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  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Bojangles’ Southern 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Bojangles’ Southern 500

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “That was a tough night.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Kurt Busch Wins the Pole for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 and Sets a Track Record at Darlington Raceway

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Aaron’s 499

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Aaron’s 499

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “I can’t thank them enough.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Crunching The Numbers: Talladega

    Crunching The Numbers: Talladega

    After a crazy weekend for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the short track of Richmond International Raceway, both series pack up and move on to the biggest, fastest track on the circuit for some restrictor plate racing at Talladega Superspeedway. As is the case each trip to the 2.66 mile, high banked behemoth in Alabama, these races are sure to provide nonstop action and the driver who can play the 200 mph chess game just right and avoid the inevitable “Big One” will come out on top.

    Sprint Cup Series

    With Talladega being the second restrictor plate race for the new Gen6 Sprint Cup car after its debut at Daytona to open the season, only time will tell if the racing in the Aaron’s 499 on Sunday will mirror that from the Daytona 500 or if Talladega has a few tricks up its sleeve for these drivers as they try to figure out the new car in the restrictor plate draft.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Brad Keselowski 8 2 3 6 0 31 18.9 12.2
    Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 26 5 9 13 0 737 15.6 15.0
    Kevin Harvick 24 1 6 10 1 155 22.0 15.4
    Tony Stewart 28 1 9 13 0 317 16.5 15.8
    David Ragan 12 0 3 5 0 27 19.8 16.0
    Kurt Busch 24 0 6 13 0 143 20.8 16.1
    Clint Bowyer 14 2 4 7 0 96 18.7 16.1
    Jeff Gordon 40 6 15 19 3 839 11.5 16.4
    Jimmie Johnson 22 2 5 9 1 234 10.2 17.7
    Travis Kvapil 10 0 0 2 1 17 22.1 17.8

    Who To Watch: As the defending spring Talladega race winner and two time winner at Talladega, Brad Keselowski leads all active drivers at the track with two wins, three top fives, six top tens, 31 laps led, and an average finish of 12.2 in eight starts at the track. Coming in just behind Keselowski is Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who has five wins, nine top fives, 13 top tens, 737 laps led, and an average finish of 15.0 in 26 starts. However, Earnhardt has not won at Talladega since the Fall of 2004 and only has five top tens in the eight years (16 races) since that last win, but Earnhardt can never be counted out at restrictor plate races, no matter the track.

    Others that could find their way to Victory Lane this weekend include: Richmond winner and winner of the Fall race in 2010 at Talladega, Kevin Harvick; Tony Stewart, with one win, nine top fives, 13 top tens, and an average finish of 15.8, David Ragan, who hasn’t won at Talladega, but does have a Sprint Cup restrictor plate win at Daytona and a Nationwide Series win at Talladega under his belt as well as an average finish of 16.0; Kurt Busch, who has six top fives and 13 top tens in 24 starts and an average finish of 16.1; two time winner Clint Bowyer, who also has an average finish of 16.1 in 14 starts; Jeff Gordon, with six wins, but none since sweeping both races in 2007; and Jimmie Johnson, who has two wins, but has had horrible luck at restrictor plate races as of late, especially at Talladega.

    Nationwide Series

    If fans thought the season opener for the Nationwide Series at Daytona was wild, this weekend’s at Talladega is sure to provide just as many, if not more, thrills as that race did, due in large part to the two-car tandem drafting style that these drivers use in this series.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Joey Logano 4 1 4 4 0 21 10.5 2.0
    Kurt Busch 1 0 0 1 0 1 31.0 6.0
    Trevor Bayne 2 0 0 1 0 23 22.0 9.5
    Sam Hornish, Jr. 2 0 0 0 0 4 10.0 12.5
    Danica Patrick 1 0 0 0 0 1 17.0 13.0
    Brian Vickers 4 0 0 2 0 17 11.2 14.0
    Justin Allgaier 4 0 0 2 0 0 19.2 15.5
    Joe Nemechek 18 2 7 8 5 202 10.7 15.9
    John Wes Townley 2 0 0 0 0 0 28.5 16.5
    Kyle Busch 9 1 4 5 0 114 11.6 16.6

    Who To Watch: Sprint Cup regular Joey Logano will be making his first start in the Nationwide Series for Penske Racing at Talladega and carries an impressive Nationwide Series record at the track with him. In four starts, Logano has one win, four top fives, four top tens, 21 laps led, and an average finish of 2.0. If Logano can reproduce those results that he obtained while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing with his new team, Logano will definitely be one of the favorites for the win on Saturday.

