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  • Crunching The Numbers: Charlotte

    Crunching The Numbers: Charlotte

    When race fans think of Memorial Day weekend in the motorsports world, one thing immediately comes to mind and that is NASCAR taking to the track at Charlotte Motor Speedway for their traditional May race weekend that many consider to be the greatest weekend of motorsports all year long with NASCAR at Charlotte, IndyCar at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Formula 1 at Monaco.

    Sprint Cup Series

    The two weeks that Charlotte Motor Speedway hosts the Sprint Cup Series in May features two races on the extreme opposite side of the distance scale, with last weekend’s NASCAR Sprint All Star Race being one of the shortest and this weekend’s running of the Coca-Cola 600 as the longest of the season. The 400 lap race, which starts in the daytime and runs into the night can give teams fits when trying to set up the car to run well in both the daytime and nighttime. Look for the team that can keep up with the adjustments as darkness descends on the track to be up front at the end with a chance at the win.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Joey Logano 8 0 2 5 0 3 14.5 10.1
    Jimmie Johnson 23 6 11 15 3 1439 7.3 11.4
    Carl Edwards 16 0 5 10 0 98 18.2 12.0
    Kasey Kahne 18 4 7 10 0 807 10.5 12.4
    Tony Stewart 28 1 6 12 1 695 15.8 14.0
    Aric Almirola 2 0 0 0 1 3 9.0 14.0
    Denny Hamlin 15 0 3 8 0 159 14.1 14.1
    Matt Kenseth 27 2 7 14 0 455 17.8 14.2
    Kyle Busch 18 0 8 11 1 793 15.0 15.3
    Bobby Labonte 40 2 12 17 3 807 15.7 15.5


    Who To Watch: Joey Logano, who was at the top of the list with the best average finish heading into last weekend’s All Star Race also finds himself at the top of the list for best average finish in points races at Charlotte Motor Speedway with two top fives, five top tens, and an average finish of 10.1 in eight races at the track. Coming off of a second place finish in the All Star Race last weekend, Logano could find his way to Victory Lane for the first time this season.

    Last weekend’s All Star Race winner, Jimmie Johnson, is no slouch at Charlotte as his No. 48 team has seemed to own this place over the years. Johnson has an impressive career at the track with six wins, 11 top fives, 15 top tens, three poles, 1439 laps led, and an average finish of 11.4 in 23 starts. With stats like that, Johnson could very well pull the All Star Race/Coca-Cola 600 sweep 20 years after legendary driver Dale Earnhardt accomplished that same feat.

    Others to keep an eye on include All Star Race pole sitter, Carl Edwards, who has five top fives, 10 top tens, 98 laps led, and an average finish of 12.0 in 16 starts; and Kasey Kahne, who gave Jimmie Johnson a run for his money in the opening laps of the final segment of the All Star Race before fading to fourth by the end of the race. Kahne has four wins, seven top fives, 10 top tens, 807 laps led, and an average finish of 12.4 in 18 races.

    Nationwide Series

    In the lead up to the Coca-Cola 600, the Nationwide Series will have their chance on track in the History 300 on Saturday afternoon. In what seems to be a recurring theme in the Nationwide Series, several Sprint Cup regulars will be running this race in order to learn some information for the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, meaning we’ll see another round of the Nationwide regulars versus the Cup regulars.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Kyle Busch 19 6 14 16 0 903 10.2 6.3
    Austin Dillon 2 0 0 1 0 0 2.0 8.5
    Joey Logano 9 1 4 5 1 155 6.9 8.6
    Brian Vickers 10 0 5 6 1 91 13.2 11.1
    Kevin Harvick 22 0 4 13 2 274 11.9 11.5
    Trevor Bayne 3 0 1 1 0 0 12.7 12.3
    Matt Kenseth 20 3 9 11 4 662 10.0 13.6
    Justin Allgaier 9 0 2 4 0 6 14.7 14.3
    Mike Bliss 16 2 5 5 0 43 17.9 16.2
    Elliott Sadler 12 0 4 5 1 16 12.8 17.2


    Who To Watch: The drivers with the best average finishes that will be running in the History 300 seems to be split almost 50/50 between the Cup regulars and Nationwide regulars with Kyle Busch at the top of the heap. Busch has six wins, 14 top fives, 16 top tens, 903 laps led, and an average finish of 6.3 in 19 starts. The top Nationwide regular is Austin Dillon, who only has two starts at Charlotte, but has an average finish of 8.5 with one top ten finish. Others who could find their way to Victory Lane on Saturday include: Joey Logano, with one win, four top fives, five top tens, one pole, 155 laps led, and an average finish of 8.6 in nine starts; Brian Vickers, who has five top fives, six top tens, one pole, 91 laps led, and an average finish of 11.1 in 10 starts; Kevin Harvick, with four top fives, 13 top tens, two poles, 274 laps led, and an average finish of 11.5 in 22 starts; Trevor Bayne, with one top five, one top ten, and an average finish of 12.3 in three starts; and Matt Kenseth, who has three wins, nine top fives, 11 top tens, four poles, 662 laps led, and an average finish of 13.6 in 20 starts.

    Although, not on the list, the top two drivers in points, Regan Smith and Sam Hornish, Jr., could also find their way to Victory Lane this weekend to add to their lead on the other drivers in the points.

  • Crunching The Numbers: Darlington

    Crunching The Numbers: Darlington

    With a weekend full of rain delays, wild wrecks, close finishes, and underdog winners at Talladega Superspeedway behind them, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series head to Darlington Raceway, NASCAR’s first superspeedway, for some night racing on Mother’s Day weekend at the track that is “Too Tough To Tame”.

