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Aric Almirola and David Ragan Lend A Hand for Military Families

NASCAR Cup competitors Aric Almirola and David Ragan joined together to lend their hands in assembling comfort kits for children whose family members were being deployed through the various branches of the military.

The event “With You All the Way”, hosted by Pocono Raceway, was sponsored by NASCAR, The NASCAR Foundation, the USO, Comfort Crew for Military Kids, and the Trevor Romain Company.

“It means a lot to their families and those that wish their loved ones were at home with them,” David Ragan, driver of the No. 32 Taco Bell Ford, said as he packed the comfort kits. “To send a little care package that says, ‘Hey, we’re with you and thinking about you and supporting you’ goes a long way.”

“It’s great the NASCAR community gets involved at events like this,” Ragan continued. “It means a lot because they are certainly sacrificing a lot.”

“It’s great to get the fans, the drivers and Miss Sprint Cup involved too,” Ragan said. “It’s the least we can do to say thank you to the military and their families.”

Ragan shared that he could definitely relate as he has had many family members who have served in the military over the years.

“I’ve had a lot of family members in service, some in the Air Force and some in the Army,” Ragan said. “My father was a little too young to go to Vietnam but I had a lot of uncles involved.”

“So I know that it is important to let the military families know we are thinking about them.”

“Everyone’s enjoying doing this and it puts things in perspective,” Ragan said. “It makes you forget about all those small things that you think are trouble.”

Richard Petty driver Aric Almirola also participated in the comfort kit assembly line. And for the driver of the No. 43 Smithfield Ford supporting the military is also very personal.

“It definitely touches a personal spot for me growing up in a military family,” Almirola said. “My dad was in the Air Force and I was born on Eglin Air Force base.”

“It means a lot to me to be able to give back to these military families,” Almirola continued. “To do something as simple as pack up some boxes for kids and put a smile on their face means so much.”

One of Almirola’s major tasks was to assemble and dress the teddy bears, complete with flight caps, goggles and scarves.

“We had a good team going on with a group building these bears,” Almirola said. “Just looking at those bears; it makes me wonder whose hands they’re going to get in.”

“Hopefully it makes them happy when they get it,” Almirola continued. “It’s really a cool event and it makes me appreciative of our military and all who support our country.”

Like Ragan, Almirola acknowledged that events like this comfort kit assemblage really helped to put his racing life in perspective.

“It certainly puts a lot of perspective on life in general,” Almirola said. “Without the military and those that keep us free, we certainly wouldn’t be out here riding around on a race track.”

“I respect those people tremendously and we owe them a lot to what we get to do on a daily basis and for the protection they provide for us,” Almirola continued. “We’re building bears and giving them gifts because they deserve it.”

“It puts things into total perspective.”

This unique packing event came about due to the partnership between the NASCAR Foundation and the USO.

“The NASCAR Foundation approached us to be a part of their “American Salute” campaign this year and wanted to have a way to give back to military families,” Emily Branch, Account Manager for the USO, said. “So, we thought the “With You All the Way” program was a perfect fit and was a good way to get the drivers and the crews engaged.”

“We have three military families to support the event today and tomorrow they will have a VIP experience at the track,” Branch continued. “We also have some drivers, crew members and general volunteers from the industry.”

Branch acknowledged that the comfort kits are lifelines for many of the military children at all ages.

“These kits mean so much to the military children,” Branch said. “They give comfort and provide support.”

“There is a DVD in the kit and a journal, as well as a caregiver manual,” Branch continued. “The kits are designed by the Comfort Crew for Military Kids.”

“The Trevor Romain Company is also a partner and we have multiple kits for the deployed, for children of wounded service members, and kits for children of fallen soldiers.”

The creator of the comfort kits, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Comfort Crew for Military Kids Ronda Englander, was also on hand for the Pocono packing party.

“We designed all the elements to be a comprehensive set of resources to help kids with all aspects of deployment,” Englander said. “There is a journal and we feel strongly this is an important way to express their feelings.”

“It’s an opportunity to document what happens in their lives when their loved one is away,” Englander continued. “One family that received our resources shared that the father who was away cried when he read his daughter’s journal.”

“That’s how she knew she had gotten her daddy back because he got his feelings back.”

For Englander, as for the drivers who participated in this packing event, this is also a very personal event and passion.

“My dad served in Viet Nam so I was a military kid and know a little bit about the sacrifices military families make,” Englander said. “He did not survive his tour.”

“I was three at the time, Englander continued. “So, this most certainly is a labor of love and most important to me to make sure that this generation of military kids does not feel alone and that they have the support they need to overcome the challenges.”

“The theme of our deployment kit is “We are with you all the way” and that’s what we want military families to know.”

Englander also expressed her gratitude to the NASCAR community for their support of the effort.

“The NASCAR community is such a great fit for our work and for this type of event,” Englander said. “NASCAR fans understand that our military are the true rock stars.”

“We’re in awe of the drivers here but the NASCAR community is so supportive of the military community,” Englander continued. “It’s a great fit.”

The other partner in the USO Comfort kit project is one of the most important, the host Pocono Raceway.

“It’s all about the families and the kids,” Brandon Igdalsky, President and CEO of Pocono Raceway, said. “To be able to give back to the troops and to help for all they do is so worth it.”

“Of everything in these boxes, the one thing that stands out to me are the teddy bears,” Igdalsky continued. “I know they would be most meaningful to my children.”

“To see these kids here having fun and helping out makes it all worthwhile.

For more information on the “With You All the Way” comfort kit project, visit www.comfortcrew.org or www.uso.org.

June 9, 2013
NASCAR BTS: Jason Trinchere’s Journey From Racer to Penske Engineer

Many racers realize along the way that another career may be awaiting them other than being behind the wheel. This week’s edition of NASCAR BTS goes behind the scenes with Jason Trinchere to learn more about his journey from short-track racer to design engineer at Penske Racing.

Trinchere started his racing journey early, in fact from the time of his birth. And, as with so many racers, his father also was involved in the sport.

“Ever since the time I was born, there was a race car or a go kart in our garage,” Trinchere said. “My dad started racing when he was in high school.”

“When I was born, he stopped driving and became a car owner,” Trinchere continued. “So, he always had cars around the whole time I was growing up.”

Trinchere caught the racing bug from his father and set off in go karts. Initially it was just for fun but the competition soon drew him in, hook, line and sinker.

“When I was about ten or eleven years old, he sold his modified team and we started racing go karts,” Trinchere said. “It was mainly just for fun but then we started racing competitively.”

“We had fun, raced dirt and had three championships,” Trinchere continued. “Then we started racing in the dirt asphalt division in the early ‘90s.”

“So, I started driving those and that was the whole time I was in high school,” Trinchere said. “I didn’t even have my driver’s license when I started racing.”

Although he loved being behind the wheel of a race car, Trinchere also enjoyed the mechanical and engineering side of the sport.

