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  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kentucky Quaker State 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Kentucky Quaker State 400

    From the jaw-jarring bumps of the old pavement in which Kentucky Speedway takes such pride, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 4th Annual Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts.

    Surprising: Dominance and redemption surprisingly co-existed in the Bluegrass state. Penske dominated, from qualifying to Victory Lane for Brad Keselowski, yet there was also redemption for several drivers, including Tony Stewart, who rebounded from an engine change to finish 11th, as well as Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick, who both had struggles in the pits and went on to finish sixth and seventh respectively.

    “Yeah, what a really fast car,” Keselowski said after his second win of the season and his second win at Kentucky in the No. 2 car. “It feels really good, obviously, to get that second win.”

    “We have got a really good stretch run going here over the summer, so it’s very exciting for me personally, very rewarding, and I feel like we’re in such a strong spot,” Keselowski continued. “A lot of momentum, and this was really a big night for us in so many ways.”

    Stewart, Gordon and Harvick may not have been in Victory Lane, but all three felt redeemed nonetheless.

    “I would’ve liked to have been a little better than what we were there at the end, but I think we definitely had to fight our way up there through the day,” Stewart said. “We never did anything tricky to get track position. We pitted every time the pits were open. We didn’t do any less than anybody else did on any stop.”

    “All in all, I thought we had a pretty honest day there and I can’t complain about that.”

    Not Surprising: Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, played it fast and loose, right into the runner up position. This was Busch’s fourth top-10 finish in four races at Kentucky Speedway and his seventh top-10 finish of the season.

    “I got to traffic, man, I just got too loose,” Busch said. “I was kind of loose the whole run, but I kept getting looser and looser throughout the run, where normally the rest of the runs prior to that throughout the race I was getting tighter throughout the run.”

    “I was loose the whole race,” Busch continued. “I was loose, but it was a drivable loose, it wasn’t just a wrecking loose, until the end, and then I was wrecking.”

    “For as loose as I was I had good grip and I was moving forward,” Busch said. “It looked like a lot of guys were struggling with the same issues I was but worse, so I was able to go by them, so I felt pretty good about it.”

    Surprising: As a past champion, Brad Keselowski most certainly knows how to celebrate, but this time it resulted in some surprising bodily harm. Thanks to a broken bottle of champagne in Victory Lane, the victor ended up with four stitches to boot.

    “We were playing around with some champagne bottles and as I told my good friend, ‘We should have stuck with beer,’” Keselowski said. “We were having too much fun with champagne and one of the bottles broke and I cut my hand open. It’s no big deal.”

    “It’s all fixed now, so we’re good,” Keselowski continued. “Yeah, welcome to the party. It’s all good. I’m just glad we won. It’s a lot better story when you win and get hurt.”

    Not Surprising: Usually race car drivers emerge after the race being mad at other drivers, but there was one driver who was just mad at himself after the Quaker State 400.

    “The first wreck one of those lapped cars spun in front of us and when he spun he lit up his rear tires and made a huge smoke cloud,” Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Eckrich Ford, said. “My spotter, Tyler, was telling me to go high and I was kind of in the middle of the race track to see what he was gonna do and at the last minute he was like, ‘Go high, go high,’ so I veered high and McMurray was out there.”

    “I honestly had no idea he was out there and I ran into him, so I feel horrible,” Almirola continued. “I’m just mad at myself. I realize circumstances weren’t in our favor, but I should have done a better job of getting slowed down and not running into the 1 car.”

    Surprising: Kentucky race weekend was certainly a good one for Ryan Newman, with Caterpillar Inc. renewing their sponsorship on his car, and with a third place finish, just his second top-10 at Kentucky Speedway.

    “Just a good, solid night for the Caterpillar Chevrolet,” Newman said. “All the guys did a really good job strategy wise. Kept our track position all night.”

    “Good job for everybody at RCR and ECR, and we’ll keep digging.”

    Not Surprising: Clint Bowyer took to Twitter and told it like it was for his No. 15 5-Hour Energy race team after finishing 23rd.

    “Got our natural asses kicked tonight,” Bowyer tweeted after the race. “Testing this week to get to the bottom of a few things. We WILL get it fixed!!!”

    Surprising: After a tire issue sent rookie Kyle Larson hard into the wall and out of the race, Austin Dillon became the highest finishing rookie. The driver of the No. 3 Cheerios Protein Chevrolet took the checkered flag in the 16th position.

    Larson does, however, still lead in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year battle and has scored Rookie of the Race honors eleven times to Dillon’s five.

    “Blew a right front (tire),” Larson said dejectedly. “This is the first time that’s ever happened to me in stock car racing.”

    “So, big hits,” Larson continued. “But it sucks. We were hoping for a good points day to pad our points were we are before we go to Daytona where it’s a real crapshoot. It’s disappointing to have two weekends that didn’t end up very well the last couple of races.”

    “Oh, well. That’s how it goes,” Larson said. “We’ll try and go to Daytona and rebound and gain some more points.”

    Not Surprising:   Joey Logano proved that not only was his teammate powerful, but he had Penske power to boot, finishing ninth place in spite of being down a cylinder.

    “I think Team Penske dominated Kentucky this weekend, it’s just unfortunate we dropped a cylinder there, but it’s still a top-10 out of being down one cylinder,” Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, said. “We’ll take that.”

    Surprising: Matt Kenseth, in his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, proved his worth to his sponsor, who announced prior to the race that they would increase their primary sponsorship from 27 to 30 races. Kenseth finished fourth and felt that “Overall, it was a positive weekend.”

    “I feel like we’re gaining on it,” Kenseth continued. “I thought we had a pretty good car. They had a great stop and got me good track position and I was able to get up two or three spots for the restart and hang onto fourth.”

    Not Surprising: Dale Jr. was fired up and ready to go after struggling mightily in practice, qualifying 29th, yet racing back to finish fifth, scoring his ninth top-five in 2014. And with that, Junior became the only driver so far with that many top-fives for the season to date.

    “So Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and the guys did a good job in having to deal with me and trying to put a good car under me this weekend,” Junior said. “It was a lot of fun in the race.”

    “It just fired me up … (and) they put a good setup under the car,” Earnhardt continued. “It wasn’t the best car out there, but we finished where we should have tonight with the speed the car the showed.”

    The Cup Series next heads to Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca Cola on Saturday, July 5th. Happy Independence Day!

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Monster Mile FedEx 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Monster Mile FedEx 400

    With Miles the Monster rearing his ugly head in more ways than one, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 45th annual FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway.

    Surprising: The winning crew chief, usually the one of the most up-tight people in the garage area as even he admits, must have been inspired by Pharrell’s ‘Happy’ song that played pre-race at the Monster Mile.

