Tag: chad knaus

Knaus says Indy turned around the 48 team’s season

Asked where the 48 team’s season started to turn around, Chad Knaus points to the Brickyard as being where they began their run to the championship finale.

Speaking to the media during a teleconference earlier today, the crew chief of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was questioned about, given the early season success and run of poor performance by his team and the entire Hendrick organization during the summer, when he felt the performance of his team started to level up to the point that they could compete for the championship.

“I think about Indianapolis was the turning point for the 48 car,” Knaus said. “Now, albeit we didn’t have very good finishes throughout the summer months, that’s not necessarily indicative of how we raced. We had some very strong performances, much like I said at Indianapolis. Were we as fast as the guys that were perfectly up front? No, not really, but we were running in the top-five and we passed a lot of cars there, so I think that was a great start for us.

“Pocono we had some good races, so on and so forth. Once again, I don’t know that we had the finishing results that we wanted, but we were starting to show signs of performance. Once we got a little bit later into the season, Darlington showed up, Michigan, tracks like that, we really started to put some finishes together and some very, very strong performances.

“So I think about that time of the year.”

Despite four wins on the season and competing for a record-tying seventh championship this Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, this season for Jimmie Johnson will end up being statistically one of his most under-performed seasons. A finish less than fifth would make 2016 the season with the second-fewest top-fives of his career. He’ll also finish the season with both less than 20 top-10’s for the first time in his career and less than half of his finishes being top-10 finishes. A lead lap finish this weekend would avoid this season having the fewest lead lap finishes since his rookie season.

During the six-race stretch from Pocono Raceway to New Hampshire Motor Speedway during June and July of this season, Johnson posted finishes of 35th, 16th, 13th, 35th, 32nd and 12th, which amounted to a 23.8 finishing average. Three of his four DNF’s on the season came during that six-race stretch.

The entire Hendrick organization was under-performing during this stretch. There were weeks where none of the Hendrick cars finished inside the top-10.

To make matters worse, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was ruled out medically halfway through the season due symptoms of a concussion that stemmed from his wreck at Michigan International Speedway. Alex Bowman and Jeff Gordon have split time, with Bowman taking a slightly larger share, driving the No. 88 car the latter half of the season.

Even rookie Chase Elliott, who was the most consistent of any HMS driver for much of the season, started to slip in performance in the summer months to the point that his Chase hopes went from a sure thing to questionable.

Knaus made no bones about the lack of speed through the summer months at HMS. He discussed how all the crew chiefs banded together to work the problem out and that, he believes, is what solved their dilemma.

“But yeah, it’s no secret that we were not performing the way we wanted to throughout the bulk of the season as a company, so we all buckled down,” he added. “I think the crew chiefs have put their heads together very well, and really started to work well together. Not that we weren’t before, but we just did it with more vigor than what we had in the past, and I think that’s a direct reason why we have the results that we do now. I think all of our teams are running great. I think at one time, Sunday, last week, we were first, second, third and fifth, I think, so the best showing we have had in a race competitively like that in a while.

“I think everybody at Hendrick Motorsports is doing a great job of pushing our performance and making that a priority, and it should carry on, I hope, into next season.

November 16, 2016
Finley Factor: Is Knaus Moving Away From The 48 Team?

When Jimmie Johnson takes the checkered flag at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 22, it will be the end of 14 straight seasons with Chad Knaus on top of the pit box for the No. 48 Chevrolet. The results of the partnership have been legendary so far; 72 wins, six Sprint Cup championships, including five in a row from 2006-2010, the 2013 Daytona 500, four Coca-Cola 600 victories, along with wins in the Southern 500 and Brickyard 400.

Could it be the end of an era next season? If performance isn’t stepped up, there’s no doubt that it’s a possibility.

This season, while the No. 48 and No. 88 teams have done well overall, both the No. 5 and the No. 24 teams have been practically anonymous. Jeff Gordon has struggled with inconsistency and just a lack of speed throughout his so far disappointing retirement season. Meanwhile, Kasey Kahne flat out missed the Chase and many, including Dale Jarrett on NBC this weekend, are beginning to question his talents. The No. 88 has been dominant on the plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega and seems to be the best Hendrick car at this point in the season. Johnson’s season started off strong with four wins in the first 13 races, but only one top-five in the past nine races has many in the garage area scratching their heads.

Next year will be a very critical time for Hendrick Motorsports. With time ticking on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s hopes for that long awaited championship, Kahne needing to perform under the microscope, and the start of a new era for the No. 24 with Chase Elliott, Johnson could very easily be lost in the shuffle. For the first time since 1995, Hendrick Motorsports will only be employing one former Cup champion to pilot their Chevrolets- Jimmie Johnson.

It’s fairly obvious that Hendrick will need to make some changes to the No. 5 this off-season. Kahne just signed a four-year extension last year so they aren’t getting rid of the driver. This means that the No. 5 could likely have a different crew chief next year in place of Keith Rodden.

The No. 24 team’s struggles this season also need to be addressed in time for Elliott’s rookie season, and part of that is possibly moving Alan Gustafson away from the 24 team to a different HMS team. Common sense would dictate swapping Rodden and Gustafson around, but if the No. 48’s struggles continue into the fall months, it could be just about time to split up Johnson and Knaus.

All great pairings in history – Gordon and Ray Evernham, Richard Petty and Dale Inman, Tony Stewart and Greg Zipadelli, etc., end at some point, and it could be time for this pairing to end. All signs are starting to point to Hendrick considering it; take the wording of HMS press release earlier this week on Johnson, Lowe’s, and Kanus extensions to the team. Nowhere in the release does it say that Knaus will continue past this year with Johnson, only that he will stay with Hendrick through 2018.

HMS isn’t afraid to make radical changes when teams aren’t performing well. In 2010, they won a fifth straight championship with Johnson but no victories outside of the No. 48 and only one other driver, Gordon, on the stage in Las Vegas at the end of the year. This prompted a huge switch around in crew chiefs – Lance McGrew to the No. 5, Gustafson to the No. 24, and Steve Letarte to the No. 88. Outside of the lame-duck No. 5, which struggled with an aging Mark Martin and a soon to be replaced McGrew, the Hendrick teams improved greatly the following season.

If I were in charge of Hendrick and the season ended today, I’d move Gustafson back to the No. 5, Knaus to the No. 24, and Rodden to the No. 48. One of Kahne’s weak points has recently been not being able to adapt to a bad handling car, saying that it needs to turn better in the center of the corner. Gustafson is great at setting a car up, and I feel he and Kahne could counteract their own weak points. Rodden is still new to the crew chief job and Johnson should be able to help show him the ropes. Knaus and Elliott would be a great pairing. Knaus seems to be a pretty “we’re doing it this way” type of guy, and Elliott isn’t going to speak back to him like Johnson can.

Chicagoland Preview, the First Race of the Challenger Round of the 2015 Chase for the Sprint Cup

The Favorites

Brad Keselowski has recently been owning this track. In the past four starts here, he has an average finish of 3.5 and two victories. It would be hard to pick him over any other JGR/Penske driver.

