Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: Ryan Newman

  • Mike Stefanik Wins by Narrowest of Margins in NASCAR Whelen Modified Race

    [media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]While it was almost too close to call, veteran NASCAR Whelen Modified racer Mike Stefanik took the checkered flag in the Town Fair Tire 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    Stefanik, in the No. 66 Canto & Sons Paving/Robert B. Our Co. Ford, scored his 72nd career win over competitor Ron Silk by just 0.003 seconds. He is the sole leader with Modified victories at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with eight, including two of the last three.

    “Believe it or not, I came out of Turn 4 and I thought this was going to be tight,” Stefanik said. “I actually physically sat up in the seat as much as I could and peered over the front of the car and rolled my eyes to see which bumper was ahead.”

    “I just wanted to win after such a hard fought battle,” Stefanik continued. “You hate to give them away because they don’t come often enough.”

    For Stefanik, this was indeed the closest finish of his long and storied career. And he made clear that he never tires of that winning feeling.

    “I’ve lost them, but not by that little bit,” Stefanik said. “Literally, I was looking across the cars to see which one was ahead. I’ve never done before that in my 36 years of racing.”

    “This feeling I have today never gets old,” Stefanik said. “I’m 54 years old and I still feel like I’m 21.”

    Stefanik has also been very good at the ‘Magic Mile’, a track that he has raced since the days of the Busch North Series. And his magic recipe for winning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is fairly simple.

    “Put yourself in real good equipment, surround yourself with smart people, that’s A-1 because you can’t do it with a slug,” Stefanik said. “I like to overdrive the entry in this type of format and have a ballet-type perfect balance.”

    “It’s just a style of racing that I picked up on in the 90s and I don’t care if you win practice or where you start, just give me that nice set the tires down in the corner and some steam under the hood and we’ll be all set.”

    Stefanik’s prime competitor was Ron Silk, who finished that very close second in his No. 6 Reynolds Auto Wrecking/Schnitzer race car.

    “It was a lot of fun,” Silk said. “Whenever you get in the lead draft at New Hampshire, crazy stuff is happening the whole time.”

    “I don’t know what it looked like but it was a lot of fun in the car,” Silk continued. “Mike did an awesome job.”

    “I ran him up and he was able to hang onto it and beat me back to the line,” Silk said. “Congratulations to him.”

    This was also the closest finish that Silk has seen in his racing career. In fact, he was not sure even at the end of the race who won.

    “If it was 0.003 of a second, I’d say it was the closest finish I’ve been involved in,” Silk said. “But it sucks being on the wrong end of it I can tell you that.”

    The driver of the No. 52 Reynolds Auto Wrecking/Furnace & Duct race car, Doug Coby finished third. And he had to overcome quite a bit of adversity to achieve his best career finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    “My race was a little different than Ron’s because I pitted four times before the break, “ Coby said. “We were just struggling on that Nationwide rubber and Cup rubber really bad.”

    “We made the right adjustments at the break,” Coby continued. “We tried to make some smart moves at the end and ended up third.”

    “It feels awesome.”

    Eric Beers, piloting the No. 45 Horwith Freightliner/John Blewett, inc., and Todd Szegedy, driving the No. 2 Dunleavy Repair/A&J Romano Construction Ford, rounded out the top five finishers in the Modified Tour.

    Cup driver Ryan Newman, behind the wheel of the No. 7 Menards/Aggressive Hydraulics, finished 30th after a tire problem ended his promising run.

  • Coke Zero 400 Review: Daytona Knows Drama

    Coke Zero 400 Review: Daytona Knows Drama

    NASCAR announced 90 minutes before the start of the Coke Zero 400 on Saturday that driver AJ Allmendinger would be temporarily suspended from competition after failing a drug test taken at Kentucky Speedway last weekend. The Penske Racing organization scrambled to find a replacement driver; the team flew in Penske’s Nationwide driver Sam Hornish Jr. from Charlotte, NC to Florida to fill the ride. Hornish arrived with police escort in Daytona just in time for pre-race ceremonies to begin.

    “You know it’s a disappointment at this particular time, but we’re going to wait and see what the second test results are before we make any comment or decisions. I don’t think it’s fair to him,” team owner Roger Penske said Sunday before the IndyCar race in Toronto. Penske was vacationing in Europe and was traveling to Toronto when the news was released.

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”311″][/media-credit]The fate of Allmendinger rests with the results from his “B” drug test sample. He has 72 hours from the time he was notified of testing positive on Saturday to request his “B” sample be tested. If the sample comes back positive, Allmendinger will be subject to being suspended from NASCAR indefinitely.

    Allmendinger’s will remain suspended for the upcoming Cup race at New Hampshire and Hornish will continue to pilot the No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge until the results of the “B” sample are released.

    Penske Racing hired the former Red Bull driver in late December after the team parted ways with Kurt Busch at the end of the 2011 season. Allmendinger was 23rd in the Sprint Cup Series standings heading into Daytona, where he won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona sports car race in January.

    Allmendinger is the most well-known driver suspended from NASCAR for a failed drug test since Jeremy Mayfield in 2009. Mayfield has fought NASCAR over the test for many years and has not raced a NASCAR event since. If Allmendinger’s “B” test does come back positive, he may have the opportunity to go through NASCAR’s drug rehabilitation program and return to competition in the future.

     

    Roush Duo Comes Up Short

    Matt Kenseth won the pole for the Coke Zero 400 and with the help of Roush Fenway Racing teammate, Greg Biffle, led the first 41 laps of the race. The No. 17 was trying to accomplish something that no driver has done since 1982 – win both Sprint Cup races at Daytona in the same year.

    The duo was a force to be reckoned with all throughout the race, despite Biffle being penalized and sent to the rear of the field for making a pit stop while pit road was closed under caution. The RFR teammates were able to reconnect and rebound to take over the lead once again.

    With half a lap remaining in the Coke Zero 400, Kenseth remained in the lead with Biffle following closely. The No. 17 Ford was passed by Tony Stewart after Kenseth slowed down to reconnect with his teammate on the back straightaway. The No. 16 was involved in a multi-car wreck that unfolded coming to the checkered flag, resulting in a disappointing 21st place finish for Biffle. Kenseth finished in third position, with Jeff Burton passing him for second on the final lap.

    “I guess you need to be happy when you finish that good, but also when you have restrictor plate cars that fast, that doesn’t happen very often and sure want to figure out how to win with so the last two I feel like you always second-guess your moves, but I feel like we had one of the fastest cars all three races this year really”, Kenseth said in the media center after the race.

    “Happy to get third but on the other hand, I am incredibly disappointed. My team kind of deserved to be down there holding the hardware and I kind of let them down. But overall, we had a really fast car, we had a pretty good race, made our way back to the front after the pit road thing and were in contention, just didn’t get it done that last lap.”

