Contact between Jones, Crafton shakes up points picture

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Zack Albert

AVONDALE, Ariz. — A hard-edged contest for the lead snared two championship contenders, and a pit-stop misstep hindered the third, as Friday the 13th luck haunted the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title race at Phoenix International Raceway.

While Timothy Peters scooted away with his second victory of the season, Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick and Matt Crafton all played damage control Friday night in a topsy-turvy Lucas Oil 150. Once the curtain closed on the next-to-last event of the season, Jones inched closer to his first NASCAR national series crown, Reddick made modest but unfulfilling gains and Crafton’s hopes for extending his title reign to three years grew dimmer.

After a late-race restart, Jones and Crafton collided with 30 laps to go on the exit of Turn 4. Crafton caught the worst of the melee, collecting ThorSport Racing teammate Johnny Sauter at speed on the frontstretch. Jones, the pole-starter, emerged with relatively minor damage on the left-rear fender, rallying from a pit stop to finish ninth. Crafton spent significant time behind the wall for repairs, finishing 20 laps down in 23rd place.

Crafton and Jones had raced fiercely earlier in the 150-lapper, and their contact near the end was no different. But the two-time series champ absorbed the blame for the fateful brush.

“It was 100 percent my fault,” said Crafton, who led three times for 15 laps. “We were close and it was tight racing. When you get somebody side-by-side with you, I just got loose and made a mistake. Things happen, we’re all human and we’ll go on to Homestead. I hate it for the guys, we had such a good truck. We’ll just hold our heads up and go to Homestead.”

Jones, who can eliminate Crafton from the title picture with a result of 27th or better in the 32-truck field in next Friday’s season-ending Ford EcoBoost 200 (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Homestead-Miami Speedway, said the contact was simply the byproduct of hard-nosed competition.

“There was definitely some hard racing,” said Jones, who led five times for 106 laps. “He didn’t want us to get the lead obviously and slipped up and made a mistake. It’s going to happen, it’s racing, it’s hard racing and we both had fast trucks. It’s just a shame when you lose a shot at the win. …

“At that moment I wasn’t thinking about the championship. I was thinking about winning a race and that flashed before my eyes. I was somewhat worried about it, I wasn’t too concerned about it, I figured we’d be OK since obviously the 88 (Crafton) was involved as well. Still a 19-point lead and that’s a solid margin to go into Homestead.”

Reddick actually gained a spot in the standings with a fifth-place finish, but failed to capitalize more on the misfortunes of Crafton and Jones. The 19-year-old driver said his Brad Keselowski Racing team would investigate possible trouble on his No. 19 Ford’s right-front, which led to a balky tire change on his final pit stop.

Jones can close out Reddick in the season finale by placing 15th or better, 16th with leading one lap, and 17th with leading the most laps. Though a mathematic chance at taking the title exists, Reddick was despondent in the immediate aftermath of defeat, calling the night “a real shame.”

“We still needed to win the race and that was all I really cared about doing,” Reddick said. “Running fifth is not going to win us a championship.”

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Zack Albert

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Shared setups, shared strategies and ultimately shared goals. There are benefits to teamwork, especially when your name is Kurt Busch, your teammate is Kevin Harvick, and the venue is Phoenix International Raceway, a track where Harvick holds a four-race lock on Victory Lane.

But how far do the graces of teamwork extend, especially when every position on the track is critical in the next-to-last race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs? The Stewart-Haas Racing teammates aim to find out, and a dream sequence for placing both of the organization’s cars into the title-eligible final four has already captured Busch’s fancy.

“For Kevin, he has his agenda and for us, we have our agenda,” Busch said Friday before opening Sprint Cup practice at the 1-mile oval. “The perfect day for Stewart-Haas Racing would be for the 41 car to win and for Kevin Harvick to finish second. That would allow both of us to advance to the Championship Round at Homestead. We hope we are in that position.”

Three teams have the opportunity for the “perfect day” scenario of a two-pronged championship effort after Sunday’s Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix, (which is being renamed Jeff Gordon Raceway for the day, 2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM) — the SHR duo of Harvick and Busch, the Team Penske twosome of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, and the remaining Joe Gibbs Racing contingent of Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. With Jeff Gordon — Hendrick Motorsports‘ lone remaining title hopeful — already reserving a berth among the championship four, only one team (if any) will be able to move both its drivers forward, with only so much water that can fit into the funnel as the title field thins from eight to four.

