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Tag: Tony Stewart

  • Auto Club 400 Review: Stewart Smokes The Competition Once Again

    Auto Club 400 Review: Stewart Smokes The Competition Once Again

    [media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]2011 champion Tony Stewart led twice for 42 laps in the Auto Club 400(or should we say Auto Club 322?) and went on to win his second race of the season in California. After raindrops started to hit the track on Lap 124, Stewart, who was leading the race at the time, faked a move toward pit road to play with the competition’s pit strategy. He stayed on track just before the commitment cone, giving him the lead when NASCAR called the rain delayed race on Lap 129.

    Stewart has moved three positions in points standings and is now in fourth position, 18 points behind the leader. This is Stewart’s second win at Fontana and his 46th career win, tying him with Buck Baker for 14th on the career victory list.

    It is quite an accomplishment for a driver to win seven times in the last 15 races, and that is exactly what Stewart has done. Typically Stewart isn’t much of a contender in the first half of the season, but this season the veteran is taking off like a rocket. In the first five races of the 2011 season, Stewart only scored one top five finish and didn’t win his first race until the 27th race of the season, the first race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

    Greg Biffle Remains The Points Leader

    Greg Biffle may have flown under the radar at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, but he still flies high on top of the points standings so far this season. Biffle qualified his 3M Ford Fusion in fourth position and rode in the Top 10 for most of the race.  Biffle now has four top-10 finishes in five races so far this season. Biffle’s consistency this season is sure to put him in victory lane. Biffle’s last win was at Kansas Speedway in October of 2010.

    As for the rest of his Roush Fenway Racing team, Carl Edwards finished in fifth position, his second top five of the season. Edwards gained three spots in the standings to rest in 12th position. Matt Kenseth finished in 13th position and dropped two positions in points to reside in fifth.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr Continues Consistency; Unlikely Finishes for Rest of HMS

    Dale Earnhardt Jr has been at the top of the leader board this season and continued his consistency with a third place finish in the Auto Club 400. Earnhardt was running in fifth position when caution for rain came out on Lap 123. This allowed him to pick up two spots when two cars ahead of him pitted under the caution. Earnhardt has finished in 15thposition or better so far this season, including two top five finishes. He is currently third in points, after gaining three positions with his top five finish in Fontana.

    The rest of Earnhardt’s Hendrick Motorsports team didn’t suffice as well as he did. While running in fourth position under caution on Lap 129 , Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet began leaking oil from the rear of his car. Thanks to the caution and rain shortened race, Johnson was able to limp around the track on the apron and finish in 10th position.

    All Kasey Kahne needed at the Auto Club Speedway was to finish the race in a conservative fashion. He did just that, finishing in 15th position, his best finish of the season. Before the race at Fontana, Kahne was 34th in owner points. After the race, he has moved himself up to 26th position and gave himself some breathing room heading to Martinsville next weekend, where the owner points will be reset.

    Jeff Gordon had a miserable day after suffering two pit road penalties, moving him from the top five all the way back to 26thposition. His first penalty of the race came on Lap 107 for equipment leaving the pit stall; Equipment being the gas can, along with his gas man. The final blow of the day came on Lap 126 when the team had a tire roll outside of the pit box.

    Who Will Win At Martinsville Speedway?

    Next weekend we head to the short track of Martinsville Speedway, known for it’s hot dogs and most importantly the grandfather clock trophy awarded to the winner of every race. Hometown boy Denny Hamlin knows how to get around the place, with four Cup wins at this track. However, teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon always fair well here with 13 wins between the both of them. As always, you can’t count out Tony Stewart who won the last race here in October and has won at Martinsville three times in his career.

  • Smoke Wins 2nd at California

    [media-credit id=40 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]This weekend it was a race against Mother Nature. The rain was coming. They could see it coming on radar and they could feel it coming as the temperatures began to drop. But the on track action at California Speedway never cooled off. Not until the rain was falling hard enough that the cars were circling on a track that was already lost. The rain was relentless and it only took 30 minutes for NASCAR to say “Lets Go Home Boys.” That left the series champion and the fastest car on the track to win the race while sitting on pit road.

    California has long been known as a fuel mileage race. Its reputation of being a snoozer of a race cost it ticket sales and eventually a date on the schedule. But today, it was anything but. The racing was dynamic with cars running side by side daring passes and speed. Many teams were racing for half way feeling sure the rains would come. Come they did but a little later than most had planned.

    Kyle Busch would lead the most laps in a dominating style. He took the lead from team mate Denny Hamlin on lap number two and held it until Tony Stewart made a gutsy pass in traffic as Juan Pablo Montoya held up the leader. A kiss with the wall a few laps later would drop Busch back in the running order and leave Stewart to dominate the rest of the race.

    By the end of the green flag run Hamlin had made it to Smoke’s rear bumper but the rain began to fall on the back stretch and the yellow flew. Hamlin’s crew chief felt that there was a clearing in the radar and they would get the race restarted and called Hamlin to pit road. Smoke pulled the fake and then back on to the track but said later, “I doubt very seriously that we suckered him onto pit road, so to speak. I’m sure him and Darian had their mind before they got there,” stated Stewart. Hamlin would finish 11th.

