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  • The Final Word – Be it Las Vegas or Phoenix, we be groovin’ on a Sunday afternoon

    The Final Word – Be it Las Vegas or Phoenix, we be groovin’ on a Sunday afternoon

    Another Sunday, another NASCAR Cup race. I think if you loved the race, you may have been a fan to some degree of one of the top four. The fact Kevin Harvick followed up a pair of runner-up finishes with his 29th career contest at Las Vegas must have made followers of the defending Cup champ smile. He certainly had the most dominant car on the day, leading the way for more than half the laps.

    A second place run from Martin Truex Jr. may have been welcome. Seeing Ryan Newman take third was fine for many. Dale Earnhardt Jr. coming home fourth had to make more than a few content with how things played out. Imagine how you might have felt had Joey Logano won.

    Sure, there are Logano fans out there, and I am not just referring to Brittany. I mean, NASCAR must love him, or at least that might explain them dropping a caution for a long sitting lost tire near pit road just as he, and only he, was left coming in for his stop. They might as well have changed his tires and offered the lad a snack while they were at it. If nothing else, they kept him on the lead lap, something only 14 cars could claim when it was all over, to take 10th on the day.

    Kasey Kahne finished 17th, Carl Edwards 42nd. Why that was had everything to do with Edwards accidently taking his rival up and into the wall, and Kahne not so accidently spinning his rival into tagging the inside fence. Carl took the blame when the microphone found him inside the car, inside the garage, seeking repairs that proved too much to salvage even one additional position.

    Brian Scott salvaged a 13th place outcome in his run for Richard Childress in the No, 33 to be the best amongst those we do not see regularly near the front. Whitney and Brielle had good reason to be pleased on the day.

    Two spots behind him was Brian Vickers. Three months ago they were working on his heart, Sunday he was working to get his career back on track. Already, in just one race, he sits ahead of Tony Stewart in the standings.

    Smoke’s season has already gone for shlitz. Some had bad days, while he had a bad car, bad enough to sit 33rd in the end. Cole Whitt had a bigger presence this day. Other guys for whom things did not go well included Atlanta winner Jimmie Johnson. He looked great early, but had to pit with a tire vibration. Johnson was battling for the lucky dog then a tire went down and he found the fence to finish just ahead of Edwards. Of course, with the win a week earlier, that leaves him sitting third in the rankings.

    So, was this a spectacular sporting event to sit through? Not really, though to be fair that could be said about any number of contests we witness every week. However, Cup has just 36 offerings for us to be excited about, compared to the hundreds and thousands of offerings per season in other major sports. If a game does not turn your crank, turn to another. That is not an option in NASCAR, so they are left with having to better market their product. Sadly, I feel they are woefully falling short.

    This weekend, there is another Sunday, another race, but this time they are in Phoenix. A 500 mile race that in five spring dates has yet to find a distinctive identity. To date, it has been named after a sponsor each time, Subway for three, CNBC last year, and Camping World this time out. Just another race on the schedule.

    Bad news for those not fans of Kevin Harvick. He won last week, and he has won the last three run at Phoenix. Maybe it should be the Happy Havick 500? At least some folks might love that.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Vegas Kobalt 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Vegas Kobalt 400

    For the first race of NASCAR’s self-proclaimed ‘West Coast Swing’, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 18th annual Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    Surprising: In just the third race of the season, there were a plethora of firsts and lasts, from Jeff Gordon running his last ever race at Vegas to Brian Vickers starting his first race since open heart surgery and Kevin Harvick standing in Victory Lane for the first time ever at LVMS.

    Gordon himself was a contrast in firsts and lasts, having scored the pole position for the race and then having to start dead last due to a final practice crash with Danica Patrick. Gordon cut through the field but then had issues with contact and tires, relegating him to an 18th place finish in his No. 24 3M Chevrolet.

    “Man, we were coming,” Gordon said. “We drove up there right at the beginning and the car was amazing on rails. The next set of tires, the thing was just terrible loose. So we made an adjustment and then the car went back to being tight. I don’t know what happened there, but it was a great effort. I just can’t believe the way these days are going.”

    While Gordon completed his last race at Vegas, Brian Vickers was amazed to finally get his season started, back for the first time in the No. 55 Aaron’s 60th Anniversary Dream Machine Toyota after major heart surgery.

    “A top-15 considering where we were at three months ago – I’ll take it,” Vickers said. “You always want to win, but I think for us this was a victory in a lot of ways.”

    “It’s incredible. It feels so good to be back in a race car – so happy, so thankful and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be here again.”

    And the final first went to Kevin Harvick, with his first win of the season and his first ever win at Vegas. This was Harvick’s sixth consecutive race to finish either first or second, tying for that honor with Jeff Gordon who accomplished the same feat in 1996.

    “It’s so cool to win here in Las Vegas and start this West Coast swing off this way is pretty awesome,” the driver of the victorious No. 4 Jimmy Johns/Budweiser Chevrolet said. “Just to be in front of all these fans I’ve raced in front of since about the mid-‘90’s. It’s pretty special to win here.”

