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Tag: Bobby Labonte

Bobby Labonte Talks About His Uncertain Future & His Championship Past

Bobby Labonte is a Sprint Cup champion, a future Hall of Famer and a class act on and off the track. He’s won twenty-one races that include historic events such as the Coke 600, Southern 500 as well as the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. In the ten years following his 21st Sprint Cup victory, Bobby has been forced to endure some rough times but he’s kept his head held high and persevered through it all. Labonte has enjoyed the thrill of hoisting the championship trophy and he’s also experienced the humility of having to start and park. He is a gentlemen that deserves nothing but respect and it was my honor to talk to the champ at New Hampshire last weekend.

I started by asking Bobby about his future and what it may hold for him but unfortunately, he knows as much about his 2014 plans as the rest of us do. As for next year, Bobby told me he really isn’t sure what he’ll be doing. I pointed out the fact that he could very well be the first “Triple Crown” champion (champion of Trucks, Nationwide & Cup) if he went to the Camping World Truck Series and won the title there but he didn’t show much interest in going down that road just yet. That led me to ask if he does not find a ride for 2014, what will he be doing and the answer I got was a simple; “I’m not sure…just not sure yet.”

Bobby Labonte’s passion for racing in NASCAR has far from dwindled and if you think for a second that he has no desire to continue racing, you are extremely mistaken. In fact, the man endured laser treatment and acupuncture just so he could race at New Hampshire knowing very well that JTG would be putting AJ Allmendinger in the car the two races that followed Loudon. That’s somebody who just wants to race; that’s a champion right there. He could of just relaxed, missed New Hampshire and JTG would have had no problem getting AJ to sub but Bobby Labonte is a racer and wasn’t going to do that.

As the interview progressed, I wanted to know what a 22nd victory would mean to Bobby after the tumultuous decade that followed his last triumph at Homestead in 2003; “It would be a highlight of all the wins…as any win, you’d cherish it but some of them are more important than others if you will. You’re next win is always the most important (I interject – because you never know if it will be your last). Right It would definitely be awesome; there’s no doubt about it and hopefully we can do that. I got a few more races with these guys this year and we’ll see what happens.”

It’s no secret that Bobby Labonte has been treated poorly by some of his former employers and he’s been at the receiving end of multiple raw deals so I asked him what moment in his 20 year career has been the most difficult to deal with but instead of pointing out a specific situation, Bobby instead talked about how you should deal with adversity; “I always try to make the best out of any situation no matter what happens but sometimes, you make a choice and it may not be the right one but its what feels right in your heart. At the same time, what happens, happens. You get frustrated and you get mad but at the end of the day, its part of life and you just try to respect it as much as possible and move on and try to be as good as you can at whatever you can be.”

This led me to ask Bobby if he had any regrets and once again, he answered just like a champion would; “You have points in time where you wish that you would have done something different but at the time, you make your best choices and no matter what it is, you try to make your best choices and not have any regrets. Life is going to be full of excitement and disappointments. Whether it’s based on your choice or somebody else’s choice, your best bet is to try and not let that bother you.”

Now on a happier note, I wanted to know what Bobby’s proudest racing moment was out of all his impressive achievements and he said; “There’s too many to mention but obviously, winning the championship was great. That’s obviously something you can’t take away; it will always be there. That’s a great thing and of all the accomplishments, that’s obviously at the top of the list. Then there’s just being a part of the sport for so many years and I’ve always had a passion for it.”

Then I turned my attention to the thousands of Bobby Labonte fans that have remained loyal to Bobby through all his trials and tribulations and what that support means to him; “To have the support of the fans through thick and thin…they view you in a way knowing that I’m kind of like them in ways and if I had time to listen to each one of their stories; you’d know that not everyone has had all unicorns and dandelions. The loyalty of people is amazing and they relate to me, I can relate to them and it’s cool that they like me for who I am I guess.”

Keeping on the fan topic, I wanted to know what Bobby’s strangest encounter with a fan ever was; “There’s been several…some I can’t mention. You look back on it sometimes later in life and they were all great. They were excited to see you; some overly excited…showed you things they ain’t supposed to show you but that’s their personalty, their makeup and that’s just who they are and that’s okay. There’s a lot of people who are just excited to see you I guess. There are some things like I’ve signed dogs, prosthetic arms and legs and this and that but if that makes their day; that’s awesome.”

Bobby Labonte is the perfect example of integrity, class, fortitude, and raw talent behind the wheel of a racecar. He will certainly be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame one day and even if you don’t think his on-track accomplishments are HOF worthy (which is ludicrous), you can’t argue the fact that he has persevered through situations that no champion like him should have deal with in the first place. I want you to honestly tell me how many NASCAR champions have been told to start and park? Tell me how many have been thrown out of their ride on multiple occasions for no good reason? (That was not a knock on JTG but rather some of his past teams) Tell me how many champions out there would endure such mistreatment and deal with it in the professional manner Bobby Labonte has?

Photo Credit: Jennifer Chapple

Bobby has gone through all that and now, he faces an uncertain future and even in what very well may be the twilight of his impressive career, he fights to return from an injury that left him with three broken ribs and a punctured lung just to compete in a single race. If that’s not Hall of Fame worthy, I don’t know what is. Also, if you had any doubt regarding the humbleness of this guy, I asked him at the end of the interview what he wants people to remember Bobby Labonte for. He didn’t say “I want people to remember that I beat the late, great Dale Earnhardt for the 2000 NSCS championship or that I was a 21-time winner.” He simply said that he wants people to remember “that I was just a plain and simple guy who just made an effort to do the right things.” It will definitely be a loss for NASCAR if he isn’t involved in the sport next year. We need more drivers like him, not less. Good luck with whatever the future may hold for you Bobby and hopefully that future involves wheeling your car into victory lane at least one last time.

