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  • Buescher says being in the Chase has ‘been a good experience’

    Buescher says being in the Chase has ‘been a good experience’

    Asked how the experience of being in the Chase has been, Chris Buescher said it has “been a good experience.”

    Speaking to the media this morning at Dover International Speedway, the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford spoke about the experience of being in the Chase.

    “It’s been a good experience,” Buescher said. “We’ve learned a lot through it. We look at Dover as the last race of this round and we really don’t have anything to lose. Chicago and Loudon weren’t the races that we wanted to have and we come into Dover, one of my favorite race tracks.

    “This should be a place where we can really have a good run and see if we can advance to that next round. It’s gonna be tough at this point, but this is probably our best race track out of this round, so I’m excited to get going.”

    Buescher earned his way into the Chase with a win in the rain-shortened Pennsylvania 400 during the summer at Pocono Raceway. He also earned a fifth-place finish in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in August.

    During that same stretch of races, however, he’s finished 30th, 35th, 17th, 24th, 28th and 30th. He currently sits 16th in the Chase standings and 30 points out of the 12th place cutoff with this weekend being the first elimination race.

    In his first Cup start at the Monster Mile, he finished 18th four laps down. This time around, he’ll need to finish 11th or better to have a chance of advancing to the Round of 12.

    Despite the odds, Buescher said it’s a little nice to go into a race just worrying about getting the best finish possible.

    “It’s the racing that you’re able to do at the beginning of the year before you’re too worried about the points leading up to the Chase,” he added. “We’ve been in a lot of points racing situations over the last two years and to be able to have a handful where we can go out and like we said, we don’t really have anything to lose here today. All we have to do is gain, so, to me, it’s gonna make it to where we’re able to go out here and not worry about it, take some chances, try and utilize some risk and see if we can pull something off.”

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: New Hampshire

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: New Hampshire

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Kevin Harvick: Harvick passed Matt Kenseth with five laps left and took a pivotal win at New Hampshire, advancing to the next round of the Chase For The Cup.

    “Our goal was to win the race,” Harvick said. “After a bad performance at Chicagoland, I knew we needed the victory to secure our spot in the next round. And I know exactly how to get in the right mindset to maximize performance. In addition to Brad Keselowski, I know how to ‘push’ myself, as well.”

    2. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished fourth in the Bad Boy Off Road 300 at Loudon. He is the leader in the Sprint Cup points standings by one over Martin Truex Jr.

    “The ‘Bad Boy Off Road 300,’” Keselowski said. “That’s ‘BBOR’ for short. So, for any fan who experienced that race, they just watched the ‘B-BOR-ed 300.’”

    3. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished seventh at New Hampshire, posting his 14th top 10 of the year.

    “Kevin Harvick came on strong at the end,” Truex said. “I guess that’s why they call him the ‘Closer.’ Kevin may be a favorite to win the Sprint Cup, but he’s no one’s favorite. What he lacks in popularity, he makes up in talent. So that makes him the most talented driver in the world.”

    4. Joey Logano: Logano came home 11th at New Hampshire and is now fifth in the points standings, 14 out of first.

    “Barring disaster,” Logano said, “I should advance to the Chase’s next round. So, barring a ‘Matt Kenseth meltdown,’ I should advance to Round 2.”

    5. Kyle Busch: Busch finished third at New Hampshire, posting his third consecutive top-10 result, and is now third in the points standings.

    “After the next Chase race at Dover,” Busch said, “the Chase field will be trimmed to 12. ‘4’ is the number of drivers that will be eliminated. I’d like my chances more if the No. 4 car was eliminated.”

    6. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished 15th at New Hampshire, the lowest finisher among all Joe Gibbs Racing drivers.

    “JGR has four cars in the Chase,” Hamlin said, “but we’ve yet to win a Chase race. I’m going to change that. I’ve made it my mission to win at Dover. So, you can say I’m in the ‘mission-ary’ position.”

    7. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth dominated the second half of the Bad Boy Off Raod 300, but faltered on a restart with five laps to go, allowing Kevin Harvick to slip by and take the win.

    “That certainly was not my best restart,” Kenseth said. “Harvick laid back and got the jump. And, as Carl Edwards will tell you when somebody jumps, I flinch.”

