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NASCAR- Kasey Kahne Take the Pole For Atlanta – 2 Races ‘Till the Chase and only 3 Drivers Locked In

September 4, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Kasey Kahne - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Even though his existing team is leaving NASCAR at the end of this season, Kasey Kahne is still out there to show them he has what it takes to be out front.  Both Kahne and RedBull teammate Brian Vickers came out to the qualifying session ready for battle.  Kahne took the pole with a lap at 186.196 mph (29.775 seconds).  The only  driver out of 47 qualifiers who broke 186 mph while qualifying for Sunday night’s AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  Brian Vickers, who will start 4th,  also set a blazing pace of 185.772mph (29.843 seconds)

“It was a good lap,” Kahne said. “Coming to the green, I felt like I had a good car. It got away from me just a little bit off of [Turn] 4, and I just had to do the best I could. I was a little bit on the tight side, so I had to slow down more than I would have liked getting into the [first] corner, but once it did turn, I had tons of grip, and I was able to get off Turn 2 really well.”

“Down the backstretch and Turns 3 and 4 were really good, too, so it just worked out well for us. It wasn’t a perfect lap, but it must have been just a little bit better than everyone else’s.”

But with cloud cover expected and possible rain from Tropical storm Lee, no one really know what the track conditions will be like once the green flag drops.  Qualifying and practicing during the daylight and then racing under the lights makes for some difficult changes for the crew chiefs to make once the race gets underway.  The drivers themselves were mostly getting a feel for the track and trying to anticipate what they will be facing as the green flag drops.

Kyle Busch - Image courtesy of JDTImages

“Certainly, you get out there and it’s like, ‘Alright, same old Atlanta,” said Kyle Busch. “[You] just can’t really find the feel that you’re looking for, but certainly [you] just try to do the best you can in putting a corner together.

“Practicing during the day and then going into a night race, certainly that adds a different element to everything, but certainly we’d like to think we’ve got a good basis to think how that’s going to change running a night race here.”

Defending race winner Tony Stewart, who sits 10th in point in Chase contention, ran 63 laps in final practice and feel that as the tires begin to fall off it will be next to impossible to avoid running the high line.

Tony Stewart - Image courtesy of JDTImages

“I used to think it was being able to get through the bumps here and I think we’ve seen in the last couple of years that you don’t have to be able to run right on the bottom of the race track,” Stewart said. “This track is one where tire management is big.

“You run so fast at the beginning of a run, but the pace just falls off so much. You just have to have a car that is hopefully balanced enough on the front of a run that you can take care of it and not have to overdrive the car.”

“Most of the guys are going to end up on the top of the race track midway through a run,” Stewart said. “The biggest part is knowing when to move and being able to have a car that is balanced across the whole race track not just one particular area. That will get you in trouble.”

Stewart needs a good run at Atlanta in order to keep his Chase hopes alive for the 2011 season.  Sitting on the bubble only 21 points from being knocked out leaves him in a very vulnerable spot.  Only 3 drivers are locked in to the chase at the moment for a combination of reasons.  Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch are in a points tie for the lead and are mathematically locked in, although Busch has the advantage due to his 3 wins to Johnson’s 1.  Kevin Harvick is locked in due to his 3 wins.  Even if he DNF’s the next 2 races he will get in by his wins through the wild card rule.  The rest of the chasers need good finishes and all of them will be racing for the wins.  As we’ve seen with this new points system, every point counts, so the bonus points from a win become that much more desirable once the points are reset at the beginning of the chase.

Dale Earnhardt Jr - Image courtesty of JDTImages

Dale Earhnardt Jr has the biggest weight off his shoulers right in time for the chase to begin.  Having now reknewed his contract with Hendrick Motorsports and seceured himself a ride until 2017, Jr has one less distraction to face as the season comes down to crunch time.

“I’m happy that it happened,” Junior said. “Me and Rick talked on the phone about five months ago. I just told him that if we were going to do another deal, I wanted to do it now because I didn’t want to talk about it next year and be any kind of distraction.”

“I didn’t want to talk about numbers and base salary versus percentages and this, that and the other,” Earnhardt said. “[I told Kelley] ‘Whatever you think is fair is fine with me.’ ”

“I’m excited about it,” Junior said. “[I’m] happy that I’ve got a place to work and happy to have Rick’s commitment. Hopefully, me and Steve can continue to grow and start to do what we want to do on the race track. I’m looking forward to it, man. It puts it at ease, a little bit.”

