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Inaugural STP 400 at Kansas Speedway Preview

For the first time in NASCAR history, the drivers of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will take on the slick Kansas Speedway in the heat of June. The STP 400 replaces the fall race at the Auto Club Speedway due to a lack of attendance and the new casino to open near the Kansas Speedway. This is just one of the many changes to the 2011 Sprint Cup schedule. Drivers and teams should expect a hot and slick racetrack, unlike what they undertake when they come to the track in October for chase time.

[media-credit name=”Kansas Speedway” align=”alignright” width=”163″][/media-credit]One question that is on a lot of race fans mind’s coming into Kansas is, “Will the Fords continue their domination like they did over the past two weeks at Charlotte?” All indications are that they will. The Ford camp, especially Roush-Fenway Racing, have been the cars to beat on the 1.5 mile ovals so far this season. Not only are the cars fast, they also handle extremely well. The combination of the two have become deadly as Ford has won four Sprint Cup races this year. It may sound deceiving, but the Fords have been up front at every track. Although they have not always come away with the win, they have been fast and they have been very competitive.

This weekend, we will see the return of popular of the popular Canadian driver, Patrick Carpentier as he hops aboard Franky Stoddard’s FAS Lane Racing Ford. This will be Carpentier’s first Cup start since last season and it will mark the first time that he will not have to qualify for the race as the number 32 is already locked into Sunday’s starting field.

As previously stated, this will be the first time that NASCAR’s premier division makes a stop at Kansas in the month of June. When they have came to Kansas in past events, it was always in the cool fall month of October. This race will present a whole new challenge for the teams as they have never dealt with a hot and slick Kansas Speedway. They will be able to use notes from other 1.5 mile race tracks but remember, not all of them are the same. They all have unique quirks to them that give the drivers a different challenge each time they make a stop at them.

Hot Drivers at Kansas Speedway

Tony Stewart- Stewart is a two time winner at the Kansas oval and has always ran strong here. Smoke was strong at Las Vegas which is the track that most resembles Kansas that we have visited so far this season. Look for a strong run for Smoke.

Carl Edwards- Everyone remembers Carl’s dare devil-esk move on Jimmie Johnson here in 2008. In that race, Carl had the best car at the end of the day. With how strong him and his Roush-Fenway team have been this season, you can never count him out.

Greg Biffle- The numbers say it all about “The Biff” at Kansas Speedway. In nine starts, Biffle has 2 wins, 6 top 5’s, 6 top 10’s and an average finish of 8.1. Needless to say, Greg is very strong at Kansas

Jimmie Johnson- As is the case at just about every track we go to, you can never count out Jimmie Johnson. Johnson won here in 2008 and has seven top 10’s in nine starts at Kansas. The numbers don’t lie here. With a driver like Johnson and Knaus on top of the box, don’t count out Mr. Five Time
Pretty Nifty Pick (Solid Drivers)

Jeff Gordon- In ten starts at Kansas, Gordon has ten top 10 finishes. Even though Jeff hasn’t had the best season this season, when it comes to a strong track for him, he usually runs where he’s supposed to.

Mark Martin- Mark may just be in for a break through run this weekend. Martin, has started every race at Kansas Speedway and has an average finish of 12.6. Hendrick Motorsports has always had good success at Kansas so don’t rule out a possible win or top 10 for NASCAR’s favorite brides maid.

Clint Bowyer- When you come to your home track, you always want to preform at your best. That’s no different for Bowyer. The Kansas native has run well here since his rookie season in the Cup series. With the quality of cars he’s had this year, Sunday could very well be the biggest win for the young driver.

WARNING: DRIVERS LISTED HERE ARE ONES TO STAY AWAY FROM

Joey Logano- For some strange reason, the Kansas oval has not been kind to the young lad from Connecticut over the course of his short career. It has been that way since his debut here in 2008. With how much bad luck the Home Depot crew has had this year, don’t bank on Joey turning it around here
Don’t Sleep On Me!!!

AJ Allmendinger- AJ is having a banner year so far this season. He has shown speed, consistency and many flashes of brilliance. He just hasn’t been able to close the deal. It’s not will AJ get to victory lane, it’s WHEN will he finally put the whole race together. Sunday could be the day.

David Ragan- Like Allmendinger, its a matter of when the Georgia native will pull into victory lane. Ragan once again proved he does belong in the Cup series with a second place finish in the 600 this past Sunday. 1.5 mile race tracks are what David Ragan lives for. Look at that UPS Ford to be a contender this weekend.

My pick for the STP 400- Greg Biffle

June 1, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Coca Cola 600

After exceptionally exciting finishes in the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 earlier in the day, all signs pointed to a stellar finish in one of NASCAR’s biggest races of the season. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”260″][/media-credit]Surprising: With several of the sport’s biggest races won by first-timers this season, including Trevor Bayne’s story book win at the Daytona 500 and Regan Smith’s unpredicted win at Darlington, it was a bit surprising that no first time winner stood in Victory Lane after the Coke 600.

One driver, however, came mighty close. David Ragan, who had snagged the Showdown win to make it into the All-Star Race the weekend before, almost pulled off his own Cinderella-like story, falling short of the win by just one position.

Ragan, in his No. 6 UPS “We Love Logistics” Ford, finished second, scoring his highest career finish in the Coca Cola 600.

“We had a strong car all day,” Ragan said. “That’s a finish that we deserved, but we just went about doing it the hard way.”

