Future Hall of Famer Johnson enjoys career year

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Holly Cain

Johnson on the verge of setting some major NASCAR records

Even Jimmie Johnson is amazed by the statistic.

When he straps into his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet Sunday afternoon at Dover International Speedway he has a chance of becoming the Monster Mile’s all-time winningest driver, eclipsing the seven-win mark he shares with NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Bobby Allison.

Pretty heady company for sure, but that’s not even the whole story.

Johnson either holds or is tied for all-time victories at seven race tracks on the Sprint Cup schedule — the broadest, most accomplished resume of any of his current competitors.

“I had no idea I had that opportunity or that honor taking place,’’ Johnson said Tuesday. “That’s mind‑boggling to me. I knew of the Charlotte stuff and I knew that Dover and Martinsville, but I didn’t know about the others.

“I’m extremely proud of that. I’ve worked hard to put myself in this position and so does the team, and we’ve been able to capitalize on those opportunities and hard work and get stuff done, so I’m really excited about that.’’

"I’ve worked hard to put myself in this position and so does the team, and we’ve been able to capitalize."

— Jimmie Johnson

At the rate the 37-year-old Southern Californian is racking up wins and claiming records, you’d think he could get used to the good and gaudy statistics. Instead, Johnson still seems genuinely humbled and awed by each new historic moment.

And there’s potential for a really, really big historical moment on the horizon: a sixth championship, which is something only seven-time champs Petty and fellow Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt have accomplished.

With the midpoint of the regular season approaching this weekend, Johnson has positioned himself well for a title run. He holds a solid 32-point lead over second-place Carl Edwards — the closest anyone’s been to him in a month and more impressive considering Johnson’s frustrating 22nd-place finish in Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600.

After the April 27 Richmond race, Johnson held a 43-point edge — essentially a full race advantage over the field. He’s been atop the standings for all but two of the season’s 12 weeks.

Is this lofty lead truly indicative of how far ahead of the competition Johnson’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Team really is?

“We’ve got a huge points lead and things kind of ‑‑ we’ve had the wins and there have been tracks that we’ve been really hot at,’’ Johnson said, quickly adding, “ But I feel like our mile‑and‑a‑half stuff, we’ve been really a top-five car. Our short track stuff and super speedway stuff, we’ve been a winning car. With the mile and a half occupying so much of the year and especially the Chase, we have a little bit of room for improvement there. I do feel very good about our cars and don’t want to undermine that.

“But the points lead is huge, and I’d love to keep it that way and roll on into Richmond or the races before Richmond with that kind of points lead so we can lock in.’’

Interestingly, not one time during his five championship runs did Johnson lead the standings entering the Richmond race, which sets the 12-driver Chase field for the 10-race playoff run.

But after watching Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski hoist the Sprint Cup the past two years, it’s clear Johnson had a message to bring in 2013. And judging by his effort, he’s leaving very little to chance. He’s not waiting around.

His eight top-10 finishes in the first 12 races is a season best 83 percent and combined with two victories and series best 50 percent clip of top-five showings, Johnson is turning in a career year — in a career that was already Hall of Fame bound.

He’s won four of the last eight races at Dover — two of them from the pole — and has two season sweeps at the track starting with his first Cup start there.

He’s led a whopping 1,763 laps in the last nine Dover races — for an average of 195 laps a race — and has led at least one lap in the last 11 consecutive races at the Monster Mile.

And as history beckons this weekend, Johnson offered the understatement of the season.

“I feel good about things.’’

READ MORE:

READ: Harvick’s late charge
leads to 600 win

READ: Post-Coca-Cola 600
Driver Reports

READ: Kenseth, Johnson hopes
wrecked in 600

READ: Pit crew key as
Hamlin clawsback

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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Posted on May 28, 2013 by Staff Report

Check out which new colors will fly at Dover

Editor’s note: This story will be updated as additional paint schemes are revealed.

This weekend’s races at Dover International Speedway will mark the first time since the season-opening week at Daytona that all three NASCAR national series will be at the same track on the same week.

Below are some of the special paint schemes you’ll see at the "Monster Mile."

Jamie McMurray will drive the No. 1 Parade Media Group Chevrolet.

SHOP: Jamie McMurray die-casts

Marcos Ambrose will drive the No. 9 DeWALT/ACE/CMN Ford.

SHOP: Marcos Ambrose die-casts

Denny Hamlin will drive the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota.

SHOP: Denny Hamlin die-casts

Tony Stewart will drive the No. 14 Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet.

SHOP: Tony Stewart die-casts

Greg Biffle will drive the No. 16 RiteAid Ford.

SHOP: Greg Biffle die-casts

Jeff Gordon will drive the No. 24 AARP Credit Cards from Chase Chevrolet.

SHOP: Jeff Gordon die-casts

J.J. Yeley will drive the No. 36 DOHS Click it or Ticket Chevrolet.

SHOP: J.J. Yeley gear

Juan Pablo Montoya will drive the No. 42 Energizer Chevrolet.

SHOP: Juan Pablo Montoya die-casts

Bobby Labonte will drive the No. 47 Scott Products Toyota.

SHOP: Bobby Labonte die-casts

Jimmie Johnson will drive the No. 48 Lowe’s/Monsters University Chevrolet.

