Tag: Marcos Ambrose

Grading the Sprint Cup Rides – 2013 Third Term Report

Crunching The Numbers: Michigan

Surprising and Not Surprising: Sprint Unlimited

After an off-season filled with snow, as well as major changes in the rules of the sport, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 2014 Sprint Unlimited.

Surprising: After twenty Sprint Unlimited victories for Chevrolet, it was surprising that Toyota was in Victory Lane instead. Denny Hamlin won the non-points race, scoring his second win in the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona and becoming the ninth driver to win multiple times.

“The best car won, that’s for sure,” Hamlin said. “It was survival of the fittest.”

“This car was just phenomenal.”

Not Surprising: Daytona International Speedway, especially under a full moon, seems to lend itself to something catching on fire. This time, however, it was the pace car that burst into flames, causing Brett Bodine and a passenger to bail out as quickly as they could.

“The pace car experienced a fire in the trunk area, which contains a purpose-built auxiliary electrical kit to operate the numerous caution lights during the race,” Chevrolet said in a statement. “The pace car driver and passenger safely exited the vehicle. An assessment is underway.”

Surprising: While Jeff Gordon may have been jacked up with excitement thanks to his record of 20 consecutive Sprint Unlimited appearances, he was also jacked up, literally, in the race.

The back end of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger was sent high in the air during a multi-car crash on lap 36, causing Gordon to have to settle for a 12^th place finish.

“Yeah when you get hit like that it’s pretty soft,” Gordon said. “I mean it sends you up in the air pretty good, but it’s not really that severe of an impact for me because the back of the car absorbs so much of it.”

“I knew it was flying up in the air and I was just hoping it was going to sit back down on all four wheels,” Gordon continued. “The funny thing is that we slid in there and I was into Tony (Stewart) and I thought well I will try to drive it back.”

“I put it in reverse I didn’t realize my rear tires were off the ground.”

Not Surprising: It may have been a small field, with just 18 cars on the track, but that did not stop tempers from flaring. Just ask Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who was none too happy with the driver from down under.

“It looks like I was trying to get down a little bit there, and Marcos (Ambrose) went to the outside,” Junior said. “I didn’t know he was out there. Hard racing, and I was upset with him.”

“A lot was happening right there and we just got turned around.”

Surprising: There was no one more surprised with the incident with Earnhardt, Jr. as Marcos Ambrose, especially since in his mind, he was just trying to help.

“I was trying to help Junior there and ended up hurting him and hurting myself,” the driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford said. “I was trying to push him and there was a little bit of a zig and a little bit of a zag and the next thing you know I helped him in the fence.”

“That’s just what happens here.”

Not Surprising: While Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. remain romantically involved off the track, they certainly created sparks on the track when Stenhouse rammed Patrick after she got away clean from one of the Sprint Unlimited’s bigger wrecks.

Not surprisingly, however, all was forgiven thanks to some dark chocolate from Godiva.

“Well he got me 18 tin cans of Godiva dark chocolate for Valentine’s Day so I don’t know if he’s trying to butter me up,” Patrick said. “If his hood wouldn’t have been up and had the inability to see obviously there would have been more frustration. It was one of those racing things.”

Surprising: Jimmie Johnson continued his streak of surprisingly poor finishes in the Sprint Unlimited, finishing 14^th in the past two years and 18^th this year.

“The back of the car got light off of turn four there,” Johnson said. “The car went into a drift and for a second there I thought I could keep it off the inside wall, but the longer I slid the more the wall became a reality and I got it.”

Not Surprising: Kevin Harvick proved yet again that he is nicknamed ‘the Closer’ for good reason. In fact, the driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet was the only Stewart Haas Racing driver to finish the race, let alone finish in the top-five.

“For us, we had a really good car,” Harvick said. “Led several laps in the beginning. Then on that restart we couldn’t get organized and wound up getting shuffled to the back.”

“We about got lapped,” Harvick continued. “We kept working on it and working on it and the next thing you know, it was at least drivable and you could hold it wide open again.”

“Heck at one point coming to the white flag, I thought we were going to win the race,” Harvick said. “To come out of here with a fifth place finish and do all the things they did to the car to make it go was pretty awesome.”

Surprising: There was no one more surprised than Kyle Busch with the sparse number of cars racing at the end of this year’s Sprint Unlimited.

“There’s so little cars out there that you’re just kind of on your own trying to figure things out,” the driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota said after finishing third. “That’s kind of the way the race played out tonight.”

“It was interesting there at the end and I don’t know that we’ve ever had so few cars at the end.”

Not Surprising: Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford for Team Penske, was no doubt humming Carol King’s song ‘So Far Away’ as he finished fourth.

“I’m trying to relive it all in my head right now. It’s crazy,” Logano said. “It’s just so frustrating when you’re that close. It’s so close and you can see it, but it’s so frustrating because you’re going as fast as you can and that’s all you’ve got.”

“These things don’t mean anything unless you win.”

February 16, 2014
Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Camping World RV Sales 500

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Who needs skydiving?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

October 21, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

From weather and tires to a fire off track that was smoky enough to cause a caution, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 13^th annual Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Surprising: Two ‘lame duck’ drivers who just happen to be future teammates scored the one-two victory punch in the land of Oz, with Kevin Harvick scoring the win from the pole and Kurt Busch coming all the way from the rear of the field to finish runner up.

“To sit on the pole and win the race is obviously a great weekend, and controlling our own destiny by doing that, we are putting ourselves closer to where we need to be with the championship race,” the driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet said. “We’ll just keep having fun and keep doing what we’re doing.”

This was Harvick’s first win at Kansas and his third victory of the season. And with the win, Harvick did indeed help himself in the point standings, climbing into the third position, 25 points behind the leader.

Kurt Busch scored his fourth top-10 in 16 races at Kansas and his 15th top-10 finish in 2013. He moved up two positions to seventh in the Chase standings, 47 points behind the leader.

“Wow, what an unbelievable drive,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet said. “We battled hard to come from 41^st and we did this in a backup car.”

“Today is a small little victory in my own mind.”

Not Surprising: With every driver on edge given the track conditions, it was no surprise that tempers flared just a little bit with some of the close racing. Four-time champ Jeff Gordon was one driver who had an issue after some hard racing with Kurt Busch resulted in his third place finish.

“It’s not a NASCAR race if you don’t have a discussion with another driver out there about an incident on the track,” the driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet said. “Everybody is just trying to get every position they could.”

