Tag: Carl Edwards

Kyle Busch Steals a Nationwide Win from Edwards in the Virginia 529 College Savings 250

The Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway Friday night was pretty much Carl Edwards’ for the taking, after dominating most of the race. The fateful blow came when Edwards lost three positions during the final round of pit stops under caution.

[media-credit name=”Ted Seminara” align=”alignright” width=”242″][/media-credit]Kyle Busch won his 51^st Nationwide race of his career, his eighth this season in 19 starts by edging Edwards out at the finish line by just .696 seconds., followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Truex and Kenny Wallace rounding out the Top-five.

“Carl was certainly really, really god there, and I thought at first we were probably a third- or fourth-place car, and then kind of worked on it and made it a second- or third-place car,” Busch said. “We were keeping up with Carl, and then, on that final pit stop, my guys really put the pressure on, knowing how quick they’d been on pit road all night — and they did it once again.

“We were able to get off first, and I think Carl came off fourth, so when we had the restart there, he got mired up in traffic there, and that gave us some room to get out … [crew chief] Jason [Ratcliff] and these guys made some awesome adjustments all night, making the car a little bit better — just be able to make it a little more drivable. Every run we got closer, and then, there on that last run, we had track position and a good car.”

The battle between Edwards and Busch started on lap three as the two battled for second place behind race leader Brad Keselowski. By lap seven Edwards took over the lead and left the other drivers in his dust.

The first caution flew at lap 65 after Black Koch spun on the frontstretch after a nudge from Aric Amirola. Edwards resumed his lead on lap 79 as the green flag restarted the race. Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Trevor Bayne and Steve Wallace rolled out 2^nd through fifth respectively.

The second caution waved on the very same lap of the restart as Keselowski brushed the wall, followed by a crash in turns three and four between Kevin Harvick and Jason Leffler.

Busch took the lead coming off pit road on lap 85 with Edwards behind in second place. Edwards took back his lead position on lap 87. Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne takes the second position from Busch on lap 114 and has his sights on Edwards.

The yellow flag flew for the third time after Danica Patrick locked up her breaks heading into turn three and spinning Keselowski in the process. The race restarted on lap 143 only to have the caution flag thrown again on the same lap for the second time in the race after Brian Scott and Michael Annett crash in turns three and four. Scott’s car was turned by Amirola, who proved to be none to pleased and attempted to make his way towards Amirola’s car before being retained by a NASCAR official.

Busch retook the lead off of pit road on lap 153, followed once again by a second place Edwards. Just six laps later the yellow flag flew for the fifth time after Eric McClure hot the wall. Busch reigned supreme by taking the lead from Edwards once again on lap 170 but Edwards would not go quietly and reclaimed his number one spot on lap 175.

Kevin Harvick slammed Tevor Bayne, crashing him on the backstretch bring out the race’s sixth caution on lap 209. Busch once again exited pit road in the lead on lap 220, Edwards however exits fourth behind Stenhouse Jr. and Truex. With just 30 laps to go, Edwards would have to give it everything he got to try to regain his lead.

Edwards’ hard charge looked promising as he moved into the top three by lap 226. By lap 235, he dove under Stenhouse Jr. in turn two to move into the second position. It looked as if Edwards would catch Busch as the margin between them whittled down to about eighth tenth of a second by lap 239, but in the end Edwards’ car would not sustain the power to propel him to the finish line first.

Busch celebrated in victory lane, scoring his 51^st Nationwide Series win, extending the driver’s own record for the most in the division’s history. All eyes should be on Busch for the Sprint Cup race Saturday night. He won it last year and is a favorite to sweep the weekend at RIR.

Unofficial Race Results
Virginia 529 College Savings 250, Richmond International Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=27
=========================================
Pos.		No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	3	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	0
2	2	60	Carl Edwards	Ford	0
3	6	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	41
4	10	20	Ryan Truex *	Toyota	40
5	5	9	Kenny Wallace	Toyota	39
6	8	2	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	38
7	16	88	Aric Almirola	Chevrolet	37
8	17	32	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	36
9	22	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	35
10	15	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	34
11	26	62	Michael Annett	Toyota	33
12	18	19	Mike Bliss	Chevrolet	32
13	14	70	David Stremme	Chevrolet	0
14	28	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	31
15	24	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	29
16	7	66	Steve Wallace	Toyota	28
17	38	15	Timmy Hill *	Ford	27
18	32	7	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	26
19	1	22	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	0
20	13	33	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	0
21	37	28	Derrike Cope	Chevrolet	23
22	39	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	Chevrolet	22
23	40	52	Kevin Lepage	Chevrolet	21
24	41	89	Morgan Shepherd	Chevrolet	20
25	42	39	Luis Martinez Jr.	Ford	19
26	27	30	Ricky Carmichael	Chevrolet	0
27	35	81	Blake Koch *	Dodge	17
28	4	16	Trevor Bayne	Ford	16
29	11	38	Jason Leffler	Chevrolet	15
30	20	14	Eric McClure	Chevrolet	14
31	9	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	0
32	12	11	Brian Scott	Toyota	12
33	21	40	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	11
34	25	141	Johnny Chapman	Chevrolet	10
35	30	171	Matthew Carter	Ford	9
36	23	44	Jeff Green	Chevrolet	8
37	36	175	Carl Long	Ford	7
38	43	142	Tim Andrews	Chevrolet	6
39	34	248	Dennis Setzer	Chevrolet	5
40	19	49	Mark Green	Chevrolet	4
41	31	103	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	3
42	33	146	Chase Miller	Chevrolet	2
43	29	147	Brian Keselowski	Chevrolet	0

September 10, 2011

Surprising and Not Surprising: Atlanta AdvoCare 500

With a rain delay of days instead of hours, the NASCAR Sprint Cup race which was to have run at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday evening of the Labor Day weekend, was finally completed on Tuesday afternoon. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 52^nd annual AdvoCare 500.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”245″][/media-credit]Surprising: While one five-time champion Hendrick Motor Sports driver is usually the one peaking at this stage of the season, it was most surprising that the other HMS four-time champion instead took the checkered flag for the multi-day rain-delayed race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Jeff Gordon, driving the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, beat out his teammate to score an historic 85^th victory, placing him solely in the third position of all-time wins in NASCAR.

This was Gordon’s third victory for the season and his 13^th top-10 finish in 2011.

“This team is on a roll,” Gordon said. “I don’t care if it’s Sunday or Monday or Tuesday; to have a race like that, man, that’s awesome. It feels awesome.”

Gordon was also feeling awesome by making history, in addition to celebrating his daughter Ella’s first day of school.

“I just feel rejuvenated in such a big way,” Gordon said. “85 yeah! I can’t wait to get home and celebrate with these guys and my family. 85, wow!”

Not Surprising: To no one’s surprise, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson, driving the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, was the one nipping at Gordon’s heels, careening sideways behind his teammate to take the checkered flag in the runner up position.

This was Johnson’s 13^th top-10 finish in 20 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“Man, that is what racing is all about,” Johnson said. “I am grateful that I got to grow up racing off-road trucks and buggies because I was dead sideways those last 10 or 15 laps.”

Since the Chase is looming with just the Richmond race to set the championship field, it was also not surprising to see Johnson take the points lead, now 21 points ahead of Kyle Busch.

When asked about that, Johnson said with a smile and a laugh, “Yeah, we’re just having a terrible year. So, hopefully we can pick things up a little bit.”

Surprising: Two drivers who were having much-needed good runs ended up with surprisingly bad finishes. Clint Bowyer, behind the wheel of the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, got into it with Juan Pablo Montoya on lap 241, dashing Bowyer’s hopes for any Chase possibilities with his 36^th place finish.

“We’re out here racing for a spot in the Chase,” Bowyer said after being released from the infield care center. “He’s out here racing for nothing.”

