NASCAR Power Poll

06/02/2011 By Leave a Comment

After the longest race, lengthwise, in NASCAR history, The Racing Geek is a bit tuckered this week. Nonetheless, the rankings are in and not surprisingly, there’s a new No. 1.

1. (5) Kevin Harvick
Typically you associate winning, especially multiple times in a four-month span, with leading a lot of laps and being dominant. But Kevin Harvick is doing everything he can to prove that theory wrong. In his three wins this season, he’s led a total of nine laps. On the year, his 108 laps led are only good enough for 12th best. Then again, who really cares, considering he’s won more than any other driver in 2011?

2. (1) Carl Edwards
From the outset, the Coca-Cola 600 had the appearance of a Carl Edwards’ romp. However, as is often the case in NASCAR’s longest race, how one runs during the daylight is vastly different than how they run under the lights. And instead of cruising to his second points win of 2011, the driver of the 99 car got out of pit sequence and found himself mired back in traffic where passing was a chore. The end result saw Edwards finishing a disappointing 16th.

3. (3) Jimmie Johnson
My favorite moment Sunday in a day and night filled with them, was Fox showing Jimmie Johnson blowing up and Chad Knaus giving a typical Chad Knaus response as he witnessed smoke billowing out of the 48. Here’s a link to video, but be warned, it’s highly enjoyable, the content is not safe for work.

4. (4) Matt Kenseth
Like a host of drivers, fuel mileage cost Matt Kenseth a higher finish than he otherwise deserved. Unlike those other drivers, the ’03 champ led the most laps and looked to have his third victory of the season well in hand.

5. (2) Kyle Busch
It wasn’t the best of weeks for Kyle Busch. First, he gets tagged for stupidly going 128 in a 45-mph zone. He follows that up by crashing not once, but twice all on his own Sunday in a span of 25 laps. The first time he took a harmless spin through the grass. However, the second incident wasn’t as kind to M&M’s machine, as he hit the outside wall hard enough to warrant a trip to the garage for repairs.

6. (8) Dale Earnhardt
I got an email from a reader saying they disagreed with me saying that Dale Earnhardt Jr. was back. His contention was a driver whose gone three years without a win can’t be considered back until they actually, you know, win. It’s a fair point.

Regardless, I still stand by what I wrote. I contend that even though he hasn’t won this year – or for that matter the last two years – Earnhardt’s been in position to have at least four victories this season. In the Daytona 500 he was running with the leaders late before getting caught up in a wreck not of his own doing. He was leading with four laps to go at Martinsville before Kevin Harvick passed him and he had to settle for second. At Talladega he pushed teammate Jimmie Johnson to the win and finished fourth. And of course there was last Sunday at Charlotte, where Earnhardt came within a thousand feet of getting back to the winner’s circle.

Yes, he hasn’t won, but the consistency, as well as the results are skewing heavily in the direction that if he isn’t back, he’s as close to being back as one can possibly be without actually being considered all the way back.

(I promise the above paragraph made sense when I wrote it.)

7. (6) Greg Biffle
Everything I said about Matt Kenseth applies here except leading the most laps and winning for the third time in 2011. “The Biff’ is the favorite at Kansas, having won there twice previously and with how fast the Fords have been this year on the mile-and-a-half tracks.

8. (7) Clint Bowyer
Despite making wholesale changes to his car throughout the 600-mile race to combat a tight condition that would never be resolved, Clint Bowyer still managed to salvage a 15th-place finish. A finish good enough for him to maintain his eighth spot in the standings heading into what surely is the most important race of the year for the Emporia, Kansas native.

9. (10) Tony Stewart
With the calendar officially turning to June, now is about the time Tony Stewart starts to heat up on the track. The good news for the owner-driver is despite having just one top-five finish all season, he doesn’t have too big of a hole to climb out of by Tony Stewart standards, as he’s ninth in points and still within reaching distance of a upper-echelon finish in the standings.

10. (11) Jeff Gordon
With the continued inconsistencies of the 24, it’s apparent that the only way Jeff Gordon is going to make the Chase is via a wildcard spot. Gordon and crew chief Alan Gustafson need to focus all their attention on getting win number two on the year and not worrying about points. If that means gambling recklessly on taking no tires or two tires when the situation normally would call for four, or trying to stretch their fuel well beyond its limits, so be it. The bottom-line is all this team needs to do to make the Chase is win just one more time in the 14 remaining regular season races.

11. (12) Denny Hamlin
I did a radio interview last week where the host compared Denny Hamlin to my beloved Minnesota Twins. Unfortunately for both Hamlin and my Twins it wasn’t meant as a compliment, as both have struggled this season to meet the expectations that were laid out before them in the offseason. But at least Hamlin has a real chance of turning around his year, whereas the Twins sport an ungodly record of 17-36 and are 15.5 games out of first just two months into the season.

12. (15) David Ragan
David Ragan just keeps knocking on the door to Victory Lane, as his runner-up finish in the 600 can attest. You have to figure eventually he’s going to figure out a way to unlock the door and step into victory lane. Especially with a lot of favorable tracks coming up on the schedule where the Roush Fenway organization should have a noticeable advantage.

13. (9) Ryan Newman
There are a lot of drivers in need of a good run at Kansas. But perhaps none more so than Ryan Newman, who has a lone top-10 finish in the last seven races, and consequently has fallen from second in points to 10th, just 10 markers ahead of Greg Biffle for the final spot in the Chase.

14. (NR) Kurt Busch
It’s the NASCAR equivalent of the chicken or the egg scenario. Because Kurt Busch wasn’t complaining and moaning constantly on the radio did it allow him to focus more on giving constructive feedback to his crew and help him to a fourth-place finish – his first top-five since Daytona? Or, did Busch’s constant verbal tirades over the last month push Penske Racing towards making changes that were long overdue and as such Busch had a better car to drive on Sunday?

15. (NR) AJ Allmendinger
The intermediate tracks haven’t been the 43 team’s strong suit this season, so their fifth-place run in the 600 is promising for a team sitting 13th in the standings, just 18 points removed from a spot in the Chase. You have to admit, it would be pretty damn cool to see a Richard Petty owned car competing for the championship for the first time in nearly 30 years.

 

 

If you would like to contact the author of this post, simply click here, and you can also follow The Racing Geek on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Charlotte, NASCAR, Power Poll

A Day Full of Heartache, Elation, Dismay and more

05/31/2011 By 1 Comment

It seemed only fitting that a driver once dubbed “Captain America,” driving a car sponsored by the National Guard on Memorial Day Weekend, was going to win the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. It was a story that writes itself and something one might see in a movie.

But this story didn’t have a happy ending for J.R. Hildebrand. Instead, with the checkered flag in sight and with a comfortable lead over second-place Dan Wheldon, the rookie pilot got a little too high in Turn 4 when trying to work around a lapped machine, and inexplicitly wrecked coming out of the corner.

This was an absolutely devastating and heartbreaking way to lose any race. To lose in this manner and in a race of the magnitude of the Indy 500 defies what any one driver should have to experience.

“I’m OK, but this is not really about me at this point. You always show up to try to win. My disappointment is for the team and for National Guard as a sponsor. It’s one of those things, as a driver, you never really know what you’re going to expect. We knew we had a fast race car. We knew if the race came to us, we may be in a position to sort of finish top three, top five.”

If there was ever a rookie mistake, this would certainly quantify as one. All Hildebrand had to do was slow down, keep his wheels out of the marbles which had accumulated at the top of the track and he would have been only the ninth rookie and the first since Helio Castroneves in 2001, to sip milk in Indy’s victory lane.

Sunday was just a continuation of a year in motorsports that has featured a surprise rookie winner in the Daytona 500 and a small team toppling the sports best in the prestigious Southern 500. So it’s only appropriate that a team led by a driver kicked to the curb in a one-off ride won the 100h running of the Indianapolis 500.

The beneficiary in all this last turn madness was the aforementioned Wheldon. Which in and of itself is a remarkable story.

