KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Moments after climbing out of his car, the smoke still settling after a massive engine failure early in Sunday’s playoff cutoff race at Kansas Speedway, Kyle Larson stood outside his team’s trailer and succinctly and honestly summed up his feelings to a waiting crowd of reporters.
“It’s painful,” Larson said quietly. “It sucks.”
As crewmen stood around his No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet yards away, one of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Playoffs favorites could only shake his head and be philosophical about the situation. He entered the Hollywood Casino 400 ranked third in the championship standings and was considered a favorite to advance to the Homestead-Miami season finale in four weeks to race for his first NASCAR championship.
Instead, he parked his car in the Kansas garage and patiently and politely answered reporters’ questions – trying to put his massive disappointment into words.
After doing so, Larson walked away to watch the rest of the race in the privacy of his team hauler. Soon after Larson closed the door, NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin approached and walked right inside — undoubtedly ready to comfort the 25-year-old.
Larson was scored 39th out of 40 drivers by the time the first stage was complete Sunday. His only hope was for those ahead of him in the standings — specifically Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson — to have their own issues. Kenseth was caught up in a wreck and exited the race early, but Johnson and Kyle Busch drove to strong finishes to advance into the Round of 8.
Larson was left one spot below the cutoff line.
Crappy way to end our run at the championship but that’s just part of it sometimes. 25yrs old, gonna have more opportunities with this team!
“Disappointing way to finish our race and our season,” Larson said. “But we’ll be all right. Things happen. The 78 had the engine issue last year after being the best car all year and then us this year. Disappointing.
“I’m not stunned because freak things happen in every sport …,” Larson continued. “Not always does the best team win.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Goodyear executives have given a thumbs-up review of the two-day Goodyear tire test on the new Charlotte Motor Speedway road course last week.
Drivers Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Daniel Hemric ran laps Oct. 17-18 on the newly introduced 2.42-mile, 18-turn road course at Charlotte.
Stu Grant, Goodyear’s Manager of Worldwide Racing, said Sunday morning before the race at Kansas Speedway that the tire company was in good shape preparing for the inaugural Charlotte road course race set for Sept. 30 next year as the final race in the opening round of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
“Actually we ended up having a very good test and come out of there with a very good tire recommendation,” Grant said. “We started off with a Watkins Glen road course-type setup, thought that would be a good start. That’s what we ran back a year ago with [AJ] Allmendinger (who first tested the road course in January). We built some special tires with different compounds because we weren’t sure where we were going to land with the configuration. The first thing we did was try to figure out what the chicane on the backstretch would look like.
“We worked with NASCAR to fiddle around and try to get the configuration of that right. We went through our test program and ended up on a setup that was the Watkins Glen road course construction on a slightly softer tread compound.”
Grant said although the drivers had some off-course excursions, the feedback was valuable and ultimately positive.
“It was nice and it was unanimous among the drivers in terms of which setup to pick,” Grant said. “It’s always nice to leave a test when everybody agrees on the same tire. That’s where we landed. We were happy from a tire standpoint. Now NASCAR and the race track (may) look at making some changes to the curbing. And unless they make a major change, we’re good to go.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — James “Jim” Watson, a road-crew fabricator for Furniture Row Racing’s NASCAR Cup Series teams, passed away Saturday night at the age of 55 after suffering a heart attack.
A native of Greenfield, Wisconsin (near Milwaukee), Jim had been a member of Furniture Row Racing since February 2017. He worked for Roush Fenway Racing from 2006-2015 and spent last season with HScott Motorsports. Jim was a longtime race car driver, competing in dirt late models and in asphalt super late models throughout southeast Wisconsin.
He is survived by his wife, Laurie, and daughter Brittany.
“On behalf of Furniture Row Racing we extend our deepest sympathies to Jim’s family,” said Joe Garone, president of Furniture Row Racing. “He was an outstanding and talented member of our racing family, whose life was dedicated to racing since his early days as a race-car driver in Wisconsin. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jim’s wife Laurie, daughter Brittany and to his entire family and friends. Our No. 77 and 78 teams will be racing with heavy hearts today.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Even the calm, cool and collected seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson admits to feeling some pressure entering Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Three championship drivers and an esteemed assortment of popular young racers sit just above or just below the elimination cutoff line with one race remaining to set the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8 field.
The reigning series champ Johnson sits in eighth place in the championship standings with only the top eight drivers in the standings advancing to the next three-race series of the playoffs — the penultimate round of competition before the Homestead-Miami championship finale. One position ahead of Johnson in the standings is 23-year old Ryan Blaney, in only his second full-time Monster Energy Series season.
