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Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover AAA 400

[media-credit id=26 align=”alignright” width=”233″][/media-credit]As all at the Monster Mile mourned the passing of Chris Economaki, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the third Chase race, the 43^rd annual AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.

Surprising: While Chevrolet has been dominant at the Monster Mile in the past, particularly with Jimmie Johnson behind the wheel, and Toyota strong in qualifying this race with Denny Hamlin on the pole, it was surprising that neither manufacturer ended up in Victory Lane.

Instead the lone representative of the Dodge brand took the checkered flag, waved the American flag, and even did a stellar burnout in spite of being almost out of fuel.

“Dodge has really performed with us,” Roger Penske, the ‘captain’ of the victorious No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Penske team, said. “They committed to us three or four years ago as we became the only team.”

“The greatest thing we could do would be to bring a championship to Dodge this year,” Penske continued. “At the moment, we represent them.”

“They’re partners,” Penske said. “We’re going to do our best.”

Penske’s driver Brad Keselowski not only score the win for Dodge, but also got his first win at the Monster Mile. Even more important, Keselowski grabbed the points lead in the Chase standings and is now five points ahead of Jimmie Johnson.

Not Surprising: One driver that had to have a good run in order to even stay with spitting distance of the Chase contenders pulled it off and tamed the monster for a second place finish.

“I thought it was a solid effort,” Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet, said. “Our car was pretty good right from the start.”

“It was a great finish to come home second,” Gordon continued. “This is nice to follow up what we had last week.”

“We’re running good,” Gordon said. “We got seven more weeks to get it done.”

Surprising: For a track known as the ‘Monster Mile’, it was surprising that the monster was in the fuel tank and not on the race track itself.

There were just five cautions total in the race, most for debris, and the final laps were nail biters to see who would make it on fuel rather than who would wreck or have other on-track incidents.

Even five-time champ Jimmie Johnson, behind the wheel of the No. 48 Lowes/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, had to back it down because of his fear of running out of Sunoco, finishing fourth instead of first just to be sure about that pesky fuel mileage.

“Well, for starters, we’re not very good at fuel mileage races,” Johnson said. “So, when I heard that, I’m like, man, we’re in big trouble.”

“And Chad asked me to start saving fuel,” Johnson continued. “It’s tough; it really is.”

“I wished we could have raced for it,” Johnson said. “But it is what it is.”

“You’ve got to be good on all fronts and we did a decent job today.”

Not Surprising: They say that races can be won or lost in the pits and that proved true for many drivers trapped a lap down after a cycle of pit stops gone awry with a caution. But for one Chase contender, Kasey Kahne, his entire race was impacted by what happened on pit road.

“We don’t know why I had to pit the first time, but the car just started shaking really bad,” the driver of the No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet, said. “Right before it did that, we were fast, we finally got our laps back that we lost early and we were coming.”

Then the No. 5 team made a critical mistake on the stop with a lug nut and Kahne again had to visit pit road, losing track position and precious time.

“We were sitting really good because we had just pitted and topped off on fuel,” Kahne said. “It’s too bad whatever it was.”

“We’ll figure it out and hopefully we don’t have it happen again.”

Kahne finished the race in 15^th and fell to sixth position in the point standings, 32 points behind the leader.

Surprising: Although the non-Chase Fords fared surprisingly well, with Carl Edwards finishing fifth in his No. 99 Fastenal Ford, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., in his new Ford Cup ride finishing 12^th, the Chase Fords of Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth had surprisingly bad days at the Monster Mile.

In fact, Biffle and Kenseth had such surprisingly bad days, finishing 16^th and 35^th respectively, that they both fell to the basement in the Chase point standings, facing an incredibly uphill battle to get back into the championship hunt.

“It’s tough,” Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Scotch-Brite Ford Fusion said, after contending with a loose wheel and having a meltdown of epic proportions on his scanner. “We were in great position, but that really kind of takes us out of the title hunt.”

“We really needed to finish in the top three here to be a factor, but now we’ll just work on being in the top 10.”

“In two of three Chase races, something either fell off or broke, so obviously that’s not good,” Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 EcoBoost Ford Fusion, said. “This is probably the worst we’ve run here for as long as I can remember.”

“From the first lap on the track to the last lap on the track, we were pretty much junk.”

Not Surprising: There is no doubt that Kyle Busch, who had yet another great race going, including leading the most laps until fuel mileage concerns forced him to pit road at the race end, has become the modern day racing equivalent of the biblical character Job.

The driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota just cannot seem to catch a break, whether it is fuel mileage, engine failure or other strange on-track incidents. And, just like Job, Busch has done his share of vociferously and vehemently questioning the racing gods, as well as his team and manufacturer.

“It’s frustrating,” Dave Rogers, Busch’s crew chief said. “I knew if it came down to a fuel mileage race that we were going to be in trouble.”

“There was no doubt that we had the fastest car,” Rogers continued. “We played our best cards and we came up short.”

Surprising: Denny Hamlin, a physical force behind the wheel at any track, stepped up his mental game for a surprisingly good finish at the Monster Mile. The driver of the No. 11 Fed Ex Office Toyota Camry and pole sitter, finished top-ten, one of his best results at a track that admittedly is not his favorite.

“Top-10 day on a race track like this and to battle for the win all day – I’m not going to complain,” Hamlin said. “We ran our ass off today.”

“Like I said, there’s nothing we can’t handle on the race track,” Hamlin continued. “I think our performance today is a testament to where we’re heading.”

