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  • The Final Word – All the World’s a Stage, as we Close the Curtain on Michigan

    The Final Word – All the World’s a Stage, as we Close the Curtain on Michigan

    A curmudgeon. An old fart who sits in the wings like a Muppet and mocks those upon the stage. In this case, for me that includes the three in the booth and the three on the desk offered up by ESPN. I am sure even a certain green talking frog would not have been safe from my sarcasm. My use of the mute button had nothing to do with escaping the droning that passes for professional race description and analysis. No, I am merely previewing what the future might be should NASCAR turn to electric cars.

    Jeff Gordon was electric at Michigan on Sunday. Only one driver led more laps, and on that final restart Gordon managed to do what he often fails to do. Four Time came out strong, took the lead from Joey Logano, then stretched it out in the end to claim his 91st career victory. The win even moved him ahead by three points over Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the standings, as the pair are joined by Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski with three wins apiece.

    That latter pair had their adventures, yet finished well enough. Keselowski lost a right front and put the wall grinder to the fender, but managed to finish eighth. Six Time did not text while driving, but trying to apply a set of vice grips to replace his shifter lever as he left the pits probably was not the best idea either. It also proved unsuccessful, but his boys eventually provided a better fix, and an eventual ninth place result.

    Even Danica Patrick had a Top Twenty, though her spin early ensured that the collected Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth did not. Kyle Busch lost a tire five laps in, pounded the wall, and he was all but done for the day. Kyle Larson thought he found trouble when he and Junior locked fenders on pit road. That was nothing compared to when he hit the wall and went up in flames to finish dead last. Oh, and after the race 11th place finisher Ryan Newman was seen jawing with Johnson over some on-track bone of contention. Maybe Ryan is becoming an old curmudgeon, too.

    If he was upset at Michigan, the odds are good he will not be happy Saturday night at Bristol. Everybody but the winner seems to get a bit torqued after spending time on the half-mile and change oval in Tennessee. With just three to go before the Chase cutoff, just about every full-timer who has ever won there already has a win this year. Matt Kenseth has not, but he remains nearly sixty points to the good. Kasey Kahne has not, and sits nine points behind Greg Biffle for the final berth. The only other former Bristol winner still seeking a win for 2014 is locked in the Top 30, but would need a victory in one of the three upcoming events to make the Chase.

    We await word if, when the curtain rises at Bristol, Tony Stewart is yet ready to take to the stage.
    SWEET SIXTEEN
    1 – Jeff Gordon – 3 Wins – 815 Points
    2 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 3 – 813
    3 – Brad Keselowski – 3 – 733
    4 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 686
    5 – Joey Logano – 2 – 714
    6 – Carl Edwards – 2 – 679
    7 – Kevin Harvick – 2 – -128
    8 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 620
    9 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 589
    10 – Aric Almirola – 1 – 556
    11 – A.J. Allmendinger – 1 – 556
    12 – Kurt Busch – 1 – 553
    13 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 709
    14 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 679
    15 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 672
    16 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 660

    CONTENDERS & PRETENDERS
    17 – Kasey Kahne – 0 Wins – 651 Points
    18 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 638
    19 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 636
    20 – Marcos Ambrose – 0 – 616
    21 – Paul Menard – 0 – 614
    22 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 598
    23 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 596
    24 – Casey Mears – 0 – 543
    25 – Tony Stewart – 0 – 537
    26 – Martin Truex, Jr. – 0 – 516
    27 – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 0 – 476
    28 – Danica Patrick – 0 – 445
    29 – Justin Allgaier – 0 – 400
    30 – Michael Annett – 0 – 364
    31 – David Gilliland – 0 – 357
    32 – David Ragan – 0 – 332
    33 – Cole Whitt – 0 – 325

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Pure Michigan 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Pure Michigan 400

    With an impassioned driver’s meeting speech by Carl Edwards urging safety and throttling back during cautions at such a high-speed track, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 45th annual Pure Michigan 400.

    Surprising: Drivers were apparently in full throttle preparation for Bristol, with tempers surprisingly abounding at the two-mile track in the Irish hills. Six time champion Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman exchanged words after the race, as did Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Denny Hamlin.

    “Just old Ryan Newman stuff,” Johnson said after his heated conversation with the driver of the No. 31 WIX Filters Chevrolet. “Anybody that has watched the sport long enough or has been in a race car out there understands the frustration of racing Ryan.”

    Racing frustrations also abounded between the drivers of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota and the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet.

    “I felt like he crowded me off of (Turn) 4 in the middle part of the race,” Hamlin said. “We’re trying to make the best we can do down 50 horsepower.”

    “I’m going to eventually let him go, but I’m not some lapped car that you can just shove to the high side and I’m going to back off.”

    “I ran him up the track a little bit early in the race,” Earnhardt said. “He didn’t like it too much. I’ve been run up the track, too. I don’t like it either, but I didn’t want him hanging on my quarter panel all the way down the front straightaway and ended up three- or four-wide.”

    “I just wanted to get on by him because I was flying. We were hauling.”

    Not Surprising: Jeff Gordon went three for three for three, with his third win of the season, his third win at Michigan and a now three-win season, his first since 2011.

    “Well, I like to go fast. This place is really, really fast,” the driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet said. “Michigan has always been one of my favorites.”

    “Today I was able to drive this place the way I like to drive it, have success here again.”

    Surprising: It was a surprisingly rough weekend for Martin Truex, Jr., with his girlfriend Sherry Pollex undergoing surgery for ovarian cancer, his brother Ryan suffering a concussion in Michigan practice and his involvement a nine car pile-up that relegated him to a 36th place finish.

    “These two Michigan races turned out to be very long days,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet said. “It was hard to learn anything about this place back in June and it was the same story today.”

    “I just wish we could have finished one of these Michigan races with a clean car,” stated Truex. “You’re always curious to see how things would have played out and where you could have potentially finished.”

    Not Surprising: He may have been a bridesmaid yet again, in fact for the fourth time at Michigan, but Kevin Harvick deemed his second place run a success, especially in light of the upcoming Chase.

