Tag: kyle busch

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

Kansas Shows A Halloween Face; Stenhouse Jr. wins the Kansas Lottery 300

[media-credit name=”Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]The Nationwide Series race at Kansas was a caution filled display of skills and patience. The freshly paved surface proved to be a wickedly fast, wickedly slick Halloween ghoul. The track management created a surface that after a couple of races and a winter of seasoning will be one of the best tracks in NASCAR. The trick was surviving to get there.

Brian Scott would be the first casualty with three spins, two of which were unassisted. The third he had contact with the wall removing him from the competition. Johanna Long would have an early day as would Dexter Stacey and Nur Ali.

The track provided us with visual example of aero effects. The faster the car the lighter the car is on its wheels. The air disruption as another car goes by lifts just enough to make the car literally wrecking loose.

The day would prove to be frustrating for Kyle Busch, after wrecking the primary car the back up proved to be an unpredictable monster that Busch struggled with all day. Coming back late to lead he ultimately run out of gas between 3 and 4 on the final lap.

Joey Logano would be involved with Ricky Stenhouse Jr making his day a very long one. He got both laps back, and ended up finishing third.

Stenhouse Jr. would get back on the lead lap late in the race after the contact and come back to hold on to win as Busch ran out of fuel.

Points leader Sadler played a fuel strategy card late in the race. Sadler finished fourth and holds on to the series points lead by 6 points.

Young Ryan Blaney, was again impressive behind the wheel of the Penske Dodge. Blaney who started in the 27^th position drove his way all the way up as high as second. But he also ran out of the gas.

The most improved performance in the series today came from Danica Patrick. Patrick climbed all the way up to the third place before having to pit for fuel and claiming a 10^th place finish. Patrick’s confidence was very evident. Obviously the extra time in a car and the extra laps on the track paid off for her in a big way. It was refreshing to see her actually live up to the expectations placed on her. Hopefully she will remember to thank Greg Zipadelli and the SHR team as well as Ryan Pemberton and her JRM.

What began as a long drawn out race made a drastic turn at about halfway. The unpredictable monster that is the new Kansas showed her fickle nature. Stenhouse Jr. wins and Busch came up a ½ mile short. But in the end the winner was the fans and it is a victory that will last for years to come.

“Our Sam’s Club Mustang was fast this weekend. I didn’t see the win coming like this but we will take it. It was in front of a great crowd. I can’t say enough about the fans coming out and supporting us. It is a lot of fun to run in this series and especially to come to Kansas.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

Unofficial Race Results
Kansas Lottery 300, Kansas Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=30
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	10	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	47
2	2	3	Austin Dillon *	Chevrolet	43
3	1	18	Joey Logano	Toyota	0
4	7	2	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	40
5	8	88	Cole Whitt *	Chevrolet	39
6	6	54	Kyle Busch	Toyota	0
7	21	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	38
8	14	43	Michael Annett	Ford	36
9	12	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	35
10	13	7	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	34
11	27	22	Ryan Blaney	Dodge	33
12	22	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	32
13	23	19	Mike Bliss	Toyota	31
14	37	4	Danny Efland	Chevrolet	30
15	15	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	29
16	5	33	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	0
17	39	40	Erik Darnell	Chevrolet	27
18	4	199	Kenny Wallace	Toyota	26
19	32	52	Joey Gase *	Chevrolet	25
20	24	81	Jason Bowles *	Toyota	24
21	29	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	23
22	33	113	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Chevrolet	0
23	26	38	Brad Sweet *	Chevrolet	21
24	19	8	Scott Lagasse Jr.	Chevrolet	0
25	16	44	Hal Martin	Toyota	0
26	3	11	Brian Scott	Toyota	18
27	42	39	Dexter Stacey	Ford	17
28	17	30	James Buescher	Chevrolet	0
29	40	124	Derek White	Toyota	0
30	31	28	Tony Raines	Chevrolet	0
31	9	70	Johanna Long *	Chevrolet	13
32	43	89	Morgan Shepherd	Chevrolet	12
33	41	41	Nur Ali	Chevrolet	11
34	30	108	Scott Saunders	Ford	10
35	11	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	9
36	25	100	Blake Koch	Toyota	8
37	36	175	Carl Long	Chevrolet	7
38	34	171	Timmy Hill	Ford	0
39	35	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	Chevrolet	5
40	28	47	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	0
41	38	174	Mike Harmon	Chevrolet	3
42	18	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	2
43	20	46	Chase Miller	Chevrolet	1

October 20, 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
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

[media-credit name=”Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”241″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski ran out of fuel while leading on lap 59 at Charlotte, and that miscalculation may have cost him the win. After a late stop for gas, Keseklowski emerged 16^th and finished 11^th. He now leads Jimmie Johnson in the point standings by seven.