Not Surprising: Veteran Mark Martin, the ‘Energizer Bunny’ of the Cup Series, just keeps getting it done on the race track whenever he is behind the wheel of the No. 55 Aaron’s 2000^th Store, Bronx, NY Toyota. Martin finished 3^rd, announcing that, although not part of the Chase, he is still a contender.

“I don’t know if everybody really noticed or not, but we had a rocket ship, super fast car,” Martin said in the media center after the race. “We were passing cars left and right.”

“I have a fantastic race team,” Martin continued. “We were just having a blast.”

Surprising: In contrast to veteran Martin, three-time and reigning Cup champion Tony Stewart and his race team had a surprisingly challenging day. Smoke finished 20^th in his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet and teammate Ryan Newman, in the No. 39 US Army Chevrolet, finished right behind him in 21^st.

“We just got caught behind the eight-ball there,” Stewart said. “We got a lap down and the next run we pitted, came back out and the No. 36 crashes.”

“It was just a domino effect,” Smoke continued. “As soon as we’d pit, the caution would come out again.”

Not Surprising: In addition to the stellar run of Mark Martin, the other two Michael Waltrip Racing cars, both in Chase contention, had decent, top-10 finishes at the Monster Mile. Martin Truex Jr. finished sixth and teammate Clint Bowyer finished ninth.

“Well, it wasn’t pretty at the beginning,” Truex Jr., driving the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, said. “But it was pretty damn pretty at the end.”

“It’s great a great finish for where we started,” Truex continued. “What a crazy day.”

“When you have days like that, you just have to keep fighting and we kept fighting and came out with a good results.”

Both Truex and Bowyer advanced two positions a piece in the point standings. Martin Truex Jr. is now eighth in points, 42 behind the leader, and Clint Bowyer is now fourth in points, 25 behind leader Keselowski.

Surprising: One racer, making her first start at the Monster Mile, expressed surprising comfort with the concept of a fuel mileage racing, in spite of finishing 38^th in her No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.

“I’m so used to the concept of fuel mileage racing that I don’t have any problem with it,” Patrick said. “Even at the start of the run I’m saving fuel already and they told me not to.”

“I was a little slow to start,” Patrick continued. “But we worked our way through it and made it better most every stop.”

“That is a good starting place for next year when we get here and that is the point of these races.”

Not Surprising: While pronouncing the finish ‘decent’, it was not surprising that the crew chief for NASCAR’s most popular driver was not particularly thrilled with the 11^th place finish of the No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mount Dew Chevrolet.

“We had a good car and we are fine with what we had,” Steve Letarte, crew chief for Dale Earnhardt, Jr., said. “To come here and not be good in practice and have a good car and feel like we could run in the top-five – that’s heading in the right direction.”

“We just need a little luck on our side.”

October 3, 2012
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 53^rd 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 21^st 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 25^th top-10 finish in 39 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is also his 11^th 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 13^th, 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 14^th in the point standings after his 36^th 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 22^nd, 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 35^th 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 34^th 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 29^th 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 7^th 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 11^th in the points with his 23^rd 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 11^th,” Kahne continued. “I felt like I probably lost 10 spots.”

“But we’re still in 11^th 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 6^that Atlanta, gaining one position in the point standings to 12^th, 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.”

September 4, 2012
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 11^th place due to a crazy restart, finishing the race in 12^th.

“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 18^th 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 19^th 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 22^nd 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 30^th.

“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 24^th 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.”

June 13, 2012
Pocono 400 Review: Logano Tames the Triangle

[media-credit id=43 align=”alignright” width=”268″][/media-credit]After starting on the pole on Sunday, Joey Logano claimed his second Cup win in 125 starts. The Joe Gibbs Driver broke a 104 race win-less streak to become the youngest driver to win at Pocono, at 22 years and seven days old. This is crew chief Jason Ratcliff’s first Cup win of his career and the No. 20 team became the 10th different winner of 2012.

“You work so hard to do this, and them teaming me up with Jason has been an awesome experience,” Logano said. “We’ve been growing together a lot lately and able to make our cars better. To get a victory, it meant so much, and 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.”

Earnhardt Oh So Close to Victory

Dale Earnhardt Jr. earned his Cup-best 11th top-10 finish of 2012, taking over second in points. Earnhardt led 36 laps on the 2.5 mile track and looked as if he would break the 4 year win-less drought looming over his head.

The driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet was leading with 35 laps remaining when a caution flag flew, leaving his crew chief Steve Letarte with a tough decision to make. If the race went green from that point on, Earnhardt would have been about five laps short on fuel. With this information, the team pitted twice in the remaining 35 laps to guarantee they would make it on fuel.

“We had a really, really good car,” Earnhardt said. “That was fun. That was the funnest car I’ve had all year and the best car I’ve had at Pocono in a long, long time. So, I’m just really trying not to be too upset about it because we did a lot of good things today and we’ve got a lot to look forward to.”

Although the team did make it on fuel, Earnhardt’s domination throughout the race ended with an eighth place finish. Earnhardt now resides in second position in standings, just 10 points behind leader Matt Kenseth.

Controversy Over Pit Road Penalties

The talk of the race surrounded the outstanding amount of infractions that occurred on pit road. There were 22 speeding penalties, the most in documented infraction history since 2006. Travis Kvapil was penalized four times for speeding on exit; David Reutimann was penalized three times – two for exiting and one entering; Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, AJ Allmendinger were each penalized twice.

Many drivers blamed the scoring timers on pit road for the speeding penalties. However, according to NASCAR’s vice president of competition, the problem was with the drivers.

