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Tag: Denny Hamlin

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Loudon Sylvania 300

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Loudon Sylvania 300

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “It was just a disappointing day for us.”

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

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

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

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

    “It’s been a good roll.”

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

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

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

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

  • Denny Hamlin and the Ultimate What Could Have Been Situation

    Denny Hamlin and the Ultimate What Could Have Been Situation

    The 2010 season was supposed to be the season of Denny Hamlin and in a way it was. Just not how he had imagined or as others would have preferred to talk or write about after 10 months, 22 tracks and 36 Sprint Cup Series races. Supposed to be, until one moment in time got in the way.

    [media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”243″][/media-credit]Instead of winning his first career championship and ending the stranglehold that Jimmie Johnson had on the top spot, Hamlin walked away empty handed. He had won a series high eight races and was leading the points heading into the season finale in Homestead-Miami before Johnson and his 48 team did what they’ve done best the last few years.

    Now with the 2011 Chase underway Hamlin’s in a much different position. He’s far from being the favorite but while not mathematically eliminated, he might be realistically. After a rough weekend in Chicago he’s 12th in the standings and behind the leaders by nearly a whole race, 41 points. The No. 11 team has encountered every type of trouble possible this season and has only found victory lane once.

    Friday at New Hampshire, sight of the second Chase race, Hamlin was asked about losing the championship last year. The question, related to fuel mileage, which has decided a fair share of races this year, also had another twist to it. One of those, what would have been had fuel mileage not been a factor?

    “That’s what was the ultimate dagger for us for the championship” Hamlin said. “We dominated the entire race and we didn’t have good fuel mileage and we had to pit when everyone else didn’t and obviously we went from – I think at the time if I finish in the top five, I’m 80 to 100 points to the good going into the last race.”

    For Hamlin it’ll always leave a lasting question in his mind about the championship. Racing is no different than any other sport or even life; moments of what could have, should have or even would have been are never far.

    If a caution would have fallen at a different time or a different strategy decision was made, what if that chassis sitting back at the shop had been used instead? There are thoughts of what Tim Richmond, Adam Petty or even Dale Earnhardt could have or would have been. Just one moment in time changes the future’s path.

    Last November one decision from crew chief Mike Ford, one race, one pit stop forever altered Hamlin’s season.

    He finished 12th at Phoenix after leading a race high 190 laps and saw his point lead decrease to 15 over Johnson. Whereas Hamlin ran top three all afternoon, Johnson struggled all day, never led a lap but wound up fifth after the fuel mileage bug bit those in front of him. In the end, Hamlin wouldn’t get to have the race in Homestead that he was looking for.

    “I just start my engine and run around at Homestead like Jimmie did the last four years and we take home the championship,” said Hamlin. “It’s a completely different mindset. Obviously with momentum we see how that momentum went to the final race and worked against us. Fuel mileage has completely changed this sport over the last few years.”

    Hamlin’s luck has also changed. He went from being the driver to watch on any given weekend at any given track to hardly on the map. His tough luck shows how fickle this sport can be. Johnson is the lone exception of the ever-changing nature of the Cup Series.

    Drivers come and go; those on top are knocked down. The Virginia native has been knocked down already in this year’s championship fight and plenty throughout the season. Yet, he’s perfectly fine with that. Hamlin knows that’s the way the pendulum swings and his team will work hard to get back to where they feel they belong.

    “In sports, staying at the top is very, very difficult,” said Hamlin. “It’s extremely hard. You see professional teams in sports where you have 10 to 12 people out on the field. One person gets hurt and it completely changes the dynamic of the entire team and all of a sudden they look terrible, the same team that was going for a championship last year.”

    In NASCAR, no better example as shown week in and week out by the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 FedEx team. And according to Hamlin, this year NASCAR is showing how much of a team sport it really is.

    “That’s a good thing,” he said. “I like that, but you’re going to live and die by the sword. Those days where you have problems, you’ve got to just suck it up and figure out what you’ve got to do to get better at your job and not worry about the variables that you can’t handle, you can’t change and I feel like I need to do that at this point.”

  • ‘Smokes’ Chase Mind Games

    ‘Smokes’ Chase Mind Games

    Earlier in the week, the man known to many as Smoke upset a lot of people. His fans and many of his competitors took offense to some of his comments regarding the chase chances of the golden 12. Smoke listed himself as one of the 4 chase contenders who would not compete for the championship in the final 10 races. But at the end of a rain postponed race in Chicago, Smoke looked like a master of mind games standing in victory lane and holding the trophy high.

    [media-credit name=”Bill Gutweiler” align=”alignright” width=”246″][/media-credit]Earlier this week, Tony Stewart created quite the stir when he was asked who his favorites for the chase were. Stewart in his typical straight forward to the point style said that the 14, 88, 2, 11 and the 17 would not contend for the championship even though they were in the chase. Interestingly enough for those that don’t know, Tony Stewart’s car number is 14.

    For those that have followed Tony Stewart’s career, it was not a big surprise to hear that come out of his mouth. What was a surprise was that people believed he actually felt that way. Smoke has been a racer his whole life. Every racer knows that on any given day anything can happen. No racer, let alone a multiple series, multiple type of car, and multiple year champion, ever believes that they can’t contend for and win the championship.

    It is an ego of sorts, a self confidence factor that exists in everyone who races for any length of time. It is the way that drivers deal with the stress, the pressure, the knowledge that wrecks hurt. They always believe they can win. Without that confidence they are mid pack and also rans. It simply is not possible to be a champion or a racer if you don’t believe you can win against the odds.

    Tony Stewart knows this. He knew it when he made the statement. But it’s chase time. And the mind games began weeks ago, from every competitor and every team. Tony Stewart is a master of mind games. His game has changed over the years. It went from physical aggression as a form of intimidation to leaning on that reputation to now he plants the seed of doubt in your mind. Does he really think that? Surely he doesn’t really believe he is not going to be a factor.

    Of course he didn’t believe that. But he made everyone else believe it. He got in your head. He put that seed of doubt there. If he believes it I don’t have to worry about him. Normally you would be right. But this is Smoke. This is balls to the wall, hard core take you to task Tony Stewart. And on Monday, he showed you what he could do while you were discussing what he said. He won the opening race of the chase.

    After the points reset, which was the equivalent of staying on the track when the rest of the field pitted and getting a caution 2 laps after the restart; he gained track position or in this case points position. He climbed from 10th to 3rd. He is only 7 points out of the lead. And he has momentum. How’s that for mind games?

    Tony says he is thrilled to have won the race but he is still not convinced that it’s solid footing. “I’m not sure one weekend can do that,” Stewart said. “But I feel better about it, obviously. We’ve had three good weekends in a row. [Monday] doesn’t change my mind — but the last three weeks definitely make me feel better about it.”

    “We’ve still got nine hard weeks to go. And we have some tracks ahead that have been a struggle for us this year. So we’ve got a long way to go, but this gets us off to the right start.”

    Smoke wasn’t the only one playing mind games the last few weeks. There was a little bit of that going on from the Hendrick Motorsports 88 team of Dale Earnhardt Jr. as well. For the last several weeks Dale Jr has been saying “we are playing it very conservative.” His crew chief, Steve Letarte, said we are points racing but once we get in the chase solid you will see a much more aggressive 88 team.

    After the last several years of struggling, many fans, media and competitors alike said Sure we will. Many were betting he wouldn’t make the chase at the last minute.

