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Tag: David Ragan

  • The Final Word – Sprint Cup’s next irrelevant driver to earn respectability shall be…

    The Final Word – Sprint Cup’s next irrelevant driver to earn respectability shall be…

    Recently, a story by Chad Robb listed the top ten organizations in Cup. Not surprisingly, those ten organizations represented all but one of last season’s top 28 teams. Hendrick, Penske, Gibbs, Stewart-Haas, Ganassi, Childress, Roush-Fenway, Waltrip, and Petty were all there.

    Also included, and 10th on the list, was a single car operation. For the past six seasons, Barney Visser’s Furniture Row operation has been a top 28 entry. Mind you, they did drop back from being 10th in 2013 when Kurt Busch was behind the wheel to 24th with Martin Truex Jr. The only miss was the Germain Racing No. 13 driven by Casey Mears, that was 26th in 2014, two steps back of where they were a year prior. Yet, they were seen, they challenged, they mattered.

    Twenty-eight teams that belong on the track, based on results, fan base, and the ability to generate sponsorship dollars, as we enter a new campaign. Yes, Danica Patrick is 28th best. Three top 10s and 735 points might not be up to the expectations of some, but she represents the line between the haves and the have nots.

    Some may criticize her on-track results, but when it comes to producing dollars, be it from fan support, sponsorship, endorsements, and media appearances, few can top her. So, unless that dries up or her production completely falls off the table, or she improves, Patrick will continue to represent our Mendoza line for NASCAR. That leaves 15 entries each week that struggle for respectability. Which team might make the leap in 2015?

    Based simply on the number of arrows in the quiver, one might suspect Bob Jenkins and Front Row Motorsports to be the best bets to emerge. They come into 2015 with three bullets, the No. 32, No. 33 and the No. 38 Chevrolets to be piloted by David Ragan, Cole Whitt and David Gilliland, who had the pole last summer at Daytona, but a 17th at Pocono was the lone result inside the top 20. Whitt did that three times while driving for B.K. Racing, while Ragan had four, including a top 10 at Martinsville. Not much to write home about, I agree, but this trio were 30th, 31st, and 32nd a year ago in the drivers’ standings. The bad news is that each would need to pick up about 200 more points on the season to be considered relevant. That might be just too much ground to make up, at least this season.

    It has been years since the Wood Brothers ran anything close to a full schedule. Might they be a contender should they show interest in coming back? Not really, not yet. Even if they had run for points, all they would have collected in a dozen starts last year with Trevor Bayne would have been 143. Over a full schedule, they would have been hard pressed to crack the top 35. So, no.

    Maybe the one to watch is the driver who finished just behind Patrick, albeit by a whopping 99 points. In Harry Scott’s No. 51 Chevy, Justin Allgaier managed to crack the top 20, 10 times, though he did miss the cut at Talladega in October before rebounding for his best showings of the season. Allgaier claimed a pair of 15th place results late in the year at Charlotte and Homestead. Last season was the organization’s first big push at a 36-race schedule, and those Hendrick engines gave them some reason for optimism.

    Last season, Allgaier’s average finish was 25.9, compared to Patrick’s 23.7. Just a tick better than 25th is what is needed to claim a 700 point season. While Casey, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and Danica attempt to improve matters in 2015, they might check out the rear view. Justin Allgaier might be looking to join them, if not take their seat, at the adult’s table during this upcoming season’s party.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Goody’s 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Goody’s 500

    Hosting the first Eliminator race in the Chase, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 66th annual Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

    Surprising: While some tributes were expected, especially with the remembrance of the Hendrick Motorsports plane crash at Martinsville ten years ago, other tributes also abounded, from the race winner’s tribute to his crew chief to the tribute of Front Row Motorsports to Hall of Fame inductee Wendell Scott.

    “He turned my career around,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, paying tribute to his crew chief Steve Letarte after winning his first ever race at Martinsville. “He put a great team together. What he’s accomplished is impressive as hell. I’m overwhelmed with what he’s been able to do.”

    “He put me in Victory Lane,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet continued about his crew chief. “Like I say, the team he’s assembled, incredible group. That’s all Steve. He seems to have evolved into one of the best crew chiefs in the garage.”

    The other major tribute at Sunday’s Martinsville race was to Wendell Scott, the first African American to win in NASCAR competition. Darrell Wallace Jr. carried the tribute paint scheme to Victory Lane in the Truck Series race and David Ragan piloted his Scott tribute No. 34 Front Row Motorsports car to a tenth place finish in the Cup race.

    “Last Sunday was a good day for us,” Ragan said. “To get a top-10 finish was a real shot in the arm for this team and for Front Row Motorsports, and to do it in the Wendell Scott tribute car made it even more special.”

    Not Surprising: It’s not often that the race runner up is embarrassed, but four-time champion driving for five Jeff Gordon was just that, taking his lumps for his mistake speeding on pit road.

    “I’m embarrassed to say this,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “Completely my fault.”

    “We do two settings, one in first gear, one in second gear. A late sequence for each one. I ran second gear under my light sequence for first gear,” Gordon continued. “I was supposed to run one green light in second gear and one red light in first gear. I ran one red light in second gear. That’s way too fast.”

    “I knew right then I was speeding.”

    Surprising: After no Talladega ‘big one’ the previous race, it was surprising to see a huge, hard wreck at one of the sport’s shortest tracks. The Martinsville ‘big one’ included Kasey Kahne and Casey Mears taking big hits, as well as Danica Patrick, Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex and Brian Vickers involved in the melee.

    “I just didn’t really see him (No. 2, Brad Keselowski) slowing down,” Kahne said. “I think my spotter was spotting me and I think he saw it last second. As soon as he said it I hit the brakes, but it was way too late.”

    “It was a pretty good hit.”

    “I was behind the No. 43 (Aric Almirola) and I guess the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) was just backing up on the outside, I don’t know what happened,” Casey Mears said. “I saw the No. 43 go a little bit low and I was just using up all the track and right when I hit the No. 2 my spotter said the No. 2 is backing up. I just plowed him.”

    “I ran into him hard.”

    Not Surprising: Smoke did rise again at Martinsville, albeit with a bit of a gamble staying out on old tires to finish 4th place in his No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet.

    “I don’t even think it was a gutsy call,” Tony Stewart said. “To me it was a no-brainer and if we were in that spot 100 times, that is the choice I want to make. I want to give ourselves a chance to fight for it like that.”

    “This car was pretty good all weekend,” Smoke continued. “I just can’t thank Johnny Morris (Bass Pro Shops) and Rusty Rush and everybody at Mobil 1 and Eric (Bagdikian) from Code 3 Associates and his staff; and most of all, our fans.”

