Tag: Brad Keselowski

Surprising and Not Surprising: AAA Texas 500

When the green flag flew on the seventh annual running of the AAA Texas 500, it seemed almost as an afterthought to a difficult week, with the passing of patriarch Russ Wallace, the plane crash injuring Rick and Linda Hendrick, and of course the parking of Kyle Busch after his detrimental on-track actions during the Truck race.

[media-credit name=”Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”272″][/media-credit]Yet, when the checkered flag finally flew at Texas Motor Speedway, there were some surprising, as well as not so surprising, moments from the third to the last race of the 2011 season.

Surprising: After back to back wins, it was surprising to see that even Smoke was a bit overcome, albeit by the intensity of the race, emotion and the heat of Victory Lane.

“This is for the Wallace family,” Stewart said after getting out of his car. “And for Mr. Hendrick and his wife. And I had a buddy that passed away when we were at Charlotte and I didn’t want to forget him.”

Yet even with splashing some water on his face, Smoke still had to take a seat in Victory Lane, while those around him fanned him with their Stetson hats to allow him to catch his breath.

Tony Stewart, however, bounced back quickly. He then donned the traditional black hat and took some shots with the guns in celebration of scoring his 43^rd career victory, his fourth win of the season, and his second victory at Texas.

Stewart also re-affirmed that his sights are firmly set on winning that coveted Cup championship. With his race win, Smoke is now just three points behind leader Carl Edwards.

“I don’t think we have to say anything,” Stewart said, unlike last week where he talked some smack in Victory Lane. “Our performance speaks for itself.”

“Do not count us out of this thing,” Stewart said. “We did everything we needed to do today.”

Not Surprising: Roush Fenway Racing did not disappoint or surprise at the mile-and-a-half track where they have been so dominant all season. RFR had three of their drivers in the top five, with Carl Edwards in second, Matt Kenseth in fourth, and pole sitter Greg Biffle in fifth.

The team combined to lead 124 laps at Texas Motor Speedway, with Edwards leading 14, Kenseth leading 87 and Biffle leading 23. Even David Ragan, whose future remains uncertain, finished in the 12^th position.

“I’m proud of our guys today,” Edwards, behind the wheel of the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion said. “We wanted to beat Tony and pad the lead, but we are still the point’s leader.”

This was Edwards’ sixth top-10 finish in 14 races at Texas Motor Speedway. It is his 24^th top-10 finish to date in the 2011 season.

Greg Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 Ford Fusion, started from the pole to bring his car home for a top-five finish.

“We had a pretty good car,” Biffle said. “The last pit stop, I slid through the box and that probably cost me a third-place finish or a couple of spots anyway. We fought hard and came back.”

“It’s hard to be disappointed when you run in the top five,” teammate Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion, said. “I wish we could have performed a little better, but that’s all we had.”

“This has always been a pretty good track for our organization.”

Surprising: It was a bit surprising to see how current Michael Waltrip Racing driver Martin Truex, Jr. did, finishing eighth in his No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, in spite of the big changes announced for the MWR organization prior to the race.

“I am really proud of my entire NAPA team today,” Truex Jr. said. “The NAPA Know How pit crew was on it.”

“We are moving in the right direction and I appreciate all the work MWR is doing to get us in contention.”

Not Surprising: After learning that he was no longer a member of the MWR team after the 2011 season, it was no surprise that the woes on the track continued for driver David Reutimann. The driver of the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine finished 22^nd.

“It was very difficult,” team owner Michael Waltrip said of his decision to let Reutimann go. “I love David. He’s a great man and he’s always been there to do anything I needed him to do.”

“I know it was hard for David to get the news,” Waltrip continued. “I’m thankful that he drove for me for so long.”

Surprising: After such a Cinderella run, Brad Keselowski’s championship hopes have all but gone up in smoke. The driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge had a very difficult day at Texas, finishing 24^th.

“Just a tough night,” Keselowski said. “We couldn’t get the speed out of our car that we needed and fought all day for track position.”

“We lost the handling on the car right in the middle part of the race and adjustments were made to make it better and it just made it worse,” Keselowski continued. “It was unfortunate.”

Not Surprising: One driver who continues to make noise, however, was AJ Allmendinger, who scored another top-10 in his No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion for Richard Petty Motorsports.

“That was probably the most comfortable I’ve ever felt on a mile-and-a-half, especially one like this,” Dinger said. “It was fun.”

“From the start we were just passing cars and making good adjustments,” Allmendinger continued. “It was a good fight to 10^th but overall, and more importantly, that’s something to build on.”

Surprising: It was a bit surprising to see that Brian Vickers’ intense driving style carried over from Martinsville to Texas. On lap 201, the driver of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota assisted with bringing out the second caution by tussling with Juan Pablo Montoya and Geoffrey Bodine.

“Stupid Vickers ran over a lapped car,” came over JPM’s radio, summing up yet another tough day at the office for ‘The Sheriff’, who finished 21^st.

Not Surprising: Kasey Kahne continued his string of top-10 finishes, scoring the third spot in his No. 4 Red Bull Toyota. This was Kahne’s fourth top-10 in 15 races at Texas Motor Speedway.

“We were really close,” Kahne said of his almost-winning run. “I wanted to win really bad today.”

“It was a great race for us,” Kahne continued. “This has been our best time the whole season.”

Surprising: Taking the wheel of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry from sidelined Kyle Busch, Michael McDowell surprisingly was not able to capitalize on his prime opportunity. Even with Busch looking on atop the pit box, McDowell could not get his car dialed in and finished 33^rd.

“We obviously were hoping for more and were hoping for a big day,” McDowell said. “But that wasn’t meant to be.”

“Gave it all I had and we just struggled pretty much all day long.”

Not Surprising: McDowell was not the only JGR driver to struggle at Texas Motor Speedway. Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, blew an engine on Lap 262, and Denny Hamlin, behind the wheel of the No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota, struggled all day, finishing 20^th.

“We just fought an ill-handling car all day,” Hamlin said. “It’s probably one of the worst that we’ve had in a long time.”

“We’ll have to go back to the shop and look at it,” Dave Rogers, crew chief for the No. 18, said of the entire team’s performance. “This tire at this track is pretty tricky. You have to dare to lean on it and it’s not comfortable getting in the corner.”

“We have to look at it for sure.”

Surprising: Although not mathematically eliminated, it still seems surprising to think that, without some sort of miracle, Jimmie Johnson will not be on the championship banquet stage this year. With his struggling performance at Texas, including a spin through the grass on Lap 240, the driver of the No. 48 MyLowes Chevrolet, managed to finish fourteenth and is now back 55 points to the Chase leader.

“I fought a loose race car all night long and I lost it,” Johnson said. “And I think sliding through the grass did some damage.”

“It didn’t really drive good after that.”

Not Surprising: With a sixth place run in his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, it was not surprising that it felt like a win to driver Jeff Gordon.

“We moved up right away,” Gordon said. “I thought we had a car that could compete for the win but when the sun went down, it changed for us and we lost a little bit there at the end.”

“Compared to the way we ran here earlier in the year, it is almost like a win for us.”

November 7, 2011
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Carl Edwards: After a tire issue left him floundering mid-pack for much of Sunday’s TUMS Fast Relief 500, Edwards delivered a gutsy charge to the front late in the race. He salvaged a ninth-place finish and maintained his points lead, which is now eight over Tony Stewart.

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”249″][/media-credit]“So, Stewart says I ‘better be worried?’” Edwards said. “He’s right. I am worried. Worried that I won’t be in first place when the Chase ends. But that’s better than worrying that I’ll still be in second when the Chase ends.”

