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Tag: Brad Keselowski

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth led 202 laps at Martinsville and finished second, unable to keep eventual winner Jeff Gordon at bay over the closing laps. Kenseth’s runner-up finish forged a tie in the points standings with Jimmie Johnson.

    “While I’m thrilled to be knotted atop the points standings with Johnson,” Kenseth said, “Johnson isn’t. In other words, Jimmie’s fit to be tied.”

    2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished fifth at Martinsville, three spots behind Matt Kenseth, as Hendrick teammate Jeff Gordon took the win. Kenseth and Johnson sit tied atop the points standings, 27 ahead of Gordon.

    “While Greg Biffle confronted me,” Johnson said, “Kenseth in-fronted me. If only Kenseth were as easy to handle as Greg Biffle, you could hand me the Cup right now.”

    3. Jeff Gordon: Gordon won for the first time this season, capturing the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville and vaulting from fifth to third in the Sprint Cup points standings. He trails Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth by 27.

    “I put myself back in the Cup picture,” Gordon said. “Unfortunately, when I try to imagine myself as 2013 Sprint Cup champion, I just can’t ‘picture’ it.”

    4. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished sixth in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martisville. He is fourth in the points standings. 28 out of first.

    “If you saw the Trucks race,” Harvick said, “you know I have a problem with drivers who have been ‘grandfathered in.’ Now you know why I’m leaving Richard Childress Racing. Those kids don’t know what they’re ‘Dillon’ with.”

    5. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer took third at Martinsville, posting his ninth top-5 result of the year. He is sixth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 55 out of the lead.

    “The 5-Hour Energy car finished third in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500,” Bowyer said. “It seems that Goody’s has taken 5-Hour Energy’s concept and used it to their advantage. You could say they’ve put a ‘new spin’ on shots.”

    6. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt came home eighth at Martinsville as Hendrick Motorsports placed three drivers in the top 10, led by Jeff Gordon’s first win of the year. Earnhardt is seventh in the points standings, 56 out of first.

    “Army National Guard renewed their sponsorship of the No. 88 car,” Earnhardt said. “As you know, the fans of Junior Nation love the ‘armed services,’ especially if that arm is handing them a beverage.”

    7. Kyle Busch: After two fifth-place finishes in his last two races, Busch finished a disappointing 15th at Martinsville. He is fifth in the points standings, 36 out of first.

    “How about Darrell Wallace becoming only the second black driver to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race?” said Busch. “Now, NASCAR’s Drive For Diversity has a new slogan celebrating black heritage in NASCAR. It’s called ‘What A Race!’”

    8. Greg Biffle: Biffle started 33rd and finished ninth at Martinsville. He is eighth in the points standings, 58 out of first.

    “I made like my rear bumper,” Biffle said, “and got all up in Jimmie Johnson’s grill.

    9. Brad Keselowski: After struggling at Talladega, Keselowski finished fourth at Martinsville, one of only two Fords in the top 10.

    “All this controversy at Martinsville,” Keselowski said, “and none of it involves me. Once again, I’ve been ‘left out.’”

    10. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished 12th at Martinsville and is now tenth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 76 out of first.

    “Greg Biffle obviously needs a course in confrontation etiquette,” Edwards said. “And I’m the man to do it. Of all people, I’m the one that knows how to teach a teammate a lesson.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500

    With NASCAR legend and Hall of Famer Junior Johnson giving the command to get the action started and a grandfather clock trophy on the line, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 65th annual Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 Powered by Kroger at Martinsville Speedway.

    Surprising:  Jeff Gordon had some pretty surprising thoughts in the waning laps of the race as he battled with Matt Kenseth for the race lead at Martinsville and then motored on to Victory Lane.

    “I was thinking, what would Jimmie Johnson do?” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “Or better yet, maybe what would Richard Petty do?”

    “I was just hoping that no cautions were going to come out and they didn’t,” Gordon continued. “That clock, there’s nothing better than getting a clock at Martinsville.”

    This was Gordon’s first win of the season and his 88th victory in his career, tying him with Jimmie Johnson and trailing only Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip on the all-time wins list at Martinsville.

    And with the win, Gordon climbed two spots in the all-important point standings to third, now 27 points behind the leaders.

    Not Surprising:  While the inside lane was definitely the preferred one at Martinsville, the outside lane seemed especially cursed during this seventh race of the Chase at the short track.

    “It’s just the nature of the beast here,” Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota said. “That’s how important it is to get to the inside on these restarts.”

    “You’d better get your business done quick,” Bowyer continued. “If you don’t, within two corners you’re in trouble because they’re stacked up on the bottom.”

    Bowyer survived the curse of the outside lane to finish third, his tenth top-10 finish in 16 races at Martinsville Speedway.

    Surprising:  While Matt Kenseth was surprisingly confident at a track where he has no wins, only three top fives and a 15th best driver rating of 80.5, his confidence did indeed bear fruit, with a runner up finish in his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota and a bump back up in the Chase standings.

    “I felt like today was an opportunity to get the points lead back,” Kenseth said. “I know Jimmie (Johnson) is always the man here, and he’s still the man here along with Jeff (Gordon) and Denny (Hamlin) for sure.”

    “I haven’t had that many good runs here, but we ran good in the spring, we were terrific at Loudon which has always been my worst track and this has probably been my second-worst track, and Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) and the whole group at JGR gave us such good cars to drive.”

