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  • Hot 20 – The Elimination Format was Good, but an Actual Five Race Post-Season Even Better

    Hot 20 – The Elimination Format was Good, but an Actual Five Race Post-Season Even Better

    Over the course of the season, Jeff Gordon was the top driver of 2014. However, NASCAR has not determined its champion using the results of the entire campaign for more than a decade. They want excitement, drama, unpredictability. They want what the other big boy sports have, and when they waved the flag to start the season finale, four drivers had an even shot to claim the prize. Unfortunately, 39 we knew who would not, also were out there.

    Regular season and then the playoffs. That is what you get with the NFL, MLB, NBA, and the NHL. You play to entertain and to position yourself into earning a shot at the championship. Since 2004, NASCAR has also done this, except for allowing the non-contenders to remain out on the field of play getting in the way of those who matter.

    What if NASCAR had a real playoff? It has been brought up that the season is too long, that there needs to be a reduction in the schedule. Realistically, there is no way anyone is going to say adios to the big dollars that comes with putting on a 36 event schedule, not including the extras at Daytona in February and Charlotte in May. However, NASCAR could shorten its regular season to 31 races, as it was in some seasons in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, for its 43 car fields. Then they could reduce it to the top 20 drivers and teams over the course of a five-race championship playoff, resetting the points to zero for the post-season, and allowing the best of the best to settle it among themselves.

    The point system would remain the same, other than instead of “win and you are in,” winners are given credit for their victory with 25 bonus points, instead of the three they are presently given. In that way, a race winner would claim as much as 70 points, compared to the 43 for the runner-up. During the playoffs, points would range from one to 20, with the winner’s bonus reduced to three points in recognition of the smaller field and the impact of a win over the shorter “season.” So, in the playoffs, a race win could earn up to 25 points, compared to the runner-up’s 20. Yes, a driver sweeping the first four races of the playoff would have enough to win the title before they run Homestead but, let’s be honest, if they were that dominant they should win it.

    The playoff teams would be expanded from 16 to 20, with those not making the cut sent home, their season over. Considering there are really no more than 25 quality entries in any given race, all we would be doing is exchanging quantity for quality, with Charlotte being the final race of the regular season.

    Using 2014 as a guide for illustrative purposes, neither A.J. Allmendinger or Aric Almirola would make the playoffs as, despite each picking up a win, neither would have made it on points in our Top 20. Along with the other 14 Chasers from this season we would have included Austin Dillon, Brian Vickers, Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson and Paul Menard. A pretty fair exchange.

    TALLADEGA

    Twenty drivers hit the track all even as the opening round of the playoff Chase begins on the super speedway in Alabama. Kyle Busch once again got snake bit come go time when he gets caught up in a crash that left him dead last. Of course, those cars that got him in reality would have been home watching television under this format. Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski responded from the less than loving embraces Denny Hamlin wanted to put on him at Charlotte, and Matt Kenseth did, by claiming 24 points in winning at Talladega. Kenseth, ironically enough, pushed Bad Brad to the front and finished just behind him on the track.

    1 Brad Keselowski 24 Pts
    2 Matt Kenseth 20
    3 Ryan Newman 18
    4 Clint Bowyer 18
    5 Kevin Harvick 16
    6 Kurt Busch 16
    7 Joey Logano 14
    8 Kasey Kahne 14
    9 Austin Dillon 12
    10 Denny Hamlin 11
    11 Kyle Larson 11
    12 Jimmie Johnson 9
    13 Brian Vickers 9
    14 Carl Edwards 8
    15 Greg Biffle 7
    16 Jeff Gordon 6
    17 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 5
    18 Jamie McMurray 4
    19 Paul Menard 2
    20 Kyle Busch 1

    MARTINSVILLE

    Keselowski takes his four point lead over Kenseth to Martinsville, where more than a few need to come up big to make amends for the previous week. After finishing 17th at Talladega, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was among them. In winning, he added 24 points to the five he picked up the previous week, but he remained deep in the standings. Kenseth, Bowyer, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano all had a second strong playoff result, Keselowski was 16th to drop like a stone, as Jimmie Johnson slipped well out of contention with yet another less than stellar result.

    1 Matt Kenseth 37 Pts
    2 Ryan Newman 36
    3 Clint Bowyer 34
    4 Joey Logano 32
    6 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 29
    5 Brad Keselowski 29
    8 Jeff Gordon 26
    7 Denny Hamlin 26
    9 Austin Dillon 24
    11 Kurt Busch 19
    10 Kevin Harvick 19
    12 Greg Biffle 18
    13 Kyle Larson 17
    15 Carl Edwards 16
    14 Brian Vickers 16
    16 Kasey Kahne 15
    18 Kyle Busch 14
    17 Jamie McMurray 14
    19 Jimmie Johnson 13
    20 Paul Menard 12

    TEXAS

    Kenseth heads into the Lone Star State a point ahead of Newman, with Bowyer three away. When it came time to fire off the six guns, Gordon was seeking his own version of High Noon after Keselowski’s bid to take the lead left him with a cut tire and a good day that went for nought. To make matters worse, his rival returned atop the leader board. Johnson’s win at least moved him back into territory where he might yet see light at the end of the long tunnel he is trying to emerge from.

    1 Brad Keselowski 48 Pts
    2 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 44
    3 Ryan Newman 44
    4 Matt Kenseth 42
    5 Joey Logano 42
    6 Kevin Harvick 39
    7 Denny Hamlin 38
    8 Jimmie Johnson 38
    9 Clint Bowyer 37
    10 Kurt Busch 33
    11 Kyle Larson 31
    12 Kyle Busch 31
    13 Jamie McMurray 30
    14 Jeff Gordon 29
    15 Austin Dillon 29
    16 Carl Edwards 28
    17 Greg Biffle 27
    18 Brian Vickers 23
    19 Paul Menard 18
    20 Kasey Kahne 16

    PHOENIX

    After the events at Texas, Keselowski takes a four point lead over both Earnhardt and Newman heading out to the desert, with Gordon’s dreams pretty much shattered by that torn tire. Kevin Harvick came up with a race most can only dream about, absolutely dominating most laps and pretty much all of the re-starts to win. He now sits just behind Keselowski, who finished fourth behind Gordon and Kenseth. Bowyer was dead last on this day, taking him from contender to pretender, while Johnson erased even a glimmer of good tidings by finishing 19th.

