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  • Joe Gibbs Racing Looks Forward to a Better Season in 2015

    Joe Gibbs Racing Looks Forward to a Better Season in 2015

    Charlotte, NC – The Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour’s second stop was Joe Gibbs Racing. There are lots of changes at JGR, most notably the addition of Carl Edwards in the No. 19 Toyota, but it was Denny Hamlin who spoke first.

    Hamlin was a notable participant with other drivers in what became a feud with Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski in 2014. Hamlin now says that he has moved on from 2014, and feels like he and Keselowski are in a good place for 2015.

    “I think as drivers, we’re becoming a tighter-knit group,” Hamlin said. “I think really, it doesn’t take long for stuff like that to kind of wash itself under the bridge. I think that any incidents with myself, or Kevin, or Jeff or anyone who may have had an issue with Brad, it’s in the past and you’ve got to move on.

    “It’s hard to hold grudges because they take up so much effort to keep them going. As drivers, you just don’t have time.”

    Hamlin, who chased Keselowski through the garage area after a racing incident at Charlotte on the final restart, says the intensity of the final 10 races led to that incident, something that maybe drivers are going to handle better the second time around.

    “Jeff (Gordon), he probably knew that was a great opportunity for him to win a championship before he retires, that probably ramped up his intensity,” Hamlin said. “For those other moments, we’re all trying to make it to the next round. If you feel like someone causes you to miss it, you are really, really angry. It’s part of racing.”

    Kyle Busch had to answer questions about his brother, Kurt Busch and domestic violence. Busch said Monday that he has steered clear of involving himself in older brother Kurt’s recent legal issues, even though reporting mistakes have confused the two. Busch said he had not spoken to his older brother about the alleged incident.

    “Haven’t spoken to him,” Busch said. “Don’t know nothing and I’m trying to stay away from it all and let him handle his business.”

    Carl Edwards, the star of the show, was his usual optimistic self. Edwards is probably looking at the success of his former and current teammate, Matt Kenseth, for inspiration. During his first season after leaving Roush Fenway Racing, Kenseth won seven races and Edwards is hoping for the same in 2015, and not looking back.

    “This year’s a little bit different,” Edwards said Monday during the Charlotte Motor Speedway NASCAR Media Tour. “It reminds me of my first year full time in the Cup Series. I feel like I’ve really got to prove myself. I feel a little anxious; a little nervous about it. It’s nice. I haven’t had that feeling for a long time and it’s a motivator. I’m as focused as I’ve ever been and I’m excited as I’ve ever been. This is a neat opportunity for me.

    “I’m just excited to get to learn from these guys and get to race under the JGR banner for Toyota. We had a great test at Charlotte and I’m really ready to go. I’ve been wearing my driver’s suit a lot.”

    Kenseth went from riches to rags in 2014 by not winning a single race in his second season at JGR.

    “It’s probably a little bit different of a situation because it’s starting a whole new team for Carl, but he’s a guy who’s been in one place for a while and is making a jump,” Kenseth said. “That’s never easy to do, to leave some place where you’re comfortable and you understand how it works and you’ve won some races. I know what it feels like.”

    Time will tell, but Edwards is confident and with Darian Grubb as his Crew Chief, success should come to the kid from Missouri who handed out business cards early in his career while trying to find a ride.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Joe Gibbs Racing’s Engine Program May Backfire on Them Once Again

    Joe Gibbs Racing’s Engine Program May Backfire on Them Once Again

    Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is one of the top teams in NASCAR and if you look at their driver lineup, the team appears to be headed in the right direction for many years to come.

    In August the team announced that 23-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner Carl Edwards would join their driver lineup for the upcoming 2015 season and beyond. The deal, in which Edwards will drive a fourth car for Joe Gibbs Racing, is a multi-year deal and was the most significant deal of the 2014 NASCAR Silly Season. Joining Edwards at Joe Gibbs Racing is former teammate Matt Kenseth.

    Kenseth, the 2003 NASCAR Cup Champion, has 31 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories in his 15 full-time seasons in the sport and won seven races in the Sprint Cup Series just two seasons ago. Kenseth signed a multi-year deal with the organization prior to the 2013 season. It is clear that Kenseth is here to stay at Joe Gibbs Racing.

    The same can be said for Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, two of NASCAR’s best young drivers. Even though Busch will be entering his 11th full-time season of his Sprint Cup Series racing in 2015 he will only be 30 years old in May. Busch has an impressive 29 wins in those 11 seasons and is one of the best drivers in NASCAR.

    Hamlin will be entering his 10th year of competition in the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Hamlin will only be 34 years old for the majority of the 2015 season. His 24 victories in the last 10 seasons rank him among NASCAR’s best in that time period.

