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  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Joey Logano: Logano finished 11th at Talladega as Penske teammate Brad Keselowski won, joining Logano and six others with a chance to win the Sprint Cup.

    “Brad is in with the win,” Logano said, “If NASCAR had a ‘wild card’ qualifier, Brad would have made it solely based on his performance at Charlotte.”

    2. Jeff Gordon: Gordon finished 26th at Talladega and secured his spot in the Eliminator round.

    “Amazingly,” Gordon said, “Brad Keselowski didn’t make contact with anyone at Talladega. He drove a heck of a race. He was in a zone, as opposed to a headlock.

    “I’m the only Hendrick Motorsports driver in the final eight. It’s up to me to carry the HMS flag. As for the ‘HMS Johnson,’ the ‘HMS Earnhardt,’ and the ‘HMS Kahne’—those ships have sailed.”

    3. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski beat the odds and won the Geico 500 to qualify for the Eliminator round in the Chase For The Cup. Needing a win, Keselowski held off Ryan Newman for his sixth win of the year.

    “The Redd’s Wicked Apple No. 2 car was set up perfectly,” Keselowski said. “There’s only one thing better than a Redd’s Apple, and that’s a bad apple driving it.

    “There’s nothing more satisfying than doing burnouts on the track. NASCAR handed me a check after that. I’ve smoked the tires in the garage area, as well. I handed NASCAR the check after that one.”

    4. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished ninth at Talladega as a frantic finish saw Brad Keselowski take the win and an unlikely spot in the Chase’s Eliminator round.

    “It was nice to go to Talladega and not have to win,” Harvick said. “I admire the guts it took for Keselowski to pull out the win. I had the same reaction after the race at Charlotte: ‘the nerve.’”

    5. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished second to Brad Keselowski and qualified for the Eliminator round on points.

    “Just like at Charlotte,” Kenseth said, “I’m ‘after’ Keselowski.”

    6. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished 18th in the Geico 500, good enough to advance him to the third round of the Chase For The Cup.

    “What a run by Brad Keselowski,” Hamlin said. “The results were much different than those at Charlotte, but in both cases, he drove like a man possessed.”

    7. Ryan Newman: With a fifth at Talladega, Newman punched his ticket as one of the final eight drivers in the Chase.

    “I’m sure a lot of drivers were pulling for me to win,” Newman said, “if for no other reason than to keep Brad Keselowski out of the next round. But I just couldn’t keep Brad behind me, which was surprising, because Denny Hamlin advised me that the No. 2 would likely be on my bumper well past the checkered flag.”

    8. Carl Edwards: Edwards advanced to the Eliminator round with a safe 21st at Talladega. He is one of eight drivers eligible to win the Sprint Cup championship.

    “Kyle Busch is expecting,” Edwards said. “Nobody was expecting Brad Keselowski to win. Either way, a ‘baby’ made headlines.”

    9. Jimmie Johnson: Needing a win to advance to the Chase’s next round, Johnson finished 24th at Talladega and fell well short of qualifying for the Chase’s next round.

    “Our title hopes were dashed,” Johnson said. “But we gave it all we had. We didn’t run out of talent, we just ran out of eligibility.”

    10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Earnhardt struggled from the start and finished 31st in the Geico 500. He finished 13th, well short of qualifying for the Chase’s third round.

    “Junior Nation is in a state of ‘E-nial,’” Earnhardt said. “But I expect them to survive. These final four races will be business as usual for Junior Nation—I’ll be racing with no chance whatsoever to win the Sprint Cup championship.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Geico 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Geico 500

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “Fourth place is just amazing.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “I’m just glad we made it.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “It’s been fun.”

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

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

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

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

    “We kind of struggled.”

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

     

     

  • The Final Word – Loved Talladega, Just Not All That Thrilled With the Outcome

    The Final Word – Loved Talladega, Just Not All That Thrilled With the Outcome

    What a wonderful race we saw at Talladega on Sunday. It had visual excitement that can only be rivaled by Daytona. We had suspense, as we did not know who would continue in the Chase and who got their hearts broken right through to the final lap. It was everything we could have hoped it would be. Then Brad Keselowski won the damn race and ruined everything.

    Keselowski. A former champion. A great diver with five wins this season. After Kansas, a whiney little weasel who has a “who me?” attitude in presenting his fabricated version of events. A twit. Of course, that is just my opinion, I could be wrong. Other than that, though, I love the guy. Don’t you?

