Harvick wins Charlotte night race with restart

Posted on October 11, 2014 by

Ganassi drivers play Chase spoilers among top 10

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CONCORD, N.C. — The Closer finally closed the deal, and the door swung almost shut on Dale Earnhardt Jr., six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and 2012 champion Brad Keselowski.

With the dominant car in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick led 162 laps and survived a wild two-lap dash to the finish after the final caution en route to his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of the season and a free pass into the Eliminator Round of the Chase.

In a race that ended with battered cars, bruised egos, boiling tempers and physical confrontations in the garage, Harvick pulled away after a restart on Lap 333 of 334 and beat Jeff Gordon to the finish line by .572 seconds. Jamie McMurray ran third, followed by Joey Logano and polesitter Kyle Busch.

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"I won’t be anorexic and throwing up all week," Harvick quipped, knowing he won’t need to avoid the inevitable major wrecks in the Oct. 19 race at Talladega Superspeedway to advance to the next round of the Chase. "This was the night that we needed to win. I don’t want to go to Talladega next week."

Nicknamed "The Closer," Harvick had failed to win the last five races in which he had led the most laps, but his victory on Saturday night — his third at Charlotte and the 26th of his career — was an emphatic rebuke to the ill fortune that had kept him out of Victory Lane since April.

For Keselowski, Johnson and Earnhardt, it was a night of continuing disappointment — and in Keselowski’s case, a night of battling that continued onto pit road and into the garage after the race.

Keselowski and Johnson got shuffled back to their finishing positions of 16th and 17th, respectively, on the restart with two laps left after a caution for Brian Vickers‘ blown engine on Lap 327.

After the race, Keselowski and ninth-place finisher Denny Hamlin traded insults on pit road, as NASCAR officials and their crews kept them apart in the wake of a late race incident between their two cars.

Keselowski clipped Hamlin’s rear bumper on the cool-down lap, then hit Kenseth’s Toyota with his Ford on pit road after the race. After sustaining collateral damage on pit road during the melee, Tony Stewart backed into Keselowski’s Ford, crumpling the nose of the car.

Keselowski insisted it was Kenseth’s car and not his No. 2 Ford that bumped Stewart’s Chevy.

"I rubbed into the No. 20 (Kenseth), and I think he gassed up and ran into Tony, and I don’t think Tony knew what was going on," Keselowski said. "He’s upset, and he has every right to be. His car was tore up. There was a whole lot of other stuff going on. I’m sure when he sees the whole situation, he’ll understand."

Kenseth, whose No. 20 Toyota had been damaged by contact from Keselowski’s car on a restart with 63 laps left, jumped Keselowski as he was walking between haulers in the garage, and the drivers scuffled before being separated.

"I had my HANS (head and neck restraint) off and my seat belts off and everything," Kenseth said of the hit from Keselowski on pit road. "He clobbered me at 50 (mph). And the access we have around here… the race is over, trying to come back to pit road…

"If you want to talk about it as a man, do that. But to try and wreck someone on the race track, come down pit road with other cars and people standing around with seat belts off and drive in the side of me — it’s inexcusable. There is no excuse for that. He’s a champion. He’s supposed to know better than that."

Hamlin also had some harsh words for the 2012 champion.

"There’s a corner there, so you have to back off, and he just plowed into us," Hamlin said. "He’s just out of control. He’s desperate, obviously, and it’s either four or five of us are wrong or he’s wrong, because he’s pissed off everyone. Just disappointing — but we’re trying to get in this deal. We’re sitting in a decent spot, but we’ve lost six spots or so with the last restart when he ran into us and knocked us up the track.

"That was unfortunate. Matt (Kenseth) was nearly out of his car and he just plowed into Matt and then ran into Tony (Stewart) and then went in through the garage and cleared out transmissions and did burnouts in the garage."

Both Johnson and Keselowski head to Talladega on Oct. 19 in all probability needing a victory to advance to avoid elimination from the Chase. The same goes for Earnhardt, whose shifter broke early in the race and relegated the driver of the No. 88 to a 20th-place finish, one lap down.

Rookie Kyle Larson ran sixth, followed by Chase drivers Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Hamlin and Kasey Kahne.

With the cut from 12 to eight Chase drivers looming at Talladega, Kenseth, Keselowski, Johnson and Earnhardt are the four drivers currently in positions 9 through 12 in the standings.

Note: Keselowski and Jesse Sanders, a member of the Kenseth’s crew, were called to the NASCAR transporter after the race. Kenseth’s crew chief, Jason Ratcliff, also went to the hauler of his own volition in support of his crewman.

