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  • The White Zone: Chase Elliott has an attitude problem

    The White Zone: Chase Elliott has an attitude problem

    EDITOR’S NOTE: After press time, Chase Elliott told Dave Moody on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Tuesday, that the side-swipe was a heat of the moment incident and that he and Kyle Larson cleared the misunderstanding, during their post-race chat on pit road.

    Original column

    Chase Elliott stood on pit road and spoke to the media, Sunday, at Kansas Speedway. Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports asked him about side-swiping his teammate, Kyle Larson, coming off pit road.

    There was no message? Does he seriously expect us to believe this?

    Well according to the beat writers on site, he did.

    Considering NASCAR parked him for intentionally wrecking Denny Hamlin back in May, he would act more level-headed.

    Nope, Elliott acted like a jackass.

    Why lie about it?

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. – SEPTEMBER 10: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Yahoo! Toyota, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sept. 10, 2023, in Kansas City, Kansas. Photo: Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images

    Let’s dissect the incident in question.

    As Elliott left pit road, he had Tyler Reddick to his right. Larson pulls out of his box with just enough room to spare. Then Brad Keselowski exits his box, Larson pulls right to avoid him and hits Elliott.

    Just drivers going for the same real estate. Pretty innocuous.

    Elliott probably didn’t realize Keselowski forced Larson up. So he side-swiped him on the apron.

    OK, heat of the moment incident. It happens. If Elliott said his reason was just payback, I wouldn’t be writing this column.

    Rather than say that, he lied about it.

    For what gain? Who knows. Danielle Trotta and Larry McReynolds on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Monday, threw out that he’s jealous of Larson or that it stems from past run-ins. On the latter, the only ones that come to mind are Fontana and Watkins Glen in 2022. For the former, I don’t know if I can put stock in that, right now. I’m not a psychologist. I type words onto digital paper for a living.

    With that said, it doesn’t take Sigmund Freud to know Elliott lied. No driver side-swipes another driver, especially a teammate, unless there’s a reason.

    So why lie about it?

    If it was a heat of the moment response, then say it. If it’s more deep-seated, then say it.

    Don’t piss on our legs, then say it’s raining! Any journalist worth their salt sniffs out a bullshit story.

    If you don’t, then expect more scrutiny from us.

    And if not to us, then have the decency to tell your damn teammate and bosses at Hendrick Motorsports why you did it and what your problem with Larson is.

    If not, don’t act surprised if you have difficulty getting resigned, when your next contract talk occurs.

    More importantly, tell your fans why. You know? The people who made you NASCAR’s most popular driver for seven consecutive seasons.

    If you don’t, then that tells me you think your fans are brain-dead idiots who’ll slop up any lie you tell.

    Regardless, if this is how Elliott carries himself now, then he didn’t learn a damn thing from his suspension. And if he thinks talent shields him from repercussions for being a cancer, then look up Antonio Brown’s tenure with the Pittsburgh Steelers (particularly around 2018).

    Talent only goes so far, when you’re toxic to everyone around you.

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

  • Penalty ends Kenseth’s Playoff run

    Penalty ends Kenseth’s Playoff run

    In what might be Matt Kenseth’s final season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, his chance at a second championship went asunder because of a simple rule infraction.

    Having been collected in the multi-car melee in Turn 2 on Lap 198 of the Hollywood Casino 400, he took his car to pit road for repairs. After some hesitation, a seventh man with an electric saw started working on the left-front wheel well.

    During the red flag, while Kenseth was parked down pit road (away from his stall), NASCAR deemed what his team did a “too many men over the wall” violation. Because he was still on the five-minute damaged vehicle clock when the violation occurred, Kenseth was sent to the garage and, by extension, parked for the rest of the race.

    As a result, he wound up missing the cut to the Round of 8.

    “I don’t know what any of the rules are,” a frustrated Kenseth said. “Seems like we got a lot of stuff that kind of gets, you know, changed so often I honestly can’t keep up with it. My head kind of spins from putting lug nuts out of pit boxes to one to many guys over the wall, you’re not allowed to race anymore. I just don’t get it to be honest with you.

    “I really don’t have a lot good to say right now. I’m more than disappointed. I’m just gonna say thanks to DeWalt. They’ve been a sponsor of mine off and on for 20 years. Awesome guys there. They deserve better than this.