    8. Kurt Busch: Busch finished fifth in the Bad Boy Off Road 300, posting his seventh top five of the year. He is 11th in the Sprint Cup points standings, 20 out of first.

    “My ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll was accused of stealing from her charity,” Busch said. “It must take a lot of nerve, to be a government assassin and steal from your own charity.”

    9. Carl Edwards: Edwards started on the pole at Loudon and led 31 laps on his way to a sixth in the Bad Boy Off Road 300. He is ninth in the points standings, 19 out of first.

    “That was my sixth pole of the season,” Edwards said. “So, much like former Cup champion Alan Kulwicki, I’ve taken a handful of ‘pole-ish’ victory laps.”

    10. (tie): Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished eighth at New Hampshire and now sits eighth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 17 out of first.

    “I failed the post-race laser inspection at Chicagoland,” Johnson said. “I miss the good old days of NASCAR when I was winning championships and inspections were simply done with a fine-toothed comb.”

    10. (tie): Chase Elliott: Elliott finished 13th at New Hampshire and is ninth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 19 out of first.

    “I’m in position to advance to the next round,” Elliott said. “I’m happy with my performance so far. I think I speak for myself, as well as any fan who meets me, when I say I’m happy with my ‘Chase experience.’”

  • Logano Approaches Race 2 of a Round Like Any Other Race

    Logano Approaches Race 2 of a Round Like Any Other Race

    Asked if there’s any pressure in the second race of a round if you don’t win the opening race of the round, Joey Logano said he’ll just approach it the same way he would any other race.

    Speaking to the media during his media availability this morning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford was asked what the pressure is like in the second race of a round when you fail to score the victory in the first race of the round.

    “I just approach it the same way I would any other race,” Logano said. “If you didn’t have a good race last week, then the pressure is added – no doubt. But we finished second last week and scored some good points. We talk about this round as being base hits and don’t have to do anything crazy. We did that exactly last week, so we’ll just come up here and do the same exact thing. If something happens, something happens and we’ll approach Dover in a different way, but, right now, let’s go out here and if we can win the race, let’s win the race. If not, let’s try to top-5 it and that will give us a good sense of security heading into Dover. It’s one race at a time, one step at a time. For us personally, the 22 team had a good weekend last week. The pressure is probably the same as what it was in Chicago. We just have to do what we know how to do.”

    Last week, Logano scored a runner-up finish in the Chase-opening Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. His afternoon wasn’t a barn burner or down in the dumps. He just drove under the radar until the checker flew.

    He currently sits fifth in points just seven out of first-place.

    He was also asked if Team Penske sweeping the first three spots in the final points standings in IndyCar this season added any pressure on and/or open up resources for he and Brad Keselowski.

    “They finished one-two-three, so holy moly! I don’t know if you want to call it added pressure, but I think there’s plenty on us already and I think we are better under pressure,” he added. “I like that. Fifty years for Team Penske, you guys well know that. But for them to do that on the 50th Anniversary is very special and it’s really cool to be somewhat a part of that. I feel like I’m part of the team – even the Indy Car team. There are a lot of guys that are cross-pollinated throughout our company. Does it open up some resources? Maybe a little bit here and there, maybe more time for a lot of guys like maybe the machine shop opens up a little bit.

    “I’m probably not the best person to answer a lot of those questions, but it is a motivational thing. I think it’s great to see that. It makes the NASCAR guys want to go out here and continue this awesome year that Team Penske has had so far, and Brad and I have a great shot at it. What if we finished one-two at Homestead? How cool would that be? We have an amazing opportunity to do that. We’ve got a long ways to go to get there, but we can do it.”

  • Four Gears: Trucks and XFINITY, Hendrick Motorsports, Post-Race Inspection and Race Sponsors

    Four Gears: Trucks and XFINITY, Hendrick Motorsports, Post-Race Inspection and Race Sponsors

    Time to cycle through the transmission for another edition of Four Gears.

    This week, our resident NASCAR analysts are asked to rate the regular season’s of both the Camping World Truck Series and XFINITY Series, if any of the Hendrick drivers will win in the remaining races, what their takeaways were from the post-race inspection failures this past weekend at Chicagoland and what are their thoughts on NASCAR and tracks bringing in children’s shows to sponsor races.