“My dad was an auto mechanic so I learned that side of the business from him,” Trinchere said. “When I was in high school, I took machine shop in Vo Tech so I could make a lot of the components for our race cars.”

“I wasn’t’ too sure of what I wanted to do and I was thinking of coming to the NASCAR Tech School but was concerned it was more for people not involved in racing,” Trinchere continued. “My dad talked me into studying engineering since I was the kid sitting at home playing with erector sets all the time.”

After high school graduation, Trinchere had to make a critical decision about going to college and also what to do about his racing career. Ironically, he initially wanted to follow the path of his now team owner at Penske Racing.

“When I came out of school, I wanted to go to Lehigh to follow in the footsteps of Roger Penske but the reality of how much college costs set in,” Trinchere said. “So, I went to community college to do my electives and take their associates classes in engineering.”

“Then I transferred to Penn State Harrisburg campus,” Trinchere continued. “It was far enough to experience college life but close enough to home to go there and race.”

Trinchere also happened to find his soul mate in the racing business.

“When I went to college, I didn’t have the time to race in one place, so I started going to upstate New York and raced at Oswego and all different kinds of tracks,” Trinchere said. “At that time, when I was finishing college, my girlfriend (who is my wife now) was also involved in racing as her dad raced at Selinsgrove Speedway in Pennsylvania.”

“So, imagine that, I met my wife through racing as well.”

Trinchere and his wife decided that they needed to consider heading south to Charlotte and the heart of racing country to make both of their dreams come true.

“I got a phone call from Dave McCarty, who at that time was the crew chief at Spears Motorsports for David Starr,” Trinchere said. “So, I followed up on that opportunity and he liked the fact that I was a racer with a degree in engineering.”

“Being a Truck team, they didn’t want to hire a Cup engineer because a kid coming out of college was much cheaper,” Trinchere continued with a chuckle. “We moved down, bought a house (the same one we are living in now) and went racing.”

“I worked at Spears and the next year Aric Almirola came in as the driver,” Trinchere continued. “I learned a lot there with David Starr, Aric Almirola and Dennis Setzer.”

“It was a very small team with about twelve employees,” Trinchere said. “It was a neat opportunity to go to a little team and run against the big boys and do well.”

“That made me feel good.”

Trinchere left Spears to go to CJN Racing with Jason Keller as the driver. But shortly thereafter, he headed to DEI where he stayed even through the merger with Chip Ganassi Racing.

“I went to DEI to be the Nationwide engineer when they ran a car, which was only part-time,” Trinchere said. “We had Trevor Bayne and Jesus Hernandez as the drivers.”

“I was also support engineer for the 01 Cup car when Regan Smith was driving it,” Trinchere continued. “Then I switched over to Martin Truex’s car.”

“It was a very busy year, going to a third of the Cup races and the rest of the East races.”

“At the end of the season, there were talks and then the merger with Chip Ganassi occurred,” Trinchere said. “Before Homestead they came around and told us what time the meeting was, all but me.”

“I didn’t know if that was good or bad,” Trinchere continued. “But I learned that people with meetings were let go and people who didn’t have a meeting were being kept.”

“That was a little bit of a hard time.”

Post-merger, Trinchere worked for both the 1 and 42 teams.

“It worked out pretty well working for Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya,” Trinchere said. “I did a program called ‘Dart Fish’ at the track where I would record qualifying runs.”

“I did that for a year and at the end of the season, the engineering manager asked if I could do anything else to help the team and I was moved over to the design engineering team,” Trinchere continued. “It was fun to have the direct impact of what happened at the track.”

Trinchere had a very eventful New Year, however, as he was offered and accepted a job at Penske Racing.

“Within three days of sending my resume in, I had an interview,” Trinchere said. “I’m doing the same stuff as a design engineer.”

“Their group is a little larger and uses different software but I am working with the 2 and 22, “Trinchere continued. “It’s been exciting but scary changing jobs, especially after five years.”

“So, this is the next chapter for me.”

May 27, 2013
Kevin Harvick Closes Out Strange Coca Cola 600 With Second Season Win

From surviving two red flags, one for a bizarre camera cable snap that injured cars on the track as well as some fans in the stands, to the second red flag for a Talladega-style pile up, Kevin Harvick survived it all to live up to his moniker as the ‘Closer’, going to Victory Lane for the second time this season.

“Well first off, I want to say I hope everybody is okay from that cable,” the driver of the No. 29 RCR Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet said. “That was quite a weird incident there.”

“Second, I want to just say thank you to all the guys at Richard Childress Racing,” Harvick continued. “To win at Charlotte is something that we had to overcome for a long time.”

Harvick credited his victory to some old fashioned pit road tire strategy, a great restart against Kasey Kahne, and getting out in front in clean air.

“Clean air was really big,” Harvick said. “Obviously with him (Kahne) being on old tires, we knew that the restart was going to be important to be able to get that clear track.”

“And it paid off.”

One of the most disappointed drivers no doubt was Kasey Kahne, who after battling flu-like symptoms prior to the race and having such a strong car, still could not hold off Harvick for the win. Instead the driver of the No. 5 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet for Rick Hendrick Motorsports finished second yet again.

“Yeah, we ran second to Matt (Kenseth) at Vegas, second to Matt (Kenseth) again at Kansas and now second to Kevin (Harvick) here,” Kahne said. “We were the fastest car in all three of those.”

“We just didn’t win any of them,” Kahne continued. “I feel good about where we are and the team is doing an awesome job.”

“We just need to finish it off.”

There is no doubt that the third place finisher Kurt Busch felt a real kinship with the warriors that he supports through the Armed Forces Foundation. The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Sealy Chevrolet battled the cable hitting the car incident, a dead battery and keeping track position throughout the night to score the top-five finish.

“I’m still shell shocked,” Busch said. “We picked up the lead and then the battery went dead.”

“I don’t know what to think of that,” Busch continued. “We battled back.”

“The guys changed it as fast as they could and we got third,” Busch said. “We had a good car.”

“You’ve got to be perfect to win these things and I was close.”

While Chevrolet dominated the first three positions, Denny Hamlin in his No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota and Joey Logano in his No. 22 Pennzoil Shell Ford, rounded out the remainder of the top five in the finishing order for the 54^th annual Coca Cola 600.

“We need solid runs like this,” Hamlin said as he continues to recover from his back injury. “I feel good.”

“We didn’t have a winning car, but we had a fourth to sixth-place car and that’s where we ended up.”

While Hamlin was feeling good, fifth place finisher Logano was tired but pleased, especially with his team and crew.

“It was a long race,” Logano said. “Starting from 31^st with the Shell/Pennzoil Ford, we had our work cut out for us, especially at a track that is so hard to pass.”

“That was a long race, a really long race, but I think my guys did an awesome job coming from 31^st up to fifth,” Logano continued. “I’m super proud of them.”

The weirdest part of the race, and for many the scariest, was the network broadcast camera cable breaking, strewing wiring on the track and into the stands. The most damaged car on the track was the No. 18 M&M Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota of Kyle Busch.