    Kenseth remains the point’s leader with 25 points over Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished 15th after being involved in the crash on the final lap. Biffle was able to gain one position in standings, moving him to third position.

     

    Point’s Battle Heats Up

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images” align=”alignleft” width=”285″][/media-credit]Tony Stewart scored his 18th overall victory at DIS, second-most all-time to Dale Earnhardt. This is the No. 14 team’s third win of the season and has propelled him in Cup standings. The Stewart Haas driver and team owner gained four position’s in points with his win Saturday night and is now in 5th position, 84 points out of the lead. The three-time series champion looks to be on another championship run heading into New Hampshire, a track where he has three previous wins.

    Clint Bowyer has fallen three positions to 10th place in standings after a 29th place finish in the Coke Zero 400. After riding in the back of the pack for most of the night, Bowyer looked to be heading to the front in the final laps of the race. His potentially good night came to a halt with eight laps to go after being involved in a multi-car accident, ending his night. The No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota is now 104 points behind the leader, just three points behind 9th place of Brad Keselowski.

    The Michael Waltrip racing team has high hopes heading to Loudon, where Bowyer has won twice; including his first Cup series victory in 2007, where he started on the pole and led 222 of 300 laps.

    The Wild Card battle – the two positions in the Chase given to the two drivers with the most victories ranked 11th to 20th in points – is heating up between some of the sport’s most popular contenders. The battle is as close as it’s ever been after top-five runs by Joey Logano and Ryan Newman at Daytona. A seventh-place finish for Kasey Kahne has increased the intensity of the wild-card hunt; with only eight races remaining until the Chase, anything can happen!

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Coke Zero 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Coke Zero 400

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”214″][/media-credit]From drivers on ‘baby watch’ to the suspension of A.J. Allmendinger for failing his random substance abuse test, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona.

    Surprising:  One of the most sought after drivers for this race weekend was surprisingly Kenny Wallace. This Nationwide driver and Speed on-air personality actually had two offers to drive, first as back up for Kevin Harvick, whose wife DeLana held off on delivering ‘Baby Otis’ (now Keelan Paul Harvick) until after the race and then for Sam Hornish, Jr., just in case he did not make it to the race track to sub for suspended driver Allmendinger.

    “Well, that was drama,” Wallace said. “It was a feather in my cap for these car owners to think of my superspeedway driving.”

    “It was a little uncomfortable for everybody,” Wallace continued. “What happened with all the sponsors and all the automakers, this was all people helping people at this point.”

    Not Surprising:  In the midst of a heat wave and in spite of starting at the back of the field due to post-qualifying tech issues, the proverbial Smoke rose to the top, of the leader board in this case.

    Tony Stewart, in the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet, sliced and diced his way to the checkered flag to score his 47th victory in the Cup Series, now 14th on the all-time win list.

    This was Smoke’s third victory of the season, putting him in a tie with Brad Keselowski for Cup Series wins this year. This was also Stewart’s 18th win at Daytona International Speedway, second most all-time to Dale Earnhardt.

    “The great thing about restrictor-plate racing is that 43 cars all have the same shot at winning the race,” Stewart said. “But that’s also part of what makes it frustration too.”

    “It’s just being at the right place at the right time,” Smoke continued. “And when those last two big wrecks happened, we were in the right spot.”

    Surprising:  In spite of wrecking both on the track and on pit road, this driver salvaged a surprisingly good finish. Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Pepsi Max Chevrolet, survived the melee of the race and the final laps to bring his bruised vehicle to the checkered flag in 12th place.

    “There were moments tonight when I felt like we had a car that could win,” Gordon said. “And then that wreck happened when we were trying to come to pit road that just changed our night.”

    “I even got in the wreck on that last lap and still finished 12th,” Gordon said. “We don’t have much of a race car, but we got a 12th place finish.”

    Not Surprising:  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. continued to keep his streak of consecutive laps finished alive, in spite of being caught up in the final wreck of the race like so many others.

    Although poised for a top-five, the driver of the No. 88 National Guard ‘An American Salute’/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet crossed the finish line in 15th.

    “My mama told me she hoped the Cup race wasn’t as wild as the Nationwide race, but they always are, you know?” Junior said. “All these races are always like that and you just try to survive.”

    “We just came up a little short.”

    Surprising:  After a tough season to date, Jeff Burton, in the No. 31 Wheaties Chevrolet, had a surprisingly good second place finish. This was his 11th top-10 finish in 38 races at Daytona and his best finish of the season to date.

    “Well it certainly feels good to have a good finish,” Burton said. “We’ve had a miserable year.”

    “To get out of Daytona with a second tonight is probably more than I can expect with all the wrecks and stuff,” Burton continued. “Hopefully we can build on this.”

    Not Surprising:   From starting from the pole to having a car at the front of the field for much of the race, it was not surprising that Matt Kenseth scored a strong third place finish. Yet it was also not surprising to see just how bereft the driver of the No. 17 Zest Ford was when the race was done.

    “I’m really disappointed,” Kenseth said. “We thought we had one of the best cars.”

    “I was hoping it was going to be me or the 16 in Victory Lane,” Kenseth continued. “I feel like my team kind of deserved to be down there holding the hardware.”

    “We were in contention but we just didn’t get it done that last lap.”

    Surprising:  After a pit road mishap that turned this driver backwards and almost into Brad Keselowski’s pit stall and crew, Ryan Newman made a surprising recovery. The driver of the No. 39 Aspen Dental Chevrolet managed to finish top-five.

    “After what happened on pit road, I really didn’t know what to expect,” Newman said. “But the guys did a great job with the repairs.”

    “I’m just happy to bring a car home in one piece from one of these races.”

    Not Surprising:  Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, continued to dig for a potential Chase spot, finishing fourth. Logano moved up two spots to 14th in the point standings after the Daytona race.

    “It didn’t go as planned, but ended up pretty good,” Logano said. “So, we’ll take that for sure – a fourth place finish.”

    “That’s how we’ve got to keep fighting.”

    Surprising:  Two drivers known primarily for past glories did surprising well at Daytona. Michael Waltrip, driving the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, and Bobby Labonte, behind the wheel of the No. 47 Kingsford Charcoal Toyota, finished ninth and tenth respectively.

    “At the end of the race, I was confident I could push,” Waltrip said. “We just had a damaged car and probably pretty lucky we got a top-10.”

    “We got close, but that was all we could do is get close.”

    “We were a tortoise out there tonight,” Labonte said. “We just ended up missing those wrecks and that’s all that saved us tonight.”

