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Tag: Cheez-It 355 at The Glen

  • Denny Hamlin Wins in Wild Finish at The Glen

    Denny Hamlin Wins in Wild Finish at The Glen

    As hell broke loose behind, Denny Hamlin piloted along and scored the victory in the Empire State.

    The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota took the lead with 10 laps to go and survived a myriad of late cautions to win the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen.

    He said winning a road course race for the first time in his career “means a lot. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was we didn’t win the first one. I just tried the best I could and overshot the corner and I didn’t want to do it this time and so I probably under drove and let those guys be a little closer than I should’ve. But, hated to see the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) turned around down there. They’ve been great Toyota teammates of ours and thanks to all of our teammates who tested here and obviously gave us a good baseline setup and a fast car.”

    When asked how he was able to go 41 laps on fuel, he said “Cautions. I just felt like this has always tended to be a lot of cautions at the end and I felt confident that we were going to get the caution laps that we needed to make it on fuel and we did.”

    He also described the final laps and restarts as “Hectic. Really, I didn’t do anything special. It was just the front two cars, the 2 (Brad Keselowski) and the 18 (Kyle Busch) just overshot the corner in that one restart and gave us an opportunity. And, then it was just about hitting my marks and making sure that I didn’t give those guys a chance like I gave Tony (Stewart) a chance at Sonoma. You know, really proud of this effort. This is a great sign of things to come. I feel like we’ll be a good threat in the Chase.”

    It’s his 28th career win, the second of the season and first at Watkins Glen International.

    Rounding turn 11, Martin Truex Jr. got turned by Brad Keselowski. This allowed Joey Logano, who led eight laps and had to overcome a speeding penalty early in the race, to finish runner-up in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    He said in his post-race media availability that the finish, be it the final lap or the final 15 laps, were “crazy anyway you look at it. Typical Watkins Glen. I mean, it’s just awesome, crazy racing, full contact. Just insane out there. So a lot of fun from the driver’s seat and I’m sure the fans loved it as well in front of a sold‑out grandstand. It was pretty cool when I pulled over for the red flag in front of the grandstands and I could hear just fans screaming and yelling and loving it. I thought, Man, this is really cool to be in the driver’s seat right now. Having those moments, I thought it was neat.”

    Teammate Keselowski, who led a race-high of 28 laps, rounded out the podium in his No. 2 Penske Ford.

    “I got right up to the bumper of the 78 and couldn’t do anything there and he made a move to get by the 11 on the inside and the 11 blocked him,” Keselowski said. “I went high and the 78 went high and by then I was already deep in the corner and got into him and turned him. That was really unfortunate and the last thing I wanted to see. This track here, when you drive into the corner, you commit and sometimes you don’t know what will happen when you commit. The last thing I wanted to do was turn him.”

    AJ Allmendinger overcame a speeding penalty to finish fourth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. After overshooting the inner loop near the beginning of the race, Tony Stewart rounded out the top-five in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

    He said that he felt good about what he brought to Watkins Glen and that he “got some breaks there at the end. But our Haas Automation Chevy was really good. And that’s the great thing about Mobil 1, it helps with fuel mileage for sure, and that’s what got us the track position in the end. It is so chaotic here. You get under 10 laps and get restarts; you know it’s going to be a crash-fest there. But we were able to survive and got through a couple of them and got a couple of spots there coming to the line. I’ll take a top 5 here in the last run.”

    Kyle Busch led four laps on his way to a sixth-place finish in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Truex, who led one lap, recovered from his spin on the frontstretch on the final lap to bring his car home to a seventh-place finish in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Jamie McMurray finished eighth in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Trevor Bayne finished ninth in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

    “This is a good weekend,” Bayne said. “A fifth and a ninth. That is a good road course weekend for me considering I am not a road course ace. The thought was to try to get better and I think we did that this weekend. We made progress and that is really good. We are excited. Hopefully, we can keep getting better at these and contend for a win one day.”

    Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-10 in his No. 20 JGR Toyota.

