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NASCAR – Smoke Gets His First Win in Vegas, Holding Off Johnson at the Line

March 12, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Tony Stewart raises the Wrench after winning the Kobalt Tools 400 in Las Vegas

Tony Stewart took on every restart like a man possessed.  Every time the green flag flew, so did the #14 car, putting 4 to 5 car lengths between himself and the field.  The numbers finally played into Stewart’s hands and his win was simply in the cards in Las Vegas.  After taking the lead just after the mid point of the race Stewart looked impossible to beat and it turns out he was.  Tony led the field for 127 laps including the most important final 34 laps of the race.  Restarting 4 times at the head of the field Stewart powered away from the field easily and made everyone chase him again, just like the end of the 2010 season.

The numbers game seemed to play into Stewart’s hand in Vegas, his first win in 14 starts here, in the number 14 car, after having a win in each of his 14 seasons in NASCAR so far.  Stewart, who is known for coming on strong at the end of the season, scored his earliest victory in any race season so far with this win.

“Man, I’m just finally glad to win one here,” said Stewart, “We were so close last year and had a dominant car.” referring to an incident last year when he dragged an air wrench out of the pit stall during a stop.

“I’m not sure we had the dominant car today, but we had an awful fast Chevy. Just glad to finally, finally get one at Vegas.”

Stewart’s restarts were a thing of beauty each and every time.  Pulling away from the field like he was running from his dad after getting an F on his report card, he made it look easy.

“Every time the caution came out, I’m like, ‘Not again,’ ” Stewart said. “You wonder how many times you’re going to give them a chance at it on a restart there, and when they’re going to be able to capitalize on us.”

“But, that was our strong suit today. We were really strong on the restarts. Just proud of the Hendrick engine department; making great steam with it. That was the key to our restarts was the power that we had. We could go without spinning the tires, and we could get a really good lead into Turn 1 and just haul butt down the backstretch.”

Jimmie Johnson rides around during driver introductions

Jimmie Johnson finished second despite a strong charge at the end.  He made it a race with his efforts but ended up finishing only .461 seconds behind the #14.

“They were awfully strong,” Johnson said of Stewart and the No. 14 team. “The last two restarts … second to the last restart, I just blew it. He got away from me. The next to the last start, I felt like I got a good one. He still cruised away.

“My only chance was to be at his outside through 1 and 2. Didn’t have that opportunity. He had the lane at that point. I drove my guts out, but just didn’t get it done.”

“I don’t know what the average speed was, but we’re flying around here,” Johnson said. “The faster you go, the more that clean air becomes a priority. Passing for the lead was tough. I worked my way all the way through the field. Took me forever to get by [Kenseth] on one of those runs for the lead itself.

“Luckily, we’re on a track with multiple grooves and we can move around, but the first car definitely has an advantage.”

Greg Biffle didn’t have the car to win, but in a sport that rewards consistency, having finished 3rd for 3 races in a row Biffle is now the points leader.  It may be a consolation prize but it’s the first time he has held the points lead since 2005, and it has to feel good to be the man on top.

Biffle struggled with a loose car all day and Crew Chief Greg Erwin just didn’t seem to be able to get a handle on it.

Greg Biffle's #16 machine looked loose in practice, but Biffle piloted it up to a 3rd place finish

“My car just didn’t turn good enough,” Biffle explained. “That’s what I lacked. We fought loose, loose, loose in practice, kept working on it, working on it. Finally, at the end of the day, we got it to where it was pretty good.

“I was just too tight. Right from the green, I was too tight. We just kind of pecked at it, and we should have taken two, three rounds of wedge out [to change the weight distribution]. We took one out. I just was not aggressive enough.

“I should have taken two, three rounds out of it or raised the track bar a half-inch, maybe pulled rubber out of the left rear — I might have been up their tail pipe Tony Stewart at the end. We had a good run. Even then I don’t know if we had a car that was fast enough.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr looked really strong in the early stages of the race leading 70 laps and looking like the car to beat.  As the race wore down however Jr seemed to lose his edge and once he fell back into traffic he was never able to regain the lead.