SHOP: Jimmie Johnson die-casts

NATIONWIDE SERIES PAINT SCHEMES

Trevor Bayne will drive the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

SHOP: Trevor Bayne die-casts

Matt Kenseth will drive the No. 18 GameStop Toyota.

SHOP: Matt Kenseth die-casts

Joey Logano will drive the No. 22 Hertz Ford.

SHOP: Joey Logano die-casts

CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES PAINT SCHEMES

Darrell Wallace Jr. will drive the No. 54 Good Sam Toyota.

READ MORE:

READ: Harvick’s late charge
leads to 600 win

READ: Post-Coca-Cola 600
Driver Reports

READ: Kenseth, Johnson hopes
wrecked in 600

READ: Pit crew key as
Hamlin claws back

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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Posted on May 28, 2013 by Zack Albert

Early-season performance has produced good qualifying, but drop-off on race day

Related: Dover schedule | Standings | Charlotte results

CONCORD, N.C. — Austin Dillon’s first pole position of the season marked a bright spot for the weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But by the end of the History 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race, the next-generation driver was frustrated after another drop-off in the final stages.

Though no one was quite in the same class as race winner and series dominator Kyle Busch on Saturday afternoon, Dillon had at least hoped to lock down a top-five run in a field stocked with Sprint Cup stars. Instead, a late-race fade to a 14th-place finish dropped him one spot to seventh in the Nationwide standings.

"We’re struggling at the end of these races putting ourselves in position."

—Austin Dillon

“We got tight and couldn’t go forward. I don’t know,” said Dillon, in his second full season in the series. “We’re struggling at the end of these races putting ourselves in position. … We’re trying everything we can to win these races, but it’s tough right now. We’ll just have to keep digging.”

Dillon entered the season as an early favorite for championship contention, based on his third-place finish in the standings in his rookie year, highlighted by a pair of wins in a sweep of Kentucky Speedway’s two Nationwide events. He also stood to benefit from continuity as his pairing with crew chief Danny Stockman Jr. remained intact.

There’s still plenty of time to mount a title charge, but for whatever reason, Dillon hasn’t been able to finish ahead of where he started, leaving the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team winless thus far.

Qualifying easily has been Dillon’s strongest suit. He has qualified no worse than 11th in 10 races this season, and his average starting position of 4.8 leads the series. His average finish of 12.2, however, is seventh-best among Nationwide series regulars. As a result, he’s finished ahead of his starting spot just once all season.

Saturday, Dillon ran fifth through 150 of 200 laps, just ahead of the final series of pit stops. But on the exchange and the high-tension shuffling that ensued, Dillon dropped to as far back as 17th before gaining a handful of positions near the end.

“Mostly our last call or whatever we do at the end of the race has put ourselves in a bad position, and we don’t have the right adjustment for it, either,” Dillon said. “We just have to keep working on it.”

Dillon and his team will get their next opportunity at the 5-Hour Energy 200 at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at Dover International Speedway.

READ MORE:

READ: Harvick’s late charge
leads to 600 win

READ: Post-Coca-Cola 600
Driver Reports

READ: Kenseth, Johnson hopes
wrecked in 600

READ: Pit crew key as
Hamlin clawsback

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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Posted on May 28, 2013 by Nascar

On heels of a solid Charlotte run, Ambrose looks to insert himself into Chase picture

Of the eight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in which Marcos Ambrose has finished third or better, six have come on road courses.

Both career victories for the native of Tasmania came on the wickedly fast seven-turn Watkins Glen International layout.

He holds the track qualifying record (95.262 mph) at Sonoma Raceway, where speeds are slower but the layout no less forgiving.

But when the series arrives in Dover, Del., for this weekend’s FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks, Ambrose will feel equally good about his team’s chances. And with good reason.

Concrete-surfaced tracks have been kind to driver of the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 9 Ford. Particularly Dover, a 1-mile layout whose high-banked turns generate high speeds while providing little room for error.

Ambrose had put together three consecutive top-10 finishes at Dover before ending up 18^th last fall. He also has three career top-10 finishes at Bristol, a track that is a bit smaller at 0.533 mile but certainly every bit as demanding.

"We expect (Dover) to be good for me this weekend."

— Marcos Ambrose

“A bit of a mystery, but I’ll take it,” Ambrose said of his Dover results. “It’s been a good track for me in the past. We expect it to be good for me this weekend.”

“My mindset when I go to Dover, I expect a high‑intensity race, up on the wheel, being aggressive all day. That being said, concrete race tracks, both Bristol and Dover, have really been good to me as far as results go. I’ve run well pretty much every Bristol race and I’ve certainly run well at Dover the last couple years.

“I don’t have a good reason why that’s the case. Perhaps I get a different feel behind the wheel or I’m able to adjust the car a little better for these concrete tracks than others.”

As part of the Racing For a Miracle program, RPM sponsors Stanley, DeWalt and Ace Hardware will donate $1 million to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals if Ambrose wins Sunday’s race.

Although he is 22^nd in the points standings, Ambrose, 36, is coming off a 10^th place finish this past weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The team squeezed out the impressive finish run even though its car was badly damaged when Ambrose ran over a TV cable that had fallen across the track.