    But in Richmond, after a lap 8 wreck, Dale Earnhardt Jr. reminded people he was there and that he was a force to be contended with. Earnhardt took a car whose hood was taped down and whose radiator had one holding bracket intact and finished 16th on the lead lap. Not an easy task when you realize that he had been one lap down 4 times and managed to maintain the position for the Lucky Dog Pass all four times.

    Earnhardt only had to finish 20th or better to secure a place in the chase. It didn’t matter what anyone else did or where they finished. He had to be 20th or better. He did what he had to do. And he did it with some fire we hadn’t seen from him in quite a while. He retaliated a couple times for some slights on the track that he didn’t appreciate. One radio conversation between another driver and crew chief was “Was that Dale Jr? He actually spun me out?”

    Chicago brought to fruit the promise made by driver 88 and his crew chief. Their qualifying effort, though poor by most standards was good for them. Their race had them struggling at times with a car that was too tight but pit stops that were some of the best of the field. He ran in the middle of the pack staying on the lead lap and adjusting the car all day until the final run. Whatever the change was that was made on that final stop brought the car to life.

    Dale Jr drove from 17th to 6th on the final run. Although three competitors in front of him would run out of fuel and boost his finish to a 3rd place finish, Earnhardt Jr proved he was a serious contender.

    While many competitors dropped to the apron out of fuel the 88 was still under power when it crossed the finish line. “We were never worried about our fuel mileage. Steve said we’re about three tenths of a lap short before we ever took the green flag for that last run. We were going a little faster. We were worrying maybe this was probably the worst fuel mileage we was going to have all day long. So we started backing off and saving gas with about 20 to go. And so it’s just enough. It started running out at four but ran to the finish line but it wouldn’t have made it another lap.” Earnhardt Jr. said.

    The 3rd place finish was his best since his 2nd place finish at Kansas earlier in the year and it vaulted him to 5th in the points just 14 points out of first.

    The biggest disappointments in Monday’s race were surprising. Jeff Gordon went a lap down midway in the race with a bad right front tire that was worn down to the cords on the inside causing him to have to stop for tires. Gordon could never quite make it back to the lucky dog position and then ran out of gas on the final lap to go a second lap down. The misfortune hit the 24 team hard dropping them to 11th in the points 25 points out.

    The driver of the 24 had all the momentum on his side coming in to Chicago. He was in the best form that the sport had seen him in since his last championship year in 2001. “We were just off,” Gordon said. “We didn’t qualify good (23rd). That got us behind right there. It was just one of those days. We had a right front (tire) tear apart. We actually got the car halfway decent there at the end. Then it came down to saving fuel, and we obviously didn’t save enough fuel.”

    The other surprise was Denny Hamlin in the Joe Gibbs Racing Fed Ex Toyota. Hamlin seemed to be looking at huge mountain from the beginning of the weekend. He qualified deep in the field in 27th spot. He was up to 20th and making his way forward when on lap 78 he radioed Mike Ford that he had a vibration and he needed pit. The unscheduled stop for 4 tires put Hamlin a lap down and he could never make his way into the lucky dog position.

    Late race contact with Greg Biffle would cut down a left front tire which would come apart doing damage to the left front fender. At that point Hamlin’s day was over. He finished 31st 4 laps down to the field.

    But the biggest damage wasn’t the finish or the car, Hamlin would come out of Chicago in 12th spot almost a full race in points behind leader Kevin Harvick. Denny Hamlin did not address the media following the race. But crew chief Mike Ford said, “In a word, it was a [crappy] day, everybody didn’t execute. End of story. “We basically cut our tire down and tore the car up a little bit,” Ford said. “It was junk from that point.”

    Where the mind games left off pre chase. The performances of Chicago will now take over. Drivers ruled out by themselves, fans or media have new life from good finishes. It will give them confidence and momentum as we move on to New Hampshire and the magic mile.

    The top 12 drivers in our sport will begin the process all over again. The pressure and the stress will continue to mount every week. They will confidently walk to their car and make great effort to not show the butterflies that they feel. But whether first or last, the one thing they all have in common, whether they be a five time champion or first time Chaser is they all believe without a shadow of a doubt that they can win. No matter what they say to the media.

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

    Congratulations to Austin Dillion and his RCR Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet team on their victory on Friday in Chicago. The youth movement is alive and well in the Camping World Truck Series.

    Congratulations to Brad Keselowski and his Discount Tire Dodge team on their victory in Saturday’s Chicago victory.

    Congratulations to Tony Stewart and his Office Depot Chevrolet team on their victory in the opening race of the Chase.

    Kudos to J.J. Yeley on doing the right thing. Even if it was against the rules. Your willingness to help someone else make it back home or in this case the start finish line is refreshing. It reminds me greatly of the motto of one of this countries largest group of heroes, “No man is left behind.”

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

  • NASCAR Looks Ahead to the Chase for the Sprint Cup After a Volatile Night in Richmond Sets the Field

    NASCAR Looks Ahead to the Chase for the Sprint Cup After a Volatile Night in Richmond Sets the Field

    NASCAR’s regular season is officially over and now as we look forward to the first race of the Chase and the 12 drivers who will be giving chase to the coveted Sprint Cup, you can’t help but wonder just what the next 10 weeks will bring. A lot of drama spawned from the Wonderful Pistachios 400. Tempers flared, frustration grew, cars damaged (on accident and purposefully), egos bruised, and on track enemies made. Many of the drivers who were still mathematically eligible to make the Chase vocalized the need for a conservative approach on the track and to simply stay out of trouble, but Saturday night under the lights at Richmond International Raceway proved anything but.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”251″][/media-credit]The proof is in the stats. The caution flag waved a record 15 times that night. The poor flagman barely had enough time to take back the green flag from honorary starter Frank Siller, founder of the Stephen Siller Tunnels to Tower Foundation and brother of a NYC firefighter who died on 9/11, after whom his foundation is named before having to grab for the yellow as the first caution of the night came out on lap two. Driver s barely made it a handful of laps before another incident occurred. Green flag. Yellow flag. Repeat.

    On lap eight the short track version of “big one” happened after contact made between Chase hopeful, Clint Bowyer and David Reutimann collecting Chase favored Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin in the carnage. It was way too earlier in the evening to be feeling that kind of tension in the air, but it was palpable. The battle had begun and it wouldn’t be long before drivers picked their individual sparring partners.

    Kasey Kahne chose wrong, he fought the wall for the first time on lap 27 and then again on lap 51 after going three –wide with Marcos Ambrose and teammate Brian Vickers. The wall remained victorious as Kahne’s No. 4 Red Bull Toyota was towed off the track and the driver taken to the infield care unit. Physically Kahne was all right, but there was that bruised ego that I spoke of earlier to contend with.

    Vickers chose Ambrose to a duel, he let the driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford know just how displeased he was by intentionally wrecking Ambrose under caution on lap 53 and purposely blocking his entrance to pit road. NASCAR won that one by effectively putting Vickers into “time out,” sending his No. 83 machine to the garage for bad behavior. He was allowed to return to the track 68 laps later after thinking long and hard about his actions.

    Earnhardt Jr. brawled with Travis Kvapil on lap 152 by giving him a taste of his own medicine. Kvapil made contact with Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 Amp Chevrolet earlier in the race and it was now time for some payback by sending Kvapil’s No. 38 Ford into the turn two wall.  Earnhardt Jr., who was a lap down, may have thought he’d win that battle by getting the free pass to get back on the lead lap, but NASCAR saw differently. Since Earnhardt Jr. was involved in the incident that brought out the caution he was awarded the “unlucky dog” pass and stayed a lap down.

    Like Kahne before him, Paul Menard took his chance with the wall on lap 172. Once again the wall reigned victorious, sending he and his No. 27 Menards Chevrolet to the garage and ending any hopes of making the Chase.

