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  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Kentucky

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Kentucky

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Kyle Busch: Busch led 125 of 267 laps, winning the Quaker State 400 to take the first Sprint Cup race ever at Kentucky Speedway. Busch’s third win of the year vaulted him past Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick to the top of the point standings, where he leads Edwards by four.

    “If you told Edwards and Harvick that I ‘jumped’ them both in one night,” Busch said, “then they would have told you they had their backs turned, or were asleep. And speaking of ‘asleep,’ how about Saturday’s race? Some fans claimed they were ‘put to sleep;’ others said they’d like to be.

    “That’s 99 wins for me in NASCAR’s three top series. One more, and I become the sole member of an exclusive club, that being ‘drivers with 100 wins and nothing to show for it.”

    2. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished fifth at Kentucky, scoring his series-best 13th top-10 result of the season. He remained in second place in the Sprint Cup point standings, and now trails Kyle Busch for four.

    “If you liked racing,” Edwards said, “then you found precious little to like at Kentucky. If Elvis Presley were alive today, I’m sure you’d hear him croon the words to ‘Kentucky Plain.’ However, it was good to see the stands full at Kentucky Motor Speedway. The fans came out in bunches, although most of them didn’t even get to park. By the looks of traffic on Interstate 71, you could say they came out in droves.

    “As for the point standings, there’s no shame in second. Kyle Busch is on top now, so for me and the other drivers who trail, we’ll just have to be content in doing what we did at Kentucky, and that’s play follow the leader.”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick began the night at Kentucky atop the Sprint Cup point standings, but fell to third after finishing 16th in the Quaker State 400. Handling issues plagued the No. 29 Budweiser team for much of the race, but Harvick rebounding to salvage a respectable result.

    “We’re not thrilled with our finish,” Harvick said, “nor with falling out of the points lead. We couldn’t get out of here fast enough. But who wasn’t saying that after Saturday’s race?”

    4. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson lost the battle for first with Kyle Busch in the closing laps at Kentucky, and gave up second to David Reutimann’s Toyota on the final lap. Johnson’s third was his sixth top-5 result of the year, and he remains fifth in the point standings, 19 out of first.

    “I couldn’t do something that Red Bull could,” Johnson said. “And that’s hold off two Toyotas. I hear there was not a one pass for the lead in the entire race. That’s something NASCAR fans should be used to, because there hasn’t been a pass for the lead in the last five years.”

    5. Kurt Busch: Busch led 41 laps at Kentucky, dueling early with younger brother Kyle, and finished ninth, picking up his tenth top-10 result of the year. He remained fourth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 18 out of first.

    “As NASCAR’s resident foul-mouth,” Busch said, “I feel compelled to comment on the traffic fiasco at KMS. Organization in and around the track in Sparta was anything but ‘spartan.’ In fact, it made nearly everyone, especially those stuck in traffic, want to ‘Sparta-cuss.’

    “Qualifying was washed out by rain on Friday, so the starting order was set by practice times. In light of the traffic problems on Saturday, I found it amusing that there was “gridlock” on Friday and Saturday.”

    6. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth posted his tenth top-10 finish of the year, and seventh in the last nine races, with a sixth in the Quaker State 400. He is now sixth in the point standings, 22 behind Kyle Busch.

    “There wasn’t a single on-track pass for the lead all night,” Kenseth said. “It seems the ‘race’ off pit road was the only race of the night. I’m not sure who was louder with their ‘boring’ chants, the fans in the stands or those on Interstate 71.

    “I’ve got two wins and I’m sixth in the point standings, which puts me in great position. Once the Chase For The Cup starts, I plan to be right in the middle of things. Which means I’ll probably finish sixth or seventh.”

    7. Jeff Gordon: Gordon managed early handling issues and benefited from a timely late caution to come home tenth in the inaugural race at Kentucky Motor Speedway. It was Gordon’s fifth top-10 in the last six races, and he is up to seventh in the point standings, 71 out of first.

    “Will the Kentucky date remain on the NASCAR schedule for years to come?” Gordon asked. “Don’t ask me about a ‘return trip.’ Ask the 15-20,000 fans who never made it to the race about their ‘return trip.’

    “Anyway, that’s what happens when auto racing encroaches on territory thoroughly dominated by horse racing. Ironically, Kentucky Motor Speedway officials told thousands of fans get out of their cars and ‘hoof’ it.”

    8. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt blew a tire with two laps remaining, and finished 30th, his fourth-straight finish of 19th or worse after a run of four consecutive results of seventh or better. He fell one spot to eighth in the point standings, and is now 76 out of first.

    “I’ve now gone 111 races without a win,” Earnhardt said. “Now you can now add ‘momentum’ to the list of things I’ve lost.”

    9. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished 11th at Kentucky in a race dominated by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch. Hamlin improved one spot to tenth in the Sprint Cup point standings, and trails Busch by 95.

    “You may have heard,” Hamlin said, “that I almost missed driver introductions because of traffic at the track. I think the best course of action in the future for Kentucky is to move the race to Sunday and continue to urge people to leave early on Saturday to get there.

    “Those fans that missed the race due to traffic deserve a refund. And even those that witnessed the race could make a pretty strong case for the same.”

    10. Ryan Newman: Newman came home fourth at Kentucky, recovering from falling a lap down to post his fifth top-5 finish of the year. He improved one spot in the point standings to ninth, and is now 86 out of first.

    “The No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet gave me trouble early,” Newman said, “but we made the right adjustments, and we caught a few breaks. Then, I went from seventh to fourth in two laps. In short, I’m pleased. Overall, I think coming to Kentucky was a good idea. It’s leaving that was the problem.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Inaugural Kentucky Quaker State 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Inaugural Kentucky Quaker State 400

    The bluegrass state, known more for its horse racing than horse power, hosted its first ever NASCAR Sprint Cup race, the Quaker State 400. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the inaugural running of the cars at Kentucky Speedway.

    [media-credit name=”Joe Dunn” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Surprising:  It was a bit surprising to find the biggest complaints of the fans echoed the complaints of the drivers on this historic night. And it was all about the traffic, on and off the track.

    Many fans never even made it into the race because of the traffic. This situation was so bad that both the track management and NASCAR had to issue statements of apology.

    Several drivers also complained vehemently about the traffic on the track as well, especially about not being able to pass. Four-time champion Jeff Gordon, driving the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet, was most vocal about the both sets of traffic situations.

    “When the green flag dropped, I was surprised with how little grip there was because we had so much grip throughout the weekend,” Gordon said. “It was so impossible to pass here.”

    “I think the only thing that made this a great race today was the green-white-checkered and the excitement and energy of the fans,” Gordon continued. “I think when Bruton (Smith) is looking at how to get the traffic in here, he’s going to have to look at the race track as well.”

    “It’s rough and it’s really hard to pass.”

    Not Surprising:  It was not surprising to see one driver yet again prove his versatility and driving skills, especially with the spotlight shining on the inaugural run in the bluegrass state.

    That driver, Kyle Busch, proved that he can not only drive from the back of the pack to the victory, as he did in the Camping World Truck Series race, but also start from the pole, lead 125 laps of the 267 laps in the race, and win the first ever Cup event at Kentucky Speedway.

    “This is cool man,” the driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota said. “This is right up there with the best of them.”

