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Tag: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

  • Elliott Fastest in First Practice at Michigan

    Elliott Fastest in First Practice at Michigan

    Chase Elliott posted the fastest time in first Sprint Cup Series practice at Michigan International Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 35.709 and a speed of 201.630 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was second in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 35.765 and a speed of 201.314 mph. Carl Edwards was third in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 35.782 and a speed of 201.218 mph. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fourth in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet with a time of 35.783 and a speed of 201.213 mph. Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing with a time of 35.838 and a speed of 200.904 mph.

    Denny Hamlin was sixth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Austin Dillon was seventh in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Brad Keselowski was eighth in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Jimmie Johnson was ninth in his No. 48 HMS Chevrolet. Kurt Busch rounded out the top-10 in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet.

    Kyle Busch, whose fastest single lap time was 13th fastest, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 194.145 mph. Ty Dillon, whose fastest single lap time was 33rd fastest, was second at an average speed of 190.122 mph.

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  • Joey Logano Scores the Pole at Michigan

    Joey Logano Scores the Pole at Michigan

    Joey Logano will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday in the Irish Hills of Michigan.

    The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford scored the pole for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway after posting a time of 36.080 and a speed of 199.557 mph.

    “It feels good,” Logano said. “Finally, we were able to break through. The last two weeks have stunk for me and my team. We have won the first two rounds the last few weeks and qualified second. Now we figured out how to be second in the first round and first in the last two. That is a good move. I couldn’t be more proud of the team and the effort they put into this new package. This is such an unknown showing up here so it is cool to show what all the engineers and simulation department were able to do to put together a good package off the truck. I am very happy to be driving this car.”

    It’s his 16th career pole in 270 Sprint Cup Series starts, second in 15 at Michigan, second of the 2016 season and 11th top-10 start in 2016.

    Martin Truex Jr. will start second in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota after posting a time of 36.178 and a speed of 199.016 mph.

    “It was definitely an exciting run that third round – we freed the car up quite a bit and it was pretty ‘slideways’ going into turn three so it was a lot of fun out there,” Truex said. “Sunday is going to be a blast – get the tape off and get the race setups in the race cars and get that sun on the track all day. It’s going to get slick and it’s going to be a lot of fun so looking forward to that. All in all, it was a good day for us. We had to work hard on it today and had trouble getting through tech. Our first run was pretty bad, our second run was better and our third run was pretty good so really proud of the guys on the Denver Mattress Furniture Row Toyota. We came out with a good result so it was good. We just keep digging and never give up – front row starting spot is pretty decent.”

    He was late getting to the grid in the first round after his car didn’t pass tech inspection the first time through.

    “I think the biggest thing was just the track conditions changing so much,” Truex said of getting his car through tech. “It got so much hotter, the pace slowed down quite a bit and anytime that happens it changes these cars considerably. That was the biggest factor. I was fine, I figured I knew we would get through eventually and we would get a lap in when it was ready. Just calm, cool, collected and wait my turn.”

    It will be his ninth top-10 start in 2016 and sixth in 21 races at Michigan.

    Tony Stewart will start third in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 36.190 and a speed of 198.950 mph.

    “I’m glad that was the last time I had to do that today,” Stewart said of his lap in the final round. “It felt really good. We were really loose in practice and Mike (Bugarewicz, crew chief) did a great job in the break there of making some big changes to get us caught up. It got my confidence back there and made me feel like I finally had the right-rear (tire) in the track there. Now we can hustle a little bit.”

    It will be his 10th top-10 start at Michigan and second in seven starts this season.

    Denny Hamlin will start fourth in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 36.222 and a speed of 198.774 mph.

    “It’s slippery out there,” Hamlin said. “Even though the speeds are up there, averaging 199, a lot of it is straightaway speed. What we really wanted was slower corners and faster straightaways and that’s definitely been achieved so far.”

    Ryan Blaney will round out the top-five in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford as the highest starting rookie after posting a time of 36.256 and a speed of 198.588 mph.

    “We were really loose the first run, just really, really free and that hurt us a lot,” Blaney said. “They got it a lot better the second run out. They did a good job of getting us better throughout the day. Unfortunately, we had an extra lap on our tires. Who knows what would have happened with one less lap on the tires in the final round.”

