Kyle Busch, Edwards make early headway toward postseason return
As Kyle Busch roared around Auto Club Speedway for the final time Sunday, watching the drama between leaders Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin play out ahead of him, the driver of the No. 18 car had one thought in his mind — they’re forgetting about the third-place car.
From personal experience, Busch knew what that could mean. He and Jimmie Johnson had once gone at it so hard trying to win on the 2-mile track in 2011 that Kevin Harvick had slipped by both of them and stolen the victory. And now here he was, in that same position, at the same venue. He waited for either Hamlin or Logano to notice he had a run going at the top. Nothing. He waited for one of their spotters to tell them he was coming. Nothing. He waited for the inevitable contact to occur — and finally, it did.
“They were so focused on one another,” Busch said shortly after the race, “that they just left the door open.”
And he kicked it down, with a victory that could have ramifications far beyond one Sunday in Southern California. By fixating on their own personal matters, Logano and Hamlin allowed Busch to score a morale-building triumph for a team still stinging over missing the Chase for the Sprint Cup by a mere three points a season ago. It’s exactly the kind of situation capable of producing aftershocks that may still reverberate six months from now in Richmond, on the night this year’s championship playoff field is set.
No question, there’s a long way to go until then, and a lot yet to happen. But it shouldn’t go unnoticed that the winners in three of this season’s first five races are drivers who spent much of last year scrapping and clawing for Chase wild-card berths, two of them unsuccessfully. And in an era when race victories offer a back-door ticket into the championship race, it’s difficult to overstate the importance of an early win that relieves a degree of pressure and allows a team with title aspirations to look toward bigger things.
All of which explains why the opening stretch of 2013 has been so important to Busch, Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne. Busch lost his grasp on the second wild-card berth on the final night of the 26-race regular season, losing out to Jeff Gordon by three points. Edwards went to Richmond last year with no victories and facing a win-and-hope scenario that never came to fruition. Kahne was in better shape, having taken command of the first wild-card spot with a win weeks earlier, but he still lived under the threat that another driver would notch a triumph or two and knock him out of the way.
So it’s easy to understand why Busch would still remember the shortcomings of the previous season, even as he sat in a Fontana media center alongside crew chief Dave Rogers and a big trophy with a surfboard sticking out of the top, his firesuit covered in confetti and champagne.
“We worked so hard last year, and we missed the Chase by three points. And then it sort of defines your season as missing the Chase. And then we go off and rattle off great finishes throughout the Chase, but we never win. That weighed on both Dave and (my) shoulders, and of course being able to realize or understand if we could do this together or not,” he said Sunday.
“We finally had a little bit of luck on our side that we didn’t have all last year, and it seemed like we weren’t quite having this year. But we’ve had some good runs and some strong runs. It’s just, you’ve got to keep working, you’ve got to keep digging in. And Dave and I talked a lot in the last few weeks about what we can do to try to help each other and put our program on the map where we’re a bigger force to be reckoned with.”
That certainly looms as a possibility, given how well Busch has run this season despite the multitude of problems — engine failure at Daytona, spin at Phoenix, pit-road speeding penalties at Las Vegas and Bristol — he’s faced. Sunday’s breaks went his direction, unlike a late-summer event last year at Watkins Glen, where he was the leader taken out on the final lap and saw his Chase hopes severely compromised in the process. Now Busch is the possessor of a race victory that buoyed his team at Fontana, and is capable of doing the same many months down the road.
Of course, there are no guarantees here. Don’t forget Busch won a race late last spring, at Richmond, and still let a Chase berth slip through his grasp on the final evening of the regular season. But given the early returns, this No. 18 seems a more potent program than that one. The same could be said of Edwards’ No. 99 team, which a year ago was in a desperate search for speed, and now has a win and three top-10s in the first five events. Those identical statistics apply to Kahne, who 12 months ago was in a deep points hole that took him all spring and summer to pull out of.