    FIRST GEAR: With the regular season’s for both the Truck and XFINITY Series in the books, how would you rate the racing in each series this season on a scale of 1 to 10?

    For the Truck Series, I give it an 8/10. The racing in the series has been truly amazing this season and only three of the events were won by Cup drivers. I won’t say every race was a barn burner, but they were few and far between. I would’ve given this season a 9/10 if not for the stupid caution clock.

    As for the XFINITY Series, I give it a 3/10. The series has been lackluster for many years now and it was at its worst this season. We saw some truly abysmal racing this season considering only three XFINITY Series regulars won a race this season. The rest were won by Sprint Cup Series drivers and Justin Marks at Mid-Ohio. The only reason it’s not a 1/10 is because of the five-race stretch from Iowa in July to Road America in August.

    With only one real standalone remaining this weekend at Kentucky Speedway, I don’t see it improving. — Tucker White

    The truck series has been good to great so far and was an 8. It’s a bunch of young guys fighting to get into the Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series, and Matt Crafton is there too.

    XFINITY Series gets a 2. The Chase has too many people in it and the battle to get into it wasn’t really that dramatic, JGR has a complete stranglehold on the series and wins all of the races and all of the poles. The racing is boring and half the field has half the budget the other half does. It’s a mess of a series that desperately needs an overhaul. — Michael Finley

    SECOND GEAR: Three of the four Hendrick Motorsport cars finished in the top-10 this past Sunday and Jimmie Johnson had a strong car before a speeding penalty cost him a great finish. Will any of the Hendrick drivers win a race in the final nine races of the season?

    I’ll keep my answer short. History says Jimmie Johnson will win a race in the Chase. He’ll win a race before the season is over. — Tucker White

    If Hendrick comes out this weekend and is as strong as they were in Chicagoland, no question multiple Hendrick cars will win the next nine races. I’m not convinced yet either on this being a one race deal or a sign of things to come. — Michael Finley

    THIRD GEAR: The cars of Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson failed post-race LIS inspection, but neither were considered “encumbered” and won’t result in a P4 penalty or “loss of finishing benefits.” What’s your takeaway from this?

    I went into much greater detail about this following Sunday’s race, so I’ll just give you the cliff notes. I thought NASCAR inadvertently incentivized cheating with the wording in the rulebook regarding post-race LIS failure.

    Alas, this is definitely moot now, hopefully, with NASCAR announcing yesterday that LIS failures will now result in a P4 penalty. — Tucker White

    It’s NASCAR’s world and we live in it. If NASCAR’s rule book was a Wikipedia article, it would overtake the page on George W. Bush as the most edited page on the site in a couple of year’s time. — Michael Finley

    FOURTH GEAR: The last two years in the Sprint Cup Series has seen two races with entitlement sponsors of kids shows (the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway in May of 2015 and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway this past weekend). What are your thoughts on NASCAR and tracks doing this and what other ideas for race sponsors for attracting children would you suggest?

    Oh, I’m going to have so much fun with this one.

    Since we’re on a kick of sponsoring races based on products that were big in the 90’s, the next few should be the Pokémon 3oo at Suzuka, the Animaniacs 400 at Auto Club Speedway and my personal favorite, the Disney Afternoon 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

    We missed the boat on doing this in the early 2000’s. We could’ve had races like the Kim Possible 400 at Kansas Speedway, the Teen Titans/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway and the King of the Hill 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

    At this point, I’m just waiting for the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    As to my thoughts on it, we got to get the kids in the seats somehow and this could be a great way to do so. I mean I got into NASCAR via a show called NASCAR Racers. — Tucker White

    One thing I love about those two sponsors that nobody brings up is their willingness to step up and partially sponsor cars on one race deals. It’s great that the small No. 95 team got some much-needed publicity at both races by featuring popular characters from the two franchises, and also probably received a nice little check for their efforts. As far as other race sponsors, I’d love to see a brand like Pokemon sponsor a race. Plenty of people of all ages like and play Pokemon, and they have literally hundreds of recognizable characters to market the brand with. — Michael Finley

  • The White Zone: The current penalty structure inadvertently incentivizes cheating

    The White Zone: The current penalty structure inadvertently incentivizes cheating

    “The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and I need to unload on the deterrent system NASCAR has for the penalty structure and how it inadvertently incentivizes cheating.

