THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
November 12th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition CCXXVII
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DONATE TO HELP HURRICANE SANDY VICTIMS
We are two full weeks past Hurricane Sandy's initial impact on the East Coast. However, the suffering continues and help is still needed. If you're in an unaffected area, please consider donating to help others who will spend months rebuilding their lives and their homes after Sandy whipped onshore with winds of 80 miles an hour. Call 1-800-RED-CROSS, visit redcross.org or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation today. Every little bit helps.
~~~~~~~~~~
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Crazy Day in Desert Ends with Harvick Win and Keselowski in Points Lead
by Jeff Wolfe
The climax to a good book or movie doesn’t always come at the end.
While Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race was the next to last event of the season, it will be difficult for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to have as much drama as what took place at Phoenix International Raceway.
There was a big swing in the points standings in the Chase for the Championship as Brad Keselowski heads into that final race with a 20-point lead over Jimmie Johnson. There were lots of swings taken at each other by the pit crews of Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer.
And then there was Kevin Harvick bringing home his first checkered flag in over a year, a span of 44 races, after a weekend filled with rumors that he will be moving to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.
But getting to that checkered flag for Harvick and the other 16 drivers who finished on the lead lap, was a bit of an adventure.
Keselowski came into the day with a seven-point deficit on Johnson as they were the two only legitimate title contenders. But when Johnson had a right-front tire go down with 77 laps remaining, it changed the entire Chase picture. Keselowski, who had just taken the lead at the time, ended up with a sixth-place finish.
“Well, certainly if you have the choice you always want to be in the lead of the points, especially in the closing races, so I'm thankful for that,” Keselowski said. “But I also know that the troubles that they had are the same troubles that we could have next week, and so you try not to take anything for granted. You try to just focus on what lies ahead, and we've got to do the best job we can at Homestead. That's where my focus is.”
Johnson had been focused on trying to gain some spots and maintain some type of points lead on Keselowski going into Miami, but the blown tire ended all of that.
“We were cruising along, and I think we were going to have a top-10 day, maybe a top-5 day if things worked out at the end,” said Johnson, who came into Phoenix on a two-race winning streak and is going for his sixth Sprint Cup title. “I had a slight vibration starting in the right front. I didn't know where it was really coming from, but we know now that it was the right front. As I was coming off of Turn 4, it went down and straight in the wall it went. Another 30, 40 feet around the corner I probably would have just had a flat and not hit the wall, but where it let go, I had a direct line into the wall and knocked it down.”
Johnson’s hard hit forced him to take the car the garage area for repairs. By the time he emerged back on the track he was well over 30 laps down. He finished in 32nd, 38 laps down in what turned out to be a 319-lap race after 312 were scheduled in front of a crowd of 87,000.
The reason those extra laps were needed was because Jeff Gordon thought he needed to make a clear and definite point to Clint Bowyer. With eight laps to go, Bowyer and Gordon tapped and then replays showed Gordon appeared to try and come down to retaliate. But Bowyer got away unscathed and Gordon got into the wall, causing significant damage to his car.
Gordon, a four-time champion, was able to keep his car going at a slow rate of speed, and did not go into the pits. That’s because he was waiting for the right time to retaliate against Bowyer. The two met again on lap 311 when Gordon turned into Bowyer causing a wreck directly in front of sixth-place Joey Logano and Keselowski, who drove low to avoid the incident.
But the incident, which caused the eighth and final caution of the day, didn’t end there. Gordon drove his demolition derby-looking car back to the garage area, where shortly thereafter Gordon’s and Bowyer’s crews tried to demolish each other with their fists.
The melee lasted about five minutes and also caused a 14-minute, 58-second red flag on the track. It wasn’t the first time Bowyer and Gordon had tangled this year. Most notably it was the spring race at Martinsville where Gordon and Johnson were 1-2 on a restart, only to have Bowyer dive down low and crash all three of them (after receiving a bump from Ryan Newman). According to Gordon, that wasn’t the only incident between the two this year and the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet said he was out of patience.
“Things just got escalated over the year, and I'd just had it,” Gordon said. “Clint has run into me numerous times, wrecked me, and he got into me on the back straightaway and pretty much ruined our day. I've had it, fed up with it and I got him back.”
Bowyer said he wasn’t intentionally trying to hit Gordon, but that the slick track contributed to them getting together in Sunday’s initial incident.
“It’s just a shame,” Bowyer said. “The last person in the world you want to get into anything with is Jeff Gordon on the race track. You’re down there racing and the track is extremely slick. We’re all on (old) tires and I didn’t even need to pass him. All I was doing was riding around out there and biding my time. The only thing I had to do was keep the 5 car within reach. So for him to act like that, I barely touched him and then, I felt him try to get into me in Turn 3 and he missed. And then the next thing I know, (spotter) Brett (Griffin) is telling me on the radio he’s waiting on me.
