Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: joey logano

  • Harvick Takes the Victory at Charlotte but Matt Kenseth Delivers the Final Blow

    Harvick Takes the Victory at Charlotte but Matt Kenseth Delivers the Final Blow

  • Hot 20 – Just like NASCAR, Life Presents us with Wins, Losses, and Challenges to be Overcome

    Hot 20 – Just like NASCAR, Life Presents us with Wins, Losses, and Challenges to be Overcome

    Life is full of milestones, some good and some not. Some win championships, some more than one, while others struggle to overcome adversity. Their ability to do so, to win the fight, are just as inspirational, if not more so.

    Life has a way of letting you know what is important. News that Steve Byrnes is stepping away from the microphone to do battle once again with cancer is one such example. I expect to see him overcome this setback, to see him return to the studio and garage. There are too many songs in his song sheet that yet need to be sung, and I expect Byrnes to do so. I wish him well, and wellness, and a speedy return to us.

    Friday sees me in Eckville, Alberta to say goodbye and celebrate the life of Tim Tubbs. I do not believe Tim was a NASCAR fan. I mean, he cheered for the Calgary Flames, which means he was barely even a hockey fan. What he brought to the party was a love of life, family, and friends. Tim was short in stature, but a giant in personality and character. It was a joy to have been in his company.

    As his friends say goodbye, friends of another celebrate on Friday the 40th birthday of Dale Earnhardt Jr. It feels like we have seen him grow up, though he was already 25 when he entered his first full season in Cup back in 2000. We watched him become the most popular driver in the sport, to overcome tragedy, to shine, to endure a decade of struggle, only to return to the forefront this season. His title hopes might not shine bright today, but after this Saturday night in Charlotte or an upcoming Sunday in Talladega they just might again.

    Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski have the edge in wins, but as we up the victor’s bonus from 3 to 25 points, over the full season Jeff Gordon remains the man. Among our top dozen there is one outsider. Kyle Larson might have missed the Chase, but the rookie’s performance the past four events would have made him a real contender had he not. As for Denny Hamlin, even missing a couple of races earlier this year have not dashed his hopes. If wildcard teams can do well in the playoffs of other leagues, why not in NASCAR?

    BOLD = Active Chasers

    Hot 20

    1 – Jeff Gordon – 4 WINS – 1141 POINTS
    2 – Joey Logano – 5 – 1114
    3 – Brad Keselowski – 5 – 1077
    4 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 3 – 1050
    5 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 984
    6 – Kevin Harvick – 2 – 982
    7 – Carl Edwards – 2 – 945
    8 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 925
    9 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 912
    10 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 901
    11 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 859
    12 – Kasey Kahne – 1 – 856
    13 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 854
    14 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 843
    15 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 825
    16 – Paul Menard – 0 – 816
    17 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 815
    18 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 796
    19 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 764
    20 – Kurt Busch – 1 – 745

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Kansas

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Kansas

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Joey Logano: Logano took charge after a late restart and cruised to the win in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas.

    “I’ve already qualified for the next Chase round,” Logano said. “Some other driver lost tire pressure. Me? I just lost ‘pressure.’”

    2. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski suffered a blown front tire on lap 165 that sent him into the wall, a fate suffered by several Cup contenders. He finished 36th.

    “A lot of Chase drivers, including myself, are dreaming of that championship,” Keselowski said. “Who doesn’t dream of the trophy and the accompanying ring? Unfortunately, at Kansas, talk of fingers quickly turned to talk of ‘tows.’”

    3. Kyle Busch: Busch won his sixth Nationwide Series race of the year on Saturday and scored a third in the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday. He is third in the points standings, six out of first.

    “I’m thrilled with third,” Busch said. “Kansas is traditionally a track at which I’ve struggled. Usually, I’m the one that ‘hits a wall’ at Kansas, not the true legitimate Cup contenders.”

    4. Jeff Gordon: Gordon finished 14th on an otherwise disastrous day for Hendrick Motorsports, as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson finished 39th and 40th, respectively.

    “Sunday’s race was the Hollywood Casino 400,” Gordon said. “If you put Clint Bowyer in a casino at the roulette wheel, it’s a sure thing he’ll spin.”