“I’m tired of it,” Bowyer continued of his tussle with JPM. “He’s just an idiot.”

The other driver with a surprisingly good run but bad finish was David Ragan, behind the wheel of the No. 6 UPS Ford. Ragan, also hoping to make the Chase, was running in the top ten for much of the race, only to fall victim to engine failure.

“I bet there’s still a mathematical chance that we could win Richmond and get into the top 20 and make the Chase,” Ragan said optimistically. “And that’s certainly the mindset we’re going to have.”

“We’re not going to give up no matter what.”

Not Surprising: Both Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Stewart held serve on their ninth and tenth place positions respectively in the point standings.

While the driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet had an outstanding run, finishing third, the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Military Intelligence/Amp Energy Chevrolet had an unsurprisingly tough run, finishing 19^th.

This was Stewart’s 15^th top-10 finish in 25 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“It was just a really good Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy,” Smoke said. “It was a long day for sure and we battled a lot of adversity to get up there. I’m just really proud of these guys.”

“It was not a good day,” Junior said in contrast. “We didn’t have a good car.”

“We worked on it a little bit and had a couple decent runs where we were competitive, but just fought the car all day long and just couldn’t make anything happen.”

Both drivers can clinch positions in the Chase for the Cup championship at the next race in Richmond. Stewart will clinch if he finishes 18^th or better, 19^th or better and leads one lap, or 20^th or better and leads the most laps.

Earnhardt, Jr. will clinch is he finishes 20^th or better, 21^st or better and leads at least one lap, or 22^nd or better and leads the most laps.

Surprising: After leading laps and looking like a race win contender, it was surprising to see the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion slide back after one of the race’s rain delays to finish ninth.

“After the rain, we didn’t do anything to the car,” Matt Kenseth said. “We just put a set of tires on it and it was junk.”

“I don’t really know what happened,” Kenseth continued. “We had a lot of speed and it was pretty fast the first half of the race, but we just struggled after that.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising, yet again, to see Brad Keselowski continue his ‘Iron Man’ performance since injuring himself in a testing wreck. The driver of the ‘Blue Deuce’ finished sixth, locking himself into the Chase.

Surprising: In addition to the race winners, there were other winners at Atlanta as well. First and foremost were all of the children battling cancer that were featured on Carl Edward’s car. In their honor, the driver of the No. 99 Aflac ‘Friends of a Feather’, finished top-five.

“We appreciate Aflac being on board with the Aflac Cancer Center,” Edwards said. “It’s Aflac.com/friends if you want to help these kids out.”

“These are great kids,” Edwards continued. “We wish we would have gotten a win for them, but it was a good run.”

Another winner was Huckleberry Pets, who scored the ‘Official Small Business of NASCAR’ title thanks to Tony Stewart’s great run.

“It was great to get Huckleberry Pets the title today,” Stewart said. “I wish we could have won her a million dollars, but we did the best we could.”

Not Surprising: Unfortunately, but not surprising, no one claimed the Sprint Summer Showdown bonus. While several drivers were eligible to win a million for themselves, their charities and their respective fans, not one was able to score the ultimate promotion.

Sadly, fans Andrea Gay, Helene Cross, Ron Rempinski, Dana Hardie, and Molly Hilyard did not find their Sprint pot of gold since Paul Menard, Brad Keselowski, Marcos Ambrose and Kyle Busch respectively did not take the checkered flag at Atlanta.

Surprising: In a surprising driver swap, Mike Skinner actually got to finish a race, and did so solidly in 27^th place. Skinner climbed into the No. 36 Collective Soul/Golden Corral Chevrolet for Dave Blaney who was suffering from kidney stones.

Not Surprising: A.J. Allmendinger continued his solid run streak, this time with a 10^th place finish in his No. 43 Best Buy Ford.

“That’s where we are as a team right now,” Allmendinger said. “We’re about an eighth to a 12^th or 13^th place race team, but that’s better than where we had been, so that’s the improvement I’m looking for.”

“If we can just keep getting there, whether we make the Chase or not, then I’ll be really happy with the season.”

September 7, 2011
The Key To Success

There was rain. There were floods. There were even tornado’s in Atlanta. But for the second time in modern history, NASCAR ran on a Tuesday morning.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”227″][/media-credit]The story that came out of the race was not the Chase points. It wasn’t those that clinched and those that lost all chance of making it. It was the story of persistence. It was the persistence of the fans that stayed and weathered the storm literally. It was the persistence of a 4-time champion who refused to quit. It was the persistence of a 2-time champion who was down and out who lady luck seemed to have forgotten. It was the story of a young man who has seen the bottom over four years and suddenly has found the spark. Persistence was the story of the day.

The race weekend in Atlanta began on Friday. It was hot and humid to the point of being miserable and 87,000 people were there. On Saturday the weather was the same and the fans were still there. On Sunday the skies opened up and delivered a tropical torrential down power and the fans were there until NASCAR finally lost the track about 9 PM. Because of the weather warnings local authorities requested the race be rescheduled for Tuesday morning. Tuesday Morning 16,000 people were in the stands in the cold and damp and endured the on and off heavy mist. The cost of their perseverance was probably very high with 2 missed days of work or more for most. But their dedication to the sport and their favorite drivers was strong and their loyalty unwavering. Their persistence was rewarded with being witness to history being made.

Through the delays there was a burning light. It was a light that had been burning since 1976 in Rio Linda California at a track called Cracker Jack Raceway. A fire that never dimmed and reach heights of greatness that the man it burned inside of only had dreamed of. The 4 time champion had struggled the last 2 years with a long winless streak broken in Texas last spring and punctuated by a crew chief change this winter. It was only two short years ago the media and the fans were talking about Jeff Gordon retiring but he didn’t. Instead he drove hard and on a rainy Tuesday in Atlanta Georgia, Jeff Gordon won his 85^th race and secured third place on the all time win list. He continued to forge ahead, believing in himself and his Hendrick Motorsports team and keeping his eye on the prize, another championship.

Two time champion Tony Stewart has been through the gamut of emotions in the last two years, from becoming the owner of his own team, to winning his first race in his own cars to struggling to get out of his own way this year. Smoke’s luck reached rock bottom with an uncharacteristic 30^th place finish 2 laps down in Bristol last week. Smoke proclaimed in Michigan that they didn’t need to make the chase if they couldn’t perform any better than they were. “There is no use in being in the chase if you can’t challenge for the win.” He said. So when the white flag flew at Atlanta and Smoke made a classic sprint car dive to the inside of Kurt Busch in a Hail Mary move for 3^rd his fans held their breath. Smoke’s talent had never been in question but his luck that was something else. But Smoke held on to the Office Depot Chevrolet and made the move work looking more like the two time daring, devil may care champion that his fans have grown to love. He never gave up. He was frustrated. He was down. But he was never out. He pushed himself and his team harder than he had ever pushed before and he made the decision to succeed and to continue on to the chase.

In June, Dale Earnhardt Jr sat 3^rd in the points and was a picture of consistency. But lady luck would not be on his side. A string of bad finishes and misfortunes hit at absolutely the worse time, the end of the race for the chase. The media began doubting he would make the Chase. The slide was terminal they hinted. Even with all the improvement in the driver and the team there was still something missing. Pit stops were slow. The car had no speed. The qualifying efforts were poor. The race results slipped to top 20 finishes instead of top 10 finishes. The nay sayers pointed their fingers and the negativity flowed like water from a tap. But this time something was different about Dale Jr. This time he didn’t give in to the negativity. Instead he said we are working on the problems. He was honest. He was upfront but he never lost his swagger or his confidence. In Atlanta even with a bad car and handling problems, Earnhardt Jr held on to 9^th place in the points. Going into Richmond he would only have to pull a 20^th or better finish to secure his Chase spot. “That is the job we got, so we will try. I feel confident and you don’t stop trying until it’s over.” Earnhardt said after the race. And that is the secret after all to his being there isn’t it? He never quit trying. He pushed on and in doing so he found that his goal was within his reach.