“It makes us all look like a bunch of retards. It’s pretty embarrassing for a four-time champion. And from what I consider to be one of the sport’s all-time best to act like that, it’s completely ridiculous.”
Bowyer later apologized on Twitter for using "the R word," claiming that he was so focused on "...not saying "the F word, or the A word" that he didn't even realize that he had used the term.
Keselowski, who was criticized by some for his close racing at Texas last week, wasn't short on words when he was asked about the Gordon-Bowyer accident.
“Well, it's the double-standard that I spent a whole week being bashed by a half a dozen drivers about racing hard at Texas and how I'm out of control and have a death wish, and then I see (expletive deleted) like that. That's (expletive-deleted). That's all you can call that,” said Keselowski, who took out his phone during the red flag and sent out a few tweets on Twitter. “These guys just tried to kill each other. You race hard and I get called an (expletive deleted) for racing hard and called with a death wish, and I see (expletive deleted) like that, and it just (expletive deleted) me off. They should be ashamed. It's embarrassing.”
Harvick certainly wasn’t ashamed to win his first race of the season for Richard Childress Racing. He led the final 15 laps. Harvick took the lead for good from Kyle Busch, who led a race high 237 laps, when Busch chose the low side on a restart on lap 304, leaving Harvick on the high side. Once Harvick got the lead, he chose the high side on each of the final two restarts to maintain it.
“The M&M's guys gave me an awesome piece, and unfortunately there I gave the race away,” Busch said. “You know, I hate it for my guys, and they worked so hard and they dug hard this weekend, and obviously having a car that's the class of the field you expect to win and you're supposed to win, but I guess I just didn't know how to win it today.”
Just experiencing a win is something Harvick was glad to do.
"It was an interesting day to say the least, but Gil did a great job of keeping us in the track position game and made our car better all day, and the further we got towards the front, the better the car handled," Harvick said. "[The crew] made good adjustments, and there at the end we had a couple restarts and Kyle chose the bottom and we were able to drive around the top side of him and then get control of the race really."
A charging Denny Hamlin finished in second with Kyle Busch right behind. Kasey Kahne was fourth, while Ryan Newman finished fifth. Keselowski was sixth, followed by Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard and Mark Martin. Newman, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Menard and Martin all crashed coming to the finish when they lost control in oil from two separate crashes coming out of Turn 4 on the final lap.
Next week, the Sprint Cup Series returns to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the final race of the season. Coverage starts on ESPN with a special 90 minute edition of NASCAR Countdown at 1:30pm EST before race coverage starts at 3:00pm.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
-- Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
November 12th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition CCXXVII
~~~~~~~~~~
DONATE TO HELP HURRICANE SANDY VICTIMS
We are two full weeks past Hurricane Sandy's initial impact on the East Coast. However, the suffering continues and help is still needed. If you're in an unaffected area, please consider donating to help others who will spend months rebuilding their lives and their homes after Sandy whipped onshore with winds of 80 miles an hour. Call 1-800-RED-CROSS, visit redcross.org or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation today. Every little bit helps.
~~~~~~~~~~
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Crazy Day in Desert Ends with Harvick Win and Keselowski in Points Lead
by Jeff Wolfe
The climax to a good book or movie doesn’t always come at the end.
While Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race was the next to last event of the season, it will be difficult for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to have as much drama as what took place at Phoenix International Raceway.
There was a big swing in the points standings in the Chase for the Championship as Brad Keselowski heads into that final race with a 20-point lead over Jimmie Johnson. There were lots of swings taken at each other by the pit crews of Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer.
And then there was Kevin Harvick bringing home his first checkered flag in over a year, a span of 44 races, after a weekend filled with rumors that he will be moving to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.
But getting to that checkered flag for Harvick and the other 16 drivers who finished on the lead lap, was a bit of an adventure.
Keselowski came into the day with a seven-point deficit on Johnson as they were the two only legitimate title contenders. But when Johnson had a right-front tire go down with 77 laps remaining, it changed the entire Chase picture. Keselowski, who had just taken the lead at the time, ended up with a sixth-place finish.
“Well, certainly if you have the choice you always want to be in the lead of the points, especially in the closing races, so I'm thankful for that,” Keselowski said. “But I also know that the troubles that they had are the same troubles that we could have next week, and so you try not to take anything for granted. You try to just focus on what lies ahead, and we've got to do the best job we can at Homestead. That's where my focus is.”
Johnson had been focused on trying to gain some spots and maintain some type of points lead on Keselowski going into Miami, but the blown tire ended all of that.
“We were cruising along, and I think we were going to have a top-10 day, maybe a top-5 day if things worked out at the end,” said Johnson, who came into Phoenix on a two-race winning streak and is going for his sixth Sprint Cup title. “I had a slight vibration starting in the right front. I didn't know where it was really coming from, but we know now that it was the right front. As I was coming off of Turn 4, it went down and straight in the wall it went. Another 30, 40 feet around the corner I probably would have just had a flat and not hit the wall, but where it let go, I had a direct line into the wall and knocked it down.”
