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Our experts examine hot topics in the world of NASCAR

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Editor’s Note: Track Smack is a weekly feature that will showcase a panel of NASCAR.com experts providing their analysis from the previous week, while also looking ahead. In this edition, NASCAR.com’s David Caraviello, Kenny Bruce and Alan Cavanna examine if Dale Earnhardt Jr. will top his six-win season of 2004, whether NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie sensation Kyle Larson will find Victory Lane this season and whether now is the time to start worrying if Kasey Kahne will make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff?

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has multiple victories for the first time since he won six races in 2004, the best season of his career. Is he capable of matching or exceeding that mark?

David Caraviello: Given that we’re almost halfway though the season, he has some work to do to get there. But with three plate races left and the No. 88 team churning out strong cars week after week, I don’t want to completely dismiss it. At the very least, Dale Jr. has opened it as a possibility, which says something about the season he’s enjoying right now.

Alan Cavanna: He’s absolutely capable, mainly for the same reason he won Pocono. He’s putting himself in position to do it at nearly every race. As simple as it sounds, you can’t win if you’re not in the top five. That’s where Dale Jr. is consistently running.

Kenny Bruce: Six wins? Or more? Man, with the way this season’s gone, I’d be hard-pressed to say any driver will have six wins. Not that it can’t be done, but the task certainly seems much more difficult this year. I think the way the No. 88 team has performed thus far makes it possible. Just not sure how likely.

Caraviello: Kenny has a point — wasn’t it just a few weeks ago we were arguing whether we’d have more than 16 different winners in the regular season? Probably can’t have that and have a guy like Dale Jr. win six times. But either option would be fun to watch.

Bruce: Alan, you’re right about the top-five reference. Guys that consistently run there are often the ones that wind up in Victory Lane. Much less likely a team running 10th-to-15th each week emerges with the victory.

Cavanna: I think Dale Jr.’s past plate success seems to hide or diminish what he’s capable of on other tracks. His six wins in 2004 came at an equal amount of short tracks, plate tracks and intermediates. He’s running that way again this year. But I’ll agree with you that six or more checkered flags is tougher. Better competition now. But Matt Kenseth had seven last year, and Denny Hamlin had eight wins back in 2010. So it’s possible.

Caraviello: Alan, Dale’s more recent years made people forget how good he could be at places like Richmond, or Bristol, or on mile-and-a-half tracks. Historically, the guy’s been more well-rounded than he probably gets credit for. Did he and those guys at Dale Earnhardt Inc. catch lightning in a bottle on plate tracks at one point? Sure. But that doesn’t mean he can’t win anywhere else — something Pocono reminded us of.

Bruce: He’s definitely running better week to week, something we haven’t seen in a long, long time. I seriously doubt he’s through winning. But how many more they have in the tank is debatable.

Caraviello: So, you boil it down — how many races has the 88 had a legitimate chance to win this season? Daytona, Las Vegas, Martinsville and Pocono? And Pocono might be the least likely candidate in the bunch, given how it ended. So Dale’s been up there a lot. He’s giving himself a chance. Six might be a tough ask given the level of competition right now, but four or more seems completely realistic.

Cavanna: The Nation rejoices

Caraviello: You know the 48 team is going to get theirs. The 4 guys are capable of putting a big number in the win column. When it comes to potential victories in bunches, those are the first two programs I look to. So Junior’s competition is stout. But he’s riding the wave right now, man. You can see it in his attitude.

Bruce: Then again, he’s winless at something like nine of the remaining tracks. So it won’t get any easier from here on out.

Caraviello: Mr. Cold Water speaks.

2. Kyle Larson scored a fifth-place result last weekend at Pocono, a track he had never competed on before. Is the rookie capable of winning a race?

Cavanna: I’ve been beating this drum since Fontana, where he finished second. When the series goes back to some of these track a second time, look out. Larson will win this season.

Bruce: I’ll be surprised if Larson isn’t in Victory Lane by the end of the year. The kid has been so impressive this year. And to get those results with an organization that’s not been in contention on a week-to-week basis — there’s something there.

Caraviello: For a guy who is the self-professed "worst shifter in NASCAR" to go out there and make it look easy on a track that demands shifting gears at 180 mph — that was stout. The kid just oozes talent. You can tell he’s got it. It’s becoming less a question of if he will win … than when.

Bruce: Good point, Alan, on second-time-around tracks. That will give a better indication of where Larson, and the No. 42 team, are overall.

Caraviello: Alan, I might argue that Sunday at Pocono was more impressive than what he did at California. Talking to crew chief Chris Heroy after the race, those concerns about him being able to shift gears were legit. And he made it look effortless. He’s a very quick study when he puts his mind to things, evidently, and adaptation is such a key every week.

Cavanna: That’s what put me so high on Larson, David. His ability to learn and adapt during the race, from beginning to end.

Caraviello: They go back to Pocono for a second time in eight races on Aug. 3. I wonder if he’ll still be driving the stick-shift Camaro around town by then? And next up is Michigan — a 2-mile track much like Fontana, where Kyle ran second behind winner Kyle Busch.

Cavanna: Kenny, I agree with you on the questions of the team and organization. I don’t see the 42 car running away with a race just yet. But in a month or two, on a green-white-checkered or late race restart, I’ll bet on Larson earning one.

Caraviello: I’ll admit to being one of those guys very skeptical of Chip Ganassi putting Kyle in the No. 42 car this year. Clearly, anyone who doubted that he could compete was completely wrong. But this still has to be better than what anyone expected. I mean, rookie Austin Dillon is having a nice, competitive first season in Sprint Cup. But Larson is just at another level right now, and with a program that had been down the previous few years.

Bruce: Of course, there’s the other side of this — once the team is in position to capitalize, can they seal the deal?

Cavanna: If it’s a situation like Fontana, I think it’s all driver. Beyond that, there will be questions. Like with Dale Jr.’s Pocono win, you have to be in position to win. If the 42 car can be there in the top five, wins will come. In this case I think the driver makes up for any potential shortcomings, especially in the second half of the season.

Bruce: I think the lack of expectations from the outside has something to do with it as well. If they continue to run well and continue to be bombarded with "when will you win" questions … well, that can get old. I think they’re just enjoying the moment. And continuing to improve.

Caraviello: The former New England Regional Quarter-Midget champion always brings great wisdom to the table. As does Mr. Cold Water, who was a little warmer there than I expected.


3. Kasey Kahne endured another tough weekend, crashing at Pocono and finishing 42nd at one of his best tracks. At 21st in points, should he be worried about making the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup?

Cavanna: Yes. No other way to put it.

Bruce: Most definitely, according to the Magic 8-Ball.

Caraviello: Not sure it’s panic switch time for the No. 5 team just yet. One win changes everything, and Kasey is still completely capable of getting that. But when you look at performance compared to the other Hendrick Motorsports teams — yeah, there’s something going on that doesn’t just seem right.

Cavanna: If Kahne has to rely on points, he’s got to get moving. He’s 34 points behind Austin Dillon, with five other drivers in between. Kahne has 11 races to leapfrog them. But as David put it, a win changes everything.

Bruce: All joking aside, the team has the tools to win, but that’s not a guarantee. Recall guys such as Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart missing the Chase — who could have imagined that? One thing’s for sure, if the No. 5 team hopes to make the Chase, the team better get on the ball.

Cavanna: I agree with you, David. Kahne could easily win a race and surprise no one. But the weeks keep going by. I keep picking Kevin Harvick to win thinking "his bad luck has to stop now, right?" And it hasn’t.