    Not Surprising:  There were plenty of hard hits out there to no one’s surprise and one particularly hard hit befell five-time champ Jimmie Johnson. The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet was involved in one of the ‘big ones’ on lap 123.

    “We were all getting ready to pit so I was waving my hand out the window,” Johnson said. “And as soon as I let off the gas, someone got into the back of me.”

    “I went down on the inside wall,” Johnson continued. “As I was spinning, I could see a lot of other cars were collected too.”

    Surprising:  Father of Chase Elliott, who has been tearing up the NASCAR ladder, made some headlines himself in the No. 50 Walmart Chevrolet. ‘Awesome Bill from Dawsonville’ was having a heck of a good race until crashing with many others on lap 123.

    “We were just a victim of circumstances,” Elliott said. “But man I was proud of all those guys on Turner Motorsports and Walmart.”

    “That’s the best I’ve run in a long time.”

    Not Surprising:  Frustration, to no one’s surprise, was the feeling of the day at Daytona International Speedway under the lights. Perhaps Carl Edwards, driving the No. 99 Subway Ford Fusion, summed it up best.

    “Frustrating describes this whole type of event,” Edwards said. “It’s very difficult.”

    “You’re just really trying hard not to wreck and ruin your day or other people’s day,” Edwards continued. “It’s a tough race.”

     

  • Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 18 Daytona International Speedway – Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola – July 7, 2012

    Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 18 Daytona International Speedway – Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola – July 7, 2012

    The 2012 Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola marks the traditional halfway point in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, and this season is shaping up to be nothing less than exciting. Thirteen different drivers have visited Victory Lane in the first 17 points races (Tony Stewart, Brad Kesolowski, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin being the repeat winners thus far) making this season a complete craps shoot in picking winners. I’ve had a blast watching the drama each week, and am looking forward to what the second half of this 2012 season will bring. It will be a mad dash to The Chase, and an even bigger fiasco to claim the Champion’s trophy.

    The site for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola needs no introduction. It’s the same 2.5 mile superspeedway we’ve grown so accustomed to, but it’s the racing style which has changed the face of Daytona International Speedway (or Juan Montoya if you remember February’s Daytona 500). Sorry but I had to throw a jet-dryer comment in here. The thing that shocks me still about the whole jet-dryer incident in February is Tide received 2-3 hours of free advertising from the jet fuel cleanup, and still they do not show up as a primary sponsor in the Sprint Cup Series. Come on Tide! Get back into NASCAR!

    That’s my rant for this week, on to Kentucky’s Recap…

    Kentucky Recap

    It was another so so weekend in the Bluegrass State last week, as has been the story of my season here with Matty’s Picks. I guess the only thing to do is keep on trucking towards the top, and eventually I will end up with the 1-2 punch I’ve been searching for all season.

    My Winner Pick was the defending champion of the Quaker State 400, and Kyle Busch looked like he would make it back-to-back wins in Sparta early on. Rowdy wasted no time in showing he was the guy to beat in the No. 18 M&M’s Red, White & Blue Toyota by taking the point position on the opening lap. He was the alpha male for 116 laps in the first half of the race, but minor contact with the wall on lap 130 would cause the No. 18 to slip out of the top 5. The contact was the first of a slew of issues that fell upon the M&M’s camp throughout the remaining 80 laps. During the final third of the Quaker State 400, Kyle Busch would experience a broken rear shock, an empty fuel tank, and a flat tire, but still managed to climb from 18th on the final green flag run to finish 10th.

    A tough night it was for my Dark Horse last week in Kentucky… From the start of the race, Kurt Bush fought a car that was at its worse for the entire weekend. Making the connection from practice to race conditions has been a struggle for the No. 51 Chevrolet all season and this disconnect was violently apparent last week in Kentucky. Busch’s car was so bad in the early stages of the Quaker State 400, he slipped from his 14th-place starting spot to 22nd in just the first 15 laps. The crew continued to throw adjustments to the Phoenix Racing Chevy all night, until the straw that broke the camel’s back fell on lap 206 when Ryan Newman lost an engine and covered the racing surface in oil. Busch fell victim to the oil and slapped the outside wall, successfully ending my hopes of a 1-2 punch by the Busch Brothers. Kurt Busch managed to limp his damaged chariot home in 19th.

    Daytona Picks

    As I glance over practice speeds for the 54th Annual Coke Zero 400, I see one thing… I HAVE NO IDEA WHO TO PICK THIS WEEK! The cars look to be so evenly matched this week, it’s tough to pinpoint two guys who appear to be on the road to victory.

    Winner Pick

    It’s Jamie McMurray that I am rolling the dice with this week. He’s got some history behind him this week in the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/NRA Museum Chevrolet, and some solid practice speeds to boot. In the first of two practice sessions at Daytona yesterday, McMurray had the best 10 Consecutive Lap Average at a speed of 196.909mph. He’s also claimed victory 4-times in his career at Daytona or Talladega, but has had a rather ‘lumpy’ start to his 2012 campaign.

    McMurray hasn’t finished better than 7th this year, and you’ve got to look all the way back to March’s Food City 500 to pick up that stat. McMurray sits just inside the top 20 in points and desperately needs a win to have an shot at one of the two ‘Wild Card’ bids for the 2012 Chase for the Sprint Cup. Being fastest in final practice will certainly turn some heads around the garage area this weekend.

    Dark Horse Pick

    There aren’t too many dark horses when it comes to racing on Superspeedways because quite honestly, anything can happen. I like the way Chevy’s engines have performed thus far this year, and with temperatures expected to hover around 90 degrees around race time Saturday night, performing well under the heat is pivotal to claiming victory. Having help from teammates is also an important part of taking the checkered at Daytona.

    A guy that has both of these this weekend in Florida is Paul Menard. Looking at his last 3 races at Daytona, he’s finished 6th, 9th, and 8th respectively. Last year’s racing at Daytona and Talladega gave fans the two-car tango, and Menard rode the coat tails of teammate Kevin Harvick to his solid top-10 finishes. This February’s Daytona 500 was a hybrid of the two-car tango and pack racing, and Menard managed to work his way from 37th to finish in the top-10 following ‘the fire heard round the world’. Keep an eye on Menard on Saturday night as he might just have a shot at taking home is second career victory.

    That’s all for this week, so until we hit New England… You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Quaker State 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Quaker State 400

    [media-credit name=”Adam Lovelace” align=”alignright” width=”200″][/media-credit]Racing, rather than traffic, ruled the day at the second annual running of the Quaker State 400. Here is what was surprising and not so surprising from Kentucky Speedway.

    Surprising:  It was surprising the odds that Brad Keselowski played to get to Victory Lane. He finished No. 1 in the Quaker State 400 in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge to score his No.3 win for the 2012 season.