“I got in the outside lane there one time and he (Kurt Busch) just came up and the next lap I got to his bumper and got him loose,” Gordon continued. “I guess that kind of led to him wanting to run into me on the right side on my door.”

Gordon’s third place finish did, however, move him up one position in the Chase standings to the fourth spot, 32 points back from the leader.

Surprising: In spite of a speeding penalty, loose race car and an 11^th place finish, Matt Kenseth was feeling incredibly lucky in the Hollywood Casino 400, particularly since he described his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota as the ‘evilest’ car he had ever driven.

Yet even with that ‘evilest’ car, Kenseth not only was the highest Toyota finisher but he also managed to maintain his points lead in the Chase, out front by three after Kansas.

“It was a struggle all day,” Kenseth said. “I was so loose I was ready to crash pretty much at all times of the race.”

“We drove back to 11^th, which definitely isn’t what we wanted or what we need to contend for this thing, but it was a good save for as bad as we were.”

Not Surprising: While some drivers circle dates on the calendar for tracks where they cannot wait to race, others have tracks from which they cannot wait to leave.

Such was the experience at Kansas for Kyle Busch, who yet again was bitten by the Kansas demons that led to his Chase race demise, from third to fifth place, after his 34^th place finish. This was his third straight DNF at Kansas Speedway.

“I have no idea what happened,” Busch said after his race ended in carnage. “All I know is we’re in Kansas, right?”

“Every other track except Kansas seems to be able to bode well for us,” the driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota said. “It wasn’t meant to be.”

Surprising: Five-time champ Jimmie Johnson had a self-proclaimed surprisingly crazy, weird and wacky day that still had him passing cars, finishing sixth in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, and gaining points, now just three points back from leader Matt Kenseth.

“All in all it was just a crazy day,” Johnson said. “Weird restarts. Wacky restarts. A lot of chaos there.”

“These cautions kept coming out and they hurt us each time,” Johnson continued, “So we rebounded from all that and passed a ton of race cars, and then on the last lap with I guess two to go, coming down the back, the car started shaking real bad and I thought it was over.”

“We had so many things happen to us and still salvaged a very strong sixth place finish.”

Not Surprising: Richard Petty Motorsports, a team that has seemed to be steadily gaining and moving forward had another good run at Kansas with both drivers finishing top ten.

“It felt like a win because I thought our day was done,” Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 MAC Tools Ford said after finishing ninth. “It was a bizarre kind of a race.”

“The tire was super edgy and unpredictable and you didn’t know if it was the wind or the tire or the car that was making the difference.”

“I am just pleased that we finished and I fought hard all day.”

“We got a top-10 and I would have never told you that was possible,” Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Farmland Ford said after finishing tenth. “We got off in the middle part of the race but salvaged a good finish.”

“I am proud of my guys.”

Surprising: Another team, however, that of Stewart Haas Racing, had a surprisingly ugly day at the race track.

Danica Patrick, SHR driver, wrecked hard on the first lap and finished 43^rd, while Ryan Newman, SHR teammate, got tangled up in a wreck, finishing 35^th and dropping to 12^th in the point standings.

“I knew that going into the race that losing grip was going to be not that hard to do,” Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet said. “I said that before the race started.”

“Things just go wrong,” Patrick continued. “If I did something wrong, I apologize to everyone on my team but it’s just a shame.”

“There’s not much to say other than we were in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught up in an accident not of our making,” Newman said. “It’s definitely a disappointing day for all of us on the Code 3 Associates team.”

Not Surprising: With the challenging track conditions, it was not surprising that restarts were especially challenging for each and every driver, whether a Chaser or not, in the field. In fact, one Chase contender defined the restarts at Kansas as simply ‘insane.’

“The restarts were insane,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford said. “Look up insane and that is the definition right there.”

“It is tough to be racing for points when you have those kind of restarts.”

“It was pretty crazy out there,” Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, said. “Every restart you had to be so aggressive to pass people because that was your best shot to pass them and everyone realized it.”

Logano finished the race in fourth while Edwards salvaged a fifth place finish. The two drivers are now in the tenth and eleventh spots in the point standings respectively.

Surprising: The end of the race was most surprising, at least for Aric Almirola and Clint Bowyer, who got into each other coming to the checkered flag.

Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 Raspberry 5-Hour Energy/Living Beyond Breast Cancer Toyota, described his day in a tweet after the race, “What a frustrating day! Started out sh**ty, got a little better, got WAY better, put on 2 tires and s**t the bed…Then lost my mind.”

Almirola described the run-in with Bowyer in a slightly different way, “I beat him on that restart and I guess he was mad about it.”

“That is fine, I am not worried about it,” Almirola continued. “I beat him.”

Not Surprising: With the confluence of weather, tires, track conditions and the Chase pressure, it was not surprising that the record for the number of cautions was broken at Kansas Speedway with a total of fifteen. In fact, there were 71 laps run under caution, a new record for the season.

“We had a lot of gremlins this weekend,” Brad Keselowski, reigning champ and driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford said. “There were so many wrecks and so many yellows that we could never really get going.”

“Oh yeah, we couldn’t get in a rhythm out there.”

The Cup Series next travels to Charlotte for the Bank of America 500 under the Saturday night lights.

October 8, 2013

This grading system is pretty basic. Top 10’s, with extra consideration given for wins and Top 5’s, can help you earn an A+. Keep it in the Top 20 each race and that is worth a B. Just by finishing 30^th each time out and that would still get you a C-. Less than that is a failure; a failure to compete, a failure to get noticed.

Grade: A

The top students have been to joy to have in class, even though Jimmie did cost himself an A+ by playing hookey in the weeks leading to the Chase. We are hopeful Kyle continues his stellar work through the final part of the year, though he has had trouble in the past. Matt has really hit the books as of late, and could wind up class valedictorian if he continues his progress. Carl once again is near the head of the class, but time will tell if can charge to the front to finally be number one.

CAR	DRIVER	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	TOP 20	TOP 30
48	Jimmie JOHNSON	4	11	17	21	25
18	Kyle BUSCH	4	13	17	20	22
20	Matt KENSETH	7	8	15	21	24
99	Carl EDWARDS	2	8	14	24	26

Grade: A-

Kevin has been in the top half of the class pretty much the entire year and only twice has the dog eaten his homework. Clint is usually a very popular boy, but for some reason I detect that many of his classmates do not want him to wind up at the head of the class this year.