    Chad Knaus, crew chief for two-time 2014 winner, nine-time Dover winner, and six-time champ Jimmie Johnson, was surprisingly animated in expressing his happiness in the media center after the race.

    “Quite honestly I’m at the best point in my life,” Knaus said. “I’ve been very fortunate to have been in this sport for a long time.”

    “I’ve seen it grow and change, and it’s been a weird circuitous route to get to where we are now, but quite honestly, I’ve never been happier in my life – with my personal life, my performance at the racetrack, what we’ve got going on, and Jimmie has helped a lot with that,” Knaus continued. “So has Mr. Hendrick as far as making me understand that I’ve got to take time away from the facility and understand that there’s life outside of motorsports.”

    “I’ve tried for a long time to deny that fact, but I’m really, really enjoying it all the way around,” Knaus said. “It’s fun. It’s busy as ever, but we’re in a good spot right now.”

    “Everything is great.”

    Not Surprising: Clint Bowyer did his best impression of Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking Ball’, at least in the minds of Joe Gibbs Racing, hitting Kyle Busch and knocking him out of the race early on and then getting into Matt Kenseth on the last restart, after Kenseth spun his tires a bit.

    “It was a day alright,” Bowyer said. “I hated to be in that situation with the 18 (Kyle Busch). It’s one of those deals where I thought I was clear and obviously wasn’t and ruined his day and certainly didn’t help mine.”

    “I had a pretty good run at him (Matt Kenseth) and he was still spinning when I hit him and I knocked him into the wall and I was like, ‘Not another (Joe) Gibbs (Racing) car.’ But what a day. Frustrating day.”

    Bowyer did swing back, however, scoring a fourth place finish in his No. 15 Cherry5-hrEnergySpecialOpsWarriorFnd Toyota.

    Surprising: For only the third time in the past few years, including Martinsville and Daytona, the track itself became part of the headline as a piece of concrete two to three inches deep and six to eight inches wide dislodged, damaging Jamie McMurray’s car as well as the Monster Mile walkway.

    The red flag was displayed for 22 minutes and 22 seconds as NASCAR and the track officials made repairs to the hole in the concrete as well as the shattered area of the walkway.

    “We have equipment and we have product at every facility,” Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s Vice President of Competition and Racing Operations, said. “It is an epoxy type filler that we use, and it’s basically the same filler that’s used any time we make a repair at the track, whether it be asphalt or concrete.”

    “The track doesn’t want things like this to happen any more than we do or the competitors do,” Pemberton continued. “You always have to be ready for the emergencies and everybody wants to have the same perfect race day as they can.”

    Not Surprising: Jamie McMurray was not the only one impacted by unexpected objects encountered on the race track. Martin Truex Jr.’s car was hit by a bird in practice on Friday at the Monster Mile, causing damage to the left headlight area.

    For once, however, the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, was able to overcome the adversity, scoring his best finish to date in 2014 in the sixth position.

    “All in all, it was a good day,” Truex said. “You can just feel that we’re heading in the right direction.”

    “And all the dumb luck we’ve had didn’t bite us today,” the New Jersey native said. “Dover has been good to me over the years and it was also a great feeling to bring home a strong effort at what I consider my home track.”

    Surprising: Brett Moffitt made his debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Jay Robinson Racing and scored a very respectable 22nd place finish in the No. 66 Land Castle Title Toyota. The 21 year old, who tests for Michael Waltrip Racing and Toyota Racing Development, combined that relationship with the Robinson team for the opportunity.

    “Hopefully this will open up more opportunities,” Moffitt said. “Obviously I hope this leads to more races…it’s just about having the right people beside you telling you, ‘Look man, you can do this, just keep digging.’”

    “That’s what I’ve been doing.”

    Not Surprising: Starting at the back of the pack due to an engine change did not deter this young driver one bit. Kyle Larson, behind the wheel of the No. 42 Cottonelle Chevrolet, weaved and bobbed his way through the field to finish as the highest placed rookie yet again.

    Larson finished eleventh and is nineteen points ahead of Austin Dillon in the Rookie of the Year standings to date.

    Surprising: Team Penske had what looked like a good race weekend at the Monster Mile, with Brad Keselowski starting from the pole position and Joey Logano starting third. Both drivers finished the race in the top-10, with Keselowski in the runner up position and Logano in eighth but were surprisingly disappointed after the race, especially about their performance in the pits.

    “Yeah, we just had an up-and-down day,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford said. “I started up front and faded to the back pretty early in the race. We just weren’t where we needed to be in the car.”

    “I thought we were going to get a crack at Jimmie (Johnson) and then that last caution came out and we just kind of whiffed on pit road, came out way behind.”

    “I drove back up there, and with the help of the restart got up to second but we just never could really get in front of him.”

    “We weren’t very good today,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “Some runs we were and some runs we weren’t. We had a tough day on pit road in the beginning.”

    “We were chasing the car all day and that is what screwed us up.”

    Not Surprising:   Team Penske was not the only one having trouble in the pits. Kevin Harvick, who has been vocal in the media about his disappointment in his team’s performance, struggled yet again.

    The driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet had eight stops on pit road, for a total average of 42.074 seconds. Harvick and company finished 17th one lap down, after starting the race in the eighth position.

    Surprising: In spite of his difficulties, including getting hit by the No. 47 of AJ Allmendinger, crashing hard into the wall, and being in the garage for an extended period for repairs, Greg Biffle and his Pit Bulls were able to keep their streak of completing every race going, the longest in the sport since 2011.

    “I didn’t really know what happened,” the driver of the No. 16 3M Ford said. “I just knew that the No. 47 got into us pretty hard and turned us into the fence. They were racing hard back there and he stuck it into a hole that maybe there wasn’t room for, I guess and he slid off the bottom, got his right-rear caught by the No. 17 and up into us.”

    “It was a chain reaction,” Biffle continued. “This place is tight and fast and when you get racing that hard back there on a restart, stuff like that is going to happen.”

    Not Surprising: Although four-time champ Jeff Gordon seemingly had a good car early on, he faded late in the race to finish 15th, which not surprisingly handed the points lead off to third place finisher Matt Kenseth.

    Kenseth now leads by just two points over Gordon, with Carl Edwards third, Jimmie Johnson fourth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounding out the top five in the point standings after the Monster Mile.

  • Keselowski and Team Penske Capture Monster Mile Pole

    Keselowski and Team Penske Capture Monster Mile Pole

    Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, and Team Penske did it again, capturing the pole for the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway with a new track record of 164.44 mph.

