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The Final Word – What I want from the 2015 NASCAR season

A new season, new hopes, new drivers, old drivers with new teams, and a whole lot of things I want to see come out of 2015.

I want Danica Patrick to do well. In the words of the classic song by Melanie, she has done alright for a girl, but it is time to expect more.

I want Dale Earnhardt Jr. to build on last season’s exploits, to win, to gel with his new crew chief.

I want Jeff Gordon to go out with a bang.

I want Jimmie Johnson to challenge for seven.

I want Brian Vickers to get well and to get back to where he belongs.

I want a season without outside drama for Tony Stewart and a return to success on the track.

I want to see Jeb Burton challenging the Danica Line, to be in a ride good enough to earn a minimum of 700 points over the season.

I want Kurt Busch to be known for his awesome talent and his outstanding character, on and off the track. Okay, he can be feisty…just not a weasel.

I want Kyle Busch to convert his early race dominance into late race victories in Cup, and to realize that by running an average of 25 Xfinity races per season he robs an up-and-comer of valuable seat time.

I want to thank Matt Kenseth. A five race schedule on the junior circuit is more than enough for an established Cup star and former champion.

I want Jamie McMurray to do well. He has all the tools to be a star, but not the results.

I want Martin Truex Jr. to bring Furniture Row racing back to the heights they enjoyed when Kurt was behind the wheel.

I want good seasons for Richard Petty, Michael Waltrip and Richard Childress and all who sail with them.

I want people to remember that Kasey Kahne also drives for Rick Hendrick.

I want Kevin Harvick to stand tall in defending his championship, with Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle in the mix. I want the best to be among the best.

I want more entries that matter. There are 28 who manage to average a 25th place result over the course of the season or better, but there is room for at least one more to break through, to contend rather than just participate.

I want a season where cars can pass, that the only thing keeping them from doing so is the quality of the ride and his (or her) ability.

I want to hear broadcasters who can take me on a three or four hour escape, who through their talents make even a dull race good, and a good one great.

I want no races lost due to Fox Sports not being picked up by cable companies in Canada. We already have to do without the ARCA race from Daytona. So, please, no rain outs.

I want Steve Byrnes back.

February 9, 2015
The Final Word – The Countdown to the New Season is Down to Single Digits

The countdown has begun to the start of a new season, with less than ten days to go before the Sprint Unlimited exhibition race at Daytona. A new campaign, some new teams and some new expectations.

Stewart-Haas had a year of mixed results in 2014. Kevin Harvick has his crown, but I think if you claim one championship you might like to claim another. Hey, it works for Jimmie Johnson. His boss, Tony Stewart, has three, but just having a year without the drama would be a Godsend. Kurt Busch won a race, which placed him in the Chase, but he actually was not even as good as Austin Dillon, Paul Menard, or Brian Vickers over the course of the season. He needs to show this year as to why Gene Haas spent the big money to bring him into the stable.

Danica Patrick must do well. I hear that, I believe that should be so, but I am not so convinced the bloom is off the rose just yet. With the big money funding, a solid organization behind her, and the media attention she gets, I do not believe she needs to be anything more than the novelty she already is. Being the best female driver in NASCAR history might still be enough, but results better than those of, say, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. should be expected as the soon-to-be 33-year-old embarks on her third full season.

Kasey Kahne turns 35 this spring and probably is considered the little guy at the big boys table at Hendrick by some. Seventeen wins over his career, including six in the past four years, argues otherwise. The only reason Kahne is not more front and center is due to having teammates who have either won the title multiple times or who happens to be the sports most popular performer. Even Harvick and Stewart would be considered fourth on the depth chart on this outfit.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a new crew chief. After matching his win totals of the previous nine seasons in 2014, Junior has Greg Ives on the box after Steve Letarte left for the broadcast booth. The 40-year-old needs to repeat what he did in 2014, as 23 Cup wins, 23 more on the junior circuit, two Daytona 500 wins, five Talladega celebrations, and a dozen straight Most Popular Driver of the Year nods might not be enough to make the Hall…in 2030.

2015 marks the final full-time season for Jeff Gordon. You better enjoy it, as he will not be eligible for the Hall of Fame until at least 2023. That would mark 30 years since he began his career, which is one qualification. If he has to wait until he is 55, that would be in 2027. Gone is the former three years in retirement qualification, as of this year. This alone causes me to expect more tinkering to the qualification rules between now and then.

Trevor Bayne has a Daytona 500 to his credit, and not much else over the past four seasons. He leaves his part-time job driving for the Wood Brothers to a full-time gig with Roush Fenway. Bayne turns 24 the day they run the Duels at Daytona, with hopes of taking Mark Martin’s old No. 6 ride back to the front. The question is, does he and teammates Greg Biffle and Stenhouse represent an organization on the rise?

Bayne takes the place of Carl Edwards, who hopes to realize that first championship with his move. Twice he has been the season’s runner-up, as the 35-year-old seeks some greener grass on Joe Gibbs’ side of the fence. Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth are a pretty good trio of teammates to roll with. Without question, one of NASCAR’s Big Three organizations, along with Hendrick and Stewart-Haas.

Or should that be Big Four? Penske is just a two car outfit, but with Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano on the reins their wagons can make something happen. Both finished amongst the season’s Top Five, combining for 11 victories last year. Yes, Big Four is more like it.

