Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: Regan Smith

  • Chris Buescher Coasts on Fumes to Checkered Flag in Buckle Up 200

    Chris Buescher Coasts on Fumes to Checkered Flag in Buckle Up 200

    After contact with his teammate Darrell Wallace Jr., Chris Buescher gambled on fuel and nursed his No. 60 Roush Performance Products Ford to the checkered flag in the Buckle Up 200 at the Monster Mile. This was also Buescher’s first victory in three races at Dover International Speedway.

    “I never know what to believe and you never know how much you need to save,” Buescher said. “We were really just trying to go easy on the throttle and then at the end, we just had to let it coast at least half of the straightaway.”

    “It was really tough to do and I felt like we were going really slow,” Buescher said. “You have to convince yourself to do it. But we made it to the end and we had enough to do a burnout.”

    “It was nerve-wracking for sure,” Scott Graves, Buescher’s crew chief said. “You know you’re close and you don’t know exactly how much it was going to take. But we knew we were going to be OK when everyone else came in and we had a lap to play with at the end.”

    “Once we got down to that point, I was feeling better about it.”

    This is Buescher’s second Xfinity Series win of the season and with the win, he maintained the points lead over Ty Dillon by 15 points.

    Buescher’s victory, however, was not without controversy due to the contact with teammate Bubba Wallace, who cut a tire and soldiered on to finish a disappointing 17th.

    “It is my teammate so I can’t really say much,” Wallace said. “I asked the spotter after the race and he said we got run over. I was saving fuel there and Chris just ran over me and he ends up winning.”

    “It should be interesting Monday morning. We just got run over. It sucks that it was my teammate,” Wallace continued. “I was saving fuel. I didn’t think I was holding him tight and the next thing you know we are almost in the fence.”

    “The crappy part about it is we had a really strong Ford EcoBoost Mustang and we couldn’t get off pit road to save us and we got caught in dirty air and then we were in fuel saving mode. I thought we were doing okay until that little incident. I would say I am happy Roush won but I am not.”

    Matt Kenseth, behind the wheel of the No. 20 Reser’s Toyota, overcame an early tire issue to finish in the runner up position.

    “We had a great race car and I actually thought it was all going to work out for us,” Kenseth said. “I had to pit out of sequence and that let us a set of tires short. We got to stay out and lead some at the end and I honestly didn’t think that anyone could run that long on fuel.”

    “We came up a little short but we had a really, really fast race car.”

    This was Kenseth’s 13th top-10 finish in 21 races at the Monster Mile and is his third top-10 finish in the 2015 season.

    Regan Smith, driver of the No. 7 Breyers Chevrolet, took the checkered flag in the third spot. He also scored the $100,000 Dash for Cash honors provided by the Xfinity Series.

    “We had to work hard overnight because I didn’t like where the race car was,” Smith said. “They made good adjustments and we had very fast pit stops.”

    “Fuel mileage races are frustrating though,” Smith continued. “I haven’t been on the good end of one yet. Disappointed about that but proud of the effort today.”

    Smith advised that he had a child so that is where he intended to utilize the $100,000 bonus from the Dash for Cash. This was Smith’s fourth top-10 finish in 11 races at the Monster Mile.

    In spite of it being his nineteenth birthday, Erik Jones suffered another heartbreak in the Xfinity Series race after disappointment in the Truck race the night before. Jones missed pit road and then got a speeding penalty to boot, however, was able to soldier on to finish in the ninth position.

    “I just missed it,” Jones said. “It’s tough to get onto pit road here. I should have practiced it. It just didn’t work out at the end.”

    There was also another crash involving Ryan Blaney, Brian Scott and Jamie Dick. The initial incident was between Blaney and Brian Scott, the latter of whom started spinning. Unfortunately, Jamie Dick then plowed into Scott with violent impact.

    “The 22 (Blaney) was kind of out of control and he got real loose off (Turn) 4 so I got a run to his inside going into Turn 1. I just feel like he didn’t give me any room,” Scott said. “I went in there and he was stuck to my door. It just caused me to just suck around. As soon as I turned down in the corner I was loose.”

    “It sucks. I guess it’s a product of restarts here at Dover. That (second hit) hurt.”

    The 18 slipped a little bit off of four and the 2 got inside of us and must have got loose or something,” Blaney said. “Unfortunately we got in the fence there. It was unfortunate because I would have liked to see where it went.”

    “It was only lap 50 and I wish we could have raced more than that. They put it back together and we got what we got. It has been a rough last couple weeks for us. Hopefully we can get it turned around eventually.”

    Austin Dillon finished fourth, Kasey Kahne fifth and Chase Elliott, Brendan Gaughan, Ty Dillon, Erik Jones and Jeremy Clements rounded out the top-ten.

    2015 NXS Buckle Up 200 Race Results

    Fin Str Car Driver Team Lap Pts BPts Status TLd LLd
    1 2 60 Chris Buescher Roush Performance Products Ford 200 47 4 Running 1 10
    2 3 20 Matt Kenseth(i) Reser’s Toyota 200 0 Running 1 51
    3 10 7 Regan Smith Breyers Chevrolet 200 41 Running
    4 8 33 Austin Dillon(i) Rheem Chevrolet 200 0 Running 1 17
    5 7 88 Kasey Kahne(i) Ragu Chevrolet 200 0 Running
    6 14 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 199 38 Running
    7 11 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 199 37 Running
    8 12 3 Ty Dillon WESCO Chevrolet 199 36 Running
    9 6 54 Erik Jones(i) Monster Energy Toyota 199 0 Running 2 70
    10 15 51 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com/AllSouthElectric.com 198 34 Running
    11 17 16 Ryan Reed Lilly/American Diabetes Association Ford 198 33 Running
    12 18 42 Brennan Poole DC Solar Chevrolet 198 32 Running
    13 24 44 David Starr Zachry Toyota 198 31 Running
    14 19 43 Dakoda Armstrong WinField Ford 198 30 Running
    15 16 25 John Wes Townley(i) Zaxby’s Chevrolet 198 0 Running
    16 21 4 Ross Chastain # Heroes Haven Chevrolet 198 28 Running
    17 1 6 Darrell Wallace Jr. # Ford EcoBoost Ford 197 28 1 Running 3 52
    18 23 28 JJ Yeley Big Barrel Country Music Festival Toyota 197 26 Running
    19 4 18 Daniel Suarez # ARRIS Toyota 197 25 Running
    20 20 39 Ryan Sieg Uncle Bob’s Self Storage Chevrolet 197 24 Running
    21 13 1 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Ford 196 23 Running
    22 28 1 Landon Cassill Meding’s Seafood/Iron Source Chevrolet 195 22 Running
    23 37 26 CJ Faison Deputy Builders Toyota 194 21 Running
    24 30 24 Eric McClure Hefty Toyota 193 20 Running
    25 32 97 Peyton Sellers # Vroom Brands Chevrolet 193 19 Running
    26 34 0 Harrison Rhodes # teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 192 18 Running
    27 33 15 BJ McLeod(i) BYBExtremeFighting.com Chevrolet 191 0 Running
    28 38 70 Derrike Cope Circle Track Warehouse Chevrolet 187 16 Running
    29 35 52 Joey Gase Donate Life Chevrolet 179 15 Running
    30 25 8 Blake Koch LeafFilter Gutter Protection Toyota 171 14 Accident
    31 36 13 Timmy Hill(i) Braille Battery/Grafoid Dodge 159 0 Suspension
    32 29 90 Mario Gosselin VR Victoriaville Chevrolet 147 12 Running
    33 26 14 Cale Conley # IAVA Toyota 135 11 Accident
    34 9 22 Ryan Blaney Hertz Ford 131 10 Running
    35 40 74 Mike Harmon In Memory of David Torteotot Dodge 113 9 Suspension
    36 5 2 Brian Scott ACME/Kraft Singles Chevrolet 63 8 Accident
    37 22 55 Jamie Dick Viva Auto Group Chevrolet 62 7 Accident
    38 27 40 Carl Long Braille Battery/Grafoid Toyota 33 6 Engine
    39 39 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 33 5 Overheating
    40 31 19 Jeff Green TriStar Motorsports Toyota 3 4 Vibration