    Ryan Newman will start sixth in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Kyle Larson will start seventh in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Austin Dillon will start eighth in his No. 3 RCR Chevrolet. Kyle Busch will start ninth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Chase Elliott will round out the top-10 in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

    Carl Edwards will start 11th in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

    During the session in the first round, David Ragan got loose rounding turn 3, slid up the track and made contact with the wall with the right-rear corner of his car. The session was also red-flagged after a brake duct that came from the No. 1 of Jamie McMurray was found on the track in turn 3. Kevin Harvick was caught out on the track by both and was unable to make a lap that would place him higher than 29th.

    Twenty-two Chevrolet’s, 11 Ford’s and seven Toyota’s make up the 40-car field. No driver was sent home as 40 cars were entered.

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  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Pocono

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Pocono

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Kurt Busch: Busch stretched his fuel mileage at Pocono and came away with the win, his first victory of the year.

    “The race was called the ‘Axalta We Paint Winners 400,’,eight” Busch said. “At least for me. For 39 other drivers, it was called the ‘Axalta We Ain’t Winners 400.’”

    2. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished ninth at Pocono, posting his 11th top-10 finish of the year.

    “I lead second-place Kurt Busch by a whopping 25 points in the Sprint Cup points standings,” Harvick said. “You could say I ‘sit’ atop the standings, and I’m the only one that can say that. In fact, I’ve led the points standings for quite a while. So, I’ve been ‘sitting’ there for quite a while, so much so that my fellow competitors are often heard referring to me as ‘Can’t Stand Kevin Harvick.’”

    3. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski started on the pole at Pocono and finished third, as Kurt Busch held off Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Keselowski at the finish.

    “I don’t appreciate Jeff Gordon’s comments during Monday’s race,” Keselowski said. “I expect Gordon to be impartial. In others words, he should hate everyone as much as he hates me.”

    4. Carl Edwards: Edwards finieighthat Pocono, joining Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth, who finished seventh, in the top 10.

    “I’d rather not finish behind Kenseth,” Edwards said. “I’d much rather confront him.”

    5. Kyle Busch: Busch finished a disappointing 31st at Pocono, 10 laps down, his day hindered by a brush with Pocono’s Turn 1 wall. It was his second straight finish outside the top 30.

    “I’m in sort of a slump right now,” Busch said, “but waiting out the weather delay on Sunday gave me time to reflect on the good things. There’s nothing like a little precipitation to remind you that you’re the ‘raining’ champion.”

    6. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson wrecked late while making an aggressive move to the inside of Casey Mears with 38 laps to go. He slammed the inside wall hard and eventually finished 35th, 35 laps down.

    “I checked with my teammate Chase Elliott,” Johnson said, “and he verified what I feared: I made a rookie mistake.”

    7. Joey Logano: Logano started second on the front row beside pole winner and Penske teammate Brad Keselowski and took fifth in the Axalta We Paint Winners 400.

    “I’m not sure what Axalta is,” Logano said, “or why they would be painting winners. But rest assured, this is NASCAR. If Axalta is indeed painting winners, one color they won’t be using is black.”

    8. Chase Elliott: Elliott recorded his fifth top 5 of the year with a fourth at Pocono. He is seventh in the Sprint Cup points standings, 77 out of first.

    “I had a chance to win,” Elliott said, “but I made an ill-advised attempt to pass Dale Earnhardt, Jr. late in the race. I guess I need to be more patient, but what race car driver worth his salt likes to be asked ‘What’s your hurry?’”

    9. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex, one of the pre-race favorites, was done in by two mishaps, one on accident on pit road, the other a late flat tire.

    “For the single car team,” Truex said, “that was you call a ‘double whammy.’ Which is all much akin to the phrase ‘One step forward, two steps back,’ which has been the story of my year.”

    10. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished seventh at Pocono, posting his fourth top-10 result in the last four races.

    “Kurt Busch surprised everyone with his fuel mileage,” Kenseth said. “Does he have a bottomless fuel tank? Who knows? Kurt’s theories on government assassins may not hold water, but his tanks certainly hold fuel.”

  • Kurt Busch Saves Enough to Win at Pocono

    Kurt Busch Saves Enough to Win at Pocono

    Kurt Busch was told he’d be short on fuel, but he saved enough to score the victory at the Tricky Triangle on a Monday afternoon.