All of these situations have a common thread. People took control of situations that were not in their control. The fans took control to outlast the weather and show their devotion to their sport. Jeff Gordon took control of his abilities and over came a slump by refusing to accept anything less than being a championship contender. Tony Stewart took a string of bad luck and in true Smoke fashion man handled it until it became something he could out drive. Dale Jr. dug deep inside and reached out for a new voice on the radio and found his confidence and belief in his talents.

All could have walked away. All could have said it was a great ride but… Instead they persisted through the storms, the trials, the bad luck, and the negativity. They reached back and found the time tested and true adage of racing…It ain’t over until the checkered flag waves and the check clears the bank. When they did they found the truth in racing. Persistence equals success every single time.

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

Congratulations to Ron Hornaday on his Camping World Truck victory. It was awesome to see the champ in victory lane again.

Congratulations to Carl Edwards on his Nationwide Series win.

Congratulations to Jeff Gordon on his hard fought victory in the Sprint Cup Series and a historical 85^th win to take sole position of 3^rd on the all time win list. Not bad for a kid whose mustache use to be penciled in with eye brow pencil.

Kudos to Tony Stewart for one of the most incredible Hail Mary passes the sport has seen in a long time.

That said, 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.

September 7, 2011
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Bristol

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

[media-credit name=”Ed Coombs” align=”alignright” width=”236″][/media-credit]1. Kyle Busch: Busch faded late at Bristol, hitting the wall with 87 laps to go, and finished 14^th, behind his three closest challengers for the Sprint Cup points lead, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, and Carl Edwards, who came home fourth, sixth, and ninth, respectively. Busch and Johnson are now tied for the points lead, 32 up on Kenseth.

“I take pride in leading the point standings,” Busch said, “especially when my fellow leader is Johnson. As of driver with no Cup championships aspiring to be compared to one with five, this may be my only chance to be ‘like’ Jimmie.

“But let’s be honest. Win or lose, people love to talk about me. I’m like the Danica Patrick of NASCAR, but with less balls.”

2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished fourth at Bristol, earning his 10^th top-5 result of the year, and moved into a tied in the point standings with Kyle Busch, who finished 14^th.

“I feel like I’m flying under the radar,” Johnson said, “despite being the points leader and the five-time defending champion. It just goes to show that in NASCAR circles, memories are short and title reigns are long.

“Last week, you heard me question Kyle Busch’s ability to handle the pressure of being the so-called favorite. It took only a week for me to be proven right. After winning at Michigan, Busch went to Bristol as not only the Cup favorite, but the favorite to win at Bristol. It’s clear he can’t handle the pressure of the Chase if he can’t even handle the pressure of being chased.”

3. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski remained NASCAR’s hottest driver, taking the win at Bristol for his third win of the year and second in the last four races. He is now 11^th in the point standings, and a spot in the Chase For The Cup is all but guaranteed.

“Don’t call this a ‘Cinderella’ story,” Keselowski said. “Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has dibs on that, because he’s the one with the evil stepmother.

“Am I the biggest threat to Jimmie Johnson’s reign? It was merely a week ago that everyone was heralding another driver as Johnson’s biggest threat, but it appears that now, Kyle Busch is an ‘as been. As a favor to me, please send your condolences to Kyle via his Twitter address ‘@ssKyleBusch.’”

4. Jeff Gordon: Gordon led a race-high 206 laps in the Irwin Tools Night Race, but took four tires during the race’s final caution, falling behind Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex, Jr., who both took two tires. Gordon finished third and remained sixth in the point standings, 48 out of first.

“I’m not happy with the way NASCAR times pit road speeds,” Gordon said. “Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth clearly got away with speeding. I feel that they’re monitored under a completely different set of rules. Of course, who am I to complain? I, of all people, should know that ‘two-timing’ is okay as long as you don’t get caught.”

5. Kevin Harvick: Harvick struggled after a strong start at Bristol, falling two laps down just after the half-way point, and finished 22^nd, one lap down. He has only one top-10 result since a seventh at Daytona in July, and is down to fifth in the point standings, 48 out of first.

“Luckily, things aren’t all bad,” Harvick said. “I won the Camping World Trucks race on Wednesday, then I called Kyle Busch a ‘crybaby’ after he complained about his fate in the Truck race last Wednesday. In both cases, it’s ‘bitchin.’

“Like some others, I clinched at least a wildcard spot in the Chase by virtue of my three wins. That means I could do nothing from now until the Chase starts, and I’m still in. My lackluster results since my third win at Charlotte indicate that’s the philosophy I’ve been living by since late May.”

6. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth led 110 laps at Bristol, second only to Jeff Gordon’s 206, and finished sixth, as he and teammate Carl Edwards, who finished ninth, clinched berths in the Chase For The Cup. Kenseth improved three spots in the point standings to third, and trails Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson by 32.

“Carl and I are in,” Kenseth said. “I’m quite relieved, that the thing Carl threatened to ‘punch’ was a ticket to the Chase and not me.”

7. Carl Edwards: Edwards posted his first top-10 finish in three weeks, coming home ninth in the Irwin Tools Night Race. Edwards remained fourth in the point standings, and is 35 out of first.

“I certainly haven’t been performing up to my standards,” Edwards said. “My teammates have asked this question for awhile now, but now, everyone wants to know, ‘What’s wrong with Carl Edwards?’

“Many think I became complacent after signing my huge contract extension with Roush Fenway, and as a result, my performance has been lacking. Is that the case? I’m not at liberty to answer. I can say this: ‘Money talks, and it also speaks volumes.”

8. Ryan Newman: Newman posted his second consecutive top-10 finish and fifth in the last seven races with an eighth at Bristol, leading four laps on the night. While teammate Tony Stewart has struggled lately, Newman has solidified his place in the standings, and is seventh with two races until the Chase.

“I won the pole for Bristol,” Newman said, “while Stewart started 43^rd. Personally, I haven’t felt that much distance between teammates since Rusty Wallace and I drove for Penske.

“Tony’s at a disadvantage to some other drivers hovering on the Chase bubble. While Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, and Paul Menard have one or more victories, Tony has none. That’s okay. I’ve told Tony the wins will come. Right now, he just needs to concentrate on making the Chase. Therefore, his mantra for the next two races is ‘Just in, baby.’”

9. Kurt Busch: Busch, traditionally a force at Bristol, finished 17^th in the Irwin Tools Night Race as Penske teammate Brad Keselowski took the victory. Busch remained eighth in the point standings, 81 out of the lead.

“Brad’s taking the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge to heights I only dreamed about,” Busch said. “It appears he ‘has my number,’ and everyone else’s for that matter.

“Brad is on an incredible tear as of late. Can anyone stop him? The results of a recent survey suggest the answer is ‘no.’ Drivers were asked, ‘If Brad Keselowski were ‘on fire,’ would you put him out? Most replied ‘no,’ and it looks as though they weren’t lying.”

10. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin kept his Chase hopes alive with a hard-earned seventh at Bristol, overcoming damage suffered on lap 297 when he was collected in a David Stremme-David Reutimann wreck. Hamlin moved up one spot to 13^th in the standings, and is currently in position to earn a wildcard spot.

“Many drivers on the Chase bubble struggled,” Hamlin said, “including Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, and Paul Menard. That’s good news for me. I normally don’t delight in the misery of others, but being a teammate of Kyle Busch’s has taught me that it’s okay.

“My Chase situation is good, yet precarious. I have to be at the top of my game, otherwise I could be out. If I ‘mail it in,’ I’ll be sure to ‘Fed Ex-it.’”