Caraviello: I’ve never really been sold on Kahne as the championship-caliber drivers others believe he is, but the best the guy’s been all season is 11th in points. He’s most certainly better than that, particularly in Hendrick equipment. There’s just no consistency to this bunch. They seemed to find something at Kansas, then they go backward again.

Bruce: Not sure what I’d be more focused on, finding the consistency necessary to contend, or shooting for the moon and hoping one win solves all their problems. The first might improve the team, but not get you in the Chase; the second could get you in the Chase, and an early exit.

Caraviello: If we keeping getting more new winners, and one of them isn’t the 5 car … it’s easy to envision Kahne being right back on the Chase bubble heading to Richmond, as he seems to be every year. I mean, it speaks volumes when Jimmie Johnson is in the media center at Pocono talking about how the organization’s focus at large is getting the 5 team a win. Kasey’s got to feel like the black sheep, and not one of those grazing on grass around the solar panels at Pocono.

Cavanna: You have to imagine if it gets late in the season and it’s not looking good, Hendrick Motorsports will throw every resource possible at the 5 car.

Bruce: If I’m the 48, 88 or 24, I don’t know how I’d feel about that.

Caraviello: Hey, they’ve gotten four cars into the Chase two years running. I’m sure Rick Hendrick wants to keep the streak going — without needing an asterisk this time.

Bruce: I agree, DC, but at the expense of the other three? So is it more important to win a championship, or get all of your teams in the Chase? Just glad I don’t have to make that call.

Caraviello: That’s the decision of the guy paying the expenses to begin with — the one wearing the cap with the slanted H on the front. As for Kahne, my Magic 8-Ball says reply is hazy, try again.

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Will Johnson’s Michigan drought come to an end on Sunday?

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In a sport where only one competitor each weekend gets to celebrate in Victory Lane, every driver learns to deal with losing streaks. Even the greatest ever behind the wheel lost much more than they won — Richard Petty, for instance, didn’t win 984 of his 1184 premier-series starts — so they all learn how to cope with stretches devoid of the sport’s ultimate goal.

But some losing streaks just don’t make sense. Some are just downright cruel. Some of them take drivers who are among the best at certain tracks, or in certain events, or simply of their era, and make them chase an elusive end result for years on end. There’s no better example of this than Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500, and the two decades it took a seven-time champion who could famously see the air to finally prevail in his sport’s biggest event.

The Intimidator is far from alone in that regard. NASCAR’s past and present are full of droughts that would leave anyone scratching their heads, drivers who did everything at one track or in one major event — except win. At least Earnhardt ended his, famously so in 1998, receiving memorable congratulations from all those crewmen lined up along pit road. Perhaps Jimmie Johnson’s strangest skid will end this weekend, when the six-time champion once again takes on a Michigan International Speedway that continues to bedevil him, in an age when not much anything else does.

Like Johnson’s, some of these current droughts seem certain to one day end. Of course, many other elite drivers perhaps once thought the same thing, only to see their plights frozen in time. Certainly, new ones will develop as the years march on. But right now, as Johnson makes yet another bid to win in the Irish Hills, these are the top 10.

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10. Dale Earnhardt at Riverside

To be fair, Big E was not exactly a road course expert — he never won at Watkins Glen, and had one career victory at Sonoma. But Riverside, a screamer of a layout in Southern California with long straights and a sweeping turn at one end, was a different animal. Many stock-car drivers thrived there, and indeed that was where Earnhardt earned his first premier-series pole in 1979. He contended there with regularity, at one point finishing outside the top five just once in a decade. But the closest he ever came to winning was a pair of runner-up finishes, the last in 1986, and he was 0-20 at the famous road course when it dropped off the schedule after the 1988 campaign.

9. Richard Petty at Ontario

The King seemingly won everywhere, but not at the big, short-lived California track that was built to be a replica of Indianapolis. Ontario barely lasted a decade before it collapsed under the weight of its own debt, but its lifespan coincided with some of Petty’s greatest years behind the wheel. Petty raced at Ontario during five of his seven title campaigns, and in the heyday of the No. 43 car in its STP livery — and still went winless there. Petty always qualified well at Ontario, never starting worse than eighth. He led laps in all but one event. And yet he suffered five engine failures at the 2.5-mile track, all of them contributing to an 0-9 record at the venue where the King has the most career starts without a victory.

8. Buddy Baker at Rockingham

NASCAR Hall of Famer Buck Baker once operated a driving school at the former North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham, where future luminaries such as Jeff Gordon learned how to wheel stock cars. So it stands as a royal irony that his son Buddy — also an instructor at his dad’s school, and Hall of Fame nominee himself — went winless on the Sand Hills layout that became closely associated with his family name. The younger Baker led more than 1,000 laps at the Rock, and three times finished as runner-up there, but in 44 career starts could never break through. He was beset with mechanical issues, recording DNFs in 25 starts, perhaps not usual given the equipment of the era and the difficulty of the track. Even so, there’s no other facility where Baker has as many career starts without a victory.

7. Jimmie Johnson at Michigan

It’s not Johnson’s best track, but let’s face it — there are only five active venues where the six-time champ hasn’t won, and this one seems to have it out for him. Twice in the last three years, he’s blown engines at Michigan. In 2009, he was battling Greg Biffle for an apparent victory on the final lap when both of them ran out of gas. Johnson has had some very good cars at Michigan, and had some races there he’s come close to dominating — like that 2009 event, where he led 146 laps — but he hasn’t yet been able to close the deal. Michigan is the only track that NASCAR visits twice a year where Johnson doesn’t have a victory, and his 0-24 record there stands in stark contrast to everything else he’s achieved.

6. Kurt Busch at plate tracks

The diver who famously pushed then-teammate Ryan Newman to the checkered flag in the 2008 Daytona 500 is a strong restrictor-plate racer himself, but without a trip to Victory Lane to show for it. It’s not just that Busch is winless in the Daytona 500. Or at Daytona. Or at Talladega. But all of the above — the 2004 champion of NASCAR’s top circuit has competed in 54 restrictor-plate events, and stunningly remains winless. Talladega in particular has recently been a house of horrors for Busch, who’s failed to finish four of his last six events there. In 2011 Speedweeks, he won what was then the Shootout and a qualifying race, but placed fifth in the main event. Given the somewhat capricious nature of plate racing, you’d think his time would come around eventually.

5. Rusty Wallace at the Brickyard

He may have won the premier-series title in 1989, but Wallace still knew a thing or two about skids — he went 0-for-45 at Daytona and 0-for-43 at Darlington over the course of his Hall of Fame career. And yet, the one drought that may have frustrated him the most may have been at the Brickyard, where Wallace was as strong as anyone from NASCAR’s first race at the hallowed facility. Wallace finished fourth in the inaugural event in 1994, and second the next season, and continued to churn out strong runs at Indy — without a victory. In 12 Brickyard starts, Wallace had five top-five finishes, but he never broke through. Three times he was runner-up — including 2000, when he led 110 laps and watched Bobby Labonte slip past with 15 remaining to win.

4. Kyle Busch at Charlotte

The younger Busch brother has more starts at Charlotte than at any other active Sprint Cup track, and yet he’s still without a victory to show for it. It’s not like Busch is terrible at the 1.5-mile layout, either — he has more top-10s there than anywhere else outside of Richmond, where he’s won four times. The closest he’s come at Charlotte was finishing second in the fall race in 2010, where he led 217 laps in a car that seemed dominant until Jamie McMurray slid by on a late restart to win. A ninth-place result in last month’s Coca-Cola 600 marked his 12th top-10 finish in his last 14 races there. Three times during that span, he’s led triple-digit laps. Nine times, he placed in the top five. And yet, his overall record there remains 0-21.