    Keselowski, in a back-up car after a practice accident with Juan Pablo Montoya, scored his first ever win at Kentucky.

    “Who’d have figured my best finish would have came in the hardest race but that just shows the importance of teamwork,” Keselowski said. “The group of guys that I have on this Miller Lite Dodge, they’re just bad asses.”

    “They put together a back-up car from last year in the hundred degree heat in an hour’s time,” Keselowski continued. “And that’s what got us to Victory lane today and I’m proud of these guys for it, damn proud of ‘em.”

    “I think that sums it up.”

    Not Surprising:  Penske Racing’s other car, with A.J. Allmendinger behind the wheel, also beat the odds at Kentucky. The ‘Dinger brought the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge home in the ninth position, in spite of running out of gas on the last lap.

    “I was happy with the way most of the day went, especially around here because I haven’t been good around here,” Allmendinger said. “A lot of the credit goes to Brad helping me out. He’s obviously really good.”

    “But for a track that I’m not very good at, that I really struggle at and tough conditions, running inside the top 10 for pretty much all of the day and getting a ninth out of it, which I’d like to have been a little bit better, but it’s something to build on.”

    Surprising:  Stewart Haas Racing had a surprisingly bad day in the Blue Grass State. Tony Stewart, in the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, had ignition problems early in the race which led to his 32nd place finish.

    With that dismal finish, Smoke became NASCAR’s biggest loser, dropping four positions to ninth position in the point standings.

    Teammate Ryan Newman, behind the wheel of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet, finished 34th after blowing his engine and careening into the wall. Although Newman was not physically hurt, his psyche took a hit with his second DNF of the season.

    Not Surprising:  On the flip side, Hendrick Motorsports had a fabulous day at Kentucky Speedway, with Kasey Kahne finishing second, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. fourth, Jeff Gordon fifth, and Jimmie Johnson sixth.

    This was Kahne’s first top-10 finish in two races at Kentucky and his eighth top-10 finish of the season.

    “Well, we had a really good Quaker State Chevrolet,” Kahne said. “We had to pass a ton of cars and came up a little short.”

    “But the team was awesome.”

    Kahne’s HMS teammate and four time champ Jeff Gordon echoed his sentiments.

    “It was a pretty flawless night for our Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet,” Jeff Gordon said. “I was pretty excited that we came home with a fifth place finish, battling up front like we did.”

    Surprising:  After three straight engine issues in a row and a smack against the wall at Kentucky, Kyle Busch, who was dominant early in the race, finished with a surprising top-10.

    “It was definitely not any fun – not as much fun as we were having early on,” Busch said. “We just had to persevere and try to get through it the best we could.”

    “So, tough night again for these M&M’s guys,” Busch continued. “We salvaged a heck of a finish for what all we had to go through.”

    Not Surprising:   Every race, even in the heart of horse country, has its share of drivers unhappy with one another. And this race was no exception, with drivers Joey Logano and Ryan Newman getting into it.

    “I’m not really sure what’s going on with the boy in that No. 20 car,” Newman said. “He’s got a few things to learn and I’m going to have to be the one who teaches him.”

    Surprising:  Matt Kenseth’s announcement that he would leave Roush Fenway Racing at the end of the season for pastures unknown had surprisingly no effect on him on the track. Kenseth, in his No. 17 Fifth Third Ford Fusion finished 7th and maintained his points lead in the Chase standings.

    “It was a huge struggle for us tonight,” Kenseth said. “I am happy to finish seventh for as big of a struggle as it was.”

    Not Surprising:  Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, announced via Twitter prior to the race that he would be staying on with Joe Gibbs Racing and, to no one’s surprise, finished third in the Quaker State 400.

    This was Hamlin’s first top-10 finish in two races at Kentucky Speedway.

    “Our car was really strong,” Hamlin said. “I’m proud of this FedEx team. We needed a finish and that was my first priority on that last run.”

    “Anybody that follows me on Twitter – I like to give them the information first,” Hamlin continued. “A proud moment for us and Joe Gibbs Racing to sign an extension and know where we’re going to be for the foreseeable future.”

    “Hopefully we’ll win a championship together.”

    Surprising:  Forget the consistent points racing, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has a surprising new attitude – he just wants to win. Junior, behind the wheel of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevrolet, finished fourth, however, still had his Michigan win of two weeks ago on his mind.

    “It was really fun,” Junior said of his top-5 at Kentucky. “But we’re just ready to win.”

    “I really had fun winning the other week,” Junior continued. “I’m ready to get back to Victory Lane. I ain’t going to be as patient this time.”

    Not Surprising:  Martin Truex Jr., in the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, continued to fly the flag for Michael Waltrip Racing, finishing eighth.

    “We weren’t very good all night,” Truex Jr. said. “We had a good finish – – I guess.”

    “We were just really tight all night and we couldn’t do anything to fix it.”

    Surprising:  Carl Edwards and company made a rare mistake on pit road, having to come for a splash of gas to finish the race. The No. 99 UPS Ford Fusion took the checkered flag in the 20th position at race end.

    “We had a pretty good car at the end,” Edwards said. “Bob (Osborne) called me onto pit road.”

    “He knew we should have pitted that last time but I was already so far around that cone that I just didn’t feel right cutting across traffic and slamming the splitter down to make it to pit road.”

    “We were put in a box,” Edwards continued. “I am real frustrated. We need to get this in gear.”

    Not Surprising:  After a 21st place finish, it is not surprising to lose positions in the point standings. And Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 American Red Cross Ford Fusion, did just that, falling to the fourth spot in the Chase.

    “We qualified a little better this year than we did last year but the end result was the same,” Biff said. “We were off a little bit and just couldn’t get a handle on it.”

    The Cup Series next travels to Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400 for another Saturday night of racing under the lights

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Pocono 400 Presented by #NASCAR

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Pocono 400 Presented by #NASCAR

    [media-credit id=26 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]With a shortened race, a repaved track, a snazzy new Twitter partnership, and Doc Mattioli looking down from heaven, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR.

    Surprising:  As the checkered flag flew at Pocono Raceway, it was surprising the history that was made by race winner and driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet. Joey Logano became the youngest Pocono winner ever at 22 years and 17 days, breaking the record set by Jeff Gordon, who won at 24 years of age.

    Logano also was the first pole winner in 31 races to go on to Victory Lane. The young driver led 49 laps, a career high, and will now race in the 2013 All-Star race.

    “Yeah, the moment is pretty surreal,” Logano said. “Not just crossing the line, obviously that’s an amazing moment, and I didn’t stop screaming until I got to about – well, victory lane, I guess.”

    “You work so hard to do this,” Logano continued. “To get a victory, it meant so much.”