    “Yeah, I mean, we had a solid day,” Harvick said. “Just the 24 had more speed than we did all day. I felt like when Joey was out front, he could get away at the short run, we’d kind of even out.”

    “But all in all, it was a good day,” the driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet said. “The main focus for our team has been consistency heading into the Chase to make sure we can scramble and do the things we’ve done over the last month.”

    “Obviously you want to win, but all in all we had some different goals that are as important leading into the Chase.”

    Surprising: While Joey Logano joked in the media center after the race that he really did not want to relive his last few laps, he too like Harvick had the championship on his mind, laying down the gauntlet after his third place finish.

    “We can win a championship. I really feel we can do that,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “That’s the message I want to put out there. I want to put out for my team that we’re strong enough to do that. I think we showed that today.”

    Not Surprising: It was indeed a ‘hard week’ as Jeff Burton put it after being tapped to substitute for Tony Stewart, who decided to miss another race, grieving the contact with Kevin Ward Jr. which cost the young driver his life.

    “This was a hard week,” Burton said. “This was honestly one of the hardest weeks I’ve ever spent, coming here on Friday not knowing what to expect.”

    Burton’s No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet finished 37th after an electrical issue and a burning smell in the cockpit sent him to the garage.

    Surprising: It was a surprisingly bad day if your name was Kyle. Both Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson crashed, the first on lap four and the latter on lap 98.

    “I felt so good about my car those first few laps running the bottom, but then I was getting hung out on the straightaways,” Busch said “Then I just tried going to the top in (turns) three and four right away, and I got loose all the way through three and four. Every time I touched the gas it wanted to spin out, and finally it was too much gas and not enough save, and I wrecked.”

    Larson’s incident was far more frightening, however, as his No. 42 Target Chevrolet went up in flames after his hard impact.

    “I had no warning the right-front was going to blow,” Larson said. “Michigan is a fast track and into turn three is fast too. We are turning some really high speeds here so the hit was definitely a hard one.”

    “Yeah anytime you see flames you want to get out,” Larson continued, explaining his bailing out of his car in spite of NASCAR’s new ruling. “I have had fires and stuff, but that is the first time I have ever had fumes or smoke and stuff in the cockpit. That is the main reason why I wanted to get out.”

    Not Surprising: Once you get a win under your belt, as AJ Allmendinger did at Watkins Glen, those good finishes just seem to roll along. The Dinger finished top-15 at Michigan and officially clinched his spot in the Chase.

    “It’s really cool,” the driver of the No. 47 Kingsford Charcoal Chevrolet said of his Chase berth. “I thought we had a really good shot, but you never know until it’s official. So to have that is really good.”

    “More than anything I felt like this weekend made some gains so that gets a little excitement going into the next couple of race tracks to see if we can keep getting better. Overall the last few weeks has been really cool to share with the guys and come here and have a little energy and confidence. To come out here all weekend and show some speed has been really good.”

    Surprising: In spite of burning up a test session at Michigan International Speedway prior to the race weekend, Roush Fenway Racing continued to struggle at a track they once owned. Greg Biffle did manage a tenth place finish and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 15th, however, Carl Edwards had a disappointing end to his day, taking the checkered flag in 23rd.

    “You know, I guess it was a good day,” Biffle said. “We got a top-10. Really we wanted to run up in the top-five. We had a car to do that and that track position we would get loose around other cars. We still have to work on that with our race cars.”

    “It was a good solid top-15,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “We qualified 10th and finished 15th and ran right around 15th the whole time which is kind of a goal. Obviously we want to run top-10 and pass as many cars as we can but all in all we accomplished what we were looking to do.”

    “We were so loose I just couldn’t drive it,” Edwards said. “It looked like Greg (Biffle) had a good run and we had speed in qualifying so that gives us something to look forward to but we were just too loose today to be able to do anything.”

    Not Surprising: After some difficult runs recently, it was not surprising that Paul Menard scored a fourth place finish at an intermediate track where he tends to run well. The driver of the No. 27 Certainteed/Menards Chevrolet did in fact run well, finishing fourth.

    “Our cars are really good,” Menard said. “The RCR fab shop, the ECR engine shop they make really good race cars. This track kind of suits my driving style I guess. Sluggar (Labbe, crew chief) and I, Justin and James and everybody on the No. 27 car have a good baseline intermediate track package that seems to work good at these fast tracks.”

    “Definitely needed a good run the last three or four weeks have been pretty brutal,” Menard continued. “We definitely needed this.”

    As a result of the Michigan race and assuming that they all attempt to qualify for the remaining three races of the regular season, AJ Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin all scored their spot in the championship Chase.

     

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Watkins Glen

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Watkins Glen

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Earnhardt finished 11th at Watkins Glen after an untimely late caution cost him any chance of winning. He passed Jeff Gordon to take over the lead in the Sprint Cup points standings, and now leads Gordon by four.

    “Let me point out,” Earnhardt said, “that at this point, points don’t mean much. Have I made my point?

    “It was a crazy day at Watkins Glen. A.J. Allmendinger proved that a one-car team can compete with the multi-car teams. Chances are that the ‘Dinger’ will be with a big-time team in the future. Instead of losing a ride, he’ll be pimping one.”

    2. Jeff Gordon: Gordon won the pole at Watkins Glen but faltered late after electrical issues sabotaged his chances. He eventually finished 34th and now trails Dale Earnhardt, Jr. by four in the Sprint Cup points standings.

    “There’s only one word to describe how you feel sitting in a car suffering from electrical issues,” Gordon said. “Powerless.

    “The weekend started on a high note. I won the pole on my son Leo’s birthday, and he couldn’t be happier. And can you blame him? What other adolecent has a Coors Lite Pole Award in his bedroom? Besides Kurt Busch?”

    3. Brad Keselowski: A promising start at Watkins Glen soured for Keselowski after brake issues relegated him to a 23rd-place finish, five laps down.

    “I’d rather have trouble stopping,” Keselowski said, “than trouble ‘going,’ which is a problem 72-year-old Morgan Shepherd deals with on a daily basis. At least that’s what Joey Logano tells me.”

