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The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
September 1st, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition CXLVIII
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Sprint Cup Race Recap: Kahne Proves Able at Atlanta
by Justin Tucker
While others have been basking in the glory of wins, becoming the topic of this year's championship conversation, the same hasn't been the case for Kasey Kahne.
Leading into Sunday's Oral-B USA 500 held at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kahne was in the midst of a 39-race winless streak that dated to back to Pocono last August. To say 2014 has been frustrating for Kahne, since then is nothing short of an understatement. In 24 previous races this season, Kahne had only scored two top-5 finishes with a best result of third at Kansas Speedway in May. That left his Chase hopes heading into Atlanta on life support.
Lucky for Kahne, who's spent a lifetime it seems on the Chase bubble he knew the right way to resuscitate. With his season on the line, Kahne couldn't have picked a bigger time to record his first victory of the season and 17th of his career after outdueling Matt Kenseth in a two-lap shootout for the victory.
"We were all over the place during the race, but the guys stayed with me and worked hard," Kahne said in Victory Lane. "I'm really happy and real thankful. We've had a downer year at times. … It's been one thing after another, but now I'm in the Chase with my teammates and it's great to be part of HMS (Hendrick Motorsports)."
Kahne was the 13th different driver to record a win in 2014, leaving only one more race for a winless driver to potentially take the victory in Richmond and clinch a spot in the Chase.
"This is a team effort," Kahne said. "The guys did great tonight and I'm pretty pumped to be in here. We're locked in. I hate that it comes down to this, Atlanta and Richmond for me. Sometimes we're in and sometimes we're out. We made it again, third time with HMS. I'm thankful for that."
Kahne's victory ensured that all four Hendrick Motorsports cars will make the Chase for the third consecutive year. To do it, Kahne had to endure a series of late-race restarts, sparked by contact between Martin Truex, Jr. and Kyle Busch that caused a caution with just two laps remaining. That cut Kahne's lead to shreds, over what had been a dominant Kevin Harvick and sent everyone to pit road for fresh tires. Matt Kenseth and Paul Menard took two, leaving them on the front row for a first restart that ended with Harvick's, Joey Logano's, and Menard's machines all torn up.
"We all probably could have given each other more room," Harvick said. "I knew the No. 27 (Paul Menard) was going to get a bad restart and I tried to time it to where I could get on the outside of him. I got on the outside of him and he just kept coming up and I wasn't going to let off the gas; I knew the No. 22 (Joey Logano) was up there. The No. 27 kept coming up and just came up until we all wrecked."
That left Kahne sitting third, in perfect position to thread the needle on the next restart and pull up beside Kenseth, then pass him with less than two laps to go. While Kenseth's second-place effort officially came up short, it secured him his Chase position and he is locked in heading into Richmond.
"Those last two laps were really intense," Kenseth said. "… Things are looking up. I'm looking forward to the next 11 (races)."
Joining Kahne and Kenseth in the top five of Sunday's Oral - B 500 were Denny Hamlin in third, Jimmie Johnson fourth and Carl Edwards in fifth. Meanwhile, Danica Patrick thrilled the crowd once again on Sunday night by recording her best career finish of sixth, even after falling of the lead lap twice as her Stewart-Haas teammate Kevin Harvick set a blistering pace in the early stages of the race.
"It was a solid, solid finish," Patrick said. "I was hoping for a top-five, right down there at the line with Carl (Edwards). But sixth place is definitely something to be happy about, and I was hoping for a solid top-15. That was much better."
Ryan Newman finished seventh, with Kyle Larson right behind him in eighth. Aric Almirola and Greg Biffle rounded out the top 10.
For as much as Sunday's race centered around who would make the Chase, it also marked the return of Tony Stewart to Sprint Cup Series competition after missing the last three races following a tragic sprint car accident that claimed the life of 20 year old Kevin Ward, Jr.