    The driver of the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet took the lead from Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a drag race to the line with 32 laps to go and led all of the remaining laps in the final quarter of the race on his way to scoring his 28th career victory and third at Pocono Raceway in the Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400. He did so in spite of being told that he would be two laps short on fuel.

    “It’s tough to balance everything and when you have a fast car and an interim crew chief and the way that the fuel mileage played out, I didn’t know if we were going to have enough fuel,” Busch said of saving fuel while trying to maintain the lead. “But, thanks to everybody at Haas Automation, Monster Energy and Stewart-Haas. This is a wonderful win for us. We have been so close all year. It’s a matter of just putting it all together, pit crew, engine, thanks to Hendrick engines, and Chevrolet and everybody that works on these bodies, the chassis’ you name it. It’s just so much fun to drive and to be competitive and to be up front. Thanks a lot.”

    The win moves him into a tie with NASCAR Hall of Fame member Rex White for 25th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.

    Earnhardt was told he had enough fuel to make it to the finish, but had nothing for Busch in the closing stages and settled for a runner-up finish in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

    “Yeah, it was a good run for us,” Earnhardt said. “I should have been able to hold that No. 41 off on that final restart. Me and the No. 24 (Chase Elliott) was racing pretty hard and it gave the No. 41 the opportunity to get a run on us. I should have been able to defend that a little bit better. If I could have got in front of him I don’t think he would have got by us. The car wasn’t all we hoped it would be, but it was good. They worked on it and improved it. We were real tight starting the day and we just kept freeing it up.  We got it pretty decent at the end, but still not where we want to be. We will work on it and come back and try to do a little better job the next race here.”

    Brad Keselowski was called to pit road early in the race for an unapproved body adjustment after NASCAR found that one of the crew members caved in part of the right-side of his car near the right rear wheelhouse. However, he overcame that penalty and drove by Elliott in the closing laps to round out the podium in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

    “We were awful strong we just needed some more laps and a little more time,” Keselowski said of the closing laps. “I think we might have had a shot at it. It was a pretty strong weekend. The last four or five weeks have been strong runs. We have a bunch of seconds and thirds. Not quite the win we wanted but a lot to be proud of.”

    Elliott led 51 laps and clinched the bonus point for leading the most laps for the first time in his Sprint Cup Series career, but was caught behind a gaggle of cars who took just two tires or fuel only when he pitted under the ninth caution of the race on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet.

    Joey Logano led 17 laps at the start of the race but wasn’t a factor for much of the rest of the event on his way to rounding out the top-five in his No. 22 Ford.

    “We battled hard today,” Logano said. “I got us behind by getting that damage. I rallied back a little bit with some good pit strategy by Todd Gordon and the guys on the box. We were able to rally through on the restarts. The restarts are fun. You will half of them and lose half of them. I had a couple winners and a few losers. Once you get through the restarts it kind of is what it is. It was a fuel mileage game at the end to try to save enough to stay where we were but not give up any spots. Nobody ran out, though.”

    Kasey Kahne had an up and down day which included being busted for speeding while pitting during the competition caution but drove his way back up through the field to a sixth-place finish in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet. Matt Kenseth was the highest finisher of the Toyota contingent and led 31 laps on his way to a seventh-place finish in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    “We had a great race car,” Kenseth said. “Just had really, really poor restarts and if I did have a good restart, then there was like somebody getting checked up in front of me and I’d lose more spots. I just gave them all up on restarts. Honestly, I think we had a car that could challenge for the win. I just couldn’t figure out how to get to turn one.”

    Teammate Carl Edwards came in right behind him in eighth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.

    “It was a long, tough day,” Edwards said. “We worked hard on the ARRIS SURFboard Camry. We had the fastest modems on the car, but not maybe the fastest car. It was a struggle. They guys worked hard, though. We did well on pit road. Every restart something would happen. I was just struggling with the restarts, but just tough day. That’s a tough race track right there. It’s really hard to get an advantage on someone.”

    Kevin Harvick led nine laps and was also busted for speeding during the competition caution early in the race and drove his way up to a ninth-place finish in his No. 4 SHR Chevrolet. Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-10 in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford.

    Kyle Larson led eight laps on his way to an 11th-place finish. AJ Allmendinger led two laps on his way to a 16th-place finish. Kyle Busch led three laps and was up front most of the race before collecting the wall with 51 laps to go and finishing 31st 10 laps down.