CAR	DRIVER	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	TOP 20	TOP 30
29	Kevin HARVICK	2	7	14	25	25
15	Clint BOWYER	0	8	14	24	26

Grade: B+

Kurt, who usually does not play well with others, has some cheering for him. It will be interesting how he works with his new friends when class resumes next year. Kasey had some trouble last week, as did little Joey a week earlier. Dale is once again a very popular boy while Ryan has had some issues to work through, but seems to have replaced former friends with some new ones for next year. Martin has had some problems as well due to the company he keeps, and I am not sure how that will work out. Greg remains a solid student, with Mark helping Tony since he hurt his leg. Meanwhile, Jeff needed some help near the end of the term, though I am not sure it will be enough for him to realize his dreams by the end of the school year.

CAR	DRIVER	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	TOP 20	TOP 30
78	Kurt BUSCH	0	9	14	20	23
5	Kasey KAHNE	2	8	11	18	20
22	Joey LOGANO	1	8	14	19	23
88	Dale EARNHARDT, Jr	0	5	15	21	24
39	Ryan NEWMAN	1	6	13	21	22
56	Martin TRUEX, Jr	1	6	12	21	23
16	Greg BIFFLE	1	4	11	23	24
14	Tony STEWART	1	5	10	19	27
24	Jeff GORDON	0	5	13	21	22

Grade: B

It has been a disappointing year for some students. Brad has stumbled a bit since being last year’s valedictorian. Juan Pablo plans to transfer out of our school next year, returning to where he had previously enjoyed very good grades. His friend Jamie will remain with us, and has hopes of improving his status next year. Mark has been busy, first helping Brian earlier this year and now Tony. I am expecting good things when Brian returns full-time next year. Along with Paul, they might not make the honor roll this year, but these boys have done enough work to show they belong here.

Grade: B-

Aric has shown signs that we might expect better things ahead for him. Jeff, as always, was expecting more. As he leaves us a year early, we will miss this well spoken young man.

CAR	DRIVER	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	TOP 20	TOP 30
43	Aric ALMIROLA	0	1	5	22	24
31	Jeff BURTON	0	2	6	17	23

Grade: C+

Marcos and Ricky have been okay, though not great. They both manage to get their work done, but I still would like to see better things from them before the year is out.

CAR	DRIVER	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	TOP 20	TOP 30
9	Marcos AMBROSE	0	0	5	19	23
17	Ricky STENHOUSE, Jr	0	0	2	20	25

Grade: C

I do not know what to say about Denny. I know he was hurt earlier in the year, but he has not been his old self since he returned. It appears he would just as soon end the year, go on vacation, and start afresh next year.

CAR	DRIVER	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	TOP 20	TOP 30
11	Denny HAMLIN	0	3	6	12	19

Grade: C-

Casey is not quite ready to compete with the big boys just yet, but I have been pleased with his progress. I am interested to see how he might do next year. I will miss Bobby, though he has had another disappointing year. Some seem happy with Danica’s progress, but I feel we should expect more by this time. She is blessed with so much more than a lot of the other students. David did succeed on the subject of Alabama geography, with some help from his close friend, the other David, but neither are quite there yet. As for A.J., who sometimes goes by Regan or Austin or, just last week, by Michael, might make some real progress once he figures out who he really is.

CAR	DRIVER	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	TOP 20	TOP 30
13	Casey MEARS	0	0	1	9	23
47	Bobby LABONTE	0	0	1	8	21
10	Danica PATRICK	0	0	1	6	23
34	David RAGAN	1	1	1	4	21
38	David GILLILAND	0	1	1	5	20
51	A.J. ALLMENDINGER	0	0	2	7	18

Grade: F

To be honest, I am not sure why these boys are even in my class. Both Dave and Travis, I am sure, would do so much better at Nationwide High. What can you say about J.J. (other than he enjoyed Daytona seven months ago), David S. (who just isn’t the same boy the past two weeks), David R. or Timmy? No, really. What can you say about them? Well, I’ve seen worse. I feel bad for Trevor, as I think if he would attend class more often he might be able to pull in a better grade than this. However, to be fair, of the nine assignments he has done, none have been much to write home about. As for Landon, things just don’t seem to work out. He and Tony R. have done most of the assignments for Austin, which is too bad as the young fellow has done so much better on the two he has written on his own. There are other students who drop in from time to time, but I have reserved my remarks for those who have tried to attend class at least nine times this year. God bless Scott, Michael, Joe, and Mike, but if the school board ever considers reducing class size, they make a good argument. To be honest, they usually do not stick around long enough to become a nuisance. The sad thing is, all four have ability but you never get to see it.

CAR	DRIVER	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	TOP 20	TOP 30
7	Dave BLANEY	0	0	0	2	18
93	Travis KVAPIL	0	0	0	4	15
36	J.J. YELEY	0	0	1	2	14
30	David STREMME	0	0	0	4	13
83	David REUTIMANN	0	0	0	1	14
32	Timmy HILL	0	0	0	2	12
21	Trevor BAYNE	0	0	0	4	8
40	Landon CASSILL	0	0	0	4	8
33	Austin DILLON	0	0	0	2	12
95	Scott SPEED	0	0	1	1	3
98	Michael MCDOWELL	0	0	1	1	2
87	Joe NEMECHEK	0	0	0	0	3
19	Mike BLISS	0	0	0	0	1

September 24, 2013

Surprising and Not Surprising: IRWIN Tools Bristol Night Race

From NASCAR children National Anthem singing to cars colliding and tempers flaring, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 53^rd annual IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Surprising: Disappointment surprisingly abounded atop the Chase leaderboard, with both point’s leader Jimmie Johnson finishing worse than 36^th for the second week in a row and second place Chaser Clint Bowyer being spun out while in the lead, finishing 14^th.

“This racing stuff happens,” Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet said after finishing 36^th. “Luckily, we had a big point’s lead that we can kind of deal with right now.”

“We’ve locked into the Chase and certainly want to clean things up,” Johnson continued. “We’ll keep after it and be back again next week.”

Having once had been in the lead by over 70 plus points, Johnson is now just 18 points ahead of the second place driver Clint Bowyer.

“I felt like we had a shot at winning and then I got spun out by a lapper, of all things,” Bowyer said after the race. “It hit that left-front tire, and the car never turned the center (of the corners) as good the rest of the night.”

“I’m really just disappointed … because we had a really good car,” Bowyer continued. “Absolutely nothing went our way all night.”