Johnson’s hard hit forced him to take the car the garage area for repairs. By the time he emerged back on the track he was well over 30 laps down. He finished in 32nd, 38 laps down in what turned out to be a 319-lap race after 312 were scheduled in front of a crowd of 87,000.
The reason those extra laps were needed was because Jeff Gordon thought he needed to make a clear and definite point to Clint Bowyer. With eight laps to go, Bowyer and Gordon tapped and then replays showed Gordon appeared to try and come down to retaliate. But Bowyer got away unscathed and Gordon got into the wall, causing significant damage to his car.
Gordon, a four-time champion, was able to keep his car going at a slow rate of speed, and did not go into the pits. That’s because he was waiting for the right time to retaliate against Bowyer. The two met again on lap 311 when Gordon turned into Bowyer causing a wreck directly in front of sixth-place Joey Logano and Keselowski, who drove low to avoid the incident.
But the incident, which caused the eighth and final caution of the day, didn’t end there. Gordon drove his demolition derby-looking car back to the garage area, where shortly thereafter Gordon’s and Bowyer’s crews tried to demolish each other with their fists.
The melee lasted about five minutes and also caused a 14-minute, 58-second red flag on the track. It wasn’t the first time Bowyer and Gordon had tangled this year. Most notably it was the spring race at Martinsville where Gordon and Johnson were 1-2 on a restart, only to have Bowyer dive down low and crash all three of them (after receiving a bump from Ryan Newman). According to Gordon, that wasn’t the only incident between the two this year and the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet said he was out of patience.
“Things just got escalated over the year, and I'd just had it,” Gordon said. “Clint has run into me numerous times, wrecked me, and he got into me on the back straightaway and pretty much ruined our day. I've had it, fed up with it and I got him back.”
Bowyer said he wasn’t intentionally trying to hit Gordon, but that the slick track contributed to them getting together in Sunday’s initial incident.
“It’s just a shame,” Bowyer said. “The last person in the world you want to get into anything with is Jeff Gordon on the race track. You’re down there racing and the track is extremely slick. We’re all on (old) tires and I didn’t even need to pass him. All I was doing was riding around out there and biding my time. The only thing I had to do was keep the 5 car within reach. So for him to act like that, I barely touched him and then, I felt him try to get into me in Turn 3 and he missed. And then the next thing I know, (spotter) Brett (Griffin) is telling me on the radio he’s waiting on me.
“It makes us all look like a bunch of retards. It’s pretty embarrassing for a four-time champion. And from what I consider to be one of the sport’s all-time best to act like that, it’s completely ridiculous.”
Bowyer later apologized on Twitter for using "the R word," claiming that he was so focused on "...not saying "the F word, or the A word" that he didn't even realize that he had used the term.
Keselowski, who was criticized by some for his close racing at Texas last week, wasn't short on words when he was asked about the Gordon-Bowyer accident.
“Well, it's the double-standard that I spent a whole week being bashed by a half a dozen drivers about racing hard at Texas and how I'm out of control and have a death wish, and then I see (expletive deleted) like that. That's (expletive-deleted). That's all you can call that,” said Keselowski, who took out his phone during the red flag and sent out a few tweets on Twitter. “These guys just tried to kill each other. You race hard and I get called an (expletive deleted) for racing hard and called with a death wish, and I see (expletive deleted) like that, and it just (expletive deleted) me off. They should be ashamed. It's embarrassing.”
Harvick certainly wasn’t ashamed to win his first race of the season for Richard Childress Racing. He led the final 15 laps. Harvick took the lead for good from Kyle Busch, who led a race high 237 laps, when Busch chose the low side on a restart on lap 304, leaving Harvick on the high side. Once Harvick got the lead, he chose the high side on each of the final two restarts to maintain it.
“The M&M's guys gave me an awesome piece, and unfortunately there I gave the race away,” Busch said. “You know, I hate it for my guys, and they worked so hard and they dug hard this weekend, and obviously having a car that's the class of the field you expect to win and you're supposed to win, but I guess I just didn't know how to win it today.”
Just experiencing a win is something Harvick was glad to do.
"It was an interesting day to say the least, but Gil did a great job of keeping us in the track position game and made our car better all day, and the further we got towards the front, the better the car handled," Harvick said. "[The crew] made good adjustments, and there at the end we had a couple restarts and Kyle chose the bottom and we were able to drive around the top side of him and then get control of the race really."
A charging Denny Hamlin finished in second with Kyle Busch right behind. Kasey Kahne was fourth, while Ryan Newman finished fifth. Keselowski was sixth, followed by Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard and Mark Martin. Newman, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Menard and Martin all crashed coming to the finish when they lost control in oil from two separate crashes coming out of Turn 4 on the final lap.