    Down to the final lap, with his little buddy Joey Logano trying to run interference, Keselowski beat off the challenge of Ryan Newman in his illegal low rider, and held off Matt Kenseth to take it. In doing so, Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne saw their hopes for a title this year come to an end. Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the most laps that day, but both needed to lead the final one in order to advance. That leaves boss Rick Hendrick down to cheering for Jeff Gordon, his final dog in this hunt.

    For a successful drama, you need your heros and you need your villains. Any guess what side of the ledger that I put Keselowski? You can put Logano there, as well. Toss in Denny Hamlin, while you are at it. No doubt wonderful individuals all, but when they win I do not have much stomach to view or listen in to the post-race celebrations. At least that gives me five guys I can be, to various degrees, content with.

    The eight remaining contenders start afresh, with Martinsville, Texas, and Phoenix before them to determine the final four. Gordon (8 wins) and Hamlin (with 4) appear to be the favorites entering round one next Sunday. They also claim the best average finish there amongst the final eight. Third and fourth best? Logano and Keselowski.

    I wonder who I might be cheering for on Sunday afternoon?

    Eight who continue to rate…
    1 – Joey Logano – 1 WIN – 3121 POINTS – In by Win
    2 – Kevin Harvick – 1 – 3117 – In by Win
    3 – Brad Keselowski – 1 – 3085 – In by Win
    4 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 3117 – 27 Points In*
    5 – Denny Hamlin – 0 – 3100 – 10 Points In
    6 – Carl Edwards – 0 – 3099 – 9 Points In
    7 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 3099 – 9 Points In
    8 – Jeff Gordon – 0 – 3093 – 3 Points In

    Four who’ve been shown the door…
    9 – Kasey Kahne – 0 – 3090 – 3 Points Out
    10 – Kyle Busch – 0 – 3086 – 7 Points Out
    11 – Jimmie Johnson – 0 – 3053 – 40 Points Out
    12 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 0 – 3045 – 48 Points Out

    *Up to a 15 Point Penalty expected for low riding car

  • Hot 20 – Four of the Season’s Top Eight Could be Eliminated after Talladega

    Hot 20 – Four of the Season’s Top Eight Could be Eliminated after Talladega

    When the smoke clears at Talladega, and I mean that literally, four of our top eight drivers throughout the course of the season, might no longer be contenders for the championship. With four races to follow, five time winner Brad Keselowski could be toast, along with three time winners Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jimmie Johnson, as well as the winless yet resilient Matt Kenseth. If the 2007 New England Patriots and 1968 Baltimore Colts can fall short, if the 2001 New York Yankees can be denied, then why not? Welcome to the playoffs, where someone will get eliminated and voted off the island (for fans of the Amazing Race and Survivor).

    For Junior to advance, he has to win. He has said so himself. Same goes for Johnson, while Keselowski has a bit more wiggle room, but do not expect him to have many friends out there, outside of teammate Joey Logano. Kenseth can do it, as he is just a point behind Kasey Kahne in those standings. However, this is Talladega, where a contender could kick open the door for someone else with a finish somewhere beyond 30th due to circumstances beyond his control.

    Keselowski was a tad out of control at Kansas. His view that everyone else started it when they tried to pay him back was laughable. His observation of events was faulty, his hit on an unbuckled Kenseth and burn out in the garage after the race were both nothing short of reckless. His $50,000 fine was warranted. Tony Stewart’s $25,000 fine for bashing in the front of Brad’s car was warranted, too, but it was sure a joy to watch.

    It might not be the same for those out on the track, but for you and me, Talladega should also be a joy to watch. If only every race could be like the one we will be viewing on Sunday.

    *Race winners awarded 25 (rather than 3) bonus points
    Bold = Current Chase contenders

    Hot 20

    1 – Jeff Gordon – 4 WINS – 1184 POINTS
    2 – Joey Logano – 5 – 1154
    3 – Brad Keselowski – 5 – 1106
    4 – Dale Earnhardt Jr – 3 – 1075
    5 – Kevin Harvick – 3 – 1052
    6 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 1011
    7 – Carl Edwards – 2 – 982
    8 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 950
    9 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 950
    10 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 940
    11 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 899
    12 – Kasey Kahne – 1 – 890
    13 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 880
    14 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 867
    15 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 847
    16 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 844
    17 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 832
    18 – Paul Menard – 0 – 818
    19 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 806
    20 – Kurt Busch – 1 – 779

  • The Final Word – Charlotte was a Happy Place, Though it Made Junior Sad, and Some Mad at Brad

    The Final Word – Charlotte was a Happy Place, Though it Made Junior Sad, and Some Mad at Brad

    Charlotte in the night and what a web it wove. Essentially, you could sum up the action by first pointing out that Kevin Harvick once again had a dominant car. The difference this time is that he won the darn thing, the Closer closed, and the Happy boy is now locked into the Chase right through to the Arizona 500.