Now? They’re all fast. They all have race victories that give them an advantage on the competition in the battle for Chase berths. And most importantly, they all have plenty of time to accumulate more. Meanwhile, perennial title contenders like Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart and Gordon are sputtering at the start. The longer that continues, the more their championship hopes are going to hinge on race wins rather than points. If you’re running at the level Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Jimmie Johnson are right now, top-fives are good enough. For everyone else, it might come down to reaching Victory Lane.
Which at this point is the realm of drivers who a year ago were on the outside looking in, and are now taking bold steps toward Chase berths while others are scuffling on pit road. In the cyclical world that is NASCAR, it’s like the outcasts have suddenly become the cool kids. Sunday, one of them even got to show off a new surfboard and kiss a pretty girl.
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Tension remains for driver of No. 11; owner Penske says it’s over
In the days since the accident that left him with a fractured vertebra, Denny Hamlin has received text messages from both on-track rival Joey Logano and Roger Penske, the owner of Logano’s No. 22 car. Logano also addressed Hamlin on Twitter, tweeting "Wish @dennyhamlin a speedy recovery. Hope he gets back to the track soon. And thanks to all of my fans for their support."
Hamlin acknowledged the texts he exchanged with Logano in an interview with The Associated Press. "It didn’t go well," Hamlin said. "The conversation was both short and unproductive."
Contact with Logano on the final lap Sunday sent Hamlin’s car sliding down into an inside wall not covered by the SAFER barrier, and the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was airlifted to a Southern California hospital. He was diagnosed with a compression fracture in his L1 vertebra, and on Tuesday the team announced that Hamlin would require six weeks to recover.
“I’ve texted back and forth with him and said that we’re thinking about him,” Penske told The Associated Press in Humble, Texas, where he and Logano were both participating in Wednesday’s Shell Houston Open Pro-Am golf tournament. “Obviously, we’re hoping for a speedy recovery.”
In a conference call with reporters on Thursday, JGR President J.D. Gibbs said he had not spoken to Logano, but had talked with Penske. "I’ll probably keep that conversation private, just between the two of us," Gibbs said. "But obviously, he was concerned for Denny."
Sunday’s incident was the latest chapter in an ongoing feud between the drivers that included shots exchanged over social media earlier in the season, and contact a week earlier at the Bristol short track that left Logano spinning into the wall. The two were battling for the victory on the final lap at Fontana when they made contact, sending Hamlin’s car down into the inside wall and allowing third-place runner Kyle Busch to win the race.
Hamlin was examined Tuesday by Charlotte-area neurologist and spinal specialist Dr. Jerry Petty, who determined that the driver would not need surgery but would have to be out of the car for at least six weeks. NASCAR takes this weekend off, and the Sprint Cup Series returns to action May 7 on the short track at Martinsville. If Hamlin keeps to his recovery timetable, he would miss five races and return May 11 at Darlington.
Penske told the AP Wednesday that he was unsure what Hamlin and Logano said to one another in their text messages. He also did not believe the contact on the race track Sunday was retaliatory. Sprint Cup director John Darby said Tuesday that experts would likely examine the wall Hamlin hit to see if changes need to be made.
“These guys are racing hard, and it’s the last lap and it’s just the way the cars got together,” Penske said. “The way Denny hit the wall was very unfortunate. … It’s never good to have a driver out for a period of time.”
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The driver of the No. 4 Nationwide car was with the team for two seasons
JD Motorsports has parted ways with driver Danny Efland immediately, according to a team release.
Efland drove the No. 4 Nationwide Series car for parts of the past two seasons, though not on a full-time basis. The 24-year-old from Irmo, S.C., drove the vehicle in 18 events last year, and in the opener at Daytona this season. His best finish over that stretch was 13th, recorded twice, at both Daytona events in 2012.
The parting is amicable, according to the team, which plans to put another driver in the car.
"I would like to thank Danny for all his time and effort this year," team owner Johnny Davis said. "This is a move to make our organization better. As a team. We need to constantly improve our communication in order to improve our finishes on the track. I believe this change will make both the No. 01 and the No. 4 Chevrolet teams stronger throughout the year."