    This past Wednesday, NASCAR made changes to the penalty structure to give it more teeth and discourage attempts of cheating.

    Among the changes included adding a stiffer penalty for cars that fail LIS inspection and are deemed “encumbered.”

    “The changes are made to assure that we have a level playing field and make sure that there’s not a carrot out there for the team to have excessive violations when it comes to lug nuts and the LIS post-race measurements,” Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, told NASCAR.com. “As we worked with those penalties during the season we realized we probably needed to have a little bit more in place as Chase time rolled around.

    “The Chase obviously changes a lot of scenarios for both NASCAR and the teams; it’s ramped up the intensity and there is a lot of scrutiny, as there is every week on everything (involving) technical infractions. This is really just a matter of us putting something in place so that should something happen, we have a means to effectively deal with it.”

    A few hours after the checkered flag flew on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, it was announced that the winning No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson had failed post-race LIS inspection.

    However, and this is where we get to my biggest problem with the penalty structure, the 78 car was not considered “encumbered” so he therefor gets to keep the win and the benefits of said win.

    If you don’t understand all that technical babble, it basically translates to, “The 78 car was illegal, but not too illegal. So Truex gets to keep the benefits of his win.”

    These teams have inadvertently been given license to cheat, but not too much that it’ll really bite them. Sure a 10 or 15-point penalty might bite Johnson in the ass when the checkered flag flies at Dover, but a points penalty means nothing in the case of Truex. It doesn’t matter if you take away all his points. His win means he’s locked into the next round.

    In essence, NASCAR has inadvertently incentivized cheating.

    Think about it. With the current wording of the rulebook, especially in regards to LIS failure, a team is essentially rewarded for finding ways to make a car illegal enough to fail inspection, but not enough to have the benefits of the win taken away.

    If you don’t believe me, here’s a tweet from producer Tyler Burnett of the Motor Racing Network.

    I’m not accusing the 78 team of cheating and I have no proof that they are. I only presented the above tweet to show how their LIS failure could be interpreted as “cheating.” However, they don’t help their case of not being perceived as “cheating” when Truex was explicitly told to swerve and this is the second straight week the 78 car has failed post-race inspection.

    It was bound to happen one of these years. NASCAR has always been hesitant to take away wins because they want the at track audience to know who won when they saw it.

    Maybe that made sense when newspapers were the main source of news, but the date this piece was published is September 18th, 2016. We now live in the internet age where communication with other people is almost instantaneous. And while I do still value the work of newspapers, news can be broken within seconds of an event happening via Twitter.

    I’ll be very damn interested in what Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice-president and chief racing development officer, has to say about this tomorrow in his appearance on “The Morning Drive” because I’d love to know how “encumbered” could be interpreted as anything other than “his car wasn’t illegal enough.”

    My plane is about to take off, so I must wrap this up.

    THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS PIECE ARE SOLELY THOSE OF TUCKER WHITE. THEY MAY OR MAY NOT REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF SPEEDWAYMEDIA.COM.

  • Good Day Goes Sour for Jimmie Johnson

    Good Day Goes Sour for Jimmie Johnson

    Jimmie Johnson showed the world that he was ready to fight for his seventh championship this season with a dominant drive in the Windy City, and then it turned sour.

    The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was on pit road when the caution flew for the first time on lap 49. He beat race leader Martin Truex Jr. to the start/finish line to stay on the lead lap. As an added bonus, he opted not to pit under the caution and assumed the race lead.

    For the next 130 laps, Johnson had the field in check. He led a race-high of 118 laps and only lost the lead when he pitted during cycles of green flag pit stops. A caution in between didn’t throw him off his game and he just kept on trucking.

    It was nearing the final quarter of the race, however, when he lost control of the race to teammate Chase Elliott on lap 182.

    He remained near the front running in the top-five coming to the final round of green flag stops with around 30 to go. After he made his pit stop, he was black-flagged for speeding on pit road and assessed a pass-through penalty.