    “We showed some flashes of brilliance this season, been off and on, been fast at times, had great pit stops at times, just haven’t been able to put it all together like a championship team needs to. Unfortunately, this is an example of that. I hope that I can do a better job here the next four weeks and hopefully go get a win.”

    Kenseth ended up in this predicament when, on the Lap 198 restart, Erik Jones got loose, overcorrected back up the track and violently slammed the outside wall.

    Kenseth got into the left-rear corner of Aric Almirola, who was reacting to the wreck ahead, and turned him. This got him loose and spinning towards the outside wall, further exacerbated by Austin Dillon getting into the right-rear corner of his car. This stopped him from hitting the wall, but he spun down onto the apron and into the destroyed car of teammate Daniel Suarez, doing damage to his left-front.

    “I didn’t see the wreck. I was racing real hard on the bottom. Had Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. outside of me and racing a guy in front of me. I never saw the wreck until, basically, it was too late. So by the time I noticed everybody checking up, I started checking up and I think I got ran over and just spun out. I was just stuck in it. I didn’t see it in time.”

    Kenseth leaves Kansas Speedway 10th in points.

  • Larson’s title run ended by engine failure

    Larson’s title run ended by engine failure

    Entering Kansas Speedway, Kyle Larson was third in points and trailed Martin Truex Jr. by 24 for the points lead. Exiting Kansas, his run at a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2017 left with his expired engine.

    Larson hit pit road for possible engine issues on Lap 67, saying later that it felt like a dropped cylinder. Three laps later, he was back on track. He was told to run until the car couldn’t run anymore.

    Well on Lap 77, the engine couldn’t run anymore as it gave way on the front stretch and brought out the second caution of the Hollywood Casino 400.

    “Well it just dropped a cylinder 10 laps ago or so and then it suddenly got worse and finally blew up,” Larson said. “I hate that we blew an engine and probably blew our shot at the championship, but luck is a big factor of our sport.”

    When asked his emotional state, he said he couldn’t say.

    “I guess it’s sinking in as each second passes by. But I don’t know,” he said. “Things happen. You look at the past playoffs and the No. 78 (Truex) had an engine issue last year and he was the best car all year; and then us, this year. So, it’s disappointing. But there’s still a long race left to go and maybe we can get lucky (he said prior to the end and his elimination).”

    Larson left with a 39th-place finish and dropped to ninth in points, thanks to the points reset.

  • Truex makes late pass to complete season sweep at Kansas

    Truex makes late pass to complete season sweep at Kansas

    Martin Truex Jr. overcame an early restart violation to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 and complete the season sweep at Kansas Speedway.

    Truex drove underneath Kyle Busch entering Turn 1 with 57 laps to go and drove on to his 14th career victory in 437 career starts.

    “Just can’t say enough about all these guys on this Furniture Row/Bass Pro Toyota, just really proud of them. Definitely raced with heavy hearts today with the of Jim (Watson) last night. Want to say our condolences to his family and all his friends. He was a heck of a guy and a great working put a heck of a lot of speed in these Furniture Row Toyota’s.

    “Glad we could get him on here today. Excited to get another one here at Kansas. This feels really awesome. It’s really Furniture Row’s home track. It just feels really good to finally get another one here. We got one in the spring after so many heartbreaks. And then today, it looked like it was going to happen and we just persevered.”

    Kurt Busch finished second and Ryan Blaney rounded out the podium.

    “I just feel like I’m on razorblades here,” Busch said. “I really wanted that one bad. At the end, I had the sticker tires. As I’m warming them up they weren’t grabbing in the back. I knew that I wasn’t going to get the jump that I needed. I tried to play middle of the ground. Early in the race with scuffs from qualifying I brushed the fence. Kansas; I don’t know what it is about this place. Kyle (Busch) struggles here too. I feel like I’m on pins and needles most of the day. (Tony) Gibson always throws nice adjustments at it and the race comes to us and we’re right there. We had a shot at winning. I just feel like I’m pushing too hard early on. I saw (Jimmie) Johnson spin. We saw the 77 spin. All the drivers asked for less downforce and yet never got the softer tire that we hoped for. But we’re right there. When we get it right we’re right there. It just feels like I have to overdrive. When you’re overdriving you’re not going to make it work.”

    “We started off in the back and was able to make some good ground early,” Blaney said. “We were able to run up through there and made good adjustments throughout the day which got us in a spot to be up toward the front towards the end and advance. It was a solid day for our team. We overcame a lot coming from the back and they should be proud of that.”