    Logano isn’t the only favorite for the victory, several others will also be in contention, including: Kurt Busch, who will be teaming back up with Phoenix Racing, finished sixth in his lone Nationwide start at Talladega and won last July at Daytona, so he has ran well on restrictor plate tracks in the Nationwide Series; Trevor Bayne, who has two starts, one top ten, and an average finish of 9.5; Sam Hornish, Jr., the current points leader, has two starts and an average finish of 12.5; and Danica Patrick, who will be running for Turner Scott Motorsports, who has one Talladega Nationwide start and an average finish of 13.0.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Toyota Owners 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Toyota Owners 400

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

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

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

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

    “It was a great night.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “We got hit by a lot of freak deals.”

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

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

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

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

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

    “So, we can’t complain.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “Our guys never gave up.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Texas NRA 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Texas NRA 500

    From the agonizing delays in pre-race tech to the broom in Victory Lane, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 17th annual NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

    Surprising:  While it might have taken a surprising twenty years of trying, Norm Miller and Interstate Batteries, thanks to their driver Kyle Busch, finally made it to Victory Lane. This was Busch’s 26th win in 300 Cup Series races and surprisingly his first win at Texas Motor Speedway in the Cup Series.

    “For Interstate Batteries and Norm Miller to be in Victory Lane in Texas – there’s nothing better than putting him right here,” Busch said. “This feels good.”

    In addition to the sweep at Texas, winning the Nationwide and Cup races, Busch and company also had a surprisingly stellar night in the pits. In fact, for eight pit stops, the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota team led the way statistically with the least amount of time on pit road.

    “We had a great racecar, and we worked really hard all weekend, but without that pit crew – they’re the best in the business,” Busch said. “They know when it’s crunch time.”

    Not Surprising:  When a racer fails to win, especially after coming so close, it is not surprising that the end result is bitterness and disappointment. But for Martin Truex, Jr., the runner up run was almost unbearable, especially after losing the lead in the pits.

    “Shoulda, coulda, woulda,” the driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota said. “I’m just disappointed.”

    “The race was over when we got beat out of the pits,” Truex Jr. continued. “We’ve had a tough season and we had a car capable of winning.”

    “I’m just tired of finishing second,” Truex Jr. said. “This is getting old. It sucks.”

    Truex’s day got even worse when it was determined that his car flunked post-race inspection, being too low in the front. Any possible penalties issued by the sanctioning body may come early in the week.

    Surprising:  There was a surprising amount of drama prior to and after the race for team Penske. Both Keselowski and Logano had difficulty in pre-race tech, so much so that Logano almost did not make it out on the track for the start of the race.

    Yet both Penske drivers managed to score top-ten finishes in spite of it all, with Logano in fifth and Keselowski in ninth.

    “Shoot, I wasn’t even in the car yet,” Logano said. “It was a little too close for my comfort.”

    “If you would have told me I would have finished fifth today, I would have given you a hug.”

    Keselowski, however, had some harsh words for the sanctioning body after the race as a result of having to change the rear-end housing prior to the race.

    “The things I’ve seen over the last seven days have me questioning everything I believe in and I’m not happy about it,” the driver of the Blue Deuce said. “You have no (expletive) idea what’s going on.”

    “I feel like we’ve been targeted over the last seven days more than I’ve ever seen a team targeted,” Keselowski continued. “We’re not going to take it.”

    As with Truex Jr., NASCAR will most likely assess penalties later in the week.

    Not Surprising:  Roush Fenway Racing traditionally does well at Texas Motor Speedway, so it was not surprising to see both Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle have good runs, finishing third and fourth respectively. Both RFR drivers, however, faced some significant obstacles along the way to both finish top-five.