    He rejoined the race down a lap.

    A caution with five laps to go put him back on the lead lap and he came home 12th.

    “Yeah, very proud of this Lowe’s team, everybody at Hendrick Motorsports,” Johnson said. “We are digging. I’m just… I just can’t believe I got in trouble down there leaving the pits. I feel terrible for these guys. It should have been a top-five day, but I will back down on pit road even more and try not to make that mistake. Hats off to the team for our fast Lowe’s Chevrolet, I just screwed up.”

    The 118 laps he led were the most he led in a race this season.

    To add insult to injury, Johnson’s car failed post-race LIS inspection. Any penalty resulting from this will be announced on Wednesday.

    Johnson tentatively leaves Chicagoland eighth in points trailing Truex by 13 points.

  • Close, but No Cigar for Chase Elliott in Chicago

    Close, but No Cigar for Chase Elliott in Chicago

    After an ill-timed caution in the closing laps, Chase Elliott went from leading the race to out of position and lost another potential victory.

    The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet took control of the race from teammate Jimmie Johnson on lap 182. From that point on, he thoroughly commanded the race, only losing the lead during the final cycle of green flag pit stops.

    Martin Truex Jr. was hot on his tail in the closing laps but wasn’t gaining the ground needed to catch him. Even Truex admitted this in his post-race media availability.

    “I feel for Chase,” Truex said. “I know what he’s going through. He did a great job. I wasn’t going to catch him. I was catching him, but I was not catching him enough to pass him in five more laps. So I know what he’s going through. But obviously he did a good job and they were really fast today. We had to come from behind.

    “No, to answer your question straight up, I don’t think we were going to be able to pass him unless he got loose or made a mistake. We weren’t catching him quick enough. That last run, I got pretty loose for some reason, having trouble getting off the corner. I was really struggling to run him down.

    Then a shredded right rear tire from Michael McDowell’s car brought out the caution with five laps to go and changed the entire race.

    When asked what went through his mind when the caution flew just as he had the race locked up, he said “nothing is yours until it’s over. I mean that is part of life man. You are not dumb, we have all watched this stuff long enough we know these races don’t go green that long. We see more cautions come out at the end of these races than we do not. That is just part of it, you’ve got to expect it and be able to embrace it and move forward. I feel like we did a good job controlling the things that we could control today.”

    Elliott and all but three cars elected to pit, and Truex exited pit road first.

    “Well if one less guy had stayed out then we would have been fourth,” Elliott said. “You never know how things are going to play out. Obviously, you hate to lose a spot on pit road, but our guys did a good job all day. They were solid and those are the kind of days we have to have on pit road. We will take it as motivation and move forward.”

    Elliott was unable to make it past Joey Logano in the final two laps and had to settle for third.

    During his post-race media availability, he was asked if the outcome was easier to accept than it was at Michigan.

    “No, there is no easy outcome,” he said. “You know, it’s unfortunate. You hate to have it happen. As you get faced with these situations more than once, I think you learn. You learn from situation to situation. But like I said, I felt like we did a good job as a team today trying to control the things that we could control. And you can’t control when a caution is going to come out. Granted, you can expect one a lot of the time, but you can’t control when it’s going to happen, and you certainly can’t control how many guys are going to stay out on tires and try to make something happen at the end of a race. That’s just a part of life, part of racing.”

    Despite the missed opportunity, Elliott added to his eight top fives and 14 top-10 finishes on the 2016 season. He also leaves sixth in the standings just 11 points out of first-place.

  • It’s ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ for Truex

    It’s ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ for Truex

    Despite a flat right-rear tire early in the race, Martin Truex Jr. fought back to score the victory in the Windy City.

    Under clear blue skies, Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag at 2:49 p.m. He held the lead for the first 21 laps before Truex powered by to take it on lap 23. A round of green flag stops started on lap 48, but was cut short by a rogue tire that came from the stall of Aric Almirola and brought out the first caution of the race on lap 49. This was a major point in the race as Jimmie Johnson was on pit road when the caution flew, crossed the start/finish line before Truex and remained on the lead lap. Kevin Harvick, who worked his way from 38th to eighth, did not and was trapped a lap down.

