CONCORD, N.C. — Being a day late didn’t stop Matt Crafton from finding the winning lottery ticket as he drove to victory in the Queen City.
The driver of the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota led 47 laps and outraced the caution clock in the closing stages to win the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. It’s his 13th career win, his second of the season, second at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the first time he’s won back to back races in his career.
Kyle Busch led 27 laps on his way to a runner-up finish in his No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. Johnny Sauter led one lap on his way to rounding out the podium in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet. Tyler Reddick finished fourth in his No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford and Matt Tifft rounded out the top-five in his No. 11 KBM Toyota.
Spencer Gallagher finished sixth in his No. 23 GMSR Chevrolet. Timothy Peters led 11 laps on his way to a seventh-place finish in his No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota as Christopher Bell finished eighth in his No. 4 KBM Toyota. Daniel Hemric led 15 laps on his way to a ninth-place finish in his No. 19 BKR Ford followed by William Byron who led 25 laps on his way to rounding out the top-10 in his No. 9 KBM Toyota.
The race lasted one hour, 25 minutes and one second at an average speed of 141.855 mph. There were 14 lead changes among nine drivers and three cautions for 14 laps.
Matt Crafton won his first race of the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Friday in the JACOB Companies 200 at Dover International Speedway.
It was Crafton’s 12th career victory in the Camping World Truck Series and his first win at Dover. Daniel Suarez ended up second after competing for the win in the later stages. Fellow Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Christopher Bell finished third, Johnny Sauter ended the day fourth, and Cole Custer was able to recover from a penalty for jumping a restart while leading to round out the top five in fifth.
KBM driver and last week’s winner at Kansas William Byron inherited the pole after the scheduled qualifying session was rained out earlier in the day. Byron led the first 80 laps before John Wes Townley stayed out and led three laps under caution. Tyler Reddick took the lead after Townley pitted with one more caution lap to go and led for 39 laps before Crafton was able to get around with just 78 total laps to go. Crafton was able to hold off a charge by Suarez in the final dozen laps to win.
“I just wanted to manage just enough and I could gap (Suarez) just enough and could run hard enough to push the right front tire off,” Crafton said. “I think everybody was a little bit tight and then you’d get to somebody and you’d be really tight. Then (the lead car)’d drive away. There were a couple times (the crew) said he was seven back and within a lap-and-a-half he was three back and I thought ‘I better go now.’”
It was a frustrating end for Suarez, who has eight top five finishes in 17 starts for KBM in the Truck Series but no victories. The Monterrey, Mexico driver said after the race in the media center that “We’re here to win races” and to expect him to close in on that first win sometime soon. It was later announced that his No. 51 Toyota was found to be too high in the left rear in post-race inspection; possible penalties could be given out on Wednesday.
There were six caution flags for 29 laps in the 200 lap race. The first was for a single car accident when Austin Wayne Self spun out in turn two on lap 44. The second was when Brandon Brown lost control of his Chevrolet just a few minutes later on lap 57. Ben Rhodes tangled with fellow rookie Rico Abreu in a turn four incident on the Brown caution’s restart. CJ Faison spun in turn four on lap 81. On lap 133, Townley tagged the wall and wrecked in turn four. Finally, there was a debris caution on lap 169 to set up the finish.
Full Results:
1st Matt Crafton
2nd Daniel Suarez
3rd Christopher Bell
4th Johnny Sauter
5th Cole Custer
6th Spencer Gallagher
7th Tyler Reddick
8th Ryan Truex
9th Daniel Hemric
10th Kaz Grala
11th William Bryon
12th Matt Tifft
13th Ben Kennedy
14th Timothy Peters
15th John Hunter Nemechek
16th Nick Drake
17th Austin Hill
18th Jordan Anderson
19th Cameron Hayley
20th Brandon Jones
21st Tyler Young
22nd Rico Abreu
23rd Travis Kvapil
24th Tommy Joe Martins
25th CJ Faison
26th Bobby Pierce
27th Parker Kligerman
28th Ben Rhodes
29th John Wes Townley
30th Jennifer Jo Cobb
31st Brandon Brown
32nd Austin Wayne Self
Camping World Truck Series Chase Grid
With Crafton’s first victory of the season, he has now joined the grid (Ordered by points):
HAMPTON, Ga.– Matt Crafton wins the pole for this afternoon’s Camping World Truck Series race.
The driver of the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota posted the fastest time in qualifying for the Great Clips 200 with a time of 30.836 and a speed of 179.790 mph.
