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Tag: Carl Edwards

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]1. Carl Edwards: Edwards scored his third-straight top-5 finish, posting a third in the Bank Of America 500. Edwards increased his lead in the point standings, and now holds a five-point advantage over Kevin Harvick.

    “A third place when Jimmie Johnson finishes 34th,” Edwards said, “sure feels a lot better than a third place when he finishes first. But if there’s one place to make a huge comeback in the points, it’s Talladega. I just hope I’m still ‘running’ when the race ends. That is, I hope my car is still running at the end.”

    2. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished sixth at Charlotte, matching his result at Kansas last week, and stayed right on the tail of Carl Edwards, who finished third. Harvick now trails Edwards by five.

    “It’s interesting,” Harvick said, “that the top 2 drivers in the point standings don’t have a single win in the Chase. Dare I say, “Consistency wins championships.” NASCAR doesn’t want to hear that, especially after a Matt Kenseth win.”

    3. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth passed Kyle Busch on a restart with 25 laps to go and cruised to the win in the Bank Of America 500. It was Kenseth’s fourth consecutive top-6 finish, and powered him forward two places in the standings, where he trails Carl Edwards by seven.

    “Please understand if I’m characteristically silent,” Kenseth said. “It’s because I’m thanking my sponsors.”

    4. Kyle Busch: Busch led a race-high 111 laps at Charlotte, but lost the lead 25 laps from the end when Matt Kenseth nosed by on a restart. Busch held off Carl Edwards down the stretch for second, and improved four places in the point standings to fourth, 18 out of first.

    “I’m certainly pleased,” Busch said. “”I started last after an engine change and still managed a runner-up finish. Obviously, I have better success when I start last than when I start first.

    “Carl and I really battled in the closing laps. As you probably saw, he stuck his head into my car and had a few words for me. I was shocked—that, judging by Carl’s high opinion of himself, that his head would even fit in the car.”

    5. Tony Stewart: Stewart bounced back from two Chase-killing finishes in Dover and Kansas with a ninth at Charlotte, his 14th top-10 result of the year. Stewart is 25 points out of the lead in the point standings with five races remaining.

    “I’ve been declared ‘dead’ and then ‘alive’ more than any Chaser,” Stewart said. “Luckily, I have sponsors for next year, so there’s no danger of anyone pulling the ‘plug’ on me.”

    6. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson’s wave of momentum after winning at Kansas came to a stunning halt when he slammed the Charlotte Motor Speedway wall 17 laps from the end in the Bank Of America 500. He finished 34th, and  fell from third to eighth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 35 out of first.

    “That was one heck of an ‘impact,’” Johnson said. “And I hit the wall pretty hard, too.

    “My detractors often say I’m too ‘vanilla.’ Not any more, because I just made the Chase a lot more interesting.”

    7. Kurt Busch: Busch finished 13th in the Bank Of America 500 and dropped one spot in the Sprint Cup point standings to seventh, 27 out of first.

    “I won’t shed a tear for the plight of Jimmie Johnson,” Busch said. “But I know what he must be feeling. I’ve taken ‘hard rights’ like that before myself. It hurt the next day, mostly in my jaw. But I believe Jimmie will be feeling this for about five weeks.”

    8. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski struggled at Charlotte, finishing one lap down in 16th. He fell two places in the point standings to sixth, 25 out of first.

    “I’m 25 off the lead,” Keselowski said, “but only two ahead of my Penske teammate Kurt Busch. We may be too far back to be considered legitimate contenders for the Sprint Cup. That’s okay, because we’re used to being no one’s favorites.”

    9. Ryan Newman: Newman led six laps at Charlotte and finished tenth, his first top-10 in the last four races. He improved one place to tenth in the point standings and is 61 out of first.

    “I may be out of contention for the Sprint Cup,” Newman said, “but I’ve got a great seat to watch the second half of the Chase develop. There are possibly seven drivers with a chance to win the Cup. It will be interesting to see things unfold, and which drivers fold.”

    10. Jeff Gordon: Gordon was working on a potential top-10 finish when contact with Kasey Kahne sent him for a spin on a lap 43 restart. He finished 21st, and is now 11th in the point standings, 66 out of first.

