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  • Martin still winless at Pocono, unable to return favor to Logano

    Martin still winless at Pocono, unable to return favor to Logano

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”258″][/media-credit]Mark Martin was four laps away from finally going to Victory Lane at Pocono before the kid he discovered at 11-years-old got in the way.

    Joey Logano put the bumper to Martin in turn one to take the lead and the win on Sunday afternoon in the Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR. Bittersweet for Martin who was looking for his first win with Michael Waltrip Racing in the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine, but happy for Logano who captured his second career NSCS win.

    “I’m just so thankful to have the opportunity that Michal Waltrip first of all, and Aarons and Toyota have given me to drive competitive racecars,” said Martin. “It is so incredible to be in something that is strong enough that I can contend. We went after that thing really hard, we had a great racecar. I really stuck my neck out on the line to get that lead. I almost pulled it off the restart before and I was willing to risk it all to try to get the lead.

    “And once I got out there, Joey was stronger than we were. Just a little bit stronger and I was pushing as hard as I could push and had a little slip there off of three and he was able to get up on me and get by. We sure certainly would have got back up there and raced for the win after the pass if we would have the car but he was able to pull away.”

    Martin credited crew chief, Rodney Childers and the entire crew for the car. They started sixth, finished second and led four laps. While others fell by the wayside or shot themselves in the foot, Martin stayed focus on the track and on pit road knowing he had car capable of winning.

    A car which had great speed and the durability to make all 400 miles. But it was Logano who started first and finished first, something Martin said he knew long ago he would one day do.

    “He raced for it, he was fast from day one of testing,” Martin said of Logano. “He certainly didn’t get that one handed to him, especially my pulling off that last restart. Maybe things will start to turn. He’s been kind of in a stall in his career or in his progression with the Cup Series, but it looks like the last couple of weeks that maybe that’s starting to turn.

    “I’ve always known since I saw him drive at 11-years-old that could be a Cup champion. I knew it then.”

    Sunday he was just a winner and at Martin’s expense in what he called a bump and run. Something Martin admitted that had he had a fast enough car and got back to Logano, he would have returned. After all, it’s something that’s been accepted in the NASCAR garage for a long time.

    “It’s not how I would have done it,” said Martin. “It was great racing, and everybody does what they decide to do. It was a great race, and I’m very, very proud of my race team for putting me in something that would give me a shot. I’m having fun with it. Maybe next week we’ll be the ones with the trophy.”

    Martin though goes 0-51 at Pocono, still never having won at the triangle shaped track. However, with his finish on Sunday he’s finished second there seven times. That to the likes of Rusty Wallace, Alan Kulwicki, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and now Joey Logano.

    And in that time he’s led 446 laps, making Pocono to Martin what Daytona was to Dale Earnhardt. Yet, it doesn’t weigh on him. Martin’s been around the sport long enough to know what it can do to drivers. How hard it is to win a championship, let alone a single race. Having come this far and with what success he has had at Pocono, it’s something he can live with.

    “You’re not owed this stuff, man,” he said. “I’ve earned all those second place finishes and I’m proud of that. You’re not entitled. You’ve got to go get ‘em.”

  • Joey Logano Puts the Moves on Mark Martin to Score Pocono Win

    [media-credit id=43 align=”alignright” width=”268″][/media-credit]At the newly-paved Pocono Raceway, young Joey Logano put the moves on veteran Mark Martin, literally, to score the race win. This was career win number two for the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota and his first win of the season.

    With the victory, Logano became the youngest race winner at Pocono.

    “That feels awesome to finally win one the right way,” Logano said. “You don’t know how much this means.”

    “I knew my car was better than his and clean air was worth so much,” Logano said of his battle with Martin. “I didn’t want to get in the back of Mark there.”

    “I saw the bobble coming off 3 and I knew that was my chance,” Logano continued. “I would have been on suicide watch if I would have given it away like that.”

    Logano’s crew chief, Jason Ratcliff, got his first Sprint Cup win as well.

    “We were saving the best Gibbs car for last,” Jason Ratcliff said, with a chuckle. “To get my first win at Pocono is a great experience and to get it with Joey was the best.”

    “It was a great weekend for us.”

    In contrast to the youngest race winner, Mark Martin, one of the veterans of the sport and driver of the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, came in second after being moved out of the way by the youngster.

