Tag: Kurt Busch

The Final Word goes to Jimmie Johnson…again

He is one of the greatest drivers of all time. Jimmie Johnson’s name has long been among such icons as Tony Stewart, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, and Lee Petty. By the time he was done his run of five, he had even surpassed Jeff Gordon and now only Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty have claimed more titles. He is the best driver of his era, he has the best crew chief in Chad Knaus, drives for the best team owned by Rick Hendrick and, with the departure of NAPA, you could argue that Lowe’s is even the best sponsor in NASCAR. Is it any wonder Johnson has six Cup championships to his credit?

There are those who do not like to see one guy win so much. If I am watching greatness, if I am watching what has become an historic championship dynasty, I believe I am fortunate to be a witness to it. No one had before won five straight crowns and only two legends have won more titles over their career. Some may forget that Matt Kenseth, the race and season runner up, Kurt Busch, Bobby Labonte, Dale Jarrett, or even 2012 winner Brad Keselowski are former champs. No one with even a passing interest in the sport could ever say the same about Jimmie Johnson even years from today. Love him or not, Johnson is the Celtics, Yankees, Canadiens, and Eskimos (remember, I am Canadian) of his sport. Chad Knaus is their Red Auerbach, Joe McCarthy, Toe Blake, and Hugh Campbell. By the way, is Six Time a real athlete? If Donovan McNabb, who is ten months younger than Johnson, would like to challenge the driver to wind sprints, be my guest.

Johnson finished ninth on Sunday, while ten of the 13 Chasers finished among the Top 13 on the day. The race marked the likely final run in the Cup career of Juan Pablo Montoya (18th at Homestead) while Mark Martin (882 races) and Ken Schrader (763) seem to be done at this level. Still, something tells me that you can be sure to see them racing something somewhere yet.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr was 22nd on Sunday and named the circuit’s top rookie. His competition, and girlfriend, Danica Patrick was two spots better at Homestead. That did not happen often enough. The boy had 25 Top 20’s in 2013, the girl had 9.

Rating Homestead – 7/10 – Only late in the game was one fully secure in the probability Johnson would lay claim to the crown. Kenseth threatened to win the race to maximize his points day, and it was up to the newly named Six Time to avoid disaster. Denny Hamlin ended a horrid season with a victory, Junior mattered in this race and season, and we learned not to get too close to a burning tire. Now, if I could mute the announcers while maintaining the ambient sound, my television experience could be truly enhanced.

No change in the announce booth for 2014. Same goes for the schedule, though some off season tinkering with the car hopefully might equate into more successful passing. Change is coming on the track, as ten full-time rides will have different hands on the wheel. One ride is gone (#56) to be replaced by two new full-time entries (#41 and #95), with two changing numbers (#29 becomes either #3 or #33, and #39 becomes #4). All this, and we still have about a hundred days before they fire up at Daytona.

Enjoy the winter!

November 19, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Phoenix Advocare 500

After welcoming a serviceman home in honor of Veteran’s Day and with all eyes on the Chase contenders, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 26^th annual Advocare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Surprising: Drivers leaving their teams at the end of the 2013 season had surprisingly good finishes, with the best of course being race winner Kevin Harvick, who will leave Richard Childress Racing to go to Stewart Haas Racing in 2014.

“We challenge each other,” Kevin Harvick said of his RCR relationship. “There’s no better way to go out than to do what we’ve done this year.”

“I think as we move forward will probably make us closer as friends.”

And along with Harvick, Kurt Busch, another driver in transition who will be leaving Furniture Row Racing to join Harvick as Stewart Haas Racing teammate, finished fifth.

The top ten was filled with other racers leaving their teams after the checkered flag flies next weekend at Homestead Miami Speedway, including Juan Pablo Montoya, who finished sixth and is heading to the IndyCar Racing Series; Martin Truex Jr., who is leaving Michael Waltrip Racing for Furniture Row Racing and finished eighth; and Ryan Newman, who finished tenth and will head from Stewart Haas Racing to Richard Childress Racing in the New Year.

Not Surprising: With championship points on the line all around, there were a few mea culpas issued not surprisingly after the race end.

Carl Edwards, who had a scary moment of close racing and contact with championship contender Jimmie Johnson, could not apologize to him more. Edwards first apologized over his radio after the contact and then met Johnson on pit road after the race to declare mea culpa yet again.

“Yeah, I definitely did not mean to hit him,” Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford, said of his Johnson close encounter. “He did a heckuva job saving it and I’m just glad he saved it.”

“I did not want to be part of the championship in that manner.”

Edwards himself almost had the race won but ran out of gas to finish a disappointing 21^st.

The other mea culpa, which had definite championship implications, came from Jason Ratcliff, crew chief for Matt Kenseth. Ratcliff and the team struggled all day with the handling of the car and in the pits, finishing 23^rd in the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota and falling 28 points behind the Chase leader.

“I apologize for giving you something like that,” Ratcliff said to Kenseth. “I apologize for a really poor job of executing.”

“I apologize to all of you,” Ratcliff continued. “Just a bad job on my part.”

Surprising: While Phoenix usually generates some exciting racing, there was a surprising amount of strategy that played out throughout the race, with cars staying out, pitting, and taking all kinds of tire combinations. In fact, there was so much confusion for one driver that it almost made his head spin.

“There was a lot of strategy and it confused the heck out of me,” Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford said after finishing ninth. “At times we were leading the race and at times we were 24^th.”

“Overall, it was a weird race because you didn’t know where you were at and you just passed the cars in front of you,” Logano continued. “It was too confusing for me.”

Not Surprising: Jimmie Johnson channeled his inner dirt track racer to bring home yet another top-ten finish, his 17^th in 21 races at Phoenix International Raceway. To be precise, Johnson finished third in his No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet.

“I knew I had a great race car,” Johnson said. “But I really had to fall back on my dirt driving skills racing out here in the desert all the years that I did.”

“I knew I could get through traffic and I knew I was in good shape relative to the championship battle,” Johnson continued. “I’m in a position I want to be in and now we just need to go to Florida and have another good day.”

Surprising: Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet is a basement dweller in the point standings no more, thanks to his second place finish in the Valley of the Sun. Kahne advance from the 13^th position in the Chase to the 12^th spot after posting his seventh top-10 at Phoenix International Raceway.

“We got our car really good about Lap 150,” Kahne said. “I got a little loose in the last restart but just felt good about our Farmers Insurance Chevrolet.”

“We made some big gains and I got a nice second-place finish.”