    5. Carl Edwards: Edwards, the lone Roush Fenway Racing driver still in the Chase, finished fifth in the Hollywood Casino 400.

    “I’m third in the points standings,” Edwards said. “That’s my best position of the year. My best position of the next year will be in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.”

    6. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson was spun by Greg Biffle on lap 85, sending him hard into the inside retaining wall. Johnson finished 40th.

    “The points were reset after the Dover race,” Johnson said. “And Chad Knaus would agree with that fact 100%, because I can’t tell you how many times he’s sworn everybody is on a level playing ground.”

    7. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: While leading midway through the race, Earnhardt blew a right-front tire and slammed the wall. The damage sent him to the garage and he eventually finished 39th.

    “Let’s just hope the people of ‘E-Nation’ don’t become the people of ‘Elimi-Nation,’” Earnhardt said.

    8. Kevin Harvick: Harvick won his seventh pole of the year and led 61 laps on his way to a 12th-place finish at Kansas.

    “My seven poles have resulted in only one win,” Harvick said. “Obviously, I’m not that adept at closing the deal. If you ask Richard Childress, he’ll say I’m good at closing out a deal.”

    9. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished 13th at Kansas as Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch finished third. Kenseth is seventh in the Sprint Cup points standings, 17 out of first.

    “We’re headed to Talladega in two weeks,” Kenseth said. “And four drivers will be eliminated afterwards. I didn’t think it was possible, but the ‘Big One’ got even bigger.

    “I hear Michael Waltrip is still alive on ‘Dancing With The Stars.’ And he’s finally able to admit he has a partner.”

    10. Kyle Larson: Larson finished second at Kansas, and now has two seconds, a third, and a sixth in the last four races.

    “Yet I’m barely old enough to drink a ‘fifth,’” Larson said.

  • The Final Word – Kansas May Have Been a Hendrick Waterloo

    The Final Word – Kansas May Have Been a Hendrick Waterloo

    Well, boys, you are not in Kansas anymore. Thank God, at least for the gents from Hendrick. If not for a blown tire by Brad Keselowski to allow a Penske driver in on some of the fun, the bottom four would consist entirely of drivers working for Rick Hendrick. However, unlike Napoleon at Waterloo, Hendrick’s boys will have a shot at redemption.

    Jimmie Johnson started near the back of the pack after a qualifying miscue, and he would end there. After Greg Biffle sent Johnson for a long slide into the infield wall, the Lowe’s Chevrolet was looking pretty low for a 40th place result.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. was looking mighty fine setting the pace. Then his right front failed, causing the car to take a very unhealthy bounce off the fence to leave him 39th.

    While teammate Joey Logano had the strongest car at the end of the day to take the win, Keselowski appeared to be a contender. At least, for a while he did. Running fifth, his failed rubber introduced him to the fence to leave him 36th.

    That trio had horrid days that only a win at Charlotte or Talladega might be able to fix, unless those races bring big problems for some of their rivals. For Kasey Kahne, an earlier tire issue got him behind, causing him to try to do too much. That resulted in a little wall time, a 22nd place finish, and left him eight points in the weeds behind Jeff Gordon. Gordon stayed in the top dozen coming home 14th after some penalty time for a tire that rolled away in the pits. Still, if not for Keselowski’s misfortune, the entire Hendrick organization would be at the bottom. That was the big story at Kansas, but not quite the entire story.

    At the end, it became obvious no one was going to catch Logano. That win, his fifth of the season, means he will remain a Chase contender for the next five events. There were others who we thought had something, such as Earnhardt and Keselowski. Kevin Harvick once again was a major factor, at least until he thought he had a tire going down and came to the pits. It was not. His handling issues cost him a shot at the win, and left him sixth.

    That left Kyle Larson, who missed the Chase, but he has been one of the best since Richmond. At least he gave Logano somebody to look at in the rear view. With finishes of third, second, sixth, and now second at Kansas, the 22-year old has become part of the conversation, if only as a preview as to what we might expect in 2015.

    If someone new among the Chasers falters at Charlotte, Kahne could get back in it. As far as Keselowski, Earnhardt, and Johnson are concerned, their performances over the next couple of weeks can not be anything short of awesome. Maybe even winning awesome. That, or they must hope a few other drivers have a day in North Carolina just like the one they had out on the plains.

