Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: Jimmie Johnson

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Chicagoland

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Chicagoland

    [media-credit name=”Noel Lanier” align=”alignright” width=”247″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski won the Geico 400, taking round 1 of the Chase For The Cup after holding off Jimmie Johnson at Chicagoland. Keselowski leads the point standings, three ahead of Johnson.

    “I’m aiming to be Roger Penske’s first Sprint Cup champion,” Keselowski said. “Nothing beats flying the checkered flag, except the ‘Jolly Roger.’

    “This could be the making of a great rivalry with Johnson. I took it to him; now I want to take it from him.”

    2. Jimmie Johnson: After starting from the pole, Johnson led a race-high 172 laps but couldn’t close the deal at Chicagoland, finishing second to Brad Keselowski’s late rush. Johnson now trails Keselowski by three in the Sprint Cup point standings.

    “Keselowski’s win had the makings of a ‘statement’ victory,” Johnson said. “Luckily for me, Keselowski doesn’t make statements, he makes ‘tweets.’ Kes has hundreds of thousands of followers; I’m not one of them. I only follow two people—Richard Petty and dale Earnhardt.”

    3. Tony Stewart: Stewart overcame a poor qualifying effort (29th), as well as an extra pit stop to correct a vibration, to finish a solid sixth in the Geico 400, a solid start to his defense of the 2011 Sprint Cup title. He trails Brad Keselowski by eight in the point standings.

    “The vibration was a potentially disastrous situation,” Stewart said, “but we handled it like champions. You could say we were ‘shaken, not stirred.”

    4. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin ran out of fuel late in the Geico 400, turning a likely top-10 finish into a 16th. The result dropped him from the top spot in the point standings to a tie for fourth, 15 behind Brad Keselowski.

    “What’s the bigger miscalculation?” Hamlin asked. “Me running out of gas, or people predicting me to come through when the pressure’s on? I had to make a late stop to ‘top off.’ For that reason, I’m ‘off the top.’”

    5. Kasey Kahne: Kahne finished third in the Geico 400, and leaped five spots in the point standings to fourth, where he is 15 points out of the lead.

    “I think my competitors are aware that I’ll be around until the end,” Kahne said. “Despite leaving a number of racing teams in my career, I think it’s apparent that I won’t ‘go away easily.’”

    6. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer led six laps at Chicagoland on his way to a tenth-place finish. He is now 15 points out of first in the point standings.

    “We could have used a dose of 5-Hour Energy,” Bowyer said, “because that was a ‘ho-hum’ finish.”

    7. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt qualified fourth, but started at the back of the field after an engine change, and salvaged a solid eighth in the Geico 400. He is 17 points behind Brad Keselowski in the point standings.

    “I guess it’s time I show what I’m made of,” Earnhardt said. “You’d think the name alone would be enough, but I guess I have to prove it as much on the track as I do in the merchandise trailers.”

    8. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex posted his 15th top-10 finish of the year with a ninth at Chicagoland, but made up little ground to the Chasers in front of him. He is now ninth in the point standings, 21 out of first.

    “I need a win,” Truex said. “In other words, I need to get going. NASCAR just reinstated A.J. Allmendinger, so maybe he can recommend a good ‘stimulant’ to get me going.”

    9. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished 18th, one lap down to the leaders, after a broken shock ruined his quest for a victory run at Chicagoland. He

    “We’re certainly disappointed in our shock failure,” Kenseth said. “Such a finish is tough to swallow, and even harder to absorb.”

    10. Greg Biffle: Biffle finished 13th, tops among Roush Fenway’s three car team. After leading the point standings for much of the year, it was a disappointing start to the Chase for the 3M team.

    “We certainly weren’t on our game,” Biffle said. “I guess you could say for the start of the Chase we were ‘off and running.’”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Advocare 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Advocare 500

    [media-credit name=”Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”232″][/media-credit]From daylight to darkness over the Labor Day holiday weekend, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 53rd annual Advocare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    Surprising:  While stock car racing often focuses on the skills of the driver, the race winner surprisingly took little credit for his first ever Atlanta win, instead attributing the victory to his crew chief and team.

    Denny Hamlin, in the No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota, scored his 21st career victory and his fourth victory of the 2012 season. And with all that, he locked himself not only into a Chase berth, but a top seed with his multiple victories.

    “This has been something in the works for a very long time,” Hamlin said. “I have a lot of wins in my career because of two very important guys.”

    “One is Darian (Grubb, crew chief) and the other is Mike Ford (Hamlin’s prior crew chief),” Hamlin continued. “Mike put together 80% of a championship winning team, and Darian has just filled that gap and put the rest of the pieces of the puzzle together.”

    “The pit crew nailed it,” Hamlin said of his team’s Atlanta performance. “They were just on it all day long.”

    “I’ve never seen our crew just so happy to be at the race track every single week.”

    Not Surprising:  Yes, regrets they have got a few, particularly runner up Jeff Gordon and fourth place finisher Martin Truex Jr.

    “I’m just mad at myself right now,” the driver of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet said after almost catching the race winner during the green, white, checkered finish. “I guess I’m just getting soft in my old age.”

    “I’m too nice because, I don’t know, 15 years ago I would have just moved him right up the race track,” Gordon continued. “I don’t know why I didn’t do that.”

    In spite of his disappointment, this was Gordon’s 25th top-10 finish in 39 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is also his 11th top-10 finish for the season.

    The driver of the No. 56 NAPA Shocks Toyota was also full of regrets after leading in the waning laps until the final caution came out for Jamie McMurray’s crash.

    “Just spun the tires,” Truex said of his restart. “It just wasn’t meant to be, I guess.”

    “It’s tough losing when you haven’t won in a long time,” Truex continued. “We were close.”

    “It just sucks we couldn’t get it done tonight.”

    In spite of his regrets about not winning, Truex Jr. did lock himself into the championship Chase, as well as locking into a three year contract continuation with Michael Waltrip Racing.

    Jeff Gordon, on the other hand, moved up one position in the point standings to 13th, but still remains outside of wild card contention and will have to finish ahead of Kyle Busch in the Richmond race in order to capture that Chase spot.

    Surprising:  While usually the first one to grab the microphone and most certainly one of the most verbal drivers, whether in the media center or on the grid, Carl Edwards was surprisingly at a loss for words as his engine, as well as his Chase hopes, seemingly went up in smoke.

    “I don’t even know what to say,” the driver of the No. 99 Subway Ford Fusion said. “This is not the interview I wanted to do after the race.”

    “I love this race track but it looks like a piston or something broke,” Edwards said regarding his engine woes. “It started making noise with about 25 to 30 laps to go.”

    “I mean, I just can’t believe this,” Edwards continued. “That’s just how our season has been going and I don’t know what the reason is.”

