Tag: Kasey Kahne

Crunching The Numbers: Charlotte

When race fans think of Memorial Day weekend in the motorsports world, one thing immediately comes to mind and that is NASCAR taking to the track at Charlotte Motor Speedway for their traditional May race weekend that many consider to be the greatest weekend of motorsports all year long with NASCAR at Charlotte, IndyCar at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Formula 1 at Monaco.

Sprint Cup Series

The two weeks that Charlotte Motor Speedway hosts the Sprint Cup Series in May features two races on the extreme opposite side of the distance scale, with last weekend’s NASCAR Sprint All Star Race being one of the shortest and this weekend’s running of the Coca-Cola 600 as the longest of the season. The 400 lap race, which starts in the daytime and runs into the night can give teams fits when trying to set up the car to run well in both the daytime and nighttime. Look for the team that can keep up with the adjustments as darkness descends on the track to be up front at the end with a chance at the win.

Driver	Races	Win	Top 5	Top 10	Pole	Laps Led	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish
Joey Logano	8	0	2	5	0	3	14.5	10.1
Jimmie Johnson	23	6	11	15	3	1439	7.3	11.4
Carl Edwards	16	0	5	10	0	98	18.2	12.0
Kasey Kahne	18	4	7	10	0	807	10.5	12.4
Tony Stewart	28	1	6	12	1	695	15.8	14.0
Aric Almirola	2	0	0	0	1	3	9.0	14.0
Denny Hamlin	15	0	3	8	0	159	14.1	14.1
Matt Kenseth	27	2	7	14	0	455	17.8	14.2
Kyle Busch	18	0	8	11	1	793	15.0	15.3
Bobby Labonte	40	2	12	17	3	807	15.7	15.5

Who To Watch: Joey Logano, who was at the top of the list with the best average finish heading into last weekend’s All Star Race also finds himself at the top of the list for best average finish in points races at Charlotte Motor Speedway with two top fives, five top tens, and an average finish of 10.1 in eight races at the track. Coming off of a second place finish in the All Star Race last weekend, Logano could find his way to Victory Lane for the first time this season.

Last weekend’s All Star Race winner, Jimmie Johnson, is no slouch at Charlotte as his No. 48 team has seemed to own this place over the years. Johnson has an impressive career at the track with six wins, 11 top fives, 15 top tens, three poles, 1439 laps led, and an average finish of 11.4 in 23 starts. With stats like that, Johnson could very well pull the All Star Race/Coca-Cola 600 sweep 20 years after legendary driver Dale Earnhardt accomplished that same feat.

Others to keep an eye on include All Star Race pole sitter, Carl Edwards, who has five top fives, 10 top tens, 98 laps led, and an average finish of 12.0 in 16 starts; and Kasey Kahne, who gave Jimmie Johnson a run for his money in the opening laps of the final segment of the All Star Race before fading to fourth by the end of the race. Kahne has four wins, seven top fives, 10 top tens, 807 laps led, and an average finish of 12.4 in 18 races.

Nationwide Series

In the lead up to the Coca-Cola 600, the Nationwide Series will have their chance on track in the History 300 on Saturday afternoon. In what seems to be a recurring theme in the Nationwide Series, several Sprint Cup regulars will be running this race in order to learn some information for the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, meaning we’ll see another round of the Nationwide regulars versus the Cup regulars.

Driver	Races	Win	Top 5	Top 10	Pole	Laps Led	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish
Kyle Busch	19	6	14	16	0	903	10.2	6.3
Austin Dillon	2	0	0	1	0	0	2.0	8.5
Joey Logano	9	1	4	5	1	155	6.9	8.6
Brian Vickers	10	0	5	6	1	91	13.2	11.1
Kevin Harvick	22	0	4	13	2	274	11.9	11.5
Trevor Bayne	3	0	1	1	0	0	12.7	12.3
Matt Kenseth	20	3	9	11	4	662	10.0	13.6
Justin Allgaier	9	0	2	4	0	6	14.7	14.3
Mike Bliss	16	2	5	5	0	43	17.9	16.2
Elliott Sadler	12	0	4	5	1	16	12.8	17.2

Who To Watch: The drivers with the best average finishes that will be running in the History 300 seems to be split almost 50/50 between the Cup regulars and Nationwide regulars with Kyle Busch at the top of the heap. Busch has six wins, 14 top fives, 16 top tens, 903 laps led, and an average finish of 6.3 in 19 starts. The top Nationwide regular is Austin Dillon, who only has two starts at Charlotte, but has an average finish of 8.5 with one top ten finish. Others who could find their way to Victory Lane on Saturday include: Joey Logano, with one win, four top fives, five top tens, one pole, 155 laps led, and an average finish of 8.6 in nine starts; Brian Vickers, who has five top fives, six top tens, one pole, 91 laps led, and an average finish of 11.1 in 10 starts; Kevin Harvick, with four top fives, 13 top tens, two poles, 274 laps led, and an average finish of 11.5 in 22 starts; Trevor Bayne, with one top five, one top ten, and an average finish of 12.3 in three starts; and Matt Kenseth, who has three wins, nine top fives, 11 top tens, four poles, 662 laps led, and an average finish of 13.6 in 20 starts.

Although, not on the list, the top two drivers in points, Regan Smith and Sam Hornish, Jr., could also find their way to Victory Lane this weekend to add to their lead on the other drivers in the points.

May 22, 2013

Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 9 Sprint All-Star Race – Charlotte Motor Speedway – May 18, 2013

We’re 1/3 of the way through the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, and it’s onto Speedweeks at Charlotte. A million bucks is up for grabs this week (actually 2 million), and unlike the NHL, the NBA, and the MLB, we’re already on to the All-Star weekend.