Dale Jr waves to the crowd during driver introductions

“We didn’t keep up with the race track,” said Earnhardt, who led a career-low 52 laps last year. “The car was really fast at the start of the race. I didn’t give that information to [crew chief] Steve [Letarte]. I don’t think I gave him a good enough understanding of where our race car was, even though it was really fast. The track got really tight on us at the end of the race — something that I should have had a handle on and should have known better and should have not let happen.”

“We just didn’t have our adjustments going throughout the day to keep up with the track as it tightened up on us. The [car] was really good all weekend. We had good speed. Hopefully, we can keep bringing cars like that to the race track, and we’ll get some opportunities to win.”

Next week it’s off to Bristol where the short track will decide who is left at the end, more than who has the best car.

 

 

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Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kyle Busch Get His First Win at MIS and First to Lock in For The Chase Default ThumbnailNASCAR- Greg Biffle Takes the Pole And Feels Like He Can Win It Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Clint Bowyer Wins the Wild Card Race in Talladega – A Rough Ride For The Chasers Shakes Up the Standings Again Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kasey Kahne Gambles on a Different Line and Takes the Pole in Vegas – Juan Hits the Wall in Practice Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Smoke Holds Off Edwards For the Race and Championship Win At Miami Homestead Putting Bookends on Johnson’s Reign

NASCAR – Kasey Kahne Gambles on a Different Line and Takes the Pole in Vegas – Juan Hits the Wall in Practice

March 10, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Kasey Kahne setting the pace during qualifying in Las Vegas

On a day that saw 15 different drivers break the speed record set by Matt Kenseth in 2011 of of 188.884 mph, Kasey Kahne led the field with a lap at 190.456 mph (28.353 seconds) to take the pole position for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motorspeedway.  After watching his teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. run their lines in practice, Kahne went to the tapes from last year to review where Kenseth ran when he set the previous record and gambled that it would take him to the front.  A gamble that paid off in spades putting him at the front of the grid with a speed of 190.040 mph.

“I didn’t talk to those guys about it, but I watched Dale and also Jimmie in practice and saw where they were running — they were a little bit faster than I was,” Kahne said. “And then, right before qualifying, I did it a little different in the Great Clips car [during Nationwide Series practice].

“I wanted to check on some things, so I had [team engineer] Keith [Rodden] check back on last year. We wanted to see where Matt Kenseth ran, and he ran right around the top [in Turns 1 and 2], just basically like I did, and right around the bottom in [Turns] 3 and 4. When I saw that, I was like, ‘That’s the spot; I’m going to try to make it work.’ ”

Kahne’s 2012 season has been off to a rough start so far after wrecking out of the Daytona 500 and finishing in 29th, and then taking what looked like the fastest car on the track in Phoenix and riding the wall early in the race, putting him out of contention for the win.  Kahne remains positive that his team can turn it around and regain points positions this early in the season.

“I feel good about our speed,” Kahne said. “At Daytona, so many things happen there, and you’re not in control of a lot of that stuff — I got caught up in other people’s messes at times. Last weekend, we had as good a car as anybody at Phoenix. I qualified well, was really good in practice — the best car in practice — and then in the race, we just needed to do things right and be there at the end.

“I made a mistake, and we lost a lot of points because of that. We had a rough day because of a mistake I made. You add all that up, and we haven’t started off very good, but our cars have been fast … I feel like I’m in a really good spot. The way to dig out [of the deficit] is to qualify well, run well and not make mistakes — and I feel like we can do that.”

The trip to Vegas has been good for the Hendrick’s team.  Earnhardt Jr. had the fastest car in the first practice session on Saturday morning at 184.957 mph, followed closely by Kahne at 184.754 mph while Johnson (4th) and Gordon (9th) well scoring top 10 speeds.

Juan Pablo Montoya running in his backup car during first practice for the Kobalt Tools 400, Saturday morning.

Fridays practice was marred by an early accident when Juan Pablo Montoya got tight  in turn and broke loose hitting the wall and spilling parts on the track, one of which ended up punching a hole in the left front valance of Kyle Busch’s #18 forcing both both drivers to the rear of the field for the start of the Kobalt Tools 400 on Sunday.   Montoya had to break out his backup car while Kyle Busch had to replace the engine.