Not Surprising: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. not only maintained his strong lead in the Rookie of the Year battle over girlfriend and competitor Danica Patrick but actually gained ground after his 12^th place finish and her 27^th place finish.

“It was a tough day all around,” Patrick said after starting 32^nd, battling a loose race car and getting caught in a major-league wreck with Cole Whitt, David Reutimann and Justin Allgaier. “We started out pretty loose and got down a lap early.”

“Then obviously we got caught up in the accident,” Patrick continued. “It’s disappointing, but the GoDaddy guys did a good job of fixing it as best they could so we could finish.”

Surprising: It will be a surprisingly different Vegas experience for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Usually the sport’s most popular driver picks up that award at the Myers Brother Luncheon and heads on home, however, this year, he will have a major speaking role as he is fifth in the point standings after finishing fourth at Phoenix in spite of a loose wheel.

“We had a fast car,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet said. “I thought Steve Letarte (crew chief) could get some good strategy to get us back up into the top-10, top-five and I was real happy with the way we were able to rebound.”

This was Junior’s third top-5 finish in the past four races.

Not Surprising: Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet achieved another milestone after his 14^th place finish at Phoenix. Gordon led his 400^th lap in 2013, which marks the 20^th consecutive year that he has led at least 400 laps.

Surprising: Phoenix proved to be the tale of the two Davids, with David Gilliland having a good run, at one point running top-10, and teammate David Ragan having engine troubles yet again.

Gilliland finished 24^th and moved up to 25^th in the point standings while Ragan finished 35^th and fell to 28^th in points.

“That was probably the best car we had all year,” Gilliland said. “We had some brake issues at one point, but overall it was a great car and a good points day.”

Not Surprising: Greg Biffle had an eventful day at Phoenix as he had to start from the back of the field due to a transmission change in his No. 16 3M Scotch Ford.

Nevertheless, Biffle was able to run in the top-10 with the help of some strategy from atop the pit box and finished 13^th in the race.

Biffle also moved up one place in the championship standings to the seventh spot.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will head south to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Ford Ecoboost 400 season finale where the 2013 champion will be determined.

November 11, 2013
NASCAR BTS: Furniture Row Racing Team Members Reflect on their Service for Veteran’s Day

While NASCAR is indeed patriotic and wounded warriors and troops are often brought to the track, there are veterans in the midst of the sport that not only service their race teams but have also provided distinguished service to their country.

In celebration of Veteran’s Day, this week’s NASCAR Behind the Scenes focuses on two veterans on the Furniture Row Racing team, Chuck Lemay, who served in the Navy, and Charlie Krauch who served in the Army.

“I am the Director of Transportation for Furniture Row Racing,” Charlie Krauch said. “My main focus is to make sure the truck drivers get to the race tracks, unload and load the trucks every week, get the cars ready to go, make sure that they leave on time for the race, testing and going back and forth to North Carolina to the wind tunnel.”

“I was in the United States Army from 1971 to 1973,” Krauch continued. “I was in Vietnam in 1971 and 1972.”

“I’m not a rah-rah veteran type of guy,” Krauch said. “I think that goes back to my days in the service when it was not a very popular occupation to be in.”

“I very seldom tell people that I was in Vietnam and to this day as well just because of the way things were back then,” Krauch continued. “Today, I’m thankful that people are recognizing those in the military.”

“They need to be recognized and I’m really happy that they are,” Krauch said. “I know how it was on the other hand.”

“You have to understand that these are basically kids in the service right now, with probably the average age of around 18 or 19 years old,” Krauch continued. “You take them from coming out of high school to putting them in the service and sending them overseas and having them see and do what they need to do over there, it’s pretty traumatic I would think.”

“I know it was for me and I would think it would be the same way for them.”

“When I’m having a bad day, I sometimes think about the time that I spent in the military and reflect back on that,” Krauch said. “And I realize that things could be a lot worse like it was back then.”

“I sometimes use that as a focus for myself to bring myself up a little bit every now and then.”

“For me, Veteran’s Day is not about me,” Krauch continued. “It’s about the guys and gals who are serving now and those who are coming back from whatever conflicts they are coming back from.”

“They are the ones that need to have the focus of Veteran’s Day,” Krauch said. “I also think about the older veterans that we are losing every day, like the World War II guys.”

“I think there is a big role for them as well,” Krauch continued. “I think the focus needs to be on the troops we have now more so than in the past.”

“They are the ones that are doing it now and they really need to be the focus.”

Krauch’s colleague Chuck Lemay, hauler driver for the No. 78 team, agreed with that assessment as he reflected on his own service in light of Veteran’s Day.

“I was in the United States Navy from January of 1975 through January of 1978,” Lemay said. “I signed up for a two years overseas program and I was stationed in Sasebo, Japan.”

“I was in kind of a related situation to what I do know as I was a quartermaster, which dealt with navigation,” Lemay continued. “I was on the USS White Plains, named after White Plains, New York.”

“When we were at sea, we kept the ship’s position with our charts and celestial navigation by the stars all the way up to the latest technology that just came out,” Lemay said. “But nothing is more precise than the stars you know, like the days of Galileo.”

“My ship was a supply ship so we would pull alongside other ships,” Lemay continued. “We would steam alongside the other ships and transport goods across on wire cables.”

“So, I’ve kind of come full circle you know, because now I’m steering the hauler, or ‘Raven’ as I call her,” Lemay said. “She is a real pretty truck and I steer her down that highway now.”

“Veteran’s Day, the older I get, the more I appreciate it,” Lemay said. “My father was in the Battle of the Bulge and he was a POW in World War II.”

“He has since passed, but he was my hero,” Lemay continued. “My brother was in Vietnam and he was a machine gunner on the helicopter.”

“So, here I was the baby of the family so I thought that I should do that too,” Lemay said. “They sold me on that commercial, ‘Join the Navy, and See the World.’

“I thought I needed a little discipline in my life so I joined up with the Navy,” Lemay continued. “And it was the best three years of my life.”

“And I met my lovely wife when I was in the Navy and we are still married today 36 years later.”

Both Lemay and Krauch will be working on Veteran’s Day, even after their team scored a fifth place finish at Phoenix International Raceway. The two team members will be getting ready for the final race of 2014 as they prepare for their longest trip of the season, from Denver, Colorado where the team is based, to Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“We have our biggest trip of the year coming up next week,” Lemay said. “Almost 40 hours to get that hauler from Colorado to Homestead.”

“We’ll get back to Denver after Phoenix and then the other two drivers will flip the truck around and then we will come in Tuesday morning and take off,” Lemay continued. “Looking at world through a windshield, like the country song says, that’s what we are doing.”

