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  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kentucky Quaker State 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Kentucky Quaker State 400

    From the jaw-jarring bumps of the old pavement in which Kentucky Speedway takes such pride, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 4th Annual Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts.

    Surprising: Dominance and redemption surprisingly co-existed in the Bluegrass state. Penske dominated, from qualifying to Victory Lane for Brad Keselowski, yet there was also redemption for several drivers, including Tony Stewart, who rebounded from an engine change to finish 11th, as well as Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick, who both had struggles in the pits and went on to finish sixth and seventh respectively.

    “Yeah, what a really fast car,” Keselowski said after his second win of the season and his second win at Kentucky in the No. 2 car. “It feels really good, obviously, to get that second win.”

    “We have got a really good stretch run going here over the summer, so it’s very exciting for me personally, very rewarding, and I feel like we’re in such a strong spot,” Keselowski continued. “A lot of momentum, and this was really a big night for us in so many ways.”

    Stewart, Gordon and Harvick may not have been in Victory Lane, but all three felt redeemed nonetheless.

    “I would’ve liked to have been a little better than what we were there at the end, but I think we definitely had to fight our way up there through the day,” Stewart said. “We never did anything tricky to get track position. We pitted every time the pits were open. We didn’t do any less than anybody else did on any stop.”

    “All in all, I thought we had a pretty honest day there and I can’t complain about that.”

    Not Surprising: Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, played it fast and loose, right into the runner up position. This was Busch’s fourth top-10 finish in four races at Kentucky Speedway and his seventh top-10 finish of the season.

    “I got to traffic, man, I just got too loose,” Busch said. “I was kind of loose the whole run, but I kept getting looser and looser throughout the run, where normally the rest of the runs prior to that throughout the race I was getting tighter throughout the run.”

    “I was loose the whole race,” Busch continued. “I was loose, but it was a drivable loose, it wasn’t just a wrecking loose, until the end, and then I was wrecking.”

    “For as loose as I was I had good grip and I was moving forward,” Busch said. “It looked like a lot of guys were struggling with the same issues I was but worse, so I was able to go by them, so I felt pretty good about it.”

    Surprising: As a past champion, Brad Keselowski most certainly knows how to celebrate, but this time it resulted in some surprising bodily harm. Thanks to a broken bottle of champagne in Victory Lane, the victor ended up with four stitches to boot.

    “We were playing around with some champagne bottles and as I told my good friend, ‘We should have stuck with beer,’” Keselowski said. “We were having too much fun with champagne and one of the bottles broke and I cut my hand open. It’s no big deal.”

    “It’s all fixed now, so we’re good,” Keselowski continued. “Yeah, welcome to the party. It’s all good. I’m just glad we won. It’s a lot better story when you win and get hurt.”

    Not Surprising: Usually race car drivers emerge after the race being mad at other drivers, but there was one driver who was just mad at himself after the Quaker State 400.

    “The first wreck one of those lapped cars spun in front of us and when he spun he lit up his rear tires and made a huge smoke cloud,” Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Eckrich Ford, said. “My spotter, Tyler, was telling me to go high and I was kind of in the middle of the race track to see what he was gonna do and at the last minute he was like, ‘Go high, go high,’ so I veered high and McMurray was out there.”

    “I honestly had no idea he was out there and I ran into him, so I feel horrible,” Almirola continued. “I’m just mad at myself. I realize circumstances weren’t in our favor, but I should have done a better job of getting slowed down and not running into the 1 car.”

    Surprising: Kentucky race weekend was certainly a good one for Ryan Newman, with Caterpillar Inc. renewing their sponsorship on his car, and with a third place finish, just his second top-10 at Kentucky Speedway.

    “Just a good, solid night for the Caterpillar Chevrolet,” Newman said. “All the guys did a really good job strategy wise. Kept our track position all night.”

    “Good job for everybody at RCR and ECR, and we’ll keep digging.”

    Not Surprising: Clint Bowyer took to Twitter and told it like it was for his No. 15 5-Hour Energy race team after finishing 23rd.

    “Got our natural asses kicked tonight,” Bowyer tweeted after the race. “Testing this week to get to the bottom of a few things. We WILL get it fixed!!!”

    Surprising: After a tire issue sent rookie Kyle Larson hard into the wall and out of the race, Austin Dillon became the highest finishing rookie. The driver of the No. 3 Cheerios Protein Chevrolet took the checkered flag in the 16th position.

    Larson does, however, still lead in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year battle and has scored Rookie of the Race honors eleven times to Dillon’s five.

    “Blew a right front (tire),” Larson said dejectedly. “This is the first time that’s ever happened to me in stock car racing.”

    “So, big hits,” Larson continued. “But it sucks. We were hoping for a good points day to pad our points were we are before we go to Daytona where it’s a real crapshoot. It’s disappointing to have two weekends that didn’t end up very well the last couple of races.”

    “Oh, well. That’s how it goes,” Larson said. “We’ll try and go to Daytona and rebound and gain some more points.”

    Not Surprising:   Joey Logano proved that not only was his teammate powerful, but he had Penske power to boot, finishing ninth place in spite of being down a cylinder.

    “I think Team Penske dominated Kentucky this weekend, it’s just unfortunate we dropped a cylinder there, but it’s still a top-10 out of being down one cylinder,” Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, said. “We’ll take that.”

    Surprising: Matt Kenseth, in his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, proved his worth to his sponsor, who announced prior to the race that they would increase their primary sponsorship from 27 to 30 races. Kenseth finished fourth and felt that “Overall, it was a positive weekend.”

    “I feel like we’re gaining on it,” Kenseth continued. “I thought we had a pretty good car. They had a great stop and got me good track position and I was able to get up two or three spots for the restart and hang onto fourth.”