Next week, the Sprint Cup Series returns to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the final race of the season. Coverage starts on ESPN with a special 90 minute edition of NASCAR Countdown at 1:30pm EST before race coverage starts at 3:00pm.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
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Chasing the Chase: With Keselowski in Command, Johnson Only Driver Still In Pursuit
by Jeff Wolfe
NASCAR fans knew the title race was down to Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson before Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. The points race officially became between those two after the rest of the 12-driver field was mathematically eliminated.
Keselowski finished sixth while Johnson blew a right front tire that led to a 32nd-place finish. The result was Johnson went from a seven-point lead to a 20-point deficit heading into Homestead. And Johnson is the only driver left who can catch Keselowski in the standings.
If Keselowski finishes 15th or better at Miami, he will clinch the title. If the driver of the No. 2 Roger Penske-owned Dodge wins the title, it will be the first Sprint Cup title for the manufacturer since Richard Petty won for Dodge in 1975. It could also be Dodge’s last title for a while as it will not have a Sprint Cup entry next season.
For Johnson, barring a major issue by Keselowski, he will have to look to next season to earn his sixth Sprint Cup title. Johnson had won five straight titles before Tony Stewart took the crown last year.
“Anything can happen in racing,” Johnson said. “I hate to see it potentially end this way. I’m very proud of the year and proud of the effort they entire Lowes team has put in. I’ve won a few championships, and lost a lot. We’ll be back next weekend and next year.”
The Chase driver who had the best day was race winner Kevin Harvick. He had already been mathematically eliminated after last week’s race at Texas. The win, however, did move Harvick from 11th to eighth in the standings, 86 behind Keselowski.
Not to be overlooked in the Jeff Gordon-Clint Bowyer accident was that without the incident, Bowyer was running fifth with just a little over a lap remaining, and instead finished 28th. That finish leaves him 52 points behind Keselowski. If Bowyer had finished fifth, he would be 29 points down heading into Homestead, and while certainly a longshot to win the title, he at least would have had a chance.
While Gordon may have made his point to Bowyer, he was the biggest loser in the points standings. He dropped four spots to 10th and is now 90 points out. Martin Truex, Jr. also took a big points hit after having engine issues earlier in the race. That left him with a 43rd-place finish and 111 points behind first.
Denny Hamlin and Greg Biffle used good days to move up in the standings. Hamlin finished second and moved up two spots to fifth, 62 out of the lead. Biffle finished seventh and moved up three spots to seventh, 78 points out of first. Kasey Kahne used his fourth-place finish to move up one spot in the standings to third and is 50 behind Keselowski.
A late spin hurt Tony Stewart as he finished 19th and dropped one point in the standings, 87 behind first. Matt Kenseth battled a tire rub late in the race and finished 14th. He fell one spot to sixth, 74 points out of the lead. Also, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who missed two races in the Chase for the Championship due to a concussion, finished 21st and remains in 12th-place, 160 points behind Keselowski.
Chase for the Championship Standings: 1) Brad Keselowski 2371, 2) Jimmie Johnson -20, 3) Kasey Kahne -50, 4) Clint Bowyer -52, 5) Denny Hamlin -62, 6) Matt Kenseth -74, 7) Greg Biffle -78, 8) Kevin Harvick –86, 9) Tony Stewart -87, 10) Jeff Gordon -90, 11) Martin Truex, Jr. -111, 12) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -160.
Best of the Rest: 13) Kyle Busch 1091, 14) Ryan Newman -82, 15) Carl Edwards -93, 16) Paul Menard -118, 17) Joey Logano -156, 18) Marcos Ambrose -173
Race Winners: Matt Kenseth (Daytona 500. Talladega 2, Kansas 2), Denny Hamlin (Phoenix, Kansas, Bristol 2, Atlanta, New Hampshire 2), Tony Stewart (Las Vegas, Fontana, Daytona 2), Brad Keselowski (Bristol, Talladega, Kentucky, Chicagoland 2, Dover 2), Ryan Newman (Martinsville), Greg Biffle (Texas, Michigan 2), Kyle Busch (Richmond), Jimmie Johnson (Darlington, Dover, Indianapolis, Martinsville 2, Texas 2), Kasey Kahne (Charlotte, New Hampshire), Joey Logano (Pocono 1), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (Michigan 1), Clint Bowyer (Sonoma, Richmond 2, Charlotte 2), Jeff Gordon (Pocono 2), Marcos Ambrose (Watkins Glen), Kevin Harvick (Phoenix 2).
Tracking The Top 35: The Gap Increases
The gap between the 35th and 36th place remained large after Sunday’s race at Phoenix as it grew from 72 points to 90. The top 35 in points are guaranteed a starting spot in each week’s race, and as has been the case since the first two months of the season, the margin remains a wide one. NASCAR announced last month that the top-35 rule would not be in effect next year.