    Kurt Busch, who led three laps, finished 11th. Carl Edwards, who led 25 laps, finished 15th. Danica Patrick, who led 11 laps, finished 21st.

    Coming to the finish, Allmendinger got onto the rumble strip on the inside of turn 11 that got his car loose, turned it into Kyle Larson’s car and sent the 42 car into the inside pit road wall.

    “I turned him,” Allmendinger said. “Not on purpose. The No. 78 started to spin and Kyle and I were racing for fifth there. He defended on the inside, which he should have. And I tried to cut under him off of the last corner and the No. 78 was coming back across the race track. I was under him. He turned. And I just clipped him. I’m just not very happy with myself on that. I don’t want to do that, especially for fourth place. And he did a great job. It’s on me. I never meant to do it. It’s not going to help the case. I know he’s going to be pissed off and he should be pissed off. I’d be.”

    Larson, as Allmendinger said, wasn’t happy.

    “We were running sixth coming to (Turn) 7; the No. 47 was behind me,” Larson said. “He is always aggressive. I figured he would be smart. Obviously, the No. 78 was spinning in front of us. That is a free spot for both of us and just dumped me. He had already ran me down to the front stretch wall once with about 15 to go or so. Pretty dumb move right there too, but I was the smarter one racing for points, lifted, could have wrecked him, but didn’t. I don’t know. I don’t know. He wrecked me earlier in the year at Vegas.  He has ran me hard, but we always race pretty well, but today was flat out stupid. I love his crew chief (Randall Burnett) to death; he was our engineer last year. It just sucks they are going to have to start building some more race cars because he has got a few coming.”

    The race lasted two hours, 27 minutes and 48 seconds at an average speed of 89.513 mph. There were nine lead changes among eight different drivers and eight cautions for 20 laps.

    Keselowski leaves Watkins Glen International the new points leader with a nine-point lead over Kevin Harvick.

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  • Edwards Grabs the Sprint Cup Pole at The Glen

    Edwards Grabs the Sprint Cup Pole at The Glen

    Carl Edwards will lead the field to the green flag for tomorrow’s race at The Glen.

    The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scored the pole for the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International after posting a time of 1:09.689 and a speed of 126.562 mph. It’s his 20th career pole in 431 career Sprint Cup Series starts, fourth of 2016 and second at Watkins Glen International.

    Kyle Larson will start second in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 1:09.871 and a speed of 126.233 mph. Tony Stewart will start third in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 1:09.902 and a speed of 126.177 mph. Matt Kenseth will start fourth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 1:09.942 and a speed of 126.104 mph. Kyle Busch will round out the top-five in his No. 18 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 1:09.945 and a speed of 126.099 mph.

    Denny Hamlin will start sixth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Joey Logano will start seventh in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Ryan Newman will start eighth in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. AJ Allmendinger will start ninth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Jamie McMurray will round out the top-10 in his No. 42 CGR Chevrolet.

    Michael McDowell will start 11th in his No. 95 Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet. Brad Keselowski will round out the top-10 in his No. 2 Penske Ford.

    Landon Cassill didn’t post a time due to fuel pump issues and will start 40th.

    With 40 cars entered, no one was sent home.

    Twenty-one Chevrolet’s, 11 Ford’s and eight Toyota’s will comprise the 40-car field for tomorrow’s race.

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  • Buescher: ‘It is always big to be able to pull off a win’

    Buescher: ‘It is always big to be able to pull off a win’

    Asked what winning does for his confidence, Chris Buescher said it’s “always big to be able to pull off a win.”

    Speaking before the NASCAR media corp during his media availability, the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford – coming off his first career Sprint Cup Series victory just four days earlier in the Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway – talked about what winning the race does for him and his team.

    “I remember on the XFINITY side winning at Mid-Ohio. I am not a road course racer by trade, that isn’t how I grew up, but it brought in a new confidence for every racetrack we went to going forward,” Buescher said. “We still had a lot to learn on the ovals then and we actually didn’t get our first oval win in 2014, we had to wait until the next year. It is just a matter of getting the team jacked up and everybody on the same idea going forward that this is for real, a big moment.”