    4. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson had a solid finish in sight before a spin on a lap 80 restart sent him hurtling back in the field. He finished a disappointing 28th.

    “Sunday’s race was stopped twice so repairs could be made after accidents,” Johnson said. “Chad Knaus radioed me during the delays and asked, ‘How’s the track look?’ I replied, ‘It’s fixed.’ And I fully expect that statement to be taken out of context.”

    5. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished ninth in the Cheez-It 355 At The Glen and remains winless on the year. He is third in the points standings, 70 behind Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    “Unless I can find a win in the next four races,” Kenseth said, “I’ll be starting at the bottom when the Chase For The Cup starts. Where my wins total is concerned, ‘V’ is for ‘void.’

    6. Joey Logano: Logano finished sixth at Watkins Glen, recording his 12th top 10 of the year.

    “Allmendinger ran a heck of a race,” Logano said. “I guess the competition was a lot like drug problems—he put it behind him.”

    7. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished fifth at Watkins Glen, posting his fifth top-five result of the year. He is sixth in the points standings, 115 out of first.

    “I had a good view of the A.J. Allmendinger-Marcos Ambrose battle,” Edwards said. “Allmendinger obviously knew the track well. He’s certainly done his homework. There’s probably only one circuit he knows better than Watkins Glen, and that’s the road to recovery.

    “It was a great day for the Cheez-It brand. They sponsored the race, as well as my No. 99 car. If the race in Sonoma is attended by the ‘wine and cheese’ crowd, then fans at the Glen should be called the ‘wino and Cheez-It’ crowd.”

    8. Ryan Newman: Newman crashed heavily with 34 laps to go at Watkins Glen, smashing a fence and causing the race to be stopped for over an hour while repairs were made. Newman finished 41st, 35 laps off the pace.

    “Race officials raised more red flags than the Mayfield family,” Newman said. “And I’m not happy with safety at the Watkins Glen track. It seems track officials need a crash course in safety.”

    “My former teammate Rusty Wallace was recently inducted into the Motorsports Hall Of Fame. I don’t know who told Rusty to ‘Go to Hall,’ but it sure as Hell wasn’t me.”

    9. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished seventh at Watkins Glen, posting his 11th top-10 result of the year.

    “Was God on AJ Allmendinger’s side at Watkins Glen?” Harvick said. “It certainly looked that way. If He was, AJ should change his name to ‘Amendinger.’”

    10. AJ Allmendinger: Allmendinger repelled the challenges of Marcos Ambrose on two late restarts to win the Cheez-It 355 At The Glen. The win guaranteed Allmendinger a spot in the Chase For The Cup.

    “Kimberly-Clarke Corporation renewed their sponsorship of my car,” Allmendinger said, “making the weekend even more satisfying for car owner Brad Daugherty and myself. Kimberly-Clarke produces the Kleenex, Scott, Viva, and Cottonelle brands, and that means Sunday was a great day for white paper and black hillbillies.

    “Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m a ‘paper’ champion. It does mean I’m well equipped to wipe up the competition.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Cheez-It 355 at the Glen

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Cheez-It 355 at the Glen

    As the NASCAR community mourned the death of sprint car driver Kevin Ward Jr., which led to Tony Stewart’s decision not to participate at Watkins Glen, the racing did go on at one of the sport’s more challenging road courses.

    And with that overlay of respect for all involved in the tragedy, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 29th annual Cheez-It 355 at the Glen.

    Surprising: For at least two drivers, one with a powerhouse team and the other from a small operation, the race was all about power, from the four-time champion driver who lost it to the first-time winning driver who dug down deep to find the sheer willpower to get to Victory Lane.

    Jeff Gordon, whose sponsor Drive to End Hunger just announced their renewal for 2015, looked like the man to beat, scoring the pole position and leading laps early in the race. Then, inexplicably, Gordon’s No. 24 machine slowed on the track and he lost power, finishing a disappointing 34th and losing the points lead to teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    “I’ve got to get with the team and find out what caused it,” Gordon said. “It looks like we had a battery go dead, two batteries go dead. I didn’t see anything on the volts meter that stood out or anything really going on there that was alarming.”

    The other driver, AJ Allmendinger, drove the race of his life against Watkins Glen expert Marcos Ambrose, running on sheer willpower, as he was bound and determined to get his first ever win in the Sprint Cup Series.

    “I wasn’t going to let Marcos take that from me,” AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 47 Scott Products Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing, said simply. “I’ve dreamed about this moment, and I’m not going to forget it.”

    Not Surprising: It is not often that the race winner pays homage to the track workers, but AJ Allmendinger did just that, recognizing those that had to make extensive repairs, not only to the Armco barriers but also to the pit road barrels, after two horrific crashes.

    The first crash involved Ryan Newman and Michael McDowell, resulting in almost a rebuild of fencing, and the second involved Denny Hamlin hitting the pit barriers hard. Track workers labored furiously making repairs for almost two hours after the serious damage from the two crashes.

    “For me to be able to have that race be so memorable about how it ended, for the fans, they were so great for staying around through all the red flags, the track workers did such a great job to fix the fence and everything,” the Dinger said. “It’s just a memorable day to go out there and remember everything that just happened.”

    Surprising: Just when you thought that Kyle Larson’s rookie mistake of missing the inner loop would lead to a surprisingly bad finish, the Rookie of the Year contender pulled it off once again, scoring a surprising top-five finish.

    “It was a really good day for us,” The driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “We were terrible all weekend long. I was down on myself. It’s probably the most frustrated I’ve ever been with myself, aside from racing sprint cars in Pennsylvania.”

    “I can’t believe we finished top five,” Larson continued. “It feels like a win. I was hoping for a top 15 or top 20 going into today. I’m totally shocked and super excited.”

    Not Surprising: While it was not at all surprising that the No. 9 Ford of Marcos Ambrose was strong, taking the checkered flag in the runner up position, the Australian also had some Ford comrades with whom to celebrate. In fact, there were four Fords that finished in the top-ten at the Glen.

