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Logano enters top 10, becomes legitimate Chase contender

                                   

1. Jimmie Johnson       

Outlook: Johnson was nothing short of dominant on Sunday, leading 182 of 267 laps, but failed to mark a finish representative of his day after spinning on a late restart. Expect a motivated Five-Time to be stronger than ever at Daytona.
Standings: 1st, 610 points

2. Matt Kenseth        

Outlook: With Kenseth’s series-best fourth victory of the year in the books, it’s no surprise that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver earned a pair of first-place votes in this week’s poll. With three top-three finishes in his last four races at Daytona, Kenseth could very well be sitting on top after this weekend.
Standings: 5th, 528 points

3. Clint Bowyer       

Outlook: Who needs wins? With the second-most top-10 finishes in the series at 10 (Johnson has 11), Bowyer continutes to hang around the top of the standings with consistently strong finishes. His showing at Kentucky was one of his best in 2013.
Standings: 3rd, 569 points

4. Kevin Harvick       

Outlook: Much like Bowyer, Harvick has been a model of consistency despite a few small bumps along the road. He’s put himself in position to keep it up down the stretch, too.
Standings: 4th, 544 points

5. Carl Edwards       

Outlook: Edwards is still hanging on to his second position in the points standings, but just by a thread. The further we get from his lone win (Phoenix), the less it looks like Edwards can actually challenge Johnson atop the standings.
Standings: 2nd, 572 points

6. Kyle Busch          

Outlook: Busch was just kidding when he muttered the phrase, “I hate Matt Kenseth,” but was he a little jealous of Kenseth’s victory on Sunday? Probably. Still, a fifth-place finish is a solid comeback finish for Busch, who finished 35th at Sonoma.
Standings: 7th, 500 points

7. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Outlook: Bad luck in the form of an errant Denny Hamlin tire hurt Earnhardt’s chances to win from his first Coors Light Pole of the season, but he was still able to muster a 12th-place finish that helped him jump a spot in the standings.
Standings: 6th, 512 points

8. Martin Truex Jr.       

Outlook: Truex is on a heck of a roll lately, with his win at Sonoma and seventh-place finish at Kentucky shooting him up the standings and into a non-Wild Card Chase spot. With the amount of intermediate ovals remaining on the schedule, he could be here to stay.
Standings: 8th, 490 points

9. Kasey Kahne       

Outlook: In recent weeks Kahne has slightly recovered from three miserable races at Dover, Pocono and Michigan, but not enough to be comfortable. His Bristol win has him holding onto the first of two Wild Card spots, but without adding another win down the stretch he could continue to slip.
Standings: 11th, 478 points

10. Joey Logano       

Outlook: After his poor finish at Darlington that had him sitting in 19th place, it looked like Logano might need one more year of seasoning before breaking through. Fast-forward to today, when he’s finished in the top 11 in the six races since then and the 23-year-old is looking like he could sneak into the Chase, even without a win.
Standings: 10th, 479 points

11. Greg Biffle           

Outlook: Biffle was starting to look like he had developed a really solid program after struggling for a six-race stretch from Kansas to Dover. And then Kurt Busch decided to go low and ended up clipping Brad Keselowski and causing a wreck that ended Biffle’s day.
Standings: 9th, 489 points

12. Jeff Gordon       

Outlook: While Gordon may have found himself a relatively anonymous character in New York City, every driver is quite aware of his existence and the fact that he’s two points shy of the final non-Wild Card Chase spot.
Standings: 12th, 477 points

13. Brad Keselowski   

Outlook: Keselowski is in trouble. Big, big trouble. With no wins to his credit thus far and just one top-10 finish in the last nine races, the reigning champ currently finds himself in 13th place, with no answers.
Standings: 13th, 465 points

14. Tony Stewart       

Outlook: Stewart started to turn things around starting with Charlotte, but a pair of poor finishes at Sonoma and Kentucky slid him down the standings a bit, despite holding onto the final Chase spot. As the defending race-winner, look for him to get back on track at Daytona this weekend.
Standings: 16th, 457 points

15. Kurt Busch       

Outlook: Busch was the main cause of the major wreck that ended Keselowski’s and Biffle’s days, yet he managed to squeak by and finish sixth. Funny how that happens, eh?
Standings: 14th, 463 points

16. Paul Menard       

Outlook: It’s too bad Menard didn’t get a fair shot at competing on Sunday, as his involvement in the Busch/Keselowski wreck ended his chances at running well at a track that Richard Childress Racing cars tested at.
Standings: 15th, 459 points

17. Ryan Newman       

Outlook: Newman’s 14th-place finish at Kentucky is basically right about where he should be, and is roughly his ceiling in terms of where he can expect to finish in the standings. Currently in 18th, even with some strong finishes he really doesn’t have much of a shot to make the Chase without a pair of wins.
Standings: 18th, 448 points

18. Jamie McMurray       

Outlook: It’s hard to believe McMurray, the 2003 Rookie of the Year, notched his first top-five finish since 2011 by finishing as the runner-up at Kentucky on Sunday. As a former Daytona 500 winner, look for the EGR driver to roll into this weekend on a high note.
Standings: 19th, 437 points

19. Aric Almirola       

Outlook: While Almirola did give up a baseball career for racing, his tenure at the “major league level” of NASCAR — the Sprint Cup Series —  hasn’t gone too well. He’s still searching for his first victory and has finished in the top five just twice in his career (2010 and 2012).
Standings: 17th, 457 points

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.   

