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Kenseth has first two wins in Chase

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LOUDON, N.H. — Was this real or instant replay?
 
For the second straight week, in the second race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Matt Kenseth led Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch to the finish line — and for Kenseth, who has struggled at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, that added a dreamlike quality to the victory.
 
The top seed in the Chase, Kenseth won Sunday’s Sylvania 300 by .533 seconds over Busch as JGR asserted its superiority for the second consecutive week. A half hour after the race ended, the magnitude of the victory was still sinking in for the 2003 Sprint Cup champion.

"For me to win at New Hampshire, first of all, is more than a stretch and more than a dream," Kenseth said. "This is probably one of my worst places. That just shows you how good this whole team is. … I didn’t even know there was a Victory Lane here.
 
"I felt really confident with my car today, but to have a fast car and to be able to do all the right things with adjustments and strategy and pit stops and all that stuff and be out front and win is two different things. So I’m thankful to be part of this group, and it honestly doesn’t really seem real that we won yet today."
 
Kenseth led a race-high 106 laps in winning for the seventh time this season, for the first time at the Magic Mile and for the 31st time in his career. Winning in his 500th start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Kenseth extended his Chase lead to 14 points over Busch.
 
Greg Biffle drove from sixth to third after the final restart on Lap 258 of 300. Five-time champion Jimmie Johnson finished fourth, followed by Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
 
Though Busch closed on Kenseth in traffic late in the race, the driver of the No. 18 Toyota acknowledged that his teammate had the superior car.
 
"Certainly, we were never as fast this weekend as the 20 (Kenseth) was," Busch said. "They just had a special car. Sometimes you unload with them, and they’re just phenomenal. The 20 had that here this weekend. We tried everything to try to keep up with him and to get pace with him, but it was tough to do."
 
Kasey Kahne saw his Chase hopes dim when he spun on the frontstretch on Lap 252 and nosed into the inside wall. Kahne came home 37th and fell to 13th in the standings, 71 points behind Kenseth and all but out of the running for the championship.
 
Brian Vickers, the July winner at the 1.058-mile track, started in the rear and finished seventh. Vickers was racing in the Nationwide Series at Kentucky Speedway and enlisted Kenny Wallace to practice and qualify his Sprint Cup car on Friday. Because of the driver change, Vickers had to drop to the back of the field for the start.
 
Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards and Martin Truex Jr. completed the top 10. Truex led 98 laps but fell back during the final 43-lap green-flag run.
 
"We had a good car the first half of the race, and then the second half, we just started getting tight," said Truex, whose sponsor NAPA announced Thursday it was leaving Michael Waltrip Racing at the end of the season in the wake of penalties to the organization for attempting to manipulate the outcome of the Richmond race two weeks ago.
 
"It was cooling off and clouding up. We just could never get it turning again. Then that last set of tires was just terrible for us — just couldn’t do anything with it. It’s unfortunate. The guys did a good job all weekend. We struggled here the last few times and obviously made some huge gains in the right direction — just weren’t good enough to be there when it counted."
 
Notes: Kenseth ran a special paint scheme commemorating his 500th start. The only other driver to win in his 500th Cup start was Richard Petty in 1970. … Johnson is third in the standings, 18 points behind Kenseth and the only driver other than Busch within 36 points of the leader. … Kenseth is the third driver to win the first two races in the Chase. Tony Stewart accomplished the feat in 2011 en route to his third title. Greg Biffle won the first two Chase races in 2008 and finished third in the final standings.

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The No. 48 has regained consistency at just the right time

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LOUDON, N.H. — Five-time champions don’t worry.

They’ve seen the ups and downs, enjoyed the hot streaks and endured the droughts.

They know that, in the end, it all balances.

It’s starting to come back around for Jimmie Johnson.

The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet closed the stretch-run leading up to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with four straight clunkers at Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond that saw him average a finish of 36th. He’s responded by opening the Chase with a pair of top-five finishes last week at Chicagoland and Sunday in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway that have him just 18 points behind a blistering Matt Kenseth — the kind of rebound that would seem unprecedented for every driver in the garage, save for Five-Time and a very small handful of others.

