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Tag: Stewart-Hass Racing

  • Briscoe’s team penalized following Homestead

    Briscoe’s team penalized following Homestead

    A race that had a difficult start but concluded with a strong comeback concluded with a disappointing outcome for Chase Briscoe and his No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford team following the Hooter’s 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    It started even before the drop of the green flag when a piece of ballast came off of Briscoe’s car and was situated on the track during the pace laps. Briscoe was then directed by NASCAR to pit as his crew went to work to replace the missing ballast from his car. By the time Briscoe returned to the track while serving a pass-through penalty for having too many crew members over the pit wall, he was six laps behind the field. From there, Briscoe spent the entire race making up the laps he lost from the leaders.

    When the first stage concluded, he was three laps behind. By the time the second stage concluded, he was one lap behind. When the caution flew with seven laps remaining following a single-car wreck, Briscoe took the wave around to return to the lead lap and was then able to race from 11th to seventh when the checkered flag flew. Briscoe’s seventh-place result was his seventh top-10 finish of this season.

    “It was definitely a frustrating day, but we can’t hang our heads,” Briscoe said. “We had another really good, fast race car and we just made a silly mistake this week and forgot something. Last week, I made a silly mistake on pit road, so it all evens out. The positive is that we had a really fast race car. In fact, I felt like we were the fastest car by quite a bit. The good thing is we get another chance at it tomorrow and hopefully, we can put it all together and not make any mistakes and get another win.”

    Following the race, however, Briscoe’s team was hit with a major penalty as a result of the ballast that separated from his car prior to the race. As a result of violating rule 12.5.2.7.4.d. from the NASCAR RuleBook, crew chief Richard Boswell, car chief Nick Hutchins and engineer D.J. Vanderley have been suspended for the next four series races, beginning with the second Homestead race on June 14. Briscoe’s post-race penalty does not come with any fine nor points implications as he is second in the standings, trailing points leader Noah Gragson by 18 points.

    This marks the second time this season where a team was hit with a safety violation as a result of ballast loss from a car. In May, Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team was also penalized for a loss of ballast prior to the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a penalty that resulted in Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gabehart, car chief Brandon Griffeth and engineer Scott Simmons being suspended for the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series races.

  • Bowyer notches fourth career Cup Series pole at Auto Club Speedway

    Bowyer notches fourth career Cup Series pole at Auto Club Speedway

    With a time of 40.086 seconds and a speed of 179.614 mph, Kansas native Clint Bowyer qualified on the pole for this Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Raceway. Bowyer narrowly edged out fan-favorite Jimmie Johnson for the pole by 0.007 seconds. However, the qualifying run surprised the Stewart-Haas Racing driver.

    “Certainly that is where you want to be,” Bowyer said. “Honestly, I didn’t really see that in the car. We didn’t run a qualifying lap yesterday. We made some changes in happy hour and the car kind of woke up and showed some speed but honestly, we were kind of focused on downforce and doing what we needed to do in traffic.”

    “That being said, that thing rocketed to the top there and he told me the lap time and I was like, ‘Damn, I think that is on the pole.’ Again, the sun was coming out and that changed the qualifying day quite a bit as the sun came out and it was right before us. I was watching the Gibbs cars go and you could see on SMT with the data we have now you can visibly see everyone starting to really jerk on the wheel in the middle of one and two and get loose. I was like, ‘Oh damn, here I go. I am fixing to see the same thing.’ Sure enough, I got in there and she just kind of slid in the slot and I didn’t have to chase it up the track.”

    “I just gave it one big catch and it pointed and shot off the corner and I was able to keep the throttle down. Then you see the 48 car, the last car out, the story of his last race at home. I figured there was no way we were going to win. I was better coming to the green and then better through one and two but then all of a sudden off of two he had a really good run and got ahead of me into three and four. Honestly, he was ahead of me off of four even, but I just pulled it down just a little bit more than he did down the front straightaway and just barely got him. That is what qualifying is all about with this product where you are all but wide open. It comes down to your balance and how the car is trimmed out and things like that. It makes it interesting and nerve-wracking as well because it is all so close.”

