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Todd Gordon set for 300th Cup race as crew chief at Indianapolis

When the green flag waves on Sunday, July 5, for the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Todd Gordon will achieve a milestone of his own. Gordon, who currently serves as a crew chief for Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Ford Mustang team for Team Penske, will reach 300 races as a Cup crew chief.

A native of Camden, New York, and a graduate from Clemson University with a mechanical engineering degree, Gordon has an extensive racing background, where has worked in roles that includes a fabricator, mechanic, engineer and crew chief for multiple NASCAR teams from 1998 to 2010, teams that include ppC Racing, CJM Racing, Baker Curb Racing and Diamond-Waltrip Racing.

In 2011, Gordon was named crew chief for the reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series’ championship-winning No. 22 Dodge team for team owner Roger Penske. On July 8, Gordon achieved his first NASCAR win as a crew chief at Kentucky Speedway with Brad Keselowski. He would win four more races with Keselowski and one with Kurt Busch for the remainder of the 2011 season. At the conclusion of the season, the No. 22 Penske team finished fifth in the owners’ standings while achieving six wins, six poles, 16 top-five finishes and 24 top-10 finishes in 33 races with five different drivers, (Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Sam Hornish Jr., Parker Kligerman and Jacques Villeneuve).

The following year, Gordon was promoted to the NASCAR Cup Series as a crew chief for Penske’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge team with driver A.J. Allmendinger. Through the first 17 races, Allmendinger finished in the top 10 only three times, which included a runner-up finish at Martinsville Speedway in April. On July 7, prior to the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Allmendinger was suspended for failing a random drug test and Gordon was paired with Hornish Jr. for the remainder of the Cup schedule. Hornish’s best result was a fifth-place finish at Watkins Glen in August.

In 2013, when Penske changed manufacturers from Dodge to Ford, Gordon was paired with Joey Logano, Penske’s newest driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford in the Cup Series. On August 18, the crew chief notched his first Cup win with Logano at Michigan International Speedway. The duo would make the postseason Playoffs the following month and settle in eighth in the final standings.

From 2014 to 2016, Gordon and Logano would notch 14 race victories, 10 poles, 54 top-five finishes and 76 top-10 results while finishing runner-up in the 2016 Cup standings. The duo also achieved the 2015 Daytona 500. After winning once and missing the Playoffs in 2017, the duo would win three races, make the Championship Round and claim the NASCAR Cup Series championship the following season. Last season, Gordon won two races with Logano and the two also achieved two poles, 12 top-five results and 21 top-10 results despite missing the Championship Round and finishing fifth in the final standings.

This season, following a major driver-crew chief shuffling at Team Penske, Gordon was paired with Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Ford team while Paul Wolfe assumed crew chief responsibilities of Logano and the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford team. Through the first 15 races of the 2020 Cup season, Blaney and Gordon have notched seven top-10 results and won their first race together at Talladega Superspeedway on June 22. They are ranked second in the regular-season series standings and trail points leader Kevin Harvick by 52 points.

Following last weekend’s Pocono Raceway doubleheader, in 299 races as a Cup crew chief, Gordon has achieved 22 race wins, 18 pole, 108 top-five results and 169 top-10 results along with the 2018 title.

This weekend’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, along with the 300th career start, will mark Gordon’s ninth race as a crew chief at the famed racetrack, where he has achieved six top-10 results and finished runner-up in 2015 and 2019 with Logano.

The Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis will air on July 5 at 4 p.m. ET on NBC.

June 30, 2020
The View from My Recliner – Thoughts from Daytona

Let it be known that I hate restrictor plate racing.

Between the XFINITY and Cup races, it was pile up after pile up. If you’re a fan, you might as well save the money, go to the County Fair and go see the demolition derby.

If I am a car owner, I would really think hard about even entering my car into a race at Daytona and Talladega. You might as well consider that car a known loss and be surprised if the car survives. The investment for four restrictor plate races isn’t worth it.