    Not Surprising: Dale Jr. was fired up and ready to go after struggling mightily in practice, qualifying 29th, yet racing back to finish fifth, scoring his ninth top-five in 2014. And with that, Junior became the only driver so far with that many top-fives for the season to date.

    “So Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and the guys did a good job in having to deal with me and trying to put a good car under me this weekend,” Junior said. “It was a lot of fun in the race.”

    “It just fired me up … (and) they put a good setup under the car,” Earnhardt continued. “It wasn’t the best car out there, but we finished where we should have tonight with the speed the car the showed.”

    The Cup Series next heads to Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca Cola on Saturday, July 5th. Happy Independence Day!

     

  • Keselowski Wins Kentucky Pole, Breaks Qualifying Record

    Keselowski Wins Kentucky Pole, Breaks Qualifying Record

    Brad Keselowski won the Coors Light Pole Award for the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on Friday with a speed of 188.791 mph. Keselowski broke the track qualifying record with a lap time of 28.603 seconds. He bested second place qualifier and fellow Team Penske driver Joey Logano’s time by two tenths of a second.

    Jeff Gordon captured the third spot with a speed of 186.832 mph, followed by Denny Hamlin  (186.374) in fourth and Kevin Harvick (186.104) in fifth.

    It is Keselowski’s first pole at Kentucky Speedway, and his third pole of the season.

    “I’m just thankful it didn’t rain,” Keselowski said after winning the pole. “We’re glad we got the run in.”

    Keselowski took first and second, respectively, in the two practice sessions leading up to qualifying.

    “The Miller Lite Ford Fusion has just been really good this weekend.,” Keselowski said. “Paul  [Wolfe] did a great job with the adjustments. Just really proud of this effort.”

    While several cars recorded record-breaking speeds, Friday’s qualifying session was a bit slow to get going.

    For the first five minutes of Round One everyone except David Stremme waited on pit road for a cloud to move overhead and cool the racing surface. Once shade fell over the 1.5 mile track, the rest of the field took to the track and their collective strategy was reflected in lap times. In the first round, all of the Top-24 drivers who advanced to Round Two broke the old track qualifying record.

    Logano took Round One with a 29.049 second lap, followed by Danica Patrick at 29.070 seconds and Jeff Gordon at 29.077 seconds.

    Missing from the second round was Jimmie Johnson, who qualified 25th. It is Johnson’s third time this season not to advance out of round one.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. also experienced issues and missed the second round, qualifying 29th.

    “The car was way too rough, way too much movement,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Hard to control it that way.”

    Asked if it was the car he was fighting or the track itself, Jr. replied, “The car bounces because of the track. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure that out.”

    Logano grabbed the top spot in Round Two with a lap time of 28.783 seconds. Keselowski and Bowyer took second and third, respectively.

    Last year’s race winner Matt Kenseth missed the final cut after being bumped from the Top-12 near the end of Round Two.

    With a half minute left in the round, Stewart grabbed the 12th spot, moving Kenseth to 13th. A few seconds later, Paul Menard moved into 11th, pushing Kenseth back to 14th. Kenseth raced to the line to try another lap but time expired before he could begin an attempt, sealing his starting position at 14th.

    In Round Three, Logano recorded the fastest lap again but was overtaken by Keselowski near the end of the session. In the closing seconds, Logano returned to the track to try another lap. With one second remaining, Logano crossed the stripe to make a final attempt at a pole but was unable to recapture the top spot.

    “It says a lot about Team Penske. We knew coming here to Kentucky, a bumpy racetrack, this is their wheelhouse,” Logano said. “But it’s frustrating at the same time, because we won the first two segments.”

    “Brad had a lot of speed in practice and we kind of wondered where it went the first couple runs in qualifying. He figured it out again, obviously. Two tenths [of a second] is a lot,” Logano said.

    Rookie Kyle Larson qualified sixth after taking the top spot in the first practice and third in the second practice.

    The Quaker State 400 is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. It will air on TNT.

  • Todd Peck Has One Word for Pocono: Incredible

    Todd Peck, behind the wheel of his No. 40 Arthritis Foundation Chevy, will be making his first ever run at Pocono Raceway, as well as his first start at a track larger than a mile and a half. And he has just one word to describe how he feels about it all: “incredible”.

    “Without using expletives, it is incredible all the way around,” Peck said of his Pocono debut. “It’s incredible that we’ve made it this far.”

    “It’s incredible that we’ve had the opportunity to do this,” Peck continued. “Anybody would trade us places in a heartbeat and we’re just so incredibly lucky to be able to do this.”

    “To be here, to get this opportunity, I feel like I’ve reached the pinnacle,” Peck said. “To be able to race with these guys and be part of this organization is incredible.”

    Peck is finding Pocono Raceway pretty incredible in and of itself, in spite of its reputation and three challenging turns.

    “I’ve had a whole lot of fun with this place so far,” Peck said. “I am very tempered in my expectations for coming here because I know it has a reputation as the ‘Tricky Triangle.’

    “This is my first time on a two and a half mile track,” Peck continued. “I’m not a speedway racer…yet.”

    “It’s proven to be a whole lot of fun,” Peck said. “The long straightaway gives you a whole lot of time to think about what am I going to do better this time or what am I going to hit if it doesn’t work out.”

    “Our whole goal coming into this weekend is to whip the ‘Tricky Triangle’ into one straight line.”

    While Peck has incredible expectations for himself, he also is realistic in understanding that the three-turned track can give the best of racers pause and concern.

    “Of course we come to win, but that being said, we do know better than that,” Peck said. “Our goal every week is to be better than where we were last week.”

    “If we can finish top-20, that would be great,” Peck continued. “If we finish top-15, we’ll be giving high fives and anything on top of that, I’ll do a back flip off the top of the hauler.”

    Peck also admitted that being at a larger venue affords him and his team the incredible opportunity to continue to improve so they can not only move on to the next race but also to the next level of the sport.

