Posted on by George Winkler

Those in Kenseth camp not quite as comfortable after Dover

MORE: FULL CHASE COVERAGE | NASCAR FANTASY LIVE

It’s nearly impossible to afford Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch on the same fantasy team, so it stands to reason that owners are picking one or two of the aforementioned drivers to hitch their rides to the rest of the way. Entering Dover, those in the Kenseth or Busch camps were riding high with back-to-back 1-2 finishes at Chicagoland and New Hampshire.

But now, after Johnson’s dominating victory at Dover for his record eighth win there, the tables have turned. Kenseth was a solid seventh at Dover, but for Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup purposes that’s not going to cut it — and he even admitted so after the race. For fantasy purposes, Kenseth still finished fourth, but when the price is high and the margin for error thin, the gap of 10 fantasy points between Kenseth and Johnson that might have seemed small earlier in the season is chasm-like now.

It was difficult not to notice Johnson taking control at Dover, and we’re sure the No. 48’s detractors were trying their hardest not to let it sink in on Sunday. But with the way Johnson looked in Delaware, and given the statistical dominance he has displayed at Kansas (more on that later in this story), the decision to buy in with Jimmie when he was slightly down and to stick with him through the start of the Chase is looking better and better all the time.

If you don’t believe me, then look at the lap summary report from the AAA 400, where for the final 300 laps at Dover Johnson was either in first place or second place at every 20-lap checkpoint. It’s an impressive display of the five-time champion’s power, and could be a harbinger of things to come.

So if you are sitting on Jimmie in your fantasy lineup, be glad. Reap the rewards of the rising price of the No. 48 as the rest of us rush to join you.

Key Fantasy Moment: Although Dale Earnhardt Jr. had problems entering the pits, his mishap came early enough that he was able to bounce back for a second-place finish. Meanwhile, Kurt Busch, whose team brought in four new crew members from Richard Childress Racing’s Nationwide Series program, continued to have problems. On Lap 159, Busch came in for an unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel. After that, Busch fell off the lead lap and went on to finish 21st after starting ninth. Coming into Dover, Busch had been a strong performer — and had provided it at a second-tier price ($24.75). But it’s not the driver fantasy owners have to worry about here, it’s the team. That risk has to be factored in each week before owners take the plunge to purchase the No. 78.  

Biggest Bargain: After a 37th-place finish at Chicagoland and a 14th at New Hampshire, Joey Logano might have been off-limits to some fantasy owners heading into Dover. But for those who took his victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Saturday to be a good sign they were pleasantly rewarded on Sunday. Logano, who started 11th, finished third in the AAA 400 and compiled the sixth-highest score in the NASCAR Fantasy Live game. That came at a price of $23.50, which was less than each of the three drivers who finished right behind him in fantasy points, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle. Honorable mention here goes to Brian Vickers, who had the 10th-highest fantasy score of the week and cost $20.50.

Biggest Bust: Carl Edwards seemed like a safe choice after opening the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with an 11th-place finish at Chicagoland and a ninth-place showing at New Hampshire, and he was maintaining a spot in the top 15 through the first 360 laps at Dover. But disaster struck late in the race when a broken hub led to him finishing 35th, the worst showing among Chase-qualified drivers. For Edwards, who started fourth, the subtracted points for place differential were enough to ruin his fantasy value. He ended up with minus-7.5 fantasy points, and Michael McDowell was the only driver who had a worse showing. Edwards cost $24.75 for all that. Ouch!

Tip to take forward: Jimmie Johnson leads in a multitude of statistical categories at Kansas over the past 11 races at the track, including driver rating (119.1), quality passes (496) and fastest laps (439), so if you picked him up during his down times heading into the Chase, then continue to ride him while the performances and the prices likely continue to go up. Meanwhile, if you didn’t get in on the Jimmie train in time, you might be able to pick up some value from Biffle, who is second in driver rating and has 465 quality passes at Kansas in the same span.

 

MORE:

WATCH: Victory Lane:
Johnson wins at Dover

WATCH: Final Laps:
Johnson breaks record

WATCH: Dale Jr.:
misses pit road

WATCH: Keselowski
brings out caution
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Quest to become first driver to win first three Chase races ends in seventh-place finish

MORE: FULL CHASE COVERAGE | RESULTS | STANDINGS

DOVER, Del. — In most any other circumstance, salvaging a top-10 finish with a less-than-perfect car and difficult track position on the final restart might have been just fine for Matt Kenseth. But in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the final result was only a missed opportunity.