Check Out My Other Story On Bobby Labonte That Walks You Through His Remarkable Career: http://www.speedwaymedia.com/?p=60877

September 25, 2013
Matt Kenseth Wins at New Hampshire

Matt Kenseth is the man to beat in the 2013; there is no doubt about that. He has now won both chase races with his teammate, Kyle Busch finishing 2nd just like Chicagoland last weekend. This is his 7th win of the season and the 31st of his career. Matt started 9th and wasn’t looked at as a favorite to win the race and wasn’t a factor until after the halfway point. He’s never gone to victory lane at New Hampshire until now and it just so happened to be his 500th career start as well.

The race kicked off with Ryan Newman on pole but he would quickly be overtaken by a hard-charging Kasey Kahne. Kasey led until the first caution of the day flew courtesy of Josh Wise going for a spin in turn 4. On the restart, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing teammates Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray made contact sending the No.1 spinning. Jamie kept it off the wall though and the car was fine until rookie Kevin Swindell ran into the back of him. McMurray rebounded and finished a solid 5th with a damaged rear end.

The next incident involved Bobby Labonte and David Gilliland on the front stretch. Labonte’s car was destroyed while Gilliland suffered some front end damage during the crash. Martin Truex Jr. led a bunch of laps before Jeff Gordon took control of the event. A rare pit road mistake by the 4-time champ ruined his race as he brought home a disappointing 15th place finish.

Late in the race, Kasey Kahne got loose underneath Brian Vickers and smacked the inside wall. He was very upset and didn’t have anything to say when he left the infield care center. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a fantastic restart with 30 to go and rocketed up to 2nd but he gave it all back within a few laps. It came down to a duel between JGR teammates Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch with the 2003 NSCS champion prevailing as Kyle desperately tried to get to him. Track position was key today and when you didn’t have it, you didn’t stand a chance.

The race featured eleven different leaders, seven cautions and nineteen lead changes. 28 cars finished on the lead lap and five failed to finish. Kenseth, (Kyle) Busch and Johnson have separated themselves from the rest of the chase field and are certainly living up to all the hype surrounding their chase chances. Matt has a 14pt lead over teammate Kyle and Jimmie Johnson faces a 18pt deficit. There’s a noticeable gap back to 4th place Carl Edwards who sits 36pts back. 10th on back are a full race’s worth of points behind the leader and Kasey Kahne is now last in the chase; 71pts back of Kenseth.

RACE RESULTS

1.) Matt Kenseth #20

2.) Kyle Busch #18

3.) Greg Biffle #16

4.) Jimmie Johnson #48

5.) Jamie McMurray #1

6.) Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88

7.) Brian Vickers #55

8.) Jeff Burton #31

9.) Carl Edwards #99

10.) Matin Truex Jr. #56

11.) Brad Keselowski #2

12.) Denny Hamlin #11

13.) Kurt Busch #78

14.) Joey Logano #22

15.) Jeff Gordon #24

16.) Ryan Newman #39

17.) Clint Bowyer #15

18.) Marcos Ambrose #9

19.) Juan Pablo Montoya #42

20.) Kevin Harvick #29

21.) Aric Almirola #43

22.) Paul Menard #27

23.) Mark Martin #55

24.) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. #17

25.) Casey Mears #13

26.) David Reutimann #83

27.) Danica Patrick #10

28.) Travis Kvapil #93

29.) David Ragan #34

30.) Michael McDowell #51

31.) Dave Blaney #7

32.) Josh Wise #35

33.) JJ Yeley #36

34.) Landon Cassill #40

35.) Joe Nemechek #87

36.) Timmy Hill #32

37.) Kasey Kahne #5

38.) Kevin Swindell #30

39.) David Gilliland #38

40.) Bobby Labonte #47

41.) Tony Raines #33

42.) Johnny Sauter #98

43.) Scott Riggs #95

– Richard Petty is the only other driver besides Kenseth to win in his 500th start

– 4 of Matt’s 7 victories this season have all come at tracks that he had not won at until 2013

– Kenseth is the 12th different driver to win in the last 12 New Hampshire races

– This is the third time a chase driver has won the first two chase races…Biffle did it in 2008 & Stewart in 2011

September 22, 2013
Best run of season for Labonte comes up short at Bristol

Bobby Labonte and the JTG/Daugherty team have been in the news a little more than usual lately. The team owners came under fire from fans in June when they sat former series champion, Labonte out of the car for the race at Michigan in favor of journeyman driver, AJ Allmendinger.

The reason the team cited for the change was their lack of performance and the need to get another perspective from a driver that has proven himself to be fast in several different cars. Though the team stressed the fact that Labonte was their driver and that he was not being permanently replaced, the fans still felt Labonte had been done a dis-service.

Labonte started the Michigan race driving the No. 51 for Phoenix Racing. He crashed out on lap one, however, when he collided with Jeff Gordon. To make matters worse, in the eyes of the fans, two weeks later the team put Allmendinger back in the car again at Kentucky. This time Labonte did not enter the event, thus ending the second longest start streak in NASCAR’s top series.

The team’s decision, though not a popular with fans, seems to have paid off. Allmendinger performed well in the car, scoring a 19^th, a 22^nd, and managed a top-10 at Watkins Glen, a feat the team had not achieved in some time.

The team put the information gathered from the experiment with Allmendinger to work. Labonte has ran better than his average in several races. Labonte qualified 23^rd for the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol, which was close to his best starting position of the season, 20^th at Sonoma.

Labonte worked his way toward the front and with the help of some pit strategy, made it to the top-5 and stayed there for over 80 laps. Bad luck strikes the No. 47 on lap 176, however, when leader Clint Bowyer got together with Travis Kvapil and spun on the frontstretch. Labonte had nowhere to go and slid into the side of the No. 15. After spending 53 laps behind the wall, Labonte made it back out to earn valuable series points. Labonte finished 38th.

