Burton in position to make his title run
Could this be the year Jeff Burton has been working toward since he first climbed into a Cup car for Filbert Martocci 18 years ago? Considering the way things went for Burton in September, you could make the argument for yes.
In order for it to be this year, Burton likely will need a very good finish in Sunday's Price Chopper 400 at a track where he has not been very good in the past—Kansas Speedway.
Can do, he said this week.
"I like the Kansas racetrack," said Burton , whose best Cup points finish was third in 2000, the year before Kansas opened for business. "It's a fun place to go and I look forward to going there. I feel like this weekend will be our best chance to run well there."
Burton will take to the 1.5-mile oval in Kansas City , Kan. , on Sunday, just 80 points behind leader Denny Hamlin entering the third of 10 Chase races.
That deficit isn't bad. There are, however, seven potentially bad things standing between him and first place.
Six of those are the drivers in front of him in the standings as Burton heads to Kansas . A stumble on Sunday, Burton knows, could be disastrous.
"You can be out of the Chase in three races," he said. "You can either be out of it or you can position yourself to win it. Where we'll be, who knows?"
The seventh thing standing in Burton 's way is history.
None of Burton 's 21 career victories have come at Kansas . His best finish in nine tries there is fifth—that came in 2006.
Five times Burton has finished 15th or worse at Kansas and his average finish there is 18.6. Last year, as a non-Chase driver, he ended the day 22 spots behind winner Tony Stewart.
Still, Burton said, he does not feel like Kansas has his number.
"To be honest," he said, "I don't even know what my stats are there. I don't view Kansas as a place where we don't run well. I view it as a place where we don't have (high) finishes. My focus when we go there is to be as prepared as we can be.
"Although it's not new, it's one of our newer tracks. Sometimes people adapt to things quicker than others. It may be a track that I just haven't gotten the handle of, but I feel like this will be our best chance to run well there."
With New Hampshire winner Clint Bowyer succumbing to a killer 150-point penalty, and with Kevin Harvick swooning last week at Dover , Richard Childress Racing's hopes for a championship suddenly appear to rest in Burton 's hands.
He had two top-four finishes in September and led 11 laps in another race. Burton comes to Kansas off a second-place finish in Dover and he comes armed with that cool, analytical Burton mind.
"Ten races is a long time," he said. "If you're not learning and applying from the first race to the fifth race to the 10th race, you're doing something wrong. Every race is an opportunity for us to learn as a team and as a driver. Hopefully, we're there learning something that we can apply to winning a championship.
"You can't get caught up in the chess game of where I am now. It's an accumulation of all those points. That's not to say if you're 12th, 300 points back, you can say that you're going to win a championship. It's not going to happen. You have to be in position."
And Burton , a veteran of 575 Cup starts, is definitely in position.
By Jim Pedley
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(September 30, 2010)
NASCAR
NASCAR
CLICKON PICTURE
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Top 5 and 5 to watch: Kansas
Top 5 and 5 to watch: Kansas
Here's a look at the top five drivers in the Sprint Cup Series standings and five drivers to watch in Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway. All statistical references are for Sprint Cup races at Kansas unless otherwise indicated. Driver rating is based on the past five races at the track.
1. Denny Hamlin, 80.9 driver rating. This could be a swing race for Hamlin. He has one top 10 in five starts with an average finish of 19.0. His record on 1.5-mile tracks this year is a mixed bag: 19th, 21st, 1st ( Texas ), 18th, 8th and 43rd ( Atlanta ). He came through last week at Dover , which also is one of his weaker tracks. Expect him to shine again Sunday.
2. Jimmie Johnson, 122.6. Johnson won last week and heads to a track at which he has one win and six top 10s in eight starts. But a bigger number is Johnson's three poles. He has started six races inside the top five, and he is qualifying very well this year. Johnson won from the pole last week, and you know Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus want the first pit selection. We could have a new leader Sunday afternoon.
3. Kyle Busch, 74.4. This is not one of Busch's better tracks. He has one top 10 in six starts, and his 24.3 average finish is his second worst in the Cup series. Overall, Busch is working on the longest active top-10 streak at five races. If crew chief Dave Rogers can get the No. 18 dialed in, Busch should do just fine Sunday.
4. Kurt Busch, 82.0. Kurt hasn't performed much better than his brother at Kansas : two top 10s in nine starts. On the other hand, Busch has a season-best two wins on 1.5-mile tracks ( Atlanta , Charlotte ). In fact, Busch's past four Cup wins have been on 1.5-mile tracks. Busch is highly capable of cutting into his 59-point deficit to Hamlin.
5. Kevin Harvick, 81.2. Harvick has three top 10s—all sixth-place finishes—in nine starts. Since winning at Michigan in August, Harvick has two top 10s in five races, hum-drum stats for the regular-season points leader. More ominous, though, is that Harvick hasn't led a lap since his win. He finished 15th last week.
Five to watch:
6. Carl Edwards, 94.2. Edwards continued his brilliant late-season surge last week with his sixth top five in the past 11 races. His worst finish in that span is 12th, one of his two finishes outside the top 10. Edwards still hasn't won since the last race of 2008, but he's getting closer. He has four top 10s in six starts at Kansas , and a win Sunday isn't out of the question.
7. Jeff Burton, 73.0. Burton has two top 10s in nine starts with a mediocre 18.6 average finish. He must do better Sunday to stay within striking distance of the lead (he's 80 behind Hamlin). Burton finished second last week, but he hasn't shown the ability to close the deal this year. His winless drought is five races longer than Edwards'.
8. Jeff Gordon, 104.7. Gordon has an excellent record at Kansas—two wins, six top fives—and if ever he needed to tap into that, it's Sunday. He finished second last year, and his only finish worse than 13th was a 39th in 2006 when his fuel pump broke. He trails Hamlin by 83 points.
9. Greg Biffle, 119.6. The big drop-off among Chase drivers begins with Biffle, who is 140 points back. But there is hope. Since crashing in his first start at Kansas in 2002, Biffle has one win among his five top fives and he finished 12th in his other two starts. On the other hand ... Biffle has started the Chase with finishes of 17th and 19th, which followed finishes of 36th and 32nd to close the regular season.
10. Tony Stewart, 99.0. Stewart won last year's race, and he also won in 2006 when he took advantage of being outside the Chase and was free to gamble on fuel mileage (he coasted to the victory). Two weeks ago in the Chase opener, Stewart gambled on fuel mileage and lost (coasted home 24th). He finished 21st last week and finds himself 162 points off the lead. So what can we expect to see Sunday? Stewart has nothing to lose and everything to gain, so if he thinks he can steal a win on fuel mileage, he'll go for it again.
By Bill Marx
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(September 30, 2010)
Here's a look at the top five drivers in the Sprint Cup Series standings and five drivers to watch in Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway. All statistical references are for Sprint Cup races at Kansas unless otherwise indicated. Driver rating is based on the past five races at the track.
1. Denny Hamlin, 80.9 driver rating. This could be a swing race for Hamlin. He has one top 10 in five starts with an average finish of 19.0. His record on 1.5-mile tracks this year is a mixed bag: 19th, 21st, 1st ( Texas ), 18th, 8th and 43rd ( Atlanta ). He came through last week at Dover , which also is one of his weaker tracks. Expect him to shine again Sunday.
2. Jimmie Johnson, 122.6. Johnson won last week and heads to a track at which he has one win and six top 10s in eight starts. But a bigger number is Johnson's three poles. He has started six races inside the top five, and he is qualifying very well this year. Johnson won from the pole last week, and you know Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus want the first pit selection. We could have a new leader Sunday afternoon.
3. Kyle Busch, 74.4. This is not one of Busch's better tracks. He has one top 10 in six starts, and his 24.3 average finish is his second worst in the Cup series. Overall, Busch is working on the longest active top-10 streak at five races. If crew chief Dave Rogers can get the No. 18 dialed in, Busch should do just fine Sunday.
4. Kurt Busch, 82.0. Kurt hasn't performed much better than his brother at Kansas : two top 10s in nine starts. On the other hand, Busch has a season-best two wins on 1.5-mile tracks ( Atlanta , Charlotte ). In fact, Busch's past four Cup wins have been on 1.5-mile tracks. Busch is highly capable of cutting into his 59-point deficit to Hamlin.
5. Kevin Harvick, 81.2. Harvick has three top 10s—all sixth-place finishes—in nine starts. Since winning at Michigan in August, Harvick has two top 10s in five races, hum-drum stats for the regular-season points leader. More ominous, though, is that Harvick hasn't led a lap since his win. He finished 15th last week.
Five to watch:
6. Carl Edwards, 94.2. Edwards continued his brilliant late-season surge last week with his sixth top five in the past 11 races. His worst finish in that span is 12th, one of his two finishes outside the top 10. Edwards still hasn't won since the last race of 2008, but he's getting closer. He has four top 10s in six starts at Kansas , and a win Sunday isn't out of the question.
7. Jeff Burton, 73.0. Burton has two top 10s in nine starts with a mediocre 18.6 average finish. He must do better Sunday to stay within striking distance of the lead (he's 80 behind Hamlin). Burton finished second last week, but he hasn't shown the ability to close the deal this year. His winless drought is five races longer than Edwards'.
8. Jeff Gordon, 104.7. Gordon has an excellent record at Kansas—two wins, six top fives—and if ever he needed to tap into that, it's Sunday. He finished second last year, and his only finish worse than 13th was a 39th in 2006 when his fuel pump broke. He trails Hamlin by 83 points.
9. Greg Biffle, 119.6. The big drop-off among Chase drivers begins with Biffle, who is 140 points back. But there is hope. Since crashing in his first start at Kansas in 2002, Biffle has one win among his five top fives and he finished 12th in his other two starts. On the other hand ... Biffle has started the Chase with finishes of 17th and 19th, which followed finishes of 36th and 32nd to close the regular season.
10. Tony Stewart, 99.0. Stewart won last year's race, and he also won in 2006 when he took advantage of being outside the Chase and was free to gamble on fuel mileage (he coasted to the victory). Two weeks ago in the Chase opener, Stewart gambled on fuel mileage and lost (coasted home 24th). He finished 21st last week and finds himself 162 points off the lead. So what can we expect to see Sunday? Stewart has nothing to lose and everything to gain, so if he thinks he can steal a win on fuel mileage, he'll go for it again.
By Bill Marx
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(September 30, 2010)
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
NASCAR OFFICIAL APPEAL BOARD DECISON ON RCR-BOWYER
On September 29, 2010, the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel heard and considered the appeal of Richard Childress Racing regarding four penalties issued by NASCAR relative to the #33 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car. This stemmed from post-race inspection following a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at New Hampshire Motor Raceway on September 21, 2010.
The penalties concern Section 12-1 of the NASCAR Rule Book “Actions detrimental to stock car racing.”; Section 12-4-J: “Any determination by NASCAR Officials that the Race Equipment used in the Event does not conform to NASCAR Rules”; and Section 20-3: “The car body location specifications in reference to the certified chassis does not meet the NASCAR-approved specifications.”
The penalties assessed were:
-Loss of 150 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship Car Owner points for owner, Richard Childress
-Loss of 150 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship Driver points for driver, Clint Bowyer
-$150,000 fine; suspension from the next six (6) NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship Events; suspension from NASCAR until November 3, 2010; and probation until December 31, 2010 for crew chief Shane Wilson
- Suspension from the next six (6) NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship Events; suspension from
NASCAR until November 3, 2010; and probation until December 31, 2010 for crew member Chad Haney
The Appellants requested and were granted a deferral of the suspensions and fine until such time as this hearing could be convened.
The Appellants did not contest that the car measured out of specifications upon inspection.
The Appellants argued that, having received a warning about the car body of the #33 car being “too close” following the Richmond race, that it was inconceivable that they would bring a non-conforming car to New Hampshire.
They argued that the left rear frame member was actually bent upward as a result of the car being pushed towards Victory Lane by a wrecker after the post-race burnouts, which resulted in the left rear measurement “hard point” being too high. To this end, they also presented an accident reconstruction specialist to demonstrate that a wrecker might bend up the left rear strut in the trunk under certain conditions. The specialists, however, indicated that such an occurrence would strictly affect the left rear because of the match-up between the wrecker pushbar and the angle of the racecar’s rear bumper. He went on to say that the corresponding right rear measurements should not be affected, in his view, nor the frame member deformed as a team representative had alleged.
The Appellants also contested the severity and timing of the penalty.
Claims that the wrecker caused the infraction were negated by the telemetry from the car which did not show a sharp impact spike; by the fact that the rear template still fit snugly across the entire rear of the car; by a visual inspection of the rear of the car which showed nothing of note in the way of damage; and a visual review of the videotape of post race assistance tendered by the wrecker which appeared as relatively gentle pushing.
Of significance to the Panel were some additional facts which came to light during the hearing. Particularly of note were the facts that both rear hard points, left and right, were high, and that the rear of the body was offset on the frame.
The Panel found that the penalties were consistent for infractions of this magnitude.
Therefore, it is the unanimous decision of the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel to uphold the original penalties.
The periods of suspension shall be adjusted from the date of the hearing.
The Appellants have the right under Section 15 of the Rule Book to appeal this decision to the National Stock Car Racing Chief Appellate Officer. The Appellants submitted such a request and the fee immediately after the conclusion of the hearing.
John Capels
Lyn St James
Waddell Wilson
George Silbermann - Appellate Administrator and non-voting member
The penalties concern Section 12-1 of the NASCAR Rule Book “Actions detrimental to stock car racing.”; Section 12-4-J: “Any determination by NASCAR Officials that the Race Equipment used in the Event does not conform to NASCAR Rules”; and Section 20-3: “The car body location specifications in reference to the certified chassis does not meet the NASCAR-approved specifications.”
The penalties assessed were:
-Loss of 150 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship Car Owner points for owner, Richard Childress
-Loss of 150 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship Driver points for driver, Clint Bowyer
-$150,000 fine; suspension from the next six (6) NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship Events; suspension from NASCAR until November 3, 2010; and probation until December 31, 2010 for crew chief Shane Wilson
- Suspension from the next six (6) NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship Events; suspension from
NASCAR until November 3, 2010; and probation until December 31, 2010 for crew member Chad Haney
The Appellants requested and were granted a deferral of the suspensions and fine until such time as this hearing could be convened.
The Appellants did not contest that the car measured out of specifications upon inspection.
The Appellants argued that, having received a warning about the car body of the #33 car being “too close” following the Richmond race, that it was inconceivable that they would bring a non-conforming car to New Hampshire.
They argued that the left rear frame member was actually bent upward as a result of the car being pushed towards Victory Lane by a wrecker after the post-race burnouts, which resulted in the left rear measurement “hard point” being too high. To this end, they also presented an accident reconstruction specialist to demonstrate that a wrecker might bend up the left rear strut in the trunk under certain conditions. The specialists, however, indicated that such an occurrence would strictly affect the left rear because of the match-up between the wrecker pushbar and the angle of the racecar’s rear bumper. He went on to say that the corresponding right rear measurements should not be affected, in his view, nor the frame member deformed as a team representative had alleged.
The Appellants also contested the severity and timing of the penalty.
Claims that the wrecker caused the infraction were negated by the telemetry from the car which did not show a sharp impact spike; by the fact that the rear template still fit snugly across the entire rear of the car; by a visual inspection of the rear of the car which showed nothing of note in the way of damage; and a visual review of the videotape of post race assistance tendered by the wrecker which appeared as relatively gentle pushing.
Of significance to the Panel were some additional facts which came to light during the hearing. Particularly of note were the facts that both rear hard points, left and right, were high, and that the rear of the body was offset on the frame.
The Panel found that the penalties were consistent for infractions of this magnitude.
Therefore, it is the unanimous decision of the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel to uphold the original penalties.
The periods of suspension shall be adjusted from the date of the hearing.
The Appellants have the right under Section 15 of the Rule Book to appeal this decision to the National Stock Car Racing Chief Appellate Officer. The Appellants submitted such a request and the fee immediately after the conclusion of the hearing.
John Capels
Lyn St James
Waddell Wilson
George Silbermann - Appellate Administrator and non-voting member
Bowyer's appeal denied by panel
Bowyer's appeal denied by panel
A three-member appeals panel has denied Richard Childress Racing's appeal of penalties issued for an illegal car that Clint Bowyer drove to victory in the Sept. 19 Sprint Cup event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The appeal was held Wednesday afternoon at the NASCAR Research and Development Center , and the NASCAR-appointed panel decided to keep Bowyer's penalty at 150 points with six-week suspensions to crew chief Shane Wilson and car chief Chad Haney as well as a $150,000 fine to Wilson .
RCR owner Richard Childress can make one last-ditch appeal to NASCAR chief appellate officer John Middlebrook, a former General Motors executive. Childress vowed last week to take the appeal to Middlebrook if needed.