This is one of Kevin Harvick’s best racetracks. Although he hasn’t won here since 2002, he has three top-fives over the last four races and, although hitting a bit of a snag at Richmond, should recover from that in time for the Chase.

The Sleepers

Kurt Busch seems to always do well here in Chicagoland. Looking back on his past stats here, unless there is a problem on the car, he almost always finishes top-10, in spite of having no Chicagoland victories on his resume.

Matt Kenseth is a little more inconsistent. In spite of really having no major problems, he only has six top-10s out of 14 starts. He did win here two years ago however and with how large of a role the Gibbs cars have right now, it would be tough to not put him here.

The Wild Card

Kyle Larson only has one start at Chicagoland, but it was a third place finish here last season. Being outside of the Chase will enable him and his Chip Ganassi Racing team to really take gambles throughout it, and it begins this weekend.

All stats for the Finley Factor are as per Racing Reference unless otherwise noted.

September 17, 2015
NASCAR BTS: Pit Crew Wrestlers In Training

Ever wonder how those pit crew members, especially for the elite teams, muscled their way into that kind of a sweet gig? Well, this week NASCAR Behind the Scenes focuses on two of Jimmie Johnson’s pit crew members in training who wrestled their way into the sport.

Matt Wilps and Zach Thomsusseit were actually wrestling teammates at the University of Pittsburgh when they decided to go NASCAR racing after graduation. Both are in training with Hendrick Motorsports to eventually and hopefully carry tires on one of NASCAR’s elite teams.

“I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, from around the Carnegie area,” Wilps said. “I went to the University of Pittsburgh for five years. I wrestled there and was a two-time All-American.

Following that, I coached there for one year as a second Assistant Coach. And then I heard through the grapevine about NASCAR. I really didn’t know much about the sport at all and I got invited to Hendrick to do a combine tryout.

I did well enough and I ended up here at the track.”

For Wilps, focus and repetition are the commonalities between wrestling and NASCAR racing.

“You have to focus,” Wilps said. “Obviously you have to watch for cars that can hit you on pit road. It is a dangerous thing. But you cannot worry about mistakes that you make. You just have to keep focusing on your task.”

“The way wrestling prepared me was that you would practice a specific move over and over again, like ten times, over and over,” Wilps continued. “That repetition is the same thing in a NASCAR pit stop.

So, I’ll just practice putting the tire on the car over and over again. I have to notice where my feet are prior to the movement and throughout the movement as I put the tire on. It has to be not only the most efficient way to do it but also the healthiest for my body.”

Just as when he wrestled, Wilps is dedicated to an intense workout routine, at least when they are not on the road.

“Typically we are at the track every weekend but on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we have a full day at the gym,” Wilps said. “During those days, we will help out with Cup practices as well as getting our own practices in as the developmental crew.

We’ll get a lift or a run in every day. We actually do yoga every Monday as long as we don’t get back late from the track on Sunday. We need to stretch out as we are standing on the concrete all day.

You’re not going to be sore from the pit stop but the long day standing and being out in the sun wearing three layers of fire suits, the yoga helps and clears you up. It helps you keep feeling nimble.”

“A lot of the guys appreciate the same hard work that translates well from wrestling into NASCAR,” Wilps continued. “I’m in training to be one of the guys to go over the wall in the future for maybe Jimmie Johnson. I’m not quite good enough yet. Hopefully, I get there.”

“I help out any way I can.”

Wilps’ partner in wrestling and in the pit crew development program is Zach Thomsusseit. He too is in training to carry tires, while currently handing in the gas can to the gas can man.

“I grew up in Dayton, Ohio,” Thomsusseit said. “I was always involved in athletics and got the opportunity to go and wrestle for the University of Pittsburgh.”

“Wrestling got me here. I think every opportunity I’ve had has come about because of wrestling. Someone in the Pitt wrestling program knew about NASCAR and he gave some of us a call.

I honestly didn’t even watch NASCAR or know there was such a thing as a pit crew. I had the itch to compete and missed it. So, I came and tried out because it was a sweet opportunity. I gave it a go and here I am.”

Thomsusseit is grateful that he is in this program with a buddy, in fact, one that he not only wrestled with but lived with in the dorm down the hall.

“I think it’s made it easier to have a friend,” Thomsusseit said. “We push each other. He doesn’t want me to do better than him and vice versa.”

“There’s another guy who wrestled at Pitt that is on the developmental team for Dale Jr. So, there are three of us Pitt pit crew trainees now.”

Thomsusseit echoed his teammate’s thoughts about wrestling skills parlaying into NASCAR pit crew skills, however, he also noted that Team 48 demands just a bit extra, even out of its developmental pit crew members.

“You obviously have the athleticism, but the 48 team holds themselves to higher standards,” Thomsusseit said. “I just think wrestling is very disciplined and you have to focus on the little things. That’s what Chad Knaus here on the 48 team does.

He has won a lot and that is what he makes his guys work towards. You have to have that goal in sight. And that’s what wrestling is all about, competing for the national championship. But in NASCAR, it is preparing for the Chase and winning the championship at the end of the season.”

“I think wrestling parlays really well into NASCAR. I’m a tire carrier, so I’m pretty much in wrestling stance most of the time. That’s worked well because I’m used to squatting down, unlike some of the football players in the program.”

“I also like the team atmosphere,” Thomsusseit continued. “I was a sales rep out of school, but wrestling was my life. So, I love working together on goals and I get paid to work out, which is what I’ve done all my life.”

While both Wilps and Thomsusseit treasure the time they are having in pit crew training, they also acknowledge that there is at least one big challenge that they have to face.

“The most difficult thing is getting used to the travel,” Thomsusseit said. “We’re gone most every weekend. That’s a bit like wrestling but it’s a lot more travel.

“I have become a race fan now and I have more appreciation for the sport. What goes on behind the scenes is amazing.”

August 31, 2015

Jimmie Johnson Notches Historic Tenth Win at Monster Mile

He may have qualified in the fourteenth position, but Jimmie Johnson did what he usually does at the Monster Mile, scoring another win, his tenth in fact in the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway.

And with that, the driver of the No. 48 Lowes Pro Services Chevrolet also made history, becoming just the fifth driver in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history to have ten or more victories at a single track, joining Richard Petty, David Person, Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt.

“I felt like it was going to be a game of inches today,” Johnson said. “We were able to leap frog some guys on some pit stops.”

“It all came together for us very late but we were able to get that tenth win.”

“It was so great to be able to come here and compete for it,” Chad Knaus, crew chief, said. “I didn’t really realize we were doing that. To be able to run the way we did was great.”

“We didn’t qualify as well as we wanted but Jimmie got us to fifth quite quickly. Finally we started to put it together and once Jimmie was in position to battle for the lead, he did it.”

“I couldn’t be prouder. It was pretty awesome.”