"To open (the Chase) with a five, four is great," Johnson said. "One, one like Matt has is a lot better, but we’re in a good spot. … All in all, great day, though. Definitely wanted more, we had a great race car. There at the end I was on the inside lane on those restarts and I’d lose two or three (spots) each time, but it’s just part of it, you know, one of those things. But a great performance, great start to the Chase."

Even if Johnson showed no sign of concern after his string of rough starts — perhaps made easier by knowing that his four regular-season wins would seed him second overall once the playoffs started — there was a legitimate argument that he might be in danger if he didn’t right the ship quickly.

Things got off to a great start at Chicagoland, where a fifth-place finish behind four other Chase drivers was just enough to keep him in the mix in the top three in the standings. With the same one-two of Kenseth and teammate Kyle Busch at the top Sunday at Loudon, the only other driver to finish ahead of Johnson was Greg Biffle, who already had some ground to make up after a mediocre finish at Chicagoland. Johnson’s consistency in the first two Chase races has him exactly halfway between Kenseth and fourth-place Carl Edwards — a cushion that looked unrealistic just over a week ago.

"It was better than we thought it would be. I felt like we were really going to have to scrap for a top-10, maybe a top-five," Johnson said. "Those last couple of restarts lining up on the inside lane just didn’t work for anyone. I’d lose a couple of spots and have to get them back. Strong, strong performance. … It took a lot of hard work to get the end result, but we’ve got a nice race car for these flat tracks. I’m looking forward to Phoenix now. It’s good to have a good run here knowing we can go to Phoenix and be competitive, too."

While Johnson is happy to know that his team can build him a race car that can run well on flat tracks, if there was ever a race to be confident about, it comes next week at Dover. During his skid, it was starting to look like Johnson might have to rely on the Monster Mile to be his slump-buster, but instead it’ll likely be his NBA Jam-inspired, "He’s on fire!" moment as a third-consecutive strong race is, well, all but a slam dunk.

Johnson has seven career victories at the track and finishes in the top five nearly 50 percent of the time. And that’s no small sample size, either. It’ll be his 24th career start.

After keeping afloat near the top of the standings, Johnson knows he has a shot to cement himself as a true contender next week before Kenseth runs away with the points lead.

"We haven’t given up too many points, and we’re going to one of my best race tracks next week in Dover," Johnson said. "So I certainly hope to have this Lowe’s Chevrolet in Victory Lane over there."

