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Kahne Takes Truck Series Win at Charlotte in Dramatic Drag Race to Checkered Flag

CONCORD, N.C.—Driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports, in the organization’s second start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, polesitter Kasey Kahne won a two-lap drag race against Erik Jones to earn his fifth victory in six starts in the series.

Kahne’s victory in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway denied the dominant No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota of Jones, who led 88 laps but ran a disappointing second after a late caution forced a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the race five laps past its scheduled distance of 134 laps.

In his six Truck Series starts, Kahne has five wins and a second-place finish.

Kahne’s margin of victory was a mere .005 seconds, tied for second closest in series history behind the .002-second margin of Kyle Busch over Aric Almirola at Talladega in October 2010.

“Jones was really fast,” Kahne said. “He was kind of in a league of his own when he could get to clean air. I knew if we could stay back and stay with him (on the final restart), as long as he didn’t get to clean air, it would be all right. I was able to side-draft, and it worked out perfect to get back to the line.”

Less than half a lap before Jones would have taken the white flag—after Jones made a deft pass for the lead to the outside on Lap 131—Daniel Hemric’s accident in Turn 1 caused the fifth caution of the night, sending the race to overtime.

Jones picked the outside lane for the final restart on Lap 138, but couldn’t clear Kahne, who side-drafted Jones’ Toyota Tundra off the final corner and beat him to the stripe.

In the wake of last week’s misfortune at Kansas Speedway, where Jones led 151 of 167 laps but ran short of fuel while leading late in the race, Friday night’s result left the young driver bitterly disappointed.

“It’s really a shame that we can’t bring it home,” Jones said. “I really thought tonight was the night. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t do it. It just sucks. I don’t know what to say. It just really, really hurts. I can’t believe it, man. I really wanted this one, and it’s hard to come home second.”

Interestingly, though Kahne and Jones qualified on the front row, both drivers had to start the race from the rear of the field, Kahne for an unapproved adjustment (changing a broken shock) and Jones for arriving late to the drivers’ meeting.

But by Lap 26, after the first caution, Jones had the lead, a position he maintained until the late caution gave Kahne the opportunity he needed.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race – NC Education Lottery 200
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, North Carolina
Friday, May 15, 2015

1. (1) Kasey Kahne (i), Chevrolet, 139, $48454.
2. (2) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 139, $36563.
3. (9) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 139, $26622.
4. (7) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 139, $22672.
5. (4) Brad Keselowski (i), Ford, 139, $17402.
6. (11) John Wes Townley, Chevrolet, 139, $17157.
7. (17) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 139, $16592.
8. (3) Matt Tifft, Toyota, 139, $16481.
9. (22) Justin Boston #, Toyota, 139, $16342.
10. (18) Spencer Gallagher #, Chevrolet, 139, $17182.
11. (16) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 139, $15761.
12. (6) Scott Lagasse Jr., Chevrolet, 139, $15566.
13. (15) Brandon Jones #, Chevrolet, 139, $15427.
14. (13) Cameron Hayley #, Toyota, 139, $15316.
15. (19) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 139, $15606.
16. (10) Ben Kennedy, Toyota, 139, $15295.
17. (5) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 139, $15040.
18. (20) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 138, $14984.
19. (30) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 137, $14929.
20. (29) Kyle Fowler (i), Chevrolet, 136, $15373.
21. (23) Tyler Tanner, Chevrolet, 136, $13546.
22. (8) Ray Black Jr. #, Chevrolet, 135, $13485.
23. (27) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 135, $12457.
24. (26) Caleb Holman, Chevrolet, 133, $12430.
25. (28) Wendell Chavous #, Chevrolet, Engine, 132, $12525.
26. (21) Mason Mingus, Chevrolet, Accident, 114, $12347.
27. (14) David Gilliland (i), Ford, Vibration, 84, $12318.
28. (31) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, Accident, 62, $12071.
29. (12) Korbin Forrister #, Chevrolet, Steering Box, 38, $12016.
30. (24) Justin Jennings, Chevrolet, Electrical, 33, $11516.
31. (25) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, Electrical, 26, $10016.
32. (32) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Suspension, 9, $9016.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 128.947 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 37 Mins, 01 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.005 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 25 laps.
Lead Changes: 12 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Kahne(i) 0; B. Keselowski(i) 1-4; M. Crafton 5-22; J. Jennings 23; M. Crafton 24-25; E. Jones # 26-65; M. Crafton 66-69; E. Jones # 70-108; T. Reddick 109; E. Jones # 110; K. Kahne(i) 111-130; E. Jones # 131-138; K. Kahne(i) 139;.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): E. Jones # 4 times for 88 laps; M. Crafton 3 times for 24 laps; K. Kahne(i) 2 times for 21 laps; B. Keselowski(i) 1 time for 4 laps; J. Jennings 1 time for 1 lap; T. Reddick 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: M. Crafton – 217; E. Jones # – 201; T. Reddick – 199; J. Sauter – 182; J. Townley – 160; T. Peters – 158; C. Hayley # – 153; J. Boston # – 149; S. Gallagher # – 145; D. Hemric # – 136.

May 16, 2015
The Final Word – A fine weekend at Kansas might be a prelude to a similar fine time in Charlotte

It was a fine weekend. Sure, you may think I say that due to Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhard, Jr. and Jeff Gordon coming across the line in that order in Kansas. Okay, there might be some truth in that.

Our family got together to celebrate a 3-year-old’s birthday, and that was fun. We visited with my mother in her big day on Sunday. I did not actually get to watch the race until about 1:30 in the dark on Sunday morning, thus the rain delay lasted only minutes for me. That was a very good thing. Oh, did I mention the finish?