“The Miller Lite Dodge was the hottest car in the Chase until Saturday,” Keselowski said. “And we all know what happens with a cold Miller Lite—you get a ‘coaster.’

2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished third in the Bank Of America 500 after fuel mileage concerns forced him to race conservatively. Still, Johnson cut into Brad Keselowski’s points lead, and now trails by only seven.

“Keselowski led for 139 of 334 laps,” Johnson said. “It was his race to lose, and he did. But I don’t mind trailing in the point standings right now. I’m a five-time champion; Keselowski’s got no titles to his name. That puts me ‘second to none.”

3. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin led 36 laps at Charlotte and finished third behind Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson, while Brad Keselowski finished 11^th. Hamlin is now 15 behind points-leader Keselowski, and eight behind Johnson in second.

“The No. 11 Fed Ex Toyota was not made to conserve gas,” Hamlin said, “so we have to savor every drop. It seems that my pregnant girlfriend isn’t the only one carrying ‘precious cargo.’”

4. Clint Bowyer: After a beneficial fuel gamble, Bowyer held off a charging Denny Hamlin to take the Bank Of America 500, his third victory of the year. Bowyer is now fourth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 28 behind Brad Keselowski, and well within striking distance for the Cup.

“I proved I’m still a force in the Chase,” Bowyer said. “But I realize I’m gonna need some luck as well. So I’ve got to ask myself, “Do you feel lucky, punk?’”

5. Kasey Kahne: Kahne finished eighth at Charlotte, one lap down to the leaders. He is now fifth in the point standings, 35 out of first.

“It was weird not seeing Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the No. 88 car,” Kahne said. “I’m sure Junior was disappointed. But look on the bright side: he found another way to break a winless streak.”

6. Greg Biffle: Biffle started on the pole at Charlotte and led 71 laps before finishing fourth, his best finish of the Chase. He leaped three spots in the point standings to sixth, and is 43 out of first.

“Carl Edwards couldn’t win with the points lead in last year’s Chase,” Biffle said. “Matt Kenseth is leaving Roush Fenway. And I couldn’t win from the pole at Charlotte. It doesn’t seem that anyone at Roush Fenway Racing can finish what they started.”

7. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex posted his 17^th top-10 finish of the year with a 10^th at Charlotte. He is seventh in the Sprint Cup point standings, 49 out of first.

“I’ve got five races to make up 49 points,” Truex said. “I’m guessing the five races beats the 49 points to the finish line. And that’s one more win than I have this year.”

8. Kyle Busch: Busch finished fifth at Charlotte, one of only six cars on the lead lap. It was his ninth top-5 result of the year.

“I didn’t qualify for the Chase For The Cup,” Busch said, “so I, like about 8 of 12 Chasers to far behind to matter, am not eligible to win the title. It may be lonely at the top, but not at the bottom.”

9. Tony Stewart: Stewart sustained front-end damage after an early re-start went awry. He recovered to finish 13^th, one lap down, and now finds himself in a 50 point hole to points leader Brad Keselowski.

“If it’s not someone going too fast behind me,” Stewart said, “it’s someone going too slow in front of me. Normally, I’m more prepared in crunch time.”

10. Jeff Gordon: Gordon’s day was ruined by a pit road speeding penalty that put him one lap down. He finished two laps down in 18^th for his worst finish of the Chase. He trails Brad Keselowski by 50 points in the Sprint Cup point standings.

“That’s a deficit from which I can’t escape,” Gordon said. “I was once married to a ‘gold digger;’ she, in turn, was married to a ‘hole digger.’”

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
Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover AAA 400

[media-credit id=26 align=”alignright” width=”233″][/media-credit]As all at the Monster Mile mourned the passing of Chris Economaki, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the third Chase race, the 43^rd annual AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.

Surprising: While Chevrolet has been dominant at the Monster Mile in the past, particularly with Jimmie Johnson behind the wheel, and Toyota strong in qualifying this race with Denny Hamlin on the pole, it was surprising that neither manufacturer ended up in Victory Lane.

