a lot of races, especially in a row.’”

    “Really proud of that,” Gordon continued. “It’s been an amazing career in the Cup Series. I’ve had a lot of good moments. Luckily for me, they far outweigh the bad moments.”

    Surprising: Roush Fenway Racing had a surprisingly good night, putting two of its cars into the top-five, with Carl Edwards in fifth and Greg Biffle in tenth. While Edwards is already locked into the Chase with two wins, Biffle needed that solid run to keep his Chase hopes alive.

    “That was crazy,” the driver of the No. 99 Subway Ford said. “Those last couple of restarts were really fun. I hate that we tore up a bunch of cars, but it was definitely exciting.”

    “I hope we’re ready for the Chase.”

    “If the 5 wouldn’t have won, we would have been close to getting locked in with the way all the points shook out,” the driver of the No. 16 Ortho Ford said. “I don’t think we would have been able to lose two spots, but it is what it is.”

    “We’ve got to race as hard as we can,” Biffle continued. “We know if one of those guys behind us wins next week it bumps us out, so we’ll run as hard as we can.”

    Not Surprising: In his own quiet, unassuming fashion, Aric Almirola, Chase participant by virtue of his win in the rain at Daytona, finished top-ten at Atlanta, catapulting himself from 14th to ninth on the last restart.

    “We had a solid night,” the driver of the No. 43 Eckrich Ford said. “I just went through turns one and two and ran wide-open. I hooked my left-front around the top seam and it was just like the seas parted and I drove right through there.”

    “Anytime you can walk away from Atlanta with a top 10 after the last six weeks that we’ve had, it was nice to walk away with a car that wasn’t crashed.”

    Surprising: Kyle Busch made a surprisingly good choice to stay in his car with his helmet on after the race as he and his crew chief Dave Rogers were angrily confronted by Martin Truex Jr. Busch and Truex got together late in the race, resulting in a 23rd place finish for Truex while Busch took the checkered flag in the 16th spot.

    “We had handling issues all night — couldn’t drive off the corners,” Truex Jr. said. “But we hung in there, fighting for every possible position until Kyle (Busch), for whatever reason, ran into the back of me, causing pretty good damage to our car.”

    “I passed him clean earlier and then he comes back and hits me from behind,” Truex Jr. continued. “It was totally uncalled for and hard to figure out why he did what he did. We were in the top-15 when that happened and had a chance of picking off a few more positions.”

    Not Surprising: Ryan Newman’s top-ten finish now puts his Chase hopes squarely into his own hands. Regardless if there is a repeat winner or if Kenseth pulls off a Richmond win, Newman gets to compete for the championship if he finishes 41st or better; or 42nd with one lap led minimum; or 43rd after leading the most laps.

    If there is a new winner at Richmond next week, Newman gets into the Chase with an 18th or better finish; 19th and one lap led; or 20th with the most laps led.

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: IRWIN Tools Night Race

    Surprising and Not Surprising: IRWIN Tools Night Race

    The Coliseum…..Thunder Valley…..and “The World’s Fastest Half Mile”…..here is what was surprising and not surprising from Bristol Motor Speedway in the IRWIN Tools Night Race.

    Surprising: Although Team Penske scored a one, two finish, race winner Joey Logano and race runner up Brad Keselowski both admitted that was one of the toughest, most physically demanding races of the season to date.

    “It definitely was a very, very tough race,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford for Team Penske said. “I feel like it’s the most physically demanding racetrack, just the baddest, mamma jamma racetrack ever built, not only for the driver but for the race car. You’re just always on the gas or the brake or in the turn. There’s always something going on, and as a driver you don’t get a break inside the race car, either.”

    “It was a hard night,” the driver of the No. 2 Wurth Team Penske Ford said. “I’ll tell you, first off, this place, the race pace is really brutal and aggressive. With the cars having all the extra downforce this year and tires improving and some of the new rules, compounded by grinding the track and the track’s high lane having a lot of speed, I swear, this is the most grueling race of the year.”

    “It feels good just to complete it and be able to kind of look myself in the eye and know I gave it all I had,” Keselowski continued. “It just wasn’t enough, but I didn’t fall out of the seat, so I’m damned near as proud of not falling out of the seat as anything else.”

