Kyle Busch

NASCAR – Busch Finds The Front in Loudon – Stewart Haas Are Counting on Success

July 15, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk 1 Comment

Kyle Busch edged Kasey Kahne and teammate Denny Hamlin for the Pole by a mere .003 and .004 of a second.

Kyle Busch came out of the hauler as the fastest car on the track, and he backed it up by taking the pole for today’s LENOX Industrial Tools 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway. After setting the pace in the first practice, Busch was the last of 44 drivers to run his qualifying lap. Edging Kasey Kahne by .003 seconds and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin by .004, Busch won the pole for today’s race with a lap at 133.417 mph. It was a lucky Friday the 13th for Busch as he was the 13th driver to set the pole time and also the last. Just happy that he kept it off the wall, Busch had this to say about his run.

“I got in the throttle really early in [Turns] 3 and 4, trying to make speed and was able to finish it,” Busch said. “But the car slipped right at the last second when you get to that older asphalt — it seems like this tire [new from Goodyear for this race] is different from the older tire, where you lose just a pinch of grip — it slid out right to the cushion point, I guess you’d say. But, no, there’s no mark on the car, so it’s a good day.”

Hamlin thought he lost the pole coming to the green on his first qualifying lap.

“Yeah, I thought maybe I could have gotten to the green a little bit better,” Hamlin said. “You know your first lap’s going to be the money lap, so I typically run into Turn 1 — really at all race tracks — a little bit easier and try to make up the ground as I go.

“But with qualifying as tight as it is, you’ve got to maximize everything to get poles, and obviously that was the difference.”

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Stewart Haas Racing loves coming to Loudon. Ryan Newman won this race in the spring with a 1 – 2 start and a 1 – 2 finish for Stewart Haas racing, then team owner Tony Stewart came back and won the fall race as the team continued to assert their dominance in New Hampshire. With Newman starting 6th and Stewart starting 10th the team is looking like they know which direction they need to go to make their way back to victory lane here in Loudon.

“We’re decent, I think,” said Stewart, the owner-driver of the No. 14 Chevrolet. “We were pretty good here for both races last year, so I’m pretty excited about coming back here.”

Asked why he thinks the SHR teams are so good at New Hampshire, Stewart said: “I wish I knew, but it seems like where we were last year it’s continuing on so far — even though it sounds like we’ve got a little bit of a different tire. I’m pretty happy with it. I mean the car right off the first lap felt like it had really good balance to it. We’ve just got to keep working with it and see if we can keep making it better all weekend.”

Newman said he thought he had a better idea about why he and his boss are tough to contend with at New Hampshire.

“I think our cars are good, there’s no doubt,” Newman said. “I think the Hendrick engines [are strong], and everything’s clicking. I like the track because I think you have to feel the tires and be on the edge.

“I was thinking about it last week. I think it kind of reminds us of our old IRP [Indianapolis Raceway Park] days. This kind of drives like that kind of race track where your car is on top of the race track, and you get everything that you can. There is nothing to really make it go any faster. It’s not like you’re pushing the car on the banking to make it grip better. There’s none of that really to speak of here. I think just a little bit of our past, a little bit of us as far as the way we drive race cars, is what helps us here.”

“It was awesome for us here last year,” Newman said. “It was a time when Stewart was struggling a little bit, too, so to have the one-two start and one-two finish, that was awesome. Then for him to back it up — for us to win the spring race, and him to win the fall race — it was an amazing place for us here, for Stewart-Haas, this race track here in Loudon. We’ll try to do it again. There is no reason that we can’t.”

When asked about the 6 point penalty assessed by NASCAR for the cooling hose violation, Stewart id not even seemed concerned as he weighed it against the possibilities for this weekend.

“It was a mistake on our team’s part and we deserve the penalty for it,” Stewart said. “Luckily it was in qualifying, so it wasn’t something that made us win the race. We didn’t win the race because of that. Like I said, it was just a mistake on our part and we’ve just got to make sure we don’t overlook that again.”

NASCAR – Biffle Sets the Pace and Attempts to Tame the Lady in Black

May 12, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Greg Biffle has the pole for the Bojangles Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

It was beginning to look like an all Hendrick front row with Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne ready to lead the field to the green flag, until Greg Biffle showed up. Jimmie Johnson had taken the provisional pole from his teammate Kasey Kahne but was worried that he had not done his best, that he had left some speed out there on the track. That speed was found by Greg Biffle as he grabbed the pole for the Bojangles Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

“This is what a race car driver looks forward to, showing up every weekend and having a really fast car to drive,” said Biffle, the Sprint Cup Series leader. “They’re making me look good so far.

“It was a pretty uneventful lap. The car just had a ton of grip — it stuck to the race track really, really well. I felt like I was a little bit light down in Turns 1 and 2 — I should have been a little bit quicker down there — but I got a lot out of it in 3 and 4, so it was a great lap.”

”I feel that special season already. I certainly think that we’re going to be tough in competition all year,” said Biffle.

Johnson seemed to know that more speed could be found… just not who was going to find it.

Jimmie Johnson felt he left some speed out on the track. Greg Biffle found it.

”I left a little speed out there and Greg certainly found it,” Johnson said. ”It would’ve been nice to have a Hendrick front row. But it was a very productive day.”

Jimmie Johnson is looking to get the 200th win for team owner Rick Hendrick this weekend. He has help at the front with his teammate Kasey Kahne, but Kahne is also hungry for a win. And let us not forget the 9 time fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. who has been Mr Hendrick’s most consistent performer all season long, and is coming into Darlington with a 6 race top 10 streak under his belt.

“It certainly weighs on the team,” Johnson said before Friday’s practice at Darlington Raceway. “I’m not frustrated yet. I don’t want to see opportunities slip away. I certainly want to get 200 behind us as does everyone at Hendrick Motorsports because it’s lingering around.”

Johnson and Kahne will be starting 2nde and 3rd respectively. Dale Jr looks to have his work cut out for him if he wants to break his streak and obtain the 200th win for his team. Starting back in 24th Jr has not shown a lot of speed this weekend. Running 19th in first practice and 18th in the second, the 88 car looks like it will need a lot of adjustments on the fly to get it where he wants it to be during the race.

Ryan Newman and Kyle Busch will round out the top 5 for the start of the race.

Danica Patrick makes her return to the Sprint Cup Schedule. It seems her team owner Tony Stewart used his well known sarcastic sense of humor as he chose which track Danica would be driving at this season. However you never really learn if you take the easy road, and Danica seems up to the challenge. The experience she gains at the tougher tracks in the schedule should translate to better finishes at the easier tracks in the long run.

