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RELATED: Provisional Chase grid | Series standings
With just one regular-season race left before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field is locked in, several pressing questions remain. Before playoff time ramps up in earnest for all three national series, NASCAR.com reporters Kenny Bruce and Zack Albert sat down to discuss a trio of topics before this weekend’s events at Richmond International Raceway:
Among the drivers who haven’t won so far this year, who is your favorite to score a last-minute victory to secure their ticket for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs?
Bruce: The veterans on the outside of the Chase haven’t run well enough of late to be a threat while the youngsters lack the experience. But give the kids a nod at Richmond, specifically Chase Elliott. He’s been in the top five enough this year to handle the pressure of racing for a win with so much on the line.
Albert: Here’s rating the likelihood fairly low for rampant 11th-hour movement along the Chase cut line, but forced to pick a best-chance ticket puncher, Ryan Newman deserves a look. Granted it’s been more than a decade, but Newman has won at Richmond before. Plus, as if the postseason wasn’t motivation enough, Wednesday’s 15-point penalty for a Darlington infraction should leave the RCR No. 31 bunch with a point to prove Saturday night.
How do you rate Chris Buescher‘s chances for maintaining his top-30 position in the Sprint Cup points standings and meeting that requirement for Chase eligibility?
Bruce: If Buescher goes to Richmond and focuses on running his own race, he’ll be fine. If the team gets caught up in focusing on what others are doing, they’ll wind up as the only team with a win that’s not in the Chase. The key is for the folks on the No. 34 to not beat themselves.
Albert: Front Row Motorsports has made an impression with their scrappy nature, and Buescher has provided the underdog No. 34 team with a shot at its first postseason appearance. Only complete catastrophe coupled with an improbable David Ragan top-10 would unravel those hopes. Provided FRM leans on its Roush Fenway Racing affiliation this weekend, Buescher should cruise into the field of 16.
Will Sunday’s Camping World Truck Series dust-up between Cole Custer and John Hunter Nemechek have a lasting impact into the Chase?
Bruce: It’s very likely that Cole Custer‘s Chase hopes went up in smoke — and grass and dirt, etc. — in the last-lap incident with John Hunter Nemechek this past weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. With Nemechek already qualified, the likelihood of a forgive-and-forget is slim. Custer’s JR Motorsports team is solid enough to win — or keep someone else from doing so if the situation presents itself.
Albert: Nemechek’s last-lap mugging at Mosport made such a dramatic impact that not only will Cole Custer race him differently going forward, others in the Camping World Truck Series garage may think twice about giving the youngster the benefit of the doubt on the track. The truck series has already established itself as a solid proving ground for young talent. Sunday’s race offered a reminder that it’s a launching pad for the NASCAR rivalries of the future, as well.
Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick will have two new members going over the wall this weekend when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series travels to Richmond for Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Eric Maycroft will be the team’s new front tire changer and Matt Holzbaur the new front tire carrier for the No. 4 team. They previously worked on the No. 10 team of Danica Patrick.
Maycroft replaces front tire changer Tim Sheets while Holzbaur replaces front tire carrier Todd Drakulich, both of whom will move to the No. 10 team.
SHR made the moves after Harvick criticized the team’s pit work following Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
“I’m over being a cheerleader,” Harvick said after his second-place finish. “Those guys get paid a lot of money to perform on pit road. Cheerleading hasn’t been working so you have to get after them on pit road and do your job.”
Harvick led 214 of the race’s 367 laps but lost positions on pit road on several occasions, leaving the 2014 series champion to make up the lost ground on the race track.
He was out front when the caution flag appeared for contact between AJ Allmendinger and Ryan Blaney on Lap 279 but restarted the race in 12th when an air gun failure led to a lengthy pit stop.
“Y’all obviously don’t want to (expletive) win or something,” Harvick told his team on the radio after the incident.
Informed an equipment issue was the culprit, Harvick replied “Heard that for three years.”
Told to “do the best” he could to make up the lost track position, Harvick responded: “Been doing that all (expletive) night.”