Both Lemay and Krauch will, however, take a moment to look at the flags flying in the shop, reflecting all branches of the service as they celebrate Veteran’s Day.

“I think that’s really super to have the flags in the shop,” Lemay said. “History shows that we’ve never really treated our veterans really well.”

“World War II, they had the big parade and the picture of the sailor kissing the girl in New York,” Lemay continued. “But after that, the Korean and Vietnam veterans didn’t really get anything.”

“It is really nice to see this turn around lately and showing these guys respect,” Lemay said. “So, to see those flags flying in the shop, every day they catch my eye,” Lemay said. “I was part of that.”

“It makes you feel proud.”

Lemay and Krauch also expressed pride in working for their driver Kurt Busch, who has been so active with the Armed Forces Foundation, focusing on those veterans with hidden war wounds, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

“I want to first thank all veterans past, present and future for their bravery and sacrifices in preserving our freedom,” said Furniture Row Racing driver Kurt Busch. “I urge American citizens to make an extra effort on Veterans Day to thank those who served.”

In addition to Krauch and Lemay, the No. 78 team has five other veterans who have served their country, including David ‘Bugzee’ Hicks (Navy), Andy Morgan (Army), John Parks (Marines), Craig Phillips (Air Force) and Barney Visser (Army).

“It’s pretty special to have seven team members who are veterans, including our team owner Barney Visser,” Busch said. “I am very proud of them, as I am of all of our veterans.”

Perhaps Lemay summed it up best as he reflected on his own service and the service of others, sharing how he recognized Veteran’s Day at Phoenix International Raceway this past weekend.

“I just did celebrate Veteran’s Day a little bit ago,” Lemay said from the track. “A bunch of Marines came by and I just shook their hands.”

“Everyone should shake the hands of anyone in the service, especially on Veteran’s Day.”

November 11, 2013
Matty’s Picks 2013 – Race 35 AdvoCare 500 – Phoenix International Raceway – November 10, 2013

The West Coast swing of the 2013 Chase for the Sprint Cup is on this weekend as we head for the one-miler in the desert. This thing is coming down to the wire between five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, Jimmie Johnson, and seven-time 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race-winner Matt Kenseth. Just seven points separate the two heading into this weekend’s AdvoCare 500, and ironically, this was the same margin Jimmie Johnson had over 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, Brad Keselowski heading into the 9th race of the Chase last season.

Phoenix has been an important race since the series swapped to the Chase setup, as the worst finish in a Chase race by the eventual series champion at Phoenix International Raceway is 10th, by Kurt Busch in 2004. Adding to the importance this weekend is the fact that the average Chase race finish by the eventual series champion at Phoenix International Raceway is 3.7! The catalyst in all of this is the fact that in each of previous three seasons, the eventual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion was sitting second in the points standings following the 8th Chase Race. Jimmie Johnson erased a 33 point deficit over the final two Chase races in 2010 to score his fifth and most recent NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship. Tony Stewart was three points behind Carl Edwards in 2011 and erased the deficit in the final race at Homestead-Miami to capture his second Chase Championship, and as mentioned previously, Brad Keselowski sat seven points behind Jimmie Johnson entering this race last season. So, will it be Jimmie Johnson flipping the trend over the last three seasons to exit the 8th Chase race and not look back, or will it be Matt Kenseth keeping the streak alive to take the trophy next weekend and erasing the seven-point deficit over the next two weeks?

As far as Phoenix, specifically, its 100% advantage Jimmie Johnson this week if you’re looking at the career histories at Phoenix. Johnson leads the series in six loop stats, (Average Running Position, Driver Rating, Fastest Laps Run, Average Green Flag Speed, and Quality Passes) he’s had top-five finishes in 12 of the last 14 races at Phoenix International Raceway, and far and away owns the better record than Matt Kenseth in career victories, top-fives, top-tens, average finish, and laps led. Also keep in mind, Matt Kenseth’s last top five finish at the desert one-miler was all the way back in 2007, his one and only win (three less than Jimmie Johnson) at PIR came in 2002, and his average finish is 17.2, so not only is Kenseth battling the Goliath named Jimmie Johnson this week, but he’s battling an Achilles heel of his own this weekend.

Enough about the points battle, on to my picks this week…

Winner Pick

I may be completely out of material for my winner pick this week, outside of practice and qualifying…you guessed it, tough not to like Jimmie Johnson this week. He was fastest in practice on Friday, broke the track record in qualifying to capture the pole for Sunday’s AdvoCare 500, and carries the momentum of last week’s perfect win. Seriously, Johnson scored a perfect 150 Driver Rating in his dominating win last week at Texas Motor Speedway, the fourth ever perfect Driver Rating in Chase history.

Denny Hamlin commented on the state of the No.48 team following Friday’s qualifying session, “I think everyone in the garage kind of knew (the No.48 team) could turn it up at will”. Joey Logano also commented on how the Hedrick Motorsports team is in “kill mode”, Logano says “(Johnson) has that next notch and extra speed that nobody else can find. His intensity level picks up.”

Well boys, I’m right there with you this week and even though I didn’t find a header in the stats column entitled “kill mode”, I’m going with the overwhelming favorite, and now pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson this week. One piece of history besides Johnson’s impressive history at PIR that I do have to help my cause this week is the fact that seven of the 34 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Phoenix have been won from starting positions on the front row….not that I need any help in making my point this week.

Dark Horse Pick

Now, if you’ve been listening to my preview of the race each week with Greg on the Prime Sports Network, you may have noticed an ongoing trend since mid-June or so. Each time when we reach the time to talk about Denny Hamlin, you’ve probably heard me laugh or say “steer clear of Denny this week”. Well, this week I have a bit different take on Denny Hamlin for a few reasons.
Number one, Denny Hamlin has been coming around down the stretch here in the Chase, and is certainly a far cry away from where he was at a couple months back. Three top 5’s in the last four races mark’s Hamlin’s best stretch of runs since he ran second at Darlington, finished fourth in the Coke 600, and finished eighth in the June Pocono race. He’s climbing back to relevancy in the latter stages of this year’s Chase, and will use these remaining two races this season to springboard his team into the 2014 season.