    “They have been plowing a tough road for the last 18 months and this top 5 is for the fans more than anybody.”

    Surprising: Austin Dillon again outscored Kyle Larson in the Rookie of the Race battle, for the second week in a row. RCR driver Dillon finished 12th after starting 19th and Larson, in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet, finished 30th after a crash on Lap 487.

    “I’m really proud of everyone at RCR today,” Dillon said. “I was hoping to pass the No. 34 at the very end there to gain one more position and finish 11th, but a 12th-place finish – hey we’ll take it.”

    “It was a true team effort.”

    “I was terrible all day,” Larson, the other rookie contender said of his Martinsville adventure. “I’m just not very good at this track.”

    “I kept running into the back of people when cars five or six in front of me would check up, then it would get to me and I’d hit them,” Larson continued. “It was a really bad race for me.”

    Not Surprising: Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne proved that three times was a charm in bringing out the yellow flag together. The two drivers mixed it up royally and potentially could have caused four or more cautions had they not been warned by NASCAR to cool it down.

    “He definitely wrecked us on purpose the first time, I mean look at the video,” Vickers said of his incidents with Kahne. “He just hooked us in the bumper and just wrecked us, I don’t know why.”

    “I was actually passing him off of (Turn) 2 and he didn’t give me room and I was going to hit the wall so I lifted a little,” Kahne said in response. “And then he kind of went high into (Turn) 3, and that’s where I was entering so he blocked. So I went low to pass him and then he chopped low across and spun himself out.”

    “He was using up the whole race track so I was going high, then he went high,” Kahne continued. “Then I decided to go low, and he went low and spun himself out on my front end. I was confused as to why he would want to do that. Then later on he crashed me. I don’t know what his deal was he was using up the whole track. You get one lane you don’t get all of them.”

    Surprising: In addition to the wrecking and tempers flaring, there were also actual flames on the track, from Timmy Hill, who went ablaze early, to Kurt Busch, who had a conflagration in his car on Lap 424.

    “I think we ruptured an oil line,” Busch said. “Whether it was the fitting or the line itself, I don’t know.”

    “But we had a really good run. We were in the mix. We were running up front with the Haas Automation Chevy and we were in that spot where we won that race this spring,” the driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet continued. “I was hoping to get off the broom, but instead we’ve got our broom cleaning up our kitty litter.”

    Not Surprising: The winless wonders continued their quiet and calculated consistency at Martinsville, with Ryan Newman finishing third and Matt Kenseth taking the checkered flag in the sixth position.

    “The strategy of two tires there at the end worked out good for us,” Newman said. “Right number of laps with the guys that stayed out, kept the guys behind us that had four tires.”

    “Just a great team effort for the Quicken Loans Chevrolet, everybody at RCR,” Newman continued. “It was fun to have at least our highest running position be the last lap of the race.”

    “We didn’t run the way we wanted to run,” Kenseth said. “We still finished respectably with all the stuff that happened. Like I said, we didn’t run great today, but they made some good calls and did the right things at the end and finished strong.”

    Surprising: AJ Allmendinger continued to surprise with his “little engine that could’ team finishing ninth in his No. 47 Clorox Products Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing.

    “Good day, honestly maybe one of the best days we have had all year just in the sense of not great early on, fighting hard,” ‘Dinger said. “The guys had good pit stops and then a couple of adjustments there.”

    “In a way ninth is a little bit disappointing,” Allmendinger continued. “But overall just really proud of the team that was probably one of the best efforts we have had all year.”

    Not Surprising: Revenge is mine said one Kevin Harvick after the race of his struggles with competitor Matt Kenseth, with whom he tussled on track.

    “The good thing about this format is you have two more weeks and two race tracks that we can win on,” Harvick said after being involved in an early accident and finishing 33rd. “Everybody was so worried about us starting in the back and we wrecked at the front. Unfortunate.”

    And of his Kenseth issues, Harvick had a rather cryptic remark about his competitor to end the race weekend.

    “Yeah, he won’t win this championship. If we don’t, he won’t.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: New Hampshire Sylvania 300

    Surprising and Not Surprising: New Hampshire Sylvania 300

    In the second race of the Chase for NASCAR’s championship, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 18th annual Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    Surprising: Instead of being magical, New Hampshire Motor Speedway proved to be more of a combination of Daytona, Darlington and Martinsville.

    The 303 lap race included a Daytona-like ‘big one’, many cars striping the wall similar to Darlington, and some typically short-track Martinsville-like beating and banging, especially during the restarts.

    David Ragan was involved in New Hampshire’s version of the ‘big one’, slamming hard into the wall after tangling with Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. and then getting tagged after the wreck by Denny Hamlin to boot.

    “It was unfortunate,” Ragan, driver of the No. 32 Taco Bell Ford, said. “It looked like the 51 and 78 were both mad and they were running over each other. They kind of shot up the race track and that just kind of shot me up.”

    Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. was just one of many drivers who had a too close encounter with the New Hampshire wall, getting an even more severe stripe than at Darlington.

    “I blew a left-front,” the driver of the No. 17 EcoPower Ford said. “We were all just racing really, really hard on that restart. Everybody was bouncing off each other. I don’t know who hit my left-front, but it got a fender rub and just blew the left-front going down the front straightaway.”

    “I was trying to get it slowed down as much as I could, but it wasn’t gonna turn, so I just hit the wall.”

    Chaser Matt Kenseth and Paul Menard were just one pair that were duking it out like on a short track while on the Magic Mile. Both drivers spun, causing a 21st place finish for Kenseth while Menard soldiered on to finish 15th.

    “I got spun out on that wall up there,” the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota said. “Menard said he wheel-hopped it in there and got into me.”

    Not Surprising: New England native Joey Logano, clicking his heels together in Victory Lane, proved that there truly is no place like home. Logano won his fourth race of the season at his home track and secured his place, along with his Penske teammate, in the next round of the Chase competition.

    “This is my home race track, the coolest place to win for me,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “I could never pick a better race track to win.”

    “I watched my first Cup race here when I was five and I won that other Cup race here (rain-shortened race), but I just felt like I had to win one the right way here, and this means so much.”

    This was Logano’s seventh career NASCAR victory and his second win at the Magic Mile.

    Surprising: Penske teammate Brad Keselowski emerged after the race surprisingly conflicted, in spite of finishing fourth in the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford.

    “I don’t know,” Keselowski said. “We had a lot of adversity. I made a few mistakes that got us behind, but Paul Wolfe (crew chief) and the crew did a great job of getting us back in position. It was kind of an up-and-down day and I guess we ended on an OK note.”