Not Surprising: After all those laps and all those miles, it was not surprising to see the Coca Cola 600 come down to a green, white checkered finish. And it was equally unsurprising to see one driver that is becoming well-known for his stealth finishes to come from nowhere and snag another victory.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Armed Forces Tribute Chevrolet, did just that to lead the last 400 feet of the race and take the checkered flag for his fifth top 10 and second top five in 21 starts at Charlotte.

“We were lucky,” Harvick said. “It’s nothing against the race track, I just don’t like racing here. But to be in Victory Lane, it says a lot about this Budweiser team.”

“This is a huge accomplishment for us,” Harvick continued, admitting that he had struggled with his car and team throughout the race. “This is a hell of a race to win. We’re going to celebrate it like it’s our last one.”

Surprising: After leading the race on the final lap, seeing the checkered flag, and then running out of gas, it was surprising how positive Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was after the race. Junior limped to the finish line on fumes to finish seventh in his No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet.

Echoing his ever upbeat crew chief Steve Letarte, Earnhardt, Jr. said, “I’m disappointed we didn’t win, but if we would’ve won, it would have been a gift.”

“We ran good tonight,” Junior continued. “I’m proud.”

Not Surprising: In contrast to the positive, proud vibes in the Dale Jr. camp, it was not surprising that there was a whole lot of swearing going on in his teammate Jimmie Johnson’s camp. In fact, crew chief Chad Knaus dropped the F-bomb on national television when Johnson’s engine expired with just five laps to go in the race.

This was the first engine failure for Hendrick Motorsports this season and it forced Johnson to a 28^th place finish in his No. 48 Lowes Summer Salutes Chevrolet. Johnson also fell one spot, from second to third, in the point standings.

Surprising: Although the Coca Cola 600 is the longest race of the season, it was surprising to see the number of engine failures that occurred. In addition to Jimmie Johnson, Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart all experienced engine issues.

For Jamie McMurray, behind the wheel of the No. 1 Bass Pro Shop/Convoy of Hope for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, this engine failure signified the sixth of the season for the ECR engine builders.

“It started shaking and one second later, it was ‘boom,’” McMurray said.

Hamlin, on the other hand, was able to recover after his engine issues, with his No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota team doing a yeoman’s job of changing out the carburetor. Hamlin managed a top ten finish, which boosted him into the top twelve Chase contenders.

Stewart also suffered engine woes in the waning laps of the race, radioing crew chief Darian Grubb that something was amiss with less than 20 laps to go. Stewart, in his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, finished 17^th, scoring his 10^th top-20 finish to date.

Not Surprising: In addition to engine woes, it was not surprising that many other teams were plagued with other types of mechanical problems, from overheating to radio problems.

Greg Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M Ford, seemed ready to implode from overheating issues in his car early in the race. Biffle was, however, able to overcome, rallying back to lead laps at the end. Unfortunately, he too succumbed to not having enough gas, having to make a splash and go stop at the end, which relegated him to a 13^th place finish.

Jeff Gordon, piloting the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, also struggled and battled radio issues early in the race. Gordon too looked strong at the end of the show, only to have to pit for gas as well. Gordon finished 20^th, falling two positions to 16^th in the point standings.

Surprising: Serving as a substitute driver for Trevor Bayne and making his Cup debut, it was surprising how well Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. did in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Stenhouse, Jr. managed to bring his car home in the 11^th position even after having several close encounters with the wall.

“That was interesting,” Stenhouse, Jr. said. “I hit the wall a couple of times, the caution came back out and it worked great for us.”

“I’m just glad I got this opportunity.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising that after Stenhouse, Jr. and Bayne prayed together before the race, Bayne playfully pushed his friend out of the way and tried to get behind the wheel of his race car. After five weeks of being out of his car due to a mystery illness, Bayne was most certainly chomping at the bit to get back to racing.

Bayne reinforced that desire by tweeting after the race, “This was by far the hardest weekend to sit back and watch! Can’t wait to be back in action!!”

Surprising: In the battle of the Busch brothers, it was surprising that this weekend Kurt Busch prevailed, finishing fourth in his Shell/Pennzoil No. 22 Dodge, while baby brother Kyle took a wild ride through the grass and then another spin, finishing 32^nd in his No. 18 M&Ms Toyota.

“The race was 600 miles and it felt like 800,” Dave Rogers, Busch’s crew chief, said. “Kyle was trying to make something out of nothing and it got away from him. We ended our day a little early.”

Not Surprising: Not surprisingly, one driver who never expected to even make the show captured the true spirit of the Memorial Day race weekend. David Starr, behind the wheel of the No. 95 Jordan Truck Sales.com Ford Fusion crashed early in the race, finishing 36^th. Yet this is what he had to say.

“This was a great weekend,” Starr said. “I’m just honored and blessed to be driving this Ford Fusion.”

“It was awesome out there,” Starr continued. “It was a big honor to race in the Coca Cola 600 even though it ended up like this. I’m really blessed.”

May 30, 2011
NASCAR’s David Ragan and IZOD IndyCar series JR Hildebrand Have One Thing In Common

When ABC television’s Wide World of Sports first coined the phrase, “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat,” some 40 years ago. You could almost hear the voice of the late Jim McKay, bellowing out that saying when two of motorsports biggest races of the year were lost because of driver error.

Think back to the last time in the history of motorsports when two young winless drivers in the same year have come so close to victory in the season’s biggest spectacles, but yet were unable to close the deal while millions of fans watched in amazement.

On one side of the spectrum you have a driver who is in his seventh season racing in NASCAR’s premiere series who has never won a Sprint Cup race, and on the other side a rookie driver who was making only his eighth start in the IZOD IndyCar Series, his fifth this season.

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Roush-Fenway driver David Ragan, could feel the electricity running through his body as he waited patiently for the green flag to drop on the first of what would be two green-white-checkered finishes.

