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  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Tums Fast Relief 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Tums Fast Relief 500

    Even before the race, the infamous short-track tempers were flaring with Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle getting into it on and off the track during practice. Here is what was surprising and not surprising when the green flag flew for the 63rd annual Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”236″][/media-credit]Surprising:  It was most surprising that at race end, Victory Lane was more like a Food Network ‘Throwdown with Bobby Flay’ show, with victor Tony Stewart challenging current point’s leader Carl Edwards regarding the Chase.

    With his win, Stewart felt free to throw down the Chase gauntlet, climbing two positions to the second spot in the Chase standings. Smoke is now just eight points out of first place, where Carl Edwards currently resides.

    “He’d better be worried,” Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, said of Edwards in Victory Lane. “That’s all I can say. He’s not going to have an easy three weeks.”

    “This is the best Chase field we’ve ever had,” Stewart continued. “To be in the position that we’re in right now, sitting here knowing that we’re right in the middle of this thing with three weeks to go, it’s obviously a great feeling and a great position to be in.”

    “We’ve just got to go out and keep doing what we’re doing here.”

    This was Stewart’s third victory of the season, as well as his third win in 26 races at Martinsville Speedway. The forty-year old has now won 42 times in 461 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

    Not Surprising:  In spite of some Martinsville mayhem, the momentum that has been Carl Edwards throughout the Chase, was maintained, although greatly challenged.  The driver of the No. 99 Scotts Winterguard Fertilizer Ford, who was lapped twice during the race and almost penalized for jumping a restart, finished respectably, albeit his worst Chase finish to date, in the ninth position.

    “This track has just been really, really tough for me,” Edwards said after the race. “So I think this is one of those days where everything went wrong and everything went right as well.”

    Also not surprisingly, Edwards seemed in no way fazed by Stewart’s ‘throw down’ challenges regarding the championship Chase. And he laid down his own challenge as well.

    “I told you I thought he was one of the guys that could win this race and be a guy that you’d have to beat for the championship,” Edwards said of Smoke. “I think he’s proving that right now.”

    “We’ll go race hard,” Edwards continued. “They’re gonna have to race us too, so I’m excited about the next three races.”

    Surprising:  It was most surprising to see just how aggressively Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ran his Martinsville race. In fact at one point he quipped that he might become known as a ‘dirty driver’ if there were more short tracks like Martinsville on the Cup schedule.

    Junior, who finished seventh in his No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Paint the 88/National Guard Chevrolet, seemed absolutely pleased that the race was as chaotic as it was.

    “Well, it’s time man,” Junior said. “That right there was basically, hey the season is running down and we are not going to be racing much longer and I am going to miss it so I came to the buffet and got everything I could eat.”

    “I drank a couple of AMPs before the race started and probably was a little bit too excited,” Junior also confessed.

    Not Surprising:  It was not surprising that the so-called ‘Masters of Martinsville’, teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, came ever so close to getting Hendrick Motorsports that coveted 200th win.

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

    In spite of not achieving the 200th HMS win milestone, Gordon in particular still made history. Gordon made his 650th start, as well as becoming the fourth driver to lead more than 3,000 laps at Martinsville Speedway.

    “Gosh we came so close to getting win 200 for Rick Hendrick,” Gordon said. “I ran it as hard as I possibly could to get our Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet back to the front.”

    “It was pretty fun coming up through there and getting up to the front and leading,” Gordon continued. “It just seemed like the last couple of runs just didn’t quite go our way.”

    “So, we came home third and it was a nice top five for us.”

    For his part, five-time champ Jimmie Johnson was just trying to mind his ‘P’s and Q’s’, especially when it came time to race with Stewart for the win.

    “I just wanted to do the right thing and unfortunately got beat in the process,” Johnson said of his battle with Smoke. “Thought about going in there and leaning on him but that was just not the right thing to do.”

    Surprising:  It was surprising to see the moniker of good guy  ‘Sheriff’ usually worn by Brian Vickers change to the villain of the short track. Vickers was at the heart of many of the race cautions, finally succumbing to the damage and taking his ailing No. 83 Red Bull Toyota off the track.

