Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

  • Kenseth quietly works his way from rear to runner-up finish

    Kenseth quietly works his way from rear to runner-up finish

    CONCORD, N.C. — Being sent to the rear of the field prior to the start of the race and an early pit road penalty didn’t stop Matt Kenseth from flying under the radar to a runner-up finish in the Queen City.

    The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was forced to start at the tail end of the field of the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway due to unapproved adjustments. He quickly worked his way through half the field prior to the first caution on lap 25.

    However, he was among four drivers penalized for their crews being over the wall too soon, was sent right back to the tail end of the field and had to climb his way up all over again.

    He remained under the radar the rest of the day until the final caution flew with 26 laps to go when teammate Denny Hamlin lost an engine on the fronstretch. He beat Jimmie Johnson off pit road to assume the race lead.

    On the restart with 18 to go, however, he couldn’t hold back the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, lost the lead and settled for a runner-up finish.

    “Yeah, it was a great second,” Kenseth said of his day. “I think this is one of the toughest tracks there is on the circuit to pass at. It was better during the day than it is at night and that’s a good thing, because we had to go to the back twice, so we were able to make up some ground and finish okay.”

    On what fighting from the back to the front twice said about his team, Kenseth said after the race that his team “did a great job. Honestly, last two years in a row pretty much Charlotte has kind of taken us out of the Chase – mostly my doing, different things happening the last couple years here – so had a lot of problems last year, this year we had a lot of problems again, but we were able to kind of rebound from them and just kind of take our time. We knew it was a long day and they had good pit stops, good strategy and got us back where we needed to be there at the end.”

    Kenseth leaves Charlotte second in the points standings five back of Johnson.

  • Bowman taken out in early wreck

    Bowman taken out in early wreck

    CONCORD, N.C. — A great qualifying effort for Alex Bowman turned bad early in the going in the Queen City.

    The driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, substituting for the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr., posted the fastest lap in the second round of qualifying before posting a time fast enough to start second. He was also running either second or third for the first 60 laps.

    On the 62nd circuit, however, Bowman suffered a right-front tire blowout going into turn 3 and slammed into the outside wall. He also collected Casey Mears in the process and brought out the second caution of the race.

    After being released from the infield care center, he was asked what happened.

    “Blew a tire I guess,” Bowman said. It’s really unfortunate. I hate it for these Axalta guys. Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports worked so hard. They brought a great race car here, brand new and destroyed it. Really unfortunate, but it’s not anybody’s fault. We didn’t hit anything we just must have run over something.

    He was told that his tire looked like it was going down. When asked why, he said he “didn’t hit anything and it’s nobody’s fault. We just must have run something over. It’s unfortunate and I hate it for all the guys. Everyone at Hendrick Motorsports brought a great car to the race track. Again, it’s unfortunate and we are going to try and get back out there and salvage some spots.”

    When asked what he saw, Mears said he didn’t know what happened to the 88.

    “I just was going into the corner and I saw him come up all of a sudden,” he said. “I don’t know. It’s too bad he didn’t put us out of our misery there. We were having a rough start of it. We were just kind of hanging on and actually those guys were going by us. They either blew a right-front (tire) or had something come loose or something and came up into us.”

    Both drivers left Charlotte. occupying the bottom two spots in the finishing order, with Mears taking the 40th spot.

  • Bad luck puts Harvick and Logano in early Chase hole

    Bad luck puts Harvick and Logano in early Chase hole

    CONCORD, N.C. — Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano found themselves in a hole early in the Round of 12 after trouble struck both of them in the Queen City.

    The weekend for the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet got off to a fast start by scoring his first pole of the season on Thursday. He led the first 12 laps and remained close to the front for most of the first half of the race.

    He was running third on lap 156 when his car started fading. He brought the car down pit road, they eventually took it behind the garage and retired from the race.

    He was asked if he had any idea what caused the engine to shut off.

    “No, it just suddenly shut off and the things that it points to are no oil pressure,” Harvick said. “It’s definitely not a power issue with the battery or anything like that. They are trying to diagnosis it. I hate it for everybody on our Busch team they made some great adjustments today and got our car back where we needed to be to run up front and everything was going fine. Lots of things can go wrong and today they did.”

    Harvick was credited with a 38th-place finish.

