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Surprising and Not Surprising: Pocono GoBowling.com 400

From the impact of crew chief suspensions inspired by the No. 11 Denny Hamlin penalty to the forecasted rain that never reared its ugly head, here is what else was surprising and not surprising in the 41^st Annual GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway.

Surprising: They may have swept Pocono for the first time since Denny Hamlin did it in 2006 and also scored their third victory of the season, but what Dale Earnhardt Jr. and crew chief Steve Letarte were most eloquent about after the race was their praise for the positive impact of team owner Rick Hendrick on their lives.

“I just told him thanks for believing in me and making my life better,” Dale Jr. said of the call he made to Mr. H. in Victory Lane. “He has that effect on all the people that work for him. He makes everybody’s life better.”

“He put me with Steve and I think that Steve was in a place where he was looking for something new and I was definitely needing something new, and it worked out,” Earnhardt Jr. continued. “I was, it was a touch and go there for a while, but we have worked, we have done some good things together and we have continued to get better and we finally are realizing that potential and doing the things on the racetrack that we dreamed about doing when we first started working together.”

“Mr. Hendrick has helped me become a better person, put me around people that influence me to be a better person, so just want him to know that I appreciate it.”

“He’s the kind of guy that through the low times in your life you can lean on and you don’t worry about talking to him about it,” crew chief Steve Letarte said of Mr. H, in support of his driver’s opinion. “He’s given me a tremendous amount of advice without probably ever even knowing it. He’s just that kind of guy.”

“People don’t work at Hendrick Motorsports because we win races, people work at Hendrick Motorsports because they want to work for Rick Hendrick and that’s a big difference.”

Not Surprising: Jeff Gordon may not have won the race in spite of leading 63 laps, but he did achieve two career milestones as a result of his sixth place run in the GoBowling.com 400. The driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet broke the 24,000 career laps led mark and also achieved the milestone of leading 1,000 laps at Pocono Raceway.

“I’m really happy with the way our car performed,” Gordon said. “It’s just so awesome and encouraging and has got my confidence sky high. And I just can’t wait to get to the next race.”

Surprising: Tony Stewart and Paul Menard had a close encounter of the on-top-of-each-other-yet-again kind after a multi-car pileup on Lap 118.

“I told Tony the last time we did that was about two years ago at Talladega,” Menard, driver of the No. 27 Certainteed/Menards Chevrolet, said. “So, we have got to stop doing that.”

“Yeah, I tend to end up on Paul (Menard) a lot,” Stewart said, followed by a quick clarifying statement. “Car wise, our cars tend to end up on top of each other for some reason.”

“I think that is the second time I’ve landed on top of him,” Smoke continued. “This time at least we weren’t’ looking windshield in at each other.”

Not Surprising: For at least one driver, who officially locked himself into the Chase with his second place Pocono finish, there were lessons to be learned at the Tricky Triangle.

Kevin Harvick described his team’s biggest lesson learned as the ability to scramble after suffering damage in the multi-car wreck that sent their car into a drain and then the wall.

“Well, I think today was very important,” the driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Chevrolet said. “We didn’t have the car that we wanted, I felt like we had a top three car today, we were going to need track position and things were not really going well.”

“They were able to fix the car after we wrecked it,” Harvick continued. “So that’s what we talked about as we came back from the break was just scrambling, being able to scramble and get a finish of some sort to get something out of a day.”

“That’s what you’re going to have to do the last 10 weeks and today we were able to accomplish that and hopefully this is a good sign of things to come.”

Surprising: Danica Patrick and Jimmie Johnson had one surprising thing in common at Pocono. Both of their races were pretty much ruined by tire issues, which coincided with hitting the wall issues as well.

Six-time champ Johnson had his tires go down twice, once early in the race and the second time on lap 113, sending him into the wall.

Patrick actually hit the outside wall first on lap 14, which resulted in a severe tire rub. Just one lap later, her right-rear tire failed as she was trying to make her way to pit road.

Johnson finished 39^th and Patrick ended her day in the 30^th spot.

“Unfortunately, we had some trouble early and were able to really rally back and get ourselves in the top-five,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet said. “So disappointed for sure, but really unclear as to what happened going into Turn 2. The car went straight down into the Tunnel Turn.”

“I feel so badly that I started the problems when I hit the fence there in Turn 2,” the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet said. “I just wish I would have been smart enough to bring our GoDaddy Chevy to pit lane as soon as it happened, but sometimes tire rubs seem worse than what they are, so I stayed out there and we lost the tire.”

“I’m really disappointed, and I know all the guys are, too.”

Not Surprising: After scoring the pole with a new Pocono track record of 183.438 mph and 49.063 seconds, it was not surprising for rookie Kyle Larson to yet again score Rookie of the Race honors with his 12^th place race run.

NASCAR Camping World Truck race winner and Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Austin Dillon finished in the 15^th position as the next highest rookie runner.

Surprising: While Kyle Busch is quite often the dominant Toyota, the driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, exited early with some sort of engine issue and Clint Bowyer instead led the charge in his No. 15 RK Motors Charlotte Toyota Camry, finishing 4^th.

“We had a good car all weekend and we unloaded good,” Bowyer said. “I’m proud of (Brian) Pattie (crew chief) and all these guys that work so hard.”

“It’s the work during the week, day in and day out, that makes the difference when you come to these weekends and it’s good to be getting a good finish.”

Not Surprising: Denny Hamlin, sans his regular crew chief Darian Grubb, deemed his substitute crew chief Mike Wheeler good after a top-10 finish at the Tricky Triangle.

“You know, he (Mike Wheeler) did a really good job,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota said. “He called the race nice. Good communication and we were on the same strategy as far as what I was thinking and what he was thinking so that was good.”

“So really pretty seamless for the most part.”

Surprising: Matt Kenseth’s predictions of Pocono not being the best track for him came true when he finished a disappointing 38^th after having his car destroyed in the Pocono version of the ‘Big One.’

“It’s never been a wonderful track for me,” Kenseth said prophetically prior to the race. And after the race, he simply said. “We just got all collected.”

Not Surprising: There was at least one driver that was ready to accept his 15^th place finish and head on to the road course at Watkins Glen for next weekend’s race.

“If you had asked me at the start of the day would I take a top-15 finish, I would have said yes but it was just a little frustrating there at the end,” Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 DeWalt Ford Said. “We had some issues and I probably let a few spots go, but we’ll keep digging and keep working on it.”

“It’s frustrating for all of us to not be as competitive at these downforce tracks as we want, but we’ve got a good one next week coming up and hopefully we can get rolling there.”

August 4, 2014
Surprising and Not Surprising: Brickyard 400

With the announcement by Roush Fenway Racing that Carl Edwards would not be returning in 2015 still reverberating throughout the garage, here is what else was surprising and not surprising in the 21st Annual Crown Royal presents The John Wayne Walding 400 at The Brickyard Powered by BigMachineRecords.com at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Surprising: In spite of securing his second win of the season, as well as having the points lead well in hand, it surprisingly took securing his fifth win at the Brickyard and his 90^th career victory to make a championship believer out of Jeff Gordon.

“It’s so hard to gain confidence in this series,” the driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet said. “I think we saw we were points leaders, we saw we won at Kansas, but I don’t know if we believed we were capable of winning this championship this year, truly believe it.”

“We do now,” Gordon continued. “But a Brickyard 400 win, it just doesn’t get any better. I mean, to share that with that team that worked so hard, to see the look on their face, you can just see it in them now, you know, they believe.”