    “I couldn’t be much happier, but I am disappointed I got beat there at the end,” Kenseth continued. “I feel like we can go do some racing here in the next three weeks.”

    With his good finish, Kenseth actually tied Jimmie Johnson for the point’s lead, however, has the advantage due to his number of overall wins.

    Not Surprising:  Tempers abound at any short track so it was not surprising that some apologies were due, some were made, and some will remain to be made potentially in the upcoming week as a result of the Martinsville race.

    Kevin Harvick, behind the wheel of the No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet, made several apologies, first to Ty Dillon for his harsh words after the Truck race and then to Ryan Newman for hitting him during the Cup race.

    “Yeah, first thing I want to do is apologize to Ryan Newman,” Harvick said after finishing sixth. “I tried to shoot in a gap there and just barely clipped the right rear of his car.”

    Carl Edwards also acknowledged that he owed a few apologies after a ‘terrible’ day at the race track.

    “I caused the first two cautions when the car was real hard to drive on entry,” the driver of the No. 99 Geek Squad Ford said. “I felt bad about that.”

    “The car was real, real loose in and that was the reason I hit Kvapil there like that,” Edwards continued. “I’m going to apologize to him right now.”

    There were two drivers, however, who were in no way, shape or form in the apologizing mode, at least after the race ended.

    “We made contact, but I couldn’t quite understand why he was down here pulling on my collar like he just did,” Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, said after his pit road interview was interrupted by a visibly upset Greg Biffle.

    “You knocked my (expletive) back bumper off mother (expletive)”, the driver of the No. 16 3M Ford said to the five time champ after finishing ninth. “You (expletive) ran into the back of me.”

    “Dude, if you want to talk about it, let’s talk about it” Johnson said during the exchange.

    “We just did,” Biffle countered as he walked away after being separated from Johnson by a NASCAR official.

    Surprising:  Brad Keselowski finally had a surprisingly good day, with his career best finish, fourth place, at Martinsville Speedway. And with that, the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford said that he took the checkered flag exactly where he thought he had a car to do so.

    “It was a decent day,” Keselowski said. “We weren’t where we wanted to be at the start, but we worked on our car and got it better at the end.”

    “The last run was by far the most competitive we were and had probably about a fourth or fifth-place car and that’s where we finished at the end,” Keselowski continued. “It was a solid effort.”

    Not Surprising:   Chevrolet yet again secured the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup manufacturer’s championship and did so even with three more races left in the season.

    This was the 37th manufacturer’s title for Chevrolet and the eleventh year in a row taking the honors.  This was also the 16th win of the season for Team Chevy.

    “To wrap it up with a win, with a great, exciting finish battling it out with a Toyota (the No. 20 driven by second-place finisher Matt Kenseth) is awesome,” Jeff Gordon said. “I know how much that means to Chevrolet.”

    Surprising:  In spite of his record setting qualifying effort, putting his No. 34 Taco Bell Ford in P8 in time trials, engine woes bit David Ragan and he finished dead last with a broken valve spring.

    The driver, however, found the bright spot in his surprisingly bad finish with the positive evolution of his team over this past season, from testing to better work coming from the shop.

    “We’ve built some new cars in-house and that’s doing the chassis work, the body work and building the components, so we’ve really evolved a lot,” Ragan said. “We’ve done it from within and I think long-term that’s a big positive for the whole Front Row Motorsports team.”

    Not Surprising:  Denny Hamlin, traditionally strong at Martinsville and pole sitter for the race, not surprisingly scored another top-ten run in his No. 11 FedEx One Rate Toyota, even with some damage incurred from one of the race’s early wrecks.

    And with that finish, Hamlin pronounced the team as finally going in the right direction after a very difficult season.

    “We ran decent,” Hamlin said. “Even though the car drove as bad as it did, we still were able to be at least somewhat competitive.”

    “Seventh isn’t what we like here at Martinsville, but still it’s a step in the right direction,” Hamlin continued. “We’re just trying to get our feet under us.”

    “Then that’s going to set us up pretty good for next year.”

    Surprising: Sticking with the theme of blown engines, another one bit one of NASCAR’s most promising young drivers Kyle Larson who blew up for the second race in a row. The driver of the No. 51 Target Chevrolet suffered the mechanical issue on lap 165, spinning in his own fluid and bringing out the caution.

    “We just can’t seem to catch a break in these two Cup starts that I’ve had,” Larson said. “We blew up in Charlotte and not sure we had a rear end blow up here or what.”

    Larson’s day went from bad to worse as he tweeted after the race.

    “What a bad last couple of hours. Engine blew up, got a speeding ticket, now my cat just puked and pooped in the car.”

    Not Surprising:  Kurt Busch admitted right up front that he does not have Martinsville Speedway circled on his calendar. And the track again was a struggle yet again for him as he finished 18th with a banged up race car.

    “We didn’t qualify well (19th), didn’t practice well and obviously didn’t race well,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet said. “I don’t know what it is but there’s something about this track that doesn’t suit me.”

    “It was a very disappointing performance today,” Busch continued. “Our Furniture Row Chevrolet got banged up early when it took a big hit to the right side.”

    “But no excuses, we just didn’t have it.”

    The Cup Series next heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the AAA Texas 500, the eighth race in the Chase.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth survived to finish 20th at Talladega, seven spots behind Jimmie Johnson. Kenseth’s four point lead became a four point deficit to Jimmie Johnson in the standings.