    “It was a good race. We did a nice job coming form the back back and I thought we got our car pretty decent there in the second stage. Then there was a mixup with some strategy stuff and pit calls and it felt like we were kind of at the back part of that but we were able to recover and miss that wreck which was big for us. We ran strong enough all day that we should have been in with where we ran. I am really proud of my team for the effort and we will move on to the next round and Martinsville.”

    Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-10.

    “It was a wild day for sure,” Elliott said. “We fought our balance all weekend. I know the result wasn’t terrible, but definitely feel like we could have been a lot better this weekend and just the way things worked out for us. But, our car got better as the day went along, we just didn’t have the balance on a very long run to go up and pass guys like you need to have. So, we will go to work and get this side of things ready for Texas.”

    Chris Buescher, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-10.

    RACE SUMMARY

    Truex led the field to the green flag at 3:19 p.m. On the restart following the competition caution, he was black-flagged for going below the white line before crossing the start/finish line. This handed the lead to Kyle Busch, who led from there, until he pitted under the second caution of the race — which flew for Brett Moffitt slamming the Turn 1 wall — and the lead went to Brad Keselowski.

    Back to green on Lap 52, Ryan Blaney got the superior start and took the lead. He was passed by Busch three laps later, who drove on to win the first stage.

    He kept on leading, until he hit pit road under a cycle of green flag stops on Lap 128.

    Following a two-lap stint in the lead by Jamie McMurray and 14 by Keselowski, the lead cycled back to Busch.

    After Moffitt brought out the fifth caution on Lap 156, Busch ducked onto pit road and handed the lead to Denny Hamlin, who drove on to win the second stage.

    Staying out to take the lead, Kevin Harvick led the field to the Lap 167 restart. Busch regained the lead prior to a multi-car wreck in Turn 2 following the Lap 198 restart, which forced a 10-minute and 10-second red flag and set up the run to the finish.

    CAUTION SUMMATION

    Caution flew for the first time on Lap 30, a scheduled competition caution, due to overnight rain. The second caution flew for Moffitt slamming the wall in Turn 1 on Lap 47. Kyle Larson’s engine giving way on the front stretch on Lap 77 brought out the third caution. The fourth caution flew when Moffitt slammed the wall a second time in Turn 2 on Lap 156. The fifth flew for the end of the second stage. The sixth caution flew when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. slammed the Turn 3 wall on Lap 175. Jimmie Johnson brought out the seventh caution when he spun out in Turn 4 and through the front stretch grass on Lap 188. He brought out the eighth caution when he spun out a second time in Turn 3. Caution flew on Lap 198 for a 14-car incident on the backstretch. Allmendinger brought out the 10th and final caution when he spun out and came to a halt in the grass with 32 to go.

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted three hours, 11 minutes and 57 seconds, at an average speed of 125.189 mph. There were 14 lead changes among seven different drivers and 10 cautions for 49 laps.

    Truex leaves with a 27-point lead over Kyle Busch. Larson, McMurray, Matt Kenseth and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fail to advance on in the Playoffs.

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  • Martin Truex Jr. Earns Kansas Coors Light Pole Award

    Martin Truex Jr. Earns Kansas Coors Light Pole Award

    By Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. – You can’t blame Martin Truex Jr. for looking ahead.

    The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leader didn’t need to win the pole position at Kansas Speedway, having already qualified for the NASCAR Playoffs’ Round of 8 with a victory two weeks ago at Charlotte.

    But by posting the fastest lap in Friday’s knockout qualifying session at the 1.5-mile track, Truex got a leg up on a trip to the Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, because the time trials at Kansas came with a significant bonus — first choice of pit stalls for the Oct. 29 Round of 8 opener at Martinsville Speedway.

    For the record, Truex ran the fastest lap of the afternoon in the final round of qualifying for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (on NBCSN at 3 p.m. ET), covering the distance in 28.719 seconds (188.029 mph) to beat Kevin Harvick (187.682 mph) for the top starting spot by .053 seconds.

    But Truex had to push his car to the limit in the final round to earn his third Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his second at Kansas and the 15th of his career.

    “I was shaking a little — I’m not going to lie,” Truex said. “My heart was beating. It gets the adrenaline going so high to put down a lap like that, to go the fastest you’ve gone all day in that final round.

    “We put it all together. We got the balance better, and I stepped up and put it on the line out there, and it stuck. The commitment level was high, and the car handled it well. That’s always a good combination.”