“This track’s gone under a lot of reconfiguration since last year,” Robin Pemberton said after the race. “It’s a brand new pit road, all brand new loops, positions have been changed since last year. Sections were smaller than they were last year throughout pit road and, actually, the last section is a little bit bigger.”

Brad Keselowski, who finished in 18^th position after the penalties, had a different opinion on the infractions.

“It was obvious that the section had some kind of issue because I know both times I got busted I was under the limit with my tools that I have available,” said Keselowski. “I was consistent down pit road, so if I was speeding in that sector, I would have been speeding in the others — but it didn’t show that. I think there’s plenty of evidence to show that there is something wrong with that section timing.”

Johnson, who fell back to 22^nd after the penalties, rebounded to finish in fourth position.

Quicken Loans 400 Predictions

[media-credit name=”NASCAR.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]This weekend we head to Michigan International Speedway and all eyes will be on the No. 88 team where they captured their first and only point’s win for Hendrick Motorsports in 2008. After dominating most of the race at Pocono and finishing in the top 10 for the 11th time this season, expectations are high for the Cup veteran. Along with his win four years ago at this track, Earnhardt has four top-5 and eight top-10 finishes at Michigan and is looking to drive to victory lane once again.

Denny Hamlin is another driver who knows how to get the job done at MIS. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has two wins at this track, with five top-5 and seven top-10 finishes. Hamlin is currently fourth in Cup standings and has two wins so far this season.

Kevin Harvick is another driver to keep an eye on, with one win in 2010 and seven top 10 finishes. Harvick resides in sixth position in points, 53 points behind the leader. The Richard Childress Racing driver has yet to win a race this season, but has been very consistent with three top-5 and seven top-10 finishes.

Carl Edwards is itching to get his first win of the season, and MIS may be the track that he drives to victory lane at. The Roush Fenway Racing driver has impressive stats here, with two wins, nine top-5 and 12 top-10 finishes. Edwards is also looking to break into the top 10 in points, sitting in 11th position, 100 points behind leader and teammate Kenseth.

All quotes via NASCAR.com.

June 11, 2012
FedEx 400 Review: Predictions and Previews

Self Inflicted Bad Luck for Gordon

Jeff Gordon undoubtedly had the fastest car in the field on Sunday and even led a portion of the FedEx 400. After pit stops with about 150 laps to go, Gordon had to pit again for a loose wheel, forcing him to give up his lead position.

Gordon still had a good chance to win the race, after putting himself in the lead by four seconds, even after the loose wheel. Unfortunately for Gordon, being on a different pit cycle than the rest of the field, he had to pit with 76 laps to go. For Gordon to find the lead again, he needed the rest of the field to pit under green to cycle back around as the leader.

A caution flag waving 16 laps later for debris made it nearly impossible for Gordon to get back to the lead. Gordon did put himself back on the lead lap, but finished a disappointing 13th position.

[media-credit name=”Patrick McDermott/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]”The fastest car doesn’t always win the race,” Gordon said. “And we’re sitting here in 13th, or whatever — it’s silly. It’s always more frustrating when you’ve got a car that can win, and you show it by going up there and taking the lead.

“We don’t care about finishing top-15 or top-10 right now. That does nothing for us. We need wins.”

Gordon did gain one position in points, moving to 21st position, but is still 175 points behind the leader.

My view on Gordon’s bad luck this season is – every driver has an off season. This season is Gordon’s off season. He is a four-time champion of the Cup series and his bad luck can’t continue for long. For Gordon to make the Chase, he has to have wins now. The five upcoming races are tracks that Gordon can and has won at before.

Next week we head to Pocono Raceway where Gordon won just last year and has four previous wins at. He has scored two wins at Michigan International Speedway; five wins at Infineon Raceway; and 6 wins at Daytona International Speedway. He has not won at Kentucky Speedway, where the Cup series just started racing at last season; however, Gordon did finish in 10th position in the Quaker State 400 in 2011.

Earnhardt Improves Stats at Dover

Before the running of Sunday’s FedEx 400, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had not finished in the Top 10 at Dover International Speedway since September of 2007. Earnhardt Jr’s fourth-place finish on Sunday marks the 10th time in 13 races this season that he has finished in the Top 10. With this finish, Earnhardt has gained one spot in points standings moving to third, only 10 points behind the leader.

After starting in 17th position, Earnhardt reached the Top 10 in less than 100 laps. By the middle of the race, he was in the Top 5, where he ran the rest of the day.

“We are getting close,” Earnhardt said after finishing in fourth position. “We are finishing good when we are not winning. I can’t complain too much about how we are doing. We’ve got some tricky tracks coming up for us. The summer months aren’t really my thing, the tracks at least, but hopefully we can have some more good runs.”

Next weekend at Pocono mark four years and 143 races that Earnhardt has gone without a win. However, this is only his second season working with crew chief Steve Letarte, and we have already seen vast improvement among the team in 2012. With tracks that Earnhardt has won at coming up on the schedule – Daytona and Michigan – I expect Earnhardt to get his first win of the season soon.

Predictions for Pocono

Like I said before, Gordon’s luck will turn around; and what better track for him to do that at than Pocono? Gordon is the reigning winner of last year’s race and has four wins under his belt at this track. He has also scored two pole starting position here in 98’ and 96’.

“Bad” Brad Keselowski, who won last year’s fall race at Pocono can’t ever be counted out to win any race. Keselowski is sitting comfortably in 11th position in points, 86 points behind the leader, and is looking to get his third win of the season.