It was not immediately clear if Wilson and Haney would continue in their roles this weekend at Kansas Speedway pending a decision by Middlebrook. If Wilson stays home, RCR competition director Scott Miller will be Bowyer's crew chief.
Childress said last week that the car was knocked out of compliance by contact from another racecar or from a wrecker that pushed the car after it ran out of fuel following Bowyer's victory. He said that NASCAR ruled that the way the body sat on the frame was too high in the left rear by 130-thousandths of an inch—60-thousandths of an inch beyond the 70-thousandths of an inch tolerance teams are permitted in that area.
“We know without a shadow of a doubt that that car left (our shop for the race) within the tolerances, well within the tolerances,” Childress said last week.
The penalty knocked Bowyer from second to 12th in the standings, 185 points behind leader Denny Hamlin. A 25th-place finish at Dover dropped him to 235 points behind Hamlin.
NASCAR officials have refused to talk about specifics of the infraction because of the appeal but have said they do not believe contact from the wrecker had anything to do with the car being out of compliance. RCR was warned that the No. 33 car Bowyer raced at Richmond was close to being illegal.
The appeals committee has not overturned a penalty in any of the seven appeals it has heard concerning national series teams this year.
No cases this year have been taken to Middlebrook, who is in the first year in his role as chief appellate officer. Middlebrook replaced Charles Strang, whose title was "commissioner."
Middlebrook spent 49 years at GM before retiring in 2008 from his position as vice president for global sales. Middlebrook was involved in General Motors' NASCAR programs and drove the pace car during the pace laps for the 2008 Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"John is well respected in the sport and is known for his careful thought and judgment," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said at the start of the season.
A three-member appeals panel has denied Richard Childress Racing's appeal of penalties issued for an illegal car that Clint Bowyer drove to victory in the Sept. 19 Sprint Cup event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The appeal was held Wednesday afternoon at the NASCAR Research and Development Center , and the NASCAR-appointed panel decided to keep Bowyer's penalty at 150 points with six-week suspensions to crew chief Shane Wilson and car chief Chad Haney as well as a $150,000 fine to Wilson .
RCR owner Richard Childress can make one last-ditch appeal to NASCAR chief appellate officer John Middlebrook, a former General Motors executive. Childress vowed last week to take the appeal to Middlebrook if needed.
It was not immediately clear if Wilson and Haney would continue in their roles this weekend at Kansas Speedway pending a decision by Middlebrook. If Wilson stays home, RCR competition director Scott Miller will be Bowyer's crew chief.
Childress said last week that the car was knocked out of compliance by contact from another racecar or from a wrecker that pushed the car after it ran out of fuel following Bowyer's victory. He said that NASCAR ruled that the way the body sat on the frame was too high in the left rear by 130-thousandths of an inch—60-thousandths of an inch beyond the 70-thousandths of an inch tolerance teams are permitted in that area.
“We know without a shadow of a doubt that that car left (our shop for the race) within the tolerances, well within the tolerances,” Childress said last week.
The penalty knocked Bowyer from second to 12th in the standings, 185 points behind leader Denny Hamlin. A 25th-place finish at Dover dropped him to 235 points behind Hamlin.
NASCAR officials have refused to talk about specifics of the infraction because of the appeal but have said they do not believe contact from the wrecker had anything to do with the car being out of compliance. RCR was warned that the No. 33 car Bowyer raced at Richmond was close to being illegal.
The appeals committee has not overturned a penalty in any of the seven appeals it has heard concerning national series teams this year.
No cases this year have been taken to Middlebrook, who is in the first year in his role as chief appellate officer. Middlebrook replaced Charles Strang, whose title was "commissioner."
Middlebrook spent 49 years at GM before retiring in 2008 from his position as vice president for global sales. Middlebrook was involved in General Motors' NASCAR programs and drove the pace car during the pace laps for the 2008 Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"John is well respected in the sport and is known for his careful thought and judgment," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said at the start of the season.
CLINT BOWYER APPEAL
Richard Childress Racing is arguing to have Clint Bowyer's 150-point penalty reversed before a NASCAR appeals committee.
BowyerBowyer and his RCR team were penalized last week when the car Bowyer drove to victory at New Hampshire failed inspection. The win came in the opening race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship and pushed Bowyer to second in the standings, 35 points behind leader Denny Hamlin.
The penalty dropped Bowyer to 12th in the standings, and he trails Hamlin by 235 points with eight Chase races remaining.
RCR is appealing the decision to the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel.
The appeal is a longshot. According to NASCAR, of the 132 appeals heard in the past decade, 92 of those decisions were upheld. Only 10 penalties were overturned.
BowyerBowyer and his RCR team were penalized last week when the car Bowyer drove to victory at New Hampshire failed inspection. The win came in the opening race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship and pushed Bowyer to second in the standings, 35 points behind leader Denny Hamlin.
The penalty dropped Bowyer to 12th in the standings, and he trails Hamlin by 235 points with eight Chase races remaining.
RCR is appealing the decision to the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel.
The appeal is a longshot. According to NASCAR, of the 132 appeals heard in the past decade, 92 of those decisions were upheld. Only 10 penalties were overturned.
NASCAR NEWS AND NOTES
The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup heads into its third race, at Kansas Speedway on Sunday – the Price Chopper 400. The NASCAR Nationwide Series also will run at Kansas, with Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has an open week, returning to action Oct. 23 at Martinsville Speedway.
The GRAND-AM Road Racing season, meanwhile, is complete, with the Rolex Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge looking to the 2011 season-opening races at Daytona International Speedway Jan. 28-30.
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
Big-Time Battle At Top Of Standings
The top four in the standings this week consist of two former series champions (Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch) and two younger guys (Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch) who many consider champions in waiting. They’re separated by only 59 points.
Johnson Looming Large
Four-time defending series champ Jimmie Johnson won this past Sunday at Dover, vaulting to second in the points. As if anybody needed a reminder, he is, after all, the champ – until somebody proves differently.
Bad Blood Has Surfaced Between Hamlin and Harvick
Clint Bowyer won the first Chase race at New Hampshire to advance to second in the points. Then a 150-point penalty moved him back to 12th and likely out of contention.
Then Denny Hamlin made some caustic comments about Bowyer’s team contesting the penalty. Whereupon Bowyer’s teammate, Kevin Harvick, slammed into Hamlin on the race track during practice at Dover. And finally, Hamlin and Harvick got into a heated exchange in the Dover garage area.
Welcome to the Chase, everyone.
An important footnote: Bowyer’s team has appealed the penalty. Their appeal will be heard on Wednesday by the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel.
Home Cooking
Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer both consider Kansas Speedway their “home track” – Edwards is from Columbia, Mo. and Bowyer is from Emporia, Kan.
The fact that both are in the Chase obviously adds to their inherent enthusiasm this weekend.
Kansas in 2011: Let’s Play Two
Kansas Speedway, which opened in 2001, has annually had one NASCAR Sprint Cup race per year since then.
Starting next year it’ll have two: June 5 and Oct. 9.
Watch Out For Spoilers At Kansas
Spoilers – drivers outside the Chase field – have had good success at Kansas since the Chase format began in 2004, with non-Chase drivers winning three out of six times.
Some potential spoilers to watch out for this weekend:
Juan Pablo Montoya, fourth last year at Kansas.
Mark Martin, whose Kansas Driver Rating of 100.1 is fourth best in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Brad Keselowski, 13th last year at Kansas.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has an open week, returning to action Oct. 23 at Martinsville Speedway.
The GRAND-AM Road Racing season, meanwhile, is complete, with the Rolex Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge looking to the 2011 season-opening races at Daytona International Speedway Jan. 28-30.
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
Big-Time Battle At Top Of Standings
The top four in the standings this week consist of two former series champions (Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch) and two younger guys (Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch) who many consider champions in waiting. They’re separated by only 59 points.
Johnson Looming Large
Four-time defending series champ Jimmie Johnson won this past Sunday at Dover, vaulting to second in the points. As if anybody needed a reminder, he is, after all, the champ – until somebody proves differently.
Bad Blood Has Surfaced Between Hamlin and Harvick
Clint Bowyer won the first Chase race at New Hampshire to advance to second in the points. Then a 150-point penalty moved him back to 12th and likely out of contention.
Then Denny Hamlin made some caustic comments about Bowyer’s team contesting the penalty. Whereupon Bowyer’s teammate, Kevin Harvick, slammed into Hamlin on the race track during practice at Dover. And finally, Hamlin and Harvick got into a heated exchange in the Dover garage area.
Welcome to the Chase, everyone.
An important footnote: Bowyer’s team has appealed the penalty. Their appeal will be heard on Wednesday by the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel.
Home Cooking
Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer both consider Kansas Speedway their “home track” – Edwards is from Columbia, Mo. and Bowyer is from Emporia, Kan.
The fact that both are in the Chase obviously adds to their inherent enthusiasm this weekend.
Kansas in 2011: Let’s Play Two
Kansas Speedway, which opened in 2001, has annually had one NASCAR Sprint Cup race per year since then.
Starting next year it’ll have two: June 5 and Oct. 9.
Watch Out For Spoilers At Kansas
Spoilers – drivers outside the Chase field – have had good success at Kansas since the Chase format began in 2004, with non-Chase drivers winning three out of six times.
Some potential spoilers to watch out for this weekend:
Juan Pablo Montoya, fourth last year at Kansas.
Mark Martin, whose Kansas Driver Rating of 100.1 is fourth best in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Brad Keselowski, 13th last year at Kansas.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sporting News Power Poll after Dover
Sporting News Power Poll after Dover
By the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
After his victory Sunday at Dover, Jimmie Johnson is back atop the Sporting News Power Poll. Johnson has three top-five finishes in his past four starts and has closed to 35 points of Chase leader Denny Hamlin, who is second in the poll. The weekly poll is a collaboration of Sporting News and Rowdy.com.
1. Jimmie Johnson (11th) His 19 wins in Chase races alone (62 races) are enough to rank him 34th all time in Cup wins.
2. Denny Hamlin (1st) His target finish was eighth, and he finished ninth. That’s three straight top 10s for the points leader.
3. Kyle Busch (4th) Looked like he might pull off a Dover sweep but faded to sixth at the end.
4. Carl Edwards (6th) Edwards stayed in touch with the Chase leaders with a fifth-place finish at Dover.
5. Kurt Busch (9th) Fourth in the race. Fourth in the points.
6. Jeff Burton (13th) Found it funny that Burton bemoaned the fact he can’t qualify well. He has never qualified well. Accept it, dude, and move on. Be proud of your runner-up finish and keep digging.
7. Kevin Harvick (3rd) Harvick has four top 15s in the past five races, but he hasn’t led any laps since winning at Michigan.
8. Jeff Gordon (5th) Gordon ran in the top six most of the afternoon, but a mistake in the pits cost him dearly. Lacking the speed of the Chase front-runners, Gordon has to be perfect in all other respects. On Sunday, that didn’t happen.
9. Ryan Newman (10th) Four top 10s in the past five races. Easily his best stretch all season.
10. AJ Allmendinger (16th) Before Sunday’s race, AJ had led 43 laps in his entire career. At Dover he led 143. Could it be mere coincidence that he drives the No. 43?
11. Joey Logano (25th) Logano has two top fives in the past three races but still no consistency.
12. Jamie McMurray (7th) McMurray is fighting hard with Newman for the consolation prize for non-Chasers. Newman has 13th place by 19 points.
13. Clint Bowyer (2nd) His appeal should raise the point that NASCAR needs an independent board of arbiters to make judgment calls, rather than NASCAR-appointed ones.
14. Tony Stewart (8th) A second straight finish in the 20s put Smoke’s title hopes in serious jeopardy.
15. Juan Pablo Montoya (14th) Montoya qualified in the top 10 for the 10th straight race. That’s the longest current top-10 starting streak in Cup.
16. Matt Kenseth (17th) A blown tire ripped into his car, and Kenseth finished 18th. That’s his fourth consecutive finish outside the top 10.
17. Greg Biffle (15th) A big, fat egg laid at one of his best tracks spells doom for Biffle in this year’s Chase.
18. Mark Martin (23rd) Martin had to start in the back because of an illegal shock in qualifying but raced his way into the top 15—which is progress for Martin these days.
19. Paul Menard (NR) Menard gets his fourth top 10 and first since Chicagoland in July. He had two entering the season.
20. Marcos Ambrose (24th) Once he fell a lap down, long green-flag runs kept him there.
21. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (19th) Step right up to the Earnhardt roller-coaster. New Hampshire gave Junior’s fans some hope. Dover dashed it again.
22. David Reutimann (12th) Reutimann finished 35th, his fourth finish 30th or worse. He had three last year.
23. Kasey Kahne (18th) For the second week in a row Kahne failed to run one lap in the top 10.
24. Brad Keselowski (21st) His 22nd at Dover equaled his average finish this year. Keselowski has 11 finishes from 18th to 22nd.
25. Martin Truex Jr. (20th) Shades of the Truex who won his only Cup race at Dover until mechanical problems spoiled his day
By the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
After his victory Sunday at Dover, Jimmie Johnson is back atop the Sporting News Power Poll. Johnson has three top-five finishes in his past four starts and has closed to 35 points of Chase leader Denny Hamlin, who is second in the poll. The weekly poll is a collaboration of Sporting News and Rowdy.com.
1. Jimmie Johnson (11th) His 19 wins in Chase races alone (62 races) are enough to rank him 34th all time in Cup wins.
2. Denny Hamlin (1st) His target finish was eighth, and he finished ninth. That’s three straight top 10s for the points leader.
3. Kyle Busch (4th) Looked like he might pull off a Dover sweep but faded to sixth at the end.
4. Carl Edwards (6th) Edwards stayed in touch with the Chase leaders with a fifth-place finish at Dover.
5. Kurt Busch (9th) Fourth in the race. Fourth in the points.
6. Jeff Burton (13th) Found it funny that Burton bemoaned the fact he can’t qualify well. He has never qualified well. Accept it, dude, and move on. Be proud of your runner-up finish and keep digging.
7. Kevin Harvick (3rd) Harvick has four top 15s in the past five races, but he hasn’t led any laps since winning at Michigan.
8. Jeff Gordon (5th) Gordon ran in the top six most of the afternoon, but a mistake in the pits cost him dearly. Lacking the speed of the Chase front-runners, Gordon has to be perfect in all other respects. On Sunday, that didn’t happen.
9. Ryan Newman (10th) Four top 10s in the past five races. Easily his best stretch all season.
10. AJ Allmendinger (16th) Before Sunday’s race, AJ had led 43 laps in his entire career. At Dover he led 143. Could it be mere coincidence that he drives the No. 43?
11. Joey Logano (25th) Logano has two top fives in the past three races but still no consistency.
12. Jamie McMurray (7th) McMurray is fighting hard with Newman for the consolation prize for non-Chasers. Newman has 13th place by 19 points.
13. Clint Bowyer (2nd) His appeal should raise the point that NASCAR needs an independent board of arbiters to make judgment calls, rather than NASCAR-appointed ones.
14. Tony Stewart (8th) A second straight finish in the 20s put Smoke’s title hopes in serious jeopardy.
15. Juan Pablo Montoya (14th) Montoya qualified in the top 10 for the 10th straight race. That’s the longest current top-10 starting streak in Cup.
16. Matt Kenseth (17th) A blown tire ripped into his car, and Kenseth finished 18th. That’s his fourth consecutive finish outside the top 10.
17. Greg Biffle (15th) A big, fat egg laid at one of his best tracks spells doom for Biffle in this year’s Chase.
18. Mark Martin (23rd) Martin had to start in the back because of an illegal shock in qualifying but raced his way into the top 15—which is progress for Martin these days.
19. Paul Menard (NR) Menard gets his fourth top 10 and first since Chicagoland in July. He had two entering the season.
20. Marcos Ambrose (24th) Once he fell a lap down, long green-flag runs kept him there.
21. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (19th) Step right up to the Earnhardt roller-coaster. New Hampshire gave Junior’s fans some hope. Dover dashed it again.
22. David Reutimann (12th) Reutimann finished 35th, his fourth finish 30th or worse. He had three last year.
23. Kasey Kahne (18th) For the second week in a row Kahne failed to run one lap in the top 10.
24. Brad Keselowski (21st) His 22nd at Dover equaled his average finish this year. Keselowski has 11 finishes from 18th to 22nd.
25. Martin Truex Jr. (20th) Shades of the Truex who won his only Cup race at Dover until mechanical problems spoiled his day
Monday, September 27, 2010
Payback Almost Always Guaranteed
Payback Almost Always Guaranteed When Sprint Cup Cars Come to Martinsville Speedway
Payback. As sure as Christmas, it’s going to come before the end of the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup.
After last weekend’s dustup between Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, it’s not so much when payback is coming, but where. And with just eight races remaining in this year’s Chase, there is only one logical choice: Martinsville Speedway and the TUMS Fast Relief 500 on October 24.
With its long straight-aways and tight turns, it’s the perfect place to get away with a little extracurricular activity.