    “It’s just hard to put into words.”

    Edwards dropped two positions to 14th in the point standings after his 36th place finish at Atlanta.

    Not Surprising:  In spite of a most bitter Nationwide race battle, involving water bottle throwing and cheek ‘patting’, both drivers put aside their differences to finish top-5 at Atlanta, resulting in two Chase clinches.

    Keselowski, behind the wheel of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, finished third, scoring his second top-10 finish at Atlanta. Harvick, piloting the No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet, finished in the fifth spot.

    And yes, both drivers pronounced their finishes good.

    “Yeah, just a solid night,” Keselowski said. “Once again the 2 team stepped up, made great changes, and we are just proud of that effort.”

    “I’m proud to say we clinched our spot in the Chase.”

    “This was just a great night for our Rheem team,” Harvick said. “Things are going in the right direction and thanks to this solid run, we have clinched a post in the Chase.”

    Surprising:  As if losing one of his primary sponsors, Office Depot, was not enough, Tony Stewart added insult to injury by falling like a rock from his pole starting spot to finish 22nd, one lap down.

    “We just couldn’t get a handle on this thing tonight,” the driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy said. “I was just to free.”

    “We chased it all night,” Smoke continued. “We’ll go back to the shop, tear it apart and see what the deal is.”

    Stewart remains in the tenth spot in the point standings.

    Not Surprising:   While Stewart struggled, teammate Ryan Newman affirmed his mission after the race, which saw the driver of the No. 39 Army Medicine Chevrolet finish 35th after an on-track incident with five-time champ Jimmie Johnson and fall out of wild card contention.

    “All I know was we ran out of room on the restart there,” Newman said. “It wasn’t my fault but it was just racing.”

    “In the big picture, tonight’s result hurt us relative to the Chase,” Newman continued. “But the US Army soldiers we represent are known for their refusal to accept defeat.”

    “The battle is certainly not over,” Newman said. “Our mission is clear.”

    Surprising:  While Newman may have seen it as just racing and Sam Hornish Jr. was just caught up in it all, Jimmie Johnson seemed surprisingly befuddled by the wreck on Lap 269, as in his mind, he was just easing on down the race track.

    “I think the No. 39 was on the outside and the No. 22 was next to me; we just all converged at one spot,” Johnson said. “All I know is I was riding down the road and left plenty of room on the outside of me and got turned head on into the wall.”

    The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet finished 34th and fell two positions in the point standings to fourth. Johnson was, however, already locked into the Chase competition.

    Not Surprising:  Danica Patrick can finally claim ‘mission accomplished’ after checking off her ‘to do ‘list’ of finishing the race with all of the fenders intact on her No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.

    “Yeah, that was what we were supposed to do today,” Patrick said of her 29th finish in her first race at Atlanta in a Cup car. “We were just in that phase of get the laps done, feel it out, run different lines, bring the car home, finish the race and try and learn a bit as we go.”

    “I think that was a good step for me,” Patrick said. “We did what we meant to do.”

    Surprising:  Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief Steve Letarte has been called many things, but what his current driver called him was a bit surprising.

    “Steve Letarte is really experienced and did a lot of crafty stuff to get us back into position,” Dale Junior said. “That’s about the only thing I think we can take away from that track.”

    The driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevrolet already locked into the championship show, finished 7th in the Atlanta race before the Chase. He now is second in the point standings, just eight points back from leader Greg Biffle.

    Not Surprising:  In spite of the penalty cloud still hanging over their heads, Paul Menard, in the No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet, and crew chief Slugger Labbe pulled of an eighth place finish.

    “We kept making the car better,” Menards said. “As the sun went down, we got better, made the right adjustments, and came away with another top-10.”

    Surprising:  Kasey Kahne seemed absolutely surprised that he didn’t fall further than 11th in the points with his 23rd place finish.

    “We just really missed it tonight,” the driver of the No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet said. “The harder I drove, the worse I was.”

    “I can’t believe I’m in 11th,” Kahne continued. “I felt like I probably lost 10 spots.”

    “But we’re still in 11th and have two wins and I think we’re sitting decent.”

    Not Surprising:  Forget sexy, Kyle Busch is the wild card and he knows it. And he also knows that Jeff Gordon is most likely the competitor that he will have to beat to keep that wild card standing.

    The driver of the No. 18 Wrigley Doublemint Toyota finished 6th at Atlanta, gaining one position in the point standings to 12th, the second wild card position.

    “Overall the night was good for us,” Busch said. “Had to pass a few cars and got by a few cars to finish sixth.”

    “I’m not saying that I’m for sure going to be in the Chase at all – anything can happen,” Busch continued. “Jeff Gordon is no slouch at Richmond either and I feel like that’s the guy we’re racing.”

    “We’ll just have to see how it all plays out.”

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Atlanta

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Atlanta

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”220″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin beat Martin Truex, Jr. out of the pits on the race’s final caution, and then held off Jeff Gordon to win the AdvoCare 500. Hamlin’s fourth win of the year will give him the top seed in the Chase in two weeks, barring a win at Richmond by Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, or Brad Keselowski.

    “I kept Gordon out of the winner’s circle,” Hamlin said, “which may have put Kyle Busch in the Chase. You may think I’m doing Kyle a favor. Not so. In fact, I’m doing myself a favor, by letting a driver in the Chase who has no chance of winning the Cup.”

    2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson sparked a wreck with 56 laps to go when he made contact with Sam Hornish, Jr. sent Johnson into the wall. The No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy spun sideways and was slammed by Newman’s No. 39. Johnson finished 34th, 58 laps down.

    “I guess I didn’t see Hornish,” Johnson said. “That’s probably because he’s been ‘invisible’ since coming to NASCAR from Indy cars.”

    3. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished third at Atlanta with his tenth top-5 finish of the year. He is now sixth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 48 out of first, and by virtue of his three wins, will start no worse than second in the Chase.

    “Joey Logano will be my new teammate in 2013,” Keselowski said. “If he’s anything like me, and nothing like A.J. Allmendinger, then he won’t take anything from anybody.”

    4. Greg Biffle: Biffle started on the front row at Atlanta, but struggled with handling issues for much of the night and finished 15th. He still leads the point standings with one more race before the Chase For The Cup field is set.

    “I’m just happy to still be on top in the point standings,” Biffle said. “Even if it’s for just one more week, I still have more ‘staying power’ than some of my Roush Fenway teammates. If it’s not Matt Kenseth telling us he’s going somewhere, it’s Carl Edwards telling us he’s not going somewhere. For the Chase, it seems, none of us are going anywhere.”

    5. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt surged on the green-white-checkered finish at Atlanta, taking seventh in the AdvoCare 500. He moved up one spot to second in the point standings, where he trails Greg Biffle by eight.

