Posted on by George Winkler

Kenseth, Busch, Johnson all deliver pop — at high price tags

Related: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live

While it would be impossible to fit an entire roster of Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers under the salary cap in the NASCAR Fantasy Live game, it’s important to point out that nine out of the 10 top scorers this week were from the field of 13. And as colleague Dan Beaver said in his Chase Fantasy Preview, fantasy owners can expect that trend to continue on most of the tracks left in the Chase.

The only non-Chase driver in the fantasy top 10 after Sunday’s rain-delayed event was Brad Keselowski, who brought home the ninth-best fantasy score for the price of $24.25 (down $0.25 since last week). But at that price, Keselowski was actually more expensive than some of the drivers who are in the Chase such as Kurt Busch, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman.

So the trick this week was picking the best Chase drivers and avoiding the one or two who provided a pitfall for fantasy owners. The best were the 1-2 punch from Joe Gibbs Racing of Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch. This wasn’t a big surprise considering only Jimmie Johnson had scored more fantasy points than those two this season, but with Busch at $28.75 and Kenseth at $27.75, it was an expensive duo to own.

They were worth it, but if you paired one of those with Johnson, you were also OK. And then if you combined two of those powerhouse performers with a second-tier driver such as Jeff Gordon ($24.75), who provided the fourth-best fantasy score this week, you were cooking. Throw in a value such as Danica Patrick ($11.25), who scored the 22nd-best fantasy points, and no doubt you’re looking down at the rest of the league right now.

This will be the formula for winning the rest of the way now that the field has, in a sense, been condensed. It could be a different combination every week, because we don’t know which drivers will catch a bit of bad luck at any given time. But Kenseth appears to be the gold standard at the moment. There are always those early-season engine problems that enter as a potential worry with the No. 20, but they seem to have those issues behind them.

With six wins and counting in what is shaping up to be perhaps his best season, Kenseth at $27.75 is still priced the same as Johnson and beneath Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. So even though Kenseth might not be a choice that has a lot of sizzle, he is the right choice for your foundation heading into New Hampshire.

Key Fantasy Moment: Things seemed to be going great for Joey Logano in his Chase debut after he won the Coors Light Pole Award and led the first 32 laps of the Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. But then Logano started to have engine problems, and after battling them valiantly finally had to succumb on Lap 176. Logano finished 37th at Chicagoland, his worst showing since back-to-back 40th-place finishes at Daytona and New Hampshire in July. It’s the first time Logano has had engine problems since way back at Talladega, but it still might be worth dropping him just to see if his price, which had risen during a recent hot streak, might come back down to earth.

Biggest Bargain: It was a virtual dead heat between Aric Almirola and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who finished 11th and 12th, respectively, in the NASCAR Fantasy Live game this week. Almirola scored 53.5 fantasy points, with 20 of them coming on quality passes, while Stenhouse had 51.5 points. Almirola cost fantasy owners $17.25 while Stenhouse was $15.75. The good news about Almirola is he finished fifth earlier this season at New Hampshire, so it’s tempting to hold onto him another week. Same goes for Stenhouse, who now has two top-10s in a row after not getting a single top-10 in the first 25 races this season.

Biggest Bust: For the third time this season a major engine problem sent Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the garage early. And for the third time in the past six weeks, the driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet had a finish of 30th or worse — this time coming in 35th at Chicagoland. While his popularity might be contributing to Junior’s rising price tag (up to $26.50 last week), recent history suggests fantasy owners should look elsewhere on that price level for their fantasy driver. Junior had the ninth-worst fantasy score this week with nine points.  

Tip to Take Forward: Jimmie Johnson overcame pit-stop problems of his team’s doing as well as an official’s apparent error to finish fifth Sunday. It was by far Johnson’s best finish in a five-week span and a signal that the No. 48 is back on track. That’s good news for fantasy owners searching for a smartly priced elite driver. Johnson’s recent woes dropped him to $27.75, which is equal to Matt Kenseth’s price and less than Kyle Busch ($28.75) and Kevin Harvick ($28). Grab J.J. at a reduced price entering New Hampshire, where he has the third-best Driver Rating (105.1) over the past eight seasons.

MORE:

READ: Kenseth wins at rainy Chicagoland

READ: Engine failure halts Logano’s fast Chase start

WATCH: Post-Race Reactions GEICO 400

WATCH: Final Laps: Kenseth takes Chicagoland
Posted on by Brad Norman

Kenseth wins, but Busch, Johnson shine, too; rough night for Logano, Earnhardt Jr.

1. Matt Kenseth (No. 20)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Where he stands: Kenseth leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with 2,063 points.
Last week: What a way to start the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Kenseth entered the postseason as the top seed and with more points than anyone else, then earned the maximum of 48 points in his rain-delayed victory at Chicagoland in the playoff opener. Kenseth won and led the most laps, giving him all possible bonus points. And on a day where engines went down, especially in the Toyota camp, his No. 20 ran strong through the checkered flag.
What he said: “I’ve always wanted to win here in Chicago. It’s only a couple hours from where I grew up — up in Wisconsin. So, it feels great to finally get the win here. We’ve been close a lot. Man, it’s been a long week for everybody. So, it feels great to finally race and be here in Victory Lane.”
Outlook: In 27 career starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kenseth has five top-fives and 13 top-10s. In the past eight years at New Hampshire, Kenseth ranks 20th out of 56 drivers with an average place of 15.7. He finished ninth in the first 2013 race at New Hampshire.