August 31, 2011
Bristol Chooses Fall Champions

The week at Bristol was like Disneyland for a race fan. There were 4 races from 4 different classes of cars. There was smoke from tires. The aroma of high test fuel hung in the air. The scent of E15 lingered just long enough to tingle in your nose. The roar of lions and tigers and bears oh my echoed through out the valley of thunder. This was heaven. This was racing at its best.Bristol displayed her pageantry much like an old time joust. Contestants came from all over the country to bide for her hand. But only a few would be chosen as crown princes for 2011.

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”245″][/media-credit]Bristol’s week was sectioned up differently than other weekends. The Whelen Modified and the Camping World Trucks run on Wednesday. The reason for this difference according to Lori Worley, Public Relations official for Bristol Motor speedway is, “The reason we don’t race on Thursday is that Food City, who sponsors our March Cup event and August Nationwide event, has a huge fan experience in downtown Bristol on Thursday night. More than 25,000 people attend the event, which features driver autograph sessions, live music, free food, etc. and it’s very important to them that the event is successful. So that’s the reason we race Wednesday instead of Thursday.” Little do they know that Bristol’s race fans win all the way around, not only do they get an extra day of vacation for the race weekend, the racing is top notch and the fan experience is icing on the cake.

Wednesday saw a hard fought Whelen modified race that was for the most part dominated by Ryan Newman. Newman who had his win in New Hampshire revoked by NASCAR for an unfortunate mistake by engine builders Earnhardt Childress Racing Engines, when they mistakenly placed the wrong gaskets on the engine for the Kevin Manion entry, was out to prove that win was not because of the illegal engine.

“This is a little bit of a redemption for us, to come out here and redeem ourselves a little bit in respect to people’s opinions after Loudon,” Newman said, “It was just a really fun race, the yellow flags at the start kind of slowed everybody’s thoughts, but getting back to green flag racing, I thought we saw some really good racing. It was a lot of fun.”

Justin Bonsignore finished second followed by Todd Szegedy who came from a lap down to finish third after being in multiple on track incidents and losing a spark plug wire. James Civali and Patrick Emerling rounded out the top five. The highest placing series regular was Frank Fleming. Series icon Teddy Christopher did not compete in the race due to the lack of ride.

The Camping World Trucks put on an equally exciting show, with Kevin Harvick winning his third truck race in a row.Bristol is Bristol however and the race was not without its controversy. Elliott Sadler driving the 24 truck for the Joe Denette Motorsports team this week had contact with Kyle Busch when Busch moved up the track too soon having not cleared Sadler’s truck. Sadler clipped the 18 in the Right rear corner and turned Busch into the wall. Busch then slowed on the track waiting for Sadler to come back around and hooked Sadler causing minimal damage to the 24. Busch retreated to the garage where efforts were made to repair the badly damaged KBM entry were unsuccessful. Post race comments were heated with Kyle Busch insinuating that Sadler took him out because of “where his paycheck comes from.”

Friday, would bring the one day show of the Nationwide Series into the spotlight. The pole would be the familiar Joe Gibbs entry of Kyle Busch. The outside front row would be occupied by Gibbs team mate Joey Logano. Logano would make the firm announcement of ‘No more Mr. Nice Guy’ before the race began.

The field hosted its normal cup regulars with the exception of Brad Keselowski who was still nursing a fractured ankle and was replaced with Parker Kligerman in the Discount Tire/Ruby Tuesdays Dodge Charger.

The race was a hard fought battle between Clint Bowyer and the Gibbs team mates. Bowyer who was on board the Rheem Chevrolet for KHI led a good portion of the race leading for 109 laps.

But in the end it would be Kyle Busch beating team mate Joey Logano by the smallest margin in track history since the beginning of electronic scoring in 1993. Busch would win his fourth consecutive nationwide series race and 50^th victory in the series, by just .019 seconds.

“It’s awesome,” Busch said of the 50th win, his 23rd in his past 51 Nationwide starts. “We had Mark with us there in Loudon [when Busch tied the record July 16], and it was a phenomenal way to win 49 races and tie Mark Martin. And then to come here and to be able to beat his record here at Bristol, one of my favorite places and one of the team’s favorite places, it was certainly an awesome race.”

The top five would be Logano, Bowyer, Edwards and Aric Almirola with Almirola being the highest finishing Nationwide regular.

The Sprint Cup race was a must see event. With Ryan Newman leading the field to the green flag and taking the lead early Newman would consistently run in the top 10 all day. Not so for team mate Tony Stewart who had a very uncharacteristically bad day starting 42nd and finishing 28th 4 laps down to the field.

The dominant horse in the field would prove to be the 24 car of Jeff Gordon who would lead 5 different times for a race high 206 laps. Gordon who would come out of the pits on the final stop in 4^th would climb back to 3^rd but was unable to get past Martin Truex Jr for 2^nd.

The race win would instead go to Brad Keselowski in the Miller Lite Blue Deuce of Penske Racing. Keselowski whose race average over the last 4 races is 1.52, took the lead on lap 421 and never looked back. The obvious elated Keselowski said of his victory, “An awesome race car. An awesome race team. Penske Racing. The night race at Bristol! This is the race that Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt win. It’s the race of champions. I can’t believe it. There are races that pay more. There are races that might have a little more prestige, but this is the coolest damn one of them all. We won it!”

Four teams can now breathe a sigh of relief having clinched their chase spots. Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards all sealed up their chase spots after the race in Bristol.

Dale Earnhardt Jr, who now has 36 points on 10^th place Tony Stewart, could clinch his spot after Atlanta with a strong finish. Crew Chief Steve Letarte said Monday morning that the 88 team would be taking their Kansas/Charlotte car to Atlanta. “That car that always ends up in the front of the race. We want to put on a great show for the fans.” Letarte stated that they feel it is important to keep their chase fate in their hands by racing conservatively and once that chase berth was solidified fans would see a more aggressive and very different 88 team.

The joust ended, sadly for those in the stands and in front of television sets around the world; with relief for those participants who escaped with their competitive spirits intact. Bristol choose her champions. They fought their battles with great spirit and with great respect to the lady. Her champions will stand until the spring when again the joust will begin anew.

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

Congratulations to Ryan Newman on his Whelen modified series victory. For the record, anyone who has followed the series knew the gasket mistake did not win the race in New Hampshire.

Congratulations to Kevin Harvick on his Camping World Truck Series victory. Three in a row is a statement that KHI takes the owners championship very very seriously.

Congratulations to Kyle Busch on his Nationwide Series Win. 50 wins in any series is nothing to sneeze at. But 50 in the ultra competitive Nationwide series is a true showing of talent.

Congratulations to Brad Keselowski on his phenomenal performance not just in his win at Bristol, but over the last few weeks. Some never doubted it would happen. Those that did, don’t anymore.

That said, 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.

August 29, 2011
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Michigan

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”227″][/media-credit]1. Kyle Busch: Busch took the lead at Michigan with 12 laps to go, then fought off Jimmie Johnson during a green-white-checkered finish to win the Pure Michigan 400. It was Busch’s series-best fourth win of the year, and he took sole possession of the points lead, and now leads Johnson by ten.

“I clinched a spot in the Chase For The Cup,” Busch said. “That makes me the first to do so this year. That fact supports my motto to ‘Stay one step ahead of the competition, and an arm’s length away from Kevin Harvick and Richard Childress.

“Many are calling this the ‘new’ Kyle Busch. I’d prefer the previous version not return. Of course, if I start the Chase as the favorite and a points lead and fail to win the Sprint Cup, then I guess the ‘old’ Kyle will have returned.”

2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished second at Michigan, coming up short in a late battle with Kyle Busch for the win. It was Johnson’s third straight top-10 finish, and he moved up to second in the Sprint Cup point standings, ten behind Busch.

“Everyone is calling Busch the favorite to win the Sprint Cup championship,” Johnson said. “But I think it’s wide open. There are eight to ten drivers who could win the Cup. But only one who will.