    “Jimmie Johnson may be down,” Gordon said, “but he’s not out. I guarantee you he’s still visualizing winning the Chase. Jimmie’s still intent on winning an historic sixth-straight Sprint Cup title. He’s thinking ‘margin of victory,’ while most of his detractors are thinking a non-historic ‘marginal victory’ by some first-time Cup winner.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Carl Edwards Scores Victory at the Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage at Charlotte

    Carl Edwards Scores Victory at the Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage at Charlotte

    Carl Edwards only led five laps in Friday’s race but they were the ones that mattered. On lap 195, with a little help from teammate Trevor Bayne, Edwards took the lead from Kyle Busch and never looked back, bringing his Roush Fenway Ford into Victory Lane.

    “If Trevor hadn’t given me that push,” said Edwards, “we would have had a really hard time. So [it was] just a really, really good team effort.” This was his 37th victory in the Nationwide Series.

    Kyle Busch finished second followed by Trevor Bayne in third, who scored his first top-five finish in three races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Elliot Sadler in fourth and Brian Scott rounded out the top five.

    Elliot Sadler also claimed the Nationwide Insurance Dash4Cash $100,000 bonus and won $100,000 for NASCAR fan Joe Thornton of New Port riche, Fla.

    “It’s a thrill just to come to the races, but to win the $100,000 I’m speechless,” Thornton said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do with it — my wife wants to pay the house off, we’ll see. It’s just unbelievable, you know.”

    Sadler is now only 15 points behind points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    Paul Menard, winner of the Coors Light Pole Award, brought the field to green Friday evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway but only led the first 26 laps.

    Brad Keselowski seemed to have the most dominant car of the night, leading 119 laps. But on lap 170 he suddenly slowed due to a tire going down.

    In the end, it was a battle between Edwards and Kyle Busch with Trevor Bayne making a late charge in the final five laps. But Edwards was able to hold off Busch and the remainder of the field for the win.

    Jack Roush, car owner of the No. 60 Fastenal Ford, was ecstatic and a little amazed after the race.

    “I think I’m gonna lose my mind here,” he said. He continued, “Carl wrecked his car today and the car decided it wouldn’t give up. I’m going to talk to that car and I’m going to give that car a kiss tonight.”

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr retains the points lead followed by Elliot Sadler, Aric Almirola, Justin Allgaier and Reed Sorenson in fifth.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage, Charlotte Motor Speedway
    =========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 5 60 Carl Edwards Ford 0
    2 6 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 0
    3 11 16 Trevor Bayne Ford 41
    4 12 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 41
    5 8 11 Brian Scott Toyota 39
    6 3 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 0
    7 10 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 37
    8 1 33 Paul Menard Chevrolet 0
    9 2 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 36
    10 9 32 Brian Vickers Chevrolet 0
    11 17 30 Jason Leffler Chevrolet 33
    12 7 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 32
    13 19 66 Steve Wallace Toyota 31
    14 13 7 Josh Wise Chevrolet 30
    15 14 88 Aric Almirola Chevrolet 29
    16 20 9 Kenny Wallace Toyota 28
    17 22 62 Michael Annett Toyota 27
    18 27 81 Blake Koch * Dodge 26
    19 4 20 Joey Logano Toyota 0
    20 23 19 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 24
    21 32 15 Timmy Hill * Ford 24
    22 36 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 22
    23 31 150 T.J. Bell Chevrolet 0
    24 41 28 Derrike Cope Chevrolet 20
    25 39 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 19
    26 33 39 Joey Gase Ford 18
    27 37 52 Kevin Lepage Chevrolet 17
    28 18 38 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 0
    29 24 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 15
    30 35 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet 14
    31 34 14 Eric McClure Chevrolet 13
    32 15 182 Reed Sorenson Dodge 12
    33 38 40 Charles Lewandoski * Chevrolet 11
    34 16 99 Ryan Truex * Toyota 0
    35 42 70 Angela Cope Chevrolet 9
    36 40 87 Kevin Conway Toyota 8
    37 28 97 Joe Nemechek Toyota 7
    38 25 104 Tim Andrews Ford 6
    39 26 103 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 5
    40 30 141 Johnny Chapman Chevrolet 4
    41 21 147 Scott Speed Chevrolet 3
    42 29 142 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 0
    43 43 44 Jeff Green Chevrolet 1
  • Edwards Wins Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage

    Edwards Wins Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage

    courtesy of www.onpitroad.com

    Carl Edwards has won the 30th Annual Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage here at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was a rocky road to the backflip tonight, but in the end it was a restart from hell from Kyle Busch that allowed Edwards the win.
    Bypassing the first 180 laps of tonight’s 200 lap event, it all boiled down to 3 drivers when the checkered flag flew over the hood of the No. 60 Fastenal Ford.
    Paul Menard won the Coors Light Pole Award earlier today in NASCAR Nationwide Series Qualifying, but led only the first 26laps of tonight’s event when points leader, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. threw his hat in the mix as possible contenders for the win.
    A late race caution was not the issue for then-leader Brad Keselowski, it was slowing down off of Turn number four here at Charlotte Motor Speedway that took Keselowski out of contention for the win tonight. The spin under caution put Kyle Busch to the lead with around 20 laps left, but the incident would not mark the end of the fireworks in the last 30 miles of tonight’s race.
    Fast-forwarding again to the final restart, with just 4 laps left, Kyle Busch chose the outside line as his preferred line of restart. The restart dragged all the way within 30 feet of the pink Start/Finish Line before the throttles were hammered. Busch squandered heading into turn number one, and the fight was on for the win with Stenhouse Jr., Edwards, and Rowdy Busch all in the hunt for the point.
    It was Edwards that flexed his muscles by the time the field may their way back to my vantage point off the end of Pit Road here at Charlotte, and it was a 6 car-length lead that Edwards would take with 3 miles left to run. Kyle Busch made his best efforts to reel in the battered No. 60 Fastenal Ford Ford Mustang (the car was seriously trashed, Jack Roush said he would actually kiss the car later tonight for staying together) but would only manage to sneak a peek under Edwards in the final turn.
    Kyle Busch blamed the Toyota horsepower for the squandered attempt to take the win, but it was the Fastenal parts of Carl Edward’s No. 60 Ford Fusion that held up after he put a “Charlotte Stripe” on his torn racecar.
    Edward’s victory is his 37th in 241 NASCAR Nationwide Series Starts, and his 8th this season. Trevor Bayne finished third as the highest finishing Nationwide Series points contender.
    In the points, Elliott Sadler trimmed Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s lead to just 15 as the Nationwide Series takes a two week break from on-track action.
  • Tony Stewart Wins Pole for the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte

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

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

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

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

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

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

    The remaining Chase contenders qualified as follows:

    Kevin Harvick – 14th

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 15th

    Denny Hamlin – 17th

    Kurt Busch – 20th

    Jeff Gordon – 23rd

    Kyle Busch – 25th

    Brad Keselowski – 26th.

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

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

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

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Kansas

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “That’s pretty awesome on their part.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “Hopefully, we’ll get one next time.”

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

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

  • Keselowski Rules the Kansas Lottery 300

    Keselowski Rules the Kansas Lottery 300

    It was a near perfect day for Brad Keselowski, a front row starting spot, a car with an excellent feel from the beginning. When the green flag dropped it became evident that it was a perfect car too.

    [media-credit id=2 align=”alignright” width=”241″][/media-credit]As a matter of fact if it hadn’t been for a miscue that caused him to stall the car on pit road and come out of the pits in 14th position; it would have been a perfect day. But  the miscue didn’t slow him down for long, as he made an incredible run from 14th to 1st in 6 laps. He came out of the pits for the last time in 4th spot.

    If Carl Edwards thought on lap 180 on the restart in front of Keselowski that he had the advantage, he didn’t think it for long because before lap 190, Keselowski’s Discount Tower Dodge would again be leading the way.

    When the checker flag waved, Keselowski would claim his first Nationwide Series (NNS) win at Kansas Speedway.

    Keselowski had the dominant car and lead four times for 173 of the 200 laps run. It was his fourth win and 17th top-10 finish in the season.

    Keselowski who compares his commitment to the NNS to helping family keep jobs and be successful, showed why it is he is the current reigning champion of the series and why he as won the last 2 races at Kansas. “Once you win at a track and figure out what you need it makes it easier to go back with a better car everytime. But this was a perfect car. And I was doing everything I could to not screw it up. ” said Keselowski. “It’s just an unbelievable car and unbelievable day and to Nationwide and all the fans, thank you so much. It’s a privilege to get to do this.”

    Edwards, also knew that Keselowski had the perfect car. “I just think he didn’t realize how fast his car was and I think he was maybe trying to just try every little trick he could to make sure he won. It is my opinion he didn’t have to do that.” stated Edwards who posted his fourth top 10 finish in seven races at Kansas, and his 23rd top 10 finish in 2011.

