Kurt Busch’s future unknown; his focus isn’t

Posted on August 23, 2013 by

While former champ mulls his 2014 options, his sights are set on this year’s Chase

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Before a race at a track like Bristol Motor Speedway, Kurt Busch has a mental checklist of items he goes though. Protect the car. Don’t force the issue on restarts. Work the high groove. Watch out for other vehicles checking up in front of him.

And these days, there’s something else — block out the outside world.

Busch and his Furniture Row Racing team got another Sprint Cup Series weekend off to another good start, posting the second-fastest speed in final practice and qualifying second for Saturday night’s event. And it’s happening amid constant questions of where Busch will compete in 2014, queries that gained a large degree of traction Friday when Stewart-Haas Racing competition director Greg Zipadelli confirmed his team is actively pursuing Busch to drive a fourth car for Tony Stewart’s organization next year.

Busch, the 2004 champion of NASCAR’s top series, has also spoken with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing about the No. 42 car that will open up following Juan Pablo Montoya’s departure after this season. He’s been in ongoing negotiations with Furniture Row Racing, which has made no secret of its desire to keep him. And yet only one of those organizations can offer a championship pedigree and potential high-powered teammates like Stewart and Kevin Harvick, who will join SHR next year.

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Even so, Busch on Friday offered no indication of where he might end up.

“It’s nice when when the phone’s ringing, and people are wondering what my future plans are, and people are wanting me to be a part of a program with them,” Busch said. “It’s been a journey to say the least since things turned at the end of 2011. It’s just nice to have the ability to find good rides, and be in one. To build with these guys into the future is a possibility. And then to have the outside guys knocking on the door saying, hey, we want you to drive — it’s a good confidence-booster to say the least.”

The end of 2011 is when Busch split with Penske Racing, a breakup that sent him into a career wilderness. He began his rebound driving for a Phoenix Racing team that had limited sponsorship. Then he moved to Furniture Row, which Busch has carried to new heights — ninth in the standings with three races remaining in the regular season, the closest the No. 78 team has ever been to the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Although Busch is still looking for his first race win since 2011 — and for the No. 78 team just its second ever — that hasn’t detracted what he’s done with the Denver-based outfit.

“We’re three weeks away from the Chase, and that’s what our focus is now,” Busch said. “We don’t have to win to make this Chase. Even if we had a win right now, we would be not guaranteed a spot in the Chase. Consistency is what gets you in, and consistency wins the championship; you just have to ramp it up a notch once you’re in the Chase. Right now, blinders are on, and we’re full-focused on making sure we get nice, consistency finishes.”

In the meantime, though, there’s the question of next season. Busch has provided no clues as to his eventual destination, but goes out of his way to compliment the members of his current team. Friday he scraped the wall with 30 minutes left in final practice hard enough to contemplate a backup car. But his crew fixed the damage and got him out for a qualifying effort that netted Busch’s seventh front-row starting position of the season.

It all makes a choice for next season that much more complicated.

“The guys know that this is the time now,” Busch said. “They are all shaking my hand saying thanks, and they’re also saying, ‘Let’s do this again next year,’ and I’m like, ‘Heck yeah, I’m right there with you.’ We have to stay focused on the present as well as balance the future, and it’s a tough thing to do. You hope you can do it behind the scenes where it’s not out in the public. But today was a great reminder of how hard you have to work in this sport. When things go wrong, you have to have talented guys to pick you up.”

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Posted on August 23, 2013 by

Returning to the Nationwide series, Bayne discusses his future plans with his new sponsor

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Trevor Bayne is OK with the idea of competing full-time in the Nationwide Series once again next season.

At least, he is now.

“At first when I started thinking about it, I didn’t know if I wanted to be a Nationwide guy again,” the former Daytona 500 champion said Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. “But you get a sponsor like that, you have to take that opportunity.”
Roush Fenway Racing announced Wednesday that Bayne would return to the Nationwide tour in 2014 in a No. 6 car backed by AdvoCare — which currently sponsors the vehicle of Austin Dillon, a Richard Childress Racing driver bound for full-time competition in the Sprint Cup Series. Ultimately that’s where Bayne wants to be as well, but sponsorship dictates a return to the Nationwide ranks with occasional Sprint Cup starts as he’s done the past three years.