There have been 28 previous All-Star races, all but one being held at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the 1986 event was held at Atlanta Motor Speedway and won by Bill Elliott. The first All-Star race was won by Darrell Waltrip back in 1985 amongst a field of 12. This year, 22 cars will take the green flag of the 2013 All-Star race, 19 of those divers have already locked up a spot in the field.

Here’s how the starting field for the drivers that will be making the start in the main event tonight:
– NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points race winners in 2012 and 2013
– NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race winners in the last 10 years
– Drivers who are past NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions in the previous 10 years
– The top-two finishers in the Sprint Showdown, the 40-lap race that precedes the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race
– The top Sprint Fan Vote driver who finishes the Showdown and whose car is in “raceable” condition.

Like last year, the All-Star race will consist of five segments – four 20-lap segments and a 10-lap shootout. Unlike last year, the running the running order at the completion of the fourth segment (Lap 80) will be repositioned behind the Pace Car, based on the drivers’ average finish for the first four segments – putting a premium on strong finishes throughout the entire event.

The new lineup will be placed directly behind the caution car prior to the opening of pit road for a mandatory four-tire pit stop, yielding the spotlight from the drivers to the pit crews.
The order of the cars returning to the track will determine the starting order of the final 10-lap shootout. Running order ties will be broken by the finish of the fourth segment.
I am a fan of the new setup as NASCAR has done a nice job of eliminating the sandbagging factor we’ve seen in previous events, by emphasizing strong finishes in each of the first four 20-lap segments.

Darlington Recap

I will keep this brief this week as the intro section is rather long, and I have little to brag about from last week. I chose Kasey Kahne as the winner last week, a pick that looked like a jackpot throughout the middle to late stages, but with 33 laps to go, my chances went south. Whether Kyle Busch got into Kahne, or if he only got close enough to take the air off the No.5 car, this little rivalry heating up between the two drivers is going to be something to watch over the next few weeks. The incident left Kahne settling with a 17th place finish.
As for my Dark Horse, Ryan Newman, it was the fourth time I picked him this season and he did ok for me for the first time this year. Newman ran a strong race, avoiding trouble throughout and finished 10th.

All-Star Picks

Winner Pick
On Thursday in my preview of tonight’s All-Star race with Greg Depalma on The Prime Sports Network, I picked a guy who is one of the favorites tonight, despite never winning a race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

This is a Kyle Busch style race, with nothing to lose and two million bucks at stake, you can bet that the floorboards of the No.18 car are going to be worn out at the end of the race on Saturday Night.

He has never won an all-star event in 7 tries despite starting on the pole three times and never won at Charlotte in 26 tries. In spite of never winning at Charlotte, Kyle has been very strong throughout the course of his career and since 2008, he has finished outside the top 8 just twice in 14 races. Kyle’s Driver Rating has never been less than 100, besides the two accidents in 2010 and 2011 since the spring of 2007.

He has lead laps in 20 of 26 starts at Charlotte, and in the fourth starting spot tonight, Kyle has put himself in position for an early lead. He was close in 2011 to the cool million when he started on the pole for his third time, but Carl Edwards was the guy to beat that night. I still like my pick today.

Dark Horse Pick

He might not be a Dark Horse now, but on Thursday he was a 30 to 1 longshot to win the All-Star race tonight. An important stat to mention with this Dark Horse pick is that Eight of the 28 (28.5%) NASCAR Sprint All-Star Races have been won from the front row: four from the pole and four from second-place.

The guy I picked on Thursday as a “quiet pick” to win the million bucks was Kyle’s brother, Kurt. Kurt Busch’s overall All-Star Race record is: 11 starts, one win, four top-fives, six top-10s, one pole and 30 laps led. His average start is 8.1 and average finish 10.8.

He followed his 2010 All-Star Race win with a victory the following week in the Coca-Cola 600 and is one of four active drivers to have won the Charlotte double. The others are Jeff Gordon (1997), Jimmie Johnson (2003) and Kasey Kahne (2008). Busch qualified for this year’s Sprint All-Star Race as both a former winner of the event and as a former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion (2004).

Kurt will be starting outside of Carl Edwards on the front row tonight, and is my quiet sleeper pick this week.

That’s all for this week, so until the longest race of the season next week, You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

May 18, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Bojangles’ Southern 500

On what has become a Mother’s day weekend tradition at the historic Darlington Raceway, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 64^th annual Bojangles’ Southern 500.

Surprising: While bad news often comes in threes, Matt Kenseth had the opposite experience, with only good news in threes for this Joe Gibbs Racing team member. Kenseth scored his third Sprint Cup win of the season and advanced one spot to third in the point standings.

Not only was it a stellar evening for JGR with Kenseth in Victory Lane, but teammate Denny Hamlin gutted out a surprisingly good full-race performance after returning from his back injury. Hamlin finished in the runner up position, scoring his seventh top-10 at Darlington and his second top-10 finish for the season.

“I think our whole team, we’ve just got a great team from top to bottom,” J.D. Gibbs, President of Joe Gibbs Racing, said. “Gosh, I couldn’t feel much better about our year so far.”

Not Surprising: For the other member of the Joe Gibbs Race team, however, three times was nowhere near a charm. JGR driver Kyle Busch, who was the dominant driver all evening long, in fact leading 265 laps, tussled with competitor Kasey Kahne for the third time this season to finish a disappointing sixth in the race.

