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Surprising and Not Surprising: Bristol Food City 500

From the intro songs to the beating and the banging that comes with short-track racing, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 53^rd annual Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Surprising: Hendrick Motorsports’ Kasey Kahne is a Bristol victory virgin no more. The driver of the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet scored his first ever win in nineteen races at Thunder Valley and his first win of the young 2013 season.

“This is a big win,” Kahne said. “The whole team was flawless.”

“I feel like for myself it’s a big accomplishment to win here,” Kahne continued. “We’ve prepared pretty hard this year and it feels good to win.”

Not Surprising: Both Busch brothers earned their stripes as ‘come back kids’, overcoming adversity to finish in the top five.

Kyle Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, overcame a speeding penalty to finish second and Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Beautyrest Chevrolet, contended with a loose wheel, as well as some damage to his race car, to battle back to a fourth place finish.

This was Kyle Busch’s second top-10 finish in 2013 and Kurt Busch’s best finish of the 2013 season, as well as his best finish so far with Furniture Row Racing.

“I need to stop getting penalties and stay up front all race,” Kyle Busch said. “I wish there was more to have there. But it’s a good day I guess.”

“Considering how much we had to battle back from adversity today, the finish was even more gratifying” Kurt Busch said. “We battled hard and the poor No. 78 car – she’s used up.”

Kyle Busch is now in the top ten in points and Kurt Busch vaulted from 29^th to 16^th in the point standings.

Surprising: While Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth have had issues between one another in the past, they had a surprisingly tough encounter on the track at Bristol. With Gordon in the lead and Kenseth right behind, Gordon blew a tire, hit the wall and Kenseth plowed into him from behind after his throttle apparently stuck.

“As soon as I got into the banking, I felt the tire go,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “I really hate that for Kenseth.”

“There was not a lot either of us could do,” the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot/Husky Toyota said. “It will take a lot of Husky tools to fix that thing.”

“We had a great car but we didn’t make it to the end.”

Not Surprising: Yes, it was Bristol and there were some temper flare ups, especially between Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano, who do have a history with one another.

Hamlin, who had had an eventful week deciding not to appeal his $25,000 fine from NASCAR, got a bit peeved with Joey Logano and ended up turning his former teammate and sending him spinning.

The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, finished 23^rd and Logano, driving the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, finished 17^th.

“Really, you’ve got to control your car and he slid up in front of me,” Hamlin said. “I meant to run into him but didn’t mean to spin him out.”

“We finished bad. He finished bad,” Hamlin continued. “It’s even.”

“That’s a freaking genius behind the wheel of the 11 car – probably the worst teammate I ever had, so I learned that now,” Logano said. “He decided to run in the back of me, so whatever.”

“I have a scorecard and I’m not putting up with that,” Logano continued. “What goes around comes around.”

And yes, the disagreement spilled over into Twitter-world, first with Logano tweeting, “Hey @dennyhamlin great job protecting that genius brain of yours by keeping your helmet on” and Hamlin responding, “Last time I checked he had my cell and direct message button to choose from if he’s got a problem. Otherwise hush little child.”

Surprising: It was a surprisingly difficult day for the drivers of the cereal cars, with Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Cheerios Chevrolet, and Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Kellogg’s/Frosted Flake Ford Fusion, involved in an early wreck.

Burton finished 32^nd while Edwards soldiered on, in spite of being ill most of the race and reportedly throwing up in his car, to finish 18^th.

“I have to thank the infield medical folks and folks with NASCAR medical,” Edwards said. “They really helped me out a lot today.”

“That’s the most miserable race I’ve ever been through, but there was a little bit of satisfaction to come back and finish 18^th.”

Not Surprising: Brad Keselowski, who finished third in the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion and now leads in the point standings, was not satisfied in the least.

“We weren’t close at the start but at the end, the car was pretty good,” Keselowski said. “The 2 team did a great job adjusting on the car during the race. “

“We’ve been so damn close and just haven’t sealed the deal.”

Surprising: In spite of bringing out the first caution with a flat tire, spin and a wreck, Tony Stewart still managed to keep his sense of humor throughout the rest of the race.

On lap 254 with only half of the race completed, Stewart radioed in to his ailing crew chief Steve Addington to say, “The good news is that it’s halfway over.”

Addington, who was battling the flu, replied simply, “Don’t make me laugh too hard right now.”

Not Surprising: While he may not have been stellar, he has been consistent so far in the 2013 season. Fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished sixth and is just nine points behind Keselowski, sitting second in the point standings.

The driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet solely credits the consistent performance to crew chief Steve Letarte, who Earnhardt Jr. referred to after the race as ‘magic man.’

“I have to give all the credit to Steve Letarte,” Junior said. “He made a couple, two, three great pit calls there at the end and gave us the opportunity to get some guys on old tires and beat a few guys that we probably weren’t going to beat.”

“Great call by him.”

Surprising: There were some surprising names in the top ten when the checkered flag waved at Bristol, including Brian Vickers, Paul Menard and Jamie McMurray.

“Honestly after today, it felt like a win,” Vickers, driver of the No. 55 RK Motors Toyota, said. “We had some damage but got that fixed and we got back to the top 10.”

Not Surprising: In spite of a stellar Daytona, Danica Patrick has continued to struggle at the tracks following the season kick off. The driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, finished 28^th at Bristol, several laps down.

“We just never really got it completely freed up like we needed to,” Patrick said. “It was better later in the race, but by then the damage was done.”

Patrick is looking forward to the next race at Fontana, in spite of never having driven a Cup car at that track before.

“There are a lot of things that I have to work on at this point in time,” Patrick said. “The most important thing is to find a decent balance to start off the race so that we don’t drop back.”

March 19, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Phoenix Subway Fresh Fit 500

In the Valley of the Sun, surprisingly dotted by a few sprinkles at race start, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 9^th Annual Subway Fresh Fit 500 from Phoenix International Raceway.

Surprising: There was a surprising amount of frustration from many of the drivers finishing in the top five in the second race of the young NASCAR season.

Second place finisher Jimmie Johnson was frustrated because of what he perceived as a not so kosher restart on the green-white-checker finish.

“The leader’s not supposed to slow down before you take off,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet said. “If you get away with it, it works great.”

“But if it had been me, my Twitter inbox would have been full.”

The third place race finisher, Denny Hamlin, was also frustrated but for a different reason, lack of passing. This frustration was, however, a bit surprising since he came from the back of the field due to an engine change and also achieved a bonsai pass on the apron to secure his top-five finish.

“It was so hard to pass,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota said. “Aero tight is a huge, huge deal.”

“I hate to be Denny Downer, but I just didn’t pass that many cars today.”

The final surprisingly frustrated driver was none other than Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who finished in the fifth position at a track where he has been known to struggle. Junior was frustrated because of a pit stop where he was boxed in and lost positions, in his mind costing him the race win.

“Well I hate to be frustrated at Phoenix, but I think we are,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet said. “We feel like we could have finished better than fifth, maybe won the race.”

“Just didn’t get the breaks on pit road.”

Not Surprising: Just as Denny Hamlin had done before, it was not surprising to see another driver follow suit, calling his own race win after an excruciating Speedweeks in Daytona.

Ending a 70 winless drought, Carl Edwards back flipped his way right into Victory Lane, achieving his 20^th Cup career win. Edwards was especially proud to do the honors with his sponsor Subway on the car and sponsoring the race.

“I feel good,” the driver of the No. 99 Subway Ford said. “It’s tough to go that long without winning.”

“I’ll be eating Subway all week.”

Surprising: After struggling mightily last year, the driver of the No. 31 Cheerios Chevrolet had a surprisingly good day. Jeff Burton finally put it all together for an entire race to score a top-10 finish, even with some crew chief adversity.