John Wes Townley will start second in his No. 05 Athenian Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 30.854 and a speed of 179.685 mph. Christopher Bell will start third in his No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota after posting a time of 30.858 and a speed of 179.662 mph. Grant Enfinger will start fourth in his No. 33 GMS Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 30.908 and a speed of 179.371 mph. Cameron Hayley rounded out the top-five in his No. 13 TSR Toyota after posting a time of 31.014 and a speed of 178.758 mph.
Cole Custer will start sixth in his No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Ben Rhodes will start seventh in his No. 41 TSR Toyota. Ryan Truex will start eighth in his No. 81 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota. Daniel Hemric will start ninth in his No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford. Ben Kennedy rounded out the top-10 in his No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota.
Spencer Gallagher will start 11th in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet. Timothy Peters rounded out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying in his No. 17 RHR Toyota.
Jordan Anderson, Korbin Forrister, Norm Benning, Timothy Viens and Ryan Ellis were the five drivers that failed to qualify.
As strong as he was in winning Friday night’s Ford EcoBoost 200, Matt Crafton was already looking ahead to 2016.
Crafton, whose hopes for a third consecutive NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship were dashed by a crash at Phoenix last week, won his sixth race of the season, holding off John Hunter Nemechek and Tyler Reddick in the season finale.
Although Crafton’s No. 88 Toyota Tundra finished 2.9 seconds ahead of Nemechek and more than six seconds ahead of Reddick, the 39-year-old veteran still wound up third in the point standings, 15 behind 19-year-old Erik Jones.
“I was having so much fun there at the end of this race,” said Crafton after his first career victory at HMS. “Six wins with as many laps as we’ve led–it’s been awesome this season. We just made too many mistakes. I made too many mistakes. … I promise one thing: It’s going to make us stronger in 2016.”
Crafton said he was happy to be able to “take the gloves off” and go all out for a win at HMS. “That was a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s amazing what Junior (crew chief Joiner) can do with these trucks. On that last run, we hit a home run there.”
Ultimately, Kyle Busch’s eye for youthful talent paid off as Jones did what he needed to in becoming the youngest driver ever to claim a CWTS title (19 years, 5 months, 21 days) and first NASCAR Next alum. He also became the first to win a driver’s title for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
“He put it to me when he beat me in a Super Late Model race,” recalled Busch, who will race for the Sprint Cup title on Sunday. “I tend to pick up on the talent of younger kids. Actually, the first time he raced against me, he blew my doors off, then blew up 40 laps later. I said, ‘Good. I don’t have to race (against) this one.’”
There was no blowing up Friday night.
Jones entered the race 19 points ahead of Reddick, his nearest competitor, and 32 points ahead of Crafton, the Keystone Light Pole-sitter. Making his first HMS start, Jones needed only to avoid trouble and finish 15th or higher to claim the series crown.
Erik Jones becomes the youngest driver ever to claim a CWTS title. Photo by Noel Lanier
Jones, who notched three wins this season and has seven career CWTS victories, finished sixth in the race behind Ben Kennedy and Timothy Peters. He qualified fifth and was content to race safely and efficiently, remaining in the top 10 for most of the race and avoiding any calamity on the track.
“I can’t think of a better way to repay these guys. I can’t think of a better ending than that,” said Jones, who expects to drive full-time in the XFINITY Series for Joe Gibbs Racing next year after parts of three seasons with Kyle Busch Motorsports.
“Eric’s done a lot of growing up in a short period of time,” Busch said. “I’m glad he stuck with me and our plan. I think he has a lot of bigger and greater things ahead on his plate.”
NASCAR Drive for Diversity and NASCAR Next alum Daniel Suarez appeared to have the strongest truck early in Friday’s race, charging from sixth to the lead. But Suarez slid up the track into the truck of Dexter Stacey on Lap 61, falling back to 15th, then found the wall again on Lap 83.
That left Crafton in position to dominate the race. He led 93 of the 134 laps, leaving NASCAR Next driver Nemechek (Chevrolet) and Reddick (Ford) in his wake to battle for second.
Reddick, driving for Brad Keselowski Racing, started fourth and advanced to second behind Crafton with 40 laps to go. But by then, Jones, who briefly slid back to 14th after a caution flag shuffle, had rallied to seventh, keeping Reddick, also a 19-year-old driver, at bay in the chase for the title.
“We were very consistent this year. I’m proud about that,” Reddick said. “We just have to move on to next year. I know what second place feels like and I really don’t like it too much. If I didn’t have enough reasons to win a championship, I’ve got one more.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race – Ford EcoBoost 200
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Homestead, Florida
Friday, November 20, 2015
Average Speed of Race Winner: 126.725 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 35 Mins, 10 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.942 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 18 laps.
