THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
September 26th, 2011
Volume V, Edition CCI
News Breaking Now
by Tom Bowles
- NASCAR Sprint Cup Director John Darby tells SceneDaily.com's Bob Pockrass no penalties will be issued for Kurt Busch failing pre-race inspection Sunday at New Hampshire. Busch, whose car had struggled to pass in recent weeks was held in the NASCAR paddock to send a message to his team: fix those minor problems. However, Busch was reportedly caught outside the tolerances, an inspection no-no that cost Clint Bowyer 150 points after a victory at New Hampshire last season.
- The first two races of the Chase have officially failed to sell out. New Hampshire Motor Speedway's listed attendance was 95,000, but there were huge gaps in the audience throughout Turn 4 Sunday afternoon. Why do we bring this up? The 2012 schedule has yet to be released, and New Hampshire is one of a handful of tracks that have not officially released their Sprint Cup dates.
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Reversal Of Fortune: Stewart Wins, While Bowyer Sputters
by Brody Jones
For two weeks in a row, a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race has come down to fuel mileage in the Chase. And for two weeks in a row, the Sprint Cup field has been stuck chasing the No. 14 of Tony Stewart, going 2-for-2 in Victory Lane to start this postseason after an 0-for-26 start to the year. This time, Stewart prevailed in a role reversal of last year's Sylvania 300 with Clint Bowyer. Last year, Stewart ran out of gas with Bowyer winning the race; Smoke was stuck finishing a distant 24th. This year, it was Stewart taking advantage of a sputtering Bowyer with less than three laps to go to collect his second straight win.
"If that's not a flip-flop from last year, I don't know what is," Stewart radioed to crew chief Darian Grubb after crossing the finish line.
But while the results were the same, the No. 14 car emerged an unlikely victor this year: the only laps Stewart led were the final two. Instead, a lap 156 caution for a spin by Landon Cassill appeared to throw the race into the hands of Jeff Gordon who, along with Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, and David Ragan were the only cars on the lead lap when the caution fell. After staying out longer under green Gordon, Martin, and Ragan pitted on lap 158 to ideally set them up to be able to go the rest of the way on one more stop.
But nearly two dozen other contending drivers, initially lapped by the yellow flag took the wave-around and closed the gap during the race's final caution, on Lap 174 for Matt Kenseth's spin. While those in front stayed out, others near the back of the lead lap pitted off cycle as a variety of different strategies emerged - with the goal becoming making it to the end of the race on one stop while running at 100 percent. And that's how it played out, a track-position shuffle run the final 123 laps caution free while transitioning into a fuel-mileage affair for the eighth time in 28 races this year. Clint Bowyer would take the lead with 40 laps to go, passing surprise contender Kasey Kahne while trying to stretch out a 74-lap green flag run on fuel. But in the end, his No. 33 Chevy pushed too hard during an ending where most drivers, including Kahne and Gordon, were running at far less than 100 percent to save gas. The car would fall two laps short, Bowyer's lead erased while a surging Stewart, sticking at full throttle passed everyone for his 41st career win in the Cup Series.
"I know exactly what that feels like," Stewart said about the irony of these winning circumstances. "I know exactly how he (Clint Bowyer) feels right now. I saw him slow down the back and I thought 'Oh, no, you're kiddin' me.' That is not the way you want to win it for sure. We're in the Chase now and we have to get everything we can get. I feel bad for him. It is fun racing him. I mean, he had the better car there at the end. Our only chance was to catch him in lapped traffic. Head-to-head, he was a little better than we were. It is hard to lose them that way, but when you got…we finally got Mobil 1 in Victory Lane today."
That makes the No. 14 team the first since Greg Biffle, in 2008 to start the Chase with two straight victories - ironic, since his fuel tank was "two laps to the good" at the checkered flag. The start is a bit of a shocker, considering the owner/driver was winless in the regular season; he snuck in on points and remains without a permanent Competition Director since Bobby Hutchens was let go earlier this summer. But Stewart, whose mood has been rather cantankerous of late - he claimed his team was incapable of competing for the title last month at Michigan - admitted his surge in the Chase has also come with some personal adjustments that may have distracted him earlier this year.
"Well, we got rid of some dead weight earlier this week," he said, refusing to specify exactly "what" weight was dropped in a post-race presser. "So, it made it a lot easier. It's been a big weight lifted off our shoulders. Just sometimes you have to make adjustments in your life and we did that and it has definitely helped this weekend for sure. These guys never quit, man. These guys have never given up and we've got a shot at this thing."
Brad Keselowski would finish second with Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, and Brian Vickers rounding out the top-5 finishers. Matt Kenseth rebounded from a mid-race spin after contact with Carl Edwards to finish sixth. David Ragan, Edwards, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Regan Smith rounded out the top 10.
Bowyer, unavailable for comment after the race was relegated to 26th following his fuel tank running dry in the closing laps.
The race was a frustrating affair for many of the current Chase contenders, even before the drop of the green flag. Kurt Busch had failed pre-race inspection because the caps on the rear wheel did not the NASCAR template. The team had apparently been having inspection issues in recent weeks, and today did not get their car on pit road until during the pre-race invocation.
"It was a frustrating day," claimed Busch, who swore within earshot on ESPN, then had several mental breakdowns on the radio while struggling to 22nd. "Our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge was certainly a handful. The front tires felt like they were on skids and the car was plowing through the corners. We were late going through inspection and that set the tone."
For the rest of the field, parity proved a problem in a race that was utterly devoid of passing. While Goodyear's tires held up, for the most part little falloff in speed made making gains on the field virtually impossible over the course of a green-flag run.
"Everybody was racing really hard and you knew if you could hold someone off for two or three laps, you could make that guy's tires mad and then they'd be stuck behind you," claimed Jimmie Johnson. "And that was everybody's strategy - just to be very stubborn about the position you were in, race the guy really hard, and eventually you'd fall in line and couldn't go anywhere."
Other drivers who were bit by the bad luck bug included Kenseth, who was involved in that spin with Edwards and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., encountering two flat right fronts on the way to a disappointing 17th. Pole sitter and July winner Ryan Newman also had a loose wheel in the closing laps, relegating him to a poor 25th-place finish while Denny Hamlin ran out of gas and slumped to 29th.
But perhaps the biggest surprise of all was five-time defending Cup champ Johnson, who finished an ugly 18th following a late-race dust-up with fellow Chase contender Kyle Busch. The younger Busch would go on to finish 11th in the race.
"It was just racing hard," Johnson said post-race. "He was being stubborn for that position which was kind of the name of the game out there. And I had gotten inside of him the lap before and had some contact and he was running it really, really tight through the corner and as we got off into [Turn] 3, he was so tight next to me getting in, it took the air off the spoiler and I was out of control before we ever really got to the turn. We hit a couple of times. One of the times we hit, it whipped the wheel out of my hand and bent the right-front suspension and then we were kind of dead in the water after that."