“I’ve certainly run into things that I didn’t expect,” said Ambrose, who said he had once hit a kangaroo. “This was unusual because it pretty much impacted the entire field. I mean we’re going 200 plus miles an hour into Turn 1. I heard and felt like a big whack on the front window. The window net was pulsing. I knew something happened. It left a big mark on the windshield.

“I could see something coming out the back of Mark Martin‘s car. It was on my hood, making a lot of noise, a lot of racket.”

Ambrose said it wasn’t until officials threw the caution flag that he realized the extent of the damage to his car.

“It ripped the brake line off the back of the car,” he said. “It was still flapping. I could feel it and hear it. It really wasn’t until a lap of caution that I was able to work it all out when I saw the left‑over piece of rope sitting on the side of the track.

“It all came at me pretty fast, but it was certainly unusual just because of the fact that it didn’t impact one car, it was pretty much the entire field went over that wire.”

READ MORE:

READ: Harvick’s late charge
leads to 600 win

READ: Post-Coca-Cola 600
Driver Reports

READ: Kenseth, Johnson hopes
wrecked in 600

READ: Pit crew key as
Hamlin claws back

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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Posted on May 27, 2013 by

Top contenders suffer unlucky breaks on biggest stage

CONCORD, N.C. — Matt Kenseth thought briefly about ducking down onto the apron, but he knew he was going much too fast for that. So when Jimmie Johnson spun in front of him, all he could do was hit the brakes. And suddenly not just one top contender was knocked out of the Coca-Cola 600, but two.

An accident 66 laps from the finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway changed the complexion of one of the biggest events of the NASCAR season, wiping out not only the winner of last week’s Sprint All-Star Race on the same track but also the driver who had established himself as the favorite Sunday night. Johnson spun, Kenseth slowed and was hit from behind by Juan Pablo Montoya, and two potential race winners wound up laps down with damaged cars.

“He wrecked, I saw it, I was going too fast to go on the apron and miss it, so I just slowed down a little bit and (Montoya) ran over the back of us,” Kenseth said after finishing two laps down in 15th. “I could do that same thing 300 times and be in it 300 times. It was just one of those odd ones where there’s just nothing you can do to miss it. Just the wrong place at the wrong time.”

"That caution was ill-timed for us. You’re going to have that now and then."

— Matt Kenseth

It was a costly accident for a No. 20 car that had been the class of the field until an ill-timed caution on a green-flag pit cycle mired Kenseth at the back of the lead lap. He led 112 laps, including 95 out of 96 circuits at one point, and owned a lead over the field of nearly eight seconds. Johnson never led the race, but the six-time Charlotte winner was lurking as one contender after another fell victim to attrition in NASCAR’s longest event.

Johnson and Kenseth were ninth and 10th, respectively, when the No. 48 car suddenly broke loose as part of an accident that ultimately involved five vehicles. “The 56 was sitting on my quarterpanel,” Johnson said, referring to the car of Martin Truex Jr. It was part of a challenging night for the five-time series champion, who lost a lap early when his team had to change a battery, but got it back and was working his way back into the top 10 when the car went sideways.

“We were like a fifth-place car, somewhere in that area. Maybe third through seventh place most of the night,” said Johnson, who wound up five laps down in 22nd. “We got pulled around in Turns 3 and 4 and spun. That really affected our finish from that point. But we did have some issues with the charging system of the car with batteries dying and things like that throughout the race, which added more excitement for us. It was a long night with a lot of issues and unfortunately we got sucked around there in Turn 3 and did some damage to the car.”

Such events are no surprise in a long day-to-night race that’s all about keeping the vehicle intact until the end. But Kenseth’s undoing had its roots in more mundane matters — a piece of debris that led NASCAR to issue a caution on lap 303, two circuits after the No. 20 car had given up second place to pit under green. The caution trapped Kenseth a lap down, and although he was able to use the wave-around to get back on the lead lap, he was still stuck at the end of the line.

In the car, Kenseth was as incensed as his Wisconsin temperament would allow. “That is a bunch of crap,” he told crew chief Jason Ratcliff over the radio. “It’s a piece of tire on the apron. … A little teeny piece of rubber as big as your hand.”

Afterward, he was his usual, more even-keeled self. “I saw it before we pitted,” Kenseth said of the debris. “In hindsight, I probably should have mentioned it to Jason, but it sat there for three or four laps. I just didn’t think they’d throw a caution for it, and then the lap after we pitted they threw a caution for it, so it’s just the way it works every once and a while. We had a lot of good things happen tonight, a lot of things to build on.”

The debris caution was the beginning of a chain of events that included Kenseth restarting at the rear of the lead lap and having to work his way through the field — which meant being in testing, often three-wide traffic in a race marred by several cautions over its latter stages. Kenseth’s car seemed one of the few that could challenge Kasey Kahne, who led 161 laps before he was undone by late restarts that helped Kevin Harvick score his second victory of the season.

“I think you have to keep it in perspective,” Kenseth said. “I think you have to be careful not to dwell on the negatives. You’ve got to really focus on the positives. There is so much that’s going right with this race team right now. That’s just the way things go once in a while. Things are going to happen. We got in a bad spot. That caution was ill-timed for us. You’re going to have that now and then.”