This is not to say a good time was had by all. Joey Logano had a hard-charging entry, but a couple of miscues on pit road left him continually having to come back through the field. He got as far as fifth before time ran out. Not bad, but he could have had more.

For some, running in the Top 30 is a big deal, as it turned out to be for the likes of Michael Annett, Matt DiBenedetto, Ty Dillon, Josh Wise and Landon Cassill. Not Top 20’s, grant you, but good enough for a moral victory of sorts.

Danica Patrick was a Top 30 car, but 27th is nothing to brag about, especially now that she has tumbled out of a Chase place. Yet, it was better than the days barely tolerated by some others. Trevor Bayne is with Roush-Fenway, a good place from which to race, one would think. Not if 31st is your fate. David Ragan went to MWR, but after a trip through the mud he wallowed in 33rd. Tony Stewart? Well, he looked good early, then he checked up to avoid a mishap ahead of him. Too bad Brett Moffitt did not. He ran into Tony, who then hit the wall, and any hope for a good day went up in…er…smoke. Thirty-ninth is not what he needed.

Another great day for Hendrick, with a winner and two more in the Top Five, with Kasey Kahne back in 17th. Stewart-Haas had a couple up front, with Kurt Busch getting a Top Ten, while the other two were deep in the woods. Penske had a pair of Top Tens, Matt Kenseth was sixth for Gibbs but Carl Edwards had to be content with 20th. Erik Jones looked great in his debut, at least until he lost it late to kill the car against the fence, while Denny Hamlin’s car went for junk late as the latter pair finished 40th and 41st.

Another very competitive day for Furniture Row’s Martin Truex Jr., though he had to settle for ninth in the end, yet only trails Harvick in points garnered. That elusive win does not seem too far off. As for Roush Fenway, Greg Biffle was 12th. The rest were outside the Top Twenty. In fact, not a one of them can be found amongst the Top Twenty in the season standings. They can only dream of being as good as Danica, and that is not saying much.

This Saturday, it’s on to Charlotte and the All-Star race. Winners since the 2014 Daytona 500 right through to Kansas are eligible to run, along with all previous All-Star winners still running full-time, the top two from the preliminary showdown earlier Saturday, and a fan vote for a favorite. Last year, Josh Wise was the beneficiary of a social media campaign, which he no doubt thought was great, though I thought was rather stupid and undeserving. Then again, what do I know?

Well, I do know I’ll be watching to see if Mr. Johnson can win again at Charlotte and take his fifth classic. Maybe Harvick will be up there. Maybe Junior. Hasn’t Gordon won this three times? Come to think of it, a repeat of last weekend this upcoming weekend might be rather fine.

May 10, 2015
Surprising and Not Surprising: SpongeBob SquarePants 400

With the hopes of attracting a younger crowd to the sport with appearances by Squidward Tentacles, Larry the Lobster, and Patrick Star, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 5th annual SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Surprising: Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick continued to host their own version of a swap meet, trading wins and runner-up finishes back and forth yet again. This time, the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet took the checkered flag first, with the driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s/Budweiser Chevrolet scoring runner-up honors.

Harvick and Johnson have been having such a swap meet that in the races where Harvick has finished second, Johnson has won each race.

“We won a championship on pit calls and tires, and everything fell our way,” Harvick said. “We’ve had a lot of things go our way, and we’ve had a lot of things work out, and running up front and having a chance to win, it’s almost harder to win the races when you’re leading races, because you’ve got guys that are a little off pace, like the first four were that stayed out, hoping that they could get a good restart and get the clean air and their car would hold on just long enough to get the win.”

“It’s no frustration, just keep going at it.”

“I still think he’s the car to beat right now,” Johnson said of Harvick. “We’re finding ways to win races, but I just think that they have a bit more control of their own destiny right now. We’re getting better. We’re closing the gap a little bit each week. But we’ve still got a little bit of work to do.”

Not Surprising: In spite of not taking home the trophy, Martin Truex Jr. kept his chin up, noting that in addition to scoring his tenth top-10 finish in 11 races and maintaining his second place in the point standings, he took another step forward toward his Victory Lane goal.

“I felt like tonight we kind of gained a big step in speed, and hopefully that’s something that will continue,” Truex said. “We brought a new car here this weekend and it’s kind of the newest and latest and greatest that we’ve come up with and definitely feel like we closed that gap a little bit.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see if that plays out on other racetracks, but felt like if we can keep doing that and keep finding little things here and there to close that gap and keep being consistent putting ourselves in position I feel like we can win some races.”

“We’ve got a great team, we’ve got everything we need to do it, and we’ve got a lot of confidence, so we’ve just got to keep getting in that position and try to close the deal.”

Surprising: With a new crew chief on board, Bono Manion now in for Drew Blickensderfer, Sam Hornish Jr. fared a little better than usual on the intermediate track of Kansas.

“We had a good car and we took two there at the end,” the driver of the No. 9 Medallion Bank Ford said. “I was a little scared to adjust on it because it had felt good where it was at and we were a little on the free side and I didn’t want to free it up too much.”

“It ended up being too tight and the guys did a great job making good calls to get the car better and the pit crew did a good job.”

“It is something to build on and a big improvement for us as far as our downforce racing this year. I am appreciative to have a run like we did.”

Not Surprising: For the second time in as many races, a driver took NASCAR to task for not throwing the caution. Last race at Talladega, it was Carl Edwards expressing his concern about the lack of caution after wrecking and this race it was Denny Hamlin voicing the same.

