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  • Castroneves Takes the Pocono IndyCar Pole; Kimball Crashes Hard

    Castroneves Takes the Pocono IndyCar Pole; Kimball Crashes Hard

    Helio Castroneves, driver of the No. 3 Shell V-Power Team Penske Chevrolet, scored the pole for the ABC Supply 500, with his two Penske teammates nipping at his heels.

    “I didn’t lift,” Castroneves said. “It was a good day and a solid run. I could not believe it. The car was just unbelievable. It was flawless. I didn’t lift and just kept going.”

    This was Castroneves’ fourth Verizon P1 Award of the season and his 45th career pole. His pole-winning two-lap average speed was 220.530 mph.

    “Wow, that’s great,” Castroneves said of his pole honors. “I’m not done yet. I want to keep going and I’m full of energy.

    “These records come natural when you do your homework and right now it’s paying off.”

    Simon Pagenaud, driver of the No. 22 Penske Truck Rental Chevrolet, brought home the second qualifying spot for Team Penske.

    “It was a good run,” Pagenaud said. “We did a good job understanding how the car was going to run during the race. The car was great. We had a bit of a scrub in Turn One and missed the balance there.”

    “But the car was good overall,” Pagenaud continued. “I’m super proud of the team with Penske one, two and three.”

    And yes, there was one more Team Penske member who brought home the third qualifying position, with a speed of 220.398 in spite of going out early to qualify.

    “I couldn’t believe my luck when I drew second again,” Will Power, driver of the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, said. “It was a really good run.

    “I felt really good about it and was really happy to end up third. I don’t think I could have done any better.”

    Unfortunately, there was one member of Team Penske who did not qualify well.  In fact, championship point’s leader Juan Pablo Montoya qualified in the 19th position after a disappointing run.

    “It just never turned,” Montoya said after his qualifying lap. “It’s what it is. You can’t change it.”

    Even though Montoya may be starting further back, each and every one of his Team Penske teammates seemed willing to do whatever they could to help.

    “Usually there are no team orders at Team Penske,” Pagenaud said. “At this point, I’ve got nothing to gain or lose. If Montoya’s not winning the race, it’s better that we go ahead and try to take points away from Rahal and Dixon for example.

    “If I can do anything to help Montoya I will. That’s from my own heart.”

    Josef Newgarden time trialed fourth and Graham Rahal, who is also in the championship hunt, qualified fifth.

    “To be in the top five and the top Honda is good,” Rahal said. “We’ll try to chase down Juan. He’s one heck of a competitor and I know he will be right on our heels.”

    The other major story of qualifying for the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway was the scary crash of Charlie Kimball.  The rear end of his No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet kicked out, slamming into the SAFER barrier and then riding that into the catch fence.

    “We had a pretty good warm-up lap and the car was giving me a lot of confidence and I went into Turn 1 and I didn’t like the balance so I made some adjustments,” Kimball said. “I went into Turn 3 and got caught out by the wind and the 83 car rotated. Unfortunately, the car had been quick all morning and we were pretty close to the pole in qualifying.

    “I hit sideways and I don’t know what rolled under. I was looking down riding along the top of the wall for a while. Overall, I’m happy to get away with just a couple bumps and bruises.”

    Kimball was cleared from the infield care center, after getting two stitches in his chin. He also had a bruise on his and finger. But in typical Kimball style, the driver brushed it off with humor.

    “When you are this ugly to begin with it is hard to do much damage.”

    Kimball will have to start from the rear and also utilize a backup car.

    “Seeing us roll off the grid last isn’t going to be great but hopefully I’ll make it more exciting fighting my way through the field,” Kimball said. “The SAFER Barrier did its job. It’s not something you can test because you never want to crash but when it happens I’m pleased it was not worse.”

    There was one other incident in the qualifying session. Rookie Stefano Coletti kissed the SAFER Barrier in Turn 3 in the morning practice so did not attempt to qualify and will be starting dead last in his No. 4 KV Racing Technology Chevrolet.

    The following is the full qualifying order for the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway:

    Rank Car Driver Name C/A/E/T Lap 1 Lap 2 Total Time Avg Speed

    1 3 Castroneves, Helio D/C/C/F 40.8301 40.7916 01:21.6217 220.530

    2 22 Pagenaud, Simon D/C/C/F 40.7722 40.8660 01:21.6382 220.485

    3 1 Power, Will D/C/C/F 40.8435 40.8269 01:21.6704 220.398

    4 67 Newgarden, Josef D/C/C/F 40.9783 40.7876 01:21.7659 220.141

    5 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/H/F 40.8899 40.8844 01:21.7743 220.118

    6 26 Munoz, Carlos D/H/H/F 40.9475 40.9334 01:21.8809 219.831

    7 25 Wilson, Justin D/H/H/F 40.9580 40.9776 01:21.9356 219.685

    8 28 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/H/H/F 40.9596 40.9806 01:21.9402 219.672

    9 14 Sato, Takuma D/H/H/F 40.9649 41.0106 01:21.9755 219.578

    10 11 Bourdais, Sebastien D/C/C/F 40.9918 41.0050 01:21.9968 219.521

    11 9 Dixon, Scott D/C/C/F 41.1625 41.0410 01:22.2035 218.969

    12 10 Kanaan, Tony D/C/C/F 41.1741 41.0869 01:22.2610 218.816

    13 19 Vautier, Tristan D/H/H/F 41.1453 41.1982 01:22.3435 218.596

    14 41 Hawksworth, Jack D/H/H/F 41.2550 41.1887 01:22.4437 218.331

    15 7 Jakes, James D/H/H/F 41.2344 41.2413 01:22.4757 218.246

    16 98 Chaves, Gabby (R) D/H/H/F 41.3380 41.1731 01:22.5111 218.152

    17 18 Mann, Pippa D/H/H/F 41.3883 41.4192 01:22.8075 217.372

    18 5 Briscoe, Ryan D/H/H/F 41.5591 41.2980 01:22.8571 217.241

    19 2 Montoya, Juan Pablo D/C/C/F 41.8365 41.0386 01:22.8751 217.194

    20 8 Karam, Sage (R) D/C/C/F 41.6624 41.5167 01:23.1791 216.401

    21 20 Carpenter, Ed D/C/C/F 41.5783 41.6337 01:23.2120 216.315

    22 27 Andretti, Marco D/H/H/F 42.3788 41.3028 01:23.6816 215.101

    23 83 Kimball, Charlie D/C/C/F No Time DNQ

    24 4 Coletti, Stefano (R) D/C/C/F No Time DNQ

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Pure Michigan 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Pure Michigan 400

    With the new high drag package creating some high anxiety, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the Pure Michigan 400 from the speedway nestled in the Irish Hills.