3. Terry Labonte at Daytona

A lot of drivers have suffered through losing streaks at Daytona, from the aforementioned Wallace and Busch to Mark Martin (0-55) and Dave Marcis (0-67, the most starts by any driver without a victory there). Then there’s Labonte, so used to being a bridesmaid at NASCAR’s most famous track, he should have caught a bouquet after each race. The two-time champ went 0-62 at Daytona, despite three runner-up finishes in the Daytona 500 and a number of other close calls. During his late-90s renaissance with Rick Hendrick, he finished second in three Daytona races in a row, denied in the 1997 summer event by John Andretti by two hundredths of a second. Labonte more recently competed for top-20 finishes at Daytona in lesser-funded cars, an indication of how good he was there — even if he never won.

2. Bobby Allison at Martinsville

He did everything there but win. The 1983 NASCAR champion recorded six runner-up finished at the half-mile track, including five in a span of six races. He led 218 laps in 1966, led 266 laps in 1984, led 379 laps in 1969, led 432 — 432! — of 500 laps in 1972, and somehow, inexplicably, didn’t win. Looking at Allison’s statistics at Martinsville, you’d be convinced he has enough grandfather clocks to outfit every home in Hueytown, Ala. But no. The NASCAR Hall of Famer is eighth all-time in laps led there with 2,192, flat-out dominated the joint in the 1970s, and yet managed to fall short again and again and again. Allison has more starts at Martinsville (44) than at any other track where he hasn’t won. Next on the list is Hickory — with eight. Give the man a hot dog, at least.

1. Tony Stewart in the Daytona 500

The three-time champion of NASCAR’s top series is one of the best restrictor-plate racers of his era, and he has the numbers to back it up. One victory and six runner-up finishes at Talladega, where he and Dale Earnhardt Jr. proved the premier drafting tandem of the early 2000s. Four wins in the summer race at Daytona, and seven in Nationwide Series events, and three more in what’s now the Sprint Unlimited exhibition. Three victories and an average finish of 4.6 in Daytona qualifying races. And yet Stewart remains winless in the Daytona 500, compiling an 0-16 mark to date in pursuit of the biggest NASCAR trophy still to elude him.

This year’s Daytona 500 was emblematic of the quest — shortly after the race resumed following the rain delay, Stewart’s car started sputtering, victim of a fuel pump issue that would put him 26 laps down. In 2001, his car went airborne and landed on its roof. In 2002, his engine blew in the opening laps. In 2007, he and Kurt Busch crashed while Stewart was leading. In 2012, he was caught up in another crash. The closest he’s come was in 2004 when he finished second to Earnhardt Jr., and in 2008 when Newman passed him on the final lap. His quest in the 500 has been compared to that of the elder Earnhardt, which lasted 20 years. Will Stewart have to wait that long? His 17th attempt comes February 22, 2015.

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Friends recall the racer, the father, the free spirit who continues to touch lives

RELATED: In Memoriam: Photo gallery of Jason Leffler | Drivers on social media

Ask anyone in the NASCAR garage to recall his favorite moment or most vivid memory of Jason Leffler, and the unfailingly first reaction is either a wide grin or a hearty laugh. Or both.

"I can tell you some great stories about awesome times with Jason, but you may not be able to print them."

That was the recurring theme as those closest to Leffler remembered the free spirit, talented racer, practical joker, loyal friend and most important, doting dad who died one year ago today in an accident while racing sprint cars at New Jersey’s Bridgeport Speedway.

As the gut-wrenching news of Leffler’s accident spread last summer, the reaction in the NASCAR community was swift, heartfelt and widespread.

"He was my buddy, that’s why it was important."
— Tony Stewart, on participating in the Chili Bowl Nationals, a Leffler favorite

Leffler, a two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series winner, was popular among fans thanks to his perpetual smile, California-cool mohawk and propensity to race the wheels off a car. But he was also a favorite friend to so many he came across during his time racing — from winning three USAC midget titles in the late 1990s to competing in the 2000 Indianapolis 500, to the decade-plus he spent in NASCAR’s three top series.

"Everybody was his friend," said Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne.

Or at least Leffler made them feel that way.

For Kahne, the friendship was a strong and tested bond formed years ago when Leffler reached out to help the young, up-and-coming racer from faraway Washington state early in his career.

And Kahne, along with fellow NASCAR drivers such as Tony Stewart and team owner Harry Scott, were among the first of many to respond to the sudden financial and emotional needs that circumstance left to Leffler’s only child, Charlie Dean — then only 5 years old.

Through his own website and marketing company, Kahne produced and sold "LEFturn" hats — the moniker Leffler had stenciled over his cars’ driver’s side door — with all profits going to Charlie Dean.

Brad Keselowski reached out via Twitter to drivers spanning all racing series, even getting Indy 500 champ Tony Kanaan on board to auction off memorabilia.

In January, Stewart fielded a car for Kahne in one of Leffler’s favorite midget races, the Chili Bowl Nationals. It was actually a car Leffler had been working on for himself and Stewart then auctioned off — the proceeds going toward the Charlie Dean Leffler Discretionary Trust, a fund Scott helped establish.

"He was my buddy, that’s why it was important," Stewart said. "It was someone that lived with me for most of the year, not just some random person we saw at the race track. This was someone we knew well — and cared about."

And now they hope 6-year-old Charlie Dean will be able to spend this Father’s Day weekend at least buoyed by the many respects paid to his dad — the sheer number of people who care. It will be an ongoing lifetime awareness of how cherished Leffler truly was.

From Victory Lane hat tributes whenever Leffler’s former team, Turner Scott Motorsports, wins a race, to the decals the team will invite other drivers to place on their cars this weekend at the Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway, it will be obvious how much Charlie Dean’s father meant to many.

A first true friend

Race drivers are friendly enough to one another. They share airplanes and inside jokes. Their children play together.

But often it is skin-deep. They don’t like to get too close for this very reason: this sport of life-and-death is so unlike any other.

Leffler, however, didn’t know arms-length friendship. He was hard to resist. And loyal to a fault.

Kahne found that out even when his career took a more fortuitous turn than his friend’s. Ultimately they both raced for what is now Turner Scott Motorsports in the Nationwide Series and Kahne went on to win Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in the Cup series before landing his current job at NASCAR’s Hendrick Motorsports.

Far from begrudging Kahne’s ascension, Leffler cheered him on.

And he enjoyed the spoils — often hitchhiking rides to races on his friend Kahne’s plane. Leffler flew with Kahne to the NASCAR Pocono race — Leffler’s last Cup start — the weekend before his fatal accident.

"As far as talking about Jason and thinking about good times we had, we had many times away from the track and many times at the track," Kahne said, allowing a smile. "One of the biggest things that sticks with me was when I first met him.

"He was just first moving to Charlotte (for NASCAR) and I was just moving to Indianapolis (to race USAC). We built a friendship and relationship then, and he helped me a ton to get my opportunity with Steve Lewis and Bob East, the midget stuff and then Silver Crown car. We became really good friends up in Indianapolis."

Even though Leffler was making limited starts in NASCAR as he re-established himself in the open-wheel ranks he so dearly loved, he remained in North Carolina. Kahne said after getting back from Pocono, Leffler had shown up at his shop Monday morning with constant companion, Charlie Dean in tow.

"For whatever reason they spent a lot of time together that prior week," Kahne recalled. "Jason was really happy."

Those that knew Leffler well all say the same thing.

For team owner Scott, it was more than a professional relationship. He considers Leffler the first driver he truly established a friendship with upon entering the NASCAR ranks. Like so many, he remembers the laughs as well as the racing lessons.