Not Surprising: The Kyle and Kyle tandem were at it again, with Kyle Busch finishing in the runner up spot and Kyle Larson scoring highest finishing rookie honors yet again with his seventh place run. This was Busch’s third runner-up result in the last four races, scoring bridesmaid honors at Kentucky, Loudon and Indy.

“I finished second at Kentucky, Loudon and here,” the driver of the No. 18 Snickers Toyota said. “We had some good races going. It would be certainly more beneficial to pick up some trophies, take some trophies home, get some of those benefits for the Chase.”

“Three second places, that’s 11 extra points that you miss out on,” Busch continued. “That sucks pretty big for the Chase and for those bonus points. But, you know, if we keep going that way, then things will pay off sooner or later. We’ll start winning some.”

With his top-10 finish, the other Kyle continued his domination of the Sunoco Rookie of the Year battle, now leading the standings by 37 points over Austin Dillon. Larson also sits 13^th in the points as he tries to make his way into the championship Chase.

“It was a good day for us,” Larson said. “The Target car was really good. We were a top-10 car the whole race.

“Cool to finish in the top 10 at the Brickyard,” the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “To see Jeff Gordon win is pretty special. It’s kind of like Junior winning the 500 this year. It was a really good day for everybody and all the fans, too. So happy about it.”

Surprising: Just when Denny Hamlin thought he and his Joe Gibbs race team had turned the corner after finishing third in his No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, some surprising post-race inspection issues reared their ugly heads.

NASCAR took several rear firewall block-off plates off the car for further examination back at the R and D Center. These particular plates could have improved the aerodynamics of the car so Tuesday will be an interesting day for Hamlin and company as far as any potential penalties.

“It was a little something; it wasn’t that big of a deal,” Jimmy Makar, Senior Vice President for Joe Gibbs Racing, said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal (penalty-wise). It is just a questionable thing.”

As a result of his good Brickyard finish, Hamlin advanced one spot in the point standings to 11^th and is poised for a run at the championship with his win at Talladega earlier in the season.

Not Surprising: With Indy known as a track where passing is difficult, it was no surprise that restarts were key and where much of the action took place. And again, not surprisingly, the final restart was critical for so many drivers, from Matt Kenseth, who gained a few spots to finish fourth, to Kasey Kahne who lost the lead to finish sixth.

“It was interesting because I was — I was kind of picking on Jeff’s (Gordon) restarts all day because he just couldn’t get going on the outside,” Kenseth said. “He was getting on the outside of the front row. I was behind and was like, ‘Man, this is going to be bad.’ He got into (turn) one and kind of carried the 5 (Kasey Kahne) and the 5 must have got loose.”

“And, then Denny (Hamlin) gave me a break,” the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota continued. “I got out in front of him and we were both able to pass Kasey (Kahne). Then Denny (Hamlin) got us three-wide. Once it singled out we were able to get away a little bit.”

For Kahne, behind the wheel of the No. 5 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet, the final restart result was not as favorable.

“Jeff (Gordon) just beat me,” Kahne said. “We got into Turn 1 he held me down and he was able to momentum off of Turn 1 which he did a better job.”

“I should have choose the outside, looking back, but I thought there was more grip on the inside down the front stretch,” Kahne continued. “Then he controlled the start. I just gave it up at that point. Either way that was the best we were going to finish.”

“That was alright though.”

Surprising: It was a surprisingly good weekend for the Dillon brothers, with Ty winning the Nationwide race and brother Austin finishing top-10 at the Brickyard.

“It’s great for us,” the driver of the No. 3 Dow/MyCogen Seeds Chevrolet said. “As a team we just want to build momentum and that was a solid day. Our car had some speed in it, but it was tough to pass because when you got in traffic you couldn’t do much.”

“I am very proud of my guys, solid day, and hard to back up that win that Ty got yesterday but I will definitely take a top ten in this series.”

Not Surprising: Paul Menard was NASCAR’s biggest loser after contact with Juan Pablo Montoya, back in a part-time ride for Team Penske, forced him to a 34^th place finish, dropping him five spots in the points to 16^th and teetering on the brink of Chase contention.

“It’s stupid,” Slugger Labbe, Menard’s crew chief, said. “People have no respect…. I just don’t get Juan Pablo, what he’s doing. It doesn’t make sense. You’d think the guy would come over and apologize or something.”

“We’re running for a spot in the Chase, and some part-time racer left-rears us and puts us in the fence,” Labbe continued. “Then you’re done.”

“It probably knocked us out of the Chase (for the Sprint Cup), but…we’ve just got to fight back in six more races.”

Surprising: In spite of a grueling day and a 42^nd place finish due to a broken axle, Danica Patrick still managed to find her happy place.

“It’s just one of those things,” the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet said. “We were having a good day. It’s disappointing and the GoDaddy guys built me a really good car. Hendrick gave me great horsepower.”

“We were the fastest car out there at times,” Patrick continued. “We qualified better and had a good car for the race, it just didn’t end the way we wanted it to.”

“The good thing is, I get to come back to Indy and that makes me happy.”

Not Surprising: After a 16^th place run, Clint Bowyer in his No. 15 RK Motors Charlotte Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing, was wishing his ride would turn magically into an IndyCar race car, complete with all its bells and whistles.

“No wonder them Indy car things have a push to pass button,” Bowyer tweeted after the race with the hashtag of #indyproblems.

“Our RK Motors Toyota was much better than our 16th-place finish,” Bowyer continued. “We had a little trouble in the pits and we got back in some traffic. We had to pit under that last caution because we got some debris on the grill from another car when we were leaving pit road.”

“It was a frustrating day but Brian Pattie and the guys gave me a good car just wish we finished better than we did.”

Surprising: Greg Biffle had a surprisingly lucky weekend, first hearing from his team owner that he would be the anchor driver for Roush Fenway Racing for 2015 and then gambling on pit strategy to finish lucky 13.

“Certainly the focus of our leadership is going to be with Greg Biffle and the things that he does with the racecar and the leadership he provides for the engineering initiatives we take,” Jack Roush said. “We had that split with Carl and Greg together this year, so that will be a little different next year.

“I had other options but I felt like I spent a lot of time there and we’ve always won races and I feel like we can win races again,” Biffle said. “The first half of the season has not been what we wanted. It’s no mystery.”

“I don’t think that’s a reason to jump ship and say I’m leaving because we haven’t won a race and we’re not performing the way we should.”

Not Surprising: With one win under his belt, it is not surprising that team Almirola is headed to test at Watkins Glen on their way to next week’s race at Pocono. Almirola passed many cars at Indy after starting in the rear in a backup car to finish 21^st.

“That’s a decent finish, but I’m frustrated because we’ve got to figure out how to get more speed,” Almirola said. “We’ve got six more weeks to get our cars better before the Chase, so we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us to try to figure it out and try to be more competitive.”

“But it is what it is,” the driver of the No. 43 Eckrich Ford said. “We dug ourselves a hole this weekend and finished 21^st.”

“We had one run where we drove up to like 15th, and I thought we were going to be pretty good, and I don’t know if we got a bad set of tires or what, but we could never recover after that.”

July 28, 2014
The Final Word – After Indianapolis, I am guessing Jeff Gordon still runs with a full tank

Crown Royal attaches a hero’s name to the Brickyard 400 as part of their sponsorship, and this year that honor went to 12 year military veteran John Wayne Walding. Yet, to be honest and if the length of the title could go on to infinity, this should have been called “Crown Royal Presents The John Wayne Walding 400 at the Brickyard to be Dominated Once Again by Jeff Gordon.” That sounds about right.