“Over the last 60 or so laps, we consistently had the fastest car in the field,” Burton said. “It was great to top it off with a top-10 finish, especially after all the adversity the team faced early in the day when Luke (Lambert, crew chief) flew home to be with his wife who is pregnant.”

“I appreciate the entire Cheerios team pulling together.”

Not Surprising: In spite of all the pre-race hype and race promotion, there was no retaliation whatsoever between arch rivals from last year’s Phoenix race, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer. In fact, both not only shared a few pre-race chuckles but also raced each other cleanly to top-10 finishes, with Bowyer finishing 6^th and Gordon 9^th.

The duo, who were not even speaking at the end of last season, had similar pronouncements about their 2013 Phoenix race finish.

“All in all it was a decent day for our 5-Hour Energy Toyota,” Bowyer said.

“It was a solid top-10,” Gordon said. “All-in-all that was pretty solid.”

Surprising: Perhaps more heartbreaking than surprising is the incredibly poor start that Martin Truex Jr. has gotten off to in the 2013 season.

Truex Jr. finished 24^th in the Daytona 500 and barely got started in the Phoenix race, stalling on pit road with a gear and axle problem, relegating him to a 36^th place finish.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Truex Jr. tweeted after the race. “Never seen that happen in all my days. Had a fast @napafilters car too.”

Not Surprising: On his return to the NASCAR scene, A.J. Allmendinger had a great day in the Valley of the Sun. The ‘Dinger finished 11^th behind the wheel of the No. 51 Guy Roofing Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing.

“Everyone on the team kept fighting hard and worked their asses off,” Allmendinger shared via Twitter on his way out of the track.

Surprising: There was a surprising car, one with a big red Target on the hood, that just so happened to be at the front of the pack for much of the race. Juan Pablo Montoya drove his No. 42 Target Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet to a 12^th place finish and was most proud.

“It was a good points day,” JPM declared.

Not Surprising: Although she had an historic outing at Daytona as the first woman to sit on the pole and lead a green flag lap, it was not surprising that Phoenix was a major dose of reality for Rookie of the Year candidate Danica Patrick. The driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet blew a tire, hit the wall hard and then was hit on the driver’s side by David Ragan’s car.

“I blew a right front with no real warning,” Patrick said. “It was a little unexpected.”

“Thank God for SAFER barriers.”

Surprising: The Busch mother and brothers had a surprisingly trying weekend. Mama Busch was involved in a golf car accident and brothers Busch both started from the back of the field, Kyle for an engine change and Kurt for a wreck in qualifying.

Both brothers were involved in on-track spins, in fact spinning in tandem at one point during the race.

Although Kyle Busch finished a disappointing 23^rd and brother Kurt finished even worse in the 27^th position, Mrs. Busch was reportedly a little banged up but back at the track and “in good spirits.”

Not Surprising: Reigning champ Brad Keselowski had a blast at Phoenix, especially during the green-white-checkered finish. The driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion energetically shoved the winner into the first turn, hoping to get a run for the win, but had to settle for a fourth place finish.

“Those guys fought hard and we fought hard and there was a lot of desire,” Keselowski said. “It’s early in the season, but I feel like there’s a lot of passion and that’s a good thing.”

“That’s how it’s supposed to be, right?” Keselowski continued. “That was cool.”

March 6, 2013
2013 NASCAR Season Predictions

Photo Credit: David Yeazell

As we head into the 2013 NASCAR season, here are some predictions of what could take place this year…….

*At the Country Music Awards in Las Vegas on April 7^th, Jeff Gordon challenges mortal enemy Clint Bowyer not to a duel, but a duet, and the two take the stage for a rendition of Garth Brooks’ 1991 dud “We Bury The Hatchet.”

The following week at Texas, Bowyer and Gordon tangle, and Bowyer, true to his sponsor obligations, first opens up a 2-ounce 5-Hour Energy bottle, then opens a comparable-sized can of whoop ass. True to post-1979 NASCAR fist fights form, no punches are thrown, as Gordon is taken down by four Bowyer crewmen, two of which ask for Gordon’s autograph.

*Juan Montoya’s run of bad luck at Daytona continues, as he trips over his wife’s hair dryer in the couple’s RV parked in the Daytona infield, sparking an electrical fire that wipes out power and delays the start of the Daytona 500.

After a two-hour delay, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. emerges with the win after blowing by Kevin Harvick on the final turn. In a post-race media session, Earnhardt calls his win the “start of something big,” a characterization that turns out to be correct, as Junior then embarks on the longest winless streak of his career.

*After Zac Brown and his band rock the Daytona infield prior to the February 24^th race, NASCAR chief executive officer Brian France, reinforcing his reputation as a clueless leader, tells Brown that “I loved you in The Hangover.” Brown, in turn, tells France, that his “language is offensive.”

Later that year, Brown suggests to France that Zach Galifianakis serve as Grand Marshall at Indianapolis. France takes Browns’ advice, and while at Indy, compliments Galifianakis on his concert at Daytona.

France taps Alabama native Evander Holyfield to serve as Grand Marshall at Talladega in October, where tells the former champ that he loved him in The Hangover, as well.

*Brad Keselowski wins at Bristol in March after leading 298 of 500 laps at the Bullring, passing Jimmie Johnson late for the win. Afterwards in Victory Lane, Keselowski knocks back a six-pack of Miller Lite, and sends Johnson a six-pack of his own with the message “This is the only ‘six’ you’ll see this year.”

Upon leaving the track, the defending champ is stopped by a police officer for erratic driving. Keselowski passes a battery of field sobriety tests, and immediately takes to Twitter, where he tweets 140 dashes, proving that he can Tweet and walk a straight line.

*After two years without a Sprint Cup championship, Jimmie Johnson rededicates himself to capturing the 2013 title. Not one to miss an endorsement opportunity, Lowe’s, in conjunction with Kobalt Tools, introduces a new multi-task implement which hammers, screws, and strikes fear into opponents. The “Attitude Adjustment” retails for $19.95.

Crew chief Chad Knaus is the first to buy the tool, and finds it just as useful in doctoring chassis and rear wings, as well as grooming the head of a middle-aged balding man.

*Kyle Busch wins three of the season’s first ten races, including a win at Talladega on May 5^th, and establishes himself as an early favorite for the 2013 Sprint Cup. The following week at Darlington, the bottom falls out, as the engine in Busch’s No. 18 Toyota blows.

Busch finishes 20^th or worse in his next ten races, and his frustration culminates when he takes a swing at crew chief Dave Rogers at Pocono in August. Busch is suspended by the team, and M&M’s yanks sponsorship. Brad Keselowski taunts Busch on Twitter, tweeting “That’s like taking candy from a baby.”

Busch starts the Chase For The Cup in tenth and finishes in sixth, 46 out of first.

*After blowing a fuse following a poor finish at Darlington, Kurt Busch hires a sports psychologist to help improve his attitude and demeanor. After several weeks in therapy, Busch notices a difference in his state of mind, while Furniture Row sees a spike in sales after introducing the “Kurt Busch Psychiatrist’s Couch” product line.

Busch wins the Toyota/Save Mart 300 at Sonoma on June 23 and credits his psychiatrist, noting that “It’s the first time someone’s encouraged me to tell them how I really feel.”

*Matt Kenseth wins at California on March 24, capturing his first win as a member of Joe Gibbs Racing. Kenseth thanks Deny Hamlin and Kyle Busch for being great teammates, and gives props to Carl Edwards as well, calling him the best former teammate he could ask for.

Kenseth nabs three wins on the season, and finishes fourth in the Chase.

*In the Fox booth at Dover on a sweltering June 2^nd Sunday, Larry McReynolds is overcome by heat exhaustion and vomits, forcing Darrell Waltrip into quick action to sidestep the mess. Later in the broadcast, Waltrip notes that it was the first time he’s done the “Ickey Shuffle” since winning at Daytona in 1989.