2. Kyle Busch (No. 18)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Where he stands: Busch is second in the standings with 2,055 points.
Last week: Busch couldn’t quite pull off the tripleheader sweep, but he came as close as a driver could get. Following victories in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series, Busch finished second to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth. The No. 18 Toyota led 67 laps and was winning late before Kenseth passed him with 23 laps remaining.
What he said: “I can’t say enough about the guys, Dave Rogers (crew chief) and these guys did a great job from Saturday where we were to (Sunday). I didn’t think we had a shot, but the speed really came alive here at night for us and we were really fast.”
Outlook: In 17 career starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Busch has one win, five top-fives, seven top-10s and one pole. In the past eight years at New Hampshire, Busch ranks 12th out of 56 drivers with an average place of 14.3. He finished second in the first 2013 race at New Hampshire.

3. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Where he stands: Johnson is third in the standings with 2,052 points.
Last week: Johnson faced several issues that could have derailed his day (and night), but the No. 48 team rallied as it so often does in the Chase. First, an apparent official’s mistake on pit road cost Johnson time. Then on a later pit stop, a brand-new jack broke and slowed him up. But the 48 got better as the night went on, and tore through the field late to finish fifth. Johnson also led 40 laps.
What he said: “The next to the last run, we got ourselves right back in the thick of things. And unfortunately, just didn’t have the speed at the end there, for that final segment to go race for the end. But, from a jack failing to a call on pit road for a lug nut that was not supposedly on, and a variety of issues, it was a great comeback.”
Outlook: In 23 career starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Johnson has three wins, eight top-fives and 16 top-10s. In the past eight years at New Hampshire, Johnson ranks third out of 56 drivers with an average place of 9.9. He finished sixth in the first 2013 race at New Hampshire.

4. Kevin Harvick (No. 29)

Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet 

Where he stands: Harvick is fourth in the standings with 2,048 points.
Last week: Harvick was one of the most proficient drivers on restarts throughout the night, which enabled him to continually move up from his starting position of 17th. That was enough to overcome some pit-road pitfalls, including losing ground by taking four tires (everyone else took two) and once when he was blocked in by Dave Blaney in a traffic-jam of cars during fuel-only stops.
What he said: “Yeah, we had a lot of fun. Obviously our car was running really good after the break there. These guys did a lot of work in between while it was raining there. So they did a good job with the car and making some adjustments to the car there toward the end. Had a lot of fun and came up a couple short, but a good day.”
Outlook: In 25 career starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Harvick has one wins, five top-fives, 13 top-10s and one pole. In the past eight years at New Hampshire, Harvick ranks eighth out of 56 drivers with an average place of 12.8. He finished seventh in the first 2013 race at New Hampshire.

5. Carl Edwards (No. 99)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford 

Where he stands: Edwards is fifth in the standings with 2,040 points.
Last week: Edwards didn’t finish in the top 10 at Chicagoland, like eight other Chase drivers did. But in the No. 99 Ford, Edwards finished 11th and also got a bonus point for leading a lap. The bonus point for leading a lap helped him keep fifth place in the standings — which is where he was entering Sunday’s race.
What he said: “There are a couple of things I wish I could take back. I tried the high side one time and about five or six guys freight-trained me on the bottom. The last restart we all just kind of fought for the bottom and I had to check up or I was going to wreck Greg (Biffle). That got us. Other than that, the strategy I think was very good to have good tires at the end.”
Outlook: In 18 career starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Edwards has two top-fives and four top-10s. In the past eight years at New Hampshire, Edwards ranks 13th out of 56 drivers with an average place of 14.3. He finished eighth in the first 2013 race at New Hampshire.

6. Kurt Busch (No. 78)

Furniture Row Racing, Chevrolet 

Where he stands: Busch is sixth in the standings with 2,040 points.
Last week: Busch got busted for speeding on pit road Sunday, something that has plagued the driver all season. But it happened early enough in the race to where the No. 78 could recover. A series of cautions allowed Busch to get back on the lead lap, and his Chevrolet kicked into cruise control from there. The ‘Outlaw’ drove to a fourth-place finish and moved up four spots in the standings.
What he said: “We had to overcome adversity with speeding on pit road. All my lights were green, but hey, when you are cutting it that close and they say you are speeding just take it, get your penalty over with and get back on your horse. We had to come from behind and then we got the wave around. Battling up through on the restarts, one of them we went from eighth to third and then the car just was off just a fuzz. Top-fives are what it’s all about in the Chase.”
Outlook: In 25 career starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Busch has three wins, seven top-fives and 11 top-10s. In the past eight years at New Hampshire, Busch ranks 10th out of 56 drivers with an average place of 13.5. He finished 31st in the first 2013 race at New Hampshire.

7. Jeff Gordon (No. 24)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Where he stands: Gordon is seventh in the standings with 2,039 points.
Last week: Gordon didn’t know he would drive in the postseason until two days before the race, when NASCAR awarded him an unprecedented 13th spot in the Chase field. The veteran made the most of it at Chicagoland and finished sixth after losing out on a spirited duel for fifth place with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson. Gordon was in the lead on a late restart but, in an incredible bit of bad luck, had a front tire go down. (Watch video of that incident below.) Forced to pit, the No. 24 team later caught a fortuitous caution to get back on the lead lap. Now Gordon is, appropriately, 24 points behind leader Matt Kenseth.
What he said: “Well, that was an incredible accomplishment. It just shows how much fight this team has in them. We never give up. And, what an awesome Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet race car we had tonight. To think how far down we were with 40 laps to go, to be able to come up through there and get sixth and have a shot at a top-five was a lot of fun.”
Outlook: In 37 career starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Gordon has three wins, 16 top-fives, 22 top-10s and four poles. In the past eight years at New Hampshire, Gordon ranks first out of 56 drivers with an average place of 7.3. He finished 10th in the first 2013 race at New Hampshire.