2. Tony Stewart: Stewart nearly fell a lap down midway through the TUMS Fast Relief 500, but battled back and passed Jimmie Johnson on lap 498 to take his third win of the Chase. Stewart now trails Carl Edwards by two points in the Sprint Cup standings.

“The Cup championship is so close,” Stewart said, “I can taste it. I’m not sure what it tastes like, but it smells like victory.

“Paul Menard wouldn’t push me to the win at Talladega. Ironically, his refusal to do so pushed me to the win at Martinsville. Supposed ‘team orders’ played no part in this outcome. Last week at Talladega, it was ‘team orders’ that reeked of ‘team odors.’ Something is rotten in Denmark, and at Roush Fenway, and at Richard Childress Racing.”

3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished fourth at Martinsville and clipped five points from Carl Edwards’ points lead. Edwards lead Tony Stewart by eight, with Harvick 21 behind Edwards.

“That’s my sixth top-10 finish in seven Chase races,” Harvick said. “Despite those finishes, I still find myself hovering just outside the lead. It seems I’m ‘spinning my wheels,’ unfortunately not as a result of winning a race.”

4. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished 31^st at Martinsville after slamming the wall on lap 464 after cutting a tire. He later tangled with Brian Vickers, spinning the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota only to have Vickers retaliate later. Kenseth fell from second to fifth in the point standings, losing 22 points to points leader Carl Edwards, who finished ninth.

“Brian Vickers is hell on wheels,” Kenseth said. “Red Bull comes in a can. You know what else comes in a can? ‘Black Flag.’ Oddly enough, I’m jealous of Vickers. Why? Because he did so much ‘trading paint’ on Sunday that he had new sponsors by race’s end.”

5. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson led on the final restart with three laps to go at Martinsville, but couldn’t hold off the charging Tony Stewart, who slipped by one lap later. Johnson took the runner-up spot and improved one place in the point standings to sixth, 43 behind Carl Edwards.

“Brian Vickers cost me the race,” Johnson said. “He just had to retaliate against Matt Kenseth. That caution killed me. Vickers has no business intentionally spinning cars when he can do it just fine by accident.

“As for my title hopes, I’m not conceding anything. Hopefully, something strange will happen. Ideally, something stranger than me not winning the Sprint Cup title.”

6. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski saw a sure top-10 finish turn into a disappointing 17^thafter his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge was collected in a wreck with two laps to go. Dale Earnhardt made contact with Denny Hamlin, sending the No. 11 into Keselowski’s Dodge. Keselowski is now fourth in the point standings, 27 behind Carl Edwards.

“Brian Vickers hit a lot of cars on Sunday,” Keselowski said, “and it appears he ‘rubbed off’ on Earnhardt as well.”

7. Kyle Busch: Busch led 126 laps at Martinsville and was headed for at worst a top-5 finish before he was wrecked on lap 464 when Matt Kenseth cut a tire in front of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota. Busch finished 27^th, seven laps down, and fell to seventh in the point standings, a distant 57 out of first.

“It’s hard to believe I was leading the standings before the Chase started,” Busch said. “What’s much more believable? That I’m not leading the standings after the Chase ends. I could blame it on luck, or fate, my own deficiencies as a driver, or, better yet, ‘un-lead-ed’ fuel.”

8. Jeff Gordon: Gordon led 113 laps in the TUMS Fast Relief 500, sporting the best car on the track for much of the race. Unfortunately, his handling faded late, and his chance for a win fell to the wayside. He finished third and remained in tenth in the point standings, 76 out of first.

“Apparently,” Gordon said, “2011 is not a good season for present five-time Sprint Cup champions, or future five-time champions, for that matter.”

9. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished seventh at Martinsville, registering only his second top-10 result of the Chase. He is ninth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 73 out of first.

“I’m not ready to call our 2011 season a failure,” Earnhardt said. “That is, unless I go four more races without a victory, thereby clinching a winless season. Only then will I call our year a ‘total’ loss.”

10. Kurt Busch: Busch finished 14^th at Martinsville, and since winning at Dover on October 9^th, has not posted a top-10 finish. He now sits eighth in the point standings, 58 out of first.

“Despite a ho-hum 14^th-place finish,” Busch said, “there was reason to celebrate. I spun Ryan Newman and didn’t get punched.”

November 1, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Tums Fast Relief 500

Even before the race, the infamous short-track tempers were flaring with Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle getting into it on and off the track during practice. Here is what was surprising and not surprising when the green flag flew for the 63^rd annual Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”236″][/media-credit]Surprising: It was most surprising that at race end, Victory Lane was more like a Food Network ‘Throwdown with Bobby Flay’ show, with victor Tony Stewart challenging current point’s leader Carl Edwards regarding the Chase.

With his win, Stewart felt free to throw down the Chase gauntlet, climbing two positions to the second spot in the Chase standings. Smoke is now just eight points out of first place, where Carl Edwards currently resides.

“He’d better be worried,” Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, said of Edwards in Victory Lane. “That’s all I can say. He’s not going to have an easy three weeks.”

“This is the best Chase field we’ve ever had,” Stewart continued. “To be in the position that we’re in right now, sitting here knowing that we’re right in the middle of this thing with three weeks to go, it’s obviously a great feeling and a great position to be in.”

“We’ve just got to go out and keep doing what we’re doing here.”

This was Stewart’s third victory of the season, as well as his third win in 26 races at Martinsville Speedway. The forty-year old has now won 42 times in 461 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

Not Surprising: In spite of some Martinsville mayhem, the momentum that has been Carl Edwards throughout the Chase, was maintained, although greatly challenged. The driver of the No. 99 Scotts Winterguard Fertilizer Ford, who was lapped twice during the race and almost penalized for jumping a restart, finished respectably, albeit his worst Chase finish to date, in the ninth position.

“This track has just been really, really tough for me,” Edwards said after the race. “So I think this is one of those days where everything went wrong and everything went right as well.”

Also not surprisingly, Edwards seemed in no way fazed by Stewart’s ‘throw down’ challenges regarding the championship Chase. And he laid down his own challenge as well.

“I told you I thought he was one of the guys that could win this race and be a guy that you’d have to beat for the championship,” Edwards said of Smoke. “I think he’s proving that right now.”

“We’ll go race hard,” Edwards continued. “They’re gonna have to race us too, so I’m excited about the next three races.”

Surprising: It was most surprising to see just how aggressively Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ran his Martinsville race. In fact at one point he quipped that he might become known as a ‘dirty driver’ if there were more short tracks like Martinsville on the Cup schedule.

Junior, who finished seventh in his No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Paint the 88/National Guard Chevrolet, seemed absolutely pleased that the race was as chaotic as it was.

“Well, it’s time man,” Junior said. “That right there was basically, hey the season is running down and we are not going to be racing much longer and I am going to miss it so I came to the buffet and got everything I could eat.”

“I drank a couple of AMPs before the race started and probably was a little bit too excited,” Junior also confessed.

Not Surprising: It was not surprising that the so-called ‘Masters of Martinsville’, teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, came ever so close to getting Hendrick Motorsports that coveted 200^th win.

Johnson, who finished second in his No. 48 MyLowe’s Chevrolet, posted his 18^th top-10 finish in 20 races at Martinsville. Gordon, piloting the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, finished third, his 31^st top-10 finish in 38 races at Martinsville Speedway.

In spite of not achieving the 200^th HMS win milestone, Gordon in particular still made history. Gordon made his 650^th start, as well as becoming the fourth driver to lead more than 3,000 laps at Martinsville Speedway.

“Gosh we came so close to getting win 200 for Rick Hendrick,” Gordon said. “I ran it as hard as I possibly could to get our Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet back to the front.”