*Jeremy Mayfield’s rotten luck takes a turn for the better when, after a positive screen test, he lands a recurring role on AMC’s “Breaking Bad” as a meth-running courier. Mayfield’s character, “Jeremy Mayfield,” is written out of the show after he is arrested, ironically, for “speeding” on the way to the set in June.

*In July, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un announces plans to field a NASCAR team in 2014. The team, bizarrely title “Yin And Pyong Yang Racing,” never makes it past the planning stages, as Un loses interest and instead turns his attention to developing jet fuel with Michael Waltrip.

*In an interview on national television prior to the Texas 500 on April 13^th, Danica Patrick identifies Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. as her “stiffest competition” for NASCAR’s Rookie Of The Year.

Later in the year, NASCAR’s glamour couple deal with a pregnancy scare, and NASCAR rumor-mongers erroneously report that Patrick’s pregnancy test can be viewed on the website “NoDaddy.com.”

Patrick edges Stenhouse for the ROY award, posting six top-10 finishes to Stenhouse’s four.

*Carl Edwards snaps an 81-race winless streak with a victory in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Edwards customary post-win back flip goes awry when he under-rotates and lands on his head, knocking himself unconscious.

NASCAR’s new concussion testing procedures are put to the test, and Edwards fails, as, for the second straight year, quips, “I forgot what it’s like to win.”

Edwards recovers after sitting out a race, and wins again at Homestead in the season finale, but eschews a celebratory back flip for a simpler fist pump, which, unfortunately and accidentally, connects win the chin of Miss Sprint Cup, knocking her out cold.

Edwards finishes seventh in the Chase For The Cup.

*In an attempt to get into Brad Keselowski’s head, Jimmie Johnson tries on the reigning champ and current points leader’s helmet at a Keselowski promotional appearance at a Ford dealership in Lansing, Michigan in August. The ploy works, as an irate Keselowski later tries unsuccessfully to wreck Johnson at Michigan on August 18^th, taking himself out of the race in the process.

Keselowski loses the points lead two weeks later at Atlanta, and Johnson heads to the Chase as the leader. Johnson clinches the Cup at Phoenix, wining his sixth championship.

February 19, 2013
Pete Rondeau Doing What He Loves In Brand New Way

Pete Rondeau has loved racing since he was old enough to hold a wrench working on his father’s car. Now he is continuing his passion in a brand new way, with his recent promotion to Director of Competition at Furniture Row Racing.

Rondeau has been affiliated with Furniture Row since 2010, first as the team’s car chief and then as crew chief. He has also worked closely with Furniture Row’s partner Richard Childress Racing.

Rondeau’s new responsibilities will include the building and preparation of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet race car driven by former Series champ Kurt Busch.

“I’ve been working with Furniture Row and RCR and know the ins and outs of the company here,” Rondeau said. “It will be a challenge and I look forward to working with Kurt (Busch, driver) and Todd (Berrier, crew chief), as well as Mark (McArdle, Executive Director of Competition) at RCR.”

“It should make things pretty decent here and we’re looking forward to a good start,” Rondeau continued. “We just keep plugging away and hope that the big things we are working for come through.”

So what exactly will Rondeau be doing in his new role as Director of Competition?

“It’s different from the crew chief side where I’m used to being,” Rondeau explained. “It’s managing the day to day operations at the shop, not only the building of the cars but the scheduling of the cars.”

“And also I will be overseeing the race teams on a daily basis to make sure that Todd gets everything he needs to do his job,” Rondeau continued. “I’ll be working the engineering in so that the race team gets everything they need.”

“I’ll be the overall person that looks over the big blanket of the company and guides things in the direction we need them go.”

Rondeau, a native of Saco, Maine, is also racking up the frequent flier miles in his new role, traveling from the team’s base in Denver, Colorado back and forth to North Carolina.

“My full-time place is in Colorado and then I just go back and forth to the east coast,” Rondeau said. “We have a lot going on at RCR and the communication is pretty fluid.”

“We get free upgrades whenever we travel now.”

Rondeau’s Maine accent has also been a bit puzzling to not only the North Carolina crew but also his new team in Colorado.

“They just weren’t sure where I was from,” Rondeau said with a laugh. “I still get ‘Where are you from, Australia?”

While Rondeau has enjoyed every minute of his racing career, both behind the wheel, under the car and in the management arena, he is most excited about this next challenge in his own racing development.

“This is the next level for someone like myself who has done everything on a race car and other parts of the business,” Rondeau said. “The hard part of the job will be basically steering everyone in the same direction.”

“We have a great group of guys here at Furniture Row,” Rondeau continued. “We’ve come a long way in the past three years.”

“It’s time for us to take it to the next level with the experienced people that we have here.”

Rondeau feels that the sky is the limit for his race team this year. He also sees his strength as understanding the strengths of his fellow team members and playing to them for maximum achievement on the track.

“That was the whole reason coming out here in 2010 was for the possibilities of this team,” Rondeau said. “You can just see that this place was a little gem waiting to shine.”

“We’ve had a victory at Darlington and the company is growing as we speak,” Rondeau continued. “I’m really looking forward to performing at that next level.”

“The racer in us wants to do better each time we go out and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”

“I’ve been behind the wheel, the set up guy, the mechanic on my own stuff,” Rondeau said. “I’ve run the strategies and built all of my own stuff.”

“I owned and drove so I had to take care of my stuff and I’ve had to make budget and figure out how to spend the money,” Rondeau continued. “Being behind the wheel, you learn a lot of patience so that’s how we’ve learned to work through.”

“The key will be to get those strong points to the forefront to perform at the level we need to this year.”

Rondeau is most excited about working with his team’s driver Kurt Busch, especially with the head start with him in the seat in the last few races of 2012.

“The jump we’ve had last year with Kurt in the car for the last few races has been huge for us,” Rondeau said. “We got the basic learning curve out of the way with how Kurt and Todd will communicate and the things we need to get the driver comfortable.”

“ We’ve worked through how we operate and the things we do different from the last team Kurt worked for,” Rondeau continued. “Kurt has a lot of his own ideas on how things should operate so we’re adapting to him and he’s adapting to us.”

“There will still be a little bit more adapting but we’ve been able to get a lot of that out of the way.”

Rondeau has a clear definition of what success will look like with his new driver. And for him, it is all about making the Chase in 2013.

“Success will be that we made the Chase,” Rondeau said. “If you get in the Chase, that’s a pretty big deal.”

“Making the Chase and winning a few races with Kurt will be success,” Rondeau continued. “I’d consider that a successful year for us.”

Rondeau’s other major challenge, as it has been with every team in the sport, is getting the new Gen 6 cars ready for the race season.

“It has been crazy,” Rondeau said. “We’ve tested every time NASCAR has tested the Gen 6 car and we’ve also tested out her in Colorado at Pike’s Peak.”

“It’s been a little bit of a task in building these cars and we’re waiting on some of the parts and pieces and the templates,” Rondeau continued. “But NASCAR has done a good job at getting the things out to us in a timely manner.”

“There are a few things that we’re waiting on right now but they are making sure that they have all details in place,” Rondeau said. “Anytime we have to build new race cars we have a crazy, crazy winter.”

“The fans think that when we stop at Homestead that’s our off-season but unfortunately that’s the busiest time for us, particularly getting ready to go to Daytona,” Rondeau continued. “We’re two weeks from loading and going to Daytona so we’re on seven day weeks, 12 hours per day right now.”

“That’s what it takes to get it done in the best possible way.”

So, is the Director of Competition Pete Rondeau’s dream job? Well, perhaps but just in a whole different way than he ever anticipated.

“I dreamed years ago of driving a race car for a living, but that wasn’t going to happen,” Rondeau said. “So, I moved to North Carolina and continued to move along.”