    Stewart’s second win in 5 races gives him his 7th win in the last 15 Sprint Cup Races an impressive statistic. More impressive when you realize that it is his 46th career win tying him with Buddy Baker on the all time win list. Stewart doesn’t usually show strong this early in the year however. He is normally a summer bloomer. When asked about his early success Smoke said, “It’s been nice to get off to a good start this year the way we have. Like you said, the history shows in the last 13 years we have not had the strongest starts the first third of the year. I’m really, really excited about the start that we’ve got going. “

    Kyle Busch would finish the day in second place after his brief encounter with the wall and dominating early. But he wasn’t sad to see the race called for rain. “Had a great car. The Interstate Batteries Camry was fast. Can’t say enough about those guys, Dave and everybody, for putting together a really good car this weekend. Wish we would have been able to race the whole thing on one hand, but on the other hand I’m kind of glad we’re not because we kind of have a little bit of damage that slowed us down there about 20 laps ago,” said Busch.

    Perhaps the most impressive run of the day came from Dale Earnhardt Jr who put together a flawless day. Flawless on the track. Flawless in the pits. And it garnered him a 3rd place finish. Earnhardt Jr seemed pleased with the result saying, “We had a really good car. The car was really quick in practice at the end of the day yesterday. We carried the same car into the race. I was real happy about that. We started off moving forward. Had some really good pit strategies, pitting a little bit earlier than most guys. Steve brought us down pit road and we gained a little bit of time, passed some guys on pit road.

    We drove the car up to fifth before the weather came. We had been watching the weather all day. We felt certain if it started to rain it wasn’t going to stop. We made the right choice by staying out and building ourselves into the top three.”

    All in all, it was a great race. Great action all around the track no cautions, the cars ran pretty much together allowing for lots of passes and the display of many skill sets. Yes it was shortened by rain but the pace of the race didn’t show any signs of dropping off. Maybe that is the answer for California. Shorter races with more intensity instead of long fuel managed races. It would certainly improve the strength of the competition for an already challenged venue.

    Team Chevy had an incredible weekend as well. Winning at Chico in the World of Outlaws with Donny Schatz, Sprint Cup with Tony Stewart and IndyCar with Helio Castroneves.

    Another item this weekend from the social media of NASCAR was the call from Jennifer Jo Cobb for tire money for Talladega. This irks me. It also irks me when Kenny Wallace begs for sponsor support on Social Media. Why you ask? Because I can’t help but think that the least endorsed and the man with the least money in NASCAR never takes to the social media waves or fan sites and begs. Not one time have you ever seen Morgan Shepard ask a fan for money or to help him find a sponsor. Instead Morgan leans on his faith and offers help to his fans and any fan that asks him for help. Whether that is a few moments of his time or a prayer to guide them through a difficulty. Morgan Shepard races with a dignity and professionalism that we seldom see anymore. But then if we take the sponsor that is on his hood to heart we find the reason he does what he does. I would highly encourage you to look beyond the celebrity and notoriety and ask yourself before giving money or working to help a team find a sponsor how will they manage next week? If I give them $10,000 for tires this week who will give them $10,000 for tires next week? Will they even finish the race or will they have the same mechanical issues that keep them from finishing the race every week?

    Congratulations to this weeks winners. Donny Schatz in Outlaws, Joey Logano in Nationwide, Helio Castroneves in IndyCar and Tony Stewart in Sprint Cup the competition was awesome and enjoyed. And somehow even though Mother Nature cut short the Sprint Cup race one has to feel that for a change Motorsports beat Nature.

    That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Bristol

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Bristol

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”229″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth doggedly chased Brad Keselowski to the finish at Bristol, but could never catch the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge. The runner-up result gave Kenseth his second top-5 finish of the year, and boosted him two places in the Sprint Cup point standings to third.

    “As his number of followers would suggest,” Kenseth said, “Keselowski is fast becoming America’s ‘Tweet-heart.’ And, no, that’s not my Ward Button impression. Keselowski even Tweeted a photo from victory lane. That’s impressive. He may be the only NASCAR driver who can ‘phone it in’ and still be successful.

    “Contrary to popular belief, I didn’t jump a restart midway through the race to get in front of Keselowski. Oh no. I was trying to get as far away from Brian Vickers as possible.”

    2. Greg Biffle: Biffle started on the pole at Bristol and led 41 early laps before handling issues stymied his efforts to stay out front. He finished 12th and remained atop the Sprint Cup point standings, with a nine-point lead over Kevin Harvick.

    “That breaks my string of third-place finishes,” Biffle said. “Still, my average finish is sixth. And let’s be honest, nothing says ‘average’ quite like ‘Greg Biffle.’”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick was caught up in a lap 24 spin between Regan Smith and Kasey Kahne that collected seven cars, including Harvick’s No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet. Despite extensive damage, Harvick salvaged an 11th at Bristol, and remained second in the point standings, nine behind Greg Biffle.

    “Say what you will about Kahne,” Harvick said, “but he was the only Hendrick Motorsports driver who was a factor in the race. Just a few months ago, he was apologizing to breastfeeding mothers. Now, he’s apologizing to expectant fathers. No wonder he’s the ‘red-headed stepchild’ of HMS.”

    4. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished ninth at Bristol, scoring his third-straight top-10 finish. It was likely Johnson’s last race with crew chief Chad Knaus before Knaus serves his six race suspension

    “NASCAR seems to be unusually vigilant where Knaus is concerned,” Johnson said. “Call it an episode of ‘Queer Eye For The Not-So-Straight Guy,’ if you will. This being March, I’m surprised NASCAR didn’t accuse Chad of having an illegal ‘bracket’ of some sort.

    “But I’ll manage without Chad. He’ll return in six weeks rejuvenated. I hear he’s taking a vacation to a mysterious locale. If NASCAR officials ask us where he is,Chad’s instructed us to wink and simply say ‘parts unknown.’”