    Not Surprising: Well, the setting was after all Las Vegas so there had to be at least one driver to take a gamble. This race it was driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who rolled the dice on tires at the end of the race to finish fourth.

    “We didn’t put lefts (tires) on it; made it a gamble,” the driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet said. “I like to gamble. I liked the call. I love being aggressive. We were going to drive up there and pass that No. 4 (Kevin Harvick). So, we had to take a chance.”

    Surprising: The two small teams with the big alliance with Richard Childress Racing again had great runs, with Martin Truex Jr. scoring the runner up spot and AJ Allmendinger coming in sixth.

    “I can’t put it into words, honestly. I’m just really proud of everyone,” Truex, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, said. “I feel like we can keep chipping away at it, getting a little better each week and hopefully by the end of the year, we will have some wins under our belt.”

    “A lot of credit to having an RCR (Richard Childress Racing) alliance because the No. 78 and No. 31 were really fast all weekend,” Allmendinger, behind the wheel of the No. 47 Clorox Chevrolet, said after the race. “We kind of stole from them a little bit going into the final practice. That helped us and really helped up today.”

    “Honestly, probably one of the best races we have ever had. Something hopefully we can keep building off of.”

    Not Surprising: Even with battling penalties on pit road, including speeding and an uncontrolled tire, the Team Penske duo of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano were the highest finishing Fords, in seventh and tenth respectively.

    “It was an up and down day,” Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, said. “Good job by the team to rally there and get what we were able to out of it.”

    “The speeding on pit road – I found that. I put us in a hole,” Logano, driver of the No. 22 Pennzoil Platinum Ford, said. “Not that we were going to win the race either way because we weren’t fast enough but I maybe cost us two or three positions with what I did.”

    “We have some work to do.”

    Surprising: He may be ineligible for points in the Cup Series, but Brian Scott was on a roll, finishing top-15 in his No. 33 Whitetail Chevrolet. This was the best career finish in the Cup Series for the driver, who is competing for the championship in the Xfinity Series.

    Not Surprising: Ryan Newman may be taking a page from the Jimmie Johnson sponsorship book and his ability to keep improving scored the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team a third place finish.

    “This was a great team effort with the Caterpillar Chevrolet,” Newman said. “It was an improvement over last year.”

    “We improved throughout the entire race and I’m satisfied only because we’re improving.”

    Surprising: Prior to the race, six-time champ Jimmie Johnson built the frame of a house for Habitat for Humanity. Unfortunately, the driver of the No. 48 Kobalt Tools experienced destruction on the track, including several blown tires that caused him to finish 41st.

    “That’s kind of a freak deal,” Johnson said. “I’m disappointed. We certainly had an awesome race car. I wish we could have won this KOBALT race in this KOBALT car, but we’ll come back next week.”

    Not Surprising: When a great car competing up front ends up finishing 17th, it is not surprising that frustration abounds. That was the name of the game for Kasey Kahne, who not only was frustrated after contact with Carl Edwards but also with the new rules package and his inability to pass.

    “We had a second place car the first 30 laps of a run and a winning car the last 15-20 laps of a run,” the driver of the No. 5 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet, said. “Carl (Edwards) just came down and just apologized and said he feels like he hasn’t done that before to anyone. He just never lifted and run me just right into the wall and ruined his day as well.”

    “It’s like we run two Xfinity series,” Kahne continued. “It’s like we have two of those series now we don’t even have a Cup series anymore. It’s weird to do that, but you just run really hard. You don’t pass a good car until 15 or 20 laps to go in a run when tires start falling off a little bit.”

    “Until then you don’t even think about passing. You just run in line and it’s boring as can be, but that is what NASCAR wants.”

    Surprising: Landon Cassill finally broke his short streak of two consecutive last place finishes due to engine failure. The driver of the No. 40 Carsforsale.com Chevrolet actually finished the race in the 35th spot.

    Not Surprising: Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth definitely proved that they are the ones carrying the Toyota banner. Hamlin finished fifth and was the highest finishing Toyota and Kenseth came in ninth, actually leading one lap in the race.

    Both Hamlin and Kenseth are flying the Toyota flag in the point’s standings as well, in eighth and tenth respectively.

    “This FedEx Office team did a great job,” Hamlin said. “We got better. We’ve just got to get a little bit more speed and we’ll be able to race these guys, but right now we just need to optimize our weekends, finish where we’re supposed to and execute.”

    “I think next week will be a big tell for our race team,” Hamlin continued. “Even though we finished fifth at Phoenix in the Chase race last year, we got lapped twice under green and were able to battle back and I think that is a track we really need to perform well at if we’re going to be a part of this Chase.”