    Chaser Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford, was one of Vicker’s victims. He finished the race 31st thanks to his on-track incident, falling three spots to fifth in the championship standings.

    “The 83 car hit me about twice a lap every lap for about ten laps,” Kenseth said. “So, it made me mad.”

    “By the looks of his car, I wasn’t the first one he hit.”

    Jamie McMurray, in the No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet was also involved in an incident with the No. 83 car. The crash with Vickers early in the race effectively ended McMurray’s day, relegating him to a 35th place finish.

    “When you don’t feel like you have the corner good, you block,” Vickers said. “I pulled down and blocked and I saw he (Brian Vickers) was going to get in there, so I moved back up the track.”

    “I feel like he let off the brake and went ahead and sent me for a ride,” Vickers continued. “I just felt like he kind of took a cheap shot on me and I just didn’t appreciate it.”

    Not Surprising:   After winning his first ever Truck Series race at the short track, Denny Hamlin went on to have a great run in the Cup race. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry finished fifth, his first top-five in the 2011 Chase.

    “We had a great race car today,” Hamlin said. “I felt like the best car most of the day.”

    “We thought it was a blessing that last stop when we beat the 24 (Jeff Gordon) out – the pit crew did an amazing job,” Hamlin continued. “It was the dagger for us because it put us on the outside line with those guys that stayed out.”

    “We just needed to start on the bottom one or two of those restarts – then we would have been fine.”

    Surprising:  It was almost spooky to watch the tricks played on Kyle Busch in his No. 18 M&M’s Halloween Toyota Camry late in the race. He and driver Matt Kenseth got into each other during a restart and then Busch lost a tire after leaving the pits for the repair as he was trying to stay on the lead lap.

    “The M&M’s Toyota Camry was really fast,” crew chief Dave Rogers said. “We led the most laps again, the second time this year that we’ve led the most laps at Martinsville.”

    “That’s just hard racing out there,” Rogers continued. “We were a victim of circumstance at a short track.”

    Not Surprising:  After an admittedly miserable season, it was not surprising that Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, continued to turn it around with another good run. Burton followed his second place finish last weekend at Talladega with a sixth place finish at Martinsville, his third top-10 finish for the season.

    “I can’t be too unhappy with finishing sixth because the Cat team worked their tails off to get us in position at the end to win this thing,” Burton said. “That last caution probably didn’t help us, but it was another solid finish.”

    Surprising:  Surprising kudos to Casey Mears, driver of the No. 13 Geico Toyota Camry , who scored his best finish of the season to date.  The Germain Racing driver, cheered on by crew chief Bootie Barker, finished 12th at the Martinsville short track.

    “I’m so proud of all the guys on this Geico racing team,” Mears said. “We’ve known all year that we could run this well and it’s a nice feeling to have two weeks in a row where we have run up front.”

    Not Surprising:  A.J. Allmendinger continued his strong run, finishing 11th, just shy of another top-10 finish. In fact, the Dinger’s No. 43 AdvoCare Ford Fusion looked to be the car to beat until a late race altercation, as well as some slower pit stops, relegated him further back in the pack.

    “That’s Martinsville,” Allmendinger said simply. “It was a really good car.”

    “I was proud of all the guys,” Allmendinger continued. “We’ve got to work on our pit stops a little bit because we kept losing a couple of spots, but what really hurt us was I got put three-wide on the outside and got into one and that shoved the fender over the tire and from there, we were at the back of the pack and everybody was just gauging back there.”

    Surprising:  Brad Keselowski’s Cinderella carriage turned into a bit of a pumpkin at Martinsville. The driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger had a good run going, but ended up finishing 17th.

    “That’s racing on these short tracks,” Keselowski said. “We got some good racing in the middle section of the race, but at the end we just didn’t catch a break.”

    “It will come back around for the Miller Lite Dodge team,” Keselowski continued. “We came up a few laps short.”

    Not Surprising:  Kevin Harvick continued his reign as the ‘Closer’, finishing fourth in his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet. Happy has now finished in the top five for three consecutive races at Martinsville.