    This was Martin’s second second place finish at Pocono, posting his 34th top-10 in 51 races at Pocono. It is his fifth top-10 finish of the season.

    “We were racing hard,” Mark Martin said. “I wanted to win it so bad.”

    “I’d call it a bump and run,” Martin said of Logano’s move. “It’s not how I would have done it.”

    “If I had a fast enough car, he would have gotten a return,” Martin continued. “It was a great race and I’m very, very proud of my race team for putting me in something that would give me a shot.”

    “Maybe next week, we’ll be the ones with the trophy.”

    Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet, finished third. This was Smoke’s 19th top-10 finish in 27 races at Pocono.

    “It was frustrating the first half of the race until guys got their cars better,” Stewart said. “You really just kind of got stuck and then it seems like the longer the race went, the easier it got to pass toward the end.”

    “The restarts were insane,” Smoke continued. “All in all, for a freshly paved track, it was a pretty good race.”

    The day started with a bang at the ‘Tricky Triangle’, with a record two cautions in the first 15 laps, on for an accident involving Landon Cassill, Martin Truex, Jr. and AJ Allmendinger and the second for an accident involving Reed Sorenson, Tony Raines, and JJ Yeley.

    “Sometimes when you try to take it easy, you get yourself in trouble,” Cassill, driver of the No. 83 Burger King/Real Fruit Smoothies said. “I really hate this.”

    “This is two tough weeks in a row and it’s tough on my guys.”

    One of the other drivers involved in the early race melee, AJ Allmendinger, was very slow in exiting his car after his on-track incident in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge.

    “I’m not sure what happened,” Dinger said. “I think I blew a right front.”

    “I’m just a little sore, had the wind knocked out of me,” Allmendinger continued. “That might be one of the hardest hits I’ve had.”

    The other big story from the Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR was the incredible number of speeding penalties, some entering but most exiting pit road. The final tally for pit road speeding penalties total was 22 and affected drivers from Jeff Gordon to Jeff Burton.

    “I was obviously being told by my crew chief that a lot of guys were getting busted in that last segment,” Stewart said. “We just made sure we were a little bit on the conservative side.”

    “It just shows the guys are pushing the envelope on it so close,” Smoke said. “But it makes you wonder if something was going on because a lot of guys got busted in the same spot.”

    The other news from Long Pond was that a new points leader emerged after the Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR. With Greg Biffle’s 24th place finish, his teammate Matt Kenseth, who finished seventh, scored the top dog position.

    “It’s probably the best we’ve ever performed at Pocono,” the driver of the No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Fusion said. “That was the positive part because we went up there and led some laps under green and thought we were pretty competitive.”

    In typical Kenseth style, his comment on assuming the points lead was “It’s better than being second.”

    “But I’m kind of disappointed,” Kenseth continued. “I thought we had a shot to win under the right circumstances.”

    “Us and the 88 (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) were pretty strong when we were out front and it just didn’t happen,” Kenseth said. “We’ll keep working on it, but I’m happy we got a decent finish and took over the point lead.”

    Unofficial Race Results
    Pocono 400, Pocono Raceway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=14
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 1 20 Joey Logano Toyota 48
    2 6 55 Mark Martin Toyota 43
    3 22 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 41
    4 24 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 40
    5 5 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 40
    6 16 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 38
    7 14 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 38
    8 8 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 37
    9 3 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 35
    10 11 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 35
    11 2 99 Carl Edwards Ford 33
    12 18 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 32
    13 9 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 31
    14 21 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 30
    15 20 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 29
    16 7 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 28
    17 17 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 28
    18 31 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 26
    19 12 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 25
    20 23 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 24
    21 25 51 David Reutimann Chevrolet 23
    22 27 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 22
    23 36 38 David Gilliland Ford 22
    24 13 16 Greg Biffle Ford 21
    25 42 10 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 19
    26 37 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 18
    27 34 34 David Ragan Ford 18
    28 29 43 Aric Almirola Ford 16
    29 10 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 15
    30 4 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 14
    31 19 22 AJ Allmendinger Dodge 13
    32 40 36 Tony Raines Chevrolet 12
    33 43 33 Stephen Leicht * Chevrolet 11
    34 30 98 Michael McDowell Ford 10
    35 26 13 Casey Mears Ford 9
    36 32 249 J.J. Yeley Toyota 8
    37 33 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
    38 28 119 Mike Bliss Toyota 0
    39 39 74 Stacy Compton Chevrolet 5
    40 38 23 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 4
    41 41 32 Reed Sorenson Ford 0
    42 35 26 Josh Wise * Ford 3
    43 15 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 1
  • What It Was, Wasn’t Racing – Part Deux