    Great to rate amongst the eight…

    1 – Joey Logano – 1 Win – 3048 Points
    2 – Kyle Busch – 0 – 3042
    3 – Carl Edwards – 0 – 3039
    4 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 3039
    5 – Denny Hamlin – 0 – 3037
    6 – Kevin Harvick – 0 – 3033
    7 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 3031
    8 – Jeff Gordon – 0 – 3031

    Four at the door…

    9 – Kasey Kahne – 0 Wins – 3023 Points
    10 – Brad Keselowski – 0 – 3009
    11 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 0 – 3006
    12 – Jimmie Johnson – 0 – 3004

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

    With Kansas City Royals Manager Ned Yost commanding the drivers to start their engines, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 14th annual Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

    Surprising: There were surprisingly two drivers after the checkered flag flew that thought that they had won the race.

    One driver, Joey Logano, did indeed end up in Victory Lane, securing his place in the Eliminator Round of the Chase competition, while Kyle Busch, who has so often had tremendously bad luck at Kansas, finished third in a run that felt to him more like a win.

    “It’s a dream come true,” Logano said after winning his fifth of the season and his first ever at Kansas Speedway. “It’s a dream season so far. We’ve just got to keep finishing it off.”

    “It is awesome to be back in victory lane again,” Logano continued. “We were able to capitalize and do what we needed to do. It was fun.”

    “I won today, I just didn’t get champagne and a trophy,” Kyle Busch said after posting only his third top-10 finish in 15 races at Kansas Speedway. ““To get through Kansas feels nice.”

    “I set my mind to it that there is no reason why we can’t run good here. There is absolutely no reason and other guys can do it so I can do it and my teammates can do it — there is no reason,” Busch continued. “We did that here today and it felt good.”

    Both drivers also had winning days in the point standings as Logano is just six points ahead of Busch after the Kansas race.

    Not Surprising: One of the first gestures after the race was over was from rookie Kyle Larson, demonstrating with about an inch between his index finger and thumb just how close he was yet again to winning.

    This was Larson’s 15th top-10 finish of the season and he was again the highest finishing rookie, in fact for the 21st time.

    “We were good all weekend long,” Larson said. “I thought me and Joey were dead even there at the end. It was hard for me to gain on him. We would go within a hundredth of each other it seemed like on every lap. I was able to close on him at one point, but just couldn’t do anything.”

    “Good finish. We’ll get some wins here soon hopefully before the end of the year, and I think once we get one, we should be up here more often as a winner.”

    Surprising: For at least one Chase contender, the Kansas race ended up being what has traditionally been defined as “a potentially lethal game of chance in which a “player” places a single round in a revolver, spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against their head, and pulls the trigger.”

    “It was just Russian roulette and it was our turn,” Brad Keselowski said after a tire issue sent him into the wall for a 36th place finish. “We blew the right front tire. I am not sure why. We didn’t have an aggressive setup or anything, we just blew the tire.”

    “We didn’t do anything,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford continued. “Like I said, it was a game of Russian Roulette and it was our turn at the gun.”

    Not Surprising: After the euphoria of welcoming his first born son into the world prior to the race, it was not surprising that Clint Bowyer was extremely upset with finishing 18th at a track that he considers part of his racing history.

    “We just struggled all day,” Bowyer said. “Got damage early on and our pink lemonade 5-hour ENERGY Toyota was never the same. Hate it at my home track.”

    Surprising: For once in a very long time, Richard Childress Racing had a better day at the track than Hendrick Motorsports, with the former having all three of its drivers in the top ten, while the latter had major issues of some sort for every one of its four drivers.

    Ryan Newman, driver of the RCR No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet finished sixth, Austin Dillon in his RCR No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet finishing eighth, and Paul Menard, in the RCR No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet finished ninth.

    “Just a good run for the Caterpillar Chevrolet, it was nice to lead some laps,” Newman said. “First time in a long time we have done that.”

    “That is good. That is a motivation for our company.”

    “We fought hard all day,” Menard said. “We didn’t quite have the speed our teammates did. We made some really good adjustments to get the car balanced out good. I’m pretty happy with a top 10 after struggling most of the race. We hit on a couple of things throughout the race that got us better.”