Stewart returned to a thunderous ovation during driver introductions and wasted no time marching into the top five from his 12th-place starting spot. However, a night that looked like it might be a triumphant return ended in disappointment after early contact with Kyle Busch put him in the wall exiting Turn 2 and put him near the end of the lead lap. Stewart's night ended on lap 172 when the right front tire blew on his Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet and put him in the wall a second time, leaving him to settle for a 41st-place finish.
Kevin Harvick, for as fast as he has been in 2014, has had some of the worst luck of any driver in the Sprint Cup Series and Sunday night was no exception. After completely dominating the Nationwide Series race on Saturday, leading 159 laps en route to his third Nationwide Series win of the season, it looked like Harvick was going to be the class of the field again on Sunday, leading a race-high 195 laps. However, a late race incident with Paul Menard on a restart dashed Harvick's chances, putting him 19th at the checkers.
"We all probably could have given each other more room," Harvick said. "I knew the No. 27 (Menard) was going to get a bad restart and I tried to time it to where I could get on the outside of him.
"I got on the outside of him and he just kept coming up and I wasn't going to let off the gas; I knew the No. 22 (Logano) was up there. The No. 27 kept coming up and just came up until we all wrecked."
A look at Sunday's Oral - B USA 500 by the numbers: There were 21 lead changes among six different drivers. Ten cautions slowed the pace for 56 laps. The average speed was 131.512 mph.
Next week the Sprint Cup Series heads to Richmond International Raceway for the Federated Auto Parts 400. Green flag is set for 7:46 P.M. ET next Saturday.
Justin Tucker is a Newsletter Contributor at Frontstretch. To reach Justin, please contact Newsletter Manager Phil Allaway at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chasing the Chase: Early Wall Contact Costs Gordon Some of His Points Lead
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Critic84.
Editor's Note: Never Fear, The Underdogs Are Here: Atlanta Edition will run Tuesday.
Letter of the Race: Sunday's Pure Michigan 400 was brought to you by the Letter C for "Changes." Sunday's race seemed all but locked up. Kasey Kahne looked like he was going to hold off Kevin Harvick, and viewers on ESPN were going to be treated to Harvick being bummed out again. However, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr. collided and everything changed. Yes, Kahne still won, but the whole complexion of the race changed. - Phil Allaway
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Sidebar Stories: Atlanta
by Phil Allaway
Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr. Collide Late, Argue Post-Race
"They're hard-nosed competitors, and they don't cut each other much slack," Rogers told MRN's Dustin Long. "I talked to Kyle about what happened. He said he was expecting Martin to go in on the bottom, and Kyle was banzaing on the top and trying got get the pass. Martin surprised him by going up top, and Kyle said he got to the brake but he got to the brake too late."
"[Truex] came over and said his [piece] and asked why Kyle got in the back of him," Rogers continued. "Martin didn't say or do anything wrong there. He kept it peaceful. He said what was on his mind, and I think that is accepted. It didn't get out of control. Kyle tried to explain what happened and I think they agreed to disagree tonight but they'll probably talk later this week and figure it out."
