kevin-harvick

Tony Stewart two hand’s Delana Harvick

September 18, 2012 by Gary Grant 1 Comment

Ok, so the video below has absolutely nothing to do with racing. I just think it’s pretty funny, because it is something I would do. Of course I probably wouldn’t do it in front of a TV camera, but you get the idea.

Not only does Smoke take hold of Kevin Harvick’s Wife’s butt, he gives both cheeks a good squeeze!
[Read more…]

NASCAR – Ambrose Sets a Record Pace In Michigan – Tire Issues May Cause Problems

June 17, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Marcos Ambrose crosses the finish line at 203.241mph making him the Fastest man in NASCAR since 1987, and setting a record breaking pace that no one else could catch.

They knew it was going to be a record breaking day. Everyone had seen the speeds in practice and all of the predictions were that the record would fall, repeatedly, until a new record was set. Marcos Ambrose was not the first driver to go faster than the previous record qualifying lap in Michigan yesterday, but he was definitely the last. Heading out under the bright sunshine, Ambrose went out and set a blistering pace of 203.241 mph (35.426 seconds) making him the fastest man in NASCAR since 1987 when Bill Elliot hit 203.827 mph at Talladega and put him on the pole for the Quicken Loans 400. Ambrose then had to sit patiently on pit road waiting as 16 other cars qualified after him, trying to knock him off the top.

Kevin Harvick has set the previous fastest speed of 202.037 mph, before Ambrose came on to the track, which was still good enough for the outside of row 1 in second place.

Greg Biffle has been the fastest car in practice and looked to have the best shot at it, but with a little wiggle through turn 3 Biffle lost some speed and brought his lap speed to 201.816 mph, which was good enough for third.

Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman, the previous MIS record holder, round out the top 5.

With all of the grip in the asphalt because of the repave the cars were setting record speeds throughout testing on Thursday and both practices on Friday. Drivers were not complaining about the speeds however, they were enjoying it. Many stated that the 200+mph speeds felt no different than running at 180mph because of the smooth track surface. The grip however was creating havoc with the tires. Goodyear noticed during testing and practice that the tires were blistering and tearing apart under track conditions and the speeds that were being reached.

Kevin Harvick climbing out of his car after his qualifying run.

“Our biggest concern right now is we’ve seen several of those situations through the garage,” Kevin Harvick said. “I don’t know that many people ran enough laps to really get to the blistering point. It’s either going to come down to the race track getting more rubber on it and the speeds slowing down, or it’s just going to come down to you slowing down and managing the pace to keep the tires on the car.”

Greg Stucker, competition director for Goodyear gave their reasoning behind the decision.

“We ran about 36.4 [seconds] in our test [in April],” Stucker said. “That was the fastest lap, and obviously, we’re running significantly faster than that now. We knew it would be faster but not quite as fast as it is.

“The blistering is definitely heat-related. It’s aggravated by particular setups. That’s why we’re seeing it predominately on some people and not at all on others.”

NASCAR mandated an extra practice session after the Nationwide race on Saturday night to give the teams a chance to test the new tire brought to the track and adjust their setups accordingly. The 1200 new tires were shipped from Charlotte and did not arrive at the track until Saturday afternoon leaving very little time to get in another testing session.

Some of the drivers were glad that Goodyear had made the call that they did citing the safety of the drivers. Carl Edwards feels that the decision was the right one and that everything will be just fine.

“I’m forecasting that we’ll be just fine and won’t have any issues. … What’s been done here is that we took a track and a tire that was very simple to drive, straightforward with tons of grip, and they took some of that grip away and put it in the drivers and crew chiefs’ hands and made the cars a little harder to drive.”

Other drivers such as Pole sitter Marcose Ambrose and fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. seemed to disagree.

“This ain’t cool,” Earnhardt said.

Ambrose added a bit more detail to his reasoning saying, “We were out there trying to save miles on the engine, so we never really busted off a good run. The tire is very different. It hasn’t got much grip. You are loose in, shake in the middle and then on the gas [you] spin yourself out. It feels unbalanced and a little bit wobbly — and you don’t want to be wobbly at 200 miles per hour. You want to feel like the car is underneath you.”

The new tires brought to the track were manufactured in 2006 when Goodyear had concerns about grip with the repave in Charlotte that season. The harder compound will reduce grip and therefor reduce speeds as well. This was proven in the final practice session last night. Greg Biffle set the top speed at 195.684mph.

As is usual with changes like these there have been mixed reviews about the decision with drivers and team owners falling on both sides of the discussion.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. thinks the decision to switch the tires “would be debated for a long time.”.

NASCAR – Newman Snatches the Win From Gordon’s Dominance at Martinsville

April 2, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk 1 Comment

Ryan Newman (seen here on the track at Las Vegas) came from a lap down to win the race in Martinsville.