“It was pretty fun coming up through there and getting up to the front and leading,” Gordon continued. “It just seemed like the last couple of runs just didn’t quite go our way.”

“So, we came home third and it was a nice top five for us.”

For his part, five-time champ Jimmie Johnson was just trying to mind his ‘P’s and Q’s’, especially when it came time to race with Stewart for the win.

“I just wanted to do the right thing and unfortunately got beat in the process,” Johnson said of his battle with Smoke. “Thought about going in there and leaning on him but that was just not the right thing to do.”

Surprising: It was surprising to see the moniker of good guy ‘Sheriff’ usually worn by Brian Vickers change to the villain of the short track. Vickers was at the heart of many of the race cautions, finally succumbing to the damage and taking his ailing No. 83 Red Bull Toyota off the track.

Chaser Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford, was one of Vicker’s victims. He finished the race 31^st thanks to his on-track incident, falling three spots to fifth in the championship standings.

“The 83 car hit me about twice a lap every lap for about ten laps,” Kenseth said. “So, it made me mad.”

“By the looks of his car, I wasn’t the first one he hit.”

Jamie McMurray, in the No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet was also involved in an incident with the No. 83 car. The crash with Vickers early in the race effectively ended McMurray’s day, relegating him to a 35^th place finish.

“When you don’t feel like you have the corner good, you block,” Vickers said. “I pulled down and blocked and I saw he (Brian Vickers) was going to get in there, so I moved back up the track.”

“I feel like he let off the brake and went ahead and sent me for a ride,” Vickers continued. “I just felt like he kind of took a cheap shot on me and I just didn’t appreciate it.”

Not Surprising: After winning his first ever Truck Series race at the short track, Denny Hamlin went on to have a great run in the Cup race. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry finished fifth, his first top-five in the 2011 Chase.

“We had a great race car today,” Hamlin said. “I felt like the best car most of the day.”

“We thought it was a blessing that last stop when we beat the 24 (Jeff Gordon) out – the pit crew did an amazing job,” Hamlin continued. “It was the dagger for us because it put us on the outside line with those guys that stayed out.”

“We just needed to start on the bottom one or two of those restarts – then we would have been fine.”

Surprising: It was almost spooky to watch the tricks played on Kyle Busch in his No. 18 M&M’s Halloween Toyota Camry late in the race. He and driver Matt Kenseth got into each other during a restart and then Busch lost a tire after leaving the pits for the repair as he was trying to stay on the lead lap.

“The M&M’s Toyota Camry was really fast,” crew chief Dave Rogers said. “We led the most laps again, the second time this year that we’ve led the most laps at Martinsville.”

“That’s just hard racing out there,” Rogers continued. “We were a victim of circumstance at a short track.”

Not Surprising: After an admittedly miserable season, it was not surprising that Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, continued to turn it around with another good run. Burton followed his second place finish last weekend at Talladega with a sixth place finish at Martinsville, his third top-10 finish for the season.

“I can’t be too unhappy with finishing sixth because the Cat team worked their tails off to get us in position at the end to win this thing,” Burton said. “That last caution probably didn’t help us, but it was another solid finish.”

Surprising: Surprising kudos to Casey Mears, driver of the No. 13 Geico Toyota Camry , who scored his best finish of the season to date. The Germain Racing driver, cheered on by crew chief Bootie Barker, finished 12^th at the Martinsville short track.

“I’m so proud of all the guys on this Geico racing team,” Mears said. “We’ve known all year that we could run this well and it’s a nice feeling to have two weeks in a row where we have run up front.”

Not Surprising: A.J. Allmendinger continued his strong run, finishing 11^th, just shy of another top-10 finish. In fact, the Dinger’s No. 43 AdvoCare Ford Fusion looked to be the car to beat until a late race altercation, as well as some slower pit stops, relegated him further back in the pack.

“That’s Martinsville,” Allmendinger said simply. “It was a really good car.”

“I was proud of all the guys,” Allmendinger continued. “We’ve got to work on our pit stops a little bit because we kept losing a couple of spots, but what really hurt us was I got put three-wide on the outside and got into one and that shoved the fender over the tire and from there, we were at the back of the pack and everybody was just gauging back there.”

Surprising: Brad Keselowski’s Cinderella carriage turned into a bit of a pumpkin at Martinsville. The driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger had a good run going, but ended up finishing 17^th.

“That’s racing on these short tracks,” Keselowski said. “We got some good racing in the middle section of the race, but at the end we just didn’t catch a break.”

“It will come back around for the Miller Lite Dodge team,” Keselowski continued. “We came up a few laps short.”

Not Surprising: Kevin Harvick continued his reign as the ‘Closer’, finishing fourth in his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet. Happy has now finished in the top five for three consecutive races at Martinsville.

“It was definitely a battle,” Harvick said. “Everybody was driving hard.”

“That is what you are supposed to do here at Martinsville.”

October 31, 2011
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Carl Edwards: Edwards avoided danger for the duration of the Good Sam Club 500 at Talladega, hanging back for most of the race before capturing an 11^th-place finish. His finish was better than all but three Chase rivals, and left him with a 14-point lead in the Sprint Cup point standings.

[media-credit name=”Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”268″][/media-credit]“I’m still winless in the Chase,” Edwards said. “In this case, though, I ‘won’ for losing. But who says you need to win races to win the Cup? I plan to keep ‘doing what I’ve been doing.’ I feel that should be enough to keep Jimmie Johnson from doing what he’s been doing.”

2. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth moved into second place in the point standings with an 18^th at Talladega. He led 21 laps early, and lost ground after the final restart with three laps remaining when he lost contact with draft partner David Ragan. Kenseth lost a bit of ground to points leader Carl Edwards, and now trails his Roush Fenway teammate by 14.

“Under most circumstances,” Kenseth said, “I would be happy with this much ‘separation’ between Edwards and myself. It takes the appeal of another Sprint Cup championship to make me want to ‘get close’ to Carl.”

3. Brad Keselowski: With a fourth-place finish at Talladega, Keselowski leaped right back into the championship conversation. He moved up three places in the point standings to third, and trails Carl Edwards by 18 with four races remaining.

“You’re darn right I’m in the conversation,” Keselowski said. “I’m being talked about as a legitimate contender for the Sprint Cup. There was a time in my career when ‘being in the conversation’ meant I was arguing with another competitor, like Carl Edwards or Kyle Busch. I may not be the most popular driver in the garage. Heck, I’m probably even less popular in my car. But I know how to win. That doesn’t necessarily give me an advantage over anyone else, because it’s surely possible to win the Cup without actually ‘winning’ anything.”

4. Tony Stewart: Stewart led 30 laps at Talladega, and was up front with victory on his mind with a restart pending with three laps remaining in the race. But Stewart’s No.14 Chevy lost the draft and was shuffled back as Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer left the field. Stewart recovered to finish a solid seventh, and is now fourth in the point standings, 19 behind Carl Edwards.

“Much like a good day of business for the Mayfield clan,” Stewart said, “I had a lot of good pushers. I hooked up with Paul Menard late in the race, but he abandoned me due to team orders. Team orders? I thought I was done with Formula 1 after driving Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren in June. Suffice it to say I’m not happy with Menard. A little warning would have been appreciated. He’s not, and there is no, ‘Paul revere.’”

5. Kevin Harvick: After five-straight finishes of 12^th or better to start the Chase, Harvick’s luck ran out when he was collected in a lap 104 crash. After a visit to the garage, Harvick eventually finished 32^nd, 13 laps back, and dropped four places in the point standings to fifth, 26 out of first.

“The No. 29 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet was solid,” Harvick said. “I was leading on lap 100, than by lap 104, I was wrecked. Much like Jimmy Johns quick delivery, we were ‘on the doorstep,’ and before you could blink, we were ‘out of there.’”

6. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished 26^th in the Good Sam Club 500 after he and Hendrick drafting partner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. found no luck making a run to the front. Johnson is now seventh in the Sprint Cup point standings, and now trails Carl Edwards by 50.

“A ‘Big One’ happened at Talladega on lap 104,” Johnson said. “The ‘Big One’ happened on October 15^th at Charlotte when I slammed the wall.”

7. Kyle Busch: Busch’s No. 18 Toyota was damaged in the same lap 104 wreck that took out Kevin Harvick. Busch finished 33^rd, and is now sixth in the point standings, 40 out of the lead.

“Harvick and I found ourselves in the same boat,” Busch said. “And it now appears we’re up the same creek.”

8. Kurt Busch: Busch slammed the spinning car of Bobby Labonte on lap 173, ending the day for the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge. His day was done, and his 36^th-place finish dropped him one place to eighth in the point standings, 52 out of first.

“Despite such a horrible finish,” Busch said, “my language on the radio was clean and profanity-free. That’s because I didn’t even have time to curse before ramming Labonte’s car.”

9. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer dove around Richard Childress teammate Jeff Burton on the last lap to snap a 34-race winless streak in winning the Good Sam 500. Bowyer and Burton pulled away from the field on the final restart and cruised around Talladega’s 2.66 mile circuit unchallenged until Bowyer’s winning move.

“I’ve said my goodbye’s to Richard Childress Racing,” Bowyer said. “I felt it only fitting that I gave Burton a personal farewell.”

10. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt, always a threat to win at Talladega, finished a disappointing 25^th, as he and drafting partner Jimmie Johnson never found a groove to take them to the front. Earnhardt remained ninth in the point standings, where he is 60 out of first.

“It’s too bad I couldn’t help Jimmie,” Earnhardt said. “But I take full responsibility. With the laps winding down, Jimmie said, ‘It’s do or die time!’ Unfortunately, I thought he said, ‘It’s Diet Dew time!’”

October 25, 2011
Matty’s Picks: Vol. 23 – Talladega – October 23, 2011

Let’s roll the dice again this weekend and head to the Yellowhammer State (no clue as to what that means) for the second and final time of this 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

Now, I will tell you that the Matty’s Picks columns have been rather lengthy the past 10 weeks or so, and one of the SpeedwayMedia.com editors (Uncle Role Model) let me know about it in the Media Center at Charlotte Motor Speedway last week. So the days of my quirky facts and less than insightful information are over…party pooper.

Not acting like a tough guy or anything (in all seriousness), there are only a few things that have given me the chills and made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. A brief recap of some of those moments is as follows; the first is even the thought of a needle coming towards my skin, the second was walking into Notre Dame Stadium for the first time just a month ago, and the third was standing in the first row on the front stretch at Talladega Superspeedway while a pack of 43, 750HP stock cars took the wind out of my lungs as they flew by at 200MPH. Talladega is just one of those tracks that all NASCAR fans must visit to truly take in the speed, the talent, and the tailgate that Dega has to offer.

It’s a tough week to pick a winner because of the fact that ANYTHING can happen in 188 laps at Talladega. Avoiding “The Big One” at the 2.66-mile tri-oval is key, and as of late, finding a partner that is willing to push you to victory and not try anything crazy coming thru the tri-oval on the final lap is the last piece of the puzzle on the way to Victory Lane in Alabama.

Charlotte Recap

Let me start by saying that I had the time of my life last weekend in North Carolina. I was blown away by the organization and execution of the race weekend. It was the most well organized, thoroughly staffed, and most hospitable race environments I have ever been a part of. NASCAR race organizers should be required to attend a race weekend in Charlotte before they even think about hosting a Sprint Cup Series race. (Cough, Kentucky…)

I will start with the bad news first this week in my recap section.

My Dark Horse pick for last Saturday’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway was 5-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, Jimmie Johnson. Johnson ran in the Top-10 for the majority of the laps Saturday night, before he was involved with an incident after racing Ryan Newman and Kevin Harvick for position.

The No. 48 Lowe’s/Chevy 100 Year Anniversary Chevrolet was shown in the 7th position when I heard one of the loudest cheers (besides Jr. taking the lead at Bristol), that I’ve ever heard in my life. I was standing in Turn 4 at Charlotte Motor Speedway when the crowed erupted, and as I turned to watch the giant HD video board to see that my Winner Pick had plowed the wall coming out of Turn 2.

Johnson finished the race scored in 34th, netting me nothing to brag about and spoke following his on-track incident, “That one stung for sure,” Johnson said. “I’m just thankful to have such safe race cars, safe walls. Everything did its job. That was a pretty big impact. It’s just unfortunate that we wrecked. We got into Turn 1, and the (No.) 39 was real tight on my outside, and it pulled me around the corner. From there on, I was just kind of hanging on.”

I said last week that I was more confident in my Dark Horse pick than my Winner Pick, and for good reason. Kasey Kahne’s driver rating going into last weekend’s Bank of America 500 spoke for itself. He was fourth in overall driver rating at Charlotte Motor Speedway at 94.5, and had 7 Top-5’s including 4 wins at the 1.5-mile quad oval.

Three practice sessions later, it seemed like Kahne had the car to beat last weekend, winning two of the three practice sessions. Kahne ran very well all night except for when he pitted JUST before the caution flew, catching him a lap down to the leaders about midway through the race. He opted to take the wave around, putting him back on the lead lap, and keeping my hopes alive for a solid finish.

It was pretty fun watching Kasey Kahne work his way back through the field and back into the Top-5 with around 50 laps remaining.

Kahne was able to race his way all the way back to fourth, netting me a Top-5 Dark Horse pick (my first since Brad Keselowski finished 3rd way back in August at Michigan).

“We had a great Red Bull Toyota. The guys did an awesome job. It was just a fine line of being really good or a little off. We kind of went over it throughout the race…we had to fight back. It was just kind of being in the wrong spot at the wrong time. We had a really good car and it was another positive race for us.”

Talladega Picks

Picking anyone at a Superspeedway makes me very nervous. I could go through miles and miles of statistics, driver ratings, rants, gut feelings, but really it all comes down to having a bit of luck on your side to win at Talladega. On top of having Lady Luck in your corner, the 2-car draft has created a very team-oriented style of racing at Talladega and Daytona. So having someone who will not get selfish at the end of the race and settle for second is a key to victory at a restrictor plate race.

This week will be an all or nothing version of Matty’s Picks as I will be picking a pair of teammates to drive to the front on lap 188 Sunday afternoon.

There is just a hint of strategy this week in making my picks, because a you know it’s a two-car dance at Talladega. Many times it turns out that the two-car pushes are teammates.

Yesterday, many teams were at Talladega Superspeedway for testing of the new Electronic Fuel Injection system that will make its debut next season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The two fastest cars on the track…Richard Childress racing teammates.

Winner Pick

My Winner Pick this week is “The Closer”, for his “Where did he come from?” racing style over the course of the 2011 Sprint Cup Season. Kevin Harvick won the spring race last April at Talladega, one of his four wins at either Daytona or Dega.

In 60 starts at the two Superspeedways, Kevin Harvick has 15 Top-5’s, 26 Top-10’s, and a slew of come from the rear of the pack to finish strong’s. Harvick currently sits just 5 points behind points-leader Carl Edwards, and is looking for a win to separate himself from the rest of the field for the Sprint Cup. Watch for Harvick to receive some help by way of Paul Menard in taking the checkered on Sunday.

Dark Horse Pick

With the two-car tango, any driver who plans on winning the Good Sam Club 500 on Sunday will have to have some help from behind.

