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Tag: Marcos Ambrose

Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Capital City 400

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”236″][/media-credit]Virginia may be for lovers but that was not the only emotion running high at Richmond International Raceway. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 58^th Annual Capital City 400 Presented by Virginia is for Lovers.

Surprising: While Kyle Busch is no stranger to Victory Lane in the spring race at Richmond, it was still surprising to see the pure joy and raw emotion he exhibited after the checkered flag flew.

The win, Busch’s first of the 2012 season, along with the victory of his team and brother Kurt in the Nationwide race the night before, just seemed to send Kyle Busch over the moon.

“It means so much that we’re able to come to this place every time and know that we can have a decent car again and again,” the driver of Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 M&Ms Toyota Camry said. “It wasn’t the best car but it was really good.”

“It was a gift,” Busch continued. “We just kept fighting, kept ourselves up there in track position, kept the fenders clean, the right side clean and kept us in the game all race long.”

This was Busch’s 24^th victory in 266 Cup races. The win, his fourth consecutive at Richmond, broke a tie with Richard Petty, who held that record from 1971 to 1973.

Not Surprising: While it is never surprising that tempers flare at this Virginia short track, this time drivers were not as mad at each other as they were at NASCAR.

Both Tony Stewart, who was bitten by a late race caution for debris and problems on pit road, and Carl Edwards, who was penalized by NASCAR for jumping the restart after leading the most laps, were very unhappy campers at race end.

“When the caution is for a plastic bottle on the backstretch, it’s hard to feel good about losing that one,” Stewart said. “And we gave it away on pit road.”

“So we did everything we could to throw it away and it got taken away from us,” Stewart continued. “We lost it for a caution for a plastic bottle, so you tell me how you’d feel.”

Edwards was equally frustrated after being black flagged for jumping the restart. He and his crew chief Bob Osborne argued their case with NASCAR in the hauler after the race.

“We had to just agree to disagree and that’s the way it is,” Edwards said. “They run the sport and they do the best job they can.”

“I drive a race car and do the very best job I can,” Edwards continued. “This whole thing is very frustrating. I don’t feel like we did the wrong thing.”

The driver of the No. 99 Ford EcoBoost finished tenth, while the driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet finished third. Both drivers held serve in the point standings, with Stewart remaining in eighth and Edwards in ninth.

Surprising: Fans of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet witnessed another surprisingly bad run by Jeff Gordon and company. While the team managed to qualify decently, in sixth, they fell back immediately after the green flag flew, then ending up cutting a tire to finish a miserable 23^rd.

This was Gordon’s sixth finish of 21^st or worse in the last 11 races. The four-time champ is currently mired in the 17^th position in the point standings, out of Chase contention at present.

Not Surprising: While none of the Hendrick drivers scored the elusive 200^th win for Mr. H, that most popular one, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., had another solid run at the short track.

In spite of brake issues, Junior scored the runner up spot. This was his 11^th top-10 finish at Richmond and his seventh top-10 finish in 2012.

“We had some brake problems all night long,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mount Dew said. “Kind of tried to overcome them best we could.”

“We were maybe a fifth place car,” Dale Earnhardt, Jr. continued. “I’m really happy to gain a couple of spots there at the end with that caution and get some more points.”

Speaking of those precious points, Junior currently sits in the same points position as where he finished the race, second. He is now just five points back from points leader Greg Biffle.

Surprising: Rolling tires, not tire wear, was one of the most surprising factors influencing the race at Richmond, especially for five-time champ Jimmie Johnson.

The driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet was penalized to the tail end of the lead lap due to his pit crew losing contact with a rolling tire. Yet, in spite of the mistake, Johnson finished sixth and remained philosophical about it all at race end.

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

“Unfortunately we had a tire get away from us and had to serve that penalty and go to the back,” Johnson continued. “But the good news is we had a very fast race car.”

“I certainly wish we didn’t have that mistake, but when you’re in this deal long enough mistakes happen,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to beat anybody up.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising to see the majority of Michael Waltrip’s team continue their good runs. The best of the bunch this race was Clint Bowyer, who brought his No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota home in the seventh spot.

Nipping at Bowyer’s heels was veteran and pole sitter Mark Martin, who scored an eighth place finish in his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota.

“I’ve never seen a guy (Rodney Childers, crew chief) improve one of my cars that much in one race,” Martin said. “You’ve got to be able to do that.”

“I’m really impressed,” Martin continued. “They did a great job.”

Surprising: Although Greg Biffle was sporting the ‘Give Kids A Smile’ promotion on the outside of his No. 16 EM Ford, it was surprising that there were no smiles from inside that race car. Biffle struggled most of the night and finished a disappointing 18^th.

“It was a tough night,” Biff said. “We never recovered from our poor qualifying run and struggled with the turn and forward drive.”

“We just didn’t have the turn and the drive that we needed,” Biffle continued. “It is frustrating.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising to hear the disappointment in Denny Hamlin’s voice after not winning at his home track. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota finished fourth.

“Yeah, I’m a little disappointed,” Hamlin said. “We just never really hit it today.”

“We had times where we were competitive and we just got behind on one run,” Hamlin continued. “So, we just couldn’t recover from that.”

Surprising: It was surprising to see Trevor Bayne in his fire suit on the pit box throughout the race, waiting in the wings to see if Marcos Ambrose would be in need of his services.

But the young Daytona 500 winner never got to climb aboard as the driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford drove through his back pain to finish 22^nd.

Not Surprising: To no one’s surprise, Brad Keselowski, behind the wheel of the Blue Deuce, was the highest finishing Dodge in the Capital City 400, scoring ninth place.

Also, not surprisingly, Kes and his crew are all about clawing their way into Chase contention with top-10 finishes.

“We just keep knocking top 10s out,” Paul Wolfe, crew chief of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, said. “That’s what we need to do to continue to gain points right now and put ourselves in position to get into the Chase.”

April 29, 2012
Surprising and Not Surprising: Bristol Food City 500

[media-credit name=”Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”252″][/media-credit]After the morning downpour stopped and the track quickly dried, the green flag flew at Bristol Motor Speedway. Here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 52^nd running of the Food City 500.

Surprising: With Brian Vickers ride-less as of last season, it was most surprising to see the ‘Sheriff’ back in town, leading 125 laps and finishing fifth in his first race back in the 2012 season.

Vickers was back, this year behind the wheel of the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing. Vickers will share the No. 55 ride for a select number of races with veteran Mark Martin for the remainder of the season.

“It felt really good when we were out there leading,” Vickers said. “It would have been awesome to hold onto that, but it’s the first time back so I can’t complain.”

“When it’s your only one, you have to make it count,” Vickers continued. “What an exciting day.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising to see the Blue Deuce, with 28 year old Brad Keselowski behind the wheel, again “close the deal” at Bristol Motor Speedway. This was team owner Roger Penske’s tenth win with the Blue Deuce at BMS.

