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Tag: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

  • Crunching The Numbers: Richmond

    Crunching The Numbers: Richmond

    After a blazing fast weekend at Kansas Speedway, the NASCAR world sets its sights on Richmond International Raceway and the second night race of the year for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series. As one of the few short tracks on the circuit, Richmond always provides great racing in each series and this weekend’s events should be no exception, especially with the Sprint Cup drivers getting their first shot at this track in the new Gen6 car.

    Sprint Cup Series

    For the third time this season, the Sprint Cup Series makes its way to a short track and will take on the 3/4 mile Richmond International Raceway under the lights on Saturday night for the first night-time short track race of the season. Will Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports continue their stranglehold on Victory Lane with the new Gen6 car, or will we see a new contender emerge after 400 laps in the Toyota Owners 400?

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Kyle Busch 16 4 12 13 1 891 12.7 5.4
    Clint Bowyer 14 2 2 8 0 163 14.1 9.6
    Tony Stewart 28 3 11 19 0 950 17.7 10.4
    Ryan Newman 22 1 5 13 1 450 11.3 11.6
    Kevin Harvick 24 2 6 15 1 942 16.5 11.7
    Mark Martin 54 1 18 30 5 449 9.7 11.9
    Dale Earnhardt Jr 27 3 9 11 1 494 15.9 13.9
    Jeff Gordon 40 2 16 25 5 1415 7.9 14.4
    Carl Edwards 17 0 3 8 1 442 11.7 14.9
    Jeff Burton 37 1 9 16 1 942 15.2 15.0

    Who To Watch: With four wins in 16 races at Richmond along with 12 top fives, 13 top tens, one pole, 891 laps led, and an average finish of 5.4, Kyle Busch leads all active drivers with the best statistics at this track. After a terrible weekend last week in Kansas, this race could be just what the doctor ordered for Busch to get back to his winning ways.

    Others to keep an eye on include: Clint Bowyer, who won last fall to give himself two wins and has an average finish of 9.6; Tony Stewart, who has had a lackluster season thus far, but could rebound here due to his two wins and average finish of 10.4; Ryan Newman, Stewart’s SHR teammate, who has one win and an average finish of 11.6; and Kevin Harvick, who has two wins and an average finish of 11.7.

    The rest of the drivers in the top ten statistically at Richmond (Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, and Jeff Burton) could also be threats here Saturday as they have a combined seven wins and average finishes of 15.0 or better.

    One last note of importance that could come into play here is that Toyota has won seven of the last eight races at Richmond, will we see their dominance continue or will Chevrolet or Ford have something to say about it?

    Nationwide Series

    Friday night’s running of the Nationwide Series’ ToyotaCare 250 will be full of Sprint Cup regulars coming in to see if they can steal the show away from the Nationwide regulars. Sounds like a recipe for some great racing pitting the Nationwide drivers running for points against their Sprint Cup counterparts who just want the trophy and the win.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Kyle Busch 15 4 9 12 3 772 8.9 6.7
    Kevin Harvick 23 6 15 18 2 1089 8.3 7.0
    Brian Vickers 5 0 1 3 0 0 20.4 12.4
    Reed Sorenson 9 0 2 6 0 4 11.6 13.3
    Austin Dillon 3 0 0 2 0 14 12.0 13.7
    Justin Allgaier 8 0 1 3 0 0 16.4 14.1
    Trevor Bayne 4 0 1 2 0 0 6.8 14.8
    Parker Kligerman 1 0 0 0 0 0 7.0 15.0
    Joe Nemechek 22 1 5 9 0 201 13.8 15.5
    Elliott Sadler 19 0 2 6 0 58 19.7 16.1


    Who To Watch: To say that Kyle Busch has been dominating the field this season in the Nationwide Series would be an understatement and Busch is poised to continue that dominance in Friday night’s race. Heading into the weekend, Busch has four wins, nine top fives, 12 top tens, three poles, 772 laps led and an average finish of 6.7 in 15 starts at Richmond. However, another Sprint Cup regular hot on his heels at Richmond is Kevin Harvick, who has six wins, 15 top fives, 18 top tens, two poles, 1089 laps led, and an average finish of 7.0 in 23 starts. Following behind Busch and Harvick is a slew of Nationwide regulars, including: Brian Vickers, Reed Sorenson, Austin Dillon, Justin Allgaier, Trevor Bayne, and Parker Kligerman, all of whom have average finishes ranging from 12.4 to 15.0.

  • Winning Engine From Matt Kenseth’s Kansas Car Illegal

    Winning Engine From Matt Kenseth’s Kansas Car Illegal

    Major news is breaking in the racing world today after the connecting rod in the engine of Kenseth’s winning Kansas car was found to be illegal following the race. The engine is supplied by Toyota Racing Development but Joe Gibbs Racing will be held accountable in the eyes of NASCAR. I expect major penalties much like we saw with Penske Racing following the NRA 500 at Texas; possibly even harsher due to the fact the team raced with it and won.