    “Pulling the Home Depot car into victory lane at a Sprint Cup race and winning it the right way was just an amazing, amazing feeling that you can’t replicate and you can’t explain what it means.”

    Not Surprising:  It was not surprising that the second place finisher was gracious as always, even in defeat. Veteran driver Mark Martin, behind the wheel of the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, came out on the wrong end of a bump and run to the young driver that he has been touting for many years.

    “I’m just so thankful to have the opportunity that Michael Waltrip, first of all, and Aaron’s and Toyota have given me to drive competitive race cars,” Martin said. “It is so incredible to be in something that is strong enough that I can contend.”

    Surprising:  It was surprising how focused and disciplined Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and crew chief Steve Letarte were at Pocono, pitting to take fuel and still finishing with a top-10.

    “Well, we just didn’t want to run out of gas,” Dale Junior said. “I didn’t know the caution flags were going to be so long. And they were long enough to help them guys make it on fuel.”

    “We’re not taking those kinds of chances – just yet.”

    Not Surprising:  On a newly-paved race track, it was not surprising that passing was challenging and restarts were even more insane. Both drivers of the Stewart Haas team could most certainly attest to that.

    “The restarts were insane,” Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Modbil1/Office Depot Chevrolet and third place finisher, said. “But you had to take full advantage of them.”

    “That was the biggest opportunity to make gains and definitely big gains,” Smoke continued. “You could get three or four at a time if somebody got bottled up a little bit.”

    “You had to be on your toes for the restarts for sure.”

    Teammate Ryan Newman, behind the wheel of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet, also had a tough time on restarts. With just 40 to go, Newman fell from sixth to 11th place due to a crazy restart, finishing the race in 12th.

    “I told the guys that I just got too aggressive on that restart,” Newman said. “It ended up costing us some spots there.”

    “At the end of the race, we just didn’t have the track position that we needed and we didn’t get the top-10 finish that we felt we deserved.”

    Surprising:  Team Dodge had a surprisingly tough day at the race track. Brad Keselowski wheeled his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge to an 18th place finish, while AJ Allmendinger took one of the most brutal hits of his racing career in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge.

    “My team did a great job through all the adversity today,” Keselowski said. “We got caught twice on the timing lines and then we had some problems with the ignition.”

    “And at the very end, we lost brakes,” Keselowski continued. “It was just one fight after another.”

    “I’m not sure what happened,” Allmendinger said of his crash.”That was pretty hard, that might be one of the hardest hits I’ve had.”

    Not Surprising:   With over 22 speeding penalties meted out by NASCAR during the race, it will not be surprising to see crew chiefs galore on pit road at Michigan for the upcoming race weekend. One of the multiple speeding offenders was none other than five-time champ Jimmie Johnson.

    “Things were just repaved, everything has been redone and we need to physically walk down and mark it off ourselves to understand what happened there,” Johnson said. “We got nailed with a lot of other guys.”

    Surprising:  After a fitful start to the season, Jamie McMurray had a surprisingly good finish at Long Pond. The driver of the No. 1 Banana Boat Chevrolet finally pulled off a top-10 finish.

    “We had a really good Banana Boat Chevy today,” McMurray said. “I am proud of the effort from everyone one this team and feel good about the way we performed.”

    “It’s nice to walk out of here with a top-10 finish.”

    Not Surprising:  The monkey remained on the back of the driver of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet. In spite of running as well as top-five, Jeff Gordon and his team made the decision to pit for fuel with just 23 laps to go.

    That decision bit Gordon yet again, relegating him to a 19th place finish. The four-time champ has just 4 top-10 finishes in the last 17 races.

    And with the finish at Pocono, Gordon fell to 22nd in the point standings, with only wild card wins as his hope to get into the 2012 Chase.

    Surprising:  Kyle Busch and team No. 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing surprisingly suffered the second engine failure in a row at Pocono, finishing 30th.

    “It’s very frustrating,” Busch said. “We got knocked back on the first lap in traffic by a stupid move and we’re fighting our way back through and then we have another engine issue.”

    “We’re putting ourselves in a hell of a hole and it’s not going to be easy to come out of it.”

    Not Surprising:  With Greg Biffle’s valve train failure and 24th place finish, it was not surprising that a new points leader emerged after the checkered flag was waved at Pocono.

    Teammate Matt Kenseth, with his solid seventh place finish, took over the lead, ten points ahead of Dale Earnhardt. Jr., with Biffle falling to 16 points behind to third in the standings.

    “It’s unfortunate we fell back that far, but the points are so tight we knew that if we had an issue we were going to drop a lot,” Biffle said. “You’re vulnerable when you’re only one point or ten points ahead, but that’s racing.”

    “It’s better than being second,” Kenseth said of his points lead, “But I’m just kind of disappointed right now because I thought we had a shot to win.”

    “I couldn’t go on restarts,” Kenseth said. “We’ll keep working on it, but I’m happy we got a decent finish and took over the point lead.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”230″][/media-credit]In the NASCAR season’s longest race of the year, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 53rd running of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Surprising:  Although billed as the sport’s longest race, usually known for the endurance factor moving from day to night, this year’s Coke 600 was the quickest one ever.

    The race took a total of 3 hours, 51 minutes and 14 seconds.

    Prior to 53rd running of the Coca Cola 600, the longest race was in 1995 at 3 hours, 56 minutes and 55 seconds.

    Not Surprising:  After finally scoring his 200th win for the company that bears his name, Rick Hendrick’s prediction of more wins to follow came true. Kasey Kahne, in the No. 5 Quaker State Chevrolet, secured his first win as a Hendrick Motorsport’s driver, which came on his 300th career start.

    The win was also Kahne’s first win of the season. The 32 year old driver has now won in a Dodge, Ford, Toyota and now a Chevrolet.

    “It’s been an exciting three weeks for Hendrick Motorsports,” Kahne said. “It’s exciting to be a part of that.”

    “It’s so special and awesome to drive for Rick and Linda Hendrick,” Kahne continued. “For them to make me a part of their company; this is unbelievable to drive for Hendrick Motorsports and be a part of everything they do.”

    Surprising:  After winning last weekend’s Sprint All-Star Race, it was surprising to see Jimmie Johnson have a rare pit road miscue, especially since he was running the top-5 at that time. Johnson received a stop-and-go penalty for leaving his pits with both the gas man and the gas can on Lap 354.

    “We had a couple little mistakes on pit road tonight,” Johnson said. “It happens.”

    “Last week things couldn’t have gone any better and then this week we had a few little issues.”

    Not Surprising:  As he has been all season, it was not surprising that Greg Biffle, in his No. 16 Fastenal Ford, was a contender all race long. In fact, Biff received the 3M Lap Leader award, leading 204 laps.