Outlook: Another race, another mid-teens finish for Stenhouse. He has yet to crack the top-10 this season, but you have to figure with the progress he’s made, he will before the season is over. After finishing 12th in the Daytona 500, don’t count out this weekend.
Standings: 20th, 433 points

 

In the rearview

Note: These rankings have been determined by a poll that included writers Kenny Bruce, Holly Cain, David Caraviello and Zack Albert, and video host Alan Cavanna.

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Richard Petty, at 76, still remembers humble beginnings

Before NASCAR garages were palaces, there was Petty Engineering in Level Cross, N.C. Read about it here.

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Twenty electric vehicle charging stations to be installed at NASCAR offices

RELATED: Click here for green.nascar.com

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Drivers, charge your engines. NASCAR announced today a new multi-year official agreement with Eaton, a leader in developing global solutions for today’s most critical electrical power management challenges. The new alliance makes Eaton an Official NASCAR Green Partner, with the designation ‘Official EV Charging Solution Provider of NASCAR’ bolstering the growing roster of companies utilizing the NASCAR Green platform to validate technologies that positively impact the environment.

"The dedication put behind the NASCAR Green platform has translated into NASCAR not only being the leader in sports sustainability, but in establishing  a business model that benefits our partners, customers and the planet."

— Dr. Mike Lynch, NASCAR managing director, green innovation, strategic development

The new collaboration includes the installation of 20 Eaton Level 2 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at NASCAR offices in Daytona Beach, Charlotte and Concord. The stations will power electric and plug-in hybrid EVs of NASCAR employees and guests. Eaton is a leading provider of EV charging infrastructure in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, EV charging infrastructure build out is critical given its benefits include lowered Greenhouse Gas and particulate emissions, improved public health, increased energy security and lower operating cost per mile. For example, based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel economy ratings (fueleconomy.gov), fully charging a Ford Focus EV every day for a year equates to saving 211 trees which equates to the GHG emissions from five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. 

“The dedication put behind the NASCAR Green platform has translated into NASCAR not only being the leader in sports sustainability, but in establishing  a business model that benefits our partners, customers and the planet,” said Dr. Mike Lynch, NASCAR managing director, green innovation, strategic development. “Through the installation of Eaton’s industry-leading EV charging station technology, Eaton provides NASCAR with a yet another impactful way to reduce the sports’ impact on the environment in the future.”

According to a 2012 study commissioned by NASCAR and conducted by Toluna, NASCAR fans are twice as likely as non-fans to view their household as very green — always looking for new ways to positively impact the environment. The same research shows that NASCAR fans are multiple times more likely than non-fans to closely associate NASCAR with being environmentally responsible.

“As a former NASCAR driver, I have seen firsthand how motorsports are not only an incubator of significant technology advancements in transportation, but also a key platform in driving public awareness of the technologies,” said Johnny Miller, global client director, Eaton’s electrical business. “As a leader in energy management and in the emerging market of grid connected vehicles, Eaton is a perfect fit for the NASCAR Green Team.”

NASCAR’s transformative efforts in Green have established it as the leader in sustainability across all of sports. Through strategic partnerships with teams, tracks and Official Partners, NASCAR Green continues to set new benchmarks. NASCAR features the world’s largest solar-powered sports facility (by more than two times), a tree planting program capturing 100 percent of the emissions produced by on-track racing, and the largest recycling program in sports. Its corporate headquarters in Daytona Beach, the International Motorsports Center, has achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED”) Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Additionally, NASCAR launched a long term biofuels program to reduce emissions in all its racing series with partners Sunoco, American Ethanol and the National Corn Growers Association. NASCAR recently surpassed four million miles driven across its three national series on Sunoco Green E15.

As part of this collaboration, Eaton joins the NASCAR Fuel for Business Council®, which brings together an exclusive group of more than 60 Official NASCAR Partners four times per year to buy and sell products and services from one another. This exclusive business-to-business environment offers unique opportunities for many FORTUNE 500 companies to bypass the time and layers of corporate coordination that may exist and construct customized deals to help address specific business needs.

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From a contingency decal on a quarter-panel of a stock car in Connecticut to an international partnership

Whelen Engineering, a long-time sponsor and supporter of NASCAR’s touring and regional series, became the official entitlement sponsor of the European stock-car series in an announcement Monday morning in Paris.