    # = Rookie, Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led. (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville STP 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville STP 500

    From the first short track of the season with the grandfather clock as the trophy, here is what was surprising and not surprising from Martinsville Speedway’s STP 500.

    Surprising: Denny Hamlin embarked on his own version of the ‘Drive for Five’ while the driver trying for his fifth championship doomed his own chances of winning with a pit road speeding penalty late in the race.

    “Well, by no means did we have a smooth race at all, and we still won,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota said after his fifth win at Martinsville. “So that to me shows what we’re capable of, and once we get everything worked out the way it needs to be and we’re back to our normal selves on pit road and we don’t have any penalties and everything just runs a smooth race, we can win a lot of these things.”

    Conversely, Jeff Gordon, with an eye on a fifth championship in his last full-time season, doomed his victory chances with a pit road speeding penalty on Lap 462, finishing in the ninth position in his No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet.

    “Oh my gosh, I’m so disappointed in myself,” Gordon said. “I felt like we finally got the car, got ourselves in a position to win the race. I knew I was pushing the limit but I didn’t think I had done anything different than I had all day. I’m very, very disappointed.”

    Not Surprising:  Although Chase Elliott made his first Cup debut, qualifying his way into the show, he joined his Hendrick teammates in having unusual struggles at Martinsville.

    Elliott finished 38th after some damage sustained early in the race, while teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. suffered not only damage from incidents on the track. but also mechanical problems to finish 35th and 36th respectively.

    “A lot of guys I think were having some transmission or gear problems,” Junior said. “We got some real bad vibration in the car 30 laps into the race and it just kept breaking the shifter. It was just swinging up there like a tuning fork.”

    “It was a tough race.”

    Surprising: While Team Penske seemed to experience some moral dilemmas about wrecking, they still managed to finish in the second and third positions respectively.

    Brad Keselowski, on one hand, wrestled with his conscience as to whether or not he should wreck Denny Hamlin for the win, while his teammate Joey Logano was hoping beyond hope that Keselowski and Hamlin would wreck each other so that he could have the win and the weekend of his life.

    “I did everything I could other than wreck him,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford said after the race. “Morals and racing are pretty subjective, but I just felt like I raced him the way I wanted to be raced and I guess that is what it is.”

    “I was hoping so,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford said when asked if he thought Keselowski and Hamlin might wreck each other. “That was my only shot at it once they got pretty far away.”

    “That was the only shot I had for the win.”

    Not Surprising: In NASCAR, records are made to be surpassed and broken and both happened at Martinsville. Martin Truex Jr. continued his streak of consecutive top-10 finishes for the sixth race in a row, while Kevin Harvick’s streak of top-2 finishes came to an end with his eighth place run.

    “It is awesome,” Truex Jr. said of his top-10 streak. “I can’t say enough about the team. Again to battle like we did today. We showed we never give up. We haven’t all year long. We haven’t given up on each other since I started here.”

    “It feels good to have another good run at one of my worst race tracks,” Truex continued. “Just can’t believe we were able to stay on the lead lap, fix the power steering and all that and drive back through there. It was a hell of an effort.”

    Although Harvick led the most laps, 154 of 500, the driver of the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet lost track position on a late-race restart and simply could not recover.

    “I just got hung on the outside and couldn’t get back down,” Harvick said. “By the time I got down, I was 10th or 11th.”

    “Everybody did a good job, just lost track position at the wrong time.”

    Surprising: NASCAR seems to be in significant need of recovery, with the announcement of J. D. Gibbs facing a significant health issue and Kyle Larson fainting during an autograph session.

    “We’ve been dealing with this for about six months and basically what the doctor’s say is that they really don’t know,” Coach Joe Gibbs said of his son’s situation. “J.D. has lived a very active lifestyle. All the things that he’s done in his life physically he’s loved all sporting events and it’s everything from football to snowboarding, racing cars, racing motor bikes – he’s lived in a lot of ways for him, he loved all those things.”

    “We can’t point to any one serious thing that happened to him, certainly any injury is a possibility that led us into some of the symptoms that he’s experiencing now.”

    In addition to Gibbs, Kyle Larson suffered his own surprising health symptoms after passing out prior to the Martinsville race.

    After fainting at an autograph session in Martinsville, VA, Kyle Larson was first evaluated at a local hospital in Martinsville and ultimately evaluated at a Charlotte hospital,” Chip Ganassi Racing said in a prepared statement prior to the race. “Although all tests came back negative and Larson feels completely fine, the doctors felt he should be held for more testing.”

    Regan Smith, sub extraordinaire, filled Larson’s seat and after starting from the back of the field in the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, managed a respectable 16th place finish.

    Not Surprising: In spite of scoring his first ever top-five at Martinsville, David Ragan had nothing but thoughts of Kyle Busch, for whom he continues to substitute in the No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota, and his recovery from injuries sustained at Daytona.

    “I just hope I helped the 18 team for the Chase race later in the year,” Ragan said. “We’ll enjoy Easter and I cannot wait to get to Texas.”

    Surprising: Smoke surprisingly got in the eyes of both Austin Dillon and AJ Allmendinger. The two Chevrolet drivers both had motor issues that determined their 41st and 43rd place finishes.