Stewart now takes the points lead over Kevin Harvick, who finished 12th in the race, by seven points with eight races left in the Chase. The average speed was 116.679 mph as the race took 2 hours, 43 minutes, and 13 seconds to finish, only slowed by three cautions for 14 laps. There were 19 lead changes among 15 drivers; the series now heads to the Monster Mile for Week 3 of the ten-week playoff this Sunday.
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
Starting the day in sixth, Kevin Harvick looked to be an early threat for the win. He was a top-5 car for the first portion of the event, then was able to get a valuable bonus point for leading a lap during a cycle of green-flag pit stops. However, the No. 29 made what was likely the wrong strategy call during the race's final caution on Lap 174. Harvick's team decided to come in for fuel only, making them safe to make it on one more stop but only came out in tenth place. With weak track position and drivers behind him on fresher tires, Harvick faded back, running in the 15th - 20th range for the rest of the race. Taking advantage of drivers' gas tanks, he got bumped up to 12th as they ran dry but now trails Stewart in the standings by seven markers.
Brad Keselowski's amazing second half hot streak continues. Perhaps the biggest reason behind that run is crew chief Paul Wolfe, making the right call on adjustments inside the first two races of the Chase. Just like last Monday, Keselowski was struggling early at Loudon, but team and driver made the right fixes to rally into the top 5 by race's end. Surviving the finish on fuel, Keselowski's runner-up effort to Stewart has moved him up to third in the point standings, 11 markers out of the lead.
Sitting fourth in points is Carl Edwards, who led the standings for most of the regular season. But Loudon proved a tough challenge, the No. 99 unable to come through the field after starting the day a ho-hum 23rd. His most exciting moment came on lap 174, when he got into the back of teammate Matt Kenseth coming off Turn 2. Edwards, lucky to avoid the spinning Kenseth, used the incident as a wake-up call and promptly began his climb towards the front. With Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, and Clint Bowyer all running out of gas, it allowed Edwards to end the day in eighth - his fifth consecutive top-10 effort.
Moving up six positions to fifth is four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon. Gordon looked to have the car to beat in the last 100 laps, but after running out of gas on his last pit stop, on lap 230 obstacles emerged he just couldn't overcome. First, the slow stop caused him to drop out of the lead, but secondly, the dry tank forced the No. 24 team into fuel conservation mode on the final run. While Gordon was able to save enough for the finish, he slowed substantially to do so and could only manage fourth. Overall, it was a solid rebound after a disappointing run at Chicago, but the team is wondering what might have been this morning: they're 23 points out of the lead.
In sixth place, we currently have a three-way tie. By virtue of the tiebreaker based on wins, Kyle Busch has the edge. However, back-to-back finishes outside the top 10 to start the Chase have Busch already facing an uphill battle after coming in as the number one seed. He started the day in eighth, but that was about as high as the car would run the entire race. Instead, most of the day was a struggle, battling handling issues outside the top 10. His big moment came late in the going, getting physical when he and Jimmie Johnson made contact in Turn 4. Both were able to save their cars from spinning out, and Busch was able to hang on and finish 11th.
Matt Kenseth, with his wins at Texas and Michigan, holds the second tiebreaker and sits seventh. His day was a complete 180 from last week, where he got a good finish after struggling most of the weekend. He was able to avoid hitting the wall on lap 174 after getting spun out by Edwards, and it also forced their pit strategy - turning a bad luck moment into a bit of good fortune. Kenseth pitted much later than the leaders, then was able to run as hard as he could the final green-flag run to the finish. Because of that, he rallied to finish sixth, the best performance he's had at the Magic Mile in over five years.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is the third driver in that three-way tie for the sixth spot. He was very strong early in the going, running just outside the top-5 positions. However, a cut tire during a round of green flag pit stops put a damper on his day, and the No. 88 Chevy was never able to recover. Another cut tire right at the finish dropped Earnhardt to a mediocre 17th place, simply not indicative of how he ran throughout. Junior, Busch and Kenseth all find themselves 26 points behind Stewart.
Kurt Busch's day started off bad, then only got worse. After getting held up in pre-race inspection, Busch was off the pace all day. He quickly faded from his fifth-place starting position and, before too long, was all the way outside the top 15. Things didn't get better from there and the No. 22 Dodge eventually went a lap down with handling issues. He was able to lead four laps during a round of green flag stops and moved up a few positions at the end by virtue of others running out of gas. But a 22nd-place finish, and a drop of five positions to ninth in the points was not what this Penske program was looking for.
We are two races into the Chase and Jimmie Johnson is tenth in points. No, that is not a typo. Finishes of tenth at Chicago and 18th at Loudon have Johnson sitting the lowest he has ever been in the Chase. While the No. 48 showed strength at Chicago, Johnson was average at best on Sunday, never cracking the top-5 runners with the exception of green-flag pit stops. At the end, the car was arguably its strongest but Johnson made contact with Kyle Busch, which bent the steering of his car in the closing stages. After that, his charge towards the front promptly ended, resulting in an 18th-place performance. 29 points out with eight races left, the climb ahead will be steep; but if anyone can make up that ground, Johnson has proven many times in the past that he can do it.
Ryan Newman entered Sunday with a good bit of momentum, sitting seventh in the standings and winning the pole at a track where he went to Victory Lane this July. He was strong for most of the event, leading 62 laps before losing track position during a round of green-flag stops midrace. Late in the going, Newman was running just inside the top 15 before he cut a tire. The unexpected trip to pit road relegated him to a 25th-place finish, dropping Newman four positions to 11th in the standings.
What a difference of seasons it has been for Denny Hamlin. During his Chase run last year where he finished runner-up in the standings, the worst finish for the No. 11 Toyota was 14th. Just two races into this year's Chase, his best finish is 29th, which came at Loudon. He has been the lowest-finishing Chaser in both races and is already 66 points out of the lead, more than a full race back. It looked like Hamlin was going to get a solid result, as he was running seventh with just a handful of laps remaining. However, as has been the theme of his season, bad luck again struck the No. 11 team, running out of gas with three laps to go.
In the "Best of the Rest" battle, Clint Bowyer's late-race fuel tank issues brought Greg Biffle within striking distance of stealing 13th. He's just three points back after a third-place result, his best of the season driving the No. 16 Ford.
Standings: 1) Tony Stewart 2094, 2) Kevin Harvick -7, 3) Brad Keselowski -11, 4) Carl Edwards -14, 5) Jeff Gordon -23, t-6) Kyle Busch -26, t-6) Matt Kenseth -26, t-6) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -26, 9) Kurt Busch -28, 10) Jimmie Johnson -29, 11) Ryan Newman -34, 12) Denny Hamlin -66.