    Jeff Gordon was the highest finishing Hendrick Motorsports car, with a 14th place run. Kasey Kahne finished 22nd; Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson finished 39th and 40th respectively.

    “It was a handful,” Jeff Gordon said. “We were having a pretty solid day with the Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet until the No. 1 car (Jamie McMurray) got loose and got into our left rear.”

    “We had a little damage but we just lost all that track position,” Gordon continued. “It is so hard to get it back at this place.”

    “A lot of people had trouble today. So today was a real survival day. We did that. It just felt like we could have finished a lot better than that. We had a good race car. We actually really had a great race car.”

    Not Surprising: Pleased but not satisfied was how Brian Vickers felt after almost wrecking all day, throwing the kitchen sink at his race car, and finishing tenth in his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota.

    “I think we wrecked 15 times and didn’t hit anything,” Vickers said. “We didn’t get much practice yesterday — we had a couple shock issues that kind of messed us up for the two practices. Then we finally got that figured out on the last run of practice. Basically, today’s race was our practice.”

    “It just took us until the end of the race to kind of get it figured out,” Vickers continued. “There were a few runs there where we were horrible and trying to learn and trying things that didn’t work and did work. Then that last run the guys said, ‘Screw it,’ and threw the kitchen sink at it with a couple changes where we were trying to learn something for the future and it was just awesome.”

    “Considering everything we had to overcome this weekend I would say we’re pleased, but not satisfied.”

    Surprising: In a race with so many blown tires, it was a bit surprising that Carl Edwards’ two tire call actually worked out for him. The driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford finished fifth, keeping his hopes alive in the Chase race.

    “That was an awesome finish for us,” Edwards said. “I appreciate everyone coming out here and supporting this 99 team, it means the world. We did not run very well all day but that was awesome at the end, a lot of fun.”

    “We put it on the top and ran around and it was a lot of fun,” Edwards continued. “You keep saying we are going to fall out of this and we will keep doing what we are doing. I am so proud of my guys, they did great on pit road. Everyone on the Fastenal crew did a great job and Jimmy Fennig made the right calls and we came home with a top-five, so it was a good day.”

    Not Surprising: After another top-10 finish, there was no doubt that Denny Hamlin was in a smooth mood after his seventh place run.

    “I’m proud of my team — no mistakes on pit road, just nice smooth day,” Hamlin said. “I saw those guys having a lot of issues. We don’t have a lot of the speed that those guys have, so maybe if we can get them out this round, then maybe there’s a fighting chance we’ll get to the end of this thing.”

    “This is a good run for us and this is obviously the type of runs that we need to keep moving on. We’ll take sevenths all the way out.”

    Surprising: This team just might have finally turned the corner after a struggle and back luck filled season to date. Martin Truex Jr. scored his best finish of the season with a fourth place run in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet.

    Since the Chase began, Truex has an average finish of 9.25 and had the second best result at Kansas of all of the non-Chase drivers.

    “A lot of effort and a lot of patience have gone into our resurgence,” said Truex. “Everything seems to be clicking much better right now and I look forward to taking advantage of what we have learned and trying to get a win.”

    “As I said last week, we’re also getting ready for 2015 and right now we’re seeing the fruits of our labor.”

    Not Surprising: He may not have advanced in the Chase but AJ Allmendinger was celebrating what he perceived as a stand-out weekend at Kansas.

    “This is the best weekend we have had in a long time for sure,” the driver of the No. 47 Clorox Chevrolet said after finishing 11th. “Happy with the car throughout the whole race, we are just lacking a little bit of overall speed.”

    “It was a good car, by far the best we have been,” Dinger continued. “That is the best 1.5-mile car I’ve had in over a year. Hopefully, we learned for the next race at Charlotte.”

  • Joey Logano Wins Again In The Chase

    Joey Logano Wins Again In The Chase

  • Hot 20 – Change Can be a Good Thing, as Long as we are Sure it Is

    Hot 20 – Change Can be a Good Thing, as Long as we are Sure it Is

    Change where change is necessary is a good thing. NASCAR wanted us to keep watching, so out went the system that determined a champion based on season long performance. Winning is big, but it was not big enough, so in came the automatic Chase bye to race winners who at least put in the time to challenge Danica Patrick in the standings. One bad race and one’s Chase ambitions came to an end, but now a win keeps one in.