    “Where we are as a team, we’re growing,” Peck said. “We ran at Kentucky and thought we needed to pounce on this opportunity to get on something bigger here at Pocono.”

    “If we come to the race track and we’ve made gains from where we were last week, that’s a victory,” Peck continued. “We need to run all the laps, be as competitive as we can, and improve upon our previous performances.”

    “Our expectations all year are to either be fast or be spectacular.”

    Peck also feels incredibly fortunate to race on a track that he considers ‘home.’ The driver, who hails from a racing family, is originally from a small south-central Pennsylvania town just outside Hanover, a municipality known for producing Utz Potato Chips.

    “Racing goes back in my family and we ran dirt tracks in the area,” Peck said. “I can remember being a little kid sitting on the golf cart and driving along the front stretch was the coolest thing.”

    “Coming to these places is what made me want to race and to do this.”

    “That’s what I grew up with and I thought it was the greatest thing in the world,” Peck said. “That’s what I fell in love with and it was places like this that made me feel that way.”

    “You remember those things from your past and that has formed me into what I am,” Peck continued. “I love where we are in Pennsylvania.”

    Photo Credit: Gary Buchanan
    Photo Credit: Gary Buchanan

    Another incredible aspect to Peck’s Pocono debut is the cause that he carries on his race truck. For his inaugural race, he is sporting an Arthritis Foundation paint scheme, featuring helmets designed by children impacted by the disease.

    “That’s one of my favorite parts of all of this deal,” Peck said. “The relationship with the Arthritis Foundation was borne out of a necessity for me.”

    “When I was 15 years old, I was diagnosed with arthritis,” Peck continued. “I thought that can’t be right.”

    “My grandparents have arthritis not me so I knew it had to be wrong,” Peck said. “But we learned that it wasn’t wrong and that kids get arthritis too.”

    “And that’s one of the messages we send out, that arthritis affects so many people,” Peck continued. “The Arthritis Foundation helped me to learn about it and cope.”

    “We now have a bigger stage with NASCAR racing to get the message out,” Peck said. “People want to talk about it and it’s an opportunity to give back, whether through awareness or donations or if they just need somebody to talk to.”

    “That’s what we’re here for,” Peck continued. “It’s gratifying for me because it not only helps the Foundation but it helps me help people.”

    Peck is also giving some children with juvenile arthritis an incredible experience. They will be able to see the race from an insider’s point of view, be honorary crew members, tour the garage, watch the crew prepare for the race, and see the main event from the team’s pit stall.

    “Everywhere we go, we extend the invite to the Arthritis Foundation staff and most importantly to kids who are suffering from arthritis and their families in the area,” Peck said. “We give them the gear and all the swag and the experience.”

    “It gives the kids a break from having to go to hospitals and just be a kid,” Peck continued. “If we can give them inspiration, that is important.”

    “I don’t let my arthritis slow me down and if we can inspire them to go out and maybe make the baseball team or whatever, that’s awesome.”

    “That’s my favorite part of this,” Peck said. “The racing is great but working with the kids is the best.”

    Peck will also be sporting an incredible newly designed helmet, thanks to the winner of the Arthritis Foundation’s design contest.

    “The cool thing about my helmet is that it was designed by one of the kids with arthritis as part of a contest,” Peck said. “They sent in their designs, everyone at the shop voted on their favorites, we put them on line and Brianna Hutton was chosen as the winner.”

    “Her design is on my helmet,” Peck continued. “The response was so awesome and not everyone could win so we took the available space down the bed rails of the space and put the rest on the truck.”

    As incredible as helping children cope with the same disease that he has had to live and race with is, Peck cannot wait to take the green flag on his first-ever Pocono run.

    “It’s exciting,” Peck said. ““I need to maximize and learn everything I can and I’ll give it one hundred percent.”

    “And wherever that shakes out at the end of it, we’ll all go back to the shop Monday morning and say let’s go do it again.”

     

  • Jeff Burton Is All Atwitter Over Kwikset Sponsorship and Sweepstakes

    Jeff Burton Is All Atwitter Over Kwikset Sponsorship and Sweepstakes

    Jeff Burton not only has a new sponsor this year in Kwikset, a major manufacturer and supplier of residential locks, but he is also all atwitter over their sweepstakes “I Heart the Mayor.”

    The special Twitter promotion will be ending this weekend at the July 6th Daytona race. In celebration of the sweepstakes finale, Kwikset will be the primary sponsor on the hood of the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet for the Coke Zero 400.

    “Quite simply, any fan can go to www.iHeartTheMayor.com and from there you can send a tweet which goes directly to me,” Burton said. “You hashtag #TweetToWin and then you’re done.”

    “Hopefully you’ll be chosen and the winner will come to Richard Childress Racing for the October race weekend in Charlotte for a behind the scenes tour of how we build our race cars, how we build our engines, and how we get ready to race,” Burton continued. “And then from there the fans will go to the winery and have lunch, which is a very special treat.”

    “Finally the winners will wrap up the weekend as the guests of Kwikset at their VIP hospitality area for the Bank of America 500 race,” Burton said. “They will really get an inside look at the race and at the shop and get to do it in a VIP way.”

    “It’s a neat deal that Kwikset has done and somebody is going to have a really great time.”

    While Burton is atwitter about the sweepstakes and what it may mean to one of his lucky fans, he also is thrilled to have Kwikset come on board as a sponsor, for his team as well as for the sport.

    “Over the years, the economy took a downward turn and we haven’t seen a lot of new companies come in to NASCAR,” Burton said. “So, to have a company like Kwikset come in, a big company with name recognition because people have their product on their front doors, as the primary sponsor at Daytona is good for us and good for the sport.”

    “I’ve been really fortunate in my career to represent some ‘who’s who’ in American business,” Burton continued. “I’ve been blessed with that and this is another example of a company with quality products and cool, innovative stuff that they will talk about this weekend that makes the product more usable.”