    What It Was, Wasn’t Racing – Part Deux

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Restrictor plate racing is not racing. You have read it here from me for a long time, but rarely do we hear it from the competitors. Often, we hear lots of non-comments from the drivers which usually consist of utterings like, “that’s Talladega” or “this is the way it is.” That wasn’t so on this weekend. The family that is NASCAR had already seen Eric McClure go head on into a wall and get helicoptered to a hospital. And then the last third of the Aaron’s 499 became a mockery of what NASCAR racing has been and further proof that there is just something wrong here.

    It was not surprising that Mark Martin did not enter this race. He has quietly expressed his displeasure with this type of racing. There are several others, but it’s a fact of life that if you want to compete for the Sprint Cup Championship, you have to race at Daytona and Talladega. Luckily for him, Martin isn’t interested in that anymore, even though he came so close so many times, He was hosting his fan appreciation event in Arkansas, but what of those participating?

    Jeff Gordon, who retired his car early, had a gripe about the overheating that was the rule in the race. This was an attempt by NASCAR to break up the two car tandems and go back to pack racing, which fans said they preferred. He said NASCAR should look at that. We’ll see. But the most interesting comments came from Sprint Cup Champ Tony Stewart. His press conference had to be the most unusual I’ve ever witnessed. He said (paraphrasing here) that there were not enough cars wrecked during the race and that the race should be extended if half the cars had not been wrecked. Further, he said that a figure-eight change to Talladega SuperSpeedway might be in order to assure that enough wrecks happened to please the fans.

    Tony probably had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, but the point was well taken. Ever since Bobby Allison got lifted into the fence at Talladega, restrictor plates have been the rule and I don’t see anything to change that now. Never mind that there might be solutions other than restrictor plates to the problem, this is what we have to deal with. Drivers hate these races, more Talladega than Daytona, but it matters not. This is what we have to deal with.

    Restrictor plate racing gives the fans an unnatural atmosphere. Racing has its good cars and it’s bad. In a perfect world, the good cars go to the front and the bad cars don’t. Daytona and Talladega lets everyone play. It doesn’t matter if you are good or bad, you can win. It’s a noble idea. Just ask David Ragan, a guy who doesn’t have a chance at most tracks, but was in the mix for the win Sunday. Of course he had a big time ride last year and nearly won at both Daytona and Talladega, but this year, he’s driving for the underfunded Front Row Racing team, and yet he was up front and looking good because of his skill.

    I agree with the champ. We have tried to make NASCAR like football, basketball, and baseball. It’s just cannot be done. Racing is racing and has nothing to do with sticks and balls. Despite all the changes, and by that I mean the Lucky Dog, wave around, and double file restarts, attendance continues to decline and TV rating continue to do the same. Maybe it’s time to make some real changes at Daytona and Talladega and look at what we aren’t. We aren’t football, basketball, and baseball. Recent surveys indicate that folks hate the Chase—about 75% of them. Maybe it’s time to go back to racing, No contrived rules (and that includes restrictor plates—find a real solution) and the realization that we are different from the other sports. It’s a unique perspective, I know, and one I don’t ever expect anyone to endorse, but I can dream.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Capital City 400

    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 58th 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 24th 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 23rd.

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

    Not Surprising:  While none of the Hendrick drivers scored the elusive 200th 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 11th 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 18th.

    “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 22nd.

    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.”

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas STP 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas STP 400

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Tyler Barrick/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]From the command to start engine from Victory Junction Gang campers to Brad Keselowski manning the tank to rip up the Kansas track after the race ended, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 2nd Annual STP 400.

    Surprising:  While Kansas may be known as the Land of Oz, it was more like the land of highs and lows for this race day, with an extremely high number of engine failures and pit errors to a record low number of cautions.

    Dale Earnhardt, Jr., driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard, was one of the first to struggle on pit road, missing it completely as he attempted to pit early in the race. Other drivers, such as Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick barely made it to the pits after running short on fuel. And even five-time champion Jimmie Johnson had his own set of pit woes with his team struggling with a loose lug nut.

