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The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
November 21st, 2011
Volume V, Edition CCXLVII
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Stewart Wins Ford 400, Claims Third Championship
by Brody Jones
For fans who have long been clamoring for an exciting climax to a Chase battle, it will be extremely difficult to top the showdown Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards put on at Homestead Sunday evening under an overcast South Florida sky. Both men battled tooth and nail all race long, for both a win and a championship; combined, they 184 of 267 laps in the race. But at the end of the day, "Smoke" rose to the occasion, capping off an incredible Chase run by winning his fifth of ten Chase events in the Ford 400.
It's the third title for Stewart, who bookends Jimmie Johnson's five-year run at the top - his last title came in 2005. Back then, he came in with a commanding lead and merely had to pace himself to take home the trophy.
Not this time. For much of the first half of the day, the race was the Carl Edwards show, as he was dominating the first half of the evening after starting from the pole. Stewart, on the other hand, fell back to 40th place in the early stages of the race after a hole was found in the grill of his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy Impala courtesy of debris from Kurt Busch's busted transmission. The Columbus, Indiana native at that point began blazing through the field, pedal to the metal, passing car after car to get back to the top 10.
Finally, Tony Stewart made his way up to the front on Lap 123. However, more adversity was to be thrown the way of the would-be champion. After one slow pit stop and an air gun issue on another botched pit stop, Stewart was mired outside of the top 10. But Stewart quickly charged his way up to second on two tires, right behind his championship rival, Carl Edwards.
On the final round of green-flag stops, Tony Stewart made a bold gamble to try and stretch out his fuel to go on one more stop. Just as he got back onto the track, the owner/driver for Stewart-Haas racing caught a lucky break with a timely caution for rain before he could go a lap down. Edwards, who was going to be seven laps shy of making it, was forced to stop under the caution flag to top off his fuel tank. Stewart would be in fourth place on the restart with his championship rival two spots back in sixth.
On the ensuing restart, Kyle Busch had the race lead on strategy, but he was no match for a hard-charging Stewart or Edwards. For the final 30 laps, the top two drivers in the championship race battled tooth and nail, giving no quarter as the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 team fought off a determined Carl Edwards in the closing laps to not only win the race, but the championship in style. Both drivers actually tied in the final standings, but by virtue of Stewart's five wins over one win by Edwards, the Columbus, Indiana native won his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title, and his first as an owner-driver, becoming the first owner-driver to do so since the late Alan Kulwicki in 1992.
After the race, Stewart was relieved to claim the hardware.
"Oh, thank the Lord for this one, buddy; man I'm telling you, it's been a tough summer and a tough fall for us and you've got to believe in something; and the man upstairs held this rain off just long enough for us to get this job done," Stewart said in Victory Lane. "This is just unbelievable. We said all week we'd just go out and win the race and we didn't have to worry about what he (Carl Edwards) did and that's what we did. If this doesn't go down as one of the greatest championship battles in history, I don't know what will."
For his part, Edwards was gracious in defeat.
"I was very, very impressed with Tony," said the runner-up finisher, who had some private words of congratulations for Stewart after the race. "I think that for all of the talk and all of the chest-pounding that he did, I could see that he was really -- I mean, he was nervous about this, too. I mean, they had to perform at a very high level, and I honestly thought that there was a good chance tonight of them making a mistake; of him over-driving, trying too hard, and they showed a lot of mental toughness to watch us go lead the first half of this race essentially and not panic, not make mistakes. I thought they did a really good job."
Martin Truex, Jr., Matt Kenseth, and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-5 finishers in a race where they became the secondary story. Clint Bowyer, in his final race for Richard Childress Racing, was sixth while Kasey Kahne was seventh. Kevin Harvick was eighth, while Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton rounded out the top 10.
Sunday evening's race was slowed by eight cautions for 54 laps. Three of those cautions (for 33 laps) were due to rain, and the second of those yellows resulted in a red flag that lasted for one hour, 14 minutes for track-drying purposes. Due to these yellows, the average speed was only 114.976 mph. The race had a track-record 26 lead changes amongst 15 drivers.
Brody Jones is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
"We said all week we'd just go out and win the race and didn't have to worry about what (Edwards) did," Stewart said. "If this doesn't go down as one of the greatest championship battles in history, I don't know what will."
Without a doubt, Stewart's Chase performance will go down as one of the most impressive season turnarounds of all time. He barely made it into the postseason, taking the final spot on Sprint Cup points, and was on no one's radar going into Chicagoland to be a threat for the title. On the other hand, everyone expected Edwards to be strong for the final ten races - the driver would have cruised to his first ever title on consistency without the Chase - and he certainly was. The runner-up finish at Homestead marked Edwards' third consecutive second-place effort and, like Stewart, his 2011 Chase run will go down as one of the greatest. The worst result was an 11th at Talladega, and he posted the highest average finish in Chase history with a 4.9 - better than any of Jimmie Johnson's five championship runs. However, Edwards posted no wins, leaving him with just one all season, and that effort wasn't enough to overcome Stewart's five victories.
We usually have a recap of the "best of the rest" for the drivers just outside the Chase. However, today would be as good a time as any to pin that label on third-place Kevin Harvick. Lost in all the talk of first and second in points has been Harvick, who ended the year on a high note; at Homestead, he finished in eighth to take the final spot on the podium. It certainly wasn't the Chase this driver had hoped for, after barely losing the title last year and entering this playoff tied for the number one seed. But this top-10 run ended a two-week absence of strong finishes, giving momentum to the No. 29 as Harvick enters 2012 as only a driver for the first time in a decade (Kevin Harvick, Inc. ceased to exist after this weekend). He ended the season more than a full race behind the championship, but had a healthy 15-point cushion over fourth.