    Change to create unpredictability has proven to be good. A driver got hot and drove off with the Chase, but that was addressed by dividing the Chase into four segments and a fresh slate of points for the survivors. Going into the final at Homestead, four will have an equal chance of taking the prize. It could come right down to a race to the line to determine things. Excitement, drama, unpredictability.

    Next season, more change and another attempt to create unpredictability. A car drives off into the sunset and the list of potential contenders for that event dwindle down, barring some unfortunate event. Reduce horsepower, make the cars more difficult to drive, and allow for more passing is one way to address the predictability factor. If I can watch a race and have two or four or more challenging for the win, all the better. If every track can produce the uncertainty of a Talladega without the carnage, who could possibility argue against such change?

    Quality racing deserves quality announcing. The broadcasters are there to enhance the action, to make us yearn to be there ourselves, but far too often they fail to even keep us in front of the tube. With 43 cars ramping it up to over 180 miles per hour, there is no such thing as a boring race, just boring, unskilled, uninspiring announcers. Hopefully this is another change that has been addressed for next season.

    Yes, change can be good. It can come in the form of new blood challenging and winning a championship, such as Brad Keselowski. A driver coming of age, like Joey Logano. A driver giving notice of what might be expected in the future, as Kyle Larson is doing. Change that sees what is old become new again, like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at or near the front.

    Still, it is good to recognize what we already have that is good, like Jimmie Johnson striving to match the title accomplishments of Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Our Hot 20, with our own twist of awarding 25 bonus points to race winners, showcases those stars who have shone most brightly this season.

    I like the win and you are in format, but I am not totally sold on having 31 non-contenders on the track at Kansas this weekend at the same time as the dozen who are vying for a championship. If only we could figure out a way to have a real playoff, maybe one that is reserved for only the top 20 to be a part of, that might be one more change to consider. I will leave it to you to ponder the merits of that.

    BOLD = Currently in the Chase

    HOT 20

    1 – Jeff Gordon – 4 Wins – 1110 Points
    2 – Brad Keselowski – 5 – 1068
    3 – Joey Logano – 4 – 1044
    4 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 3 – 1044
    5 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 980
    6 – Kevin Harvick – 2 – 949
    7 – Carl Edwards – 2 – 906
    8 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 894
    9 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 873
    10 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 859
    11 – Kasey Kahne – 1 – 833
    12 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 825
    13 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 817
    14 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 817
    15 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 805
    16 – Paul Menard – 0 – 781
    17 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 779
    18 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 759
    19 – Kurt Busch – 1 – 743
    20 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 730

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover AAA 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover AAA 400

    With advancement into the Contender Round for the NASCAR championship on the line, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 45th annual AAA 400 at Dover international Speedway.

    Surprising: After experiencing a tire valve stem issue early in the race, one driver surprisingly seemed to have turned his attention to the upcoming holidays instead.

    “The inner valve stem got knocked out just like the first race here, except this time it was on the left-front,” the driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet said after finishing 13th from the pole. “A lug nut got in between the wheel and the brake rotor and knocked the valve stem out.”

    “So unfortunate, but probably our own fault for not finding a solution for it the first race,” Harvick continued. “Just handing out early Christmas presents to people for winning races that we should be winning.”

    “It’s just unbelievable that it can happen.”

    Not Surprising: As has played out for much for the season to date, the Monster Mile was also two-team dominated. Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon won the race, while his usually strong at Dover teammate Jimmie Johnson finished third.

    Team Penske also had a great day at Dover, with Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano finished second and fourth respectively.

    “I knew we could compete with the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) car,” Jeff Gordon said in Victory Lane. “The No. 2 was really good on short runs, but we could run him down. Of course he made us work for it there at the end.”

    “Certainly wish we were in Victory Lane, but good solid third-place run,” Hendrick teammate Johnson said. “We had a solid car.”

    “All I could think about was how I wanted to win all three races,” Brad Keselowski said after his runner-up finish. “Three more races and we’ve got to keep our head on straight t and push forward these next three like we have these last three.”

    “It was a hard-fought day, which is pretty normal for here at Dover,” Logano said of his fourth place finish. We got something good out of it and now we’ll start the next round and try to move on to the next one.”