While overarching team goals play a factor, Harvick said Friday that his focus was singular for now.

“I haven’t really thought about any of that stuff to be honest with you,” Harvick said, dismissing the various clinching scenarios. “The only thing I’ve thought about this week was winning this race.”

No driver has as much winning history to lean on within his team’s framework as Busch. Harvick’s run of four straight victories is part of a portfolio of seven career wins at the flat track in the Arizona desert.

RELATED: Can anyone break Harvick’s hold on Phoenix?

Busch lauded Harvick’s “keen sense” of navigating Phoenix’s oblong layout and his ability to find advantages in running certain lines through the slightly banked corners. But some of the success can be chalked up to handling characteristics, which Busch’s No. 41 outfit hopes to mimic by running a similar setup to Harvick’s No. 4.

“There are always little numbers that get lost in translation, but for us we have been very good at sharing information and having things equal across the board,” Busch said. “I’m looking forward to the race this weekend and trying to go against a teammate that is the fastest car at this track for a shot at the championship. There couldn’t be a better feeling.”

Busch was nearly the caboose of a 1-2 SHR day here in March before a late-race pit call left him to settle for a fifth-place result. Returning to Phoenix this weekend with the stakes much higher, Busch knows a top-five finish likely won’t be enough to punch his ticket for the championship Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Busch’s seventh-place effort last weekend at Texas helped soothe some of the damage from a crash-related 34th at Martinsville. But facing a 28-point deficit below the Chase cut line makes winning even more crucial in the second year of the postseason’s elimination format.

Leaning on Harvick may help Busch’s cause, but it may also have to come at the expense of his teammate’s Phoenix dominance.

“In years past before this format, consistency was still key,” Busch said. “Consistency is key now, but the problem is that you have to get top fives. You have to win. I mean Brad Keselowski did everything right last week except win. That is what we have to do this week, we have to win. A top-five isn’t going to be good enough. Where a lot of people think we did good last week by finishing seventh, and I was like ‘thank you, but what did it do for us?’ Absolutely nothing. And so you have to go and win. That is what this format demands you do this time of year.”

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Zack Albert

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Rico Abreu’s avid pursuit of extracurricular racing in all forms of motor sports has become his calling card. Should a more steady gig in NASCAR become a reality, Abreu said he’d jump at the chance, knowing that another opportunity might not present itself.

The 23-year-old driver makes another step toward a NASCAR future with his Camping World Truck Series debut Friday at Phoenix International Raceway. He’ll drive the No. 31 Chevrolet from the NTS Motorsports camp, aiming to return for the season finale next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Arriving Friday morning at Phoenix in preparation for his truck coming-out party, Abreu said he has no firm plans for 2016, but hopes that NASCAR figures in.

“I’d love to. This is something I enjoy, these stock cars,” Abreu said. “I think my whole career from when I started, I’ve never been really stable in a series. I think this could be it. I just want to be given the right opportunity and make sure you have your shot, because I think you only have one shot at this deal and to be good at it and get in the right equipment. I would love to run whatever next year. Right now we don’t have any plans and I basically just fill my sprint car races in when I’m not racing stock cars.”

The winding down of the 2015 racing season might be a foreign concept to Abreu, who has rides in various racing disciplines planned for the winter months. On the NASCAR Next driver’s busy offseason docket: the Turkey Night Grand Prix in Southern California on Thanksgiving night, the Snowball Derby in Pensacola, Florida, on Dec. 7; and a defense of his prestigious Chili Bowl sprint car title in Tulsa in January.

The immediate task at Phoenix and Homestead is learning the nuances of driving trucks, building on his successful first season of competition in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. Both stock-car series have given him a taste of driving heavier vehicles than sprint cars, but the transition to trucks also means longer races and the need for pit stops, a new experience for the short-track ace.

Simulating pit stops was part of Abreu’s Thursday prep work as he turned the second-most laps in the series’ lone practice, working on finding reference points on the 1-mile track and getting better acquainted with the Bob Newberry-owned team.