    Sprint Cup Series

    Saturday night’s 64th Annual Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington, which has become a staple of Mother’s Day weekend in recent years, is one of the toughest races of the year in large part to the egg shaped nature of the track that gives crew chiefs fits when trying to perfect the setup of the car and the inevitable “Darlington Stripe” that drivers are sure to get during the duration of the event. The new Gen6 car will also make its Darlington debut this weekend and 500 miles on Saturday will tell the tale if early season success with the car will lead to Victory Lane or if we’ll see a new winner take the checkered flag.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Denny Hamlin 7 1 3 6 0 354 10.7 5.9
    Jimmie Johnson 14 3 7 10 0 543 12.5 9.1
    Brad Keselowski 4 0 1 2 0 0 16.2 9.2
    Martin Truex, Jr. 7 0 1 3 0 98 24.3 11.3
    Tony Stewart 20 0 4 11 0 20 17.1 11.8
    Jeff Gordon 32 7 18 21 3 1720 6.7 11.8
    Jeff Burton 30 2 8 16 0 817 20.7 12.3
    Mark Martin 46 2 17 26 2 801 13.3 12.4
    Ryan Newman 14 0 7 9 1 325 7.9 12.4
    Carl Edwards 9 0 3 6 0 94 15.8 13.1

    Who To Watch: This weekend, Denny Hamlin is scheduled to make a full time return to racing after getting out early at Talladega last weekend. Hamlin couldn’t have picked a better track to make his return at than Darlington because Hamlin leads all active drivers with the best average finish of 5.9 in seven starts at the track, along with one win, three top fives, six top tens, and 354 laps led. The next driver, Jimmie Johnson, is a full 3.2 position points behind with an average finish of 9.1 in 14 starts. However, Johnson does have more wins, top fives, top tens, and laps led than Hamlin with three wins, seven top fives, 10 top tens, and 543 laps led. Defending series champion, Brad Keselowski, will also be another to watch with his 9.2 average finish in four starts, which is comprised of one top five and two top tens.

    One last driver to keep an eye on is Jeff Gordon, who is the wins leader among active drivers with seven wins in 32 starts. Gordon also has amassed 18 top fives, 21 top tens, three poles, 1720 laps led and an average finish of 11.8. Gordon will also be making his 700th career Sprint Cup Series start this weekend.

    Nationwide Series

    As has been commonplace for Nationwide and Cup Series companion weekends all season long, several Cup drivers will run the Nationwide race in order to learn information for the Cup race and to go all out to win the trophy and Friday night’s VFW Sport Clips Help A Hero 200 will be more of the same with the Cup regulars battling it out with the Nationwide regulars for supremacy at Darlington.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Austin Dillon 1 0 1 1 0 0 3.0 5.0
    Joey Logano 2 1 1 1 0 4 4.5 6.5
    Sam Hornish, Jr. 2 0 1 1 0 3 10.0 7.5
    Matt Kenseth 16 3 9 12 0 327 12.4 9.7
    Justin Allgaier 4 0 2 2 0 31 11.0 9.8
    Kasey Kahne 10 0 1 4 0 46 13.7 12.8
    Reed Sorenson 4 0 0 2 0 0 20.5 13.0
    Kyle Busch 8 1 3 4 1 273 5.1 13.5
    Jeff Green 19 1 5 9 1 86 16.1 14.9
    Trevor Bayne 1 0 0 0 0 0 9.0 16.0

    Who To Watch: Heading into his second start at the track, Austin Dillon leads all drivers with the best average finish of 5.0 after his 5th place finish last year and his qualifying run that placed him in 3rd to start the race. Next in line is Joey Logano, with one win, one top five, one top ten, four laps led and an average finish of 6.5 in two starts. Others who should be good at Darlington include: Sam Hornish, Jr., who has one top five, one top ten, three laps led, and an average finish of 7.5 in two starts; Matt Kenseth, with three wins, nine top fives, twelve top tens, 327 laps led, and an average finish of 9.7 in 16 starts; and Justin Allgaier, with two top fives, two top tens, 31 laps led, and an average finish of 9.8 in four starts.

  • Crunching The Numbers: Talladega

    Crunching The Numbers: Talladega

    After a crazy weekend for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the short track of Richmond International Raceway, both series pack up and move on to the biggest, fastest track on the circuit for some restrictor plate racing at Talladega Superspeedway. As is the case each trip to the 2.66 mile, high banked behemoth in Alabama, these races are sure to provide nonstop action and the driver who can play the 200 mph chess game just right and avoid the inevitable “Big One” will come out on top.

    Sprint Cup Series

    With Talladega being the second restrictor plate race for the new Gen6 Sprint Cup car after its debut at Daytona to open the season, only time will tell if the racing in the Aaron’s 499 on Sunday will mirror that from the Daytona 500 or if Talladega has a few tricks up its sleeve for these drivers as they try to figure out the new car in the restrictor plate draft.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Brad Keselowski 8 2 3 6 0 31 18.9 12.2
    Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 26 5 9 13 0 737 15.6 15.0
    Kevin Harvick 24 1 6 10 1 155 22.0 15.4
    Tony Stewart 28 1 9 13 0 317 16.5 15.8
    David Ragan 12 0 3 5 0 27 19.8 16.0
    Kurt Busch 24 0 6 13 0 143 20.8 16.1
    Clint Bowyer 14 2 4 7 0 96 18.7 16.1
    Jeff Gordon 40 6 15 19 3 839 11.5 16.4
    Jimmie Johnson 22 2 5 9 1 234 10.2 17.7
    Travis Kvapil 10 0 0 2 1 17 22.1 17.8

    Who To Watch: As the defending spring Talladega race winner and two time winner at Talladega, Brad Keselowski leads all active drivers at the track with two wins, three top fives, six top tens, 31 laps led, and an average finish of 12.2 in eight starts at the track. Coming in just behind Keselowski is Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who has five wins, nine top fives, 13 top tens, 737 laps led, and an average finish of 15.0 in 26 starts. However, Earnhardt has not won at Talladega since the Fall of 2004 and only has five top tens in the eight years (16 races) since that last win, but Earnhardt can never be counted out at restrictor plate races, no matter the track.