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After Race 28 of the 2013 season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Pos Owner Car # Points Ldr Nxt PPos G/L Attempts
1 Joe Gibbs 20 2,111 0 — 1 0 28
2 Joe Gibbs 18 2,097 -14 -14 2 0 28
3 Jeff Gordon 48 2,093 -18 -4 3 0 28
4 Jack Roush 99 2,075 -36 -18 5 1 28
5 Jack Roush 16 2,073 -38 -2 11 6 28
6 Richard Childress 29 2,072 -39 -1 4 -2 28
7 Barney Visser 78 2,071 -40 -1 6 -1 28
8 Rick Hendrick 24 2,069 -42 -2 7 -1 28
9 Tony Stewart 39 2,064 -47 -5 8 -1 28
10 Rob Kauffman 15 2,063 -48 -1 9 -1 28
11 Rick Hendrick 88 2,049 -62 -14 13 2 28
12 Walter Czarnecki 22 2,042 -69 -7 12 0 28
13 Linda Hendrick 5 2,040 -71 -2 10 -3 28
14 Roger Penske 2 792 -1,319 -1,248 15 1 28
15 Felix Sabates 1 786 -1,325 -6 16 1 28
16 Margaret Haas 14 779 -1,332 -7 14 -2 28
17 Michael Waltrip 56 752 -1,359 -27 18 1 28
18 Richard Childress 27 742 -1,369 -10 17 -1 28
19 Richard Petty 43 719 -1,392 -23 19 0 28
20 John Henry 17 700 -1,411 -19 20 0 28
21 Richard Childress 31 694 -1,417 -6 23 2 28
22 Chip Ganassi 42 693 -1,418 -1 21 -1 28
23 Richard Petty 9 693 -1,418 0 22 -1 28
24 Michael Waltrip 55 684 -1,427 -9 24 0 28
25 J D Gibbs 11 620 -1,491 -64 25 0 28
26 Bob Germain 13 577 -1,534 -43 26 0 28
27 Bob Jenkins 34 523 -1,588 -54 28 1 28
28 Harry Scott Jr. 51 523 -1,588 0 27 -1 28
29 Gene Haas 10 514 -1,597 -9 30 1 28
30 Tad Geschickter 47 509 -1,602 -5 29 -1 28
31 Brad Jenkins 38 483 -1,628 -26 31 0 28
32 Tommy Baldwin 7 444 -1,667 -39 32 0 28
33 Brandon Davis 30 396 -1,715 -48 33 0 28
34 Ron Devine 93 388 -1,723 -8 34 0 28
35 Allan Heinke 36 382 -1,729 -6 35 0 28
36 Ron Devine 83 379 -1,732 -3 36 0 28
37 Joe Falk 33 363 -1,748 -16 37 0 28
38 Frank Stoddard Jr. 32 362 -1,749 -1 38 0 28
39 Jerry Freeze 35 277 -1,834 -85 39 0 28
40 Andrea Nemechek 87 216 -1,895 -61 40 0 28
41 Glen Wood 21 186 -1,925 -30 41 0 9
42 Mike Curb 98 121 -1,990 -65 42 0 25
43 Michael Hillman 140 107 -2,004 -14 44 1 8
44 Bob Leavine 95 104 -2,007 -3 43 -1 17
45 Randy Humphrey 19 44 -2,067 -60 45 0 23
46 Bob Keselowski 152 17 -2,094 -27 46 0 5
47 John Cohen 44 10 -2,101 -7 47 0 9
48 Roger Penske 12 7 -2,104 -3 48 0 1
49 J D Gibbs 81 4 -2,107 -3 49 0 2
50 Larry Gunselman 37 0 -2,111 -4 50 0 1
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Moments that changed the course of the second race in the 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup

UPS


KENSETH SETS FAST CHASE PACE WITH BACK-TO-BACK WINS  

For the second straight week, in the second race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Matt Kenseth led Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch to the finish line.

The top seed in the Chase, Kenseth won Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway as JGR asserted its superiority for the second consecutive week. With 93 laps to go, Kenseth bumped Clint Bowyer on the backstretch to take the top spot for good.

Kenseth led a race-high 106 laps in winning for the seventh time this season, for the first time at the Magic Mile and for the 31st time in his career. Winning in his 500th start in the Cup series, Kenseth extended his Chase lead to 14 points over Busch.

“They just had a special car,” Busch said. “Sometimes you unload with them, and they’re just phenomenal. The 20 had that here this weekend.  We tried everything to try to keep up with him and to get pace with him, but it was tough to do.”

AGGRESSIVE BIFFLE MOVES FROM 11th TO FIFTH IN CHASE

Greg Biffle drove from sixth to third after the final restart on Lap 258 of 300. Five-time champion Jimmie Johnson finished fourth, followed by Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“I was doing all I could do to try and gain spots, and I was three wide on the bottom and got that to work a couple times, and then the last bit of that, the outside really worked well for me,” Biffle said.

“It’s so hard to get a run off the bottom. The 48 was underneath me, and he just couldn’t get the throttle down on the bottom. The 48 was probably faster than me that first 15 laps. He was all over my rear bumper but couldn’t really do anything, and then I was able to ‑‑ after his tires leveled off I was able to drive away from him.”

KAHNE CRASH DROPS HIM TO LAST IN THE CHASE

Kasey Kahne saw his Chase hopes dim when he spun on the frontstretch on Lap 252 and nosed into the inside wall. Kahne came home 37th. At the time of Kahne’s trouble, he was battling Brian Vickers, the July winner at the 1.058-mile track, who started in the rear and finished seventh.

The NASCAR Wire Service contributed to this report.

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Michael Waltrip Racing driver salutes crew’s focus despite uncertain future 

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LOUDON, N.H. – He led four times for 98 laps and finished 10th for his 12th top-10 of the year, but Martin Truex Jr. was obviously disappointed as he climbed from behind the wheel of his No. 56 Toyota.
 