    This was Keselowski’s fifth pole in the Cup Series and his second pole, as well as his tenth top-10 start in 2014. Keselowski also ripped off his Monster Mile rookie pole stripe, scoring his first pole in nine races at Dover.

    “It’s been a good year for qualifying,” Keselowski said. “And for most years that has not been the case. Very happy because pit road selection is so important here. We are very pleased with our qualifying position.”

    Keselowski credited Team Penske’s total package for the success that he and his teammate Joey Logano have had so far in qualifying.

    “Speed is the backbone of any success in this sport,” Keselowski said. “But being the backbone it is not the totality. There are ancillary things that you also have to work on with these cars. We are executing and we need to keep that up.”

    “We are qualifying a lot better than this time last year,” Keselowski continued. “I think the cars are better and Ford has done a good job, especially with the nose. We needed those pieces that were outside our control to fall into place.”

    “This is a good start to the weekend.”

    For pole sitter Keselowski, as well as Kyle Busch, who qualified second and Joey Logano, who will start behind his teammate in the third spot, watching the sky was also important to their qualifying efforts.

    “At a track that is concrete like the Monster Mile, it doesn’t attract as much heat as the black asphalt does, but the sun does make a difference,” Keselowski said. “I missed the clouds by about a minute. We still put down a good lap but the track probably had a little more speed in it.”

    Kyle Busch second No. 18 M&Ms Peanut Butter Toyota

    “The car was really fast in practice, Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Peanut Butter Toyota, said. “I really liked it but just wasn’t able to get the speed and kind of slowed down. Just couldn’t quite get enough for that lap.”

    “I think a lot of people were just waiting there and waiting on that cloud,” Busch continued. “We were trying to go as late as we could to see if the track would cool down.”

    “We were fast but came up a little short,” Logano, driver of the No. 22 Pennzoil Ford, said. “We picked up a lot of speed from practice and made some good adjustments. It just was over adjusted a little bit from the first to the second run.”

    “I think everyone was looking for that cloud,” Logano continued. “We were staring at the clouds and I saw all the crew chiefs staring up into the sun. We were doing the same thing and maybe we were chasing ghosts.”

    This was Busch’s sixth top-10 start of 2104 and his tenth in 19 races at Dover and this is Logano’s third top-10 start 10th in 13 races this season.

    Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 42 Cottonelle Chevrolet, was the highest qualifying rookie.

    “It was pretty good for us ending up fifth,” Larson said. “We had a good car in practice and we worked on it there a little bit. I’m happy with a top-5 starting spot for Sunday’s race. If we get our car a little better, we should be right up there in the front.”

    “Sometimes I like this place and sometimes I think it’s awful,” Larson said. “It depends how good the car is because this track is definitely tricky and on the edge. But I feel like I’m pretty comfortable around here. It’s like Bristol and I like that place.”

    Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, and Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, rounded out the top sixth in qualifying, starting the race in fourth and sixth respectively.

    The full run-down of the FedEx 400 qualifying results, including manufacturer and speed in miles per hour are as follows:

    1 Brad Keselowski Ford 164.444

    2 Kyle Busch Toyota 163.785

    3 Joey Logano Ford 163.688

    4 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 163.362

    5 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 163.080

    6 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 163.066

    7 Denny Hamlin Toyota 163.066

    8 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 162.499

    9 Brian Vickers Toyota 162.411

    10 Clint Bowyer Toyota 162.243

    11 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 162.155

    12 Greg Biffle Ford 160.995

    13 Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 162.933

    14 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 162.903

    15 Paul Menard Chevrolet 162.889

    16 Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet 162.844

    17 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 162.690

    18 Brett Moffitt Toyota 162.602

    19 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 162.580

    20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 162.550

    21 Matt Kenseth Toyota 162.536

    22 Casey Mears Chevrolet 162.250

    23 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 162.155

    24 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 162.009

    25 Aric Almirola Ford 161.754

    26 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Ford 161.747

    27 Marcos Ambrose Ford 161.725

    28 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 161.623

    29 Carl Edwards Ford 161.573

    30 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 160.887

    31 Cole Whitt Toyota 160.592

    32 David Gilliland Ford 160.435

    33 Josh Wise Chevrolet 160.206

    34 David Ragan Ford 159.419

    35 Alex Bowman Toyota 159.391

    36 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 159.200

    37 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 159.081

    38 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 159.046

    39 Michael Annett Chevrolet 159.032

    40 David Stremme Chevrolet 158.569

    41 Ryan Truex Toyota 158.124

    42 Dave Blaney Ford 157.618

    43 Blake Koch Ford 156.359

     

  • He’s Back….Juan Pablo Montoya is Back in NASCAR

    He’s Back….Juan Pablo Montoya is Back in NASCAR

    Juan Pablo Montoya, whose contract was not renewed by Earnhardt Ganassi Racing last year in favor of rookie Kyle Larson, will make his return back to NASCAR with Team Penske for two races this year.

    Montoya will add the NASCAR Cup starts at Michigan and the Brickyard at Indy to his Verizon IndyCar Series full-time schedule. The 38 year old Columbian will pilot the No. 12 SKF Ford at Michigan International Speedway on June 15th and the sponsor-to-be-named No. 12 car for the Brickyard 400 on July 27th.

    Greg Erwin, a veteran NASCAR crew chief, will be atop the pit box of Montoya for both races.

    “Juan is a proven winner in multiple racing disciplines and he is one of the most versatile racecar drivers competing today,” Roger Penske, team owner, said. “Michigan and Indianapolis are two important races for Team Penske. We know Juan has the ability to race for wins in both of those events while still focusing on his full-time program in the Verizon IndyCar Series.”

    Juan Pablo Montoya is also back on the NASCAR circuit with one of the most successful teams to date. Team Penske, whose two drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano have both visited Victory Lane this year, will no doubt welcome their newest teammate to the fold.

    “This opportunity is pretty unique,” Montoya said. “This year, it will be nice to be in a Penske car because they are so competitive week in and week out. Both Keselowski and Logano are running up front.”

    One place that Montoya really wants to go back to is the Brickyard, where he has come so close to winning in a stock car. JPM has mastered the Indianapolis Motor Speedway having won the Indy 500 in 2000.

    “It’s one of those places where I feel like I got robbed a few times,” Montoya said. “To be able to come here and be able to close that deal will be really, really nice.”

    Montoya is also back as he is on a mission to get take team owner Roger Penske to Victory Lane for the first time ever at the Brickyard.

    “It’s hard to believe, but Roger Penske has never won the Brickyard 400,” JPM said. “I think that Brad, Joey and I will give Roger and Team Penske a great opportunity to check that off the list and we should be strong at Michigan as well.”