326 laps lead. Fastest car on the track all day. Dominance on every restart. Then came the first attempt at a Green White Checkered finish. Jeff Gordon was sure he had it won, but on the first attempt to finish under green, both Gordon and Johnson had slow restarts allowing Clint Bowyer to get under them and make a pass attempt, which erupted into chaos as Gordon was pushed up the track into Johnson causing all 3 cars to wreck, and allowing Ryan Newman to pass in the melee along with A.J. Allmendinger and Dale Earnhardt Jr. In what has become the typical Martinsville finish, the final pass to win the race came with under 4 laps to go.

Newman had been running inside the top 10 during the early stages of the race, but had fallen off the lead lap due to a pit road speeding penalty. As the race worn down to the final laps however Newman earned a free pass to get back on to the lead lap. A little bit of pit strategy and he was back in contention, running inside the top 10 again. Then as the first GWC restart happened Newman found himself in 5th position on the grid, and as it turned out, sitting in the cat bird seat when the fireworks started. As Bowyer slid up into Gordon, pushing Gordon into Johnson, Newman took advantage and passed them all on the bottom of the track bringing A.J. Allmendinger and Dale Jr. along with him through the mess.

“I felt like I wasn’t racing AJ on that restart — I felt like I was racing Junior behind me,” said Newman. “It was really important to me to not spin my tires and get a good start and race AJ and try to eliminate the No. 88 [Earnhardt] from the race for the win.”

Allmendinger raced Newman and Earnhardt Jr clean at the end resulting in a second place finish for the #22 Penske Dodge.

Allmendinger, Earnhardt Jr., and Newman raced each other clean to the end.

“He ran me really clean,” Allmendinger said. “He didn’t shove me up the race track like he could have. He gave me the opportunity to beat him on the outside there. We were just not turning good enough in the center [of the corners] there on the restart.

“But we had a shot at it. That’s all you can ask for.”

Allmendinger had decided to play by the unwritten racing Golden Rule…’Race teh other driver the way he is racing you’. Running clean and racing to the finish instead of forcing the issue and driving dirty for the win.

“That’s not the way I want to win a race,” Allmendinger said.

“[Newman] did everything clean on the restart. He could have drove me off the race track, and if he would have done that then it’s kind of like, ‘OK, it’s game on.’ But he gave me all the chances that I could to go beat him.”

“We came off the white [flag] side by side and he rolled [Turns] 1 and 2 really good, and that was it,” Allmendinger said. “You race people how they race you. And if he would have just drove into the corner, [run into the] left side of me and got me out of the way, then I would have probably run into him. He didn’t do that and he didn’t deserve to get wrecked.”

“For the way we ran all weekend even if the yellow wouldn’t have come out, we would have finished eighth where we were running — I was going to be happy because we were a top 10 car all day,” Allmendinger said. “We worked our way up there and did all the right things. From 27th on, from where we started, we didn’t have any fender damage. We were clean. I was going to be happy with that. At the end, you get a little bit lucky on a restart and you have a chance.”

Dale Jr had a great car all day long, staying inside the top 10 for most of the day, ending the day with a 3rd on the track and second overall in points.

Dale Earnhardt Jr looked good throughout the race, never really falling back too far and staying in the mix for the top 10 all day long.

“Yeah I’m really happy with our finish. We worked really hard all day, all weekend really, we worked hard to obviously get the best finish that we could. This is our first race with AMP on the hood so I’m real proud to get a good finish for those guys. Really, the race, the car was good on the long runs, we obviously drove up there and passed Jeff for the lead, and then at the end of the race we overcome a bad pitstop and drove back into the top three. So the car was really good on the long run speeds, we didn’t have enough short run speed to run with a lot of people in the first 20 laps or so but after lap 45 or more the car was really great, really comfortable and would do whatever I wanted it to do. It was a really fun racecar and this is a really fun race track, and I was enjoying how everything was playing out there, right up until the end. We tore both sides of the car there at the end and that felt really unnecessary.”

“Now that I think about it, the leaders had old tires, more than a 100 laps on them, the guys behind them had new tires at least on one side of their cars. Well all took of and ran into the backs of the leaders, all of us. Clint went to the inside and that was his perogative man, he was going for the win. I thought it was a good move, but there just wasn’t enough room for the three of them down there in the corner and all of them got together.”

“It’s disappointing for us to run as well as we did and not finish up there, I know Jeff is especially disappointed because of the way his season is going so far. Jimmie is trying to climb back into it, and they both had winning cars all day.”

With the third place finish at Martinsville, Jr. finds himself in second in points now only 6 points out of first. Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. are tied in points for the third position which will of course be adjusted by the number of wins and last season’s points position to give us the current positioning.

Next weekend brings us to the first race break of the season for the Easter holiday festivities. The next race on teh schedule will take us to Texas for the first Saturday Night under the lights race of the 2012 season.

NASCAR – Kasey Kahne Wins The Martinsville Pole – Allstar Race Rules Change

April 1, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Kasey Kahne will accept his second Coors Lite Pole award of the 2012 season today during Driver introductions at Martinsville.