Harvick, a winner this season at Phoenix and Bristol, has already clinched one of the 16 Chase spots.
Crew chief Rodney Childers told NASCAR.com after the Darlington race that his crew “had great stops all night and we had one stop that was just a little bit off and when you have one that’s a little bit off it’s kind of like a mental breakdown.”
“The guys have to forget about that one and move on,” he added.
Saturday’s race is the final regular-season event for Sprint Cup Series teams. The 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup gets underway next weekend at Chicagoland Speedway.
CONCORD, N.C. — This week’s race at Richmond will be a final shakedown of sorts for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kurt Busch, one last dry run before the championship-determining Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup gets underway a week later in Chicago.
A winner earlier this season at Pocono Raceway, Busch will head into Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, MSNBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR) without the pressure of securing one of the final positions.
“Overall, it’s a great way just to do a tune-up, to pretend that this is a Chase race, there are no consequences,” Busch said Wednesday during an appearance at zMAX Dragway. “Of course we want to win for our sponsors, but most importantly the Chase is on the horizon.
“We’re just going back to the basics now, give our best effort at Richmond, see how it plays out and then get everything dialed in for Chicago.”
Busch, the 2004 Sprint Cup champion, is a former winner at Richmond (2005, ’15). He is currently 10th on the Chase grid.
SHR teammates Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart have also earned Chase berths for 2016.
Stewart missed the season’s first eight races due to injury, but returned to win at Sonoma and put himself in line for the Chase.
“It was fantastic to have that moment from Tony at Sonoma, it really changed the direction of the team overall at SHR, and for us on the 41 car it really defined what we need to do the next couple of months,” Busch said. “… We just have to go back and define what we did at Chicago last year, what we did at New Hampshire the first race this year, Dover the first race this year … just go into more detail.”
Looking beyond Richmond, Busch said it would be “business as usual” once the 10-race playoff gets underway.
“As we move through like Kansas, Charlotte, that’s when you see how things play out,” he said. “You hope you have good runs there, that way you’re not relying on Talladega to get a solid finish. If you have to go into Talladega and get a top 10, that’s the worst possible scenario … but Kyle (Busch) was able to do it last year and he went on to win the championship.”
Charlotte Motor Speedway will host the only night race in this year’s Chase, the Bank of America 500 scheduled for Oct. 28.
Likewise, zMAX will host the National Hot Rod Association’s Carolina Nationals Sept. 16-18. It is the opening round of the drag racing series’ Countdown to the Championship.
Wednesday, Busch joined Top Fuel driver Brittany Force, winner of this year’s Four Wide Nationals at zMAX. After a friendly battle on the drag strip in a pair of street-legal Chevrolet Camaros, the pair headed over to CMS where Busch took Force for a ride-along on the 1.5-mile track.
“Charlotte … all the facilities (here) are first-class,” Busch said. “The big oval, the drag strip, the dirt track, you name it. … It’s a pride factor when you race here in Charlotte. When you get a win … you know you’ve done something special.”
The thermostat read around 100 degrees, as a small, tan and white kitten weighing 0.8 pounds hid under a dumpster on an August afternoon in a North Carolina neighborhood.
Two days later, with a rested body and full belly, that same cat boarded a private plane to Watkins Glen International for the Sprint Cup Series race weekend.
Talk about a rags to riches story for the feline — now dubbed Mr. Tickles — who is the pampered pet of Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger and girlfriend Tara Meador.
“I think I was actually doing ‘Race Hub’ that day and during the show, I was getting text messages from Tara that they had found a cat under a dumpster,” Allmendinger recalled on Aug. 19 at Bristol Motor Speedway. “So, (they’re) trying to get this cat out. … They had got him to eat a little bit, but every time they’d try to grab him, he’d run right back in the middle of it (and) you couldn’t get him. I sat there probably for an hour trying to drag him out, figure out something — cat was pretty smart, he didn’t want to be caught.