Ragan who led the 52^nd running of the Daytona 500 twice for seven laps, would not be around for the last and final green-white-checkered restart. Instead fate would deal him a different hand, and ultimately take away any chances of him winning his first ever Sprint cup race in 147 career starts.

In the blink of an eye Ragan threw away his best opportunity at winning not only NASCAR’s biggest race of the season, but also the chance to become Roush-Fenway Racing’s second driver to ever win the 500 behind Matt Kenseth who went to victory in 2009.

Ragan, who was leading the race at the time took the green flag after a late race caution outside of eventual winner Trevor Bayne, and changed lanes before he reached the start/finish line. Unfortunately for Ragan, he violated section 10-2 of the Sprint Cup Series rule book with the move and was black-flagged.

Ragan would restart the race in the 15^th position after serving his pass through penalty, and would eventually finish a disappointing 14^th. “It was tough to swallow,” Ragan said after the race.

Ragan also added that, “Who knows what would have happened in that next lap? We had a top-five car and we didn’t finish in the top five, so that’s a bummer. We had a car that could’ve won the Daytona 500. We were sitting in position and just didn’t do it.”

Three months later and the racing gods would strike again, but this time it would involve a driver who was trying to make history as the second rookie to ever win the Indianapolis 500. In 2002 it was Helio Castroneves who became the first Indianapolis 500 rookie driver to win both rookie of the year honors, along with the race.

On the day of the centennial running of the Great American Race, rookie driver JR Hildebrand was only one corner away from matching Castroneves historical feat, and putting his name in the record books next to one of the series greatest drivers ever.

Hildebrand just like Ragan could almost feel the thrill of victory, and in a quick instant the agony of defeat slapped him with a dose of reality. Instead Hildebrand’s second place finish would go down as one of the sport’s most heartbreaking finishes, when he crashed on the last corner while leading the race.

Hildebrand was coming out of turn three and headed into four, when he came behind a slower car and decided to go around it and lost control when hit the marbles and crashed hard into the wall.

In that split second gone was the Borg-Warner trophy along with the customary drink of milk that every driver dreams of when the month of May comes around, and the only thing left were the remnants of what could have been the biggest motorsports story of the year.

“I caught him [Charlie Kimball] at just the wrong time,” said Hildebrand when talking about the crash after the race. Hildebrand also added that, “I went to the high side because I didn’t want to slow down too much, I got up in the marbles and that was it.”

Emotions play a huge role when a victory is on the line, but even more when it includes the biggest and most important race of the season. Along with the victory comes the respect from your fellow competitors, as well as the endorsements and the praise from the fans knowing that on that one special day you had what it took to be victorious.

Unfortunately for Ragan and Hildebrand, that special day turned into a day of disaster and disappointment. Ragan knew it all too well when he said, “I feel like I know the rules and understand ’em as good as anyone, but I just kind of let my emotions take over and I just didn’t make the right moves when it counted.”

40 years later and the phrase will be instilled in the minds of Ragan and Hildebrand, “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat,”

May 30, 2011
Is the Gordon and Johnson Domination Over at CMS?

Charlotte Motor Speedway has in recent years been dominated by the Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Sprint Cup teams. They might not have won every race, but they’ve dominated in many ways. Early on it was Jeff Gordon, but these days it has been Jimmie Johnson. What happened Saturday night and what does that mean for the 600 mile race next weekend?

[media-credit name=”(c) CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”246″][/media-credit]Once upon a time, Charlotte was Jeff’s place. Gordon was almost a sure win at Bruton Smith’s track in the heart of NASCAR country. Slowly, Gordon’s driver (remember, he is the official owner of the No. 48), Jimmie Johnson took over the crown. Johnson had a good run of wins at CMS, but this weekend these two were not at the front at the end. What’s going on?

As we now know, a group of Fords out of Jack Roush’s stable dominated the Sprint Cup All Star race. Carl Edwards dominated the event. David Ragan, another Roush-Fenway Ford won the first segment, and Edwards won the rest. Johnson was up front during some of that, but what of what the commentators call “Big Daddy” — Jeff Gordon?

Gordon has had a long stretch of pretty much a drought of wins the last few years. The once dominator of Charlotte’s 1.5-mile track, has fallen on hard times. Yes, Gordon has won this year (at Phoenix), but he seems to struggle to get to the front. What’s the difference? It’s the big question. The same could be said for Johnson. Maybe it’s NASCAR, but it’s more likely what has become parity. Roush-Fenway has finally caught up to the standard HMS set for the rest of the field. But that doesn’t explain the nosedive for the No. 24 and No. 48 teams. The constant crew chief changes by Rick Hendrick’s teams have maybe caused part of the problem.

Last year we saw HMS change crews change during the Chase with Gordon’s crew going to Johnson’s, and the constant changes to make Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s more competitive have had a negative effect on everyone concerned, or some it seems. In the meantime, RFR’s teams have become constant and the result is a point leader in Carl Edwards and tremendous performances. So what do we learn from this?

Maybe the struggles of especially Jeff Gordon have more to do with changes than the actual driving abilities of the four-time champion. Chemistry is a very important part of this sport and chemistry is hard to explain or define. The HMS boys might prove me wrong in the future, but I see better chemistry in the RFR Ford camp than what I’m seeing at HMS. Time will tell.

As we head to the big Coca-Cola 600 weekend, it will be interesting to watch what these two organizations do in the sport’s longest race. Will one or the other dominate or will a surprise winner come and spoil the show? My money’s on some organization other than the Hendrick gang. It’s probably a bad bet, but so far the performance isn’t there. Of course, that may change before Sunday night.

