Tag: Tony Stewart

Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas Hollywood Casino 400

[media-credit name=”Credit: Wesley Hitt/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”236″][/media-credit]On a repaved track that even team owner Jack Roush pronounced surprisingly fast and treacherous and with a record number of cautions to boot, here is what else was surprising and not surprising in the 12^th annual Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Surprising: While many know his wicked sense of humor through social media, they now know just how much it means for him to stand in Victory Lane, not as a lame duck with a team he will leave at year end, but as the first time race winner on the newly repaved Kansas Speedway.

“It really means a lot,” Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Zest Ford for Roush Fenway Racing said in Victory Lane, his voice choked with emotion.” I really got to thank God for all the opportunities he’s put in front of me.”

Kenseth’s victory was not an easy one, having hit the outside wall hard and sustaining right side damage to the car. This was Kenseth’s first Kansas win, his third victory of the season, and his 24^th career victory, moving him into a tie for 26^th on the all-time Series win list.

“You never know when your next win is,” Kenseth said. “Especially as you get older, you appreciate it more.”

“I’m really thankful and humbled to be here honestly.”

Not Surprising: Whether the lucky horseshoe or shades of the ‘Six Million Dollar Man’, Chad Knaus and team 48 proved they could rebuild the battered back end of Jimmie Johnson’s wrecked race car, making it better, stronger and faster.

In fact, Johnson was so much better, stronger, and faster that after the on pit road rebuild, he rallied back to finish ninth in his Lowe’s Chevrolet. And with that comeback, Johnson, not surprisingly, also had a message to share with his fellow Chase competitors.

“I’m just now getting a chance to look at the damage on the car and it was pretty severe,” Johnson said after the race. “I’m definitely proud of this team and the fact that we never give up.”

“It’s more mature racing here in 2012,” Johnson continued. “We showed what our team is capable of.”

“I hope the other guys are paying attention.”

Surprising: The championship point’s leader surprisingly continued to have survival on his mind, a theme that carried over from Talladega right into the race in the Midwest heartland.

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Blue Deuce, managed to finish eighth, one spot ahead of Chaser Jimmie Johnson, over whom he maintains a seven point lead in the standings.

“I said when we finished Talladega that somebody should make ‘I Survived Talladega’ t-shirts,” Keselowski said. “Well, I didn’t know coming to Kansas it was going to be the same.”

“Just wrecks and accidents and blown tires; everything you can imagine happened,” Keselowski continued. “It seemed like every wreck happened in front of me.”

“I felt really lucky to survive it.”

Not Surprising: While Kansas broke many hearts on race day this past weekend, there was no one more heart broken than the driver of the No. 43 Farmland Ford Fusion. Aric Almirola qualified fifth and led over 60 laps of the race before blowing a tire and slamming into the wall so hard that it took his breath away.

“I have never in my entire life had a race car that good,” Almirola said. “It was just so fast and so easy to drive.”

“I hate that it ended like this but I have always been told you have to give a few away before you can win one,” Almirola continued. “We certainly gave one away today.”

Surprising: It was indeed a tale of two Kansas races, yet with a surprisingly similar result. Martin Truex Jr., in the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota finished second for the second time at Kansas Speedway.

“Well, it’s a lot different mood after this one,” Truex said after the race. “After the first one I was disappointed. Today, I’m happy with my team and my race car.”

“We really had to battle for this one,” That’s a good run for us for sure.”

With his bridesmaid finish, Truex Jr. gained one position in the point standings to sixth, 43 points out of first.

Not Surprising: Unfortunately, Kansas was killing Clint Bowyer softly with its song, even though he finished sixth in his No. 15 5-Hour Energy Benefitting Avon Foundation Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing.

“I think I started on the outside one time early in the race and just every time it just killed me,” Bowyer said. “I don’t know what the hell was going on behind us.”

“They kept wrecking,” Bowyer continued. “Restarts kind of killed us all day long.”

Surprising: There were a surprising number of temper tantrums, more typical of a short track like Martinsville than the mile and a half at Kansas. Tempers flared between Danica Patrick and Landon Cassill, as they did between Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman.

Patrick, in her No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet actually took herself out on lap 155 as a result of her on-track tiff with the driver of the No. 83 Burger King Toyota.

“I have just been really frustrated with the No. 83,” Patrick said. “It’s been pretty consistent with him getting into me.”

“So, at some point in time, I have to stand up for myself,” Patrick continued. “The bummer is I’m out of the race and he’s not.”

Patrick finished 32^nd, while Cassill brought home his race car for a much better 18th place finish.

Kyle Busch, in the No. 18 M&M’s Halloween Toyota, finished 31^st after a scuffle with the driver of the No. 39 Code 3 Associates Chevrolet. And this one might result in some payback as the 2012 season winds down.

“Everything is just on edge,” Busch said. “Newman just ran up on the back of me and got me loose.”

“So, just impatience,” Busch continued. “I’m glad he’s wrecked along with me and he’ll get another one here before the year is out.”

Not Surprising: With his crew chief back after suspension, it was not surprising for this driver to pull off a top five finish. In fact, Paul Menard, in the No. 27 Certainteed Insulation/Menards Chevrolet, finished third at Kansas.

“We had Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) back this weekend,” Menard said. “He is well rested after six weeks off and had some good ideas to try this weekend.”

“We had a good car,” Menard continued. “It was just a matter of getting us up there.”

Surprising: The ‘uh oh’ uttered by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon surprisingly captured the moment late in the race for Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet.

Kahne, who started out on the pole after shattering the track qualifying record, had a chance to win before he shut off his engine during a caution in an attempt to save fuel.

As a result, he lost several spots on the race track before getting his car back up to minimum speed, managing a fourth place finish instead of that oh-so-close victory.

“It just wouldn’t re-fire,” Kahne said after the race. “Disappointing.”

“It was coming to me at the end,” Kahne continued. “We just weren’t close enough at that point in time.”

Not Surprising: From telling his team to get their heads out of their ‘expletive’ to praising them effusively after the race, Tony Stewart did, in his own words, have ‘an eventful day.’

The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet started 33^rd, had to overcome a pit stop where his crew left a wrench in the car, battled an incident with Jeff Burton and a spin to finish fifth.

This was Smoke’s sixth top-five in Sprint Cup starts at Kansas, pre and post repaving, having to pass 74 cars during the race to do so.