    Ryan Blaney had qualified third but his time was disallowed following post-qualifying inspection as it was found that the package tray on the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford did not maintain its original shape. As a result of that, Blaney will start from the 40th position in Sunday’s race.

    Matt Kenseth will start third and Denny Hamlin fourth, as playoff drivers garnered the top four spots on the grid. Daniel Suarez was fifth, followed by Erik Jones and Kyle Busch, as Toyota drivers claimed six of the top seven starting positions, the only exception being the Ford of Harvick.

    Because qualifying at Martinsville is on the same day as the race, pit selection at the .526-mile short track was tied to qualifying at Kansas, where the No. 1 pit stall gives a driver unfettered egress from pit road.

    “It was definitely on our minds,” said Truex, who has won a series-best six races in a dream season for the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team. “We talked about it. It was like ‘It’d be pretty nice to go to Martinsville and have the No. 1 pit stall.’

    “It was definitely on our minds, but I don’t know if it really played into how we got the job done or not. But it was definitely good timing, more than anything, because that’s going to be huge for us going into the Round of 8 next week.”

    Harvick, the 2014 series champion described his qualifying session as “three sketchy laps,” but feels he has a competitive car for the race that will trim the playoff field from 12 drivers to eight.

    “I think we have a car that can be capable of staying up there and hopefully having a chance to win the race at the end,” Harvick said. “It’s a good start to the weekend. That’s half the battle when you’re trying to collect stage points in the first stage and get pit stall selection and try and gain all the advantages that you can on Friday.

    “That’s something that our team did a good job at this year. I feel like our cars are a lot faster from the beginning of the year on the mile-and-a-half race tracks, and we’re on the game. It’s been a fun few weeks.”

    Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who currently leads Kyle Busch by seven points for the final spot in the Round of 8, and will start 12th. Playoff driver Jamie McMurray qualified eight in the fastest Chevrolet.

    Playoff drivers Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott will start 13th and 14th, respectively. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the only playoff driver who failed to make the second round, will take the green flag from 24th.

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  • Hot 20 – Dorothy returns to Kansas after spending last weekend in the Talladega tornado

    Hot 20 – Dorothy returns to Kansas after spending last weekend in the Talladega tornado

    This Sunday, NASCAR action takes us to Kansas. We just cannot get enough of Kansas, which is why we find ourselves watching the action from there for a second time this season. If not Kansas, I guess there is always Kentucky, Chicago, Dover, Fontana, or Pocono , but allow me to calm down my beating heart.

    Coming out of Talladega to Kansas, and I am just taking a guess here, probably will not increase the ratings. Entertainment value and tradition go a long ways to attracting and keeping the fan base. Last week was the Alabama 500. We started with the Daytona 500. Darlington delivered the Southern 500. We know the early race in Charlotte is really the World 600. How high on your list of must-see traditional spectacles do you rank the Hollywood Casino 400 in Kansas?

    If you are Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano, it would rank pretty high. The pair split the last four of these fall classics.

     

    1. MARTIN TRUEX JR. – SEGMENT WIN – 3120 Pts – 6 Wins
    Earned his pass into the next round and has secured full sponsorship for 2018. Good times.

    2. BRAD KESELOWSKI – SEGMENT WIN – 3101 Pts – 3 Wins
    No communication for much of the race, but a whole lot when it ended.

    3. KYLE LARSON – 3096 POINTS – 4 Wins
    Things were looking good for a while before Suarez and Elliott thought they were in a cartoon.

    4. KEVIN HARVICK – 3089 POINTS – 1 Win
    A repeat of last year’s Hollywood Casino 400 finish would be just fine with Harvick.

    5. DENNY HAMLIN – 3088 POINTS – 2 Wins
    The Roush boys have fancy pit guns no one else has. All that goes out the window next season.

    6. CHASE ELLIOTT – 3087 POINTS
    Found a hole, filled a hole, and then someone tossed dirt in the hole.

    7. RYAN BLANEY – 3076 POINTS – 1 Win
    Tough luck last week cost him some points, but he has emerged as a top-tier talent.

    8. JIMMIE JOHNSON – 3074 POINTS – 3 Wins
    22 Kansas races, 17 Top Tens, along with three wins. Jimmie likes Kansas just fine.

