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  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Daytona Coke Zero 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Daytona Coke Zero 400

    With drivers wishing their teams good morning due to the night race that went into the wee hours of the next morning, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the Coke Zero 400 on the July 4th, 2015 holiday weekend.

    Surprising:  In spite of flying through the air, hitting the catch fence, rebounding back on the track, getting hit again and coming out of it all with a bruised tailbone and a bruise on his forearm, Austin Dillon was still able to keep his sense of humor.  The driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet tweeted “What a friend lol” in response to Tim Dugger’s tweet “To all the ladies out there He’s fine. He ain’t gonna be such a romantic buckaroo for a while, but he’ll be fine.”

    And even after that jaw-dropping, horrifying crash, Dillon was able to pull off a top-10 finish, taking the checkered flag in the seventh spot.

    Not Surprising:  With Chevrolets, many of them Hendrick-powered, dominating seven of the top-10 finishing positions at Daytona, there was one Toyota driver who was just happy to be in the mix.

    “Our FedEx Ground Camry and battled with the best of them,” Denny Hamlin said after finishing third. “Those Hendrick guys, not only are their cars fast, but they’re good drivers and they work well together. It’s hard to break through with them.”

    “You can get help from those guys every now and then, but they do a good job of sticking together and their cars are so fast and you can’t clear them at the right times. I was just happy to kind of be in the mix of them there late in the going. Worked well with all those guys at one point or another and still a decent day for us.”

    Surprising:  In spite of a disappointing season to date, as well as having to go to a backup car for the race, Trevor Bayne did the Ford and Roush Fenway Racing teams proud, finding his restrictor plate magic once again to finish in the ninth position.

    “Our AdvoCare Ford was really fast tonight,” Bayne said after the race.  “Despite getting into the wall avoiding that wreck off of Turn 4 our car ran really well, especially past halfway. We were able to get up front and run inside the top three with everyone and show that we belonged up there.”

    “We’re happy to come home ninth despite getting collected in that wreck at the line. I definitely needed that AdvoCare spark tonight. I want to thank my whole team though for their work this weekend, especially since we had to go to a backup car after Friday. Now it’s on to Kentucky.”

    Not Surprising:  At least the fans who noshed to keep themselves awake during the race were not alone.

    “Yeah, for sure when you’re under caution, you can feel the weight of the day kind of on you, on your eyes,” Jimmie Johnson, who finished runner-up, said after the race. “And then just sitting around waiting for it, there was a whole feeling, I think, throughout the industry that about 8:00, 8:30 the deal was over, so mentally I started shutting down and thinking, okay, I’m staying the night, what am I doing, trying to coordinate family things, and then all of a sudden it’s drying and the dryers are on the track.

    Being in the sport as long as I have, you learn how to turn it off and turn it on,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Patriotic Chevrolet said. “I did overeat, so I haven’t figured that part out.  It’s hard to sit out there for so many hours and not eat too much, but everything else went pretty well.”

    Surprising:  Jeff Gordon was racing his last Daytona race and ended up with his best finish there in quite some time, taking the checkered flag in the sixth position, yet he still is glad to put it in his rear view mirror and thankful that there is just one plate race left for him to survive.

    Oh, my gosh chaos it was crazy,” the driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet said. “I’m so glad Austin Dillon is okay.  That was a crazy one.  You knew it was going to be crazy.  Right from the start I thought it was a wild race.  A lot of action and crazy stuff going on.”

    “We were pushing like crazy, just wide open.  It is literally like a video game out there these days, except for it’s real life.  It’s crazy.  It’s really crazy.”

    “I love Daytona.  This place has been amazing for me.  I can’t believe this is my final race here, but after going through that experience I’m glad I only have one more restrictor plate race left.”

    Not Surprising:  Clint Bowyer, who finished tenth, had a front row seat for the big wreck at the end and in ‘Bowyeresque’ style described it all as only he can.

    “He (Austin Dillon) went over me,” the driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota said. “I went under him and thank God the seas kind of opened a little bit. It’s just Daytona — it’s wild. I got up there and got in position.”

    “The 3 (Austin Dillon) I think checked up. I don’t know the reason why but I was right behind Austin – they checked and he was already shooting up and I hit him and it just went right over the top of me and that was scary.”

    “I haven’t seen the whole wreck but I damn sure lived it through the windshield there for a second. This is entertainment. It’s certainly dangerous as hell, but its part of the sport.”

    “Our old hot rod wasn’t quite what it needed to be, but it was a decent day.”

    Surprising:  Carl Edwards went for broke but, unfortunately, ended up pretty broken. The driver of the No. 19 Subway Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing was involved in two separate accidents that led to his 41st place finish.

    “We went for it in this race and basically wrecked twice,” Edwards said. “The second one, I thought I had it saved a couple times and it just wasn’t meant to be. That’s just this style of racing.”

    “For us, this was just a checkers or wreckers type of race and we were going to go for it.
    Not Surprising:  Restrictor plate tracks are often the great equalizers so it was not surprising to see some names not usually at the top of the leaderboard have good finishes. For example, Casey Mears finished 11th and Landon Cassill finished a strong 13th.

    “The car was pretty fast,” Mears, driver of the No. 13 Geico Chevrolet said. “We were able to get to the front pretty quickly when it was time to go.  There at the end we were sitting in a really good position.  I was behind the No. 41 (Kurt Busch) pushing him pretty good.  We had kind of talked.”

    “I thought the No. 31 (Ryan Newman) might go with me.  I went up a little high and he didn’t go, but that happens it is the way these races go.  I think after all the carnage and everything that happened it would have been nice to be inside the top 10 or a little closer, but it’s a good day.  A lot of guys had bad days here.”

    “It was unbelievable,” Cassill, behind the wheel of the No. 40 Snap Fitness Chevrolet, said. “It’s just really tight racing.  I’m just so proud of my Hillman Racing team.  My Snap Fitness Chevy, we are so fast on these superspeedways and we can run up front and we have proven it.”

    “I’m proud of our finish.  These guys are just going to have to build another car and we will go to Talladega and be even faster.”

    Surprising: Team Penske had a disappointing showing at Daytona, with Joey Logano finishing 22nd and Brad Keselowski finishing 29th.