“It remains to be seen whether Kyle can hang with the five-time champ in the Chase. There’s a not-so-fine line between being ‘No. 1’ and ‘no one.’ The way I see it, until you’re the former, you’re the latter.”

3. Carl Edwards: Edwards tumbled from the Sprint Cup points lead after early electrical problems sent the No. 99 Aflac Ford to the garage. After losing 28 laps for repairs, Edwards eventually finished 36^th, and fell to fourth in the standings, 39 behind Kyle Busch.

“What can electrical problems do to a points lead?” Edwards asks. “Make it not current. Carl Edwards not in the points lead? That’s a shocker. Luckily, my tumble down the points standings is made more tolerable by knowing I just signed a fat, new contract. Surprisingly, cold, hard cash makes for a soft landing.

“You may have heard my animated character appeared on the Disney cartoon ‘Kick Buttowski.’ Jack Roush’s character appeared as well, representing a car owner who goes to extreme lengths to keep his driver happy. He’s called ‘Kiss Buttowski.’”

4. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth led the way for Roush Fenway Racing at Michigan, finishing tenth as David Ragan took 12^th and Greg Biffle finished 20^th. Carl Edwards was slowed by electrical problems and finished 38^th, falling out of the points lead.

“It was an up-and-down day for RFR,” Kenseth said. “I finished tenth, but Biffle finished a middle-of-the-pack 20^thdespite leading 86 of 203 laps, while Edwards suffered major electrical issues in finishing 36^th. Is Boris Said still looking for Biffle’s address? Here’s a clue: the street name is not Victory Lane. As for Edwards, he’s gone downhill since signing his contract extension. He’s down to No. 4 in the points standings after leading the way for most of the year. I guess we should start calling him ‘Fourth Cousin Carl.’

“Did you notice my No. 17 with the Kroger paint scheme? That may have been the first time anything associated with Matt Kenseth has been described as colorful. It sure would have been funny had Clint Bowyer’s No. 33 car, sponsored by Cheerios and Hamburger Helper, would have ‘got into’ my Kroger car.”

5. Jeff Gordon: Gordon led 50 laps at Michigan, second to Greg Biffle’s 86, and finished sixth, his 11^th top-10 result of the year. He moved up one spot to sixth in the point standings and trails Kyle Busch by 60.

“The car was at its best while leading,” Gordon said. “By the way, in addition to my Sprint Cup titles, I’m a four-time champ at stating the obvious.”

6. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished a mediocre 22^nd in the Pure Michigan 400, his fifth result outside the top 10 in the last six races. He is third in the Sprint Cup point standings, 39 behind rival Kyle Busch.

“The No. 29 Budweiser car has not been impressive lately,” Harvick said. “I’ve told my crew in so many words that ‘This Bud’s Forgettable.’

“What this team needs in a complete turnaround. One provided by me, while in the car, and not one issued by Kyle Busch, while I’m not in the car.”

7. Kurt Busch: Busch finished 34^th at Michigan, suffering a tire pressure problem that sent him into the wall on lap 197. Busch’s two worst finishes have come in the last two weeks, and he dropped two places to eighth in the point standings.

“That’s two DNF’s this year,” Busch said. “Three if you count my feud with Jimmie Johnson.

“Now, my brother Kyle’s ascension to the points lead will make for an interesting Busch family dynamic in the Chase. There will be Kyle, everyone’s favorite, and me, no one’s favorite.”

8. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski remained NASCAR’s hottest driver, finishing third at Michigan to validate August 7^th’s win at Pocono and last week’s runner-up finish at Watkins Glen. He improved two spots to 12^th in the Sprint Cup point standings, and solidified his wildcard standing for the Chase.

“It looks like I’ll be joining Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin,” Keselowski said, “when we all three limp into the Chase.”

9. Ryan Newman: Newman posted his eighth top-8 finish of the year, coming home fifth in the Pure Michigan. Newman jumped one place in the point standings to seventh, 74 out of first.

“I hear Steven Wallace raised the ire of Patrick Carpentier’s team at Montreal on Saturday,” Newman said. “So much that Carpentier’s crew chief Jerry Baxter reached inside Wallace’s car and grabbed a handful of hair to voice his displeasure. I can certainly relate to the reaction of Baxter. I’ve pulled hair out on account of a Wallace before. That would be Rusty Wallace, and that would be my own hair.”

10. Tony Stewart: Stewart finished ninth in the Pure Michigan 400, a solid finish, yet one he was not pleased with. Although he sits 10^th in the point standings, Stewart said he be ‘wasting one of those top-12 spots” the way he’s running right now.

“Just to clarify,” Stewart commented, “I said ‘What a waste,’ not ‘What a waist.’

“I once had a pet monkey named ‘Mojo. He’s missing, but I’ve replaced him with one I like to call ‘Chase Bubbles.”

August 23, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Pure Michigan 400

Irish eyes were smiling in the hills surrounding Michigan International Speedway, keeping the rain which had plagued the last two Cup races, at bay. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 42^nd annual running of the Pure Michigan 400.

[media-credit name=”Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”255″][/media-credit]Surprising: Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion, could not have summed up the surprisingly bad day for his manufacturer and team any more succinctly.

With a surprisingly uncharacteristic engine failure, Edwards was Ford’s worst finisher at Michigan, a track where not only has Ford excelled but where Roush Fenway Racing has traditionally had free reign to play at the front of the field.

“I thought we would have a Ford in Victory Lane,” Edwards said. “I thought one way or another, we would win this thing.”

“It was a very tough race,” Edwards said. “We weren’t expecting a failure like that.”

Edwards lagged behind his Roush Fenway Racing teammates Matt Kenseth, who finished in 10^th in the No. 17 Kroger Ford Fusion; David Ragan, driving the No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion, who brought home a 12^th place finish; and pole sitter Greg Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion, who finished a disappointing 20^th after leading the most laps in the race.

Biffle was as surprised by his disappointing finish as his teammate Edwards was of his finish and engine failure.

“I don’t know what happened,” Biffle said. “I have a feeling we kinda got a bum set of tires and then we got off on our adjustments. I really don’t know what happened.”

Not Surprising: After being ever so close to Victory Lane at both Pocono and Watkins Glen, it was no surprise that the driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota outran a five-time champ in a green-white-checkered finish to finally took the checkered flag and made his trademark celebratory bow.

This victory was Kyle Busch’s first at Michigan International Speedway. It was his fifth top-10 finish in 14 races at Michigan.

“Today the car was flawless,” Busch said. “We knew the restart would be treacherous but I got a good run on the top-side and I was able to take the lead off Turn Two and set our sights on the checkered flag from there.”

With his fourth victory of the season, including this win at the Irish hills, Busch was also the first driver to officially clinch his berth in the championship Chase. And with Edwards’ poor finish, Busch now sits alone at the top of the leader board.

“It feels awesome,” Busch said of his guaranteed Chase spot. “It gives us an added bonus to just go out there and race for wins. We certainly feel good about it.”

Surprising: Brad Keselowski, behind the wheel of the Blue Deuce for Penske Racing, continues to surprise all by starring in his own sequel, ‘Iron Man Part Three.’ Keselowski finished third in the Pure Michigan 400, his third straight top-three finish since breaking his ankle and wrenching his back in a testing crash.

This was Keselowski’s first top-10 finish in five races at Michigan. With his finish, Keselowski also moved ever so close to Chase contention, moving up two positions in the point standings to 12^th.

“It was a good effort,” Keselowski said. “It was a great day, with great execution and I’m proud of my team.”

“I think we’re in pretty good shape,” Keselowski said of his Chase chances. “I feel better every week.”

Not Surprising: With the Chase race heating up, it is no surprise that the driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet has found his groove, as well as his lucky horseshoe. Jimmie Johnson, who like Busch has also never won at Michigan, scored a career-best second place finish.