“There was no caution there and then we cut a left rear, blew it off of turn four and spun out, hit the wall at the start finish line,” Hamlin said. “I keep spinning out, I keep hitting the wall and I can’t figure out why everyone is still coming at 200 and I look and the green light is still on.”

“They didn’t throw a caution until seven seconds after I wrecked. Luckily nobody hit us. They’ll continue to monitor the situation, I’m guessing is what they’ll say.”

The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota finished a disappointing 41^st.

Surprising: ‘New’ drivers David Ragan, this week for the first time in the No. 55 SquarePants/Aaron’s Dream Machine for Michael Waltrip Racing, and Erik Jones, making his Sprint Cup debut in the No. 18 Red Nose Day Camry subbing for Kyle Busch, both had difficult days.

Ragan finished 33^rd and Jones finished 40^th after being involved in accidents later in the race.

“It’s definitely nice to be as fast as we were and we had a great M&M’s Camry, but I just got loose off (turn) four and lost it,” Jones said. “All my fault, guess I have to go back and figure it out. You know, we had a good night before that.”

“Something to take from it. I’m ready to do another one — I hope I get another shot.”

Not Surprising: As has occurred at most intermediate tracks to date, Chevrolet was the dominant manufacturer, scoring the first four spots in the finishing order. In addition to Johnson winning and Harvick scoring runner-up, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Talladega race winner, and Hendrick teammate Jeff Gordon finished in the third and fourth places respectively.

Surprising: Drivers in contention for Rookie of the Year honors finished surprisingly badly. Jeb Burton, leading ROTY candidate had all kinds of problems, wrecking and spinning his No. 26 Maxim Fantasy Sports Toyota.

Brett Moffitt, behind the wheel of the No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford was the highest finishing rookie in 34^th.

Not Surprising: At least one NASCAR driver has finally found a home after moving from team to team and even out of the sport at one point in his career. Prior to the race, JTG Daugherty Racing announced the AJ Allmendinger would continue as the team’s driver for five more years.

“I have always said I have a verbal lifetime contract with JTG Daugherty Racing, but I want to announce today that I have officially signed a contract for a five-year deal,” Allmendinger said. “It’s pretty awesome to see our team thriving and I love our sponsors.”

They allow me to do what I love to do. I know Tad (Geschickter, team owner) has busted his butt to put all of this together and he has the business model figured out.”

Allmendinger scored a good run after announcing his new deal, finishing 14th in his No. 47 Dillon’s/Scott Products Chevrolet.

Surprising: There was some pride brewing on behalf of at least one of the Roush Fenway teams. Greg Biffle, in his No. 16 Cheez-It SpongeBob SquarePants Ford, finished in the 12th position, a definite improvement and step in the right direction.

“I am really proud of the 16 team,” Biffle said. “We kept adjusting on the car as the night went on and we were able to come home 12th.”

“We just missed out on the top-10, which is an improvement from where we have been lately, so that is a good sign. We just have to keep working on it and I know they guys will.”

“It is a little bit of momentum in the right direction, so we will take it and move on to Charlotte.”

Not Surprising: Kurt Busch finished where he started, both in the eighth spot in his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet. This was also the eighth straight race this season where Busch finished top-15.

“The Haas Automation Chevy had its fast moments and then it had its loose moments,” Busch said. “We hung onto it most of the night with making her pretty wide on the front straightaway and in the corners.”

“Eighth place is good. It’s something to build on. When we come back here in the Chase, it’s great to have these notes and to go from this point forward.”

“We could contend early, and then when the pace picked up, we got too loose. So we’ve got to work on that.”

The Cup Series will next head to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Sprint Showdown and the All Star Race weekend.

May 10, 2015
Crafton Gets Kansas Win on Fuel Mileage

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Matt Crafton didn’t have the fastest truck in Friday night’s Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway, but he had the best feel for fuel mileage and what his crew chief would call their lucky fuel cell. The result was Crafton’s seventh series career victory.

With truck after truck pulling to the inside of the 1.5-mile Kansas oval over the last five laps with empty fuel cells, Crafton cruised over the finish line with only a few drops of fuel left in his ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra.

“It was not the winning truck,” Crafton said after getting to Victory Lane. “We were definitely a second-place truck.”

The truck that obviously was the fastest was the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra of rookie Erik Jones. It led 151 of 167 laps and was comfortably in the lead with four laps to go.

But it was also one of those trucks which ran short of fuel at the end. It wound up 11th.

“It just sucks – we had by far the best truck,” Jones said after the race. “We were up to an 11-second lead at one point and it’s just so terrible for these guys when we bring that fast of a truck. We couldn’t bring the win home and I saved as much as I could most of the run. The 19 (Tyler Reddick) made us run pretty hard. Being eight laps short, I don’t know how the 88 (Crafton) made it. It’s too bad, we’ll have to bring another fast truck next weekend to Charlotte and we’ll go get a win there.”

Also running out of fuel while in contention for the victory in the final laps after Jones dropped out were Reddick and Daniel Suarez.

The victory was the second of the season for Crafton, the defending series champion, and his second in the last three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races at Kansas. That made him the first driver to win more than once at the track located on the far west side of Kansas City.

“I heard somebody say that to me before the race,” Crafton, who led a total of six laps, said of the Kansas landmark win. “I said, ‘Two times’. ”

The victory allowed Crafton to pad his points lead to 17 points over Reddick as he attempts to win a third-straight series championship.

“You’ve got to be close enough to sneak one out once in a while,” Crafton said. “I’ve lost some like this so every once in a while when you steal one I don’t feel too bad about it.”