    “It was definitely a battle,” Harvick said. “Everybody was driving hard.”

    “That is what you are supposed to do here at Martinsville.”

     

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Carl Edwards: Edwards avoided danger for the duration of the Good Sam Club 500 at Talladega, hanging back for most of the race before capturing an 11th-place finish. His finish was better than all but three Chase rivals, and left him with a 14-point lead in the Sprint Cup point standings.

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”268″][/media-credit]“I’m still winless in the Chase,” Edwards said. “In this case, though, I ‘won’ for losing. But who says you need to win races to win the Cup? I plan to keep ‘doing what I’ve been doing.’ I feel that should be enough to keep Jimmie Johnson from doing what he’s been doing.”

    2. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth moved into second place in the point standings with an 18th at Talladega. He led 21 laps early, and lost ground after the final restart with three laps remaining when he lost contact with draft partner David Ragan. Kenseth lost a bit of ground to points leader Carl Edwards, and now trails his Roush Fenway teammate by 14.

    “Under most circumstances,” Kenseth said, “I would be happy with this much ‘separation’ between Edwards and myself. It takes the appeal of another Sprint Cup championship to make me want to ‘get close’ to Carl.”

    3. Brad Keselowski: With a fourth-place finish at Talladega, Keselowski leaped right back into the championship conversation. He moved up three places in the point standings to third, and trails Carl Edwards by 18 with four races remaining.

    “You’re darn right I’m in the conversation,” Keselowski said. “I’m being talked about as a legitimate contender for the Sprint Cup. There was a time in my career when ‘being in the conversation’ meant I was arguing with another competitor, like Carl Edwards or Kyle Busch. I may not be the most popular driver in the garage. Heck, I’m probably even less popular in my car. But I know how to win. That doesn’t necessarily give me an advantage over anyone else, because it’s surely possible to win the Cup without actually ‘winning’ anything.”

    4. Tony Stewart: Stewart led 30 laps at Talladega, and was up front with victory on his mind with a restart pending with three laps remaining in the race. But Stewart’s No.14 Chevy lost the draft and was shuffled back as Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer left the field. Stewart recovered to finish a solid seventh, and is now fourth in the point standings, 19 behind Carl Edwards.

    “Much like a good day of business for the Mayfield clan,” Stewart said, “I had a lot of good pushers. I hooked up with Paul Menard late in the race, but he abandoned me due to team orders. Team orders? I thought I was done with Formula 1 after driving Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren in June. Suffice it to say I’m not happy with Menard. A little warning would have been appreciated. He’s not, and there is no, ‘Paul revere.’”

    5. Kevin Harvick: After five-straight finishes of 12th or better to start the Chase, Harvick’s luck ran out when he was collected in a lap 104 crash. After a visit to the garage, Harvick eventually finished 32nd, 13 laps back, and dropped four places in the point standings to fifth, 26 out of first.

    “The No. 29 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet was solid,” Harvick said. “I was leading on lap 100, than by lap 104, I was wrecked. Much like Jimmy Johns quick delivery, we were ‘on the doorstep,’ and before you could blink, we were ‘out of there.’”

    6. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished 26th in the Good Sam Club 500 after he and Hendrick drafting partner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. found no luck making a run to the front. Johnson is now seventh in the Sprint Cup point standings, and now trails Carl Edwards by 50.

    “A ‘Big One’ happened at Talladega on lap 104,” Johnson said. “The ‘Big One’ happened on October 15th at Charlotte when I slammed the wall.”

    7. Kyle Busch: Busch’s No. 18 Toyota was damaged in the same lap 104 wreck that took out Kevin Harvick. Busch finished 33rd, and is now sixth in the point standings, 40 out of the lead.

    “Harvick and I found ourselves in the same boat,” Busch said. “And it now appears we’re up the same creek.”

    8. Kurt Busch: Busch slammed the spinning car of Bobby Labonte on lap 173, ending the day for the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge. His day was done, and his 36th-place finish dropped him one place to eighth in the point standings, 52 out of first.

    “Despite such a horrible finish,” Busch said, “my language on the radio was clean and profanity-free. That’s because I didn’t even have time to curse before ramming Labonte’s car.”