When NASCAR comes to Pocono, all eyes are on four-time winner, Denny Hamlin. Hamlin is the master of the tricky triangle, where he swept both races here in 2006 starting from the pole. He knows how to get the job done at this track and is eyeing the points lead, sitting in fourth position, just 22 points behind the leader.

[media-credit name=”Doug Pensinger/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”305″][/media-credit]The not-so underdogs of the race would have to be Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne. Biffle is the current point’s leader of the Cup standings and has one win at this track in 2010. Kahne, who won the race from the pole in 2008, is on a role from his win at Charlotte Motor Speedway two weeks ago. He has finally gotten the bad luck off of his shoulders and is ready to gain points and rise from his 14th position in standings.

Last but not least, you can’t count out five-time champ Jimmie Johnson who is still beaming from scoring Hendrick’s 200th win at Darlington. Johnson has won at Pocono twice in his career and has started on the pole twice at this track. He is currently sitting fifth position in points, 33 points behind the leader.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. quote via SPEEDTV.com

June 5, 2012
The Psychology of Talladega

[media-credit name=”Steven Iles” align=”alignright” width=”188″][/media-credit]While every track is unique, there are certain tracks on the NASCAR circuit that can just get into a driver’s head. This weekend’s track, Talladega Superspeedway, seems to be one of those, especially given its speed, intensity and the infamous ‘big one’ that so often occurs.

“There are certain things in the 36 race season that are special,” Dr. Jack Stark, a performance psychologist practicing in NASCAR as well as other sports, said. “Obviously Daytona is special. I think Bristol has some special appeal and there are a number of tracks that do.”

“But superspeedways and restrictor plate racing, especially at Talladega, is always special.”

Another interesting psychological aspect of Talladega, as well as other superspeedways, is that literally anyone can win. The prime example of that according to Dr. Stark is Trevor Bayne’s victory at last year’s Daytona 500.

“You can be 20^th with two laps to go and win it,” Stark said. “That’s another thing that is unique and keeps people glued to their seats until the end.”

Dr. Stark also credits the action at Talladega as making it especially challenging from a psychological perspective. But he believes that this weekend’s race may be especially action packed given the fact that some drivers who have been struggling this season to date may be trying very hard to turn their luck around.

“It’s been kind of a strange year so far because a lot of top drivers have had bad luck and struggled at various tracks,” Stark said. “So, yes, there will be some drivers that will be pressing.”

“Every driver has tracks where they run better, whether it is a short track, an intermediate track or a superspeedway,” Stark continued. “Some of the young guys just like to go fast and there are others who have been on dirt that like the sliding around.”

“But at this track this weekend, the drivers will be definitely going hard.”

One of the teams that may be pressing for the ‘Dega win most diligently is Hendrick Motorsports, who as a team have been trying to score that elusive 200^th victory for the organization ever since the green flag dropped at Daytona.

But Dr. Stark, who has served as the team psychologist at HMS for the last eleven years, acknowledges that there is constant pressure to succeed at that organization.

“There’s always pressure on them to win,” Stark said. “In some respects, it’s come pretty easy in the past.”

“Last year, there were three drivers in the Chase but this year, the team doesn’t have a win,” Stark continued. “It’s frustrating and disappointing to the organization as it is so used to doing better.”

“The team has had some good luck and bad luck but not enough luck to win yet.”

Dr. Stark acknowledged that one driver in particular in the Hendrick organization especially feels the brunt of the psychological pressure of coming to the Talladega race weekend. But he also feels strongly that the driver and crew chief combination in place for that team will be the key to overcoming that pressure packed race.

“I don’t think there is another athlete in the world that has the following and the high hopeful expectations of the fan base that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has,” Stark said. “It’s quite amazing to walk through the garage and look at the fans who just want him to win so badly.”

“So many people root for him and care for him and he is a special guy who doesn’t want to let them down,” Stark continued. “Everybody puts a ton of pressure on him for different reasons.”

“Stevie (Letarte) is absolutely the perfect crew chief for Dale Junior,” Stark said. “I think that was one of the more brilliant moves that Rick Hendrick ever made.”

“The relationship between a driver and crew chief is all about chemistry and they spend more time together than with your spouse or girl friend,” Stark continued. “So, you’ve got to be really, really in sync.”

“Stevie is a great people person and handles Junior beautifully,” Stark said. “Stevie and Dale Junior will be ready for Talladega this weekend.”

In addition to his work with Hendrick Motorsports, Dr. Stark has further advice and counsel for all of the 43 drivers set to compete in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega this race weekend. First and foremost, he counsels the drivers must put any negative feelings right out of their minds.

“The driver just has to block out any negativity he or she may have about the track,” Stark said. “There is a feeling that you may have the best car but it’s a crap shoot at the superspeedways.”

“So, some drivers convince themselves that the racing there is not so much a function of skill but of luck,” Stark continued. “I try to convince drivers that it is a strategy race too.”

“Let’s figure out how to do this because you can be in the back and draft up and you can play the strategy game and win.”

Dr. Stark also acknowledges that lurking in the back of every driver’s mind at the superspeedways is that element of danger. He said it has been especially present since the recent passing of Dan Wheldon in the IndyCar Series in a horrific crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last fall.

“You’re going such high speeds and things can happen,” Stark said. “It’s interesting from a psychology point of view.”

“Each driver has their own defense mechanisms,” Stark continued. “Some act like they are not into it but what I find is that every one of them wants to win and are very intense about it.”

“Some seem nonchalant and others seem very focused,” Stark said. “It all depends on their personality and is a function of past experiences at the track.”