    “They say once the Chase begins,” Earnhardt said, “the ‘cream rises to the top.’ Does that explain why I’ll tumble down the standings when the points are reset?”

    6. Tony Stewart: Stewart struggled at Atlanta, running two laps down for much of the race before finishing 22nd, one lap down to the leaders. Stewart has not finished better than 19th in the last four races, and is tenth in the Chase, 18 points ahead of Kasey Kahne.

    “As you know,” Stewart said, “I’m losing Office Depot as a primary sponsor. Whereas the No. 14 has been ‘Office Depot’d’ for many years, it’s now being ‘Office Deposed.’ It seems that sponsorships, like helmets, are going ‘Mobil.’”

    7. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth led the Roush Fenway charge at Atlanta, finishing ninth for his 15th top-10 of the year. He is third in the point standings, 21 out of first.

    “Tony Stewart said there is no ill will between us from the Bristol helmet toss,” Kenseth said. “Considering Stewart’s history of holding grudges, I’m skeptical when he says ‘We’re cool.’

    “I’m finally able to officially announce my signing with Joe Gibbs Racing. It’s not like it was a secret, so I was quite taken aback by all the questions ‘thrown’ at me at the press conference.”

    8. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex hopes for his first win of the year crumbled when Jamie McMurray slammed the wall with five laps to go. Truex was edged out of the ensuing pit stop by Denny Hamlin, and eventually finished fourth. He is fifth in the point standings, and unless he wins at Richmond on Saturday, will start at the bottom of the Chase field.

    “I, along with NAPA, signed on for another three years with Michael Waltrip Racing,” Truex said. “Now, I think I’d rather ‘dot the eyes’ of McMurray as opposed to those of the contracts.”

    9. Kevin Harvick: Harvick led 101 laps, second to Denny Hamlin’s 105, and finished fifth, his first top-5 result since a second at Dover. Harvick is ninth in the point standings, 72 out of first.

    “A water bottle may have cost me the win in Saturday’s Nationwide race,” Harvick said. “I only wish the explanation for my lack of Sprint Cup wins could be explained as easily.”

    10. Kyle Busch: Busch kept his Chase hopes alive, with help from Joe Gibbs teammate Denny Hamlin, with a sixth in the AdvoCare 500. Hamlin’s win prevented Jeff Gordon from an all-important second victory, thereby allowing Busch to maintain a wildcard spot.

    “If anyone deserves to be a ‘wild card,’” Busch said, “it’s me, although the ‘old’ Kyle Busch was wilder and more of a card than the ‘current’ Kyle Busch. Strangely enough, for once, people are encouraging me to ‘go wild.’”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Irwin Tools Bristol Night Race

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Irwin Tools Bristol Night Race

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]With their intro songs, as well as the voices of their children singing the national anthem ringing in the drivers’ ears, here is what was surprising and not surprising from 52nd Annual Irwin Tools Night Race at the new, old Bristol.

    Surprising:  This driver not only proved he can dance the ‘Dougie’ but he can also win the night race at Bristol, scoring one of the biggest wins of his career.

    Denny Hamlin, driving the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, scored his third victory of the season, but more importantly his 20th career Cup victory and the 200th win for the No. 11 car.

    “You dream about winning at this place and I’ve come so close and never won,” Hamlin said. “This is just a big win.”

    “It’s big because it’s my 20th, 200th for the car, and you look at the names, Ned Jarrett and those guys that have driven the No. 11.”

    “I’m just a spec on that stat sheet of wins for this number,” Hamlin continued. “This is a number that has been big in NASCAR history.”

    “And it’s big for me.”

    Not Surprising:  Ever the showman, it was not surprising that track owner Bruton Smith delivered exactly what he wanted for the fans of Bristol Motor Speedway, pronouncing that the ‘old’ Bristol, complete with beating and banging, was back at the newly changed track.

    “I will be the first to admit that I was somewhat hesitant going into the race at Bristol after the changes that were made to the track,” Larry McReynolds, former crew chief and NASCAR analyst, said. “Now, after what I saw last weekend, I believe we have reached a balance that everyone can be happy with.”

    “We still have some of what I call the new Bristol, which is side-by-side racing, while at the same time, we sure did have a lot of the old Bristol again,” McReynolds continued. “Saturday night brought us 13 cautions, which is the most at Bristol since March 2007.”

    “What’s interesting about that, March 2007 was the last race before they re-did the surface the last time.”

    Surprising:  While Tony Stewart, driving the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet, had a miserable night on the track, tangling with competitor Matt Kenseth while racing for the lead and wrecking to finish 27th, he received surprisingly high marks from one of his other competitors on his helmet toss at the No. 17 Valvoline NextGen Ford.

    “I saw him lingering, kind of waiting with his gear,” Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet, said. “I figured something was going to happen.”

    “I heard he had a good toss on it,” Johnson continued. “I know he impressed our crew. They said he had an arm on him; he hit a good throw and hit it dead center.”

    Not Surprising:  Apparently one other quasi-member of the Stewart Haas racing team, rookie Danica Patrick learned her lessons well from team collaborator and mentor Tony Stewart.

    While the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for Tommy Baldwin Racing did not throw her helmet after a late race altercation with Regan Smith cost her a top-20 finish in her first Bristol Cup race, she did her fair share of finger wagging at her nemesis as he came around the track.

    “We’re all racing hard,” Patrick said. “This is Bristol and that is why people love this track is because you see a lot of that and you see tempers flare.”

    “It was just a bummer because I really felt like the GoDaddy Chevrolet was going to get a solid, maybe a top-20 , finish and on the lead lap.”

    “So, it’s a shame we lost that,” Patrick continued. “But you know,Bristol is a place where you find out who’s playing fair and who’s not.”

    Surprising:  The ‘Sheriff’ showed his badge at Bristol, as well as how hungry he was to be back behind the wheel of a competitive race car. Brian Vickers, driving the No. 55 MyClassicGarage.com Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing, finished fourth in a race which he also had the privilege of leading.

    “I gave it all I could,” Vickers said “But it wasn’t enough.”

    “I’m still really happy with a fourth place,” Vickers continued. “Obviously please, but not satisfied.”

    “I’d loved to have won this thing and we had a shot at it.”

    Not Surprising:   Casey Mears, behind the often start-and-park wheel of the No. 13 Ford Fusion for Germain Racing, scored his first pole in many, many years, thanks to a surprise rain washing out the qualifying session.

    Yet, even with the great starting spot, it was not surprising that Mears faded throughout the race, finishing 21st.

    “It’s been a couple of years,” Mears said of his pole position. “The team has really grown in strides and we’ve made a lot of big improvements this year.”

    “We still have a lot to learn and still have a lot to grow.”