The number two reason for picking Denny Hamlin is his career history, not only at Phoenix but as a top tier driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Since his first full season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2006, Denny Hamlin has managed to find Victory Lane at least once in each of his seven full seasons in the Cup series. Out of the two remaining racetracks this season, Phoenix is certainly the better chance for Hamlin to keep his streak alive. He’s got an average finish of 5.8 in the last five races at PIR, including a win in 2012, three additional top 5’s, 116 total laps led, and an average driver rating of 104.2 over that same five-race stretch, so Hamlin has the recent stats worth a look this week.

Adding to my statement this week is the stat I mentioned above….over 20% of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at PIR have been won from starting spots on the front row, and Denny Hamlin just happens to be starting second on Sunday. Not only did Denny qualify well, but he also practiced well on Friday to earn my nod as the Dark Horse play of the week.

That’s all for this week, so until we head to South Florida for the 2013 Grand Finale….You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

November 9, 2013

Hot 20 over the Chase Eight – Good just isn’t good enough when great is what it takes in the Chase

Average a Top Ten finish and you are doing good. Very good. Yet, good is not good enough when it comes to the Chase. Such is the case when there are those who are running great.

Over the past eight Chase events, Jimmie Johnson is averaging better than a fifth place finish. Matt Kenseth has a couple of wins and an average result of just over sixth place. Mere mortals can not compete against that, at least not until someone develops clay feet and returns to earth. If there is any Kryptonite out there, it better turn up at Phoenix and/or Homestead if it is going to do any good for those who have been, well, just good.

Kevin Harvick has been damn good in the Chase. In fact, he would be considered great if not for those other two boys. Dale Earnhardt Jr has done better than a tenth place average. If not for that damn engine blowing up in Chicago.

Ordinarily, during the opening 26 races of the season, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, and Clint Bowyer would have been very pleased. If this had been their first eight, and not their last, they would have thought themselves walking in tall cotton. Even Jamie McMurray and Jeff Burton, both outside the ten best in the Chase events, would have had cause for optimism. Unfortunately for them, this is the time of year when good just is not good enough. Not even very good cuts the mustard.

So, unless bad things happen to good…er…great people at the top of the leader board, there are just two names being considered for etching onto the trophy. Then again, if Junior, Kyle, and Jeff can find themselves outside the Top 30 in a race, there is always a chance that great over eight might not be good enough, either. That is why we will be watching the action from Phoenix on Sunday and why Harvick is still optimistic he could yet leave Homestead, well, happy.

	Driver	Wins	T-5	T-10	Points	Ave. Finish	Best	Worst
1	Jimmie Johnson	2	6	7	330	4.87	1	13
2	Matt Kenseth	2	5	6	320	6.12	1 (x2)	20
3	Kevin Harvick	1	2	6	296	7.75	1	20
4	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	0	3	6	280	9.75	2	35
5	Kyle Busch	0	5	5	278	10.12	2	34
6	Jeff Gordon	1	3	5	273	11.00	1	38
7	Clint Bowyer	0	1	5	273	10.50	3	17
8	Greg Biffle	0	1	3	266	11.12	3	16 (x2)
9	Joey Logano	0	3	3	248	13.62	3 (x2)	37
10	Brad Keselowski	1	2	4	248	14.00	1	37
11	Kurt Busch	0	2	2	246	13.37	2	21
12	Jamie McMurray	1	2	3	245	14.00	1	31
13	Martin Truex, Jr.	0	0	2	231	15.25	8	22
14	Jeff Burton	0	0	1	230	15.62	8	24
15	Ryan Newman	0	0	5	224	16.62	8 (x2)	38
16	Carl Edwards	0	1	3	220	17.00	5	37
17	Paul Menard	0	1	2	218	16.75	4	24
18	Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.	0	1	2	211	17.75	3	31
19	Kasey Kahne	0	2	2	209	18.37	2	37
20	Denny Hamlin	0	0	3	204	18.62	7 (x2)	38

November 6, 2013

Surprising and Not Surprising: AAA Texas 500

As the race for the six shooters and black cowboy hat moved from afternoon into evening, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the ninth annual AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Surprising: Although no one could argue about the strength of Jimmie Johnson’s performance and victory at Texas, when it came time to discuss the Chase and the battle with Matt Kenseth, now seven points behind Johnson, there were some fighting words involved.

“I have been watching a lot of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighting lately, and you’ll fall into a rhythm and think that somebody has got the fight won, and it doesn’t end that way,” Johnson said. “That’s how this is going to be.”

“Matt didn’t have maybe the best day and still finished fourth,” Johnson continued. “This thing is going to go to the last lap at Homestead.”

“I think this is just going to be a dog fight there,” Rick Hendrick, Johnson’s team owner, said. “I think it’s going to be the last lap at Homestead because the teams are that close.”

“It’s going to be a war,” Coach Joe Gibbs, Kenseth’s team owner, said. “And I just hope we all survive.”

Not Surprising: Dale Earnhardt Jr. acknowledged Jimmie Johnson’s dominance best, telling his crew chief Steve Letarte that his car won even though he finished second for the third time to his five-time champion teammate.

“He (Johnson) was in a class of his own,” Dale Junior said. “We were joking that he won the DP but we were first in the GT class.”

“They were super-fast and I was super, super impressed with those guys’ car,” Earnhardt Jr. continued. “I’m happy to have a good effort and looking forward to the last couple of races.”

“Hopefully we will get us a win,” Junior said. “We keep getting close.”

Surprising: Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion, went from hero, sitting on the pole, to zero, getting knocked out of the race at Texas due to engine failure. Yet even in his disappointment, Edwards surprisingly was still able to pull off a plug for his erstwhile sponsor.

“I think a valve spring broke,” Edwards said. “We don’t usually have a lot of engine trouble.”

“We had such a great weekend going,” Edwards continued. “Aflac has coverage for just about everything but I don’t think they cover sick engines which is too bad.”

Edwards was not the only one with a sick engine as Ford mate David Ragan also lost one, as did Timmy Hill and Bobby Labonte.

Not Surprising: While speeding penalties are costly enough to the average driver, they were especially costly to two of the Chase competitors, particularly Matt Kenseth, whose penalty no doubt cost him the point’s lead, and Kyle Busch, who battled not only the speeding penalty but also an early crash to finish 13^th.

“We were just being too aggressive,” Kenseth said. “That speeding penalty got us behind — we definitely didn’t need that.”

“If I wouldn’t have messed up, maybe we could have ran second.”

“Kyle (Busch) feels horrible because he sped on pit road late in the race,” Dave Rogers, crew chief of the No. 18 Snickers Toyota, said. “He was giving us all he had to give us the best possible finish and we took a little bit more that what was there.”

“This is a team and we’ve got his back.”