    1 Brad Keselowski 65 Pts
    2 Kevin Harvick 64
    3 Matt Kenseth 60
    4 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 58
    5 Joey Logano 58
    6 Ryan Newman 55
    7 Denny Hamlin 55
    8 Jeff Gordon 48
    9 Kurt Busch 47
    10 Kyle Larson 41
    11 Jimmie Johnson 40
    12 Jamie McMurray 39
    13 Greg Biffle 39
    14 Clint Bowyer 38
    15 Carl Edwards 36
    16 Kyle Busch 35
    17 Austin Dillon 32
    18 Brian Vickers 30
    19 Paul Menard 23
    20 Kasey Kahne 22

    HOMESTEAD

    Heading for Miami and the final showdown, 10 drivers remain mathematically alive with seven still with a legitimate shot at the title. Kenseth and Harvick, in fact, could claim it with a victory, no matter what Keselowski did. That is just what Happy Harvick did, leaving Keselowski’s third place result at Homestead just not good enough. A five race playoff, only 20 cars on the track and, in this scenario, the same Sprint Cup champion as provided by the elimination series.

    1 Kevin Harvick 88 Pts
    2 Brad Keselowski 83
    3 Matt Kenseth 75
    4 Ryan Newman 74
    5 Denny Hamlin 70
    6 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 65
    7 Joey Logano 64
    8 Jeff Gordon 61
    9 Kurt Busch 58
    10 Jamie McMurray 55
    11 Jimmie Johnson 52
    12 Clint Bowyer 51
    13 Kyle Larson 49
    14 Paul Menard 40
    15 Greg Biffle 40
    16 Carl Edwards 39
    17 Kyle Busch 37
    18 Austin Dillon 36
    19 Brian Vickers 35
    20 Kasey Kahne 31

  • The Final Word – In Texas, the Racing is Just an Appetizer for the Excitement yet to Come

    The Final Word – In Texas, the Racing is Just an Appetizer for the Excitement yet to Come

    Jimmie Johnson was a factor from beginning to end in Texas, claiming his fourth victory of the season. Okay, enough about the damn race. All the real excitement took place after they waved the checkered flag.

    On a first attempt at a green-white-checkered restart, Johnson and Jeff Gordon started up front. A gap opened between the two and Brad Keselowski tried to punch his way through. There was some separation between the leaders, but not a hole big enough to fit a car, at least to begin with. As Gordon came down, Keselowski was there, but there still was not quite enough of a hole to fit a car through. The two hit, Brad slipped and scraped his way by, while Gordon wound up with a flat tire. Johnson won while Kevin Harvick managed to take the runner-up spot away from the third place Keselowski. As for Gordon, he went from second to finishing a lap down in 29th. Again, enough about the damn race.

    As the boys and girl lined up on pit road to head toward the garage, Gordon pulled up beside Keselowski. As the teams already seemed to be in a scrum, Gordon calmly walked around it all in order to chat with his rival. I say calmly, but appearances can be deceiving. Okay, there was some steam pouring out of Jeff’s helmet as he came around.

    As Keselowski emerged from his car, Gordon began jawing at him while Brad jawed right back, separated by some big boys from his crew. Just when it appeared that One Time might escape from the ruckus, Harvick came in from behind him, apparently said something about fighting his own fight, and pushed Brad back toward the maelstrom. It was enough to allow Gordon to grab Keselowski’s uniform, and the melee ensued. Brad had an escape strategy going for him, but that is when a Gordon crew man came from behind to commit him entirely before collaring the boy. Brad bent backwards and sunk beneath the waves. Both drivers got a little bloodied, but it all proved about as damaging as a pair of toddlers squaring off.
    There were punches thrown, but few if any, really connected. The boys got rough, the boys got loud, and the only person you could really feel sorry for was ESPN’s Jamie Little, who was caught on the fringes of it all. Mind you, a big lug with Paul Menard’s team placed a mitt over the wall to keep her stabilized and upright. Chivalry is alive in NASCAR, as she went on with her job and interviewed Bad Brad post-ruckus. She is a good one, and it is good to see she will be heading over to FOX for next season.

    So, is anyone at fault here? Gordon had every right to be upset as a great finish went into the tank big time. Keselowski tried a maneuver Dale Earnhardt would have attempted in a moment, only the Intimidator would have been in the middle of the expected activities that came afterward. All Harvick did was give Brad a little advice and a gentle push in a direction the boy did not seem eager to face on his own. It was rowdy, not terribly genteel, and totally inappropriate for the conclusion of a chess match, but with these type of personalities in this kind of situation, not overly unexpected. As for violence, it barely matched that of a rugby scrum.

    Yes, there are reports about the supposed mass brawl. No doubt, these folks have never seen a real one, never mind taking in a rough hockey game. Both men were cut up, though scraped up might be a more truthful observation. Brad might have been spitting blood, though it was hard to tell as he was rinsing his mouth out with a red liquid. Harvick’s shove was less aggressive than what I’ve seen DeLana “suffer” at the hands of a teasing Tony Stewart. One writer has stated that throwing a punch, connecting, and giving someone a bloody lip has no place in society. In a conference room, yes, but throw a beanball, spear a hockey player, or drive your car recklessly and you just might face a good, ole fashioned whopping. Even that did not happen in Texas. We saw some boys get rough, some got scraped up a bit, but nobody got whopped. Then again, some scribes obviously chose not to subscribe to the notion of actual facts getting in the way of a good story.

    We have a good storyline heading into Phoenix, where everybody is still in the running, either via a win or on points, and nobody is yet a sure thing. Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, and Ryan Newman have an edge, but early misfortune can still bite them. While Johnson’s previous four wins and an average finish of 6.3 finish in Arizona makes him the favorite going in, Hamlin, Gordon, Harvick, and Carl Edwards are the best amongst the Chasers.

    It should be one hell of an event, both on and off the track.
    1 – Joey Logano – 4072 Points – 13 Pts to the good
    2 – Denny Hamlin – 4072 – 13 Pts to the good
    3 – Ryan Newman – 4070 – 11 Pts to the good
    4 – Jeff Gordon – 4060 – 1 Pt to the good

    5 – Matt Kenseth – 4059 – 1 Pt out
    6 – Carl Edwards – 4059 – 1 Pt out
    7 – Brad Keselowski – 4055 – 5 Pts out
    8 – Kevin Harvick – 4054 – 6 Pts out

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “You want to drive, DeLana?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

    With Kansas City Royals Manager Ned Yost commanding the drivers to start their engines, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 14th annual Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

    Surprising: There were surprisingly two drivers after the checkered flag flew that thought that they had won the race.

    One driver, Joey Logano, did indeed end up in Victory Lane, securing his place in the Eliminator Round of the Chase competition, while Kyle Busch, who has so often had tremendously bad luck at Kansas, finished third in a run that felt to him more like a win.