The California boy who became an Indiana racer as a teen had the car, the speed and this race in the bag from start to unchallenged finish. He might have led only 40 laps, but he was the guy early, the guy late and the guy we were watching for in between. Sure, Kasey Kahne might have had a good run, made some think this might be his day, but Gordon was the only driver who could come and go almost at will. When Kahne drifted back to sixth after the final re-start, there was no more guess work left. Twenty years ago Gordon won his first at the famed Indianapolis Speedway, and last Sunday he claimed his fifth. If the man who celebrates his 43rd birthday next Monday is growing old, he sure is going about it mighty gracefully.

We have come to expect good things from Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and even the winless Matt Kenseth this season and we were not disappointed. We expect Top Tens from Dale Earnhardt Jr. and he got it. Even the kids, Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon, showed why they remain in Chase positions as the pair claimed Top Tens as well.

You know you are having a good season if a bad day means coming in between 11th and 15th. Boo-hoo for Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, and Carl Edwards. Even Ryan Newman, winless but, like Kenseth, sitting pretty in points, was 11th.

Okay, so it was not all roses and kittens for everyone. For Trevor Bayne, the new guy with Roush next season, it was a chicken or the egg sort of deal. He brushed the wall and he had a tire go soft, but I’m not certain in what order. The end result was him losing control in the corner and coming to a stop after finding the inside wall. Dead last.

Danica Patrick, it could have been a premature end to a promising day, or just one we hoped held promise. When something busted in the rear-end of her car, she was destined for 42nd. Due to her open wheel experience, some hoped she might have done better here than she traditionally does elsewhere. Then again, some hoped for the same from Juan Pablo Montoya and he finished 23rd.

Yes, ABC/ESPN is back, but let us think positive here. Other than Rusty and Brad, they are not all that bad and the pit reporters are top notch. As a poor Canadian boy without FOX1, I discovered last week that even a less than stellar Cup experience beats not having an Eldora experience at all.

A quick word about the Nationwide race. If only our broadcasters quit hero worshiping, coverage of the junior circuit would be so much better. Young Ty Dillon won a career first to move to within 15 points of the top in the standings, so his story mattered. Brian Scott was seventh and the fifth ranked Nationwide driver mattered. The top three in the rankings, Chase Elliott (12th), Regan Smith (10th), and Elliott Sadler (15th), are all in a tight race, so all mattered, but like Scott none were deemed worthy of a post-race interview. Top five finishers Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, and Joey Logano are all Cup guys, none of whom won thus none of them mattered. Still, who was interviewed? You know.

When we had 20 races to go to the start of the Chase, it was pure bovine excrement to read stories of how this driver or that needed to win to get into the Chase. With six to go, not so much. Eleven are in via wins, leaving five spots open. Kenseth and Newman could take a week off and still hold a Chase place, so far so good for them. Clint Bower and the kids feel the heat from Kahne, Paul Menard, and Greg Biffle for the final three spots. Thirteen others remain in contention by being in or near the Top 30 in points, though their pass is probably limited to a win to be in. Tony Stewart remains among them, 30 points behind the 16th ranked Dillon.

This Sunday it is the GoBowling.com Pennsylvania 400 from Pocono, where Earnhardt won in the spring. Another win would be nice, but not crucial. In fact, going over the winners from the past ten years, we have Johnson (3 times), Edwards (2), Kurt Busch (2), Denny Hamlin (4), Gordon (2), Keselowski, and Joey Logano, all of whom already have a 2014 victory.

Kahne has not, though he has two wins at Pocono, including last summer. Stewart (June 2009) and Greg Biffle (July 2010) are also former winners at the track, and a return to Victory Lane is even more crucial for them. With six to go, the sword of Damocles has started to appear hanging over their heads, which is one hell of a place to find an old Greek razor.

SWEET SIXTEEN
1 – Brad Keselowski – 3 WINS – 666 POINTS
2 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 628
3 – Jeff Gordon – 2 – 717
4 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 2 – 693
5 – Carl Edwards – 2 – 603
6 – Joey Logano – 2 – 591
7 – Kevin Harvick – 2 – 565
8 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 609
9 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 572
10 – Aric Almirola – 1 – 496
11 – Kurt Busch – 1 – 456
12 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 661
13 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 606
14 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 577
15 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 562
16 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 559

CONTENDERS & PRETENDERS
17 – Kasey Kahne – 0 WINS – 555 POINTS
18 – Paul Menard – 0 – 551
19 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 550
20 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 532
21 – Tony Stewart – 0 – 529
22 – Marcos Ambrose – 0 – 511
23 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 499
24 – A.J. Allmendinger – 0 – 466
25 – Martin Truex, Jr. – 0 – 465
26 – Casey Mears – 0 – 455
27 – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 0 – 397
28 – Danica Patrick – 0 – 382
29 – Justin Allgaier – 0 – 343
30 – Michael Annett – 0 – 325
31 – David Gilliland – 0 – 284
32 – Cole Whitt – 0 – 282

July 28, 2014
Surprising and Not Surprising: Daytona Coke Zero 400

From a rain delay of a day to a rain-shortened race, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Surprising: In spite of the fits and starts of the race due to the rain, the Coke 600 was still the stuff of legends, from the anniversary victory for The King and Richard Petty Motorsports to the last call of Barney Hall of Motor Racing Network.

RPM’s famed No. 43 made it to Victory Lane, thanks to some rainy luck for driver Aric Almirola and crew chief Trent Owens, on the 30th anniversary of The King’s 200th historic win at Daytona. Almirola was the 43^rd driver to pilot the No. 43, scoring his first win of his career at his home track.

“I couldn’t have dreamed of a better place to get my first win,” Almirola said. “I’ve sat in these grandstands and watched the Daytona 500. I’ve watched the Firecracker 400s. That’s what everybody always talked about, and as a young kid, coming over here and watching, just dreamed about what it would be like to have a chance to race at the highest level at this racetrack.”

“I think it’s very cool that we won on this weekend,” Almirola continued. “It’s 30 years to the weekend that The King won his 200th race with the President here. That’s really special.”

Another legend, Barney Hall, also called his final race at Daytona and will retire from race announcing at the age of 82 years.

“He has spoken to millions of fans and made millions of individual fans of our sport,” NASCAR president Mike Helton said. “I wanted to thank him for all he has done for us personally, but also all he has done for NASCAR.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., an aficionado of the history of the sport, also shared his appreciation for the career of Hall.

“Barney Hall is a legend,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. tweeted. “I grew up listening to him. Forever grateful.”

Not Surprising: In spite of the weather drama and the strategy that was playing out to outfox the rain drops, it was not surprising that what caught the eye of mainstream media were the two ‘big ones’, involving a total of 42 crashed race cars.

Second place finisher Brian Vickers had a bird’s eye view of both incidents, barely making it through each incident.

“We went to the front, and then it got a little bit too dicey for my comfort that early, and guys were moving around a lot,” Brian Vickers, second place finisher, said. “So we went to the back, just had a bad feeling about kind of the energy in the pack and where it was headed, so we dropped back, and at about two laps later there was a big crash and we were fortunate to be out of that.”

“We ended up actually getting into the pack at about the wrong moment and were fortunate enough to get through the last big wreck,” Vickers continued. “I saw it kind of starting out of the corner of my eye, a car from the outside to the inside just went way too quick, and I just jumped on the brakes and as soon as I saw it opening downshifted and went to the gas and was able to get through it. But very lucky to get through that wreck and keep the FSU car out of trouble.”

Surprising: Kurt Busch had some surprising comments about his relationship with his crew chief Daniel Knost after finishing the race in the third spot.

“Yeah, the relationship with Daniel, you know, there’s some times when a driver and a crew chief hit it off and they’re off to the races right away. Daniel and I have been slower to mature together in our relationship, and so we’re 18 races into our first date,” the driver of the No. 41Haas Automation Chevrolet, said. “Now we’re going into the second half of the season, and all of our first dates are done.”