The first race under the newly re-named NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will be this weekend at France’s Tours Speedway. The first-of-its-kind, temporary oval is located just outside Paris. The series, which was founded in 2008, is in its second year under the NASCAR banner.

The Whelen entitlement sponsorship agreement is through 2019.

The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is announced Monday under the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The first event under the new NASCAR Whelen Euro Series name will be Saturday and Sunday at Tours Speedway in France.

"NASCAR has been a tremendous partner for Whelen Engineering, and having our products at the tracks and used by teams is really at the core of what we’re about."

— Phil Kurze, vice president of motorsports for Whelen Engineering

“This is a landmark day for the series,” said Jerome Galpin, general manager of Team FJ, which owns and operates the European-based series. “Whelen’s support of NASCAR at every level is exemplary and to have them on board with the Euro Series brings another level of prestige and support to the series.”

Last year, Spain’s Ander Vilarino became the first NASCAR European champion. He again leads the championship points after three race weekends.

Galpin and Vilarino were joined at Monday’s announcement on the Seine River by Nicolas Deschaux, president of FFSA (Fédération Française du Sport Automobile); Bob Duvall, NASCAR senior director of business development; and Joe Balash, NASCAR international competition liaison.

The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series competes on road courses in France (Circuit Paul Armagnac in Nogaro, Circuit de Dijon-Prenois in Dijon, and the championship round at Circuit Le Mans Bugatti in LeMans), England (Brands Hatch Circuit), Spain (MotorLand Aragón, near Alcañiz) and Italy (Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, north of Milan).

Many of those facilities have signed long-term agreements to hold Euro Series races.

The Tours track is a nearly .400-mile track. The success of the first event last year, won by NASCAR K&N Pro Series driver Ben Kennedy, has prompted the series to make it a more permanent structure with additional banking.

“NASCAR is a globally recognized brand that is synonymous with excitement, family entertainment, and close door-to-door competition,” said George Silbermann, NASCAR vice president of regional and touring series. “And that’s exactly what the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series represents in Europe. We are extremely proud to partner with Team FJ and Whelen Engineering, and help take this series to the next level.”

The signing of Whelen as an entitlement sponsor is yet another example of the growth and potential of the series.

“NASCAR has been a tremendous partner for Whelen Engineering, and having our products at the tracks and used by teams is really at the core of what we’re about,” said Phil Kurze, vice president of motorsports for Whelen Engineering. “We enjoy helping to provide people with exciting weekend entertainment, and providing an opportunity for drivers, mechanics, crew chiefs and fabricators to display their talents. As we continue to expand our distribution throughout Europe, partnering with Team FJ is a natural fit.”

Whelen has been in NASCAR since the early 1990s, getting its first involvement with Ted Christopher in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East back when it was known as the NASCAR Busch North Series.

Whelen progressed in car sponsorship, eventually landing as a primary sponsor for Dave Blaney in the 2004 Daytona 500. The Connecticut-based company has also been involved in sports car racing, sponsoring Boris Said and Eric Curran in the GRAND-AM Rolex Series.

Whelen’s involvement in NASCAR increased in 2005, when it became the entitlement sponsor for the NASCAR Modified Tour in 2005, sponsoring the oldest series in NASCAR. That same year, Whelen became the sponsor for the newly-formed Southern Modified Tour.

In 2007, Whelen added to its NASCAR presence by becoming the title sponsor of NASCAR’s grassroots weekly series. The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series encompasses 55 short tracks throughout the US and Canada. Recently, Whelen re-affirmed its commitment by having extending its contract through 2019.

Kurze pointed out that Whelen’s products — which are all manufactured in the U.S. by is more than 1,400 employees at its plants in Connecticut and New Hampshire — are used extensively by police and fire departments, towing companies, and emergency personnel. Many of those same people help make up the racing community.

“It just makes sense for us to be involved here and that we’re supporting their sport,” said Kurze. “As time has gone on, we saw an increase in sales, which we attributed directly to our involvement in NASCAR.

Whelen’s sponsorship of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is in addition to the commitments it has made to the U.S.-based series.

Kurze said that as the company has expanded distribution into many parts of Europe, it’s a naturally fit to partner with the Euro Series.

The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series crowns champions it its Elite Division, as well as an Open Division.

The top drivers will be recognized at the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., in December, along with the champions from all of NASCAR’s touring series.

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McMurray says EGR has had fast cars all year and Kentucky was no exception

SPARTA, Ky. — Sunday brought something Jamie McMurray hadn’t experienced in almost two years — a top-five finish on NASCAR’s premier circuit.

The Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver took advantage of misfortune that befell a few others, and surged to a runner-up finish behind winner Matt Kenseth at Kentucky Speedway. It was McMurray’s first top-five result since Bristol in the late summer of 2011, and his first finish of second or better since his most recent victory, which came at Charlotte during his charmed three-win campaign of 2010.