    The race restarted on lap 56 with Johnson in the lead. Truex made an unscheduled stop for a flat right-rear tire on lap 70. He was running second at the time and rejoined the race in 21st.

    Green flag pit stops were the game play of the day as the next round of stops commenced on lap 103. Johnson pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Brad Keselowski. He pitted the next lap and the lead cycled back to Johnson.

    The second caution of the race flew on lap 119 for Brian Scott getting loose and spinning out in turn 4 as he was trying to get down onto pit road.

    After the race restarted on lap 126, it settled into “ride around until the next round of stops.” The next round of stops came at lap 172. Johnson pitted from the lead that lap, Keselowski pitted from the lead two laps later and the lead cycled back to Johnson.

    Chase Elliott took the race lead for the first time on lap 182 about 11 laps before debris on the backstretch brought out the third caution of the race on lap 193.

    Not much happened after the race went green on lap 199 until the final round of green flag stops began with 33 laps to go. The lead went as follows: Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman and back to Elliott.

    A shredded right-front tire on the No. 95 of Michael McDowell brought out the fourth caution of the race with five laps to go and forced overtime. Everyone except Blaney, Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards pitted under the caution. Truex exited ahead of Elliott on pit road.

    The race restarted with two laps to go. Blaney was no match on older tires for Truex on newer tires. Truex made easy work of passing him on the backstretch and drove on to score the victory in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400.

    “Oh my goodness, I guess the racing gods don’t want us to lead too much,” Truex said. “What can I say about everyone at Furniture Row Racing, Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Bass Pro Shops, Denver Mattresses – just everybody that makes this possible – Sprint, the fans have given us a ton of support, not only over the years but the last two has definitely helped us. This feels good.”

    It’s Truex’s sixth career victory in 396 Sprint Cup Series starts, third of 2016, first at Chicagoland Speedway, 13th top-10 finish of the season and third top-10 finish in 11 races at Chicagoland.

    “It’s just unbelievable,” he added. “Proud of the effort by my guys – that’s why you never give up and you fight until the end no matter what. We had just an unbelievable race car today and led a bunch in the beginning. We had that tire issue and I knew it wasn’t over and there was a long way to go. Guys kept their heads in it and kept it up at the end when it counted. It was a total team effort. I am more proud of these guys – more proud to drive their race cars. It’s just unbelievable to start the Chase this way. We have been so good all year long with winning a few weeks ago at Darlington and I felt like that gave us some momentum to just continue that this weekend.”

    Truex’s car failed post-race LIS inspection and any penalty resulting from this will be announced Wednesday.

    Joey Logano came home runner-up in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    “It was awesome execution by the 22 team,” Logano said of his race. “From every angle. We had a very fast race car and were awesome on pit road. You want to talk about pressure, not just Chase pressure, but coming down at the end of the race to try to win, they executed and had an awesome pit stop and beat the 11 out and ultimately gives us a second place finish. I couldn’t be more proud of the team and the way we executed and attacked today. We will take this momentum and run with it the next nine weeks.”

    It’s his 19th top-10 finish in 2016 and fourth in eight races at Chicagoland.

    Elliott led 75 laps on his way to rounding out the podium in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

    Asked what was going through his mind when the caution came out when it appeared the race was his, he said “nothing is yours until it’s over. I mean that is part of life man. You are not dumb, we have all watched this stuff long enough we know these races don’t go green that long. We see more cautions come out at the end of these races than we do not. That is just part of it, you’ve got to expect it and be able to embrace it and move forward. I feel like we did a good job controlling the things that we could control today.

    “Like I said, there are some things you just can’t control with the amount of guys that stay out and where you line up on a restart,” he added. “We played the cards we were dealt and came up short.”

    Blaney led eight laps on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford.

    “It was a long day for us for sure,” Blaney said. “We passed a lot of cars. We didn’t start good. We started 22nd and worked on the car all It paid off since we finished a little bit better than we were going to. That’s a true testament to this team. We didn’t start off great but worked on the car all day. Taking a risk like that. Sometimes they don’t pay off. This one did. It was a good run for us. Hopefully we can do something like that in the next 10 weeks.”