    It is hard to fathom a possibility of either one of Joe Gibbs Racing’s four Sprint Cup Series drivers leaving to drive for anyone else in the near future. All the team’s drivers are locked up in multi-year contracts and are young enough where retirement isn’t even on their radar.

    JGR’s NASCAR Xfinity program has been outstanding the past few seasons. They also have a major alliance with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team has been the blueprint for success in the NASCAR Xfinity Series the past few seasons and in 2015 that shouldn’t change.

    Not only does their Sprint Cup Series team have a group of talented young drivers but their Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series programs have that as well. On the truck side of things the organization has two-time Snowball Derby champion and two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winner Erik Jones signed to a development contract. Jones will run a full season at Kyle Busch Motorsports in the 2015 season. Jones has been considered by many as one of NASCAR’s best young rising stars. Also running for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the 2015 season is 25 year old driver Justin Boston. Boston finished in the top five in points the past two seasons in the ARCA Racing Series and had two victories in the 2014 season. Joining Boston at the organization is young 19 year old driver Matt Tifft, who will run eight races for the team in the 2015 season. Not a bad group of young drivers for the team and it’s only beginning.

    If you move to the Xfinity Series at Joe Gibbs Racing the team recently signed young 22 year old driver Daniel Suarez to a full-time deal. Suarez, a Mexican driver who has won 10 races in NASCAR’s Toyota Mexico Series the past three seasons, is another young driver with promise. Also currently at the organization is Darrell Wallace Jr. Wallace won four races for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season. Joe Gibbs Racing is currently looking for sponsorship for the 21 year old African-American driver.

    Now there are reports that Wallace has asked out of his contract at Joe Gibbs Racing to explore a full-time opportunity to drive for Roush Fenway Racing. Reportedly, Roush is interested in hiring the Alabama native to drive full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2015.

    Wallace’s potential move has left a lot of people scratching their heads as to what Wallace is trying to do. Joe Gibbs Racing is a team that has a substantial upside and is considered by many experts as one of the top three or four teams in NASCAR. He would be moving to an organization who has struggled in recent years and has seen two of its biggest stars, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards, leave for the organization for Joe Gibbs Racing. From afar it looks like Wallace should stay with Joe Gibbs Racing.

    However, if you dig a little deeper you will realize that Wallace is making the right move. As I mentioned before it is highly unlikely that Wallace will find a seat in one of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Cup Series teams in the near future. Wallace’s career is on the fast track and for him three or four years may be too long to wait.

    Going to Roush Fenway Racing makes Wallace’s dream of becoming a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver more realistic. If you look at Roush’s current Sprint Cup Series lineup they have an aging 45 year old Greg Biffle and two young drivers in Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne in line for the 2015 season and the organization has the potential to grow.

    Wallace, who became the first African-American driver to win a NASCAR race since Wendell Scott in 1964 when he won at Martinsville in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2013, would be a popular hire and could sell sponsorship in the Sprint Cup Series because of the historic value behind him. Roush Fenway currently has a three car operation and there is a chance they can go to four teams if sponsorship is found, something that can’t happen very easily at Joe Gibbs Racing.

    It’s an interesting dilemma that Joe Gibbs Racing is facing. They currently do not have an alliance with any Sprint Cup Series organization. The team works with Michael Waltrip Racing but not currently to the capacity other organizations do with other teams.

    Current Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was very vocal after the season about Joe Gibbs Racing’s need of an alliance. He was quoted in an article on MRN.com say that “We (Joe Gibbs Racing) need to have an affiliation,’’ Busch said. “It would be nice if MWR … made us all eight. It would be better for all of us. There’s a couple of reasons that we’re fighting internally why we’re not mingling with those guys quite yet, but hopefully that gets resolved here soon.’’

    Busch is 100 percent right. If you listened to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick in the last couple of weeks of his championship run in the 2014 season, Harvick pointed towards his team’s (Stewart-Haas Racing) affiliation with Hendrick Motorsports as being a big key to the team’s success in 2014. Stewart-Haas Racing shares engines and chassis with Hendrick Motorsports and has a major association with Hendrick.

    With NASCAR’s four car per team rule Joe Gibbs Racing ca not expand into a five car operation. The only way Gibbs can add to his fleet of cars is to add satellite teams. That may be harder said than done considering it’s been an issue for their engine manufacturer (Toyota Racing Development/TRD) to add teams to their fleet. Heading into the 2015 season TRD will build engines for six full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams, the same number the company has had for the past several seasons.

    When you look at the engine programs TRD is competing against on a weekly basis, TRD has the least amount of cars in their fleet.  Hendrick Motorsports provides engines to 11 full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams heading into the 2015 season. The Roush-Yates engine program currently fields engines for 10 full-time Sprint Cup Series teams and several part-time teams. The Earnhardt Childress Engine program currently fields engines for nine full-time Sprint Cup Series teams.