    There were also an extremely high number of engine problems, affecting  drivers from Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin to four-time champion Jeff Gordon, all of whose engines either sputtered or just plain blew up completely.

    And as for cautions, there were only three, the lowest ever for a Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway. Although there was the lowest number of cautions, on the flip side, the average speed was surprisingly the highest at Kansas, 144.126 mph, a new track record.

    Not Surprising:  On the rough surface of the Kansas Speedway, it was not surprising that tires made all the difference in the outcome of the race. Just ask Martin Truex, Jr. whose tires fell off after leading 173 laps, costing him the race win and handing it to Denny Hamlin with just 31 laps to go.

    “We put that last set of tires on and it wasn’t anything like it had been all day long – just bad, bad loose,” the driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry said. “We had them. I don’t know what happened with that last set of tires but they were terrible.”

    With Truex’s tire troubles, Denny Hamlin capitalized, scoring his 19th victory in 231 Cup Series races. This was the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota driver’s second victory and fourth top-10 finish in the 2012 season. It was also the first time his manufacturer, Toyota, was in victory lane at Kansas.

    “I knew that he was driving his heart out as well as I was driving mine,” Hamlin said. “What got me the lead was driving hard and that’s kind of where we were able to stretch it out.”

    Surprising:  After scoring the pole position, it was surprisingly heartbreaking that the troubles that have been omnipresent for A.J. Allmendinger continued. The driver of the No. 22 AAA Dodge for Penske Racing went from race leader to a 32nd place finish because of engine troubles.

    “Man, it’s just starting to feel like ‘Ground Hog’s Day’,” Allmendinger said. “We were off to such a great start and then the gremlins hit us.”

    “Not sure how to explain it other than you’re on the pole one minute riding around leading laps and then the next thing you know your car isn’t right,” Dinger continued. “I just couldn’t believe it. Like I said, ‘Ground Hog Day.’

    Not Surprising:  With his confidence growing, it was not surprising to see fellow Penske racer Sam Hornish Jr. have a respectable run in his one off deal for the team. The driver of the No. 12 SKF Penske Dodge scored a 19th place finish.

    “We had a decent day,” Hornish Jr. said. “We led some laps and made a very respectable effort.”

    “It was good to get back in a Cup car again.”

    Surprising:  Since everyone wants to win in front of their friends and family, it was surprising that no home town heroes were in victory lane at Kansas Speedway. Carl Edwards, who was able to drive to the track from his home, finished ninth and Clint Bowyer, fellow Kansas native, had engine troubles, finishing in the 36th spot.

    “It was just a major bummer,” Clint Bowyer, the driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota, said. “I just wish it wouldn’t have happened here.”

    “It wasn’t a great result but a really good effort,” Edwards said of his run in the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion. “I wanted to win here more than anything but we get to come back.”

    “It’s humbling and I can’t wait to come back,” Edwards continued. “We’ll do it.”

    Not Surprising:   The quest for the 200th win for Hendrick Motorsports is not surprisingly beginning to resemble the streak that Susan Lucci experienced with her Daytime Emmy awards. While Hendrick Motorsports had a fairly good day, with the exception of Jeff Gordon, the 200th victory still remains elusive.

    “It just didn’t happen,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger said. “As a group, we know it’s coming.”

    “It’s just when you have a target, it always makes it more challenging,” Gordon continued. “We’re trying not to put too much pressure on us with that and just trying to go out and do our thing and do our job.”

    Surprising:  While Hendrick Motorsports struggled to reach their 200th win marker at Kansas, it was surprising to note that there is another quest for a 200th victory. The race winning No. 11 car in fact now has 199 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories, breaking a tie for most wins all-time with the No. 43.

    Other drivers who have won in the No. 11 car include Cale Yarborough with 55 wins, Ned Jarrett with 49, Darrell Waltrip with 43, Denny Hamlin with 19, Junior Johnson with 11, Bill Elliott with 6, Geoff Bodine with 4, Terry Labonte with 4, Bobby Allison with 3, Buddy Baker with 2, A.J. Foyt with 1, Mario Andretti with 1 and Parnelli Jones with 1.

    Not Surprising:  Greg Biffle, to no one’s surprise, has continued his consistently good runs. The driver of the No. 16 3M Ford finished fifth and more important maintained his points lead.