    He leaves Charlotte 12th in points 41 back of Jimmie Johnson and eight back of Denny Hamlin for the eighth-place Round of 8 cutoff.

    Logano also had a day that started out solid and turned south quickly.

    He assumed the lead under the first round of green flag stops on lap 115 from Chase Elliott, suffered a tire blowout two laps later and slammed the wall in turn 1. He managed to sustain only minor damage and remained on the lead lap in eighth.

    On the same lap Harvick had his engine issue, however, Logano suffered another tire blowout and slammed the wall in turn 1 a second time.

    He was asked what the major issue in the race.

    “I don’t know,” Logano said. “Tires are popping. We’re not the only car that had the issue, but we’re the ones that hit the wall when it happen, so that’s not the best place to have them go down. We had a fast car. Our car was capable of winning the race. We drove up from 10th and were up to third and running down the leaders, so I felt really good about what we had. I don’t know. Things happen. It’s part of racing, I guess.”

    The damage, while more severe on this hit, didn’t stop him from continuing on in the race. He was running at the finish in 36th 80 laps down.

    Logano leaves Charlotte 11th in points 39 back of Johnson and six back of Hamlin for the eighth-place Round of 8 cutoff.

  • Multi-Car Wreck Ruins Day of Dillon and Eilliott

    Multi-Car Wreck Ruins Day of Dillon and Eilliott

    CONCORD, N.C. — What had been a great day in the Queen City for both Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott turned south in a flash in a multi-car wreck in a late-race restart.

    The driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was running second when the Bank of America 500 restarted with 76 laps to go. Martin Truex Jr. got into his rear to shove him ahead of race leader Jimmie Johnson, but got him loose and sent him spinning through the grass.

    He slammed hard into the inside retaining wall just past the exit of pit road.

    “I am fine, it just sucks,” Dillon said after being released from the care center. “We will have to work hard the next two weeks to get the points back.

    “I felt like I got to third gear pretty clean and then the next thing – I feel contact and I am spinning through the grass. It’s part of it and we took two tires there and you know the risk when you get into it. You just hope that doesn’t happen obviously. I got to third without spinning the tires, and I felt like we got contacted.”

    Elliott swerved down initially to avoid the wreck but turned back up to avoid Dillon who was coming down the track. This caused him to be hooked by Kyle Busch and turned into the outside wall. He hit driver-side first and was rammed by Ryan Blaney and Paul Menard.

    “I think the No. 3 they stayed out on tires and tried to get some track position,” Elliott said. “The No. 78 ended up getting him out of shape and then after that I tried to check up. I don’t think the No. 18 saw it, got into us and got us turned the wrong way. It happens we just got to go and try to have more runs like that next week.”

    Dillon and Elliott both leave Charlotte tied for ninth in points 36 points behind Johnson and three points behind Denny Hamlin for the eighth-place Round of 8 cut off.

  • Johnson Ends Winless Drought with Victory at Charlotte

    Johnson Ends Winless Drought with Victory at Charlotte

    CONCORD, N.C. — The longest winless drought of Jimmie Johnson’s career came to an end today with a dominant victory in the Queen City. The victory secures Johnson’s spot in the Round of 8 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

    The Bank of America 500 was scheduled to run on Saturday night of October 8, 2016. Torrential rain from Hurricane Matthew, however, postponed the race to Sunday.

    Under clear blue skies, Kevin Harvick led the field to green at 12:05 p.m. He led the first 12 laps before ceding the lead to Chase Elliott on the 13th circuit. The first caution flew on lap 25. It was a scheduled competition caution. Five cars – 20, 27, 32 and 43 for crew over the wall too soon, and 46 for speeding – were sent to the tail end on the restart.

    The race went back to green on lap 31. A two-car wreck brought out the next caution on lap 62. Alex Bowman was running second when he suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed into Casey Mears in Turn 3.

    Twenty laps after the lap 71 restart, Kyle Busch made an unscheduled stop from third for a right-front tire issue. Kyle Larson also made an unscheduled stop a few laps later for the exact same issue. A cycle of green flag stops started on lap 111, the lead changed from Elliott to Joey Logano and Logano brought out the third caution on lap 117 after suffering a right-front tire blowout and slamming the wall in Turn 2. This handed the lead to Johnson.