    NASCAR is even very strict when it comes to the engines of these cars. If you remember a few years back, a tremendous fine was handed to Carl Long when he showed up to Charlotte with an over sized motor and the penalty basically ended his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. He was suspended for eight weeks, fined $200,000 and lost 200 pts (equivalent of about 50 today) for having an engine that was 0.17 cubic inches over limit.

    With the new Generation 6 car, NASCAR has been more than willing to drop the hammer on these teams and I don’t think it pleases them one bit to find out after someone won the race with an illegal car. The winning car, the second place finisher and a randomly selected one get taken back to the R&D Center each week. This week, that was Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne and Bobby Labonte. The No.5 and No.47 passed NASCAR’s scrutiny with no issues. The advantage of lighter connecting rods could be that the engine will respond quicker and can turn a higher RPM.

    At this time, it is unclear if the team manipulated the connecting rods or exactly how much it was under the minimum weight. NASCAR officials have yet to confirm or deny the violation but they will most likely update the situation later today. This is very surprising to me and caught a lot of people off guard considering we usually hear things like this on Monday or Tuesday.

    *As a result of this violation, NASCAR has assessed the following penalties:

    ·         Crew chief Jason Ratcliff has been fined $200,000 and suspended from NASCAR until the completion of the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points events (a period of time that also includes the non-points NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race) and placed on probation until Dec. 31.

    ·         Car owner Joe Gibbs has lost 50 championship car owner points; the first place finish from April 21 at Kansas Speedway will not earn bonus points toward the accumulated aggregate car owner points total after the completion of the first 26 events of the current season and will not be credited towards the eligibility for a car owner Wild Card position; has had the owner’s license for the No. 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car suspended until the completion of the next six championship points events, therefore being ineligible to receive championship car owner points during that period of time.

    ·         Driver Matt Kenseth has lost 50 championship driver points; the Coors Light Pole award from April 19 at Kansas Speedway will not be allowed for eligibility into the 2014 Sprint Unlimited; the first place finish from April 21 at Kansas Speedway will not earn bonus points toward the accumulated aggregate driver points total after the completion of the first 26 events of the current season and will not be credited towards the eligibility for a driver Wild Card position.

    ·         The loss of five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Manufacturer Championship points.

    *credit NASCAR.

    You can follow my twitter account, @ndegroot89 for more updates as this drama with the No.20 team unfolds.

  • The Good, Bad & The Ugly For JGR at Kansas

    The Good, Bad & The Ugly For JGR at Kansas

    Joe Gibbs Racing had a very up and down day at Kansas with one car getting sprayed by champagne while the other three sat in the garage torn up. They fielded a fourth car for this race and that was the No.81 driven by NASCAR Nationwide Series championship contender, Elliott Sadler. Here is a rundown of how the day went for all four drivers and for most of them, it wasn’t pretty.

    Kyle Busch #18

    Kyle rocketed up to 3rd early in the event and he looked fast. What looked like a promising race for last week’s winners quickly took a turn for the worse just five laps into the race. The rear end went around on Busch coming out of turn 2 sending the car skidding sideways down the backstretch. Kyle got away with no damage and restarted at the back of the pack. He fought his way back through the field with a visibly loose car and was looking fast again until lap 105 when things went very, very wrong. The No.18 went spinning for the second time but Kyle was unable to escape this incident unharmed. He slid down the track directly into the path of former teammate, Joey Logano and the two slammed into each other in a savage collision ending both of their days in an instant. The Kansas curse continues for Busch who has never finished better than 7th at this track. This weekend, Kyle wrecked two Sprint Cup cars and a Camping World Series truck and posted DNF’s in both races. He walked away very frustrated finishing 38th in the STP 400 falling to 7th in the standings.

    Elliott Sadler #81

    Elliott started the race in 24th and dropped back rapidly. For the first 80 laps or so, he struggled with the car falling back into the 30’s. Remember, this is Sadler’s first appearance driving the Gen-6 so I would imagine that it was very difficult for him to get a feel for these wicked fast machines. On lap 85, his day was cut short when he lost control in turn 4 sending his ALERT Energy Gum Toyota Camry into the wall tail first. He brought the car back to the garage with the rear end all crunched and the crew opted not to make repairs considering he wasn’t running for points. With their day over, No.81 posted a disappointing 40th place finish. Sadler will get a chance at redemption in his next shot at driving the #81 when NASCAR visits Talladega.

    Brian Vickers #11

    Brian was coming off a solid top 10 at Texas and hoped to make some noise at Kansas in a substitution role for Denny Hamlin. He started 16th and like Sadler, Brian struggled with the handling of his race car causing him to drop back into the 20’s. We didn’t hear much about Vickers until lap 175 but it was for all the wrong reasons. The No.11 smacked the wall off of turn 2 sending Brian spinning down the back stretch. He was able to keep it from nosing into the inside wall and continued the race. The suspension was damaged though and his ill handling car became even more uncontrollable. NASCAR warned the team to pick up the speed or they would be parked but the No.11 was able to soldier on and finish the race. Brian Vickers limped the car home 31st, 10 laps behind the leader in what may be his final start in the No.11 pending what doctors tell Hamlin this week.