AT least ten fans were also injured in the stands, seven treated and released at the track and three sent to hospitals for further evaluation and treatment as needed.

“I didn’t see anything,” Busch said. “I just heard a big thunk on the right-front tire and thought the tire blew out.”

“That’s how hard it felt,” Busch continued. “I felt it like, ‘Whoa’, that’s weird.”

“Maybe now we can get rid of that thing.”

The second major incident occurred later in the race but also resulted in a red flag. Drivers affected in the Talladega-like wreck included Jeff Gordon, Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Bobby Labonte.

“I got under Mark (Martin) and I was down next to the grass and he clipped me in the right rear corner panel,” Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 US Air Force Ford, said. “It kind of stinks.”

“I got squeezed in there trying to run the thing three-wide,” Mark Martin, driver of the Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, said. “And there wasn’t quite room there.”

“We were racing three-wide and that’s what’s going to happen,” Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, said. “We were going for the Lucky Dog and had to be real aggressive.”

“I hate we were back there,” Gordon continued. “We had an awesome Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet.”

Almirola, Martin and Gordon finished 33^rd, 34^th and 35^th respectively.

In spite of a battery issue, a spin late in the race, and a 22^nd place finish, five-time champ Jimmie Johnson maintained his points lead, in fact 32 points ahead of Carl Edwards.

“Yeah, we were like a fifth place car,” Johnson said. “But then we got pulled around in Turns 3 and 4 and spun.”

“We did have some issues with the charging system of the car with batteries dying and things like that throughout the race, which added more excitement for us,” Johnson continued. “It was a long night with a lot of issues.”

“All that did some damage to the car and that really affected our finish from that point.”

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will leave home and head next to compete at the Monster Mile in Delaware.

May 27, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Bojangles’ Southern 500

On what has become a Mother’s day weekend tradition at the historic Darlington Raceway, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 64^th annual Bojangles’ Southern 500.

Surprising: While bad news often comes in threes, Matt Kenseth had the opposite experience, with only good news in threes for this Joe Gibbs Racing team member. Kenseth scored his third Sprint Cup win of the season and advanced one spot to third in the point standings.

Not only was it a stellar evening for JGR with Kenseth in Victory Lane, but teammate Denny Hamlin gutted out a surprisingly good full-race performance after returning from his back injury. Hamlin finished in the runner up position, scoring his seventh top-10 at Darlington and his second top-10 finish for the season.

“I think our whole team, we’ve just got a great team from top to bottom,” J.D. Gibbs, President of Joe Gibbs Racing, said. “Gosh, I couldn’t feel much better about our year so far.”

Not Surprising: For the other member of the Joe Gibbs Race team, however, three times was nowhere near a charm. JGR driver Kyle Busch, who was the dominant driver all evening long, in fact leading 265 laps, tussled with competitor Kasey Kahne for the third time this season to finish a disappointing sixth in the race.

“He’s pretty tore up that they’re racing hard and Kasey Kahne tore up another car,” Dave Rogers, crew chief of the No. 18 Doublemint Toyota, said. “This is the third time we’ve been involved in an incident with Kasey and all of us over here have a ton of respect for that program.”

“Well, he needs to quit,” Kasey Kahne, recipient of the three incidents with Busch, said simply. “Three times this year. I mean he’s got to just race me.”

Surprising: While enjoying a much celebrated 700^th career start, Jeff Gordon, at the tender age of 41 years, also managed to set yet another record. Gordon posted his 300^th top-five finish, becoming only the fourth driver to accomplish this feat, along with NASCAR legends David Pearson, Bobby Allison and Richard Petty.

“Well, we all wanted this 700^th start to be a memorable one,” the driver of the No. 24 Cromax Pro Chevrolet said. “I’m very proud of this.”

Not Surprising: As so often happens, David Ragan experienced the highs and lows of the sport, from his previous week’s win at Talladega to overheating and struggling to finish 39^th at Darlington at this weekend’s race.

“Yeah, that’s how it goes sometimes,” the driver of the No. 34 Peanut Patch Boiled Peanuts Ford said. “That’s a character-building weekend for sure.”

“You’ve just got to work hard and stay focused and keep the right attitude.”

Surprising: In spite of decent race finishes for two of the Roush Fenway drivers, with Carl Edwards taking the checkered flag in seventh and Greg Biffle in 13^th, both expressed the feeling that they are lacking something so far this season.

“We struggled a lot and ended coming back to seventh so I’m proud of our effort,” Edwards, behind the wheel of the No. 99 Geek Squad Ford, said. “But we’re just missing something.”

“It’s a little disappointing,” Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Meguiar’s Ford, said. “We still don’t have the grip that we need.”

“We’re missing it ever since the season started with this car.”

Not Surprising: All good things must come to an end and so it was not surprising that Aric Almirola’s streak of top-tens came crashing down at Darlington. The driver of the No. 43 Smithfield Ford finished 20^th at the track ‘Too Tough to Tame.’

“That’s not the result we wanted at all,” Almirola said. “We fought hard, but just weren’t quite good enough.”

“That was a tough night.”

Surprising: The struggles of Tony Stewart surprisingly continued at Darlington and the trip to Victory Lane that he so badly wanted at a track where he had never won eluded the former champion yet again.

Stewart was poised to get a good finish, in fact starting eighth on a restart with under 60 laps to go. But the Lady reached out and grabbed the driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, putting that old Darlington stripe right down the side of his race car.

Stewart finished a disappointing 15^th when the checkered flag finally flew.

“Darlington is such a tough track to get a handle on,” Stewart said. “You don’t see a lot of guys who have a lot of success there.”

Not Surprising: In spite of scoring a pole run, with a track record to boot, and a record number of laps led for his team, Kurt Busch still did not get the finish he wanted at Darlington.

The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Serta Chevrolet ran strong all night but slipped at the end after getting hit by the No. 13 of Casey Mears. Busch finished 14^th in the Bojangles’ Southern 500.

“We could not keep up with the changing conditions of the track,” Busch said. “We made a number of chassis and air pressure adjustments but couldn’t get the car hooked up.”

“We let it slip away and that’s disappointing,” Busch continued. “But we won the pole, led laps, ran up front for a good portion of the race and came away with a respectable finish.”

Surprising: Penske Racing had a surprisingly bad day, especially for reigning champ Brad Keselowski, who had never finished outside the top 15 in his four starts at Darlington. The driver of the Blue Deuce was caught up in an accident and finished 32^nd.

While teammate Joey Logano has had an admittedly up and down relationship with the track, with two top-10 finishes and two finishes outside the top-25, he struggled as well. The driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford finished in the same position as his car number, 22^nd.

Not Surprising: Although the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Emerald Green Chevrolet admitted that the track is tough, his love affair with Darlington continued, especially after scoring another top-five finish. Johnson now leads the point standings by more than a full race worth.

“It was just a great 500 miles here at Darlington,” Jimmie Johnson said. “I love this place.”

“I wish we could race here three or four times a year.”