    Kurt Busch started a feud with Jimmie Johnson on lap 185 that would prove to be an all night thing. Johnson’s No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet spun in turn two after making contact with Busch. On lap 246 the pair brought out the 11th caution of the night, Johnson in what looked to be a payback attempt, bumped Busch’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge sending Busch into a spin on turn two. Busch avoided contact with the wall and won the war, as Johnson’s so-called revenge was not so sweet after all, as his car spun out of control and hit the wall, sending him to the garage for repair. 33 laps later Johnson returned to the track on lap 278 and to Busch’s rear bumper by lap 283. However, no further contact was made between he two.

    Hamlin and Earnhardt Jr. fought the odds of making the Chase in their busted up racecars in the 392 laps that followed their crash on lap eight, but in the end proved triumphant. They earned they way into the Chase the hard way and victory never tasted sweeter as the two were all smiles in the Media Center. Hamlin maintained his streak of making it into every Chase since his full time Sprint Cup career began in 2006 and Earnhardt Jr. affirmed that he’s still got it and proved his naysayers wrong by making it back into the Chase after a two year hiatus.

    Tony Stewart, the third hopeful to make the Chase, did so quietly and consistently, clinching his spot on lap 103.  Surprisingly, Stewart fought with no one, on of off the track in Richmond.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Wonderful Pistachios 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Wonderful Pistachios 400

    [media-credit name=”Ted Seminara” align=”alignright” width=”231″][/media-credit]With tributes to the troops, America and to all lost on September 11th, NASCAR’s finest took to the Richmond International Raceway to determine the twelve who will Chase for the Championship. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 54th annual Wonderful Pistachios 400.

    Surprising:  The unhappiness of this driver with his car at the beginning of the race contrasted starkly with his surprisingly overwhelming joy and happiness in Victory Lane. And yet even in victory, the winner of the race stopped to pay tribute to those who serve and to the country, as well as to his mother on her birthday.

    Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet, claimed his fourth victory of the 2011 season and his second victory in 22 races at Richmond, locking him into a tie for the top seed in the Chase.

    “This is pretty awesome,” Harvick said as he climbed out of the car to cheers and spraying of the sponsor’s product. “First thing I want to do is thank all of our troops for everything they do for us. This is a special weekend.”

    “And I want to say ‘happy birthday’ to my mom tomorrow,” Harvick continued. “This is just a great night and a great weekend.”

    Not Surprising:  Although getting in by the skin of their teeth, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Denny Hamlin overcame problems during the race to finish seventh, sixteenth, and ninth respectively, establishing their places in the Chase, ninth, tenth and twelfth respectively.

    “I’m probably most proud of the fact that we’ve had six opportunities to be in the Chase and we’ve made it five out of the six,” Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, said. “We’re able to sit up here tonight and say we’ve made this thing.”

    “I wouldn’t have predicted it halfway through the year with the way our season was going, but real appreciative of our guys who kept their heads up and kept working really hard.”

    “Well we just kept working and trying to fix the car,” Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said of his No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet. “We were tore up pretty bad in the front end and was just really loose in. We worked on it and worked on it and fought for everything we could.”

    “It was an unbelievable comeback,” Hamlin, behind the wheel of the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota. “This car really is destroyed and it’s amazing how fast we got this car considering the circumstances.”

    “We were just able to motor up through there.”

    Surprising:  Although Richmond is a short track and tempers traditionally run hot, it was surprising the intensity of the feelings between one-time champion Kurt Busch and five-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who managed to find one another yet again to bring out the eleventh caution of the race.

    “We raced down into Turn One and I locked up the left front trying to avoid him,” Busch, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, said of Johnson. “When he came back to us, you could see it coming.”

    “That’s not something you see from Jimmie Johnson every day,” Busch continued. “So I know we’re in his head.”

    “He’s got to learn to race,” Busch said. “He’s been able to beat guys the last five years just by out driving them just what he has for equipment.”

    “I’m going to beat him fair and square with my Penske Dodge.”

    “I got run over going into (Turn) One,” Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Power of Pride Chevrolet, said after the race. “If you’re going to spin me out, I’m going to spin you out.”

    “It’s just part of it,” Johnson continued. “I’m sure I’ll go find him and talk to him and he’ll run his mouth and we’ll go from there.”

    “I’ve worked very hard to not have any contact with him,” Johnson said. “I made a move to break the draft and I didn’t touch his car.”

    “He instigated it and ran into the side of me,” Johnson continued. “If he can stop running into my Lowe’s Chevrolet, everything will be just fine.”

    Busch finished fifth in the race and, in stark contrast, Johnson finished 31st. Johnson, however, now becomes the only driver to qualify for each of the eight Chase competitions, from 2004 to 2010.

    Johnson is seeded sixth in the Chase and Busch is ironically right behind him in the seventh spot.

    Not Surprising:  In contrast to the hot tempers, three drivers in particular remained calm, cool and collected to not only finish the race with top ten finishes, but secure their places firmly in the Chase.

    Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Kellogg’s/Cheez-It Ford, almost caught winner Kevin Harvick in the final laps of the race, settling instead for a second place finish. This was Edwards’ seventh top-10 finish in 15 races at Richmond and his 17th top -10 finish this season.

    “Well, once I get over the frustration of not winning this thing, I am going to be really excited about how fast our team is,” Edwards said. “We really turned things around tonight.”

    “That is the best we have run on a short track in years,” Edwards continued. “That was huge. I had a good time and I am ready to go get this Chase on.”

    Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, was bitten by the final caution to score a third place finish. This was, however, Gordon’s 24th top-10 finish in 38 races at Richmond.

    “That definitely did not fall our way, but that was a great battle,” Gordon said. “That was fun.”

    “This team has got me excited and they’re on fire,” Gordon continued. “To be up there to take the lead and have a shot at winning that thing was awesome. We’re very excited.”

    And Kyle Busch, behind the wheel of his No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, decked out in a red, white and blue 9/11 tribute paint scheme, scored a sixth place finish after recovering from losing a lap due to a loose wheel.

    “It was just a hard-fought battle tonight, and certainly we had to battle through more adversity than we would have like to,” Busch said. “But that’s what’s going to make us better.”

    “We fought through everything it seemed,” Busch continued. “It was fun to drive that thing.”

    Surprising:  Red Bull Racing had a surprisingly bad day, with Kasey Kahne, behind the wheel of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, wrecking twice, once with a tire going down and once into his own teammate Brian Vickers, behind the wheel of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, as a result of contact with Marcos Ambrose.

    “I just know I started to turn when the 83 hit me hard,” Kahne said. “It was a weird deal.”

    Vickers had an even stronger reaction, expressing his anger both on and off the track at Ambrose. Although speculation had it that Vickers had been parked by NASCAR, he ended up spending a great deal of time on pit road attempting to repair the car before visiting the NASCAR hauler after the race.

    Not Surprising:  It was not surprising that several drivers just out of the top twelve came oh, so close to making their Chase dreams a possibility.

    A.J. Allmendinger, behind the wheel of the No. 43 Best Buy Ford, had a great run, finishing 11th. Yet he still came up short, remaining in the 13th position in the point standings.

    Clint Bowyer, driving the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, also gave it his best college try, only to finish 22nd after a difficult run, including losing his air conditioning ten laps into the race and tangling with fellow competitor David Ragan, also trying to  make the Chase in his No. 6 UPS ‘We Love Logistics’ Ford.

    “I got under David and I didn’t get any room left and spun myself out,” Bowyer said. “I drove as hard as I could and gambled and did what we could to try to win the race.”