“This is a tough place and everything they said about it is true,” Patrick said between practices. “This Lady in Black is very intimidating. I’m just trying to get comfortable with what the car needs me to do — where to brake, how heavy to brake and those kinds of things. I’ve got my Darlington stripes, officially. It’s all the way down the right side of the car. We got that one over with.

“I’ve got everything in my corner, I just need time. I just need to get comfortable. It’s definitely not going to be an easy, breezy night. Like Tony (Stewart) said, I’m probably going to hate him by the end of the weekend. Come the future, I’m going to be glad for it.”

Team Owner tony Stewart agrees.

“She understands the value of why we picked this as one of the races,” Stewart said. “I think she’s keeping the big picture in mind. I think she’s doing a really good job of taking it all in stride, not letting her position on the time sheet get her down, realizing that the whole weekend is a learning experience and trying to just get at that time.

“I want her just to run as many laps as possible. The more time she can spend on track, the more experience that she’s going to get. So the good thing is, running both divisions, she’s getting a ton of track time.”

That may be true, but there is a huge difference between the Nationwide cars and the Cup cars when it comes right down to it.

“When you get to about half-throttle in the Cup car, that’s what a Nationwide car feels like,”Jimmie Johnson said with a laugh. “There’s a lot left from that point down in a Cup car. As far as tracks go, this track in my opinion has the highest sensation of speed over any other track we go to. And it’s due to it being so narrow. But it will be an eye-opening experience. Fortunately, she’s been real fast in other cars so hopefully it doesn’t affect her too much. But we’ve all looked at this race on her schedule and know it’s going to be tough for her. And it certainly will. This is not an easy race track to get around, but she’s going to do it and we’ll see how it goes.”

NASCAR – Kesolowski Makes All The Right Moves to Win at Talladega

May 7, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Brad Kesolowski celebrates with a burnout after getting his second win of the season in the #2 Miller Lite Dodge.

Talladega has always had the danger, the excitement, and the reputation for the “Big One” with the potential for disaster. 43 cars entered the arena ready to do battle with the high temperatures Mother Nature provided and the other gladiators vying for a win. Everyone chose their dancing partners but for the first 3/4 of the race, chose to battle their own cars instead of those around them. Doing their best to keep the engines cool and their equipment ready for the final push at the end of the race. Those who tried and failed are amongst NASCAR elite. Jimmie Johnson lost his oil pump as did Ryan Newman. Jeff Gordon succumbed to over heating issues late in the race, only to be caught up in the first of 3 wrecks in the final stages of the race.

But in the end it was Brad Kesolowski who made a move that no one expected. He kept his engine cool, he stayed out of the carnage, and he made it look easy pulling away from Kyle Busch, the car that was pushing him to the lead, with a move that broke the momentum of the push and allowed the lead car to win the race instead of the slingshot pass we’ve become so accustomed to. Riding up the track to the outside of turn 3 and diving down towards the infield, Kesolowski broke the 2 car draft leaving Kyle Busch with a wall of air to slow him down, as the #2 Miller Lite Blue Deuce pulled away by what looked to be at least 3 car lengths. With the 5 previous races having been won by the car in second position after passing the car they were pushing, everyone was expecting a different outcome, but Brad had a plan.

”I had this whole plan if I ever got in that situation where I was leading; I thought about it and thought about it, dreamed about what to do, and sure enough, going into (Turn) 3, it was just me and Kyle,” Keselowski said. ”I knew the move I wanted to pull. It worked because the guy running second should have the advantage, but I had this move all worked up in my mind.”

”That allowed me to drive untouched to the checkered flag,” Keselowski said. ”It wasn’t easy to convince myself to do that, but it was the right move.”

”Two wins, with the wild card and all, that almost makes you immune to missing the Chase,” Keselowski said. ”This team is going to be strong come Chase time. The best is yet to come.”

Kyle Busch was caught flat footed by Brad Kesolowski's finshing move at the end of the Aaron's 400 at Talladega.

The move caught Kyle Busch completely off guard, even thinking he had screwed something up himself when Brad broke loose and ran away from him.

”I must have screwed something up, because we got to Turn 3 and came unhooked,” said Busch. ”Just gave the win away over there. Not sure exactly what happened. We definitely need to go back and figure out what it was.”

“I’m not sure he did anything,” Busch said. “If he did, he’s pretty smart. But I think our stuff just came unplugged.”

”If you’re leading, being pushed, plan on finishing second. That’s all there is to it. He’s no dummy, that’s for sure,” said Busch in post race interviews.

Matt Kenseth was still trying to figure out how his car, which had been the fastest all day and had led the most laps, was unable to close at the end. On the final restart his teammate Greg Biffle was pushing him from the line, but his car was too fast for Biffle to get up behind and push. The gap between the 2 Fords allowed Kesolowski and Busch to fly by and race themselves to the finish.

”I think we had the winning car, really just didn’t have the winning driver,” Kenseth said. ”I looked forward for a second, when I looked back, Greg and I were separated, those guys were already outside of him. With me not paying attention, keeping us hooked up, just cost us a shot at the win, cost Greg a shot at the win.”

”I wasn’t too fast. I was just too stupid I guess at the end to keep a win.”

Matt Kenseth led the most laps for the day but was unable to capitalize at the end.

“It’s hard to whine about leading most of the day and finishing third,” Kenseth said. “It’s just disappointing on the last restart when I had control over keeping Greg with me and I did a poor job of managing that. We got separated and got beat.”

“It probably didn’t help that we had a piece of the body break off on the B-post and had the fender tracked in a little bit,” Kenseth said. “That was my fault because I ran into [Mears] with the right front. It didn’t help us, but we had a fast car.”

“It was my fault,” Kenseth said. “I needed to drag the brake more and get off the gas more to make sure he stays attached. But honestly at Daytona, we came unattached and they couldn’t get a run back on me. When we did come apart, there really was no bottom lane. He lost all his speed.”

No for all the fans who have been complaining about boring long green flag runs, Talladega had a few of those, but the excitement of the last 40 laps made all the boredom fade. The fact that no one was injured as a quarter of the field was taken out of the race and all but 19 cars fell off the lead lap is a testament to the safety developments that NASCAR has been implementing over the past 10 years. Cars completely torn up and drivers walk away uninjured. It may be expensive for the owners, but the fans like to see the action, as long as no one is injured. The “Big One” is always a game changer as no one knows when it will happen, or who it will take out.

Take Jeff Gordon for example. He is having one of the most bizarre seasons of his career. Having won the Pole for the race, he faded back early. He showed signs of being able to get back to the front when he wanted to, but you can’t get to the front it you drive it into the wall.