    “We finished seventh, but I was definitely looking for more than that,” Keselowski continued. “We certainly have a lot to be proud of, but there’s still a lot of work to do.”

    Not Surprising: It certainly was not surprising that Denny Hamlin’s post-race interview included the word crap as he battled a fueling issue and then got involved in a wreck to finish 37th in his No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota.

    “It’s so frustrating,” Hamlin said. “We just got bit by a mechanical deal. We’ve had them bite us in the Chase in the past, but I thought we were past that — but sometimes you roll the dice and you crap out.”

    “Today is that day for us.”

    Surprising: While Michael Waltrip lived to dance another day after being in the bottom three in ‘Dancing with the Stars’, his drivers both had decent top-15 runs at New Hampshire this race weekend.

    Vickers fared best in his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, with a 10th place finish, while Clint Bowyer, expectant father, finished 14th.

    “The guys just did an awesome job with our Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota today,” Vickers said. “We had a really good race car — it was fast, we were one of the best cars in the corner today.”

    “The guys did a good job today, I’m really proud of them.”

    Not Surprising: Yes, the youngster did it again. Kyle Larson, the highest finishing rookie, scored the runner up finishing spot in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet.

    “It was a really good race for us,” Larson said. “Our Target Chevy wasn’t even a top-15 car the first 100 laps, and Shine (Chris Heroy, crew chief) and everybody on this Target team did a great job to get me in the game.”

    “They made some big changes there under the second or third caution, and it felt like a totally different race car.”

    This was Larson’s second top-10 finish in just two races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and his 13th top-10 finish of the season.

    Surprising: There was plenty of talk after the race yet again about restarts, from Kevin Harvick’s complaint about the restarts late in the race to other drivers commenting on the craziness of the multiple restarts, particularly the green-white-checkered finish.

    “And then at the end there, NASCAR must not be able to see the lines on the restart there and the No. 22 (Joey Logano) was way early all day,” Harvick said ruefully about the restarts after finishing third. “But all in all, we did what we had to do and I just enjoyed racing that hard.”

    “All those cautions are fairly frustrating,” Jamie McMurray said after finishing fourth in his No. 1 Belkin/WEMO Chevrolet. “I know it is fun to watch as a fan, but you are so panicked as a driver as to which lane you are going to get to restart in because that is critical.”

    “It was a wild day, especially with all of those restarts,” six-time champ Jimmie Johnson said. “Man I don’t know what it looked like from the grandstands today, but I can tell you that inside the car, I was hanging on trying not to spin out.”

    Not Surprising: The pendulum swung for Aric Almirola, whose engine blew up last weekend, to his sixth place finish this weekend in his No. 43 Smithfield Ford.

    “We’re down but we’re not out,” Almirola said. “We can only control what we can control and today we did that and did a good job and finished sixth.”

    “Last week it didn’t work out in our favor, but this week it did,” Almirola continued. “We’ll do the same thing at Dover and we’ll see what happens.”

    Surprising: Martin Truex, Jr. made another surprising comeback from two laps down just like last weekend to finish a respectable 12th place.

    “The guys didn’t quit on me today and I’m driving my heart out,” Truex said. “Though we made good adjustments today and came through at the end, we struggled for most of the weekend and need to work out some issues. But the guys worked hard and kept on making the car better.”

    “I never thought I would say this about New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but I wish the race was longer,” stated Truex. “We were moving forward and felt there were more cars that we could have passed.”

    Not Surprising: Next week will be anything but comfortable for the remaining Chase contenders fighting to go into the next round.

    “I wonder that the last race in each round may be quite eventful,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said about the next race in Dover after finishing ninth at the Magic Mile. “Guys are going to have to – you know on the last restarts or those last cautions guys that need those points and aren’t going to get them any other way are going to have to take some crazy gamble on tires, fuel.”

    “You are going to have some guys out there on old tires trying to hold people off and it’s going to cause a lot of traffic,” Junior continued. “It’s going to get tight. It’s going to get furious.”

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Michigan Quicken Loans 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Michigan Quicken Loans 400

    While the luck of the Irish hills was bestowed on the driver who made his way to Victory Lane for the first time ever in Michigan, here is what was surprising and not so surprising in the 46th annual Quicken Loans 400.

    Surprising: While Kevin Harvick was certainly fast, coming in second in the race after a blistering pole run, he was even more than freakishly fast in the media center after the event.

    Harvick, who was clearly unhappy with his race finish, had just one comment and was asked just one question during his media availability, which went like this:

    “I mean, the car was fast, just wound up on the wrong side of all the strategy,” Harvick said. “We finished second, and that’s it.”

    QUESTION. “Kevin, six of the top eight were Hendrick engines. This is a pretty big track in terms of horsepower. How well positioned are the Hendricks right now?”

    “I think it’s pretty obvious. Self-explanatory. Good question,” Harvick answered and then exited the media center.

    Not Surprising: Race winner Jimmie Johnson scored a first, second, third, fifth and eighth all at once with his trip to Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet checked MIS off his win list for the first time, moved up to second in the point standings thanks to his victory, scored his third win of the season solidifying his run for his seventh championship, and handed the fifth win in a row to boss Mr. Hendrick.

    Johnson is also now eighth on the all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins list.

    “Well, this is a great win for a lot of reasons,” Rick Hendrick, team owner, said. “One for here in Michigan for Chevrolet, and being a Chevrolet dealer and racing Chevrolets, this means a lot to win this race. It’s good to see Jimmie win after leading so many laps here and close the deal because we’ve run out of gas, broke motors, blown tires. I think I remember a couple times coming off of 4 and losing it. For him to be able to finish it off today, it was really good.”

    “And again, to keep the streak going, get five, that’s great,” Hendrick continued. “This was a good race, and it just played out the way we needed it to play out. Everybody is really putting out a lot of effort right now, and it’s paying off.”

    Surprising: Although Kyle Larson, behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, spun early in the race, damaging the back end of his car, he was the envy of the field as that very damage gave him a bit of down force advantage that propelled him into an eighth place finish.

    “You know, the rear bumper, yeah, I’ve never had that happen before, and it happened so early in the race that I don’t know how it would have handled had I had a rear bumper,” Larson said. “Either way I think we would have had a really good car because we were good in practice, but it probably did help a little bit.”

    Larson was the highest finishing Rookie of the Year candidate yet again.

    Not Surprising: Paul Menard proved that Michigan was a track on which he could run well, winning the Nationwide race on Saturday and finishing fourth in the Cup race on Sunday.