Even so, Kenseth has had a lot of it, even for a team with multiple victories and a solid third-place standing in points. Sunday was far from the first race in which the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has had a car capable of winning, only to see circumstances intervene — the Daytona 500, Richmond, and Talladega spring immediately to mind. Charlotte now joins the list. A few things break differently, and Kenseth likely has four or five race wins now rather than three.

He doesn’t disagree — but he’s unlikely to lose any sleep over it, either.

“Yeah, I mean, if the cards would have fallen right,” Kenseth said. “… I feel like that, and that’s a great feeling to have. I’m very thankful for the three that we have. But certainly we had a car tonight that I thought was one of the only one or two cars that could have run with Kasey at the time. Now, certainly cars get better throughout the night and things change. But we had things going our way when they stopped going our way. So we’ll just stay with the same approach and if we keep running like that, you’ll have things happen, but I think we’ll get more wins.”

READ MORE:

READ: Harvick’s late charge
leads to 600 win

READ: Post-Coca-Cola 600
Driver Reports

READ: Kenseth, Johnson hopes
wrecked in 600

READ: Pit crew key as
Hamlin clawsback

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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Posted on May 27, 2013 by

Glitches keep No. 78 team from what could have been a special two weeks

CONCORD, N.C. — When former NASCAR champion Kurt Busch first joined the Furniture Row Racing team before this season, Todd Berrier relayed to his crew a simple message: Don’t make mistakes, and let one of the most naturally talented drivers in the sport do the rest.

The crew chief’s words certainly loomed large over 10 days at Charlotte Motor Speedway, in two races the smaller, Colorado-based organization had a real opportunity to win. Last Saturday night in the Sprint All-Star Race, it was a slow final pit stop that sent the No. 78 car from first to fifth in the last segment. And Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600, it was a dead battery that sent Busch to the back of the field — while he was leading one of NASCAR’s crown jewels with 74 laps remaining.

Owner Barney Visser’s team has won one Sprint Cup event in its history, the Southern 500 on a tire gamble with Regan Smith 2011. This week, no pit strategy was necessary — the No. 78 was strong enough to sweep both races, but instead wound up fifth in the exhibition before rallying for third place Sunday night.

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“You don’t get paid by driver ratings, you get paid by where you finish,” Busch said. “Yeah, a top-five is great. To be up front, to lead laps, that’s what it’s all about. So we’ll get these little hiccups polished up and continue plugging forward. That’s the only thing we can do, is learn from what exactly happened — was it a cable issue, a battery that was dead, was the alternator not charging? To show our strength tonight, to finish third, we’ll take it. I think that’s what needs to be said. The Furniture Row team was fast, and we didn’t quite have a perfect night, and we brought it home third.”

It was a brave face put forward by an elite driver who is trying to carry his team to the next level. Busch led only eight laps, but he was among the leaders for the entire event until the race was halted to clean up damage from a crash involving Mark Martin, Aric Almirola and Jeff Gordon on Lap 326. Under the red flag came ominous words from the driver.

“There’s no power at all,” he said.

Although some teams runs separate batteries that can be selected using a switch in the driver’s compartment, the No. 78 isn’t one of them. When the car wouldn’t start, it had to be pushed by a wrecker onto pit road, where the crew switched out the battery. It would have been an agonizing task under any circumstances, but it was made worse Sunday night by the fact that Busch dropped from first to 16th during the changeover.

“At the end of the day, the alternator was still working, so we didn’t do our due diligence on something for that to have happened,” Berrier said. “I don’t know how many miles are on it; I don’t know where it is at this point. It’s premature for me to say. But what happened was, we had something happen that didn’t happen to anybody else, and it’s freaking aggravating. (Busch) does the deal. All we have to do is not mess up, and he’s going to make us look good.”

Richard Childress, who owns race winner Kevin Harvick’s car and whose Richard Childress Racing team has a technical alliance with Furniture Row, said he was told a battery cable came off the No. 78. That surely was of little consolation to the driver, who scored his best result since finishing third last year at Sonoma in James Finch’s car, but unlike that effort knew he was capable of more.

“It was a good 550 miles it seemed like for us, then the normal something has to pop up, some adversity we have to overcome came about. It came about this week in a dead battery,” Busch said. “I don’t know, I’m a little shell-shocked still, trying to find the exact words.”

Berrier could only shake his head. The No. 78 car ran exceptionally well over two weekends in Charlotte, but with the potential of Busch behind the wheel, that only added to the frustration.

“We can go back to Richmond and say we were good, and Darlington and say we were good. It’s freaking aggravating. I don’t know how else to sugarcoat it. The car’s fast. But we don’t capitalize on it. Hey, if it weren’t a mistake that we made or something that we did and we finished third, I wouldn’t be mad about it at all. But once again, it’s the same thing. We were leading the race, and we had to get the wrecker to push us in. That’s the part that’s aggravating, for sure,” he said.

“(Busch) doesn’t deserve for the things that happen to happen. He’s really, really good. He doesn’t deserve it, and honestly, it’s just as disappointing for that. He does everything in his power to put you in a position to win. I told these guys early on, ‘All we have to do is not make mistakes, and he’s going to do that.’ It just comes down to being better as a group of people, and being better as a team. I know I sound like I’m down on it, but how can I not be?”