“This is just one of the most bizarre years that this Dupont Chevrolet and Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet has ever gone through,” Gordon said. “I mean, it’s almost comical at this point.

“That was not fun. I didn’t like hitting the wall, but gosh, I thought I was clear. I was just kind of cruising by on the inside. It looked to me like somebody came down and got Martin [Truex Jr.], and that turned him into me. That’s just the way our season’s been going.”

Tony Stewart was his usual sarcastic self when talking about the wrecks in the final laps of the Aaron's 499.

In typical Tony Stewart fashion his sarcasm was in excellent form as he talked to reporters after the race. For those of you that missed it, earlier in the week Stewart lashed out at a reporter for asking if the lack of wrecks was costing NASCAR their fan base. After yesterdays race he had this to say.

“Sorry we couldn’t crash more cars today,” Stewart said. “We didn’t fill the quota for the day for Talladega.

“Honestly, I think if we haven’t crashed 50 percent of the field by the end of the race, we need to extend the race until we at least crash 50 percent of the cars. ‘Cause it’s not fair to these fans for them to not see any more wrecks than that. We still had over half the cars running. It shouldn’t be that way.”

“I’m upset that we didn’t crash more cars,” he said. “I feel like that’s what we’re here for. I feel bad if I don’t spend at least $150,000 in tore-up race cars going back to the shop so we definitely got to do a better job with that. …

“I had a blast. It would have been a lot more fun if I could have got caught up in one more wreck. If I could have done that, it would have been perfect.”

NASCAR – Tony Stewart Wins and Asks “Who Says it Never Rains in California?”

March 26, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Tony Stewart wins for the second time in his career at Auto Club Speedway, the second time this season, and his 46th win overall, tying him for 14th on the all time wins list.

There are many ways to win a race in NASCAR, but the best way to do it is to be out front, in the right place, at the right time. Matt Kenseth won his first Daytona 500 that way, and now Tony Stewart found himself there in California, the land of sunshine and surf, where it almost never rains. Mother Nature showed us her feelings at Daytona earlier this year about NASCAR, now it seems she is really a Tony Stewart fan after all.

As raindrops slowed the race on Lap 124, Stewart, the race leader, faked a move toward pit road but stayed on the track. That move made many wonder if he actually caught Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson off guard.

“I don’t think that I faked him out,” Stewart said of Hamlin. “I’m sure he had made his decision already — looked good, though.”

In a race that only had a single caution, which only flew because of the rain, Stewart played the game well and was definitely in the right place at the right time. However, Stewart was quick to give the credit to his new Crew Chief, Steve Addington, for the calls made on pit row, and his crew for performing without error. And when asked what the secret was for him to win 2 races this early in the season, a feat he has not accomplished in his 14 seasons in NASCAR, Stewart kept pointing to his team and all their hard work.

“I don’t know, but I like it,” he said. “I’m really proud of [crew chief] Steve Addington and all of our guys. This Office Depot Chevy was bad fast.”

Kyle Busch followed Stewart lead and stayed out on the caution flag just before the rain, landing him a 2nd place finish in the Auto Club 400.

Kyle Busch decided to stay out and play follow the leader on Tony Stewart, which turned out to be an excellent choice, landing him in 2nd place on the grid. While he hasn’t had the best finishes so far this season, a second place still doesn’t feel like a win for one of NASCAR’s winningest active drivers. The timing of the finish was actually good for Busch who had rubbed the wall just before the caution came out, and was losing momentum and speed on the track.

“I wish we would have been able to race the whole thing, on the one hand,” he said, “but, on the other hand, I’m kind of glad we’re not, because we have a little bit of damage that slowed us down there.”

“Trying to run back with Stewart’s lap times, that’s when I was trying too hard, too close to the fence, got myself in trouble there — caught the right-side a little bit.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr continuds to show his Hendrick teammates how to be consistent. Staying out on the caution netted him a 3rd place finish on the grid. That finish, has him sitting in third place in the points overall, as consistently strong runs by NASCAR’s most popular driver have made him the class of what has long been NASCAR’s best organization.

Dale Jr finished 3rd thanks to the rain shortened race. He has also been the most consistent in his finishes of all the cars in the Hendrick stables this season.

“We drove the car up to fifth before the weather came. We had been watching the weather all day. We felt certain if it started to rain, it wasn’t going to stop,” Earnhardt said. “We made the right choice by staying out and building ourselves into the top three.”

: Dale Jr finished 3rd thanks to the rain shortened race. He has also been the most consistent in his finishes of all the cars in the Hendrick stables this season.

“I’m really happy,” he said. “I’m performing better. Most of the credit has to go to Steve and the team. Those guys did a great job today on pit road. We had some really good stops. Steve is doing an amazing job. He deserves most of the credit for how well we’re running. He’s giving me really good cars, cars that are fun to drive, relatively easy to drive.”

“Compared to the last several years,” he added, “they’ve gotten easier.”

The rain was also a godsend for Jimmie Johnson and his #48 Lowe’s machine. He had already committed to coming in on the caution flag as he had starting smoking from the engine area during the final caution laps. Somehow an oil line fitting had come loose and oil was spraying on the block, under the hood. Had the race gone back to green Johnson would have either blown up, or lost a ton of laps while they fixed the car behind the wall.

“I really don’t know what had happened,” Johnson said during the red flag. “I was just idling along and my friends pulled up alongside of me and were pointing. They said, ‘You’re smoking.’ I heard it over the radio and I could obviously see and smell it, but I don’t know what really caused it yet. It’s just a wild change of events, because when I came to pit road and took four tires, I wanted it to dry up real quick. Now I’m sitting here praying for rain.”

And that’s exactly what he got. “If we did go back to green-flag racing, we would be multiple laps down,” crew chief Chad Knaus said. “We don’t really know what happened to the car just yet. We’ve got to get it in here and take a look at it.”

Next week takes us to Martinsville, a track where Stewart dominated in the fall race. Can he do it again and maintain the momentum from his championship run? Only time, and the racetrack, can tell.

NASCAR – Hamlin Takes the Pole For California – Knaus Still Penalized But Johnson’s Points Restored

March 24, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk 2 Comments

Danny Hamlin captures the pole for the second time at Fontana and the 10th of his Career.

Denny Hamlin watched his teammates Joey Logano and Kyle Busch each take the provisional pole ahead of him, studied the line they took around the track, and opted to go his own way. Watching his teammates and most of the field take the high line, he took the low line after thinking that the wind may cause him some speed loss. Opting for the bottom line proved to be the best decision he could have made getting him around the 2 mile track in just 38.626 seconds (186.403 mph) to claim his second Coors Light pole award at Fontana and the 10th of his career.