Lead Changes: 14 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: M. Crafton 1-30; J. Nemechek # 31-48; T. Reddick 49; J. Townley 50; D. Suarez(i) 51-60; J. Nemechek # 61-62; M. Crafton 63; J. Nemechek # 64-65; M. Crafton 66-67; J. Nemechek # 68; M. Crafton 69-78; J. Nemechek # 79; M. Crafton 80-83; C. Bell 84-88; M. Crafton 89-134.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): M. Crafton 6 times for 93 laps; J. Nemechek # 5 times for 24 laps; D. Suarez(i) 1 time for 10 laps; C. Bell 1 time for 5 laps; J. Townley 1 time for 1 lap; T. Reddick 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: E. Jones # – 899; T. Reddick – 884; M. Crafton – 877; J. Sauter – 809; T. Peters – 804; C. Hayley # – 766; D. Hemric # – 733; J. Townley – 730; B. Kennedy – 690; S. Gallagher # – 677.
After three green, white, checkered attempts, Kyle Busch was again the one to reign victorious, scoring his 43rd Camping World Truck Series win at Pocono Raceway. This was Busch’s first Truck victory for the 2015 season and his first at Pocono Raceway in the Trucks.
With the victory, Busch has now won at least one race in all three of NASCAR’s national series for the tenth time in his career.
“This is really, really cool,” Kyle Busch said. “Great to win and put Toyota in Victory Lane and my first win here as well.”
In spite of the three restarts he had to contend with, Kyle Busch felt that he managed them well. Unfortunately, his young teammate Erik Jones did not fare so well, getting spun and suffering damage on one of those fateful restarts.
“The restarts weren’t too bad from my seat,” Busch said. “But behind me it looked crazy. I hate it that Erik Jones got washed out on that restart. The restarts didn’t go his way today.”
Busch also was running low on fuel at the end of the race and had to nurse his race track during through cautions.
“One of the biggest things we did was to shut the engine off during yellows,” Busch said. “The more you can shut it off, because these things are gas guzzlers, the better off you are.”
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Chevrolet, finished in the runner-up position, after taking tires late in the race.
“We had an interesting weekend, to say the least,” Harvick said. “But I signed up to give some feedback and help Cole (Custer) and JR Motorsports get situated on the bigger tracks. The great part is that the guys kept working and they didn’t get mad.”
“So, we made something out of the weekend. IT’s not where we want to be performance-wise, but that’s why you run the race.”
“Yeah, I just want to thank everybody on our Haas Automation Chevrolet.”
Tyler Reddick, driver of the No. 19 Draw Tite Ford, finished third. And thanks to the misfortune that befell Matt Crafton, who tangled with Brad Keselowski to finish 28th, Reddick also became the new points leader in the Truck Series.
“Our guys did an outstanding job,” Reddick said. “These guys have been working really hard. We didn’t have the speed we needed to compete with the 51 and the 4, but the truck was very raceable in traffic.”
“But we still came home with a top three finish.”
Reddick is now officially eleven points ahead of Matt Crafton in the championship point standings.
“We need to stay aggressive,” Reddick said. “It’s always been race to race as far as the points If we run the best we can every weekend, it will all end up right at the end.”
Cameron Haley scored his best career finish to date, finishing fourth in his No. 13 Cabinets by Hayley/Carolina Nut Co. Toyota.
“I had Cup drivers on all sides and that was a hell of a feeling,” Haley said. “Learned a ton from him and my spotter Eddie D’Hondt (Jeff Gordon’s spotter) up on the stand.”
“I will do lots of celebrating tonight. This was a good top five finish for sure.”
Austin Dillon, who also pitted late in the race finished fifth in his No. 33 Rheem Chevrolet, in spite of an incident with Erik Jones.
“We had a good run at the very last second, but it didn’t work,” Dillon said. “I hate it for Erik Jones, but we had a good conversation afterward.”