    Biffle maintains the points lead, ten points ahead of Matt Kenseth.

    “The car was really, really good,” Biffle said. “But there at the end when the speeds picked up, we would kind of slide across the track.”

    “We gained a little in points, but we really wanted to win.”

    Surprising:  After a most abysmal start to the season, it was surprising to see Jeff Gordon finally get a top ten finish under his belt. Gordon, behind the wheel of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, ran strong, finishing seventh.

    “We had an awesome race car and we showed it right from the drop of the green,” Gordon said. “We drove up through there.”

    “This is a great effort for this team,” Gordon continued. “I’m so proud of them.”

    Not Surprising: HMS teammate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. continued his consistent streak, scoring his seventh top-10 in eight races.

    “It just says we are consistent and we want to win a race,” Junior said. “That’s all I can tell you.”

    “It feels good to be competitive,” Junior continued. “I don’t want to take our consistency for granted but we would like to improve just a little bit more and we’ll get some wins.”

    Surprising:  It was surprising how badly the Petty Motorsports drivers finished, especially after securing the pole and outside pole respectively.

    Aric Almirola, who started on the pole with his famed No. 43 US Air Force Ford Fusion, finished 16th. Outside pole sitter Marcos Ambrose finished 32nd in his No. 9 Dewalt Ford.

    “When you start on the front row or the pole, you know you’ve got a fast car,” Almirola said. “So, this is tough.”

    “But I can’t reiterate enough that we’re making improvement,” Almirola continued. “We see light at the end of the tunnel and that’s what it’s all about.”

    “I’m proud of everybody at Richard Petty Motorsports.”

    Not Surprising:  Despite the naysayers, Danica Patrick achieved her goal of completing every lap of the race. The driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet finished 30th, five laps down.

    “We had a lot of green-flag running and for me as a driver in general in NASCAR but especially as a new driver in the Cup Series, that hurts me,” Patrick said. “I’m just not great at making the best out of a car that’s not perfect and those runs really show that.”

    “We brought the GoDaddy car home and one of the goals was to finish,” Patrick continued. “I would have liked to have been a little faster overall but I think there were some times in there when it was decent.”

    Surprising:  It was a bit surprising to see Ryan Newman outshine his boss at a track where Tony Stewart is traditionally strong. Newman, driving the No. 39 US Army Chevrolet, finished  14th and his boss and team owner in his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet finished 25th .

    Smoke was moving forward after adjusting on his car throughout the race only to have a tussle with Brad Keselowski on pit road. Stewart spun as a result of that contact and had to turn around to reach his pits, putting him two laps down.

    Teammate Danica Patrick acknowledged that her mentor had a tough evening.

    “Tony is a fantastic driver and if he had a tough day, that’s just the way the season goes,” Patrick said. “So this is NASCAR and sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t.”

    Not Surprising:  While he may not have totally lived up to his ‘Closer’ moniker, Kevin Harvick brought his No. 29 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet home in eighth place.

    “We had a solid night,” Harvick said. “We snuck up there in the top-five and got our bonus point for leading a lap.”

    “The pit crew was awesome and we were able to adjust our car,” Harvick continued. “This isn’t our strongest race track, but I feel like we had a solid package to build on.”

    Surprising:  Young Landon Cassill, in his No. 83 Burger King Real Fruit Smoothies Toyota, had a great run in the prestigious Coca Cola 600, finishing 18th. It was his team’s best finish of the season to date and the first time that the team started and finished inside the top-20.

    “Last’ week’s performance at Charlotte was a real confidence booster for us,” Cassill said. “I feel like we’re getting stronger each week and it gets me excited as a driver.”

    Not Surprising:  Two of the principals of Joe Gibbs Racing had a good run as they usually do. Denny Hamlin, in the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, finished in the runner up spot and teammate Kyle Busch, in his No. 18 M&Ms Red White and Blue Toyota, finished right behind him in third.

    “It’s also good to finish like that,” Busch said. “We just need to carry on that momentum.”

    “This is a good race for us so we can bring back some good notes for when we come back in October.”

  • 2012 Sprint All-Star Review: The No. 48 Team Dominates All-Star Week

    2012 Sprint All-Star Review: The No. 48 Team Dominates All-Star Week

    Sprint Showdown: Dale Jr Back To Victory Lane

    AJ Allmendinger put his No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge on the pole; however, as the field was coming out of Turn 4 to take the green-flag, Allmendinger was forced to pit for a flat left front tire. This moved Allmendinger to the back of the field, remaining on the lead lap. Allmendinger’s loss was Dale Earnhardt Jr’s gain. Because of Allmendinger’s misfortune, Earnhardt took over the pole position, with Martin Truex Jr. starting in second. Earnhardt looked like a bullet shot out of a gun when he jumped out to a 1.398 second lead over Truex within three laps of the green-flag.

    Earnhardt held onto the lead through the end of the 20-lap segment. While under caution, majority of the teams from third position back went down pit road for adjustments. Earnhardt remained on track to hold onto the lead for the restart and once again jumped ahead of the field by half a straight away. After starting in the back of the field, Jamie McMurray stayed on track during this caution to pick up the second position.

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Allmendinger and Truex battled aggressively for third position for nearly 10 laps, with Allmendinger finally taking the position with 12 laps to go. Allmendinger then caught McMurray with 10 laps to go, battling for the position to advance to the All-Star race. This battle continued in the final ten laps – all the while, Dale Jr. held onto a two second lead.

    With a lap and a half to go, McMurray got loose coming off the backstretch which allowed Allmendinger to get under his bumper and make an aggressive pass on him. Earnhardt went on to win the Sprint Showdown, with Allmendinger getting the second place transfer spot. “I got to give most of the credit of our performance to the team”, Earnhardt said. “They put a great car out on the line today that was fast right out the gate.”

    Earnhardt was assumed by many to win the fan vote. With Earnhardt winning the showdown race, this opened up the fan vote to Bobby Labonte. “Actually, the story is two weeks ago we weren’t even going to show up here because this is not in our budget to run this race”, Labonte said. “Guys stepped up, so we got this far. Hopefully we can just keep going. Again, just thank the fans for doing that. That’s really a great deal.”

     

    Sprint All-Star Race: Johnson Steals All-Star Victory

    Kyle “Rowdy” Busch started on the pole for the race, with Ryan “Rocket Man” Newman on the outside pole. Jimmie Johnson showed he had a fast car right off the bat, taking over the lead on Lap 16. After the first segment ended, pit stops and strategy began to play out. Jimmie Johnson pitted twice under this caution; while seven other drivers, including Earnhardt and Denny Hamlin, did not make a pit stop. Hamlin restarted the race in first position, with a fast Earnhardt restarting in 6th position.