    “Yeah, we had a really solid Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevy all weekend, from the time we unloaded,” Menard said. “I actually got to go to Victory Lane yesterday with my daughter and my dad was here today, so it was a good Father’s Day weekend for sure.”

    “The car, like I said, was fast all weekend. We needed some clean air at the end and the guys got me out front with some pit strategy and good pit stops and we came home with a top 5,” Menard continued. “So it was pretty good.”

    Surprising: There was more spinning in the Quicken Loans 400 than at the Olympic men’s figure skating championship. Spinners in the event included Brian Vickers, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, David Ragan, Alex Bowman, Brett Moffit, Aric Almirola, and Denny Hamlin just to name a few.

    “It’s frustrating. I wish I knew — the car just came around going into (turn) three,” Brian Vickers said after spinning early in his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota. “I was trying to back the corner up and was taking it easy and just got loose and it just came around from me.”

    “I saved it all the way up to the wall and I thought I had it saved and ultimately it just came around and I lost it,” Vickers continued. “I didn’t have that experience all weekend. The car was just really loose getting into (turn) three and that was it.”

    Not Surprising: Well, it was Michigan after all, so not surprisingly at least one driver deemed his day a ‘blue collar’ kind of day.

    “Yeah, we just didn’t have the speed really all weekend to be a front runner in the sense of contending to win based on speed,” Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford for Team Penske, said after finishing third. “But the guys did a great job with execution. I thought we executed really well.”

    “We had a lot of good restarts, pretty decent on pit road today,” Keselowski continued. “Solid strategy, just — I told somebody before, Joey Logano told us, we were talking before the race started, we needed a good blue collar day today, and that’s of what today was for us.”

    “We kind of trudged through it and came away with another top three effort, which is good but not great.”

    Surprising: Unlike most of his races recently, Kasey Kahne was actually able to battle back from adversity to finish top-five in his No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet.

    ‘Yeah, it was tough,” Kahne said. “I was struggling for a while and then we got it and then we were on a good strategy there at the end. We were pretty competitive with the guys in front of us.”

    “Yes, we really needed that, especially where we started getting in Larson’s wreck there at the start of the race,” Kahne continued. “We kind of got going from there. We made a lot of adjustments. It took about an hour and a half to get our car right with different adjustments and things.”

    “It was a battle, it wasn’t easy today.”

    Not Surprising:   Two former Indy Car racers were just feeling ‘lucky’ in this week’s NASCAR race. Juan Pablo Montoya, making his NASCAR return, and Danica Patrick both partook in the ‘lucky dog’ experience, leading to a 17th place finish for Patrick and an 18th place finish for JPM.

    “We started the race really, really loose and we were not really expecting that based on practice,” Montoya, behind the wheel of the No. 12 SKF Ford for Team Penske, said. “It’s hard because we went from practice to the race without really changing that much and it was awful. We were kind of catching up and we did a good job.”

    “I got the lucky dog and we were getting better and then I think we went a little too far with the car at the end, but we’re learning and understanding a little more.”

    “We were pretty good,” Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet, said. “The guys did a good job on the adjustments, and it was fun to drive. The race seemed to go by quick.”

    “We needed a little bit of track position, but it was a good day for us,” Patrick continued. “Thanks to GoDaddy and everyone on my team, we continue to get better.”

    Surprising: At a track that they have owned in the past, Roush Fenway Racing had an incredibly bad day. RFR drivers Greg Biffle finished 20th, Carl Edwards 23rd and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 27th.

    “That was a big struggle,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford, said. “It was pretty tough but we worked hard and didn’t quit.”

    “Fortunately we have a win to get us into the Chase, but we’ve just got to get better as a group,” Edwards continued. “That’s the way it is.”

    Not Surprising: After another run of bad luck, suffering damage from a Lap 8 accident that led to a 37th place finish, there is no other driver that is looking forward to Sonoma more than Martin Truex Jr.

    “When luck is not on your side, there’s not much you can do,” Truex, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet, said. “I don’t know what to say right now.”

    “We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s disheartening because we felt that we had a potential top-10 car but didn’t get a chance to show it. When you have an accident that early it sure makes for a long day.”

    “I mean a very long day.”

    Truex is, however, the defending champ of the California road course where the Sprint Cup Series will battle next. The Toyota – Save Mart 350 race will be run on Sunday, June 22nd at 3:00 PM ET.

     

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Pocono 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Pocono 400

    Under surprisingly blue skies with no rain in sight, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 33rd annual Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway in the mountains of Pennsylvania.

    Surprising: It may have been his first ever win at Pocono Raceway and his second win of the season guaranteeing him an opportunity to run for the championship, but surprisingly Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was focused more after the race on how he was going to share the victory with Junior nation.

    In fact, the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet advised the media that he planned to head over to his Twitter account because he “took a picture of myself over at the pylon and I’ll tweet that out later once I get to my phone.”

    “I joined Twitter in February at Daytona and I underestimated just how enjoyable that could be,” the race winner continued. “The interaction is unlike any other, and I get as much out of it, I think, as the fans that are following me.”

    “It definitely has some sort of a small effect on your personality, to have that kind of support directly right at your fingertips, knowing everybody is behind you 100 percent every day.”

    “I’ve enjoyed it a lot and it’s wins like this that certainly make it a whole lot more fun for everybody.”

    Not Surprising: There is no doubt that Brad Keselowski must be hoping that NASCAR forget Air Titan and develop Trash Titan after having to choose between trying to get some trash off his grille and finishing the race or trying to win and blowing up in the process.

    To make matter worse, the driver of the No. 2 Redd’s Apple Ale Ford had not only been leading the race at the time of the trash, but had also dominated the race, leading 95 laps.

    “You know, we were just running really hot and the motor was going to blow up so I had to do something,” Keselowski said. “So, I tried to follow the 10 down in the corner to get the debris off and I just checked up too much. I thought I had more room than I did.”

    “I’m not sure I did enough to make a difference,” Keselowski continued. “But I made enough of a difference to lose the lead in the process. I thought I had enough of a cushion. When I got down in the corner, the car got sideways and I realized I had made a mistake. It was too little, too late.”

    “It was really a flawless day except for my mess up.”

    Surprising: At the conclusion of the Pocono 400, Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch shared something surprisingly snake-like in common. Kahne continued to be snake bit after crashing hard on lap 142 to finish 42nd, while third-place finisher Busch commented that he felt like he and his team were “shedding that new-team skin today and running up front.”

    In contrast to Busch’s shedding off of bad runs, the snake bit runs of Kasey Kahne continued. And the driver of the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet was not happy about any of it as he emerged from the infield care center after his hard crash.