    “It’s not a disappointing day for a fifth-place finish,” Biffle said. “But it’s probably a disappointing day for how the car ran.”

    “It feels good to be disappointed with a fifth-place finish,” Biff continued. “Fifth is OK but we wanted to compete better on the race track.”

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Texas Samsung Mobile 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Texas Samsung Mobile 500

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”254″][/media-credit]Deep in the heart of Texas Motor Speedway, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 16th running of the Samsung Mobile 500.

    Surprising:  In spite of Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tool Chevrolet, leading over 150 laps, it was surprising that his team owner will have to wait yet another race to secure the 200th win for Hendrick Motorsports.

    Johnson, who finished second, was the highest ranking HMS driver for the night. This was Johnson’s 13th top-10 finish in 18 races at Texas and his fifth top-10 finish for the year.

    “I’m definitely disappointed, but we had a great race car and there’s a lot to be proud of here today,” Johnson said. “Certainly wish we were there in Victory Lane but everybody knows we’re here.”

    “We’re awfully close to it with this KOBALT Tools Chevrolet.”

    Although still at the 199 win mark, all of the Hendrick drivers had surprisingly good nights, even Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne, who finished fourth and seventh respectively. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the final HMS pilot, finished tenth.

    This was the first time since the 2011 spring race at Talladega that Hendrick Motorsports had all four of its cars in the top-10 at the finish.

    Not Surprising:  At a track where Roush Fenway Racing traditionally dominates, it was not surprising to see one Roushketeer, Greg Biffle, in the winner’s circle with his cowboy hat and guns. This was Biff’s first win of the 2012 season and ended a 49 race winless streak.

    The win was the company’s ninth win at Texas, the most of any other racing entity.

    “I just dug deep,” Biffle said about his hard fought win. “I knew I had to do it and I kept trying and trying and trying.”

    “I knew the team would forgive me if I wrecked it trying to beat him,” Biffle continued. “So, I just gave it all I had.”

    Surprising:  It was surprising that the fire was extinguished and there was no smoke at Texas this weekend. Tony Stewart, reigning past champion, finished 24th, two laps down.

    “We just couldn’t get the handle on this thing tonight,” Stewart said. “We chased it all night.”

    “We’ll go back to the shop, tear it apart, and see what the deal is.”

    Surprisingly, his teammate Ryan Newman was right there with him, finishing a bit better at 21st, yet also two laps down.

    “Things didn’t go our way today,” the driver of the No. 39 US Army Chevrolet said. “But we’ll be back stronger next week to complete the mission, which is winning the race.”

    Not Surprising:  Martin Truex, Jr., to no one’s surprise, continued tearing up the track for Michael Waltrip Racing. The driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota started from the pole position and finished top ten, in sixth place to be exact.

    Truex, Jr. has finished top-10 in nine of the last twelve races.

    “It was a lot of fun out there running up front with the NAPA Toyota,” Truex, Jr. said. “I can’t say enough about everybody on this NAPA team and everybody at MWR.”

    “Hopefully we can keep this thing going.”

    His MWR teammate Mark Martin also had a great run at Texas, a track where he was rated 12th in the driver rankings. Martin, behind the wheel of the No. 55 Aaron’s 2000 Best of the Best Toyota, finished third.

    This was Martin’s 13th top-10 finish in 23 races at Texas Motor Speedway.

    “Mark Martin is so enthusiastic,” team owner Michael Waltrip said. “He has pumped all of the drivers up.”

    “We are very happy with our team’s performance.”

    Surprising:  It was most surprising that at a race where there are on average eight to nine restarts, there were only two caution flags thrown, one for debris and one for Trevor Bayne’s encounter with the wall.

    The yellow flag flew just twice within the first 100 laps of the race, leaving the rest of the race to be run under green flag conditions. This was the first time in history that a superspeedway race had that many green flag laps without a caution.

    Not Surprising:   Unfortunately but not surprisingly, there was no Bubba Watson moment for Denny Hamlin at Texas, a track at which he traditionally runs well. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Office/March of Dimes Toyota had a decent day, finishing 12th, but was the last car on the lead lap at race end.

    Surprising:  At a track where he sat out last year’s fall race because of the Truck race incident with Ron Hornaday and where this year he had an issue in the pits with his air hose getting stuck under the car, Kyle Busch had a surprising good day after all.

    The driver brought his No. 18 Toyota Interstate Batteries Toyota to the checkered flag in the 11th spot.