“It’s their way of coping,” Stark continued. “Some guys have to keep busy and joke around to prepare, while others are listening to hip hop music. Each has their own approach and I have to be careful not to judge their coping mechanisms.”

“The Dan Wheldon tragedy had a huge impact on a lot of people,” Stark said. “Nobody quit driving because of it but it is in the back of everyone’s minds.”

“I do think down the road we may see drivers not driving to the Mark Martin age,” Stark continued. “If you really dug into it and talked to those who retired recently, many have promised their spouse that they would stop driving.”

Another stressful element of the sport, even though the season is young with just nine races under the drivers’ belts, is the demanding schedule imposed on all involved. Dr. Stark acknowledges that is another important element that must be managed from a psychological perspective.

“Some of the stress is not just the danger but the demands of the sport,” Stark said. “NASCAR is the most demanding sport that I’ve ever been a part of and I’ve been a part of every sport, from basketball, football, hockey, the Olympics.”

“NASCAR is just the most difficult.”

So, what would Dr. Stark’s sage counsel be for the drivers that are headed off to Talladega, one of the most physically and psychologically demanding tracks on the NASCAR circuit, for this race weekend?

“I counsel drivers to try to drive intensely relaxed,” Stark said. “I know that is a dichotomy, but you have to relax in the intensity.”

“It’s definitely all about pacing yourself,” Stark said. “You will definitely need a relaxed intensity at Talladega this weekend.”

May 3, 2012
Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Coca Cola 600

After exceptionally exciting finishes in the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 earlier in the day, all signs pointed to a stellar finish in one of NASCAR’s biggest races of the season. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”260″][/media-credit]Surprising: With several of the sport’s biggest races won by first-timers this season, including Trevor Bayne’s story book win at the Daytona 500 and Regan Smith’s unpredicted win at Darlington, it was a bit surprising that no first time winner stood in Victory Lane after the Coke 600.

One driver, however, came mighty close. David Ragan, who had snagged the Showdown win to make it into the All-Star Race the weekend before, almost pulled off his own Cinderella-like story, falling short of the win by just one position.

Ragan, in his No. 6 UPS “We Love Logistics” Ford, finished second, scoring his highest career finish in the Coca Cola 600.

“We had a strong car all day,” Ragan said. “That’s a finish that we deserved, but we just went about doing it the hard way.”

Not Surprising: After all those laps and all those miles, it was not surprising to see the Coca Cola 600 come down to a green, white checkered finish. And it was equally unsurprising to see one driver that is becoming well-known for his stealth finishes to come from nowhere and snag another victory.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Armed Forces Tribute Chevrolet, did just that to lead the last 400 feet of the race and take the checkered flag for his fifth top 10 and second top five in 21 starts at Charlotte.

“We were lucky,” Harvick said. “It’s nothing against the race track, I just don’t like racing here. But to be in Victory Lane, it says a lot about this Budweiser team.”

“This is a huge accomplishment for us,” Harvick continued, admitting that he had struggled with his car and team throughout the race. “This is a hell of a race to win. We’re going to celebrate it like it’s our last one.”

Surprising: After leading the race on the final lap, seeing the checkered flag, and then running out of gas, it was surprising how positive Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was after the race. Junior limped to the finish line on fumes to finish seventh in his No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet.

Echoing his ever upbeat crew chief Steve Letarte, Earnhardt, Jr. said, “I’m disappointed we didn’t win, but if we would’ve won, it would have been a gift.”

“We ran good tonight,” Junior continued. “I’m proud.”

Not Surprising: In contrast to the positive, proud vibes in the Dale Jr. camp, it was not surprising that there was a whole lot of swearing going on in his teammate Jimmie Johnson’s camp. In fact, crew chief Chad Knaus dropped the F-bomb on national television when Johnson’s engine expired with just five laps to go in the race.

This was the first engine failure for Hendrick Motorsports this season and it forced Johnson to a 28^th place finish in his No. 48 Lowes Summer Salutes Chevrolet. Johnson also fell one spot, from second to third, in the point standings.

Surprising: Although the Coca Cola 600 is the longest race of the season, it was surprising to see the number of engine failures that occurred. In addition to Jimmie Johnson, Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart all experienced engine issues.

For Jamie McMurray, behind the wheel of the No. 1 Bass Pro Shop/Convoy of Hope for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, this engine failure signified the sixth of the season for the ECR engine builders.

“It started shaking and one second later, it was ‘boom,’” McMurray said.

Hamlin, on the other hand, was able to recover after his engine issues, with his No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota team doing a yeoman’s job of changing out the carburetor. Hamlin managed a top ten finish, which boosted him into the top twelve Chase contenders.

Stewart also suffered engine woes in the waning laps of the race, radioing crew chief Darian Grubb that something was amiss with less than 20 laps to go. Stewart, in his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, finished 17^th, scoring his 10^th top-20 finish to date.

Not Surprising: In addition to engine woes, it was not surprising that many other teams were plagued with other types of mechanical problems, from overheating to radio problems.

Greg Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M Ford, seemed ready to implode from overheating issues in his car early in the race. Biffle was, however, able to overcome, rallying back to lead laps at the end. Unfortunately, he too succumbed to not having enough gas, having to make a splash and go stop at the end, which relegated him to a 13^th place finish.

Jeff Gordon, piloting the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, also struggled and battled radio issues early in the race. Gordon too looked strong at the end of the show, only to have to pit for gas as well. Gordon finished 20^th, falling two positions to 16^th in the point standings.