“I think relief is the right word, because everyone expects you to make the Chase,” Junior said. “And if you don’t make the Chase, you get that tag on you. You get labeled when you miss the Chase. I just want to avoid being in that situation.”There’s only a few drivers who get to make it and it’s a pretty competitive sport. But if you can be consistent and be smart — I made a few mistakes and a few driver errors that I wish I could have back now — with the kind of team I have, I should make the Chase. We’re plenty good enough to do that.”

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Edwards Takes Vegas, Stewart Has a Late Race Pit Stumble But Ties For First in Points Lead Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kenseth Wins Another With Martin Runner Up as Late Race Call Wins The Race Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Hot Weather, A Slick Track, And Kurt Busch on the Pole Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kurt Busch Avoids the Brawl and Comes Out on Top With His First Road Course Win Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kyle Busch Gets His First Pole at Watkins Glen

NASCAR – Kurt Busch Avoids the Brawl and Comes Out on Top With His First Road Course Win

June 27, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk 2 Comments

The gladiators went out to battle and took no prisoners.  The carnage on the field was devastating and warriors were left hanging from the walls, literally.  While it may sound over dramatic, it was how the race played out yesterday with Kurt Busch staying ahead of the fray behind him, leading for 76 laps and taking the checkered flag with barely a scratch on his fenders.  In his first victory in 21 road course starts, Busch showed that the poles he has taken in the past few weeks were not just accidental, and that his team is making the changes he needed to get him to victory lane.

“It’s a great sense of satisfaction,” Busch said. “All the hard work from the guys back at the race shop where it starts. The times that we’ve tested. The execution here at the racetrack this weekend. You see it all come together. You know when you have a shot at victory you have to block those moments out and get that car to the victory line. To get the checkered flag, do some doughnuts, to drive in reverse around this road course, I got choked up.

“It was a great feeling to know that I’ve won on a road course.”

The win moves Kurt Busch into 4th place, up 3 from last week.

Jeff Gordon on the track - Image Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Jeff Gordon, who was one of the favourites entering the race, made some great moves toward the end of the race which landed him squarely in 2nd place.  Passing points leader Carl Edwards with only a handful of laps remaining, Gordon managed to stay out of the battles and was in a much better frame of mind after this race than he was last year.  By staying out of the trouble behind the leaders Gordon managed to move up from 12th to 9th in points and move himself inside the coveted top 10 positions for the chase, and putting him in a position to remain there and not having to contend with the wild card placement.

“There were times today where we didn’t have the car and I gave up the spots,” Gordon said. “I wasn’t going to try to push the issue. I guess that’s good and bad. I didn’t have a car that could even try to pass anybody or block anybody down in Turn 11 for most of the race. So I had to give up a lot of those spots and bite my tongue and hope that we could get it fixed or get track position, which it worked out.

“I certainly didn’t want to make as many enemies as I did last year, because I made a lot of ’em coming out of here. So it’s nice to come out of here and that not happen. I don’t think I really touched anybody today. So that feels good.”

Carl Edwards signing autographs for the fans before the Nationwide race in Michigan - Image Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Carl Edwards remains the points leader and extended his points lead over Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson (2nd and 3rd inpoints respectively) and also made some excellent moves on the track in the dwindling laps of the race.  Having run outside of the top 10 in the earlier part of the race, Edwards managed to make up ground and earn a 3rd place finish on the track when the checkered flag flew.

“I think this is a huge weekend for us,” Edwards said. “We started out terrible. We changed plans right at the end of practice on Friday. We all got together and talked about it. . . . That was the call of the weekend. Ended up giving us two hours of practice. We got to really work on the car, and that’s what made this a good day for us.”

But the talk of the race will still be Tony Stewart finding himself hung up on the tire wall after Brian Vickers retaliated for an earlier incident between himself and Stewart, which also resulted in the ending of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s day when his Radiator was punctured leading to engine failure a few laps later.  Earnhardt finished 41st with a blown engine.  Stewart had spun Vickers early in the race for what he perceived as blocking being thrown by Vickers in tight racing conditions heading into turn 11.  Vickers howeve maintains that it was too early in the race to be throwing a block, and that he was simply dealing with the other drivers around him at the time.

“You know, he wrecked me — and I wrecked him back.”

“I wasn’t blocking him. That may have been his perception from where he was sitting, but the 18  went off the race track in front of me,” Vickers said. “He was going off in the dirt and then coming back in front of me on the race track, and I was trying to avoid him. The cars in front of me were slow. I was inside of the guy in front of me.

Brian Vickers on the track - Image Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

“It’s pretty early in the race to worry about blocking someone, or wrecking someone. I think when he sees the replay and he realizes why I went low — if he looks at it out of my front windshield — he’ll realize it had nothing to do with him. It had to do with the 18 almost wrecking me, and a couple of other guys running slow up top.”