    Not Surprising:  Since Chassis No. 665 scored a good finish for Landon Cassill at Michigan last year, it was not surprising that new driver Kurt Busch gave it a whirl for a good run at Texas. The driver of the No. 51 Phoenix Construction Chevrolet finished 13th.

    “It was a good night and finish for us,” Busch said. “We had little struggles but were able to overcome those.”

    “This was a good night and a nice top-15 finish for us.”

    Surprising:  The struggles of the Penske Dodge teams surprisingly continued and both drivers ended up just plain frustrated.

    AJ Allmendinger, in the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, finished 15th but his teammate Brad Keselowski, behind the wheel of the Blue Deuce, had all kinds of problems that sent him off to the garage, finishing in the frustratingly low position of 36th spot.

    “The race tonight was frustrating,” Dinger said. “We had a fast Shell/Pennzoil Dodge and we just didn’t make it happen tonight.”

    “This has been a very frustrating weekend to say the least,” Keselowski said. “We just need to clean some things up so that the potential of this team can shine.”

    “Right now, we aren’t doing that.”

    Not Surprising:  As predicted, especially given the wicked weather in the area, the wind most certainly did wreak havoc throughout the race. And while it affected most drivers equally, there were still some drivers that felt the high wind added to the frustrations of their day.

    “Between the wind, the changing race track and the handling, it was a long night for the Target team,” Juan Pablo Montoya said. “We didn’t have much of a chance to work on the car like we had hoped to.”

    JPM finished 16th in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet, one lap down at race end.

  • Greg Biffle Snaps Winless Streak at Texas Motor Speedway

    Greg Biffle Snaps Winless Streak at Texas Motor Speedway

    [media-credit name=”Nigel Kinrade/Autostock” align=”alignright” width=”301″][/media-credit]So far this year Greg Biffle had done everything right, except win. That all changed on Saturday night as he led 90 laps on his way to winning the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

    “I’ll tell you what, I could say it’s about time, but hard work pays off still today, and that’s what this is about,” Biffle says. “The team and Matt Puccia putting together the guys he has, the engine shop, how hard they’ve worked on the fuel injection and the engines and all that.  I am just thankful to get the opportunity to drive these cars as fast as they are.  We knew it was a matter of time we were going to win one of these things.  We’ve been running so good.  We had great pit stops, we’ve had good cars.  Vegas we were off a little bit, and that ate at us a little bit because that’s a good track for us.  So we came here and really focused on our car to get it driving the best we could.”

    The 17th win of his career allowed Biffle to end a 49-race winless streak that dated back to October 3, 2010 when he won at Kansas Speedway.

    With 30 laps to go, Biffle was able to catch Jimmie Johnson in traffic and pass him for the lead.

    “I’ll tell you what, catching the 48 car at the end, I had to dig deep,” Biffle comments. “It was all I had to be able to get to him, and it seemed like when I got to him it was too easy.  I don’t know if he used up his tires or the traffic — he had trouble, I think a little bit of trouble in traffic.  That’s when I could close in on him.  But over all it was a good night for us.”

    Johnson would come home to finish second despite getting into the wall with 15 to go for his fifth top five of 2012 after leading 156 laps.

    “I wish we could have won,” Johnson says. “We were in contention, had a great race car.  Pit stops were just amazing all night long.  Car was great.  You know, at the end the 16 — really probably the last two or three runs the 16 and I were pretty equal, run pretty similar lap times, and right before the last pit stop I got caught in some traffic, he got to me and came out of the pits and was pacing him and had a second half lead and then we caught traffic, some guys were multiple laps down that didn’t show much respect to myself, the leader, and before I know it 16 was there on the side of me and got by.”

    Mark Martin would finish third to continue the hot streak that Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) has been on early this season.

    “I am just so proud of MWR and all the people there and the teamwork that they have shown there starting with Martin Truex, Jr., who has put so much work into getting the program where it was when we started the season and everybody combined,” he says. “They really have a lot of great people there with great attitude, great teamwork, and man, have I got one awesome crew chief in Rodney Childers.  This is so much fun and such an incredible privilege to drive a race car at this point in my career, to be able to drive a race car for a team like that and in a hot rod like that.