“We’ll go to New Hampshire next week, and that’ll be the last new track that we see together, and then from there on out, all the tracks that we’ve been to we have notes and we have test sessions planned, and that’s where we have to make the 41 team stronger.”

Not Surprising: There was no driver more excited about a top-five finish than Austin Dillon, who has been battling Kyle Larson for Rookie of the Year honors. And this race saw Dillon hold serve over Larson, who was involved in the first wreck and finished 36^th.

“It’s huge for us getting a top 10, a top 5; it definitely can change the rookie race,” the driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/NRA Museum Chevrolet, said. “We’ve got some momentum now.”

“We’ve got the last four races, I think, in the rookie race, and just stay consistent and hopefully we can come out with this thing,” Dillon continued. “Our cars have been really fast all year, and we’re getting better each week. I feel like we’re gaining a little bit, and I’m excited about that.”

Surprising: Driver Paul Menard no doubt had the most appropriate car name for this Daytona race, driving the No. 27 SPLASH/Menards Chevrolet. Menard was marking time in the back but then got caught in the second big one to finish 16^th.

Menard did, however, gain at least one position in the point standings, regaining his spot in tenth.

“We battled weather all weekend,” Menard said. “Our strategy was to ride around in the back and miss all the wrecks, but with rain coming we knew it was time to move towards the front.”

“Of course, when we got to the front someone got turned around and we were caught up in a huge mess,” Menard continued. “Fortunately, my guys did a great job on pit road to repair damage and were able to keep us on the lead lap.”

“I think we moved up in points, so all-in-all it wasn’t a terrible day.”

Not Surprising: With Daytona, anything can happen during the ‘big ones’, including cars going airborne and upside down. Unfortunately, for both Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch, each experience a little bit of both.

“It’s kind of scary I think my car got airborne,” McMurray, behind the wheel of the No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet, said. “I have never had that happen before it’s a helpless feeling when you are getting hit as you are in the air.”

“It was kind of scary, but glad it looks like everyone is okay.”

“Just felt like a slow carnival ride,” Kyle Busch said of his upside down ending. “I guess that’s fitting for the Fourth of July weekend. I just got T-boned there at the end and it just kind of toppled me over.”

“I got hit by the 26 (Cole Whitt) which just toppled me over and when I toppled over you know you just sit there upside down basically in your restraints,” Busch continued. “Your chest is held, your abdomen is held and everything is held and you just wait for them to come in there and get you and turn you over, because it’s way safer to get turned over in that seat because you already got turned over once then it is to try to undo the belts and bang your head off the ceiling and try to get out.”

Surprising: One would have thought that the race was at a short-track rather than on the high banks of a restrictor plate track with the way tempers were flaring.

“The No. 17 car (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) got sideways on the lap that we’re all getting a competition caution,” Tony Stewart, behind the wheel of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Ducks Unlimited Chevrolet said. “I don’t know. I guess Ricky thought it paid something to get to lap 20. I don’t know. It didn’t make much sense to me, but I’m not that smart either; so I don’t know. I don’t know that I’m the right person to ask.”

“I guess is was just Stenhouse being an idiot,” Smoke continued. “It didn’t make much sense when we’re coming to the caution, we’re like a quarter of a lap from getting to the caution and he does something stupid.”

“It tore up a lot of people’s cars and a lot of people’s days,” Stewart said. “To get here on Wednesday night and sit here all day and run 19 and three-quarter laps and get wrecked by somebody who’s doing something stupid.”

Not Surprising: Like so many of the other racers, Martin Truex Jr. was ready to put Daytona in his rear view mirror. In spite of a vibration and battery change, Truex finished 15^th in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet.

“It was a roller coaster day,” Truex said. “We never could get going. I didn’t like what I was seeing early in the race and I hung back. That turned out to be a good move as we missed being collected in the first wreck.”

“Then we had a vibration in the car, and later we needed to make a battery change,” Truex continued. “As I was exiting pit road after the battery change, the second big wreck happened. We most likely would have been in that wreck had we not been on pit road changing the battery.”

“We eventually got back on the lead lap and we were ready to move forward. But we never got that opportunity because of the race being declared official following more rain.”

“It’s been one of those weekends you want to forget about and move on.”

July 7, 2014
The Final Word – Why Can’t NASCAR on TV Always be Like Sonoma?

It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Interesting race, a few surprises, great topography and scenery, and top notch announcing. What was not to like?

If you were Carl Edwards, not much. He came on strong over the final quarter of the race at Sonoma to march off with his 23rd career victory, and his second of the season. It marked his first win on a road course, and it ended a string of five straight wins by Team Hendrick. Well, barely, considering that Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr were contenders all day to conclude things in the Top Three. Jamie McMurray and Paul Menard put some spark into their seasons with Top Fives. Jimmie Johnson had a Top Ten, for those who do not things to change too much from week to week.

Matt Kenseth got the biggest surprise, when Junior bounced off a curb to clip him into the tire barrier. That tore the front end, radiator included, off his beast to leave him steaming. The driver, Kenseth, not the car. Didn’t I mention the radiator was no longer attached? 42nd was his fate.

Junior also managed to lay a late touch on A.J. Allmendinger, who then spun to get hit by Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers to tear up his front end. A.J. went from a contender to finish 37th, and probably burned his Junior Nation t-shirt afterwards.

Kevin Harvick had a car to beat, and beat it he did when he got squeezed into Clint Bowyer’s spun car. Happy wasn’t, as his hopes faded to leave him 20th on the day. Notice that Earnhardt had nothing to do with that one.

Danica Patrick finished 18th, just ahead of Tony Stewart, ahead of Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Larson. That should give you some indication as to how lousy the day was for those boys.

Now, I would truly love to be a big Danica supporter, but despite her experience, her quality equipment, her lucrative sponsorship, and a loyal fan base, she just does not matter most weeks. To find her on the charts, you usually start at about 25th and look a few spots either way. Sunday was a good day, for her. Even great open wheelers have had trouble making the transition, and while she was popular, she was not great. Still, at 32, I guess there is still time.

Time to turn our attention to this Saturday night, where Kentucky hosts just its fourth Cup event. Kyle, Keselowski, and Kenseth have won the first trio and I would expect them somewhere near the front again this year. Also, do not be surprised to see a Mr. Gordon or a Mr. Johnson up there close, as they have been the past three years. They have not yet won there, but Saturday has not yet arrived, so that could change.

Change, like Home Depot leaving Joe Gibbs Racing and that same owner possibly about to welcome Edwards to the fold. Yet, not all things change. Check out the top of our leader board.

SWEET SIXTEEN
1 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 WINS (560 Pts)
2 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 2 (555)
3 – Carl Edwards – 2 (509)
4 – Joey Logano – 2 (483)
5 – Kevin Harvick – 2 (472)
6 – Jeff Gordon – 1 (580)
7 – Brad Keselowski – 1 (512)
8 – Kyle Busch – 1 (465)
9 – Denny Hamlin – 1 (453)
10 – Kurt Busch – 1 (347)
11 – Matt Kenseth – 515 POINTS
12 – Ryan Newman – 473
13 – Kyle Larson – 470
14 – Paul Menard – 459
15 – Clint Bowyer – 452
16 – Greg Biffle – 444

CONTENDERS & PRETENDERS
17 – Kasey Kahne – 429
18 – Tony Stewart – 427
19 – Austin Dillon – 427
20 – Jamie McMurray – 425
21 – Brian Vickers – 424
22 – Marcos Ambrose – 407
23 – Aric Almirola – 400
24 – A.J. Allmendinger – 391
25 – Casey Mears – 373
26 – Martin Truex, Jr. – 360
27 – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 320
28 – Danica Patrick – 299
29 – Justin Allgaier – 280
30 – Michael Annett – 249
31 – David Gilliland – 232
32 – Cole Whitt – 228

June 23, 2014
The Final Word – Great Father’s Day for Genevieve and Lydia’s Daddy at Michigan

Sunday was a time for remembering our fathers. For those of us still fortunate enough to do so, it was a day to call the ole boy up or drop by for a visit. It was a time for fathers to spend some time with their children or, if one happens to be Jimmie Johnson, a time to kick butt at Michigan and then spend some quality time with the daughters.