8. Ryan Newman (No. 39)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Where he stands: Newman is eighth in the standings with 2,035 points.
Last week: Newman is like Jeff Gordon in that he wasn’t included in the initial 12-driver field, but was later added following NASCAR’s ruling after the controversy at Richmond. And also like Gordon, Newman made the most of his chance, finishing 10th in the Chase opener and gaining four spots in the standings. | Click here to read a roundup on the six members of the Coca-Cola Racing Family.
What he said: “Track position was really important. We were stuck in the back of the pack for a while and couldn’t really get going — every time I got up behind someone, I’d just get so tight I couldn’t do anything with it. Matt (Borland, crew chief) got us position with a couple of two-tire stops, and once we were up front we were able to make a little more of it.”
Outlook: In 23 career starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Newman has three wins, six top-fives, 15 top-10s and six poles. In the past eight years at New Hampshire, Newman ranks ninth out of 56 drivers with an average place of 13.0. He finished 39th in the first 2013 race at New Hampshire.

9. Clint Bowyer (No. 15)

Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota 

Where he stands: Bowyer is ninth in the standings with 2,035 points.
Last week: Bowyer’s finish at Chicagoland was a story we’ve seen several times this season. The No. 15 Toyota was nowhere near the lead pack for the majority of the race; then suddenly, as the race neared its end, Bowyer somehow found his way into the top 10. The driver finished ninth to cap a pretty miserable week in which he was accused of intentionally spinning at Richmond. He’s ninth in the standings now, and the lack of wins this year is starting to catch up.
What he said: “It was a good night.”
Outlook: In 15 career starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Bowyer has two wins, four top-fives, six top-10s and one pole. In the past eight years at New Hampshire, Bowyer ranks sixth out of 56 drivers with an average place of 12.1. He finished 13th in the first 2013 race at New Hampshire.

10. Kasey Kahne (No. 5)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Where he stands: Kahne is 10th in the standings with 2,032 points.
Last week: Kahne survived a calamitous situation on pit road in which he was bumped by another driver, causing damage to his No. 5 Chevrolet, and finished 12th. His showing gave Hendrick Motorsports three drivers finishing in the top 12, and also ensured that 10 of the 13 Chase drivers finished in the top 12.
What he said: “Yes, it was actually a pretty good finish for what we had. There were like three or four guys clueless on pit road; they are all stopping and can’t find their stalls — like we’ve never done this before. I was racing Carl (Edwards) and the next thing you know I’m trying to stop and Junior is trying to get stopped and we are all hitting one another. Hurt our car pretty bad and from there we just battled.”
Outlook: In 19 career starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kahne has one win, three top-fives and eight top-10s. In the past eight years at New Hampshire, Kahne ranks 14th out of 56 drivers with an average place of 14.3. He finished 11th in the first 2013 race at New Hampshire.

11. Greg Biffle (No. 16)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford 

Where he stands: Biffle is 11th in the standings with 2,032 points.
Last week: Biffle’s car nearly blew up for good multiple times Sunday. Combine that with some problems on pit road, and The Biff wasn’t too disappointed in his 16th-place finish. His No. 16 Ford led two laps and ran in the top three at times before losing some power. The fact that his engine didn’t blow completely ensures that Biffle is still in reasonable contention for the title. | Click here to read a roundup on the six members of the Coca-Cola Racing Family.
What he said: “That was a rough night. We had major issues in the pits. I don’t know what happened. We started from the back a few times and it is really hard to get track position to pass. Our car was pretty good but every time we got ourselves worked up there, something happened. Something broke. I thought the motor broke but it must have been something on the exhaust system. We were down quite a bit of power the last 100 laps.”
Outlook: In 22 career starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Biffle has one win, five top-fives and eight top-10s. In the past eight years at New Hampshire, Biffle ranks 16th out of 56 drivers with an average place of 14.5. He finished 15th in the first 2013 race at New Hampshire.

12. Joey Logano (No. 22)

Penske Racing, Ford 

Where he stands: Logano is 12th in the standings with 2,011 points.
Last week: Logano’s night ended in an absolute disaster. The No. 22 Ford started on the Coors Light Pole and was one of the fastest cars of the night. Logano led the first 30 laps to the competition caution, and appeared to have a top-five car. Then a lengthy rain delay didn’t do any favors to Logano’s engine, and he dropped two cylinders when racing resumed. His team told the driver to log as many laps as he could until his engine blew up, which it did on Lap 176. The 37th-place finish leaves no room for error in the final nine races. | Click here to read a roundup on the six members of the Coca-Cola Racing Family.
What he said: “I am pretty angry. That was such a fast race car we had. Unfortunately the motor blew up. You have these every once in awhile. It is a bummer to have it in the Chase when you are running for a championship. I feel like Chicago was one of those tracks we could win at.”
Outlook: In 10 career starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Logano has one win, two top-fives and four top-10s. In the past eight years at New Hampshire, Logano ranks 25th out of 56 drivers with an average place of 22.6. He finished 40th in the first 2013 race at New Hampshire.

13. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Where he stands: Earnhardt Jr. is 13th in the standings with 2,010 points.
Last week: Earnhardt Jr. started the Chase in a hole, considering he had no wins in the regular season and therefore no bonus points. His 35th-place finish at Chicagoland, after his engine blew up late in the race, puts him last in the 13-driver field and 53 points behind leader Matt Kenseth. (Watch video of his incident below.)
What he said: “We had a car we were pretty happy with and you know just thought we were going to have a pretty good night. Something broke there in the motor. It’s tough. It’s going to be really hard to win a championship this far behind.”
Outlook: In 28 career starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Earnhardt Jr. has seven top-fives and 11 top-10s. In the past eight years at New Hampshire, Earnhardt Jr. ranks fifth out of 56 drivers with an average place of 11.7. He finished 14th in the first 2013 race at New Hampshire.

MORE:

READ: Kenseth wins at rainy Chicagoland

READ: Engine failure halts Logano’s fast Chase start

WATCH: Post-Race Reactions GEICO 400

WATCH: Final Laps: Kenseth takes Chicagoland
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42 drivers in the field at Kentucky Speedway

Click here to see an entry list for this weekend’s race

MORE:

READ: Kenseth wins at rainy Chicagoland

READ: Engine failure halts Logano’s fast Chase start

WATCH: Post-Race Reactions GEICO 400

WATCH: Final Laps: Kenseth takes Chicagoland
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Driver ‘pretty angry’ after starting from Coors Light Pole

JOLIET, Ill. — Joey Logano’s debut appearance in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup had started off so well.

The Penske Racing driver won the Coors Light Pole for the playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway and led the opening 32 laps on the 1.5-mile track. But after a five-hour rain delay and a subsequent flurry of cautions that jumbled the field, Logano began falling back with what was soon diagnosed as an engine problem.

With two cylinders down, Logano stayed in the race as long as he could — until the engine let go on Lap 176, sending its driver to the garage area and toward the bottom of a Chase field that was expanded to 13 drivers this week with addition of Jeff Gordon.

“I am pretty angry,” Logano said. “That was such a fast race car we had. After the rain delay, we came in and put on four tires and lost some track position, but we were going to take two on the next one … Unfortunately, the motor blew up. You have these every once in awhile. It is a bummer to have it in the Chase when you are running for a championship. I feel like Chicago was one of those tracks we could win at. Everyone was doing the right thing. We have a really fast race car and we put it on the pole and led laps today. It just wasn’t our day I guess.”

The start of the race was delayed almost 90 minutes by weather, and Logano was third when the race was halted again for rain — this time for five hours and 10 minutes. On Lap 145 he began falling back, and during a caution for a Justin Allgaier spin radioed to his team that he thought he had a cylinder down. Smoke began emanating from the vehicle, and Logano went to pit road where his team went under the hood of the No. 22.

“Run it until they make you park it,” he was told by his team, and down two cylinders he did just that, barely able to maintain minimum speed. Finally the engine had enough, and it let go on a night that had turned very cool — very different conditions than what teams had anticipated out of a race that was scheduled to begin in the early afternoon. Brian Vickers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin also retired with apparent engine failures spanning all three manufacturers on NASCAR’s top series.

“When the temps outside go down and you are making more horsepower, you are going a lot faster on the race track,” Logano said. “I was having to lift early into (Turn 1) because I was up against the chip. It was a lot of RPMs. I don’t think I will be the last one to blow up today. The things are torqued up. It was OK most of the time. We haven’t really had an engine issue that was internal in the motor this whole year. Usually we have one or two a year.”

Crew chief Todd Gordon said it was less a matter of temperature than it was speed. “Track’s pretty fast,” he said. “Lot of RPM.”

Logano was far from the only championship contender to battle problems on a Sunday afternoon and evening when most of the Chase field experienced issues. But Logano’s was terminal, and it occurred while most of the field was still on the race track, and it was a series blow to his hopes of winning the Sprint Cup title his first time in the Chase.

“The problem is it is only 10 races, and that makes it hard, but we aren’t out of it,: Logano said. “We have a shot at it. This team has shown how good we are. It is always a bummer when you have a mechanical failure like that when you can’t really do much about it. Other times you can at least be mad at yourself or something you did wrong. Everyone did a good job. That is what we have to hold our heads up about. It is a tough break for this team. We are strong. We have battled through a lot of adversity this year, and we will keep doing it.” 

MORE:

READ: Kenseth wins at rainy Chicagoland

READ: Engine failure halts Logano’s fast Chase start

WATCH: Post-Race Reactions GEICO 400

WATCH: Final Laps: Kenseth takes Chicagoland
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With Gordon in Chase, team owner now has all four cars in playoff

MORE: Full coverage of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup

JOLIET, Ill. — Over the span of a few days, Rick Hendrick went from “disgusted” over the result of last weekend’s regular-season finale at Richmond International Raceway, to having all four of his drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for a second consecutive season.

A whirlwind week for the most successful car owner of NASCAR’s modern era took an unforeseen turn Friday, when Jeff Gordon was added as a 13th driver to the playoff on the authority of chairman Brian France. That surprising move capped a crazy span that included team manipulation of the Richmond race, historic penalties that knocked one driver out in favor of another, and then the addition of an extra competitor in what by rule has been a 12-man Chase.