    Not Surprising: Coach Gibbs has no doubt already sent out for the infamous milk and cookies for his driver of the No. 18 Doublemint Toyota and his crew chief Dave Rogers. The two exchanged some pretty heated words after Busch sped on pit road, got back in traffic and was collected in a wreck for a 36th place finish.

    “That’s just pro sports,” Coach Gibbs said. “Every now and then you get frustrated.”

    “I think the night was totally frustrating,” Gibbs continued. “(Kyle) had a great car and it was a series of circumstances. Something like that happens in pro sports you can get frustrated.”

    Surprising: While Kyle Busch vacated his race car without speaking to the media, his teammate Denny Hamlin could not stop talking about what happened between himself and Kevin Harvick, resulting in his 40th place finish in the Bristol night race. In fact, he even added some physicality to his words, tossing his HANS device at Harvick’s car under the caution laps.

    “I’m just frustrated because we had a good run going,” Hamlin opined. “I thought for sure after the first couple runs that we were going to win the race.”

    “It just didn’t work out,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota said. “Mistakes happen in racing. Obviously, I believe that Kevin (Harvick) made a mistake tonight and that’s just part of it. I was just on the short end of the stick.”

    Not Surprising: Matt Kenseth, although winless, continued his consistent streak of good finishes, scoring the third position in his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota. Kenseth was also the highest finishing Toyota driver and, in fact, was the only Toyota to finish in the top-15.

    “I feel like we’re getting better,” Kenseth said. “We just didn’t quite have it today and we still got a decent finish out of it, but we just didn’t quite have the speed we’ve had the last few races here.”

    “We’ll keep working on it.”

    Surprising: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had a surprisingly good finish, taking the checkered flag in the sixth spot. In fact, Stenhouse Jr. led the Roush Fenway Racing trio in the finishing order, with both of his teammates finishing behind him, in seventh and tenth respectively for Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle.

    “We didn’t start off very good but Mike (Kelley, crew chief) made a lot of changes,” Stenhouse said. “Our pit crew did an awesome job on pit road and gave me some fast pit stops, and Mike made a good call to take the wave around to get back on the lead lap and then the caution came out quick and we were able to make our car a little bit better.”

    “We’ve got a lot of work to do, but definitely really pleased with how we finished with how the car drove, so we’ll get it better and we’ll keep working on it,” Stenhouse Jr. continued. “That felt really good to pass some cars. It was a great night.”

    Not Surprising: After leading 148 laps out of the 500 lap race, it would be natural to feel a bit befuddled after finishing eighth instead of ending up in Victory Lane.

    “I don’t know what happened,” Jamie McMurray, behind the wheel of the No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet said. “Our car got really tight with about 100 laps to go.”

    “We freed it up on the last pit stop and it didn’t really help,” McMurray continued. “But I’m really proud of everybody on our McDonald’s Chevrolet. McDonald’s has been in this sport for so long and they’ve only won a few races and I really thought tonight was going to be our night to put them back in Victory Lane.”

    Surprising: Jimmie Johnson, six-time champ, and Kyle Larson, Rookie of the Year contender, may be at different places in their careers, however they had one thing in common at Bristol. They both had to overcome adversity, from Johnson’s two speeding penalties to Larson’s wreck in qualifying, to finish fourth and twelfth respectively.

    Johnson was the highest finisher for Hendrick Motorsports and Larson was again the highest finishing rookie of the race.

    “Top fives are good. We are happy about that,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet said. “We had some issues on pit road and got nailed for speeding twice which was totally on us. Just mistakes made there that kind of hurt us a little bit, but we still got a third top five, finished fourth.”

    “I made our team have to work really hard with wrecking in qualifying,” the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “Just a long race I felt like I worked hard the whole time. That is the hardest I’ve ever raced. Especially having to do it for 500 laps.”

    “That was pretty wild,” Larson continued. “I guess I’m happy with a 12th. That is probably about as good as we were. I had a few run in’s today, but still to come away with a 12th is pretty good.”

    Not Surprising: Paul Menard quietly continued his string of good finishes, this time taking the checkered flag in ninth.