May 24, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover FedEx 400 Benefitting Autism Speaks

Under threatening skies at the beginning of the race and with one caution for precipitation, the sun emerged and then beat down upon the Monster Mile at Dover, Delaware for the remainder of the race.

Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks.

[media-credit id=26 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]

Surprising: It was surprising to see the comers and goers at Dover and in the end, to see who gambled and who did not. And in a town where the casino resides right next to the track, the gambling paid off, especially for those that either stayed out without tires or who took two instead of four.

Mark Martin, driver of the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, was probably the biggest gambler, staying out on the last pit stop with no new tires to finish in the runner up position. This was his first top five of the season.

“Lance McGrew and the GoDaddy.com team deserve this,” Martin said. “We just about pulled one off there. We finally had a good finish.

Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Wiley X Sunglasses Ford, also gambled with a two tire stop, and finished his day in Victory Lane.

“Obviously it was a great day for us and pretty exciting for us to win that way here at Dover,” Kenseth said. “I was happy we were able to pull it off.”

The gambling also paid off in the point standings, with Kenseth jumping four spots to the sixth position and Martin moving up three spots to the 11^th position.

Not Surprising: With so many drivers taking either no or just two tires, it was not surprising that the dominant cars throughout most of the race, including the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson and the No. 99 Aflac Ford of Carl Edwards, finished a bit further back in the pack in ninth and seventh respectively, after deciding on a four-tire strategy.

This was the second week in a row that Edwards and company took four tires and did not win. Both Edwards and Johnson, however, maintained their top standing in the points, first and second respectively.

Surprising: It was surprising just how different the Monster Mile treated teammates throughout the race. One of the best examples was the split between Richard Petty Motorsports teammates A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose.

After starting from the outside pole, the ‘Dinger not only had high hopes for a great finish but he even fulfilled his wish of leading a lap. But instead of potentially contending for a race win, the engine on his Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Best Buy Ford gave up the ghost.

“I don’t know, it was weird because it all happened at once and there was no sign of it,” Allmendinger said. “We were going to run them (the leaders) down and all of a sudden off (turn) two, it went.”

“Honestly, it sucks,” Allmendinger continued. “I really wanted this for us and Ford and Best Buy and everybody, the King especially. I hate this.”

On the flip side, his RPM teammate Marcos Ambrose, in the No. 9 Dewalt Ford, had a stellar day, finishing in the third spot.

“I get a good feel on these concrete tracks,” Ambrose said. “On concrete, I think it’s the steep banking that helps me feel the tires.”

“It was a great day and a really good call for two tires there at the end.”

Not Surprising: The tale of two teammates continued with the results chasm between Brian Vickers, piloting the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, and his teammate Kasey Kahne in the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota.

Vickers, who at the time of last year’s Dover race was in the hospital “with two IVs stuck in both arms”, finished fifth, while Kahne blew an engine and was out of the race.

“This was a great team effort,” Vickers said. “I feel great. It was a special race.”

Kahne, on the other hand, started fourth and was running in the top ten for much of the race, only to experience engine issues.

“We had a great Red Bull Toyota,” Kahne said.”The car was really fast early on. I think I over-revved it so it may be my fault that it let go.”

Surprising: Both cars in the Stewart-Haas Racing stable, including the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet of Ryan Newman and the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet piloted by Tony Stewart, were surprisingly bad at the Monster Mile. In fact, Stewart deemed his car evil, finishing 29th, multiple laps down. Newman battled all day as well, taking the checkered flag in the 21st position.

Stewart summed up the SHR day overall on one of his radio communications during the race, saying “I’ve got no (expletive) confidence in our team right now.”

Not Surprising: Kyle Busch in the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota surprised no one in driving from the rear of the field due to an engine change to a fourth place finish.

“Considering how far behind we started with the engine failure and how I ran it into the fence, it was a really good result,” Busch said.

Surprising: After a hard crash in the Nationwide run that ruined a potentially winning day, Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, had high hopes for redemption, starting in the fifth spot. Logano, however, brought out the first caution, spinning and hitting the wall. Logano’s car was not right for the rest of the race, again hitting the wall in the waning laps of the race to finish 27^th.

Not Surprising: Living up to the track’s nickname, there were some monstrous moments on pit road during the race in Dover. David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 UPS Ford, had an adventure getting to his pit, spinning, hitting the guard rail and then almost blocking the entrance trying to get his car pointed in the right direction.

“I just locked up the rear brakes a little coming into the pits during the green flag stop,” Ragan said. “That’s the first time I’ve ever wrecked like that getting to pit road.”

“I guess I pushed it a little too hard today.”

Rookie Andy Lally, in the No. 71 Interstate Moving Services Ford, also had a pit misadventure, with a major slide down pit road late in the race. Lally finished in the 33rd position.

May 15, 2011
David Ragan Has Every Intention of Being NASCAR’s Next Cinderella Story

From Trevor Bayne’s win of the Daytona 500 to Regan Smith’s win last weekend at Darlington, Cinderella stories have been all the rage in NASCAR.

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”279″][/media-credit]One driver who is ready to put on the glass slipper in Victory Lane is David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 UPS Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. In fact, Ragan is indeed planning to be that next big underdog winner.

“Absolutely, I will be the next Cinderella story,” Ragan said. “I feel like we’re in a position to win a race. And if we can get a little more consistent, I think we have a team that can make the Chase.”

“From our practice and qualifying efforts, our races and our pit stops, everything is a couple of notches better than what it was even in the year when we finished 13th in the points,” Ragan continued. “I feel like any weekend we go, we’ve got the attitude to win the race.”