Best of the Rest: 13) Clint Bowyer 775, 14) Greg Biffle -3, 15) A.J. Allmendinger -4, 16) Mark Martin -25, 17) David Ragan -27.
Tracking The Top 35: Front Row Motorsports Makes Small Gains
There wasn't much activity in the battle for the final spot in the top 35 on Sunday; none of the positions in or around the bubble changed. However, Front Row Motorsports' No. 38 car driven by J.J. Yeley gained some points on several of the teams ahead of it. With a solid, quiet 27th-place outing the team gained marginal ground on Tommy Baldwin Racing and Germain Racing, both of whom faced early exits due to mechanical problems and financing, respectively. In addition, TRG Motorsports and FAS Lane Racing both finished far below Yeley, struggling with handling issues en route to runs outside the top 30. FRM still has alot of work to do if they want to make it into the top 35, however. With just eight races left, they are almost a full race behind, 38 points out making them a longshot to get over the hump by season's end.
Top 35 Summary:
31) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Gilliland), +129 points ahead of 36th.
32) Germain Racing (No. 13 - Casey Mears), +67 points ahead of 36th.
33) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 - Dave Blaney), +58 points ahead of 36th.
34) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 - Mike Bliss), +51 points ahead of 36th.
35) TRG Motorsports (No. 71 - Andy Lally), +38 points ahead of 36th.
36) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - J.J. Yeley), -38 points behind 35th.
37) Robby Gordon Motorsports (No. 7 - Robby Gordon), -85 points behind 35th.
38) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), -116 points behind 35th.
To turn heads in the boardroom that means Vickers must run up front, consistently which is something he was able to achieve rather quietly on Sunday. While teammate Kahne stole the headlines, earning a front-row spot and then leading 43 laps Vickers slid quietly backwards, from third to tenth. That's where he sat, unable to move forward in a track position race until crew chief Ryan Pemberton turned to strategy. Urging his driver to save gas, the No. 83 was able to go one less stop than his teammate and a handful of other drivers; that confidence also left him full throttle late while many rivals were simply trying to finish the race under power.
"The last two runs, we were awesome," said Vickers, who credited his fifth-place finish to some handling adjustments, too. "The car was so good, probably one of the better cars on the track. We had to pass 20 cars just to get back to the top-five and ran out of time, but I'm really proud of the effort by everyone."
Now, the key is to keep that confidence intact over the final eight weeks of the season. Considering NASCAR's tough economics, top-5 finishes could be the only way for anyone to keep their jobs. – Tom Bowles
STAT OF THE WEEK: 320. The number of laps led by Clint Bowyer this season, including 49 in Sunday's race before the gas tank went dry during the final laps. It's a total good for 11th-best on the Sprint Cup circuit, an admirable effort but it also comes with a dubious distinction: the most for any driver yet to win a race. – Tom Bowles
Friday's Answer:
Q: In 1994, Derrike Cope picked up his one and only Busch Grand National victory at New Hampshire driving a No. 82 Ford sponsored by Sports World. However, to do this, he took advantage of an incident in which the leaders basically took themselves out on the frontstretch. What happened?
A: Half a lap before the crash, Randy LaJoie took the lead when Dale Earnhardt washed up the track in Turn 1. Kenny Wallace followed LaJoie by into second, then immediately put the pressure on LaJoie. Exiting Turn 4, Kenny Wallace got in the back of LaJoie's FINA Chevrolet, spinning out LaJoie. Kenny Wallace went into the wall as well, while Earnhardt was spun out from behind by Bobby Labonte. Mike Wallace, who was running fifth, also spun out. Mike's FDP Brakes No. 9 was then hit by Stub Fadden's Buick. Fadden and Mike Wallace were eliminated on the spot. Earnhardt crashed out later in the event, while pole sitter Bobby Labonte retired a few laps after the crash. LaJoie was credited with a 19th-place finish after blowing an engine late in the race. Only Kenny Wallace was able to salvage a decent finish, coming home in fourth.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
Coming Tuesday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Tom Bowles
-- Sitting In The Stands: A Fans' View by S.D. Grady
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters
Danny is back with a commentary piece based on recent events in NASCAR.
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup: Loudon-Dover Edition by Summer Dreyer
Summer takes a look at post-New Hampshire numbers to see who's got the most momentum heading into Dover... and beyond.
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
September 26th, 2011
Volume V, Edition CCI
News Breaking Now
by Tom Bowles
- NASCAR Sprint Cup Director John Darby tells SceneDaily.com's Bob Pockrass no penalties will be issued for Kurt Busch failing pre-race inspection Sunday at New Hampshire. Busch, whose car had struggled to pass in recent weeks was held in the NASCAR paddock to send a message to his team: fix those minor problems. However, Busch was reportedly caught outside the tolerances, an inspection no-no that cost Clint Bowyer 150 points after a victory at New Hampshire last season.
- The first two races of the Chase have officially failed to sell out. New Hampshire Motor Speedway's listed attendance was 95,000, but there were huge gaps in the audience throughout Turn 4 Sunday afternoon. Why do we bring this up? The 2012 schedule has yet to be released, and New Hampshire is one of a handful of tracks that have not officially released their Sprint Cup dates.
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Reversal Of Fortune: Stewart Wins, While Bowyer Sputters
by Brody Jones
For two weeks in a row, a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race has come down to fuel mileage in the Chase. And for two weeks in a row, the Sprint Cup field has been stuck chasing the No. 14 of Tony Stewart, going 2-for-2 in Victory Lane to start this postseason after an 0-for-26 start to the year. This time, Stewart prevailed in a role reversal of last year's Sylvania 300 with Clint Bowyer. Last year, Stewart ran out of gas with Bowyer winning the race; Smoke was stuck finishing a distant 24th. This year, it was Stewart taking advantage of a sputtering Bowyer with less than three laps to go to collect his second straight win.
"If that's not a flip-flop from last year, I don't know what is," Stewart radioed to crew chief Darian Grubb after crossing the finish line.
But while the results were the same, the No. 14 car emerged an unlikely victor this year: the only laps Stewart led were the final two. Instead, a lap 156 caution for a spin by Landon Cassill appeared to throw the race into the hands of Jeff Gordon who, along with Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, and David Ragan were the only cars on the lead lap when the caution fell. After staying out longer under green Gordon, Martin, and Ragan pitted on lap 158 to ideally set them up to be able to go the rest of the way on one more stop.
But nearly two dozen other contending drivers, initially lapped by the yellow flag took the wave-around and closed the gap during the race's final caution, on Lap 174 for Matt Kenseth's spin. While those in front stayed out, others near the back of the lead lap pitted off cycle as a variety of different strategies emerged - with the goal becoming making it to the end of the race on one stop while running at 100 percent. And that's how it played out, a track-position shuffle run the final 123 laps caution free while transitioning into a fuel-mileage affair for the eighth time in 28 races this year. Clint Bowyer would take the lead with 40 laps to go, passing surprise contender Kasey Kahne while trying to stretch out a 74-lap green flag run on fuel. But in the end, his No. 33 Chevy pushed too hard during an ending where most drivers, including Kahne and Gordon, were running at far less than 100 percent to save gas. The car would fall two laps short, Bowyer's lead erased while a surging Stewart, sticking at full throttle passed everyone for his 41st career win in the Cup Series.