    “We had a really good car,” the driver of the No. 27 Serta/Menards Chevrolet said. “We had two runs where we just got off. We took right sides and it didn’t work out very well. Then we did a chassis adjustment and put four tires. We feel backwards and got a lap down. We were able to put four tires on and pass some guys for the lucky dog.”

    “We got that and we could race again.”

    Surprising: Aric Almirola was the biggest loser of the evening, wrecking hard to finish 41st and dropping three spots in the point standings to 24th.

    “I’m OK, just disappointed,” the driver of the No. 43 STP Ford Fusion said. “What an amazing race car these guys brought me – two of them – and to go out like that is certainly disappointing, but that’s racing at Bristol – you get caught up in other peoples’ wrecks.”

    Not Surprising: AJ Allmendinger continues to ride the momentum wave after his win at Watkins Glen, finishing top-15 at a track where he admittedly has struggled.

    “It’s a really good night because I’m not really good here,” the driver of the No. 47 Busch’s Beans Chevrolet said. “At times we had a top-10 car and even at the end there when the car was terrible.”

    “We were inside the top-15 with decent speeds and that’s what I wanted to at least do here,” Allmendinger continued. “Times we were eighth, ninth, 10th like last week.”

    “So, I think we are making progress. I’m just happy to get out of here and be able to run 500 laps. I think the team was a little bit better than me today. All in all, it’s the kind of momentum we need for going into Chicago.”

     

  • CHEVY NSCS AT BRISTOL TWO: AJ Allmendinger Press Conf. Transcript

    CHEVY NSCS AT BRISTOL TWO: AJ Allmendinger Press Conf. Transcript

    NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
    IRWIN TOOLS NIGHT RACE
    BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
    TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
    AUGUST 22, 2014

    AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 BUSH’S BEANS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media and discussed his thoughts on being locked into this season’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, what the win at Watkins Glen has meant to him and many other topics.  Full Transcript:

    WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS COMING INTO THIS RACE THIS WEEKEND AND GETTING READY FOR RICHMOND:

    “I think it’s a matter of each week for us just trying to get better.  Last week I thought was actually almost as satisfying as winning at Watkins Glen just the mere fact that the first race in Michigan we struggled so bad and to go out there, we ran top 10 all day.  Finished 13th, but thought we were a lot better than that all day.  It’s just kind of the same idea of going out there, trying to get better each week whether it’s here at Bristol or next week at a 1.5-mile which is important in the Chase.  Just as a team right now each week trying to step up our game so when we get to Chicago we feel like we are at least competitive and have a shot to go into the Chase and make some noise.  That is just our focus.  We don’t really change anything different each week now.  It’s the same plan nothing has changed since Watkins Glen.  I think it’s been pretty cool because with the win and the added little bit of money we can go out there and possibly test, add a couple of resources that we need to get better in the Chase.  Things like that are really good, but just come here and try to enjoy it, but stay on the plan and keep working to get better.”

    IS THERE A CERTAIN POSITION IN THE STANDINGS OR RESULTS OR PACE THAT YOU NEED TO SEE OUT OF YOUR TEAM BY THE TIME YOU GET FINISHED WITH RICHMOND FOR YOU TO FEEL LIKE YOU ARE READY FOR THE CHASE?

    “I don’t like putting a certain result because the way these races play out you can’t always judge by that.  Last week like I said we finished 13th, but we ran no worse than ninth or 10th all day, just had a bad restart at the end.  I think it’s just going out there at each race track and just being competitive, being in the mix.  Michigan we were inside the top-15, top-10 every practice session.  I felt like our speed was good.  So it’s really just the same thing.  You want to get the best finish possible if there is an opportunity to win you are going to try to win it.  But in general just feeling like when we leave the race track at the end of the weekend saying you know what we were competitive and we learned some stuff. That to me is what is important going into the Chase.  We know when it comes Chase time when you put the championship contenders and label each team we are probably at the bottom of the list, but I feel like if we do the right things, as I said, we are going to have a few more resources than we have had the last couple of months.  We might be able to use our last test at a 1.5-mile race track, so things like that are all positive.  Just going out there and feeling like each weekend we are getting better and getting closer to the front of the grid.”