    Matt Kenseth #20

    After reading the race summaries from the other three, a fan who didn’t know any better would look at Matt and wonder what happened to ruin his day. On the contrary, Kenseth had what I would call a fairly decent race. He started on pole and led the first 100 laps or so before falling back due to varying race strategies. With 52 to go, Matt reclaimed the top spot and never looked back. Well, I shouldn’t say he never looked back considering Kasey Kahne filled up his rear view mirror harassing Kenseth for the final 20 laps or so. The two battled hard a lot like they did at Las Vegas with Kenseth prevailing in the end winning his 26th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race. He’s now won the last two events at Kansas and finds himself 8th in the standings.

    Even with the victory, it was certainly a tough day for Joe Gibbs Racing who lost half their fleet before even half the race was completed. “The Coach” probably didn’t know what to think when he walked back to the garage covered in confetti only to see his other three cars sitting there severely damaged. Everyone looked at Matt to join JGR and become a mentor to the other drivers in the stable and he’s done more than that so far winning two races and out-performing his teammates on a regular basis. The 2003 NSCS champ looks posed to be in contention for the Cup this year and who knows how many more wins he’ll rack up before the season is done.

  • Success Continues For Paul Menard at Kansas

    Success Continues For Paul Menard at Kansas

    Paul Menard is one of the mellowest drivers in the garage area. He is never embroiled in any controversies and quietly goes about doing his own thing. Paul has caught a lot of flak in the past due to the fact that his father’s company has been plastered across the hood of almost every car he’s ever driven. A certain contingent of fans attacked him (including me) because not only did he get to NASCAR with help from his dad, but he wasn’t finishing well. Most of that talk has ceased in recent years with Paul performing at a much better level with Richard Childress Racing. I now have a lot of respect for this guy realizing that I was wrong and can’t wait to see him win some more races and he will win more races.

    It seems that every year, he starts well but fades around race four or five ending up in the mid-teens with a decent year. Well, we are eight races into 2013 and the Wisconsin native has finished inside the top 10 in half of the races run so far and comfortably sits 10th in the standings ahead of his Richard Childress Racing counterparts. He has been outperforming both of his teammates and if you combined the amount of top 10’s Burton and Harvick have in 2013, they still don’t match Menard’s numbers. If you look at the timeline of his career, you can see that Menard’s been making monumental progress on the track every year with results steadily improving showing that he’s learning and adapting. At 32 years old, he is at the age that most people would consider the prime of a race car driver’s career and don’t be surprised if you see him put that Menards Chevrolet in the chase. The car doesn’t seem capable of taking Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports head-on right now and winning races, but they will get there.

    Most don’t know this but Paul’s first two major motorsport victories came in the Rolex Sports Car Series back in 2002. In impressive fashion, he won his in his first and second ever starts in sports cars racing on road courses proving at the age of 21 that he is fully capable of winning. Unfortunately, the natural talent he has was overshadowed when people saw the son of billionaire John Menard show up in NASCAR with his own last name all over the cars he was racing. There are still fans out there that give him hell for how he got here, but the guy is performing so who really cares. They should just be happy that a true racer made his way into NASCAR no matter what path he took.

    I don’t hear anyone bad mouth the Burton’s but that’s simply because they are unaware to the fact that Jeff and Ward’s father had money and owned JE Burton Construction. In the end though, both of them proved they belong winning multiple races including the 2002 Daytona 500.

    Menard is proving his worth as well and I can see him winning many more races throughout his career. He reminds me of Matt Kenseth who is also a very smooth racer rarely involving himself in drama and quietly posting excellent results every week. It’s a very rare occurrence to see Menard involved in a crash, especially one caused by him.

    He’s incredibly underrated and one of the most solid drivers in the garage area. I had the pleasure of meeting his crew chief Slugger Labbe a couple years back when my brother worked with the team and I could tell then that his rather exuberant personality really compliments the laid back, reserved one of Paul Menard making them a perfect pair.

    Keep up the good work team No.27 and good luck in the rest of 2013!

  • Previewing The STP 400 at Kansas Speedway

    Previewing The STP 400 at Kansas Speedway

    NASCAR roars into Kansas Speedway this weekend for the 8th race of the 2013 season. It seems like we are saying this at every track this year but once again, you can expect record speeds by the Gen-6 this weekend. Kansas was repaved last summer and we all remember the wild show it put on in the fall.

    Sixteen cars posted DNF’s and fourteen cautions flew in the crash marred event that Matt Kenseth ended up winning by just four tenths over Martin Truex Jr. The 12-year old track has featured fourteen races producing ten different winners.

    The 1.5 mile venue is owned by the International Speedway Corporation (ISC) and seats 81,687 people. It’s classified as a “D-Shaped Tri-Oval” much like its sister track, Chicagoland Speedway. Here are some stats and facts that you should know as we gear up for this mid-western throw-down!