    “We’ve got to focus on what we do to go fast and not what other people are doing or who our competition is,” Logano said about the Team Penske vs. Hendrick battle. “There are 11 other guys right now who are our main competition, so we’ve got to look at them all just like we did going into this round. We look at every one as a contender, no pun intended, and we’ll be able to focus on what we’ve been doing with our race cars and go from there.”

    Surprising: It was surprising to see just how disappointed so many drivers were who actually advanced to the next round of competition after the race at the Monster Mile.

    “It was off a little bit,” Matt Kenseth said, after taking the checkered flag in fifth as the highest finishing Toyota. “I couldn’t do very good on restarts and that really hurt us bad. I’d lose so many spots over the restart and just too hard to get them back.”

    “There were times when the car was better than where we finished and other times when it was worse.”

    “We did what we had to do today with our Interstate Batteries Camry, but I’m not sure what the problem was on the last couple funs of the race,” Kyle Busch said after finishing tenth. “We were tight all day, but it just got worse at the end.”

    “We didn’t run good obviously,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said after finishing 17th. “We struggled with our car all day long. We never had a moment during the race where the car was very good and competitive.”

    Not Surprising: Although he did not make it into the Chase race, this rookie driver has big plans for his participation during the remainder of the competition rounds.

    “It was a really good finish for us,” Kyle Larson said after taking the checkered flag in the sixth spot. “Hopefully I can be the guy that wins Kansas and Charlotte so all the Chase guys can be nervous going into Talladega.”

    Surprising: While everyone else who made it to the Contender Round of the Chase had Talladega on their minds, one driver surprisingly indicated that he could not wait to get to the superspeedway.

    “This is built for us,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford said. “We’ve got to capitalize on it and go run well at Kansas and Charlotte.”

    “We know we can win Talladega, so I look forward to that race,” Edwards continued. “That’s the first time I’ve ever looked forward to Talladega in the Chase, but I’m looking forward to it.”

    Not Surprising: At a track that he claims as one of his own close to home, it was not surprising that Martin Truex Jr. had a good run, finishing seventh after starting 26th. Truex scored the second best finish among non-Chase drivers and this was also his second best finish of the season.

    “Dover has always been a special place for me,” Truex said. “I don’t know what it is about this track – maybe it’s just home field advantage for me because it seems like the longer the race goes here the better we get.”

    “Just like last week (New Hampshire) I wish the race was longer. I never thought I would say that.”

    Surprising: While many, including Mr. Hendrick have stated that they are witnessing the rebirth of race winner Jeff Gordon as he drives for his fifth championship, another driver felt surprisingly renewed after squeaking into the next round of competition.

    “I feel great,” Denny Hamlin said after finishing 12th in his No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota. “We’ve got another life.”

    “This is going to be a great comeback story if we can keep going,” Hamlin continued. “This is a new life.”

    Not Surprising: There was no fairy tale ending for the two small Cinderella teams battling for their place in the Chase, as both Aric Almirola and AJ Allmendinger were eliminated.

    “It just didn’t work out for us,” Aric Almirola said after his 28th place finish. “I hate it. We picked a bad day to run the way we did and we can’t blame anybody but ourselves. I’m sure we’ll be able to look past this another day, but right now it’s pretty disappointing.”

    “It was an awful day,” Allmendinger said after finishing 23rd. “We didn’t give up. We just missed it all weekend.”

    “It’s disappointing to miss it by two points, but we didn’t deserve to be in it with the run that we had,” Dinger continued. “We have to look at it – I’m not going to take a moral victory out of it to miss it by two points, it’s disappointing, but we know we are making steps in the right direction.”

    “We have seven races to go. I will be disappointed tonight, but be ready to go tomorrow morning.”

    Surprising: One driver was surprisingly gracious in defeat, just missing the next round in competition.

    “I felt like we were in good position to advance, but you just can’t expect to advance by running 15th,” Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 HAAS Automation Chevrolet said. “You have to be more competitive. We gave it a good run, you know?”

    “We put this team together pretty late,” Busch continued. “Gene Haas believed in me to come in here and do this and thanks to Haas Automation and Chevrolet and great associate sponsors like Mobil 1 and State Water Heaters and Monster Energy.”