Correct me if I am wrong, but was it not just a few weeks ago some media clowns made up the story that we should all be wringing our hands in anguish as we wondered when, oh when, might Jimmie win a race? That was three wins ago. Soon, we should again be hearing how Johnson dominates all those other little darlin’s by winning all those titles, and what a nasty thing that is. Bite me. The only down side to Six Time’s day was that younger brothers Jarit and Jessie got to spend time with their dad while the older sibling was working his day job. It marked his first victory at Michigan in 25 tries.

Good race, great race commentary on TNT, as we watched the boys and girl slip sliding away in the early going. Early was all Travis Kvapil got as Brian Vickers lost traction, went for a slide, and wound up fileting the right side of T.K.’s ride on the opening lap.

Kasey Kahne and Reed Larson, who will be a dad when the big day rolls around next year, got tied up on the eighth lap. The odd man out was Martin Truex Jr, who needed three laps worth of repairs. At least all it will take to make the Chase is just a single ole win, probably. He sure is not going to do it on points. Kyle Busch, who has a win, was a solid 41st after his car developed some issues in the late going and needed a time out in the garage.

It was a good day for some, with Paul Menard and Kahne both in the Top Five. The usual suspects did well enough, but that did not include the likes of Greg Biffle (20th), Carl Edwards (23rd), Denny Hamlin (29th) or Austin Dillon (30th). In fact, Dillon tumbles out of the Sweet Sixteen. Clint Bowyer moves up and, believe it or not, Tony Stewart is just seven behind Biffle for that final spot. Three SHR boys could make the Chase yet.

Now, if the boy could only road race. Actually, Tony won at Sears Point twice, and a few years back so did Jimmie Johnson. Oh, did I mention Jeff Gordon has won there five times? As for those road course ringers some teams import, not a damn one has claimed this race in 25 attempts. I guess we know who’s their daddy.

Driver Wins – Points

SWEET SIXTEEN
1 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 522
2 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr – 2 – 514
3 – Joey Logano – 2 – 454
4 – Kevin Harvick – 2 – 447
5 – Jeff Gordon – 1 – 537
6 – Brad Keselowski – 1 – 490
7 – Carl Edwards – 1 – 462
8 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 446
9 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 435
10 – Kurt Busch – 1 – 315
11 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 513
12 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 454
13 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 440
14 – Paul Menard – 0 – 420
15 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 417
16 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 409

CONTENTERS & PRETENDERS
17 – Tony Stewart – 0 – 402
18 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 400
19 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 394
20 – Kasey Kahne – 0 – 391
21 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 384
22 – A.J. Allmendinger – 0 – 382
23 – Aric Almirola – 0 – 379
24 – Marcos Ambrose – 0 – 370
25 – Casey Mears – 0 – 342
26 – Martin Truex, Jr. – 0 – 331
27 – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 0 – 307
28 – Danica Patrick – 0 – 273
29 – Justin Allgaier – 0 – 269
30 – Michael Annett – 0 – 235

WISHING AND A HOPING
31 – Cole Whitt – 0 – 211
32 – David Gilliland – 0 – 209
33 – David Ragan – 0 – 190
34 – Reed Sorenson – 0 – 187

June 16, 2014
Surprising and Not Surprising: Michigan Quicken Loans 400

While the luck of the Irish hills was bestowed on the driver who made his way to Victory Lane for the first time ever in Michigan, here is what was surprising and not so surprising in the 46^th annual Quicken Loans 400.

Surprising: While Kevin Harvick was certainly fast, coming in second in the race after a blistering pole run, he was even more than freakishly fast in the media center after the event.

Harvick, who was clearly unhappy with his race finish, had just one comment and was asked just one question during his media availability, which went like this:

“I mean, the car was fast, just wound up on the wrong side of all the strategy,” Harvick said. “We finished second, and that’s it.”

QUESTION. “Kevin, six of the top eight were Hendrick engines. This is a pretty big track in terms of horsepower. How well positioned are the Hendricks right now?”

“I think it’s pretty obvious. Self-explanatory. Good question,” Harvick answered and then exited the media center.

Not Surprising: Race winner Jimmie Johnson scored a first, second, third, fifth and eighth all at once with his trip to Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway.

The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet checked MIS off his win list for the first time, moved up to second in the point standings thanks to his victory, scored his third win of the season solidifying his run for his seventh championship, and handed the fifth win in a row to boss Mr. Hendrick.

Johnson is also now eighth on the all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins list.

“Well, this is a great win for a lot of reasons,” Rick Hendrick, team owner, said. “One for here in Michigan for Chevrolet, and being a Chevrolet dealer and racing Chevrolets, this means a lot to win this race. It’s good to see Jimmie win after leading so many laps here and close the deal because we’ve run out of gas, broke motors, blown tires. I think I remember a couple times coming off of 4 and losing it. For him to be able to finish it off today, it was really good.”

“And again, to keep the streak going, get five, that’s great,” Hendrick continued. “This was a good race, and it just played out the way we needed it to play out. Everybody is really putting out a lot of effort right now, and it’s paying off.”

Surprising: Although Kyle Larson, behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, spun early in the race, damaging the back end of his car, he was the envy of the field as that very damage gave him a bit of down force advantage that propelled him into an eighth place finish.

“You know, the rear bumper, yeah, I’ve never had that happen before, and it happened so early in the race that I don’t know how it would have handled had I had a rear bumper,” Larson said. “Either way I think we would have had a really good car because we were good in practice, but it probably did help a little bit.”

Larson was the highest finishing Rookie of the Year candidate yet again.

Not Surprising: Paul Menard proved that Michigan was a track on which he could run well, winning the Nationwide race on Saturday and finishing fourth in the Cup race on Sunday.

“Yeah, we had a really solid Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevy all weekend, from the time we unloaded,” Menard said. “I actually got to go to Victory Lane yesterday with my daughter and my dad was here today, so it was a good Father’s Day weekend for sure.”

“The car, like I said, was fast all weekend. We needed some clean air at the end and the guys got me out front with some pit strategy and good pit stops and we came home with a top 5,” Menard continued. “So it was pretty good.”

Surprising: There was more spinning in the Quicken Loans 400 than at the Olympic men’s figure skating championship. Spinners in the event included Brian Vickers, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, David Ragan, Alex Bowman, Brett Moffit, Aric Almirola, and Denny Hamlin just to name a few.

“It’s frustrating. I wish I knew — the car just came around going into (turn) three,” Brian Vickers said after spinning early in his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota. “I was trying to back the corner up and was taking it easy and just got loose and it just came around from me.”

“I saved it all the way up to the wall and I thought I had it saved and ultimately it just came around and I lost it,” Vickers continued. “I didn’t have that experience all weekend. The car was just really loose getting into (turn) three and that was it.”

Not Surprising: Well, it was Michigan after all, so not surprisingly at least one driver deemed his day a ‘blue collar’ kind of day.