    Edwards had a mechanical issue with a cracked tailpipe and then had difficulties with his seat belts coming undone.

    “That’s a gift for us,” the driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford said after the race. “I know Martin (Truex, Jr.) is not happy with second, but I’m real happy with third.”

    Biffle also struggled, from starting towards the back with a 35th qualifying spot to a speeding penalty on lap 224 for too fast entering the pits.

    “It was a tough night,” Biffle said. “Our car definitely wasn’t as good as it was last year, but we battled back.”

    Surprising:  Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered his worst finish of the season in 29th after having an eventful evening. Junior struggled with seeing his pit sign, asking at one point for a deer spotlight on it, and then headed to the pits with a dead battery.

    That started the perfect storm of other issues, since without the engine running the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet sped and incurred a penalty. With that poor finish, Dale Jr. dropped three positions in the point standings, down to the sixth spot.

    “It has been rough but we had a really good car tonight,” Junior said. “Eventually things will turn back around for us.”

    Not Surprising:   While this driver may have surprised a military veteran prior to the race, Aric Almirola has been steadily gaining momentum on the track, so much so that his seventh place finish was not at all surprising.

    And with that good finish, the young driver gained two spots in the point standings, up to the 14th position.

    “We had a great car,” the driver of the No. 43 Petty race car said. “Todd Parrott and these guys gave me a great Eckrich Ford Fusion and I felt really good about it.”

    “It was a great day, a great points day for us.”

    Surprising:  While not surprising to see mechanical failures in a race as grueling as Texas, it was surprising to see two of the stronger cars in the race succumb to those issues. Both Kurt Busch, in the No. 78 Furniture Row/Serta Chevrolet, and Jeff Gordon, in the No. 24 Cromax Pro Chevrolet, had difficulties, resulting in 37th and 38th place finishes respectively.

    “I’m not sure maybe a burned wheel bearing or something,” Gordon said. “We’ll learn about what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

    “When you’re running solidly in the top-five and then to have a parts failure knock you out of contention, it’s frustrating,” Kurt Busch said. “We had a part on the fuel injection system break.”

    “What’s done is done and we have to put tonight behind us and focus on getting these problems rectified sooner than later.”

    Not Surprising:  While many drivers had difficulty in the pits, from a fire in Matt Kenseth’s pit to Tony Stewart’s newest perpendicular approach to his pit stall, it was not surprising that the most basic issue, that of pit box color, tripped up at least two drivers on pit road.

    Juan Pablo Montoya, who sports the traditional red and white colors, got a bit confused when he tried to pit in Dave Blaney’s stall, which also just so happened to be red and white for the evening.

    Montoya finished 20th and Blaney ended up in the 25th spot in the race.

    Surprising:  While both rookies, sporting similar cowboy hats and boots, had surprisingly challenging days at Texas, Danica Patrick again beat out her boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the rookie battle on the track.

    Patrick finished 28th while Stenhouse Jr., after cutting down a left-rear tire and spinning, finished 40th.

    “It was a tough night,” Patrick said. “The car was just kind of all over the place.”

    “It’s kind of tough to go straight when you lose a left-rear tire,” Stenhouse, Jr. said. “I felt like our car was pretty good, but it was just a tough break.”

    Not Surprising:  With Denny Hamlin at the track and on the pit box and a fast No. 11 FedEx Office/March of Dimes Toyota, it was certainly not surprising to see Brian Vickers, who is literally competing for a ride with each race, finish eighth.

    “It feels great,” Vickers said of his top-ten run. “We’re pleased but I wanted to win.”

    “I guess that’s what we are here for.”

     

  • Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 5 Texas Motor Speedway – NRA 500 – April 13, 2013

    Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 5 Texas Motor Speedway – NRA 500 – April 13, 2013

    Turn on the lights and turn up the heat this week as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races under the lights for the first time this season. Texas Motor Speedway needs no introduction as it has produced some of the fastest speeds and exciting finishes we’ve seen over the past few seasons.