“We had some stuff to deal with, but our guys never gave up,” Stewart said. “We probably had to pass more cars than anybody today, but that seems to be our MO.”

“That’s how we won a championship last year, by never giving up.”

Surprising: While there was a surprising bit of a confusion on the part of team owner Rick Hendrick about the status of Dale Earnhardt Junior’s return to the race car (and he will return at Martinsville), substitute driver Regan Smith was feeling surprisingly right at home in the No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet.

In fact, Smith felt so much at home that he finished top-ten, in the seventh position.

“It’s been nice to be able to step in and have them treat me like a normal driver,” Smith said. “I know Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) is excited to get back so that is going to be good for him.”

“Looking forward to whatever comes next for me.”

Not Surprising: The other drivers in new seats struggled on the newly repaved Kansas track. Kurt Busch, in the No. 78 Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet, finished 25^th and A.J. Allmendinger, in the No. 51 Phoenix Construction Chevrolet, finished even further back in 35^th.

But not surprisingly, both drivers and teams looked on the bright side of life in spite of the wrecks and results.

“Kurt Busch showed all of us today what an impressive driver he is,” Todd Berrier, crew chief, said. “It was the performance that counted today, not the finishing result.”

“The car was fast and we were running well,” Allmendinger said. “Tried to save it and I feel bad.”

“I hope I’m in the car next week, but if not, it’s meant the world to get back to the sport,” Dinger continued. “I love the sport.”

October 24, 2012
A Champion of Change – Greg Zipadelli

[media-credit name=”Jerry Markland Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”102″][/media-credit]They say that life is about changing and that nothing ever stays the same. The key to being successful is being able to change and adapt and continue to grow and be successful. In the last several years no one is more adept at change than Greg Zipadelli. He has gone from working with an established champion to bringing up another rookie to making a huge change in jobs, in teams, in responsibilities. To now he is in his final race of perfecting communication and providing comfort zones for NASCAR’s newest super star Danica Patrick.

Greg Zipadelli doesn’t bounce around much. He never has. His loyalty to teams and drivers doesn’t allow for that. It’s always been that way, from the time he won his first championship with Mike “Magic Shoes” McLaughlin in 1988 all the way today. Zippy as he is known has always been around for the long haul.

Many think that Zipadelli’s major success was with Joe Gibbs Racing and a guy who would play a role in his career all the way through today, Tony Stewart. But the truth is Greg Zipadelli has been winning championships and races since he was 21 years old, having been the crew chief for McLaughlin, Mike Stefanik and of course Tony Stewart, and Joey Logano.

When Zipadelli and Stewart were paired up by Joe Gibbs Racing in 1999 to challenge for Rookie of the Year honors, it was not Zippy’s first foray into what was then Winston Cup. In fact he came to Joe Gibbs Racing from a position of Chassis specialist for Jeff Burton with Jack Roush Racing.

Zipadelli would help build the No.20 Home Depot team literally from the ground up. With a rookie driver, a rookie crew chief and in a lot of ways a rookie team, Zippy and Stewart would pull off a historical feat. They won three times in their rookie year to claim the Rookie of the Year honors. Something no one else had ever done.

The relationship would last until 2008. When Stewart would make the move into ownership with his newly formed Stewart-Haas Racing team, it was a difficult thing for Stewart to leave his friend and crew chief behind after 9 years and 33 wins and two championships. But contractual restrictions would prevent him from taking Greg Zipadelli with him, at least for right then.

The seat would then be filled by another young man who came to Zippy a rookie. Joey Logano had a big reputation in late model stocks, but he had even bigger shoes to fill. Shoes that were so big that there were times you could see him struggle not to trip. Always there with a calm and reassuring manner was Zipadelli. It would be that calm demeanor that would lead Logano to his first career win in his first season with JGR. When Zipadelli left Logano, he did so with 17 top-5’s, 36 top-10’s and one win over the three year period.

In 2011, the call came from old friend Tony Stewart. Negotiations had been completed allowing Zippy to leave JGR and join SHR as the competition director, a position that had been left open after the termination of Bobby Hutchens. But the separation was not as easy as you might think. J.D. Gibbs called the progression difficult. “It’s hard, it’s hard for him in a lot of ways – this has been his home for a long time. And it’s hard for us.”

“Joe Gibbs always says that you win with people, and Tony Stewart is a winner,” Zipadelli said in the Stewart-Haas statement. “We won a lot together at Joe Gibbs Racing, and it was a sad day when (Stewart) left.

“But Tony had an unbelievable opportunity with Stewart-Haas Racing, and he’s obviously made the most of it. To become a part of what he’s already built, but to do it in a new role with a new set of responsibilities, was a challenge I wanted.”

Tony Stewart and Greg Zipadelli were together longer than any other crew chief driver pairing in the garage having been together for 9 years and forming a relationship that those close to them referred to as more like brothers than co workers. Stewart said of the move, “Greg knows all that goes into the job, understands the importance of team work and communication across all levels of the organization and is ultimately someone I have a great deal of trust in.”

But how difficult was the transition from crew chief to competition director? “It’s not really difficult, it’s just different. The difficult part is that you’ve been a crew chief so long you just kind of do what you do. Now you have to look at things differently. I like to explain it as I use to be selfish, just worry about my car and my group. Now you’ve got to worry about everybody’s car you know. Luckily you don’t have the immediate highs and lows like you do calling the race. Now you’re affected by all of them. Instead of just the car you’re working on. In that aspect it’s different,” stated Zipadelli

The job of competition director is a big one. It’s a job that is crucial to the teams themselves. “I think for where the casual fan doesn’t understand is that not every car owner can be at the shop every day and can be down on the floor every day and handling financials all the way down to the people that sweep the floor at the end of the day. The competition director is very crucial in that connection between what is going on down on the floor and what is going on in the upper office. He is managing the crew chiefs, managing the teams, managing the different departments at the race shop. He is that connection between downstairs and upstairs. Especially on a race weekend, if we have any kind of a problem that is the guy, and in our case with Greg Zipadelli, he is the acting role as the car owner from my side. He is very crucial in that role and having the right person in that role if very important to each organization” stated Tony Stewart.