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 ditech Chevrolet, finished second while the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet Kyle Larson finished third.

“We got really tight and then we freed up a lot and got better,” Larson said. “We gained a couple spots each time.”

“Our first good run of the year and hopefully we have many more.”

“Once the track bar broke, we were pretty much in a box,” Harvick said. “But all in all, the team did a great job. Dover has been a good race track for us. We’ve led laps but haven’t quite finished it off yet.”

“But a good solid day.”

This was Harvick’s 13^th top-10 finish in Dover and his 12^th top-10 finish for the season. He leads the point standings by 44 over Martin Truex Jr.

Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne rebounded from a 25 place qualifying position to finish fourth in his No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet. And rounding out the top-5 was Aric Almirola in the No. 43 Smithfield Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports.

“I earned my money today that is for sure,” Almirola said. “This Smithfield Ford Fusion was a handful most of the day. It started off extremely tight. Trent Owens and the guys made really good adjustments on the car and got it better and better.”

“Finally we weren’t the lucky dog, we raced and stayed on the lead lap and when the caution came out we got a chance to restart with the leaders. That was the big break for us.”

“Every time we would get the lucky dog I had to start dead last and 30-40-50 laps the leaders were right back on me. It was a great day for us, a really good point’s day for us.”

“I am proud of Trent Owens and all the guys at Richard Petty Motorsports. They have been working their guts out trying to bring better cars to the race track week in and week out.”

“We have to get better qualifying. That is our Achilles heel right now. We start too deep in the field every week. All in all it was a good day for us and I am ready to go to Pocono.”

Martin Truex Jr. led many laps but finished sixth. Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top ten in the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks.

The full finishing results are as follows:

2015 NSCS FedEx 400 Race Results

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Lap	Pts	BPts	Status	TLd	LLd
1	14	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s Pro Services Chevrolet	405	47	4	Running	1	23
2	6	4	Kevin Harvick	ditech Chevrolet	405	43	1	Running	2	91
3	3	42	Kyle Larson	Target Chevrolet	405	41		Running
4	25	5	Kasey Kahne	Farmers Insurance Chevrolet	405	40		Running
5	23	43	Aric Almirola	Smithfield Ford	405	39		Running
6	2	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet	405	40	2	Running	3	131
7	11	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald’s/Cessna Chevrolet	405	37		Running
8	18	27	Paul Menard	Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet	405	36		Running
9	20	15	Clint Bowyer	AAA Insurance Toyota	405	36	1	Running	1	1
10	22	24	Jeff Gordon	3M Chevrolet	405	34		Running
11	5	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford	405	33		Running
12	19	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Ford	404	33	1	Running	1	28
13	15	55	David Ragan	Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota	404	31		Running
14	16	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Nationwide Chevrolet	403	31	1	Running	1	3
15	33	10	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy Chevrolet	403	29		Running
16	26	14	Tony Stewart	Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet	403	28		Running
17	7	16	Greg Biffle	Safety-Kleen Ford	403	27		Running
18	17	31	Ryan Newman	Caterpillar Chevrolet	402	26		Running
19	8	19	Carl Edwards	Stanley Toyota	402	26	1	Running	1	3
20	30	7	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	402	24		Running
21	1	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Cares Toyota	402	24	1	Running	4	118
22	28	9	Sam Hornish Jr.	Twisted Tea Ford	400	22		Running
23	43	40	Landon Cassill(i)	CRC Brakleen Chevrolet	400	0		Running
24	29	47	AJ Allmendinger	Scott Products Chevrolet	400	20		Running
25	32	38	David Gilliland	The Pete Store Ford	399	19		Running
26	37	35	Cole Whitt	Ford	399	18		Running
27	21	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Chevrolet	399	17		Running
28	38	34	Brett Moffitt #	Dockside Logistics Ford	398	16		Running
29	40	23	JJ Yeley(i)	Dr Pepper Toyota	397	0		Running
30	35	26	Jeb Burton #	Maxim Fantasy Sports Toyota	396	14		Running
31	13	41	Kurt Busch	Haas Automation Chevrolet	396	13		Running
32	36	83	Matt DiBenedetto #	Burger King Toyota	395	12		Running
33	12	3	Austin Dillon	DOW Chevrolet	395	11		Running
34	41	62	Brendan Gaughan(i)	Chevrolet	392	0		Running
35	42	32	Mike Bliss(i)	CorvetteParts.net Ford	391	0		Running
36	10	18	Kyle Busch	Skittles Toyota	374	9	1	Accident	2	7
37	9	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford EcoBoost Ford	373	7		Running
38	27	33	Brian Scott(i)	ACME Chevrolet	372	0		Accident
39	4	20	Matt Kenseth	Dollar General Toyota	346	5		Suspension
40	39	98	Josh Wise	Ford	346	4		Electrical
41	34	46	Michael Annett	Pilot Flying J Chevrolet	317	3		Running
42	24	51	Justin Allgaier	AccuDoc Solutions/FOE Chevrolet	310	2		Running
43	31	6	Trevor Bayne	AdvoCare Ford	221	1		Running

# = Rookie, Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led. (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

May 31, 2015

Odds and Ends as the New NASCAR Season Prepares to Crank it Over

A new season, with a new defending champion, will be soon upon us. Kevin Harvick and the rest of the boys, and girl, will be in Daytona in less than a month to kick things off. According to Jayski, 43 teams have dreams of running full-time in 2015, with more than a dozen seeing drivers with new crew chiefs, and a handful of wheel men changing seats.

Former Daytona winner Trevor Bayne goes full-time with Roush, returning in Mark Martin’s old No. 6. Sam Hornish Jr. makes a return to Cup driving the Petty No. 9. Carl Edwards moves on to Gibbs and the No. 19. Brian Vickers is out of Waltrip’s No. 55 until he mends from a heart repair. Nineteen-year-old Chase Elliot should get some seat time with Hendrick, while driving for Junior in the minor series. In the trucks, Junior will have soon-to-be 17-year-old Cole Custer running about 10 races. Cole Custer. If that isn’t the best damned name in NASCAR, I don’t know what is.

Danica Patrick will be back. She will continue to be back regardless as to what she does, or does not do on the track, as long as fans and sponsors love her and pay her way. You could say she is a lot like Dale Earnhardt Jr. in that way, albeit minus the iconic father, the two Daytona 500 wins, five Talladega triumphs, 23 career victories, and seven appearances in the season’s top ten rankings.

As I mentioned, while Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus continue their most successful racing marriage, others will be in new relationships. Danica, Junior, and Cousin Carl will be amongst those with new crew chiefs. So will Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr. and both Busch brothers. That could prove interesting, especially in the early going.

Some get going, some get gone, and sometimes somebody is not happy the ways things turned out. As none of us were witness to the alleged altercation between Kurt Busch and his ex, we are left following along the court case. To be honest, as long as the guy is shown not to be a menace to society, as long as what may have happened is all that may have happened, I really do not care. As much as it is serious business for the principles involved, it is nothing more than a sideline event for the rest of us. An outcome to take notice of if we so wish, but not much more.