    Remember back to last season, The Chase for the Sprint Cup was heating up between five-time champ, Jimmie Johnson and now defending champion, Brad Kesolowski. The fall race at Texas last year was firmly in the hands of the No. 48 team for the majority of the 335 laps run, but a late-race caution flag lined the two Championship contenders up side-by-side for a fantastic finish. The two collided with one another in the final laps, with Johnson emerging victorious from the awesome battle and Kesolowski landing in second.

    The 1.5/2 mile intermediate tracks are the ones NASCAR circled when designing the new Gen-6 car. They wanted to design a race car that would tighten the delta we’ve seen on the intermediate tracks with the Gen-5 race car over the course of the past five or so seasons. So far this season, we’ve seen a record number of green flag passes for the lead at Las Vegas with 31, and matched the track record of 41 at Auto Club Speedway. Based on these two important stats, I’m going to make the statement that the designers of the Gen-6 car have done their job and improved the passing on these traditional “cookie-cutter” tracks. Saturday night will be no different. Watch for track-record speeds and passing throughout the field.

    Martinsville Recap

    I went with the defending champ last week, and it was the five-time champ who dominated the STP Gas Booster 500. Against my better judgment, I picked against the recent history at Martinsville Speedway, and it came back to bite me in the end. I went against the history of the past 21 races at the paper-clip, being dominated by three drivers, Jimmie Johnson being one of them. Ford also hadn’t visited Victory Lane (or should I say the front stretch backdrop) in over a decade as well. It was ultimately Johnson and the Chevy’s that dominated last week. Never bet against the trends. Kesolowski finished sixth.

    I picked a Chevy for my dark horse pick last week, but I had no luck with Ryan Newman finishing 31st, as the Stewart-Haas camp continued their slow start last week at Martinsville.

    Texas Picks

    If you tuned into www.primesportsnetwork.com on Wednesday night, you heard Greg Dipalma and I preview Saturday Night’s NRA 500 from Texas Motor Speedway. There were a couple drivers I really liked because of where the odds opened up, Matt Kenseth at a 12 to 1 and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 15 to 1. I made my picks on Wednesday evening based off historical finishes at TMS without the advantage of seeing any testing or practice speeds.

    There was one trend that was clear across the board, starting up front at Texas is very important. We highlighted some drivers who have not traditionally qualified well at Texas, and their tallies in the win column at Texas reflected the importance of starting up front. Six of the last eight races at Texas Motor Speedway have been won from a starting spot inside the top-5.

    Winner Pick

    I liked my pick on Wednesday, and I’m sticking with him again today. Matt Kenseth really likes Texas Motor Speedway, probably because he enters Saturday with a top-5 in each of the last five races at TMS. He boasts the series best average finish (6.2) in the last ten races at TMS and won the first Gen-6 race on a 1.5-mile track when he snubbed Kasey Khane from the win in Las Vegas. Fast forward to Thursday’s test sessions at TMS and look at the 7 fastest 10 consecutive lap averages, and you’ll find Matt Kenseth. Flip to the 5th best consecutive lap average, and you’ll find his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch. Despite Jimmie Johnson being fastest in both test sessions yesterday as far as 10 lap averages are concerned, Toyota claimed 3 of the top 5 10 consecutive lap averages on the day.

    Kenseth will be the 13th car on the track for qualifying later this evening and is my guy who will be there at the end this week.

    Dark Horse Pick

    I didn’t have a long shot pick on Wednesday, but since the cars have unloaded and been on track the past two days, one car has shown a ton of speed in testing. As I mentioned before, qualifying well might mean the difference between a win and a tenth place finish this week in Texas. The No.78 Furniture Row racing Chevy has been fast the past two days, winning the first test session and coming in runner-up in the second of the two test sessions yesterday. Kurt Busch followed up his season-high fourth place finish at Bristol with a top-5 at Auto Club Speedway, the other intermediate oval race this season. We’ve seen some speed out of this team so far this weekend, and Busch will look to shake the woes he had at Martinsville last week with a solid finish in the Lone Star State.

    That’s all for this week, so until Kansas, you stay classy NASCAR NATION!

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville STP Gas Booster 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville STP Gas Booster 500

    Refreshed from an off-weekend and ready to go short track racing, here is what was surprising and not surprising when the Cup drivers returned to racing in the STP Gas Booster 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

    Surprising:  With all the talk of paybacks from feuding drivers, it was surprising just how uneventful the last restart and final laps of the race were, especially since the trio competing at the end included Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer, all of whom have history together.