    “There isn’t much good to say about what happened here tonight,” Logano said after the race. “It is a product of the racing here. We got caught in the first crash which was way unfortunate after sitting around all day. We were five laps down and battled back to the lead lap, so that is something to be proud of but we couldn’t do much once we got there.”

    Not Surprising: Brian Scott summed it all up best with his two words when asked about what happened after crashing out and finishing 42nd.

    “Daytona happened,” Scott said simply.  The field was coming up to pass a lap down car and it looked like the No. 42 (Kyle Larson) got loose going around it getting in the middle, which happens with these Sprint Cup cars. They are so aero sensitive on the side.  Then from there it was Daytona.”

    “They were wrecking.  My spotter was doing a great job telling me where things were and it was one of those where we needed to gas up to get by cars that were sliding up.  As soon as we got past those Carl (Edwards) came up and we ran into the back of him.  It looked like he got jacked up on the windshield and then we were tore up.”

    “Our car wasn’t going to run to the end. It sounded like it maybe caught fire for a second.  But the bottom line is just a bad end to an already long weekend.  Not the way we wanted to end with our Shore Lodge Chevy SS.  I felt like we had a car that was capable of running up there in the top 10; top five early on.  I felt like we could get back up there.  Just trying to learn in the draft and be ready for the end, but the end came too soon.”

  • The Final Word – The Top Four at Pocono Have Been the Season’s Best Four

    The Final Word – The Top Four at Pocono Have Been the Season’s Best Four

    Three drivers. When it came to the story of the Pocono race, only three mattered. You probably wanted to know who led the race for the opening few laps, and that would have been Carl Edwards. He finished 15th. For the rest of the way, it was down to two names, right down to the final lap; Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick. No one else much mattered on Sunday.

    When it comes down to points, these two lead the way this year. When it comes to wins, Harvick’s two trailed only Jimmie Johnson’s four in that department. Truex, on the other hand, still had to close the deal. That finally happened in a race where he was a factor from start to finish, leading four times for 97 of the 160 laps, to snap a 69 race winless string. Harvick led for 39 to claim his 10th Top Two in 14 starts. As for third place, that eventually went to Johnson, as Pocono became a showcase of the three best thus far in 2015. Okay, Top Four, with Joey Logano finishing fourth.

    With the Truex win, we still have no drivers outside the Top 16 in points with a victory this season. With a dozen events to go, that could change, which would put some pressure on those up there, yet still winless. However, Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne and even Jeff Gordon look safe for the moment though Paul Menard, Aric Almirola and Ryan Newman are vulnerable. All three finished outside the Top Thirty on Sunday.

    Top Thirty on the season is valuable for those who want to win to be in. Only Kyle Busch has a realistic expectation to possibly win amongst the outsiders, and he sits 151 points behind Trevor Bayne for that 30th spot. Busch gained 15 points on Bayne over the weekend and needs to average a 12.6 point advantage over each of the next 12 races, as well as claim a win along the way, for it to matter.

    Danica Patrick looked good for much of the race, solidly a Top 15, if not better. She lost a tire, found a fence, and finished 37th. However, the girl looked good, and for those on her bandwagon, that certainly counts for something.

    After taking the last five at Pocono, shared by their four drivers, Team Hendrick had to settle for all four in the Top 15. Considering the trials Truex has faced both professionally and personally over the past couple of years, I think their genuine happiness over his success more than makes up for any disappointment that they might feel. Way more.

    While Truex celebrated, Almirola (43rd), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (42nd), and Sam Hornish Jr. (41st) were top thirty drivers who did not have top thirty days. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch (9th), Ty Dillon (18th), and Landon Cassill (25th) were among those outsiders who gladly took their place.

    Michigan International Speedway is the next stop, where the last six contests run over the past three years have been split between Hendrick Chevrolets and Roush or Penske Fords. At least it is a venue Hendrick has not won the last five…just the last two.

  • The Final Word – Dover and the FedEx 400 Benefiting Jimmie Johnson

    The Final Word – Dover and the FedEx 400 Benefiting Jimmie Johnson

    Jimmie Johnson. Four wins in 2015. Ten wins at Dover. Seventy-four wins over the course of his career, just two shy of Dale Earnhardt’s total. Six championships. Gee, I wonder if he might ever make the Hall of Fame?

    He becomes only the fifth driver in NASCAR history to claim such dominance at a single track. Mind you, we’ve long been placing his name alongside such drivers as…

    -Richard Petty (Daytona – 10, Martinsville – 15, North Wilkesboro – 15, Richmond – 13, Rockingham – 11)

    -David Pearson (Darlington – 10)

    -Darrell Waltrip (Bristol – 12, Martinsville – 11, North Wilkesboro – 10)

    -Dale Earnhardt (Talladega – 10)…not counting the nine each he won at Atlanta, Bristol, and Darlington.

    Kevin Harvick was the runner-up and with two wins he holds the same position amongst the season leaders. Kyle Larson was third, but like the fourth place Aric Almirola, a win is what they need to be in the Chase. Martin Truex Jr. was sixth, but with a 140-point advantage over Clint Bowyer in the standings, he is still very good to go. Bowyer is 17th on the season and ninth on Sunday. The rest of the day’s Top Ten, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard and Jeff Gordon, remain solidly in the Top Sixteen, at least for now.

    For some, this day was in the pits, or at least that is where great days went to die. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick were in the Top-Fifteen, but were left wondering if not for pit penalties just what kind of day they might have had. Same for the 19th place Carl Edwards.

    Truex was amongst two that dominated early while Denny Hamlin led 118 laps including the opening 41 circuits. After a wreck caused by Bowyer that also caught Kurt Busch, Hamlin finished 21st, Busch 31st.

    As for brother Kyle, he looked strong the entire race, or at least the 90 percent he ran. With 25 to go, he and Brian Scott wrecked, leaving the younger Busch 36th. After missing so much of the season due to his Daytona injuries, he will need to win at least once and make up the 168 gap between himself and the 30th ranked Justin Allgaier over the next 13 events to make the playoff hunt. That is a gain of 13 per race. On Sunday, he gained just seven points on the 42nd placed Allgaier. It still can be done.