    9. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer dove around Richard Childress teammate Jeff Burton on the last lap to snap a 34-race winless streak in winning the Good Sam 500. Bowyer and Burton pulled away from the field on the final restart and cruised around Talladega’s 2.66 mile circuit unchallenged until Bowyer’s winning move.

    “I’ve said my goodbye’s to Richard Childress Racing,” Bowyer said. “I felt it only fitting that I gave Burton a personal farewell.”

    10. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt, always a threat to win at Talladega, finished a disappointing 25th, as he and drafting partner Jimmie Johnson never found a groove to take them to the front. Earnhardt remained ninth in the point standings, where he is 60 out of first.

    “It’s too bad I couldn’t help Jimmie,” Earnhardt said. “But I take full responsibility. With the laps winding down, Jimmie said, ‘It’s do or die time!’ Unfortunately, I thought he said, ‘It’s Diet Dew time!’”

  • Team Orders determine Outcome at Talladega

    Team Orders determine Outcome at Talladega

    Sadly, we are now looking at the politics of the sport. Now the politics have always been there it’s just that they were under currents that the fans couldn’t hear and were not exposed to. Now with the scanners and things on the internet where we can eavesdrop on the teams and conversations we are faced with the politics of racing.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”248″][/media-credit]Racing is a team sport. It always has been. There was a time when most teams had one car until we got down to the end of the season and then other cars were fielded to manipulate the points finishes. Those cars would drop out to push finishes further to the top of the pylon. That was how it was done. There were “team orders” even then. The team order was OK take it to the house you are done. Thanks.

    There were team orders with the manufacturers as well. I remember the fights between the Bow Tie Brigade and the Church of the Blue Oval. Pontiac and Buick. Buick and Oldsmobile. The manufacturers are in this to sell cars. To draw attention to their make and the speed that it produces. They are about winners.

    There have always been defections. One of the biggest back in the day was Jeff Gordon. He left Bill Davis and Ford to go to Rick Hendrick and Chevrolet after Ford had poured millions into his development as a driver. It was a blow. It was a shock. It was a rarity.

    Today team orders became very clear and obvious. They were apparent with Trevor Bayne and Jeff Gordon. They were apparent with Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jr. They were apparent with Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton. They were apparent with Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle.

    Remember this is a business. Someone has to pay the bills. Someone has to provide the resources and the technology. It’s sad to say but the man with the check book calls the shots. You don’t have to like it but it’s in everything you do and everywhere you go. Money talks and money makes the decisions that effect our lives. The drivers are no different.

    It was obvious that Ford, actually Jack Roush made the call for Trevor to dump Gordon. Trevor as much as said so. “I would have rather pulled over and finished last than tell @JeffGordonWeb I would work with him and then be strong armed into bailing.” Bayne tweeted. Gordon’s view point was a little different. “When we lost Mark (Martin), when you lose your drafting partner, you do all that you can and we did all that we could. The unfortunate part is that we made a deal with somebody and they reneged on it after we took the green.’’ Roush made the call. It is a call he will have to live with. But lets try to remember that Roush had team orders too. Ford team orders.

    Even the golden boys of NASCAR, the Hendricks Motorsports team had team orders. Dale Jr and Jimmie Johnson obviously had cars that were capable of running up front. They both were bitten in Daytona by the run around in the back and wait tactic. But again today when Earnhardt was wanting to go up and race team orders came down and the pair went to the back and again the call to go came too late and then was made worse by the late race caution as was reported by ESPN’s Marty Smith. Team orders in this case probably cost 5 time champion Jimmie Johnson the 6th consecutive championship. Jimmie will take the heat from the ever vocal Junior Nation. But the truth is the orders came from above Jimmie’s head. The orders came from above the crew chief’s head. Whatever it was that they were waiting for never materialized and again it relegated them to deep in the field finishing spots.