    Surprising:  While Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, faces an uncertain future as well as a battle for a Chase spot, it was still surprising just how frustrated the young driver was even with an 8th place finish at Bristol.

    “This was the most frustrating race I think I’ve ever been a part of,” Logano said. “I had a good care in the beginning of the race and the track changed and we just couldn’t keep up with it.”

    “We need a win and anything short of that is not good enough.”

    Not Surprising:  ‘Mr. Consistent’, otherwise known as Dale Earnhardt Jr., clinched his spot in the championship hunt with a twelfth place finish at Bristol. He was joined by fellow clinchers teammate Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle, the current points leader.

    “I feel good about it,” Junior said of his clinch. “We worked real hard all season and I want to thank my guys.”

    “I made a little mistake and came down a closed pit,” Earnhardt, Jr. continued. “But we had a fast car.”

    Surprising:  Kyle Busch, who has had quite a prior record at Carl Bristol with four wins, five top-five finishes and seven top-10s in the last ten Cup races there, surprisingly struggled at this new/old Bristol.

    The driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota did, however, pull off a top-10 finish in spite of it all.

    “Our night was decent,” Busch said. “I think I screwed us up in practice – just not getting the right setup underneath the car.”

    “I took our guys in a little bit of the wrong direction so I hate it for them,” Busch continued. “We fought hard and did all we could.”

    While Busch did not get a needed win, he did keep his hopes alive in the ‘wild card’ race for the Chase. He sits now in the 13th spot, second in the wild card standings thanks to Carl Edwards’ gas gamble and 22nd place finish at Bristol.

    Not Surprising:  Perhaps it was the Farmville-themed race car, but Jeff Gordon, veteran and four-time champ was have a great deal of fun racing at a track that has been very good to him in the past.

    And with his third place finish, the driver of the No. 24 Farmville/Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, moved up two spots in the standings to the 14th position.

    “What I loved about the racing, even though it was really tough to pass, is it just reminded me of old school Bristol,” Gordon said. “You did slide jobs on guys when you got runs and that’s what we had tonight.”

    “So, I think it was a success and I certainly had a lot of fun.”

    Surprising:  Whether a road course, oval or short track, Marcos Ambrose continued his reign of good finishes with another top-5 finish. The good run at Bristol moved the driver of the No. 9 DeWalt Ford up one position to 16th in the point standings.

    “I’m just trying hard,” Ambrose said. “That’s two top-fives in two weeks for us.”

    “It’s been a great month,” Ambrose continued. “I’m just really proud to represent the King, have a strong run and give them a shot to make the Chase.”

    Not Surprising:  After being hit with a hefty penalty for irregularities with the frame rails of the No. 27 Menards/Schrock Chevrolet, Paul Menard, crew chief Slugger Labbe and the team battled back for a 10th place finish on the short track.

    “This entire team overcame a lot for this top-10 finish,” Menard said. “The pit crew was amazing tonight too.”

    “Once we were able to move into the high groove, the car was pretty good.”

    Because of the penalty, Menard and his team are now in the 17th position in the point standings. Team owner Richard Childress is appealing the severity of the penalty.

     

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Bristol

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Bristol

    [media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”217″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished second at Bristol and clinched a spot in the Chase For The Cup. He moved up two places to second in the Sprint Cup point standings, 11 behind Greg Biffle.

    “What a dramatic race,” Johnson said. “There was helmet-tossing, finger-wagging, and lots of trash talking. Obviously, Danica Patrick wasn’t the only one to get her panties in a wad.

    “And speaking of ‘unmentionables,’ I think it’s clear that when speaking of potential 2012 Cup champions, no other names should enter the conversation except mine. I’ve got the car, the cool demeanor, and a crew chief who knows his way around, especially the rules.”

    2. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin passed Carl Edwards with 39 laps remaining and went on to win for the first time at Bristol. Hamlin’s third win tied him with Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, and Brad Keselowski, and all but clinched a spot in the Chase.

    “I may be the only Joe Gibbs Racing driver to make the Chase For The Cup,” Hamlin said. “And that’s fine with me, because I’m perfectly happy to remain single.

    “My third win all but guarantees me a spot in the Chase. Above all, I want to control my own destiny where the Chase is concerned. Contrary to what you may have heard, I do believe in ‘berth control.’”

    3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished 12th  in the Irwin Tools Night Race, joining a trio of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates in the top 12. With his finish, Earnhardt clinched a spot in the Chase For The Cup.

    “That’s right,” Earnhardt said. “I’ve mathematically earned a spot in the Chase. That’s a huge milestone, because, for once, the members of Junior Nation are happy to ‘do the math.’”

    4. Greg Biffle: Biffle finished 19th on a disappointing night for Roush Fenway Racing at Bristol, as Matt Kenseth tangled with Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards ran out of gas late. Despite the finish, Biffle punched his ticket to the Chase and continues to lead the points standings.

    “What a throw by Tony Stewart,” Biffle said. “Now I’m the only Roush Fenway driver not to fall victim to Stewart’s ‘mind’ games. Matt obviously has been involved in his share of retaliatory incidents at Bristol. Sure, Tony Stewart needs anger management; Matt needs danger management.”

    5. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth and Tony Stewart wrecked while battling for the lead midway through Saturday night’s race, sending both into the inside wall. As Kenseth passed Stewart on pit road, a disgruntled Stewart flung his helmet at the No. 17 Ford, nailing it squarely on the front bumper. Kenseth eventually finished 25th and fell two places in the point standings to fourth.

    “I felt like Juan Montoya,” Kenseth said, “because I was target-ed. Tony aims like a champ, but throws like a girl. Everyone’s always said Tony likes to throw ‘blame’ around. This is an obvious example.”

    6. Tony Stewart: After a costly spin with Matt Kenseth damaged his No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart retaliated by tossing his helmet at Kenseth’s car on pit road. After eventually posting a 27th-place finish, Stewart vowed to wreck Kenseth for the rest of the year.

    “If Kenseth gets in my way again,” Stewart said, “heads will roll, again. I let my temper get the best of me. As you know, my temper is undefeated in matchups with ‘me.’

    “Kenseth’s going to get what’s coming to him. At least that’s what Joe Gibbs tells me.”

    7. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski took a bump from behind on lap 263 that sent him into the outside wall, resulting in damage to the front-end alignment. He eventually finished 30th, 66 laps down. He fell two spots to seventh in the point standings and is 59 out of first.

    “It’s too bad Matt Kenseth wasn’t driving a ‘Dodge,’” Keselowski said. “Then maybe he could have avoided Tony Stewart’s helmet. As it was, Kenseth is an ass(ault victim).”

    8. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer remained solidly in the hunt for a Chase spot with a seventh at Bristol, his 14th top-10 finish of the year. Now sixth in the points standings, he trails Greg baffle by 55.