“I try not to have that much of a heart most of the time,” Allmendinger continued with a smile, “But you know I had to have one. I was like, ‘It’s 105 degrees outside right now, you can tell that this cat is tiny — he may not be there tomorrow or he might be there, but not the way we want to see him.’ “
The group eventually scraped the kitten from under the dumpster and took him back to Allmendinger and Meador’s house, while he was
“screaming and swatting.” But it didn’t take long for the tiny animal to feel at home in the comforts of blankets and a full belly — then cross-country trips to race tracks.
Thus began the adventures of Mr. Tickles the traveling cat.
“It’s been fun, you know, because with the airlines that we fly on as a team, it’s not like you can bring your own dog on the plane or anything like that,” Allmendinger said. “So we’ve got a little cat backpack and he gets in it and gets under the chair and goes to sleep and it’s good entertainment throughout the course of a weekend when I’m stressing myself out.
“He’s definitely … the airplane cat because people that are big cat people are like, ‘Is Tickles on here?’ We’ve passed him around before … he’s got a funny personality on him. He talks a lot, he can be a pain in the butt sometimes — I guess he’s a lot like me,” Allmendinger joked.
Wait … he talks?
Yep, and does tricks, Allmendinger says.
“He’ll shake with his right paw; left paw, he’ll fist pound you,” Allmendinger said. “So if you say, ‘Fist pound or jab,’ because Tara’s gotten into boxing … and he knows which paw is which. … He’ll definitely speak at you; if you tell him to speak, he’ll meow at you.”
Mr. Tickles’ talents are depicted on his three social media pages — Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and he tallies more than 1,500 followers on Twitter alone. His Twitter bio says, “It’s not easy being the kitten, but someone has to do it.”
“Cat’s got more followers than me,” No. 47 crew chief Randall Burnett chimed in as he entered the hauler.
“He’s way nicer and he’s way more fun to be around and he’s way cuter,” Allmendinger joked back.
“That’s not true, I’m pretty charming to be around,” Burnett said.
Don’t underestimate the power of big kitty-cat eyes, Randall. They’ve definitely captured the attention of fans.
“My Twitter page is filled up with people sending me their cat pictures,” Allmendinger said. “That’s what I get. Like, ‘Oh look it, look at Mr. Butters!’
“A few weeks ago, (after) one of the Saturday races, (on) Sunday Tara and I are just having a fun day and we happen to be kind of in this shopping center area down in Charlotte and went into this store. They had some birthday cards of cats and I’m like, ‘Oh look it, it’s Mr. Tickles right here.’ The lady working there … said, ‘Mr. Tickles? I love that cat, I follow him.’ … I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ She’s like, ‘I thought it was you, AJ.’
“There are people that come out of the woodwork or big cat people that love Mr. Tickles.”
Allmendinger says he wasn’t always a cat person — “I’m a bigger dog person,” he admits — but the cuteness that is Mr. Tickles enraptured him from the beginning. And it’s been made clear that the Allmedinger-Meador house is now governed by Mr. Tickles — no other animal is allowed.
“He hates everybody,” Allmendinger said. “He hates every type of animal. We’ve always wanted to get a dog as well at the right time — I don’t think that’s going to happen because he may kill the dog. I guess, like one of his owners, he’s an only child and shows it.
“Now he runs the show at the house. It’s his house — he doesn’t need anyone messing around, any other animals coming in to take over his house. He doesn’t play well with others.”
With his following, Mr. Tickles may not ever have to adjust his attitude. Just have him give a little furry fist pound and all ‘tude is forgiven.
Just make sure you provide a treat afterward.
MORE: Custer: ‘He wanted to ruin our day’
John Hunter Nemechek made the media rounds Wednesday to promote NASCAR’s upcoming Camping World Truck Series race in Chicago and to talk about the series’ inaugural Chase, which starts later this month in New Hampshire.
But there was this one “other thing” everyone was more eager to discuss with last weekend’s winner: Nemechek’s bump of Cole Custer in the final corner and the ensuing pass-in-the-grass to edge Custer for the win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday.
It was a dramatic finish, and Nemechek acknowledges, it was also controversial. So much so that a frustrated Custer, 18, ran across the track and tackled Nemechek, 19, as the second-generation driver waited near the officials’ stand to receive the checkered flag.