    “I drove like I was expecting the ‘big one,’” Kenseth said, “and it never came. So the fans weren’t the only ones upset that there wasn’t a big crash. I guess I should have been more aggressive. If I’ve been faulted for being anything, it’s too ‘laid back.’”

    2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished 13th in the Camping World RV Sales 500 at Talladega, leading a race-high 47 laps to earn two crucial bonus points. He took over the lead in the points, and holds a four-point edge over Matt Kenseth.

    “I was playing ‘catch’ with points-leader Kenseth,” Johnson said, “and I ‘overthrew’ him.”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick, in the No. 29 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet, took 12th at Talladega and is fourth in the Sprint Cup points standings, tied with Kyle Busch 26 points out of first.

    “This is the only way I can possibly share space with Kyle Busch,” Harvick said.

    “That was one of the least exciting Talladega races, despite the fact that cars were topping out at near 200 miles per hour. I guess that’s why they call it ‘full bore.’”

    4. Kyle Busch: Busch posted his second consecutive top-5 finish, taking fifth at Talladega. He is tied for third in the points standings, 26 out of first.

    “I’m back in the championship hunt,” Busch said. “But if I don’t have a good finish at Martinsville, I’ll likely be done. The last time I was ‘officially eliminated,’ I was taken off the road by a state trooper in North Carolina.”

    5. Jeff Gordon: Gordon led 19 laps at Talladega and finished 14th at Talladega, rendering unable to make up ground in the Sprint Cup points standings. He is now fifth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 34 behind Jimmie Johnson.

    “Jimmie’s got the lead,” Gordon said. “Let’s see if he can hold it. With Martinsville up next, history says he can. He’s won eight races there, rewarded with a grandfather clock for each victory. It’s just further proof that the 5-time Cup champ’s greatness is measure in ‘times.’”

    6. Kurt Busch: Busch came home 18th at Talladega and is now ninth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 61 out of first.

    “We had Wonder Bread on the No. 78 Chevrolet,” Busch said. “As if you needed more proof that I’m as white bread as they come.”

    7. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer finished tenth at Talladega, his first top-10 finish since a tenth at Dover. He is eighth in the points standings, 57 out of first.

    “Kudos to 5-Hour Energy for their contribution to NASCAR,” Bowyer said. “Like its name states, 5-Hour Energy will stay with you for awhile, which is more than I can say about some of Michael Waltrip’s other sponsors.”

    8. Greg Biffle: Biffle finished 11th in the Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 Ford, while teammate Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. took third. Biffle is seventh in the points standings, 53 behind Jimmie Johnson.

    “That was a great run by Stenhouse,” Biffle said. “He finished 30 places better than his girlfriend Danica Patrick. Contrary to popular belief, Danica is the one who is ‘whipped.’”

    9. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Running second on the final lap, Earnhardt’s bid for victory at Talladega ended when the caution flew on the final lap, allowing Jamie McMurray to coast to victory. Earnhardt’s second was the best result among Chase drivers, and moved him up to sixth in the points standings.

    “I’ve made second a habit at Talladega,” Earnhardt said. “And speaking of ‘habits,’ I’ve got as many wins this year as that lady wearing the habit—none.”

    10. Ryan Newman: Newman started 17th and finished ninth at Talladega, earning his 16th top 10 of the year.

    “That was the most incident-free race at Talladega I’ve ever seen,” Newman said. “Take it from me, that race was turned upside down.”

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished third in the Bank Of America 500, one spot ahead of Jimmie Johnson, and extended his lead from three to four in the Sprint Cup point standings.

    “There’s one person I want to keep at arm’s length,” Kenseth said, “and that’s Johnson. Everyone else doesn’t matter, except for Carl Edwards, who needs to stay two arm lengths away.”

    2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson faltered on the race’s final restart and fell to seventh before charging for a fourth-place finish. He now trails Matt Kenseth by four in the points standings.

    “I feel like I may have given one away there,” Johnson said. “Restarts have troubled me all year. And restarts mean I have to re-finish. And clearly, as a two-year title drought would suggest, I don’t finish like I used to.”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished sixth at Charlotte, posting his third-straight top-10 result. He is 29 behind Matt Kenseth in the points standings.

    “I’d like to say I still have a chance to win the Cup,” Harvick said, “but the facts don’t support that. You could say I don’t have a leg to stand on. And you can say the opposite about Tony Stewart.”

    4. Kyle Busch: Busch finished fifth at Charlotte as arch-nemesis Brad Keselowski won the Bank Of America 500. Busch is fifth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 37 out of first.

    “I guess I’m more like Keselowski than I would care to mention,” Busch said. “Apparently, we’re both stupid, and neither of us has a chance to win the Cup.”

    5. Jeff Gordon: Gordon won the pole on Thursday and took seventh in the Bank Of America 500. He has five top-10 finishes in six Chase races, and is fourth in the points, 36 out of first.

    “Talladega next on the schedule,” Gordon said, “and anything can happen. Usually, when I ask for a miracle, I try to speak to God. Nowadays, it’s a little easier—I just talk to Clint Bowyer.”

    6. Kurt Busch: Busch posted a 14th in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet at Charlotte, and is seventh in the points standings, 59 out of first.