“He’s pretty tore up that they’re racing hard and Kasey Kahne tore up another car,” Dave Rogers, crew chief of the No. 18 Doublemint Toyota, said. “This is the third time we’ve been involved in an incident with Kasey and all of us over here have a ton of respect for that program.”

“Well, he needs to quit,” Kasey Kahne, recipient of the three incidents with Busch, said simply. “Three times this year. I mean he’s got to just race me.”

Surprising: While enjoying a much celebrated 700^th career start, Jeff Gordon, at the tender age of 41 years, also managed to set yet another record. Gordon posted his 300^th top-five finish, becoming only the fourth driver to accomplish this feat, along with NASCAR legends David Pearson, Bobby Allison and Richard Petty.

“Well, we all wanted this 700^th start to be a memorable one,” the driver of the No. 24 Cromax Pro Chevrolet said. “I’m very proud of this.”

Not Surprising: As so often happens, David Ragan experienced the highs and lows of the sport, from his previous week’s win at Talladega to overheating and struggling to finish 39^th at Darlington at this weekend’s race.

“Yeah, that’s how it goes sometimes,” the driver of the No. 34 Peanut Patch Boiled Peanuts Ford said. “That’s a character-building weekend for sure.”

“You’ve just got to work hard and stay focused and keep the right attitude.”

Surprising: In spite of decent race finishes for two of the Roush Fenway drivers, with Carl Edwards taking the checkered flag in seventh and Greg Biffle in 13^th, both expressed the feeling that they are lacking something so far this season.

“We struggled a lot and ended coming back to seventh so I’m proud of our effort,” Edwards, behind the wheel of the No. 99 Geek Squad Ford, said. “But we’re just missing something.”

“It’s a little disappointing,” Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Meguiar’s Ford, said. “We still don’t have the grip that we need.”

“We’re missing it ever since the season started with this car.”

Not Surprising: All good things must come to an end and so it was not surprising that Aric Almirola’s streak of top-tens came crashing down at Darlington. The driver of the No. 43 Smithfield Ford finished 20^th at the track ‘Too Tough to Tame.’

“That’s not the result we wanted at all,” Almirola said. “We fought hard, but just weren’t quite good enough.”

“That was a tough night.”

Surprising: The struggles of Tony Stewart surprisingly continued at Darlington and the trip to Victory Lane that he so badly wanted at a track where he had never won eluded the former champion yet again.

Stewart was poised to get a good finish, in fact starting eighth on a restart with under 60 laps to go. But the Lady reached out and grabbed the driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, putting that old Darlington stripe right down the side of his race car.

Stewart finished a disappointing 15^th when the checkered flag finally flew.

“Darlington is such a tough track to get a handle on,” Stewart said. “You don’t see a lot of guys who have a lot of success there.”

Not Surprising: In spite of scoring a pole run, with a track record to boot, and a record number of laps led for his team, Kurt Busch still did not get the finish he wanted at Darlington.

The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Serta Chevrolet ran strong all night but slipped at the end after getting hit by the No. 13 of Casey Mears. Busch finished 14^th in the Bojangles’ Southern 500.

“We could not keep up with the changing conditions of the track,” Busch said. “We made a number of chassis and air pressure adjustments but couldn’t get the car hooked up.”

“We let it slip away and that’s disappointing,” Busch continued. “But we won the pole, led laps, ran up front for a good portion of the race and came away with a respectable finish.”

Surprising: Penske Racing had a surprisingly bad day, especially for reigning champ Brad Keselowski, who had never finished outside the top 15 in his four starts at Darlington. The driver of the Blue Deuce was caught up in an accident and finished 32^nd.

While teammate Joey Logano has had an admittedly up and down relationship with the track, with two top-10 finishes and two finishes outside the top-25, he struggled as well. The driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford finished in the same position as his car number, 22^nd.

Not Surprising: Although the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Emerald Green Chevrolet admitted that the track is tough, his love affair with Darlington continued, especially after scoring another top-five finish. Johnson now leads the point standings by more than a full race worth.

“It was just a great 500 miles here at Darlington,” Jimmie Johnson said. “I love this place.”

“I wish we could race here three or four times a year.”

Surprising: It was a bit surprising that there were just enough cars at Darlington for a full 43 car field. For the first time in quite a long time, no one was sent home unhappy after qualifying for this Southern 500.

Not Surprising: Juan Pablo Montoya’s focus on execution continued at the ‘Lady in Black’. He and his No. 42 Target Chevrolet team had a great run, finishing eighth.

“Well, we didn’t unload as good as we wanted, but we got it really good,” Montoya said. “I keep telling the guys we have got to execute.”

“If every person here does their best, we are going to be looking like heroes here.”

May 13, 2013
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Darlington

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished fourth in the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington, posting his sixth top 5 of the year and increasing his points lead. He now leads Carl Edwards by 44.

“I’ve finished outside of the top 12 only once this year,” Johnson said. “That’s the type of consistency you won’t find anywhere, especially not in the NASCAR rule book.

“I invite NASCAR to give my car the once-over. I have nothing to hide, and neither does Chad Knaus, save for his receding hairline. The measure of a driver shouldn’t be made in millimeters or grams, but in Cup championships. That makes me the ‘heavy.’”

2. Carl Edwards: Edwards took seventh in Darlington, scoring his seventh top-10 result of the season. He trails Jimmie Johnson by 44 in the Sprint Cup point standings.

“It was a heck of a week for Kenseth,” Edwards said. “He was two for two—he beat the field and the system.”

3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished ninth in the Southern 500 in a race dominated by the Toyotas of Joe Gibbs Racing. Earnhardt now holds the fourth spot in the point standings, trailing Jimmie Johnson by 64.