Take last spring’s Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville. Hamlin freight-trained his way through traffic to snare the win after giving up the lead to pit for tires with eight laps to go. Along the way, his No. 11 FedEx Toyota turned into a pinball, careening into the lead after restarting fourth with just four laps to go.
But Hamlin probably would not have won without a little retaliatory warfare between Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth.
Kenseth rammed into the back of Gordon on the final restart, sending Gordon up the track. The two battled for the lead for a half of a lap before Gordon bumped Kenseth hard, making way for Hamlin to take the lead.
“If a guy gives you a cheap shot like that, he doesn’t deserve to win the race,” said Gordon said of Kenseth’s shove.
"I did go in there and I did get into Jeff a little bit, really not that hard, and I got under him and everything was fine," Kenseth said of the initial contact. "[Then] he just took a left as hard as he could take one and ran me down all the way into the marbles."
A couple of years ago Gordon said this about racing at Martinsville: “Martinsville is rough because it’s a tough place to pass on and it’s a short track. Put those two things together and you have a lot of bumping and banging. Some of it could be paybacks and some of it could just be hard short-track racing. You never really know.”
And then there’s the chance of a turf war between Hamlin and Harvick.
Hamlin is a native Virginian, who first raced in Late Models at Martinsville and has since racked up three wins on the track he calls his home-away-from-home
Martinsville Speedway is Harvick’s adopted home track. He lives about 30 minutes from the track and tells anyone who wants to listen it is his home track.
Payback, hard racing and turf wars all combined with NASCAR’S “boys have at it policy” and double-file restarts should create an interesting afternoon of old-school racing for the TUMS Fast Relief 500. It should be typical Martinsville.
Payback. As sure as Christmas, it’s going to come before the end of the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup.
After last weekend’s dustup between Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, it’s not so much when payback is coming, but where. And with just eight races remaining in this year’s Chase, there is only one logical choice: Martinsville Speedway and the TUMS Fast Relief 500 on October 24.
With its long straight-aways and tight turns, it’s the perfect place to get away with a little extracurricular activity.
Take last spring’s Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville. Hamlin freight-trained his way through traffic to snare the win after giving up the lead to pit for tires with eight laps to go. Along the way, his No. 11 FedEx Toyota turned into a pinball, careening into the lead after restarting fourth with just four laps to go.
But Hamlin probably would not have won without a little retaliatory warfare between Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth.
Kenseth rammed into the back of Gordon on the final restart, sending Gordon up the track. The two battled for the lead for a half of a lap before Gordon bumped Kenseth hard, making way for Hamlin to take the lead.
“If a guy gives you a cheap shot like that, he doesn’t deserve to win the race,” said Gordon said of Kenseth’s shove.
"I did go in there and I did get into Jeff a little bit, really not that hard, and I got under him and everything was fine," Kenseth said of the initial contact. "[Then] he just took a left as hard as he could take one and ran me down all the way into the marbles."
A couple of years ago Gordon said this about racing at Martinsville: “Martinsville is rough because it’s a tough place to pass on and it’s a short track. Put those two things together and you have a lot of bumping and banging. Some of it could be paybacks and some of it could just be hard short-track racing. You never really know.”
And then there’s the chance of a turf war between Hamlin and Harvick.
Hamlin is a native Virginian, who first raced in Late Models at Martinsville and has since racked up three wins on the track he calls his home-away-from-home
Martinsville Speedway is Harvick’s adopted home track. He lives about 30 minutes from the track and tells anyone who wants to listen it is his home track.
Payback, hard racing and turf wars all combined with NASCAR’S “boys have at it policy” and double-file restarts should create an interesting afternoon of old-school racing for the TUMS Fast Relief 500. It should be typical Martinsville.
For Johnson, winning is the ticket to titles
The Cool Down Lap: For Johnson, winning is the ticket to titles
What’s a win worth?
Ask Jimmie Johnson. He’s the expert.
Since NASCAR introduced the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2004, Johnson has won a statistically improbable 19 of the aggregate 62 Chase races, the most recent coming Sunday at Dover International Speedway.
Johnson has won 30.6 percent of his starts in the Chase. In non-Chase races, Johnson has won 34 times in 257 starts, a winning percentage of 13.2 percent.
In the Chase, Johnson and his No. 48 team more their double the frequency of their trips to victory lane. Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus figured out long ago the key to winning Chases is winning races.
Not only have they identified the most efficient strategy, but they also have done something much more difficult. They’ve carried it out.
Sunday’s race brought home the value of winning in an emphatic, unmistakable way. After an uncharacteristically sloppy 25th-place finish a week earlier at New Hampshire, Johnson was seventh in the standings, 92 points behind Chase leader Denny Hamlin.
At Dover, however, Johnson led the most laps and won the race, jumped to second in the standings and knocked 57 points off Hamlin’s lead. Though Johnson’s average finish through two races is 12.5—far off the pace necessary to win a title—he’s only 35 points behind Hamlin, who finished second at Loudon and ninth at Dover for an average finish of 5.5.
The math is simple. A race winner is guaranteed 190 points (including the five-point bonus for leading a lap), with another five points available for leading the most laps. Accordingly, a dominating win, the likes of which Johnson orchestrated Sunday, can go a long way toward canceling mistakes in earlier races.
Hamlin is aware of the formula. The difference is that he and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team haven’t been able to implement it yet.
“We’re not going to keep those guys from winning—they’re going to,” Hamlin said after Sunday’s race. “They’re going to win. That’s the characteristic of that team. Anytime they’re faced with adversity, they come and make a strong statement. That’s been their M.O. for a long time.
To me, it’s not that alarming, and I won’t be too alarmed by it.”
Nevertheless, it’s evident Hamlin and Johnson entered the Chase with different mind-sets. Hamlin had a series of goals with respect to where he hoped to stand after each race. Johnson prefers to add up the points after each event.
“I’m not so concerned with statements,” Johnson said. “At the end of the day, I’m just concerned with where I am in the points, what the deficit is—if we’re fortunate to get on top, how big that gap is, what we need to do to be champions. A lot of that other stuff, if it’s in your brain, you’re not thinking about the right thing.
“We want to win this championship. We want to win five in a row. It’s within our race shop. These guys on the 48 team, we need to buckle down, get better in some areas. (Sunday) we did win, but we need to be stronger moving forward. We’ve got to go home and get better.”
And they have to win more races. That’s part of the formula Johnson and Knaus are all so familiar with.
And it’s something Hamlin and the No. 11 team will have to accept and execute if they want to become the next Sprint Cup champions
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
What’s a win worth?
Ask Jimmie Johnson. He’s the expert.
Since NASCAR introduced the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2004, Johnson has won a statistically improbable 19 of the aggregate 62 Chase races, the most recent coming Sunday at Dover International Speedway.
Johnson has won 30.6 percent of his starts in the Chase. In non-Chase races, Johnson has won 34 times in 257 starts, a winning percentage of 13.2 percent.
In the Chase, Johnson and his No. 48 team more their double the frequency of their trips to victory lane. Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus figured out long ago the key to winning Chases is winning races.
Not only have they identified the most efficient strategy, but they also have done something much more difficult. They’ve carried it out.
Sunday’s race brought home the value of winning in an emphatic, unmistakable way. After an uncharacteristically sloppy 25th-place finish a week earlier at New Hampshire, Johnson was seventh in the standings, 92 points behind Chase leader Denny Hamlin.
At Dover, however, Johnson led the most laps and won the race, jumped to second in the standings and knocked 57 points off Hamlin’s lead. Though Johnson’s average finish through two races is 12.5—far off the pace necessary to win a title—he’s only 35 points behind Hamlin, who finished second at Loudon and ninth at Dover for an average finish of 5.5.
The math is simple. A race winner is guaranteed 190 points (including the five-point bonus for leading a lap), with another five points available for leading the most laps. Accordingly, a dominating win, the likes of which Johnson orchestrated Sunday, can go a long way toward canceling mistakes in earlier races.
Hamlin is aware of the formula. The difference is that he and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team haven’t been able to implement it yet.
“We’re not going to keep those guys from winning—they’re going to,” Hamlin said after Sunday’s race. “They’re going to win. That’s the characteristic of that team. Anytime they’re faced with adversity, they come and make a strong statement. That’s been their M.O. for a long time.
To me, it’s not that alarming, and I won’t be too alarmed by it.”
Nevertheless, it’s evident Hamlin and Johnson entered the Chase with different mind-sets. Hamlin had a series of goals with respect to where he hoped to stand after each race. Johnson prefers to add up the points after each event.
“I’m not so concerned with statements,” Johnson said. “At the end of the day, I’m just concerned with where I am in the points, what the deficit is—if we’re fortunate to get on top, how big that gap is, what we need to do to be champions. A lot of that other stuff, if it’s in your brain, you’re not thinking about the right thing.
“We want to win this championship. We want to win five in a row. It’s within our race shop. These guys on the 48 team, we need to buckle down, get better in some areas. (Sunday) we did win, but we need to be stronger moving forward. We’ve got to go home and get better.”
And they have to win more races. That’s part of the formula Johnson and Knaus are all so familiar with.
And it’s something Hamlin and the No. 11 team will have to accept and execute if they want to become the next Sprint Cup champions
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Jimmie Johnson wins the "AAA 400
Jimmie Johnson wins the "AAA 400" NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway
Jimmie Johnson went into the “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” hoping to use the first two races as a springboard towards a fifth consecutive title. The first one at New Hampshire didn’t go so well, but the second at one of his favorite tracks – Dover International Speedway – sure did.
Johnson claimed Sunday’s “AAA 400” at the Monster Mile, starting from the pole position to win for the sixth time at the one-mile concrete oval. Johnson won the race by 2.637 seconds over Jeff Burton, who advanced from a 27th place starting position to finish runner-up. Johnson is now second to only Richard Petty and Bobby Allison, who each won seven times in their careers at Dover.
The win counteracted Johnson’s 25th place finish at New Hampshire last week, which left Johnson 92 points back in the Chase, and vaulted him back to second place, now just 35 points behind leader Denny Hamlin.
“Obviously it was the weekend we would dream of. We got the pole, led the most laps and won the race,” Johnson said. “I had a great car and everybody did their jobs today. I was very pleased with the effort and it came at a good time obviously. We’ve got eight [races] to go and we’ll see where it goes from here.”
Johnson ran near the front all day. He eventually ended up leading five times for 191 laps, and never ran lower than sixth place. His first stint up front consisted of the first 13 laps, but he yielded the lead to AJ Allmendinger on lap 14.
Johnson was content to hang around the front pack until lap 42, when Allmendinger pitted and turned over the lead. He kept a grip on the top spot for the next 96 laps, until Kyle Busch just beat him out while pitting under caution at lap 293. On the restart, Johnson spun his tires and Busch was able to pull away to a 1.3-second lead in just four laps.
But on lap 339, Johnson reeled Busch in and regained the top spot. Aside from handing the lead to Carl Edwards on the next set of pit stops, he was in front the rest of the way.
For as well as the race went, the weekend started out uncharacteristically badly for Johnson. He ran just 20th fastest in the first practice on Friday, which, compared to the No. 48 team’s history at Dover, was like running last.
“We really had our hands full this weekend,” said crew chief Chad Knaus. “We came in qualifying trim, and as we unloaded, the car wasn’t reacting the way we anticipated. So we had to make some pretty significant changes, and when it came time to qualify, we had to put a setup under there that Jimmie hadn’t felt yet.
“For race practice, we weren’t where we needed to be then either. Honestly, we could adjust the car and make it do some different things, but we couldn’t really make the car better. The difference today was definitely the driver.”
The driver came out of the race knocking on Hamlin’s door in the points standings, although Hamlin’s 35-point advantage is the largest a driver has ever had after two races since the Chase was implemented in 2004. Hamlin finished 9th, which was no small accomplishment considering his history at Dover. He finished 4th in the May race this year, but before that had finished no higher than 22nd in the five previous races.
It was a mediocre day,” Hamlin said. “I hate that we didn’t run better, but we got close to where we wanted to be leaving Dover. It’s frustrating that we still can’t get a grasp on this race track and didn’t run as well as we did in the spring. But if you told me I’d be taking a 35 point lead out of Dover, I’d take it.”
Kyle Busch finished third and also jumped up to third place in the points standings with his solid run. “It was a good day for us, but man, legitimately we had a second place car,” Busch said. “I thought we had something on Jimmie with about 100 laps left. I was gaining on him, but I was overdriving the car. After that, the car just got tight and I could never get it back out of the car. It was that good, but we didn’t finish quite where we wanted to.”
Burton jumped to seventh place in the Chase standings with his second-place finish. He’s just 80 points out of the lead heading into Chase race No. 3 at Kansas after finishing second at Dover for the second time this season.
“We thought we had a really good car coming into the race today,” Burton said. “We took off and struggled a little bit with rear grip, and worked all day to get the grip level right. About halfway through that next to last run, my car got really happy and took off. I’m proud of us for getting the car right at the right time. About 15 laps into that next to last run, Jimmie cleared Logano and got really fast. He was just a little quicker than we were today.”
Allmendinger started second and finished 10th, a result that was largely due to a right-rear tire going down. He led 143 laps on the day after previously leading only 43 laps in his entire NASCAR Sprint Cup career.
“It was just a fast race car and starting up front [that was the difference],” he said. “It’s actually a lot of fun to lead. No wonder Jimmie is smiling so much.”
The race was one of the cleanest ever run at the Monster Mile. It had just four cautions, two of which were for debris and one that was for a damaged track caution light. There was only one incident that brought out a caution, when David Reutimann hit the wall in Turn 4. The 19 laps under caution were the fewest at Dover in 13 years, going back to the September 1997 event that had just one caution flag for 11 laps. It was just the sixth race in the track’s history to run fewer than 20 laps under caution.
Jimmie Johnson went into the “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” hoping to use the first two races as a springboard towards a fifth consecutive title. The first one at New Hampshire didn’t go so well, but the second at one of his favorite tracks – Dover International Speedway – sure did.
Johnson claimed Sunday’s “AAA 400” at the Monster Mile, starting from the pole position to win for the sixth time at the one-mile concrete oval. Johnson won the race by 2.637 seconds over Jeff Burton, who advanced from a 27th place starting position to finish runner-up. Johnson is now second to only Richard Petty and Bobby Allison, who each won seven times in their careers at Dover.
The win counteracted Johnson’s 25th place finish at New Hampshire last week, which left Johnson 92 points back in the Chase, and vaulted him back to second place, now just 35 points behind leader Denny Hamlin.
“Obviously it was the weekend we would dream of. We got the pole, led the most laps and won the race,” Johnson said. “I had a great car and everybody did their jobs today. I was very pleased with the effort and it came at a good time obviously. We’ve got eight [races] to go and we’ll see where it goes from here.”
Johnson ran near the front all day. He eventually ended up leading five times for 191 laps, and never ran lower than sixth place. His first stint up front consisted of the first 13 laps, but he yielded the lead to AJ Allmendinger on lap 14.
Johnson was content to hang around the front pack until lap 42, when Allmendinger pitted and turned over the lead. He kept a grip on the top spot for the next 96 laps, until Kyle Busch just beat him out while pitting under caution at lap 293. On the restart, Johnson spun his tires and Busch was able to pull away to a 1.3-second lead in just four laps.
But on lap 339, Johnson reeled Busch in and regained the top spot. Aside from handing the lead to Carl Edwards on the next set of pit stops, he was in front the rest of the way.
For as well as the race went, the weekend started out uncharacteristically badly for Johnson. He ran just 20th fastest in the first practice on Friday, which, compared to the No. 48 team’s history at Dover, was like running last.
“We really had our hands full this weekend,” said crew chief Chad Knaus. “We came in qualifying trim, and as we unloaded, the car wasn’t reacting the way we anticipated. So we had to make some pretty significant changes, and when it came time to qualify, we had to put a setup under there that Jimmie hadn’t felt yet.
“For race practice, we weren’t where we needed to be then either. Honestly, we could adjust the car and make it do some different things, but we couldn’t really make the car better. The difference today was definitely the driver.”
The driver came out of the race knocking on Hamlin’s door in the points standings, although Hamlin’s 35-point advantage is the largest a driver has ever had after two races since the Chase was implemented in 2004. Hamlin finished 9th, which was no small accomplishment considering his history at Dover. He finished 4th in the May race this year, but before that had finished no higher than 22nd in the five previous races.
It was a mediocre day,” Hamlin said. “I hate that we didn’t run better, but we got close to where we wanted to be leaving Dover. It’s frustrating that we still can’t get a grasp on this race track and didn’t run as well as we did in the spring. But if you told me I’d be taking a 35 point lead out of Dover, I’d take it.”
Kyle Busch finished third and also jumped up to third place in the points standings with his solid run. “It was a good day for us, but man, legitimately we had a second place car,” Busch said. “I thought we had something on Jimmie with about 100 laps left. I was gaining on him, but I was overdriving the car. After that, the car just got tight and I could never get it back out of the car. It was that good, but we didn’t finish quite where we wanted to.”