    “Well, I had just passed Kyle (Busch) and I caught (Ryan) Newman and I was passing him off Turn 3,” Kahne said. “We were side-by-side so Kyle was able to get a good draft down the straightaway. We got to Turn 1 and I was on the outside and then he knew if he didn’t clear me there, then I would pass him back because I just had.”

    “He just floored it and didn’t care there was someone out there and ran me right in the wall,” Kahne continued. “We both ended up wrecking. I think he wrecked a little bit, but I hit a good bit harder.”

    “Once we hit, my car just went hard right.”

    Not Surprising: Kyle Larson continued to prove himself to be a quick learner by winning the ARCA race at Pocono and also by mastering the art of shifting.

    “To be honest with you, I did miss a couple shifts,” the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “Yeah, just twice, which is a lot better than probably it would have been if I didn’t practice shifting a whole lot.”

    “But yeah, I mean, surprisingly there was only two times, when I was battling people and when I was pretty excited,” Larson continued. “I don’t know, I thought it was a good day.”

    It was indeed a good day as the rookie driver finished fifth, again scoring Sunoco Rookie of the Race honors, at a track where he had never been before.

    Surprising: ‘Home’ tracks were surprisingly good for Martin Truex Jr., who scored his second top-ten finish in two races, taking the checkered flag in ninth at Pocono this weekend and sixth at Dover last weekend. Since Truex is from southern New Jersey, he considers both tracks his ‘home’ turf.

    “We had top-10 cars all year but we were not able to finish races,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet said. “The last two weeks we finished the races and got some decent results. We’re gaining but still have a ways to get to where we want to be with our Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet.”

    “I made a mistake on one of the restarts and lost a bunch of track position,” Truex, a native of nearby Mayetta, N.J, continued. “But on the last restart I was in the right line and got a little lucky. Earlier in the race we were unlucky on the restarts.”

    “I guess what goes around comes around.”

    Not Surprising: Even champs make mistakes, but their true measure is demonstrated as to how they handle those errors. Both Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart made pit road mistakes, Johnson with a spin on pit road and Smoke with a speeding penalty, but both were able to rebound, finishing sixth and thirteenth respectively.

    “My car somehow pivoted around that right-front tire changer and carrier,” Johnson said. “From there, we just went to work and did what the No. 48 does best and grind it out.”

    “100 percent driver error,” Stewart said of his pit road speeding issue. “I got to where I blew through all the lights.”

    “Had an awesome Mobil 1 Chevy all day, so great race, just the driver screwed it up this week.”

    Surprising: David Ragan had a surprisingly good Tricky Triangle run, finishing 18th in his No. 34 Taco Bell Ford.

    “That was fun to be racing up there with those guys,” Ragan said. “Obviously it’s been a tough year for us so hopefully this can be a turning point for our Front Row Motorsports team.”

    “It was nice to have things go in our favor today and do what we know we’re capable of doing.”

    Not Surprising:   Denny Hamlin, after scoring the pole, went on to prepare for the upcoming charity poker event for the next race at Pocono.

    “It was a challenge,” Hamlin said of his fourth place run in the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota. “Those are the cards you are dealt and you have to deal with it.”

    “I think in today’s world, strategy plays more into it than wheeling the car,” Hamlin continued. “The driver was at the mercy with the air that he’s dealt and the car that’s under him.”

    “Those were the cards we had today.”

    Surprising: One of NASCAR’s intrepid beat reporters Dustin Long became the story this past weekend, after breaking his ankle during an interview with eventual race winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

    Junior bantered with Long in the media center after the race, telling Long to use the ramp and asking why he was so far away sitting at the furthest end of the media center from the dais.

    “I’m keeping my distance now,” Long replied.

    “I won’t push you again,” Junior bantered back.

    While Earnhardt Jr. did no such thing as Long tripped over one of the scales during the interview, the story took on a life of its own and will no doubt be one of the stories to remember in the 2014 season.

    Not Surprising: It was Jeff Gordon’s turn to snatch the points lead back from Matt Kenseth, after Kenseth stumbled early in the race to finish 25th in his Dollar General Toyota while Gordon brought his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet home in the 8th position.

    “It was a great effort, great race car again,” Gordon said. “I thought that was consistent all day long and the pit stops were fantastic.”

    Gordon now leads the winless Kenseth in the point standings by just 16 points.

  • David Ragan and Family Turn Road Rally Scavengers for Good Cause

    David Ragan and Family Turn Road Rally Scavengers for Good Cause

    While David and Jacquelyn Ragan are busy with the racing season, as well as preparing for the birth of their first child, they are both doing something a bit unique, turning into road rally scavengers for a good cause.

    The couple are serving as honorary co-chairs for a unique event, the Race for Research, a three-day road rally and scavenger hunt, that will raise money for the LuMind Foundation and for Down syndrome cognition research.

    This is the first-ever event of its type and will be held from June 16th to June 18th in Charlotte, starting at the Richard Petty Museum and ending at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. A total of 25 two-person teams will drive their own cars, negotiating various stops and finding certain pictures and items in the scavenger hunt along the way.

    “A lot of these charitable organizations and foundations, they have golf tournaments and different dinners and galas, but I thought when we were asked to be part of their fundraising campaign that we should do something a little different and tie it into the NASCAR community,” Ragan said. “So, the Race for Research concept was dreamed of. It’s a great concept bringing in some of the great NASCAR venues and tying it in with the NASCAR Hall of Fame.”

    “It’s not really a race against time but it’s more a race to get certain pictures and do a little scavenger hunt along the way,” Ragan continued. “They’ll have a little map and a ‘to do’ list and they’ll have to snap a picture with someone or get a piece of memorabilia item from a stop.”

    “That will make it fun.”

    For Ragan, this issue is personal as his brother Adam was born with an extra chromosome: Trisomy 21 or Down’s syndrome.

    “I’ve got a brother that is a couple years older than I am that has Down’s syndrome,” Ragan said. “A lot of people in the NASCAR community know who Adam is and they see him around. He’s a very friendly guy.”

    “He has a great life and lives with a disability so it’s great that the Down’s Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation, who just recently changed their name to LuMind Foundation, is trying to raise awareness and raise money for cognitive research to understand more about Down’s syndrome and to understand more about living with and growing older with Down’s syndrome, as well as the complications you may have,” Ragan continued. “It’s a great group of folks. They really spend a lot of time and effort on making kids’ and adults’ lives with Down’s syndrome have a better quality of life.”

    “Adam’s a great example of doing well,” Ragan continued. “And obviously my NASCAR connection, having a lot of fans and a lot of friends and others in the industry that may have a child with Down’s syndrome works.”

    “So, it feels good.”