    “Who knew Tony Stewart was such a good golfer?” Bowyer said. “His approach to ‘17’ was perfect. I bet Tony wishes he would have tossed his HANS device at Kenseth as well. Then, he could honestly say he showed ‘restraint.’”

    9. Kasey Kahne: Kahne finished ninth in the Irwin Tools Night Race, joining Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, who finished second and third, in the top 10. He currently holds the first wild card spot for the Chase For The Cup.

    “We’d really like to get four Hendrick drivers in the Chase,” Kahne said. “Mainly, to keep Jimmie Johnson ‘company.’”

    10. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex lead 44 laps and finished 11th in the Irwin Tools Night Race. He moved up one spot to fifth in the Sprint Cup point standings and trails Greg Biffle by 52.

    “Without a win this year,” Truex said, “I’ll be starting at the back of the Chase field. In other words, I’ll be giving everyone a ‘head start,’ which is exactly what Tony Stewart gave a surprised Matt Kenseth.”

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Michigan

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Michigan

    [media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”226″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Jimmie Johnson: After passing Brad Keselowski on lap 191, Johnson was poised to capture his series-best fourth win of the year. But a blown engine just four laps later ended Johnson’s day, and his 27th-place finished dropped him to fourth in the point standings.

    “That’s was my second engine failure of the weekend,” Johnson said. “Let me tell you, that ‘b(Lowe’s).’ Who’s building these things? Ironically, he may have to be ‘let go.’

    “Is Keselowski the biggest threat to my chances of winning my sixth Cup title? If number of tweets is any indication, then I’m in deep trouble. But I, a five-time champion, tend to put more stock in ‘hardware’ instead of ‘software.’ I don’t follow @Kes, or that logic.”

    2. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski took the runner-up spot for the second-straight week, finishing second to Greg Biffle in the Pure Michigan 400. Keselowski remained fifth in the point standings and is 47 out of first.

    “Am I destined for second place?” Keselowski said. “Apparently, I need to send a tweet to ‘@theleader,’ because that’s who I’m following.

    “I hear than Joey Logano could be my new teammate at Penske Racing. I think it would be great to see Joey’s name on the side of a Penske Dodge. That way, I can once again say I have a teammate who’s ‘on something.’”

    3. Greg Biffle: Biffle took the lead when Jimmie Johnson’s engine blew on lap 196, and held off Brad Keselowski to win the Pure Michigan 400. It was Biffle’s second win of the year, giving him the Sprint Cup points lead and significantly improving his position in the Chase.

    “These are happy days for me,” Biffle said. “Oddly enough, Johnson’s ‘expiration point’ became my ‘inspiration point.’ And I ‘made out’ well.

    “It looks like Jack Roush’s hopes for the Cup title rest solely on my shoulders. Matt Kenseth seems to be mailing it in, while Carl Edwards won’t deliver on Sunday.”

    4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt, who won at Michigan in June, finished fourth in the Pure Michigan 400, his tenth top-10 of the year. He moved up one spot in the Sprint Cup point standings to third, 22 behind Greg Biffle.

    “Jeff Gordon had some unkind words for me over the radio at Michigan,” Earnhardt said. “I’m not offended. And neither is Rick Hendrick. In his eyes, Gordon was just ‘sharing information.”

    5. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished 17th at Michigan, as Roush Fenway teammate Greg Biffle gave Jack Roush his 12th win at Michigan. Kenseth is now second in the point standings, 20 behind Biffle.

    “Congratulations to Greg Biffle,” Kenseth said. “I have no problem ‘giving it up’ for the Biff.’ I also have no problem ‘giving it up’ for a fat new contract with Joe Gibbs Racing. I envy Biffle. He closed the deal and wasn’t afraid to talk about it.”

    6. Kasey Kahne: Kahne solidified his wildcard position in the standings with a third in the Pure Michigan 400. He is 11th in the point standings, 33 behind Deny Hamlin in 10th.

    “Mark Martin had a heck of a crash on Sunday,” Kahne said. “Officially, he retired on lap 64. Considering the magnitude of the wreck, I’m surprised Mark was able to walk away. I’m even more surprised he didn’t officially announce his retirement.”

    7. Tony Stewart: Stewart finished 32nd at Michigan after a long day in which he struggled after losing a cylinder on lap 51. After several trips to the garage, Stewart ended the day 92 laps down.

    “Luckily,” Stewart said, “I’ve got three wins to fall back on. And I pride myself on being amply cushioned.

    “My good friend Danica Patrick ran over a shoe in Montreal on Saturday. It seems she’s trying a little too hard to get her ‘footing’ in NASCAR. She probably could have used a shoe ‘horn.’ The GoDaddy.com car spits out shoes faster than a Chinese Nike factory.”

    8. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished 11th at Michigan, leading one lap and just missing on his 12th top-10 result of the year. He is tenth in the point standings, 96 out of first.

    “Despite my standing in the points,” Hamlin said, “I still think I’ll contend for the Sprint Cup title once the Chase begins. So, unlike my unborn child, my championship hopes are ‘legitimate.”

    9. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer posted his third consecutive top-10 finish with a seventh in the Pure Michigan 400. He remained seventh in the Sprint Cup point standings, 66 out of first and firmly in place to make the Chase.

    “I’m a shoo-in to make the Chase,” Bowyer said. “And speaking of ‘shoe-ins,’ a sneaker tossed on the track in Montreal derailed Danica Patrick’s chances in the Nationwide race. She ran slap over the thing. I’m guessing she would have stopped had it been a high heel.”

    10. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex finished 10th at Michigan, scoring his 13th top-10 result of the year. He stands sixth in the point standings, 60 out of first.

    “Michael Waltrip Racing is poised to put two cars in the Chase For The Cup,” Truex said. “Can you imagine an MWR driver winning the Sprint Cup championship? Michael says if you can’t ‘buy’ that, maybe you will ‘rent’ it.”

  • Pure Michigan 400 Review: Bizzare Day at Michigan

    Pure Michigan 400 Review: Bizzare Day at Michigan

    [media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”232″][/media-credit]As the 43rd Annual Pure Michigan 400 came to a close, the race was anyone’s game with some of the top names in the sport racing for the lead position. Brad Keselowski held the lead with 10 laps to go, as five-time champion Jimmie Johnson was putting the pressure on him. Keselowski’s No. 2 Miller Light Dodge got loose one lap later and Johnson was able to sneak by him to take over the lead. Greg Biffle, who was running third with ten to go, was able to pass Keselowski for second as Johnson took over the lead.

    It looked as if Johnson would drive on to win his fourth race of the season, until his engine expired with 6 laps remaining – making that the third Hendrick Motorsports engine with problems this weekend. The race would finish under green-white-checkered as Biffle held off a hard-charging Keselowski to win for the second time this season and third time at MIS.  Kasey Kahne finished in third position, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Marcos Ambrose rounding out the top five.