    “We don’t get to advance to the championship, but we can still run for pride and run for wins.”

    Not Surprising: Perhaps with a small nod to fellow racer Michael Waltrip’s stint on Dancing With the Stars, Kasey Kahne, who just squeaked into the next round of competition, told his pit crew that they would have to step it up after some struggles during the Dover race.

    “Well, these guys work hard,” Kahne said. “And we’ve struggled all season with that. But they work hard and I know they’ll keep working hard.”

    “I just told them if you guys want to go further, it’s time to step-up,” Kahne continued. “It’s time to put our best stuff out there. I know they want to. They’ll work hard this week.”

    “I’m going to work hard and we’re going to be prepared when we get to Kansas and hopefully we can keep moving on.”

     

  • The Final Word – Kahne Provides Some Drama at Dover

    The Final Word – Kahne Provides Some Drama at Dover

    Thank God for Kasey Kahne. With no Kahne, the broadcast of the Dover race would have been about as exciting as watching a Soap Box Derby contest in Saskatchewan, or a downhill ski event in Saskatchewan, or an outdoor performance of the Sound of Music…in Saskatchewan. The hills might be alive, but they are nowhere to be found. Sort of like waiting for drama at Dover, except for the performance of Kasey Kahne. He came in six points in the Chase. It almost proved to be not enough.

    When Kasey’s crew left him with a loose wheel after a pit stop, he needed to come in. In doing so, he went two laps down. When he needed a green lap stop later, he went down four. He just did not stay there. Pit strategy and cautions fell at the right time, his car was just that good, and in the end Kahne finished Dover in 20th. Not great, but it was enough, by two points, to continue in the Chase.

    Aric Almirola was buried in 41st after Chicago, and 28th in Delaware kept him buried. A.J. Allmendinger was six to the good on Saturday, but Dover is a track he historically does not do well at. History won, as he finished 23rd, and it was Kahne who advanced.

    I had thought Greg Biffle might be the man. He was, but the car was not. Usually good on this track, he was 21st when he needed a top fifteen. Kurt Busch was 18th, but after the disaster at Loudon only a top ten would have saved him. As for Denny Hamlin, he was six points out of it coming in, but a 12th place finish cured his ills and all is forgiven up to and including Talladega.

    Now, the top dozen are even, 3000 points for everyone in a 12 driver tie. Jimmie Johnson has 14 Top Tens, along with a couple of wins, in sixteen tries at Kansas. That bodes well for him. Jeff Gordon, who won at Dover has three on the plains, so he should do well. Other Chasers with strong Kansas resumes include Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, and Kevin Harvick. Oh, Kyle Larson seems to like the place, too. I am starting to think the kid is on a scouting mission for next year.

    Not everyone likes Kansas, though after Dover I can not imagine it being a worse televised experience than that. Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. do not exactly burn up this venue. Same goes for Ryan Newman. However, there are two gents who have a tough time just cracking the top twenty there. It could be an interesting day for Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.

    In case you missed it, Kyle Busch won another Nationwide race last weekend. I went to the bathroom last weekend, and so did you. Look at that, an entire paragraph totally unnewsworthy.

    There is no question that the stats that spit out after Kansas should be interesting. We have great story lines, strong characters, but sadly I believe the NASCAR movie just does not measure up to the book.

    Advancing…
    1 – Brad Keselowski – 1 Win – 2140 Points – *
    2 – Joey Logano – 1 – 2136 – *
    3 – Jeff Gordon – 1 – 2117 – *
    4 – Kevin Harvick – 0 – 2123 – 46 Points In
    5 – Jimmie Johnson – 0 – 2121 – 44
    6 – Kyle Busch – 0 – 2111 – 34
    7 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 0 – 2104 – 27
    8 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 2097 – 20
    9 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 2091 – 14
    10 – Carl Edwards – 0 – 2091 – 14
    11 – Denny Hamlin – 0 – 2081 – 4
    12 – Kasey Kahne – 0 – 2079 – 2

    Eliminated…
    13 – A.J. Allmendinger – 0 – 2077 – 2 Points Out
    14 – Kurt Busch – 0 – 2073 – -6
    15 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 2072 – -7
    16 – Aric Almirola – 0 – 2061 – 18

  • Kyle Busch Scores a Nationwide Fiver at the Monster Mile

    Kyle Busch Scores a Nationwide Fiver at the Monster Mile

    Kyle Busch behind the wheel of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, scored his fifth Nationwide season win to take the 29th Annual Dover 200 at the Monster Mile. And with that fiver, he also broke a tie with Joey Logano to become the all-time win leader at Dover.