“Everyone had a different way of doing it,” Hamlin said. “It seemed like there were some guys who were five lanes up and some who just worked their way down. We were one of the few cars that ran all the way on the bottom.”

“That’s where we practiced, and I didn’t want to change that. I’d done all my qualifying runs early in the day and practiced race runs on the bottom. Really, I think I would have been less efficient running the top, even though it might have been faster. My safest route was to take the bottom, and I just took what it gave us.”

Mark Martin will start 3rd on the grid after tying Kyle Busch in speed. The tie was decided by points position from the 2011 season.

Kyle Busch and Mark Martin tied for the next position with a speed of 185.534 mph, with Kyle Busch getting the advantage because of his higher points finish from the 2011 season.

“I’ve never run 1 and 2 up in the third lane like that,” Busch said. “I think Joey kind of started the trend there, and a lot of people picked up it and started running some really good times. And lo, and behold, one of the only guys that runs the bottom — Denny — beats you.”

Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne also tied for 4th spot (185.510 mph) with Biffle getting the same advantage for points position from the 2011 season.

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Kevin harvick comes into Fontana as the defending champion at this track. Sitting second in points and having finished 11th or better in the first 4 races, Harvick sees this as a chance to show that his team is also still able to contend for a Championship this year.

Crew Chief Shane Wilson plans to use this weekend to work out the kinks.

“We just have to work out some kinks,” crew chief Shane Wilson said. “You’re trying to perform at the highest level, so you’re always going to nitpick yourself and try to do it better than the 99 [car of Carl Edwards] or the 14 [car of Tony Stewart]. You’re always driving to be better. That never stops.”

Kevin Harvick hopes to turn his season around at Auto Club Speedway

“Our deal is, we’re not new together,” Wilson said. “We’ve raced together in the past, and we’re friends, and we work for the same company. It’s not like we’re coming in from a different company. You had meetings and know what the other people are thinking. I feel like that’s one of the reasons they did it, because there wasn’t going to be a long period like that. We’re more working on our notebook with Kevin … and getting used to a few little things with his car here. All in all, that’s already right where it needs to be.”

“That was our goal coming into the year, to get our car speed up,” Wilson said. “Calling the races and me and him working together is gong to come pretty quick, because me and him have worked together in the past. Him and Gil obviously had a good thing going, but we’ve done what we wanted to do so far as far as getting our cars faster, where we’re competitive and can race with the guys we’re going to need to at the end of the year. It’s a long season, but we’re still trying to accomplish that goal of getting our cars faster, and we feel like we’re hitting on it so far. We’ve got to keep it up.”

Harvick agrees.

“I think all the guys on the team would say we aren’t really crisp, I guess you would say, as far as the first four weeks,” Harvick said. “I haven’t done everything right from the driver’s seat. We’ve made some mistakes in all areas, I would say. Once we feel like we’re in a rhythm, and have all the bugs and kinks worked out of everything, I think it will be even better. The good thing about it is the speed has been in the car at every race track we’ve been to, and that’s really what we were looking for. Speed in the race cars. We can fix and tweak the small things outside of that. It’s been pretty comfortable so far, and hopefully we can keep it rolling and make it better every week.”

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Jimmie Johnson had his points penalty from the Daytona 500 reversed this week. Chad Knaus fine of $100 000 still remains but he will not be suspended from the pit box.

Jimmie Johnson breathed a huge sigh of relief this week when a NASCAR appointed arbitrator overturned some of the penalties levied after Crew Chief Chad Knaus was caught bringing illegal equipment to the track. The C-Posts in question were removed from the car before the car was set to the templates and that has been the main reason for the appeal, and the reason which allowed for the overturning of the driver and owner points.

“I don’t feel vindicated, because I feel like everything should have been overturned,” Johnson said Friday. “I’m pleased that things went away, but I don’t feel vindicated.”

NASCAR however, feels that their process has still been vindicated with the fines issues to Knaus still remaining.

“When we chose John Middlebrook as our Chief Appellate Officer, we chose him based on our experiences with him for several years, and his pragmatic approach to business, and his relationships with race teams and with NASCAR,” Helton said. “The reasons that we chose the current Chief Appellate Officer haven’t changed. Our opinion and our belief in our Chief Appellate Officer haven’t changed.”

“I think the decision made this week upholds what’s right and wrong when it comes to the inspection process and the things of the car,” Helton said, “because there were elements of the penalty that were upheld relative to parts of the car that did not conform to the rules.”

“The elements of the penalty that were upheld indicate that the inspection process, or the inspectors, did their job correctly,” NASCAR president Mike Helton said Friday at Auto Club Speedway. “I think the debate over the decision this week was more about the decision after that point and how we reacted to it, and that’s as much a bureaucratic decision as it is a competition decision. So we believe very strongly in our inspection process, and are very proud of it, so the inspection process is status quo as we go forward.”

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.

NASCAR – The Good Guys, The Bad Guys, It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Wrestling

January 30, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk 1 Comment

With the impending approach of the Daytona 500 and the official start to NASCAR’s season I have been watching and reading all the news reports coming out of the different teams/stables/garages, and the more I read, the more it felt like watching the opening act before a wrestling match at Wrestlemania.

I keep seeing the drivers walking down a long entry way, fireworks going off, loud music blaring, and the drivers dancing around like a prize fighters in firesuits, making their way down to their cars. As they walk by, the NASCAR Sprint Cup girls try and get a few words from them.

Monica Palumbo stands off to the side holding the mic and asks Kyle Busch ” How do you think things are going to go out there today Kyle? Are you driving a real car or just a toy today?” KyBu rips the mic from her hand and shows off his Zorro like cape he is wearing “Well Monica it goes like this, anyone who gets in my way is going into the wall, YOU HEAR THAT HORNADAY!?”

Monica politely responds “Hornaday raced on Friday night in his Truck Kyle, he’s not racing today.”

“I don’t care if he’s not racing, I’ll find him in the garage and PUT HIM IN THE WALL!” he says and stomps off towards his car readying himself for the battles in his head.

Next down the ramp is Kurt Busch, and before he even gets to the mic you can hear his profanity laced rant starting. “Is this gonna take long Monica, you know I f*&^@ng hate to wait. I’d call you a Mother F*%$@er too but we all know that can’t be the case. I had better win today or someone is going to get a f*&$#ng earful when I get back to the garage! So everybody better stay out of my way if they know what’s good for my crew chief’s life this time!!” And off he goes to his #51 Thank a Teacher car way in the back of the field.