Trying to become the first driver ever to win the opening three races of NASCAR’s playoff, Kenseth instead found himself scrambling for whatever he could get in the final laps at Dover International Speedway. His No. 20 car wasn’t the indomitable machine it had been in the first two Chase events. A last-minute, two-tire stop in the waning laps left him in a tough spot on the final restart. It all added up to a seventh-place finish, which certainly looked good given the circumstances, but in the bigger picture left something to be desired.

"We wanted to finish better than that," Kenseth said as winner Jimmie Johnson celebrated on the frontstretch. "We led a few laps, we qualified good, we finished in the top 10. But usually we come here racing for second to the 48 (car of Johnson). The way they run, running seventh every week isn’t going to be good enough to win a championship. But on an off day, and when I feel like we really missed it in the setup quite a bit, or on the car, whatever we did there, seventh is still pretty good."

Johnson’s eighth career victory at Dover allowed him to jump one spot in the standings to second, and trim Kenseth’s series lead to eight points. Kenseth and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch had finished first and second in each of the first two Chase events, and Busch fell to third in the standings — 12 behind the leader — despite a fifth-place result Sunday. The next-closest drivers, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon, are tied 39 points off the pace.

While the No. 20 car never seemed quite perfect — Kenseth battled a loose condition for much of the race — the 2003 series champion led 36 laps, and was second behind Johnson when a debris caution with 29 circuits remaining turned a likely fuel mileage race into a battle of pit strategy. Johnson took two tires, and Kenseth’s crew chief Jason Ratcliff planned to go with four — until a slight hang-up on the right rear led him to call an audible and take just two.

Johnson’s two-tire stop allowed him to get out first, and maintain track position that helped him outrun Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. and win the race. Kenseth, meanwhile, was stuck in an impossible position — as the last car on two tires, ahead of everyone else with four, and on the slower inside lane on the restart to boot. He slid back at the green flag, ultimately finishing behind six other Chase drivers all trying to make up ground.

"We kind of missed it today," Kenseth said. "But there are times we ran a lot better than that. We got caught being the last car with two tires, we restarted on the inside, which was really bad, and still savaged a respectable finish. But certainly, I wanted to do better than that."

Busch could relate. His fifth-place finish gained him two points on his teammate, but still lost a position to Johnson. "It’s certainly appealing and you could be happy with it, but we’re a little disappointed at the same time," he said. "We felt like we wanted to come in here, we wanted to run better, we could run better here. We have before, and we just could never really get the feel that I was looking for the whole weekend with the front tires."

Sunday marked the first time Johnson has finished ahead of Kenseth in over a month, since the Aug. 11 race at Watkins Glen. "I think any points on (Busch) and (Kenseth) would have been a pretty good day. Max points, it’s an awesome day," said Johnson, who also earned bonus points for leading the most laps.

"I feel like we had cars capable of winning the first two races much like the 20 and the 18 did," Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus added, referring to the car numbers of Kenseth and Busch. "… We’re just trying to establish a foundation, and trying to set ourselves up for the second half of the Chase. As long as we do that, we’ll be in good shape."

For now, though, Kenseth remains in front — and heading to another favorable track, Kansas Speedway, where he’s won the last two times out. Of course, he also had two career victories at Dover, where Sunday’s result would have been considered a good points day — if every point weren’t as valuable as they are now, in a Chase where the performances of the top three drivers are leaving little room for error.

"You feel like it’s one of your best race tracks," Kenseth said, "and you want to do better than seventh at one of your best tracks, and not let all the guys you’re racing beat you. All in all it was a solid day, but we wished for a little bit more."

MORE:

WATCH: Victory Lane:
Johnson wins at Dover

WATCH: Final Laps:
Johnson breaks record

WATCH: Dale Jr.:
misses pit road

WATCH: Keselowski
brings out caution
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Edwards drops from fourth to 11th in the standings after rough day at Dover

MORE: FULL CHASE COVERAGE

DOVER, Del. — The wrong guy broke — at least from Carl Edwards‘ perspective.

Edwards came to Dover fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings, hoping to gain ground on the three drivers ahead of him: Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson.