    In fact, at last year’s Martinsville race, the three drivers tangled in the final laps, with Bowyer on new tires and the Hendrick teammates on old tires, sending them all spinning and handing the race win to Ryan Newman.

    Gordon and Bowyer also have history and unsettled scores from last season that even carried over through the end-of-year banquet in Las Vegas. Yet, in spite of a few nudges here and there, they raced each other cleanly and respectfully, which was more than surprising given the rhetoric and hostility between the two.

    “Well, we just didn’t need those cautions there at the end,” Gordon, who finished third in the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, said. “We just needed more laps there at the end.”

    “Well, last year I had the upper hand with tires and it just didn’t work out,” Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 RK Motors Toyota and race runner up, said. “It’s just disappointing.”

    “Just wish I’d had that clock.”

    Not Surprising:  With Jimmie Johnson’s stats at Martinsville, including multiple wins and the best driver rating of 122.3, it was not surprising at all to see him in Victory Lane, collecting his eighth grandfather’s clock.

    And while Johnson winning at Martinsville was not surprising in the least, the depth of bittersweet emotion in victory lane was also not surprising, given the history of loss for team owner Rick Hendrick and his family at that rack.

    With caps turned backwards in memory of Ricky Hendrick and the other members of the HMS team lost in the plane crash at Martinsville nine years ago, Rick Hendrick shared that the track holds so many mixed emotions for him, including the joy of winning and the agony of loss.

    Yet in spite of the bittersweet memories, Hendrick was also incredibly proud of the accomplishment of winning 20 races at that track, the most of any organization in the sport.

    “I was looking at that scoreboard over there, the first time I ever came to a Cup race was here with my dad,” Hendrick said. “We’ve been fortunate to have some great drivers and this track has been awful good to us.

    Surprising:  While it was surprising enough that Danica Patrick, behind the wheel of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, finished 12th, it was even more surprising that she beat out her Stewart Haas Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, who finished 17th and 31st respectively.

    This was Patrick’s first time at Martinsville Speedway in a Cup car and, in spite of an early spin, she rallied back to the checkered flag as the highest finishing rookie in the race.

    “Yeah, well never being at Martinsville, I didn’t know what to expect,” Patrick said. “I felt like I made a lot of passes.”

    “I’m most proud about coming back from two laps down and being on the lead lap,” Patrick continued. “Then grabbing a 12th place finish in the end was good.”

    Not Surprising:  One of the biggest complaints after Martinsville was, not surprisingly, the lack of a second groove in the track and how much track position was lost because of it.

    Although finishing top-ten, Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford, had quite a bit to say about the battle for the preferred inside line.

    “You had to fight like a dog to try to get to the inside,” Ambrose said. “If you got hung out there, there’s just nothing you could do – you’re just along for the ride.”

    Surprising:  With all the attention on and rhetoric about Joey Logano, it was a bit surprising that he was pretty much a non-factor at Martinsville.

    In fact, going into the short track race weekend, Logano said that he would not seek conflict but he also vowed not to lay down for anyone.

    “There’s a fine line of how you’re going to earn that respect,” Logano said. “I’m not a guy that’s going to look for trouble, but I’m also the guy that’s not going to get walked on.”

    Logano experience neither being in trouble or getting walked on at Martinsville, finishing 23rd in his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford. And with that non-stellar finish, he fell two spots in the point standings to 11th.

    Not Surprising:   Any racer out of the car would find it difficult being at the track. So, it was not surprising just how tough Denny Hamlin took sitting out and watching another driver behind the wheel of his race machine.

    “The start of the race was nothing like I thought it was,” Hamlin said. “The start of the race absolutely killed me.”

    “That was very, very tough to watch,” Hamlin continued. “I didn’t’ realize the physical toll that coming out here was going to take on me.”

    Surprising:  With Roush Fenway Racing traditionally struggling at Martinsville, it was surprising to see one of their drivers finish top ten. Greg Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M Ford, brought his car to the checkered flag in the ninth position.