    Secondly, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had bad vibrations, bad enough to snap his shifter. It was not as bad as Kansas, but finishing 20th a race after coming home 39th is not what the lad was looking for. For either he or Jimmie Johnson to make the Chase, Kasey Kahne cannot. Harvick and Joey Logano are locked into the next round after Talladega, while the other five contenders are close to it, barring very bad things. Of course, Talladega is where very bad things are known to happen.

    Very bad. Some think that describes Brad Keselowski and the boys seemed to be lining up to kick the crap out of him. A come to Jesus meeting seemed to be in order, where one’s feelings were not the only things destined to be hurt. In hearing Brad tell it, all I heard was that everyone else started the problems by attempting to pay him back for things he had already done.

    With around 60 laps to go, Brad went either looking for an off ramp or he deliberately swung way wide on a restart to deliberately block Matt Kenseth and force him into scraping the wall. He then did a little tap-tapping on Denny Hamlin in his bid to move forward, causing an anxious moment or two late in the race.

    Somewhere in there, or so Keselowski says, Hamlin tried to retaliate, so as the race ended Brad tried to perform a P.I.T. maneuver on Hamlin’s auto. Then, he claimed Kenseth had torn off his right front, which seemed perfectly fine when it hit Matt’s parked car post-race on pit road. At the time, Kenseth had already taken off his restraining devices, making it truly a stupid move. Unfortunately for Bradley Aaron, he also caught Tony Stewart, even though he claimed it must have been Kenseth who hit him. As Brad backed up, Stewart put his own in reverse and made damn sure Keselowski’s front end was indeed torn up, causing the boy to get out of Dodge but quick.

    By the time he parked, Hamlin was hunting him down. There was pushing and yelling, but the two never seemed to get together. Brad was directed to his hauler, but hauled himself out to walk off into the night between the trailers. That is where Kenseth caught up to him, and they did get together. Another big crowd gathered, more pushing and yelling ensued, as the post-race action got more exciting than anything we had just seen out on the track.

    In the end, Brad gave his side of the story, NASCAR was going to ponder what took place, and no doubt nothing of consequence will come out of it. Do you remember how I recently mentioned that after initially not being much of a fan I was starting to warm toward Keselowski? Not today. The boy seems on the verge of becoming what Kurt Busch had once been, a malady that seems curable only by a treatment made popular by a certain Dr. James (Jimmy) Spencer.

    What we learned is that the next time Keselowski causes one of those racing deals, that block will result in him being sent into the wall. The next time he says what happened, I will want to see what really did happen, as ole Brad seems to ignore a few facts in his summation of events. I do not like his chances of advancing to the next round of the Chase, as I think he just lost a few friends from his Facebook list.

    Talladega is next, and sometimes things just happen at Talladega.

    The eight who rate…
    1 – Joey Logano – 1 WIN – 3088 POINTS – Locked in
    3 – Kevin Harvick – 1 – 3081 – Locked in
    2 – Kyle Busch – 0 – 3082 – 26 Points to the good
    4 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 3077 – 21 Points to the good
    5 – Carl Edwards – 0 – 3076 – 20 Points to the good
    6 – Jeff Gordon – 0 – 3074 – 18 Points to the good
    7 – Denny Hamlin – 0 – 3073 – 17 Points to the good
    8 – Kasey Kahne – 0 – 3057 – 1 Point to the good

    Four who need to do more…
    9 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 3056 POINTS – 1 Point out
    10 – Brad Keselowski – 0 – 3038 – 19 Points out
    11 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 0 – 3031 – 26 Points out
    12 – Jimmie Johnson – 0 – 3031 – 26 Points out

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Joey Logano: With his spot in the Chase’s next round already locked up, Logano finished fourth at Charlotte, then watched as his Penske teammate went berserk afterwards.