    Caution waved on Lap 26 when Carl Edwards’ engine expired. The race restarted on Lap 31 with Hamlin and Marcos Ambrose, who did not pit, leading the field. Just one lap later, Kenseth wasted no time taking over the second position from Ambrose. On the same lap, Earnhardt began to put pressure on Ambrose for third position. Kenseth took over the lead just before the end of the second segment, with Earnhardt taking over third.

    Seven drivers stayed out under caution, allowing Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, and Kevin Harvick to take over the top three positions. Right at the start-finish line, Kahne tried his best to steal the lead from Keselowski, but was about an inch shy of taking it.

    Beginning the fourth segment, Kurt Busch took over the lead of the race after staying on track under caution. It only took Earnhardt, who restarted in second, two laps to take over the lead. Running on old tires, Busch dropped back to fourth position, as Allmendinger and Kahne took over the second and third positions.

    Caution waved on Lap 68 when the second Roush Fenway Ford of Greg Biffle, lost an engine. With 16 to go on the restart, Earnhardt took over the lead once again and jumped out to a hefty lead.  As the final segment came to a close, the 10-lap shootout began. Johnson led the field off pit road, with Kenseth, Keselowski, and Earnhardt following. In the same week that his No. 48 Lowes team won the pit crew challenge, Johnson took his Lowes Chevrolet to victory lane in the All-Star race for the third time in his career. This win has tied Johnson for most All-Star victories with Dale Earnhardt and his teammate, Jeff Gordon.

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”342″][/media-credit]At the end of the race, instead of driving the flag around the track in victory, Johnson took his car owner for a victory lap. Rick Hendrick was at the end of pit road and told Johnson to come pick him up. Once Hendrick put his leg inside the car, he was in for a ride.  Rather than driving his owner to victory lane, Johnson took his car owner for a little joy ride around the tri-oval.  Rick waved to the fans around the track in a humorous manner. Johnson won a total of $1,071,340 with his All-Star win.

    Race Results : Sprint All-Star Race
    Sprint All-Star Race – May 19, 2012 – Exhibition

    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time Bnd
    1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 0 90 Running
    2 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 0 90 Running
    3 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 0 90 Running
    4 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 0 90 Running
    5 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 0 90 Running
    6 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 0 90 Running
    7 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 0 90 Running
    8 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 0 90 Running
    9 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 0 90 Running
    10 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 0 90 Running
    11 22 AJ Allmendinger Dodge 0 90 Running
    12 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 0 90 Running
    13 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 0 90 Running
    14 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 0 90 Running
    15 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 0 90 Running
    16 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 0 90 Running
    17 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 0 90 Running
    18 34 David Ragan Ford 0 90 Running
    19 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 0 90 Running
    20 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 0 90 Running
    21 55 Mark Martin Toyota 0 90 Running
    22 16 Greg Biffle Ford 0 67 Out of Race
    23 99 Carl Edwards Ford 0 25 Out of Race
  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Darlington Bojangles Southern 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Darlington Bojangles Southern 500

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”224″][/media-credit]With the NASCAR moms getting the race started with the command, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 63rd annual Bojangles’ Southern 500.

    Surprising:  Only one of three women to compete at historic Darlington, Danica Patrick achieved her goal of finishing the race.

    And although the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet finished 31st, she surprisingly finished better than at least one veteran driver, Jeff Gordon, whose bad luck, this time tire trouble and mechanical failure, continued to plague him yet again.

    “I know I didn’t have a great result, but I accomplished all the things I wanted to accomplish,” Patrick said. “My goals were to be respectable out there and I think I held my own all right.”

    “I earned my stripes anyway.”

    Not Surprising:  As he took in the moment of celebrating his 200th win with his driver Jimmie Johnson, it was no surprise that Mr. Hendrick twice paid tribute to those that were lost in the plane crash and who helped build the team to have achieved that milestone.

    “I had to get away,” Hendrick said. “They said that we were going to make it (on fuel), but I don’t believe them, you know?”

    “I’m kind of numb, but I’m glad it’s over,” Hendrick continued. “I think we’re going to win a few more now.”

    In fact, Hendrick whispered that plan to the driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet in Victory Lane as he bear hugged him several times.

    “You’ve got to love that man,” Johnson said of his boss Mr. H. “He said,’ Two hundred is great, but let’s go get 250.’ So, that tells you where his head is.”

    “Oh, man, what a day,” Johnson said simply.

    The 200th victory for Hendrick Motorsports makes them only the second team, next to Petty Enterprises with 268 wins, to accomplish such a milestone.

    Surprising:  It was certainly surprising to see so few cautions at the beginning of the race on a track whose moniker is ‘Too Tough to Tame.’

    In fact, the yellow flag did not fly for the first 172 laps in Bojangles’ Southern 500, allowing the drivers to make three green-flag pit stop cycles in that run.

    Not Surprising:  As is so often the case, it was not surprising that the last caution, late in the race to set up the green-white-checkered finish, set off some sparks.

    The melee started when Kurt Busch, behind the wheel of the underfunded No. 51 Phoenix Construction Services Chevrolet hit the wall, which caused Ryan Newman, in the No. 39 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet, to not only check up but get turned into the wall by Aric Almirola, in his No. 43 Verifone Sail Ford.

    After the race, Newman and Busch had a confrontation, as did some of their crew members. But all was resolved, especially after intervention by the NASCAR officials.

    “It’s crazy,” Tony Gibson, Newman’s crew chief, said. “Things happen and everybody’s emotions run high.”

    “It’s a hot night,” Gibson continued. “Everybody settled down and talked about it. We’re all good.”

    Newman put it more simply, “It all went bad there at the end.”

    Surprising:  The Dodge team had a surprisingly rough night at the historic track, with both drivers encountering their own struggles. Brad Keselowski, in the Blue Deuce, battled back to score a 15th place finish, while A.J. Allmendinger, in the battered No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, finished 33rd.

    “I think we had a top-15 Dodge; I just tore it up early in the run,” Keselowski said. “I got loose and hit the wall pretty good.”

    “We just struggled all night going from one extreme to the other, from so tight to just wicked loose,” Allmendinger said. “We could never find a happy medium.”

    “The car was just a handful all night.”

    Not Surprising:   The Toyota drivers had a surprisingly good evening with the ‘Lady in Black’, especially since the majority of them scored in the top-10 finishing order. Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota, finished second to earn the status of highest-finishing Toyota driver.

    Kyle Busch, in the No. 18 Wrigley’s Doublemint Toyota, finished fourth with Martin Truex, Jr., in the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, in fifth. The driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, Joey Logano, rounded out the top-ten for the manufacturer.

