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Tag: Carl Edwards

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kobalt Tools 500

    With NASCAR traveling to the ‘Valley of the Sun’ for the next to the last race of the season, it was no surprise that the reconfigured race track was soaked instead with liquid sunshine. Yet, the track dried, veteran racer Adrian Fernandez uttered the four most famous words in racing, and the green flag waved as scheduled.

    [media-credit id=40 align=”alignright” width=”221″][/media-credit]Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 24th running of the Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

    Surprising:  While it was no surprise that PIR was new and improved, with brand new pavement as well as a new track layout, it was surprising to see the new faces that showed up in Victory Lane this weekend.

    From the Nationwide race with Sam Hornish Jr. scoring his first ever NASCAR win to young Ryan Blaney, son of Dave Blaney, notching the ‘W’ in the K&N Pro Series West finale, PIR definitely had some fresh-faced winners.

    But most surprising was Cup winner Kasey Kahne, scoring his first win since 2009, his first victory of the 2011 season, and his first victory ever at Phoenix International Raceway. Kahne’s victory came in his next to the last ride in his No. 4 Red Bull Toyota.

    “It feels great to get a win for Red Bull and get a win in the 4 car,” Kahne said. “To win a race at this level, as competitive as everything is right now, for myself, to see how happy all the pit crew guys were, the guys preparing the race cars at Red Bull, it was pretty cool.”

    “Makes you feel pretty good to be a part of that.”

    Not Surprising:  To no one’s surprise, Carl Edwards, behind the wheel of the No. 99 Aflac Ford, and his championship Chase nemesis Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, stalked each other all race long, finishing second and third respectively.

    And not surprisingly, thanks to that close finish, the championship will be decided at the final race of the season in Homestead, Florida. Edwards is currently just three points ahead of Smoke going into Ford Championship weekend, one of the closest margins between first and second in the Chase in NASCAR Sprint Cup history.

    “As far as I’m concerned, it’s a dead heat going in there,” Stewart said of the upcoming Homestead weekend. “We just got to do our job like we’ve been doing.”

    “I’m still pumped up,” Smoke continued. “I want to go to Homestead tomorrow and start. I want tomorrow to be Friday. I’m excited about it and ready to go.”

    “Yeah, Homestead is going to be a lot of fun,” Edwards said. “I really enjoy racing there.”

    “The cool thing about Homestead, you’re going to be able to move around, pass, and not get hung up as badly in traffic as you can at other racetracks,” Edwards continued. “I don’t think there’s a better place to go than Homestead to fight for this championship.”

    Surprising:  After Phoenix, with only those two drivers remaining in contention for the championship, it is indeed surprising that five-time champion Jimmie Johnson will not be six-time champ.

    Johnson, behind the wheel this weekend of a black No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, finished 14th in the race and sits currently in the fifth position in points, 68 points out of first and officially out of contention.

    “Yeah, I’m definitely disappointed that we won’t be able to go to Homestead and race for our sixth, but that’s motorsports,” Johnson said. “It’s a very tough business.”

    “What we did over the last five years was absolutely spectacular,” Johnson continued. “What we did over the last five years is abnormal. Now we’ll get a taste of normalcy.”

    Also surprisingly, Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates, especially Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. also had difficulty in the ‘Valley of the Sun.’ The driver of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet fared especially poorly, struggling with brake problems to finish 32nd.

    “We weren’t good when we got here,” Gordon said. “We were fighting and battling but then the brake problem happened and that pretty much ruined our day.”

    Dale Earnhardt, Jr., in the No. 88 Retro Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard, also struggled and finished 24th.

    “We pitted and got caught with the caution and lost a couple of laps and just never got a chance to get it back,” Junior said. “We missed it. We didn’t hit it.”

    Not Surprising:  As bad as Hendrick Motorsports team members fared, it was no surprise that the other half of the Stewart Haas Racing duo fared well. Ryan Newman, with his No. 39 US Army Veteran’s Day Tribute car covered with pictures of vets, finished top-five yet again.

    “The guys on the US Army Chevrolet, with the Veteran’s Day special paint scheme, that was an amazing comeback for us to come from 30th to fifth,” Newman said. “I’m really proud of that.”