JD Motorsports’ other entry, the No. 01 car, will continue to be driven by Mike Wallace.
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Semi-elder statesman Coulter shows teens Wallace, Jones the ropes
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — With 16-year-old Erik Jones seated to his left and 19-year-old Darrell Wallace Jr. to his right, Joey Coulter was undoubtedly the veteran of the Kyle Busch Motorsports triumvirate of drivers during Wednesday’s appearance at Martinsville Speedway.
In this case, though, being a veteran is simply a manner of speaking. Coulter is just 22 himself and is in his first season with KBM after running with Richard Childress Racing last year. But with 48 career starts in the NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series and a third-place finish in the final points standings last year, Coulter’s two years of driving far outweighs the trucks experience of Wallace and Jones, who have one combined start.
“It’s really strange,” Coulter said of being considered a mentor at such a young age. “When I got in the truck series, I went straight to Ron Hornaday (Jr.), Todd Bodine, Johnny Sauter. I went to guys who have been racing longer than I’ve been alive. So it’s kind of strange to have 14 years of experience and be giving advice to someone who has eight. But at the same time, it’s a lot of fun. I really enjoy hanging out with these guys.”
The deference to Coulter was on display Wednesday during a segment of open-ended questions in which both Jones and Wallace were more than happy to allow the full-time college student Coulter to answer with thoughtful, articulated responses.
Jones was equally as poised when discussing his future as he was in the final laps of the 2012 Snowball Derby, when he bumped with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Kyle Busch during the final laps before pulling away to win what is considered the most prestigious event in late model racing.
Winning that race, Jones said, is what allowed him to be at Martinsville Speedway on Wednesday. Shortly after his victory, KBM signed the up-and-coming driver to a five-race deal in the No. 51 Toyota Tundra.
“That was a big moment in my career,” said Jones, who also noted he had previously spoken to Busch intermittently a few months before that December race. “Hopefully I earned a little respect from (Busch) in the Snowball Derby. Really, winning that race, that’s the reason why I’m here today.”
To focus on racing, Jones now takes online classes as a junior at Swartz Creek High School in Michigan. He recently got his driver’s license and grew up driving for his family-owned team — Paragon Racing, LLC — after telling his uncle at age 4 that he was “born to race.”
If Coulter is the elder statesman and Jones the polished rookie, Wallace, with an impressive pedigree himself, is the class clown.
Some of his one-liners Wednesday:
• On the long break (six weeks) between Truck Series races: “I’m not even sure I remember how to drive.”
• On whether or not he’s been racing recently: “I’ve been doing a lot of racing on Xbox, but I don’t think that really counts.”
• On the intricacies and history of Martinsville, following sharp answers from both Jones and Coulter: “What they both said.”
• On meeting Jones for the first time: “I just gave Erik a ride in the pace car. That’s as much as he’s getting out of me.”
Wallace’s ability in a car is no laughing matter, though. A graduate of the 2010 NASCAR Drive for Diversity class, Wallace won six races in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East from 2010-12. His 2010 win at Greenville-Pickens Speedway made him the youngest race winner in track history, and the first African-American driver to win at that track.
Wallace and Coulter, along with 22-year-old NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Parker Kligerman, met with team owner Kyle Busch and his wife, Samantha, for what Coulter described as a “shooting the breeze” dinner prior to the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway.
The goal: To build a bond between teammates that ultimately leads to a more successful on-track product.
So far, the bond is there. Perhaps the on-track results will be there, too, at next weekend’s Kroger 250.
“Until I got to RCR (in 2011), I had kind of been a one-man band,” Coulter said. “It really showed me how important it is to have a good team and all be working toward the same goal. Going racing with these guys, especially with Darrell because he’s full time, if everyone’s on the same game plan, you can really make both teams excel. That’s what we want for ourselves and for each other.”