    Cole Whitt exited the race with five laps to go for a rear gear failure. Jimmie Johnson was involved in an accident with 38 laps to go and was classified as “did not finish.” Austin Dillon, Michael Annett and Matt DiBenedetto all suffered failures that led to each of them slamming the wall in turn 1 and were all classified as “did not finish.” DiBenedetto earned his third last place finish of the season and swept the last-place finishes in both the XFINITY and Cup Series for the second time this season.

    The race lasted three hours, 11 minutes and 15 seconds at an average speed of 125.490 mph. There were 14 lead changes among 10 different drivers and 10 cautions for 40 laps. Thirty-five cars finished the race and 24 finished on the lead lap.

    Harvick leaves Pocono with a 25-point lead over Kurt Busch in the points standings.

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  • Sprint Cup Race at Pocono Postponed to Monday

    Sprint Cup Race at Pocono Postponed to Monday

    Clear your plans for tomorrow because mother nature is forcing NASCAR to run at the Tricky Triangle on a Monday.

    The Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 at Pocono Raceway has been delayed until tomorrow at noon due to persistent rain showers. The radar for the remainder of today was not showing signs of improvement.

    The broadcast will remain in place on Fox Sports 1. The Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will come on the air at 11:30 a.m.

    Brad Keselowski will lead the field to the green flag tomorrow alongside teammate Joey Logano.

    Rain has caused havoc with the schedule more than once this weekend. Two XFINITY Series practice sessions were cancelled on Friday due to inclement conditions. Rain and fog forced the first practice session for the Sprint Cup Series on Friday to be halted and then called after just 10 minutes. Rain showers forced NASCAR to call yesterday’s XFINITY Series race at lap 53.

    This will be the fourth time a Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono has been postponed to Monday for rain, the first race postponed for rain this season and first to be run on a Monday since the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in April of 2014.

  • Kyle Busch Fastest in Final Practice

    Kyle Busch Fastest in Final Practice

    Kyle Busch topped the chart in the final Sprint Cup Series practice at Pocono Raceway.

    The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest in the final practice session in preparation for this weekend’s Sprint Cup Axalta ‘We Paint Winners’ 400 with a time of 50.876 and a speed of 176.901 mph. Kurt Busch was second in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet with a time of 50.905 and a speed of 176.800 mph. Jimmie Johnson was third in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 50.931 and a speed of 176.710 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was fourth in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 51.052 and a speed of 176.291 mph. Kevin Harvick, who is currently the series points leader, rounded out the top-five in his No. 4 SHR Chevrolet with a time of 51.100 and a speed of 176.125 mph.

    Brad Keselowski, the pole-sitter for Sunday’s race, was sixth in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Joey Logano was seventh in his No. 22 Ford. Matt Kenseth was eighth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota  followed by Ryan Blaney in ninth driving his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top-10 in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet.

    Kyle Busch posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 175.024 mph. Harvick was second at an average speed of 174.549 mph. Kurt Busch was third at an average speed of 174.375 mph.

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  • Edwards Fastest in First Sprint Cup Practice at Pocono

    Edwards Fastest in First Sprint Cup Practice at Pocono

    In case you missed it, Carl Edwards posted the fastest time in first Sprint Cup Series practice at Pocono Raceway.

    The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 50.055 and a speed of 179.802 mph. Kevin Harvick was second in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet with a time of 50.328 and a speed of 178.827 mph. Kurt Busch was third in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet with a time of 50.378 and a speed of 178.649 mph. Paul Menard was fourth in his No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 50.491 and a speed of 178.250 mph. Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five in his No. 18 JGR Toyota with a time of 50.507 and a speed of 178.193 mph.

    Jimmie Johnson was sixth in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Casey Mears was seventh in his No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet. Joey Logano was eighth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Greg Biffle was ninth in his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Tony Stewart rounded out the top-10 in his No. 14 SHR Chevrolet.

    The session was red-flagged after 10 minutes because of weather and never resumed. Only 28 cars posted a lap and no one posted a 10 consecutive lap average.

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  • Keselowski Grabs the Pole at Pocono

    Keselowski Grabs the Pole at Pocono

    Brad Keselowski will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday at the Tricky Triangle.