“There’s been a lot of attention toward the finish and towards me on social media but like we said, we’re happy that we got the win and we won’t take that away from anything,” Nemechek said. “But if the circumstances of us going in the grass hadn’t happened, they wouldn’t be talking about the finish. That’s the only thing you’d like to go back and change, is not ending up in the grass.”
As he did on Sunday, Nemechek did not back down from his elation at winning even under contentious conditions.
“I’m definitely proud to get the win, to get our second win of the year checked off our list and have some momentum going into the Chase,” Nemechek said. “It was a great day for our whole team. I hate the circumstances it ended under with us in the grass, and that definitely wasn’t what we were trying to do in making the pass.
“If we could go back and change the circumstances we would, but a win is a win and we’ll take it.”
It was actually the second win this season for the No. 8 Chevrolet truck, owned by Nemechek’s father, Joe, a former NASCAR Busch Grand National (now called the XFINITY Series) champion. And John Hunter said his father — along with many others — offered support following the race.
Nemechek did note, however, that his father had not seen the race ending live and did not see a replay until after the Victory Lane celebration.
“He said congrats on the win and that I did everything right all day and we executed our strategy well, having to save fuel there at the end,” Nemechek said. “I actually ran out of gas on the cool-down lap so we stretched it as far as we could. But he (Joe Nemechek) said, ‘You were smart all day, and you were there at the end. That’s what made the victory.’ “
Custer is not high enough in points to earn a Chase berth and will now have one more shot to score a victory at Chicagoland on Sept. 16 and earn his position in the Chase.
In addition to the tackle at the race track, Custer has candidly shared his displeasure about the ending with the national media this week.
There have even been suggestions that Custer may try to even the score by wrecking Nemechek during the championship Chase although Custer never directly said such.
Nemechek did acknowledge the possibility himself.
“You can’t be paranoid, you can’t worry,” Nemechek said. “If it happens, it happens.
“I definitely think it would be a whole different story and you’d expect payback if it ended like the Ty Dillon incident a couple years ago where he ended up in the tire barriers and didn’t finish the race.
“We raced back to the line and finished first and second. So who knows what’s going to happen. You can’t worry about it.”
As for Custer and Nemechek racing together at Chicago in the final race before the Camping World Truck Series Chase grid is set, Nemechek is hopeful that time and maybe some effort on his part will ease the tension.
“I haven’t spoken to him yet, but I expect to in the future,” Nemechek said.
RELATED: Chase Bubble picture
NASCAR officials handed down a P3-level penalty to the Richard Childress Racing No. 31 team Wednesday, including a 15-point deduction that places an extra hurdle in driver Ryan Newman‘s path to Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs eligibility.
Newman finished eighth in last Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, but his No. 31 Chevrolet failed its post-race pass through the Laser Inspection Station (LIS) platform. On Wednesday, competition officials docked the team 15 points in the drivers and team owners standings and fined crew chief Luke Lambert $25,000.
Newman ended the Darlington weekend seven points behind Jamie McMurray, the last driver clinging to a playoff spot on the provisional Chase grid. The penalty leaves him in need of either winning or rallying to overcome a 22-point deficit in Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM), the regular-season finale at Richmond International Raceway.
Newman’s No. 31 team was also docked 10 points in March for the use of unapproved body attachment mounts and supports at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Lambert was then placed on NASCAR probation through the end of the year.
In a statement, Richard Childress Racing responded to the penalty and announced the team would not appeal.
“We do not plan to appeal the penalty issued today to the No. 31 team. Our rear toe settings were well within specs during pre-race inspection. The car made contact with the outside wall during the race and there was clear damage to the right rear fender and tire. NASCAR has told us that the LIS standard is clear and the car must pass post-race inspection even if damage has been sustained.”
Competition officials on Wednesday also issued a P2-grade penalty to the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet team for a post-race LIS violation at Darlington. Third-place finisher Kyle Larson was docked 15 points and crew chief Chad Johnston was fined $22,500. The team also was assessed the loss of 15 owner points.