Is there anyone to make it a Big Five? Childress has youth in Austin Dillon, with brother Ty waiting in the wings. They have experience in Ryan Newman, who was just one point behind Harvick when the smoke cleared at Homestead last November. Then there is Paul Menard, who has yet to crack the season’s Top Fifteen in his career, the past four with Childress. On the positive side, he does come complete with a sponsor. Is that enough?

Michael Waltrip’s crew once was considered a top flight team, until the wings came off. Martin Truex Jr. found himself with Furniture Row, where their gains with Kurt Busch disappeared with his replacement. Brian Vickers is on the mend with a heart issue, so he will require a temporary replacement. As for Clint Bowyer, Captain Skid dropped to 19th in the season rankings after being the runner-up in 2012 and seventh the season after. Bowyer is locked in for another three years, but will they be the best of times, or the worst of times?

Ganassi has 22-year old Kyle Larson, who just missed the Chase in his rookie season, along with veteran Jamie McMurray. Am I the only one who thinks this team should have been, and should be, more successful? McMurray has only seven wins over 13 seasons, but where he won is impressive. Two came at Daytona, including the 500 in 2010, two at Talladega, two at Charlotte, as well as the Brickyard 400. Not enough to make one a contender, but certainly one who gets remembered.

You cannot forget Petty, if only for the guy the outfit is named after. Aric Almirola is back, after a single win got him into the Chase…for three races. That victory was just one of five the team has had over six seasons. Coming in is Sam Hornish Jr. who, in 239 NASCAR races in all three top series, has just three wins on the junior circuit. Two of them came over his last 39 races run there over the past two campaigns. Let us not forget his 19 IndyCar wins between 2001 and 2007, including the 2006 Indianapolis 500. Does that get one excited? Sadly, not much.

Maybe the biggest move comes off the track. Gone is ESPN. Thank God Almighty. FOX returns, with NBC taking over the second half of the season. Mike Joy is a good lap-by-lap announcer, while Rick Allen is even better. While he may have a few detractors, I enjoy Darrell Waltrip, along with Larry McReynolds, providing color analysis. I think Steve Letarte will be even better though, surprisingly, Jeff Burton may be the weak link until he smooths out his delivery. Still, he has a few months to work on it. All are infinitely better than the ESPN crew, and that works for me.

It all begins on Saturday, February 14th with the Sprint Unlimited from Daytona on FOX. Dare I say it, “Boogity, Boogity, Boogity.” Sorry, I just could not resist.

February 4, 2015
Stewart Haas Racing – Looking For Less Controversy and a Healthy Tony Stewart

Charlotte, NC – Kevin Harvick is ready to defend his first Sprint Cup Championship title. The assembled media met with Stewart-Haas Racing drivers on Tuesday afternoon and the defending champion was confident and ready to start the 2015 season. After 13 years of frustration, Harvick can relax, but not too much.

“The pressure’s definitely off,” Harvick said. “There’s not that pressure of being that guy who was so close to winning championships and had not won one. To be able to accomplish that and take that pressure off is a really good thing because that’s really what we wanted to accomplish in coming over here. So to be fortunate enough to be able to do that is definitely a sense of relief, and now you’ve been through it, you understand it, you know the feelings, the emotions and the things that you’ve been through, and hopefully that leads to that chest full of experience that you carry around with you to just put another tool in that chest to hopefully win more.”

Harvick came to Stewart-Haas from Richard Childress Racing. Though he is nicknamed “Happy,” the frustration of his last year there reared its ugly head during the 2013 season. At a Camping World Truck race at Martinsville, Harvick got in some on-track beating and banging with Ty Dillon, Childress’ grandson, and made some comments that weren’t complimentary to Dillon. He left RCR on good terms, but wasn’t interested in being comfortable after making the change

“I didn’t want to be comfortable,” Harvick said. “I wanted to experience what we experienced last year, and sometimes you have to make some bold or hard decisions in order to make things like this happen. So for me, I’m as comfortable as I’ve ever been.”

Team co-owner Tony Stewart has faced adversity over the last two years. First a sprint car accident that left him with a broken leg and a shortened season, then the poor performance on track and the horrible accident in another sprint car in New York in which a young man died. From the looks of things, Stewart was more himself which has to be good news for the organization.

“As soon as the calendar flipped to 2015, I put the rest of it behind me and I’m not looking back,” Stewart said. “I’m not looking back at all. I’m looking forward and focused on what we’ve got coming up. Physically, even after the surgery Dec. 1, this is the best I’ve felt since the accident two years ago,” Stewart said.

The big question for all the drivers, Stewart included, is how the new rules package will feel to them when in the cockpit. Stewart had no answer.

“I have no idea if it’s going to feel better or worse,” Stewart said. “But you know what? I go back to all the years we’ve raced so many different types of cars. You were always having to adapt to it, anyways. So I don’t think this is going to be any different than what we’ve done in the past. It’s just a matter of finding out that feel that we want in the car right away.”

Kurt Busch said he was eager to start the season and have the best run of his life. He also wants to get the domestic violence case behind him so he can concentrate on racing.

“I feel like 2015 can be the best year that I have ever had with the situation with (crew chief) Tony Gibson and being the second year with the team,” Busch said. “My years of experience with teams in the second year have always produced the best result.”

Whether Busch is allowed to race this season will likely depend on the outcome of the case. Gene Haas, who handpicked Busch to drive a car sponsored by Haas, said he believes Busch’s testimony and that he will be exonerated. Haas said he hasn’t considered suspending his driver.