    9. KYLE BUSCH – 3067 POINTS – 4 Wins
    Rowdy Busch? He is more like a Battered Busch.

    10. MATT KENSETH – 3066 POINTS
    Maybe he will become the fastest damned school bus driver who ever lived next season.

    11. RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – 3052 POINTS – 2 Wins
    Best Kansas finish is 11th. Twice. Well, the Chase was fun while it lasted.

    12. JAMIE MCMURRAY – 3045 POINTS
    21 Kansas races, 4 Top Tens. This does not look good.

    13. KASEY KAHNE – 2104 POINTS – 1 Win
    Chase is over, time at Hendrick is near done, but Kansas marks his 500th career start.

    14. RYAN NEWMAN – 2103 POINTS – 1 Win
    Newman is a NASCAR ninja. Unseen, unnoticed, and then late Sunday afternoon he appeared.

    15. AUSTIN DILLON – 2099 POINTS – 1 Win
    This season has come down to trying to catch Newman and Kahne and staying ahead of Kurt.

    16. KURT BUSCH – 2089 POINTS – 1 Win
    Turning left is expected, but that sharp right-hand turn was not.

    17. JOEY LOGANO – 794 POINTS – 1 Win
    Best damn driver not to make the Chase.

    18. CLINT BOWYER – 775 POINTS
    Best damn driver not to make the Chase who was born in Emporia, Kansas.

    19. ERIK JONES – 749 POINTS
    Got a whole face full of McMurray the other day.

    20. DANIEL SUAREZ – 708 POINTS
    Looking good last Sunday, but when he forgot to look to his left things started to look real bad.

     

  • Harvick Moves on with Victory in the Heartland

    Harvick Moves on with Victory in the Heartland

    No matter the result next week at the Alabama roulette wheel, Kevin Harvick is moving on to the next round of the Chase after scoring the victory in America’s heartland.

    Matt Kenseth led the field to the green flag at 2:34 p.m. Debris slowed the race for the first time on the 26th circuit.

    The next two runs saw quick bursts of green followed by caution. The first saw Aric Almirola get loose, make contact with another car and spin out exiting Turn 4, and Jamie McMurray suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 3 following contact with Alex Bowman in Turn 2.

    After the race restarted on lap 48, it settled into a long green run that was interrupted by green flag stops lasting from lap 83 to lap 95. During it, the lead went as follows: Kenseth, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Casey Mears and back to Kenseth.

    Martin Truex Jr. had an issue during the stop that prevented him from getting his car completely full of fuel. As a result, he pitted well before the rest of the field on lap 114. To make matters worse, the caution flew for Josh Wise slamming the wall in Turn 4, trapped him a lap down and the fuel issue still wasn’t resolved.

    The race went back green on lap 121. After working on Kenseth for a few laps, Harvick got a run on his outside on the fronstretch to take the lead on lap 128.

    He held the lead for the next 41 laps until Chase Elliott, who spent 15 laps trying to pass him, got a run on him going into Turn 1 to take the lead. He gave up the lead four laps later to pit under green. Carl Edwards took over the lead before pitting and the lead cycled back to Elliott. However, he returned to pit road on lap 176 for a left-rear tire rub that gave the lead back to Edwards. Kyle Larson brought out the fifth caution the same lap after he slammed the wall in Turn 2.

    The race restarted on lap 184, only for the caution to fly for the sixth time with 77 laps to go for Keselowski getting loose exiting Turn 4, driving through the infield grass and destroying the front end of his car.

    He also brought out the next caution after he returned to the race with 45 to go and his engine let go on the apron in Turn 3. Austin Dillon exited pit road first by taking just right side tires.

    Edwards had little trouble passing Dillon on the restart with 42 to go to retake the lead. Regan Smith slowed the race down for the eighth time with 34 to go after making contact with the wall in Turn 3.

    The race restarted for the final time with 30 to go. Harvick got the better of Edwards on the restart and drove on to win the Hollywood Casino 400.

    “I think the best thing is that we prepare this thing for every race,” Harvick said of his motivation after his runs at Dover and Charlotte. “I try every week to find something to motivate myself and I know these guys do the same thing.  It’s hard to keep yourself motivated and continue to perform at a high level. Being able to do it for three years now says a lot about the character of this team and the things that they do.  It is like they say, anything that is really, really hard to get and come by, there are going to be some obstacles and some bumps in the road. I am just really proud of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing.”

    It’s his 35th career victory in 569 Sprint Cup Series starts, his fourth of 2016, second at Kansas Speedway, 23rd top-10 finish of the season and 11th top-10 in 22 races at Kansas.