    “Our day was really good,” Busch said. “We were a little skeptical of it yesterday but the guys did a good job of making adjustments for today.”

    “From the start of the green flag, we had a good race,” Busch continued. “I was biding my time early and we missed that first wreck. We were able to pit, get out front and set sail from there.”

    “It was nice to put together a good run and hopefully carry that into tomorrow.”

    Joey Logano, who led laps early in the race, finished second in his No. 22 Hertz Ford. This was his ninth top-10 finish at Dover and his eighth top-10 finish for the season.

    “The first half of the race went perfect and we were able to go out there and lead a lot of laps and be very, very fast,” Logano said. “But as the race went, we put four tires on and lost the lead. Our car was really tight from there on out. I’m not really sure what happened but we will try to figure it out.”

    “We just stayed tight there the last run,” Logano continued. “Overall, it’s second but we come here and expect to win. We began the race well but we lost the handle.”

    Chase Elliott, in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, finished third and also was the highest finishing rookie. Elliott did, however have his share of adversity, getting into a wreck early and suffering some damage that hindered his progress forward.

    “I’m proud and frustrated at the same time,” Elliott said. “We had a super-fast car from the get-go.”

    “We were just biding our time that first run,” Elliott continued. “I made a mistake following those guys way too closely and that was completely my fault. I drove ourselves into a wreck and then we couldn’t get back up to the front.”

    “We had a really good car from the drop of the green and the guys did a fantastic job getting it taped back up in a way that the fender wasn’t going to fly apart on us.”

    “We tried to battle as hard as we could but it just wasn’t enough.”

    Chris Buescher, driving the No. 60 Roush Performance Parts Ford, finished fourth as the second highest finishing rookie.

    “That was a lot of fun,” Buescher said. “We were really good on pit road and nice and consistent. Every week you have to get better and our consistency has been there. This is our best finish since Mid-Ohio.”

    Elliott Sadler, behind the wheel of the No. 11 SportClips Toyota, rounded out the top five, a position that he had not been in for quite some time.

    “It’s been too long for this race team,” Sadler said. “We made a lot of adjustments today. Top five at Dover is the best we’ve ran here.”

    Kyle Larson overcame two penalties, one for leaving the pit box with equipment and the other for speeding, came back to finish sixth in his No. 42 Cartwheel by Target Chevrolet.

    Another driver that had a world of trouble was Brendan Gaughan. The driver of the No. 62 South Point Chevrolet had a rear suspension issue, sending him to the garage and putting him nine laps down to finish 28th.

    With his third place finish, Chase Elliott maintained his lead in the championship point standings, now 26 points ahead of teammate Regan Smith.

    The full Nationwide Series results for the Dover 200 are as follows:

    1. Kyle Busch
    2. Joey Logano
    3. Chase Elliott
    4. Chris Buescher
    5. Elliott Sadler
    6. Kyle Larson
    7. Brian Scott
    8. Regan Smith
    9. Trevor Bayne
    10. Ty Dillon
    11. Cale Conley
    12. Justin Boston
    13. Aric Almirola
    14. Ryan Sieg
    15. James Buescher
    16. Landon Cassill
    17. Dakoda Armstrong
    18. Jeremy Clements
    19. Alex Bowman
    20. Jeffrey Earnhardt
    21. Dylan Kwasniewski
    22. JJ Yeley
    23. Blake Koch
    24. Ryan Reed
    25. Timmy Hill
    26. Jeff Green
    27. Joey Gase
    28. Brendan Gaughan
    29. Mike Bliss
    30. Matt DiBenedetto
    31. Kevin Lepage
    32. Carl Long
    33. Kevin Swindell
    34. Tanner Berryhill
    35. Morgan Shepherd
    36. Harrison Rhodes
    37. Derrike Cope
    38. Jamie Dick
    39. Mike Harmon
    40. Ryan Ellis