It was great to see Roger Penske in victory lane celebrating the 100th victory for Team Penske. The Captain has been the center of Indy Car racing for years and in the past 20 plus years, has been a force in NASCAR. He has his team poised to be in contention for years to come with younger drivers like Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano driving the Penske cars and Ryan Blaney driving for the Wood Brothers. The three drivers are lined up with three crew chiefs in Paul Wolfe, Todd Gordon and Jeremy Bullins which will add to team chemistry and continuity.

Tony Stewart made it into the top-30 in points even though he wrecked out of Daytona. Look for Stewart to go hard for another win to solidify his spot in the Chase. I have the feeling Smoke will be a big factor at Indy. He was part of the tire test and would love to get his 50th Cup win at home.

Kudos to Ryan Newman who called out NASCAR in the drivers meeting. I can see a fine coming, but his comments were on target. With the way the XFINITY race ended on Friday night, Newman calling into question how NASCAR officiated the race was on the money.

Right now, there have been 11 winners in the Cup series. The five who are in on points right now are Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman and Ryan Blaney. After Richmond, unless someone like A.J. Allmendinger grabs a win at The Glen, the only driver in this group I don’t see in the Chase is Austin Dillon. The Slugger Labbe-led team hasn’t been consistent lately and I could see them dropping out of the Chase race and their spot taken by Jamie McMurray on points or Kyle Larson with a win.

Kentucky will be interesting to see if it is a follow the leader like most re-paves turn out to be.

Enjoy the racing this week and that is the View from My Recliner.

July 3, 2016
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 60^th 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 22^nd 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 25^th, 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 23^rd and 32^nd 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 43^rd 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 4^th.

April 27, 2014
Goodyear Pronounces New Tire Success at Atlanta and Ready for Kansas

This past weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Goodyear, the official tire of NASCAR, debuted a new tire technology utilizing multi-zone tread technology.

And after several tests, as well as during the race with multiple green flag stops with no major issues, Goodyear has pronounced their new tire good.

“Without question, the debut of our multi-zone tread technology at Atlanta was a success,” Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s Director of Racing, said. “The right-side tire, with the firmer, heat resistant compound on the inboard portion of the tire, and the more tractive compound on the outboard, enabled the cars to put on great races in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.”

“Certainly this confirms our plan to utilize this technology for the October ace weekend in Kansas, and actively evaluate its application at other tracks.”

“I would agree that the new tire debut at Atlanta was a complete success,” Justin Fantozzi, Marketing Manager for Global Race Tires for Goodyear, said. “Folks here are very proud of the result.”

While the technology is certainly different, the process of development for the new tire was different as well. With this new tire technology, the concept came from the passenger vehicle side to the racing venue, which is opposite of how most tire advances take place.

“Normally, it is track to street but this was one of the technologies that was street to track,” Fantozzi said. “This technology was used in our triple tread passenger tires for dry, rain and snow.”

“So, for the racing tires, the idea was to balance durability and heat versus grip and traction whereas on a consumer tire, it is all about the weather balance.”

“Since we don’t race in the rain, we had to balance the durability and heat instead.”

One of the other challenges for the new tire was to ensure that the zones where positioned where they needed to be.

“You have to be very diligent that the zones go where you need them to go,” Fantozzi said. “But for us, that’s very simple because the yellow letters are only on one side of the tire and they are always facing out.”

“So, we know exactly which zone has the firmer compound on it and which zone has the more tractive compound.”

What most fans may not realize is that the development of this particular new tire technology has been two years in the making for Goodyear.

“There isn’t a call center or an 800 number that the crew chiefs and drivers call to get to a customer service representative for the tires,” Fantozzi said. “We actually send our development team to the race track.”

“There is a one-to-one relationship so that if someone has an issue at the race track, we get the feedback as we develop the tire,” Fantozzi continued. “At the same time, there are folks who don’t travel that are working on developing the new technology.”

“So, that’s how it all started.”

After the Goodyear scientists worked their magic in the lab, the tire actually was tested not just once but twice before showing up at Atlanta.

“We brought it to the race track in a couple of tests,” Fantozzi said. “The first test was the development test, which was about 65 days ago.”