     

  • Brendan Gaughan Powers his way to the Win at Kentucky Speedway

    Brendan Gaughan Powers his way to the Win at Kentucky Speedway

    Brendan Gaughan won his second Nationwide Series race of the 2014 season passing Chase Elliott and teammate Ty Dillon for the lead late in the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 at the Kentucky Speedway  Saturday night. His other victory was at Road America in June. Brian Scott finished second with Dillon finishing third making a 1-2-3 sweep for Richard Childress Racing. Elliott finished fourth and Regan Smith rounded out the top five.

    Dillon was the class of the field all night leading 155 of the 200 lap race. Elliott had gained the lead from Dillon on lap 174 when Eric McClure hit the wall bringing out the caution flag. Two caution periods, one for Sam Hornish Jr., driving the No.54 Kyle Busch Motorsports entry, who hit the wall after contact with Regan Smith, and the second for debris, closed up the field with less than 20 laps to go. On the last restart, when Elliott and Dillon were battling for the lead, Gaughan pounced, passing them both and pulled away.

    “I love restarts, and when that caution came out and we were fourth, I got really excited because I knew we were on the outside and thought we had a good group, and we did,” said Gaughan.”  You have to choose a teammate, so I chose Ty and pushed him down the back straightaway, and he had a launch into turn three, but it was just too much. When they got side by side and I’ve been doing this a long time and an area opened up just enough, I couldn’t believe we were able to take off like that.”

    Scott said after the race, “I thought it was the right call to take four tires at the end. I restarted sixth and got a good restart and got up to fourth and I thought we were going to win this race. But, unfortunately, we didn’t get any long runs and our Shore Lodge Camaro was a little too tight.”

    Dillon clearly disappointed after his dominant performance said, “I spun the tires a bit there at the end and it really cost us. Elliott was able to get a nose ahead of us there before that last caution came out, and that gave our teammate with four tires a chance to get up there and take the win.”

    “It was really good, hard racing there at the end,” Dillon continued. “These cars are under-powered and aero becomes a big deal, and on the restarts, when you get the side draft on those guys and the guy behind you get such a great run, it’s hard to hold them both of them off.”

    The four cautions over the last 31 laps had significant impact on the outcome of the race but it was Gaughan’s restart and power move that won him the race.

    Elliott retains the series lead by 20 points over Regan Smith. Ty Dillon, (-38), Brian Scott (-55) and Elliott Sadler (-51) round out the top five.

    The Nationwide Series travels to Dover International Speedway September 27. The race is scheduled for 3:30 pm ET and will be televised on ESPN2.

    Complete Finishing Order:

    POS. CAR DRIVER
    1 62 Brendan Gaughan
    2 2 Brian Scott
    3 3 Ty Dillon
    4 9 Chase Elliott
    5 7 Regan Smith
    6 33 Cale Conley
    7 60 Chris Buescher
    8 22 Michael McDowell
    9 20 Justin Boston
    10 80 Ross Chastain
    11 16 Ryan Reed
    12 42 Dylan Kwasniewski
    13 11 Elliott Sadler
    14 99 James Buescher
    15 6 Trevor Bayne
    16 4 Jeffrey Earnhardt
    17 39 Ryan Sieg
    18 5 Austin Theriault
    19 43 Dakoda Armstrong
    20 31 Chase Pistone
    21 51 Jeremy Clements
    22 93 Kevin Swindell
    23 28 J.J. Yeley
    24 19 Mike Bliss
    25 44 Blake Koch
    26 40 Matt DiBenedetto
    27 55 Jamie Dick
    28 52 Joey Gase
    29 1 Landon Cassill
    30 54 Sam Hornish Jr
    31 14 Eric McClure
    32 23 Cody Ware
    33 70 Derrike Cope
    34 17 Tanner Berryhill
    35 72 Harrison Rhodes
    36 89 Morgan Shepherd
    37 87 Josh Reaume
    38 74 Mike Harmon
    39 46 Ryan Ellis
    40 10 Jeff Green

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Aaron’s 499 at Talladega

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Aaron’s 499 at Talladega

    From the wild knock out qualifying that netted Brian Scott the pole position to the crazy green-white-checkered race finish, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 45th annual Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Surprising: It is not often when two champions wreak such havoc in one race, even if it is on an unpredictable superspeedway. But both Brad Keselowski as well as Jimmie Johnson did just that, having uncharacteristically bad days that negatively impacted so many others in the field.

    In fact Keselowski negatively impacted the field twice, once early on in the race while battling Danica Patrick for the lead and then later in the race causing a twelve car pileup that involved several other drivers, including the likes of past champions Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.

    “I just spun out in front of the whole field,” the driver of the white Miller Lite Deuce said. “I don’t know why, if I just busted my butt on my own or lost a tire, but I feel bad for everyone that got torn up.”

    Johnson, after suffering his own damage from the first Keselowski incident, had almost the identical problem as Keselowski, spinning out at almost the same exact spot on the race track and catching others in his wake.