    “Sadly,” Logano said, “Kes is going to get stuck with the nickname ‘Spoiled Little Brad.’ Brad’s not one to back down when he thinks he’s been wronged, and if that means crashing his car, he’ll do it. If nothing else, he has ‘scrap mettle.’

    “The post-race shenanigans were wild. It looks like my teammate is the bad guy. He really pissed some drivers off. When you say ‘Flair’ in Charlotte, you usually think of ‘Ric,’ not ‘tempers.’”

    2. Kevin Harvick: Harvick led 162 laps at Charlotte, and took the field to green on the final restart with two laps remaining. He pulled away from Jeff Gordon and won the Bank Of America 500 and a pass to the third round of the Chase.

    “They call me the ‘Closer,’” Harvick said. “They call Gordon the ‘(Can’t Get) Closer.’

    “With the win, I moved in to the Chase For The Cup’s round 3. Of course, that took a backseat to some of the post-race events, which looked more like round 1.”

    3. Kyle Busch: Busch won the pole at Charlotte and finished fifth in the Bank Of America 500, his second top-five in the last two races. He is second in the points, six out of first.

    “I’m in perfect position to advance,” Busch said. “The only thing that can keep me out of the ‘Eliminator’ round is a meltdown on the scale of the one that Brad Keselowski displayed. I’m confident that won’t happen. What worries me is that I know I’m capable of it.”

    4. Jeff Gordon: Gordon chased Kevin Harvick to the finish at Charlotte, but didn’t have enough to catch the No. 4. Gordon took second, and needs only a finish of 16th or better at Talladega to advance to the Challenger round.

    “What a wild night at Charlotte,” Gordon said. “I think NASCAR needs more races like this. I hear NASCAR is already looking to add a race on a track shaped not like an oval, but an octagon.”

    5. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished eighth at Charlotte and now stands fifth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 12 behind Joey Logano.

    “I’ve got to hand it to my future teammate Matt Kenseth,” Edwards said. “He really went after Brad Keselowski. From the man who is known for his backflips, that was the best ‘jump’ I’ve seen in awhile.”

    6. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished 19th after starting 42nd due to what NASCAR called an “unapproved adjustment.” After the race, Brad Keselowski hit Kenseth’s No. 20 as the cars were heading to the garage.

    “First of all,” Kenseth said, “NASCAR’s so-called unapproved adjustment was a decal. When I heard we had to go to the back of the field, I experienced a case of ‘sticker shock.’

    “Then, Keselowski started playing bumper cars. I won’t stand for that. I’m not a huge social media user, but I felt the need to post Brad’s new Twitter handle, ‘@hole.’”

    7. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson pitted on the final caution with seven laps to go, giving up fourth place in the process. He emerged 10th and dropped back to 17th at the checkered flag.

    “Obviously,” Johnson, “that wasn’t the right decision. It appeared to be the first of many judgment errors made by drivers at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    “We’ve placed ourselves behind the 8-ball. But we’ll have to scrap for everything at Talladega, and I’m confident we can do it. With the Keselowski-Hamlin-Kenseth dustup in mind, I still have some ‘fight’ left in me.”

    8. Kyle Larson: Larson led five laps and looked poised to challenge for the win until he brushed the wall late, throwing off the handling of his No. 42 Target car. He still finished sixth, and has a top-six result in all five Chase races.

    “Sure,” Larson said, “the events of Saturday night don’t reflect well on Brad Keselowski. He’s got at least three drivers upset with him. But there’s a positive to everything, and NASCAR drivers are always looking for a new sponsor. The heck with the milk industry, Keselowski should be the poster boy for the new ‘Got Beef?’ ad campaign.”

    9. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished ninth in the Bank Of America 500, then tangled with Brad Keselowski on the cool-down lap.

    “Ironically,” Hamlin said, “I threw a white towel at Keselowski in anger.

    “I’m not afraid to tell it like it is. I’m a straight-shooter. Keselowski needs a straightjacket.”

    10. (tie): Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Earnhardt suffered a broken shifter handle on lap 137, and the ensuing problems cost him dearly at Charlotte. He finished 20th, and now needs a win at Talladega to advance to the next Chase round.

    “Hey,” Earnhardt said. “Shift happens.