“I didn’t feel like we ran significantly better today than the past 10 or 12 weeks — we were able to get the finish out of it,” McMurray said. “We didn’t have any flat tires, or radiators break, or people’s parts fall off the car and go through our radiator. It was a good day. (We) got a little unlucky on the last restart with the bottom line checking up, and then our car was just about as good as it had been all day on the last run.”

He was in the right place in the right time, given that leader Jimmie Johnson — who dominated the rain-delayed event by leading 182 of 267 laps — spun off the penultimate restart. Denny Hamlin, another contender in the top 10, went out late with a tire failure. McMurray kept moving up from his 26th-place starting position, cracking the top-five 90 laps in, and maintaining position in the top 10 for most of the remainder of the race.

"Our cars, I feel like, are better than they were in 2010 when we were winning races."

—  Jamie McMurray

So when Johnson spun with 20 laps remaining, McMurray was right there, and snuck by the No. 48 car on the high side. Although he wasn’t able to mount a serious challenge to Kenseth in the final laps, McMurray did distance himself from third-place finisher Clint Bowyer, and the end result was still vastly improved from much of what he’s experienced this season.

The driver of the No. 1 car enjoyed a nice start to the year, standing as high as 11th in points after a seventh-place finish at Kansas in late April. Since then, though, he’s battled one issue after another, and came to Kentucky 21st in the standings and barely on the fringes of the Chase for the Sprint Cup contention.

Through it all, though, he’s contended that EGR cars have been fast, faster than ever they were in a 2010 season when McMurray won the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 500, and the fall Charlotte race — and would have made the Chase under the current format. Teammate Juan Pablo Montoya has enjoyed an uptick in performance, nearly winning at Richmond before placing fourth, and finishing second four weeks ago at Dover.

“Our cars, I feel like, are better than they were in 2010 when we were winning races. The 42 (car of Montoya) should have won Richmond this year. They have had some extremely quick cars, as well. The 1 team has had a lot of fifth- to 10‑place cars, but since Richmond … it has been a disaster, and it’s not performance‑wise,” McMurray said.

“We’ve been really quick. Had really good cars. It’s just the last 10 percent of the race, something has happened each week. Michigan, blew a tire. Dover, something fell off a car and went through our radiator. Charlotte, the radiator broke. Last weekend (at Sonoma), had a flat tire with, I don’t know, 30 laps to go or whatever. It’s just every week it’s been something. So it’s nice to have some good luck. I feel good about it.”

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Tony Stewart may be forced to root against his teammate, for his competitors

If misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows, so can the Chase hopes of the so-called “Bubble Boys,” as the cutoff for eligibility draws near.

With nine races left before the field for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is set at Richmond, it might behoove some of the competitors on the borderline to look at the ramifications of the performances of other drivers.

Why? Because the field of drivers just inside or just outside the top 10 is so tightly bunched and so fluid that those hopeful of qualifying for NASCAR’s playoff can’t necessarily control their own Chase destinies, even with consistently strong runs.

Take Tony Stewart as an example. In a wildly inconsistent season so far, Stewart has gone from outside the top 20 and winless to inside the top 10 with a victory to his current standing of 16th with one win. Having fallen six spots in the last two weekends, Stewart is back in a precarious position where the Chase is concerned.

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And what some of his rivals do over the next nine races may have more to do with whether Stewart makes the Chase than the three-time champion himself does.

Right now, Stewart is in line for the second wild-card berth in the Chase, but there are threats galore to his tenuous grasp on that position. The biggest is Kyle Busch, who has won two races. Busch, who is seventh in the standings but only 22 points ahead of 11th place, mirrors Stewart’s inconsistency. Should the driver of the No. 18 Toyota fall out of the top 10, he could knock Stewart out of a wild-card spot.

So could either eighth-place Martin Truex Jr. or ninth-place Greg Biffle by dropping out of the top 10 and finishing ahead of Stewart in the standings.

From Stewart’s point of view, it would be helpful if 11th-place Kasey Kahne could work his way back into the top 10 to provide a safety against another driver in positions 11-20 in the standings picking up a breakthrough win and challenging for a wild card.

The bottom line for Stewart is that the more drivers with victories who finish in a guaranteed Chase spot inside the top 10, the better his chances.

That puts Stewart in the unusual position of wishing well for rivals he normally would prefer to bury. It also puts him in an awkward position relative to his own teammate, Ryan Newman.

If Newman should happen to collect his first win of the season during the next nine races, what would be good for Stewart-Haas Racing as an organization might be bad for Stewart personally. Newman could knock his teammate/boss out of the Chase.

As close as the Race for the Chase is, there’s plenty of room for mixed feelings and divided loyalties. Does that mean that Stewart will cut Busch, Biffle or Truex more slack than usual on the race track?