“Domestic violence is very serious, but at the same time I do believe in due process,” team co-owner Gene Haas said. “At the same time, I feel there can be abuses to the system, too.”

January 28, 2015
Odds and Ends as the New NASCAR Season Prepares to Crank it Over

A new season, with a new defending champion, will be soon upon us. Kevin Harvick and the rest of the boys, and girl, will be in Daytona in less than a month to kick things off. According to Jayski, 43 teams have dreams of running full-time in 2015, with more than a dozen seeing drivers with new crew chiefs, and a handful of wheel men changing seats.

Former Daytona winner Trevor Bayne goes full-time with Roush, returning in Mark Martin’s old No. 6. Sam Hornish Jr. makes a return to Cup driving the Petty No. 9. Carl Edwards moves on to Gibbs and the No. 19. Brian Vickers is out of Waltrip’s No. 55 until he mends from a heart repair. Nineteen-year-old Chase Elliot should get some seat time with Hendrick, while driving for Junior in the minor series. In the trucks, Junior will have soon-to-be 17-year-old Cole Custer running about 10 races. Cole Custer. If that isn’t the best damned name in NASCAR, I don’t know what is.

Danica Patrick will be back. She will continue to be back regardless as to what she does, or does not do on the track, as long as fans and sponsors love her and pay her way. You could say she is a lot like Dale Earnhardt Jr. in that way, albeit minus the iconic father, the two Daytona 500 wins, five Talladega triumphs, 23 career victories, and seven appearances in the season’s top ten rankings.

As I mentioned, while Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus continue their most successful racing marriage, others will be in new relationships. Danica, Junior, and Cousin Carl will be amongst those with new crew chiefs. So will Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr. and both Busch brothers. That could prove interesting, especially in the early going.

Some get going, some get gone, and sometimes somebody is not happy the ways things turned out. As none of us were witness to the alleged altercation between Kurt Busch and his ex, we are left following along the court case. To be honest, as long as the guy is shown not to be a menace to society, as long as what may have happened is all that may have happened, I really do not care. As much as it is serious business for the principles involved, it is nothing more than a sideline event for the rest of us. An outcome to take notice of if we so wish, but not much more.

It would be nice to owe millions, if only for having the chance to have spent millions in the first place. We try to live within our means, so that means my family is not bogged down in debt. Still, it would be nice to know that if I completely blew it there might be a bank or two willing to forgive millions in loans they gave me. It must be sweet to be in a position to forgive such a loan.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame has been a white elephant from the beginning, with even its location suspect. It would seem the 25 minute drive from the track in Concord to downtown Charlotte is a trek many are not interested in making. Even the Daytona Experience, rejected as a site for the Hall, closed its doors and it was located right beside that track. I understand it will re-open again next year as the home of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. That is irony. Oh well, all is forgiven, I guess, to the tune of nearly $20 million. Now if they can only attract some paying customers, or the Convention Center there might wind up with tons of space for it to expand.

It would be nice to say the new season means a change in the seasons, but for those of us in the lands of snow and ice, it does not. At least it gives us an idea what clear pavement, green grass, and shirt sleeves might look like. That, and a return of our favorite drivers, is good enough.

January 13, 2015
The Least Successful Sprint Cup Driver of 2014 is…

For some, 2014 was a damn good year. Kevin Harvick won five and the title. Brad Keselowski led the way with six victories, with Joey Logano also a five-time victor. The Hendrick power trio of Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson all had four apiece, as all six listed here with 20 or more Top Tens while winning 28 of the 36 events. Unfortunately, this is not about those who did well.

There were those who put on the fire suits, got to be among the big boys, but when it came time to go they might have been best suited to go down the road instead of the track. Instead of being competitors, they were lucky to be participants, saddled in entries that had no hope of being anywhere near the front. However, this is all about misery, no bright spots allowed. To be eligible as our least successful driver one would have had to have attempted to qualify in at least 15 races and average a finish of 30th or worst.

That means no Danica Patrick to be found here. Even failing to qualify twice and finishing outside the Top 40 four times could not get Landon Cassill included, thanks to a fourth place finish at Talladega in the fall. In fact, even a single Top Ten excludes one from inclusion, and so we take Travis Kvapil and Michael McDowell out of the mix.

Ryan Truex was a contender to be the top pretender. It went sour fast in B.K. Racing’s No. 83 Toyota when he failed to qualify at Daytona. In fact, in attempting to make 26 of the first 27 races of the season, they missed three, finished 20th at the second Pocono race, with 30th in a Martinsville race the next best. After seven times outside the Top 40, they parted company after Chicago. Still, not bad enough for us.

The car was not parked, as J.J. Yeley was blessed to take it over. He already had some adventures driving the No. 44 Chevy of Johnathan Cohen. They withdrew four times, failed to qualify for four more, and were in the bottom 10 the other six. Three with Frank Stoddard left him outside the Top 30 every time, and in nine outings driving the illustrious No. 83 Yeley did manage to finish 29th once. Still, bad but not bad enough.

Joe Nemechek attempted the first dozen Cup races of 2014. Driving mostly for Jay Robinson in the No. 66 Toyota, but also for himself, he missed four of them, was 40th or worse in three, with a 31st in Kansas the best of the bunch. Later in the year, he came up empty at both Daytona and Talladega, with a 30th at Watkins Glen by far his best outcome in his final nine attempts. Still, not futile enough.