    Team orders played a role in the victory of Clint Bowyer as well. The Childress teams stood together. They didn’t race with others. Because of that Bowyer and Burton were in a position to settle the race between them. The pusher always has the advantage because of the tandem racing communications that are necessary. One spotter. One crew chief. Bowyer pulled out and made it a drag race. He beat Burton by the front fenders of the car. But he did so because of team orders. Richard Childress stated, “Not running in the back might have cost Harvick the championship but he came to do what they’re supposed to do: race.”

    The problem here is not that the orders were given. The problem is that they exist to begin with. Multiple car teams make team orders inevitable. Despite what some owners say about all things being equal for all drivers. We know that is not the case. We have seen that is not the case. We have seen it across the board in all series. The problem is team orders manipulate the competition. They always have. Just like in the early days when cars would drop out at pre determined times to guarantee points positions. It hasn’t changed. Team orders are still determining the final result on the track not only in who wins the race but in who wins the championship. It is a sad thing. But it has always been a part of our sport. It most likely always will be.

    The most important thing about this race most likely will be lost in the politics and controversy of the race. The most important thing was that despite scarey looking wrecks and incredibly hard impacts every one is going home safe. They races with heavy hearts but they reached down where their courage lives and they climbed in and they raced. They raced in tribute to a fallen champion. I am pretty sure that Dan Wheldon was more than proud to ride with every single one of them.

     

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

    Congratulations to Mike Wallace on his truck series win in Talladega. It was awesome to see Mike have the opportunity to show how much talent he has and what he can do with it in good equipment.Congratulations to Clint Bowyer. Clint gave his word when he signed a contract a few years back. He was true to his word. He raced to win despite the fact that he is leaving at the end of the year to go to MWR.

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

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    The remaining Chase contenders qualified as follows:

    Kevin Harvick – 14th

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 15th

    Denny Hamlin – 17th

    Kurt Busch – 20th

    Jeff Gordon – 23rd

    Kyle Busch – 25th

    Brad Keselowski – 26th.

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

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

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

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Kansas

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “That’s pretty awesome on their part.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover AAA 400

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “That’s the way it goes.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Not surprisingly, Kenseth claimed “We got lucky.”

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

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

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Dover

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Dover

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished third at Dover, leading 116 of 400 laps, and gained a share of the Sprint Cup point standings. Edwards is tied with Kevin Harvick atop the standings, with a nine point lead over Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart.

    “Luckily,” Edwards said, “I don’t do a back flip for third place finishes. And, judging by Saturday’s result, I don’t do back flips for wins, either. It used to be called a ‘somersault;’ with the change of season, it’s now called a ‘fall.’”

    2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson held off Carl Edwards in the closing laps in the AAA 400 to take the runner-up spot at Dover. Johnson vaulted five spots in the point standings to fifth and is 13 out of first.

    “Many though my slow start in the Chase indicated that I was ‘going nowhere,’” Johnson said. “Well, they were right, because this strong finish indicates that I’m ‘not going anywhere.”

    [media-credit id=26 align=”alignright” width=”203″][/media-credit]3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished tenth in the AAA 400, a solid effort considering Dover is not one of his strongest tracks. He did, however, move in to a tie in the points lead with Carl Edwards, with a nine point lead on Tony Stewart in second.

    “It’s great to be on top in the Sprint Cup point standings,” Harvick said. “But the issue with leading is one that is much akin to Clint Bowyer’s future with Richard Childress Racing—staying there.”

    4. Kurt Busch: Busch left Jimmie Johnson after a late restart and cruised to the win in the AAA 400, his second win of the year and first of the Chase. Busch climbed from ninth to third in the point standings, and trails co-leaders Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick by ninth.

    “It’s doubly satisfying to pass Johnson for the win,” Busch said. “I know ‘slaps in the face,’ and that had to feel like one to Johnson.

    “My win certainly tightens up the point standing in the Chase For The Cup. My brother knows all too well that when you put a Busch brother out front, things get ‘tight,’ particularly Kyle’s nerves.”

    5. Tony Stewart: After two wins to start the Chase, Stewart’s luck ran out at Dover, where handling issues left him in an early hole from which he couldn’t escape. He finished 25th, two laps down, and fell out of the Sprint Cup points lead.