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Alliance’s goal: North American version of German touring car series
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Exploring an opportunity that could additionally change the face, and the future, of road racing, GRAND-AM Road Racing and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Tuesday night announced a license and cooperation agreement with the Internationale Tourenwagen-Rennen (ITR e.V.), which administers DTM racing.
The collective goal is a North American version of DTM, the popular German touring car series. Representatives from all three organizations gathered for the announcement during a press conference at the InterContinental New York Times Square Hotel’s Gotham Ballroom, an event highlighted by GRAND-AM founder Jim France and ITR Chairman Hans Werner Aufrecht signing the agreement.
The earliest the new series would begin would be 2015, possibly running as part of United SportsCar Racing event weekends. United SportsCar Racing was announced March 14 as the name of the new series resulting from the merger of GRAND-AM and the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. IMSA will serve as the sanctioning body for United SportsCar Racing, which also was announced on March 14.
“On the heels of our United SportsCar Racing and IMSA announcements, reaching this agreement adds to the momentum we’re experiencing right now,” GRAND-AM President and CEO Ed Bennett said.
“The next steps in this process will involve further discussions with various automotive manufacturers, whose commitment to this concept is essential if a North American DTM-style series is to become reality.”
If realized, a North American version of DTM would join the current Europe-based DTM and Japan-based Super GT platforms. DTM is administered by ITR e.V., Super GT by GT Association (GTA). ITR e.V. and Super GT agreed last October to a cooperation starting in 2014.
“The new technical regulations and the formed partnerships represent — for the first time in the history of the sport — a global platform for the manufacturers involved,” said Aufrecht, “a platform offering them the opportunity to race — on the same technical basis and with the best global promoters as guarantee for a competitive and attractive platform — in the core markets of North America, Europe and Asia.
“In addition to the six German and Japanese manufacturers — Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Nissan and Toyota — which are already involved, the new cooperation quite obviously also offers a new and extraordinary field of activity for the American premium manufacturers such as Cadillac, Lincoln or Dodge SRT within the framework of future motorsport programs. Now, we have to inform and thrill them together with our new partner GRAND-AM/IMSA and encourage them to get involved.”
Said GTA Chairman Massaki Bandoh: “The new partnership between the parties will further increase the value of DTM, GRAND-AM, IMSA and SUPER GT. This would be the opening of the doors for globalization of GT/Touring car races. We have to take this opportunity to cooperate with each other.”
European automobile manufacturers responded optimistically to news of the agreement, acknowledging the importance of the U.S. market to their businesses and the direct link DTM-style racing would create with consumers.
“This offers the opportunity to use the Audi RS 5 DTM in a premium race series not only in Europe but in Asia and North America too, in the future,” said Wolfgang Dürheimer, Audi AG’s Board of Management member, technical development. “For Audi as a globally operating company, this development represents an exciting and interesting option.”
Jens Marquardt, BMW’s motorsport director, said his organization “welcomes the planned cooperation between DTM and GRAND-AM/IMSA. It represents another important step on the way to the internationalisation of DTM. We as BMW are extremely open-minded, regarding these plans. The North American market represents the biggest market area for BMW in general — and the biggest market area for BMW M vehicles, too. BMW has got a great motor-racing tradition in the USA and therefore, we are truly happy about the prospect to also see DTM vehicles racing in the USA, in the future.”
“For Mercedes-Benz, the U.S. represents the biggest market area worldwide,” said Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. “We are particularly delighted about the long-term cooperation deal between DTM and GRAND-AM/IMSA. Thanks to the technical basis agreed upon, we will be offered the opportunity to use our DTM cars to also demonstrate the competitiveness of our brand on U.S./North American race tracks, in the future.”
Sports car racing legend Hans Stuck, now the president of Germany’s motorsports governing body, Deutscher Motor Sport Bund (DMSB), considers the current DTM competitive environment a template for success.