"He taught me a lot about racing, really the first stock car driver that I got close to, and he taught me a lot about what drivers go through, how they think, how they act, how they prepare for races," Scott said. "Jason was so intent. He was really interesting to watch.

"One of the things that was funny, we used to tell him don’t worry about anything other than finishing with your right front fender on," Scott recalled with a laugh. "And if he was patient and finished with that right front fender on he always had a good finish. It was just that simple. Look out at your hood and see how that right front fender is and that would tell you how he finished that race."

Even as Leffler’s career ebbed and flowed, his friendship with Scott remained strong. And Leffler was always considered a member of the TSM organization — something evident even today.

California Cool

It was another young Californian from the sprint car ranks, NASCAR Sprint Cup rookie Kyle Larson who has donned the "LEFturn" hats twice now in Leffler’s honor — in Victory Lane just last weekend after winning the ARCA race in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, and earlier this season at Auto Club Speedway where he won his first Nationwide Series race for TSM.

"Jason meant a whole lot to everybody at that team and was friends with everyone in that shop and everyone misses him," Larson said. "He was just a really good guy and a lot of fun to be around; it sucks that we lost him."

For Scott and those closest to Leffler, the solace in the difficult situation is the contentment Leffler had achieved in life, both professionally and personally where he thrived and embraced life as a father — Charlie Dean always at his side, touching photographs of the two still prominent on Leffler’s website.

"Jason had had a tough 2012, he was trying to figure out what he wanted to do after the Nationwide stuff," Scott said. "He had done some start-and-park in Cup, but that wasn’t him.

"Then later in 2012 he had sprint car stuff going and I helped sponsor him a little with my company. By last year, it seemed like everything had come together for him.

"We were all excited for him. He was content, happy to be racing and racing all the time. Seemed like he had finally found how to be happy," Scott added, his voice trailing off. "And then he has the accident. … That was tough."

And yet immediately, so many in the NASCAR community responded with the same sense of loyalty that characterized Leffler’s relationship with others.
It’s not only the outpouring of financial assistance to ensure Leffler’s son a solid foundation in life, but also the purposeful tributes and remembrances that mean so much now and will in the years to come — especially for his son.

"I notice that and it’s been like that ever since I’ve been in the sport," Kahne said "It’s one thing that hasn’t changed over the 10 years I’ve been in the sport. It absolutely hasn’t changed. Whenever a difficult situation happens always those groups or people that get behind it, whether it’s an injury, cancer, just battles people go through, it’s just a pretty cool group of people that get behind you.

"I was just one of many between drivers and owners and fans. I just felt like one of many who wanted to support Jason’s son Charlie and keep Jason in our thoughts."

On the most fundamental level, "It just shows Jason Leffler meant a lot to everybody in all of auto racing," Larson said.

Added Scott, with emotion evident in his voice, "The racing community, it is unbelievable and it’s amazing how they all pulled together to support Jason’s memory and try to help Charlie.

"You forget all your rivalries. Everybody comes together. I don’t know any other sport in the world as tight-knit as racing when it comes to that.

"Jason’s a part of our race team, a big part of getting us to where we are today. We want to pay tribute, we don’t want to ever forget and we won’t."

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At home or on the go, keep tabs on Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series races

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This weekend brings the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series to Michigan International Speedway and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to Gateway Motorsports Park.

The Sprint Cup Series Quicken Loans 400 is Sunday, June 15, at 1 p.m. ET with coverage on TNT.

The Nationwide Series Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 250 is Saturday, June 14 at 2 p.m. ET with coverage on ESPN.

The Camping World Truck Series Drivin’ for Linemen 200 is Saturday, June 14, at 8:30 p.m. ET with coverage on FOX Sports 1.

For more information on track times, press conferences and GarageCam, you can check out this weekend’s schedule. For TV times check out this week’s TV schedule.

We know you may not have the time to watch the race action without any interruptions, so if you’re on the go, here’s how to keep up at Michigan and Gateway.

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NASCAR.com’s live Cup leaderboard, Nationwide leaderboard and Truck leaderboard update in real-time and offer constant text updates of lead changes, cautions, strategies, strong runs and everything in between. On the go? Download the NASCAR Mobile app to follow the leaderboards live from your device.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series RaceBuddy is back on NASCAR.com and NASCAR Mobile. Get 10 live high-definition feeds, including views of pit road and battle cams. Plus, ride along with in-car camera feeds for Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart.

NASCAR Nationwide Series RaceBuddy is back as well. This week’s drivers are Trevor Bayne, Regan Smith, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch.

Lap-by-Lap will keep you caught up even if you can only take a peek here and there. Check in now and then to read back through all the laps you’ve missed, or keep an eye on the feed for real-time race updates.

We’ll also be sending race updates via Twitter through the official @NASCAR and @NASCARStats handles.

Haven’t tried RaceView yet? If you sign up, you’ll get virtualized video of cars on the track from various angles and hear what your favorite team is saying over the radio. Use it as a second screen or as your only screen. Just want to scan the radios? You can have that too with RaceView Audio. On a mobile device? Get RaceView Mobile here.

If you want to be more involved in the on-track action, you can manage your own fantasy team on NASCAR.com and follow your team’s performance in NASCAR Fantasy Live. Mobile users can also download NASCAR Connect, a game from OneUp Sports that allows users to play other fans with race predictions, for some off-track competition while drivers battle it out on the track.

Live Press Pass streams will keep the NASCAR action rolling even after the winner rolls in and out of Victory Lane. Catch interviews with the top finishers immediately following the checkered flag, and stay tuned to NASCAR.com throughout the week for the latest news.

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Posted on by Zack Albert

Ryan Blaney looks to maintain momentum in Drivin’ for Linemen 200

With elements of a short track and a bigger, flat track all mixed into one, Gateway Motorsports Park has drivers in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series preparing for just about anything, especially the drivers who have never raced there.
 
Gateway newbies will be relying on old race footage, track comparisons and old-fashioned friendly advice before Friday’s practice opens for Saturday night’s Drivin’ for Linemen 200 (8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1), the first NASCAR national series race at the St. Louis-area track in nearly four years.

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Brad Keselowski won the track’s most recent NASCAR event, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race in October 2010. With his level of experience and expertise, the former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ is a ready-made source of information for second-year driver Ryan Blaney, who ranks fourth in series standings after consecutive top-five finishes for Brad Keselowski Racing.
 
"I’ve watched races there and seen a lot of tape from there," said Blaney, 20. "Brad was pretty good there back in the day when they used to run there, so I’ll talk to him a little bit this week and watch some more footage."
 
The old film reels will reveal a unique 1.25-mile track with tight turns and long straightaways — almost a stretched-out Martinsville — but with design cues from flat mile-long tracks in Phoenix and New Hampshire. The return reinstates the distinct layout to the schedule, but also adds another track in the Midwest, a hotbed for racing of all genres.
 
The significance of the move isn’t lost on even the series’ youngest competitors.
 
"This is an exciting one to be a part of," said 22-year-old Ben Kennedy, a Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate. "I know when Gateway was taken off the schedule a few years ago, it disappointed a lot of drivers and teams who really loved competing at the track. You never like to lose a good venue in this sport, and I think it’s great that the Truck Series branches out to some of the places that Cup and Nationwide don’t go, so it’s awesome that we got Gateway back."

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Posted on by Nascar

Bruce: No reason for Chase worries, but victories would be nice

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Jimmie Johnson wins back-to-back races, and the question is no longer when will he win, but when will he not?

Kevin Harvick continues to be tabbed as one of the few favorites each week, long before the No. 4 team rolls its latest piece off the truck.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is enjoying perhaps his best season since making the move to Hendrick Motorsports, already twice a winner and rarely off the pace.