Not Surprising: Although he has been a bit quiet over the last month or two, the resurgence of Matt Kenseth at Joe Gibbs Racing continued, with the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota rolling right into Bristol’s Victory Lane for the fifth time this season.

This was Kenseth’s 29^th win in 496 Cup Series races and his third victory in 28 races at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“The last month and a half, two months has been a little bit more of a, I hate to say reality check,” Kenseth said. “We’ve struggled just a little bit more, haven’t quite had the speed so it was really, really encouraging this weekend to get to the track and be really fast.”

“It’s a huge win for us,” Kenseth continued. “The Bristol night race is one of the biggest races of the year.”

“I’m glad we were able to pull it off.”

Surprising: The driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet seemed surprisingly befuddled at the end of the race in spite of finishing runner up under the Bristol lights.

“I didn’t get it done,” Kasey Kahne said dejectedly. “We ended up second and it was a good point’s day but I didn’t figure out how to win the race.”

“I don’t know, I just don’t know,” Kahne continued. “I think at the end of the day I just don’t wreck people.”

This was Kahne’s ninth top-10 finish in 20 races at Bristol and his 11^th top-10 finish of the season. He also moved up three positions in the Chase standings to the eighth spot.

Not Surprising: Joey Logano, riding the wave of momentum from last week’s race win at Michigan, not surprisingly proved, at least in his own mind, that he has the mettle to make it into the Chase.

The driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford finished fifth and moved up three spots in the points to the tenth position.

“We came from the back three times to get a top-five finish,” Logano said. “They can’t put us down and can’t keep us down.”

“We deserve to make this Chase and if we keep doing this on days that they’re trying to put us down, we deserve it.”

Surprising: Although admittedly hoping that the leaders would wreck each other so he could score the win, Juan Pablo Montoya surprisingly credited his third place finish to, of all things, a speeding penalty.

“I got caught speeding there with like 170 to go or something and that kind of hurt us,” the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “But I’ll tell you the truth, I think it helped us because if it would have played right, we probably would have run out of gas.”

“It made it more interesting,” Montoya continued. “I really cooked the front tires there at the end but it was fun.”

This was JPM’s fourth top-10 finish in 14 races at the Bristol Motor Speedway.

Not Surprising: Well, it was Bristol after all so, to no one’s surprise, there were a few tempers flaring, especially after a late race wreck took out many of the best cars, including some Chase contenders.

Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, who do have a history with one another, had a rather vigorous discussion on pit road after the wreck when Harvick pulled into Hamlin’s pit stall and Hamlin gave him a shove out of the box.

As a result, Harvick jumped out of his car and beat a path to the door of Hamlin’s car to have a few words about the incident.

“I just saw the No. 11 shoot across the track,” Harvick said. “He said the No. 56 got into him and so I just wanted to know what happened.”

“He just told me his version of it,” the driver of the No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet said. “It’s all good.”

“It’s Bristol racing.”

Harvick finish 34^th but maintained his fourth spot in the point’s standings while Hamlin finish 28^th, well out of Chase contention in 25^th in the point’s standings.

Surprising: In spite of some greetings from Smoke’s recovery bed, the Stewart-Haas Racing team had a surprisingly tough day. Mark Martin, subbing for the ailing Stewart, finished 20^th with Ryan Newman right behind him in 21^st and Danica Patrick in 26^th.

“We had some tough luck and a few things that we could’ve done better, but we were pretty fast at the end,” Martin said. “That’s why I go home feeling good about it because we were able to improve the car and get it competitive.”

“This one is behind us and hopefully we’ll move ahead from here.”

“I really don’t know what happened there,” Newman, behind the wheel of the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet, said. “A couple of guys around us made contact and that triggered a big mess.”

“Our Quicken Loans Chevrolet was damaged pretty significantly; it was a handful to drive those last 50 laps with,” Newman continued. “I basically tried to just stay out of everyone’s way and bring the car to the finish.”

“There is nothing you can do about getting into the wall and having damage,” Patrick said. “We came back as best as we could and made the car as good as it was at the end.”

“We will take it and move on.”

Not Surprising: In spite of finishing top-10, Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Axalta Coating Systems Chevrolet, could only talk about opportunities lost at Bristol, especially after gaining just one position in the standings to the 13^th spot.

“I think we were better than that,” Gordon said of his seventh place finish. “I don’t know if we had enough for Matt but we fought hard and gave it our best effort.”

“Gained points on 10^th but not as much as we could have,” Gordon continued. “But we gained something.”

Surprising: While the Truex brothers were excited to be racing against one another yet again, both Ryan Truex, making his Cup debut, and Martin Truex, Jr. had surprisingly difficult days.

Young Ryan Truex spun and hit the wall, retiring his No. 51 Seawatch Chevrolet after 39 laps to finish 42^nd in his first ever Cup effort.

Brother Martin had a very hard crash late in the race, causing him to finish 35^th in his No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota. Although maintaining his wild card status thanks to his win, Truex Jr. also suffered in the point standings, losing two positions to 14^th.

“We ran up towards the front all night,” Truex Jr. said. “Just disappointed.”

“They start wrecking and you’re an innocent victim,” Truex Jr. continued. “We didn’t deserve that tonight.”

Not Surprising: Another brother duo, this one with the surname Busch, had eventful days at Bristol as well, with Kyle Busch having to start from the rear of the field to finish 11^th and Kurt Busch suffering wheel hub issues resulting in a 31^st place run.

“Yeah, I guess we had a right-rear hub fail where the studs pulled through or they weren’t tightened,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Sealy Chevrolet said. “We just rode around.”

Kurt Busch lost three positions in the point’s standings, falling to the 12^th spot. Kyle Busch remains in the fifth spot in the standings, 82 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

Surprising: There was a surprising first-of-the season engine failure at Roush Fenway Racing and it happened to none other than the race lap leader Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford.

“I didn’t have any warning,” Edwards said. “The car was almost perfect and the engine ran awesome until it broke.”

“The engine ran great until it blew up, so if we run like that the rest of the year, it’s going to be awesome.”

Not Surprising: Marcos Ambrose finished top-10 for two weeks in a row and he said that the devil made him do it.

“That’s two top-10s in two weeks and we’ve got to take that,” the driver of No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion said. “Yeah, I guess a little bit of the Tasmanian Devil comes out in me at this track.”