“If I can just take my time getting through there and just have a solid weekend, it’d be fun,” Abreu said. “It’s going to be fun.”

Should a full schedule materialize as a result of the two-race audition with NTS, Abreu said he’d maximize his focus for an all-in effort, hinting that only select drivers are afforded second chances to make a splash in the sport.

“I just think there’s another one coming behind you, a competitor, and they’re all filling seats,” Abreu said. “I feel like you have one shot at this and if you miss your opportunity, you’re going to be sitting in the dust because there’s so many young, talented kids coming up through the ranks that are hungry for their opportunity.

“It’s something that I’ve really got to think about over the last few years, just because I see a lot of kids get left out that are very talented and don’t get that opportunity, so just makes me really thankful for this situation I’m in, and you’ve just got to take advantage of it.”

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Reid Spencer

AVONDALE, Ariz. – After the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series battle changed dramatically with a wreck involving the two series leaders, Timothy Peters held off John Hunter Nemechek to win Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Peters beat Nemechek to the checkered flag by .309 seconds to record his first victory at the one-mile speedway, his second of the season and the 10th of his career.

But the real drama occurred 30 laps before Peters crossed the finish line in the 150-lap event. The dominant trucks of series leader Erik Jones and two-time defending champion Matt Crafton fell out of contention, wrecking during an intense battle for the lead.

As Crafton and Jones raced side-by-side for the lead after a restart on Lap 120, Crafton’s Toyota slipped underneath Jones’ Tundra in Turn 4 and pinched Jones against the outside wall. Crafton shot to the left and knocked ThorSport Racing teammate Johnny Sauter‘s Toyota into the inside wall, critically damaging both vehicles.

Despite damage to the rear of his truck, Jones salvaged a lead-lap ninth-place finish and maintained a 19-point lead in the series standings over Tyler Reddick, who finished fifth on Friday night.

Crafton wasn’t as fortunate. His 23rd-place finish left him 32 points behind Jones, who can end Crafton’s title run with a finish of 27th or better next Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Jones can clinch his first championship outright with a finish of 15th or better in the season finale.

“I made a mistake,” Crafton acknowledged. “Mistakes happen and we’re all human,” he said. “I hate it for my guys because we had a great truck.”

Peters had to dodge a Lap 6 wreck involving Brandon Jones, William Byron and Cole Custer before he could think about winning the race.

“When I saw it happen, and (the wrecking trucks) coming back across the race track, I can’t tell you what I was thinking, but it was ‘Here we go again,'” said Peters, who posted his seventh straight top-six finish in a stretch that includes two wins. “The last two years, we’ve had great trucks (at Phoenix), but we’ve been in the right place at the wrong time.

“The Lord works in great ways, and tonight was our night. Even though we missed it by our chinny, chin, chin, I was able to miss it. The only damage on the truck is from me getting crazy burning it out (in the post-race celebration). I’m sure that won’t be a problem if we keep continuing to go down this path.”

Note: With Peters’ victory, Toyota clinched its eighth manufacturers’ championship in the Truck Series.

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Reid Spencer

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Jimmie Johnson played spoiler last Sunday at Texas, stealing a win from Brad Keselowski in the closing laps.

On Friday afternoon at Phoenix International Raceway – though “spoiler” is not a role he relishes – the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion was at it again, winning the pole for Sunday’s Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC) with a track-record lap at 143.158 mph (25.147 seconds).

Johnson, who was bounced from the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in the first Challenger Rounnd, edged Chase driver Kurt Busch (142.880 mph) for the top spot on the grid.

The Coors Light Pole Award broke a 58-race drought for Johnson and his No. 48 Chevrolet team, who earned the most recent of his 34 career poles in May 2014 at Charlotte. The pole, his third at Phoenix, the last coming in November 2013 during his run for a sixth series title.

Johnson has four victories at Phoenix, the most recent in 2009.

“I don’t think I want to play spoiler — I just want to go fast,” Johnson said after his record run. “I just want to sit on the pole, win races, lead laps. I want to be the 48 that we know we’re capable of. My motivation comes through that.