Joey Logano is suddenly more than just a threat, four-time champ Jeff Gordon is a race winner and your points leader and Brad Keselowski seems to be intent on erasing the memory of last year’s failure to make the Chase.

Where in the midst of all these folks making their way to Victory Lane today are the Joe Gibbs Racing folks?

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Well, actually, they’re right there. Right in the thick of the battle. Performing better in some ways than they were a year ago, but less so in others.

You want stats? Proof that the organization’s three drivers — Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin — are running better? Or maybe not quite as well as a year ago?

Take them for what they’re worth. The fortunes of a stock car team can change with the breeze. Just know that for now, heading into this weekend’s stop at Michigan International Speedway, Kenseth is winless while Busch and Hamlin have a single win each. 

Two combined wins? Last year at this point the group already had five in the bag, more than one-third of the races run. 

Not everyone adapts to rule changes in the sport at the same pace, so maybe the teams of Kenseth, Busch and Hamlin are still searching for the sweet spot with respect to the setups of their cars. 

If they’re behind, the gap is a small one. No one’s been dominant thus far this year. Stacked up against the others, the Joe Gibbs bunch have held their own. 

There’s no panic at JGR, and no reason for it. But as teams begin to work their way through the minefield of summer stops and get ready for the Chase, a few more trips to Victory Lane would no doubt sooth any concerns. 

That Kenseth, who won seven races last season, has yet to visit Victory Lane is perhaps the most puzzling. He’s led multiple laps in eight of this year’s races and was enjoying a short streak of back-to-back third-place finishes before last week’s 25th-place result at Pocono. 

But other than Bristol, where his No. 20 Toyota ran out front for 165 of the race’s 500 laps, he’s hardly checked out on the competition in any one event. Consistency carried him into the points lead for a brief stay, but even he admitted a race win at this point would be more satisfying. 

Busch, a winner at Auto Club Speedway, led 125 or more laps in four of last year’s first 13 races. He’s been out front less often this season, and has only half as many top-five finishes.

While Hamlin’s results have been spotty with only five top-10s, two of those have come in the No. 11 team’s last two starts. Has his team turned the corner, or is it still in the middle of the curve?

They’ve run well enough, consistently enough, to find themselves in the top 10 in points, but points seem to mean so little these days. An organization that won consistently in the past has found the task a bit more difficult. 

They aren’t the only ones, to be sure. But given past performances and current expectations, perhaps the most notable. 

It’s likely that their respective Chase tickets are already waiting at the Will Call window in Richmond. But what fun is it to go to the prom if you don’t get the chance to dance?

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Posted on by Brad Norman

Which drivers are the Ford favorites?; Analyzing Junior’s chances

Editor’s note: The following drivers are ranked according to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. Driver Reports includes the top 16 in the points standings and drivers currently in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field.

1. Jeff Gordon (No. 24)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet 

Standing: Gordon leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with 498 points.
Past five races: 8th at Pocono, 15th at Dover, 7th at Charlotte, 1st at Kansas, 39th at Talladega.
Season stats: 1 win, 5 top-fives, 10 top-10s.
Track history: At Michigan, Gordon’s average finish is 16.7 and his average running position is 14.4 over the past nine years. In 42 career starts at Michigan, he has two wins, 18 top-fives, 25 top-10s and five poles.
Quick hit: Three consecutive finishes outside the top 15 in the "Irish Hills" is reason to pause when considering Gordon’s chances this weekend. Working in his favor, though, is a dominant showing at Auto Club earlier this year — a track very similar to Michigan’s 2-mile layout — and the knowledge that Hendrick Motorsports typically produces strong cars at this track, even if those cars don’t win as often here as at other venues.

2. Matt Kenseth (No. 20)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Kenseth is second in the standings with 482 points.
Past five races: 25th at Pocono, 3rd at Dover, 3rd at Charlotte, 10th at Kansas, 37th at Talladega.
Season stats: 5 top-fives, 10 top-10s, 1 pole.
Track history: At Michigan, Kenseth’s average finish is 10.1 and his average running position is 10.1 over the past nine years. In 29 career starts at Michigan, he has two wins, 12 top-fives and 18 top-10s.
Quick hit: Kenseth ranks second at Michigan in average place and running position since 2005, but most of that data was accumulated while he was driving a Roush Fenway Racing Ford. His No. 20 Toyota wasn’t as dominant in last year’s two races, but Joe Gibbs Racing does have a successful history here — Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch swept the 2011 Michigan races.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Standing: Earnhardt Jr. is third in the standings with 476 points.
Past five races: 1st at Pocono, 9th at Dover, 19th at Charlotte, 5th at Kansas, 26th at Talladega.
Season stats: 2 wins, 7 top-fives, 9 top-10s.
Track history: At Michigan, Earnhardt Jr.’s average finish is 13.4 and his average running position is 12.8 over the past nine years. In 29 career starts at Michigan, he has two wins, six top-fives, 10 top-10s and two poles.
Quick hit: Coming off the second win of his season, Junior heads to arguably his best track on the circuit. It was at Michigan where he ended long winless streaks in both 2008 and 2012. Given how well he’s running and how high his confidence is, Junior is in excellent position to join teammate Jimmie Johnson as drivers with back-to-back wins this year.

4. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Standing: Johnson is fourth in the standings with 475 points.
Past five races: 6th at Pocono, 1st at Dover, 1st at Charlotte, 9th at Kansas, 23rd at Talladega.
Season stats: 2 wins, 5 top-fives, 9 top-10s, 1 pole.
Track history: At Michigan, Johnson’s average finish is 16.4 and his average running position is 11.5 over the past nine years. In 24 career starts at Michigan, he has four top-fives and nine top-10s.
Quick hit: Johnson’s bid for a three-peat ended with a wreck on pit road at Pocono, but now he can focus on one of the more puzzling aspects of his Sprint Cup career — the lack of a win at Michigan. It’s one of just five tracks on the Cup tour at which Johnson hasn’t won — his engine blew up while chasing Greg Biffle down for the win in last year’s first race, and he suffered more car trouble in the second Michigan event. After that second misfortune, "Six-Time" said his woes would make it "sweeter" for when he finally got to Victory Lane. Expect him to be among the favorites to get there Sunday.

5. Brad Keselowski (No. 2)

Team Penske, Ford 

Standing: Keselowski is fifth in the standings with 448 points.
Past five races: 2nd at Pocono, 2nd at Dover, 10th at Charlotte, 13th at Kansas, 38th at Talladega.
Season stats: 1 win, 6 top-fives, 7 top-10s, 2 poles.
Track history: At Michigan, Keselowski’s average finish is 16.9 and his average running position is 15.9 over the past nine years. In nine career starts at Michigan, he has two top-fives and two top-10s.
Quick hit: No pressure, right? Not only is this considered Keselowski’s home track (he grew up 30 miles north of Detroit), but it’s the home track for manufacturer Ford as well. Oh, and Keselowski has finished runner-up in two consecutive races. Given how we’ve seen the 2012 Sprint Cup Series champ respond to pressure in the past, expect him to rise to the occasion and deliver one of his best performances of the season.

6. Kyle Busch (No. 18)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Busch is sixth in the standings with 443 points.
Past five races: 12th at Pocono, 42nd at Dover, 9th at Charlotte, 15th at Kansas, 12th at Talladega.
Season stats: 1 win, 3 top-fives, 6 top-10s, 1 pole.
Track history: At Michigan, Busch’s average finish is 16.5 and his average running position is 14.1 over the past nine years. In 18 career starts at Michigan, he has one win, four top-fives and six top-10s.
Quick hit: Busch has been boom-or-bust at Michigan, with four top-fives and four finishes outside the top 30 in 18 starts. Lean more toward the "boom" on Sunday, considering he won at sister track Auto Club Speedway in March. A top-10 is the goal, with Busch having notched only one of those in the past five races.