Surprising: Serving as a substitute driver for Trevor Bayne and making his Cup debut, it was surprising how well Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. did in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Stenhouse, Jr. managed to bring his car home in the 11^th position even after having several close encounters with the wall.

“That was interesting,” Stenhouse, Jr. said. “I hit the wall a couple of times, the caution came back out and it worked great for us.”

“I’m just glad I got this opportunity.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising that after Stenhouse, Jr. and Bayne prayed together before the race, Bayne playfully pushed his friend out of the way and tried to get behind the wheel of his race car. After five weeks of being out of his car due to a mystery illness, Bayne was most certainly chomping at the bit to get back to racing.

Bayne reinforced that desire by tweeting after the race, “This was by far the hardest weekend to sit back and watch! Can’t wait to be back in action!!”

Surprising: In the battle of the Busch brothers, it was surprising that this weekend Kurt Busch prevailed, finishing fourth in his Shell/Pennzoil No. 22 Dodge, while baby brother Kyle took a wild ride through the grass and then another spin, finishing 32^nd in his No. 18 M&Ms Toyota.

“The race was 600 miles and it felt like 800,” Dave Rogers, Busch’s crew chief, said. “Kyle was trying to make something out of nothing and it got away from him. We ended our day a little early.”

Not Surprising: Not surprisingly, one driver who never expected to even make the show captured the true spirit of the Memorial Day race weekend. David Starr, behind the wheel of the No. 95 Jordan Truck Sales.com Ford Fusion crashed early in the race, finishing 36^th. Yet this is what he had to say.

“This was a great weekend,” Starr said. “I’m just honored and blessed to be driving this Ford Fusion.”

“It was awesome out there,” Starr continued. “It was a big honor to race in the Coca Cola 600 even though it ended up like this. I’m really blessed.”

May 30, 2011
Steve Letarte: Encouragement Key to Crew Chiefing Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

When listening to the in-race audio channel for the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, many credit crew chief Steve Letarte with being the consummate cheerleader and encourager for his driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

[media-credit name=”Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”220″][/media-credit]While Letarte admits that he is a positive kind of guy, he also credits NASCAR’s most popular driver as being equally encouraging.

“Being positive is not something that I consciously do,” Letarte said. “I think it’s just my personality.”

“Mr. Hendrick is big into personality tests and I’m a green,” Letarte continued. “I normally look at the brighter side of things.”

“They all think it’s a plan or a theory on how we’re going to run the best,” Letarte said. “It’s just who I am and how I work.”

“I’ve always worked this way,” Letarte continued. “I worked the same way with Jeff (Gordon) and Mr. Hendrick decided that I’d work very well with Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) and so far it’s worked out.”

“It’s different for each race car driver but for Dale, I think being upbeat on the radio helps him,” Letarte said. “But there’s a line too. You can’t be a cheerleader with no facts, because that gets old and you kind of see right through it.”

“I think Dale understands that I’m realistic about what I’m talking about and I’m not going to sit there and try to motivate him to do things I don’t think we are capable of doing,” Letarte said. “I think we’ve found a very good line of what’s a realistic goal and then we try to motivate and encourage each other to get to those goals.”

“And it’s worked,” Letarte continued. “Dale’s done a tremendous job in the race car and he’s encouraged us and given us a lot of confidence in ourselves setting up race cars.”

“His driving style suits our cars very well,” Letarte said. “So, overall it’s been a success. It’s still early but so far, so good.”

While Letarte admits that his team owner no doubt purposely paired him with Earnhardt, Jr., he feels that a positive and encouraging crew chief is good for any driver, particularly at NASCAR’s highest level, the Sprint Cup Series.

“It’s good for anybody,” Letarte said. “I always put myself in their shoes.”

“The difference between a crew chief and a race car driver is that I can take a break,” Letarte continued. “I can get down off the pit box and go get a water and relax and take a 30 second break from the race, and they can’t.”

Letarte has indeed learned his encouraging crew chief style from some of the best in the business, from Ray Evernham to Robbie Loomis, both former crew chiefs for four-time champion Jeff Gordon.

“The biggest thing I’ve done is been able to work with so many good motivators and encouragers that I’ve been able to take a piece of all of them,” Letarte said. “Ray (Evernham) was the ultimate motivator.”

“Ray motivated by the fear of not being good enough,” Letarte continued. “Robbie (Loomis) was the opposite. He motivated with the excitement of being good enough.”

“And I try to be somewhere in the middle,” Letarte said. “I want everybody to have enough desire to try and succeed but at the same time be balanced.”

While Letarte works hard to be that consummate encourager and motivator, Letarte admits that he sometimes succumbs to the dark side.

“I’m the guy that everyone has to be careful of because I’m a little Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” Letarte admits. “I’m really, really easy going but when practice or the race starts, I’m really, really not.”

“The guys that have been around me a long time have learned that and they almost go two separate ways because they know,” Letarte continued. “It gets some of the newer employees in trouble because they will come across light-hearted and I’m not light-hearted at that moment.”

Letarte also admits that he has little tolerance for driver to crew chief chatter that in any way is not encouraging or worse yet, berates the team. He acknowledges that his driver may get animated or excited but he would in no way allow his driver to throw the team under the bus.

“I don’t think I would have the tolerance that some of the other crew chiefs have,” Letarte said. “I’m fine with the driver being frustrated and I’m fine with him being animated or disappointed.”

“But I’m not OK with any personal attacks on the race team or anyone on the team,” Letarte continued. “If you put me with a driver like that, we wouldn’t last very long.”

“I handle all my issues behind closed doors,” Letarte said. “That’s how Dale and I handle all our stuff.”