    “I haven’t won the big ones, so this is as good as it gets right now,” Busch continued. “I can’t put it into words. The way we ran tonight was awesome.”

    This was Busch’s 22nd victory in 240 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and his third victory in 2011. The victory also catapulted the 26 year old driver into the lead in the Chase standings by 4 points over Carl Edwards.

    Surprising:  David Reutimann, driver of the No. 00 Tums Toyota Camry, surprisingly not only starred in the Tums commercial with team owner Michael Waltrip, but also starred in his best career finish, runner up to race winner Kyle Busch.

    This was only Reutimann’s second top-10 finish for the entire 2011 season.

    “It was a great race man,” Reutimann said. “It was a phenomenal race.”

    “We got a run on top and got it pointed in the right direction,” Reutimann said of the final lap as he battled five-time champ Jimmie Johnson. “Jimmie gave me enough room up there and we ended up getting a decent finish.”

    Not Surprising:   It was not surprising that the winner of the Kentucky Speedway Nationwide race was the closest contender in the Cup race as far as laps led to the race winner. Brad Keselowski, winner of the Nationwide race at Kentucky, led three times for a total of 79 laps in the first-ever Cup race.

    Unfortunately for Keselowski, driver of the blue deuce for Penske Racing,  the late restarts did not work in his favor and he ended up finishing seventh in the inaugural Cup run atKentucky.

    “It was an incredible Miller Lite Dodge Saturday night,” Keselowski said. “I led a bunch of laps and I have to thank my team for that.”

    “But I would have liked to have gotten a better finish from where we ended up.”

    Surprising:  Old five time Jimmie Johnson made a surprisingly uncharacteristic mistake behind the wheel of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet. He lost count of the laps and thought there was one more lap to go in the race instead of it being completed.

    “I didn’t see the white flag,” Johnson said. “I saw some type of flag when we were coming, which was the checkered, but I didn’t see the white for some reason.”

    “I think the 18 was going to be the winner the way it was,” Johnson continued. “It didn’t change the outcome of the race by any stretch of the imagination.”

    Johnson finished the race in the third spot. He also moved up one spot in the point standings to fifth place.

    Not Surprising:  While Juan Pablo Montoya, behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, may be known as a fiery, aggressive driver, it is not surprising that he and his crew chief Brian Pattie are calculating their every move with the Chase fast approaching.

    Montoya had a good car at Kentuckyand was up in the front lurking for much of the race. Although he finished 15th after qualifying for the outside pole, Montoya has inched ever nearer to Chase contention, moving up one spot to the 13th position in the point standings.

    Surprising:  Jamie McMurray, driving the No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet, is having a surprisingly bad run of motor failures for the season. The engine gremlin struck him again at Kentucky Speedway and it blew up, exuding a tremendous amount of smoke that forced him to a dead stop on the track.

    “Yeah, I got a little freaked out because I felt the motor start shaking and blow up and the smoke came in the car so fast I couldn’t see,” McMurray said. “That’s the first time that’s ever happened to me.”

    “I’m really frustrated,” McMurray continued. “I can’t believe we broke three engines in 18 races or however many we’ve run so far. I don’t know that I’ve blown up three engines in the last five or six years.”

    “So, it’s unbelievable that we seem to keep getting the engine that breaks.”

    Not Surprising:  After several drivers experienced challenging runs at their first ever attempt at Kentucky Speedway, it is not at all surprising that the last words out of the mouths of these drivers is how much they cannot wait to get to the next race in New Hampshire.

    “That was a tough night for the NAPA Know How team,” Martin Truex, Jr., driver of the No. 56 NAPA Good To Go Toyota Camry, said. “We started slow and then it looked like we were going to get a good finish but our car kind of plowed there at the end.”

    “I’m looking forward to New Hampshire.”

    Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, echoed Truex’s sentiments.

    “It was a fight,” Hamlin said of his inaugural Kentucky run. “We couldn’t make any moves, especially when it came night time and it seemed like our car went away from us.”

    “I’m looking forward to going back to a short track likeNew Hampshire.”

    Hamlin finished 11th and moved up to 10th in the point standings. Truex, Jr. finished 18th and held steady at 23rd in points.

  • The Inaugural Debacle at Kentucky

    The Inaugural Debacle at Kentucky

    At one point early in the Quaker State 400 at the Kentucky Speedway Kyle Busch has a lead of over 8 seconds. Busch, who started on the pole by being the fastest in happy hour practice after the qualifying session was cancelled due to rain, gave up the lead for a while to Brad Keselowski held off David Reutimann in a 3 lap shoot out at the end.

    [media-credit name=”Brian Douglas” align=”alignright” width=”273″][/media-credit]The majority of the race was uneventful as the leaders enjoyed the clean air while others struggled mightily with the track. Unfortunately, most of the action was reportedly outside the track as race fans struggled with gridlocked traffic trying to get to the racetrack. There were reports of fans being turned away when they finally made it to the track.  Jeff Gordon said after the race, “I think the only thing that made this a great race today was the green-white-checkered and the excitement and energy of the fans. I think when Bruton (Smith) is looking at how to get the traffic in here he’s going to have to look at the race track as well. It’s rough. It’s really hard to pass. The layout needs a little help; but the surface most importantly, to give these fans what they really deserve. You never know how it’s going to go. It was certainly exciting there at the finish, so that’s cool.”

    Busch had regained the lead late in the race during green flag pit stops but shortly after Dale Earnhardt Jr., who took fuel only blew a left front tire shredding his fender all over the back stretch. On the subsequent restart Jimmie Johnson was chasing down Busch but Clint Bowyer also appeared to have lost a tire and that brought out the final caution.

    Jimmie Johnson finished third , Ryan Newman fourth and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five. Johnson said, “The No. 00 was coming and got by me so i was hoping I had a shot just to fight for second. I felt like the win was kind of gone at that point. But I didn’t see the white and I came around and everybody let off and I was still on the gas and going and I was like wow I guess its over. Great night for the Lowe’s Chevrolet. We had a a very solid race car. Drove up through the field a few times and raced for the win. The No. 18 was a little better than us and we were on equal tires there at the end. We had a shot at him on new tires. That restart went good for me. If I could have stayed along side of him going into turn three and been side-by-side off of four I could have a shot at it but just didn’t work out that way. If there was another lap I think that No. 00 was going to go right by that No. 18, he was coming awfully fast.”

    Johnson also made comments about the issues of getting to the track. People who follow NASCAR on twitter (@coombsegater_sm) would have seen that even the drivers and crews were not immune to the traffic issues as they all struggled getting to the track even hours before the green flag flew.  Johnson said when informed of Hamlin’s issues, I went home to Charlotte. It was my daughter’s birthday yesterday. I went home. I was going to drive in. I had heard there were some issues with the Nationwide race. So I made different arrangements and helicoptered in. I fortunately didn’t have any issues.

    The stories I heard sounds like there’s some upset fans, people that were turned away and weren’t able to get into the event today.

    It’s disappointing. I mean, the SMI group knows racetracks and does a very good job at all the racetracks they own. It’s unfortunate we were unable to look ahead and see where these potential problems were.

    This is such a great market, so many fans are enthused to come and want to be here. To not get them all in the door is kind of a bummer. Knowing Bruton (Smith), he’ll get it fixed for next year and unfortunately it happened this year.”