Instead, it was Edwards who left the Monster Mile with his title hopes in tatters, after a broken hub relegated him to a 35th-place finish. Edwards dropped seven spots to 11th in the Chase standings, 65 points behind Kenseth.

"I used to really like Dover — I really looked forward to this place," Edwards said after the race. "This was tough. We needed the other guys to have problems. We didn’t need to have problems. Something broke on the left rear. I don’t think it was a mistake by any of my guys."

Even before the mechanical problem, Edwards’ car wasn’t handling the way he would have liked. By Lap 362 of 400, he was already a lap down but hoped to gain ground with contrarian pit strategy.

"We struggled with the car really badly, but I think we had a decent strategy for the end. We were going to try to get off-sequence with everybody," Edwards said. "The things that we had trouble with were things that we weren’t going to be able to change throughout the day."

With seven races left before the championship is decided, Edwards has time to make up ground, but his task became exponentially more difficult on Sunday.

"We’ve got a lot of racing left, and the way we’ve gotten into the position we’ve been in the whole year is just by persevering," he said. "We’ll go to Kansas (for next Sunday’s race), try to win that one and keep moving.

"Now we’re in a position like a lot of the guys. We’ve got to step it up and try to make something happen. That’s not impossible, so we’ll keep at it."


If it wasn’t for bad luck…

The post-championship funk continued for Brad Keselowski, who missed the Chase this year after winning the Sprint Cup title last season.

Keselowski had a strong car Sunday at Dover — until a mechanical problem sent him to the garage on Lap 226 with his No. 2 Penske Ford trailing rear-end oil.

"Something in the rear-end housing went out and burned itself up," Keselowski said while his crewmen worked on the car. "We leaked oil on the track, so (we) figured we would come in before we ruined everybody else’s day."

Eventually, Keselowski returned to the track 45 laps down and finished 37th.

"We’re getting all of our bad luck out of the way this year, so watch out next year."

 

MORE:

WATCH: Victory Lane:
Johnson wins at Dover

WATCH: Final Laps:
Johnson breaks record

WATCH: Dale Jr.:
misses pit road

WATCH: Keselowski
brings out caution
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Five-Time Cup champion leads 243 laps to take home record eighth win at Monster Mile

MORE: RACE RESULTS | UPDATED STANDINGS | DOVER NEWS | FULL CHASE COVERAGE

DOVER, Del. — Jimmie Johnson‘s run toward a possible sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship shifted into high gear Sunday at Dover International Speedway.
 
On two fresh tires to polesitter Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s four, Johnson held off his Hendrick Motorsports teammate during a 26-lap green-flag run to the finish of the AAA 400 and made a significant dent in the series lead of Matt Kenseth, who finished seventh.
 
Johnson picked up his fifth victory of the season, his record eighth at the Monster Mile — breaking a tie with Richard Petty and Bobby Allison — and the 65th of his career. The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet vaulted over fifth-place finisher Kyle Busch into second in the Chase standings, eight points behind Kenseth.

Johnson, however, had plenty of cause for concern when he lined up for the final restart with Earnhardt right behind him — on four fresh tires.

"Two (tires) worked good for us in practice," Johnson said. "And believe me, I wanted to see four tires line up in the fourth or fifth row. When they lined up right behind me, I thought I was going to have my hands full. And I really did. Junior drove a whale of a race, and track position really gave me the advantage I needed to hold him off."

Johnson also took a moment to enjoy the magnitude of his record-breaking win.

"It’s incredible," he said. "To do anything Bobby or Richard has done is quite an accomplishment. We’ve had a few sneak away from us here, too, over the years. I’m just happy to get that done and be the sole leader of race wins here. It’s a very special day."

Johnson held a lead of nearly five seconds when NASCAR called the fourth caution of the race for debris in the form of a spring rubber that had dislodged from a car and landed on the concrete racing surface in Turn 3.
 
With every lead-lap car short on fuel — with the possible exception of Clint Bowyer‘s No. 15 Toyota — the yellow presented a welcome opportunity to refuel. Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, opted to change right-side tires only, while Earnhardt’s crew chief, Steve Letarte, called for a four-tire change.
 
Earnhardt restarted fourth on Lap 375 of 400 and quickly rocketed into second place, but couldn’t catch the five-time champion.
 