“This is a really aggressive track and you’ve got to be aggressive all night,” Ambrose continued. “You’ve got to gnaw on that steering wheel and I just like getting up on the wheel like that.”

“These are good nights to test your mettle and see what kind of man or lady you are out there and get after it.”

The Cup Series will head next to Atlanta for the next to the last race before the Chase begins.

August 26, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Pure Michigan 400

Sporting some of the fastest speeds at any track this season, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 44^th running of the Pure Michigan 400 in the Irish hills.

Surprising: While the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford did his job in qualifying, scoring the pole position for the race start, it was all about team Penske when the 23 year old Joey Logano took the checkered flag and found his way to Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway.

“This was a hard-fought win throughout this whole Penske team,” Logano said. “This 22 team gave me a great Shell Pennzoil Ford that was capable of winning.”

“This race team did a fabulous job,” Todd Gordon, crew chief, said. “Really proud of this whole team.”

“As I go back probably 30 years here at the track, this is probably one of the biggest wins,” Roger Penske, team owner, said. “It’s clearly a team effort.”

This was Logano’s first victory of the 2013 season, his first victory at Michigan International Speedway and his first victory with team Penske Ford.

Not Surprising: Because the race was at Michigan, it was not surprising that fuel mileage, tires and track position played critical roles in how the race unfolded.

In fact, fuel mileage bit one of the sports veterans, who was racing all out for the ‘W’.

“We were just hoping for one more yellow,” Mark Martin, driver of the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota said, after running out of gas while leading to finish 27^th.

“Just stayed ahead of Joey there, but if he would have slowed down, I could have maybe saved enough,” Martin said. “I had to go that fast just trying to stay in the lead.”

Tires also played a significant role in the Pure Michigan 400, to which Dale Earnhardt, Jr. could definitely attest.

“It’s just the tire; we’ve had a lot of problems with,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Youth Foundation Chevrolet said after experiencing a right-front tire problem on lap 135. “I think this is the same tire we struggled with the last race.”

Because of his tire troubles, Junior finished the race in the 36^th position and fell one position to seventh in the point standings.

Track position was also key as is so often the case at Michigan, a point driven home for young substitute driver Austin Dillon, behind the wheel of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet for the recuperating Tony Stewart.

Dillon wrecked early in the race and had to work diligently with crew chief Steve Addington to garner the track position that led to their respectable 14^th place finish.

“Definitely scared myself at the beginning as it was too early to be wrecking out there,” Dillon said. “Luckily we had saved enough car where we could work on it and get some track position.”

“Steve made some great calls on track position and them guys did a great job.”

Surprising: In addition to Austin Dillon’s comeback, Clint Bowyer made a surprisingly good comeback to finish 5^th in his No. 15 5-hour Energy Toyota after a first lap spin. Bowyer was the highest finishing Toyota and the only Toyota in the top ten at the finish of the Pure Michigan 400. And while Bowyer struggled, he took great pride in his ability to bounce back from the adversity.

“Man, what a long day,” Bowyer said. “Beats the hell out of me how I recovered to finish fifth.”

“Spinning out on the first lap I’m like – I couldn’t figure it out,” Bowyer continued. “Hard fought battle.”

“Those days are what wins championships.”

Bowyer took over second in the point standing and is 41 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

Not Surprising: But for a tricky restart, the driver known as the ‘Closer’ almost closed the deal in the Irish hills of Michigan. Kevin Harvick, piloting the No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet, finished second, his 10^th top-10 finish at MIS and his 12^th top-10 finish in 2013.

“I just mistimed the last restart there,” Harvick said. “I had to check up and that allowed the No. 22 to kind of make it three-wide and get under me and then we had to fight back from there.”

“But all in all it was a good day.”

Surprising: The points leader and five-time champ had a surprisingly challenging day at Michigan, having to drive through the field in his back up car due to a practice lap wreck. Although he looked strong and even led two laps, Jimmie Johnson experienced engine failure and ended up his day finishing 40^th in his No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet.

“The engine broke there,” Johnson said. “When we came in for a green flag pit stop, something started then it definitely dropped a cylinder.”

“This track is hard on engines,” Johnson continued. “Days like today am thankful for the big points lead and the bonus points in the Chase.”

“We’ll dust ourselves off and go on to next week.”

Not Surprising: Kurt Busch, who after the race reportedly received an offer to driver for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014, proved the caliber of his driving abilities and the value of his team with a third place finish. This was Busch’s ninth top-10 finish in 26 races at MIS and the good finish moved him up two spots to ninth in the point standings.

“To be in position and run well, to post a top-three finish, just got to thank the guys,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet said after the race. “Furniture Row is acting like a big-time player right now.”

“We had a little bit of weaknesses here and there but overall, we keep positing good results and it’s very satisfying.”

Surprising: Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 NIBCO/Menards Chevrolet, surprisingly scored his first top five of the season.

“We really needed a good run,” Menard said. “We have been crashing a lot.”

“We had a good car all weekend.”

Not Surprising: Jeff Burton, who has been running better and better as the season progresses, finished top-10 in his No. 31 Cheerios Chevrolet. And even with that, Burton ended up both happy and disappointed.

“It’s good to be disappointed with eighth,” Burton said. “That is a good thing.”

“That’s a step in the right direction, no drama, got what we deserved and we will go on.”

Surprising: Marcos Ambrose had a surprising bump up into the top-10 finishing order after a tough run at Watkins Glen, finishing sixth in his No. 9 Dewalt Ford.

“We ran in the top-10 for a lot of the day and it was a better day for us,” Ambrose said. “I am proud of Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) for calling a great race.”

“He got us up there with track position and we were able to hold on.”

Not Surprising: There was no surprise in seeing Greg Biffle, who is usually strong at Michigan, finish in the ninth position in his No. 16 3M Ford. And according to the Biff, he would have done even better had it not been for some problems in the pits.

“We bumped the No. 2 coming out of the pits in that scramble at the end and hurt the left front fender,” Biffle said. “That was really tough for us.”

The next race will be tough for all of the drivers as they head to the beating and banging at Bristol Motor Speedway under the Saturday night lights.

August 20, 2013
Matty’s Picks Vol. 19 – Pure Michigan 400 – Michigan International Speedway – August 18, 2013

Off to Michigan this week for the second and final stop in The Great Lakes State this season and Michigan International Speedway is the 2.5-mile D-shaped superspeedway with 18 degrees of banking in the corners, 12 on the frontstretch, and 5 on the long backstretch. We see speeds top 210 MPH at MIS, making it the fastest track on the schedule.