There was the frustration of a good car gone bad in the latter stages of Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. And there was the stress and strain of two weeks spent riding an emotional rollercoaster.
 
"I’m not sure what the future holds," Truex Jr. said as teams scrambled to load cars and pack up their belongings in the aftermath of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. "But I’m proud of these guys for staying focused and not letting it get to them.
 
"We’ll just see how it goes. We’ve got some good tracks coming up. It sure would be nice to win a race or two before it’s over."

The Michael Waltrip Racing driver was supposed to be one of 12 drivers competing in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, having earned a berth after the season’s 26th race. But penalties levied against the MWR organization took the wind out of the group’s sails, Truex Jr. out of the Chase field, and left the 33-year-old wondering what his team did wrong.
 
The final blow came Thursday, a day before teams arrived here for this weekend’s race when NAPA announced that because of MWR’s actions in the Richmond race and the penalties that followed, it would withdraw its sponsorship of the No. 56 team at the conclusion of the 2013 season.
 
Fifth in Friday’s qualifying, Truex Jr. led briefly (one lap) during the day’s first round of pit stops under caution, then shot back in front on the ensuing restart. He led the next 73 laps.
 
But changing track conditions in the second half of the race and a late-race restart that saw him lose several positions before the field sorted itself out was the team’s undoing.
 
"We were fast early on," Truex Jr. said. "But even when we were leading the car was getting tight."
 
Crew chief Chad Johnston made several calls in an attempt to correct the problem, but "we just couldn’t make any headway on it," Truex Jr. said.
 
"As it started cooling off those last 100 laps, it really started going away.
 
"We just could never get it turning good; I burned the rear tires off trying to turn on the longer runs. Then I couldn’t turn, couldn’t step on the gas. The last 100 laps were tough but really the last 50 was where we got killed."
 
MWR is trying to recover from the damage of the past two weeks, and Truex Jr. has to decide if he will stick around or seek opportunity elsewhere.
 
With a chance to finally get back on the track and race, the distractions could be momentarily put aside.
 
But they aren’t forgotten.
 
"Those distractions are going to follow us all year long," he said. "It’s just the way it is. Guys are worried about what they’re going to do next year. I can’t blame them. They’ve got families. There are 300 people at MWR that are thinking about it as well.
 
"It’s one of those things that’s always going to be there but I’m proud of the way the guys worked through it; they stayed focused, they had a great attitude this weekend. I was very proud of that.
 
"It was definitely a difficult week for all of us. We can worry about it tomorrow. Between Friday and Sunday we need to worry about race cars and they were able to do that. And that means a lot to me."
 
Two of the three MWR teams finished in the top-10 Sunday as Brian Vickers finished seventh after starting from the rear of the 43-car field. Kenny Wallace had qualified the car on Friday to allow Vickers to be in Kentucky for Saturday’s Nationwide Series event.
 
Teammate Clint Bowyer, the only MWR driver in this year’s Chase, struggled on Sunday and finished 17th. He fell one position in the points standings and is now 10th, 48 points behind leader Matt Kenseth.
 
"This is definitely the worst track (for me) on the circuit," Truex Jr. said. "To come here and run like we did today says a lot about the guys and what they were able to do."

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Johnson’s 2006 run proves Earnhardt Jr., Logano aren’t out of the Chase despite slow starts

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LOUDON, N.H. — Joey Logano and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have a difficult task ahead of them. Not an impossible one, but an improbable one.

The two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers must find a way to climb back into contention in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the 10-race playoff run that is now only nine weeks from completion.

Those clouds of smoke trailing Logano a week ago at Chicagoland Speedway were warning signs that the engine in his car wasn’t planning to stick around for the checkered flag. It didn’t.

Logano, 23 and making his first appearance in the Chase, won the Coors Light Pole and led laps but none of that mattered when he pulled his No. 22 Penske Racing Ford behind the wall after just 175 of 267 laps.