Surprising: It was a bit surprising that there were just enough cars at Darlington for a full 43 car field. For the first time in quite a long time, no one was sent home unhappy after qualifying for this Southern 500.

Not Surprising: Juan Pablo Montoya’s focus on execution continued at the ‘Lady in Black’. He and his No. 42 Target Chevrolet team had a great run, finishing eighth.

“Well, we didn’t unload as good as we wanted, but we got it really good,” Montoya said. “I keep telling the guys we have got to execute.”

“If every person here does their best, we are going to be looking like heroes here.”

May 13, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Aaron’s 499

With a three hour plus rain delay pushing the Aaron’s 499 from day into a Talladega Night, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Alabama 2.66 mile oval.

Surprising: While Talladega has seen its share of calamities, the 44^th annual race running seemed to be the granddaddy of all mayhem. There was not just one ‘big one’ but two, with sixteen cars involved in the first wreck early in the race and twelve cars in the second ‘big one’ near the end of the race.

In between the crashes, there was the weather red flag, which lasted three hours, 36 minutes and six seconds, pushing the race to its finish in what some called darkness.

There were two drivers, however, who experienced the most ‘Dega mayhem. Kurt Busch, driving the No. 78 Furniture Row/Beautyrest Chevrolet, was having a great run until getting clipped by another car as it slipped down the track.

This sent Busch airborne and rolling over and over to eventually land smack dab on top of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet of Ryan Newman.

“We just got hit from behind and along for the ride we went,” Busch said. “It’s Talladega, what can I say.”

“That’s no way to end a race,” Newman said. “You got what you wanted but that’s just poor judgment restarting the race, running in the dark and running in the rain.”

Not Surprising: While ‘Dega may have been filled with mayhem for many drivers, it was a dream come true and the luckiest track ever for two Ford drivers, who both just happened to be named David.

For David Ragan, winning his first race at Talladega and scoring the first ever victory for his team Front Row Motorsports, Talladega was indeed a dream come true.

“I always knew in my heart I would get another chance,” Ragan said. “We know we are an underdog but we know ‘Dega is an equalizer.”

“How sweet to see all those Fords up there for the win,” Ragan continued. “I’m looking at my mirror and I was wondering if I was dreaming.”

While David Ragan stood in Victory Lane, he would not have been there without the push of his teammate David Gilliland, who himself pronounced Talladega as the luckiest track ever.

“It was a big day,” the driver of the No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford said. “A lot of it had to do with this little note from my 10-year-old daughter Taylor wishing me good luck.”

“She wrote that with a little horseshoe on it and put it on my dash before the race,” Gilliland continued. “And she had some horseshoe good luck earrings in too.”

Surprising: The race at Talladega was surprisingly nightmarish for one Trevor Bayne, who had once asked if he was dreaming after winning the Daytona 500. The driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford blew up, bringing out the first caution of the race.

“There was no warning at all,” Bayne said of his engine issue. “I got to turn one and it let go.”

“I’m surprised the whole field didn’t crash with as much oil that was pouring out of this thing.”

Not Surprising: Given the carnage on the race track, it was not surprising that Trevor Bayne was not the only driver watching the remainder of the race from his motor home. In fact, Kasey Kahne, who was involved in the ‘big one’ early on, watched what was left of the race from his couch at home.

“Btw I’m on the couch at home,” Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet for Hendrick Motor Sports, tweeted after being knocked early. “This sucks.”

Kahne finished 42^nd and lost three spots in the point standings, falling from the third to the sixth position.

Surprising: Demonstrating a new-found maturity, Kyle Busch accepted full responsibility for causing the first ‘big one’ at Talladega.

“Kind of caused it,” the driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota said. “I really don’t know what happened.”

“I know I got in the back of the No. 5,” Busch continued. “I hated that I caused a melee for everybody especially early in the race.”

“I hated that we all got crashed in that deal.”

Not Surprising: Restrictor plate racing does indeed make strange bedfellows. There was no better demonstration of this than the ‘friends’ that Denny Hamlin made to enable his successful comeback to the sport after his back injury.

“It means a lot as a driver to have your peers have your back like that,” Hamlin said of Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Michael Waltrip and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., all of whom fell to the back of the pack to help him. “They really sacrificed the first part of the race for me.”

“I can’t thank them enough.”

Also, not surprisingly, the driver change between Hamlin and Brian Vickers went perfectly, allowing Hamlin to escape through the roof hatch to the broadcast booth in the Hollywood Hotel while watching his replacement Brian Vickers take the wheel, only to wreck out in the ‘big one.’

“Everything went seamless and painless,” Hamlin said. “Every week I feel a lot better.”

Surprising: Danica Patrick showed some surprisingly skilled evasive moves in avoiding the first wreck and was in good position until the late-race accident on lap 182 ended her day. The driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for Stewart Haas Racing finished 33rd.

“We were watching and we were like, ‘Holy Cow’,” Tony Gibson, crew chief, said of Danica’s avoidance of the first ‘big one’. “I don’t know how she missed it.”

“It’s just unfortunate how it ended up with the late-race crash,” Gibson continued. “But that’s part of restrictor-plate racing.”

Not Surprising: With a rain delay of the magnitude at Talladega, it was not surprising that several drivers and cars had issues attempting to go back racing. Juan Pablo Montoya could not get his No. 42 Clorox Chevrolet re-started after the rain delay and ended up behind the wall before returning to the track for a 25^th place finish.

Joey Logano was right there with JPM struggling to restart after the rain delay, however, his problem was more serious and ultimately fatal. The No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford had some sort of engine issue that led to his 35^th place finish.

“We’re not sure what happened,” Logano said. “We’re thinking maybe an air pocket somehow got in the water system, but it doesn’t make sense.”

“It’s a bummer when you’re sitting third when it is raining and you don’t finish the race.”

Surprising: Toyota had a good day at Talladega with occasional Toyota driver and team owner Michael Waltrip surprisingly leading the way. Waltrip was the highest running Toyota with a fourth place finish, followed by Martin Truex Jr. in seventh and lap-leader Matt Kenseth in eighth.

“I love being a part of the Toyota family,” the driver of the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Alabama National Champ Toyota said. “We had a great run.”

“I had a ball,” Waltrip continued. “I love being at Talladega and I love racing.”

Not Surprising: Jimmie Johnson extended his points lead to 41 over second place Carl Edwards with his fifth place finish at Talladega.

“It was obviously a very good day for our Lowe’s Chevrolet,” Johnson said. “We had a very fast car and I felt like we were a player all day long, and that’s awesome.”

Surprising: Regan Smith, behind the wheel of the No. 51 Hendricks.com Chevrolet, was surprisingly disappointed with his top-ten finish, especially after winning the crash-filled Nationwide race.

“Well the last few laps I didn’t see much because it was pretty dark,” Smith said. “A little disappointed.”

“I kept getting stalled out by the cars on the outside.”