    “I’m not sure what the exact problem was with the motor,” Allmendinger, driver of the No. 47 Bush’s Beans Chevrolet said. “I noticed some smoke start rolling in the car and I could see it start out of the back of the car.”

    “I was smoking so bad they black flagged me.”

    “Yeah it was a motor issue,” Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Cheerios Chevrolet, said. “I think the same things as the No. 47. We just have to do a better job of going through our procedures at ECR right now. We have some power but we are not finishing races.”

    Not Surprising: It was a weekend of celebration for the Gilliland family, with dad David, in his 300th Cup start, having his best run ever at Martinsville with a 25th place finish and 14 year-old-son son Todd winning his first Late Model Stock Car race at Southern National Motorsports Park.

    “I’m proud of the guys,” Gilliland, driver of the No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford, said. “The pit stops were good and this was the best I’ve personally ever run here, so we’ll build from it.”

    “And I couldn’t be prouder of my son,” Gilliland continued. “He’s a great young man and a great race car driver. I think he proved a lot with his win.”

    “I’m so glad I was racing in Martinsville this weekend so I could drive down to see this race.”

    Surprising: The penalty of uncontrolled tires in the pits continued to dominate. There were five such penalties in the Martinsville race, adding to the total of 21 of these out-of-control tires for the season.

    Not Surprising: Danica Patrick about summed it all up at Martinsville. When asked, how she avoided the wrecking on the track, she asked “Well, which one are you talking about?”

    “That’s kind of the way it goes at Martinsville,” the driver of the No. 10 TaxAct Chevrolet said. “I think all four corners were banged up.”

    “It’s all a matter of luck, too,” Patrick continued. “I could have got drilled from the back and hit into the car. I could have swerved to the right and had somebody clip my right rear and spun, somebody could have been out there.”

    “Crashes are about observing where you’re at and making a good decision about where to go, but they’re also about luck. I got lucky that there was nothing in my way to get around that one. That would have probably wrecked my day.”

    Patrick finished seventh at the track known as the ‘Paper Clip’, tying her second-best career finish in the Cup Series.

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Atlanta Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Atlanta Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500

    With several of the sport’s biggest names starting from the back of the field, from missing qualifying sessions to missing driver introductions, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 56th annual Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    Surprising: The top ten finishers at Atlanta were a fascinating mixture of everything from four past champions to two one-car team drivers and one young replacement driver.

    The four past champions included winner Jimmie Johnson, runner up and immediate past champ Kevin Harvick, fifth place finisher Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski, who finished ninth. And in the midst of those champions ran young Brett Moffitt, who replaced Brian Vickers in the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine for Michael Waltrip Racing to finish eighth, as well as the single car teams of Martin Truex Jr. and AJ Allmendinger, who finished sixth and seventh respectively.

    “This thing was just bad fast,” the race winner and driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet said. “I had a blast racing with the No. 4 (Kevin Harvick). He was awfully strong today. I think track position there at the end just kind of set things in place. We had the restart we needed to and off we went.”

    “This is truly amazing,” Moffitt said after finishing top-ten in his No. 55 replacement ride. “We showed good speed all weekend long. We just couldn’t bust off a quick lap on fresh tires and we kept adjusting on the car during the race. It wasn’t where we needed it to start and I kept learning how to be more aggressive on the restarts and use other people’s air to benefit me.”

    “I can’t thank Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota and Aaron’s enough for this opportunity. Definitely learned a lot out there. Wish I could be in the car more often.”

    Not Surprising: Jeff Gordon had an immediate partner in commiseration after again hitting hard into a wall sans a safer barrier.

    “Pretty convenient to see that SAFER Barrier end just before @jeffgordonweb pounds wall,” Kyle Busch tweeted ironically from his home while recuperating from his lack of safer barrier crash injuries. “Hope he’s healthy! When will this end @NASCARsafer barrier.”

    “I’m very frustrated the fact that there was no SAFER barrier down there,’’ Gordon said after exiting the infield care center. “I know it was a hard hit. I didn’t expect it to be that hard. I go out and looked and ‘Oh well, big surprise I found the one wall on the back straightaway that doesn’t have a SAFER barrier.’ ‘’

    “I don’t think we can say any more after Kyle’s incident at Daytona. Everybody knows they’ve got to do something. It should have been done a long time ago. All we can do now is hope they do it as fast as they possibly can and get it done.’’

    Surprising: While he treasured his former crew chief Steve Letarte in the role, there is apparently a new cheerleader on top of the box for fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. And this new cheerleader helped his driver right to a 3rd place finish at Atlanta, backing up his 3rd place finish at Daytona the week before.

    “The communication is great and he’s actually a pretty good cheerleader to be honest with you,” Dale Jr. said. “Who knew? I think he’s going to be awesome to work with and he’s got a hell of a future and I’m glad to be able to have a few years with him here while he’s sort of learning the ropes.”

    Not Surprising: Reviews were mixed on the use of track bar adjustability, from drivers who loved it and felt it made a tremendous difference to those that did not use it at all.

    “I thought it was great,” Martin Truex, Jr., driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet said about his track bar use after finishing sixth. “I used it all day. I thought it was something neat to play with.”

    “We made a decision last night to drop ours a little bit for the start of the race. Had we not had that adjustment we would have been in big trouble. It helped us a lot today just having that. We were up and down, back and forth with it.”

    “I thought it was a great little tool. It wasn’t like you were going to go from a 10th-place car to winning the race with it. But it was something there that you could tune on to make your car more comfortable on shorter and longer runs.”

    “My crew chief Brian Burns says I’m not smart enough to have one in there right now,” AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 47 Better Than Bouillon Chevrolet, said about the track bar. “We never had one all weekend. We were letting everybody get the bugs worked out of it.”

    “I don’t like having it in there because it gives me one less excuse to yell at my crew chief about why my car is not very good (laughs),” the seventh place finisher continued. “We will work on that.”

    Surprising: For Danica Patrick, it was all about the tape, ‘bout the tape.

    “I’d have to say one of our biggest problems today – aside from getting going on the start and getting the car tuned in – was that the tape kept coming off the front,” the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet said after finishing 16th. “The tape was making me handle. It wasn’t only running pretty cool but the tape helps front downforce.”

    “It was pretty noticeable when the tape came off. That was our biggest problem today as far as a better result goes. I believe we wouldn’t have been a lap down if we had kept that tape on.”

    Not Surprising: For many drivers, it is sometimes where you are happy not to be that makes all the difference.

    “That’s kind of been our goal going into the season is to not start in such a big hole like we did last year,” Aric Almirola said after finishing 11th in his No. 43 Fresh From Florida Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports. “We got a little bit behind right before halfway and then we got it back, so I’m proud of this run and proud to start this season off with two top-15 finishes.”