    Kansas Speedway Track Facts

    Track Size: 1.5-miles

    Banking/Turns 1 & 2: 17-20 degrees

    Banking/Turns 3 & 4: 17-20 degrees

    Banking/Frontstretch: 10 degrees

    Banking/Backstretch: 5 degrees

    Frontstretch Length:  2,685 feet

    Backstretch Length:  2,207 feet

    Race Length: 267 laps / 400 miles

    Capacity: 81,687

     

    Kansas Speedway Stats

    Inaugural Race Winner: Jeff Gordon by .413 tenths over Ryan Newman

    Only Driver to Sweep the Weekend: Joe Nemechek winning both the NNS and NSCS events in 2004

    Most Wins By a Driver: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle who have all won twice

    Most Wins By a Team: Roush Fenway Racing and Hendrick Motorsports who each have 4

    Most Wins By a Manufactuer: Chevrolet has won 7 of the 14 events (Ford-4, Dodge-2, Toyota-1)

    Youngest Kansas Winner: Ryan Newman at 25 years, 9 months and 27 days in October of 2003

    Oldest Kansas Winner: Mark Martin at 46 years, 9 months and 0 days in October of 2005

    Pole Sitters: Only twice has a pole sitter won from the pole (Joe Nemechek-2004, Jimmie Johnson-2008)

    Starting Positions By Winners: 2 from the pole, 4 from 2nd-5th, 2 from 6th-101th, 4 from 11th-20th, 2 from 21st or worse

    Worst Starting Position By Race Winner: 25th by Brad Keselowski in 2011

    Youngest Kansas Pole Winner: Jason Leffler at 26 years, 0 months and 14 days in September of 2001

    Oldest Kansas Pole Winner: Mark Martin who was 50 years, 8 months and 25 days in October of 2009

    Most Starts Without a Win: 14 by Bobby Labonte, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Kurt Busch

    Track Qualifying Record: Kasey Kahne at a 28.219 (191.360mph) in October of 2012

    Track Race Record: Denny Hamlin-144.122 mph (02:46:44) in April of 2012

    Least Amount of Cautions: 3 in April of 2012

    Most Amount of Cautions: 14 in October of 2012

    Average Number of Cautions: 7

     

    Top 10 Driver Ratings at Kansas

    1.) Jimmie Johnson…………………… 119.5

    2.) Greg Biffle………………………….. 113.0

    3.) Matt Kenseth………………………. 106.4

    4.) Jeff Gordon………………………… 101.5

    5.) Tony Stewart……………………….. 100.8

    6.) Carl Edwards………………………… 95.1

    7.) Mark Martin…………………………… 91.3

    8.) Kevin Harvick……………………….. 90.6

    9.) Martin Truex Jr…………………….. 90.5

    10.) Brad Keselowski……………………. 90.1

     

    Best Average Finish at Kansas

    1.) Jimmie Johnson——-8.0

    2.) Greg Biffle————–9.5

    3.) Brad Keselowski——-9.8

    4.) Carl Edwards———–10.8

    5.) Jeff Gordon————-11.0

    6.) Tony Stewart———–11.7

    7.) Kevin Harvick———-12.9

    8.) Denny Hamlin———–14.0

    9.) Clint Bowyer————14.0

    10.) Kasey Kahne———–15.0

     

    Most Wins at Kansas Speedway

    1.) Jimmie Johnson——–2 (2008 & 2011)

    2.) Greg Biffle—————2 (2007 & 2010)

    3.) Tony Stewart———–2 (2006 & 2009)

    4.) Jeff Gordon————-2 (2001 & 2002)

    5.) Matt Kenseth———–1 (2012)

    6.) Denny Hamlin———1 (2012)

    7.) Brad Keselowski——1 (2011)

    8.) Mark Martin———–1 (2005)

    9.) Joe Nemechek——–1 (2004)

    10.) Ryan Newman——1 (2003)

     

    Most Top 5’s at Kansas Speedway

    1.) Jeff Gordon———8

    2.) Greg Biffle———–7

    3.) Tony Stewart——-6

    4.) Jimmie Johnson—5

    5.) Matt Kenseth——-5

    6.) Carl Edwards——-4

    7.) Denny Hamlin—–3

    8.) Ryan Newman——3

    9.) Martin Truex Jr.—-2

    10.) Kasey Kahne——-2

     

    Most Top 10’s at Kansas Speedway

    1.) Jimmie Johnson———11

    2.) Jeff Gordon————–10

    3.) Greg Biffle—————9

    4.) Tony Stewart———–9

    5.) Matt Kenseth———–8

    6.) Carl Edwards———–8

    7.) Kevin Harvick———6

    8.) Dale Earnhardt Jr.—-6

    9.) Kasey Kahne———-5

    10.) Mark Martin———5

    Considering all that, Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon look like the biggest threats to take the victory this weekend. Biffle has finished inside the top 10 in seven of the last eight races, Johnson is currently on an eight race top 10 streak at while Gordon has had some lackluster results the past three races. Another driver you have to watch out for but isn’t very high in most of the stats is Matt Kenseth. He won the first race at Kansas after the repave, is riding a streak of three straight top-5’s and hasn’t finished worse than 7th since 2009. A dark horse would have to be Martin Truex Jr. He doesn’t have a great record here but he did finish second in both races last year. Make sure you keep an eye on both him and Kenseth this weekend.