    The driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford scored the pole for Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 at Pocono Raceway with a time of 49.525 and a speed of 181.726 mph.

    “Yeah, it was a really solid effort for Team Penske to get 1-2,” Keselowski said of his qualifying performance. “That is really hard to do, I can tell you that. We had great speed obviously today. I wasn’t really sure what to expect with the rain and all the other variables that were kind of thrown at us with low practice. We thought we would be okay and quite honestly we tested here and we weren’t very good and we were just kind of not really sure what to expect. We got that half a lap of practice in and we weren’t all that good there either but for some reason here in the qualifying session the team put things together and worked on it and found some speed and dialed on it each round and we got faster each round. That is why we are up here today. It was a team effort. I am really proud of the group with the Miller Lite Ford running up front and getting the pole is great but we want to be up there on Sunday as well. We will enjoy this moment and then get back to work and try to make it stay up there Sunday.”

    It’s the 12th career pole and first of the season for the 2012 Sprint Cup Series champion.

    He’ll be joined on the front row by teammate Joey Logano who posted a time of 49.614 and a speed of 181.400 mph in his No. 22 Ford.

    “It is interesting, I think the tires are actually getting better every run,” Logano said. “The will and the want to go faster I think rose as well. Congratulations to the 2 car. It kind of stings for us. The last two weeks we have won the first two rounds and come in second in the third round. It is a bummer for us but both Team Penske cars are fast and that is pretty cool when we start the race on Sunday. We have a good starting spot and it is a long race so we will be just fine.

    “Yeah, we were so close,” a disappointed Logano added. “The last two weeks we have been the fastest car in the first two rounds and given it up in the third. You want to get those poles. The pole means a lot and it is cool to rack up that stat but overall both Team Penske Fusions are up front and that says a lot about where our organization is right now. Man, I just wanted to get the pole. It stings but it’s cool we are up front.”

    Matt Kenseth will start third in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 49.637 and a speed of 181.316 mph.

    “It was good for us,” Kenseth said of his qualifying performance. “It was an interesting qualifying session because a lot of people didn’t get any practice, including us, so it’s kind of a little bit of a tricky place to get up to speed and get your momentum and get it to feel good. With all that being said, it went really well for us. We were able to have some pretty good speed the first round and adjust on it every time. Just got off a little bit the last run, but it was still obviously a good time. Think it was the best I’ve ever done here.”

    Kevin Harvick will start fourth in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 49.671 and a speed of 181.192 mph.

    “It was good,” Harvick said of his qualifying performance. “The car was definitely better than the driver. But I think as you look at how fast the car is, I just made a lot of mistakes in really all three rounds. I was just trying to get too much out of it instead of just letting the car do the work as fast as it is. But all in all, those were still pretty good laps. We made one lap of practice this morning, that’s all. We’ve got some work to do tomorrow, but most of all, on the driver’s rhythm!”

    Carl Edwards will round out the top-five in his No. 19 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 49.790 and a speed of 180.759 mph.

    “I thought not shaving was going to do the trick, but it didn’t – wasn’t that good of luck, so I’m going to shave,” Edwards said. “Our Toyota was fast. We’ve got ARRIS SURFboard modems on there – they’ve got the fastest modems and I thought we were going to have the fastest car, but I think I gave up a little bit in the tunnel. It’s so easy to do that here, but I had fun though. Pretty fast – I didn’t know that we’d all be that fast.”

    Tony Stewart will start sixth in his No. 14 SHR Chevrolet. Jimmie Johnson will start seventh in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start eighth in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet. Kurt Busch will start ninth in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet. Denny Hamlin will round out the top-10 in his No. 11 JGR Toyota.

    Kasey Kahne will start 11th in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet. Kyle Busch will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying in his No. 18 JGR Toyota.

    Chase Elliott will be the highest starting rookie in 13th. Defending race winner Martin Truex Jr. will start 17th.

    Forty cars were entered, so none were sent home after qualifying.

    Twenty-two Chevrolet cars, 11 Ford cars and seven Toyota cars comprise the starting field for Sunday’s race.

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  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Kevin Harvick: Harvick scored his third runner-up finish of the season with a second in the Coca-Cola 600.

    “I signed a contract extension with Stewart-Haas Racing,” Harvick said. “We met at the bargaining table; they made me an offer, I signed it, and, you know me, I pushed it back across the table.” Pushed.