Instead the lone representative of the Dodge brand took the checkered flag, waved the American flag, and even did a stellar burnout in spite of being almost out of fuel.

“Dodge has really performed with us,” Roger Penske, the ‘captain’ of the victorious No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Penske team, said. “They committed to us three or four years ago as we became the only team.”

“The greatest thing we could do would be to bring a championship to Dodge this year,” Penske continued. “At the moment, we represent them.”

“They’re partners,” Penske said. “We’re going to do our best.”

Penske’s driver Brad Keselowski not only score the win for Dodge, but also got his first win at the Monster Mile. Even more important, Keselowski grabbed the points lead in the Chase standings and is now five points ahead of Jimmie Johnson.

Not Surprising: One driver that had to have a good run in order to even stay with spitting distance of the Chase contenders pulled it off and tamed the monster for a second place finish.

“I thought it was a solid effort,” Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet, said. “Our car was pretty good right from the start.”

“It was a great finish to come home second,” Gordon continued. “This is nice to follow up what we had last week.”

“We’re running good,” Gordon said. “We got seven more weeks to get it done.”

Surprising: For a track known as the ‘Monster Mile’, it was surprising that the monster was in the fuel tank and not on the race track itself.

There were just five cautions total in the race, most for debris, and the final laps were nail biters to see who would make it on fuel rather than who would wreck or have other on-track incidents.

Even five-time champ Jimmie Johnson, behind the wheel of the No. 48 Lowes/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, had to back it down because of his fear of running out of Sunoco, finishing fourth instead of first just to be sure about that pesky fuel mileage.

“Well, for starters, we’re not very good at fuel mileage races,” Johnson said. “So, when I heard that, I’m like, man, we’re in big trouble.”

“And Chad asked me to start saving fuel,” Johnson continued. “It’s tough; it really is.”

“I wished we could have raced for it,” Johnson said. “But it is what it is.”

“You’ve got to be good on all fronts and we did a decent job today.”

Not Surprising: They say that races can be won or lost in the pits and that proved true for many drivers trapped a lap down after a cycle of pit stops gone awry with a caution. But for one Chase contender, Kasey Kahne, his entire race was impacted by what happened on pit road.

“We don’t know why I had to pit the first time, but the car just started shaking really bad,” the driver of the No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet, said. “Right before it did that, we were fast, we finally got our laps back that we lost early and we were coming.”

Then the No. 5 team made a critical mistake on the stop with a lug nut and Kahne again had to visit pit road, losing track position and precious time.

“We were sitting really good because we had just pitted and topped off on fuel,” Kahne said. “It’s too bad whatever it was.”

“We’ll figure it out and hopefully we don’t have it happen again.”

Kahne finished the race in 15^th and fell to sixth position in the point standings, 32 points behind the leader.

Surprising: Although the non-Chase Fords fared surprisingly well, with Carl Edwards finishing fifth in his No. 99 Fastenal Ford, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., in his new Ford Cup ride finishing 12^th, the Chase Fords of Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth had surprisingly bad days at the Monster Mile.

In fact, Biffle and Kenseth had such surprisingly bad days, finishing 16^th and 35^th respectively, that they both fell to the basement in the Chase point standings, facing an incredibly uphill battle to get back into the championship hunt.

“It’s tough,” Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Scotch-Brite Ford Fusion said, after contending with a loose wheel and having a meltdown of epic proportions on his scanner. “We were in great position, but that really kind of takes us out of the title hunt.”

“We really needed to finish in the top three here to be a factor, but now we’ll just work on being in the top 10.”

“In two of three Chase races, something either fell off or broke, so obviously that’s not good,” Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 EcoBoost Ford Fusion, said. “This is probably the worst we’ve run here for as long as I can remember.”

“From the first lap on the track to the last lap on the track, we were pretty much junk.”

Not Surprising: There is no doubt that Kyle Busch, who had yet another great race going, including leading the most laps until fuel mileage concerns forced him to pit road at the race end, has become the modern day racing equivalent of the biblical character Job.

The driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota just cannot seem to catch a break, whether it is fuel mileage, engine failure or other strange on-track incidents. And, just like Job, Busch has done his share of vociferously and vehemently questioning the racing gods, as well as his team and manufacturer.

“It’s frustrating,” Dave Rogers, Busch’s crew chief said. “I knew if it came down to a fuel mileage race that we were going to be in trouble.”

“There was no doubt that we had the fastest car,” Rogers continued. “We played our best cards and we came up short.”