    “I could see the leader the whole race, and at times we could gain — when we were at our very best we were making some gains on the leaders, and when we were at our worst we were falling back some, and most of the time we could kind of maintain pace.  We don’t have much more work to do, and we can get up there and be battling for the win.  So I’m really proud of the guys.  We’ve made improvements on our racer every race that we’ve got to run together, so Rodney and I are starting to figure some things out in the car that I like for the long haul.  So it’s working well.”

    Jeff Gordon would finish fourth followed by Matt Kenseth in fifth. Pole sitter Martin Truex Jr. finished sixth, followed by Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    The race was the quickest in Texas Motor Speedway history with an average speed of 160.577 and had the fewest cautions ever with two for 10 laps. The first was for Trevor Bayne getting into the wall, while the second was for debris.

    Following the win, Biffle leads Kenseth and Earnhardt Jr. by 19 points in the Sprint Cup Series Points Standings heading into Kansas Speedway.

     

    Full Rundown:

    1. Greg Biffle
    2. Jimmie Johnson
    3. Mark Martin
    4. Jeff Gordon
    5. Matt Kenseth
    6. Martin Truex Jr.
    7. Kasey Kahne
    8. Carl Edwards
    9. Kevin Harvick
    10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
    11. Kyle Busch
    12. Denny Hamlin
    13. Kurt Busch
    14. Jamie McMurray
    15. AJ Allmendinger
    16. Juan Pablo Montoya
    17. Clint Bowyer
    18. Paul Menard
    19. Joey Logano
    20. Marcos Ambrose
    21. Ryan Newman
    22. Aric Almirola
    23. Regan Smith
    24. Tony Stewart
    25. Casey Mears
    26. David Reutimann
    27. Bobby Labonte
    28. Trevor Bayne
    29. Jeff Burton
    30. Landon Cassill
    31. David Gilliland
    32. Reed Sorenson
    33. JJ Yeley
    34. Tony Raines
    35. David Ragan
    36. Brad Keselowski
    37. Dave Blaney
    38. Travis Kvapil
    39. Josh Wise
    40. Mike Bliss
    41. Michael McDowell
    42. Scott Riggs
    43. Scott Speed

     

  • Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 8 Texas Motor Speedway – Samsung Mobile 500 – April 14, 2012

    Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 8 Texas Motor Speedway – Samsung Mobile 500 – April 14, 2012

    [media-credit name=”texasmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”199″][/media-credit]We head to the Lone Star State for tonight’s Samsung Mobile 500 for the first scheduled race under the lights during this 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Its wide, its fast, and there will be plenty of drama when the green flag flies later this evening. This is just the second mile-and-a-half track of the season, and is guaranteed to pull me away from the NHL playoffs tonight.

    Texas has been one of my favorite tracks for a while now, I’m not sure if its the speed, the flames and six-shooters in Victory Lane, the simple thought that ‘Everything’s Bigger in Texas’ – (a track that comfortably seats over 190,000). If you recall last fall’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway , the race was promoted as a old west showdown between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart. This weekend will not be much different except that it will be a duel between two teams, Roush Fenway Racing (8 wins in 22 Cup races at Texas) and Michael Waltrip Racing.

    Last Week’s Recap

    I had a great time celebrating Easter back in Syracuse, Mom made some great ham, showed my brothers and SpeedwayMedia.com editor Ed Coombs how to catch fish…
    Back to racing.

    It was two-weeks ago that we visited Martinsville Speedway for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500, and it was a dandy of a race on April Fools Day. My Dark Horse pick two weeks ago was a long shot after NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying, but Kurt Busch was up for the challenge of winning the race from 40th. Well, Busch’s day ended after a slue of problems with the No. 51 Phoenix Construction Services Chevrolet including a pair of blown right-front tires. Busch’s No. 51 was shown way down towards the bottom of the scoring pylon in 33rd, netting me yet another finish outside the top 30.

    It was a much better day for my Winner Pick two weeks ago, leading a race-high 328 laps and completely dominating the 500-lap battle at Martinsville Speedway. It was David Reutimann that squashed my hope of picking up my first win of the season two weeks ago at Martinsville. When his car came to rest on the backstretch with just three laps to go, he brought out the caution that would make the final restart of the race a five-car fiasco. My Winner Pick had the lead on the final restart, partly because him and his teammate Jimmie Johnson opted not to come to pit road under the final caution for fresh tires. Jeff Gordon had dominated all day, and when the field took the green flag on the race’s final restart, he was punted by Clint Bowyer, who was shoved by race-winner Ryan Newman. It was a result of fresh tires vs. old tires, and the old tires lost. Gordon finished 14th.