    He discussed how much more of an impact winning a race in a series with a Chase format has versus winning a race in a series with a season-long points format as he did last season in the XFINITY Series when he won the series title.

    “This win with the Chase being the way it is and the point system different from last year in XFINITY, a win basically turns our whole season around,” he said. “It changes everything. It is no longer one win and you move up a spot or two in points. It is one win and you potentially have a spot in the playoffs of our sport. We are not there yet because we have to get into that top-30 but with that win, it gets everybody excited to get to that point.”

    The victory will clinch a spot in the Chase for Buescher provided he’s 30th or higher in points by the time the checkered flag flies at Richmond on September 10.

    Buscher currently resides 31st in points, six points behind 30th place driver David Ragan. With both having a 27.8 average finish, he will have to finish each of the next five races at least one or two spots better than Ragan to out-point him. Both are evenly matched as they’ve both finished eight times in a position above their season to date finishing average. Ragan, however, has completed more laps than Buescher and had one less DNF.

    “We really shouldn’t have been out of it,” Buescher said. “It has just been some circumstances that have gotten us a little off track and from my standpoint, I was trying to add it up and my stock car racing career starting at 16 when I started racing ARCA, I have had three cars that we have had to throw away or at least front clip. That is a rather small number and we have gone through four this year alone. In that circumstance, we have just had really bad luck on superspeedways this season.”

  • Allmendinger Fastest in Final Cup Practice

    Allmendinger Fastest in Final Cup Practice

    AJ Allmendinger topped the chart in final Sprint Cup Series practice at Watkins Glen International.

    The driver of the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 1:09.149 and a speed of 127.551 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was second in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 1:09.187 and a speed of 127.481 mph. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was third in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with a time of 1:09.222 and a speed of 127.416 mph. Kyle Busch was fourth in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 1:09.241 and a speed of 127.381 mph. Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-five in his No. 20 JGR Toyota with a time of 1:09.296 and a speed of 127.280 mph.

    Brad Keselowski was sixth in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Michael McDowell was seventh in his No. 95 Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet. Chase Elliott was eighth in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Jeff Gordon was ninth in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-10 in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.

    Busch posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 124.854 mph. Hamlin was second at an average speed of 124.353 mph followed by Keselowski was third at an average speed of 124.348 mph.

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  • Truex Fastest at Watkins Glen in First Sprint Cup Practice

    Truex Fastest at Watkins Glen in First Sprint Cup Practice

    Martin Truex Jr. topped the chart in first Sprint Cup Series practice at Watkins Glen International.

    The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 1:09.513 and a speed of 126.883 mph. Denny Hamlin was second in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 1:09.810 and a speed of 126.343 mph. Casey Mears was third in his No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet with a time of 1:10.058 and a speed of 125.896 mph. Carl Edwards was fourth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota with a time of 1:10.193 and a speed of 125.654 mph. Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five in his No. 18 JGR Toyota with a time of 1:10.199 and a speed of 125.643 mph.

    Joey Logano was sixth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Brad Keselowski was seventh in his No. 2 Penske Ford. AJ Allmendinger was eighth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Kurt Busch was ninth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Kyle Larson rounded out the top-10 in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

    Keselowski posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 124.223 mph. Edwards was second at an average speed of 124.194 mph. Ryan Blaney, whose fastest single lap was 25th fastest, was third at an average speed of 123.401 mph.

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  • Joey Logano Wins Cheez-It 355 at The Glen; Sweeps Weekend

    Joey Logano Wins Cheez-It 355 at The Glen; Sweeps Weekend

    WATKINS GLEN, NY – The 30th running of the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen is in the books, and yet again, Watkins Glen International has produced an exciting race weekend. The Glen solidified their spot atop the polls after announcing all reserved grandstand tickets for Sunday’s running of the Cheez-It 355 had sold out.

    Watkins Glen International commented on the sell-out, stating, “A reserved grandstand sell-out shows just how dedicated and passionate Watkins Glen International fans are.”