Previously sixth in points, he finished 37th, and fell to 12th in the 13-car Chase field. The gap between himself and points leader Matt Kenseth is a gulf greater than a full race — 52 points.

The engine in Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 Chevrolet lasted a little longer, but the Hendrick Motorsports driver eventually coasted into the garage with a 35th-place finish. His reward for the unexpected start? He’s holding down the rear of the Chase field, 53 points out of the lead.

"It’s unfortunate when something like that happens because we had a really fast race car last week, one that I felt like could have won the race, and instead we came home with a 30-something-place finish and that part is just really hard, but it happens," Logano said following his qualifying run Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "That’s what our sport is — you have to rely on a lot of things and sometimes you have a mechanical issue like that and the guy who wins the championship usually doesn’t have that, but that’s not to say we can’t come back.

"This team is strong. We’ve been digging out of a hole all year, and every time we get our head just above water, we get pulled back under again and we keep fighting to get back up. We’ll be fine. I’m not worried about it."

Logano will start sixth in Sunday’s Sylvania 300. The first of his three career Cup wins came here in 2009. On Saturday, he was 13th and eighth, respectively, in the day’s two practice sessions.

Earnhardt Jr. will line up a bit deeper after putting his car 17th on the 43-car grid. What happened the previous week seemed to be of little concern — Earnhardt Jr. was more focused Friday on getting his car to turn better on the 1.058-mile track before Sunday’s race.

"We haven’t talked about (last week) much," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We’re just trying to qualify here and get through the day.

"We’ll practice our car (Saturday) and see if we can make a good car out of it. That’s all we’ve been thinking about. Just worried about my car today … worried about trying to win this race this weekend."

Perhaps the focus on what’s ahead and ignoring what’s behind will pay off. Earnhardt Jr. was second fastest in Saturday’s opening practice and fastest overall in the final shakedown.

Time and opportunities are limited. Success stories are few for those who have found themselves falling behind early in previous Chases. Jimmie Johnson finished 39th in the first Chase race in 2006 at New Hampshire but came back to win his first of five titles.

"You can’t give up hope," Johnson said.

"Last year I had two bad races — really one in Phoenix where we crashed — and still had a chance going into Homestead. So I think there’s still a chance for them. Unfortunately they’re losing control, and that’s what no one wants to have happen."

Johnson had an outside chance a year ago, but the timing of his Phoenix troubles left him punching at air, hoping to land a haymaker in the final round at Homestead.

It never landed.

"It is, I think, slightly deflating for the driver and probably the team," said Chase points leader Kenseth, the last driver to win a title before the advent of the Chase. "They’re like, ‘Oh man, we just got ourselves who knows how many points behind because we busted something.’

"Nobody likes to have that happen early; I’ve been in that spot a lot where we’ve had problems the first couple of weeks and been so far behind. You keep (up) the talk and you keep thinking it and you keep working toward it. Anything can happen. They can have trouble and (you’re) right back in it.

"But it is somewhat deflating to start it off with a bad week."

Jeff Gordon won all four of his titles before 2004 and the arrival of the Chase. The Hendrick driver took a hit last year in the opener when he finished 35th. Already 12 points behind the leader before the start of the 10-race playoff, the result put him 47 points behind with only nine races in which to make up ground.

"I think that in that position, you have absolutely nothing to lose," Gordon said of the situation faced by Earnhardt Jr. and Logano. "Instead of maybe having a game plan where you were going to try to fine tune a setup, you can just go completely outside the box and just go for broke and make very gutsy calls on pit road. You can be more aggressive as a driver. The engineers can be more aggressive in the set-up as well.

"I think there is a part of you that just says ‘OK, let’s just see how high up in points we can get’ and there is a part of you that says ‘we go for broke, and if we get on a heck of a role, we can still do this.’ You certainly never stop giving up hope."

It’s not an uncommon feeling, Logano said, adding that his team has "had to fight like that and fight from behind all year.

"We’ll just have to keep doing that," he said.

Ryan Newman will start from the pole for Sunday’s race, with fellow Chase driver Kasey Kahne also on the front row. Gordon, Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. will line up third through fifth, respectively.

Kenseth, the series’ points leader, will start ninth.