Matt Kenseth had been a Chase threat for the first five races, but finishes of 31st and 34th at Martinsville and Phoenix, respectively, eliminated any chances for a second career Cup title. The priority for Homestead, then, became to go out, win and try to grab the highest points finish possible. His fourth-place effort wasn't good enough to do that, but it certainly helped him in the standings, giving the 2003 Cup champ a two-spot boost to fourth. His top-10 run Sunday gave him 20 for the year; he's one of three drivers to achieve that feat in 2011.
Brad Keselowski surprised everyone by making the Chase this year, but he may have surprised everyone even more by finishing as well as he did. After a superb start to the playoff, November wasn't exactly Keselowski's month; his 20th-place finish on Sunday marked a fourth consecutive finish outside the top 10. However, it wasn't because the No. 2 car was uncompetitive but rather, bad luck that kept Cinderella's slipper from fitting atop the standings. It happened again on Sunday, when the No. 2 team had to bring the Miller Lite Dodge onto pit road late in the going to top off on fuel (leading to a 20th-place result). But Keselowski's early Chase effort, with four top-5 finishes in the first six races still carried some weight; he finished a career-high fifth in the standings.
For the first time since 2005, Jimmie Johnson did not end the season as your Sprint Cup champ. Once the weekend concluded at Homestead, though, there were several other firsts. By getting shut out of Victory Lane on Sunday, 2011 marked a career low for Johnson in wins, as two victories were the first time in his ten-season Cup career that he did not post at least three wins. Another streak came to end as well; shortly after the 100-lap mark, Johnson brought his car down pit road with engine problems. The team was able to solve the issue, but it cost the team five laps in doing so. As a result, he was only able to finish 32nd, dropping outside the top 5 in points. Prior to this year, Johnson had finished at least fifth or better in the point standings every season since joining the Cup Series full-time in 2002.
Much like his Chase has been, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had a quiet, yet solid race. He was very strong early, running in the top-5 positions for most of the first 100 miles. While he wasn't able to stay up front, the fade wasn't too severe; he ended the day in 11th, which was his 21st top-15 finish of the year. So while the goose egg remains in the win column, 2011 was certainly an improvement from the past two years for Earnhardt, and his seventh-place finish in points was his highest showing since he was fifth at the end of 2006.
Jeff Gordon arguably had one of the most disappointing Chase performances after three regular season wins and a strong summer led many to believe he was going to be the biggest threat to win the championship. Instead, Gordon entered Homestead just focused on making the top 10 in the final standings, as he sat 11th with just one race to go. With the help of a strong run at Homestead, finishing fifth, Gordon was able to accomplish that goal: he jumped three positions to eighth. It's the 17th time in 19 full seasons that the four-time champion has ended the year inside the top 10 in points, one of the most impressive feats in modern NASCAR history. But considering the speed the No. 24 flashed all season, you wonder how many sleepless nights Gordon will endure wondering what might have been.
Ryan Newman had a quiet day that was overshadowed even more with the day his boss and teammate had. After starting in 14th, The Rocketman never rocketed his way towards the lead, but stayed in the top 15 for most of the day while Stewart took center stage. He ended the event with a 12th-place finish, which dropped him into a tie with Denny Hamlin, who finished three spots ahead of him in ninth. Hamlin gets the points tiebreaker, because even though the two had the same amount of victories with one, Hamlin had more second-place finishes than Newman did. But both drivers can share this ugly truth: neither one was seriously competitive throughout the Chase, leaving plenty of work to do over the offseason.
While Kurt Busch was the best Busch in the Chase, his 34th-place result ended the year on a down note, dropping him three spots in the standings to 11th. Despite starting the race on the second row, Busch quickly dropped out of contention when his transmission came apart shortly after the green flag - parts and pieces which Stewart ran over as they nearly derailed that championship bid. Busch managed to make it back out on the race track, but the poor showing cost him one of the ten spots at the awards banquet next month in Las Vegas.
Kyle Busch brings up the rear of the participants in this year's Chase. His race was a fitting end to his postseason, a Chase in which he started as the number one seed but had nothing but trouble in the final ten races. While the record books will show he led 16 laps on Sunday, Busch was never a threat, and most of those laps led were under that final, rain-delayed caution. He had to pit late for fuel, dropping a lap behind, and ended up finishing 23rd overall.
Standings: t-1) Tony Stewart 2403*, t-1) Carl Edwards 2403, 3) Kevin Harvick -58, 4) Matt Kenseth -73, 5) Brad Keselowski -84, 6) Jimmie Johnson -99, 7) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -113, 8) Jeff Gordon -116, t-9) Ryan Newman -119, t-9) Denny Hamlin -119, 11) Kurt Busch -141, 12) Kyle Busch -157.
*Stewart wins the 2011 Sprint Cup Championship via tiebreaker (five wins to Edwards' one)
In the "best of the rest" battle, Clint Bowyer was able to hold off the hard-charging Kasey Kahne for the 13th spot. Bowyer and Kahne, holding their own little mano-e-mano competition ran near each other all day and wound up in the sixth and seventh positions, respectively. Greg Biffle, who had been 15th in the standings going into Homestead, blew an engine on lap 190, allowing A.J. Allmendinger, who ended the day 15th in the race, to finish in the top 15 in the points for the first time in his career.
Best of the Rest: 13) Clint Bowyer 1047, 14) Kasey Kahne -6, 15) A.J. Allmendinger -34, 16) Greg Biffle -50, 17) Paul Menard -100.