    2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson took third in the Coca-Cola 600 as Martin Truex Jr. captured a dominating win. Johnson is third in the Sprint Cup points standings, 48 out of first.

    “Truex certainly had the best car,” Johnson said. “I got close to him a few times, but he just pulled away easily. I really think he was just toying with the other 39 cars. Really, I don’t think anyone has ‘played the field’ like that since Tim Richmond.”

    3. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex won the pole and led 392 of 400 laps on his way to a dominating win in the Coca Cola 600, leading all but 12 miles of the race.

    “We had the field covered,” Truex said, “or, in Furniture Row-speak, we had the field ‘upholstered.’ Everything went right for us, which was surprising. The way things had been going, I was expecting the wheels to fall off, both literally and figuratively.

    “Lewis Hamilton celebrated his Monaco Grand Prix with Justin Bieber. I hear he handed Bieber a bottle of champagne in Victory Lane. I’ve heard of DRS-enabled; Bieber at Monaco is a case of TMZ-enabled.”

    4. Kyle Busch: Busch finished 33rd at Charlotte, eight laps down, suffering his second-worst result of the year, and second finish in a row of 30th or worse.

    “I slammed the wall hard with 10 laps to go,” Busch said, “and NASCAR didn’t even throw a caution. I guess NASCAR officials ‘86’ed’ the caution. Or maybe they ‘78’ed’ it.”

    5. Kurt Busch: Busch posted his 11th top-10 finish of the year with a sixth at Charlotte. He is second in the points standings, trailing Kevin Harvick by 36.

    “I think everyone was happy to see Truex win,” Busch said. “I guess the old adage “Nice guys finish last” doesn’t apply, at least not now. I was skeptical, because with Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch winning the last two Sprint Cup championships, the old adage ‘A-holes finish first’ has been the norm.”

    6. Carl Edwards: Edwards was penalized twice for speeding on pit row and suffered a finish of 18th, one lap down. He is fifth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 53 out of first.

    “Busted for speeding twice,” Edwards said. “I think we’ve seen this before because this certainly isn’t the first time a NASCAR driver has been brought down by ‘two-timing.’”

    7. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski came home fifth in the Coca-Cola 600, posting his fourth top-five result of the season.

    “The Sunday before Memorial Day is the greatest day of the year in auto racing,” Keselowski said. “Race fans can start the day in Monaco, head to Indianapolis, and finish the day in Charlotte. In other words, race mileage is inversely proportionate to culture.”

    8. Joey Logano: Logano finished ninth in the Coca Cola 600, joining Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski in the top 10.

    “I didn’t win on Sunday,” Logano said, “but I did win the All-Star Race last week. It’s nice to have my name engraved on the winner’s trophy. That’s a far cry from the rules for the All-Star Race, which are written in pencil.”

    9. Chase Elliott: Elliott finished eighth at Charlotte, recording his fourth consecutive top-10 result. He is eighth in the Sprint Cup points standings.

    “Martin Truex Jr. won one of NASCAR’s crown jewel races,” Elliott said. “The Coca-Cola 600. The Indianapolis 500 may have ‘Carburation Day;’ now, Truex can celebrate with ’Carbonation Day.’”

    10. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished seventh at Charlotte, posting his third top 10 in the last three races.

    “Congratulations to Martin Truex Jr.,” Kenseth said. “You know, Joe Gibbs Racing shares an alliance with Furniture Row Racing. That means we share technical data, strategies, and a dislike for Carl Edwards.”

  • Truex Puts on Clinic in NASCAR’s Longest Race

    Truex Puts on Clinic in NASCAR’s Longest Race

    CONCORD, N.C. — Domination was the name of Martin Truex Jr.’s game tonight as he concluded the “greatest day in racing” 2016 with a victory in the Queen City.

    The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota led a race-high of 392 of the 400 laps on his way to winning the 57th annual Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Truex was overcome with emotion following the victory.

    “It feels awesome,” he said. “Coca-Cola 600, man, this is one everybody wants to win. I feel like we had this thing won last year when we gave it up and just, I don’t know. There are so many emotions, I had to unplug my radio and just ride around and think for a few minutes because I didn’t even know what I was going to say or what I was going to do. Just we’ve been through a lot as a group. I’ve been through a lot personally. I’ve been through a lot with Sherry (Pollex, girlfriend) and just it’s fun to have her here and have her celebrate and it’s just – happy for my guys, happy for Barney (Visser, team owner), Toyota, everybody that helps us do this.