Not Surprising: Even with the mayhem of restrictor plate racing, Aric Almirola, behind the wheel of the No. 43 Gwaltney Ford, continued his streak of consecutive top-ten finishes. In fact, he will make history for Richard Petty Motorsports at Darlington if he finishes in the top-ten there.

“We sure are on a roll lately,” Almirola said. “I think we are the only people that aren’t surprised we are seventh in points and have the longest current top-10 streak in the series.”

“We just need to keep it up and start moving to top-fives and hopefully a win soon.”

May 8, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Toyota Owners 400

A full moon and short track racing led to plenty of surprises and some not so surprising moments in the 59^th Annual Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

Surprising: Race winner Kevin Harvick, currently with Richard Childress Racing but leaving at year end, was surprisingly more fixated on dispelling the moniker of ‘Lame Duck’ than celebrating his ‘Closer’ nickname in Victory Lane.

In fact, with his first win of the season for RCR and his 20^th career win under his belt, Harvick proclaimed he was nothing like a ‘Lame Duck’.

“You know, a lot of people have thought we might lay down this year,” Harvick said. “There ain’t no lame in that game is there?”

“It was a great night.”

Not Surprising: With some tempers tested on the short track, it was no surprise that a late-race caution and a green-white-checkered finish led to total chaos up to and even after the checkered flag flew.

Perhaps the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Sealy Chevrolet summed it up best after seeing his potential top-five finish disappear to a ninth place finish thanks to the final lap craziness.

“It was just chaos,” Kurt Busch said. “Some guys had older tires. Some guys had newer tires.”

“People were beating and banging and shoving each other out of the way,” Busch continued. “It was a free-for-all at the end.”

Surprising: Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing, was surprisingly pleased with his bridesmaid’s position. This was his ninth top-ten finish in 15 races at Richmond and his fifth top-ten finish of the season.

“We had a good car,” Bowyer said. “It really got wild there at the end.”

“Wish we could have won the Toyota race, but second’s not bad.”

Not Surprising: With his team’s appeal hearing looming this week, it was not surprising to see Penske’s Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, make a statement with a third place finish. This was Logano’s second top-ten finish in nine races at Richmond.

“I’m just super-proud of my guys,” Logano said. “They never quit.”

“They threw the kitchen sink at it and I’m just proud of what we got out of that.”

Surprising: Logano’s teammate, Brad Keselowski, however, had a surprisingly freaky bad day at the track, perhaps proving that ‘Redd’ was not a good color for a car known as the No. 2 ‘Blue Deuce.’

“It was a long day,” the reigning champ said. “We had a bad pit stop and then blew a tire.”

“Then whatever happened with the engine,” Keselowski continued. “It was a freak deal where something in the wheel broke and let all the air out of the tires.”

“We got hit by a lot of freak deals.”

Not Surprising: With the ‘Orange Cone’ away, commitment violations came into play. And no one understood that more completely than Kyle Busch, who was tagged by NASCAR for that violation.

In an unusual move, however, NASCAR reviewed the penalty and actually overturned it. Unfortunately for Busch, the damage was done and his four Spring Richmond race win streak came to a screeching halt.

Busch’s fate was sealed after he was caught up in an accident and he finished 24^th in the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota.

Surprising: With the beginnings of resurgence by Petty Motorsports, it was surprising that driver Marcos Ambrose suffered his first DNF of the season since Texas last year.

“This is so disappointing for us,” the driver of the No. 9 DeWalt Ford Fusion said. “We were fast and had fantastic power from Ford Racing and Roush Yates Engines.”

“So, we can’t complain.”

Not Surprising: Even with his first win on an oval track in sight, it was not surprising to see Juan Pablo Montoya and his crew chief thinking big picture and maximum points. The team elected to pit to take tires before the green-white-checkered finish to guarantee themselves a top-five finish.

“Everybody on the Depend Chevy did an amazing job,” Montoya said. “We had a great car.”

“This is what we needed,” Montoya continued. “We made the right call when we pitted.”

Surprising: Another Richard Childress racer Jeff Burton had a surprisingly great run, from threading his way through one of the many wrecks to finishing fifth.

“Kevin Harvick and I both got better at the end of the race,” the driver of the No. 31 Airgas/Bulwark Chevrolet said. “We were best at the end.”

Not Surprising: Richard Petty Motorsports’ other driver Aric Almirola continued to reel off top-ten finishes in his No. 43 Smithfield Ford. Almirola managed an eighth place finish on the short track after battling an ill-handling race car.

“At one point we were almost a lap down,” Almirola said. “We were in big trouble and Todd Parrott made so many adjustments and kept making it better and better and better.”

“Our guys never gave up.”

Surprising: Matt Kenseth may have won the pole for the Toyota Owners 400, led the most laps at 140, and finished seventh, but he felt more like he was riding a roller coaster than driving an elite Cup car.

“It was an up and down race,” Kenseth said. “In the beginning, we were real strong.”

“That last restart, just being on the outside and the 78 (Kurt Busch) drove up through there and knocked my whole side off,” Kenseth continued. “That was the best I could do.”

Not Surprising: While Richmond may be known more as a Denny Hamlin type track, the Hendrick Motorsports team fared pretty well, with three of the four drivers finishing in the top-15.

In fact, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson finished tenth, eleventh and twelfth respectively while Kasey Kahne brought up the rear in 21^st.

With his finish, Johnson extended his points lead, now 43 points ahead of Carl Edwards in the second spot. And all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are now in the top 15 in the point standings.

April 30, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas STP 400

In a week where those impacted by the Boston Marathon bombing were remembered, here is what was surprising and not surprising as NASCAR’s elite visited Kansas Motor Speedway for the 3^rd annual STP 400.

Surprising: The heartland of Kansas witnessed a driver rebirth of sorts with Matt Kenseth following his own yellow brick road to Victory Lane. And the man behind the wheel of the No. 20 Home Depot/Husky Tools Toyota proclaimed that for him this win was a “dream come true.”

“You don’t know if or when you’ll ever win again,” Kenseth said. “I’m so thankful to have another win.”

“This is a dream come true to drive this stuff.”

Surprisingly, Kenseth, unlike his other Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, dominated the race, starting from the pole and leading the most laps, 163 to be exact.

Even more surprising, however, was that Kenseth’s dream run came crashing down after a severe penalty was levied on the No. 20 car and team due to having a connecting rod in the engine failing to meet the minimum weight.

Kenseth’s crew chief Jason Ratcliff was fined $200,000 and suspended for six races, JGR lost 50 owner points and Kenseth lost 50 driver points.

JGR will of course appeal.

Not Surprising: The Kansas curse continued for Kyle Busch, who spun in the early laps and then crashed so hard with Joey Logano that he had to drive his car to the garage backwards before abandoning it to the scrap heap.

“Absolutely no grip for me,” Busch said. “Spun twice on our own.”

“Just don’t know what to do with Kansas.”

Surprising: Jeff Gordon started dead last in the 43^rd position, his worst starting position ever in his career. Yet surprisingly and in spite of having to take the wave around after being trapped in the pits under caution, Gordon was able to battle back for a 13^th place finish.