    Kwikset also feels fortunate to have a driver like Burton, known for his advocacy for safety, as a spokesperson for their product.

    “Family, safety and innovation are Kwikset’s core tenets,” Greg Gluchowski, President of the Hardware & Home Improvement Group at Spectrum Brands, said. “Once we learned that Jeff had similar passions, we knew this partnership would be beneficial for both parties.”

    “The ‘I Heart the Mayor’ sweepstakes is a fun way for motorsports and Kwikset fans to learn more about our products and Jeff, while also giving them the opportunity to win a once-in-a- lifetime experience.”

    In their special promotion, Kwikset has indeed capitalized on one of their driver’s most notable monikers, ‘Mayor’ of the NASCAR garage area. Burton’s ‘Mayor’ moniker has evolved over time and goes back to one of the darker times in the sport when Dale Earnhardt was tragically killed at Daytona.

    “It all started a long time ago as it related to safety, prior to Dale Earnhardt’s death,” Burton said. “I was working hard and trying to make things happen and when Dale was killed, I was one of the more outspoken in the sport about safety.”

    “We had been working on new seat technology and I was involved in the very first carbon seat brought into NASCAR,” Burton continued. “I ran the very first head surround that is now the rule.”

    “So, I was ahead of the curve and I was willing to talk about it because I knew we had major problems,” Burton said. “Some people thought I was committing professional suicide by doing it but I never felt like that or that I’d wake up with the horse head in my bed so to speak.”

    “Someone had to speak out and be educated about it and I was that person at that time,” Burton continued. “That got me into the media coming to talk to me about difficult things and the topic of the day.”

    “So, that’s what started the ‘Mayor’ label.”

    “I think we always have to stay ahead on safety,” Burton said. “NASCAR has done a phenomenal job on becoming the leader in motorsports as it relates to safety.”

    “In the past they were followers and were reactive but now they are so proactive,” Burton continued. “My role is now to just remind all that we don’t quit and keep on it.”

    While Burton is passionate about his mayoral role and has the ear of the sanctioning body, he also feels that NASCAR needs to pay attention to the voice of the fans as well.

    “I have a good relationship with NASCAR and we talk about ways now to make the sport even better,” Burton said. “We don’t always agree but they always listen and that’s all you can ask.”

    “I think it’s important for our sport,” Burton continued. “We have to have the competitors involved and able to give their opinion but we don’t always need to be listened to.”

    “One of the major problems with other sports in my opinion is that they listen to the athletes and the owners too much instead of listening to the fans,” Burton said. “In our sport, the fans get a vote before I do and I’m OK with that.”

    While Burton has been atwitter about this social media campaign with Kwikset, he has also been pretty pleased about his performance on the track, in spite of not always getting the finishes he and his team would like.

    This past weekend at Kentucky, Burton rebounded from two speeding penalties to run in the top-five until several pit and on-track incidents left him to take the checkered flag in the 19th position.

    “The speeding penalties were just a mistake on our tachometer,” Burton said. “We recovered and got ourselves in the top five.”

    “Then it went downhill quickly after a brush up with Kasey Kahne on pit road and having a hole knocked in the nose,” Burton continued. “So, now instead of being a fifth place car, we were a tenth place car.”

    “And then on the last restart, Ryan Newman and I went three-wide into Turn 3 and Montoya didn’t know we were three-wide,” Burton said. “And we all crashed into each other, I got the right side of my car all torn up, and we went from running ninth to finishing 19th.”

    “It wasn’t a good finish but we did run well,” Burton continued. “We’ve been running well lately and last week I think we could have won the race.”

    “I feel good about what we’re doing but we’re just a little late doing it.”

    Burton is also looking forward to some strategy plate racing at Daytona and hopes to come out of it just a little better than his other experiences so far this year on the superspeedways.

    “Daytona is a little bit of a crap shoot,” Burton said. “You have to miss the wrecks.”

    “It’s just a tough race,” Burton continued. “I’ve been in two restrictor plate races this year and got caught up in two wrecks not of my doing.”

    “Last year, we had an average finish of fifth at plate races and this year we haven’t been able to finish a race because of wrecks,” Burton said. “We’ve just got to go there, put ourselves in position to be running at the end of the race, and then anything can happen.”

    But what Burton hopes most of all this weekend is that his fans take to Twitter, just as he does, and participate in Kwikset’s special sweepstakes.

    “I’ve really become interested in social media and check Twitter at least two or three times a day,” Burton said. “I follow the people that I want to follow and I follow the organizations that I want to follow.”

    “I get a lot of my news through Twitter, following different news and sports outlets,” Burton continued. “I really don’t watch the news anymore because I follow it on Twitter and then investigate it further.”

    “There are some things that are disappointing but overall it’s a very positive outlet and I’ve really been impressed with it.”

    And this race weekend, Burton will be even more closely watching his Twitter feed, especially with the hash tag #TweetToWin as all of his fans have the opportunity to participate for a chance at one of the most unique behind-the-scenes experiences in the sport.

    For more information about Kwikset’s sweepstakes in partnership with Jeff Burton, visit www.iHeartTheMayor.com.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kentucky Quaker State 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Kentucky Quaker State 400

    With a surprising Sunday afternoon race thanks to Mother Nature on Saturday night, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 3rd Annual Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts at Kentucky Speedway.

    Surprising:  Although five-time champion Jimmie Johnson ended up with a top-ten finish, the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet made two surprisingly uncharacteristic mistakes.

    First, Johnson, in a pit road fake out, pulled back on track well in front of the pace car. Although no penalty was issued, this mistake garnered a warning from Race Director David Hoots, who advised Johnson to cease the shenanigans.