    Surprising:  With Matt Kenseth’s win in the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, his manufacturer reigned supreme in Michigan. And with the trip to Victory Circle, Toyota received the Michigan Heritage trophy, initiated in 2013 to celebrate the winning vehicle manufacturer.

    Toyota gets to hang onto that coveted trophy until the next race at Michigan International Speedway in June 2016. This was Toyota’s fifth Cup win at Michigan and the manufacturer’s ninth win of the season.

    Winning Coach Joe Gibbs summed it up best as far as the partnership he has enjoyed with the manufacturer, with his Toyota team winning five out of the last six races.

    “Well, the first thing is it’s a team sport all the way,” Gibbs said after the race. “We’ve got great partners, thanks to Toyota, all the hard work they’ve done over the last year and a half.”

    “You really need to enjoy it because about 10 races back, we were struggling trying to get there, and you just hope now that we’ll be able to hold some momentum here and head into the Chase.”

    Not Surprising:  To tinker or not to tinker, that has been NASCAR’s question and the sanctioning body provided some answers after the Michigan race.

    As for the high drag rules package used at MIS for race day, Steve O’Donnell, Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer, acknowledged that it did not achieve the passing at the front goal as evidenced by the dominance of the No. 20 car.

    NASCAR, however, decided not to do any further tinkering, especially with any rules package changes during the Chase for the Championship.

    “We’re going to stay with the 2015 package,” O’Donnell said. “We’ve seen some good things with that package.  A lot of work has been done by the race teams already leading up to the final 10 races and feel like that’s the best decision for the sport.”

    “Excited about the Chase, excited about the package and what’s to come in the Chase, especially when you look back to last year.”

    Surprising:  Kyle Busch not only overcame having to start in the rear due to a practice crash in his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota but also demonstrated his best ‘Carnac the Magnificent’ skills with his prediction that there would be a crash in the first lap of the race.

    Busch was so convinced of his prediction that he hung back almost half a lap from the field during the start of the race, only to have David Ragan spin, fulfilling Busch’s prediction.

    Busch went on to finish 11th, moving himself up to 29th in the point standings.

    Not Surprising:  For the driver who came in runner up, yet again, the Pure Michigan 400 was a one-off in his opinion.

    “I would say we didn’t really learn anything today,” Kevin Harvick, the driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s/Budweiser Chevrolet, said. “Not only is this racetrack nothing like what we race on in the Chase, it’s just kind of a unique animal, and then you have the rules package.”

    “Today was really just about trying to win a race, and it’s really not going to lend itself towards anything that we do in the last 10 weeks.”

    Surprising:  Martin Truex Jr. is not only locked into the Chase but he continues to break records in his quest for the Championship. The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet finished third, scoring his 16th top-10 finish in the first 23 races of the 2015 season.

    This tied a team season record, set in 2013 when Kurt Busch piloted the No. 78 for the Colorado-based race team.

    “It was a good day for everybody on the Furniture Row team,” Truex said. “We had a good car from the get go.  We made some adjustments throughout the race, but overall the No. 78 was a fast hot rod.”

    Not Surprising:  Team Penske drivers may have had a rocky start with their splitters being confiscated by NASCAR prior to the race, but both Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski recovered to both finish in the top-10.

    “My team did a good job and we executed fairly well,” Logano said after finishing seventh. “We had a couple bad restarts but a good one there at the end to make up for it. I would say we finished about where we deserved.”

    “We made the most of our day in every way we could,” Keselowski said after his ninth place finish. “We just needed to be faster, for sure, especially down the straightaways.”

    Surprising:  Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the best of the Hendrick Motorsports drivers, finishing in the 10th position. Teammates Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson finished 15th, 17th and 39th respectively.

    In fact, the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet had a miserable day, cutting a tire down early in the race, overshooting his pit stall, and spinning through the grass which destroyed the front end of his race car.

    Johnson finished an uncharacteristic 10 laps down.

    Not Surprising:  There was no doubt that Aric Almirola felt like a winner with his top-15 finish. The driver of the No. 43 Armour Ford overcame a stomach virus as well as a 30th place qualifying position to take the checkered flag in the 14th spot.

    Almirola also won in the point standings and now sits just 23 points behind competitor Clint Bowyer in the battle for the final playoff spot.

    “We may have finished 14th today, but it felt like a win after the weekend we had,” Almirola said. “Everyone worked really hard to get the car where we needed it.”

    “We made the best out of our situation and made up some good ground in points. We started the year with a goal to be consistent and just scored our 12th Top-15.”

    Surprising:  One young gun showed the field that having fun and performing can indeed go hand in hand. Austin Dillon, in his No. 3 Dow Chevrolet, had a career best finish in fourth place and yes, also had a little fun along the way moving from the back to the front.

    “We had some circumstances where we had to start at the back and had to figure out a way to get our track position back,” Dillon said. “Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) and the engineers did a good job coming up with a plan.”

    “The first 20 laps was no fun for us because we had to ride around and try and stay in front of the leader, but we saved gas and decided to not come down pit road on that first competition caution for fuel, and it worked out,” Dillon continued. “It showed that our car was fast enough to stay up there.”

    “We pitted, drove back up to where we needed to be, and it was a fun day for us, the Dow Chevrolet was fast, and I felt like I passed a lot of cars, also, getting into fourth.”