    “I left nothing on the table,” runner up Ambrose said. “We just came up a little short. I am just really proud of my Stanley team. We put a lot of effort into this race and really tried to win it. We won yesterday and came up one short today.”

    “I am glad Jimmy Fennig put us in a position to be up there for the win,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Kellogg’s/Cheez-It Ford and fifth place finisher, said. “I am sure like everyone up there that you want the last few laps to do over again. It was a blast and a lot of fun.”

    “That was crazy to say the least,” Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, said after finishing sixth. “We had about a fifth place car and had to go through a lot to get back to that point. We fought hard with this Shell Pennzoil Ford and put tires on it late and was very aggressive on the restarts and got a few spots back. I wish there were more laps. The tires were worth a few there at the end but I needed a few more laps there at the end.”

    “The racing was really good,” Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M Ford said after finishing eighth. “We were able to make up a lot of ground. It is aggressive and as people got more comfortable it got nuts. You just try to do the best you can and protect your position and race hard. That is about all you can do.”

    Surprising: Jimmie Johnson’s troubles continued to plague him, even at Watkins Glen. The six-time champion went for a dramatic spin late in the race, resulting in a 28th place finish. Although he has three wins to his credit and is solidly in the Chase, Johnson fell one position in the point standings, from sixth to seventh as a result.

    Not Surprising: Perhaps it was because he can relate to having to overcome adversity and seek redemption in the sport, but third place finisher Kurt Busch had nothing but praise for race winner AJ Allmendinger.

    “He won the race today in a fashion that everyone is proud of him for doing, to beat one of the best in the world at driving these stock cars,” the driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet said of race winner Allmendinger. “He deserves the trophy, and he had to pull from within. He had to dig in deep, and he had to believe in himself all the way through this.”

    “He’s put himself through all those mental challenges, and today he persevered. He didn’t break down and he brought home a victory, so we’re all very proud of him.”

    Surprising: Brakes, or the lack thereof, were responsible for some of the bigger crashes of the day, especially for Cole Whitt, who crashed his No. 26 Bully Hill Vineyards Toyota Camry surprisingly hard into the tire barriers, finishing 43rd.

    “It just seemed like something in the rear brakes faded or just actually just completely lost them going into (turn) one,” Whitt said. “It seemed like the front was trying to stop but the rear wasn’t at all and the pedal was just going to the floor on brakes. Not a whole lot you can do there. I was trying to get it turned but there was no way I was going to be able to.”

    “Sucks for the guys but I know we’ll rebound.”

    Past champion Brad Keselowski also suffered from tire issues, finishing a surprising 35<sup>th</sup> in his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford.

    “We had something in the brakes that broke,” Keselowski said. “At Watkins Glen you can’t run without brakes.”

    Not Surprising: Matt Kenseth, still without a win, continued his run of good points days, advancing one spot up to third, just 70 behind new points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kenseth was the top-finishing Toyota driver with a ninth-place result in the race at the Glen.

    “It was an okay finish,” the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, said. “Things didn’t pan out quite as we were hoping. But, overall not a terrible day.”

    Surprising: Danica Patrick was making quite the bear bond fashion statement after surviving an accident in practice, as well as one during the race. The driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet soldiered on in her bear-bonded race car to finish 21st, after gaining 22 spots

    “It was a tough day,” Patrick said. “It was a long race, but Gibson (Tony, crew chief) and the GoDaddy guys worked on the car and we got a 21st out of it, which isn’t bad with the weekend we had.”

    Not Surprising: Regan Smith, who was called on at the last minute to replace Tony Stewart in the race, summed up the situation best after an on-track incident at lap 81 caused him to finish 37th.

    “It’s my job to be able to drive a race car and it took me a little longer to get acclimated than I would have hoped it would and felt like at the end there I was finally starting to make some progress and I was able to get consistent with the car and understood the car a little better and what it was doing,” the substitute driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet said. “These guys build fast race cars at Stewart-Haas and I was thankful to get to get in one. Definitely not under the circumstances.”

    “My day really doesn’t matter right now,” Smith continued. “There are a lot of people more important than me at the moment; so we’re thinking about all those people and our prayers are with them.”

  • Allmendinger Wins At The Glen & Updated Chase Grid

    Allmendinger Wins At The Glen & Updated Chase Grid

    With drivers racing with heavy hearts following the tragic incident involving Tony Stewart and Sprint Car driver Kevin Ward Jr., the world’s best stock car drivers knew they had to put on a great show to allow the fans to forget about the events that occurred, even if it was for just a few hours.

    When you see finishes like 2012’s epic duel between Marcos Ambrose and Brad Keselowski, or last year’s battle between Keselowski and Kyle Busch, you know Watkins Glen can put on one heck of a show. Not to mention, with the new chase rules, if you win a race within the first 26 races (and attempt to qualify for every race as well as remain in the top 30 in points) you will be eligible for the chase.

    We’ve already seen one first time winner this season when Aric Almirola took the checkered flag at Daytona, and for the first time since 2011, we now have two first-time winners in one season.

    Judging by the first few laps of the race, it appeared that Jeff Gordon and the heavily favored Ambrose were going to battle it out all day for the trophy, until Gordon’s car lost power around lap 50. Gordon ended up finishing the race in 34th position, four laps down.

    Ambrose was unsurprisingly solid all day long, having the best average running position (third) and highest driver rating (130.9). However, Gordon’s misfortunes may have opened the door for a driver whom everyone thought was a contender for the victory, A.J. Allmedinger. And he did not disappoint.

    After taking the lead on a restart after a massive red-flag-causing wreck involving Ryan Newman, Danica Patrick, Michael McDowell, Greg Biffle and Alex Bowman, not even Ambrose could shake Allmendinger from the top spot. Even when Denny Hamlin, Alex Kennedy and Reed Sorenson wrecked with just a few laps to go, setting up a restart with just two laps to go, Allmedinger was able to defeat Ambrose by 1.160 seconds and claim his spot in the chase. With Allmendinger’s victory, here’s a look at the updated chase grid as well as five drivers who are on the outside looking in.

    1) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., 3 wins, 1st in points.

    2) Brad Keselowski, 3 wins, 4th in points.