    “I don’t condone my brother Kyle’s characterization of Brad Keselowski as ‘stupid,’” Busch said. “Kyle obviously thinks he’s advocating NASCAR’s ‘Drive For Diversity’ when he, as the pot, calls the kettle ‘black.’”

    7. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer finished 11th in the Bank Of America 500 and improved one spot in the points standings to eighth. He trails Matt Kenseth by 63.

    “Things could get very interesting at Talladega,” Bowyer said. “Not as interesting as things got in Richmond, but interesting nonetheless.

    “Because of NAPA’s pulled sponsorship, Michael Waltrip Racing will run only two full-time teams in Sprint Cup next year. Michael tried his best to do more, but sometimes, you just aren’t able to manipulate the outcome.”

    8. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski recovered from trouble in the pits to win for the first time this year, taking the Bank Of America 500 at Charlotte.

    “I made a full lap with the jack stuck under my car,” Keselowski said. “That’s the least I can do. I simply returned the favor—that jack’s been giving me lifts all tear.

    “And speaking of ‘jacks,’ Kyle Busch is a lot like a jack, in that there’s always a ‘let down.’”

    9. Greg Biffle: Biffle finished 16th at Charlotte, and is now sixth in the points standings, 58 out of first.

    “There will be an NCAA football game at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2016,” Biffle said. “It will likely be the most passing ever seen at a NASCAR track.”

    10. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished 15th at Charlotte, one lap down. He is ninth in the Sprint Cup power rankings, 66 out of first.

    “I’m ready for Talladega,” Earnhardt said, “and so are the fans of Junior Nation. They go absolutely crazy in the ‘Dega infield. So crazy, in fact, that they’re known as the ‘Infield-els.’”

  • The Final Word – Thank God we have Talladega coming up on Sunday

    The Final Word – Thank God we have Talladega coming up on Sunday

    Charlotte has come and gone for another season, so what can one say about the race that was. Well, “thank God that is behind us” comes to mind. I can not remember if it was sponsored by Nyquil or was simply the To Hell With A Cure for Insomnia 500, for me it turned out to be NASCAR’s version of English Premier League soccer. That is, best watched with PVR in hand.

    Lap after lap of whatever and who cares. It was like watching a NBA game in the end, with the final few minutes about as exciting as it gets. Brad Keselowski wins, Kasey Kahne runs second, and Matt Kenseth extended his lead over Jimmie Johnson to four big points in the Chase standings. Did anything else much matter? I expected more from Charlotte, I expect nothing from ABC/ESPN, and not a single new fan was captured from what was presented in the television version of the contest. Thank God we have Talladega coming up this Sunday.

    Talladega is coming up, Martin Truex Jr. is off seeking a new ride after Michael Waltrip Racing officially announced its contraction due to NAPA fleeing the scene. Brian Vickers is gone for the rest of the year as he deals with a re-occurrence of blood clots in his leg, but should be good to go in the seat of the MWR #55 for 2014.

    NASCAR continues to seek the answers needed to make the racing more exciting. They returned to Charlotte a couple of days after the Saturday night race to see if the advent of more rear down force or more turbulent air might help shake things up. If the announce team can not make things more exciting, then the product itself has to improve.

    Rating Charlotte – 5.5/10 – Something has to change, or those not true fanatics are going to continue wandering off to other stimulants or reducing their NASCAR experience to Daytona, Talladega, and Bristol.

    If you do not like NASCAR, I understand. If you do not like Talladega, you really are a soccer fan. 40 plus cars sweeping by in aircraft formation three wide with just inches separating any of them in any direction at 200 miles per hour. One sneeze away from disaster. We will be watching this Sunday to see if such a sneeze might hamper the runaway bid of Kenseth and Johnson. Call your friends, call all those who usually do not watch, tell them this is what NASCAR produces each and every week. If we are lucky, Martinsville might actually keep them watching.

    You can’t blame a guy for dreaming. Enjoy the week.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

    In the ‘home game’ for NASCAR in the heart of race country, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 54th annual Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Surprising:  Who knew that dragging a jack for a lap would result in a victory lap?  That was the case for the driver of the Blue Deuce Brad Keselowski, who finally got his first win under his belt for the season. Keselowski also scored his first ever win in a Ford, as well as his first victory at Charlotte.

    “I thought when we saw the jack under the car I said, ‘Here we go again, not a good night,’ but at the end of the day when it was time to go and we raced the best because it was Brad behind the wheel that made it,” Roger Penske, team owner of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, said. “It wasn’t a fuel economy run, it was him digging deep and bringing us to victory lane, so it was a great night for us.”

    Not Surprising:  If a crack in the armor exists for five-time champ Jimmie Johnson it would be restarts and the driver of the No. 48 Lowes Dover White Chevrolet had yet another challenge in that regard at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    As a result of a late race caution, Johnson yet again struggled on the final restart, resulting in a fourth place finish.

    “Down in (turns) one and two, just in the dirty air I pushed the No. 5 off into (turn) one,” Johnson said. “He didn’t get the best restart and something to do with that combo got me off the bottom and a couple of cars got into the side of me.”

    “If we could have come out of the pits second and start on the front row, it would have been a much different result for us,” Johnson continued. “But it didn’t happen.”

    “Just lost track position which was unfortunate.”

    As a result of this finish, Johnson sits just four points behind point’s leader Matt Kenseth.

    Surprising:  Speaking of the point’s leader, the third time surprisingly was a charm for championship contender Matt Kenseth.