    “Nothing’s gone our way since Charlotte half way through our season,” Bowyer continued. “There’s always next year.”

    Surprising:  Stephen Leicht, in only his second career race, had a good run for the No. 36 Golden Corral Chevrolet. Although Leicht finished 24th, he was in contention throughout, demonstrating that his time away from the sport has not hurt his abilities behind the wheel.

    Not Surprising:  Brad Keselowski, again showing that he is NASCAR’s hottest driver, brought the Blue Deuce to the checkered flag in the 12th position. ‘Kes’ has now cemented his place firmly in the Chase seeded 11th.

    “We just didn’t give up,” Keselowski said. “We got a little momentum going.”

    “When the Chase comes you’ve got to out-finish what you have for a car and we’re doing that,” Keselowski continued. “It’s Chase time and we’ve got the Blue Deuce in it.”

  • As Expected, Earnhardt Jr., Stewart and Hamlin All Make the Chase, But Went Through Hell to Get There

    As Expected, Earnhardt Jr., Stewart and Hamlin All Make the Chase, But Went Through Hell to Get There

    The day started off well, beautiful blue sunny skies complimented an emotional tribute to the tenth anniversary of 9/11, which included a planned moment of silence from laps nine through 11 to honor the victims, survivors and those who served in response to the attacks. Danny Rodriguez, the “singing New York City policeman sang “God Bless America, the 29th Infantry Division Band played the National Anthem and R. Lee Ermey, retired US Marine, Actor and Wonderful Pistachios spokesman gave the command, “Drivers let’s get crackin! Drivers, start your engines!”

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”230″][/media-credit]The cars rolled off the track at 7:46 pm and Wonderful Pistachios 400 began with three warm-up laps behind the pace car before Pole Sitter, David Reutimann brought the field to green. That’s where things started to get a little weird. Jaime McMurray quickly took over the lead, followed by Jimmie Johnson who then stole Reuity’s second place position.

    Then came lap two where all hell just broke loose and never stopped.

    The first caution of the night flew on lap two after Andy Lally got into the wall. No one hit pit road except Mike Bliss because well, the race just started ¾ miles earlier. McMurray led the field to green on lap six, with Johnson, Reutimann, Mark Martin and Clint Bowyer rounding up the top-five.

    And then bam, another caution just two laps later after Bowyer and Reutimann got together in turn four, spinning Bowyer’s No. 33 Chevy and collecting Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Scott Speed , Robby Gordon,  Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr. Casey Mears, Marcos Ambrose, , David Gilliland and Travis Kvapil.

    Seriously? Seriously! Two of the three hopefuls to make the Chase involved in a wreck! Gasps could be heard track wide as hearts immediately sank and speculation began. Could NASCAR’s most popular driver Earnhardt Jr. and his crew bandage his broken racecar enough to get him a 20th place finish? How about Richmond’s hometown boy Hamlin? Did he even stand a chance or we’re all hopes dashed at that very moment?

    Both drivers took to pit road on lap 12. Hamlin for front and left sided damage, Earnhardt Jr. for serious front-end damage. Junior was back on pit road on lap 13, as were Kenseth, Truex and Mears. On lap 14 Hamlin went a lap down for an extended pit stop.

    Lap 15 saw crash victims, Earnhardt Jr., Kenseth, Truex and Bowyer back on pit road for repair. Lap 16 brought Kenseth back again and Hamlin with his hood up; possibly dashing his chances of making the Chase.  Lap 17 brought back Earnhardt Jr. and Kenseth and Hamlin once more on lap 18.

    The green flag flew on lap 19 with McMurray in the lead, only to be taken over by Johnson on lap 20, but Kasey Kahne shook things up after a hard hit in turn two bringing out caution number three. The green flag waved four laps later with Johnson leading the pack.

    Yellow flag number four flew on lap 37 after Earnhardt Jr. got into the back of Marco Ambrose, crashing him in the backstretch. Hamlin was the “lucky dog” putting the No. 11 Toyota back on the lead lap. At lap 40 both Ambrose and Hamlin were on pit road. Johnson once again led the field to green on lap 43.

    Lap 51 brought out the fifth caution of the night and ended Kahne’s night after wrecking into the outside and inside wall. Kahne was three-wide with teammate Brian Vickers and Ambrose when Kahne and Vickers got together.  Vickers expressed his displeasure with Ambrose on lap 53 by intentionally wrecking him under caution by slamming Ambrose’s No .9 Ford and blocking his entrance to pit road with his No. 83 Toyota. Vickers is told by NASCAR to park his Red Bull machine in the garage until further notice.

     

    Kenseth stayed out on the track and took the lead on lap 61 before the restart. Lap 69 brought an unexpected pit stop for Kyle Busch, who thought he had a loose wheel, putting him a lap down and in the 33rd position.  Harvick took over the lead position on lap 73 and by lap 93 was closing in on a 28th place Earnhardt Jr, about to put the No. 88 Chevy a lap down. Three laps later Harvick made that happen.

    On lap 103 Tony Stewart quietly clinched his place in the Chase by riding in the 13th position. Earnhardt Jr. sits in 10th place but just 12 points ahead of Keselowski. Mike Bliss brings of the yellow flag for the sixth time on lap 116, nailing the wall in turn two after a tire goes down.

    Vickers returned to the track on lap 120 after sitting in the garage for 68 laps. Harvick led the green flag restart on lap 122. Earnhardt Jr. delivered some earlier payback to Travis Kvapil on lap 152 sending him into the wall in turn two and bringing out the seventh caution of the evening. NASCAR deems Earnhardt Jr. responsible for the accident and did not grant him the free pass to get back onto the lead lap.

    New leader Greg Biffle led the field to green on lap 160 but of course that was short lived because in just two short laps later as Harvick was passing the Biff on the frontstretch, you guessed it another caution! Landon Cassill spun on the frontstretch and the yellow flag flew for the eighth time. Earnhardt Jr. is the “lucky dog” for the second time. Harvick led the pack out again on lap 168.

    History repeated itself again and again. Caution came out again on lap 172 as Paul Menard made hard contact with the wall and sent to the garage, ending his hopes to make the Chase. In a separate incident on the same lap, Regan Smith spun out but was able to keep it off the wall. Lap 185 we saw yellow again for the 10th time as Johnson spun in turn two after making contact with Kurt Busch. Montoya’s No. 42 Chevy was also involved.

    Harvick once again led the field to green on lap 190 with Edwards in second, looking for a dog fight and overtook the lead on lap 201. By lap 224 it was looking a little bleak for Earnhardt Jr. has he rode in the 24th position and Keselowski took over the second spot, threatening to move from his Wild Card place in the Chase to a legit top 10, which in effect would have ended Earnhardt’s chances of making the Chase.

    Edwards in the meantime is pecking off drivers one by one, putting Ambrose a lap down at 237 and Earnhardt Jr. down again at 242. But hey, guess what? Another caution came out on lap 246, number 11, after Johnson and Kurt Busch got together again in turn two. Busch spun out, Johnson hit the wall and sent the No. 48 Chevy to the garage. Earnhardt Jr. got lucky for the third time and got the free pass to get back on the lead lap. Green flag flew on lap 253 with Edwards in the lead.

    And then something magical happened, the race made it 30 laps without incident, but on lap 284 Jeff Burton spun in turn three, slamming into the wall. It happened again on lap 296 for the 13th time as it’s Ambrose’s turn to take a spin. On lap 297 Joey Logano’s engine blew, forcing him to the garage. Edwards lead the field again on lap 301 as the race went green.