“We weren’t the best car, but we made some great improvements throughout the weekend,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, said. “We were able to make our way up through there.”

“All in all I thought it was a great effort.”

Not Surprising: With a team that not only has Boston roots, but one that has also faced a week of difficulties and penalties, it was not a surprise that Brad Keselowski had to dig deep for the Kansas race.

The driver of the Blue Deuce also had to overcome a great deal of adversity on the track, from early damage to getting lapped. Yet, he persevered to attain a top ten finish, scoring a sixth place in a most eventful race and week.

“We got ‘Boston Strong’ on the back of this car and that was a good inspiration for this weekend,” Keselowski said. “That was a gritty effort by the 2 team.”

“A day where you can fight through adversity like we did today and get a solid finish, that kind of is a win.”

Surprising: Kasey Kahne surprisingly had his head in the clouds, or at least was wishing for a cloud to come out to assist him in getting around Kenseth at the end of the race. The driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance 85^th Anniversary Chevrolet finished a close second.

”We tightened up a little bit on that final run,” Kahne said. “I just did everything I could.”

“I needed clouds.”

Not Surprising: While this driver may have been disappointed with his continuing runner up finishes, Martin Truex Jr. was well pleased with his fourth place finish at Kansas.

“Got a lot of questions last week about being second and how I seemed so disappointed and all that,” the driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, said. “This is the complete opposite.”

“All in all, I’m very happy with fourth place.”

Surprising: Two drivers who returned to Cup competition, Sam Hornish Jr. and Elliott Sadler, had surprisingly bad days at the race track, finishing 37^th and 40^th respectively.

Hornish Jr. hit Marcos Ambrose so hard during his wreck that he bit the inside of his lip and broke the tach off with his knee.

“I couldn’t see anything,” Hornish Jr. said. “I just wish we could have done a little better.”

Sadler, behind the wheel of the No. 81 ALERT Energy Gum Toyota, got loose into turn three and never recovered.

“The car was kind of darting around on me too quick,” Sadler said. “Just ended a lot shorter than I wanted to.”

Not Surprising: While those returning to Cup competition did not fare well, old five time continued his not surprising top-five finishing ways. Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowes/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, finished fourth and maintained his top dog spot in the point standings.

“Everybody worked real hard to get the car right and we had a great race car,” Johnson said. “At times I felt like I had a shot to win but we just didn’t have enough for Matt and Kasey.”

“A very solid performance for our Kobalt Tools Chevrolet.”

Surprising: Danica Patrick endured trash on the track, as well as some trash talking after the race. Patrick’s race was spoiled by some litter that stuck to her grille, causing her water temps to rise and necessitating an unexpected trip to the pits.

“We had a tire rub at one point and issues with the splitter from some contact we made,” the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, said. “The trash on the grille was what really hurt us today.”

But the trash talking after the race was even more interesting after the rookie complained about competitor David Gilliland racing her inappropriately.

“He tries to take me out every time,” Patrick complained of Gilliland. “I’m coming after him if he does it again.”

Gilliland in return issued this statement aimed at Patrick through his PR rep, “Shut up and race.”

Not Surprising: One Kansas boy, Clint Bowyer, who hails from Emporia, finished nicely in the fifth position at his home track.

“We needed a turnaround after last week,” Bowyer said. “Certainly you want to win it at home but a good top-five finish is a great way to get things bounced back with our 5-hour Energy Toyota.”

Surprising: There were some surprising names amongst the top-ten finishers in the STP 400, including Jamie McMurray in seventh, Aric Almirola in eighth, and Paul Menard in tenth.

“I honestly thought we had one of the better cars,” McMurray said. “Good job by our team.”

“It was a good day for us,” Almirola said. “That’s two top-10s two weeks in a row and I’m proud of that.”

“We’ve got some of the best pits stops in the business,” Menard said. “We always end pretty good.”

Not Surprising: In spite of getting trapped in the pits during a caution, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is still trying to maintain a positive attitude as he faced yet another week of not quite getting the finish he wanted or expected. The driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet finished 15^th.

“We were a lap down and hard to take the wave around,” Junior said. “That put us to the back behind a whole bunch of lead-lap cars and there was no time left.”

“It’ll come around,” Earnhardt, Jr. continued. “We’ve just got to keep working and stay positive.”

April 25, 2013
Win #1 Is Coming Soon For Both Aric Almirola & Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is eight races into his rookie Cup season and is closing in fast on securing his first win racing at the pinnacle of NASCAR. At Kansas, his chances of winning were very high until a late race debris caution thwarted the young racer’s chances at victory. He ended the race 11th tying his career best. Aric Almirola has raced in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) for six years but this is just his second full-time season. He started up front last Sunday and his #43 Ford Fusion for Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) adorned a throwback STP paint scheme that the legendary Richard Petty once ran. He finished 8th after running as high as 2nd during the event.

There’s no question that these two will win their first NSCS race soon and it shouldn’t surprise anyone if they both do it in 2013. Ricky was battling with Scott Speed for the ARCA championship back in 2008 and things got pretty ugly between the two. After Stenhouse took Speed out in what looked to be an intentional incident, Speed retaliated handing the title to Justin Allgaier. After that, Roush moved Ricky up to Nationwide (NNS) where he would struggle to find his footing throughout the 2009 season wrecking very often. Towards the end of 2010 when rumors started to swirl that Ricky might lose his ride, something clicked inside his brain and he started ripping off top 5’s all over the place. He went on to win the NNS title in both 2011 and 2012 before taking over the #17 from Matt Kenseth in the NSCS.

Photo Credit: Mike Holloway/Speedway Media

Ricky is one of the more aggressive drivers in the sport today but he’s learned to temper that aggression over the past few years. In 2013, he has yet to post a top 10 finish but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t spent any time up front. On the contrary, he was within arm’s reach of victory lane at Kansas before a caution came out while he was on pit road ruining his day. Aric Almirola is quietly sitting 12th in the standings right now and ripped off his first two top 10’s of the season at Texas (7th) and Kansas (8th). The RPM driver is gaining momentum as he looks to bring the famous No.43 back to victory lane for the first time in the 21st century.

His NASCAR career started back in 2004 when he competed in four truck races finishing inside the top 10 twice. In 2006, he went full time in the Camping World Truck Series finding little success and struggling to an 18th place finish in the standings. He also won the pole for a NNS race that year at Daytona. In 2007, he got his chance in Cup and I believe he was thrown into the car way too soon like so many other drivers. In 4 years of driving part-time, he accumulated one top 5 and two top 10’s. In 2011, he joined JR Motorsports and ran for the NNS title finishing a solid 4th in the points. He was ready to go back to Cup and Richard Petty knew it offering him the #43 seat which was vacated by AJ Allmendinger. Aric’s results were sporadic and disappointing but things look a lot different in 2013. He has driven smart races, contends for top 10’s every week and stays out of trouble finishing well.