Johnny Sauter, Timothy Peters, Matt Tifft, Daniel Hemric, and Erik Jones rounded out the top ten finishing order for the 6th annual Pocono Mountains 150. The full results are as follows:
015 NCWTS Pocono Mountains 150 Race Results
Fin
Str
Trk
Driver
Team
Lap
Pts
BPts
Status
TLd
LLd
1
2
51
Kyle Busch(i)
Dollar General Toyota
69
0
Running
2
53
2
7
0
Kevin Harvick(i)
Haas Automation Chevrolet
69
0
Running
3
6
19
Tyler Reddick
Draw Tite Ford
69
41
Running
4
16
13
Cameron Hayley #
Cabinets by Hayley/Carolina Nut Co. Toyota
69
40
Running
5
5
33
Austin Dillon(i)
Rheem Chevrolet
69
0
Running
6
17
98
Johnny Sauter
Nextant/Curb Records Toyota
69
39
1
Running
1
4
7
12
17
Timothy Peters
Red Horse Racing Toyota
69
37
Running
8
14
54
Matt Tifft
ToyotaCare Toyota
69
36
Running
9
15
14
Daniel Hemric #
California Clean Power Chevrolet
69
35
Running
10
1
4
Erik Jones #
Toyota
69
35
1
Running
1
9
11
8
11
Ben Kennedy
Local Motors Toyota
69
33
Running
12
11
15
Mason Mingus
Call 811 Chevrolet
69
32
Running
13
9
8
John H. Nemechek #
D.A.B. Constructors Inc. Chevrolet
69
31
Running
14
13
23
Spencer Gallagher #
Allegiant Travel Chevrolet
69
31
1
Running
1
3
15
20
2
Tyler Young
Randco Industries/Young’s Building Systems
69
29
Running
16
18
63
Garrett Smithley
SegPay/Mittler Bros Machine & Tool/Ski Soda
69
28
Running
17
10
5
John Wes Townley
Zaxby’s Chevrolet
68
27
Running
18
21
74
Jordan Anderson
SRGFX.com Chevrolet
67
26
Running
19
32
50
Kyle Martel
Finish Line Express Chevrolet
67
25
Running
20
25
28
Ryan Ellis
FDNY/Julie’s Cause Chevrolet
67
24
Running
21
23
40
Todd Peck
Arthritis Foundation/OSS Health Chevrolet
66
23
Running
22
30
6
Norm Benning
Chevrolet
63
22
Running
23
19
1
Travis Kvapil
Burnie Grill Chevrolet
56
21
Running
24
31
7
Ray Black Jr. #
ScubaLife.com Chevrolet
52
20
Accident
25
26
94
Wendell Chavous #
Lilly Trucking Chevrolet
51
19
Accident
26
24
10
Jennifer Jo Cobb
Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet
49
18
Running
27
29
8
Korbin Forrister #
Trump for President Chevrolet
24
17
Accident
28
3
88
Matt Crafton
ChiChi’s/Menards Toyota
13
16
Accident
29
22
45
BJ McLeod
Tilted Kilt Chevrolet
12
15
Overheating
30
4
29
Brad Keselowski(i)
Cooper Standard Ford
5
0
Accident
31
28
36
Justin Jennings
Mittler Bros Machine & Tool/Ski Soda Chevrolet
3
13
Vibration
32
27
0
Caleb Roark
Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet
3
12
Suspension
# = Rookie, Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led. (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Matt Crafton didn’t have the fastest truck in Friday night’s Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway, but he had the best feel for fuel mileage and what his crew chief would call their lucky fuel cell. The result was Crafton’s seventh series career victory.
With truck after truck pulling to the inside of the 1.5-mile Kansas oval over the last five laps with empty fuel cells, Crafton cruised over the finish line with only a few drops of fuel left in his ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra.
“It was not the winning truck,” Crafton said after getting to Victory Lane. “We were definitely a second-place truck.”
The truck that obviously was the fastest was the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra of rookie Erik Jones. It led 151 of 167 laps and was comfortably in the lead with four laps to go.
But it was also one of those trucks which ran short of fuel at the end. It wound up 11th.
“It just sucks – we had by far the best truck,” Jones said after the race. “We were up to an 11-second lead at one point and it’s just so terrible for these guys when we bring that fast of a truck. We couldn’t bring the win home and I saved as much as I could most of the run. The 19 (Tyler Reddick) made us run pretty hard. Being eight laps short, I don’t know how the 88 (Crafton) made it. It’s too bad, we’ll have to bring another fast truck next weekend to Charlotte and we’ll go get a win there.”
Also running out of fuel while in contention for the victory in the final laps after Jones dropped out were Reddick and Daniel Suarez.
The victory was the second of the season for Crafton, the defending series champion, and his second in the last three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races at Kansas. That made him the first driver to win more than once at the track located on the far west side of Kansas City.
“I heard somebody say that to me before the race,” Crafton, who led a total of six laps, said of the Kansas landmark win. “I said, ‘Two times’. ”
The victory allowed Crafton to pad his points lead to 17 points over Reddick as he attempts to win a third-straight series championship.