The No. 36 car driven by Dave Blaney ran sponsorship from Accell Construction on Sunday, which allowed the team to run the distance. Blaney finished 26th, three laps down and sits in the 35th spot, while the No. 21 car driven by Trevor Bayne did not compete. Bayne is driving a partial schedule for the Wood Brothers this season.
Here's your owners point standings around the all-important cutoff...
29) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Ragan), 284 points ahead of 36th.
30) Germain Racing (No. 13 – Casey Mears), 272 points ahead of 36th.
31) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - David Gilliland), 269 points ahead of 36th.
32) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), 256 points ahead of 36th.
33) Tommy Baldwin Racing / Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 10 – Danica Patrick), 184 points ahead of 36th.
34) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 – Timmy Hill), 161 points ahead of 36th.
35) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 – Dave Blaney), 90 points ahead of 36th.
36) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), 90 points behind 35th.
37) Richard Childress Racing/Circle Point, LLC (No. 33 – Stephen Leicht), 162 points behind 35th.
38) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 – David Stremme), 183 points behind 35th.
39) Phil Parsons Racing (No. 98 – Michael McDowell), 219 points behind 35th.
40) Front Row Motorsports (No. 26 - Josh Wise), 247 points behind 35th.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
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Secret Star of the Week: The Race You Never Saw
For Richard Childress Racing, there really hasn't been all that much to cheer about in the Sprint Cup Series during the 2012 season. While the Dillon brothers have been running very well in the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series, the Sprint Cup operation has struggled. Then Kevin Harvick picked up his first win of the year on Sunday. But, we're not going to talk about Harvick here.
Instead, the spotlight will be focused down upon Paul Menard and his No. 27 team, likely the quietest of the three RCR squads. However, Menard had one of his best weekends of the season in Phoenix. Menard qualified seventh and quickly moved up into the top-5. Once there, Menard was able to maintain the quick pace of Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin when they were at their most dominant. After Busch fell off, Menard was able to keep up the chase and nearly caught Hamlin for the lead in his own right. Later in the race, the No. 27 fell off handling-wise, but Menard was able to fight back to finish a strong ninth. It didn't help Menard much in points (he's still 16th), but the great run, plus the fact that collaboration between Menard and Harvick's teams was one of the reasons why Harvick was able to win on Sunday means that the No. 27 team should have quite a bit of confidence heading into Homestead. - Phil Allaway
STAT OF THE WEEK: 24. Represents the number of points lost by Clint Bowyer as a result of Jeff Gordon's retaliatory move on Lap 311 on Sunday. At the time of the crash, Bowyer was fifth, while Brad Keselowski was seventh. Had the order stood to the finish, Bowyer would have still been third in points, but would have been 26 behind Keselowski and only six behind Jimmie Johnson. With the 28th-place finish that Bowyer ultimately earned, he is now 50 behind Keselowski and 30 behind Johnson. - Phil Allaway
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Quotes to Remember: AAA Texas 500
"The sport was made on fights. We should have more fights. I like fights. They're not always fun to be in. Sometimes you're on the wrong end. But fights are what made NASCAR what it is." - Kevin Harvick, race winner, on fighting
"Well, I'm 50/50 on that. The 29 almost wrecked coming to the line, and that would have‑‑ I would have said no. But we almost wrecked, too. So it was a‑‑ there was a lot of stuff on the racetrack. I mean, that's why that wreck happened on the front stretch is there was oil all over it. Ray Charles could see that (laughter). It was just a judgment call, I guess." - Denny Hamlin, finished second, on the final lap scramble
"Yeah, great car. M&M's guys gave me an awesome piece, and unfortunately there I gave the race away. You know, I hate it for my guys, and they worked so hard and they dug hard this weekend, and obviously having a car that's the class of the field you expect to win and you're supposed to win, but I guess I just didn't know how to win it today."- a dejected Kyle Busch, finished third
"I was saying I can't wait to hear all the conspiracy theories. That's what I was thinking, yeah. Because I'm sure maybe five years from now if I end up winning this thing there will be somebody that goes remember Phoenix when such‑and‑such laid down thumbnail tacks and blew out Jimmie's tire? That was what I was thinking; what conspiracy story is somebody going to come up with? It might be Mulhern, I don't know. I was just trying to think what's the wildest one I could come up with, and then I thought, well, next thought was that could very easily be me, and I'd better manage my car and my tires to make sure it's not." - Brad Keselowski, finished sixth, on his immediate thoughts after Johnson's crash
"We definitely had a car that was capable of winning, but you can’t afford those kinds of mistakes. However, we did battle back to notch our second straight top-10. [In regards to the crash at the line,] that was a wild ending, not sure at the time what was happening. I just stayed on the gas to get to the finish line. Everything was going smoothly and it was looking like a sixth-place finish for the Furniture Row/Farm American car, but all of a sudden all heck broke loose." - Kurt Busch, finished eighth
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud: Phoenix-2 Race Recap
by Mike Neff
Fixing NASCAR's Product Is Simple, Yet Impossible
by Jeff Meyer
Pace Laps: Bowyer-Gordon Brawling, Lost Title Trauma And Kyle Larson Mania
by the Frontstretch Staff
Chasing the Chase: With Keselowski in Command, Johnson Only Driver Still In Pursuit
by Jeff Wolfe
NASCAR fans knew the title race was down to Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson before Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. The points race officially became between those two after the rest of the 12-driver field was mathematically eliminated.