After winning the 500 in 2005, Wheldon went on to win the IndyCar championship. But since then, he’s had a bit of a star-crossed career. Although he’s had his fair share of victories since then, and three times has finish fourth or better in the yearend standings, consistent success has been fleeting. As has stability.

Wheldon has been jettisoned by both Target Chip Ganassi Racing and Panther Racing in the last three years. Despite credentials as good as anyone’s in the garage, the Englishman didn’t have a ride entering 2011.

Enter former IndyCar driver turned car owner Bryan Herta. A former teammate of Wheldon’s when they drove for Michael Andretti, who owned a fledgling single-car team with just enough sponsorship to run Indy.

From his days at Andretti-Green Racing when he won the 500, to a fourth-place run with Ganassi, to a pair of back-to-back runner-up finishes while with Panther, if there is one thing Wheldon has shown, no matter the quality of equipment, it’s that he can wheel a car around the Mecca of racing known as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as good as anyone.

But to think he could win the 500 this year was a bit preposterous. I mean this is Indy after all, where upsets are infrequent and wins by the power teams of open-wheel racing is the norm.

This year the powerhouse team was the Chip Ganassi duo of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti. And from the outset of the 200 lap race it appeared it was business as usual for the pair of red cars, which have been quick throughout the month of May.

Dixon, from his starting position in the middle of the front row, led five times for a race-high 73 laps, while Franchitti was on the point five times for a total of 51 laps.

But poor pit strategy and fuel mileage ultimately doomed the twosome. Dixon came home fifth, whereas Franchitti limped home 12th.

“I feel really bad for my team,” said Franchitti, a two-time 500 winner. “I feel bad for myself right now, and I feel bad for Scott. It’s a good race, sad end. I’m disappointed with the result. I don’t second-guess these guys. I only have a very narrow view of what’s going on. They have the big picture.

“These guys have won me a lot of races and some championships, and I don’t second-guess them.”

Along with the dismal showing of Penske Racing, the other Indy superpower with a record 15 500 wins, which saw none of its three cars finish better than 14th, the door was wide-open for a long-shot winner to walk through. And as the laps clicked down and the 500 came down to who could stretch their fuel the most, there was the opportunistic Wheldon motoring to his second 500 win in six years.

“Right up until the point where I passed J.R. I didn’t have any emotions,” said Wheldon afterwards. “I was so focused. It was one of those races where it was so competitive that you had to be on your game. And the wind seemed to be getting under the front of my car. I was catching [Ana] Beatriz; I wasn’t focused on what had gone on in the front. When I saw him crash, I knew it wasn’t serious.

“There was a little smile on my face.”

Why shouldn’t Wheldon smile? In the span of a month he went from the unemployment line to victory lane.

###

Like his National Guard sponsored counterpart in the Indy 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was leading heading into the final corners and appeared to have the race won, this time the Coca-Cola 600, firmly within his grasp. But like the IndyCar version of J.R., NASCAR’s JR didn’t win.

The fuel tank in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet ran dry coming out of Turn 4, handing the victory to Kevin Harvick.

Harvick’s win, his third of 2011, surmised a topsy-turvy race that featured a constant ebb and flow atop the leaderboard. The jockeying among drivers can be attributed to the changing track conditions normally associated with the longest race on the Sprint Cup calendar as well as the various tire and fuel strategies that played out over the 600-mile race, which frankly felt like 6,000 due to the 14 yellow flags that slowed the action.

From the drop of the green flag under the glare of the late afternoon sun, it was quickly apparent that just as they were a week ago in the All-Star Race, the fleet of Ford’s owned by Jack Roush were the cars to beat.

All-Star winner Carl Edwards took control early on, leading 61 of the first 75 laps. But the 99 team failed to keep up with the ever-changing track and finished 16th.

Keeping up with the track wasn’t an issue for Edwards’ teammate Matt Kenseth, who looked like he was destined to claim his second victory in the 600. The driver of the No. 17 Jeremiah Weed Ford Fusion ended up pacing the field for 103 laps and was running with the leaders before a late-race pit stop for fuel dropped him down the running order.

A good finish also eluded the third Roush car driven by Greg Biffle, who battled back from a myriad of issues early on, including a problem with his cooling device inside the cockpit, as well a speeding penalty on pit road which cost the 16 car a lap to the leaders.

At various points in the latter stages of the race it looked like any combination of the Roush cars, along with Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Marcos Ambrose, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne or Dale Earnhardt Jr. would go on to win.

Eventually though, the race came down to a green-white-checkered restart that saw Kahne leading with Earnhardt sitting in second. Earnhardt, who hasn’t won a Sprint Cup race in almost three years, got a terrific jump, while Kahne ran out of fuel setting off a mad scramble behind him.

The question then became did Earnhardt have enough fuel to get to the finish? An answer which became all too apparent when, just hundreds of feet from the start/finish line, the 88 car slowed to a crawl.

Like Dan Wheldon hours before him, Kevin Harvick had put himself in perfect position to capitalize.

“Today we were lucky,” acknowledged Harvick, who won for the 17th in his Sprint Cup career.

Not that Harvick should feel sheepish about his victory.

It takes luck to win just about any race on any level. There will be times like there were this past weekend in both the 500 and 600 where it’s better to be lucky than good. While you can never count on a rookie driver to wreck in Turn 4 or the leader to run out of gas in the final corner, when those opportunities do come your way, the onus is on you to take advantage of the situation.

But that’s a story for another time. The story on this night wasn’t about Harvick winning a race when he was a nonfactor throughout, or how luck plays a pivotal role in deciding who wins and who loses.

The story was Earnhardt, entrenched in a 104-race winless streak, coming oh so close, but once again falling just short.

The funny thing is Earnhardt doesn’t think his numerous close calls should be the focus. He would prefer if everyone instead focused on how far his team has come in a short amount of time after an offseason makeover. A makeover which included bringing aboard new crew chief Steve Letarte, who has done a remarkable job of raising his driver’s once sagging confidence.

It’s this turnaround for which Earnhardt is extremely proud.

“I know we are doing a good job,” said an upbeat Earnhardt in the garage. “I know we are unloading good cars. These guys just have to lift their heads up man, because we are doing a good thing. We’re building a good team and building good chemistry and they keep their heads up and we’ll keep proving. That’s what is important.

“If we let this bother us too much, we won’t improve as much as we should. We want to win races and we are getting close enough that a couple of them are about to fall in [our] lap and when we get that little extra stint, we’ll be in business.”

For those who might be disappointed that their favorite driver is has gone 0-104, Earnhardt has a message.

“To be honest, I know there will be disappointment about coming so close tonight,” said Earnhardt. “But our fans should be real happy about how we are performing and how we are showing up at the race track. How competitive we are. We’ve definitely improved things and we want to keep getting better and better.”

If there is one thing to take away from Sunday night, it’s that even though Dale Earnhardt Jr. hasn’t won a points race in 36 months, he’s back. Not necessarily all the way back, but the mediocrity that has consumed him these last few years is no more.

It’s no longer, “Is Earnhardt going to win again?”, but “When and how often?” Although it’s easy to get caught up in how long it’s been since he last won, don’t look past the fact this team is fourth in points, and with a little bit of luck could have easily won three, maybe four, races this season.

Kevin Harvick may have won the race Sunday, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his legion of supporters may have walked away the real winners.

###

Odds & Ends

►Taking into account only the years when they had a car in the actual race, this year’s Indy 500 was the first time since 1992 that Roger Penske failed to have a car finish in the top-10.

►Her 10th-place run marked the sixth time in seven starts that Danica Patrick finished the Memorial Day Classic in the top-10.

►Despite slapping the wall three times, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished a respectable 11th in his Sprint Cup debut.

►David Ragan’s runner-up finish was his best career Sprint Cup result.