If there was any silver lining, it was in Victory Lane, where Harvick celebrated a win for an RCR organization that considers the No. 78 its unofficial fourth car. No question that as a single-car team based in Denver, Furniture Row benefits from its alliance with RCR, which supplies the outfit with chassis, engines and technical support. But the aid and information doesn’t flow only one way.

“Listening to Kurt Busch in the meetings is something that adds to our team,” Harvick said. “Not taking anything away from Todd (Berrier), all the guys working on the car. But the way that Kurt drives, hard, he has good feedback. To me that’s been the thing that really has helped the 78 car become relevant for RCR and myself, is you can go over and talk to him and look at his data, and it’s real and it’s fast. It has really helped what we’ve been doing.”

In the final analysis, two weekends at Charlotte will show a fifth and a third for a Furniture Row Racing organization that until last summer had never strung together back-to-back top-10s in points events. But those on the No. 78 team know what was left on the table, what might have been possible had a slow pit stop and a dead battery not intervened.

“It pretty much shows us as a group how we can run fast and beat ourselves,” Berrier said. “We kind of knew this, that we were going to be good, and it was going to come down to dotting our Is and crossing our Ts. And again, we somehow managed to have something happen that didn’t happen to 42 other cars in the field. But that being said, you lean that we just have to do better as a group.”

READ MORE:

READ: Hamlin sets
qualifying record

READ: Full coverage
from Charlotte

WATCH: What Drives
The 5?

READ: Winless streak weighs
on storied No. 43

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Posted on May 27, 2013 by Holly Cain

There was a lot to learn in this year’s Coca-Cola 600, especially for Stewart-Haas Racing

It’s a start.

That’s the way Stewart-Haas Racing owner/driver Tony Stewart sees his team’s two top-10 finishes in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. Normally that would be considered a mediocre night for the three-time series champ, but with the way the team has struggled this season, it’s a small — but important — victory.

As he’s done for much of the year, SHR driver Ryan Newman led the way for the team with a sixth-place finish, but his boss Stewart crossed the line right behind him — the seventh-place effort his best of the year. Rookie Danica Patrick was scored 29th after being collected in an accident.

There were other reasons to be encouraged. Stewart, who started 25th, led laps (seven) for only the second time this season — the last time back in March at Phoenix. Also significant, Stewart’s crew was able to improve the car as the race went on, something that has hampered the team previously.

So when he climbed out of his No. 14 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, he was more happy than frustrated.

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“We finally got some stability in the car, one change there at the end of the race just made a huge, huge difference,” Stewart said.

SHR competition director Greg Zipadelli was similarly hopeful that the weekend could serve as a turning point heading into summer, typically the strongest portion of the schedule for Stewart.

“All three of our cars made big improvements this week in terms of performance, and we ended up with a couple of good finishes,” Zipadelli said. “Danica (Patrick) had a bad day, but overall it was certainly an improvement.”

With his team-best sixth top-10, Newman moved up a position in the Sprint Cup standings to 16th, only 20 points behind 10th place Brad Keselowski. Stewart also moved up a spot and is ranked 20th, significant because he could still win a Wild-Card berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup if he is ranked among the top 20 and wins more races than the non top-10 drivers in front of him.

Patrick, meanwhile, is ranked 30th — 13 positions behind Rookie of the Year competitor Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

TEAR DOWN

On a mission. … Denny Hamlin continued his march to a Chase berth Sunday night, scoring a fourth-place finish in NASCAR’s longest race, all the more remarkable considering he’s still healing from a broken back.

He has moved up seven points positions in the two races since he has been back full time and now sits 24th. While it would be quite ambitious for Hamlin to expect he’d qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup as one of the top-10 in points, it is completely reasonable — especially with his effort so far — to see him earn one of the two Chase Wild Card spots.

To do that he would need to move into the top 20 in points and win a race — or two.

He trails 20th-place Stewart by 53 points right now and is coming into a favorable part of the schedule based on past wins.

He has four victories at Pocono, Pa., and two each at New Hampshire and Michigan — tracks the series will visit in the coming weeks.

The “Closer”. … Kevin Harvick has earned that nickname honestly. He may be the most efficient winner of his generation.

In the past three seasons he has seven wins. With the exception of a dominating 202 laps led en route to a win at Richmond in the fall of 2011, he has led a total of 55 laps in the other six victories combined.

In four of those wins he led six laps or less including: Fontana, Ca. 2011 (one lap), Martinsville, Va., 2011 (six laps), Charlotte, 2011 (two laps) and Richmond, 2013 (three laps).

The 28 laps out front Sunday was the most he’d led in a win in three years.

“I think a lot of that comes from growing up, and when we raced, because you had to race next week,’’ Harvick explained. “The only way to race the next week was to win enough prize money the week before so you could buy tires, whatever the case may be, to race.

“My dad, anybody I ever drove for before, would probably tell you the same thing. I’m not going to burn my car up in the first half of the race, go out and show off basically. That’s what happens at the beginning of the race.”

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

2: Number of top-10s for Stewart thanks to his seventh-place on Sunday. Also the number of races he’s led this year — including the Coca-Cola 600.

3: Number of top-five finishes for Kurt Busch after a third-place showing Sunday — his best outing with the Furniture Row Racing team.