    Montoya is also back with a vengeance to attempt something that no one else has done, winning three feature races at Indy in the same season. He is scheduled for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 10th, the Indy 500 a week later, and then the Brickyard 40 in July. So, if JPM qualifies for each one, he would be the first to do so.

    “Three chances gives me a better chance of winning one of them now,” Montoya said.

    So, just how will Montoya get back in shape to get back on the NASCAR Cup tracks?

    “I had a chance to test a car last week at Nashville and I felt like it was a good test,” Montoya said. “I was very happy that I got up to speed very easy. Within five laps I was comfortable in the car.”

    “I think running Michigan and Indy are two tracks where running open wheel helps you, especially Michigan, which is a lot like an open-wheel car because you don’t slow down much but use momentum and a lot of high speed.”

    “To just run the Brickyard would be a pretty big ask of our team and of Juan, without having spent much time in our cars or with having been out of a Cup car for a while,” Tim Cindric, Team Penske President said. “So, we felt like we needed to give him another shot at Michigan prior to the Brickyard so he could get ready for Indy.”

    While Montoya has been enjoying being back in the IndyCar Series, where he is 11th in the point standings currently, he is equally thrilled about this new opportunity back in his old stomping ground of NASCAR where he spent six year.

    “It will be fun to get back behind the wheel of that Cup car,” Montoya said simply.

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Toyota Owners 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond Toyota Owners 400

    At the track which made Chase-altering headlines the last time the Cup Series came to town, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 60th annual Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

    Surprising: While another racer with two wins has most often been known by this moniker, crew chief Todd Gordon dubbed his own winning driver Joey Logano ‘The Closer’ instead. Not only did Logano close the deal on his first win at Richmond but also closed on a Chase berth with his second win of the 2014 season.

    “Joey does a really good job closing,” Todd Gordon, crew chief, said in the media center after the race. “I think that’s one thing that’s impressed me in the last year and a little bit.”

    “I knew we had a shot at the win and it all kind of lined up for us.”

    “We kind of thought with one win you’re going to be all but locked in, but this really secures you,” the closing 23 year old driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “Having a couple wins this early in the season and in two completely different racetracks makes you very confident for the rest of the season.”

    Not Surprising: While Joey Logano punched his card to the Chase, both Marcos Ambrose and Casey Mears punched their tickets for NASCAR’s further review of the punches thrown in the pits at the conclusion of the race.

    In fact, the normally good natured Aussie landed such a punch that Mears acknowledged he was still smarting from the day after the race.

    “He got me good,” Mears said of Ambrose’s punch. “That’s one thing I can say that out of all the NASCAR fights or punches or when you see people swing, usually it’s a lot of fly-swatting.”

    “But he actually connected.”

    Surprising: One of the most surprising aspects of the Richmond race was that tire management issues led to fire management issues, with several drivers going up in flames after tire failures occurred.

    What was even more surprising is that those tire to fire issues happened four consecutive times right around lap 60 on tires.

    One of the most dramatic tire to fire episodes impacted Reed Sorenson, driver of the No. 36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet, who was pulled out of his burning car by a NASCAR official and a crew member from the No. 5 Kasey Kahne team.

    “Seems like the rubber got to the oil lines and the brake lines and that was what was burning was the oil and the fuel,” Sorenson said. “So I got out of there as quick as I could and to try and not inhale all that smoke.”

    “Definitely not what you want to be inside of.”

    Not Surprising: While Jeff Gordon remained the point’s leader, currently five points ahead of Matt Kenseth, both drivers expressed the same feelings as far as prioritizing wins over position in the point standings.

    “You’re right, I mean, normally I’d be ecstatic with leading the points and where we’re at and consistency, but right now those wins are just so important,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “I mean, I’d rather be 12th in points right now with three wins than be leading the points.”

    The driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Husky Toyota echoed Gordon’s sentiments.

    “I’m disappointed I didn’t get the win,” Kenseth said. “I did everything I could do.”

    “I was trying to win the race and at the end of the day I just didn’t get it done.”

    Surprising: Some of the drivers with the highest driver ratings at Richmond International Raceway struggled the most mightily at the short track.

    Denny Hamlin, who had the highest driver rating of 114.8 coming into the race, had an abysmal finish of 22nd after spinning out and being narrowly missed by many in the field.

    Tony Stewart, who came to the race with a driver rating of 96.5, the fifth best, also struggled, finishing 25th, one lap down.

    Two of the other drivers with good driver ratings, Kurt Busch in seventh and Jimmie Johnson in tenth, also had difficult nights finishing 23rd and 32nd respectively.

    “We struggled tonight in the Haas Automation Chevrolet,” Busch said. “The car was loose in, tight in the center and loose off for most of the night.”

    “It was frustrating.”

    “Really thought we had a decent car and was going to run in the top-five, top 10 at the worst,” Johnson said. “Then we had one run where we cut a right-front and the next run another right-front.”

    “That really just kind of put an end to our night.”

    Not Surprising: Martin Truex, Jr. finally tamed the bad racing luck demons with his best result of the season, tenth, in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet.

    “We finally finished one!” Truex said after the race. “Nothing fell out of the sky and hit us. We kept the air in the tires all night.”

    “The biggest thing is finally shaking the bad luck.”

    Surprising: While others may describe him in colorful ways, Kyle Busch had some interesting descriptors for himself after finishing third in the race.

    “That last restart was intense,” the driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota said after finishing third. “I thought that that was a bad call coming in and putting tires on, but man, when we went back green, everybody went fighting for the bottom.”

    “Really crazy the way that ended up and just drove past everybody on the outside like a bad mofo, just getting my job done like I was supposed to, and kind of recovering our day and ended up third,” Busch continued. “Dave (Rogers, crew chief) made a very gutsy call there to come in and put four tires on it and restart 16th and I just was a bad ass and drove the hell out of it.”

    Not Surprising:   After what happened in the fall Richmond race and then what happened at this race, Clint Bowyer no doubt would like to take the track completely off his dance card.

    Instead of doing his own spinning, this time around Bowyer collided with the rookie pole sitter Kyle Larson on the very first lap, sending Larson spinning and sending himself into fiery tire hell.

    “What a bad night,” the driver of the No. 15 AAA Insurance Toyota said after his 43rd place finish. “I was on fire and I really hate that happened with Kyle because I really like him and I’m a big fan of his.”

    “It was just one thing after another and not a very good night.”

    Surprising: Rookie Kyle Larson made a surprising comeback drive after starting from the pole and then having that first-lap incident with Clint Bowyer. The young driver of the No. 42 AXE Peace Chevrolet finished 16th and was yet again the highest finishing rookie of the race.