    Others that could find their way to Victory Lane this weekend include: Richmond winner and winner of the Fall race in 2010 at Talladega, Kevin Harvick; Tony Stewart, with one win, nine top fives, 13 top tens, and an average finish of 15.8, David Ragan, who hasn’t won at Talladega, but does have a Sprint Cup restrictor plate win at Daytona and a Nationwide Series win at Talladega under his belt as well as an average finish of 16.0; Kurt Busch, who has six top fives and 13 top tens in 24 starts and an average finish of 16.1; two time winner Clint Bowyer, who also has an average finish of 16.1 in 14 starts; Jeff Gordon, with six wins, but none since sweeping both races in 2007; and Jimmie Johnson, who has two wins, but has had horrible luck at restrictor plate races as of late, especially at Talladega.

    Nationwide Series

    If fans thought the season opener for the Nationwide Series at Daytona was wild, this weekend’s at Talladega is sure to provide just as many, if not more, thrills as that race did, due in large part to the two-car tandem drafting style that these drivers use in this series.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Joey Logano 4 1 4 4 0 21 10.5 2.0
    Kurt Busch 1 0 0 1 0 1 31.0 6.0
    Trevor Bayne 2 0 0 1 0 23 22.0 9.5
    Sam Hornish, Jr. 2 0 0 0 0 4 10.0 12.5
    Danica Patrick 1 0 0 0 0 1 17.0 13.0
    Brian Vickers 4 0 0 2 0 17 11.2 14.0
    Justin Allgaier 4 0 0 2 0 0 19.2 15.5
    Joe Nemechek 18 2 7 8 5 202 10.7 15.9
    John Wes Townley 2 0 0 0 0 0 28.5 16.5
    Kyle Busch 9 1 4 5 0 114 11.6 16.6

    Who To Watch: Sprint Cup regular Joey Logano will be making his first start in the Nationwide Series for Penske Racing at Talladega and carries an impressive Nationwide Series record at the track with him. In four starts, Logano has one win, four top fives, four top tens, 21 laps led, and an average finish of 2.0. If Logano can reproduce those results that he obtained while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing with his new team, Logano will definitely be one of the favorites for the win on Saturday.

    Logano isn’t the only favorite for the victory, several others will also be in contention, including: Kurt Busch, who will be teaming back up with Phoenix Racing, finished sixth in his lone Nationwide start at Talladega and won last July at Daytona, so he has ran well on restrictor plate tracks in the Nationwide Series; Trevor Bayne, who has two starts, one top ten, and an average finish of 9.5; Sam Hornish, Jr., the current points leader, has two starts and an average finish of 12.5; and Danica Patrick, who will be running for Turner Scott Motorsports, who has one Talladega Nationwide start and an average finish of 13.0.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas STP 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas STP 400

    In a week where those impacted by the Boston Marathon bombing were remembered, here is what was surprising and not surprising as NASCAR’s elite visited Kansas Motor Speedway for the 3rd annual STP 400.

    Surprising:  The heartland of Kansas witnessed a driver rebirth of sorts with Matt Kenseth following his own yellow brick road to Victory Lane. And the man behind the wheel of the No. 20 Home Depot/Husky Tools Toyota proclaimed that for him this win was a “dream come true.”

    “You don’t know if or when you’ll ever win again,” Kenseth said. “I’m so thankful to have another win.”

    “This is a dream come true to drive this stuff.”

    Surprisingly, Kenseth, unlike his other Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, dominated the race, starting from the pole and leading the most laps, 163 to be exact.

    Even more surprising, however, was that Kenseth’s dream run came crashing down after a severe penalty was levied on the No. 20 car and team due to having a connecting rod in the engine failing to meet the minimum weight.

    Kenseth’s crew chief Jason Ratcliff was fined $200,000 and suspended for six races, JGR lost 50 owner points and Kenseth lost 50 driver points.

    JGR will of course appeal.

    Not Surprising:  The Kansas curse continued for Kyle Busch, who spun in the early laps and then crashed so hard with Joey Logano that he had to drive his car to the garage backwards before abandoning it to the scrap heap.

    “Absolutely no grip for me,” Busch said. “Spun twice on our own.”

    “Just don’t know what to do with Kansas.”

    Surprising:  Jeff Gordon started dead last in the 43rd position, his worst starting position ever in his career. Yet surprisingly and in spite of having to take the wave around after being trapped in the pits under caution, Gordon was able to battle back for a 13th place finish.

    “We weren’t the best car, but we made some great improvements throughout the weekend,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, said. “We were able to make our way up through there.”

    “All in all I thought it was a great effort.”

    Not Surprising:  With a team that not only has Boston roots, but one that has also faced a week of difficulties and penalties, it was not a surprise that Brad Keselowski had to dig deep for the Kansas race.

    The driver of the Blue Deuce also had to overcome a great deal of adversity on the track, from early damage to getting lapped. Yet, he persevered to attain a top ten finish, scoring a sixth place in a most eventful race and week.

    “We got ‘Boston Strong’ on the back of this car and that was a good inspiration for this weekend,” Keselowski said. “That was a gritty effort by the 2 team.”

    “A day where you can fight through adversity like we did today and get a solid finish, that kind of is a win.”

    Surprising:  Kasey Kahne surprisingly had his head in the clouds, or at least was wishing for a cloud to come out to assist him in getting around Kenseth at the end of the race. The driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance 85th Anniversary Chevrolet finished a close second.

    ”We tightened up a little bit on that final run,” Kahne said. “I just did everything I could.”

    “I needed clouds.”

    Not Surprising:   While this driver may have been disappointed with his continuing runner up finishes, Martin Truex Jr. was well pleased with his fourth place finish at Kansas.

    “Got a lot of questions last week about being second and how I seemed so disappointed and all that,” the driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, said. “This is the complete opposite.”

    “All in all, I’m very happy with fourth place.”

    Surprising:  Two drivers who returned to Cup competition, Sam Hornish Jr. and Elliott Sadler, had surprisingly bad days at the race track, finishing 37th and 40th respectively.

    Hornish Jr. hit Marcos Ambrose so hard during his wreck that he bit the inside of his lip and broke the tach off with his knee.

    “I couldn’t see anything,” Hornish Jr. said. “I just wish we could have done a little better.”

    Sadler, behind the wheel of the No. 81 ALERT Energy Gum Toyota, got loose into turn three and never recovered.

    “The car was kind of darting around on me too quick,” Sadler said. “Just ended a lot shorter than I wanted to.”