Next out is Jimmie Johnson. His smiling good looks and bright blue Kobalt firesuit seem amiss amongst the boos and jeers he gets from the crowd. “And here comes our 5 time champion, Jimmie Johnson” announces Monica. “I don’t know why they boo me” says Jimmie “I am one of the good guys. The referee’s never call me on my questionable actions because I am good for the sport, I win a lot, and I NEVER break the rules…. that’s my crew chief’s job” he says with his trademark smile. ” I guess you can’t make everyone happy, so I’ll just go out and win another race just to make them hate me some more.”

Next out is Tony Stewart. Monica gets an extra special smile as she announces “Here he is, our current and reigning Champion TONY STEWART.”

The crowd gets on their feet, there is a dramatic pause before the music starts, and just when you think no one is coming out, the curtains part, the pyrotechnics go off, and a little guy with a big smile, and a wink comes walking down the ramp.

“So are you ready for another hot season Tony? Do you think you might get a win before the chase this year?” she asks.

“Well it’s like this Monica. I was the best before Jimmie and now I am the best after Jimmie, I have a new crew chief to blame things on if stuff goes wrong, and I am man enough to take all the credit when I win. My plan is to go out there and make my opponents tremble with my candid remarks and by telling them that I have an advantage over them, and then never telling anyone what that advantage is, gotta keep them on their toes you see. That should give me enough of an advantage to win today, I hope I don’t have to fire another crew chief if I win however.” he says with a final wave to the crowd as he walks off to his race car.

Carl Edwards enters next doing a series of tumbles and back flips down the ramp dancing around like a Lucho Libre and smiling his trademark 1000 watt smile. Ever the gentleman, he walks over to Monica and puts his arm around her waist as she begins her quick interview.

“So Carl, after being the second runner up twice in your career so far, how do you plan to get your championship this time?”

“Well Monica, as one of the good guys I will try not to break any rules, I will drive faster than everyone else, I’ll even turn left better than everyone else, and I will not let Tony Stewart intimidate me with his confusing talk about advantages. I will make sure that Brad Kesolowski and I tangle enough to keep the crowd happy, but not so much that his dad tries to beat me up after the race. Then I will finally get NASCAR to approve a nitrous boost on my car so that I can boost to the front after hanging around the back all day long and win every race from the tail end of the lead pack.”

The crowd goes wild as he finishes and waves his hands in the air, realizing too late that the crowd is cheering for Dale Earnhardt Jr who stands at the top of the ramp waiting for him to finish. He runs off to his car as Jr makes his way down the ramp to the tune “We Will Rock You” and crowd noise so loud that you can hear, and feel, it reverberating around the track.

Monica can barely be heard as she asks Dale Jr. “Jr it has been 126 races since you have found your way to the winners circle, what’s your plan to end your drought this year?”

Jr. stands quiet for a minute in thoughtful contemplation, “Well Monica, I am coming off a good year with some excellent momentum. I have a good relationship with my crew chief Stevie Baby, and we’re going to go out there with a new attitude and all the skill I have and we’re going to win us some races this year. Even if I have to start looking like one of the bad guys and get more aggressive out there, people will know I am coming up behind them, and maybe I’ll rattle a few cages this year like my daddy used to do. It’s going to be a whole new season for me and I am going to take it one race at a time, and of course I am going to win at Daytona this year.”

The crowd roars and stands on their feet as he walks away toward his car, waving to the crowd and surfing on the sound waves as they get even louder than before.

Monica faces the crowd once more with the brightest smile she can smile “So there you have it folks, our drivers have had their say and now they are preparing their cars to race… there only 2 things left to say “Drivers START YOUR ENGINES!! And lastly ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE?!?!”

NASCAR – Matt Kenseth Sets the Pace in Phoenix, Stewart Keeps Up the Trash Talk, Edwards Keeping Cool

November 13, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Matt Kenseth - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Marcos Ambrose said the slick track was “pretty sketchy”. A.J. Allmendinger said his lap ”was insane.” Jeff Gordon, who won the last race here in February before the repave, called the surface ”treacherous” after qualifying 23rd.Ã‚Â After watching the Nationwide race followed by the K&N West series race yesterday, it looks like we should be prepared for a wreck fest with a chance of a game changer.

Matt Kenseth set the fastest lap to win the pole but qualifying was not without Drama.Ã‚Â Since being on the bottom line is so important, qualifying position means more than just who takes the green.Ã‚Â Tony Stewart was sitting in 7th with Edwards behind him in 8th until Kenseth ran his lap.Ã‚Â As Kenseth completed his lap and set the fastest time for the day, Edwards moved back on spot to 9th giving him the inside row on the start of the race with Stewart being moved back to the outside.Ã‚Â It is only for the first start of the race and there is 300 miles of racing between there and the finish line, but every little advantage has to be counted on a track where no one can predict the outcome.

”That was my plan. I thought, `Man, if we can sit on the pole, that will really help him,'” Kenseth laughed.

”I planned that. I am that good,” Kenseth claimed. ”The bottom is probably going to be an advantage to get started, but it is still 300 miles and I think at some point in the race every car is going to be in the top groove for a little bit.”

A.J Allmendinger - Image courtesy of JDTImages.

A.J Allmendinnger had the second fastest time of the day and he was amazed at how much the track conditions had changed from Fridays practice sessions, to Saturday’s qualifying runs.

“It was definitely a huge surprise,” he said. “Obviously, the sun is out and it’s warmer, but for as much grip as the track had [Friday], you would think maybe it would be [just] a little slower. At night last night I think the quick time was like a 25.50 by Carl, so to be almost a second slower was a huge surprise.

“I was in the hauler watching the first 10 or 15 cars run, and you see Jimmie [Johnson] go sailing off and almost get in the wall. Every car seemed to get looser and looser. At that point you have what you have. We tightened it up from [Friday]. Marcos put up a good lap and fed back what the track was like, so I went in there with an expectation, and my first lap was worse than even I expected. It was definitely a lot different than [Friday].”

The 2 drivers that everyone has marked as the “true contenders” for this years chase have been heard tossing comments back and forth.Ã‚Â Stewart’s trash talk has been keeping his face on camera and and reporters guessing about what he is going to say next.Ã‚Â For example, while still in Vistory lane last week in Texas he quipped “It’s theirs to lose now” when asked about his chances and how strongly he feels about them.

Then on Friday he stated in a news conference that being a former championship winner gives him an advantage, but was very vague about his meaning.

Tony Stewart - Image courtesy of JDTImages

“It’s definitely an advantage. But I’m not going to tell you why ’cause that’s what I’m going to take to the next two weeks with me. We win this thing, I’ll tell you what the advantage is and why. But there’s an advantage.”