Burton jumped to seventh place in the Chase standings with his second-place finish. He’s just 80 points out of the lead heading into Chase race No. 3 at Kansas after finishing second at Dover for the second time this season.
“We thought we had a really good car coming into the race today,” Burton said. “We took off and struggled a little bit with rear grip, and worked all day to get the grip level right. About halfway through that next to last run, my car got really happy and took off. I’m proud of us for getting the car right at the right time. About 15 laps into that next to last run, Jimmie cleared Logano and got really fast. He was just a little quicker than we were today.”
Allmendinger started second and finished 10th, a result that was largely due to a right-rear tire going down. He led 143 laps on the day after previously leading only 43 laps in his entire NASCAR Sprint Cup career.
“It was just a fast race car and starting up front [that was the difference],” he said. “It’s actually a lot of fun to lead. No wonder Jimmie is smiling so much.”
The race was one of the cleanest ever run at the Monster Mile. It had just four cautions, two of which were for debris and one that was for a damaged track caution light. There was only one incident that brought out a caution, when David Reutimann hit the wall in Turn 4. The 19 laps under caution were the fewest at Dover in 13 years, going back to the September 1997 event that had just one caution flag for 11 laps. It was just the sixth race in the track’s history to run fewer than 20 laps under caution.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
JOHNSON WINS DOVER: Hamlin Makes A Statement, Too
Notebook: Hamlin makes a statement, too
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
DOVER, Del.—Despite a performance he described as “mediocre,” Denny Hamlin felt he made a strong statement in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway—perhaps as strong as the one made by race winner Jimmie Johnson.
Hamlin, after all, got past the track that has haunted him in the past with a 35-point lead over Johnson in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup standings.
“I think a lot of people are just waiting for us to slip up, like we have done in the past,” Hamlin said after finishing ninth Sunday. “I just don’t see that happening this time around. I just think our team is too focused at this point, and we’re running too well for that to happen.
“I think it’s going to go all the way to the wire. My opinion—I think there’s going to be a handful of guys that are going to be racing legitimately for this championship at Homestead (in the season finale). Hopefully, we’re one of those groups. That’s a really good track for us.
“I just don’t see anyone really running away with it this year. The competition’s just too strong.”
Hamlin won at Homestead last year and has finished third there twice.
Allmendinger ready to lead RPM
According to owner Richard Petty, a third Sprint Cup team at Richard Petty Motorsports is still an option, and the fact the organization is downsizing from four teams to two or three gives RPM more time to make a decision.
“Like everybody else, we’re trying to do as much as we can,” Petty said. “We’ve talked to a lot of people about a third car, but our main deal is make sure we’ve got two really good cars, and then we try to do a third deal.”
RPM has AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose under contract to drive Fords in the Cup series next year. With the departures of Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard and Elliott Sadler, Allmendinger is the only holdover from the 2010 driver lineup.
Asked whether there’s a deadline to launch a third team, Petty said, “Right now, no. We’ve got ’til the end of the year. If we’re downgrading from four teams to three teams, we’ve still got plenty of everything it would take to run that third car.
“It wouldn’t be like just having two, and then all of a sudden we’ve got to go out and get cars, people and trucks and all the equipment to run the third car. We can wait a pretty (long time), I think, as far as being able to get cars ready.”
Petty thinks the addition of Ambrose, the Australian driver who comes to RPM from JTG/Daugherty Racing, will energize the organization.
“I’ve always liked him, because, I guess, he’s a little bit different from us,” Petty said. “He’s so energetic. You never seen him where he wasn’t bouncing around, and I like people like that who are enthused with the project they’ve got in front of them.”
Petty said Allmendinger, who drives the No. 43 inextricably associated with Petty’s seven Cup championships, already has progressed toward taking a leadership role.
“With Kasey leaving, AJ’s going to be the lead dog, more or less, of Richard Petty Motorsports, and so far, he’s already stepped up,” Petty said. “We feel it’s getting his mind-set to where he’s not going to have to follow anybody—he’s going to be the leader—and with Marcos coming along, Marcos will make him go. So we feel like that’s going to be a real good team.”
Allmendinger underlined Petty’s confidence Sunday. He led 143 laps (100 more than he had led previously in his Cup career) before a slow leak in one of his tires forced him to pit road prematurely and cost him a lap. Allmendinger nevertheless rallied to finish 10th.
The $1 million was safe Sunday
Chase drivers Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle were trying to give away $1 million Sunday to their respective small business owner finalists as part of an Office Depot small business promotion. To do so, one of the drivers had to win the race.
Neither came close. Stewart went two laps down early, thanks to a pit road speeding penalty. Biffle was trapped two laps down when Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth blew a tire and caused a caution right after Biffle had made a green-flag stop 15 laps before the halfway point.
“We were running on the lead lap, and I thought I had a top-10 car,” Biffle said. “It’s unfortunate. That probably right there was probably our Chase hopes. We’re not out of it, but those two finishes (19th Sunday and 17th last week at New Hampshire) are not the way to start the Chase off.”
Stewart came home 21st.
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
DOVER, Del.—Despite a performance he described as “mediocre,” Denny Hamlin felt he made a strong statement in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway—perhaps as strong as the one made by race winner Jimmie Johnson.
Hamlin, after all, got past the track that has haunted him in the past with a 35-point lead over Johnson in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup standings.
“I think a lot of people are just waiting for us to slip up, like we have done in the past,” Hamlin said after finishing ninth Sunday. “I just don’t see that happening this time around. I just think our team is too focused at this point, and we’re running too well for that to happen.
“I think it’s going to go all the way to the wire. My opinion—I think there’s going to be a handful of guys that are going to be racing legitimately for this championship at Homestead (in the season finale). Hopefully, we’re one of those groups. That’s a really good track for us.
“I just don’t see anyone really running away with it this year. The competition’s just too strong.”
Hamlin won at Homestead last year and has finished third there twice.
Allmendinger ready to lead RPM
According to owner Richard Petty, a third Sprint Cup team at Richard Petty Motorsports is still an option, and the fact the organization is downsizing from four teams to two or three gives RPM more time to make a decision.
“Like everybody else, we’re trying to do as much as we can,” Petty said. “We’ve talked to a lot of people about a third car, but our main deal is make sure we’ve got two really good cars, and then we try to do a third deal.”
RPM has AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose under contract to drive Fords in the Cup series next year. With the departures of Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard and Elliott Sadler, Allmendinger is the only holdover from the 2010 driver lineup.
Asked whether there’s a deadline to launch a third team, Petty said, “Right now, no. We’ve got ’til the end of the year. If we’re downgrading from four teams to three teams, we’ve still got plenty of everything it would take to run that third car.
“It wouldn’t be like just having two, and then all of a sudden we’ve got to go out and get cars, people and trucks and all the equipment to run the third car. We can wait a pretty (long time), I think, as far as being able to get cars ready.”
Petty thinks the addition of Ambrose, the Australian driver who comes to RPM from JTG/Daugherty Racing, will energize the organization.
“I’ve always liked him, because, I guess, he’s a little bit different from us,” Petty said. “He’s so energetic. You never seen him where he wasn’t bouncing around, and I like people like that who are enthused with the project they’ve got in front of them.”
Petty said Allmendinger, who drives the No. 43 inextricably associated with Petty’s seven Cup championships, already has progressed toward taking a leadership role.
“With Kasey leaving, AJ’s going to be the lead dog, more or less, of Richard Petty Motorsports, and so far, he’s already stepped up,” Petty said. “We feel it’s getting his mind-set to where he’s not going to have to follow anybody—he’s going to be the leader—and with Marcos coming along, Marcos will make him go. So we feel like that’s going to be a real good team.”
Allmendinger underlined Petty’s confidence Sunday. He led 143 laps (100 more than he had led previously in his Cup career) before a slow leak in one of his tires forced him to pit road prematurely and cost him a lap. Allmendinger nevertheless rallied to finish 10th.
The $1 million was safe Sunday
Chase drivers Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle were trying to give away $1 million Sunday to their respective small business owner finalists as part of an Office Depot small business promotion. To do so, one of the drivers had to win the race.
Neither came close. Stewart went two laps down early, thanks to a pit road speeding penalty. Biffle was trapped two laps down when Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth blew a tire and caused a caution right after Biffle had made a green-flag stop 15 laps before the halfway point.
“We were running on the lead lap, and I thought I had a top-10 car,” Biffle said. “It’s unfortunate. That probably right there was probably our Chase hopes. We’re not out of it, but those two finishes (19th Sunday and 17th last week at New Hampshire) are not the way to start the Chase off.”
Stewart came home 21st.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Harvick defends RCR’s honor—with his bumper
Harvick defends RCR’s honor—with his bumper
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(September 25, 2010)
DOVER, Del.—Denny Hamlin found out Saturday that words come with a price.
Kevin Harvick took issue with Hamlin’s impugning the integrity of Richard Childress Racing and showed his displeasure on the first lap of practice Saturday at Dover International Speedway.
Harvick slammed Hamlin twice in the rear bumper before sideswiping the No. 11 Toyota. The contact ripped a seam between the right rear quarter panel and the bumper cover of Hamlin’s car.
Harvick’s No. 29 Chevrolet sustained minor damage on the left front and left side, and both drivers brought their cars to the garage for repairs. The two cars were parked beside each other in their respective stalls. Hamlin climbed from his car and exchanged words with Harvick and RCR vice president of competition Mike Dillon.
In the wake of the penalty NASCAR levied on RCR driver Clint Bowyer, owner Richard Childress and the No. 33 Chevrolet team when Bowyer’s race-winning car at New Hampshire measured outside NASCAR’s tolerances, Hamlin fired the opening salvo Friday at Dover.
The No. 33 team was warned after the Sept. 11 race at Richmond, where a sixth-place finish got Bowyer into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Hamlin asserted RCR was warned before that.
“It’s not two weeks old,” Hamlin said. “This is something that’s been going on for months. They’ve been warned for a long time, way before Richmond.”
By implication, he tarred the Harvick’s No. 29 and Jeff Burton’s No. 33 with the same brush.
“The more they reel the other teams in, the better off our team’s going to be,” Hamlin said. “It’s going to affect the 29, the 31 and the 33. I think the only difference is the 33 won the race, so he went to the tech center.”
Hamlin also disputed whether contact from the wrecker that pushed Bowyer’s car to victory lane could knock the rear of the car beyond the tolerances. Harvick apparently wanted to give Hamlin first-hand experience of what damage a shot from another car can do.
Childress, who declined to respond to Hamlin’s assertions, said he didn’t see the practice incident, but he had strong words for Hamlin after Saturday’s first practice session.
“You can’t win a pissing contest with a skunk,” Childress said. “Two things I’ve learned. One of ’em is that. The other one is you don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house.”
Asked about the heavy damage to the back of Hamlin’s car, Childress quipped, “I don’t know whether he backed into Kevin or not.”
Harvick’s crew spent 20 minutes in the garage bay repairing primarily cosmetic damage to the No. 29 car. Hamlin’s crew riveted the quarter panel to the bumper cover, a process that took about 25 minutes.
After Hamlin posted the 29th-fastest speed in the first session, the No. 11 crew cut, attached and taped a new section of sheet metal behind the right rear wheel well. Hamlin improved to seventh fastest in the final practice.
After the final practice, Hamlin said he expected some sort of payback from the RCR teams.
“I think it’s unnecessary, because it didn’t help either one of the race teams,” Hamlin said. “I spoke my mind (Friday), and I felt like I said a lot of truth, and a lot of times that’s not popular with the teams that are involved. Something I’ve always done is speak my mind. It’s not always in my best interest to do that, but when someone asks me a question, I’m always going to give my 100 percent honest answer, and that’s the best I can do.
“Now we just move on. We get our car fixed, and we’re obviously getting some of our speed back, and now the goal is to move on.”
Hamlin said the altercation in the garage didn’t amount to much.
“There was a lot of cursing,” he said. “That’s all, really, that was being said. There was really nothing logical being said inside with the two teams. Nothing’s ever going to come of it. I had a hint when their crew guys—they’d just stare and they made little comments before the (practice), ‘Good luck today.’
“He got into me on pit road before we even (got to) the track, so I knew we were going to have to deal with some issues. … Our job is still to win a championship. We look pretty good on speed, especially compared to those guys.”
Harvick was 15th fastest in final practice.
RACING HELL ON WHEELS EDITORS NOTE -
Think of these thoughts
Why does Hamlin even care ?the win wasnt going to be taken away and given to him, Nascar doesnt and never has done that
And now theres one driver/team in the chase he really didnt have to worry about --until now!
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(September 25, 2010)
DOVER, Del.—Denny Hamlin found out Saturday that words come with a price.
Kevin Harvick took issue with Hamlin’s impugning the integrity of Richard Childress Racing and showed his displeasure on the first lap of practice Saturday at Dover International Speedway.
Harvick slammed Hamlin twice in the rear bumper before sideswiping the No. 11 Toyota. The contact ripped a seam between the right rear quarter panel and the bumper cover of Hamlin’s car.
Harvick’s No. 29 Chevrolet sustained minor damage on the left front and left side, and both drivers brought their cars to the garage for repairs. The two cars were parked beside each other in their respective stalls. Hamlin climbed from his car and exchanged words with Harvick and RCR vice president of competition Mike Dillon.
In the wake of the penalty NASCAR levied on RCR driver Clint Bowyer, owner Richard Childress and the No. 33 Chevrolet team when Bowyer’s race-winning car at New Hampshire measured outside NASCAR’s tolerances, Hamlin fired the opening salvo Friday at Dover.
The No. 33 team was warned after the Sept. 11 race at Richmond, where a sixth-place finish got Bowyer into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Hamlin asserted RCR was warned before that.
“It’s not two weeks old,” Hamlin said. “This is something that’s been going on for months. They’ve been warned for a long time, way before Richmond.”
By implication, he tarred the Harvick’s No. 29 and Jeff Burton’s No. 33 with the same brush.
“The more they reel the other teams in, the better off our team’s going to be,” Hamlin said. “It’s going to affect the 29, the 31 and the 33. I think the only difference is the 33 won the race, so he went to the tech center.”
Hamlin also disputed whether contact from the wrecker that pushed Bowyer’s car to victory lane could knock the rear of the car beyond the tolerances. Harvick apparently wanted to give Hamlin first-hand experience of what damage a shot from another car can do.
Childress, who declined to respond to Hamlin’s assertions, said he didn’t see the practice incident, but he had strong words for Hamlin after Saturday’s first practice session.
“You can’t win a pissing contest with a skunk,” Childress said. “Two things I’ve learned. One of ’em is that. The other one is you don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house.”
Asked about the heavy damage to the back of Hamlin’s car, Childress quipped, “I don’t know whether he backed into Kevin or not.”
Harvick’s crew spent 20 minutes in the garage bay repairing primarily cosmetic damage to the No. 29 car. Hamlin’s crew riveted the quarter panel to the bumper cover, a process that took about 25 minutes.
After Hamlin posted the 29th-fastest speed in the first session, the No. 11 crew cut, attached and taped a new section of sheet metal behind the right rear wheel well. Hamlin improved to seventh fastest in the final practice.
After the final practice, Hamlin said he expected some sort of payback from the RCR teams.
“I think it’s unnecessary, because it didn’t help either one of the race teams,” Hamlin said. “I spoke my mind (Friday), and I felt like I said a lot of truth, and a lot of times that’s not popular with the teams that are involved. Something I’ve always done is speak my mind. It’s not always in my best interest to do that, but when someone asks me a question, I’m always going to give my 100 percent honest answer, and that’s the best I can do.
“Now we just move on. We get our car fixed, and we’re obviously getting some of our speed back, and now the goal is to move on.”
Hamlin said the altercation in the garage didn’t amount to much.
“There was a lot of cursing,” he said. “That’s all, really, that was being said. There was really nothing logical being said inside with the two teams. Nothing’s ever going to come of it. I had a hint when their crew guys—they’d just stare and they made little comments before the (practice), ‘Good luck today.’
“He got into me on pit road before we even (got to) the track, so I knew we were going to have to deal with some issues. … Our job is still to win a championship. We look pretty good on speed, especially compared to those guys.”
Harvick was 15th fastest in final practice.
RACING HELL ON WHEELS EDITORS NOTE -
Think of these thoughts
Why does Hamlin even care ?the win wasnt going to be taken away and given to him, Nascar doesnt and never has done that
And now theres one driver/team in the chase he really didnt have to worry about --until now!
Friday, September 24, 2010
SportingNews Power Poll After New Hampshire
SportingNews Power Poll After New Hampshire
Oh, what a weekend for Denny Hamlin. Even after spinning in the latter stages of the Sylvania 300, he showed the strength of his No. 11 Toyota and came back to finish second. Meanwhile, perhaps his toughest Chase competitor, Jimmie Johnson, had problems after his own spin left him with a finish in the 20s. It can't get much better for the No. 11, though his lead is only 35 points over Clint Bowyer.