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Bayne said the plan is to continue to run a limited slate of Sprint Cup starts next season for Wood Brothers Racing, the team with which he won the Daytona 500 in 2011. He’s also after team co-owner Jack Roush to let him make some Sprint Cup starts in the organization’s No. 6 car, which was shuttered as a full-time program due to a lack of sponsorship following the 2011 campaign. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made four starts in the No. 6 last year before moving full-time into the team’s No. 17 car for this season.

“That’s not from Jack Roush or anybody,” Bayne said, “that’s just my hopes and what I see happening. Hopefully, we can get something going there.”

If Bayne sounds a tick impatient to accelerate his Sprint Cup career, it’s with good reason. The season after winning the Daytona 500, he had to run part-time Sprint Cup and Nationwide schedules because of sponsorship concerns. This year is his first full-time stint on the Nationwide tour since 2010, and next year will be his first without a sponsorship shortage.

For a 22-year-old driver with a victory in the Great American Race already on his resume, progressing via such baby steps has been a painfully slow process. Patience has been a difficult lesson.

“Tough. Very tough,” Bayne said. “It’s been the hardest thing for me to learn. It’s just been trying for the last few years. But I’m still here, I still have an opportunity with Jack Roush. He’s been committed to me, and I’ve been committed to them to work this thing out. He’s developed great race car drivers, and he knows what he’s doing, and we’re going to work together to make it to the next level.”

Even so, he can see the benefits of taking it slowly. Although Bayne won early this season at Iowa, his No. 6 team is only just emerging as a Nationwide contender thanks to top-10s in six of his past seven starts. Bayne entered Friday night’s race at Bristol eighth in the standings, 73 points behind leader Sam Hornish Jr.

“I think Joey Logano would tell you he felt like he moved too soon,” Bayne said, referring to last week’s Sprint Cup winner, who broke into NASCAR’s top series as an 18-year-old. “I’m not throwing him under the bus, I think he’s done a great job. He’s developed really quick. One side of me says, I just want to get in a Cup car and get experience. And the other side of me says, this is a great place to be, in the Nationwide Series.”

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Posted on August 23, 2013 by

Crew chief expected to join SHR for 2014; Kurt Busch could add fourth car

BRISTOL, Tenn. — The expansion of Stewart-Haas Racing continues with the impending addition of crew chief Rodney Childers and potential addition of driver Kurt Busch, two players who could help make the organization a four-car powerhouse for 2014.

Michael Waltrip Racing confirmed Friday that Childers — winner of three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races with the team, most recently last month with Brian Vickers — would depart the organization, likely to become Kevin Harvick’s crew chief at Stewart-Haas next season. And SHR Competition Director Greg Zipadelli said the team is moving forward with plans to accommodate a fourth car that could be driven by the 2004 series champion Busch.

They are ambitious moves for a team that will also feature Tony Stewart and Danica Patrick, and is bidding to become one of the elite organizations at NASCAR’s premier level.

“We are looking to expand,” Zipadelli said at Bristol Motor Speedway. “We are looking to do whatever we can to make Stewart-Haas a better place to race, to give our drivers better resources. … Our goal is to give our teams a better product to race every week going into Daytona. With four good drivers next year, I think it gives us that opportunity. Our owners are aggressive. It’s kind of exciting, it’s fun. At a time when everybody’s kind of going the other way, we’ve got owners who are committed to stepping up and making Stewart-Haas a bigger, better place in the future.”

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The latest move involves Childers, who for the past two seasons has overseen a No. 55 team at MWR in which three different drivers — Vickers, Waltrip and Mark Martin — have split the car. Vickers will move into that ride full-time next season. Childers is headed elsewhere, although Zipadelli said the deal for Harvick’s next crew chief is not yet completed.