“Gibbs cars claimed the 1, 2, and 6 spots,” Earnhardt said. “Unfortunately for them, it’s in the inspection line. Inspecting a JGR engine is a lot like taking a walk through the camping area of Junior Nation—there’s no telling what you’ll find, but chances are, it’s illegal.”

4. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth took the lead from Kyle Busch with 13 laps to go and sailed to the win in the Southern 500, his first win at Darlington. His third win of the year boosted him to third in the point standings, 59 out of first.

“Hopefully,” Kenseth said, “Busch isn’t the only thing I’ll ‘pass’ this week.

“Recent history suggests I should possibly delay in celebrating this victory. I think we all, inspectors included, know that’s a ‘proper wait.’”

5. Kyle Busch: Busch led a race-high 265 laps at Darlington, but faltered over the final ten laps due to a leaking rear tire and finished sixth. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin finished first and second, respectively.

“Nothing takes the air out of sails like the air out of your tires,” Busch said. “That tire snatched the win right out from under me. I guess you would call it ‘burn’ rubber.”

“My brother Kurt just completed his rookie test for the Indianapolis 500, thus giving him a license to compete in the 500. I say that’s unfair. When I went over 200 miles per hour in a borrowed car, I had my license taken.”

6. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer finished 11th at Darlington, joining Michael Waltrip Racing teammate Martin Truex, Jr. in the top 12. Bowyer is now fifth in the point standings, 74 out of first.

“They call Darlington Raceway the ‘Lady In Black,’” Bowyer said. “According to David Gilliland, that wasn’t the only female at the track. There was one he called the ‘Bitch In Green.’”

7. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished nine laps down in 32nd at Darlington, two weeks after an equally-disappointing 33rd at Richmond. The defending Sprint Cup champion is sixth in the point standings, 97 behind Jimmie Johnson.

“Johnson has enough Cups to fill a trophy case,” Keselowski said. “I have enough to fill a jock strap.

“After winning the Cup last year, I haven’t done much this season. I guess that’s why you haven’t heard a peep, nor a tweet, from me.”

8. Denny Hamlin: In his first full race since injuring his back at California, Hamlin finished second in the Southern 500 as Joe Gibbs teammate Matt Kenseth won.

“I needed medical clearance before I could race,” Hamlin said. “And I got it. Here at Gibbs Racing, we like to say I ‘passed inspection.’”

9. Kasey Kahne: While challenging Kyle Busch for the lead with 33 laps to go, Kahne’s No. 5 Time Warner Cable Chevy got loose and slammed the wall. Kahne eventually finished 17th and is now sixth in the point standings, 97 out of first.

“Including Daytona and Talladega,” Kahne said, “that’s the third time this year Kyle and I have made contact that resulted in a wreck. I’m not happy. Kyle’s ‘razing Kahne,’ so I’ll ‘give ‘im hell.’”

10. Kevin Harvick: One week after a 40th at Talladega, Harvick rebounded with a fifth in the Bojangles’ Southern 500. It was only Harvick’s second top-5 finish of the year.

“Toyotas have won six races this year,” Harvick said. “I’ve won one, and it was called the ‘Toyota Owners 400.’ That’s called ‘irony,’ and it also applies to a Japanese automaker dominating an American sport. To the head honchos at NASCAR, that’s got to be ‘dis-Orient-ing.’”

May 13, 2013
Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 8 Darlington Raceway – Bojangles’ Southern 500 – May 11, 2013

Darlington Raceway needs no introduction this week. Its the 64th annual Bojangles’ Southern 500 and there’s a reason why the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has continued to come back to the track Too Tough To Tame year after year. It’s NASCAR’s oldest paved superspeedway, and over the years has become one of my favorite stops on the series. There’s something about the history, the heritage, and the excitement about the racing at Darlington that keeps me glued to the broadcast and puts Darlington on my bucket list.

Talladega Recap

Last weekend’s chaos at Talladega left me in rough shape, but the good news for me is that nobody saw David Ragan soaring to Victory Lane either. Scoring an unlikely win on the last lap of last week’s Aaron’s 499 with help from his teammate David Gilliland, was a shot in the arm for both David Ragan, Front Row Motorsports, and all the under-funded teams in the sport. It was a major confidence booster in the garage for teams not normally in the spotlight, being that the entire race was dominated by the big guns like Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson. It was a “David takes down Goliath” last week at Talladega, but don’t expect the same this week at Darlington.

As for my picks last week, I went with defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, Brad Kesolowski to win last week. Bad Brad made it through the mayhem of each of the big wrecks, but unfortunately had no help for a charge to the front following the rain delay and wound up finishing 15th.

As for my Dark Horse, Danica Patrick, a late race accident on lap 182 ended her long day of drafting. She missed a big accident early and waited out the three-hour rain only to be caught up in a late race crash on the backstretch when several cars began crashing in front of her. The incident put her out of the race, finishing in 33rd.

Darlington Picks

Winner Pick
On Wednesday while previewing tonight’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 with Greg Depalma on the Prime Sports Network, I picked Kasey Kahne to win, before the cars even hit the track in South Carolina. It’s a pick I still like after Kahne showed decent speed in practice and qualified the No.5 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet in the fourth starting spot. He enters Saturday Night’s race coming off consecutive top 10’s at Darlington Raceway, leading laps in 3 of the last 4 at The Lady In Black. Flashback to 2011, Kahne dominated the Southern 500 in his No.4 Red Bull Toyota, leading a race-high 124 laps, but a late race incident involving oil dropped on the track, collected a slue of solid race cars including Kahne. NASCAR failed to throw a caution, despite many drivers reporting oil on the track, a call that was looked at as controversial in many drivers eyes. Kahne has completed all but one lap in his 10 races at Darlington, and he’s put himself in position to pick up his first win at the historic track through a solid qualifying run on Friday.