 

 

If you would like to contact the author of this post, simply click here, and you can also follow The Racing Geek on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of the IZOD IndyCar Series/Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Filed Under: Charlotte, Childress, Dario Franchitti, Earnhardt Jr., Ganassi, Harvick, Hildebrand, Indianapolis, Indy 500, NASCAR, Penske, Roush, Thoughts, Wheldon

Coca-Cola 600 Preview

05/29/2011 By Leave a Comment

What: Coca-Cola 600
Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway
(1.5-mile oval)
Distance: 400 laps/600 miles
Green Flag: 6:15 PM (ET)
TV: Fox
Defending Winner: Kurt Busch

Storylines To Follow

From The Light Into The Night
The Coca-Cola 600 is unique unto itself. Not only is it the longest race of the 36 Sprint Cup Series runs each year, it’s also one of the most challenging. When the green flag drops today the sun will be out, but 600 miles later when the checkered flag waves, the race will complete under the darkness of night. In-between, the 1.5-mile oval will undergo a transformation as the track temperatures decreases and rubber collects on the surface. As such, crew chiefs will have their work cut out for them to keep up with the ever-changing track conditions. It’s a common occurrence to see drivers that were strong early on slide towards the back as the laps click by, and conversely, drivers who were struggling in the daylight get stronger once the sun sets.

Back-To-Back Back Flips
A week after his convincing win in NASCAR’s annual non-points showcase, known as the All-Star Race, Carl Edwards enters the weekend looking to complete the Charlotte sweep. Although he’ll be driving a different car than the one he drove last Saturday, thanks to an ill-advised trip through the infield. The points leader has shown no signs of letting up, posting the second-quickest speed in Thursday’s lone practice session, then backing that up by qualifying third.

Starting Up Front and Looking To Say There
There are a few drivers starting up near the front today that need a good finish to either turnaround their once promising season or to jumpstart what to date has been a year filled with disappointment and mediocre results. Among them are polesitter Brad Keselowski, the guy starting next to him on the front row, AJ Allmendinger, Jeff Burton who will lineup fifth and David Reutimann, who will start seventh.

Tires and Track Position
As we’ve seen the last few weeks, track position is everything when it comes to winning. The majority of the time track position is directly related to how many tires you get when you hit pit road. At Darlington during a caution with less than 10 laps to go, Regan Smith stayed out while everyone ahead of him pitted. The next week at Dover, Matt Kenseth, who was running fifth at the time, took two tires with 34 laps to go and jumped to atop the leader board. Due to clean air and no traffic, the 2003 Sprint Cup champion drove away for his second win of 2011.

The game has changed in NASCAR, and taking two tires, or any tires for that matter, is no longer a given. It’s a situation that’s thrown crew chiefs for a loop. Most notably, Chad Knaus, who strongly adheres to the principle that if you have the opportunity to put four fresh Goodyear’s on your car, you do. Except that strategy is no longer the right one and it likely won’t be the winning one tonight.

Worth Noting

● Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will be making his Sprint Cup debut driving in place of the still recovering Trevor Bayne. Stenhouse qualified the Wood Brothers Ford in the ninth position.

● Casey Mears, Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon and David Reutimann all picked up their first career win in NASCAR’s longest race. For Mears it was his only Sprint Cup victory to date.

● Carl Edwards is looking to become the ninth driver to pull off the All-Star Race/Coca-Cola 600 sweep. The eight guys that have accomplished the feat are Darrell Waltrip (1985), Davey Allison (1991), Dale Earnhardt (1993), Jeff Gordon (1997), Jimmie Johnson (2003), Kasey Kahne 2008, and Kurt Busch (2010).

● After repeatedly chastising his crew the last few weeks, Kurt Busch has promised to be more polite towards them on the radio. I give it 30 laps before Busch breaks his promise, cues up the radio and starts to vent about the lack of speed in his Pennzoil Dodge.

Charlotte Motor Speedway Track Records (Active)

Driver Wins: Jimmie Johnson (6)

Owner Wins: Hendrick Motorsports (16)

Manufacturer Wins: Chevrolet (38)

Average Finish: Joey Logano (8.5)

Laps Led: Jimmie Johnson (1,386)

Top-5s: Mark Martin (18)

Top-10s: Mark Martin (23)

Contenders

1. Carl Edwards
After his memorable post-race celebration that destroyed the frontend of his Ford Fusion, Carl Edwards will be piloting a different car in the 600. But according to Edwards and crew chief Bob Osborne, the car they’ve brought to the track is as good as the one that won the All-Star Race in dominant fashion. Judging by how fast they were in Thursday’s practice, it’s hard to argue with them.

2. Kyle Busch
Although Kyle Busch finished runner-up to Edwards in the All-Star Race, crew chief Dave Rogers elected to bring a different chassis to the track this weekend. The reason I like Busch to run well tonight is he’ll be driving the same car he raced at Texas. That night he ran in the top-five all race before a loose wheel and a subsequent unscheduled pit stop saw him finish in the 16th position. Good driver + Good car = Good shot to get win number three on the year.

3. Jimmie Johnson
There was a time when Charlotte Motor Speedway was known as the house that Jimmie built. That time however has come and gone and he’s no longer regarded as the heavy favorite like he once was, the five-time defending champ and six-time Charlotte winner is still more than formidable.

Sleeper

David Reutimann
The same car David Reutimann will be wheeling today is the same one he drove to a third-place finish last Saturday night. What bodes well for “The Franchise’s” chances tonight is that car was at its best during long green-flag runs, which are a regular occurrence during the course of the 600-mile marathon. If this race stays green in the latter stages, it could play right into his wheelhouse. Also note, Reutimann was fastest in yesterday’s final practice.

The Official Racing Geek Pick

You can’t ignore the fact that Jack Roush owned cars have clearly been superior this year on mile-and-a-half tracks. Carl Edwards took the checkered flag at Las Vegas, Matt Kenseth went to the winner’s circle at Texas, and last weekend they winning everything there was to win, highlighted by Edwards’ dominate victory.

I see no reason to think the Roush Armada won’t again be strong tonight with Edwards, Kenseth and Greg Biffle all having a legitimate shot at leaving with the hardware. Heck who knows, maybe even David Ragan will come out of leftfield and be the next driver in a long line of them who scored their first career win in the 600?

But because he’s the points leader and out of respect for how consistently fast he’s been just about every week this season, my pick to win tonight is Carl Edwards.

 

 

If you would like to contact the author of this post, simply click here, and you can also follow The Racing Geek on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Charlotte, Contenders and Sleepers, NASCAR, Preview

NASCAR Power Poll

05/25/2011 By Leave a Comment

It may not have been a points race, but it was a race nonetheless, and one that did feature every driver ranked 15th or better in the standings. As such, the Power Poll continues on by rewarding those who performed up to expectations, and conversely, punishing those who did not.

1. (1) Carl Edwards
It seems that with each passing race, the price tag on Carl Edwards continues to go and up and up. What will be most interesting to watch is whether Jack Roush, notoriously frugal when it comes to paying his drivers, ponies up and pays the series points leader what he’s worth. As I discussed yesterday, even with the monster year Edwards is putting together, and despite everything he brings to the table in terms of talent and marketability, Roush does hold the advantage at the bargaining table due to the lack of viable options out there for Edwards. I mean, does anyone really expect him to sign with Team Red Bull? A team which has never consistently fielded winning racecars, let alone championship winning cars? Sorry folks, it isn’t happening, and Roush knows this.

2. (2) Kyle Busch
He gave Carl Edwards everything he had, but in the end, as Kyle Busch himself stated, there wasn’t much he could do to run with the 99 during the final 10 laps. Still, a second-place finish is nothing to sneeze at, and you have to like his chances of getting his first, and Joe Gibbs’ second, Coca-Cola 600 win Sunday.

3. (3) Jimmie Johnson
It seems every year the media (myself included) will catch Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus in a moment of friction and promptly declare the end is near for the 48 team. This year’s incident occurred Saturday when the two bickered over the radio about strategy and their ill-handling Chevrolet. No worries though, as it’s business as usual for a team quietly sitting second in points and poised to go on one of their trademark runs sometime soon.