    “I got caught up in the first wreck and that did some damage; and I don’t know what happened when I spun out,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Valspar Chevrolet said. “I just went out in front of everybody. The car just got real loose going into Turn 3 and turned around and collected a bunch of guys, unfortunately.”

    Keselowski finished the race in the 38th position while Johnson finished 23rd and remains winless.

    Not Surprising: In his 300th start and at a superspeedway not a short track, Denny Hamlin made a statement and won his first race of the season, his first race at Talladega, and his first point’s race at a restrictor plate track. Hamlin also all but sealed up a Chase berth, after missing the Chase completely last season for the first time in his career.

    “It feels good to be back in Victory Lane in a points-paying event,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota said. “We’ve come a long way. We couldn’t finish 22nd in superspeedway races for the longest time and now it seems like when we go, we know we have the knowledge and car that can win.”

    “It feels good to come to these types of tracks and win.”

    Surprising: Jeff Gordon surprisingly kept his point leads in spite of finishing 39th, as well as breaking his streak of 11 consecutive top-15 finishes. Gordon still leads by three points over Matt Kenseth, who came in just ahead of Gordon in the race, finishing 37th.

    “Oh man, we had a great car,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “I could see where the 2 came from the outside lane and came back down to the inside lane, or middle lane, then wiggled and got turned.”

    “It was unfortunate what happened to him early, but more unfortunate what happened to many of us in that incident.”

    Not Surprising: Whether they had a game plan in their heads or not, both Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer scored their best ever finishes of the 2014 season.

    Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M Window Film Ford, finished runner up after leading the most laps at 58. Bowyer, driving the No. 15 PEAK Antifreeze/Motor Oil Toyota, finished third, scoring his first top-5 finish of the season.

    “I had a game plan in my head,” Biffle said. “On our speedway program, they did a great job getting the car ready. This was our Daytona 500 car and we wanted to get up there and run with the guys.”

    “I don’t think you ever really have a game plan,” Bowyer said. “But I like the situation I saw with Biffle. You know he was going to pull out and make a move. I had my teammate right behind me and I was looking forward to that opportunity.”

    “After last weekend, we blew three tires and burned the car to the ground,” Bowyer continued. “To get things turned around on a positive note, we finished Talladega without a crash.”

    Biffle posted his sixth top-10 finish in 23 races and Bowyer posted his ninth top-10 finish at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Surprising: Risk was not worth the reward for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who elected to ride in the rear in the waning laps to avoid the craziness of the finish. Although Junior led the second-most laps in the race, he finished 26th in his National Guard Chevrolet.

    “We already got a win and like I said, I’ve been in too many late-race wrecks,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I didn’t want to be no part of it. And there were three or four there we dodged pretty good.”

    “So, we’ve got a car in one piece,” Junior continued. “You have to have that track position at the end and we didn’t have it. We didn’t tear up our car and we will go to Daytona and try to manage the strategy.”

    Not Surprising: Talladega makes for friendships formed on the fly and that is exactly what happened between AJ Allmendinger and Paul Menard, who finished fifth and sixth respectively.

    “I really thought I had messed us up there and that last restart I’ve got to thank Paul Menard,” the driver of the No. 47 Bush’s Beans Chevrolet said. “He just kept shoving me all the way up through the inside of guys.”

    “We had a really fast Richmond/Menards/Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Chevrolet all weekend,” Menard said. “It was really good at the end. On the last restart just pushed the hell out of AJ (Allmendinger) and wound up being okay.”

    Surprising: Both David’s, Ragan (defending race winner) and Gilliland, who are traditionally good at plate racing, had a pretty rough day at the race track.

    Gilliland’s engine gave way on his No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford, while Ragan was involved in a very hard hit during one of the race’s many wrecks.

    “I thought my car was good,” Gilliland said. “We got in that accident and I don’t know if the motor got a little warm when we opened up the duct work, but it just wasn’t our day.”

    “It looked like someone got turned in the middle or the bottom lane and we were just kind of minding our own business up top and all I saw was some cars coming up toward us,” Ragan, behind the wheel of the No. 34 KFC Ford, said. “There was nothing you could do.”

    “It’s just a shame that when somebody makes a mistake it takes out a bunch of race cars.”

    Not Surprising:   Young Kyle Larson was the highest finishing rookie…again, this time bringing his car home not only in one piece but in the ninth position. This was the fifth top-10 finish for the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet and he sits in the 13th position in the point standings.

    “I spent most of the day just — well, pretty much all day just trying not to make any spectacular moves to put myself in a bad spot to get in a wreck,” Larson said. “Just wanted to stay out of trouble. We’ve been making up a lot of points throughout the year after Daytona, and to come back to another superspeedway, I was really nervous.”

    “Glad to get a good finish and stay up there in points.”

    Surprising: Danica Patrick had one major complaint about her race at Talladega. The driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet was, well, just plain hot.

    “It was a hot day here in Talladega,” Patrick said after finishing 22nd. “I dropped back to get some clean air. Heating was definitely an issue. It really limited me to the bottom lane.”