    “But I know what I have to do. It’s all or nothing at Talladega. I need a huge victory in the worst way. So, contrary to what is standard at Talladega, I welcome the ‘Big One’ at Talladega.”

    Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished 16 in the Bank Of America 500 on a clearly frustrating night in Charlotte. On the cool down lap, Keselowski rammed Denny Hamlin, then hit Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart. In the garage moments later, Kenseth charged Keselowski, sparking a wild melee.

    “It looked like everyone wanted a piece of me,” Keselowski said. “What the heck happened? Did NASCAR just announce a new dispute-settlement philosophy, ‘Boys, have at ‘im?’”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

    With new paint schemes under the lights, as well as pink for breast cancer awareness abounding, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 55th annual Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Surprising: In spite of the championship not even being close to secured for 2014, there was a surprising amount of discussion about champions after the checkered flag flew at Charlotte.

    Past champs Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski had quite the confrontation in the pits after the race, as well as exchanging some beating and banging on the track during the race and at the end of it.

    “The race had ended, and he’s running into cars on the cool-down lap,” Kenseth said of Keselowski. “I mean, the race is over, and he comes down pit road and drives into the side of me. That’s inexcusable. He’s a champion, and he’s supposed to know better.”

    Denny Hamlin was also a participant in the melee on and off the track with Keselowski, calling the driver of the powder blue deuce “out of control.”

    “He’s desperate, obviously, and it’s either four or five of us are wrong or he’s wrong because he’s pissed off everyone,” Hamlin said. “That was unfortunate. Matt (Kenseth) was nearly out of his car, and he just plowed into Matt and then ran into Tony and then went in through the garage and cleared out transmissions and did burnouts in the garage.”

    “Just acting like a dumbass instead of a champion.”

    Not Surprising: Although he won his 26th race, tying Hall of Famer inductee Fred Lorenzen for 25th on the all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win list, as well as securing his spot in the Eliminator round of the Chase, Kevin Harvick seemed more than willing to turn over the wheel of his No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet to another driver for next weekend’s race at Talladega.

    “I’d park it because it’ll be one hell of a race to watch,” Harvick said simply when asked about the potential mayhem at ‘Dega. “That’s what I’d do.”

    “I’m parking it and watching it. It’s going to be fun to watch. It’s going to be crazy, offensive racing.”

    “You want to drive, DeLana?”

    Surprising: It was a surprisingly good night in Charlotte for the Ganassi Racing team, with Jamie McMurray finishing third and the rim-riding rookie Kyle Larson finishing sixth.

    “Yeah, it was a really good night for our whole group,” McMurray said. “When I got to second place at one point I looked at my mirror and Kyle was catching me. We certainly went through a couple of really tough years as our group at Chip Ganassi Racing, and it’s so great right now to have both cars run that well every single week at a lot of different type racetracks.”

    “I was not only thrilled for our group but also for the 42 car and just everybody. This is a big weekend for all the race teams. There’s a lot of crew guys that get to bring their kids here to watch their dads or their moms work that sit in the stands, so that’s pretty special I think for Kyle and I to have a good showing.”

    “Top groove got going, and I was able to run up there and get to the front and lead for a little bit and the yellow came out and we lost some spots on pit road,” Larson said. “I was able to get back to second and then got into the wall in 3 and 4 chasing down the 11, and messed up the aerodynamics and was really tight after that and just kind of held on and I was lucky with that green-white-checkered, we came down and took four, restarted on the outside and was able to follow the 22 up around the top to get to sixth.”

    Not Surprising: Although he finished second in his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, restarts continue to be the Achilles heel for Jeff Gordon.

    “I didn’t want to see another restart, because every time we start on the inside, we seem to lose positions; there at the end, and the whole race,” Gordon said. “We were just trying to tune to make it better.”

    “I’m really proud of that finish and really proud of that effort.” Gordon continued. “It looked like we were going to be second. We got off a little bit and lost some track position. I had some terrible restarts. Kevin was tough. I knew when he got out in front it was going to be hard to beat him.”

    “I’m really happy about this second (place finish). It doesn’t make us, by any means, comfortable going into next week, but a lot better than it could be.”

    Surprising: With all the post-race drama, one of the most dramatic turn of events at the race start was lost in the shuffle. Matt Kenseth was penalized at the start of the race for an unapproved adjustment on pit road, which was reportedly a bumper decal.

