Weekend Preview
Team Penske tears through Chase’s Challenger Round
Oct. 2, 2014
Staff Report
NASCAR Wire Service
Team Penske came into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup hot.
It moves on towards the Contender Round even hotter.
The
dynamic duo of 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski and Joey
Logano took the opening two Chase races at Chicagoland and New
Hampshire,
respectively, after finishing the regular season with a win apiece in
the last three events. On top of that, Logano led all drivers with a 3.0
average finish in the Contender Round, while Keselowski ranked a close
second with a 3.3 mark.
“I’m
pretty proud to look at the sheet and know that we are the only team in
the entire series that got top fives in the first three races of the
Chase,
and we had the best average finish,” Logano said. “I know Brad and his
team had the second-best average finish, so I think that says a lot
about Team Penske and how we are doing right now.”
With
three Chase races in the books, Keselowski and Logano are entering
uncharted territory under the playoff system’s now format. All 12
advancing
drivers are on an even slate now that their points have been reset to
3,000 for the Contender Round. The Team Penske tandem gets its next shot
at building on its momentum and separating from the pack again in
Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway
(2 p.m. ET on ESPN).
“We
are going into Kansas with the confidence of our recent successes and
having a win here adds to that as well,” said Keselowski about his No. 2
Miller Lite Ford team. “It would be great to come out of this one on
top.”
Keselowski
won at Kansas in 2011, but has not placed in the top 10 in his last two
races there. Expect him to be a favorite to take the checkered flag
due to recent performance and wins this season at similar tracks.
Keselowski has clinched victories at Chicagoland and Kentucky, which,
like Kansas, span 1.5 miles and have similar flatter banking on the
turns.
“We
didn’t run as well as we would’ve liked to in the spring race earlier
this year so that gives us added determination to improve our
performance
this weekend,” Keselowski said. “The team has been working diligently
on enhancing our platform for this race, and we should be good this
weekend.”
Logano
struggled at Kansas when he competed for Joe Gibbs Racing, logging just
one top 15 finish in eight starts. His performance at the tri-oval with
Team Penske has been a different story. In three races at the Kansas
with his new organization, Logano has finished fourth in his last two
starts. One issue the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford driver hasn’t had at
Kansas is pole position. He has started inside
the top 10 six times, including second in the spring race earlier this
season.
“We
just need to keep doing what we are doing,” Logano said. “No reason to
reinvent the wheel. The things we have been doing all year long have
been
working, so we just need to keep doing things the same way.”
Elliott keeps the points coming; Nationwide championship is his to lose
It
was the same old story on the NASCAR Nationwide Series circuit this
weekend. Another race, another top finish for Chase Elliott, as the
18-year-old
rookie wunderkind took third in the Dover 200 at the Monster Mille.
The
NASCAR Next alum showed a level of poise and technical skill well
beyond his years, rallying from 24th to the top of the field after he
was forced
to pit on Lap 39 due to a cracked front bumper suffered from following
too close to a wreck.
“My
team gave me an awesome car today,” Elliott said. “From the drop of the
green, we had speed and I knew we had a car capable of winning. We just
couldn’t overcome the early mistake. I was very pleased with the way my
team taped up the car and got it to where it was still competitive. We
battled as hard as we could. It just wasn’t enough.”
Despite
his disappointment about failing to capture the win, Elliott furthered
his grasp on the top of the NNS standings, increasing his lead over
teammate Regan Smith to 26 points with just five races left. Barring a
colossal mistake in the stretch run, Elliott will become the first
rookie to ever win a NASCAR national series championship.
The
No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet driver has pulled away from the field
by riding a string of nine straight top-10 finishes, including six
top-five
showings. He boasts 14 top fives on the season.
The
next stop on Elliott’s title conquest is the Saturday’s Kansas Lottery
300 at Kansas Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2). The 1.5-mile tri-oval
marks
the first new track he has visited since the Aug. 30 race at Atlanta.
Unknown courses have yet to faze Elliott this season. All three of his
victories have come at tracks he had never raced at before (Texas,
Darlington and Chicagoland).
“From
what I’ve seen at Kansas Speedway, it certainly puts on a great show
for the fans, so I hope we are able to provide excitement come
Saturday,”
Elliott said. “This team is relentless and we’re proud of that. We have
five races left with a goal in sight and we’re not stopping until we
achieve what we set out to do.”
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