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  • The Performance of Joe Gibbs Racing Early On

    The Performance of Joe Gibbs Racing Early On

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — When you look at the performance of Joe Gibbs Racing, compared to the last year or two, it’s not hard to understand why one would see a problem.

    The Huntersville, North Carolina racing stable is the deepest into a season without a win from any driver since 2007 when Denny Hamlin broke through with a win at Loudon. Two of their drivers, Matt Kenseth and Daniel Suarez, are outside the top-10 in points as well. All four drivers combined have no more than three top-10 finishes (Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth with three and Hamlin and Daniel Suarez with two) and only Busch and Kenseth have a top-five on the season. Busch has led the second-most laps of any driver this season with 413, but the only other Gibbs driver to lead a lap is Hamlin with 28.

    Busch admitted that the organization hasn’t been strong from the start.

    “I would have to say that obviously, we’re not as strong this year out of the gate, I think last year’s win total was a lot more than this year. I feel as though we’re competitive and we’re close, but we’re not there,” he said.

    Compare their performance to Martin Truex Jr. of JGR affiliate Furniture Row Racing.

    Truex not only has a win and has led almost as many laps as Busch but he has amassed stage wins to rack up the playoff points that come with winning the stages.

    “There’s things we’re seeing other teams doing that we haven’t necessarily ventured off into yet and some of those things, whether they’re better for you or worse for you, it may depend on what the wind tunnel says or what the K & C numbers say and things like that. We’re working on all those things though,” Busch said.

    But the Gibbs drivers go to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend where they have a combined 10 wins amongst them. Two of the four, Busch and Kenseth, occupied the top-five spots in the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice for the Food City 500 and all but Suarez placed in the top-10 in practice.

    Busch also noted that it’s too early for concern and you should ask the question deeper into the season.

    “I don’t think there’s any reason for cause for concern yet, but ask me that question again in about 10 weeks,” he added.

  • Texas Motor Speedway – Did You Know?

    Texas Motor Speedway – Did You Know?

    This weekend the Monster Energy NASCAR Truck Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. With his victory at Martinsville, Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski became the first driver to grab multiple wins this season. But did you know that Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, the two most successful active teams in NASCAR, are winless after six races?

    Texas may be the perfect track for these teams to rebound. HMS driver Jimmie Johnson has the best overall driver rating (107.1) at the 1.5-mile track but so far this year his best finish was ninth place at Phoenix. However, with a track-record six wins, history may be on his side.

    Or maybe Chase Elliott will break through and capture his first win at Texas. He had two top-fives in his 2016 rookie season and is currently in second place in the standings, only four points behind leader, Kyle Larson.

    JGR’s Kyle Busch is also hungry for a win especially after last week’s race at Martinsville where he led a race-high 274 laps only to see victory elude him. He has scored two checkered flags at Texas and is the defending race winner with 11 top fives, 12 top 10s and one pole at Texas.

    But the bigger story may be the newly repaved track surface that was completed during the offseason. Did you know that the entire track was repaved and an extensive drainage system was added on the frontstretch and backstretch? Turns 1 and 2 were also reconfigured with the banking reduced from 24 to 20 degrees and the racing surface widened from 60 to 80 feet through Turns 1 and 2.

    Some of the drivers have expressed concerns about the unpredictability of heading to Texas to compete on the new surface, especially since there will be no opportunity for pre-race testing.

    “To head into Texas with no formal tire test, no official track mapping, let ’er rip, this is new territory for our sport,” Stewart-Hass Racing’s Kurt Busch said. “I think it shows how much we’re having to adapt on the fly. Is it a good thing? A bad thing? It doesn’t matter. It’s what it is, and it’s unique the way we’re headed in there to go 215 mph with no track time.”

    JGR driver Matt Kenseth, who has the second-best driver rating of 104.7 at Texas, calls it “unprecedented,” adding, “I don’t think that we’ve ever gone to a newly paved race track without some sort of a test day, a tire test, or something along those lines.”

    There’s no doubt that this weekend will likely test the skills of even the best driver but let’s look at some statistics to set the stage.