When asked directly about their rivalry however they each seem to have their focus where it needs to be.Ã‚Â On themselves, their team, and on what it is that THEY can do, and not so much about what the other guy is going to do.

“I guess it’s a friendly rivalry, if you even want to call it a rivalry,” Stewart said at Phoenix International Raceway. “I don’t know what the true definition of rivalry is, but he’s a good guy to be in a point battle with, for sure. I respect him a lot as a driver and as a person.”

“We get along with each other at the race track,” Stewart said. “We’ve got the dirt racing that we’ve done together at Eldora, and stuff that we like. We talk about that stuff a lot.”

“I feel like we are [in control], to be honest. I think we showed that last week,” Stewart said, referring to his victory at Texas, and Edwards second place finish. “We’re not racing worrying about where they’re at and what they’re doing each day. We’re worrying about our car, what we’ve got to do to be fast, what we’ve got to do to win races and I think we’ve responded to that with our actions on the race track and what we’ve done. So I would like to say we are right now. We’ve been able to battle back from a couple of really bad races in this Chase to be where we are at.”

Carl Edwards - Image courtesy ofJDTImages

Edwards seems calm and collected, not bothered by Stewart’s comments and focused on the task at hand, finishing better than Stewart.

“I think Tony is a guy I have looked up to a lot. He has done a lot of the things as a racer that racers all over the country can look up to,” said Edwards, who at 31 is nine years younger than Stewart.

“I’ve learned a lot about Tony over the last couple years, and have come to respect him as a person. I would say we have a good, competitive relationship. For us, it is pretty neat to be holding off a two-time champ having the best Chase he has ever had. It is neat to be battling with him. If we can continue and hold him off and win this thing, if it truly comes down to the end like I believe it will, [and] I truly believe it will come down to the last lap at Homestead, that is going to feel good that it is Tony. It will feel good that it is a guy that has that many achievements in the garage, in racing.”

“I feel that they have obviously had flashes of great speed, and have won four races, and we haven’t. But the job that we have done, I am very proud of. We don’t have trophies lined up, but the recoveries we have made and consistency we have shown and the ability to come back from really tough days, I wouldn’t have been able to do it a year or two years ago. I am pretty proud of that. At the end of the day we are still leading the points. They have to overtake us and beat us.”

Now who does the rest of the garage think is going to be the winner?Ã‚Â Once again the field is divided so it depends on who you ask.Ã‚Â Either way it’s going to be a nail biter in Phoenix today and the unknown element of the track rears it’s head.Ã‚Â Personally I am giving the advantage to Stewart today because of how much we all know he likes a slick race track.Ã‚Â It suits his style of racing, and no on can handle a sideways car like he can.Ã‚Â Edwards is also good on a slick track, but he does not have the years of experience behind him that Stewart does from driving on dirt tracks across the country, and wining races while doing it.

So where to the rest of the chasers chances lie mathematically?

Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman were mathematically eliminated at Texas. This week, it’s Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and even Johnson who find themselves in a situation where they cannot control their destiny.

If Carl Edwards finishes 34th or better — or Tony Stewart winds up 31st or better — Kurt Busch will be eliminated, even if he wins and receives the maximum number of points. If Carl Edwards finishes 28th or better — or Tony Stewart winds up 25st or better — Gordon is out, too.

Edwards can add Earnhardt to the elimination list with a 26th-place finish, or Stewart can do the same by finishing 23rd. And five-time champion Johnson could win Sunday but be eliminated from contention if Edwards winds up second.

The elimination scenarios for Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick are more complicated, and involve multiple variables too complicated to explain here.

Finally, there is a very slim chance Edwards could make the season finale a coronation. If he wins and Stewart finishes 43rd — and Keselowski, Kenseth and Harvick are all subsequently mathematically eliminated — Edwards would clinch the championship at Phoenix.

NASCAR – Biffle Leads a Roush Sweep in Texas, Stewart Winning The War of Words With Edwards, Kyle Busch Gets Grounded For the Weekend

November 6, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk 12 Comments

Greg Biffle with Crew Chief Matt Puccia earlier this year at Michigan International Speedway - Image courtesy of JDTImages

This week we head to Texas with only 3 races to go in the schedule and everyone has something to prove.Ã‚Â Greg Biffle wants to prove that he can still win races, and do what he said was his job after the race in Loudon.Ã‚Â “My job as a race car driver is to go out there and give it my best shot to win the next 8 races”.Ã‚Â So with credit being given to his crew chief Matt Puccia, Biffle will lead the field to the green flag today for the AAA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.Ã‚Â Biffle, the last driver to make a qualifying attempt, scorched the 1.5-mile track with a lap at 193.736 mph edging his teammate David Ragan by just one thousandth of a second at the line.Ã‚Â Ragan won the pole the last time at Texas as Roush showed how dominant their cars were on that trip to the track as well.

For Biffle, this is his 9th career pole, and his third of this season.Ã‚Â He gives the credit to his Crew Chief Matt Puccia for turning around his qualifying efforts and for giving him the edge he has been lacking.

“Ever since Matt came on board [in July], we have put a little more emphasis on qualifying,” Biffle said. “The draw for qualifying goes off of practice speeds. It kind of forced our hand to come here on Friday and start in qualifying trim, which we never [did before].

“The rules have forced us into getting a good draw for qualifying, so it’s up to us [rather than by random draw]. I made a total of seven laps today — now eight. That’s all I’ve done today.”

Carl Edwards - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Carl Edwards thought he had a shot at the pole, but was disappointed with his lap. As he got loose coming to the green, Edwards ran conservatively in a lap he called perhaps “too timid.”

“The Fords are so great here, and Jack Roush’s Fords run so well,” Edwards said. “I’m the odd man out there. I got shown up by my teammates pretty bad, but hopefully we’ll have a good, solid race.”

After trash talking Carl Edwards all week, Tony Stewart showed he was putting his car where his mouth was by qualifying 5th, 2 spots ahead of Edwards, and by running 3rd fastest in practice.Ã‚Â Now he can concentrate on staying out front instead of getting up there.

Tony Stewart - Image courtesy of JDTImages

“To be third in practice and top five in qualifying, that is exactly the way you have to start the weekend off,” Stewart said. “We’ll get a pretty good pit spot out of this, hopefully.”

“We’re not having to fight through all the crowd to get up there [to the front]. We’re going to be up there, hopefully all day, and just keep tweaking on it versus having to get there.”

So with Biffle on the pole the top 5 round out with David Ragan in 2nd, Matt Kenseth in 3rd, Paul Menard in 4th and Tony Stewart in 5th.