    Landon Cassill was 23rd on the day. The 26-year-old has been making the news, though off the track. After the World 600, he ran the 14-miles from the track to the Hall of Fame…on foot. Last Wednesday, he became Beckham Bear Alan Cassill’s dad. Pretty sweet.

    What is better, Cup action or IndyCar? Whatever you believe, it is not worth choking your fiancé over. It was a lovely domestic scene in Indiana as both were hitting the suds all day, then with he making dinner and her listening to the action from Indianapolis, the topic reared its ugly head. It appears that both are fine, but he does need a lawyer. No word as to whether the engagement is off or not.

    Dover had its moments and a few surprises. Actually, not a bad way to spend your Sunday afternoon. As for Pocono next weekend, Earnhardt comes in after sweeping 2014 while each of his Hendrick teammates has claimed the previous three. Gordon has six in total, Johnson three, but Hamlin could spoil the party having four of his own. Now, if only Bowyer will let him get to the finish.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Coke 600

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Coke 600

    With every driver well-versed on the name of the soldier memorialized on each car, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 56th annual Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Surprising: While there was a plethora of doubling down at the Coke 600, most of the results were not so positive. Jeff Gordon, for one, did his own version of the double, piloting the pace car for the Indy 500 before the NASCAR race.

    “To come down that front straightaway the first time and hear that crowd cheering for the cars, the drivers, and this amazing event …to be able to hear that from inside the pace car with the windows down is just amazing,” Gordon said. “Not to mention that the pace car has to get after it pretty good out here because that last lap is 100 mph and through the corners, maintaining that is something.

    “So that was definitely cool. A huge thrill and a huge honor.”

    Unfortunately, Gordon did not have a positive result after his double down as he finished a disappointing 15th place in NASCAR’s longest race of the season with an ill-handling race car.

    Gordon’s teammate Jimmie Johnson also did his own version of the double, which was not positive twice over. The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Patriotic Chevrolet spun twice to finish 40th at a track where he has traditionally performed so well.

    “We just had a really loose racecar,” Johnson said. “We came in with an aggressive mindset to bring an aggressive set-up in the car, drive aggressively and take chances. We said we were going to come in and swing for the fences. We did and I hit the fence.”

    The only successful double down was achieved by none other than Landon Cassill, who finished the Coke 600 in the 39th spot but then ran from Charlotte Motor Speedway to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

    Here is what Cassill tweeted in the wee hours of the morning after finishing his 14 mile run. “Made it! What a long day. 13.92mi 1:41:49 7:19/mi

    “Made it! What a long day. 13.92mi 1:41:49 7:19/mi avg bpm 155. Thanks @snapfitness and @NASCARHall for tagging along!”

    Not Surprising: The best quote of the long race day into night was, “Is the race over yet?” It was no wonder that Carl Edwards asked that question of his team in what seemed to be a never-ending fuel mileage race to the checkered flag.

    “This one feels different,” Edwards said after getting confirmation that the race was indeed over and he had won. “I don’t know how to explain it other than to just say that it’s a big relief, and more than that, it’s just a big opportunity.

    “Now we can go and just become better, and that’s what we need.”

    Surprising: While Kyle Busch returned to the track for the first points paying race after his injuries from a Daytona crash, teammate Denny Hamlin suffered his own medical issues in the car. Hamlin, who had played 36 holes of golf and a game of tennis prior to the race, suffered a bad headache and dehydration after the race.

    “Probably overdid it a little bit this weekend,” Hamlin said. “I think the dehydration led to a migraine and just felt nauseous the last 100 laps or so.”

    “I feel pretty good. All in all, I felt like that was a great race for us,” Busch said. “I admit I’ve probably got a little left foot soreness, but other than that, everything is pretty hunky‑dory.”

    Hamlin finished eighth while Busch finished 11th.

    Not Surprising: Given that it was the longest race of the season, it was no wonder that at least two engines expired, one of young Ryan Blaney in the Wood Brothers No. 21 and the other of David Ragan with Michael Waltrip Racing.

    “We were fighting hard to get back on the lead lap and looks like something happened engine related – we got really, really hot and something happened internally,” Ragan said. “Disappointed that we had a lot better race car, but saw some encouraging signs that we had some speed in qualifying and the race as well, but we just need to put a race all together.”

    “We, unfortunately, had an engine problem,” Blaney said. ”It was really unfortunate. It sputtered and started to go maybe half a lap before and then it really went up. I didn’t expect it to really explode like that.”

    Surprising: Greg Biffle celebrated his 450th start with a stellar finish, taking his No. 16 Ortho Ford to the finish line in the runner-up position.

    “I’m really excited for the team and the organization,” Biffle said. “We’ve been working really, really hard on our cars. It’s been well documented how bad we’ve been running, so it feels good.”

    Not Surprising: While Martin Truex Jr. has been knocking on the door of his first win of the season, having the fastest car in the last two races, fuel mileage bit him yet again, resulting in a fifth place finish.

    “We had a very fast car all night,” Truex said. “It really hurts knowing that you had the fastest car and didn’t win. I don’t know what to do about fuel mileage races. I’ve never ever in my entire career come out on the right end of them.”

    Surprising: Even with a third place finish, NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. was disappointed by not winning a race near and dear to his heart.

    “We’ve got a win so it doesn’t really matter,” the driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet said. “We would like to win more races. I want to win this one. I don’t know how many more chances I will get at it.”

    Not Surprising: The fragmentation of the Stewart-Haas Race team continued, with Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch finishing ninth and 10th, while teammates Tony Stewart and Danica Patrick finished 21st and 22nd respectively.

    “It was a really frustrating night,” Patrick said. “The car just felt like it was dragging down the straightaways. It’s the most frustrating thing in the world when you see everyone drive past you, but we dug deep and did our best to get everything we could out of the car.”

    Surprising: Team Penske did not quite have the race that they wanted, with Brad Keselowski finishing seventh and Joey Logano finishing 13th. Both not only struggled with their cars, but Keselowski even struggled with the heat.