With one win on the season and a 15th-place spot in the standings after Darlington, Larson is locked in for the Chase.
Driver Ryan Blaney was tagged with a P1 penalty for a safety equipment infraction, and the driver was fined $1,000. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate took the NASCAR Throwback weekend concept too far by briefly participating in Saturday’s practice without protective driving gloves.
Other warnings issued after last weekend’s events at Darlington:
In the Sprint Cup Series, the Nos. 2 and 19 teams received written warnings and the loss of 15 minutes of practice time for failing pre-race LIS three times.
The Nos. 22 and 32 teams were issued written warnings for failing pre-race LIS twice, and the No. 14 got a written warning for failing pre-race template inspection twice.
In XFINITY, the No. 01 team was issued a written warning for failing pre-race LIS twice.
And in the Camping World Truck Series, the Nos. 02 and 8 teams were issued written warnings for truck trailing arms not meeting rule specifications.
Chat with fans this weekend during the NASCAR action at Richmond International Raceway.
Twelve drivers have clinched a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with just one regular-season race remaining Saturday night at Richmond (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The 12 clinchers: Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Tony Stewart.
Everyone who has a win this season is locked in — except for Chris Buescher, who has yet to clinch a top-30 spot.
Here are the scenarios for Saturday night:
Control their own destiny
— Chris Buescher: He would clinch a top-30 spot by earning 34 points (finishing seventh with no laps led). He currently has an 11-point lead over 31st-place David Ragan, so he can’t slip below that threshold.
— Chase Elliott: Would clinch a Chase spot by finishing 24th, if there is no new winner. If there is a repeat winner and Chris Buescher falls out of the Top 30, he clinches on points, regardless of finish. With a win, Elliott would clinch a Chase spot.
— Austin Dillon: Would clinch on points if there is a repeat winner (or if Chase Elliott wins, or if Chris Buescher falls out of the top 30), by finishing 15th. If there is a repeat winner and Chris Buescher falls out of the top 30, he would clinch on points regardless of finish. A win would also lock up a spot.
— Jamie McMurray: Would clinch on points if there is a repeat winner (or win by Chase Elliott or Austin Dillon, or a new winner and Chris Buescher falls out of the top 30) by finishing sixth. If there is a repeat winner and Chris Buescher falls out of the top 30, McMurray would clinch on points, regardless of finish. He cannot lose more than 21 points to Newman as Newman would hold the tie-breaker.
Need help
— Ryan Newman: With a win, he would clinch a Chase spot. But a P3 penalty for failing post-race LIS cost him 15 driver points, and made his Chase chances even more difficult. If he needs to clinch on points, he needs help: he’d need to top McMurray by 22 or more points Saturday, or Dillon by 32 or more points or Elliott by 40 points.
— Kasey Kahne: With a win, Kahne would clinch a Chase spot. He could clinch on points with a repeat winner by outpointing Newman by 37 points — which basically means Kahne would need to finish second and Newman last.
Win only
The following drivers can only get a Chase spot if they win: Ryan Blaney, AJ Allmendinger, Trevor Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Paul Menard, Greg Biffle, Danica Patrick, Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Casey Mears and Landon Cassill.
Win and help
If David Ragan or Regan Smith win on Saturday, they still would need to clinch a spot in the top 30.
XFINITY Series
• A win would clinch a spot for any eligible driver. Also, a 42-point lead over the 8th winless driver if there is a new winner or that same lead over the 9th winless driver if there is a repeat winner will clinch a spot.
Possible to Clinch:
• Ryan Reed: Would clinch on points with 31 Points (10th and no laps led, 11th and led at least one lap, 12th and led most laps). Would clinch on points with a repeat (or previously clinched driver) winner and 27 Points (14th and no laps led, 15th and led at least one lap, 16th and led most laps).
• Blake Koch: With a win, he would clinch a Chase spot on wins. Could clinch on Points with a repeat winner and help.
The following need a win to clinch a Chase spot: Ryan Sieg, Dakoda Armstrong, Jeremy Clements, Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Ray Black Jr., BJ McLeod, Joey Gase.