“You’ve got to be close enough to sneak one out once in a while,” Crafton said. “I’ve lost some like this so every once in a while when you steal one I don’t feel too bad about it.”
After the race, Crafton’s crew chief, Carl Joyner gave credit to a particular fuel cell which he said has given his trucks better fuel mileage for some reason.
Sprint Cup regular Ryan Newman, driving a truck owned by former Kansas Sprint Cup race winner Joe Nemechek and making his first truck series start since 2013, finished second.
Newman was in the seat as a favor to Nemechek, who is in the process of grooming his son John Hunter for the ride.
“Trying to teach John Hunter a little bit of what I’ve experienced on pit road, how to get everything you possibly can,” Newman said. “But that wasn’t my main goal. My goal was to come here and win.”
Johnny Sauter finished third.
Rounding out the top five were veteran Timothy Peters and rookie Cameron Hayley.
Jones, who won the pole earlier in the day with a lap at 179.396 mph, led the first 43 laps.
For the first 30 or so laps of those, Crafton stayed close to the young driver from Michigan. But then Jones began to pull away. On Lap 38, Jones’ lead over Crafton was 4 seconds.
But on Lap 41, a caution flag waved and on the ensuing stops, Crafton beat Jones out of the pits to take the lead.
On Lap 48, back came Jones to take the lead and once out in clean air again, he began to pull away. On Lap 60, his lead was 2.9 seconds. He would lose that margin – and the lead – as he was beaten out of the pits after yellow flag stops that began on Lap 67 by Newman.
But on the restart, he left Newman behind. By Lap 88, Jones’ lead was 6 seconds. By Lap 105, it was over 10 seconds on Newman.
On Lap 109, the caution waved again and, once again, Jones’ lead was erased as he was beaten off pit road by Reddick, who was involved in a crash with his Brad Keselowski Racing teammate and started the race from the back in his backup truck.
But once again the restart, Jones moved back to the front and began to move to a seemingly comfortable lead.
But only seemingly.
“I didn’t know how short we were, but I knew the fuel window,” Jones, who will make his first Sprint Cup Series start Saturday night in Kansas, said. “I knew we had to save and I couldn’t give the lead up to the 19 (Tyler Reddick) at that point. If a caution would have come out – losing track position is so big this year, if we would have lost the lead then we would have never been able to get it back. It’s just a shame. I saved as much as I could there later on and it just wasn’t enough. Eight laps short, we just couldn’t do it. We had a fast Tundra and it’s just a shame we couldn’t bring it home for these guys.”
Three of last Sunday’s top drivers failed to make the cut simply due to not being registered to run for Cup points. Regan Smith, Matt Crafton, and Johnny Sauter all were within the Top Twenty, but their focus is on one of the other two national series. Smith will be kept busy, though, as he sits in for the suspended Kurt Busch. Considering the ride was especially created by Gene Haas for Busch to wear his company colors, one has to wonder about the long-term fate of the No. 41.
What is 3100 pounds yet weighs in at under a ton? It appears Logano did not just have the winning ride at Daytona…he had a magic car.
The Hot 20 after Daytona
1. Joey Logano – 1 Win – 47 Points
Daytona 500 winner provided a “ton” of laughs on Letterman.
2. Kevin Harvick – 42 Points
If only it were the Daytona 505, all green, all of the time.
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr – 42 Points
A late change to the slow lane proved costly.
4. Denny Hamlin – 41 Points
Got yelled at so much, he thought he was Stenhouse for a moment.
5. Jimmie Johnson – 40 Points
Car was fast at Daytona, his pit crew even faster.
6. Casey Mears – 39 Points
Car just got better and better thanks to a Bootie call…or two.
7. Clint Bowyer – 37 Points
If you cannot be the man to beat the man, be the man who makes the man unbeatable.
8. Martin Truex Jr – 37 Points
Last year he was no Kurt Busch, this year that is a good thing.
9. Greg Biffle – 35 Points
This season you can discover “What’s Buggin’ Biffle.”
10. Kasey Kahne – 35 Points
Won just once in 2014, but Atlanta was the place.
11. David Gi_ _i _ and – 33 Points
I’ll take an “L”, Pat Sajack.
12. Michael Annett – 32 Points
14th on Thursday, 13th on Sunday, a Top Ten in Atlanta?
13. Sam Hornish Jr – 32 Points
Welcome back to Cup, Sam.
14. Austin Dillon – 30 Points
The No. 3 now driven by the man in the black hat.
15. Aric Almirola – 29 Points
Somewhere there has to be someone named Eric Elmirola.