“This is one of those things that I love doing.”

“There are not too many people in racing that can honestly say that they dislike what they do,” Rondeau said. “They might complain about it but I would hate hate to have go to work for a living.”

“I’m still doing what I love,” Rondeau continued. “And this is what I’ve loved since I was old enough to hold a wrench working on my dad’s car.”

January 31, 2013
2013 Sprint Cup Team Preview: Furniture Row Racing

(c) CIA Stock Photography

Our 2013 Sprint Cup team previews roll on as we preview the Denver, Colorado based team of Furniture Row Racing today.

Kurt Busch, who was hired by Furniture Row Racing late in 2012 to run the last six races of the season and returns in 2013 to pilot the No.78 Furniture Row Chevrolet along with crew chief Todd Berrier. Furniture Row Racing continues its alliance with Richard Childress Racing in 2013, but will field its own pit crew this season, which is a change from years past when Furniture Row used pit crews provided by Stewart-Haas Racing. Mike Houston has also been hired as pit crew coach for the team.

“Re-establishing our own over-the-wall crew has been high on our radar,” said Furniture Row Racing general manager Joe Garone. “But before entering into this vital operation, we wanted to make sure that we had everything in place that would allow us to produce a highly-qualified over-the-wall crew. With Mike Houston coming on board to lead us in this new venture, he brings first-hand experience and a thorough understanding of what it takes to develop and maintain a successful pit crew week in and week out. And being able to train at the state-of-the-art PIT facility is a great opportunity that will only enhance our program.”

While 2013 may be a breakout year for Furniture Row and a year of redemption for Kurt Busch, one has to wonder which Busch will show up, whether it will be the driver who finished the 2012 season with three straight top-10 finishes or the driver who constantly blew up at his team while driving for Phoenix Racing in 2012. That will be the major factor in what kind of season Furniture Row Racing will have this year.

January 11, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Ford EcoBoost 400

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]In a weekend full of champion-crowning, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the NASCAR Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Surprising: For a driver known, as ‘bad’, brash and cocky, there were some surprisingly humble moments from the 28 year old driver who brought Penske Racing its first ever NASCAR championship.

“It means the world, it really does,” Bradley Aaron Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge and Sprint Cup Champion, said after finishing 15^th and securing the ultimate prize. “I’ve got the best team in racing and I’m just so thrilled to be a part of it.”

“From the top down, Roger Penske, Paul Wolfe, everybody else, the crew guys and my family, that means so much,” Keselowski continued. “You can’t do this sport by yourself no matter how good you are.”

“My family made incredible sacrifices and I’m just so fortunate to have them around me,” Keselowski said. “Without them, none of this is possible and they deserve way more credit than I do.”

Keselowski’s parents, who gave up their lives to their son’s racing career, were equally proud and humble in Victory Lane.

“How many people get to realize this dream?” Bob Keselowski, Brad’s dad and a racer in his own right, said. “There’s a million short track racers out there.”

“I’m just so blown away.”

“He has reached the pinnacle of success and I’m so unbelievably proud of my son,” Brad mom’s Kay said. “I’m ecstatic, just ecstatic.”

“I was holding my breath all race long and praying to God that it would all come together.”

Not Surprising: Of course, once the Miller Lite started to flow in celebration of his championship, Keselowski, sporting a good-sized beer glass, returned to his usual self, tweeting from the media center and wise-cracking in fun with all.

“I’ve got a little bit of a buzz going on right now,” Keselowski said after his victory on the show LIVE on ESPN. “I’ve been drinking for a little bit.”

After checking his phone and adding about 6,000 new followers on his Twitter account, Keselowski, with 5 wins, 13 top-five and 23 top-ten finishes, discussed how he will now approach being the NASCAR champion.

“Expect the unexpected,” Keselowski said, with his trademark grin. “That’s my MO, right?”

And on how being the NASCAR champ might change his life, Keselowski replied, “I’ve always wanted to date a celebrity….but not a Kardashian.”

And finally, Keselowski revealed his surprising powers of prediction, especially as it related to the points needed to secure the Sprint Cup.

“I predicted that the champion would need 2400 points to win,” Keselowski said. And that was the exact number of points, 2400 total, that the second driver in history to win the Cup and Nationwide championships had when the checkered flag flew.

“I feel like the best is yet to come,” Keselowski said as he wrapped up his media availability for the final time of the 2012 season.

Surprising: While not surprising to see team owner Rick Hendrick in Victory Lane, it was surprising that he was not there to see his driver Jimmie Johnson crowned six time champion.

Hendrick instead celebrated his team’s first ever win and the first ever win at Homestead-Miami Speedway for driver Jeff Gordon, commemorating his 20 year partnership with sponsor Dupont in the HMS No. 24 Chevrolet.

“Yeah, it’s disappointing,” Mr. H. said. “If you let that destroy you, you’ll never be able to win again.”

“It’s racing,” Hendrick continued. “I’m celebrating Jeff’s win and letting the other deal go.”

Driver and four-time champion Jeff Gordon might have been surprised to even be in the race, let alone Victory Lane, after his fracas the week before with competitor Clint Bowyer. The four-time champ was able to put the drama behind him, however, to score his 87^th career victory and his second win of the 2012 season.

“This is just huge,” Gordon said. “It’s been an emotional week and a hard one; one of the hardest ones I’ve ever gone through just looking back on my decision.”

“So to come here and focus on the car with this silver commemorative paint scheme for 20 years of Dupont and to be able to end in Victory Lane, it was just an awesome team effort.”

Not Surprising: Even though starting the race behind the leader in the point standings, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus seemed on target to parlay some pit strategy into that coveted six pack.

But an uncharacteristic lug nut issue and an even more unusual oil leak that proved fatal closed the door on the championship hopes for the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet. And Johnson, not surprisingly, found it a bitter pill to swallow.

“You know, to be close, it just sucks to be close and not get it,” Johnson said. “Pretty heartbreaking.”

“We were doing what we needed to and certainly in position to put a lot of pressure on the No. 2 car.”

“Stuff happens,” Johnson continued. “It’s racing.”

“I just have to reflect back on an amazing year.”

Surprising: Probably the most surprised driver coming out of the Ford EcoBoost 400 was none other than Clint Bowyer. Not only did he finish second in the race to nemesis of the week before Jeff Gordon, but he also scored second place in the point standings in his first season with Michael Waltrip Racing.

“To be honest, I didn’t even think I could reach second,” the driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota said of his runner up spot in the points. “That was the goal I’d set.”

“And I just wanted to catch the 24,” Bowyer said of his runner up race finish. “That was the only what-if that went through my mind at the end.”

“Probably went through your mind too.”

“Now I’m going to do whatever I want to do next week.”

Not Surprising: As with every end to the season, there were plenty of farewells to be said. Ryan Newman, who finished third in the season finale, bade farewell to the US Army as his sponsor.

“The US Army Chevrolet, four years strong,” Newman said. “We’re proud to represent them and proud of their support and we wanted to finish on a great note.”

Another farewell was said by Matt Kenseth, leaving the only race team home that he has ever known with Roush Fenway Racing and moving on to Joe Gibbs Racing.

“The team really proved that they gave me all they’ve got this season regardless of my plans for the future,” Kenseth said.

Joey Logano, who leaves Joe Gibbs Racing to partner with new champ Keselowski at Penske Racing, had some interesting words to mark the end of his tenure in the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota.

“And that’s the way the cookie crumbles,” Logano tweeted. “Thanks to all of @JoeGibbsRacing for 7 great years.”

The final farewell was most poignant, however, as Dodge won the championship and bid adieu to the sport of NASCAR.

“It’s been a long run,” Ralph Gilles, President and CEO of the SRT Brand and Senior Vice President of Design at Chrysler Group, said. “I’m still pinching myself.”