7. Carl Edwards (No. 99)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford 

Standing: Edwards is seventh in the standings with 441 points.
Past five races: 41st at Pocono, 14th at Dover, 4th at Charlotte, 6th at Kansas, 30th at Talladega.
Season stats: 1 win, 3 top-fives, 7 top-10s.
Track history: At Michigan, Edwards’ average finish is 8.2 and his average running position is 10.2 over the past nine years. In 19 career starts at Michigan, he has two wins, nine top-fives, 15 top-10s and one pole.
Quick hit: Edwards’ average finish here in the loop data era is easily the best in the series. This is also one of the best tracks for Roush Fenway Racing, with the team earning wins in two of the past three events. A victory Sunday could help quell questions about why RFR is behind Team Penske this year — but it could also raise some about whether Edwards will return to the No. 99 after his contract is up.

8. Denny Hamlin (No. 11)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Hamlin is eighth in the standings with 420 points.
Past five races: 4th at Pocono, 5th at Dover, 22nd at Charlotte, 18th at Kansas, 1st at Talladega, 22nd at Richmond.
Season stats: 1 win, 4 top-fives, 5 top-10s, 2 poles.
Track history: At Michigan, Hamlin’s average finish is 15.0 and his average running position is 14.2 over the past nine years. In 16 career starts at Michigan, he has two wins, five top-fives and seven top-10s.
Quick hit: Hamlin has finished outside the top 10 for five consecutive Michigan races, and three of those results have been 30th or worse. It’s been a strange decline for a driver who had two wins and one second-place finish in a three-race stretch from 2010-11. Two of those five recent finishes are explained by car trouble and a wreck, so getting back to top-10s could be in the picture if Hamlin keeps his No. 11 Toyota clean.

9. Joey Logano (No. 22)

Team Penske, Ford 

Standing: Logano is ninth in the standings with 418 points.
Past five races: 40th at Pocono, 8th at Dover, 12th at Charlotte, 4th at Kansas, 32nd at Talladega.
Season stats: 2 wins, 6 top-fives, 7 top-10s, 1 pole.
Track history: At Michigan, Logano’s average finish is 16.7 and his average running position is 16.3 over the past nine years. In 10 career starts at Michigan, he has one win, one top-five, five top-10s and one pole.
Quick hit: Logano is the most recent winner at Michigan, and Ford has won here three consecutive races. In addition to two top-10s last year, Logano qualified sixth and in the Coors Light Pole position. Given the strength of Team Penske in both qualifying and race trim, Logano is among the Ford drivers with a good shot at winning the Quicken Loans 400 and extending the manufacturer’s streak to four.

10. Kyle Larson (No. 42)

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Chevrolet  

Standing: Larson is 10th in the standings with 417 points.
Past five races: 5th at Pocono, 11th at Dover, 18th at Charlotte, 12th at Kansas, 9th at Talladega.
Season stats: 3 top-fives, 6 top-10s.
Track history: Larson does not have a Sprint Cup Series start at Michigan. In one NASCAR Nationwide Series start, he finished second in 2013.
Quick hit: This might be Larson’s best shot to win a race — at least so far — this year. The 21-year-old is coming off a top-five in his first-ever NASCAR national series race at one of the most unique venues on the circuit. He finished second at Auto Club, a similar 2-mile track, earlier this year one day after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series race there. All the signs point to a real shot at visiting Victory Lane.

11. Ryan Newman (No. 31)

Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet 

Standing: Newman is 11th in the standings with 411 points.
Past five races: 7th at Pocono, 31st at Dover, 15th at Charlotte, 11th at Kansas, 18th at Talladega.
Season stats: 5 top-10s.
Track history: At Michigan, Newman’s average finish is 18.9 and his average running position is 18.8 over the past nine years. In 25 career starts at Michigan, he has two wins, five top-fives, seven top-10s and one pole.
Quick hit: Newman now has three seventh-place finishes this year, with the most recent top showing coming last week at Pocono. Yeah, it’s strange Newman doesn’t have a top-five yet (he averaged one every six races in 2013), but stringing together consistent finishes is fine — so long as Newman avoids disastrous finishes. And while his top-fives are way down this year, so are his DNFs. He had four DNFs through the first 14 races last year and zero in 2014.

12. Kevin Harvick (No. 4)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Standing: Harvick is 12th in the standings with 403 points.
Past five races: 14th at Pocono, 17th at Dover, 2nd at Charlotte, 2nd at Kansas, 7th at Talladega.
Season stats: 2 wins, 4 top-fives, 6 top-10s, 2 poles.
Track history: At Michigan, Harvick’s average finish is 12.6 and his average running position is 15.4 over the past nine years. In 26 career starts at Michigan, he has one win, five top-fives and 10 top-10s.
Quick hit: Harvick finished second in both Michigan races last year, and his cars have been more powerful since moving to Stewart-Haas Racing. Automatic win, right? Well, not quite. Sure, the No. 4 Chevrolet will be among the best cars in the field — perhaps the very best. That’s been the case several times this year, and the team always seems to run into a problem, either something totally random or of their own doing on pit road.

13. Brian Vickers (No. 55)

Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Vickers is eighth in the standings with 392 points.
Past five races: 19th at Pocono, 43rd at Dover, 6th at Charlotte, 14th at Kansas, 4th at Talladega.
Season stats: 2 top-fives, 5 top-10s.
Track history: At Michigan, Vickers’ average finish is 14.8 and his average running position is 16.1 over the past nine years. In 14 career starts at Michigan, he has one win, two top-fives, eight top-10s and three poles.
Quick hit: Vickers won three consecutive poles at Michigan from 2008-09, and it’s one of three tracks on the circuit in which he owns a victory. The veteran has never won a race in back-to-back seasons throughout his Cup career, and this track presents one of his best opportunities to follow up last year’s New Hampshire win with another.

14. Greg Biffle (No. 16)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford

Standing: Biffle is 14th in the standings with 385 points.
Past five races: 16th at Pocono, 38th at Dover, 21st at Charlotte, 16th at Kansas, 2nd at Talladega.
Season stats: 2 top-fives, 4 top-10s.
Track history: At Michigan, Biffle’s average finish is 10.4 and his average running position is 8.3 over the past nine years. In 22 career starts at Michigan, he has four wins, 10 top-fives, 14 top-10s and one pole.
Quick hit: The rules were different last year, but Biffle’s win in this event helped secure his future berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Winning his second consecutive June race would almost certainly guarantee a return trip to the postseason. Biffle has won two of the past three Michigan races and has three top-fives in the last four races at the 2-mile track. Count him among the Ford favorites.

15. Austin Dillon (No. 3)

Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet  

Standing: Dillon is 15th in the standings with 385 points.
Past five races: 17th at Pocono, 20th at Dover, 16th at Charlotte, 19th at Kansas, 15th at Talladega.
Season stats: 1 top-10, 1 pole.
Track history: At Michigan, Dillon’s average finish is 16.3 and his average running position is 21.6 over the past nine years. In three career starts at Michigan, his best finish is 11th in 2013.
Quick hit: More than 10 percent of Dillon’s career Cup starts have come at Michigan. He finished inside the top 15 in both of last year’s events, driving two different cars in the process — the No. 33 (June) and the No. 14 (August). Driving in his own equipment this year seems to indicate Dillon is in position to earn his second top-10 this year, and first since the season-opening Daytona 500.