Surprising: While Texas provided a surprising venue to showcase the strength of Penske Racing, with two top-ten finishes, both drivers, however, acknowledged that neither of them had what it took to be stronger than team 48.

“From the start of the race, we moved our way forward,” Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 AAA Ford said. “Overall we can’t be disappointed with a third place finish but the 48 car was just ridiculously fast.”

“I thought we had decent speed,” Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, said. “We were leading at one point and the yellow flag came and we pitted and came out ninth, which ended our shot of being able to derail Jimmie if there even was one.”

“His car was so much faster than the field,” Keselowski continued. “It was pretty embarrassing to be quite honest.”

Not Surprising: The pattern of inconsistency for team No. 24 and driver Jeff Gordon continued, with the win at Martinsville last weekend being negated by the hard hit into the wall after a tire went down at Texas.

“I hit the wall hard,” Gordon said “I just know the left front went down as I was going down the front straightaway.”

Gordon finished 38^th, close to 200 laps down, his worst finish since Watkins Glen.

Surprising: Parker Kligerman made a surprisingly good debut in the Sprint Cup Series for Swan Racing, finishing top-20.

“Although 18^th doesn’t sound that great, for a rookie and this team, it’s a great finish and it’s one of the best finishes for these guys,” Kligerman said. “It was a long tough race but the team persevered and everyone fought hard.”

Not Surprising: Since Greg Biffle never, ever forgets, his love tap of Jimmie Johnson in the waning laps of the Texas race was not the least bit surprising. It did not, however, help him to feel at all better even though he finished twelfth in the race when the checkered flag flew.

“That was a tough one,” Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion, said. “The car wasn’t very good in traffic.”

“We didn’t get it until it seemed like about 20 to go or whatever that last stop was,” Biffle continued. “We just weren’t where we wanted to be.”

Surprising: While most, if not all eyes were on the Chase race between Johnson and Kenseth, there were other drivers in the field who literally paid no heed as they were marching to the beat of their own drummers.

“We actually made a lot of gains throughout the weekend,” Danica Patrick, drive of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet said after finishing 25^th. “We never quite got it, but we certainly made progress.”

“I’m excited to get to Phoenix next week,” Patrick continued. “GoDaddy is based out there, so it’s a big race for us.”

With her 25^th place finish, Patrick also gained three spots in the point standings to 25^th as well.

Not Surprising: Problems continued on and off the track for Juan Pablo Montoya as he winds up his NASCAR career and prepares to return to the IndyCar Series.

Montoya brought out one of the few race cautions on track due to a tire issue, which was a shredded right front tire according to Crew Chief Chris ‘Shine’ Heroy. JPM was able to soldier on to finish in the 20th place at Texas Motor Speedway.

But off track, Montoya also has problems as Forbes reported that he is in trouble with the US taxman. The IRS is alleging that the driver owes $2.7 million in additional taxes and penalties due to some interesting and complicated deductions, many of which were made prior to his coming to NASCAR and to the United States to live with his family.

Montoya has just two more races in the NASCAR Series and then will return to IndyCar racing but this time to drive for Roger Penske and serve as teammate to Penske driver Helio Castroneves.

Surprising: After a challenging season of his own, Kasey Kahne actually surprised himself with a top-five finish at Texas Motor Speedway.

“We had a pretty good Time Warner Chevy today,” Kahne said. “We were seventh to tenth most of the race and we worked our way to fifth there at the end.”

“I’m glad we were able to have kind of a flawless race and race all day and make a little bit of ground up at the end.”

Not Surprising: Kurt Busch’s quest to finish off his season with Furniture Row Racing with outstanding performances is proving most difficult.

“Nothing good to say about this race,” Busch, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet said. “That’s all we had and it was a struggle all weekend.”

“We definitely need a turnaround in the final two races because it has been too good of a year to end on a struggling note.”

November 4, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500

With NASCAR legend and Hall of Famer Junior Johnson giving the command to get the action started and a grandfather clock trophy on the line, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 65th annual Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 Powered by Kroger at Martinsville Speedway.

Surprising: Jeff Gordon had some pretty surprising thoughts in the waning laps of the race as he battled with Matt Kenseth for the race lead at Martinsville and then motored on to Victory Lane.

“I was thinking, what would Jimmie Johnson do?” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “Or better yet, maybe what would Richard Petty do?”

“I was just hoping that no cautions were going to come out and they didn’t,” Gordon continued. “That clock, there’s nothing better than getting a clock at Martinsville.”

This was Gordon’s first win of the season and his 88^th victory in his career, tying him with Jimmie Johnson and trailing only Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip on the all-time wins list at Martinsville.

And with the win, Gordon climbed two spots in the all-important point standings to third, now 27 points behind the leaders.

Not Surprising: While the inside lane was definitely the preferred one at Martinsville, the outside lane seemed especially cursed during this seventh race of the Chase at the short track.

“It’s just the nature of the beast here,” Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota said. “That’s how important it is to get to the inside on these restarts.”

“You’d better get your business done quick,” Bowyer continued. “If you don’t, within two corners you’re in trouble because they’re stacked up on the bottom.”

Bowyer survived the curse of the outside lane to finish third, his tenth top-10 finish in 16 races at Martinsville Speedway.

Surprising: While Matt Kenseth was surprisingly confident at a track where he has no wins, only three top fives and a 15^th best driver rating of 80.5, his confidence did indeed bear fruit, with a runner up finish in his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota and a bump back up in the Chase standings.

“I felt like today was an opportunity to get the points lead back,” Kenseth said. “I know Jimmie (Johnson) is always the man here, and he’s still the man here along with Jeff (Gordon) and Denny (Hamlin) for sure.”

“I haven’t had that many good runs here, but we ran good in the spring, we were terrific at Loudon which has always been my worst track and this has probably been my second-worst track, and Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) and the whole group at JGR gave us such good cars to drive.”

“I couldn’t be much happier, but I am disappointed I got beat there at the end,” Kenseth continued. “I feel like we can go do some racing here in the next three weeks.”

With his good finish, Kenseth actually tied Jimmie Johnson for the point’s lead, however, has the advantage due to his number of overall wins.

Not Surprising: Tempers abound at any short track so it was not surprising that some apologies were due, some were made, and some will remain to be made potentially in the upcoming week as a result of the Martinsville race.

Kevin Harvick, behind the wheel of the No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet, made several apologies, first to Ty Dillon for his harsh words after the Truck race and then to Ryan Newman for hitting him during the Cup race.