“It’s not bittersweet,” Gilles continued. “If anything, it’s an exclamation point on an effort that’s 11 years in the making.”

Surprising: Another Hendrick Chase driver was surprisingly upbeat, particularly since his teammate lost the championship to Keselowski.

And in spite of missing two races due to a concussion, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was also upbeat about finishing the season with a top-10 in his No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet.

“I want to congratulate Brad on his championship,” Junior said. “He’s a buddy of mine and he did everything he had to do to win this thing.”

“This has been a really good season for me personally,” Dale Junior continued. “I’ve had a blast.”

“I can’t wait to test the new car and get to Daytona,” Junior said. “It will be a whole new ball game.”

Not Surprising: Yet again, Kyle Busch led the most laps in the race and failed to find Victory Lane, instead coming in fourth. In fact, this was the ninth race in a row where the driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota led the most laps and did not win.

“I think I’ve said it the last five weeks – that’s our year,” Busch said. “It’s just a shame that we were not able to come out here and put it in Victory Lane like we should.”

“We’ll have to see what we look forward to next year.”

Surprising: The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet not only finished ninth but had a surprisingly record-setting day in the process. Kurt Busch scored his third straight top-10 finish, the first time ever that Furniture Row Racing has had three consecutive top-10 finishes.

“Finishing the season with three straight top-10s and four straight top-15s – you just can’t ask for much more in a short period of time together,” Busch said. “We’ve made a tremendous amount of progress in the last six weeks and that gives us all plenty of confidence heading into the off season.”

Not Surprising: The young driver of the infamous No. 43 for Richard Petty Motorsports continued his great streak of race runs, finishing seventh in the season finale.

“We had a strong car all day,” Almirola said. “That was a great way to go out.”

“I’m excited about next year,” Almirola continued. “These guys give me great race cars so we’re gonna win races.”

As the 2012 season comes to a close, here’s to a Happy Thanksgiving, a blessed Christmas and a truly amazing New Year! See you at Daytona in 2013!

November 21, 2012
Surprising and Not Surprising: Phoenix Advocare 500

[media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”244″][/media-credit]In the next to the last race on the one miler in the Valley of the Sun, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 25^th annual Advocare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Surprising: Although avoiding the shower of sponsor product, baby Keelan had his first ever visit to Victory Lane, celebrating with his dad Kevin Harvick, driver of the Richard Childress Racing No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet.

“It was great to be back in Victory Lane and to have Keelan there for our first victory celebration as a family,” Harvick said. “He was fine until everyone started screaming.”

“That made him cry.”

Surprisingly, this was Harvick’s first victory of the 2012 season, breaking a 44 race winless streak. Also surprisingly, this was Richard Childress Racing’s first win of the year as well.

Harvick’s victory came on the heels of a surprising announcement prior to the race, one that will see him leave RCR for Stewart Haas Racing in the 2014 season.

“It has been a struggle and an interesting weekend to say the least,” Harvick said. “Regardless of what happens in 2014, we have the end of this year and we’ve got all of next year.”

“We want to win races and we want to be competitive and that is what we are here to do.”

Not Surprising: The theme of survival, which has been his mantra since Talladega and throughout the Chase, continued with the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge.

Brad Keselowski finished sixth in the Blue Deuce and also grabbed the points lead in the championship race after competitor Jimmie Johnson hit the wall to finish 32^nd. Keselowski also had to navigate a wild last lap wreck, in which he was dinged, to take the checkered flag.

“I raced pretty hard last week at Texas but that was borderline ridiculous,” Keselowski said. “We survived and I’m proud of everyone on the Miller Lite team for that.”

“I felt very lucky to make it through the carnage today.”

Surprising: For a driver, crew chief and team that is so often totally in control, it was most surprising for the championship contending Jimmie Johnson and team No. 48 to come out of Phoenix feeling totally out of control.

“We were cruising along and I think going to have a top-10 day if things worked out,” Johnson said. “I had a slight vibration and then as I was coming off of turn four, it went down and straight in the wall I went.”

“Unfortunately, we lost a lot of control or all control in the championship,” Johnson continued, now 20 points back of point leader Keselowski. “It’s way, way out of our control with the problem we had.”

“That’s racing,” Johnson said. “We will go to Homestead and do all we can down there and see how things pan out.”

Not Surprising: As with any fracas, there are a variety of ways to see the incident, depending on your point of view. And the melee on and off the track between Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet, and Clint Bowyer, pilot of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota, was no exception to this rule.

“It’s just that things have gotten escalated over the year and I’ve just had it,” Gordon said after wrecking Bowyer and participating in a bench-emptying brawl in the garage area. “Clint’s run into me numerous times.”

“I’ve had it and was fed up with it and got him back.”

“For him to act like that, I barely touched him,” Bowyer said. “Next thing I know, Brett (Griffin, spotter) is telling me that he’s waiting on me.”

“It’s pretty embarrassing for a four-time champion and what I consider one of the best the sport’s ever seen to act like that.”

For those directly and not so directly involved in the disagreement, other perceptions prevailed.

“When I was young, I thought Jeff Gordon was the best driver,” Joey Logano, whose No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet was collateral damage in the Gordon/Bowyer madness, tweeted after the race. “Now I’ve lost a lot of respect for him.”

“The 24 should be parked!” Denny Hamlin tweeted after the race. “He took out 5 cars in that BS!”

One driver, however, seemingly enjoyed the hoopla and the sparring.

“I like fights,” Kevin Harvick, race winner, said to the media with a devilish grin. “We should have more fights.”

“They’re not always fun to be in, but fights are what made NASCAR what it is.”

Surprising: While Denny Hamlin had much to say about fellow competitor Jeff Gordon via Twitter, he also had a lot to say about the track, even with a second place finish.

“The track is just so slick,” Hamlin said after the race. “Treacherous. The race track is extremely treacherous.”

“You can’t – with these hard tires – you just can’t get a grip on the race track.”

“Everyone’s just sliding around and sliding into each other.”

The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota also had some choice, but perhaps not politically correct words, for the track conditions on the final lap, which led to multiple wrecks and many torn up race cars.

“There was oil all over the track,” Hamlin said. “Ray Charles could see that.”

“Holy cow, it was a mess.”

Not Surprising: After dominating for the first third of the race, the intrepid Kyle Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, had to settle for a third place finish. This was Busch’s 10^th top-10 finishes in 16 races at Phoenix International Raceway.

“Great day,” Busch said simply. “Guys gave me an awesome car.”

“Obviously, having a car that’s the class of the field – you expect to win and you’re supposed to win,” Busch continued. “I guess I just didn’t know how to win it today.”

“So, it seems to be the way the year goes.”

Surprising: For as bad of a season and weekend that Jeff Burton was having, the driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet pulled off a surprisingly good 13^th place finish in the Advocare 500.

Burton had to start from the rear of the field after multiple accidents in both Friday and Saturday’s practices.

“Just a solid effort this weekend from the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team,” Burton said. “We wrecked two cars on Friday and Saturday.”

“For these guys to come back and give this kind of effort was amazing.”

Not Surprising: Kurt Busch continued to settle in with his new Furniture Row race team, recovering from a lug nut problem to finish eighth in the Valley of the Sun. This was his second straight eighth-place finish, giving his team its best back-to-back finishes in the team’s history.

“That was a wild ending,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet said. “I just stayed on the gas to get to the finish line.”

“We definitely had a car that was capable of winning,” Busch continued. “We battled back to notch our second straight top-10.”

Surprising: Another Cup rookie had a surprisingly good day, in fact the best yet in her young career in the top tier of the sport. Danica Patrick, in the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, finished 17^th, her best result to date.