This was also Keselowski’s first win of the 2012 season and his fifth victory in 93 Cup Series races. He led a race and career high 232 laps.

“I’m thrilled to death to be in Victory Lane,” Keselowski said. “I knew this Blue Deuce was fast enough to win.”

“This car here, a brand new car that Penske built, everybody back in the shop did a phenomenal job,” Keselowski continued. “I knew we had a shot at winning and we closed the deal.”

Surprising: It was surprising to see so many good cars collected in a wreck so early in the race, in fact on lap 24. That early melee involved Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Marcos Ambrose, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch on the front stretch going into Turn One.

The driver of the No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet, Kasey Kahne, was the most upset by the incident.

“My Famer’s Insurance Chevrolet was the fastest car here,” Kahne said. “It’s disappointing to have that good of a car and be out that early. I had an awesome and I have nothing to show for it.”

While Kyle Busch, the driver of the No. 18 Doublemint Toyota, shared Kahne’s frustration, pounding his fist on the car in the garage, his crew chief Dave Rogers was a bit more philosophical.

“It’s short track racing,” Rogers said simply. “I think the No. 5 (Kasey Kahne) got messing with the No. 78 (Regan Smith). Or maybe the No. 78 got messing with the No. 5.”

“However you want to look at it, we got caught up in it,” Rogers continued. “It was just racing.”

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Kellogg’s Ford Fusion, was also surprisingly philosophical about the early wreck, taking full advantage of the situation to also put in a plug for his sponsor.

“I was feeling good this morning and had my Frosted Flakes,” Edwards said. “We all saw it and were on the brakes but Kasey’s (Kahne) car came up across the race track and ruined our day.”

“I can’t tell you how disappointed I am.”

Not Surprising: No one is ever surprised when the calm, mild-mannered Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Ford, has a good run at Bristol. So, not surprisingly, Kenseth, with his methodical approach, scored a runner up finish in the Food City 500.

This was Kenseth’s 17^th top-10 finish in 25 races at Bristol Motor Speedway. It was his second top-10 finish in 2012, putting him third in the point standings.

“Overall, I was pretty happy with my car,” Kenseth said. “The last 15 laps of the run, we were better than Brad (Keselowski) was.”

“Then we started that last run and got out in the lead and got air in the nose, plus we picked up something, and I just got too loose,” Kenseth continued. “I knew that I wasn’t going to have enough traction to hold him off.”

Surprising: In addition to Brian Vickers having a triumphant return, it was surprising how well the rest of the Michael Waltrip Racing team fared at Bristol. In fact, all three MWR drivers, Martin Truex, Jr., Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers, scored top-five finishes, the first time the team has ever placed so well overall.

“I’m so proud of the team,” Martin Truex, Jr., driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, said. “We were all up front all day long and this just says a lot about everything that everybody at MWR has done over the off season.”

“Heck of a day for MWR.”

Not Surprising: While it seemed that A.J. Allmendinger was just about to find his groove, starting on the outside pole in his No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge, and leading laps early in the race, it was not surprising that his luck ran out yet again.

The ‘Dinger and his team struggled to keep up with the ever-changing Bristol track, finally finishing the race in the 17^th position.

“The car was very good early,” Allmendinger said. “But then it got real loose.”

“We lost track position,” Allmendinger continued. “We never got it tightened up for the rest of the race. Not the finish we wanted to have after starting out so strong.”

Surprising: While the young season has borne witness to teammates tangling on the track, it was surprising to see Hendrick Motrosports teammates Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. get into it in Bristol.

After a fierce back and forth battle for position, the driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet nicked the left rear tire of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet with his tail pipe.

Gordon tire went down and he went for a spin, ending up in the wall. After spending time in the garage for repairs, Gordon finished a miserable 35^th, relegating him to 23^rd in the point standings.

“Just hard racing here at Bristol,” Gordon said. “Junior got underneath me and when he got into me, it looked like the tail pipe just caught the left rear tire and cut it down.”

“I knew it immediately and I tried to keep it off the wall but there was no chance,” Gordon continued. “Hate it for this team.”

Earnhardt, Jr., on the other hand, salvaged a 15^th place finish, even with a pit road speeding penalty toward the race end. Junior dropped two spots in the point standings, currently sitting in sixth.

“I’m sorry about that,” Junior said after the incident. “Well, at least they won’t have to talk about me and Mark Martin anymore.”

Not Surprising: After the craziness of the start of the 2012 season, including the infamous Daytona jet dryer experience for one of the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing pilots Juan Pablo Montoya, it was not surprising to see both EGR teammates finally pull off good finishes.

Jamie McMurray, driving the No. 1 EGR McDonald’s Chevrolet, scored a seventh place finish, while teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, came in eighth.

Both Earnhardt Ganassi Racing drivers had their best runs of the 2012 season to date.

March 18, 2012
Surprising and Not Surprising: Subway Fresh Fit 500

[media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”259″][/media-credit]With the 36 hours of Daytona in the rear view mirror, the Cup Series headed to the Valley of the Sun. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Subway Fresh Fit 500.

Surprising: With the short interval between the Great American Race and the trek to Phoenix International Raceway, the amount of news made before the haulers even arrived in the Valley of the Sun was indeed surprising.

The first ‘surprise’ was for Chad Knaus, who was fined $100,000 and suspended for six races due to illegally modified C-posts found on the No. 48 Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson prior to the Daytona 500. Knaus and his team at Hendrick Motorsports have already agreed to appeal.

The second pre-race surprise occurred with Penske Racing announcing its move from Dodge to Ford in 2013. Roger Penske, the ‘Captain’ of the team, affirmed that he needed to make the manufacturer move for one reason only, to finally secure the Cup championship.

Not Surprising: With a championship level crew chief in Darian Grubb atop his pit box, it was not surprising that his new driver Denny Hamlin raced his way right to the checkered flag. After a spectacular burnout, the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota paid homage to his crew chief and team from Victory Lane.

“If you would have asked me, I would have told you I would have taken a 15^th place finish,” Hamlin said. “We just kept working at it.”

This was Hamlin’s 18^th career win in his 225^th start. It was the driver’s first win at PIR, having finished third four times before this victory.

With the win at Phoenix, Hamlin jumped to first place in the point standings. Although obviously very early in the season, Hamlin has not been at the top of the leader board since his losing championship battle two years ago.

“We’ve never been in this position at this point in the season,” Hamlin said. “We’re back this year.”

Surprising: While NASCAR nation has been waiting with bated breath, it was a bit surprising that the Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) reared its ugly head for none other than reigning champ Tony Stewart. The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet fell prey to EFI difficulties, unable to re-fire his engine after attempting to save fuel.