Kasey Kahne wants to win, and starting from the pole for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 is how he plans on getting it done. For the second time this year Kahne finds himself leading the field to the green, this time with a speed of 96.128 mph, and hopes for a better ending to the race this time than he has had yet. Moving into Hendrick equipment this year should’ve meant more consistency, better finishes, and better points position, but lady luck has had other plans for Kahne so far. Wrecking out early, engine issues, and just plain bad luck have kept Kahne down in 27th in points despite his excellent starts so far this season. Since moving to Hendrick’s Kahne has an average starting position of 7.6 but has only averaged 20.6 position on his finishes.

Martinsville is a different beast than other tracks on the circuit. A short track which has the nickname of the Paperclip due to the unique track layout. The .526 mile track is the shortest in NASCAR and has a reputation for giving drivers a rough ride, and for shortening tempers. So how does Kahne feel about Martinsville?

“It’s a tough track to qualify and a tough track to race — always has been one of my tougher ones over the years,” said Kahne, who has only led for a total of 19 laps at the famed short track in his career. “I’m glad we can start up front, have a great pit stall — that No. 1 stall — I think that helps throughout the whole race with track position.”

“Hopefully, we’ll have a solid day [on Sunday]. That’s what we need to do. We’ve had great Fridays and Saturdays but just haven’t put together a Sunday yet.”

Kevin Harvick will start second today in Martinsville

Kevin Harvick will start second on the grid after qualifying only .08 mph slower with a speed of 97.048 mph. Can “The Closer” get it done from here? Harvick won here last spring and would love to repeat that feat but there are 42 other drivers. Making his 400th career start since taking over the ride after the tragic loss of Dale Earnhardt Sr., Harvick feels that his team has matured and that things are finally coming together again in the RCR stables.

“I feel like it’s taken seven or eight years to get through the Earnhardt transition,” Harvick said. “There’s a lot of things you look back on now and that effect took a lot of time. Then as the grandkids — Austin and Ty — came, you [can] really see that enthusiasm level come back that I first saw in Richard in 1999 and 2000 as we led into the start of my career at RCR.”

4 time Martinsville winner Denny Hamlin will start third followed by Clint Bowyer who ran the exact same time, but will start fourth based on current owner points. Ryan Newman starts 5th.

Dale Earnhardt Jr edged current series Champion Tony Stewart by one spot on the starting grid and will start 14th and Stewart 15th.

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The Allstar race will take on a new format once again as NASCAR changes it up once again.

The format will have the drivers competing in 4 separate segments of 20 laps each and a final 10 lap shootout. The winner of each of the first 4 segments will be advanced to the front for the restart before the final 10 lap segment, rewarding the sinners of the 4 segments with track position right when they need it most.

Steve Addington, Crew Chief for the #14 of Tony Stewart, talks about how this will change the strategy for the event this time around.

“Those 20-lap segments are going to be a lot like the 10-lap segment,” said Steve Addington. “Everybody’s going to be wanting to get up front. I think it’s going to be really important to win one of those segments, because coming down pit road, that opens it up to a lot.”

Former All-Star Race winner Kasey Kahne said it would be tough for a driver on old tires to hold off another with four tires for the entirety of the final 10-lap segment. But the potential scenarios seem endless.

“If four guys don’t get anything, and then you restart sixth with tires, you might be able to win from there,” said Kahne, who won the event in 2008. “It will be interesting how it all works out. It will be a crew chief’s game late in the race.”

“I think the 20-lap segments are going to mean a lot,” Kahne said. “You want to be in that top four coming to pit road for the final 10, because 10 laps goes by quick here. You’ve got to be in those front four spots if you want to win the race in 10 laps, I think.”

NASCAR – With Stewart’s Win at Martinsville is the Chase Down to a Two Man Race?

November 4, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Tony Stewart - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Tony Stewart was asked as he stood in the Victory Lane at Martinsville if he thought that Carl Edwards was worried about his chance snow.Ã‚Â Stewart’s answer, with a huge smile on his face was “He’d better be worried. That’s all I can say. He’s not going to have an easy three weeks.”Ã‚Â And when we take a look at how Stewart and his teams from past season have run, he may be on to something.Ã‚Â Tony Stewart is one of the streakiest (is that really a word?) drivers in the NASCAR garage.Ã‚Â Once he gets on a roll he is very hard to stop.Ã‚Â This years chase has had a few bumps in the road for Stewart so far, but he is the only chaser to have more than one win since the chase began, having now racked up 3 marks in the W column since Chicagoland.

Carl Edwards - Image courtesy of JDTImages

But what does the points leader Carl Edwards have to say about all this trash talk?

“He’s wound up — he won the race,” Edwards said. “We’ll see what happens at Texas. I feel like we’re going to go there and we’re going to have as good a shot to win as anyone. This track [Martinsville] has been really, really tough for me.”

“Tony and those guys have obviously won three Chase races. When I sat in here on Friday (in Martinsville), I told you guys that I thought he was one of the guys that could win this race and be a guy that you have to beat for the championship, and he’s proven that. We’ll have fun. We’ll go race hard. They’re going to have to race us, too. I’m excited about the next three races.”

Stewart’s response? “I don’t care what he says. We’re going to go after him for the next three weeks.”