    “It was a wild race. We struggled with our car throughout the weekend, worked real hard on it overnight,” said Biffle after the race. “My car was super good at the beginning of the race when the track was green. Once I got on restarts and in traffic, I wasn’t that good.

    “We just kept working on it, trying different things. But, we were so good out front. I knew once we got out front we’d be tough to beat. I know that a lot of people don’t expect us to win the championship, and don’t think we can compete for the title. But, we will be a factor when it comes down to Homestead.”

    This moves the No. 16 team to the points lead, with 20 points over Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth. Earnhardt moves to third position in standings, with his teammate Johnson dropping three positions to fourth. Keselowski rounds out the top five, 47 points behind the leader.

    Cautions Breed Cautions

    First caution of the day occurred on Lap 6 when Aric Almirola and David Gilliland got together on the front stretch. Unfortunately for the rest of the field, this was just the start of the cautions for the day.

    [media-credit name=”Wesley Hitt/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”221″][/media-credit]Mark Martin started the race from the pole position and ended his day with a bizarre crash on Lap 64. Juan Pablo Montoya and Bobby Labonte were racing in front of Martin in an attempt to stay on the lead lap, when the two got together coming out of Turn 4. Martin dove low to try and avoid the incident, but sent his car spinning down pit road. His car then crashed into an opening of the pit wall just in front of the No. 5 team’s pit stall. Crew members dove to safety as debris flew from the pit stall and the No. 55 Toyota.

    “That was a pretty freak angle that I got at that,” Martin said. “I’m not sure what you could do. It could have been really bad if I would have got in that hole a little deeper where it caught me in the door instead of in the crush area back there. It’s hard to keep up with what exactly is going to be happening there. I was hoping that I was going to miss the pit wall completely and not tear the car up, but then I saw that the angle I was going that I was going to hit the end of pit wall.”

    Luckily, Martin was able to walk away from the incident safely, along with the crews on pit road. If the car would have hit any closer to the driver’s door than it did, Martin may not have been so lucky. Martin will continue driving part-time for Michael Waltrip Racing in 2013, with 22 Sprint Cup races on his schedule.

    Drivers were having a tough time getting their cars to stick to the track in Turn 4 on Sunday, including Watkins Glen winner, Marcos Ambrose. On Lap 77 his Stanley Tools Ford got loose and slid up the track and tapped the No. 78 sending him into the Turn 4 wall. Regan Smith was able to continue, but finished the race in 29th position, 47 laps down.

    The numerous amounts of cautions continue on Lap 90 when Joey Logano blew a right front tire due to a fender rub he sustained a few laps earlier. Two laps earlier the No. 42 of Juan Pablo Montoya got into Logano and forced him into the outside wall, causing the fender rub. Montoya finished in 26th position, Logano in 31st place.

    On Lap 135 Kurt Busch’s bad luck continued as he appeared to break something in the right front of his No. 51 Toyota and slammed into the wall. This brought out a caution and changed up pit strategy as 11 cars did not pit, including Earnhardt who assumed the race lead. Earnhardt led the field for a total of 25 laps after starting in the back of the field due to wrecking his car in final practice on Saturday.

    The last crash-induced caution occurred when Trevor Bayne blew his right front tire on Lap 182, causing him to finish in 24th position.

    Chase for the Sprint Cup

    With only three races left until the Chase for the Sprint Cup, all eyes are on drivers like Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin who are riding the line for falling out of the top ten in points. Kahne is only 33 points away from jumping into the top ten and continues to hold one of the wild cards that will allow him access into the Chase. If he races his way into the Chase and Hamlin or Stewart were to drop out of the top ten, this would give the wild card slot to one of them. As of now, Kahne and Ryan Newman hold these cards.

    Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Marcos Ambrose, and Joey Logano still have a shot to steal the wild card away from Newman, as they all hold one win this season. The wild card option goes to the drivers outside of the top ten who have the most wins this season; so far the only driver with more than one win outside of the top ten is Kahne.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen

    [media-credit id=24 align=”alignright” width=”224″][/media-credit]In spite of a few drops of rain and much discussion about oil on the track in the waning laps, here is what else was surprising and not surprising for the 27th annual Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen.

    Surprising:  Although this two-time winner at the Glen was far from home, in fact about as far away as one can possibly be, he felt right at home, relishing his triumph with his family from down under in Victory Lane.

    Australian Marcos Ambrose, driving the No. 9 Stanley Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports, scored his first victory of the season and his second win in 141 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

    “My kids haven’t shared this in America and it’s a special thing to win a NASCAR race, especially a Sprint Cup race, so it’s fantastic,” Ambrose said of having his children with him in Victory Lane and the media center post-race. “I’ve got my in-laws sitting in the back here too.”

    Although Ambrose was surrounded by family, his thoughts were with his family who could not be with him to celebrate.

    “My dad is in the hospital right now, so I hope this makes him feel better and gets him going,” Ambrose continued. “It’s a tough life when you’re racing , especially I’m from Australia and my immediate family is down home and I feel a long way away a lot of days.”

    “It’s great to have my family here and great to let them celebrate with me,” Ambrose said. “These days don’t come around every day.”

    Not Surprising:  Ever the hard core racer, it was no surprise to see Brad Keselowski so completely jazzed with his runner up finish after beating and banging with Ambrose all the way to the checkered flag.

    This was the second top-10 finish in three races at Watkins Glen International for the driver of the Miller Lite Blue Deuce for Penske Racing. It was also Keselowski’s 12th top-10 finish of the season.

    “That’s what racing is supposed to be right there; a little bit of bumping and rubbing but none of that intentional wrecking BS,” Keselowski said. “It came down to just running a whole lap against Marcos.”

    “I got in the oil and we’d slip up,” Keselowski continued. “He’d get by me and then he’d get in the oil and I’d get by him.”

    “It’s great to race against guys like Marcos that you can run on, lean on and don’t lose their cool,” Keselowski said. “I think that’s the way racing should be.”

    Surprising:  They may be teammates and even share a Hendrick Motorsports garage, but Jimmie Johnson took advantage of his teammate Dale Junior’s slip up to not only finish third in the race, but also snatch the points lead away from him.

    “I just got in the corner and made a mistake and that was pretty much all there was to it,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet said. “I was just overdriving the car.”

    “It was a bad ugly finish at the end.”

    Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Cortez Silver Chevrolet, deemed the finish “chaotic” as well.

    “But I’m glad we got back to the finish line and finished third,” Johnson continued. “Very solid day for this Lowe’s team.”

    “I’m excited to be leading the points.”