It would be nice to owe millions, if only for having the chance to have spent millions in the first place. We try to live within our means, so that means my family is not bogged down in debt. Still, it would be nice to know that if I completely blew it there might be a bank or two willing to forgive millions in loans they gave me. It must be sweet to be in a position to forgive such a loan.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame has been a white elephant from the beginning, with even its location suspect. It would seem the 25 minute drive from the track in Concord to downtown Charlotte is a trek many are not interested in making. Even the Daytona Experience, rejected as a site for the Hall, closed its doors and it was located right beside that track. I understand it will re-open again next year as the home of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. That is irony. Oh well, all is forgiven, I guess, to the tune of nearly $20 million. Now if they can only attract some paying customers, or the Convention Center there might wind up with tons of space for it to expand.

It would be nice to say the new season means a change in the seasons, but for those of us in the lands of snow and ice, it does not. At least it gives us an idea what clear pavement, green grass, and shirt sleeves might look like. That, and a return of our favorite drivers, is good enough.

January 13, 2015
Surprising and Not Surprising: Ford EcoBoost 400

As the Florida sun faded to darkness at Homestead-Miami Speedway and a first-time champion was crowned, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the season’s final race, the Ford EcoBoost 400.

Surprising: Although Stewart-Haas Racing has always touted its Hendrick Motorsports partnership, it was surprising to learn in more detail just how important that connection has been to the new NASCAR champion and the winning race team.

Kevin Harvick, winning his first ever NASCAR Cup Championship, specifically and repeatedly paid homage to Hendrick Motorsports six-time champion Jimmie Johnson in his post-race and champion-clinching comments.

“Jimmie Johnson was a huge help in just helping — he’d show up in the trailer after every practice and called and texted to Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and myself,” Harvick said. “You’ve got to remember, Jimmie and I have — we’ve known each other for a long time. We slept on those same couches at Hornaday’s house adjacent to each other in the game room.”

“He’d go race his ASA cars, and I’d go race the trucks for the Spears bunch, so we spent a lot of time together as friends and have grown to be better friends as we’ve gone past the last few years for sure.”

Tony Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, echoed his driver’s comments about the HMS connection.

“We’ve got a great partnership with Hendrick Motorsports, and like Kevin just mentioned, when you’ve got eight drivers that are sharing information, it’s a lot easier to race seven guys than it is to try to worry about racing 34 or 35 guys.”

Not Surprising: Although they are three very different drivers, in age, size and style, they all had one thing in common after the final race was run. All three races were visibly despondent, from Ryan Newman, who finished the best of the three contenders in the second spot, to Denny Hamlin who finished seventh and Joey Logano who finished an even more disappointing sixteenth.

“We had a couple pit stops that kind of put us back,” Newman said. “It is disappointing, don’t get me wrong, but there’s no point in being a sore loser. We came back for the entire season to make our best finish our last finish.”

“The race did not go too well for us,” Hamlin said. “Obviously we had a championship-type car, championship-type effort, but those last breaks just didn’t go our way. We just struggled with restart speed.”

“Obviously our race was not too good,” Logano said. “We knew what we had to do, we just didn’t execute from every angle it seems like. I hit the wall a bit early in the race and then we came down pit road, made a mistake and went to the tail end of the lead lap.”

Surprising: Jeff Gordon and crew chief Alan Gustafson had a surprisingly testy exchange at the end of the race, all about whether or not to pit from the front of the pack for tires in the latter part of the race.

Gordon was one of the few drivers who stayed out late in the race and when another caution came, he desperately pleaded for tires. Crew chief Gustafson argued against giving up track position but Gordon was insistent and down pit road he came.

After starting mid-pack, the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet rallied back to finish tenth.

Not Surprising: Who knew that Kyle Larson, officially named Sunoco Rookie of the Year, had his own bandwagon?

“There was a lot of room on the Kyle Larson bandwagon on to start the season,” Larson said. “I think a lot of people chose Austin Dillon to win it, and I was pretty confident in myself and in my team that we could do it.”

“I knew there would be some ups and downs, but I felt like we would be the top contender once we got halfway through the season, and we definitely were. We’ve gotten better throughout the season, and just is a huge honor to win this title with all the other names that have won it.”

Surprising: During the race, NASCAR made a surprising announcement that Chad Knaus was called to the NASCAR hauler for disobeying a NASCAR directive. The issue, involving the team’s use of a wheel spacer, turned out to be much ado about nothing as confirmed by Robin Pemberton, Vice President for Competition.

“We just had a discussion on pit road between our official and Chad and really it was just to discuss it,” Pemberton said. “It was really not a big deal. We were just trying to clarify what went on, that’s all.”

“Everything is fine.”

Not Surprising: Greg Biffle ended his difficult year with a blowout, of the unfortunate tire type. He was having a solid run when he blew a tire, hit the outside wall and had to go to the garage for repairs.

Biffle finished 41^st in the season finale and ended 14^th in the championship standings.

Surprising: The crew chiefs, teams and drivers that were racing together for the very last time sadly did not finish on the best of terms.

“It had gotten dark, and the track was doing just what Trevor and Donnie expected,” team co-owner Eddie Wood said. “The track was coming to us, and Trevor was running some really good lap times. He had gotten in the lucky dog position, which would have gotten us back on the lead lap when the next caution came out.”

“Unfortunately, that caution flag wound up being for us.”

Carl Edwards and Jimmy Fennig also parted ways after the season finale, with Edwards going to Joe Gibbs Racing and Fennig ratcheting his time down on the box.

“Jimmy Fennig is an unsung hero at Roush Racing,” Jack Roush, owner, said. “He doesn’t do things that create a personal image away from the driver or away from the sponsor or away from the team. He’s the trooper that’s back there doing everything that he can every day.”

Probably one of the most dynamic driver/crew chief duos also did not finish off their relationship in quite the manner that they wanted.

Dale Jr. and Steve Letarte raced one last time as driver and crew chief, finishing 14^th in the Ford EcoBoost 400. The two summed up their feelings on Twitter as Letarte leaves for a television broadcasting career next season.

“Me and Steve didn’t count on becoming such great friends,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “That’s just really been a bonus to the whole thing.”

“I might not be talking to @DaleJr thru the headset any more but we will still be friends,” Letarte tweeted. “Taught me a bit about racing and a lot about life.”

Not Surprising: Chevrolet had a big night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with their driver winning the championship, six Chevy drivers in the top-ten, and securing their 12^th consecutive manufacturer’s championship.

“Winning the Manufacturers’ Championship is one of the goals we set at the beginning of every season,” Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, said.

Surprising: Matt Kenseth had a surprisingly good weekend, as the highest finishing Toyota and also winner of the Nationwide race.

“It’s been a long time since I won a race in anything, so just happy for Kevin (Kidd, crew chief),” Kenseth said. “He’s been trying to get a win over here for a long time, and he’s going on to something different next year.”