“We had a green-white-checkered, so it was a nice exciting finish for the fans,” Patrick said. “The No. 31 went in too deep and clipped my left rear, spun me around and I just tried to limp back to the line.”

“Still our best finish,” Patrick continued. “But you always want more.”

Not Surprising: Ryan Newman, often known as the ‘Iron Man’ of the sport, proved he was as tough as all the veterans’ pictures on his camouflaged car. After qualifying in the 12^th position, the driver of the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet worked his way to the front to finish fifth in the Advocare 500.

“That was a good run for our Quicken Loans Chevrolet,” Newman said. “It was a special Veteran’s Day paint scheme and I’m really proud of everything there.”

Surprising: Chaser Martin Truex, Jr., racing no doubt with a heavy heart for his home state of New Jersey ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, saw his day end before it even got started. The driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota had an engine failure and finished 43^rd.

“Well, the engine started laying down on like the second lap and something broke in the top end, so we were done for the day,” Truex said. “It’s a shame.”

“Just one of those deals – probably a parts failure or something.”

Not Surprising: Greg Biffle showed his mettle behind the wheel, coming back from a miserable start to the race to being the highest finishing Ford, scoring a top-10 finish.

“It was actually a hard fought day,” the driver of the No. 16 Filtrete/3M Ford said. “We came back from not having a very good car to being really good.”

“We kept working on it and working on it,” Biffle continued. “I never thought we’d get that good.”

“That was remarkable.”

November 14, 2012
Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

[media-credit name=”Credit: Wesley Hitt/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”236″][/media-credit]On a repaved track that even team owner Jack Roush pronounced surprisingly fast and treacherous and with a record number of cautions to boot, here is what else was surprising and not surprising in the 12^th annual Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Surprising: While many know his wicked sense of humor through social media, they now know just how much it means for him to stand in Victory Lane, not as a lame duck with a team he will leave at year end, but as the first time race winner on the newly repaved Kansas Speedway.

“It really means a lot,” Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Zest Ford for Roush Fenway Racing said in Victory Lane, his voice choked with emotion.” I really got to thank God for all the opportunities he’s put in front of me.”

Kenseth’s victory was not an easy one, having hit the outside wall hard and sustaining right side damage to the car. This was Kenseth’s first Kansas win, his third victory of the season, and his 24^th career victory, moving him into a tie for 26^th on the all-time Series win list.

“You never know when your next win is,” Kenseth said. “Especially as you get older, you appreciate it more.”

“I’m really thankful and humbled to be here honestly.”

Not Surprising: Whether the lucky horseshoe or shades of the ‘Six Million Dollar Man’, Chad Knaus and team 48 proved they could rebuild the battered back end of Jimmie Johnson’s wrecked race car, making it better, stronger and faster.

In fact, Johnson was so much better, stronger, and faster that after the on pit road rebuild, he rallied back to finish ninth in his Lowe’s Chevrolet. And with that comeback, Johnson, not surprisingly, also had a message to share with his fellow Chase competitors.

“I’m just now getting a chance to look at the damage on the car and it was pretty severe,” Johnson said after the race. “I’m definitely proud of this team and the fact that we never give up.”

“It’s more mature racing here in 2012,” Johnson continued. “We showed what our team is capable of.”

“I hope the other guys are paying attention.”

Surprising: The championship point’s leader surprisingly continued to have survival on his mind, a theme that carried over from Talladega right into the race in the Midwest heartland.

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Blue Deuce, managed to finish eighth, one spot ahead of Chaser Jimmie Johnson, over whom he maintains a seven point lead in the standings.

“I said when we finished Talladega that somebody should make ‘I Survived Talladega’ t-shirts,” Keselowski said. “Well, I didn’t know coming to Kansas it was going to be the same.”

“Just wrecks and accidents and blown tires; everything you can imagine happened,” Keselowski continued. “It seemed like every wreck happened in front of me.”

“I felt really lucky to survive it.”

Not Surprising: While Kansas broke many hearts on race day this past weekend, there was no one more heart broken than the driver of the No. 43 Farmland Ford Fusion. Aric Almirola qualified fifth and led over 60 laps of the race before blowing a tire and slamming into the wall so hard that it took his breath away.

“I have never in my entire life had a race car that good,” Almirola said. “It was just so fast and so easy to drive.”

“I hate that it ended like this but I have always been told you have to give a few away before you can win one,” Almirola continued. “We certainly gave one away today.”

Surprising: It was indeed a tale of two Kansas races, yet with a surprisingly similar result. Martin Truex Jr., in the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota finished second for the second time at Kansas Speedway.

“Well, it’s a lot different mood after this one,” Truex said after the race. “After the first one I was disappointed. Today, I’m happy with my team and my race car.”

“We really had to battle for this one,” That’s a good run for us for sure.”

With his bridesmaid finish, Truex Jr. gained one position in the point standings to sixth, 43 points out of first.

Not Surprising: Unfortunately, Kansas was killing Clint Bowyer softly with its song, even though he finished sixth in his No. 15 5-Hour Energy Benefitting Avon Foundation Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing.

“I think I started on the outside one time early in the race and just every time it just killed me,” Bowyer said. “I don’t know what the hell was going on behind us.”

“They kept wrecking,” Bowyer continued. “Restarts kind of killed us all day long.”

Surprising: There were a surprising number of temper tantrums, more typical of a short track like Martinsville than the mile and a half at Kansas. Tempers flared between Danica Patrick and Landon Cassill, as they did between Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman.

Patrick, in her No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet actually took herself out on lap 155 as a result of her on-track tiff with the driver of the No. 83 Burger King Toyota.

“I have just been really frustrated with the No. 83,” Patrick said. “It’s been pretty consistent with him getting into me.”

“So, at some point in time, I have to stand up for myself,” Patrick continued. “The bummer is I’m out of the race and he’s not.”

Patrick finished 32^nd, while Cassill brought home his race car for a much better 18th place finish.

Kyle Busch, in the No. 18 M&M’s Halloween Toyota, finished 31^st after a scuffle with the driver of the No. 39 Code 3 Associates Chevrolet. And this one might result in some payback as the 2012 season winds down.

“Everything is just on edge,” Busch said. “Newman just ran up on the back of me and got me loose.”

“So, just impatience,” Busch continued. “I’m glad he’s wrecked along with me and he’ll get another one here before the year is out.”

Not Surprising: With his crew chief back after suspension, it was not surprising for this driver to pull off a top five finish. In fact, Paul Menard, in the No. 27 Certainteed Insulation/Menards Chevrolet, finished third at Kansas.

“We had Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) back this weekend,” Menard said. “He is well rested after six weeks off and had some good ideas to try this weekend.”

“We had a good car,” Menard continued. “It was just a matter of getting us up there.”

Surprising: The ‘uh oh’ uttered by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon surprisingly captured the moment late in the race for Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet.

Kahne, who started out on the pole after shattering the track qualifying record, had a chance to win before he shut off his engine during a caution in an attempt to save fuel.

As a result, he lost several spots on the race track before getting his car back up to minimum speed, managing a fourth place finish instead of that oh-so-close victory.

“It just wouldn’t re-fire,” Kahne said after the race. “Disappointing.”

“It was coming to me at the end,” Kahne continued. “We just weren’t close enough at that point in time.”

Not Surprising: From telling his team to get their heads out of their ‘expletive’ to praising them effusively after the race, Tony Stewart did, in his own words, have ‘an eventful day.’

The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet started 33^rd, had to overcome a pit stop where his crew left a wrench in the car, battled an incident with Jeff Burton and a spin to finish fifth.

This was Smoke’s sixth top-five in Sprint Cup starts at Kansas, pre and post repaving, having to pass 74 cars during the race to do so.

“We had some stuff to deal with, but our guys never gave up,” Stewart said. “We probably had to pass more cars than anybody today, but that seems to be our MO.”