    Drivers you may want to stay away from include Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose and the 2005 winner of this race, Mark Martin. Ambrose has never led a lap at Kansas, has a best finish of 9th and a best starting position of 18th. Martin did win at Kansas but that is just about the only bright spot on his resume at the track. Martin finished 20th or worse in nearly half the races he’s participated in and has only broken inside the top-20 twice in his last five races.  Busch’s stats really surprised me and I had to look at a few times thinking no way are these his stats. His average finish of 21.0 is very low for him and in his whole career, Busch has posted two top 10’s and no top 5’s at the track. He hasn’t led very many laps either proving he’s never really a factor.

    I expect that this race will be very fast paced and will feature out of control race cars a lot like last fall’s event. The track has a lot of grip and you can expect to see bottom feeders as well as drivers riding the cushion just inches away from smacking the wall. I don’t think it will have wrecks every 10 laps like it did last year but I don’t see long runs forcing them to make green flag pit stops either.

    Busch has been great in 2013 and will have his best race to date at Kansas blowing his best finish of 7th out of the water but he won’t win.  I am going with a very hungry driver who is desperate to reach victory lane, Truex Jr. He will finally get that second career win this weekend at Kansas Speedway. Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne will be major factors throughout the race but I am going with Truex Jr. to steal the show Sunday!

    Feel free to post who you think will win the STP 400 below!

  • 210 Races & Counting… When Will Truex Finally Get That Breakthrough Win?

    210 Races & Counting… When Will Truex Finally Get That Breakthrough Win?

    Martin Truex Jr. is a highly underrated driver in my eyes but it’s easy for people to overlook a guy who has just one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) victory in 268 races. On June 4, 2007, Truex Jr. won at Dover International Speedway by a staggering 7.3 seconds over Ryan Newman capturing his lone NSCS win at what happened to be his home track. If fate was just a little bit kinder to Truex Jr., he could be nearing ten total wins right now instead of still searching for his second. Last weekend he was a few laps away from victory lane until a late race caution ripped it away from him once again. It’s a feeling the Mayetta, the New Jersey native knows much too well.

    This weekend, NASCAR visits the recently repaved Kansas Speedway which put on a very eventful race last fall. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought we were in Bristol after a race that had 16 cars post DNF’s and 14 cautions marring the event. In the two races held there in 2012, we had two different winners but the race runner-up remained the same in both…..Truex Jr. It was hard to watch him drive his heart out in the closing laps last weekend only to come up empty handed after running so well. Let me make it clear that in almost every situation, it hasn’t been his fault when these wins got away. Mechanical failures, wrecks, bad pit stops and questionable cautions have all have plagued him every time he seems to have one in the bag.

    Truex Jr. has won two Nationwide titles and a total of 19 races across every NASCAR division so don’t think for a second that he lacks the talent to get the No.56 to victory lane. I should also add that he was the 2005 IROC runner-up defeating prominent racers such as 3x Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, 6x Grand-Am champion Scott Pruett, 4x CART champion Sebastian Bourdais and NSCS champions Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch. You don’t just accidentally out-perform those guys. I believe that once Martin gets his second win and he will get it, then the racing world will finally witness his true potential. This illusive win is holding him back and once he gets it, the field better watch out because that NAPA Toyota Camry will quickly become a regular sight in the winner’s circle.

    Kansas is a good place for the 30 year old racer to rebound from the disappointment of Texas and finally snag a victory considering his recent record at the 1.5 mile track. There is a contingent of people out there that say losing at Texas will bring him down but I think it will have the reverse effect. All that heart-breaking finish will do is make him hungrier and more driven than ever to get to victory lane. If it’s the last lap and you find yourself battling Truex Jr. for the win, you better be ready to race harder than you’ve ever raced before because you can bet Truex Jr. will put up one hell of a fight.  He has the potential to be a championship contender once he finally has that race where all the pieces come together.  That monumental victory that is coming will work wonders for his Sprint Cup career and you will see a new, happier and more competitive driver out on that race track.

    I know that’s a very bold statement but despite his lack of wins, he’s shown on multiple occasions that he can get the job done behind the wheel of a race car. Motivation and confidence has a funny way of turning a decent driver into a NSCS champion and if you want an example of that, look no further than a driver by the name of Brad Keselowski. It wasn’t too long ago we looked at him as just another driver that had won a race at Talladega back in 2009.

    Truex Jr. is a true racer who fought his way to where he is today and I firmly believe that he will win many Cup races in the years to come.

  • Crunching The Numbers: Kansas

    Crunching The Numbers: Kansas

    After a trip to the Lone Star State for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and a visit to “The Rock” for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series last weekend, both series join up this weekend in America’s Heartland for a weekend of racing at Kansas Speedway. After being reconfigured in 2012, the track has become super fast and should provide two great races for the race fans in the Midwest.