    5. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex finished third at Bristol, leading a parade of Michael Waltrip Racing cars in the top 5. Teammates Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers came home fourth and fifth, respectively, and Truex jumped four places in the point standings to fourth, 18 out of first.

    “Michael Waltrip has assembled quite an organization here,” Truex said. “And, he’s quite entertaining on Showtime’s ‘Inside NASCAR.’ So, that’s at least two things that Michael’s better at being behind than a steering wheel: a desk and a microphone.”

    6. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski dominated at Thunder Valley, leading 231 laps and holding off Matt Kenseth to win the Food City 500 at Bristol. The young Penske Racing driver proved that last fall’s Bristol win was no fluke, and gave Dodge its first win of the year.

    “The Sprint Cup championship is obviously a goal,” Keselowski said. “But that goal is secondary to reaching 1,000,000 followers on Twitter. As a social media hound, I want to get social medieval on the web’s behinds.

    “Of course, there are those that say my penchant for social media interaction can only spell my downfall where the Cup is concerned. Those people are on Facebook, and they believe the writing is on the ‘wall.’”

    7. Tony Stewart: Stewart had a top-10 Bristol finish in sight until he was punted into the wall on lap 479 when Brendan Gaughan’s brakes failed. Stewart limped home in 14th, and remained seventh in the point standings, 27 out of first.

    “If he continues to wreck superstars like me,” Stewart said, “Gaughan will be out of NASCAR before long. That’s why he’s earned the nickname ‘Going, Going’ Gaughan.”

    8. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt survived a run-in with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon to post a 15th-place finish in the Food City 500. Earnhardt was nabbed for speeding on pit road late in the race, an infraction that likely cost him a top-10 finish. He is now tied for fifth in the point standings, 20 out of first.

    “What’s Gordon’s biggest complaint about Diet Mountain Dew?” Earnhardt said. “It tastes ‘flat.’”

    9. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin started 20th at Bristol and finished in the same position, victimized by handling issues and long green runs that left little opportunities for adjustments. He dropped two spots in the point standings to fifth, and trails Greg Biffle by 20 points.

    “I’m tied in the point standings with Dale Earnhardt, Jr.,” Hamlin said. “I made a race out of going nowhere fast; Junior’s made a career of it.”

    10. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer, in the 5-Hour Energy No. 15Toyota, finished fourth at Bristol, joining Michael Waltrip Racing teammates Martin Truex, Jr. and Brian Vickers in the top 5. Bowyer improved five places in the point standings to eighth and is 31 out of first.

    “I’m confident this car will soon be in Victory Lane,” Bowyer said. “When that happens, I promise to douse everyone there with 5-Hour Energy drink, which may, in fact, take five hours.”

  • Danica Patrick to take on Prelude to the Dream

    Danica Patrick to take on Prelude to the Dream

    [media-credit id=24 align=”alignright” width=”219″][/media-credit]Danica Patrick announced that she would be running in this year’s prelude to the dream. A lot of people were concerned about her running it, however her Sprint Cup Series car owner Tony Stewart says he’s excited about it.

    “I told her ‘don’t feel like you have to come do this,” he says. “She said ‘No, I really want to do this.’ I’m excited for her.  I don’t think it’s something that she has had a chance to do very much.  It will be fun to get her in an environment that is definitely new to her for sure.”

    The Prelude to the Dream is an event which takes professional stock car drivers from different forms of racing and puts them on the Eldora Speedway dirt track in late models. Te event is also used to raise money for charity.

    Stewart, who runs Eldora Speedway, has already said that he will give her some lessons before he lets her loose on the dirt track.

    Jeff Gordon is also looking forward to seeing her on the dirt as he says, “It’s a fun event. Those cars are a blast to drive.”

    This event will mark her first time racing on a dirt track so many are curious to see how she will do in comparison to what she’s done in IndyCar and NASCAR.

    Well it may be nice to have her out there to help raise money for charity, it may hurt her learning curve in NASCAR. So far this season, her best finish is a 12th at Las Vegas while her other three finishes have been outside of the top 15. Is spending the time to learn a new form of racing taking away from learning in a stock car? Should she focus on honing her skills?

    However, considered how she has handled a loose race car, the hopes don’t look like high for her as an early wreck is predicted. In that respect, it may be a good learning experience as drivers have said that they’ve learned how to drive a loose race car via their dirt background.

    While the future may look daunting, she will have the best of the best in the form of the tack owner teaching her so anything is possible.

    The eighth annual Prelude to the Dream is schedule for Wednesday June 6th. Fans can buy tickets or watch the race live on HBO Pay-Per-View at 8pm EST.

  • Ryan Newman Quietly Having Good Season in Owner’s Shadow

    Ryan Newman Quietly Having Good Season in Owner’s Shadow

    [media-credit id=24 align=”alignright” width=”226″][/media-credit]While the spotlight may be on Tony Stewart, his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Ryan Newman is quietly having a good season so far as he sits 12th in points.

    “We didn’t have the car that we had at Daytona last year but at Phoenix, I put ourselves in a bad situation by crashing the primary car,” he says. “Then we got crashed going for fifth in the race with 50-some laps to go. I think our cars have been good. We’ve got the monkey off our back, so to speak, at Vegas with a lucky chance to get up there in fourth and with the No. 17 (Matt Kenseth) and the No. 5 (Kasey Kahne) having their situation.

    At the end of the 500 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway, Newman came home in the 12th position to match his spot in points.

    “I’m just really proud of the guys,” he says. “They’ve worked really hard. It’s obviously been a very hectic start to the season with some rain delays and west coast trips and things like that. But they’ve done an excellent job.”