One thing was evident, however, the team has heart and is still putting forth an effort to improve and do as well as possible in a tough sport. They could have easily given up, packed up and beat the traffic out of Bristol, Tennessee, but they chose not to do that. I believe the top-20 finishes that team owner Brad Daugherty indicated they were looking for are just around the corner.

August 24, 2013
Matty’s Picks Vol. 17 – Crown Royal Presents the Samuel Deeds 400 at The Brickyard Powered by BigMachineRecords.com – Indianapolis Motor Speedway – July 28, 2013

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visits the famed 2.5-mile rectangle in the Midwest at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 20th time on Sunday for a 400-mile race which will certainly have some foreshadowing into the future this week and here is why. The race at IMS has some serious championship implications this week as 15 of the 19 races at the Brickyard have been won by series champions. The Indy race winner has gone on to capture the NASCAR Sprint Cup title in eight different seasons and Jimmie Johnson was the most recent in 2009, duplicating his Indy-Sprint Cup championship sweeps of 2006 and 2008.

Indy has eluded the majority of the top 10 guys in points over the years as Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick are the only two members of the current top 10 in the standings have won at The Brickyard.

As far as the makes go, Chevy has been nearly invincible over the years at the brickyard as the last non-Chevrolet to win at IMS was Ray Evernham’s Dodge driven by a guy named Bill Elliot all the way back in 2001, in fact a General Motors product has won 15 of the 19 races held at the Brickyard which includes Bobby Labonte’s win for Pontiac in 2000.
Nothing to recap this week as we had our first week off since Easter last week, so we’ll move on to the picks.

Winner Pick
On Thursday while previewing today’s race from the Brickyard with Greg Depalma on the Prime Sports Network, it was Kevin Harvick who I liked to win because of his flat-track history and the generous 20 to 1 odds that came along with him. Despite a couple solid practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, Karvick’s qualifying position has me a bit gun-shy to pull the trigger on him for this afternoon. Just 3 of the 19 races at the Brickyard have been won from starting spots 20th or worse, and Harvick qualified his Chevrolet 24th so though I still think he poses a solid threat for his 3rd victory of the season, I don’t think he’s got the car to beat this weekend.

Instead, I’m going to swap my pick this week and go with the other guy I picked Thursday to win at The Brickyard in Kasey Kahne. Kasey has a lot going for him this weekend as first, he’s in a Chevy, second he finished runner up in the 2005 race in just his 2nd ever start at IMS, and 3rd he’s been fast all weekend. Kahne was 5th in the first practice, 2nd behind Kurt Busch in Happy Hour, and will roll off 7th when the green flag flies later this afternoon. I’ve got a hunch today, and I think we see Kasey Kahne kiss the bricks for the first time.

Dark Horse Pick
My Dark Horse driver has not changed from Thursday but the odds associated with my Dark Horse sure have. Juan Montoya started the week as a 30 to 1 longshot. He’s now just behind guys like four-time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon and two-time winner Tony Stewart at 12 to 1 right now! This means I’m not the only person in the world to believe in this guy because of his history at IMS. This car has shown speed again this year at The Brickyard and after winning the first practice session, following up in 3rd on the charts during Happy Hour, and qualifying 8th, my pick from Thursday is looking better and better.

If it wasn’t for a pit road speeding penalty back in 2009, Montoya’s name would have been etched in Brickyard history in the stock car category, and I think Juan is due for a win at The Brickyard.

That’s all for this week, enjoy the race and until we are done with the flat tracks for a few weeks…..You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

July 28, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Kentucky Quaker State 400

With a surprising Sunday afternoon race thanks to Mother Nature on Saturday night, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 3^rd Annual Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts at Kentucky Speedway.

Surprising: Although five-time champion Jimmie Johnson ended up with a top-ten finish, the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet made two surprisingly uncharacteristic mistakes.

First, Johnson, in a pit road fake out, pulled back on track well in front of the pace car. Although no penalty was issued, this mistake garnered a warning from Race Director David Hoots, who advised Johnson to cease the shenanigans.

The second mistake came on what has become Johnson’s Achilles heel, a late race restart. After jumping the start and being penalized at the Dover race, Johnson has seemingly been spooked by restarts, this time blaming none other than the race winner for the Kentucky restart miscue.

“The No. 20 broke the pace car speed, which you aren’t supposed to do,” Johnson said. “I don’t know, we were kind of in an awkward situation in that restart.”

“And then we were like three and four-wide going in the corner, something happened with the air and it just kind of turned me around,” Johnson continued. “Unfortunate, but at least we rallied back for a good finish.”

Not Surprising: With the combination of the race delay to Sunday under the sun and the bumpiness of the track, it was not surprising that a gutsy call from the pit box to stay out on old tires would be the one to win the race. And although it turned out to be a brilliant call, victorious driver Matt Kenseth had his doubts at the time.

“I didn’t roll the dice, Jason (Ratcliff) did,” Kenseth said. “I thought he was slightly crazy when that happened.”

“It’s just been an unbelievable season and year of my life honestly,” the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, said. “I didn’t think there was any way that we were going to hold on for that win.”

“Jason made the right call at the right time and those guys got it done.”

This was Kenseth’s fourth victory in 2013 and his highest win total since 2006. It was his first victory in three races at Kentucky Speedway.

Surprising: Although under sunshine instead of a full moon, there were still some surprisingly strange incidents in the race which unfortunately impacted other drivers who were innocent victims not of their own doing.

One of the most impacted was Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who after turning in a pole winning qualifying lap, was hit by an errant tire carcass from the Denny Hamlin machine. He did, however, manage to salvage a decent finish in the twelfth spot.

“Can’t do anything about what happened out on the race track with that casing,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Youth Foundation Chevrolet said. “You just fix it and keep going.”

“They guys did a good job on pit road all day long working on it and trying to fix everything,” Junior continued. “We did well enough to get a decent finish out of it.”