    The second mistake came on what has become Johnson’s Achilles heel, a late race restart. After jumping the start and being penalized at the Dover race, Johnson has seemingly been spooked by restarts, this time blaming none other than the race winner for the Kentucky restart miscue.

    “The No. 20 broke the pace car speed, which you aren’t supposed to do,” Johnson said. “I don’t know, we were kind of in an awkward situation in that restart.”

    “And then we were like three and four-wide going in the corner, something happened with the air and it just kind of turned me around,” Johnson continued. “Unfortunate, but at least we rallied back for a good finish.”

    Not Surprising:  With the combination of the race delay to Sunday under the sun and the bumpiness of the track, it was not surprising that a gutsy call from the pit box to stay out on old tires would be the one to win the race. And although it turned out to be a brilliant call, victorious driver Matt Kenseth had his doubts at the time.

    “I didn’t roll the dice, Jason (Ratcliff) did,” Kenseth said. “I thought he was slightly crazy when that happened.”

    “It’s just been an unbelievable season and year of my life honestly,” the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, said. “I didn’t think there was any way that we were going to hold on for that win.”

    “Jason made the right call at the right time and those guys got it done.”

    This was Kenseth’s fourth victory in 2013 and his highest win total since 2006. It was his first victory in three races at Kentucky Speedway.

    Surprising:  Although under sunshine instead of a full moon, there were still some surprisingly strange incidents in the race which unfortunately impacted other drivers who were innocent victims not of their own doing.

    One of the most impacted was Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who after turning in a pole winning qualifying lap, was hit by an errant tire carcass from the Denny Hamlin machine. He did, however, manage to salvage a decent finish in the twelfth spot.

    “Can’t do anything about what happened out on the race track with that casing,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Youth Foundation Chevrolet said. “You just fix it and keep going.”

    “They guys did a good job on pit road all day long working on it and trying to fix everything,” Junior continued. “We did well enough to get a decent finish out of it.”

    The other two drivers impacted through no fault of their own were Brad Keselowski and Greg Biffle. Both drivers were collected in a hard crash caused by Kurt Busch, who admitted that he  ill-advisedly used the apron to try to pass.

    “Wrecks happen,” Keselowski, the driver of the Blue Deuce, said. “There is no reason to drive like an animal but apparently I am the only one that got that memo.”

    “I don’t know what happened,” Biffle said. “I’m sure someone got aggressive or made a mistake or did something to cause that.”

    The issues were costly to both drivers, with Keselowski losing four positions in the point standings, falling to 13th, and Biffle losing three positions to the ninth spot.

    Not Surprising:  With the resurgence of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing continuing, it was not surprising that Jamie McMurray had a pretty good run at Kentucky. In fact, the driver of the No. 1 Hellmann’s Chevrolet scored the runner up position when the checkered flag flew.

    “Yes, it was a really good day for us,” McMurray said. “We’ve had really quick cars for the last two months but had really unfortunate luck.”

    “So, it’s cool to have a really good run.”

    This was McMurray’s first top-ten finish in three races at Kentucky and his fourth top-ten finish in 2013.

    Surprising:  Denny Hamlin had a surprisingly bad day at Kentucky, hitting the wall after his tire blew. While Hamlin has been struggling with back issues, this time he surprisingly had his bell rung instead and was held in the infield care center to evaluate if he had had a concussion.

    Hamlin’s heavy hit was also costly, with a 35th place finish, leaving him in the 25th position in the point standings, well out of current Chase contention.

    “Definitely have to proceed on,” Hamlin said. “Hopefully, at least something to build off of even though we didn’t have a good finish.”

    Not Surprising:   Clint Bowyer continued to impress, scoring his sixth top-five finish for the season. The driver of the No. 15 Camry 30th Anniversary Toyota took the checkered flag in third at Kentucky, getting ever so close to that first win of the season.

    “Good day for us,” Bowyer said. “Obviously when you get that close at the end you can smell a chance at the win – just not our day yet.”

    Surprising:  In spite of getting trapped on pit road when a caution flew yet again, four-time champion Jeff Gordon managed to overcome and salvage a top-ten finish at the end of the day.

    “We had an awesome fast Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, that is for sure,” Gordon said. “I think we passed more cars than anybody.”

    “These pit stops just aren’t going our way,” Gordon continued. “You just have to keep working hard at it and hope they fall your way eventually.”

    Not Surprising:  Just as Dale Earnhardt Jr. got lucky in qualifying by catching a cloud, Kyle Busch was searching all race day for the same. Busch rebounded from an early race spin to finish in the fifth position in his No. 18 Doublemint Toyota Camry.

    “Anytime I got cloud cover, I could pick up three-tenths of a second,” Busch said. “It was a stupid amount of time I could pick up and then I go down into the next corner and the sun is back and then you’re wrecking loose.”

    “We persevered and came home fifth,” Busch continued. “We can take that effort and go into next week.”

    Surprising:  The end of one driver’s record was the beginning of another driver’s redemption. Bobby Labonte’s streak of 704 consecutive starts came to an end at Kentucky Speedway and the Quaker State 400 marked the first race since 1978 in which there was no driver named Labonte.

    While Bobby Labonte sat on the sidelines, the replacement driver in the No. 47 Scott Products Toyota, AJ Allmendinger, had his own comeback moment at Kentucky. The ‘Dinger, who had tested positive for substance abuse one year ago at Kentucky came back and finished 22nd for JTG-Daugherty Racing.

    Not Surprising:  At a track where he has won three straight Nationwide Series races, all coming from the pole, it was not surprising to see Joey Logano have a top-five finish at Kentucky Speedway. And this young driver, behind the wheel of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford was wishing for just one more caution in which he was convinced he could have gotten to Victory Lane.

    “I felt like we were good enough to win for a little bit,” Logano said. “We were sitting pretty in fourth when the caution came out and that usually puts you second or third.”