7: Major victories on Memorial Day race weekend for Bakersfield, Calif. drivers: Harvick (two in NASCAR Coca-Cola 600), Casey Mears (1 in Coca-Cola 600) and Rick Mears (four in the Indy 500)

20: Years to the day since Dale Earnhardt earned the first Coca-Cola 600 win for Richard Childress Racing.

THEY SAID IT

“Oh boy.”

— Then race leader Kasey Kahne’s reply on the radio after being told everyone behind him came in for tires just prior to final restart.

”I told Danica one day we’ll be the windshield and not the bug.’’

— Danica Patrick’s crew chief Tony Gibson, who said the team is making progress despite being caught up in a late race wreck Sunday night.

"I saw this streak go by me. What in the hell was that?. …You got to believe in your eyes. I tell myself, You got to believe what you saw.’’

— Race winner Kevin Harvick explaining his reaction to seeing the damaged television cable come down in the middle of the race.

CHASE WATCH

The top of the Sprint Cup Series standings still looks familiar despite an eventful night for so many. But there were some significant movers and losers in the points following the Coca-Cola 600.

It was a sneaky good night for Carl Edwards. Although he led only seven of the 400 laps and never really threatened to win the race, his 11th-place finish combined with points leader Jimmie Johnson’s misfortune (22nd) allowed Edwards to pull within 32 points of Johnson entering Sunday’s race at Dover, Del.

That is the closest anyone’s been to Johnson since Kasey Kahne trailed Johnson by 37 points following the April 21 race at Kansas Speedway.

Similarly, Martin Truex Jr.’s workmanlike night — a ninth-place finish — earned him the biggest jump in the entire Cup standings. He moved up five positions and is now ranked ninth.

Race winner Harvick and his Richard Childress Racing teammate Paul Menard both vaulted three positions and sit solidly in the Chase field, ranked seventh and eighth, respectively.

On the flip side, reigning champ Brad Keselowski (wreck), Kyle Busch (engine) and Aric Amirola (wreck) all had rough outings. Each fell three positions in the standings but remain Chase players, ranked 10th, 11th and 12t^h, respectively.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped from fourth to sixth in the standings after an engine problem late in the race.

COMING UP

The Sprint Cup Series moves from the monster marathon of a race, the Coca-Cola 600 to the Monster Mile, Dover International Raceway this week for a change of pace. The concrete one-miler will host all three of NASCAR’s national series.

READ MORE:

READ: Harvick’s late charge
leads to 600 win

READ: Post-Coca-Cola 600
Driver Reports

READ: Kenseth, Johnson hopes
wrecked in 600

READ: Pit crew key as
Hamlin clawsback

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Posted on May 27, 2013 by Staff Report

Two drivers place in top five; four place in top 10

Denny Hamlin’s resurgence continued in Charlotte. Perhaps Tony Stewart’s has begun.

Driving the No. 11 Toyota, Hamlin finished the grueling 600-mile race in fourth place, giving him his second top-five in the two full races he’s run since his return from a back injury earlier this season.

Joey Logano, who was searching for a spark, joined Hamlin in the top five by finishing fifth.

Ryan Newman finished in sixth place, but it was Tony Stewart making headlines by surging toward the front of the field late and picking up a seventh-place finish.

Stewart has been besieged by bad luck this season, and the driver had only one top-10 entering the Coca-Cola 600. A three-time Cup Series champion, Stewart could use the momentum from this race to make a strong bid for a Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Wild-Card berth.

A roundup on the Coca-Cola Racing Family:

Denny Hamlin (No. 11)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota

Recap: Still nursing an injured back, Hamlin took extra precautions to ensure his pain would be tolerable during the grueling 600 miles at Charlotte. And by managing his pain, Hamlin managed expectations — and then exceeded them. The driver finished fourth, led six laps, and moved three spots up the standings to 24th.
Quotable: “Yeah, we just could never hit it. We just hung around the top five, but the pit crew did an awesome job. Luckily, we got the pole and really made up some positions on pit road, so hats off to the pit crew. They stepped up big time today and proud of our whole FedEx Office team. We need solid runs like this. … (My back) feels good. Definitely feel a lot better after this one — I did Darlington — really feel the same as I do after any other race. Proud of our effort. We didn’t a have a winning car, but we had a fourth to sixth-place car and that’s where we ended up.”
His standing: Hamlin is 24th in the standings with 238 points.
Outlook: Hamlin has never won at Dover, and he finished 18th last year at the spring race. His best finish is fourth (twice), and he has just five top-10s in five starts. So his long-awaited win isn’t likely to come this week, but Hamlin seems primed for a trip to Victory Lane soon. And he needs it — he’s 53 points behind 20th-place Tony Stewart. The two Wild-Card entrants to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup must finish at least 20th in the standings.