But the challenges of moving from crew chief to competition director according to Zipadelli were a little different for him, “The challenging part is just learning what you can do to help the others, and not be selfish. I think having this limited deal with the Sprint Cup car (short stint as Danica Patrick’s crew chief) kind of helped me put something’s off and allowed me to still do a little bit and then go back and forth from that part of it. It’s been a help to me personally because I enjoy this part of it. The other thing is that it changes so much. What you are working on and the people part of it. So much of our sport today is people. You’re always working on people moving them around and expansion what we need to be working on and those types of things.”

Greg Zipadelli has had both ends of the spectrum with drivers. He has had the ultra skilled highly successful Stewart whose wins and championships in multiple series on multiple surface types made him a given success. He has had a true rookie in the sport with Danica, whose limited stock car experience is a challenge for both her and her team. And he has had the youthful late model success story in Joey Logano. But Zipadelli is honest about what it took to bring them all up in the ranks. “Success wise, obviously Tony was (the easiest to guide into Cup racing), because he had so much racing experience in so many other series and had been so successful. He knew how to win and he knew how to win championships, we just had to figure out what he liked in a race car and give it to him and he could do the rest. I don’t know if it’s fair to compare the three of them. They are all so different in their experience level the success level they have had in different series. They are all drastically different.”

Every ship needs a captain to help ease the strain of change. Change requires a steady hand on the wheel. A leader must have the confidence to calm the jittery. He must have the strength to lead the hesitant. It takes a knowing ear to hear and ease the fear before it becomes a habit, to spot the anger and intervene. It takes a champion to lead a group to greatness through the storms of human nature and the intangible variables of racing. Greg Zipadelli has been down that road as a crew chief. Now he will blaze the path for three instead of one.

Now he will teach and guide an organization instead of a team. In the end, the job is the same the scope is just bigger. “We’re capable of taking bad days and making them into ok days or even great days,” said Zipadelli. With that kind of confidence and belief in his team, his drivers and himself, Greg Zipadelli has already proven he is the man to guide the ship at Stewart-Haas Racing.

October 24, 2012
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Kansas

[media-credit name=”Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”224″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished 8^th at Kansas, better than all but Clint Bowyer among Chase contenders. Keselwoski leads Jimmie Johnson by seven, and has a 15-point edge over Denny Hamlin.

“It was a caution-filled race,” Keselowski said. “With Election Day approaching, it’s no surprise to see so many ‘spins.’ Even Danica Patrick got into the act. She’s just like a woman—can’t get upset without dragging a man down with her.”

2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson salvaged a ninth-place finish after spinning and nailing the wall in the Hollywood Casino 400. Johnson remained second in the point standings, seven behind points leader Brad Keselwoski.

“I’ve got to hand it to Chad Knaus,” Johnson said. “He had to do a lot to get us in position for a respectable finish. It was some of Chad’s best work, but not his best. I’ve seen him do more to a car that still passed inspection.”

3. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished 13^th at Kansas and lost ground to both in the point standings to both Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson, who finished 8^th and 9^th, respectively. Hamlin is 20 out of the lead in the point standings.

“My weekend didn’t get off to a good start,” Hamlin said. “I crashed on Thursday in a test session at Kansas Motor Speedway. After that, I wasn’t sure if I was in Kansas anymore.

“With four races left, I need to make a move. The clock is ticking. Luckily, it’s the grandfather clock given to the winner at Martinsville, where I’m always a threat to win. Hopefully, it won’t strike midnight before I put my hands on it.”

4. Clint Bowyer: Kansas native Bowyer followed his win at Charlotte with a solid 6^th in the Hollywood Casino 400, posting his 19^th top-10 finish of the year. He is fourth is the Sprint Cup point standings, 28 behind Brad Keselowski.

“Just call me ‘Clint ‘Home’ Bowyer,’” Bowyer said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t give my fans what they wanted. But they weren’t the only natives who were restless—I’m desperate for a win. I’m even more desperate for a three-car pileup in Turn 1 of lap 1 at Martinsville that wipes out Keselowski, Johnson, and Hamlin. That ‘cream’ of the crop would put me in the cream of the crop.”

5. Kasey Kahne: Kahne scored his ninth top 5 of the year with a fourth at Kansas. He is now 35 points behind Brad Keselowski in the point standings.

“I still have a mathematical chance to win the Cup,” Kahne said. “Unfortunately, I’m not good at math, like some drivers. Denny Hamlin, for example, is good at ‘multiplication.’ Matt Kenseth is good at ‘subtraction.’ And Kurt Busch is good at ‘division.’”

6. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth took his second win of the Chase, and third of the year, with the victory at Kansas. Kenseth, in the No. 17 Zest car, led a race-high 78 laps and outgunned Martin Truex, Jr. at the end.

“That’s two wins in the Chase,” Kenseth said, “but despite that, I’m still out of the title picture. Does the Chase points format need to be tweaked to place more importance on wins in the Chase? I think so, and I’ll get on a soapbox to say so.”

7. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex scored the runner-up finish in the Hollywood Casino 400, as his No. 55 NAPA car was the top Toyota in the field. He is sixth in the point standings, 43 out of first.

“With no wins at all this year,” Truex said, “you could say I’m ‘55 out of first.’NAPA ‘knows how,’ except to win.”

8. Tony Stewart: Stewart finished fifth at Kansas, his first top-5 result since a fourth at Richmond in September. He is seventh in the point standings, 47 out of first.

“I should give Danica Patrick a lesson in offensive driving,” Stewart said. “If you want to spin someone, you can’t spin yourself. This may or may not be in the Bible, but Ice Cube once said, ‘Check yo’self before you wreck ‘yo’self.’”

9. Jeff Gordon: Gordon led two laps and finished 10^th at Kansas, joining Hendrick stablemates Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson in the top 10. Gordon is eighth in the point standings, 51 out of first.

“Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has been cleared to race this weekend at Martinsville,” Gordon said. “I wouldn’t be surprised in the people of Junior Nation commemorate the event with a new drinking game in which you drink for six hours prior to the checkered flag, then try to pass a concussion test.”

10. Kevin Harvick: Harvick, in the No. 29 Budweiser Chevy, rolled to an 11^th in the Hollywood Casino 400. He is tenth in the point standings, 59 behind Brad Keselowski.

“When I say ‘I’m out of it,’” Harvick said, “it has multiple meanings. I’m too far behind to care, matter, or believe. The only close race I’m involved in is what I give more of—a ‘damn’ or a ‘rat’s ass.’”