While Ragan may have the winning attitude for that Cinderella finish, he acknowledged that the upcoming race at Dover International Speedway will be a challenge. In fact, he has one word for the track affectionately known as the Monster Mile and that is “breathtaking.”

“You almost have to hold your breath all the way around,” Ragan said. “Even on the straight-aways, you still have to drive the car so you’re holding your breath most of the way around.”

Ragan also affirmed that Dover, in addition to earning the nickname ‘Monster Mile’ has also earned its stripes as ‘Bristol on Steroids.’

“If you took Bristol by your hands and stretched it out, you’d have Dover,” Ragan said. “You get a lot of speed and a lot of banking so ‘Bristol on Steroids’ is a good way to describe it.”

“It’s real intimidating the first time you get there,” Ragan continued. “But once you get the hang of it, you actually look forward to it.”

“You go into the corner and it feels like you fall down a story or two and as you get back on the throttle, you’re driving out of the corner,” Ragan said. “It’s a very cool sensation and when you have a fast car, it makes it even more fun.”

In spite of the monster challenges at Dover, Ragan takes solace in the fact that his team, Roush Fenway Racing, has a history of running well there.

“Clearly that’s a track that Roush cars are good at,” Ragan said. “So even in down years, we’ve been good there.”

“The concrete doesn’t change,” Ragan continued. “Dover stays pretty much the same so we’ve got a good set up we can work with, which makes life a lot easier.”

“We haven’t had the finish that we deserved,” Ragan said of his own Dover history. “We’ve had some crazy things happen there, from very bad pit stops under green to being caught up in a wreck or two.”

In addition to hoping for better Dover luck, Ragan and team are also bringing a brand new chassis, Primary RK-759, to the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks race.

“So, far having a brand new car has been very good,” Ragan said. “Our pole winning car at Texas was a brand new car. Our top five car at Richmond was a brand new car. The Daytona 500 car was a new car.”

“So, that’s a testament to how good our new cars are,” Ragan continued. “That gives me some extra confidence that we’re taking the best car we can take to the track.”

Last fall’s Dover race was also the first pairing of driver Ragan with crew chief Drew Blickensderfer.

“This is the first track where Drew and I got to work together, so we’re going back to a track that we’ve run at before,” Ragan said. “That’s shown to have been better for us, going back to Texas and Martinsville where we’ve run at before last year and scored top tens.”

“We have a great relationship,” Ragan continued about his crew chief pairing with Blickensderfer. “We’re both pretty young and we’re not afraid to venture out and be aggressive and try some different things on the race cars.”

“Drew and I are both very hungry so we know we are capable of winning and want to make it happen,” Ragan said. “So, we definitely have high hopes this weekend.”

One thing that Ragan wants to avoid happening this weekend is to get caught up in any of the ‘boys have it’ shenanigans that have occurred over the past two race weekends.

“I don’t know if you’ll have the same couple of characters that we’ve had the past few weeks, but Dover is an exciting track and there’s not a lot of give and take there,” Ragan said. “Accidents do happen so I would say that you probably have a good chance of having a little more fireworks this weekend.”

“I haven’t gotten into it with anyone but there’s always the next week,” Ragan said with a chuckle. “We’re just trying to stay focused on our plan and stay out of all that. But if something comes up, we’ll be ready.”

But what David Ragan is most ready for is that first, and to date elusive win, which for him would complete his dream of a Cinderella race weekend.

“Your first win is always special and at a track like Dover, it would be very special to get a win,” Ragan said.

“Regan Smith proved that if you’re in a position to win, it can happen,” Ragan continued. “If we put ourselves in the top five or top ten, anything can happen.”

“I can tell you one thing, there won’t be anybody trying any harder this weekend.”

May 12, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond’s Crown Royal 400

After the sounds of the US Marine Drum and Bugle Corps playing the National Anthem and the command to start engines by surviving war hero and race namesake Staff Sergeant Matthew Hansen faded, Saturday night racing was officially underway at Richmond International Raceway.

Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Crown Royal Presents the Matthew and Daniel Hansen 400.

Surprising: It was surprising to see just how quickly the pole sitter Juan Pablo Montoya, in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet, fell from his prime starting position into a world of trouble with Ryan Newman, piloting the No. 39 US Army Medicine Chevrolet.

After some tussling back and forth for position, Newman had had enough with the ever assertive Montoya, sending JPM into the wall on Lap 106. Montoya returned to the track and on Lap 236 took his revenge. [media-credit id=5 align=”alignright” width=”258″][/media-credit]

After being spun out by Montoya, Newman was definitely hot under the collar. “I can’t believe they’re not going to black flag that 42 car,” Newman said. “I’m going to take care of this after the race.”

Newman did indeed head straight for the NASCAR hauler after the race to share his concerns and see what the sanctioning body had to say about the incident. Montoya, on the other hand, waved off the media, jumped on his golf cart and headed back to the motor coach lot without comment.

Newman declared he just wanted the situation to be handled fairly by the sanctioning body.

“I know that he (Montoya) ran up on me of (Turn) 2 there and I clipped him. I mean I’m not going to try to dump myself into the wall,” Newman said. “But to retaliate the way he did just didn’t show much class.”

Not Surprising: Since the track was Richmond, it was not surprising to see the Joe Gibbs Racing team at the front of the pack when the checkered flag flew. While Denny Hamlin had dominated the weekend, winning his own charity race as well as the Nationwide event, it was JGR teammate Kyle Busch, in his award winning M&Ms Pretzel Toyota, that led 235 laps including the final 84, to claim the victory.