    COULD YOU TALK ABOUT IF THERE WERE TIMES THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS WHEN YOU EVEN THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE BACK IN SPRINT CUP AND TALK ABOUT YOUR ROAD BACK TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW:

    “I’ve documented it a lot.  There were times I didn’t know what was going to happen.  I’ve learned in life really you just take every day as it comes.  I’ve always been a guy that has tried to plan ahead and look forward, what is happening next instead of what is in the moment.  To me that is what it’s about just enjoying the ride now and having fun.  I love this race team.  Tad and Jodi (Geschickter) they have made me feel so much like family, like one of their own.  Brad Daugherty to have him on my side to where he is a former athlete so the times of questioning whether it’s my ability or just the things that go around just having a constant passion when it comes to racing.  The same with him for basketball and for racing the things that I can talk to him about have really helped me out.

    “I just really enjoy the team and enjoy the surroundings that I have right now.  That was stuff in the past that I probably struggled with a lot.  Now just looking forward and enjoying the moment.  I’ve tried to enjoy the whole process of how we got here.  As I said a million times I’m way better for it over the last couple of years.  Just now looking towards the future and knowing that this race team it’s my race team.  I feel like I’m one of the leaders of the team and I can walk in the shop.  We have the winning banner and it makes me feel special that we did that together.  A lot of the guys in the shop it was either their first Sprint Cup win or they have had wins in the past and they said that this one meant the most to them because of how hard we have all worked as a group and as a family.  That to me is what I enjoy the most.  Just trying to constantly get better every day and figure out what I need to do outside and inside the car whether it’s just life or it’s racing to keep getting better.”

    HOW GLAD ARE YOU THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO HIT A HAIL MARY PASS WITH THREE RACES TO GO?  HOW HAPPY ARE YOU THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO TRY TO HIT ONE HERE AT BRISTOL?

    “It’s funny because each weekend I never really thought about oh this is a Hail Mary we have to win.  I started this year, and it’s the same thing I’m saying now really about going into the Chase.  It was just about trying to get better.  Now Watkins Glen a place like Sonoma and Watkins Glen just with my background we knew those were going to be probably better chances to win a race than say maybe going to Michigan and winning a race to make the Chase.  But I never looked at we HAVE to win to make the Chase.  I just wanted to keep getting better.  Wherever that put us at the end of the year then that is what I wanted.  I guess I never really put that pressure to say ‘oh we have to win to make the Chase’.  I knew at Watkins Glen waking up Sunday morning if we do the right things we are going to have a shot at winning this race.  But for me it was never about making the Chase.

    “I just wanted to achieve my dream, what I have worked hard for the last seven or eight years and win a Sprint Cup race.  For Tad and Jodi (Geschickter) especially for what they started in a barn 20 years ago, to get to this point now and have them as Sprint Cup team owner winners that is what is most satisfying for me.  The Chase is a bonus really.  As we say now at this race team that we don’t want to just be in the Chase to be excited about it.  We want to go in there and make some noise.  That is what we are working hard the next few weeks to just try to get better.”

    WITH ALL THE GUYS WHO HAVEN’T QUALIFIED YET COULD THIS RACE BE AN OLD BRISTOL GET ROUGH AS PEOPLE TRY TO MAKE THE CHASE?

    “I believe so, but it works both ways. The guys that are working hard knowing that they have to win a race to get in and then there is – as we saw Kurt (Busch) last weekend going for the win.  In our position to a certain degree we don’t care.  For me I think it’s still about trying to get better each weekend and having a good result helps us as a race team.  For everybody really if you have a chance to win you are going to take it.  To me I think it’s going to be a fun Saturday night and there is going to be a lot of excitement.  There is going to be some desperation.  To me that is what makes racing the most fun.”

    WHAT DO YOU THINK GUYS JUST IN GENERAL ONCE THEY GET IN THE CHASE HOW ARE PEOPLE GOING TO APPROACH IT?

    “I think you, especially the first two races, if there is an opportunity to win and automatically get in that is what you are going to do just because.  It’s real easy to go to the first three races and you blow up one of the races and all of a sudden now you are in a hole trying to make it out.  I think if there is an opportunity to go win and automatically qualify for the next round you are going to do everything you can.  That is what makes that rule so cool is that you could easily go to points racing back to those three races just to try to get to Homestead, but with a win and automatically in you could be the guy that thinks you are sitting good for a couple of races then you have a guy that is maybe 15th or 16th going into that last race win and knock you out.  If there is an opportunity to win I think guys are still going to try to take it.  They are not going to have a second thought about it.”