4. (5) Matt Kenseth
I love the fact that when the Crown Royal team is introduced prior to the All-Star Race, each member of the team walks out wearing a crown and a cape. I think this kind of flare is something NASCAR needs to make every team incorporate into their intros. Imagine Kevin Harvick coming riding a Clydesdale or Ryan Newman atop an Army tank. See how much fun this could be?

5. (4) Kevin Harvick
Out of all the top contenders, this is the one team I struggle to figure out more than any other. Some weeks they look like world-beaters, much like they did at Fontana, Martinsville and Talladega. Other weeks, they almost fall off the radar as they did last weekend at Charlotte. Long story short, my opinion of the flagship team for Richard Childress Racing is not as high as it once was.

6. (9) Greg Biffle
I know this is way too high, but really who else deserves to be in this position? Although he didn’t have quite the night as his teammate, Greg Biffle did lead 46 laps, won the opening 50-lap segment, and posted a fifth-place finish. This team is on my short list of contenders in the 600.

7. (6) Clint Bowyer
My favorite piece of audio from this past weekend was Clint Bowyer’s reaction when Kyle Busch beat him in Friday’s Truck Series race. Apparently, Bowyer isn’t the biggest fan of Kyle’s. This isn’t hard to believe considering the budding rivalry between the Richard Childress and Joe Gibbs camps. You can listen to the audio, here.

8. (7) Dale Earnhardt Jr.
If Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t win the fan vote to get into the All-Star Race I was ready to start calling for a NASCAR investigation. But as expected, Junior Nation came through in the end and voted their driver into a race he won 11 years ago as a rookie.

(Wow! Hang on a second. It just hit me that Junior has been in Sprint Cup since 2000. God, I feel old.)

9. (8) Ryan Newman
I have nothing worthwhile to add here, as Ryan Newman had a quiet night starting 10th and finishing 10th.

10. (11) Tony Stewart
After a rather solid fourth-place finish, Tony Stewart was feeling something he typically doesn’t feel – optimistic – about his chances in the 600. That’s all I have, as I’m still trying to collect myself after seeing the owner-driver actually happy for once following a race this year.

11. (15) Jeff Gordon
The four-time champ looked like he might have something for the leaders. That was until during final pit stops his crew guys were sent scattering by Jimmie Johnson. Subsequently, Jeff Gordon suffered through a terrible pit stop, which derailed any chance he had at picking up his fourth All-Star Race trophy. Following this exchange where Johnson nearly ran over his teammates crew guys, Alan Gustafson made his displeasure known towards Chad Knaus over what just transpired.

This incident, along with previous run-ins between the titans of Hendrick Motorsports, got me thinking. Let’s say Rick Hendrick was forced to choose between Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, who would the owner go with?

Would he pick the guy who won him his first championship and played an instrumental role in building the organization into one of the preeminent teams in all of racing? It basically boils down to either sticking with the old warhorse, or opting for the young stallion that still has a lot of years, wins and championships left in him.

12. (14) Denny Hamlin
The All-Star Race more or less encapsulated Denny Hamlin’s 2011 season in a nutshell. The night started full of potential as the No. 11 car quickly made its way to front after starting 15th. But as the race moved into the latter stages, Hamlin started drifting back, and eventually finished a pretty ordinary seventh.

13. (10) Mark Martin
Unfortunately for Mark Martin, in a race where not a whole lot of action took place on the track, he was the one driver who did find trouble. As contact with Jimmie Johnson – boy, did Johnson ever do a number on his teammates Saturday – sent the venerable driver to the garage seven laps prematurely.

14. (12) Kasey Kahne
This is the guy, if you’re looking for someone outside of a Hendrick, Gibbs, Roush driver to win Sunday, to keep an eye one. Charlotte has always been a very good track for Kasey Kahne, who’s won three races here, including a clean sweep of the All-Star Race and the 600 in 2008.

15. (NR) David Ragan
There was buzz in the garage afterwards that David Ragan might be the driver to watch in the 600. There are two reasons. First, because he raced in the Sprint Showdown, which was held when the sun was out, the Unadilla, Georgia native was one of just two drivers who got to log laps in race conditions both during the day and night. Secondly, he drivers for Jack Roush, whose cars have won all three races this season contested on mile-and-a-half tracks. Sounds like Coca-Cola 600 sleeper material to me.

 

 

If you would like to contact the author of this post, simply click here, and you can also follow The Racing Geek on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Charlotte, NASCAR, Power Poll

Monday’s Thoughts: Edwards Wins Ho-Hum All-Star Race

05/23/2011 By Leave a Comment

It was as memorable a moment as we have seen in quite some time in NASCAR’s annual non-points affair featuring the sports best. A moment that through the years will certainly live on via countless replays and discussion.

The only problem is it didn’t occur in the 100 laps that constituted the 27th running of the All-Star Race. A race that is supposed to be defined by its no holds barred, anything goes, there’s nothing a driver won’t do in an effort to walk away with the million dollar prize awarded to the victor mentality.

Instead, it happened after the race had already been decided and many fans had lost interest in the proceedings when it become all but inevitable that Carl Edwards was going to be the one holding the gaudy oversized check in the winner’s circle.

The moment in question was when Edwards in the usual celebratory fashion, decided to drive through the infield sideways to celebrate his dominating win. A move many drivers before him have performed to commemorate a victory. The only difference this time, due to a dip in the grass, Edwards race-winning Ford Fusion sustained heavy damage to its frontend, and nearly flipped in the process. A car that had been so dominant all night long was suddenly mortal. Steam emanating from its engine and having to be towed to victory lane.

To the victor go the spoils. And after a night where he clearly had the superior car pretty much throughout the 150-mile event, and out restarted Kyle Busch, regarded as the best restarter in the business, for the final 10 lap sprint to the finish, a wrecked racecar is slightly easier to swallow.

“You never know what comes from misfortunes, Edwards rationed, when he spoke with reporters afterwards. “It was definitely unfortunate that I tore up that racecar. Like Bob (crew chief Bob Osborne) said, we got another one at the shop. It might be the difference in winning the race at the Coke 600.

“I’m going to have confidence that something good will come out of it.”

The winning crew chief wasn’t quite as optimistic.

“The only positive I can see here,” said Bob Osborne, “is that Jack [Roush] allows us to build a new car.”

Either way, it’s only fitting that in a race stacked with winners from the last year, along with former series champions and a host of other more than capable drivers, that the guy who’s been the points leader for seven of 11 weeks and has more top-10 finishes than anyone else, was standing the tallest when everything was said and done.

After all, this race is supposed to showcase the best NASCAR has to offer, and there’s little doubt that Edwards, who has one victory this season, and could easily have five others, right now is the best.

The relationship between Edwards and Osborne is one of the best in the garage. Further exemplified when the two put their collective heads together before the fourth and final segment to determine what adjustments needed to be made to withstand the forthcoming onslaught that typically is associated with a 10 lap dash to the checkers.

Being the best is going to pay big dividends for Edwards. And soon.

You see, following the season his contract is up with Roush Fenway Racing. Although, Edwards has stated all along he wants to remain with the only organization he’s ever driven for, he is open to leaving Roush Fenway if another team comes along and offers him a better opportunity to win races more consistently.

His car owner knows there are few, if any, drivers who bring to the table what the 19-time Sprint Cup winner does.

“Carl is a rockstar,” Roush said. “He’s the only back-flipper in the field. He’s the first one to crawl up into the stands. Some of the drivers wouldn’t go up in the stands like that after a race, and for good reason. But Carl, he’s well thought of and he’s out there doing things that other people wish they thought of first, and he drives the hell out of our racecars.

“He’s a draw for sponsors and a rallying point for his team.”

Although on the surface it appears as if Edwards is the one holding all the cards in the negotiations, that’s not necessarily true. The owner dubbed “The Cat In The Hat” actually might be the one sitting in the catbird seat.

As I went in-depth about a few weeks back, Edwards’ options aren’t very intriguing. Barring an unforeseen scenario where a ride unexpectedly opens up at Hendrick, Gibbs, or Childress, there isn’t a team that can offer the All-Star Race winner the caliber of equipment as the team for which he’s currently driving.