    Asked how difficult it was to stay out on old tires, Blaney said it “wasn’t difficult at all. We kind of made that decision before everyone else came and we had nothing to lose as far as points. I wish a couple more cars stayed out. You never know. Those guys were on me so fast. We had a really good car all day. We started way back in the field and made it up there pretty quickly. We got our car decent at the end. We gambled and I prefer to do that. I prefer to take a gamble to stay out and try to hold those guys off.”

    Keselowski led seven laps on his way to rounding out the top-five in his No. 2 Penske Ford.

    Denny Hamlin led two laps on his way to a sixth-place finish in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Kahne finished seventh in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet. Busch led 21 laps on his way to an eighth-place finish in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Matt Kenseth finished ninth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota. Bowman led six laps on his way to rounding out the top-10 in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet.

    Jamie McMurray finished 11th, Jimmie Johnson led a race high of 118 laps on his way to a 12th place finish, Kurt Busch finished 13th, Austin Dillon finished 14th, Carl Edwards finished 15th, Tony Stewart finished 16th, Kyle Larson finished 18th, Harvick finished 20th and Chris Buescher rounded out the Chase drivers in 28th.

    Johnson’s car also failed post-race LIS inspection. Any penalty resulting from this will be announced on Wednesday.

    The race lasted two hours, 47 minutes and 24 seconds at an average speed of 145.161 mph. There were 17 lead changes among nine different drivers and four cautions for 22 laps.

    Truex leaves with a one point lead over Keselowski in the points standings.

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  • Johnson Fastest in First Practice at Chicagoland

    Johnson Fastest in First Practice at Chicagoland

    Jimmie Johnson posted the fastest time in the first Sprint Cup Series practice at Chicagoland Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 29.383 and a speed of 183.780 mph. Carl Edwards was second in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 29.460 and a speed of 183.299 mph. Denny Hamlin was third in his No. 11 JGR Toyota with a time of 29.520 and a speed of 182.927 mph. Brad Keselowski was fourth in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford with a time of 29.564 and a speed of 182.655 mph. Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet with a time of 29.578 and a speed of 182.568 mph.

    Alex Bowman was sixth in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet. Martin Truex Jr. was seventh in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Kyle Larson was eighth in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Ryan Blaney was ninth in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Kyle Busch rounded out the top-10 in his No. 18 JGR Toyota.

    Austin Dillon was 11th, Kevin Harvick was 12th, Matt Kenseth was 13th, Kurt Busch was 15th, Joey Logano was 17th, Tony Stewart was 20th, Jamie McMurray was 21st and Chris Buescher rounded out the Chase drivers in 33rd.

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  • Four Gears: Post-Race Inspection, Cole Custer, Ryan Newman and RCR

    Four Gears: Post-Race Inspection, Cole Custer, Ryan Newman and RCR

    Time to cycle through the transmission for another edition of Four Gears.

    This week, our crack NASCAR analysts are asked if the recent changes made to post-race inspection are a good or bad thing and discuss whether Cole Custer can make his way into the Truck Series Chase with a win this weekend. We also discuss if Ryan Newman was out of line with his comments about Tony Stewart at Richmond and what the driver lineup will be next season at Richard Childress Racing.

    FIRST GEAR: NASCAR on Wednesday made some updates to its rule book just in time for The Chase. As per Kenny Bruce on NASCAR.com this week, “The updates allow NASCAR officials to strip race-winning teams of the benefits associated with a Chase victory, which include the automatic advancement into the next elimination round and any tiebreaker implications, should those teams fail the post-race lug-nut check or the post-race Laser Inspection Station (LIS) platform.” Is this a good thing or a bad thing for the sport?

    I think there need to be punishments for breaking the rules. These new rules are fair in my book. — Michael Finley

    I’m totally fine with the changes because now the rule actually has teeth with which to do damage. Just look at this past week with Martin Truex Jr. getting “docked” 10 points from his regular season total and not his Chase total. It made no difference that NASCAR might as well not have bothered even handing out the penalty. — Tucker White

    This is overkill. They should have left the lug nuts alone in the first place instead of making them the absolute most mundane story of 2016. Now they’re talking about stripping win benefits if the lug nuts are messed with again. The cheek of it all. — Joseph Shelton

    SECOND GEAR: Cole Custer enters Chicagoland needing a win to get into the Camping World Truck Series Chase. Can he throw the Hail Mary and win to get in after being so close at Mosport?