Now that the history lesson is over, let’s talk a little about the future of these two very talented racers. Stenhouse was brought up the “right way” and is ready to battle for wins against the likes of Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth. Almirola is just now getting to that point and is outperforming teammate Marcos Ambrose; it was the other way around last year.

If fate was kinder, Ricky could have won Kansas this past weekend just eight races into his rookie year and with 28 races remaining, he’s got plenty of time for redemption. I don’t see Ricky making the chase this year unless he wins a race or two which he’s fully capable of doing. On the other hand, the consistency of Aric Almirola could be enough to get him inside the top 10 and into the chase with no wins. He needs to turn those 14th’s and 15th’s into 7th’s and 8th’s though which he seems to be doing. That famed #43 has been driven by a lot of people since that Martinsville win way back in 1999 so history isn’t on his side but that car hasn’t been this fast in a while either. Ricky will win in 2013, Aric might but they both will end up winning multiple races before their careers are over.

They both have the talent, the team, the crew chief and the passion to get it done and they will.

April 24, 2013
NASCAR BTS: Fabian Hall Fulfills Dream of Cooking for Aric Almirola and Petty Race Team

This edition of NASCAR ‘Behind the Scenes’ focuses on Fabian Hall, Army Staff Sergeant, cancer survivor, and aspiring chef, who had his dream come true thanks to Petty Motorsports, Aric Almriola and Eckrich.

This past weekend, Hall was surprised with the opportunity to be the chef at Texas Motor Speedway for Aric Almirola’s No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford. Almirola’s sponsor Eckrich, part of the John Morrell Food Group, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, made the dream come true thanks to their corporate partnership with Operation Homefront.

Eckrich gave Hall the opportunity to not only accompany the Petty race team to Texas for the NASCAR weekend, but also set him up with a new grilling set so that he could prepare meals for the team. And this was all revealed to Hall in a surprise trip to a local grocery store.

“We went to Kroger’s and saw all this stuff set up by Eckrich and all of a sudden, here comes the race car around the corner,” Hall said of how he first learned about his opportunity to cook trackside. “I was surprised.”

“After that, they told me what was in store for the whole race weekend and then we shopped for what I would be cooking for the team all weekend,” Hall continued. “It was a thrill ride for me.”

“It was really cool to be able to surprise Fabian,” Aric Almirola, driver of the famed No. 43 said. “I drove the show car around the corner and of course revved the engine when I got up to him.”

“He has done a lot for our country and it was really great to give back to him,” Almirola continued. “He was very surprised and really got a kick out of the car being there.”

While Hall enjoys NASCAR, he is primarily a fan of the automobile.

“I’m a car fan period,” Hall said. “If it’s got wheels on it, I’ll watch it.”

While Hall has heard of many of the NASCAR stars, he admitted to not following a particular driver or team. This past race weekend, his first ever at the track in person, may just have changed all of that for this warrior chef.

“I’ve heard of a lot of the drivers but don’t follow any one driver,” Hall said. “I like the sound of the engines and how they are driving. so I just watch the sport because of my love of the cars and the enthusiasm I get from watching the cars.”

“I’ve never really followed just one driver but I’m definitely keeping my eyes on Aric from here on out.”

“This was my first time at the track,” Hall said. “I was pretty amazing, especially when you get to hear that caliber of car and the engines revved up.”

While Hall was having a great time ogling all those fast cars, he also had a job to do. And this aspiring chef cooked up a storm for Almirola, the ‘King’ Richard Petty and the No. 43 team.

“The first meal I did was a beer brine for the sausages,” Hall said. “I did a vegetable medley with peppers, onions, and squash on the grill with that and some nice white rice to go with it.”

“I also did a beer brine barbecue sauce to finish it off,” Hall continued. “The second day, I did a mac and cheese casserole with several different cheeses, sausage, peppers and garlic.”

“I grilled all that off together and did some bacon as well,” Hall said. “I covered it all with cheese and when the team opened it up and saw it, it was like they were in Disneyland.”

“It was pretty awesome.”

Hall admitted that what has meant most to him was the encouragement and positive comments that he got from the team about his cooking.

“He is a great cook!” Almirola said. “He made dinner for the team on Friday and Saturday and it was delicious.”

“I’ve gotten a lot of text messages letting me know how much the team enjoyed my food,” Hall said. “I could see the look on their faces of the crew members that they enjoyed it.”

“They said that two top chefs came in and cooked for them before but they said my food beat their food,” Hall continued. “That was a great thing to hear and take in.”

“To know that after so many years of being in the Army and learning so many different things and then to go to school and to be able to cook on the same caliber as someone I’ve seen on TV cooking, that was a good feeling.”

Hall has honed his culinary skills from the time he was a young boy, cooking at the feet of his grandmother. He then continued to cook in the Army, prior to being diagnosed with cancer and having to undergo serious treatment.

“I’m from east Texas and that’s a little country area, where either you’re hauling logs or working on cars,” Hall said. “I worked on cars but also watched my grandmother in the kitchen.”

“When I was 14 years old, I decided I was hungry and fixed a roast and stuck with it ever since,” Hall continued. “When I joined the military, they gave me the choice of either being a mechanic or a cook and of course I chose the lesser of the greasy jobs.”

“I think I did my grandmother justice because not only have I taken her recipes and done elegant dishes but I’ve used the techniques that I learned from her in school and in the Army,” Hall said. “My service in the military and the time I spent learning things, from Germany to here at San Antonio receiving my treatment for cancer, I’ve done my profession well in tribute to her.”

Hall shared that what surprised him most about being at the track and cooking for the race team was just how family-oriented the team was. And of course, he was tremendously impressed by the head of that Petty race team family, the ‘King’ himself.

“Richard Petty is one of the most humble guys,” Hall said. “You can tell he is a country boy and we got along well.”

“I loved hanging out with him and him coming by and sneaking his finger into my food,” Hall continued. “That final dessert he tasted, you could tell he liked my food.”

“He could not put that plate down of the apple ala mode,” Hall said. “A lot of people were surprised that I did that dessert being that I only had a grill to cook on.”

“But I still made apple ala mode and they were surprised that I pulled it off.”

For Hall, cooking for Richard Petty and company was most assuredly one of the biggest blessings that he has experienced in his life. Yet he has kept it all in perspective, especially after his experiences in the Army and with battling cancer.

“To me, it was an add-on to God blessing me to still be here,” Hall said. “When I went through my chemotherapy, there were low points and I thought I was not going to make it.”

“My mother and my family came in and helped push me along and kept me motivated,” Hall continued. “They would pray with me and for me and that kept me grounded to my roots in church.”

“When you have something like that to ground you, you can’t go wrong,” Hall said. “Family, church and prayer helped me a lot.”

“So, I was not expecting to be there for this race experience,” Hall continued. “And now that I have, it’s just another blessing.”

“God blessed me to be able to do it and I’m looking forward to many more opportunities to bless other people’s stomachs and mouths,” Hall said. “I feel like what I do is a blessing and I’m going to keep on sharing that blessing with everyone else.”