Just look what transpired this weekend where the overall strength of Roush Fenway Racing was on full display.

Saturday night, we saw Edwards’ teammate, David Ragan, earn his way into the All-Star Race with a win in the Sprint Showdown qualifier. Later, in the first segment of the four-segment main event, it was Greg Biffle speeding away with the victory, with Edwards taking top honors in the next three segments.

And yesterday, in the Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway, Edwards finished second to Roush developmental driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who posted his first career series victory.

What Edwards needs to ask himself is why would he want to leave an organization which through the first third of the season has clearly established itself as the number one team in NASCAR. Going anywhere else would be considered a downgrade from his current situation, which is the exact opposite of his stated goal of wanting to be aligned with a team that can best help him win races and championships.

For the time being, let’s put the contract stuff on the backburner and acknowledge the almost flawless performance Edwards displayed Saturday night. With one notable exception: An ill-advised trip through the infield.

Perhaps Jack Roush will write that into Edwards’ next contract that he has to stick to celebrating victories with back flips and going into the grandstands to shake hands with the fans?

###

Besides Carl Edwards’ off-road excursion, the one storyline to take away from this year’s All-Star Race, was the lack of action stemming from Saturday night’s festivities.

The All-Star Race is always heavily promoted as the one race each year where drivers let it all hangout, and only care about one thing – winning.

But instead of hard racing with the usual array of drivers vowing revenge in the garage post-race, this year’s race was as bland as a Jimmie Johnson championship speech.

It has nothing to do with the fact that there weren’t any multi-car wrecks or a driver intentionally wrecking another. As I’m not some rube, who only watches racing just for the spectacular wrecks and the fireworks that often follow.

I watch because I want to see the best stockcar drivers in the world go at it with a ferocity that we don’t usual see in the 36 races throughout the year where points are awarded.

That means plenty of hard, clean, side-by-side racing, where no quarter is asked and none is given.

Except there’s no way you could watch all 100 laps Saturday night and think this was somehow different than what we see throughout the season.

But that’s not necessarily the fault of the drivers.

The culprit is how big of a factor being in clear air plays on a track the size of the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Due to aero dynamics and the fact that the tires Goodyear brings to the track are lasting longer, to the point speeds are now the same between a driver with two fresh tires underneath him compared to one with four, cars are more apt to get strung-out. Thusly, we see more single file racing. As you hear all the time, track position is now everything. Even if a driver has a fast car with fresh rubber, it doesn’t mean a thing if they’re running in dirty air.

Nowadays, the quickest way to turn a potentially winning car into average one is put it back in traffic.

However, sometimes there are races where one team hits on a setup and is simply head and shoulders above everyone else. Much like the 99 team was on Saturday.

“The most frustrating part is when you have a shot to win or when you feel like you have a shot to win and something happens to you,” said second-place finisher Kyle Busch. “Those are really frustrating because you never know how it would turn out.

“Tonight we flat out got beat. There’s nothing to hang our heads about; there’s nothing to be frustrated about tonight. We just didn’t quite have enough when we needed it.”

This happens. But that doesn’t excuse what we saw throughout the rest of the field, where things were rather mundane. Especially in light of this being a race where being conservative is the antithesis of what the evening is all about.

“From my vantage point, it was kind of a tame race today. Sorry, we didn’t give you any scoop or drama,” said a smiling Busch.”

I can accept that not every All-Star Race is going to be a gem. But when the drivers start apologizing for the lack of action, it should be cause for concern for everyone involved.

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Odds & Ends

●To the surprise of no one, Dale Earnhardt won the fans vote and as such, nabbed the final spot in the All-Star Race. Unfortunately, the fans who voted for the 2000 winner of this race weren’t able to help him find the handle on his Chevrolet and he finished a rather pedestrian 14th.

●You don’t often see Chad Knaus make the wrong decision, hence why he’s called “The Mastermind.” But for the second week in a row, he misjudged how many tires to take during a pit stop and it cost his driver a potential victory. Consequently, the indecision by the head wrench for the five-time defending champion may be grating on the nerves of his driver. Usually, Jimmie Johnson is the definition of calm, except on Saturday he and Knaus had quite a few terse exchanges on the radio about the handling of their Chevrolet, as well as track position which the No. 48 team found itself on the wrong end of.

Is this a chink in the armor everyone has been looking for these last five years? No. To me, this is nothing to be concerned about long-term. Saturday was an atypical race all around for a team where anything less than perfection is deemed unacceptable.

●He’s often the butt of my stupid, and let’s be honest, often sophomoric jokes, but let’s give some love to David Ragan who showed fine form in winning the Sprint Showdown. Although the results haven’t always been there in 2011 (remember Daytona?) for the much maligned driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford, the fact is, he has run this season far better than the results showed. Almost to the point it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see Ragan win sometime before the year is out.

 

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Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Busch, Charlotte, Earnhardt Jr., Edwards, Johnson, Knaus, NASCAR, Ragan, Roush, Thoughts

All-Star Pro Racing

05/20/2011 By Leave a Comment

I am an unabashed fan of professional wrestling. I order the pay-per-views and I watch the weekly television programs. I even buy the DVDs, which I proudly watch with my friends. On Saturday nights we watch as we chow down on Taco Bell.

(No, I’m really not kidding. Yes, I do have a girlfriend (she’s real and not a blowup). And no, I don’t live in my parent’s basement.)

But if you think about it, pro wrestling and NASCAR aren’t really all that different. Most notably, each features a colorful cast of characters and a rulebook that’s often loosely interpreted to whatever best fits the given scenario at that precise moment.

Like a standard wrestling match, a weekly NASCAR race has lots of buildup to the main event. A slow build to gain the audiences attention, with the occasional moment(s) that takes fans breath away. All capped by a finish that features many twists and turns, and generally leaves fans wanting more.

One night a year my love of professional wrestling converges with my chosen career of covering NASCAR. That night is the annual All-Star Race, which takes place this Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Call it NASCAR’s version of a no holds barred, steel cage match. Where everyone, including the eventual winner, will leave bruised and battered.

“It is a no limits type of race where winning is the only objective,” said Jamie McMurray. “There are no points on the line and second place means nothing.

You’ll never confuse the All-Star Race with a race at Pocono, or Watkins Glen, or Chicagoland, or for that matter, any of the 36 races that makeup the Sprint Cup schedule. In comparison, every other race is a marathon where strategy, being conservative and a host of other factors all come together to sort out who wins and loses.

Not so in the All-Star Race where points aren’t awarded, tough driving is required and where we’re guaranteed to have hurt feelings and pissed off drivers afterwards. If Vince McMahon were a race promoter, this would be the kind of event he’d concoct.

“It’s fun to know that you can take extra chances,” explained Tony Stewart, who won this race in 2009, his first victory as an owner-driver. “You know that everybody is going to do it, so it just takes the level of racing up a whole new level that we don’t get a chance to do when we’re racing the [normal schedule].”

What makes this race so special is they don’t just let anyone compete.

To be in this race, you have to meet certain criteria. With the bulk of the field consisting of race winners from the previous 12 months, recent series champions, and any driver who’s had the honor of winning this race in the past 10 years.

If you don’t have the credentials, you’re likely be watching the night’s festivities on television.

Being among the select few who will take the green flag Saturday night is badge of honor among drivers. Take Regan Smith, who seconds after pulling off an astonishing win in the Southern 500 two weeks ago, radioed his crew ecstatic with the fact he was now qualified for the best-of-the-best showdown where the winner gets a cool million dollars

“Oh, it feels great to be in the All-Star race,” Smith said. “It was one of the first comments I made on the radio (after winning at Darlington) was hey, ‘We’re in the All-Star race now, guys!’ And certainly that’s something that every driver in this garage thinks about.”

Although there will be a few drivers and teams who can’t resist using Saturday as a laboratory to prepare for the following week’s Coca-Cola 600, also held under the lights on the same mile-and-a-half track, it doesn’t detract from the spectacular happening that the All-Star Race has become.