"I know exactly what that feels like," Stewart said about the irony of these winning circumstances. "I know exactly how he (Clint Bowyer) feels right now. I saw him slow down the back and I thought 'Oh, no, you're kiddin' me.' That is not the way you want to win it for sure. We're in the Chase now and we have to get everything we can get. I feel bad for him. It is fun racing him. I mean, he had the better car there at the end. Our only chance was to catch him in lapped traffic. Head-to-head, he was a little better than we were. It is hard to lose them that way, but when you got…we finally got Mobil 1 in Victory Lane today."
That makes the No. 14 team the first since Greg Biffle, in 2008 to start the Chase with two straight victories - ironic, since his fuel tank was "two laps to the good" at the checkered flag. The start is a bit of a shocker, considering the owner/driver was winless in the regular season; he snuck in on points and remains without a permanent Competition Director since Bobby Hutchens was let go earlier this summer. But Stewart, whose mood has been rather cantankerous of late - he claimed his team was incapable of competing for the title last month at Michigan - admitted his surge in the Chase has also come with some personal adjustments that may have distracted him earlier this year.
"Well, we got rid of some dead weight earlier this week," he said, refusing to specify exactly "what" weight was dropped in a post-race presser. "So, it made it a lot easier. It's been a big weight lifted off our shoulders. Just sometimes you have to make adjustments in your life and we did that and it has definitely helped this weekend for sure. These guys never quit, man. These guys have never given up and we've got a shot at this thing."
Brad Keselowski would finish second with Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, and Brian Vickers rounding out the top-5 finishers. Matt Kenseth rebounded from a mid-race spin after contact with Carl Edwards to finish sixth. David Ragan, Edwards, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Regan Smith rounded out the top 10.
Bowyer, unavailable for comment after the race was relegated to 26th following his fuel tank running dry in the closing laps.
The race was a frustrating affair for many of the current Chase contenders, even before the drop of the green flag. Kurt Busch had failed pre-race inspection because the caps on the rear wheel did not the NASCAR template. The team had apparently been having inspection issues in recent weeks, and today did not get their car on pit road until during the pre-race invocation.
"It was a frustrating day," claimed Busch, who swore within earshot on ESPN, then had several mental breakdowns on the radio while struggling to 22nd. "Our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge was certainly a handful. The front tires felt like they were on skids and the car was plowing through the corners. We were late going through inspection and that set the tone."
For the rest of the field, parity proved a problem in a race that was utterly devoid of passing. While Goodyear's tires held up, for the most part little falloff in speed made making gains on the field virtually impossible over the course of a green-flag run.
"Everybody was racing really hard and you knew if you could hold someone off for two or three laps, you could make that guy's tires mad and then they'd be stuck behind you," claimed Jimmie Johnson. "And that was everybody's strategy - just to be very stubborn about the position you were in, race the guy really hard, and eventually you'd fall in line and couldn't go anywhere."
Other drivers who were bit by the bad luck bug included Kenseth, who was involved in that spin with Edwards and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., encountering two flat right fronts on the way to a disappointing 17th. Pole sitter and July winner Ryan Newman also had a loose wheel in the closing laps, relegating him to a poor 25th-place finish while Denny Hamlin ran out of gas and slumped to 29th.
But perhaps the biggest surprise of all was five-time defending Cup champ Johnson, who finished an ugly 18th following a late-race dust-up with fellow Chase contender Kyle Busch. The younger Busch would go on to finish 11th in the race.
"It was just racing hard," Johnson said post-race. "He was being stubborn for that position which was kind of the name of the game out there. And I had gotten inside of him the lap before and had some contact and he was running it really, really tight through the corner and as we got off into [Turn] 3, he was so tight next to me getting in, it took the air off the spoiler and I was out of control before we ever really got to the turn. We hit a couple of times. One of the times we hit, it whipped the wheel out of my hand and bent the right-front suspension and then we were kind of dead in the water after that."
Stewart now takes the points lead over Kevin Harvick, who finished 12th in the race, by seven points with eight races left in the Chase. The average speed was 116.679 mph as the race took 2 hours, 43 minutes, and 13 seconds to finish, only slowed by three cautions for 14 laps. There were 19 lead changes among 15 drivers; the series now heads to the Monster Mile for Week 3 of the ten-week playoff this Sunday.
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
Tracking The Chasers: Second Consecutive Win Vaults Stewart To Points Lead
by Garrett Horton
Starting the day in sixth, Kevin Harvick looked to be an early threat for the win. He was a top-5 car for the first portion of the event, then was able to get a valuable bonus point for leading a lap during a cycle of green-flag pit stops. However, the No. 29 made what was likely the wrong strategy call during the race's final caution on Lap 174. Harvick's team decided to come in for fuel only, making them safe to make it on one more stop but only came out in tenth place. With weak track position and drivers behind him on fresher tires, Harvick faded back, running in the 15th - 20th range for the rest of the race. Taking advantage of drivers' gas tanks, he got bumped up to 12th as they ran dry but now trails Stewart in the standings by seven markers.
Brad Keselowski's amazing second half hot streak continues. Perhaps the biggest reason behind that run is crew chief Paul Wolfe, making the right call on adjustments inside the first two races of the Chase. Just like last Monday, Keselowski was struggling early at Loudon, but team and driver made the right fixes to rally into the top 5 by race's end. Surviving the finish on fuel, Keselowski's runner-up effort to Stewart has moved him up to third in the point standings, 11 markers out of the lead.
Sitting fourth in points is Carl Edwards, who led the standings for most of the regular season. But Loudon proved a tough challenge, the No. 99 unable to come through the field after starting the day a ho-hum 23rd. His most exciting moment came on lap 174, when he got into the back of teammate Matt Kenseth coming off Turn 2. Edwards, lucky to avoid the spinning Kenseth, used the incident as a wake-up call and promptly began his climb towards the front. With Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, and Clint Bowyer all running out of gas, it allowed Edwards to end the day in eighth - his fifth consecutive top-10 effort.
Moving up six positions to fifth is four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon. Gordon looked to have the car to beat in the last 100 laps, but after running out of gas on his last pit stop, on lap 230 obstacles emerged he just couldn't overcome. First, the slow stop caused him to drop out of the lead, but secondly, the dry tank forced the No. 24 team into fuel conservation mode on the final run. While Gordon was able to save enough for the finish, he slowed substantially to do so and could only manage fourth. Overall, it was a solid rebound after a disappointing run at Chicago, but the team is wondering what might have been this morning: they're 23 points out of the lead.