    Did you know that four active drivers have multiple wins at Texas Motor Speedway? Johnson leads the way with six followed by JGR’s Denny Hamlin, Kenseth and Kyle Busch with two each. Roush Fenway Racing leads the Cup Series in victories with nine while Hendrick Motorsports has eight and Joe Gibbs Racing has six.

    There have been 32 MENCS races at Texas, one each year from 1997-2004 and two per season since 2005, resulting in wins by 18 different drivers. But did you know that 78.1 percent (25 of 32) have been won from a top-10 starting position? And, to narrow it down more, starting in third place has produced more wins (six) than any other starting position.

    Don’t miss the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 Sunday, April 8 at 1:30 p.m. on FOX as the 2017 season continues at Texas Motor Speedway. While you’re waiting, check out the gallery below for a preview of the paint schemes we’ll see this weekend.

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

    Texas paint schemes

     

  • Edwards Stepping Away from Racing

    Edwards Stepping Away from Racing

    One big name driver is leaving the sport less than 50 days prior to the start of the new season.

    Carl Edwards officially announced that he was stepping away from NASCAR competition before the start of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, but wouldn’t say he was retiring.

    He came to the decision on walking away from racing for three personal reasons: his accomplishments in his career, desire to focus on outside interests and his health.

    “I’m personally satisfied with my career…you guys know I don’t race just for the trophies,” Edwards said. “This has always been a neat journey for me. I’ve been rewarded by the challenges.”

    He also spoke about the adrenaline rush of driving a race car for the first time.

    Edwards transitioned into talking about the season-long grind that is the 36-race NASCAR season. He talked about how he spends all day thinking about racing and how he’s done exactly that for 20 years.

    “I need to take that time right now and devote it to people and things that are important to me, things that I’m really passionate about,” he said.

    He then spoke of his health, saying he could stand there in good health and how it was “a testament” to NASCAR, the tracks, the car builders, his fellow competitors and the pioneer drivers who weren’t as lucky to stay as healthy.

    “Having said that though, it’s a risky sport. I’m aware of the risks. I don’t like how it feels to take the hits we take. I’m a sharp guy and I want to be a sharp guy in 30 years. Those risks are something I want to minimize.”

    He also added that when he said one of his reasons for leaving was health, that wasn’t implying he was in bad health.

    “I am healthy,” he said. “Everybody texted me yesterday — yeah, I’m great, and all the people close to me are healthy. I appreciate are those concerns, but that’s not an issue.”

    Edwards said the decision was entirely his.

    He was asked when he came to it.

    “So I had been thinking what I thought was a reasonable amount about how this would end,” Edwards said. “I always think about things going forward. And in my mind, I’d considered next year being my final year, but I hadn’t put really a lot of thought into it. And after Homestead, I had some time to sit, think and reflect about all of this, and for those three reasons that I gave you, I thought, man, it just — I can’t come up with a good reason why now isn’t a good time.

    “And so I presented that to Coach. I didn’t know what he would say, and like I said, he and the sponsors — I mean, everyone, accommodated me in a way I just didn’t expect, and that means a lot.”

    He spoke on the frustration of being so close to winning the championship last November at Homestead-Miami Speedway, only for a multi-car wreck with 10 laps to go taking him out stealing his shot at it. During banquet week, however, he said “I will appreciate the championship we win more because of it.” He was then asked what during that time caused him to change from wanting to fight for a title in 2017 to ready to walk away.

    “I don’t know who was interviewing me there, but I got to Champions Week and I had a lot on my mind, and I just kind of felt — it kind of took me off guard to start talking about it again,” he said. “I hadn’t talked about it with anyone. But yeah, I’m not going to say this whole thing was easy or clean or perfect. I mean, this isn’t the — there was no epiphany moment. That has been something I really thought a lot about, and it wasn’t easy. Pardon me if I went back and forth a little bit about it.”

    Edwards said earlier in the conference that if he wished to return to racing, Joe Gibbs would be the first person he would call. Later, he was asked what he would do “if there was no room at the inn.”