The other two drivers impacted through no fault of their own were Brad Keselowski and Greg Biffle. Both drivers were collected in a hard crash caused by Kurt Busch, who admitted that he ill-advisedly used the apron to try to pass.

“Wrecks happen,” Keselowski, the driver of the Blue Deuce, said. “There is no reason to drive like an animal but apparently I am the only one that got that memo.”

“I don’t know what happened,” Biffle said. “I’m sure someone got aggressive or made a mistake or did something to cause that.”

The issues were costly to both drivers, with Keselowski losing four positions in the point standings, falling to 13^th, and Biffle losing three positions to the ninth spot.

Not Surprising: With the resurgence of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing continuing, it was not surprising that Jamie McMurray had a pretty good run at Kentucky. In fact, the driver of the No. 1 Hellmann’s Chevrolet scored the runner up position when the checkered flag flew.

“Yes, it was a really good day for us,” McMurray said. “We’ve had really quick cars for the last two months but had really unfortunate luck.”

“So, it’s cool to have a really good run.”

This was McMurray’s first top-ten finish in three races at Kentucky and his fourth top-ten finish in 2013.

Surprising: Denny Hamlin had a surprisingly bad day at Kentucky, hitting the wall after his tire blew. While Hamlin has been struggling with back issues, this time he surprisingly had his bell rung instead and was held in the infield care center to evaluate if he had had a concussion.

Hamlin’s heavy hit was also costly, with a 35^th place finish, leaving him in the 25^th position in the point standings, well out of current Chase contention.

“Definitely have to proceed on,” Hamlin said. “Hopefully, at least something to build off of even though we didn’t have a good finish.”

Not Surprising: Clint Bowyer continued to impress, scoring his sixth top-five finish for the season. The driver of the No. 15 Camry 30^th Anniversary Toyota took the checkered flag in third at Kentucky, getting ever so close to that first win of the season.

“Good day for us,” Bowyer said. “Obviously when you get that close at the end you can smell a chance at the win – just not our day yet.”

Surprising: In spite of getting trapped on pit road when a caution flew yet again, four-time champion Jeff Gordon managed to overcome and salvage a top-ten finish at the end of the day.

“We had an awesome fast Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, that is for sure,” Gordon said. “I think we passed more cars than anybody.”

“These pit stops just aren’t going our way,” Gordon continued. “You just have to keep working hard at it and hope they fall your way eventually.”

Not Surprising: Just as Dale Earnhardt Jr. got lucky in qualifying by catching a cloud, Kyle Busch was searching all race day for the same. Busch rebounded from an early race spin to finish in the fifth position in his No. 18 Doublemint Toyota Camry.

“Anytime I got cloud cover, I could pick up three-tenths of a second,” Busch said. “It was a stupid amount of time I could pick up and then I go down into the next corner and the sun is back and then you’re wrecking loose.”

“We persevered and came home fifth,” Busch continued. “We can take that effort and go into next week.”

Surprising: The end of one driver’s record was the beginning of another driver’s redemption. Bobby Labonte’s streak of 704 consecutive starts came to an end at Kentucky Speedway and the Quaker State 400 marked the first race since 1978 in which there was no driver named Labonte.

While Bobby Labonte sat on the sidelines, the replacement driver in the No. 47 Scott Products Toyota, AJ Allmendinger, had his own comeback moment at Kentucky. The ‘Dinger, who had tested positive for substance abuse one year ago at Kentucky came back and finished 22^nd for JTG-Daugherty Racing.

Not Surprising: At a track where he has won three straight Nationwide Series races, all coming from the pole, it was not surprising to see Joey Logano have a top-five finish at Kentucky Speedway. And this young driver, behind the wheel of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford was wishing for just one more caution in which he was convinced he could have gotten to Victory Lane.

“I felt like we were good enough to win for a little bit,” Logano said. “We were sitting pretty in fourth when the caution came out and that usually puts you second or third.”

“I was hoping for one more caution because I thought I would be in the cat-bird seat if that happened.”

Surprising: After winning at Sonoma and predicting his winning ways would continue, Martin Truex Jr. took an ill-handling car and managed a surprisingly good top ten finish.

“We dodged a lot of bullets,” the driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota said. “We didn’t have a very good car.”

“We just never could get the car in the race track and I feel lucky to finish where we did,” Truex Jr. continued. “These are the kind of days that we need when we don’t have a good car – to persevere, fight through it and get a top-ten.”

Not Surprising: After running so well this season and being second in the point standings to none other than five-time champ Jimmie Johnson, it was no wonder that Carl Edwards was confused after finishing 21^st in the race at Kentucky.

“Man, I don’t understand what happened,” the driver of the No. 99 UPS Ford Fusion said. “We were terrible at the end.”

“I just couldn’t make anything happen,” Edwards continued. “We’re going to have to try to figure that out.”

“We were feeling really good and having a good time out there for a while but it turned out terribly,” Edwards continued. “I guess that is the way it goes.”

July 2, 2013
Labonte’s streak to end, JTG/Daugherty under fire

You have to go all the way back to the last race of the 1992 season to find a race that Bobby Labonte did not compete in. That is a streak of 704 consecutive starts. Labonte did start two races in 1991 driving an Oldsmobile owned by his father, but did not start again until the 1993 Daytona 500 driving the Maxwell House Ford for Bill Davis. This weekend, however, that streak will come to an end.

Since 2011, Labonte has driven for JTG/Daugherty racing. Results have been less than stellar, to say the least. In 88 starts with the team, Labonte has only scored one top-5 finish and two top-10’s.

Recently, team owners Brad Daugherty and Tad Geschickter have decided they need to do something to improve the performance of the team. With five races coming up in the schedule in which the car would be un-sponsored or under-sponsored, the decision was made to take Labonte out of the car in favor of AJ Allmendinger in an effort to get a new perspective and feedback on what the team needs to do to make improvements.

