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  • Contenders Taken Out in Late Race Wreck

    Contenders Taken Out in Late Race Wreck

    Several strong cars were taken out of contention in a wreck in the closing stages of last night’s race.

    A lap after the penultimate restart, Denny Hamlin threaded the needle going between Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson entering turn 3. This pulled the air off of the No. 2 Ford and sent Keselowski spinning. Likewise, doing so also sent Hamlin spinning. He got into the side of Larson and put him into the wall. Hamlin continued spinning and rear-ended the wall. Blinded by the enveloping smoke, Joey Logano t-boned the drivers side of the No. 11 Toyota.

    “I had a huge run off of turn two and I was going to go low on the on 2 (Keselowski), but he went to block, so I went through the middle and I didn’t let off into turn three,” Hamlin said on what caused the accident. “I went through the middle of them and I either got touched from the 2 or I got loose underneath the 42 (Larson). I’m not sure really until I get a good look at it honestly.

    “I was going in there three-wide. I wasn’t letting off and the 42 was just too close up there. It wasn’t his fault by any means, but we were both trying to drive in there to clear each other and I just got loose and I mean that’s crazy there was no contact, but both me and 2 (Brad Keselowski) got loose there. Shame – I just screwed us on pit road twice. Our car was a fast car today. Just didn’t show it. We were just in the back because I sped twice. I’ve got to get better on pit lane to give us a chance and then I was just going for it there because I knew our car had some speed. I was on two tires and the guys in front of me were on none or two. I was just going for it. I’ve got the win and that’s part of this format is going for it and that’s what we did.”

    “I think everybody got a glimpse of just how important and how impactful the air is to the race cars,” Keselowski said speaking on the wreck. “We just all went down in the corner and the air spun us all out just with the positioning we had. It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is.”

    “It just looked like the 2 got loose and then the 11 got loose,” Logano said. “I was hoping the 11 would come down the hill and when you’re in the smoke you can’t see anything. I hit the wall, so I knew where that was and I just kept riding and riding and hoping the 11 would come down the hill because I couldn’t see and he stayed up there and I got him right in the door. It’s unfortunate. It’s just racing. Things happen sometimes.”

    Keselowski brought his car home to a 10th-place finish while Larson finished 35th, Hamlin finished 37th and Logano finished 38th.

    Keselowski leaves sixth in points, Logano leaves seventh, Hamlin leaves 13th and Larson leaves 21st.

  • Kyle Busch Bowls Winning Strike at Kansas

    Kyle Busch Bowls Winning Strike at Kansas

    While the yellow brick road didn’t lead to the Emerald City tonight, it did lead Kyle Busch to victory lane in America’s heartland.

    The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led 69 laps and was up front when it counted to take the checkered flag in the GoBowling.com 400 at Kansas Speedway. It’s his 37th career victory in the Sprint Cup Series, his third of the season and his first at Kansas.

    “This is pretty big – man, there’s been a lot of rough days here at Kansas, that’s for sure,” Busch said. “A lot of good ones too, but I just can’t say enough about this team and everyone on this M&M’s Camry, this thing was awesome tonight. At the beginning and middle part of the race we weren’t great, but Adam Stevens (crew chief) and the guys, they just kept working on it. The 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) was probably the fastest car, but we kept ourselves in the game. It was pretty impressive.”

    Kevin Harvick finished second in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet while Kurt Busch rounded out the podium in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet.

    “For whatever reason I got tight, I hit a big piece of debris down there about six or seven laps into the run,” Harvick said of those final laps chasing down Kyle Busch. “From that point on I just got really tight…We overhauled this thing this morning to try to get it close. They did a great job.”

    “We battled hard,” Busch said of his night. “I was trying to find all the different lines on the track to find speed. We did a lot of things good and to win you’ve got to be great. We are right there, we are knocking on the door, but thanks to Haas Automation, Monster Energy, Chevrolet, everybody at Stewart-Haas it’s a great second and third place finish. We always want to win and we have been doing really good with this Tony Gibson (crew chief) led team.”

    Matt Kenseth led three laps on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 20 JGR Toyota.