Gordon now joins his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the 10-race Chase, which opens Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway.

“It was probably one of the most up-and-down weeks,” Hendrick said Sunday. “I thought as the race ended that Jeff was in the race, then the monitor showed that he wasn’t. I didn’t really learn a lot of the facts until we got back home. I applaud NASCAR for really looking at things and making it right. I thought (Gordon) deserved … to be in the Chase. I think it’s all worked out now and we’re ready to move on. I’m really ready to focus on the Chase now with all four cars in it, and hopefully we’ll have a good day here today.”

When last weekend’s race ended, Hendrick said he thought Gordon had narrowly qualified for the playoff. It was only after he had climbed off the pit box that he heard crew chief Alan Gustafson tell Gordon that they had missed it by a point — although Gordon would have needed two extra positions to overtake Joey Logano, who by virtue of his victory at Michigan held the tiebreaker for the final Chase bid determined by the standings.

When Hendrick left Richmond, he was aware that Clint Bowyer had spun with seven laps remaining to bring out the final caution — but didn’t know a controversy over potential race manipulation was blooming, one reason why he didn’t argue Gordon’s cause in the NASCAR hauler after the race.

“I’ve been doing this 30 years, and I’ve never been to the hauler at the end of a race and had any decision reversed,” Hendrick said. “… The race is the race and that’s it, and that’s the way it’s been for 30-plus years. I was just disgusted and left. I didn’t hang around, and left. I got out of there as soon as it was over, because it wouldn’t have done any good.”

In the ensuing days, everything began to change. Two days after the Richmond race, NASCAR charged Michael Waltrip Racing with attempting to manipulate the outcome of the event, and imposed penalties that knocked MWR driver Martin Truex Jr. out of the Chase in favor of Ryan Newman, who was en route to potentially winning until Bowyer spun. That, plus an unexpected decision to pit on the final restart by MWR’s Brian Vickers, helped Truex grab the final Wild Card and Logano seize the final spot based on standings, leaving Newman and Gordon on the outside looking in.

After suspicious radio communications emerged involving Logano’s Penske Racing team and the Front Row Motorsports program of David Gilliland — who each field Fords — France took the extraordinary step of overriding the rule book and placing Gordon in the Chase as a 13th driver.

Hendrick said AARP, sponsor of Gordon’s No. 24 car, was “calling me all week, and they were very disappointed and upset.” The team owner says he was packing meals at an AARP event in the Chicago area on Friday afternoon when he learned that Gordon had been added to the playoff. Having an extra car in the Chase is a big deal for an organization — Kyle Busch said earlier this week it often brings bonuses from sponsors and manufacturers, and can mean up to an additional $3.5 million for a team.

“It’s huge. It really is huge,” Hendrick said. “You don’t want a sponsor to feel like they got robbed. And NASCAR’s in a tough spot, because you can’t make everybody happy. They have to have a rule and live by the rules, and I think they did a good job this week. And from what I’ve heard, Brian is putting his foot down, and we’re going to see a lot tighter rein on what’s happening on the track.”

Hendrick said the race manipulation scandal that’s gripped NASCAR in the wake of last weekend’s Richmond race will probably benefit the sport in the long run. And what he’s seen in France in recent days reminds him of the current chairman’s father and predecessor, Bill France Jr., who often oversaw NASCAR using a very firm hand.

“I’m just ready to end it,” Hendrick said. “I’m glad that Jeff’s in the Chase. I think Brian France did a great job, he stepped and said, ‘I’m going to make the decision, and this is the way it’s going to be.’ It sounded like Bill. ‘I’m going to make sure this doesn’t happen, and this is the way we’re going to race from here on.’ So I applaud NASCAR for what they’ve done. I think everybody in the garage, if we could go back and run Richmond over, I would be a lot different.”

MORE:

READ: Driver previews:
The Chase

READ: Fantasy preview:
The Chase

READ: Race breakdowns:
The Chase

READ: Top 10 Chase moments
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Five-Time rallies for top-five showing

Related: Full coverage of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup

JOLIET, Ill. — Saturday night’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup opener produced a few career firsts for Jimmie Johnson, but the event at Chicagoland Speedway ultimately resulted in something very familiar — the five-time NASCAR champion staging the kind of comeback that’s helped keep him at or near the top of the sport’s premier division for so long.

He fell behind once because of an incorrect official’s call on a lug nut during a pit stop. He fell behind again when the jack broke as his team was changing the left-side tires on his No. 48 car. And yet there was Johnson at the end, charging up through the field as he so often has, turning a trying day — and night, given the five-hour rain delay — into a fifth-place finish and promising start to the Chase.

“Really big,” he called it. “The next-to-last run, we got ourselves right back in the thick of things. Unfortunately we didn’t have the speed in that last segment to go race for the win. But from the jack failing, from the call on pit road with a lug nut not supposed to be on, it was a variety of issues. It was a great comeback. Want to finish better, of course, but proud of all the hard work.”

Johnson entered the Chase as the No. 2 seed, but on the heels of four straight difficult races in which his best finish was 28th. Sunday was a challenge from the beginning — Johnson pitted from the lead under green early in the event, and the official in the No. 48 team’s pit box pointed out what appeared to be a loose lug nut on the vehicle’s right-rear wheel during the ensuing stop.