Surprising: Denny Hamlin, a physical force behind the wheel at any track, stepped up his mental game for a surprisingly good finish at the Monster Mile. The driver of the No. 11 Fed Ex Office Toyota Camry and pole sitter, finished top-ten, one of his best results at a track that admittedly is not his favorite.

“Top-10 day on a race track like this and to battle for the win all day – I’m not going to complain,” Hamlin said. “We ran our ass off today.”

“Like I said, there’s nothing we can’t handle on the race track,” Hamlin continued. “I think our performance today is a testament to where we’re heading.”

Not Surprising: Veteran Mark Martin, the ‘Energizer Bunny’ of the Cup Series, just keeps getting it done on the race track whenever he is behind the wheel of the No. 55 Aaron’s 2000^th Store, Bronx, NY Toyota. Martin finished 3^rd, announcing that, although not part of the Chase, he is still a contender.

“I don’t know if everybody really noticed or not, but we had a rocket ship, super fast car,” Martin said in the media center after the race. “We were passing cars left and right.”

“I have a fantastic race team,” Martin continued. “We were just having a blast.”

Surprising: In contrast to veteran Martin, three-time and reigning Cup champion Tony Stewart and his race team had a surprisingly challenging day. Smoke finished 20^th in his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet and teammate Ryan Newman, in the No. 39 US Army Chevrolet, finished right behind him in 21^st.

“We just got caught behind the eight-ball there,” Stewart said. “We got a lap down and the next run we pitted, came back out and the No. 36 crashes.”

“It was just a domino effect,” Smoke continued. “As soon as we’d pit, the caution would come out again.”

Not Surprising: In addition to the stellar run of Mark Martin, the other two Michael Waltrip Racing cars, both in Chase contention, had decent, top-10 finishes at the Monster Mile. Martin Truex Jr. finished sixth and teammate Clint Bowyer finished ninth.

“Well, it wasn’t pretty at the beginning,” Truex Jr., driving the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, said. “But it was pretty damn pretty at the end.”

“It’s great a great finish for where we started,” Truex continued. “What a crazy day.”

“When you have days like that, you just have to keep fighting and we kept fighting and came out with a good results.”

Both Truex and Bowyer advanced two positions a piece in the point standings. Martin Truex Jr. is now eighth in points, 42 behind the leader, and Clint Bowyer is now fourth in points, 25 behind leader Keselowski.

Surprising: One racer, making her first start at the Monster Mile, expressed surprising comfort with the concept of a fuel mileage racing, in spite of finishing 38^th in her No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.

“I’m so used to the concept of fuel mileage racing that I don’t have any problem with it,” Patrick said. “Even at the start of the run I’m saving fuel already and they told me not to.”

“I was a little slow to start,” Patrick continued. “But we worked our way through it and made it better most every stop.”

“That is a good starting place for next year when we get here and that is the point of these races.”

Not Surprising: While pronouncing the finish ‘decent’, it was not surprising that the crew chief for NASCAR’s most popular driver was not particularly thrilled with the 11^th place finish of the No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mount Dew Chevrolet.

“We had a good car and we are fine with what we had,” Steve Letarte, crew chief for Dale Earnhardt, Jr., said. “To come here and not be good in practice and have a good car and feel like we could run in the top-five – that’s heading in the right direction.”

“We just need a little luck on our side.”

October 3, 2012
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Dover

[media-credit name=”Credit: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”242″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Brad Keselowski: A bold fuel strategy boosted Keselowski to the driver’s seat at Dover, and he held off Jeff Gordon to win the AAA 400. It was Keselowki’s second win of the Chase, and put him in the lead of the Sprint Cup point standings, where he is five ahead of Jimmie Johnson.

“While many of my rivals needed fuel,” Keselwoski said, “the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge didn’t. I guess it’s true what they say: Miller Lite is less filling.’”

2. Denny Hamlin: Along with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch, Hamlin dominated for much of Sunday’s AAA 400, but was forced to pit with ten laps remaining. Hamlin finished ninth and is now 16 points down to points leader Brad Keselowski.

“I say this with my eyes staring squarely at my gas-guzzling Toyota engine,” Hamlin said. “’This sucks.’ Ironically, a lack of gas took the air out of my race.”

3. Jimmie Johnson: Forced into fuel conservation mode late in the race, Johnson held on and finished fourth after avoiding the late fuel stops that affected much of the field. He fell out of the points lead and now trails Brad Keselowski by five.