1. Denny Hamlin (last week: 2nd). Has finished no worse than third in the last four Chase races dating to last season. He has it figured out
2. Clint Bowyer (7th). Yes, he won only because Tony Stewart ran out of gas, but he was the man, leading the most laps and sporting the best driver rating. He earned it.
3. Kevin Harvick (4th). Started 27th and slowly made his way to a fifth-place run. He's done that better than anyone all year.
4. Kyle Busch (1st). Didn't show the calm of his teammate in the face of adversity. But after a top 10 at New Hampshire , a strong run at Dover will keep Kyle very much in the mix.
5. Jeff Gordon (12th). The 24 team didn't gamble on fuel mileage and settled for sixth at Loudon—a sensible choice with nine races left.
6. Carl Edwards (3rd). Hard racing with Ford "teammate" AJ Allmendinger cost both drivers. Edwards came home 11th after running solidly in the top 10 for most of the afternoon.
7. Jamie McMurray (15th). "Fast" Jamie showed up at Loudon. Let's hope he stays around for the rest of the Chase, even though he can't win the title.
8. Tony Stewart (6th). Won the Sylvania 298, but, thanks to a fuel shortage, finished 24th in the Sylvania 300. Can't afford another burp in the Chase.
9. Kurt Busch (9th). After the race, Kurt said, "I was just over-driving. I wasn't quite in the zone. I wasn't quite feeling it today." Umm, Kurt, you know it's the Chase, right?
10. Ryan Newman (13th). Newman has three top 10s in last four races. Problem is, he preceded that run with nine double-digit finishes in 10 races.
11. Jimmie Johnson (5th). If Chasers get one mulligan, this was it for Johnson, who finished 25th after getting caught up in someone else's mess. He needs to do well at Dover to reset the tone.
12. David Reutimann (19th). Stayed out. Saved fuel. Stole a top 10.
13. Jeff Burton (10th). Had a top-five car, but not top-notch gas mileage. He ran out with two laps left and finished 15th—which is at least better than what Tony Stewart can say.
14. Juan Pablo Montoya (8th). Montoya's average running position was 13th. That's his worst since the Coca-Cola 600 back in May.
15. Greg Biffle (16th). Didn't look good in New Hampshire , but didn't look as bad as he did at Richmond . Dover now absolutely critical.
16. AJ Allmendinger (18th). Like Burton and Stewart, AJ ran out of gas. Of course, Burton and Stewart waited until Lap 299. AJ outfoxed everyone by doing it on Lap 98.
17. Matt Kenseth (11th). Yes, Loudon was a disappointment (23rd), but those in fantasy leagues must use him at Dover , where he has five straight top fives.
18. Kasey Kahne (22nd). The Richard Petty Motorsports post-race report states Kahne, "rallied back to finish 14th…" Can anything ending in 14th be considered a rally?
19. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (NR). The fourth-place finish at Loudon came from the middle of nowhere, despite glitches in the pits. A one-hit wonder or the promise of better things to come?
20. Martin Truex Jr. (20th) It would have been nice to see Truex running with teammate Reutimann … oh, well.
21. Brad Keselowski (23rd). The pole was a great place to start, but Keselowski couldn't crack the top 15 by the finish.
22. Sam Hornish Jr. (NR). If only the entire world were flat. Hornish picked up his first top 10 of the season and continued to show his most strength on NASCAR's flattest tracks.
23. Mark Martin (21st). His first race of the Chase looked a lot like his last race of the regular season—not very competitive. At least Dover is one of his favorite tracks.
24. Marcos Ambrose (14th). Never had his car handling right, but still will be fun to see him with RRM next year.
25. Joey Logano (17th). Fading back at the end, and contact from Kurt Busch made him fade farther, finishing 35th.
Johnson edges Allmendinger for Dover pole
Johnson edges Allmendinger for Dover pole
DOVER, Del.-The best medicine for a bad run is a victory the next time out, and Jimmie Johnson took the first step in that direction Friday at Dover International Speedway.
With a lap at 155.736 mph (23.116 seconds), Johnson won the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday’s AAA 400 Sprint Cup Series race at the Monster Mile, edging AJ Allmendinger (155.642 mph) for the top starting spot.
Mark Martin, Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, initially qualified third but will start 42nd because his time was disallowed after the gas pressure in the right rear shock of his No. 5 Chevrolet was found to be too high in inspection.
Accordingly, Martin Truex Jr. (155.353 mph) will start third, followed by points leader Denny Hamlin and Juan Pablo Montoya.
“Certainly, this was a step in the right direction in momentum,” said Johnson, who finished 25th last Sunday at New Hampshire after a loose wheel forced him to the pits for an unscheduled green-flag stop. “Last weekend, we ran much better than where we finished. It stinks that we finished where we did, but there’s nothing we can really do about it, and to come out this weekend and qualify on the pole starts the weekend off on the right foot.
“It really creates a good situation for us in the race, having that first pit stall. Track position is very, very important here. It seems to be more important as each weekend goes by and each year goes by. … The best way to get track position is by qualifying on the front row, or up front, and we did that.”
The pole was Johnson’s second of the year, his third at Dover and the 25th of his career.
Johnson and Hamlin are the only drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in the top five. Greg Biffle qualified sixth, Kurt Busch eighth, Carl Edwards 10th, Kyle Busch 11th, Matt Kenseth 14th, Jeff Gordon 15th, Clint Bowyer 24th, Tony Stewart 25th, Jeff Burton 27th and Kevin Harvick 33rd.
Allmendinger thinks his car will race as well as it qualified.
“We went out there (in practice) and were really fast in race trim, I felt,” said Allmendinger, who drives the No. 43 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports. “We did a couple of runs there and went right into qualifying trim and went really fast. I would have liked to have had the pole.
“When you’ve got the 48 (Johnson) behind you (in the qualifying order), it’s tough to hold on, but the confidence that my race team and I are building together is the most important thing.”
Jeff Green, Josh Wise and Ted Musgrave failed to qualify for the 43-car field.
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
DOVER, Del.-The best medicine for a bad run is a victory the next time out, and Jimmie Johnson took the first step in that direction Friday at Dover International Speedway.
With a lap at 155.736 mph (23.116 seconds), Johnson won the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday’s AAA 400 Sprint Cup Series race at the Monster Mile, edging AJ Allmendinger (155.642 mph) for the top starting spot.
Mark Martin, Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, initially qualified third but will start 42nd because his time was disallowed after the gas pressure in the right rear shock of his No. 5 Chevrolet was found to be too high in inspection.
Accordingly, Martin Truex Jr. (155.353 mph) will start third, followed by points leader Denny Hamlin and Juan Pablo Montoya.
“Certainly, this was a step in the right direction in momentum,” said Johnson, who finished 25th last Sunday at New Hampshire after a loose wheel forced him to the pits for an unscheduled green-flag stop. “Last weekend, we ran much better than where we finished. It stinks that we finished where we did, but there’s nothing we can really do about it, and to come out this weekend and qualify on the pole starts the weekend off on the right foot.
“It really creates a good situation for us in the race, having that first pit stall. Track position is very, very important here. It seems to be more important as each weekend goes by and each year goes by. … The best way to get track position is by qualifying on the front row, or up front, and we did that.”
The pole was Johnson’s second of the year, his third at Dover and the 25th of his career.
Johnson and Hamlin are the only drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in the top five. Greg Biffle qualified sixth, Kurt Busch eighth, Carl Edwards 10th, Kyle Busch 11th, Matt Kenseth 14th, Jeff Gordon 15th, Clint Bowyer 24th, Tony Stewart 25th, Jeff Burton 27th and Kevin Harvick 33rd.
Allmendinger thinks his car will race as well as it qualified.
“We went out there (in practice) and were really fast in race trim, I felt,” said Allmendinger, who drives the No. 43 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports. “We did a couple of runs there and went right into qualifying trim and went really fast. I would have liked to have had the pole.
“When you’ve got the 48 (Johnson) behind you (in the qualifying order), it’s tough to hold on, but the confidence that my race team and I are building together is the most important thing.”
Jeff Green, Josh Wise and Ted Musgrave failed to qualify for the 43-car field.
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Jimmie Johnson Wins Pole Dover AAA 400
Qualifying Fast Facts
Dover International Speedway
AAA 400 (40th Running)
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Fri, September 24, 2010 @ 04:49 PM Eastern
Coors Light Pole Winner: Jimmie Johnson
Age: 35
Team : No. 48 - Lowe's/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet
Owner: Jeff Gordon
Crew Chief: Chad Knaus
Jimmie Johnson won the Coors Light Pole Award for the AAA 400 (40th Running) with a lap of 23.116 seconds, 155.736 mph.
This is his 25th pole in 319 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
This is his second pole and 21st top-10 start in 2010.
This is his third pole in 18 races at Dover International Speedway.
AJ Allmendinger (second) posted his eighth top-10 start of 2010 and his fourth in eight races at Dover International Speedway.
Martin Truex Jr. (third) posted his third top-10 start at Dover International Speedway. It is his ninth in 28 races this season.
Kevin Conway (40th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
Dover International Speedway
AAA 400 (40th Running)
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Fri, September 24, 2010 @ 04:49 PM Eastern
Coors Light Pole Winner: Jimmie Johnson
Age: 35
Team : No. 48 - Lowe's/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet
Owner: Jeff Gordon
Crew Chief: Chad Knaus
Jimmie Johnson won the Coors Light Pole Award for the AAA 400 (40th Running) with a lap of 23.116 seconds, 155.736 mph.
This is his 25th pole in 319 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
This is his second pole and 21st top-10 start in 2010.
This is his third pole in 18 races at Dover International Speedway.
AJ Allmendinger (second) posted his eighth top-10 start of 2010 and his fourth in eight races at Dover International Speedway.
Martin Truex Jr. (third) posted his third top-10 start at Dover International Speedway. It is his ninth in 28 races this season.
Kevin Conway (40th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Top 5 and 5 to watch: Dover
Top 5 and 5 to watch: Dover
By Roger Kuznia
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Here's a look at the top five drivers in the Sprint Cup Series standings and five drivers to watch in Sunday's race at Dover International Speedway. All statistical references are for Sprint Cup races at Dover unless otherwise indicated. Driver rating is based on the past 11 races at the track.
1. Denny Hamlin, 77.5 driver rating. Behind only Daytona, Dover is Hamlin's worst track in terms of average finish—22.8 with two DNFs. However, he did have success there in May, finishing fourth for his first top 10 since 2007. With momentum of a second-place run at New Hampshire , it's not unreasonable to expect a strong finish.
2. Kevin Harvick, 75.2. He's the leader in top-five finishes this year, coming off his 12th of 2010 at New Hampshire . Interestingly, if Harvick finishes fifth in the final nine events, he wouldn't have enough points to have won any of the last three Chases. Wins are a must, but one likely won't come here for the No. 29. His average finish in the last nine Dover races is 19.0.
3. Kyle Busch, 101.6. Busch's best Chase finish came in 2007, the only year he's never had problems in one or both of the first two Chase races at New Hampshire and Dover. After pulling out a ninth-place finish last week at Loudon, Busch now may be just one race away from being a real contender. He won here in May.
4. Jeff Gordon, 90.0. His conservative strategy paid off at New Hampshire , where he climbed four spots in the standings. Gordon hasn't won at Dover since 2001, but he has had two poles in the last four Dover Chase races. But it remains an open question whether this team's experimentation the past two months will pay off.
5. Kurt Busch, 95.4. Working with old crew chief Pat Tryson, Busch led 99 laps in this race last year and finished fifth for only his sixth top 10 in 20 starts. Busch's performance has been largely hit or miss in the past nine races of 2010, and it's tough to predict a solid run for the No. 2 after misses at Richmond and New Hampshire .
5 to watch:
6. Jimmie Johnson, 113.8. He's led at least 81 laps in the last four races, and 225-plus in the last three. He may have won the race in May had he not sped on pit road, leading to comments from race winner Kyle Busch that the No. 18 got into Johnson's head. Drivers have long memories, and no doubt Johnson remembers what happened four months ago.
8. Greg Biffle, 112.2. After three straight subpar finishes entering Dover , it's time for Biffle to release the Kraken. That should happen, given that Dover has long been a Roush Fenway stronghold. Three of the top four in driver rating are Roushketeers, with Biffle at No. 2, Matt Kenseth No. 3 and Carl Edwards No. 4. Biffle has eight top 10s in the last nine races, including a win in the 2008 Chase. 10. Tony Stewart, 73.2. We can roast Stewart for pushing his gas mileage too far at Loudon, but who thought he would have made it to win the June race at Pocono last year? Stewart is too good to let one race faze him, and he does have three straight top 10s at the Monster Mile.
11. Matt Kenseth, 111.8. Dover is one place where Kenseth doesn't need security blanket Robbie Reiser to perform well. Kenseth has finished no worse than fourth in the last five races, and his lone win came in 2006. This is Kenseth's best shot at a Chase win, but after this, it's back to finishes between 10-15.
12. Clint Bowyer, 89.5. After Wednesday's slug to the solar plexus, which saw the No. 33 team lose 150 points for an illegal car at New Hampshire , it will be interesting to see how Bowyer and his team react. Bowyer has no top 10s in his last three starts, but he has qualified in the top 10 in three of the last four races. Bowyer has led only four laps in his career, the fewest of any Chase competitor.
By Roger Kuznia
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Here's a look at the top five drivers in the Sprint Cup Series standings and five drivers to watch in Sunday's race at Dover International Speedway. All statistical references are for Sprint Cup races at Dover unless otherwise indicated. Driver rating is based on the past 11 races at the track.
1. Denny Hamlin, 77.5 driver rating. Behind only Daytona, Dover is Hamlin's worst track in terms of average finish—22.8 with two DNFs. However, he did have success there in May, finishing fourth for his first top 10 since 2007. With momentum of a second-place run at New Hampshire , it's not unreasonable to expect a strong finish.
2. Kevin Harvick, 75.2. He's the leader in top-five finishes this year, coming off his 12th of 2010 at New Hampshire . Interestingly, if Harvick finishes fifth in the final nine events, he wouldn't have enough points to have won any of the last three Chases. Wins are a must, but one likely won't come here for the No. 29. His average finish in the last nine Dover races is 19.0.
3. Kyle Busch, 101.6. Busch's best Chase finish came in 2007, the only year he's never had problems in one or both of the first two Chase races at New Hampshire and Dover. After pulling out a ninth-place finish last week at Loudon, Busch now may be just one race away from being a real contender. He won here in May.
4. Jeff Gordon, 90.0. His conservative strategy paid off at New Hampshire , where he climbed four spots in the standings. Gordon hasn't won at Dover since 2001, but he has had two poles in the last four Dover Chase races. But it remains an open question whether this team's experimentation the past two months will pay off.
5. Kurt Busch, 95.4. Working with old crew chief Pat Tryson, Busch led 99 laps in this race last year and finished fifth for only his sixth top 10 in 20 starts. Busch's performance has been largely hit or miss in the past nine races of 2010, and it's tough to predict a solid run for the No. 2 after misses at Richmond and New Hampshire .
5 to watch:
6. Jimmie Johnson, 113.8. He's led at least 81 laps in the last four races, and 225-plus in the last three. He may have won the race in May had he not sped on pit road, leading to comments from race winner Kyle Busch that the No. 18 got into Johnson's head. Drivers have long memories, and no doubt Johnson remembers what happened four months ago.
8. Greg Biffle, 112.2. After three straight subpar finishes entering Dover , it's time for Biffle to release the Kraken. That should happen, given that Dover has long been a Roush Fenway stronghold. Three of the top four in driver rating are Roushketeers, with Biffle at No. 2, Matt Kenseth No. 3 and Carl Edwards No. 4. Biffle has eight top 10s in the last nine races, including a win in the 2008 Chase. 10. Tony Stewart, 73.2. We can roast Stewart for pushing his gas mileage too far at Loudon, but who thought he would have made it to win the June race at Pocono last year? Stewart is too good to let one race faze him, and he does have three straight top 10s at the Monster Mile.
11. Matt Kenseth, 111.8. Dover is one place where Kenseth doesn't need security blanket Robbie Reiser to perform well. Kenseth has finished no worse than fourth in the last five races, and his lone win came in 2006. This is Kenseth's best shot at a Chase win, but after this, it's back to finishes between 10-15.
12. Clint Bowyer, 89.5. After Wednesday's slug to the solar plexus, which saw the No. 33 team lose 150 points for an illegal car at New Hampshire , it will be interesting to see how Bowyer and his team react. Bowyer has no top 10s in his last three starts, but he has qualified in the top 10 in three of the last four races. Bowyer has led only four laps in his career, the fewest of any Chase competitor.