Except that when a crewman doubled back to check the wheel, he found the nut tightened into place. The slow stop dropped Johnson to fifth, although he had improved to fourth when the event was interrupted by rain on Lap 109 of a scheduled 267.

“One had fallen off during the hand-in, so it was kind of hanging there, but the tire changer had taken the time. He did his job,” crew chief Chad Knaus said. “He did a great job getting the other lug nut on there and making sure it was tight. The official thought there were only four on there. We all make mistakes. That happens from time to time.”

“Chad didn’t want me to leave the box without all the lugs on, because that’s a penalty, and on and on it went,” Johnson added. “So, long story short, I sat there on pit road while the clock was ticking and we proved our case that all five were on there.”

A bigger hurdle was yet to come. Pitting under caution after a spin by Justin Allgaier, Johnson pulled into his box for what appeared a routine stop — until the jack suddenly wouldn’t function after it was carried around to the left side. Crewmen quickly switched it out, but the slight delay was enough to drop Johnson back to 22nd once the race resumed.

“Two brand new things that I’ve never experienced in my career for sure,” Johnson said after the race of the twin pit incidents. “We’ve had some other trying times, but this was a first.”

The car, though, never suffered. If anything it improved as the race went along, particularly after the long weather delay. “Really starting to come in now,” Johnson said over the radio as the final 100 laps approached. He stormed back toward the front, stalling out only slightly over the event’s final run as he dueled Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon for fifth.

“We went through a series of issues and were stuck in the 20s for a long time, and I knew the laps were clicking down,” Johnson said. “That second-to-last run, the car was awesome, and I went flying though there. Prior to that restart, my mind was set on maybe a top-10. I didn’t even think a top-five was in the question. But the car was so good, and I could roll the top and pass a lot of guys and got to third. I did have a little doubt. Certainly wasn’t going to give up, but got concerned, and things started going in the right direction.”

The effort was good enough for Johnson to hold third in the Chase standings, behind the Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch, who finished 1-2 in the playoff opener. Johnson had been second, three points behind top-seeded Kenseth, to start the playoff. He’s now 11 off the lead heading to New Hampshire next weekend.

“Not happy, no, not by any means,” Knaus said. “But we had a lot of weird things happen, and we were able to get back up there and get a solid finish. But solid finishes aren’t going to be what wins championships. We’ve got to perform better all the way across the board. We had a good race car, Jimmie did an amazing job. We failed a little bit on pit road, some of it is our own doing, some of it not. But we’ll do better. We’re excited about Loudon.”

Even though Johnson ultimately lost points to the leader, he knew it could have been worse.

“You just don’t want to get off to a bad start,” he said. “I hate not taking any points away from the 20 (car of Kenseth), because I know how hard he’s going to beat all year, and he did an awesome job tonight. We’re going to have our hands full. This is going to be awesome championship battle down to the end.”

And Johnson may very well be in it to the end, especially if he and his race team keep pulling off comebacks like the one they mounted Sunday night.

“There’s always doubt, but we never stop believing, man,” Knaus said, as a certain Journey song played over the track’s public address system. “We always fight. We’re not smart enough to quit.”

MORE:

READ: Kenseth wins at rainy Chicagoland

READ: Engine failure halts Logano’s fast Chase start

WATCH: Post-Race Reactions GEICO 400

WATCH: Final Laps: Kenseth takes Chicagoland
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Top-seeded Chase driver pulls away to win following rain delay

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JOLIET, Ill. — The rich got richer. 

Matt Kenseth, the top seed in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, added to his advantage in Sunday’s rain-interrupted GEICO 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. 

With a strong push from Kevin Harvick after a restart with on Lap 245 of 267, Kenseth pulled away to beat Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch to the checkered flag by .749 seconds and deny Busch the second three-series weekend sweep of his career. 

The victory was Kenseth’s sixth of the season, tops in the Cup series, and his most ever in a single season. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota claimed his first win at Chicagoland and the 30th of his career, 22nd on the all-time list.

“I’ve always wanted to win here in Chicago,” an elated Kenseth said in Victory Lane. “It’s only a couple hours from where I grew up — up in Wisconsin. So it feels great to finally get the win here. We’ve been close a lot.”

Harvick came home third, followed by Kurt Busch, who rallied from a lap down after a pit road speeding penalty in the first third of the race.

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon both overcame considerable adversity to finish fifth and sixth, respectively, as Chase drivers claimed the top six spots in the finishing order and 10 of the first 12.

Other championship contenders weren’t so lucky. Pole winner Joey Logano brought his car to pit road under caution with engine issues on Lap 149 of 267. After Lap 175, the engine gave up the ghost, and Logano retired in 37th place.

With the nose of his car punctured during a pit road accident on Lap 169, Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered an engine failure on Lap 226, his heavily taped car overheating and ultimately erupting in a geyser of steam and smoke. Earnhardt dropped out in 35th place.

“We had a car we were pretty happy with and you know just thought we were going to have a pretty good night,” Earnhardt said ruefully after taking the car to the garage. “I don’t know what was going on on pit road there, but we knocked the front end off of it on pit road.  Those guys all stopped on pit road in front of us. 

“We were trying to get that fixed.  We still had a chance to get that fixed and get the downforce back in the front.  We cut the grill all up and the downforce was gone and we lost a lap there. We were going to get that patched up and maybe be able to make something out of it, but something broke there in the motor. It’s tough. It’s going to be really hard to win a championship this far behind.”