    During the race the track sent out this statement, “We’ve had an overwhelming response to our inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Series “Quaker State 400.” We know we had challenges related to traffic. We’re already planning improvements and looking forward to a much better situation for next year’s event

  • Andy Lally: From Daytona Lone Ranger to Inaugural Kentucky Wannabe

    Andy Lally: From Daytona Lone Ranger to Inaugural Kentucky Wannabe

    Andy Lally, rookie driver of the No. 71 TRG Motorsports Interstate Moving Services Ford, is making an interesting transition, from lone wolf without a dance partner at this past weekend’s Daytona race to Kentucky wannabe, having to qualify in on time for this weekend’s inaugural race.

    [media-credit name=”andylally.com” align=”alignright” width=”222″][/media-credit]Lally started this journey last weekend with his best qualifying effort to date at Daytona, snagging the seventh starting spot between five time champ Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the sport’s most popular driver.

    “This was just a cool little feather in the cap that a small team had come up here and done this,” Lally said. “That was pretty neat.”

    Yet, in spite of the excellent starting position, Lally was quite the lone wolf, at least in the initial portion of the Coke Zero 400.

    “Yes, I did feel like the ‘Lone Ranger’ a little bit, but it was fairly expected,” Lally said.

    “I had spoken to Geoff Bodine before the race about hooking up and getting together,” Lally continued. “But we were starting in seventh and he was back in 35th or so, so it was going to be a little bit of time before we found him.”

    “We just tried to hold on at the front as long as we could.”

    Lally acknowledged that it was easier to hold on at the front more so when the race started and on the restarts when there was a bit of a pack. But that quickly changed when the tandem racers started the two-by-two pairings, causing Lally to struggle.

    “It was kind of like the old days in the big packs until everybody gets hooked up and single file,” Lally said. “It wasn’t easy to hold on after that happened.”

    “I was fighting tooth and nail to do whatever I could to stay in the draft and side draft guys,” Lally continued. “But it was definitely difficult to get off the gas and try to hook up with somebody.”

    “This was my third restrictor plate race so I’ve seen the benefits of the hook up every time,” Lally said. “We struggled on our own for about 20 laps or so but once we hooked up with other cars, we were pretty decent and were able to move up through the field.”

    Lally had particularly good luck when he teamed up with Terry Labonte, who was driving the No. 32 C&J Energy Ford. The Lally/Labonte tandem was so good together that they were able to push their way forward into the top ten at one point in the race.

    “That was not planned,” Lally said of his liaison with Labonte. “That was almost forced by me.”

    “Terry Labonte and Robby Gordon were running together and on the restart they got split up,” Lally continued. “Terry was on the bottom with a bunch of fast cars linked together. When I saw it, I moved to the bottom and drove up behind Terry, smashed him in the rear and started pushing him, whether he wanted me there or not.”

    “I think Terry was a little hesitant at first but after the first few laps, we started going forward and passing cars,” Lally said. “So, then we got a message over the radio from his spotter that he liked the way I was going and he wanted to stay together.”

    “We did that for the next 130 laps and we stayed together as best we could.”

    The tandem did indeed stay together, that is until mayhem ensued at the end of the race during the two green, white, checkered attempts at a finish.

    “Unfortunately, we weren’t in a position to really capitalize on that mayhem at the end of the race,” Lally said. “We had done a long green flag run but the pit stops weren’t what we needed and we lost the lead draft.”

    “And then we went on a long green flag run and the pack pushed by us to put us a lap down,” Lally continued. “If all that havoc had happened one lap prior, we would have been in decent shape.”

    “Once we took the white flag, we knew there was no more advancing of positions, so we just kind of backed off and tip toed through the minefield on the way to the checkered flag, passing battered car after battered car.”

    After finishing 27th, Lally admitted he was ready to put the superspeedway in his lone wolf rear view mirror and head to the first-ever Cup race, the Quaker State 400, at Kentucky Speedway. At that track, he will not be alone as he was at Daytona.

    “We’ve got a track that I’ve never been to,” Lally said. “But for the first time a number of other guys have never been to it either.”

    “A bunch of these guys have done the Truck race or the Nationwide race but from the information I got from the guys who did the tire test, it was fairly similar to Kansas,” Lally continued. “So, I think everybody will unload with their Kansas set up and go from there.”

    Lally is definitely a Kentucky wannabe as he currently sits 36th in owner points, just one position shy of being locked in.

    “Right now getting in the show will be the biggest thing,” Lally said. “It’s going to be a big challenge.”

    “We actually get a test day so we’ll get some laps on the track on Thursday,” Lally continued. “So, we’ll make some adjustments and see what we got for qualifying. We’ve got 48 cars for 43 spots so that’s a challenge.”

    “You’re never not trying to go hard but we’ll do more mock qualifying runs and do more in qualifying trim than race trim,” Lally said. “So, we’ll see.”

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Daytona

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Daytona

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Kevin Harvick: Harvick led 16 laps and finished seventh in the Coke Zero 400, posting his tenth top-10 result of the year. He overtook Carl Edwards, who struggled in finishing 37th, atop the Sprint Cup point standings, and now leads Edwards by five.

    “The car says ‘King Of Beers,’” Harvick said. “But the point standings say ‘King Of Peers.’ If this is what a handshake with Kyle Busch gets me, I can only begin to imagine the possibilities, but I’ll try not to for the sake of my manhood. But, the points lead in July is much like an insincere handshake—meaningless.”

    2. Carl Edwards: Edwards No. 99 Ford, paired up with teammate Greg Biffle, got loose in the draft on lap 23, and Edwards spun into the inside retaining wall. The damage to the car’s rear required lengthy repairs, and Edwards finished 37th, 26 laps down. He dropped from first to second in the point standings, and is now five behind Kevin Harvick.

    “The damage to the No. 99 Subway caused exhaust fumes to enter the car,” Edwards said. “That was simply more than I could handle. No, not the temperature, but the jokes about whether or not I wanted it ‘toasted.’

    “But my trouble with the ‘back end’ allowed Kevin Harvick to ‘back in’ to the points lead. That’s fine with me. Now, without the pressure of the points lead, I can concentrate on contract talks. I may have been ‘un-seated;’ now, I can proceed in earnest with getting ‘re-seated.’”

    3. Kyle Busch: Busch fell back from the front after contact from Jeff Gordon damaged the No. 18 JGR Toyota with three laps to go at Daytona. Busch restarted 18th after pitting for repairs, and he picked his way through late-race carnage to deliver a fifth-place finish. Busch improved two spots in the point standings to third, and trails Kevin Harvick by 10.

    “Surprisingly,” Busch said, “I drafted well with Joey Logano. Our cars ran extremely well nose to tail. What do you get when you pair the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota and the No. 18 Interstate Battery car together? ‘Domestic Battery.’

    “And speaking of other ‘unlikely pairs,’ how about the right hands of Kevin Harvick and I? Other unlikely pairs? My brother Kurt and a happy wife. Red Bull crew members and political correctness. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and victory. Richard Childress and a 2011 without probation.”