    “There is a feel that I always look for and when I don’t have it, I can’t go very fast,” the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota said. “Until the third adjustment, we just couldn’t get it.”

    “Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) found something that really woke it up and made the car happy and made me happy and we were able to start making some ground.”

    Kenseth finished third, maintained his points lead, and posted his 15th top-10 finish in 29 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Not Surprising:  Past gremlins rearing their ugly heads again cost both Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. their best finishes.

    Busch, driving the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, suffered loose lug nuts due to a pit road miscommunication and also a fuel pick up issue to finish fifth.

    “We had the same thing in the third Chase race back in 2008,” Busch said of his engine issue. “So it doesn’t surprise me something’s back.”

    “Pretty frustrating,’’ Busch continued. “We should be happy about (fifth), but when it’s time for championship time, that’s not what you need.”

    “We need wins, and we can’t win.’’

    Dale Junior, making his 500th career start, had some sort of vibration in the car that resulted in a 15th place finish in spite of his leading laps during the race.

    “The car just got really tight,” Dale Jr., driver of the No. 88 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet, said. “Something in the set-up moved, but the car was real quick at the start of the race.”

    “It just would not turn at all the last half of the race pretty much,” Junior continued. “We are just kind of trying to figure out what is going on.”

    “We will get it back and figure it out when we get to the shop on Monday.”

    Busch sits fifth in points at 37 points behind leader Kenseth and Junior fell one position to ninth and is now 66 points behind the point’s leader.

    Surprising:  Both Hendrick teammates made surprisingly good decisions in just taking two tires instead of four for the final restart. Kasey Kahne, HMS driver of the No. 5 Quaker State Chevrolet, finished in the runner up position with his two tires and teammate Jeff Gordon, behind the wheel of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, finished seventh.

    “Yeah, we had a great race,” Kahne said. “I was on two (tires) and I was trying to move around, but I was just a little bit on the tight side with the front end, then I would get loose if I got the front working.”

    “I was doing all I could and felt pretty good, but Brad (Keselowski, winner) made some nice moves and just really had some speed there late in the race and was able to get by me.”

    “It was a solid night,” Gordon said. “It was a great call there to try to make two (tires) work.”

    “Our car was just way too tight to be able to do it and we lost a few more positions than I was hoping,” Gordon continued. “But it was still solid.”

    While Gordon remains in the fourth place in the Chase, 36 points behind the leader, Kahne on the other hand, is in the 13th position, 81 points back and essentially out of contention.

    Not Surprising:   Mark Martin had the most interesting comeback after blowing an engine after just 80 completed laps and spewing fluid all over the track.

    The driver, substituting for Tony Stewart in the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet ended up finishing a disappointing 42nd as a result.

    But when a fan tweeted Martin “@markmartin Should’ve mention this earlier but you should retire,” things got very interesting. In fact, the usually affable driver surprising replied with just four words, tweeting “You should screw yourself,” thus scoring the best comeback of the Charlotte race.

    Surprising:  Speaking of the Stewart-Haas bunch, Ryan Newman salvaged a surprisingly good finish after struggling most of the night. Thanks to a four tire call on the last pit stop, Newman was able to get an eighth place finish for the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet.

    “We came out of here with a decent finish, but we struggled a little bit tonight,” Newman said. “I just didn’t have the overall speed.”

    “Matt (Borland, crew chief) made the call to take four tires at the end, but we weren’t able to gain spots like I thought we would knowing that a lot of the guys ahead of us took two,” Newman continued. “All in all, it’s good to complain about a top-10 finish, but we expected a little more than that tonight.”

    Not Surprising:  Until his engine blew, young up and coming driver Kyle Larson, making his Cup debut in the No. 51 Target Chevrolet, had a great run going. In fact, he was running in the top ten for a bit, far surpassing many of his more seasoned competitors, including future teammate Jamie McMurray.

    “Obviously, the guy is ready,” Chip Ganassi, team owner said of his 2014 driver. “Some of the smarter people in the sport have said that maybe a Cup car is more like his style than a Nationwide car.”

    “It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened,” Ganassi continued. “Time will tell, but the guy is ready.”

    Surprising:  For one Chase contender, the contest at Charlotte Motor Speedway was all about a battle until the death, well almost.

    “We survived,” Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet, said after finishing sixth. “Yeah we got a decent finish, but our car was terrible all night.”

    “The restart went our way there at the end and we were able to get a decent finish out of it.”

    Harvick maintained his third place in the Chase standings, just 29 points, similar to his car number, behind point’s leader Kenseth.

    Not Surprising:  There is at least one driver who is looking forward to the next race at Talladega after finishing 14th in his No. 78Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet.

    “We had an upbeat feeling about tonight after two strong practices on Friday but nothing really materialized for us to make a charge,” Busch said. “It’s disappointing to finish where we did (14th) after having a number of solid runs on the mile-and-a-half’s, including last week’s runner-up finish in Kansas.”

    “Next week we’ll give it another go in the Wonder bread car at Talladega.”

  • Brad Keselowski cashes-in at the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte

    Brad Keselowski cashes-in at the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte

    Last year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, Brad Keselowski, grabs his first victory of the 2013 season tonight in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Keselowski’s win marks the first time since Kasey Kahne won at Phoenix International Raceway in 2011 that a non-Chase contender has been to victory lane during the postseason.