“As a five-time Sprint Cup champion,” Johnson said, “I feel qualified to say that I’m not the only driver that’s ‘five behind.’

4. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer came home ninth at Dover, scoring his third consecutive top-10 finish of the Chase. He moved up one spot to fourth in the point standings and trails Brad Keselowski by 25.

“As the driver holding the fourth spot in the point standings,” Bowyer said, “my task at hand is clear: to make sure this doesn’t become just a three-man battle for the Sprint Cup.”

5. Jeff Gordon: Gordon finished second in the AAA 400, his third runner-up finish in the last five races. He is now 10^th in the point standings, 48 out of first.

“I was hoping that Brad Keselowski would run out of gas,” Gordon said. “But once again, he proved that he’s got a ‘reserve’ that no one else does.”

6. Kasey Kahne: Kahne finished three laps down in 15^th at Dover. He is fifth in the point standings, 32 out of first.

“Danica Patrick’s coming to Sprint Cup full-time next year,” Kahne said. “That’s a reason to celebrate for womankind. I’d tell Danica to take a victory lap, but she’d likely end up a lap behind.”

7. Tony Stewart: Stewart fell a lap down early at Dover and never recovered, finishing three laps down in 20^th. He is now fifth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 32 out of first.

“It’s not looking good for a defense of my 2011 Cup title,” Stewart said. “It appears ‘Smoke will be passing the torch,’ words which are sure to raise the eyebrows of the enforcers of NASCAR’s drug policy.

8. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished two laps down and finished a disappointing 11^th, losing further ground to the points leaders. In three Chase races, Earnhardt has yet to post a top-5 result.

“Much like a bootleg screen print t-shirt of my likeness,” Earnhardt said, “my chances at the Sprint Cup title are ‘fading fast.’ It seems the only ‘miraculous comeback’ you’ll get from me is an incredibly clever retort to someone critical of my championship ability.”

9. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex remained solid in the Chase For The Cup, scoring his second top-10 finish with a sixth in the AAA 400. He improved two places in the point standings to eighth, 42 out of first.

“There are two ‘Junior’s’ in the Chase,” Truex said, “and it looks like neither has a chance to win the Cup. Junior should know better than anyone that it takes ‘Seniority’ to win a championship.”

10. Kyle Busch: Busch led 302 of 400 laps at Dover, but relinquished the lead for a costly fuel stop late in the race. The stop cost him a lap and he finished seventh.

“While fuel mileage issues left of lot of us in ‘neutral,’” Busch said, “Brad Keselowski must have been stuck in ‘reverse,’ because he surely ‘backed’ in to the win at Dover.”

October 2, 2012
Nicole Biffle Shares Passion for Work of Greg Biffle Foundation

[media-credit name=”Photo Credit: Gary Buchanan” align=”alignright” width=”183″][/media-credit]Nicole Biffle is one busy young woman, as wife to Chase contender Greg and mom to 15 month old Emma. And while obviously completely committed to both of those roles, she is also passionate about her work with the Greg Biffle Foundation.

Nicole started the Greg Biffle Foundation with her husband in 2005 with the mission of creating awareness and serving as advocates to improve the well-being of animals by engaging the power and passion of the motor sports industry.

One of her ‘pet’ projects is the NASCAR Pets Calendar and she has just wrapped up work on the 2013 calendar, featuring many drivers including Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and Joey Logano. It also features NASCAR media members Shannon Spake, Rutledge Wood, Jeff Hammond, John Roberts and Chris Myers.

“So we just finished our 2013 calendar and it’s really cool,” Biffle said. “This year we have Danica Patrick, the King and Kyle Petty, and media and drivers of course.”

“It’s fun because this year we have our daughter Emma in the calendar,” Biffle continued. “So, it’s completely different.”

“It’s funny because when it comes out after taking the picture so long ago, she looks so different since then.”

The NASCAR Pets Calendar has been the fundraising hallmark for the Greg Biffle Foundation. The response to the inaugural edition of the calendar made it the best selling item on NASCAR.com and in 2009, Greg’s sponsor 3M got on board to take it to the next level.

The 2013 edition of the calendar is already on sale in various outlets, including 30 Petco stores, Mooresville, NC vet clinics, animal welfare organizations nationally and again on NASCAR.com.