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr finished 5th and maintained the series points lead. “It was and up and down day. We didn’t start out very good, not like we wanted to or normally do. We were on the loose side, on the tight side and couldn’t hit it in the middle like we needed to. To battle back from three pit road issues that we had, I stalled it once, got a penalty for speeding and had a slow stop. To still come back and run top five is not too bad. ” stated Stenhouse Jr. after the race.

    All in all the race had it’s moments. There was the side by side race between Edwards and Keselowski that could easily have ended in disaster. Instead the talent of both drivers brought them through to the end. There was the dust up between Aric Almirola and Brian Scott that ended with Scott confronting Almirola on pit road after the race. But for the most part the race was a snoozer.

    From the drop of green flag it was obvious that the Penske Dodge was the dominate car. At one point Keselowski had a four second lead over second place Edwards. Though there was some hard core racing going on in the back of the pack for the most part it was a race of conservation. Conservation of car. Conservation of points. And maybe even conservation of sanity.

     

    Unofficial Race Results
    Kansas Lottery 300, Kansas Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=30
    =========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 2 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 0
    2 1 60 Carl Edwards Ford 0
    3 12 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 41
    4 4 33 Paul Menard Chevrolet 0
    5 9 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 39
    6 19 4 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 0
    7 8 18 Joey Logano Toyota 0
    8 14 32 Brian Vickers Chevrolet 0
    9 17 16 Trevor Bayne Ford 35
    10 3 20 Ryan Truex * Toyota 34
    11 21 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 33
    12 7 88 Aric Almirola Chevrolet 33
    13 10 38 Jason Leffler Chevrolet 32
    14 6 70 David Stremme Chevrolet 0
    15 15 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 29
    16 25 62 Michael Annett Toyota 28
    17 5 11 Brian Scott Toyota 27
    18 28 30 James Buescher Chevrolet 0
    19 11 9 Kenny Wallace Toyota 25
    20 16 66 Steve Wallace Toyota 24
    21 13 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 23
    22 23 19 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 22
    23 27 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 22
    24 32 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 20
    25 18 81 Blake Koch * Dodge 19
    26 24 182 Reed Sorenson Dodge 18
    27 33 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 17
    28 37 52 Kevin Lepage Chevrolet 16
    29 41 39 Joey Gase Ford 0
    30 39 28 Derrike Cope Dodge 14
    31 36 14 Eric McClure Chevrolet 13
    32 42 23 Angela Cope Chevrolet 0
    33 40 40 Josh Wise Chevrolet 11
    34 31 15 Timmy Hill * Ford 10
    35 35 171 Matthew Carter Ford 9
    36 22 103 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 8
    37 38 175 Carl Long Ford 7
    38 34 141 Johnny Chapman Chevrolet 6
    39 26 146 Chase Miller Chevrolet 5
    40 30 147 Charles Lewandoski * Chevrolet 4
    41 20 44 Jeff Green Chevrolet 3
    42 29 150 T.J. Bell Chevrolet 0
    43 43 127 J.J. Yeley Ford 0
  • Biffle takes the Hollywood Casino 400 pole at Kansas

    Biffle takes the Hollywood Casino 400 pole at Kansas

    Qualifying at Kansas took place under cool and cloudy conditions with wind gusts that reached up to 25 mph. At the end of qualifying, Greg Biffle’s Sherwin Williams Ford from Roush Fenway Racing was sitting on the pole with a lap of 174.887 MPH. His teammate Carl Edwards will start outside the front row in the Aflac Ford.

    [media-credit id=2 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]“Well, it was a really good lap. I think what I really would rather talk about is how slow we were when we unloaded off the truck. It was quite amazing. We were 35th or 37th when we unloaded off the truck today.” Biffle said. “We made about six qualifying runs and the last one was pretty dang good and they changed a bunch more stuff on it for the real one. The car was really good.”

    The pole for the Hollywood Casino 400 was the 8th of Biffle’s career and his best start in 11 tries at the mile and a half track.

    Edwards commented he had never started this far up at Kansas so he was excited. Edwards said “How you qualify is not indicative of how you are going to run in the race.” But he stated that he was excited to be starting so far up in the field.