    Not Surprising:  In spite of one Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver sitting on the pole and the other re-signing with the team, both EGR drivers had yet another rough day at the race track.

    Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, secured his second pole in a row, last week at Pocono and this week at the Glen. Mechanical troubles, however, sidelined JPM, relegating him to a 33rd place finish.

    “I think it was the lower control arm,” Montoya said. “We got the last two poles and I did think we had a car to win today.”

    “It was looking really good; everything looked like it was going according to the plan,” Montoya continued. “All of a sudden I hit a curb and the car went completely left on me.”

    Teammate Jamie McMurray, fresh off inking his signature on his new contract with the team, also struggled. Jamie Mac hit the Armco barrier so hard that it left its impression on the driver’s side door of his No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet.

    “It just happened all of a sudden,” McMurray said. “The tire blew out and we hit the guardrail pretty hard.”

    Surprising:  While the Queen may have had her James Bond moment at the Olympics, there was one such moment at the Glen, with the wild card spots being definitely ‘shaken, not stirred.’

    The two drivers whose Chase chances were most shaken were both Kyle Busch and four-time champion Jeff Gordon.

    Busch, behind the wheel of his No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, looked like he would notch another win until he tangled with Brad Keselowski and got shuffled back to seventh at the race end. That win would have moved Busch into the second wild-card spot in the Chase.

    “I’ve got nothing good to say,” was Busch’s only post-race comment. He later posted on Facebook, “Can it get any worse?”

    The other driver shaken in the Chase was Jeff Gordon, behind the wheel of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet. He too was headed for at least a top-10 finish until he slid in oil and wrecked on the last lap, finishing 21st.

    Gordon lost two spots in the Chase standings, falling to 15th.

    “I’m pretty bummed,” Gordon said after the race. “We didn’t have the day I thought we were going to have.”

    Not Surprising:   While brother Kyle struggled at the Glen, so too did big brother Kurt Busch. Busch, driving the No. 51 Phoenix Racing Construction Services Chevrolet, had a mechanical problem, blew a tire, and headed to the garage.

    “These guys work way too hard for these mechanical things to happen,” Busch said. “Sometimes these things just add up and we are just on the wrong side of the eight-ball.”

    Surprising:  For the second race in a row, Denny Hamlin suffered problems on the track that entailed another quick exit from his No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota.

    “I have a thing with wrecks and fires here lately,” Hamlin said. “I was fine until once again I started feeling the heat and looked down and saw the fire at my feet.”

    “Once I got fire on me, I decided to stop at the nearest fire station,” Hamlin continued. “It’s unfortunate but an overall bad weekend for us.”

    Not Surprising:  Regan Smith, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet, had another top 10 finish for himself and the team. Smith, who finished ninth at Pocono last weekend, replicated it again at the Glen.

    This was also his first career top-10 finish on a road course.

    “I am happy to come away with a top-10,” Smith said. “I am very proud of this team and very excited about what we’ve been able to accomplish recently.”

    “We’re on the right track and that’s encouraging.”

    Surprising:  Something that is surprisingly not heard often was heard at the road course this weekend. Veteran driver Jeff Burton was black flagged for failing to maintain minimum speed.

    “Once again, bad luck found us, this time it was in the form of a fuel pump issue,” the driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet said. Burton soldiered on to finish 30th.

    Not Surprising:  Michael Waltrip Racing teammates Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr. conquered nerves and dodged bullets respectively to both finish in the top-10 on the road course.

    “That was some slick racing the last few laps,” Bowyer, behind the wheel of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota, said. “We were sliding everywhere.”

    “It was kind of fun, but it was pretty nerve-wracking.”

    “Man, it was rough,” teammate Truex, Jr., driving the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, said after running out of gas with 25 laps to go. “Those kinds of days when you make mistakes, you’ve got to battle back.”

    “We dodged a big bullet be being able to come back through the field like that.”

    Surprising:  Tony Stewart, driving the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, made a surprising and uncharacteristic error on a road course, spinning on lap 71 after being second in the race running order.

    Smoke backed into the Armco barrier, significantly shortening up the car. He went on to rally after repairs from 29th to finish 19th.

    “Sorry guys,” Stewart said. “I gave it away there.”

    Not Surprising:   On the flip side, Stewart Haas Racing teammate Ryan Newman said a big hello to the wild card spot in the Chase. The driver of the No. 39 US Army Chevrolet finished 11th to move up to 13th in the point standings, just 49 points out of the 10th position.

    “In the end, it was a good day for us in the points, which was what we needed to make the Chase,” Newman said. “That’s our mission and we’re going to have to fight it out these next four races.”

    “Just like our Army Strong soldiers, we’re a determined bunch and we’re not going to give up.”

     

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Watkins Glen

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Watkins Glen

    [media-credit name=”Ed Coombs” align=”alignright” width=”256″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished third at Watkins Glen, posting his Sprint Cup series-best 11th top-5 result. Johnson jumped three spots to the top of the points standings, and leads Greg Biffle by one.

    “Wow! What a finish!” Johnson said. “That’s what NASCAR racing is all about? Too bad it only happens once or twice a year.

    “But I’m tickled by any race that ends with me on top in the points standings. Now, is Marcos Ambrose a threat to win the Sprint Cup? No way, and the thought of such is pure ‘Tasmanian drivel.’”

    2. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt spun with seven laps to go, losing a likely top-10 finish and crossing the line 28th. He tumbled out of the Sprint Cup points lead, and is now fourth, 17 out of first.

    “After two weeks atop the Sprint Cup point standings,” Earnhardt said, “who didn’t expect a tailspin.

    “The track was a mess. It was as ‘well-oiled’ as the Junior Nation campground. And

    3. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski led with one lap to go in the Finger Lakes 355 At The Glen, but was passed by Marcos Ambrose near the finish in a wild final lap. Keselowski was denied his fourth win of the year, but moved up two places to fifth in the points standings, 44 out of first.

    “I was so close to getting away with the win,” Keselowski said, “but much like Roger Penske’s other kids, I got ‘caught.’ If Roger’s boys would have been as slippery as the Watkins Glen track, they’d never have been caught.

    “As it is, Roger may have to pull another A.J. Allmendinger and disown them.”

    4. Greg Biffle: Biffle took sixth at Watkins Glen, as Roush Fenway Racing placed three cars in the top 14. Biffle moved up one spot to second in the point standings, and trails Jimmie Johnson by a single point.

    “I did what I needed to do at The Glen,” Biffle said. “Finish in the top 10, and steer clear of Boris Said. He finished 25th, which was nowhere near me. So, the answer to what Boris Said and Boris did is ‘nothing.’”

    5. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished a solid eight at Watkins Glen, earning his 14th top 10 of the year. He is now third in the point standings, trailing Greg Biffle by one and points-leader Jimmie Johnson by two.