    Not Surprising: Dale Earnhardt Jr. did his best ‘Frozen’ imitation, substituting ‘Let it Go’ with just ‘Get over It’ in response to all the tempers flaring after the race. Junior himself got over it by bringing his No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet home in the seventh spot.

    “The No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) was mad at the No. 20 (Matt Kenseth) and he slammed on brakes after the checkered and the No. 47 (AJ Allmendinger) ran into the No. 20 and I ran into the No. 20 and I don’t know what that was all about,” Junior said, summing up all the action in the final lap. “You know, get over it.”

    Surprising: AJ Allmendinger celebrated his 200th Cup start in style, with his best finish to date. He brought his No. 47 Bush’s Grillin’ Beans Chevrolet to the checkered flag in sixth place.

    “It was a good race,” the Dinger said. “Just a tough race track.”

    “I was really happy with the car in general.”

    Not Surprising: When all is said and done, NASCAR is a family sport. Thus there was an outpouring of love for the ‘King’ Richard Petty as he returned to the race track for the first time after the passing of his wife Lynda.

    “I just felt like I needed to have a little time on our own so I have been gone for two or three weeks but I am back in the saddle again now,” Petty said. “I am just learning to live all over again.”

    “I am surviving,” Petty continued. “The busier they keep me the better off I will be.

    The ‘King’, along with the rest of the Cup Series will be busy as they travel next to the superspeedway of Talladega for the Aaron’s 499 on Sunday, May 4th.

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington

    As the blinding sun faded into darkness, drivers danced with the lady in black at one of the toughest tracks on the circuit. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 65th annual Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

    Surprising:  Perhaps it was the full moon or the sheer intensity of the competition, but there was a surprising amount of testiness, more so than at another of the other tracks to date, between drivers and even between drivers and crew chiefs.

    At one point, Aric Almirola and Danica Patrick were trading paint, as well as Austin Dillon and A.J. Allmendinger, the latter calling the young Dillon rookie a ‘punk’. There was also some testiness between the normally solid duo of six-time champ Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus during some of their radio chatter.

    Probably the biggest incident of the race occurred in the last few laps between Kurt Busch, who was running ninth in the first attempt at the green-white-checkered, and Clint Bowyer, who made contact with him when the green flag flew.

    The contact was so severe that Busch was unable to complete the race, finishing 31st in his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet. Bowyer, on the other hand, finished 12th in his No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota.

    “That was a terrible way to end what could have been a decent night,” Busch said. “We struggled at times to get the balance of the Haas Automation Chevrolet right, but we kind of found our spot just past the halfway point and made slight adjustments the rest of the way.”

    “I tried to hold them off the best I could, but someone moved me out of their way and it ruined our night,” Busch said of the restart. “I hate it for the team, but we keep learning each week and we will get better.”

    Although Busch has a win, he lost one position in the point standings, falling to 26th, 164 points behind the leader. Bowyer, who is winless, climbed one spot up in the point standings to 16th, 78 points behind the leader.

    Not Surprising:  In spite of the challenges, several personal bests were achieved by race winner Kevin Harvick, who by far had the stoutest car, leading 239 laps of the 374 total. This was Harvick’s first ever Southern 500 win, adding to his other crown jewel race wins, from the Daytona 500 to the Coca Cola 600 and the Brickyard.

    This was Harvick’s 25th victory in the Sprint Cup Series and he also became the first two-time winner of the season, virtually guaranteeing him a spot in the Chase for the championship.

    The driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing also became the first driver to win from pole position since Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett did so in 1997.

    “This is one race I told Rodney (Childers, crew chief) that I wanted to win,” Harvick said. “We were able to put it all together, but this is the Southern 500, this is as big as it gets in NASCAR racing.”

    Surprising:  There were several surprising bounces that occurred at the ‘Track Too Tough to Tame.’ Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had a surprising bounce back to score his career best, runner up finish at Darlington after finishing dead last at Texas last weekend with the mistake in the grass.

    “A great run, good job by my team,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet said. “This isn’t one of my best tracks so my team gave me a great car.”

    This was Junior’s ninth top-10 finish at Darlington and his fifth top-10 finish of the season.

    On the flip side, Paul Menard took a surprisingly hard bounce backwards, dropping eight positions in the points, from 10th to 18th, after finishing 41st in his No. 27 CertainTeed/Menards Chevrolet.

    “When the sun went down, I think it freed up,” Menard said after hitting the wall on Lap 201. “I hit the wall like ten laps before and I guess the right-front tire just went down.”

    “I guess I was in denial,” Menard continued. “There was a lot of damage.”

    Not Surprising:  Rookie of the Year contender Kyle Larson continued to impress with his eighth place finish in a backup car to become the highest finishing rookie of the race.

    “Yeah, just really proud of my Target Chip Ganassi team for how hard they had to work after I got into the wall and pulled the backup car out,” Larson said. “I started the race off so loose and just had to hang on for a couple runs and Shine got the car tightened up the car for me and we were able to run I thought top‑10 or ‑12 speeds.”

    “Finally got up there and then I got in the wall a couple times and had to pull the fenders back out and drive back up there,” Larson continued. “Still ended up 8th, but all in all it was a good Saturday for us.”

    Surprising: Six-time champion Jimmie Johnson surprisingly called on the old school racing gods to round out the podium finish for Team Chevy.

    “Yeah, just very happy to finish there in the top three,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet said. “We struggled the first run or two of the race, but we got the car turning for me and came to life and really did it the old‑fashioned way and kind of drove up through the field before the last pit stop, so proud of the hard work.”

    Although he remains winless to date, this was Johnson’s fifth top 10 finish of the season and his 12th top-10 finish in 16 races at Darlington Raceway.

    Not Surprising:  Even champions make mistake as demonstrated by the difficulties in restarting by four-time champion Jeff Gordon pretty much throughout the race.

    “We had a really strong car and everything was going really well,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “There towards the end, we just kind of started fading and got ate up on those restarts.”

    Gordon finished seventh and is still in the points lead, albeit by one point over Matt Kenseth.

    “I feel like it is a missed opportunity,” Gordon said. “But another great race car and I’m happy about that.”

    Surprising:  Team Penske had a surprisingly tough time under the watchful eye of the ‘Lady in Black’, with Keselowski finishing 17th and Logano finishing 35th.

    “It was a long night,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford said. “We didn’t get the finish we wanted, that is for sure.”

    “The track was slick so that is part of the unique challenge of Darlington that we all love.”

    While Keselowski admitted to getting pushed back by those struggling on restarts, teammate Logano instead had a mechanical failure with just ten laps to go.

    “We had an issue with the right front hub which broke,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “It is unfortunate that the right front hub broke and then that messed with the rotor and into the caliper and everything got hot and broke after that.”