    “It’s a dream come true,” Logano said after winning his fifth of the season and his first ever at Kansas Speedway. “It’s a dream season so far. We’ve just got to keep finishing it off.”

    “It is awesome to be back in victory lane again,” Logano continued. “We were able to capitalize and do what we needed to do. It was fun.”

    “I won today, I just didn’t get champagne and a trophy,” Kyle Busch said after posting only his third top-10 finish in 15 races at Kansas Speedway. ““To get through Kansas feels nice.”

    “I set my mind to it that there is no reason why we can’t run good here. There is absolutely no reason and other guys can do it so I can do it and my teammates can do it — there is no reason,” Busch continued. “We did that here today and it felt good.”

    Both drivers also had winning days in the point standings as Logano is just six points ahead of Busch after the Kansas race.

    Not Surprising: One of the first gestures after the race was over was from rookie Kyle Larson, demonstrating with about an inch between his index finger and thumb just how close he was yet again to winning.

    This was Larson’s 15th top-10 finish of the season and he was again the highest finishing rookie, in fact for the 21st time.

    “We were good all weekend long,” Larson said. “I thought me and Joey were dead even there at the end. It was hard for me to gain on him. We would go within a hundredth of each other it seemed like on every lap. I was able to close on him at one point, but just couldn’t do anything.”

    “Good finish. We’ll get some wins here soon hopefully before the end of the year, and I think once we get one, we should be up here more often as a winner.”

    Surprising: For at least one Chase contender, the Kansas race ended up being what has traditionally been defined as “a potentially lethal game of chance in which a “player” places a single round in a revolver, spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against their head, and pulls the trigger.”

    “It was just Russian roulette and it was our turn,” Brad Keselowski said after a tire issue sent him into the wall for a 36th place finish. “We blew the right front tire. I am not sure why. We didn’t have an aggressive setup or anything, we just blew the tire.”

    “We didn’t do anything,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford continued. “Like I said, it was a game of Russian Roulette and it was our turn at the gun.”

    Not Surprising: After the euphoria of welcoming his first born son into the world prior to the race, it was not surprising that Clint Bowyer was extremely upset with finishing 18th at a track that he considers part of his racing history.

    “We just struggled all day,” Bowyer said. “Got damage early on and our pink lemonade 5-hour ENERGY Toyota was never the same. Hate it at my home track.”

    Surprising: For once in a very long time, Richard Childress Racing had a better day at the track than Hendrick Motorsports, with the former having all three of its drivers in the top ten, while the latter had major issues of some sort for every one of its four drivers.

    Ryan Newman, driver of the RCR No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet finished sixth, Austin Dillon in his RCR No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet finishing eighth, and Paul Menard, in the RCR No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet finished ninth.

    “Just a good run for the Caterpillar Chevrolet, it was nice to lead some laps,” Newman said. “First time in a long time we have done that.”

    “That is good. That is a motivation for our company.”

    “We fought hard all day,” Menard said. “We didn’t quite have the speed our teammates did. We made some really good adjustments to get the car balanced out good. I’m pretty happy with a top 10 after struggling most of the race. We hit on a couple of things throughout the race that got us better.”

    Jeff Gordon was the highest finishing Hendrick Motorsports car, with a 14th place run. Kasey Kahne finished 22nd; Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson finished 39th and 40th respectively.

    “It was a handful,” Jeff Gordon said. “We were having a pretty solid day with the Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet until the No. 1 car (Jamie McMurray) got loose and got into our left rear.”

    “We had a little damage but we just lost all that track position,” Gordon continued. “It is so hard to get it back at this place.”

    “A lot of people had trouble today. So today was a real survival day. We did that. It just felt like we could have finished a lot better than that. We had a good race car. We actually really had a great race car.”

    Not Surprising: Pleased but not satisfied was how Brian Vickers felt after almost wrecking all day, throwing the kitchen sink at his race car, and finishing tenth in his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota.

    “I think we wrecked 15 times and didn’t hit anything,” Vickers said. “We didn’t get much practice yesterday — we had a couple shock issues that kind of messed us up for the two practices. Then we finally got that figured out on the last run of practice. Basically, today’s race was our practice.”

    “It just took us until the end of the race to kind of get it figured out,” Vickers continued. “There were a few runs there where we were horrible and trying to learn and trying things that didn’t work and did work. Then that last run the guys said, ‘Screw it,’ and threw the kitchen sink at it with a couple changes where we were trying to learn something for the future and it was just awesome.”

    “Considering everything we had to overcome this weekend I would say we’re pleased, but not satisfied.”

    Surprising: In a race with so many blown tires, it was a bit surprising that Carl Edwards’ two tire call actually worked out for him. The driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford finished fifth, keeping his hopes alive in the Chase race.

    “That was an awesome finish for us,” Edwards said. “I appreciate everyone coming out here and supporting this 99 team, it means the world. We did not run very well all day but that was awesome at the end, a lot of fun.”

    “We put it on the top and ran around and it was a lot of fun,” Edwards continued. “You keep saying we are going to fall out of this and we will keep doing what we are doing. I am so proud of my guys, they did great on pit road. Everyone on the Fastenal crew did a great job and Jimmy Fennig made the right calls and we came home with a top-five, so it was a good day.”

    Not Surprising: After another top-10 finish, there was no doubt that Denny Hamlin was in a smooth mood after his seventh place run.

    “I’m proud of my team — no mistakes on pit road, just nice smooth day,” Hamlin said. “I saw those guys having a lot of issues. We don’t have a lot of the speed that those guys have, so maybe if we can get them out this round, then maybe there’s a fighting chance we’ll get to the end of this thing.”

    “This is a good run for us and this is obviously the type of runs that we need to keep moving on. We’ll take sevenths all the way out.”

    Surprising: This team just might have finally turned the corner after a struggle and back luck filled season to date. Martin Truex Jr. scored his best finish of the season with a fourth place run in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet.

    Since the Chase began, Truex has an average finish of 9.25 and had the second best result at Kansas of all of the non-Chase drivers.

    “A lot of effort and a lot of patience have gone into our resurgence,” said Truex. “Everything seems to be clicking much better right now and I look forward to taking advantage of what we have learned and trying to get a win.”

    “As I said last week, we’re also getting ready for 2015 and right now we’re seeing the fruits of our labor.”

    Not Surprising: He may not have advanced in the Chase but AJ Allmendinger was celebrating what he perceived as a stand-out weekend at Kansas.

    “This is the best weekend we have had in a long time for sure,” the driver of the No. 47 Clorox Chevrolet said after finishing 11th. “Happy with the car throughout the whole race, we are just lacking a little bit of overall speed.”