Does it mean that he’ll race the intensely competitive Newman harder than he normally would?

Maybe not, but if Stewart is still on the bubble when the Cup series arrives at Richmond, it might be something to think about.

After all, extreme circumstances sometimes call for extreme measures.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

 

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Weekend recap: Hamlin cleared to drive, but Wild-Card hopes take hard hit

RELATED: Race results | Sprint Cup standings

Denny Hamlin makes no bones about it. After suffering his fourth sub-20th place finish in the last five races Sunday at Kentucky Speedway, he has to win a race to make the Chase. And with only nine races remaining to set NASCAR’s 12-driver Chase field, he has a few tracks circled.

Hamlin has won at five of the nine remaining tracks that will set the Chase field, including twice at New Hampshire, three times at Pocono, and twice at his home track in Richmond, Va. In fact, nine of his 22 career wins — almost 50 percent — have come at those nine venues.

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Hamlin’s challenge is more daunting as he is racing with a back injury that sidelined him for four races this spring and cost him dearly in the standings.

Even after an accident that “rung my bell” on Sunday in Kentucky, Hamlin again insisted he’s up for that challenge. And his team owner Joe Gibbs said as far as he was concerned, Hamlin was still race ready, and still a threat to win and qualify for the Chase.

Monday, he received an extra vote of confidence after being medically cleared of concussion symptoms, team officials said, adding that Hamlin will participate in a tire test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday as scheduled.

“I think Denny wants to stay after it and we have a chance to get some wins for FedEx,’’ Gibbs said Sunday. “And who knows what’s going to happen; we could get hot. I know he’ll be the favorite at several of these racetracks we have down the stretch over these next nine weeks.

“Who knows, maybe a miracle in there. And you can’t have a great comeback unless you’re behind, so we’ll just go after it and do the best we can.

“I think Denny feels that way, too.  He was fired up for today.  I felt like he was going to get after it today.  So he’s got a good attitude and we’ll keep swinging.”

Of course to qualify for the Chase, Hamlin must be ranked among the top-20 and hope to notch enough wins to earn one of the two Wild Card berths. He’s currently 25th in points, 104 points behind 20th place Ricky Stenhouse Jr. And he will need to leapfrog Jeff Burton, Marcos Ambrose, Juan Pablo Montoya and Casey Mears to get to Stenhouse.

The points situation is just as tenuous at the top.

While Jimmie Johnson holds a comfortable 38-point and 41-point edge over Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer, respectively, atop the championship, there has been a lot of weekly movement in the transfer spots.

Only 31 points separate Joey Logano in the final guaranteed 10th Chase position and 18th-place Ryan Newman.

Defending Cup champ Brad Keselowski and four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon are in that mix vying for a win or top-10 rank.

As it stands now, 11th-ranked Kasey Kahne and 16th-ranked Tony Stewart would get the two Wild Card spots with a win apiece.
 
TEAR DOWN
 
Toyota resurgence: After a string of Toyota engine problems dominated headlines early in the month, the manufacturer has come back swinging. Kenseth’s win was the make’s second in a row answering Martin Truex Jr.’s victory at Sonoma last week.

There were four Camrys in the top seven at Kentucky and two among the top five at Sonoma.
And Kenseth’s victory gives Toyota seven trophies, which equals Chevy’s series best. Ford has three.
 
Rain man: Bad weather has proven a good omen for Kenseth. Not only did he win Sunday’s rain-postponed race at Kentucky, the last time a Sprint Cup Series race was postponed for rain – the 2012 Daytona 500 – Kenseth won also.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS

4. Top-10s for Kurt Busch in last six races. He has seven on the season the most ever for Furniture Row Racing and there are still 19 races remaining.

5. Top-10 finishes for Clint Bowyer in the last six races. It’s the best of any driver in that span and good enough to pull him to 41 points behind championship leader Johnson.
 
7. Positions both Brad Keselowski (33rd) and Greg Biffle (34th) improved after lengthy repairs in garage because of wreck on lap 47. They would have been 40th and 41st if not for the second effort.
 
182. Laps Jimmie Johnson led Sunday. It’s the third time in the last four races he’s led at least 100 laps. But he has only one win (Pocono) to show for the effort.
 
CHASE WATCH

While Johnson — who led the most laps and looked to have the dominant car — missed an opportunity to massively pad his points lead with a win, he still gained on second place Carl Edwards, who had a mediocre 21st-place day. Johnson held a 25-point advantage on Edwards coming into Kentucky and now leads him by 38 points with nine races remaining to set the Chase field.

Penske Racing teammates Keselowski and Logano were the biggest movers in the standings. With his fourth-place finish, Logano moved up four positions and is now 10th — the final guaranteed Chase position. Defending series champ Keselowski’s unfortunate Kentucky showing dropped him four positions and he is now 13th on the outside looking in, but still a mere 14 points behind his teammate Logano.