    “It sucks because you run the whole race and get nothing to show for it at the end.”

    Not Surprising:   With the third best driver rating of 107.5 coming into Darlington Raceway, it was not surprising the Greg Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M/Red Cross Ford, was the highest finishing Ford when the checkered flag waved.

    “We worked really hard all night and probably didn’t have a fifth place car but we worked really hard on it and we had good pit stops and track position was everything tonight,” Biffle said. “Those last restarts we were on the outside, the inside and then the outside and we picked up one or two spots there at the end.”

    “Everybody worked hard and we will keep working on our car. We have to get better here but we will keep working at it.”

    Surprising:  NASCAR actually made a surprising move, granting an extra set of Goodyear tires for the Bojangles’ Southern 500. The sanctioning body apparently made that move after many teams voiced concerns about running out of tires, given the fall-off and wear.

    Not Surprising:  No doubt all of the Cup drivers are looking forward to an off-weekend of rest but Richard Petty Motorsports driver Marcos Ambrose summed it up best.

    “From the first lap, the track was as slick as anything,” the driver of the No. 9 DeWalt Ford said after finishing 14th. “This is the most worn out I have been in my NASCAR career.”

    After the Easter break, the NASCAR elite return to action in two weeks under the lights for some short-track racing at Richmond International Raceway.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kobalt 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Kobalt 400

    From the Team Penske pole repeat to the Most Interesting Man’s command to start the engines, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 17th annual Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    Surprising:  Boy, is he ever back…in so many surprising ways. With his crew chief Paul Wolfe back on top of the pit box after being out one race for the birth of his baby, driver Brad Keselowski sailed on past the out-of-gas Dale Earnhardt Jr. to make his way right back to Victory Lane.

    The driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford also went back to back for the race weekend, becoming the first driver to sweep both the Nationwide and Cup races at Las Vegas in the same weekend since 2000 when Jeff Burton did it.

    Finally, Keselowski himself noted after crossing the finish line that he was back in the Chase, having scored the first win for Team Penske of the young 2014 season. He is also back in the point standings, just one point shy of the top spot.

    Not Surprising:  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. joined fellow competitor Martin Truex Jr. in trying to look on the bright side of life after finishes that did not quite live up to their expectations.

    “We knew we were a lap short,” Junior said after finishing second on fumes. “We tried to save as much as we could.”

    “We took a gamble and didn’t win the race, but it still worked in our favor to run second,” the driver of the No. 88 Mountain Dew Kickstart Chevrolet continued. “It sucks to lose like that, but we can’t let that be a negative. The only way to be productive is to be positive.”

    “We have got to look at the positives in today and keep working toward our goal of winning some more races.”

    “We were better than 14th, no question about that,” Martin Truex Jr. said. “We ran in the top-10 for most of the race but lost track position at the end.”

    “On the bright side this was our best performance as a team, much better than last week at Phoenix,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet said. “We had good pit stops all day and I really like the gains we made this weekend.”

    Adding to their bright sides was the fact that Martin Truex Jr. made his 300th career start and Dale Jr. became only the second driver, next to the King, to begin a race year with three top-2 finishes in a row.

    Surprising:  Danica Patrick was the best of the Stewart Haas crew, finishing 21st.  Teammates Kurt Busch finished 26; Tony Stewart 33rd and Kevin Harvick 41st with a wheel hub issue putting him 30 laps down.

    “Obviously you always want more, but I’m happy with it, especially after what we’ve gone through the last two weeks,” Patrick said. “It’s a good day and gives us something to build on going to Bristol.”

    Driver and team owner summed up the surprisingly poor overall team performance with three words, “Something wasn’t right.” In fact, Stewart asked that his car at least not be touched after the race so it could return to North Carolina for diagnosis of its troubles.

    Not Surprising:  With a sense of urgency, given his wife was due with their first child at any minute, Paul Menard drove right up to the third spot in his No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet. And not surprisingly given his record there, this ended up as Menard’s third top-10 finish in eight races in SinCity.

    “It’s big for sure,” Menard said. “This Quaker State/Menards Chevy was hauling ass on long runs. Had a lot of those today and it kind of played in our favor.”

    “And now I want to get home as soon as possible.”

    Surprising:  For the first time back on the race track since announcing his departure from full-time racing and his soon-to-be broadcast career and for his first time behind the wheel of a Toyota Camry, Jeff Burton had a surprisingly good run.

    In fact, the driver of the No. 66 Let’s Go Places Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing brought it home top-20, finishing in the 17th spot.

    “That was a lot of fun,” Burton said. “That was a good day for the No. 66 guys.  Chad (Walter, crew chief) and the guys were a pleasure to work with this weekend.”

    Not Surprising:  While Carl Edwards was pleased with his top-5 finish in his No. 99 Aflac Ford, he could not help but mourn the passing of William Clay Ford, Sr., the grandson of Henry Ford.

    “We’re all thinking of the Ford family,” Edwards said. “For Brad in a Ford to win both of those races (Nationwide and Cup), I think it says a lot.”

    NASCAR echoed Edwards’ sentiments with Brian France, NASCAR Chairman and CEO, issuing these words, “He will be remembered as a man of style, for both the automobiles he built and the life he led. He was a giant….who forever will be missed.”

    Surprising:  With the new Chase system focusing on race wins, it was surprising to hear at least one driver talk about a good points day after the Kobalt 400.

    “It was a good effort for the team and it was a good points day,” Ryan Newman said after finishing seventh in his No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet. “If we keep running like that, we’ll put it in the top five and if we do that we’ll win.”

    Not Surprising:   That Austin Dillon is just good so it was not surprising that he not only had a good finish in 16th, the highest finishing rookie, but as a result, he now sits as the highest rookie in the point standings. In fact, Austin Dillon is 13th in the point standings, ahead of the likes of Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch.

    Surprising:  While Kyle Busch is usually a favorite with the kids due to the M&Ms candy on his car, he felt more like a kid’s toy, in this case a yoyo, after a grueling day in his home town.

    “We had a really up and down day with our M&M’s Peanut Camry,” Busch said. “We started off getting blocked in the pits and had to come from the back.”

    “The car was too loose on the first run and we tightened it up and it was really fast for a while,” Busch continued. “But, we kept adjusting on it to try and help the tight in the center of the corner and it was just getting looser and looser, especially on the last run.  Just disappointing when we looked like we had a good car earlier in the race.”

    Not Surprising:  With three top-ten finishes to his name, Jeff Gordon is one happy camper so far this season. And to finish top-ten at Las Vegas, admittedly one of his struggles tracks, he was almost giddy.