    Dedicated is one way to describe it, as WGI announced earlier in the week that they had created additional campsites to accommodate the enormous demand for camping at the facility.

    Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen was as eventful as we’ve seen over recent years at Watkins Glen International. Instead of the large crashes and flared tempers, fans saw a clean race out of some of the top contenders for the championship. The race on Sunday progressed as many recent races at the 2.45-mile road course, with fuel strategy coming into play. This year was different in the sense that there was no caution within the last 20 laps.

    Fast forward through the first five cautions, and you have the top 10 cars stacked up as follows: Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Sam Hornish Jr. Final pit stops were made over the course of the final yellow of the afternoon between laps 58 and 60, and the only car with a glimmer of hope to make the finish on fuel was the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford driven by Joey Logano.

    Slowly but surely over the course of the final 20 laps, Logano, followed closely by Kyle Busch, picked their way through the field and into the top five. With seven laps remaining, Logano was shown in second, lurking behind the No. 4 of Kevin Harvick.  Harvick, whose radio chatter was not mentioning anything about having enough fuel to make the finish of the race, sealed the most laps led (29), but would come up short in the end.

    As the laps wound down, radios were full of talk about who could make it, who would be short, and predictions of a late race caution ran rampant. There was no late race caution, and on the final lap it looked like Harvick had done what he needed to to save fuel and stay in the lead, and when Logano overshot turn one, a win for the No. 4 team became all but inevitable.

    The only caveat in the formula for a third victory this season for Harvick was the amount of fuel in his gas tank. Though he had a clear track in front of him and space between him and Logano, Harvick’s luck would run out between turns six and seven when he finally ran out of fuel. Logano made the pass on the outside in turn seven and took the checkered flag for the 10th time in his career.

    Logano was ecstatic in Victory Lane following his sweep of both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR XFINITY Series races this weekend at Watkins Glen International.

    “This is the coolest weekend of my life,” Logano exclaimed. “Every driver wants to add a road course victory to their resume. This is a dream come true to win at this place.”

    The win marks Logano’s second victory and 16th top-10 finish in 2015. It was the first time in track history for a driver to sweep both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR XFINITY Series races at Watkins Glen International.

    Kyle Busch, who led once for three laps, finished second in the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen and moved into the top 30 in points, the stipulation for him making the 2015 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

    “We knew we would be (in the top 30 in points), which is probably a reason we played it safe on the fuel strategy,” Busch said. “I could have had a chance and raced the 22 (Logano), but we wanted to make sure we made it to the end.”

    NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader Kevin Harvick, who barely missed the win at the end, had enough fuel to make it to the start-finish line in third.

    “I thought I did a pretty good job of saving fuel,” Harvick explained, “and I was only running as fast as I needed to to stay in the lead. Once the No.22 got to me, I had to pick up the pace a little bit. We were in position for the win, two corners away, but that’s just how the middle of this season has gone for us.”

    The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series moves on to Michigan International Speedway next weekend for the Pure Michigan 400 on Sunday, August 16.

  • AJ Allmendinger Wins Pole for Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen

    AJ Allmendinger Wins Pole for Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen

    Last year’s winner at Watkins Glen will begin his quest to repeat in 2015 from the point position in tomorrow’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen. AJ Allmendinger won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 30th Annual Cheez-It 355 at The Glen with a lap of 68.993 seconds, 127.839 mph.

    The driver of the No. 47 Kroger/Bush’s Beans Chevrolet posted his first ever pole in seven tries at Watkins Glen International early this afternoon in prime conditions for speed. The overcast skies made for an exciting 10 minute round two of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying. The No. 47 car has successfully swept both pole positions on road courses this season.

    The No. 47 team has found some speed overnight as the car was only 28th fastest in Final Practice on Friday afternoon. Allmendinger spoke to the media about the turnaround the team saw from practice to qualifying following Saturday’s qualifying session.