16. David Ragan – 27 Points
Loaned out by Front Row to sit in for Kyle at Gibbs.
17. A.J. Allmendinger – 25 Points
No sponsor, no Sprint Unlimited.
18. Danica Patrick – 23 Points
Kurt sits, Tony wrecks, and Danica gets a written warning. Thank God for Harv.
19. Carl Edwards – 22 Points
Is there a doctor in the house? Why yes, yes there is.
20. Cole Whitt – 22 Points
Good funding stems from good finishes. I hope this helps.
Speeds over 200 mph. Three wide racing to the end. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had time at the front. So did Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Excellent announcing on FOX. Nice weather. What was there not to love about the Daytona 500?
Okay, if you were not a fan of Joey Logano and saw that caution come out as they were wrecking behind them on that final lap, maybe you were upset. Especially so as Kevin Harvick and Junior were trying to challenge at the end. Yet, they kept wrecking back there so NASCAR decided to err on the side of safety.
Gordon was involved in the melee, and was ranked 33rd, the final car on the lead lap of a race that went to green-white-checkers. If you were a fan of Tony Stewart or Matt Kenseth, early damage left them non-factors the rest of the day, with Smoke finishing 42nd. With 40 laps to go, Brad Keselowski went up in smoke to sit 41st. Danica Patrick was 21st, but rarely to be seen on the day.
If you are a Busch fan, any Busch, you were left cheering for Matt Crafton, who was 18th in his Cup debut, while Regan Smith was 16th. Neither picked up drivers’ points with each being registered in one of the other two national series. Both Casey Mears and Martin Truex Jr. each earned a Top Ten, with David Gilliland, Sam Hornish Jr., and Michael Annett all in the Top Fifteen. Now if they can only follow that up with solid results next week in Atlanta.
Still, not a Busch to be found in Georgia, either. I have always thought that by running an average of 25 races in the junior circuit, Kyle Busch was taking a seat away from an up and comer. That has been solved for the time being, but not in a fashion any of us wanted. That was a damn scary hit last Saturday, on a regular concrete wall, causing Busch a broken right leg and left foot. If there is a need for a wall, it is due to the possibility a car might hit it, and if the possibility exists, so does the need for a safer barrier to exist. I dislike Kyle driving so much in the Xfinity Series, but I dislike even more him having to be in hospital.
A Daytona 500 with neither Busch brother. At least Kyle’s situation is straight forward, which is more than one can say about that of Kurt. From my understanding, a despondent Busch texted his former girlfriend who then sent these along to his coach driver who encouraged her to visit. This she did, out of either compassion or to get Kurt to tell her son the relationship was over, I am no longer sure as to which. Kurt was naked the entire time of the visit, an image I am trying to keep out of my head. He tried to get her to leave by either cupping her face aggressively or choked her and slammed her head into a wall. No charges have yet been laid and a judge says he believed more of her story than that of the driver yet stated she lied during her testimony. In the end, he gave her a protection order to keep Busch away, causing NASCAR to react with the suspension. I find this whole situation a train wreck with more drama than most of us can be bothered to dwell upon. I wish them both well.
For most others, the season opened well, especially for the fans. While Junior had a strong car, Logano had the one that could challenge him. Sometimes luck decides how things work out, but Sunday at Daytona the car that was the stoutest when it counted, won. Sure, he was helped when Junior made a lane change that cost him too much for too long too late into the event, but Joey was the one guy who could, and did, take full advantage. Now it is off to Atlanta for 500 miles, the scene of Kasey Kahne’s lone victory of 2014. If you loved Daytona, you might as well stick around to see how Atlanta might measure up.
After an incredibly eventful Speedweeks, here is what was surprising and not surprising from NASCAR’s first and one of the biggest races of the season, the 57th annual Daytona 500.
Surprising: The various Daytona 500 race watching venues were definitely most surprising, from Kurt Busch watching from who knows where after his indefinite suspension due to domestic violence allegations to his brother Kyle watching from a hospital bed after breaking his leg and foot in an Xfinity race crash.
The other two unusual seats for the Daytona 500 were for Regan Smith and Matt Crafton, who substituted for the Busch brothers, in the No. 41 and No. 18 race cars respectively. Smith finished 16th for Stewart Haas Racing and Crafton finished 19th for Joe Gibbs Racing.
“Started off really tight with the race car and never got it turning,” Smith said from his race seat. “I don’t know, kind of frustrating. I actually anticipated a much better day and nothing much more to show for it. Those guys did a nice job all weekend but we just plowed through the corners.”