    For now, this will be Jimmie Johnson’s last race at his hometown racetrack in Southern California. The California native just almost knocked out Bowyer for the pole but had to settle for second. Despite not getting the pole, Sunday’s race will be just as special for Johnson, as his kids will get to wave the green flag to start the race.

    “It will be super special,” Johnson said. “I wish we were one spot further ahead and clearly off turn four there I ran a little more distance to the start-finish. It is such a fine balance to try to understand how much you can open up and let the engine run. Clearly I did too much, but that’s just the competitor in me. Very special weekend for me and I can’t wait to see my girls up in the flag stand waving the green flag.”

    There was more qualifying news as both Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. failed inspection. Busch failed twice and was still able to do a qualifying lap, while Truex failed three times and did not get to post a lap. Both Busch and Truex will be starting from the rear tomorrow.

    Tomorrow’s race can be seen on FOX with a start time of 3:30 p.m. ET.

    Starting lineup:

    1. Clint Bowyer
    2. Jimmie Johnson
    3. Alex Bowman
    4. Kurt Busch, will start in the rear
    5. Kevin Harvick
    6. Aric Almirola
    7. Joey Logano
    8. Michael McDowell
    9. Kyle Larson
    10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    11. Chris Buescher
    12. Matt DiBenedetto
    13. Chase Elliott
    14. Bubba Wallace
    15. Brad Keselowski
    16. Ryan Blaney
    17. Kyle Busch
    18. Cole Custer
    19. Tyler Reddick
    20. Ryan Preece
    21. William Byron
    22. Christopher Bell
    23. John Hunter Nemechek
    24. Ty Dillon
    25. Austin Dillon
    26. Corey LaJoie
    27. Ross Chastain
    28. Denny Hamlin
    29. Erik Jones
    30. J.J. Yeley
    31. Daniel Suarez
    32. Brennan Poole
    33. Reed Sorenson
    34. Joey Gase
    35. Quin Houff
    36. Garrett Smithley
    37. Timmy Hill
    38. Martin Truex Jr. – did not make a qualifying run due to inspection failures

  • Cole Custer wins XFinity Pole at New Hampshire

    Cole Custer wins XFinity Pole at New Hampshire

    Cole Custer continued his hot streak by winning the pole for Saturday afternoon’s Roxor 200 at a hot and steamy New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    “I didn’t know it was going to be a pole lap honestly,” Custer said after the qualifying. “I thought I could’ve hit it a little bit better. This Haas Automation Mustang has been the best car I have had in New Hampshire in a long time. I can’t thank Mike Shiplett and everybody enough. They brought a really fast car and hopefully we can stay up front today.”

    Christopher Bell will start second, followed by Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe rounding out the top five.

    Brandon Jones will start sixth, followed by Harrison Burton, Justin Allgaier, Ryan Truex and Noah Gragson to round out the top 10.

    Tyler Reddick will start 11th for this afternoon’s race.

    After crashing in practice, Camden Murphy attempted to go out and qualify in his Mike Harmon Entry but during his pace lap, he felt something was wrong and went back down onto pit road and did not record a lap.

    The ROXOR 200 will get underway at 4 p.m. ET and will be televised on NBCSN.

  • Kahne, Hendrick Motorsports’ Struggles Continue

    Kahne, Hendrick Motorsports’ Struggles Continue

    It’s no secret that Kasey Kahne has struggled to contend for wins in the past three seasons. In his last 84 starts, Kahne has just one win, eight top five finishes and an average finish of 17.3. Those certainly doesn’t sound like the numbers of a Hendrick Motorsports driver.