“We close the door and he can say anything he wants to me and I can say anything I want to him,” Letarte continued. “That’s the only way you can move forward.”

With that open communication style, Letarte is most encouraged that his driver, and most important, his team will soon be in Victory Lane.

“I am absolutely hungry for a win,” Letarte said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Victory Lane.”

“Of course, I would like to get to Victory Lane but more than anything else, my driver and these guys deserve to get to Victory Lane,” Letarte said. “I have a group of guys who have stuck with me through the ups and downs. They work tireless hours. They’re the guys that deserve to have that feeling.”

Given that he has not been to the winner’s circle yet this season, to whom does Steve Letarte turn to when he needs a little encouragement? For that, he moves from his driver and race team to his family for encouragement, particularly his children.

“I think having kids has also helped me,” Letarte said. “I have a 5 and 7 year old so maybe I take things a little slower and enjoy it a little more.”

“Family, I think, it puts it all in perspective,” Letarte said. “I remember in 2005 when I took over as crew chief, we went to Martinsville and we won.”

“And I came home and I was so excited and my little boy at the time was not quite two and he could have cared less,” Letarte continued. “He didn’t even realize there was a race that day.”

“I realized at that point that the whole world didn’t revolve around the garage and the whole world didn’t revolve around my performance at the race track,” Letarte said. “And while that’s hard to understand because you’re caught up in it so much, that’s true.”

“Life is way more important than your job,” Letarte continued. “While our jobs here feel like life, and they are, at some point you have to pull away.”

“I think that’s my ticket as I have an outlet outside this garage where I spend time with my kids and my family,” Letarte said. “I realize at that point that the world’s not coming to an end if we run bad.”

“I enjoy my job and I love what I do,” Letarte continued. “I don’t take that for granted. I love to race but I race for a living.”

“At the same time it’s important to be successful and to be successful in this sport, it’s all about having to run well on Sunday afternoon,” Letarte said. “And that’s what Dale Junior and I encourage each other to do.”

May 17, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Jeff Byrd 500 at Bristol

From remembering one of race fans’ best friends to the beating and banging on the track, racing at Bristol Motor Speedway is always one of the favorite destinations on the NASCAR circuit. Here is what is surprising and not surprising for this weekend’s Jeff Byrd 500.Barry Albert

Surprising: One of the biggest surprises happened before Billy Ray Cyrus sang the National Anthem and Jeff Byrd’s family gave the command to start the engines in his memory. NASCAR and Goodyear had to make a command decision, replacing the tires for the race.

Unfortunately, the original tires did not rubber up the track and in fact disintegrated instead. So, new tires were quickly ordered up from North Carolina and delivered just in time for practice and the race, necessitating a competition caution at Lap 50.

Not Surprising: In spite of the booing from the crowd when his signature song “Rowdy Busch” was played during driver introductions, it was not surprising at all to see the broom in the hand of winner Kyle Busch at race end. This was Busch’s fifth win in a row at Bristol and he swept both the Nationwide and Cup races for the weekend.

Busch dedicated his 20^th victory in NASCAR Sprint Cup competition to Toyota and all affected by the recent earthquake in Japan. The driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota also made history, tying driver Speedy Thompson for 33^rd on the career victories list.

“This M&Ms Camry was awesome today,” Busch said. “Also, our thoughts and prayers go to the Toyota folks and all those in Japan.”

“You’ve got to be patient and sometimes you’ve got to go for it,” Busch continued. “Our guys won this race in the pits coming out first on that last stop.”

Surprising: Paul Menard continues to lead the charge for Richard Childress Racing, in spite of being the ‘new kid on the block.’ The driver of the bright yellow No. 27 CertainTeed/Menards Chevrolet even took the lead at Bristol at lap 20, positioning himself at the front for the first time in his career at Bristol.

Menard finished fifth in the race, also advancing his position in the point standings to fifth.

“I had a fast race car all weekend,” Menard said. “What’s cool is we’ve been to four different race tracks and we’ve had strong runs at all four. We’re just having a lot of fun right now.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising that if Carl Edwards was not celebrating a win with a back flip, he was sitting right there yet again in the runner up position. Behind the wheel of his No. 99 Scotts EZSeed Ford, Edwards admitted that he simply could not catch his Phoenix rival Kyle Busch.

“It was exciting,” Edwards said. “I thought I could get to him at the end and rough him up a little bit and maybe get by him, but his car took off.”

“It was a good race at Bristol,” Edwards continued. “Kyle did a good job. Our team did a good job. We’ve got to thank all the fans and we appreciate them coming out and supporting us.”

Surprising: Matt Kenseth actually had a great run at Bristol and was even somewhat effusive, particularly for the usually dry driver of the No. 17 Crown Royal Black Ford. Kenseth finished fourth in the race and jumped to 13^th in the point standings.

“We had a lot of fun out there racing today and got lucky and got the right lane on the restarts a few times,” Kenseth said. “It took all day but we finally were able to make some adjustments that had the Crown Royal Black Fusion pretty decent.”

Not Surprising: To no one’s amazement, it does indeed seem that five time champ Jimmie Johnson has figured out Bristol Motor Speedway. And it was certainly not surprising to see the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet lead laps and get a great finish out of ‘Thunder Valley’.

While Johnson first had to overcome the driver introduction song picked out for him by Brian Vickers, the “Thong Song” of all things, the reigning champion recovered his dignity with a third place finish. Johnson also jumped five spots in the points, currently sitting in the seventh spot.