    “I was hoping for one more caution because I thought I would be in the cat-bird seat if that happened.”

    Surprising:  After winning at Sonoma and predicting his winning ways would continue, Martin Truex Jr. took an ill-handling car and managed a surprisingly good top ten finish.

    “We dodged a lot of bullets,” the driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota said. “We didn’t have a very good car.”

    “We just never could get the car in the race track and I feel lucky to finish where we did,” Truex Jr. continued. “These are the kind of days that we need when we don’t have a good car – to persevere, fight through it and get a top-ten.”

    Not Surprising:  After running so well this season and being second in the point standings to none other than five-time champ Jimmie Johnson, it was no wonder that Carl Edwards was confused after finishing 21st in the race at Kentucky.

    “Man, I don’t understand what happened,” the driver of the No. 99 UPS Ford Fusion said. “We were terrible at the end.”

    “I just couldn’t make anything happen,” Edwards continued. “We’re going to have to try to figure that out.”

    “We were feeling really good and having a good time out there for a while but it turned out terribly,” Edwards continued. “I guess that is the way it goes.”

  • Busch and Keselowski Trying to “Cash-In” on their Previous Success at Kentucky

    Busch and Keselowski Trying to “Cash-In” on their Previous Success at Kentucky

    NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, KY this weekend for races in all of NASCAR’S top three touring series.  Kentucky has hosted each of these series in past years beginning with the Camping World Truck Series in 2000 and most recently the Sprint Cup Series in 2011.

    Saturday’s Sprint Cup Series race, the Quaker State 400, will be the third Sprint Cup Series race ever held in the Blue Grass State.  The Cup Series inaugural race at Kentucky Speedway was the 2011 Quaker State 400.  Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Kyle Busch, claimed victory of the historical event.

    Success is no stranger to Busch at Kentucky.  He has experience racing at Kentucky Speedway in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and the ARCA Racing Series.  He has been to victory lane four times, once from each series.

    When asked if he can put his finger on why he has been so good at Kentucky in all divisions, Busch said, “I can’t actually, but I can remember going there for the first time back in 2003 and it was my second-ever ARCA race and first time on a 1.5 mile oval.  It was a big deal, and it was a fast racetrack and I ended up winning that weekend.  I had to do some maneuvering around Frank Kimmel to win.  It wasn’t easy.  But since then, going there in Nationwide and being fast there every time, and going back to race when Sprint Cup didn’t have a date, yet, just getting your feet wet for when that opportunity came when Sprint Cup did go there.  When we went with the Cup car, we were fast right when we unloaded.  Dave Rogers was my crew chief and he had won there several times as a Nationwide crew chief prior to that and had a lot of notes to understand what it took to get around Kentucky, and we ended up winning the first Cup race there.”

    Busch is running races in all three NASCAR divisions this weekend.  His No. 51 ToyotaCare Toyota had a third place finish in the Camping World Truck Series Thursday night, and he finished fifth in the Nationwide Series Feed the Children 300 on Friday night.  The Quaker State 400 will be Busch’s third race of the weekend.  He will be starting in fourth position Saturday night in his No. 18 Doublemint Toyota.

    Last year’s winner of the Quaker State 400, Brad Keselowski, is also running all three NASCAR division races this weekend.  The weekend has proven to be successful for Keselowski thus far with the first two races already completed.  He earned a second place finish Thursday night in the Camping World Truck Series UNOH 225, and won the Nationwide Series Feed the Children 300 Friday night after the race was called for rain.  Keselowksi’s Miller Lite Ford will be starting the final race of the weekend in eighth position.

    When asked why Kentucky fits him well, Keselowski responded, “I think one of the things I like about Kentucky is that it is one of the few tracks that I have always felt kind of heads up to the field.  I guess to elaborate on that, it is my fourth year in the Sprint Cup and in some ways it feels like I have been here forever and in some ways it feels like I haven’t.  When you go to tracks like Texas and Atlanta and places like that where there are a fair amount of drivers with more experience that I do, I always feel like I am that one little step behind.  Here at Kentucky there is no driver that has more experience than me.  We are on an even footing all the way.  In fact, if anything, I feel like I might be slightly up because I have a couple more Nationwide starts and so forth.  I think that leads to some of my comfort here.”

    Being the first two drivers to win a Cup series race at Kentucky and being the only two drivers to enter all three races this weekend, Busch and Keselowski will have their final chance to “cash-in” on their previous success and extra track exposure Saturday night with the 2013 Quaker State 400.

     

  • Quaker State 400 Quick Facts Preview

    Quaker State 400 Quick Facts Preview

    NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to the Blue Grass State this weekend for the seventeenth race of the 2013 points season, the Quaker State 400, held on Saturday June 29th at Kentucky Speedway.

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series have had Kentucky on their race schedule since 2000 and 2001, respectively.

    This weekend marks the Sprint Cup Series third race at this one and a half mile oval track.

    Forty three cars will take the green Saturday night for the fourth night race so far this points season.

    Driver of the No. 18 Doublemint Toyota, Kyle Busch, was the inaugural winner at Kentucky claiming victory of the 2011 Quaker State 400.

    Busch has racing experience at Kentucky Speedway in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and the ARCA Racing Series.

    Busch’s success at Kentucky includes one win in each of those stock car racing divisions.

    In his two Cup Series starts at Kentucky, Busch has one victory and two top-10 finishes.  He holds the record for most laps led with 243 laps.

    The runner up for most laps led, who also has one win and two top-10 finishes at Kentucky is Penske Racing driver, Brad Keselowski.

    Keselowksi was winner of Friday night’s rain shortened Feed the Children 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

    Other drivers that typically run well at Kentucky,   who are tied with Busch and Keselowski for most top-10 finishes are Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Matt Kenseth.

    Along with his two top-10 finishes Johnson has led a total of 21 laps at Kentucky.