Qualifying is fairly important this week, but not nearly as important as last week as 16 of the 88 races at Michigan have been won from the pole – unlike 9 of 30 last week at Watkins Glen. 66 of the 88 have been won from inside the top 10 however, but Mark Martin won from the furthest back – 32nd – in the spring race of 2009.

As far as the manufacturers go, Ford has the edge by winning 33 of the 88 races all-time but only three of the last 10 races with the next best being Chevrolet with 20 wins. Ford driver Greg Biffle will go for his 3rd straight victory at MIS this week, also for Roush Fenway Racing who happens to have the most wins of any team at Michigan, with 13 wins all-time.

In news outside of Tony Stewart, it was announced on Tuesday, Juan Montoya would not return to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in 2014. Juan came to EGR in 2007, his first ride in a stock car – he made The Chase in 2009, but has not finished better than 17th in the points since then for car owner Chip Ganassi.

My thought is the departure could open the seat for it’s 21-year-old development driver Kyle Larson, who currently competes in the Nationwide Series for Turner Scott Motorsports. Chip Ganassi was actually at Larson’s car, giving him a pep-talk for the majority of the pre-race at Watkins Glen this past weekend before the Nationwide race, so to me he’s probably at the top of the list to replace Juan next season.

We’ve seen these mid-season announcements before – this season even with Kevin Harvick going to Stewart-Haas – we’ve seen what he’s done sitting 4th in points for RCR and even Ryan Newman losing his ride at SHR and winning the Brickyard. Bottom line is these guys are competitors and they want to win today, next week, next month, and next year. There are no discounted parts put on these cars to guys who are leaving at the end of the season, and these guys without rides next season want a win now more than ever.

Watkins Glen Recap

It was a fantastic weekend last week for me at my hometown track, and I was 50/50 on my picks last week at Watkins Glen.

It was extremely difficult to go to The Glen and not look at Marcos Ambrose to win. He had won back-to-back races at Watkins Glen and was the overwhelming favorite going into last week’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen for a number of reasons, mainly because he had won those two previous races and because he put his No.9 Ford on the pole, the most proficient starting spot for race-winners over the years at Watkins Glen.

Well, if the race last week was 51 laps instead of 92, Marcos Ambrose would have been a fantastic pick last week as he completely dominated the early stages of the race last week at Watkins Glen. An unfortunate caution for Ambrose came out in the middle of pit sequences for the majority of the field, and Ambrose was shuffled back in the pack after leading the majority of the early stages of the race.

Being shuffled back at Watkins Glen is never a good thing, due to the limited passing opportunities, and Ambrose learned the hard way after being tangled up in an accident between Turn 2 and 3 on lap 84. The wreck would end Ambrose’s march towards the front last week and would land him a disappointing 31st place finish.

As far as my Dark Horse goes, Martin Truex Jr’s. race at Watkins Glen was much less eventful, running in the top 5 all day, and being in the front of the field for the majority of the day paid its dividends as Truex would score a 3rd place finish behind Kyle Busch and Brad Kesolowski. I’m not sure I’ll be allowed to call Truex a Dark Horse next season with his win at Sonoma in June and his 3rd place finish at The Glen last week, bringing his season road-course average finish to runner-up finish.

Michigan Picks
Winner Pick

Up until this year, Matt Kenseth added to the dominance of Roush-Fenway Racing at Michigan International Speedway, winning twice for Jack Roush in 2002 and 2006. On top of the wins, he’s got 12 Top 5’s and 18 top 10’s at MIS in 28 races, making him the 2nd best driver overall at Michigan all-time.

Kenseth is in the top 5 in ALL BUT ONE….of the pre-race loop stats, he’s second in Average Running Position and Driver Rating, he’s third in Average Green Flag Speed, Laps in the top 15, and quality passes, and the one loop stat he’s not in the top 5……Fastest Laps Run – he’s got 159 and that’s good enough for 6th on the list. He’s qualified 12th which doesn’t scare me because of the great passing stats he has over the years at Michigan.

He was 7th at California in March, 6th at Michigan earlier this year in June, and with the way he’s running this season, it’s been 5 weeks since he’s won and without a win this week, he’ll tie his longest stretch this season without a win….so I’m going with Matt Kenseth as my top pick this week.
Dark Horse Pick

On Thursday while previewing this week’s race at Michigan with Greg on the Prime Sports Network, I picked Joey Logano as my longshot play of the week. Qualifying has really helped my cause with Logano because yesterday in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying, Logano shattered the track record at Michigan International Speedway and captured the Coors Light Pole, another week for me picking the pole-sitter before any cars hit the track.

Logano won the Nationwide race at Michigan last season, but MIS hasn’t been too kind to him in the cup series. Besides his 9th earlier this season, he’s finished 31st, 35th, and 21st in his previous 4 starts at Michigan. He did lead 21 laps in that race in June race, the only laps he’s ever led at Michigan, and with his teammate Brad Keselowski coming alive down the stretch here this season, I think this team is only going to get better. Considering 16 of the 88 races at Michigan have been won from the pole position, I like my chances this week with Logano, he’ll stay my longshot play of the week.

That’s all for this week, so until we head for the Hills of Tennessee…..You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

August 17, 2013

Brad KESELOWSKI

Juan Pablo MONTOYA

Jamie MCMURRAY

Brian VICKERS

Paul MENARD

After a wild weekend of turning left and right at the fast road course at Watkins Glen, the three national NASCAR series head their separate ways this weekend with the Sprint Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series heading to Michigan to take on the 2 mile Michigan International Speedway and the Nationwide Series heading to their second road course race in a row for their inaugural race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway

With only four races left until the cutoff for the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins at Chicago, the battle between those fighting for a spot in the 12 driver playoff keeps ratcheting up with only 31 points separating the drivers between 10th and 17th in the standings. From this point on every race, every position, and every point matters that much more. Drivers at Michigan will have a balancing act between playing it safe for points or gambling for a win and putting themselves in position for a Wild Card Chase berth.