October 23, 2012
Surprising and Not Surprising: Charlotte Bank of America 500

[media-credit name=”Greg Arthur” align=”alignright” width=”241″][/media-credit]In a race now known as one without an Earnhardt and without a North Carolina born driver, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Surprising: At his worst track statistically and on a mile and half track where he has never won, this driver, although thrilled to be in Victory Lane after a fuel mileage battle extraordinaire, seemed also to be strangely depressed.

“I can’t do a burnout,” Clint Bowyer said woefully after having his No. 15 5-Hour Energy/Avon Foundation for Women Toyota pushed to the winner’s circle. “The thing doesn’t have enough fuel in it to do a burnout.”

“I’d like to practice a burnout,” Bowyer continued ruefully. “It’s so much fun burning rubber.”

“Oh hell, I don’t care,” Bowyer then said. “It’s a lot more fun getting handed that trophy – that’s what it’s all about.”

Not Surprising: Although Chaser Clint Bowyer survived on fumes to end the race, it was not surprising that his other Chase contenders, in fact the top three in the points battle, were also challenging their own fuel demons, literally having to slow down in order to finish the race.

“Yeah, you’re just running the race backwards basically,” Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, said after finishing second. “You’re just seeing how slow you can go and maintain your track position.”

“It’s tough because I’m sitting there thinking I can go by this 15 (Bowyer) or catch him just about any time I want, but Darian (Grubb, crew chief) is screaming at me to back off.”

“We started saving with double the distance to just be cautious,” Jimmie Johnson, who finished third in the No. 48 MyLowe’s Chevrolet, said. “We didn’t want to go up there and chase the No. 11 (Hamlin) and get ourselves in trouble.”

Brad Keselowski, usually known as an excellent fuel-mileage racer, actually sputtered, coasting to pit road after running out of fuel. “I didn’t know what was going on,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge said. “I think we probably would have finished fourth or fifth if we didn’t run out of fuel.”

“I had to coast for quite a ways and it wouldn’t start when I got back to pit road.”

This small fuel sputter, along with having to stop for fuel in the waning laps, cost Keselowski a top-5 finish, landing him in the 11^th spot instead when the checkered flag flew.

Yet, in spite of the fuel challenges at Charlotte, Keselowski maintained P1 in the Chase standings but is now just seven points ahead of Jimmie Johnson and fifteen points ahead of Denny Hamlin.

Surprising: Jeff Gordon and team 24 Drive to End Hunger made some surprisingly costly errors in the Bank of America 500. Gordon, fighting an ill-handling race car most of the night, incurred a speeding road penalty and struggled to regain track position from that point on.

“We missed the setup at the beginning, but we worked on it and worked on it and had it driving good there at the end,” Gordon said. “We just couldn’t catch a caution to get us back on the lead lap.”

“It was just one of those nights.”

Gordon finished 18th, his fourth finish of 18^th or worse in his last five races at Charlotte. He also fell three positions, from sixth to ninth in the Chase standings, 50 points back from the Chase leader.

Not Surprising: Pole sitter Greg Biffle had a good enough run to actually swap point’s positions with Jeff Gordon in the Chase standings. The driver of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion finished fourth, gaining three Chase positions, from ninth to sixth in the standings, 43 points out of the lead.

“We had the fastest car, but couldn’t make it on fuel,” Biffle said. “We had the fastest car at the end, but didn’t quite get there.”

“It hurts to get beat on fuel mileage, but we were the first car behind the three that made it on fuel mileage, so I feel pretty good with fourth.”

Surprising: Stewart Haas Racing faced some surprising challenges at Charlotte Motor Speedway under the lights.

SHR Chase driver Tony Stewart started from deep in the field and got into an accordion-style accident on a restart that damaged the front of his No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet.

“I was following the 2 car (Keselowski) there and he had to check up,” Smoke said. “Man, I drilled him and it screwed up the nose of our race car.”

SHR teammate Ryan Newman forfeited a great starting spot in the front of the field due to an engine change, which forced him to the rear of the field in a race where track position was key.

“We definitely took a hit with the engine change,” Newman said. “We had a really fast car in practice and qualifying and it wasn’t the same in the race.”

“It was a tough night for us.”

Stewart rallied to finish 13th, while Newman, in the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet, finished a disappointing 20^th.

Not Surprising: Kyle Busch, in the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, finally had a good finish, in fact a top-five finish, to show for his efforts in front of the home crowd.

“The car was really good,” Busch said. “I felt like we had a winning car barring circumstances and how they played out.”

“But that just wasn’t there for us at the end with the strategy and everything,” Busch continued. “We came home okay.”

Surprising: With every other driver so fixated on fuel, it was surprising that this driver, who finished seventh, could have cared less.

“We got good fuel mileage, but that wasn’t our focus,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford, said. “Our focus was going as fast as we could and I think we showed a little more promise than we have in a long time.”

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been this competitive on a mile-and-a-half, so I’m very happy with it.”

Not Surprising: With Dale Earnhardt, Jr. out of the race car due to a concussion, it was no surprise that all eyes were on Regan Smith, substituting for Junior in the No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevy, and also on Kurt Busch, who took over Smith’s No. 78 Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet ride for the first time this season.

Busch finished 21^st while Smith finished 38^th with an engine failure.

“The important part was that we had a really fast race car,” Smith said. “It’s disappointing and it’s a shame.”

“Finishing 21^st might not appear that we made progress,” Busch said. “But the fact of the matter is that we did in our first three days together at the track.”

“It was an uneventful race, but an eventful weekend.”

Surprising: With the shuffling of Kurt Busch to Furniture Row and Regan Smith to Dale Earnhardt Junior’s seat, there was one surprising opening for a driver that needed a second chance.

A.J. Allmendinger, returning from suspension after completing NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program, took the wheel of the No. 51 Phoenix Construction Chevrolet and finished 24^th at Charlotte under the lights.

“I have a lot of unfinished business,” the ‘Dinger said. “I have a lot of things I want to accomplish still.”

“It’s not going to be easy,” Allmendinger continued. “I’m going to have to do a lot of work for it, but I’m willing to do it.”

Not Surprising: Michael Waltrip Racing had another stellar day at the race track. One MWR driver, Clint Bowyer, was in Victory Lane while the other two MWR drivers both had top-ten runs.

Mark Martin, in the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, finished sixth and Martin Truex, Jr., behind the wheel of the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, finished tenth.