“We love Rodney. We think a lot of him,” Zipadelli said. “He’s been a friend of mine for a while. We have talked to many people. He is on our radar, but we have no commitment, nothing signed. … We would love to make him a part of Stewart-Haas, but we are not there yet.”

Childers, though, gave a pretty good idea of where he’s headed. “As far as next year, it’s actually not 100 percent done. But I think everybody has a good idea what it is,” he said.

“There was no one thing that stood out at all. Everybody at MWR’s been great for five years, and really (I’ve) had no issues at all. It’s really just a personal decision. I’ve thought about it for a long time. I just woke up one day, and that’s what my heart told me I should do. Hopefully it works out.”

Meanwhile, the effort to bring Busch — who currently has single-car Furniture Row Racing in position to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup — into the fold continues. Zipadelli said SHR held talks earlier this week about expanding its North Carolina shop to accommodate a fourth car. “As far as that part of it goes, we’re pretty much committed,” he said. “We’re working on that, and if we can get it all worked out, we’re going to head that way.”

This from the same organization that last month at New Hampshire said it would not retain current driver Ryan Newman, citing the impending acquisition of Harvick and no room at the team for a potential fourth car. Zipadelli said the change in thinking was sparked by team co-owner Gene Haas, who founded the organization before Stewart was brought aboard as a driver and co-owner.

“Obviously, something’s changed. Gene is obviously a partner who started this many years ago. He’s always liked Kurt. We talked about Kurt last year, putting him in the 39 (car), and things just didn’t work out. It’s really nothing that Ryan did wrong. He’s done a great job, he’s a good guy, heck of a driver. This just kind of got sprung on us 14 days ago or less, this kind of all came down,” Zipadelli said.

“Gene just showed some interest in having the ability to put something together. Without getting into a ton more details, that’s really all it is. It’s something we’re working on. I don’t know that it will all come together, it’s going to take an awful lot. It is kind of late. We didn’t think we’d have all the pieces to put together at Loudon, and felt like it was best for Ryan to give him a fair shot at securing something for himself, which is the most important thing.”

Childers said he wasn’t sure how the end of 2013 would play out, and whether he’d remain with MWR for the rest of the season. Stepping away from the chance to work full-time with Vickers, a close friend since their go-kart days together, was the hardest part of the decision. But Martin, wheeling SHR’s No. 14 for most of the remainder of this year as Stewart recovers from a broken leg suffered in a sprint car crash, knows why his former crew chief was in such demand.

“Rodney Childers is an amazing person, and I’ll say that first and foremost. Amazing. He’s very, very smart, and very dedicated, and an incredible crew chief. It’s funny how things work out. My mission in February was to help him secure a championship-caliber sponsor and driver for 2014, so that he could race for a championship in the 55. My, how things chance over time,” Martin said.

“I would assume the whole garage would be after Rodney Childers. Last year he did a one-year contract instead of a long-term deal, because he wanted to wait to see what transpired after our year together. He wanted to work with me and Brian and Michael in 2013, and see what 2014 brought. He’s in that position now to look at all options.”

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Posted on August 23, 2013 by

Gibbs driver nets 15th career win at Tennessee track

RESULTS | STANDINGS

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Friday night’s Food City 250 wasn’t exactly a battle royal, as far as the outcome was concerned.

Heck, it wasn’t even a food fight.

In fact, when Kyle Busch wins the Coors Light Pole for a NASCAR Nationwide Series race, as he did Friday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway, the rest of the field might as well start writing concession speeches.

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Pulling away from runner-up Brad Keselowski over a green-flag run that consumed the final 72 laps, Busch won his sixth NNS event at the .533-mile short track. The victory was his ninth of the season and the series-record 60th of his career.

In winning for the 15th time at Bristol across NASCAR’s top three series, Busch led 228 of 250 laps. The pole he won earlier in the day was his sixth of the season. Each time, Busch has gone on to win the race.

The victory set up a try for a second weekend sweep at Bristol for Busch, who started with a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win on Wednesday night. To win Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race in the Sprint Cup Series, however, Busch will have to come from the back of the field, having spun during his Cup qualifying attempt Friday afternoon.