    “I guess winning three races in a row was too much to expect,” Stewart said. “Otherwise, I may have ran away with the Sprint Cup title. In this case, the third time was the charm for 11 other Chase drivers. But ‘winning three’ isn’t easy; that’s something I’ve spent the last ten years learning.”

    6. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth, who won at Dover in May, took fifth in the AAA 400, collecting his eighth top-5 result of the year. He remained sixth in the point standings, where only 19 points separate the top nine drivers.

    “We took two tires on the final pit stop in May,” Kenseth said. “We took four this time. Suffice it to say we were ‘dis-May-ed’ with our finish.

    “My esteemed teammate Carl Edwards is tied for the lead in the point standings with his esteemed arch-nemesis Kevin Harvick. That makes for an interesting situation, and I, like most others, can’t wait to see which one ‘chokes’ first.”

    7. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished a disappointing 20th at Dover, amazingly his first finish outside the top 12 since a 35th at New Hampshire in July. He fell three places in the point standings to sixth, and trails the leaders by 14.

    “We had a good car until our power steering failed,” Keselowski said. “You could say we were ‘cursed’ by mechanical issues, which is definitely not the first time the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge has been ‘cursed.’ Heck, Kurt Busch used to drive this car.”

    8. Jeff Gordon: Gordon qualified 34th at Dover, and with track position at a premium, could only manage a 12th-place finish. He fell four places to ninth in the point standings, and is 19 out of first.

    “We’ve dug ourselves a hole,” Gordon said. “That’s not as bad as my Hendrick teammate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. He dug himself a grave.”

    9. Kyle Busch: Busch bounced back from two sub-par finishes to start the Chase with a sixth at Dover, his 17th top-10 finish of the season. He eighth in the point standings,15 points out of the lead.

    “A sixth-place finish is encouraging,” Busch said, “but knowing you started the Chase with the lead just three short weeks ago is discouraging. But I’ve got my head up. I understand Denny Hamlin has employed a sports psychologist to improve his attitude. Many people say I need psychological help. My supporters say I don’t need psychological help, just an evaluation. Anyway, if a sports psychologist could tell me anything, he’d likely say ‘You’re still in the driver’s seat.’ And I would likely reply, ‘I’m paying you for this?’”

    10. Ryan Newman: Newman finished 23rd, two laps down, after ongoing handling issues left his No. 39 Stewart-Haas Chevy with little grip and poor handling. He is now 11th in the Sprint Cup point standings, 41 out of first.

    “Our performance is upsetting,” Newman said. “And I think it showed on my face. Anyone could see that I was ‘drivin’ and (c)Ryan.’

    “I’m declaring myself a non-factor in the Chase. And if things work out for me like they did for Tony Stewart, I’ll be back in the thick of things after winning at Kansas and Charlotte.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Loudon Sylvania 300

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Loudon Sylvania 300

    While rain played a factor earlier in the race weekend, New Hampshire Motor Speedway was not only bathed in sunshine, but was hot enough to boil a lobster for the running of the 15th annual Sylvania 300. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the track dubbed the ‘Magic Mile’.

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Gregg Ellman-Pool/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”228″][/media-credit]Surprising:  While one five-time champion usually peaks in performance during the Chase competition, it was most surprising to see another driver, one who deemed himself unworthy of even being in the Chase, win his second race in a row.

    Tony Stewart, behind the wheel of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet, took the checkered flag, giving him a perfect Chase record to date. This was Smoke’s 41st Cup Series win and put him in the lead dog position in the point standings.

    “I’ll be honest, we were about a 10th place car the majority of the day,” Stewart said. “The closer to the front we got, the better it drove.”

    “Man, what a day to win it,” Stewart continued. “Such an irony from last year where we ran out of gas coming to the white.”

    Not Surprising:  Speaking of fuel mileage racing, which happened all weekend long, it was not surprising to see this come into play yet again at the ‘Magic Mile.’ In fact, fuel mileage cost one driver the race and another Chase driver a possible win as well.

    Most affected by the fuel mileage gremlin was Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet. Bowyer ran out of fuel with just three laps to go, allowing Smoke to blow by him for the win.