    3) Jimmie Johnson, 3 wins, 7th in points

    4) Jeff Gordon, 2 wins, 2nd in points

    5) Joey Logano, 2 wins, 5th in points

    6) Carl Edwards, 2 wins, 6th in points

    7) Kevin Harvick, 2 wins, 9th in points

    8) Kyle Busch, 1 win, 15th in points

    9) Denny Hamlin, 1 win, 20th in points

    10) Kurt Busch, 1 win, 21st in points

    11) Aric Almirola, 1 win, 23rd in points

    12) A.J. Allmendinger, 1 win, 24th in points

    13) Matt Kenseth, 0 wins, 3rd in points

    14) Ryan Newman, 0 wins, 8th in points

    15) Kyle Larson, 0 wins, 10th in points

    16) Clint Bowyer, 0 wins, 11th in points

     

    Outside Looking In:

    Greg Biffle, 8 points behind Bowyer

    Kasey Kahne, 12 points behind Bowyer

    Austin Dillon, 18 points behind Bowyer

    Marcos Ambrose, 50 points behind Bowyer

    Paul Menard, 60 points behind Bowyer

  • The Final Word – Daytona and Talladega I get, but Junior is the King of Pocono?

    The Final Word – Daytona and Talladega I get, but Junior is the King of Pocono?

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. is having a rather pleasant season thus far. On Sunday, he swept the season series at Pocono, upped his count to three wins this term, tops the standings, and is second only to Jeff Gordon in accumulated points. No bad at all.

    Gordon actually had the car to beat on the day, leading the most laps, but with 39 to go he stayed out while Junior hit the pits. That allowed his teammate to gas and go with 10 remaining, while Gordon required full service, and that was that. Gordon finished sixth, leaving Kevin Harvick to fill up Junior’s rear view as they ticked down to the end, with Harvick claiming the runner-up spot.

    Three years ago at Sonoma, Brian Vickers had enough of Tony Stewart and wound up parking Smoke atop a stack of tires. On Sunday, Vickers again caused Stewart to end up jacked up, though not intentionally. Denny Hamlin lost traction, almost spun, causing Vickers to ponder evasive action. That was enough to send his car into Matt Kenseth, which caused one heck of a mess behind them, including Stewart parked atop Paul Menard’s ride.

    That meant Stewart failed to get his much needed win. Kenseth remains the points leader amongst the winless. Menard needs a win, not another car. Jimmie Johnson has his three wins, but tire woes meant wall woes as he was done in 39th. Kyle Busch does not smoke, but his car did after 20-odd laps to leave him 42nd. As for Ms. Patrick, she failed to make it over the Danica-line as she came home 30th. She was a solid Top-10 early but smacked the wall, which caused her tire to blow a lap later, which pretty much shot the handling after that. Just another day in paradise.

    This Sunday, Watkins Glen provides the test, where Patrick finished 20th in her first attempt. Marcos Ambrose won there in 2011, and he sure could another one this weekend. Same goes for Stewart, who has claimed it five times. Both usually do quite well turning left and right, while a win would turn one of them right into a place in the Chase.

    THE SWEET SIXTEEN

    1 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 3 Wins – 740 Points
    2 – Brad Keselowski – 3 – 687
    3 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 633
    4 – Jeff Gordon – 2 – 757
    5 – Joey Logano – 2 – 633
    6 – Carl Edwards – 2 – 618
    7 – Kevin Harvick – 2 – 608
    8 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 611
    9 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 532
    10 – Aric Almirola – 1 – 506
    11 – Kurt Busch – 1 – 488
    12 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 668
    13 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 642
    14 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 617
    15 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 595
    16 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 590

    CONTENDERS & PRETENDERS
    17 – Kasey Kahne – 0  Wins – 589 Points
    18 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 588
    19 – Paul Menard – 0 – 562
    20 – Marcos Ambrose – 0 – 541
    21 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 539
    22 – Tony Stewart – 0 – 537
    23 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 536
    24 – Casey Mears – 0 – 487
    25 – A.J. Allmendinger – 0 – 477
    26 – Martin Truex, Jr. – 0 – 477
    27 – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 0 – 423
    28 – Danica Patrick – 0 – 396
    29 – Justin Allgaier – 0 – 371
    30 – Michael Annett – 0 – 347
    31 – David Gilliland – 0 – 312
    32 – Cole Whitt – 0 – 305

     

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Pocono

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Pocono

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Earnhardt used a no-tire pit stop to take the lead and subdued the challenge of Kevin Harvick down the stretch to win the GoBowling.Com 400 at Pocono. The victory completed Earnhardt’s season sweep at the “Tricky Triangle” and was his third win of the year.

    “That’s the first season sweep at Pocono since Denny Hamlin’s in 2006,” Earnhardt said. “Normally, I would celebrate with a broom, but I can’t. I developed an aversion to brooms when I discovered that Teresa Earnhardt rode them.

    “The fans of Junior Nation will certainly party. I’m not sure they’re that into bowling, though. They couldn’t tell you anything about PBA, but they sure know a lot about PBR.”

    2. Jeff Gordon: Gordon led a race-high 63 laps at Pocono but fell victim to lack of track position and some untimely cautions, finishing sixth. He remains atop the Sprint Cup points standings with a 17-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    “Junior’s No. 88 car had the name ‘Michael Baker’ all over it,” Gordon said. “That had to be a new experience for Earnhardt. It’s not often people see the No. 88 car and have to ask, ‘Who is that?’”

    3. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski survived an unlucky day at Pocono, salvaging a 23rd-place finish, one lap down to the leaders. Keselowski damaged the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford with after contact with Kurt Busch on lap two, then was an unwilling participant in the lap 117 “Big One.”

    “Thanks, Kurt Busch,” Keselowski said. “Just like the last race at Pocono, I had a run-in with a ‘piece of trash.’”

    4. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson suffered two blown tires, the last of which sent him into the wall, ending his day at Pocono on lap 111. He finished 39th, 49 laps down.