    “It was a good car, by far the best we have been,” Dinger continued. “That is the best 1.5-mile car I’ve had in over a year. Hopefully, we learned for the next race at Charlotte.”

  • The Final Word – Loudon was Full of Surprises, and Not all of Them Were Happy Ones

    The Final Word – Loudon was Full of Surprises, and Not all of Them Were Happy Ones

    New Hampshire, for about 180 laps, was a mind numbing experience. It was the Round-and-round 300, and when you add the beleaguered ESPN desk trios to the mix, it was damn near unwatchable. Then stuff started to happen.

    Early on, Kurt Busch had to come in due to a tire issue. Then Dale Earnhadt Jr.’s crew failed to secure lugnuts on a tire, and he had to make an unscheduled stop. Not long after, there was Denny Hamlin stuck on pit row with a car that would not accept fuel. It was enough to make one kick off the fast forward button to check out exactly what was going on.

    Matt Kenseth did not seem to have a lot of command over his sliding vehicle, and when he broke traction and had to whoa up he got hit from behind by Kyle Busch, who got hit from behind by Kasey Kahne, who got hit from behind by Ryan Newman. On the positive side, it at least allowed Junior to get back on the lead lap.

    Brad Keselowski got spun, but after his win at Chicago he was just driving for fun and sponsor dollars. Kurt Busch got into Jamie McMurray which caused a tire rub that caused a blow out that caused Mr. Busch to hit the wall.

    Later, Kenseth again wobbled and after contact with Paul Menard it was the Chaser doing some metal work against the wall. Jeff Gordon looked good with under ten to go, until his tire let go and he nailed the fence.

    In the end, it was almost a recasting of last week, with Kevin Harvick the dominant once again on the day, but once again it was a Penske car driving off on the re-starts. Joey Logano got the lead in this play, driving off, not to be seen again until the finish line, to punch his ticket to the next round. Harvick finished third.

    The runner-up? That would be one Kyle Larson, as the kid did it again. Not a Chaser, but no doubt the 22-year old is a racer as he claims his second straight Top Three. Top Ten days for Jimmie Johnson, Keselowski, Kyle Busch, and Junior keep them high on the charts.

    Aric Almirola was dead last amongst Chasers after his disaster in Chicago. Until his engine blew, he had been doing great. Sixth at Loudon sure helps, and having a bunch of folks joining him in the deep end of the pool at least allows him a chance of standing on somebody’s shoulders to advance. He was 23 points out when they began Sunday, he is ten away going into next weekend.

    Out of 16 Chasers, half of them finished outside the Top Fifteen. Greg Biffle had a non-competitive day to finish 16th. Carl Edwards was 17th, Newman one behind him. Kenseth was 21st, Kahne 23rd, and Gordon 26th. Way back there was Kurt, at 36th, one up on Hamlin’s beast. If nothing else, it rather muddled up what had been, or so I thought, a few foregone conclusions.

    What that leaves us with is Sunday at Dover. Keselowski and Logano are safe, with a disaster of Biblical proportions needed to deny Harvick. Almirola is still dead last, but the gap between 16th and 8th is now just a dozen points. One blown tire, one blown engine, one broken part, or one miscue out on the track, and all bets are off.

    Last Sunday’s televised action would not have added a single new fan to the sport, not in the way Talladega might next month. Loudon was painful to watch and even more painful to listen to. However, for fans who know what is at stake, New Hampshire provided something huge. Unpredictability. Heading to Dover I am confident as to who three, even seven, of the drivers advancing to the next round of the Chase will be. I am not so sure about the other five. Not anymore.

    Dandy Dozen
    1 – Brad Keselowski – 1 Win – 2097 Points –  *
    2 – Joey Logano – 1 – 2096 – *
    3 – Kevin Harvick – 0 – 2090 – 41 Points in
    4 – Jimmie Johnson – 0 – 2080 – 31 Points in
    5 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 0 – 2077 – 28 Points in
    6 – Kyle Busch – 0 – 2077 – 28 Points in
    7 – Jeff Gordon – 0 – 2070 – 21 Points in
    8 – Carl Edwards – 0 – 2057 – 8 Points in
    9 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 2057 – 8 Points in
    10 – A.J. Allmendinger – 0 – 2056 – 7 Points in
    11 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 2055 – 6 Points in
    12 – Kasey Kahne – 0 – 2055 – 6 Points in

    One chance at Redemption
    13 – Denny Hamlin – 0 – 2049 – 6 Points out
    14 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 2049 – 6 Points out
    15 – Kurt Busch – 0 – 2047 – 8 Points out
    16 – Aric Almirola – 0 – 2045 – 10 Points out

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: New Hampshire Sylvania 300

    Surprising and Not Surprising: New Hampshire Sylvania 300

    In the second race of the Chase for NASCAR’s championship, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 18th annual Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    Surprising: Instead of being magical, New Hampshire Motor Speedway proved to be more of a combination of Daytona, Darlington and Martinsville.

    The 303 lap race included a Daytona-like ‘big one’, many cars striping the wall similar to Darlington, and some typically short-track Martinsville-like beating and banging, especially during the restarts.

    David Ragan was involved in New Hampshire’s version of the ‘big one’, slamming hard into the wall after tangling with Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. and then getting tagged after the wreck by Denny Hamlin to boot.

    “It was unfortunate,” Ragan, driver of the No. 32 Taco Bell Ford, said. “It looked like the 51 and 78 were both mad and they were running over each other. They kind of shot up the race track and that just kind of shot me up.”

    Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. was just one of many drivers who had a too close encounter with the New Hampshire wall, getting an even more severe stripe than at Darlington.

    “I blew a left-front,” the driver of the No. 17 EcoPower Ford said. “We were all just racing really, really hard on that restart. Everybody was bouncing off each other. I don’t know who hit my left-front, but it got a fender rub and just blew the left-front going down the front straightaway.”

    “I was trying to get it slowed down as much as I could, but it wasn’t gonna turn, so I just hit the wall.”

    Chaser Matt Kenseth and Paul Menard were just one pair that were duking it out like on a short track while on the Magic Mile. Both drivers spun, causing a 21st place finish for Kenseth while Menard soldiered on to finish 15th.

    “I got spun out on that wall up there,” the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota said. “Menard said he wheel-hopped it in there and got into me.”

    Not Surprising: New England native Joey Logano, clicking his heels together in Victory Lane, proved that there truly is no place like home. Logano won his fourth race of the season at his home track and secured his place, along with his Penske teammate, in the next round of the Chase competition.

    “This is my home race track, the coolest place to win for me,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “I could never pick a better race track to win.”