    Not Surprising: With his mentor Buddy Baker being laid to rest after losing his battle to cancer, Ryan Newman did him proud, scoring his eleventh top-10 finish, in spite of some damage incurred after a collision with the race car of Clint Bowyer. The finish was essential to the driver’s championship hopes and he moved up to the 12th spot in the standings.

    “I am so pleased with this top-10 finish,” Newman said. “It was an awesome team effort. It was a good day for us and a good points day for us.”

    “I’m looking forward to Bristol and I just found out that it will be my 500th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start. I had no idea, so I’m hoping it will be another good weekend for us.”

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: The CHEEZ-It 355 at The Glen

    Surprising and Not Surprising: The CHEEZ-It 355 at The Glen

    With no need for the Goodyear wet weather radials brought to the track just in case, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 30th annual CHEEZ-It 355 at the Watkins Glen International road course.

    Surprising:  Race winner Joey Logano held a make-up session at The Glen, first making up for losing the race the previous week on fuel mileage and second, making up for the four previous races where Team Penske lost out to a member of the Joe Gibbs Racing team.

    “It makes up for last week, the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “We lost the race last week the same way, so it makes up for it to get it this week.”

    “Team Penske, the last four races in a row, one of our cars finished second,” Logano continued. “Brad (Keselowski, Penske teammate) finished second a couple of times and so did we, so it feels good to break through and not be the bridesmaid anymore and actually get the checkered flag and have some fun.”

    Logano also made up for lost time for Team Penske, who won their first ever at Watkins Glen.

    “It means an awful lot to Team Penske,” Walt Czarnecki, Vice Chairman of Team Penske said. “This is Team Penske’s first Cup win at The Glen.  I believe this is our winningest track in the whole history of our company, going back to the Trans-Am and the Can-Am and Nationwide and XFINITY Series – a great run yesterday – so this is particularly meaningful for us to win here today in this race.”

    Not Surprising:  Given the challenges to the cars on road courses, it was not surprising that at least a few drivers uttered those dreaded two words, “Something broke.”

    Jeff Gordon, who had high hopes for a chance to make the Chase with a win at The Glen, had brake issues instead and went down four laps trying to fix it. Gordon finished 41st and slid from tenth to twelfth in the point standings.

    “We had a brake line issue,” the driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet said. “It’s not like I hit anything or something came into it and broke it that we can see.  Something went bad with the line and it started leaking fluid and we started losing brakes.”

    “So we had to come in.  Unfortunately, it took us four laps to get that changed.  Just so hard to make up laps when you get that many down, especially at a track like this.”

    Tony Stewart, who qualified in the third position, also had a ‘something broke’ moment as a likely broken seal let all the rear end grease out of the axle, ending his day in the 43rd and final finishing spot.

    “When I came off of (Turn) 1 I could feel it like it was kind of pulling heavy and going up through the esses you could hear it let go right at the end of the esses,” Smoke said. “We are going to leave the rear end together and get it back to Charlotte (NC) and find out exactly what happened.”

    Surprising:  In a race that this driver had circled on his calendar, especially as the defending race winner, AJ Allmendinger’s day went to one that he wanted to ‘X’ out of his memory.  ‘Dinger suffered a power loss that left his No. 47 Kroger/Bush’s Beans Chevrolet dead on the track to finish a disappointing 24th.

    “When the battery died that obviously put us way behind,” Allmendinger said. “I thought the changes we made helped the car a little bit, but I got my lap back and drove as hard as I could to get as much as I could.”

    “I thought maybe we could get back to the top 10. Just 10 laps short.”

    Not Surprising:  Rodney Childers, crew chief for Kevin Harvick, must have had the Salt N Pepa song ‘Push It’ echoing in his head. And as he said, he ‘pushed it to nothing’ with his driver, who ran out of gas on the last lap of the race.

    Harvick was, however, able to coast to a third place finish, his eighth top-10 finish in 15 races at Watkins Glen International.

    “I thought I’d done a pretty good job of saving fuel under the caution,” Harvick said. “I was just running as fast as I needed to, to protect the lead.”

    “All in all, our Budweiser/Jimmy John’s team did a great job today and we were in position to have a win; two corners away.”

    Surprising:  Only a six-time champ could miss the inner loop and have to sit until the field passed him, have contact with another driver, as well as taking a spin on the track, and still finish top-10.

    Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, did just that, starting ninth and finishing the race in the tenth position in spite of all those challenges.

    Not Surprising:  Kyle Busch’s crew chief Adam Stevens was obviously scared straight, at least according to his driver. Busch finished second in his No. 18 M&Ms Crispy Toyota, his ninth top-10 finish in 11 races at Watkins Glen International.

    “I could’ve went up there, I could’ve raced the 22 (Joey Logano), I could’ve passed him,” Busch said. “I felt like I was better than he was, but my crew chief called in scared on the fuel situation from last week and I don’t blame him.”

    “We definitely didn’t want to run out again. We wanted to make sure we could be there at the end.”

    This was Busch’s sixth top-10 finish in 2015 and he is now 30th in the points and eligible for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

    Surprising:  It was a big ‘niner’ kind of day for Sam Hornish, who finished ninth in his No. 9 Medallion Bank Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports.

    “Our car was good,” Hornish said. “We were good in areas that some other cars weren’t and that helped us pass people when we could get to them.”

    “I felt like our car was definitely better than where we finished there, but you take what you can get on the days you have it and I’m just proud of everybody that works on this Medallion Bank Ford Fusion and the guys at RPM.”

    “A ninth is probably disappointing for them compared to what they’ve had the last few times coming up here, but the package is a little bit different.  I wish we could have had a little more practice time, but anytime you come home in the top-10 you can’t be too disappointed about it.”

    Not Surprising:  Denny Hamlin was definitely in the ‘hood’ at The Glen yet again. His hood flew up on top of the roof of his car, just like it had done at practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota had to have the hood replaced, relegating him to a 27th place finish.