    Eight laps later, yep, another caution, we’re up to 14 folks! Reutimann sustained heavy damage after contact with Bowyer and sending him into the wall. Lap 313 Edwards led the field again. Feels a little like “Groundhog Day” doesn’t it?  Harvick stole the lead from Edwards on lap 314 and it went down hill from there for him as he started to slip back in the pack and then on lap 355 was told that he would be ten laps short on fuel.

    Harvick fights to keep the lead as Jeff Gordon makes a hard charge for first place on lap 366. Gordon makes the pass on lap 378 and took over the lead. Earnhardt Jr. went a lap down at 381…again. Just when we thought we’d make it to the end without another caution…surprise! Caution 15 came out on lap 384 as Menard, who returned to the track on lap 254, 79 laps down, spun on the frontstretch and with that, Earnhardt Jr. got lucky once again with the free pass.

    Harvick won the race off of pit road, with Edwards, Gordon and Kyle Busch holding up the rear. Harvick held Edwards off to the finish line and won this emotional, roller coaster of a race in what felt like a fairy tale ending, everything fell into place exactly as predicted. Despite the many hardships that each of the drivers endured during the Wonderful Pistachios 400, some more than other; Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin made the Sprint Cup Chase and we all lived happily ever after.

    Earnhardt Jr. moved up to 17th position at lap 327, enough to lock him into the Chase.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Wonderful Pistachios 400, Richmond International Raceway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=26
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 7 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 48
    2 8 99 Carl Edwards Ford 43
    3 17 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 42
    4 20 6 David Ragan Ford 40
    5 11 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 40
    6 13 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 39
    7 22 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 37
    8 18 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 36
    9 28 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 35
    10 4 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 34
    11 9 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 33
    12 19 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 32
    13 14 16 Greg Biffle Ford 32
    14 2 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 31
    15 10 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 29
    16 27 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 28
    17 30 13 Casey Mears Toyota 27
    18 23 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 26
    19 34 135 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 25
    20 32 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 24
    21 33 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 23
    22 5 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 22
    23 25 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 22
    24 40 36 Stephen Leicht Chevrolet 20
    25 21 51 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 0
    26 1 0 David Reutimann Toyota 18
    27 36 34 David Gilliland Ford 17
    28 35 38 Travis Kvapil Ford 0
    29 6 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 15
    30 29 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 14
    31 3 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 14
    32 38 71 Andy Lally * Ford 12
    33 24 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 11
    34 15 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 10
    35 16 20 Joey Logano Toyota 9
    36 42 32 Mike Bliss Ford 0
    37 37 7 Robby Gordon Dodge 7
    38 12 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 6
    39 31 66 Michael McDowell Toyota 5
    40 26 30 David Stremme Chevrolet 4
    41 39 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
    42 43 55 J.J. Yeley Ford 2
    43 41 46 Scott Speed Ford 0
  • Bristol Motor Speedway Promises to Deliver – Sprint Cup Preview

    Bristol Motor Speedway Promises to Deliver – Sprint Cup Preview

    Bristol Motor Speedway had humble beginnings.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”241″][/media-credit]In 1960 Larry Carrier and Carl Moore visited Charlotte Motor Speedway and came away with a dream. They wanted to build a race track in Tennessee.

    But the goal was not to imitate. They had a vision of a half-mile track with turns banked at 22 degrees and amphitheater style seating that would offer a more personal experience for race fans.

    With the help of R.G. Pope, the dream of Bristol International Speedway became a reality and the first race was run on July 30, 1961. The seating capacity was 18,000.

    A practice session was held for ‘The Volunteer 500’ on July 27, 1961 and Tiny Lund was the first driver on the new track. Fred Lorenzen won the pole for the first race with a speed of 79.225 mph. The 1960 Rookie of the Year, David Pearson, was there, becoming the first driver to drive the No. 3 at Bristol.

    Jack Smith became the first winner at Bristol even though he wasn’t in the car when the race ended. He made it to lap 290 but had to turn the car over to relief driver Johnny Allen, due to severe blistering on his feet.

    Throughout the years, there have been many changes. The name has changed, ownership has changed and the track has undergone a few makeovers.

    In 1969 the banked turns were  increased  up to 36 degrees, the track size was enlarged  to .533 miles and in 1992, they switched to a concrete surface.  Today the seating capacity is approximately 160,000. The current Sprint Cup qualifying record is 128.709 mph and was set by Ryan Newman on March 21, 2003.

    There has however been one constant.  Bristol Motor Speedway is short track racing at its best. The drivers love it and the fans can’t get enough.

    Dale Earnhardt got his first Cup win at Bristol in 1979. Other first time winners include Rusty Wallace, Ernie Irvan, Elliot Sadler and Kurt Busch.

    The 2011 Sprint Cup season has already seen five first time winners. Will we add another name to the list at Bristol Motor Speedway?

    Anticipation is building for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol this Saturday as drivers try to snare a spot in the Chase.

    Kyle Busch has already clinched at least a Wild Card slot in the Chase with his win at Michigan. He is also a favorite to win this weekend. He swept all three series last August and has 11 wins at Bristol, including five in the Cup Series. Those five wins tie him with Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch, for most among active drivers.

    Darrell Waltrip currently holds the record for most driver wins with 12 (7 consecutively).

    We could also be looking at a little rivalry between the Busch brothers. Kyle’s win at Michigan was his 23rd Sprint Cup victory which mirrors brother Kurt’s 23 total wins.

    Brad Keselowski is another one to watch at Bristol Saturday night.

    Only a month ago he was 23rd in points and didn’t appear to have any chance of making the Chase. Three weeks ago, he broke his ankle and everyone counted him out. But then the unthinkable happened. Instead of giving up, he used the injury as motivation and has rebounded to 12th in the points standings.

    His win at Pocono plus a second place finish at Watkins Glen and a third place finish at Michigan have moved him up to only 52 points outside the top ten.

    For all the Chase contenders, the number to remember this weekend is 97. Any driver leaving Bristol with a 97 point lead over 11th place will guarantee themselves a spot in the Chase. All of the top eight drivers can mathematically reach this goal.

    On the Wild Card front, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin have laid claim to the top two spots. Keselowski has two wins and Hamlin has one victory. Hamlin scores the second spot because of points position.

    Paul Menard in 18th place and David Ragan in 20th, each have one win and are still in the running for a wild card slot. Marcos Ambrose and Regan Smith each have victories, but currently sit outside the top 20.

    Bristol is also the final race for drivers to become eligible for the Sprint Summer Showdown. The Bristol winner will join Paul Menard, Brad Keselowski, Marcos Ambrose and Kyle Busch, who have all secured a spot. If one of these eligible drivers wins at Atlanta, they will claim a million dollar payout. The driver’s charity and one fan will also receive a million dollars.

    It’s getting crunch time in the ‘Race to the Chase’ and Bristol Motor Speedway promises to deliver a night of excitement. You never know what will happen but one thing is certain. You don’t want to miss it.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Pure Michigan 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Pure Michigan 400

    Irish eyes were smiling in the hills surrounding Michigan International Speedway, keeping the rain which had plagued the last two Cup races, at bay. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 42nd annual running of the Pure Michigan 400.

    [media-credit name=”Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”255″][/media-credit]Surprising:  Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion, could not have summed up the surprisingly bad day for his manufacturer and team any more succinctly.

    With a surprisingly uncharacteristic engine failure, Edwards was Ford’s worst finisher at Michigan, a track where not only has Ford excelled but where Roush Fenway Racing has traditionally had free reign to play at the front of the field.

    “I thought we would have a Ford in Victory Lane,” Edwards said. “I thought one way or another, we would win this thing.”