“If you want to hold motor-racing events in car nations such as Germany or the U.S., your grid must feature cars that have what it takes to fascinate the crowds,” Stuck said. “The technical DTM regulations that were developed by DMSB in close cooperation with the car manufacturers involved – Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz – combine this guideline with an extremely high safety level that also represents an international benchmark. We are delighted that these regulations will be used not only in Europe, in the future, but also in Japan and the U.S.”
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Hamlin’s car will be studied, as will Auto Club Speedway
NASCAR saw nothing in the final lap of Sunday’s race or its aftermath to warrant a penalty, but will likely have experts re-evaluate the uncovered part of the Auto Club Speedway wall that resulted in Denny Hamlin‘s lower back fracture.
Old rivals Hamlin and Joey Logano crashed while racing for the victory on the final lap, sparking an accident that sent the Joe Gibbs Racing driver hard into an inside wall not protected by the SAFER barrier. While Hamlin was being strapped to a backboard and airlifted to a Southern California hospital, Logano was on pit road scuffling with Tony Stewart and a host of crewmen angry over what they had perceived as a blocking move by the 22-year-old.
Tuesday, NASCAR said there would be no penalties stemming from either the incidents on the race track or pit road, though NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby added experts would almost certainly re-evaluate the part of the wall Hamlin struck and recommend changes if necessary. JGR announced that Hamlin suffered a compression fracture of his L1 vertebra in the crash; he will likely be sidelined for up to six weeks.
“The walls at California have been there since the very first day we raced,” Darby said in a teleconference with reporters. “If that had been viewed as a high-risk or high-trouble spot, it would have probably been different. But now in light of that incident, I’m sure it will be re-looked at, and if the folks make recommendations that they think will help the safety there, I’m sure the speedway will follow suit.”
NASCAR often consults with Dr. Dean Sicking at the University of Nebraska’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, which developed the Steel And Foam Energy Reduction barrier. It’s not uncommon for race track barriers to be altered or redesigned in reaction to crashes — a Jeff Gordon hit at Las Vegas, an Elliott Sadler incident at Pocono and a Jeff Fuller accident at Kentucky all resulted in changes to walls or barriers at those facilities.
“One of the points they look at is frequency of impacts, and where the more prevalent parts of impact are, and those are addressed first,” Darby said. “As we go to each race track and that same evaluation happens, there’s a constant growth of SAFER barriers and closing gates and redesigning gates and wheel fences and the whole project. But it’s an evolution. In light of Denny’s accident, I am sure there will be more investigations done on that area of the race track. I also feel very positive about the fact that if a recommendation is made to install additional SAFER barriers in those areas, that the speedway will be very proactive in helping getting that resolved.”
Hamlin’s crash was a result of racing on the last lap between him and Logano, who had been feuding since on-track contact involving the two a week earlier at Bristol Motor Speedway. In that race, Hamlin spun Logano, sending the No. 22 banging into the wall on the short track. Sunday at the 2-mile speedway, Hamlin got to the inside of Logano, who pinched the No. 11 car up the race track and sent it sliding down into the outside wall. “That’s what he gets,” Logano said immediately after the race, and before he knew Hamlin had been injured.
NASCAR did not see the move as retaliatory. Why?
“Probably the simple fact that it was the last lap of the race and the last time they were both going to see Turns 3 and 4,” Darby said. “They were side-by-side. … If somebody was in the mind to retaliate, they probably would have been lined up nose-to-tail, or somebody would have drove into the other car and spun him around. But in this case, that is so far from the opposite that it never even crossed anybody’s mind that I’m aware of, that paid attention to the race, that (retaliation) was part of it.”
NASCAR has a long history of not penalizing drivers for what it views as racing incidents, and Sunday was no exception. “The competition today is so close, and the racing is so good,” Darby said. “Besides, the subjectivity of trying to define whether somebody blocked or just changed without a turn signal — we don’t need to introduce that into what we’re doing right now.”
Emotions immediately following the checkered flag in Fontana were heated, with Stewart and some of his crewmen at Stewart-Haas Racing — including Tony Gibson, crew chief for Danica Patrick — confronting Logano on pit road. Stewart was upset over what he viewed as blocking by Logano on the final restart. Shoves were exchanged, but to NASCAR, no lines were crossed.