I am not sure what motivates a professional driver to take a ride that most likely will not be successful, despite his best efforts. A love for the sport, a willingness to help an outfit get started, an opportunity to pick up a few bucks with minimal effort, or all of the above. Randy Humphrey, a former partner of Phil Parsons and then Mark Smith, formed his own operation a year ago, hiring veteran crew chief Peter Sospenzo on the box and Dave Blaney behind the wheel.

They went to the track in hopes of getting their No. 77 Ford into Daytona, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Bristol to open the season. Each time the car was back in the trailer when the green flag waved. In fact, they withdrew before qualifying at Daytona, did the same at Fontana and Martinsville, though they made the race at Texas, finishing 41st, before winding up dead last at Darlington.

That proved to be better than the results at Richmond, Talladega, Kansas, and Charlotte, when they were left heading down the road a day or two early. Thirty-third at Dover was the high water mark for the car, as they followed up that effort coming in dead last at Pocono. I am not sure what they paid to sponsor the entry at Daytona but Plinker Arms, a firearm production company, might have better advertised their product by using it to put this entry out of its misery. Such are the trails and tribulations of starting up a new team.

After all that excitement, Blaney moved over to Tommy Baldwin’s No. 37 Chevy, where he was 26th at the second run at Pocono, 33rd at Michigan, then concluded his Cup campaign last at Bristol. When the season was over, he had four withdrawals prior to qualifying and seven failed qualifying attempts, to go with three finishes of dead last in seven attempts. Combined with results of 26th, 33rd (twice), and 41st in the other four, Dave Blaney is our least successful Cup driver of 2014.

While the 52-year-old Blaney has no plans to run Cup in 2015, he will be keeping busy racing dirt this season and working with his 21-year-old son Ryan. The kid will race some Cup this year with the Wood Brothers and hopes to add to his two victory total in the Xfinity Series with Team Penske. Maybe the least successful Cup driver of 2014, but arguably its most successful father. I think Dave Blaney might be more than content with that distinction.

January 9, 2015
Hot 20 – The Elimination Format was Good, but an Actual Five Race Post-Season Even Better

Over the course of the season, Jeff Gordon was the top driver of 2014. However, NASCAR has not determined its champion using the results of the entire campaign for more than a decade. They want excitement, drama, unpredictability. They want what the other big boy sports have, and when they waved the flag to start the season finale, four drivers had an even shot to claim the prize. Unfortunately, 39 we knew who would not, also were out there.

Regular season and then the playoffs. That is what you get with the NFL, MLB, NBA, and the NHL. You play to entertain and to position yourself into earning a shot at the championship. Since 2004, NASCAR has also done this, except for allowing the non-contenders to remain out on the field of play getting in the way of those who matter.

What if NASCAR had a real playoff? It has been brought up that the season is too long, that there needs to be a reduction in the schedule. Realistically, there is no way anyone is going to say adios to the big dollars that comes with putting on a 36 event schedule, not including the extras at Daytona in February and Charlotte in May. However, NASCAR could shorten its regular season to 31 races, as it was in some seasons in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, for its 43 car fields. Then they could reduce it to the top 20 drivers and teams over the course of a five-race championship playoff, resetting the points to zero for the post-season, and allowing the best of the best to settle it among themselves.

The point system would remain the same, other than instead of “win and you are in,” winners are given credit for their victory with 25 bonus points, instead of the three they are presently given. In that way, a race winner would claim as much as 70 points, compared to the 43 for the runner-up. During the playoffs, points would range from one to 20, with the winner’s bonus reduced to three points in recognition of the smaller field and the impact of a win over the shorter “season.” So, in the playoffs, a race win could earn up to 25 points, compared to the runner-up’s 20. Yes, a driver sweeping the first four races of the playoff would have enough to win the title before they run Homestead but, let’s be honest, if they were that dominant they should win it.

The playoff teams would be expanded from 16 to 20, with those not making the cut sent home, their season over. Considering there are really no more than 25 quality entries in any given race, all we would be doing is exchanging quantity for quality, with Charlotte being the final race of the regular season.

Using 2014 as a guide for illustrative purposes, neither A.J. Allmendinger or Aric Almirola would make the playoffs as, despite each picking up a win, neither would have made it on points in our Top 20. Along with the other 14 Chasers from this season we would have included Austin Dillon, Brian Vickers, Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson and Paul Menard. A pretty fair exchange.

TALLADEGA

Twenty drivers hit the track all even as the opening round of the playoff Chase begins on the super speedway in Alabama. Kyle Busch once again got snake bit come go time when he gets caught up in a crash that left him dead last. Of course, those cars that got him in reality would have been home watching television under this format. Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski responded from the less than loving embraces Denny Hamlin wanted to put on him at Charlotte, and Matt Kenseth did, by claiming 24 points in winning at Talladega. Kenseth, ironically enough, pushed Bad Brad to the front and finished just behind him on the track.

1 Brad Keselowski 24 Pts
2 Matt Kenseth 20
3 Ryan Newman 18
4 Clint Bowyer 18
5 Kevin Harvick 16
6 Kurt Busch 16
7 Joey Logano 14
8 Kasey Kahne 14
9 Austin Dillon 12
10 Denny Hamlin 11
11 Kyle Larson 11
12 Jimmie Johnson 9
13 Brian Vickers 9
14 Carl Edwards 8
15 Greg Biffle 7
16 Jeff Gordon 6
17 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 5
18 Jamie McMurray 4
19 Paul Menard 2
20 Kyle Busch 1

MARTINSVILLE

Keselowski takes his four point lead over Kenseth to Martinsville, where more than a few need to come up big to make amends for the previous week. After finishing 17th at Talladega, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was among them. In winning, he added 24 points to the five he picked up the previous week, but he remained deep in the standings. Kenseth, Bowyer, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano all had a second strong playoff result, Keselowski was 16th to drop like a stone, as Jimmie Johnson slipped well out of contention with yet another less than stellar result.