“This race tonight was a good one,” Busch said. “We knew if we could go through traffic, we could win.”

“We just really got beat by our teammate,” Hamlin said. “He drove a great race. Our cars were dead equal. We just got beat.”

Surprising: There were definitely some surprising names in the top ten finishers when the checkered flag flew at RIR. Both Red Bull drivers, Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, and his teammate Brian Vickers, behind the wheel of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, had good nights.

Kahne, still smarting from his recent knee surgery, finished third and Vickers posted a tenth place finish.

Another driver David Ragan, piloting his No. 6 UPS “We Love Logistics” Ford for Roush- Fenway Racing, had a strong car especially at the end of the race, finishing fourth.

“It was a fun night,” Ragan said. “This is my favorite track to come to. Back in 2007, we finished third here and I have really liked the place since.”

The final driver not usually in the top ten but with a great run at Richmond was AJ Allmendinger. With new sponsor Nautica on his No. 43 Ford Fusion, the ‘Dinger brought his car home in the seventh spot.

“Sometimes in these races, you have to get a little lucky,” Allmendinger said. “We have been on the bad end before with good cars so I will take luck over skill any day.”

Not Surprising: Although mightily struggling for much of the race, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson found his inner rally and finished eighth.

“We had a good finish out of it but it was a long, long night,” Johnson said. “We got the car semi-competitive and then finally got some strategy, got back on the lead lap and we went from there. So, frustrating night but a good points night.”

Surprising: Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon had a surprisingly bad night. Gordon yet again found a non-safer barrier wall and wrecked into it driver’s side first.

The crash on Lap 301 also collected Paul Menard, Mark Martin, David Reutimann, Bobby Labonte, Jamie McMurray and Matt Kenseth.

“It knocked the wind out of me,” Gordon said after his visit to the infield care center. “I seem to find the worst angles of walls.”

“What a shame,” Gordon continued. “The Dupont Chevrolet was so strong. With 100 laps to go everyone was losing their patience including me. I just wish they had a safer barrier there.”

Not Surprising: Unfortunately, it was not surprising that Team Penske continued their struggles. Kurt Busch, in the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, had all kinds of trouble, from the initial wreck involving Montoya, continuing throughout the race. Teammate Brad Keselowski, in the Blue Deuce, was also involved in several crashes. Busch finished 22^nd and Keselowski finished 36^th.

Surprising: After returning to the lead lap via the ‘lucky dog’ process, Dave Blaney, with his newly committed sponsor Golden Corral on his No. 36 race car, managed to move forward at the end of the race to finish 13^th, his season’s best. Blaney, racing not start and parking for Tommy Baldwin Racing, has now locked himself into the top 35, firmly ensconced in 32^nd in the point standings.

Not Surprising: Carl Edwards had another strong run, posting a fifth place finish in his No. 99 Scotts EZ Seed Ford. He also maintained the top spot in the point standings, nine points over second place Jimmie Johnson and thirty points ahead of race winner Kyle Busch in third.

“That was a lot of work,” Edwards said. “I think that feeling of fifth here tonight will be replaced with the points lead feeling in a little bit and that will feel better.”

May 1, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Texas Samsung Mobile 500

[media-credit name=”(c) CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”279″][/media-credit]With the honors of hosting the first night race of the 2011 season, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Surprising: Although Matt Kenseth was dominant for most of the race, when the checkered flag flew for him, the usually stoic driver of the No. 17 Crown Royal Black Ford for Roush Fenway Racing was surprisingly emotional.

“After two years, I didn’t know if I’d be back here,” Kenseth said in Victory Lane. “I’ve been so blessed in my life with a beautiful family, a great team and I do what I love for a living.”

“I haven’t had something like this for a long, long time,” Kenseth continued. “I have lost a lot of close ones at this track. It feels good to be able to close it out.”

Kenseth’s win ended a 76-race drought dating back to his win on February 22, 2009 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. This was Kenseth’s 19th career win.

Not Surprising: From his 29^th starting position, it was not surprising that Kevin Harvick just could not continue his consecutive win streak this weekend at Texas. The driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet was entangled in a pit road problem early in the race from which he never recovered, finishing 20^th.

“Our first two pits stops pretty much ruined our day,” Harvick said. “The 00 and 20 wrecked in front of us trying to leave pit road, so we had to stop, back up and move around them.”

Surprising: Speaking of those pit road incidents, it was surprising just how influential pit road problems were during this race. On the first stop with everyone in the pits, it looked more like bumper cars than the usually smoothly choreographed tire changes and refueling.

Both David Reutimann and Joey Logano sustained damage on pit road due to collisions and Dave Blaney got his No. 36 Accell Construction Chevrolet completely turned in the wrong direction due to a spin into his pit stall.

One of the costliest pit road problems, however, was the too fast entering speeding penalty that was assessed to Tony Stewart late in the race.

“Sorry, I knew I did it,” Stewart told his crew after being advised of the penalty on lap 276 of the race. Prior to the penalty, Stewart had overcome a collision in the pits at lap 11 to lead twice in the race for a total of 12 laps.

“You know, it took almost the whole race to crack the top-10, so to be in the position we were in there at the end, I guess is a good thing,” Stewart said. “But when you’re in that position and you can’t capitalize, it’s pretty frustrating. Speeding on pit road didn’t exactly help the cause either.”

Not Surprising: Just as in the Nationwide race, the race was relatively clean and green. The only major crash again involved Martin Truex, Jr., who for the second week in a row hit the wall hard. This time instead of Kasey Kahne buffering his hit as at Martinsville, Truex, Jr. took innocent bystanders Mark Martin and Regan Smith with him for a wild TMS ride.