    Surprising:  Although the two tangled at Martinsville, it was surprising to see the feud continue between Brian Vickers, soon to be out of work with his No. 83 Red Bull Toyota team exiting the sport next week, and Matt Kenseth, race pole sitter, who was looking for a good run in his No. 17 Crown Royal Ford.

    “My two year old could watch that and know it was intentional,” Kenseth said of his wreck with Vickers. “It was real pre-meditated.”

    “I don’t understand what happened,” Vickers said of his Kenseth encounter. “He just stopped on the straight-away.”

    “He wrecked me at Martinsville,” Vickers continued. “He got wrecked here. He just lifted halfway down the back stretch. I’ll count that one.”

    Kenseth finished a miserable34th, dropping two positions to sixth in the point standings. Vickers soldiered on for a 23rd place finish, languishing in the 25th position in the points.

    Not Surprising:  Having had the most miserable week leading up to the race, from being parked to losing his sponsor for the last two races, it was not surprising that Kyle Busch’s most miserable weekend continued.

    Busch had to start the race from the back of the field due to engine troubles caused by human error. He managed to work his way up through the pack, only to have the engine of his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota expire on Lap 214.

    “It’s just devastating,” Busch said. “To go through turmoil like this, all you can do is group together and pull through it and try to persevere and move on.”

    “Catastrophic engine failure,” Busch continued. “It’s terrible to have one in a weekend, let alone two in a weekend.”

    “It’s certainly a tough few weeks and all we can do is look forward to next week at Homestead.”

    Surprising:  It was surprising to see another crew swap during the race, this time for AJ Allmendinger, whose pit crew let him down during a stop, most likely costing the driver of the No. 43 Wix Filters Ford, a race win.

    Allmendinger’s crew was swapped out for the crew of David Ragan, another Ford driver who was not in the hunt, helping the Dinger to a top-five finish.

    “We were losing four or five spots on a stop,” Allmendinger said. “You can’t do that and win a race and those guys are pretty good.”

    “Thanks to the 6 guys, our Ford teammates coming over and pitting the last two stops,” Dinger said. “They did a good job.”

    Not Surprising:  To no one’s surprise, Allmendinger’s Richard Petty Motorsports teammate Marcos Ambrose also had a good run at PIR. The driver of the No. 9 DeWalt Ford finished a respectable eighth.

    “We had a good car today,” the Aussie said. “We were solid all day long. It bodes even better for the first half of next season.”

    Surprising:  Since Jeff Burton has had a fairly difficult 2011 season, it was a bit surprising to see the driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Global Mining Chevrolet end up with a fourth place finish. The top-five finishing driver hopes that the turnaround will continue right into the 2012 season.

    “The Caterpillar Chevrolet was good, really, all day,” Burton said. “When things are tough, you find out what people are made of. My group has just kept digging and kept their heads up.”

    “Nobody has quit on this team, not once,” Burton continued. “I’m real proud of that.”

    “We’ve run really well the last month and hopefully we will build some momentum going into next year.”

    Not Surprising:  With no ride secured for next year, it was not surprising to see David Reutimann, ousted driver of the No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing, drive his guts out for a seventh place finish in the next to the last race of the season.

    “We qualified in the top-10 and we were able to stay up there all day long,” Rooty said. “I’m proud of the crew guys for the job they did today. They really stuck with me.”

    “This is a great group of guys, probably one of the best in the garage and they’ve been with me a long time,” Reutimann continued. “We have one more week together and I want to go out on a high note at Homestead.”

     

  • Matty’s Picks: Vol. 27 – Phoenix – November 13, 2011

    Matty’s Picks: Vol. 27 – Phoenix – November 13, 2011

    Two races to go in the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup, and this week we head to a track that may be the biggest juggernaut of them all, Phoenix International Raceway. After an extensive facelift this summer, PIR will prove to be a handful for the 43 drivers that take the green flag on Sunday.