“I just shut the car off to save fuel and it never re-fired,” Smoke, who finished 22^nd, said. “I don’t know why that was, but it definitely cost us a good day.”

Not Surprising: Although he did not quite live up to his moniker as ‘The Closer’, the driver of the No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet was pretty happy nonetheless. Kevin Harvick coasted on fumes to secure a second place berth in the Subway Fresh Fit 500.

“Finishing second and racing for a win in a place where we ran back in the twenties, was pretty good,” Harvick said. “You cut the fuel mileage that close, you’re figuring it right. Hopefully this is what sets the tone for the year.”

Surprising: Those drivers hooked up with new teams for the 2012 season did not fare well in the Valley of the Sun. Hendrick newcomer Kasey Kahne hit the wall in his No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet on Lap 22. Kahne ended up in the garage for many laps, finally finishing 34^th.

AJ Allmendinger, new pilot of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, also had some calamity befall his Phoenix run. The ‘Dinger was caught up in the Paul Menard crash on Lap 132, relegating him to an 18^th place finish.

Not Surprising: After finishing almost dead last at Daytona and under the gun with his penalty, Jimmie Johnson was already 23 points in the hole before coming to Phoenix. Yet, to no one’s surprise, Johnson was in redemption mode yet again, scoring a fourth place finish in his No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, moving him up to 38^th in points.

“We were concerned about fuel,” Johnson admitted. “We just tried to make sure we got some points.”

“We had a little hiccup on pit road but we really fought back.”

Surprising: It was surprising how well Michael Waltrip Racing performed at Phoenix, at least for the majority of the team members.

Martin Truex, Jr. scored his first top-10 of the year for his No. 56 NAPA Filters Toyota, coming in seventh. Teammate and pole sitter Mark Martin brought his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota to a second-straight top-10, officially finishing ninth.

“We need to get finishes like this each week,” Truex Jr. said. “And hopefully there are even better ones to come.”

“Proud of the effort,” teammate Mark Martin said. “Any time you get a top-10 finish, you have to say it’s a reasonable run.”

The No. 56 and the No. 55 are now tied, at 71 points, for sixth position in the point standings.

Not Surprising: With the slipperiness of the race track, it was no surprise that several drivers, including the third MWR driver, suffered tire troubles. Most notably on the tire issue list was MWR driver Clint Bowyer, behind the wheel of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota.

Bowyer suffered tire failure not one, but twice, relegating him to a 30^th place finish. The MWR driver now sits 17^th in points, falling six spots back due to his tire woes.

Surprising: In addition to EFI and tire troubles, the Valley of the Sun seemed to cause some engine failures as well. Most notably were the blown engines of Jamie McMurray, Marcos Ambrose and Jeff Burton, all of whom had good runs going until the tell-tale smoke billowed out from their tail pipes.

“We blew up,” Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion, said simply. “We are here trying to run for wins and run for championships and to trip over ourselves like that, it just isn’t going to get it done.”

Not Surprising: Although not technically a short track, there were some short track tempers flaring at Phoenix International Raceway. Most notably was a flare up between Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Subway Ford for whom the race was named, and Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Wix Filters Chevrolet.

On lap 256, Newman brought out the seventh caution of the race, crashing after contact with Edwards.

“I’m 99 percent sure Carl Edwards didn’t do that on purpose,” Newman said. “But I trusted him.”

“Now he can’t trust me because there is a lot to be had and lost, and we lost today,” Newman continued. “We know plenty of times in this sport, what comes around goes around.”

March 4, 2012
Favorite memories of the 2011 Sprint Cup season

The 2011 season of NASCAR started out with a bang when rookie Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500. It ended with an electrifying duel between Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards for the championship. Sandwiched in between was one of the most competitive seasons in recent history.

In no particular order, these are a few of my favorite memories of the 2011 Sprint Cup season.

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1) “Are you kidding me?” Only one day after turning 20 and in only his second Cup start, Trevor Bayne won the coveted Daytona 500 race. He became the youngest driver to ever win NASCAR’s most prestigious race and he did it driving the No. 21 Ford for the legendary Wood Brothers Racing team.

2) Sports fans love an underdog and this year we had several drivers who defied the odds. Including Trevor Bayne, there were five first time winners this season.

a. Regan Smith scored his first victory at the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington. The win was especially satisfying after suffering a heartbreaking defeat at Talladega in 2008. Although he crossed the finish line first, the win was overturned after it was determined that he had violated the rules by dropping below the yellow line.

But this time was different. As he captured the checkered flag at the famed track, he told his crew, “This is the Southern 500; we’re not supposed to win this thing!”

b. David Ragan was up next as he drove into victory lane at the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona in July. “No better place to do it than Daytona.” Ragan said. “I knew we could do it all along. I feel like I should have done this 100 years ago.”

c. Paul Menard also had his first win this season at a track that has special meaning for him. After the race, his father, John Menard, said, “Paul’s been coming here since we carried him in at three years old. I remember sneaking him into the garage in an engine box because he was too young to be in here. All his life he wanted to race.”

As he drove across the finish line an emotional Menard said, “Dad, this one is for you.”

d. Marcos Ambrose is the fifth of the first time winners in 2011, claiming his first victory at Watkins Glen. Ambrose had come close to a win last season at Infineon Raceway but saw it slip away when he lost the lead after failing to maintain speed.

I’ve sacrificed so much to get here,” he said, “and to finally win here is a dream come true.”

3) Brad Keselowski proved the adage that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. A few days after breaking his ankle during a test session at Road Atlanta, he scored his second win of the season at Pocono.

But the story of what inspired him to persevere is what really makes this a special victory.

Keselowski’s cousin had recently lost a friend who was one of 30 Americans who died when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan. After hearing of the tragedy, Keselowski vowed that he would not use a relief driver and would drive the entire race himself.

After winning the race he dedicated the victory to the troops in Afghanistan.

“I might not be feeling great, but those are the guys that are really making sacrifices,” Keselowski said. “Whenever I got in the car and felt like, man, this really hurts, it was good inspiration as to what it takes to ‘man up’ and make it happen.”

4) Jeff Gordon achieved another milestone in his career with his 85^th Sprint Cup Series win at Atlanta. It broke a tie and he now stands alone in third place on the all-time wins list. He trails only Richard Petty (200 career wins) and David Pearson (105).

It’s difficult to compare drivers of different eras but there can be no doubt that Gordon is one of the best drivers that this sport has ever seen. And he’s not done yet.

5) The finale at Homestead achieved the impossible. It actually lived up to all the hype preceding the event. Everything fell into place for a fight to the finish. Stewart emerged victorious passing 118 cars along the way and captured his third Sprint Cup championship title.

“If this wasn’t one of the most exciting races to watch from a fan standpoint, you’ve got to go to a doctor immediately,” said Stewart. “I feel like I passed half the state of Florida. This is definitely one of the greatest races of my life.”