“It’s unfortunate.  He made his bed at that moment, and he had to sleep in it.  He wrecked me, and I dealt with it,” Vickers said.

Stewart was just as open about his on track actions once he was back in the infield after safety crews had to extricate his car from atop the tire barriers on the outside wall of turn 11.

I’ve been complaining about the way guys have been racing all year,” Stewart said. “I like Brian. I’m not holding it against him at all. I don’t care if it was Ryan Newman, I would have dumped him, too. If they want to block, that’s what is going to happen to them every time for the rest of my career.”

“I dumped him earlier for blocking and he got me back later on,” Stewart said. “If they block, they are going to get dumped. It is real simple. I mean, I don’t blame him. I don’t blame him for dumping us back.

Tony Stewart being nterviewed by Speed TV - Image Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

“But I don’t race guys that way. I never have. If guys want to block. then they are going to wrecked every time. Until NASCAR makes a rule against it, I am going to dump them every time for it. He did what he had to do and I don’t blame him. There is nothing wrong with it.”

“I don’t know if it’s lack of respect or guys just pushing the envelope and not working with each other,” said Stewart. “There wasn’t any reason at the point of the race where he started blocking in the first place. It didn’t make sense to do it and I’m not going to tolerate it. I don’t race guys that way and I’m not going to let anybody race me that way. So if they block, they get dumped. Plain and simple.”

Vickers seemed seemed to be on the same page and acknoledged that although he and Stewart have tangled in the past that this will not affect their relationship with each other on or off the track.

We were joking and laughing last week and had a great race,” Vickers said. “We haven’t had any problems in a long time. Actually, I think the last problem we had was in Turn 11 here in 2004. That was the last time we got together.”

“I’m not angry. I’d rather have been racing for the win and worrying about something like that. … Granted, I wish it hadn’t happened. I hate it for the Red Bull guys. Those guys worked really hard on the car,” Vickers said.

“We were trying some new stuff. We made some changes at the beginning of the race with the air pressure. We were horrible at the start of the race … absolutely horrible. Once we fixed that, we were pretty quick.”

“It’s just racing. It’s just human nature. It’s how people do things, how they address things,” he said. “If they don’t, they just keep happening. He made his move and I addressed it. That’s the end of the discussion.

“It’s a competitive environment and we all want to win. I don’t know why he wrecked me. That was his decision to make. But I’m good. … The way I see it, we’re all good. We’re all square.”

Stewart drops from 9th to 12th int the points standings and Vickers dropped 2 spots to 26th.  Dale Jr who was caught up in the original incident between Stewart and Vickers, dropped 4 spots from 2rd to 7th in the standings after his early exit and resulting DNF.

 

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Hot Weather, A Slick Track, And Kurt Busch on the Pole Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Gordon Wins at Pocono For His Second of the Season Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Edwards Takes Vegas, Stewart Has a Late Race Pit Stumble But Ties For First in Points Lead Default ThumbnailNASCAR – All Star Race Time, No Points….Just Bragging Rights and a BIG Paycheck Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Busch Got the Ticket, But Brad Kesolowski Gets The Pole, at the Coke 600

NASCAR – Hot Weather, A Slick Track, And Kurt Busch on the Pole

June 4, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Kurt Busch has had a wild weekend so far.  After a spin out on Friday in practice things were not looking good to begin his weekend at Kansas Speedway.  Things improved marginally in practice but his car seemed to come alive when it came time to qualify.  Never starting better than 7th in 9 career starts here Busch was overjoyed at his starting slot and ready to take on the field.

Kurt Busch after Driver intro's in Texas - Image Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

“I have to thank my guys for standing behind me, not just through [Friday] but through some of the tough times we’ve been through as of late,” Busch said. “It’s an amazing world, the

world of motorsports. One day you’re down, the next day you’re up.”

As the temperature heated things up the sealer between the lanes of pavement on the track was giving everyone problems.  While everyone had their own way of dealing with it, Busch’s seemed simple enough.

“You choose a lane,” Busch said. “If you want the bottom lane you choose that first lane. If you’re going in to the corner in the high groove, you choose that third lane and you really stay in it — you don’t cross over the seams because they can upset the car. But it’s not as bad now, with those being worn in over the last couple years.”

“In the summer months, I think you really have to focus on corner exit,” Busch said. “That’s where it’s really hard to put all the horsepower down that we have — to get that forward bite and traction. But when you’re a racer, you don’t care what the conditions are.”

Clint Bowyer - Image Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Racing at his Hometown track this weekend, Kansas native Clint Bowyer agreed that things are going to be different than in time past.