He crashed out at Talladega but still holds a slim two-point edge over Johnson.
Should Kyle Busch — the 2016 spring race Kansas winner — or Matt Kenseth — a two-time Kansas winner — take the trophy Sunday, they would automatically advance into the Round of 8. Both former series champions enter Sunday’s race ranked below Johnson and currently sit below the cut line for playoff advancement.
“It really is challenging. And then you think of this track and the speed that the Gibbs cars have had, this has been a great track for Matt and Kyle both,” Johnson said of the No. 20 and No. 18 Joe Gibbs Toyota drivers.
“I could go out there and put myself in a nice position in the points and maintain this eighth-place on the bubble and Matt or Kyle wins and shifts that whole thing down.
“So, it’s going to be a challenging weekend. We need to hit the track with the mindset of winning largely because of the two, speaking of Matt and Kyle, those guys are both capable of winning here and shifting the points all around.”
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Johnson has three top-five finishes in his last five starts here and won in May of 2015, but finished 24th in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy earlier this season at Kansas.
Busch, who is seven points behind Johnson in the standings, hasn’t finished worse than fifth place at Kansas since 2011. The 2015 Cup champion won the race in May, 2016 and this spring led 59 laps, finishing fifth.
Kenseth, who is 10th in the standings, is eight points behind Johnson. He has 10 top-10s in the last 14 races at Kansas, including back-to-back wins in 2012-13. He was 12th in May.
For both Joe Gibbs Racing drivers — Busch and Kenseth — last weekend’s race at Talladega, Ala. created a more dramatic Kansas than either would prefer. Busch finished 27th at Talladega and was involved in a crash. Kenseth finished 14th.
“We’ve done our job all this year to build our points up and do the best possible job we know how to do because you always know you’re supposed to build that point cushion for Talladega,’’ said Busch, who will start seventh on Sunday.
“As crazy as it is in this world, we all plan for one race to knock us out of the Playoffs. That [Talladega] seems to be the race that will knock us out again. We’ll have to fight through it this weekend in Kansas and try to do it to get enough points so we can outdo the two guys in front of us if nobody else has trouble and go from there. …
As for Kansas, he conceded, “Challenging aspects all through the weekend, that’s what makes it intense and a bit unpredictable, if you will.
“Hopefully the speed that we’ve shown so far this weekend in our M&M’s Camry has been pretty good. I would love to make sure we’re one of the guys that’s moving on, one of the top eight to the next round of the Playoffs.
Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion, remained a little more philosophic about Kansas. He will start the No. 20 DeWalt Toyota third on Sunday.
“You have all year to collect all those points, which we didn’t do a very good job of getting very many,’’ Kenseth said. “I know Talladega is very unique. But all three races are equally as important, really. If you look at [points leader] Martin [Truex] and [Talladega winner] Brad [Keselowski], they got their wins the first two weeks, so then this week doesn’t really matter.
“So to me, it’s just another weekend, another opportunity to go out and try to win, try to get this ship turned around a little bit.”
And so ultimately, it comes down to the purest of racing intention, the simplest of concepts.
“We’ve got to go out there and just perform and know that we need a win,’’ Busch said. “A win would make everything easy.’’
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Getting pushed to the win? That’s the kind of thing we typically would’ve seen last week at Talladega Superspeedway in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Erik Jones and race-winner Christopher Bell illustrated a bit of a different interpretation of that Saturday at Kansas Speedway in the Kansas Lottery 300, albeit unintentionally and with something more than the garden-variety bump-draft.
In the waning laps, Bell managed to maneuver his No. 18 Toyota around Jones’ dominant No. 20, sliding up the track before being rear-ended by the Monster Energy Series regular. Bell drove away from the run-in to the win, and Jones limped to the finish with the brunt of the damage.
According to Jones, the contact was unavoidable from his standpoint. The positioning of Bell, he says, was not.
“I just don’t think that’s the way to do it,” Jones said on pit road following the race. “I get he was clear, but he wasn’t clear for the run I was having on the top. I was in the gas and there’s no way I could slow up enough to let him in. It’s just unfortunate. It took me out of the race. Obviously, it worked out for him. I don’t know, I just don’t really appreciate that. I don’t think many people do. It is what it is.”
Jones led a race-high 186 of 200 laps and appeared set to cruise-control his way to a third XFINITY win of the season before the contact with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate derailed his day. The 21-year-old was saddled with a 15th-place disappointment, while Bell earned his first career win in just his fifth series start.