“Yeah, first thing I want to do is apologize to Ryan Newman,” Harvick said after finishing sixth. “I tried to shoot in a gap there and just barely clipped the right rear of his car.”

Carl Edwards also acknowledged that he owed a few apologies after a ‘terrible’ day at the race track.

“I caused the first two cautions when the car was real hard to drive on entry,” the driver of the No. 99 Geek Squad Ford said. “I felt bad about that.”

“The car was real, real loose in and that was the reason I hit Kvapil there like that,” Edwards continued. “I’m going to apologize to him right now.”

There were two drivers, however, who were in no way, shape or form in the apologizing mode, at least after the race ended.

“We made contact, but I couldn’t quite understand why he was down here pulling on my collar like he just did,” Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, said after his pit road interview was interrupted by a visibly upset Greg Biffle.

“You knocked my (expletive) back bumper off mother (expletive)”, the driver of the No. 16 3M Ford said to the five time champ after finishing ninth. “You (expletive) ran into the back of me.”

“Dude, if you want to talk about it, let’s talk about it” Johnson said during the exchange.

“We just did,” Biffle countered as he walked away after being separated from Johnson by a NASCAR official.

Surprising: Brad Keselowski finally had a surprisingly good day, with his career best finish, fourth place, at Martinsville Speedway. And with that, the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford said that he took the checkered flag exactly where he thought he had a car to do so.

“It was a decent day,” Keselowski said. “We weren’t where we wanted to be at the start, but we worked on our car and got it better at the end.”

“The last run was by far the most competitive we were and had probably about a fourth or fifth-place car and that’s where we finished at the end,” Keselowski continued. “It was a solid effort.”

Not Surprising: Chevrolet yet again secured the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup manufacturer’s championship and did so even with three more races left in the season.

This was the 37^th manufacturer’s title for Chevrolet and the eleventh year in a row taking the honors. This was also the 16^th win of the season for Team Chevy.

“To wrap it up with a win, with a great, exciting finish battling it out with a Toyota (the No. 20 driven by second-place finisher Matt Kenseth) is awesome,” Jeff Gordon said. “I know how much that means to Chevrolet.”

Surprising: In spite of his record setting qualifying effort, putting his No. 34 Taco Bell Ford in P8 in time trials, engine woes bit David Ragan and he finished dead last with a broken valve spring.

The driver, however, found the bright spot in his surprisingly bad finish with the positive evolution of his team over this past season, from testing to better work coming from the shop.

“We’ve built some new cars in-house and that’s doing the chassis work, the body work and building the components, so we’ve really evolved a lot,” Ragan said. “We’ve done it from within and I think long-term that’s a big positive for the whole Front Row Motorsports team.”

Not Surprising: Denny Hamlin, traditionally strong at Martinsville and pole sitter for the race, not surprisingly scored another top-ten run in his No. 11 FedEx One Rate Toyota, even with some damage incurred from one of the race’s early wrecks.

And with that finish, Hamlin pronounced the team as finally going in the right direction after a very difficult season.

“We ran decent,” Hamlin said. “Even though the car drove as bad as it did, we still were able to be at least somewhat competitive.”

“Seventh isn’t what we like here at Martinsville, but still it’s a step in the right direction,” Hamlin continued. “We’re just trying to get our feet under us.”

“Then that’s going to set us up pretty good for next year.”

Surprising: Sticking with the theme of blown engines, another one bit one of NASCAR’s most promising young drivers Kyle Larson who blew up for the second race in a row. The driver of the No. 51 Target Chevrolet suffered the mechanical issue on lap 165, spinning in his own fluid and bringing out the caution.

“We just can’t seem to catch a break in these two Cup starts that I’ve had,” Larson said. “We blew up in Charlotte and not sure we had a rear end blow up here or what.”

Larson’s day went from bad to worse as he tweeted after the race.

“What a bad last couple of hours. Engine blew up, got a speeding ticket, now my cat just puked and pooped in the car.”

Not Surprising: Kurt Busch admitted right up front that he does not have Martinsville Speedway circled on his calendar. And the track again was a struggle yet again for him as he finished 18^th with a banged up race car.

“We didn’t qualify well (19th), didn’t practice well and obviously didn’t race well,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet said. “I don’t know what it is but there’s something about this track that doesn’t suit me.”

“It was a very disappointing performance today,” Busch continued. “Our Furniture Row Chevrolet got banged up early when it took a big hit to the right side.”

“But no excuses, we just didn’t have it.”

The Cup Series next heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the AAA Texas 500, the eighth race in the Chase.

October 28, 2013
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth survived to finish 20th at Talladega, seven spots behind Jimmie Johnson. Kenseth’s four point lead became a four point deficit to Jimmie Johnson in the standings.

“I drove like I was expecting the ‘big one,’” Kenseth said, “and it never came. So the fans weren’t the only ones upset that there wasn’t a big crash. I guess I should have been more aggressive. If I’ve been faulted for being anything, it’s too ‘laid back.’”

2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished 13th in the Camping World RV Sales 500 at Talladega, leading a race-high 47 laps to earn two crucial bonus points. He took over the lead in the points, and holds a four-point edge over Matt Kenseth.

“I was playing ‘catch’ with points-leader Kenseth,” Johnson said, “and I ‘overthrew’ him.”

3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick, in the No. 29 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet, took 12th at Talladega and is fourth in the Sprint Cup points standings, tied with Kyle Busch 26 points out of first.

“This is the only way I can possibly share space with Kyle Busch,” Harvick said.

“That was one of the least exciting Talladega races, despite the fact that cars were topping out at near 200 miles per hour. I guess that’s why they call it ‘full bore.’”

4. Kyle Busch: Busch posted his second consecutive top-5 finish, taking fifth at Talladega. He is tied for third in the points standings, 26 out of first.

“I’m back in the championship hunt,” Busch said. “But if I don’t have a good finish at Martinsville, I’ll likely be done. The last time I was ‘officially eliminated,’ I was taken off the road by a state trooper in North Carolina.”

5. Jeff Gordon: Gordon led 19 laps at Talladega and finished 14th at Talladega, rendering unable to make up ground in the Sprint Cup points standings. He is now fifth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 34 behind Jimmie Johnson.

“Jimmie’s got the lead,” Gordon said. “Let’s see if he can hold it. With Martinsville up next, history says he can. He’s won eight races there, rewarded with a grandfather clock for each victory. It’s just further proof that the 5-time Cup champ’s greatness is measure in ‘times.’”

6. Kurt Busch: Busch came home 18th at Talladega and is now ninth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 61 out of first.