    Drivers will take the green for the 2013 Quaker State 400 Saturday night at 7:30 pm at Kentucky Speedway.

  • Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 14 Quaker State 400 – Kentucky Speedway – June 29, 2013

    Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 14 Quaker State 400 – Kentucky Speedway – June 29, 2013

    To the Bluegrass State we go this week for just the 3rd time in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history. Kentucky was the race which took away one of the two races at Atlanta Motor Speedway back in 2011. Kentucky is a relatively new track, unlike some of the storied tracks like Martinsville Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Daytona, and Bristol Motor Speedway, really a baby on the list of tracks. It’s 13 years old now and has hosted NASCAR events since 2001, mainly Nationwide and Truck series events, but this is one of just a few weekends where the trucks, Nationwide, and Cup guys are at the same place all in the same weekend. The track is located smack dab in the middle of Louisville and Cincinnati – about an hour away from each, located just off of I-71 in Sparta, Kentucky.

    As far as the track itself, it might be the cookie-cutter of all cookie cutters. With just 14 degrees of banking in the corners, it’s the flattest of any of the 1.5 mile tri-ovals on the schedule. Both 400-mile races have produced a total of 10 cautions in the two years of races, so it’s not my favorite stop on the schedule, but it is a night race which always add a certain element of excitement for any race.

    I had the opportunity to cover the inaugural Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway in 2011, and was impressed with everything but the parking situation at the track. It’s a fantastic facility and another one of Bruton Smith’s gems.

    Sonoma Recap

    I’m not sure how many folks had Martin Truex Jr. on their list of potential race winners last week at Sonoma, but what a shot in the arm that win was for Truex, the No. 56 team, and Michael Waltrip Racing as a whole. A 200+ race drought was snapped last week with Truex’s second career victory, and the win couldn’t come at a better time as we make the downturn towards Richmond in September. The win lifted Truex to 10th in points and with the Wild Card race heating up amongst guys like Brad Kesolowski, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart – 4 of the big hitters on the tour – the win really boosts Truex’s chances of making the Chase in a couple months.

    As for my picks, Juan ran out of gas after racing in the top 5 all day, and Jamie McMurray suffered a flat tire on lap 74 of 110 and finished 25th…the story of my season so far.

    Kentucky Picks

    Winner Pick
    One can not go to Kentucky Speedway without looking at Kyle Busch as the true front-runner for the win on Saturday night. It was a tough week for Kyle at Sonoma last week, and he certainly had a lot to say about it on Twitter following the race last Sunday. I pulled out the popcorn for the entertainment Sunday night as folks poked the bear without knowing we were headed to the place where Kyle has led over 45% of the laps ever run, leads the series in average running position at 3.6, has set a series-high fast laps at 92, and also leads the series in Driver Rating at an incredible 133.0. Kyle has won in every major stock car series at Kentucky Speedway including the Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and the ARCA series, and will roll off 4th tonight when the green flag drops. He was fast in both practices as expected, and will be the guy to watch later this evening.

    Dark Horse Pick

    On Thursday, I picked Joey Logano as my dark horse guy this week, and it’s a pick which looks even better after the cars have hit the track and the starting grid has been set. Logano will start 11th tonight at Kentucky, and was in the top 20 in both practice sessions earlier in the day on Friday. He’s a solid sleeper pick this week because of his three-straight NASCAR Nationwide Series Victories from 2008 to 2010, and has put himself in position for a solid finish by starting tonight’s Quaker State 400 just outside the Top-10.

    That’s all for this week, so until we put the plates on for the 3rd time this season…..You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

  • Danica Patrick stays positive amidst criticism

    Danica Patrick stays positive amidst criticism

    Danica Patrick is one of NASCAR’s most polarizing drivers. Since her move to NASCAR, she has been the center of attention. She has many fans, but also many critics. It also seems that some members of the media try to make her a story, for everything she does, no matter how insignificant. This past week someone even tried to make it a bog deal that she was seen getting out of a Ford street car, though she is a Chevy driver.

    Her name was thrust back into the spotlight again this week, when former NASCAR driver turned TV analyst, Kyle Petty, made some comments about her.

    During a Speed interview with Matt Clark, Petty said, “Danica has been the perfect example of somebody who can qualify better than she runs. She can go fast, but she can’t race. I think she’s come a long way, but she’s still not a race car driver and I don’t think she is ever going to be a race car driver.”

    Clark followed up by asking why she wouldn’t be a driver in his opinion, Petty replied, “…too late to learn.” Petty made no bones about the fact that he, himself was not a great driver saying, “I was not a great driver, and I’ll be the first to admit it. I was a journeyman driver.”

    At least Petty is consistent with his comments. In 2010, he had very similar comments towards the Go Daddy driver. When Patrick was announced as the driver of the No. 7 Go Daddy Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series, Petty said, “If she gets in that car and doesn’t win races, it’s not the car, it’s not the engines, it’s not the team. They only changed one thing. Initially, she’ll have an impact on the sport. If she’s successful, she’ll have a long term impact on the sport.” He went to compare her to other open wheel drivers who have made their way to NASCAR, saying, “Juan Montoya is probably, car control wise, one of the most amazing human beings you’ve ever seen in a car and he struggled for three years at this level, and she’s not Juan Pablo Montoya.”

    On Friday, Patrick had a scheduled press conference at Kentucky Motor Speedway, of course the Petty comments were a major topic of discussion. Patrick did an excellent job handling those questions. When asked if she knew about Kyle Petty’s comments, she replied, “Read it, yes. I just think it’s funny how he said I could qualify, but I can’t race because those of you who actually watch what I do know I can’t qualify for crap. In the race things go much better.”

    Patrick seems to be right on this account, her average starting position this season has been 32.0, but her average finishing position is 25.8. An indication that she races a little better than she qualifies.