The race was red-flagged for more than five hours as rain pelted the 1.5-mile track. The action resumed at approximately 10 p.m. ET with Kenseth in the lead.

Kyle Busch held the lead when Cole Whitt’s spin off Turn 4 on Lap 239 caused the ninth caution. Busch and Kenseth lined up for a restart on Lap 245 with Busch to the outside, Harvick behind Kenseth and Kurt Busch behind his brother.

Harvick thought his best option was to push Kenseth rather than to take the two cars on the front row three-wide into Turn 1.

“They were evenly matched,” Harvick said of Kenseth and Busch. “I was hoping they would get side by side, you have one of them slide up, able to get three‑wide or something happen. 

“I figured that was better than going to the bottom and getting three‑wide and being pinned on the bottom and getting passed by two or three cars on the top. I figured that was my best option.”

Kenseth was delighted Harvick saw it that way.

“Man, he gave me a big push on that restart, where he could have tried to squeeze it in on the apron, (but he gave) me a big push and got me out front,” said Kenseth, who leads his teammate by eight points with nine races left in the Chase. “I owe him one for that, for sure.”

Kyle Busch, who had won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series races the previous two days, saw his chance for a sweep evaporate after Kenseth pulled away.

“Oh, yeah, I watched it slip right away,” Busch said. “Nothing you can do about it. Certainly, it would be nice if we could have won tonight and brought home a trifecta. I didn’t think we had a chance after yesterday’s practice. In the race today, the car was totally different. I could drive the heck out of it.

“It was going to be cool, (but) there’s always those cautions.”

Johnson continued to experience the sort of adversity that has plagued him for the last two months — with one major difference. This time he overcame it.

Johnson had taken the lead after a two-tire pit stop under a competition caution on Lap 32. His advantage had reached three seconds before confusion during a green-flag stop on Lap 75 cost him four positions on the track.

Johnson’s rear tire changer replaced a dropped lug nut on the right rear tire, but the NASCAR official overseeing the action in the No. 48 pit thought there were only four lugs on the tire, instead of the requisite five.

The official ordered the changer back to the right rear, costing Johnson precious seconds, before realizing that all five lugs were in place.

“One (lug nut) had fallen off during the hand-in (of the tire), so it was kind of hanging there, but the tire changer had taken the time,” said crew chief Chad Knaus. “He did his job. He did a great job getting the other lug nut on there and making sure it was tight.

“The official thought there were only four on there. We all make mistakes. That happens from time to time.”

Johnson, however, rebounded from the mishap and was running fourth when a sudden cloudburst coincided with Whitt’s spin off Turn 4, necessitating the second caution of the day. Shortly thereafter, NASCAR brought the cars to pit road and stopped the race.

After the resumption, a broken jack dropped Johnson to 22nd in the running order, but the speed in his car carried him back toward the front of the field.

Gordon, an 11th-hour addition to the Chase on Friday, brought his car to pit road with a flat left rear tire after leading the field to a restart on Lap 173, but an opportune caution at the end of a pit stop cycle kept him on the lead lap late in the race.

Gordon carved his way through traffic and was battling Johnson for the fifth spot when the race ended.

MORE:

READ: Kenseth wins at rainy Chicagoland

READ: Engine failure halts Logano’s fast Chase start

WATCH: Post-Race Reactions GEICO 400

WATCH: Final Laps: Kenseth takes Chicagoland
Posted on by Holly Cain

Nationwide Series driver discusses social media and lessons from the season

On Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway, Nelson Piquet Jr. earned his fourth top-10 finish of the season in his NASCAR Nationwide Series rookie campaign, coming to the start/finish line in 10th. It was his first top-10 finish since his seventh-place results at Watkins Glen International.

Driver of the No. 30 Qualcomm Chevrolet for Turner Scott Motorsports, Piquet could hardly walk two feet through the paddock last month at the Glen earlier this month without a fan stopping him for a quick photo on their cellphone or to oblige with an autograph.

It’s a similar scene everywhere the second-generation racer competes. The 28-year old Brazilian has a huge international following from his native South America to Europe — where he raced in Formula One — and now in America, where he is making his way up through the NASCAR ranks.

The two-time Camping World Truck Series winner got his first win in the Nationwide Series last year at Elkhart Lake, Wisc.

NASCAR.com sat down with Piquet to see how important technology is to keeping him connected to his massive fan base and to his performance each week behind the wheel of the Qualcomm Chevy.

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How do you stay in touch with your friends and fans overseas?

Piquet: Pretty much the same way I stay in touch with friends here. With my friends in Brazil, I use my mobile phone and all kinds of applications. I think the one I use the most is “Whatsapp” because it’s free texting and everyone seems to have it over there. It’s not big yet here in America but everybody over there is using it. I also keep in contact with social media. It’s on the tip of my hands on the phone all the time.

To that point, you were one of the first drivers to embrace Twitter and your following is along the same lines as NASCAR champions Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. How do you use social media?

Piquet: You have periods, you know good days and better days. It’s a tool where fans feel closer to their idols and I think it’s important. You get more fans (using it) and you find that you can show your character out there more. It’s not just by winning races but showing your opinion on things and what your character is. Twitter I’ve been using since 2008 or 2009 when I was racing in F1. In the beginning, it was a push for me to use it and then I got used to it.

How connected to your fans on social media do you feel?