    SPECIFICALLY WHAT AREAS DO YOU THINK YOU NEED TO TRIM UP IF YOU WANT TO MAKE SOME NOISE IN THE CHASE WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON?

    “With the schedule 1.5-miles are critical.  I think they are five out of 10 races that is where we have struggled, just the bigger race tracks in general.  To me those are the race tracks those resources are going to help when it comes to aerodynamics and downforce and things like that. Just the little things you do to your race car that make such a big difference around those places.  That to me is where our struggles have been.  The short tracks we have been pretty good at.  The superspeedway racing that is kind of luck of the draw, but I feel like with the ECR horsepower we have been fast at those places.

    “We finished fifth and had a shot to win at Talladega.  So it’s really just been the 1.5-miles and the 2.0-mile race tracks.  That is why last weekend was so satisfying I felt like because we had been so bad the first race there.  Our guys back at the shop just kind of tuning on the bodies just the little things to try to make the car better.  We showed up to Michigan the first lap on the race track was a huge difference.  If we are able to go test whether it is Chicago or Charlotte just to get some laps, work on some things. Qualifying right now it kind of where we struggle we can have good speed in the first group, but we can’t back it up the second group to make it into the final qualifying session.  Starting grid no matter what race you are at is critical.  Just little things like that to keep getting better.

    “As I said resources we can take a few things like with our RCR alliance that they have done to get better that maybe we are a little bit behind on.  Not because they haven’t allowed us to have it we are just, when it comes to cost and resources we can’t get it.  So, little things that we might be able to get now for our Chicago car or Loudon car that we hadn’t been able to get before so just little things like that; it’s still going to be a lot of work and I don’t expect with the added resources that we have all of a sudden we are going to go okay now we are a race winning car right away.  It’s stuff that is definitely going to help us learn and to go to Chicago hopefully and just say alright instead of where we have been running kind of 18th – 25th if we can show up and go okay we are a 8th – 16th place car we have improved a lot and we can race from there.”

    SO WHAT DO YOU TAKE AWAY FROM THIS WEEKEND?

    “A place like this it’s a lot of fun and obviously you can’t take something away from here and go okay at Chicago it’s going to help us.  It’s just about getting better.  Every weekend is about getting better.  As I said yeah you want to have a good result, but I just want to leave the weekend and say you know what we had a competitive car, we were in the mix and we left here feeling good about what we did all weekend. That is what I take away every weekend.  Especially at a place like this that doesn’t carry over to many race tracks. That is what it’s all about just trying to get better, me inside the car, our feedback, everything in general just being more competitive.”

    WHAT DO YOU SEE IN THE TEAM MEMBERS NOW THAT PRIOR TO WATKINS GLEN YOU DIDN’T SEE?

    “I think for all of us really it’s a little bit more being relaxed, a lot more confidence.  Everybody, for me leading it as well, we put our heart and soul into it.  You see it in Tad and Jodi’s face and Brad’s face everybody puts so much effort into it because we have to.  We are a small race team so we have to put that extra effort in.  Those guys have to work that extra hour or two each day to make sure that our stuff is ready to go.  I think it’s that being satisfied feeling some sort of accomplishment.  For me that is a special feeling now to walk in those doors and feel like I truly brought something to this team.

    “I feel the same emotion from everybody else. There are a lot of guys that showed up to this team this year that were new that took a chance on our race team that had been on the big teams.  They said you know what no we want to come here and you talk to every one of them and ask them about Tad and Jodi and Brad and what kind of team owners they are.  Every one of them say something like oh they come up and ask me how my newborn is or they come up and ask me how my mom is doing, something like that.  It’s just that family atmosphere.  Together it’s just feeling like we accomplished something big because we did.  Such a small team to go win a race and the way we won it to be that competitive and have a shot to win all day and come through.  We know we still have a lot of work ahead.  We don’t want to just sit back and say oh we won a race now our team is complete and it doesn’t matter what happens. We want to keep growing together, but it’s definitely a good atmosphere when we walk into that shop together and when we come to the race track together and just how we act together.  It’s a big family and everybody is thrilled to be in the Chase, but now that we are in the Chase we won’t to make some noise.”