Edwards simply dismisses such trash talk.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m fine with it because I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t participate,Ã¢â‚¬Â he said. Ã¢â‚¬Å“My job is to go out here and do the best I can, win the championship. I just got done talking to Tony. We joked around about it a little bit.”

Ã¢â‚¬Å“It is kind of fun. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s fun to go back and forth, give each other a hard time. At the end of the day, though, I think Tony and myself would both be foolish if we thought all we had to worry about was one another.”

Ã¢â‚¬Å“I think youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve still got three or four guys behind us that are just as dangerous, maybe even more, in this championship.Ã¢â‚¬Â

So who could these 3 or 4 other guys be?Ã‚Â Well lets take a look at the standings and find out.Ã‚Â Stewart sits only 8 points behind Edwards and is the odds on favorite to knock Edwards from teh top spot and spoil his chances at a championship, that’s the obvious.Ã‚Â When we look at 3rd place back the field may still have a surprise or two lurking in the wings.

Kevin Harvick - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Sitting in third place in the points right now, 21 points behind the leader,Ã‚Â we have Kevin Harvick, Mr. “Where did he come from”.Ã‚Â This year Harvick has proven that hs is more than able to come from no where and take the lead at the end of the race.Ã‚Â Can he capitalize on that and do the same in the points race?Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â He was close at the end of last season coming on strong through the last 5 races and making it a 3 way chase between himself, Hamlin and eventual winner and 5 time champion Jimmie Johnson.Ã‚Â Harvick knows how to deal with the pressure of being up at the top this late in the season and has as good a shot as anyone to get there without making too many mistakes that could cost him his chances.

In fourth place we have Brad Kesolowski.Ã‚Â Brad raced his way into the chase as a wild card racking up 3 wins to get there.Ã‚Â He has been very consistent through the latter half of the season and all the way through the chase, running up front and showing that he is a strong contender, with the will and the drive to get there.Ã‚Â He is more focused that we have seen all year and has that fire to win burning in his eyes.Ã‚Â Although he has not been a Sprint Cup champion before he has a Nationwide Championship to back his credentials, and to show that he has dealt with the pressure before.Ã‚Â Being fourth in the points and only 27 behind the leader he has an excellent shot at it if he can remain as strong as we have seen him be in the second half of the season.

Matt Kenseth climbing out of his car after winning in Texas in April - Image courtesy of JDTImages

The fifth place driver, and the only other one I see as having a chance to upset the tool cart, is Matt Kenseth, 36 points behind his teammate Carl Edwards.Ã‚Â Kenseth has won a championship before as well and definitely knows about the pressure.Ã‚Â Although Kenseth has struggled in the past few races, his team is strong and has the same engines and chassis selection as Edwards does.Ã‚Â Kenseth has actually won a race since the start of the chase and that puts him in a better class than, Edwards who is still winless throughout the chase so far.Ã‚Â Kenseth also won the last race in Texas and has the ability to repeat that win and change the course of this years chase, of course it all depends on what happens to the rest of the field.Ã‚Â It’s a long shot but it is mathematically possible still.

Edwards may have been on to something, but the reality is that no driver has made up more than 12 points in a single race since the chase began.Ã‚Â When you are a full race in points behind like Jimmie Johnson is right now with only 3 races to go it is hard to visualize anyone that far back getting back into the game at this late stage.Ã‚Â Looking at it that way it really comes down to a 2 man race, with a chance of Harvick becoming the spoiler, a position that Harvick wants desperately to improve on after coming so close last year from the same position.

NASCAR – Stewart Gets the First Win in the 2011 Chase

September 21, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk 4 Comments

Tony Stewart - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Tony Stewart has had a rough season this year.Ã‚Â Coming close to a win so many times in the early season and then dealing with equipment failure and poor handling cars for the middle of the season, no one could have predicted that he would come out on top for the first race of the 2011 chase and show everyone what happens when you race every lap like it’s the last lap of the race.Ã‚Â Managing to save enough fuel to run a full 50 laps of green flag racing, Stewart out ran and out lasted the field as several of the top 10 cars faded and ran out of fuel at the end chaning the entire look of the leader board in the last half lap before the checkered flag.

“You hate to have to play the fuel-mileage game, but that’s just the way the caution came out,” Stewart said. “We came in and got fuel and Darian [Grubb] said we had to save a lap’s worth of fuel, but we had a whole run to do it.

“I felt like we had saved enough to get us to the end, but we came off Turn 2 after we got the checkered, and the fuel pressure was down to two pounds, and it stayed there until just shortly after we picked up the checkered flag at the flagstand.”

“We didn’t have anything to lose,” he said. “Where we’re at in the Chase right now, we had to press.”

Kevin Harvick - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Stewart had all but counted himself out of the chase earlier in the week saying that his team was just taking up space that a better team should have had.Ã‚Â Listing himself in the category of also rans before the chase even started.Ã‚Â Kevin Harvick, who finished second to Stewart by .941 seconds found it laughable that Stewart was talking that way.

“Counting Tony Stewart out — that’s pretty funny that he counts himself out,” said Harvick, who took the Chase lead by seven points over second-place Stewart. “He’s won a ton of races to start off the Chase like they did today.

