Hornish Jr.

Instant Analysis: Sprint Cup Media Tour Day One

01/25/2011 By The Racing Geek Leave a Comment

What Happened: The assembled media converged on Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and Penske Racing to listen to drivers and team personnel talk about the forthcoming season. The day ended with a reception hosted by Fox/SPEED where Fox Sports Chairman David Hill shared his thoughts on how Fox would cover the 2011 season, and some changes he would like to see NASCAR make going forward.

What We Learned: Larry McReynolds wants the media to be “positive”…Tony Stewart has gone from eating two large meals a day to five smaller meals…Due to his already busy schedule which includes 38 Sprint Cup races in addition to the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, Juan Pablo Montoya has no intention of running in this year’s Indianapolis 500…New dad Ryan Newman has gone from talking about setups with fellow drivers to conversing about cribs…Sam Hornish Jr. is going to run a minimum of 11 Nationwide Series races for Penske Racing…After going in-depth at Daytona in regards to the fight he got into in Australia, Tony Stewart is done talking about it…Kurt Busch will be making his NHRA debut in March at the GatorNationals…Fox wants to see shorter races, a greater emphasis on winning and will focus more on the drivers than in years past.

The Most Significant Development: Fans and media have been banging the drum loudly for NASCAR to shorten races for awhile now, but their requests have, for the most part, fallen on deaf ears. Last night though, for the first time, one of NASCAR’s television partners made it known they’re in favor of seeing the length of races reduced.

“Right now there are more opportunities for stuff [for viewers] than anytime in man’s history,” Fox Chairman David Hill stated. “I think a lot of the races are too long. I think probably three hours would be ideal.”

For those of us who want to see NASCAR trim the fat from some races, this comment is outstanding news. And one has to think these words will certainly resonate with the powers that be down in Daytona.

It’s also worth mentioning Hill went on to say Fox is no longer receiving the same value as it once was and that could play an impact when the networks contract expires after the 2014 season.

In Their Own Words: “Last year I think we all started feeling a lot more comfortable in knowing what to expect. It’s definitely not easy for sure, but we have Bobby Hutchins leading this for us. We have some great crew chiefs in Darien Grubb and Tony Gibson. And I have a great teammate with Ryan (Newman). Those are the key ingredients that you have to have.”
–Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart on how much more prepared the team is entering its third season.

What’s Next: Day two of the Sprint Cup Media Tour will feature stops at Michael Waltrip Racing, Richard Childress Racing, TRG Motorsports, and Red Bull Racing along with a panel discussion with Nationwide Series drivers and officials.

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 NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Busch, Fox, Ganassi, Hornish Jr., Media Tour, Montoya, NASCAR, Newman, Penske, SHR, Speed, Stewart

Offseason Analysis: Penske Racing

12/15/2010 By The Racing Geek 2 Comments

Roger Penske is, rightfully, regarded as one of the premiere car owners in all of motorsports. No matter the discipline – stockcars, open-wheel or sports cars – his cars have always found a way to get to victory lane more often than not. For some reason though, the consistency that has been the Penske trademark in other series, has alluded him as of late in NASCAR.

In 2010, that inconsistency was again on display, when Kurt Busch looked like a title contender through the first-half of the year, but backslid as the season moved towards its conclusion.

At the same time, his two Penske teammates, Brad Keselowski and Sam Hornish Jr. could often be mistaken for rolling chicanes. With Keselowski’s biggest achievement on the Sprint Cup side of things was surviving a harrowing crash at Atlanta, while Hornish was just lucky if he got through a race without crashing.

Now, after a bit of organizational restructuring, Penske Racing hopes to regain its place among the top teams in the sport. A spot, they were perched on throughout the 90s but a position that they’ve struggled to maintain since.

2010 In the Rearview: From February to the beginning of July, it appeared Kurt Busch and not Denny Hamlin or Kevin Harvick was going to be the biggest thorn in Jimmie Johnson’s side. In that 18-race span, Busch won two races along with the non-points All-Star Race, finished in the top-10 nine times and was fourth in the standings after the series’ annual Fourth of July stop at Daytona.

Except instead of getting better, as the season moved along into its second-half, the flag bearer for Penske Racing regressed. A tailspin that cumulated with him posting finishes of 13th, 21st, 30th, 16th 30th and 24th in consecutive weeks and being a complete non-factor in the Chase and finishing the year 11th overall.

Still, all told, Kurt Busch had nothing on the two guys who he called his teammates.

To say that Brad Keselowski struggled in his first full season in Sprint Cup would be a gross understatement. Finishes of 36th, 21st, 26th and 36th opened his year, and it took 32 races before he finished a race inside the top-10. Not to mention there were those five DNFs due to accidents.

Then there was the continued failed experiment of Sam Hornish Jr.’s attempt to become a NASCAR driver. After a sophomore season in which he showed promise – albeit small – the former IndyCar champion did nothing to disprove his critics who thought he was in over his head.

On 19 occasions he finished 25th or worse, just once did he finish in the top-10, and there was so much bent sheet metal from him wrecking, seemingly weekly, it became a running joke with my buddies to guess which lap Hornish would crash on each week.

All in all, a season that at one time looked promising ended up being anything but by the end of the year.

2011 Drivers: No. 2 Brad Keselowski (Miller Lite Dodge); No. 22 Kurt Busch (Shell/Pennzoil Dodge)

Key Changes: The Sam Hornish Jr. experiment has come to a merciful end, with Penske pulling the plug on his third car after sponsorship couldn’t be found to keep the team afloat.

Also, Brad Keselowski will have a new crew chief in 2011. Paul Wolfe, who guided the Michigan driver to a Nationwide Series championship last year, is being promoted to replace Jay Guy in an effort to jumpstart the 2 team.

Offseason Analysis: The biggest challenge for everyone at Penske this offseason, is that the Dodge Charger is getting refitted with a new nose. Gone are the splitter braces which have adorned the car since the inception of the Car of Tomorrow and in its place are molded splitters affixed to the bottom of the front bumpers.

Making this changeover more difficult is Penske Racing happens to be the sole Dodge-backed team in NASCAR. Hence, they bear the brunt of making sure no speed is lost aerodynamically. Expect to see the organization spend a lot of time this offseason both on the track testing and in the wind tunnel.

The fortunes of this team, particularly Kurt Busch, are tied to how quickly the team sorts out the new nose. If the process is slow, it’s hard to imagine Busch making the Chase for a third consecutive season; let alone winning a race for the 10th straight year.