“We had Wonder Bread on the No. 78 Chevrolet,” Busch said. “As if you needed more proof that I’m as white bread as they come.”

7. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer finished tenth at Talladega, his first top-10 finish since a tenth at Dover. He is eighth in the points standings, 57 out of first.

“Kudos to 5-Hour Energy for their contribution to NASCAR,” Bowyer said. “Like its name states, 5-Hour Energy will stay with you for awhile, which is more than I can say about some of Michael Waltrip’s other sponsors.”

8. Greg Biffle: Biffle finished 11th in the Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 Ford, while teammate Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. took third. Biffle is seventh in the points standings, 53 behind Jimmie Johnson.

“That was a great run by Stenhouse,” Biffle said. “He finished 30 places better than his girlfriend Danica Patrick. Contrary to popular belief, Danica is the one who is ‘whipped.’”

9. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Running second on the final lap, Earnhardt’s bid for victory at Talladega ended when the caution flew on the final lap, allowing Jamie McMurray to coast to victory. Earnhardt’s second was the best result among Chase drivers, and moved him up to sixth in the points standings.

“I’ve made second a habit at Talladega,” Earnhardt said. “And speaking of ‘habits,’ I’ve got as many wins this year as that lady wearing the habit—none.”

10. Ryan Newman: Newman started 17th and finished ninth at Talladega, earning his 16th top 10 of the year.

“That was the most incident-free race at Talladega I’ve ever seen,” Newman said. “Take it from me, that race was turned upside down.”

October 22, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Camping World RV Sales 500

In a race where the spotters sound like auctioneers as they guide their drivers around the track and where anything from chess-like strategy to last lap mayhem can happen, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 45^th annual Camping World RV Sales 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Surprising: While many drivers and crew chiefs alike assessed the race as ‘uneventful’, with only three cautions, no major multi-car wrecks and primarily single-file racing in the last laps, a few drivers at least might take exception to that viewpoint.

In one international incident, Marcos Ambrose lost control of his vehicle on lap 78 and took out Juan Pablo Montoya in the process.

“The Target Chevrolet was pretty good to be honest,” Montoya said. “We were running two-wide so it was comfortable.”

“We started running three-wide and the spotter told me ‘get out’ and I backed up going into the tri-oval and the next thing I know, I just saw out the corner of my eye somebody coming towards me and that was it.”

Even more dramatic, however, was the white flag lap crash where Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made contact with Austin Dillon, driver the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Stewart Haas Racing, sending the latter airborne.

“The No. 17 had a little bit of a run and I tried to go with him and came back across and hooked me,” Dillon said. “What a wild ride.”

“Who needs skydiving?”

Not Surprising: There are times at a race track when even the trophy is not the most important thing in Victory Lane and not surprisingly, this was the case for the lucky winner who wound up in Victory Lane.

Jamie McMurray, driver of the No. 1 Cessna Auburn University Chevrolet, not only ended his 108-race winless streak but, as he had always dreamed, he celebrated in Victory Lane with his family, including wife Christy and his two children Carter and Hazel.

“Well, that was — I mean, that’s top two or three moments of my life, to get to experience that with them,” McMurray said. “I don’t know if you guys heard, but I rent a space from Matt Kenseth to keep my go-karts and stuff in at his shop.”

“So I was out in the front where they have some office space, and he’s got pictures hanging inside and there was a picture of Matt and Katie and Grace and Kaylin, and I think it was Dover Victory Lane, and I remember seeing how excited Kaylin was,” McMurray continued. “I went home and told Christy, I hope that we get to have that moment.”

“That’s really special — especially having a little boy who is into Lightning McQueen and racing in general,” McMurray said. “Yeah, to get to have that with my family is really cool.”

This was McMurray’s first win of the season, his second victory at Talladega, and his seventh victory in 398 Cup races.

Surprising: Dale Earnhardt Jr. was surprisingly upbeat in spite of not having his dream of snagging that elusive first win of the season come true. The driver of the No. 88 Mountain Dew/Xbox One Chevrolet was a bridesmaid in the runner up position yet again.

“It wasn’t the best run in the world,” Dale Junior said. “It wasn’t what I dreamed it would be, all those last few laps.”

“But it was a good enough run I think to get up to his (McMurray’s) quarter panel and get beside him.”

“Really happy with the way the car ran and it was good to run up front, good to lead,” Earnhardt Jr. continued. “We’ve really struggled this season with being competitive, and to drive up through there and do that like we did today, and it felt great.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. scored his 14^th top-10 finish in 28 races at ‘Dega and posted his 18^th top-10 finish of the 2013 season.

Not Surprising: In spite of a punishing Truck race the night before, Kyle Busch not surprisingly proved again that he was the redemption story of the race weekend. The driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Halloween Toyota bounced back after missing his pit box to get his lap back and finish fifth.

And although he had some harsh words on his radio after getting blocked out of his pit box by none other than race winner Jamie McMurray, Busch was giving all the glory to God at the end of the race.

“Our M&M’s Halloween Camry ran great all day,” said Busch, who earned his fourth top-five finish in 18 starts at Talladega, including his April 2008 win at the 2.66-mile oval. “It was fun to finish one of these things.”

“It’s God’s grace that allows us to finish one of these, and we appreciate it today, especially coming home with another top-five.”

Busch also redeemed himself in the point standings, moving up two positions to reclaim the third spot, just 26 points behind the leader.

Surprising: Talladega proved a surprising dichotomy for the two primary Rookie of the Year contenders. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished third while his primary ROTY competitor Danica Patrick finished 33^rd after having a pit road calamity.

“I thought the racing was great all day,” Stenhouse, driver of the No. 17 Nationwide Insurance Ford, said. “We were two, three, and four wide for a long time.”

“For our Nationwide Insurance team we were solid all day, in the top-10 a lot of the day and led a few laps, which was good for us.”

On the other hand, while Danica Patrick had been also running toward the front of the pack, her good day was ruined by an error on pit road during a green flag stop where she missed her pit stall and then incurred a speeding penalty to boot.

“We just didn’t communicate well on that final pit stop,” the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Breast Cancer Awareness Chevrolet said. “We were on the high side and couldn’t get down to where we needed to be to pit.”

“It’s disappointing and none of us feel good about it.”

Not Surprising: David Ragan and David Gilliland, both of whom have proven that they can drive at the superspeedways as evidenced by their one, two finish in the spring race at ‘Dega, not surprisingly fared well again in the fall affair.

Ragan, behind the wheel of the No. 34 SaferCar.gov Ford, finished sixth, with his teammate Gilliland, driving the No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford, right behind him in the seventh spot.