    4. Jimmie Johnson: As he had in April’s win at Talladega, Johnson hooked up with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the draft at Daytona, and the duo look poised to challenge up front as the laps wound down in the Coke Zero 400. But after Johnson pitted during a caution with two laps to go, and Earnhardt didn’t, the tandem was separated. Instead, Johnson hooked up with Jeff Gordon’s No. 24, but the No. 48 was collected in a last lap crash that dropped him to a finish of 20th.

    “I hear that Earnhardt fans are livid at me for leaving Dale hanging,” Johnson said. “It seems that Junior Nation was unhappy with the state of the ‘union,’ and they let me hear about it. But I fired back on my Twitter account, where I essentially gave Junior Nation the finger. Call it the ‘Tweet-y bird.’

    “But let’s be serious. How is Jimmie Johnson pushing Junior advantageous to me? I’m pushing Junior. That means I’m behind him. That in itself means I have no chance of winning.”

    5. Kurt Busch: Busch’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge suffered damage on a lap 163 restart, and after repairs, he was 26th in the second green-white-checkered restart on lap 168. On the final turn, a wild crash ensued as the field roared to the checkered. Busch, with the help of his spotter, avoided damage this time, and came home 14th. He remained fourth in the point standings, and is 16 out of first.

    “At Daytona,” Busch said, “as in relationships, it’s all about finding the right partner. And, in both cases, it’s easy to get out of line, which is what happens when you lose a draft partner, for example, or kiss another woman in Victory Lane. Often, it all boils down to timing. Squeezing through a multi-car crash: good timing. Announcing your marriage is ending after publicly kissing another woman: bad timing.”

    6. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth pushed Roush Fenway Racing teammate David Ragan to the win at Daytona, and Kenseth claimed the runner-up spot, his ninth top-5 finish of the year. Ragan and Kenseth were a formidable tandem all night, combining to lead 29 laps. Kenseth moved up one spot to fifth in the point standings, and is 22 out of first.

    “With apologies to NASCAR’s drug policy,” Kenseth said, “and even more apologies to the great Curtis Mayfield, I’m proud to say to David Ragan, ‘I’m your pusher, man.’ Ragan was driving the UPS car, but I delivered the package.

    “There was a lot of talk at Daytona about drivers leaving their draft partners, but with Crown Royal’s sponsorship leaving the No. 17 car, it appears I’m the one that really was hung out to ‘dry.’”

    7. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt lost drafting partner Jimmie Johnson when Johnson pitted during a caution with three laps to go in regulation at Daytona. On the restart, Earnhardt resumed without Johnson’s push, and, after getting collected in a final-turn crash, Earnhardt finished 19th. He remained seventh in the Sprint Cup point standings, and now trails Kevin Harvick by 52.

    “I was enjoying the push from the No. 48,” Earnhardt said. “Then, with little warning, he was gone, causing a great deal of confusion and leaving my race in disarray. It was a case of ‘helper skelter.’

    “As you know, I’m not a big fan of the type of racing prevalent at Daytona now. It’s a lot like a restrictor plate—it sucks.”

    8. Jeff Gordon: Gordon survived a spin with three laps to go at Daytona, miraculously keeping his car off the wall, then hooked up in the draft with Kyle Busch for a charge that netted Gordon a sixth. It was Gordon’s seventh top-10 finish of the year, and he advanced one place to eighth in the point standings.

    “The two Red Bull cars checked up,” Gordon said, “leaving me, much like Red Bull drivers themselves, nowhere to go.”

    9. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin spent most of Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 paired up with Ryan Newman’s No. 39, and the duo was in the mix near the end. But Newman got loose on the final lap, upsetting their two-car draft, and Hamlin fell back before being collected in a multi-car wreck. He finished 13th, and is now 11th in the point standings, 91 out of first.

    “Congratulations to David Ragan for a job well done,” Hamlin said. “That was an unexpected win for the No. 6 car. As the driver of the Fed Ex car, I’m contractually obligated not to mention Ragan’s primary sponsor. So I’ll just say his victory was a huge ‘UPS-et.’”

    10. Tony Stewart: Stewart rebounded from a late-race accident to finish 11th at Daytona, leading one lap for a valuable bonus point. He remained 12th in the Sprint Cup point standings, and is now 92 out of first.

    “I’ve vowed to police NASCAR tracks and take care of anyone who gets out of line,” Stewart said. “In other words, I plan to be judge, jury, and executioner, but not necessarily in that order.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Daytona Coke Zero 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Daytona Coke Zero 400

    With firecrackers sparkling, patriotism soaring and flags flying high in celebration of the July 4th holiday weekend, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Coke Zero 400 run under the lights at Daytona International Speedway.


    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”261″][/media-credit]Surprising: Sentimental favorite Trevor Bayne and points leader Carl Edwards both surprisingly had a world of trouble at the world center of racing.

    Bayne, piloting the famed Wood Brothers No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire and Auto Center Ford, was making his triumphant return to the superspeedway after winning the Daytona 500 and then having to get out of the car for a bit as a result of a never-diagnosed illness.

    The young driver’s high hopes were dashed early, when he was turned by Brad Keselowski, in the No. 2 Blue Deuce for Penske Racing, on Lap 5 of the race. Bayne and team were unable to repair the car and he finished 41st.

    “I don’t know if I turned down more getting in or if he (Keselowski) kind of came up across our bumper, but, either way, our bumpers caught wrong and it sent us spinning,” Bayne said. “You know that can happen here.”

    “It happens all the time, but it’s tough that it was our car,” Bayne continued. “I hate tearing up a good race car. If I didn’t have my faith and everything else right now, that would be a pretty bad blow I can promise you that.”

    Bayne was not the only one that had a tough night. Points leader coming into the race Carl Edwards had his hands full as well behind the wheel of the No. 99 Subway Ford for Roush Fenway Racing.

    Edwards was running third, being pushed by teammate Greg Biffle, when he hit the wall on lap 23. Edwards’ car was severely damaged, allowing fumes to get into the car and sickening the driver.

    While Edwards did get his car back on the track, he finished 37th, losing the points lead to Kevin Harvick.

    “We don’t ever give up and that’s the thing,” Edwards said. “I told my guys to keep their heads up. We’ll take this bad day and keep our pride.”

    “We knew coming here we could come out losing a bunch of points and we lost about as many as we could, but that’s OK,” Edwards continued. “We’re still right there. Hopefully we’ll be leading it after next week.”

    Not Surprising:  There was another Cinderella glass slipper waiting and not surprisingly this one was polished with redemption for one driver who was definitely due one at Daytona.

    David Ragan, who had come so close to winning the Daytona 500 but was penalized for changing lanes in the waning laps, was pushed to his first ever Cup victory by teammate Matt Kenseth.

    This was Ragan’s first victory in 163 Cup races but his fifth top-10 finish in 2011. The driver of the No. 6 UPS “We Love Logistics” Ford for Roush Fenway Racing scored his fourth top-10 finish in ten races at Daytona.

    “It was a tough one in February and coming back here we knew that we’d have a shot to win,” Ragan said. “When we qualified, that’s probably the first time I really felt like we’ve got a car that’s fast enough that we can win this thing, so we made a pact with our teammate Matt Kenseth that we were gonna work together through thick or thin.”

    “I just tried to not make any mistakes, tried to put ourselves in good position and we wound up obviously being in the lead on the last restart and that was the winning moment for us,” Ragan said. “I’m happy about the win.”