    “Well, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about Toyota, it’s that Toyota makes sure that what they go do, they do well,” he added. “We look at what Martin was able to do at Furniture Row, Barney Visser and those guys. I don’t want to start down this path. That is not my plan. But I’d be open to anything that involved Coach Gibbs, Toyota, and the people that make this thing work right now.  I mean, this is a cool deal.”

    The press conference at the Joe Gibbs Racing shop in Huntersville, North Carolina came roughly 24 hours after news of his departure from the sport was broken by Tom Jensen of FoxSports.com.

    After the conclusion of his conference, Coach Joe Gibbs announced that reigning XFINITY Series champion Daniel Suarez will move up to Cup in 2017 to drive the No. 19 JGR Toyota.

    Edwards ends his career having driven a combined 750 career races in NASCAR three national touring series. The majority of those starts came in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. In 445 Cup starts, 28 wins, 124 top-fives, 220 top-10’s, 22 poles, 6136 laps led, a career finishing average of 13.6, 352 lead lap finishes, running at the finish in 414 starts and a best points finish of second (twice).

  • What Suarez’s Championship Win Means for NASCAR

    What Suarez’s Championship Win Means for NASCAR

    The NASCAR XFINITY Series season is over and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Daniel Suarez has been crowned the 2016 champion.

    Let that sink in a bit. Suarez is the XFINITY Series champion. Not Elliott Sadler or Erik Jones, both of whom had stellar seasons and were considered the odds-on favorites to emerge at the top of the Championship Four. It was Suarez who hoisted the series trophy on the frontstretch when the race was over.

    It’s a championship story that NASCAR needed. Try as they might, diversity in NASCAR pales to other popular motorsports even though they have the NASCAR Drive For Diversity campaign. Suarez, a graduate of the program, isn’t the first minority to win a race in a national touring division, but he is the first to score a championship. In NASCAR’s 60-plus year history, that should say something about ethnicity in the sport.

    It’s not for lack of trying, though. There have been many different races, creeds, religions, and genders to come through NASCAR over the years. Many have succeeded, and many have failed. XFINITY Series driver Darrell Wallace Jr., who is half black, has been successful behind the wheel in his brief NASCAR career, while Kyle Larson, who is half Japanese, has won in the Camping World Truck Series, XFINITY Series, and the Sprint Cup Series. But it hasn’t always been like that as former drivers, including Marc Davis and Paulie Harraka, have had their careers stall.

    So to see Suarez win a major NASCAR championship is a validating accomplishment in motorsports, something that shows the rest of the world that this is something that anyone can succeed in if they put forth the effort and earn the right breaks. To the uninformed, NASCAR has been stereotyped as an all-white, all-male sport. Once upon a time that was the case. But in this day and age, the sport has worked hard to be seen as progressive and evolving, and Saturday night’s Ford 300 was a huge payoff.

    There’s still naysayers; just take a look at Twitter and Facebook to see the amount of hate this championship win has garnered. But the good outweighs the bad as many people have taken to social media to send congratulations to the Monterrey, Mexico native. This was a popular championship win in many ways, not only because of Suarez’s quiet, humble nature but also because of what this means for the sport.

    Whenever a woman comes into the sport, or someone of a different race or nationality, much is made about it. That goes double if they’ve even had some degree of success. Wallace has won several times in the CWTS. Israeli native Alon Day has had success in the NASCAR Euro Series. Danica Patrick is the only woman to date to have won an IndyCar event.

    But if we keep on seeing more drivers from all over coming in and doing what Suarez did, then there will be a day when a driver stops being noticed for being different from the normal status quo and will instead be noted for their driving ability. When that day comes then NASCAR will finally be seen as the amazing sport it truly is.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Texas

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Texas

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Jimmie Johnson: With his place in the Chase finale set, Johnson cruised to an 11th place finish at Texas.

    “All I heard during race week was ‘Don’t mess with Texas,’” Johnson said. “Well, I was happy not to.”