"You’ve gotta win two to go for three, and this is two," Busch exulted in Victory Lane.

Austin Dillon ran third behind Busch and Keselowski. Justin Allgaier was fourth followed by rookie Kyle Larson.

When Busch wrecked during Cup qualifying, many in the crowd cheered loudly. But Busch found perhaps the best revenge — winning, and winning emphatically, scoring his 19th Nationwide Series perfect driver rating of 150.0.

"It comes from preparation, it comes from the shop, it comes from practice here," Busch said in explaining his dominance. "(Crew chief) Adam (Stevens) and I – we work real well together. Those guys work hard. Today, just a great car and great job by these guys putting together such a great Monster Energy Camry.

"It was a lot of fun tonight. It’s cool when you can start up front, lead laps like that, but yet you have some battles with holding off the 22 (Keselowski) and having to pass the 32 (Larson, who led briefly after a restart on Lap 110) — just a fun day. Whether you’re cheering of booing, don’t matter. We’re here to win races, take trophies home and that’s what we’re going to try to do (Saturday) night, too."

Busch frustrated Keselowski’s bid to win his fifth NNS race in his fifth straight start.

"We were close, just not quite good enough," Keselowski said ruefully. "We just came up a little bit short. Obviously, on the track, I didn’t have quite enough speed to get by Kyle."

Brian Vickers‘ wreck out of Turn 4 on Lap 167 continued a succession of trouble for series championship contenders. By the time Vickers nosed into the inside wall on the frontstretch, Regan Smith already had lost two laps pitting under green because of a loose wheel.

Sam Hornish Jr., the points leader entering the race, also struggled, losing a lap to Busch on the track. Shortly after a restart on Lap 179, Hornish’s Ford slapped the outside wall in Turn 4 and fell back to 13th, one lap down.

Elliott Sadler also went a lap down with an ill-handling car but got it back with a free pass as the highest-scored lapped car after the caution for Vickers’ accident. Sadler finished 10th, two positions ahead of Hornish. Smith was 21st and Vickers 24th.

Notes: Hornish retained the series lead by six points over Dillon… In the battle for the owners’ championship, Busch’s No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry cut the lead of Keselowski’s No. 22 Ford from 22 points to 16.

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Posted on August 23, 2013 by Staff Report

Sprint Cup regular edges Scott, keeps sights on Bristol sweep

Starting lineup | Weekend schedule

Kyle Busch, in search of the second leg of a Bristol Motor Speedway tripleheader sweep, landed on top of the charts in Friday afternoon’s Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the NASCAR Nationwide Series, snagging the pole position for tonight’s Food City 250 (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) with a lap of 124.971 mph.

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Busch’s pole was his sixth of the year, third on the .533-mile concrete track and 32nd in his Nationwide career. He’ll start first in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in tonight’s 250-lap race, the 23rd of 33 events this season, in search of his sixth Nationwide triumph at Bristol.

Brian Scott, who was fastest in the series’ lone practice in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, will start second after a lap of 124.873 mph. He brushed the wall on his second qualifying lap.

Ty Dillon, Justin Allgaier and Kyle Larson, runner-up to Busch in the track’s most recent Nationwide race, completed the top five. Points leader Sam Hornish Jr., in the No. 12 Penske Racing Ford, will start 13th.

Seven drivers had made their qualifying attempts before a light drizzle forced a delay of about 20 minutes. The seventh driver, Carl Long, looped his No. 15 Chevrolet in Turns 1 and 2 during his second lap.

David Starr, the 15th driver out, caused another delay when his car spewed smoke as he crossed under the checkered flag during his qualifying run. Josh Wise scraped the Turn 3 wall as he drifted high on his second qualifying lap, but held on to make the race.

Eight drivers, including Long and Starr, failed to make the 40-car field. The others heading home were Joey Gase, Kevin Lepage, Michael McDowell, Mike Harmon, Martin Roy and Morgan Shepherd.