    Surprising:  While this year has been one of change on pit road, particularly for the over the wall gang with the new fueling system and the elimination of the catch can man, there was another surprising change on pit road during this race. The gas can man became the grease man as well.

    From rags covered in lard to cans of Pam, greasing the bumpers became a part of the pit crew dance. And another pit road command from atop the boxes became “Right side tires and grease the bumpers.”

    Not Surprising:  With the new style of tandem racing, it was not surprising to see a race record high of 57 lead changes. There was also a track record broken for 25 different leaders, with the previous record being 22 set in this year’s Daytona 500.

    It was also not surprising that after all of the racing, the finale came down to the second attempt at a green, white, checkered finish.

    Clint Bowyer, who had been at the front of the pack in his No. 33 Wheaties Fuel Chevrolet, ended up finishing 36th, thanks to that final green, white, checker attempt.

    “We got some damage in the beginning of the race and laid back in the field with our RCR teammate Jeff Burton until about 30 to go,” Bowyer said. “That last caution came out at the wrong time as we were making a run at the leaders.”

    “Nothing we could have done there at the end,” Bowyer concluded. “That’s just restrictor plate racing for you I guess.”

    Surprising: The surprising tandem dubbed ‘Harvard’, comprised of Kevin Harvick, driving the No. 29 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet, and Paul Menard, behind the wheel of the No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet, finished strong.

    In fact, Harvick’s finish was strong enough to catapult him over Edwards to lead the point standings by five.

    “We had a plan to stick with the No. 27 (Menard) all night and I think we ran every lap with him,” Harvick said. “The first green-white-checkered, we had a great run and the timing was perfect.”

    “The second one, we just didn’t have quite the timing and got a couple of guys underneath us and then we just got a little bit too far behind,” Harvick continued. “But still, everything worked pretty good.”

    Not Surprising: In contrast to the relief of the ‘Harvard’ tandem, it was not surprising to see equal if not more amounts of frustration boil over for many of the traditionally good plate race drivers who did not have the finish they, or their fans, envisioned.

    In addition to Jimmie Johnson, who finished 20th in his No. 48 Lowes Summer Salute, fan favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr. also struggled late in the race, finishing 19th in his camouflaged No. 88 National Guard Heritage/Amp Energy Chevrolet.

    “Oh man, I don’t know,” Junior said after the race. “I’m really ticked off. Damnit. I was just trying to get to the finish line.”

    “What kind of move can you make in racing like this?” Junior continued. “There ain’t no move you can make.”

    “You just hold it on the mat and try not to wreck into each other,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “You see how good we are at that.”

    Surprising: In addition to his appearance in the movie ‘Cars 2’, it was a bit surprising to see Jeff Gordon, this week piloting the No. 24 Pepsi Max Chevrolet, starring as the race’s Lucky Dog. Gordon used his veteran skills for an incredible save after a wild spin on lap 157 to finish sixth.

    “Somebody got in the back of the No. 4 (Kasey Kahne) and pushed him up into me and I had nowhere to go,” Gordon said. “Then the car came around and luckily I straightened it out somehow and came back and fixed it.”

    “Miraculously there on those last two restarts we avoided more wrecks,” Gordon continued. “It was awesome and how we finished sixth is unbelievable.”

    Not Surprising:  One other driver benefitted greatly from the Lucky Dog phenomenon. AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 43 Air Force Ford Fusion for Richard Petty Motorsports, got the distinction after the first green, white, checkered attempt and went on to power his way to a top-10 finish.

    “I felt kind of bad because Marcos (Ambrose) and I were racing for the lucky dog, but I was happy the yellow came out twice so we both got our laps back,” Allmendinger said. “After that, it was just trying to miss the wreck.”

    “We didn’t quite miss it but I stayed wide open and kind of bulled my way through there and finished 10th.”

  • Fireworks on the track and in the sky

    Fireworks on the track and in the sky

    Daytona’s Coke Zero 400 showed promise. Time and experience had improved the Nationwide race immensely so the Cup series should be just as good. Realistic expectation perhaps, but it didn’t come to pass.

    [media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”219″][/media-credit]All week drivers had been asked about the two car tango. There were many opinions and explanations on how it worked. Some liked it. Some didn’t. One of the biggest detractors of the tandem drafting was Dale Earnhardt Jr. “I’d rather have control of my own destiny and be able to go out there and race and just do my own work and worry about my own self. It’s really weird and kinda wrong on some levels to race that way and to think like you think. You take care of somebody and you feel this obligation to take care of them and then worry about having them take care of you and how that makes them feel. Been growing up all these years racin’ for number one-lookin’ out for number one. Doing my job. This is what I need to do. I need to do this to get up through the pack. This is how my car drives and now you are doing it so different. Your thought process and everything you think about during the race is nothing near that. It is just different and weird. It won’t be like that forever I assume and hopefully I am alive and still racin’ when it goes back to the way it was because I just really enjoy lookin’ out for number one, man. If you had a car that drive up through there and you were smart about drafting and knew what you were doing, you could make some cool things happen and that was pretty fun.”

    Elliott Sadler says he likes the two car draft and offered this explanation, “I like the 2 car drafting that we do now and I’ll you the reason behind it. Drafting – restrictor plates – are a tough part of our sport. We hear drivers talk about it all the time. Old drafting where you have 40 cars in one bunch in one pile a lot of the finishes you got are out of your control. A lot of the wrecks you get in, everything really is determined by everyone else around you. We have a lot of those same factors in the 2 car draft. Where things can happen around you and catch in a wreck not of your doing. But with the 2 car tandem if you know what you’re doing as a drafting partner and you make the right decisions as a 2 car tandem you can work your way to the front and actually the pack will split up a little more so actually the big wreck has a little bit less chance of happening and as a driver that’s a good thing. But I do think it’s harder to draft this way.”

    Both drivers were involved in huge last lap crashes of their respective races. The Sprint Cup race ended with two crashes on the white flag lap. The crashes took out 15 cars in the first and 18 cars in the final wreck just yards before the start finish line. This is significant when you remember that the starting field is 43 cars. Many of the cars that did finish were damaged from earlier wrecks in the event.

    At some point words from the drivers and NASCAR start coming back to you. Words like cost containment measures, no down force, racing for track position, driver safety is a priority. At that point you begin making observations.

    Let’s start with cost containment. NASCAR implemented the COT and eliminated testing as cost containment measure for teams. They did so in 2008. Let’s take a good look at this race and ask about the cost containment. 30 cars were involved in the last lap melee. Several more were damaged in the wrecks that happened before the white flag. Let’s break it down to teams. HMS lost 3 cars and damaged the fourth significantly. Joe Gibbs had damage to 2 out of the 3. RCR lost 2 out of 4 with damage to a 3rd. Roush Fenway, had significant damage to 2 out of the 4 but did win the race with a pristine car. Richard Petty Motorsports lost 1 and damaged a second. Red Bull lost 1 and damaged the other. Penske Racing seriously damaged both cars. Those are just the major teams. How cost effective is the decision to not make changes to the car? But even drivers do not believe there will be changes made. “I don’t think they’re going to address that to be honest with you. I think its goes against what they’re trying to do and we’re not turning each other around, the interface works really well and so well we can push.” Stated five time series champion Jimmie Johnson. But at what cost? How long will it be before a driver is seriously hurt?