16. Clint Bowyer (No. 15)

Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota

Standing: Bowyer is 16th in the standings with 383 points.
Past five races: 11th at Pocono, 4th at Dover, 17th at Charlotte, 23rd at Kansas, 3rd at Talladega.
Season stats: 2 top-fives, 4 top-10s.
Track history: At Michigan, Bowyer’s average finish is 15.4 and his average running position is 16.6 over the past nine years. In 16 career starts at Michigan, he has one top-five and eight top-10s.
Quick hit: Welcome back to Driver Reports, Mr. Bowyer. With an average finish of 7.5 over the past two races, Bowyer has produced his best back-to-back performance this year. That streak should continue. No one in the past three years has been as good as Bowyer at Michigan. In order, he’s finished eighth, eighth, seventh, seventh, seventh and fifth in the past six races. Start him in Fantasy Live, and expect him to challenge for the win — or at the very least, get another bump in the standings.

27. Kurt Busch (No. 41)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet

Standing: Busch is 27th in the standings with 283 points.
Past five races: 3rd at Pocono, 18th at Dover, 40th at Charlotte, 29th at Kansas, 33rd at Talladega.
Season stats: 1 win, 3 top-fives, 3 top-10s.
Track history: At Michigan, Busch’s average finish is 21.2 and his average running position is 15.6 over the past nine years. In 26 career starts at Michigan, he has two wins, four top-fives, nine top-10s and two poles.
Quick hit: Like his brother, Kyle, Kurt is also boom-or-bust pick at Michigan. In this case, though, it seems bust is more appropriate. You can’t discount Busch’s third-place finish in the 2013 August race, but he finished 30th or worse in the previous four. Given that the No. 41 has struggled with consistency this year, we’ll have to assume he won’t keep up the strong run produced at Pocono.

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‘Rowdy’ discusses his favorite records, how he got his nickname

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Q: What are your most memorable victories?

One of my most memorable victories was my (NASCAR Sprint Cup Series) win in Las Vegas. I think that was a huge one for myself, just growing up here in Las Vegas, watching the track be built and wondering one day, if I could ever get to race there. To get to drive around the track and to finally pull into Victory Lane, I thought that was awesome. Definitely, definitely a huge moment for me just personally.

I think another one would be the trifecta in Bristol and completing it on Saturday night there. You know the first two, the (Camping World) Truck and Nationwide, that’s cool, that’s fun. But to be able to do the third one and to be able to do it at Bristol, a short track among others, was pretty awesome.

I’d probably say my third one would be my first win in the Sprint Cup Series in California. I had been to California before when I was 16 and got kicked out and wasn’t sure if I’d ever come back to the sport and obviously did. But was then able to get my biggest win of my career back at the speedway where I had such heartbreak when I was 16. I was able to win at that race just after my 19th birthday so that was pretty cool.

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Q: You own so many records. Do they mean a lot to you? Do you like making/breaking records?

Yes. A lot of my records mean a lot to me. I liked having the youngest winner of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series when I had that. I like all the records we are setting in Nationwide with wins per year and points per year. I like the championship that I had in ’09 as well as the Nationwide owners championships that we’ve had throughout the years. Of course, you like making them and breaking them. That’s what records are made for. They are made to be broken. I’m sure one day mine will be broken, but I’m trying to go out there and set them as quickly and as far out there as I can so it’s going to be tougher for people to beat.

Q: Are there certain records you are most proud of?

There are a lot of records I’m proud of. I’d say one … is the most wins in a single season in the Nationwide with 13. I’d also say that I’m most proud of how many Nationwide wins that I do have in the short period of time that I’ve been around competing. I’ve raced in the Nationwide Series for over 10 years, and I’ve got 66 wins so that’s a pretty cool record to have. The amount of laps that I’ve led in doing that, too. I think I’ve led over 13,000 laps, so pretty big numbers.

Q: Where did the nickname "Rowdy" come from?

The nickname "Rowdy" came from me just starting some truck races for Billy Ballew. I used to run his first truck which was No. 15 and when Billy wanted to run a second truck in a few races, he asked me what number I’d want to run so I told him to just reverse the 15 and make it 51. All his trucks were already painted black, and we put Rowdy Busch over the (door), and that’s sort of where it came from. I loved the "Days of Thunder" movie and thought that it would be fun to relive that a bit, and it has sort of stuck since then.

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Three drivers could be in contention for title … or get bounced in first round

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Tony Stewart‘s performance on the race track historically heats up when the weather does, and this past weekend appeared to be no exception. On a warm afternoon at Pocono Raceway, the three-time champion of NASCAR’s premier series drove immediately into the top five and led 24 laps around the big triangle in the northeast Pennsylvania mountains.

He wasn’t alone. His Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick had another weekend with another strong car, and maintained a solid position inside the top five. And SHR driver Kurt Busch continued his post-double rebound, thriving in perhaps the best vehicle he’s had since his victory at Martinsville way back in March, lurking just behind the leaders despite a transmission that kept jumping out of fourth gear every time he motored through Turn 2.

At one point near the halfway point of the race, Stewart-Haas cars were running 1-2-3 on a Pocono track that — despite its quirky nature — is a beast of a layout which tests everything from horsepower to driver aptitude to strategy. It was an event capable of convincing anyone that SHR’s top trio of drivers could indeed emerge as the three-headed threat for the championship that so many believe they can be. But in the end, it was also another event that left you wondering how any of them could possibly string together the 10 races necessary to win it.

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The truth probably lies somewhere in between those polar opposites, but the feast-or-famine nature of the most enigmatic team in NASCAR lends itself to such extremes. Right now, though, it’s difficult to tell which SHR is the real one. Is it the one producing vastly improved cars, and home of arguably the strongest program currently in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Harvick’s No. 4? Or is it the one continually dogged by issues that derail good days, and making trying ones go from bad to worse?

"I feel like our team has done a good job and they’ve built really good cars, everybody at the shop," SHR competition director Greg Zipadelli said after the Pocono race. "We’ve just got to figure out how to close the deal."

There are reasons to believe they’ll have a strong Chase showing, despite the reality of a four-car team whose highest-ranked driver stands 12th in points. While the offseason driver moves attracted all the attention, the addition of crew chiefs Rodney Childers and Chad Johnston has resulted in consistently better cars for an organization that was behind on Generation-6 development for much of last season. Harvick’s program set the bar during a test last December at Charlotte, and has shown more week-to-week speed than any other group since. Danica Patrick’s flashes in qualifying at Charlotte and in the race at Kansas offer further evidence of a foundation strong enough to keep SHR in contention, despite all the things that keep going wrong.

And goodness, do things keep going wrong. A promising group effort Sunday at Pocono evaporated after Stewart sped on pit road and Harvick suffered rapid air loss in his left-front tire in the area around the electronic identification chip, which, according to Goodyear, was the same issue that sent Patrick into the Turn 3 wall. And there were also concerns about Busch, whose pit crew had a kit out ready to fix his slipping transmission if needed, but the 2004 champion still managed to hold it together and record his best finish in three months.

"For my team as young as we are, this is the type of finish that will help boost the confidence up," Busch said afterward. "And the meeting we had last week, we all had to look at one another and say, ‘Are you willing to step this up? Are you willing to put in the extra hours? Are you willing to go the extra mile to make this happen?’ And everybody said yes, and when you cash in on a top‑five run after that, that really builds everybody’s self‑esteem."