In its 26 years of existence with a wide range of different formats all designed to do two things – promote hard racing and showcase exciting finishes. The annual happening featuring the best drivers in NASCAR has had its share of memorable moments over the years.

We’ve seen Darrell Waltrip intentional blow his suspected (and highly likely) illegal engine as he crossed the finish line to win the inaugural event.

Dale Earnhardt used this race to cement his reputation as a driver who’ll do whatever it takes to win, up to and including spinning a fellow competitor out or driving through the grass on the front stretch with his right foot to the floorboard.

In 1989 despised villain Darrell Waltrip was transformed into a crowd favorite courtesy of Rusty Wallace’s front fender.

Davey Allison beating Kyle Petty by mere inches in an exciting side-by-side duel and ending up in the hospital with a broken collarbone due to a spectacular crash just beyond the start/finish line.

The out of nowhere, where the heck did he come from win Michael Waltrip turned in 1996.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s coming out party four years later.

Kyle Busch wrecks older brother Kurt and sets off a family feud that wasn’t resolved until grandma intervened during Thanksgiving dinner.

Less we forget last year’s tangle between the Joe Gibbs cars of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, which cumulated with Busch storming into Hamlin’s hauler looking to confront his teammate.

What unforgettable moment will occur this weekend that we’ll be talking about years from now? The options are limitless. All I know is, I’ll be watching. And when the race is over, I’ll immediately be starting the countdown to the 2012 All-Star Race. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to get back to my wrestling DVDs.

 

 

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Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: All-Star, Charlotte, NASCAR, Sub-Feature

NASCAR Power Poll

10/20/2010 By Leave a Comment

With Charlotte marking the halfway point in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, there is no surprise which driver sits atop this week’s NASCAR Power Poll. Let’s just say it’s a position he’s more than familiar with as he’s been in it on more than one occasion. That being said, here are this week’s rankings.

1. (1) Jimmie Johnson
It’s just a thought, but do you think perhaps Jimmie Johnson intentionally spun himself out only because he was bored and was looking for some excitement?

2. (4) Denny Hamlin
The good news for Denny Hamlin is that his fourth-place finish Saturday night was the first time he finished a race at Charlotte inside the top-five. The bad news is he lost five points to Jimmie Johnson.

3. (2) Kevin Harvick
In finishing eighth, Kevin Harvick scored his best finish on the “Beast of the Southeast” since his rookie year, when he came home second. If you’re counting at home, that’s a span of nine years and 19 Charlotte starts.

4. (7) Kyle Busch
You get the feeling this is going to be a should’ve, would’ve, could’ve Chase for Kyle Busch. He shouldn’t have wrecked David Reutimann at Kansas. He would’ve been higher in points had his engine not expired at Fontana. And he could’ve won Saturday had it not been for a late race caution.

5. (10) Greg Biffle
Greg Biffle is a little like an elevator. One week he’s up (winning at Kansas), the next he’s down (finishing 41st at Fontana), and then he’s up again (fifth at Charlotte.) Using deductive reasoning, it appears Martinsville won’t be a good race for the Roush Fenway driver.

6. (8) Carl Edwards
Carl Edwards said crew chief Bob Osbourne made good adjustments throughout the evening and had a good strategy in place. So why didn’t Edwards run and finish better? It’s simple. His Ford Fusion simply didn’t have any speed. I didn’t sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but that sounds like it might be a pretty big hurdle to overcome.

7. (3) Tony Stewart
Racing can be a cruel sport. One week, you’re in victory lane celebrating your second win of the season and the fact you’re back in the title hunt. The next week “a comedy of errors” results in you finishing 21st and all but eliminates you from the championship.

8. (5) Jeff Gordon
I know it seems like eons ago, but there was actually a time when Jeff Gordon used to win races and championships on a semi-regular basis.

9. (6) Ryan Newman
Crashing on Lap 3 is a tough way to snap your seven-race streak of finishing 11th or better. On the plus side of things, he did finish fourth at Martinsville in the spring, and should have another upper-echelon finish on Sunday.

10. (14) Matt Kenseth
In the last three weeks Matt Kenseth has certainly started to find his form. He led 26 laps at Kansas and finished seventh. At Fontana, before dropping a cylinder, he was on the point for 29 laps and ran up front all afternoon. While he only paced the field for a single lap at Charlotte, he still managed to take the checkered flag in the sixth spot.

11. (NR) Jamie McMurray
For those who say Jamie McMurray lacks consistency, I say this. Who needs consistency if you’re fast enough to win three races including the sports two biggest events? Championships are overrated I say. Ok, not really. But it sure sounded good didn’t it?

12. (9) Clint Bowyer
I really don’t have anything to say about Clint Bowyer, so I’ll just say this: At least his car passed inspection this week. And did you know that he has five top-10s in his last six Martinsville starts?

13. (11) Mark Martin
Four consecutive finishes of 14th or better shows this team is still working valiantly to get back to the level they were at a year ago. On the other hand, not having posted back-to-back top-10s since April shows just how far this team still has to go.

14. (12) Kurt Busch
Kurt Busch’s quest to become the first driver to win all three Charlotte races in a single season was frankly, a dud. His Dodge was either too loose or too tight all night and despite throwing everything in but the kitchen sink, it was to no avail as he went home in 30th-place, three laps off the pace.

15. (NR) Joey Logano
Ana average finish of 9.5 over the last four races is a positive sign for the sophomore driver who’s still trying to find his way in Sprint Cup.

If you would like to contact the author of this post, please feel free to email him at jordan@theracinggeek.com and you can also follow The Racing Geek on Twitter.

Filed Under: Charlotte, NASCAR, Power Poll

Monday's Thoughts: McMurray Does It Again and So Does Jimmie

10/18/2010 By Leave a Comment

This season, Jamie McMurray has made it a habit of snagging the headlines away from some of the sports marquee names.

In February during the sports biggest race, the Daytona 500, it was he who held off a determined charge from Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take the win. Six months later, he found his name in the news as he won NASCAR’s second major the Brickyard 400, over then-points leader Kevin Harvick.

Saturday it was more of the same. On a night when the majority of the attention was focused on Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and the other nine drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, it was once again the driver who had the uncertain future coming into the season, who everyone was talking about at the end of the night.

Unlike in May, when McMurray couldn’t find his away around Kurt Busch and had to settle for second in the Coca-Cola 600, this time he finished the deal.

“After coming so close in the 600 earlier in the season, I really felt like anything less than winning this weekend would have been disappointing. We had such a great car in the spring, and it just wasn’t good enough on the short run.

“Tonight it was very similar to that, and as I was catching Kyle towards the end of the race, I thought, ‘As long as the caution came out, I could catch him.

“But I wasn’t sure if I was going to have enough speed to outrun him in 25 or 30 laps. But man, it was just our night. Our car was unbelievable those last like 25 or 30 laps. It was effortless to drive and it had a lot of speed in it. It was just a really good night for us.”

With three wins on the year, including victories in the two most prestigious events on the schedule, it’s a strange position to be in for a driver who a year ago at this time was scrambling to find a ride.

But with fame and triumph comes the rewards, as his newfound success has brought something else he isn’t accustomed to, job security. As he and Earnhardt-Ganassi principle Chip Ganassi are close to inking an extension that will keep him with the team long-term.

Though the future isn’t something McMurray wants to start thinking about, because after all, there is a race next Sunday at Martinsville.

“I really haven’t thought about next year. You know, just working on the remainder of this season, and I don’t know … I don’t think you should put the cart in front of the horse. You take this one week at a time.”

An approach that’s hard to argue with, considering all the publicity, not to mention success, it’s brought him this season.
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  • The one trait I’ve always admired about Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus, more than any other, is their ability to turn a potentially bad day into a great day. Once again, that characteristic was very much on display Saturday night. When on Lap 35, Johnson looped his Lowes Chevy coming off of Turn-2. Luckily for him and his championship aspirations, he kept it off the wall and was able to avoid contact with another car. The only damage he suffered was some flat-spotted Goodyear’s.