    “It’s just not our year,” Bowyer said. “What a great car. It just didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to.”

    The other driver who struggled with fuel mileage was Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet. As Gordon was moving forward at race end, his crew chief Alan Gustafson advised him that there had been a problem while fueling that may have resulted in his tank not being completely packed full.

    Gordon immediately went into conservation mode, letting many of his competitors blow by him. Gordon finished fourth in the race and move dup in the point standings to the fifth spot.

    “It is tough conditions to race in,” Gordon said. “I don’t think that we wanted to see back-to-back fuel mileage races like this, but it is kind of the name of the game these days.”

    “We were just setting the pace so it is unfortunate that that happened,” Gordon continued. “It is something we need to be better at.”

    Surprising:  Although battling tire camber troubles all race long, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his ever positive crew chief Steve Letarte seemed surprisingly pleased with their 17th place finish with the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevrolet. Earnhardt, Jr. fell three spots in the points, from fifth to eighth.

    “We had a flat tire there at the end,” Junior said. “We had a fast car all day.”

    “I was real happy with the car,” Earnhardt, Jr. continued. “We were real competitive. And I got to race up front.”

    “I had an awesome car all day long and I’m happy about what my guys did.”

    Not Surprising:  After starting the race fuming because he his car was stuck in NASCAR technical inspection during the pre-race festivities, Kurt Busch continued his ‘Drive for Anger’ campaign in his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Dodge.

    Busch was so annoyed when he finally did get in the car to race that team ‘Captain’ Roger Penske had to come on the radio, telling his driver to “Keep your head in this.”

    “It was a frustrating day,” Busch said. “We were late going through inspection and that set the tone for the day.”

    “NASCAR wasn’t 100% happy with what they saw on one of their gauges,” Travis Geisler, Director of Competition for Penske Racing, said of the inspection delay. “So, we had to do a little work on it.”

    Busch finished 22nd, making him also the official ‘Biggest Loser’ in the points, falling from fourth to ninth.

    Surprising:  As a result of the Sylvania 300, three surprising basement dwellers emerged. Five-time champ Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet, was the first, finishing 18th and falling to tenth in points.

    In addition to his struggles on the track, Johnson also had some harsh exchanges with his crew chief, Chad Knaus, who goaded his drive to ‘prove’ that he could drive the car.

    “Yeah, it wasn’t what we thought it was going to be,” Johnson said. “We just didn’t have the breaks go right and really get the track position as we needed it throughout the day.”

    “I’m going 100 percent regardless of what’s being said on the radio,” Johnson continued. “I think he (Knaus) was just being optimistic there about what was left in my back pocket; but my suit doesn’t have any back pockets.”

    Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet, also became an official basement dweller. Newman, who started the race from the pole, finished 25th and fell four spots to 11th in the points.

    “We just had a tough day,” Newman said. “We had a couple of slow pit stops and then we had a tire go down at the end.”

    “It was just a disappointing day for us.”

    Finally, it has been surprisingly painful to watch the ongoing implosion of Denny Hamlin and company. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, finished 29th, remaining in the 12th Chase spot.

    “It was another tough day for us,” Hamlin said. “We’re just figuring out what we need to do to be a little bit more competitive.”

    Not Surprising:  To no one’s surprise, the ascent of the Keselowski continued at the ‘Magic Mile’. The driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger finished second to Stewart and catapulted himself to third in points.

    “I feel really good about this one,” Keselowski said. “We struggled a little bit this weekend, but we executed and that’s what these races are about.”

    “It’s been a good roll.”

    Surprising:  Mark Martin, behind the wheel of the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, looked surprisingly like the driver of old. Martin led a total of 46 laps, almost two times more than he had led all season.

    Not Surprising:  David Ragan’s ‘Drive for a Sponsor’ continued behind the wheel of the No. 6 UPS Ford. The young driver overcame being a lap down with the ‘lucky dog’ to finish seventh.

    “We didn’t have the best of cars today but we showed that with some hard work and good strategy, we could overcome that,” Ragan said. “It feels good for the UPS team to get a top 10.”

    “So it was a good job by everybody and now it’s on to Dover.”