    While teams are continuing to look for advantage, NASCAR has thoughts of closing that up by releasing the EFI data to race teams. Newman says that in the past, it’s been easy for NASCAR to keep it simple and old school.

    “The EFI opens up a lot of doors,” he says. “They’ve given us a couple of channels to be able to review when it comes to brake-pressure and throttle position. It’s nice to see those things to compare, but like you said; it does have a catch-22 side to it and that’s the fact that if it is a secret, then it’s no longer; and if it is an advantage, it may not be anymore.”

    Newman says that drivers can look at the data to see the differences, but putting it to practical use, it may not be as easy.

    “I can look at Tony Stewart’s curve and try to match it and I can’t do it with my race car or with the line I’m running or whatever,” he says. “It’s not so much as simple as that as it is as it is that it just gives us an idea of what to maybe change or try at different race tracks. And obviously, that’s going to change as we go into the second race after we can look at some data; it’s all new to us right now. So, it’s an interesting perspective on a change when it comes to technology.”

    As Newman heads to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, it will be another chance to emerge from the boss’ shadow. It won’t be easy as Newman’s average finish at California is 14.4. However, Newman may choose to keep himself hidden as that way it gives him the chance to sneak up and pounce on the competition.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Las Vegas

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Las Vegas

    [media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”273″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Greg Biffle: Biffle finished third in the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas and now has three third-place finishes on the year. He assumed the lead in the Sprint Cup point standings, and holds a 10-point lead over Kevin Harvick.

    “There are those that think I’m the weak link at Roush Fenway Racing,” Biffle said. “Well, I didn’t win, nor did I place, but you could say I ‘showed’ them.

    “They say good things come in three’s, and bad things come out of Boris Said’s mouth. That being said, if I continue to finish in the top 5, I should avoid Said altogether.”

    2. Tony Stewart: Stewart took the lead on a restart with 36 laps to go, and held off Jimmie Johnson on two late restarts to claim his first-ever victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was a redemptive victory for the defending Sprint Cup champion, who gave away a win at Vegas last year.

    “As you may have seen,” Stewart said, “I won a giant wrench. Obviously, that will be presented to my pet monkey, Mojo. Hopefully, he won’t throw it into anything.

    “I was quite motivated by losing at Vegas last year. I’ve learned that you can’t keep a good man down, although NASCAR’s surely tried with Jimmie Johnson. More importantly, I’ve wiped a ‘win at Las Vegas’ off my bucket list, and finally, I’m no longer the only person calling Vegas ‘virgin territory.’”

    3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick faded late after racing in the top-5 for much of Sunday’s race, but still finished a solid 11th to move up one spot in the point standings. He is now second, 10 points behind leader Greg Biffle.

    “Despite what you may hear on Twitter,” Harvick said, “DeLana and I are not naming our son ‘Otis.’ We don’t have a name yet, but one won’t be hard to come by, especially considering all the ‘baby’ names in NASCAR right now, like ‘Kyle,’ ‘Kurt,’ and ‘Carl.’ I think it’s only fitting that my child’s name be a four-letter word.”

    4. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson bid to pass Tony Stewart in the closing laps at Las Vegas failed, but Johnson’s runner-up finish was his second-consecutive top-5 finish. After his early exit at Daytona, Johnson now seems to be in proper form to reclaim the Sprint Cup.

    “I tried everything,” Johnson said, “but I couldn’t pass Stewart. So just call me ‘tape measure,’ because I couldn’t get around Tony.

    “Sadly, though, Chad Knaus’s appeal of his six-race suspension was denied by NASCAR. Eventually, Chad will have to serve the suspension. He didn’t get away with it, so now he has to get away from it.”

    5. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt led 70 laps at Las Vegas, second only to Tony Stewart’s 127, and posted his second top-10 finish of the year with a 10th in the Kobalt Tools 400. He improved one spot to fourth in the Sprint Cup point standings, and is 18 points out of first.

    “I led 70 of the first 73 laps,” Earnhardt said. “The fans of Junior Nation were thrilled, because the race was ‘mine to lose’ for only 70 laps, and not all of them. I don’t know what I whipped more—-the field, or Junior Nation into a frenzy.”

    6. Carl Edwards: Edwards scored his first top-5 result of the season, joining Roush Fenway teammate Greg Biffle, who finished third, with a fifth in the Kobalt Tools 500. Edwards leapt four places in the point standings to sixth and trails Biffle by 23.

    “I spent the offseason lamenting losing the title to Stewart because he had more wins,” Edwards said, “so it pains me to see Tony winning again. But not as much as it pained me to be called ‘Second Cousin Carl.’”

    7. Denny Hamlin: A week after winning at Phoenix, Hamlin struggled in the Kobalt Tools 400, finishing 20th on a day when Joe Gibbs Racing placed no cars in the top 15. Hamlin fell from the Sprint Cup points lead, and now sits third, 12 out of first.

    “You win some,” said Hamlin, “and you lose some. That’s me quoting Tony Stewart’s statement on Sprint Cup championships and crew chiefs. And speaking of Darian Grubb, I won’t dismiss him, or his contributions to this team.”

    8. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth led 22 laps at Las Vegas, and was eyeing a potential top-5 finish before getting shoved into the wall after a lap 263 restart. He finished 22nd and fell one spot in the point standings to fifth, 23 behind Greg Biffle.

    “Sunday was my first race with my new sponsor,” Kenseth said. “Ironically, it was the first time ‘Zest’ has been used to describe anything Matt Kenseth. Maybe a more appropriate soap to sponsor me would be Ivory, because I’m white and 99 44/100% pure.”