“We had a chance to win the race, took the white flag in seventh or eighth and kind of had a good plan,” Ragan said. “But the caution came out so we got a top-10 finish and that’s a good thing for our Front Row Motorsports team.”

“David and I worked together for a good part of the race and we were in position,” Gilliland said. “And then the caution came out on the last lap.”

“Thankfully, we weren’t part of it and we were able to get a top-10 finish and a clean car to take home.”

Surprising: Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Menards Duracell Chevrolet, surprisingly bettered his Talladega statistics by finishing fourth. This was Menard’s only finish inside the top-10 at Talladega in fifteen starts there other than a runner-up finish in 2008.

“At the start of the race, we took off and the car drove really good,” Menard said. “We drove to the front and kind of hung out in the top-10 all day long.”

“We could make the middle groove work to gain spots and then get to the outside,” Menard continued. “Ultimately the outside lane kind of won out over the long run.”

Not Surprising: Channeling his best Ricky Bobby from the movie ‘Talladega Nights”, Kurt Busch exemplified the notion that ‘if you’re not first, you’re last’ or at least 18^th, which is where he finished in his No. 78 Wonder Bread car.

“Restrictor plate racing is all about being in the right place at the right time,” Busch said. “We were in the right place for the majority of the race, but when it counted at the end, we weren’t there.”

“It’s disappointing because our Wonder Bread Chevy was fast and to finish 18th didn’t do us justice,” Busch continued. “I tried to make something happen, but couldn’t get there.”

Busch fell two spots in the Chase standings, from seventh to ninth, now 61 points behind the leader.

Surprising: At a track where handling usually does not matter, Matt Kenseth surprisingly struggled with an ill handling race car that set him back tremendously during the midsection of the race. Kenseth never quite fully recovered, finishing 20^th and losing the championship points lead to Jimmie Johnson.

“It was really bizarre — typically, handling is a non-issue here and we just got so loose I couldn’t even hang on to it,” the driver of the No. 20 Let’s Do This Home Depot Toyota said. “I pretty much had to run in the back for two runs which was disappointing.”

“We finally got it fixed that last run, but we only had 20 laps to get back up there,” Kenseth continued. “I really needed to be up there like we were early and feel like I was controlling the race more — the lanes and the runs and all that and I could never get back to there.”

Not Surprising: While Jimmie Johnson may also have not had the race that he envisioned, his 13^th place finish was better than Kenseth’s run. And after surviving Talladega, which was his goal, the five-time champ now has Martinsville, one of his best tracks, in his sights.

“You know I feel that the races forward now are up to where the competitors go earn it,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet said. “You don’t have this luck issue that can take place at plate tracks.”

“So I am happy to have the points lead and we went through a lot of work to get there,” Johnson continued. “We just go racing from here.”

“Martinsville has been good to us in the past, but we’ve got to go there and race,” Johnson said. “We will make sure that we get buttoned up and ready to go to that paperclip and see what we can do.”

“It’s just going to be a dogfight to the end.”

October 21, 2013
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished third in the Bank Of America 500, one spot ahead of Jimmie Johnson, and extended his lead from three to four in the Sprint Cup point standings.

“There’s one person I want to keep at arm’s length,” Kenseth said, “and that’s Johnson. Everyone else doesn’t matter, except for Carl Edwards, who needs to stay two arm lengths away.”

2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson faltered on the race’s final restart and fell to seventh before charging for a fourth-place finish. He now trails Matt Kenseth by four in the points standings.

“I feel like I may have given one away there,” Johnson said. “Restarts have troubled me all year. And restarts mean I have to re-finish. And clearly, as a two-year title drought would suggest, I don’t finish like I used to.”

3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished sixth at Charlotte, posting his third-straight top-10 result. He is 29 behind Matt Kenseth in the points standings.

“I’d like to say I still have a chance to win the Cup,” Harvick said, “but the facts don’t support that. You could say I don’t have a leg to stand on. And you can say the opposite about Tony Stewart.”

4. Kyle Busch: Busch finished fifth at Charlotte as arch-nemesis Brad Keselowski won the Bank Of America 500. Busch is fifth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 37 out of first.

“I guess I’m more like Keselowski than I would care to mention,” Busch said. “Apparently, we’re both stupid, and neither of us has a chance to win the Cup.”

5. Jeff Gordon: Gordon won the pole on Thursday and took seventh in the Bank Of America 500. He has five top-10 finishes in six Chase races, and is fourth in the points, 36 out of first.

“Talladega next on the schedule,” Gordon said, “and anything can happen. Usually, when I ask for a miracle, I try to speak to God. Nowadays, it’s a little easier—I just talk to Clint Bowyer.”

6. Kurt Busch: Busch posted a 14th in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet at Charlotte, and is seventh in the points standings, 59 out of first.

“I don’t condone my brother Kyle’s characterization of Brad Keselowski as ‘stupid,’” Busch said. “Kyle obviously thinks he’s advocating NASCAR’s ‘Drive For Diversity’ when he, as the pot, calls the kettle ‘black.’”

7. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer finished 11th in the Bank Of America 500 and improved one spot in the points standings to eighth. He trails Matt Kenseth by 63.

“Things could get very interesting at Talladega,” Bowyer said. “Not as interesting as things got in Richmond, but interesting nonetheless.

“Because of NAPA’s pulled sponsorship, Michael Waltrip Racing will run only two full-time teams in Sprint Cup next year. Michael tried his best to do more, but sometimes, you just aren’t able to manipulate the outcome.”

8. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski recovered from trouble in the pits to win for the first time this year, taking the Bank Of America 500 at Charlotte.

“I made a full lap with the jack stuck under my car,” Keselowski said. “That’s the least I can do. I simply returned the favor—that jack’s been giving me lifts all tear.

“And speaking of ‘jacks,’ Kyle Busch is a lot like a jack, in that there’s always a ‘let down.’”

9. Greg Biffle: Biffle finished 16th at Charlotte, and is now sixth in the points standings, 58 out of first.

“There will be an NCAA football game at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2016,” Biffle said. “It will likely be the most passing ever seen at a NASCAR track.”

10. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished 15th at Charlotte, one lap down. He is ninth in the Sprint Cup power rankings, 66 out of first.

“I’m ready for Talladega,” Earnhardt said, “and so are the fans of Junior Nation. They go absolutely crazy in the ‘Dega infield. So crazy, in fact, that they’re known as the ‘Infield-els.’”

October 15, 2013