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Truck Series regular wins for Penske at Kentucky; Dillon finishes second, Crafton third

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It wasn’t a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competitor that the NASCAR Nationwide Series field had to worry about at Kentucky Speedway. Instead, it was a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standout, Ryan Blaney, who stole the show and won Saturday night’s Kentucky 300.

Blaney’s first Nationwide Series win came in his 15th career start and just his second start of 2013. Blaney’s triumph in the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang marked Penske Racing’s 10th win of the year with its fourth different driver. AJ Allmendinger, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski collectively made up for nine of those victories.

The win didn’t exactly come easy for Blaney, a development driver for Penske Racing. Blaney, was nearly collected by teammate and current NNS point’s leader, Sam Hornish Jr. on a restart with 15 laps to go. As Hornish Jr. attempted to inherit the lead from Blaney, Hornish Jr.’s Ford broke loose on the bottom of the track and immediately walked up the racetrack, nearly colliding with Blaney. While, Hornish Jr. faded, Blaney kept his foot on the gas and kept Austin Dillon in his rearview mirror until the caution flag waived a lap later, when Parker Kligerman pounded the frontstretch wall after contact with Cole Whitt.

In the early stages of the Kentucky 300, Hornish Jr. appeared to have the car to beat in his No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Mustang and even fended off challenges from the RCR duo of Dillon and Brian Scott, but Jeremy Bullins, Blaney’s crew chief kept making adjustments to his rookie’s blue oval, which allowed the High Point, N.C., native to methodically work his way to the front and overtake Dillon for the lead on Lap 101, just past halfway.

Blaney continued to lead the way until Harrison Rhodes brought out the caution for dropping fluid on the racetrack on Lap 107. The yellow flag sent the leaders to pit road, where Elliott Sadler opted for a different pit strategy from his competitors and assumed the race lead.

Blaney, the son of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Dave Blaney, rocketed by Sadler immediately after the restart and held the point until final pit stops occurred with 38 laps to go following a caution when Brad Sweet crashed on the backstretch. Quick work by the Penske Racing organization allowed the 19-year-old to remain first for the series of late-race restarts.

On the final restart of the night, Dillon in the No. 3 AdvoCare Chevrolet Camaro attempted to make the pass on Blaney entering Turn 1, but Blaney powered the outside line and pulled ahead from Dillon and the rest of the field over the final nine Laps to net Ford’s 12th win in 27 races.

"Yeah, we had a great car all night," said a relatively calm, but jubilant Blaney as he debriefed with reporters. "We kept working on it throughout the race, just little tweaks here and there. We were really strong to start out the race and just got better and better as the runs went on. It was really tough the last few restarts to really know what was going to happen. The way the restart rule is now, you never know how big of a push someone can get. I was a little worried being on the outside, but we had a great car to be able get through one and two good and be able to clear them by three and four."

Austin Dillon, Hornish’s rival for the Nationwide championship, finished second, ahead of Richard Childress Racing teammate Matt Crafton in third. Hornish Jr. rebounded for fourth, while Alex Bowman in the RAB Racing entry posted his first top-five run since the season-opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February.

Dillon, the grandson of Richard Childress, failed to record his fourth series victory at the 1.5-mile, but did however notch his 10th top-five of 2013 and capitalized on his sixth place run at Kentucky in June.

"We knew we would be good coming here, it’s one of our better tracks and I’m just thankful we had a good run tonight," said Dillon, still winless in his sophomore season. "It was a solid run, there was just one car better. We needed something. Just a little bit more, we were too tight all night on exit and we tried to get it out of the car and (we) just couldn’t. That 22 has been very tough all year long, no matter who’s gotten in it. They’ve won with four different drivers this year. That’s pretty impressive."

When asked about his deficit to Hornish Jr., with less than two months of racing remaining, Dillon remained optimistic.

"Just let it (points) come to us. We’re going to stay here and keep running hard every week. We have to run top-five from here on out."

Crafton, the current NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points leader, tied his best career finish (third) in the NNS. The driver of the No. 33 Rheem/Menards Chevrolet Camaro also finished third in the tripleheader weekend at the Sparta, Kentucky-based track in June.