    “We’ve had our share of tires issues this season,” Johnson said. “It’s not a big deal to us. That’s called ‘underinflating’ the severity of an issue, just the opposite of what Goodyear thinks.

    “We’ve finished 39th or worse in three of the last five races. But don’t count us out once the Chase starts. Chad Knaus has a lot of things up his sleeve, including a sandbag of tricks.”

    5. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth was collected in a lap 117 pileup triggered when Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin got loose, causing Brian Vickers to check up and create mayhem behind him. Thirteen cars were involved in the accident and Kenseth finished 38th.

    “It was the GoBowling.Com 400,” Kenseth said, “and I’d like to pin the blame on Hamlin. But congratulations go to Dale Earnhardt Jr. He deserves to celebrate, not in Victory Lane, but in Victory Alley.”

    6. Joey Logano: Logano led 30 laps and posted a strong third-place finish at Pocono, earning his eighth top-five of the year. He is seventh in the points standings, 124 behind Jeff Gordon.

    “Richard Petty was the grand marshal for the GoBowling.Com 400,” Logano said. “In the Poconos, they call that being the ‘King Of The Mountain.’

    “I’ve always had a ton of respect for Petty. Now I’ve got even more after realizing he raced against Morgan Shepherd for over 20 years and lived to tell about it.”

    7. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished a disappointing 29th at Pocono as Dale Earnhardt Jr. raced to the win. He is eighth in the points standings, 139 out of first.

    “I’m going to blame this on a preoccupation with thoughts of where I’ll be driving next year,” Edwards said. “As was evident at Pocono, my mind was racing, but I wasn’t.”

    8. Ryan Newman: Once again, Newman was solid for Richard Childress Racing, taking eighth in the GoBowling.Com 400.

    “It was an otherwise tough day for RCR,” Newman said. “Austin Dillon finished 15th while Paul Menard finished 33rd, under Tony Stewart’s No. 14 after that big wreck on lap 117. I hear it’s no fun looking up and seeing Stewart on top of you. But at least Tony was awake.”

    9. Kevin Harvick: Harvick chased Dale Earnhardt Jr. for three laps after the final restart at Pocono, but couldn’t get around the No. 88 car. Harvick settled for second, his fourth runner-up finish of the year.

    “After a pit road speeding penalty and damage from the lap 117 wreck,” Harvick said, “I was ‘Happy’ to be in that position.”

    10. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer finished fourth in the GoBowling.Com 400, boosting his Chase For The Cup chances with five races left until the playoffs. He stands ninth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 140 out of first.

    “No team needs a win more than Michael Waltrip Racing,” Bowyer said. “I think all we need is a lively pep talk from Michael. And I think that should work. Everybody knows Michael makes a great cheerleader.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Pocono GoBowling.com 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Pocono GoBowling.com 400

    From the impact of crew chief suspensions inspired by the No. 11 Denny Hamlin penalty to the forecasted rain that never reared its ugly head, here is what else was surprising and not surprising in the 41st Annual GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway.

    Surprising: They may have swept Pocono for the first time since Denny Hamlin did it in 2006 and also scored their third victory of the season, but what Dale Earnhardt Jr. and crew chief Steve Letarte were most eloquent about after the race was their praise for the positive impact of team owner Rick Hendrick on their lives.

    “I just told him thanks for believing in me and making my life better,” Dale Jr. said of the call he made to Mr. H. in Victory Lane. “He has that effect on all the people that work for him. He makes everybody’s life better.”

    “He put me with Steve and I think that Steve was in a place where he was looking for something new and I was definitely needing something new, and it worked out,” Earnhardt Jr. continued. “I was, it was a touch and go there for a while, but we have worked, we have done some good things together and we have continued to get better and we finally are realizing that potential and doing the things on the racetrack that we dreamed about doing when we first started working together.”

    “Mr. Hendrick has helped me become a better person, put me around people that influence me to be a better person, so just want him to know that I appreciate it.”

    “He’s the kind of guy that through the low times in your life you can lean on and you don’t worry about talking to him about it,” crew chief Steve Letarte said of Mr. H, in support of his driver’s opinion. “He’s given me a tremendous amount of advice without probably ever even knowing it. He’s just that kind of guy.”

    “People don’t work at Hendrick Motorsports because we win races, people work at Hendrick Motorsports because they want to work for Rick Hendrick and that’s a big difference.”

    Not Surprising: Jeff Gordon may not have won the race in spite of leading 63 laps, but he did achieve two career milestones as a result of his sixth place run in the GoBowling.com 400. The driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet broke the 24,000 career laps led mark and also achieved the milestone of leading 1,000 laps at Pocono Raceway.

    “I’m really happy with the way our car performed,” Gordon said. “It’s just so awesome and encouraging and has got my confidence sky high. And I just can’t wait to get to the next race.”

    Surprising: Tony Stewart and Paul Menard had a close encounter of the on-top-of-each-other-yet-again kind after a multi-car pileup on Lap 118.

    “I told Tony the last time we did that was about two years ago at Talladega,” Menard, driver of the No. 27 Certainteed/Menards Chevrolet, said. “So, we have got to stop doing that.”

    “Yeah, I tend to end up on Paul (Menard) a lot,” Stewart said, followed by a quick clarifying statement. “Car wise, our cars tend to end up on top of each other for some reason.”

    “I think that is the second time I’ve landed on top of him,” Smoke continued. “This time at least we weren’t’ looking windshield in at each other.”

    Not Surprising: For at least one driver, who officially locked himself into the Chase with his second place Pocono finish, there were lessons to be learned at the Tricky Triangle.

    Kevin Harvick described his team’s biggest lesson learned as the ability to scramble after suffering damage in the multi-car wreck that sent their car into a drain and then the wall.

    “Well, I think today was very important,” the driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Chevrolet said. “We didn’t have the car that we wanted, I felt like we had a top three car today, we were going to need track position and things were not really going well.”

    “They were able to fix the car after we wrecked it,” Harvick continued. “So that’s what we talked about as we came back from the break was just scrambling, being able to scramble and get a finish of some sort to get something out of a day.”