    “It was a very tough race,” Edwards said. “We weren’t expecting a failure like that.”

    Edwards lagged behind his Roush Fenway Racing teammates Matt Kenseth, who finished in 10th in the No. 17 Kroger Ford Fusion; David Ragan, driving the No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion, who brought home a 12th place finish; and pole sitter Greg Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion, who finished a disappointing 20th after leading the most laps in the race.

    Biffle was as surprised by his disappointing finish as his teammate Edwards was of his finish and engine failure.

    “I don’t know what happened,” Biffle said. “I have a feeling we kinda got a bum set of tires and then we got off on our adjustments. I really don’t know what happened.”

    Not Surprising:  After being ever so close to Victory Lane at both Pocono and Watkins Glen, it was no surprise that the driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota outran a five-time champ in a green-white-checkered finish to finally took the checkered flag and made his trademark celebratory bow.

    This victory was Kyle Busch’s first at Michigan International Speedway. It was his fifth top-10 finish in 14 races at Michigan.

    “Today the car was flawless,” Busch said. “We knew the restart would be treacherous but I got a good run on the top-side and I was able to take the lead off Turn Two and set our sights on the checkered flag from there.”

    With his fourth victory of the season, including this win at the Irish hills, Busch was also the first driver to officially clinch his berth in the championship Chase. And with Edwards’ poor finish, Busch now sits alone at the top of the leader board.

    “It feels awesome,” Busch said of his guaranteed Chase spot. “It gives us an added bonus to just go out there and race for wins. We certainly feel good about it.”

    Surprising:  Brad Keselowski, behind the wheel of the Blue Deuce for Penske Racing, continues to surprise all by starring in his own sequel, ‘Iron Man Part Three.’ Keselowski finished third in the Pure Michigan 400, his third straight top-three finish since breaking his ankle and wrenching his back in a testing crash.

    This was Keselowski’s first top-10 finish in five races at Michigan. With his finish, Keselowski also moved ever so close to Chase contention, moving up two positions in the point standings to 12th.

    “It was a good effort,” Keselowski said. “It was a great day, with great execution and I’m proud of my team.”

    “I think we’re in pretty good shape,” Keselowski said of his Chase chances. “I feel better every week.”

    Not Surprising:  With the Chase race heating up, it is no surprise that the driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet has found his groove, as well as his lucky horseshoe. Jimmie Johnson, who like Busch has also never won at Michigan, scored a career-best second place finish.

    This was Johnson’s eighth top-10 finish in 20 races in the Irish hills. It is also his 15th top-10 finish in the 2011 season to date.

    “It was a great finish for the Lowe’s team,” Johnson said. “We had a tough start to the race on pit road and on the race track but we got that ironed out.”

    “Good runs put so much confidence in the driver and the team,” Johnson continued. “It felt good to be racing with the leader and have a shot at it.”

    Surprising:  Although Stewart-Haas Racing had a surprisingly good day at Michigan, with Ryan Newman finishing fifth in his No. 39 Wix Filters Chevrolet, and team owner Tony Stewart also finishing top ten in his No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet, the latter seemed surprisingly depressed after the race.

    “I don’t know what we got to do to get one balanced for a day but we haven’t figured it out yet,” Stewart said. “We were on both sides of the coin today between tight and loose.”

    “I’ll be perfectly honest at this stage in the deal if we’re going to run this bad, it really doesn’t matter if we make the Chase or not,” Smoke continued. “Our stuff’s so bad right now we’re wasting one of those top 12 spots.”

    Not Surprising:  On the flip side, it was no surprise to see the Hendrick Motorsports gang have a good day on the sweeping turns of Michigan International Speedway. Following closely behind runner up Jimmie Johnson, HMS teammate Mark Martin finished fourth in the No. 5 Carquest/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.

    “It’s an incredible privilege to drive stuff like that,” Martin said. “We were right there and could see the lead and anytime you can see the lead, you feel like you have a crack at it. I feel very fortunate.”

    HMS four-time champ Jeff Gordon also had a decent day at the office, finishing sixth in the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet, moving up another spot in the point standings to sixth as well. Gordon also made history, marking over 22,000 laps led in his career.

    “All in all, a solid day for the Dupont Chevrolet,” Gordon said. “I loved the effort and the cars and team that we are bringing to the race track. It was a lot of fun out there.”

    The final driver, piloting the No. 88 National Guard/Amp Energy Chevrolet for Mr. Hendrick, had a fairly good race as well. In spite of pit problems, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished fourteenth, keeping himself solidly in the ninth spot in the Chase standings.

    “I had some awesome runs and the car was really fast,” Junior said. “And then I put on some tires and I couldn’t drive the car. We had some bad stuff happen on pit road, but we drove it back up there.”

    Surprising:  With a starting spot of fourth, the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota had high hopes for redemption in Michigan, as well as the hope of keeping his Chase chances alive. Surprisingly, in spite of Denny Hamlin’s new engine, he struggled throughout the race, hitting the wall and heading to the garage to repair significant right front suspension damage.

    Hamlin finished the race in 35th and lost two positions in the point standings, falling to a disappointing 14th, barely hanging on to any chances of a Chase berth.

    Not Surprising:  Coming off his top-10 finish at the Glen, it was not surprising that A J Allmendinger almost pulled off another one at MIS. The driver of the No. 43 Best Buy Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports powered through the field from his 29th place start to finish 11th.

    Surprising:  On the flip side, the Dinger’s teammate Marcos Ambrose, winner of the Cup race at Watkins Glen last weekend and the Nationwide race in Montreal this weekend, had a surprisingly frustrating day.

    The driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion started out strong but then was tagged from behind by Kevin Harvick while trying to pit, shoving his car head first into the pit wall, relegating him to a 27th place finish.

    “That was frustrating,” Ambrose said. “We had a good car and we were top-10 a lot of the day.”

    “We just kept getting tighter and tighter,” Ambrose continued. “We had a hole in the grill. That really hurt us and we ended up turned around in the pit there at the end, so that hurt us too.”

    Not Surprising: Although the driver of the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet qualified poorly and started 35th, it was no surprise to see him drive as hard as he could to a top-ten finish. With Clint Bowyer’s 8th place finish at Michigan, he has managed to hang on to the 11th spot in the Chase standings.

    “It was a good, hard fought battle all day long,” Bowyer said of his race. “From where we started, starting 35th, getting up there in the top ten, we had a good car all day long.”

    “We gained but not near enough. We’re running out of time but if we keep digging, who knows what’s going to happen.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen

    Not to be outdone by the weather at Pocono last weekend, Watkins Glen International took it one step further with a full course, one day rain delay. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Monday matinee Cup race at the Glen.

    [media-credit name=”Ed Coombs” align=”alignright” width=”245″][/media-credit]Surprising:  In a race in which he started from the pole position and clearly dominated, leading three times for a record-high 49 laps, it was surprising that Kyle Busch was not in Victory Lane yet again. The driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota took the checkered flag in the third position, one back from his runner up position at Pocono the weekend before.

    Busch lost the lead on the final restart, a green-white-checkered one at that, of the race. Known for his usually stout re-starts, Busch made a surprising mistake in Turn One, taking it just a bit wide enough to allow both Brad Keselowski and Marcos Ambrose through to the lead.

    “Just knew exactly what not to do and did it anyway,” Busch said. “I just screwed up.”

    “I felt like we were right there and had a shot to win,” Busch continued. “I knew it was going to come down to one corner and I messed it up.”