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Kyle Busch - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Kyle Busch has been grounded by NASCAR following an on track incident Friday with Ron Hornaday.Ã‚Â NASCAR has been soft on their rulings in regards to incidents like these since issuing their “Boys have at it” edict earlier in the year.Ã‚Â NASCAR President Mike Helton has been very clear though that should someone cross the line that “They would know when they saw it” all season, no one had come close to it, until now.

“The responsibility over the past two or three seasons we’ve given back to the drivers came, I think with a very clear understanding that there could be a line that got crossed,” Helton said. “As annoying as the comments that I’ve made personally in the past about ‘we’ll know it when we see it’ might have been, we saw it [Friday] night. Obviously after the event, a lot of folks put their heads together to decide what, if anything, we would do.”

“The volume of occurrences or reactions like I’m talking about, the rarity of those times that we’d make a step like this speak to the uniqueness and the severity of the topic. We understand the ramifications or the ripple effect of us making this type of a move, but we also take our responsibility very serious as to maintaining control of the event in all the garages; so it’s a balance there that we ultimately have to make a decision.”

While racing for position early in the race, Hornaday got loose and slid up into Busch causing him to brush the wall.Ã‚Â Kyle Busch took exception to that, and regardless of the fact that Hornaday was running for a championship, Busch lost his temper and spun Hornaday causing him to go head on into the wall as they exited turn 2.Ã‚Â This sent both cars into the garage where Busch was black flagged by NASCAR for “aggressiveÃ‚Â driving” and parked for there remainder of the race with officials stating that they would “Revisit the situation” on Saturday morning.

Immediately after the incident Kyle was unapologetic about what happened on the track.

“If you consider Ron was in the championship maybe Ron could’ve played it a little bit smarter on Lap 15 and checked-up a little bit and given room to everybody around [him],” Busch said. “Obviously if you make it a three-wide situation — I can’t go up in the dirt. I’m already on the outside lane and there’s not three lanes out here right now. It’s the first race here this weekend.

“So If I just lay over and give up everything for Ron Hornaday, that’s not Kyle Busch’s fashion. I’m out here to win a race just as much as anybody else is. When he races up on my inside, gets loose and takes me up to the fence — I ended up losing my cool.

“I’ve been wrecked four weeks in a row [including two Sprint Cup races] and finally I’ve just had enough of it. Sorry it was Ron Hornaday and he’s going after a championship, but the fact of the matter is you can’t place all the blame on one person — there was two people that got into it to begin with and there’s two people that ended it.”

After the meeting on Saturday morning and his subsequent grounding for the rest of the weekend events, Busch was singing an entirely different tune as he issued the following apology to Hornaday, NASCAR, and to the fans for his actions.

To all,

I’ve had a lot of time today to sit and reflect, and try to put my thoughts into words as best I can.

I want to sincerely apologize for my actions during Friday night’s Truck Series race at Texas.

I apologize to my fans, all my sponsors, everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports.

After talking with my team, it’s great to have their support and encouragement to assure me that there are better days ahead. Even though this took place while driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, I am sorry for how difficult this has been for everyone associated with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series teams.

I’d also like to apologize to Ron Hornaday Jr., and everyone associated with the No. 33 team in the Truck Series.

I understand why I was taken out of the car for the rest of the weekend. NASCAR officials had to act, and I accept their punishment and take full responsibility for my actions.

As a racecar driver, the hardest thing to do is to sit on the sidelines listening to cars on the track when you know you should be out there competing. For this, I have no one to blame but myself.

Through a lot of support from the people around me, I feel like I’ve made a lot of strides this year, but this was certainly a step backward. Moving forward, I will do everything I possibly can to represent everyone involved in a positive manner. However, I know my long-term actions will have more of a bearing than anything I say right now.

Sincerely,

Kyle Busch

Many had commented on how Busch was showing a lot more maturity this year and how his demeanor has improved to the point where he was looking like a champion, but his actions on Friday reminded a lot of NASCAR fans of why they hated him so much since his arrival in the sport.Ã‚Â Hopefully Busch will learn something from this incident, since his championship hopes have been destroyed by his own actions, just as he wrecked Hornaday’s championship efforts in the truck series.Ã‚Â It’s one thing to wreck some one in a racing incident, but intentional actions which cause a wreck like that could have led to a much worse outcome that there was.Ã‚Â Thankfully all involved were uninjured and able to race another day, but with the recent passing of Dan Wheldon, the mortality of the drivers is still fresh in everyone’s mind.Ã‚Â NASCAR ruled with an iron fist on this one and set their position on where that line is, and hopefully no one will cross it like that again.

NASCAR – Kenseth Makes Big Moves in the 2011 Chase and Wins the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte

October 17, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Matt Kenseth takes a drink before climbing out of the car in Victory Lane - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Matt Kenseth knows how to get there and has the team behind him to do it.Ã‚Â That’s the message they seemed to deliver by putting the #17 in Victory Lane and making big gains in the points standings from 5th to 3rd and only 7 points behind the leader, his teammate Carl Edwards.Ã‚Â In a race where he was looking like an also ran, Kenseth managed to out pace Kyle Busch and take advantage of Tony Stewart’s 2 pit road mishaps when Stewart got stuck on pit road as the caution came out and had to take the wave around to get back on the lead lap.Ã‚Â By far Kenseth did not have the dominant car all day, but with crew chief Jimmy Fennig at the helm, the correct changes were made so that when it came to the end Matt had what he needed to win underneath him.

“After all the toilet jokes about my restarts, we finally got a good one today,” said Kenseth, about his final restart on Lap 323 of 334. “Thankfully, we got a good one there at the end.

“Crown Royal — it’s not too late to come back. We don’t have any sponsors for next year, so this should be a good audition. And Fluidmaster for being on this week — it was a great night for us.” added Kenseth, in reference to his lack of sponsorship for the 2012 season.

Now Kenseth already has a championship under his belt (2003)Ã‚Â and knows about dealing with the pressure of being a contender, but this Chase season is about more than wins and a trophy.Ã‚Â Matt is the only Roush driver that does not have a sponsor signed for next year.Ã‚Â He does however have the word of Jack Roush that his ride will run no matter what in the 2012 season.Ã‚Â I still find it ridiculous that a driver with his resume has to audition for sponsors for his car, especially this late in the season.Ã‚Â None of that seems to get under Kenseth’s skin however and his drive and focus when on the track is just as determined as ever when he’s racing for the win.

Being 3rd in points is a big change from the past few seasons at this point in the chase, but Kenseth takes it all in stride.Ã‚Â One of the most understated people about his emotions, Kenseth delivers his thought in his usual layed back manor.