“And then we felt that a change was enough that each and every team needed to feel it,” Fantozzi continued. “So, we went back to Atlanta with a confirmation test thirty days before the event.”

“At the development test, we had one of each of the manufacturers there and at the confirmation test, we invited one of each one of the teams,” Fantozzi said. “So, we had 13 vehicles at the confirmation test.”

“Then we were ready to take it to the track,” Fantozzi continued. “We had three fuel stops at Atlanta with no issues so everybody was pretty proud of that and we’ll continue the cadence on the development side and see where else the technology can fit and become a solution at the race track.”

Goodyear also had the challenge of not only developing their new tire technology but also melding that into the new Gen 6 race car. And while Goodyear had to balance speed and safety, they also had to deal with a new challenge, heat.

“The other part of it that we’ve seen with the new car is the heat,” Fantozzi said. ”And it doesn’t come in the traditional sense that the faster you go, the more heat you have.”

“We’re seeing a lot of the heat not only in compartment where the tires are but in the race car itself,” Fantozzi continued. “So, the crew chiefs are balancing off the heat as well.”

“That’s probably the biggest change with the car,” Fantozzi said. “It is different from a dynamic standpoint when the tires are able to seal off and there is no air flow through the tire compartment or in the car because that’s where the challenge comes.”

Surprisingly, Goodyear did not have to bring extra personnel to the Atlanta Motor Speedway to assist with the new tire. But for Goodyear, they always come with an extensive cadre of staff and engineers, ready to assist with any and all tire issues that may occur.

“We had a couple more engineers on site at Atlanta than we would normally have but not extreme,” Fantozzi said. “I think we had just one or two more folks.”

“Because of the cadence we keep every weekend, with the mounters, changers and engineers and those on the business side of it, there can be sixty folks on the ground carrying the Goodyear banner,” Fantozzi continued. “So, we didn’t need to bring too many more folks.”

“One of the guys that doesn’t travel but has worked eighteen or twenty-four months on the tire wanted to see it, so he came,” Fantozzi said. “It’s those type of folks who joined us in Atlanta.”

While there were no doubt a few Goodyear nerves on pit road, all was dispelled after the race got underway.

“You can test as much as you want to but at Atlanta, when we got through the first set of green flag stops, the confidence level went up with the assurance that what we had brought to the race track was proven,” Fantozzi said. “We were very, very happy with that first green flag run and then we ended up having another set and a third and that just led to even more confirmation.”

“We have pride in what we bring to the race track.”

Although Goodyear pronounced the new tire good, there were plenty of drivers and crew chiefs who concurred as well.

“I think Goodyear did a good job there from my perspective,” Dave Rogers, winning Atlanta crew chief, said.

“It ran pretty good for me,” Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Penske Ford, said. “Every time we had a pit stop Todd (Gordon, crew chief) came on the radio and said that the tires look good.”

“It seemed like it was a pretty solid tire,” Logano continued. “It hung in strong and I thought it put on a good race.”

Goodyear confirmed that it will next race the special zone-tread tires at Kansas Speedway.

“We waited until after we got confirmation in Atlanta that the concept was valid,” Fantozzi said. “And so we’ll have a multi-zone tire, a different one, for the Kansas fall race.”

“And that is in the cadence of development for 2014 and we have to get to the race track to get that balance and then see where else it will fit into the race events.”

September 5, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: Pure Michigan 400

Sporting some of the fastest speeds at any track this season, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 44^th running of the Pure Michigan 400 in the Irish hills.

Surprising: While the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford did his job in qualifying, scoring the pole position for the race start, it was all about team Penske when the 23 year old Joey Logano took the checkered flag and found his way to Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway.

“This was a hard-fought win throughout this whole Penske team,” Logano said. “This 22 team gave me a great Shell Pennzoil Ford that was capable of winning.”

“This race team did a fabulous job,” Todd Gordon, crew chief, said. “Really proud of this whole team.”

“As I go back probably 30 years here at the track, this is probably one of the biggest wins,” Roger Penske, team owner, said. “It’s clearly a team effort.”