“A few years ago, we backed away from micromanaging drivers’ emotions,” Darby said. “You would hope in today’s world that if somebody didn’t race they would be upset about it for whatever reason. That’s what our drivers do, they try to win races. … A couple of drivers at the end of the race arguing a little bit doesn’t create a foul in our world today. The crews did a great job of managing their drivers to make sure it didn’t cross the line to where it was physical violence or anything like that. That’s just what you would hope. That’s just another example of the state of competition in NASCAR racing and the disappointment that comes sometimes when you don’t win the race. I don’t see any foul there at all.”
Darby said NASCAR engineers have been in contact with officials at JGR, and plan on examining Hamlin’s car. Hamlin was released from Loma Linda University Medical Center on Monday, and wrote Tuesday afternoon on Twitter that he was en route to see Charlotte neurosurgeon and spinal specialist Dr. Jerry Petty. Following that visit, it was revealed Hamlin would likely miss up to six weeks.
In order to return, Darby said Hamlin would first have to be cleared medically, and then surmised the driver would take some shakedown laps to see how he feels in the car.
“It starts with the medical experts,” he said. “I don’t believe they are going to sign off on Denny competing if they don’t believe that he can. And then from there, a lot of it is Denny himself and saying, ‘Yeah, look, I’m OK.’ Him being out there racing, and not being competitive, isn’t good for him or the team or anybody else. So I think there’s enough responsibility amongst the drivers and I think there’s enough professionalism that if they can’t do it, they will say they can’t do it and put a replacement driver in the car. But all that is yet to be seen, with the majority of the decisions being made by the medical folks first.”
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New points, power rankings leader for second consecutive week
Driver Change High/Low Last race
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 
Outlook: Earnhardt has finished in the top 10 of every race this season, and it has paid off. He’s sitting pretty atop the standings and the rankings. It’s good to be Junior these days.
Standings: 1st, 199 points
2. Brad Keselowski 
Outlook: Keselowski was unable to keep his top-five streak alive, but he was masterful on Sunday nonetheless. He finished 23rd after his car overheated, but had a chance to win the race on the final restart despite two penalties that put him at the back of the pack.
Standings: 2nd, 187 points
3. Jimmie Johnson 
Outlook: California drivers tend to succeed at Auto Club Speedway. That wasn’t the case as Johnson and Jeff Gordon struggled Sunday. Five-Time’s 12th-place finish is actually quite impressive, however, considering he was running in the 20s for most of the day.
Standings: 3rd, 183 points
4. Kyle Busch 
Outlook: Taking into account how dominant Busch was this weekend and how high his stock is rising, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver could have easily been first in these rankings without a complaint. There’s no denying he was the driver of the race on Sunday.
Standings: 6th, 163 points
5. Kasey Kahne 
Outlook: We didn’t hear from Kahne a whole lot on Sunday, just a week after he was ringing the victory bell at the Hendrick Motorsports complex. His ninth-place finish was a quiet one, but certainly not a negative one.
Standings: 7th, 159 points
Related Links:
Sprint All-Star Race fan vote open
Video: Race Rewind — Auto Club 400
Video: Busch cleans house for Toyota triumph
Video: Weekend Top 5 — Fontana
Post-Auto Club 400 driver reports
Video: Final Laps — Busch wins spectacular finish
Video: Victory Lane — Kyle Busch
Video: Martin wrecks Gilliland, spins out
6. Matt Kenseth 
Outlook: Kenseth earned a solid seventh-place finish on Sunday, but that might not be the story. Perhaps things got a bit prickly between he and former teammate Greg Biffle following Kenseth’s departure from Roush Fenway Racing. Stay tuned on this one.
Standings: 11th, 141 points
7. Greg Biffle 
Outlook: Despite being the second of two Roush Fenway Racing drivers in the top five in points, it’s a fair assumption to say that Biffle doesn’t get the attention he deserves. First of all, he’s been great in 2013. Secondly, he’s a dog lover.