Tracking The Top 35: Front Row Motorsports Locked In For First Five Races of 2012, TRG On The Outside Looking In
Travis Kvapil was back in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford this weekend in an effort to give the team a solid, competitive finish to "lock down" their position inside the top 35 in owner points. He was able to do just that, piloting the machine to a 22nd-place result, one lap off the pace to post his second-best run of the season. Talk about the "right performance at the right time;" Front Row's closest competitor for that final spot, TRG Motorsports, did everything they could to jump ahead. The team made a driver change earlier in the week, taking out rookie driver Andy Lally for good in favor of the experienced veteran Mike Bliss. Bliss gave 110% and then some, the journeyman driver putting in a yeoman's effort to bring the car home 21st - its second-best effort of the season, just one lap off the pace. But in the end, that push was not enough, and TRG will need to qualify on time for the first five races of 2012 after failing to lock themselves into the standings.
Bliss had been running in the No. 32 FAS Lane Racing car; for Homestead, that ride went to T.J. Bell. The rookie, with sponsor Greensmoke.com on board, turned in a respectable performance, coming home a career-best 29th while staying out of trouble all race.
Note: Heading into 2012, there are at least two teams - RCR's No. 33 and Roush Fenway's No. 6 - definitively not running a full season. Red Bull Racing's two cars are also in limbo and may close down; should all four not return, every team down to MaxQ Motorsports' No. 37 car will "lock in" for the 2012 season heading to Daytona.
31) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Gilliland), +106 points ahead of 36th.
32) Germain Racing (No. 13 - Casey Mears), +75 points ahead of 36th.
33) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 - Geoff Bodine), +53 points ahead of 36th.
34) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 - T.J. Bell), +33 points ahead of 36th.
35) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - Travis Kvapil), +28 points ahead of 36th.
36) TRG Motorsports (No. 71 - Mike Bliss), -28 points behind 35th.
37) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), -147 points behind 35th.
38) Robby Gordon Motorsports (No. 7 - Robby Gordon), -160 points behind 35th.
39) MaxQ Motorsports (No. 37 - Mike Skinner), -308 points behind 35th.
And then there's Kasey Kahne, following up a victory for the soon-to-be-defunct Red Bull Racing operation with a top-10 performance (seventh). Over the course of the Chase, no one besides the Edwards-Stewart duo scored more points than Kahne; the question is, can he take the momentum over to the faltering No. 5 Hendrick Chevrolet? And can the organization he leaves behind, battling hard behind the scenes to grab last-minute investors avoid the auction block? At least Kahne gave them something to sell.
Further back, although not as glamorous were two hard-working, top-20 results from Brian Vickers and David Reutimann. Running 17th and 18th, respectively, both men are leaving organizations (RBR and MWR) where they've run full-time since 2007. Both men, to different degrees should receive the credit for taking the lead in building those teams to the middle-class efforts they are today. Both dealt with horrific setups their first year, leading to a long list of DNQs that would have led several lesser men to wave the white flag of surrender. Instead, each one rose above, leading their teams to first victories on the Cup level while commanding - and receiving - a higher level of performance. Sadly, considering the recent job market, for all intents and purposes the last five years will also serve as the defining period of each man's Sprint Cup career.
Both Vickers and Reutimann have had seasons to forget; one turned into a wrecking ball while the other turned into a ball of mush once an owner turned his back in the name of "business." But despite their slumps, leading towards ignorance or frustration towards both their absence in 2012 will be felt far more than people realize. – Tom Bowles
STAT OF THE WEEK: 1993. That's the last year a driver won five out of the final ten races to close a NASCAR Winston Cup season. Rusty Wallace did it, making a late charge on Dale Earnhardt but ultimately finished second that year to the Intimidator in the final standings. - Tom Bowles
PART-TIME JOB OPPORTUNITY
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 2002 Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway was won by Scott Wimmer for Bill Davis Racing. However, the event marked the one and only Busch Series start for a soon to be infamous organization. Name it.
A: That organization was the infamous Angela's Motorsports team, founded by "Angela Harkness" (real name Fatemeh Karimkhani) and her boyfriend, Gary Jones. For Homestead, the team partnered with Kevin Lepage's Matrix Motorsports to field two cars, the Nos. 02 and 71 Fords, in the Ford 300. Both cars were sponsored by WiredFlyer.com, an internet travel website, and sported white and neon green paint schemes. Lepage drove his own No. 71, while Jay Sauter drove the No. 02. Sauter managed to finish in 25th, two laps down, while Lepage had braking issues and was classified 37th.
For 2003, the team went on a spending spree for the rechristened No. 03 team. Mike McLaughlin was hired to drive the car, while Harold Holly was hired to serve as crew chief. Equipment was acquired from Robert Yates Racing. On paper, it seemed like a very good operation that could conceivably have challenged for wins. However, the checks started bouncing before the season began. After a very promising January test in Daytona where McLaughlin was just about the fastest driver at the track, the team shut down and team owner Angela Harkness went on the run, eventually being caught two years later in Dubai. This link contains a write-up that Car and Driver magazine did on the whole affair back in 2004.
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
-- Numbers Game by Brett Poirier
-- Sitting In The Stands: A Fans' View by S.D. Grady
This Week's Edition: Wins and their importance in the points
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters
Danny gives us a commentary piece based on recent events in NASCAR.
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup: Season-Ending Edition by Summer Dreyer
We'll take a look at post-Homestead numbers to see who's got the most momentum heading into 2012... and beyond.
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
November 21st, 2011
Volume V, Edition CCXLVII
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Stewart Wins Ford 400, Claims Third Championship
by Brody Jones
For fans who have long been clamoring for an exciting climax to a Chase battle, it will be extremely difficult to top the showdown Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards put on at Homestead Sunday evening under an overcast South Florida sky. Both men battled tooth and nail all race long, for both a win and a championship; combined, they 184 of 267 laps in the race. But at the end of the day, "Smoke" rose to the occasion, capping off an incredible Chase run by winning his fifth of ten Chase events in the Ford 400.
It's the third title for Stewart, who bookends Jimmie Johnson's five-year run at the top - his last title came in 2005. Back then, he came in with a commanding lead and merely had to pace himself to take home the trophy.