Joey Logano ran third, followed by Jeff Gordon and Busch, as Chase drivers claimed the top 10 finishing positions.

Earnhardt, whose winless streak reached 48 races, relinquished the race lead during a green-flag pit stop on Lap 119 after missing the entrance to pit road on the previous lap. The snafu cost Earnhardt seven positions and 13 seconds on the track, and though a caution on Lap 164 bunched the field and enabled him to make up lost ground, Earnhardt couldn’t mount a challenge to Johnson’s dominance after that.

On a later stop, Earnhardt lost time getting to his pit stall when he had to slow behind Mark Martin‘s Chevrolet. Earnhardt conceded that the issues on pit road, particularly the first one, may have changed the outcome of the race.

"Yeah, if you really look at the race as a whole, they did cost us a little bit, at least the mistake I made missing pit road completely. We had the lead, gave up the lead. Jimmie had the lead and was able to take advantage of that clean air when it counted.

"If I had not given up that track position, had a smart enough race to keep the lead when it counted right at the end, we might have won the race. It would have been hard to get by us, just like it was (hard) to get by Jimmie.

"I think missing the commitment cone was a big factor in us not finishing one spot ahead of where we are. But the other pit stop wasn’t that big a deal. I came on pit road about as hard as I could. The 14, Mark, was running maybe five, 10 miles an hour slow in the first couple of (pit road timing) segments. I don’t know that cost us a ton of time."

Chase drivers Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards were casualties of bad luck and a broken part, respectively. Busch was caught two laps down after an early green-flag pit stop that preceded the second caution on Lap 164. He finished 21st and dropped to ninth in the standings, 55 points behind Kenseth.

Edwards, who entered the race fourth in points, took his car to the garage on Lap 377 with broken hub, finished 35th and plummeted seven spots to 11th in points, 65 out of the lead.

Kasey Kahne (13th place) suffered engine problems with 10 laps to go, the second week in a row he failed to finish on the lead lap.

More of the same tough luck he’s seen all season showed itself at Dover for Brad Keselowski, who missed the Chase just a season removed from winning his first Cup championship. On Lap 225 his No. 2 Penske Racing Ford was forced to the garage after a part in his rear-end housing burned up, spewing fluid on the track and bringing out the third caution of the day.

"They noticed a lot of oil in the wheel well, so we tried to get off the track as fast as we could with the Miller Lite Ford to not bring out a yellow, but obviously wasn’t quite quick enough," Keselowski said. "We’re getting all of our bad luck out of the way this year, so watch out next year.”

Keselowski finished 37th.

The series now makes its way back to Kansas Speedway, where Kenseth earned his second victory of the season. Catch the Hollywood Casino 400 (ESPN, 2 p.m. ET) next Sunday.

MORE:

WATCH: Victory Lane:
Johnson wins at Dover

WATCH: Final Laps:
Johnson breaks record

WATCH: Dale Jr.:
misses pit road

WATCH: Keselowski
brings out caution
Posted on by Holly Cain

Four-time NASCAR champ and "The Crossing" star discusses acting and what’s next for him

MORE: FULL CHASE COVERAGE

"The Crossing" — an original series created and produced by NASCAR Productions — gave four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon a chance of a lifetime to connect with Hollywood film director and producer Ron Howard. Their meeting gives glimpses into one another’s storied careers from child stars and prodigies to successful adults — each champions in their respective field.


Gordon sat down with NASCAR.com to share his behind-the-scenes perspective about the five-part series:

How did the idea of pairing you and Ron Howard for this new project originate?

"We were asked to put a list of some people together that I’d be interested in meeting and talking to and getting to know and Ron was one that came up. It was purely just because I liked the way he goes about what he does and also the movie "Rush" he just directed, the tie to racing and the timing. It all came together. "We met at Indianapolis, and I just became a huge admirer of him because I saw what a good person he was.”

You got to spend some quality time with Howard both trackside and in Hollywood. What were your impressions?

"As a kid growing up and watching "Happy Days," knowing who Ron Howard is and then also being a fan of Apollo 13 and some great movies he’s done and knowing he was going to do a racing movie, I was really looking forward to meeting him.