After the race, Crafton’s crew chief, Carl Joyner gave credit to a particular fuel cell which he said has given his trucks better fuel mileage for some reason.

Sprint Cup regular Ryan Newman, driving a truck owned by former Kansas Sprint Cup race winner Joe Nemechek and making his first truck series start since 2013, finished second.

Newman was in the seat as a favor to Nemechek, who is in the process of grooming his son John Hunter for the ride.

“Trying to teach John Hunter a little bit of what I’ve experienced on pit road, how to get everything you possibly can,” Newman said. “But that wasn’t my main goal. My goal was to come here and win.”

Johnny Sauter finished third.

Rounding out the top five were veteran Timothy Peters and rookie Cameron Hayley.

Jones, who won the pole earlier in the day with a lap at 179.396 mph, led the first 43 laps.

For the first 30 or so laps of those, Crafton stayed close to the young driver from Michigan. But then Jones began to pull away. On Lap 38, Jones’ lead over Crafton was 4 seconds.

But on Lap 41, a caution flag waved and on the ensuing stops, Crafton beat Jones out of the pits to take the lead.

On Lap 48, back came Jones to take the lead and once out in clean air again, he began to pull away. On Lap 60, his lead was 2.9 seconds. He would lose that margin – and the lead – as he was beaten out of the pits after yellow flag stops that began on Lap 67 by Newman.

But on the restart, he left Newman behind. By Lap 88, Jones’ lead was 6 seconds. By Lap 105, it was over 10 seconds on Newman.

On Lap 109, the caution waved again and, once again, Jones’ lead was erased as he was beaten off pit road by Reddick, who was involved in a crash with his Brad Keselowski Racing teammate and started the race from the back in his backup truck.

But once again the restart, Jones moved back to the front and began to move to a seemingly comfortable lead.

But only seemingly.

“I didn’t know how short we were, but I knew the fuel window,” Jones, who will make his first Sprint Cup Series start Saturday night in Kansas, said. “I knew we had to save and I couldn’t give the lead up to the 19 (Tyler Reddick) at that point. If a caution would have come out – losing track position is so big this year, if we would have lost the lead then we would have never been able to get it back. It’s just a shame. I saved as much as I could there later on and it just wasn’t enough. Eight laps short, we just couldn’t do it. We had a fast Tundra and it’s just a shame we couldn’t bring it home for these guys.”

May 9, 2015
Kansas Speedway Sprint Cup Preview – Milestones, Firsts and Driver Quotes

As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway, eight drivers are locked into the Chase for the Sprint Cup, provided they attempt to qualify for the remaining regular season races. Several prominent drivers are still searching for that elusive victory or the consistency needed to grab one of the eight remaining spots as the Chase approaches.

Milestones:

1) Jimmie Johnson is approaching two career milestones as he heads to Kansas Speedway.

A top-five at Kansas Speedway would give him 200 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series top-five finishes. He is currently tied with Benny Parsons for 12th on the all-time NSCS top fives list and only two top-fives behind Buddy Baker in 11th (201).

Johnson is also one away from 300 NSCS top-10 finishes. He is 16th on the all-time NSCS top 10s list and only two top-10s behind James Hylton in 15th (301).

In the 18 NSCS events held at Kansas Speedway, Johnson has finished among the top 10 a total of 14 times. Combine that with two wins, three poles and the Series-best driver rating (112.1) and it’s a safe bet that Johnson will quickly mark these two items off his to-do list.

2) Reigning champion and current points leader Kevin Harvick is 47 laps away from becoming the 10th driver in NSCS history to lead 1,000 laps or more in the first 11 races of a season.

He has three consecutive poles at Kansas (October 2013, May 2014, and October 2014), holds the track qualifying record of 197.773 mph and has the sixth best driver rating (100.4). Leading 47 laps is certainly within Harvick’s capabilities and Kansas Speedway may be the perfect track to accomplish yet another milestone in his career.

3) Matt Kenseth is only one checkered flag away from 33 NSCS wins. Another victory would move him up to 21st on the all-time wins list, tied with Fireball Roberts.

He has two wins, two poles, six top-fives, 10 top-10s and the second best driver rating at Kansas. After a frustrating finish of 25th at Talladega, Kenseth will be looking for redemption this weekend.

Firsts – Now and Then:

Erik Jones will make his first official start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at Kansas in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Although he replaced the ailing Denny Hamlin after the rain delay at Bristol, his drive to a 26^th place finish is credited to Hamlin. Jones has one XFINITY Series win and four victories in the Camping World Truck Series.

David Ragan will begin a new chapter in his career at Kansas in his first race driving for Michael Waltrip Racing in the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota. His primary focus will be centered on securing a spot on the Chase Grid.

“Our expectations are very high,” Ragan emphasized. “At the end of the day, Michael Waltrip Racing has all the tools and resources that Joe Gibbs Racing has or that Hendrick Motorsports or Stewart-Haas Racing has and there’s no reason for us not to be able to win a race and have a shot at making the Chase. Certainly, that is our goal going forward.”

Jeff Gordon won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway on September 30, 2001. It was his sixth win of his fourth championship season. He made it two-for-two at Kansas with another victory at the track on Sept. 29, 2002.

Jason Leffler won the inaugural pole at Kansas Speedway in 2001 with a speed of 176.499 mph. He holds the track record as the youngest pole winner, at 26 years, 0 months and 14 days.

Jim Roper, a Kansas native, won the very first NASCAR Strictly Stock (now Sprint Cup) race in June, 1949, at Charlotte Speedway. The event was 1,200 miles away from his hometown in Halstead, Kansas, but neither the distance nor lack of a car would deter him.