The decision to remove Labonte from the car was not popular with many fans. On Tuesday, Daugherty and Labonte addressed fans in an online chat session hosted on the team’s website.

One of the first things announced was that Labonte would not only not be in the 47 car this week, but he also would not be racing at all, thus ending the second longest active consecutive start streak. Labonte was also removed from the car at Michigan two weeks ago, but picked up a one race deal with Phoenix Racing, an effort that kept the streak alive.

Some fans in the chat session were outraged by this fact and instantly began blaming the team for not supporting their driver. It would seem the fans are more concerned with the streak than Labonte is. Labonte commented, “I have had a couple offers this morning, but have declined them because I don’t want anybody else that has an opportunity to do what I do, what they love, to have to sit on the sideline for my sake.” Removing the possibility of a last minute deal over the weekend, he also pointed out, “I will not be at the track this weekend.”

Daugherty was asked if the “fan uprising” affects his decision at all. He replied, “No. The fan uprising doesn’t affect me at all. We have to continue to conduct business the way that it will be best for our company. Tremendous amount of respect for Bobby, but we have to remember that his streak would have ended years ago before we gave him the ride. The fan uprising is just a handful of people and that doesn’t direct the way that we do our business. We obviously love our fans and need them to do what we do, but at the end of the day we have to make the decisions that are best for our company.”

Labonte defended his team and team owners, commenting, “We have great sponsors here at JTG Daugherty, and we have a great race team. There are a lot of committed people that work here. Our sponsors are what keep us funded and racing. Our owners juggle all of the balls in the air at all times. We don’t question how our sponsors run their business.”

Daugherty re-iterated the team’s support for Labonte saying, “In the end, Bobby is our driver and we hope this process will enhance his ability to get back up front.” He continued later saying, “I’m huge Bobby Labonte fan, have been for a long time. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him and his character. We are very lucky to have Bobby as our driver.”

Daugherty seemed to be pleased with the results from the first race with Allmendinger. When asked about what the team had learned he said, “The biggest thing we learned was the pickup torque of our engines is not quite where we want it to be. We also learned our car is a lot tighter than we’d like it to be, robbing it of speed. Valuable information that we have stalled out over the past few weeks and he was able to give us great feedback.”

The team currently purchases engines from Triad Racing Technology. Toyota Racing Development (TRD) supplies engines for the top tier Toyota teams such as Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing. Daugherty pointed out, “We believe TRD provides an excellent product and at this point TRD has told us that they don’t have the room to provide us with an engine set.”

Without the ability to receive engines from TRD, and with little or no support from Toyota, I asked Daugherty if there was a current effort to create an alliance with a larger team. Daugherty replied, “Yes, we have had conversations and we are trying to figure out what would be the best move for us going forward. We came out of the MWR situation simply because we were all struggling. Obviously, they have fixed a lot over at MWR so someone like that may be a suitable partner again. We will have to see.”

Labonte also commented, when asked what the team needed, “We probably need an alliance with another team. That would be a start.”

Smaller teams forming alliances with larger teams seems to be the new trend in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Furniture Row Racing has recently found success after forming a strong alliance with Richard Childress Racing.

It seems that Brad Daugherty and Tad Geschickter are making a legitimate effort to improve their team’s performance. Their support for Labonte has been consistent and direct. This situation is just another example of how NASCAR racing is a business. Race teams have to make decisions based on technical information, facts, budgets and the needs of their sponsors and business partners. Major decisions cannot be based on emotions or the desire to keep streaks alive. No one in this sport would have a bad thing to say about Bobby Labonte. He is a man of proven ability and character. The fact that many fans are upset over him being removed from the car temporarily is evidence of that. Those factors, however, are not enough to be successful when competing against the best of the best.

The JTG/Daugherty team seems to be committed to their driver and also seriously committed to becoming a better race team. It is this writer’s opinion that they are doing what they need to do to accomplish their goals.

June 26, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Sonoma Toyota Save Mart 350

Under unexpected cloudy skies and even some rain drops, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 25^th annual Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

Surprising: Martin Truex Jr. was in surprisingly esteemed company with his 218-race winless streak, the second longest in the Cup Series to Bill Elliott’s 226-race winless streak.

But Truex managed to avoid that number one winless record spot by grabbing the brass ring on the road course, attaining his second career victory, his first at Sonoma, and his first of the season.

And according to the driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing, the win marks the beginning of the new winning Truex.

“I can’t even put it into words,” Truex said in Victory Lane. “I have so many people to thank who have stuck with me.”

“The team is just phenomenal,” Truex continued. “It feels damn good to get one finally.”

“Today was just our day and our time,” Truex said. “Our car was flawless.”

“We’re going to get a bunch of them now, I can tell you that much.”

Not Surprising: The remainder of the MWR Race team also had a good day at the race track, with Clint Bowyer, defending Sonoma winner, finishing fifth in his No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota and Brian Vickers, fresh off his sixth place Nationwide finish at Road America, finishing 13^th in the No. 55 RKMotorsCharlotte.com Toyota.

“We had a fast car all weekend long,” Bowyer said. “We got close but we pitted and nobody came with us.”

“A long time coming for Martin and happy to see him in Victory Lane.”

MWR driver Vickers may not have had quite the finish he wanted but he got something even more important, a ringing endorsement from his team owner Michael Waltrip after the race.

“We want Brian Vickers to be a part of this organization in the future,” Waltrip said after the race. “He’s our guy.”

“We’re trying to put the pieces together.”

Surprising: Jeff Gordon, who had an eventful day of having to overcome a pitting too early penalty, also achieved a surprising record of his own.

This was the Gordon’s 302^nd career top-five finish, breaking the tie he had for third with Hall of Fame driver David Pearson.

“This is one of those crazy types of races where pit strategy goes all over the place and you never know what might happen,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “The way things have been going on the track for me haven’t been great and they way things have been going with the calls haven’t been going his (crew chief Alan Gustafson’s) way either.”