In sixth place, we currently have a three-way tie. By virtue of the tiebreaker based on wins, Kyle Busch has the edge. However, back-to-back finishes outside the top 10 to start the Chase have Busch already facing an uphill battle after coming in as the number one seed. He started the day in eighth, but that was about as high as the car would run the entire race. Instead, most of the day was a struggle, battling handling issues outside the top 10. His big moment came late in the going, getting physical when he and Jimmie Johnson made contact in Turn 4. Both were able to save their cars from spinning out, and Busch was able to hang on and finish 11th.
Matt Kenseth, with his wins at Texas and Michigan, holds the second tiebreaker and sits seventh. His day was a complete 180 from last week, where he got a good finish after struggling most of the weekend. He was able to avoid hitting the wall on lap 174 after getting spun out by Edwards, and it also forced their pit strategy - turning a bad luck moment into a bit of good fortune. Kenseth pitted much later than the leaders, then was able to run as hard as he could the final green-flag run to the finish. Because of that, he rallied to finish sixth, the best performance he's had at the Magic Mile in over five years.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is the third driver in that three-way tie for the sixth spot. He was very strong early in the going, running just outside the top-5 positions. However, a cut tire during a round of green flag pit stops put a damper on his day, and the No. 88 Chevy was never able to recover. Another cut tire right at the finish dropped Earnhardt to a mediocre 17th place, simply not indicative of how he ran throughout. Junior, Busch and Kenseth all find themselves 26 points behind Stewart.
Kurt Busch's day started off bad, then only got worse. After getting held up in pre-race inspection, Busch was off the pace all day. He quickly faded from his fifth-place starting position and, before too long, was all the way outside the top 15. Things didn't get better from there and the No. 22 Dodge eventually went a lap down with handling issues. He was able to lead four laps during a round of green flag stops and moved up a few positions at the end by virtue of others running out of gas. But a 22nd-place finish, and a drop of five positions to ninth in the points was not what this Penske program was looking for.
We are two races into the Chase and Jimmie Johnson is tenth in points. No, that is not a typo. Finishes of tenth at Chicago and 18th at Loudon have Johnson sitting the lowest he has ever been in the Chase. While the No. 48 showed strength at Chicago, Johnson was average at best on Sunday, never cracking the top-5 runners with the exception of green-flag pit stops. At the end, the car was arguably its strongest but Johnson made contact with Kyle Busch, which bent the steering of his car in the closing stages. After that, his charge towards the front promptly ended, resulting in an 18th-place performance. 29 points out with eight races left, the climb ahead will be steep; but if anyone can make up that ground, Johnson has proven many times in the past that he can do it.
Ryan Newman entered Sunday with a good bit of momentum, sitting seventh in the standings and winning the pole at a track where he went to Victory Lane this July. He was strong for most of the event, leading 62 laps before losing track position during a round of green-flag stops midrace. Late in the going, Newman was running just inside the top 15 before he cut a tire. The unexpected trip to pit road relegated him to a 25th-place finish, dropping Newman four positions to 11th in the standings.
What a difference of seasons it has been for Denny Hamlin. During his Chase run last year where he finished runner-up in the standings, the worst finish for the No. 11 Toyota was 14th. Just two races into this year's Chase, his best finish is 29th, which came at Loudon. He has been the lowest-finishing Chaser in both races and is already 66 points out of the lead, more than a full race back. It looked like Hamlin was going to get a solid result, as he was running seventh with just a handful of laps remaining. However, as has been the theme of his season, bad luck again struck the No. 11 team, running out of gas with three laps to go.
In the "Best of the Rest" battle, Clint Bowyer's late-race fuel tank issues brought Greg Biffle within striking distance of stealing 13th. He's just three points back after a third-place result, his best of the season driving the No. 16 Ford.
Standings: 1) Tony Stewart 2094, 2) Kevin Harvick -7, 3) Brad Keselowski -11, 4) Carl Edwards -14, 5) Jeff Gordon -23, t-6) Kyle Busch -26, t-6) Matt Kenseth -26, t-6) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -26, 9) Kurt Busch -28, 10) Jimmie Johnson -29, 11) Ryan Newman -34, 12) Denny Hamlin -66.
Best of the Rest: 13) Clint Bowyer 775, 14) Greg Biffle -3, 15) A.J. Allmendinger -4, 16) Mark Martin -25, 17) David Ragan -27.
Tracking The Top 35: Front Row Motorsports Makes Small Gains
There wasn't much activity in the battle for the final spot in the top 35 on Sunday; none of the positions in or around the bubble changed. However, Front Row Motorsports' No. 38 car driven by J.J. Yeley gained some points on several of the teams ahead of it. With a solid, quiet 27th-place outing the team gained marginal ground on Tommy Baldwin Racing and Germain Racing, both of whom faced early exits due to mechanical problems and financing, respectively. In addition, TRG Motorsports and FAS Lane Racing both finished far below Yeley, struggling with handling issues en route to runs outside the top 30. FRM still has alot of work to do if they want to make it into the top 35, however. With just eight races left, they are almost a full race behind, 38 points out making them a longshot to get over the hump by season's end.
Top 35 Summary:
31) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Gilliland), +129 points ahead of 36th.
32) Germain Racing (No. 13 - Casey Mears), +67 points ahead of 36th.
33) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 - Dave Blaney), +58 points ahead of 36th.
34) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 - Mike Bliss), +51 points ahead of 36th.
35) TRG Motorsports (No. 71 - Andy Lally), +38 points ahead of 36th.
36) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - J.J. Yeley), -38 points behind 35th.
37) Robby Gordon Motorsports (No. 7 - Robby Gordon), -85 points behind 35th.
38) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), -116 points behind 35th.
Garrett Horton is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at garrett.horton@frontstretch.com.
Got NASCAR-related questions or comments about 2011? John's got answers!
A new year means a new columnist to answer all your pressing questions about the sport! Our legendary flagman John Potts is taking over our Fan Q & A, so be sure to stack his inbox with plenty of queries and comments for the New Year! Send them his way at john.potts@frontstretch.com; and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when he does his weekly column answering back to you – the fans!
Secret Star of the Race: The Race You Never Saw
To turn heads in the boardroom that means Vickers must run up front, consistently which is something he was able to achieve rather quietly on Sunday. While teammate Kahne stole the headlines, earning a front-row spot and then leading 43 laps Vickers slid quietly backwards, from third to tenth. That's where he sat, unable to move forward in a track position race until crew chief Ryan Pemberton turned to strategy. Urging his driver to save gas, the No. 83 was able to go one less stop than his teammate and a handful of other drivers; that confidence also left him full throttle late while many rivals were simply trying to finish the race under power.