Kurt Busch was another of the day’s big winners, improving three positions in the championship to 14th and is only 16 points out of the top-10.
 
THEY SAID IT

“I thought he was slightly crazy when that happened.’’ Kenseth said of crew chief Jason Ratcliff’s call for gas only and no tires on last pit stop. It ended up being the call of the race.
 
”There was no reason to drive like an animal. I guess I was the only one to get that memo.’’ — Keselowski’s reaction to being wrecked by Kurt Busch on a restart only 47 laps into the race.
 
”Hate that my mistake ruined @keselowski @gbiffle @RCR27PMenard and their teams day. Apologized 2 them all but mad at myself still.” — Kurt Busch on Twitter after the race.
 
”The No. 20 (Matt Kenseth) broke the pace car speed,which you aren’t supposed to, but, they aren’t calling guys on that so I need to start trying that in the future." – Jimmie Johnson told PRN Radio after the race.
 
COMING UP

NASCAR’s official start of summer comes at Daytona International Speedway with Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 (7:30 ET, TNT). Defending winner Tony Stewart could become the race’s all-time winningest driver with a fifth victory. … Stewart is the only repeat winner in Daytona’s night race during the last decade with a diverse list of winners ranging from David Ragan (2011) to Sunday’s runner-up at Kentucky, Jamie McMurray (2007). … In the Cup Series stop there for the Daytona 500 season-opener, Danica Patrick won the pole position and Johnson claimed his second 500 win.

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READ: Kenseth wins
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WATCH: Wreck takes out
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New electric vehicle charging stations are a perfect fit for LEED-certified NASCAR headquarters

RELATED: Click here for green.nascar.com

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Calling on drivers to “charge their engines,” NASCAR officials announced Monday the installation of 20 Eaton Level 2 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at NASCAR headquarters in Daytona Beach and corporate offices in Charlotte and the Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C.

"This partnership with Eaton Corporation is a major step forward for NASCAR Green."

— Dr. Mike Lynch, NASCAR managing director, green innovation, strategic development

Fittingly, against the backdrop of NASCAR’s International Motorsports Center — a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental and Design) Gold-Certified building — NASCAR President Mike Helton and International Speedway Corporation CEO Lesa France Kennedy were on hand to unveil this latest initiative in the expansive NASCAR Green program.

The EV charging stations are part of a new multi-year partnership with Eaton Corporation, a Fortune 500 Company and global leader in EV infrastructure. Eaton will serve as the Official EV Charging Solution Provider of NASCAR Green.

“This partnership with Eaton Corporation is a major step forward for NASCAR Green,’’ said Dr. Mike Lynch, NASCAR managing director, green innovation, strategic development.  “It’s really significant for NASCAR and is literally allowing NASCAR to be a demonstration platform, a validation for Eaton’s electric vehicle charging business. NASCAR employees and guests are literally consuming the product.’’

The EV charging stations are a natural outgrowth of NASCAR’s far-reaching Green Initiative, that already includes powering its race cars with bio-fuels such as Sunoco Green E15 ethanol-infused fuel, the largest recycling program in sports and an emphasis on renewable energy.

And quite naturally, NASCAR prides itself on staying ahead of the trend in terms of hybrid vehicles and new Green opportunities.

Last season, NASCAR used an all-electric Ford Focus as the official pace car at the Richmond, Va. race — a first for the sport. This year, Ford is pacing both races at Michigan International Speedway with the Ford Fusion Energy Plug-in Hybrid.

Chevrolet is providing its popular Chevy Volts for initial use with the EV Charging Stations at the Daytona facility. And Lynch notes the other NASCAR manufacturer, Toyota, has long been a leader in Hybrid technology sales with its Toyota Prius Hybrid model.

One of Eaton’s executives, Johnny Miller, is a former racer — primarily in the Trans Am Series but also with NASCAR experience as well — and provides a unique perspective and insight on the partnership.

“As a former NASCAR driver, I have seen firsthand how motorsports are not only an incubator of significant technology advancements in transportation, but also a key platform in driving public awareness of the technologies,” said Miller, global client director, Eaton’s electrical business.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, EV infrastructure build-out is critical given its benefits include lowered Greenhouse Gas and particulate emissions, improved public health, increased energy security and lower operating cost per mile.

For example, based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel economy ratings (fueleconomy.gov), fully charging a Ford Focus EV every day for a year equates to saving 211 trees, which equates to the GHG emissions from five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. 

“This EV Charging system platform is like all the other programs whether biofuels, renewable energy, recycling, green air technology, tire recycling, it’s one step down a long a pathway,’’ Lynch said.

“We’re reflecting that from a NASCAR Green perspective. We see plug-in really matured to a point that it’s really about to take off and something we’re really paying attention to.

“It fits right in.’’