“Yeah, we just didn’t have the speed really all weekend to be a front runner in the sense of contending to win based on speed,” Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford for Team Penske, said after finishing third. “But the guys did a great job with execution. I thought we executed really well.”

“We had a lot of good restarts, pretty decent on pit road today,” Keselowski continued. “Solid strategy, just — I told somebody before, Joey Logano told us, we were talking before the race started, we needed a good blue collar day today, and that’s of what today was for us.”

“We kind of trudged through it and came away with another top three effort, which is good but not great.”

Surprising: Unlike most of his races recently, Kasey Kahne was actually able to battle back from adversity to finish top-five in his No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet.

‘Yeah, it was tough,” Kahne said. “I was struggling for a while and then we got it and then we were on a good strategy there at the end. We were pretty competitive with the guys in front of us.”

“Yes, we really needed that, especially where we started getting in Larson’s wreck there at the start of the race,” Kahne continued. “We kind of got going from there. We made a lot of adjustments. It took about an hour and a half to get our car right with different adjustments and things.”

“It was a battle, it wasn’t easy today.”

Not Surprising: Two former Indy Car racers were just feeling ‘lucky’ in this week’s NASCAR race. Juan Pablo Montoya, making his NASCAR return, and Danica Patrick both partook in the ‘lucky dog’ experience, leading to a 17^th place finish for Patrick and an 18^th place finish for JPM.

“We started the race really, really loose and we were not really expecting that based on practice,” Montoya, behind the wheel of the No. 12 SKF Ford for Team Penske, said. “It’s hard because we went from practice to the race without really changing that much and it was awful. We were kind of catching up and we did a good job.”

“I got the lucky dog and we were getting better and then I think we went a little too far with the car at the end, but we’re learning and understanding a little more.”

“We were pretty good,” Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet, said. “The guys did a good job on the adjustments, and it was fun to drive. The race seemed to go by quick.”

“We needed a little bit of track position, but it was a good day for us,” Patrick continued. “Thanks to GoDaddy and everyone on my team, we continue to get better.”

Surprising: At a track that they have owned in the past, Roush Fenway Racing had an incredibly bad day. RFR drivers Greg Biffle finished 20^th, Carl Edwards 23^rd and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 27^th.

“That was a big struggle,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford, said. “It was pretty tough but we worked hard and didn’t quit.”

“Fortunately we have a win to get us into the Chase, but we’ve just got to get better as a group,” Edwards continued. “That’s the way it is.”

Not Surprising: After another run of bad luck, suffering damage from a Lap 8 accident that led to a 37^th place finish, there is no other driver that is looking forward to Sonoma more than Martin Truex Jr.

“When luck is not on your side, there’s not much you can do,” Truex, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet, said. “I don’t know what to say right now.”

“We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s disheartening because we felt that we had a potential top-10 car but didn’t get a chance to show it. When you have an accident that early it sure makes for a long day.”

“I mean a very long day.”

Truex is, however, the defending champ of the California road course where the Sprint Cup Series will battle next. The Toyota – Save Mart 350 race will be run on Sunday, June 22^nd at 3:00 PM ET.

June 15, 2014
Surprising and Not Surprising: Coca Cola 600

With military tributes abounding and NASCAR patriotism at its best, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 55^th annual running of the sport’s longest race, the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Surprising: In a sport where man so often is at the mercy of machine, the competitive spirit of the drivers surprisingly triumphed over whatever difficulties they were facing in their race cars.

One such example of perseverance was Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, who triumphed over back spasms that were so severe that he missed final practice to finish the longest race of the season in the seventh spot.

“It was tough,” Gordon said after the race. “I was aching in there. There was one time when I got on the brakes into (Turn) 1 and it triggered something. I didn’t know what was going to happen after that, but it settled down.”

“I’m happy that I got through it. It tells me a lot about what kind of threshold I have and I just want to show this team the kind of commitment I have to them because of what they have shown me this year.”

The driver who triumphed most mightily over his race machines, however, was Kurt Busch, who raced his heart out in the Indianapolis 500, finishing sixth in his rookie effort, and then went on to race in the Coke 600, only to have his engine give up the ghost on Lap 271.

“To feel the stock car right after driving the Indy car was a day I’ll never forget,” the driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Made in America Chevrolet, said. “I can’t let the mood here with the car dampen what happened up at Indy today. That was very special.”

“Andretti Autosport gave me a top-five car to try and win the 500 with, and these Stewart-Haas guys gave me a good car too,” Busch continued. “The motor just went, sometimes that happens. All in all I gave it my all.”

Not Surprising: For Hendrick Motorsports, with their headquarters just up the road from the speedway, there truly is no place like home. And for race winner, Jimmie Johnson, and his team owner Rick Hendrick, Charlotte Motor Speedway is like coming home.

“I think, number one, Charlotte is kind of home,” Mr. H said after the race. “Won my first NASCAR race here with Sr. in ’83 in the Nationwide or Busch Series. It’s a special place, all the families here.”

“Winning a race, Jimmie and Chad have been so close this year, and several situations got away,” Mr. Hendrick continued. “To get this one behind us is great.”

This home track win was Johnson’s first of the season, his 67^th victory in 44 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and his seventh win at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Patriotic Chevrolet also broke the tie with NASCAR Hall of Famers Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip as the all-time series points wins leader at Charlotte.

Surprising: Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had surprisingly much in common in the Coke 600, starting out strong and then both going down for the count with engine issues. Junior finished 19^th and Patrick finished an even more disappointing 39^th.

“We had a little bit of an engine issue or something cropping up,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Superman Chevrolet said. “But it was very fast. I was very happy with the speed.”

“We were able to at least finish 19th,” Junior continued. “We could have blowed up and finished in the back. You’re going to have some bad weeks and you’ve got to be able to roll with them. This was one of them and we just have to look at the positives and try not to dwell too much on what happened.”

“Yeah, it’s really unfortunate,” Patrick said, echoing the words of Dale Earnhardt Jr. “We started off great and started to get tighter and tighter. We couldn’t really figure out how to fix it.”

“We had a good plan, then dropped a cylinder and lost power, then got rear-ended,” the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet continued. “That was our day. We’ll just remember the good stuff that happened here at Charlotte and at Kansas last race and build on that for Dover.”

Not Surprising: Kevin Harvick did not close and was not fast in the pits so therefore it was not surprising that he also was not happy after the race, even though he finished second.

“We shot ourselves in the foot again,” the driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet said. “We left two wheels loose and played catch up the rest of the night.”

“We’re just shooting ourselves in the foot on pit road,” Harvick continued. “We have to clean that up because we obviously can’t win races with the fastest car if we make mistakes continuously on pit road. It’s frustrating.”

Surprising: Jamie Mac is back, backing up his All Star race win with a top-five finish in his No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet.

“Our car was fast enough that even when we went to the back, we were able to recover and get back to the top-five, which was great,” McMurray said. “We’ve had such good cars all year long and have not been able to capitalize because of tire issues or just some bad luck.”

“So I’m excited we won last week. We ran really good again this week. Just an all-around good night.”

Not Surprising: Carl Edwards, one of Ford’s best pitch men, credited his manufacturer’s fuel mileage for getting him a fourth place finish and scoring top honors for Ford in the race.

“That’s Ford fuel mileage right here,” the driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion said. “You talk about Fords getting great fuel mileage and they did today.”

“Our car finished fourth and that was probably as good as we deserved to finish,” Edwards continued. “We did have a good run.”

Surprising: This time, rookie Austin Dillon actually finished ahead of ROTY competitor Kyle Larson to tighten up that rookie recognition battle. Dillon scored the 16^th finishing spot while Larson finished two behind in 18^th.