December 14, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Kobalt Tools 500

With NASCAR traveling to the ‘Valley of the Sun’ for the next to the last race of the season, it was no surprise that the reconfigured race track was soaked instead with liquid sunshine. Yet, the track dried, veteran racer Adrian Fernandez uttered the four most famous words in racing, and the green flag waved as scheduled.

[media-credit id=40 align=”alignright” width=”221″][/media-credit]Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 24^th running of the Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Surprising: While it was no surprise that PIR was new and improved, with brand new pavement as well as a new track layout, it was surprising to see the new faces that showed up in Victory Lane this weekend.

From the Nationwide race with Sam Hornish Jr. scoring his first ever NASCAR win to young Ryan Blaney, son of Dave Blaney, notching the ‘W’ in the K&N Pro Series West finale, PIR definitely had some fresh-faced winners.

But most surprising was Cup winner Kasey Kahne, scoring his first win since 2009, his first victory of the 2011 season, and his first victory ever at Phoenix International Raceway. Kahne’s victory came in his next to the last ride in his No. 4 Red Bull Toyota.

“It feels great to get a win for Red Bull and get a win in the 4 car,” Kahne said. “To win a race at this level, as competitive as everything is right now, for myself, to see how happy all the pit crew guys were, the guys preparing the race cars at Red Bull, it was pretty cool.”

“Makes you feel pretty good to be a part of that.”

Not Surprising: To no one’s surprise, Carl Edwards, behind the wheel of the No. 99 Aflac Ford, and his championship Chase nemesis Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, stalked each other all race long, finishing second and third respectively.

And not surprisingly, thanks to that close finish, the championship will be decided at the final race of the season in Homestead, Florida. Edwards is currently just three points ahead of Smoke going into Ford Championship weekend, one of the closest margins between first and second in the Chase in NASCAR Sprint Cup history.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s a dead heat going in there,” Stewart said of the upcoming Homestead weekend. “We just got to do our job like we’ve been doing.”

“I’m still pumped up,” Smoke continued. “I want to go to Homestead tomorrow and start. I want tomorrow to be Friday. I’m excited about it and ready to go.”

“Yeah, Homestead is going to be a lot of fun,” Edwards said. “I really enjoy racing there.”

“The cool thing about Homestead, you’re going to be able to move around, pass, and not get hung up as badly in traffic as you can at other racetracks,” Edwards continued. “I don’t think there’s a better place to go than Homestead to fight for this championship.”

Surprising: After Phoenix, with only those two drivers remaining in contention for the championship, it is indeed surprising that five-time champion Jimmie Johnson will not be six-time champ.

Johnson, behind the wheel this weekend of a black No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, finished 14^th in the race and sits currently in the fifth position in points, 68 points out of first and officially out of contention.

“Yeah, I’m definitely disappointed that we won’t be able to go to Homestead and race for our sixth, but that’s motorsports,” Johnson said. “It’s a very tough business.”

“What we did over the last five years was absolutely spectacular,” Johnson continued. “What we did over the last five years is abnormal. Now we’ll get a taste of normalcy.”

Also surprisingly, Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates, especially Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. also had difficulty in the ‘Valley of the Sun.’ The driver of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet fared especially poorly, struggling with brake problems to finish 32^nd.

“We weren’t good when we got here,” Gordon said. “We were fighting and battling but then the brake problem happened and that pretty much ruined our day.”

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., in the No. 88 Retro Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard, also struggled and finished 24^th.

“We pitted and got caught with the caution and lost a couple of laps and just never got a chance to get it back,” Junior said. “We missed it. We didn’t hit it.”

Not Surprising: As bad as Hendrick Motorsports team members fared, it was no surprise that the other half of the Stewart Haas Racing duo fared well. Ryan Newman, with his No. 39 US Army Veteran’s Day Tribute car covered with pictures of vets, finished top-five yet again.

“The guys on the US Army Chevrolet, with the Veteran’s Day special paint scheme, that was an amazing comeback for us to come from 30^th to fifth,” Newman said. “I’m really proud of that.”

Surprising: Although the two tangled at Martinsville, it was surprising to see the feud continue between Brian Vickers, soon to be out of work with his No. 83 Red Bull Toyota team exiting the sport next week, and Matt Kenseth, race pole sitter, who was looking for a good run in his No. 17 Crown Royal Ford.

“My two year old could watch that and know it was intentional,” Kenseth said of his wreck with Vickers. “It was real pre-meditated.”

“I don’t understand what happened,” Vickers said of his Kenseth encounter. “He just stopped on the straight-away.”

“He wrecked me at Martinsville,” Vickers continued. “He got wrecked here. He just lifted halfway down the back stretch. I’ll count that one.”

Kenseth finished a miserable34th, dropping two positions to sixth in the point standings. Vickers soldiered on for a 23^rd place finish, languishing in the 25^th position in the points.

Not Surprising: Having had the most miserable week leading up to the race, from being parked to losing his sponsor for the last two races, it was not surprising that Kyle Busch’s most miserable weekend continued.

Busch had to start the race from the back of the field due to engine troubles caused by human error. He managed to work his way up through the pack, only to have the engine of his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota expire on Lap 214.

“It’s just devastating,” Busch said. “To go through turmoil like this, all you can do is group together and pull through it and try to persevere and move on.”

“Catastrophic engine failure,” Busch continued. “It’s terrible to have one in a weekend, let alone two in a weekend.”

“It’s certainly a tough few weeks and all we can do is look forward to next week at Homestead.”

Surprising: It was surprising to see another crew swap during the race, this time for AJ Allmendinger, whose pit crew let him down during a stop, most likely costing the driver of the No. 43 Wix Filters Ford, a race win.

Allmendinger’s crew was swapped out for the crew of David Ragan, another Ford driver who was not in the hunt, helping the Dinger to a top-five finish.

“We were losing four or five spots on a stop,” Allmendinger said. “You can’t do that and win a race and those guys are pretty good.”

“Thanks to the 6 guys, our Ford teammates coming over and pitting the last two stops,” Dinger said. “They did a good job.”

Not Surprising: To no one’s surprise, Allmendinger’s Richard Petty Motorsports teammate Marcos Ambrose also had a good run at PIR. The driver of the No. 9 DeWalt Ford finished a respectable eighth.

“We had a good car today,” the Aussie said. “We were solid all day long. It bodes even better for the first half of next season.”

Surprising: Since Jeff Burton has had a fairly difficult 2011 season, it was a bit surprising to see the driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Global Mining Chevrolet end up with a fourth place finish. The top-five finishing driver hopes that the turnaround will continue right into the 2012 season.

“The Caterpillar Chevrolet was good, really, all day,” Burton said. “When things are tough, you find out what people are made of. My group has just kept digging and kept their heads up.”

“Nobody has quit on this team, not once,” Burton continued. “I’m real proud of that.”