    “I didn’t know what to expect going into qualifying,” he said. “I was pretty down after the second practice yesterday. I wasn’t good. I got frustrated from it. We sat down after, debriefed, and picked through everything throughout the course of the day and said what is good, what isn’t good. Overall it was a strong day going into the day to see the changes we made to have that much speed. Rarely do you ever lead the (qualifying) sessions by over a tenth. Hopefully, we just do the right things tomorrow and give ourselves a chance to win. The guys did a great job from yesterday to today.”

    Allmendinger went to the top of the boards with less than a minute left in round two, edging out Martin Truex Jr. by just two-tenths of a second as the clock ran out. Truex posted his 11th top-10 start of 2015, and his fourth in 10 races at Watkins Glen International.

    Tony Stewart will start Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen from his best starting spot all season. He will roll off third on Sunday, marking his third straight top-five starting spot.

    Reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, Kevin Harvick will roll off fourth on Sunday, and the car that was fastest in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ final practice on Friday, Jeff Gordon, will start fifth. Gordon, making his final start at Watkins Glen, a place where he’s won four times, set the pace in final practice on Friday, but couldn’t secure a spot in the first two rows to start Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen.

    Kyle Larson will roll off sixth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. seventh, Kyle Busch eighth, Jimmie Johnson ninth, and Austin Dillon rounds out the top-10.

    Stay tuned for more from The Glen all weekend.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Cheez-It 355 at the Glen

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Cheez-It 355 at the Glen

    As the NASCAR community mourned the death of sprint car driver Kevin Ward Jr., which led to Tony Stewart’s decision not to participate at Watkins Glen, the racing did go on at one of the sport’s more challenging road courses.

    And with that overlay of respect for all involved in the tragedy, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 29th annual Cheez-It 355 at the Glen.

    Surprising: For at least two drivers, one with a powerhouse team and the other from a small operation, the race was all about power, from the four-time champion driver who lost it to the first-time winning driver who dug down deep to find the sheer willpower to get to Victory Lane.

    Jeff Gordon, whose sponsor Drive to End Hunger just announced their renewal for 2015, looked like the man to beat, scoring the pole position and leading laps early in the race. Then, inexplicably, Gordon’s No. 24 machine slowed on the track and he lost power, finishing a disappointing 34th and losing the points lead to teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    “I’ve got to get with the team and find out what caused it,” Gordon said. “It looks like we had a battery go dead, two batteries go dead. I didn’t see anything on the volts meter that stood out or anything really going on there that was alarming.”

    The other driver, AJ Allmendinger, drove the race of his life against Watkins Glen expert Marcos Ambrose, running on sheer willpower, as he was bound and determined to get his first ever win in the Sprint Cup Series.

    “I wasn’t going to let Marcos take that from me,” AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 47 Scott Products Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing, said simply. “I’ve dreamed about this moment, and I’m not going to forget it.”

    Not Surprising: It is not often that the race winner pays homage to the track workers, but AJ Allmendinger did just that, recognizing those that had to make extensive repairs, not only to the Armco barriers but also to the pit road barrels, after two horrific crashes.

    The first crash involved Ryan Newman and Michael McDowell, resulting in almost a rebuild of fencing, and the second involved Denny Hamlin hitting the pit barriers hard. Track workers labored furiously making repairs for almost two hours after the serious damage from the two crashes.

    “For me to be able to have that race be so memorable about how it ended, for the fans, they were so great for staying around through all the red flags, the track workers did such a great job to fix the fence and everything,” the Dinger said. “It’s just a memorable day to go out there and remember everything that just happened.”

    Surprising: Just when you thought that Kyle Larson’s rookie mistake of missing the inner loop would lead to a surprisingly bad finish, the Rookie of the Year contender pulled it off once again, scoring a surprising top-five finish.

    “It was a really good day for us,” The driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “We were terrible all weekend long. I was down on myself. It’s probably the most frustrated I’ve ever been with myself, aside from racing sprint cars in Pennsylvania.”

    “I can’t believe we finished top five,” Larson continued. “It feels like a win. I was hoping for a top 15 or top 20 going into today. I’m totally shocked and super excited.”