"We were all over the place during the race but the guys stayed with me and worked hard. On those restart – I didn't know what would happen because I had great restarts all night and I struggle with restarts a lot. That's big, because that is one of the things you have to be good at and it worked really well tonight." - Kasey Kahne, race winner
"It was a long night. Man, that race felt like it was 700 miles. Sometimes when you are running well they feel like that because you are hoping it stays there, keeps going well, and you keep improving and don't lose it. There were definitely a couple of times late in the race when we fell back. In the middle of the race the car was very good. We took a little step back, and then it came back in the end. Tony Gibson just reset everything to where we were when we were running well. Obviously the pit stop at the end that was 11 seconds was so good. There were a couple of rough ones in the beginning but that one made up for it because it put us seventh on that restart and we had a good line on the inside and didn't get caught up on the outside. I am just so happy for the team. We have had pretty fast cars for quite a while now and not really great finishes for it. So this is for everybody and GoDaddy. I have sucked at Richmond every time so I sure hope I can run well at Richmond now." - Danica Patrick, finished sixth
"We had a solid night. It was good at time, it was bad at times, it was just average at times and there at the end somehow on that green flag pit stop, with the way the caution worked out, it trapped us a lap down but we ran on the lead lap all night. We just couldn't get the grip we needed and struggled getting the car in the race track just like we needed to, so I'd be tight, I'd be loose, but never really had the balance I wanted so we just fought that all night. It was a good comeback and anytime you can walk away from Atlanta with a top 10 after the last six weeks that we've had, it was nice to walk away with a car that wasn't crashed." - Aric Almirola, finished ninth
"The position we're in is [that] points don't mean anything. We're locked in the Chase and all you have to do is go for a win, so I saw my opportunity to try to win the race and I went for it. It was there and then the 27 blocked the 4 and I was right there with nowhere to go. There's not much we could do. You either finish eighth or possibly win the race or finish second depending on how that move turned out. Unfortunately, we got crashed, but that's what we're gonna do. We've got one more week of checkers or wreckers and that's what we're gonna have. I mean, you start someone up there with two tires that hasn't been up there all day you have a mess. I think we all saw it coming." - Joey Logano, finished 14th
"We all probably could have given each other more room. I knew the No. 27 (Paul Menard) was going to get a bad restart and I tried to time it to where I could get on the outside of him. I got on the outside of him and he just kept coming up and I wasn't going to let off the gas; I knew the No. 22 (Joey Logano) was up there. The No. 27 kept coming up and just came up until we all wrecked." - Kevin Harvick, finished 19th
"We were rallying pretty well. I made a pit road mistake a little bit earlier that got us behind, but got up to fourth and had a shot at winning the race. Kevin was really strong, but we were just starting the pit sequence and one of the slower cars in front of us was pitting and so was Denny Hamlin, who was running second or third there, and he just made the decision to pit from the middle lane and clogged the whole track. That kind of ruined our day with the Alliance Truck Parts Ford." - Brad Keselowski, finished 39th (Crashed Out)
"It's been real good and we got off to a good start. The car has had speed all weekend long and we qualified well. I went into today with some pretty high hopes of finishing well and possibly coming out of here with a win but it just didn't work out in our favor. We got into a little trouble with the 18 and got into the outside wall, knocked the toe out of it, and a lot of heavy right side damage. We were just trying to fix that and salvage what we could out of the day but then we blew a right front there right before that caution came out. So it's really good to have him back and we are happy to have Johnny Morris here and Rusty Rush and the guys from Code 3 to be here to support him here on kind of his homecoming back. Wish we could have had a better effort and better finish for them but we will move on to Richmond and see if we can't get it done there." - Chad Johnston, crew chief for Tony Stewart, finished 41st (Crashed Out)
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud – Atlanta Oral-B 500: Stewart Makes His Return
by Mike Neff
Pace Laps: Kahne In, Harvick Cruises, IndyCar Adieu and More
by the Frontstretch Staff
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the Oral-B USA 500
by Amy Henderson
Kasey At The Bat
by Tom Bowles
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: The 1988 Miller High Life 400 was the very first race at Richmond International Raceway following the conversion from a narrow .538-mile oval to a three-quarters of a mile D-shaped oval. The beginning of the race was marked by nearly half the field having to move to the rear. Why did this happen?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: In 1997, the ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series competed in the Reese's 400k, the first race at Atlanta Motor Speedway since the reconfiguration from a 1.522-mile true oval to a 1.54 mile quad-oval. Benny Parsons made a rather famous (and hilarious) exclamation coming to the white flag. Name the exclamation.
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 triviaanswers@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
Coming Tuesday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News by Ashley McCubbin
-- Fan's View Commentary by S.D. Grady
-- Numbers Game: Oral-B USA 500 by Tom Bowles
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup: Atlanta-Richmond Edition by Brad Morgan
We'll take a look at which drivers are looking good as the series shifts from a tire eating monster to a three-quarter mile oval.
Racing to the Point by Brett Poirier
Brett returns with another interesting commentary that'll make you think.
Jeff returns with his typical blend of sarcastic humor tilted towards one of NASCAR's controversial issues.
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