    “I just got two good restarts against the No 19 (Carl Edwards),” Harvick added. “He didn’t have a car quite as close to him, and I was able to break that draft before I got to the middle of one and two and get away from him, so that was pretty awesome.  I just needed to go for and that is really the mindset we go into every race in the Chase was to go for, and we did.

    “I’ve done a poor job the first half of the year.  We struggled with some ratios and timing.  We came up with some ratios that really fit what we were doing, and the processes and some other things and it has really paid off twice in the Chase.”

    Edwards led 61 laps on his way to a runner-up finish in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    “Just the restarts. That bottom line got a good run and they got in front of me,” Edwards said in response to what made the difference at the end of the race. “And, then I got choked up and raced Kyle (Busch) for a long time and that set us back. But, man, we had a really good car so it’s frustrating to come home second here. But, Kevin (Harvick) and those guys did a really good job. They didn’t have that fast of a car, they just made the most of that restart and then took off. We’ll just go to Talladega now, but man I wanted to win. I really appreciate all of the support out here. We’ll come back next year, we’ll give it 100 percent effort. That was a lot of fun to run up front today.”

    It’s his 17th top-10 of 2016 and 13th in 19 races at Kansas.

    Logano led two laps on his way to rounding out the podium in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    “That was hard fought,” Logano said of his day. “I am still breathing hard. We just weren’t very good on the short runs so I had to play defense instead of offense on restarts. After 15 laps we were equal to, not way better to the point we could make up a bunch of time. We did what we had to do. I think they told me I am eighth in points so we will be close on it racing at Talladega. We did what we had to do today. We wanted to get a solid top-five and if we could win that is what we wanted. We had a good effort, we just have to get our cars a little faster right now.”

    It’s his sixth top-10 in 15 starts at Kansas.

    Jimmie Johnson finished fourth in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five in his No. 18 JGR Toyota.

    Dillon led two laps on his way to a sixth-place finish, Alex Bowman finished seventh, AJ Allmendinger overcame a speeding penalty to finish eighth, Kenseth led a race high of 116 laps on his way to a ninth-place finish and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-10.

    Truex finished 11th, Kurt Busch finished 13th, Hamlin finished 15th, Elliott finished 31st and Keselowski was the lowest-finishing Chase driver in 38th.

    The race lasted three hours and 28 seconds at an average speed of 133.155 mph. There were 16 lead changes among 10 different drivers and eight cautions for 33 laps.

    Johnson leaves with an eight-point lead over Kenseth leaving Kansas.

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  • Kenseth grabs the pole in Kansas

    Kenseth grabs the pole in Kansas

    Matt Kenseth will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday afternoon in America’s heartland.

    The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scored the pole for the Hollywood Casino 400 after posting a time of 28.112 and a speed of 192.089 mph. It’s his 18th pole in 609 career Sprint Cup Series starts, first of 2016 and third at Kansas Speedway.

    “It’s nice to get a pole,” Kenseth said of getting his first pole of the season. “I feel like our qualifying hasn’t been nearly as good this year as it has been in the rest of the years I’ve been at JGR. We barely got it – it was by a thousandth, or something like that. Obviously our Camrys have been fast. Our DEWALT FLEXVOLT Camry has been driving good and all the right adjustments. Round one we were pretty decent, it was off a little bit and then round three it was just right. We almost got beat, but it was as good of a lap as we were going to run. They did a good job today.”

    Kyle Busch will start second in his No. 18 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 28.113 and a speed of 192.082 mph. Carl Edwards will start third in his No. 19 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 28.270 and a speed of 191.015 mph. Martin Truex Jr. will start fourth in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota after posting a time of 28.304 and a speed of 190.786 mph. Alex Bowman will round out the top-five starters in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 28.374 and a speed of 190.315 mph.

    Joey Logano will start sixth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Denny Hamlin will start seventh in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Brad Keselowski will start eighth in his No. 2 Penske Ford. Ryan Newman will start ninth in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. AJ Allmendinger will round out the top-10 starters in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet.

    Kevin Harvick will start 11th and Austin Dillon will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    Twenty-one Chevrolet’s, 11 Ford’s and eight Toyota’s will comprise the 40-car field for Sunday’s race.

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  • Johnson says if Talladega comes down to him and Elliott, he’s going for the win

    Johnson says if Talladega comes down to him and Elliott, he’s going for the win

    If it came down to a duel between him and Chase Elliott at Talladega, Jimmie Johnson says he’s “here to win the race.”