    In victory lane, Keselowski said, “It was just a never-give-up night.  We had a lot of struggles tonight.  We didn’t qualify well, but we kept working our way forward.  I knew we had a good car.  I’m not sure we were as good as the 48 or the 5.  I never got to really race them until the end and they had two tires, so I think we were probably pretty even.  When Paul made the call to take four tires and I saw we were that close to the front, I knew we could get them.”

    During the final laps of the race Brad Keselowski and Kasey Kahne raced hard and battled for the victory.

    When asked about racing Kasey, Brad said, “I love hard racing and there are a handful of guys you can’t race hard with in this deal because they freak out, but Kasey is not one of them.  He’s an excellent driver and he ran me hard, but he ran me clean and that’s great racing.  I’m proud to race with him.  He did a hell of a job and deserves a lot of credit for it, but, at the end of the day, the Miller Lite Ford Fushion was just fast and we persevered.”

    Driver of the No. 5 Quaker State Chevrolet, Kasey Kahne, ended the night with a second place finish. This makes Kahne’s 12th top-10 finish in twenty races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and his 12th top-10 finish in 2013.  After leading 138 laps during the race and finishing in second place, Kahne ends the night thirteenth in the points for the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, eighty-one points behind leader Matt Kenseth.

    After starting the Bank of America 500 in 20th position, Chase leader Matt Kenseth, had a respectable night working through the field, ending the night with a third place finish.  Kenseth now has a four point lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship over driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet, Jimmie Johnson.

    In the media center after the race, Kenseth commented on his thoughts about the night and being the Chase points leader halfway through the Chase.  He said, “Yeah, I mean, you want to be the points leader after the second half is the most important.  But yeah, certainly glad we’re still leading.  Tonight was a big positive for us.  It was a little bit of a struggle this weekend more than we anticipated.  I didn’t get a good lap qualifying, and that was really the start of us being behind tonight.”

    Five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, Jimmie Johnson, further closed the gap between him and Matt Kenseth tonight in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.  Johnson led 130 laps and after a rocky restart during the last caution of the race, he posted a fourth place finish.

    When asked about the final restart and what happened to make him drop back, Johnson said, “Down in (turns) one and two just in the dirty air I pushed the No. 5 off into (turn) one.  He didn’t get the best restart and something to do with that combo got me off the bottom and a couple of cars got into the side of me.  If we could have come out second which was really close with the No. 24 and start on the front row I think it would have been a much different result for us, but it didn’t happen.  We led some laps tonight, had a good car.  I’m not sure what happened in the points, but I know it’s awfully tight up there right now.”

    After winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series race last night, driver of the No. 18 M & M’s Toyota, Kyle Busch, came up short tonight in the Bank of America 500.  Hoping to win his first Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Busch posted a fifth place finish.

    When asked what it is that is keeping him from winning races, Busch said, “I think it’s everything.  There at the end, I’m sure if Jimmie (Johnson) would have taken two (tires) he would have stormed off and kicked everybody’s butt.  They took four, they gambled on the soft side and it bit them a little bit tonight.  They lost a point to the 20 (Matt Kenseth), but they were good enough to win.  So, they have something to hang their hat on—we don’t.”

    Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, and Carl Edwards rounded out the top ten with sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth places, respectively.

    With five races to go in the Chase to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship, the next race will be the Camping World RV Sales 500 next week at Talladega Superspeedway.

  • Matty’s Picks 2013 – Race 31 Bank of America 500 – Charlotte Motor Speedway – October 12, 2013

    Matty’s Picks 2013 – Race 31 Bank of America 500 – Charlotte Motor Speedway – October 12, 2013

    The drivers of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series do not have to travel much further than their back yards to get to the track this week. A hometown race this week, and the only night race of the 2013 Chase for The Sprint Cup for the vast majority of teams this week. There have been 109 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, everyone knows the history that has been made at the track, so I’ll spare the history for some statistics this week.

    Jimmie Johnson leads the series with the most Chase race wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway with three, but none since his last win at Charlotte in October of 2009. The deepest in the field any eventual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion has finished at the Chase race at Charlotte Motor Speedway was 25th all the way back in 2005 when Tony Stewart won his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship, his first with the Chase setup. All but one of the nine Chase races at Charlotte have been won by Chase drivers, and the second starting position has produced more race winners than any other starting position with 17 eventual race winners starting outside the front row. So with these stats so far, we’ve not eliminated any potential race winners.

    The one statistic very important to this week’s picks comes in the form of a particular manufacturer’s recent struggles at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Just one Ford driver (who is driving a Toyota now) has won a race at Charlotte in the last 22 Charlotte races, and that was Matt Kenseth in the 2011 Bank of America 500. So one driver in 11 years has been able to put Ford in Victory Lane, which is something to look at this week if you’re making fantasy picks.

    The only night race of the 2013 Chase for the Sprint Cup, so enjoy not swapping back and forth between your NFL game and NASCAR this week…

    Kansas Recap

    Not a great week for me last week at Kansas Speedway as I went with the points leader, Matt Kenseth as my winner pick because he was undefeated on the low-banked intermediate tracks this season. He had won at Las Vegas in March, Kansas in April, Kentucky in June, and Chicago in September to open the 2013 Chase. Kenseth’s streak would end last week at Kansas has he was rather quiet for the majority of the race….but extended his streak of 5 straight races where he has led a lap. Kenseth finished 11th, his first finish outside the top 10 in over a month.

