Enough Is Enough? Hendrick’s Wait Nears End
Thirteen races have passed since Hendrick Motorsports’ last win at Kansas Speedway in October. That doesn’t sound like many, but for the powerhouse squad, it kind of is.Consider…
That’s the longest drought Hendrick has had since the end of 2002 and the beginning of 2003, when it went 15 races without a win. Coincidentally, that streak began after a Kansas win, as well.
Six teams have won at least one race since Hendrick’s last win, including Red Bull Racing, which doesn’t race in 2012.
Stewart-Haas Racing has five wins since Hendrick’s last victory.
Hendrick has been close, painstakingly so. In those 13 races, the team has four runner-up finishes, and 14 top fives overall.
Yet optimism bubbles over this weekend for Hendrick. The stable placed all four of its cars in the top 10 at Texas Motor Speedway last Saturday night for the first time since April 2011 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Plus, the team enjoys plenty of success at Kansas. Hendrick won the first two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races held at Kansas Speedway, in 2001-02, with Jeff Gordon behind the wheel. Since then, Jimmie Johnson has added two more Hendrick wins, in 2008 and again last October. Hendrick holds more wins than any other owner at Kansas with four.
So who might wear the crown of Mr. 200? Most signs point to Johnson, who has led 501 laps at Kansas, more than any other driver in the track’s history. Johnson also boasts Kansas’ top Driver Rating, at 120.6. Watch, too, for Kasey Kahne, who was the runner-up to Johnson in October, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished second in this race last season.
Hendrick has the unique opportunity of celebrating two milestones in one this weekend. It’ll at least check one off the list. At Kansas, Hendrick will make its 3,000th start, becoming the first team to reach that milestone. Its first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start came on Feb. 19, 1984, with driver Geoff Bodine.
NASCAR Ladder System Produces Stars on Track, Pit Road
Take it from Texas Samsung Mobile 500 winner Greg Biffle: NASCAR’s ladder system works and not just in developing driving talent. Biffle broke a 49-race winless streak last weekend with crew chief Matt Puccia, who worked his way to NASCAR’s premier series after getting his start with Roush Fenway Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series."There's a lot of guys, some of the guys on the team that I think Richie [Letendre], the car chief, this is his first full-time Cup deal," said Biffle. "Richie came from the Nationwide shop as a car chief."
Puccia isn’t the only "ladder graduate" making crucial decisions on pit road. Among them are:
Jason Ratcliff, who led Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota team to a pair of NASCAR Nationwide Series titles, graduated this year to back the No. 20 Toyota of Joey Logano. He joined Dave Rogers, a former NASCAR Nationwide championship crew chief, who has won seven NASCAR Sprint Cup races with Kyle Busch.
At Penske Racing, Paul Wolfe got the call to move up after winning the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series title with Brad Keselowski. The pair won three times a year ago, qualified for the Chase and finished fifth in points.
Kevin Manion won two Nationwide championships with Martin Truex Jr. Now Jamie McMurray’s NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chief, the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates pair won the 2010 Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400.
Keselowski Looks To STP 400 To Rebuild Missing Momentum
Last year’s STP 400 victory wasn’t Brad Keselowski’s first in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.It was, however, the most significant in what became a coming-out season for the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion. Keselowski didn’t exactly overpower the competition at Kansas Speedway, winning the race by saving enough fuel to make one fewer pit stop than his rivals.
But the "W" he posted was a preview of things to come later in the summer. Despite injuries suffered in a testing crash at Road Atlanta, Keselowski won at Pocono and Bristol to qualify as the top "Wild Card" entry for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. He finished fifth in final points standings.
The return to 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway couldn’t come at a better time for Keselowski and his No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge team. The season, so far, has been an up-and-down ride.
Keselowski won a second straight race at Bristol and has led four of seven starts. Conversely, mechanical issues have plagued the team, which has finished on the lead lap just three times. His average finish is 19.0. Keselowski enters the STP 400 ranked 15th in the standings, which is significantly better than a year ago when the 28-year-old was outside the top 20.
Long-Shot Puccia Was Biffle’s Best Shot
Call Matt Puccia’s appointment as crew chief for Greg Biffle the NASCAR version of a "hail Mary."Mired in a season-long slump during which nothing seemed to go right either on the track or pit road, it became obvious 18 races into the 2011 season that Biffle wasn’t going to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Enter Puccia, a winner for Roush Fenway Racing in both NASCAR Nationwide Series and Camping World trucks but without crew chief experience on the sport’s biggest stage.
Chemistry between driver and crew chief was immediate as Biffle finished the campaign with 11 top-15 finishes over the final 18 races. Biffle finished fifth in last fall’s stop at Texas Motor Speedway, where the No. 16 Ford won the Coors Light Pole.
Further reorganization over the winter months has Biffle channeling 2005 – a season in which the NNS and NCWTS champion won six times and finished as the standings runner-up. Last weekend’s Texas victory further cemented a championship lead – 19 points over Daytona 500 winner and Roush Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth – that Biffle has held since early March.
No Place Like Home For Three Big Guns
Three drivers from the Kansas/Missouri area, sprinkled all throughout the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings, want this one badly.First up, Clint Bowyer from Emporia, Kan. Bowyer won last year’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at his hometrack Kansas Speedway but has thus far come up empty in NASCAR’s premier series. Currently 10th, Bowyer has enjoyed a splendid start with his new employer, Michael Waltrip Racing. His best career finish at Kansas was a runner-up result in 2007.
Carl Edwards, from Columbia, Mo., is a different story. Despite a points position that’s just one marker behind Bowyer, most would consider 2012 a bumpy start for last year’s almost-champion. He has alternated between top-10 finishes and runs outside the top 10, with a 39th place at Bristol a big blow to his points standing. His 11th-place position is the lowest after seven races since 2006 – the last season Edwards failed to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Like Bowyer, Edwards won a truck race at Kansas (in 2004) and has a best NASCAR Sprint Cup finish of second (2008).
Jamie McMurray, from Joplin, Mo., currently sits 23rd in points and likely will need to rely on the Wild Card to make his first Chase appearance. The 2010 Daytona 500 winner’s best Kansas finish was seventh in 2004.
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