    Denny Hamlin beat Johnson on the ensuing restart on lap 125 and assumed the lead. Harvick was in third when his car started sputtering and losing power on lap 156. On the same lap, Logano suffered another right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 2 again the same lap to bring out the fourth caution.

    After the restart on lap 162, Johnson worked on Hamlin and took the lead back on lap 177. He held the lead until the next round of green flag pit stops started on lap 213. The lead went as follows: Johnson, Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer and back to Johnson.

    Debris on the frontstretch brought out the fifth caution on lap 228.

    The race went back green with 98 laps to go. The sixth caution flew with 81 to go for AJ Allmendinger suffering a right-front tire blowout and slamming the wall in Turn 2.

    On the ensuing restart with 76 to go, a multi-car wreck brought out the seventh caution and the red flag. Chase drivers Austin Dillon and Elliott were among those collected.

    The penultimate green flag stretch went for 43 laps before the eighth caution flew for Hamlin’s engine letting go on the frontstretch. Matt Kenseth exited pit road ahead of Johnson.

    On the final restart with 18 to go, however, Johnson edged out Kenseth to take the lead and drove on to score the victory.

    “We knew we would be back; it was just slower than we thought it would be,” Johnson said in the media center after the race. “We feel like the day conditions helped us and the Sun definitely helped. This has opened up some opportunities for us now. It’s just fantastic, we can race hard now. We take (the Chase) day at a time and one race at a time. I still feel like we can bring better race cars to the track. We can’t sit back and celebrate too much. Tomorrow, we’ll be back at work.”

    It’s his 78th career victory in 537 Sprint Cup Series starts, his third of the season, eighth in 19th starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway and 19th top-10 finish in 31 races in 2016.

    It also ends a 24-race winless drought, the longest of his NASCAR career.

    When asked if he was starting to think if he would ever win again, he said he “didn’t wonder, I just knew it was taking way too long. When you drive for Rick Hendrick and have all the great people at Hendrick Motorsports working for you, the great support from Lowe’s and everyone in their stores and Chevrolet…..there are just so many great people behind us and that support us to make this happen. We knew we would get back. Yes, it was slower than we wanted it to be but to be here today and have this victory is great.

    “This is something very special to our team.”

    Kenseth led five laps and overcame being sent to the rear on the initial start for unapproved adjustments and an early penalty for his crew being over the wall too soon to finish runner-up in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    On his team fighting back to a second-place finish, he said that his crew “did a great job. Honestly, last two years in a row pretty much Charlotte has kind of taken us out of the Chase – mostly my doing, different things happening the last couple years here – so had a lot of problems last year, this year we had a lot of problems again, but we were able to kind of rebound from them and just kind of take our time. We knew it was a long day and they had good pit stops, good strategy and got us back where we needed to be there at the end.”

    Kasey Kahne rounded out the podium in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

    Ryan Newman led one lap on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Larson overcame his tire issue to round out the top-five in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

    Busch, who led one lap, also overcame his tire issue to finish sixth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Brad Keselowski finished seventh in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Kurt Busch finished eighth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Tony Stewart finished ninth in his No. 14 SHR Chevrolet. Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-10 in his No. 1 CGR Chevrolet.

    Carl Edwards finished 12th, Martin Truex Jr. finished 13th, Hamlin finished 30th, Dillon finished 32nd, Elliott finished 33rd, Logano finished 36th and Harvick was the lowest-finishing Chase driver in 38th.

    The race lasted three hours, 42 minutes and 47 seconds at an average speed of 134.929 mph. There were 17 lead changes among nine different drivers and eight cautions for 51 laps.

    Johnson leaves with a five-point lead over Kenseth in the points standings.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/C1630_UNOFFRES.pdf” title=”c1630_unoffres”]

  • Cup race at Charlotte postponed to Sunday

    Cup race at Charlotte postponed to Sunday

    CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR has postponed tonight’s Sprint Cup Series race in the Queen City.

    The Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway will be run tomorrow at noon. The XFINITY race that was postponed from Friday to Sunday will run immediately following the conclusion of the Cup race.

    The Cup race will be carried on NBC while the XFINITY race will be shown on NBCSN. Both will be carried by the Performance Racing Network.

    A ticket for the Cup race will be honored for both events. A ticket for the XFINITY race will be honored for just the XFINITY race.

    The race weekend in Charlotte has been plagued with weather issues stemming from Hurricane Matthew as it batters the Eastern United States coastline.