Paul Menard and Kevin Harvick had the two fastest cars on the racetrack yesterday during the EFI testing at Talladega Superspeedway. The tandem ran over 90 laps together, and to me it was practice for Sunday.

Menard’s history at Talladega is less than impressive with just one finish in the Top-5 after 10 starts at the 2.66-mile monster. His record at Superspeedways in general have been subpar, with an average finish of 21.2 at Dega and Daytona.

To me, the advantage lies in the testing session yesterday as drivers and crew chiefs alike had their chances to work the bugs out and get a bit more comfortable with the two-car tango. Watch for Menard and Harvick to hook up early and run the majority of the 188 laps on Sunday glued to each other’s bumpers.

That’s all for this week, as always check me out on Twitter @ML_B_Lo for some less than insightful NASCAR news.

Until Next Time…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

October 21, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

After Jacquelyn Butler, David Ragan’s girlfriend won the ‘Better Half Dash’ and Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne shared a heartfelt invocation, the engines fired under the lights at NASCAR’S home track, Charlotte Motor Speedway.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”237″][/media-credit]Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 52^nd Annual running of the Bank of America 500.

Surprising: With a surprising show of emotion and his dry sense of humor emerging, the driver of the No. 17 Fluidmaster Ford took the checkered flag with whoops of joy, saying in Victory Lane that it was not too late for departing sponsor Crown Royal to reconsider staying on the car.

Kenseth scored his victory from the outside pole position, qualifying surprising well for a driver not known for the most successful time trial efforts. This was Matt Kenseth’s 21^st career victory and his third win of the year.

“It was an awesome win for us,” Kenseth said. “It was a good race.”

“Track position was really important, so qualifying helped,” Kenseth continued. “It made a big difference.”

Kenseth was also surprisingly appreciative of the win, especially after not having been to the winner’s circle for twenty races.

“I’m always thankful to get to victory lane,” Kenseth said. “You never know if you’re ever gonna win another race or when your last win is.”

“I’m thankful for them all and I greatly appreciate being in a position to be able to win races and these guys giving me the cars and the crew and the opportunity to do that.”

Not Surprising: To no one’s surprise, the two drivers finishing second and third had some intense conversation with one another right after the race.

Carl Edwards, who finished third in his No. 99 Aflac ‘Now Hiring’ Ford, almost immediately jumped out his car at the finish to lean into the bridesmaid-yet-again Kyle Busch’s second place No. 18 M&Ms Toyota for a chat.

“We were just talking about the way we were racing there,” Edwards said. “We’re fine. We’ve talked about it and we’ll move on.”

“Hey, this is NASCAR and we’re racing as hard as we can,” Edwards continued. “And we didn’t wreck each other.”

“He just said he didn’t like the way I raced him off Turn Two that one time when he got under me,” Busch said. “He made me loose and it was steering me down the track and I was just trying to hold on.”

“Great run by the M&Ms Camry,” Busch, who not only rebounded from starting last to leading a race high 111 laps, continued. “Best run we’ve had here in a while but still coming up short.”

With his finish, Edwards maintained the points lead by five, with Kyle Busch improving his position by four spots, up to the fourth position, just 18 points behind the leader.

“Overall it was a really good day for our Aflac Fusion,” Edwards said. “We’re trying to have a championship year here and we dodged some bullets.”

“We’ve got to keep finishing like this,” Busch said. “That’s all it takes. If we can finish second here on out, we might win this thing.”

Surprising: At a track often known for Chevy domination, particularly of the Hendrick Motorsports kind, it was surprising to see the Ford brand, primarily the Roushketeers, not only in victory lane but dominating the front of the field. There were four Fords to Chevrolets three in the top ten for this season’s Charlotte fall running.

The win was also significant for Ford team Roush Fenway, marking their 298^th overall victory and their 20^th NASCAR victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was the first Cup win for owner Jack Roush at Charlotte since 2002.

“All of the Ford cars ran well tonight,” Jack Roush, team owner said. “It was just a matter of time until Matt broke loose from his obscurity in the back and middle of the pack and worked his way to the front.”

As surprising as the Ford dominance was, particularly of Roush Fenway Racing, it was equally surprising to see how poorly the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team ran. The HMS highest finisher was Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the 19^th position.

“I was not the faster car,” the driver of the No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard/Chevy 100^th Anniversary Chevrolet said. “We got a couple wave-arounds and had a loose wheel that cost us another lap.”

“We just have to correct some of those mistakes,” Junior continued. “We just had a couple of little circumstances that cost us a shot at finishing in the top ten.”

Hendrick Chevrolet teammates Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin also had surprisingly, and uncharacteristically, difficult runs at Charlotte. Their poor finishes, 34^th, 21^st and 37^th respectively, was surprisingly poignant for the teams sporting the Chevy 100^th anniversary emblems.

Jeff Gordon, in the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger/Chevy 100^th Anniversary Chevrolet, went for a wild ride at one point in the race and struggled the rest. Mark Martin in the No. 5 GoDaddy.com/Chevy 100^th Anniversary Chevrolet, suffered mechanical problems that left him in the garage for many laps making repairs.

Probably the toughest of the Hendrick finishers was five-time champ Jimmie Johnson, whose No. 48 Lowes/Chevy 100^th Anniversary Chevrolet hit hard into the wall, taking his breath away.

“That one stung for sure,” Johnson said of his hit. “Just thankful to have safe race cars, safe walls, softer walls and everything did its job.”

With the wreck and the DNF, Johnson was also the biggest loser in the point standings, dropping five positions to eighth.

“This is not going to help us win a sixth championship,” Johnson conceded. “We will go for every point we can from here on out and hopefully we are still champions at the end of the year.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising to see the infamous grin of the driver from down under after finishing fifth. Marcos Ambrose, behind the wheel of the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion, could not have been more pleased with his Charlotte run, scoring his third consecutive top-10.

“I ran great,” Ambrose said simply. “I just really appreciate that opportunity.”

RPM teammate AJ Allmendinger, behind the wheel of the No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion, also continued his solid runs, finish seventh.

“It’s not what I wanted, but the end result is good,” Dinger said. “I’m happy there were so many Fords in the top 10.”

Surprising: As surprisingly strong as Brad Keselowski has been, surging forward in race finishes as well as in the points, the driver of the No. 2 ‘Blue Deuce’ had an equally surprisingly tough day at Charlotte.

Keselowski finished 16^th, falling two positions to sixth in the point standings. He currently sits 25 points behind points leader Carl Edwards.

“I feel frustratingly fortunate,” Keselowskis said. “The yellows really hurt us. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

Not Surprising: Tony Stewart, who scored his first pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway, overcame tight conditions as well as some damage to his No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet, to rally back for a top-10 finish.

“We were good off the front there, just when we got back in traffic, we got really tight,” Smoke said. “We just kind of rallied back.”

Not surprisingly, teammate Ryan Newman also scored a top-10 finish in his No. 39 Cookies for Kid’s Cancer/Gene Haas Foundation Chevrolet.

“We needed to get at least that much tonight,” Newman said after the race. “We’ll take a top-10 here tonight and now it’s on to the next one.”

With their finishes, Stewart advanced two positions to the fifth spot in the Chase, while Newman moved up one position in the points to tenth.

Surprising: With the image of Hall of Famer Glenn Wood on the famed No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion, it looked like the young driver Trevor Bayne had a fast car and would have a good run. Surprisingly, the car ran out of gas on Lap 238.

“That’s a bad feeling to run out of gas, especially when you’re not expecting it,” Bayne said. “The 21 was just fast.”

“It must have been sucking up more fuel than we thought being that fast, but I think something just had to be funky in the fuel cell or something messed up on the can.”