Petty driver Aric Almirola echoed Hall’s sentiments about his time at the track.

“He is a great example of perseverance,” Almirola said. “He went overseas and fought for our country and then came back and fought for his life.”

“To see someone go through all of that and still have a positive outlook on life is really inspiring,” Almirola continued. “I’m just glad to work with a company like Eckrich that supports charities like Operation Homefront and really gives back to the community.”

“We wouldn’t be able to race every weekend if it weren’t for people like Fabian who give up everything to fight for our freedom,” Almirola said. “So anytime you can give back, even in a small way, is huge.”

April 18, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Texas NRA 500

From the agonizing delays in pre-race tech to the broom in Victory Lane, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 17^th annual NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Surprising: While it might have taken a surprising twenty years of trying, Norm Miller and Interstate Batteries, thanks to their driver Kyle Busch, finally made it to Victory Lane. This was Busch’s 26^th win in 300 Cup Series races and surprisingly his first win at Texas Motor Speedway in the Cup Series.

“For Interstate Batteries and Norm Miller to be in Victory Lane in Texas – there’s nothing better than putting him right here,” Busch said. “This feels good.”

In addition to the sweep at Texas, winning the Nationwide and Cup races, Busch and company also had a surprisingly stellar night in the pits. In fact, for eight pit stops, the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota team led the way statistically with the least amount of time on pit road.

“We had a great racecar, and we worked really hard all weekend, but without that pit crew – they’re the best in the business,” Busch said. “They know when it’s crunch time.”

Not Surprising: When a racer fails to win, especially after coming so close, it is not surprising that the end result is bitterness and disappointment. But for Martin Truex, Jr., the runner up run was almost unbearable, especially after losing the lead in the pits.

“Shoulda, coulda, woulda,” the driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota said. “I’m just disappointed.”

“The race was over when we got beat out of the pits,” Truex Jr. continued. “We’ve had a tough season and we had a car capable of winning.”

“I’m just tired of finishing second,” Truex Jr. said. “This is getting old. It sucks.”

Truex’s day got even worse when it was determined that his car flunked post-race inspection, being too low in the front. Any possible penalties issued by the sanctioning body may come early in the week.

Surprising: There was a surprising amount of drama prior to and after the race for team Penske. Both Keselowski and Logano had difficulty in pre-race tech, so much so that Logano almost did not make it out on the track for the start of the race.

Yet both Penske drivers managed to score top-ten finishes in spite of it all, with Logano in fifth and Keselowski in ninth.

“Shoot, I wasn’t even in the car yet,” Logano said. “It was a little too close for my comfort.”

“If you would have told me I would have finished fifth today, I would have given you a hug.”

Keselowski, however, had some harsh words for the sanctioning body after the race as a result of having to change the rear-end housing prior to the race.

“The things I’ve seen over the last seven days have me questioning everything I believe in and I’m not happy about it,” the driver of the Blue Deuce said. “You have no (expletive) idea what’s going on.”

“I feel like we’ve been targeted over the last seven days more than I’ve ever seen a team targeted,” Keselowski continued. “We’re not going to take it.”

As with Truex Jr., NASCAR will most likely assess penalties later in the week.

Not Surprising: Roush Fenway Racing traditionally does well at Texas Motor Speedway, so it was not surprising to see both Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle have good runs, finishing third and fourth respectively. Both RFR drivers, however, faced some significant obstacles along the way to both finish top-five.

Edwards had a mechanical issue with a cracked tailpipe and then had difficulties with his seat belts coming undone.

“That’s a gift for us,” the driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford said after the race. “I know Martin (Truex, Jr.) is not happy with second, but I’m real happy with third.”

Biffle also struggled, from starting towards the back with a 35^th qualifying spot to a speeding penalty on lap 224 for too fast entering the pits.

“It was a tough night,” Biffle said. “Our car definitely wasn’t as good as it was last year, but we battled back.”

Surprising: Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered his worst finish of the season in 29^th after having an eventful evening. Junior struggled with seeing his pit sign, asking at one point for a deer spotlight on it, and then headed to the pits with a dead battery.

That started the perfect storm of other issues, since without the engine running the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet sped and incurred a penalty. With that poor finish, Dale Jr. dropped three positions in the point standings, down to the sixth spot.

“It has been rough but we had a really good car tonight,” Junior said. “Eventually things will turn back around for us.”

Not Surprising: While this driver may have surprised a military veteran prior to the race, Aric Almirola has been steadily gaining momentum on the track, so much so that his seventh place finish was not at all surprising.

And with that good finish, the young driver gained two spots in the point standings, up to the 14^th position.

“We had a great car,” the driver of the No. 43 Petty race car said. “Todd Parrott and these guys gave me a great Eckrich Ford Fusion and I felt really good about it.”

“It was a great day, a great points day for us.”

Surprising: While not surprising to see mechanical failures in a race as grueling as Texas, it was surprising to see two of the stronger cars in the race succumb to those issues. Both Kurt Busch, in the No. 78 Furniture Row/Serta Chevrolet, and Jeff Gordon, in the No. 24 Cromax Pro Chevrolet, had difficulties, resulting in 37^th and 38^th place finishes respectively.

“I’m not sure maybe a burned wheel bearing or something,” Gordon said. “We’ll learn about what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“When you’re running solidly in the top-five and then to have a parts failure knock you out of contention, it’s frustrating,” Kurt Busch said. “We had a part on the fuel injection system break.”

“What’s done is done and we have to put tonight behind us and focus on getting these problems rectified sooner than later.”

Not Surprising: While many drivers had difficulty in the pits, from a fire in Matt Kenseth’s pit to Tony Stewart’s newest perpendicular approach to his pit stall, it was not surprising that the most basic issue, that of pit box color, tripped up at least two drivers on pit road.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who sports the traditional red and white colors, got a bit confused when he tried to pit in Dave Blaney’s stall, which also just so happened to be red and white for the evening.

Montoya finished 20^th and Blaney ended up in the 25^th spot in the race.

Surprising: While both rookies, sporting similar cowboy hats and boots, had surprisingly challenging days at Texas, Danica Patrick again beat out her boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the rookie battle on the track.

Patrick finished 28^th while Stenhouse Jr., after cutting down a left-rear tire and spinning, finished 40^th.

“It was a tough night,” Patrick said. “The car was just kind of all over the place.”

“It’s kind of tough to go straight when you lose a left-rear tire,” Stenhouse, Jr. said. “I felt like our car was pretty good, but it was just a tough break.”

Not Surprising: With Denny Hamlin at the track and on the pit box and a fast No. 11 FedEx Office/March of Dimes Toyota, it was certainly not surprising to see Brian Vickers, who is literally competing for a ride with each race, finish eighth.

“It feels great,” Vickers said of his top-ten run. “We’re pleased but I wanted to win.”

“I guess that’s what we are here for.”

April 16, 2013