    “It’s our best finish of the year so that’s the bright side,” Kenseth said. “I’m sort of happy for Kyle (Busch) and Adam (Stevens, 18 crew chief), but seriously happy for everyone at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing). Martin (Truex Jr.) had them covered and I don’t know what happened to him in the pits or whatever. We were about a second to fourth-place car most of the day. I thought we were as good as the 18 (Busch) if we could have had the position, but it was tough to stick on that bottom. I tried something different there to try to lay back and get the pass, but once they were single file I couldn’t go get them. We were just a little off, but these guys had great pit stops and great adjustments and we seem to be getting closer.”

    Ryan Blaney was the highest finishing rookie as he rounded out the top-five in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford.

    “We started off the race really, really good, and I thought that’s when we were the strongest – when the sun was up and the track was a little bit hotter,” Blaney said. “We were really strong and then as the night came and it cooled off a little bit, we lost a little bit of speed. I felt like everyone kind of gained grip and got better and we lost a little bit. It took us a while to try to get that back. We got it closer towards the end there, but it was still a decent finish for us. We got some spots with that little accident, but we were up there all day. It was just a good day for us, a good night and something to build off of for sure.”

    Austin Dillon finished sixth in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Ryan Newman finished seventh in his No. 31 RCR Chevrolet followed by AJ Allmendinger who finished eighth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Chase Elliott finished ninth in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-10 in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

    “It was a long night,” Keselowski said. “We had so much long run speed, but weren’t where we wanted to be on the short runs, so we would kind of lose track position and then gain it back at the end. We kind of clawed our way up into that fifth to 10th range and stalled out there a couple times. With about 30 to go we made a great strategy call that got us up to fourth with fresh tires, and it looked like we were gonna have a shot to give Kyle a run for the race win and kind of got caught up there in turn three battling for second, so that kind of put us in the back. We drove back up to 10th in the last 20 laps from 17th or whatever, so it was up and down.”

    Martin Truex Jr., who led race-high of 172 laps, had a loose wheel on his final stop and finished a disappointing 14th.

    “I couldn’t believe it,” Truex said on the loose wheel. “Went around (turns) one and two and I was like, ‘Wheels loose.’ I kept telling myself that maybe it’s not me, maybe it’s just shaking because it has tape on it or something stupid. It was loose and I knew it right away. Frustrating, but that’s how it goes.”

    The race lasted two hours, 49 minutes and 20 seconds at an average speed of 141.909 mph. There were 16 lead changes among 10 different drivers and six cautions for 30 laps.

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  • William Byron wins in Trucks at Kansas

    William Byron wins in Trucks at Kansas

    William Byron was up front when it mattered in the end to score his maiden victory in NASCAR in America’s heartland.

    The driver of the No. 9 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota took advantage of Ben Rhodes getting into race leader Johnny Sauter going into turn 3 on the final lap to win the Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway. It’s the first career victory in the Camping World Truck Series for the 18 year old out of Charlotte, North Carolina.

    Matt Crafton led a race high of 57 laps on his way to a runner-up finish in his No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota. Daniel Hemric rounds out the podium in his No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford. Christopher Bell led five laps on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 4 KBM Toyota. Clint Bowyer rounded out the top-five in his No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet.

    Ryan Truex finished sixth in his No. 81 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota. Cole Custer finished seventh in his No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Timothy Peters led one lap on his way to an eighth-place finish in his No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota. Ben Kennedy finished ninth in his No. 33 GMSR Chevrolet. Spencer Gallagher rounded out the top-10 in his No. 23 GMSR Chevrolet.

    The race lasted two hours and 21 minutes at an average speed of 108.511 mph. There were 19 lead changes among nine different drivers and 11 cautions for 47 laps.

    Peters leaves Kansas with an eight-point lead over Hemric in the point standings.

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  • Martin Truex Jr. on the Pole for Kansas

    Martin Truex Jr. on the Pole for Kansas

    Martin Truex Jr. will lead the field to the green flag for tomorrow’s race in America’s heartland.

    The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota scored the pole for the GoBowling.com 400 at Kansas Speedway with a time of 28.284 and a speed of 190.921 mph. It’s his eighth career pole and first of 2016.