    “I was getting hot a lot,” Patrick continued. “I think you saw that from a lot of cars.”

    Not Surprising: There were many drivers that were not only happy to have ‘Dega in the rear view mirror but were also glad for a good, safe finish to the race.

    “It was crazy, but everybody did a really good job,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford said. “The racing was pretty good. It was really intense, but safe I thought relative to what we’ve seen in the past.”

    “I expected a few of the big wrecks and tried to avoid those and did exactly that,” Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Gwaltney Ford said. “We didn’t end up on our roof, so it was a solid day and we’ll go on.”

    NASCAR next visits Kansas Speedway for some Saturday night racing under the lights in the 5-Hour Energy 400 Benefiting Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

     

  • Kyle Larson and Brian Scott make Sprint Cup debuts in Bank of America 500

    Kyle Larson and Brian Scott make Sprint Cup debuts in Bank of America 500

    As the green flag falls Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway there are only six races left in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.  Not only will the Bank of America 500 be a vital race to the thirteen drivers in contention for the championship, but it will be a monumental race in the NASCAR careers of Kyle Larson and Brain Scott, who will be making their NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debuts.

    These drivers follow a long list of sixty-two other drivers that have made the Sprint Cup Series starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway, including current drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson.

    Larson, who currently sits ninth in points standings for his first NASCAR Nationwide Series season with Turner Scott Motorsports, will be driving the No. 51 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet this weekend at Charlotte and again in two weeks at Martinsville.

    Having already signed a deal with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing to be the full-time driver of their No. 42 Chevrolet next season, Larson is taking this opportunity to gain some Sprint Cup Series experience before his full-time transition in 2014.

    “I am very excited to get behind the wheel of a Cup car in Charlotte…especially getting to race with the Target bulls eye on the car,” Larson said. “I have a lot of work to do to prepare for the 2014 season and I cannot wait to get it started.”

    Racing open-wheel cars and World of Outlaws Sprint cars as a teenager, winning the 2012 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship, and earning his first NASCAR Camping and World Truck Series race this season at Rockingham Speedway, have given Larson the notoriety of being one of NASCAR’s most talented young drivers.

    Larson has spent some time in a Cup car, having tested at Rockingham Speedway and last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  He will be starting the race in 21st position.

    “My main goal is to try to finish the race,” Larson said. “I’d like maybe a top 17th or 18th-place finish.  We were really good at Charlotte in the Nationwide race this spring.  I’d say it’s in my top five favorite tracks.”

    Brian Scott starts the Bank of America 500 in a slightly different situation than Kyle Larson.  Although he does not have a full-time ride in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series next season, he is in a two-year deal with Richard Childress Racing with the plan of preparing for a future transition to the Cup series.

    “When I first started to talk to Richard, it was with the understanding my aspirations were to be able run in the Cup series,” Scott said. “We went into this season working on being able to do a handful of Cup races and looked at some races that could work and eventually we settled on Charlotte.”

    Scott said, “I think Charlotte is a great place to make my first start. Considering Richard Childress Racing won the Coca-Cola 600 in May, I think they have a good hold on the track and I should have a good starting point to try to get caught up on speed.”

    Scott’s only recent experience in a Cup car was last week when his RCR team tested at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    After his test run, Scott said, “The test went good. A lot of it trying to figure out the difference in cars between the series, how to get speed and then we actually started working on the car and eventually did some mock qualifying runs. We had some fun with it. We felt our speed was good. The guys seemed pretty excited and I am, too.”

    Scott will be starting the Bank of America 500 in 19th position, and will run another full Nationwide season with Richard Childress Racing in 2014.

  • Brian Scott dominates but comes up short at Richmond

    Brian Scott dominates but comes up short at Richmond

    Richard Childress Racing driver, Brian Scott, had only led 38 laps in his Nationwide Series career before the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway.

    Tonight, however, he dominated, leading 240 of 250 laps yet still came up short due to a controversial late race restart. Eventual race winner Brad Keselowski, took the lead with ten laps to go, when it appeared to team owner Richard Childress that Keselowski beat Scott to the line. Childress asked his team over the radio, “The 22 beat us to the line, is somebody hollering about that?”

    Later, on the last restart of the night with six laps to go, Keselowski hit the gas two car lengths before the restart line. Scott complained, but the complaint fell on deaf ears. No call was made, and Keselowski easily drove to victory in the Nationwide Series’ 1,000th race.

    After the race, Scott said he was mostly mad at himself for not understanding the restart rules. When asked to ignore the controversy and focus on the first 239 laps of the race, Scott replied, “Fun, we had a great car and when you have a car like that it’s easy to lead that many laps. I haven’t had a car that good in my Nationwide career, I have had a couple of them in the truck series and that’s something to be proud of. We had a great showing here tonight, a great race. Um, you know Richmond, me and Richmond have a bittersweet love affair. Looking at replays from last one, obviously there was a pretty infamous incident that happened after that and obviously even with all the laps led, to lose one like that, I still feel the same afterwards.”