This was Johnson’s eighth top-10 finish in 20 races in the Irish hills. It is also his 15^th top-10 finish in the 2011 season to date.

“It was a great finish for the Lowe’s team,” Johnson said. “We had a tough start to the race on pit road and on the race track but we got that ironed out.”

“Good runs put so much confidence in the driver and the team,” Johnson continued. “It felt good to be racing with the leader and have a shot at it.”

Surprising: Although Stewart-Haas Racing had a surprisingly good day at Michigan, with Ryan Newman finishing fifth in his No. 39 Wix Filters Chevrolet, and team owner Tony Stewart also finishing top ten in his No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet, the latter seemed surprisingly depressed after the race.

“I don’t know what we got to do to get one balanced for a day but we haven’t figured it out yet,” Stewart said. “We were on both sides of the coin today between tight and loose.”

“I’ll be perfectly honest at this stage in the deal if we’re going to run this bad, it really doesn’t matter if we make the Chase or not,” Smoke continued. “Our stuff’s so bad right now we’re wasting one of those top 12 spots.”

Not Surprising: On the flip side, it was no surprise to see the Hendrick Motorsports gang have a good day on the sweeping turns of Michigan International Speedway. Following closely behind runner up Jimmie Johnson, HMS teammate Mark Martin finished fourth in the No. 5 Carquest/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.

“It’s an incredible privilege to drive stuff like that,” Martin said. “We were right there and could see the lead and anytime you can see the lead, you feel like you have a crack at it. I feel very fortunate.”

HMS four-time champ Jeff Gordon also had a decent day at the office, finishing sixth in the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet, moving up another spot in the point standings to sixth as well. Gordon also made history, marking over 22,000 laps led in his career.

“All in all, a solid day for the Dupont Chevrolet,” Gordon said. “I loved the effort and the cars and team that we are bringing to the race track. It was a lot of fun out there.”

The final driver, piloting the No. 88 National Guard/Amp Energy Chevrolet for Mr. Hendrick, had a fairly good race as well. In spite of pit problems, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished fourteenth, keeping himself solidly in the ninth spot in the Chase standings.

“I had some awesome runs and the car was really fast,” Junior said. “And then I put on some tires and I couldn’t drive the car. We had some bad stuff happen on pit road, but we drove it back up there.”

Surprising: With a starting spot of fourth, the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota had high hopes for redemption in Michigan, as well as the hope of keeping his Chase chances alive. Surprisingly, in spite of Denny Hamlin’s new engine, he struggled throughout the race, hitting the wall and heading to the garage to repair significant right front suspension damage.

Hamlin finished the race in 35^th and lost two positions in the point standings, falling to a disappointing 14^th, barely hanging on to any chances of a Chase berth.

Not Surprising: Coming off his top-10 finish at the Glen, it was not surprising that A J Allmendinger almost pulled off another one at MIS. The driver of the No. 43 Best Buy Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports powered through the field from his 29^th place start to finish 11^th.

Surprising: On the flip side, the Dinger’s teammate Marcos Ambrose, winner of the Cup race at Watkins Glen last weekend and the Nationwide race in Montreal this weekend, had a surprisingly frustrating day.

The driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion started out strong but then was tagged from behind by Kevin Harvick while trying to pit, shoving his car head first into the pit wall, relegating him to a 27^th place finish.

“That was frustrating,” Ambrose said. “We had a good car and we were top-10 a lot of the day.”

“We just kept getting tighter and tighter,” Ambrose continued. “We had a hole in the grill. That really hurt us and we ended up turned around in the pit there at the end, so that hurt us too.”

Not Surprising: Although the driver of the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet qualified poorly and started 35^th, it was no surprise to see him drive as hard as he could to a top-ten finish. With Clint Bowyer’s 8^th place finish at Michigan, he has managed to hang on to the 11^th spot in the Chase standings.

“It was a good, hard fought battle all day long,” Bowyer said of his race. “From where we started, starting 35^th, getting up there in the top ten, we had a good car all day long.”

“We gained but not near enough. We’re running out of time but if we keep digging, who knows what’s going to happen.”

August 21, 2011
Matty’s Picks: Pure Michigan 400 Vol. 14 – Michigan – August 21, 2011

The NASCAR Sprint cup series heads back to the two-mile D-shaped superspeedway situated in the Irish Hills region of southeastern Michigan for the second and final time of the 2011 tour. Being one of the fastest tracks on the NASCAR schedule (with corner entry speeds in excess of 205 mph), NASCAR races continuously draw upwards of 125,000 fans to the 1,400 acres that makes up the MIS complex.

The wide sweeping corners of Michigan International Speedway were not very kind to my picks in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 back in June, so I am looking to rebound and continue my short streak of solid picks this weekend.

Watkins Glen Recap

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”235″][/media-credit]With last week’s race being at the track that I am most familiar with, there is no reason my picks should have played out any differently than they did. Watkins Glen International is the track that I call home, and the race Monday reinforced my decision to travel to the races each year at the historic 2.45-mile road course at The Glen. No matter where you were situated along the track on Monday Morning, there was action in front of you.

First, Kudos to WGI in their efforts to improve fan-viewing areas in erecting new grandstands (which look more like 6-story towers than grandstands) in turns 1, 10, and 11. I climbed to the top of the grandstands in turns 1 and 10, and they truly enhance the historically-difficult fan’s viewing perspective at Watkins Glen International. My family has sworn by the same seats in the Ninety Grandstand for the past 15 years, and I believe they will be seeking to make the change to one of the three brand new monstrosities ISC has erected at The Glen when NASCAR makes its return in 2012.

None the more fitting for my home track, Monday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen boasted my best results of the season thus far with a win for my Winner Pick and a 4th place Dark Horse finish.

Marcos Ambrose went into the weekend at Watkins Glen as the favorite for not only me, but for many writers in the racing industry. It was only destiny for Ambrose to win a Sprint Cup race after coming so close so many times throughout his brief history in NASCAR.

Ambrose had a sniff at the track record during qualifying, only to be outdone 69-seconds later by his teammate A.J. Allmendinger, and then again by Kyle Busch. This meant that Ambrose would start third for the Cup race, but wasted no time showing why he was many people’s pick to win at The Glen.

I will quote my column from last week, “Ambrose has the car to beat this weekend…he’s going to win.” Now I’m not trying to toot my own horn on this one, but that was a ‘Nostradamus of NASCAR’ pick last week (Almost as solid as picking Dale Jr to win the Fan Vote in the All-Star Race back in May).

The No. 9 car didn’t get the win very easily on Monday, coming from third on the Green-White-Checkered start to taking the checkered flag for his first victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Marcos Ambrose had this to say in Victory Lane on Monday “Just a dream day. The sacrifices you make, we all make to get here, Todd and all the team, the Petty family, my family to get here, to be a contender in the Cup Series, to finally get to victory lane, it just is a dream come true for me.”

My Dark Horse Pick also faired well on Monday, finishing fourth. Martin Truex Jr.’s car was “just a bit off” on Monday morning. He had enough to run towards the front of the pack all day long, but fell just short at the end when the checkered flag flew.

Truex explained the chaos of the final restart after his fourth-place finish “I’m not really sure exactly how the last restart went. All I know is I was three-wide so I was kind of paying attention to the guys around me and not so much what happened up in front. I know I saw Kyle (Busch) way out off the curb off of (turn) one so I knew he was in trouble, and they were two-wide under him I guess. I was just glad to get out of there alive. I was a little nervous that last three-white checker.”

As I said before, it was a great weekend for Matty’s Picks at The Glen marking my two best picks yet this season. I hope I can carry my momentum into Michigan this week with two picks even better than last week.