“Happy to send him off with a win here; that was pretty good.”

Not Surprising: There was at least one drive ready for Daytona after his third place run in the season finale.

“Yeah, it was a heck of a season, not just for me but for all of Team Penske,” Brad Keselowski said. “I’m kind of wishing it wasn’t over, but we still have some work to do to continue to work and get better.”

“In some ways, I hate to see the season come to an end, and honestly I’m ready to be at Daytona next week for the 500. That’s probably not the most popular comment in the world, but sometimes I’m not the most popular guy.”

Final Note: In a most unusual year with the brand new Chase format, it has been a pleasure to share the surprising and not so surprising moments of the season. So, sit back, enjoy the off-season and as Brad Keselowski said, see you in Daytona!

November 17, 2014
Surprising and Not Surprising: Monster Mile FedEx 400

With Miles the Monster rearing his ugly head in more ways than one, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 45th annual FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway.

Surprising: The winning crew chief, usually the one of the most up-tight people in the garage area as even he admits, must have been inspired by Pharrell’s ‘Happy’ song that played pre-race at the Monster Mile.

Chad Knaus, crew chief for two-time 2014 winner, nine-time Dover winner, and six-time champ Jimmie Johnson, was surprisingly animated in expressing his happiness in the media center after the race.

“Quite honestly I’m at the best point in my life,” Knaus said. “I’ve been very fortunate to have been in this sport for a long time.”

“I’ve seen it grow and change, and it’s been a weird circuitous route to get to where we are now, but quite honestly, I’ve never been happier in my life – with my personal life, my performance at the racetrack, what we’ve got going on, and Jimmie has helped a lot with that,” Knaus continued. “So has Mr. Hendrick as far as making me understand that I’ve got to take time away from the facility and understand that there’s life outside of motorsports.”

“I’ve tried for a long time to deny that fact, but I’m really, really enjoying it all the way around,” Knaus said. “It’s fun. It’s busy as ever, but we’re in a good spot right now.”

“Everything is great.”

Not Surprising: Clint Bowyer did his best impression of Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking Ball’, at least in the minds of Joe Gibbs Racing, hitting Kyle Busch and knocking him out of the race early on and then getting into Matt Kenseth on the last restart, after Kenseth spun his tires a bit.

“It was a day alright,” Bowyer said. “I hated to be in that situation with the 18 (Kyle Busch). It’s one of those deals where I thought I was clear and obviously wasn’t and ruined his day and certainly didn’t help mine.”

“I had a pretty good run at him (Matt Kenseth) and he was still spinning when I hit him and I knocked him into the wall and I was like, ‘Not another (Joe) Gibbs (Racing) car.’ But what a day. Frustrating day.”

Bowyer did swing back, however, scoring a fourth place finish in his No. 15 Cherry5-hrEnergySpecialOpsWarriorFnd Toyota.

Surprising: For only the third time in the past few years, including Martinsville and Daytona, the track itself became part of the headline as a piece of concrete two to three inches deep and six to eight inches wide dislodged, damaging Jamie McMurray’s car as well as the Monster Mile walkway.

The red flag was displayed for 22 minutes and 22 seconds as NASCAR and the track officials made repairs to the hole in the concrete as well as the shattered area of the walkway.

“We have equipment and we have product at every facility,” Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s Vice President of Competition and Racing Operations, said. “It is an epoxy type filler that we use, and it’s basically the same filler that’s used any time we make a repair at the track, whether it be asphalt or concrete.”

“The track doesn’t want things like this to happen any more than we do or the competitors do,” Pemberton continued. “You always have to be ready for the emergencies and everybody wants to have the same perfect race day as they can.”

Not Surprising: Jamie McMurray was not the only one impacted by unexpected objects encountered on the race track. Martin Truex Jr.’s car was hit by a bird in practice on Friday at the Monster Mile, causing damage to the left headlight area.

For once, however, the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, was able to overcome the adversity, scoring his best finish to date in 2014 in the sixth position.

“All in all, it was a good day,” Truex said. “You can just feel that we’re heading in the right direction.”

“And all the dumb luck we’ve had didn’t bite us today,” the New Jersey native said. “Dover has been good to me over the years and it was also a great feeling to bring home a strong effort at what I consider my home track.”

Surprising: Brett Moffitt made his debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Jay Robinson Racing and scored a very respectable 22^nd place finish in the No. 66 Land Castle Title Toyota. The 21 year old, who tests for Michael Waltrip Racing and Toyota Racing Development, combined that relationship with the Robinson team for the opportunity.

“Hopefully this will open up more opportunities,” Moffitt said. “Obviously I hope this leads to more races…it’s just about having the right people beside you telling you, ‘Look man, you can do this, just keep digging.’”

“That’s what I’ve been doing.”

Not Surprising: Starting at the back of the pack due to an engine change did not deter this young driver one bit. Kyle Larson, behind the wheel of the No. 42 Cottonelle Chevrolet, weaved and bobbed his way through the field to finish as the highest placed rookie yet again.

Larson finished eleventh and is nineteen points ahead of Austin Dillon in the Rookie of the Year standings to date.

Surprising: Team Penske had what looked like a good race weekend at the Monster Mile, with Brad Keselowski starting from the pole position and Joey Logano starting third. Both drivers finished the race in the top-10, with Keselowski in the runner up position and Logano in eighth but were surprisingly disappointed after the race, especially about their performance in the pits.

“Yeah, we just had an up-and-down day,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford said. “I started up front and faded to the back pretty early in the race. We just weren’t where we needed to be in the car.”

“I thought we were going to get a crack at Jimmie (Johnson) and then that last caution came out and we just kind of whiffed on pit road, came out way behind.”

“I drove back up there, and with the help of the restart got up to second but we just never could really get in front of him.”

“We weren’t very good today,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “Some runs we were and some runs we weren’t. We had a tough day on pit road in the beginning.”

“We were chasing the car all day and that is what screwed us up.”

Not Surprising: Team Penske was not the only one having trouble in the pits. Kevin Harvick, who has been vocal in the media about his disappointment in his team’s performance, struggled yet again.

The driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet had eight stops on pit road, for a total average of 42.074 seconds. Harvick and company finished 17^thone lap down, after starting the race in the eighth position.

Surprising: In spite of his difficulties, including getting hit by the No. 47 of AJ Allmendinger, crashing hard into the wall, and being in the garage for an extended period for repairs, Greg Biffle and his Pit Bulls were able to keep their streak of completing every race going, the longest in the sport since 2011.

“I didn’t really know what happened,” the driver of the No. 16 3M Ford said. “I just knew that the No. 47 got into us pretty hard and turned us into the fence. They were racing hard back there and he stuck it into a hole that maybe there wasn’t room for, I guess and he slid off the bottom, got his right-rear caught by the No. 17 and up into us.”

“It was a chain reaction,” Biffle continued. “This place is tight and fast and when you get racing that hard back there on a restart, stuff like that is going to happen.”