    Sprint Cup Series

    The Sprint Cup Series will make its 15th appearance at Kansas this Sunday, but only the second race since last year’s reconfiguration. With new track records being set last fall on the new track and the Gen6 making its Kansas debut, this race should be a good one to keep an eye on to see just what will happen when the STP 400 goes green on Sunday.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Jimmie Johnson 13 2 5 11 3 547 10.6 8.0
    Greg Biffle 13 2 7 9 1 346 15.2 9.5
    Brad Keselowski 6 1 2 3 0 17 17.0 9.8
    Carl Edwards 11 0 4 8 0 72 18.5 10.8
    Jeff Gordon 14 2 8 10 0 208 11.6 11.0
    Tony Stewart 14 2 6 9 0 152 18.1 11.7
    Kevin Harvick 14 0 1 6 0 83 19.9 12.9
    Clint Bowyer 9 0 1 4 0 48 15.2 14.0
    Kasey Kahne 11 0 2 5 3 78 11.0 15.0
    Mark Martin 14 1 2 5 1 212 16.4 15.3

    Who To Watch: As is the case at the majority of tracks the Sprint Cup Series visits, Jimmie Johnson is at the top of the board once again with two wins, five top fives, 11 top tens, three poles, an average start of 10.6, and an average finish of 8.0 in 13 starts. However, Johnson does have some competition in the Ford camp with drivers Greg Biffle, Brad Keselowski, and Carl Edwards having average finishes of 9.5, 9.8, and 10.8, respectively. Biffle also has two wins at the track with Keselowski taking the win once. Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart also join Johnson and Biffle in the two win club at Kansas. One last driver to keep an eye on would be Dale Earnhardt Jr, due to the fact that this race would be his first start on the reconfigured track after missing last year’s race with a concussion that all started in a wreck while tire testing on this very track last summer.

    Camping World Truck Series

    The Camping World Truck Series’ 13th race at Kansas will feature the series debut on the new reconfiguration, as the track was reconfigured after the series lone race at the track last spring. This should level the playing field for the Trucks, as all of the teams will be trying to get a handle on the new track for the first time.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Kyle Busch 1 0 0 1 0 0 11.0 6.0
    James Buescher 4 1 2 2 0 104 7.8 8.2
    Ty Dillon 1 0 0 1 0 0 5.0 9.0
    Johnny Sauter 4 1 2 3 0 112 8.0 9.0
    Todd Bodine 9 1 4 6 0 108 16.3 9.4
    Joey Coulter 2 0 1 1 0 1 7.5 9.5
    Ron Hornaday Jr 8 1 3 5 3 265 8.0 9.8
    Miguel Paludo 2 0 0 1 0 1 14.0 11.5
    Brendan Gaughan 8 0 1 5 0 17 21.6 12.2
    Dakoda Armstrong 1 0 0 0 0 1 20.0 15.0

    Who To Watch: With a top ten finish in his lone start at the track, Kyle Busch is at the top of the heap as far as stats at Kansas. Four former winners at Kansas, James Buescher, Johnny Sauter, Todd Bodine, and Ron Hornaday join Busch as ones to watch in the SFP 250 on Saturday. Also, keep an eye on Ty Dillon, who also has a top ten start and finish in one start at the track.

  • NASCAR Will Not Fine Brad Keselowski For Post-Race Comments

    NASCAR Will Not Fine Brad Keselowski For Post-Race Comments

    In a move that surprised a lot of people, NASCAR has decided not to fine Brad Keselowski for his rather colorful comments following the NRA 500 last Saturday. Brian France confirmed that no penalties will be handed down during an interview with Fox Business earlier today. People are puzzled as to why Denny Hamlin’s seemingly harmless comments at Phoenix warranted a $25,000 fine while Brad firing off at the administration was looked at as an okay move. Keselowski was incensed by the way officials had treated his team but he wouldn’t go into detail regarding it. For those of you that never got to hear or read what the reigning champion said, here you go…

    “I have one good thing to say, that’s my team and effort they put in today in fighting back with the absolute bulls— that’s been the last seven days in this garage area. The things I’ve seen over the last seven days have me questioning everything that I believe in, and I’m not happy about it. I don’t have anything positive to say and I probably should just leave it at that. There’s so much stuff going on…you have no f—— idea what’s going on, And that’s not your fault and that’s not a slam on you. I could tell you there’s nobody, no team in this garage with the integrity of the 2 team. And the way we’ve been treated over the last seven days is absolutely shameful. I feel like we’ve been targeted over the last seven days more than I’ve ever seen a team targeted. But my guys kept their heads on straight and they showcased why they are a winning team and championship team. We’re not going to take it. We’re not going to be treated this way.”

    Now for the Denny Hamlin comments from Phoenix to refresh your memory…

    “I don’t want to be the pessimist, but it did not race as good as our Generation 5 cars, this is more like what the Generation 5 was at the beginning. The teams hadn’t figured out how to get the aero balance right. Right now, you just run single-file and you cannot get around the guy in front of you. You would have placed me in 20th-place with 30 to go, I would have stayed there — I wouldn’t have moved up. It’s just one of those things where track position is everything. In the media center – I hate to be Denny-downer, but I just didn’t pass that many cars today. That’s the realistic fact of it.” 