“It’s just a lot hotter and the track’s a lot slicker — the conditions are just way more extreme.  But I knew it was gonna be, going into this because it’s always hot this time of year. And that’s what we love about Kansas — you just never know.”

“As it ages this track just gets better and better, the groove really widens out and it creates great racing,” Bowyer said. “It’s slick, man. Every time I come back here, the track gets slicker and slicker. But I’m telling you, for an old dirt racer that plays right in my hand. I enjoy that. That’s usually when I perform my best.”

Juan Pablo Montoya, who qualified second said the strips a not as bad as on other tracks like Atlanta and Auto Club Speedway, but it certainly made things more “interesting” in his mind.

“The seams is one of those things where, if your car is half-decent and you can use them to your advantage, you’re really fast,” Montoya said. “If the car is a handful, it makes it even worse.”

Jeff Gordon - Image Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Jeff Gordon won the first two races in Kansas and has had plenty of success here since, seemed to have a faster car in practice than he did in qualifying.

“To me this track has just gotten better and better every single year,” Gordon said. “I loved this track from the beginning obviously, but, like all tracks do over time as they settle in, you get some different characteristics that come into play — different bumps, you see the pavement start to wear a little bit.

“Here in Kansas, I think those things have really only made the track better because the way it wears the tires, the grip level just makes for multiple grooves. We already saw [Friday] in practice cars up against the wall, cars on the bottom, cars in the middle. That is going to make for a great race here [Sunday].”

Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers and Joey Logano round out the rest of the top 5.

Tony Stewart(13th) and Greg Biffle (14th) both  have a pair of wins at Kansas — but neither of them will start in the top 10.

Dale Jr qualified 28th followed by his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and garage partner Jimmie Johnson in 31st.

For Jamie McMurray this has been an emotional weekend.  Being so close to his hometown of Joplin Missouri he felt that he needed to go home to see what mother nature had done last week when a massive tornado ripped through the heart of the town.  McMurray showed that NASCAR is always more than just race cars, but about using your celebrity to help lift the spirits of those who look up to you, when ever the opportunity presents itself.  He took the time to share his emotions with the fans, visited his boyhood home, the local hospital, and stare in disbelief at the things that were simply no longer there.

“I’m sorry,” he kept saying. “I’m so sorry.” He then share his emotions with the media after taking a moment to collect himself.  “I went into one of those portable bathrooms and broke down,” he said.

Looking out at the carnage stretching as far as you can see Jamie summed it up quite well.  “Crazy, huh?”

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Edwards Takes Vegas, Stewart Has a Late Race Pit Stumble But Ties For First in Points Lead Default ThumbnailNASCAR – And Then There Was Juan Default ThumbnailNASCAR – All Star Race Time, No Points….Just Bragging Rights and a BIG Paycheck Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kenseth Wins Another With Martin Runner Up as Late Race Call Wins The Race Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Busch Got the Ticket, But Brad Kesolowski Gets The Pole, at the Coke 600

NASCAR – Edwards Takes Vegas, Stewart Has a Late Race Pit Stumble But Ties For First in Points Lead

March 7, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk 2 Comments

Image Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Carl Edwards was feeling like he had missed his chance up until the end of the race at Vegas.  After finishing second at Daytona and suffering from an early wreck last week, Edwards felt he had something to prove for himself, for his team, and for his fans.  While Tony Stewart had led the race for the majority of the day, Edwards was working his way through the field quietly, running lap times very close to those of Stewart while he was leading, and a late race pit gaffe penalized Stewart allowing Edwards to get the win.  Taking his first victory for 2011 meant more to Edwards than trophy.  After spending time with the Airmen on Nellis Air Force Basse, Edwards wanted to thank them for all that they do, and all the votes of confidence they gave him.

“This means a lot, coming off Phoenix,” said Edwards, who led the final 23 laps. “After last weekend, I had no clue — I just didn’t know how things were going to go from there. You don’t get a good race car like that very often, but I had another one.”

“I’ve got to thank the Air Force, the Thunderbirds. They let me fly with them on Thursday, and this trophy is going over there in that hangar (a reference to nearby Nellis Air Force Base). They taught me a lot about discipline and about believing in what you do. I can’t thank them enough.” [Read more…]

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Sprint Cup Heads to Phoenix – New Points System Makes the Standings Look a Whole Lot Different Default ThumbnailNASCAR – The Season is Almost Upon Us. Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Jeff Gordon Gets His First Win Since ’09, Denying Kyle Busch a Weekend Sweep Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kenseth Takes the Pole in Record Setting Fashion – Busch Brothers at the Tops of the Points Board Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Bowyer Takes 4th Career Win at the Scareless Talledega Halloween.

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