    2. Carl Edwards: Edwards beat martin Truex, Jr. out of the pits on the race’s final stop and was declared the winner when rain end the AAA Texas 500. Edwards joins Jimmie Johnson as qualifiers for the Chase finale at Homestead.

    “I decided to forgo my celebratory backflip,” Edwards said, “with the hopes I’ll be able to do it at Homestead. That’s a ‘flip-flop’ worthy of election season.”

    3. Joey Logano: Logano led 178 of 293 laps at Texas and finished second.

    “We had to sit out a rain delay before the race,” Logano said. “A six-hour rain delay, to be exact. When there’s rain in the sky, and NASCAR fans have nothing to do but wait, you can be certain it was ‘pouring.’”

    4. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished ninth at Texas as Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Carl Edwards took the rain-shortened win.

    “Phoenix will be pressure-filled,” Hamlin said. “And pressure-packed. Nerves will be a factor. But I can tell you, every part of my body possesses the competitive spirit. Even my heart will be racing.”

    5. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth took seventh in the AAA Texas 500, and now sits one point behind Joey Logano among drivers who haven’t clinched a spot in the Chase For The Cup final round.

    “Congratulations to Carl Edwards,” Kenseth said. “One of the spoils of victory at Texas is a black cowboy hat. Take it from me, just because he’s wearing a black hat doesn’t make Carl a bad guy. Carl was a bad guy before he put on the hat.”

    6. Kyle Busch: Busch posted his 16th top-five finish with a fifth at Texas. Busch is tied with Joey Logano, one up on Matt Kenseth, and two ahead of Denny Hamlin.

    “Two spots for Homestead have been filled,” Busch said, “and two remain. Two plus two equals four. Let’s just hope that ‘4’ isn’t Kevin Harvick. Somehow, mysteriously, Harvick always seems to find a way to win at Phoenix. No one can ever catch him. In other words, he doesn’t ‘get caught.’”

    7. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished sixth at Texas and will likely need a win at Phoenix to advance.

    “I’m extremely worried that I won’t advance to have a chance to win the Sprint Cup championship,” Harvick said. “You could say I’m a ‘wreck.’ Some drivers, noting my history of avoiding elimination, would say I’m a ‘wreck waiting to happen.’”

    8. Kurt Busch: Busch finished 20th, one lap down, in the AAA Texas 500, and now needs a win at Phoenix to be eligible for the championship at the Chase finale at Homestead.

    “My back is against the wall,” Busch said. “But it’s a familiar situation. Usually, that happens when a rival driver I’ve pissed off jacks me up.”

    9. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished 14th in the rain-delayed and rain-shortened AAA Texas 500.

    “There’s been a lot of talk about concussions,” Keselowski said. “Actually, I think I’d like to have a concussion because there are a lot of recent memories I’d like to forget.”

    10. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished third at Texas, posting his eighth top five of the year.

    “Dale Earnhardt Jr. was pulled over for speeding while on his way to Texas Motor Speedway,” Truex said. “Let’s hope that this instance of Junior getting ‘clocked’ doesn’t cause a concussion.”

  • Carl Edwards Wins Rain-Shortened AAA Texas 500

    Carl Edwards Wins Rain-Shortened AAA Texas 500

    Carl Edwards took his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to Victory Lane in a rain-shortened AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, after the race’s start was delayed by an almost six-hour rain delay at the beginning of the race. With this win, Edwards becomes the second Chase driver to be added to the Championship Final Four at Homestead, following Jimmie Johnson’s Martinsville win a week ago.

    “This is huge. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet,” an ecstatic Edwards said after the race. “This is cool. This team has really worked hard all year and man, it’s just really cool. That’s all we said we needed was a shot and now we’re going to go to Homestead and we’re going to do what we have to do. This was a great test. We came here and knew what we had to do, we performed the way we needed to and I really believe we can do that at Homestead.”

    Joey Logano, who had the dominant car of the night, was credited with second-place. Logano, who is also in a must-win situation heading into Homestead, had the fastest car of the night after starting second. Logano led 178 laps on the night and appeared to be the car to beat. But after losing the lead to the 78 of Martin Truex Jr. due to pit strategy on Truex’s part, he never regained the lead.