    Keeping their cool, Johnson and Knaus then went about salvaging their night by recapturing the track position they lost. This was no easy task, on a night when passing was difficult to say the least, they would be restarting 32nd.

    Nevertheless, not only did they get back all the spots they lost, they made their car good enough where Johnson was running laps faster than the leaders in the latter stages of the race. When the checkered flag flew, the 48 car crossed the line in the third position. With this finish, he expanded his lead from 36 points to 41 over second-place Denny Hamlin, who ended the day one spot behind Johnson in fourth.

    “Tonight is a night that reminds me of the last four years and what made this team champions,” said a relived Johnson when he met with the media post-race. “I hope that tonight’s performance leads us to a championship.

    “There’s obviously a lot of racing left. No telling what’s going to happen. But when we looked back, I hope we are the champions and I hope we look back and say that Charlotte was the key point for us in the championship battle. We kept our composure.”

    What exactly was the four-time defending champion thinking as he was sliding sideways down the backstretch?

    “It’s amazing what goes through your mind when you’re sliding sideways on the back straightaway. I saw my hard work for the year and dreams of being a five-time champion go away, and fortunately I got the car turned away from the inside wall.

    “At that point [it] kind of scared me straight. Like, okay, just stay smooth, we can salvage a decent finish out of today. Maybe we don’t win, maybe we don’t be in the Top-5, but I know we can get a good finish out of this if we can keep our composure and we did.

    Fans can bemoan all they want on how boring Jimmie Johnson is, and how sick they are of Team 48 winning all the time. While that’s their prerogative, at the very least, don’t you have to respect their unmatched tenacity and never say die attitude in the face of adversity?

  • A week ago, a victory at Auto Club Speedway had moved Tony Stewart back onto the fringes of being a championship contender. However, following what crew chief Darian Grubb referred to as “a comedy of errors,” that cumulated with the Old Spice Chevrolet finishing in 21st, we can officially cross off Tony Stewart’s name as a challenger to Jimmie Johnson.
  • Faulty brakes led to Kasey Kahne wrecking on the front stretch. But depending on whom you want to believe, it was either Kahne feeling ill or his frustration with the repeated mechanical troubles he’s dealt with this season that led to him leaving the track early. Whatever the reason, when his car was repaired and ready to return to the track, he wasn’t driving it. Instead, it was J.J. Yeley behind the wheel.

    With Kahne leaving Richard Petty Motorsports at season’s end, it will be fascinating to see how this little soap opera plays itself out over the final five races of the year. Will he finish the season with the only team he’s ever driven for? Or, will he cut bait and take his services to Red Bull Racing early in order to get a jumpstart on 2011?

  • It’s a rare day when Kyle Busch apologizes to his team after a race. Especially after a night when there were numerous times that Busch was venting over the radio to his crew, using words that would have made Chris Rock blush. But apologize is exactly what Kyle Busch did following the Bank of America 500, after letting a race in which he dominated by leading a race-high 217 slip away in the final 20 circuits.

    “I can’t say enough about all of my guys and everybody that works, as hard as they work and do such a great job that they do,” said the runner-up finisher. “It’s just very, very frustrating and you know, I apologize to everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing for just not being able to bring it home tonight. Apparently didn’t have the right adjustment in the car at the end.”

    Though it’s understandable for Busch to be frustrated in not winning, but in truth, he had little to apologize for. He drove a fantastic race Saturday night.

    In taking the lead on Lap 9, he quickly asserted his superiority, and on a night when changing track conditions made it difficult to keep up with the 1.5-mile track, the No.18 Toyota was never far from the front. Yes, the result could have been better, but you know what, it also could have
    been worse.

  • A week after mechanical failures crippled the cars of Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth, Roush Fenway Racing rebounded nicely. As the organization had all four of its Fords finish inside the top-12, with Biffle coming home fifth, Kenseth sixth, David Ragan 10th and Edwards 12th.

If you would like to contact the author of this post, please feel free to email him at jordan@theracinggeek.com and you can also follow The Racing Geek on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images/NASCAR Media

Filed Under: Busch, Charlotte, Ganassi, Johnson, Kahne, Knaus, McMurray, NASCAR, Stewart, Thoughts

Bank of America 500 Preview

10/15/2010 By 1 Comment

What: Bank of America 500
Where: Auto Club Speedway (1.5-mile quad-oval)
Distance: 334 laps/501 miles
When: October 16, 2010
Green Flag: 7:46 PM (ET)
TV: ABC
Defending Winner: Jimmie Johnson

Storylines Worth Following

Jimmie Johnson and the Sense of Inevitability
Finishes of first, second and third the last three weeks has created a sense of inevitability in the garage. Heading into what will be, after tomorrow night, the halfway point of the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup, Jimmie Johnson is sitting in the spot most everyone expected him to be. Atop the standings, leading by a 36-point margin over second-place Denny Hamlin.

With the schedule taking us to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Bank America 500, where Johnson just happens to be the defending winner, and on a track he’s won on six times overall, it’s created a sense of “here we go again” in the garage.

Can you image what were to happen if Johnson were to replicate what he did a week ago and add another 28 points to his lead? I am pretty sure we’d see the garage collectively wave a giant white flag next week at Martinsville.

Resiliency or Complete Indifference?
Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Jeff Burton each suffered through a miserable trip to Southern California. With their Chase hopes either over or severely hampered, it will be interesting to see how each approaches raceday. With nothing to lose, will they go for broke and shoot for the win? Or, with the championship out of their reach, do they put a giant postage stamp on their season and mail it in from here on out?

Kurt Busch and The Charlotte Trifecta
No driver has won the All-Star Race, the Coca-Cola 600 and the fall Charlotte race in a single season. Saturday night, Kurt Busch has the opportunity to become the first to do so. From what we’ve seen in final practice, where the Blue Deuce was third on the speed charts, history has a chance to be made tomorrow.

Ford and Their Engine Woes
After Fontana, where three drivers suffered through problems with their Ford FR9 engines, reliability will be a concern for those with a blue oval on their hoods. Was last Sunday an aberration or is there something more serious going on with the Ford power plants?

A Final Win for Kahne Before He Heads Out the Door
Kasey Kahne has just six races left before his seven-year tenure with Richard Petty comes to an end. If he’s to get one final win before taking his services to Red Bull Racing for 2011, Charlotte would seem the likeliest place for it to happen. It’s a track where he has been to victory lane three times, and in this race last year, he led 67 laps before settling for third.

59 and Counting For Jeff Gordon
April 5, 2009 was the last time Jeff Gordon won a race. Starting first tomorrow – his first pole of ‘10 – the four-time champion is in prime position to snap his 59-race winless streak. If he can close the deal in the final stages in the race is another question altogether.

Driver Speak
–Jeff Burton, who trails Jimmie Johnson by 177 points, on whether he still has a shot at winning his first series title:

“We haven’t run the white flag up just yet. This is an interesting sport. As I said, we are certainly not a position that we want to be in, we’re certainly not is a position that I thought we would be in, but we’re in the position that we are in.”

Charlotte Motor Speedway Track Records (Active)

Driver Wins: Jimmie Johnson (6)

Owner Wins: Hendrick Motorsports (16)

Manufacturer Wins: Chevrolet (37)

Average Finish: Joey Logano (9.0)

Laps Led: Jimmie Johnson (1,370)

Top-5s: Mark Martin (18)

Top-10s: Mark Martin (23)

Contenders
1. Jimmie Johnson
In this race last year, Jimmie Johnson started on the pole, led the most laps and convincingly won the race. While he didn’t set the fastest time in qualifying yesterday, there’s little reason to think the six-time Charlotte winner, and the guy who lines up 10th tomorrow night, still isn’t the guy to beat.

2. Carl Edwards
Somewhat surprising, Carl Edwards has never won at Charlotte. Ok, I guess it can’t be that big of a shock considering Edwards hasn’t won much of anything in the last two years, but that’s beside the point.