Hamlin hopes Dover is not his Waterloo again
Hamlin hopes Dover is not his Waterloo again
By Jim Pedley
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Things seem to be going Denny Hamlin's way as he pursues the first Sprint Cup championship of his career. He's first in points in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, he's on a mini-streak of two top-two finishes, his nearest competitor has imploded and he's had success at many of the remaining nine tracks on the schedule.
If he could do well in Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway, he might be able to allow himself to start imagining what he would look like with his arms wrapped around the big silver trophy after the season-ending race in Homestead, Fla.
But based on history, the "if" is sizable as it pertains to Dover .
"We all know how Dover is for me," Hamlin said this week.
Those who love history and statistics all know.
Dover is not, as they say, a Hamlin track. The Monster Mile's high-banked, concrete surface seemingly has scuffed the 29-year-old driver's luck and confidence over the years.
His average finish in nine career starts at Dover is 22.8. That is by far, the worst among the 12 Chase drivers.
Hamlin's only top-five finishes at Dover were in spring races. In fall races—Chase races—he has finished 22nd, 38th, 38th and ninth. He has led just one Dover race. He has two DNFs.
With one race down in the 10-race Chase, with Clint Bowyer whacked back from second to 12th in points by a NASCAR penalty issued on Wednesday and with a 45-point lead over now-second place Kevin Harvick, Hamlin has selected his strategy for this weekend.
"We've just got to minimize a bad day again at Dover ," Hamlin said. "That's our goal. You've got to set a number (for finishing) that you're satisfied with, and try to reach that goal at Dover ."
And what is that number?
Hamlin didn't say.
He did say, however, the target number was affected by last week's pressure-easing second-place finish in the Chase-opener in New Hampshire .
"The number in which I hope to run just moved up like five spots," he said. "So that's just what we have to do. And it's not that we just run bad at Dover every time, it's just every time I went there, I either wrecked or broke something or ran terrible. So with the exception of the spring, that's about the only good run I've had there, so, yeah, we do shift our expectations based off of this week."
Hamlin also can take relief, of course, in the fact that his 2010 season has been the best of his career.
He has a series-leading six victories and his 11 top-five finishes is second best after Harvick's 12.
"I think the biggest thing," Hamlin said, "is we're competitive everywhere; competitive as in we can win races everywhere. We've shown we can win races and that means we've been up front a lot during the course of this season. For as many wins as we've had, we've had second- and third-place finishes as well. That means we've been up front a lot during the season and that's what it's going to take to win the championship—a low average finish and making sure you have everything in line and prepared in case something does happen."
But then again, this week it's Dover and there is that scary "if."
"Just if we can get past Dover ," he said as if he suddenly remembered his past there, "we've got a lot of really good tracks for us."
Fast facts
What: AAA 400
Where: Dover ( Del. ) International Speedway
When: Sunday, 1:15 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN, 1 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN/Sirius Satellite Ch. 128
Race distance: 400 laps/400 miles
Estimated pit window: 75-80 laps
Qualifying: Friday, 3:10 p.m. ET
2009 winner: Jimmie Johnson
2009 polesitter: Jimmie Johnson
Points leaders: 1. Denny Hamlin, 5,230; 2. Kevin Harvick, 5,185; 3. Kyle Busch, 5,168; 4. Jeff Gordon, 5,155; 5. Kurt Busch, 5,144; 6. Jimmie Johnson, 5,138; 7. Carl Edwards, 5,135; 8. Greg Biffle, 5,122; 9. Jeff Burton, 5,118; 10. Tony Stewart, 5,106; 11. Matt Kenseth, 5,094; 12. Clint Bowyer, 5,045.
By Jim Pedley
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Things seem to be going Denny Hamlin's way as he pursues the first Sprint Cup championship of his career. He's first in points in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, he's on a mini-streak of two top-two finishes, his nearest competitor has imploded and he's had success at many of the remaining nine tracks on the schedule.
If he could do well in Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway, he might be able to allow himself to start imagining what he would look like with his arms wrapped around the big silver trophy after the season-ending race in Homestead, Fla.
But based on history, the "if" is sizable as it pertains to Dover .
"We all know how Dover is for me," Hamlin said this week.
Those who love history and statistics all know.
Dover is not, as they say, a Hamlin track. The Monster Mile's high-banked, concrete surface seemingly has scuffed the 29-year-old driver's luck and confidence over the years.
His average finish in nine career starts at Dover is 22.8. That is by far, the worst among the 12 Chase drivers.
Hamlin's only top-five finishes at Dover were in spring races. In fall races—Chase races—he has finished 22nd, 38th, 38th and ninth. He has led just one Dover race. He has two DNFs.
With one race down in the 10-race Chase, with Clint Bowyer whacked back from second to 12th in points by a NASCAR penalty issued on Wednesday and with a 45-point lead over now-second place Kevin Harvick, Hamlin has selected his strategy for this weekend.
"We've just got to minimize a bad day again at Dover ," Hamlin said. "That's our goal. You've got to set a number (for finishing) that you're satisfied with, and try to reach that goal at Dover ."
And what is that number?
Hamlin didn't say.
He did say, however, the target number was affected by last week's pressure-easing second-place finish in the Chase-opener in New Hampshire .
"The number in which I hope to run just moved up like five spots," he said. "So that's just what we have to do. And it's not that we just run bad at Dover every time, it's just every time I went there, I either wrecked or broke something or ran terrible. So with the exception of the spring, that's about the only good run I've had there, so, yeah, we do shift our expectations based off of this week."
Hamlin also can take relief, of course, in the fact that his 2010 season has been the best of his career.
He has a series-leading six victories and his 11 top-five finishes is second best after Harvick's 12.
"I think the biggest thing," Hamlin said, "is we're competitive everywhere; competitive as in we can win races everywhere. We've shown we can win races and that means we've been up front a lot during the course of this season. For as many wins as we've had, we've had second- and third-place finishes as well. That means we've been up front a lot during the season and that's what it's going to take to win the championship—a low average finish and making sure you have everything in line and prepared in case something does happen."
But then again, this week it's Dover and there is that scary "if."
"Just if we can get past Dover ," he said as if he suddenly remembered his past there, "we've got a lot of really good tracks for us."
Fast facts
What: AAA 400
Where: Dover ( Del. ) International Speedway
When: Sunday, 1:15 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN, 1 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN/Sirius Satellite Ch. 128
Race distance: 400 laps/400 miles
Estimated pit window: 75-80 laps
Qualifying: Friday, 3:10 p.m. ET
2009 winner: Jimmie Johnson
2009 polesitter: Jimmie Johnson
Points leaders: 1. Denny Hamlin, 5,230; 2. Kevin Harvick, 5,185; 3. Kyle Busch, 5,168; 4. Jeff Gordon, 5,155; 5. Kurt Busch, 5,144; 6. Jimmie Johnson, 5,138; 7. Carl Edwards, 5,135; 8. Greg Biffle, 5,122; 9. Jeff Burton, 5,118; 10. Tony Stewart, 5,106; 11. Matt Kenseth, 5,094; 12. Clint Bowyer, 5,045.
RIGHT OR --WRONG -CLINT BOWYER
Clint Bowyer raced his way into the Chase capturing 12th place to start .
In New Hampshire he showed what it took to win and win from more experienced drivers .
Moving from 12th place to 2nd place was a accomplisment indeed ,
It was as soon as this was done there was alot of talk especially from the writers covering Nascar of why it should be changed because it didnt seem fair or right someone like Bowyer should move ahead of the more experienced drivers just because of one win.
In New Hampshire he showed what it took to win and win from more experienced drivers .
Moving from 12th place to 2nd place was a accomplisment indeed ,
It was as soon as this was done there was alot of talk especially from the writers covering Nascar of why it should be changed because it didnt seem fair or right someone like Bowyer should move ahead of the more experienced drivers just because of one win.
"Like Bowyer" meaning not as experienced or widely known as other drivers.
In his careeer this was his 2nd Sprintcup win and a huge one ,The first race of the 2010 Chase To The Championship
He quickly became a favorite among fans and a driver deserving to be the chase But , the media didnt like it any many drivers and owners didnt either.
At Richmond where he clinched his chase berth he had a car inspected that didnt really meet Nascar rule book settings .
At New Hamshire there were questions also on that car, as per Nascar ,nothing found wrong with the cars that wouldve changed the out come of the races .
He was fined 150 points Back to 12th his crew chief and car chief were also both fined and are suspended from doing there duties for six weeks .
Almost the entire part of the Chase.
Will this affect Bowyer and the possibilty of him doing even better in the 11 races remaining
Most definitely be sure.
Is this the way to handle especially ,during the chase, penalties given out when it would not have changed the out come of the race NO!
This is one of the biggest mistakes Nascar has ever done .
You should not be pentalized points during the chase for infractions that didnt alter the outcome of the race or your position.
This is unheard of ,you can say what may but there have been other drivers and crews that have done worse during the chase only to have there wrists slapped .
NASCAR should reverse ther decision Now and put Bowyer back where he deserves to be ,2nd place and to hell that he isnt a Jimmie Johnson or Dale Junior
It isnt right !!
Right or Wrong ?
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
DOVER SPECIFIC--STATISTICS
Below is a look at how the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field has performed at Dover International Speedway, going into the AAA 400 on Sept. 26.
1 - Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Toyota)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 94.3
2010 Rundown
· Six wins, 11 top fives, 12 top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 14.7
· Led 15 races for 918 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Two top fives, three top 10s
· Average finish of 22.8 in nine races
· Average Running Position of 20.2, 21st-best
· Driver Rating of 77.5, 15th-best
2 - Clint Bowyer (No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 93.5
2010 Rundown
· One win, five top fives, 15 top 10s
· Average finish of 14.1
· Led 12 races for 340 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Three top 10s
· Average finish of 14.7 in nine races
· Average Running Position of 13.3, eighth-best
· Driver Rating of 89.5, 10th-best
· 104 Fastest Laps Run, 12th-most
· Average Green Flag Speed of 141.893 mph, ninth-fastest
· 2,568 Laps in the Top 15 (71.3%), 11th-most
· 230 Quality Passes, ninth-most
3 - Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 95.5
2010 Rundown
· Three wins, 12 top fives, 18 top 10s
· Average finish of 9.6
· Led 11 races for 230 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Two top fives, seven top 10s
Average finish of 17.4 in 19 races
· Average Running Position of 19.4, 17th-best
· Driver Rating of 75.2, 18th-best
· 402 Green Flag Passes, ninth-most
4 - Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M's Toyota)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 98.2
2010 Rundown
· Three wins, eight top fives, 15 top 10s; two poles
· Average finish of 12.4
· Led 14 races for 978 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Two wins, six top fives, six top 10s
· Average finish of 15.5 in 11 races
· Average Running Position of 13.3, ninth-best
· Driver Rating of 101.6, fifth-best
· 203 Fastest Laps Run, sixth-most
· Average Green Flag Speed of 142.217 mph, fourth-fastest
· 3,054 Laps in the Top 15 (69.3%), ninth-most
· 246 Quality Passes, sixth-most
5 - Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 102.5
2010 Rundown
· 10 top fives, 14 top 10s
· Average finish of 11.9
· Led 15 races for 815 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Four wins, 14 top fives, 21 top 10s; four poles
· Average finish of 12.1 in 35 races
· Average Running Position of 14.0, 11th-best
· Driver Rating of 90.0, ninth-best
· Average Green Flag Speed of 142.035 mph, seventh-fastest
· 3,071 Laps in the Top 15 (69.7%), eighth-most
· 254 Quality Passes, fifth-most
6 - Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 95.0
2010 Rundown ·
Two wins, eight top fives, 15 top 10s; two poles
· Average finish of 14.3
· Led 14 races for 817 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Four top fives, six top 10s
· Average finish of 19.7 in 20 races
· Average Running Position of 11.5, seventh-best
· Driver Rating of 95.4, eighth-best
· 153 Fastest Laps Run, seventh-most
· 3,101 Laps in the Top 15 (70.4%), sixth-most
· 240 Quality Passes, seventh-most
7 - Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 106.9
2010 Rundown
· Five wins, 10 top fives, 14 top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 14.9
· Led 18 races for 1,083 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Five wins, seven top fives, 11 top 10s; two poles
· Average finish of 10.2 in 17 races
· Average Running Position of 9.1, third-best
· Series-best Driver Rating of 113.8
· Series-high 562 Fastest Laps Run
· 387 Green Flag Passes, 10th-most
· Series-best Average Green Flag Speed of 142.557 mph
· 3,571 Laps in the Top 15 (81.1%), fourth-most
· 221 Quality Passes, 11th-most
8 - Carl Edwards (No. 99 Kellogg's/Cheez-it Ford)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 89.7
2010 Rundown
· Six top fives, 14 top 10s; two poles
· Average finish of 11.9
· Led 7 races for 137 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· One win, five top fives, eight top 10s
· Average finish of 7.9 in 12 races
· Average Running Position of 10.4, sixth-best
· Driver Rating of 102.2, fourth-best
· 296 Fastest Laps Run, fourth-most
· 428 Green Flag Passes, fourth-most
· 312 Quality Passes, third-most
9 - Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M Ford)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 86.2
2010 Rundown
· One win, five top fives, 14 top 10s
· Average finish of 15.4
· Led 9 races for 258 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Two wins, six top fives, 10 top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 10.5 in 16 races
· Average Running Position of 7.4, second-best
· Driver Rating of 112.2, second-best
· 388 Fastest Laps Run, second-most
· 405 Green Flag Passes, seventh-most
· Average Green Flag Speed of 142.457 mph, second-fastest
· Series-high 4,049 Laps in the Top 15 (91.9%)
· Series-high 338 Quality Passes
10 - Jeff Burton (No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 99.4
2010 Rundown
· Five top fives, 13 top 10s
· Average finish of 12.7
· Led 12 races for 390 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· One win, seven top fives, 14 top 10s
· Average finish of 15.9 in 33 races
· Average Running Position of 13.7, 10th-best
· Driver Rating of 89.3, 11th-best
· 129 Fastest Laps Run, 10th-most
· 463 Green Flag Passes, second-most
· Average Green Flag Speed of 141.696 mph, 12th-fastest
· 2,875 Laps in the Top 15 (65.3%), 10th-most
· 260 Quality Passes, fourth-most
11 - Tony Stewart (No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 93.0
2010 Rundown
· One win, seven top fives, 14 top 10s; two poles
· Average finish of 13.4
· Led 16 races for 432 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Two wins, 10 top fives, 15 top 10s
· Average finish of 11.4 in 23 races
· Average Running Position of 20.7, 22nd-best
· Driver Rating of 73.2, 20th-best
· 421 Green Flag Passes, fifth-most
12 - Matt Kenseth (No. 17 Crown Royal Ford)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 82.7
2010 Rundown
· Five top fives, 10 top 10s
· Average finish of 13.0
· Led 6 races for 35 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· One win, 10 top fives, 15 top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 12.7 in 23 races
· Series-best Average Running Position of 7.3
· Driver Rating of 111.8, third-best
· 315 Fastest Laps Run, third-most
· 417 Green Flag Passes, sixth-most
· Average Green Flag Speed of 142.435 mph, third-fastest
· 3,846 Laps in the Top 15 (87.3%), second-most
· 315 Quality Passes, second-most
1 - Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Toyota)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 94.3
2010 Rundown
· Six wins, 11 top fives, 12 top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 14.7
· Led 15 races for 918 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Two top fives, three top 10s
· Average finish of 22.8 in nine races
· Average Running Position of 20.2, 21st-best
· Driver Rating of 77.5, 15th-best
2 - Clint Bowyer (No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 93.5
2010 Rundown
· One win, five top fives, 15 top 10s
· Average finish of 14.1
· Led 12 races for 340 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Three top 10s
· Average finish of 14.7 in nine races
· Average Running Position of 13.3, eighth-best
· Driver Rating of 89.5, 10th-best
· 104 Fastest Laps Run, 12th-most
· Average Green Flag Speed of 141.893 mph, ninth-fastest
· 2,568 Laps in the Top 15 (71.3%), 11th-most
· 230 Quality Passes, ninth-most
3 - Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 95.5
2010 Rundown
· Three wins, 12 top fives, 18 top 10s
· Average finish of 9.6
· Led 11 races for 230 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Two top fives, seven top 10s
Average finish of 17.4 in 19 races
· Average Running Position of 19.4, 17th-best
· Driver Rating of 75.2, 18th-best
· 402 Green Flag Passes, ninth-most
4 - Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M's Toyota)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 98.2
2010 Rundown
· Three wins, eight top fives, 15 top 10s; two poles
· Average finish of 12.4
· Led 14 races for 978 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Two wins, six top fives, six top 10s
· Average finish of 15.5 in 11 races
· Average Running Position of 13.3, ninth-best
· Driver Rating of 101.6, fifth-best
· 203 Fastest Laps Run, sixth-most
· Average Green Flag Speed of 142.217 mph, fourth-fastest
· 3,054 Laps in the Top 15 (69.3%), ninth-most
· 246 Quality Passes, sixth-most
5 - Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 102.5
2010 Rundown
· 10 top fives, 14 top 10s
· Average finish of 11.9
· Led 15 races for 815 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Four wins, 14 top fives, 21 top 10s; four poles
· Average finish of 12.1 in 35 races
· Average Running Position of 14.0, 11th-best
· Driver Rating of 90.0, ninth-best
· Average Green Flag Speed of 142.035 mph, seventh-fastest
· 3,071 Laps in the Top 15 (69.7%), eighth-most
· 254 Quality Passes, fifth-most
6 - Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 95.0
2010 Rundown ·
Two wins, eight top fives, 15 top 10s; two poles
· Average finish of 14.3
· Led 14 races for 817 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Four top fives, six top 10s
· Average finish of 19.7 in 20 races
· Average Running Position of 11.5, seventh-best
· Driver Rating of 95.4, eighth-best
· 153 Fastest Laps Run, seventh-most
· 3,101 Laps in the Top 15 (70.4%), sixth-most
· 240 Quality Passes, seventh-most
7 - Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 106.9
2010 Rundown
· Five wins, 10 top fives, 14 top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 14.9
· Led 18 races for 1,083 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Five wins, seven top fives, 11 top 10s; two poles
· Average finish of 10.2 in 17 races
· Average Running Position of 9.1, third-best
· Series-best Driver Rating of 113.8
· Series-high 562 Fastest Laps Run
· 387 Green Flag Passes, 10th-most
· Series-best Average Green Flag Speed of 142.557 mph
· 3,571 Laps in the Top 15 (81.1%), fourth-most
· 221 Quality Passes, 11th-most
8 - Carl Edwards (No. 99 Kellogg's/Cheez-it Ford)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 89.7
2010 Rundown
· Six top fives, 14 top 10s; two poles
· Average finish of 11.9
· Led 7 races for 137 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· One win, five top fives, eight top 10s
· Average finish of 7.9 in 12 races
· Average Running Position of 10.4, sixth-best
· Driver Rating of 102.2, fourth-best
· 296 Fastest Laps Run, fourth-most
· 428 Green Flag Passes, fourth-most
· 312 Quality Passes, third-most
9 - Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M Ford)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 86.2
2010 Rundown
· One win, five top fives, 14 top 10s
· Average finish of 15.4
· Led 9 races for 258 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Two wins, six top fives, 10 top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 10.5 in 16 races
· Average Running Position of 7.4, second-best
· Driver Rating of 112.2, second-best
· 388 Fastest Laps Run, second-most
· 405 Green Flag Passes, seventh-most
· Average Green Flag Speed of 142.457 mph, second-fastest
· Series-high 4,049 Laps in the Top 15 (91.9%)
· Series-high 338 Quality Passes
10 - Jeff Burton (No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 99.4
2010 Rundown
· Five top fives, 13 top 10s
· Average finish of 12.7
· Led 12 races for 390 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· One win, seven top fives, 14 top 10s
· Average finish of 15.9 in 33 races
· Average Running Position of 13.7, 10th-best
· Driver Rating of 89.3, 11th-best
· 129 Fastest Laps Run, 10th-most
· 463 Green Flag Passes, second-most
· Average Green Flag Speed of 141.696 mph, 12th-fastest
· 2,875 Laps in the Top 15 (65.3%), 10th-most
· 260 Quality Passes, fourth-most
11 - Tony Stewart (No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 93.0
2010 Rundown
· One win, seven top fives, 14 top 10s; two poles
· Average finish of 13.4
· Led 16 races for 432 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· Two wins, 10 top fives, 15 top 10s
· Average finish of 11.4 in 23 races
· Average Running Position of 20.7, 22nd-best
· Driver Rating of 73.2, 20th-best
· 421 Green Flag Passes, fifth-most
12 - Matt Kenseth (No. 17 Crown Royal Ford)
· Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 82.7
2010 Rundown
· Five top fives, 10 top 10s
· Average finish of 13.0
· Led 6 races for 35 laps
Dover International Speedway Outlook:
· One win, 10 top fives, 15 top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 12.7 in 23 races
· Series-best Average Running Position of 7.3
· Driver Rating of 111.8, third-best
· 315 Fastest Laps Run, third-most
· 417 Green Flag Passes, sixth-most
· Average Green Flag Speed of 142.435 mph, third-fastest
· 3,846 Laps in the Top 15 (87.3%), second-most
· 315 Quality Passes, second-most
NASCAR NEWS AND NOTES
The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup heads into its second race, at Dover International Speedway on Sunday – the AAA 400.