"I was so impressed. He is just such a humble guy. He works extremely hard. You’d never know this is a guy that’s been working in Hollywood since he was a kid. It was very refreshing, and I feel like we connected in some ways through the whole experience because I think while he learned a lot about racing, he has more respect for race car drivers through this. I have always respected him, but gained a whole new respect because I saw how passionate he was about making sure the movie was done well and is authentic. He genuinely wanted to know what people’s thoughts were."
 
What were your thoughts on Ron Howard’s newly released movie "Rush" and its addition to a long lineage of racing movies?

"Before I even saw anything Ron had done, I thought the best racing movie is going to be the one that has the least amount of racing in it. I think it’s because it’s very hard to capture the speed and excitement and the thrill of it, and that’s what I love about the movie "Rush." He did do a good job of capturing the racing but also it has such a great storyline to go along with it. It complements the racing, and the racing complements the story.”
 
You got rave reviews hosting Saturday Night Live in 2003, are a popular and recurring co-host on "LIVE with Kelly and Michael" and have made several popular commercials. Is acting a possible second career for you?

"I’d never consider myself having much talent in that area (acting), but I also know I’m a risk taker, I’m comfortable being in front of a camera. I don’t have any skills necessarily that allow me to pull off any role, but with the right thing, I have a good time and let go of who I am and can make fun of myself and enjoy it. "Saturday Night Live" was certainly a stretch, but I had a lot of fun doing it and I said, if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right and make the best of it. And it turned out great. Or if I’m hosting with Kelly (Ripa), I’m not always the most comfortable going into it, but somehow, it seems to come together in that moment."
 
Throughout your career you have represented a new generation of NASCAR fans crossing over in platforms and eras.

"I do feel like we made conscious efforts over the years to find those opportunities to do more crossover. I think NASCAR is a great sport, it’s great racing, but I feel like it’s capable of so much more and by doing more crossover, it could help expand the audience and help the sport grow and me personally from a branding standpoint.

"You take advantage of opportunities."
 
In "The Crossing," Ron Howard talks about his move from childhood star to a role behind the camera. Does that hit home with you?

"It was something that genuinely interested me, that transition because he was a successful actor, but obviously he’s been probably an even more successful director. You would think it would be tough to go from being in front of the camera to being behind the camera, but at the same time, the knowledge you gain from being in front of the camera and working with these crews could benefit you greatly.

"That’s why I feel like I always want to be in racing. [My future] needs to be competitive, and it needs to be racing-related because that’s what I know best. That’s what’s driven me and given me these opportunities. I just won’t necessarily be behind the wheel.
 
What stands out most to you from this experience?

"My big takeaway from it is the one common thing I find about people that are successful. They are passionate about what they do, they work very hard at it and they always want to be better. That’s what I found in Ron. He’s such a great guy and cares so much about making sure the product he’s providing will be pleasing to the audience. Not because he’s getting a big check. He genuinely cares about it. He found an arena he didn’t know a lot about and learned all he could and excelled. That’s what I took away. Here’s someone that had every right to not be humble, had every right to not be down to earth, and he took me under his wing and couldn’t have been nicer or more down to earth.
 
Some might argue the dramatic ending to your regular season and your subsequent Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup berth would make a good Hollywood ending?

(Smiling) "I’ll call Ron one day and say, ‘Hey I’ve got something for you.”’

MORE:

WATCH: Victory Lane:
Johnson wins at Dover

WATCH: Final Laps:
Johnson breaks record

WATCH: Dale Jr.:
misses pit road

WATCH: Keselowski
brings out caution
Posted on by Holly Cain

Dale Jr. finishes second at Dover, remains winless on the season

MORE: FULL CHASE COVERAGE | RESULTS | STANDINGS

DOVER, Del. — Sounding every bit the fierce, motivated competitor he looked on track Sunday afternoon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was equal parts glad to turn his pole position into a runner-up finish and frustrated to have been so good yet left to watch his teammate Jimmie Johnson celebrate in Victory Lane at Dover International Speedway.

 "Two weeks in a row we’ve had two fantastic race cars," Earnhardt said. "(I’m) proud of all the guys for bringing such good cars to the race track. It certainly makes my job easier, gives us opportunities to win like this.

"Trying to look on the bright side, I’m a little disappointed we didn’t pull off the win. Felt like we had the perfect strategy. Had maybe the best car, arguably the best car, today. With those four tires I thought we could get it done.