“I want to be the race team that we are and the driver that I am. It’s not because I want to be the spoiler, and I’m not in the Chase, so let me get in the way. It has nothing to do with that.”

For Busch, who for practical purposes must win on Sunday to advance to the Chase’s Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the front-row starting spot is a welcome indicator of the speed in his car.

“The way that this weekend is shaping up for us, it’s a great start,” Busch said. “We know we need to win. The car, the crew and everybody we are all clicking on eight cylinders.

“We just didn’t quite get the pole. Johnson put down an awesome lap, so congrats to him. We’re outside pole, and we’ll go from there.”

For Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, who like Busch are dealing with must-win scenarios to advance in the Chase, Friday’s time trials were a major disappointment. Neither driver qualified for the third and final round of knockout qualifying, with Logano earning the 14th starting spot and Keselowski the 18th.

“We just missed it a little bit,” Logano said after the second round. “I wish we were in the next round and going for a pole, but the fact of the matter is we’re going to start 14th, and we’re going to work on our car (during Saturday’s practice) and get it ready to win a race on Sunday.”

Kevin Harvick, who has won the last four races at Phoenix, qualified eighth. Other Chase drivers will start as follows: Carl Edwards, fourth; Martin Truex Jr., fifth; Kyle Busch, 10th; and Jeff Gordon, 12th. Gordon is the only one of the eight eligible drivers who has already clinched a spot in the Championship Round – thanks to his Nov. 1 victory at Martinsville.

Just because of the qualifying effort, however, don’t discount Harvick’s chances for a fifth straight victory at the one-mile track.

“We didn’t qualify as well as we did last time, but the car was really good in race trim as we practiced today,” Harvick said. “We just never really found anything that worked for us in qualifying trim.”

Notes: Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified third … In both the second and third rounds, seven drivers ran faster than the previous track qualifying record of 142.141 mph set by Joey Logano in November 2014.

Posted on November 12, 2015 by

With one week to go before the championship, here are the Week 8 pit crew power rankings.

Joey Logano No. 22 crew, Team Penske
Rank: 1
Wins: 6-Daytona, Watkins Glen, Bristol, Charlotte, Kansas, Talladega
Notes: Wrecking on Lap 10 ended the chances of winning Sunday, but when the car got back on the track, it still needed pit stops — and the stops were fast. This group stays at No. 1 heading into Phoenix.

Kevin Harvick, No. 4 crew, Stewart-Haas Racing
Rank: 2
Wins: 3-Las Vegas, Phoenix, Dover
Notes: This team had great stops all day. There was a flat tire early in the race, but the crew nailed its pit stops to help keep Harvick in contention for a win and eventually a third-place finish. This group moves up from fifth to second in the rankings.

Carl Edwards, No. 19 crew, Joe Gibbs Racing
Rank: 3
Wins: 2-Charlotte, Darlington
Notes: This team was good but not exceptional. We’ve come to expect excellence out of this group and Sunday wasn’t it. The stops were fast but not fast enough to move up from No. 3 heading into Phoenix.

Kurt Busch, No. 41 crew, Stewart-Haas Racing
Rank: 4
Wins: 2-Richmond, Michigan
Notes: Kurt Busch finished seventh and that kept him in the hunt for Homestead. This is a top pit crew and come next week it will be on display. However, while Sunday was not bad, it just was not that good — dropping them two spots to fourth in the rankings.

Brad Keselowski, No. 2 crew, Team Penske
Rank: 5
Wins: 1-California
Notes: The No. 2 crew finally moves out of the sixth hole and into the top five. During all eight pit stops, they came in first and went out first. Can’t ask for more than that … except maybe a win.

Kyle Busch, No. 18 crew, Joe Gibbs Racing
Rank: 6
Wins: 4-Sonoma, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Indianapolis
Notes: This group did what it needed to do to finish fourth. It had some really fast stops during the day and a few that weren’t so fast. The ability is there but they need to get a little bit more consistent.

Jeff Gordon, No. 24 crew, Hendrick Motorsports
Rank: 7
Wins: 1-Martinsville
Notes: This unit was much better this weekend than last but still not good enough to move up from the seventh position. It has one more “free” weekend and then it’s Championship 4 time.

Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 crew, Furniture Row Racing
Rank: 8
Wins: 1-Pocono
Notes: This group had its best day by far on Sunday until the last run. The crew kept its driver up front all day with fast stops, but then a wheel that was apparently coming loose had the No. 78 drop back multiple stops before the end of the race.

For more pit crew news, visit PitTalks.com

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Staff Report

RELATED: Practice 1 results

The No. 13 of Cameron Hayley topped practice on Thursday at Phoenix International Raceway, posting a fastest lap of 137.447 mph.

Next was the No. 4 of Erik Jones, the current NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points leader who had a quickest lap of 137.007 mph.

Rounding out the top three was Brandon Jones, who circled the 1-mile track in his No. 33 Chevrolet with a quick lap of 136.214 mph.

William Byron, who is making his series debut this weekend at Phoenix, finished fourth-fastest (136.065 mph) in his No. 9 Toyota.

The No. 88 Toyota of two-time series champ Matt Crafton (136.039 mph) and the No. 51 Toyota of Daniel Suarez (135.967 mph) were fifth and sixth, respectively.

On-track action picks back up for the series on Friday for the Keystone Light Qualifying at 12:45 p.m. ET. (FS1).

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Staff Report

Casey Mears and Germain Racing have agreed to a three-year contract extension that will keep Mears in the No. 13 Chevrolet through 2018, the team announced Thursday. GEICO also extended its relationship with Germain Racing to be the vehicle’s primary sponsor through 2018.

GEICO has been a primary sponsor with the team since its inception in 2009.

“This is great news for our Germain Racing team because everyone has worked so hard to build this GEICO program and people in the garage are taking notice of what we’re accomplishing,” Mears said in a team release. “GEICO is such a great partner and they not only support our team, but the sport in general, which makes me even prouder to have the opportunity to drive the GEICO Chevy. We appreciate their belief in us and have enjoyed our relationship with everyone at the corporate office, as well as the GEICO associates that we get to interface with each week at the race track.”

Mears has piloted the car full time since the 2011 season, notching one top five and five top 10s during that span. He currently sits 22nd in the points standings with two races remaining in the 2015 season. If it holds, it would be his best finish with Germain Racing.

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Staff Report

The following are team press releases previewing the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes at Phoenix International Raceway (2:30 p.m. ET, Sunday, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM).

Joe Gibbs Racing:
Kyle Busch | Team preview
Carl Edwards | Team preview

Stewart-Haas Racing:
Kevin Harvick | Team preview
Kurt Busch | Team preview

Hendrick Motorsports:
Jeff Gordon | Team preview

Team Penske:
Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano | Team preview

Furniture Row Racing:
Martin Truex Jr. | Team preview

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Staff Report

RELATED: See the current standings

Drivers who are eliminated from the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup still have something to race for. Fifth place in the final standings, specifically.

Any of the 12 drivers who do not advance to the four-driver Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway are eligible to finish fifth in the current Chase configuration.

Here’s how:

When the Chase Grid is set after Richmond, all postseason drivers have their point totals set to 2,000. Drivers with victories get an extra three points per win applied to their total. Points are then reset in the ensuing rounds, so the 12 Contender Round drivers are reset to 3,000 points, the eight Eliminator Round drivers are reset to 4,000 points and the four Championship Round drivers are reset to 5,000 points. There are no bonus points for these rounds.

As drivers are eliminated from the postseason, their point totals default back to their total when the Chase Grid was initially set. The points accrued during the postseason are then added retroactively to that figure to arrive at the new total. For example, Joey Logano currently has 4,013 points. If he does not win at Phoenix, he will be eliminated from the postseason. His points total would reset to 2,009, the figure he had after the Chase Grid was set. The points he earned from Chicagoland to Phoenix, nine races in total, would then be applied to that 2,009 total and give Logano his new points total.

So a driver eliminated after the opening round (say, Jamie McMurray this season) can still finish above one of the four drivers eliminated after Phoenix under this format. The driver-initiated suggestion ensures that all Chase drivers have plenty to race for throughout the postseason — as Jimmie Johnson proved with his win at Texas Motor Speedway last week.