    Not Surprising: While it was not at all surprising that the No. 9 Ford of Marcos Ambrose was strong, taking the checkered flag in the runner up position, the Australian also had some Ford comrades with whom to celebrate. In fact, there were four Fords that finished in the top-ten at the Glen.

    “I left nothing on the table,” runner up Ambrose said. “We just came up a little short. I am just really proud of my Stanley team. We put a lot of effort into this race and really tried to win it. We won yesterday and came up one short today.”

    “I am glad Jimmy Fennig put us in a position to be up there for the win,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Kellogg’s/Cheez-It Ford and fifth place finisher, said. “I am sure like everyone up there that you want the last few laps to do over again. It was a blast and a lot of fun.”

    “That was crazy to say the least,” Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, said after finishing sixth. “We had about a fifth place car and had to go through a lot to get back to that point. We fought hard with this Shell Pennzoil Ford and put tires on it late and was very aggressive on the restarts and got a few spots back. I wish there were more laps. The tires were worth a few there at the end but I needed a few more laps there at the end.”

    “The racing was really good,” Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M Ford said after finishing eighth. “We were able to make up a lot of ground. It is aggressive and as people got more comfortable it got nuts. You just try to do the best you can and protect your position and race hard. That is about all you can do.”

    Surprising: Jimmie Johnson’s troubles continued to plague him, even at Watkins Glen. The six-time champion went for a dramatic spin late in the race, resulting in a 28th place finish. Although he has three wins to his credit and is solidly in the Chase, Johnson fell one position in the point standings, from sixth to seventh as a result.

    Not Surprising: Perhaps it was because he can relate to having to overcome adversity and seek redemption in the sport, but third place finisher Kurt Busch had nothing but praise for race winner AJ Allmendinger.

    “He won the race today in a fashion that everyone is proud of him for doing, to beat one of the best in the world at driving these stock cars,” the driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet said of race winner Allmendinger. “He deserves the trophy, and he had to pull from within. He had to dig in deep, and he had to believe in himself all the way through this.”

    “He’s put himself through all those mental challenges, and today he persevered. He didn’t break down and he brought home a victory, so we’re all very proud of him.”

    Surprising: Brakes, or the lack thereof, were responsible for some of the bigger crashes of the day, especially for Cole Whitt, who crashed his No. 26 Bully Hill Vineyards Toyota Camry surprisingly hard into the tire barriers, finishing 43rd.

    “It just seemed like something in the rear brakes faded or just actually just completely lost them going into (turn) one,” Whitt said. “It seemed like the front was trying to stop but the rear wasn’t at all and the pedal was just going to the floor on brakes. Not a whole lot you can do there. I was trying to get it turned but there was no way I was going to be able to.”

    “Sucks for the guys but I know we’ll rebound.”

    Past champion Brad Keselowski also suffered from tire issues, finishing a surprising 35<sup>th</sup> in his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford.

    “We had something in the brakes that broke,” Keselowski said. “At Watkins Glen you can’t run without brakes.”

    Not Surprising: Matt Kenseth, still without a win, continued his run of good points days, advancing one spot up to third, just 70 behind new points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kenseth was the top-finishing Toyota driver with a ninth-place result in the race at the Glen.

    “It was an okay finish,” the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, said. “Things didn’t pan out quite as we were hoping. But, overall not a terrible day.”

    Surprising: Danica Patrick was making quite the bear bond fashion statement after surviving an accident in practice, as well as one during the race. The driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet soldiered on in her bear-bonded race car to finish 21st, after gaining 22 spots

    “It was a tough day,” Patrick said. “It was a long race, but Gibson (Tony, crew chief) and the GoDaddy guys worked on the car and we got a 21st out of it, which isn’t bad with the weekend we had.”

    Not Surprising: Regan Smith, who was called on at the last minute to replace Tony Stewart in the race, summed up the situation best after an on-track incident at lap 81 caused him to finish 37th.