Not Surprising: Call him ‘Closer’ or ‘Lurker’ but it was not surprising to see Kevin Harvick have yet another solid race, finishing sixth and maintaining his second place position in the point standings. With that, the driver of the No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet confirmed that he was just happy to be at the half-way in the Chase race.

“We made it through the first five Chase races this year,” Harvick said. “We had had a lot of goals that we wanted to achieve this year and that was one of them.”

“IF you would have told me we would come out of Charlotte with only a five point deficit going into the next five races, I would be really happy.”

October 16, 2011
Matty’s Picks: ‘Straight from The Beast of the Southeast!’ Vol. 22 – Kansas – Charlotte – October 15, 2011

This weekend marks my first trip to Charlotte Motor Speedway for a race weekend. I had the privilege of touring the track three years ago as a part of my trip to the Tar Heel State to watch my beloved Mountaineers take down the North Carolina Tar Heels in a thrilling 31-30 shootout in the 2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl. Since my tour of the track in December 2008, I have been itching to make it to a race weekend at the historic 1.5-mile quad oval, and it’s almost a dream come true for me this weekend.

[media-credit name=”charlottemotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”254″][/media-credit]This Saturday’s Bank of America 500 will be run under the lights in front of 140,000+ fans at the first modern superspeedway to install and host night racing. Until 1998, when lights were installed at Daytona International Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway was the largest track in the world to host night racing.

It may be the history behind the track, or the battle for the Sprint Cup that has begun to heat up ever so slightly, or it may be the 4-day “vacation” I get by heading to Charlotte this weekend that has me so amped up for this weekend’s race. It might be the fact that this will be the first race this fall that I will watch with undivided attention, but I really think I might be most excited to see the monstrosity that is the HD video board that stretches 200 feet down the backstretch at Charlotte Motor Speedway. After following all the tweets this spring about the video board, I am overly excited to see how massive this thing is.

It was announced in September of last year that CMS would partner with Panasonic to install the World’s largest HD video board at the track. The 9 million LED’s that make up the video board measures 200 feet by 80 feet, probably the best place in the World for a Call of Duty: Black Ops match.

I had mixed results following this spring’s trip to The Beast of the Southeast, but I did manage pick the winner of May’s Sprint Cup All-Star Race, as well as the runner-up in the Coke 600. I look forward to seeing the cars in action this week, and hope that my keen eye will help me make some power picks this week for my first trip to Charlotte.

Kansas Recap

I won’t spend too much time this week recapping my finishes in Kansas, due to my eagerness to get to some racetracks that do not encourage three-hour naps on Sunday afternoon. The Bank of America 500 this Saturday marks the start of my amplified interest-level in The Chase schedule.

My Winner Pick for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 was the driver of NASCAR’s “Blue Deuce”. Brad Keselowski had won the June race at Kansas Speedway, he won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Saturday at Kansas, and he was a shoe-in for the race win on Sunday.

He started the race 15th, and made his way into the top-10 early. Fast forwarding through the 200 laps of napping, Keselowski hit the point at lap 207. He also was shown on top of the leaderboard at lap 241, but was passed for the lead by eventual race-winner, Jimmie Johnson on lap 245. Bad Brad brought his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger home in third and spoke on pit road after the race: “Everybody was a little close; we were just closer, but the Miller Lite Dodge was good. Proud of the effort. Kind of an up-and-down day. We got up to be a second- or third-place car mid part of the race, then kind of fell off a little bit, but came back. Third-place day, that’s good, that’s what you’ve got to do. Really, we want to win races like Jimmie (Johnson), but we’re making the best we can out of it. If he stumbles, we’ll be there.”

Despite being second-fastest in Sprint Cup Final Practice at Kansas Speedway, David Ragan brought me no help as a Dark Horse pick last week.

Ragan started 13th on Sunday, but quickly fell through the field ending up a lap down to the leaders for the majority of the 267 lap race. The long green-flag runs that occurred at Kansas last week, allowed little time for adjustments throughout the race. Track-position was as good as gold last week, and Ragan couldn’t find any to improve his finish.

“We just weren’t lucky today. We missed getting the lucky dog a couple of times and the chips just didn’t fall our way. When you’re back there 10th to 20th you need a couple lucky breaks and we just didn’t get them. We could have gotten a top 10 out of it, but it just wasn’t our day.”

When it was all said and done, Ragan finished 20th and lent me no help in improving my average finish for my Dark Horse picks.

Charlotte Picks

Despite a busy day of media availabilities, Nationwide Series qualifying, two Sprint Cup practice sessions, and even a car wash, I’ve found a bit of time to make a couple picks this Friday Afternoon. My winner pick in the other points race this year at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards did not fare too well in his attempt to sweep the SpeedWeeks races this May.

After winning the Sprint Cup All-Star race here in May, Carl decided to give his Ford Fusion little bodywork on the infield grass. Let’s just say the car was fast enough the way it was and it really had an affect on the 16th place finish he picked up in the Coke 600.

As for my Dark Horse for the Coke 600, David Ragan scored me my highest finish for any of my 21 Dark Horse picks this season – not too shabby.

Dark Horse Pick

I will start with my Dark Horse this week because there should be no other guy in anyone’s discussions of which non-Chase driver could win the Bank of America 500 tomorrow night. Kasey Kahne is fourth among all active drivers with a driver rating of 94.5, behind Jimmie Johnson (112.8), Kyle Busch (106.5), and Joey Logano (96.5) at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Kahne became the first driver to be “Voted-Into” the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star Race in May of 2008, and come home a winner. He then went on to win the Coke 600 the following week, successfully sweeping the May races here at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2008.

Kahne was the fastest car on the track after his 31 practice laps yesterday, and is shown second on the speed charts in this first of two practice sessions as I look out the window of the Media Center here on the infield. He has three wins here at The Beast of the Southeast, but hasn’t won here since his 2088 Coke 600 Victory.

Kahne felt good about his car following his qualifying lap last night during Bojangle’s Pole Night: “We were really good in practice today in qualifying and in race trim. We didn’t go quite as fast tonight as we would have liked to. I think in the race it should be really good. We just need to keep up with the track and keep up with keeping the track position and things throughout the race. We’ll have a good shot.”

Kasey Kahne is eager to leave Red Bull Racing on a high note, and a win in the Bank of America 500 Saturday Night would do just that. Be ready for some fireworks centered around the No. 4 car tomorrow night.

Winner Pick

One of the keys to victory here at Charlotte Motor Speedway is keeping up with the ever changing track conditions as the sun settles behind the grandstands and the lights come on. The track temperature can really plummet when the sun goes down, and crew chiefs and drivers must be ready to go for when night falls.

One crew chief that will always put his driver in the best possible equipment to cross the Finish Line (the pink colored one this week here at Charlotte) first is Chad Knaus. Across his nine seasons as Crew Chief for the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, Knaus has scooped up 52 victories with Ole’ Five-Time, six of them coming right here at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

He is the best amongst all drivers in the Driver’s Rating category at 112.8, and averages a finish of 10.8 here at Charlotte. He hasn’t won here since the fall race of the 2009 season, but he is coming of a big win last week at Kansas.

I think the comment before the race two weeks ago at Dover International Speedway really put a fire in the belly’s of the No. 48 team, and that is not the guy you want to piss off. With an average finish of 3.7 in the last 5 races of the Sprint Cup Series’ schedule, Johnson is about to come alive.