    “It was a long race. I hate to see it come down to fuel mileage, but that’s part of the game too,” Keselowski said. “It was hot. I burned my foot and didn’t feel good, but it’s a tough race. I gave it all I had and felt good about the effort we gave.”

    “The sun started going down and our car was not good. Nothing got better,” Logano said. “We went one way with something and went back the other way and nothing.

    “There was never one good thing about the car. Usually you at least get a good exit or a good center and I was just fighting way too much stuff.”

    Not Surprising: Brett Moffitt in his No. 34 CSX “Play It Safe” Ford was the highest finishing rookie, taking the final lap in the 31st spot.

    “It was a long race, that’s for sure,” Moffitt said. “In the middle of the race, we got the CSX Ford running pretty good. We just got stuck a couple laps down and could never get them back. Cautions weren’t falling in our favor, so we didn’t get any extra help there. But we learned a lot and we’re thankful to CSX for the support.”

    The Cup Series moves up the east coast to the Monster Mile for the next race, the 46th Annual FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway.

     

  • The Final Word – A fine weekend at Kansas might be a prelude to a similar fine time in Charlotte

    The Final Word – A fine weekend at Kansas might be a prelude to a similar fine time in Charlotte

    It was a fine weekend. Sure, you may think I say that due to Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhard, Jr. and Jeff Gordon coming across the line in that order in Kansas. Okay, there might be some truth in that.

    Our family got together to celebrate a 3-year-old’s birthday, and that was fun. We visited with my mother in her big day on Sunday. I did not actually get to watch the race until about 1:30 in the dark on Sunday morning, thus the rain delay lasted only minutes for me. That was a very good thing. Oh, did I mention the finish?

    This is not to say a good time was had by all. Joey Logano had a hard-charging entry, but a couple of miscues on pit road left him continually having to come back through the field. He got as far as fifth before time ran out. Not bad, but he could have had more.

    For some, running in the Top 30 is a big deal, as it turned out to be for the likes of Michael Annett, Matt DiBenedetto, Ty Dillon, Josh Wise and Landon Cassill. Not Top 20’s, grant you, but good enough for a moral victory of sorts.

    Danica Patrick was a Top 30 car, but 27th is nothing to brag about, especially now that she has tumbled out of a Chase place. Yet, it was better than the days barely tolerated by some others. Trevor Bayne is with Roush-Fenway, a good place from which to race, one would think. Not if 31st is your fate. David Ragan went to MWR, but after a trip through the mud he wallowed in 33rd. Tony Stewart? Well, he looked good early, then he checked up to avoid a mishap ahead of him. Too bad Brett Moffitt did not. He ran into Tony, who then hit the wall, and any hope for a good day went up in…er…smoke. Thirty-ninth is not what he needed.

    Another great day for Hendrick, with a winner and two more in the Top Five, with Kasey Kahne back in 17th. Stewart-Haas had a couple up front, with Kurt Busch getting a Top Ten, while the other two were deep in the woods. Penske had a pair of Top Tens, Matt Kenseth was sixth for Gibbs but Carl Edwards had to be content with 20th. Erik Jones looked great in his debut, at least until he lost it late to kill the car against the fence, while Denny Hamlin’s car went for junk late as the latter pair finished 40th and 41st.

    Another very competitive day for Furniture Row’s Martin Truex Jr., though he had to settle for ninth in the end, yet only trails Harvick in points garnered. That elusive win does not seem too far off. As for Roush Fenway, Greg Biffle was 12th. The rest were outside the Top Twenty. In fact, not a one of them can be found amongst the Top Twenty in the season standings. They can only dream of being as good as Danica, and that is not saying much.

    This Saturday, it’s on to Charlotte and the All-Star race. Winners since the 2014 Daytona 500 right through to Kansas are eligible to run, along with all previous All-Star winners still running full-time, the top two from the preliminary showdown earlier Saturday, and a fan vote for a favorite. Last year, Josh Wise was the beneficiary of a social media campaign, which he no doubt thought was great, though I thought was rather stupid and undeserving. Then again, what do I know?

    Well, I do know I’ll be watching to see if Mr. Johnson can win again at Charlotte and take his fifth classic. Maybe Harvick will be up there. Maybe Junior. Hasn’t Gordon won this three times? Come to think of it, a repeat of last weekend this upcoming weekend might be rather fine.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Vegas Kobalt 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Vegas Kobalt 400

    For the first race of NASCAR’s self-proclaimed ‘West Coast Swing’, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 18th annual Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    Surprising: In just the third race of the season, there were a plethora of firsts and lasts, from Jeff Gordon running his last ever race at Vegas to Brian Vickers starting his first race since open heart surgery and Kevin Harvick standing in Victory Lane for the first time ever at LVMS.

    Gordon himself was a contrast in firsts and lasts, having scored the pole position for the race and then having to start dead last due to a final practice crash with Danica Patrick. Gordon cut through the field but then had issues with contact and tires, relegating him to an 18th place finish in his No. 24 3M Chevrolet.

    “Man, we were coming,” Gordon said. “We drove up there right at the beginning and the car was amazing on rails. The next set of tires, the thing was just terrible loose. So we made an adjustment and then the car went back to being tight. I don’t know what happened there, but it was a great effort. I just can’t believe the way these days are going.”

    While Gordon completed his last race at Vegas, Brian Vickers was amazed to finally get his season started, back for the first time in the No. 55 Aaron’s 60th Anniversary Dream Machine Toyota after major heart surgery.

    “A top-15 considering where we were at three months ago – I’ll take it,” Vickers said. “You always want to win, but I think for us this was a victory in a lot of ways.”

    “It’s incredible. It feels so good to be back in a race car – so happy, so thankful and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be here again.”

    And the final first went to Kevin Harvick, with his first win of the season and his first ever win at Vegas. This was Harvick’s sixth consecutive race to finish either first or second, tying for that honor with Jeff Gordon who accomplished the same feat in 1996.

    “It’s so cool to win here in Las Vegas and start this West Coast swing off this way is pretty awesome,” the driver of the victorious No. 4 Jimmy Johns/Budweiser Chevrolet said. “Just to be in front of all these fans I’ve raced in front of since about the mid-‘90’s. It’s pretty special to win here.”