    NASCAR Executive Vice-President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell stated via Twitter that the reason for calling the race was, “Forecast changed late night/early morning w/rain lingering-tough call but made it early to avoid fans on road today-come out tomorrow!”

    In addition to moving the XFINITY race from last night as was originally scheduled, it also wiped out two Cup practice sessions that were scheduled.

    This is the second straight year that the Sprint Cup Chase race at Charlotte has been moved to Sunday afternoon because of rain.

    The weather tomorrow is expected to be sunny, clear blue skies, temperatures in the low 70’s and zero percent chance of rain (Weather.com).

  • Friday Track Activity at Charlotte Canceled

    Friday Track Activity at Charlotte Canceled

    CONCORD, N.C. — Weather stemming from Hurricane Matthew has forced NASCAR to cancel all on-track activity for Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Constant rain showers around the greater Charlotte area has led to the Drive for the Cure 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race, which was originally scheduled for tonight, being postponed to Sunday at 11:00 a.m. It will remain on NBCSN and PRN.

    Two Sprint Cup practice sessions and XFINITY qualifying that were also scheduled for today have been cancelled as well.

    The lineup for the XFINITY Series race will be set by practice speeds, per the rules.

    The Bank of America 500 for the Sprint Cup Series remains on schedule for Saturday night at 7:00 on NBC and PRN.

  • Harvicks Gets the Pole in the Queen City

    Harvicks Gets the Pole in the Queen City

    Kevin Harvick will lead the field to the green flag on Saturday night in the Queen City.

    The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet scored the pole for the Bank of America 500 after posting a time of 27.547 and a speed of 196.029 mph.

    It’s his 16th career pole in 568 Sprint Cup Series starts, first of 2016 and first at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Alex Bowman will start second in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 27.551 and a speed of 196.000 mph. Chase Elliott will start third in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet after posting a time of 27.585 and a speed of 195.759 mph. Kyle Busch will start fourth in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 27.660 and a speed of 195.228 mph. Tony Stewart will round out the top-five starters in his No. 14 SHR Chevrolet after posting a time of 27. 660 and a speed of 195.228 mph.

    AJ Allmendinger will start sixth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Martin Truex Jr. will start seventh in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Carl Edwards will start eighth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Denny Hamlin will start ninth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Joey Logano will round out the top-10 in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    Jimmie Johnson will start 11th and Kasey Kahne will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    Matt Kenseth will start 17th, Austin Dillon will start 19th, Brad Keselowski will start 20th and Kurt Busch will round out the Chase drivers in 23rd.

    Twenty-two Chevrolet’s, 11 Ford’s and seven Toyota’s will comprise the 40-car field for Saturday night’s 500-mile race.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/C1630_STARTROW.pdf” title=”c1630_startrow”]

  • Austin Dillon: ‘I think you can still have a really good finish at Talladega’

    Austin Dillon: ‘I think you can still have a really good finish at Talladega’

    When asked the importance of winning one of the first two races so as to not need to rely on a decent finish at the wild card race of Talladega, Austin Dillon said that it’s important, but “you can still have a really good finish at Talladega.”

    Speaking to the media this afternoon, the driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet addressed the importance of winning either at Charlotte Motor Speedway or Kansas Speedway so as to not need to depend on a miracle run at the restrictor plate race of Talladega Superspeedway.

    “I think it’s important, but I think you can still have a really good finish at Talladega,” Dillon said. “There is obviously a lot that goes into it with luck and what have you. But there are ways to be smart at Superspeedways and try if you are in a good point’s position when you get there. I mean a win obviously takes the pressure off, but you saw what we were able to do in the last round. I mean it’s got to be a tighter finishing average than what it took last round, but I still feel like with no points buffer from the guys that have won races you still got to be smart the next three races, the next two really.”

    Since the introduction of the playoff format to the Chase in 2014, Talladega has served as the final race of the second round (Contender Round or Round of 12). In the last two years, the mantra amongst the drivers and teams in the Chase has been to get a win at either Charlotte or Kansas so you don’t have to sweat it out in the plate race.

    Brad Keselowski came into Talladega in 2014 mathematically out of racing his way into the next round. The only way he could advance was with a win, and he did just that. This came at the expense of Kyle Busch, who was caught up in a late-race wreck, and three of the Hendrick drivers.