    All of those engine programs are significantly higher than what Toyota Racing Development engines currently provide. Every other manufacturer in the Sprint Cup Series has the ability to grow and expand because they are not hampered by their engine program, like Joe Gibbs Racing is.

    Not only that but Toyota’s subsidiary engine program, Triad Racing Technologies, has underperformed the past few seasons. They currently do not have a full-time Sprint Cup Series team to provide engines for entering into the 2015 season. There are not too many teams willing to move from where they are to go to an underperforming engine program.

    That means that the only way a team would align with Joe Gibbs Racing would be to have TRD Engines and not Triad Engines since Triad has underperformed. That means that TRD would have to expand the amount of teams they provide engines for in a hurry.

    While Gibbs’ driver lineup in the Sprint Cup Series is currently fantastic the team could potentially find themselves competing against a lot of talent that Joe Gibbs Racing has groomed through their Xfinity and Truck programs.

    Darrell Wallace Jr. may be the first to jump ship but he may not be the last. Wallace sees the handwriting on the wall that there is a logjam at Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing. Eventually you have to wonder when the other young drivers in Joe Gibbs Racing’s stables will see the writing on the wall. Don’t be surprised to see Daniel Suarez or Erik Jones make a jump to another organization in the next couple of years as several teams may try and gobble up the young talent with the promise of Sprint Cup Series rides, something Joe Gibbs Racing may not be able to promise.

    You have to wonder what’s next for Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota and whether the team and manufacturer will step up to the plate and spend the time, money and resources it takes to compete against Hendrick Motorsports. Until that time though, Joe Gibbs Racing will continue to lose its young talent to other teams who can provide them with Sprint Cup Series rides.

  • Hot 20 – The Elimination Format was Good, but an Actual Five Race Post-Season Even Better

    Hot 20 – The Elimination Format was Good, but an Actual Five Race Post-Season Even Better

    Over the course of the season, Jeff Gordon was the top driver of 2014. However, NASCAR has not determined its champion using the results of the entire campaign for more than a decade. They want excitement, drama, unpredictability. They want what the other big boy sports have, and when they waved the flag to start the season finale, four drivers had an even shot to claim the prize. Unfortunately, 39 we knew who would not, also were out there.

    Regular season and then the playoffs. That is what you get with the NFL, MLB, NBA, and the NHL. You play to entertain and to position yourself into earning a shot at the championship. Since 2004, NASCAR has also done this, except for allowing the non-contenders to remain out on the field of play getting in the way of those who matter.

    What if NASCAR had a real playoff? It has been brought up that the season is too long, that there needs to be a reduction in the schedule. Realistically, there is no way anyone is going to say adios to the big dollars that comes with putting on a 36 event schedule, not including the extras at Daytona in February and Charlotte in May. However, NASCAR could shorten its regular season to 31 races, as it was in some seasons in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, for its 43 car fields. Then they could reduce it to the top 20 drivers and teams over the course of a five-race championship playoff, resetting the points to zero for the post-season, and allowing the best of the best to settle it among themselves.

    The point system would remain the same, other than instead of “win and you are in,” winners are given credit for their victory with 25 bonus points, instead of the three they are presently given. In that way, a race winner would claim as much as 70 points, compared to the 43 for the runner-up. During the playoffs, points would range from one to 20, with the winner’s bonus reduced to three points in recognition of the smaller field and the impact of a win over the shorter “season.” So, in the playoffs, a race win could earn up to 25 points, compared to the runner-up’s 20. Yes, a driver sweeping the first four races of the playoff would have enough to win the title before they run Homestead but, let’s be honest, if they were that dominant they should win it.

    The playoff teams would be expanded from 16 to 20, with those not making the cut sent home, their season over. Considering there are really no more than 25 quality entries in any given race, all we would be doing is exchanging quantity for quality, with Charlotte being the final race of the regular season.

    Using 2014 as a guide for illustrative purposes, neither A.J. Allmendinger or Aric Almirola would make the playoffs as, despite each picking up a win, neither would have made it on points in our Top 20. Along with the other 14 Chasers from this season we would have included Austin Dillon, Brian Vickers, Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson and Paul Menard. A pretty fair exchange.

    TALLADEGA

    Twenty drivers hit the track all even as the opening round of the playoff Chase begins on the super speedway in Alabama. Kyle Busch once again got snake bit come go time when he gets caught up in a crash that left him dead last. Of course, those cars that got him in reality would have been home watching television under this format. Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski responded from the less than loving embraces Denny Hamlin wanted to put on him at Charlotte, and Matt Kenseth did, by claiming 24 points in winning at Talladega. Kenseth, ironically enough, pushed Bad Brad to the front and finished just behind him on the track.