    “I knew today was going to be one of the most challenging races that we were going to have, possibly all year long,” Gordon said. “And so, I feel like this team did an incredible job. I think we were much better than ninth, but at the same time, this I think is one of my worst tracks right now.”

    “We’re off to a fantastic start. We’re very motivated by that. We’re excited.”

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: The Profit on CNBC 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: The Profit on CNBC 500

    With the first knock out qualifying of the season and special guests like AJ Foyt celebrating the 50th anniversary of Phoenix International Speedway, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from The Profit on CNBC 500 presented by Small Business Fueling America.

    Surprising:  While Kevin Harvick may be known as the ‘Closer’ and ‘Freaky Fast’, he can now add a surprising new moniker, that of ‘Leader’.

    Harvick led more than 200 laps for the fourth time in the Cup Series, as well as leading a race-high 224 laps.

    The driver of the No. 4 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet also took the lead from six-time champ Jimmie Johnson as the winningest driver at Phoenix International Raceway with five victories.

    Finally, Harvick became the leader of the pack at Stewart-Haas Racing, grabbing the team’s first win, as well as his first win with his new team.

    “This just solidifies so many things and so many decisions,” Harvick said after the race. “What a race car.”

    Not Surprising:  With PIR being a one-miler, it was not surprising that there was at least one short-track temper tantrum. And this time, that honor went to Danica Patrick, who was more than annoyed with Justin Allgaier.

    “That damn 51 was driving like a complete jack**s out there,” Patrick said. “I’m not at all surprised we wrecked.”

    Patrick went on to spin out again as a result of the damage inflicted in the incident with Allgaier’s car, finishing 36th.  Since she also crashed out in the Daytona 500, she now sits 41st in owner points for the 2014 season, potentially endangering her chances in making races if she continues on that path.

    Surprising:  In spite of significant and integral parts of their team missing, with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s spotter TJ Majors out for medical reasons and Brad Keselowski’s crew chief Paul Wolfe out for the birth of his child, both drivers did their missing compadres proud.

    Dale Junior finished second in his No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet and Brad Keselowski finished right behind him in third in his No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford. This was Earnhardt Jr.’s 11th top-10 finish and Keselowski’s fourth top-10 finish at Phoenix International Raceway.

    “Yeah we had a great car,” Junior said. “We leaned on our teammates and got the car a lot better.  Steve (Letarte) and those guys just keep getting better and better.  These cars I’m driving I think are the best in the garage.”

    “That was everything we could do to get up there and get third,’ Keselowski said. “We did the best we could and that was really all we had.”

    Both drivers texted and tweeted their respective missing team members before and after the race, keeping them as connected as possible, as well as celebrating their good finishes together.

    Not Surprising:  With Team Penske being stout in qualifying it was no surprise that Joey Logano also had a good finish in his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, taking the checkered flag in the fourth spot. In addition, Logano also had the quote of the race day.

    “It was fun out there,” Logano said. “I had a really good Shell Pennzoil Ford but that 4 car was just so fast.”

    “I was joking on the radio that on the back bumper of that car it says freaky fast and they weren’t lying when they put that on there.”

    Surprising:  Kasey Kahne, who had surprisingly been the lone Hendrick Motorsports struggler, fought off an ill handling car to catch up to his teammates, finishing 11th.

    “The guys battled hard today,” Kahne tweeted after the race. “11th was good for us after all that. On to Vegas!”

    HMS drivers Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson also had good runs, finishing fifth and sixth respectively.

    Not Surprising:  Phoenix International Raceway, which requires some finesse and experience, was not quite so kind to the rookies in the field. In fact, the highest finishing rookie was Kyle Larson in the 20th position.

    Austin Dillon finished 24th; Cole Whitt 27th; Justin Allgaier 30th; Michael Annett 34th; Ryan Truex 35th; Alex Bowman 41st and Parker Kligerman 42nd.

    Surprising:  Casey Mears, behind the wheel of the No. 13 Geico Chevrolet had another surprisingly good run finishing top-15. Mears had a great run in the Daytona 500, taking the checkered flag in the tenth spot.

    So, after leaving Phoenix, albeit only the second race of the season, Mears now sits 11th in the point standings, having one of his best starts to the year.

    Not Surprising:   Kurt Busch, who had been a student at the University of Arizona, returned to the state to learn one tough lesson at PIR, blowing an engine to finish 39th in the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet.

    “That was another disappointing finish for the No. 41 team,” Busch said. “We had a good Haas Automation Chevrolet early on and ran in the top-10 for more than 200 laps but we dropped a cylinder late in the race and couldn’t do anything to fix it.”

    “We learned some things today,” Busch continued. “The school of hard knocks happens out on the road and in life.”

    Surprising:  While Kurt Busch was fighting his own engine demons, Brian Vickers was facing some surprising challenges of his own, turning his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota into a nightmare.

    “The second run we were trying to make an adjustment and the left rear jack screw broke so we didn’t get our adjustment,” Vickers said. “I think we even went the wrong way and that killed us — we lost track position and went a lap down.”

    Vickers soldiered on to finish the race in the 25th position.

    Not Surprising:  Ryan Newman served as leader of the Richard Childress Racing team, finishing seventh in his No. 31 Quicken Loans Chevrolet.

    “The guys did a good job in the pits,” Newman said. “We caught a good break with the debris caution but that happens. I’m sure we’ll get the opposite at some point this year, too.”

    The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Kobalt 400 on Sunday, March 9th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race starts at 3 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its prerace show at 2 p.m.

  • NASCAR BTS: Jim Beichner Embracing New Role as Team Penske Athletic Director

    NASCAR BTS: Jim Beichner Embracing New Role as Team Penske Athletic Director

    With an eye to increasing that ever important fitness level for drivers and crew alike, Team Penske recently announced the hiring of Jim Beichner as their new Athletic Director. And Beichner could not be more excited as he embraces his new role in the sport.

    “It’s a completely new role for me,” Beichner said. “While I’m just learning about the responsibilities, what I can say is that I work with great people.”

    “I work for Roger Penske and the Team Penske so it’s an exciting, great new opportunity for me.”

    Beichner has certainly had quite the journey to his new position, from race fan as a youngster to wrestling coach as an adult and throughout much of his career.

    “I’m originally from western New York,” Beichner said. “I grew up on a couple hundred acre farm just outside of Jamestown, New York, where Lucille Ball was born and raised.”

    “I was a race fan and my family was involved with all kinds of different forms of racing, from stock cars, motorcycles and whatever has an engine attached to it,” Beichner continued. “So, I grew up around the sport.”