“We’ve run really well the last month and hopefully we will build some momentum going into next year.”

Not Surprising: With no ride secured for next year, it was not surprising to see David Reutimann, ousted driver of the No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing, drive his guts out for a seventh place finish in the next to the last race of the season.

“We qualified in the top-10 and we were able to stay up there all day long,” Rooty said. “I’m proud of the crew guys for the job they did today. They really stuck with me.”

“This is a great group of guys, probably one of the best in the garage and they’ve been with me a long time,” Reutimann continued. “We have one more week together and I want to go out on a high note at Homestead.”

November 14, 2011
Matty’s Picks: Vol. 27 – Phoenix – November 13, 2011

Two races to go in the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup, and this week we head to a track that may be the biggest juggernaut of them all, Phoenix International Raceway. After an extensive facelift this summer, PIR will prove to be a handful for the 43 drivers that take the green flag on Sunday.

[media-credit name=”phoenixinternationalspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]A year ago, International Speedway Corporation and the Avondale City Council announced the plans for a $100 long-term improvement for PIR. The plans included a $15 million dollar repaving project (the track’s first since 1990) and the construction of a new media center. Along with the new pavement came a reconfiguration of the famed “dogleg”, a widening of the front stretch to 62 feet, addition of concrete to the pit stalls, as well as progressive banking in the turns.

The dogleg renovations included; pushing the corner out by 95 feet, changing the radius of the backstretch bump to 500 feet, and adding progressive banking to the dogleg from 10-11 degrees. The corners of PIR are now progressively banked from 10-11 degrees in turns one and two, and from 8-9 degrees in turns three and four. The new track has been described almost as a “rollercoaster-like drive” due to the elevation changes as the drivers dip down into the dogleg, rises on exit, and dives back down into turn number three.

Passing has been a bit of controversy in PIR’s new surface’s short history, as many drivers are finding it difficult to find grip outside the one loosely held together groove. PIR has made numerous attempts to foster passing on the new surface including “tons of laps” by driving schools on soft tires.

After a testing session just yesterday at PIR, Elliot Sadler expressed his concerns about the new surface and the racing this weekend, “I actually got to the 82 (Reed Sorenson) that was about a half a second of a lap slower than I was. I really couldn’t do anything with him. I didn’t want to make a move, definitely on the outside, to make a pass.”

Defending NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion, Brad Keselowski also weighed in on the underdeveloped second groove following Thursdays test session: “It found me and I found it. We weren’t looking for each other. It’s just very, very slick. There’s just a lack of stability.”

This weekend’s Kobalt Tools 500 may or may not prove to be exciting to watch, especially if Kyle Busch ends up in Victory Lane. (Joke’s on you M&M’s)

Texas Recap

It was the Texas Shootout that everyone was looking for last weekend in the Lone Star State, and the guys in the noontime dual couldn’t have been any more storybook.

Carl Edwards entered the AAA Texas 500 with the championship points lead, and also left with the lead, only a bit slimmer margin over race-winner Tony Stewart. We’ll cut to lap 265 when Edwards and Stewart restarted side by side on the front row following the final caution of the race. Stewart felt confident in holding off a late race surge from Edwards, should he overtake the No. 99 on the restart.

Stewart’s scenario played out on the final restart, resulting in my Winner Pick being the first to suck in the fumes left behind by the No. 14 Chevrolet on his way to his fourth victory of the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Edwards spoke after his runner-up finish last Sunday: “Tony (Stewart) and those guys stepped it up and I’m proud of my guys for hanging on and for still having the point lead,” Edwards said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to the final two races. Although we would have loved to have won today in our Aflac Fusion, to be three points ahead and then to have the third and fourth-place guys farther behind, it looks like it’s truly going to come down to Tony and I, and that’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to get pretty exciting and I’m just glad Tony and I are out there and we can race for this thing.”

Marcos Ambrose, last week’s Dark Horse pick, was on the right track to score a Top-10 going into the final restart, but struggled throughout the last 70’ish laps to find grip. A two-tire call late in the race was the call from Crew Chief Todd Parrott, a call that would not sit well with the Tasmanian’s race car.

As the lights came on at Texas Motor Speedway last Sunday, a group of cars moved up in the running order, and a group of cars began to fall in the running order, struggling to find grip on the 1.5-mile quad oval. Unfortunately for me, Marcos Ambrose was in the group of cars struggling to keep pace with the front-runners.

It wasn’t for lack of effort that Ambrose finished in 11th as he raced his way all the way up from 26th on Lap 302, but for the third straight week I end the weekend without any Dark Horse points.

Phoenix Picks

Dark Horse Pick

I’ll start with my Dark Horse pick this week, as I feel fairly certain that most of my readers may not think of this guy to actually in this weekend at PIR, until you see the practice speeds posted from earlier today. He came close to a win last week, but lost his gamble on fuel strategy late in the race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Oddly enough, Jeff Burton was the fastest car on the track last month in the Goodyear and EFI testing session at PIR. 36 teams took to the track on October 4th, and Jeff Burton was on-track for 125 laps. He was fastest on the speed charts during that testing session, and coincidentally was fastest earlier today during NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice.

It’s not really fair to use previous finishes for my defense of this pick because of the recent transformation of Phoenix International Raceway, so the data I have collected and referenced has come post-new-dogleg era of PIR. On the second day of testing back in October, Burton ran another 120 laps in his RCR Chevrolet, peaking out at 136.747 MPH on the speed charts. For his efforts, Burton was awarded 6th place on the leaderboard out of 35 teams.

This is the first time I’ve picked Burton for any pick this season, and I’m hoping a new face to Matty’s picks will bring me some late-season luck.

Winner Pick

This marks my 6th time picking Jimmie Johnson as a Winner Pick this season, right on par with his winning percentage across the past 5 seasons at Hendrick Motorsports. I’m beginning to wonder if I am slowly becoming a closet Jimmie Johnson bandwagon’eer at this point, but all I have to do is point to past finishes at PIR to justify my pick this week. An average career finish of 4.8 at PIR has me exited this week, even though I said earlier I would NOT use prior finishes as justification for a pick…

If there’s one guy that can adapt to change, its Jimmie Johnson, as he showed in his two days of testing at PIR back in October. At the end of Day 1 testing, the No. 48 Lowe’s team was shown 10th on the speed charts after running 85 laps. Chad Knaus went back to the drawing board with the top of the charts on his mind. Though Johnson did not reach the top of the speed charts on the second day of testing, he did manage to find another 8-tenths of a second around PIR on Day 2 of testing. Those 8-tenths were good enough for Johnson to be shown second on the board.

The only thing that has me nervous about this pick is Johnson’s less than impressive speeds earlier today in Sprint Cup Practice. The No. 48 Car was shown 33rd best after the first practice today, and qualifying that far back in the field could prove to be no-man’s land come Sunday afternoon.