    WHAT ARE THE SPECIAL MOMENTS THAT STAND OUT FROM YOUR WIN:

    “I think the first thing is watching the highlights of ESPN of Brad trying to do his job, but jumping up and down and basically trying to break Rusty (Wallace) back by jumping on him.  That was pretty funny to see.  I think that the Victory Lane celebration was cool.  It was fun to share that with everybody, but more than anything stepping away from it and just being in the bus lot after everything had died down and just taking a moment to say what happened here?  What just happened?  Did this really just happen?

    “And seeing really Tad and Jodi’s face, just knowing from what I’ve learned from them already just a little bit.  Everything that they’ve gone through and the struggles they have had to see just kind of their body language and on their face what it meant to them.  That to me was the most satisfying thing because when they signed me here and they gave me an opportunity and took a chance on me to a certain degree.  Just to be able to repay them back like that and just see what it meant to them just in their language.  It was almost surreal it was happiness but it was kind of like taken back because they didn’t really believe that it had happened and Brad TP’d my bus which I felt was kind of wrong.  I walked up and my bus had toilet paper all over the top of it, Scott Toilet Paper by the way. So just things like that just the joy of what it truly meant to get our first altogether.  I think that was the most satisfying thing to me was just to see that emotion on their face and their body language and their true outright joy and happiness was something I will always remember.”

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  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Pure Michigan 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Pure Michigan 400

    With an impassioned driver’s meeting speech by Carl Edwards urging safety and throttling back during cautions at such a high-speed track, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 45th annual Pure Michigan 400.

    Surprising: Drivers were apparently in full throttle preparation for Bristol, with tempers surprisingly abounding at the two-mile track in the Irish hills. Six time champion Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman exchanged words after the race, as did Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Denny Hamlin.

    “Just old Ryan Newman stuff,” Johnson said after his heated conversation with the driver of the No. 31 WIX Filters Chevrolet. “Anybody that has watched the sport long enough or has been in a race car out there understands the frustration of racing Ryan.”

    Racing frustrations also abounded between the drivers of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota and the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet.

    “I felt like he crowded me off of (Turn) 4 in the middle part of the race,” Hamlin said. “We’re trying to make the best we can do down 50 horsepower.”

    “I’m going to eventually let him go, but I’m not some lapped car that you can just shove to the high side and I’m going to back off.”

    “I ran him up the track a little bit early in the race,” Earnhardt said. “He didn’t like it too much. I’ve been run up the track, too. I don’t like it either, but I didn’t want him hanging on my quarter panel all the way down the front straightaway and ended up three- or four-wide.”

    “I just wanted to get on by him because I was flying. We were hauling.”

    Not Surprising: Jeff Gordon went three for three for three, with his third win of the season, his third win at Michigan and a now three-win season, his first since 2011.

    “Well, I like to go fast. This place is really, really fast,” the driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet said. “Michigan has always been one of my favorites.”

    “Today I was able to drive this place the way I like to drive it, have success here again.”

    Surprising: It was a surprisingly rough weekend for Martin Truex, Jr., with his girlfriend Sherry Pollex undergoing surgery for ovarian cancer, his brother Ryan suffering a concussion in Michigan practice and his involvement a nine car pile-up that relegated him to a 36th place finish.

    “These two Michigan races turned out to be very long days,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet said. “It was hard to learn anything about this place back in June and it was the same story today.”

    “I just wish we could have finished one of these Michigan races with a clean car,” stated Truex. “You’re always curious to see how things would have played out and where you could have potentially finished.”

    Not Surprising: He may have been a bridesmaid yet again, in fact for the fourth time at Michigan, but Kevin Harvick deemed his second place run a success, especially in light of the upcoming Chase.

    “Yeah, I mean, we had a solid day,” Harvick said. “Just the 24 had more speed than we did all day. I felt like when Joey was out front, he could get away at the short run, we’d kind of even out.”

    “But all in all, it was a good day,” the driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet said. “The main focus for our team has been consistency heading into the Chase to make sure we can scramble and do the things we’ve done over the last month.”

    “Obviously you want to win, but all in all we had some different goals that are as important leading into the Chase.”