1 Matt Kenseth 37 Pts
2 Ryan Newman 36
3 Clint Bowyer 34
4 Joey Logano 32
6 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 29
5 Brad Keselowski 29
8 Jeff Gordon 26
7 Denny Hamlin 26
9 Austin Dillon 24
11 Kurt Busch 19
10 Kevin Harvick 19
12 Greg Biffle 18
13 Kyle Larson 17
15 Carl Edwards 16
14 Brian Vickers 16
16 Kasey Kahne 15
18 Kyle Busch 14
17 Jamie McMurray 14
19 Jimmie Johnson 13
20 Paul Menard 12

TEXAS

Kenseth heads into the Lone Star State a point ahead of Newman, with Bowyer three away. When it came time to fire off the six guns, Gordon was seeking his own version of High Noon after Keselowski’s bid to take the lead left him with a cut tire and a good day that went for nought. To make matters worse, his rival returned atop the leader board. Johnson’s win at least moved him back into territory where he might yet see light at the end of the long tunnel he is trying to emerge from.

1 Brad Keselowski 48 Pts
2 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 44
3 Ryan Newman 44
4 Matt Kenseth 42
5 Joey Logano 42
6 Kevin Harvick 39
7 Denny Hamlin 38
8 Jimmie Johnson 38
9 Clint Bowyer 37
10 Kurt Busch 33
11 Kyle Larson 31
12 Kyle Busch 31
13 Jamie McMurray 30
14 Jeff Gordon 29
15 Austin Dillon 29
16 Carl Edwards 28
17 Greg Biffle 27
18 Brian Vickers 23
19 Paul Menard 18
20 Kasey Kahne 16

PHOENIX

After the events at Texas, Keselowski takes a four point lead over both Earnhardt and Newman heading out to the desert, with Gordon’s dreams pretty much shattered by that torn tire. Kevin Harvick came up with a race most can only dream about, absolutely dominating most laps and pretty much all of the re-starts to win. He now sits just behind Keselowski, who finished fourth behind Gordon and Kenseth. Bowyer was dead last on this day, taking him from contender to pretender, while Johnson erased even a glimmer of good tidings by finishing 19th.

1 Brad Keselowski 65 Pts
2 Kevin Harvick 64
3 Matt Kenseth 60
4 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 58
5 Joey Logano 58
6 Ryan Newman 55
7 Denny Hamlin 55
8 Jeff Gordon 48
9 Kurt Busch 47
10 Kyle Larson 41
11 Jimmie Johnson 40
12 Jamie McMurray 39
13 Greg Biffle 39
14 Clint Bowyer 38
15 Carl Edwards 36
16 Kyle Busch 35
17 Austin Dillon 32
18 Brian Vickers 30
19 Paul Menard 23
20 Kasey Kahne 22

HOMESTEAD

Heading for Miami and the final showdown, 10 drivers remain mathematically alive with seven still with a legitimate shot at the title. Kenseth and Harvick, in fact, could claim it with a victory, no matter what Keselowski did. That is just what Happy Harvick did, leaving Keselowski’s third place result at Homestead just not good enough. A five race playoff, only 20 cars on the track and, in this scenario, the same Sprint Cup champion as provided by the elimination series.

1 Kevin Harvick 88 Pts
2 Brad Keselowski 83
3 Matt Kenseth 75
4 Ryan Newman 74
5 Denny Hamlin 70
6 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 65
7 Joey Logano 64
8 Jeff Gordon 61
9 Kurt Busch 58
10 Jamie McMurray 55
11 Jimmie Johnson 52
12 Clint Bowyer 51
13 Kyle Larson 49
14 Paul Menard 40
15 Greg Biffle 40
16 Carl Edwards 39
17 Kyle Busch 37
18 Austin Dillon 36
19 Brian Vickers 35
20 Kasey Kahne 31

November 20, 2014
The New Chase Format – What Do You Think?

The 2014 NASCAR season is officially over with the notable exception of the Championship Banquet. What kind of year was it? With the multitudes on talk radio praising the new format for determining a champion, what does the rest of NASCAR Nation think? This reporter has a “wait and see” attitude on the format, but that comes later.

The season saw some of the hardest racing we’ve seen in some time. For the first time in ages, we saw some real competition between brands and teams. Hendrick Motorsports did not dominate the sport because it had company with Team Penske. If you will notice, just like in olden times, it was Chevrolet versus Ford. HMS came through with 13 wins, most in the season, as usual. Team Penske was second with 11 wins; Stewart-Haas Racing had six, two each for Joe Gibbs Racing and Roush Fenway Racing, and one each for Richard Petty Motorsports and JTG Daugherty Racing. That left the score at 20 wins for Chevrolet, 14 for Ford, and two lonely wins for Toyota. It’s almost strange that the final four to go for the championship kind of looked like that with Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman representing Chevrolet, Joey Logano representing Ford and Denny Hamlin representing Toyota. Good competition among brands is always good for NASCAR.