"The last two runs, we were awesome," said Vickers, who credited his fifth-place finish to some handling adjustments, too. "The car was so good, probably one of the better cars on the track. We had to pass 20 cars just to get back to the top-five and ran out of time, but I'm really proud of the effort by everyone."
Now, the key is to keep that confidence intact over the final eight weeks of the season. Considering NASCAR's tough economics, top-5 finishes could be the only way for anyone to keep their jobs. – Tom Bowles
STAT OF THE WEEK: 320. The number of laps led by Clint Bowyer this season, including 49 in Sunday's race before the gas tank went dry during the final laps. It's a total good for 11th-best on the Sprint Cup circuit, an admirable effort but it also comes with a dubious distinction: the most for any driver yet to win a race. – Tom Bowles
Running Their Mouth: 2011 Sylvania 300
by Brody Jones
Best Quote:
"Well, we got rid of some dead weight earlier this week. So, it made it a lot easier. It's been a big weight lifted off our shoulders. Just sometimes you have to make adjustments in your life and we did that and it has definitely helped this weekend for sure. These guys never quit, man. These guys have never given up and we've got a shot at this thing." - Tony Stewart, race winner, on his team's recent turn in fortunes
In a mystery suitable for "Scooby-Doo," Tony Stewart gave a cryptic quote about dead weight being lifted off of his shoulders. The thing is, no one is quite sure what Stewart was referring to. Some fans on Twitter have speculated that it had to do with a personal relationship, but there has been no concrete proof from anyone close to the driver. Another plausible theory is that Tony Stewart has several interests outside NASCAR, namely owning the famed half-mile Eldora Speedway dirt track as well as USAC and World of Outlaws Sprint Car and late model teams. Surely, these types of ventures can weigh heavily on a Sprint Cup driver's mind. Yet again, there is no proof of any transactions that have taken place in that regard. This mystery remains to be solved.
Most Controversial Quote:
"Yeah, he was being a bit stubborn. But it was racing." - Jimmie Johnson, 18th, on late-race contact with Kyle Busch
In the closing laps, Jimmie Johnson, who had been getting knocked around like a human pinball the entire race, had contact with Kyle Busch that bent the right front suspension of his car and relegated him to an 18th-place finish. Given the aggressive nature of Kyle Busch, it was natural to assume that there might have been more to this contact than meets the eye, but with a championship on the line that does not appear to be the case. Chalk it up to two highly-skilled drivers racing for position with 20 laps to go and not yielding for each other - racing as it should be. The end result for Johnson, though, leaves him with a big hole: he finds himself facing a 29-point deficit with eight races left in the season. It's definitely too soon to wonder if the pressure has finally got to Johnson, but two straight disappointing races to start a Chase are not what the doctor ordered for the No. 48 team.
Crew Chief Quote Of The Week:
"You could hold a pep rally, but it's not going to do anything for you. Everybody goes to the race track wanting to win. They know what you're up against. We took a shot at getting a top 5 and it didn't pan out." - Mike Ford, No. 11 team crew chief, after a second straight disappointing finish
The miserable luck of Denny Hamlin in 2011 carried over to New Hampshire Sunday. Mike Ford made a call to try and stay out to salvage a good finish on what was otherwise a so-so day and with three laps to go, after Hamlin's car sputtered out of fuel, Ford went from hero to goat again. While the Joe Gibbs Racing organization gave Ford a "vote of confidence" earlier in the year, one has to be wondering how shaky that confidence is at this point and whether changes could be store for 2012.
Competition Director Quote Of The Week:
"NASCAR wasn't 100 percent happy with what they saw on one of their gauges that kind of checks where the rear end is in the car, so we had to do a little work on it. … It's a 'go' or 'no-go' type of gauge and it didn't go. We needed to make sure that it went. It wasn't like there was any gray area that NASCAR was saying maybe we were or weren't legal. We weren't right yet. [We had] to kind of do it on their schedule to make it work the way they wanted. Everybody knew what needed to be done to be fixed. It wasn't a mystery of what was wrong or a panic of whether or not we were going to be able to get the car fixed. It was just a matter of getting it fixed and getting it done in the timeline that NASCAR wanted to see, and they worked with us and got the car through. … I don't think they were happy with us having to go around. We were pushing a little bit time-wise for their schedule, so we just had to deal with that and fortunately we got everything fixed and we're going to make a good day out of it." - Travis Geisler, Penske Racing Competition Director, on why NASCAR held the team up in pre-race inspection.
Murphy's Law was in effect for Kurt Busch's No. 22 Pennzoil/Shell Dodge Charger, as anything that could go wrong did go wrong Sunday. The day started off on a sour note, as Busch's car was held-up in pre-race inspection for a gauge check on the race car. When the car was deemed illegal, it took right up until the invocation was given for Busch's car to get to the starting grid. Follow that up with a 22nd-place finish and that, race fans, is a recipe for a bad day. Other reports also have Busch's car found outside the tolerances, although NASCAR made clear no additional penalties are forthcoming this week.
Best Of The Rest:
"That's pretty good. I think I left here in the spring like 25th or something. That's a lot of points to gain in ten races." - Brad Keselowski, runner-up, on being third in points
"I hate these fuel mileage races. We like to run hard and go. We had a really fast car that could have been second or third no matter what, but I just wish it didn't come down to that. I would have liked to see how hard we could have run and see if we could have caught them." - Greg Biffle, third
"I'm just glad we finished fourth. It is tough conditions to race in (saving fuel). I don't think that we wanted to see back-to-back fuel mileage races like this, but, it is kind of the name of the game these days. I don't know, somehow we misjudged how far we could go on that second to the last run and we ran out. We weren't even…we didn't feel like we were even close to running out. So it just shows you how important every little detail [is]. I ran a little bit fast that run because we were out front in clean air and the DuPont Chevrolet was just driving unbelievable. We were just setting the pace so it is unfortunate that that happened. There at the end, I conserved fuel. It is something that we need to be better at. We did it and we made it and we finished fourth so we'll take that. We made some gains in points. But, [not] necessarily overall to the leader. But another great run by Tony Stewart. Those guys, we knew they would be tough here. I don't know if we expected them to be quite as tough as they were last week at Chicago. But, he's on a roll now. We have eight more to put together." - Jeff Gordon, fourth
"Yeah, it was a good run for us. The Red Bull Toyota guys did a good job all day. We were good in the first stint, but not great. We over-adjusted and got way too loose in the second or third stint and lost our track position. The last two runs we were awesome. The car was so good, probably one of the better cars on the track. We had to pass 20 cars just to get back to the top-five and ran out of time, but I'm really proud of the effort by everyone." - Brian Vickers, fifth
"Oh yeah. I mean, gosh, when you race people all the time you're gonna have accidents and bump into each other every once in a while. That was no big deal. I was having a little bit of brake fade and I backed up extra early, I just didn't expect it or I probably could have saved it, but that was no big deal. Those things happen." - Matt Kenseth, sixth, on whether everything is OK after the contact during the race
"It was a frustrating day. Our Shell Pennzoil Dodge was certainly a handful. The front tires felt like they were on skids and the car was plowing through the corners. We were late going through inspection and that set the tone for our day. We were able to stay out and lead some laps under green and Steve Addington and the guys kept making changes and got our Dodge better by the end of the race. I just wish we could have started the race with the car that good." - Kurt Busch, 22nd
"We thought we were good and that's just strategy racing nowadays. We just came up short right there. The only thing I can think of is we were on a little bit of a cleaner race track that last run, but that was the worst fuel mileage we got all day and I was backing my corner up quite a bit. There's only two things, either we weren't getting the fuel mileage we thought or we didn't get it full or I just used too much. We've got to work through it. Another tough day for us, but we're just figuring out what we need to do to be a little bit more competitive." - Denny Hamlin, 29th
"We see from short tracks to mile-and-a-halfs, it doesn't matter where we are, it all comes down to fuel mileage. These Dodge engines seem to be good in that area and not giving up a lot of speed to do it. That's the key thing – having good fuel mileage and being able to have the speed to go with it and I feel like we had that today." - Paul Wolfe, No. 2 team crew chief, on recent fuel mileage racing.