“I’m proud of everyone’s effort on this No. 3 Cheerios Chevrolet team this weekend,” Dillon said. “It was not a bad finish considering all of the challenges we battled during the race.”

Not Surprising: Pleased but not satisfied was the theme for the top-finishing Toyota drivers. Matt Kenseth finished third in his No. 20 Home Depot Husky Toyota and Brian Vickers had a great run, finishing sixth in his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota.

“I thought we had a top-five car — a lot of it was definitely an improvement,” Kenseth said. “Just needed a little more and couldn’t quite run with the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and the 4 (Kevin Harvick) and a couple of them other cars. Overall, it was a good night for our Home Depot Husky Tools Camry — we just have to get just a little better.”

“Our Camry was good all night,” Vickers said. “We were really close to top-five and probably close to a win, we just needed a little more speed.”

“The guys did a great job and just really proud of them,” Vickers continued. “Pleased but not satisfied.”

Surprising: Paul Menard had a surprisingly good run in his No. 27 Serta/Menards Chevrolet at Charlotte, finishing in the eighth spot after starting 21^st.

“We had a great finish tonight in Charlotte considering where we started,” Menard said. “It was a hard fought race the for No. 27 Serta/Menards team, but with some strategy and adjustments we were able salvage what could have been a tough night.”

“This race in Charlotte is a tough one, but we finished strong.”

Not Surprising: Ryan Newman, behind the wheel of the No. 31 Quicken Loans Chevrolet, epitomized the spirit of the weekend as he never quit and never gave up in spite of cutting down a tire on Lap 293 and finishing 15^th in the Coca Cola 600.

“This Quicken Loans team persevered this weekend,” Newman declared. “We had quite a bit to overcome, but we never gave up.”

“We started from the back after an issue in qualifying and had a Chevrolet good enough to race all the way up to ninth position before we had a tire cut down on a restart,” Newman continued. “I have to hand it to this team; we never gave up through all the adversity.”

“I will never stop fighting and nor will my crew, we’ll be fine.”

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series moves on next weekend to pay a visit to Miles the Monster in the 45th Annual FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware.

May 26, 2014
Surprising and Not Surprising: Aaron’s 499 at Talladega

From the wild knock out qualifying that netted Brian Scott the pole position to the crazy green-white-checkered race finish, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 45^th annual Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Surprising: It is not often when two champions wreak such havoc in one race, even if it is on an unpredictable superspeedway. But both Brad Keselowski as well as Jimmie Johnson did just that, having uncharacteristically bad days that negatively impacted so many others in the field.

In fact Keselowski negatively impacted the field twice, once early on in the race while battling Danica Patrick for the lead and then later in the race causing a twelve car pileup that involved several other drivers, including the likes of past champions Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.

“I just spun out in front of the whole field,” the driver of the white Miller Lite Deuce said. “I don’t know why, if I just busted my butt on my own or lost a tire, but I feel bad for everyone that got torn up.”

Johnson, after suffering his own damage from the first Keselowski incident, had almost the identical problem as Keselowski, spinning out at almost the same exact spot on the race track and catching others in his wake.

“I got caught up in the first wreck and that did some damage; and I don’t know what happened when I spun out,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Valspar Chevrolet said. “I just went out in front of everybody. The car just got real loose going into Turn 3 and turned around and collected a bunch of guys, unfortunately.”

Keselowski finished the race in the 38^th position while Johnson finished 23^rd and remains winless.

Not Surprising: In his 300^th start and at a superspeedway not a short track, Denny Hamlin made a statement and won his first race of the season, his first race at Talladega, and his first point’s race at a restrictor plate track. Hamlin also all but sealed up a Chase berth, after missing the Chase completely last season for the first time in his career.

“It feels good to be back in Victory Lane in a points-paying event,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota said. “We’ve come a long way. We couldn’t finish 22nd in superspeedway races for the longest time and now it seems like when we go, we know we have the knowledge and car that can win.”

“It feels good to come to these types of tracks and win.”

Surprising: Jeff Gordon surprisingly kept his point leads in spite of finishing 39^th, as well as breaking his streak of 11 consecutive top-15 finishes. Gordon still leads by three points over Matt Kenseth, who came in just ahead of Gordon in the race, finishing 37^th.

“Oh man, we had a great car,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “I could see where the 2 came from the outside lane and came back down to the inside lane, or middle lane, then wiggled and got turned.”

“It was unfortunate what happened to him early, but more unfortunate what happened to many of us in that incident.”

Not Surprising: Whether they had a game plan in their heads or not, both Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer scored their best ever finishes of the 2014 season.

Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M Window Film Ford, finished runner up after leading the most laps at 58. Bowyer, driving the No. 15 PEAK Antifreeze/Motor Oil Toyota, finished third, scoring his first top-5 finish of the season.

“I had a game plan in my head,” Biffle said. “On our speedway program, they did a great job getting the car ready. This was our Daytona 500 car and we wanted to get up there and run with the guys.”

“I don’t think you ever really have a game plan,” Bowyer said. “But I like the situation I saw with Biffle. You know he was going to pull out and make a move. I had my teammate right behind me and I was looking forward to that opportunity.”

“After last weekend, we blew three tires and burned the car to the ground,” Bowyer continued. “To get things turned around on a positive note, we finished Talladega without a crash.”

Biffle posted his sixth top-10 finish in 23 races and Bowyer posted his ninth top-10 finish at Talladega Superspeedway.

Surprising: Risk was not worth the reward for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who elected to ride in the rear in the waning laps to avoid the craziness of the finish. Although Junior led the second-most laps in the race, he finished 26th in his National Guard Chevrolet.

“We already got a win and like I said, I’ve been in too many late-race wrecks,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I didn’t want to be no part of it. And there were three or four there we dodged pretty good.”

“So, we’ve got a car in one piece,” Junior continued. “You have to have that track position at the end and we didn’t have it. We didn’t tear up our car and we will go to Daytona and try to manage the strategy.”

Not Surprising: Talladega makes for friendships formed on the fly and that is exactly what happened between AJ Allmendinger and Paul Menard, who finished fifth and sixth respectively.

“I really thought I had messed us up there and that last restart I’ve got to thank Paul Menard,” the driver of the No. 47 Bush’s Beans Chevrolet said. “He just kept shoving me all the way up through the inside of guys.”

“We had a really fast Richmond/Menards/Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Chevrolet all weekend,” Menard said. “It was really good at the end. On the last restart just pushed the hell out of AJ (Allmendinger) and wound up being okay.”

Surprising: Both David’s, Ragan (defending race winner) and Gilliland, who are traditionally good at plate racing, had a pretty rough day at the race track.

Gilliland’s engine gave way on his No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford, while Ragan was involved in a very hard hit during one of the race’s many wrecks.

“I thought my car was good,” Gilliland said. “We got in that accident and I don’t know if the motor got a little warm when we opened up the duct work, but it just wasn’t our day.”

“It looked like someone got turned in the middle or the bottom lane and we were just kind of minding our own business up top and all I saw was some cars coming up toward us,” Ragan, behind the wheel of the No. 34 KFC Ford, said. “There was nothing you could do.”

“It’s just a shame that when somebody makes a mistake it takes out a bunch of race cars.”

Not Surprising: Young Kyle Larson was the highest finishing rookie…again, this time bringing his car home not only in one piece but in the ninth position. This was the fifth top-10 finish for the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet and he sits in the 13^th position in the point standings.

“I spent most of the day just — well, pretty much all day just trying not to make any spectacular moves to put myself in a bad spot to get in a wreck,” Larson said. “Just wanted to stay out of trouble. We’ve been making up a lot of points throughout the year after Daytona, and to come back to another superspeedway, I was really nervous.”