    Speaking to the media this afternoon at Kansas Speedway, the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet if he would be Elliott’s “wingman” next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway or if there were things he could do to help him advance into the Round of 8.

    “I think from an on-track standpoint Talladega is about the only place I could help him and could work with him,” Johnson said. “We want to win the race here and do all that we can and if we can’t of course we want the No. 24 to. They need to have a great day, but if there is a [duel] at the end of the race between us and the No. 24 I’m here to win the race.”

    Despite a strong run by the driver of the No. 24 HMS Chevrolet, he was caught up in a restart wreck with 76 laps to go in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and finds himself 10th in points needing to race his way into eighth before the checkered flag flies at Talladega.

    Despite this, Johnson isn’t going to just move over for his teammate and will race him for the win. He also added that the 24 team knows this.

    “I know for a fact Chase and Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) would expect us to do that,” he added. “So, there is not much we can do here other than the prep that we’ve had leading into this week and how awesome our teams have been working together and the ground we’ve covered in a short period of time. That element is still there, still going on. We have all been leaning on each other tremendously, so that will also be there, but come race time we still have to race. Talladega is probably the one place I can help him.”

    The six-time Sprint Cup Series champion led a race high of 155 laps on his way to ending a 24-race winless streak (the longest of his career) with a victory in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It’s the first time he’s advanced past the Round of 12 in the elimination format of the Chase.

    Combined with Elliott’s 103 laps led at Charlotte, Hendrick Motorsports has led over 500 laps in the four Chase races this season. In the 26-race regular season, the organization led a combined total of under 500.

    Johnson was also asked if the speed the four Hendrick Motorsports cars has shown in the Chase has been surprising.

    “I wouldn’t say surprising,” he said. “It’s tough because we try to show our optimism through interviews and social posts that we might make. I think if you look back over the course of the last few months our comments have all been directionally optimistic and been building speed. To not close on a couple events that we led a lot of laps at at the start of the Chase I think that finally showed everybody that we weren’t just ‘bs’ing’ them and that we really did have the speed. To us it was frustrating that we didn’t close and we didn’t execute like we needed to. Then Charlotte we did so. So, for the No. 48 team that has kind of been the progression and the way things have gone. It was real nice to have a clean, solid race in Charlotte and get the win.”

  • The Chairman Calls Logano’s Move ‘Smart’

    The Chairman Calls Logano’s Move ‘Smart’

    In case you missed it, the chairman of NASCAR called Logano’s move at Kansas “quintessential NASCAR.”

    Monday, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France joined Dave Moody on Sirius XM Speedway to comment on the late race incident between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano.

    “That’s quintessential NASCAR,” France said. Late in the race, I think that’s a great example of everybody doing probably exactly what they should be doing. You had Matt Kenseth trying to block and hold his position. He had a faster car behind him, and when you block, you risk that somebody is going to be in that position … and there was contact.”

    While Logano didn’t need the win to rest easy at Talladega, his win at Kansas Speedway prevented any of his 11 competitors from not having to sweat it at the Alabama roulette wheel. It especially puts Kenseth in a bind with him now a 40/1 pick to win the title (Vegas Insider) and realistically must win Sunday to move onto the Eliminator Round.

    France also touched on that saying Logano “made a very smart decision in what he did because not only did he try to win the race, which he said he wanted to do and obviously he did, but the idea to late in that race to have an opportunity to put one of the top teams on the outside looking into the next round in Matt Kenseth, (who) has run so well, that’s a smart thing to do.”

    You read that right. The chairman of NASCAR just said that Logano made a brilliant move in putting Kenseth in this dilemma.

    “You have to give them a lot of credit,” France added. “This is the strategy that we all thought was going to be different when you have this kind of format. But it does reward aggressive racing at the end of the day.”

    Kenseth probably won’t see eye to eye with France on this being “quintessential NASCAR” as he said that Logano “just chose to spin me out because he wanted to be in the top groove instead of going left and trying to race me for the win the way a man should do it really.”

    During his visit to the channel, France also addressed the fans who’ve said that they can’t watch races on cable because either FOX Sports 1 and/or NBCSN is not offered by their provider or it’s out of their financial means. He said there’s nothing NASCAR can directly do, but he said that the best thing for those fans to do is to call, write, email etc. their respective cable/satellite providers and request that they put FS1 and/or NBCSN on a more affordable tier.