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
Hey Frontstretch Readers! We know you love the roar of raw horsepower under the hood that powers 43 of the best drivers in the world every weekend, but did you ever wonder how the sponsor on top of that hood also contributes to keeping the sport moving? What about the contributions of official NASCAR companies? If you think they are simply writing checks, think again. Check out our newest feature - Sunday Money. This weekly Frontstretch exclusive provides you with a behind the scenes look how NASCAR, it's affiliates and team sponsors approach the daunting task of keeping fans interested and excited about the sport for 38 weeks of the year.
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: New Hampshire-2 Race Recap
by Matt McLaughlin
Monday Morning Teardown: Pressure Is The Name Of This Chase Game
by Ron Lemasters
David vs. Goliath: Magic Mile Stingy with NASCAR's Little Guys
by Bryan Davis Keith
Bowles' Eye View: Smoke And Mirrors… With A Little Dead Weight Thrown In
by Garrett Horton
Big Six Questions Answered: Sylvania 300
by Amy Henderson
Tracking The Trucks: F.W. Webb 175
by Bryan Davis Keith
ADVERTISEMENT
Get THE ANNUAL, 2011 Racing Preview for your mobile device.
Go to Frontstretch.com and click on "The Annual" link on the right side to order and download this special issue that includes: Track Information, Driver profiles and In-Depth Features.
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In the 1994 Goodwrench Delco 200 at then-Dover Downs International Speedway, we've asked about Bobby Dotter's huge crash in the past. However, Harry Gant also took a nasty hit in Turn 1. What happened?
"Well, we got rid of some dead weight earlier this week. So, it made it a lot easier. It's been a big weight lifted off our shoulders. Just sometimes you have to make adjustments in your life and we did that and it has definitely helped this weekend for sure. These guys never quit, man. These guys have never given up and we've got a shot at this thing." - Tony Stewart, race winner, on his team's recent turn in fortunes
In a mystery suitable for "Scooby-Doo," Tony Stewart gave a cryptic quote about dead weight being lifted off of his shoulders. The thing is, no one is quite sure what Stewart was referring to. Some fans on Twitter have speculated that it had to do with a personal relationship, but there has been no concrete proof from anyone close to the driver. Another plausible theory is that Tony Stewart has several interests outside NASCAR, namely owning the famed half-mile Eldora Speedway dirt track as well as USAC and World of Outlaws Sprint Car and late model teams. Surely, these types of ventures can weigh heavily on a Sprint Cup driver's mind. Yet again, there is no proof of any transactions that have taken place in that regard. This mystery remains to be solved.
Most Controversial Quote:
"Yeah, he was being a bit stubborn. But it was racing." - Jimmie Johnson, 18th, on late-race contact with Kyle Busch
In the closing laps, Jimmie Johnson, who had been getting knocked around like a human pinball the entire race, had contact with Kyle Busch that bent the right front suspension of his car and relegated him to an 18th-place finish. Given the aggressive nature of Kyle Busch, it was natural to assume that there might have been more to this contact than meets the eye, but with a championship on the line that does not appear to be the case. Chalk it up to two highly-skilled drivers racing for position with 20 laps to go and not yielding for each other - racing as it should be. The end result for Johnson, though, leaves him with a big hole: he finds himself facing a 29-point deficit with eight races left in the season. It's definitely too soon to wonder if the pressure has finally got to Johnson, but two straight disappointing races to start a Chase are not what the doctor ordered for the No. 48 team.
Crew Chief Quote Of The Week:
"You could hold a pep rally, but it's not going to do anything for you. Everybody goes to the race track wanting to win. They know what you're up against. We took a shot at getting a top 5 and it didn't pan out." - Mike Ford, No. 11 team crew chief, after a second straight disappointing finish
The miserable luck of Denny Hamlin in 2011 carried over to New Hampshire Sunday. Mike Ford made a call to try and stay out to salvage a good finish on what was otherwise a so-so day and with three laps to go, after Hamlin's car sputtered out of fuel, Ford went from hero to goat again. While the Joe Gibbs Racing organization gave Ford a "vote of confidence" earlier in the year, one has to be wondering how shaky that confidence is at this point and whether changes could be store for 2012.
Competition Director Quote Of The Week:
"NASCAR wasn't 100 percent happy with what they saw on one of their gauges that kind of checks where the rear end is in the car, so we had to do a little work on it. … It's a 'go' or 'no-go' type of gauge and it didn't go. We needed to make sure that it went. It wasn't like there was any gray area that NASCAR was saying maybe we were or weren't legal. We weren't right yet. [We had] to kind of do it on their schedule to make it work the way they wanted. Everybody knew what needed to be done to be fixed. It wasn't a mystery of what was wrong or a panic of whether or not we were going to be able to get the car fixed. It was just a matter of getting it fixed and getting it done in the timeline that NASCAR wanted to see, and they worked with us and got the car through. … I don't think they were happy with us having to go around. We were pushing a little bit time-wise for their schedule, so we just had to deal with that and fortunately we got everything fixed and we're going to make a good day out of it." - Travis Geisler, Penske Racing Competition Director, on why NASCAR held the team up in pre-race inspection.
Murphy's Law was in effect for Kurt Busch's No. 22 Pennzoil/Shell Dodge Charger, as anything that could go wrong did go wrong Sunday. The day started off on a sour note, as Busch's car was held-up in pre-race inspection for a gauge check on the race car. When the car was deemed illegal, it took right up until the invocation was given for Busch's car to get to the starting grid. Follow that up with a 22nd-place finish and that, race fans, is a recipe for a bad day. Other reports also have Busch's car found outside the tolerances, although NASCAR made clear no additional penalties are forthcoming this week.