According to Nicole Biffle, the Foundation took another bold step to raise money recently by auctioning off a 2012 Ford Raptor truck designed by her husband. The truck sold for $80,000, with all of the proceeds benefitting the Foundation.

“With that Barrett Jackson auction we just did, we also raised money as well,” Nicole Biffle said. “The truck was really cool.”

“I was watching it on TV and I was so nervous,” Biffle continued. “I’m very thankful to the lady who bought it. That was very nice of her and that will help a lot of animals.”

“The great thing is that the dog they had there in that rescue, there were a lot of inquires about adopting him,” Biffle said. “So, having him there brought some attention to not only him but his shelter too.”

“People were really interested which was really cool.”

Nicole Biffle is also passionate about another upcoming event to benefit the Foundation, their annual mountain retreat fundraiser.

“We have our Foundation event, our mountain retreat event, after the Charlotte race,” Biffle said. “We do that at our mountain property.”

“It’s an exclusive event and we invite about nine drivers and we make of teams,” Biffle said. “We invite them and they go on the dirt track and shoot skeet.”

“We have an archery course set up and we do trail rides,” Biffle continued. “It’s really a lot of fun.”

“We raise money through sponsorships and the participants pay to attend,” Biffle said. “It is a competition so the drivers are always competitive, especially on the dirt track, but we also give awards for the best shooter and things like that.”

“We also added the night before a poker tournament and a casino night just for fun,” Biffle continued. “Of course, people are generous enough to donate their winnings back to us which is so nice.”

While Nicole Biffle is passionate about all of the Foundation fundraisers, she is most passionate about the real reason for the Foundation, making all of the grants. And this year, she has had a record amount of applications to consider, from 93 grants made last year to 380 applications this year.

“We go through them and it is so difficult because there is so many,” Biffle said. “We look at what we’ve got and we tend to give to those that have little so they can keep their doors open.”

“I had to hire an assistant to help me with the grant requests because my brain wasn’t working with what my heart was saying and I would have given to everybody,” Biffle continued. “It’s just hard but that’s obviously what the Foundation is for.”

Nicole Biffle is also passionate about another endeavor, serving on the Board of the Friends of the Animals organization, where she serves as President and Greg as Vice President.

“Greg and I are involved with the Friends of the Animals,” Biffle said. “That’s to build an adoption center in Mooresville.”

“That is really, really going well,” Biffle continued. “We are making progress and the community backing is astounding.”

“I’m pretty excited,” Biffle continued. “I think it’s going to be a big thing for us.”

As with every mom, however, Nicole Biffle’s passion must now be shared and spread around, from her Foundation work to her roles as wife and mother. And like every busy mom, she works hard at trying to balance it all.

“It’s different now that I’ve got Emma because I can’t focus as much time as I did in the past,” Biffle said. “I love being with her.”

“We just try to balance it out and I’m grateful for good help at the Foundation and good board members at the Friends of the Animals.”

Oh and by the way and on one final note, Nicole Biffle is also passionate about her husband Greg, who is currently competing for NASCAR’s highest honor the Sprint Cup. And she is very passionate in supporting him, along with Emma, in that endeavor.

“I would love for Greg to win the championship this year,” Nicole Biffle said.”Being the first to win in all three series would be amazing.”

“It would be awesome to have our little family to celebrate that.”

For more information about the Greg Biffle Foundation or to purchase a 2013 calendar, visit gregbifflefoundation.com.

October 1, 2012
Denny Hamlin Scores First Ever Pole At Monster Mile

[media-credit name=”Gary Buchanan” align=”alignright” width=”216″][/media-credit]At a track that has been admittedly been monstrous in the past to him, Denny Hamlin pulled off the fastest qualifying lap of his Monster Mile career, scoring his first ever pole at Dover International Speedway.

Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota grabbed the pole with a fast lap of 22.599 seconds at a speed of 159.299 mph. This is Hamlin’s third pole of the season but his first ever at Dover in 14 races at the Monster Mile.

“That was an amazing run,” Hamlin said. “Definitely wasn’t what I expected, but it sure feels good to get a pole here.”

“Our car was really strong in race trim and really wasn’t all that good in qualifying trim,” Hamlin continued. “Hopefully this is a good sign of things that will give us a strong run here on Sunday.”

“Starting from the pole will help us in tuning our car throughout the day,” Hamlin said. “Obviously track position is going to be very, very crucial and we’ve got to do everything we can to keep that.”

“We’ve got a car that’s very capable of staying in the front and hopefully we’ll have a shot to win.”