Michigan Picks

Winner Pick
Since I picked a Chevy and a Toyota to win in June, I’ve decided to pick the other two makes this week at MIS despite two JGR Toyotas finishing in the Top-3.

For my winner pick, I’m going with the runner-up of June’s race at MIS. Three of the four Roush Fenway Racing cars were in the Top-5 earlier today in Sprint Cup practice. Matt Kenseth is also one of three active drivers that average a Top-10 finish at Michigan; Carl Edwards (6.2), Kenseth (9.5), and Denny Hamlin (10.0). He has two wins at the track, his last coming in 2006, and also has a Top-5 finish in his last two starts at MIS.

Kenseth was quickest in practice earlier this afternoon, edging out Ryan Newman by just 6-thousanths of a second. Matt Kenseth is sitting in fairly good shape as far as the Chase is concerned, but his third win of the season could be on the horizon this weekend at MIS. Look for Kenseth to be aggressive in his march towards the front, but conserve a Top-5 for his points run.

Dark Horse Pick
I think I’m going to get some backlash on qualifying this next driver as my Dark Horse pick for this weekend, but the numbers are the numbers.

Brad Keselowski is arguably the hottest driver in racing right now, but has never finished better than 24th at MIS. Following a crash that could have possibly ended his season or his driving career, Keselowski has been on a mission to prove his toughness and existence in the Sprint Cup Series. Many drivers in the garage gave him props last week for his courage to not only stay in his car for the weekend, but to take the Blue Deuce and finish second.

Since his horrific crash in testing at Road Atlanta, Keselowski has a win at Pocono and a runner-up finish on Monday at Watkins Glen. He sits atop the leaderboard for one of the two Wild Card spots in the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup with his two wins. A win on Sunday would all but seal-the-deal for his Chase hopes, and put the Blue Deuce in contention for a Driver’s Championship, something no other driver of the Miller Lite Dodge has ever been able to accomplish.

Brad Keselowski will put his average finish of 27.5 at Michigan behind him this weekend and put the Blue Deuce in the Top 5 for the fifth time this season.

On a side note, I was glad to see all the drivers involved in the horrific crashes on Monday at Watkins Glen International walk from their cars under their own power. It is really unfortunate that drivers have to find those dangerous spots on the track before the owners of the facility do, but hopefully WGI will continue to improve the safety in and around the track. I commend the track on what they’ve done so far, and am 100% certain they will investigate the incidents at the facility very closely, and institute an action plan to alleviate the dangerous situations we saw on Monday.

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

August 19, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen

Not to be outdone by the weather at Pocono last weekend, Watkins Glen International took it one step further with a full course, one day rain delay. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Monday matinee Cup race at the Glen.

[media-credit name=”Ed Coombs” align=”alignright” width=”245″][/media-credit]Surprising: In a race in which he started from the pole position and clearly dominated, leading three times for a record-high 49 laps, it was surprising that Kyle Busch was not in Victory Lane yet again. The driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota took the checkered flag in the third position, one back from his runner up position at Pocono the weekend before.

Busch lost the lead on the final restart, a green-white-checkered one at that, of the race. Known for his usually stout re-starts, Busch made a surprising mistake in Turn One, taking it just a bit wide enough to allow both Brad Keselowski and Marcos Ambrose through to the lead.

“Just knew exactly what not to do and did it anyway,” Busch said. “I just screwed up.”

“I felt like we were right there and had a shot to win,” Busch continued. “I knew it was going to come down to one corner and I messed it up.”

Surprisingly, although Busch did not score the win, he did re-emerge as the co-leader in the point standings. Busch climbed two spots to tie with Carl Edwards, both atop the Chase leader board with 752 points each.

Not Surprising: It was not surprising to see road course redemption collide with another first time winner, resulting in Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion, being in Victory Lane. With his loss of the win at Sonoma due to his own error firmly behind him, Ambrose redeemed himself to become NASCAR’s fifth first-time winner of the season.

“I’ve fought so much to get here, to finally win and be in Victory Lane is a dream come true,” Ambrose said. “To win in the Cup Series is an incredible feeling and I’m very, very proud.”

Ambrose’s win was Richard Petty Motorsports first since 2009 when Kasey Kahne won on the road course at Infineon. Ambrose’s win officially came on his 105^th Cup start.

“It’s just a dream day,” Ambrose continued. “The sacrifices you make to be a contender in the Cup Series, to finally get to Victory Lane is a dream come true for me.”

Surprising: As surprising as Brad Keselowski’s ‘Iron Man’ performance was at Pocono, with his win there in spite of his broken ankle, the driver of the No. 2 ‘Blue Deuce’ pulled off an ‘Iron Man Redux’, with a runner up score at the Glen.

“I wouldn’t say it got easier,” Keselowski said of racing with his injured ankle. “But when your car is fast, you can put a lot of stuff behind you and make it work.”

“I think that’s about as good as the racing gets right there,” Keselowski continued. “I’m proud to be a part of it. Life is good when you have fast race cars.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising that the stars of several other traditionally good road racers shone at the Glen. Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, finished seventh and AJ Allmendinger, who started outside pole in his No. 43 Best Buy Ford, finished eighth.

Allmendinger was particularly proud to not only see his Richard Petty Motorsports teammate in Victory Lane, but also took great pride in his comeback after an altercation with Kurt Busch early in the race.

“It’s great to see Marcos in Victory Lane and it’s great for the team,” Allmendinger said. “I’m proud of my guys and proud of the way we fought back all day. The car was fast.”

“Our Target Chevy was really good,” Juan Pablo Montoya said. “I thought we had a winning car. We were really close but it was all okay. It was a good day for us.”

Surprising: It was most surprising to see Boris Said and Greg Biffle channeling the fighting spirits of two other competitors, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch. This week, instead of Johnson and Busch feuding, it was Said and Biffle who were trading paint on the track and harsh words in the garage as well.

Said, standing in for Landon Cassill in the No. 51 Phoenix Construction/Thank A Teacher Today Security Benefit Chevrolet, was furious with the way Biffle, in his No. 16 Valvoline Ford, raced him in the waning laps, especially since Biffle was a lap down at the time.

Said accused Biffle of ‘flipping him off’ and Biffle countered by accusing Said of causing the last race crash that sent two cars hard into the wall. After the race, the disagreement really heated up into not only harsh words but also some attempted punches.

“He wouldn’t even let me get out of the car and he comes over and throws a few little baby punches,” Said said of Biffle. “Then when I get out, he runs away and hides behind some big guys.”

“But he won’t hide from me long,” Said continued. “I won’t settle it out on the track. It’s not right to wreck cars.”

“But he’ll show up at a race with a black eye one of these days.”

Biffle, for his part, had equally strong reactions.

“Let me tell you something,” Biffle said. “Boris, the ‘road course ringer’ caused that wreck. He did the same thing to me earlier in the race.”

“Then ‘Mr. Class’ pulls in behind my truck after the race today,” Biffle continued. “How unprofessional and disrespectful.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising that the aforementioned feud between Johnson and Busch did not continue to percolate at the Glen, especially since the two drivers were nowhere near each other on the race track.

The driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge spun early in the race and then lost his brakes on Lap 49 after a tire failure sent him hard into the wall. Busch did not finish the race, scored in the 38^th position, causing him to fall two positions to sixth in the point standings.

“I had a big problem getting into the braking zones today,” Busch said. “I had to crank eight rounds of front brake into our car just to survive.”

“All that does is generate brake heat and I blew out the left-front tire,” Busch continued. “It was a bummer of a day.”

Johnson, on the other hand, had a top-ten finish in his No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet. The five-time champ currently sits just six points behind Chase co-leaders Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch.

“We had a great day,” Johnson said. “To have the pace that we did all day long, even though we weren’t up there leading, we had a very fast race car and that’s what we wanted to have here.”