“It felt really good in [Turns] 3 and 4,” Montoya said. “I went into [Turn] 1 and got a little tight over the bumps. So I got on the gas and it just stepped out on me. I thought, ‘My God,’ and I was in the fence.”

Montoya returned to the track in time to make only 5 laps in the session, but felt good about the setup on the back up car.

“I thought we made a lot of gains,” Montoya said. “The car looked very promising, but it’s still early in the week.”

Marcos Ambrose spins through the grass during practice for the Kobalt Tools 400 in Las Vegas

Kyle Busch’s bad luck continued in the second practice on Saturday when he slid his car into the wall in turn 4, early in the session, bringing out the first of 2 red flags in session two.  The second red flag was brought out when Marcos Ambrose also broke loose in turn 4.  Ambrose managed to keep it off the wall and slid through the grass, saving both his car and his starting position.

Finally, Chad Knaus’ penalty appeal hearing will be held on Tuesday bringing an end to the latest saga for the #48 Crew Chief.  He will be atop the pit box for Jimmie Johnson this weekend but depending on the results of the appeal may be taking in the races from home for the next 6 races if the ruling stands.  NASCAR fiend Knaus 25 driver points and $100,000 after finding that the C-Pillars at the read windscreen were outside regulations.  Many are saying that the ruling should be overturned as the car was never set to template before they were told to remove the offending parts.

 

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Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Edwards Takes Vegas, Stewart Has a Late Race Pit Stumble But Ties For First in Points Lead Default ThumbnailNASCAR- David Ragan Finds the Front Row at the Brickyard Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Mark Martin Takes The Pole For Phoenix – Hendrick’s Teams Look For Big Rebound Default ThumbnailNASCAR – David Ragan Plays NASCAR Survivor to Win at Daytona for Redemption. Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Marcos Ambrose Takes the Win at The Glen, Avoids the Massive Wreck Fest Behind him

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…]

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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.

NASCAR – Kenseth Takes the Pole in Record Setting Fashion – Busch Brothers at the Tops of the Points Board

March 5, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Another week of record smashing speeds on the track for NASCAR this time in Las Vegas for the Kobalt Tools 400.  Although last week saw driver after driver breaching the previous record, this week only a handful broke the previous record of 188.719 mph last year set by Kurt Busch, who qualified 22nd Friday.  But when all the dust had settled it was Matt Kenseth starting from the pole for the fifth time in his career, and the first since May 2009 at Darlington. On Sunday, the 2003 Cup champion will try to break a winless string of 72 races that dates to Feb. 22, 2009, at Auto Club Speedway.

“Qualifying is not my strong suit, but I knew we had a really fast car today when we did our last qualifying run in practice,” Kenseth said. “Honestly, this is the most nervous I’ve been before qualifying in probably five years at least, because I knew we had a shot at the pole, and I knew last week we really messed up. I didn’t want to mess up a fast car today, so I was really happy with that.”

Kenseth was determined to atone for a disappointing 24th-place qualifying effort last week at Phoenix. Setting a blistering pace around Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a track-record 28.589 seconds (188.884 mph) allowed Kenseth to knock fellow Ford driver Marcos Ambrose off the pole for the Kobalt Tools 400 Sprint Cup race at the 1.5-mile track.  Not too shabby an effort for Ambrose either who reached a speed of 188.166 mph for a lap time of 28.427 seconds, and matching his best qualifying efforts at an oval track yet.

“I’ve been second a few times now in my Cup career, so I’ve been the bridesmaid plenty of times — it doesn’t feel any nicer,” said Ambrose, “But I’m really pleased today. Can’t complain. Matt did a great lap. Can’t complain about someone beating you on speed. It’s not like he lucked into it.”

[Read more…]

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Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Sprint Cup Heads to Phoenix – New Points System Makes the Standings Look a Whole Lot Different Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Jeff Gordon Gets His First Win Since ’09, Denying Kyle Busch a Weekend Sweep Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Denny Hamlin takes the win to tighten up the Championship Chase Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Jimmie Johnson Goes Where no Driver has Gone Before. Default ThumbnailNASCAR – The Season is Almost Upon Us.

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