Dark Horse Pick
On Wednesday, I liked Ryan Newman’s chances at The Lady In Black, but throughout the weekend we haven’t seen much speed out of the No.39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet. I thought he was the guy to look at who has flown under the radar with solid finishes at Darlington, including 6 top 10’s in the last 8 races at Darlington. He traditionally has qualified very well in South Carolina, notching one pole and starting outside the top 12 just twice in 14 starts. He’s got some work to do if he’s to end up in Victory Lane, but needs a solid finish for not only his Chase hopes, but to keep Stewart-Haas racing on the radar as a major player in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

That’s all for this week, so until we head to Charlotte and All-Star Weekend, You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

May 11, 2013
Kurt Busch Wins the Pole for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 and Sets a Track Record at Darlington Raceway

Kurt Busch won the Coors Light Pole Award with a qualifying lap of 181.918 mph. His time set the track record previously held by Kasey Kahne in 2011 with a lap speed of 181.254. It is his 16^th pole in 446 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

This is Busch’s second pole in 17 years at Darlington Raceway. In September 2001 he won the pole and became the youngest pole winner at the legendary track. He was 23 years and 29 days old at the time.

Jimmie Johnson qualified second giving him his seventh top-10 start in 2013. In 15 races at Darlington Raceway, Johnson has scored eight top-10 starts. That number includes his 2012 win which gave Hendrick Motorsports its 200^th NASCAR Sprint Cup victory.

Kyle Busch will begin the race from the third position. This is Busch’s fourth top-10 start at Darlington Raceway and his eighth top-10 start this season.

Kasey Kahne and Martin Truex Jr. will start the race in positions four and five, respectively. Denny Hamlin qualified in sixth place and will compete in his first full race since March.

Please visit nascar.com for the complete starting line-up. http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/standings/results/2013/bojangles-southern-500.html

NASCAR pre-race action starts at 6 p.m. on Fox for the 64^th annual Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Saturday, May 11^th. The green flag is scheduled to drop at approximately 7 p.m. The drivers will once again race under the lights for 501.3 miles (367 laps) to determine who will tame the ‘Lady in Black.’

May 10, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Aaron’s 499

With a three hour plus rain delay pushing the Aaron’s 499 from day into a Talladega Night, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Alabama 2.66 mile oval.

Surprising: While Talladega has seen its share of calamities, the 44^th annual race running seemed to be the granddaddy of all mayhem. There was not just one ‘big one’ but two, with sixteen cars involved in the first wreck early in the race and twelve cars in the second ‘big one’ near the end of the race.

In between the crashes, there was the weather red flag, which lasted three hours, 36 minutes and six seconds, pushing the race to its finish in what some called darkness.

There were two drivers, however, who experienced the most ‘Dega mayhem. Kurt Busch, driving the No. 78 Furniture Row/Beautyrest Chevrolet, was having a great run until getting clipped by another car as it slipped down the track.

This sent Busch airborne and rolling over and over to eventually land smack dab on top of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet of Ryan Newman.

“We just got hit from behind and along for the ride we went,” Busch said. “It’s Talladega, what can I say.”

“That’s no way to end a race,” Newman said. “You got what you wanted but that’s just poor judgment restarting the race, running in the dark and running in the rain.”

Not Surprising: While ‘Dega may have been filled with mayhem for many drivers, it was a dream come true and the luckiest track ever for two Ford drivers, who both just happened to be named David.

For David Ragan, winning his first race at Talladega and scoring the first ever victory for his team Front Row Motorsports, Talladega was indeed a dream come true.

“I always knew in my heart I would get another chance,” Ragan said. “We know we are an underdog but we know ‘Dega is an equalizer.”

“How sweet to see all those Fords up there for the win,” Ragan continued. “I’m looking at my mirror and I was wondering if I was dreaming.”

While David Ragan stood in Victory Lane, he would not have been there without the push of his teammate David Gilliland, who himself pronounced Talladega as the luckiest track ever.

“It was a big day,” the driver of the No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford said. “A lot of it had to do with this little note from my 10-year-old daughter Taylor wishing me good luck.”

“She wrote that with a little horseshoe on it and put it on my dash before the race,” Gilliland continued. “And she had some horseshoe good luck earrings in too.”

Surprising: The race at Talladega was surprisingly nightmarish for one Trevor Bayne, who had once asked if he was dreaming after winning the Daytona 500. The driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford blew up, bringing out the first caution of the race.

“There was no warning at all,” Bayne said of his engine issue. “I got to turn one and it let go.”

“I’m surprised the whole field didn’t crash with as much oil that was pouring out of this thing.”

Not Surprising: Given the carnage on the race track, it was not surprising that Trevor Bayne was not the only driver watching the remainder of the race from his motor home. In fact, Kasey Kahne, who was involved in the ‘big one’ early on, watched what was left of the race from his couch at home.

“Btw I’m on the couch at home,” Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet for Hendrick Motor Sports, tweeted after being knocked early. “This sucks.”

Kahne finished 42^nd and lost three spots in the point standings, falling from the third to the sixth position.

Surprising: Demonstrating a new-found maturity, Kyle Busch accepted full responsibility for causing the first ‘big one’ at Talladega.

“Kind of caused it,” the driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota said. “I really don’t know what happened.”

“I know I got in the back of the No. 5,” Busch continued. “I hated that I caused a melee for everybody especially early in the race.”