    9. Mark Martin: Martin suffered a brush with the wall after Dale Earnhardt, Jr. bumped Martin’s No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Chevy. Martin recovered to finish 18th and is now 10th in the point standings, 28 out of first.

    “I’ve finished second in the championship race five times,” Martin said, “while Junior’s never come close to contending. So I don’t know where he gets off running in to me. It did him no good. It did me no good. Of course, we’re both well-versed in finding ourselves in no-win situations.”

    10. Joey Logano: Logano led the way on a disappointing day for Joe Gibbs Racing, placing 16th at Las Vegas, his first finish outside the top 10 this year. He is ninth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 27 out of first.

    “The No. 20 Dollar General Toyota was solid,” Logano said, “but handling issues got the best of us, despite the work by my dedicated crew, the ‘Buck Privates.’ After a long day of making adjustments, they were spent.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Kobalt Tools 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Kobalt Tools 400

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”259″][/media-credit]Under a gloriously sunny sky and with an amazing flyover complements of the United States Air Force Thunderbirds, the green flag flew on the Kobalt Tools 400. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    Surprising:  Since the reigning champ is primarily known for heating up over the summer or in the Chase, it was surprising to see Tony Stewart capture the checkered flag this early in the season.

    This was also Smoke’s first ever win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a track that he felt definitely owed him one after a pit miscue cost him the victory last year.

    “I don’t know that it’s important this early but we only get one shot at Vegas,” the driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet said. “It was real hard leaving here last year. It’s nice to come here and have a car that was bad to the bone.”

    It was also surprising that Steve Addington, Stewart’s new crew chief, won his first ever Cup race with a driver not named Busch. And although known for his calm, relaxed nature, Addington definitely felt the pressure of calling the race on his shoulders.

    “I take it very personal every time that car goes on the race track,” Addington said. “I felt a ton of pressure on myself to get a win and I’m glad that’s under our belt.”

    “The stars lined up and we won this race at Vegas.”

    Not Surprising:  With the penalty appeal scheduled to be heard during the upcoming week, it was not surprising to see Jimmie Johnson attempt to get the best finish and most points possible. The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet scored the runner up spot in the race bearing his sponsor’s name.

    Johnson had an eventful race weekend, crashing in the first lap of final practice, as well as having to go to the rear of the field in a backup car for the start of the race. So, although he wanted the win, he seemed satisfied with his second place run.

    “Tony could just get through the gears better,” Johnson said of his final run with Smoke. “With everything we went through this weekend, I’ll take it.”

    Surprising:  Greg Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M/Meguiars Ford, scored his third third place finish of the season. But even more surprising, the Biff is now the official points leader, with the chance to be the only driver to win a championship in all three of NASCAR’s top tier series.

    “It certainly has started off to be a good season for us so far,” Biffle said. “We’re super excited about it but there again, we want to win like the 14 car did today so we’re going to keep our heads down and keep working hard.”

    Not Surprising:  With one half of the Stewart-Haas Race team in Victory Lane, it was no surprise that his teammate would not be far behind. Ryan Newman, in his No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet for SHR, scored a top-5 finish as well.

    “It was a hard fought day,” Newman said. “We struggled a bit in the pits but we got lucky on the last restart. It was an awesome day for Stewart-Haas.”

    Surprising:  As good as Jimmie Johnson was for Hendrick Motorsports, it was surprising to see four-time champion Jeff Gordon struggle so mightily. Gordon fought tight conditions most of the race, complaining that his car was plowing mightily.

    Gordon did manage to bring his anniversary celebrating No. 24 Dupont 20 Years Chevrolet home in the twelfth position.

    “Well, we weren’t very good,” Alan Gustafson, Gordon’s crew chief, said simply. “We struggled but we ended up with an okay finish. Sometimes you have to do that and we did it.”

    “You’re never happy with 12th, but there was a point in time during the day when I would have been happy to finish 20th,” Gustafson continued. “So, it was okay.”

    Not Surprising:   In spite of the fact that the two are teammates, it was not surprising to see sparks fly yet again between the Roushketeers Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. The two tangled on the restart in the waning laps of the race.

    Carl Edwards, in the No. 99 Alfac Ford, saw it this way.

    “Matt spun his tires just a little bit on the restart and I went down to the apron,” Edwards said. “He gave me a ton of room but we just got all bunched up over there.”

    Kenseth, behind the wheel of the brightly colored No. 17 Zest Ford, just seemed confused by it all.

    “I honestly don’t really know what happened,” Kenseth said. “Carl just laid back and got by me three-wide and then it just didn’t seem like there was a lot of room getting into turn one.”

    “And then I did get clear behind him and he just stopped in the middle of the corner.”

    Edwards was able to finish well in the fifth position, while Kenseth finished 22nd in contrast.

    Surprising:  With their driver under the weather, it was surprising to see the No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet score an eighth place finish.

    “Jamie (McMurray) showed up this morning and he was sick,” crew chief Kevin ‘Bono’ Manion, said “For him to come through like he did for us today was really big.”

    “Going into this race, we felt really strong about our McDonald’s Chevrolet,” Manion continued. “All in all, it was a good day.”

    Not Surprising:  In spite of leading more laps than he did all last season and scoring a top-10 finish, it was not surprising to find a frustrated Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at the end of the race.

    “I think we should have run better than that,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet said. “We are just a little bit disappointed.”

    “We were fast and I knew before the end of the race we were going to have to free my car up and I never let Steve (Letarte) do it,” Junior said. “It was more my fault than anything really. I didn’t give him enough information I guess.”