“That’s good, but it only matters where you are in the last lap at Homestead. But it’s been a great five races, and it feels great to win.”

Kyle Busch - image courtesy of JDTImages

Kyle Busch tried every trick in his bag to catch up to Kenseth but It’s hard to catch the leader when you are racing for position behind him.Ã‚Â Busch and Edwards raced each other really hard and at one point it looked like Busch was trying to wreck Edwards, and while Edwards view of the incident was different, Busch tells his side of the deal in his own words.

“Certainly it’s a tight race and Carl got a good run through the turn and got up to my left rear quarter panel,” Busch said. “Typically that gets you a little loose, and my car got loose and it started moving out a little bit and I just held the wheel straight and it was essentially staying, steering almost downhill.

“It did not get sideways, like really loose, that I about wrecked. It just started steering and kind of freewheeling, so I just let it go. I ran [Edwards] a little tight. Essentially it made me run him a little tight out there on 2 and I just hugged on his door down the stretch to kind of side-draft him to keep him alongside of me to give me another chance at redeeming myself through 3 and 4 and getting back by him and it worked out.

“There was no malicious intent involved to cause anything or to hurt his chances at finishing second or anything. So it was just a product of what we had at the end going for everything we could and trying to come home second.”

Carl Edwards during a Q&A session - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Edwards initial reaction over the radio shows how intense the emotions are with these guys as they are out there racing for more than just a win.Ã‚Â In a points system where every point can mean the difference in position, especially when the race is the tightest chase ever, drivers are doing everything they can for position.

“I should’ve wrecked that 18 [Busch] — that wasn’t normal,” said Edwards to his spotter.Ã‚Â “Next time I’ll just wreck him.”

His post race interviews were more tempered after he spoke with Busch on Pit Road immediately after teh race.

“We should definitely be racing each other hard, it’s just that there’s a difference between racing hard and then cutting across the guy’s nose,” Edwards said. “What I told Kyle is I just wonder why coming off of Turn 2, when I got underneath him that he drove down instead of going up to the wall like we would normally do. And I just let him know that next time that happens I’ll just stay where I’m at and he can drive across my hood and wreck himself.”

“It just surprised me. Now, he told me that he didn’t mean to do it, and so I got to believe that. But I don’t know what else there is to say about it. It’s just racing, and we didn’t wreck and we are going to race hard like that. That’s just how I saw it.”

Edwards certainly has not counted out Johnson, even after a huge points loss day after Johnson hit the wall hard late in the race.

“Well, it can happen to any of us, so obviously the more points we can get on the guys in the Chase, the better,” Edwards said. “So [Johnson] could go on a tear and be leading the points in three or four weeks. And that could happen, too, so I don’t count him out.”

Jimmie Johnson - Image courtesy of JDTImages

The biggest loser in the race was Johnson, who was running near the front for most of the second half of the race but ended with a 34th place finish after his crash.Ã‚Â The wreck dropped him from 3rd to 8th in the standings.

“That one stung for sure,” Johnson said after he was released from the infield care center. “I’m just thankful to have safe race cars, safe walls, softer walls. Everything did its job. It was a pretty big impact.

“It’s unfortunate that we wrecked. We got into Turn 1 and the 39 [of Newman] was real tight on my outside and pulled me around. From there, I was just hanging on.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had another run of bad luck.Ã‚Â Running in a car that had been at least a top 10 car all day, an early pit stop spelled out disaster as Jr was caught in the pits when Trevor Bayne ran out of gas and brought out a caution, trapping Earnhardt Jr. on pit road and dropping him down 2 laps.

Dale Earnhardt Jr on the track in his #88 Amp Energy Chevrolet - Image courtesy of JDTImages

“We were sitting out there racing those guys that finished around 10th and pitted early, trying to gain a little ground on the leader that was coming to lap us. And the caution came out and trapped us down a couple laps,” he said. “We got a couple wave-arounds and then had a loose wheel that cost us another lap. We just have to correct some of those mistakes. I can’t fault Steve for trying to pit early, and do what he thought was right with the strategy. I thought that was a good call, just un-lucky that the No. 21 ran out of gas or whatever happened to him [to bring out the caution].”

Earnhardt managed to achieve the best finish out of all the HMS (Hendrick Motor Sport) cars but it was not a flawless run for the pit crew.

“The loose-wheel stuff we just need to work on. I have a lot of faith in my guys. They will get it right; I believe in them. Not everybody is perfect and we will get that sorted out. I’m sure they will fight back next week and have a good week. We just had a couple of little circumstances like that, and that cost us a shot at finishing in the top 10.”

“You want to finish as high as you can in the points, no matter where that is,” said Earnhardt, who remained ninth in the Chase standings but fell from 43 points off the lead to 60. “You want to do as best as you can. We’re not doing the best we can and it’s just disappointing and frustrating. But I don’t think we need to make any changes on the team. I believe in these guys and every time I come down pit road I’m excited about the group that’s going to put some tires on my car. We just made a mistake and I’m sure [crew chief Steve Letarte] won’t let that happen again.”

“Everybody knows how critical it is in this sport and there’s a guy right behind you that is ready to take your spot who is waiting on you to make that mistake. You can’t make it too many times before somebody will come in there and fill your place. That’s really all Steve’s call and decision and how he’ll handle it. I understand that everyone is human, but I’m pretty upset that we’re just not capitalizing on opportunities. We should finish in the top 10 every single week. We’re either beating ourselves or making mistakes or circumstances just aren’t happening for us. We can’t seem to really put together a clean race.”

Tony Stewart suffered the worst heartache having started from the pole and leading throughout the first half of the race, but getting caught on pit road in the same fashion as Dale Earnhardt Jr. did left him in the mid field unable to pass.Ã‚Â He managed to get back on the lead lap with a wave around and worked his way towards the front but could only manage an 8th place finish.Ã‚Â His finish was good enough however to allow him to gain 2 spots in the standings.Ã‚Â Here’s how the points shake out after the race.

Pos.	+/-	Driver	Points	Behind

1 .	—	Carl Edwards	2203	Leader
2.	—	Kevin Harvick	2198	-5
3.	+2	Matt Kenseth	2196	-7
4.	+4	Kyle Busch	2185	-18
5.	+2	Tony Stewart	2179	-24
6.	-2	Brad Keselowski	2178	-25
7.	-1	Kurt Busch	2176	-27
8.	-5	Jimmie Johnson	2168	-35
9.	—	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	2143	-60
10.	+1	Ryan Newman	2142	-61
11.	-1	Jeff Gordon	2137	-66
12.	—	Denny Hamlin	2117	-86

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