“I hated that we all got crashed in that deal.”

Not Surprising: Restrictor plate racing does indeed make strange bedfellows. There was no better demonstration of this than the ‘friends’ that Denny Hamlin made to enable his successful comeback to the sport after his back injury.

“It means a lot as a driver to have your peers have your back like that,” Hamlin said of Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Michael Waltrip and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., all of whom fell to the back of the pack to help him. “They really sacrificed the first part of the race for me.”

“I can’t thank them enough.”

Also, not surprisingly, the driver change between Hamlin and Brian Vickers went perfectly, allowing Hamlin to escape through the roof hatch to the broadcast booth in the Hollywood Hotel while watching his replacement Brian Vickers take the wheel, only to wreck out in the ‘big one.’

“Everything went seamless and painless,” Hamlin said. “Every week I feel a lot better.”

Surprising: Danica Patrick showed some surprisingly skilled evasive moves in avoiding the first wreck and was in good position until the late-race accident on lap 182 ended her day. The driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for Stewart Haas Racing finished 33rd.

“We were watching and we were like, ‘Holy Cow’,” Tony Gibson, crew chief, said of Danica’s avoidance of the first ‘big one’. “I don’t know how she missed it.”

“It’s just unfortunate how it ended up with the late-race crash,” Gibson continued. “But that’s part of restrictor-plate racing.”

Not Surprising: With a rain delay of the magnitude at Talladega, it was not surprising that several drivers and cars had issues attempting to go back racing. Juan Pablo Montoya could not get his No. 42 Clorox Chevrolet re-started after the rain delay and ended up behind the wall before returning to the track for a 25^th place finish.

Joey Logano was right there with JPM struggling to restart after the rain delay, however, his problem was more serious and ultimately fatal. The No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford had some sort of engine issue that led to his 35^th place finish.

“We’re not sure what happened,” Logano said. “We’re thinking maybe an air pocket somehow got in the water system, but it doesn’t make sense.”

“It’s a bummer when you’re sitting third when it is raining and you don’t finish the race.”

Surprising: Toyota had a good day at Talladega with occasional Toyota driver and team owner Michael Waltrip surprisingly leading the way. Waltrip was the highest running Toyota with a fourth place finish, followed by Martin Truex Jr. in seventh and lap-leader Matt Kenseth in eighth.

“I love being a part of the Toyota family,” the driver of the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Alabama National Champ Toyota said. “We had a great run.”

“I had a ball,” Waltrip continued. “I love being at Talladega and I love racing.”

Not Surprising: Jimmie Johnson extended his points lead to 41 over second place Carl Edwards with his fifth place finish at Talladega.

“It was obviously a very good day for our Lowe’s Chevrolet,” Johnson said. “We had a very fast car and I felt like we were a player all day long, and that’s awesome.”

Surprising: Regan Smith, behind the wheel of the No. 51 Hendricks.com Chevrolet, was surprisingly disappointed with his top-ten finish, especially after winning the crash-filled Nationwide race.

“Well the last few laps I didn’t see much because it was pretty dark,” Smith said. “A little disappointed.”

“I kept getting stalled out by the cars on the outside.”

Not Surprising: Even with the mayhem of restrictor plate racing, Aric Almirola, behind the wheel of the No. 43 Gwaltney Ford, continued his streak of consecutive top-ten finishes. In fact, he will make history for Richard Petty Motorsports at Darlington if he finishes in the top-ten there.

“We sure are on a roll lately,” Almirola said. “I think we are the only people that aren’t surprised we are seventh in points and have the longest current top-10 streak in the series.”

“We just need to keep it up and start moving to top-fives and hopefully a win soon.”

May 8, 2013
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished fifth at Talladega in the rain-delayed Aaron’s 499 at Talladega. His lead in the Sprint Cup point standings is now 41 over Carl Edwards.

“What an ending!” Johnson said. “It reminded me a lot of former NASCAR driver Kimi Raikkonen’s NASCAR skills—it was a ‘wild Finnish.’”

2. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished third in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega, losing the lead on the final lap as David Ragan grabbed an unlikely win. Edwards is second in the point standings, 41 out of first.

“Ragan came out of nowhere,” Edwards said. “And that’s probably where he’ll return.

“As one of NASCAR’s manliest of men, I’d like to comment on the NBA’s Jason Collins announcing that he’s gay. I think NASCAR is ready for a homosexual driver. She better be really hot, though.”

3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt slipped through the chaos of a wreck six laps from the to salvage a 17th at Talladega. He moved up two places to third in the point standings to third, and trails Jimmie Johnson by 46.

“I was just happy to see the finish line,” Earnhardt said. “It was a war of attrition. That’s not to be confused with the “War Of Attrition,” which, according to many of my fans, was won by the South.”

4. Kasey Kahne: Kahne was taken out at Talladega when Kyle Busch sent him spinning on lap 44, triggering the ‘Big One’ that eliminated 13 cars from contention. Kahne finished 42nd and fell one place in the point standings to fourth, 46 out of first.

“Busch used to drive the No. 5 car,” Kahne said. “And, as of lap 44 at Talladega, so did I.”

5. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer suffered significant damage in a big crash six laps from the end at Talladega, but managed to wheel the No. 15 Toyota to an 18-place finish. He is fourth in the point standings, 67 behind Jimmie Johnson.

“Brad Keselowski wasn’t too happy with the way the cars lined up on the final restart,” Bowyer said. “So he took to Twitter to whine. I hear he changed his Twitter handle to “sshole.” Sunday’s result must have left a sour taste in his mouth. That gives him the ‘tart’ of a champion?”

6. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished fifth in the rain-interrupted Aaron’s 499 at Talladega, posting his fourth top 5 of the year. The defending Sprint Cup champion is fifth in the point standings, 69 out of first.

“For a while,” Keselowski said, “it appeared the race would be much like our rear housing at Texas—‘shortened.’

“NASCAR denied our appeal for penalties incurred for illegal parts at Texas. And they surely didn’t Tweet their response. Oh no. It came on paper, and it was called a ‘cheat sheet.’”

7. Kyle Busch: Busch triggered a huge lap 44 wreck in the Aaron’s 499 when he tried to move around the No. 5 Chevy of Kasey Kahne. The pileup wiped out 13 cars, including Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, and Tony Stewart. Busch eventually finished 37th and is now ninth in the point standings, 98 out of first.

“Kurt may be the older brother,” Busch said, “but now, several drivers are calling me the ‘Big One.”

8. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth led 142 of 192 laps on the day, and led at the green-white-checkered finish, but finished eighth after the Front Row Motorsports duo of David Ragan and David Gilliland zoomed to the front.

“I’ve been a lame duck,” Kenseth said, “and I’ve been intimidated by the Aflac duck. On Sunday, I was a sitting duck there at the end.

“Former Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron drove the pace car for Sunday’s race. There was talk that his girlfriend, Katherine Webb, would drive the pace car. That fell through, because David Gilliland refuses to follow a woman.”

9. Aric Almirola: Almirola finished 10th at Talladega in the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford. He is now seventh in the Sprint Cup standings, 90 out of first.

“You just never know what’s going to happen at Talladega,” Almirola said. “There were a lot of ‘unknowns,’ like the parts used by Penske and Joe Gibbs.

10. David Ragan: Ragan, pushed by Front Row Motorsports teammate David Gilliland, won the Aaron’s 499 in improbable fashion, outgunning Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Matt Kenseth in an exciting green-white-checkered finish.

“Just call Gilliand and I the ‘Aero-Dynamic Duo,’” Ragan said. “I haven’t got that big of a ‘push’ since Jack Roush showed me the door.

“FRM is a small-time operation with nothing near the budget of the large teams. Not only did we accomplish the Talladega sweep with inferior equipment, we did it with legal equipment.”

May 7, 2013
Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. Talladega Superspeedway – Aaron’s 499 – May 5, 2013

Well, we roll on to Alabama today in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. Everyone knows the history, the wrecks, and the success at Talladega so I will save my speech this week and roll on to last week’s recap and a quick craps shoot as to who will win this thing.

Richmond Recap

I picked Kyle Busch early on last week, and with Kyle showing so much speed throughout the practice sessions and qualifying the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota in the eighth starting spot, I was looking pretty good for a win. Busch battled a loose racing condition through the first quarter of the 400-lap race, but still managed to pull into the top five. With each pit stop, the M&Ms crew was able to make improvements and Kyle would take the lead just past the half way point. Busch remained in the top 10 until lap 325 when the No. 14 of Tony Stewart got loose, collecting Jimmie Johnson and eventually Kyle Busch in the process. The M&Ms crew would repair damage to the front end of the car, but it was not enough to put the No. 18 back in the top 10. Kyle brought his damaged racecar home in 24th.
As for my Dark Horse last week, I chose another Joe Gibbs racing car, but Matt Kenseth would not have been a Dark Horse last week because of the season he has been having so far this season. It was the No. 11 car, driven last week by Brian Vickers as Denny Hamlin was not cleared by doctors to make his comeback last week from the compression fracture injury in his spine. Again, going into Saturday Night’s race, the No. 11 FedEx Delivery Manager Toyota looked like a solid Dark Horse. The JGR Toyota was fast in all practice sessions, and would start the race on the outside of the front row. Though he ran in the top 10 for the majority of the first half of the race, but when trying to make the car faster around the midway point, the car did not respond to adjustments. Vickers struggled back in traffic, being shown outside the top 20 in the latter half of the race. An incident with 80 laps to go involving Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin would finish off Vickers chances of winning last week, and my hopes of bringing home a solid Dark Horse finish. Vickers finished in 35th.

Talladega Picks

Well, it’s more of a craps shoot this week as far as who will win the race later this afternoon….but I have a couple cars in mind who have history on their side today at the world’s fastest racetrack.
Winner Pick
In April of 2009, Brad Kesolowski pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NASCAR history to earn his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. He pushed Carl Edwards towards the front from fifth with just two laps to go. Coming out of turn four with the checkered flag waiving, Kesolowski and Edwards were one and two. When Edwards came to the bottom of the tri-oval, in an effort to block the Finch Racing Chevy, driven by Kesolowski, the Michigan-Native stood his ground and eventually put Edwards into the outside catch fence. It was one of the more spectacular finishes in Talladega history, and even more meaningful because it was the start of Kesolowski’s breakout in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Since his first win in his first start at Talladega in April of 2009, Kesolowski has finished outside the top 10 just twice in 7 races, and is also the defending race-winner. He was fastest in Happy Hour on Friday and will start the Blue Deuce in the 11th starting spot. Kesolowski has earned the respect of fellow drivers through his solid finishes on the restrictor-plate tracks, and he will have help when he breaks out of line in the final laps this afternoon.
Dark Horse Pick
She’s not really a Dark Horse because of her success at Speedweeks at Daytona in February, but Danica Patrick is a massive underdog yet again this week. She became the first female to claim a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pole, the first female to lead a green-flag lap in NASCAR history, and the first female to lead the Daytona 500 all at the other restrictor-plate track in Florida earlier this season. If there are any tracks Danica is comfortable on, it’s the restrictor-plate tracks because of her career in the Indy Racing League. She’s used to the flat out pack-style drafting and is comfortable in the car on these types of tracks. My only fear this week with the No. 10 team is if she will have help on the final laps of today’s Aaron’s 499. We saw her make a move in the late stages of February’s Daytona 500, but no driver would come to her rescue when she stepped out of line. It’s a long shot for Danica today, but the restrictor-plate tracks are the best shot she has of visiting Victory Lane this season.
That’s all for this Sunday edition of Matty’s picks, so until we head to Darlington…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