    Texas Picks

    Besides a couple Hendrick chassis, its a MWR versus Roush Fenway battle this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Roush Fenway drivers Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle are sandwiched between pole-sitter Martin Truex and Mark Martin in the top-4 starting spots, setting the stage for the two-team battle under the lights tonight.

    Winner Pick

    I think its Matt Kenseth who will fire the six-shooters tonight in Fort Worth. He is the defending winner of the Samsung Mobile 500, his second Cup win at Texas coming this time last year. His average finish of 8.7 at Texas is the best out of all the drivers taking the green tonight, and he’s also got two NASCAR Nationwide Series victories under his belt at Texas.

    Kenseth will start on the outside of the front row tonight, and is excited for his chances of putting the cowboy hat on in Victory Lane, “I don’t really know why, but it has been a pretty good track for us in the past. We have had a lot of good runs and finishes here. Whenever you come back to a track you’ve had success at, then I think you probably always look forward to coming back to it maybe a little bit more. As far as mile-and-a-half tracks, we have only been to Vegas (this season) and I thought we performed really well there.“

    Dark Horse Pick

    Since Roush Fenway claimed my Winner Pick this week, Michael Waltrip Racing will take my Dark Horse this week, although this pick is a stretch of a Dark Horse.

    He’s starting 4th tonight in just his 5th start of the 2012 season, but he will be piloting a rocket ship in the form of a Toyota Camry. Mark Martin is running a limited schedule this season in the No. 55 Aaron’s Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing, so when he does make it behind the wheel, he’s got to make the most out of it.

    He fired the six-shooters in Victory Lane at Texas back in 1998, but struggled severely in the two races in the Lone Star State last year with 36th and 19th place finishes. Texas has been fairly kind to him with 7 top-5’s and 12 top-10’s, and enjoys the ‘Hometown’ feel Texas has for him, “Texas Motor Speedway is about 450 miles from my hometown of Batesville, Arkansas. I’ve had a stronger fan following there than anywhere else. Sure I listen in driver introductions when the fans cheer or boo, but I really notice the fans in general throughout the weekend. They are pretty vocal. Since it isn’t that far from Batesville it’s one of the places where my fans go. Texas and Kansas are probably the two places where I see or hear from most of my fans. That’s always a great feeling.”

    Tonight will be fun and I look forward to what the Lone Start State’s first race of 2012 has to offer. Until Next Time…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Subway Fresh Fit 500

    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 15th place finish,” Hamlin said. “We just kept working at it.”

    This was Hamlin’s 18th career win in his 225th 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 22nd, 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 34th.

    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 18th 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 38th 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 30th place finish. The MWR driver now sits 17th 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.”

  • Common Sense Rules for NASCAR

    Common Sense Rules for NASCAR

    CIA Stock Photo

    I was reading a NASCAR news story the other day and thinking to myself, ‘What ever happened to common sense?’ And then it occurred to me that the term common sense is an oxymoron.

    Having the sense to do or say the right thing has become a characteristic that is rare in today’s society. NASCAR is a perfect example of this.

    Common sense and truisms are closely linked so I thought I would share some of these truths as guidelines for the common sense impaired.

    A closed mouth gathers no foot. This one is simple. Think before you speak (or tweet) and avoid those embarrassing headlines (Kasey Kahne-Breastgate).

    Be careful who you step on while climbing the ladder of success; you’re liable to meet them on the way down. Kurt Busch

    Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Just ask Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman or Brad Keselowski-Secret fine recipients.

    Expect the unexpected. Trevor Bayne wins the 2011 Daytona 500.

    Good things come in small packages. Mark Martin

    Hope springs eternal. Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans

    Money talks. “It doesn’t matter if you have the most wins, pole positions, a championship or talent. If you have the money, you get a job.”  Mike Skinner

    Keep your hands to yourself. “Hold my watch.” Richard Childress

    Nobody loves a winner who wins all the time. – Jimmie Johnson

    Close, but no cigar. Carl Edwards

    Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. – Tony Stewart

    If in doubt, remember this. There is nothing so small it can’t be blown out of proportion.

    Mike Skinner quote courtesy of Angie Skinner-SiriusXM NASCAR Radio via Facebook