He purchased a Lincoln Cosmopolitan and drove it from the showroom all the way to Charlotte to compete for the $2,000 purse. He raced with the best including Curtis Turner, the Flock brothers and Red Byron, the reigning modified champion. Roper finished the race, second to only Glenn Dunaway.

But Dunaway was quickly disqualified when the post-race inspection revealed modifications to the rear springs, a bootlegger’s trick to improve the car’s handling. Roper was declared the winner even though he only finished 197 of the 200 laps. He only competed in one more NASCAR race, retiring in 1955 after he broke a vertebra in a sprint car accident.

Noteworthy:

Jeff Gordon is winless in his last full-time Sprint Cup season, but that could change this weekend at Kansas Speedway where he will defend his 2014 win at the track. The victory secured his place in the Chase and was the first of four wins during the 2014 season. Gordon also holds the track record with three victories and leads the series with10 top-five finishes in 18 starts.

Martin Truex Jr. continues to impress, coming off a fifth place at Talladega to capture his ninth top-10 finish of the season. He is second in the points standings, 40 points behind leader Kevin Harvick, but needs a win to guarantee a position on the Chase Grid.

Outside Looking In:

Some of the biggest names in NASCAR are outside the top 16 and desperately need to make something happen, including Clint Bowyer (17), Carl Edwards (18) and Greg Biffle (22).

Bowyer and Edwards are winless at Kansas Speedway while Biffle has two victories. However, Biffle has only one top-5 in his last six outings at Kansas.

Kyle Larson is 24^th in the points standings, partly due to missing the race at Martinsville this season after he fainted following an autograph session. Larson will make his third Cup start at Kansas this weekend. He finished 12th in his first attempt and claimed the runner-up position last year in October. The race will also mark Larson’s 50th career NSCS start.

Tony Stewart heads to Kansas Speedway in 30^th place in the points standings. After a frustrating start to the season, the results of the last few weeks suggest that the team may have turned the corner. Stewart finished in sixth place, his best result of the year, three weeks ago at Bristol and looked to be headed for a top-10 at Richmond until an incident on lap 361 took him out of contention. He has two previous wins at Kansas in 2006 and 2009.

Driver Quotes:

Paul Menard is 12^th in the point standings and is looking for a win to claim his entry into the Chase. “Kansas is a pretty newly repaved track so it’s extremely fast,” Menard said. “Since it’s a night race it will be even faster than during the day. I enjoy night racing, I think it adds another level of excitement. You can see flames from the exhaust and sparks from under the car which makes it cool for the fans. The only downside is we have to wait all day for the race and there really isn’t much to do. I enjoy it, but I’ll be there ready to go whether it’s Sunday afternoon or Saturday night.”

Ty Dillon is looking forward to making his fourth Sprint Cup Series start and his debut at Kansas Speedway. “From all the practices, testing and races I’m starting to get very comfortable in the Chevrolet SS, “he said. “I’m fortunate to be put in the position to race as often as I do and I’m focused on going out and doing the best that I possibly can. Kansas will be a fun race this weekend, not only off the track, but on the track with the high speeds, different racing lines and competition. Our team will be ready.”

Ryan Newman is 15^th on the Chase Grid and looking for a win to solidify his position. He finished in sixth place in his last outing at Kansas Speedway. “Kansas is super fast, I am kind of excited to get back there after it has aged a little bit,” Newman explained. “With the new pavement we’ve had a few years back, it has still maintained its speed. It seems like we keep coming back here with softer tires. In general, the track has maintained the speed and I hope it’s gained some more character.”

Martin Truex Jr. counts Kansas Speedway as one of his favorite tracks. With four top-five finishes in the last six races at Kansas, Truex is hoping to grab the checkered flag this time around. “I love Kansas Speedway,” Truex says. “I don’t know what it is about the track, it’s not much different than any other mile-and-a-half track, but something about the way the corners are laid out there seems to fit my style. I’ve run well at Kansas, led a lot of laps (251) and feel I should have won a few times there. “We’re enjoying the top-10s this season, but we want to get up there and be fighting for a win,” he continued. “Cole (Pearn, crew chief), the engineering staff and all the guys at the track and at the shop have done an outstanding job. We’re having plenty of fun, but we want that victory really bad.”

By the Numbers:

Chase Grid

The following drivers are locked into the 2015 Chase provided they attempt to qualify for the remaining regular season races.

1) Kevin Harvick – 2 wins
2) Jimmie Johnson – 2 wins
3) Joey Logano – 1 win
4) Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 1 win
5) Brad Keselowski – 1 win
6) Matt Kenseth – 1 win
7) Denny Hamlin – 1 win
8) Kurt Busch – 1 win

The following drivers are currently in the Chase Top 16, but without any wins, are not locked in.

9) Martin Truex Jr.
10) Jamie McMurray
11) Kasey Kahne
12) Paul Menard
13) Aric Almirola
14) Jeff Gordon
15) Ryan Newman
16) Danica Patrick

Top 10 Driver Ratings at Kansas

112.1 Jimmie Johnson
105.6 Matt Kenseth
103.9 Kyle Larson
102.8 Greg Biffle
100.5 Jeff Gordon
100.4 Kevin Harvick
96.8 Carl Edwards
95.3 Tony Stewart
92.7 Kasey Kahne
91.3 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Tune in to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series SpongeBob SquarePants 400 Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on FOX Sports 1.

May 6, 2015
The Final Word – Kurt rises to the top at Richmond as Roush-Fenway continues to free fall

Rain changed the Saturday night race at Richmond into a Sunday afternoon affair. Was it worth the wait? For Kurt Busch, the answer was “yes.”