    “I am soooo close,” Kenseth said, “to announcing the details of my deal with Joe Gibbs Racing. Hopefully, my last races with Roush Fenway Racing will see me contending for the Cup championship. I definitely want to have a ‘going away presence.’”

    6. Tony Stewart: Stewart was running second when he spun in the final turn with 16 laps remaining. With extensive rear-end damage to the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil Chevy, he had to settle for 19th at The Glen.

    “I was going for ‘broke,’” Stewart said. “Unfortunately, I succeeded. It’s not often I can say ‘I lost it’ and it not have anything to do with Kurt Busch.”

    7. Kasey Kahne: Kahne remained in the hunt for a Chase position with a respectable 13th-place finish at Watkins Glen. He is 11th in the Sprint Cup point standings, and currently holds the first wildcard spot for the Chase.

    “I’ve never been to the Nantucket Yacht Club,” Kahne said, “but I’m confident I’ll fare better ‘in the Chase’ than Roger Penske’s boys.”

    8. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex posted his 12th top-10 finish of the year with a 10th in the Finger Lakes 355 At The Glen. He is now sixth in the point standings, but with no wins on the year, would likely start at the bottom of the Chase For The Cup field.

    “You never know,” Truex said. “I could get hot and win the Sprint Cup championship. I would say I need to ‘Get in the Zone,’ but I’m contractually forbidden to do so.”

    9. Denny Hamlin: A disastrous weekend at Watkins Glen started with a crash in Friday practice and ended with a 34th-place finish on Sunday. Hamlin’s No. 11 Fed Ex Toyota suffered a fiery end when his engine blew and ignited on lap 57. Hamlin fell two places to tenth in the point standings, 84 out of first.

    “Kyle Busch and I were both victimized by our respective old nemeses,” Hamlin said. “For Kyle, it was Brad Keselowski. For me, it was a Toyota engine. Kyle and I were both left ‘fuming.’”

    10. Marcos Ambrose: Ambrose nipped Brad Keselowski at the wire to win for the second year in a row at Watkins Glen. Ambrose and Keselowski dueled on a wild final half-lap on a track made treacherous by leaked oil from the car of Bobby Labonte.

    “There’s only one way to describe this,” Ambrose said, “and that’s ‘Finger Lake-ing good!’ I gave Keselowski the slip. This more than makes up for Sonoma two years ago when I stalled my engine and let a sure win get away. There was only one way to describe that: ‘Sonoma bitch!’

    “I think it’s safe to say that I’m Tasmania’s most famous citizen who’s not a cartoon character.”

  • Ambrose wins a wild one at The Glen

    Ambrose wins a wild one at The Glen

    [media-credit name=”Matt LaFlair” align=”alignright” width=”215″][/media-credit]

    In one of the wildest laps ever seen, Marcos Ambrose held off Brad Keselowski for the win in the Finger Lakes 355 at the Glen Sunday. When the white flag flew the leader was Kyle Busch who took the lead in dramatic fashion on a late restart following Tony Stewart’s spin coming off turn 11, slamming the entrance to pit road with 18 laps left.

    With the race winding down, there were numerous reports of the No. 47 car of Bobby Labonte dropping large amounts of oil across all sections of the 2.45 mile road course. A slue of drivers conveyed reports of an oil trail all the way from turn one to the final right -hand turn eleven, and controversy surrounded the finish of the Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen. The finish shaped up to be an old fashion dogfight between the three best cars all day in race-winner Marcos Ambrose (led twice for 8 laps), second place finisher Brad Kesolowski (led three times for 37 laps), and seventh place finisher Kyle Busch (led three times and a race-high 43 laps).

    “It was absolutely chaos at the end.” said Ambrose “Shit, it was crazy!” said race-winning crew chief, Todd Parrott.

    The oil down on the track at the conclusion of the race on Sunday was the main story. Said Brad Keselowski about the situation: “Well the 18, (whom was leading the race at the start of the final lap) was oil. Look like he had something wrong there and had the whole track slick as hell. You couldn’t drive it; it was undriveable…Then it came down to just running a whole lap against Marcos. I got in the oil and we’d slip up. He’d get by me and then he’d get in the oil and I’d get by him. Just really good, hard racing; some beating and banging. I think its the way racing should be.”

    It was no clean road to Gatorade Victory Lane for Marcos Ambrose, as he had his quarrels with the oil-soaked racing surface, “I was the first one to slip in the oil and it was just getting worse and worse. You could tell the car was staying out there because the oil was moving around the race track and you just take your chances. You’ve got to commit at that point in the race and it was great racing with Kyle and Brad. They’re the two best guys to race. It’s just awesome fun and that’s the way racing should be, and we got the No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion to Victory Lane.”

    The third driver involved with mixing of front-runners, Joe Gibbs racing’s Kyle Busch, declined to comment on the late-race mayhem that unfolded this afternoon.

    The win marks Ambrose’s second in 141 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts, his first victory of the season and six top 10. It also adds to Ambrose’s impressive resume of five straight top-3 finishes at The Glen. Brad Kesolowski added to his Watkins Glen resume, finishing second for the second year in a row.

    With Dale Earnhardt Jr’s troubles on Sunday afternoon, Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson took over the points lead, with Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Dale Jr., and Brad Keselowski making up the top-5.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Finger Lakes 355 at the Glen, Watkins Glen Int’l
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=22
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 5 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 47
    2 4 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 43
    3 3 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 41
    4 8 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 40
    5 17 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 0
    6 15 16 Greg Biffle Ford 38
    7 2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 39
    8 24 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 36
    9 13 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 35
    10 9 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 34
    11 6 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 33
    12 22 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 32
    13 20 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 31
    14 18 99 Carl Edwards Ford 31
    15 19 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 29
    16 30 13 Casey Mears Ford 28
    17 21 195 Scott Speed Ford 27
    18 29 43 Aric Almirola Ford 26
    19 7 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 25
    20 34 38 David Gilliland Ford 24
    21 12 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 23
    22 32 34 David Ragan Ford 22
    23 35 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 21
    24 42 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 20
    25 25 32 Boris Said Ford 19
    26 39 33 Stephen Leicht * Chevrolet 18
    27 26 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 17
    28 16 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 16
    29 36 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
    30 28 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 14
    31 27 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 13
    32 14 20 Joey Logano Toyota 12
    33 1 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 12
    34 23 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 10
    35 41 249 Jason Leffler Toyota 0
    36 31 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 8
    37 11 98 Michael McDowell Ford 7
    38 38 26 Josh Wise * Ford 6
    39 10 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 5
    40 37 10 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 4
    41 40 119 Chris Cook Toyota 3
    42 43 30 Patrick Long Toyota 2
    43 33 55 Brian Vickers Toyota 1