    Logano was disappointed but is looking ahead to next week’s race at Phoenix.

    “The team did a very good job on executing when we needed to,” he said. Just, you know, didn’t have enough laps. It seemed like the momentum swung the other way about three or four laps to go before the caution came out when I started catching the 19 pretty rapidly. Unfortunately, it just started raining. That was the end of the race, so…

    “You know, it is what it is. We’re going to be close. There’s a lot of cars that are going to be close going into Phoenix. It’s going to be entertaining. It’s going to be probably the closest Phoenix race we’ve ever seen as far as points. It’s going to be a fun one, for sure.”

    Truex was credited with third and appeared to be Logano’s biggest challenger of the night, as he led 66 laps. Fourth-place went to Chase Elliott, who despite suffering from flu-like symptoms, managed to run an impressive race and was the top-finishing rookie. Fifth-place went to Kyle Busch, who had a strong run to the front after fading back due to hitting a piece of debris, which punched a hole in the front of his M&M’s Camry.

    Rounding out the top-10 was Kevin Harvick in sixth, Matt Kenseth in seventh, Kasey Kahne in eighth, Denny Hamlin in ninth, and Ryan Newman in 10th. Chase standings heading into Phoenix have the 48 of Johnson and the 19 of Edwards first and second, respectively, with Logano in third and Kyle Busch in fourth. Kenseth, Hamlin, Harvick, and Kurt Busch are in fifth through eighth place.

    Edwards took the lead on lap 258 following a strong pit stop during a caution on lap 257. He never relinquished the lead, and ultimately led 36 laps. This is his third win of 2016, and his 18th top-10 finish of 2016. This is also his fourth win at Texas, winning there in 2005 and also sweeping both 2008 races.

    The Sprint Cup Series heads to Phoenix International Raceway next Sunday, where they will round out the Final Four for Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The race will air at 3:30 p..m. ET, Sunday, November 13 on NBC.

  • Hamlin says his teammates were smart to run in the back at Talladega

    Hamlin says his teammates were smart to run in the back at Talladega

    MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Denny Hamlin responded to those who took issue with his teammate running in the back at Talladega the week by saying he “thought it was smart.”

    Speaking to the media prior to the first practice session at Martinsville Speedway yesterday, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was asked what he thought of his teammates running in the back of the field during last week’s Hellmann’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    “I thought it was smart,” Hamlin said. “From my standpoint I knew we had an uphill battle because we weren’t going to have any teammates all day, I knew that we weren’t going to have any teammates all day because we all knew what they were going to do before the race started. Just everyone else saw it when it actually happened. There’s no way, they would be the dumbest group in history if they had run in the middle of the pack and got wrecked at some point when they didn’t have to be. It’s about winning championships, it’s not about winning Talladega by any means.”

    Teammates Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth, who all entered Talladega well ahead of the danger of elimination, went the conservative route and ran at the tail end of the field the whole race to avoid getting collected in any major wrecks (The Big One) and advance on. Hamlin on the other hand, entering with a blown engine run at Charlotte and a mediocre run at Kansas, had to have a good run to advance into the Round of 8.

    The split strategy worked out for the best for the Huntersville, North Carolina based organization as all four drivers moved on into the Round of 8.

    Despite it working out and other drivers having done it to their advantage in the past, a number of fans took to Twitter and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio to express outrage, saying JGR “manipulated” the outcome of the race by not abiding by the 100 percent rule.

    Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice-president and chief racing development officer, said in his weekly appearance on “The Morning Drive” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that the strategy used by JGR didn’t violate the 100 percent rule.

    “I would say that they do not fall into that,” O’Donnell said. “The spirit of that (100 percent) rule is really to prevent somebody from intentionally allowing another teammate to do something that would not be really within the spirit of the rules of the race.

    “In this case, we look at the strategy decision that the team made, and they executed it. … In this case, that wouldn’t be something that we look at that violated that rule.”

    Hamlin also emphasized that the Gibbs organization had every right to do what they did by how they performed in the first two races in the Round of 12.