May 5, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Toyota Owners 400

A full moon and short track racing led to plenty of surprises and some not so surprising moments in the 59^th Annual Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

Surprising: Race winner Kevin Harvick, currently with Richard Childress Racing but leaving at year end, was surprisingly more fixated on dispelling the moniker of ‘Lame Duck’ than celebrating his ‘Closer’ nickname in Victory Lane.

In fact, with his first win of the season for RCR and his 20^th career win under his belt, Harvick proclaimed he was nothing like a ‘Lame Duck’.

“You know, a lot of people have thought we might lay down this year,” Harvick said. “There ain’t no lame in that game is there?”

“It was a great night.”

Not Surprising: With some tempers tested on the short track, it was no surprise that a late-race caution and a green-white-checkered finish led to total chaos up to and even after the checkered flag flew.

Perhaps the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Sealy Chevrolet summed it up best after seeing his potential top-five finish disappear to a ninth place finish thanks to the final lap craziness.

“It was just chaos,” Kurt Busch said. “Some guys had older tires. Some guys had newer tires.”

“People were beating and banging and shoving each other out of the way,” Busch continued. “It was a free-for-all at the end.”

Surprising: Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing, was surprisingly pleased with his bridesmaid’s position. This was his ninth top-ten finish in 15 races at Richmond and his fifth top-ten finish of the season.

“We had a good car,” Bowyer said. “It really got wild there at the end.”

“Wish we could have won the Toyota race, but second’s not bad.”

Not Surprising: With his team’s appeal hearing looming this week, it was not surprising to see Penske’s Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, make a statement with a third place finish. This was Logano’s second top-ten finish in nine races at Richmond.

“I’m just super-proud of my guys,” Logano said. “They never quit.”

“They threw the kitchen sink at it and I’m just proud of what we got out of that.”

Surprising: Logano’s teammate, Brad Keselowski, however, had a surprisingly freaky bad day at the track, perhaps proving that ‘Redd’ was not a good color for a car known as the No. 2 ‘Blue Deuce.’

“It was a long day,” the reigning champ said. “We had a bad pit stop and then blew a tire.”

“Then whatever happened with the engine,” Keselowski continued. “It was a freak deal where something in the wheel broke and let all the air out of the tires.”

“We got hit by a lot of freak deals.”

Not Surprising: With the ‘Orange Cone’ away, commitment violations came into play. And no one understood that more completely than Kyle Busch, who was tagged by NASCAR for that violation.

In an unusual move, however, NASCAR reviewed the penalty and actually overturned it. Unfortunately for Busch, the damage was done and his four Spring Richmond race win streak came to a screeching halt.

Busch’s fate was sealed after he was caught up in an accident and he finished 24^th in the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota.

Surprising: With the beginnings of resurgence by Petty Motorsports, it was surprising that driver Marcos Ambrose suffered his first DNF of the season since Texas last year.

“This is so disappointing for us,” the driver of the No. 9 DeWalt Ford Fusion said. “We were fast and had fantastic power from Ford Racing and Roush Yates Engines.”

“So, we can’t complain.”

Not Surprising: Even with his first win on an oval track in sight, it was not surprising to see Juan Pablo Montoya and his crew chief thinking big picture and maximum points. The team elected to pit to take tires before the green-white-checkered finish to guarantee themselves a top-five finish.

“Everybody on the Depend Chevy did an amazing job,” Montoya said. “We had a great car.”

“This is what we needed,” Montoya continued. “We made the right call when we pitted.”

Surprising: Another Richard Childress racer Jeff Burton had a surprisingly great run, from threading his way through one of the many wrecks to finishing fifth.

“Kevin Harvick and I both got better at the end of the race,” the driver of the No. 31 Airgas/Bulwark Chevrolet said. “We were best at the end.”

Not Surprising: Richard Petty Motorsports’ other driver Aric Almirola continued to reel off top-ten finishes in his No. 43 Smithfield Ford. Almirola managed an eighth place finish on the short track after battling an ill-handling race car.

“At one point we were almost a lap down,” Almirola said. “We were in big trouble and Todd Parrott made so many adjustments and kept making it better and better and better.”

“Our guys never gave up.”

Surprising: Matt Kenseth may have won the pole for the Toyota Owners 400, led the most laps at 140, and finished seventh, but he felt more like he was riding a roller coaster than driving an elite Cup car.

“It was an up and down race,” Kenseth said. “In the beginning, we were real strong.”

“That last restart, just being on the outside and the 78 (Kurt Busch) drove up through there and knocked my whole side off,” Kenseth continued. “That was the best I could do.”

Not Surprising: While Richmond may be known more as a Denny Hamlin type track, the Hendrick Motorsports team fared pretty well, with three of the four drivers finishing in the top-15.

In fact, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson finished tenth, eleventh and twelfth respectively while Kasey Kahne brought up the rear in 21^st.

With his finish, Johnson extended his points lead, now 43 points ahead of Carl Edwards in the second spot. And all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are now in the top 15 in the point standings.

April 30, 2013