    I am happy NASCAR decided not to penalize Keselowski because I love watching drivers speak their minds but I don’t understand how they found the Keselowski comments to be okay while Hamlin’s were considered “disparaging  remarks.” Perhaps they have decided to take a more relaxed stance when it comes to dropping the hammer on drivers who speak their minds and if that’s so, then good job NASCAR. Remember though, there is still a possible ground shattering penalty coming Penske Racing’s way so the team as a whole hasn’t gotten away from NASCAR’s iron fist just yet. You can expect fines, point deductions and possible suspensions handed down to the team within the next 48 hours.

    Keselowski is one of the most, if not the most opinionated driver in the garage area and even if you don’t agree with him, you have to admire and respect his raw, uncensored honesty. He is a new kind of driver that doesn’t bother to sugar coat anything to make it easier to hear for the more sensitive people out there. He speaks what he feels and doesn’t care about the possible repercussions. From calling Kyle Busch an ass in front of 150,000 screaming Bristol fans to his animated interviews on ESPN following his championship or using more swear words than nouns in the Phoenix Media Center last November; he has never been afraid to call it like he sees it. Brad is a new breed of racer and love him or hate him, right or wrong, always know that what you hear him say is the absolute truth in his eyes. I thank you for that Brad and please continue to stay true to yourself.

    The head officials are notorious for making inconsistent calls but with literally millions of people trying to tell them how to do their job every day, it’s practically impossible to make everyone happy. Hopefully, this decision to leave the champ alone will set a new precedent on how officials will look at future incidents. Letting drivers speak their minds without the possibility of punishment would be great for this sport. The fans want to see personalities. They want to see their drivers show passion and so far 2013 has given us a very healthy dose of all that! These guys have to keep in mind though that they are ambassadors of this great sport so they shouldn’t go around bashing it every week. The phrase, don’t bite the hand that feeds you would work very well here. In the end, call it what you want but I applaud NASCAR for keeping their hands out of this one and letting the drivers vent their frustrations.

  • Sprint Cup Drivers Invading the Nationwide Series; Is it Okay?

    Sprint Cup Drivers Invading the Nationwide Series; Is it Okay?

    Recently, I’ve had a few discussions with race fans via Twitter regarding the amount of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) drivers racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS). This is a debate that is certainty not new to NASCAR and in fact, it is the reason officials decided to mandate that each driver must declare at the start of each season which division they wish to be given points toward the championship in. The point was to let Nationwide regulars win the Nationwide title and to hopefully discourage some Cup drivers to double dip. Well, 16 of the drivers that raced in the NNS event at Texas are also participating in the Cup race so those rules obviously haven’t discouraged them.

    Should NASCAR put further rules in place to either limit or completely stop these drivers that love to pull double duty? If they decided to implement such rules regarding this issue, there really isn’t much they can do that isn’t beyond reason. They could simply tell Cup drivers that they are not allowed to race in any division other than the NSCS and that would eradicate the “problem” instantly. I put the word problem in quotations because I don’t personally see it as an issue whiles a large contingent of race fans do. I look at it this way, what better way for the Nationwide regulars to learn than to be racing the best guys in the sport? The reason why fans are getting so incensed by the Cup guys this year unlike 2012 is because Kyle Busch has won 4 out of the last 5 races aggravating a bunch of people. Sure, no one likes to see one guy dominate but if you eliminate the Cup guys, you will probably have a Nationwide guy  like Austin Dillon dominate instead.

    I don’t have a problem with our superstars racing on the Nationwide side but I do have a slight issue with Cup teams fielding Nationwide teams just so they can put Cup guys in them. I think it’s a waste for the best teams in NASCAR to field Nationwide cars and not even give the guys trying to work their way up a chance to drive them. I have to give major kudos to Jack Roush because if you look at his driver lineup at Texas, you would see that they were all up and comers instead of Cup guys. I’d love to see a JGR team fielding Parker Kligerman and Alex Bowman instead of Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth. NSCS drivers double dipping may good for ticket sales except for when Kyle Busch has wins almost every race in dominating fashion. Here is a solution; put Busch in Robby Benton’s #99 and we’ll see if he can parlay that into a victory. He will still be fast but at least the Nationwide regulars might have a fighting chance against these titans of the sport and a small team would get the opportunity to have some major talent wheel their racecar.

    I’d love it if NASCAR told all the Cup guys that they were only permitted to drive cars for teams that don’t run in the NSCS. NASCAR can still let the Cup teams field Nationwide ones but only allow them to hire Nationwide regulars as their drivers. I know that this is a crazy idea that in reality would never happen but it’s cool to think about the possibility of it. Anyway, back to reality….. Denying Cup drivers the right to race in NNS isn’t right in my opinion. When a Nationwide regular wins a race these days, they get noticed a lot more than they would if they weren’t racing against Busch, Keselowski and Harvick. It gives a NNS victory more credibility when you beat the best the sport has to offer.

    The only reason why this issue has even been brought back up is because Kyle Busch is back to his old form and winning races left and right. The people against Cup drivers racing in Nationwide say that in F1 and Indycar, you don’t see the superstars racing in Indy lights in GP2. That is a very good point but how many people truly watch those forms of racing? Indy Lights only has about 9 drivers and is on the verge of collapse. Spice the field up with Franchitti and Hinchcliffe and I guarantee you that it will help.