Not this time. For much of the first half of the day, the race was the Carl Edwards show, as he was dominating the first half of the evening after starting from the pole. Stewart, on the other hand, fell back to 40th place in the early stages of the race after a hole was found in the grill of his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy Impala courtesy of debris from Kurt Busch's busted transmission. The Columbus, Indiana native at that point began blazing through the field, pedal to the metal, passing car after car to get back to the top 10.
Finally, Tony Stewart made his way up to the front on Lap 123. However, more adversity was to be thrown the way of the would-be champion. After one slow pit stop and an air gun issue on another botched pit stop, Stewart was mired outside of the top 10. But Stewart quickly charged his way up to second on two tires, right behind his championship rival, Carl Edwards.
On the final round of green-flag stops, Tony Stewart made a bold gamble to try and stretch out his fuel to go on one more stop. Just as he got back onto the track, the owner/driver for Stewart-Haas racing caught a lucky break with a timely caution for rain before he could go a lap down. Edwards, who was going to be seven laps shy of making it, was forced to stop under the caution flag to top off his fuel tank. Stewart would be in fourth place on the restart with his championship rival two spots back in sixth.
On the ensuing restart, Kyle Busch had the race lead on strategy, but he was no match for a hard-charging Stewart or Edwards. For the final 30 laps, the top two drivers in the championship race battled tooth and nail, giving no quarter as the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 team fought off a determined Carl Edwards in the closing laps to not only win the race, but the championship in style. Both drivers actually tied in the final standings, but by virtue of Stewart's five wins over one win by Edwards, the Columbus, Indiana native won his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title, and his first as an owner-driver, becoming the first owner-driver to do so since the late Alan Kulwicki in 1992.
After the race, Stewart was relieved to claim the hardware.
"Oh, thank the Lord for this one, buddy; man I'm telling you, it's been a tough summer and a tough fall for us and you've got to believe in something; and the man upstairs held this rain off just long enough for us to get this job done," Stewart said in Victory Lane. "This is just unbelievable. We said all week we'd just go out and win the race and we didn't have to worry about what he (Carl Edwards) did and that's what we did. If this doesn't go down as one of the greatest championship battles in history, I don't know what will."
For his part, Edwards was gracious in defeat.
"I was very, very impressed with Tony," said the runner-up finisher, who had some private words of congratulations for Stewart after the race. "I think that for all of the talk and all of the chest-pounding that he did, I could see that he was really -- I mean, he was nervous about this, too. I mean, they had to perform at a very high level, and I honestly thought that there was a good chance tonight of them making a mistake; of him over-driving, trying too hard, and they showed a lot of mental toughness to watch us go lead the first half of this race essentially and not panic, not make mistakes. I thought they did a really good job."
Martin Truex, Jr., Matt Kenseth, and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-5 finishers in a race where they became the secondary story. Clint Bowyer, in his final race for Richard Childress Racing, was sixth while Kasey Kahne was seventh. Kevin Harvick was eighth, while Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton rounded out the top 10.
Sunday evening's race was slowed by eight cautions for 54 laps. Three of those cautions (for 33 laps) were due to rain, and the second of those yellows resulted in a red flag that lasted for one hour, 14 minutes for track-drying purposes. Due to these yellows, the average speed was only 114.976 mph. The race had a track-record 26 lead changes amongst 15 drivers.
Brody Jones is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at brody.jones@frontstretch.com.
Tracking The Chasers: Stewart's Win Gives Him the 2011 Sprint Cup Championship
by Garrett Horton
"We said all week we'd just go out and win the race and didn't have to worry about what (Edwards) did," Stewart said. "If this doesn't go down as one of the greatest championship battles in history, I don't know what will."
Without a doubt, Stewart's Chase performance will go down as one of the most impressive season turnarounds of all time. He barely made it into the postseason, taking the final spot on Sprint Cup points, and was on no one's radar going into Chicagoland to be a threat for the title. On the other hand, everyone expected Edwards to be strong for the final ten races - the driver would have cruised to his first ever title on consistency without the Chase - and he certainly was. The runner-up finish at Homestead marked Edwards' third consecutive second-place effort and, like Stewart, his 2011 Chase run will go down as one of the greatest. The worst result was an 11th at Talladega, and he posted the highest average finish in Chase history with a 4.9 - better than any of Jimmie Johnson's five championship runs. However, Edwards posted no wins, leaving him with just one all season, and that effort wasn't enough to overcome Stewart's five victories.
We usually have a recap of the "best of the rest" for the drivers just outside the Chase. However, today would be as good a time as any to pin that label on third-place Kevin Harvick. Lost in all the talk of first and second in points has been Harvick, who ended the year on a high note; at Homestead, he finished in eighth to take the final spot on the podium. It certainly wasn't the Chase this driver had hoped for, after barely losing the title last year and entering this playoff tied for the number one seed. But this top-10 run ended a two-week absence of strong finishes, giving momentum to the No. 29 as Harvick enters 2012 as only a driver for the first time in a decade (Kevin Harvick, Inc. ceased to exist after this weekend). He ended the season more than a full race behind the championship, but had a healthy 15-point cushion over fourth.
Matt Kenseth had been a Chase threat for the first five races, but finishes of 31st and 34th at Martinsville and Phoenix, respectively, eliminated any chances for a second career Cup title. The priority for Homestead, then, became to go out, win and try to grab the highest points finish possible. His fourth-place effort wasn't good enough to do that, but it certainly helped him in the standings, giving the 2003 Cup champ a two-spot boost to fourth. His top-10 run Sunday gave him 20 for the year; he's one of three drivers to achieve that feat in 2011.