A question that should be asked by Penske officials is whether it’s worthwhile to continue to align itself with a manufacturer whose commitment to NASCAR is questionable.

I buy the idea that because they’re the only Dodge supported team, they get more attention and all that comes with it (i.e. money and engineering support). But that’s a double-edged sword. Without another team to share and exchange information, the onus then falls on Penske to make the Dodge Challenger work all by themselves, which is typically a losing proposition in NASCAR. And what happens to Penske if Dodge decides that NASCAR isn’t worth their time and money?

Moving Paul Wolfe up from the Nationwide Series to be Brad Keselowski’s crew chief was a very wise move. Keselowski and Jay Guy never gelled, and it’s obvious that Wolfe knows how to bring out the best in Keselowski. My only concern is Wolfe’s experience working on a Sprint Cup car is limited. But that’s a limitation that’s easy to overcome over the course of the next two months.

Entering his second full season in Sprint Cup, the pressure will be on Brad Keselowski to show that he belongs. No one expects him to win, though that would be nice. What the expectation should be in ’11 is that he finishes in the top-10 with some regularity. Also, it’s evident by those five DNFs he posted due to accidents, he needs to learn better car control and start finishing more races.

I know this team is trying to find sponsorship to run a third car for Sam Hornish Jr. but at this point, why? This organization needs to cut bait with a driver who has yet to give them any real hope that he’ll one day master a full-bodied car. At this point, there’s no reason to think he’ll be anything more than a journeyman driver who wrecks far too often to deserve a ride with a team like Penske Racing.

Rarely does Roger Penske make a move that I disagree with, but letting Justin Allgaier leave was a big mistake. The prudent move for The Captain would have been letting Hornish walk and instead devote their efforts to finding a sponsor for Allgaier, who finished fourth a year ago in the Nationwide Series, tops among non-Sprint Cup drivers. He has more potential in NASCAR than the former Indy 500 winner and he certainly wouldn’t have torn up as much equipment. At the very least, Penske would have made the guys in the shop happier by saying so long to Hornish.

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 NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Busch, Hornish Jr., Keselowski, NASCAR, Offseason Analysis, Penske

Winners and Losers From New Hampshire

09/21/2010 By The Racing Geek Leave a Comment

Round one of the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup is in the books and what an opening race it was. The frequently overlooked and underrated Clint Bowyer staked his claim as this year’s surprise contender. Much like he did in 2007. Though, it didn’t come as a complete shock to all of us.

Denny Hamlin overcame a harrowing spin in front of the field to finish in the runner-up position. Kurt and Kyle Busch both persevered through numerous mishaps to finish in the top-15. Whereas Jimmie Johnson wasn’t able to do the same and came home a disappointing 25th.

All in all, the Sylvania 300 has to be considered one of the more entertaining races of the year and offers everyone plenty of storylines to gnaw on before the green-flag flies next Sunday at Dover. Before we start to do that though, let’s digest this week’s winners and losers.

Winners

Clint Bowyer
As noted above, Clint Bowyer is used to being overlooked. That comes with the territory when coming into this weekend, you’ve only won two Sprint Cup races in five years and your last victory was 88 races ago. Add into the equation that he drives for one of the more legendary owners in NASCAR history and his teammates, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton, have won 14 and 21 races respectively and its easy to see why Bowyer’s name is frequently glossed over when discussing who the top drivers in the sport are.

However, after leading a race-high 177 laps and notching his third career victory, he ensured that he wouldn’t be sharing the spotlight with anyone else. That is, at least for one day any way.

Denny Hamlin
Entering into the Chase, all Denny Hamlin talked about was how he had to avoid the early pratfalls that have come to define him in the Chase and put himself in a position the last five races or so to make a viable run at the championship.

So when the No. 11 Toyota went for a spin on Lap 215 it looked similar to years prior, when Hamlin would somehow find a way to self-destruct his title hopes. Except, in this case there was no implosion. The points leader managed to keep his car off the wall, used pit strategy to recoup his lost track position and raced his way to a second-place finish.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That was no misprint in the boxscore; Dale Earnhardt Jr., fourth, actually finished a race in the top-five. It is just the third time he’s done so this season and the first time in 40 Cup starts that he’s finished in the top-five on a non-restrictor-plate track. Is this just an aberration or a sign of things to come? Who knows? But a week after perhaps his worst day as a Sprint Cup driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. looked like the driver everyone expected him to be when he joined Hendrick Motorsports three years ago.

Kevin Harvick & Kyle Busch
Listening to Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch talk to their crew Sunday reminded me of a teenage girl whose parents had just grounded her for breaking curfew. We heard a lot of screaming, there was some foot stomping and just overall, bitchiness all around. The funny thing is, both drivers finished in the top-10, and are in excellent shape points-wise heading into Dover.

Sam Hornish Jr.
With sponsorship lacking, it appears as if Sam Hornish Jr.’s days with Penske Racing are numbered. But despite all the uncertainty surrounding the future of the former Indy 500 champion, it didn’t prevent him from scoring his best finish of the year. Although a 10th-place finish isn’t something to get excited about, but after the year Hornish has had, you can perhaps appreciate the excitement.

Losers

Tony Stewart & Darian Grubb
On a track like New Hampshire, where passing opportunities are limited and track position is hard to come by, you can understand why Tony Stewart and crew chief Darian Grubb were hesitant to pit for tires and fuel as the race came to its conclusion.

That being said, the risk versus reward in deciding not to pit wasn’t worth it. If Stewart pits, yes, he would have had to contend with traffic, which on this day was no easy task. But few drivers are as good at avoiding trouble on the track as the two-time series champ. As things shuffled themselves out, he would’ve at the very least left the Magic Mile with a top-10 finish instead of 24th like he did. And he certainly wouldn’t be in the position he finds himself in now, sitting 11th in points, 124 behind Hamlin.

This isn’t Monday Morning Quarterbacking simply because the 14 car ran out of fuel leading with the white flag waving. From the moment Stewart’s Chevrolet stayed on the track when the majority of the cars behind him pitted, it was a decision I immediately questioned. You’re risking far, far too much by gambling that you make it 92 laps on fuel.

Matt Kenseth
The driver most everyone has finishing 12th in the Chase did absolutely nothing Sunday to prove his legion of doubters wrong. A complete non-factor all day, Matt Kenseth never ran higher than 14th and his average running position was an ugly 22nd.