    “All those guys earned the right to do that by having a good first two races and I think next year with the races being switched around, you’ll see less of that because people won’t know where they stand,” he added. “I think it kind of fixes itself next year most likely, but there’s more chances of a big wreck there than any other race track so you have to play the odds there. There’s no way that those guys should have been up there helping me and then risk putting themselves in danger of making the Chase and instead of Gibbs having three cars in the Chase, they could have had two or maybe one if there had been helping me and we got in a wreck. Luckily it all worked out where we have all four and they played the strategy they had to play to get in and I did the strategy I had to do to get in. Nobody from any other team would have done anything different, that’s for sure and if they tell you different, that’s a lie.”

  • Four Gears: Kevin Harvick, John Hunter Nemechek, Winston Millon/No Bull 5 and Toyota

    Four Gears: Kevin Harvick, John Hunter Nemechek, Winston Millon/No Bull 5 and Toyota

    It’s time to cycle through the transmission for another edition of Four Gears.

    This week, our resident NASCAR journalists were asked if other drivers should be as up front as Kevin Harvick was about his pit crew to affect change. They also considered whether John Hunter Nemechek deserves all the flak he’s gotten for his last lap move at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and if he could’ve handled his last turn differently.  Another topic up for discussion was what programs like the old Winston Million and the No Bull 5 NASCAR could do to put emphasis on the crown jewel events and the odds of another Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota title victory at Homestead.

    FIRST GEAR: Kevin Harvick was blunt in his criticism of his pit crew at Darlington. Now there’s going to be a big change in the pit crew of the No. 4. In order to affect proper change, should more drivers be as up front and critical as Harvick was?

    Yes. Too much “toeing the line” in the sport, and to speak up and affect change on any level in NASCAR is a must. — Joseph Shelton

    It all depends on the situation. When it happens once, there’s no need to make a stink about it. After a couple of times, maybe it’s time to talk to the team in private. When it’s a constant thing, it needs to be addressed in public. Harvick has thrown away at least two wins this year because of terrible pit stops and didn’t get a major change until he made it public. — Michael Finley

    I would say yes, but I don’t think anyone could match Kevin Harvick’s bluntness from this past week. Sitting in the media center at Darlington Raceway, I had a front-row seat for the show or one question show. When he was asked if he would considering swapping pit crews with another one of his teammates, he got up and left.

    But in all seriousness, sometimes you need to chastise someone to get results. If this doesn’t serve as a wake-up call to his crew, then they need to be replaced. — Tucker White

    SECOND GEAR: John Hunter Nemechek was subjected to a ton of hate on social media following his MoSport win. Was it justified? Could he really help what happened in that final corner?

    Nemechek drove in over his head a bit, but he aggressively went for a win and got it. That’s what a driver is supposed to do, and considering NEMCO doesn’t have the financial cushion of JR Motorsports he’s fighting to keep the team competitive.

    As for the hate he was subjected to, it was ridiculous. It was a double-standard among peers and fans for sure. — Joseph Shelton

    When you are a young, hungry driver, you do anything to win. Nemechek didn’t just straight up dump Custer like he could have. And unlike a lot of kids coming up today, Nemechek knew when and where to be aggressive like that. It’s smarter when it’s for the win and dumber when it’s for 11th. — Michael Finley

    I’m not going to be hypocritical and say the hate wasn’t justified. I also took John Hunter Nemechek to task for his move on the final lap.

    But being just two years older than him, I also understand that he’s young and he’s going to make mistakes. I believe it was a heat of the moment decision that he’ll learn from and not be as over the line going for the win again. — Tucker White

    THIRD GEAR: With Martin Truex Jr.’s win Sunday, he now has two wins in 2016, both in two of the sport’s crown jewel events. What could NASCAR do to resurrect the Winston Million/No Bull 5 programs of the ’90s and 2000s?