    “Last year I think going into the third or fourth race we were outside the top 30 in points, so so far, so good. “

    Surprising: While not a superspeedway per se, Atlanta did see the ‘big one’ late in the race when Greg Biffle got loose and collected five other cars.

    “I think the 16 and 34 got together, something up front there,” Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, said after being involved in the crash. “I was committed to the top and got in the brakes and got in the back of the 15, which was down on power I guess.”

    “And then a lot of smoke and somebody was in front of me as I was still on the brake and went ahead and ended our day.”

    Not Surprising: Replacement drivers Regan and Ragan had solid runs but were not stellar, finishing in 17th and 18th place respectively.

    “It was a battle all day,” Regan Smith, replacement driver for Kurt Busch, said. “We kind of struggled with the handling on the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS. Finally when we got it where I was happy with it, we were a lap down already. It was kind of too late at that point.”

    “Right after we got it where I was happy, we got damage on the nose. I don’t know… somebody up there wrecked and everybody stopped. Tony (Gibson, crew chief) made some great pit calls to somehow get us back to one lap down. I still don’t know how that happened. It was a good job by him to salvage the day for the team.”

    “The first 100 laps of the race, our M&M’s Crispy Camry was fast, had speed and track position means a lot at any race and as we fell back a little bit and I think it was a snowball effect,” David Ragan said, in for the recovering Kyle Busch, said. “We just really probably were a little behind on our adjustment and that’s probably just my inexperience with these guys and being a little timid on making a few adjustments.”

    “We had some good speed, but we had lost too much ground. We learned a lot, brought the car back in one piece, but we can run better than that.”

    Surprising: Landon Cassill experienced déjà vu all over again. For the second time in two races, his engine let go in the No. 40 Snap Fitness Chevrolet. Cassill finished the race dead last in the 43rd spot and fell to the basement as far as the points standings.

    Not Surprising: Although the Team Penske drivers described their race day as being up, down and all over the place, both Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski managed to finish top-ten at Atlanta. In fact, Logano, who started from the pole position, finished fourth in his 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford, while teammate Keselowski finished ninth in his No. 2 Detroit Genuine Parts Ford.

    “We raced hard and raced up toward the front all day,” Logano said. “Those Hendrick cars are fast, and obviously the 4 car, but the other guys would just take off and leave me. I did everything I could to maintain on restarts and be aggressive and that’s where we ended up.”

    “We were just kind of up and down and floating all day long,” Keselowski said. “At one point, I thought we were gonna have a 15th-place day and towards the end I thought we were gonna have a fifth-place day.”

    “We cycled out to a ninth-place finish, which wasn’t our best and wasn’t our worst today. It just was what it was.”

     

  • Hot 20 – Weights and measurements not a good Jeopardy category for Logano

    Hot 20 – Weights and measurements not a good Jeopardy category for Logano

    Three of last Sunday’s top drivers failed to make the cut simply due to not being registered to run for Cup points. Regan Smith, Matt Crafton, and Johnny Sauter all were within the Top Twenty, but their focus is on one of the other two national series. Smith will be kept busy, though, as he sits in for the suspended Kurt Busch. Considering the ride was especially created by Gene Haas for Busch to wear his company colors, one has to wonder about the long-term fate of the No. 41.

    What is 3100 pounds yet weighs in at under a ton? It appears Logano did not just have the winning ride at Daytona…he had a magic car.

    The Hot 20 after Daytona

    1. Joey Logano – 1 Win – 47 Points
    Daytona 500 winner provided a “ton” of laughs on Letterman.

    2. Kevin Harvick – 42 Points
    If only it were the Daytona 505, all green, all of the time.

    3. Dale Earnhardt Jr – 42 Points
    A late change to the slow lane proved costly.

    4. Denny Hamlin – 41 Points
    Got yelled at so much, he thought he was Stenhouse for a moment.

    5. Jimmie Johnson – 40 Points
    Car was fast at Daytona, his pit crew even faster.

    6. Casey Mears – 39 Points
    Car just got better and better thanks to a Bootie call…or two.

    7. Clint Bowyer – 37 Points
    If you cannot be the man to beat the man, be the man who makes the man unbeatable.

    8. Martin Truex Jr – 37 Points
    Last year he was no Kurt Busch, this year that is a good thing.

    9. Greg Biffle – 35 Points
    This season you can discover “What’s Buggin’ Biffle.”

    10. Kasey Kahne – 35 Points
    Won just once in 2014, but Atlanta was the place.

    11. David Gi_ _i _ and – 33 Points
    I’ll take an “L”, Pat Sajack.

    12. Michael Annett – 32 Points
    14th on Thursday, 13th on Sunday, a Top Ten in Atlanta?

    13. Sam Hornish Jr – 32 Points
    Welcome back to Cup, Sam.

    14. Austin Dillon – 30 Points
    The No. 3 now driven by the man in the black hat.

    15. Aric Almirola – 29 Points
    Somewhere there has to be someone named Eric Elmirola.

    16. David Ragan – 27 Points
    Loaned out by Front Row to sit in for Kyle at Gibbs.

    17. A.J. Allmendinger – 25 Points
    No sponsor, no Sprint Unlimited.

    18. Danica Patrick – 23 Points
    Kurt sits, Tony wrecks, and Danica gets a written warning. Thank God for Harv.

    19. Carl Edwards – 22 Points
    Is there a doctor in the house? Why yes, yes there is.

    20. Cole Whitt – 22 Points
    Good funding stems from good finishes. I hope this helps.

  • The Final Word – Daytona saw no Kyle, no Kurt, but for Joey, oh my

    The Final Word – Daytona saw no Kyle, no Kurt, but for Joey, oh my

    Speeds over 200 mph. Three wide racing to the end. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had time at the front. So did Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Excellent announcing on FOX. Nice weather. What was there not to love about the Daytona 500?

    Okay, if you were not a fan of Joey Logano and saw that caution come out as they were wrecking behind them on that final lap, maybe you were upset. Especially so as Kevin Harvick and Junior were trying to challenge at the end. Yet, they kept wrecking back there so NASCAR decided to err on the side of safety.

    Gordon was involved in the melee, and was ranked 33rd, the final car on the lead lap of a race that went to green-white-checkers. If you were a fan of Tony Stewart or Matt Kenseth, early damage left them non-factors the rest of the day, with Smoke finishing 42nd. With 40 laps to go, Brad Keselowski went up in smoke to sit 41st. Danica Patrick was 21st, but rarely to be seen on the day.