“[He has] the notes and teammates and things to lean on at Hendrick Motorsports and Ryan [Newman] and all the stuff they have to lean on, there’s no way they’re going to be totally out to lunch. So I think that’s yet to be seen. So he ran strong all day and drove from the back to the front and led the race and won the race.

“So he shouldn’t count himself out — that’s pretty funny.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Dale Earnhardt Jr had been running just out of the top 10 all day, and after his devastating fuel strategy loss earlier in the year, he played it cool and managed to out last several of the drivers ahead of him and made the pass as they ran out of gas allowing him to move from 10th to 3rd in the final half lap of the race.Ã‚Â His third place finish was enough to move him from 10th to 5th in chase points and give himself a real shot at taking a title for the first time in his career.

“Basically, everybody ran out,” Earnhardt said. “The last lap I was counting them when I went by. I don’t know what place I was in to be honest with you, so I didn’t know where I would finish untilÃ‚Â Steve told me.”

“But I just knew we were going to get a good finish if we didn’t run out of fuel.”

“You know what, I felt like we would do well in the Chase. These are good tracks for me,” Earnhardt said. “… I felt we would rebound and kind of return to the form we started at the beginning of the year. Again, a lot of guys ran out of gas. But we did adjust and improve the car, and got faster at the end and drove by a bunch of guys that really weren’t saving. So that felt pretty good, how the car was running at the end.”

“At the end, the car was really good,” Earnhardt said. “And I think we were up in the top 10 there. So [I’m] real happy with being able to adjust the car, improve it. That’s all you can ask for as a driver, that the car gets better all day long.”

“We tried to be really smart and utilize every minute in practice, and try to really focus in practice and get everything we could out of it,” Earnhardt said. “And [we] tried to just be really smart about our adjustments and what we were trying to learn from the car throughout the weekend so we could put a good car out on the starting grid today, and I think we did a good job of that.”

So new we move on to Loudon New Hampshire for the Sylvania 300, a track where Tony Stewart finished 2nd earlier this year to his teammate Ryan Newman and where he has seen success before.Ã‚Â Can he keep up the momentum and do it again?Ã‚Â Only time, and 300 mile, will tell.

NASCAR – Kyle Busch Wins From the Pole at Kentucky for His 99th Career Win

July 10, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk 4 Comments

Busch takes the Checkered Flag at Kentucky Speedway - The Kentucky Enquirer/Jeff Swinger

It was the first of many races to come at Kentucky Speedway.Ã‚Â After a long court battle with the NASCAR sanctioning body, there was finally a race at Kentucky.Ã‚Â Drivers of course have been here many time to tire test as well as the Truck series and the Nationwide races held here before but this was the inaugural Sprint Cup race for this venue and it did not disappoint the sell out crowd with the on track action.Ã‚Â Kyle Busch set the standard now for this race track being the first driver to win a cup race here, and the first driver to win from the pole this season.Ã‚Â With qualifying rained out on Friday the field was set by the new rules, and the fastest practice times.

“I feel fortunate and blessed that weÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re here in victory lane right now and in front of the great state of Kentucky Ã¢â‚¬â€œ all the fans that came out here today,” Busch said. “To win the inaugural one is pretty awesome.”

”This is cool man,” Busch said.Ã‚Â It was certainly a fun night for us,” he said. “CouldnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t be happier to be in victory lane. This one ranks right up there with the best of them.Ã‚Â It’s certainly good to know we’re figuring things out.Ã‚Â I’m hoping (No. 100) comes at Loudon (next week)”

David Reutimann - Image courtesy of JDTImages.ca

As the race wound down it was Busch and Johnson lining up for the final restart but David Reutimann made a charge from the second row passing Jimmie Johnson and challenging for the win but was still Busch by 0.179 seconds at the finish line.

“It feels great, it feels good,” said Reutimann, who drives the No. 00 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing. “Second is still second, but itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s certainly a lot closer than we have been in the last month or so. So it felt really good.”

Johnson, who looked really good for the win on the final restart, made a move to get ahead of Busch and it looked like he was going to get there until Busch came on strong in turn 3 and took the lead for the final, and most important time, of the night.

Jimmie Johnson - Image courtesy of JDTImages.ca

“If I could have stayed inside of him, (it) would have been one heck of a finish to the end,” Johnson said. “He cleared me and went on. Then I had my hands full with the 00 (Reutimann). I think he probably was the best car at the end. If he would have cleared me sooner, I think he would have been up there with (Busch) racing for the win.”

For most of the race it had been looking as if it was going to be the 18 and the #2 Miller Lite Doge entry of Brad Kesolowski fighting at the finish line but a series of restarts at the end kept moving Brad backwards through the line as he ended up on the inside line.

Brad Kesolowski in his #2 Miller Lite Dodge - Image courtesy of JDTImages.ca

“At the end, the restarts are just a crapshoot,” Keselowski said. “If you get the bottom lane, you’re going backwards. I kept getting in an odd position and just kept getting on the bottom lane. Every restart just kept playing against us. It was a great effort by this race team and that makes me proud. We led laps and were competitive all night.