    “It was a good day for our Sport Clips Toyota,” Hamlin said. “We just didn’t have quite the winning car today.”

    “We wanted to win the Southern 500, but second isn’t too bad.”

    Surprising:  Tony Stewart, reigning Champion, surprisingly still has not tamed that Darlington track, which is one of two where Smoke has not won. The driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet came close, however, scoring a hard-fought third place finish, his best ever at the storied 1.366 mile oval.

    As with several drivers, Stewart battled fuel mileage at the end. But he had the added complexity of a clutch problem as well, making re-starts a challenge.

    “I broke the clutch with about 85 (laps) to go there,” Stewart said. “And the fuel pressure light was blinking when we got the one-to-go signal.”

    “We just got better as the night went on,” Smoke continued. “We weren’t good enough to win the race but I’m still pretty happy to come out of here with a third tonight.”

    Not Surprising:  The Fords ran steady and consistent at Darlington, to no one’s surprise especially with the Ford of Greg Biffle scoring the pole for the evening. Matt Kenseth’s No. 17 Zestfully Clean Ford, finished sixth, with Carl Edwards, in the No. 99 EcoBoost Ford, finishing 7th.

    Marcos Ambrose, in his No. 9 DeWalt Ford, overcame adversity and damage to finish 9th and pole sitter Biffle brought his No. 16 Ford to the checkered flag in the 12th spot.

    Although the good run of team Blue Oval is not surprising, Marcos Ambrose’ post-race comments were most surprising. When asked where he came from after being two laps down to finish top-ten, the Aussie said, “I came from Mars.”

    “At Lap 200, I was about ready to hang myself and by Lap 260, I was ready to go to the front and show the boys what I had.”

    “I re-entered orbit around Lap 260 and the last 80 laps were a lot of fun.”

    “Our team didn’t give up.” Ambrose said. “It was just a good night for us.”

  • Aaron’s 499 Review: Talladega Puts On a Show

    Aaron’s 499 Review: Talladega Puts On a Show

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photography, Inc.” align=”alignright” width=”228″][/media-credit]When NASCAR comes to Talladega it’s almost like playing the lottery; you never know who is going to win, but it’s still fun to gamble. Jeff Gordon started on the pole with last year’s champion Tony Stewart on the outside pole. The race was delayed for about 30 minutes due to rain that flooded the track overnight, but once the race got started it was an entertaining show.

    Overheating started out early on Lap 16 when Regan Smith blew an engine to bring out the caution flag. Tony Stewart, who was leading when the caution came out, got off pit road second to Matt Kenseth. Kenseth was able to hold the lead until Lap 26 when Michael Waltrip took his No. 55 Toyota to the lead.

    The overheating woes continued on Lap 44 when Ryan Newman took his car to the garage when water began to pour out of his windshield. The top three drivers under this caution were Waltrip, Kenseth, and Stewart. At Talladega a driver can go from the rear of the field to the front instantly with the help of the two car tandem and that’s exactly what Jimmie Johnson did on Lap 46 with the help of his teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch.

    Kenseth took the lead in his Best Buy Ford on Lap 53 with Jeff Gordon in tow. Around this time is when Johnson reported to the team that his engine was blowing up due to overheating.  After green-flag pit stops on Lap 58 Earnhardt took over the lead from Kenseth for about 20 laps, until Earnhardt lost the draft and dropped back to 15th position. Approximately 50 laps into the race Kasey Kahne was forced to make a spotter change. His interim spotter Kevin Hamlin was suffering from laryngitis at the time and eventually lost his voice. The No. 5 team replaced Hamlin with Joe Nemecheck’s spotter to finish the race.

    From 80 laps to go on, the leader of the race changed almost every ten laps. The drivers exchanging the lead were Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, Kenseth, Casey Mears, Brad Keselowski, and Kurt Busch.  Busch caught a big break on Lap 141 when his car ran out of fuel just as caution flew on the race track. In Turns 3 and 4 the big one struck involving Landon Cassill, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Juan Montoya, Terry Labonte, Aric Almirola, and Dave Blaney. Under this caution Kenseth and Ambrose were penalized for pitting too soon. Kurt Busch and Bobby Labonte also pitted too soon after running out of fuel.

    Paul Menard led the restart with Keselowski on his outside. Keselowski took the lead with 39 to go. Mears spun his race car in Turn 3 to bring out a caution with 15 laps to go. During this caution Stewart brought his car down pit road for overheating issues. The cautions continued when former teammates Keselowski and Kurt Busch got together, sending Busch spinning through the infield.

    As the field attempted to restart, another caution flew once again. Hamlin jumped out of line to try and make it three wide down the middle. Allmendinger blocked Hamlin and started another big wreck. Menard, Kevin Harvick, and Waltrip were also involved. Just before the restart Hamlin blew a tire causing the caution to be extended for debris on the track.

    The race was settled by a green-white-checkered finish between Kenseth, Keselowski, and Kyle Busch. Keselowski pulled ahead by three car-lengths over the field to win his second race at Talladega.

     

    [media-credit name=”articles.boston.com” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Kurt Busch, or Should I Say “Ricky Bobby”?

    Kurt Busch’s paint scheme for Talladega looked very familiar to race fans, and even non-race fans. Busch ran the colors of “ME” from the popular movie “Talladega Nights”. Not only did he run Ricky Bobby’s paint scheme, his entire team took this role to a whole different level. The team referred to Busch as “Ricky” over the radio and quoted the movie throughout the entire race. The team even carried a stuffed animal cougar named “Karen” in the racecar with them.

    Busch’s race was going very well until Lap 181 when Keselowski and Busch got together, sending Busch sliding across the start-finish line. With limited damage to his race car, it looked as if Busch would be able to get back on track and continue racing. However, when Busch drove his car down pit road backwards in attempt to get to his pit stall, he was forced to pit again. This is when the fun and games ended between the team and driver, and the No. 51 car finished in 20th place, one lap down.

     

    Fresh Faces Finish in the Top-20

    After losing his Cup ride at Roush Racing last season, it was nice to see David Ragan finish in 7th position. Ragan ran a clean race and was able to stay out of trouble to keep his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford in the Top-10. Trevor Bayne is running a part-time NASCAR schedule this season due to lack of sponsorship with Wood Brother’s Racing. Bayne is known for being a good plate-track racer and he finished in 8th position in the Aaron’s 499. Aric Almirola is another driver who we don’t normally see at the top of the field, but was able to finish in 12th position. David Gilliland, who is Ragan’s teammate at Front Row Motorsports, finished in 13th position. Travis Kvapil, who is running a par-time schedule, finished in 16th position.