Standings: 5th, 164 points
8. Denny Hamlin 
Outlook: A week after being chased down by Joey Logano following the race, the Penske Racing driver and Hamlin wrecked on the final lap, causing the driver of the No. 11 Toyota to make a hospital visit. Plus, he might need back surgery.
Standings: 10th, 145 points
9. Joey Logano 
Outlook: Logano sure looked like a 22-year-old at the end of the race and right after on Sunday. He was so concerned with beating Hamlin that Kyle Busch snuck in to take the victory. Logano then fought with Tony Stewart after the dust settled from Hamlin’s wreck. That being said, he still ran a heck of a race.
Standings: 9th, 146 points
10. Carl Edwards 
Outlook: Edwards used his third top-five finish to vault himself into the top five of the standings, a place not many expected him to be in 2013. It might be tough for him to maintain his hot streak at Martinsville, where he has just one top-five finish in 17 starts.
Standings: 4th, 164 points
11. Clint Bowyer 
Outlook: It feels like every other week Bowyer is either back in the picture with a strong showing or the victim of bad luck. This week? Engine trouble.
Standings: 14th, 137 points
12. Kurt Busch 
Outlook: Who saw this coming? A year after finishing 25th in the points standings (his worst since 2001), the former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion looks like a force to be reckoned with in 2013. Back-to-back top-five finishes? Not bad.
Standings: 13th, 137 points
13. Kevin Harvick 
Outlook: One driver who was particularly disappointed in his finish? Harvick. Expect to see the former Martinsville winner back on track after the break.
Standings: 15th, 130 points
14. Jeff Gordon 
Outlook: It’s a borderline miracle that Gordon finished as high as he did (11th) in Fontana. The Hendrick Motorsports driver struggled to break the top 20 all afternoon after taking a significant amount of right-side damage. If he can drive like that at Martinsville, by far his best track, he could be a solid pick to get his first win of 2013.
Standings: 18th, 123 points
15. Tony Stewart 
Outlook: It wasn’t exactly family-friendly, but was anyone complaining about Stewart’s testy post-race tirade regarding his new pal Joey Logano? Didn’t think so.
Standings: 22nd, 108 points
16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 
Outlook: If the season ended today, Stenhouse Jr. would be in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Think about that. (And while you’re at it, voting is now open for the Sprint All-Star Race, for which he is on the ballot)
Standings: 12th, 139 points
17. Martin Truex Jr. 
Outlook: Truex Jr. is another driver who was supremely disappointed in his performance Sunday, causing his lowest ranking of the season. Unfortunately for him, it’s looking like there won’t be much room for error when it comes to making the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup this year, and he’s got a lot of ground to cover.
Standings: 19th, 122 points
18. Ryan Newman 
Outlook: Newman had his third top-10 finish of the season Sunday, and you know what that means, people. Free Bloomin’ Onions!
Standings: 20th, 121 points
19. Paul Menard 
Outlook: Menard is behind a boatload of talented drivers in these power rankings, despite his excellent start to the season. The driver of the No. 27 Chevrolet is in the top 10 in points and has an average finish of 13.6.
Standings: 8th, 154 points
20. Aric Almirola 
Outlook: While some drivers lamented their finish, Almirola was proud of where he stood at the end of the Auto Club 400. He also touched on this, too.
Standings: 17th, 125 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. Tell us what you think about the Power Rankings. Use the hashtag #NASCARPOWER.
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Race standards need to be decided before July 24
Chad Little, director of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, indicated Tuesday that a rules package for the tour’s first dirt-track race at Eldora Speedway would be released soon. Fittingly, the timetable for the announcement will be close to the series’ next race at Martinsville Speedway, another historic short track and perhaps a nod at what could become part of the series’ identity.
Everything from race structure to tires to ride heights will have to be decided before July 24, when NASCAR will hold its first national series race on dirt since 1970. It’s one of the more intriguing wrinkles for Little’s first season on the job as series director.