    After his crew chief vociferously argued the call, Kenseth was forced to start the race at the rear of the field, which perhaps led to his anger and frustration that spilled over at race end.

    Not Surprising: While there was much drama for the Chase competitors, there were many non-Chasers that were having quite their own little races as well.

    Both Kurt Busch and AJ Allmendinger were satisfied with their finishes at Charlotte, taking the checkered flag in eleventh and twelfth places respectively.

    “I would call it a really good effort,” Kurt Busch, the driver of the No. 41 State Water Heaters Chevrolet, said. “The lap times were there. We were running second at half-way and ended up finishing 11th. But all-in-all, it was nice to run up front with the guys, and to show a turn in the right direction from where we had been running.”

    “We started off a little bit off,” AJ Allmendinger, the driver of the No. 47 Scott Products Chevrolet, said. “There were a couple of runs that I thought we were really good. I’m happy with it and stayed on the lead-lap all day.”

    “We have to keep working. I think there are little, small things that we are missing instead of big things. Getting better.”

    Surprising: After Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne was the only Hendrick driver to finish top-ten, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. having shifter problems and Jimmie Johnson testily telling crew chief Chad Knaus that he was going to crash every lap.

    “It was better than we ran most of the night,” Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Pepsi Chevrolet, said. “The only way I could get it to turn in the center was to be so loose. Then it would still get tight after 15 laps so we would go slower at that point. So we just tried a lot of things.”

    Johnson soldiered on to finish 17th and Junior ended the race in the 20th spot.

    Not Surprising: While Joey Logano did not even have to finish the race given his race win at Kansas last weekend, he was still very pleased with maintaining his points lead position. In fact, he remarked prior to the race that he was thrilled to see his hauler and car in the garage area at the front of the pack.

    “Obviously, this doesn’t do a whole bunch for us because we’re in the next round,” Logano said after his fourth place finish. “But we still need to keep that momentum like we have been. It was definitely a hard-fought day for this whole Pennzoil team and they did a good job.”

    Logano leads the point standings by six points over competitor Kyle Busch.

    Surprising: With the focus more on tire concerns, the real issue of the race was the incredible number of blown engines. In fact, there were five engine expirations, including Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, Josh Wise, Michael Annett, and Brian Vickers.

    “I had a really good car,” Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Schrock/Menards Chevrolet, said. “It’s too bad, awesome car, we had a pit stop problem and went to the back, but drove our way back up into the top 15 or so. We definitely had a top five car, just unfortunate. Something let go in the motor.”

    Not Surprising: Next week’s race is the infamous crap shoot of Talladega and not surprisingly, the drivers have different opinions on just how that race will play out.

    “It wasn’t a win – which is what we really want – but it’s another solid finish for us,” Kyle Busch said after his fifth place run at Charlotte. “We just need to go to Talladega next week and try to avoid the ‘big one.’ ”

    “We had a good finish for our Fastenal Ford,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford, said after finishing eighth. “It’s fun racing here at Charlotte and now we get to go to Talladega and have a little fun. We’ve got 20 points on ninth-place so it went pretty well for us.”

    “We’ll go on to Talladega, but I’m just glad we got out of here clean,” Edwards continued. “I don’t think we made any enemies, so we’ll go have some fun at Talladega and hopefully make the next round.”

     

  • Harvick Takes the Victory at Charlotte but Matt Kenseth Delivers the Final Blow

    Harvick Takes the Victory at Charlotte but Matt Kenseth Delivers the Final Blow

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Kansas

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Kansas

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Joey Logano: Logano took charge after a late restart and cruised to the win in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas.

    “I’ve already qualified for the next Chase round,” Logano said. “Some other driver lost tire pressure. Me? I just lost ‘pressure.’”

    2. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski suffered a blown front tire on lap 165 that sent him into the wall, a fate suffered by several Cup contenders. He finished 36th.

    “A lot of Chase drivers, including myself, are dreaming of that championship,” Keselowski said. “Who doesn’t dream of the trophy and the accompanying ring? Unfortunately, at Kansas, talk of fingers quickly turned to talk of ‘tows.’”

    3. Kyle Busch: Busch won his sixth Nationwide Series race of the year on Saturday and scored a third in the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday. He is third in the points standings, six out of first.

    “I’m thrilled with third,” Busch said. “Kansas is traditionally a track at which I’ve struggled. Usually, I’m the one that ‘hits a wall’ at Kansas, not the true legitimate Cup contenders.”