The NASCAR Nationwide Series also will run at Dover, with Saturday’s Dover 200.
And the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Friday night’s Smith’s Food & Drug Stores 350.
The GRAND-AM Road Racing season, meanwhile, is complete, with the Rolex Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge looking to the 2011 season-opening races at Daytona International Speedway Jan. 28-30.
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
Suddenly … Bowyer
Clint Bowyer started the Chase in 12th place. After winning at New Hampshire, he has shot up to second. And who said Kevin Harvick had the best championship chance in the Richard Childress Racing stable?
Is Johnson Actually In Trouble? Already?
Could be. Four-time defending series champ Jimmie Johnson finished 25th at New Hampshire, tumbling all the way to second place to seventh. On the other hand, he won last year’s Chase race at Dover, so any concern people have about might get put to rest quickly.
Quiet Consistency Continues For Gordon
Four-time series champ Jeff Gordon hasn’t won a race all year, yet he made the Chase. He finished sixth at New Hampshire, but is still a solid fifth in the standings now. If he ever does get on a roll, watch out. Despite a so-so-season, he’s still a contender.
“Best Chase Ever” Begins Sunday
Prior to the start of the Chase, Carl Edwards gave a bold prediction, one echoed by a number of competitors: “It has been so wild this year and each race is so different. You just never know. I can’t pick a favorite as a fan looking at it and I don’t think you can say which rivalries are going to build. I think this is going to be the best Chase we have ever had.”
Potential Spoiler Of The Week – Mark Martin
Last year’s series championship runner-up failed to make the Chase this year but he definitely could play the “spoiler” role on Sunday at Dover.
Mark Martin, owner of four Dover victories, has scored more top fives (22) and top 10s (30) than any driver in series history at Dover. Martin, the runner-up in last year’s fall Dover race, has an average finish of 12.5 there
The NASCAR Nationwide Series also will run at Dover, with Saturday’s Dover 200.
And the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Friday night’s Smith’s Food & Drug Stores 350.
The GRAND-AM Road Racing season, meanwhile, is complete, with the Rolex Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge looking to the 2011 season-opening races at Daytona International Speedway Jan. 28-30.
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
Suddenly … Bowyer
Clint Bowyer started the Chase in 12th place. After winning at New Hampshire, he has shot up to second. And who said Kevin Harvick had the best championship chance in the Richard Childress Racing stable?
Is Johnson Actually In Trouble? Already?
Could be. Four-time defending series champ Jimmie Johnson finished 25th at New Hampshire, tumbling all the way to second place to seventh. On the other hand, he won last year’s Chase race at Dover, so any concern people have about might get put to rest quickly.
Quiet Consistency Continues For Gordon
Four-time series champ Jeff Gordon hasn’t won a race all year, yet he made the Chase. He finished sixth at New Hampshire, but is still a solid fifth in the standings now. If he ever does get on a roll, watch out. Despite a so-so-season, he’s still a contender.
“Best Chase Ever” Begins Sunday
Prior to the start of the Chase, Carl Edwards gave a bold prediction, one echoed by a number of competitors: “It has been so wild this year and each race is so different. You just never know. I can’t pick a favorite as a fan looking at it and I don’t think you can say which rivalries are going to build. I think this is going to be the best Chase we have ever had.”
Potential Spoiler Of The Week – Mark Martin
Last year’s series championship runner-up failed to make the Chase this year but he definitely could play the “spoiler” role on Sunday at Dover.
Mark Martin, owner of four Dover victories, has scored more top fives (22) and top 10s (30) than any driver in series history at Dover. Martin, the runner-up in last year’s fall Dover race, has an average finish of 12.5 there
NASCAR HALL OF FAME ANNOUCEMENT :2ND CLASS VOTING DAY
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 22, 2010) – The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) has announced that “Voting Day” for the second class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame will be Wednesday, Oct. 13 at the hall, in Charlotte, N.C.
NASCAR broadcast partner SPEED will carry the announcement of the second class live at 4 p.m. ET.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel, consisting of members of the Nominating Committee, will meet in a closed session to deliberate and vote on the 25 candidates eligible for this second class. The vote will be followed by a press conference announcing the five new inductees that will join the inaugural class of 2010, which consisted of NASCAR drivers Dale Earnhardt, Junior Johnson and Richard Petty, as well as NASCAR pioneers Bill France Sr. and Bill France Jr.
The class will be chosen from the 53 votes cast by the panel and the nationwide fan vote – which ends Sept. 26 – conducted through NASCAR.COM. The accounting firm of Ernst & Young will preside over the tabulation of the votes.
The second class will consist of five members and is scheduled to be enshrined in May 2011.
The nominees, which include many of the sport’s legendary names and were announced in July, include:
Bobby Allison, Buck Baker, Red Byron, Richard Childress, Jerry Cook, Richie Evans, Tim Flock, Rick Hendrick, Jack Ingram, Dale Inman, Ned Jarrett, Fred Lorenzen, Bud Moore, Raymond Parks, Benny Parsons, David Pearson, Lee Petty, Fireball Roberts, T. Wayne Robertson, Herb Thomas, Curtis Turner, Darrell Waltrip, Joe Weatherly, Glen Wood and Cale Yarborough.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame broke ground in Charlotte on Jan. 25, 2007 and opened on May 11 of this year. The facility honors the history and heritage of NASCAR and individuals who have contributed to the success of NASCAR
NASCAR broadcast partner SPEED will carry the announcement of the second class live at 4 p.m. ET.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel, consisting of members of the Nominating Committee, will meet in a closed session to deliberate and vote on the 25 candidates eligible for this second class. The vote will be followed by a press conference announcing the five new inductees that will join the inaugural class of 2010, which consisted of NASCAR drivers Dale Earnhardt, Junior Johnson and Richard Petty, as well as NASCAR pioneers Bill France Sr. and Bill France Jr.
The class will be chosen from the 53 votes cast by the panel and the nationwide fan vote – which ends Sept. 26 – conducted through NASCAR.COM. The accounting firm of Ernst & Young will preside over the tabulation of the votes.
The second class will consist of five members and is scheduled to be enshrined in May 2011.
The nominees, which include many of the sport’s legendary names and were announced in July, include:
Bobby Allison, Buck Baker, Red Byron, Richard Childress, Jerry Cook, Richie Evans, Tim Flock, Rick Hendrick, Jack Ingram, Dale Inman, Ned Jarrett, Fred Lorenzen, Bud Moore, Raymond Parks, Benny Parsons, David Pearson, Lee Petty, Fireball Roberts, T. Wayne Robertson, Herb Thomas, Curtis Turner, Darrell Waltrip, Joe Weatherly, Glen Wood and Cale Yarborough.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame broke ground in Charlotte on Jan. 25, 2007 and opened on May 11 of this year. The facility honors the history and heritage of NASCAR and individuals who have contributed to the success of NASCAR
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
How I Would Change Nascar:-The Chase
HOW I WOULD CHANGE NASCAR
BY:PAUL DENTON
RACINGHELLONWHEELS
The Chase
First of all I hate the Chase But we are stuck with it so here goes-
It's suppose to be Emphasis On Winning I havent seen that so lets get started:
1- All race winners from the regular season will be in the chase ,it doesnt matter if it is a one time wonder ,
A driver usually in 39th position and in the way or because of a rain out or a rookie or what ever may be,, he won a race so he's in the chase .
2-There will be four[4] races that make up the chase
a short track a intermediate a super speedway and a rotating pick from year to year from the mentioned tracks .
Example first year 1-short -1 intermediate -1-superspeedway 4th -short to stop having the same track to many times in a row the most one track can be used as 4th track is two times in a row
3-Chase picks - all the race winners, and if not a race winnner the points winner of regular season
example this year- we have eleven race winners ,we throw in Gordon because he has no wins but most points without a win --he's in
Thats 12 but you say what if theres 14 race winners -- 14 plus driver with no wins but most points= 15
4-Thats the field ? YEP ,,we dont need or want any more because one -They are not winners EMPHASIS ON WINNING
5-All the drivers will qualify on speed for start places there will be restarts as they are now
6- All races will be 250 miles
7 One mandatory pit
8- Points= all wins in the regular season will be worth 20 points all wins during chase will be worth 25 points
9-The regular season driver with the most points will get a special award and money and--will be in the chase if not all ready .
10-All drivers in the chase will get points for positions also that they finished in each race during chase
11- All drivers that are in the chase will be included in the year end awards show and such
12- No win ever again will go without special noticed
13- The winner of the chase will be champion of course he will be in each vote for hall of fame each year till in and this also leads to every champion shall be inducted into the hall within the next two years
Ok thats the best I could come up with I hope if not anything else it gets NASCAR thinking on the right path and remember Nascar this is NOT football
[first in a series]
BY:PAUL DENTON
RACINGHELLONWHEELS
The Chase
First of all I hate the Chase But we are stuck with it so here goes-
It's suppose to be Emphasis On Winning I havent seen that so lets get started:
1- All race winners from the regular season will be in the chase ,it doesnt matter if it is a one time wonder ,
A driver usually in 39th position and in the way or because of a rain out or a rookie or what ever may be,, he won a race so he's in the chase .
2-There will be four[4] races that make up the chase
a short track a intermediate a super speedway and a rotating pick from year to year from the mentioned tracks .
Example first year 1-short -1 intermediate -1-superspeedway 4th -short to stop having the same track to many times in a row the most one track can be used as 4th track is two times in a row
3-Chase picks - all the race winners, and if not a race winnner the points winner of regular season
example this year- we have eleven race winners ,we throw in Gordon because he has no wins but most points without a win --he's in
Thats 12 but you say what if theres 14 race winners -- 14 plus driver with no wins but most points= 15
4-Thats the field ? YEP ,,we dont need or want any more because one -They are not winners EMPHASIS ON WINNING
5-All the drivers will qualify on speed for start places there will be restarts as they are now
6- All races will be 250 miles
7 One mandatory pit
8- Points= all wins in the regular season will be worth 20 points all wins during chase will be worth 25 points
9-The regular season driver with the most points will get a special award and money and--will be in the chase if not all ready .
10-All drivers in the chase will get points for positions also that they finished in each race during chase
11- All drivers that are in the chase will be included in the year end awards show and such
12- No win ever again will go without special noticed
13- The winner of the chase will be champion of course he will be in each vote for hall of fame each year till in and this also leads to every champion shall be inducted into the hall within the next two years
Ok thats the best I could come up with I hope if not anything else it gets NASCAR thinking on the right path and remember Nascar this is NOT football
[first in a series]
Monday, September 20, 2010
Jeff Gordon’s steady approach may be the right one
Jeff Gordon’s steady approach may be the right one
LOUDON, N.H.—Tortoise or hare?
Which one—specifically, which philosophy—is going to win the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup?
If Jeff Gordon wins the championship, he’ll validate the tortoise approach.
That’s not to imply Gordon is slow. It simply means he can bring to the Chase the maturity and experience born of previous championship battles—as he did Sunday in New Hampshire, where he bided his time, made a sensible choice and left with a sixth-place finish.
A mediocre qualifying effort put Gordon in the 17th starting position. Gradually, he worked his way toward the front of the field, running as high as second in the final 80 laps of the Sylvania 300.
But when others gambled on fuel mileage after pit stops on Lap 208, Gordon and crew chief Steve Letarte weighed the risk versus the potential reward and brought the No. 24 Chevrolet to pit road for a splash of gas on Lap 225.
Clint Bowyer’s gamble on fuel paid off with a race win, but Tony Stewart and Jeff Burton weren’t as lucky. Stewart’s tank went dry with his No. 14 Chevrolet in the lead with barely more than one lap left. After an agonizingly slow trip around the 1.058-mile racetrack, Stewart inched across the finish line in 24th place.
Jeff Burton, running fourth at the time, experienced fuel pickup issues before Stewart did but managed to coast home in 15th. Burton and Stewart sustained deep wounds to their championship hopes.
Gordon and Letarte weren’t willing to take the risk, and the conservative choice paid off.
“It wasn’t our best day, but I felt like we really brought the No. 24 car home in the best position we possibly could,” Gordon said. “We had some high hopes when we got up there to third or fourth—even to second at one time.
“But I think Steve called a great race. He didn’t want to risk the fuel, and it just wasn’t worth it. We did a gas-and-go and probably just needed to make one adjustment on that last set of tires. We got real tight there at the end, but when those guys didn’t make it on fuel, it definitely made us feel that much better about the call that Steve made and coming home sixth.”