Having speed in the car means a lot. It’s a life raft drivers can cling to when other things are going wrong — ask Jeff Gordon, who did just that through a tumultuous 2012 campaign full of crashes and breakdowns, and still made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup because his cars were ultimately fast enough to capitalize when the dam of misery finally broke. The drivers who truly fret are those playing catch-up as far as speed, a deficiency that can’t always be remedied easily or in short order. For all they’ve been through, SHR’s drivers can lean on the fact that their cars are fast. Like Gordon two years ago, that means they could be dangerous later in the season should the plagues of boils and locusts ever come to an end.

In the meantime, they continue to walk a fine line, their struggles appearing more glaring when compared to those of their primary competition. Jimmie Johnson casts a long shadow over the garage area, and not just because he’s won six championships. It’s because of races like Pocono, where he can qualify poorly, get the front end of his car bent up in a pit-road collision with Marcos Ambrose, hit the rev chip shifting gears on a late restart, and still find a way to finish sixth. The No. 48 team has always managed crises better than anyone, and Johnson is so good in part because his low points aren’t as low as those of everybody else. In an elimination-format Chase where one catastrophic problem can end title hopes, that degree of stability looms large.

SHR is trying to get there, and has 12 races remaining in which to do it. Make no mistake, the top three drivers at Stewart-Haas comprise an A-list lineup very capable of deciding the championship among themselves, particularly given how strong their cars have been since Childers and Johnston arrived. Still, repeated quality-control issues and mistakes on race day can be a drain not just on performance, but on morale. These seasons can have a way of taking hold and never letting go — for every Gordon in 2012, there’s a Brad Keselowski in 2013, who always seemed on the verge of turning the corner until finally the Chase arrived and the defending champion wasn’t in it.

That type of worst-case scenario seems quite unlikely for the lead trio at SHR, given that Harvick and Busch have race victories and Stewart is certainly running well enough to earn a place in the expanded 16-driver field. And yet, for no team does the threat of early postseason elimination look more likely. Harvick in particular has shown every sign of being in the title race right down to Homestead — along with indications that he could get bounced in the opening round.

"I try not to think about it too much, because it gets frustrating and because I really don’t think there’s an answer to it," Zipadelli said of the issues plaguing the No. 4 car.

It’s that kind of season at SHR. One program shows the potential to distance itself from everyone else in the series, yet leaves the competition director scratching his head. Four fast cars go to Pocono, and only one of them ends up in the top 10. And three drivers appear bound for the postseason, where they will all face the ultimate game of boom or bust.

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Two-time Cup winner to make 2014 Sprint Cup debut at Michigan

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When it came time to discuss the idea of returning to NASCAR to make one more run at the Brickyard, it didn’t take Juan Pablo Montoya very long to tell Roger Penske yes.

"We talked about it, and we both thought it was a great idea," said Montoya, a two-time winner on NASCAR’s premier series. "I mean, when he mentioned it to me, with the cars they’ve got right now, it was a no-brainer."

Montoya stepped away from NASCAR after last season, his seventh full campaign with Chip Ganassi Racing, and returned to his open-wheel roots with Penske. But although Montoya won races on the road courses at Sonoma and Watkins Glen and once made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, his stock-car resume still lacks an oval-track victory. Now he’ll have two chances in Penske equipment, with Michigan this weekend serving as a table-setter for another attempt at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27.

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In both races he’ll work as a teammate to regular Penske NASCAR pilots Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, who both have race victories to their name this season. Although Montoya never cracked the top-five at Michigan in his Sprint Cup Series career, he famously let two chances to win the Brickyard slip away — in 2009 when he led 116 laps and dominated until a late pit-road speeding penalty, and the next year when he paced 86 until pit strategy went awry. His best finish at the Brickyard remains second in 2007, his rookie season in NASCAR.

"I think it’s a great opportunity that I have to be in really competitive cars" Montoya said during a recent media event in Charlotte. "And (Penske) hasn’t won the Brickyard, and I’m pretty good there."

As his track record, which includes an Indianapolis 500 victory in 2000, would attest. Although Montoya is once again a full-time open-wheel racer who is coming off a fifth-place finish in this year’s Indy 500, the Colombia native and current Miami resident is well aware that he has unfinished business in a stock car on the same 2.5-mile track.

"It would be pretty special," he said of a potential Brickyard triumph. "It would be very special, because we threw away a lot of them. We were really good at that. So it would be nice."

But first comes Sunday at Michigan, where Montoya will slide behind the wheel of a stock car for the first time since his finale with Ganassi at Homestead last season. Greg Erwin, who won five Sprint Cup races with Greg Biffle at Roush Fenway Racing and finished as Nationwide Series runner-up with former Penske driver Sam Hornish Jr. last year, will work as crew chief. Montoya is not scheduled to run either Sprint Cup road course races this season, because a pit crew is not available for either event.

The Montoya that will return to the Michigan garage area Friday is a more svelte version of his former self, down 15 pounds thanks to a cycling regimen. And he’s clearly pleased to be in the employ of Penske, who owns 15 Indy 500 victories as well as the 2012 Sprint Cup championship, and was an owner whom Montoya says he idolized in a previous open-wheel stint that included the defunct CART circuit and Formula One.

"I feel really good. I feel really happy," Montoya said. "I think in a way, the change was really good. I don’t really want to start comparing teams or anything, but the way things are handled (at Penske) — it’s awesome. Honestly, put it this way: when you grow up racing … you looked at Team Penske like, ‘Oh my god.’ Everything was perfect. … When you step back and look at all the history and everything that I’ve done, to say I’ve raced for Roger Penske — that’s a freaking honor."

It was Montoya’s long friendship with Ganassi — with whom he won the Indy 500 in 2000 — that led the driver to NASCAR in the first place, and sustained him through personnel shakeups and performance difficulties that followed a breakthrough victory at Sonoma his first season, and a Chase berth in his third. Results dipped sharply over his final three NASCAR seasons, which all concluded with points finishes in the 20s, and midway through the 2013 campaign it was clear Montoya’s contract would not be renewed.

The Ganassi team has rebounded somewhat this season, with Jamie McMurray winning the Sprint All-Star Race (although still ranked 23rd in the standings) and rookie Kyle Larson maintaining 10th place in points in the same No. 42 car and with the same crew chief that Montoya left behind. Asked to compare his current and former programs — which both field entries in NASCAR and IndyCar — Montoya said the biggest difference is that all Penske cars are housed under one roof in Mooresville, North Carolina, and overseen by team president Tim Cindric. Ganassi’s teams are split between Indianapolis and Concord, North Carolina.

"The Ganassi organization, it’s two different (sets of) management for both organizations. I think that’s the main reason one has so much success and the other one doesn’t. The other one is like a heartbeat," Montoya said, referring to a vital sign that goes up and down.

"Jamie (won the All-Star Race), but next year, you don’t know if they’re going to get better or they’re gong to run 25th. You look at Hendrick, Gibbs, Roush, Penske, all the big teams, and you know they’re going to be there next year. With (Ganassi), you don’t know if they’re going to be back there or (over) here. They’ve put a lot of things in place to get more stable, but if everything was under one roof, it would be a lot better."

Even so, Montoya knew — or thought he knew — the Penske reputation: serious men in starched buttoned-down shirts. As his occasionally freewheeling NASCAR teammates Keselowski and Logano might attest, things on the inside proved quite different. Still, at the outset Montoya was unsure of how he and a car owned known as "the Captain" might mesh.

"You look at Penske from the outside, and it looks really serious and really strict, and I’ll be honest, that was a concern of mine," he said. "I was worried they were going to be too serious of an organization, and I wasn’t going to fit it. And it was completely the opposite."

He had nothing to worry about. During open-wheel weekends, he finds Penske in his command trailer — known as "RP1" — watching NASCAR action on television. "He watches everything," Montoya said. "And I admire him, because he really cares. He loves racing. And that is really unbelievable."

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