Hamlin humbly credited his crew chief Darian Grubb for his pole winning qualifying effort.

“I think there’s a lot of drivers out there that could be able to do what I do with the cars that Darian has been giving me the last few weeks,” Hamlin said. “I’m going to give him pretty much all the credit and ride his back as long as it will hold me.”

The second and third qualifying positions belonged to Michael Waltrip Racing teammates Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex, Jr.

“It was good,” Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota, said. “When you’re that close, it’s disappointing because you know just if you could have put the gas down that much more anywhere around the race track, you’d of had the pole.”

“I will save that for another day.”

Bowyer posted his 12^th top-10 start of 2012 and his fifth in 14 races at the Monster Mile.

“It’s a good day for us,” Martin Truex, Jr., driver of the No. 56 NAPA Toyota, said. “It’s been a good weekend so far.”

“The NAPA Toyota was about perfect,” Martin Truex Jr. continued. “Had to lift off turn four and gave it to him.”

“The car was awesome.”

This was Truex’s sixth top-10 start at Dover International Speedway and his 13^th in 29 races this season.

Sam Hornish, Jr. sat on the pole briefly but was relegated to a fourth place qualifying run in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger.

“The lap was OK,” Hornish said. “From inside the car, I thought that we put together a pretty solid lap.”

“Our race runs yesterday didn’t have the speed that we needed, so I’m really happy that I qualified well.”

Kyle Busch, in the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, rounded out the top-five in qualifying at Dover. Busch had his hands full, with the car wiggling during the lap.

“I really don’t know what I did wrong,” Busch said. “It stepped out and I just had to catch it and wait and go after it the second lap.”

“Just glad we were able to have a strong second lap.”

While the qualifying lap may have been a bit squirrelly, Busch said he might just have the car to beat on race day.

“I think we’ve definitely got a top-three car right now,” Busch said. “I think we’re one of those in the top elite.”

Ten of the twelve Chase drivers qualified in the top-13 positions during the time trials, with Hamlin in first, Bowyer second, Truex Jr. third, Greg Biffle sixth, Jeff Gordon seventh, Kasey Kahne in ninth, Brad Keselowski in tenth, Jimmie Johnson in eleventh, Matt Kenseth in twelfth and Kevin Harvick in thirteenth.

Chase drivers Tony Stewart qualified 24^th and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. qualified 25^th.

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., making his first Cup start in the No. 6 Cargill Ford, qualified 17^th and Danica Patrick, in the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, qualified 38^th.

September 29, 2012
Surprising and Not Surprising: New Hampshire Sylvania 300

[media-credit name=”Noel Lanier” align=”alignright” width=”246″][/media-credit]From late-arriving pit crews to the second time around for the Cup Series at the mile track in Loudon, New Hampshire, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the second Chase race, the Sylvania 300.

Surprising: While being in Victory Lane is always special, it was a surprisingly big moment for the winner of the Sylvania 300, his team and his team owner.

For Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, it was truly a big moment as he delivered on his promise, via tweet, to win the race.

And it was a major accomplishment for his team, who after overcoming mistakes of the previous race and during their qualifying lap at New Hampshire, rallied around each other and their driver to score the victory.

But most of all, it was a huge moment for team owner Joe Gibbs, who achieved a milestone, his team’s 100^th NASCAR Sprint Cup win, at the Magic Mile. The 100 wins were scored by Tony Stewart with 33, Denny Hamlin with 22, Bobby Labonte with 21, Kyle Busch with 20, Dale Jarrett with 2 and Joey Logano with 2 wins.

Joe Gibbs Racing is now only one of six teams in NASCAR history to achieve the 100 victory mark.

“It was a huge day for us,” Coach Gibbs said. “Bobby Labonte came into victory circle and I appreciated Bobby, Dale Jarrett, Jimmy Makar, everybody when we first started, Tony Stewart, so it took a lot of people down the road.”

“But, certainly, gosh, thinking back on my 21 years – just doesn’t seem like it was that long ago and you realize that we’ve got a hundred wins.”

“That was a huge deal for us.”

Not Surprising: Runner up for the second week in a row, Jimmie Johnson, continues to not only rack up the points, but count each one most carefully, right to the points lead.

This was Johnson’s 15^th top-10 finish in 22 races at the Magic Mile and his 19^th top-10 finish for the season.