“I’m OK,” Mark Martin, driver of the No. GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, said. “I didn’t see the pile up in front of us. Just racing.”

“Unfortunate deal for the NAPA Toyota,” Truex, Jr. said. “We were struggling but we were running our butts off. Once you make mistakes and you get desperate, you just get yourself in trouble. It sucks having this two weeks in a row.”

Surprising: Texas Motor Speedway may just be the surprising turning point for young Roush Fenway driver David Ragan. After qualifying well and being in position to even win in several of the past races, Ragan, who started the Samsung Mobile 500 from the pole position, finally got a good finish.

Ragan brought his No. 6 UPS Freight Ford to the checkered flag in the seventh position. His top-ten finish also moved him up to 17^th in the point standings.

Not Surprising: Just as the Fords were strong all day at Texas Motor Speedway, claiming five of the ten finishing spots, Carl Edwards in his No. 99 Scotts Ford proved his ‘Iron Man’ status yet again.

Edwards overcame stomach problems to finish in the third position and claim the points lead in the process. The driver blamed his physical ailments on a new rice and bean dish that his mother had cooked for him prior to the race.

“I’m all hopped up on Pepto Bismol,” Edwards said in the media center after the race. “I hate to throw my mom under the bus but she cooked something last night that I don’t think was too good.”

Surprising: Behind the wheel of the No. 9 Stanley Ford, Marcos Ambrose had one of his best oval track efforts in his career, finishing sixth. This was the second top-ten finish on a mile and a half track this season for the Richard Petty Motorsports ace from down under.

“I’m very proud of the Stanley boys for putting together this result,” Ambrose said. “We’re starting to really click on these intermediate ovals. It’s great to be running out in the front of the pack and it gives us a lot of confidence moving forward,”

Not Surprising: Dale Jr. had yet another consistent run and finish. The driver of the No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet gained the most positions in the race and finished in seventh.

Most impressive is his continuing climb in the point standings, this time gaining another two positions to claim the sixth spot as a result of his top-ten finish. Junior is no doubt looking forward to next weekend’s race at Talladega Super Speedway, where he is not only wildly popular but also has outstanding plate racing skills.

April 10, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Goody’s Fast Relief 500

[media-credit name=”Brad Kepel ” align=”alignright” width=”277″][/media-credit]
Martin Truex Jr. crashes into Kasey Kahne at Martinsville
At Martinsville’s version of the ‘paper clip’, NASCAR’s elite made their own history at one of the most storied tracks on the circuit. Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray both made their 300^th starts of their careers and iron man Mark Martin made his 800^th start of his career.

Here is what was surprising and not surprising in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500:

Surprising: It’s not often when the duel for the second place finish is one of the most surprising, and exciting, moments of the entire race. But this second place competition just happened to be between NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and one of the sport’s rowdiest drivers Kyle Busch. Junior prevailed by the slightest of margins, less than 0.020 of a second.

Both the driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet and the No. 18 Pedigree Toyota had great points days, with Junior climbing four spots to eighth and Busch taking the points lead.

Not Surprising: Now officially able to relinquish his former nicknames of ‘Happy’ and the ‘Bakersfield Basher’, Kevin Harvick, this week in his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet, can most decisively claim the nickname ‘The Closer.’ Harvick is the first repeat winner of the season and has now won back to back races in decisive passes late in the race.

“Just an awesome day,” Harvick said. “I didn’t think we had the car to do that. I had a lot of fun racing with Dale Jr. and I hate to be the bad guy, but we’re in it to win it.”

Surprising: The two dominant drivers of past Martinsville races were not the ones battling for the lead this year. With 34 laps to go, Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet, made an uncharacteristic mistake, entering the pits too fast. He was forced to the tail end of the field, finishing in the 11^th position.

Denny Hamlin, oft the master of Martinsville, was one of the first to get to pit road, which bit him late in the race. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota had to take a wave around on Lap 473, relegating him to a 12^th place finish.

Not Surprising: To no one’s surprise, four-time Cup champion and seven time Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon had a strong day, finishing fifth in the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet. With his good run, Gordon also surpassed the ‘King’ Richard Petty and took the fourth spot in the all-time laps led category.

“We did have a great day,” Gordon said. “We weren’t great at the beginning but we worked our way up. It was an awesome day to drive to fifth there at the end.”

Surprising: The number of changing lanes before reaching the start finish line penalties, affectionately known as the ‘David Ragan faux pas’ after his Daytona mistake cost him the win, was definitely surprising. Penalized were Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, and Tony Stewart.

It took Kenseth almost half the race to right his wrong. At the end of the day, Kenseth was able to salvage a sixth place finish in his No. 17 Crown Royal Ford.

Martin was also able to redeem himself, finishing 10^th in his No. 5 Quaker State/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet. Martin is now officially the eighth driver to reach the level of 800 starts in his racing career.

The driver who came out on the short end of the changing lanes penalty stick was Tony Stewart. The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet finished a miserable 34^th, several laps down.

Not Surprising: Short tracks usually equal short tempers and that was definitely the case at Martinsville. Several drivers were unhappy with one another for the bumping, beating and grinding that occurred during the hard racing.

Most notably was Paul Menard, who had been leading the charge for his new Richard Childress Racing team, only to get into it with Robby Gordon.

Menard said that Gordon brake-checked him “out of apparent retaliation,” putting a hole in the radiator of the No. 27 NIBCO/Menards Chevrolet. Menard finished 38^th, falling six spots to 13^th in the point standings.