Not Surprising: Although four-time champ Jeff Gordon seemingly had a good car early on, he faded late in the race to finish 15^th, which not surprisingly handed the points lead off to third place finisher Matt Kenseth.

Kenseth now leads by just two points over Gordon, with Carl Edwards third, Jimmie Johnson fourth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounding out the top five in the point standings after the Monster Mile.

June 3, 2014

Jimmie Johnson Stole the Monster Mile Show to Make it Two in a Row

For the ninth time, Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet stole the show at the Monster Mile, making it two race wins in a row and virtually guaranteeing himself a place in the Chase for the tenth consecutive year.

“It was an awesome race car,” Johnson said. “The first run I wasn’t sure we were really going to have the normal Dover magic here. Once the track ‘rubbered’ in our car came to life and it was so good.”

“It’s amazing that we can stay on top of things here with the different generation car, different rules, different tires,” Johnson continued. “This place just fits my style and Chad Knaus’ style.”

“I don’t even know where to begin,” Chad Knaus, winning crew chief, said. “We came in here with high expectations and things went really well for us right out of the gate. We were pretty optimistic at that point. Qualifying went well and we were excited to get into the event today.”

“At that point, we tried to manage the race and it turned out to be a pretty good day.”

Both Brad Keselowski, who started from the pole, and Matt Kenseth, who remains winless for the season, attempted to hang with the six-time champ, but finished second and third instead.

“We just had an up and down day,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford said. “We started up front and went to the back early in the race.”

“Then we took back off and had some strong runs,” Keselowski continued. “We were probably going to get a crack at Jimmie and then that last caution came out. We drove back up to second with the help of the restart and we were pretty even with Jimmie but it was just a matter of being out front.”

“It was a solid day for us,” the third place finishing driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota said. “I did a poor job qualifying and so good adjustments and pit stops moved us forward. There was just that one group of cars that we couldn’t quite run with. We just need to be a little bit faster.”

Kenseth, who looked like he had a shot to win, actually struggled on the final restart with six laps to go, spinning his tires and then getting into the wall.

“The 48 spun them and I spun them a little bit,” Kenseth said. “I just need to do a better job and let the rear tires quit screaming so I could get going. And then Clint (Bowyer) hit me I guess trying to give me a push there.”

In addition to being a factor in the final restart with Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer was a factor in another incident early in the race with Kyle Busch, who looked strong as he tried to achieve the sweep of the race weekend after winning both the Truck and Nationwide races.

Bowyer and Busch tangled on Lap 126, putting Busch out of the race. Bowyer went on to salvage a good finish, bringing home his No. 15 Cherry 5-Hour Energy Special Ops Warrior Foundation Toyota home in the fourth position.

“I hated to be in that position with the 18,” Bowyer said. “I thought I was clear, obviously I wasn’t. Ruined his day.”

One of the other major incidents of the race involved AJ Allmendinger, Greg Biffle and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., the latter of whom sustained hard hits on Lap 135.

“Inside of the car I didn’t really know what happened,” the driver of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion said. “I just knew that the 47 got into us pretty hard and turned us into the fence. After watching the replay I see what happened.”

“They were racing hard back there and he stuck it into a hole that maybe there wasn’t room for,” Biffle continued. “There definitely wasn’t room come three-quarters of the way around the corner I guess and he slid off the bottom and got his right-rear caught by the 17 and up into us. It was a chain reaction. This place is tight and fast and when you get racing that hard back there on a restart stuff like that is going to happen.”

“We were really loose,” Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said. “The 47 jumped to the inside of us there and I tried to stay out of his way and he got me. We met right-rear to left-front and it got him sideways and everything else happened after that.”

“Our Nationwide Insurance Ford was really, really loose all race long and we were trying to hang on with it,” the driver of the No. 17 Nationwide Ford Fusion said. “We didn’t want it to end that way and we got our teammate caught up in it and tore up a lot of cars.”

“That is now what we wanted to do. It is a tough end to our day,” Stenhouse Jr. continued. “It is a bummer.”

In one of the more bizarre incidents and for just the third time in the last few years, once in April 2004 at Martinsville and once in 2010 at the Daytona 500, the red flag was displayed after a piece of concrete dislodged from the race track and hit Jamie McMurray’s car.

The red flag lasted six minutes and 39 seconds and while McMurray could not work on his car during that time, repairs were made when the red flag was lifted and the driver of the No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet got the ‘lucky dog’ break, soldiering on to a respectable 13^th place finish.

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s vice president for competition, addressed the media after the race, advising that NASCAR was not aware of the concrete hole prior to the race and then addressed it immediately after the issue occurred with materials that are utilized regularly for repair work.

“We do a track walk after every race and in the morning and at the time, that had been a previous patch, but our staff did not see anything wrong with it,” Pemberton said. “The hole was two or three inches deep and six or eight inches by ten inches, so it was pretty substantial.”

“Our team has equipment and product at every facility in case there is a need for it. It’s an epoxy type filler that we use and is the same material we use whether it be asphalt or concrete.”

Many of the drivers praised NASCAR’s handling of the concrete repair, including Brad Keselowski.

“I think NASCAR did a good job or whoever fixed it did a good job of repairing it,” Keselowski said. “It’s hard to come back up there at the end and it was definitely an issue when it happened. You knew it was going to get worse if it wasn’t repaired and a small hole was going to turn into a big hole. I give NASCAR credit to realize that, stop, and fix it.”

Kyle Larson, behind the wheel of the No. 42 Cottonelle Chevrolet, was the highest finishing rookie yet again. With the third place finish of Matt Kenseth and the 15^th place finish by the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet Jeff Gordon, Kenseth gained the points lead over Gordon and is now in P1 by two points.

The full race results are as follows:

2014 NSCS FedEx 400 Race Results

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Lap	Pts	BPts	Status	TLd	LLd
1	4	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet	400	48	5	Running	7	272
2	1	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Ford	400	43	1	Running	1	1
3	21	20	Matt Kenseth	Dollar General Toyota	400	42	1	Running	5	17
4	10	15	Clint Bowyer	Cherry5-hrEnergySpecialOpsWarriorFnd Toyota	400	41	1	Running	2	5
5	7	11	Denny Hamlin	Autism Speaks/FedEx Freight Toyota	400	39		Running
6	16	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Chevrolet	400	38		Running
7	20	14	Tony Stewart	Code 3/Mobil 1 Chevrolet	400	37		Running
8	3	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford	400	36		Running
9	13	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	National Guard Chevrolet	400	35		Running
10	15	27	Paul Menard	Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet	400	34		Running
11	5	42	Kyle Larson #	Cottonelle Chevrolet	400	33		Running
12	25	43	Aric Almirola	Smithfield Ford	400	32		Running
13	19	1	Jamie McMurray	Cessna Chevrolet	400	31		Running
14	29	99	Carl Edwards	Subway Ford	400	30		Running
15	6	24	Jeff Gordon	Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet	400	29		Running
16	27	9	Marcos Ambrose	DeWalt Ford	400	28		Running
17	8	4	Kevin Harvick	Budweiser Chevrolet	399	28	1	Running	2	24
18	24	41	Kurt Busch	Haas Automation Chevrolet	399	26		Running
19	17	5	Kasey Kahne	Farmers Insurance Chevrolet	399	25		Running
20	23	3	Austin Dillon #	American Ethanol Chevrolet	398	24		Running
21	11	47	AJ Allmendinger	Scott Products Chevrolet	397	23		Running
22	18	66	Brett Moffitt	Land Castle Title Toyota	396	22		Running
23	28	10	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy Chevrolet	396	21		Running
24	38	36	Reed Sorenson	Click It or Ticket Chevrolet	396	20		Running
25	22	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Chevrolet	395	19		Running
26	30	51	Justin Allgaier #	AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet	395	18		Running
27	31	26	Cole Whitt #	Burger King Toyota	394	17		Running
28	33	98	Josh Wise	iRacing.com/Reddit.com Chevrolet	390	16		Running
29	32	38	David Gilliland	The Pete Store Ford	388	15		Running
30	43	32	Blake Koch(i)	supportmilitary.org Ford	388	0		Running
31	14	31	Ryan Newman	Caterpillar Chevrolet	387	13		Running
32	41	83	Ryan Truex #	Burger King Toyota	387	12		Running
33	42	77	Dave Blaney	Ford	383	11		Running
34	36	40	Landon Cassill(i)	Newtown Building Supplies Chevrolet	382	0		Running
35	39	7	Michael Annett #	Pilot Flying J Chevrolet	378	9		Running
36	34	34	David Ragan	Dockside Logistics Ford	350	8		Running
37	40	33	David Stremme	Little Joe’s Autos Chevrolet	297	7		Overheating
38	12	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	292	6		Running
39	37	44	JJ Yeley(i)	Phoenix Warehouse Chevrolet	232	0		Engine
40	35	23	Alex Bowman #	Dr.Pepper Toyota	208	4		Accident
41	26	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Nationwide Ford	131	3		Accident
42	2	18	Kyle Busch	M&M’s Peanut Butter Toyota	125	3	1	Accident	1	81
43	9	55	Brian Vickers	Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota	73	1		Engine

June 1, 2014

Surprising and Not Surprising: Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington

As the blinding sun faded into darkness, drivers danced with the lady in black at one of the toughest tracks on the circuit. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 65^th annual Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Surprising: Perhaps it was the full moon or the sheer intensity of the competition, but there was a surprising amount of testiness, more so than at another of the other tracks to date, between drivers and even between drivers and crew chiefs.

At one point, Aric Almirola and Danica Patrick were trading paint, as well as Austin Dillon and A.J. Allmendinger, the latter calling the young Dillon rookie a ‘punk’. There was also some testiness between the normally solid duo of six-time champ Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus during some of their radio chatter.

Probably the biggest incident of the race occurred in the last few laps between Kurt Busch, who was running ninth in the first attempt at the green-white-checkered, and Clint Bowyer, who made contact with him when the green flag flew.

The contact was so severe that Busch was unable to complete the race, finishing 31^st in his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet. Bowyer, on the other hand, finished 12^th in his No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota.

“That was a terrible way to end what could have been a decent night,” Busch said. “We struggled at times to get the balance of the Haas Automation Chevrolet right, but we kind of found our spot just past the halfway point and made slight adjustments the rest of the way.”

“I tried to hold them off the best I could, but someone moved me out of their way and it ruined our night,” Busch said of the restart. “I hate it for the team, but we keep learning each week and we will get better.”

Although Busch has a win, he lost one position in the point standings, falling to 26^th, 164 points behind the leader. Bowyer, who is winless, climbed one spot up in the point standings to 16^th, 78 points behind the leader.

Not Surprising: In spite of the challenges, several personal bests were achieved by race winner Kevin Harvick, who by far had the stoutest car, leading 239 laps of the 374 total. This was Harvick’s first ever Southern 500 win, adding to his other crown jewel race wins, from the Daytona 500 to the Coca Cola 600 and the Brickyard.

This was Harvick’s 25^th victory in the Sprint Cup Series and he also became the first two-time winner of the season, virtually guaranteeing him a spot in the Chase for the championship.

The driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing also became the first driver to win from pole position since Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett did so in 1997.

“This is one race I told Rodney (Childers, crew chief) that I wanted to win,” Harvick said. “We were able to put it all together, but this is the Southern 500, this is as big as it gets in NASCAR racing.”

Surprising: There were several surprising bounces that occurred at the ‘Track Too Tough to Tame.’ Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had a surprising bounce back to score his career best, runner up finish at Darlington after finishing dead last at Texas last weekend with the mistake in the grass.

“A great run, good job by my team,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet said. “This isn’t one of my best tracks so my team gave me a great car.”

This was Junior’s ninth top-10 finish at Darlington and his fifth top-10 finish of the season.

On the flip side, Paul Menard took a surprisingly hard bounce backwards, dropping eight positions in the points, from 10^th to 18^th, after finishing 41^st in his No. 27 CertainTeed/Menards Chevrolet.

“When the sun went down, I think it freed up,” Menard said after hitting the wall on Lap 201. “I hit the wall like ten laps before and I guess the right-front tire just went down.”

“I guess I was in denial,” Menard continued. “There was a lot of damage.”

Not Surprising: Rookie of the Year contender Kyle Larson continued to impress with his eighth place finish in a backup car to become the highest finishing rookie of the race.

“Yeah, just really proud of my Target Chip Ganassi team for how hard they had to work after I got into the wall and pulled the backup car out,” Larson said. “I started the race off so loose and just had to hang on for a couple runs and Shine got the car tightened up the car for me and we were able to run I thought top‑10 or ‑12 speeds.”

“Finally got up there and then I got in the wall a couple times and had to pull the fenders back out and drive back up there,” Larson continued. “Still ended up 8th, but all in all it was a good Saturday for us.”

Surprising: Six-time champion Jimmie Johnson surprisingly called on the old school racing gods to round out the podium finish for Team Chevy.

“Yeah, just very happy to finish there in the top three,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet said. “We struggled the first run or two of the race, but we got the car turning for me and came to life and really did it the old‑fashioned way and kind of drove up through the field before the last pit stop, so proud of the hard work.”

Although he remains winless to date, this was Johnson’s fifth top 10 finish of the season and his 12th top-10 finish in 16 races at Darlington Raceway.

Not Surprising: Even champions make mistake as demonstrated by the difficulties in restarting by four-time champion Jeff Gordon pretty much throughout the race.

“We had a really strong car and everything was going really well,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “There towards the end, we just kind of started fading and got ate up on those restarts.”

Gordon finished seventh and is still in the points lead, albeit by one point over Matt Kenseth.

“I feel like it is a missed opportunity,” Gordon said. “But another great race car and I’m happy about that.”