Jimmie Johnson
Finishing 25th is of course not the way Jimmie Johnson wanted to start the playoffs. Regardless, the result has the four-time defending champ 92 points out of the championship lead and has given further proof to the competition that while Superman may not have completely lost his powers, he’s noticeably weaker than in years past.

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: Bowyer, Busch, Earnhardt Jr., Grubb, Hamlin, Harvick, Hornish Jr., Johnson, Kenseth, NASCAR, New Hampshire, Stewart, Winners and Losers

Winners and Losers From the Firecracker

07/05/2010 By The Racing Geek Leave a Comment

You can’t ask for a better race than the one we had on Saturday, as the Coke Zero 400 had a little bit of everything. We had great racing throughout the evening, with a record number of different leaders. As we saw 18 different drivers exchange the lead 47 times. It was also an unpredictable race, and a race that came right down to the wire with the winner being decided on the last lap.

Although the race may have ran a bit long, there’s little NASCAR can do about the weather and a 19-car pileup which necessitated a red flag. These things happen and you deal with it.

If we were going to use the star system to NASCAR’s annual July trip to Daytona, I’d give the Coke Zero 400 a four ½ out of five stars.

Winners

Kevin Harvick
There has been a lot of talk, including here, that it was time for Kevin Harvick to stop worrying about accumulating points and worry more about winning races so that he doesn’t fall too far behind Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin when the points are reset.

Well, that is exactly what Harvick did on Saturday night. It would have been very easy for him to get conservative and be content with another top-five, top-10 finish. Instead, Harvick was aggressive all night, particularly in the final laps, and it resulted with him winning his second race of 2010.

Richard Childress Racing
At times the Coke Zero 400 more closely resembled a demolition derby than a Sprint Cup race. Somehow Richard Childress Racing avoided the carnage, and had all three of their cars contending for the victory on the final lap. Though Clint Bowyer went for a spin on the backstretch, RCR’s two other cars managed to cross the line first and fifth.

Kasey Kahne
Kasey Kahne has had three top-five finishes in the last four races. The one race where he didn’t finish in the top-five, he led the most laps before engine problems forced him to the garage early.

With this recent surge in performance, Kahne has climbed back into Chase contention, now 154 points behind 12th-place Carl Edwards. With how fast the Budweiser Ford has been the past month, there’s little reason to think that deficit can’t be erased in the next eight races.

Jeff Gordon
Jeff Gordon’s third-place finish was his first top-10 on a restrictor-plate track since his win at Talladega in the fall of 2007.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn’t too happy following the race because his car lacked the speed that he’s accustomed to having at Daytona. But a fourth-place run is a fourth-place run and that is exactly what this team needed.

But as I take a look at things, the glass looks half-full, not half-empty. Junior hasn’t finished worse than 11th in the last four weeks, and is now in the Chase, sitting 11th. For a team still is not hitting on all cylinders, that’s a lot to be happy about.

Elliott Sadler
In the end Elliott Sadler didn’t get the finish he deserved through no fault of his own. He did however run in the lead pack for most of the evening, and even led some laps. Which brings up another point; Sadler has taken the point in only times this season, and coincidently, they have all come in the three plate races.

Team Red Bull
Pick an adjective — frustrating, disappointing, exasperating — and it appropriately describes the season Team Red Bull Racing has had. But for a weekend anyway, Team Red Bull can forget about all negatives and focus on the positives, which includes both drivers, Reed Sorenson ( 8th) and Scott Speed (10th), finishing in the top-10 for just the second time in ’10.

Carl Edwards
Carl Edwards was virtually nonexistent through the duration of the race, until pit strategy and attrition put him up among the leaders late. To his credit, he hung tough and crossed the line in sixth.

Robby Gordon
In back-to-back starts, Robby Gordon has finished second and 12th. Do you know how long it’s been since Robby Gordon had consecutive races where he finished 12th or better? Try 2006, when he finished fourth and 12th at Watkins Glen and Michigan respectively.

Fabricators
With well over half of the field suffering some sort of body damage Saturday, there will be no shortage of work to keep the fab guys busy this week.

Losers

Clint Bowyer
Clint Bowyer wasn’t going to win the race Saturday. He was sliding back, and momentum was working against him when he and Jeff Gordon made contact that sent him sliding through the grass. Let’s assume though that Bowyer finished, say fifth, instead of where he actually finished in 17th. That’s a difference of 43 points, and could prove to be the difference if Bowyer is in the Chase or out of it come New Hampshire.

Jamie McMurray/ Martin Truex Jr.
Coming into this past weekend both drivers needed a great finish to keep their scant Chase hopes alive. For a time Saturday night, both drivers looked to be inline for a potential win, and/or a big point’s day.

Alas, it didn’t happen for either as both were collected in a wreck that they didn’t start, which came as a result of David Ragan (I know shocking) losing control of his racecar.

Now both have an uphill, if not an impossible, climb if either wants to make the Chase.

David Ragan
I’m okay with incompetence as long as it doesn’t impinge on other people. But when your inability to do your job on the simplest of levels impedes on others, and affects them negatively, I have a problem with that. A big problem actually.

If David Ragan wants to run mid-pack every week, wreck on a somewhat regular basis, and continue to show he doesn’t deserve a ride with a superteam, then that’s his business. But today (Monday) Ragan needs to pickup the phone and apologize to both Jamie McMurray and Martin Truex Jr. for collecting them in the wake of his incompetence.

Joe Gibbs Racing
This was a tough weekend all around for Joe Gibbs Racing. On Thursday in the opening practice, Kyle Busch wrecked his primary car and was forced to go to a backup. In the second practice session, Busch got into the back of teammate Denny Hamlin, sending him into the wall and forcing him into his backup car for the race.

On Saturday things didn’t get much better. Busch had a car good enough to win, but tangled with Juan Pablo Montoya, which ended his day early. Denny Hamlin had tire issues, and later was involved in a couple of incidents. He finished eight laps down in 24th.

As for Joey Logano, he was running in the lead pack for the majority of the night, but like a lot of guys, he ultimately was collected in the “Big One,” and finished 29th.

As I said, this wasn’t the best of weekends for everyone associated with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Sam Hornish Jr.
As I was watching the race, two things were obvious to me in regards to Sam Hornish Jr.