Another byproduct of the hard racing that had tempers flaring was the usually unflappable Aussie Marcos Ambrose, who was definitely angry with Michael McDowell.

“I don’t know what McDowell was thinking,” Ambrose said. “I got stuck on the outside and lost 20 positions just trying to get to the bottom and he just jacked me up and put me in the fence around lap 100. It was uncalled for and made for a very long day.”

Surprising: At a short track like Martinsville, big wrecks are not the norm. But there was a monster of a hard hit when Martin Truex, Jr. lost his brakes and pummeled himself into the wall, taking innocent bystander Kasey Kahne with him.

The hit was so intense that the race had to be red flagged while repairs were made to the safer barrier. Thankfully the drivers of both the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota and the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota were able to walk away from the incident.

“I thought, oh man, this is going to hurt,” Truex said of the wreck. “Thanks to NASCAR and everybody who built the SAFER barriers. Ten years ago, I wouldn’t be standing here.”

Not Surprising: As loud as the Truex/Kahne wreck was, in contrast the quietest mover in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 was Juan Pablo Montoya. The driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet started in the 27^th position and, without fanfare, worked his way towards the front to finish fourth. JPM is also quietly working his way up the leader board, advancing one position to seventh in the point standings.

April 3, 2011
David Ragan: Record Setter, Shriner and Driver in Search of a Good Finish

Driver of the No. 6 UPS Ford for Roush Fenway Racing David Ragan is a man of many talents, from setting a world record to pursuing the status of Mason and supporting the Shriners Hospitals for Children.

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”291″][/media-credit]But most of all, Ragan is a driver in search of a good finish, one that seems to be so elusive early in his 2011 NASCAR Cup season. Yet in spite of that, he is managing to not only keep the faith, but keep it all in perspective.

Two weeks ago after the race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Ragan had the distinction of breaking a world record on the very track on which he had competed in the Cup Series. Ragan scored the fastest lap for a passenger car around the world’s fastest half-mile race track.

Behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang GT 5.0, Ragan scored the fastest time ever at 19.481 seconds, with a speed of 98.497 mph.

“I drove the production Mustang and we broke the world half mile speed record,” Ragan said. “It was pretty cool.”

In addition to being a world record setter, Ragan has also devoted himself to supporting the causes of the Shriners, especially the Shriners Hospitals for Children. Ragan has supported this as his charity of choice since 2008.

Ragan took time out of his hectic schedule prior to the racing at Auto Club Speedway this past weekend to visit the Shriners Hospital for Children in Los Angeles. Ragan toured the facility and also had plenty of time to interact with some of the children recuperating at the hospital.

“Anytime we get to visit a hospital, that’s cool,” Ragan said. “We get to meet a lot of the patients and the families and the whole staff. It’s neat to show them our support.”

“Some of the kids had bandages or prosthetic arms,” Ragan shared. “Just to spend a little bit of time with them was awesome.”

Ragan also has his sights set on becoming a Shriner himself. He has currently completed the first degree of Masonry.

“My uncle is a Shriner and we are close friends with many Shriners,” Ragan said. “The Shriners have just stood out, especially with their treatment of kids for free of charge. It’s just a really good group of people who are passionate about what they do.”

Most of all, however, David Ragan is in search of a good finish to a race in this 2011 season. It all started at the first race of the season, the Daytona 500, where Ragan was black-flagged for changing lanes before crossing the start/finish line during a second green, white, checkered finish.

After serving the stop and go penalty, Ragan restarted 15^th and could only rally his car to finish 14^th.

At the second race in Phoenix, Ragan again had a fast race car, with the third fastest time in practice and qualifying 11^th. The driver first got caught up in a wreck and, after recovering from that, blew a tire and hit the wall, ending his day with a 36^th place finish.

At the season’s third race at Vegas, Ragan was once again fast in practice, in fact second fastest. When it came time to qualify, however, Ragan spun on his time trial run, relegating him to start the race from the rear of the field.

Ragan battled a loose race car throughout, ending the race in the 22^nd position.

Ragan qualified fifth for the next race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Believing that this was finally a track where he could rebound, the driver was definitely looking forward to a decent finish.

Alas, it was not to be yet again. Tire troubles plagued all of the teams at Bristol, including Ragan’s, who struggled mightily on the new tires.

The UPS Ford team finished the competition at ‘Thunder Valley’ in the 16^th spot.

This weekend, buoyed by his visit to the Shriners Hospital for Children, Ragan was ready to take on the big, wide track at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Ragan had a great qualifying run, scoring sixth in the time trials.

Ragan also won final practice and looked to be poised for that elusive good finish. His team kept tuning on his car, yet it kept vacillating between too tight and too loose conditions.

“We just made adjustment after adjustment and never could make it right,” Ragan said. “There at the long part of the race when we had some clean traffic, we were trying to tighten the car up because it was too free.”

“Then when we got into traffic during those last few restarts with all the dirty air, our UPS Ford just got too tight,” Ragan continued. “You know, me and Drew (Blickensderfer) and our team engineer have just got to sit down and take a look at the adjustments we made and see where we can make it better.”

“I think we had an opportunity to finish better than we did.”

David Ragan, record setter, Shriner and driver in search of a good finish plans to take his quest next to the short track in Martinsville. Yet he is still managing to stay upbeat, keeping it all in perspective, especially after his visit to the Shriners Hospital.

“We often think our lives are hard and we have a lot of pressure on us to win races or to make up points, but then you see an eight year old girl who was in a fire and half of her body is burned and she doesn’t have an arm,” Ragan said. “And yet she is there and she is recovering.”

“That puts things in perspective.”

March 29, 2011