    Not Surprising:  While those returning to Cup competition did not fare well, old five time continued his not surprising top-five finishing ways. Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowes/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, finished fourth and maintained his top dog spot in the point standings.

    “Everybody worked real hard to get the car right and we had a great race car,” Johnson said. “At times I felt like I had a shot to win but we just didn’t have enough for Matt and Kasey.”

    “A very solid performance for our Kobalt Tools Chevrolet.”

    Surprising:  Danica Patrick endured trash on the track, as well as some trash talking after the race. Patrick’s race was spoiled by some litter that stuck to her grille, causing her water temps to rise and necessitating an unexpected trip to the pits.

    “We had a tire rub at one point and issues with the splitter from some contact we made,” the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, said. “The trash on the grille was what really hurt us today.”

    But the trash talking after the race was even more interesting after the rookie complained about competitor David Gilliland racing her inappropriately.

    “He tries to take me out every time,” Patrick complained of Gilliland. “I’m coming after him if he does it again.”

    Gilliland in return issued this statement aimed at Patrick through his PR rep, “Shut up and race.”

    Not Surprising:  One Kansas boy, Clint Bowyer, who hails from Emporia, finished nicely in the fifth position at his home track.

    “We needed a turnaround after last week,” Bowyer said. “Certainly you want to win it at home but a good top-five finish is a great way to get things bounced back with our 5-hour Energy Toyota.”

    Surprising:  There were some surprising names amongst the top-ten finishers in the STP 400, including Jamie McMurray in seventh, Aric Almirola in eighth, and Paul Menard in tenth.

    “I honestly thought we had one of the better cars,” McMurray said. “Good job by our team.”

    “It was a good day for us,” Almirola said. “That’s two top-10s two weeks in a row and I’m proud of that.”

    “We’ve got some of the best pits stops in the business,” Menard said. “We always end pretty good.”

    Not Surprising:  In spite of getting trapped in the pits during a caution, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is still trying to maintain a positive attitude as he faced yet another week of not quite getting the finish he wanted or expected. The driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet finished 15th.

    “We were a lap down and hard to take the wave around,” Junior said. “That put us to the back behind a whole bunch of lead-lap cars and there was no time left.”

    “It’ll come around,” Earnhardt, Jr. continued. “We’ve just got to keep working and stay positive.”

  • Denny Hamlin Scores First Ever Pole At Monster Mile

    Denny Hamlin Scores First Ever Pole At Monster Mile

    [media-credit name=”Gary Buchanan” align=”alignright” width=”216″][/media-credit]At a track that has been admittedly been monstrous in the past to him, Denny Hamlin pulled off the fastest qualifying lap of his Monster Mile career, scoring his first ever pole at Dover International Speedway.

    Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota grabbed the pole with a fast lap of 22.599 seconds at a speed of 159.299 mph. This is Hamlin’s third pole of the season but his first ever at Dover in 14 races at the Monster Mile.

    “That was an amazing run,” Hamlin said. “Definitely wasn’t what I expected, but it sure feels good to get a pole here.”

    “Our car was really strong in race trim and really wasn’t all that good in qualifying trim,” Hamlin continued. “Hopefully this is a good sign of things that will give us a strong run here on Sunday.”

    “Starting from the pole will help us in tuning our car throughout the day,” Hamlin said. “Obviously track position is going to be very, very crucial and we’ve got to do everything we can to keep that.”

    “We’ve got a car that’s very capable of staying in the front and hopefully we’ll have a shot to win.”

    Hamlin humbly credited his crew chief Darian Grubb for his pole winning qualifying effort.

    “I think there’s a lot of drivers out there that could be able to do what I do with the cars that Darian has been giving me the last few weeks,” Hamlin said. “I’m going to give him pretty much all the credit and ride his back as long as it will hold me.”

    The second and third qualifying positions belonged to Michael Waltrip Racing teammates Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex, Jr.

    “It was good,” Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota, said. “When you’re that close, it’s disappointing because you know just if you could have put the gas down that much more anywhere around the race track, you’d of had the pole.”

    “I will save that for another day.”

    Bowyer posted his 12th top-10 start of 2012 and his fifth in 14 races at the Monster Mile.

    “It’s a good day for us,” Martin Truex, Jr., driver of the No. 56 NAPA Toyota, said. “It’s been a good weekend so far.”

    “The NAPA Toyota was about perfect,” Martin Truex Jr. continued. “Had to lift off turn four and gave it to him.”

    “The car was awesome.”

    This was Truex’s sixth top-10 start at Dover International Speedway and his 13th in 29 races this season.

    Sam Hornish, Jr. sat on the pole briefly but was relegated to a fourth place qualifying run in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger.

    “The lap was OK,” Hornish said. “From inside the car, I thought that we put together a pretty solid lap.”

    “Our race runs yesterday didn’t have the speed that we needed, so I’m really happy that I qualified well.”

    Kyle Busch, in the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, rounded out the top-five in qualifying at Dover. Busch had his hands full, with the car wiggling during the lap.

    “I really don’t know what I did wrong,” Busch said. “It stepped out and I just had to catch it and wait and go after it the second lap.”

    “Just glad we were able to have a strong second lap.”

    While the qualifying lap may have been a bit squirrelly, Busch said he might just have the car to beat on race day.

    “I think we’ve definitely got a top-three car right now,” Busch said. “I think we’re one of those in the top elite.”

    Ten of the twelve Chase drivers qualified in the top-13 positions during the time trials, with Hamlin in first, Bowyer second, Truex Jr. third, Greg Biffle sixth, Jeff Gordon seventh, Kasey Kahne in ninth, Brad Keselowski in tenth, Jimmie Johnson in eleventh, Matt Kenseth in twelfth and Kevin Harvick in thirteenth.

    Chase drivers Tony Stewart qualified 24th and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. qualified 25th.

    Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., making his first Cup start in the No. 6 Cargill Ford, qualified 17th and Danica Patrick, in the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, qualified 38th.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Advocare 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Advocare 500

    [media-credit name=”Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”232″][/media-credit]From daylight to darkness over the Labor Day holiday weekend, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 53rd annual Advocare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    Surprising:  While stock car racing often focuses on the skills of the driver, the race winner surprisingly took little credit for his first ever Atlanta win, instead attributing the victory to his crew chief and team.

    Denny Hamlin, in the No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota, scored his 21st career victory and his fourth victory of the 2012 season. And with all that, he locked himself not only into a Chase berth, but a top seed with his multiple victories.

    “This has been something in the works for a very long time,” Hamlin said. “I have a lot of wins in my career because of two very important guys.”

    “One is Darian (Grubb, crew chief) and the other is Mike Ford (Hamlin’s prior crew chief),” Hamlin continued. “Mike put together 80% of a championship winning team, and Darian has just filled that gap and put the rest of the pieces of the puzzle together.”

    “The pit crew nailed it,” Hamlin said of his team’s Atlanta performance. “They were just on it all day long.”

    “I’ve never seen our crew just so happy to be at the race track every single week.”

    Not Surprising:  Yes, regrets they have got a few, particularly runner up Jeff Gordon and fourth place finisher Martin Truex Jr.

    “I’m just mad at myself right now,” the driver of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet said after almost catching the race winner during the green, white, checkered finish. “I guess I’m just getting soft in my old age.”

    “I’m too nice because, I don’t know, 15 years ago I would have just moved him right up the race track,” Gordon continued. “I don’t know why I didn’t do that.”

    In spite of his disappointment, this was Gordon’s 25th top-10 finish in 39 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is also his 11th top-10 finish for the season.

    The driver of the No. 56 NAPA Shocks Toyota was also full of regrets after leading in the waning laps until the final caution came out for Jamie McMurray’s crash.

    “Just spun the tires,” Truex said of his restart. “It just wasn’t meant to be, I guess.”

    “It’s tough losing when you haven’t won in a long time,” Truex continued. “We were close.”

    “It just sucks we couldn’t get it done tonight.”

    In spite of his regrets about not winning, Truex Jr. did lock himself into the championship Chase, as well as locking into a three year contract continuation with Michael Waltrip Racing.

    Jeff Gordon, on the other hand, moved up one position in the point standings to 13th, but still remains outside of wild card contention and will have to finish ahead of Kyle Busch in the Richmond race in order to capture that Chase spot.

    Surprising:  While usually the first one to grab the microphone and most certainly one of the most verbal drivers, whether in the media center or on the grid, Carl Edwards was surprisingly at a loss for words as his engine, as well as his Chase hopes, seemingly went up in smoke.

    “I don’t even know what to say,” the driver of the No. 99 Subway Ford Fusion said. “This is not the interview I wanted to do after the race.”

    “I love this race track but it looks like a piston or something broke,” Edwards said regarding his engine woes. “It started making noise with about 25 to 30 laps to go.”

    “I mean, I just can’t believe this,” Edwards continued. “That’s just how our season has been going and I don’t know what the reason is.”

    “It’s just hard to put into words.”

    Edwards dropped two positions to 14th in the point standings after his 36th place finish at Atlanta.

    Not Surprising:  In spite of a most bitter Nationwide race battle, involving water bottle throwing and cheek ‘patting’, both drivers put aside their differences to finish top-5 at Atlanta, resulting in two Chase clinches.

    Keselowski, behind the wheel of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, finished third, scoring his second top-10 finish at Atlanta. Harvick, piloting the No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet, finished in the fifth spot.

    And yes, both drivers pronounced their finishes good.

    “Yeah, just a solid night,” Keselowski said. “Once again the 2 team stepped up, made great changes, and we are just proud of that effort.”

    “I’m proud to say we clinched our spot in the Chase.”

    “This was just a great night for our Rheem team,” Harvick said. “Things are going in the right direction and thanks to this solid run, we have clinched a post in the Chase.”

    Surprising:  As if losing one of his primary sponsors, Office Depot, was not enough, Tony Stewart added insult to injury by falling like a rock from his pole starting spot to finish 22nd, one lap down.

    “We just couldn’t get a handle on this thing tonight,” the driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy said. “I was just to free.”

    “We chased it all night,” Smoke continued. “We’ll go back to the shop, tear it apart and see what the deal is.”

    Stewart remains in the tenth spot in the point standings.

    Not Surprising:   While Stewart struggled, teammate Ryan Newman affirmed his mission after the race, which saw the driver of the No. 39 Army Medicine Chevrolet finish 35th after an on-track incident with five-time champ Jimmie Johnson and fall out of wild card contention.

    “All I know was we ran out of room on the restart there,” Newman said. “It wasn’t my fault but it was just racing.”

    “In the big picture, tonight’s result hurt us relative to the Chase,” Newman continued. “But the US Army soldiers we represent are known for their refusal to accept defeat.”

    “The battle is certainly not over,” Newman said. “Our mission is clear.”

    Surprising:  While Newman may have seen it as just racing and Sam Hornish Jr. was just caught up in it all, Jimmie Johnson seemed surprisingly befuddled by the wreck on Lap 269, as in his mind, he was just easing on down the race track.

    “I think the No. 39 was on the outside and the No. 22 was next to me; we just all converged at one spot,” Johnson said. “All I know is I was riding down the road and left plenty of room on the outside of me and got turned head on into the wall.”

    The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet finished 34th and fell two positions in the point standings to fourth. Johnson was, however, already locked into the Chase competition.

    Not Surprising:  Danica Patrick can finally claim ‘mission accomplished’ after checking off her ‘to do ‘list’ of finishing the race with all of the fenders intact on her No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.

    “Yeah, that was what we were supposed to do today,” Patrick said of her 29th finish in her first race at Atlanta in a Cup car. “We were just in that phase of get the laps done, feel it out, run different lines, bring the car home, finish the race and try and learn a bit as we go.”

    “I think that was a good step for me,” Patrick said. “We did what we meant to do.”

    Surprising:  Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief Steve Letarte has been called many things, but what his current driver called him was a bit surprising.

    “Steve Letarte is really experienced and did a lot of crafty stuff to get us back into position,” Dale Junior said. “That’s about the only thing I think we can take away from that track.”