    While Beichner was a race fan, he fell in love with another sport, wrestling, which he has been involved in throughout his life. And while he loved the world of coaching, he augmented his skills in the administrative area at Clarion University, where he earned a degree in Business Administration and Marketing, as well as the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Buffalo where he coached.

    “While at the University of Buffalo, I took on as many administrative duties as I could,” Beichner said. “I was Director of Compliance at the University of Buffalo and then got involved with student housing and some other administrative activities.”

    “So, the University of Buffalo afforded me opportunities to not just be a coach, of which I’m very appreciative,” Beichner continued. “I knew that I wasn’t going to retire a coach. Somewhere down the line I wanted to be a manger of people and I’m very fortunate that Roger Penske and his group picked me to do this.”

    Beichner did not have an inside track on the position. In fact, he saw the job posting like so many other regular job-seekers.

    “I saw the job posting and the more I read it, it sounded like me is the best way I can explain it,” Beichner said. “As I read the posting, I said to myself, ‘Jim, that sounds like you.’ All the things that they were looking for in an AD just spoke to me.”

    In his new AD role, Beichner is responsible for supervising the pit crews, including the coaches, the strength coach, others in the shop that work with the pit crew.

    “So, I’m the manager of people and I feel like that’s one of my strengths,” Beichner said. “I can cross boundaries and relate to just about anybody. Also, I’m a fair and honest person and that’s what they get from me.”

    While Beichner is thrilled with his new role and the people with whom he works, Beichner is also excited about the facilities in which he and his staff have the privilege to work.

    “I can tell you, our facility is beautiful,” Beichner said. “We have state-of-the art equipment so I couldn’t ask for a better place to be than working.”

    While Beichner has been used to training Division I wrestlers who have a certain mentality that they will do whatever they need to get the job done, he readily admits that those he is training at Team Penske demonstrate the same attitude and commitment.

    “I see, hear and feel the same dedication with my pit crew members here at Team Penske,” Beichner said. “I’m very impressed with the fact that as a new person coming in with new ideas, which I’ve shared with the coaches, and everybody has bought in and is working hard.”

    “I’m very impressed with their attitude,” Beichner continued. “It’s really a great crew to work with. Our coaches are top notch and our athletes are top notch.”

    “Our administration is great and through the changes that we are doing, they have bonded in a way that I had hoped they would respond.”

    While Team Penske is involved with NASCAR, they are also involved in other forms of motorsports including the IndyCar Series. Given that, Beichner may be called upon to expand his work from just focusing on the world of stock car racing to open wheel racing as well.

    “I do what my bosses ask me to do,” Beichner said. “When they ask me to get involved in Indy, as far as their pit crews are concerned, then I get involved.”

    “Whatever they want or need me to do, I’m the kind of person that is a company guy,” Beichner continued. ‘Nothing is out of bounds for me. If they ask me to do whatever, I will do that thing that they are asking me to do so I can achieve our goals and help them achieve their goals.”

    All of the new changes and challenges excite Beichner but what he is most excited about is getting to the race track to see the fruits of his labors. And he intends to be at the Daytona 500 to kick off the race season in celebration of his new responsibilities.

    “I’m really excited about race days,” Beichner said. “That’s probably what everybody would be excited about.”

    “I want to see our guys compete at the highest level and I want to see them do great,” Beichner continued. “I believe they are prepared very well and each one of those guys has a good reason to feel excited about race days. I’m excited about getting to those tracks and being out there and watching our guys perform.”

    Although Beichner has had quite a career in sports, from wrestling to NASCAR, he admits that he is simply in awe of his new opportunity with Team Penske.

    “You’re working for Roger Penske, a legend in motorsports,” Beichner said. “Where else would you rather be if you are a fan of racing than with Roger Penske and Team Penske?”

    “I don’t know what else to say,” Beichner continued. “This is where I’d rather be to help them ultimately to achieve their goals.”

    “I’m excited to see our Team Penske drivers, Keselowski, Logano and Blaney, out there as a team and I hope we help them achieve more victories than they already have,” Beichner said. “That’s what I’m excited about ultimately is to see those guys win races.”

    ‘I can’t speak highly enough of Team Penske, Roger Penske and this organization,” Beichner said. “And I can’t tell you how excited I am to have this opportunity.”

     

  • Team Penske Ends Day 3 of the Sprint Cup Media Tour

    Team Penske Ends Day 3 of the Sprint Cup Media Tour

    Day three of the Sprint Media Tour concluded with Team Penske. Penske’s lineup is somewhat different this year. Returning members are 2012 Sprint Cup Champion Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, and Ryan Blaney. Blaney will split his time between the Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series in 2014.

    Keselowski, who drives the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion, had a down year in 2013 with only one victory to his credit—the fall race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Climbing back to the top of the charts is Keselowski’s main goal for 2014.

    Dramatic changes were made within the middle ranks of Team Penske when it comes to the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford. The Blue Deuce’s consistent mechanical failures and gaffes on pit road were costly in 2013, enough to keep the 2012 champion from defending his title.

    “We weren’t where we needed to be last year,” said Keselowski. “But we’ve revamped our pit crew and made some changes internally, at the shop, and now it’s up to me as a driver to capitalize on these positive changes.”

    “We had some reliability problems and it just wasn’t as smooth as 2012,” said team owner Roger Penske. “But look, it’s racing and you’re not going to win every year. When it comes to Brad, he’s got it as a driver. He’s been to the top. Now we just have to give him better tools to get there.”

    Car owner Roger Penske knows he has drivers with a great future. Looking down the line at his lineup, The Captain said, “There are three drivers with an average age of 26. That’s the future right there. Our goal as a team is no different than anyone else. We want to be at that head table at the end of the 2014 season.”

    Joey Logano embraces change. His first year in the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford was respectable. He made the Chase and finished eighth, a good finish for a driver learning a new team, but changes in qualifying procedure, as well as the proposed Chase format, were to Logano’s liking.

    “I think it’s great. You’re going to have a Richmond (the last race of the regular season) scenario within the Chase, almost a make it or break it every three races,” said Logano, noting NASCAR’s potential elimination Chase system. “There’s going to be some really desperate drivers taking chances and I think that’s great for the fans. It’s going to add a lot of drama.”

    Ryan Blaney also wants to win a championship. The 20 year old will run 15 Nationwide Series races as well as his truck schedule for Brad Keselowski Racing. He will also make his Cup debut this season in at least two races. He will be running the No. 12 SKF Ford in the Cup Series.

    “It just makes me feel really good to have people trust me to make my first Cup start, and do all these Nationwide races to try and win that Owner’s Championship,” said Blaney. “We’ve really improved our relationship with Ford, across the board, so I’m truly excited to get this season going.”