    NASCAR has stated since 2001, that driver safety is paramount and utmost on their list of priorities. Yet we still have not learned that three lap runs for the checkered flag on super speedways is always disastrous. In was disastrous in 1992 when Rusty Wallace took a wild ride through the tri-oval grass at Talladega. It was disastrous in 2001 when Dale Earnhardt lost his life in a turn 4 crash at Daytona. And it was disastrous in 2011 when 30 cars wrecked on the last lap of the Coke Zero 400. We lost a hero. We hurt another. We destroyed millions of dollars worth of equipment. What does it take for NASCAR to see that Green White Checker finishes don’t belong on restrictor plate tracks?

    The COT’s safety systems have been tested and proven for sure. But they are not fail safe. The cage that surrounds the driver in the new car is stiffer and unyielding. This transfers more impact to the driver. “The driver compartment is stiffer and stronger than it has ever been before it’s going to absorb the impact far less even though we have some impact material and foam around the driver side,” stated Jeff Gordon. He did go on to add that he would not trade the safety measures for what they had before.

    Injuries are not always obvious. In the case of Carl Edwards he lost a crush panel in front of the right rear wheel on his Subway Ford Fusion in an early race crash. After only a few laps on the track Edwards returned to the pits after becoming ill in the car from Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Edwards, who does not run a Koolbox system which would have provided him with a Carbon monoxide filter, did finish the race but was treated with Oxygen post race.

    This race showed the instability in the cars. Numerous times we saw cars in tandem pairs be passed by another tandem and the pair be pulled apart as the side force of the cars was disrupted. The aero dynamic wave, if you will, caused the two cars to become unstable on the track with several cases of spins and wall contact resulting.

    There is no doubt that this race was costly to teams. Thankfully there were no injuries. At least not physically but the financial injuries will take some of the smaller teams a great deal of time to recoup.

    The cup race did not live up to its sister series race. It was a long fairly uninterrupted affair that saw teams dropping back and waiting to the very end to make a run for the front. Those were runs that simply didn’t happen. Some because the tandem was broken up by needed pit stops after the late caution that took pole sitter Mark Martin out of the race. Some because they had simply fallen too far back to make the run and then were caught in the final melees typical of Restrictor Plate racing. Sadly, there seems to be no hope of returning to the old school racing at Daytona or Talladega. But hopefully we will carry with us as a sport the lessons learned from this years Coke Zero Demolition Derby.

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

    Congratulations to TNT on a great broadcast with readable graphics and limited interruptions for commercials. This was definitely the best broadcast of the year.

    Kudos to Wally Dallenbach and Kyle Petty for having the courage to get in to cars and demonstrate and describe what we were about to see even though they themselves had never done it before.

    Congratulations to Joey Logano on his win in the Subway Jalapeno 250, and also to Kyle Busch for pushing him to that victory.

    Congratulations to Danica Patrick for finally displaying the skills that all of her fans believed her to have in a stock car.

    Congratulations to David Ragan on his victory in the Coke Zero 400 and also to Matt Kenseth for pushing him to that victory.

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

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Sonoma

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Sonoma

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Carl Edwards: Edwards, who skipped Saturday’s Nationwide race in Wisconsin, finished third in the Toyota/Save Mart 350, posting his best ever finish at Sonoma. Edwards increased his lead in the point standings, and now leads Kevin Harvick by 25.

    “I knew it would be wise to stay and concentrate on Sonoma,” Edwards said. “And Jack Roush was in agreement. In fact, he’s been begging me to ‘stay’ for weeks now. I’m in my final year of my contract with Roush Fenway Racing. If I don’t get the money I deserve, then Roush Fenway will hear me say what you’d expect the guy who’s led the points standings nearly all year say: ‘Watch me go.’”

    2. Kevin Harvick: Harvick started 26th at Sonoma and recovered from a mid-race accident before fighting his way to a finish of ninth, taking his ninth top-10 finish of the year. He remained second in the point standings, and trails Carl Edwards by 25.

    “First of all,” Harvick said, “I’d like to thank our sponsor, Rheem Tankless Water Heaters. We surely don’t want them called ‘Rheem Thankless Water Heaters.

    “But the No. 29 Richard Childress Chevrolet wasn’t the only thing ‘reamed’ at Sonoma. There was lot of ‘bad blood’ out there, and I’m not talking about the bonds of kinship that link those blasted Busch brothers. Tony Stewart and Brian Vickers smacked each other around, leaving the rear of Stewart’s No. 14 elevated on a tire barrier. Vickers may hear from NASCAR about that. If so, it will be the first time a driver will be fined for another car’s rear end being too high.”

    3. Kyle Busch: Busch finished a solid 11th in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 as big brother Kurt drove to a decisive victory. Kyle fell one spot to fifth in the point standings, 37 behind Carl Edwards.

    “For once this year,” Busch said, “Kurt drove like a maniac instead of acting like one. The No. 22 Penske Dodge was unstoppable out front. I’m sure Kurt appreciated the clean air on the track as much as his team appreciated the ‘clean air’ on their radio frequency. Understandably, the ‘curse’ of Kurt Busch can only be lifted by a win.

    “As for my finish, I’m satisfied. Or, to put it in terms that are rarely spoken by either of the Busch brothers, ‘I can’t complain.’”

    4. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson joined Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon in the top 10 at Sonoma, finishing seventh to Gordon’s runner-up result. Johnson, who won last year at Sonoma, jumped two places in the Sprint Cup point standings to third, and trails Carl Edwards by 33.

    “I enjoy racing in ‘Wine Country,’” Johnson said. “Someday, like Jeff Gordon, I hope to offer my own brand of fine wines, produced at my winery that will be called ‘Wynasty.’

    5. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt was one of seven cars collected in a lap 37 pile-up started when Tony Stewart spun Brian Vickers in Turn 11. The damage left a hole in the radiator of the No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet was serious, and Earnhardt limped home with his first DNF of the year, finishing 41st.

    “What caused our downfall?” Earnhardt asked. “Was it a hole, or a-holes? Hopefully, that’s the end of my involvement in the Tony Stewart-Brian Vickers feud. I though Red Bull was leaving NASCAR. Apparently, not without a fight.”

    6. Kurt Busch: Busch led 76 of 110 laps in the Toyota/Save Mart 350, scoring his first career road course victory with a dominating performance at Sonoma. Busch beat Jeff Gordon by four seconds, and improved three spots in the Sprint Cup point standings to fourth, and now trails Carl Edwards by 34.

    “That was a major butt-whupping,” Busch said, “and I agree with everyone who’s been saying that’s exactly what I’ve needed this year. Hopefully, this will be a harbinger of more good things to come. We’ve been wildly inconsistent this year. It’s been either tirade or parade.

    “I’d like to thank my team for their hard work and perseverance. I believe they wanted this even more than I did. Not a win, mind you, but something that would finally shut me up.”

    7. Jeff Gordon: Gordon stayed on the track during a caution with 20 laps to go, going from 20th to 8th before a dash to the checkers that gave him the runner-up finish at Sonoma. It was Gordon’s third top-5 finish in the last five races, and boosted him three spots in the point standings to ninth.