    Not Surprising: Well, the setting was after all Las Vegas so there had to be at least one driver to take a gamble. This race it was driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who rolled the dice on tires at the end of the race to finish fourth.

    “We didn’t put lefts (tires) on it; made it a gamble,” the driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet said. “I like to gamble. I liked the call. I love being aggressive. We were going to drive up there and pass that No. 4 (Kevin Harvick). So, we had to take a chance.”

    Surprising: The two small teams with the big alliance with Richard Childress Racing again had great runs, with Martin Truex Jr. scoring the runner up spot and AJ Allmendinger coming in sixth.

    “I can’t put it into words, honestly. I’m just really proud of everyone,” Truex, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, said. “I feel like we can keep chipping away at it, getting a little better each week and hopefully by the end of the year, we will have some wins under our belt.”

    “A lot of credit to having an RCR (Richard Childress Racing) alliance because the No. 78 and No. 31 were really fast all weekend,” Allmendinger, behind the wheel of the No. 47 Clorox Chevrolet, said after the race. “We kind of stole from them a little bit going into the final practice. That helped us and really helped up today.”

    “Honestly, probably one of the best races we have ever had. Something hopefully we can keep building off of.”

    Not Surprising: Even with battling penalties on pit road, including speeding and an uncontrolled tire, the Team Penske duo of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano were the highest finishing Fords, in seventh and tenth respectively.

    “It was an up and down day,” Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, said. “Good job by the team to rally there and get what we were able to out of it.”

    “The speeding on pit road – I found that. I put us in a hole,” Logano, driver of the No. 22 Pennzoil Platinum Ford, said. “Not that we were going to win the race either way because we weren’t fast enough but I maybe cost us two or three positions with what I did.”

    “We have some work to do.”

    Surprising: He may be ineligible for points in the Cup Series, but Brian Scott was on a roll, finishing top-15 in his No. 33 Whitetail Chevrolet. This was the best career finish in the Cup Series for the driver, who is competing for the championship in the Xfinity Series.

    Not Surprising: Ryan Newman may be taking a page from the Jimmie Johnson sponsorship book and his ability to keep improving scored the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team a third place finish.

    “This was a great team effort with the Caterpillar Chevrolet,” Newman said. “It was an improvement over last year.”

    “We improved throughout the entire race and I’m satisfied only because we’re improving.”

    Surprising: Prior to the race, six-time champ Jimmie Johnson built the frame of a house for Habitat for Humanity. Unfortunately, the driver of the No. 48 Kobalt Tools experienced destruction on the track, including several blown tires that caused him to finish 41st.

    “That’s kind of a freak deal,” Johnson said. “I’m disappointed. We certainly had an awesome race car. I wish we could have won this KOBALT race in this KOBALT car, but we’ll come back next week.”

    Not Surprising: When a great car competing up front ends up finishing 17th, it is not surprising that frustration abounds. That was the name of the game for Kasey Kahne, who not only was frustrated after contact with Carl Edwards but also with the new rules package and his inability to pass.

    “We had a second place car the first 30 laps of a run and a winning car the last 15-20 laps of a run,” the driver of the No. 5 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet, said. “Carl (Edwards) just came down and just apologized and said he feels like he hasn’t done that before to anyone. He just never lifted and run me just right into the wall and ruined his day as well.”

    “It’s like we run two Xfinity series,” Kahne continued. “It’s like we have two of those series now we don’t even have a Cup series anymore. It’s weird to do that, but you just run really hard. You don’t pass a good car until 15 or 20 laps to go in a run when tires start falling off a little bit.”

    “Until then you don’t even think about passing. You just run in line and it’s boring as can be, but that is what NASCAR wants.”

    Surprising: Landon Cassill finally broke his short streak of two consecutive last place finishes due to engine failure. The driver of the No. 40 Carsforsale.com Chevrolet actually finished the race in the 35th spot.

    Not Surprising: Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth definitely proved that they are the ones carrying the Toyota banner. Hamlin finished fifth and was the highest finishing Toyota and Kenseth came in ninth, actually leading one lap in the race.

    Both Hamlin and Kenseth are flying the Toyota flag in the point’s standings as well, in eighth and tenth respectively.

    “This FedEx Office team did a great job,” Hamlin said. “We got better. We’ve just got to get a little bit more speed and we’ll be able to race these guys, but right now we just need to optimize our weekends, finish where we’re supposed to and execute.”

    “I think next week will be a big tell for our race team,” Hamlin continued. “Even though we finished fifth at Phoenix in the Chase race last year, we got lapped twice under green and were able to battle back and I think that is a track we really need to perform well at if we’re going to be a part of this Chase.”

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Atlanta Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Atlanta Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500

    With several of the sport’s biggest names starting from the back of the field, from missing qualifying sessions to missing driver introductions, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 56th annual Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    Surprising: The top ten finishers at Atlanta were a fascinating mixture of everything from four past champions to two one-car team drivers and one young replacement driver.

    The four past champions included winner Jimmie Johnson, runner up and immediate past champ Kevin Harvick, fifth place finisher Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski, who finished ninth. And in the midst of those champions ran young Brett Moffitt, who replaced Brian Vickers in the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine for Michael Waltrip Racing to finish eighth, as well as the single car teams of Martin Truex Jr. and AJ Allmendinger, who finished sixth and seventh respectively.

    “This thing was just bad fast,” the race winner and driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet said. “I had a blast racing with the No. 4 (Kevin Harvick). He was awfully strong today. I think track position there at the end just kind of set things in place. We had the restart we needed to and off we went.”

    “This is truly amazing,” Moffitt said after finishing top-ten in his No. 55 replacement ride. “We showed good speed all weekend long. We just couldn’t bust off a quick lap on fresh tires and we kept adjusting on the car during the race. It wasn’t where we needed it to start and I kept learning how to be more aggressive on the restarts and use other people’s air to benefit me.”

    “I can’t thank Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota and Aaron’s enough for this opportunity. Definitely learned a lot out there. Wish I could be in the car more often.”

    Not Surprising: Jeff Gordon had an immediate partner in commiseration after again hitting hard into a wall sans a safer barrier.