After Joey Logano set the pace over the initial 94 laps, Busch came through to dominate all but 15 of the final 306 circuits to take his first of the season. After his forced three event delay to start this campaign, his 26th career decision lofts him into a Chase place. All he has to do is keep within the Top Thirty, and he looks free and clear in that department.

Not so for Tony Stewart. After finishing well at Bristol, he clipped Dale Earnhardt Jr. and in the aftermath his jalopy failed to fire. Stewart was out, in 41st, and now just four points ahead of Sam Hornish Jr. in the fight for 30th in the standings. As for Danica Patrick, who also did well the previous week, she was back down in 25th on Sunday. At least Kevin Harvick continues to roll along, coming home right behind his victorious teammate.

Last year, the Penske pair swept Richmond. Logano’s ride faded after his fast start though he managed to claim fifth. Brad Keselowski lost a cylinder and faded to 17th. Three of the Hendrick drivers had Top Ten days though Junior finished 14th. As for Roush Fenway, who have been tanking like an unarmed Sherman attempting to cross a lake, all sank. None were among the Top Twenty.

Denny Hamlin was 22nd on Sunday, yet won the XFINITY race on Friday night. Of greater note was the fact the two teenagers, Erik Jones and Chase Elliott, were fourth and fifth. Jones is registered to drive the trucks, where he is three for three in Top Tens, has won on the junior loop in taking another five Top Tens in eight attempts, and could be Kyle Busch’s stand-in after this weekend in Cup. Not bad for a kid who won’t turn 19 years old for another month.

So, was Sunday’s race worth the wait the rain imposed upon us? Well, if you were a channel surfer, having no idea what the race meant to the Stewart-Haas crew, or to Penske, or Roush-Fenway, or even Hendrick, you might have stuck with it for five or ten minutes. A visual spectacular it was not, even though the cars looked pretty.

That changes this week, as next up we have the Sunday race at Talladega, a must watch for even the most transient NASCAR observer. You watch that race like you would the Formula One race from Monaco, not believing any sane person would be behind the wheel in any of these entries. Some wags might suggest there is good reason for their disbelief.

April 27, 2015
Surprising and Not Surprising: Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes

With all of NASCAR nation standing up for Steve Byrnes and others battling cancer, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 55^th annual Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Surprising: With the day race stretching into night because of the Bristol rain drops, it was all about windows for NASCAR and the race winner. NASCAR made difficult decisions all day, focusing on windows in the weather to successfully get the entire race in, and then some due to the green-white-checkered finish.

And Matt Kenseth, along with crew chief Jason Ratcliff, took advantage of their window of opportunity to capture the checkered flag, ending a 51 race drought and taking Toyota back to Victory Lane. And with that win, Kenseth and team No. 20 have also opened their window on the opportunity to race for the Chase.

“Matt, he did a phenomenal job, as always, especially here at Bristol,” Ratcliff said. “This place is unbelievable. I get out of breath just watching him go around here. Great night, obviously.”

“To get a win under our belt and we can look at the season a little differently now, knowing that we’re in the Chase, so I’m really excited,” Ratcliff continued. “I think we’ve turned the corner, and we’ve got a great season ahead of us.”

Not Surprising: As appropriate, tributes to Jeff Gordon as he runs his last season of Cup competition continue to pour in. But he received one of the biggest gifts in his career to date, that of having his children Ella and Leo, give the command to the drivers, and their papa, to start the engines for the Bristol racing.

“Highlight for me,” Gordon said of his children giving the command. “The day couldn’t be bad after that. That was so, so cool, and they nailed it. I’m just so, so proud of them.”

“I’m just so thankful to Bristol Motor Speedway and Marcus and Bruton and all those folks. To do that, to invite them to do that means so much to me, and they just had a blast preparing for it, just practicing in the car on the way to school.”

“So funny, and Leo, he had to put his little engine rev in there at the end, which I thought just kind of put it over the top. As soon as the red flag came, I went back to the bus and rewound it and watched it with them, and they were just beaming. It was awesome.”

Gordon battled back after a loose wheel in the race caused him to lose a lap, finishing third in his No. 24 3M Chevrolet after a hard fought day to night race.

Surprising: There was whole lot of surprising hurting going on prior to and during the race. Denny Hamlin decided to remove himself from the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota due to back pain and neck spasms, while Kurt Busch’s crew chief Tony Gibson had to absent the pit box due to recurring kidney stones.

Young up and coming racer Erik Jones took over driving responsibilities for Hamlin, while Stewart Haas Racing’s team engineer John Klausmeyer took over crew chief duties for the No. 41 team, with an assist from Vice president of Competition Greg Zipadelli.

“Watching race in my motorcoach is agonizing!” Gibson tweeted during the race. “Just released from the Bristol ER with a kidney stone. @GZipadelli @johnklax have crew chief duty.”

“We had the wild thing happen with Denny,” Coach Joe Gibbs said after the race. “He had a spasm with his neck and shooting pain. We wound up flying Erik over here. He got here with five minutes to go, went and got in the car, first time in a Cup car, and we put him in that situation. And then he just — I thought he handled everything really well.”

After all that hurting going on, Jones, whose arms were sore due to the steering wheel being too close, managed a respectable 26^th place finish, while Kurt Busch finished 15^th in his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet.

Not Surprising: In spite of some frustrations early on in the race, Jimmie Johnson rode the wave of momentum from his Texas win into the rainy banks of Bristol to finish runner up.

“Yeah, the first half of the race or first third of the race I was behind the 24 and we just worked our way up through the field and things went pretty smoothly,” Johnson said. “I had a very fast race car and felt like we were going to have a strong night.”