    1 Brad Keselowski 24 Pts
    2 Matt Kenseth 20
    3 Ryan Newman 18
    4 Clint Bowyer 18
    5 Kevin Harvick 16
    6 Kurt Busch 16
    7 Joey Logano 14
    8 Kasey Kahne 14
    9 Austin Dillon 12
    10 Denny Hamlin 11
    11 Kyle Larson 11
    12 Jimmie Johnson 9
    13 Brian Vickers 9
    14 Carl Edwards 8
    15 Greg Biffle 7
    16 Jeff Gordon 6
    17 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 5
    18 Jamie McMurray 4
    19 Paul Menard 2
    20 Kyle Busch 1

    MARTINSVILLE

    Keselowski takes his four point lead over Kenseth to Martinsville, where more than a few need to come up big to make amends for the previous week. After finishing 17th at Talladega, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was among them. In winning, he added 24 points to the five he picked up the previous week, but he remained deep in the standings. Kenseth, Bowyer, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano all had a second strong playoff result, Keselowski was 16th to drop like a stone, as Jimmie Johnson slipped well out of contention with yet another less than stellar result.

    1 Matt Kenseth 37 Pts
    2 Ryan Newman 36
    3 Clint Bowyer 34
    4 Joey Logano 32
    6 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 29
    5 Brad Keselowski 29
    8 Jeff Gordon 26
    7 Denny Hamlin 26
    9 Austin Dillon 24
    11 Kurt Busch 19
    10 Kevin Harvick 19
    12 Greg Biffle 18
    13 Kyle Larson 17
    15 Carl Edwards 16
    14 Brian Vickers 16
    16 Kasey Kahne 15
    18 Kyle Busch 14
    17 Jamie McMurray 14
    19 Jimmie Johnson 13
    20 Paul Menard 12

    TEXAS

    Kenseth heads into the Lone Star State a point ahead of Newman, with Bowyer three away. When it came time to fire off the six guns, Gordon was seeking his own version of High Noon after Keselowski’s bid to take the lead left him with a cut tire and a good day that went for nought. To make matters worse, his rival returned atop the leader board. Johnson’s win at least moved him back into territory where he might yet see light at the end of the long tunnel he is trying to emerge from.

    1 Brad Keselowski 48 Pts
    2 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 44
    3 Ryan Newman 44
    4 Matt Kenseth 42
    5 Joey Logano 42
    6 Kevin Harvick 39
    7 Denny Hamlin 38
    8 Jimmie Johnson 38
    9 Clint Bowyer 37
    10 Kurt Busch 33
    11 Kyle Larson 31
    12 Kyle Busch 31
    13 Jamie McMurray 30
    14 Jeff Gordon 29
    15 Austin Dillon 29
    16 Carl Edwards 28
    17 Greg Biffle 27
    18 Brian Vickers 23
    19 Paul Menard 18
    20 Kasey Kahne 16

    PHOENIX

    After the events at Texas, Keselowski takes a four point lead over both Earnhardt and Newman heading out to the desert, with Gordon’s dreams pretty much shattered by that torn tire. Kevin Harvick came up with a race most can only dream about, absolutely dominating most laps and pretty much all of the re-starts to win. He now sits just behind Keselowski, who finished fourth behind Gordon and Kenseth. Bowyer was dead last on this day, taking him from contender to pretender, while Johnson erased even a glimmer of good tidings by finishing 19th.

    1 Brad Keselowski 65 Pts
    2 Kevin Harvick 64
    3 Matt Kenseth 60
    4 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 58
    5 Joey Logano 58
    6 Ryan Newman 55
    7 Denny Hamlin 55
    8 Jeff Gordon 48
    9 Kurt Busch 47
    10 Kyle Larson 41
    11 Jimmie Johnson 40
    12 Jamie McMurray 39
    13 Greg Biffle 39
    14 Clint Bowyer 38
    15 Carl Edwards 36
    16 Kyle Busch 35
    17 Austin Dillon 32
    18 Brian Vickers 30
    19 Paul Menard 23
    20 Kasey Kahne 22

    HOMESTEAD

    Heading for Miami and the final showdown, 10 drivers remain mathematically alive with seven still with a legitimate shot at the title. Kenseth and Harvick, in fact, could claim it with a victory, no matter what Keselowski did. That is just what Happy Harvick did, leaving Keselowski’s third place result at Homestead just not good enough. A five race playoff, only 20 cars on the track and, in this scenario, the same Sprint Cup champion as provided by the elimination series.

    1 Kevin Harvick 88 Pts
    2 Brad Keselowski 83
    3 Matt Kenseth 75
    4 Ryan Newman 74
    5 Denny Hamlin 70
    6 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 65
    7 Joey Logano 64
    8 Jeff Gordon 61
    9 Kurt Busch 58
    10 Jamie McMurray 55
    11 Jimmie Johnson 52
    12 Clint Bowyer 51
    13 Kyle Larson 49
    14 Paul Menard 40
    15 Greg Biffle 40
    16 Carl Edwards 39
    17 Kyle Busch 37
    18 Austin Dillon 36
    19 Brian Vickers 35
    20 Kasey Kahne 31

  • The New Chase Format – What Do You Think?