Driver	Races	Win	Top 5	Top 10	Pole	Laps Led	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish
Carl Edwards	18	2	9	14	1	291	19.9	8.2
Matt Kenseth	28	2	12	18	0	284	17.9	9.4
Greg Biffle	21	4	10	13	1	565	13.5	11.3
Jeff Gordon	41	2	18	25	5	954	11.5	12.4
Danica Patrick	1	0	0	0	0	0	37.0	13.0
Mark Martin	55	5	18	31	1	965	11.9	14.2
Kevin Harvick	25	1	4	9	0	149	18.2	14.3
Denny Hamlin	15	2	5	7	0	149	14.3	14.7
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	28	2	6	10	2	327	14.9	15.6
Kyle Busch	17	1	4	6	0	169	14.6	15.6

Who To Watch: Coming off of an eighth place finish in the first race at Michigan in June, Carl Edwards boasts the best statistics in the Sprint Cup Series at the track with two wins, nine top fives, 14 top tens, one pole, 291 laps led, and an average finish of 8.2 in 18 races.

Matt Kenseth comes up next with two wins, 12 top fives, 18 top tens, 284 laps led, and an average finish of 9.4 in 28 starts. Kenseth finished in sixth in June in his first race at Michigan for new car owner Joe Gibbs.

Others who run well at the track include: Greg Biffle, who won in June and has a total of four wins at the track, along with 10 top fives, 13 top tens, one pole, 565 laps led, and an average finish of 11.3 in 21 starts; Jeff Gordon, with two wins, 18 top fives, 25 top tens, five poles, 954 laps led, and an average finish of 12.4 in 41 starts; and Danica Patrick, who finished in 13th in her first start at the track in June.

The remainder of the top ten statistically (Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Kyle Busch) also run well at Michigan and have a total of 11 wins between them.

NASCAR Nationwide Series – Inaugural Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio

Since there have been no Nationwide Series races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, there are obviously no statistics to pull from to see who will run well at the track. So, the best bet for Saturday’s race will be to go with drivers who run well on road courses. Drivers such as Ron Fellows in the JR Motorsports No. 5, Marcos Ambrose in the No. 9 for Richard Petty Motorsports, A.J. Allmendinger in the No. 22 for Penske Racing, and Max Papis in the No. 33 for Richard Childress Racing should find themselves up front along with Nationwide regulars Sam Hornish Jr. and Justin Allgaier.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – Michigan National Guard 200 at Michigan

After a few weeks off since last racing at Pocono, the Camping World Truck Series makes their return at Michigan with points leader Matt Crafton holding onto a commanding 52 point lead over rookie Jeb Burton in the standings. The race also marks the return of the Truck Series for consecutive weekends and the debut of Fox Sports 1 for the broadcast of the Truck Series race on Saturday.

Driver	Races	Win	Top 5	Top 10	Pole	Laps Led	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish
Ty Dillon	1	0	0	1	0	3	5.0	6.0
Miguel Paludo	2	0	1	2	0	3	6.0	6.5
Kyle Busch	6	0	4	5	1	149	5.8	6.8
Brendan Gaughan	7	1	3	4	0	48	18.4	8.9
Joey Coulter	2	0	0	1	1	7	10.5	12.5
Ron Hornaday, Jr.	9	0	1	6	0	15	10.3	12.7
Dakoda Armstrong	2	0	1	1	0	0	20.5	13.5
Johnny Sauter	4	0	0	0	0	1	8.0	13.5
James Buescher	4	0	2	2	0	5	7.8	14.5
Timothy Peters	6	0	1	3	0	0	16.7	14.8

Who To Watch: Championship contender Ty Dillon leads all active drivers at Michigan with three laps led and a sixth place finish in his lone start at the track last season.

A driver who has been running strong as of late is Miguel Paludo and he falls in second statistically at Michigan. Paludo has two starts at the track and in the two starts has one top five, two top tens, 3 laps led and an average finish of 6.5.

Others who could find their way to Victory Lane include: Kyle Busch, who has six starts at the track, and in those six starts has four top fives, five top tens, one pole, 149 laps led and an average finish of 6.8; Brendan Gaughan, who has one win, three top fives, four top tens, 48 laps led and an average finish of 8.9 in seven starts; and Joey Coulter, who has one top ten, one pole, seven laps led and an average finish of 12.5 in two starts.

Last, but certainly not least would be the promising crop of rookies in the series this year (Jeb Burton, Ryan Blaney, Darrell Wallace, Jr.), who are giving the veterans a run for their money. It certainly would not be a surprise to see one of those drivers win either.

August 15, 2013

Surprising and Not Surprising: Cheez-It 355 at the Glen

In a race named by kilometers rather than the actual 90 laps and the 220 miles distance, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 28^th annual road course running at Watkins Glen International.

Surprising: In addition to the traditional burnout, flag capture and bow, there was a surprising new tradition in Victory Lane at the Glen, with a handshake between the race winner Kyle Busch and runner up Brad Keselowski.

The gesture signified the respect that both had as they raced each other cleanly and without wreckage, in contrast to the previous year where both were running through oil that resulted in some final lap mayhem.

“I felt we ran really hard there those last couple laps,” Busch said. “I commend Brad for doing a better job this year at bringing home a cleaner race.”

“I could have dumped Kyle and won the race,” Keselowski said. “It doesn’t mean there isn’t temptation, but there’s a level of respect and a code of honor that you have to have as a man.”

“I know I did the right thing.”

Not Surprising: As so often happens in the sport of NASCAR, the most dominant car, the No. 9 Stanley/CTC Jumpstart Ford piloted by Marcos Ambrose, did not win the race.

Ambrose got caught further back in the pack after a caution and wrecked trying to come back up through the field, finishing a heartbreaking 31^st.

“I’m just really disappointed for my Stanley team,” Ambrose said. “That’s not the way we wanted our day to finish.”

Surprising: Juan Pablo Montoya led team Chevy when the checkered flag flew at the Glen, bringing his No. 42 Target Chevrolet home as the highest finisher of the brand in the fifth position.

“It was fun,” Montoya said. “These cars, you know, guys that run up front are pretty good here.”

“Our Target Chevy was really good all day.”

Not Surprising: The Michael Waltrip team regulars, Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer, proved their road racing prowess yet again by finishing third and fifth respectively at Watkins Glen. And not only were their finishes special but both racers had been looking forward to the weekend for their own reasons.

“Watkins Glen is a place that has been special to me,” Truex said. “I went there when I was younger running Busch North back in the day.”

“It was the first road course that I ran a stock car on.”

“I think it’s great that PEAK and Duck Dynasty came together to create this special paint scheme and have some fun with it,” Bowyer said. “Being a guest on an episode of Duck Dynasty was probably one of the biggest things I’ve done outside of a race car.”