    “Thought it was good,” Truex said of his qualifying run. “Feels good to be getting another pole – it’s been a long time. I think I’ve got a XFINITY Series pole here at Kansas back in about ’05, so it’s been a little while here at Kansas and it’s been a few years in the Cup Series altogether. We’ve been really close with our Furniture Row team the past few years. We’ve qualified second a handful of times and been just right there at it. We’ve led the first round. We’ve led the second round. We just haven’t quite figured out how to lead that third round, so today just really proud of everyone at Furniture Row Racing. Bass Pro Shops/ TRACKER Boats Toyota was really good all day long and just can’t say enough about my team and what we have going on right now. Our Toyotas are really fast. Everybody at TRD (Toyota Racing Development) is giving us great engines and just doing all the things it takes to have fast race cars and that’s what it takes to get poles. Excited to be here. Excited for all of our guys and Barney (Visser, team owner) and just everyone in general for all they do and hopefully we’ll be able to finish the deal here tomorrow night.”

    Matt Kenseth will start second in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 28.337 and a speed of 190.564 mph. Denny Hamlin will start third in his No. 11 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 28.361 and a speed of 190.402 mph. Kurt Busch will start fourth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 28.401 and a speed of 190.134 mph.

    “I told them to write down the driver needs to get (Turns) 3 and 4 done better so that our lap times can improve,” Busch said. “I felt like I overdrove Turn 3 and I could feel the engine bog down a little bit off of 4 just because I killed the speed, I killed the momentum of the car. I didn’t quite carry it smoothly through 3 and 4. One and 2 was alright, but all-in-all the Haas Automation/Monster Energy Chevy, it feels good to be the top Chevy.”

    Brad Keselowski will round out the top-five starters in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford after posting a time of 28.435 and a speed of 189.907 mph.

    Kyle Busch will start sixth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Ryan Blaney will start seventh in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Ryan Newman will start eighth in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

    “Well, it was a decent run,” Newman said. “I’m okay with starting eighth. Track position is going to be important during the race. We’ve had a solid day and we have a good Grainger Chevy. I’m happy for my buddy, (Martin Truex, Jr.) even though he’s not the right brand, congrats to him.”

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start ninth in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

    “That’s our goal in qualifying every week now, short track or mile-and-a-half, is to qualify in the top 10,” Stenhouse said. “We’re a little bit better at it at the mile-and-a-half for sure, but we had a little mishap there in the first round. I had to go out twice or I think we could have been a little higher in that final round. We got a little extra run on the tires there that first round, so that was a bummer.

    “We did make some changes right before we switched to qualifying trim that I think made a good direction for our car and it actually ran faster and was a little bit better for us on the long run, so I’m excited to look at that and try to put all the pieces together and make the right adjustments for tomorrow night,” Stenhouse added.

    Trevor Bayne will round out the top-10 starters in his No. 6 RFR Ford.

    Paul Menard will start 11th in his No. 27 RCR Chevrolet. Carl Edwards will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.

    Forty cars were entered, so no driver was sent home.

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  • NASCAR Racing Schedule for Kansas

    NASCAR Racing Schedule for Kansas

    The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series travel to Kansas Speedway this weekend while the XFINITY Series is off. Please check below for the complete schedule of events.

    All times are Eastern.

    Thursday, May 5:

    On Track:
    2:30-3:25 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Practice
    4:30-5:25 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Practice
    6:30-7:55 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Final Practice

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    1:15 p.m.: Rico Abreu
    1:30 p.m.: Clint Bowyer
    1:45 p.m.: John Hunter Nemechek

    Friday, May, 6:

    On Track:
    11:30 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Practice – FS1
    1:30-2:50 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice – FS1
    4:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying – FS1
    6:45 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FS1
    8:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Toyota Tundra 250 (167 laps, 250.5 miles) – FS1

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    11 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    10:15 a.m.: AJ Allmendinger
    10:30 a.m.: Jamie McMurray
    12:30 p.m.: Carl Edwards
    3:30 p.m.: Brad Keselowski
    8 p.m.: NSCS Post-Qualifying (time approx)
    11 p.m.: NCWTS Post-Race (time approx)

    Saturday, May 7:

    On Track:
    7:30 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series GoBowling 400 (267 laps, 400.5 miles) – FS1

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    11 p.m.: NSCS Post-Race (time approx)

    Additional Info:
    Complete NASCAR TV Schedule

    Special NASCAR Programming:
    “NASCAR: The Rise of American Speed” – Sunday, May 8 at 9 p.m. ET on CMT – Dale Earnhardt Jr. Executive Producer

    *Click here for a sneak peek of the three-part special event

  • Is NASCAR Sending Mixed Signals?