    It’d be neat to have a similar program make its return, especially something like the No Bull 5, where a fan also won a cool million. Let’s see what the next series title sponsor has in mind. — Joseph Shelton

    A better title sponsor next season could be awesome. The No Bull was dumb to me (Although I did like the fan component of it) but the Winston Million was amazing. Just make the tracks Daytona, Charlotte, Indy, and Darlington and you’ve made important races even more so. — Michael Finley

    I’ve always wanted NASCAR to reboot the Winston Million and put more emphasis on the crown jewel races. Other than the Daytona 500, the other three crown jewel events are usually just another race.

    Other than a name change, just bring back the Winston Million as it was with the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600, the Brickyard 400 (although it’s hard to consider it a crown jewel event when only 30-50,000 people are in attendance at a track that sits over 200,000) and the Bojangles’ Southern 500. — Tucker White

    FOURTH GEAR: What are the odds of another JGR Toyota winning the championship at Homestead?

    92 percent. Stewart-Haas Racing has been in the picture, and Team Penske is still right on JGR’s bumper, but as successful as Toyota has been this year I could see a JGR championship again at Homestead. — Joseph Shelton

    50/50. Yeah, they have run great all season. But Brad Keselowski has been strong, Joey Logano has been tough. After Dover last season, you cannot count out Kevin Harvick at any time. And all three are higher in driver points right now than any one Gibbs driver. — Michael Finley

    According to Las Vegas, Kyle Busch is 5/1, Carl Edwards is 10/1, Denny Hamlin is 10/1 and Matt Kenseth is 12/1 (odds are from Vegas Insider).

    What odds I’d give JGR to win? I’d say they’re pretty good. But I’m not going to rule out Team Penske or Stewart-Haas Racing. — Tucker White

  • The View from my Recliner — Just before the Brickyard

    The View from my Recliner — Just before the Brickyard

    I am writing this in anticipation of missing the Brickyard 400 live because I will be returning home from a wedding. My DVR better not let me down.

    Some thoughts before the green is dropped tomorrow.

    The piece on NBCSN with Tony Stewart reading letters from Robin Miller, Greg Zippadelli, Eddie Jarvis and his dad should be a great piece to watch. If the preview of the story is just a touch of what you will see, it should be a great five minutes on the pre-race show.

    You would think by watching promos for the Brickyard that Jeff Gordon was the only person running at Indy. Smart move on NBCSN to use a Fox Sports commentator as your promo. It should be interesting to see how Gordon fares in the 88 car.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s concussion-like symptoms kept him out of the car at New Hampshire and will keep him out at Indy and Pocono; the future is still to be determined. I think the decision on Earnhardt’s part to skip races to get healthy is the right move. He has a life to live and if he isn’t 100 percent physically in a race car, going 200 mph can cause further issues as he moves forward in life, possibly hurt another driver and cost him more than a chance at a championship. Smart move Jr.

    Richard Childress said this week that he is getting closer to solidifying his driver line-up for next year. My prediction is that he brings the charter that belongs to Circle Sport-Levine Family racing back to RCR and puts Ty Dillon into a fourth RCR entry. I think Childress values what Ryan Newman brings to the team and will keep him in a car. The RCR ride for Paul Menard is the best ride that he and his family can buy and Austin Dillon is going nowhere.

    It is nice to see Roush Fenway Racing getting back to where they were during the days of when Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards ran for them. Jack Roush is a legend of the sport and you weren’t going to keep him and his team down forever. He went young with drivers and will continue to improve as his drivers grow with experience.

    The truck race at Eldora was the best race all season in all three NASCAR national touring series. Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Bobby Pierce put on a great show in the front of the field and throughout the race, you could see three and four wide at times trying to get a position. It was the most exciting race of the season and I am already looking forward to next year’s truck race.

    Five predictions going forward:

    1. Tony Stewart wins the Brickyard 400 to solidify his spot in the Chase and add to his final season.
    2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will not make the Chase and because of that, he might not run for an extended period of time.
    3. Ryan Blaney will make the Chase.
    4. William Byron will be announced as a Joe Gibbs Racing XFINITY Driver in 2017.
    5. Kevin Harvick’s pit crew will be outstanding going forward. Last week’s public tongue lashing will solidify the over the wall guys because they know their jobs are on the line.