    “That’s what you’re going to have to do the last 10 weeks and today we were able to accomplish that and hopefully this is a good sign of things to come.”

    Surprising: Danica Patrick and Jimmie Johnson had one surprising thing in common at Pocono. Both of their races were pretty much ruined by tire issues, which coincided with hitting the wall issues as well.

    Six-time champ Johnson had his tires go down twice, once early in the race and the second time on lap 113, sending him into the wall.

    Patrick actually hit the outside wall first on lap 14, which resulted in a severe tire rub. Just one lap later, her right-rear tire failed as she was trying to make her way to pit road.

    Johnson finished 39th and Patrick ended her day in the 30th spot.

    “Unfortunately, we had some trouble early and were able to really rally back and get ourselves in the top-five,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet said. “So disappointed for sure, but really unclear as to what happened going into Turn 2. The car went straight down into the Tunnel Turn.”

    “I feel so badly that I started the problems when I hit the fence there in Turn 2,” the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet said. “I just wish I would have been smart enough to bring our GoDaddy Chevy to pit lane as soon as it happened, but sometimes tire rubs seem worse than what they are, so I stayed out there and we lost the tire.”

    “I’m really disappointed, and I know all the guys are, too.”

    Not Surprising: After scoring the pole with a new Pocono track record of 183.438 mph and 49.063 seconds, it was not surprising for rookie Kyle Larson to yet again score Rookie of the Race honors with his 12th place race run.

    NASCAR Camping World Truck race winner and Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Austin Dillon finished in the 15th position as the next highest rookie runner.

    Surprising: While Kyle Busch is quite often the dominant Toyota, the driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, exited early with some sort of engine issue and Clint Bowyer instead led the charge in his No. 15 RK Motors Charlotte Toyota Camry, finishing 4th.

    “We had a good car all weekend and we unloaded good,” Bowyer said. “I’m proud of (Brian) Pattie (crew chief) and all these guys that work so hard.”

    “It’s the work during the week, day in and day out, that makes the difference when you come to these weekends and it’s good to be getting a good finish.”

    Not Surprising: Denny Hamlin, sans his regular crew chief Darian Grubb, deemed his substitute crew chief Mike Wheeler good after a top-10 finish at the Tricky Triangle.

    “You know, he (Mike Wheeler) did a really good job,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota said. “He called the race nice. Good communication and we were on the same strategy as far as what I was thinking and what he was thinking so that was good.”

    “So really pretty seamless for the most part.”

    Surprising: Matt Kenseth’s predictions of Pocono not being the best track for him came true when he finished a disappointing 38th after having his car destroyed in the Pocono version of the ‘Big One.’

    “It’s never been a wonderful track for me,” Kenseth said prophetically prior to the race. And after the race, he simply said. “We just got all collected.”

    Not Surprising: There was at least one driver that was ready to accept his 15th place finish and head on to the road course at Watkins Glen for next weekend’s race.

    “If you had asked me at the start of the day would I take a top-15 finish, I would have said yes but it was just a little frustrating there at the end,” Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 DeWalt Ford Said. “We had some issues and I probably let a few spots go, but we’ll keep digging and keep working on it.”

    “It’s frustrating for all of us to not be as competitive at these downforce tracks as we want, but we’ve got a good one next week coming up and hopefully we can get rolling there.”

  • Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wins and Sweeps at Pocono Raceway

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wins and Sweeps at Pocono Raceway

    In 2006 it was Denny Hamlin. This time around, it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. who won for the second time this year at Pocono Raceway, effectively sweeping the season. Earnhardt picked up his third win of the season and his 22nd career victory in NASCAR’s most elite series. The last time he swept a race was in 2002 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Earnhardt credited the win to a team effort led by crew chief Steve Letarte saying, “Steve did a great job, really, with his strategy to get in that position. We’re not in that position just on car alone. We had a fast car and I drove a good race, but Steve’s strategy gave us a chance to win.”

    Letarte cited the work the team has done since their first visit to the track earlier this season.

    “I feel we unloaded a better car for the second Pocono than we did the first Pocono,” he said. “You cannot ever assume a winning car is going to be good enough the next week. While we were excited to win (in June) and we’ll take it, there was room for improvement, so we worked very hard between that race and this race.”

    Coming in second in the GoBowling.com 400 was Kevin Harvick who definitely had his fair share of battles today, and third was Joey Logano.

    The dominant car of the race was Jeff Gordon. After leading a race-high 63 laps, the No. 88 team strategy bested Gordon, and ultimately left the five-time Brickyard winner to finish a disheartening sixth place. Fortunately for Gordon and his fans, he was able to maintain the regular season points lead.

    The race started when there was nearly a caution on lap one when Brad Keselowski almost lost his car after Kurt Busch attempted a pass of the No. 2 car. Fortunately, the race continued on smoothly until Jimmie Johnson encountered his first problem of the day.

    The first caution of the day came when debris was reported on the track after Johnson brushed the wall and as soon as he went down, a tire blew. The 48 team went a lap down but almost immediately regained it when yet another caution came out.

    Danica Patrick brought out the second caution while running in 10th as she clipped the wall which resulted in a blown tire.

    Another two cautions were brought out and Kyle Busch’s day ended early when he encountered engine issues. After that, the race remained relatively quiet, despite the fact that there were three different pit strategies going on by the time that Johnson hit the wall and ruined his day.

    On the restart, Denny Hamlin got a little loose which caused a 13 car accident that was reminiscent of what you would expect to see on a superspeedway like Talladega or Daytona. Cars that ran so well earlier in the day suddenly found themselves behind the wall. Drivers like Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, and Carl Edwards found themselves out of the running.

    Another driver involved in the accident was race runner-up Kevin Harvick.

    Under this caution, eventual race winner Earnhardt chose to pit, making it so he would only have to pit once more and only for a splash of gas when the time arose.

    When the race restarted on lap 126 drivers were wary of gas, and it turns out that that wouldn’t be an issue, as the race went on to have two more cautions. On the first one, Earnhardt was able to take the lead for the first time and after the second caution, he was able to hold off a hard charging Harvick with three laps to go, and take the win.