Keselowski finished sixth while Johnson blew a right front tire that led to a 32nd-place finish. The result was Johnson went from a seven-point lead to a 20-point deficit heading into Homestead. And Johnson is the only driver left who can catch Keselowski in the standings.
If Keselowski finishes 15th or better at Miami, he will clinch the title. If the driver of the No. 2 Roger Penske-owned Dodge wins the title, it will be the first Sprint Cup title for the manufacturer since Richard Petty won for Dodge in 1975. It could also be Dodge’s last title for a while as it will not have a Sprint Cup entry next season.
For Johnson, barring a major issue by Keselowski, he will have to look to next season to earn his sixth Sprint Cup title. Johnson had won five straight titles before Tony Stewart took the crown last year.
“Anything can happen in racing,” Johnson said. “I hate to see it potentially end this way. I’m very proud of the year and proud of the effort they entire Lowes team has put in. I’ve won a few championships, and lost a lot. We’ll be back next weekend and next year.”
The Chase driver who had the best day was race winner Kevin Harvick. He had already been mathematically eliminated after last week’s race at Texas. The win, however, did move Harvick from 11th to eighth in the standings, 86 behind Keselowski.
Not to be overlooked in the Jeff Gordon-Clint Bowyer accident was that without the incident, Bowyer was running fifth with just a little over a lap remaining, and instead finished 28th. That finish leaves him 52 points behind Keselowski. If Bowyer had finished fifth, he would be 29 points down heading into Homestead, and while certainly a longshot to win the title, he at least would have had a chance.
While Gordon may have made his point to Bowyer, he was the biggest loser in the points standings. He dropped four spots to 10th and is now 90 points out. Martin Truex, Jr. also took a big points hit after having engine issues earlier in the race. That left him with a 43rd-place finish and 111 points behind first.
Denny Hamlin and Greg Biffle used good days to move up in the standings. Hamlin finished second and moved up two spots to fifth, 62 out of the lead. Biffle finished seventh and moved up three spots to seventh, 78 points out of first. Kasey Kahne used his fourth-place finish to move up one spot in the standings to third and is 50 behind Keselowski.
A late spin hurt Tony Stewart as he finished 19th and dropped one point in the standings, 87 behind first. Matt Kenseth battled a tire rub late in the race and finished 14th. He fell one spot to sixth, 74 points out of the lead. Also, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who missed two races in the Chase for the Championship due to a concussion, finished 21st and remains in 12th-place, 160 points behind Keselowski.
Chase for the Championship Standings: 1) Brad Keselowski 2371, 2) Jimmie Johnson -20, 3) Kasey Kahne -50, 4) Clint Bowyer -52, 5) Denny Hamlin -62, 6) Matt Kenseth -74, 7) Greg Biffle -78, 8) Kevin Harvick –86, 9) Tony Stewart -87, 10) Jeff Gordon -90, 11) Martin Truex, Jr. -111, 12) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -160.
Best of the Rest: 13) Kyle Busch 1091, 14) Ryan Newman -82, 15) Carl Edwards -93, 16) Paul Menard -118, 17) Joey Logano -156, 18) Marcos Ambrose -173
Race Winners: Matt Kenseth (Daytona 500. Talladega 2, Kansas 2), Denny Hamlin (Phoenix, Kansas, Bristol 2, Atlanta, New Hampshire 2), Tony Stewart (Las Vegas, Fontana, Daytona 2), Brad Keselowski (Bristol, Talladega, Kentucky, Chicagoland 2, Dover 2), Ryan Newman (Martinsville), Greg Biffle (Texas, Michigan 2), Kyle Busch (Richmond), Jimmie Johnson (Darlington, Dover, Indianapolis, Martinsville 2, Texas 2), Kasey Kahne (Charlotte, New Hampshire), Joey Logano (Pocono 1), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (Michigan 1), Clint Bowyer (Sonoma, Richmond 2, Charlotte 2), Jeff Gordon (Pocono 2), Marcos Ambrose (Watkins Glen), Kevin Harvick (Phoenix 2).
Tracking The Top 35: The Gap Increases
The gap between the 35th and 36th place remained large after Sunday’s race at Phoenix as it grew from 72 points to 90. The top 35 in points are guaranteed a starting spot in each week’s race, and as has been the case since the first two months of the season, the margin remains a wide one. NASCAR announced last month that the top-35 rule would not be in effect next year.