Surprising: It was a bit surprising that a 15^th place finish left NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his crew chief Steve Letarte feeling so very optimistic. Both agreed that they ‘did what they had to do’ to solidify their place in the Chase, a place where Junior has not been for the past three years.

Dale Junior, admittedly not a lover of road course racing, scored his first top-15 in six years of racing at the Glen. The driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Amp Energy Chevrolet now sits solidly in the ninth spot in the Chase standings.

“I think we’re a good enough team to make the Chase bar none,” Earnhardt, Jr. said. “We should be able to get in there no problem.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising at all that the calls for safer barriers at Watkins Glen International have intensified after several very hard hits at the road course in the midst of the Finger Lakes.

Not only did Kurt Busch hit hard into the wall, but Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, also lost his brakes and took a nasty lick head on into the tire barrels.

“Something blew out in the left front,” Hamlin said after being checked and released from the infield care center after his hit. “I had no brakes. There was nothing you could do.”

The worst of the hard hits, however, came in the final lap of the race where David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 UPS “We Love Logistics” Ford, wrecked hard himself and then spun into David Reutimann, behind the wheel of the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, sending him into the air and into the wall as well.

Both Davids were rattled but escaped major injuries, exiting gingerly from their mangled race cars as they attempted to catch their collective breaths.

“It’s just a product of close quarters racing at the end,” Ragan said. “I’m sore. That was a hard hit.”

“I looked down at my feet and my pedals and my leg rests were all pushed over,” Ragan continued. “It’s a shame that a race track we go to in 2011 doesn’t have a better wall design all the way around the race track.”

“Hopefully they’ll look at that,” Ragan said. “I’ve been to some dirt tracks that have better walls than that.”

“This is one of the bigger hits I would say, but it’s part of the gig,” Reutimann said. “You sign up to do this stuff every once and awhile and you’re going to hit something.”

“Overall I’m okay,” Reutimann continued. “I’m thinking where I hit would probably be a good place for SAFER barriers.”

“I’m good and will be ready for Michigan next week.”

August 17, 2011
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Watkins Glen

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished a solid 12^th at Watkins Glen, Roush Fenway Racing’s top finisher in Monday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips At The Glen. Edwards is now tied with Kyle Busch for the lead in the Sprint Cup point standings.

“Should I be worried that I no longer sit alone atop the point standings?” Edwards said. “Of course not. I’m NASCAR’s resident pretty boy, and like it or not, I even look good in a ‘tie.’”

I hear Boris Said has it out for my Roush Fenway Greg Biffle. Boris said one day soon, a driver will show up at the race track with a black eye. I tend to believe him. Stranger things have happened. Heck, twice a year, a driver shows up at the track with an afro!”

2. Kyle Busch: Busch led 49 of 92 laps at Watkins Glen and was leading on the race’s final restart with two laps to go. But both Brad Keselowski and Marcos Ambrose slipped by on the restart, and Ambrose muscled his way to the win. Busch finished third, his series-best 11^th top 5 of the year, and is now tied with Carl Edwards atop the point standings.

“M&M’s may simply melt in your mouth,” Busch said, “but apparently, leads evaporate altogether in my hands.”

How about poor Denny Hamlin, losing his brakes on lap 66 and crashing hard into the Turn 1 wall? He’s okay, but with brake issues on top of all the engine problems he’s experienced this year, you have to believe there will be some changes with that team. I say it’s time for Viagra to return to NASCAR sponsorship, and Hamlin’s No. 11 car would be a perfect fit for a product with a proven solution to equipment failure.”

3. Jimmie Johnson: After a week of feuding with Kurt Busch, Johnson finished 10^th at Watkins Glen, scoring his 13^th top-10 finish of the year. Johnson is now third in the point standings, trailing Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch by six.

“So, Kurt Busch says he’s ‘in my head?’” Johnson said. “Well, he’s out of his mind. Now, he needs to get out of mind. Anyway, I finished 28 places better than he, which just goes to show that Kurt’s a punk, and karma’s a bitch.”

4. Kurt Busch: After winning Saturday’s Nationwide race subbing for Penske teammate Brad Keselowski, Busch found the going much rougher during Monday’s rescheduled Sprint Cup race. Busch spun out on lap 4, then blew a tire and slammed the Turn 5 tire barrier on lap 49. He finished a disappointing 38^th, and dropped two places to sixth in the point standings, 40 out of first.

“It’s nice to know,” Busch said, “that I can get in Keselowski’s car and win a race. Especially since I, the former driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, have witnessed Brad get into my car and win. Twice.”

At The Glen, I barely made it to the halfway point of the race. You could say I couldn’t ‘break a sweat,’ which, incidentally, is exactly what Jimmie Johnson said about my fighting ability.”

5. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished sixth at Watkins Glen, posting his first top-10 result since Daytona on July 2^nd. Harvick is now fourth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 14 behind Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch.

“I’m certainly pleased with the result,” Harvick said. By no means am I a road course ringer. Now, if I would have been in Boris Said’s shoes, I would have been a road course wringer, because somebody would have been choked.”

You may have seen me throw out the first pitch at the Angels-Yankees game inNew Yorklast week. One thing’s for sure: that baseball won’t get a ticket for speeding on pit lane. My incident with Kyle Busch at Darlington, coupled with my pitching skill, just goes to show that his right arm can’t hit a target, moving or otherwise.”

6. Jeff Gordon: Gordon led six laps at Watkins Glen on his way to a 13^th-place finish in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips At The Glen. He remained seventh in the point standings and is 52 behind Carl Edwards.

“What I finish,” Gordon said. “That last lap was a lot like a Kurt Busch radio tirade, because all ‘hell’ broke loose. And David Reutimann was much like Indy Car driver Will Power at New Hampshire—they both flipped. Of course, Power’s middle finger salute to the race officials drew a fine. I guess that’s the ‘Power’ of ‘one.’ You would never see a Sprint Cup driver flip off NASCAR officials. Not because our manners are any better than Power’s, but NASCAR officials don’t have a problem not throwing a caution. And they don’t need any rain to do it.”

[media-credit name=”Ed Coombs” align=”alignright” width=”231″][/media-credit]7. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth suffered an early setback at Watkins Glen, running out of gas midway through the race, but fought back to come home 14^th. He moved up one spot to fifth in the point standings, and is now 28 out of first.

“Thanks to Greg Biffle for the push back to the pits after I ran out of gas,” Kenseth said. “According to Boris Said, that’s the only ‘push back’ Biffle’s good for. If Biffle does show up for an upcoming race with a black eye, then he’ll be the only ‘Said head’ who’s not a member of Boris’ fan club.”

8. Tony Stewart: Stewart finished 27^th, the last car on the lead lap, after his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil Chevy spun and was hit by another car. Stewart fell one spot in the point standings to tenth, and is 25 ahead of Clint Bowyer in 11^th.

“I wouldn’t classify my finish as ‘Heluva Good,’” Stewart said. “I would, however, classify Boris Said’s challenge to Greg Biffle as a ‘heluva goad.’”

9. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski nearly captured his second-consecutive win of the year, leading with one to go at Watkins Glen before Marco Ambrose bulled past him. Keselowski settled for second and further solidified his wildcard chances.

“Ambrose is the first Australian to win a NASCAR race,” Keselowski said. “I say that’s ‘Aus-some.’ He’s establishing quite a few milestones. Last year, he became the first Australian to stall his engine while leading the race.”

10. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished 15^th in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips At The Glen, joining Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon in the top 15. Earnhardt improved one position in the Sprint Cup point standings, and is in ninth with four races before the Chase opener.

“I like my chances to make the Chase For The Cup,” Earnhardt said, “if the Chase started tomorrow. Hopefully, I can survive these next four races and maintain my position. One thing’s for sure: I won’t be winning my way into the Chase.”

August 16, 2011