    Tonight’s win made number five on the season for Keselowski and number ten for his team, Penske Racing. Keselowski commented about the controversy with Scott saying, “Well, first off, Brian Scott did a tremendous job today. He has a lot to be proud of. If he keeps running like he is, he will win races. I think I just caught him off guard. The restart box is a zone and we went right at the start of it and didn’t give him a second to catch up. That probably wasn’t key to victory but it sure didn’t hurt.”

    Sam Hornish extended the series points lead to 16 points over Austin Dillon. Third place Regan Smith edges a little closer and is now 26 behind leader Hornish with Elliott Sadler just points back in fourth.

    The series now heads to Chicagoland Speedway on September 14 for the Dollar General 300.

  • Crunching The Numbers: Watkins Glen

    Crunching The Numbers: Watkins Glen

    After some exciting races at Pocono Raceway and Iowa Speedway last weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series head north for some road course racing at Watkins Glen International, the always entertaining 2.45 mile road course in Upstate New York. This weekend will mark the second road course race for both series after the Sprint Cup Series visited Sonoma Raceway and the Nationwide Series was at Road America back in June.

    NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – Cheez-It 355 at the Glen

    As the Sprint Cup Series heads into Watkins Glen for the second road course race of the year, the Race to the Chase is also heating up with only five races remaining until the Chase begins and several drivers still in contention for those coveted spots. There are several drivers, including some in Chase contention who always run well at this track, so this race should be a fight from beginning to end as we get one step closer to finalizing the field for the Chase.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Marcos Ambrose 5 2 5 5 0 46 13.2 2.0
    Brad Keselowski 3 0 2 2 0 39 16.0 8.0
    Kyle Busch 8 1 3 7 1 159 7.4 9.0
    AJ Allmendinger 4 0 1 2 0 8 15.2 9.0
    Carl Edwards 8 0 3 5 1 1 12.5 9.4
    Kevin Harvick 12 1 2 6 0 29 13.2 13.1
    Jimmie Johnson 11 0 4 6 1 11 6.2 13.2
    Martin Truex Jr. 7 0 2 4 0 0 18.7 13.7
    Jeff Gordon 20 4 6 9 2 233 9.4 14.8
    Juan Pablo Montoya 6 1 2 4 1 81 10.3 15.0

    Who To Watch: After winning at Watkins Glen in the past two seasons, the driver who runs best at the track is none other than road course ace Marcos Ambrose, whose stellar Watkins Glen career includes the two wins, five top fives, five top tens, 46 laps led, and an average finish of 2.0 in five starts. The lowest that Ambrose has ever finished is third, so the road to victory on Sunday will have to go through Ambrose.

    Tony Stewart falls in second statistically at this track and is undoubtedly one of the best at Watkins Glen with five wins, but unfortunately Stewart will be missing the race Sunday due to a broken leg that he suffered in a Sprint Car wreck on Monday night.

    With Stewart out, the next driver in line statistically is Brad Keselowski, who has finished second to Ambrose the last two years, and in three starts has the two top fives, two top tens, 39 laps led, and an average finish of 8.0.

    Others who run well at the road course include: Kyle Busch, who has one win, three top fives, seven top tens, one pole, 159 laps led, and an average finish of 9.0 in eight starts; A.J. Allmendinger, who won the Nationwide Series race at Road America in June, with one top five, two top tens, eight laps led, and an average finish of 9.0 in four starts; and Carl Edwards, with three top fives, five top tens, one pole, one lap led, and an average finish of 9.4 in eight starts.

    The others in the top ten statistically (Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Gordon, and Juan Pablo Montoya) will also be strong contenders for the win this weekend. 

    NASCAR Nationwide Series – Zippo 200 at the Glen

    This weekend at Watkins Glen marks the second of three road course races this season for the Nationwide Series with a date at Mid-Ohio awaiting the drivers next weekend. With the points lead swapping between Austin Dillon, Sam Hornish Jr., and Regan Smith over the past few weeks, the unpredictability that is Watkins Glen is sure to shake up the points standings once again.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Brad Keselowski 4 0 2 4 0 44 7.8 5.2
    Nelson Piquet Jr. 1 0 0 1 0 0 10.0 7.0
    Kyle Busch 6 0 4 5 0 90 7.2 9.3
    Kasey Kahne 2 0 0 1 0 0 6.5 10.0
    Brian Scott 3 0 0 1 0 0 16.7 12.3
    Joey Logano 5 0 2 3 0 8 8.4 13.4
    Elliott Sadler 4 0 0 1 0 0 13.0 14.8
    Michael Annett 4 0 0 0 0 0 26.2 17.2
    Justin Allgaier 4 0 0 1 0 1 17.0 18.0
    Trevor Bayne 2 0 0 1 0 0 15.0 19.0

    Who To Watch: While Brad Keselowski has been a runner-up on the Sprint Cup side statistically, he takes one step up in the Nationwide Series at Watkins Glen with the best statistics of the drivers entered on Saturday. In four starts, Keselowski has two top fives, four top tens, 44 laps led, and an average finish of 5.2.

