Next Three Races Crucial To Earnhardt On Several Fronts

Next Three Races Crucial To Earnhardt On Several Fronts

Nobody has to remind Dale Earnhardt Jr. that the clock is ticking on both his hopes of winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship and ending an escalating winless streak that reached 123 races following his 14th-place finish in Kansas.

Earnhardt isn’t out of the championship picture by some measures, although he is ninth and facing a 43-point deficit.

While Earnhardt has yet to record a victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway, May’s Coca-Cola 600 is something on which to base optimism.

Earnhardt nearly won May’s Charlotte race, but ran out of fuel on the final lap. He finished seventh to Kevin Harvick, a re-run of the spring race at Martinsville where Harvick made the winning pass with four laps remaining.

The coming three races – Charlotte, Talladega and Martinsville – are make or break for Earnhardt at least as 2011 is concerned. A five-time Talladega winner, Earnhardt finished fourth at the 2.66-mile superspeedway in April.

“We’ve had some pretty fast cars, some quick enough cars to have some good finishes,” said Earnhardt prior to last week’s race in Kansas. “Man, I would like to win a race before the year is out and I think we can do that as a team. I feel confident that we can do that. I don’t think it’s over by no means.”

Racing’s Sweeter For Keselowski The Second Time Around

By statistical analysis, Brad Keselowski faces an uphill battle in most of the races comprising the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Statistics say he’s a dark horse at best and ranked fourth in the standings after four races, over achiever.

He has just the seventh-best Driver Rating (95.9) among Chase qualifiers over the first four races. Likewise, his average running position, 11.4, betters only five other drivers. Only leader Carl Edwards, however, has a better average finish.

And over the next sixth tracks, his Driver Rating is just 67.2, worst among the top 12. One explanation: Keselowski hasn’t been a NASCAR Sprint Cup competitor long enough to have created a large enough body of work to properly weigh his assets and liabilities.

This week’s Bank of America 500 is case in point. Keselowski has run in the series just four times at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a best finish of 12th in 2009. His average start and finish are almost identical, both ticks over 19, although he won the Coors Light Pole for May’s Coca-Cola 600 and finished – yes – 19th. He’s led nine laps.

Something else to consider: the No. 2 Team Penske Dodge’s performance in the second trip of the season to several tracks:

•           Bristol Motor Speedway –18th / 1st

•           Michigan International Speedway 25th / 3rd

•           New Hampshire Motor Speedway 35th / 2nd

•           Pocono Raceway 23rd / 1st

It might be argued that Keselowski is just getting warmed up.

Kahne’s Peak Makes Him A Spoil Sport

Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 marks the anniversary of the last non-Chase qualifier to win a post-season race. Jamie McMurray, outside the top 12 again in 2011, posted his third and final victory in a campaign that included Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 wins.

McMurray, as the defender, is an obvious candidate to spoil things – take bonus points away from the championship contenders. The Missourian has yet to win this year.

A more obvious “spoiler,” however, would be Kasey Kahne, something his 2012 employer Hendrick Motorsports might be viewing with mixed emotions.

Kahne has been red-hot over the past two races finishing runner-up to Jimmie Johnson at Kansas Speedway and fourth at Dover. He’s gone on a tear since the Chase began at Chicagoland with an average finish of 8.25 over the four races.

Kahne is a three-time Charlotte winner who swept both races in 2006.

Drivers who failed to qualify for the Chase – Kahne, McMurray, Casey Mears, Jeff Burton and David Reutimann – have won seven of the last 11 Charlotte races.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 

NASCAR has three Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) tests scheduled this month for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Oct. 17 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Oct. 20 at Talladega Superspeedway and Oct. 31 at Martinsville Speedway. The tests are part of the continued development of the EFI Research and Development for the teams. Electronic Fuel Injection will be fully implemented in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series beginning at Daytona International Speedway in February 2012. … Milestone Watch: Hendrick Motorsports will attempt to post the organizations 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win; Mark Martin will make his 825th series start; Greg Biffle will make his 650th NASCAR national series start and his 325th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start; Jamie McMurray will make his 325th series start; Brian Vickers will make his 250th series start; Kurt Busch will attempt to post his 25th series win; Juan Pablo Montoya will attempt to post his 50th series top-10 finish; Ryan Newman will attempt to post his 150th series top-10 finish and 50th series pole. … Multi-platinum recording artist and country music superstar Sara Evans will perform a pre-race concert for the Bank of America 500, Oct. 15. The concert will begin around 5:30 p.m. on the speedway’s frontstretch and will be part of the pre-race show. … Twenty-nine of Charlotte Motor Speedway’s biggest fans who have been coming to events at the track for half a century will be recognized during pre-race ceremonies for the Bank of America 500 on Oct. 15. Each of the 29 50-year fans have been attending races at Charlotte Motor Speedway since 1960, when the first World 600, now Coca-Cola 600, was run at the legendary superspeedway.