    [media-credit name=”phoenixinternationalspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]A year ago, International Speedway Corporation and the Avondale City Council announced the plans for a $100 long-term improvement for PIR. The plans included a $15 million dollar repaving project (the track’s first since 1990) and the construction of a new media center. Along with the new pavement came a reconfiguration of the famed “dogleg”, a widening of the front stretch to 62 feet, addition of concrete to the pit stalls, as well as progressive banking in the turns.

    The dogleg renovations included; pushing the corner out by 95 feet, changing the radius of the backstretch bump to 500 feet, and adding progressive banking to the dogleg from 10-11 degrees. The corners of PIR are now progressively banked from 10-11 degrees in turns one and two, and from 8-9 degrees in turns three and four. The new track has been described almost as a “rollercoaster-like drive” due to the elevation changes as the drivers dip down into the dogleg, rises on exit, and dives back down into turn number three.

    Passing has been a bit of controversy in PIR’s new surface’s short history, as many drivers are finding it difficult to find grip outside the one loosely held together groove. PIR has made numerous attempts to foster passing on the new surface including “tons of laps” by driving schools on soft tires.

    After a testing session just yesterday at PIR, Elliot Sadler expressed his concerns about the new surface and the racing this weekend, “I actually got to the 82 (Reed Sorenson) that was about a half a second of a lap slower than I was. I really couldn’t do anything with him. I didn’t want to make a move, definitely on the outside, to make a pass.”

    Defending NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion, Brad Keselowski also weighed in on the underdeveloped second groove following Thursdays test session: “It found me and I found it. We weren’t looking for each other. It’s just very, very slick. There’s just a lack of stability.”

    This weekend’s Kobalt Tools 500 may or may not prove to be exciting to watch, especially if Kyle Busch ends up in Victory Lane. (Joke’s on you M&M’s)

    Texas Recap

    It was the Texas Shootout that everyone was looking for last weekend in the Lone Star State, and the guys in the noontime dual couldn’t have been any more storybook.

    Carl Edwards entered the AAA Texas 500 with the championship points lead, and also left with the lead, only a bit slimmer margin over race-winner Tony Stewart. We’ll cut to lap 265 when Edwards and Stewart restarted side by side on the front row following the final caution of the race. Stewart felt confident in holding off a late race surge from Edwards, should he overtake the No. 99 on the restart.

    Stewart’s scenario played out on the final restart, resulting in my Winner Pick being the first to suck in the fumes left behind by the No. 14 Chevrolet on his way to his fourth victory of the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

    Edwards spoke after his runner-up finish last Sunday: “Tony (Stewart) and those guys stepped it up and I’m proud of my guys for hanging on and for still having the point lead,” Edwards said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to the final two races. Although we would have loved to have won today in our Aflac Fusion, to be three points ahead and then to have the third and fourth-place guys farther behind, it looks like it’s truly going to come down to Tony and I, and that’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to get pretty exciting and I’m just glad Tony and I are out there and we can race for this thing.”

    Marcos Ambrose, last week’s Dark Horse pick, was on the right track to score a Top-10 going into the final restart, but struggled throughout the last 70’ish laps to find grip. A two-tire call late in the race was the call from Crew Chief Todd Parrott, a call that would not sit well with the Tasmanian’s race car.

    As the lights came on at Texas Motor Speedway last Sunday, a group of cars moved up in the running order, and a group of cars began to fall in the running order, struggling to find grip on the 1.5-mile quad oval. Unfortunately for me, Marcos Ambrose was in the group of cars struggling to keep pace with the front-runners.

    It wasn’t for lack of effort that Ambrose finished in 11th as he raced his way all the way up from 26th on Lap 302, but for the third straight week I end the weekend without any Dark Horse points.

    Phoenix Picks

    Dark Horse Pick

    I’ll start with my Dark Horse pick this week, as I feel fairly certain that most of my readers may not think of this guy to actually in this weekend at PIR, until you see the practice speeds posted from earlier today. He came close to a win last week, but lost his gamble on fuel strategy late in the race at Texas Motor Speedway.

    Oddly enough, Jeff Burton was the fastest car on the track last month in the Goodyear and EFI testing session at PIR. 36 teams took to the track on October 4th, and Jeff Burton was on-track for 125 laps. He was fastest on the speed charts during that testing session, and coincidentally was fastest earlier today during NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice.