    When she was asked if it mattered to her what people said about her and if it motivates her if someone speaks negative of her, Patrick said, “Thanks (Kyle) for motivating me. I really don’t care, I don’t, it’s true that there are plenty of people who say really bad things about me, I hear about them or I read about them on Twitter. People want me to die. At the end of the day, you just get over that kind of stuff and all you can do is trust that you’re doing a good job and that’s all that matters and the people around you believe in you.”

    She also took time to explain why she was driving a Ford street car last week. “For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you would have seen that it was taking a really long time to get into the track, and he (boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse) had a team meeting at the top of the hill. That was a long walk and he was going to be late if we parked down in the paddock area, so being the nice girlfriend that I am, I said I would just drive the car down and park it and you get on with your meetings. So it was as simple as that.”

    Patrick obviously gets over-hyped by a large portion of the media. We should keep in mind that she has only started 26 races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. She is a rookie. Rookies struggle, they wreck cars and have a lot to learn especially on tracks they have never been to before. This is, however, the premier stock car series in the world.

    After a conversation on social media on Friday, I decided to compare her stats to another NASCAR driver. At first I wanted to pick a driver with a similar background, but someone said she should be compared to other NASCAR drivers for a fair comparison, not someone who came from open wheel. So I decided to make it tough. I picked a driver who a proven he could win in other NASCAR series, then made the huge step into the Sprint Cup Series. I chose Travis Kvapil. Travis won the Camping World Truck Series championship in 2003. In 143 starts, Travis compiled nine wins, 51 top-5’s and 85 top-10’s. A pretty impressive resume’.

    Travis made the jump to Sprint Cup in 2005 after 96 of those truck series starts and of course the championship. An obvious proven driver in a NASCAR series. So let’s compare:

    Travis Kvapil first full season in Sprint Cup:

    Starts – 36, Poles – 0, Top 5 – 0, Top 10 – 2. Laps led – 36, RAF – 29, Final position in points – 33rd

    Danica Patrick Cup career (two partial seasons) so far:

    Starts – 26, Poles – 1, Top 5 – 0, Top 10 – 1, Laps led-5, RAF-22, Position in points (16 races) – 27th

    The two drivers compared pretty close. One stat that needs to be noted is – Running at Finish (RAF). This is one of the most crucial stats for a rookie. Keeping the car in the race is a very important first step becoming a successful driver.

    When assessing Patrick, we also must consider the fact that until recently, her team, Stewart-Haas Racing, has also struggled. Her teammate, Ryan Newman, has 420 starts in the series and this season only has an average starting position of 18.9 and an average finishing position of 18.2. Not considerably better, given how much more experience he has. Newman is a proven performer, he has a total of 16 wins, and 173 top-10’s.

    The team will get better, without a doubt. Will Patrick get better? Only time will tell. One thing she has definitely learned, is how to play the media game and to not let negativity affect her.

  • Track surface a hot topic at Kentucky

    Track surface a hot topic at Kentucky

    Kentucky Motor Speedway has only been on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule for three years. The 1.5 mile speedway, however, has been in operation since 2000. As with any racetrack, the racing surface ages and changes due to environmental factors such as weather.

    This weekend the track’s surface became a hot topic in the garage area. Drivers were commenting on the condition and “raceability” of the speedway nestled in northern Kentucky.

    The most recent winner on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Martin Truex Jr. asked about the bumps at Kentucky replied saying, “The bumps, yes – it’s so rough. So difficult with these cars to get them working. We’re on bump stops. The splitter is very close to the ground in these cars.” continuing, “It’s kind of a fun to be able to do that. Definitely a cool place to race, for sure. Very, very challenging obviously. It’s a good place to race – I enjoy it.”

    Truex was also asked if there could be more passing than in previous years. Truex commented, “That’s directly related to the banking on the track, the bumps on the track, There’s just not a lot of grip up high. Right now today, if you got out of the black it was pretty treacherous.”

    Truex also had the same opinion of many other drivers, that he would not want it re-paved. “You hate to even say the word re-pave. I hate to say it because I’m not a big fan of re-paves.”

    Richard Childress Racing driver, Kevin Harvick, who was fastest in first practice on Friday, was asked if had noticed any change in the surface this year. Harvick replied, “No, the track surface is pretty consistent. This is just a really rough race track. There is nothing wrong with the race track; it is just rough. We’d rather see a rough race track than a re-paved race track. I don’t feel that we had much difference from last year.”

    Harvick’s Budweiser team used one of the four test permitted by NASCAR to test here at Kentucky, and was probably a major factor in the speed the team showed here on Friday. Harvick pointed out the reason he believes the decided to test here saying, “This one doesn’t really fall into much (comparing with other tracks) but we hadn’t run very well here, so I think that was probably why they decided to come here.”

    Another point of discussion has been turn three and how hard it is to get into that corner without having a problem. Harvick said, “Turn three is just really flat getting into the corner, so you kind of drive into the banking and it progressively gets a little bit more as you come off of the corner. It’s really flat there, and you are carrying a lot of speed. You just wind up being loose into the corner for the most part. As you go through the weekend that will be the toughest part to navigate for sure.”

    Many times we see the tracks with rougher surfaces and less grip produce better racing. When tracks are re-paved they are smooth and have a lot of grip. That leads to one groove racing. Ideally, we could see a fantastic race at Kentucky if we couple the rough surface with a tire that falls off a lot during a fuel run.

    When lap times fall off one to two seconds during a run, a driver must move around, try different grooves in search for grip. This tends to lead to teams being on different strategies, and drivers having to “get up on the wheel” and drive. Some cars are falling back, while others with new tires are coming to the front. In these situations, the drivers ability comes into play much more, putting more emphasis on talent and less on aerodynamic downforce.

    All of these factors are a recipe for a much more exciting race. The Quaker State 400 will go green Saturday night at 7:30pm local time.