    Surprisingly, although Busch did not score the win, he did re-emerge as the co-leader in the point standings. Busch climbed two spots to tie with Carl Edwards, both atop the Chase leader board with 752 points each.

    Not Surprising:  It was not surprising to see road course redemption collide with another first time winner, resulting in Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion, being in Victory Lane.  With his loss of the win at Sonoma due to his own error firmly behind him, Ambrose redeemed himself to become NASCAR’s fifth first-time winner of the season.

    “I’ve fought so much to get here, to finally win and be in Victory Lane is a dream come true,” Ambrose said. “To win in the Cup Series is an incredible feeling and I’m very, very proud.”

    Ambrose’s win was Richard Petty Motorsports first since 2009 when Kasey Kahne won on the road course at Infineon. Ambrose’s win officially came on his 105th Cup start.

    “It’s just a dream day,” Ambrose continued. “The sacrifices you make to be a contender in the Cup Series, to finally get to Victory Lane is a dream come true for me.”

    Surprising:  As surprising as Brad Keselowski’s ‘Iron Man’ performance was at Pocono, with his win there in spite of his broken ankle, the driver of the No. 2 ‘Blue Deuce’ pulled off an ‘Iron Man Redux’, with a runner up score at the Glen.

    “I wouldn’t say it got easier,” Keselowski said of racing with his injured ankle. “But when your car is fast, you can put a lot of stuff behind you and make it work.”

    “I think that’s about as good as the racing gets right there,” Keselowski continued. “I’m proud to be a part of it. Life is good when you have fast race cars.”

    Not Surprising:  It was not surprising that the stars of several other traditionally good road racers shone at the Glen. Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, finished seventh and AJ Allmendinger, who started outside pole in his No. 43 Best Buy Ford, finished eighth.

    Allmendinger was particularly proud to not only see his Richard Petty Motorsports teammate in Victory Lane, but also took great pride in his comeback after an altercation with Kurt Busch early in the race.

    “It’s great to see Marcos in Victory Lane and it’s great for the team,” Allmendinger said. “I’m proud of my guys and proud of the way we fought back all day. The car was fast.”

    “Our Target Chevy was really good,” Juan Pablo Montoya said. “I thought we had a winning car. We were really close but it was all okay. It was a good day for us.”

    Surprising:  It was most surprising to see Boris Said and Greg Biffle channeling the fighting spirits of two other competitors, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch. This week, instead of Johnson and Busch feuding, it was Said and Biffle who were trading paint on the track and harsh words in the garage as well.

    Said, standing in for Landon Cassill in the No. 51 Phoenix Construction/Thank A Teacher Today Security Benefit Chevrolet, was furious with the way Biffle, in his No. 16 Valvoline Ford, raced him in the waning laps, especially since Biffle was a lap down at the time.

    Said accused Biffle of ‘flipping him off’ and Biffle countered by accusing Said of causing the last race crash that sent two cars hard into the wall. After the race, the disagreement really heated up into not only harsh words but also some attempted punches.

    “He wouldn’t even let me get out of the car and he comes over and throws a few little baby punches,” Said said of Biffle. “Then when I get out, he runs away and hides behind some big guys.”

    “But he won’t hide from me long,” Said continued. “I won’t settle it out on the track. It’s not right to wreck cars.”

    “But he’ll show up at a race with a black eye one of these days.”

    Biffle, for his part, had equally strong reactions.

    “Let me tell you something,” Biffle said. “Boris, the ‘road course ringer’ caused that wreck. He did the same thing to me earlier in the race.”

    “Then ‘Mr. Class’ pulls in behind my truck after the race today,” Biffle continued. “How unprofessional and disrespectful.”

    Not Surprising:  It was not surprising that the aforementioned feud between Johnson and Busch did not continue to percolate at the Glen, especially since the two drivers were nowhere near each other on the race track.

    The driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge spun early in the race and then lost his brakes on Lap 49 after a tire failure sent him hard into the wall. Busch did not finish the race, scored in the 38th position, causing him to fall two positions to sixth in the point standings.

    “I had a big problem getting into the braking zones today,” Busch said. “I had to crank eight rounds of front brake into our car just to survive.”

    “All that does is generate brake heat and I blew out the left-front tire,” Busch continued. “It was a bummer of a day.”

    Johnson, on the other hand, had a top-ten finish in his No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet. The five-time champ currently sits just six points behind Chase co-leaders Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch.

    “We had a great day,” Johnson said. “To have the pace that we did all day long, even though we weren’t up there leading, we had a very fast race car and that’s what we wanted to have here.”

    Surprising:  It was a bit surprising that a 15th place finish left NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his crew chief Steve Letarte feeling so very optimistic. Both agreed that they ‘did what they had to do’ to solidify their place in the Chase, a place where Junior has not been for the past three years.

    Dale Junior, admittedly not a lover of road course racing, scored his first top-15 in six years of racing at the Glen. The driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Amp Energy Chevrolet now sits solidly in the ninth spot in the Chase standings.

    “I think we’re a good enough team to make the Chase bar none,” Earnhardt, Jr. said. “We should be able to get in there no problem.”

    Not Surprising:  It was not surprising at all that the calls for safer barriers at Watkins Glen International have intensified after several very hard hits at the road course in the midst of the Finger Lakes.

    Not only did Kurt Busch hit hard into the wall, but Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, also lost his brakes and took a nasty lick head on into the tire barrels.

    “Something blew out in the left front,” Hamlin said after being checked and released from the infield care center after his hit. “I had no brakes. There was nothing you could do.”

    The worst of the hard hits, however, came in the final lap of the race where David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 UPS “We Love Logistics” Ford, wrecked hard himself and then spun into David Reutimann, behind the wheel of the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, sending him into the air and into the wall as well.

    Both Davids were rattled but escaped major injuries, exiting gingerly from their mangled race cars as they attempted to catch their collective breaths.

    “It’s just a product of close quarters racing at the end,” Ragan said. “I’m sore. That was a hard hit.”

    “I looked down at my feet and my pedals and my leg rests were all pushed over,” Ragan continued. “It’s a shame that a race track we go to in 2011 doesn’t have a better wall design all the way around the race track.”

    “Hopefully they’ll look at that,” Ragan said. “I’ve been to some dirt tracks that have better walls than that.”

    “This is one of the bigger hits I would say, but it’s part of the gig,” Reutimann said. “You sign up to do this stuff every once and awhile and you’re going to hit something.”

    “Overall I’m okay,” Reutimann continued. “I’m thinking where I hit would probably be a good place for SAFER barriers.”

    “I’m good and will be ready for Michigan next week.”

  • Watkins Glen – A Siren’s Song

    Watkins Glen – A Siren’s Song

    If Sonoma is the wicked witch of the west, with her short track tendencies and her hot temper attitude. Then Watkins Glen is the evil witch of the east, with her high speeds and dangerous tempting of drivers to drive in just a little deeper go just a little faster. After a days delay due to rain, she rewarded patience and collected those who gave into her sirens song.

    After coming close enough to see the checkers wave. After having fate rip the flag from his hands. Marcos Ambrose finally silenced the reminiscing of his close calls when he took the checkers in very convincing style. Ambrose held off a hard charging Brad Keselowski in the final turns to bring home his first Sprint Cup win.

    [media-credit name=”Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”234″][/media-credit]Although the checkers flew with the yellow for two serious wrecks on the final lap both occurred behind the leaders leaving Ambrose, Keselowski and Kyle Busch to bring them all to the finish line wide open and going for broke.