Brad Keselowski surprised everyone by making the Chase this year, but he may have surprised everyone even more by finishing as well as he did. After a superb start to the playoff, November wasn't exactly Keselowski's month; his 20th-place finish on Sunday marked a fourth consecutive finish outside the top 10. However, it wasn't because the No. 2 car was uncompetitive but rather, bad luck that kept Cinderella's slipper from fitting atop the standings. It happened again on Sunday, when the No. 2 team had to bring the Miller Lite Dodge onto pit road late in the going to top off on fuel (leading to a 20th-place result). But Keselowski's early Chase effort, with four top-5 finishes in the first six races still carried some weight; he finished a career-high fifth in the standings.
For the first time since 2005, Jimmie Johnson did not end the season as your Sprint Cup champ. Once the weekend concluded at Homestead, though, there were several other firsts. By getting shut out of Victory Lane on Sunday, 2011 marked a career low for Johnson in wins, as two victories were the first time in his ten-season Cup career that he did not post at least three wins. Another streak came to end as well; shortly after the 100-lap mark, Johnson brought his car down pit road with engine problems. The team was able to solve the issue, but it cost the team five laps in doing so. As a result, he was only able to finish 32nd, dropping outside the top 5 in points. Prior to this year, Johnson had finished at least fifth or better in the point standings every season since joining the Cup Series full-time in 2002.
Much like his Chase has been, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had a quiet, yet solid race. He was very strong early, running in the top-5 positions for most of the first 100 miles. While he wasn't able to stay up front, the fade wasn't too severe; he ended the day in 11th, which was his 21st top-15 finish of the year. So while the goose egg remains in the win column, 2011 was certainly an improvement from the past two years for Earnhardt, and his seventh-place finish in points was his highest showing since he was fifth at the end of 2006.
Jeff Gordon arguably had one of the most disappointing Chase performances after three regular season wins and a strong summer led many to believe he was going to be the biggest threat to win the championship. Instead, Gordon entered Homestead just focused on making the top 10 in the final standings, as he sat 11th with just one race to go. With the help of a strong run at Homestead, finishing fifth, Gordon was able to accomplish that goal: he jumped three positions to eighth. It's the 17th time in 19 full seasons that the four-time champion has ended the year inside the top 10 in points, one of the most impressive feats in modern NASCAR history. But considering the speed the No. 24 flashed all season, you wonder how many sleepless nights Gordon will endure wondering what might have been.
Ryan Newman had a quiet day that was overshadowed even more with the day his boss and teammate had. After starting in 14th, The Rocketman never rocketed his way towards the lead, but stayed in the top 15 for most of the day while Stewart took center stage. He ended the event with a 12th-place finish, which dropped him into a tie with Denny Hamlin, who finished three spots ahead of him in ninth. Hamlin gets the points tiebreaker, because even though the two had the same amount of victories with one, Hamlin had more second-place finishes than Newman did. But both drivers can share this ugly truth: neither one was seriously competitive throughout the Chase, leaving plenty of work to do over the offseason.
While Kurt Busch was the best Busch in the Chase, his 34th-place result ended the year on a down note, dropping him three spots in the standings to 11th. Despite starting the race on the second row, Busch quickly dropped out of contention when his transmission came apart shortly after the green flag - parts and pieces which Stewart ran over as they nearly derailed that championship bid. Busch managed to make it back out on the race track, but the poor showing cost him one of the ten spots at the awards banquet next month in Las Vegas.
Kyle Busch brings up the rear of the participants in this year's Chase. His race was a fitting end to his postseason, a Chase in which he started as the number one seed but had nothing but trouble in the final ten races. While the record books will show he led 16 laps on Sunday, Busch was never a threat, and most of those laps led were under that final, rain-delayed caution. He had to pit late for fuel, dropping a lap behind, and ended up finishing 23rd overall.
Standings: t-1) Tony Stewart 2403*, t-1) Carl Edwards 2403, 3) Kevin Harvick -58, 4) Matt Kenseth -73, 5) Brad Keselowski -84, 6) Jimmie Johnson -99, 7) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -113, 8) Jeff Gordon -116, t-9) Ryan Newman -119, t-9) Denny Hamlin -119, 11) Kurt Busch -141, 12) Kyle Busch -157.
*Stewart wins the 2011 Sprint Cup Championship via tiebreaker (five wins to Edwards' one)
In the "best of the rest" battle, Clint Bowyer was able to hold off the hard-charging Kasey Kahne for the 13th spot. Bowyer and Kahne, holding their own little mano-e-mano competition ran near each other all day and wound up in the sixth and seventh positions, respectively. Greg Biffle, who had been 15th in the standings going into Homestead, blew an engine on lap 190, allowing A.J. Allmendinger, who ended the day 15th in the race, to finish in the top 15 in the points for the first time in his career.
Best of the Rest: 13) Clint Bowyer 1047, 14) Kasey Kahne -6, 15) A.J. Allmendinger -34, 16) Greg Biffle -50, 17) Paul Menard -100.
Tracking The Top 35: Front Row Motorsports Locked In For First Five Races of 2012, TRG On The Outside Looking In
Travis Kvapil was back in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford this weekend in an effort to give the team a solid, competitive finish to "lock down" their position inside the top 35 in owner points. He was able to do just that, piloting the machine to a 22nd-place result, one lap off the pace to post his second-best run of the season. Talk about the "right performance at the right time;" Front Row's closest competitor for that final spot, TRG Motorsports, did everything they could to jump ahead. The team made a driver change earlier in the week, taking out rookie driver Andy Lally for good in favor of the experienced veteran Mike Bliss. Bliss gave 110% and then some, the journeyman driver putting in a yeoman's effort to bring the car home 21st - its second-best effort of the season, just one lap off the pace. But in the end, that push was not enough, and TRG will need to qualify on time for the first five races of 2012 after failing to lock themselves into the standings.