"We left everybody in the mirror. We were clicking off some laps, but just not fast enough to get to Jimmie."

Earnhardt’s No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet was the first car on four fresh tires and came out fourth following the final round of pit stops with 26 laps remaining. He quickly passed two cars on the restart and began reeling in Johnson, whose Chevy had only two fresh tires.

Earnhardt got within a half-second of the No. 48’s bumper but ran out of laps, ultimately finishing .446 seconds shy of hoisting his first trophy of the year — but encouraged by his fourth top-10 in the last six races.

"The No. 88 was so strong early, when he got four tires, I thought he might be trouble for Jimmie," team owner Rick Hendrick said on pit road after the race.

Earnhardt, who led six times for 80 of the race’s 400 laps, was as fast as his pole-winning effort would indicate. But a pair of pit-road mishaps cost him early forcing him to play catch-up to his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

While leading on Lap 117, Earnhardt prepared to drive down pit road but was unable to steer his Chevy within the mandatory pit road commitment marks, which forced him to turn another lap around the "Monster Mile." He went from holding a nearly four-second lead over Johnson at that point to returning to the track eighth.

Later in the race, Earnhardt got caught behind a much slower Mark Martin at the pit entrance, forcing him to patiently ride behind Martin for part of the long drive to his stall located all the way at the pit exit.

"If you look at the race as a whole, they did cost us a little bit, at least the mistake I made missing pit road completely," Earnhardt said. "We had the lead, gave up the lead and Jimmie (Johnson) had the lead and was able to take advantage of that clean air when it counted.

"If I had not given up that track position, had a smart enough race to keep the lead when it counted right at the end, we might have won the race. It would have been hard to get by us, just like it was to be by Jimmie.

"I think missing the commitment cone was a big factor in us not finishing one spot ahead of where we are. But the other pit stop wasn’t that big a deal."

Because both of those incidents happened relatively early in the race, Earnhardt rebounded over and over again.

"The pressure was on," Johnson said of the final laps. "I ran my guts out to stay ahead of him. Everything I could turn twist and pull on the car. … I drove the (expletive) out of that thing."

For Earnhardt, just knowing he had a car good enough to win was both the good news and the bad news for him.

"I feel like in the last couple of weeks, we’ve been able to really show what our team’s capable of," Earnhardt said. "We’ve been really quick on the sheet every day, fast in practice. The changes we’re making, everything seems to be working right, going in the direction you want. I feel like when we get it right we can compete and we can win.

"We came really close today. I don’t feel like today was a highlight for us. I think this is how it’s supposed to be every week."

The runner-up at Dover along with the sixth-place finish last week at New Hampshire moved Earnhardt up one position in the Sprint Cup Series standings to 10th.

He’s now 57 points behind championship leader Matt Kenseth, but only 18 points behind fifth-place Jeff Gordon with seven races remaining in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

"I’ll be honest with you, it sucks to lose regardless of who wins," Earnhardt said smiling and shaking his head. "It’s probably harder to run second than it is fifth or 10th. When you have a car like we had today, you don’t get good cars every week so you like to capitalize."

MORE:

WATCH: Victory Lane:
Johnson wins at Dover

WATCH: Final Laps:
Johnson breaks record

WATCH: Dale Jr.:
misses pit road

WATCH: Keselowski
brings out caution
Posted on by Staff Report

Moments that changed the course of the third race in the 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup

UPS


JIMMIE JOHNSON’S TWO TIRES BEAT FOUR FOR WIN 

On two fresh tires to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s four, Jimmie Johnson held off his Hendrick Motorsports teammate during a 26-lap green-flag run to the finish of the AAA 400 and made a significant dent in the series lead of Matt Kenseth, who finished seventh.

Johnson picked up his fifth victory of the season, his record eighth at the Monster Mile — breaking a tie with Richard Petty and Bobby Allison — and the 65th of his career. The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet vaulted over fifth-place finisher Kyle Busch into second in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, eight points behind Kenseth.

“Two (tires) worked good for us in practice,” Johnson said. “And believe me, I wanted to see four tires line up in the fourth or fifth row. When they lined up right behind me, I thought I was going to have my hands full. And I really did. Junior drove a whale of a race, and track position really gave me the advantage I needed to hold him off.”

Johnson also took a moment to enjoy the magnitude of his record-breaking win.