“But wow, we finally had a race car that was fantastic,” Gordon continued. “We had a lot of fun out there.”

This was Gordon’s 17^th top-10 finish in 21 races at Sonoma.

Not Surprising: Carl Edwards started where he finished, third and third, in his No. 99 Aflac Ford. This was his fourth top-10 finish in nine races at Sonoma and he was officially the highest finishing Ford in the race.

“I would have liked to have made a couple spots up,” Edwards said. “It feels weird to race that hard all day and finish in the same spot you started.”

“That’s the true story,” Edwards continued. “It was a pretty dynamic race.”

“Eventually we will win one of these races.”

Even with his third place start and finish, Edwards remains in the second place in the point standings, 25 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

Surprising: Kurt Busch was, by his own admission, surprisingly fast both on and off the track. He endured not one but two pit road speeding penalties , and in spite of that managed to claw his way back to the fourth finishing position in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Sealy Chevrolet.

“Yeah, we were fast, even on pit road, twice,” Busch said. “I messed up, flat out.”

“I didn’t hit my tachometer right and I was speeding both times,” Busch continued. “I just put myself in a position that was poor trying to get too much on pit road.”

“But man this Furniture Row Chevy was fast.”

Not Surprising: Juan Pablo Montoya had a fast race car but that was not quite enough to finish the Sonoma race. The driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet needed some additional gas in his vehicle, running out on the last lap and dropping from the front of the field to a 34^th place finish.

“It’s just heartbreak,” Montoya said. “Our Target Chevy was really good today.”

“You’ve got to defend them in the way they do the fuel calculations,” Montoya continued. “It should have been a little smarter.”

“We’ve got tools to prevent things like that from happening.”

Surprising: Kyle Busch, who finished 35^th in his No. 18 M&Ms Toyota after contact with both Montoya and Edwards sent him spinning, took to Twitter to battle those who were criticizing him.

His first tweet of “Awww. My heart melts for @jpmontoya who ran out of gas. Only thing I got for Carl is “aww crap,” sent the tweet war off and running with some of his followers.

After a few barbs back and forth, however, Busch showed his more jovial side, ending the Twitter visit with “Brought to u in part by mms. LOL” in response to this tweet @queers4gears: Does @KyleBusch’s twitter feed come with popcorn? #Entertainment.

Not Surprising: Most likely the two most disappointed drivers at Sonoma were those that started on the front row. Jamie McMurray had a great pole run only to finish 25th due to a flat tire and damage, while Marcos Ambrose, who had tested at Sonoma and qualified on the outside pole, salvaged a seventh place finish.

“It’s OK,” the driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford said. “We got a top-10 out of it.”

“The weather cooled down and lot and we just didn’t anticipate that when we set the car up,” Ambrose continued. “Of course I wanted to win but that’s the way it goes.”

Surprising: There were two surprising engine issues right at the start in the race. Bobby Labonte, in the No. 47 Kingsford Toyota, did not even make a lap before his engine expired.

Joining him was Jacques Villeneuve, who made it to Lap 19 before having his No. 51 Tag Heuer Avant-Garde Eyewear Chevrolet pushed into the garage with gear and engine woes.

Not Surprising: While Danica Patrick supposed that she was comfortable at Sonoma in that she at least knew where the ladies’ restrooms were, she finished a very uncomfortable 29^th in her No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet.

“It was a long day – a long weekend,” Patrick said. “We just couldn’t get the car to the point where I was comfortable with it.”

“Having the cut tire and going into the tire barrier was just sort of salt in the wound,” Patrick continued. “Hopefully we have a better weekend next week at Kentucky.”

Surprising: Rookie Paulie Harraka, attempting his first Cup start in his No. 52 Hasa Pool Products Ford, had a surprisingly difficult start to the race, wrecking as the cars went out on track for the pace laps.

“I don’t know what to say except that stuff happens,” Harraka said. “Somebody two cars ahead of me decided to stop in the go lane and why he did that I have absolutely no idea, but these cars don’t stop very well on the wet asphalt.”

“Sometimes crazy stuff happens.”

Not Surprising: While Dale Earnhardt Jr. may not have scored a top-ten finish, he was still smiling after Sonoma with a 12^th place finish at a road course which admittedly is not his forte.

“It was a pretty good day,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet said. “This is definitely my worst race track, my least favorite track.”

“We will take a top-15 here any week.”

June 24, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Michigan Quicken Loans 400

Awash in tributes to the memory of Jason Leffler and to all the dads for Father’s Day, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Surprising: For the first time since June of 2005 at Sonoma, every Hendrick Motorsports car finished outside the top 25.

Five-time champ Jimmie Johnson finished 28^th after hitting the wall in the remaining laps of the race, while Dale Earnhardt, Jr. blew an engine to finish 37^th. The next HMS driver to finish was Kasey Kahne in the 38^th position after blowing a tire and hitting the wall, followed by Jeff Gordon, who was caught up in an early wreck with Bobby Labonte to finish 39^th.

Four-time champion Jeff Gordon, who himself experienced his second DNF in a row at MIS, summed up the disappointing finishes of all of Hendrick Motorsports teams best.

“It’s testing my frustration level,” Gordon said. “I don’t want to see the team get down.”

“I have a lot of fight and so does the team,” Gordon continued. “I’m looking forward to going to Sonoma.”

Not Surprising: Since it was Michigan, a track that has been known as a Ford playground and where Roush Fenway Racing has such deep roots, it was no surprise that the race winner was Greg Biffle, the driver of the No. 16 3M/Give Kids a Smile Ford.

It was also not surprising that Biffle scored the 1,000^th win for the Ford Motor Company as well as giving the Ford Motor Company a happy 110^th birthday. And for the Biff, he was also able to celebrate his very first win of the 2013 season.