The No. 36 car driven by Dave Blaney ran sponsorship from Accell Construction on Sunday, which allowed the team to run the distance. Blaney finished 26th, three laps down and sits in the 35th spot, while the No. 21 car driven by Trevor Bayne did not compete. Bayne is driving a partial schedule for the Wood Brothers this season.
Here's your owners point standings around the all-important cutoff...
29) Front Row Motorsports (No. 34 - David Ragan), 284 points ahead of 36th.
30) Germain Racing (No. 13 – Casey Mears), 272 points ahead of 36th.
31) Front Row Motorsports (No. 38 - David Gilliland), 269 points ahead of 36th.
32) BK Racing (No. 83 - Landon Cassill), 256 points ahead of 36th.
33) Tommy Baldwin Racing / Stewart-Haas Racing (No. 10 – Danica Patrick), 184 points ahead of 36th.
34) FAS Lane Racing (No. 32 – Timmy Hill), 161 points ahead of 36th.
35) Tommy Baldwin Racing (No. 36 – Dave Blaney), 90 points ahead of 36th.
36) Wood Brothers Racing (No. 21 - Trevor Bayne), 90 points behind 35th.
37) Richard Childress Racing/Circle Point, LLC (No. 33 – Stephen Leicht), 162 points behind 35th.
38) Inception Motorsports (No. 30 – David Stremme), 183 points behind 35th.
39) Phil Parsons Racing (No. 98 – Michael McDowell), 219 points behind 35th.
40) Front Row Motorsports (No. 26 - Josh Wise), 247 points behind 35th.
Jeff Wolfe is a Contributor for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at jeff.wolfe@frontstretch.com.
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Secret Star of the Week: The Race You Never Saw
For Richard Childress Racing, there really hasn't been all that much to cheer about in the Sprint Cup Series during the 2012 season. While the Dillon brothers have been running very well in the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series, the Sprint Cup operation has struggled. Then Kevin Harvick picked up his first win of the year on Sunday. But, we're not going to talk about Harvick here.
Instead, the spotlight will be focused down upon Paul Menard and his No. 27 team, likely the quietest of the three RCR squads. However, Menard had one of his best weekends of the season in Phoenix. Menard qualified seventh and quickly moved up into the top-5. Once there, Menard was able to maintain the quick pace of Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin when they were at their most dominant. After Busch fell off, Menard was able to keep up the chase and nearly caught Hamlin for the lead in his own right. Later in the race, the No. 27 fell off handling-wise, but Menard was able to fight back to finish a strong ninth. It didn't help Menard much in points (he's still 16th), but the great run, plus the fact that collaboration between Menard and Harvick's teams was one of the reasons why Harvick was able to win on Sunday means that the No. 27 team should have quite a bit of confidence heading into Homestead. - Phil Allaway
STAT OF THE WEEK: 24. Represents the number of points lost by Clint Bowyer as a result of Jeff Gordon's retaliatory move on Lap 311 on Sunday. At the time of the crash, Bowyer was fifth, while Brad Keselowski was seventh. Had the order stood to the finish, Bowyer would have still been third in points, but would have been 26 behind Keselowski and only six behind Jimmie Johnson. With the 28th-place finish that Bowyer ultimately earned, he is now 50 behind Keselowski and 30 behind Johnson. - Phil Allaway
~~~~~~~~~~
Quotes to Remember: AAA Texas 500
"The sport was made on fights. We should have more fights. I like fights. They're not always fun to be in. Sometimes you're on the wrong end. But fights are what made NASCAR what it is." - Kevin Harvick, race winner, on fighting
"Well, I'm 50/50 on that. The 29 almost wrecked coming to the line, and that would have‑‑ I would have said no. But we almost wrecked, too. So it was a‑‑ there was a lot of stuff on the racetrack. I mean, that's why that wreck happened on the front stretch is there was oil all over it. Ray Charles could see that (laughter). It was just a judgment call, I guess." - Denny Hamlin, finished second, on the final lap scramble
"Yeah, great car. M&M's guys gave me an awesome piece, and unfortunately there I gave the race away. You know, I hate it for my guys, and they worked so hard and they dug hard this weekend, and obviously having a car that's the class of the field you expect to win and you're supposed to win, but I guess I just didn't know how to win it today."- a dejected Kyle Busch, finished third
"I was saying I can't wait to hear all the conspiracy theories. That's what I was thinking, yeah. Because I'm sure maybe five years from now if I end up winning this thing there will be somebody that goes remember Phoenix when such‑and‑such laid down thumbnail tacks and blew out Jimmie's tire? That was what I was thinking; what conspiracy story is somebody going to come up with? It might be Mulhern, I don't know. I was just trying to think what's the wildest one I could come up with, and then I thought, well, next thought was that could very easily be me, and I'd better manage my car and my tires to make sure it's not." - Brad Keselowski, finished sixth, on his immediate thoughts after Johnson's crash
"We definitely had a car that was capable of winning, but you can’t afford those kinds of mistakes. However, we did battle back to notch our second straight top-10. [In regards to the crash at the line,] that was a wild ending, not sure at the time what was happening. I just stayed on the gas to get to the finish line. Everything was going smoothly and it was looking like a sixth-place finish for the Furniture Row/Farm American car, but all of a sudden all heck broke loose." - Kurt Busch, finished eighth
~~~~~~~~~~
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud: Phoenix-2 Race Recap
by Mike Neff
Fixing NASCAR's Product Is Simple, Yet Impossible
by Jeff Meyer
Pace Laps: Bowyer-Gordon Brawling, Lost Title Trauma And Kyle Larson Mania
by the Frontstretch Staff
NASCAR, Bowyer, Gordon Gone Wild... The "New Normal?" What's Next?