    The New Chase Format – What Do You Think?

    The 2014 NASCAR season is officially over with the notable exception of the Championship Banquet. What kind of year was it? With the multitudes on talk radio praising the new format for determining a champion, what does the rest of NASCAR Nation think? This reporter has a “wait and see” attitude on the format, but that comes later.

    The season saw some of the hardest racing we’ve seen in some time. For the first time in ages, we saw some real competition between brands and teams. Hendrick Motorsports did not dominate the sport because it had company with Team Penske. If you will notice, just like in olden times, it was Chevrolet versus Ford. HMS came through with 13 wins, most in the season, as usual. Team Penske was second with 11 wins; Stewart-Haas Racing had six, two each for Joe Gibbs Racing and Roush Fenway Racing, and one each for Richard Petty Motorsports and JTG Daugherty Racing. That left the score at 20 wins for Chevrolet, 14 for Ford, and two lonely wins for Toyota. It’s almost strange that the final four to go for the championship kind of looked like that with Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman representing Chevrolet, Joey Logano representing Ford and Denny Hamlin representing Toyota. Good competition among brands is always good for NASCAR.

    The new format had its detractors, though. Fans of certain drivers and even the drivers themselves were critical when the favored driver didn’t make the cut. The loudest were Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans, Jimmie Johnson fans and Jeff Gordon fans. Even Gordon got into the act by proposing changes to the format that would have put him in the Final Four. Apparently Gordon forgot that his failure to pass Earnhardt at Martinsville just might have had something to do with that one-point deficit.

    Tempers flared and we had a couple of pretty good post-race skirmishes. Out came the hatred for Brad Keselowski. Fans will boo him and maybe they will leave Kyle Busch alone for awhile. Drivers say they don’t like his attitude. Having been around this sport for a long time, I wonder if this young bunch could even fathom the fallout from drivers like Dale Earnhardt Sr., Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough or Bobby Allison. They raced like Keselowski, but boys will be boys. I doubt it’s a long time before anyone hits anyone in a melee with a closed fist again. Of course when the team owner pays your fine we may see more of these post-race antics.

    After all of this, I say leave it alone for next year. The first attempt had its moments and it seemed to get fans fired up about something. My opinion from the start has been a true champion is exemplary over the entire season. It’s one of the main reasons that I don’t watch the baseball playoffs or the NFL playoffs. How about the Super Bowl? I haven’t watched it in years. Sometimes teams who have done nothing get hot for the playoffs. When they end up in the World Series or the Super Bowl, I lose interest, but for some strange reason since two of the Final Four had won nine races during the season, it held my interest. I’m sure it won’t always be that way, but I’m willing to see what happens next year.

    In the end, it came down to who made the least mistakes. Logano and Hamlin lost because their teams let them down. Newman was just overmatched all season and that left Harvick. Sort of like those baseball and football playoffs, but with a worthy team winning. I hate the Chase and I don’t like this format, but the people have spoken and we will see what happens in 2015.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Homestead

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Homestead

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Kevin Harvick: Harvick’s four-tire pit stop on a caution with 20 laps to go keyed his victory at Homestead, giving him the Sprint Cup championship. Harvick held off Ryan Newman to claim his first title.

    “I’d like to thank everyone who believed in me,” Harvick said. “I’d also like to thank Richard Childress. Do you believe me now, Richard?

    “Sunday’s race was for all the marbles. And that included the ‘marbles’ of Kurt Busch, because it seems he’s lost his.”

    2. Ryan Newman: Newman started 21st on the grid and chased Kevin Harvick to the checkered flag, unable to get close enough to make a move. Newman finished second as Harvick celebrated his first championship.

    “I was looking to become the first Sprint Cup champion without a win,” Newman said. “That would have been a dream come true for me, and a nightmare for NASCAR.”

    3. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin, on old tires, lost the lead to Kevin Harvick with seven laps to go and finished seventh.

    “Michael Jordan was in my pit box cheering me on,” Hamlin said. “Seventh may be good enough for Charlotte Hornets, but not for me. No one was more upset when I lost than Michael. No one was happier than his bookie.”

    4. Jeff Gordon: Gordon started on the pole at Homestead and led a race-high 161 laps on his way to a 10th-place finish at Homestead.

    “Surprisingly,” Gordon said, “there were no punches thrown. Apparently, Homestead isn’t ‘grounds’ for fighting.”