“That’s how we won a championship last year, by never giving up.”

Surprising: While there was a surprising bit of a confusion on the part of team owner Rick Hendrick about the status of Dale Earnhardt Junior’s return to the race car (and he will return at Martinsville), substitute driver Regan Smith was feeling surprisingly right at home in the No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet.

In fact, Smith felt so much at home that he finished top-ten, in the seventh position.

“It’s been nice to be able to step in and have them treat me like a normal driver,” Smith said. “I know Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) is excited to get back so that is going to be good for him.”

“Looking forward to whatever comes next for me.”

Not Surprising: The other drivers in new seats struggled on the newly repaved Kansas track. Kurt Busch, in the No. 78 Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet, finished 25^th and A.J. Allmendinger, in the No. 51 Phoenix Construction Chevrolet, finished even further back in 35^th.

But not surprisingly, both drivers and teams looked on the bright side of life in spite of the wrecks and results.

“Kurt Busch showed all of us today what an impressive driver he is,” Todd Berrier, crew chief, said. “It was the performance that counted today, not the finishing result.”

“The car was fast and we were running well,” Allmendinger said. “Tried to save it and I feel bad.”

“I hope I’m in the car next week, but if not, it’s meant the world to get back to the sport,” Dinger continued. “I love the sport.”

October 24, 2012
Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

[media-credit name=”Greg Arthur” align=”alignright” width=”241″][/media-credit]In a race now known as one without an Earnhardt and without a North Carolina born driver, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Surprising: At his worst track statistically and on a mile and half track where he has never won, this driver, although thrilled to be in Victory Lane after a fuel mileage battle extraordinaire, seemed also to be strangely depressed.

“I can’t do a burnout,” Clint Bowyer said woefully after having his No. 15 5-Hour Energy/Avon Foundation for Women Toyota pushed to the winner’s circle. “The thing doesn’t have enough fuel in it to do a burnout.”

“I’d like to practice a burnout,” Bowyer continued ruefully. “It’s so much fun burning rubber.”

“Oh hell, I don’t care,” Bowyer then said. “It’s a lot more fun getting handed that trophy – that’s what it’s all about.”

Not Surprising: Although Chaser Clint Bowyer survived on fumes to end the race, it was not surprising that his other Chase contenders, in fact the top three in the points battle, were also challenging their own fuel demons, literally having to slow down in order to finish the race.

“Yeah, you’re just running the race backwards basically,” Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, said after finishing second. “You’re just seeing how slow you can go and maintain your track position.”

“It’s tough because I’m sitting there thinking I can go by this 15 (Bowyer) or catch him just about any time I want, but Darian (Grubb, crew chief) is screaming at me to back off.”

“We started saving with double the distance to just be cautious,” Jimmie Johnson, who finished third in the No. 48 MyLowe’s Chevrolet, said. “We didn’t want to go up there and chase the No. 11 (Hamlin) and get ourselves in trouble.”

Brad Keselowski, usually known as an excellent fuel-mileage racer, actually sputtered, coasting to pit road after running out of fuel. “I didn’t know what was going on,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge said. “I think we probably would have finished fourth or fifth if we didn’t run out of fuel.”

“I had to coast for quite a ways and it wouldn’t start when I got back to pit road.”

This small fuel sputter, along with having to stop for fuel in the waning laps, cost Keselowski a top-5 finish, landing him in the 11^th spot instead when the checkered flag flew.

Yet, in spite of the fuel challenges at Charlotte, Keselowski maintained P1 in the Chase standings but is now just seven points ahead of Jimmie Johnson and fifteen points ahead of Denny Hamlin.

Surprising: Jeff Gordon and team 24 Drive to End Hunger made some surprisingly costly errors in the Bank of America 500. Gordon, fighting an ill-handling race car most of the night, incurred a speeding road penalty and struggled to regain track position from that point on.

“We missed the setup at the beginning, but we worked on it and worked on it and had it driving good there at the end,” Gordon said. “We just couldn’t catch a caution to get us back on the lead lap.”

“It was just one of those nights.”

Gordon finished 18th, his fourth finish of 18^th or worse in his last five races at Charlotte. He also fell three positions, from sixth to ninth in the Chase standings, 50 points back from the Chase leader.

Not Surprising: Pole sitter Greg Biffle had a good enough run to actually swap point’s positions with Jeff Gordon in the Chase standings. The driver of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion finished fourth, gaining three Chase positions, from ninth to sixth in the standings, 43 points out of the lead.

“We had the fastest car, but couldn’t make it on fuel,” Biffle said. “We had the fastest car at the end, but didn’t quite get there.”

“It hurts to get beat on fuel mileage, but we were the first car behind the three that made it on fuel mileage, so I feel pretty good with fourth.”

Surprising: Stewart Haas Racing faced some surprising challenges at Charlotte Motor Speedway under the lights.

SHR Chase driver Tony Stewart started from deep in the field and got into an accordion-style accident on a restart that damaged the front of his No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet.

“I was following the 2 car (Keselowski) there and he had to check up,” Smoke said. “Man, I drilled him and it screwed up the nose of our race car.”

SHR teammate Ryan Newman forfeited a great starting spot in the front of the field due to an engine change, which forced him to the rear of the field in a race where track position was key.

“We definitely took a hit with the engine change,” Newman said. “We had a really fast car in practice and qualifying and it wasn’t the same in the race.”

“It was a tough night for us.”

Stewart rallied to finish 13th, while Newman, in the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet, finished a disappointing 20^th.

Not Surprising: Kyle Busch, in the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, finally had a good finish, in fact a top-five finish, to show for his efforts in front of the home crowd.

“The car was really good,” Busch said. “I felt like we had a winning car barring circumstances and how they played out.”

“But that just wasn’t there for us at the end with the strategy and everything,” Busch continued. “We came home okay.”

Surprising: With every other driver so fixated on fuel, it was surprising that this driver, who finished seventh, could have cared less.

“We got good fuel mileage, but that wasn’t our focus,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford, said. “Our focus was going as fast as we could and I think we showed a little more promise than we have in a long time.”

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been this competitive on a mile-and-a-half, so I’m very happy with it.”

Not Surprising: With Dale Earnhardt, Jr. out of the race car due to a concussion, it was no surprise that all eyes were on Regan Smith, substituting for Junior in the No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevy, and also on Kurt Busch, who took over Smith’s No. 78 Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet ride for the first time this season.

Busch finished 21^st while Smith finished 38^th with an engine failure.

“The important part was that we had a really fast race car,” Smith said. “It’s disappointing and it’s a shame.”

“Finishing 21^st might not appear that we made progress,” Busch said. “But the fact of the matter is that we did in our first three days together at the track.”

“It was an uneventful race, but an eventful weekend.”

Surprising: With the shuffling of Kurt Busch to Furniture Row and Regan Smith to Dale Earnhardt Junior’s seat, there was one surprising opening for a driver that needed a second chance.

A.J. Allmendinger, returning from suspension after completing NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program, took the wheel of the No. 51 Phoenix Construction Chevrolet and finished 24^th at Charlotte under the lights.

“I have a lot of unfinished business,” the ‘Dinger said. “I have a lot of things I want to accomplish still.”

“It’s not going to be easy,” Allmendinger continued. “I’m going to have to do a lot of work for it, but I’m willing to do it.”

Not Surprising: Michael Waltrip Racing had another stellar day at the race track. One MWR driver, Clint Bowyer, was in Victory Lane while the other two MWR drivers both had top-ten runs.

Mark Martin, in the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, finished sixth and Martin Truex, Jr., behind the wheel of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, finished tenth.

“We started racing in 2007 and here we are in 2012 racing for a championship,” Michael Waltrip, team owner, said. “There are a few things that have happened to me over my racing career that are really special and this is one of those.”