    My Dark Horse was exactly that, a shot in the dark especially this season. The dark horse aspect was erased when Brad Keselowski qualified fourth and got to the front for 52 laps last week in Kansas. Crew Chief Paul Wolfe’s gamble with fuel would not pan out as the Miller Lite Ford ran out of fuel on lap 224, the gamble cost Keselowski two laps to the leader which he was able to make up one, but would finish 17th when the checkered flag flew.

    Charlotte Picks

    Winner Pick
    There are many folks looking at the No.18 team this week, for one he has won two races on the high banked intermediate tracks this season, in dominating fashion at Texas in April and most recently at Atlanta on Labor Day weekend. The second reason why Rowdy Busch is circled on may fantasy rosters this week is the thought that he is due for a win at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Cup Series. Rewind to Memorial Day weekend this season…Kyle Busch was leading the Coca-Cola 600, in the middle of lap traffic when Fox Sports’ SkyCam over the frontstretch at Charlotte Motor Speedway came crashing to the race surface immediately in front of the No.18 car. The impact of the SkyCam resulted in radiator issues and an engine failure for Kyle who was positioned for his first ever Charlotte career win.

    The loop statistics are great for a guy who has never won a race…he’s in the top three in all but one of the loop categories. The only one he is not inside the top three is Green Flag Passes, but Kyle has also qualified well over the years in North Carolina with a couple poles in the points races and an average start of 11.5. The practice sessions today and his win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series on Friday at Charlotte have added to my case for Kyle Busch on Saturday night. I am seeing a win out of this team on Saturday night and them jumping back into the Championship picture when we head to Talladega next week.

    Dark Horse Pick
    Martin Truex Jr. is going to be my longer play this week and here is why…Before Kansas last week and the race at Chicagoland to open the Chase, you had to go back all the way to Las Vegas back in March of 2012 for Truex’s last finish outside the top 15 on any of these intermediate track races. The stretch of 15-straight top 15 finishes is enhanced by the fact that he had two finishes outside the top 10 in the same stretch, both of which coming in the 2012 season.

    Keep in mind Truex led 142 laps and finished 2nd at Texas back in April, also a 1.5-mile night race. Truex qualified 17th on Thursday, but went out for his qualifying run relatively early to some of the other drivers with similar practice speeds. On Friday, Truex was 3rd fastest in the first practice session and 5th in Happy Hour Friday evening, adding to the consistency we’ve seen all season from Truex on these intermediate tracks. He would like nothing more than to win one of these Chase races, so I’m throwing out the couple poor finishes in a row at Chicago and Kansas and going with Truex as a solid longer play this week.

    That’s all for this week, so until we head to the biggest juggernaut of the 2013 Chase for the Sprint Cup….You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

  • Could the Busch/Keselowski Feud Cost Busch the Championship?

    Could the Busch/Keselowski Feud Cost Busch the Championship?

    With an impressive NASCAR Sprint Cup season thus far, including four wins, with fourteen top-5 and eighteen top-10 finishes, Kyle Busch has won many NASCAR experts over with his signs of increased maturity and level-headedness this season.

    Many spectators believed this could be the season that Kyle Busch capitalizes on his strengths in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

    Many of these sentiments have come into question one week after Busch made contact with the driver of the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford, Brad Keselowski, on lap 188 of the NASCAR Nationwide Series Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway.

    Busch said he has “yet to wreck a person on purpose,” and accounted for the incident by saying, “I was faster than he was for as tight as I was — and when I got underneath him a little bit there off of Turn 4, I got inside of his wake and got too close to him and it pulled me right into him. Once we touched, he was gone.”

    Keselowski didn’t buy into Busch’s perspective of the wreck.  After the race he said, “He’s a dirty driver; there’s no other way of putting it.  He’s cool with that. I’ve raced him real cool over the last year to try to be respectful to him and trying to repair our relationship. I’ve watched him wreck my trucks, cost me from winning races, put me in the fence at Chicago in the truck race. Nationwide races, he’s been pulling this crap.  It’s not going to last. I can tell you that. I feel bad for the guys next to me (pointing to the No. 54 hauler). They’re going to have to fix his (crap).”

    Busch has no intentions of apologizing to Keselowski.  He told FOXSports.com, “I don’t have Brad Keselowski’s phone number. Don’t need it, don’t want it. He didn’t call me after Watkins Glen.”

    Busch continues to hold a grudge against Keselowski after the wreck between the two of them last season at Watkins Glen, which essentially cost Busch a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.

    Busch commented on SiriusXM’s NASCAR channel on Friday about the possibility of Brad seeking revenge in one of the remaining Cup races leading up to the Championship.  He said, “Probably for Brad being who Brad is, I guess I should be worried because he’s stupid enough to do something, but in all reality, to myself, I don’t know, I guess I had more respect for drivers than that.”

    Keselowski clearly has the upper hand and he knows it.  Last Sunday, in the drivers’ meeting, Brad asked what the penalty would be for intentionally wrecking another driver.  Could it be that Brad was seeking revenge by disturbing Kyle’s psyche during the final six races of the season? Perhaps he asked the question preparing to make his move on the track.  Either way, Kyle finished the Hollywood Casino 400 in 34th position and dropped from third in the Chase points standings to fifth, thirty-five points behind leader Matt Kenseth.