“Glad to get a good finish and stay up there in points.”

Surprising: Danica Patrick had one major complaint about her race at Talladega. The driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet was, well, just plain hot.

“It was a hot day here in Talladega,” Patrick said after finishing 22^nd. “I dropped back to get some clean air. Heating was definitely an issue. It really limited me to the bottom lane.”

“I was getting hot a lot,” Patrick continued. “I think you saw that from a lot of cars.”

Not Surprising: There were many drivers that were not only happy to have ‘Dega in the rear view mirror but were also glad for a good, safe finish to the race.

“It was crazy, but everybody did a really good job,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford said. “The racing was pretty good. It was really intense, but safe I thought relative to what we’ve seen in the past.”

“I expected a few of the big wrecks and tried to avoid those and did exactly that,” Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Gwaltney Ford said. “We didn’t end up on our roof, so it was a solid day and we’ll go on.”

NASCAR next visits Kansas Speedway for some Saturday night racing under the lights in the 5-Hour Energy 400 Benefiting Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

May 4, 2014
Surprising and Not Surprising: Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington

As the blinding sun faded into darkness, drivers danced with the lady in black at one of the toughest tracks on the circuit. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 65^th annual Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Surprising: Perhaps it was the full moon or the sheer intensity of the competition, but there was a surprising amount of testiness, more so than at another of the other tracks to date, between drivers and even between drivers and crew chiefs.

At one point, Aric Almirola and Danica Patrick were trading paint, as well as Austin Dillon and A.J. Allmendinger, the latter calling the young Dillon rookie a ‘punk’. There was also some testiness between the normally solid duo of six-time champ Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus during some of their radio chatter.

Probably the biggest incident of the race occurred in the last few laps between Kurt Busch, who was running ninth in the first attempt at the green-white-checkered, and Clint Bowyer, who made contact with him when the green flag flew.

The contact was so severe that Busch was unable to complete the race, finishing 31^st in his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet. Bowyer, on the other hand, finished 12^th in his No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota.

“That was a terrible way to end what could have been a decent night,” Busch said. “We struggled at times to get the balance of the Haas Automation Chevrolet right, but we kind of found our spot just past the halfway point and made slight adjustments the rest of the way.”

“I tried to hold them off the best I could, but someone moved me out of their way and it ruined our night,” Busch said of the restart. “I hate it for the team, but we keep learning each week and we will get better.”

Although Busch has a win, he lost one position in the point standings, falling to 26^th, 164 points behind the leader. Bowyer, who is winless, climbed one spot up in the point standings to 16^th, 78 points behind the leader.

Not Surprising: In spite of the challenges, several personal bests were achieved by race winner Kevin Harvick, who by far had the stoutest car, leading 239 laps of the 374 total. This was Harvick’s first ever Southern 500 win, adding to his other crown jewel race wins, from the Daytona 500 to the Coca Cola 600 and the Brickyard.

This was Harvick’s 25^th victory in the Sprint Cup Series and he also became the first two-time winner of the season, virtually guaranteeing him a spot in the Chase for the championship.

The driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing also became the first driver to win from pole position since Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett did so in 1997.

“This is one race I told Rodney (Childers, crew chief) that I wanted to win,” Harvick said. “We were able to put it all together, but this is the Southern 500, this is as big as it gets in NASCAR racing.”

Surprising: There were several surprising bounces that occurred at the ‘Track Too Tough to Tame.’ Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had a surprising bounce back to score his career best, runner up finish at Darlington after finishing dead last at Texas last weekend with the mistake in the grass.

“A great run, good job by my team,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet said. “This isn’t one of my best tracks so my team gave me a great car.”

This was Junior’s ninth top-10 finish at Darlington and his fifth top-10 finish of the season.

On the flip side, Paul Menard took a surprisingly hard bounce backwards, dropping eight positions in the points, from 10^th to 18^th, after finishing 41^st in his No. 27 CertainTeed/Menards Chevrolet.

“When the sun went down, I think it freed up,” Menard said after hitting the wall on Lap 201. “I hit the wall like ten laps before and I guess the right-front tire just went down.”

“I guess I was in denial,” Menard continued. “There was a lot of damage.”

Not Surprising: Rookie of the Year contender Kyle Larson continued to impress with his eighth place finish in a backup car to become the highest finishing rookie of the race.

“Yeah, just really proud of my Target Chip Ganassi team for how hard they had to work after I got into the wall and pulled the backup car out,” Larson said. “I started the race off so loose and just had to hang on for a couple runs and Shine got the car tightened up the car for me and we were able to run I thought top‑10 or ‑12 speeds.”

“Finally got up there and then I got in the wall a couple times and had to pull the fenders back out and drive back up there,” Larson continued. “Still ended up 8th, but all in all it was a good Saturday for us.”

Surprising: Six-time champion Jimmie Johnson surprisingly called on the old school racing gods to round out the podium finish for Team Chevy.

“Yeah, just very happy to finish there in the top three,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet said. “We struggled the first run or two of the race, but we got the car turning for me and came to life and really did it the old‑fashioned way and kind of drove up through the field before the last pit stop, so proud of the hard work.”

Although he remains winless to date, this was Johnson’s fifth top 10 finish of the season and his 12th top-10 finish in 16 races at Darlington Raceway.

Not Surprising: Even champions make mistake as demonstrated by the difficulties in restarting by four-time champion Jeff Gordon pretty much throughout the race.

“We had a really strong car and everything was going really well,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “There towards the end, we just kind of started fading and got ate up on those restarts.”

Gordon finished seventh and is still in the points lead, albeit by one point over Matt Kenseth.

“I feel like it is a missed opportunity,” Gordon said. “But another great race car and I’m happy about that.”

Surprising: Team Penske had a surprisingly tough time under the watchful eye of the ‘Lady in Black’, with Keselowski finishing 17^th and Logano finishing 35^th.

“It was a long night,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford said. “We didn’t get the finish we wanted, that is for sure.”

“The track was slick so that is part of the unique challenge of Darlington that we all love.”

While Keselowski admitted to getting pushed back by those struggling on restarts, teammate Logano instead had a mechanical failure with just ten laps to go.

“We had an issue with the right front hub which broke,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “It is unfortunate that the right front hub broke and then that messed with the rotor and into the caliper and everything got hot and broke after that.”

“It sucks because you run the whole race and get nothing to show for it at the end.”

Not Surprising: With the third best driver rating of 107.5 coming into Darlington Raceway, it was not surprising the Greg Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M/Red Cross Ford, was the highest finishing Ford when the checkered flag waved.

“We worked really hard all night and probably didn’t have a fifth place car but we worked really hard on it and we had good pit stops and track position was everything tonight,” Biffle said. “Those last restarts we were on the outside, the inside and then the outside and we picked up one or two spots there at the end.”

“Everybody worked hard and we will keep working on our car. We have to get better here but we will keep working at it.”

Surprising: NASCAR actually made a surprising move, granting an extra set of Goodyear tires for the Bojangles’ Southern 500. The sanctioning body apparently made that move after many teams voiced concerns about running out of tires, given the fall-off and wear.

Not Surprising: No doubt all of the Cup drivers are looking forward to an off-weekend of rest but Richard Petty Motorsports driver Marcos Ambrose summed it up best.

“From the first lap, the track was as slick as anything,” the driver of the No. 9 DeWalt Ford said after finishing 14^th. “This is the most worn out I have been in my NASCAR career.”

After the Easter break, the NASCAR elite return to action in two weeks under the lights for some short-track racing at Richmond International Raceway.

April 13, 2014