    Surprising:  Matt Kenseth surprised himself, and no doubt everyone else, by scoring his best career finish at Watkins Glen, bringing his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota in the fourth position.

    “We ran pretty good,” Kenseth said in his typical understated fashion. “It’s always fun to feel like you overachieved I guess and we probably did that today. I’m sort of surprised we made it to the end but I’m really thankful we did.”

    Not Surprising: While Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon had his own problems, there were significant Chase implications for teammate Kasey Kahne, who was sidelined on Lap 49 due to multi-car accident, finishing 42nd.

    Kahne also lost two spots in the point standings, from 15th to 17th position.

    “Yeah, at this rate we’re going to need to win,” Kahne said. “That’s the only way we’ll go into the Chase.”

    “So hopefully we can run good at Michigan and maybe get a win there. We’ve won there before and also won there at Bristol before; so, maybe one of those tracks.  Darlington and Richmond; there are some tracks that we could run really well at.”

    The next Sprint Cup Series race on the circuit will be August 16 at Michigan International Speedway.

  • Joey Logano Wins Cheez-It 355 at The Glen; Sweeps Weekend

    Joey Logano Wins Cheez-It 355 at The Glen; Sweeps Weekend

    WATKINS GLEN, NY – The 30th running of the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen is in the books, and yet again, Watkins Glen International has produced an exciting race weekend. The Glen solidified their spot atop the polls after announcing all reserved grandstand tickets for Sunday’s running of the Cheez-It 355 had sold out.

    Watkins Glen International commented on the sell-out, stating, “A reserved grandstand sell-out shows just how dedicated and passionate Watkins Glen International fans are.”

    Dedicated is one way to describe it, as WGI announced earlier in the week that they had created additional campsites to accommodate the enormous demand for camping at the facility.

    Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen was as eventful as we’ve seen over recent years at Watkins Glen International. Instead of the large crashes and flared tempers, fans saw a clean race out of some of the top contenders for the championship. The race on Sunday progressed as many recent races at the 2.45-mile road course, with fuel strategy coming into play. This year was different in the sense that there was no caution within the last 20 laps.

    Fast forward through the first five cautions, and you have the top 10 cars stacked up as follows: Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Sam Hornish Jr. Final pit stops were made over the course of the final yellow of the afternoon between laps 58 and 60, and the only car with a glimmer of hope to make the finish on fuel was the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford driven by Joey Logano.

    Slowly but surely over the course of the final 20 laps, Logano, followed closely by Kyle Busch, picked their way through the field and into the top five. With seven laps remaining, Logano was shown in second, lurking behind the No. 4 of Kevin Harvick.  Harvick, whose radio chatter was not mentioning anything about having enough fuel to make the finish of the race, sealed the most laps led (29), but would come up short in the end.

    As the laps wound down, radios were full of talk about who could make it, who would be short, and predictions of a late race caution ran rampant. There was no late race caution, and on the final lap it looked like Harvick had done what he needed to to save fuel and stay in the lead, and when Logano overshot turn one, a win for the No. 4 team became all but inevitable.

    The only caveat in the formula for a third victory this season for Harvick was the amount of fuel in his gas tank. Though he had a clear track in front of him and space between him and Logano, Harvick’s luck would run out between turns six and seven when he finally ran out of fuel. Logano made the pass on the outside in turn seven and took the checkered flag for the 10th time in his career.

    Logano was ecstatic in Victory Lane following his sweep of both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR XFINITY Series races this weekend at Watkins Glen International.

    “This is the coolest weekend of my life,” Logano exclaimed. “Every driver wants to add a road course victory to their resume. This is a dream come true to win at this place.”

    The win marks Logano’s second victory and 16th top-10 finish in 2015. It was the first time in track history for a driver to sweep both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR XFINITY Series races at Watkins Glen International.

    Kyle Busch, who led once for three laps, finished second in the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen and moved into the top 30 in points, the stipulation for him making the 2015 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

    “We knew we would be (in the top 30 in points), which is probably a reason we played it safe on the fuel strategy,” Busch said. “I could have had a chance and raced the 22 (Logano), but we wanted to make sure we made it to the end.”

    NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader Kevin Harvick, who barely missed the win at the end, had enough fuel to make it to the start-finish line in third.

    “I thought I did a pretty good job of saving fuel,” Harvick explained, “and I was only running as fast as I needed to to stay in the lead. Once the No.22 got to me, I had to pick up the pace a little bit. We were in position for the win, two corners away, but that’s just how the middle of this season has gone for us.”

    The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series moves on to Michigan International Speedway next weekend for the Pure Michigan 400 on Sunday, August 16.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Michigan Quicken Loans 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Michigan Quicken Loans 400

    In a day of fits and starts, drops and stops, here is what else was surprising and not surprising in the 47th annual Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

    Surprising:  In spite of the race being rain-shortened, there were some interesting stats and history achieved for at least two of the drivers.

    First, Kurt Busch notched his second win of the season and now has achieved his first multi-win season since 2011. And even more impressive was that Busch scored that win in a backup car to boot.

    “It was a fantastic group effort,” Busch said  “to be able to pull the backup car out and to have it as prepared as it was and then to have the extra work that went into it. All the crew members that Tony Gibson leads rolled up their sleeves, jumped right on in it, and we made it a race-winning backup car.”

    “Excellent pit stops, excellent team chemistry. This is what it’s all about and anytime you win a second race, it really gives you that stamp on you’re in the Chase, now let’s work through these summer months to continue to make the team better.”

    Second, Martin Truex Jr. made history with his third place run in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet. He became the first racer to score 14 top-10 finishes in the first 15 races since Richard Petty accomplished the feat 46 years ago in 1969.

    “Really proud to have my name mentioned next to Richard Petty,” Truex said. “The King is pretty special and I am so thankful for my team and what they’ve done this year. Hopefully, we’ll keep this thing rolling.”