    If you are a Busch fan, any Busch, you were left cheering for Matt Crafton, who was 18th in his Cup debut, while Regan Smith was 16th. Neither picked up drivers’ points with each being registered in one of the other two national series. Both Casey Mears and Martin Truex Jr. each earned a Top Ten, with David Gilliland, Sam Hornish Jr., and Michael Annett all in the Top Fifteen. Now if they can only follow that up with solid results next week in Atlanta.

    Still, not a Busch to be found in Georgia, either. I have always thought that by running an average of 25 races in the junior circuit, Kyle Busch was taking a seat away from an up and comer. That has been solved for the time being, but not in a fashion any of us wanted. That was a damn scary hit last Saturday, on a regular concrete wall, causing Busch a broken right leg and left foot. If there is a need for a wall, it is due to the possibility a car might hit it, and if the possibility exists, so does the need for a safer barrier to exist. I dislike Kyle driving so much in the Xfinity Series, but I dislike even more him having to be in hospital.

    A Daytona 500 with neither Busch brother. At least Kyle’s situation is straight forward, which is more than one can say about that of Kurt. From my understanding, a despondent Busch texted his former girlfriend who then sent these along to his coach driver who encouraged her to visit. This she did, out of either compassion or to get Kurt to tell her son the relationship was over, I am no longer sure as to which. Kurt was naked the entire time of the visit, an image I am trying to keep out of my head. He tried to get her to leave by either cupping her face aggressively or choked her and slammed her head into a wall. No charges have yet been laid and a judge says he believed more of her story than that of the driver yet stated she lied during her testimony. In the end, he gave her a protection order to keep Busch away, causing NASCAR to react with the suspension. I find this whole situation a train wreck with more drama than most of us can be bothered to dwell upon. I wish them both well.

    For most others, the season opened well, especially for the fans. While Junior had a strong car, Logano had the one that could challenge him. Sometimes luck decides how things work out, but Sunday at Daytona the car that was the stoutest when it counted, won. Sure, he was helped when Junior made a lane change that cost him too much for too long too late into the event, but Joey was the one guy who could, and did, take full advantage. Now it is off to Atlanta for 500 miles, the scene of Kasey Kahne’s lone victory of 2014. If you loved Daytona, you might as well stick around to see how Atlanta might measure up.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Daytona 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Daytona 500

    After an incredibly eventful Speedweeks, here is what was surprising and not surprising from NASCAR’s first and one of the biggest races of the season, the 57th annual Daytona 500.

    Surprising: The various Daytona 500 race watching venues were definitely most surprising, from Kurt Busch watching from who knows where after his indefinite suspension due to domestic violence allegations to his brother Kyle watching from a hospital bed after breaking his leg and foot in an Xfinity race crash.

    The other two unusual seats for the Daytona 500 were for Regan Smith and Matt Crafton, who substituted for the Busch brothers, in the No. 41 and No. 18 race cars respectively. Smith finished 16th for Stewart Haas Racing and Crafton finished 19th for Joe Gibbs Racing.

    “Started off really tight with the race car and never got it turning,” Smith said from his race seat. “I don’t know, kind of frustrating. I actually anticipated a much better day and nothing much more to show for it. Those guys did a nice job all weekend but we just plowed through the corners.”

    “It was a learning curve,” Crafton said from his unexpected race seat. “The first half we just rode around and tried to learn, learn, learn.”

    “It was very, very tough, but that’s what we get paid to do – drive race cars and figure it out quick. I felt fine, just my back from being in that seat hurt. Under yellows I would loosen up the belts as much as I could and just try to bow myself up in the seat just because my back was just cramped so unbelievable bad.”

    “I should have had a little better finish there at the end, but it is what it is.”

    Not Surprising: There was a visual dichotomy, from Jeff Gordon greeting the fans with his two children at the start of the race to the 24 year old Joe Logano embracing his father in Victory Lane, truly signifying the passing of the torch in the sport.

    This was Jeff Gordon’s last Daytona 500 and Joey Logano’s first ever win in the Great American race.

    “Congratulations to Joey Logano,” Jeff Gordon said after finishing 33rd in a late race crash. “That moment you saw there with his dad that is what it’s all about. These types of moments, such a big race it means so much to all of us. You want to share that with the people that you are closest to that have been there along the way.”

    “Congratulations to him and I don’t know what else to say other than I enjoyed it.”

    Surprising: Even great plate racers can make a mistake and yet still manage finish in the third spot and that is just what the driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet did. Even with the miscue, Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed his 18th top-10 finish in 31 races at Daytona International Speedway.

    “I made a really bad decision on that restart with 19 to go,” Junior said. “I made a poor choice and you can’t afford to do that. I got shuffled back and lost a ton of spots.”

    “I had one of the best cars out there and that gave me a ton of confidence to keep digging. We were able to get back up to third place. It’s really disappointing because the Nationwide team gave me the best car and we should have won the race.”

    “It was a fun day out there. Just came up short and a little disappointed about that.”

    Not Surprising: With the exception of Kevin Harvick, who finished in the runner up position, Stewart Haas Racing continued its struggles of the previous year, with Kurt Busch suspended, Tony Stewart hitting the wall and finishing 42nd and Danica Patrick being a non-factor, finishing 21st.

    Stewart wrecked his No. 14 Chevrolet on Lap 41 when his car turned right, slammed into the wall, and completely wrecked his steering. This extended Stewart’s losing streak to seventeen races.

    “I take the blame for that one,” Smoke said. “One-hundred percent my fault.”

    Surprising: After winning one of the Duel races and starting at the front of the pack alongside teammate Jeff Gordon, six-time champion Jimmie Johnson saw the race win slip through his fingers in the final restarts. Johnson finished fifth in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet instead.

    “With about 10 to go, I thought we were in position to win the Daytona 500,” Johnson said. “I wish we were in Victory Lane right now but with plate racing you honestly have no clue what’s going to happen.”

    “Really the last two restarts just didn’t work for us. I was ahead of one lane and the guys behind us just weren’t bumper to bumper. Then on the last restart the same thing on the bottom. So it is just the way things happened.”

    “A fun day here in Daytona, of course I wish I was in Victory Lane right now, but we had a very strong day nothing to be embarrassed about.”

    Not Surprising: At restrictor plate tracks, where anything can happen and anyone can win, it was not surprising that two single-car race teams had great runs and emerged from Daytona with great optimism for the season ahead.

    “It was a good run and has been a good 10 days down here,” Martin Truex, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet said after finishing eighth. “I had a lot of fun today. We had to go to the back a few times but our car was strong enough to drive up through there.I thought we had a shot there until that last caution. I got in the wrong lane on the last restart and got held up a little bit. All in all, we came out of here last year with a 43rd and to come out of here today with an eighth-place and top-10 is a good start to the year for us.”