First, he had a very good car, a car that was good enough to finish in the top-half of the field. But this is where point number two comes in; no one wants to work with the former Indy 500 winner, because they can’t trust that he’s not going to wreck them.

Which not surprisingly, is exactly what happened w
hen Hornish attempted to go three-wide coming out of Turn-4. He got sideways and took Elliott Sadler and Penske mate Kurt Busch with 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.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images/NASCAR Media

Filed Under: Bowyer, Childress, Daytona, Earnhardt Jr., Edwards, Gibbs, Gordon, Harvick, Hornish Jr., Kahne, McMurray, NASCAR, Ragan, Sadler, Team Red Bull, Truex Jr., Winners and Losers

Michigan Winners and Losers

06/15/2010 By The Racing Geek Leave a Comment

Ho-hum. Unremarkable. Snorefest. These were just some of the words used to describe the Heluva Good! 400. And you know what? Those words are all an apt description of what we saw during Sunday’s race.

I’m not complaining though. It’s all part of the game. Blowouts are as much a part of motorsports as tires, fuel and drivers complaining that they don’t get paid enough. While, obviously, I would have much rather preferred a stirring, side-by-side, bumpin’-n-bangin’ race to the checkers where the winner was in doubt until replay could confirm it.

But you know what? In a 36 race season a finish like that simply isn’t possible every week. In any sporting event you’re occasionally going to have a blowout. It happens all the time in baseball, football, basketball and every other sport outside the WWE all the time.

I enjoyed Denny Hamlin putting the wood to the rest of the field in the manner that he did. I don’t mind it when occasionally a team hits upon a setup and lays down a beating worthy of a UFC fight. A team dominating a race in that manner doesn’t happen very often, so let’s appreciate it for what it was, and not criticize it for what it wasn’t.

Winners

Denny Hamlin & Mike Ford
What’s amazing about Denny Hamlin’s maiden Michigan win was how he and crew chief Mike Ford slowly turned the No. 11 Toyota into the beast it was on Sunday.

In Friday’s opening practice Hamlin was 23rd on the speed charts. In the second practice session he moved up to 11th. While in the final practice, he jumped up to third. And on Sunday? Well, you know how the story ends.

Kurt Busch
After starting on the pole and leading 47 of the first 51 laps, it looked early on as if Kurt Busch was the guy to beat Sunday. Then reality set in and it quickly became evident that Busch showed up to a gunfight with a knife. Still, a third-place run is a third-place run.

Kasey Kahne
Despite driving for Team Dysfunctional, Kasey Kahne posted his best finish of the ’10 season. Now it’s off to Infineon, where Kahne is the defending champion after holding off Tony Stewart in a spirited duel to the checkers.

Hendrick Motorsports
At this point in the season Hendrick Motorsports has clearly been passed by Joe Gibbs Racing as the preeminent Sprint Cup organization. But they did have three of their cars finish in the top-10, which is a good start to regaining its top spot on the NASCAR pyramid.

Tony Stewart
For just the second time this season Tony Stewart posted back-to-back top-10 finishes. Unlike last week’s top-five finish, Stewart actually earned his finish with a fast car and didn’t have to use pit strategy to get it.

AJ Allmendinger
For not running his teammate into the grass, and for scoring a career-best four consecutive top-15 finishes, “Dinger deserves a place among this week’s list of winners.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It shocks me as much as you to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. on this side of the Winner’s and Loser’s weekly feature. But, let’s give him his just due as he did finish in the top-10 for the first time since Texas.

Losers

Kevin Harvick
Probably doesn’t really deserve a place on this list, but the facts are the facts and the record shows that Kevin Harvick could never get his car handling right and as a result was not even remotely competitive Sunday. Not what you expect to see out of the driver sitting atop the point standings.

Sam Hornish Jr.
A week after posting his finish of the season, Hornish was right back to running where he has for the majority of his NASCAR career – running in the back. The one thing positive is he didn’t hit anything for the second week in a row.

Casey Mears
Without the famous last name this guy would be scrambling to find a ride in the Nationwide Series. Instead, he’s behind the wheel of a car that made the Chase a year ago while more promising drivers are left holding their helmets in the garage.

Roush Fenway Racing
On a track where’s he’s won a track-best 11 times as an owner, Jack Roush’s four cars were MIA Sunday. Roush can blame NASCAR’s testing ban all he wants, but every other superteam has survived, prospered and won despite the ban, while RFR has not.

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: Allmendinger, Busch, Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin, Harvick, Hendrick, Hornish Jr., Kahne, Mears, Michigan, NASCAR, Roush, Stewart, Winners and Losers

Monday's Thoughts: Joe Gibbs Is the Team to Beat

06/08/2010 By The Racing Geek 1 Comment

In the latest evidence that Joe Gibbs Racing has usurped Hendrick Motorsports as the premiere team in NASCAR, I present to you the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500.

The three JGR cars combined to lead 120 out of a possible 204 laps, with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch finishing first and second. The third JGR car, driven by Joey Logano, finished a strong 13th. Though that’s a bit deceiving considering Logano was running fifth before getting spun out by Kevin Harvick coming to the white flag.

While JGR was dominating yesterday afternoon, the Hendrick cars were struggling. Mightily. Combined, Hendrick’s four cars led zero laps, with Jimmie Johnson (fifth) the only Hendrick car to finish not only in the top-10, but the top-15. The other three, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (19th), Mark Martin (29th), and Jeff Gordon (32nd), all suffered through a variety of maladies and none were ever competitive.

Further proof of JGR’s dominance is with Hamlin’s win, a Joe Gibbs car has won six out of the last nine races. In that same span Hendrick cars have gone winless. Although on the year they may have three victories, all of them came in the first five races of the season.

Over the course of a 36-race schedule, these things tend to ebb and flow. One team dominating for a two month stretch to the level that JGR currently is doing isn’t unprecedented. But if you polled the garage on which team was most likely to win the championship this season, odds are high JGR would dominate the voting in much the same fashion they dominated Pocono.

One of the constants in racing is that if a driver doesn’t respect you, and feels as if they can take advantage of you on the track, they will each and every time the opportunity presents itself. Another constant, both in racing and in life, is the best way to stop a bully from picking on you is to slug’em in the mouth. Sometimes literally and other times figuratively. It’s obvious from the events that have transpired this season that Kevin Harvick feels like he can take advantage of Joey Logano.