    No. The No. 00 truck just hasn’t shown a lot of speed this season overall. Don’t think that’s going to change this weekend. — Michael Finley

    Can he? Yes. Will he? No. It will probably be one of the KBM trucks winning tonight. — Tucker White

    Custer’s niche circles smaller or flatter tracks. Take his two wins (Loudon 2014, Gateway 2015) into consideration, along with Mosport. He’s proved he can win, and he’s had a few close calls this season. That said, he’s had a sub-par 2016 that’s put him in a hole, and he’s going to have to dig deep to put that JR Motorsports truck in Victory Lane. I’m doubtful, but at the same time, I think his chances are pretty high. — Joseph Shelton

    THIRD GEAR: Ryan Newman, after being effectively taken out by Tony Stewart at Richmond, called Stewart “bipolar” and said that “(Stewart) thought he was in a sprint car”. Assuming Newman’s sprint car comment was referring to the Kevin Ward Jr. incident as some have speculated, did Newman take a step too far in his comments?

    He probably did, and he made a mistake, to begin with by talking to the media ASAP. Stewart was angry as well but he took the higher road and calmed down in  his hauler rather than say something so stupid. — Michael Finley

    It was heat of the moment. Don’t read too much into it. — Tucker White

    Folks were quick to jump the gun in associating Newman’s comments with the Kevin Ward accident. By referring to Stewart as a guy who gets angry easily, and by noting that Googling Stewart would prove his point, he’s just pointing out that many of his accidents and rage-outs are well documented online. Heat of the moment from both drivers, and I wouldn’t read too much into this. — Joseph Shelton

    FOURTH GEAR: Speaking of RCR, one interesting exchange on this week’s Radioactive was an angry Paul Menard complaining about how teammate Austin Dillon was racing him. It led to Richard Childress himself getting on the radio to attempt to calm the typically mild-mannered Wisconsin driver. With Ty Dillon repeatedly saying that he will be racing full-time next season in Cup, Newman’s contract running out, and the occasional rumors of Menard jumping to another team (i.e. Penske), what do you think their driver lineup will be next season?

    The No. 3 is going to probably stay the exact same. I think Ty Dillon jumps into the No. 31 and Menard will hint at leaving but end up staying at the end. — Michael Finley

    I’ll keep it short with this one: Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon and Paul Menard. — Tucker White

    You ask me what do I think their driver lineup will be in 2017. Simply put, inadequate. Sure, Newman made the Chase in 2014 and 2015, and almost won the 2014 championship. But when has he won? Never. Not winning puts added stress on a team and 2014 was just a lucky draw for the 31. I don’t think he’s going anywhere, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he left.

    I feel bad for Menard. I wouldn’t blame him for going elsewhere considering he’s not getting what he needs to contend as often, and honestly, I think he should. Childress has already pooled his resources into his grandboys, and I don’t think that’s changing.

    That said, in 2016 I’ve tried hard to work on my objectivity to the Dillon brothers. If this were the WWE they’d be getting the Roman Reigns push, underwhelming performance despite being crammed down everyone’s throats. Austin has worked for some good runs this season and has earned some decent, consistent results. He earned his spot in the Chase, I will concede that. But however, he needs to realize that nobody is going to give him an inch out there on the track, and that includes his teammates. Ergo, he needs to man up and take his bumps, maybe work harder to prove that he can get a win.

    As for Ty joining the Cup ranks? I laugh. He’s got quite the little ego on him despite the fact that he’s only earned one XFINITY win in three full-time seasons. He’s never been a serious championship contender, yet he thinks he’s good enough for a Cup ride? What a joke. He constantly shifts blame on other drivers (Regan Smith cleared that up at Watkins Glen in 2015, if only briefly) for his own mistakes and very, very rarely accepts blame for his own mistakes (MoSport 2013, Phoenix 2015, et al.). He needs to mature a lot before he sets foot in a Cup car because let’s be honest…he can’t hang. — Joseph Shelton