“We started racing in 2007 and here we are in 2012 racing for a championship,” Michael Waltrip, team owner, said. “There are a few things that have happened to me over my racing career that are really special and this is one of those.”

October 16, 2012
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Charlotte

[media-credit name=”Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”241″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski ran out of fuel while leading on lap 59 at Charlotte, and that miscalculation may have cost him the win. After a late stop for gas, Keseklowski emerged 16^th and finished 11^th. He now leads Jimmie Johnson in the point standings by seven.

“The Miller Lite Dodge was the hottest car in the Chase until Saturday,” Keselowski said. “And we all know what happens with a cold Miller Lite—you get a ‘coaster.’

2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished third in the Bank Of America 500 after fuel mileage concerns forced him to race conservatively. Still, Johnson cut into Brad Keselowski’s points lead, and now trails by only seven.

“Keselowski led for 139 of 334 laps,” Johnson said. “It was his race to lose, and he did. But I don’t mind trailing in the point standings right now. I’m a five-time champion; Keselowski’s got no titles to his name. That puts me ‘second to none.”

3. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin led 36 laps at Charlotte and finished third behind Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson, while Brad Keselowski finished 11^th. Hamlin is now 15 behind points-leader Keselowski, and eight behind Johnson in second.

“The No. 11 Fed Ex Toyota was not made to conserve gas,” Hamlin said, “so we have to savor every drop. It seems that my pregnant girlfriend isn’t the only one carrying ‘precious cargo.’”

4. Clint Bowyer: After a beneficial fuel gamble, Bowyer held off a charging Denny Hamlin to take the Bank Of America 500, his third victory of the year. Bowyer is now fourth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 28 behind Brad Keselowski, and well within striking distance for the Cup.

“I proved I’m still a force in the Chase,” Bowyer said. “But I realize I’m gonna need some luck as well. So I’ve got to ask myself, “Do you feel lucky, punk?’”

5. Kasey Kahne: Kahne finished eighth at Charlotte, one lap down to the leaders. He is now fifth in the point standings, 35 out of first.

“It was weird not seeing Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the No. 88 car,” Kahne said. “I’m sure Junior was disappointed. But look on the bright side: he found another way to break a winless streak.”

6. Greg Biffle: Biffle started on the pole at Charlotte and led 71 laps before finishing fourth, his best finish of the Chase. He leaped three spots in the point standings to sixth, and is 43 out of first.

“Carl Edwards couldn’t win with the points lead in last year’s Chase,” Biffle said. “Matt Kenseth is leaving Roush Fenway. And I couldn’t win from the pole at Charlotte. It doesn’t seem that anyone at Roush Fenway Racing can finish what they started.”

7. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex posted his 17^th top-10 finish of the year with a 10^th at Charlotte. He is seventh in the Sprint Cup point standings, 49 out of first.

“I’ve got five races to make up 49 points,” Truex said. “I’m guessing the five races beats the 49 points to the finish line. And that’s one more win than I have this year.”

8. Kyle Busch: Busch finished fifth at Charlotte, one of only six cars on the lead lap. It was his ninth top-5 result of the year.

“I didn’t qualify for the Chase For The Cup,” Busch said, “so I, like about 8 of 12 Chasers to far behind to matter, am not eligible to win the title. It may be lonely at the top, but not at the bottom.”

9. Tony Stewart: Stewart sustained front-end damage after an early re-start went awry. He recovered to finish 13^th, one lap down, and now finds himself in a 50 point hole to points leader Brad Keselowski.

“If it’s not someone going too fast behind me,” Stewart said, “it’s someone going too slow in front of me. Normally, I’m more prepared in crunch time.”

10. Jeff Gordon: Gordon’s day was ruined by a pit road speeding penalty that put him one lap down. He finished two laps down in 18^th for his worst finish of the Chase. He trails Brad Keselowski by 50 points in the Sprint Cup point standings.

“That’s a deficit from which I can’t escape,” Gordon said. “I was once married to a ‘gold digger;’ she, in turn, was married to a ‘hole digger.’”

October 16, 2012
Surprising and Not Surprising: Talladega Good Sam 500

[media-credit name=”Credit: Sean Gardner/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”230″][/media-credit]With Chase race four at Talladega delivering on its reputation as the ‘wild card’ and ‘game changer’ in the championship battle, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 44^th running of the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500.

Surprising: Manhandling a very free race car and making a miracle save or two did not prevent this driver from being the loneliest, but no doubt happiest, man at Talladega Super Speedway. Matt Kenseth survived the last lap ‘big one’ to score his first ever win at the track.

Kenseth, in a very pink No. 17 Ford EcoBoost/National Breast Cancer Foundation Ford, notched his 23^rd victory in 466 Cup races. This was his second win and 17^th top-10 finish for the 2012 season.

Kenseth’s spotter Mike Calinoff described his driver’s lonely but lucky status best with his radio call on the final lap of the race.

“They’re wrecking behind you,” Calinoff said. “The whole field is wrecking.”

“There isn’t anyone who isn’t wrecked.”

“I looked behind me and saw nothing,” Kenseth said, echoing his spotter’s words. “Being in front of it all was the best place to be.”

Not Surprising: Although making the Chase, albeit barely, and admittedly not having the best of racing luck with him for much of the season, this driver was thrilled that things finally went his way at unpredictable ‘Dega.

“For a change, I finally came out on the good side of it,” Jeff Gordon, who finished second in his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, said. “I really have no idea how we all made it to the white flag because it was three, four wide.”

“I got hit by the No. 18 and somehow that turned me down on the apron and I just put it back to the floor and drove by every car.”

“I came out of that second behind the No. 17,” Gordon said. “That is like a win.”

This was Gordon’s 19^th top-10 finish in 40 races at Talladega and his 15^th top-10 finish for the season.

Surprising: It was a surprisingly humble and contrite Tony Stewart that greeted the media after causing the twenty-four car pileup and flipping end over end in his own No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet amidst the melee.

“I just screwed up,” Smoke said. “I turned down across, I think it was Michael (Waltrip) and crashed the whole field.”

“It was my fault blocking to try to stay where I was at,” Stewart continued. “So, I take 100% of the blame.”

Not Surprising: Not surprisingly, the theme for the day for the point’s leader Brad Keselowski was simple. He just wanted to survive Talladega and come out intact on the other end.