The new format had its detractors, though. Fans of certain drivers and even the drivers themselves were critical when the favored driver didn’t make the cut. The loudest were Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans, Jimmie Johnson fans and Jeff Gordon fans. Even Gordon got into the act by proposing changes to the format that would have put him in the Final Four. Apparently Gordon forgot that his failure to pass Earnhardt at Martinsville just might have had something to do with that one-point deficit.

Tempers flared and we had a couple of pretty good post-race skirmishes. Out came the hatred for Brad Keselowski. Fans will boo him and maybe they will leave Kyle Busch alone for awhile. Drivers say they don’t like his attitude. Having been around this sport for a long time, I wonder if this young bunch could even fathom the fallout from drivers like Dale Earnhardt Sr., Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough or Bobby Allison. They raced like Keselowski, but boys will be boys. I doubt it’s a long time before anyone hits anyone in a melee with a closed fist again. Of course when the team owner pays your fine we may see more of these post-race antics.

After all of this, I say leave it alone for next year. The first attempt had its moments and it seemed to get fans fired up about something. My opinion from the start has been a true champion is exemplary over the entire season. It’s one of the main reasons that I don’t watch the baseball playoffs or the NFL playoffs. How about the Super Bowl? I haven’t watched it in years. Sometimes teams who have done nothing get hot for the playoffs. When they end up in the World Series or the Super Bowl, I lose interest, but for some strange reason since two of the Final Four had won nine races during the season, it held my interest. I’m sure it won’t always be that way, but I’m willing to see what happens next year.

In the end, it came down to who made the least mistakes. Logano and Hamlin lost because their teams let them down. Newman was just overmatched all season and that left Harvick. Sort of like those baseball and football playoffs, but with a worthy team winning. I hate the Chase and I don’t like this format, but the people have spoken and we will see what happens in 2015.

November 20, 2014
The Final Word – After Chasing, Eliminating, and Winning, Kevin Harvick is the 2014 Cup Champion

Watching the Cup finale was like watching most Nationwide races. Few of the participants actually matter. You have your winner, you have those who actually are competing for the prize, and then you have the odd spectacular, special moment. Sunday’s race marked the end of ESPN’s run, which meant no more Allen, no more Dale, no more Andy, no more Rusty, no more Brad, and no more Nicole. A special moment, indeed.

It could have been a special season for Jeff Gordon. He was best overall this year, just as he was the dominate wheel man for more than half the laps at Homestead. But it is no longer 2001, and at the end of the day he was 10th on the track and sixth in the official standings. In the old days only Joey Logano would have had a chance to catch Gordon in the final race. As pure a way of determining a champion it might have been, those days are gone forever.

Logano’s day wound up being the pits. With 74 to go, he was riding fifth when they took time under caution to do a few repairs that dropped him to tenth. With 47 to go, he had worked his way back to fourth when he returned to the pits under caution, but a hung lug nut left him 11th on departure. No problem, if not for the pits. Another caution, another stop, another miscue as a dropped jack dropped Logano from sixth to 20th with 20 to go. Game, set, and match, as he finished 16th.

Things seemed to be about to go Denny Hamlin’s way. They had the pit strategy, if only they could go green. They did not. The cautions allowed those with fresher tires to move past, and his title hopes went up in smoke over the final laps. Hamlin wound up seventh.

That left two at the front. Ryan Newman had been the weak sister amongst the contenders for much of the race, but pit strategy gained them track position. The car was the best it was all night but only one problem remained.

His name was Kevin Harvick. On the final restart, Harvick once again separated himself from the field, leaving Newman staring at a back bumper. The best finisher amongst the four would win the title, and you cannot do much better than winning the race to erase all doubt.

Once we had a points system that rewarded consistency at the expense of wins over the course of a season. Then we got a 10 race playoff where only the top 10, or 12, or 13 were eligible for the crown after the initial 26 events. Now, we have a system where a win gets you into the Top 16 vying for the title in those final 10 races, where every three events they eliminate four contenders until you wind up with the best among the final four on the final day winning the title while racing 39 non-contenders.

The records show that Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt won seven titles each using the original system, Jimmie Johnson won six through the Chase, and Kevin Harvick is the 2014 Cup champion through the elimination series. Each champion just as valid as the man who preceded him.

November 17, 2014
Surprising and Not Surprising: Ford EcoBoost 400

As the Florida sun faded to darkness at Homestead-Miami Speedway and a first-time champion was crowned, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the season’s final race, the Ford EcoBoost 400.

Surprising: Although Stewart-Haas Racing has always touted its Hendrick Motorsports partnership, it was surprising to learn in more detail just how important that connection has been to the new NASCAR champion and the winning race team.

Kevin Harvick, winning his first ever NASCAR Cup Championship, specifically and repeatedly paid homage to Hendrick Motorsports six-time champion Jimmie Johnson in his post-race and champion-clinching comments.

“Jimmie Johnson was a huge help in just helping — he’d show up in the trailer after every practice and called and texted to Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and myself,” Harvick said. “You’ve got to remember, Jimmie and I have — we’ve known each other for a long time. We slept on those same couches at Hornaday’s house adjacent to each other in the game room.”

“He’d go race his ASA cars, and I’d go race the trucks for the Spears bunch, so we spent a lot of time together as friends and have grown to be better friends as we’ve gone past the last few years for sure.”

Tony Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, echoed his driver’s comments about the HMS connection.