    Is NASCAR Sending Mixed Signals?

    As the Chase for the Championship heats up, sparks continue to fly on the race track with aggressive driving and questionable tactics.

    Events began to escalate two weeks ago at Kansas Speedway Joey Logano bumped race leader Matt Kenseth spinning him out of the way to claim the win, an incident that directly contributed to Kenseth’s elimination from the Chase. Logano deemed it “good, hard racing,” and insisted that he didn’t intentionally wreck Kenseth.

    Kenseth had a different point of view and said that he was “really disappointed,” in Logano’s actions on the track, adding “That’s not the way I race people no matter what the stakes are.”

    NASCAR chairman Brian France discussed the contact between the two drivers on SiriusXM Radio’s NASCAR channel the following Monday.

    “That’s quintessential NASCAR,” France said.  He went on to explain his position stating, “Late in the race, I think that’s a great example of everybody doing probably exactly what they should be doing. You had Matt Kenseth trying to block and hold his position. He had a faster car behind him, and when you block, you risk that somebody is going to be in that position and there was contact.”

    France went on to say that Logano “made a very smart decision in what he did because not only did he try to win the race, which he said he wanted to do and obviously he did, but the idea to, late in that race, to have an opportunity to put one of the top teams on the outside looking into the next round in Matt Kenseth, (who) has run so well, that’s a smart thing to do.”

    “You have to give them a lot of credit,” Franc continued. “This is the strategy that we all thought was going to be different when you have this kind of format. But it does reward aggressive racing at the end of the day.”

    The message seems clear; aggressive driving is not only expected but encouraged in the Chase format. It also begs the question of where is the line drawn?

    Last week at Talladega Superspeedway, controversy arose again when it appeared that Kevin Harvick intentionally caused a wreck at the end of the race to freeze the field and lock in his points, ensuring his inclusion into the next round of the Chase.

    Harvick denied the allegations and after a review of the race, NASCAR stated that they had “completed the review of any other potential penalties from the track (Talladega) this past weekend and there will be no further actions.”

    NASCAR’s decision and Harvick’s assertion of innocence were met with skepticism by many after viewing video footage from his in-car camera that show him turn his steering wheel to the right as he clips driver Trevor Bayne’s car, causing the accident. Harvick, who had a failing engine, maintains that he did not see Bayne and was attempting to get out of the way.

    Again, the message seems clear as drivers do what they must, to compete for wins and the championship with no repercussions from NASCAR. But Kenseth may have crossed the line Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

    Kenseth was competitive at the short track Sunday, but his day turned sour after he sustained significant damage to his car after contact with Brad Keselowski on Lap 434. Twenty laps later, Logano’s day effectively ended when Kenseth hit Logano, turning him into the wall. Logano ended the race in 37th place and is now in eighth place in the Chase, 28 points behind the leader. NASCAR parked Kenseth for the remainder of the race.

    While he didn’t admit to purposely wrecking Logano, Kenseth’s comments imply that he felt it was important for him to respond to the events of the last few races.

    “You never like to be in these situations,” Kenseth said. “They really stink, to be honest with you, but sometimes you get put in these spots, and you’ve got to try to keep respect in the garage area. You can’t get yourself ran over.

    “You can’t get in the Chase next year and get ran over for the same reason. Like I said, hate the way it ended. Wish we were out there celebrating or having a shot for the win like we did before we got wrecked, so a disappointing day.”

    Did Logano intend to wreck Kenseth at Kansas or simply move him out of the way? Logano is the only one who can answer that question. Harvick’s actions at Talladega may seem questionable, but it is difficult to ascertain his motives with any certainty. If you consider the first two instances, should Kenseth also get the benefit of the doubt for the contact with Logano at Martinsville?