This was Logano’s first victory of the 2013 season, his first victory at Michigan International Speedway and his first victory with team Penske Ford.

Not Surprising: Because the race was at Michigan, it was not surprising that fuel mileage, tires and track position played critical roles in how the race unfolded.

In fact, fuel mileage bit one of the sports veterans, who was racing all out for the ‘W’.

“We were just hoping for one more yellow,” Mark Martin, driver of the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota said, after running out of gas while leading to finish 27^th.

“Just stayed ahead of Joey there, but if he would have slowed down, I could have maybe saved enough,” Martin said. “I had to go that fast just trying to stay in the lead.”

Tires also played a significant role in the Pure Michigan 400, to which Dale Earnhardt, Jr. could definitely attest.

“It’s just the tire; we’ve had a lot of problems with,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Youth Foundation Chevrolet said after experiencing a right-front tire problem on lap 135. “I think this is the same tire we struggled with the last race.”

Because of his tire troubles, Junior finished the race in the 36^th position and fell one position to seventh in the point standings.

Track position was also key as is so often the case at Michigan, a point driven home for young substitute driver Austin Dillon, behind the wheel of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet for the recuperating Tony Stewart.

Dillon wrecked early in the race and had to work diligently with crew chief Steve Addington to garner the track position that led to their respectable 14^th place finish.

“Definitely scared myself at the beginning as it was too early to be wrecking out there,” Dillon said. “Luckily we had saved enough car where we could work on it and get some track position.”

“Steve made some great calls on track position and them guys did a great job.”

Surprising: In addition to Austin Dillon’s comeback, Clint Bowyer made a surprisingly good comeback to finish 5^th in his No. 15 5-hour Energy Toyota after a first lap spin. Bowyer was the highest finishing Toyota and the only Toyota in the top ten at the finish of the Pure Michigan 400. And while Bowyer struggled, he took great pride in his ability to bounce back from the adversity.

“Man, what a long day,” Bowyer said. “Beats the hell out of me how I recovered to finish fifth.”

“Spinning out on the first lap I’m like – I couldn’t figure it out,” Bowyer continued. “Hard fought battle.”

“Those days are what wins championships.”

Bowyer took over second in the point standing and is 41 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

Not Surprising: But for a tricky restart, the driver known as the ‘Closer’ almost closed the deal in the Irish hills of Michigan. Kevin Harvick, piloting the No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet, finished second, his 10^th top-10 finish at MIS and his 12^th top-10 finish in 2013.

“I just mistimed the last restart there,” Harvick said. “I had to check up and that allowed the No. 22 to kind of make it three-wide and get under me and then we had to fight back from there.”

“But all in all it was a good day.”

Surprising: The points leader and five-time champ had a surprisingly challenging day at Michigan, having to drive through the field in his back up car due to a practice lap wreck. Although he looked strong and even led two laps, Jimmie Johnson experienced engine failure and ended up his day finishing 40^th in his No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet.

“The engine broke there,” Johnson said. “When we came in for a green flag pit stop, something started then it definitely dropped a cylinder.”

“This track is hard on engines,” Johnson continued. “Days like today am thankful for the big points lead and the bonus points in the Chase.”

“We’ll dust ourselves off and go on to next week.”

Not Surprising: Kurt Busch, who after the race reportedly received an offer to driver for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014, proved the caliber of his driving abilities and the value of his team with a third place finish. This was Busch’s ninth top-10 finish in 26 races at MIS and the good finish moved him up two spots to ninth in the point standings.

“To be in position and run well, to post a top-three finish, just got to thank the guys,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet said after the race. “Furniture Row is acting like a big-time player right now.”

“We had a little bit of weaknesses here and there but overall, we keep positing good results and it’s very satisfying.”

Surprising: Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 NIBCO/Menards Chevrolet, surprisingly scored his first top five of the season.

“We really needed a good run,” Menard said. “We have been crashing a lot.”

“We had a good car all weekend.”

Not Surprising: Jeff Burton, who has been running better and better as the season progresses, finished top-10 in his No. 31 Cheerios Chevrolet. And even with that, Burton ended up both happy and disappointed.