    “It was a really solid day,” Casey Mears said after finishing sixth, his fourth top-10 in the past five restrictor-plate races. “We have run up front at a lot of these things now or towards the front. We are getting a little bit greedier. We definitely want to win one of these races. I think our standards are getting a lot higher. From going from possibly not being in the show to finishing sixth that is definitely a good spread and a good way to start the season for sure.”

    Surprising: In spite of being dubbed a good pusher by race winner Logano, Clint Bowyer was surprisingly ticked after his seventh place finish in the Great American race.

    “I don’t know what I could have done different,” the driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota said. “I have to go back and look at it. Just you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t there. I had them stacked up – some pretty good cars there behind me and I knew they were going to shuffle me out. I was kind of the lone wolf in the whole group other than the 22 (Joey Logano) and he happened to be leading.”

    “Once they got me in the middle, three-wide, I just didn’t really have – I was stuck and screwed.”

    Not Surprising: Denny Hamlin in his No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing was the highest finishing Toyota, scoring the 4th spot.

    “You know, you’ve got a 50-50 shot of winning it when you’re on the green-white-checkered on the front row,” Hamlin said. “Our line didn’t form up and it’s typically whatever line gets organized the most usually goes forward on these green-white checkers and we just – inside line didn’t get going.”

    “We came up a little short again.”

    Surprising: In spite of feeling helpless, Greg Biffle still managed a top-10 finish for Roush Fenway Racing, a great accomplishment after a disappointing 2014 season.

    “It’s a little disappointing because we want to win the Daytona 500,” the driver of the No. 16 Ortho Ford said. “It just seemed like our car didn’t quite have the speed it needed. I really struggled to try and stay in line and handling was a huge issue. My car was so tight. There was nothing I could do at the end because I was totally boxed in.”

    Not Surprising: Forget girls that just want to have fun, boys wanted to have fun as well and Carl Edwards did just that, in spite of finishing 24th with his new Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 ARRIS Toyota team.

    “Actually I had a very strong car and I had a lot of fun,” Edwards said. “I just didn’t pick the right lines there at the end – it just didn’t work. We got far enough back that it made it kind of hard to get back to the front. I had fun – I really did.”

    “Had a great car and we didn’t tear anything up – just had a good time.”

  • Kyle Busch Scores a Nationwide Fiver at the Monster Mile

    Kyle Busch Scores a Nationwide Fiver at the Monster Mile

    Kyle Busch behind the wheel of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, scored his fifth Nationwide season win to take the 29th Annual Dover 200 at the Monster Mile. And with that fiver, he also broke a tie with Joey Logano to become the all-time win leader at Dover.

    “Our day was really good,” Busch said. “We were a little skeptical of it yesterday but the guys did a good job of making adjustments for today.”

    “From the start of the green flag, we had a good race,” Busch continued. “I was biding my time early and we missed that first wreck. We were able to pit, get out front and set sail from there.”

    “It was nice to put together a good run and hopefully carry that into tomorrow.”

    Joey Logano, who led laps early in the race, finished second in his No. 22 Hertz Ford. This was his ninth top-10 finish at Dover and his eighth top-10 finish for the season.

    “The first half of the race went perfect and we were able to go out there and lead a lot of laps and be very, very fast,” Logano said. “But as the race went, we put four tires on and lost the lead. Our car was really tight from there on out. I’m not really sure what happened but we will try to figure it out.”

    “We just stayed tight there the last run,” Logano continued. “Overall, it’s second but we come here and expect to win. We began the race well but we lost the handle.”

    Chase Elliott, in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, finished third and also was the highest finishing rookie. Elliott did, however have his share of adversity, getting into a wreck early and suffering some damage that hindered his progress forward.

    “I’m proud and frustrated at the same time,” Elliott said. “We had a super-fast car from the get-go.”

    “We were just biding our time that first run,” Elliott continued. “I made a mistake following those guys way too closely and that was completely my fault. I drove ourselves into a wreck and then we couldn’t get back up to the front.”

    “We had a really good car from the drop of the green and the guys did a fantastic job getting it taped back up in a way that the fender wasn’t going to fly apart on us.”

    “We tried to battle as hard as we could but it just wasn’t enough.”

    Chris Buescher, driving the No. 60 Roush Performance Parts Ford, finished fourth as the second highest finishing rookie.

    “That was a lot of fun,” Buescher said. “We were really good on pit road and nice and consistent. Every week you have to get better and our consistency has been there. This is our best finish since Mid-Ohio.”

    Elliott Sadler, behind the wheel of the No. 11 SportClips Toyota, rounded out the top five, a position that he had not been in for quite some time.

    “It’s been too long for this race team,” Sadler said. “We made a lot of adjustments today. Top five at Dover is the best we’ve ran here.”

    Kyle Larson overcame two penalties, one for leaving the pit box with equipment and the other for speeding, came back to finish sixth in his No. 42 Cartwheel by Target Chevrolet.

    Another driver that had a world of trouble was Brendan Gaughan. The driver of the No. 62 South Point Chevrolet had a rear suspension issue, sending him to the garage and putting him nine laps down to finish 28th.

    With his third place finish, Chase Elliott maintained his lead in the championship point standings, now 26 points ahead of teammate Regan Smith.

    The full Nationwide Series results for the Dover 200 are as follows:

    1. Kyle Busch
    2. Joey Logano
    3. Chase Elliott
    4. Chris Buescher
    5. Elliott Sadler
    6. Kyle Larson
    7. Brian Scott
    8. Regan Smith
    9. Trevor Bayne
    10. Ty Dillon
    11. Cale Conley
    12. Justin Boston
    13. Aric Almirola
    14. Ryan Sieg
    15. James Buescher
    16. Landon Cassill
    17. Dakoda Armstrong
    18. Jeremy Clements
    19. Alex Bowman
    20. Jeffrey Earnhardt
    21. Dylan Kwasniewski
    22. JJ Yeley
    23. Blake Koch
    24. Ryan Reed
    25. Timmy Hill
    26. Jeff Green
    27. Joey Gase
    28. Brendan Gaughan
    29. Mike Bliss
    30. Matt DiBenedetto
    31. Kevin Lepage
    32. Carl Long
    33. Kevin Swindell
    34. Tanner Berryhill
    35. Morgan Shepherd
    36. Harrison Rhodes
    37. Derrike Cope
    38. Jamie Dick
    39. Mike Harmon
    40. Ryan Ellis
  • NNS Notebook – Food City 300

    NNS Notebook – Food City 300

    The NASCAR Nationwide Series travels to the World’s Fastest Half-Mile this week for the 23rd race of the 33 race season. Bristol Motor Speedway has long been considered a “wildcard” race on the schedule. Wildcard … because anything can happen here.