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Posted on August 23, 2013 by Staff Report

Gibbs driver secures fourth Sprint Cup pole of the season

Starting lineup | Weekend schedule

Defending race winner Denny Hamlin surged to the Coors Light Pole Award in Friday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying with a lap of 128.969 mph at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Hamlin’s pole was his fourth of the year, first at the Tennessee track and 16th of his Sprint Cup career. He’ll start first, driving the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, in Saturday night’s Irwin Tools Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) on the .533-mile concrete track.

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Kurt Busch will start second in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet after a lap of 128.770 mph. Carl Edwards, Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth completed the top five.

Kyle Busch, seeking a sweep of Bristol’s three national series events this weekend, led final practice but posted the slowest qualifying speed after an adventurous attempt. He washed up the track in Turns 3 and 4 on his first qualifying lap but stopped before crossing the start-finish line.

Busch drove the opposite direction and made a U-turn in order to get a running start for his second lap. But Busch crumpled the right-rear corner of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as he spun out of Turn 2.

Series leader Jimmie Johnson, who holds a 41-point advantage over Clint Bowyer, did the same maneuver as Busch, but with better results. He turned around during his warm-up lap and regrouped to qualify 13th. Kasey Kahne, the most recent Bristol winner in March and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, qualified seventh.

Mark Martin, making his first fill-in start for the injured Tony Stewart in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, qualified 11th. Ryan Truex, making his Sprint Cup debut in the No. 51 Phoenix Racing Chevy, will start 18th.

Mike Bliss was the only driver who failed to qualify for the 43-car field.

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Posted on August 23, 2013 by Staff Report

Front Row Motorsports driver leads big-name top five

Related: Full practice results

BRISTOL, Tenn. — With less than two minutes remaining in Friday’s final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch shot to the top of the speed chart, overtaking older brother Kurt Busch in the process.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led the 45-minute session with his 128.253 mph effort on the 0.533-mile oval, eclipsing Kurt’s 128.099 mph run.

Jeff Gordon (Hendrick Motorsports), as he was in the first practice of the day, was third fastest, with Juan Pablo Montoya (Earnhardt Ganassi Racing) and Joey Logano (Penske Racing) completing the top five in the second session.

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Busch, the Furniture Row Racing driver who broke into the top 10 in points a week ago, slapped the wall shortly after his best effort, necessitating repairs to the No. 78 Chevrolet.

Sixth through 10th were Matt Kenseth (JGR), Ryan Newman (Stewart-Haas Racing), Denny Hamlin (JGR), Martin Truex Jr. (Michael Waltrip Racing) and Aric Almirola (Richard Petty Motorsports).

Talladega race winner David Ragan was fastest during Friday’s opening practice and was 17th in the final session.

The Front Row Motorsports driver had turned a lap of 125.322 mph to knock five-time series champion Jimmie Johnson (125.134 mph) off the top spot.

Gordon was third, followed by Kyle Busch and defending series champion Brad Keselowski (Penske Racing).

Sixth through 10 in the opening session were Montoya, Kurt Busch, Logano, Brian Vickers (MWR) and Casey Mears (Germain Racing).

Logano is the series’ most recent winner, having captured last weekend’s race at Michigan International Speedway.

Mark Martin, making his first appearance in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet for the injured Tony Stewart, was 22nd in the first session and 25th in the second.

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Posted on August 23, 2013 by Staff Report

Allgaier posts second-fastest time in practice

Related: Full practice results

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Brian Scott turned a lap of 123.467 mph to pace a long NASCAR Nationwide Series practice session Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The two-hour and 50-minute session was the lone practice of the weekend for the Nationwide cars, which qualify Friday afternoon before competing in the Food City 250 under the lights on the half-mile track.

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Justin Allgaier posted the second-fastest speed, followed by Camping World Truck Series regular Ty Dillon and reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski. Kyle Larson, Trevor Bayne, Nationwide points leader Sam Hornish Jr., Alex Bowman, Sprint Cup star Kyle Busch and Kenny Wallace rounded out the top 10.