That’s all for this week, stay tuned next week for the 2011 season finale in South Florida.

Until Next Time…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

November 11, 2011
Matty’s Picks: Vol. 26 – Texas – November 6, 2011

I am a fan of old western movies, (some of my favorites include High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josy Wales, and North To Alaska) and this week couldn’t be any more of a cliché storyline showdown if you asked for it.

[media-credit name=”texasmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]First, the race takes place in the Lone Star State, the most cliché western setting on the face of the Earth. Second, The Chase for the Sprint Cup is boiling down to a two-man showdown between points-leader, Carl Edwards and two-time Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart. The lead has been shaved to eight with just three weekends remaining in the 2011 campaign.

Third, the video and graphics posted on Texas Motor Speedway’s homepage tells it all. President of Texas Motor Speedway, Eddie Gossage might be dubbed the Don King of NASCAR after this weekend’s hype of the Stewart/Edwards saga.

Not to add insult to injury but fourth, Tony Stewart’s comments in Victory Lane last weekend at Martinsville Speedway was the quote heard ‘round the world: “Carl Edwards had better be real worried. That’s all I’ve got to say. He’s not going to sleep for the next three weeks.”

This race has certainly gained the attention of race fans across the globe, and may be more hyped than the “Thrilla in Manila” before all is said and done.

Martinsville Recap

With qualifying rained out last Saturday, Denny Hamlin would start the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota 11th, and quickly made it known that I had made a solid Winner Pick. An early incident would force Hamlin to Pit Road for fresh slicks, restarting him at the rear of the field. The fresh Goodyear’s were all he needed to hit the point by lap 63.

As all race fans know, 500 laps at Martinsville is an eternity…Hamlin, the favorite at the historic short track knows that the key to winning at the paper clip is staying out of trouble. Caution by caution, the race drew on until Hamlin regained the lead at lap 320.

With 81 laps remaining, Hamlin was shown fourth on the leaderboard, but could not find the speed to run with eventual race-winner, but enough to fend off the lower-half of the Top-10, finishing in 5th. My Winner Pick mentioned the chaos last week after the checkered flew: “For Martinsville for sure. People just have no regard. I would get into guys and then I know it’s coming — I’m going to get slammed in the next corner. It’s just one of those things where it’s frustrating to watch because you see some of these cars getting torn up on accidents. Accidents happen and some these drivers need to realize that.”

As for my Dark Horse Pick, I was at a severe disadvantage when I submitted my column last week before ANY on-track activity at the paper clip. After starting 20th, Juan Montoya drove his way into the Top-15, overcame two costly penalties on Pit Road, but still finished outside the Top-20 in 22nd.

I said last week that I was going out on a limb by picking the Colombia native, and that’s exactly the result I received when the hoodless No. 42 Target Chevrolet crossed the finish line in 22nd last week.

Texas Picks

Dark Horse Pick

Marcos Ambrose is my guy this week.

Ambrose is starting to get the hang of these fast 1.5-mile intermediate tracks. His performances this season Texas and her two twin sisters, Charlotte and Atlanta, has proved that Ambrose is a threat when the haulers pull into Fort Worth. Ambrose finished 6th in our first trip to Texas Motor Speedway this spring, he matched that finish at Charlotte in the Coke Zero 600, and one-up’ed himself just three weeks ago in the Bank of America 500, finishing 5th.

His only finish outside the Top-10 out of the three sister tracks was Labor Day weekend at Atlanta where he finished 21st. Prior to this season, Ambrose hadn’t scored a Top-10 at Texas Motor Speedway. Ambrose will bring the same chassis that has finished so well this season (No. 735) at Texas, Charlotte, and Atlanta,

He is coming off a fairly dismal, 29th-place finish last week at Martinsville and looks forward to Sunday’s AAA Texas 500: “I enjoy going to Texas Motor Speedway. I have run well there in the past and it’s always seemed to be a good track for me. We’ve been good on 1.5-mile tracks this year and I think we’ve got the intermediate track setup figured out. We are taking the same car we finished sixth with earlier this year back to Texas this weekend, so I’m optimistic about our chances and I expect to see the DEWALT Ford finish in the Top 10 Sunday.”

Winner Pick

Its only right that I pick one of the two drivers taking part in the Showdown In The Lone State State this week. That being said, I’m going with the driver of the duo that has yet to score a win in this 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

After this spring’s trip to Texas, Carl Edwards was shown 3^rd on the leaderboard behind race-winner Matt Kenseth, and non-chaser Clint Bowyer. This was the first trip to Texas since 2008 that Edwards scored a Top-5, following a drought that lasted the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Edwards swept the races at Texas in 2008, and scored his first victory at Texas in the fall of 2005. Edwards has finished outside the Top-10 just one time during this 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup, his 11^th place finish coming at the roulette wheel, Talladega Superspeedway.

It’s almost a lock for a Top-5 this week for me, and with Edwards’ attitude working for me, my confidence level couldn’t be any higher: “We couldn’t be coming to a better race track. This track has been great for us. Practice went really well. We’ve got two Fords one and two and we’ve got as good a car and engine as we’ve ever brought here, so that’s good and I’m just ready for qualifying tonight. We’d like to qualify well and get a good starting position. It would be really nice if we could qualify on the pole and get that first pit box. That would be spectacular, but this race is one of the most fun races we go to.”

That’s it for this week, stay tuned next week as The 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup heads to the desert…

Until next week…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

November 4, 2011
Matty’s Picks: Vol. 25 – Martinsville – October 30, 2011

What more fitting of a facility than Martinsville Speedway to travel to on this Halloween weekend. Martinsville Speedway has been known to create some very wild and down-right ere finishes.

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Known for their extraordinary culinary excellence in the field of Hot Dogs, Martinsville is a popular destination for 70,000+ NASCAR fans each spring and fall. I have not yet had the pleasure of visiting Martinsville Speedway, but it is one of those classic tracks that I would like to visit in the near future.

We go from the largest track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule (Talladega at 2.66 miles), to the shortest (0.526) this weekend in Southern Virginia. Being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles, the first NASCAR sanctioned event was held at Martinsville Speedway on Independence Day of 1948. NASCAR has continued to visit the half-mile paper clip ever since. It is the only racetrack that has remained on the NASCAR circuit since its beginning in 1948, so yes there is quite a bit of racing history in Henry County, Va.

Its slight 12-degrees of banking in the corners makes passing a bit difficult without the use of the front-bumper. Jumping off the bottom groove and into the top-lane could cost you two, three, and sometimes even four positions. It’s a one groove racetrack that is fun to watch, but could be a driver’s worst nightmare this Halloween weekend.