    Ragan also feels good and is very excited about the variety of stops along the way in the Race for Research. And whether the participants are NASCAR fans or not, he also sees the event as a way for all to get up close and personal with the sport that he so dearly loves.

    “They are going to have a lot of great stops along the way,” Ragan said. “They start off at the Richard Petty Museum at Level Cross. Then they are going to the Childress Winery, Bowman Gray Stadium, Martinsville Speedway, Woods Brothers Racing, Bristol Motor Speedway, Hickory Motor Speedway, Front Row Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Museum, Earnhardt Tribute Plaza, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Roush Fenway Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, the NASCAR R&D Center, Hendrick Motorsports and then end it at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.”

    “I think they’ll be able to take a little bit from every stop,” Ragan continued. “They’ll have a lot of fun and get to meet some great personalities. They’ll get to shake Richard Petty’s hand and meet a couple of the NASCAR Hall of Famers.”

    “I think that if there are any NASCAR fans that are part of the road rally, that they will get a kick out of it. But if they’re not a NASCAR fan, they’re going to get a pretty good behind the scenes look at our sport and we may convert a few fans over.”

    Ragan acknowledged that the event has a limited number of participants, especially since it is the first year. And he is grateful that they have almost reached their goal of teams participating in this unique fundraising event.

    “We’re about to that point of being at our limit of participants,” Ragan said. “We’re going to have 20 to 25 teams. This being the first year, we wanted to keep a controlled number just so we can make sure everyone has a good time and it runs as planned.”

    Ragan has formed his own team, Team Ragan, for the event and has been busy raising money himself. In fairness to all of the competitors, however, he has decided to race with his own vehicle and not take the Front Row Motorsports No. 34 Taco Bell Ford on the hunt.

    “Our team, Team Ragan, we’ve set a goal to raise $10,000,” Ragan said. “We’re about there and it’s been good so far. We’ll have some stickers and decals on our car to showcase all the sponsors and donors.”

    “I’m using my own car,” Ragan continued. “It would be a little unfair to use my race car. I’ll probably just drive our Ford F150.”

    Ragan, his wife and team will be joined by the rest of the road rally scavengers at the wrap up event at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the final stop of the Race for Research event. This will also be the opportunity for the Ragans to remind all about the reason for the Race.

    “At the NASCAR Hall of Fame, we’re going to have a little lunch and we’ll award the winner and recognize the people that did well,” Ragan said. “This being the first time, they wanted someone that was involved in the NASCAR community to take the helm and really try to be proactive in spreading the word out about the event and kids, guys and gals with Down’s syndrome.”

    “I think it’s worked out well. And obviously having an older brother that has Down’s syndrome gets a lot of attention. It’s a neat feeling to be a part of something that can be fun like this.”

    And while Ragan looks for victory at the track every weekend, for him taking the checkered flag in this event has even greater meaning.

    “It’s good to give back to folks that are working hard to make the quality of life of kids and adults with Down’s syndrome better,” Ragan said. “Our parents worked hard to get Adam good schooling and gave him a lot of good opportunities to learn about some of the skills that we take for granted sometimes.”

    “But there are some families out there that don’t have that luxury,” Ragan continued. “Maybe they are single parents or they are busy working or their financially not stable enough to do that.”

    “So, if we can give back and if the LuMind Foundation can work hard to come up with some medication or different drugs to help the effects of Down’s syndrome for kids as they get older to make their quality of life better, that would be a big victory.”

    For more information on the Race for Research or to donate to a team, visit www.dsrtfRaceforResearch.org.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Aaron’s 499 at Talladega

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Aaron’s 499 at Talladega

    From the wild knock out qualifying that netted Brian Scott the pole position to the crazy green-white-checkered race finish, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 45th annual Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Surprising: It is not often when two champions wreak such havoc in one race, even if it is on an unpredictable superspeedway. But both Brad Keselowski as well as Jimmie Johnson did just that, having uncharacteristically bad days that negatively impacted so many others in the field.

    In fact Keselowski negatively impacted the field twice, once early on in the race while battling Danica Patrick for the lead and then later in the race causing a twelve car pileup that involved several other drivers, including the likes of past champions Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.

    “I just spun out in front of the whole field,” the driver of the white Miller Lite Deuce said. “I don’t know why, if I just busted my butt on my own or lost a tire, but I feel bad for everyone that got torn up.”

    Johnson, after suffering his own damage from the first Keselowski incident, had almost the identical problem as Keselowski, spinning out at almost the same exact spot on the race track and catching others in his wake.

    “I got caught up in the first wreck and that did some damage; and I don’t know what happened when I spun out,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Valspar Chevrolet said. “I just went out in front of everybody. The car just got real loose going into Turn 3 and turned around and collected a bunch of guys, unfortunately.”

    Keselowski finished the race in the 38th position while Johnson finished 23rd and remains winless.

    Not Surprising: In his 300th start and at a superspeedway not a short track, Denny Hamlin made a statement and won his first race of the season, his first race at Talladega, and his first point’s race at a restrictor plate track. Hamlin also all but sealed up a Chase berth, after missing the Chase completely last season for the first time in his career.

    “It feels good to be back in Victory Lane in a points-paying event,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota said. “We’ve come a long way. We couldn’t finish 22nd in superspeedway races for the longest time and now it seems like when we go, we know we have the knowledge and car that can win.”

    “It feels good to come to these types of tracks and win.”

    Surprising: Jeff Gordon surprisingly kept his point leads in spite of finishing 39th, as well as breaking his streak of 11 consecutive top-15 finishes. Gordon still leads by three points over Matt Kenseth, who came in just ahead of Gordon in the race, finishing 37th.

    “Oh man, we had a great car,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “I could see where the 2 came from the outside lane and came back down to the inside lane, or middle lane, then wiggled and got turned.”

    “It was unfortunate what happened to him early, but more unfortunate what happened to many of us in that incident.”

    Not Surprising: Whether they had a game plan in their heads or not, both Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer scored their best ever finishes of the 2014 season.

    Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M Window Film Ford, finished runner up after leading the most laps at 58. Bowyer, driving the No. 15 PEAK Antifreeze/Motor Oil Toyota, finished third, scoring his first top-5 finish of the season.

    “I had a game plan in my head,” Biffle said. “On our speedway program, they did a great job getting the car ready. This was our Daytona 500 car and we wanted to get up there and run with the guys.”

    “I don’t think you ever really have a game plan,” Bowyer said. “But I like the situation I saw with Biffle. You know he was going to pull out and make a move. I had my teammate right behind me and I was looking forward to that opportunity.”

    “After last weekend, we blew three tires and burned the car to the ground,” Bowyer continued. “To get things turned around on a positive note, we finished Talladega without a crash.”