Keselowski, in his now familiar Blue Deuce, did indeed survive, finishing seventh in spite of being caught in the pile up. He now has a 14 points advantage over second place Chase contender Jimmie Johnson.

“We were four-wide for about two and a half straight laps and it was just a matter of time before you are wrecked,” Keselowski said. “It happens but that’s just Talladega.”

“That’s pretty big,’ Keselowski said of his points lead. “I just feel lucky to survive Talladega.”

Keselowski was so happy to have survived that he tweeted the following entrepreneurial thought after the race.

“Someone needs to make a t-shirt that says, “I survived Talladega,” @keselowski said. “Guaranteed at least 43 customers.”

Surprising: NASCAR’s biggest loser at Talladega was surprisingly one of Dega’s darlings, as well as fan favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr. The driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Paint 88/National Guard Chevrolet finished a disappointing 20^th, dropping four positions in the Chase standings to 11^th, all as a result of the ‘big one.’

And even more surprising, NASCAR’s most popular driver had some pretty harsh words to share after the race, particularly for the style of racing at Talladega and the longevity of the sport in light of it.

“Yeah, I took a lot of hard shots,” Junior said. “If this is what we did every week, I wouldn’t be doing it.”

“I would find another job.”

“The way we are going ain’t the right direction,” Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said. “I don’t care what anybody says for the good of the sport; I mean it’s good for the here and now and it will get people talking today, but for the long run that is not going to help the sport the way that race ended and the way the racing is.”

“It’s not going to be productive for years to come.”

Not Surprising: With over half the field involved in the last lap crash, it was not surprising that several drivers, including some of the Chase contenders, were a bit confused as to where exactly they finished. There was so much confusion that crew chiefs gathered around the NASCAR hauler to see indeed where their driver ended up officially.

“Everybody just merged together and we were all in a big wad at that point,” Jimmie Johnson, piloting the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, said. “Fortunately my car I could still drive to the finish so I passed a couple of guys that were sitting there on the bottom trying to get going themselves.”

“I guess I finished 17^th,” Johnson said. “I don’t know.”

Teammate Kasey Kahne, in the No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet, also was a bit confused as to his finishing spot.

“You are kind of along for the ride once it starts,” Kahne said. “We ended up making it back to the line; a few cars passed us so we might be a little better than 13^th.

Finally, Richard Petty Motorsports driver Marcos Ambrose, piloting the No. 9 DeWalt Ford, was confused but willing to forget about it in the end.

“We had a strong day,” Ambrose said. “I thought I missed the wreck but at least I didn’t cause it.”

“I have no idea where I finished, but we’ll just go on to the next one and forget about this.”

Johnson did indeed finish 17^thas he predicted, Kahne finished 12^th,a bit better than he thought, and Ambrose ended up in 27^th, a finish he most likely will want to forget.

Surprising: Kyle Busch became a surprisingly ‘lucky dog’ at Talladega. The driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota was not only the official ‘lucky dog’, getting his lap back after a speeding penalty, but was also a ‘lucky dog’ in navigating his way through the major 24 car pile up to finish third.

“Our day was pretty good,” Busch said. “I got busted for speeding, so that was my fault and we had to battle through that.”

“That was probably one of the most tense parts of the race for me was having to race for the ‘lucky dog’ to get back on the lead lap.”

“But all in all, our guys had some good pit stops and we gained some spots,” Busch continued. “I’m just glad and thankful that I was able to get through with no damage and make it through unscathed.”

Not Surprising: The two drivers who will apparently swap their rides for the next race, with Kurt Busch going to the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team and Regan Smith taking over the No. 51 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet, had polar opposite finishes to their last race in their former rides.

Regan Smith ended his tenure at Furniture Row with a 5^th place finish, his best ever at a restrictor plate track, while Kurt Busch finished 39^th after being parked by NASCAR for not heeding their command to stop his race car after his wreck.

“This is the way my life works,” Kurt Busch said. “I am leading, I wreck, I run out of gas and now I’m in trouble.”

“This year has been a great year to test me in every way.”

“What a wild ending,” Smith said. “We restarted the green-white checkered in 28^th, picked up a bunch of spots on the first lap and then came the wreck.”

“Somehow I was able to drive it to the checkered flag with a fifth-place finish.”

Surprising: Rather than having a ‘Talladega Nights’ flashback, Greg Biffle was having another movie moment instead.

“It was like Days of Thunder, coming through the smoke and the grass,” the driver of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion said. “A car flew over the top of my car as I turned to the bottom and missed guys by three inches.”

“It was the craziest thing I’ve ever been involved in in my life.”

Biffle had his own crazy moment in the race, making an amazing save after being turned sideways in the draft. He finished the race in sixth, gaining two positions in the point standings to ninth.

Not Surprising: The difficult season for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing continued in agonizing style at Talladega for both of their drivers. Jamie McMurray, former Daytona 500 winner and driver of the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Allstate Chevrolet, finished 34^th after leading 38 laps of the race.

Teammate Juan Pablo Montoya finished 38^th in his No. 42 Target/Gillette Chevrolet after an engine failure on lap 156.

“We were running right up there in the lead pack the majority of the day and then something happened to the motor,” JPM said. “The car started smoking and I felt like it was going to let go at any minute.”

“We just can’t catch a break.”

“The Bass Pro Shops Chevy ran great all day,” McMurray said. “It was great to get back up there and lead some laps.”

“I wish the outcome had turned out differently,” McMurray continued. “The guys did a great job and I felt like we had the car to beat.”

October 9, 2012
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega

[media-credit name=”Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski survived the last-lap pileup at Talladega intact and finished seventh. He remained on top of the Sprint Cup point standings and leads Jimmie Johnson by 14.

“It appears Lady Luck is on my side,” Keselowski said. “How else can you explain how I emerged from that mess with a seventh-place finish? So what you will, but I’ll never again complain about ‘women’ drivers.”

2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson’s No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet was one of several cars damaged in Talladega’s “Big One,” triggered by Tony Stewart on the final lap. Johnson is still second in the point standings, and now trails Brad Keselowski by 14.

“My car was so damaged,” Johnson said, “I had to hitch a ride back to the pits with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. That was the first time a champion’s been in that car.”

3. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished 11^th in the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500, one of the few cars that escaped the final lap melee unscathed. He held on to the third spot in the point standings, and is 20 behind Brad Keselwoski.