    5. Joey Logano: Logano’s chances at the Sprint Cup championship disintegrated when jack problems in the pits dropped him to 21st on the restart. He eventually finished 16th in the Ford EcoBoost 400.

    “Just when we needed a ‘pick-me-up,’” Logano said, “we suffered a ‘letdown’ in the pits.”

    6. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth won the Nationwide Ford EcoBoost 300 on Saturday and finished sixth in the Ford EcoBoost 400 on Sunday.

    “Congratulations to Kevin Harvick,” Kenseth said. “He wouldn’t be holding that championship trophy had he not won the last two races. I’d say he certainly knows when to ‘push.’”

    7. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished third at Homestead, closing the books on an up-and-down year.

    “It was an up-and-down year for us,” Keselowski said, “as well as a ‘left-and-right’ year.”

    8. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished 14th in the Ford EcoBoost 400, finishing the year with four wins.

    “It was a historic day at Homestead,” Earnhardt said. “The competition was intense, while Junior Nation was ‘in tents.’ Leave it to my fans to bring the moonshine to the ‘Sunshine State.’

    9. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished ninth at Homestead, the top finisher among Hendrick Motorsports drivers.

    “I wasn’t able to win my seventh title,” Johnson said, “but I can’t be too upset. “The race was called the ‘Ford EcoBoost 400. Let’s change that ‘Eco’ to ‘Echo,’ because whenever and wherever you say my name, you hear it repeated five times.”

    10. Kyle Larson: Larson finished 13th in the Ford EcoBoost 400, wrapping up what will surely be a Rookie Of The Year campaign.

    “If I don’t win that Rookie Of The Year award,” Larson said., “I’ll be very unhappy. So unhappy, that I could possibly go into ‘ROY’d rage.’”

  • The Final Word – After Chasing, Eliminating, and Winning, Kevin Harvick is the 2014 Cup Champion

    The Final Word – After Chasing, Eliminating, and Winning, Kevin Harvick is the 2014 Cup Champion

    Watching the Cup finale was like watching most Nationwide races. Few of the participants actually matter. You have your winner, you have those who actually are competing for the prize, and then you have the odd spectacular, special moment. Sunday’s race marked the end of ESPN’s run, which meant no more Allen, no more Dale, no more Andy, no more Rusty, no more Brad, and no more Nicole. A special moment, indeed.

    It could have been a special season for Jeff Gordon. He was best overall this year, just as he was the dominate wheel man for more than half the laps at Homestead. But it is no longer 2001, and at the end of the day he was 10th on the track and sixth in the official standings. In the old days only Joey Logano would have had a chance to catch Gordon in the final race. As pure a way of determining a champion it might have been, those days are gone forever.

    Logano’s day wound up being the pits. With 74 to go, he was riding fifth when they took time under caution to do a few repairs that dropped him to tenth. With 47 to go, he had worked his way back to fourth when he returned to the pits under caution, but a hung lug nut left him 11th on departure. No problem, if not for the pits. Another caution, another stop, another miscue as a dropped jack dropped Logano from sixth to 20th with 20 to go. Game, set, and match, as he finished 16th.

    Things seemed to be about to go Denny Hamlin’s way. They had the pit strategy, if only they could go green. They did not. The cautions allowed those with fresher tires to move past, and his title hopes went up in smoke over the final laps. Hamlin wound up seventh.

    That left two at the front. Ryan Newman had been the weak sister amongst the contenders for much of the race, but pit strategy gained them track position. The car was the best it was all night but only one problem remained.

    His name was Kevin Harvick. On the final restart, Harvick once again separated himself from the field, leaving Newman staring at a back bumper. The best finisher amongst the four would win the title, and you cannot do much better than winning the race to erase all doubt.

    Once we had a points system that rewarded consistency at the expense of wins over the course of a season. Then we got a 10 race playoff where only the top 10, or 12, or 13 were eligible for the crown after the initial 26 events. Now, we have a system where a win gets you into the Top 16 vying for the title in those final 10 races, where every three events they eliminate four contenders until you wind up with the best among the final four on the final day winning the title while racing 39 non-contenders.

    The records show that Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt won seven titles each using the original system, Jimmie Johnson won six through the Chase, and Kevin Harvick is the 2014 Cup champion through the elimination series. Each champion just as valid as the man who preceded him.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Ford EcoBoost 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Ford EcoBoost 400

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “Everything is fine.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

     

     

     

  • Kevin Harvick Doubles Down as Race Winner and NASCAR Champ

    Kevin Harvick Doubles Down as Race Winner and NASCAR Champ

    It’s not often that a driver can double down in NASCAR but Kevin Harvick did just that, winning the Ford EcoBoost 400 as well as the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. This was Harvick’s 28th victory in 502 Cup races, his fifth victory of the season and his first victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    “Well, I just really don’t know what to even say about how much I appreciate this,” champion Harvick said in Victory Lane. “I’m just really excited. It’s really special for everybody.”