    Surprising:  Fresh faced youngster Trevor Bayne had a surprisingly good run in his No. 21 Motorcaft/Quick Lane Ford for the famed Wood Brothers.

    “A top-10 feels like a win to us,” Bayne said simply. “We hadn’t had a top-10 since Daytona and it feels good to be back at it.”

    Not Surprising:  Unfortunately, it was not surprising that the Dodges again struggled early in this 2012 season. Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, finished 32nd and his teammate AJ Allmendinger fared even worse, finishing 37th in his No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge.

    “We had a pretty decent Dodge Charger and we were going to give Tony a run for his money,” Keselowski said. “The fuel pump broke. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

    “Man, this is not the start to the season any of us were expecting,” Allmendinger said. “Just when I knew we could make something solid, we started having fuel pressure issues.”

    “We came into the garage and changed some things,” ‘Dinger continued. “My guys busted their butts but we’re not sure yet what the cause was.”

    “But you know the guys back at the Penske shop will figure it out.”

  • Smoke and Mirrors in Vegas But Mostly Just Smoke

    Smoke and Mirrors in Vegas But Mostly Just Smoke

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”180″][/media-credit]The lights, the anticipation, the atmosphere of chance, the courage to gamble, it was Vegas and it was all about Smoke and mirrors. Ok maybe just Smoke.

    The Sprint Cup race had a very exciting ending, a daring move from a skilled and popular champion to hold off the challenge from a determined fellow competitor, the race in it’s entirety was rather long and drawn out. Unless of course you were a Dale Jr fan. If you were a member of JR. Nation you were still flying high over the strength and dominance shown by the 88 early on in the race, leading the first 70 laps in a dominating fashion. But a pitstop for 4 tires when the rest of the field took 2 mired the 88 back in the field and he just couldn’t quite recover. “We’re just a little bit disappointed,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Our car was tight at the start of the race, and we were fast. But I knew before the end of the race I was going to have to free my car up.

    “I never let (crew chief) Steve (Letarte) do it. I never told him enough and gave him enough freedom, I guess, to feel like he needed to free the car up. Every time we got in traffic, our car was just really tight.”

    If you were a Jimmie Johnson fan you were more than likely not using much of the seat of your chair. Johnson whose car was lightening fast and very very consistent, started in the 43rd position and worked his way as high up as first. But he could not hold that position and finished 2nd to the current reigning Cup Champion Tony Stewart. “We had a great race car all day long. I wish we could have had this KOBALT Tools Chevrolet over in Victory Lane for the KOBALT race. But, we’ll just have to try it again next time. Great race car. To be out here in a back-up (car) and to drive from dead-last to the lead, and then finish second is pretty awesome. Hate coming up short. Glad to be on the West Coast and see all my fans. Look forward to doing it again soon,” stated Johnson.

    The man of the day was “The People’s Champion” Tony Stewart. He earned that title with moves like the three wide pass for the lead on Brad Keselowski, who had an EFI system failure on the last restart and finished 4 laps down to the field. Stewart who had only taken 2 tires was aware of the 4 tire cars behind him, “I had to go man (laughs). I knew that Matt (Kenseth) had four tires and Greg (Biffle) and those guys had better tires than we did. I knew as long as we could get to clean air we could at least hold them off for a little bit. I just didn’t know we were going to be able to hold them off for the whole run.”

    Hold them off he did to win on one of three tracks he had never won on in his 45 career victories. But perhaps the biggest sigh of relief came not from the driver but from his crew chief. Steve Addington was feeling the pressure of assuming the role of crew chief of a championship team. “I’m going to tell you, everybody has been awesome. Nobody put the pressure on me except myself. I really didn’t realize how much I’d put on myself going to work for the championship team the very next year. It’s been a lot of pressure. I think that even when Tony feels good about the car, I’m still questioning. He’s just like, Relax, dude, it’s going to be all right.”

    The new EFI system again showed itself to have a bug or two still needing to be swatted. Brad Keselowski reported via twitter that,” Just to be clear. On the last restart, the engine ran out of fuel, the fuel tank still had gas. This means, the fuel system had a problem. 2 & 22 car broke fuel pumps. Fuel pump stopped delivering fuel. Important for me, to defend my 2 team today. Great strategy & speed, we had the numbers crunched right… Just need some (work) on fuel system.”

    This is the third race with the new EFI system and there have been issues in all three races. McLaren insists their system is not to blame and that it is a matter of a lack of education. If that is truly the case, then as the creator and provider of the system is it not their responsibility to train and educate the teams on the system its short comings (all systems have short comings) and its strengths? Should they not be responsible for teaching the engineers to trouble shoot the system? Should they not be working with drivers and teaching them signs and symptoms of an impending problem so that it can be headed off before it becomes terminal?

    I understand coming into the modern world. I understand that change is essential for the survival of the sport. I understand that if we don’t take care of the planet we live on we will be trying to find down force to race on the moon. But it appears to me that McLaren brought their attitude of we can do nothing wrong with them from F1. Truth their stuff was not bullet proof over there either. Don’t misunderstand I think the system is awesome and can be made workable and easy for these teams. But the answer according to McLaren themselves lies in the education of the people using the system. It’s time now, three races in, for NASCAR to say ok we have had another problem it’s time for you to come over here and sit down and teach and train. If that doesn’t happen soon, the likelihood of a catastrophic occurrence will continue to grow.