“I lost my rear view mirror about midway through Sunday’s race,” Hamlin said. “Luckily, it was replaceable, because I couldn’t see myself winning without it.

4. Jeff Gordon: Gordon led seven laps at Talladega and finished second, after navigating through the carnage that ensued when Tony Stewart was clipped by Michael Waltrip. Gordon now has three runner-up finishes in the Chase, but has made little ground in the point standings.

“It appears that, despite solid finishes,” Gordon said, “I won’t be able to make up much ground in the Chase. I’m sure some will argue that the Chase format needs more tweaking to reward cases such as mine. And I would be the first to ‘second’ that emotion.”

5. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth won in a wild finish at Talladega, pulling away for the victory as chaos reigned behind him. It was his second win of the season following his triumph at Daytona in February.

“That’s two superspeedway wins for me in which I persevered despite major incidents,” Kenseth said. “First it was Juan Montoya starting a fire, then it was Tony Stewart starting a wreck. Just call me the ‘Master Of Disaster.’

“It was shaping up to be a close finish, but after the crash, I ended up winning easily. With respect to my contract with Joe Gibbs Racing, you could say I won ‘going away.’”

6. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer was in position to compete for the win in the closing moments at Talladega, but was collected in the “Big One,” triggered when Tony Stewart was turned while trying to move in front of Michael Waltrip.

“A win was in our sights,” Bowyer said, “and would have been a big lift to our championship hopes. As it was, Tony Stewart got a ‘lift,’ in the air and on my hood.

7. Tony Stewart: Stewart was leading on the final lap at Talladega, but with Michael Waltrip fast approaching, Stewart tried to move in front of the No. 55. It didn’t work, Stewart spun, and much of the field was affected in the pileup. Stewart finished 22^nd, and is now 43 out of first in the point standings.

“I take full responsibility for the wreck,” Stewart said. “I said as much when I took to social media to explain on my new Twitter account, ‘@fault.’

“As you have heard, I’ve secure sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops for 18 races in 2013. I’m thrilled. I can’t wait until next year, when I can qualify first for a race and proudly proclaim it a ‘fishing pole.’”

8. Kasey Kahne: Kahne started on the pole and finished 13^th after a wild, last-lap crash that saw Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevy on the hood of Kahne’s No. 5 Chevy. Kahne moved up two spots to fourth in the point standings, and is 37 out of first.

“Aric Almirola handed out 600 pounds of bacon to celebrate Gwaltney’s sponsorship of the No. 43 car,” Kahne said. “Interestingly enough, I later gave Stewart a ‘piggy-back’ ride on Sunday.”

9. Kevin Harvick: Harvick was battling up front, with a good chance to win, when the inevitable struck at Talladega. When the dust had cleared, Harvick had an 11^th-place finish.

“The Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 certainly lived up to his name,” Harvick said. “At least the ‘Roadside Assistance” part. Kurt Busch lived up to the name, as well, at least the ‘Roadside Ass’ part.”

10. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished 21^st after order was restored in the aftermath of a massive final-lap crash that left much of the field in wrecked cars. Earnhardt is now 11^th in the point standings, 58 out of first.

“Despite the damage to my car,” Earnhardt said, “I was still able to give Jimmie Johnson a ride back to the pits. It felt good to be able to return the favor, because Jimmie’s ‘carried’ this team for so long.

“Drivers may not like it, but fans love racing at Talladega. And I’m all about giving the fans what they want, as long as it’s overpriced merchandise bearing my likeness and not wins.”

October 9, 2012
Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover AAA 400

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

October 3, 2012
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Dover

[media-credit name=”Credit: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”242″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Brad Keselowski: A bold fuel strategy boosted Keselowski to the driver’s seat at Dover, and he held off Jeff Gordon to win the AAA 400. It was Keselowki’s second win of the Chase, and put him in the lead of the Sprint Cup point standings, where he is five ahead of Jimmie Johnson.

“While many of my rivals needed fuel,” Keselwoski said, “the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge didn’t. I guess it’s true what they say: Miller Lite is less filling.’”

2. Denny Hamlin: Along with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch, Hamlin dominated for much of Sunday’s AAA 400, but was forced to pit with ten laps remaining. Hamlin finished ninth and is now 16 points down to points leader Brad Keselowski.

“I say this with my eyes staring squarely at my gas-guzzling Toyota engine,” Hamlin said. “’This sucks.’ Ironically, a lack of gas took the air out of my race.”

3. Jimmie Johnson: Forced into fuel conservation mode late in the race, Johnson held on and finished fourth after avoiding the late fuel stops that affected much of the field. He fell out of the points lead and now trails Brad Keselowski by five.

“As a five-time Sprint Cup champion,” Johnson said, “I feel qualified to say that I’m not the only driver that’s ‘five behind.’

4. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer came home ninth at Dover, scoring his third consecutive top-10 finish of the Chase. He moved up one spot to fourth in the point standings and trails Brad Keselowski by 25.

“As the driver holding the fourth spot in the point standings,” Bowyer said, “my task at hand is clear: to make sure this doesn’t become just a three-man battle for the Sprint Cup.”

5. Jeff Gordon: Gordon finished second in the AAA 400, his third runner-up finish in the last five races. He is now 10^th in the point standings, 48 out of first.

“I was hoping that Brad Keselowski would run out of gas,” Gordon said. “But once again, he proved that he’s got a ‘reserve’ that no one else does.”

6. Kasey Kahne: Kahne finished three laps down in 15^th at Dover. He is fifth in the point standings, 32 out of first.

“Danica Patrick’s coming to Sprint Cup full-time next year,” Kahne said. “That’s a reason to celebrate for womankind. I’d tell Danica to take a victory lap, but she’d likely end up a lap behind.”

7. Tony Stewart: Stewart fell a lap down early at Dover and never recovered, finishing three laps down in 20^th. He is now fifth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 32 out of first.

“It’s not looking good for a defense of my 2011 Cup title,” Stewart said. “It appears ‘Smoke will be passing the torch,’ words which are sure to raise the eyebrows of the enforcers of NASCAR’s drug policy.

8. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished two laps down and finished a disappointing 11^th, losing further ground to the points leaders. In three Chase races, Earnhardt has yet to post a top-5 result.