“And then one of the restarts midway through the race, the 41, I don’t know what happened, but he lost control, got into me. I went into the outside wall in Turn 3, and a caution came out. We had a fair amount of damage to the right-rear quarter panel. We weren’t as good as we were at the start of the race but still very competitive.”

“Chad (Knaus, crew chief) called for two late in the race. That picked us up a few more spots, and then I think the last two restarts I was in the outside lane and that helped me out quite a bit. Wild night, but glad to get it in.”

Surprising: It was a strange case of teammate-palooza at Bristol, with teammates who normally look out for one another, wrecking each other instead. Penske teammates Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano got into each other in the early part of the race before the rains came, as did Hendrick teammates Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. later in the race.

“I just really hate that I tore up my teammate in the process,” Keselowski said after his contact with teammate Logano. “That’s really a bummer. I felt like I had a pretty normal line and it just flew crazy sideways on me. It’s a bummer for everybody at Team Penske to tear up both cars that way.”

Not Surprising: Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. was on a high, loving the high banks of Bristol as well as his highest finish of the season to date, bringing his Zestfully clean car home in the fourth place position.

“I knew when we came back here, it didn’t matter how we ran anywhere else, that we could have a decent car,” Stenhouse said. “I wish we could get it to translate to other racetracks, but I think it’s the high bank is what really helps us get our car to turn here and being able to run the top.”

“We struggled in practice. When the line moved up to the top, we gained like 10 or 15 spots on the leaderboard in practice just because it moved to the top, and I could make some better speed up there.”

Surprising: There was some NASCAR second guessing going on, even amongst those drivers who finished in the top-ten at Bristol, including Danica Patrick, who finished ninth and Austin Dillon, who finished tenth.

“It was a bummer that we got a long run when I got the lucky dog,” Patrick said. “It was just so frustrating. There was a big accident after the rain. I should have got the lucky dog and I missed it all. I was in control enough to stay on the track instead of take the pit road. So I come around and I got on the apron and it was like it was still wet and the back-end just kind of slid around. I was like ‘ah well just restart it’. They said you are part of the accident you don’t get the lucky dog. I thought that was total crap.”

“Then another time Jimmie (Johnson) gets the lucky dog and he goes and passes everybody and he is in front of me after getting the lucky dog. And I’m the lucky dog. I know it’s hard because it’s Bristol and everything happens very quickly here, but there were definitely quite a few mistakes by NASCAR just in making sure everything was right before we went green.”

“We came out with a top 10 in the GoDaddy car. It looks terrible. I had to walk around it just to see what it looked like, but it’s Bristol baby.”

“We worked hard all night and stayed in the top 10 all night,” Dillon said, echoing Patrick in frustration. “We get in a save fuel mode when we get a certain amount of heat and I guess it was dumping fuel and we just ran out of fuel. Then when we were trying to pull up there we might have finished ninth or eighth, but NASCAR held us back.”

“I don’t know why. Because Danica (Patrick) moved around and she was the lucky dog and I was trying to follow her. I don’t know. Not happy.”

Not Surprising: Streaks are unfortunately made to be broken as both Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex, Jr. can attest. Both drivers had their top-five and top-ten finishing streaks come to an end at the track known as the Coliseum.

Harvick in particular had no place to run to and no place to hide, slamming into David Ragan’s car after melee in front of them occurred.

“I’m sorry guys,” Harvick said on the radio after the crash. “I just couldn’t stop.”

“Today, nothing went our way,” Truex said. “We had a pretty good car that could run in the top-10. But the loose wheel incident was a costly deal that was very difficult to overcome. We just didn’t get the cautions when we needed them.”

Truex, Jr., in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet, finished 29^th while Harvick, behind the wheel of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s/Budweiser Chevrolet finished 38^th.

Surprising: David Ragan had perhaps the best quote of the day/night race, saying “Sometimes when you race back there with the squirrels, you find a nut sometimes,” after getting wrecked out of the race and finishing 41^st in his No. 18 Snickers Xtreme Toyota.

“That’s just Bristol. You’re racing hard and the 26 (Jeb Burton) was a little slower and I know Jimmie (Johnson) is probably a little impatient trying to get back to the front,” Ragan continued. “I see he just touched him there and as soon as my spotter said they were wrecking, I’m all into the 48 (Johnson).”

“That’s just one of those things you have at short track racing and all in all it’s just Bristol – wrong place at the wrong time.”

Not Surprising: Justin Allgaier finally felt like he earned some respect with his career best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series finish of eighth place in his No. 51 Auto-Owners Chevrolet.

“You know, it just seems like the first time I came here I felt like it was my kind of race track,” Allgaier said. “I just felt comfortable and have been fortunate enough over the years to have some good runs here.”

“But at the same time, the Cup series is definitely an extreme challenge. It’s not been easy to break our way up through the pack but tonight we felt like that was a big step in doing that and getting respect by racing around a lot of these guys,” Allgaier continued. “We need to do that on a weekly basis so when you can do that here at a place you run good at, hopefully you can take that momentum and go somewhere else that you don’t run good at and use that same momentum.”

April 21, 2015
The Final Word – With all the rain and challenges at Bristol, the only guy missing was Jeff Probst

Bristol. Just about the only thing missing was Jeff Probst and his Tribal Council as this turned into a game of survival. With the rains that delayed the start, the rains that stopped it again and again, the day race that ran into night became a reality show of its own.