    The other piece of this scenario is that fans watching at home were never informed of what happened to Brad Keselowski or AJ Allmendinger’s cars. We were just told they were laps down suddenly after seemingly having the cars go away. That lack of disclosure makes the picture fogged and cloudy.

    I mean we are all use to the lack of bias from the booth. The announcers have their favorites and like every other fan make sure you know it. Three times in the last 30 laps DW said that Jimmie Johnson was just going to drive by Tony Stewart when he cleared traffic because he had the best car on the track and it was a back up car. Larry McReynolds could not allow JR. Nation to share their drivers glory during the 70 laps of dominate racing by the 88, saying he was not convinced because they couldn’t put a whole race together. Mike Joy made sure we knew during the last stretch of the race that Tony Stewart had never won at Vegas even though he had a heartbreaking finish a  year ago that Jimmie Johnson had won numerous times.

    But not one time other than to comment that Keselowski’s Blue Deuce was falling through the field like a rock did they ever tell us what happened to it or what they had had to do to fix it that put him 4 laps down to the field.

    The purpose of the commentators is to inform and fill in the gaps that we can’t see or hear from home. It is not to shove their favorites and opinions down our throats. Now please note I have the greatest respect for Darrell Waltrip but he tends to speak first and see what happened or is going to happen later. McReynolds it seems would rather choke to death on a chicken bone than say anything nice about Dale Earnhardt Jr or his Steve Letarte lead 88 team. It would seem that Mike Joy feels equally as strong about Tony Stewart and the Office Depot/Mobil 1 team. This particular broadcast team seems to have forgotten that their job is not to color the race or the fans opinion of it, but instead to bring it to you from a perspective that you don’t have sitting at home.

    The race was not incredible. It was consistent. It had highs and lows. The end of the race was once again incredible. But it was the last 35 laps of the race. The first 232 laps were well unremarkable unless you are a member of Jr. Nation and then the middle 162 were unremarkable. NASCAR needs to find a way to put a whole race together. Maybe next week in Bristol that will happen.

    Congratulations to Tony Stewart, Steve Addington and all of the Stewart Haas team on their victory. Smoke showed once again why he is one of the top 5 drivers in the world today. Congratulations to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and his Roush Fenway Team on their Nationwide Series Victory. And ok for my own personal feelings here Congratulations to Joey Saldana on his victory at the World of Outlaws Napa Know How So Cal Showdown and also to Dustin Morgan and Danny Wood on their wins in the ASCS Sprint Car competition in Yuma this weekend.

    That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.

  • Tony Stewart Smokes The Competition in Las Vegas

    Tony Stewart Smokes The Competition in Las Vegas

    [media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”200″][/media-credit]Last year, Stewart dominated and came close to winning, but found himself at the bad end of a penalty late in the race. This year, he dominated once again and was able to close the deal, holding Jimmie Johnson off coming to the checkered flag.

    “I don’t know if we had the dominate car today, but we were so strong on the restarts,” he says. “I had to go. I knew that when Matt and Greg had better tires than us, I knew we’d be able to hold them off for a little bit. I didn’t know we could hold them off till the end.”

    The win marks the first for Stewart at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, now leaving him with only two tracks on NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule he hasn’t won at – Darlington and Kentucky. It also marks the first win for Stewart with new crew chief Steve Addington.

    “We talked three times before the race,” Stewart says of Addington. “He is very thorough with us, he explains the changes, he wants your input. He’s been very good at getting to know these guys.”

    Addington says that for him, it allowed him to take a lot of pressure off of himself.

    “He kept telling me to relax and have fun and we’re going to win our races,” he says. “But I take it very personal every time that race goes on the track. I put more on than I thought I would with them winning the championship, for me. Everybody at Stewart-Haas has been great, doing what I asked, asking me what I wanted done. It’s just been about me putting pressure on myself.”

    With 34 laps to go, Stewart made a daring three-wide pass on the restart to get by Brad Keselowski and take the lead. Stewart would lose the lead after coming down pit road for a splash of gas, but was able to get the lead back with on a later restart with 17 laps to go. He never looked back, holding on to the lead through the final two restarts.

    “That’s what made today special,” he says. “We didn’t have to hold off the challenge once; we had to hold them off multiple times. It makes me feel like I’ve earned my keep.”

    Jimmie Johnson came home second after having to start at the back of the field with a back-up car due to a wreck in practice.

    “With everything we went through this weekend, we’ll take it,” he says. “But man, I want to win. We had a little more speed, but tony could get away on the restarts and through the gears. We’ll have to see what we’re doing, what I’m doing wrong.”

    Greg Biffle would score a third place finish after making his way through the Roush-Fenway scramble on the backstretch after the restart. On the restart, Matt Kenseth spun the tires, which caused Carl Edwards to make a move on the inside of Matt on the apron to make it three wide. The group made it through turn one, before Kenseth made contact with Kasey Kahne, causing him to get into the wall.

    “I just got down in there, Carl was on the top digging,” Biffle says. “I was just trying to ease up, giving him room – I didn’t see what happened back there.”

    “Matt spun his tires just a little bit on the restart,” Edwards explains. “I went down on the apron, he gave us a lot of room. We just got all bunched up back there.”

    “Carl just laid back and got by me three-wide,” Kenseth says. “They got by me through the middle of the corner and then they just got up in front of me and stopped.”

    Ryan Newman finished fourth, followed by Edwards. Clint Bowyer finished sixth, followed by Paul Menard, Jamie McMurray and Trevor Bayne. Dale Earnhardt Jr. would round out of top 10 after leading the first 40 laps of the race.