“Much like a bootleg screen print t-shirt of my likeness,” Earnhardt said, “my chances at the Sprint Cup title are ‘fading fast.’ It seems the only ‘miraculous comeback’ you’ll get from me is an incredibly clever retort to someone critical of my championship ability.”

9. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex remained solid in the Chase For The Cup, scoring his second top-10 finish with a sixth in the AAA 400. He improved two places in the point standings to eighth, 42 out of first.

“There are two ‘Junior’s’ in the Chase,” Truex said, “and it looks like neither has a chance to win the Cup. Junior should know better than anyone that it takes ‘Seniority’ to win a championship.”

10. Kyle Busch: Busch led 302 of 400 laps at Dover, but relinquished the lead for a costly fuel stop late in the race. The stop cost him a lap and he finished seventh.

“While fuel mileage issues left of lot of us in ‘neutral,’” Busch said, “Brad Keselowski must have been stuck in ‘reverse,’ because he surely ‘backed’ in to the win at Dover.”

October 2, 2012

Brad Keselowski Tames Monster Mile for First Win and Points Lead

[media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”230″][/media-credit]Brad Keselowski, driving the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge for Penske Racing, not only tamed the Monster Mile with his first ever win at Dover International Speedway, but also took the points lead, now five points over Jimmie Johnson.

This was Keselowski’s fifth win of the season and his ninth career win. He has now won two of the three races so far in the Chase.

“I’m happy for our day here obviously,” Keselowski said. “We certainly were a lot stronger here than we were in the past.”

“I may not have had the best car but hung around in that top five, just kept creeping around and when you do that, you put yourself in position for good things to happen.”

“That’s what this 2 team has done the last few months.”

“That was the type of performance we needed to stay in this championship and we showed today that we’re going to continue to be there every week,” Paul Wolfe, crew chief for the race winning car, said. “This was another small step to the ten races and I’m proud to be able to come out of here in the points lead.”

One driver that needed a great run actually got it at the Monster Mile. Jeff Gordon, behind the wheel of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, held on to finish in the runner up position.

“I thought it was a solid effort,” Gordon said. “Our car was good right from the start.”

Gordon admitted he had a car that was better on the long runs, but that actually helped when it came time to finish up the fuel mileage racing.

“We struggled on the short runs,” Gordon said. “We started really struggling on the restarts and losing positions.”

“But that played to our favor because we could come in and top off,” Gordon continued. “It gave us the opportunity not to have to save fuel.”

“I thought me and Mark Martin were going to be battling for the win”, Gordon said. “We just got a little too tight at the end.”

Although Gordon is still 48 points out in the Chase, he has moved forward into the tenth spot after race three of the Chase.

“This is nice to follow up with what we had last week,” Gordon said. “We’re just taking a few steps in the Chase each week.”

“It was a great day all around.”

Wily veteran Mark Martin, behind the wheel of the No. 55 Aaron’s 2000^th Store/Bronx NY Toyota, finished third for Michael Waltrip Racing.

“I don’t know if everybody really noticed but we had a rocket ship,” Martin said. “Super fast car.”

“We battled from behind all day,” Martin continued. “We were just passing cars left and right.”

“It was a hard fought battle by a great race team,” Martin said. “I had a really, really fast race car.”

“It feels really good, regardless of the points, to run good.”

Jimmie Johnson, in the No. 48 Lowe’s /Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, not only lost the points lead but had to finish off the race in fuel saving mode, for fourth.

“It’s a tough situation to be in, but I’m more focused on the big prize,” Johnson said. “I’m very happy we got to the finish line.”

“We had clean air but I had to give it up because of saving fuel,” Johnson continued. “Today we were fourth, which is not bad.”

Johnson acknowledged that it was difficult to let cars pass, especially those Chase competitors, just to have to save fuel.

“It’s tough,” Johnson said. “But you have to race on all fronts and we had a decent day today.”

Once known as ‘Concrete Carl’, the driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford finally had a good day on the concrete banks of the Monster Mile, finishing fifth.

“That was a decent run for us,” Edwards said. “We had a lot of good luck.”

“If I can’t be winning the race, I enjoy seeing the battle out there,” Edwards continued. “We’ve got some work to do and we have to keep working on these cars.”

“We didn’t drop the ball and we had some fun,” Edwards said. “It’s fortunate we came home top five.”

Some Chase contenders salvaged a fairly decent day; however others had dramatically difficult days. Among the latter was Matt Kenseth, who hit the wall twice and finished a miserable 35^th in his No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Ford.

“Today was a struggle,” Kenseth said. “This is probably the worst we’ve run here for as long as I can remember.”

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

Kenseth had the distinction of being the worst finisher of the Chasers and fell into the basement position in 12^th, now 72 points behind leader Keselowski.

Other Chase contenders fared better than Kenseth, including Martin Truex Jr., who finished sixth; Denny Hamlin in eighth; Clint Bowyer in ninth; Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in eleventh; Kevin Harvick in the 13^thspot, and Kasey Kahne who finished 15^th.

The remaining Chase drivers, Greg Biffle, who had a tire issue and a major meltdown, and Tony Stewart, who was just off all day, finished 16^th and 20^th respectively at Dover International Speedway.

Unofficial Race Results
AAA 400, Dover Int’l Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=29
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	10	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	47
2	7	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	43
3	26	55	Mark Martin	Toyota	41
4	11	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	41
5	15	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	39
6	3	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	38
7	5	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	39
8	1	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	37
9	2	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	36
10	14	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	34
11	25	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	33
12	17	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	0
13	13	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	31
14	16	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	30
15	9	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	29
16	6	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	28
17	18	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	27
18	27	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	26
19	21	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	25
20	24	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	24
21	8	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	23
22	19	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	22
23	28	51	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	21
24	20	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	20
25	4	22	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	0
26	35	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	18
27	39	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	17
28	38	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	0
29	33	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	15
30	31	34	David Ragan	Ford	14
31	30	13	Casey Mears	Ford	13
32	42	38	David Gilliland	Ford	12
33	41	32	T.J. Bell	Ford	0
34	40	36	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	10
35	12	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	9
36	22	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	8
37	23	26	Josh Wise *	Ford	7
38	32	98	Michael McDowell	Ford	6
39	37	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	0
40	34	195	Scott Speed	Ford	4
41	43	37	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	3
42	36	23	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	2
43	29	191	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	0

September 30, 2012