    It is Roush Fenway’s eighth Sprint Cup pole in 2011, with all four of the team’s Cup drivers having won multiple poles this season. It also marked Roush Fenway’s second Sprint Cup pole at Kansas and its first since 2005.

    Kyle Busch who starts 3rd tomorrow stated that he hoped to have a much better race than he had last time here at Kansas. He also stated that he was happy to see Clint Bowyer added to the Toyota family.

    “We were looking for a little bit more than that, but certainly the pace is a little bit slower than we expected qualifying to be. So far so good. We’ve dodged a couple bullets. The M&M’s Camry unloaded good.” Busch said.

    Austin Dillon qualified 26th to make his first start in the Sprint Cup Series.

    “Thinking about it going up there, I wasn’t nervous all the way up until it was time to go. And then it’s just like you think of every little thing that could go wrong. We were fast enough in practice to get in really fast. That time we actually picked up some more speed, but I think if I would have calmed down a little bit it would have helped my lap.” Dillon said.

    The field is separated by only 0.86 of a second.

     

    Starting Lineup
    Hollywood Casino 400, Kansas Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=30
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 16 Greg Biffle Ford 174.887 30.877
    2 99 Carl Edwards Ford 174.571 30.933
    3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 174.447 30.955
    4 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 174.436 30.957
    5 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 174.413 30.961
    6 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 174.317 30.978
    7 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 174.222 30.995
    8 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 174.126 31.012
    9 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 174.092 31.018
    10 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 174.048 31.026
    11 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 174.031 31.029
    12 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 174.02 31.031
    13 6 David Ragan Ford 173.863 31.059
    14 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 173.617 31.103
    15 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 173.605 31.105
    16 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 173.527 31.119
    17 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 173.327 31.155
    18 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 173.238 31.171
    19 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 173.182 31.181
    20 20 Joey Logano Toyota 173.171 31.183
    21 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 173.066 31.202
    22 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 172.944 31.224
    23 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 172.933 31.226
    24 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 172.889 31.234
    25 46 Scott Speed Ford 172.866 31.238
    26 198 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 172.723 31.264
    27 0 David Reutimann Toyota 172.607 31.285
    28 55 J.J. Yeley Ford 172.568 31.292
    29 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 172.535 31.298
    30 34 David Gilliland Ford 172.43 31.317
    31 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 172.397 31.323
    32 30 David Stremme Chevrolet 172.177 31.363
    33 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 172.161 31.366
    34 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 171.936 31.407
    35 71 Andy Lally* Ford 171.86 31.421
    36 38 Travis Kvapil Ford 171.521 31.483
    37 13 Casey Mears Toyota 171.429 31.5
    38 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 170.989 31.581
    39 7 Reed Sorenson Dodge 170.837 31.609
    40 66 Michael McDowell Toyota 170.53 31.666
    41 51 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 170.482 31.675
    42 32 Mike Bliss+ Ford 170.132 31.74
    43 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 170.148 31.737

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover AAA 400

    In spite of the monstrously cloudy skies that yielded a bit of drizzle throughout the race, every lap of the AAA 400 was completed at Dover International Speedway. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the track affectionately known as the ‘Monster Mile.’

    [media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”223″][/media-credit]Surprising:  It was surprising that a ‘Polish Victory Lap’ rather than a back flip capped the finish of the Cup race on the concrete. Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Dodge, surprisingly scored his first ever victory at the ‘Monster Mile.”

    “It was just a perfect execution with making the car better during the race,” Busch said. “To win in a Sprint Cup race in the Chase, this is what it’s all about.”

    “We knew that the 22 was a good car,” Travis Geisler, Director of Competition, Penske Racing, said. “It was a great day.”

    Not Surprising:  Although not a winner as he was in the Nationwide race the previous day, Carl Edwards, to no one’s surprise, finished a solid top-five. The driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford rebounded from a pit road speeding penalty to finish third, which was good enough to keep him tied atop the leader board in the Chase point standings.

    “It was a great day, other than that feeling I had when I ruined it there on pit road,” Edwards said sheepishly. “We were very, very fortunate.”

    “As frustrated as I am with myself for messing that up, I’m really, really grateful for the give that was given to us with that caution and the ability to come back up there.”

    Surprising:  It was surprising to see a not-so-happy Harvick in the media center after the race, especially after assuming the top spot in the Chase standings. The driver of the No. 29 Rheem Chasing the Cure Chevrolet is now officially tied with Edwards but claims the top spot due to his higher number of wins.