“It’s good to be disappointed with eighth,” Burton said. “That is a good thing.”

“That’s a step in the right direction, no drama, got what we deserved and we will go on.”

Surprising: Marcos Ambrose had a surprising bump up into the top-10 finishing order after a tough run at Watkins Glen, finishing sixth in his No. 9 Dewalt Ford.

“We ran in the top-10 for a lot of the day and it was a better day for us,” Ambrose said. “I am proud of Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) for calling a great race.”

“He got us up there with track position and we were able to hold on.”

Not Surprising: There was no surprise in seeing Greg Biffle, who is usually strong at Michigan, finish in the ninth position in his No. 16 3M Ford. And according to the Biff, he would have done even better had it not been for some problems in the pits.

“We bumped the No. 2 coming out of the pits in that scramble at the end and hurt the left front fender,” Biffle said. “That was really tough for us.”

The next race will be tough for all of the drivers as they head to the beating and banging at Bristol Motor Speedway under the Saturday night lights.

August 20, 2013
Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 15 Coke Zero 400 – Daytona International Speedway – July 6, 2013

Daytona needs no introduction this week. Since it’s the Crown Jewel of NASCAR, everyone knows the history of the track and the races its produced over the years, so I’ll keep it short and talk a little bit about what I was able to gather from the February races – including that “HISTORIC” Daytona 500.

If you got past the fact that Danica was on the pole for the Daytona 500 and all the hoopla that surrounded that story, you would have seen that the Daytona 500 this year was pretty boring as far as plate races go. It could have been because of that early crash that put a lot of the top guys out of contention – Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Stewart, Brad Kesolowski, and Kyle Busch, – that was all about 30 laps in, so a lot of the heavy hitters were out early.

The race was boring in the sense that nobody could really pass. Matt Kenseth led 86 laps before he blew up, and it seemed like anyone who stepped out of line really paid the price, even if they had a car to help push. It was pretty much follow the leader and a lot of the guys complained over the two weeks about not being able to pass in the then brand new Gen6 racecar.
One word of caution this week is with the Toyotas, and there has been talk about their engine issues the past few weeks. These engines haven’t been tested since Michigan where it was announced they would not be scaling back the horsepower any further, but the series hasn’t been at tracks where engine longevity has been a factor since Greg Biffle’s win at Michigan. Toyota has won JUST ONE points race at Daytona in 132 races. Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch both blew up in the Daytona 500, and Martin Truex Jr. had engine issues as well, certainly something to consider this week when making your picks.

Kentucky Recap

I picked Kyle Busch last week at a place where it is impossible not to mention him where his performances over the years have been nothing less than exemplary. Busch started his No. 18 Doublemint Toyota in fourth and raced inside the top five through the early portion of the race before he got loose and caused a caution. Busch would have to restart in 37th but would climb all the way back to the top 15 by lap 83 and great work by his Doublemint team and a little pit strategy would help him get back inside the top five for a restart on lap 93. Busch would continue to run up front with the leaders while battling changing handling conditions. Despite the challenges all night, Busch and the Doublemint team managed to scrape together another Top-5 at Kentucky.

As for my Dark Horse, Joey Logano, also known as the hottest driver in NASCAR not named Kevin Harvick, had another solid week in the No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Fusion. The team qualified 11th for the Quaker State 400, and with solid pit stops and consistent adjustments by Crew Chief Todd Gordon, Logano began to climb through the front of the field by lap 110. Logano never ran outside the Top 5 in the second-half of the race, until the final restart with about 20 laps to go. He restarted 7th and made a bold move on the restart, moving up to 4th where he would cross the finish line, netting himself his 5th top-five of this 2013 season.

Daytona Picks

Winner Pick
I didn’t pull out my dice and roll them to pick my winner this week, but I did, I think the dice would have revealed the numbers two and nine meaning the guy I’d be looking at this week is the hottest guy in the sport right now and that’s Kevin Harvick.