    This year at Bristol we have the Food City 300. No, that’s not a typo, 50 extra laps have been added to the race (just like in the spring race) this year to give drivers a few more laps to battle and, of course, to give fans a few more laps of excitement. Just imagine what could happen with an additional 50 laps!

    JR Motorsports sits atop the points standings with two drivers, Chase Elliott and Regan Smith. Currently, Elliott leads Smith by 10 points. It is then an additional 16 points back to Elliott Sadler in third.

    Given how fast Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson were in practice, we may very well see another Kyle vs. Kyle show. Busch competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Wednesday night. Busch ran strong leading 81 laps, but cut down a tire late in the race and finished 24th.

    It’s also great to see another female racer working her way up the ranks in NASCAR. The fact that she is from Venezuela, is an additional bonus. NASCAR is becoming more and more diverse every day.

    Ryan Blaney is behind the wheel of the No. 22 Penske Racing Ford this week. The No. 22 is leading the owner’s standings with a 21 point lead over the No. 54 fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing. This battle will definitely be one to watch on Friday night. With Kyle Busch piloting the No. 54, Blaney will have a tough job stretching that points lead.

     

    Here are your quick notes for the event:

     

    • Chase Elliott has just one start at Bristol. He started 15th and finished ninth.
    • Regan Smith has nine starts at Bristol with two top-10’s and zero laps led.
    • Kyle Busch has won the last three races at Bristol
    • Kyle Larson finished second to Busch in the last race.
    • Larson was fastest in final practice. . .  Busch was second fastest.
    • Larson has three starts at Bristol and has scored three top five’s
    • 45 cars are attempting to make the field this week. 40 will start.
    • Milka Duno is attempting to make her first start in NNS. She was 36th fastest in final practice.
    • Duno, the forty-two year old from Venezuela, has 47 ARCA starts, as well as 43 starts in the Verizon Indycar Series and 44 starts in the Grand-Am Series.
    • Ryan Blaney is driving the No. 22 for Penske Racing this week. Blaney was fourth fastest in practice.
    • Chris Buescher, the most recent winner in the series, was 28th fastest in practice.
    • Phil Parsons won the first NNS race at Bristol in 1982.
    • This week’s race will be the 65th NNS race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
    • The green flag drops on the Food City 300 at 7:30pm local time on Friday night.

     

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Cheez-It 355 at the Glen

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Cheez-It 355 at the Glen

    As the NASCAR community mourned the death of sprint car driver Kevin Ward Jr., which led to Tony Stewart’s decision not to participate at Watkins Glen, the racing did go on at one of the sport’s more challenging road courses.

    And with that overlay of respect for all involved in the tragedy, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 29th annual Cheez-It 355 at the Glen.

    Surprising: For at least two drivers, one with a powerhouse team and the other from a small operation, the race was all about power, from the four-time champion driver who lost it to the first-time winning driver who dug down deep to find the sheer willpower to get to Victory Lane.

    Jeff Gordon, whose sponsor Drive to End Hunger just announced their renewal for 2015, looked like the man to beat, scoring the pole position and leading laps early in the race. Then, inexplicably, Gordon’s No. 24 machine slowed on the track and he lost power, finishing a disappointing 34th and losing the points lead to teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    “I’ve got to get with the team and find out what caused it,” Gordon said. “It looks like we had a battery go dead, two batteries go dead. I didn’t see anything on the volts meter that stood out or anything really going on there that was alarming.”

    The other driver, AJ Allmendinger, drove the race of his life against Watkins Glen expert Marcos Ambrose, running on sheer willpower, as he was bound and determined to get his first ever win in the Sprint Cup Series.

    “I wasn’t going to let Marcos take that from me,” AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 47 Scott Products Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing, said simply. “I’ve dreamed about this moment, and I’m not going to forget it.”

    Not Surprising: It is not often that the race winner pays homage to the track workers, but AJ Allmendinger did just that, recognizing those that had to make extensive repairs, not only to the Armco barriers but also to the pit road barrels, after two horrific crashes.

    The first crash involved Ryan Newman and Michael McDowell, resulting in almost a rebuild of fencing, and the second involved Denny Hamlin hitting the pit barriers hard. Track workers labored furiously making repairs for almost two hours after the serious damage from the two crashes.

    “For me to be able to have that race be so memorable about how it ended, for the fans, they were so great for staying around through all the red flags, the track workers did such a great job to fix the fence and everything,” the Dinger said. “It’s just a memorable day to go out there and remember everything that just happened.”

    Surprising: Just when you thought that Kyle Larson’s rookie mistake of missing the inner loop would lead to a surprisingly bad finish, the Rookie of the Year contender pulled it off once again, scoring a surprising top-five finish.

    “It was a really good day for us,” The driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “We were terrible all weekend long. I was down on myself. It’s probably the most frustrated I’ve ever been with myself, aside from racing sprint cars in Pennsylvania.”

    “I can’t believe we finished top five,” Larson continued. “It feels like a win. I was hoping for a top 15 or top 20 going into today. I’m totally shocked and super excited.”

    Not Surprising: While it was not at all surprising that the No. 9 Ford of Marcos Ambrose was strong, taking the checkered flag in the runner up position, the Australian also had some Ford comrades with whom to celebrate. In fact, there were four Fords that finished in the top-ten at the Glen.

    “I left nothing on the table,” runner up Ambrose said. “We just came up a little short. I am just really proud of my Stanley team. We put a lot of effort into this race and really tried to win it. We won yesterday and came up one short today.”

    “I am glad Jimmy Fennig put us in a position to be up there for the win,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Kellogg’s/Cheez-It Ford and fifth place finisher, said. “I am sure like everyone up there that you want the last few laps to do over again. It was a blast and a lot of fun.”

    “That was crazy to say the least,” Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, said after finishing sixth. “We had about a fifth place car and had to go through a lot to get back to that point. We fought hard with this Shell Pennzoil Ford and put tires on it late and was very aggressive on the restarts and got a few spots back. I wish there were more laps. The tires were worth a few there at the end but I needed a few more laps there at the end.”

    “The racing was really good,” Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M Ford said after finishing eighth. “We were able to make up a lot of ground. It is aggressive and as people got more comfortable it got nuts. You just try to do the best you can and protect your position and race hard. That is about all you can do.”

    Surprising: Jimmie Johnson’s troubles continued to plague him, even at Watkins Glen. The six-time champion went for a dramatic spin late in the race, resulting in a 28th place finish. Although he has three wins to his credit and is solidly in the Chase, Johnson fell one position in the point standings, from sixth to seventh as a result.

    Not Surprising: Perhaps it was because he can relate to having to overcome adversity and seek redemption in the sport, but third place finisher Kurt Busch had nothing but praise for race winner AJ Allmendinger.