    The driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevrolet already locked into the championship show, finished 7th in the Atlanta race before the Chase. He now is second in the point standings, just eight points back from leader Greg Biffle.

    Not Surprising:  In spite of the penalty cloud still hanging over their heads, Paul Menard, in the No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet, and crew chief Slugger Labbe pulled of an eighth place finish.

    “We kept making the car better,” Menards said. “As the sun went down, we got better, made the right adjustments, and came away with another top-10.”

    Surprising:  Kasey Kahne seemed absolutely surprised that he didn’t fall further than 11th in the points with his 23rd place finish.

    “We just really missed it tonight,” the driver of the No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet said. “The harder I drove, the worse I was.”

    “I can’t believe I’m in 11th,” Kahne continued. “I felt like I probably lost 10 spots.”

    “But we’re still in 11th and have two wins and I think we’re sitting decent.”

    Not Surprising:  Forget sexy, Kyle Busch is the wild card and he knows it. And he also knows that Jeff Gordon is most likely the competitor that he will have to beat to keep that wild card standing.

    The driver of the No. 18 Wrigley Doublemint Toyota finished 6th at Atlanta, gaining one position in the point standings to 12th, the second wild card position.

    “Overall the night was good for us,” Busch said. “Had to pass a few cars and got by a few cars to finish sixth.”

    “I’m not saying that I’m for sure going to be in the Chase at all – anything can happen,” Busch continued. “Jeff Gordon is no slouch at Richmond either and I feel like that’s the guy we’re racing.”

    “We’ll just have to see how it all plays out.”

  • Sam Hornish Jr. In Demand With Pocono and Iowa Double

    Sam Hornish Jr. In Demand With Pocono and Iowa Double

    [media-credit name=”Gary Buchanan” align=”alignright” width=”236″][/media-credit]While Sam Hornish, Jr. may be thrilled with the opportunity presented to him to drive the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, he is also pleased with his new status. He is now officially in demand in multiple NASCAR series.

    Hornish, Jr. is attempting the double, running both the Nationwide race at Iowa Speedway and the Cup race at Pocono Raceway.

    “It’s kind of a lot on my plate this weekend,” Hornish said. “I’ll close my eyes and sleep for a little bit on the airplane to try to catch up.”

    Hornish advised that after he finishes up in the Cup car, he will head to Iowa to practice in the Nationwide car. He estimates giving up about thirty minutes of track time on both ends of the racing spectrum.

    “It’s just a little bit too far to be able to make all the practice sessions on both sides,” Hornish said. “We think we’ve got a good plan as far as what we’re going to do and try to get as much time as we can in both places.”

    “I’ll sleep here, qualify the Cup car tomorrow, then we’ll go back over there, qualify, do the driver’s meeting, race and come back here,” Hornish said. “It seems like a lot but last year when Brad (Keselowski) was hurt, I actually did the same trip without getting to drive the Cup car so this is an added bonus.”

    The double duty may be tricky for the driver, but it is also a challenge for the crew chiefs and teams as well.

    “Fortunately, it’s something we have done before,” Travis Geisler, Director of Competition for Penske Racing, said. “We’re really fortunate to have a lot of really great people around us to help ad support and make this doable and to make it very smooth.”

    “Obviously, they’ll be a lot of little things along the way, but we’re down to figuring out what kind of food we need to have where for him and just trying to make it as comfortable as possible,” Geisler continued. “Sam is going to be in a heck of a lot of race cars in a lot of different places in a short amount of time.”

    “I’m excited about it,” Geisler said. “I think it is a unique challenge.”

    One of the other major challenges that Hornish and company may have to face is the unpredictable weather in both Long Pond, PA and Newton, IA. Although just really hot at Iowa Speedway, there are some threats of thunderstorms at Pocono in the forecast.

    “We’ve got contingency plans for contingency plans,” Geisler said with a smile. “Obviously you try to think of all those scenarios, of everything that can go wrong, everything that can happen.”

    “There are a few that can make it really, really difficult that we’ll have to deal with,” Geisler continued. “You know everybody is trying to be as prepared as possible.”

    “We’re hoping for the best,” Geisler said. “Otherwise it will be a forest fire and we’ll try to put it out.”

    Pocono Raceway has a special place in Hornish’s heart, with his most successful runs being at the ‘Tricky Triangle’. Hornish finished fourth in 2009, his best career Cup finish in 113 series starts.

    “We’ve led laps and had some of our strongest runs at Pocono,” Hornish said. “We finished fourth in 2009, but really had our best shot at winning there in the races during the 2010 season.”

    “We led pretty late in both of those races and if luck had been on our side, we could have won.”

    Hornish is also looking forward to the Nationwide race in Iowa, driving the No. 12 WURTH Dodge Challenger. He will be making his 20th start of the season and his third Nationwide start at Iowa Speedway.

    Hornish’s best finish came in May of this year, where he finished 12th. After 19 races, Hornish and his Nationwide team are fourth in the championship point standings.

    “Our WURTTH Dodge team is in a very good place heading into Iowa,” Hornish said. “We have been consistently improving our performance throughout the year.”

    “We have qualified well in the past at Iowa – we just haven’t put it all together and this weekend we are poised to do just that,” Hornish continued. “We feel like we’ve built some strong momentum and we are looking forward to finishing this one on top.”

    Whether by plane, helicopter, car or golf cart, Sam Hornish Jr. is most thrilled just to be given the opportunity to race in both major series in the sport.

    “I feel like we’ve got some really good opportunities here and just trying to maintain everything and not get stressed out about it,” Hornish said. “I plan to just enjoy it.”

    “Something good happened to me at the end of last season,” Hornish continued. “We got the opportunity to go full-time Nationwide racing and you know, we’re doing pretty good over there.”

    “Now we’ve got the opportunity to go Cup racing too,” Hornish said. “So just trying to take both things and run with it and enjoy it as best I can.”

    “It’s a good feeling to be in a little bit of demand.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Brickyard 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Brickyard 400

    [media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”254″][/media-credit]At one of the most storied tracks on not just the NASCAR schedule but the motor sports circuit overall, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 19th Annual Crown Royal Presents the Curtiss Shaver 400 at the Brickyard.