    Biffle posted his sixth top-10 finish in 23 races and Bowyer posted his ninth top-10 finish at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Surprising: Risk was not worth the reward for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who elected to ride in the rear in the waning laps to avoid the craziness of the finish. Although Junior led the second-most laps in the race, he finished 26th in his National Guard Chevrolet.

    “We already got a win and like I said, I’ve been in too many late-race wrecks,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I didn’t want to be no part of it. And there were three or four there we dodged pretty good.”

    “So, we’ve got a car in one piece,” Junior continued. “You have to have that track position at the end and we didn’t have it. We didn’t tear up our car and we will go to Daytona and try to manage the strategy.”

    Not Surprising: Talladega makes for friendships formed on the fly and that is exactly what happened between AJ Allmendinger and Paul Menard, who finished fifth and sixth respectively.

    “I really thought I had messed us up there and that last restart I’ve got to thank Paul Menard,” the driver of the No. 47 Bush’s Beans Chevrolet said. “He just kept shoving me all the way up through the inside of guys.”

    “We had a really fast Richmond/Menards/Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Chevrolet all weekend,” Menard said. “It was really good at the end. On the last restart just pushed the hell out of AJ (Allmendinger) and wound up being okay.”

    Surprising: Both David’s, Ragan (defending race winner) and Gilliland, who are traditionally good at plate racing, had a pretty rough day at the race track.

    Gilliland’s engine gave way on his No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford, while Ragan was involved in a very hard hit during one of the race’s many wrecks.

    “I thought my car was good,” Gilliland said. “We got in that accident and I don’t know if the motor got a little warm when we opened up the duct work, but it just wasn’t our day.”

    “It looked like someone got turned in the middle or the bottom lane and we were just kind of minding our own business up top and all I saw was some cars coming up toward us,” Ragan, behind the wheel of the No. 34 KFC Ford, said. “There was nothing you could do.”

    “It’s just a shame that when somebody makes a mistake it takes out a bunch of race cars.”

    Not Surprising:   Young Kyle Larson was the highest finishing rookie…again, this time bringing his car home not only in one piece but in the ninth position. This was the fifth top-10 finish for the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet and he sits in the 13th position in the point standings.

    “I spent most of the day just — well, pretty much all day just trying not to make any spectacular moves to put myself in a bad spot to get in a wreck,” Larson said. “Just wanted to stay out of trouble. We’ve been making up a lot of points throughout the year after Daytona, and to come back to another superspeedway, I was really nervous.”

    “Glad to get a good finish and stay up there in points.”

    Surprising: Danica Patrick had one major complaint about her race at Talladega. The driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet was, well, just plain hot.

    “It was a hot day here in Talladega,” Patrick said after finishing 22nd. “I dropped back to get some clean air. Heating was definitely an issue. It really limited me to the bottom lane.”

    “I was getting hot a lot,” Patrick continued. “I think you saw that from a lot of cars.”

    Not Surprising: There were many drivers that were not only happy to have ‘Dega in the rear view mirror but were also glad for a good, safe finish to the race.

    “It was crazy, but everybody did a really good job,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford said. “The racing was pretty good. It was really intense, but safe I thought relative to what we’ve seen in the past.”

    “I expected a few of the big wrecks and tried to avoid those and did exactly that,” Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Gwaltney Ford said. “We didn’t end up on our roof, so it was a solid day and we’ll go on.”

    NASCAR next visits Kansas Speedway for some Saturday night racing under the lights in the 5-Hour Energy 400 Benefiting Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

     

  • Front Row Motorsports Seeking to Duplicate Last Season’s Performance

    Front Row Motorsports Seeking to Duplicate Last Season’s Performance

    David Gilliland and David Ragan’s final-lap heave at Talladega Superspeedway last season defined their demeanor and willingness to help further their team’s recognition and competitiveness.

    Now, after that conduct and performance, many folks are hopping onto the bandwagon and believing Front Row Motorsports could go back-to-back by winning at ‘Dega this weekend.

    “It’s going to be tough,” Gilliland admitted when asked about duplicating last season’s performance at Talladega. “However, we’re really excited to return and feel like we have a great shot at winning and having a good day, so it’ll be interesting to watch.”

    “Talladega is the great equalizer,” Ragan said to Popular Speed’s Matt Weaver. “Handling doesn’t matter so if you can get the car to your particular comfort level and liking, you will have a shot. I don’t expect to win but I do expect to contend. And if I make the right decisions as a driver and the pit crew does what they are capable of, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have the same opportunity as one of the top five teams.”

    Though, this season, a victory would be much more then memorable, it would be extraordinary and unforgettable due to NASCAR’s new implemented Chase format that focuses on winning. Therefore, a victory for either Gilliland or Ragan would clinch them their first Chase berth.

    “It’d mean the world to Front Row Motorsports,” Gilliland noted saying that a win at ‘Dega basically guarantees a Chase berth. “It’s our goal, but anything can happen, it’s still Talladega, but we’ll see what will happen come Sunday.”

    “I think we’re going to be in position to do something and steal a win,” Ragan expressed. “I feel like there will be one team over the course of the year that does something (special) and it gets them into the Chase.”

    Their pursuit towards a second triumph at Talladega hasn’t begun the prettiest, though, after Ragan and Gilliland qualified 39th and 40th respectively, following the group-qualifying session on Saturday. However, sometimes starting in the rear is beneficial to avoid trouble.

    The Aarons 499 in Talladega, Alabama begins at 1:00 p.m. ET on FOX which will feature outstanding speeds and close side-by-side competing. @MarshallGabell on Twitter will have updates of the event for those unable to access a television.

     

     

     

     

  • Expect Trend of Nail-biting Finishes to Continue at ‘Dega

    Expect Trend of Nail-biting Finishes to Continue at ‘Dega

    We are only a quarter of the way through the 2014 season and there have already been more memorable finishes than all of last year.

    At Daytona, Dale Earnhardt Jr. held off a hard charging Denny Hamlin to win his second Daytona 500. Two weeks later at Las Vegas, Brad Keselowski passed Earnhardt Jr. on the last lap to score the victory. At Auto Club, a green-white-checkered finish allowed Kyle Busch to go from third to first on the last lap and beat rookie Kyle Larson by just 0.214 seconds.

    The trend continued at tracks such at Martinsville, Texas, and Darlington. Last week at Richmond may have been the most edge-of-your-seat finish in 2014. In the closing laps, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, and Brad Keselowski battled hard while Joey Logano inconspicuously snuck past them all with only a few laps to go.