Talladega Recap

The 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup is not being very kind to me as a sports guru that is supposed to know what he’s talking about. After the first 6 races of The Chase, my winner picks have a combined average finish of 19.6, I have two Top-5’s thrown in that mix as well. It’s not every day that a Long Shot finishes in front of the favorite…(unless you happen to be my Dark Horse of the week).

My Dark Horses have fared a bit better in the grand scheme of things, finishing on average 3.3 spots better than my winner picks. So, I may have this Dark Horse thing down, but may be the curse of many Championship hopefuls currently fighting for that Driver’s Championship.

Last week, I threw all my eggs in one team’s basket and came out a loser. I threw my eggs in the Richard Childress Racing basket last week, but happened to pick the wrong drafting tandem in the end. As we all know, picking the right team results in nothing but a “coulda, woulda, shoulda” outcome.

I was a curse to my Winner Pick last week in Alabama…

Kevin Harvick and his teammate Paul Menard were the two fastest cars last week in NASCAR’s EFI testing at Talladega Superspeedway. That fact didn’t help me out when it came down to the Good Sam Club 500 last Sunday.
The tandem were a dominating force for more than 100 laps, and on a number of occasions dropped back in the field to avoid the mess at the front of the field but quickly powered their way back to the front, showing the power of their Chevrolets. With help from Menard on his rear bumper, Harvick was able to lead the field on 6 occasions for a total of 13 laps.

On lap 104, disaster struck with my Winner Pick, Menard in tail of course, when a slue of cars started spinning and wrecking directly in front of the No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet. The wreck collected Harvick, running all chances for me to get a win. Harvick limped home 32nd, and left my Dark Horse Pick, Paul Menard without a dancing partner.

Menard’s help would come in the way of Australian native, Marcos Ambrose. The tango of Menard and Amrbose systematically picked their way through the field for 80 or so laps until the final restart. It was then when Menard paired with fellow Chevrolet driver, Tony Stewart to run the final 3 laps of the Good Sam Club 500 nose-to-tail. The two scrambled to finish strong, but Menard would be the 6th pusher of the field, coming home in 12th place.

Martinsville Picks

Winner Pick

There’s one guy I think of when I think Martinsville, and that’s Virginia-native, Denny Hamlin. Hamlin has finished outside the Top-10 just twice in the last 12 races at the paper clip, and that race being this April in the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500. Before his 12th place finish in April, Hamlin had won the prior three races at Martinsville, a track where he loves to race.

Hamlin is a bit of a forgotten Chase driver, but really could make a statement in his 13th visit to Martinsville Speedway. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota has a .333 win percentage at Martinsville, with all four victories coming in the Car of Tomorrow.

“It’s such a short race track that when you find a technique that works for you where you pick up a little time, that’s what you do,” Hamlin said Friday. “No matter what vehicle you’re running. Aero and horsepower don’t mean much – it’s more about how you technically drive around it and how good the car is. Rules changes don’t matter, whether it’s a wing, a spoiler, the Car of Tomorrow or the car of yesterday. Those same techniques work. That’s why you see the same guys running up front. It’s their technique and what works for them.”

Dark Horse Pick

Going out on a limb with this pick, I’m going with a guy that might be overlooked when it comes to Short Track racing.

Juan Montoya is a guy that might be overlooked on every track but Infineon and Watkins Glen. He started 27th in April, and drove his No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet to 4th when the checkered flag flew.

His average finish isn’t too shabby for a Short Track at 13.9, but with no practice sessions today in Southern Virginia, I have nothing but past stats to guide my picks. Both of Montoya’s career Top-5’s on Short Tracks have been at Martinsville Speedway, and I think he has the finesse (and front bumper) it takes to finish strong at the paper clip. He has also finished 97.6% of all the laps run at Martinsville since his first start in 2007.

The No. 42 Target Chevrolet team will bring Chassis #1110 to Martinsville, the same Chassis that aided Montoya to a 4th place finish, overcoming his 27th place starting spot. Chassis #1110 also started 31st in September at New Hampshire and finished in 9th. This chassis knows how to work through traffic.

That’s it for this week so until next time, You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!!

October 28, 2011
Non-Chasers Excel in Bank Of America 500

Kasey Kahne

For the third week in a row, Kasey Kahne has finished in the top-5 among the Chase contenders. At the beginning of the race, Kahne did not have a great race car. He complained of “rear-end up and front-end down” handling issues. After green flag pit stops with 139 laps to go, the No. 4 crew made adjustments to correct the issues. “Oh yea, it’s going now” Kahne replied to the crew after exiting pit road. After pit stops, Kahne was in ninth position and was the fastest car on the track. On the fifth caution of the night, Kahne’s Red Bull crew was able to get him out of the pits in third position, securing him a finish of fourth position. Kahne won the Mobil 1 Command Performance Driver of the Race award for the Bank of America 500. Given to the winner of the race, or the next highest finishing driver with the Mobil 1 decal on their race car. Kasey moved up one spot in standings to 15th position.

Marcos Ambrose

Richard Petty Motorsports driver Marcos Ambrose was destined to do well at Charlotte Motor Speedway, having ten top-10 career finishes at intermediate tracks coming into this race. Ambrose celebrated his fifth top-5 of the season at Charlotte Motor Speedway Saturday night. Ambrose qualified his Stanley Tools Ford in 12th position and was a front runner throughout the race. Although there were a few late-race cautions, Ambrose was able to hold his position and stay at the head of the field. Marcos finished the race in fifth position, his third straight top-10 of the season. The crew chief of the No. 9 car, Todd Parrott, received the Moog Problem Solver of the Race award. Given to the crew chief that improves the most from the first half of the race to the second half, utilizing the 40 best laps times(improving 0.155 seconds). Marcos moved two spots up in the points standings, to 18th position

AJ Allmendinger

Although AJ Allmendinger battled handling issues during the race, he was able to keep his Best Buy Ford in the top-10 throughout the night. On Lap 127 Allmendinger pitted to try and correct these handling issues, but couldn’t quite seem to get it fixed. AJ remained in the top-10 until just after Lap 200, when he fell to 12th position. The team remained patient, pitting again under Lap 238 to make more adjustments. With 100 laps to go, Allmendinger’s No. 43 car came to life, allowing him to finish the race in seventh position. This marks AJ’s eighth top-10 of the season. Leaving Charlotte, he rests in 14th position in points standings.

October 19, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

After Jacquelyn Butler, David Ragan’s girlfriend won the ‘Better Half Dash’ and Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne shared a heartfelt invocation, the engines fired under the lights at NASCAR’S home track, Charlotte Motor Speedway.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”237″][/media-credit]Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 52^nd Annual running of the Bank of America 500.

Surprising: With a surprising show of emotion and his dry sense of humor emerging, the driver of the No. 17 Fluidmaster Ford took the checkered flag with whoops of joy, saying in Victory Lane that it was not too late for departing sponsor Crown Royal to reconsider staying on the car.