    “I’m pleased with our finish here,” Gordon said. “But I have to admit, I had a lot more fun racing Kurt Busch last year as opposed to Sunday. I got a big kick, as well as a big punt, from being behind Kurt last year.”

    8. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth was running 13th, up from his qualifying position of 26th, on lap 65 when he was tagged from behind by Joey Logano in the No. 20 Home Depot car. The spin dropped Kenseth back to 35th, and he gamely battled back to finish 14th. He remained sixth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 52 out of first.

    “Not only was Logano’s move childish,” Kenseth said, “it was also child-ish. As such, and given my non-confrontational style, I shall handle the situation with ‘kid gloves.’”

    9. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin was rear-ended by A.J. Allmendinger’s No. 43 Ford on lap 43, the contact from which was later determined to have damaged the track bar on Hamlin’s No. 11 Fed Ex Freight Toyota. Hamlin resigned to the garage for repairs and finished 37th, completing only 99 of 110 laps.

    “We had the car to challenge Kurt Busch,” Hamlin said. “That is, until the bottom fell out, so to speak. Allmendinger may drive for Richard Petty, but his actions on Sunday surely weren’t fit for a king. In fact, A.J. is ‘STuPid.’ There was a lot of talk about road course ringers, but no one warned me about road course ‘Dingers.’ So Allmendinger gets the road course finger.”

    10. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer finished fourth at Sonoma, posting his third top-5 finish this year. It was Bowyer’s best result this year, and he improved two places in the Sprint Cup point standings to eight.

    “As you know,” Bowyer said, “my RCR teammate Jeff Burton will be taking NFL star Chad Ochocinco for some laps around Atlanta Motor Speedway on Thursday. Hopefully, this ride will last more than the 1.5 second bull ride Ochocinco took earlier this year. I think Jeff is really looking forward to this, and I expect he’ll get a lot from the experience, but not a word in edgewise.”

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Michigan

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Michigan

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Carl Edwards: Edwards led 30 laps at Michigan and finished fifth, earning his series-best eighth top-5 result of the year. Edwards boosted his lead in the Sprint Cup point standings, and now leads second-place Kevin Harvick by 20.

    “How does it feel to lead with nine laps to go and not win the race?” Edwards asked. “It’s the pits. My No. 99 Roush Fenway Ford was adorned with the Aflac ‘Now Hiring’ paint scheme, which hopefully served as a not-too-subtle hint to my crew members of the fleetingness of employment.”

    Now, as a driver for Roush Fenway, baseball and racing go together like Joe Gibbs Racing and cheating. From personal experience, I know an illegal oil can part when I see one. ‘Oil Can’ Boyd once roamed Fenway Park. ‘Oil Can Ployed’ makes its home at JGR.”

    2. Kyle Busch: An eventful week for Busch ended on Sunday with a solid third-place finish in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan. Busch’s probation ended last Tuesday, then the Joe Gibbs Racing fleet was ordered by NASCAR to change oil pans on Friday. On Sunday, Busch fought an indigestion problem before crew chief Dave Rogers rectified it with Tums and water. Busch improved one spot in the point standings, and trails Carl Edwards by 29.

    “Take it from me,” Busch said. “It’s not always a bad thing to run out of gas.”

    “My No. 18 hauler was parked beside Kevin Harvick’s No. 29 hauler. That was risky, because even our haulers are feuding. I’m guessing NASCAR thinks a parking lot is the only place these two teams can get ‘along.’ But seriously, it looks as though NASCAR is sending us mixed signals. It appears probation was NASCAR’s way of saying ‘no more.’ This must be their method of asking for ‘more.’ I rate NASCAR’s disciplinary methods an ‘A’ for ‘ambiguity.’ Let me say, though, there was a lot of glaring going on between the two teams. I believe that’s the first time Harvick and I have seen eye to eye.”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick came home 14th at Michigan, struggling with handling issues and surviving  in the Heluva Good! 400. However, due to subpar days from Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Harvick vaulted two places in the point standings to second, and now trails Carl Edwards by 20 points.

    “See,” Harvick said, “I can revel in the misery of someone besides Kyle Busch. And I will continue to pester Busch without end. You would never hear me complain of heartburn. I’ve got a foolproof immunity to heartburn. It’s called being heartless.”

    4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished 21st at Michigan, seeing a possible top-10 result fall to the wayside when his No. 88 Amp Energy Chevrolet was pinched into the wall on lap 191 when Mark Martin got loose and slid up the track. The contact caused a tire rub that ended Earnhardt’s charge to the front. He remained third in the point standings, 27 out of first.

    “It’s hard to stay mad at Mark,” Earnhardt said. “That’s why my crew and I held a ‘re-tire-ment’ party in the pits shortly after he sent me into the wall. At Mark’s last retirement party, I asked him to ‘stay in touch.’ Apparently, he took that a bit too literally. Now, unfortunately, he has to deal with the wrath of Junior Nation. The first rule of Junior Nation is: ‘If you ‘turn against’ the No. 88, regardless of circumstances, Junior Nation will ‘turn against’ you.”

    Despite it all, I still expect Mark and I to remain professional and work together. We’ve got lots of information to share. Mark’s finished second in the Sprint Cup rankings four times, so he’s got a wealth of advice to share about ‘not winning.’”

    5. Jimmie Johnson: An early spin on lap 8 foreshadowed a tough day for the No. 48 Lowe’s team at Michigan. A broken sway bar was found to be the culprit, and Johnson fell down two laps quickly after racing without the necessary equipment. A scarcity of yellow flags left the team with little opportunity for repairs, and Johnson finished 27th, one lap down. He tumbled three spots in the point standings to fifth, and trails Carl Edwards by 29.

    “As the five-time Sprint Cup champion,” Johnson said, “I normally advocate the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ philosophy. Not in this case. A broken sway bar sent me for a loop. And even the sport’s most notorious ‘spin’ doctor, Chad Knaus, couldn’t put it back together. Chad’s and the No. 48 strategists often have cram sessions to find ways to skirt NASCAR’s nebulous rules. We call those meetings ‘unapproved part-ies.”

    6. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth chased Denny Hamlin down the stretch at Michigan, but came up short after a last-gasp effort in the final turn. Kenseth spun his tires on the final restart, but got a boost from Roush Fenway teammate Carl Edwards, but pushed him to clean air. He got close to Hamlin, but lost by .281 seconds. Kenseth improved one spot to sixth in the point standings, and trails Edwards by 41.

    “Kudos to NASCAR officials,” Kenseth said. “They did something that I couldn’t—‘catch’ Hamlin. I now know why the Joe Gibbs cars had to go back to their old oil pans—because the new ones were ‘busted.’ In any case, Hamlin applauded me for my efforts with the same words NASCAR uttered to the Gibbs team—‘nice try.’”

    7. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin won the race out of the pits during the final caution at Michigan, and repelled the advances of Matt Kenseth over the final laps. Hamlin’s narrow victory was his first of the season, and quite fulfilling in the wake of recent strong runs in which victory eluded him. He jumped three places in the point standings to ninth, and is 77 out of first.

    “Due to my slow start this season,” Hamlin said, “many people had written me off as a championship contender. To them, I say the same thing I told NASCAR inspectors last Friday: ‘It was an honest mistake.’ NASCAR’s fined the three JGR crew chiefs $50,000. That’s chump change, and not nearly enough to cause the ‘Great Oil Pan-ic of 2011.’”