    4. Jeff Gordon: Gordon finished 14th on an otherwise disastrous day for Hendrick Motorsports, as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson finished 39th and 40th, respectively.

    “Sunday’s race was the Hollywood Casino 400,” Gordon said. “If you put Clint Bowyer in a casino at the roulette wheel, it’s a sure thing he’ll spin.”

    5. Carl Edwards: Edwards, the lone Roush Fenway Racing driver still in the Chase, finished fifth in the Hollywood Casino 400.

    “I’m third in the points standings,” Edwards said. “That’s my best position of the year. My best position of the next year will be in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.”

    6. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson was spun by Greg Biffle on lap 85, sending him hard into the inside retaining wall. Johnson finished 40th.

    “The points were reset after the Dover race,” Johnson said. “And Chad Knaus would agree with that fact 100%, because I can’t tell you how many times he’s sworn everybody is on a level playing ground.”

    7. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: While leading midway through the race, Earnhardt blew a right-front tire and slammed the wall. The damage sent him to the garage and he eventually finished 39th.

    “Let’s just hope the people of ‘E-Nation’ don’t become the people of ‘Elimi-Nation,’” Earnhardt said.

    8. Kevin Harvick: Harvick won his seventh pole of the year and led 61 laps on his way to a 12th-place finish at Kansas.

    “My seven poles have resulted in only one win,” Harvick said. “Obviously, I’m not that adept at closing the deal. If you ask Richard Childress, he’ll say I’m good at closing out a deal.”

    9. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished 13th at Kansas as Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch finished third. Kenseth is seventh in the Sprint Cup points standings, 17 out of first.

    “We’re headed to Talladega in two weeks,” Kenseth said. “And four drivers will be eliminated afterwards. I didn’t think it was possible, but the ‘Big One’ got even bigger.

    “I hear Michael Waltrip is still alive on ‘Dancing With The Stars.’ And he’s finally able to admit he has a partner.”

    10. Kyle Larson: Larson finished second at Kansas, and now has two seconds, a third, and a sixth in the last four races.

    “Yet I’m barely old enough to drink a ‘fifth,’” Larson said.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover AAA 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover AAA 400

    With advancement into the Contender Round for the NASCAR championship on the line, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 45th annual AAA 400 at Dover international Speedway.

    Surprising: After experiencing a tire valve stem issue early in the race, one driver surprisingly seemed to have turned his attention to the upcoming holidays instead.

    “The inner valve stem got knocked out just like the first race here, except this time it was on the left-front,” the driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet said after finishing 13th from the pole. “A lug nut got in between the wheel and the brake rotor and knocked the valve stem out.”

    “So unfortunate, but probably our own fault for not finding a solution for it the first race,” Harvick continued. “Just handing out early Christmas presents to people for winning races that we should be winning.”

    “It’s just unbelievable that it can happen.”

    Not Surprising: As has played out for much for the season to date, the Monster Mile was also two-team dominated. Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon won the race, while his usually strong at Dover teammate Jimmie Johnson finished third.

    Team Penske also had a great day at Dover, with Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano finished second and fourth respectively.

    “I knew we could compete with the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) car,” Jeff Gordon said in Victory Lane. “The No. 2 was really good on short runs, but we could run him down. Of course he made us work for it there at the end.”

    “Certainly wish we were in Victory Lane, but good solid third-place run,” Hendrick teammate Johnson said. “We had a solid car.”

    “All I could think about was how I wanted to win all three races,” Brad Keselowski said after his runner-up finish. “Three more races and we’ve got to keep our head on straight t and push forward these next three like we have these last three.”

    “It was a hard-fought day, which is pretty normal for here at Dover,” Logano said of his fourth place finish. We got something good out of it and now we’ll start the next round and try to move on to the next one.”

    “We’ve got to focus on what we do to go fast and not what other people are doing or who our competition is,” Logano said about the Team Penske vs. Hendrick battle. “There are 11 other guys right now who are our main competition, so we’ve got to look at them all just like we did going into this round. We look at every one as a contender, no pun intended, and we’ll be able to focus on what we’ve been doing with our race cars and go from there.”

    Surprising: It was surprising to see just how disappointed so many drivers were who actually advanced to the next round of competition after the race at the Monster Mile.