    Last year, a wreck at the start/finish line on the restart with two laps to go prevented drivers like Matt Kenseth from advancing into the next round of the Chase.

    Despite the risks, Dillon went on to say having the chance to win is a great feeling.

    “Risking it for a win or just having a solid point’s day can make or break it,” he added. “It’s still a little bit of a risk if you have to go… if you’ve got the opportunity to win obviously it’s going to make you feel great. You can sit and relax when you get to Talladega. A good point’s day the next two weeks will also make you feel good going into Talladega.”

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Dover

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Dover

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex dominated at Dover, leading 187 laps on his way to the win in the Citizen Soldiers 400. Truex has two wins in three Chase races and has emerged as a clear Cup favorite.

    “I talked with New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi earlier in the week,” Truex said. “We could have talked forever, but due to both our busy schedules, we had to cut it short. You could say we made it to ‘third base.’”

    2. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski started on the pole and finished fourth, leading seven laps.

    “Sadly,” Keselowski said, “Tony Stewart has been eliminated from the Chase. Tony finished 13th, but he needed some other drivers to have bad results. Unfortunately, and Ryan Newman can vouch for this, Tony didn’t get the help he needed.”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished 37th at Dover, his worst finish of the season after a broken track bar suffered early in the race sent him to the garage for repairs.

    “Luckily,” Harvick said, “I won at New Hampshire, so my spot in the next round of the Chase was secure. So, I didn’t have to cause a wreck to make it to the next round. A lot of drivers said I did that on purpose. Maybe I did. But I’m here to say I’m a changed man. My only ‘intent’ now is to win the Sprint Cup championship.”

    4. Joey Logano: Logano finished sixth at Dover, posting his 20th top 10 of the year.

    “Next up is Charlotte Motor Speedway,” Logano said. “Traditionally, we’ve seen a lot of mechanical failures at CMS. Not with the cars, mind you, but when we race there, all hell ‘breaks’ loose.”

    5. Kyle Busch: Busch finished second at Dover and advanced to the next round of the Chase For The Cup.

    “I visited the White House on Wednesday,” Busch said. “I was honored as the 2015 Sprint Cup champion. You know, I have a lot in common with President Obama. We’re both brothers, and we both take care of business in our own respective ‘Oval Office.’”

    6. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin started seventh and finished ninth in the Citizen Soldier 400.

    “Martin Truex’s second win of the Chase solidified the notion that Toyota engines are the class of the field,” Hamlin said. “Can Toyota pull off another win when the Chase hits Charlotte? Without a doubt. If that happens, it would an instance of ‘easy, three-sy, Japanese-y.’”

    7. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth came home fifth at Dover as all four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers advanced to the next round of the Chase.

    “Now we’re on to Charlotte,” Kenseth said. “Two years ago there, I attacked Brad Keselowski after we tangled during the race. That’s what happens when the tension of the Chase builds: drivers butt heads. In most cases, drivers are butt heads.”

    8. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished seventh at Dover on a day when he had a car good enough to win. But a drive-through penalty accessed when his jackman jumped the wall too early cost him.

    “I think we were well on our way to a victory,” Johnson said, “but then my jackman ‘jumped to a conclusion.’”

    9. Kurt Busch: Busch finished 15th at Dover, two laps down, and punched his ticket to the next round of the Chase.

    “The XFINITY Series race was called the ‘Drive Sober 200,’” Busch said. “I think it’s great that NASCAR is encouraging people to drive sober. But this is NASCAR. I don’t think you’ll ever see the ‘Bring Your Cooler To The Race But Drive Sober 200.’”

    10. (tie) Carl Edwards: Edwards finished 14th, one lap down, in the Citizens Soldier 400 at Dover.

    “That was not my best performance,” Edwards said. “Dover’s ‘Monster Mile’ rendered me a ‘Monster Mild,’ which is also how most drivers, who dislike me but don’t hate me, would describe me.”

    10. (tie) Chase Elliott: Elliott posted his ninth top-five finish of the year with a third at Dover and advanced to Round 2 of the Chase For The Cup.

    “I’m the only rookie left in the Chase,” Elliott said. “And I’m devoted to becoming the first rookie to win the Cup. My slogan from here on is ‘Chase For The Cup,’ assuming it’s not already copyrighted.”