No Big Thing: Johnson, Gordon Have No Reason To Fret

No Big Thing: Johnson, Gordon Have No Reason To Fret

For NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, holders of a combined nine titles, the good news coming out of the Daytona 500 is that in one important respect the schedule’s signature event pays the same points as this week’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 and the 24 races that follow leading up to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™.
To say it wasn’t their night – despite having won The Great American Race a combined four times – would be an understatement. Johnson was the second car out in 42nd. Engine failure relegated Gordon to a 40th-place finish. Until last night's D500, Johnson and Gordon had finished 40th or worse a combined 21 times, and never in the same race.
Both will have to dig out of big holes in terms of the Chase picture, but last year suggests it is anything but an impossible task.
Four drivers who finished 27th or worse in the 2011 Daytona 500 – Johnson, Gordon, Kenseth and Kevin Harvick – qualified for the Chase.
In fact, NASCAR’s 10-race postseason field was comprised of just three drivers who finished among the top 10 in the season opener.

Stewart-Edwards Duel Combusts; Junior Erupts

Some experts predicted the Daytona 500 would come down to a continuation of last year’s dead-heat championship battle between Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards.
Especially when Stewart won his Gatorade Duel race and Edwards sat on the Coors Light Pole.
Things didn’t quite work out that way. Both contended early but neither was around to take a first Daytona 500 victory. Edwards, with significant body damage, rallied to finish eighth while Stewart – also the victim of several accidents – came home 16th.
For both, it’s a case of "wait ‘til next year."
The same can be said for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s assault on his second Daytona 500 victory, but his second-place finish – his third in the event – gives Junior’s multitude of fans hope he’ll soon end a 130-race winless streak.
Five of last year’s Chase qualifiers – Kenseth, Earnhardt, Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick – logged top-10 finishes at Daytona.

Kahne’s Able At Phoenix International Raceway

With virtually every eye in the packed house focused on the battle for second place between championship rivals Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne sort of got lost in the shuffle as the laps wound down in November’s Kobalt Tools 500 at the newly configured Phoenix International Raceway.
Kahne obviously didn’t care – especially with Edwards and Stewart, as they say, otherwise occupied.
He took the lead on the 299th lap, when Brad Keselowski pitted, then headed the remaining 13 times around the one-mile oval to nicely cap what amounted to a lame-duck season with Team Red Bull. He posted a solid Driver Rating of 112.3.
November’s finish was Kahne’s second top 10 of the year at Phoenix, a track that hadn’t been good to the Washington driver for a number of years. Before finishing sixth in the spring race, Kahne had gone eight starts with finishes ranging from 13th to 40th.
Kahne ended the 2011 campaign with three top 10s: a victory, third in Texas and seventh in the Homestead-Miami finale.
All of which makes Kahne, now driving Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevrolet, one of the favorites heading into Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500.

Happy Phoenix Memories For 4-Time

Two of Jeff Gordon’s 85 NASCAR Sprint Cup wins have come at Phoenix, and both were of the milestone variety.
With his first win at Phoenix in this race in 2007, Gordon tied Dale Earnhardt on the all-time wins list at 76. With his win in this race last year, Gordon snapped a 66-race winless streak and tied Cale Yarborough on the all-time win list with 83.
He's got a shot at notching another milestone this Sunday with Hendrick Motorsports 200th career win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. A victory would extend Rick Hendrick's NSCS win record at Phoenix to 10.

Yeley, McDowell Ready For Some Hometown Racing

J.J. Yeley hopes some home cooking helps salve the disappointment of failing to qualify for the Daytona 500.
Michael McDowell returns home having made the Great American Race the hard way, through last week’s Gatorade Duel.
Both are from Phoenix. And each should have plenty of hometown fans in the grandstands.
Yeley finished 37th in last year’s spring race. His best finish at his home track is 14th in November 2007, when he started fourth.
McDowell has yet to finish inside the top 30 at Phoenix but looks for significantly improved results from what’s now the No. 98 team co-owned by Phil Parsons and recording executive Mike Curb.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Etc. 

As part of an ongoing annual effort to recognize trailblazers in the sport, Wendell Scott, the first African American to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup race, will be recognized this weekend, which coincides with his first start – March 4, 1961, in Spartanburg, S.C. NASCAR created an original decal, which will be placed as a B-post decal on NASCAR K&N Pro-Series West, NASCAR Nationwide cars and NASCAR Sprint Cup cars throughout the Phoenix race weekend. … Milestone Watch: Hendrick Motorsports continues to hunt NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win No. 200. Only Petty Enterprises has surpassed the 200-win barrier. … Ryan Nemwan’s next Coors Light Pole will be his 50th. He would be the ninth driver to reach the 50-pole mark. … Defending champion Greg Pursley will help the K&N Pro Series West kick off the season with the Talking Stick Resort 50 Saturday (5:30 p.m. MT). Also in the field are rising stars Dylan Kwasniewski, Cameron Hayley, Daniel Suarez and Chase Elliott. This is the first NASCAR touring series event of 2012. … NASCAR Nationwide Series sponsor Bashas’ Supermarkets features a unique option for tailgaters this weekend. There will be a makeshift grocery store on site in a tent just outside the track in the midway area between Turn 1 and Turn 2.