    Surprising:  It was surprising that the emerging points leader after the race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway enhanced his proud team owner’s sleep habits.

    Hendrick Motor Sports principal Rick Hendrick had just one thing to say about his driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who assumed the coveted lead by 14 points after a fourth place finish at the Brickyard.

    “I will be able to sleep better tonight,” Mr. H. said simply after the race. His HMS driver has not led the point standings since September of 2004 after the race at New Hampshire.

    Junior echoed his team owner’s sentiments of pride, while reiterating that he not only wants, but needs more wins to keep that top spot.

    “I’m proud of that because it says a lot about our body of work,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “I have felt that way about our position in points all season long.”

    “But we need to win more races,” Junior continued. “If we want to win the championship, we have to.”

    “We’d like to step it up just a little bit more.”

    Not Surprising:  While making history with his fourth Brickyard win and tying teammate Jeff Gordon and idols Al Unser, A.J. Foyt and Rick Mears for four victories, it was not surprising to see this driver’s  little girl Genevieve steal the show during the post-race ceremonies.

    Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, simply could not convince his daughter to kiss those hot, gritty bricks in spite of his intense coaxing.

    “I don’t really think she knew what was going on,” Johnson said. “The asphalt was pretty hot, so she got her hands down on it and I think that scared her.”

    “She’s a very cautious girl and that is going against everything we’re trying to teach her,” Johnson continued. “She just wasn’t in to it.”

    Surprising:  It was most surprising that the second place finisher was so ecstatic about his finish that he wanted to do his own ‘victory’ burnout after the race.

    Kyle Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota, posted his career best finish at the Brickyard and his best finish of the season since his third place finish at Charlotte in May.

    “It feels so good to actually run well and finish well,” Busch said. “We’ve been needed to do this for so long.”

    “It felt like a win to us,” Busch continued. “I wanted to do a burnout, but I’ll save that for when we really do collect the checkered flag.”

    Not Surprising:  Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M Ford, proved one NASCAR adage true, that loose is fast. Biff came in third, his sixth top-10 finish in ten races at Indy.

    “We were pretty loose all day long,” Biffle said. “It was unfortunate we were that free and we couldn’t fix it.”

    “We were too loose to get it done so we came in third.”

    Surprising:  With a great qualifying run, an outside pole starting position and a brand new crew chief in Chad Norris on the box, it looked like nothing could derail Carl Edwards from finally pulling out a decent finish and a good day in the points race for the Chase.

    But a surprising mechanical problem forced the driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford to go laps down early in the race and finish 29th.

    “We didn’t know what was wrong with the engine and we were kind of points racing but also racing for the win,” Edwards said. “We stayed out there with seven cylinders or so and then got caught up on pit road again and went another lap down.”

    “That was pretty much the death knell for the whole thing.”

    Not Surprising:   As is so often the case, being at the back of the pack leads to trouble. And that’s just what Matt Kenseth experienced on lap 134 when Joey Logano lost control, slid into Trevor Bayne, Bobby Labonte and ultimately Kenseth.

    “The farther that we went back, the dumber people drove,” Kenseth said after exiting his fiery No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford. “You could see it was just a matter of time before the wreck happened.”

    Kenseth finished the race in the 35th position and, not surprisingly as a result, fell to second in the point standings.

    Surprising:  Jeff Gordon surprisingly has not posted a top-3 finish in his last 23 races and he continued the longest stretch of his career in that mode with a fifth place finish at Indy.

    “I’m pretty disappointed really,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “It’s always nice to finish in the top five but at this point in the season, I feel like it was a little bit of a missed opportunity.”

    Not Surprising:  So much uncertainty continued to reign for the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Penske race team, even at the Brickyard. Although Sam Hornish, Jr. was still behind the wheel, finishing 16th, the cloud of the A.J. Allmendinger indefinite suspension for the failed drug test continued to hang over the proceedings.

    “There are so many questions,” Roger Penske, team owner said after the drivers’ meeting at Indy. “Our phone is ringing off the hook with people who are interested in the ride in the No. 22.”

    Penske has since made the decision to release Allmendinger as their driver and have named Hornish Jr. the driver for the remainder of the 2012 season.

    Surprising:  Only one driver could compare the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway to a junk yard but Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet, did just that, at least when it came to his 13th place car.

    “We were junk all weekend,” Harvick said. “No matter if we were turning left or going straight.”

    “That pretty much summed up today.”

    Not Surprising:  Stewart Haas racers Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman showed their Midwestern pride by scoring top-10 finishes at the Brickyard.

    Stewart, who qualified his No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot in the 28th position, rallied to finish tenth and teammate Newman, in the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet, finished seventh.

    “We just were a little bit tight in the center of the corner and that’s kind of what we fought all day,” Smoke said. “So, I was proud of the gains we made.”

    “I’m from the Midwest and so is Quicken Loans so it was nice to get a top-10 finish,” Newman said. “We just didn’t have quite the speed we needed.”

    This was Newman’s sixth top-10 finish of the season and his second top-10 finish in 12 starts at the Brickyard.

    The Cup Series will next take on the ‘Tricky Triangle’ at Pocono Raceway.

     

  • Brad Keselowski Wins Nationwide Race; Austin Dillon Wins Dash4Cash

    Brad Keselowski Wins Nationwide Race; Austin Dillon Wins Dash4Cash

    [media-credit name=”Kirk Schroll” align=”alignright” width=”231″][/media-credit]Brad Keselowski, in the No. 22 Snap -On Penske Dodge, sat on the pole, led the most laps and took the checkered flag, as well as the American flag, right to Victory Lane.

    The win was Keselowski’s second victory in 2012 and his first win at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Keselowski also now ranks 15th on the all-time win list in the Nationwide Series.

    “It was a great day,” Keselowski said. “It was one of those days when things came together,”

    “We unloaded yesterday with a lot of speed and tried to work on making sure it stayed there,” Keselowski continued. “It feels good to finally come here and close the deal.”