    Not Surprising:  Dale Earnhardt Jr. was up on the box and working the bar to take his fan- designed paint schemed No. 88 AMP Energy Chevrolet to the checkered flag in the runner-up position. Junior stayed on the pit box during the rain delays talking strategy with his crew chief Greg Ives, while also working the track bar throughout the race to gain positions.

    “We had a real good car that was really fast on the long runs,” Junior said. “The No. 41 (Kurt Busch) and a couple of guys were faster than us the first 10 or 15 laps of a run.  But then I could get my car really fast and I could work my trackbar and pass a lot of cars.”

    “I was able to work that trackbar and pass a lot of cars and go forward instead of being just kind of stuck where I was.”

    This was Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 13th top-10 finish in 32 races at Michigan and his ninth top-10 finish for the season.

    Surprising:  Kyle Busch took a surprisingly hard hit right into the wall and safer barrier, one that was so hard that his brother Kurt asked his spotter to find out if Kyle was okay. And after the high of winning the Xfinity Series race the day before, Kyle Busch finished dead last in his No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota.

    With that finish, Busch remained 39th in points, nine away from being able to qualify for the Chase if he secured a win as well.

    Not Surprising:  Both Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon were bit by problems in the pits involving tires. Harvick had a reoccurrence of a tire valve stem breaking and Gordon had to return to pit road to attend to missing lug nuts.

    Gordon finished 21st in his No. 24 Panasonic Chevrolet while Harvick took the checkered flag in his No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet in the 29th spot. Harvick, however, managed to stay in the point leads, currently 15 points ahead of Truex, while Gordon held onto his 10th place position.

    “We had an awesome Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet today,” Harvick said. “But we had some unfortunate luck.”

    Gordon summed it up by saying “We have not had the best of days.”

    Surprising:  Trevor Bayne had the time of his life at Michigan, scoring his best finish of the season in ninth place and leading the pack of Roush Fenway racers.

    “I feel like this was a really solid weekend for this No. 6 AdvoCare team,” said Bayne after the race. “We qualified inside the top-20 and made really good gains on the car throughout practice. We had a good car today that had good speed all race long.”

    “It’s great to come home with a top-10 finish. (Crew chief) Bob (Osborne) made a great pit call and we were able to catch a break with that caution. This feels great.”

    Not Surprising:  Luck was not a lady to either David Ragan or Kyle Larson, both of whom were in full gambling mode. Ragan finished 35th after gambling to get a lap back with pit strategy and Larson finished 17th after gambling on fuel hoping the rains would come.

    “Our Aaron’s Dream Machine was decent today but got down a lap there about halfway through the race,” Ragan, behind the wheel of the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine with a new crew chief on board, said. “We gambled to get that lap back and the caution flag flew about a lap after we pitted.”

    “We were obviously better than where we finished. We just rolled the dice and luck wasn’t on our side today.”

    “Yeah, we could see weather coming there off of (Turn) 4 and just praying that it would get here in time for me to stay out and be in the lead when the rain did hit,” Larson, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “Hey, I applaud my guys for trying.”

    “We are pretty deep in points so we have to take risks like that to make the Chase.  I’m happy with the call, just wish the rain would have come three laps sooner.”

    Surprising:  Ty Dillon, an interloper in the Cup Series, ran better than his brother Austin, a Cup regular, finishing 14th to his brother’s 20th place finish.

    Not Surprising:  Camry driver Matt Kenseth, who finished fourth, was the top-finishing Toyota driver He also led the race twice for a total of three laps (of 138).

    “We had a really good Dollar General Camry, it was frustrating when you run all those laps under yellow,” Kenseth said. “Once we got rolling there we had a good car. We got real loose in the second to last run and we just weren’t able to adjust on it. Just didn’t have enough laps.”

    “I thought we could have got to at least second with another seven or eight laps – the rain just came a little too early.”

    Surprising:  Jimmie Johnson was the biggest loser in the point standings, falling two spots to the fifth position. Johnson fought an ill-handling No. 48 Kobalt Tools Chevrolet all day and struggled in the pits as well.

    Not Surprising:  Team Penske was again the highest scoring Ford, with Joey Logano in fifth and Brad Keselowski in the sixth spot. And although both had to overcome challenges, they were still disappointed that they did not have a chance to better their results.

    “It was a tough day but we got a good finish out of it,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “I felt like we were kind of stuck back in traffic a lot of the race and couldn’t get good restarts in the beginning of the day and kept losing spots.”

    “That was frustrating. The car was loose. We made some good adjustments and got off the majority strategy which played right where we wanted to when the caution came out by staying out and getting a longer run on fuel. The last restart we lost a couple spots unfortunately.”

    “I feel like overall it a good day considering how everything went and starting 11th which wasn’t very good.”

    “I am disappointed because the Miller Lite Ford Fusion was getting better with each run,” the driver of the Miller Lite Ford said. “We were starting to get it where we needed to be when that last big rain came through and I would have loved to see what we had for the final stretch.”

    Surprising: Danica Patrick used her time in between rain drops to plot strategy with her crew chief which allowed her to lead a few laps as well as bring her No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet home in the 16th position.

    “The car was completely sideways early in the race,” Patrick said. “Daniel (Knost, crew chief) and I were able to sit down during all of the rain delays and talk through the adjustments we needed to make to help the car handle better.”

    “Then he made the call to pit for fuel early in the race, and that put us in a position to stay out and take the wave-around there at the end and get a solid finish out of the day.”

    Not Surprising: After the race being delayed by rain a total of four times with the final red flag on lap 138 resulting in the official end of the scheduled 200-lap event, it was no wonder that one driver had just about had it.

    We really fought clean air versus dirty air with the car doing completely different things so it was a struggle as far as which one to adjust on,” Brett Moffitt, driver of the No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford, said after finishing 33rd as the highest rookie. “That second run we ended up pretty good and got good track position. We tried to play the fuel strategy game to beat the weather but it didn’t work out for us.”

    “It would have been good to get it going but it has been a long day for everybody here. I think everyone is glad this is the end of it.”

    The Cup Series will take a break for Father’s Day and will reconvene on the road course of Sonoma on June 28th.