    “Been trying for 13 years,” Harvick continued. “I just have to thank Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson for helping me through this week. Jimmie was in my trailer as much as many of my teammates – doing all the things that it takes to tell me what I needed to do today.”

    For Harvick, the win and championship was indeed a family affair with wife DeLana and son Keelan in Victory Lane.

    “It is surreal,” DeLana Harvick said emotionally. “To come fight for this championship with one of the best group of guys I have ever been around…they did this. They deserve it. They are champions.”

    Harvick, a veteran of all three of NASCAR’s national series, is the third driver to win the Cup and Nationwide crowns, joining Bobby Labonte and Brad Keselowski in that achievement. He is also the 30th champion in the 66-year history of the Cup Series.

    Team owner Tony Stewart was also celebrating his driver’s win, especially significant after the difficult year personally that he has been through. While this was also the second championship for Stewart-Haas Racing, both Kevin Harvick and his crew chief Rodney Childers won championships for the first time ever.

    “It’s great,” Smoke said on ESPN SportsCenter. “That’s why we have a four-car team to make sure we have every opportunity we can to come to Homestead and have a chance to race for a Sprint Cup championship.”

    “This is an awesome night for our whole organization and Gene Haas and Kevin and Rodney Childers and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing.”

    “This is an unbelievable evening.”

    Ryan Newman, who worked his way into the championship contender round with a last lap pass, finished the race in the runner-up position. This was Newman’s fifth top-10 finish at Homestead and his 16th top-10 finish in 2014, again confirming his consistency throughout the season.

    “These guys did a really good job,” Newman said. “We had a couple pit stops that kind of put us back, but the guys stepped it up the last couple pit stops and we gained a few spots; gave ourselves a shot.”

    “Luke (Lambert, crew chief), I thought made a great call on the two-tire stop, and we got some track position,” Newman continued. “And then when Jeff (Gordon) pitted, that kind of caught me by surprise and gave us the front row.”

    “In the end, I’m just so proud of our team. It is disappointing, don’t’ get me wrong, but there’s no point in being a sore loser.”

    Brad Keselowski, who had such a strong season, finished third in his self-proclaimed white deuce. This was his second top-10 finish in seven races at Homestead.

    “Yeah, it was a heck of a season, not just for me but for all of Team Penske,” Keselowski said. “Certainly a year that we’ll look back on with a lot of pride.”

    “I’m kind of wishing it wasn’t over, but we still have some work to do to continue to work and get better. We have to go back and work a little bit harder and find a little more speed and try to keep up with that.”

    Kyle Larson officially claimed the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title, having been in that position most of the season. He finished 13th in the race finale and was yet again the highest finishing rookie of the race.

    “We were really competitive all season long with the Target team and came really, really close to winning a couple of them,” Larson said. “There was a lot of room on the Kyle Larson bandwagon to start the season. I think a lot of people chose Austin Dillon to win it and I was pretty confident in myself and in my team that we could do it.”

    “I knew there would be some ups and downs but I felt like we would be the top contender once we got halfway through the season and we definitely were,” Larson continued. “Really proud of that, proud of the effort everybody has put in on these race cars. We’ve gotten better throughout the season and just is a huge honor to win this title with all the other names that have won it.”

    For Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano, who were also contending for the championship in addition to Harvick and Newman, it was all about the difficulties on the restarts and in the pits that led to their respective downfall.

    Hamlin finished seventh and Logano finished fourth, both unable to claim the championship crown.

    “I thought we had a better car than those guys, just I had a bad restart and lost position to the No. 4,” Hamlin said. “Darian (Grubb, crew chief) made the decision to leave us out there on tires trying to do something to get that track position back that I lost on the restart and it just didn’t work out for us.”

    “With all of those cautions, it just allowed all of those guys to close back up and it was kind of all she wrote for us,” Hamlin continued. “Sometimes the cautions fall your way and sometimes they don’t. We definitely gave ourselves a shot and things were looking really good for us, but those cautions just really, really hurt us.”

    “It was a heck of a race up there,” Logano said. “I screwed up and hit the wall early and we were able to recover then had the mistake on pit road, which didn’t give us enough time to recover from that.”

    “It is unfortunate,” Logano continued. “Execution was our strong point all year and we just didn’t do it tonight. For that reason, we finished fourth after I think we scored the most points this whole Chase.”

    Congratulations are also due to Chevrolet, who secured yet another manufacturer’s championship. This was their 12th consecutive championship and the 38th time overall that they have won it.

    “Winning the Manufacturers’ championship is one of the goals we set at the beginning of every season,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “This championship is the result of great teamwork by the owners, drivers, crew chiefs, crews and technical partners. Special thanks to the Chevrolet powertrain team, along with the engine shops at Hendrick Motorsports and Earnhardt-Childress Racing for delivering the right combination of power, fuel economy, and reliability throughout the entire season.”