“I tried to drive in really deep into Turn 3 and clear him and get back to the top. I hate that we didn’t get to race it out and he didn’t get to finish, but it’s my first XFINITY win and it’s something I’m really proud of,” Bell said in Victory Lane.
“I’m going to apologize and it sucks that we couldn’t race it out or that he didn’t finish the race. I don’t know man, I cleared him there. We were both on old tires and we were both sliding around.”
Bell, for his part, told reporters in his post-race press conference that he’s planning to reach out to Jones immediately if he doesn’t cross paths with him before leaving the Kansas track.
Jones told NASCAR.com that he’s “never seen him run anyone dirty,” but that they’ll “absolutely” have a conversation.
“We definitely need to talk about it,” he continued. “Obviously, Christopher is in the Toyota development line and coming up through the ranks. I’m sure we’ll be racing each other for a long time. It’s not the way we want to race as teammates or fellow racers, so we’ll have to work it out.
“That’s racing. It’s not always going to go your way and it didn’t go our way today.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 may have been the opening race in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR XFINITY Series Playoffs, but the real drama involved two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates outside the championship battle.
On Lap 197 of 200 at Kansas Speedway, Christopher Bell caught and passed Erik Jones for the lead, clearing Jones’ No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a slide job and drifting up to the outside wall right in front of his JGR teammate.
Under a full head of steam, Jones plowed into the back of Bell’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, wrecking the No. 20 Camry, which slowed markedly and finished 15th, a lap down.
Bell took the checkered flag with pole-sitter Tyler Reddick and some hard feelings on Jones’ part in his wake.
“It’s not dirt racing,” Jones complained, referencing Bell’s dirt-track background. “He’s not clear. I can’t just stop on the top. I didn’t expect him to drive in on the bottom so hard he wouldn’t be able to hold his lane.
“It’s unfortunate. I thought we were going to race for the win, and unfortunately, it wasn’t much of a race — it was more of a wreck. We’ll just have to move on.”
Jones had led four times for 186 laps before Bell ran him down from more than two seconds back in the closing laps. The series leader in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Bell got the victory in his fifth start, becoming the first driver to get his maiden XFINITY win at the 1.5-mile track.
Bell also is the 10th straight different winner in the series.
“I never want to wreck anyone, especially my teammate,” Bell said. “I don’t know. My spotter said ‘Clear.’ I drove it in really deep. I felt like I cleared him – I don’t know.
“It’s my first XFINITY win. I’m sorry that Erik didn’t finish the race, but, man, I’m just stoked. This thing was awesome. To be able to win in the XFINITY Series is something I dreamed of as a kid. We were both on old tires. We were sliding around…
“Bummed for the way it finished, but I’m glad it held on, man. I was getting tire smoke in the car there those last couple of laps, and I was worried we weren’t going to make it.”
Ryan Blaney ran third, followed by playoff drivers and JR Motorsports teammates William Byron and Justin Allgaier, the latter of whom collected 11 stage points and took over the top spot in the standings by two points over Byron, who had to start from the rear of the field because of unapproved pre-race adjustments to his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
Elliott Sadler, another JRM entry, recovered from a spin in Turn 4 on Lap 76 to finish seventh and is third in the Playoff standings, 11 points behind Allgaier.
“A tire came apart — I don’t know whether I ran over something or not,” said Sadler, who turned sideways in the path of oncoming traffic. Eventual sixth-place finisher Austin Dillon did a masterful job of avoiding Sadler’s spinning car.
“I gave ’em a big target, but nobody hit us,” a relieved Sadler said after the race.
Beyond the top three Playoff positions, little was decided. With two races left in the Round of 8, there’s an eight-point gap between fourth-place Brennan Poole, who ran 12th on Saturday, and eighth-place Cole Custer, who brought his No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to pit road with two laps left because of a cut tire and finished 19th, two laps down.
Daniel Hemric also endured one of the toughest days among the remaining eight Playoff contenders, incurring a one-lap penalty when his Richard Childress Racing crew serviced his No. 21 Chevrolet outside his pit stall. He wound up 18th, one lap down, and slipped to seventh in the postseason standings.
The XFINITY Series’ next race is scheduled Nov. 4 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Note: Two teams were found with one unsecured lug nut each in a post-race check — the Team Penske No. 22 Ford of third-place finisher Blaney and the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota of eighth-place Matt Tifft. The rule book’s suggested penalty for such an infraction is a $10,000 fine for each crew chief.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – For a few minutes, Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn’t the focal point of his own press conference Saturday at Kansas Speedway.