    Next is Nelson Piquet, Jr., who has a Nationwide Series road course win at Road America and in his lone Watkins Glen start in 2010 finished in seventh. Piquet’s road course skills are likely to have him in contention for the win.

    Others who run well at the track include: Kyle Busch, with four top fives, five top tens, 90 laps led, and an average finish of 9.3 in five starts; Kasey Kahne, with one top ten and an average finish of 10.0 in two starts; Brian Scott, with one top ten and an average finish of 12.3 in three starts; and Joey Logano, who will be driving a special No. 48 Ford this weekend, with two top fives, three top tens, eight laps led, and an average finish of 13.4 in five starts.

  • Crunching The Numbers: Chicago

    Crunching The Numbers: Chicago

    With the Sprint Cup Series drivers and teams enjoying their final off weekend of the year before beginning the grueling 17 race stretch to end the year and the Camping World Truck Series drivers gearing up for their dirt racing debut at Eldora next week, the Nationwide Series takes center stage this weekend in Chicago.

    This weekend’s STP 300 at Chicagoland Speedway marks the first of two trips the series will make to the Windy City this season. This race also marks the third leg of the Nationwide Insurance “Dash 4 Cash” with Austin Dillon, Brian Vickers, Brian Scott, and Michael Annett vying for the $100,000 bonus this weekend.

    Driver Races Wins Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Austin Dillon 2 0 1 2 0 53 2.0 4.5
    Sam Hornish, Jr. 3 0 1 3 0 23 4.7 6.3
    Joey Logano 4 1 2 3 1 214 4.2 7.8
    Justin Allgaier 6 1 2 4 0 9 12.0 8.2
    Brian Scott 5 0 2 3 1 5 15.0 8.8
    Reed Sorenson 6 0 0 5 0 30 15.7 9.5
    Parker Kligerman 2 0 0 1 0 0 15.0 10.0
    Brian Vickers 4 0 3 3 0 3 7.5 10.2
    Michael Annett 6 0 1 3 0 2 17.7 11.3
    Trevor Bayne 4 0 1 1 0 0 12.8 14.5

    Who To Watch: Although he’s never won at Chicago, Austin Dillon has the best statistics of the current Nationwide Series drivers at the track. In two starts, Dillon has one top five, two top tens, 53 laps led, and an average finish of 4.5. Dillon also has the best average start of 2.0 and with the way he has been winning poles this season, could be a serious threat for both the pole and the win.

    Others to keep an eye on on Sunday include: Sam Hornish, Jr., who has one top five, three top tens, 23 laps led and an average finish of 6.3 in three starts; Joey Logano, the only Sprint Cup regular who will be racing on the off weekend, with one win, two top fives, three top tens, one pole, 214 laps led, and an average finish of 7.8 in four starts; Justin Allgaier, the only other driver in the field with a win at Chicago, also has two top fives, four top tens, nine laps led, and an average finish of 8.2 in six starts; and Brian Scott, with two top fives, three top tens, one pole, five laps led and an average finish of 8.8 in five starts.

  • Kyle Busch Thanks Lord, Wife, and Gas Man for New Hampshire Nationwide Win

    Kyle Busch Thanks Lord, Wife, and Gas Man for New Hampshire Nationwide Win

    Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, was giving thanks in Victory Lane to everyone from his higher power, lovely wife and probably his gas man for helping him survive three green-white-checkered restarts to score the Nationwide Series win in the CNBC Prime’s The Profit 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    This was Busch’s 58th victory in 258 Nationwide Series races, his seventh win in 2013, and his fourth victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    “We didn’t want to have those late restarts,” Busch said. “We felt like we just had enough fuel to make it to the end and then everything keeps happening where guys keep wrecking and spinning to cause the cautions.”

    “Besides the hiccup on pit road, we showed our strength and am just glad we were able to take the checkered flag first,” Busch continued. “All in all, we had a great race car today.”

    Busch and his crew chief Adam Stevens admitted that fuel was of paramount concern, especially with the multiple green-white-checkered restarts. But they were able to not only have enough to do a burnout but also to drive the car into Victory Lane.

    “I knew we had a buffer of fuel but I didn’t know exactly how much,” Stevens said. “When you get down to the small numbers, the calculations get a little bit fuzzy.”

    “We kept him out there as long as we felt safe to set it up for that situation at the end,” Stevens continued. “That’s what sealed the deal for us.”

    “We pitted two laps after Brian (Vickers, runner up)  so that was part of it,” Busch said. “Brian and the No. 3 car were racing really hard to beat each other too.”

    “That all just compounded the fuel situation,” Busch continued. “I bet you there’s still probably a couple of gallons left in our tank.”