“We’ve got a great partnership with Hendrick Motorsports, and like Kevin just mentioned, when you’ve got eight drivers that are sharing information, it’s a lot easier to race seven guys than it is to try to worry about racing 34 or 35 guys.”

Not Surprising: Although they are three very different drivers, in age, size and style, they all had one thing in common after the final race was run. All three races were visibly despondent, from Ryan Newman, who finished the best of the three contenders in the second spot, to Denny Hamlin who finished seventh and Joey Logano who finished an even more disappointing sixteenth.

“We had a couple pit stops that kind of put us back,” Newman said. “It is disappointing, don’t get me wrong, but there’s no point in being a sore loser. We came back for the entire season to make our best finish our last finish.”

“The race did not go too well for us,” Hamlin said. “Obviously we had a championship-type car, championship-type effort, but those last breaks just didn’t go our way. We just struggled with restart speed.”

“Obviously our race was not too good,” Logano said. “We knew what we had to do, we just didn’t execute from every angle it seems like. I hit the wall a bit early in the race and then we came down pit road, made a mistake and went to the tail end of the lead lap.”

Surprising: Jeff Gordon and crew chief Alan Gustafson had a surprisingly testy exchange at the end of the race, all about whether or not to pit from the front of the pack for tires in the latter part of the race.

Gordon was one of the few drivers who stayed out late in the race and when another caution came, he desperately pleaded for tires. Crew chief Gustafson argued against giving up track position but Gordon was insistent and down pit road he came.

After starting mid-pack, the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet rallied back to finish tenth.

Not Surprising: Who knew that Kyle Larson, officially named Sunoco Rookie of the Year, had his own bandwagon?

“There was a lot of room on the Kyle Larson bandwagon on to start the season,” Larson said. “I think a lot of people chose Austin Dillon to win it, and I was pretty confident in myself and in my team that we could do it.”

“I knew there would be some ups and downs, but I felt like we would be the top contender once we got halfway through the season, and we definitely were. We’ve gotten better throughout the season, and just is a huge honor to win this title with all the other names that have won it.”

Surprising: During the race, NASCAR made a surprising announcement that Chad Knaus was called to the NASCAR hauler for disobeying a NASCAR directive. The issue, involving the team’s use of a wheel spacer, turned out to be much ado about nothing as confirmed by Robin Pemberton, Vice President for Competition.

“We just had a discussion on pit road between our official and Chad and really it was just to discuss it,” Pemberton said. “It was really not a big deal. We were just trying to clarify what went on, that’s all.”

“Everything is fine.”

Not Surprising: Greg Biffle ended his difficult year with a blowout, of the unfortunate tire type. He was having a solid run when he blew a tire, hit the outside wall and had to go to the garage for repairs.

Biffle finished 41^st in the season finale and ended 14^th in the championship standings.

Surprising: The crew chiefs, teams and drivers that were racing together for the very last time sadly did not finish on the best of terms.

“It had gotten dark, and the track was doing just what Trevor and Donnie expected,” team co-owner Eddie Wood said. “The track was coming to us, and Trevor was running some really good lap times. He had gotten in the lucky dog position, which would have gotten us back on the lead lap when the next caution came out.”

“Unfortunately, that caution flag wound up being for us.”

Carl Edwards and Jimmy Fennig also parted ways after the season finale, with Edwards going to Joe Gibbs Racing and Fennig ratcheting his time down on the box.

“Jimmy Fennig is an unsung hero at Roush Racing,” Jack Roush, owner, said. “He doesn’t do things that create a personal image away from the driver or away from the sponsor or away from the team. He’s the trooper that’s back there doing everything that he can every day.”

Probably one of the most dynamic driver/crew chief duos also did not finish off their relationship in quite the manner that they wanted.

Dale Jr. and Steve Letarte raced one last time as driver and crew chief, finishing 14^th in the Ford EcoBoost 400. The two summed up their feelings on Twitter as Letarte leaves for a television broadcasting career next season.

“Me and Steve didn’t count on becoming such great friends,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “That’s just really been a bonus to the whole thing.”

“I might not be talking to @DaleJr thru the headset any more but we will still be friends,” Letarte tweeted. “Taught me a bit about racing and a lot about life.”

Not Surprising: Chevrolet had a big night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with their driver winning the championship, six Chevy drivers in the top-ten, and securing their 12^th consecutive manufacturer’s championship.

“Winning the Manufacturers’ Championship is one of the goals we set at the beginning of every season,” Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, said.

Surprising: Matt Kenseth had a surprisingly good weekend, as the highest finishing Toyota and also winner of the Nationwide race.

“It’s been a long time since I won a race in anything, so just happy for Kevin (Kidd, crew chief),” Kenseth said. “He’s been trying to get a win over here for a long time, and he’s going on to something different next year.”

“Happy to send him off with a win here; that was pretty good.”

Not Surprising: There was at least one drive ready for Daytona after his third place run in the season finale.

“Yeah, it was a heck of a season, not just for me but for all of Team Penske,” Brad Keselowski said. “I’m kind of wishing it wasn’t over, but we still have some work to do to continue to work and get better.”

“In some ways, I hate to see the season come to an end, and honestly I’m ready to be at Daytona next week for the 500. That’s probably not the most popular comment in the world, but sometimes I’m not the most popular guy.”

Final Note: In a most unusual year with the brand new Chase format, it has been a pleasure to share the surprising and not so surprising moments of the season. So, sit back, enjoy the off-season and as Brad Keselowski said, see you in Daytona!