    “I watched my first Cup race here when I was five and I won that other Cup race here (rain-shortened race), but I just felt like I had to win one the right way here, and this means so much.”

    This was Logano’s seventh career NASCAR victory and his second win at the Magic Mile.

    Surprising: Penske teammate Brad Keselowski emerged after the race surprisingly conflicted, in spite of finishing fourth in the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford.

    “I don’t know,” Keselowski said. “We had a lot of adversity. I made a few mistakes that got us behind, but Paul Wolfe (crew chief) and the crew did a great job of getting us back in position. It was kind of an up-and-down day and I guess we ended on an OK note.”

    “We finished seventh, but I was definitely looking for more than that,” Keselowski continued. “We certainly have a lot to be proud of, but there’s still a lot of work to do.”

    Not Surprising: It certainly was not surprising that Denny Hamlin’s post-race interview included the word crap as he battled a fueling issue and then got involved in a wreck to finish 37th in his No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota.

    “It’s so frustrating,” Hamlin said. “We just got bit by a mechanical deal. We’ve had them bite us in the Chase in the past, but I thought we were past that — but sometimes you roll the dice and you crap out.”

    “Today is that day for us.”

    Surprising: While Michael Waltrip lived to dance another day after being in the bottom three in ‘Dancing with the Stars’, his drivers both had decent top-15 runs at New Hampshire this race weekend.

    Vickers fared best in his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, with a 10th place finish, while Clint Bowyer, expectant father, finished 14th.

    “The guys just did an awesome job with our Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota today,” Vickers said. “We had a really good race car — it was fast, we were one of the best cars in the corner today.”

    “The guys did a good job today, I’m really proud of them.”

    Not Surprising: Yes, the youngster did it again. Kyle Larson, the highest finishing rookie, scored the runner up finishing spot in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet.

    “It was a really good race for us,” Larson said. “Our Target Chevy wasn’t even a top-15 car the first 100 laps, and Shine (Chris Heroy, crew chief) and everybody on this Target team did a great job to get me in the game.”

    “They made some big changes there under the second or third caution, and it felt like a totally different race car.”

    This was Larson’s second top-10 finish in just two races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and his 13th top-10 finish of the season.

    Surprising: There was plenty of talk after the race yet again about restarts, from Kevin Harvick’s complaint about the restarts late in the race to other drivers commenting on the craziness of the multiple restarts, particularly the green-white-checkered finish.

    “And then at the end there, NASCAR must not be able to see the lines on the restart there and the No. 22 (Joey Logano) was way early all day,” Harvick said ruefully about the restarts after finishing third. “But all in all, we did what we had to do and I just enjoyed racing that hard.”

    “All those cautions are fairly frustrating,” Jamie McMurray said after finishing fourth in his No. 1 Belkin/WEMO Chevrolet. “I know it is fun to watch as a fan, but you are so panicked as a driver as to which lane you are going to get to restart in because that is critical.”

    “It was a wild day, especially with all of those restarts,” six-time champ Jimmie Johnson said. “Man I don’t know what it looked like from the grandstands today, but I can tell you that inside the car, I was hanging on trying not to spin out.”

    Not Surprising: The pendulum swung for Aric Almirola, whose engine blew up last weekend, to his sixth place finish this weekend in his No. 43 Smithfield Ford.

    “We’re down but we’re not out,” Almirola said. “We can only control what we can control and today we did that and did a good job and finished sixth.”

    “Last week it didn’t work out in our favor, but this week it did,” Almirola continued. “We’ll do the same thing at Dover and we’ll see what happens.”

    Surprising: Martin Truex, Jr. made another surprising comeback from two laps down just like last weekend to finish a respectable 12th place.

    “The guys didn’t quit on me today and I’m driving my heart out,” Truex said. “Though we made good adjustments today and came through at the end, we struggled for most of the weekend and need to work out some issues. But the guys worked hard and kept on making the car better.”

    “I never thought I would say this about New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but I wish the race was longer,” stated Truex. “We were moving forward and felt there were more cars that we could have passed.”

    Not Surprising: Next week will be anything but comfortable for the remaining Chase contenders fighting to go into the next round.

    “I wonder that the last race in each round may be quite eventful,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said about the next race in Dover after finishing ninth at the Magic Mile. “Guys are going to have to – you know on the last restarts or those last cautions guys that need those points and aren’t going to get them any other way are going to have to take some crazy gamble on tires, fuel.”

    “You are going to have some guys out there on old tires trying to hold people off and it’s going to cause a lot of traffic,” Junior continued. “It’s going to get tight. It’s going to get furious.”

     

  • The Final Word – A Kahne-Do Spirit Trumps a Fast Car, a Fast Pit Crew, and Two Brats at Atlanta

    The Final Word – A Kahne-Do Spirit Trumps a Fast Car, a Fast Pit Crew, and Two Brats at Atlanta

    Atlanta was a race we thought would be decided by a driver who had a great car, one who had a great pit crew, or one who was simply too desperate for victory to be denied. In the end, it was decided by two guys who turned their high-powered machines into bumper cars to force a green-white-checker…or two.

    Kevin Harvick had the car. He dominated the race, but when it came time to go to extra time he had a bit of ground to make up. Paul Menard, after a two tire stop, could not get going on the re-start. Harvick clipped him, and then Menard squeezed up to the wall as the two fresh tired Joey Logano came up behind. Harvick went from challenging for a win to being challenged by the wall. He finished 19th.

    Denny Hamlin had the pit crew. 11-seconds and a tick were what they were giving him every stop, and he used the advantage to stay up near the front. By the time the smoke cleared, he was still up there, just two positions back of where he had hoped to finish.

    Kasey Kahne wanted a win. He needed a win. He got by Hamlin with just over twenty laps remaining, then fended off Harvick, and it seemed that would be how they would finish, Kahne, Harvick, Hamlin…then it was time to waste away in Moronoville.

    Not sure what prompted it, but with under a handful of laps left, Kyle Busch went into the rear of Martin Truex Jr. Then did it again. They he got tagged back, as the two proceeded to dance the auto tango to bring out the caution. They even had words later, with Rowdy in his car and Truex leaning in to chat. Neither mattered much on this day, but their spat could have affected things.

    Well, it did affect Harvick’s finish, though it matters little at this stage. It did allow Matt Kenseth to duel Kahne in a battle of the winless for the decision in the second G-W-C attempt, but Kahne survived to win his Chase place while Kenseth locked himself a berth on points. In the end, all was right with the world.

    Not for Clint Bowyer. He hold on a Chase place went to crap along with his shifter. It broke and he fell laps back to fall right out of the Chase. A win at Richmond, or he is left hoping for a repeat winner along with finishing well ahead of Greg Biffle on Saturday.