“We had a great race car, just not an amazing car like the No. 11 had,” Johnson said. “To only leave seven points on the table in two races is pretty good.”

“We missed the win last week and this week and we didn’t lead the most this weekend,” Johnson continued. “But it is probably seven points total.”

“That’s not bad.”

Surprising: Brian Vickers did his own surprising Denny Hamlin impersonation, slicing and dicing his way from the back of the field after an engine change to a ninth place finish.

“Really proud of the guys – everyone at MWR, Toyota, just this 55 crew,” said the driver of the No. 55 Freightliner/Jet Edge Toyota. “All the guys did a great job.”

“We had a car good enough to go and race with them for a little while.”

Not Surprising: In spite of still being 45 points behind the leader and in the 12^th Chase position, this driver continues to keep the faith, just like every other four-time past champion should.

Jeff Gordon, in the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, started on the pole and finished 3^rd at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“It was a really solid effort,” Jeff Gordon said. “It’s a shame what happened to us in Chicago last weekend because I think we would have back-to-back top fives.”

“There is no doubt we can get ourselves back into this.”

Surprising: It was surprising just how badly the Ford camp performed, especially Chase competitors Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle, who finished 14^th and 18^th respectively.

“We were just battling overall grip,” Biffle, pilot of the No. 16 3M/GE Appliances Ford, said. “We chattered the front tires. We chattered the rear tires.”

“There at the end we chattered all four.”

“On a long run, we had about a 10^th place car, which is probably a little bit better than we usually do here,” Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Zest Ford Fusion, said. “But on short runs, we weren’t very good at all and then we got that caution there at the end and that didn’t work in our favor.”

“We weren’t that great overall.”

Not Surprising: As has his season gone, so did the New Hampshire race play out. Kyle Busch had a great outside pole start go south with engine woes yet again.

And while his crew chief Dave Rogers attempted to put the best spin on it, Busch was less then complimentary behind the wheel of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota.

“Unfortunately, we picked up a ‘miss’ under the hood,” Rogers said. “We just stayed out there and rode it out, and got the best finish possible.”

When told by his crew chief that he could not fix the car and to just ride it out, Busch said simply “Imagine that.”

Surprising: The two Michael Waltrip Racing teammates in the Chase had diametrically opposite experiences at the Magic Mile this past weekend. Clint Bowyer, in the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota, finished fourth but Martin Truex Jr., in the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, finished 17^th.

“We had a solid race car,” Bowyer said. “But we needed a little bit more.”

“There’s a lot of racing left,” Bowyer continued. “It was a solid finish and kept us in the game going to Dover.”

Not Surprising: While Stewart Haas Racing had a seemingly solid day, with Tony Stewart finishing seventh and teammate Ryan Newman finishing tenth, both were disappointed when the checkered flag flew.

“It might’ve been a solid result, but we need to be better than that,” Stewart said simply.

“It was just not what we wanted,” Newman said. “Two top-10s aren’t bad, but we’d like to get Aspen Dental a win, too.”

Surprising: Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet, had a surprisingly consistent run at the Magic Mile. He finished in the same place as his number, position five.

“We had another consistent day,” Kahne said. “We have been pretty consistent so far so the first two are good for the Chase.”

“Hopefully, we can keep it going and get a little faster if we want to catch those other guys,” Kahne continued. “That would be pretty cool.”

Not Surprising: With a thirteen place finish and an issue with his pit stop, it was no surprise that the Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was in a state of dislike.

“I didn’t like the car in practice and didn’t really like it all weekend,” Junior said of his No. 88 AMP Energy/Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevrolet. “We’ve got to get our stuff together to compete with these guys.”

“This ain’t good enough.”

Surprising: Regan Smith, celebrating his 29^th birthday and finishing 16^th, got a real surprise. He found out that he was being replaced in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet.

“You just have to keep plugging away,” Smith said. “You need to figure out a way to make the best of the situation.”

Not Surprising: Brad Keselowski, scrappy as ever, could only talk about beating, banging, clawing and digging after his 6^th place finish in the Blue Deuce.

“There was a lot of clawing in the race,” Keselowski said. “We’d have liked to have been a little faster but we still had a decent day.”

“Like my 2 crew does every week, they just keep digging and made something happen.”

When asked about his position in the point standings, now just one point behind Jimmie Johnson, Keselowski was direct and to the point.

“One point doesn’t seem too bad,” Keselowski said. “We’ll go to Dover and give ‘em hell.”

September 27, 2012