    After listening to executive vice president Steve O’Donnell’s comments after the race, it is likely that Kenseth may face penalties from NASCAR.

    “I think in the case with Matt,“ O’Donnell said, “we were certainly disappointed with what took place tonight on the racetrack. We had a conversation with both Matt, crew chief, Joe Gibbs. Like we always do, there’s still a lot to digest from what happened tonight. We’ll do that. We’ll have some additional conversations and probably come out with something, if there is anything to discuss, on Tuesday”.

    Whether you believe the wreck was intentional or not, there is no definitive proof to back up either claim or to establish intent. But Kenseth, who is no longer in contention for the Chase, may have committed the one mistake that NASCAR won’t ignore; taking out someone contending for the championship. If NASCAR penalizes Kenseth, are they establishing two sets of rules – one for Chasers and one for non-Chasers? Or were Kenseth’s actions simply too blatant to ignore?

    Given the atmosphere of aggressiveness that NASCAR has fostered, Kenseth may have felt he had no choice but to respond in kind.

  • The Chairman Calls Logano’s Move ‘Smart’

    The Chairman Calls Logano’s Move ‘Smart’

    In case you missed it, the chairman of NASCAR called Logano’s move at Kansas “quintessential NASCAR.”

    Monday, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France joined Dave Moody on Sirius XM Speedway to comment on the late race incident between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano.

    “That’s quintessential NASCAR,” France said. Late in the race, I think that’s a great example of everybody doing probably exactly what they should be doing. You had Matt Kenseth trying to block and hold his position. He had a faster car behind him, and when you block, you risk that somebody is going to be in that position … and there was contact.”

    While Logano didn’t need the win to rest easy at Talladega, his win at Kansas Speedway prevented any of his 11 competitors from not having to sweat it at the Alabama roulette wheel. It especially puts Kenseth in a bind with him now a 40/1 pick to win the title (Vegas Insider) and realistically must win Sunday to move onto the Eliminator Round.

    France also touched on that saying Logano “made a very smart decision in what he did because not only did he try to win the race, which he said he wanted to do and obviously he did, but the idea to late in that race to have an opportunity to put one of the top teams on the outside looking into the next round in Matt Kenseth, (who) has run so well, that’s a smart thing to do.”

    You read that right. The chairman of NASCAR just said that Logano made a brilliant move in putting Kenseth in this dilemma.

    “You have to give them a lot of credit,” France added. “This is the strategy that we all thought was going to be different when you have this kind of format. But it does reward aggressive racing at the end of the day.”

    Kenseth probably won’t see eye to eye with France on this being “quintessential NASCAR” as he said that Logano “just chose to spin me out because he wanted to be in the top groove instead of going left and trying to race me for the win the way a man should do it really.”

    During his visit to the channel, France also addressed the fans who’ve said that they can’t watch races on cable because either FOX Sports 1 and/or NBCSN is not offered by their provider or it’s out of their financial means. He said there’s nothing NASCAR can directly do, but he said that the best thing for those fans to do is to call, write, email etc. their respective cable/satellite providers and request that they put FS1 and/or NBCSN on a more affordable tier.

  • Logano versus Kenseth – What They Said After the Race

    Logano versus Kenseth – What They Said After the Race

    In racing there is one objective – to win. Does that mean that winning by any means is justified? I suppose that depends on your point of view.

    In today’s event at Kansas Speedway, Logano captured the victory giving him back-to-back wins in the Contender Round of the Chase, but Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 was not without controversy

    From Logano’s seat, both drivers raced each other aggressively. Kenseth had taken over the lead after a restart on Lap 248 and had already blocked Logano on the frontstretch as the pair approached lapped traffic. When it happened again as they were entering Turn 1 Logano gave Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota a bump that sent him spinning, resulting in a 14th place finish for Kenseth while Logano claimed the checkered flag.

    “It was good, hard racing,” Logano said. “We were racing each other really hard, and I got in the fence twice on the straightaways. He raced me hard, and I raced him hard back. That’s the way I race. If I get raced like that, I’ll race the same way.