But what was not surprising in the least was the emotion of the driver in Victory Lane as he held his daughter Emma tight, celebrated Father’s Day, and honored the memory of a fellow competitor who was lost too soon, leaving his beloved five year old son behind.

“It is Emma’s first victory lane on Father’s Day,” Biffle said as the confetti rained down upon them. “I am thinking about my dad that couldn’t be here who is hopefully watching.”

“We are also thinking about little Charlie Leffler that doesn’t have a father today.”

Surprising: In spite of an engine failure on Lap 132 and the resulting poor finish, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was surprisingly upbeat when all was said and done. In fact, he actually took on the role of team leader and chief cheerleader, especially when it came to the performance of his car.

“We just had something come apart in the motor,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Man of Steel Chevrolet said. “Really happy though with the engine.”

“Happy with the way the car performed,” Junior continued. “We had an awesome car.”

“We had a first or second place car there.”

Not Surprising: He may not have closed the deal, but Kevin Harvick was indeed happy with his second place finish in his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet. And he even managed that great finish in spite of having an ill-handling car to start off with and a vibration at the end of the race.

“I didn’t wake up thinking that we were going to even run in the top ten,” Harvick said. “I was pretty nervous about our car.”

“But everybody on this whole Budweiser team did a great job,” Harvick continued. “We just kept our head in there and kept digging.”

This was Harvick’s fifth top-10 in a row and his fifth top-five finish of the season. His good run also moved him up one spot in the point standings to the fourth position.

Surprising: The rest of Richard Childress Racing had a surprisingly good day at the race track, with all of their other drivers in the top 15 at Michigan International Speedway. Jeff Burton finished 10^th, Austin Dillon finished 11^th and Paul Menard finished 14^th for team RCR.

“The No. 31 Caterpillar team fought hard all day to bring home another solid finish,” Burton said. “We continue to make progress with our mile-and-a –half and two-mile track programs.”

“Overall it was a good points day,” Burton said, moving four spots up to 17^th in the standings.

Not Surprising: Smoke, who has been on fire as of late, continued to rip off good finishes now that the summer has arrived. In spite of a crash on Friday, the driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet finished top-five and moved up into the top ten in the point standings.

“We had some breaks go our way,” Stewart said. “I’m proud of these guys.”

“We weren’t very good all weekend so this team had to work hard to get us where we were today.”

Surprising: After all the talk of engine woes and failures and the ratcheting up and down of horsepower, Toyota had a surprisingly good day, scoring a third place finish with Martin Truex, Jr., a fourth place with Kyle Busch, a sixth place with Matt Kenseth and a seventh place finish with Clint Bowyer.

“The power in the engine was definitely better than last week,” Truex, Jr., driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota said. “They’re working on that.”

“We were very competitive horsepower-wise and all that was good.”

“That was a crazy day,” Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota said. “We got off to a rough start but we worked on it all day long and made the absolute best of the situation.”

“Not the way we would have drawn it up, but I’ll take it.”

Not Surprising: There was indeed some drama between teammates, from a restart issue with Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., as well as a disagreement about trash between Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards.

“Yeah, he spun his tires and almost ran into the side of me trying to control his car,” Johnson said of teammate Junior on a restart. “I wasn’t going to get burned on that again so I jumped off the gas and got drilled from behind.”

“There is a game to be played there and you can cause a heck of a pile up if you are trying to give it back.”

Biffle and Edwards, on the other hand, had a major disagreement about of all things trash on the grille.

“It’s his job to help me,” Edwards said of Biffle, who he felt should have backed up to help him dislodge trash that was causing significant overheating.

“I didn’t know when I passed him he had something on his grille or I’d let him get it off then,” Biffle said. “But when I looked up and he was 25 car lengths back, I said ‘I can’t help him, not right now.’ This is my chance to win today.”

“I didn’t feel like I could take that risk.”

Surprising: After starting 37^th, Danica Patrick scored her first top-15 finish in a Cup Series race at the big track in the rolling hills of Michigan.

“At the end of the race, the last run was the best run I felt,” the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet said. “It’s so nice to get a decent finish for the team.”

“This will hopefully get everyone’s head up a little bit and we will go on,” Patrick said. “I think we have been strong lately.”

“We just needed to have days like today where we finished it off.”

Not Surprising: Bobby Labonte, booted temporarily from his No. 47 Charter Toyota for JTG Daugherty Racing, struggled even after picking up a new ride in the No. 51 Phoenix Construction Services Chevrolet for James Finch and Phoenix Racing.

Although Labonte was able to keep his consecutive race streak alive at 702, unfortunately his race results were not what he wanted or needed as he wrecked out early, finishing dead last.

AJ Allmendinger, who JTG Daugherty had hired to shake down Labonte’s ride, did a little better in that car, scoring a top-20 finish.

Allmendinger could drive a few more times for JTG, while Labonte is scheduled to return for the remainder of the schedule. Labonte’s best finish so far in the No. 47 car has been 15^th in the Daytona 500.

Surprising: Kasey Kahne showed off a surprisingly new talent, that of firefighting. The driver of the No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet was leading the race when the car took off, hit the wall and burst into flames.

“Something broke,” Kahne said. “I would say it was a tire that went down but I don’t know for sure.”

“I was just going into the corner and then it went ‘boom’ and turned right straight into the wall.”

Kahne’s car burst into flames and he was able to exit quickly. He then, however, reached back into the car and initiated the fire extinguishing equipment, putting out the fire well before any of the safety professionals arrived at the scene.

Kahne later tweeted, “First time I have ever pulled the fire extinguisher. That was cool.”

Not Surprising: As with every driver, team and owner, hearts were heavy for the loss of Jason Leffler, who died in a sprint car from blunt neck trauma at a dirt track in New Jersey. Team owner Jack Roush put it best with his hope that Leffler would live on through new and improved safety at those local race tracks.