    Anyone still in the Top 33 still has a shot at a spot in the Chase, but they need a win next week to pull that off. That makes Danica Patrick still a contender, and a sixth place finish at Atlanta made a bunch of happy reporters. Still, I will wait for a couple of back-to-back Top Fifteens before I get too warm and fuzzy about it. I mean, Aric Almirola also had a Top Ten, but no one seemed quite ready just yet to snap up his autographed bikini photos in celebration.

    It was nice Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards had pretty good finishes, or even that Junior was 11th even on a day he was a non-factor. Too bad for Jeff Gordon, who looked good early before a tire and his hopes went away at about the same time. Tony Stewart was back, looked great the first few laps, but then Kyle Busch squeezed him into the grinder to damper his hopes. A blown tire a little later ended them. Still, it was good to see him back.

    With Richmond coming up this Saturday night, it comes down to this. 13 drivers are in the Chase through wins this season and one is in on points. That leaves two open. Give one to Ryan Newman. As you check these standings, you will see that as long as Biffle does not make any great gains on him, or Newman blows up early, the Rocket is in. As for Biffle, it comes down to trying to catch Newman, holding off Bowyer, and hoping for a repeat winner…unless the winner is a guy named Greg. That would be fine by him.

    So Richmond will be all about Newman, Biffle, and Bowyer, and the identity of the driver that wins. Nothing else really matters, but at least that keeps things rather simple.

    The Locked in chasers…
    1 – Jeff Gordon – 3 Wins – 871 Points
    2 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 3 – 851
    3 – Joey Logano – 3 – 791
    4 – Brad Keselowski – 3 – 782
    5 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 766
    6 – Carl Edwards – 2 – 755
    7 – Kevin Harvick – 2 – 748
    8 – Kasey Kahne – 1 – 708
    9 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 657
    10 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 636
    11 – Kurt Busch – 1 – 614
    12 – Aric Almirola – 1 – 594
    13 – A.J. Allmendinger – 1 – 590
    14 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 794

    One is in, but no guarantee as to another…
    15 – Ryan Newman – 0 Wins – 747 Points
    16 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 728
    17 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 705
    18 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 704

    A Win to be in…
    19 – Paul Menard – 0 Wins – 675 Points
    20 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 674
    21 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 666
    22 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 650
    23 – Marcos Ambrose – 0 – 628
    24 – Casey Mears – 0 – 583
    25 – Martin Truex, Jr. – 0 – 561
    26 – Tony Stewart – 0 – 540
    27 – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 0 – 538
    28 – Danica Patrick – 0 – 500
    29 – Justin Allgaier – 0 – 443
    30 – Michael Annett – 0 – 393

    A win…and 30th or better…
    31 – David Gilliland – 0 Wins – 392 Points
    32 – David Ragan – 0 – 370
    33 – Cole Whitt – 0 – 353

     

     

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: IRWIN Tools Night Race

    Surprising and Not Surprising: IRWIN Tools Night Race

    The Coliseum…..Thunder Valley…..and “The World’s Fastest Half Mile”…..here is what was surprising and not surprising from Bristol Motor Speedway in the IRWIN Tools Night Race.

    Surprising: Although Team Penske scored a one, two finish, race winner Joey Logano and race runner up Brad Keselowski both admitted that was one of the toughest, most physically demanding races of the season to date.

    “It definitely was a very, very tough race,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford for Team Penske said. “I feel like it’s the most physically demanding racetrack, just the baddest, mamma jamma racetrack ever built, not only for the driver but for the race car. You’re just always on the gas or the brake or in the turn. There’s always something going on, and as a driver you don’t get a break inside the race car, either.”

    “It was a hard night,” the driver of the No. 2 Wurth Team Penske Ford said. “I’ll tell you, first off, this place, the race pace is really brutal and aggressive. With the cars having all the extra downforce this year and tires improving and some of the new rules, compounded by grinding the track and the track’s high lane having a lot of speed, I swear, this is the most grueling race of the year.”

    “It feels good just to complete it and be able to kind of look myself in the eye and know I gave it all I had,” Keselowski continued. “It just wasn’t enough, but I didn’t fall out of the seat, so I’m damned near as proud of not falling out of the seat as anything else.”

    Not Surprising: Coach Gibbs has no doubt already sent out for the infamous milk and cookies for his driver of the No. 18 Doublemint Toyota and his crew chief Dave Rogers. The two exchanged some pretty heated words after Busch sped on pit road, got back in traffic and was collected in a wreck for a 36th place finish.

    “That’s just pro sports,” Coach Gibbs said. “Every now and then you get frustrated.”

    “I think the night was totally frustrating,” Gibbs continued. “(Kyle) had a great car and it was a series of circumstances. Something like that happens in pro sports you can get frustrated.”

    Surprising: While Kyle Busch vacated his race car without speaking to the media, his teammate Denny Hamlin could not stop talking about what happened between himself and Kevin Harvick, resulting in his 40th place finish in the Bristol night race. In fact, he even added some physicality to his words, tossing his HANS device at Harvick’s car under the caution laps.

    “I’m just frustrated because we had a good run going,” Hamlin opined. “I thought for sure after the first couple runs that we were going to win the race.”

    “It just didn’t work out,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota said. “Mistakes happen in racing. Obviously, I believe that Kevin (Harvick) made a mistake tonight and that’s just part of it. I was just on the short end of the stick.”

    Not Surprising: Matt Kenseth, although winless, continued his consistent streak of good finishes, scoring the third position in his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota. Kenseth was also the highest finishing Toyota driver and, in fact, was the only Toyota to finish in the top-15.

    “I feel like we’re getting better,” Kenseth said. “We just didn’t quite have it today and we still got a decent finish out of it, but we just didn’t quite have the speed we’ve had the last few races here.”

    “We’ll keep working on it.”

    Surprising: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had a surprisingly good finish, taking the checkered flag in the sixth spot. In fact, Stenhouse Jr. led the Roush Fenway Racing trio in the finishing order, with both of his teammates finishing behind him, in seventh and tenth respectively for Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle.

    “We didn’t start off very good but Mike (Kelley, crew chief) made a lot of changes,” Stenhouse said. “Our pit crew did an awesome job on pit road and gave me some fast pit stops, and Mike made a good call to take the wave around to get back on the lead lap and then the caution came out quick and we were able to make our car a little bit better.”

    “We’ve got a lot of work to do, but definitely really pleased with how we finished with how the car drove, so we’ll get it better and we’ll keep working on it,” Stenhouse Jr. continued. “That felt really good to pass some cars. It was a great night.”