    Despite the speculation this season that we have seen a new, more mature Kyle Busch who has a better chance than ever to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship, could Busch’s feud with Keselowski be the old Kyle creeping back into the Chase?  Could Busch be his own worst enemy?  Could the Busch/Keselowski feud cost Busch the Championship?

  • Hot 20 over the past 10 – The junior circuit needs a rejig, while our Cup leaders hope to avoid a bad day in Charlotte

    Hot 20 over the past 10 – The junior circuit needs a rejig, while our Cup leaders hope to avoid a bad day in Charlotte

    As we head into Charlotte, there is a birthday to note and a milestone to recognize.  Dale Earnhardt Jr has celebrated his 39th birthday, and on Saturday night he will run in his 500th Cup start. It is a track he has yet to win on, a track that launched his Cup career back in 1999.

    Of course, by that time Junior had already won his first of two junior circuit titles. In doing so, in 1998 and 1999, he claimed 13 victories. Imagine that, the champion of what, for now at least, is known as the Nationwide series actually winning races.  Regan Smith has won two and sits in second place. Sam Hornish Jr and the eighth place Trevor Bayne each has one. Austin Dillon leads Smith by eight points, and he has not yet won a blessed thing. I wonder why?

    Four Nationwide drivers have won just four of 29 events.  Maybe it is a good thing that Kyle Busch missed seven of those races, for he has won 10 of those he has run. Brad Keselowski has five, Joey Logano has three, and two more claimed by Matt Kenseth. After fellow Cup drivers Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick get credit for their wins, that leaves only the one to youngster Ryan Blaney and the two for two run of A.J. Allmendinger when he found the time when not running Cup or IndyCar.  So, exactly what is the purpose of the Nationwide series?

    If it is to develop future Cup drivers, rather than providing Chasers or former Cup champions yet another opportunity to showcase their talents against lesser lights, then just maybe we have undermined the purpose of the series. Maybe we have turned the exercise into something of a joke. I do understand why they run there, why the track owners want to see them there, but as much as I would love to see such names as Cabrera, Ellsbury, and Scherzer on the field should I take in a game in Winnipeg, it would be wrong for them to be there in a regular American Association game. It is just as wrong for Kyle, Joey, Matt, et al to take the place of drivers who have hopes of climbing the ladder. There is nothing to be gained by having established  stars simply dropping down to the bushes,  as it were.

    A solution? Allow Cup drivers five, and no more than five, opportunities to compete in any lower series than the one they are competing for points in. If Kyle Busch wishes to race in five Nationwide races and five truck events, let him do so. The fans would love it…but no more than five in each. Up and coming drivers would love the opportunity to compete, and to do so against their peers. They deserve no less. You can discuss.

    While the others await a stumble from Kenseth as we head toward the fifth of the ten Chase events, our points leader remains the hottest driver over the past ten events. While Jimmie Johnson sits three points back in the standings, he is buried  in 17th place over the past ten starts. So, what if there is no stumble, what if these drivers average a tenth place finish the rest of the way?

    With the advent of the Chase, whomever is the best over the final ten races of the season should be the champion. Obviously, making the Chase is necessary as well as taking into consideration the bonus advantage the leader takes in. Three points is what Kenseth had over Johnson going in, and three points is what he has today.

    As we replace the results from Pocono, Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond by those of Charlotte, Talladega, Martinsville, Fort Worth, Phoenix, and Homestead, let us assume both Kenseth and Johnson will average 34 points, a 10th place finish, from this point onward. If that were the case, Kenseth would end with a ten race total of 372 points, a dozen better than what he has today. If Jimmie Johnson replaces those results (13th, 8th, 40th, 36th, 28th, and 40th) in similar fashion, he also would wind up with 372 points, jumping his total by 103.

    While Five Time is not among our hottest today, he will be in six weeks if he hopes to make it six. As hot as the Busch boys, Logano, Gordon, and Harvick might be right now, they will need better than a series of 10th place finishes to get back into the picture. That said, a bad day for two could equate into a great one for a few others.

    TW Driver Win T5 T10 Points LW Rank
    1 Matt Kenseth 3 3 5 360 1 1
    2 Kurt Busch 0 6 7 352 5 7
    3 Joey Logano 1 5 7 348 4 10
    4 Jeff Gordon 0 3 7 342 6 4
    5 Kyle Busch 2 5 6 337 2 5
    6 Kevin Harvick 1 3 5 332 9 3
    7 Greg Biffle 0 1 5 330 7 6
    8 Ryan Newman 0 3 5 317 3 12
    9 Jamie McMurray 0 2 2 310 8 14
    10 Carl Edwards 1 3 5 304 10 11
    11 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 0 2 6 294 11 8
    12 Marcos Ambrose 0 0 3 288 15 20
    13 Paul Menard 0 2 4 285 14 17
    14 Juan Pablo Montoya 0 2 3 280 12 22
    15 Kasey Kahne 1 2 3 275 13 13
    16 Brad Keselowski 0 1 3 274 17 15
    17 Jimmie Johnson 1 3 5 269 16 2
    18 Jeff Burton 0 0 2 258 22 19
    19 Martin Truex, Jr. 0 2 4 252 18 16
    20 Aric Almirola 0 0 1 246 20 18
    21 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 0 0 2 246 19 21
    22 Clint Bowyer 0 1 4 242 21 9