    And to all the dads out there, salud and Happy Father’s Day!

     

  • The Final Word – With all the rain and challenges at Bristol, the only guy missing was Jeff Probst

    The Final Word – With all the rain and challenges at Bristol, the only guy missing was Jeff Probst

    Bristol. Just about the only thing missing was Jeff Probst and his Tribal Council as this turned into a game of survival. With the rains that delayed the start, the rains that stopped it again and again, the day race that ran into night became a reality show of its own.

    Take Kevin Harvick, for instance. He led 186 of the eventual 511 laps, but at Lap 310 he slid into a wrecked David Ragan and he found himself voted off the island in 38th place. If not Harv, then it was Kurt Busch in a dominant car. With eight to go, he took the brunt of it when Jeff Gordon got into Carl Edwards. Busch at least managed a 15th for his troubles.

    Then there was the case of Team Penske. You know you needed a hidden immunity idol when things go down the outdoor commode during the opening credits. Brad Keselowski wobbled and that allowed teammate Joey Logano to put out both their torches. Thirty-fifth and beyond was their fate.

    Do you want more examples? After the Penske wreck on the 19th lap, it rained some more. In that time, Denny Hamlin’s stiff neck got worse and when they restarted 18-year-old Erik Jones found himself racing a Cup car for the very first time, ending up 26th.

    How good was Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car? We will never know, as a flat tire took him off the lead lap early, never to be seen again. At least he got 16th when it was all over. As for Austin Dillon, the extra laps before the final re-start ran him out of gas, but even with that he finished 10th.

    After a final caution, they needed a green-white-checker, but rain even delayed that, hence those extra caution laps before the fall of the final green. Matt Kenseth got a fine re-start to take a race he was not all that noticeable in, but the victory shows up just fine in the standings. After no wins last season, his 32nd career triumph had to be sweet no matter how he got it. Jimmie Johnson’s car did not look that pretty, but he came back to slip by Gordon for second while Jeff rebounded from a flat that had him down early to grab third. In short, these boys survived. Nobody thrived.

    Some folks play the game and slip in under the radar. Tony Stewart was sixth Sunday night, but that was a gift for to a guy who was 15th best at best. Danica Patrick was ninth. Another gift. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fourth, the best gift of all. Despite that good fortune, Roush-Fenway entries are still coming up short. Trevor Bayne was 28th, Greg Biffle 30th.

    Ryan Newman, fifth at Bristol, got 25 points back from his appeal over Tiregate. He still is missing his crew chief and two other team members due to suspension, and Richard Childress will continue his quest for their early return with a further appeal.

    It meant jack squat to see Logano win the Saturday XFINITY race at Bristol. Having Daniel Suarez (23 year old from Mexico), Chris Buescher (22), Erik Jones (18), Ty Dillon (23) and Chase Elliott (19) take the next five spots meant everything.

    Sunday we had the day long 2015 Food City 500 In Support of Steve Byrnes. For the NASCAR family, the broadcaster and his fight against cancer, is what truly is meaningful. We have tallied the vote, the tribe has spoken, we want you back just as soon as you are able, Steve.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville STP 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville STP 500

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    “It was a tough race.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: IRWIN Tools Night Race

    Surprising and Not Surprising: IRWIN Tools Night Race

    The Coliseum…..Thunder Valley…..and “The World’s Fastest Half Mile”…..here is what was surprising and not surprising from Bristol Motor Speedway in the IRWIN Tools Night Race.

    Surprising: Although Team Penske scored a one, two finish, race winner Joey Logano and race runner up Brad Keselowski both admitted that was one of the toughest, most physically demanding races of the season to date.

    “It definitely was a very, very tough race,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford for Team Penske said. “I feel like it’s the most physically demanding racetrack, just the baddest, mamma jamma racetrack ever built, not only for the driver but for the race car. You’re just always on the gas or the brake or in the turn. There’s always something going on, and as a driver you don’t get a break inside the race car, either.”

    “It was a hard night,” the driver of the No. 2 Wurth Team Penske Ford said. “I’ll tell you, first off, this place, the race pace is really brutal and aggressive. With the cars having all the extra downforce this year and tires improving and some of the new rules, compounded by grinding the track and the track’s high lane having a lot of speed, I swear, this is the most grueling race of the year.”

    “It feels good just to complete it and be able to kind of look myself in the eye and know I gave it all I had,” Keselowski continued. “It just wasn’t enough, but I didn’t fall out of the seat, so I’m damned near as proud of not falling out of the seat as anything else.”

    Not Surprising: Coach Gibbs has no doubt already sent out for the infamous milk and cookies for his driver of the No. 18 Doublemint Toyota and his crew chief Dave Rogers. The two exchanged some pretty heated words after Busch sped on pit road, got back in traffic and was collected in a wreck for a 36th place finish.

    “That’s just pro sports,” Coach Gibbs said. “Every now and then you get frustrated.”

    “I think the night was totally frustrating,” Gibbs continued. “(Kyle) had a great car and it was a series of circumstances. Something like that happens in pro sports you can get frustrated.”

    Surprising: While Kyle Busch vacated his race car without speaking to the media, his teammate Denny Hamlin could not stop talking about what happened between himself and Kevin Harvick, resulting in his 40th place finish in the Bristol night race. In fact, he even added some physicality to his words, tossing his HANS device at Harvick’s car under the caution laps.

    “I’m just frustrated because we had a good run going,” Hamlin opined. “I thought for sure after the first couple runs that we were going to win the race.”

    “It just didn’t work out,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota said. “Mistakes happen in racing. Obviously, I believe that Kevin (Harvick) made a mistake tonight and that’s just part of it. I was just on the short end of the stick.”

    Not Surprising: Matt Kenseth, although winless, continued his consistent streak of good finishes, scoring the third position in his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota. Kenseth was also the highest finishing Toyota driver and, in fact, was the only Toyota to finish in the top-15.