October 16, 2012
Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Good Sam 500

[media-credit name=”Credit: Sean Gardner/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”230″][/media-credit]With Chase race four at Talladega delivering on its reputation as the ‘wild card’ and ‘game changer’ in the championship battle, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 44^th running of the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500.

Surprising: Manhandling a very free race car and making a miracle save or two did not prevent this driver from being the loneliest, but no doubt happiest, man at Talladega Super Speedway. Matt Kenseth survived the last lap ‘big one’ to score his first ever win at the track.

Kenseth, in a very pink No. 17 Ford EcoBoost/National Breast Cancer Foundation Ford, notched his 23^rd victory in 466 Cup races. This was his second win and 17^th top-10 finish for the 2012 season.

Kenseth’s spotter Mike Calinoff described his driver’s lonely but lucky status best with his radio call on the final lap of the race.

“They’re wrecking behind you,” Calinoff said. “The whole field is wrecking.”

“There isn’t anyone who isn’t wrecked.”

“I looked behind me and saw nothing,” Kenseth said, echoing his spotter’s words. “Being in front of it all was the best place to be.”

Not Surprising: Although making the Chase, albeit barely, and admittedly not having the best of racing luck with him for much of the season, this driver was thrilled that things finally went his way at unpredictable ‘Dega.

“For a change, I finally came out on the good side of it,” Jeff Gordon, who finished second in his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, said. “I really have no idea how we all made it to the white flag because it was three, four wide.”

“I got hit by the No. 18 and somehow that turned me down on the apron and I just put it back to the floor and drove by every car.”

“I came out of that second behind the No. 17,” Gordon said. “That is like a win.”

This was Gordon’s 19^th top-10 finish in 40 races at Talladega and his 15^th top-10 finish for the season.

Surprising: It was a surprisingly humble and contrite Tony Stewart that greeted the media after causing the twenty-four car pileup and flipping end over end in his own No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet amidst the melee.

“I just screwed up,” Smoke said. “I turned down across, I think it was Michael (Waltrip) and crashed the whole field.”

“It was my fault blocking to try to stay where I was at,” Stewart continued. “So, I take 100% of the blame.”

Not Surprising: Not surprisingly, the theme for the day for the point’s leader Brad Keselowski was simple. He just wanted to survive Talladega and come out intact on the other end.

Keselowski, in his now familiar Blue Deuce, did indeed survive, finishing seventh in spite of being caught in the pile up. He now has a 14 points advantage over second place Chase contender Jimmie Johnson.

“We were four-wide for about two and a half straight laps and it was just a matter of time before you are wrecked,” Keselowski said. “It happens but that’s just Talladega.”

“That’s pretty big,’ Keselowski said of his points lead. “I just feel lucky to survive Talladega.”

Keselowski was so happy to have survived that he tweeted the following entrepreneurial thought after the race.

“Someone needs to make a t-shirt that says, “I survived Talladega,” @keselowski said. “Guaranteed at least 43 customers.”

Surprising: NASCAR’s biggest loser at Talladega was surprisingly one of Dega’s darlings, as well as fan favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr. The driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Paint 88/National Guard Chevrolet finished a disappointing 20^th, dropping four positions in the Chase standings to 11^th, all as a result of the ‘big one.’

And even more surprising, NASCAR’s most popular driver had some pretty harsh words to share after the race, particularly for the style of racing at Talladega and the longevity of the sport in light of it.

“Yeah, I took a lot of hard shots,” Junior said. “If this is what we did every week, I wouldn’t be doing it.”

“I would find another job.”

“The way we are going ain’t the right direction,” Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said. “I don’t care what anybody says for the good of the sport; I mean it’s good for the here and now and it will get people talking today, but for the long run that is not going to help the sport the way that race ended and the way the racing is.”

“It’s not going to be productive for years to come.”

Not Surprising: With over half the field involved in the last lap crash, it was not surprising that several drivers, including some of the Chase contenders, were a bit confused as to where exactly they finished. There was so much confusion that crew chiefs gathered around the NASCAR hauler to see indeed where their driver ended up officially.

“Everybody just merged together and we were all in a big wad at that point,” Jimmie Johnson, piloting the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, said. “Fortunately my car I could still drive to the finish so I passed a couple of guys that were sitting there on the bottom trying to get going themselves.”

“I guess I finished 17^th,” Johnson said. “I don’t know.”

Teammate Kasey Kahne, in the No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet, also was a bit confused as to his finishing spot.

“You are kind of along for the ride once it starts,” Kahne said. “We ended up making it back to the line; a few cars passed us so we might be a little better than 13^th.

Finally, Richard Petty Motorsports driver Marcos Ambrose, piloting the No. 9 DeWalt Ford, was confused but willing to forget about it in the end.

“We had a strong day,” Ambrose said. “I thought I missed the wreck but at least I didn’t cause it.”

“I have no idea where I finished, but we’ll just go on to the next one and forget about this.”

Johnson did indeed finish 17^thas he predicted, Kahne finished 12^th,a bit better than he thought, and Ambrose ended up in 27^th, a finish he most likely will want to forget.

Surprising: Kyle Busch became a surprisingly ‘lucky dog’ at Talladega. The driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota was not only the official ‘lucky dog’, getting his lap back after a speeding penalty, but was also a ‘lucky dog’ in navigating his way through the major 24 car pile up to finish third.

“Our day was pretty good,” Busch said. “I got busted for speeding, so that was my fault and we had to battle through that.”

“That was probably one of the most tense parts of the race for me was having to race for the ‘lucky dog’ to get back on the lead lap.”

“But all in all, our guys had some good pit stops and we gained some spots,” Busch continued. “I’m just glad and thankful that I was able to get through with no damage and make it through unscathed.”

Not Surprising: The two drivers who will apparently swap their rides for the next race, with Kurt Busch going to the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team and Regan Smith taking over the No. 51 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet, had polar opposite finishes to their last race in their former rides.

Regan Smith ended his tenure at Furniture Row with a 5^th place finish, his best ever at a restrictor plate track, while Kurt Busch finished 39^th after being parked by NASCAR for not heeding their command to stop his race car after his wreck.

“This is the way my life works,” Kurt Busch said. “I am leading, I wreck, I run out of gas and now I’m in trouble.”

“This year has been a great year to test me in every way.”

“What a wild ending,” Smith said. “We restarted the green-white checkered in 28^th, picked up a bunch of spots on the first lap and then came the wreck.”

“Somehow I was able to drive it to the checkered flag with a fifth-place finish.”

Surprising: Rather than having a ‘Talladega Nights’ flashback, Greg Biffle was having another movie moment instead.

“It was like Days of Thunder, coming through the smoke and the grass,” the driver of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion said. “A car flew over the top of my car as I turned to the bottom and missed guys by three inches.”

“It was the craziest thing I’ve ever been involved in in my life.”

Biffle had his own crazy moment in the race, making an amazing save after being turned sideways in the draft. He finished the race in sixth, gaining two positions in the point standings to ninth.

Not Surprising: The difficult season for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing continued in agonizing style at Talladega for both of their drivers. Jamie McMurray, former Daytona 500 winner and driver of the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Allstate Chevrolet, finished 34^th after leading 38 laps of the race.

Teammate Juan Pablo Montoya finished 38^th in his No. 42 Target/Gillette Chevrolet after an engine failure on lap 156.

“We were running right up there in the lead pack the majority of the day and then something happened to the motor,” JPM said. “The car started smoking and I felt like it was going to let go at any minute.”

“We just can’t catch a break.”

“The Bass Pro Shops Chevy ran great all day,” McMurray said. “It was great to get back up there and lead some laps.”

“I wish the outcome had turned out differently,” McMurray continued. “The guys did a great job and I felt like we had the car to beat.”

October 9, 2012