    “Pretty convenient to see that SAFER Barrier end just before @jeffgordonweb pounds wall,” Kyle Busch tweeted ironically from his home while recuperating from his lack of safer barrier crash injuries. “Hope he’s healthy! When will this end @NASCARsafer barrier.”

    “I’m very frustrated the fact that there was no SAFER barrier down there,’’ Gordon said after exiting the infield care center. “I know it was a hard hit. I didn’t expect it to be that hard. I go out and looked and ‘Oh well, big surprise I found the one wall on the back straightaway that doesn’t have a SAFER barrier.’ ‘’

    “I don’t think we can say any more after Kyle’s incident at Daytona. Everybody knows they’ve got to do something. It should have been done a long time ago. All we can do now is hope they do it as fast as they possibly can and get it done.’’

    Surprising: While he treasured his former crew chief Steve Letarte in the role, there is apparently a new cheerleader on top of the box for fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. And this new cheerleader helped his driver right to a 3rd place finish at Atlanta, backing up his 3rd place finish at Daytona the week before.

    “The communication is great and he’s actually a pretty good cheerleader to be honest with you,” Dale Jr. said. “Who knew? I think he’s going to be awesome to work with and he’s got a hell of a future and I’m glad to be able to have a few years with him here while he’s sort of learning the ropes.”

    Not Surprising: Reviews were mixed on the use of track bar adjustability, from drivers who loved it and felt it made a tremendous difference to those that did not use it at all.

    “I thought it was great,” Martin Truex, Jr., driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet said about his track bar use after finishing sixth. “I used it all day. I thought it was something neat to play with.”

    “We made a decision last night to drop ours a little bit for the start of the race. Had we not had that adjustment we would have been in big trouble. It helped us a lot today just having that. We were up and down, back and forth with it.”

    “I thought it was a great little tool. It wasn’t like you were going to go from a 10th-place car to winning the race with it. But it was something there that you could tune on to make your car more comfortable on shorter and longer runs.”

    “My crew chief Brian Burns says I’m not smart enough to have one in there right now,” AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 47 Better Than Bouillon Chevrolet, said about the track bar. “We never had one all weekend. We were letting everybody get the bugs worked out of it.”

    “I don’t like having it in there because it gives me one less excuse to yell at my crew chief about why my car is not very good (laughs),” the seventh place finisher continued. “We will work on that.”

    Surprising: For Danica Patrick, it was all about the tape, ‘bout the tape.

    “I’d have to say one of our biggest problems today – aside from getting going on the start and getting the car tuned in – was that the tape kept coming off the front,” the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet said after finishing 16th. “The tape was making me handle. It wasn’t only running pretty cool but the tape helps front downforce.”

    “It was pretty noticeable when the tape came off. That was our biggest problem today as far as a better result goes. I believe we wouldn’t have been a lap down if we had kept that tape on.”

    Not Surprising: For many drivers, it is sometimes where you are happy not to be that makes all the difference.

    “That’s kind of been our goal going into the season is to not start in such a big hole like we did last year,” Aric Almirola said after finishing 11th in his No. 43 Fresh From Florida Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports. “We got a little bit behind right before halfway and then we got it back, so I’m proud of this run and proud to start this season off with two top-15 finishes.”

    “Last year I think going into the third or fourth race we were outside the top 30 in points, so so far, so good. “

    Surprising: While not a superspeedway per se, Atlanta did see the ‘big one’ late in the race when Greg Biffle got loose and collected five other cars.

    “I think the 16 and 34 got together, something up front there,” Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, said after being involved in the crash. “I was committed to the top and got in the brakes and got in the back of the 15, which was down on power I guess.”

    “And then a lot of smoke and somebody was in front of me as I was still on the brake and went ahead and ended our day.”

    Not Surprising: Replacement drivers Regan and Ragan had solid runs but were not stellar, finishing in 17th and 18th place respectively.

    “It was a battle all day,” Regan Smith, replacement driver for Kurt Busch, said. “We kind of struggled with the handling on the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS. Finally when we got it where I was happy with it, we were a lap down already. It was kind of too late at that point.”

    “Right after we got it where I was happy, we got damage on the nose. I don’t know… somebody up there wrecked and everybody stopped. Tony (Gibson, crew chief) made some great pit calls to somehow get us back to one lap down. I still don’t know how that happened. It was a good job by him to salvage the day for the team.”

    “The first 100 laps of the race, our M&M’s Crispy Camry was fast, had speed and track position means a lot at any race and as we fell back a little bit and I think it was a snowball effect,” David Ragan said, in for the recovering Kyle Busch, said. “We just really probably were a little behind on our adjustment and that’s probably just my inexperience with these guys and being a little timid on making a few adjustments.”

    “We had some good speed, but we had lost too much ground. We learned a lot, brought the car back in one piece, but we can run better than that.”

    Surprising: Landon Cassill experienced déjà vu all over again. For the second time in two races, his engine let go in the No. 40 Snap Fitness Chevrolet. Cassill finished the race dead last in the 43rd spot and fell to the basement as far as the points standings.

    Not Surprising: Although the Team Penske drivers described their race day as being up, down and all over the place, both Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski managed to finish top-ten at Atlanta. In fact, Logano, who started from the pole position, finished fourth in his 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford, while teammate Keselowski finished ninth in his No. 2 Detroit Genuine Parts Ford.

    “We raced hard and raced up toward the front all day,” Logano said. “Those Hendrick cars are fast, and obviously the 4 car, but the other guys would just take off and leave me. I did everything I could to maintain on restarts and be aggressive and that’s where we ended up.”

    “We were just kind of up and down and floating all day long,” Keselowski said. “At one point, I thought we were gonna have a 15th-place day and towards the end I thought we were gonna have a fifth-place day.”

    “We cycled out to a ninth-place finish, which wasn’t our best and wasn’t our worst today. It just was what it was.”

     

  • The Least Successful Sprint Cup Driver of 2014 is…

    The Least Successful Sprint Cup Driver of 2014 is…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Geico 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Geico 500

    After a confusing qualifying session set the starting field, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 46th annual Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Surprising: Even though it is the season, there were a surprising number of football references when the ‘Dega race was completed, from Brad Keselowski’s ‘Hail Mary’ win to Clint Bowyer’s third place gridiron game plan finish.