    “I feel like we’re getting better,” Kenseth said. “We just didn’t quite have it today and we still got a decent finish out of it, but we just didn’t quite have the speed we’ve had the last few races here.”

    “We’ll keep working on it.”

    Surprising: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had a surprisingly good finish, taking the checkered flag in the sixth spot. In fact, Stenhouse Jr. led the Roush Fenway Racing trio in the finishing order, with both of his teammates finishing behind him, in seventh and tenth respectively for Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle.

    “We didn’t start off very good but Mike (Kelley, crew chief) made a lot of changes,” Stenhouse said. “Our pit crew did an awesome job on pit road and gave me some fast pit stops, and Mike made a good call to take the wave around to get back on the lead lap and then the caution came out quick and we were able to make our car a little bit better.”

    “We’ve got a lot of work to do, but definitely really pleased with how we finished with how the car drove, so we’ll get it better and we’ll keep working on it,” Stenhouse Jr. continued. “That felt really good to pass some cars. It was a great night.”

    Not Surprising: After leading 148 laps out of the 500 lap race, it would be natural to feel a bit befuddled after finishing eighth instead of ending up in Victory Lane.

    “I don’t know what happened,” Jamie McMurray, behind the wheel of the No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet said. “Our car got really tight with about 100 laps to go.”

    “We freed it up on the last pit stop and it didn’t really help,” McMurray continued. “But I’m really proud of everybody on our McDonald’s Chevrolet. McDonald’s has been in this sport for so long and they’ve only won a few races and I really thought tonight was going to be our night to put them back in Victory Lane.”

    Surprising: Jimmie Johnson, six-time champ, and Kyle Larson, Rookie of the Year contender, may be at different places in their careers, however they had one thing in common at Bristol. They both had to overcome adversity, from Johnson’s two speeding penalties to Larson’s wreck in qualifying, to finish fourth and twelfth respectively.

    Johnson was the highest finisher for Hendrick Motorsports and Larson was again the highest finishing rookie of the race.

    “Top fives are good. We are happy about that,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet said. “We had some issues on pit road and got nailed for speeding twice which was totally on us. Just mistakes made there that kind of hurt us a little bit, but we still got a third top five, finished fourth.”

    “I made our team have to work really hard with wrecking in qualifying,” the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “Just a long race I felt like I worked hard the whole time. That is the hardest I’ve ever raced. Especially having to do it for 500 laps.”

    “That was pretty wild,” Larson continued. “I guess I’m happy with a 12th. That is probably about as good as we were. I had a few run in’s today, but still to come away with a 12th is pretty good.”

    Not Surprising: Paul Menard quietly continued his string of good finishes, this time taking the checkered flag in ninth.

    “We had a really good car,” the driver of the No. 27 Serta/Menards Chevrolet said. “We had two runs where we just got off. We took right sides and it didn’t work out very well. Then we did a chassis adjustment and put four tires. We feel backwards and got a lap down. We were able to put four tires on and pass some guys for the lucky dog.”

    “We got that and we could race again.”

    Surprising: Aric Almirola was the biggest loser of the evening, wrecking hard to finish 41st and dropping three spots in the point standings to 24th.

    “I’m OK, just disappointed,” the driver of the No. 43 STP Ford Fusion said. “What an amazing race car these guys brought me – two of them – and to go out like that is certainly disappointing, but that’s racing at Bristol – you get caught up in other peoples’ wrecks.”

    Not Surprising: AJ Allmendinger continues to ride the momentum wave after his win at Watkins Glen, finishing top-15 at a track where he admittedly has struggled.

    “It’s a really good night because I’m not really good here,” the driver of the No. 47 Busch’s Beans Chevrolet said. “At times we had a top-10 car and even at the end there when the car was terrible.”

    “We were inside the top-15 with decent speeds and that’s what I wanted to at least do here,” Allmendinger continued. “Times we were eighth, ninth, 10th like last week.”

    “So, I think we are making progress. I’m just happy to get out of here and be able to run 500 laps. I think the team was a little bit better than me today. All in all, it’s the kind of momentum we need for going into Chicago.”

     

  • Allmendinger Brings Redemption Tale to a Close

    Allmendinger Brings Redemption Tale to a Close

    NASCAR’s great redemption story of recent memory came to a close with AJ Allmendinger’s first career Sprint Cup win at Watkins Glen on Sunday. With the close of that story comes the beginning of another; his quest to find consistency as a proven winner.

    To understand the implications of his win, flash back to two years ago. At this point in the 2012 season, Allmendinger was watching races from his couch. He had landed the coveted No. 22 ride at Team Penske prior to that season, and his career looked brighter than ever, until testing positive for Adderall in June and being suspended indefinitely. He was reinstated a few months later after completing NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program, but by that time he had lost his gig at Penske. The following season saw Allmendinger jump back and forth between fill-in dates at Phoenix Racing and JTG Daugherty Racing, neither of which offered the same resources he had at Penske.

    Despite a rough part-time schedule in 2013, Allmendinger was able to put his talent on display in different venues. Proof of his talent was evident through his continued support from Roger Penske, who brought Allmendinger on board to run the Indianapolis 500 and multiple Nationwide races.

    Penske doesn’t put just anyone in his cars, particularly someone who failed a drug test and essentially threw away a season under his banner the previous year. There is too much young talent to waste time on a problem-driver, but Penske saw something in Allmendinger. He finished seventh in his first Indy 500 and won two Nationwide road course races, all while driving Penske cars.

    He was signed to JTG Daugherty Racing for the 2014 season and saw it as his chance for redemption. He was quoted early in the season, confidently claiming he would win a race before the end of the year. Then on Sunday he stayed true to his word and won.

    Watkins Glen was the last of the season’s real wild-card races leading into the Chase for the Sprint Cup. That means if winless drivers want in now, they are going to have to do it on the oval tracks of Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta or Richmond, all of which the Sprint Cup has already visited this season. Allmendinger has been fast at some ovals this year, but none offer the opportunity that the Glen offered. His win there proves to the NASCAR world that he is now officially a road course ringer at the premier level of stock car racing.