    The fourth place finisher was Clint Bowyer who ran strongly throughout the entirety of the race and fifth place went to Greg Biffle.

    Jeff Gordon retains the points lead by 17 over second place Dale Earnhardt Jr. Brad Keselowski (-70) is third followed by Matt Kenseth (-89) and Ryan Newman (-115).

    Complete Results for the GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway:

     

    Position Car No. Driver
    1 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
    2 4 Kevin Harvick
    3 22 Joey Logano
    4 15 Clint Bowyer
    5 16 Greg Biffle
    6 24 Jeff Gordon
    7 1 Jamie McMurray
    8 31 Ryan Newman
    9 11 Denny Hamlin
    10 5 Kasey Kahne
    11 42 Kyle Larson
    12 13 Casey Mears
    13 41 Kurt Busch
    14 9 Marcos Ambrose
    15 3 Austin Dillon
    16 51 Justin Allgaier
    17 38 David Gilliland
    18 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    19 34 David Ragan
    20 83 Ryan Truex
    21 26 Cole Whitt
    22 7 Michael Annett
    23 2 Brad Keselowski
    24 98 Josh Wise
    25 32 Travis Kvapil
    26 37 Dave Blaney
    27 36 Reed Sorenson
    28 33 Alex Kennedy
    29 99 Carl Edwards
    30 10 Danica Patrick
    31 23 Alex Bowman
    32 78 Martin Truex Jr.
    33 27 Paul Menard
    34 47 AJ Allmendinger
    35 43 Aric Almirola
    36 14 Tony Stewart
    37 55 Brain Vickers
    38 20 Matt Kenseth
    39 48 Jimmie Johnson
    40 66 Joe Nemechek
    41 40 Landon Cassill
    42 18 Kyle Busch
    43 93 Johnny Sauter
  • Loss of Crew Chief a Matter of Perspective

    Loss of Crew Chief a Matter of Perspective

    While the penalty to Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota team, resulting in the suspension of crew chief Darian Grubb, continued to reverberate throughout the garage and media center at Pocono Raceway, there were varying reactions from the drivers as to just how impactful that situation really was to a race team.

    And, as always, that reaction seemed very dependent on perspective, particularly whether the driver was in the thick of the experience at present or not.

    “It’s a tough deal,” Hamlin, the driver currently in the throes of crew chief loss, said. “It’s something that obviously affects our team.”

    “As an organization we were heading in the right direction so it kind of sucks because you lose a little bit of that momentum.”

    During his media availability at Pocono Raceway, Hamlin definitely attempted to put the best face on losing his crew chief for six weeks, citing the technology available to the team and also his familiarity with interim crew chief Mike Wheeler as giving him some comfort in the situation.

    “Darian is in constant contact with Wheels (Mike Wheeler) at all times and myself,” Hamlin said. “So, it’s not too bad as far as that’s concerned.”

    “Really, I’m in pretty good hands,” Hamlin continued. “I’ve been with Mike Wheeler longer than I’ve been with anyone in the Cup Series. Even though it’s tough losing those guys, I get who was car chief for 10 years, get him back to the race track.”

    Six-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who has also experienced crew chief loss due to suspension but is not currently in the throes of it, had a slightly different yet serious take on the situation.

    “Oh, it’s huge not having your crew chief there,” the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Lowe’s Chevrolet said. “And the fact that we won without Chad (Knaus, crew chief) at the track is pretty amazing to be honest.”

    “The first portion of the suspension, the first weekend or two, it’s real tough on the morale,” Johnson continued. “Everywhere you go, you’re answering questions. So, there’s an emotional piece in the beginning and that’s really tough.”

    “Then you can’t wait for the first weekend’s practice to start and to figure out how you’re going to work through this and what kind of speed the car will have and how the team will perform”, Johnson said. “The element of truly having a conversation with someone and understanding how tight the car might be or how uncomfortable you might be, that element is so vital in our sport,”

    “And when somebody is in North Carolina and the others are at the track, it’s impossible to get that pulled together.”

    “But I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” Johnson said. “It’s such a difficult thing to go through.”

    Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, had a different perspective, seeming to take any crew chief loss more in stride. In fact, from his vantage point, he did not think losing a crew chief to suspension was that bad at all.

    “I think it’s probably not as hard today as it was in the past just because of electronic communications and technology and all the ways they can chat on the computers,” Kenseth said. “The way they can do all of that stuff certainly I think it makes it easier as far as the technical aspect and changes to the car and setups and all of that kind of stuff.”

    In spite of minimizing the impact due to the technology, Kenseth did acknowledge that it is difficult simply from a lack of presence perspective when the crew chief is cast out due to a penalty.

    “You’re still missing your head coach, the guy who leads the people and gets them together and talks strategy and you’re still not looking in his eyes and talking face to face and doing all of that kind of stuff,” Kenseth said. “So, I think it’s not as hard as it was at one time but I think certainly you’d still want him here.”

    Four-time champion Jeff Gordon lent his perspective on losing a crew chief due to suspension.

    “I think it depends on your communication and the overall team morale,” Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, said. “The quality of the cars doesn’t go away. In some ways, that  might allow a little bit more time preparing the cars at the shop.”

    “But with the Chase format, I couldn’t imagine going through that without Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) calling the shots,” Gordon continued. “You build this special relationship with your crew chief and it would be strange and awkward to be doing that with someone else.”

    “I think it’s impactful but it doesn’t mean you could not win races without them.”

    Hamlin, the only driver currently in the throes of the crew chief loss experience, admitted that he is trying his best to be positive about the penalty situation involving his crew chief. In fact, the driver is taking the perspective of using it as the ultimate in motivation for his performance in the upcoming GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway.

    “Well, you use stuff like this as motivation to go out there and prove that you can run fast no matter what and you can run well,” Hamlin said. “We were on a run there last month and a half to two months that I feel like our cars were really starting to turn the corner.”

    “So, really, I’m excited about what these next six weeks brings,” Hamlin continued. “We’ve got some great race tracks ahead of us – a lot of them which we feel like we can win.”

    Losing your crew chief indeed seems to be just a matter of perspective.