    “I mean, I’ve got the best team in the world and we’ve got these Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas flying, man. It’s just fun to drive them and I honestly thought we could have been better tonight and just kept digging and just kept making small adjustments and working on it and I don’t know, man. Here we are, so I was – it was 50 to go and then it was 40 to go and then 30 to go and I just kept praying for no cautions and driving away.”

    “Yeah, I mean it’s amazing,” said Sherry Pollex, Truex’s business partner and girlfriend. “I keep telling him that he had to lose all those races and that God was building his character to win a big one and this was huge for us and our hometown and our family and for Johnny (Morris, Bass Pro Shops) and Barney and we’ve been through so much. This is just the icing on the cake. It’s awesome. It’s so cool.”

    It’s his fourth career win, first of the season, first at Charlotte and the first time in his career where he’s gone back to back seasons with a least one win. His lap led total is a new record for most laps led in a single race at Charlotte. He also recorded a perfect driver rating of 150.0, which hasn’t been achieved since Kevin Harvick at Phoenix in March 2015.

    “Happy” Harvick finished second in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

    “Yeah, we struggled tonight,” Harvick said. “Our Jimmy John’s Chevrolet was not very good in the first; I would say 450 miles of this particular race. Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and everybody on our team did a great job to do whatever they did with the air pressure and just told me it was a really big adjustment. The last couple of runs I got tight. The one run when we had the first air pressure adjustment we were really good. The last two runs I was a little bit tighter once I got up behind those guys, right behind them, I just couldn’t go anywhere. Just really proud of the effort to turn the car around. We had a 10th-place car and they turned it into a car capable of racing for the win. That is pretty awesome.”

    Jimmie Johnson led five laps on his way to rounding out the podium in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

    “It’s nice when you have a car like that,” Johnson said. “I’m so proud of the effort we put in tonight. This is the best car I’ve had in Charlotte for a long time. It just shows you how good that No. 78 was and the No. 4 got a little bit better than us at the end. I thought we had a chance at them a few times, a couple of times on the long run we would get close. A couple times on the restarts we would get close, but all-in-all a very strong performance for this Lowe’s Chevrolet. Very proud of the team work and the support that we have from all the employees at Lowe’s. Just came up a little short today.”

    Denny Hamlin finished fourth in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    “It was a battle, but we kept good track position all day – had one bad restart where I lost some spots, but other than that fourth is about par for us today,” Hamlin said. “The pit crew did an amazing job all day keeping us up front and our car was pretty good at the end. That’s about what we had, nothing else.”

    Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-five in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

    “On the long green flag runs it seemed like we would be able to move up a little bit,” Keselowski said. “On short runs we would fall back, but we definitely didn’t have anything for those guys. The 78 and the 4 were just really fast and Martin Truex deserves this finish. He had a good run.

    “It’s a long 600 miles and to come home fifth is decent,” Keselowski added about his night. “It’s not what we want, but we needed a little bit more to be able to run with those guys.”

    Kurt Busch finished sixth in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet. Matt Kenseth finished seventh in his No. 20 JGR Toyota. Chase Elliott overcame an early speeding penalty to finish eighth in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Joey Logano led one lap and overcame his crew jumping over the wall too soon to finish ninth in his No. 22 Penske Ford.

    “We got a pit road penalty,” Logano said. “You’re trying to make pit stops so fast and you’re gonna push everything to the edge. I guess we jumped off the wall a little bit too soon. I haven’t seen it, but unfortunately, that kind of made us make a green flag pit stop, which is really hard to overcome. Overall, we were able to get our lap back by racing up there, which was kind of cool. We didn’t have to take a lucky dog or any of that. We actually raced back to the lead lap, but we lost the balance a little bit on the last run and I couldn’t make much time once we got going.”

    Ryan Newman rounded out the top-10 in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

    The race lasted three hours, 44 minutes and five seconds at an average speed of 160.655 mph. There were nine lead changes among four different drivers and four cautions for 19 laps.

    Harvick leaves Charlotte remaining the points leader.

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