Johnson sits 10th on the speed charts here after the first practice session of the day and spoke earlier this week about his feelings about Charlotte: “I think we’re going to be a threat (at Charlotte Motor Speedway). When I look back to Chicago, Kentucky, and Kansas obviously, our 1.5-mile stuff has been coming along pretty good over the last two or three months. So I feel good about it. Charlotte, with that asphalt that’s down, it is its own environment and it’s really tough to get your car right from the start of the race to the end of the race. So I feel like directionally we’re going the right way; but until I get on the track this week and understand where the grip level is and what our issues are, it’s hard to build too much confidence.”

That’s all for this week, be sure to follow me on Twitter all night tonight and tomorrow for up to the minute action @ML_B_Lo and OnPitRoad.com for the long story.

Until Next Week….You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!!!!

October 14, 2011

Tony Stewart Wins Pole for the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte

Tony Stewart captured his thirteenth career pole Thursday evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a qualifying speed of 191.959 mph.

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”206″][/media-credit]Stewart was happy with his effort but a little surprised that the speeds did not noticeably increase from what they had experienced during practice.

“That was a pretty cool lap, obviously,” he said. But, Stewart continued, “Typically we see the pace pick up a little more in qualifying than what we saw tonight.”

Five of the top ten positions were claimed by drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Matt Kenseth will start beside Stewart in the second position followed by Carl Edwards in third. Ryan Newman qualified sixth and Jimmie Johnson secured the ninth starting spot.

The remaining Chase contenders qualified as follows:

Kevin Harvick – 14^th

Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 15^th

Denny Hamlin – 17^th

Kurt Busch – 20^th

Jeff Gordon – 23^rd

Kyle Busch – 25^th

Brad Keselowski – 26th.

Drivers Josh Wise, Scott Speed and Geoffrey Bodine failed to make the field.

The Bank of America 500 this Saturday evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway is the fifth race in the fight for the Sprint Cup championship.

Starting Lineup
Bank of America 500, Charlotte Motor Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=31
===========================================
Pos.	No.	Driver	Make	Speed	Time
===========================================
1	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	191.959	28.131
2	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	191.918	28.137
3	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	191.87	28.144
4	43	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford	191.768	28.159
5	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	191.741	28.163
6	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	191.585	28.186
7	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	191.462	28.204
8	4	Kasey Kahne	Toyota	191.394	28.214
9	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	191.34	28.222
10	21	Trevor Bayne	Ford	191.259	28.234
11	6	David Ragan	Ford	191.002	28.272
12	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	191.002	28.272
13	5	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	190.9	28.287
14	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	190.894	28.288
15	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	190.833	28.297
16	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	190.82	28.299
17	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	190.799	28.302
18	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	190.638	28.326
19	33	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	190.611	28.33
20	22	Kurt Busch	Dodge	190.57	28.336
21	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	190.429	28.357
22	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	190.255	28.383
23	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	190.007	28.42
24	13	Casey Mears	Toyota	189.727	28.462
25	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	189.54	28.49
26	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	189.52	28.493
27	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	189.401	28.511
28	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	189.082	28.559
29	0	David Reutimann	Toyota	188.923	28.583
30	51	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	188.851	28.594
31	83	Brian Vickers	Toyota	188.772	28.606
32	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	188.725	28.613
33	34	David Gilliland	Ford	188.6	28.632
34	55	Travis Kvapil	Ford	188.271	28.682
35	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	188.239	28.687
36	30	David Stremme	Chevrolet	187.918	28.736
37	66	Michael McDowell	Toyota	187.454	28.807
38	38	J.J. Yeley	Ford	187.383	28.818
39	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	187.311	28.829
40	71	Andy Lally*	Ford	186.657	28.93
41	71	Hermie Sadler+	Ford	185.676	29.083
42	32	Mike Bliss+	Ford	185.44	29.12
43	7	Robby Gordon	Dodge	186.303	28.985

October 14, 2011

NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Kansas

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson dominated at Kansas, leading 197 of 272 laps, and easily pulled away from the challenge of Kasey Kahne to win the Hollywood Casino 400. It was Johnson’s second win of the year, and vaulted him to within four of the Sprint Cup points lead.

[media-credit id=2 align=”alignright” width=”221″][/media-credit]“I’m not ‘done,’” Johnson said. “I’m just getting started. If you’re looking for volunteers to say ‘You were wrong’ to those people who counted me out, well, count me in.

“A win in Kansas means I’ll celebrate with Kansas. The band, not the state. I led nearly every lap, and won handily, leaving 42 cars as ‘Dust In My Wind.’ I struggled early in the Chase, but Chad Knaus told me to keep digging and things would turn around. He was right, and his suggestions to ‘Carry On Wayward ‘Son’ proved prescient.”

2. Carl Edwards: Edwards overcame race-long handling issues, falling a lap down at one point, and stormed back to finish fifth at Kansas. He maintained the Sprint Cup points lead, and holds a one-point lead over Kevin Harvick, with Jimmie Johnson only four back.

“We really came back from the brink,” Edwards said. “The car was junk for most of the day, but with a lot of adjustments and tweaks, we were able to pull one out of our Aflac.

“Harvick finished sixth, so he could just as easily be in the points lead had I not held him off. It was a great battle for fifth, but in light of Johnson’s dominance, Harvick and I might as well be battling for second.”

3. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski raced to a third-place finish at Kansas, his ninth top-5 result of the year. He improved two places in the point standings to fourth, and trails Carl Edwards by 11.

“I’m by far the youngest Chase competitor,” Keselowski said. “And of all the twenty-something’s in the Chase, I’m the only one making a mark. So, you describe our impact on the Chase as ‘youth is served,’ but you can describe my impact on the Chase as one ‘serving of youth.’”

4. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished sixth in the Hollywood Casino 400, earning his 16^th top-10 finish of the year. Harvick fell out of a tie in the points lead, and now trails Carl Edwards, who finished fifth, by one.

“I’m only one point out of the lead,” Harvick said, “yet everyone seems ready to hand Jimmie Johnson his sixth Sprint Cup title, even though he’s four behind the lead. Well, it’s way too early for me to concede the title to Johnson. I have no qualms about making a ‘concession stand.’”

5. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth led 26 laps and posted a solid fourth at Kansas, his ninth top-5 result of the year. He jumped two spots in the point standings to fifth, and trails Carl Edwards by 12.

“I trail Edwards by 12?” Kenseth asked. “Is that in ‘cool points? Anyway, I’m the driver that’s been hovering around, waiting to make a move. Unfortunately, if all you do is hover, then your championship hopes just won’t float.”

6. Kyle Busch: Busch just missed a top-10 finish at Kansas, coming home 11^th in the Hollywood Casino 400. With four races down in the Chase, Busch is now eighth in the point standings, 20 out of first.

“I’m not worried about ‘insurmountable leads,’” Busch said. “It’s ‘insurmountable deficits’ that concern me.”

7. Tony Stewart: Stewart let a certain top-10 finish slip away when he slid past his pit stall during the race’s final caution. The lengthy pit stop cost him several positions, and he restarted 17^th before finishing 15^th. Stewart tumbled four spots in the point standings to 7^th, 19 out of first.

“A mere two races ago,” Stewart said, “I was leading the Sprint Cup point standings. Now, I’m in seventh. So, my pit mishap at Kansas is no big deal, considering I’ve had longer ‘slides’ before.”

8. Kurt Busch: Busch, last week’s winner at Dover, finished 13^th in the Hollywood Casino 400 after a losing ground on the race’s final restart. Busch dropped two places to sixth in the point standings, and is now 16 out of first.

“One week after I smoked him for the win at Dover,” Busch said, “Jimmie Johnson goes out and wins at Kansas, and wins so handily that he’s practically anointed champion. What does Johnson hate more? Losing to me, or losing in general?”

9. Jeff Gordon: Gordon’s engine blew with four laps to go at Kansas and he finished 34^th, which could prove to be fatal to his championship hopes. He is now 47 points out of the lead with six races remaining in the Chase.