    “He won the race today in a fashion that everyone is proud of him for doing, to beat one of the best in the world at driving these stock cars,” the driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet said of race winner Allmendinger. “He deserves the trophy, and he had to pull from within. He had to dig in deep, and he had to believe in himself all the way through this.”

    “He’s put himself through all those mental challenges, and today he persevered. He didn’t break down and he brought home a victory, so we’re all very proud of him.”

    Surprising: Brakes, or the lack thereof, were responsible for some of the bigger crashes of the day, especially for Cole Whitt, who crashed his No. 26 Bully Hill Vineyards Toyota Camry surprisingly hard into the tire barriers, finishing 43rd.

    “It just seemed like something in the rear brakes faded or just actually just completely lost them going into (turn) one,” Whitt said. “It seemed like the front was trying to stop but the rear wasn’t at all and the pedal was just going to the floor on brakes. Not a whole lot you can do there. I was trying to get it turned but there was no way I was going to be able to.”

    “Sucks for the guys but I know we’ll rebound.”

    Past champion Brad Keselowski also suffered from tire issues, finishing a surprising 35<sup>th</sup> in his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford.

    “We had something in the brakes that broke,” Keselowski said. “At Watkins Glen you can’t run without brakes.”

    Not Surprising: Matt Kenseth, still without a win, continued his run of good points days, advancing one spot up to third, just 70 behind new points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kenseth was the top-finishing Toyota driver with a ninth-place result in the race at the Glen.

    “It was an okay finish,” the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, said. “Things didn’t pan out quite as we were hoping. But, overall not a terrible day.”

    Surprising: Danica Patrick was making quite the bear bond fashion statement after surviving an accident in practice, as well as one during the race. The driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet soldiered on in her bear-bonded race car to finish 21st, after gaining 22 spots

    “It was a tough day,” Patrick said. “It was a long race, but Gibson (Tony, crew chief) and the GoDaddy guys worked on the car and we got a 21st out of it, which isn’t bad with the weekend we had.”

    Not Surprising: Regan Smith, who was called on at the last minute to replace Tony Stewart in the race, summed up the situation best after an on-track incident at lap 81 caused him to finish 37th.

    “It’s my job to be able to drive a race car and it took me a little longer to get acclimated than I would have hoped it would and felt like at the end there I was finally starting to make some progress and I was able to get consistent with the car and understood the car a little better and what it was doing,” the substitute driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet said. “These guys build fast race cars at Stewart-Haas and I was thankful to get to get in one. Definitely not under the circumstances.”

    “My day really doesn’t matter right now,” Smith continued. “There are a lot of people more important than me at the moment; so we’re thinking about all those people and our prayers are with them.”

  • The Final Word – Tragedy in New York

    The Final Word – Tragedy in New York

    Watkins Glen might have hosted the action on Sunday, but it was Saturday night at the Canandaigua Motorsports Park a hundred miles away that drew our attention.

    Amateur video shows Kevin Ward Jr racing his Sprint car against Tony Stewart, winding up brushed against the wall and out of action. The 20-year old unbuckled himself, came out of his car, walking toward the cars running under caution. He appeared upset at being taken out of the race, apparently pointing toward Stewart.

    We see the car in front of Stewart go past, as Ward appears to take a slight step to his left, away from the car as the video briefly follows it before panning back to pick up Stewart. It happens so fast, so I pause the video showing the young man halfway down the track as Stewart’s car appears in the frame. It appears to be passing him, then Ward is gone. In less than two seconds, his body is flung upward, dragged, then tossed for yards before coming to rest down the track. The crowd reacts as emergency personnel race to his still form.

    There are some who claim, in watching the same video, that it shows a deliberate action. It does not. Due to the angle, we do not know the precise distance Ward was standing from Stewart’s, or even the previous car, as it passed. We do know that it was close. There are those who claim Stewart gunned his car as he passed, causing it to fish-tail toward the young man.

    In going over the video numerous times I cannot tell for certain if the end of Tony’s car initially flipped ever so slightly to the right or not. If it did, it could not have been by more than a couple of inches, if that. I do know it definitely moves left. In his anger, Ward may have approached too close, within mere inches to the side of Stewart’s moving car, to his rear tires. So close that any slight movement, or no movement at all, was going to catch him. Even under caution the cars were still moving at a fair clip. The engine of Stewart’s car does sound like it revs up, either through a brief acceleration or the car broke traction on the dirt track instantaneously with making contact; contact that appears to have been made with Stewart’s rear right tire.

    On Sunday, Stewart did not race. Regan Smith drove for him, as the winless Stewart drops nearly a hundred points out of a Chase place. It was a day of celebration for first time Cup winner A.J. Allmendinger, who shared his condolences for what had taken place the day before even as he secured a Chase berth of his own.

    It was a race that featured a great battle in the end between Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose. It featured a terrible crash that saw both Ryan Newman and Michael McDowell walk away from pieces of scrap metal. It saw a bid by Jeff Gordon end when he lost power, Denny Hamlin lost his along with his brake fluid even before finding some barrels to destroy later on, and Kyle Busch left with a gas can and shortly after left with a blown tire.

    With four to go, a dozen Chase spots have been claimed by race winners with only four left on points unless another first time victor emerges at Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta, or Richmond. Tony Stewart may be there to contend, but today his thoughts no doubt are understandably with a young man and a track a hundred miles from Watkins Glen.

    SWEET SIXTEEN
    1 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 3 Wins – 773 Points
    2 – Brad Keselowski – 3 – 696
    3 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 650
    4 – Jeff Gordon – 2 – 768
    5 – Joey Logano – 2 – 671
    6 – Carl Edwards – 2 – 658
    7 – Kevin Harvick – 2 – 645
    8 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 615
    9 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 552
    10 – Kurt Busch – 1 – 539
    11 – Aric Almirola – 1 – 532
    12 – A.J. Allmendinger – 1 – 525
    13 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 703
    14 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 645
    15 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 635
    16 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 634

    CONTENDERS & PRETENDERS
    17 – Greg Biffle – 0 Wins – 626 Points
    18 – Kasey Kahne – 0 – 622
    19 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 616
    20 – Marcos Ambrose – 0 – 584
    21 – Paul Menard – 0 – 574
    22 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 573
    23 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 566
    24 – Tony Stewart – 0 – 537
    25 – Casey Mears – 0 – 516
    26 – Martin Truex, Jr. – 0 – 508
    27 – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 0 – 447
    28 – Danica Patrick – 0 – 419
    29 – Justin Allgaier – 0 – 398
    30 – Michael Annett – 0 – 360
    31 – David Gilliland – 0 – 334
    32 – David Ragan – 0 – 312