Busch is going for his second career tripleheader sweep after winning the Truck Series event at Bristol on Wednesday night. He owns the only tripleheader sweep in NASCAR history, at Bristol in the late summer of 2010.

The long practice was halted a few times for accidents, most notably spins involving Mike Wallace and Carl Long. Robert Richardson Jr. also incurred damage by getting up against the wall, and Elliott Sadler scratched up the right-rear of his vehicle by making some contact with the wall.

During the practice session, Busch also drove in Sadler’s car (his teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing) for some laps to help with the setup of the car.

Hornish leads the Nationwide standings by 13 points over Sadler, who posted the 16th-best speed of the session. Hornish also incurred some right side scraps during practice. Other title contenders included Austin Dillon (11th-fastest in the session), Regan Smith (12th), and Brian Vickers (20th).

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Posted on August 23, 2013 by Nascar

Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup clinch in sight, it’s title or bust for No. 99 team

BRISTOL, Tenn. — With a berth in NASCAR’s Chase For the NASCAR Sprint Cup within his grasp, Carl Edwards has a simple game plan for the next three weeks.

“We’ve got nothing to lose these last few races,” Edwards, third in points, said after qualifying his Roush Fenway Racing Ford third for tonight’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, “so we’re going to go hard, and we’re going to let it all hang out.”

Have some fun, he said, and hopefully pick up a win between now and the start of the Chase, which begins Sept. 15 at Chicagoland Speedway.

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STANDINGS *Clinched

Pos.	Driver	Ahead of 11th	+/-
1.	Jimmie Johnson*	+154	—
2.	Clint Bowyer	+113	—
3.	Carl Edwards	+103	—
4.	Kevin Harvick	+90	—
5.	Kyle Busch	+47	—
6.	Matt Kenseth	+29	+1
7.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	+20	-1
8.	Brad Keselowski	+8	—
9.	Kurt Busch	+6	+2
10.	Greg Biffle	+4	-1
Pos.	Driver	Pts back of 10th	Wins
11.	Kasey Kahne	-4	2
12.	Martin Truex Jr.	-10	1
13.	Joey Logano	-17	1
14.	Jeff Gordon	-26	0
15.	Ryan Newman	-27	1

With a 103-point spread between himself and 11^th-place Kasey Kahne, Edwards can clinch a top-10 Chase spot outright with a win or runner-up finish in tonight’s race, a third-place finish (with at least one lap led) or fourth-place result (if he leads the most laps).

The focus is the championship, and he admits his No. 99 team still has plenty of work to do in the coming weeks. And it all starts here, on the tiny half-mile where he has two wins (2007, ’08) and seven top-10s in 18 career starts.

“I’m not sure if we have a race-winning car,” he said. “I think it’s close for this race.”

Denny Hamlin will start on the Coors Light Pole, the result of a 128.969 mph lap that was slightly off the track record of 129.535 mph set by Kyle Busch earlier this year. Kurt Busch will start second while Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth will start fourth and fifth, respectively.

In spite of his lofty points position, and a win earlier this season at Phoenix, Edwards said he believes Ford teams in general have “struggled relative to some of our competition” of late. The brand has scored only four wins this year, less than half the total of Chevrolet (10) and Toyota (9) teams.

Fellow Ford driver and defending series champion Brad Keselowski is eighth in points, but winless, while RFR teammate Greg Biffle sits 10^th in the points battle heading into tonight’s event.

Joey Logano (Penske Racing) is the series’, as well as Ford’s, most recent winner, claiming the victory a week ago in Michigan.

“I think a bright spot for us, or something we can look towards, was Joey last week with his Ford,” Edwards said. “That was pretty impressive, but we feel like we have to be a little bit faster.

“…Consistency wins the championship. It gets you in the Chase and it could win the championship, but you’d like to be really fast as well. You really need both, and I feel like we still have a little bit of speed to make up.”

Edwards might be a bit more at ease given his points position, but he said he’s still mindful of those around him, especially his Ford teammates. He knows the close-quarters racing typical for Bristol invites mayhem — and one small slip could end a driver’s season prematurely.