Bliss had been running in the No. 32 FAS Lane Racing car; for Homestead, that ride went to T.J. Bell. The rookie, with sponsor Greensmoke.com on board, turned in a respectable performance, coming home a career-best 29th while staying out of trouble all race.
Note: Heading into 2012, there are at least two teams - RCR's No. 33 and Roush Fenway's No. 6 - definitively not running a full season. Red Bull Racing's two cars are also in limbo and may close down; should all four not return, every team down to MaxQ Motorsports' No. 37 car will "lock in" for the 2012 season heading to Daytona.
31) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Gilliland), +106 points ahead of 36th.
32) Germain Racing (No. 13 - Casey Mears), +75 points ahead of 36th.
33) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 - Geoff Bodine), +53 points ahead of 36th.
34) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 - T.J. Bell), +33 points ahead of 36th.
35) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - Travis Kvapil), +28 points ahead of 36th.
36) TRG Motorsports (No. 71 - Mike Bliss), -28 points behind 35th.
37) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), -147 points behind 35th.
38) Robby Gordon Motorsports (No. 7 - Robby Gordon), -160 points behind 35th.
39) MaxQ Motorsports (No. 37 - Mike Skinner), -308 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!
John Potts runs our Fan Q & A, and with two more weeks left there's a limited time to sneak in your questions and comments! 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 Run You Never Saw
For the season finale, it's always tough for teams whose drivers are preparing to pack up and ship on out somewhere else. So let's take this space and salute those veterans who fought hard to end their working relationships on a high note. You had Clint Bowyer, driving for Richard Childress Racing whose sixth-place finish was his fourth top 10 for the organization in the last five races. With a victory at Talladega in October, no one can accuse the future Michael Waltrip Racing driver of laying down for the only Sprint Cup team he's ever known.And then there's Kasey Kahne, following up a victory for the soon-to-be-defunct Red Bull Racing operation with a top-10 performance (seventh). Over the course of the Chase, no one besides the Edwards-Stewart duo scored more points than Kahne; the question is, can he take the momentum over to the faltering No. 5 Hendrick Chevrolet? And can the organization he leaves behind, battling hard behind the scenes to grab last-minute investors avoid the auction block? At least Kahne gave them something to sell.
Further back, although not as glamorous were two hard-working, top-20 results from Brian Vickers and David Reutimann. Running 17th and 18th, respectively, both men are leaving organizations (RBR and MWR) where they've run full-time since 2007. Both men, to different degrees should receive the credit for taking the lead in building those teams to the middle-class efforts they are today. Both dealt with horrific setups their first year, leading to a long list of DNQs that would have led several lesser men to wave the white flag of surrender. Instead, each one rose above, leading their teams to first victories on the Cup level while commanding - and receiving - a higher level of performance. Sadly, considering the recent job market, for all intents and purposes the last five years will also serve as the defining period of each man's Sprint Cup career.
Both Vickers and Reutimann have had seasons to forget; one turned into a wrecking ball while the other turned into a ball of mush once an owner turned his back in the name of "business." But despite their slumps, leading towards ignorance or frustration towards both their absence in 2012 will be felt far more than people realize. – Tom Bowles
STAT OF THE WEEK: 1993. That's the last year a driver won five out of the final ten races to close a NASCAR Winston Cup season. Rusty Wallace did it, making a late charge on Dale Earnhardt but ultimately finished second that year to the Intimidator in the final standings. - Tom Bowles
PART-TIME JOB OPPORTUNITY
Hey Frontstretch Readers,
We are looking for someone who shares our enthusiasm for NASCAR and has an experienced background in web design. Specifically, we are looking for someone who can help maintain and enhance our website, increase our SEO, and upgrade our publishing platform while producing a limited amount of content throughout the season. This job presents a perfect opportunity for someone with a technical background, a person who wants their work to gain national exposure.
If you are interested, contact frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com. Please include references to your past work in your e-mail.
Frontstretch will also be looking to add 3-5 writers for the 2012 season. Details to come in the next few weeks.
Frontstretch will also be looking to add 3-5 writers for the 2012 season. Details to come in the next few weeks.
Running Their Mouth: 2011 Ford 400
by Bryan Davis Keith
Each Monday, we go through media reports, interviews, PR, and all of our own stuff to find the best quotes from the Sprint Cup race, capturing the story of how the weekend unfolded. It's the most original commentary you'll ever find: the truth, coming straight out of the mouths of the drivers, crew members, and car owners themselves. Here's a sneak peek at what they all were thinking following Sunday's epic 400 mile race in Homestead:
Best Quote:
"I could not be more proud. We had the problem early and had the hole in the nose, everybody on this Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy team did a great job of getting it back going, then we had the contact with [David] Reutimann and had to come back in and fix it again. I told them 'Man, it is really going to make these guys mad when we come back twice and still kick their butt.'" - Tony Stewart, 2011 Sprint Cup champion and Homestead race winner
No matter how great the old days were, and no matter how much NASCAR racing has changed over the years, there is no doubt whatsoever that the 400-mile performance Tony Stewart delivered this Sunday will go down as one of the most impressive performances ever seen in motorsports. With the championship on the line, the driver known as Smoke didn't just win the championship; he went out and took it. Passing car after car with utter ferocity and never once losing his cool even as his pit crew struggled, the car got damaged and his crew chief took a bold gamble on fuel, Stewart's greatest weakness... his temper... never flared. Instead, the talent that has made the man a champion in everything he's ever driven allowed him to win his fifth Chase race, and in doing so snag the title despite taking a heavyweight's best shot. Carl Edwards was on his "A" game with a great car... and that was no match for Tony Stewart. Decades from now, old and new school fans alike will still be viewing this race in awe. Race fans witnessed history this Sunday in South Florida.