    Not Surprising: After leading 148 laps out of the 500 lap race, it would be natural to feel a bit befuddled after finishing eighth instead of ending up in Victory Lane.

    “I don’t know what happened,” Jamie McMurray, behind the wheel of the No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet said. “Our car got really tight with about 100 laps to go.”

    “We freed it up on the last pit stop and it didn’t really help,” McMurray continued. “But I’m really proud of everybody on our McDonald’s Chevrolet. McDonald’s has been in this sport for so long and they’ve only won a few races and I really thought tonight was going to be our night to put them back in Victory Lane.”

    Surprising: Jimmie Johnson, six-time champ, and Kyle Larson, Rookie of the Year contender, may be at different places in their careers, however they had one thing in common at Bristol. They both had to overcome adversity, from Johnson’s two speeding penalties to Larson’s wreck in qualifying, to finish fourth and twelfth respectively.

    Johnson was the highest finisher for Hendrick Motorsports and Larson was again the highest finishing rookie of the race.

    “Top fives are good. We are happy about that,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet said. “We had some issues on pit road and got nailed for speeding twice which was totally on us. Just mistakes made there that kind of hurt us a little bit, but we still got a third top five, finished fourth.”

    “I made our team have to work really hard with wrecking in qualifying,” the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “Just a long race I felt like I worked hard the whole time. That is the hardest I’ve ever raced. Especially having to do it for 500 laps.”

    “That was pretty wild,” Larson continued. “I guess I’m happy with a 12th. That is probably about as good as we were. I had a few run in’s today, but still to come away with a 12th is pretty good.”

    Not Surprising: Paul Menard quietly continued his string of good finishes, this time taking the checkered flag in ninth.

    “We had a really good car,” the driver of the No. 27 Serta/Menards Chevrolet said. “We had two runs where we just got off. We took right sides and it didn’t work out very well. Then we did a chassis adjustment and put four tires. We feel backwards and got a lap down. We were able to put four tires on and pass some guys for the lucky dog.”

    “We got that and we could race again.”

    Surprising: Aric Almirola was the biggest loser of the evening, wrecking hard to finish 41st and dropping three spots in the point standings to 24th.

    “I’m OK, just disappointed,” the driver of the No. 43 STP Ford Fusion said. “What an amazing race car these guys brought me – two of them – and to go out like that is certainly disappointing, but that’s racing at Bristol – you get caught up in other peoples’ wrecks.”

    Not Surprising: AJ Allmendinger continues to ride the momentum wave after his win at Watkins Glen, finishing top-15 at a track where he admittedly has struggled.

    “It’s a really good night because I’m not really good here,” the driver of the No. 47 Busch’s Beans Chevrolet said. “At times we had a top-10 car and even at the end there when the car was terrible.”

    “We were inside the top-15 with decent speeds and that’s what I wanted to at least do here,” Allmendinger continued. “Times we were eighth, ninth, 10th like last week.”

    “So, I think we are making progress. I’m just happy to get out of here and be able to run 500 laps. I think the team was a little bit better than me today. All in all, it’s the kind of momentum we need for going into Chicago.”

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Pure Michigan 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Pure Michigan 400

    With an impassioned driver’s meeting speech by Carl Edwards urging safety and throttling back during cautions at such a high-speed track, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 45th annual Pure Michigan 400.

    Surprising: Drivers were apparently in full throttle preparation for Bristol, with tempers surprisingly abounding at the two-mile track in the Irish hills. Six time champion Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman exchanged words after the race, as did Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Denny Hamlin.

    “Just old Ryan Newman stuff,” Johnson said after his heated conversation with the driver of the No. 31 WIX Filters Chevrolet. “Anybody that has watched the sport long enough or has been in a race car out there understands the frustration of racing Ryan.”

    Racing frustrations also abounded between the drivers of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota and the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet.

    “I felt like he crowded me off of (Turn) 4 in the middle part of the race,” Hamlin said. “We’re trying to make the best we can do down 50 horsepower.”

    “I’m going to eventually let him go, but I’m not some lapped car that you can just shove to the high side and I’m going to back off.”

    “I ran him up the track a little bit early in the race,” Earnhardt said. “He didn’t like it too much. I’ve been run up the track, too. I don’t like it either, but I didn’t want him hanging on my quarter panel all the way down the front straightaway and ended up three- or four-wide.”

    “I just wanted to get on by him because I was flying. We were hauling.”

    Not Surprising: Jeff Gordon went three for three for three, with his third win of the season, his third win at Michigan and a now three-win season, his first since 2011.

    “Well, I like to go fast. This place is really, really fast,” the driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet said. “Michigan has always been one of my favorites.”

    “Today I was able to drive this place the way I like to drive it, have success here again.”

    Surprising: It was a surprisingly rough weekend for Martin Truex, Jr., with his girlfriend Sherry Pollex undergoing surgery for ovarian cancer, his brother Ryan suffering a concussion in Michigan practice and his involvement a nine car pile-up that relegated him to a 36th place finish.

    “These two Michigan races turned out to be very long days,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet said. “It was hard to learn anything about this place back in June and it was the same story today.”

    “I just wish we could have finished one of these Michigan races with a clean car,” stated Truex. “You’re always curious to see how things would have played out and where you could have potentially finished.”

    Not Surprising: He may have been a bridesmaid yet again, in fact for the fourth time at Michigan, but Kevin Harvick deemed his second place run a success, especially in light of the upcoming Chase.

    “Yeah, I mean, we had a solid day,” Harvick said. “Just the 24 had more speed than we did all day. I felt like when Joey was out front, he could get away at the short run, we’d kind of even out.”

    “But all in all, it was a good day,” the driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet said. “The main focus for our team has been consistency heading into the Chase to make sure we can scramble and do the things we’ve done over the last month.”

    “Obviously you want to win, but all in all we had some different goals that are as important leading into the Chase.”

    Surprising: While Joey Logano joked in the media center after the race that he really did not want to relive his last few laps, he too like Harvick had the championship on his mind, laying down the gauntlet after his third place finish.

    “We can win a championship. I really feel we can do that,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “That’s the message I want to put out there. I want to put out for my team that we’re strong enough to do that. I think we showed that today.”

    Not Surprising: It was indeed a ‘hard week’ as Jeff Burton put it after being tapped to substitute for Tony Stewart, who decided to miss another race, grieving the contact with Kevin Ward Jr. which cost the young driver his life.

    “This was a hard week,” Burton said. “This was honestly one of the hardest weeks I’ve ever spent, coming here on Friday not knowing what to expect.”

    Burton’s No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet finished 37th after an electrical issue and a burning smell in the cockpit sent him to the garage.