“It’s incredible,” he said. “To do anything Bobby or Richard has done is quite an accomplishment. We’ve had a few sneak away from us here, too, over the years. I’m just happy to get that done and be the sole leader of race wins here. It’s a very special day.”

DALE EARNHARDT JR. MISSES PIT ROAD WHILE LEADING

Earnhardt, whose winless streak reached 48 races, relinquished the race lead during a green-flag pit stop on Lap 119 after missing the entrance to pit road on the previous lap. The snafu cost Earnhardt seven positions and 13 seconds on the track, and though a caution on Lap 164 bunched the field and enabled him to make up lost ground, Earnhardt couldn’t mount a challenge to Johnson’s dominance after that.

On a later stop, Earnhardt lost time getting to his pit stall when he had to slow behind Mark Martin’s Chevrolet. Earnhardt conceded that the issues on pit road, particularly the first one, may have changed the outcome of the race.

“Yeah, if you really look at the race as a whole, they did cost us a little bit, at least the mistake I made missing pit road completely. We had the lead, gave up the lead. Jimmie had the lead and was able to take advantage of that clean air when it counted.

“If I had not given up that track position, had a smart enough race to keep the lead when it counted right at the end, we might have won the race. It would have been hard to get by us, just like it was (hard) to get by Jimmie.

BAD LUCK, BAD PART COST BUSCH, EDWARDS IN CHASE

Chase drivers Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards were casualties of bad luck and a broken part, respectively. Busch was caught two laps down after an early green-flag pit stop that preceded the second caution on Lap 164. He finished 21st and dropped to ninth in the standings, 55 points behind Kenseth.

Edwards, who entered the race fourth in points, took his car to the garage on Lap 377 with broken hub, finished 35th and plummeted seven spots to 11th in points, 65 out of the lead.

The NASCAR Wire Service contributed to this report.

Posted on by Staff Report

Stay on point with NASCAR.com lap-by-lap updates from Dover

FOLLOW: Lap-by-lap Dover updates

 

 

MORE: FULL CHASE COVERAGE

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WATCH: Preview Show
for Dover’s AAA 400

READ: Dover’s Top 10
Monstrous moments

WATCH: Throwback:
Dale Jr. wins, Sept. 2011

READ: Paint Scheme
Preview; see Kenseth’s wrap
Posted on by Staff Report

Watch episodes of ‘The Crossing’ as a four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ meets a two-time Academy Award winner

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Earns his second victory of the season, first career win at Las Vegas

Related: Results | Standings

LAS VEGAS — Timothy Peters took advantage of a rare mistake by Ron Hornaday Jr. on the final restart at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to win the Smith’s 350 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.

Peters started 12th and when the final caution came out late in the race, he was running second to Hornaday — known for his prowess on restarts. When the green flag flew with two laps to go, Hornaday spun his tires and Peters powered to the lead. As Hornaday faded back, Peters held off Johnny Sauter to record his seventh career victory, his second of the season and his first in Las Vegas.

"Track position was so important," said Peters. "You had to get all you could on the restarts because once you spread out that dirty air, it was bad to pass. I mean, they were crazy. I was really thankful for that last caution. I was getting good restarts all night long. Just everything went our way tonight. This is huge."

In a city where numbers mean everything, Peters, who drives the No. 17 Toyota, won the 17th race of the season in the series’ 17th race at the 1.5-mile speedway.

Sauter finished second, followed by Miguel Paludo, pole winner Ty Dillon and Darrell Wallace Jr., the highest finishing rookie in the race.

"It was a crazy race," said Sauter, who posted his seventh top-five finish of the season. "That last restart it looked like Ron spun the tires a little bit and he lost momentum. Then he fanned out and I thought, ‘Hey there’s a hole there and I’m taking it.’"

Matt Crafton held onto the series points lead with an 11th place finish.

He led two times for 30 laps and was leading with less than 30 laps to go when the handling went away on his No. 88 Toyota and he started to fall back through the running order. It marked the first time in 2013 that Crafton has finished outside the top 10.

"All of the sudden it just went dead loose," Crafton explained. "Within one lap it was a little bit loose and then it went to un-drivable and we lost one second on that run."

Crafton’s lead holds steady at 41 points over defending series champion James Buescher with five races to go in the season.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will take the next two weekends off before returning to action at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 19.

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