Friday New Hampshire Notebook
Sept. 23, 2016
Notebook Items:
·
Wreck in practice forces Chaser Austin Dillon to backup car
·
Can Team Penske NASCAR drivers match IndyCar success?
·
William Byron expects heightened intensity in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
Wreck in practice forces Chaser Austin Dillon to backup car
LOUDON, N.H. – A wreck in practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was the last thing Austin Dillon needed.
After
a 14th-place finish last Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway in the first
race of the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Dillon needs a strong
run at New Hampshire to escape
the bottom four in the standings.
But
with the Round of 16 elimination race looming Oct. 1 at Dover, Dillon
had his weekend start catastrophically at the Magic Mile, site of
Sunday’s Bad Boy Off Road 300 (2 p.m.
ET on NBCSN).
On
his ninth lap in opening practice at NHMS, the driver of the No. 3
Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet posted his fastest lap at 132.813
mph, but that was only 32nd quickest
among the 40 drivers. Dillon ran only one more lap before flattening
the right side of his Chevy against the outside wall and damaging the
car beyond repair.
“I
just tried to get some speed in the car, and it didn’t work out,
truthfully, is what I think happened,” Dillon said. “I don’t know. The
brakes were bothering me a little bit
throughout the day, but I think it was just me trying to get some.”
Out
rolled the backup car, which couldn’t be readied before practice ended.
Consequently, Dillon was faced with the prospect of qualifying the car –
at a relatively flat speedway
where track position is of paramount importance – with no seat time
whatsoever.
Consequently, the hole Dillon dug for himself at Chicagoland suddenly became the Grand Canyon.
The
good news for Dillon is that the race for the top 12 in points is
extremely tight. Carl Edwards is ninth in the standings, but just five
points ahead of Dillon and Kevin
Harvick, who are tied for 13th and just one point behind 12th-place
Tony Stewart.
With
such a tightly bunched field, Dillon can move up with a strong showing
at New Hampshire, but he can’t afford another glitch in his program.
CAN TEAM PENSKE NASCAR DRIVERS MATCH INDYCAR SUCCESS?
The 2016 season is the 50th for Team Penske, and owner Roger Penske already has had plenty of reason to celebrate.
Last
Sunday, Penske drivers finished 1-2-3 in the IndyCar championship final
standings, with Simon Pagenaud winning the title and teammates Will
Power and Helio Castroneves second
and third, respectively.
The
icing on Penske’s cake would be a second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
championship, to go with the one Brad Keselowski won in 2012, and driver
Joey Logano says there’s already
significant pressure to deliver a another title to the Captain.
“They
finished 1-2-3, so holy moly,” Logano said of his IndyCar counterparts.
“I don’t know if you want to call it added pressure, but I think
there’s plenty on us already, and
I think we’re better under pressure. I like that. Fifty years for Team
Penske. For them to do that on the 50th Anniversary is very special and
it’s really cool to be somewhat a part of that.
“I
feel like I’m part of the team–even the IndyCar team. There are a lot
of guys that are cross-pollinated throughout our company… It makes the
NASCAR guys want to go out here
and continue this awesome year that Team Penske has had so far, and
Brad and I have a great shot at it.
“What
if we finished one-two at Homestead? How cool would that be? We have an
amazing opportunity to do that. We’ve got a long ways to go to get
there, but we can do it.”
WILLIAM BYRON EXPECTS HEIGHTENED INTENSITY IN NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES CHASE
William
Byron’s aggressive approach to racing earned the 18-year-old five
victories as a rookie and top seeding in the inaugural NASCAR Camping
World Truck Series Chase.
So
why change anything now that the Chase is ready to start? Racing for
wins has worked so far, and that’s what the driver of the No. 9 Kyle
Busch Motorsports Toyota expects
to do in Saturday’s Chase opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1
p.m. ET on FS1).
“This
is a place I like coming to, and I think it’s going to be a solid
weekend,” Byron said. “Ultimately, you just want to have good, solid
fishes this first round, hopefully,
but if you can go for a win, definitely go for it.
“We’re planning on going for a win and seeing what speed we have in our Liberty University Tundra this weekend.”
Even
though Byron’s on-track approach won’t change appreciably, he expects
the intensity level of the Chase to increase exponentially.
“Definitely
so,” Byron said. “I think the competition and intensity is going to
ramp up here in the last seven races. We’ve seen that in the Cup Series,
and so now we’re going
to be able to experience that here in the Truck Series.
“So
I’m looking forward to it. I think our team is ready for it. We have
the right trucks lined up, and we’re going to race tracks that we really
enjoy coming to, so I’m looking
forward to it.”
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