    8. Kurt Busch: Busch finished 11th at Michigan after earning his third consecutive pole, just missing his fourth-straight top-10 result. He improved one spot in the point standings to seventh, and is now 41 out of first.

    “Even with an 11th-place finish,” Busch said, “I’m still not happy. I’m a habitual complainer. My crew chief Steve Addington will vouch for that. Tums may shut my brother Kyle up, but there’s not a product made that will stop my whining.”

    Despite my qualifying efforts, I’m still winless on the year. That, as well as my reputation as the most-punched driver in NASCAR, indicates that I’m unable to finish what I ‘started.’”

    9. Ryan Newman: Newman finished sixth in the Heleva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400, posting his seventh top-10 finish of the year. Newman is now eighth in the Sprint Cup point standings, and trails Carl Edwards by 76.

    “Amid all the fighting, probations, and unapproved car parts,” Newman said, “I’ve quietly ascended to No. 8 in the point standings. Just like my fine for punching a fellow driver, you could say I’m flying under the radar.”

    10. Jeff Gordon: Gordon was running seventh when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. hit the wall, bringing out the race’s final caution at Michigan. Gordon opted for four tires, which set him back to 15th for the restart. He lost two positions in the remaining five laps and finished 17th.

    “Obviously, two tires was the right call,” Gordon said. “We just made the ‘right’ call twice. And, as the saying goes, two ‘rights’ make a wrong.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400

    From oil pan issues for the cars of Joe Gibbs Racing to the end of probation for driver rivals Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, the Irish hills of Michigan once again saw plenty of action for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”265″][/media-credit]Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 43rd annual Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

    Surprising: It was surprising that Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota, did not win last weekend at Pocono Raceway, a place that he had ‘owned’ for so many races in the past. But it was also surprising the Hamlin, who has been battling engine failures and other bad luck so mightily this season, finally put that behind him and took the checkered flag.

    This was Hamlin’s first win of the 2011 season, although he has had six top-10 finishes to date. His previous win was sixteen races ago when Hamlin was the victor at Texas Motor Speedway in November 2010.

    “We finished,” Hamlin said. “We got it done. It’s a big Father’s Day.”

    Not Surprising:  Since it was Michigan, Jack Roush’s backyard and Ford’s playground, it was not at all surprising that two drivers from that racing stable did well, scoring top five finishes.

    Matt Kenseth, behind the wheel of the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford, driving as hard as his car would go while not wrecking on the final lap, finished in the runner up spot. His RFR teammate Carl Edwards, piloting the No. 99 Aflac ‘Now Hiring’ Ford and winner of the Nationwide race the day before, finished fifth.

    This was Kenseth’s 15th top-10 finish in 24 races at Michigan International Speedway.  This was also Kenseth’s eighth top-10 finish in 2011.

    “We had a really fast car and thought we were going to have a chance to win,” Kenseth said. “I got back to Denny (Hamlin), but I could not get back around him. I tried everything I could, but I just could not figure out how to do it.”

    For Edwards’ part, he just really wanted to win the Cup race, vowing to head all the way to the top of the grandstands just as he had in the Nationwide race, if he did. While he scored fifth instead of first, Edwards did extend his Chase points lead to 20 points over second place.

    Surprising:  Continuing with the Carl Edwards theme, it was most surprising to see the driver, who is usually most professional and an excellent spokesperson for the sport, call NASCAR out after the race.

    “Track position is so important,” Edwards said. “Sadly, down force is such a big factor in these cars and I am really hoping that NASCAR will take the opportunity in 2013 to take down force away so the fans can see the guys race race cars and not race down force. That would be cool.”

    Not Surprising: Neither oil pan troubles nor physical ailments could stop Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Snickers Toyota, from his appointed rounds. After complaining of nausea and pain in the center of his chest, Busch drove forward from his 24th place starting spot to finish third.

    “He just had a little stomach ache,” Dave Rogers, crew chief, said. “We gave him some Tums in a bottle of water and it took care of it.”

    Busch’s crew did have Scott Riggs standing by if needed, but when Busch was leading at the half-way mark of the race, there was no way he was ever going to get out of his car, not matter how poorly he felt.

    “Kyle is pretty dedicated to this race team,” Rogers said. “He’s a pretty tough kid so I didn’t think he would get out.”

    “I didn’t feel that bad,” Busch said. “It felt like I was running a 400 mile marathon running on my feet instead of in a race car.”

    Although Busch has never won at Michigan International Speedway, this was his fourth top-10 finish in 13 races in the Irish hills. Busch’s third place finish mirrored his third place finish the previous week in the Pocono race.

    “It wasn’t going to be a great day but we turned it into a good one,” Busch said. “Overall I’m happy with today; happy with the finish. If you finish third in the last 10 races every single race, you might win this thing, so we’ll take it.”

    Surprising: The primarily poor performance of the Hendrick Motorsports team was fairly surprising. Five-time champion Jimmie Johnson spun on lap 8, bringing out the first caution of the race.

    Johnson, driving the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, finished 27th and lost the second spot in the Chase standings, falling to the fifth position.

    Johnson’s teammate, four-time champion and winner of last weekend’s race, Jeff Gordon, also did not fare very well in the Irish hills. Gordon, this week driving the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, started 31st and finished 17th, falling one spot in the points to the 12th and final potential Chase spot.

    What was most surprising, however, were the harsh words HMS driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had for his teammate Mark Martin. The driver of the No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet made perfectly clear that he was not happy with being squeezed into the wall by the driver of the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.

    “He just come on up and drove us into the fence,” Junior said of his teammate Martin. “He ran us flat in the wall.”

    “I think we will get it sorted out,” Martin said in rebuttal. “I made a mistake.”

    Dale Jr. finished 21st, his first finish out of the top-10 this season. Junior was, however, able to hold on to his third place in the points standings.

    Mark Martin actually finished top-10, the best of all of the Hendrick Motorsports cars. He climbed one position in the points to 14th, just 20 points behind his teammate Jeff Gordon in the last Chase position.

    Not Surprising:  The majority of the Richard Childress Racing entries had a very good day at Michigan. Paul Menard, who has been struggling of late, had a terrific run, bringing his No. 27 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet home in the fourth position.

    Clint Bowyer also had a good day in the Irish hills. The No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet finished in the eighth spot.

    Finally, ‘the Closer’ Kevin Harvick overcame adversity and a brush with the wall to finish 14th in his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet. Harvick leapfrogged over Dale Junior to lay claim to the second spot in the point standings.

    Surprising:  One of the best surprises of the day was the terrific run by young Landon Cassill, piloting the No. 51 Security Benefit/Thank a Teacher Today Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing. Cassill finished 12th, the best finish ever in his Cup career, tying the best finish for Phoenix Racing this season.

    “That was a great day all around,” Cassill said. “We lost some track position early but fought back all day. We had a good break at the end.”

    Not Surprising:  With Hall of Fame inductee Bud Moore on his race car in celebration of the US Army’s 236th Birthday, Ryan Newman had an ‘Army Strong’ day, finishing sixth.

    “It was a good finish for us,” Newman said. “We fought back hard.”

    Newman’s teammate and owner Tony Stewart also had a favorable race result. The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet finished the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 in seventh.