    It’s not really fair to use previous finishes for my defense of this pick because of the recent transformation of Phoenix International Raceway, so the data I have collected and referenced has come post-new-dogleg era of PIR. On the second day of testing back in October, Burton ran another 120 laps in his RCR Chevrolet, peaking out at 136.747 MPH on the speed charts. For his efforts, Burton was awarded 6th place on the leaderboard out of 35 teams.

    This is the first time I’ve picked Burton for any pick this season, and I’m hoping a new face to Matty’s picks will bring me some late-season luck.

    Winner Pick

    This marks my 6th time picking Jimmie Johnson as a Winner Pick this season, right on par with his winning percentage across the past 5 seasons at Hendrick Motorsports. I’m beginning to wonder if I am slowly becoming a closet Jimmie Johnson bandwagon’eer at this point, but all I have to do is point to past finishes at PIR to justify my pick this week. An average career finish of 4.8 at PIR has me exited this week, even though I said earlier I would NOT use prior finishes as justification for a pick…

    If there’s one guy that can adapt to change, its Jimmie Johnson, as he showed in his two days of testing at PIR back in October. At the end of Day 1 testing, the No. 48 Lowe’s team was shown 10th on the speed charts after running 85 laps. Chad Knaus went back to the drawing board with the top of the charts on his mind. Though Johnson did not reach the top of the speed charts on the second day of testing, he did manage to find another 8-tenths of a second around PIR on Day 2 of testing. Those 8-tenths were good enough for Johnson to be shown second on the board.

    The only thing that has me nervous about this pick is Johnson’s less than impressive speeds earlier today in Sprint Cup Practice. The No. 48 Car was shown 33rd best after the first practice today, and qualifying that far back in the field could prove to be no-man’s land come Sunday afternoon.

    That’s all for this week, stay tuned next week for the 2011 season finale in South Florida.

    Until Next Time…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Texas

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Texas

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Tony Stewart: Stewart out dueled Carl Edwards at Texas, holding off his championship rival to win the AAA Texas 500. Stewart led 173 laps on the day, and now trails Edwards by only three points in the Sprint Cup standings.

    [media-credit name=”Mike Holloway” align=”alignright” width=”261″][/media-credit]“Last week I said Edwards should be worried,” Stewart said. “This week, tell him ‘I’m coming.’ He knows where I’m going, and I do, as well, because I’ve ‘been there before.’

    “As I’ve said before, I don’t care about second. Second place is for losers. Or is it? I’ve won four races in the Chase, yet I’m only second in the points. Apparently, second place isn’t for losers.”

    2. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished second at Texas to Tony Stewart, as the two battled over the last third of the AAA Texas 500. Edwards’ eight-point lead in the point standings was trimmed by five, and now he leads Stewart by only three.

    “Who says you need to win races to win a championship?” Edwards said. “Certainly not the NASCAR rule book. So far, Stewart has been ‘great’ in four races. I’ve been ‘good’ in eight. So far, so ‘good.’ If I win the Cup without a victory, I’ll endorse the headline ‘My Goodness! Edwards Wins Cup.’”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished 13th at Texas, and remained third in the point standings. He now trails Carl Edwards by 33 with two races left in the Chase.

    “Kyle Busch took stupidity to a new level,” Harvick said, “for the third or fourth time this year. Despite having over 100 wins in NASCAR competition, he’s still ‘lost it’ more than he’s won. In Texas, NASCAR decided his fate for him. Call it a ‘parking lot.’ As they say, ‘M&M’s melt in your hands, Kyle Busch sits on his.”

    4. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished fourth in the Texas AAA 500, posting his fourth top-5 result of the Chase. He moved up to fourth in the point standings and now trails Carl Edwards by 38.

    “Kyle Busch is in a class by himself,” Kenseth said. “That is, anger management class.”

    5. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski struggled at Texas, finishing a lap down on his way to a 24th. He fell one spot to fifth in the point standings where he is 49 out of first.