    “Congratulations to everyone who has made this special achievement possible for Chevrolet.”

  • Brian France Talks Chase, Domestic Violence, Fights and Championship Finale

    Brian France Talks Chase, Domestic Violence, Fights and Championship Finale

    In a wide-ranging State of the Sport press conference, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France discussed everything from the new Chase format, the sanctioning body’s domestic violence policies, fights in the sport, and the drivers who may be crowned champion this weekend.

    France started his State of the Sport remarks with his assessment of the new Chase format, which he deemed as “exceeding all expectations.”

    “The Chase has accomplished all of our goals and probably exceeded them,” France said. “The balance between winning and consistency was achieved. Depending on what happens on Sunday, this has the potential to be one of the most successful seasons in NASCAR history.”

    “It has our fans excited and the interest level of the sport heightened. That’s precisely what we wanted to achieve.”

    France did acknowledge that fans, especially some of the most hard-core in the sport, still may be adjusting to the whole new Chase format.

    “Even though the format is relatively simple, what we are all finding out is that the strategies associated with the new format are different,” France said. “They are unknown and they are unprecedented. That’s going to take a while for even the most hard-core fans to fully get accustomed to how the flow of the season goes, why the transfer races are so important and how consistency all plays out.”

    Because of the Chase’s perceived success, France advised that he expected “very modest to zero” changes in the Chase format for next season.

    “We reserve the right to make a modest adjustment but this is the season that I hoped for and it has done precisely what we hoped it would do,” France said. “It’s only year one but clearly we are on our way.”

    France also dealt with several questions focused on driver Kurt Busch’s domestic violence charges, especially in light of California Congresswoman’s Jackie Speier’s letter to the sanctioning body calling the incident horrifying and asking for action to be taken.

    “There is a heightened awareness of the issues of domestic abuse and violence. We expect our policies to reflect that,” France said. “We are watching that case carefully and it’s under review by law enforcement and others and they have not made a decision on that regarding Kurt.”

    “It’s a very sensitive topic today. Rightfully so,” France continued. “And so it’s not surprising that some members of Congress and other leaders might have some strong views on what we should and shouldn’t do.”

    “So, until they make some judgments on that investigation, it wouldn’t be right of us to just intervene before they’ve even gotten the investigation completed. So, that’s our position. We’ll respect their process. It’s in their hands.”

    “We’ll stay the course, let the investigation be completed and then we’ll react.”

    France also addressed another recent controversy in the sport, that of the fight between the teams of Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski after the Texas race.

    “We don’t think what happened in Texas, crew members getting into a fist fight is a good thing for NASCAR, no,” France said. “We realize that emotions sometimes will get you there and we reacted very harshly if you look at the scope of those penalties, and we should have.”

    “Anybody in our situation is always worried about escalation,” France continued. “The bottom line is we want the drivers to be able to express themselves. We don’t have dugouts or locker rooms per se. It’s not unusual for them to express themselves and have a heated conversation between them. We’re not going to change that. But when crew members and others who join in, that’s a different discussion and like I said, we dealt with that.”

    “Even the great ones, they faced similar stresses from time to time as they started to have success on the track,” France said. “Some of the drivers had a little more contact than necessary at times. That’s what we’re about. We expect tight, tight racing and that sometimes we will have some contact. It’s in our DNA.”

    “But, there is a line,” France continued. “Hard, tight racing is what we expect and what I’m sure we will see. If it’s over the line, that’s what we do. We look at those things from the control tower. Sometimes they even happen under caution.”

    “There is a line out there in all of this and we hope the drivers don’t put us in that position,” France said. “I don’t anticipate that and I do anticipate some really hard, tight racing. We respect that. Sometimes drivers thinks one or the other goes too far. That’s NASCAR. That’s what we do. That’s the whole point of what we try to get up every morning and create.”

    France also addressed the championship finale amongst Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, especially in light of one driver, Newman, being winless coming into the Homestead race.

    “Short of us making it a prerequisite that you have to win a race to qualify, I think it’s great,” France said. “We have three drivers who have won. And I do think that whoever emerges as the champion on Sunday needs to think about winning the race. I would be surprised if one of those four drivers would get out of here with a championship without the win.”

    “We’ve seen over the past years how those teams have elevated their games,” France continued. “We want to see drivers elevate their games. The reality is when you give drivers the opportunity to do something extraordinary, more times than not they do that.”

    “It’s all about a balance,” France said. “You don’t want a system that ignores consistency. I don’t care how you do it frankly. So, if Ryan Newman and Richard Childress are able to pull it off, that would be an achievement for anybody.”

    “The best team will win on Sunday.”