“So I’m proud of the effort of this race team, but disappointed in the results. It’s just a product of double-file restarts. That’s why drivers hate them — because some tracks are great and they [help us] put on a good show, and then there are tracks like this where it just completely screws your day.”

“It was an incredible Miller Lite Dodge [Saturday night],” Keselowski said. “I led a bunch of laps and I have to thank my team for that. Everyone at Penske Racing has a lot to be proud of. But I would have liked to have gotten a better finish from where we ended up.”

“It was a combination of the bumps on the race track and the being on the bottom [on the restarts],” he said. “When you restart on the bottom lane, not only don’t you not have air on the nose, you don’t have air on the right side of the car. The right-side [air] is what keeps these cars from spinning out. When you don’t have that air, you’re awful.”

This win also puts Kyle Busch up 2 spots and into the points lead with 4 points of Carl Edwards and 10 points over last weeks points leader Kevin Harvick who finished 16th for the night and dropped 2 spots to third in the standings.Ã‚Â Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped another spot to 8th after a catastrophic tire failure, blowing out his left front tire with only 14 laps to go, moving him back deep into the field to 30th as the last car on the lead lap.Ã‚Â Tony Stewart moved up one spot in the standings to 11th just outside the chase spots, and with no wins so far this season Stewart runs a chance of missing the chase with only 8 races left in the regular season before the Chase.

NASCAR – Logano Scores Second Career Pole at the First Road Course Race of the Season in Sonoma

June 25, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Joey Logano does not see himself as a road course racer.Ã‚Â Ã‚Â So imagine his surprise when he set the pace at 93.256 mph with a lap time of 76.821 Seconds and none of the drivers who followed him were able to better his speed for the Toyota/Save Mart 350.Ã‚Â This run makes Joey the youngest driver in Cup History to score a pole on a road course.Ã‚Â In his typical understated fashion Joey told the media just how surprised he really was.

Image Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

”I was very surprised,” he said. ”We were sitting in the trailer watching the last three guys to go and it was Kasey (Khane), who got the pole here last year, Denny (Hamlin), who is really good here and our teammate, and then Kurt (Busch), who has got the last three poles in a row. We didn’t think we were going to be good enough to get the pole, but made some good adjustments and got some speed in the car.

”This is the last place I expected to get a pole. I never considered myself a road course racer.”

“After practice, I felt like we needed a lot more forward drive, a lot more side bite in the car, and they (his crew) made it happen.”

“I was surprised. I felt like my lap was OK. I didn’t feel like it was stellar — by no means. And it held up.”

“I didn’t really think it was going to hold up, and I don’t think any of my guys thought it was going to hold up, but we’re really pumped up right now. We needed a good momentum change for our Home Depot team right now. We’ve been going through a little bit of a drought, and this is definitely going to help us a lot.”

Now he’s have to get his armor ready for the brawl that is about to follow.Ã‚Â Sonoma in recent years has become a track the requires skill and patience, and yet has more beating and banging that the shorts tracks that NASCAR fans are used to watching.Ã‚Â Just look at the results from the race here last year.Ã‚Â 11 laps in, four cars stacked up. Just past halfway, the event had to be stopped for 20 minutes to clean up a five-car accident. In nearly every passing zone, drivers in the middle of the pack beat and banged on one another as if they were on a short track. Many were inadvertently caught in the crossfire and spun out.Ã‚Â Although the race is most remembered for Marcos Ambrose losing the lead when his car failed to restart on an uphill grade while he tried to conserve fuel, the conversations and appologies after the race were all about or from Jeff Gordon. Clint Bowyer,Martin Truex Jr.,Kurt Busch, and Elliot Sadler were among those demanding answers from Gordon afterward.

”

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There’s preferred lines, and there’s basically being off line,” Gordon said. “If you happen to get put in a position where you’re off line, then you’re going to scratch, claw, with everything you possibly can, especially in the closing laps. There’s no doubt that in the closing laps … it’s as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than a short track.”

“It was an off day for Jeff,”Ã‚Â said Kurt Busch on Friday. “He apologized to a handful of guys afterward, and for some reason … excluded apologizing to me. I thought that was interesting. He drove straight through our right rear, gave us a flat, and we finished 32nd. You have your bad days. You have your moments of beating and banging. It’s one of those things where the lines keep getting further and further towards the aggressive side here at Sonoma.”

Kevin Harvick offered some idea of why the aggression factor is so high on a road course like Sonoma.

“I think there are very limited places to pass, and so when you see somebody that’s vulnerable, you have to take advantage of it. And when you get taken advantage of, you obviously want to minimize it as much as you can,”said Harvick. “As long as the fenders aren’t rubbing the tires here, you can usually still make good lap times. Road courses have become very physical races, and the cars look more like they should have been at Martinsville than probably anywhere else. It’s a fun race, and it has become very physical over the last three or four years. I think that’s more of a tribute to this particular car, because you can be more aggressive with it and not get yourself in trouble with fenders dragging tires and things.”