    “I’m not counting myself out yet,” Keselowski said. “Anything’s possible. That is, anything’s possible….with Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers both in the field.”

    6. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished 14th at Texas and remained sixth in the point standings. He is 55 out of first, and will be Sprint Cup champion for only two more weeks.

    “So, will it be Carl Edwards or Tony Stewart as next Sprint Cup champion?” Johnson said. “If Creedence Clearwater Revival made that query, they would surely say, ‘And I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop the reign? CCR rules. RCR doesn’t.

    “I’m going to say something that I haven’t had to say in half a decade. And that’s ‘It just wasn’t my year.’”

    7. Jeff Gordon: Gordon posted his second straight top-10 finish, coming home sixth at Texas after a third at Martinsville. He improved two spots to eighth in the point standings, 81 out of first.

    “Much like a Kyle Busch apology,” Gordon said, “it’s ‘too little, too late.’ If he continues to go rogue, so will his sponsors.”

    8. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished seventh at Texas and climbed to seventh in the point standings. He trails Carl Edwards by 79 points.

    “I didn’t make the Chase last year,” Earnhardt said, “so this year would have to be considered an improvement. I went from the ‘outside looking in’ to the ‘inside looking in.’”

    9. Kurt Busch: Busch finished 30th at Texas, two laps down, and fell one spot to ninth in the point standings. He trails Carl Edwards by 87.

    “What’s that continuous high-pitched sound heard on the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil radio frequency?” Busch said. “I don’t know, but it sounds like a ‘whine.’”

    10. Kyle Busch: Busch was banned from Sunday’s Cup race after blatantly wrecking Ron Hornaday under caution in Friday’s trucks race. Busch retaliated after the two trucks made contact when they went three-wide to navigate around a slower truck. Busch is now 100 points out of first in the Sprint Cup standings and has been officially eliminated from championship contention.

    “If I had it to do over,” Busch said, “I’d do it differently. By that, I’m referring to my career, and not Friday’s truck race.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: AAA Texas 500

    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 43rd 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 12th 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 24th 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 22nd.

    “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 24th.

    “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 10th 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 21st.

    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 33rd.

    “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 20th.

    “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.”

     

  • Confidence A Double Sided Coin

    Confidence A Double Sided Coin

    A long time ago, the short track ace and 89 Winston Cup Champion Rusty Wallace made the statement, “It’s not cocky if you can get it done. It’s confident.” Then there was the standard that was attributed to Dale Earnhardt, “When the green flag drops the BS stops.” Both come down to one thing, if you can do what you say you can do you are speaking from a position of confidence not arrogance. Tony Stewart has proven over the last 8 weeks that he is confident and can back up what he says.

    [media-credit name=”Mike Holloway” align=”alignright” width=”232″][/media-credit]Confidence turned around Tony Stewart’s season and made him a serious contender being only 3 points out of the chase lead. But confidence can be a bad thing in excess. This weekend we saw that as well with Kyle Busch who was parked for the weekend after the Camping World Truck Race in which he retaliated and drove Ron Hornaday into the outside Safer Barrier, destroying both trucks. When asked if he was concerned about NASCAR parking him or removing him from the competition on Saturday and Sunday he said he wasn’t concerned and didn’t care.

    On Saturday morning, when NASCAR handed down it’s decision to maintain his parked status through this weekend, he seemed more concerned and to care a great deal more. Busch issued a letter of apology to his fans, the drivers, the team, and ownership for his actions. He watched the race from atop of the pit box and seemed to be seriously depressed and contrite. Although, he has granted no interviews or made any statements other than the letter of apology that he issued Saturday night, the emotion was all over his face.

    The question was asked by many of why Kyle Busch and not Carl Edwards. The answer came from Mike Helton in the form of history. Kyle had already been placed on probation this year for similar aggressive driving. And basically they found the line for have at it boys. That was the limit and he went past it.

    The real victim this weekend was Ron Hornaday. If you take yourself out. If you make a mistake or the engine blows and you are taken out of the championship hunt it’s difficult but you can swallow it. When you are taken out for a normal racing incident that has to be gut wrenching.