“They call Jimmie Johnson ‘5-time,’” Gordon said. “It’s a nickname I’ve longed to possess. The bad news: they won’t be calling me that this year. The good news: the nickname will likely be available next year.”

10. Dale Earnhart, Jr.: Earnhardt finished 14^th in the Hollywood Casino 400, and moved up one spot in the point standings to ninth, 43 out of first.

“Jimmie Johnson looks like a solid bet to win his sixth Sprint Cup championship,” Earnhardt said. “If that happens, then it’s a perfect example of ‘deJJa vu.’”

October 11, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

With the wind whipping as is so typical in the land of Toto and Aunty Em, the fourth race in the Chase, the 11^th Annual Hollywood Casino 400, was run at the 1.5 mile paved tri-oval that is Kansas Speedway. Here is what was surprising and not so surprising from the 267 laps, 400.5 mile race.

[media-credit id=2 align=”alignright” width=”231″][/media-credit]Surprising: It has been a bit surprising just how much the race winner has seemingly been toying with not only the media, but the race fans. At the beginning of the Chase, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson had fallen from eighth to tenth in the point standings, particularly due to his 18^th place finish at Loudon.

At that point, many media pundits had begun to write off the chances for a sixth consecutive championship, especially since the tension seemed to be mounting between the driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet and his crew chief Chad Knaus.

Yet Jimmie Johnson again proved that he still has what it takes by scoring his 55^th career victory and his 20^th career victory in the Chase, the latter being the most ever, tying him with Rusty Wallace for eighth on the all-time wins list.

And, yes, ‘old five time’ has yet again made his way toward the top of the leader board, up two positions to third, just four points out of the coveted top spot.

“I told you not to count him out,” Hendrick Motorsport teammate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said. “I think the media made a big deal out of the runs he was having and they were a long ways out of the lead in the points.”

“But that’s a great race team,” Junior continued. “You don’t win five in a row on luck, you know? You don’t just trip over the championship trophy; you do it because you’re great.”

“And they’ll win the championship this year if anybody doesn’t get going.”

Not Surprising: Although most often it is the female fan base flirting with this driver, Kasey Kahne, behind the wheel of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota for the remaining races of the season before heading to Hendrick Motorsports next year, continues to flirt with a race win.

To no one’s surprise, Kahne finished second, scoring his third top-10 finish in nine races at Kansas, as well as his 10^th top-10 finish in 2011.

“The biggest thing to me would be to leave on a good note,” Kahne said. “There are a lot of people there working really hard and unsure about maybe their future and where they’re going to work next year, and they’re still putting everything they have into our race cars each week.”

“That’s pretty awesome on their part.”

Surprising: In addition to the wind, there was also a good deal of smoke, of all sorts, in Kansas City. The driver known as ‘Smoke’, was instead the cause of some, smoking his tires on a pit stop, causing him to not only slide wildly through his box but also lose eight positions on the track.

Tony Stewart, piloting his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, finished the race in the 15^th position and fell four positions to seventh in the Chase standings.

‘Smoke’ immediately admitted his error, telling his team that his foot had accidentally hit the accelerator when he was trying to brake. But the uncharacteristic error caused the driver to come out as the last car on the lead lap, relegating him to a less-than-stellar finish.

Another surprising bit of smoke at Kansas was the one that erupted on lap 265 when four-time champ Jeff Gordon’s engine expired. The driver of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet, who looked strong all race long, finished 34^th, dropping him to tenth in the point standings, 47 points out of first.

“I started seeing smoke inside the car,” Gordon said. “We had a really bad restart and got shuffled back.”

“Our day was pretty much over and we were going to finish maybe 15^th or something,” Gordon continued. “I started to smell burning oil and saw the oil temp start to come up.”

“I felt like it was just a matter of time before it blew up.”

Not Surprising: Although actually gaining one position in the point standings, from tenth to ninth, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., driver of the HMS No. 88 National Guard/Amp Energy Chevrolet, to no one’s surprise now seems to be focusing more on race wins than a championship.

“I just want to win a race,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “It’s a goal of mine right now to just go out there and win.”

“Man, if we could do that, that would really, no matter what happened in the Chase, I think we’d be real happy with our season.”

Surprising: While loose and tight are most often descriptors for action on the track, it is surprising that those words also apply to Penske teammates Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch.

On one hand, the driver of the No. 2 Blue Deuce seems to be looser than loose, finishing third in the Kansas race. This was Keselowski’s second top-10 finish in four races at Kansas Speedway.

And that top-5 finish moved the driver up two spots to fourth in the Chase, just eleven points behind the leader.

“This year, it seems like as a group, we’re just clicking,” Keselowski said. “We’re doing a good job of maximizing our day and taking care of everything that’s in our control.”

“I’m really proud of our team for doing that.”

On the flip side, Keselowski’s teammate Kurt Busch just seems tight, tight, tight behind the wheel of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Dodge. Busch managed to finish 13^th, but still lost two spots in the Chase standings to the sixth position.

“We got behind in qualifying and had to start 17^th,” Busch said. “We ran from 15^th to 20^th most of the day and caught a break; we got the lucky dog to get back on the lead lap.”

“We were still a top-10 car when the green-white-checker came out but just couldn’t hold on to a top 10,” Busch continued. “The fresher tires got us.”

Not Surprising: There were at least two ‘come back kids’ that surprised no one. The first was the driver of the No. 99 Alfac Ford, Carl Edwards, who rallied from a too-aggressive set up prior to the race, relegating him to needing to be the ‘lucky dog’ to finish fifth.

With that top-five finish, Edwards scored the points lead, just one point over second place Kevin Harvick.

“I cannot believe we finished fifth,” Edwards said. “It feels like a win.”

“That’s the best we’ve done with the worst,” Edwards continued. “I just cannot believe from the way the day started to finish like that is spectacular.”

The other ‘comeback kid’ was Greg Biffle. Although not in the Chase, the driver of the No. 16 Sherwin-Williams Ford and pole sitter for the race, rallied back from a pit road speeding penalty to finish eighth.

“Our car wasn’t that good,” Biffle said. “I don’t know what happened with the speeding on pit road.”

“That was stupid,” Biffle said. “My car just wasn’t that good in traffic, which is where I got hurt there at the end.”

Surprising: There was a surprising rash of drivers missing driver introductions prior to the Hollywood Casino 400. A.J. Allmendinger, David Reutimann and Reed Sorenson all had to move to the back of the field for the start of the race due to their absence at the pre-race intros.

Allmendinger, driver of the No. 43 Best Buy Ford, finished the best of the group at 25^th. Reutimann, behind the wheel of the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, finished 35^th and Sorenson, who had lost his Turner Motorsports Nationwide ride, finished 38^th in his No. 7 SPEED Energy/MAPEI/Menards Dodge Cup ride.

Not Surprising: With his career decided, it was not surprising that the driver of the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing finished top-10. Prior to the race festivities, Bowyer confirmed that he will move in 2012 to the Michael Waltrip Racing stables.

“All in all, it wasn’t a bad day,” Bowyer said. “That’s the last time I’ll be able to run here with these cars.”

“Hopefully, we’ll get one next time.”

Surprising: Hendrick Motorsports is surprisingly close to scoring a record of its own thanks to driver Johnson taking the checkered flag. HMS is just shy of their 200^th win, which would put them squarely behind Richard Petty Motorsports with 268 all-time wins.

Not Surprising: To no one’s surprise, again thanks to Johnson’s win, Chevrolet clinched their 35^th Cup manufacturer’s championship, assuming a Chevrolet will start each of the final six races.

October 10, 2011