    “It’s great to have Roger (Penske) here today to witness it and be part of it,” Keselowski said. “I’m very proud of the effort and proud of the result.”

    Kevin Harvick, driving the No. 33 Barber Foods Chevrolet, finished second and was totally unhappy after the race finish. While it was a positive finish overall, he was most displeased with the lapped car No. 24 car of Amber Cope, who broke his momentum and cost him the win.

    “It was a good day,” Harvick said. “The 22 and I were pretty evenly matched and I knew the restart was the best place to capitalize.”

    “It just came down to an unfortunate deal there and we got beat,” Harvick continued. “Obviously we wish we would have been able to win the race but got cut up in a cluster of lapped cars.”

    “That 24 car is somebody who shouldn’t be on the race track,” Harvick said. “She wants to be Danica Patrick but she can’t hold her helmet.”

    This was Harvick’s 11th top-10 finish in 12 races at the Magic Mile and his sixth top-10 finish in 2012.

    Rookie driver Austin Dillon, sans crew chief due to his penalty of last week, finished in the third position in his No. 3 Advocare Chevrolet. Dillon was also the highest finishing rookie, the highest finishing Nationwide regular, and the winner of the $100,000 in the Nationwide Dash4Cash.

    The young, up and coming driver beat out Elliott Sadler, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Michael Annett, the other three eligible drivers for the Nationwide Series Dash4Cash prize.

    “It’s great,” Dillon said. “Winning our first Nationwide race at Kentucky was our number one moment of the year but this comes close.”

    “We started 12th and got up there quick,” Dillon continued. “Dash4Cash racing right there was awesome. I gave it my all.”

    And what was Dillon planning to do with all that cash won from the Dash4Cash promotion?

    “I said I was going to get a pool,” Dillon said. “I wish I had a pool right now.”

    “Maybe I’ll be smart like my Grandpa and invest it.”

    “I want to thank Nationwide for letting us do this, Dillon continued. “To run for a hundred grand is amazing.”

    Sam Hornish, Jr., in the No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge, came in fourth, giving Roger Penske top-five finishes for both Nationwide cars and some welcome good news after the suspension of his Cup driver A.J. Allmendinger this past weekend.

    “At the end of the day, a top-five finish is good,” Hornish said. “All in all, I’m pretty happy with how we ran.”

    “Just wish we would have had a little bit more for those guys at the end of the race.”

    There was also drama on pit road after the race with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., who was overcome with heat and stretched out on pit road until a stretch took him to the infield care center. Stenhouse had been ill all week, which in addition to the heat, no doubt caused such a physical reaction at race end.

    In spite of it all, Stenhouse, Jr., in the No. 6 Cargill Ford, was able to gut it out to finish in the fifth position.

    “Ricky has been sick most of the week just fighting the flu bug,” crew chief Mike Kelley said. “At the end of the race I think the heat and the exhaustion caught up with him.”

    “They’ve got him in the infield care center,” Kelley continued. “He’s awake and alert and getting some fluids in him.”

    “He’ll be fine.”

    Both Danica Patrick and Travis Pastrana wrecked in the F.W. Webb 200. Patrick was able to soldier on, bringing her No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet to the checkered flag in the 14th position.

    Pastrana, however, was not as fortunate, finishing 31st in his No. 99 Boost Mobile Toyota Camry for RAB Racing. Pastrana suffered a hard hit into the wall, with some flames in the car erupting after the crash.

    “Just the tire went flat coming into the corner,” Pastrana said. “I was locking up the brakes a lot trying to get the car in and eventually just wore out that right-front tire.”

    “They gave me such a great car to start out there,” Pastrana continued. “I hate that I just went too soon on that first green when everyone started going.”

    Kasey Kahne, in the No. 38 Great Clips Chevrolet, Elliott Sadler, in the OneMain Financial Chevrolet, Justin Allgaier, in the No. 31 Brandt Chevrolet, Jamie McMurray, in the No. 30 LiftMaster Chevrolet, and Ryan Truex, in the Grime Boss Chevrolet, rounded out the top ten finishers.

    After this race, Elliott Sadler leads the point standings in the NASCAR Nationwide Series by three points over Austin Dillon.

    Unofficial Race Results
    F.W. Webb 200, New Hampshire
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=17
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 1 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 0
    2 4 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 0
    3 12 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 42
    4 6 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 40
    5 3 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 39
    6 2 38 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 0
    7 7 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 37
    8 13 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 36
    9 9 30 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 0
    10 11 18 Ryan Truex Toyota 34
    11 14 43 Michael Annett Ford 33
    12 8 11 Brian Scott Toyota 32
    13 15 44 Mike Bliss Toyota 31
    14 18 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 30
    15 27 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 29
    16 16 81 Jason Bowles * Toyota 29
    17 25 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 27
    18 10 88 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 26
    19 19 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 25
    20 22 19 Tayler Malsam Toyota 24
    21 28 41 Timmy Hill Ford 0
    22 37 14 Eric McClure Toyota 22
    23 33 70 Tony Raines Chevrolet 0
    24 32 39 Josh Richards Ford 20
    25 21 108 Matt Frahm Ford 19
    26 43 124 Amber Cope Chevrolet 0
    27 40 52 Joey Gase * Chevrolet 17
    28 5 54 Kyle Busch Toyota 0
    29 36 4 Danny Efland Chevrolet 15
    30 17 23 Jamie Dick Chevrolet 14
    31 20 199 Travis Pastrana Toyota 13
    32 34 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 12
    33 30 86 Kevin Lepage Ford 11
    34 29 171 Scott Riggs Ford 0
    35 38 50 T.J. Bell Chevrolet 9
    36 42 174 Mike Harmon Chevrolet 8
    37 39 175 Matthew Carter Chevrolet 7
    38 35 46 Chase Miller Chevrolet 6
    39 41 15 Charles Lewandoski Chevrolet 5
    40 26 40 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 4
    41 24 42 Josh Wise Chevrolet 0
    42 31 47 Stephen Leicht Chevrolet 0
    43 23 10 Jeff Green Toyota 1
  • 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!