    Surprising: While Joey Logano joked in the media center after the race that he really did not want to relive his last few laps, he too like Harvick had the championship on his mind, laying down the gauntlet after his third place finish.

    “We can win a championship. I really feel we can do that,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “That’s the message I want to put out there. I want to put out for my team that we’re strong enough to do that. I think we showed that today.”

    Not Surprising: It was indeed a ‘hard week’ as Jeff Burton put it after being tapped to substitute for Tony Stewart, who decided to miss another race, grieving the contact with Kevin Ward Jr. which cost the young driver his life.

    “This was a hard week,” Burton said. “This was honestly one of the hardest weeks I’ve ever spent, coming here on Friday not knowing what to expect.”

    Burton’s No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet finished 37th after an electrical issue and a burning smell in the cockpit sent him to the garage.

    Surprising: It was a surprisingly bad day if your name was Kyle. Both Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson crashed, the first on lap four and the latter on lap 98.

    “I felt so good about my car those first few laps running the bottom, but then I was getting hung out on the straightaways,” Busch said “Then I just tried going to the top in (turns) three and four right away, and I got loose all the way through three and four. Every time I touched the gas it wanted to spin out, and finally it was too much gas and not enough save, and I wrecked.”

    Larson’s incident was far more frightening, however, as his No. 42 Target Chevrolet went up in flames after his hard impact.

    “I had no warning the right-front was going to blow,” Larson said. “Michigan is a fast track and into turn three is fast too. We are turning some really high speeds here so the hit was definitely a hard one.”

    “Yeah anytime you see flames you want to get out,” Larson continued, explaining his bailing out of his car in spite of NASCAR’s new ruling. “I have had fires and stuff, but that is the first time I have ever had fumes or smoke and stuff in the cockpit. That is the main reason why I wanted to get out.”

    Not Surprising: Once you get a win under your belt, as AJ Allmendinger did at Watkins Glen, those good finishes just seem to roll along. The Dinger finished top-15 at Michigan and officially clinched his spot in the Chase.

    “It’s really cool,” the driver of the No. 47 Kingsford Charcoal Chevrolet said of his Chase berth. “I thought we had a really good shot, but you never know until it’s official. So to have that is really good.”

    “More than anything I felt like this weekend made some gains so that gets a little excitement going into the next couple of race tracks to see if we can keep getting better. Overall the last few weeks has been really cool to share with the guys and come here and have a little energy and confidence. To come out here all weekend and show some speed has been really good.”

    Surprising: In spite of burning up a test session at Michigan International Speedway prior to the race weekend, Roush Fenway Racing continued to struggle at a track they once owned. Greg Biffle did manage a tenth place finish and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 15th, however, Carl Edwards had a disappointing end to his day, taking the checkered flag in 23rd.

    “You know, I guess it was a good day,” Biffle said. “We got a top-10. Really we wanted to run up in the top-five. We had a car to do that and that track position we would get loose around other cars. We still have to work on that with our race cars.”

    “It was a good solid top-15,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “We qualified 10th and finished 15th and ran right around 15th the whole time which is kind of a goal. Obviously we want to run top-10 and pass as many cars as we can but all in all we accomplished what we were looking to do.”

    “We were so loose I just couldn’t drive it,” Edwards said. “It looked like Greg (Biffle) had a good run and we had speed in qualifying so that gives us something to look forward to but we were just too loose today to be able to do anything.”

    Not Surprising: After some difficult runs recently, it was not surprising that Paul Menard scored a fourth place finish at an intermediate track where he tends to run well. The driver of the No. 27 Certainteed/Menards Chevrolet did in fact run well, finishing fourth.

    “Our cars are really good,” Menard said. “The RCR fab shop, the ECR engine shop they make really good race cars. This track kind of suits my driving style I guess. Sluggar (Labbe, crew chief) and I, Justin and James and everybody on the No. 27 car have a good baseline intermediate track package that seems to work good at these fast tracks.”

    “Definitely needed a good run the last three or four weeks have been pretty brutal,” Menard continued. “We definitely needed this.”

    As a result of the Michigan race and assuming that they all attempt to qualify for the remaining three races of the regular season, AJ Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin all scored their spot in the championship Chase.