    “We had to win the race,” the driver of the No. 2 Redd’s Wicked Apple Ale Ford said. “This would be the football equivalent of scoring two touchdowns with two minutes left in the game. That’s what we did and it’s just an incredible feeling.”

    “The whole time I knew the odds were against us and to pull it off was something I don’t even know how to reflect upon.”

    The driver of the No. 15 Pink Lemonade 5-Hour Energy Toyota was also in the football mode, pronouncing his game plan good.

    “Well, my game plan worked,” Bowyer said. “It’s so hard to strategize around this. You can a little bit, but you still got to bob and weave and take it as it comes.”

    “I was in a pocket where I felt it was safe,” Bowyer continued. “I went from about 25th and drove up to what was going to be third. That caution came out when we were all on pit road.”

    “Still, third place is a good day for us.”

    Not Surprising: Matt Kenseth demonstrated his role yet again as one of the most cerebral racers in the sport, using strategy and even his arch enemy from last week’s race, to secure his second place finish. Kenseth also punched his ticket to the next round of Chase competition.

    “That was his (Brad Keselowski’s) only way in I think was to win that thing and I gave Kevin (Harvick) a huge push,” Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, said after the green-white-checkered finish. “I thought Kevin was going to go right around him and Brad went for the block.”

    “I had to get a finish so instead of going with Kevin I went to the bottom,” Kenseth continued. “I thought maybe I would get a big enough run to get underneath Brad, but I just didn’t quite have the speed to do it.”

    “Like I said, that’s where I felt I had to put my car for my best chance at the best finish. All those guys were pretty quick up there. Got a good restart, got a good run. It’s just how it turned out.”

    Surprising: While there was not a ‘big one’ to be had at Talladega, there were some surprisingly deadly small ones in the Geico 500. Two Chase contenders, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch experienced those small ones that unfortunately played into their lack of advancing to the next round of championship contention.

    Junior was involved in a racing incident with Greg Biffle, finishing 31st in a race that he had to win to move on to compete for NASCAR’s biggest prize.

    “We worked real hard all day long trying to run up front,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I knew we needed to be up front all day long. We got shuffled to the back. I made a move trying to get up front and it didn’t work out. So, we lost a lot of track position and never got it back.”

    “The race is over, it’s time to go home,” the driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet said. “Well, we will just go try to win some more races before the year is out. That is all we have left.”

    Kyle Busch experienced his own heartache in one of the ‘small ones’, which caused major damage to his car, forced him into a 40th place finish, and dashed his Cup hopes yet again.

    “It’s a shame, everyone has been working really hard,” Dave Rogers, crew chief for the No. 18 M&Ms Halloween Toyota, said. “I felt like we got off to a slow start early in the season and we were advancing through the playoffs pretty well with hard work and good decisions and good teamwork.”

    “I thought we were in a decent spot coming into the race and rode around in the back,” Rogers continued. “Kyle got checked up for the wreck and had everything saved up, but he got run over from behind.”

    “There is no safe place in here. The truth is that if you’re out there on the race track at Talladega or Daytona, you have a pretty good chance that you’re going to get in a wreck and today was our day. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is.”

    Not Surprising: The one thing that makes Talladega unique is that even the ‘little’ teams have a chance at an upset victory. And one of them, Landon Cassill, in his No. 40 Carsforsale.com Chevrolet, took full advantage, finishing fourth and scoring his highest career finish.

    “We wanted to win this race,” Cassill said. “We came here to win it. My team deserves it. Carsforsale.com deserves it.”

    “We don’t have a lot to work with,” Cassill continued. “But what we do work with, we set out to run good at these four superspeedway races, and we proved that this year.”

    “Fourth place is just amazing.”

    Surprising: After so many races where rookie Kyle Larson not only almost won the race, but also finished as the highest rookie of the race, it was Austin Dillon’s turn to be the rookie star.

    Dillon, in his No. 3 Dow Chevrolet finished 13th, ahead of Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 42 Energizer Chevrolet, who finished 17th.

    Larson is still leading the Sunoco Rookie of the Race points, with 290 to Dillon’s 206, with just four races left to go in the season.

    Not Surprising: He may have secured his place in the next round at Talladega, having squeaked by with just three points to spare, but Jeff Gordon had only one thing in mind at the end of the race.

    “If I never have to come back to Talladega, I’ll be fine with that,” Gordon said. “I’m just mentally drained right now. It’s always tough racing here at Talladega trying to put yourself in position to win. But when you have that much on the line and you know that your championship hopes are right there in that final moment, it’s nerve racking.”

    “I’m proud of this team for the job they did,” the driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet said after finishing 24th. “We had a great strategy. Unfortunately the caution hit us at the absolute worst time and put us behind there. We fought hard that last restart. The inside lane just didn’t go anywhere. I was just sitting there going backward and couldn’t do a thing.”

    “I’m just glad we made it.”

    Surprising: Even six-time champions sometimes cannot find a friend or catch a break in the draft. Jimmie Johnson led the most laps in the race at 84 but finished a disappointing 24th, ending his quest for his seventh championship.

    “At the end, I guess on the next-to-last restart – assuming it would be the last restart – I was lined up in fourth,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet, said. “I made my move, got to his outside, looked in the mirror and I had no friends.”

    “It’s how plate racing goes,” Johnson continued. “If I knew there was a second green-white-checkered I probably would have stayed in line, but you just don’t know how those things are going to develop.”

    “They gave me a great Lowe’s Chevrolet today and unfortunately we just didn’t get it done.”

    Not Surprising: Terry Labonte, behind the wheel of the No. 32 C&J Energy Services Ford, finished the race in the 33rd spot and completed his 890th and final race at Talladega.

    “After I came here the first time I didn’t know if I’d have the opportunity to come back a second time much less 61 times, but it’s been a lot of fun,” Labonte said. “Of course, you know it’s only about the third time I’ve said this is gonna be my last race, but this is really gonna be the last one.”

    “It’s been fun.”

    Surprising: What happened after the race may just have a critical impact on the Chase. Ryan Newman, who finished fifth, had his car go through post-race inspection only to fail, being too low on both sides at the rear.

    NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said a decision on any penalties would come either on Monday or Tuesday, with the chance for an early appeal by the team if the penalty warrants.

    Not Surprising: Michael Waltrip finished the race in the similar fashion to his finishes on Dancing with the Stars with pro Emma Slater. Waltrip finished 16th in his No. 66 MyAFibStory.com Toyota for the team that bears his name.

    “This was a good day,” Waltrip said. “We got a top-20. I just wasn’t as strong as I hoped. My car wouldn’t draft up as well as I envisioned it.”

    “We kind of struggled.”

    In spite of that Waltrip, @mw55, tweeted the following “I told @EmmaSlaterDance how wonderful @NASCAR fans are. Thanks. Y’all made her weekend very special. Cheers!”

     

     

  • Landon Cassill Snaps Into Fitness with New Sponsor

    Landon Cassill Snaps Into Fitness with New Sponsor

    Landon Cassill, driver of the No. 40 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, is snapping into fitness in a whole new way. He has teamed up with Snap Fitness, the first fitness company to be a primary sponsor in the sport, to promote a healthy and active lifestyle.

    Cassill acknowledged that NASCAR has indeed gone through some of the same changes as in other sports like golf when it comes to physical fitness of the competitors, thereby attracting interest from fitness companies as potential sponsors.

    “I feel like NASCAR has gone through what golf went through a few years ago with the Tiger Woods era,” Cassill said. “Golf was always a sport where there was a certain skill that made a good golfer but they weren’t necessarily athletes. And then Tiger Woods came along and he had that skill but added in this layer of athleticism. He started learning how to use his body to his advantage in addition to his skill. He changed the sport of golf that way.”

    “I feel like he changed the game and I think NASCAR has gone through a similar situation,” Cassill continued. “Race car driving is certainly a skill. To do what we do, you have to have a certain skill, but for the longest time you didn’t have to be an athlete to drive a race car. Then you have someone like Jimmie Johnson that came along and he turned it into an athletic thing, focusing on his endurance. He tried to elevate everything that his body can do from what it goes through in the car. And he’s won six championships. So, it’s kind of hard to argue with that.”

    “On my side of it, it’s more of how I look at myself, what I’m doing and how I make sure that I’m doing everything I can to get the best race possible every week. I sleep better at night knowing that I’ve built up the endurance to make it through a 500 mile race without being exhausted.”

    Cassill’s sponsor has also inspired him personally to raise his own fitness level to new heights.

    “For me, I have to find something that motivates me other than just working out so I got hooked on doing triathlons, very similar to Jimmie Johnson,” Cassill said. “And I actually train with him time to time, as well as working out with Josh Wise, who also competes.”

    “When I schedule a triathlon six months in advance, I know that I have to prepare for that race,” Cassill continued. “So, I put myself on a pretty specific training schedule for that time. I do a lot of training Monday through Thursday when I’m at home. And then when I’m on the road, I have some early mornings. I choose to find a Snap Fitness to work out in when I’m on the road or a pool to swim in to get some training in. So, on a Friday evening instead of going out to dinner for two hours, having a beer and going back to the hotel, I go and train for two hours and then grab something to eat.”

    “It’s just a matter of how you discipline your time.”

    Cassill has also married his fitness with healthier eating, a discipline which he has even been able to practice on the road at tracks all over the country.

    “I’m a little different eater than most especially in my industry,” Cassill said. “I don’t eat any meat and I don’t eat any dairy products or animal products at all. It’s just something I’ve done over the past couple of years and have migrated to being full-on plant-based with my nutrition. It’s just a performance thing for my body and it seems to be what works for me.”

    “I have a nice little routine where every time I land at whatever city, I find the closest health food store,” Cassill continued. “There are a lot more than you think. Some of the places where you think it might be hard to eat healthy, like Pocono where we are out in the middle of nowhere, has one of the best health food stores in Wilkes-Barre. It has everything that I need.”

    “One of the toughest places I had this year was in Riverside, California,” Cassill said. “It was far enough out of LA where there wasn’t any of that quirky, healthy stuff. But pretty much everywhere we go, there is a health food store where I stock up. I rarely eat out. But in a pinch eating out, I like Thai food.”

    Cassill also acknowledged that his fitness is essential to not only endure the extreme conditions on the race track but to also stay mentally tough throughout one of the longest seasons in sports.

    “This is a really tough season and we have a lot to endure,” Cassill said. “The biggest thing that has kept me mentally focused this year is the partnership with Snap Fitness.”

    “They came on midway through the year and they planned these races for the later part of the season, Chicago and Kansas in the Chase here,” Cassill continued. “They’ve kept me really busy and driven for sure. They are looking at doing more sponsorship in the sport. They want to be involved and they want to make this work. And they are making me work for it.”

    “I appreciate that because it’s kept me focused. It would be tough if we didn’t have any sponsorship and were set where we are in the points but I’ve got plenty to focus on right now.”

    Cassill’s new partnership has also kept him fit now that the Chase competition is in the second Contender round.

    “I’m just going to focus on my deal during the Chase and focus on my race,” Cassill said. “If the leaders come around and they are going to lap me, I’ll give them room just like I would any other time. It’s more important just to do that. I think the new format is great and we will have the best Chase.”

    While competing in his own way in the Chase, most of all Cassill is driven by his newest sponsor and partner, which is one that fits so well with him and one that he hopes will resonate with the NASCAR fan base.

    “It’s really exciting when they came on board just because it was such an organic fit,” Cassill said. “We get along so well and we have so much in common because fitness and training are so important to me.”

    “They’ve been able to complement my training through this partnership,” Cassill continued. “I do my strength training at Snap Fitness, in addition to time running, on the bike and in the pool. But strength training is the foundation to all that, having the muscle strength to withstand injury and things like that.”

    “It’s been a really good fit and I really appreciate their energy towards this partnership and sponsorship,” Cassill said. “What they are trying to accomplish, I think they have set themselves up to have success no matter what.”

    “Failure is not an option and they are going to make a connection to NASCAR fans, who are the most loyal fans in the sport. They are going to make a valuable connection and they will enjoy their time with us.”