Best Of The Rest:
"That's pretty good. I think I left here in the spring like 25th or something. That's a lot of points to gain in ten races." - Brad Keselowski, runner-up, on being third in points
"I hate these fuel mileage races. We like to run hard and go. We had a really fast car that could have been second or third no matter what, but I just wish it didn't come down to that. I would have liked to see how hard we could have run and see if we could have caught them." - Greg Biffle, third
"I'm just glad we finished fourth. It is tough conditions to race in (saving fuel). I don't think that we wanted to see back-to-back fuel mileage races like this, but, it is kind of the name of the game these days. I don't know, somehow we misjudged how far we could go on that second to the last run and we ran out. We weren't even…we didn't feel like we were even close to running out. So it just shows you how important every little detail [is]. I ran a little bit fast that run because we were out front in clean air and the DuPont Chevrolet was just driving unbelievable. We were just setting the pace so it is unfortunate that that happened. There at the end, I conserved fuel. It is something that we need to be better at. We did it and we made it and we finished fourth so we'll take that. We made some gains in points. But, [not] necessarily overall to the leader. But another great run by Tony Stewart. Those guys, we knew they would be tough here. I don't know if we expected them to be quite as tough as they were last week at Chicago. But, he's on a roll now. We have eight more to put together." - Jeff Gordon, fourth
"Yeah, it was a good run for us. The Red Bull Toyota guys did a good job all day. We were good in the first stint, but not great. We over-adjusted and got way too loose in the second or third stint and lost our track position. The last two runs we were awesome. The car was so good, probably one of the better cars on the track. We had to pass 20 cars just to get back to the top-five and ran out of time, but I'm really proud of the effort by everyone." - Brian Vickers, fifth
"Oh yeah. I mean, gosh, when you race people all the time you're gonna have accidents and bump into each other every once in a while. That was no big deal. I was having a little bit of brake fade and I backed up extra early, I just didn't expect it or I probably could have saved it, but that was no big deal. Those things happen." - Matt Kenseth, sixth, on whether everything is OK after the contact during the race
"It was a frustrating day. Our Shell Pennzoil Dodge was certainly a handful. The front tires felt like they were on skids and the car was plowing through the corners. We were late going through inspection and that set the tone for our day. We were able to stay out and lead some laps under green and Steve Addington and the guys kept making changes and got our Dodge better by the end of the race. I just wish we could have started the race with the car that good." - Kurt Busch, 22nd
"We thought we were good and that's just strategy racing nowadays. We just came up short right there. The only thing I can think of is we were on a little bit of a cleaner race track that last run, but that was the worst fuel mileage we got all day and I was backing my corner up quite a bit. There's only two things, either we weren't getting the fuel mileage we thought or we didn't get it full or I just used too much. We've got to work through it. Another tough day for us, but we're just figuring out what we need to do to be a little bit more competitive." - Denny Hamlin, 29th
"We see from short tracks to mile-and-a-halfs, it doesn't matter where we are, it all comes down to fuel mileage. These Dodge engines seem to be good in that area and not giving up a lot of speed to do it. That's the key thing – having good fuel mileage and being able to have the speed to go with it and I feel like we had that today." - Paul Wolfe, No. 2 team crew chief, on recent fuel mileage racing.
Brody Jones is a Contributor to Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
Hey Frontstretch Readers! We know you love the roar of raw horsepower under the hood that powers 43 of the best drivers in the world every weekend, but did you ever wonder how the sponsor on top of that hood also contributes to keeping the sport moving? What about the contributions of official NASCAR companies? If you think they are simply writing checks, think again. Check out our newest feature - Sunday Money. This weekly Frontstretch exclusive provides you with a behind the scenes look how NASCAR, it's affiliates and team sponsors approach the daunting task of keeping fans interested and excited about the sport for 38 weeks of the year.
TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: New Hampshire-2 Race Recap
by Matt McLaughlin
Monday Morning Teardown: Pressure Is The Name Of This Chase Game
by Ron Lemasters
David vs. Goliath: Magic Mile Stingy with NASCAR's Little Guys
by Bryan Davis Keith
Bowles' Eye View: Smoke And Mirrors… With A Little Dead Weight Thrown In
by Garrett Horton
Big Six Questions Answered: Sylvania 300
by Amy Henderson
Tracking The Trucks: F.W. Webb 175
by Bryan Davis Keith
ADVERTISEMENT
Get THE ANNUAL, 2011 Racing Preview for your mobile device.
Go to Frontstretch.com and click on "The Annual" link on the right side to order and download this special issue that includes: Track Information, Driver profiles and In-Depth Features.
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In the 1994 Goodwrench Delco 200 at then-Dover Downs International Speedway, we've asked about Bobby Dotter's huge crash in the past. However, Harry Gant also took a nasty hit in Turn 1. What happened?
Friday's Answer:
Q: In 1994, Derrike Cope picked up his one and only Busch Grand National victory at New Hampshire driving a No. 82 Ford sponsored by Sports World. However, to do this, he took advantage of an incident in which the leaders basically took themselves out on the frontstretch. What happened?
A: Half a lap before the crash, Randy LaJoie took the lead when Dale Earnhardt washed up the track in Turn 1. Kenny Wallace followed LaJoie by into second, then immediately put the pressure on LaJoie. Exiting Turn 4, Kenny Wallace got in the back of LaJoie's FINA Chevrolet, spinning out LaJoie. Kenny Wallace went into the wall as well, while Earnhardt was spun out from behind by Bobby Labonte. Mike Wallace, who was running fifth, also spun out. Mike's FDP Brakes No. 9 was then hit by Stub Fadden's Buick. Fadden and Mike Wallace were eliminated on the spot. Earnhardt crashed out later in the event, while pole sitter Bobby Labonte retired a few laps after the crash. LaJoie was credited with a 19th-place finish after blowing an engine late in the race. Only Kenny Wallace was able to salvage a decent finish, coming home in fourth.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
Coming Tuesday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Tom Bowles
-- Sitting In The Stands: A Fans' View by S.D. Grady
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters
Danny is back with a commentary piece based on recent events in NASCAR.
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup: Loudon-Dover Edition by Summer Dreyer
Summer takes a look at post-New Hampshire numbers to see who's got the most momentum heading into Dover... and beyond.
Five Points To Ponder by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan's back with his weekly edition of talking points to tie up Loudon and get us set for the week of NASCAR news ahead.
Talking NASCAR TV by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup Series made their second visit of the year to New Hampshire for a 300-lap dash, with the Camping World Truck Series as main support. Were the race telecasts up to snuff, or were they missing something? Find out in this week's edition of the TV Critique.
Fact Or Fiction by Tom Bowles
Tom's back with a look at some intriguing subplots heading into this weekend's exploits in Delaware.
------------------------------
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