    The reason for all of these nail-biting finishes is due to two factors, late cautions and the new points system. Four of the nine races so far have been decided by a green-white-checkered finish and the longest final green flag run was still only 42 laps at Las Vegas. These late cautions set up shoot-out style finishes that create the fantastic finishes you see week after week.

    And since the new points system makes winning extremely important, drivers can be a lot more aggressive. Who cares if you crash? You can just try to win next week. That attitude will be turned up to 11 this week at Talladega, a track already known for its chaotic finishes. If this year’s Daytona 500 is any indication, pack racing is back.

    Allow me to paint the picture in your mind for you. It’s a green-white-checkered scenario at the biggest and baddest track NASCAR has to offer. The big names, Kenseth, Gordon, Junior and Keselowski are all up front, behind them are restrictor plate aces such as McMurray and dark horse David Ragan. The green flag waves and all bets are off. The first lap is somewhat orderly, yet it’s still three by three all the way through the lead pack.

    The white flag waves and the chaos begins. Drivers become more aggressive and bounce off each other. Restrictor plate experts Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon battle for the race lead and coming off turn four, a large wreck takes out multiple drivers. It’s the big one.

    Who wins? Probably whoever survives. That’s the kind of finish I expect to see at Talladega this Sunday. The ingredients are already there for an amazing finish and when you add the fact that winning means more than ever, you have the perfect recipe for the greatest finish of 2014. If you listen closely, you can hear a faint rumble in the background. That’s the calm before the impending storm.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: The Daytona 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: The Daytona 500

    In spite of the unusual happenings that perpetually occur at Daytona, this year a six hour plus rain delay with tornado warnings, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 56th running of the Great American Race.

    Surprising:  With so much focus pre-race on the return of the No. 3, formerly driven by Dale Earnhardt Sr. and now by rookie Austin Dillon, the son of the Intimidator and NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. instead stole the show with his second Daytona 500 victory.

    This was Junior’s 20th victory in the Cup Series and, with the win, he joined Bill Elliott, Michael Waltrip, Sterling Marlin, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson as two-time Daytona 500 winners.

    “I’ll never take this for granted,” Junior said. “We’re two time Daytona champions.”

    In addition to the coveted win at Daytona, Earnhardt Jr. had a big weekend overall. The team bearing his name, JR Motorsports, won the Nationwide Drive4COPD 300 race with driver Regan Smith at the wheel.

    Not Surprising:  In spite of several on-track incidents, the driver of the aforementioned No. 3 for Richard Childress Racing, did quite well for himself, starting from the pole and finishing ninth.

    Austin Dillon was also the highest finishing rookie of the race, taking the early lead in a Sunoco Rookie of the year battle.

    “That’s what this year is about — experience, trying to finish races and getting better each week,” Dillon said, “We have a long year ahead of us, I’d like to use some of this momentum going forward. I know it’s going to be a long, tough year, and hopefully we’ll be there at the end of these races and try to learn something.”

    Surprising:  Goodyear had a little scare early in the race when both Kyle Larson and Greg Biffle had tire problems, causing hard hits into the wall for the rookie and veteran racers.

    Larson, in the No. 42 race car formerly driven by Juan Pablo Montoya, actually hit the wall twice in the opening laps, going a lap down and soldiering on to finish 38th.

    In spite of his blown tire early in the race, Biffle had a much better finish than Larson, taking the checkered flag in the eighth spot in his No. 16 3M Ford.

    “It was a good night,” Biffle said. “We had a really strong car but the 88 was real fast. We just couldn’t hold him off.”

    Not Surprising:  With the combo platter of the rain delay, potential for additional weather coming in, and the pent up energy of the first race of the season, it was not surprising that there were a number of pit road incidents that created some major mayhem for several drivers.

    Early in the race, Matt Kenseth had contact on pit road and ended up spinning to pit backwards in his box. Both Kyle Busch and Aric Almirola removed equipment out of their pit boxes and had to serve costly penalties.

    And then there was one of the more controversial calls, with Kasey Kahne called for speeding, all of which he did in an effort not to get hit by Michael Annett who had lost control of his vehicle coming to his pit.

    Surprising:  After dominating most everything during Speedweeks, from the Sprint Unlimited to the second Duel race, it was a bit surprising that Denny Hamlin did not claim the big prize. He did, however, come home in the runner up position in his No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, which was his best finish ever in the Daytona 500.

    “I thought — the Duels and the Unlimited — I felt like our car didn’t have quite the speed,” Hamlin said. “It was a solid run for us and really it was a fun race.”

    Not Surprising:  Given the manufacturer change to Chevrolet and a new alliance with Richard Childress Racing, it was not surprising that Casey Mears and his GEICO No. 13 team had a great run in the Great American Race.

    In fact, team GEICO finished in the top-10, getting their driver and crew chief Bootie Barker off to a great start for the season.

    Surprising:  The Labonte brothers, Bobby and Terry, not only made the race but had surprisingly good finishes, 15th and 20th respectively.

    Brother Bobby extended his consecutive start street for the Great American Race to 22 while elder brother Terry most likely ran his last Daytona 500 competition.

    Not Surprising:   Because it was after all Daytona, there were several big crashes, collecting many good drivers, to no one’s surprise. One of those hard hits, however, impacted the only female in the field Danica Patrick.

    “I think more than anything I am just upset because the GoDaddy car felt really good and it was the best car that I had all Speedweeks,” Patrick said. “I felt like everything was going pretty well, so it’s just upsetting.”

    “It’s a bummer, but you know that is the excitement of speedway racing that anything can happen, and it was unfortunate that I was on the short end of the accident.”

    Surprising:  With a more than six hour rain delay, some of NASCAR’s finest were up to some surprising activities to pass the time away. In fact, several of the racer dads were busy with their children, from Jeff Gordon making Lego creations to Keelan Harvick suiting up in his dad Kevin’s fire suit.

    Probably most novel, however, was David Ragan, still clad in his own fire suit, who went out to pick up pizza for his team during the break.

    Not Surprising:  While Junior reigned triumphant in Victory Lane, just like in the Olympics, there was some agony of defeat in this year’s running for the Great American Race.

    Most agonizing were those drivers impacted by engine or fuel pick up woes, including Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex, Jr. and Tony Stewart.

    “If it was going to blow up, I wish it would have blown up four hours ago,” Clint Bowyer said. “I could have been home watching.  Just disappointing — the guys work so hard for this race.  Everybody is out there having fun and we broke our toy.”

    “It’s definitely a tough break for our team,” Martin Truex Jr. said. “I went to bed thinking this was my best chance to win the Daytona 500.”

    The Cup Series moves on next to Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona for The Profit on CNBC 500 on March 2nd.