    Enjoy the Brickyard and we’ll talk next time with the View from My Recliner.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: New Hampshire

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: New Hampshire

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished 15th at New Hampshire, as handling issues derailed his chances for a third consecutive win.

    “The No. 2 Miller Lite car wasn’t at its best,” Keselowski said. “That’s opposed to the previous two weeks when it was Lite years ahead of the field.”

    2. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished fourth in the New Hampshire 301 as Matt Kenseth won. Harvick leads the Sprint Cup points standings with a 14-point cushion over Brad Keselowski.

    “We had one of the fastest cars,” Harvick said, “but we blew it during pit stops. Unfortunately, that’s become too often an occurrence. It seems like every time I make a pit stop, it’s a drive-through penalty. But I don’t want to name names, mostly because I don’t even know any of their names.

    “As far as speed goes, the No. 4 Jimmy Johns car is ‘freaky fast.’ As far as speed in the pits goes, the No. 4 Jimmy Johns pit crew is ‘freaky last.’”

    3. Kurt Busch: Busch finished 22nd at New Hampshire, with a likely top-10 run soured by late contact that resulted in a rear tire rub.

    “It’s never a good thing when you radio your crew chief to say you’ve got tire rub,” Busch said. “That’s a story no one likes to tell. If I had to make it in book form, it would be a work of friction.’”

    4. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished 20th after an accident with Ryan Newman caused a spin and cost Edwards hard-earned track position.

    “Congratulations to Matt Kenseth,” Edwards said. “I think he’ll enjoy that giant lobster given to the winner. They certainly have one thing in common—they’ll both soon be in hot water.”

    5. Joey Logano: Logano finished third at New Hampshire, posting his eighth top five of the season. He is fifth in the points standings, 65 out of first.

    “Matt Kenseth ran the perfect race,” Logano said. “I think everyone would give him two thumbs up, except for NASCAR inspectors.”

    6. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth took the lead with 29 laps to go and maintained it through three subsequent restarts to win the New Hampshire 301, his second win of the year.

    “Unfortunately,” Kenseth said, “my car failed a post-race laser inspection. On the flip side, 39 other cars passed the post-race loser inspection.

    “But I’m not worried about failing inspection. When all is said and done, I’ll still have the win. So everything will be ‘fine.’”

    7. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex suffered a broken shifter midway through the race on Sunday and finished 16th, and is now seventh in the points standings, 96 out of first.

    “My shifter handle fell off,” Truex said, “and the car got stuck in fourth gear. And then I had to make an unscheduled pit stop, which pretty much ruined my chances of winning. Broken shifters suck. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. So, if you think my shift don’t stink, you are incorrect.”

    8. Kyle Busch: Busch finished eighth in the New Hampshire 301, recording his 12th top-10 result of the year. He is sixth in the points standings, 80 out of first.

    “Joe Gibbs racing drivers have won eight races this season,” Busch said, “and passed post-race inspections in all but one of those instances. That’s the definition of success, not failure. I’m not sure what part of Matt Kenseth’s car failed inspection, but it was detected via the use of a laser. I think lasers are great for NASCAR. That’s just one more thing, in addition to fans, that can get ‘lit’ at a NASCAR race.”

    9. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished 12th at New Hampshire, the top finisher among Hendrick Motorsports cars.

    “Dale Earnhardt Jr. missed the race due to concussion-like symptoms,” Johnson said. “So Sunday was a day of mourning for the people of Junior Nation. Of course, Junior fans needed some clarification on exactly what a ‘day of mourning’ is. To most of them, ‘day of mourning describes’ a restaurant that serves all-day breakfast.”

    10. Tony Stewart: Stewart chased Matt Kenseth to the finish at New Hampshire and score the runner-up finish, his second consecutive top five.

    “There was no catching Kenseth,” Stewart said. “He drove a near flawless race. I say ‘nearly’ flawless because there’s one thing he could have done to make it a totally flawless race, and that’s wreck Joey Logano.”