    Surprising: It was a surprisingly bad day if your name was Kyle. Both Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson crashed, the first on lap four and the latter on lap 98.

    “I felt so good about my car those first few laps running the bottom, but then I was getting hung out on the straightaways,” Busch said “Then I just tried going to the top in (turns) three and four right away, and I got loose all the way through three and four. Every time I touched the gas it wanted to spin out, and finally it was too much gas and not enough save, and I wrecked.”

    Larson’s incident was far more frightening, however, as his No. 42 Target Chevrolet went up in flames after his hard impact.

    “I had no warning the right-front was going to blow,” Larson said. “Michigan is a fast track and into turn three is fast too. We are turning some really high speeds here so the hit was definitely a hard one.”

    “Yeah anytime you see flames you want to get out,” Larson continued, explaining his bailing out of his car in spite of NASCAR’s new ruling. “I have had fires and stuff, but that is the first time I have ever had fumes or smoke and stuff in the cockpit. That is the main reason why I wanted to get out.”

    Not Surprising: Once you get a win under your belt, as AJ Allmendinger did at Watkins Glen, those good finishes just seem to roll along. The Dinger finished top-15 at Michigan and officially clinched his spot in the Chase.

    “It’s really cool,” the driver of the No. 47 Kingsford Charcoal Chevrolet said of his Chase berth. “I thought we had a really good shot, but you never know until it’s official. So to have that is really good.”

    “More than anything I felt like this weekend made some gains so that gets a little excitement going into the next couple of race tracks to see if we can keep getting better. Overall the last few weeks has been really cool to share with the guys and come here and have a little energy and confidence. To come out here all weekend and show some speed has been really good.”

    Surprising: In spite of burning up a test session at Michigan International Speedway prior to the race weekend, Roush Fenway Racing continued to struggle at a track they once owned. Greg Biffle did manage a tenth place finish and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 15th, however, Carl Edwards had a disappointing end to his day, taking the checkered flag in 23rd.

    “You know, I guess it was a good day,” Biffle said. “We got a top-10. Really we wanted to run up in the top-five. We had a car to do that and that track position we would get loose around other cars. We still have to work on that with our race cars.”

    “It was a good solid top-15,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “We qualified 10th and finished 15th and ran right around 15th the whole time which is kind of a goal. Obviously we want to run top-10 and pass as many cars as we can but all in all we accomplished what we were looking to do.”

    “We were so loose I just couldn’t drive it,” Edwards said. “It looked like Greg (Biffle) had a good run and we had speed in qualifying so that gives us something to look forward to but we were just too loose today to be able to do anything.”

    Not Surprising: After some difficult runs recently, it was not surprising that Paul Menard scored a fourth place finish at an intermediate track where he tends to run well. The driver of the No. 27 Certainteed/Menards Chevrolet did in fact run well, finishing fourth.

    “Our cars are really good,” Menard said. “The RCR fab shop, the ECR engine shop they make really good race cars. This track kind of suits my driving style I guess. Sluggar (Labbe, crew chief) and I, Justin and James and everybody on the No. 27 car have a good baseline intermediate track package that seems to work good at these fast tracks.”

    “Definitely needed a good run the last three or four weeks have been pretty brutal,” Menard continued. “We definitely needed this.”

    As a result of the Michigan race and assuming that they all attempt to qualify for the remaining three races of the regular season, AJ Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin all scored their spot in the championship Chase.

     

  • The Final Word – Daytona and Talladega I get, but Junior is the King of Pocono?

    The Final Word – Daytona and Talladega I get, but Junior is the King of Pocono?

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. is having a rather pleasant season thus far. On Sunday, he swept the season series at Pocono, upped his count to three wins this term, tops the standings, and is second only to Jeff Gordon in accumulated points. No bad at all.

    Gordon actually had the car to beat on the day, leading the most laps, but with 39 to go he stayed out while Junior hit the pits. That allowed his teammate to gas and go with 10 remaining, while Gordon required full service, and that was that. Gordon finished sixth, leaving Kevin Harvick to fill up Junior’s rear view as they ticked down to the end, with Harvick claiming the runner-up spot.

    Three years ago at Sonoma, Brian Vickers had enough of Tony Stewart and wound up parking Smoke atop a stack of tires. On Sunday, Vickers again caused Stewart to end up jacked up, though not intentionally. Denny Hamlin lost traction, almost spun, causing Vickers to ponder evasive action. That was enough to send his car into Matt Kenseth, which caused one heck of a mess behind them, including Stewart parked atop Paul Menard’s ride.

    That meant Stewart failed to get his much needed win. Kenseth remains the points leader amongst the winless. Menard needs a win, not another car. Jimmie Johnson has his three wins, but tire woes meant wall woes as he was done in 39th. Kyle Busch does not smoke, but his car did after 20-odd laps to leave him 42nd. As for Ms. Patrick, she failed to make it over the Danica-line as she came home 30th. She was a solid Top-10 early but smacked the wall, which caused her tire to blow a lap later, which pretty much shot the handling after that. Just another day in paradise.

    This Sunday, Watkins Glen provides the test, where Patrick finished 20th in her first attempt. Marcos Ambrose won there in 2011, and he sure could another one this weekend. Same goes for Stewart, who has claimed it five times. Both usually do quite well turning left and right, while a win would turn one of them right into a place in the Chase.

    THE SWEET SIXTEEN

    1 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 3 Wins – 740 Points
    2 – Brad Keselowski – 3 – 687
    3 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 633
    4 – Jeff Gordon – 2 – 757
    5 – Joey Logano – 2 – 633
    6 – Carl Edwards – 2 – 618
    7 – Kevin Harvick – 2 – 608
    8 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 611
    9 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 532
    10 – Aric Almirola – 1 – 506
    11 – Kurt Busch – 1 – 488
    12 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 668
    13 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 642
    14 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 617
    15 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 595
    16 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 590

    CONTENDERS & PRETENDERS
    17 – Kasey Kahne – 0  Wins – 589 Points
    18 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 588
    19 – Paul Menard – 0 – 562
    20 – Marcos Ambrose – 0 – 541
    21 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 539
    22 – Tony Stewart – 0 – 537
    23 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 536
    24 – Casey Mears – 0 – 487
    25 – A.J. Allmendinger – 0 – 477
    26 – Martin Truex, Jr. – 0 – 477
    27 – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 0 – 423
    28 – Danica Patrick – 0 – 396
    29 – Justin Allgaier – 0 – 371
    30 – Michael Annett – 0 – 347
    31 – David Gilliland – 0 – 312
    32 – Cole Whitt – 0 – 305