So what is the point you’re asking? It’s that on the intermediate tracks, the guy with the duck on his hood, is generally in contention for the win. With his engine woes last Sunday at Fontana notwithstanding, he’s been particularly good as of late on the mile-and-a-half to two-mile tracks; finishing sixth at Kansas, second at Atlanta, third at Michigan and second at Chicagoland.

3. Ryan Newman
The hottest driver in NASCAR (on-track performance mind you, not looks) is not Jimmie Johnson or last week’s winner Tony Stewart. It’s actually the guy who drives for Stewart, “No Neck” Ryan Newman.

He comes in having finished fifth at Fontana and hasn’t finished worse than 11th in his last seven starts. And he’ll be driving the same chassis that he drove in May in the 600. In that race, he sat on the pole and wheeled to a ninth-place finish.

Sleeper
Joey Logano
In three career starts at Charlotte, 20-year-old Joey Logano has twice finished in the top-10, including a fifth in this race a year ago. Knowing this, I see little reason not to like the sophomore driver’s chances of finishing in the top-10 tomorrow evening.

The Official Racing Geek Pick
At first blush, the Bank of America 500 feels like a fairly wide-open race, where a number of drivers will be in contention for the win. Those likely to be in the mix include, Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Kurt and Kyle Busch and Jamie McMurray.

All that being said, and I hate to be redundant and repeat what I said last weekend, but this is Jimmie Johnson’s race to win, or lose.

Although I don’t expect him to do what he did last year, when he led a race-high 92 laps and won rather easily. I think the end result will be the same. With the 48 team celebrating in victory lane and the rest of the garage wondering if they’re ever going to find a way beat Superman.

If you would like to contact the author of this post, please feel free to email him at jordan@theracinggeek.com and you can also follow The Racing Geek on Twitter.

Filed Under: Charlotte, Contenders and Sleepers, NASCAR, Preview

NASCAR Power Poll

06/03/2010 By 1 Comment

It seems like just a month ago that Jamie McMurray was in victory lane celebrating his win in the Daytona 500, when in actuality we’ve now reached the halfway point in the regular season.

This makes this as good as time as any to start paying more attention to the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Looking back on the past six seasons in which the Chase format was used, you realize something. Particularly if you look closely at the drivers who made the Chase in that given season and where they were at the halfway point of the regular season. What you discover is that there really isn’t a whole lot of movement of those who were inside the Chase cutoff it to those who were outside it.

On average 1.6 drivers who weren’t in the Chase at the mid-point of the regular season climbed their way into the Chase by the time the first Chase race at New Hampshire rolled around.

Here’s a list of drivers who were in the Chase following race 13 and the drivers who ended up moving into a playoff spot by the start of the Chase.

2009: Kyle Busch (6th in points), Matt Kenseth (8th), Jeff Burton (10th), Kasey Kahne (14th), Juan Pablo Montoya (15th), and Brian Vickers (17th).

2008: Kasey Kahne (12th) and Matt Kenseth (16th).

2007: Mark Martin (11th) and Kurt Busch (17th).

2006: Tony Stewart (5th) and Denny Hamlin (11th).

2005: Elliott Sadler (3rd), Kevin Harvick (10th), Jeremy Mayfield (12th), and Matt Kenseth (22nd).

2004: Bobby Labonte (8th), Kevin Harvick (9th), Mark Martin (13th), and Jeremy Mayfield (15th).

What this all means is the likelihood that 10, maybe 11, of the 12 drivers in the Chase right now, will be in the Chase when it starts in September.

Just something to chew on as the green-flag flies Sunday on the second half of the season. Now, after taking a break for the All-Star Race, here is your NASCAR Power Poll.

1. (2) Kyle Busch
With two wins in the last four races, and seven straight top-10s, Kyle Busch rightfully slides into the Number 1 position in the Power Poll. Luckily for him Jeff Burton wasn’t doing the voting.

2. (3) Kevin Harvick
Heading into May, Kevin Harvick was nervous about the upcoming schedule as three of the four tracks (Darlington, Dover, and Charlotte) were tracks that he has typically struggled on as of late. But after finishes of sixth, seventh, and 11th, Harvick can now breathe easier as the series makes its annual June pilgrimage to Pocono.

3. (1) Denny Hamlin
A trip through the grass ruined what would have been a surefire top-10 for Denny Hamlin. The good news is Pocono is the perfect place for him to rebound and is a track where he’s a three-time winner, including last August. Funny, that’s just where the series is headed this weekend.

4. (9) Kurt Busch
The last two weeks Kurt Busch has looked like the championship contender we all thought he was earlier in the year. The problem with labeling this team as title threat is this they have yet to put together a multiple-week stretch where they’re running and finishing in the top-10 every week. Something Johnson, Harvick, Hamlin, Gordon, Kurt’s younger brother Kyle, and even Matt Kenseth have all done at some point this season.

5. (5) Jeff Gordon
It was impressive how the 24 car went from looking like they were out to lunch earlier in the 600 to one of the fastest cars at its conclusion. That shows that Gordon and crew chief Steve Letarte are communicating well with one another, and that Letarte has a good handle on what adjustments to make.

6. (6) Jeff Burton
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the guy they call “The Mayor” as heated as he was following Sunday’s race. Not winning will do that to a guy though, which is something Jeff Burton hasn’t done since October, 2008.

7. (7) Matt Kenseth
I’m going to be honest here. I did a double-take when I looked at this week’s point standings and saw that Matt Kenseth was third overall. Yeah, I know he started off the season strong, but as of late, I thought he had cooled off dramatically. Apparently not though, or at least as not as much as I originally thought.

8. (4) Jimmie Johnson
The slump that Jimmie Johnson is currently in isn’t unprecedented for the four-time champ. It’s actually something of a yearly occurrence in each of his title seasons.

Last year, in the six races leading into the Chase, Johnson had just one top-10 finish. In ’08, Johnson started the year off with just one top-10 in the year’s first five races, and then went through a four-race stretch in the spring where his best finish was 13th. Despite winning 10 times in ’07, Johnson in eight races, had just two top-10s and his average finish in those eight races was 23rd. And in his first title campaign of ’06, Johnson looked very mortal with just one top-10 in nine races, four of which were races in the Chase.

What I’m trying to say, and probably could have said in a lot fewer words, is don’t write off the 48 team just yet. To do so would be a big mistake with how much of the season still remains.

9. (12) Ryan Newman
Started on the pole, but after the green-flag dropped, he was virtually nonexistent. He did however manage to finish ninth, which was his fourth straight finish of 13th or better, and moved back inside the top-12 in the standings.

10. (13) Mark Martin
Ran mid-pack all day, but effectively used pit strategy to finish fourth. For a team that has had trouble finding it’s way this season, it’s a finish they’ll gladly take.

11. (10) Carl Edwards
Until the new Ford engine is ready to be raced every week, Carl Edwards is going to be mired in the same spot he finds himself every week. Which is if things go right, and with a little luck, he’ll finish somewhere between fifth and tenth. Otherwise he’ll have to fight for a finish in the top-15.

12. (NR) David Reutimann
In the last five races “The Franchise” has very quietly put together five straight finishes of 15th or better. Corresponding to that, he has also climbed back to the fringes of being on the Chase bubble.

13. (8) Greg Biffle
The slide continues for Greg Biffle, who led 109 laps and posted six straight top-10s to start the season, but has led just 16 laps ands had two top-10s in the seven races since.

14. (NR) Jamie McMurray
With a win and three runner-up finishes you’d think Jamie McMurray would be higher than the 15th in the standings that he currently finds himself in. Then you look at his season statistics and realize the great runs he’s had this year are counterbalanced by his five finishes of 29th or worse.

15. (NR) Clint Bowyer
With how good Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton have looked for most of the year, I’m more than a little disappointed with what I’ve seen out of Clint Bowyer this season. Or to be more accurate, what I haven’t seen out of him.

If you would like to contact the author of this post, please feel free to email him at jordan@theracinggeek.com and you can also follow The Racing Geek on Twitter.

Filed Under: Charlotte, NASCAR, Power Poll
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