"We are getting very close to finalizing all of the details for Eldora, from the procedural changes for that race to the rules package," Little said. "We’ve bounced around several ideas internally here and we’re visiting with the teams. We’ll probably finish our final visits at Martinsville, and then I expect that we’ll have an announcement very shortly after that race."
"Short-track races are definitely important."
— Chad Little
Adding the half-mile dirt track in Rossburg, Ohio, to this truck year’s schedule might be the start of a shift in emphasis to short-track races. NASCAR vice president of racing operations Steve O’Donnell said last fall that series officials visited Greenville-Pickens Speedway, a long-running half-mile asphalt track in South Carolina, as part of a feasibility study.
"You’re always looking for new venues and evaluating the opportunities at any race track, but the short-track races are definitely important," Little said. "Getting back to the grass roots has always been very important for NASCAR."
In accordance with that directive, the truck series returns from a five-week hiatus April 6 at Martinsville, a .526-mile track steeped in racing heritage. It’s another reason for Little, who took over the job of truck series director last December, and the series’ drivers to be eager to get back to work.
"Most of (the drivers) come from the short-track circles and it’s most near and dear to their heart," Little said, "so that’s another reason we’re excited about it."
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Sidelined driver won’t need surgery on ailing back
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin will likely be sidelined for up to six weeks as a result of an injury suffered on the final lap of Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.
Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing, suffered an L1 compression fracture when his car struck the inside wall after contact with Joey Logano as the two exited the fourth turn of the 2-mile speedway.
According to a statement from team officials, upon his return to North Carolina on March 26, Hamlin was evaluated by Dr. Jerry Petty of Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates. Dr. Petty determined that Hamlin, 32, would not require surgery, but for the injury to properly heal, the driver would need to remain out of the car for up to a month and a half.
Dr. Petty will make the determination when Hamlin will be able to return to racing this season, the statement said.
JGR officials said no decision had been made on a replacement driver during Hamlin’s absence. The Cup Series is off this week, but returns to action April 7 at Martinsville, Va. If Hamlin is sidelined for the full six weeks, his return likely would not be until early May when the series visits Darlington, S.C.
Hamlin, who was airlifted out of Auto Club Speedway and spent the night in a local hospital before returning home, posted the following tweet Monday night: "I wish I got good news today.. I didn’t." Tuesday night, he followed up via Twitter: "If me getting back in a car was based on pain tolerance then I would be in the car next week. There’s just more to it that I can’t control."
Being forced to miss up to five races would likely eliminate Hamlin from championship contention. He is currently 10th in the standings after the season’s first five races. Drivers are required to complete at least one lap in an event to earn points.
However, Hamlin could still qualify for the season-ending Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup should he win enough races upon his return to qualify for one of the two wild-card positions available. The Chase field consists of the top 10 in points after 26 races, as well as the two drivers between 11th and 20th with the most wins. Hamlin has never missed the Chase in his previous seven full-time seasons.
Elliott Sadler, a former Sprint Cup driver who now competes for JGR in the Nationwide Series, said earlier Monday on SiriusXM Radio’s NASCAR channel that he had not spoken to JGR officials about possibly serving in a relief role should Hamlin be sidelined.
The Nationwide series is off two of the next six racing weekends (Martinsville and Kansas), but will run companion events at Texas, Richmond and Talladega.
Hamlin and Logano tangled a week before the Auto Club event, in Bristol, leading to an altercation afterward in the garage area. In the waning laps of Sunday’s race, the two were battling for the lead when they again made contact. Logano’s Penske Racing Ford slid across the nose of Hamlin’s Toyota before striking the wall. Hamlin’s car spun, then drove straight into the inside wall near the entrance to pit road. The impact lifted the car completely off the ground.
Although he was able to climb from his car, Hamlin quickly laid down as rescue workers arrived on the scene.
Kyle Busch shot past Logano and Hamlin as the two battled to score the win.
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