Harvick was unlucky earlier this year when he crashed early in the Daytona 500. He won the Sprint Unlimited, won his Duel race, and was certainly one of the cars to beat. As far as the stats go, he’s won two races at Daytona and if you throw in the duel races he’s won, the count is 7 wins on restrictor plate tracks – 5 of which coming in the last 3 years.

This team brings 7-straight top-10’s to Daytona and considering he’s due for a good restrictor plate finish (finished 42nd in the Daytona 500 and 40th at Talladega in May) Harvick was my top pick on Thursday and remains my top pick for the win tonight.

Dark Horse Pick

Paul Menard is a guy who manages to stay out of trouble at Daytona. He has completed 99.3% of the 2148 laps of his 12 starts at Daytona, leading 38 laps in the meantime. Daytona is second on his list of tracks with an average finish of 17.3 and that number comes with a 38th place finish averaged in those numbers (2009 Daytona 500). He’s been good at Daytona, might not be the BEST longshot pick this week with the Front Row Motorsports teams showing speed in both practice sessions, but working with Harvick in the draft will prove to be beneficial for this team tonight.

That’s all for this week, be sure to tune in on Thursday as Greg and I preview next week’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

So until next time, You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

July 6, 2013
Surprising and Not Surprising: FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks

With the temperatures soaring and the ‘monster’ on the prowl, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 44^th annual FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway.

Surprising: With even the drivers predicting that the ‘usual suspects’ would run well at Dover, there was a most surprising and surprised driver in Victory Lane instead.

“If somebody would have told me it was going to be this way, I would have told them they were crazy,” race winner Tony Stewart declared in Victory Lane. “This was not a car that could win the race.”

Stewart had not won a race at the Monster Mile since 2000 and has struggled for the most part at the track. This was not only Smoke’s first win of the season but, also surprisingly, his first top-10 finish in 2013.

“Our guys at the shop have been digging, “ the driver of the No. 14 Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet said of his team. “That is what carries you to days like today at the end of the day.”

Not Surprising: Restart gamesmanship, which has been discussed all season long this year, played a major factor as well at the Monster Mile. This time the games played out between then race leader Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmie Johnson, the latter of whom was undoubtedly the strongest car on the track.

Late in the race, NASCAR deemed that Johnson jumped the restart and black flagged him, forcing him to serve a pass through penalty. Johnson ended the race in the 17^th position while Montoya finished second after the late pass on the high side by race winner Stewart.

“Jimmie (Johnson) was laying off about nearly a car length from me, and I knew he was trying to jump the restart,” the driver of the No. 42 Energizer Chevrolet said. “When we got to the line, I think he wanted to time it and he timed it too well.”

“He wanted to get the jump on me and he just jumped it too much,” Montoya continued. “I would have tried to have done the same.”

“It’s one of those deals that when you time it too good, it actually hurts you.”

Johnson of course had a different take on the restart gamesmanship, blaming Montoya instead.

“I was at half throttle,” Johnson said. “At some point you have to go.”

“I’m waiting for Montoya and he never comes,” Johnson continued. “Chad (Knaus, crew chief) told me to take off and not worry about it.”

“Not a good way to lose the race,” Johnson said. “We had the strongest car.”

Surprising: Jeff Gordon, this week driving the No. 24 AARP Credit Cards from Chase Chevrolet, was surprisingly the best finisher amongst the Hendrick Motorsports group.

Gordon finished third, while teammates Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished tenth, Jimmie Johnson finished 17^th and Kasey Kahne took the checkered flag in 23^rd after spinning out on lap 318.

“Yeah it was a fantastic finish for us,” Gordon said. “We battled hard all day long.”

“Today was a great race for us, just because we were sitting there 12^th, 13^th, 14^th, and we stayed out and all of a sudden, here we are third.”

“So that’s a great lesson for us to learn when we go to other tracks as well.”

This was Gordon’s 23^rd top-10 finish in 41 races at Dover International Speedway. The third place finish was also critical to Gordon, who jumped from fifteenth to eleventh in the point standings.

Not Surprising: Another parts failure played a role in Kyle Busch’s failure to score the finish that he wanted. In spite of that, however, he did end the race in the top—five, finishing fourth.