    I think that the one thing that we are missing here is the probability of contributing factors to the incident. The length of the season is a primary factor. Sprint Cup drivers compete for 10 months out of the year. That is longer than a woman carries a baby. And if you ask any one who has had that honor, they will tell you that it is an exhausting experience. The drivers are fatigued simply by the length of the season. When you add the stress of the chase and the PR commitments that go with it you have compounded the issue yet again. It comes down to one common factor, they are tired. We all know that people deal with tired differently. Kyle is known to be short tempered and aggressive. He had gotten himself together and showed himself worthy of his championship contention until 3 weeks before the end of the season and after 4 weeks of being involved in wrecks. He snapped. What he did was very very wrong.

    NASCAR’s action was very appropriate. But the solution maybe not in parking him but looking at the cause. Obviously the young man’s temper is a part of it. But the schedule and pressure of the chase also have to be considered as a part of that.

    Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards are obviously handling the stress and long schedule much better. Leaving Texas the Championship race is separated by 3 points going into the “new” Phoenix. Stewart has proved that he and his team are worthy contenders and capable of taking Carl Edwards to the very line in Homestead. Stewarts dominating performance at Texas left little doubt that Smoke intends to sit at the front table in Las Vegas. Carl Edwards left no doubt that he has the same intention.

    Perhaps the chase contender performance that slipped through the cracks was that of the 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt struggled all day but stayed solidly in the top 20 all race. Finally, crew chief Steve Letarte hit the nail on the head on the next to last caution and Earnhardt flew through the field into the top ten. The final stop of the race came under green and Earnhardt’s crew redeemed themselves for earlier chase race failures getting him out and picking up one spot when all the stops shook out. The 88 finished 7th and moved up to 7th in the points. He made his move quietly and without fan fare. But the last 2 weeks have shown the Earnhardt that JRNation had hoped to see from the beginning of the chase.

    The 48 of Jimmie Johnson continued to struggle eliminating themselves from any possibility of recovering for the 6th championship in a row. Johnson who spun the 48 off of turn 4 late in the race and then received a commitment cone violation for driving straight to his pit stall rather than going around the track finished a hard fought 14th while maintaining 6th in the points 24 points ahead of team mate Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    The race itself was a long drawn out follow the leader affair. No different than the spring race at Texas. But it’s hard to pan the race with a promoter like Eddie Gossage. Gossage put on an incredible show. From the infield rodeo to the incredible black hat 6 shooter display in victory lane. Without a doubt Eddie Gossage has stepped up and into the role of the most theatrical and entertaining promoter in all of racing.

    With that in mind, the racing on the track was unexciting. But the activities that surrounded it made it difficult not to enjoy the weekend even from afar.

    Confidence is a powerful thing. Whether it’s positive or negative it is the attitude that will carry us through on top or leave us flat and defeated. Talent will carry you a very long way. It will smooth ruffled feathers. It will open difficult doors. But the one thing that talent can’t over come is a negative attitude. But nothing lasts forever, and attitudes change, when they do confidence reigns and talented young men become Championship contenders.

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * * * * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    Congratulations to Kevin Harvick on his victory in the Camping World Truck Series and his victory as in the car owners points in that series.

    Congratulations to Trevor Bayne on his first Nationwide Series victory.

    Congratulations to Tony Stewart on his second consecutive victory in the Sprint Cup Series.

    To all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.

  • Where Is the Excitement?

    Where Is the Excitement?

    There is more excitement on the NASCAR scene than I’ve seen for ages. We have a real championship battle and enough drama to make the daily soap operas cringe in fear, but yet there doesn’t seem to be any buzz about this final run. And I wonder why. It mystifies me.

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”221″][/media-credit]Tony Stewart has moved to within three points of a third championship, coming from a position that can only be described as futile. He’s won four of the eight races in the Chase and still people seem unmoved for some reason. I thought the excitement of someone else, anyone winning a NASCAR championship would be exciting to fans, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Far from it. Maybe it’s the participants.