by Tom Bowles
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the AdvoCare 500
by Amy Henderson
Tracking the Trucks: Lucas Oil 150
by Beth Lunkenheimer
Nationwide Series Breakdown: Great Clips 200
by Bryan Davis Keith
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the AdvoCare 500
by Amy Henderson
Tracking the Trucks: Lucas Oil 150
by Beth Lunkenheimer
Nationwide Series Breakdown: Great Clips 200
by Bryan Davis Keith
~~~~~~~~~~~
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: The now-Camping World Truck Series officially held their first points race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 1996, which was won by Dave Rezendes. However, that was not the first time that trucks took to the "Mini-Indy" version of Homestead's 1.5 mile oval. When was the first time, and who won?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: In the 1993 Slick 50 500 at Phoenix, Dick Trickle led early in Larry Hedrick's No. 41 (he had recently replaced the fired Phil Parsons) before Mark Martin took command. However, Ken Schrader had a potential good day go bad before even reaching Lap 10. What happened?
A: On the fourth lap of the race, Schrader spun in Turn 2 and hit the wall on the drivers' side. How did this happen? It appears that Schrader had just lost a spot to teammate Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt wanted to follow through. The two drivers had contact and Schrader ended up in the wall. The crash can be seen at the 3:30 mark of this clip.
As it turned out, this was only the first crash involving one of the Hendrick Chevrolets and Earnhardt that day. Later in the race, Earnhardt dumped Gordon into the wall after he apparently tired of the 22-year old's antics.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: Take 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 by Tom Bowles
-- Fan's View Commentary by S.D. Grady
-- Numbers Game: AdvoCare 500k by Garrett Horton
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup by StarCoach Race Tours: Phoenix / Homestead Edition by Brett Poirier
The Chase is coming to a close, which means Brett takes a look at which drivers are in position to take the field by storm... and which ones are already taking a look ahead towards 2013.
This year, we have an interesting new weekly feature for our readers where we'll have a special guest stop by on a weekly basis to discuss the technical aspects of the sport.
The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters
Danny is back with another commentary to make you think.
-----------------------------
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2012 Frontstretch.com
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: The now-Camping World Truck Series officially held their first points race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 1996, which was won by Dave Rezendes. However, that was not the first time that trucks took to the "Mini-Indy" version of Homestead's 1.5 mile oval. When was the first time, and who won?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: In the 1993 Slick 50 500 at Phoenix, Dick Trickle led early in Larry Hedrick's No. 41 (he had recently replaced the fired Phil Parsons) before Mark Martin took command. However, Ken Schrader had a potential good day go bad before even reaching Lap 10. What happened?
A: On the fourth lap of the race, Schrader spun in Turn 2 and hit the wall on the drivers' side. How did this happen? It appears that Schrader had just lost a spot to teammate Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt wanted to follow through. The two drivers had contact and Schrader ended up in the wall. The crash can be seen at the 3:30 mark of this clip.
As it turned out, this was only the first crash involving one of the Hendrick Chevrolets and Earnhardt that day. Later in the race, Earnhardt dumped Gordon into the wall after he apparently tired of the 22-year old's antics.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: Take 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 by Tom Bowles
-- Fan's View Commentary by S.D. Grady
-- Numbers Game: AdvoCare 500k by Garrett Horton
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup by StarCoach Race Tours: Phoenix / Homestead Edition by Brett Poirier
The Chase is coming to a close, which means Brett takes a look at which drivers are in position to take the field by storm... and which ones are already taking a look ahead towards 2013.
Five Points To Ponder by Bryan Keith
Bryan has his weekly edition of talking points to wrap up Phoenix and get us ready for Homestead.
Couch Potato Tuesday by Phil Allaway
This past weekend, the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series were all in action at Phoenix International Raceway. Were the telecasts of these events "up to snuff?" Find out in this week's TV Critique.
This year, we have an interesting new weekly feature for our readers where we'll have a special guest stop by on a weekly basis to discuss the technical aspects of the sport.
The Yellow Stripe by Danny Peters
Danny is back with another commentary to make you think.
-----------------------------
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2012 Frontstretch.com
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