Back at Bristol in March, Harvick intentionally spun Logano out in the closing laps. And yesterday, while it may not have been as deliberate as it was at Bristol, Harvick once again used his front bumper to turn around Logano’s car.

The difference this time however; Logano didn’t let the incident go. Unlike Bristol, the defending Rookie-of-the-Year stood up to the bully, and let him know that he will no longer be pushed around.

Whether Harvick accepts the fact he can no longer push around the 20-year-old youngster remains to be seen. But if he’s not, judging by Logano’s reaction yesterday and post-race comments where he challenged Harvick’s manhood with this gem “It’s probably not his fault. His wife wears the firesuit in the family and tells him what to do, so it’s probably not his fault” will have no problem sending an even more direct message that will likely involve the front of his bumper onto the back of Harvick’s.
Pocono hasn’t been the best of tracks for Kyle Busch. In 10 prior starts before Sunday’s race, Busch had just two top-10 finishes, and in his last four starts his finishes were 43rd, 36th, 22nd, and 16th.
You knew though that it was just a matter of time before Busch figured out how to get around the tricky triangular-shaped track. Which is what he did this weekend. Busch won the pole on Friday, and backed that up by running a very strong race yesterday. Leading 32 laps, and running near the front of the field for the majority of the day.

With his runner-up finish, Busch is now a mere 19 markers behind points leader Kevin Harvick.
Jimmie Johnson had the exact kind of run he needed Sunday; a quiet, uneventful day that netted him a fifth-place finish. Can we now call his perceived slump over?
On a scale of 1-10, how excited do you think Kasey Kahne is to escape the most the dysfunctional team in the garage? 15? 16? Or maybe even as high as 20?
Tell me again why Pocono has two races? While you’re at it, remind me why they’re both 500 miles in length?
I hate tooting my own horn, especially because I’m wrong 99.99 percent of the time, but toot, toot, I picked Sam Hornish Jr. as my Sunday Sleeper.
In this era of safety, why isn’t there a catchfence on the backstretch, and how lucky is everyone involved that Kasey Kahne’s car didn’t flip outside the track?

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 NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Busch, Gibbs, Hamlin, Harvick, Hendrick, Hornish Jr., Johnson, Kahne, Logano, NASCAR, Pocono, Thoughts

Monster Mile Winners and Losers

05/18/2010 By The Racing Geek 1 Comment

There are some races that transcend others. Where the events that just unfolded will shape and mold the sport for years to come, whether it’s intentional or not.

One of these very races is the 1992 season-finale at Atlanta. On this day, not only did Alan Kulwicki defy his legion of doubters and critics by proving that an owner-driver could still win a championship on NASCAR’s highest-level. But it also marked the race where a young driver named Jeff Gordon made his first Cup start, and at the same time, Richard Petty, the sport’s greatest star to that point, started his last race before riding off into the sunset.

Another example is the 2001 Daytona 500. I don’t think much explanation needs to be made about what made this race so unique in the annuals of the sport’s rich history.

While there is still a very long way to go before we will know how history views the Autism Speaks 400, the possibility does exist that perhaps, one day, we will look at this as the race where the Hendrick Dynasty fell and a new dynasty emerged.

Of course, Hendrick Motorsports isn’t going anywhere. Of course, it’s utterly and completely foolish to suggest that Hendrick is going to crumble simply because Joe Gibbs Racing has won five out of the last seven races.

That’s not going to happen.

But the possibility does exist that a changing of the guard did occur in Sunday’s race.

Please just hear me out. Outside of Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports has gone winless this season. When you factor in that Jeff Gordon is perhaps only three or four years away from retirement and has won only one race in the past two seasons, Mark Martin is on the wrong side of 50, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. couldn’t win a race if he was the only car in it, there’s defiantly a feeling that we may be in the midst of a sea of change.

While adding Kasey Kahne is a big get for NASCAR’s top team, Hendrick is facing some serious issues both on and off the track. The 5 car doesn’t have a full season of sponsorship. Jeff Gordon is going to need a new fulltime sponsor in the relatively near future, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. couldn’t find the top-10 with a roadmap.

Add into the equation that Joe Gibbs’ three drivers, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Joey Logano are all under the age of 30, and there’s little doubt that JGR is set up both now and for years down the road.

Joe Gibbs Racing doesn’t have these issues. All three drivers and their respective sponsors are locked up long-term, and all three are more than competitive on the track.

As I said above, we won’t know for awhile if Sunday’s marked the dawning of a new era, or was simply just another race in the grand scheme of things. But it is sure fun to ponder though.

Now here are your Winners and Losers from this past weekend.

Winners

Kyle Busch
Has done a fantastic job mixing his take-no-prisoners driving style with a more patient approach behind the wheel that maximizes his finish each week. The end result is Busch is now more of a championship threat then he was in 2008, when he won eight times and won the regular season points crown.

Denny Hamlin
On a racetrack where his average finish coming in was a putrid 25.12, Hamlin surprised everyone by driving to a strong fourth-place finish. A great result for a driver and team that know how important the September Dover Chase race is going to be to their championship hopes.

Roush Fenway
The four-car Roush Fenway team still isn’t leading laps or winning races, but having three cars finish in the top-10 for the first time since Bristol, is a good way to turn their season around in the right direction.

Jeff Burton
In finishing in the runner-up spot, Jeff Burton posted his best finish of 2010. More importantly, the entire CAT team went through an entire race without making a mistake, something that hasn’t happened too often this season. It’s amazing how good this team looks when they’re not shooting themselves in the collective foot, seemingly every week.

Tony Stewart
You know Tony Stewart has been slumping when I have to acknowledge the significance of him finishing Dover in the ninth position.

David Reutimann
This season has been a struggle for “The Franchise” who has seen numerous good runs this year end due to engine failures. Sunday the engine stayed together and Reutimann drove to a fifth-place finish, just his second top-10 on the season.

Losers

Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Just about everything on this team has been changed except the guy driving the car. Yet, the results really haven’t gotten any better in the last year. What does that tell you?

Steve Addington
Addington decided to gamble and call for a two-tire stop instead of going with four, all in the name of track position. The flaw in this logic is there were still 100-plus laps remaining in the race and a car that was solidly running in the top-10.

Consequently, Addington saw his driver, Kurt Busch, blow a right front tire and their day ended up not being anything close to what it should have been.

Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing
Both EGR drivers came into Dover with a ton of momentum of their side. Juan Pablo Montoya had a streak of three straight top-six finishes, while Jamie McMurray had two runner-up finishes in the last three races.

That momentum though, and their respective Chase prospects, took a major hit after both drivers suffered track bar failures just two laps apart. That’s not to say both are out of the playoff picture, but it’s going to be hard to overcome the major points hit both endured Sunday.

Kasey Kahne
Kasey Kahne’s day started off well as he zoomed to the lead from his starting spot on the outside of the front row, and proceeded to lead the first 24 laps. Then things got ugly as the shifter broke inside his car and things just went downhill from there, cumulating in him finishing 20th or worse for the fourth consecutive week.

Sam Hornish Jr.
I know this is going to surprise you, so please grab a hold of something. For the umpteenth time in his short Sprint Cup career, Hornish once again was involved in an accident. Not just once on Sunday, but twice, the No. 77 car was responsible for bringing out a caution.

With an average finish of 26.3 this season, and seven finishes of 28th or worse, it has become ever clear that driving a stockcar isn’t agreeing with the former IndyCar champion.

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 NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Addington, Burton, Busch, Dover, Earnhardt Jr., Ganassi, Gibbs, Hamlin, Hendrick, Hornish Jr., Kahne, Reutimann, Roush, Stewart, Winners and Losers

Monday's Thoughts: Johnson Blunders; Busch Wins

05/17/2010 By The Racing Geek 1 Comment

When someone offers you a gift it is considered impolite not to accept it. When Jimmie Johnson sped on pit road during his final pit stop yesterday and was subsequently penalized, he essentially offered the Autism Speaks 400 win to Kyle Busch on a silver platter. So it would have been rude of Busch not to take full advantage of the opportunity presented to him, and so he did by cruising to his second win in three weeks, and his second victory of 2010.

That’s not to say that Busch didn’t deserve the win. Without question he earned his 18th career Sprint Cup victory, clearly having one of the two fastest cars on the day, running almost the entire race in the top-10, and leading 131 laps in total.

But it doesn’t hurt your chances when your strongest competitor shoots himself in the foot with the race on the line. While Busch downplayed his role in perhaps inducing Johnson to be a little quick on his entry off of pit road, you have to think he at least played a part.

“You know, I wouldn’t say that we psyched Jimmie out,” Busch said following his victory. “I mean, he’s won four championships so he’s pretty much been through all the head games in this world.

“But you know, it kind of turned our way today. Unfortunately for those guys, we — they got busted for speeding and we weren’t able to beat them outright and race them around to the end of the race the last 30 laps. But I feel like our car was at least good enough where we could at least challenge them for the it, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that we could have beat him today, with or without the penalty, but he had a fast race car all day.”

With the win, Busch reasserts the perception that his name is on the short list of championship contenders, a list that includes the likes of Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, and Joe Gibbs teammate Denny Hamlin, that stand the best shot at possibly unseating Jimmie Johnson.
As for Johnson, perhaps he’s been taking lessons from teammate Jeff Gordon on how to turn a potentially great finish into something that’s a lot less?

On a related note, last week Rick Hendrick commented that Joe Gibbs Racing had “lapped” his four-car organization. While at the time I thought “The Godfather” was simply trying to motivate his team, and perhaps playing some mind games with the team that looks to be his greatest adversary this season. Though after Sunday’s race, I’m not so sure there isn’t some truth to his comments.

For the fifth time in seven races a Joe Gibbs Racing car was celebrating in victory lane. Pouring a little salt in the wound is in four of those five wins a Hendrick-owned car self-destructed late in the race conceding the victory. Furthermore, both Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin have been to victory lane multiple times this season, while only one Hendrick driver has done so.

There might be no better example of the changing of the guard than what transpired yesterday at Dover as all three JGR cars finished in the top-10. Busch won, Hamlin –on a track that has been his own personal House of Horrors – finished a very surprising and racy fourth, while Joey Logano raced in the top-15 all day and crossed the line in the 10th position.

On the other end of the spectrum, Johnson was foolishly nailed for speeding on pit road; Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin were non-factors all day finishing 11th and 15th respectively; and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was up to his old tricks, once again running mid-pack and eventually finishing nine laps down back in the 30th spot.

Still, anyone who thinks Hendrick isn’t the team to beat in NASCAR hasn’t been paying attention the last four years. It doesn’t matter how good or how bad you look now. The only thing that matters is how you perform in the 10 most important races of the season that come at the end of the year. You run well in the Chase, and a so-so regular season will be quickly forgotten. There’s no one who knows that more than Rick Hendrick.
“The Godfather” also has to know that the Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Lance McGrew marriage isn’t working out. Now a year into their pairing, the two have yet to develop a rapport that allows them to consistently put together a string of good finishes. One week they will run well, then for the next three or four races they will struggle mightily just to finish in the top-20.
On the year, the 88 car has finished in the top-10 on just three occasions, and outside of the Daytona 500, hasn’t really been in position late in a race to contend for a top-five finish, let alone a win. At this point, there seems to be little difference between McGrew and the guy he replaced, Tony Eury Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn’t the only driver on the Chase bubble to experience a frustrating day yesterday. Both Ganassi cars driven by Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya suffered suspension failures. And there’s Clint Bowyer, who left the pits with his jack still attached, costing him a surefire top-10 finish.
The good news for all these drivers is that none of them are more than 112 points out of the final Chase spot with more than half of the regular season still to go.
Apparently a lot of fans decided to attend yesterday’s race disguised as empty seats. This is too bad, because despite two drivers dominating up front and leading the majority of the laps, they missed a pretty good race. There was lots of passing throughout the field with plenty of side-by-side racing.
He never looked anything remotely close to the guy who finished second in this race a year ago, but considering how mediocre he has been for the past six races, Tony Stewart has to be pleased with his ninth-place finish yesterday.
Greg Biffle’s sixth-place run at Dover was his first top-10 finish since Texas, four races ago.
For a long time the NFL had John Madden, who was always good for at least one “Did he really just say that?” comment per game. Thankfully for NASCAR fans, we have the beloved Darrell Waltrip. Yesterday, DW was kind enough to pass along to viewers just how serious blood clots are to one’s health. Basically stating that blood clots can be life threatening and they need to be dealt with immediately when diagnosed.
On behalf of all race fans, I want to thank you DW for this information that I know many weren’t aware of beforehand.