Piquet: It depends on the period. This year, with average results it feels not so much then when you get better results it seems to come back. Last year seemed to be better, this year obviously, with average results it’s not as good. It depends on your results basically. The better results you have, the more people you have talking to you and asking you questions. Unfortunately, this year hasn’t been what we expected so hopefully next year will be different.

NASCAR has become so advanced technologically speaking. How do you use technology and communication during a race weekend?

Piquet: During the race, obviously, the crew chief and engineers look into lap times, and do calculations and let us know how many laps left we have of fuel, when we need to pit. A few little things that give us information inside the car through the radio which gives us insight on how much extra we should push or how much we are lacking in speed, things like that. The technology side of it is more for the guys on the pit wall who have all the numbers and pass it along in the race through the radio.

Are there any particular uses of technology that help you prepare leading up to race or perhaps have paid immediate dividends?

Piquet: There’s a lot of data the engineers receive like when we have new tire compounds. They receive all kinds of data comparing the previous tire to the new tire. There’s video (analysis) we use called Dartfish, where they lay over two cars and we can see where we are slower and where we are quicker compared to the other car. And there’s iRacing I use before visiting the race tracks, places we haven’t been before. iRacing is more helpful for sure on a road course than an oval. I have an iPad in practice with all the information I can have, the lap times, what everybody else is doing, graphs that show what trends are of lap times. You can do long runs and I can compare myself to them to see how far off or how close I am to them.

What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your first full Nationwide Series season?

Piquet: The competition is very strong and your car needs to be really perfect, really good to be running up front. The engineers need to be really precise, the crew chief needs to be precise on the set-ups to get everything right and have a good car. And the driver needs to do everything perfectly to be able to win a race because there are about 10 cars that can win a race every weekend.

 

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

UPS


KENSETH GETS WINNING PUSH FROM HARVICK  

Matt Kenseth, the top seed in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, added to his advantage in Sunday’s rain-interrupted GEICO 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
 
With a strong push from Kevin Harvick after a restart with on Lap 245 of 267, Kenseth pulled away to beat Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch to the checkered flag and deny Busch the second three-series weekend sweep of his career.
 
The victory was Kenseth’s sixth of the season, tops in the Cup series. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota claimed his first win at Chicagoland and the 30th of his career.

ENGINE FAILURE HURTS LOGANO’S TITLE HOPES

Joey Logano’s debut appearance in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup had started off so well.

The Penske Racing driver won the pole for the playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway, and led the opening 32 laps on the 1.5-mile track. But after a five-hour rain delay and a subsequent flurry of cautions that jumbled the field, Logano began falling back with what was soon diagnosed as an engine problem.

With two cylinders down, Logano stayed in the race as long as he could — until the engine let go on lap 176, sending its driver to the garage area and toward bottom of a Chase field that was expanded to 13 drivers this week with addition of Jeff Gordon.

JOHNSON, GORDON BOUNCE BACK FOR STRONG FINISHES

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon both overcame considerable adversity to finish fifth and sixth, respectively, as Chase drivers claimed the top six spots in the finishing order and 10 of the first 12.

“Just a great effort you know we never gave up just got to keep working through things,” Johnson said. “That second to last run we had a very fast race car and got up to the front and thought I had a chance to win this thing, but that last run we just didn’t have what we needed and came home in fifth.”

“Well, that was an incredible accomplishment. It just shows how much fight this team has in them,” Gordon said. “We never give up. And, what an awesome Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet race car we had tonight. Whoa! Man, it was so much fun!  To think how far down we were with 40 laps to go, I know we were like 18th on one of those last restarts. So, to be able to come up through there and get 6th and have a shot at a top-5 was a lot of fun.”

David Caraviello and the NASCAR Wire Service contributed to this report.

Posted on by Staff Report

Kenseth currently leads; race scheduled for 267 laps

Related: Race leaderboard

JOLIET, Ill. — Another rain delay has hit the Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, bringing out the red flag on Lap 110 in Sunday’s first race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Matt Kenseth currently holds the lead, followed by Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch in the top five.

The Geico 400 is slated for 267 laps. Cars were called onto pit road, and then covered, when heavy rain moved into the area.

The race began on ESPN, but will move to ESPN2 for coverage tonight, should cars get back on track.

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Rain had already delayed the start of the race for nearly 90 minutes, with the green flag not dropping until 3:39 p.m. ET.

No Sprint Cup races have ever been shortened by rain at Chicagoland. The 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup opener was delayed a day by weather with eventual champion Tony Stewart winning the race.

Through 110 laps, rounding out the top 10 are Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne and Clint Bowyer. Among the top-10 drivers, all but Keselowski and Truex Jr. are in the 13-driver Chase field.

The other Chase drivers’ positions: Greg Biffle is 12th, Kevin Harvick is 14th, Carl Edwards is 16th, Ryan Newman is 17th and Kurt Busch is 27th.

Logano, who started on the Coors Light Pole, led the first 32 laps of the race. Johnson has led the most laps (40) and Kenseth has led 28 laps.

Earlier Sunday, NASCAR officials announced rules changes affecting the double-file restart procedure in the pre-race driver’s meeting. The revisions got an early test, in a restart after a competition caution at Lap 30.

Johnson, the race leader at the time, restarted the race when the green flag was displayed to the field. But Kyle Busch got a great jump, outran Johnson’s No. 48 to the start/finish line and was credited with leading the 37th lap before Johnson went back in front.

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