    You can’t tell these guys what they can and can’t race in. NASCAR tried a long time ago to tell drivers that they couldn’t race in anything that wasn’t NASCAR sanctioned and it caused a lot of trouble. In fact, they indirectly took the 1950 title from Lee Petty after taking 809pts way from him part-way through the year for breaking the rule. They also permanently banned future HOF’er Curtis Turner for the same infraction as Petty. The fact of the matter is that these guys are racers and they love to race. They don’t care if it’s Nationwide, a USAC Sprint car or some Late Model event in the middle of nowhere. All they want to do is drive and you can’t blame them for that; it’s in their blood.

  • Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 5 Texas Motor Speedway – NRA 500 – April 13, 2013

    Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 5 Texas Motor Speedway – NRA 500 – April 13, 2013

    Turn on the lights and turn up the heat this week as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races under the lights for the first time this season. Texas Motor Speedway needs no introduction as it has produced some of the fastest speeds and exciting finishes we’ve seen over the past few seasons.

    Remember back to last season, The Chase for the Sprint Cup was heating up between five-time champ, Jimmie Johnson and now defending champion, Brad Kesolowski. The fall race at Texas last year was firmly in the hands of the No. 48 team for the majority of the 335 laps run, but a late-race caution flag lined the two Championship contenders up side-by-side for a fantastic finish. The two collided with one another in the final laps, with Johnson emerging victorious from the awesome battle and Kesolowski landing in second.

    The 1.5/2 mile intermediate tracks are the ones NASCAR circled when designing the new Gen-6 car. They wanted to design a race car that would tighten the delta we’ve seen on the intermediate tracks with the Gen-5 race car over the course of the past five or so seasons. So far this season, we’ve seen a record number of green flag passes for the lead at Las Vegas with 31, and matched the track record of 41 at Auto Club Speedway. Based on these two important stats, I’m going to make the statement that the designers of the Gen-6 car have done their job and improved the passing on these traditional “cookie-cutter” tracks. Saturday night will be no different. Watch for track-record speeds and passing throughout the field.

    Martinsville Recap

    I went with the defending champ last week, and it was the five-time champ who dominated the STP Gas Booster 500. Against my better judgment, I picked against the recent history at Martinsville Speedway, and it came back to bite me in the end. I went against the history of the past 21 races at the paper-clip, being dominated by three drivers, Jimmie Johnson being one of them. Ford also hadn’t visited Victory Lane (or should I say the front stretch backdrop) in over a decade as well. It was ultimately Johnson and the Chevy’s that dominated last week. Never bet against the trends. Kesolowski finished sixth.

    I picked a Chevy for my dark horse pick last week, but I had no luck with Ryan Newman finishing 31st, as the Stewart-Haas camp continued their slow start last week at Martinsville.

    Texas Picks

    If you tuned into www.primesportsnetwork.com on Wednesday night, you heard Greg Dipalma and I preview Saturday Night’s NRA 500 from Texas Motor Speedway. There were a couple drivers I really liked because of where the odds opened up, Matt Kenseth at a 12 to 1 and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 15 to 1. I made my picks on Wednesday evening based off historical finishes at TMS without the advantage of seeing any testing or practice speeds.

    There was one trend that was clear across the board, starting up front at Texas is very important. We highlighted some drivers who have not traditionally qualified well at Texas, and their tallies in the win column at Texas reflected the importance of starting up front. Six of the last eight races at Texas Motor Speedway have been won from a starting spot inside the top-5.

    Winner Pick

    I liked my pick on Wednesday, and I’m sticking with him again today. Matt Kenseth really likes Texas Motor Speedway, probably because he enters Saturday with a top-5 in each of the last five races at TMS. He boasts the series best average finish (6.2) in the last ten races at TMS and won the first Gen-6 race on a 1.5-mile track when he snubbed Kasey Khane from the win in Las Vegas. Fast forward to Thursday’s test sessions at TMS and look at the 7 fastest 10 consecutive lap averages, and you’ll find Matt Kenseth. Flip to the 5th best consecutive lap average, and you’ll find his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch. Despite Jimmie Johnson being fastest in both test sessions yesterday as far as 10 lap averages are concerned, Toyota claimed 3 of the top 5 10 consecutive lap averages on the day.

    Kenseth will be the 13th car on the track for qualifying later this evening and is my guy who will be there at the end this week.

    Dark Horse Pick

    I didn’t have a long shot pick on Wednesday, but since the cars have unloaded and been on track the past two days, one car has shown a ton of speed in testing. As I mentioned before, qualifying well might mean the difference between a win and a tenth place finish this week in Texas. The No.78 Furniture Row racing Chevy has been fast the past two days, winning the first test session and coming in runner-up in the second of the two test sessions yesterday. Kurt Busch followed up his season-high fourth place finish at Bristol with a top-5 at Auto Club Speedway, the other intermediate oval race this season. We’ve seen some speed out of this team so far this weekend, and Busch will look to shake the woes he had at Martinsville last week with a solid finish in the Lone Star State.

    That’s all for this week, so until Kansas, you stay classy NASCAR NATION!