Joey Logano (No. 22)

Penske Racing, Ford

Recap: Logano does well in Charlotte, and he was coming off a strong run in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. All of that led to a fifth-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600, continuing Logano’s boom-or-bust season. He has four top-fives in 12 races, and four top-10s … meaning he’s either finished in the top five, or out of the top 10 all together. Still, with two top-fives in the past four points races, Logano may be back on track.
Quotable: “That was a long race, a really long race, but I think my guys did an awesome job coming from 31st up to fifth. I’m super-proud of them. The strategy and what was going on, I had no idea what was going on. I was just passing whoever was in front of me and going from there. I have such a great team and I’m so happy to be involved with all of Penske. I’m having a good time with it and I know in time that win is gonna come, but with a second in the All-Star Race and a fifth here tonight, we’re proud of our efforts here at Charlotte and we’ll go on to Dover, my favorite track, and hopefully get a win there.”
His standing: Logano is 19th in the standings with 298 points.
Outlook: As you read above, Logano loves Dover. And why not? He has four top-10s in eight starts there, a better average than any track except for Charlotte — and we saw how well he did at Charlotte the past two weeks.

Ryan Newman (No. 39)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet

Recap: Hello, Newman. The veteran driver of the No. 39 Chevrolet earned his second consecutive top-10, using some excellent pit strategy to finish sixth and reintroduce himself as a legitimate contender to make the Chase. A caution flag on Lap 327 sent drivers to pit road, and Newman was one of a handful of drivers to take two tires. That shot him into the top 10, and he stayed there for the rest of the race.
Quotable: “We had a really good Quicken Loans Chevrolet at the end of the race. If that yellow hadn’t come out, we would have probably ended up third. We took two tires under caution and couldn’t quite get back to where we were. That is a great comeback after going a lap down early, and considering where we were one week ago here for the All-Star Race. The Quicken Loans guys did a great job. Tony (Stewart) had a great run, too. It was a solid night for Stewart-Haas Racing.”
His standing: Newman is 16th in the standings with 315 points.
Outlook: Newman is among a handful of drivers bunched in the standings. He’s only nine points 13th-place Greg Biffle and 13 points behind 12th-place Aric Almirola. If he continues to stay out of trouble, his standing will only go up.

Tony Stewart (No. 14)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet

Recap: Stewart had his best finish of the season in Sunday’s 600-miler, finishing seventh place. It’s his second top-10 of the year, and his first since the second race of the season at Phoenix, where he finished eighth. Stewart’s pit-road strategy was the biggest reason for his placing, and he also earned a bonus point due to leading six laps.
Quotable: “We finally got some stability in the car. One change there at the end of the race just made a huge, huge difference.”
His standing: Stewart is 20th in the standings with 291 points.
Outlook: Now that’s he in the top 20, ‘Smoke’ has dual goals — first, to stay in the top 20. Second, to continue his top-10 streak and perhaps even earn a top-five — or a win. Wins would do the most to solidify Stewart’s Chase chances, and he’ll have a chance to do that at Dover, where he’s won twice and has 10 top-fives in 28 career starts.

Danica Patrick (No. 10)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet

Recap: Patrick was the only one of the three Stewart-Haas Racing drivers to not finish in the top 10. She may have had a top-20 finish, though, but a wreck with Brad Keselowski wrecked her night. With Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the inside and Keselowski on the outside of a three-wide row, Patrick was squeezed, and Keselowski later came down across her car (and apologized for the incident). She finished 29th after returning to the track following the wreck.
Quotable: “We obviously started from the back, and track position was really important here at Charlotte. We fought our way back to trying to be in a position to be on the lead lap. I felt like we were making real progress and starting to get the car to a place that was really good and had an accident, which is unfortunate because we were moving up. But there’s nothing we can do about it now. We just need some luck.”
Her standing: Patrick is 30th in the standings with 211 points.
Outlook: As is the case with so many tracks this season, Patrick has very little experience at Dover. In her one start last year, she finished 28th.

Greg Biffle (No. 16)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford

Recap: Although he doesn’t have much to show for it, Biffle’s team showed great resiliency Sunday night. His No. 16 Ford was smashed during a wreck that brought out a caution flag on Lap 259. Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s engine blew up, which led to a four-car wreck. Biffle’s team didn’t hang it up, though, and returned to the track and gained a few positions to finish 31st, 65 laps down.
Quotable: Biffle was not available for comment after the race.
His standing: Biffle is 13th in the standings with 324 points.
Outlook: Biffle needs a break, any break. He’s finished outside the top 10 for five consecutive races and has been worse than 30th in three of the past four races.

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Posted on May 27, 2013 by Nascar

Crew enabled Hamlin to move up in position at every stop

Related: Results | Standings | Race delay | VIDEO: Race Rewind

CONCORD, N.C. — Denny Hamlin did not look like someone who had just completed a 600-mile race.

He didn’t look like someone who recently spent four weeks on the sidelines with a fractured vertebra in his lower back.

And he certainly didn’t look like someone who tweaked his back a day earlier, an incident that necessitated three hours of rehabilitation prior to Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Yet Hamlin was all of those things. He was also the fourth-place finisher at CMS in the Sprint Cup Series’ longest event of the year.

It was the second consecutive top-five run for a Joe Gibbs Racing driver that might just earn him an invitation to the Chase for the Sprint Cup after all.

"I feel we can get to the top 20 in points, it’s just a matter of how far we can go from there."

— Denny Hamlin

“I feel good, really better than I expected,” Hamlin said after his car had been pushed into the garage for post-race inspection and the last few fans had headed toward the exits at the 1.5-mile track.

Truthfully, he didn’t know what to expect. A day earlier, there was concern as he was wrapping up the day’s final practice session.