    As the wind caught the checkered flag, a sickening stillness spread on the breeze as the carnage of the wreck involving David Ragan and David Reutimann became apparent via the big screen on the front stretch. Reutimann was air born. He hit two walls and the car appeared to disintegrate around him. Ragan hit an oblique wall dead head on after contact from Boris Said and then bounced into Reutimann sending him airborne when they both hit the outside Armco retaining wall.

    This was the third serious wreck of the day. The first saw Kurt Busch lose his brakes entering turn 5 and go head on into the tire barrier. “I had a big problem getting into the braking zones today — just rear brakes locking up,” Busch said after the crash. “I had to crank eight rounds of front brake into our [car] just to survive. All that does is generate brake heat, and I blew out the left-front tire.

    “It was a bummer of a day and not anything that we expected. It must have been something with the brake package. Whatever Keselowski found at Road Atlanta [during his Aug. 3 testing accident], I had a problem with today.”

    The second of the day was Denny Hamlin’s crash in turn 1 on lap 65. Hamlin’s car lost its brakes and hit a tire barrier and guard rail head on at 60mph moving a fence backwards almost 2 feet whose posts were set in concrete.

    “This was just terrifying,” Hamlin said, “because you know there’s nothing you can do, and you’re heading straight for the fence. It’s the [most scared] I’ve been, by far.”

    “You’re obviously traveling fast. This is obviously the fastest road course,” said David Ragan after his crash, “It’s crazy, though, in this day and age to not have SAFER barriers and a little better design. That guardrail and all has probably been here since the 1900s when this race track was built. It’s kind of absurd. There are dirt tracks that have better SAFER barriers and wall systems.”

    Reutimann who was struck in the leg by a piece of flying debris that cut through his uniform, when he became air borne and struck both inside and outside armco guard rails. “This is one of the bigger hits I would say, but it’s part of the gig,” Reutimann said. “You sign up to do this stuff, every once in a while you’re going to hit something. As fast as we’re going, you hit stuff pretty hard. I’m good and will be ready for Michigan next week. I’m thinking where I hit would probably be a good place for SAFER barriers. So, maybe we should look at that next time we come back. Overall, I’m OK and ready to get out of here.”

    Jeff Gordon was a victim in the same spot in the track last year and was fortunate enough to walk away from a very nasty crash. Although Gordon finished 13th and was not involved in the wreck, he certainly sympathized with the drivers who were involved.

    “You can’t have walls like that. You’re going to find those places eventually, so they’ve got to fix them. And unfortunately, this one has been found before. And we’ve seen what can happen, and we’re very fortunate we don’t have any injuries coming from that, because obviously it could have been much worse. But anytime you’re in a race car and you’re trying to go fast, accidents are going to happen. And when they do, you have to make sure they have a clear path for cars to exit the race track. In this situation, they’ve got a wall that [produces] not only a big impact, but puts it right back out into traffic.” Stated the four time champion.

    In fairness not every driver voiced a concern about the barriers. Race winner Marcos Ambrose had a different perspective on the tracks barriers coming from a road course back ground. “I don’t drive around this place looking at any one spot saying, ‘Ooh, that looks nasty to me.’ I think they’ve done great with what they’ve got,” he said. “If you don’t have a guardrail off Turn 2, you end up going down a bank, so that’s not good, either. So I think the track itself is fine. I think we just have to keep working on safety. All the drivers walked away. I’ve got no complaints about this place. I think it’s a safe race track. We’re just driving these cars flat out, and it creates problems. … I think the track is a classic road-racing circuit. You don’t want to make it too sterile. You’ve got to have bumps and lumps and change of camber and roughness and all that kind of stuff that makes it what it is.”

    But the facts remain that one more time NASCAR has taken a wait and see attitude. It took the death of J.D. McDuffie here to create the bus stop chicane to insure that the heavy high powered stock cars could make the turn safely. One would think with the history of serious career and life threatening injuries that Watkins Glen has that NASCAR would want to take a proactive stance and say Ok we need you to look into making changes here and here. But that is simply not the case.

    Nascar will review the black box information from all the wrecked cars and see if the G Spikes were high enough to warrant S.A.F.E.R. barriers being placed in the trouble spots. G Spikes occur at impact and are a measurement of the gravitational force that the driver sustains. It takes a certain level for the sanctioning body to mandate the S.A.F.E.R. barrier technology be placed in the area by the track.

    For the third week in a row, there were safety concerns for drivers. For the third week in a row lives were at risk. Again it calls into question the Driver Safety First Initative of NASCAR. Obviously this car has incredible safety systems. But is that enough?

    If the technology exists to make the enviroment safer to race in why on earth would you not have it in place? If driver safety first is your first priority, so much so that unlike other series, Sprint Cup does not race in the wet, why would you not insist that the technology be in place at tracks where they race?

    Spokesman for Watkins Glen International Speedway, Ryan Lake stated post race, “Driver safety is certainly our No. 1 concern, and I think our past shows that we’re more than willing to do what’s necessary — such as two years ago, when we made those changes with the extended runoffs and SAFER barriers,” track spokesman Ryan Lake said. “After this race, we’ll certainly speak with NASCAR, and if they come back and say we need to make changes, we’re certainly going to do that.” The key words here are “if they come back and say we need to make changes, we’re certainly going to do that.”

    Why after the crashes we saw this weekend would you need NASCAR to tell you that you have a problem? It’s apparent that there is a problem and it’s not the first time the problem has shown itself. Why? Because S.A.F.E.R. barriers are expensive. Very expensive. It’s in the neighborhood of $500 a foot. That isn’t the only problem. Dr. Dean Sicking, creator of S.A.F.E.R. barriers said, “The truth is, along with the expense, there wasn’t enough steel tubing in the world to do it. [put safer barriers on every wall]

    “We would have used it all and still come up short. We had to select the areas where a crash was most likely to occur.”

    The S.A.F.E.R. barrier is comprised of hollow rectangular tubes in front of foam padding, which is in front of the concrete walls. S.A.F.E.R. stands for Steel and Foam Energy Reduction.

    NASCAR is aware of the risks. “Obviously, we want to have the S.A.F.E.R. walls in the areas where we have the most risk,” NASCAR CEO Brian France said, “I know we’re always looking at it, and every track is a little bit different.

    “Some are road courses, so you can’t just say every wall. It may not be practical or it may not be necessary. But clearly in areas of high risk, we have to do better.”

    Now, the restrictions are understandable. The outside factors are very apparent. But the fact remains that if NASCAR is going to put driver’s safety first then as a whole the sport should be proactive in the area of driver safety not reactive. It should not take losing a driver or having one seriously injured before we take the steps to prevent it. This is the second consecutive year that this turn and area of the track has been shown to be unsafe. Yet we wait and see what happens. The time is here for NASCAR to say this is what happens and if you want to keep this date, you will fix this area of the track.

    The sky was growing dark over the track and teams were hurriedly preparing to finally go home. Some breathed sighs of relief. Some celebrated a victory over the evil witch. Some just sighed happy to be returning home with limited pain. As the thunder rumbled far off more than one looked over their shoulder towards the chicane where the destruction had occurred and wondered out loud, how close did we really come? The slowly falling rain drops seemed to whisper the answer they all knew as they hit the tops of metal trailers and sent a universal shutter down the spines of all present.

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

    Congratulations to Kurt Busch and the Ruby Tuesdays/Discount Tire team on their victory in the NNS this weekend. Kudos to Jimmie Johnson on racing to win a race in a series, where he had nothing to gain or lose.

    Congratulations to Marcos Ambrose and his Stanley Tools team. It was awesome to see the King and Todd Parrot back in victory lane. It’s been too long. It was also a great thing to watch Marcos finally put to bed all the almosts.

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