    “It was a hard fought day,” Biffle said. “Our car was way too tight and I had to keep working on it.”

    “There was no outside groove whatsoever and everyone really wanted the bottom,” Biffle continued. “But we still finished in the top-10 so I’m pretty happy about that.”

    Not Surprising:  There were several bounce back finishes amongst drivers who struggled and then came back strong at the finish of the race. One of the most notable was Brad Keselowski, who overcame a questionable pit road penalty to finish sixth in his Blue Deuce.

    “That was a hard-fought finish,” Keselowski said. “We wanted to be able to win here and just haven’t been strong enough to do it.”

    “But I’m proud of where we are right here today.”

    Another amazing performance was given by Iron Man Mark Martin, who was involved in a multi-car crash on lap 180 and then rallied to finish tenth. To boot, this stellar finish was in an unfamiliar car in which he was subbing for the injured Denny Hamlin.

    Yet not surprisingly, Martin once again downplayed his accomplishment.

    “It wasn’t that great of a result; we were capable of a little bit better,” Martin said in his usual humble style. “I did not fill Denny Hamlin’s shoes, I can tell you that much.”

    “He is the master.”

    Surprising:  Another pleasant surprise for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing was the good finish for once of one of its drivers. Jamie McMurray, behind the wheel of the No. 1 Novo Nordisk Chevrolet for EGR, finished seventh.

    “We had a really good car,” McMurray said. “Made a good pit call at the end and got a couple of extra spots.”

    “That was a really good day for us.”

    Not Surprising:  Although working with a relatively new team in Furniture Row Racing, it was not surprising that veteran driver Kurt Busch had the presence of mind to not only angle the car before hitting the wall after his brakes failed, but also had the wherewithal to utilize his fire suppression system when his car went up in flames.

    “Something let go in the brakes,” Busch said. “I had to turn the car to the right otherwise I was going to hit harder than what we did.”

    “It was a bummer day.”

    Unfortunately, that bummer day resulted in Busch falling from 13th to 19th in the driver point standings. The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Serta Chevrolet, along with all of his Cup competitors, will have a chance at redemption as the elite series heads into Texas Motor Speedway.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Fontana Auto Club 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Fontana Auto Club 400

    From three-wide racing to the splitter-challenging bumps, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 17th annual Auto Club 400 in Fontana, California.

    Surprising:  While the Busch brothers are more often than not in the spotlight for disagreements on and off the track, this past weekend the younger Busch sailed past the trouble right into victory lane while the older brother also snagged a top-five finish.

    This was Kyle Busch’s first victory of the year, his 25th Cup win, and the first victory for Joe Gibbs Racing at Auto Club Speedway. He is now tied with Matt Kenseth, Jim Paschal and Joe Weatherly for 24th in all-time victories.

    “What a great day,” Kyle Busch said. “It’s been three years in the making.”

    “Being right here in California, we finally get the win for Toyota and Joe Gibbs at a track where he has never won at,” Busch continued. “Coach, I drove my butt off for you.”

    Brother Kurt Busch overcame an incident of slipping in oil early in the race and a pit road speeding penalty to score a fifth place finish, the first time ever that Furniture Row Racing has scored back to back top-five finishes.

    “Just real ecstatic,” Kurt Busch said. “Persevering, digging hard, and bringing it right back up to the front when it counts, that is what it’s all about.”

    Not Surprising:  Crew chief Steve Letarte continued to live up to his moniker as ‘Magic Man’ and his driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. continued to be ‘Mr. Consistent’, overcoming their own pit road struggles to finish second. This was Junior’s sixth top-10 finish at Auto Club and his fifth top-10 finish in 2013.

    And much to the delight of NASCAR Junior nation, their driver now also leads the point standings.

    “We just stick together,” Junior said. “We were pretty good at closing races, something I never really was good at for years, and now we’re doing it as good as anybody.”

    “Just riding the wave,” Dale Junior continued. “Just real happy with how things are going for our team.”

    Surprising:  For a two-mile oval track, Auto Club Speedway generated just as much, if not more, drama than its short-track counterparts, from the Logano versus Hamlin feud to the Logano versus Stewart post race tussle.