    “That’s how I’ve always been,” he continued, “and it will always be that way. I really couldn’t be more proud of this team. To be sitting in such a great position going into Talladega makes us feel really, really good.”

    In the media center following the race, Logano was asked if he intentionally turned Kenseth. His answer was an emphatic, “No.”

    “No, no, I think we both went for the same piece of real estate,” Logano explained. “We both went into that corner hard. I wanted to get position and get to the inside of him, and then he went for the same piece of real estate, as well. I wanted that second lane to be able to stay on the inside of him. You know, I ‘m thinking he may get trapped up behind one of those lap cars in front of him because they were running the top before, and they all hopped to the bottom, but you don’t know that until you’re in the corner, right?”

    Kenseth, after finishing 42nd at Charlotte last week, desperately needed the win to ensure his advancement to the Eliminator Round and had a completely different opinion of Logano’s move.

    “It was really cut and dry,” Kenseth said. “He (Logano) picked my rear tires off the ground and wrecked me, so there’s no debate about that one. He was a little bit tighter on that short run than I was, and I couldn’t get away from him.

    “All day we had him pretty good. I still thought I was going to be able to stay in front of him and saw those lapped cars coming and tried getting a couple runs off the top there and I was plenty clear, got up in front of him and he just decided to take us out.”

    Kenseth is currently 35 points out of the final transfer position (eighth place) and will probably need a victory at Talladega to advance to the next round.

    Kenseth obviously upset after the race, said he has no plans to discuss the incident with Logano.

    “I don’t think there’s anything to talk about,” he commented. “Anybody can see what happened. I know what happened. He knows what happened. Everybody watching knows what happened so I don’t really think there’s a lot to talk about.”

    Kenseth went on to say that he did not feel Logano’s actions were warranted by anything he did.

    “He just plain wrecked me. He cries on his radio a lot I guess about blocking or moving around, but I mean man, you’re leading the race you can pick whatever lane you want. It’s not like he was alongside of me. To wreck somebody for being in a lane you that you wanted to be in seems kind of risky and not very smart but it’s a decision he made.

    Kenseth said he was not surprised by Logano’s actions, but that he was “really disappointed,” saying, “I’ve probably been one of his biggest supporters. It was an awkward thing, obviously, taking his ride, and I was excited for him when he started winning at Penske and when he got that ride and even found him today and congratulated him about racing against each other for a championship.”

    He ended by stating, “That’s not the way I race people no matter what the stakes are.”

    Is there a wrong way or a right way to win or is it as simple as the ends justify the means? You decide.

     

  • Kansas in the Rear-View

    Kansas in the Rear-View

    It’s time to put a nice little bow on everything that went down in America’s heartland.

    Under clear blue Kansas skies, Brad Keselowski led the field to the green flag at 2:34 p.m. Drama hit the No. 4 car of Kevin Harvick early when he cued up his radio to say that there was a vibration in the car and, “it’s going to blow up.” The vibration turned out to be a loose right-rear wheel weight. It certainly didn’t stop Harvick from driving to the lead on lap 29. The first caution of the race flew the next lap after J.J. Yeley suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 2. He would go on to finish 42nd.

    The race restarted on lap 40. Joey Logano drove past Harvick on the outside in Turn 4 to take the lead on lap 51. Exiting Turn 2, Tony Stewart got loose, spun out and brought out the second caution of the race on lap 64. Carl Edwards exited pit road with the lead after taking just right-side tires.

    Three laps after the lap 70 restart, Matt Kenseth took the lead from his teammate. Kyle Larson spun out exiting Turn 2 and brought out the third caution on lap 109. Kenseth and Logano swapped the lead on pit road with the former being pitted behind the start/finish line, but Kenseth left with it.

    After the restart on lap 115, the race went green for 40 laps before Austin Dillon slammed the wall in Turn 1 and brought out the fourth caution.

    Ten laps later, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made an unscheduled stop for a loose wheel and would only rally to a 21st-place finish.