"We were tight, tight, tight, for most of the race until the last stop," Crafton said. "I then got loose, but went back to tight, but I can’t thank Menards, Rheem and RCR for the opportunity. A good night."

Drew Herring, taking the reins for Kyle Busch this weekend, finished sixth, followed by Brian Vickers, Jeb Burton in his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut, Whitt, driving for Tri-Star Motorsports, and Michael Annett.

While, Blaney has led only 65 Laps in his full-time campaign on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series tour, he led a race-high 96 laps Saturday. Blaney last competed on the circuit in June at Iowa Speedway, where he finished ninth after starting sixth.

With six races remaining on the tour, Hornish Jr. leads Dillon by 15 points.

In the race for the owner’s championship, Roger Penske (No. 22) leads J.D. Gibbs (No. 54) by 23 markers.

Next up for the NASCAR Nationwide Series is their annual fall trip back to Dover International Speedway for the running of the 5-Hour Energy 200 Benefiting Living Beyond Breast Cancer, set for 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday, Sept. 28.

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Chase driver hoping early struggles subside by Sunday

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LOUDON, N.H. — Carl Edwards‘ two wins this season were separated by exactly 23 races — the sort of dry spell that seldom will net a driver a championship.

In search of his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title and just nine events left on the 2013 schedule including Sunday’s Sylvania 300 (2 p.m. ET, ESPN), Edwards can’t afford to suffer a similar relapse.

Despite the forecast of early morning Sunday showers, another drought may be in store for the Roush Fenway Racing driver, as New Hampshire Motor Speedway hasn’t been kind to Edwards in the past. Early returns this weekend don’t indicate a change in fortune.

Edwards chugged his way through three practice sessions in which he averaged a leaderboard spot of 15th, culminating in Saturday’s final run-through in which his speed of 131.688 mph paled in comparison to Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s session-leading 133.059.

"This weekend is not good because we’re struggling. We thought we’d be a lot better," Edwards said. "If there’s one thing (crew chief) Jimmy Fennig and my crew can do, they can make up a lot of ground through strategy and pit stops, so we’ve got our work cut out for us, but we’ll just go do it."

Currently fifth in the standings, Edwards’ stock appeared to be trending up with a win at Richmond — the ultimate momentum builder to head into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with — but a finish outside the top-10 at Chicagoland in the Chase opener and a rough start to the weekend at Loudon are worrisome.

While Edwards has finished every race he’s run at the Magic Mile, in 18 starts he’s earned just four top-10 finishes — only two of which were top-fives. As a notoriously difficult track to pass on, you can point to the fact that Edwards has qualified outside the top 10 a dozen times when trying to analyze his poor finishes here. When Edwards has qualified in spots 11-20, he’s finished in the top 10 only twice, while leading just two laps total the six times he’s qualified outside the top 20.

The No. 99 brushed the wall during qualifying, forcing a rougher-than-expected lap. Despite his starting position of 26th being a cause for concern, Edwards remains positive.

"That didn’t go very well. At least we’re looking at the good side of my race car, the clean side because I hit the fence with the other side," he said Friday. "That was a pretty tough lap, but Jimmie Johnson showed us you can come from the back here. He had an engine change in the earlier race and did a great job, so we’re gonna have to fight for this one."

As the season winds down, every subpar finish is magnified tremendously — as illustrated by the DNFs of Joey Logano and Earnhardt last week that have all but buried their title hopes — so Edwards and his crew need to find a way to make the necessary adjustments to salvage a decent race.

"That’s something we’re going to look at is work on our strategy and work on the car to get it better so we can get back up front," said Fennig. "Track position is big anywhere, so you’ve always got to look at pit strategy no matter where you start. I’m still not happy. We need to be running better. We need to unload off the truck better, so we’ve got work to do."

That said, sometimes it doesn’t always come down to pit strategy or mechanical adjustments. The inspiration factor will occasionally make itself known and a fair amount of parallels exist between Edwards (who missed the Chase last year) and the 2013 Boston Red Sox, who Friday night earned their first American League East division title since 2007 after a last-place finish just a year ago.