    Allmendinger’s fervor behind the wheel was evident through his screaming and celebration on his radio after winning at the Glen, but it isn’t just a form of celebration. He is known as an intensely passionate driver with serious skill, but his reputation doesn’t precede him. He doesn’t need to slap a self-given nickname over the door of his car in an attempt to tell people what he’s all about.

    Allmendinger pounced on his last real opportunity to turn 2014 into something great. While a win on an oval track isn’t out of the question, the competition knew all along that Allmendinger was an obstacle necessary to overcome in the two road course races. On Sunday he proved that he was indeed too big an obstacle. Now he must look to recreating that presence on the oval tracks that make up 34 of the 36 points races.

    AJ Allmendinger is now a Chase-bound driver. His future looks brighter than it ever has. He’s in the spotlight, and the next 14 races are his opportunity to show NASCAR fans what he is capable of.

  • Rookie Kyle Larson Wins First Career Pole at Tricky Triangle

    Rookie Kyle Larson Wins First Career Pole at Tricky Triangle

    Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender and Drive4Diversity grad Kyle Larson scored his first career pole behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet at one of the most demanding tracks on the circuit, Pocono Raceway.

    Larson took the pole in knock out qualifying with a track record speed of 183.438 mph and 49.063 seconds, qualifying him for the Sprint Unlimited. He joins rival Austin Dillon, who scored his first pole at the Daytona 500 to open the season, in rookie pole runs.

    “It’s great to get my first real pole,” Larson said. “I got the pole at Richmond but that was due to qualifying rain and we were quickest in practice. This time we got to beat the rain and actually earn the pole.”

    “It was an exciting third round and I had some butterflies actually going into it,” Larson continued. “I was definitely nervous. I felt like I hit all three corners as good as I could. I barely edged out Joey and he has been fast in qualifying.”

    “It feels really good and allows me the confidence for Sunday.”

    Right behind the rookie were the Penske duo of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, with speeds of 183.408 mph and 182.700 mph respectively. Logano has 17 top-ten starts and Keselowski is right behind him with 16 top-ten starts for the season.

    “My Shell Pennzoil Ford is really fast,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said after qualifying. “We unload today and we were loose but the car had a lot of speed in it. We definitely made some good adjustments and in qualifying trim we were decent.”

    “The first lap was really good and we tried to keep up with the cycle of tires and fuel,” Logano continued. “We ran the third session really hard and I felt like we nailed the balance and all three corners.”

    “I was pretty confident that that was going to be the pole and then we got beat,” Logano said. “This is our sixth front row start of the season, which is good but second sucks. It’s still something to be proud of so we have two fast race cars. I thought my lap was damn near perfect but we got beat.”

    Penske teammate Brad Keselowski echoed many of Logano’s sentiments in his shortened media availability due to his travel to Iowa for the Nationwide race.

    “Third is a respectable effort,” the driver of the No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford said. “I always want the pole but we had to make an extra run there in the second session and that took us away from having a legitimate run with Kyle.”

    “Strong effort. You can win from third and we’re happy with that and we’ll move on.”

    As to his heading off to the Midwest after his qualifying at Pocono, Keselowski said that someone had to do that race and so he elected to make the trip.

    “I enjoy Iowa,” Keselowski said. “The track has been good to me. Someone had to run it, either Joey or me. So, when we sat down at the start of the year to figure out who was going to start where, this was one that I thought would be good.”

    Kurt Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet, and most recent race winner at the Brickyard Jeff Gordon, in the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, rounded out the top-five in qualifying.

    “I had a good turns one and two,” Busch said. “Just got in there and got a little bit too low and got the car out of the track and then had to peddle it all the way from the center out.”

    “Still a good lap. The guys have done a good job and just have to get it right for race trim now.”

    Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Danica Patrick qualified in the sixth through tenth positions for the 41st Annual GoBowling.com 400. The rest of the starting grid is as follows:

    Pos Driver Sponsor Make
    1 42 Kyle Larson Target Chevrolet
    2 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford
    3 2 Brad Keselowski Alliance Truck Parts Ford
    4 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation Chevrolet
    5 24 Jeff Gordon Axalta Chevrolet
    6 4 Kevin Harvick Mobil 1 Chevrolet
    7 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota
    8 1 Jamie McMurray Bad Boy Buggies Chevrolet
    9 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Michael Baker International Chevrolet
    10 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet
    11 3 Austin Dillon American Ethanol Chevrolet
    12 5 Kasey Kahne Farmers Insurance Chevrolet
    13 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office Toyota
    14 15 Clint Bowyer RK Motors Charlotte Toyota
    15 55 Brian Vickers Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
    16 14 Tony Stewart Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet
    17 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet
    18 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota
    19 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Chevrolet
    20 47 AJ Allmendinger Scott Products Chevrolet
    21 31 Ryan Newman Quicken Loans Chevrolet
    22 51 Justin Allgaier AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet
    23 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford EcoBoost Ford
    24 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet
    25 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford
    26 99 Carl Edwards Fastenal Ford
    27 9 Marcos Ambrose DeWalt Ford
    28 43 Aric Almirola GoBowling.com Ford
    29 27 Paul Menard CertainTeed/Menards Chevrolet
    30 38 David Gilliland Long John Silver’s Ford
    31 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet
    32 40 Landon Cassill Newton Building Supplies Chevrolet
    33 26 Cole Whitt Toyota of Scranton Toyota
    34 32 Travis Kvapil FAS Lane Racing Ford
    35 36 Reed Sorenson Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet
    36 23 Alex Bowman Dr. Pepper Toyota
    37 83 Ryan Truex Burger King Toyota
    38 7 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J Chevrolet
    39 34 David Ragan A&W Root Beer Float Ford
    40 37 Dave Blaney Accell Construction Chevrolet
    41 66 Joe Nemechek Land Castle Title Toyota
    42 33 Alex Kennedy Little Joe’s Autos Chevrolet
    43 93 Johnny Sauter Dr. Pepper Toyota