    “It’s my job to be able to drive a race car and it took me a little longer to get acclimated than I would have hoped it would and felt like at the end there I was finally starting to make some progress and I was able to get consistent with the car and understood the car a little better and what it was doing,” the substitute driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet said. “These guys build fast race cars at Stewart-Haas and I was thankful to get to get in one. Definitely not under the circumstances.”

    “My day really doesn’t matter right now,” Smith continued. “There are a lot of people more important than me at the moment; so we’re thinking about all those people and our prayers are with them.”

  • Allmendinger Wins At The Glen & Updated Chase Grid

    Allmendinger Wins At The Glen & Updated Chase Grid

    With drivers racing with heavy hearts following the tragic incident involving Tony Stewart and Sprint Car driver Kevin Ward Jr., the world’s best stock car drivers knew they had to put on a great show to allow the fans to forget about the events that occurred, even if it was for just a few hours.

    When you see finishes like 2012’s epic duel between Marcos Ambrose and Brad Keselowski, or last year’s battle between Keselowski and Kyle Busch, you know Watkins Glen can put on one heck of a show. Not to mention, with the new chase rules, if you win a race within the first 26 races (and attempt to qualify for every race as well as remain in the top 30 in points) you will be eligible for the chase.

    We’ve already seen one first time winner this season when Aric Almirola took the checkered flag at Daytona, and for the first time since 2011, we now have two first-time winners in one season.

    Judging by the first few laps of the race, it appeared that Jeff Gordon and the heavily favored Ambrose were going to battle it out all day for the trophy, until Gordon’s car lost power around lap 50. Gordon ended up finishing the race in 34th position, four laps down.

    Ambrose was unsurprisingly solid all day long, having the best average running position (third) and highest driver rating (130.9). However, Gordon’s misfortunes may have opened the door for a driver whom everyone thought was a contender for the victory, A.J. Allmedinger. And he did not disappoint.

    After taking the lead on a restart after a massive red-flag-causing wreck involving Ryan Newman, Danica Patrick, Michael McDowell, Greg Biffle and Alex Bowman, not even Ambrose could shake Allmendinger from the top spot. Even when Denny Hamlin, Alex Kennedy and Reed Sorenson wrecked with just a few laps to go, setting up a restart with just two laps to go, Allmedinger was able to defeat Ambrose by 1.160 seconds and claim his spot in the chase. With Allmendinger’s victory, here’s a look at the updated chase grid as well as five drivers who are on the outside looking in.

    1) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., 3 wins, 1st in points.

    2) Brad Keselowski, 3 wins, 4th in points.

    3) Jimmie Johnson, 3 wins, 7th in points

    4) Jeff Gordon, 2 wins, 2nd in points

    5) Joey Logano, 2 wins, 5th in points

    6) Carl Edwards, 2 wins, 6th in points

    7) Kevin Harvick, 2 wins, 9th in points

    8) Kyle Busch, 1 win, 15th in points

    9) Denny Hamlin, 1 win, 20th in points

    10) Kurt Busch, 1 win, 21st in points

    11) Aric Almirola, 1 win, 23rd in points

    12) A.J. Allmendinger, 1 win, 24th in points

    13) Matt Kenseth, 0 wins, 3rd in points

    14) Ryan Newman, 0 wins, 8th in points

    15) Kyle Larson, 0 wins, 10th in points

    16) Clint Bowyer, 0 wins, 11th in points

     

    Outside Looking In:

    Greg Biffle, 8 points behind Bowyer

    Kasey Kahne, 12 points behind Bowyer

    Austin Dillon, 18 points behind Bowyer

    Marcos Ambrose, 50 points behind Bowyer

    Paul Menard, 60 points behind Bowyer

  • Kasey Kahne Preps for Final Road Race of Year with a Visit to Western New York

    Kasey Kahne Preps for Final Road Race of Year with a Visit to Western New York

    Buffalo, New York – The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet SS, Kasey Kahne, paid a visit to Western New York on Wednesday in preparation for the second and final road course race of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season at Watkins Glen International.

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