“We must have broken a right front bump stop or something,” Busch said. “Just past halfway, that’s when it took a dump on us.”

“I hate it,” Busch continued. “It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to capitalize on getting a win.”

Surprising: Kyle Busch was not the only Toyota driver to experience mechanical failures as both Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. surprisingly suffered blown engines.

“Something let go in the motor,” Truex Jr. said. “Just dropped a cylinder and started smoking all at once.”

“We were one or two adjustments away there from having something for them,” the driver of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota said. “Damn, I wish we could have made it to the end.”

“Something broke in our engine too,” Kenseth said. “Pretty disappointing.”

“Something went wrong with a part,” the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota said. “There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Not Surprising: Michael Waltrip Racing, with the exception of Martin Truex, Jr., showcased their survival skills at the Monster Mile , with Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin finishing sixth and ninth respectively.

“We got a pretty decent finish but we just didn’t run very good all weekend long,” Bowyer said. “Definitely need to go back and do our homework and figure some things out for our 5-Hour Energy Toyota.”

“It was a really great effort by our team,” Martin said. “Our Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota had more potential at the end than we were able to show.”

“We’re making progress.”

Surprising: Denny Hamlin, who described himself as being on a mission to win and who snagged the coveted pole position, had a surprisingly bad day at Dover.

On lap 378, Hamlin blew a tire and hit the wall, bringing out the seventh caution of the day. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Freight/Autism Speaks Toyota finished 34^th and fell to 26^th in the point standings.

Not Surprising: With the temperature being so high, it was no surprise that tempers ran a little hot as well. Ryan Newman, manhandling his No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet without power steering, had his own temper flare-up while trying to pass David Gilliland, behind the wheel of the No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford.

And when the two drivers touched, they both went spinning and crashing hard.

“We just got wrecked,” Gilliland said. “It is a shame.”

“Unfortunately someone lost their patience a little bit,” Gilliland continued. “It is too bad but that is just the way it goes I guess.”

Newman declined comment after the incident.

Surprising: Brad Keselowski was the highest finishing Ford, bringing his Blue Deuce to the checkered flag in the fifth position. He also had his crew chief Paul Wolfe back atop the war wagon after serving his penalties and suspension.

“We drove hard all day, we just didn’t have the speed needed to go win the race,” Keselowski said. “ But we had the speed we needed to have a solid day.”

“The guys did a great job executing today,” Keselowski said. “We wanted to win too so we will keep working to find a little more speed and get up there.”

Unfortunately, Keselowski’s good run was marred by NASCAR’s announcement that his car did not pass post-race inspection as its front was too low. Penalties were just announced and include a fine of $25,000 for crew chief Wolfe and the continuation of his probation until year-end.

The team has also been docked six driver points and six car owner points.

Not Surprising: Joey Logano, who won the Nationwide race the day before, exceeded his own expectations, battling back from a flat tire and using the lucky dog position to finally finish the race in the seventh position.

“We fought all day basically trying to get a lucky dog after that flat tire,” Logano said. “We would get one back and then go down two and then get one back.”

“This weekend I thought we were going to finish about 15 laps down,” Logano continued. “We weren’t any good in practice and Todd (Gordon, crew chief) and all the guys did a good job making it better for me.”

“By the end it was a top-five car and we just ran out of time,” Logano said. “ I feel like that we could have finished in the top-five but considering where we were, we will take that all day.”

June 4, 2013
Penske Crew Chiefs Paul Wolfe and Todd Gordon Back on Track

Both Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano have their crew chiefs back, Paul Wolfe and Todd Gordon respectively. And all impacted by the Penske suspension could not be happier to be back on track.

“For me, personally it was tough,” Wolfe, crew chief of the No. 2 Miller Lite for Penske Racing said. “It was tougher to deal with then what I thought it would be.”

The three week suspension was also tough for Todd Gordon, crew chief for the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford.

“It was difficult,” Gordon said. “It was tough to sit there and not see it.”

“There was definitely a disconnect,” Gordon continued. “That is why NASCAR implements the penalties they do, to make sure there is a penalty to it.”