Kenseth scored his victory from the outside pole position, qualifying surprising well for a driver not known for the most successful time trial efforts. This was Matt Kenseth’s 21^st career victory and his third win of the year.

“It was an awesome win for us,” Kenseth said. “It was a good race.”

“Track position was really important, so qualifying helped,” Kenseth continued. “It made a big difference.”

Kenseth was also surprisingly appreciative of the win, especially after not having been to the winner’s circle for twenty races.

“I’m always thankful to get to victory lane,” Kenseth said. “You never know if you’re ever gonna win another race or when your last win is.”

“I’m thankful for them all and I greatly appreciate being in a position to be able to win races and these guys giving me the cars and the crew and the opportunity to do that.”

Not Surprising: To no one’s surprise, the two drivers finishing second and third had some intense conversation with one another right after the race.

Carl Edwards, who finished third in his No. 99 Aflac ‘Now Hiring’ Ford, almost immediately jumped out his car at the finish to lean into the bridesmaid-yet-again Kyle Busch’s second place No. 18 M&Ms Toyota for a chat.

“We were just talking about the way we were racing there,” Edwards said. “We’re fine. We’ve talked about it and we’ll move on.”

“Hey, this is NASCAR and we’re racing as hard as we can,” Edwards continued. “And we didn’t wreck each other.”

“He just said he didn’t like the way I raced him off Turn Two that one time when he got under me,” Busch said. “He made me loose and it was steering me down the track and I was just trying to hold on.”

“Great run by the M&Ms Camry,” Busch, who not only rebounded from starting last to leading a race high 111 laps, continued. “Best run we’ve had here in a while but still coming up short.”

With his finish, Edwards maintained the points lead by five, with Kyle Busch improving his position by four spots, up to the fourth position, just 18 points behind the leader.

“Overall it was a really good day for our Aflac Fusion,” Edwards said. “We’re trying to have a championship year here and we dodged some bullets.”

“We’ve got to keep finishing like this,” Busch said. “That’s all it takes. If we can finish second here on out, we might win this thing.”

Surprising: At a track often known for Chevy domination, particularly of the Hendrick Motorsports kind, it was surprising to see the Ford brand, primarily the Roushketeers, not only in victory lane but dominating the front of the field. There were four Fords to Chevrolets three in the top ten for this season’s Charlotte fall running.

The win was also significant for Ford team Roush Fenway, marking their 298^th overall victory and their 20^th NASCAR victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was the first Cup win for owner Jack Roush at Charlotte since 2002.

“All of the Ford cars ran well tonight,” Jack Roush, team owner said. “It was just a matter of time until Matt broke loose from his obscurity in the back and middle of the pack and worked his way to the front.”

As surprising as the Ford dominance was, particularly of Roush Fenway Racing, it was equally surprising to see how poorly the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team ran. The HMS highest finisher was Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the 19^th position.

“I was not the faster car,” the driver of the No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard/Chevy 100^th Anniversary Chevrolet said. “We got a couple wave-arounds and had a loose wheel that cost us another lap.”

“We just have to correct some of those mistakes,” Junior continued. “We just had a couple of little circumstances that cost us a shot at finishing in the top ten.”

Hendrick Chevrolet teammates Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin also had surprisingly, and uncharacteristically, difficult runs at Charlotte. Their poor finishes, 34^th, 21^st and 37^th respectively, was surprisingly poignant for the teams sporting the Chevy 100^th anniversary emblems.

Jeff Gordon, in the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger/Chevy 100^th Anniversary Chevrolet, went for a wild ride at one point in the race and struggled the rest. Mark Martin in the No. 5 GoDaddy.com/Chevy 100^th Anniversary Chevrolet, suffered mechanical problems that left him in the garage for many laps making repairs.

Probably the toughest of the Hendrick finishers was five-time champ Jimmie Johnson, whose No. 48 Lowes/Chevy 100^th Anniversary Chevrolet hit hard into the wall, taking his breath away.

“That one stung for sure,” Johnson said of his hit. “Just thankful to have safe race cars, safe walls, softer walls and everything did its job.”

With the wreck and the DNF, Johnson was also the biggest loser in the point standings, dropping five positions to eighth.

“This is not going to help us win a sixth championship,” Johnson conceded. “We will go for every point we can from here on out and hopefully we are still champions at the end of the year.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising to see the infamous grin of the driver from down under after finishing fifth. Marcos Ambrose, behind the wheel of the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion, could not have been more pleased with his Charlotte run, scoring his third consecutive top-10.

“I ran great,” Ambrose said simply. “I just really appreciate that opportunity.”

RPM teammate AJ Allmendinger, behind the wheel of the No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion, also continued his solid runs, finish seventh.

“It’s not what I wanted, but the end result is good,” Dinger said. “I’m happy there were so many Fords in the top 10.”

Surprising: As surprisingly strong as Brad Keselowski has been, surging forward in race finishes as well as in the points, the driver of the No. 2 ‘Blue Deuce’ had an equally surprisingly tough day at Charlotte.

Keselowski finished 16^th, falling two positions to sixth in the point standings. He currently sits 25 points behind points leader Carl Edwards.

“I feel frustratingly fortunate,” Keselowskis said. “The yellows really hurt us. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

Not Surprising: Tony Stewart, who scored his first pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway, overcame tight conditions as well as some damage to his No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet, to rally back for a top-10 finish.

“We were good off the front there, just when we got back in traffic, we got really tight,” Smoke said. “We just kind of rallied back.”

Not surprisingly, teammate Ryan Newman also scored a top-10 finish in his No. 39 Cookies for Kid’s Cancer/Gene Haas Foundation Chevrolet.

“We needed to get at least that much tonight,” Newman said after the race. “We’ll take a top-10 here tonight and now it’s on to the next one.”

With their finishes, Stewart advanced two positions to the fifth spot in the Chase, while Newman moved up one position in the points to tenth.

Surprising: With the image of Hall of Famer Glenn Wood on the famed No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion, it looked like the young driver Trevor Bayne had a fast car and would have a good run. Surprisingly, the car ran out of gas on Lap 238.

“That’s a bad feeling to run out of gas, especially when you’re not expecting it,” Bayne said. “The 21 was just fast.”

“It must have been sucking up more fuel than we thought being that fast, but I think something just had to be funky in the fuel cell or something messed up on the can.”

Not Surprising: Call him ‘Closer’ or ‘Lurker’ but it was not surprising to see Kevin Harvick have yet another solid race, finishing sixth and maintaining his second place position in the point standings. With that, the driver of the No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet confirmed that he was just happy to be at the half-way in the Chase race.

“We made it through the first five Chase races this year,” Harvick said. “We had had a lot of goals that we wanted to achieve this year and that was one of them.”

“IF you would have told me we would come out of Charlotte with only a five point deficit going into the next five races, I would be really happy.”

October 16, 2011