READ MORE:

READ: Kenseth wins
at Kentucky

WATCH: Wreck takes out
Biffle, Keselowski

WATCH: Johnson spins
on late restart

READ: Complete
Kentucky coverage

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Logano finishes fourth at Kentucky; Newman places in top 15

Multiple members of the Coca-Cola Racing Family challenged for the lead at various points during the Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts at Kentucky Speedway.

Although no one from the six-member family ended up in Victory Lane, Joey Logano continued his strong streak and carried the banner for his brethren.

Logano finished fourth, avoiding myriad of incidents in his best finish since Richmond in the ninth race of the season (he finished third there).

Ryan Newman rounded out the top-15 team effort with a 14th-place effort.

A roundup on the Coca-Cola Racing Family in order of how they finished at Kentucky:

Joey Logano (No. 22)

Penske Racing, Ford

Recap: Make it six in a row. Logano recorded his sixth consecutive top-11 finish at Kentucky by finishing fourth; and five of those showings were top-10s. Without a win and hindered by a 25-point penalty from earlier this season, Logano has gained eight spots in the standings over the past two months. He currently has a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Quotable: “I felt like we were good enough to win for a little bit. I thought we were as good as the 20 (Matt Kenseth) or even better. It is all about getting the clean air. It was hard to pass out there. The guys did a great job with the Shell Pennzoil Ford. We lost track position on the restart before the last one and then we made up a lot at the end. We were sitting pretty in fourth when the caution came out and that usually puts you second or third at first. I was hoping for one more caution because I thought I was in the cat-bird seat if that happened.”
His standing: Logano is 10th in the standings with 479 points.
Outlook: Logano displayed a good bit of driving in the season-opening Daytona 500, avoiding a few of the “Big Ones” and finishing in 19th place. It’s impossible to predict what will happen at Daytona, but no one has more momentum than Logano right now.

Ryan Newman (No. 39)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Recap: Pit strategy put Newman in the top 10 by the end of the race, but he couldn’t keep that standing. Still, a 14th-place showing at Kentucky isn’t at all bad — in fact, it’s 20 places higher than his result last year.
Quotable: “We had a really good Quicken Loans Chevrolet at the end of the race. With the car being set up for racing at night, we were obviously off a bit, setup-wise. We weren’t alone in that, as everyone was dealt the same hand. But at the end, we had the car where I felt it was capable of bringing home at least a top-10 finish. It’s unfortunate … we know we probably had a better finish coming than we were left with.”
His standing: Newman is 18th in the standings with 448 points.
Outlook: The summer race at Daytona marks the halfway point of the NASCAR season. It’s the 18th race of 36, the first 26 of which count toward the Chase standings. Newman has the veteran makeup to contend at Daytona, where he has two consecutive top-fives dating back to the 2012 summer race.

Tony Stewart (No. 14)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Recap: Stewart struggled for the second consecutive race, but he still has a win to fall back on. That will come more and more into play as the Chase draws near. ‘Smoke’ still displayed a few veteran moves, diving onto the apron at one point, but he finished 20th.
Quotable: “We made a bunch of changes to the car throughout the race. When we started out, it felt like it was up on top of the race track. We needed it to get planted better. We made gains, but we eventually got it to where it was too tight into Turns 1 and 2. Then on that final restart where we got forced high … and we lost a bunch of spots. We got some of them back, but track position being what it was, it was hard to get any more of them back. Not the greatest showing, but we did what we could with it.”
His standing: Stewart is 16th in the standings with 457 points.
Outlook: Stewart was happy as a driver and an owner after the Daytona 500. His Stewart-Haas Racing cars had plenty of horsepower — and staying power. Two SHR drivers finished in the top 10 there, but Stewart himself wasn’t one of them — he finished 41st, the victim of an early crash.

Danica Patrick (No. 10)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Recap: Patrick drove up into 23rd-place at Kentucky after starting 29th on the grid. The driver of the No. 10 Chevrolet continues to show signs of improvements in her first full season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Quotable: “We had a couple of runs where the GoDaddy car was pretty good. But every time we tried to make another adjustment and get the car better, it seemed to get worse. So we’d have to go back on the adjustment and try something new. We were really loose in Turn 3, and then at the end of the race we were just loose all over the place. The guys worked hard, and I hate that everyone had to stay an extra day.”
Her standing: Patrick is 27th in the standings with 313 points.
Outlook: Patrick made history earlier this season when she won the Coors Light Pole for the Daytona 500, then went out and finished eighth in the race. It was a wonderful debut for Danica, who no doubt is looking forward to her return there.