“It was a learning curve,” Crafton said from his unexpected race seat. “The first half we just rode around and tried to learn, learn, learn.”
“It was very, very tough, but that’s what we get paid to do – drive race cars and figure it out quick. I felt fine, just my back from being in that seat hurt. Under yellows I would loosen up the belts as much as I could and just try to bow myself up in the seat just because my back was just cramped so unbelievable bad.”
“I should have had a little better finish there at the end, but it is what it is.”
Not Surprising: There was a visual dichotomy, from Jeff Gordon greeting the fans with his two children at the start of the race to the 24 year old Joe Logano embracing his father in Victory Lane, truly signifying the passing of the torch in the sport.
This was Jeff Gordon’s last Daytona 500 and Joey Logano’s first ever win in the Great American race.
“Congratulations to Joey Logano,” Jeff Gordon said after finishing 33rd in a late race crash. “That moment you saw there with his dad that is what it’s all about. These types of moments, such a big race it means so much to all of us. You want to share that with the people that you are closest to that have been there along the way.”
“Congratulations to him and I don’t know what else to say other than I enjoyed it.”
Surprising: Even great plate racers can make a mistake and yet still manage finish in the third spot and that is just what the driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet did. Even with the miscue, Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed his 18th top-10 finish in 31 races at Daytona International Speedway.
“I made a really bad decision on that restart with 19 to go,” Junior said. “I made a poor choice and you can’t afford to do that. I got shuffled back and lost a ton of spots.”
“I had one of the best cars out there and that gave me a ton of confidence to keep digging. We were able to get back up to third place. It’s really disappointing because the Nationwide team gave me the best car and we should have won the race.”
“It was a fun day out there. Just came up short and a little disappointed about that.”
Not Surprising: With the exception of Kevin Harvick, who finished in the runner up position, Stewart Haas Racing continued its struggles of the previous year, with Kurt Busch suspended, Tony Stewart hitting the wall and finishing 42nd and Danica Patrick being a non-factor, finishing 21st.
Stewart wrecked his No. 14 Chevrolet on Lap 41 when his car turned right, slammed into the wall, and completely wrecked his steering. This extended Stewart’s losing streak to seventeen races.
“I take the blame for that one,” Smoke said. “One-hundred percent my fault.”
Surprising: After winning one of the Duel races and starting at the front of the pack alongside teammate Jeff Gordon, six-time champion Jimmie Johnson saw the race win slip through his fingers in the final restarts. Johnson finished fifth in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet instead.
“With about 10 to go, I thought we were in position to win the Daytona 500,” Johnson said. “I wish we were in Victory Lane right now but with plate racing you honestly have no clue what’s going to happen.”
“Really the last two restarts just didn’t work for us. I was ahead of one lane and the guys behind us just weren’t bumper to bumper. Then on the last restart the same thing on the bottom. So it is just the way things happened.”
“A fun day here in Daytona, of course I wish I was in Victory Lane right now, but we had a very strong day nothing to be embarrassed about.”
Not Surprising: At restrictor plate tracks, where anything can happen and anyone can win, it was not surprising that two single-car race teams had great runs and emerged from Daytona with great optimism for the season ahead.
“It was a good run and has been a good 10 days down here,” Martin Truex, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet said after finishing eighth. “I had a lot of fun today. We had to go to the back a few times but our car was strong enough to drive up through there.I thought we had a shot there until that last caution. I got in the wrong lane on the last restart and got held up a little bit. All in all, we came out of here last year with a 43rd and to come out of here today with an eighth-place and top-10 is a good start to the year for us.”
“It was a really solid day,” Casey Mears said after finishing sixth, his fourth top-10 in the past five restrictor-plate races. “We have run up front at a lot of these things now or towards the front. We are getting a little bit greedier. We definitely want to win one of these races. I think our standards are getting a lot higher. From going from possibly not being in the show to finishing sixth that is definitely a good spread and a good way to start the season for sure.”
Surprising: In spite of being dubbed a good pusher by race winner Logano, Clint Bowyer was surprisingly ticked after his seventh place finish in the Great American race.
“I don’t know what I could have done different,” the driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota said. “I have to go back and look at it. Just you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t there. I had them stacked up – some pretty good cars there behind me and I knew they were going to shuffle me out. I was kind of the lone wolf in the whole group other than the 22 (Joey Logano) and he happened to be leading.”
“Once they got me in the middle, three-wide, I just didn’t really have – I was stuck and screwed.”
Not Surprising: Denny Hamlin in his No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing was the highest finishing Toyota, scoring the 4th spot.