So the plan is to race aggressively but be aware of one’s surroundings.

“There are guys in the position that I’m in and we can be pretty aggressive and go out and take some chances and do some things, but I don’t want to negatively impact someone else’s Chase hopes,” he said. “My teammate, Greg Biffle, is right there on the (Chase) bubble, and I don’t want to see him caught up in anything, so I think from my seat, I’m going to be as aggressive as I can be and still respect the situation that everyone is in.”

Given his own situation, he said, “we can kind of just go out there and have some fun and try to get a win. For us right now, this is a great track to come to.

“We get to try a couple things, but, still, we’re focusing on Chicago and Loudon and those races for the Chase, especially with what (crew chief) Jimmy Fennig has accomplished in his career with drivers like Kurt (with whom Fennig won the first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2004, the last time Ford won the title).

“Anything short of a championship would be a disappointment for us.”

Points leader Jimmie Johnson will start 13^th. Kyle Busch, attempting to repeat his 2010 feat of sweeping the NASCAR Camping World Truck, Nationwide and Sprint Cup races, will line up 43^rd, the result of a crash during his qualifying attempt on Friday.

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Posted on August 23, 2013 by Nascar

‘Pretty intense’ week so far for Tony Stewart’s replacement

BRISTOL, Tenn. — It’s been a whirlwind week for Mark Martin, and that was before the veteran NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver made his first lap at Bristol Motor Speedway.

With Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner/driver Tony Stewart sidelined for the remainder of the year due to injury, Martin will handle the driving duties in the No. 14 Chevrolet for 12 of the season’s final 13 races.

Bristol, where Martin hasn’t competed since 2011, is the group’s “get acquainted” weekend. The Irwin Tools Night Race is scheduled for Saturday, beginning at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.

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“To have the opportunity to be a small part of Stewart-Haas, I’m not sure I can describe to you what it means to me,” Martin said Friday at Bristol. “(Tony’s) definitely one of my heroes.

“I’m a little bit nervous. … Today is going to be action-packed with a short amount of time to practice to get ready to race tomorrow and qualify today. … It’s been pretty intense so far this week.”

Martin will be the third relief driver used by the organization since Stewart broke his right leg while competing in a sprint car race Aug. 5 in Iowa. Max Papis filled in for the team at Watkins Glen International while Austin Dillon drove the No. 14 last weekend at Michigan International Speedway.

Martin, running a limited schedule with Michael Waltrip Racing, was granted his release in order to make the move to SHR. Brian Vickers, one of three drivers sharing the No. 55 MWR ride, will fill the races in which Martin was slated to race.

Getting one driver, particularly one such as Martin, was a huge move for the SHR organization.

“For us, it’s a home run,” said Competition Director Greg Zipadelli. “Obviously there are big shoes to fill in Tony’s seat and there’s not many guys in the garage that could do that. We all agreed that if there was any way to get Mark, he was the guy that would do us the best job.

“We’ve said we would take our time and everything we did, we would be as calculated as we could be. We felt like this was the best opportunity for the 14 car to perform on a weekly basis.”

In 16 starts with MWR this season, Martin has four top-10 finishes, including a best of third in the season-opening Daytona 500. He led 23 laps last week at Michigan before having to give up the lead to pit for fuel with only four laps remaining.

He has 46 career starts at Bristol, with two wins and nine Coors Light Pole awards.

Martin said he spoke with Stewart earlier, although Stewart did most of the talking. Much of the conversation, he said, concerned Stewart’s sprint car accident.

“I couldn’t get a word in edgewise, if that tells you what two weeks of bed rest does for you,” he said. “He went into great detail about the accident and what caused the injury and the fix for that … all the stars had to line up just perfectly for that (injury) to happen.”

Stewart, a three-time Cup champion, won one race (Dover) and was 11th in points at the time of his injury.

Martin said he hopes to not only do a good job for the team, but also to “hopefully return his car back over to him in as good or better standing than when it was turned over to me.”

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