Jimmie Johnson agrees.

“When you’re in the center of the pack, it’s just an energy that exists when somebody makes a questionable move on you, and your excitement level goes up. And now you make a move on a guy, and it just kind of breeds this style of racing, and we’re going to see it,” he said. “Anymore, the passing zones, drivers are so aggressive in defending the passing zones and braking zones that you have to find a different way by, or just bomb it in there and the eight-tires-are-better-than four mentality and hope that you make it. I think there’s a very good chance of a lot of action taking place.”

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Even a driver like Tony Stewart, who is definitely one of the best active NASCAR road course racers out there is looking for action to happen on the track.

“I can promise you, there will be a lot of guys that will just crash each other just because they think they can,” said Stewart. “I’ll bet anything I’ve got in my pocket that in the last two or

three laps, somebody dumps somebody just doing something stupid. So there’s no doubt in my mind that’ll happen.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke about the post race meetings on the helicopter pad where the drivers let their feeling be known to each other about the days race.

“Yeah, this place gets interesting, especially up there on the helicopter pad afterward,” said Jr. “I don’t fly to the race tracks on helicopters no more, but it’s pretty interesting after the race. Everybody just sort of gets what’s on their mind out, and they talk it out, or whatever. Or they don’t talk, and it’s just kind of awkward.”

So even after his round of apologies, what doe Jeff Gordon expect from the other drivers?

“I’m sure if they’re in a position to kind of get back for what happened, I’m sure they will,” he said. “My goal this weekend is not to allow myself to get in that position.”

NASCAR – “Where’d He Come From?” Harvick Wins the Coke 600 as Fuel Milage Gamblers Lose Their Bets

May 30, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk 3 Comments

Kevin Harvick, winner of the Coke 600, heads through the crowd during driver intros in Texas. - Image courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Kevin Harvick was dancing in pit lane last night after taking the checkered flag at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Coca~Cola 600, NASCAR’s longest race of the year.Ã‚Â In a race where he had not been a factor all night, he managed to outlast the field at the end as Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr ran out of gas in the final laps of the race.Ã‚Â Harvick makes no bones about not liking to race in Charlotte, and even after scoring his third win of the season, and becoming the only driver to achieve that in the 2011 season, he still has no love for this track.

“Even though we won, I’m still miserable,” said Harvick after the race. “In about 30 minutes, I’ll be happy, when we drive out of that tunnel and leave the month of May behind.”

“We were lucky,” Harvick said. “I told them at the beginning of this thing that we haven’t fixed this thing in two weeks, there’s no way we’re going to fix it today. Nothing against this race track — I just don’t like racing here. It just doesn’t feel right. … I griped and griped and griped all freaking day long about how terrible it was. I just have a bad attitude here, so hopefully this helps.”

David Ragan screams around the track in Texas where he started from the pole - Image courtesy of JDTImages.ca

David Ragan scored his best career finish in second place as his team had gambled on fuel and almost won.Ã‚Â When asked by Carl Edwards after the race how close he was to running out, his answer was “Yards.”

Ragan was running in 5th when Kahne ran out of gas, causing the field to stack up.Ã‚Â He and Joey Logano, the third place driver, made some outstanding manouvers to get around the back up and set them selves up for what was coming next.

“I loved it. I wish they all would have dropped out,” Ragan said. “I love it when they’re checking up and dropping out. I wish the start/finish line had been a down a little further in Turn 1 and maybe we would have had a shot at getting Harvick.”

Ragan showed no surprise that there was no caution flag as Earnhardt was approaching the white flag.Ã‚Â No controversy, no conspiracy theories, just a well thought out conclusion.

“Not really. I won’t tell you why I’m not surprised, but I think everybody knows,” Ragan said. “Nothing was stopped on the race track. I don’t think anybody was in danger; everybody was moving.”

“That’s what makes it exciting. I can’t wait to hear what everybody has to say. This was one of the most exciting Coke 600’s that I can remember.”

“We had a good car,” Ragan said. “We’ve had some speed in our UPS Ford this year. We just haven’t been able to close the deal. We’ve made a lot of improvements on our team — andÃ‚Â Carl, Greg [Biffle] and Matt [Kenseth] are some of the best drivers out here, so that keeps the pressure pretty tight on myself to try to keep up. We had a good night.”

“If the 29 had just stumbled a little bit, we could have won it,” Ragan said of Sunday’s scramble on the last two laps. “But that’s a couple of races we’ve been close to winning this year. When you’re around at the finish in the top five, eventually a win will come.”

“I wish we raced here again next week,” Ragan said. “Our mile-and-a-half program has been really strong. So I can’t wait to get to Kansas and Pocono and Michigan. A lot of these tracks coming up are going to be fun.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Image courtesy of JDTImages.ca

As the tank rank dry on the back stretch and Earnhardt Jr.Ã‚Â started losing momentum, crew chief Steve LeTarte said over the radioÃ‚Â “We needed 500 more feet of fuel.” But Dale

Earnhardt Jr. wasn’t as upset as one would think about running out of fuel and finishing 7th in a race where it looked like he was finally going to break his winless streak at the end.Ã‚Â In fact he felt they would have been lucky to have notchedÃ‚Â win at all.