“Every time somebody gets hurt in racing, we need to look behind it and see what we can learn about the tragedy and see what we can do to establish some safety thing that would make it survivable for somebody else in the future,” Roush said. “If there was something to be learned from this, Jason will have an impact, as Dale Earnhardt’s death did, on the generation of drivers that follow him.”

June 18, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Party in the Poconos 400

With a picture-perfect race day after a qualifying rainout, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 32^nd annual Party in the Poconos 400.

Surprising: With good practice times and a decent starting position set on owner’s points, it was most surprising to see the No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet head to pit road and then to the garage on the first lap of the race.

“We have no idea what happened with the car yet,” Kasey Kahne said. “The crew and engineers have been looking at things but they’re still unsure.”

“II know that when I took off, in second gear, I had no power and it was just vibrating like crazy,” Kahne continued. “The faster I went, the worse the vibration was.”

With the garage time, Kahne finished nineteen laps down in the 36^th position. He also lost two positions in the point standings, falling from the fifth to seventh spot.

Not Surprising: With the controversy of the Dover restart still ringing in his ears, Jimmie Johnson put it all behind him, leading a record setting 128 laps out of the total 160 at Pocono Raceway.

And with a lap leading percentage of 80%, there was no surprise that the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet found Victory Lane for the third time of the season and the third time at Pocono.

“I’m sure we’ve had some other really strong races like that, but not in recent memory,” Johnson said. “What a race car.”

“There are only so many tricks you have if you play by the rules with those restarts,” Johnson continued. “Fortunately, I was able to get the lead and have clean air again at the end.”

Surprising: With all the struggles of team Ford, it was most surprising to see Greg Biffle, in the No. 16 3M Ford, surge at the end to score the runner up position.

“We had some good restarts and we were lucky with the lane choices and my car ran pretty good on restarts,” Biffle said. “Clearly we’re not celebrating that we finished second quite yet and have our cars figured out, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.”

“We certainly ran better here than we have been all season and certainly that’s a positive for us going to next week, so hopefully we’ll continue to build on that.”

Not Surprising: With a third place finish in the books, NASCAR’s most popular driver pronounced it all good, as well as predicting that the momentum might just carry the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet into Victory Lane soon.

“We are all right,” Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said. “We know what we need to do.”

“Confidence is there so all the fans can rest assured we feel like we are on the right track,” Junior continued. “We want to get a win, man.”

“If we keep getting close, we are going to get one.”

Surprising: The announcement of Toyota Racing Development backing down the horsepower to improve reliability surprisingly came at the worst time for Denny Hamlin, who has been battling intently to recover from his injury and make the Chase.

“We weren’t competitive,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota said after finishing eighth. “We’re just trying to do everything we can and grind and finish good when we don’t have a winning car.”

“And by no means did we have a winning car this weekend.”

Not Surprising: Fellow Toyota teammate Kyle Busch was the top Toyota finisher, bringing his No. 18 M&Ms Toyota Camry home in the sixth position.

“The car was loose in turn three all day, but we got the car feeling pretty good towards the end,” Busch said. “We probably had a seventh place car all day long.”

“I just couldn’t get going on that last restart,” Busch continued. “I just didn’t do a good job there and we found ourselves in sixth.”

“We’ll take that and go on to Michigan.”

Surprising: Stewart-Haas Racing had a surprisingly good time at the Party in the Poconos, with Tony Stewart finishing in fourth, Ryan Newman finishing fifth, and Danica Patrick finishing on the lead lap at her first ever try on that tricky track.

“It’s one thing if one car runs good, but to have two or all three of us running good shows that we are gaining momentum,” Tony Stewart, team owner and driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, said . “Really proud of our group at SHR.”

Not Surprising: Kurt Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, once again faced adversity, this time with a problem on pit road. And not surprisingly, he and his team rallied yet again to finish top-10.

“We had a fast car again, ran up front but a mistake on my part on pit road stalled our momentum,” Busch said. “But we battled back with a solid finish.”

“The good news is that we know how to overcome adversity and the more we perform the way we have been, the better we’ll get.”

Surprising: Matt Kenseth had an uncharacteristically and surprisingly tough day, doing some synchronized spinning with Juan Pablo Montoya and then wheel-hopping on pit road and having some contact with Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

“I mean, disappointing,” the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot/Husky Tools Toyota said. “I thought we had a top-five at the very worst or seventh or eighth-place car.”

“Whenever you don’t finish where you are running, it’s always disappointing.”

Not Surprising: Earnhardt Ganassi Racing just keeps gaining ground, this week with Jamie McMurray finishing thirteenth and Juan Pablo Montoya finishing fourteenth.

“We just have to execute,” Montoya said. “Each person has got to do its own little thing.”

“We just have to keep our heads down and keep doing our work and we will be fine.”

Surprising: AJ Allmendinger had a surprisingly difficult day in the No. 51 Phoenix Construction Services Chevrolet, finishing a disappointing 33^rd. The ‘Dinger was responsible for the next to the last race caution after experiencing significant tire troubles.

In spite of this, Allmendinger was surprisingly chosen to replace Bobby Labonte when the Cup crowd heads to Michigan next weekend. JTG Daugherty Racing’s leadership apparently selected ‘Dinger to shake down the car to see if and how the performance can be enhanced.

“I have raced for Phoenix Racing some this year and feel confident I’ll be able to provide JTG Daugherty Racing with a good comparison,” Allmendinger said. “I’m thankful for this opportunity to work with the team and Bobby.”

Not Surprising: For Chad Knaus, crew chief, and team Jimmie Johnson, the focus still remains on the point standings. And this team not surprisingly knows exactly how important their points lead is, now 51 points ahead of Carl Edwards.

“As far as points go, it’s always important,” Knaus said. “We’ve got some very tricky race tracks coming up and we want to make sure that we get as many points accumulated as possible.”

“That’s just the way we roll.”

June 11, 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