“I had a little issue,” Hamlin, 32, said. “I kind of tweaked my back and I was really worried.

“I felt a pop, and when it popped, my back just went into spasms. I was on the phone Saturday night with all the doctors … I’d lost all feeling in my (backside) and I couldn’t feel the race car.

“But I got it back today and everything seems to be good. I feel as good as any other race I’ve had.”

Hamlin, who finished second at Darlington in his first full race back following the back injury, qualified on the pole for the race at Charlotte. He led the first six laps, then spent the rest of the evening inside the top 10.

Back-to-back top-five finishes have enabled him to move steadily up through the standings — 31^st after starting the May 5 race at Talladega (and giving the wheel up to Brian Vickers), he’s now 24^th and trails 20^th place Tony Stewart by 53.

The twentieth spot is key — only those in 11^th through 20^th after the season’s 26^th race are eligible for one of the two wild-card spots available for the Chase. Get to 20^th or higher, along with a win, and he can perhaps forget that early-season four-race departure.

“I think tonight we jumped (three spots),” crew chief Darian Grubb said. “We’re just going to keep fighting and trying to get in the top 20. The wins would put us in the top 20 for sure. We’ve got to get us some wins and that marches us right up there to fight for that wild card spot.

“I think we’ve got a real good shot at it, especially the way everything has been going the last few weeks. We’ve had fast cars and Denny’s focus has been really good.”

Grubb said being just a bit off on the handling of the No. 11 Toyota kept Hamlin from running up front. They stayed close, though, with some fast, error-free work on pit road.

“An awesome job in the pits” Grubb said of his team’s over-the-wall crew. “We gained spots every time we came in.

“As long as we can keep doing that and making the best out of everything we’ve got then I think we’ll have a good chance to make ourselves better and make the Chase.”

While it’s hard to be disappointed with back-to-back top-five finishes, Hamlin said his team “isn’t running as good as I had hoped.”

“But it’ll come,” he said. “The physical aspect of it, I know that every week from here on out I’m going to continue to get better and I feel better every week.

“We need to sneak a win in there somewhere and possibly two. I feel we can get to the top 20 in points, it’s just a matter of how far we can go from there.”

READ MORE:

READ: Harvick’s late charge
leads to 600 win

READ: Post-Coca-Cola 600
Driver Reports

READ: Kenseth, Johnson hopes
wrecked in 600

READ: Pit crew key as
Hamlin clawsback

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Comments are currently unavailable. We’re working on the development of a NASCAR fan forum – please stay tuned.

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Nascar

Strategy results in runner-up finish for three-time Coca-Cola 600 winner

CONCORD, N.C. – Kasey Kahne wasn’t involved in “cable-gate,” he successfully avoided the numerous skirmishes that felled others, and he had perhaps the fastest car on the track.

But it all came unraveled for the Hendrick Motorsports driver when the caution flag flew for the 11^th time during Sunday night’s running of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Kahne, who led eight times for a race-high 161 laps, opted not to pit with less than 15 laps remaining, then watched in his rear-view mirror as the bulk of the field peeled off and hit pit road for a final time.

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On the ensuing restart, Kevin Harvick, who had taken two tires and returned to the track in second, bolted past Kahne and raced away for the win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ longest event.

“We had a great car the whole race,” said Kahne, who came home second and moved from sixth to fifth in the points battle. “Everything was solid. Just the final restart I was on hot tires there; actually it was pretty close. Going into Turn 1, we were equal, but (Harvick) could run flat through there and I had to lift because I got a little crossed up and just lifted out of the gas.

“It was over after that. He was quicker from that point on. I think we probably had 20-25 laps on our tires.”

A three-time winner of the 600, Kahne was strong throughout the event, wheeling his car to the front in the sunlight early and again long after darkness had fallen.

Occasional problems on restarts were a concern, but by the time the race was winding toward its conclusion, he said he felt that issue was a non-factor.

“It was just when I restarted second,” he said. “Whenever I started second on the inside I just could not get through second gear. Third and fourth (gears) I was fine, but second I could just not figure it out.

“There were maybe two or three restarts that it was like that. The other ones I was fine … it was a struggle; it wasn’t what I wanted for sure.”

Crew chief Kenny Francis said it wasn’t a difficult decision to stay out during the final caution. Afterward, he said he still had no regrets.

“If we would have pitted,” he said, “I think some guys would have stayed out. I was just surprised that some of those guys that had just pitted earlier didn’t stay out. I was pretty shocked about that.”

A delay of nearly 30 minutes, the result of a TV camera cable that fell across the track and damaged several cars when it was run over, wasn’t an issue for his team, Francis said, but changes in the track during the break necessitated a few minor adjustments.

“It seemed like the track changed a little, and we had to tinker with it a little bit,” he said.

Harvick was second when he hit pit road, and second when the green flag reappeared. Ryan Newman also maintained his third-place position after ducking onto pit road.

Kurt Busch, who restarted sixth, shot past Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin and Newman to finish third, behind Harvick and Kahne.

“It was disappointing,” Kahne said. “Looking back, you wish you would have pitted, but then … some of the guys may stay out and who knows how that turns out?

“It was the call we chose, and it just didn’t work out for us tonight.”

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