“I think we needed a lot more than 500 feet”

“We weren’t supposed to win,” Earnhardt said. “We played our hand, and those other guys came in (for fuel). I tried to save a ton of gas, but I know I didn’t save enough. I tried to save as much as I could. I’m disappointed we didn’t win. I know all our fans were disappointed to come so close.

“We were a top-five car. This was our Vegas car, and it’s really, really good, so we’ll keep taking it to race tracks and running good. We were so fast at the start of the race, and once the sun went down we kind of went back. We ran good. I’m proud. I’m proud of my guys, and I’m proud of the car we unloaded.”

Next week the series heads to Kansas Speedway for the first of 2 races there this year.Ã‚Â Another 1.5 mile banked oval and a new addition to the Sprint Cup lineup this year after a long protracted legal battle over the rights of the track.Ã‚Â It should be interesting to see this new facility and how the racers will feel about the track.

NASCAR – Smith Tames the Lady In black For His First Cup Series Win

May 8, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Regan Smith leads Jimmie Johnson around the track at Texas earlier this year - Image courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Regan Smith takes his first checkered flag at Darlington in a race where tempers flared, leaders made costly mistakes on the track and in the pits, and where cars were opened up like they ran into a can opener.Ã‚Â 21 lead changes exchanged over 12 different drivers, 10 cautions and 19 cars earning their Darlington stripes. With his best race this season well under way, running 6th with 10 to go, Jeff Burton’s blown engine set the stage for a finish that no one expected, least of all Regan Smith himself.Ã‚Â Staying out while the leaders all went in gave Smith the lead and put Brad Kesolowski and Tony Stewart in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

With 6 laps to go Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer got together coming out of turn 4 setting up a green white checkered finish for only the second time at Darlington the first time being in 2007 where Greg Biffle won the race.Ã‚Â Starting from the bottom line Smith jumped out front on the final restart and held off Carl Edwards for the first Cup win of his career.

Smith was overjoyed in his interview as he exited his car in Victory Lane.Ã‚Â When asked if he could describe how he felt his simply said “No, I really can’t.”

Wishing a Happy Mothers Day to all the moms watching the race and wishing his mom was there, he continued on with his thoughts about the race.

“I want to thank the fans for coming out, Furniture Row, These guys have stuck with me for 3 years and we’ve had some major up and major downs, I think this qualifies as a major up.Ã‚Â The car was good all night but we never had track position, so when the opportunity showed up to stay out there Pete made a great pit call.”

“It worked out, we’re in the All-Star race, there’s too much cool stuff going on right now.Ã‚Â I had to get my composure back.Ã‚Â We got a neat trophy now, legends win this race, I’m not supposed to win this race.Ã‚Â I’ve never even had a top 5.Ã‚Â I guess that shows that in this series anyone can win on any given Sunday.”

Carl Edwards, who had fresh tires on the final restart did everything he could to get to Smiths rear bumper but was unable to get there at the end.

“There were about 6 things I could’ve done differently, and I will be doing them in my mind ’till the next time we get here.Ã‚Â I want to offer my congratulations to Regan Smith, I need a mattress, I think I’m gonna go buy one at Furniture Row.Ã‚Â He did a great job, he spun the tires a little bit on the restart, I pedaled to make sure I didn’t beat him off the line, and then Brad (Kesolowski) pushed him.Ã‚Â This race means a lot to win. This is a huge day for him.”

Edwards went into Victory Lane to offer his congratulations to Smith and told him ” ‘This is a really big deal’, he knows that.Ã‚Â I’ve worked with him as a crew member as low man on the totem pole, he’s a good person and I guess if had to get beat, it’s alright to get beat by him.Ã‚Â We’ll be back, we’re leading the points and we’ll just get the next one.”

Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch are probably going to be the most talked about subject this week after their post race pit road brewhaha.Ã‚Â After getting together on the track in the incident that ended Clint Bowyer’s night, Busch hooked Harvick and sent him into the outside wall.Ã‚Â Harvick was none too pleased with that and waited for Busch as the cars lined up to enter pit road.Ã‚Â Pulling out of the line Busch was having none of it, but Harvick pulled out onto the track with him and started getting his gloves and helmet off.Ã‚Â Busch turned around and headed back into the pits but Harvick beat him there and stopped his car with Busch behind him before he climbed out of his car and walked angrily back to the 18 car of Busch.Ã‚Â As Harvick wound up to take a swing at Busch, Kyle hit the throttle and pushed Harvick’s unattended car into the interiorÃ‚Â pit road wall and drove away from the scuffle.

It should have ended there, but as always when tempers flare the entire pit crews for both drivers were going at each other while cameras rolled and the volunteer race marshals did their best to keep them apart.Ã‚Â I have a feeling that we will be hearing a lot more about this one than we did about Montoya and Newman.Ã‚Â Heck, maybe this week we’ll finally see a black eye, or a fat lip, if Harvick catches Busch in a dark hauler somewhere.

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