Greg Biffle (No. 16)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford 

Recap: Biffle took a slip in the standings through no fault of his own. His No. 16 Ford was simply caught up in a wreck, and promptly burst into flames. Biffle emerged unscathed and stays in the top 10 of the points standings.
Quotable: “It is just a rough race track and he said things are looking dicey out there, the cars do move around a lot on this race track. That doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with that, it just makes it hard to get your car tuned in to get going. That last change there we got our car working pretty good. I was kind of having fun there for the little bit of the race that I was in. I don’t know what happened there. I don’t know what happened with the 18 earlier but we got lucky and missed that one. We weren’t fortunate enough to miss this one. I was trying to get to the bottom to miss the 2 and couldn’t get it. I was on the brakes and the nose might have been on the race track or something. I couldn’t get to the bottom to miss him.”
His standing: Biffle is ninth in the standings with 489 points.
Outlook: Biffle’s No. 16 Ford has been a monster at Daytona the past three races there. He nearly won the 2012 opener, but instead pushed then-teammate Matt Kenseth to victory and finished third. In the summer race, he was in the top five before a major wreck sent him to a 21st-place finish. In the 2013 Daytona 500, Biffle finished sixth.

Denny Hamlin (No. 11)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Recap: Boy, things aren’t going well for Denny Hamlin at all. In the top five early in Sunday’s race, he cut a tire and fell back into the 30s. After telling his crew not to worry about it, Hamlin backed it up by getting his No. 11 Toyota back into the top five before losing another tire, this one sending him hard into the outside wall and relegating him to a 35th-place finish.
Quotable: “Really, today it was the best performance for us in a while. Hopefully at least something to build off of even though we don’t have a good finish. We’re just going to try to win races and that’s what my job is for the rest of the year is to try to win and do the best I can for my sponsors and my team. Really the biggest thing I was pushing for was to get my team into the Chase."
His standing: Hamlin is 25th in the standings with 329 points.
Outlook: Hamlin got the wind knocked out of him when he hit the wall in Kentucky, but he’s still forging forward. Daytona isn’t one of his best tracks — he has just two top-fives and two top-10s in 15 starts.

Posted on by Nascar

Penske team refuses to quit, but plenty of work remains for Chase hopes

RELATED: Race results | Updated standings

SPARTA, Ky. — The back end of his car destroyed and hopes of a good finish or possibly a win dashed, Brad Keselowski appeared to have little reason to climb back into the car.
 
After surveying the damage, crew chief Paul Wolfe could have instructed the Penske Racing crew to “load it up.”
 
The Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway hadn’t reached the 50-lap mark when Kurt Busch sent his car rocketing down across the frontstretch apron, catching the left-rear quarterpanel of Keselowski’s Ford as it shot back up onto the track.
 
Keselowski’s car slid toward the first turn before it was hammered from behind by the fast-closing entry of Greg Biffle.

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Seven cars were involved in the accident. The race, already delayed a day due to rain, was red-flagged for nearly 20 minutes as safety workers attended to those caught up in the hard crash and cleaned the track of debris.
 
“It was borderline whether we could get it out there, it was that bad,” Wolfe said afterward.
 
It’s been that kind of year for Keselowski, the defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, who had been running inside the top 10 only moments earlier. Winless now through this year’s 17 races, Keselowski has only one finish inside the top 12 in his last eight starts.
 
His car came back to pit road with the aid of a wrecker while Keselowski made the trip to the infield care center.
 
But while his day seemed done, neither Keselowski nor his team seemed willing to toss in the towel. Following a lengthy stay in the garage, a slightly less aerodynamic version of the No. 2 entry rolled back out onto the track.
 
“We had truck arm mounts bent, broken; the oil tank was busted out of it, rear end housing (damaged),” said Wolfe. “The whole rear of the car was pretty much destroyed.
 
“The front end wasn’t too bad, other than just the splitter and body, that kind of stuff broke loose. Probably the rear suspension and truck arm mounts being broken was probably the biggest challenge.”
 
But the team felt the chance to gain positions and points, even if only a few, was worth the extra effort.
 
“Absolutely. We’re not in a good position by any means,” he said. “I don’t know where the points stand at this time, but I’m sure we’re out of the top 10 now.
 
“At this moment, every point counts. … I think it’s important now seeing how much we could gain by getting it back out there.”
 
The 33rd-place finish was one of Keselowski’s worst of the season, and dropped him to 13th in points. Until now, he had managed to hold onto a spot in the top 10 in points — crucial for those hoping to be in the mix when the Chase For The Sprint Cup gets under way later this year.
 
Even though he was more than 100 laps down, and his car was badly damaged, repairs were made and the driver headed back out. In the end, six points were gained. Those points could be the difference in defending his championship and watching others battle for the title.
 
There are, Wolfe said, “opportunities to win races. We’ve got some good tracks coming up … we’ll see how the next month goes.”
 
If that means getting more aggressive with race strategy as the team looks to regain lost ground and contend for wins? “We’re not afraid to do that,” he said.

READ MORE:

READ: Kenseth wins
at Kentucky

WATCH: Wreck takes out
Biffle, Keselowski

WATCH: Johnson spins
on late restart

READ: Complete
Kentucky coverage