Crew Chief Quote of the Week:
"We just fought. This Office Depot/Mobil 1 team is just incredible. We just didn't give up. We kept fighting. We went out and earned this championship and showed we're true champions." - Darian Grubb, championship crew chief
While his driver didn't flinch under any of the pressures that came to be this Sunday, the same can be said for the leader of the No. 14 squad. Darian Grubb was hand-picked to lead Stewart's flagship team, and all the composure and intangibles that allowed him to lead Jimmie Johnson to a Daytona 500 title in 2006 were on display this weekend and all Chase long. Grubb was instrumental in taking a team that had been berated by both driver and press for the entire summer as they limped their way into the Chase and turning them into the team that stopped Five-Time... despite privately being told he'd lose his job at season's end with five races to go. Many would have lost their composure; Grubb kept it, doubling down and withstanding the No. 99 team's haymaker challenge to keep on trucking. In the process, he was never afraid to take risks; even with his driver performing at another level and a car proving to be the class of the field, Grubb went ahead nonetheless with a risky fuel mileage strategy that got Stewart off sequence with Edwards... and ultimately proved to get the No. 14 track position for the final run. Truth be told, there was never a moment where Grubb was out of control of this race or this team. Under that control, the results speak for themselves.
Most Controversial Quote:
"It's disappointing. I love my guys. A lot of these guys have been with me since the Truck Series and have come up with me. I'm going to miss them. I'm going to miss my guys most of all. It's certainly a lot more bitter than it is sweet this week for sure, but we'll see what happens." - David Reutimann, 18th
One can only wonder if the true story of David Reutimann's unexpected and unceremonious release from Michael Waltrip Racing will come to light in the offseason... because it doesn't sound pretty. The driver known as "The Franchise" and the only Cup winner in MWR history, closed his 2011 season with a quiet 18th-place run...and without any sort of ride in the bank for next year. It certainly wasn't a strong year for Reutimann or the No. 00 team, which scored only three top-10 finishes and ended up 28th in the final standings. But still, for a veteran that turned Darrell Waltrip's truck team into a winner, that won Nationwide and Cup races for the organization, and that was a vital part of getting the Cup team through a horrendous 2007 debut season, it seems like Reutimann is getting a raw deal. The fact that the normally soft-spoken driver was as blunt as he was speaking of this race's bitterness says volumes about the tone that this release is being viewed by the driver.
Best of the Rest:
"It's great for the sport and I think Tony is just one of the all-time greats and he proved that over these last ten races and especially tonight. And it showed Carl what he is made of as well. I think that is awesome."
Look at the people standing up... they stuck around to see how this one was going to unfold. You thought he was down and out and then he came back and you really thought he wasn't sitting in the best position and he had to stretch the fuel and everything. And gosh if he didn't do that, too. That is amazing." - Jeff Gordon, fifth
"It could have been better, but it was a strong effort and a good way to cap off the season. We had some issues in recent races, but today we made it click when we had to in our No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet. We got behind early, but managed to battle through the field." - Regan Smith, 13th
"I don't think anyone really expected that out of us, but I never stopped believing that we could be, you know, be a contender and have a lot of fun and do well as a team. I think we've got a lot to build off of. We'll have to work on it, build off it too. I'm real proud of the effort for the whole team." - Brad Keselowski, 20th, on his improbable Chase run
"You could see Tony [Stewart] was really aggressive on restarts trying to make up some ground. If you can win that many races in the Chase you deserve to win the championship, so it's a heck of a run by them." - Denny Hamlin, ninth
Bryan Davis Keith is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at bryan.keith@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: Homestead Race Recap
by Matt McLaughlin
Monday Morning Teardown: The Greatest Chase of All Time? You Betcha
by Ron Lemasters
David vs. Goliath: Regan Smith Leads Charge Into Uncertain 2012
by Bryan Davis Keith
Where There's A Will, There's A Way: The NASCAR Comeback Of A Lifetime
by Tom Bowles
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the Ford 400
by Amy Henderson
Nationwide Series Breakdown: Ford 300
by Bryan Davis Keith
Tracking The Trucks: Ford 200
by Beth Lunkenheimer
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 1986, Tim Richmond did something very unusual during the running of the First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. What was it?
"I could not be more proud. We had the problem early and had the hole in the nose, everybody on this Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy team did a great job of getting it back going, then we had the contact with [David] Reutimann and had to come back in and fix it again. I told them 'Man, it is really going to make these guys mad when we come back twice and still kick their butt.'" - Tony Stewart, 2011 Sprint Cup champion and Homestead race winner
No matter how great the old days were, and no matter how much NASCAR racing has changed over the years, there is no doubt whatsoever that the 400-mile performance Tony Stewart delivered this Sunday will go down as one of the most impressive performances ever seen in motorsports. With the championship on the line, the driver known as Smoke didn't just win the championship; he went out and took it. Passing car after car with utter ferocity and never once losing his cool even as his pit crew struggled, the car got damaged and his crew chief took a bold gamble on fuel, Stewart's greatest weakness... his temper... never flared. Instead, the talent that has made the man a champion in everything he's ever driven allowed him to win his fifth Chase race, and in doing so snag the title despite taking a heavyweight's best shot. Carl Edwards was on his "A" game with a great car... and that was no match for Tony Stewart. Decades from now, old and new school fans alike will still be viewing this race in awe. Race fans witnessed history this Sunday in South Florida.