    If you took a poll of NASCAR fans, I suspect most would vote for their favorite to be Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Gordon, and maybe even Kevin Harvick. Unfortunately, none of those guys are going to win this year. Jimmie Johnson, the guy who has won the last five championships, might even get a few votes, just because. Instead, we have Carl Edwards in the lead, if only by a minimal margin fighting the “great bully,” Tony Stewart. Both are great drivers and worthy of a championship. In fact, Stewart is a two-time Sprint Cup champion and Edwards has won the Nationwide championship. So, what’s the problem?

    Maybe it has to do with the whole system. Stewart languished far to the back of the standings until the Chase started. Finally, he caught fire while Edwards used consistency, the reason the points systems has worked forever, to stay at the top of the charts. Edwards has only one win, something that is really strange considering the equipment he has, and yet despite a better average finish and overall performance, is struggling to hold on. While the favorites have been good, they find themselves hopelessly out of the running to an also-ran during the regular season and a guy who just finishes in the top five for most of the season. Kind of like the year Matt Kenseth won the championship with one win. It’s just not fan inspiring. Yes the St. Louis Cardinals won the MLB championship with the same scenario, but that is baseball and not racing. For years, racing has been based on track championships and those always took a season and crowed the champion and not over the last 10 races. Pulling NASCAR into that system is only going to be problematic.

    I find it exciting. We have a horse race with the bully Stewart telling Edwards to watch his back and making it come true. We have the consistent Edwards coming close, but falling prey to the NASCAR rule about bonus points, which I’ve always thought was stupid and not productive, And the fight is on.

    With two races to go, it’s anyone’s championship, and like those Cardinals, it appears that only a bad day by Stewart will decide the championship. The Texas Rangers had those bad days, and it’s only a bad day from either Stewart or Edwards that will decide the championship.

    ***

    Kyle Busch was parked by NASCAR for taking the truck of Ron Hornaday, Jr. out during a caution during a caution flag on Friday night. Busch was also banned from participating in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races on Saturday and Sunday. Regardless of how fans felt about this turn of events, it robbed Busch of any chance of finishing other than last in the Chase. Many feel that is justice, and maybe they are right. The bigger issue is Busch’s future with Joe Gibbs Racing in the Sprint Cup Series. Sponsors have been patient with Busch over the years, but will this be the last straw? Time will tell, but this writer’s opinion is that this might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

  • Matty’s Picks: Vol. 26 – Texas – November 6, 2011

    Matty’s Picks: Vol. 26 – Texas – November 6, 2011

    I am a fan of old western movies, (some of my favorites include High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josy Wales, and North To Alaska) and this week couldn’t be any more of a cliché storyline showdown if you asked for it.

    [media-credit name=”texasmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]First, the race takes place in the Lone Star State, the most cliché western setting on the face of the Earth. Second, The Chase for the Sprint Cup is boiling down to a two-man showdown between points-leader, Carl Edwards and two-time Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart. The lead has been shaved to eight with just three weekends remaining in the 2011 campaign.

    Third, the video and graphics posted on Texas Motor Speedway’s homepage tells it all. President of Texas Motor Speedway, Eddie Gossage might be dubbed the Don King of NASCAR after this weekend’s hype of the Stewart/Edwards saga.

    Not to add insult to injury but fourth, Tony Stewart’s comments in Victory Lane last weekend at Martinsville Speedway was the quote heard ‘round the world: “Carl Edwards had better be real worried. That’s all I’ve got to say. He’s not going to sleep for the next three weeks.”

    This race has certainly gained the attention of race fans across the globe, and may be more hyped than the “Thrilla in Manila” before all is said and done.

    Martinsville Recap

    With qualifying rained out last Saturday, Denny Hamlin would start the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota 11th, and quickly made it known that I had made a solid Winner Pick. An early incident would force Hamlin to Pit Road for fresh slicks, restarting him at the rear of the field. The fresh Goodyear’s were all he needed to hit the point by lap 63.

    As all race fans know, 500 laps at Martinsville is an eternity…Hamlin, the favorite at the historic short track knows that the key to winning at the paper clip is staying out of trouble. Caution by caution, the race drew on until Hamlin regained the lead at lap 320.