The net effect was enormous. Though winless this year, Gordon wiped out the 50-point advantage that belonged to teammate Jimmie Johnson, a five-time winner this year but a 25th-place finisher at Loudon. Gordon jumped from a tie for eighth in the standings to fifth, 75 points behind race runner-up Denny Hamlin but well within striking distance if Hamlin falters.
“I don’t think we played it cautious (Sunday),” Gordon said. “I just feel like Steve looked at whether or not it was worth gambling. That’s what we do every week. We came into this race saying we can certainly lose this championship this weekend; we can’t necessarily win it. We’ve got to go and grind it out and put out that kind of effort for 10 weeks.”
In five of the past six seasons, the Chase winner has come from the top six finishers at New Hampshire in September. The lone exception was Johnson in 2006, when he rallied from a 39th-place finish at Loudon to win the title.
In the past three seasons, Johnson has surged to the front by piling up victories in the Chase, but there’s nothing to suggest one team will dominate this year.
That’s good news for Gordon. “Slow” won’t win anything, but “steady” certainly could, and “steady” defines Jeff Gordon, whose trump card—more than anything else—is consistency.
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(September 20, 2010)
LOUDON, N.H.—Tortoise or hare?
Which one—specifically, which philosophy—is going to win the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup?
If Jeff Gordon wins the championship, he’ll validate the tortoise approach.
That’s not to imply Gordon is slow. It simply means he can bring to the Chase the maturity and experience born of previous championship battles—as he did Sunday in New Hampshire, where he bided his time, made a sensible choice and left with a sixth-place finish.
A mediocre qualifying effort put Gordon in the 17th starting position. Gradually, he worked his way toward the front of the field, running as high as second in the final 80 laps of the Sylvania 300.
But when others gambled on fuel mileage after pit stops on Lap 208, Gordon and crew chief Steve Letarte weighed the risk versus the potential reward and brought the No. 24 Chevrolet to pit road for a splash of gas on Lap 225.
Clint Bowyer’s gamble on fuel paid off with a race win, but Tony Stewart and Jeff Burton weren’t as lucky. Stewart’s tank went dry with his No. 14 Chevrolet in the lead with barely more than one lap left. After an agonizingly slow trip around the 1.058-mile racetrack, Stewart inched across the finish line in 24th place.
Jeff Burton, running fourth at the time, experienced fuel pickup issues before Stewart did but managed to coast home in 15th. Burton and Stewart sustained deep wounds to their championship hopes.
Gordon and Letarte weren’t willing to take the risk, and the conservative choice paid off.
“It wasn’t our best day, but I felt like we really brought the No. 24 car home in the best position we possibly could,” Gordon said. “We had some high hopes when we got up there to third or fourth—even to second at one time.
“But I think Steve called a great race. He didn’t want to risk the fuel, and it just wasn’t worth it. We did a gas-and-go and probably just needed to make one adjustment on that last set of tires. We got real tight there at the end, but when those guys didn’t make it on fuel, it definitely made us feel that much better about the call that Steve made and coming home sixth.”
The net effect was enormous. Though winless this year, Gordon wiped out the 50-point advantage that belonged to teammate Jimmie Johnson, a five-time winner this year but a 25th-place finisher at Loudon. Gordon jumped from a tie for eighth in the standings to fifth, 75 points behind race runner-up Denny Hamlin but well within striking distance if Hamlin falters.
“I don’t think we played it cautious (Sunday),” Gordon said. “I just feel like Steve looked at whether or not it was worth gambling. That’s what we do every week. We came into this race saying we can certainly lose this championship this weekend; we can’t necessarily win it. We’ve got to go and grind it out and put out that kind of effort for 10 weeks.”
In five of the past six seasons, the Chase winner has come from the top six finishers at New Hampshire in September. The lone exception was Johnson in 2006, when he rallied from a 39th-place finish at Loudon to win the title.
In the past three seasons, Johnson has surged to the front by piling up victories in the Chase, but there’s nothing to suggest one team will dominate this year.
That’s good news for Gordon. “Slow” won’t win anything, but “steady” certainly could, and “steady” defines Jeff Gordon, whose trump card—more than anything else—is consistency.
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(September 20, 2010)
Costly gamble puts Stewart in big hole
Notebook: Costly gamble puts Stewart in big hole
LOUDON, N.H.—Tony Stewart tried to get 82 laps out of his final tank of fuel in Sunday’s Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
He got almost 81Stewart ran out of fuel off Turn 4 as he approached the white flag that signaled one lap remaining. Clint Bowyer, who pitted with Stewart for the last time on Lap 208 of 300, did a better job of saving fuel and won the race.
Stewart’s feckless attempt at fuel conservation dropped him to 24th at the finish—the last driver on the lead lap—and left him 11th in the standings, 124 points behind leader Denny Hamlin, the race runner-up, heading for the second Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race next Sunday at Dover.
“I'm not happy, that's for sure, but we went down swinging,” Stewart said after the race. “It's hard to lose one that way, but at the same time it was fun racing Clint like that. He was definitely the fastest car, and congratulations to those guys.
It's a tough way to start the Chase, but I'm proud of my guys. (Crew chief) Darian (Grubb) kept swinging at it all day and finally on that last set of tires we got it halfway decent.”
Asked to talk about the good that came out of Sunday’s race, a subdued Stewart said, “It’s hard to find some.”
Despite glitches, Earnhardt scores top five
How strong was Dale Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet at New HampshireStrong enough to drive from a 32nd-place starting position into the top 10, and strong enough to salvage a fourth-place finish after mistakes and misfortune on pit road.
“It felt like we had a top-10 car, and we had the jack stop break and had to go to the back, and then a miscommunication with the No. 78 (Regan Smith) that cost us half a lap under green—just battling back from that stuff,” Earnhardt said.
Battle he did, and the resulting fourth-place finish gave Earnhardt his third top five of the year, one more than he had all last year.
“The setbacks we had today hurt us a lot,” Earnhardt said. “We unloaded a great car—they did a good job preparing it at the shop. We worked on it all weekend. It was pretty good in practice, and we improved on it a little bit.
“We had an eighth-place finish last time (at New Hampshire) and felt like we were really fast and competitive all day long. We can’t qualify very good here, but once we get in race trim, we just kind of go to the front or get near the front.”
It was an encouraging run for Earnhardt, who needed a strong performance after finishing 34th in his last outing Sept. 11 at Richmond.
Loose wheel thwarts Johnson
Like Earnhardt, four-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson drove to the front from a starting position deep in the field (25th).
Unlike Earnhardt, Johnson couldn’t stay there. An unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel on Lap 255 relegated Johnson to a 25th-place finish, worst among the 12 drivers in the Chase. Johnson ended the day seventh in the standings, 92 points behind Chase leader Denny Hamlin.
“It is the way it is,” said Johnson, who sustained damaged from a side-by-side spin with Kurt and Kyle Busch on Lap 223. “We showed up today; we did what we could. We had a decent car today and ran in the top five and top 10 but just didn’t end up finishing there.
We’ll go home and get back to work and go after it again next week.”
NASCAR will offer unprecedented access to the 12 Chase drivers during its NASCAR After the Lap fan interview session Dec. 2 at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. The Q&A session is part of the Sprint Cup Champion’s Week celebration. NASCAR After the Lap launched its “Send Me 2 Vegas” sweepstakes on Wednesday; one fan will be eligible to win a 2011 Ford Taurus SHO and a VIP trip to Vegas during Champion’s Week. To find out the details, go to NASCARafterthelap.com.
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
LOUDON, N.H.—Tony Stewart tried to get 82 laps out of his final tank of fuel in Sunday’s Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
He got almost 81Stewart ran out of fuel off Turn 4 as he approached the white flag that signaled one lap remaining. Clint Bowyer, who pitted with Stewart for the last time on Lap 208 of 300, did a better job of saving fuel and won the race.
Stewart’s feckless attempt at fuel conservation dropped him to 24th at the finish—the last driver on the lead lap—and left him 11th in the standings, 124 points behind leader Denny Hamlin, the race runner-up, heading for the second Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race next Sunday at Dover.
“I'm not happy, that's for sure, but we went down swinging,” Stewart said after the race. “It's hard to lose one that way, but at the same time it was fun racing Clint like that. He was definitely the fastest car, and congratulations to those guys.
It's a tough way to start the Chase, but I'm proud of my guys. (Crew chief) Darian (Grubb) kept swinging at it all day and finally on that last set of tires we got it halfway decent.”
Asked to talk about the good that came out of Sunday’s race, a subdued Stewart said, “It’s hard to find some.”
Despite glitches, Earnhardt scores top five
How strong was Dale Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet at New HampshireStrong enough to drive from a 32nd-place starting position into the top 10, and strong enough to salvage a fourth-place finish after mistakes and misfortune on pit road.
“It felt like we had a top-10 car, and we had the jack stop break and had to go to the back, and then a miscommunication with the No. 78 (Regan Smith) that cost us half a lap under green—just battling back from that stuff,” Earnhardt said.
Battle he did, and the resulting fourth-place finish gave Earnhardt his third top five of the year, one more than he had all last year.
“The setbacks we had today hurt us a lot,” Earnhardt said. “We unloaded a great car—they did a good job preparing it at the shop. We worked on it all weekend. It was pretty good in practice, and we improved on it a little bit.
“We had an eighth-place finish last time (at New Hampshire) and felt like we were really fast and competitive all day long. We can’t qualify very good here, but once we get in race trim, we just kind of go to the front or get near the front.”
It was an encouraging run for Earnhardt, who needed a strong performance after finishing 34th in his last outing Sept. 11 at Richmond.
Loose wheel thwarts Johnson
Like Earnhardt, four-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson drove to the front from a starting position deep in the field (25th).
Unlike Earnhardt, Johnson couldn’t stay there. An unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel on Lap 255 relegated Johnson to a 25th-place finish, worst among the 12 drivers in the Chase. Johnson ended the day seventh in the standings, 92 points behind Chase leader Denny Hamlin.
“It is the way it is,” said Johnson, who sustained damaged from a side-by-side spin with Kurt and Kyle Busch on Lap 223. “We showed up today; we did what we could. We had a decent car today and ran in the top five and top 10 but just didn’t end up finishing there.
We’ll go home and get back to work and go after it again next week.”
NASCAR will offer unprecedented access to the 12 Chase drivers during its NASCAR After the Lap fan interview session Dec. 2 at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. The Q&A session is part of the Sprint Cup Champion’s Week celebration. NASCAR After the Lap launched its “Send Me 2 Vegas” sweepstakes on Wednesday; one fan will be eligible to win a 2011 Ford Taurus SHO and a VIP trip to Vegas during Champion’s Week. To find out the details, go to NASCARafterthelap.com.
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Bowyer wins Chase opener
Bowyer wins Chase opener when Stewart runs out of gas
LOUDON, N.H.—The picture told the story.
Clint Bowyer’s No. 33 Chevrolet spun in a cloud of smoke as Bowyer celebrated victory in Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
In the same frame, Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevy coasted slowly across the finish line, out of fuel and out of the running for a race win that had seemed a distinct possibility barely more than a lap earlier.
Bowyer, the last driver to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, and Stewart both gambled on fuel after pitting for the last time on Lap 208 of 300 at the 1.058-mile racetrack.
Bowyer won, beating resilient Denny Hamlin to the finish line by .477 seconds and surging into second place in the Chase standings after the first of 10 races. Hamlin leads Bowyer by 35 points as the Sprint Cup Series heads to Dover.
Stewart lost, running out of fuel off Turn 4 while leading with the white flag—signaling one lap left—clearly in his sights.
“Just ran out,” was Stewart’s immediate, terse reaction to his fuel crisis, but it spoke volumes. The two-time Cup champion left Loudon in 11th place, 124 points behind Hamlin.
Bowyer was still in fuel-saving mode with Hamlin running him down on the final lap, but he mashed the pedal out of Turn 4.
“Wide open, stay in it—come on, bitch!” spotter Mike Dillon radioed to Bowyer as he rounded the final corner, almost as if he were driving a thoroughbred down the stretch.
Jamie McMurray finished third, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fourth. Kevin Harvick, who led the standings after the first 26 races, ran fifth despite fighting handling problems throughout the race and is third in the standings, 45 points out of the lead. Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch and Sam Hornish Jr. rounded out the top 10.
Bowyer approached the first Chase race with optimism, his 2007 maiden victory at New Hampshire still fresh in his mind.
“I just had a feeling—this race just felt like (it did) back in 2007, and we did it again,” said Bowyer, who broke an 88-race winless drought with the third victory of his career.
The win didn’t come, however, until Stewart ran out of gas.
“I thought I could run (Stewart) down, but I was using so much fuel through the middle of the corner that I just had to back down,” Bowyer said. “I could tell in (crew chief Shane Wilson’s) voice—once you get that relationship with somebody, you can tell in his voice how nervous he was, and he sounded pretty nervous.”
Bowyer finally ran out of fuel during his burnout, and a wrecker pushed the winning car to victory lane. Stewart finished 24th on a day that saw Jimmie Johnson’s quest for a fifth straight championship slowed by a loose wheel late in the race. Johnson finished one position behind Stewart.
Hamlin, the top seed entering the Chase, survived a spin in Turn 4 that dropped him temporarily from third to 22nd. On Lap 214, as Hamlin was rolling through the corner, Carl Edwards’ No. 99 Ford slid up the track into Hamlin’s car and caused the spin.
“Can’t hold his line, can he?” Hamlin said sardonically, before Edwards’ spotter relayed a message of apology from his driver to Hamlin.
“I got mad on the radio for like 10 seconds, and it was like, ‘All right, what do we got to do; just tell me what we’ve got to do to get back up there,' ” Hamlin said after the spin that forced him to pit road and eliminated potential fuel-mileage issues for the No. 11 Toyota.
“Normally, I think years ago, I really would have kind of flipped out, but I think now it’s just a little bit more relaxed.”
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
LOUDON, N.H.—The picture told the story.
Clint Bowyer’s No. 33 Chevrolet spun in a cloud of smoke as Bowyer celebrated victory in Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
In the same frame, Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevy coasted slowly across the finish line, out of fuel and out of the running for a race win that had seemed a distinct possibility barely more than a lap earlier.
Bowyer, the last driver to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, and Stewart both gambled on fuel after pitting for the last time on Lap 208 of 300 at the 1.058-mile racetrack.
Bowyer won, beating resilient Denny Hamlin to the finish line by .477 seconds and surging into second place in the Chase standings after the first of 10 races. Hamlin leads Bowyer by 35 points as the Sprint Cup Series heads to Dover.
Stewart lost, running out of fuel off Turn 4 while leading with the white flag—signaling one lap left—clearly in his sights.
“Just ran out,” was Stewart’s immediate, terse reaction to his fuel crisis, but it spoke volumes. The two-time Cup champion left Loudon in 11th place, 124 points behind Hamlin.
Bowyer was still in fuel-saving mode with Hamlin running him down on the final lap, but he mashed the pedal out of Turn 4.
“Wide open, stay in it—come on, bitch!” spotter Mike Dillon radioed to Bowyer as he rounded the final corner, almost as if he were driving a thoroughbred down the stretch.
Jamie McMurray finished third, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fourth. Kevin Harvick, who led the standings after the first 26 races, ran fifth despite fighting handling problems throughout the race and is third in the standings, 45 points out of the lead. Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch and Sam Hornish Jr. rounded out the top 10.
Bowyer approached the first Chase race with optimism, his 2007 maiden victory at New Hampshire still fresh in his mind.
“I just had a feeling—this race just felt like (it did) back in 2007, and we did it again,” said Bowyer, who broke an 88-race winless drought with the third victory of his career.
The win didn’t come, however, until Stewart ran out of gas.
“I thought I could run (Stewart) down, but I was using so much fuel through the middle of the corner that I just had to back down,” Bowyer said. “I could tell in (crew chief Shane Wilson’s) voice—once you get that relationship with somebody, you can tell in his voice how nervous he was, and he sounded pretty nervous.”
Bowyer finally ran out of fuel during his burnout, and a wrecker pushed the winning car to victory lane. Stewart finished 24th on a day that saw Jimmie Johnson’s quest for a fifth straight championship slowed by a loose wheel late in the race. Johnson finished one position behind Stewart.
Hamlin, the top seed entering the Chase, survived a spin in Turn 4 that dropped him temporarily from third to 22nd. On Lap 214, as Hamlin was rolling through the corner, Carl Edwards’ No. 99 Ford slid up the track into Hamlin’s car and caused the spin.
“Can’t hold his line, can he?” Hamlin said sardonically, before Edwards’ spotter relayed a message of apology from his driver to Hamlin.
“I got mad on the radio for like 10 seconds, and it was like, ‘All right, what do we got to do; just tell me what we’ve got to do to get back up there,' ” Hamlin said after the spin that forced him to pit road and eliminated potential fuel-mileage issues for the No. 11 Toyota.
“Normally, I think years ago, I really would have kind of flipped out, but I think now it’s just a little bit more relaxed.”
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
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