    Unfortunately, the short-track racing on the final laps led to not only heated tempers but also a significant injury to Denny Hamlin, who ended up with a fractured back after a hard hit into the wall.

    “He shouldn’t have done what he did last week,” Logano said of his incident with Hamlin after the race. “So, that’s what he gets.”

    “I had to throw the block there,” Logano said of his tussle with Tony Stewart that led to a confrontation, some punches and some expletive-laced comments from Smoke after the race. “That was a race for the lead.”

    “So I was just trying to protect the spot I had.”

    Logano finished the race in the third position after adjustments were made to the finishing order. Stewart finished in 22nd and Hamlin finished 25th.

    Not Surprising:  It seems, unfortunately, that these race cars just find those non-SAFER barrier protected walls at so many different tracks on the circuit. It happened previously at Watkins Glen to Jeff Gordon, resulting in a back injury, and again this weekend at Auto Club Speedway for Denny Hamlin, resulting in another back injury.

    As soon as he hit the non-SAFER barrier wall, Hamlin knew he was ‘in trouble.’

    “The position I was in, I couldn’t breathe at all,” Hamlin said. “Literally, when I felt a pop, I couldn’t move at all.”

    “That’s why I rushed out and just laid flat on the ground to start breathing again.”

    Surprising:  Brad Keselowski, who had been riding a streak of consecutive top-five finishes, looked to be in the position to continue it, however, fell victim to a pit road speeding penalty and then to overheating issues late in the race.

    The reigning champ had to drive from the back of the field several times, including at the beginning of the race due to an engine change and on lap 92 after the speeding violation. He finished a disappointing 23rd and fell to second in the point standings.

    “I think we went from the back to the front three times today, which really showed the speed we had in the Miller Lite Ford,” Keselowski said. “We’re still good in points position after a tough day though.”

    Not Surprising:   Roush Fenway Racing had a pretty good day in California, with both Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards finishing in the top-five in the race and in the point standings. Even rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr. logged all of the laps and had his fifth finish of 20th or better for the season.

    “Man that was just an unbelievable race,” Edwards said. “It was a really good show.”

    “We were pretty good at the end,” Biffle said. “Overall, a top-five finish for us is a great day.”

    This was Edwards’ third top-five finish and Biffle’s second top-10 finish in five starts in 2013.

    Surprising:  Although both were able to rebound, it was a bit surprising to see how mightily California natives and teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson struggled on their home turf. Both were mired back in the pack for much of the race but managed in the end to finish 11th and 12th respectively.

    The bright spot for four-time champion Jeff Gordon is that it was the first time in the 2013 season that he finished higher than his starting spot.

    Not Surprising:  At a track where she had never been in a Cup car before, Danica Patrick remained in learning mode, struggling in qualifying and for most of the weekend but completing all the laps for a 26th place finish.

    “We just had a tough Friday and Saturday and we regrouped for Sunday and put a new setup on the Go Daddy Chevrolet and stayed optimistic,” Patrick said. “The car started off a bit loose, but once we dialed that in, it was decent.”

    “So I felt better at the end of the race than I did in qualifying,” Patrick continued. “We all want better than 26th and that’s what we had today and it will be better next time.”

    Surprising:  After team owner Tony Stewart’s incident with Joey Logano in the waning laps, Stewart Haas racer Ryan Newman became the star of the team, finishing with a top-ten at Auto Club Speedway. But he too had to overcome some adversity in the form of a pit road violation to score that 10th place finish.

    “The guys on this WIX Filters team did a great job today,” Newman said. “They kept making the adjustments we needed.”

    “I put us in a bad spot at the end with the speeding penalty,” Newman continued. “But fortunately we were able to rally back from that to finish 10th.”

    “I can’t say enough about everyone on this team.”

    This was Newman’s third top-10 finish, much to the delight of all Outback Bloomin’ Onion fans.

    Not Surprising:  The ‘quiet man’ Paul Menard continued his stealth moves on the track, finishing eighth in his No. 27 Menards/Certainteed Chevrolet.

    Menard is also in the eighth place in the point standings, again quietly representing Richard Childress Racing as the lone ranger in the top twelve at present.