Surprising: With a solid road course record at Watkins Glen, including four wins, six top-fives, nine top-tens and two poles, Jeff Gordon exited the race surprisingly early, wrecking on lap 13 and finishing 36^th.

“It’s unfortunate,” Gordon said. “I had a big run on the No. 11 and I got up on him and the nose just completely took off and put me in the wall.”

Although the difficult day also resulted in a significant points loss, with Gordon dropping from ninth to fourteenth place in the standings, it is also somewhat surprising that after such a tough run, the four-time champion sits just 15 points out of the tenth position and still is in line for possible Chase contention.

Not Surprising: Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson continued his march to the championship with a top-ten finish, bringing his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet to the checkered flag in the eighth position.

Johnson still maintains a 75 points lead over second place Clint Boywer and could literally sit out a race or two, potentially for the birth of his second child, without any fear of point standing damage.

Surprising: Richard Childress Racing’s highest finisher was surprisingly Kevin Harvick, taking the checkered flag in the 13^th position.

“We had a really fast Budweiser Chevrolet today,” Harvick said. “We just couldn’t get the break we needed on pit strategy.”

Not Surprising: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne were upset and a bit miffed after tangling with several other cars and wrecking into one another.

“The No. 20 was going after the No. 9 and missed him and ended up knocking the No. 5 out of the race and knocked ourselves out of the race,” Junior said.

“I’m not sure what happened,” Kahne said. “I was just trying to get through there.”

Surprising: After running out of gas in the No. 47 Scott Products Toyota, A.J. Allmendinger made a surprising comeback to finish in the top-10.

And without a doubt, that was an additional boost not only for the driver but also the team, who had Bobby Labonte step aside for a few races to let Allmendinger shake that car and team down.

Not Surprising: Max Papis, in for the ailing Tony Stewart, who is now home recovering from two surgeries on his broken leg, finished a respectable 15^th. Papis helped maintain Stewart Haas Racing’s 11^th place position in the owner’s point standings.

“It was pretty crazy,” Papis said. “I drove the wheels off the car every lap.”

“These guys are all pretty good.”

This will apparently be Papis’ only substitution for Stewart as the team just announced that Austin Dillon will drive the No. 14 car for the Michigan race next weekend.

August 13, 2013
Kyle Busch wins a thriller at Watkins Glen!

After the destroyed racecars were towed away, the smoke faded and the crowd dispersed, Kyle Busch was left standing triumphantly in victory lane at Watkins Glen. Brad Keselowski got to the bumper of Kyle and bumped him in the final corner but it wasn’t enough to dislodge the No.18 from the top spot. This is Kyle’s 27th career NASCAR Sprint Cup win and his third of the year. Sonoma winner Martin Truex Jr. finished third while pole-sitter and race favorite Marcos Ambrose crashed out heavily with just a handful of laps remaining.

NASCAR’s 28th visit to Watkins Glen International Raceway was definitely an exciting one which produced an abundant supply of carnage and epic battles during the 90 lap event. The race kicked off around 1:30pm and quickly claimed its first victim via a crash in the form of 4-time NSCS champion Jeff Gordon who slammed head-on into the guard rail after getting into the wall with the left side.

Most of the big wrecks took place in the esses with a four car melee taking place 40 laps in when Ron Fellows got into Travis Kvapil. The race was red flagged to clean up the oil that was spread around the track by the wrecked cars. The turning point of the race occurred with 30 laps to go when Aric Almirola crashed during green-flag pit stops. A bunch of drivers had their days ruined by the unexpected caution but the most notable was obviously Marcos Ambrose who ironically, is Aric’s teammate. The Aussie had led all but 10 laps up to that point but was forced to restart 12th while Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr led the way.

The two made door-to-door contact in the bus stop with Busch prevailing and Keselowski moving to second. Travis Kvapil returned to the track after his earlier wreck but quickly blew a tire and the tire carcass ended up in the grass. Busch got a great restart while the field bottled up behind him and in the esses. Kasey Kahne crashed into the guard rail and after backing it into the fence, he was nailed by his teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr. A few other cars got tangled up in the mess as well.

They didn’t make it any further on the following restart when Marcos Ambrose spun off the nose of Max Papis in the esses and collected Brian Vickers. Both the No.9 and No.55 were destroyed and done for the day. Marcos angrily threw his steering wheel, helmet and HANS Device before getting into the ambulance for a mandatory visit to the infield care center.

That wreck proved to be the last as they went clean and green for the final two laps with Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch left to fight it out for the win. Brad began to reel in the No.18 on the penultimate lap and in the final corner, he laid the bumper to Kyle but refused to dump him stating that there is a “code of honor” that he felt he should abide by. Busch, Keselowski and Truex Jr. led the field across the stripe as the No.18 crew and Samantha celebrated on pit road.

Kasey Kahne who finished 34th and Ryan Newman who finished 14th currently hold the wild card spots with four races remaining in the regular season. Jimmie Johnson has officially clinched a spot in the chase after finishing 8th and everyone in the top seven in points is expected to make the chase with ease unless something catastrophic happens. The full race results can bee seen below…

1.) Kyle Busch #18

2.) Brad Keselowski #2

3.) Martin Truex Jr #56

4.) Carl Edwards #99

5.) Juan Pablo Montoya #42

6.) Clint Bowyer #15

7.) Joey Logano #22

8.) Jimmie Johnson #48

9.) Kurt Busch #78

10.) AJ Allmendinger #47

11.) Jamie McMurray #1

12.) Casey Mears #13

13.) Kevin Harvick #29

14.) Ryan Newman #39

15.) Max Papis #14

16.) Greg Biffle #16

17.) Paul Menard #27

18.) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. #17

19.) Denny Hamlin #11

20.) Danica Patrick #10

21.) David Ragan #34

22.) Boris Said #32

23.) Matt Kenseth #20

24.) Owen Kelly #51

25.) David Gilliland #38

26.) Jeff Burton #31

27.) Dave Blaney #7

28.) Landon Cassill #40

29.) Alex Kennedy #19

30.) Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88

31.) Marcos Ambrose #9

32.) Brian Vickers #55

33.) David Stremme #30

34.) Kasey Kahne #5

35.) Ron Fellows #33

36.) Jeff Gordon #24

37.) Aric Almirola #43

38.) Michael McDowell #35

39.) Brian Keselowski #52

40.) Travis Kvapil #93

41.) Victor Gonzalez Jr. #36

42.) Tomy Drissi #87

43.) David Retimann #83

August 11, 2013