“Oddly enough, clean air is important here and that was kind of it,” Johnson said. “It came down to that last pit stop and we didn’t get out of the pits first. So, it was the rest of us racing for second, third and fourth.”

Surprising: It was a bit surprising to see two drivers, Trevor Bayne and Jeff Gordon, both winners in the young 2011 season, struggle so mightily at Bristol Motor Speedway. After starting in the seventh spot, Gordon just could not get comfortable in his No. 24 Pepsi Max Chevrolet, finally bringing it home in the 14^th spot.

Trevor Bayne, one of Gordon’s biggest fans and the Daytona 500 winner, had a miserable day at his home track. Bayne was involved in the wreck that brought out the first caution flag of the day and never recovered, finishing 34^th in his Wood Brothers Chevrolet.

Not Surprising: NASCAR’s favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. just keeps rolling along. In spite of a speeding penalty and with the encouragement of his ever optimistic crew chief Steve Letarte, Junior bounced back to finish 11^th, just missing out on his third top-10 finish in a row.

The NASCAR circuit will now trek back across the country to Fontana, California. Drivers will compete in the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, March 27^th, with the broadcasts set for 3:00 PM ET on FOX and MRN.

March 21, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: PIR Subway Fresh Fit 500

After one of the most exciting Daytona 500 finishes, the Cup Series promptly headed west to Phoenix International Raceway. Although it actually rained a bit in the Valley of the Sun, the second race of the NASCAR season, the Subway Fresh Fit 500, was filled with its own share of surprises.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”292″][/media-credit]Surprising: In contrast to the youngest winner, 20 year old Trevor Bayne, celebrating in Victory Lane after his Daytona 500 win last week, a 39 year old veteran driver was finally able to celebrate a victory, ending a 66 race winless streak. After receiving a big bear hug from team owner Rick Hendrick, the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, Jeff Gordon, stood relieved and overwhelmed with emotion in Victory Lane.

What seemed to mean the most to Gordon, in addition to beating Kyle Busch of course, was how the fans embraced his win.

“Man, we just beat Kyle Busch!” Gordon said after getting out of his race car. “Are you kidding me? Pinch me, pinch me.”

“I don’t really care how we do it because we just wanted to get to Victory Lane,” Gordon said. “But to do it that way, leading the most laps, and to see the fans’ reaction. What an awesome feeling it is.”

“God, it feels so amazing,” Gordon said. “I’ve got to say thanks to the fans.”

With the win at PIR, his 83rd, Gordon officially tied Cale Yarborough for fifth in NASCAR’s all-time win list. Gordon also catapulted up 21 spots in the points, now in the fifth position.

Not Surprising: It was not surprising that Kyle Busch, who had won both the Truck and Nationwide Series races at PIR, was right there nipping at Gordon’s heels in the final laps. Busch battled back from an early incident to give Gordon a run for his money, just coming short of the sweep by finishing as the runner up.

After paying homage to Gordon, Busch then apologized for getting into Carl Edwards, whose pole sitting race car was totally wrecked as a result of the contact.

“It was unintentional,” Busch said. “All that aside, we came through a lot of adversity and kept battling through everything that was thrown at us. There at the end, Jeff just had a better car than us and flat out passed me.”

Surprising: In a flashback moment to Daytona, there was actually a ‘big one’ at Phoenix International Raceway. Thirteen cars were involved, including the likes of Brian Vickers, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, David Ragan, Regan Smith and David Reutimann to name a few. The race actually had to be red-flagged in order to allow for the extensive clean up needed.

Clint Bowyer summed up his take on the ‘big one’ up best. “I’m pretty disgusted with the whole thing,” Bowyer said. “Our day is done.”

Not Surprising: Whether as a result of the big one or smaller skirmishes on the track, there were several drivers who were unhappy with one another, sparking the first rivalries of the season. One of the biggest differences of opinion occurred between Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch, who clashed in an early incident.

“In my opinion, this was the car to win,” Edwards said after his tussle with Busch. “That’s too bold a move to make early in the race. We had been in the running for the race win.”

Other cross words were exchanged between Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth after getting into one another.

“Matt wrecked us,” Vickers said simply. “It’s coming back to him.”

Surprising: One of the most surprising finishes was for NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. After receiving a penalty for entering too fast into his pit, sliding through his pit stall, and breaking a wheel off the jack, Junior rallied back for a top ten finish.

Not Surprising: Rick Hendrick’s wisdom in making his giant crew chief swap amongst the Hendrick drivers, sans Jimmie Johnson, certainly became evident at this race. Thanks to his pairing of Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the new duo was able to rally back from adversity, with Letarte serving as head cheerleader. And of course, the driver in Victory Lane, Jeff Gordon, credited his new crew chief pairing with Alan Gustafson, with getting him back to winning ways.

Surprising and Not Surprising: It was surprising, yet not surprising, that last week’s winner Trevor Bayne had such a difficult time at Phoenix. He wrecked his primary car in practice and had the same experience in his back up car in the race. Bayne hit the wall hard, bringing out the third caution in the race and totally destroying the rear end of his No. 21 Wood Brothers race car.

“I don’t know what happened,” Bayne said after the wreck. “That’s tough coming off of our high at Daytona to come to this, but we’ve got a great race team behind us.”

“We’ll be back at Vegas,” Bayne continued. “I hate it ended this way this weekend, but we’ll be back.”

Indeed all of the Sprint Cup drivers will be back and this time they will try their luck on the track in Sin City. The Kobalt Tools 400 will run at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 6^th at 3:00 PM and will be broadcast on FOX and PRN.

February 27, 2011