“You know, you’ve got a 50-50 shot of winning it when you’re on the green-white-checkered on the front row,” Hamlin said. “Our line didn’t form up and it’s typically whatever line gets organized the most usually goes forward on these green-white checkers and we just – inside line didn’t get going.”
“We came up a little short again.”
Surprising: In spite of feeling helpless, Greg Biffle still managed a top-10 finish for Roush Fenway Racing, a great accomplishment after a disappointing 2014 season.
“It’s a little disappointing because we want to win the Daytona 500,” the driver of the No. 16 Ortho Ford said. “It just seemed like our car didn’t quite have the speed it needed. I really struggled to try and stay in line and handling was a huge issue. My car was so tight. There was nothing I could do at the end because I was totally boxed in.”
Not Surprising: Forget girls that just want to have fun, boys wanted to have fun as well and Carl Edwards did just that, in spite of finishing 24th with his new Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 ARRIS Toyota team.
“Actually I had a very strong car and I had a lot of fun,” Edwards said. “I just didn’t pick the right lines there at the end – it just didn’t work. We got far enough back that it made it kind of hard to get back to the front. I had fun – I really did.”
“Had a great car and we didn’t tear anything up – just had a good time.”
In a blur of burnouts, Darrell Wallace Jr. won the EcoBoost 200, Matt Crafton won the Truck Series championship, and Kyle Busch Motorsports won the owner’s championship. Ben Kennedy also secured Rookie of the Year honors for the Camping World Truck Series.
Darrell Wallace Jr. won the race, his first win at Homestead and his fourth victory of the season. This was also Toyota’s 18th win, tying Chevrolet for the all-time series record of wins in a single season.
“We came down here and tested and I felt pretty happy with what I found out,” the driver of the No. 54 ToyotaCare Toyota said. “Practice wasn’t great but these guys never gave up on me. I might get a little bratty but we always come together. We’ve strung together four wins and it’s been a lot of fun.”
“We didn’t have a shot at the title but we wanted it more than anything else,” Wallace continued. “We beat the boss finally.”
Wallace also said this was one of his most emotional wins of the season and dedicated the race to his engineer’s mother, who passed away.
“We put her name on top of the door,” Wallace said. “She was our guardian angel.”
Matt Crafton made history at Homestead by winning back to back championships in the Truck Series.
“To say I made history is definitely very, very cool,” the ThorSports driver of the No. 88 Jeld-Wen/Menards Toyota said. “It’s all about these guys that are behind me. Without them, I’m just an average race car driver at best.”
“To say I’m in the history books with Ron Hornaday and all those great race car drivers, it’s great,” Crafton continued. “It’s the best racing in NASCAR.”
Kyle Busch Motorsports won the owner’s championship and secured its place in history as the only team to win back-to-back owner’s championships in the Truck Series.
“It’s a great milestone for us and a great accomplishment,” Busch said after finishing fourth. “It’s a true testament to all the hard work and dedication of Eric Phillips (crew chief) and the team. That’s what the Truck Series is all about as a proving ground. Truly to have two drivers to compete and to capture an owner’s championship says a lot about our team and our organization.”
Ben Kennedy, whose family has been so integral to the sports of NASCAR, scored Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors.
“This is awesome,” Kennedy said. “I think it’s a testament to the team and how hard the guys at Turner Motorsports worked. This Rookie of the Year deal was on my bucket list and I’m humbled by it.”
“We weren’t really all that great tonight but it pays off for the whole season.”
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 42 ParkerStore Chevrolet, and Timothy Peters, behind the wheel of the No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota, finished second and third respectively.
“We definitely had the best truck,” Larson said. “We had a bad pit stop that last stop and I had a couple bad restarts. It’s hard to find clean air in the trucks as they punch such a hole.”
“We were so even,” Larson continued. “Bubba did a good job once again. Two tracks he beat me at where he ran the rim. I hate it that we finished second but it was a good run for us.”
“It was a lot of fun,” Peters said. “What a way to finish and end the season. It feels good to come to Homestead and do this. Wish we had about 20 more laps but we’ll build on it and go to Daytona.”
“I just wish that the second half of the season was the first half for us as that could have been us celebrating the championship.”
Ryan Blaney, who was also fighting for the possibility of the championship, battled a shifter issue for much of the race, finishing top-five.
“We struggled all night,” Blaney said. “It was one of the worst trucks I’ve ever had. I can’t believe we finished fifth.”
Blaney ended his season 21 points behind the newly crowned champion Matt Crafton.