    Beyond Kahne’s struggles, it seems as though HMS, in general, is down this season,thanks mainly to Joe Gibbs Racing. The only driver that is a true threat this season at the organization, is, of course, Jimmie Johnson; he’s the only Hendrick driver to win in 2016.

    There’s no question that Chase Elliott has turned some heads, he’s been consistent each week, but he hasn’t truly battled for a win yet this season though he’s been knocking on the door.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. remains winless this season, averaging a 15th place finish. He’s had three runner-up finishes, those coming at Atlanta, Texas and Bristol. His runner-up finishes though have been overshadowed by the seven races he’s finished outside of the top 10.

    Don’t get me wrong, Hendrick Motorsports is still a threat to win each weekend, but the new dynasty in NASCAR in recent years is Joe Gibbs Racing. Including the races that have taken place this season and last, Joe Gibbs Racing has combined for an impressive 21 wins in 48 races; that’s almost half of the races. HMS has just 11 wins in those same 48 races, still not bad, but not even close to the new powerhouse in NASCAR.

    That aside, back to Kahne.

    Since Stewart-Hass  Racing announced their move to Ford in 2017, there has been a lot of speculation that Kevin Harvick might jump ship to HMS next season to stick with Chevy, presumably taking over for Kahne. Harvick quickly put those rumors to bed on Twitter denying any truth to them.

    Since those rumors have been squashed for the time being, another question remains. Is Kahne safe at Hendrick? Even with their struggles to find speed this season, Kahne is still the odd man out at HMS. In my opinion, Kahne hasn’t proven much while being at Hendrick Motorsports since joining in 2012. The only thing he’s proven is that he is not a real threat during the season or in the Chase.

    Although Harvick has denied a move to Hendrick, sometimes there is truth to rumors. I’m not saying Harvick is moving to HMS, however, you have to wonder if Kahne’s years at Hendrick are numbered and if a possible buyout is on the horizon. If Kahne doesn’t turn it around, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new face behind the wheel of the No. 5 car in the near future.

     

  • Danica returning to site of her best performance of the season

    Danica returning to site of her best performance of the season

    Martinsville Speedway was not the site of Danica Patrick’s best finish of the season. That, of course, was the season opening Daytona 500. The spring race at Martinsville, however, was the site of her most impressive performance.

    When Patrick sat on the pole at Daytona, her critics instantly began saying “Well anybody can qualify at Daytona”. After she stayed near the front for most of the day and finished a very respectable eighth, the critics continued, “Well, it’s Daytona, anyone can run well at restrictor plate tracks”.

    The flat half-mile paperclip, has been referred to by many drivers all week as the toughest track on the schedule. In the STP Gas Booster 500 earlier this season, Patrick qualified a dismal 32nd. Qualifying has not been her strong suit. She followed that up with a very impressive run in the race, however.

    Patrick fought her way through the field into the top-15. She then got involved in a spin and had to restart at the near the rear of the field. She started the process again, fighting her way back to the front and into the top-10, accomplishing the feat not only once, but twice.

    She appeared well on her way to a top-10 finish until some late race beating and banging with Brian Vickers bumped her just outside the top-10 finishing 12th. Funny, we didn’t hear the critics praising her for her good performance.

    Patrick’s run at Martinsville was very impressive, especially for a rookie. That is one thing we all seem to forget in regards to her – she is a rookie. Many of the top drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series had less than stellar years in their rookie season. Patrick’s is no different.

    She has also torn up several racecars this season, but, so did four-time series champion, Jeff Gordon. Also, let’s not forget the rookie year for Tim Richmond, he hit everything but the pace car! Let’s at least give her the opportunity to learn before we rule her out as someone who will never make it in this series.

    While Patrick may not contend for the win in Sunday’s Goody’s 500, she may very well find herself in the top-10. When all the drivers a person races against every week, point out how tough a track is, hopefully, they will respect the results a driver get at that track. If Patrick repeats her success this weekend, it will be interesting to see if the critics step-up and give her credit for a job well done.