    Speaking on the incident, he said that he felt, “pretty sure we had an issue. We had a lot of wheels shaking, tires shaking because of the wheels spinning inside the tire. Every set we had today except for one didn’t shake. Every set shook, but it’s a completely different kind of thing when the wheel is not tight. We don’t know which one it was. We came in so quick it didn’t beat up the wheel enough to give us a real indication of which one it was. I knew we needed to come down pit road. We had a fast car, just never really had good track position and got behind. We didn’t come here to run second or top five; we don’t need that we need a win. We had to try to go out there and win and we just got behind.”

    Hometown favorite Clint Bowyer got loose in turn 2, overcorrected and slammed the wall in turn 2. Talking about the incident, he said that he was “”following Gordon there and I started to catch him back. I went in and he kind of took my line away and I tried to pull down and as soon as my headlight got out and got some air in it, man it turned me.”

    After the restart with 89 laps to go, Kenseth and Joey Logano duked it out swapping the lead four times over the ensuing 18 laps. Championship and race favorite Kevin Harvick (9/2 race and 7/2 title according to Vegas Insider) was handed a stop and go penalty for removing equipment from his pit box. The cause of this was the fuel can getting stuck in the fuel receptor of the No. 4 car and it slid out of the box.

    “That’s the first time that’s happened for us,” said Rodney Childers about the mishap. “You don’t want that kind of thing to happen, but I felt like we had a third or fourth–place car and our fuel mileage wasn’t very good and we had to pit a couple laps before those guys were, and then we were going to have to stretch it on the next one. Basically, you had to tell the gasman to try to stay with the car as long as you can and get absolutely as many drops of fuel in there as you can, and it just got hung up as we were leaving. Even what he did following the car out, it still wasn’t full, so that’s part of it.”

    Martin Truex Jr. was hit with a pass-through penalty for an uncontrolled tire. During the stop, the right-rear tire that came off the car rolled out of the pit box.

    Kenseth had a scary moment with 24 laps to go when Justin Allgaier slammed the wall in Turn 2 right in front of him. Jimmie Johnson made an unusual call to stay out when the rest of the lead-lap cars pitted. This prevented drivers like Harvick from getting back on the lead lap. I think Johnson was banking on a few other cars staying out so he’d have a cushion to hold off the guys on fresh tires.

    To the surprise of nobody, Johnson was no match for Kenseth on used tires and lost the lead with 20 laps to go. Logano was hot on his trail in the closing laps. Kenseth blocked his advance on the backstretch with six to go. Coming to the tri-oval with five laps remaining, Kenseth ran into lapped traffic and had to move up the track to block Logano a second time. Logano scraped the wall going into Turn 1, got to the bumper of Kenseth and sent him spinning.

    There’s an old saying in the racing world, “one block is fine, but any more and you’re at risk of being sent for a ride.” Hell, it was something the late Dale Earnhardt would’ve done. After the race, Logano said that the move was, “good hard racing. He raced me hard, so I raced him hard back.”

    This led to an anti-climactic green-white-checker finish as Logano drove on to score his 13th career victory.

    “It was a fun race,” said Logano after winning back to back races for the first time in his career. “What a great Shell/Pennzoil Ford. I couldn’t be prouder of what this team is doing now. That was good, hard racing. We race each other really hard. I feel like I got fenced twice down the straightaways. He raced me hard so I raced him hard back. It’s just hard racing. That’s the way I race. If I get raced like that I’ll race the same way. I just couldn’t be more proud of this team. To be sitting in such a good position going into Talladega makes us feel real, real good. The fact that we’re the only team that can relax right now is gonna pay big dividends once we get to Martinsville. Everyone is a little bit nervous. Our goal is to still win the race. Even though we’ve moved on to the next round, our goal is still to win that race and try to get some guys nervous for next week. That’s the kind of strategy of this Chase.”

    “Not a bad run for us,” said Ryan Blaney after his seventh-place finish. “We started off pretty good We were running up front toward the start of the day and we kind of lost the track position a little bit towards the middle of that race. Our car kind of went away; some of that was traffic and the other part was kind of handling. But (the team) did a good job of getting us back where we needed to be, at the end of the race, where it mattered.”