    Busch also tied Sam Ard’s record for wins from the pole in a season set in 1983, with this his fourth win from the Coors Lite Pole in 2013.

    “Wow, every time I get in Victory Lane there’s some sort of record that I tie or break,” Busch said. “That’s cool.”

    “Sam was a huge part of the sport and so there’s been a lot of records that I’ve been able to tie or break of his,” Busch continued. “It’s been fun to do.”

    “We still pay heritage to those that have made this sport and it is guys like Sam that have done a lot of great things for the sport,” Busch said. “Even down the road, maybe somebody’s going to break my records.”

    “Records are always made to be broken so we’ll see who will be better than me.”

    Brian Vickers, behind the wheel of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, finished in the runner up spot. This was his second top-10 finish in three races at New Hampshire and his ninth top-10 finish of the season.

    “It was a good run,” Vickers said. “The guys did their homework back at the shop and we had a good starting spot.”

    “We had a really fast car until we had the overheating issue,” Vickers said. “I got some trash on the grill and that definitely hurt us.”

    “Once we got that off the grill when the caution came out, we were much better,” Vickers continued. “But the third green-white-checkered, we started to run out of gas and I completely ran out coming to the finish line.”

    Austin Dillon captured not only the third place, his second top-10 at New Hampshire, but also secured the $100,000 Dash for Cash winnings for himself and the No. 3 AdvoCare Chevrolet team.

    “This race played out exactly like last year’s did for us,” Dillon said. “We didn’t get the track position we wanted after the first stop and then had a four-tire stop and the car just came to life.”

    “Super excited to win the Nationwide Dash for Cash,” Dillon continued. “With all those restarts and so close on fuel, I just thank the good Lord above for keeping fuel in that thing for us.”

    Brian Scott, driver of the No. 2 ShoreLodge Chevrolet, finished fourth and then a bevy of Ford Mustangs, driven by Michael Annett, Trevor Bayne and Sam Hornish Jr., finished fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

    “This was a great run for Richard Petty Motorsports,” Annett, driver of the No. 43 Pilot Travel Centers Ford, said. “We came back at Charlotte after the injury and just had the worst racing luck I’ve had since I’ve been in the Nationwide Series.”

    “Finally, nothing stupid happened and we kept our nose clean and brought home a top-five.”

    “We were 15th with five to go so to come out sixth was a good day,” Bayne said. “Overall it wasn’t a great day though because I felt like we had a car that could win the thing.”

    “To come out of here sixth, I will take it.”

    “Our Ford Mustang was awesome today,” Hornish Jr. said. “We were really good on a long run.”

    “We didn’t have any fall off which would have made us really good but we just didn’t get the run we needed to toward the end.”

    Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 99 SchoolTipline.com Toyota, was the highest finishing rookie, scoring the tenth spot in the race.

    “I think if anybody would have told me I would be sitting in the media center after how we were in practice and at the beginning of the race, I would have laughed,” Bowman said. “We never gave up and my crew chief made a lot of good calls and some people decided to take themselves out at the end.”

    “So, we were able to capitalize on the opportunity and come home in tenth.”

    With his eighth place finish, Regan Smith, driver of the No. 7 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet, now has a five point advantage over Sam Hornish Jr. in the point standings. The Nationwide Series will next race at Chicagoland Speedway next week.Kyle

  • Five Questions With Brian Scott

    Five Questions With Brian Scott

    [media-credit name=”facebook.com/BScottRacing” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]In my next interview I had the chance to speak with Nationwide Series driver Brian Scott. He currently drives the No. 11 Dollar General Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Here is my interview with Brian Scott.

    Q: Imagine yourself not as a driver but as a race fan. If you were to do a ride along with any driver other than yourself, who would you chose, which track and why?

    Brian Scott: If I wasn’t a race car driver I think the most exhilarating ride along would be with Jimmie Johnson at Dover. Dover is such an incredible place with the most sensation of speed anywhere we go, and Jimmie because he is amazing at the track.

    Q: If you could have a track named after you, what kind of track would it be and where would it be located?

    Brian Scott: I think to have a track named after me in my home state of Idaho or just even in the Northwest would be neat. It would be a track that was a fast short track. Something like if you merged Bristol and Phoenix together.

    Q: What is your most memorable race?

    Brian Scott: My most memorable race was the 2009 Camping World Truck Series race at Dover. I won the race, my first win in NASCAR, and it will always be a memory I cherish.

    Q: Who would you consider NASCAR’s bad boy? Golden boy?

    Brian Scott: NASCAR’s bad boy in my eyes is my teammate Kyle Busch. And the golden boy is Carl Edwards.

    Q: What advice would you give someone who wanted to be a race car driver?

    Brian Scott: I would tell anyone with aspirations of being a race car driver to work hard, be humbled, and never give up. Its a long, hard road to make it and when it all comes down to it you have to be lucky, talented and smart.