(As you can probably tell, the sarcasm switch was firmly placed in the “on position” for that last comment.)
Yesterday’s race also marked a sad occasion, for the first time in his distinguished career, Bobby Labonte was forced to start-and-park.
Without a primary sponsor, and facing mounting debt, Labonte’s team, TRG Motorsports, was forced to call it quits on Lap 65 for “electrical” troubles. In all, yesterday’s Cup race saw seven teams do the start-and-park charade.

I’ve defended Sam Hornish Jr.’s prospects of becoming a bona fide Sprint Cup driver probably more so than anyone who’s not related to him. However, I think the time has come for me to admit that it may be time to reevaluate things.

It’s obviously not working and the likelihood of it working gets slimmer with each passing race. There isn’t a driver out there not named Joe Nemechek, who tears up more equipment than the 2006 Indy 500 champion. With the talented hotshoe Justin Allgaier awaiting his opportunity, it’s now time to pull the plug on the failed Hornish experiment.
Matt Kenseth scored his first top-five finish since posting back-to-back-to-back top-five finishes at Las Vegas, Atlanta and Bristol. His third-place run was good enough to move him up to third in the points, heading to the track where he had his first Sprint Cup win back in 2000.
In wrapping up my Monday Thoughts column, I want to take this time to wish Brian Vickers a speedy recovery. For some reason I can’t really explain, I’ve always been a big proponent of Vickers, and really thought he was on the cusp of some special things with Team Red Bull.
Here’s hoping Vickers returns soon, and that a return trip to victory lane isn’t too far away either.

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 NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Biffle, Busch, Dover, Earnhardt Jr., Gibbs, Hendrick, Hornish Jr., Johnson, Kenseth, Labonte, McGrew, NASCAR, Vickers, Waltrip

Thoughts on Yet Another Clinic Put-on By Johnson

03/22/2010 By The Racing Geek Leave a Comment

“I hope it frustrates them. That’s only momentum for us.”
–Chad Knaus on the impact winning three out of the first five races has had on the competition.

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, and I apologize. Once again and to the dismay of everyone in the garage, and probably most of those watching at home, Jimmie Johnson won a race he really had no business winning. Just like he did in Las Vegas three weeks ago, and just like he’s done countless times in his career.

One of the many things that Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus do so well, is they put themselves in a position to win. If you are able to do that often enough, the odds are that there will be chances to capitalize on said opportunities. Much like what happened Sunday during the Food City 500.

That’s not to say that Johnson didn’t deserve to win yesterday, because he certainly did. It’s simply saying that Johnson’s Lowes Chevrolet wasn’t the fastest car on the racetrack this particular Sunday. No, that honor belongs to Kurt Busch, who’s Miller Lite Dodge was the class of the field, leading 278 laps out of a possible 500.

But like a lion stalking its prey before the kill, Johnson was lurking all day. And when Busch bobbled late and opened the door for the 48 to drive-thru, Johnson knew exactly what to do.

“I definitely know being on the outside lane was helpful,” Johnson explained post-race. “Each lead restart the leader chose the outside lane. At the beginning there were a couple guys that went for the inside lane and it didn’t pan out. Being on the outside was helpful. I was in third or fourth before I exited turn two. 17 did not get a good restart. So, yeah, it definitely helped.”

“But I was able to make some really aggressive moves, get by the 14 and the 16. He finished third, so he didn’t even get by the 14. I know he had an amazing car all day long.”

“We chased him. There at the end, when the money was there at the end for that ten-lap dash, we had everything go our way, plus the fastest car.”

Making the win extra special for Johnson was that he finally won on a track that he had long sought victory on, and a track that he historically has struggled on.

“I’m just proud of what we continue to do,” Johnson stated. “I mean, it’s one thing to have some success, but to continue to do it year after year, to find tracks that really are our weakest tracks, focus on them, get stronger and better at them, is a cool thing to experience.”

“There’s a lot of work that goes into it. I wish everybody could see behind the scenes what effort goes into it from Chad’s side, everyone at Hendrick, building the cars, our engineers, the focus and dedication I have to how to drive this track better, the notes that we pour through, the conversations we have, trying to find the smallest details to make us better week in and week out, at this track so we could finally win here.”

For the driver who had the fastest car, Kurt Busch, finishing third was a tough pill to swallow.

“To pour my heart and soul into this race to beat the 48 car, I was trying to hit my marks every lap,” Busch said. “I feel exhausted, I feel disappointed. All in all, to bring the Miller Lite Dodge home in third as a competitive car, that’s our job. That’s what Roger Penske says, is, Make your car competitive and things will play out sometimes in your favor and other days they won’t play out in your favor.”

“We just got bottled up behind the 99 on the inside lane. The guys with two tires, the outside seemed to prevail all day long. That’s where the 48 was able to restart. When luck shines your way, it shines your way. It’s time to overcome it all.”

The icing on the cake was that it was Johnson’s 50th career Sprint Cup victory, tying him with Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson for 10th on the all-time wins list.

What’s scary for the competition, and what has to be even somewhat demoralizing is the fact that the 48 car now has been to victory lane three times this year in just five races. A statistic that could change to four wins in six races after next week’s race at Martinsville, a track where Johnson has won five out of the last seven races.

Starting 38th after a subpar qualifying effort and overcoming an ill-handling car, a knock with the outside wall and a flat tire, Kyle Busch deserves a nod for his ninth-place place, his first top-10 finish of the year. It may have been ugly at times and even contentious on the radio at other points, but this is the type of run that shows that Busch is rounding into a championship-contending driver.
Roush Fenway Racing had a great day at Bristol, as they placed three cars inside the top-six positions. Greg Biffle was fast all afternoon, leading 78 laps in total and finished a strong fourth. Matt Kenseth had his typical steady race, which netted him a fifth-place finish, and moved him to within one marker of point’s leader Kevin Harvick. While Carl Edwards did a nice job of putting Atlanta behind him and came home sixth, his best finish of ’10.
It was by no means the run he needed to turn around his season, but after experiencing tire issues, Denny Hamlin has to be happy finishing 19th. With Martinsville on the horizon – a track that Hamlin won on last October and almost always performs well at – there’s a real reason to believe that the Hamlin will soon start looking like the preseason title contender we all thought he was going to be this year. Whether that happens or not is a different story altogether.
In finishing eighth, Jamie McMurray had his first top-10 finish since winning the season-opening Daytona 500.
He isn’t contending for victories or leading laps like Jeff Gordon or Mark Martin, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. is doing something better than both of them. He has, to this point, been able to put some consistent runs together on an almost weekly basis with only one finish outside the top-16.
It’s reflected in where Junior lies in points compared to his two Hendrick teammates. Junior is in the eighth spot, while Gordon and Martin are 11th and 16th respectively. Though the 88 team still has a long way to go before anyone is going to start confusing him with the other Hendrick driver who wins all the time, the groundwork is in place for the 88 to return to the Chase after a year’s absence.
He may not have finished in top-10 like he had in the first four races of 2010, but after starting 33rd, an 11th-place finish at Bristol is something to be proud of for Kevin Harvick.
There are a lot of reason to get down on Sam Hornish Jr. and his continued adjustment to driving a stockcar. However you can’t ignore the facts and that is in the last two weeks he’s had a top-15 finish taken away from him due to mechanical issues not of his making.