    With 81 laps remaining, Hamlin was shown fourth on the leaderboard, but could not find the speed to run with eventual race-winner, but enough to fend off the lower-half of the Top-10, finishing in 5th. My Winner Pick mentioned the chaos last week after the checkered flew: “For Martinsville for sure. People just have no regard. I would get into guys and then I know it’s coming — I’m going to get slammed in the next corner. It’s just one of those things where it’s frustrating to watch because you see some of these cars getting torn up on accidents. Accidents happen and some these drivers need to realize that.”

    As for my Dark Horse Pick, I was at a severe disadvantage when I submitted my column last week before ANY on-track activity at the paper clip. After starting 20th, Juan Montoya drove his way into the Top-15, overcame two costly penalties on Pit Road, but still finished outside the Top-20 in 22nd.

    I said last week that I was going out on a limb by picking the Colombia native, and that’s exactly the result I received when the hoodless No. 42 Target Chevrolet crossed the finish line in 22nd last week.

    Texas Picks

    Dark Horse Pick

    Marcos Ambrose is my guy this week.

    Ambrose is starting to get the hang of these fast 1.5-mile intermediate tracks. His performances this season Texas and her two twin sisters, Charlotte and Atlanta, has proved that Ambrose is a threat when the haulers pull into Fort Worth. Ambrose finished 6th in our first trip to Texas Motor Speedway this spring, he matched that finish at Charlotte in the Coke Zero 600, and one-up’ed himself just three weeks ago in the Bank of America 500, finishing 5th.

    His only finish outside the Top-10 out of the three sister tracks was Labor Day weekend at Atlanta where he finished 21st. Prior to this season, Ambrose hadn’t scored a Top-10 at Texas Motor Speedway. Ambrose will bring the same chassis that has finished so well this season (No. 735) at Texas, Charlotte, and Atlanta,

    He is coming off a fairly dismal, 29th-place finish last week at Martinsville and looks forward to Sunday’s AAA Texas 500: “I enjoy going to Texas Motor Speedway. I have run well there in the past and it’s always seemed to be a good track for me. We’ve been good on 1.5-mile tracks this year and I think we’ve got the intermediate track setup figured out. We are taking the same car we finished sixth with earlier this year back to Texas this weekend, so I’m optimistic about our chances and I expect to see the DEWALT Ford finish in the Top 10 Sunday.”

    Winner Pick

    Its only right that I pick one of the two drivers taking part in the Showdown In The Lone State State this week. That being said, I’m going with the driver of the duo that has yet to score a win in this 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

    After this spring’s trip to Texas, Carl Edwards was shown 3rd on the leaderboard behind race-winner Matt Kenseth, and non-chaser Clint Bowyer.  This was the first trip to Texas since 2008 that Edwards scored a Top-5, following a drought that lasted the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

    Edwards swept the races at Texas in 2008, and scored his first victory at Texas in the fall of 2005. Edwards has finished outside the Top-10 just one time during this 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup, his 11th place finish coming at the roulette wheel, Talladega Superspeedway.

    It’s almost a lock for a Top-5 this week for me, and with Edwards’ attitude working for me, my confidence level couldn’t be any higher: “We couldn’t be coming to a better race track. This track has been great for us. Practice went really well. We’ve got two Fords one and two and we’ve got as good a car and engine as we’ve ever brought here, so that’s good and I’m just ready for qualifying tonight. We’d like to qualify well and get a good starting position. It would be really nice if we could qualify on the pole and get that first pit box. That would be spectacular, but this race is one of the most fun races we go to.” 

    That’s it for this week, stay tuned next week as The 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup heads to the desert…

    Until next week…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

    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 31st 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 17th  after 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 27th, 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 14th at Martinsville, and since winning at Dover on October 9th, has not posted a top-10 finish. He now sits eighth in the point standings, 58 out of first.

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

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Tums Fast Relief 500

    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 63rd 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 200th win.

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

    In spite of not achieving the 200th HMS win milestone, Gordon in particular still made history. Gordon made his 650th 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 31st 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 35th 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 12th 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 11th, 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 17th.

    “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.”

     

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

    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 11th-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 18th 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 12th 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 32nd, 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 26th 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 15th 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 33rd, 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 36th-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 25th, 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!’”