Crew Chief Quote of the Week:
"We just fought. This Office Depot/Mobil 1 team is just incredible. We just didn't give up. We kept fighting. We went out and earned this championship and showed we're true champions." - Darian Grubb, championship crew chief
While his driver didn't flinch under any of the pressures that came to be this Sunday, the same can be said for the leader of the No. 14 squad. Darian Grubb was hand-picked to lead Stewart's flagship team, and all the composure and intangibles that allowed him to lead Jimmie Johnson to a Daytona 500 title in 2006 were on display this weekend and all Chase long. Grubb was instrumental in taking a team that had been berated by both driver and press for the entire summer as they limped their way into the Chase and turning them into the team that stopped Five-Time... despite privately being told he'd lose his job at season's end with five races to go. Many would have lost their composure; Grubb kept it, doubling down and withstanding the No. 99 team's haymaker challenge to keep on trucking. In the process, he was never afraid to take risks; even with his driver performing at another level and a car proving to be the class of the field, Grubb went ahead nonetheless with a risky fuel mileage strategy that got Stewart off sequence with Edwards... and ultimately proved to get the No. 14 track position for the final run. Truth be told, there was never a moment where Grubb was out of control of this race or this team. Under that control, the results speak for themselves.
Most Controversial Quote:
"It's disappointing. I love my guys. A lot of these guys have been with me since the Truck Series and have come up with me. I'm going to miss them. I'm going to miss my guys most of all. It's certainly a lot more bitter than it is sweet this week for sure, but we'll see what happens." - David Reutimann, 18th
One can only wonder if the true story of David Reutimann's unexpected and unceremonious release from Michael Waltrip Racing will come to light in the offseason... because it doesn't sound pretty. The driver known as "The Franchise" and the only Cup winner in MWR history, closed his 2011 season with a quiet 18th-place run...and without any sort of ride in the bank for next year. It certainly wasn't a strong year for Reutimann or the No. 00 team, which scored only three top-10 finishes and ended up 28th in the final standings. But still, for a veteran that turned Darrell Waltrip's truck team into a winner, that won Nationwide and Cup races for the organization, and that was a vital part of getting the Cup team through a horrendous 2007 debut season, it seems like Reutimann is getting a raw deal. The fact that the normally soft-spoken driver was as blunt as he was speaking of this race's bitterness says volumes about the tone that this release is being viewed by the driver.
Best of the Rest:
"It's great for the sport and I think Tony is just one of the all-time greats and he proved that over these last ten races and especially tonight. And it showed Carl what he is made of as well. I think that is awesome."
Look at the people standing up... they stuck around to see how this one was going to unfold. You thought he was down and out and then he came back and you really thought he wasn't sitting in the best position and he had to stretch the fuel and everything. And gosh if he didn't do that, too. That is amazing." - Jeff Gordon, fifth
"It could have been better, but it was a strong effort and a good way to cap off the season. We had some issues in recent races, but today we made it click when we had to in our No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet. We got behind early, but managed to battle through the field." - Regan Smith, 13th
"I don't think anyone really expected that out of us, but I never stopped believing that we could be, you know, be a contender and have a lot of fun and do well as a team. I think we've got a lot to build off of. We'll have to work on it, build off it too. I'm real proud of the effort for the whole team." - Brad Keselowski, 20th, on his improbable Chase run
"You could see Tony [Stewart] was really aggressive on restarts trying to make up some ground. If you can win that many races in the Chase you deserve to win the championship, so it's a heck of a run by them." - Denny Hamlin, ninth
Bryan Davis Keith is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at bryan.keith@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: Homestead Race Recap
by Matt McLaughlin
Monday Morning Teardown: The Greatest Chase of All Time? You Betcha
by Ron Lemasters
David vs. Goliath: Regan Smith Leads Charge Into Uncertain 2012
by Bryan Davis Keith
Where There's A Will, There's A Way: The NASCAR Comeback Of A Lifetime
by Tom Bowles
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the Ford 400
by Amy Henderson
Nationwide Series Breakdown: Ford 300
by Bryan Davis Keith
Tracking The Trucks: Ford 200
by Beth Lunkenheimer
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 1986, Tim Richmond did something very unusual during the running of the First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. What was it?
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 2002 Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway was won by Scott Wimmer for Bill Davis Racing. However, the event marked the one and only Busch Series start for a soon to be infamous organization. Name it.
A: That organization was the infamous Angela's Motorsports team, founded by "Angela Harkness" (real name Fatemeh Karimkhani) and her boyfriend, Gary Jones. For Homestead, the team partnered with Kevin Lepage's Matrix Motorsports to field two cars, the Nos. 02 and 71 Fords, in the Ford 300. Both cars were sponsored by WiredFlyer.com, an internet travel website, and sported white and neon green paint schemes. Lepage drove his own No. 71, while Jay Sauter drove the No. 02. Sauter managed to finish in 25th, two laps down, while Lepage had braking issues and was classified 37th.
For 2003, the team went on a spending spree for the rechristened No. 03 team. Mike McLaughlin was hired to drive the car, while Harold Holly was hired to serve as crew chief. Equipment was acquired from Robert Yates Racing. On paper, it seemed like a very good operation that could conceivably have challenged for wins. However, the checks started bouncing before the season began. After a very promising January test in Daytona where McLaughlin was just about the fastest driver at the track, the team shut down and team owner Angela Harkness went on the run, eventually being caught two years later in Dubai. This link contains a write-up that Car and Driver magazine did on the whole affair back in 2004.
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
-- Numbers Game by Brett Poirier
-- Sitting In The Stands: A Fans' View by S.D. Grady
This Week's Edition: Wins and their importance in the points
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters
Danny gives us a commentary piece based on recent events in NASCAR.
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup: Season-Ending Edition by Summer Dreyer
We'll take a look at post-Homestead numbers to see who's got the most momentum heading into 2012... and beyond.
Five Points To Ponder by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan is back with his weekly edition of talking points to tie up Homestead and get us set for 2012.
Talking NASCAR TV by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, NASCAR's three National Series held their season finales at Homestead-Miami Speedway. 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 is back with a list of predictions and calls to get us set for the offseason.
------------------------------
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