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

Photos courtesy of NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Bristol, Busch, Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin, Harvick, Hornish Jr., Johnson, Knaus, McMurray, NASCAR, Roush, Thoughts

Atlanta Winners and Losers

03/09/2010 By The Racing Geek Leave a Comment

Winners

Penske Racing

Besides the obvious – Kurt Busch winning his first race of 2010 – Penske Racing as a whole looked fantastic on Sunday.

The Blue Deuce was dominant in winning. New crew chief Steve Addington and Busch have jelled quickly. And Busch looks like he’s going to be a player in the championship fight for the second year in a row.

The newest Penske driver, Brad Keselowski, ran in the top-10 for the majority of the race and was inline for a finish right around fifth before getting dumped by Carl Edwards with three laps to go. He also showed incredible restraint afterwards considering the circumstances.

And even Sam Hornish got in on the fun, running in the top-10 for the majority of the day before a faulty engine sent him spiraling down the running order.

Yes, Hendrick is still the team to beat. And yes, Richard Childress Racing looks like the clear-cut number two team. Right now though, Penske Racing has to be the third team in the NASCAR hierarchy ahead of both Gibbs and Roush.

Matt Kenseth/Todd Parrott

Three races into the Todd Parrott era and the 17 team has elevated itself from fringe Chase contenders to fringe championship contenders. Kenseth has finished seventh, fifth and second since Parrott has climbed atop the 17 pit box, and is looking a lot like the driver who won the 2003 championship.

Kevin Harvick

What defines you as a driver is not how you handle yourself when things are going your way. What defines you is how you overcome diversity. On Sunday, Harvick displayed the trait that all championship drivers have. He took a bad car and drove it to a finish inside the top-10. I would argue that’s even more impressive then his runner-up finished at Fontana and Las Vegas.

NASCAR

They’ve needed a villain in the worst way and now NASCAR has one in a big, big way. While they sure as hell won’t admit this publically, privately NASCAR has to be smiling ear-to-ear with all the media attention they’re receiving from the Edwards-Keselowski carfuffle. Now if they want to really capitalize on all this attention, they need their villain to start winning again.

Richard Petty Motorsports

Three drivers finish in the top-10, and the biggest question mark heading into the season, Paul Menard is sitting ninth in points after four races. There’s no one who would have predicted that before the year, and that includes Menard himself.

Scott Speed/Brian Vickers/Team Red Bull

Is Team Red Bull the sleeping giant of NASCAR? I’m really starting to think so. In 2009 Brian Vickers won at Michigan and made the Chase for the Championship for the first time. This year, both Vickers and Scott Speed are off to sound starts to the ’10 season, with both posting top-10 finishes at Atlanta. After four races, Speed is a surprising 11th in points, while Vickers, sitting 16th, is in Chase contention himself. You would think that this team would only continue to improve in its fourth year of competing in Sprint Cup.

Somewhere In the Middle

Denny Hamlin

For the first time since Homestead, Denny Hamlin looked like the driver we all thought he was going to be this year. Unfortunately for him, his good run, which saw him lead 32 laps on the day, didn’t materialize into a good finish due to a flat tire late. The good news for Hamlin is that two of his better tracks, Bristol and Martinsville are the next two races on the schedule.

Also, let’s give credit to Hamlin for keeping his nose out of the Edwards-Keselowski throwdown. We all know he’s had his issues over the last year with Keselowski, so for him to take the highroad says a lot about his maturity.

He even went as far as to tweet this message Sunday night, “noooo i will not comment on 12 99.. the last thing i need on a week off is to have to be in trouble for running my trap! .”

Hendrick Motorsports

It’s hard to completely fault Hendrick for what transpired on Sunday, as no team had as many tire issues as they did. Whether that’s their fault or Goodyear’s is still to be determined. Regardless, just one car in the top-12 is not something we’re accustomed to seeing out of NASCAR’s premiere organization.

Losers

Carl Edwards

When you’re 153 laps down and you go out of your way to wreck a driver who’s running in the top-five, and then you try to justify it by writing a convoluted message on your Facebook page, you get labeled a loser for the week. Sorry Carl, but those are the rules we must abide by.

Goodyear

I understand in theory why having competing tire manufactures is bad. But then we have races like the one we had on Sunday, where tires were popping like balloons at a kid’s birthday party and it makes me rethink my position. Is Goodyear really the best option for NASCAR moving forward? I don’t think it is anymore.

Joe Gibbs Racing

Just four races into the season it’s still too early to jump to conclusions. That being said, the facts are that both Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch have yet to finish a race inside the top-10. They’ve both been fast at certain points, but at the end of the day, this is a results-driven sport.

Atlanta

For those who keeping harping about what a great sports town Atlanta is; do me a favor and get your facts straight. No one goes to Hawks (NBA) or Braves (MLB) games no matter how good they may be. No one cares about the Thrashers (NHL); while Falcons (NFL) fans are widely considered the biggest bandwagon jumpers this side of the Minnesota Vikings. So no more excuses. The time has come for NASCAR to make only one stop in Atlanta per year. Keep the Labor Day race, which drew a great crowd last September and give the spring date to a more deserving track.

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

Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Atlanta, Busch, Gibbs, Goodyear, Hamlin, Harvick, Hendrick, Hornish Jr., Kahne, Kenseth, Keselowski, Menard, NASCAR, Penske, Petty, Speed, Team Red Bull, Vickers, Winners and Losers

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