    After finishing tenth, Harvick seemed subdued and perhaps even a bit exhausted in the media center, complaining at one point about the flash of the photographers’ bulbs bothering his eyes.

    “We circled this one as a place to come to overcome some things and the guys did a good job today,” Harvick said. “All in all it was okay.”

    Not Surprising:  To no one’s surprise, old ‘Five Time’ is back, even taunting the media after the race a bit, asking if he was still considered out of contention for his sixth consecutive championship with his third place finish at Dover.

    Jimmie Johnson, behind the wheel of his familiar No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet, also seems to have reconciled well with his crew chief Chad Knaus, at least from the improved politeness during the radio chatter.

    “It was a great day for us, to lead that many laps and to have great stops on pit road across the board,” Johnson said. “I wish that we could be one spot better but I just did not get two good restarts that the end of that thing and cost myself.”

    Surprising:  Although Tony Stewart predicted that Dover was not his best track, it was surprising just how badly both he and his teammate Ryan Newman ran at the ‘Monster Mile.”

    The driver and team owner of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet finished 25th, with his teammate behind the wheel of the No. 39 US Army ROTC Chevrolet finishing just ahead of him in 23rd.

    “Even when we got the balance half-way decent, it didn’t have speed,” Smoke said. “So, we just missed it.”

    Stewart’s crew chief, Darian Grubb, echoed his driver’s sentiments exactly.

    “The biggest thing is just that we don’t have the concrete tracks figured out,” Grubb said. “At Bristol and Dover, we’ve just struggled for three years now with Tony there.”

    Sounding very much like his teammate, Newman also seconded theme of totally missing the set up.

    “We just didn’t have it right all weekend,” Newman said. “We tried a number of adjustments and pit strategies but nothing seemed to work in our favor.”

    “We just have to put this weekend behind us and move on.”

    Not Surprising:   It is not surprising that A J Allmendinger, driver of the No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion, just keeps rolling along with solid finishes. In fact, not only did the ‘Dinger finish with a top-10, but so did his Richard Petty Motorsports teammate Marcos Ambrose in the No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion.

    “It was a solid day,” Allmendinger said. “Obviously, we want to try to win but at least we were there all day.”

    “We’ve been bashed up pretty good the last month, so it’s just good to come back with a solid day,” Ambrose said. “I’m proud of the team. They’ve stood by me after a tough month.”

    Surprising:  In a surprising version of ‘Chasers Gone Bad’, at least three of the drivers in contention had monstrously bad days.

    Brad Keselowski, who had been wearing the Cinderella slipper, took a bit of a stumble at Dover International Speedway. After battling a power steering problem, the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge came in 20th.

    “I finally caught the back end of the field, but when I got up to the rear of a car, I couldn’t do anything, couldn’t get around them,” Keselowski said. “It’s frustrating. I think we were good enough to get a solid run out of it but ended up 20th.”

    “That’s the way it goes.”

    With his tough finish, Keselowski fell three spots in the Chase standings to the sixth position.

    Dale Earnhardt, Jr., driving the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet, also battled mechanical issues, in his case a broken sway bar. Then towards the end of the race, he had a loose wheel, which caused him to finish 24th, two laps down to the race winner.

    “That’s racin’,” Junior said. “That’s all I can say. I’ve had a lot of shit happen to me over the years, good and bad. I’ve just kinda got to roll with the punches.”

    Dale Junior fell two positions in the point standings to the 10th position.

    Junior’s teammate Jeff Gordon also struggled all day long in his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet. Starting from the 34th position, Gordon rallied to finish 12th, however, fell four positions in the point standings to ninth.

    “Yeah, that’s been a struggle for us here at this track this year,” Gordon said. “It started off good and we worked our way forward pretty quick from the 34th starting position, but once we got up there I made some mistakes and we just didn’t have it on the restarts.”

    Not Surprising:  Quiet Kenseth continued his Cup quest with a top-5 finish at the ‘Monster Mile.”  The driver of the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion maintained his seventh place in the Chase standings, just 14 points out of first.

    Not surprisingly, Kenseth claimed “We got lucky.”

    “We had a pretty solid day,” Kenseth continued. “We were able to lead a little bit. There were times in the race when we were pretty dominant.”

    “I was hoping for a little better at times, but it’s important to get a good finish every week.”