    After posting his 14th top-10 finish in his 20th and final start at Kansas Speedway, Jeff Gordon said that his car was, “absolutely horrible. We were absolutely as far off as you could be. I don’t know. The thing qualified amazing and ever since we put it in race trim it just is not comfortable, hasn’t felt good, and we’ve struggled with it. That was one of the hardest top-10s I’ve ever had to go through. I’m proud of the team. They fought hard and that’s why we’re where we’re at. But gosh, that was ugly.”

    After finishing 14th, Kenseth said that Logano “was a little bit tighter on that short run than I was and I couldn’t get away from him. All day we had him pretty good. I still thought I was going to be able to stay in front of him. I saw those lapped cars coming and tried getting a couple of runs off the top there and I was plenty clear, got up in front of him and he just decided to take us out.”

    Kenseth added that he (Logano) “pulled up in front of him and he lifted my tires off the ground and wrecked me. I won’t talk to Joey. I don’t have anything to talk to him about really. I mean, you make decisions every minute behind the wheel. To me, strategically, that doesn’t seem like such a great decision for him. But that’s how they wanted to win. I’m one of the only guys that hasn’t been into it yet with Joey. I always raced him with a ton of respect. I actually have been one of his biggest fans. I’m not anymore.”

    Stats:

    There were 21 lead changes among nine different drivers, as well as seven caution flag periods for 39 laps. The race lasted two hours, 58 minutes and 22 seconds at an average speed of 135.732 mph. Kenseth led the most laps at 153. He also ran the fastest lap of the race on lap 116 at 29.037 and 185.967 mph and was the Mobil 1 Driver of the Race with a driver rating of 134.1. Matt DiBenedetto was the Sunoco Rookie of the Race.

    Well, I think that about sums up the events at Kansas. Next up for the Sprint Cup Series is the 2.66 mile Alabama roulette wheel that is Talladega.

    Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. In the Arctic, the sun sometimes appears to be square.

     

     

  • Thanks to Logano, Nobody is Safe at Talladega

    Thanks to Logano, Nobody is Safe at Talladega

    Joey Logano took the other Talladega golden ticket after scoring the victory in America’s heartland.

    The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford scored the victory after sending Matt Kenseth for a spin with five laps to go.

    “It’s just good hard racing,” he said of his racing with Kenseth. “He raced me hard, so I raced him hard back. The fact that we’re the only team that can relax now is going to pay big dividends going into Martinsville. To make a lot of these guys nervous going into Talladega is part of the strategy.”

    After leading 153 laps, Matt Kenseth finished a disappointing 14th in his No. 20 JGR Toyota.

    “It’s hard to drive a car with the rear tires off the ground. I was moving around the best I could, Joey (Logano) was a lot tighter, a lot faster on the short run, but we were so much better on the long run. I could still kind of get up to the top and get a run and get around him. We caught those two lapped cars, ‘Crazy’ (spotter) told me I was clear and I was, I pulled up in front of him and he just lifted my tires off the ground and he wrecked us,” Kenseth said.

    Denny Hamlin drove his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Toyota to a runner-up finish. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne finished third and fourth and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five.

    Kurt Busch finished sixth,  followed by Ryan Blaney in seventh, Carl Edwards in eighth, Brad Keselowski was ninth and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-10.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the Chase drivers with a 21st-place finish in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

    There were 21 lead changes among nine different drivers with seven cautions for 39 laps. The race lasted for two hours, 58 minutes and 22 seconds at an average speed of 135.732 mph.

    Logano leaves Kansas with a 13-point lead over Denny Hamlin. Kurt Busch leaves in third 18-points back and Carl Edwards is fourth 19 points back. Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski leave tied for fifth, 24 points back. Martin Truex Jr. leaves in eighth, 25-points back. Kyle Busch is ninth trailing the Contender Round cutoff by six-points. Ryan Newman leaves in 10th trailing the cutoff by eight points. Dale Earnhardt Jr. leaves Kansas in 11th trailing the cutoff by 31-points with Kenseth in 12th trailing the cutoff by 35 points.

    Realistically, Earnhardt and Kenseth head to Talladega needing to win the race in order to advance to the Eliminator Round. Kyle Busch and Newman could race their way in without winning.

    Next up is the Alabama roulette wheel (I really hope that catches on) known as Talladega Superspeedway.