November 17, 2014
Kevin Harvick Doubles Down as Race Winner and NASCAR Champ

It’s not often that a driver can double down in NASCAR but Kevin Harvick did just that, winning the Ford EcoBoost 400 as well as the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. This was Harvick’s 28th victory in 502 Cup races, his fifth victory of the season and his first victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“Well, I just really don’t know what to even say about how much I appreciate this,” champion Harvick said in Victory Lane. “I’m just really excited. It’s really special for everybody.”

“Been trying for 13 years,” Harvick continued. “I just have to thank Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson for helping me through this week. Jimmie was in my trailer as much as many of my teammates – doing all the things that it takes to tell me what I needed to do today.”

For Harvick, the win and championship was indeed a family affair with wife DeLana and son Keelan in Victory Lane.

“It is surreal,” DeLana Harvick said emotionally. “To come fight for this championship with one of the best group of guys I have ever been around…they did this. They deserve it. They are champions.”

Harvick, a veteran of all three of NASCAR’s national series, is the third driver to win the Cup and Nationwide crowns, joining Bobby Labonte and Brad Keselowski in that achievement. He is also the 30th champion in the 66-year history of the Cup Series.

Team owner Tony Stewart was also celebrating his driver’s win, especially significant after the difficult year personally that he has been through. While this was also the second championship for Stewart-Haas Racing, both Kevin Harvick and his crew chief Rodney Childers won championships for the first time ever.

“It’s great,” Smoke said on ESPN SportsCenter. “That’s why we have a four-car team to make sure we have every opportunity we can to come to Homestead and have a chance to race for a Sprint Cup championship.”

“This is an awesome night for our whole organization and Gene Haas and Kevin and Rodney Childers and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing.”

“This is an unbelievable evening.”

Ryan Newman, who worked his way into the championship contender round with a last lap pass, finished the race in the runner-up position. This was Newman’s fifth top-10 finish at Homestead and his 16th top-10 finish in 2014, again confirming his consistency throughout the season.

“These guys did a really good job,” Newman said. “We had a couple pit stops that kind of put us back, but the guys stepped it up the last couple pit stops and we gained a few spots; gave ourselves a shot.”

“Luke (Lambert, crew chief), I thought made a great call on the two-tire stop, and we got some track position,” Newman continued. “And then when Jeff (Gordon) pitted, that kind of caught me by surprise and gave us the front row.”

“In the end, I’m just so proud of our team. It is disappointing, don’t’ get me wrong, but there’s no point in being a sore loser.”

Brad Keselowski, who had such a strong season, finished third in his self-proclaimed white deuce. This was his second top-10 finish in seven races at Homestead.

“Yeah, it was a heck of a season, not just for me but for all of Team Penske,” Keselowski said. “Certainly a year that we’ll look back on with a lot of pride.”

“I’m kind of wishing it wasn’t over, but we still have some work to do to continue to work and get better. We have to go back and work a little bit harder and find a little more speed and try to keep up with that.”

Kyle Larson officially claimed the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title, having been in that position most of the season. He finished 13th in the race finale and was yet again the highest finishing rookie of the race.

“We were really competitive all season long with the Target team and came really, really close to winning a couple of them,” Larson said. “There was a lot of room on the Kyle Larson bandwagon to start the season. I think a lot of people chose Austin Dillon to win it and I was pretty confident in myself and in my team that we could do it.”

“I knew there would be some ups and downs but I felt like we would be the top contender once we got halfway through the season and we definitely were,” Larson continued. “Really proud of that, proud of the effort everybody has put in on these race cars. We’ve gotten better throughout the season and just is a huge honor to win this title with all the other names that have won it.”

For Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano, who were also contending for the championship in addition to Harvick and Newman, it was all about the difficulties on the restarts and in the pits that led to their respective downfall.

Hamlin finished seventh and Logano finished fourth, both unable to claim the championship crown.

“I thought we had a better car than those guys, just I had a bad restart and lost position to the No. 4,” Hamlin said. “Darian (Grubb, crew chief) made the decision to leave us out there on tires trying to do something to get that track position back that I lost on the restart and it just didn’t work out for us.”

“With all of those cautions, it just allowed all of those guys to close back up and it was kind of all she wrote for us,” Hamlin continued. “Sometimes the cautions fall your way and sometimes they don’t. We definitely gave ourselves a shot and things were looking really good for us, but those cautions just really, really hurt us.”

“It was a heck of a race up there,” Logano said. “I screwed up and hit the wall early and we were able to recover then had the mistake on pit road, which didn’t give us enough time to recover from that.”

“It is unfortunate,” Logano continued. “Execution was our strong point all year and we just didn’t do it tonight. For that reason, we finished fourth after I think we scored the most points this whole Chase.”

Congratulations are also due to Chevrolet, who secured yet another manufacturer’s championship. This was their 12th consecutive championship and the 38th time overall that they have won it.

“Winning the Manufacturers’ championship is one of the goals we set at the beginning of every season,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “This championship is the result of great teamwork by the owners, drivers, crew chiefs, crews and technical partners. Special thanks to the Chevrolet powertrain team, along with the engine shops at Hendrick Motorsports and Earnhardt-Childress Racing for delivering the right combination of power, fuel economy, and reliability throughout the entire season.”

“Congratulations to everyone who has made this special achievement possible for Chevrolet.”

November 16, 2014