Surprising: Team Penske had a surprisingly tough time under the watchful eye of the ‘Lady in Black’, with Keselowski finishing 17^th and Logano finishing 35^th.

“It was a long night,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford said. “We didn’t get the finish we wanted, that is for sure.”

“The track was slick so that is part of the unique challenge of Darlington that we all love.”

While Keselowski admitted to getting pushed back by those struggling on restarts, teammate Logano instead had a mechanical failure with just ten laps to go.

“We had an issue with the right front hub which broke,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “It is unfortunate that the right front hub broke and then that messed with the rotor and into the caliper and everything got hot and broke after that.”

“It sucks because you run the whole race and get nothing to show for it at the end.”

Not Surprising: With the third best driver rating of 107.5 coming into Darlington Raceway, it was not surprising the Greg Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M/Red Cross Ford, was the highest finishing Ford when the checkered flag waved.

“We worked really hard all night and probably didn’t have a fifth place car but we worked really hard on it and we had good pit stops and track position was everything tonight,” Biffle said. “Those last restarts we were on the outside, the inside and then the outside and we picked up one or two spots there at the end.”

“Everybody worked hard and we will keep working on our car. We have to get better here but we will keep working at it.”

Surprising: NASCAR actually made a surprising move, granting an extra set of Goodyear tires for the Bojangles’ Southern 500. The sanctioning body apparently made that move after many teams voiced concerns about running out of tires, given the fall-off and wear.

Not Surprising: No doubt all of the Cup drivers are looking forward to an off-weekend of rest but Richard Petty Motorsports driver Marcos Ambrose summed it up best.

“From the first lap, the track was as slick as anything,” the driver of the No. 9 DeWalt Ford said after finishing 14^th. “This is the most worn out I have been in my NASCAR career.”

After the Easter break, the NASCAR elite return to action in two weeks under the lights for some short-track racing at Richmond International Raceway.

April 13, 2014
Surprising and Not Surprising: Bristol Food City 500

Just as in the Daytona 500, starting in day and ending at night due to extensive rain delays, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 54^th annual Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Surprising: Creating his own ‘March Madness’, the leader of the Stewart-Haas Racing team rebounded from having to use a provisional to get into the race to finishing in the top five.

“To start 37th and end up fourth today, I’m pretty excited about that,” Tony Stewart said. “I’m really excited for Chad Johnston (crew chief) and everybody on this Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 team.”

“We had a long way to go from Friday when we weren’t very good, and every day we just got better and better. So, I’m really proud of this team.”

Not Surprising: With a gladiator’s sword as the prize for the victor, it was appropriate that the race ended as a survival of the fittest contest. And the survivor of this race was indeed fit, as demonstrated by his back flip on a wet start finish line in the track known as ‘the Last Great Coliseum.’

Carl Edwards, behind the wheel of the No. 99 Kellogg’s / Frosted Flakes Ford, scored his first win of the 2014 season, making him the fourth different driver to win in the season and qualifying him for the Chase. This was Edwards’s third victory and eighth top-10 finish at Bristol.

“I just can’t believe it,” Edwards said. “We were terrible on Saturday, so I’m just glad we turned it around.”

“We had no clue we were going to win this race.”

Surprising: While typically the action ensues when the green flag flies, in this race most of the intense crashing took place when the caution flag came out. There were two instances where the yellow flew yet two drivers were struck from the rear at fairly high rates of speed.

The first incident occurred when Timmy Hill drilled Matt Kenseth from behind and the second occurred when Brad Keselowski was unable to slow down and hit Jamie McMurray in the rear.

One of the more bizarre incidents occurred on pit road under caution when Danica Patrick attempted to pull out of her pit stall, got sideways and drilled Clint Bowyer’s machine.

“It was an eventful night,” Patrick said. “I lost first and second gear and then finally third gear. That’s why I hit Clint (Bowyer) in the pits.”

“It wouldn’t go so I dipped the clutch and got sideways, and when it was about to spin around, I lifted, it caught and then it went straight and it wouldn’t stop.”

“So, I hit him,” Patrick said. “I apologized to his crew after the race.”

Not Surprising: Kyle and Kurt Busch had an ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’ moment on lap 394 when Kyle spun out after losing his car in the marbles and big brother Kurt hit the wall trying to avoid him. As a result of that damage, Kurt Busch had to go back behind the wall to repair the right front suspension.

Kurt Busch finished 35^th and brother Kyle finished 29^th.

“Had a moment of brightness but it went downhill from there,” Kyle Busch tweeted after the race. “Really thankful no one hit me when I was sideways.”

Surprising: While the streak of top five finishes sadly ended for NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., another streak surprisingly was born.

Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon scored his fourth consecutive top-10 finish, which the four-time champ has never been done before in his career to start the season.

Not Surprising: Bristol is one of the most physically demanding tracks so it was no wonder that Joey Logano was feeling the need to improve his upper body workout regimen. Logano lost his power steering prior to the rain delay but soldiered on to finish 20^th in his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil For.

“I was already huffing and puffing pretty hard trying to get the thing to turn,” Logano said. “It was intermittent for a while once we restarted and then it just went away.”

Surprising: Jimmie Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus must have remained in previous race Las Vega mode, gambling with taking left sides only early in the race and then cutting a right front tire down as a result.

The tread on the No. 48 Kobalt Tools Chevrolet unwound, which forced him to the pits, losing several laps to the leader.

“The tire still had air in it,” Johnson said. “It didn’t wear it out.”

“Something made it come apart.”

Not Surprising: It was only a matter of time for these two drivers to have a bit of a break out in the Sprint Cup Series, both posting their career best finishes.

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., behind the wheel of his No. 17 Nationwide Insurance Ford, finished second, bettering his previous career high finish in third at Talladega in October 2013. And Aric Almirola, in his No. 43 Smithfield Ford Petty blue machine, finished third, bettering his previous career best at Homestead in 2010.

“It helps our confidence for sure,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “We’re just slowly working and getting better and better.”

“It was a good night for us,” Almirola said after the race was finally concluded. “It seemed like our car got better and better.”

“I’m really proud of everybody on our team because they gave me a really good car.”

Surprising: A strange new hashtag on Twitter was surprisingly born after one of the most bizarre equipment malfunctions occurred. As a result, rookie driver Alex Bowman tweeted “#badluckbowman is getting freaking ridiculous. Solid top 20 car and the battery literally fell out. Now I get to ride around all day.”

And with that tweet, the young Rookie of the Year contender picked up ad additional ten thousand followers of his Twitter handle @AlexBRacing.

Not Surprising: Speaking of rookie contenders, young Kyle Larson, piloting the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, finished top-10 and also was the highest finishing rookie of the race.

“We had a really good run today,” Larson said. “Started off in 20^th and got to the top ten pretty easily there in the beginning.”

“Ran in second and third for a long time,” Larson continued. “Pretty much stayed in the top ten for the whole race and inched our way up to the front.”

The Cup Series heads back across country next week for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

March 17, 2014