Both crew chiefs described the biggest challenge as being unable to use their sensory input to help the cars and drivers, in addition to all the other data collected.

“I am a hands on kind of guy and for me to be able to watch the car in practice and see how it runs around other cars is important for me,” Wolfe said. “Visually, to see that and to make decisions on what changes to make is important.”

“It obviously was not the same.”

Gordon echoed Wolfe’s sentiments, describing how important physically being at the track really is for a crew chief.

“I would say the biggest thing is being able to actually touch it, feel it, smell it and see it,” Gordon said. “All the sensory stuff you don’t get from pictures and radios as you are listening to scanners and things like that.”

“You can’t see the splitter and how hard you are wearing on it and what the wear pattern looks like,” Gordon continued. “You can’t see tires.”

“There is so much of that information that I have lost the last three weeks that it will be good to be back and get that info.”

The Penske teams, however, have had very different experiences at track without their crew chiefs. The Blue Deuce has struggled without crew chief Wolfe while Logano and company have done quite well even with Gordon away from the top of the box.

“Absolutely, it has been hard to watch the team struggle,” Wolfe said. “We have lost a lot of points over the last month and it started a little earlier than before I was gone.”

“We had some issues at Richmond with some engine issues and lost points there,” Wolfe continued. “At Darlington, we felt like we had a competitive car but we had issues there with a loose wheel and getting caught up in a wreck.”

Gordon, on the other hand, has witnessed his team perform well in spite of the suspension.

“I think it is just a testament that everybody here steps up when they need to,” Gordon said. “It has gone well.”

“We had good plans going into the race weekends and we implemented them well.”

The two crew chiefs also got to play armchair quarterbacks and reflect on what they would have been differently if they had been at the track and in charge.

“I can’t say there was anything I would have done different,” Wolfe said. “Obviously I guided a lot of the changes and what we did.”

“Maybe I would have made different decision if I was there than what I did from being afar,” Wolfe continued. “Overall, it wasn’t like these guys went on their own agenda and did things that we wouldn’t have done.”

“It was guided by me.”

“Obviously you are still connected,” Gordon said. “You are still involved with how the race call goes and everything else.”

“There were a couple things that I look back and say I wish I had more information quicker and could have piped in more to what was going on,” Gordon continued. “The guys we brought in did well and I would say for what we had I think guys did a phenomenal job.”

The two crew chiefs also agreed that their drivers not only did a good job surviving the penalty period but are both in good places in spite of it all.

“Brad and I spoke for awhile last night and he seems to be strong and in a good place right now,” Keselowski’s crew chief Wolfe said. “Obviously he seemed a little frustrated last weekend with that car and rightfully so.”

“But he is in a good spot and is motivated.”

“I think the greatest thing is Joey’s ability to stay focused, get involved, and stay working,” Logano’s crew chief Gordon said. “He hasn’t gotten frustrated with situations and has always continued to give good feedback and give good effort.”

“It is easy to give up when things are frustrating but I think Joey’s mental endurance has been spot on.”

While both crew chiefs accepted being in the penalty box and away from the track, they are especially grateful that the penalties were reduced.

“I think we had a fair appeal process,” Wolfe said. “Our penalties were reduced some and we feel good about that.”

“I don’t think they were necessarily picking on us,” Wolfe continued. “They just happened to find where we were working and didn’t agree with it.”

Needless to say, Wolfe and Gordon are most looking forward to putting the whole penalty situation behind them, taking whatever lessons learned from the penalty, and moving on to some tough racing at the Monster Mile.

“We are putting it in the rear-view mirror and taking it as a learning experience,” Wolfe said. “It isn’t a situation you want to be in but me personally, and I think as a company in general, we learned from that and we are looking forward.”

“I definitely that this will make us stronger,” Gordon said. “I think it has allowed some people to see the different jobs of what has to happen.”

“Everybody stepped up and it allowed everyone to be a little stronger player in the program,” Gordon continued. “It will be a good thing for us in the long run.”

“You have to take bad situations and find the good in them.”

May 31, 2013