As has become customary in 2017, the Hendrick Motorsports driver came into the media center ahead of his final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at a particular track to humbly accept a gift – often an 88-themed charitable donation on his behalf — which Kansas did, in the form of a paperback copy of “The Expectant Father” and a check for$8,800 to the University of Kansas Health Systems Pediatric Unit.
The projector screen then lowered, a familiar face shone brightly, and perhaps the most heart-warming message Earnhardt has received yet began to play.
“Hey Dale, I’m always amazed at how time flies by,” boomed the voice of affable Kansas City Royals manager and great friend to the late Dale Earnhardt Sr., Ned Yost. “I sit back and I think about being with your dad and walking into the old (XFINITY Series) shop and seeing you and Tony (Eury) Jr. underneath the late model stock cars, beating and banging trying to get a piece of weight out from the frame.
“But watching you develop as a race car driver, I remember being with your dad, driving around the farm in the winter of ’97 and he was telling me he was going to put you in an (XFINITY) car full-time. And I asked him, ‘You think he’s ready for that?’ Dale said, ‘You’re damn right he’s ready for that.’ Of course, you proved him right, winning the championship in ’98 and then again in ’99. Then it took 12 whole races for you to win your first (Monster Energy Series) victory at Texas.”
Earnhardt, sitting in the media center crowd, took it all in. Moved.
“It’s been fun to watch that. It’s been fun to watch you grow. It’s been fun to watch you become a two-time Daytona 500 champion,” Yost, who chose to wear No. 3 in honor of Senior, continued. “But more than anything, I can flash back to that win in Texas and yeah, it was great that you won, but what was more impressive to me was how proud your dad was that day. It’s been a wonderful experience sitting back and watching you accomplish what you’ve accomplished. What you’ve accomplished is kind of hindsight to what you’ve become, for me. You’ve become an outstanding person. You’ve become an outstanding man. It’s just been a fantastic career. I just wanted to take a few minutes to congratulate you on that. I know you and Amy are going to have a blast in your retirement. It’s been fun watching you compete. It’s been fun watching you grow up. Once again, congratulations on a tremendous career, and a tremendous life. Good luck, Dale.”
The track then presented Junior with his own Royals home jersey with not his, but his dad’s number on the back.
As the final weeks of Earnhardt’s full-time career wind down, much of it will likely be a frenzied blur when he recounts his final season in the coming months, years, decades.
Saturday will be a moment he’ll carry with him.
“Yeah that is really emotional,” Earnhardt said. “Ned has been a great family friend and just so supportive of me and it is really nice to hear his memories and his thoughts, and I appreciate the track for the donation within their community here. That means a lot to me. That is really what we were hoping the tracks would take the initiative to do and it’s been great all year to see that happen.
“So, I’m glad you guys did that and that really makes my heart full.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — As NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver and the sport’s all-around biggest superstar, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is typically enthusiastic and quite comfortable discussing his place in the sport heading into his retirement at season’s end.
However, his demeanor noticeably changed some Saturday morning at Kansas Speedway. Listening to him speak about his wife Amy’s recently announced pregnancy was both moving and memorable.
He bowed his head for several moments to collect his thoughts when asked about the fantastic news he and his wife Amy would be welcoming their first child, a daughter, come May 2.
“We’ve known since actually August and oh man, it’s just been really hard keeping that in and wanting to share,” Earnhardt said smiling.
“I just couldn’t wait to tell everybody. … We have a lot of check-ups and we’re thankful and I’m looking forward to the whole process of watching and being involved.
“I’m just trying to be as supportive as I can for Amy, making sure she feels well and is comfortable. I’m trying to soak in all the experiences of going to the doctor and hearing the heartbeat. They are incredible.”
At one point Earnhardt, 43, pulled out his cellphone to try to play the audio recording he keeps of the baby’s heartbeat.
“I mean it made it more real,” he said grinning. “We are pinching ourselves even still. We look at each other if we’re sitting on the couch or walking around the house or something and just have to remind ourselves we’re going through this pregnancy and we just can’t believe it.
“So, anytime you hear the heartbeat or go to an ultrasound or something like that, it makes it like ‘Hey, it’s happening.’ You get a little scared. You get excited, you know?”
And he animatedly recalled that first doctor’s visit to confirm that Amy was pregnant. She had taken some at-home pregnancy tests, but Earnhardt joked that he wasn’t gonna believe the news until he heard it from the doctor.