Take Kevin Harvick, for instance. He led 186 of the eventual 511 laps, but at Lap 310 he slid into a wrecked David Ragan and he found himself voted off the island in 38th place. If not Harv, then it was Kurt Busch in a dominant car. With eight to go, he took the brunt of it when Jeff Gordon got into Carl Edwards. Busch at least managed a 15th for his troubles.

Then there was the case of Team Penske. You know you needed a hidden immunity idol when things go down the outdoor commode during the opening credits. Brad Keselowski wobbled and that allowed teammate Joey Logano to put out both their torches. Thirty-fifth and beyond was their fate.

Do you want more examples? After the Penske wreck on the 19th lap, it rained some more. In that time, Denny Hamlin’s stiff neck got worse and when they restarted 18-year-old Erik Jones found himself racing a Cup car for the very first time, ending up 26th.

How good was Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car? We will never know, as a flat tire took him off the lead lap early, never to be seen again. At least he got 16th when it was all over. As for Austin Dillon, the extra laps before the final re-start ran him out of gas, but even with that he finished 10th.

After a final caution, they needed a green-white-checker, but rain even delayed that, hence those extra caution laps before the fall of the final green. Matt Kenseth got a fine re-start to take a race he was not all that noticeable in, but the victory shows up just fine in the standings. After no wins last season, his 32nd career triumph had to be sweet no matter how he got it. Jimmie Johnson’s car did not look that pretty, but he came back to slip by Gordon for second while Jeff rebounded from a flat that had him down early to grab third. In short, these boys survived. Nobody thrived.

Some folks play the game and slip in under the radar. Tony Stewart was sixth Sunday night, but that was a gift for to a guy who was 15th best at best. Danica Patrick was ninth. Another gift. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fourth, the best gift of all. Despite that good fortune, Roush-Fenway entries are still coming up short. Trevor Bayne was 28th, Greg Biffle 30th.

Ryan Newman, fifth at Bristol, got 25 points back from his appeal over Tiregate. He still is missing his crew chief and two other team members due to suspension, and Richard Childress will continue his quest for their early return with a further appeal.

It meant jack squat to see Logano win the Saturday XFINITY race at Bristol. Having Daniel Suarez (23 year old from Mexico), Chris Buescher (22), Erik Jones (18), Ty Dillon (23) and Chase Elliott (19) take the next five spots meant everything.

Sunday we had the day long 2015 Food City 500 In Support of Steve Byrnes. For the NASCAR family, the broadcaster and his fight against cancer, is what truly is meaningful. We have tallied the vote, the tribe has spoken, we want you back just as soon as you are able, Steve.

April 20, 2015
The Final Word – Texas was all about Jimmie and Kevin with a Junior cameo

Jimmie, and Kevin, and Dale, oh my. Jimmie, and Kevin, and Dale, oh my.

Last Saturday night was a good one if you happened to be a fan of one of the above-mentioned drivers. Johnson was the class of the field, leading 128 laps, including the final one. It was his second win of the season and the 72nd of his career. Six-time rather likes the Texas track, having won the last three fall races, now four in his last six attempts, and his fifth win overall in Fort Worth. I am starting to think he likes the place.

Kevin Harvick, also with a pair of victories this season along with four runner-up finishes, led 96 laps and came home second. Life must be good when finishing eighth at Martinsville represents a slump. As for Junior, well, Mr. Earnhardt led zero laps but he was close, closer still near the end, to claim third. If he could only get a mulligan for both Phoenix and Martinsville, for he has finished between third and sixth everywhere else.

Another good day as well for the likes of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, as the Penske duo finished in the Top Five. Proof positive you can get away with being a two car operation if those teams actually matter. Same goes for single car outfits, as Martin Truex Jr. now has a Top Ten in each race of this season, a huge turnaround from a year ago. As for the likes of Tony Stewart and Sam Hornish Jr, nothing much to write home about regarding this race or this season. Maybe this weekend things will be different. Probably not.

Maybe they could join the rest of us, experiencing success at home driving a video game version. Next month the new NASCAR ‘15 game comes out. Of course, for me, realism is being able to switch to indestructible mode in order to take out the entire field en route to victory. Hey, it could happen in real life. Having cars flying a hundred feet into the air, now that was unrealistic.

Unrealistic, like me growing taller, or having my hair back, or holding out hope that one day I might actually become a Cup driver. If I could just shed 60 pounds and 40 years, I could be Erik Jones. You might as well become familiar with the 18-year-old, who is registered in the trucks. All he has done there is win four of his career 20 events, with 16 Top Tens. When he was 16 and 17, he ran ARCA, winning one of 14 with eight Top Tens. Oh, Jones also runs Xfinity, winning his first in nine attempts last weekend to go with six Top Tens. Joe Gibbs did not want to rush him into Cup, going with David Ragan instead of Jones to fill in for Kyle Busch. Even though Ragan sits 10th in the standings, maybe they might want to re-think that. The man child might be ready.

We are always ready for a day at Bristol, where Jimmie and Kevin and Dale have all won. Once. Jimmie won it five years ago while 10 have gone by for the other two. Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon each have five, but a few years have ticked by even for them.

No, your best bet would be Carl Edwards. Winner of three, including the event one year ago, he did pick up his first Top Ten last Saturday. Maybe it is his time to shine this season though if he falters I am sure teammates Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin would be more than willing to pick up the slack. Both are also past Bristol winners.

As for some Bristol trivia, there were 56 races run at that track between 1973 and 2000. Thirty of those, more than half, were won by Cale Yarborough (9), Darrell Waltrip (12), Dale Earnhardt (9), and Rusty Wallace (9). Hall of Famers all. Oh my, indeed.

April 13, 2015
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.

December 9, 2014