    “The racecar was really tight,” Earnhardt Jr. says. “I knew by the end of the race, it was going to be a really, really tight race track and we needed to free the car up. I didn’t give Stevie enough information throughout the day to tell him how tight it was. I didn’t keep up my end and gave up a lot of spots at the end of the race.”

    Pole sitter Kasey Kahne finished 19th after struggling with the handling of the car during the second half of the race.

    Greg Biffle now leads the points, 10 points over Kevin Harvick. Denny Hamlin sits third in points, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Kobalt Tools 400, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=3
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 – 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 48
    2 – 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 43
    3 – 16 Greg Biffle Ford 42
    4 – 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 40
    5 – 99 Carl Edwards Ford 39
    6 – 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 39
    7 – 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 37
    8 – 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 36
    9 – 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 0
    10 – 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 35
    11 – 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 34
    12 – 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 33
    13 – 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 31
    14 – 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 30
    15 – 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 29
    16 – 20 Joey Logano Toyota 28
    17 – 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 27
    18 – 55 Mark Martin Toyota 26
    19 – 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 25
    20 – 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 24
    21 – 34 David Ragan Ford 24
    22 – 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 23
    23 – 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 21
    24 – 43 Aric Almirola Ford 20
    25 – 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 19
    26 – 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 18
    27 – 13 Casey Mears Ford 17
    28 – 30 David Stremme Toyota 16
    29 – 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 15
    30 – 32 Ken Schrader Ford 14
    31 – 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 13
    32 – 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 13
    33 – 38 David Gilliland Ford 11
    34 – 33 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 10
    35 – 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 9
    36 – 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 8
    37 – 22 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge 8
    38 – 98 Michael McDowell Ford 6
    39 – 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 5
    40 – 26 Josh Wise * Ford 4
    41 – 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
    42 – 37 Timmy Hill* Ford 2
    43 – 249 J.J. Yeley Toyota 1
  • Tony Stewart Looks To Repeat Last Year’s Championship Success

    Tony Stewart Looks To Repeat Last Year’s Championship Success

    [media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”189″][/media-credit]After winning a championship, the conventional way of thinking is to keep the team the exact same way and take the same attack approach.

    However, Tony Stewart went down a different route as at the end of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship season, he let crew chief Darian Grubb go. In exchange, he hired Steve Addington to become his crew chief for 2012.

    Stewart felt the change was necessary after how they ran for the majority of the year.

    “We kind of got in a slump last year and felt like we needed to make a change,” Stewart said during Texas Motor Speedway’s Media Day. “It’s definitely not uncommon in our sport to do that, but it seemed very odd to do it at the end of the year like that but we actually made the decision before the Chase started.”

    Many people forgot that before the Chase started, Stewart’s average finish was 14.23 while he sat ninth in points with no wins. He was also saying that his team didn’t belong in the chase with the way they were running as he knew they wouldn’t be able to contend.

    However, once they were in the Chase, it was like someone flipped a light switch as Stewart went on a terror, winning five of the 10 races and was crowned the champion.

    “We ran well during the year; we just hadn’t got that win yet,” Stewart said. “It seemed that anything that could go wrong went wrong. But it seemed like when the Chase started we finally got all that bad luck behind us. We started strong at Chicago and Loudon was a track where Ryan (Newman) and I had run well there in the spring, so the first win at Chicago was kind of a surprise. We expected to run well at Loudon but I don’t think we would have planned or could have predicted we were going to get three more wins after that. It was a remarkable run.”

    So far this season, Stewart hasn’t hit the magic stride yet as he finished 16th at Daytona due to a late race spin and 22nd at Phoenix due to a fuel pick-up issue.

    The communication between him and Addington is still being tweaked, but going good so far.

    “Like when I say, ‘it’s a little loose,’ he has to figure out how much a little means to me,” Stewart explained. “What is a little to me may be a lot bigger change to him. So it’s just figuring out when I say a little or a lot how much that actually is. I don’t think it will take really long. We worked really well together last weekend we just had some bad luck during the race. We had a solid day going.”

    Despite it being early in the season, Stewart knows he needs to make a charge soon.

    “There is really nothing to fall back on,” he said. “It’s nice knowing that we’ve got good notes; we’ve got good tracks coming up. Vegas was one last year where we had a dominant car and had a penalty with an air hose getting caught on the body work. It cost us a shot to win the race. It’s nice to go back to some of these tracks knowing we ran well at them. With this Chase format, you have 26 weeks just to get yourself in there so you can’t take it easy at the beginning of the year and think that you are going to waltz right into a spot in the Chase. You’ve got to get after it right away.”

    Stewart went and selected Addington based on his time spent at Joe Gibbs Racing.

    “I had known Steve through the (Joe) Gibbs (Racing) days when I was driving for (crew chief Greg) Zipadelli and (Steve) Addington was working for Kyle Busch,” Stewart said. “I had enjoyed working with him over there and when it came time to try and figure out who we wanted to look at I think it was a scenario where Steve was ready for a change and we were ready for a change. I think it was the right opportunity at the right time. I definitely knew Steve’s credentials because we had worked with him at Gibbs, so it seemed like a natural change for both of us.”

    Stewart also looked to expand his organization further by continuing to look at Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) by hiring Greg Zipadelli to be the Competition Director at Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) and to crew chief for rookie Danica Patrick. Zipadelli was the crew chief for Stewart during Stewart’s entire time at JGR and won two championships with him.

    It seemed like a natural selection for Stewart to hopefully bring success over to SHR. Beyond that, Zipadelli has helped Stewart transition from open-wheel to NASCAR so he was hoping that would choreograph over to helping Patrick.