Afterwards Keselowski posted the following on his Twitter account:

Rough night. Understand a lot of folks may not understand everything that happened and that’s ok. I’m not perfect but also not the only one.

— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) October 12, 2014

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Posted on October 11, 2014 by Staff Report

Moments that changed the course of the 31st race of the 2014 season

HARVICK’S STRONG RESTART WINS AT CHARLOTTE

The Closer finally closed the deal, and the door swung almost shut on Dale Earnhardt Jr., six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and 2012 champion Brad Keselowski.

LOGANO BUMPS DANICA, NEWMAN SNEAKS BY

Joey Logano got into the back of Danica Patrick on Lap 247 of the Bank of America 500, sending the No. 10 into the wall and Ryan Newman spinning. Both Newman and Logano are competing in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint cup. Logano’s No. 22 was unharmed, but Newman was forced to head to pit road for repairs.

Patrick, who was running 11th, had significant right front damage and was not happy with Logano.

"I’d love to go out and take him out," Patrick said over the radio. "Go ahead," was the response.

"Too bad taking the 22 out doesn’t hurt his Chase (chances) because he won last weekend," she added.

Patrick had to start at the tail end of the field after pitting multiple times, as well as pitting too soon.

BROKEN SHIFTER DOOMS DALE EARNHARDT JR.’S NIGHT

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had to make an unscheduled stop on pit road after experiencing issues with his shifter after a caution on Lap 137 of Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

He first came to pit road before it was open, sending him to the tail end of the field. The No. 88 crew removed the passenger side window in order to get better access to the shifter, with one teammate half inside the car as he made repairs. Not wanting to go a lap down, Junior headed back onto the track without the issue fixed, and returned to pit road once it opened, falling to 23rd on the restart but staying on the lead lap.

"I gotta come back, it didn’t work," Junior said after the second stop, where he was penalized for speeding. As he was still able to shift from third to fourth gear, he stayed on the track as his team came up with an alternate plan.

"You handle the track," crew chief Steve Letarte told his driver. Earnhardt restarted 22nd, and was last in the Chase standings at the time of the restart.

The NASCAR Wire Service contributed to this report.

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Staff Report

Only 26 points separate eighth from 12th for the Contender Round finale

There are 12 Chase Contenders heading to Talladega Superspeedway, but only eight Elimination Round drivers will remain when the checkered flag drops in the GEICO 500 (Sunday, Oct. 19, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Five drivers are within 26 points of the cut-off spot to advance to the eight-nation Eliminator Round in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

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CHASE BUBBLE

Pos.	Driver	+/-
1	Joey Logano	—
2	Kyle Busch	+26
3	Kevin Harvick	—
4	Ryan Newman	+21
5	Carl Edwards	+20
6	Jeff Gordon	+18
7	Denny Hamlin	+17
8	Kasey Kahne	+1
9	Matt Kenseth	-1
10	Brad Keselowski	-19
11	Jimmie Johnson	-26
12	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	-26

With wins in the first two races of the Contender Round, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick have automatically advanced to the third round.

Kyle Busch (+26), Ryan Newman (+21), Carl Edwards (+20), Jeff Gordon (+18) and Denny Hamlin (+17) all look to be in a comfortable position heading into Talladega, barring that they perform consistently well at the Alabama track.

Kasey Kahne (+1), Matt Kenseth (-1), Brad Keselowski (-19), Jimmie Johnson (-26) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (-26) are sitting eighth through 12th now in the standings and are on the bubble of missing their chance to continue in the Chase at Talladega.

Of the drivers on the bubble, Earnhardt Jr. has the best average finish of 15.7 at Talladega. The No. 88 driver has five wins, 10 top-fives and 14 top-10s in 29 career starts.

Next best at Talladega on the bubble is Johnson with an average 17.2-place average finish. The six-time NASCAR champion has two wins, six top-fives and 10 top-10s in 25 career starts.

Also with two wins, but less starts (11) Keselowski has an average finish of 16.4 along with three top-fives and six top-10s.

If the eighth position comes down to a tiebreaker, only the three races in the Contender Round matter. Wins and finishes in the regular season won’t, so these five drivers will need to run up front to challenge for the win. If they can’t win, they’ll need to have more second-place finishes, third-place finishes, etc. than their competitors in order to break the tie and advance. If two drivers have the exact same finishes, the tie-breaker then goes to the driver who scored the best finish first.

The new Chase format goes to show that wins are best and consistency is key. It doesn’t matter how many wins the drivers have in the regular season or even in the previous Chase round because points reset and wins clear every time drivers advance. If Keselowski, Johnson and Junior want to keep their championship hopes alive, they’ll have to bring back what got them into the Chase in the first place: victories.

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