"We’ve got (Red Sox owner and Roush Fenway Racing co-owner) John Henry and all the folks at Fenway Sports Group that back us up — the Red Sox Nation — everybody is so great to us up here that we’d love to get a win for them."

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Blaney qualifies second, Dillon third

MORE: Qualifying results

SPARTA, Ky. — Drivers hoping to gain ground on NASCAR Nationwide Series points leader Sam Hornish Jr. will have some work to do Saturday night.

Hornish won the Coors Light Pole Award for the Kentucky 300 (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPNEWS) with his best lap speed of 179.235 mph on a sunny afternoon at the 1.5-mile tri-oval.

It’s the third pole of the season for Hornish, who finished ninth in the first Nationwide Series race at Kentucky in June.

Hornish was sixth in the only practice session Friday; he leads Austin Dillon by 17 points in the standings. Dillon, who was attempting to become the first driver in track history to win four consecutive pole awards, will start third on the grid in his No. 3 Chevrolet following a qualifying speed of 178.042 mph.

Joining Hornish on the front row is Ryan Blaney, making his second Nationwide Series start of the season in the No. 22 Penske Racing Ford. Blaney, who pilots the car that leads the owner standings, had a best speed of 178.159 mph.

Blaney was one of three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regulars to qualify in the top 10. Matt Crafton, the series points leader who led Friday’s lone practice session, starts fifth on the grid in his No. 33 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. His best lap speed Saturday afternoon was 177.357 mph. Joey Coulter (176.490) will start sixth in the No. 18 Toyota.

Brian Scott completes the top five after his lap of 177.702 mph in the No. 2 Chevy put him fourth on the grid.

Rounding out the top 10: Drew Herring (176.482 mph) is seventh, followed by Travis Pastrana (176.401 mph), Justin Allgaier (176.378 mph) and Brian Vickers (176.338 mph).

Drivers haven’t had much time on track this weekend due to weather. Friday’s first practice, scheduled for 90 minutes, was halted at the halfway point when storms came through. The scheduled second hour-long practice was also washed out.

The track temperature was cooler Saturday than it was during Friday’s session, and should continue to drop — the temperature is expected to plummet by 20 degrees throughout the night.

Elliott Sadler, fourth in the points standings, will start 12th and Regan Smith (third in the standings) will come off the grid 14th. 

Jeb Burton, making his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut,qualified 13th in the No. 34 Arrowhead Chevrolet.

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Adjustments place No. 88 atop final leaderboard in New Hampshire

Newman on Coors Light Pole | Starting lineup

LOUDON, N.H. — A day after being frustrated with his speed in the weekend’s opening practice and qualifying, whatever adjustments Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his team made seem to be working as the Hendrick Motorsports driver earned a pair of top-two finishes in Saturday NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practices at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Clint Bowyer took the opener with a speed of 132.688 mph, but Earnhardt improved upon that in the final practice at 133.059 mph lap. With a starting position of 16th in Sunday’s Sylvania 300 (2 p.m. ET, ESPN), it looks like he’ll have his No. 88 Chevrolet in the shape necessary to  move up the field and recover from last week’s DNF in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup opener at Chicagoland Speedway.

Points leader Matt Kenseth improved his speed from 131.966 in the morning session to 132.938 to place second on the final leaderboard. Kasey Kahne, who has shown serious speed all weekend and will start alongside pole-sitter Ryan Newman on the front row Sunday, was third in the final session.

Despite missing out on the Chase, defending race winner Denny Hamlin is still hoping to recover a lost season by earning a win for his Joe Gibbs Racing team. He was fourth in the late session. Bowyer backed up his early Saturday success by rounding out the top five with a speed of 132.591. It’s an improvement upon his qualifying position of 16th.

The biggest surprise of the two sessions was pole winner Newman placing 24th with a speed of 130.702 in the opener then 25th in the second. His qualifying speed of 136.497 in Saturday’s Coors Light Pole Qualifying was a track record.

A caution was thrown for debris on the track with five minutes remaining in the first session. Several drivers re-emerged from pit road to make a few final laps after NASCAR officials extended the practice by five minutes.

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