    “It was off a little bit,” Matt Kenseth said, after taking the checkered flag in fifth as the highest finishing Toyota. “I couldn’t do very good on restarts and that really hurt us bad. I’d lose so many spots over the restart and just too hard to get them back.”

    “There were times when the car was better than where we finished and other times when it was worse.”

    “We did what we had to do today with our Interstate Batteries Camry, but I’m not sure what the problem was on the last couple funs of the race,” Kyle Busch said after finishing tenth. “We were tight all day, but it just got worse at the end.”

    “We didn’t run good obviously,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said after finishing 17th. “We struggled with our car all day long. We never had a moment during the race where the car was very good and competitive.”

    Not Surprising: Although he did not make it into the Chase race, this rookie driver has big plans for his participation during the remainder of the competition rounds.

    “It was a really good finish for us,” Kyle Larson said after taking the checkered flag in the sixth spot. “Hopefully I can be the guy that wins Kansas and Charlotte so all the Chase guys can be nervous going into Talladega.”

    Surprising: While everyone else who made it to the Contender Round of the Chase had Talladega on their minds, one driver surprisingly indicated that he could not wait to get to the superspeedway.

    “This is built for us,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford said. “We’ve got to capitalize on it and go run well at Kansas and Charlotte.”

    “We know we can win Talladega, so I look forward to that race,” Edwards continued. “That’s the first time I’ve ever looked forward to Talladega in the Chase, but I’m looking forward to it.”

    Not Surprising: At a track that he claims as one of his own close to home, it was not surprising that Martin Truex Jr. had a good run, finishing seventh after starting 26th. Truex scored the second best finish among non-Chase drivers and this was also his second best finish of the season.

    “Dover has always been a special place for me,” Truex said. “I don’t know what it is about this track – maybe it’s just home field advantage for me because it seems like the longer the race goes here the better we get.”

    “Just like last week (New Hampshire) I wish the race was longer. I never thought I would say that.”

    Surprising: While many, including Mr. Hendrick have stated that they are witnessing the rebirth of race winner Jeff Gordon as he drives for his fifth championship, another driver felt surprisingly renewed after squeaking into the next round of competition.

    “I feel great,” Denny Hamlin said after finishing 12th in his No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota. “We’ve got another life.”

    “This is going to be a great comeback story if we can keep going,” Hamlin continued. “This is a new life.”

    Not Surprising: There was no fairy tale ending for the two small Cinderella teams battling for their place in the Chase, as both Aric Almirola and AJ Allmendinger were eliminated.

    “It just didn’t work out for us,” Aric Almirola said after his 28th place finish. “I hate it. We picked a bad day to run the way we did and we can’t blame anybody but ourselves. I’m sure we’ll be able to look past this another day, but right now it’s pretty disappointing.”

    “It was an awful day,” Allmendinger said after finishing 23rd. “We didn’t give up. We just missed it all weekend.”

    “It’s disappointing to miss it by two points, but we didn’t deserve to be in it with the run that we had,” Dinger continued. “We have to look at it – I’m not going to take a moral victory out of it to miss it by two points, it’s disappointing, but we know we are making steps in the right direction.”

    “We have seven races to go. I will be disappointed tonight, but be ready to go tomorrow morning.”

    Surprising: One driver was surprisingly gracious in defeat, just missing the next round in competition.

    “I felt like we were in good position to advance, but you just can’t expect to advance by running 15th,” Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 HAAS Automation Chevrolet said. “You have to be more competitive. We gave it a good run, you know?”

    “We put this team together pretty late,” Busch continued. “Gene Haas believed in me to come in here and do this and thanks to Haas Automation and Chevrolet and great associate sponsors like Mobil 1 and State Water Heaters and Monster Energy.”

    “We don’t get to advance to the championship, but we can still run for pride and run for wins.”

    Not Surprising: Perhaps with a small nod to fellow racer Michael Waltrip’s stint on Dancing With the Stars, Kasey Kahne, who just squeaked into the next round of competition, told his pit crew that they would have to step it up after some struggles during the Dover race.

    “Well, these guys work hard,” Kahne said. “And we’ve struggled all season with that. But they work hard and I know they’ll keep working hard.”

    “I just told them if you guys want to go further, it’s time to step-up,” Kahne continued. “It’s time to put our best stuff out there. I know they want to. They’ll work hard this week.”

    “I’m going to work hard and we’re going to be prepared when we get to Kansas and hopefully we can keep moving on.”