“We went to the doctor and I’m still thinking man, I’m not believing crap until this doctor tells me,” he said smiling. “So, we’re sitting in there for like 20 minutes. And their talking woman language and I’m not understanding (laughter). They are just talking about things and I’m like well, when is she going to say it? I want to hear it from the doctor’s mouth (laughs) that she’s pregnant, so we can rejoice.
“It took them a while. I was scared to speak up. Finally, they said something that confirmed it for me and I was like, ‘Awesome.’
“And then we had the ultrasound and got to hear the heartbeat and all that right there, and that was great. We go back for another checkup here soon, in a couple of days, and those are awesome.
“They are so much fun because it’s like the closest you can get to it before they’re born and I’m looking forward to each and every one of them.”
And he spoke at length about the efforts he’s made to keep Amy comfortable and happy during the pregnancy. From letting her rest to keeping her company to sharing in the happiness and big plans, Earnhardt seems to be living in the most happy of moments.
“Everybody says obviously, to try to get your sleep now because the first several months are very difficult, but we can’t,” Earnhardt said. “We’re lying in bed and can’t sleep. We’re so excited.
“You can read books and I’ve got an app on my phone and am trying to get as much information as I can to understand how to make Amy as comfortable as I can.
“I think some of the most helpful advice for me is probably what can I do to make it easier for Amy. And the advice that I’ve gotten is that she doesn’t care what you did that day. She doesn’t care how your day was (laughs). So, don’t try to tell her. If you had a rough day or whatever, just shelve it and try to keep on being an assistant to whatever she needs at all times.
“And that’s pretty easy to remember because I feel that way already about her.”
Quick facts for Sunday’s race at a Glance What: Hollywood Casino 400 Where: Kansas Speedway, 1.5-mile oval in Kansas City, Kansas Green flag: 3:16 p.m. ET TV/Radio: NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Forecast: A chance of showers before 7 a.m. Mostly sunny, with a high near 67. Northwest wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. National anthem: Angie Rosner Grand Marshal: Jay Hernandez Race distance: 267 laps, 400 miles Pit road speed: 45 mph Caution car speed: 55 mph Stage lengths: Stage 1 ends on Lap 80. Stage 2 ends on Lap 160. Final stage is scheduled to end on Lap 267. Competition caution: Lap 30 (There was rain overnight.)
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kyle Larson’s demeanor is as steady as his talent behind the wheel of a race car. He is perennially happy-go-lucky, but also driven and determined.
Because of his — and his team’s — hard work all season, a solid, not even spectacular showing in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Kansas Speedway should move the fourth-year Monster Energy NASCAR Cup driver into the sport’s Round of 8 — the closest he or his Chip Ganassi Racing team has gotten to a Cup title since Sterling Marlin’s injury-interrupted run in 2002.
“We have a 29-point gap on the cut-off so as long as we can go out there and gain some stage points I feel like we’ll be OK,” Larson said Friday before pole qualifying at Kansas.
“But you never know, anything can happen in our sport. We’ve got to get out there and perform and get some stage points or a win would certainly benefit us.”
It’s a been a career year for Larson and arguably the whole organization, which for the first time has both of its Chevrolets in the playoff run — also including one driven by Jamie McMurray, who is ranked 12th heading into Kansas.
Larson has earned a career-high four wins in 2017 (at California, Richmond and both Michigan races) and three pole positions — and he was awarded another two by virtue of rained out qualifying sessions. With five races still remaining in the season, he has already set a career best in wins (four), top-fives (14) and top-10s (19).
He’ll start the No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevy 13th on Sunday — a bit of a surprising result considering Larson was fastest in Friday’s opening practice session. (He also was fastest in Saturday’s early practice.)
“I’m disappointed after being so much faster than everybody in practice, but we’re OK,” Larson said. “We’ll race good and hopefully be there at the end to try and get a win.
“I think we’ve had a lot of opportunity to win on a mile-and-a-half (track). If we win Kansas and get five more bonus points and get some stage points, that’s the important part — just give ourselves more of a points cushion on the cutoff. I definitely think I can.”
And that’s been Larson’s consistent mindset — his can-do, why-not philosophy. With each race in NASCAR’s big time, he has gained confidence and knows he has his first legitimate shot at the big trophy.
“I think mentally we’re in a good spot as a team because our race car has been really fast so we’ve got a lot of confidence and heading to the race track we know we have a good shot at being competitive,” Larson said.
“That helps your confidence a lot, and confidence is so important especially in sports. We’ve definitely had a lot of that this year.”
