Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Oct. 13, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition CLXXVIII
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@Erica_enders: To kick-off
@LucasOilPSM: Also on
Sprint Cup Race Recap: Harvick Wins at Charlotte as Tempers Erupt Post-Race
by Justin Tucker
In 2014, Kevin Harvick has found living up to his nickname of "The Closer" tough to come by.
Coming into Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Harvick had led over 100 laps in seven races and was in a position late to win each of those events until miscues or parts failures derailed his chances. The No. 4 team hadn't been victorious since Darlington's Southern 500 in April.
But with a spot in the Eliminator Round of the Chase on the line, Harvick finally was able to close the deal. Leading a race-high 162 laps, Harvick pulled away from Jeff Gordon on two restarts to claim his third win of the season as well as an automatic berth into the next round of the Chase.
"Oh, we came here and tested thinking that this was going to be the hardest round to get through because of Talladega," Harvick said. "There's so much that you can't control there. We wanted to try to control the things that we could control.
"We felt like Kansas and here (Charlotte) were playing to our strengths; and just see where it fell after that once we get to the next round. So, I'm really proud of everybody at SHR. I'm really proud of all my guys on this team. I just can't thank everybody enough."
Gordon would settle for second on Saturday night after a subpar 14th-place run at Kansas last weekend. Gordon now sits sixth in the standings, eighteen points ahead of the cutoff line heading to Talladega next weekend and joined Harvick as the night's two dominant cars. The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet tried on the final restart to inch past his rival but just couldn't muster up the speed headed into turn 1, allowing the No. 4 car to clear out ahead and coast to victory.
"I'm really proud of that finish, really proud of that effort," Gordon said. "... Kevin was tough. I knew he was going to be tough once he got out there."
Jamie McMurray finished third, while Joey Logano recovered from an ill-handling car to finish fourth. Pole sitter Kyle Busch rounded out the top 5. Kyle Larson kept his impressive streak of finishes going in the Chase by finishing sixth, while Ryan Newman was seventh. Carl Edwards finished eighth, Denny Hamlin was ninth, and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top 10.
The action on Saturday night at Charlotte wasn't restricted to the track as Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, and Tony Stewart were all involved in a post-race altercation after the checkers fell.
Keselowski, who finished 16th, was unhappy with how Hamlin had raced him in the closing laps. After the checkers, Keselowski tried to spin Hamlin's No. 11 FedEx Toyota in turn 3. Unsuccessful in his first attempt, Keselowski then tried to spin Hamlin again on pit road. He not only failed again, but this time got into the rear of Tony Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet. That contact led to Stewart backing into the front end of Keselowski's No. 2 Ford.
After Keselowski's and Hamlin's teams shared verbal jabs, Keselowski then went to walk to the front of his Penske Racing hauler. Before he could get in the hauler, Keselowski was placed in a headlock by Matt Kenseth from behind before the two drivers were separated by NASCAR officials and crew members. Keselowski gave his view of the events after the smoke cleared.
"I think the [No.] 20 car got in back of me on one of the restarts, it was just a racing deal and I wasn't mad at him," said Keselowski. "But when the last yellow came out he got the wave-around and when he came by, he swung at my car and tore the whole right-front off of it. When we restarted fifth with no right-front on it, we fell all the way back to 16th and it ruined our day.
"That gave us a big Chase hurt, which is unfortunate, and then for some reason after the race the [No.] 11 stopped in front of me and tried to pick a fight. I don't know what that was all about and he swung and hit at my car, so I figured if we're gonna play car wars under yellow and after the race I'll join too. Those guys can dish it out, but they can't take it. I gave it back to them and now they want to fight, so I don't know what's up with that."
The driver did not apologize for pit road contact, although he did admit Stewart got caught up in an incident that had nothing to do with the driver of the No. 14 Chevrolet.
"I rubbed into the 20 and I think he gassed up and ran into Tony, and don't think Tony knew what was going on so he's probably upset and he has every right to be," added Keselowski. "His car got tore up, but there was a whole lot of other stuff going on and I'm sure when he sees the whole situation he'll understand.
"The 20 car and the 11 car both hit me under yellow and once the race was over I hit them back and they couldn't take it. I think he [Stewart] thought that I ran into him when the 20 car hit him, and it was the 20 car that hit him... so it was just confusion."
The usually calm and collected Matt Kenseth turned irate as the post-race events unfolded. Typically, the 2003 series champ, 42 years old is known for playing peacemaker rather than participating in those type of physical fights.
"Besides racing, [Keselowski] knew I was out there on that restart," said Kenseth. "I guess I should not have went out there. And really, the safety. He was doing something with Denny. And I don't know if he was mad at me. I had my HANS off and my seat belts off and everything. He clobbered me at 50 (MPH). And the access we have around here, just, the race is over, try to come back to pit road.
"If you want to talk about it as a man, try do that, but to try and wreck someone on the racetrack, come down pit road with other cars and people standing around with seat belts off and drive in the side of me. It's inexcusable. There is no excuse for that. He is a champion. He supposed to know better than that."
"I went after him because I don't want to get hurt or killed on pit road," Kenseth said. "Everybody is vulnerable there … Yeah, I'm mad.
"He could have put something through my door and I could be going to the hospital right now because he's an idiot."
Kenseth's teammate Hamlin also weighed in on the situation.
"There's a corner there so you have to back off and he just plowed into us," he said. "He's just out of control. He's desperate obviously and it's either four or five of us are wrong or he's wrong because he's pissed off everyone. Just disappointing — but we're trying to get in this deal. We're sitting in a decent spot, but we've lost six spots or so with the last restart when he ran into us and knocked us up the track.
"That was unfortunate. Matt [Kenseth] was nearly out of his car and he just plowed into Matt [Kenseth] and then ran into Tony [Stewart] and then went in through the garage and cleared out transmissions and did burnouts in the garage. Just acting like a dumbass instead of a champion."
No penalties have been issued after the incident, although officials didn't rule out fines, suspensions, or other consequences.
"We asked Brad [Keselowski] to come in and talk to us a little bit and get his take on what went on in the closing laps of the race and the post-race incidents," said NASCAR Vice President Robin Pemberton, who noted any decision would likely come Tuesday. "So we've got that, and we'll talk to some other people later on."
Lost in the dramatics of the post-race skirmish was the struggles of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. once again. Johnson finished 17th after Chad Knaus called him down pit road with two laps to go while running fourth for two tires. Earnhardt Jr. finished 20th, one lap down after dealing with a broken shifter for much of the race. Johnson and Earnhardt Jr. now likely have to win Talladega to keep their championship hopes alive.
A look at the Bank of America 500 by the numbers. There were 32 lead changes among 14 different drivers and eight cautions for 39 laps slowed the race pace to 145.346 MPH.
Next week the contender round comes to a close at the ultimate wild card of the chase, Talladega Superpeedway. The Geico 500 goes green at 2:20 p.m. ET next Sunday.
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: Harvick Locks Into Eliminator Round While Others Stay Pat
Chase Point Standings: 1) Joey Logano 3088, 2) Kyle Busch -6, 3) Kevin Harvick -7, 4) Ryan Newman -11, 5) Carl Edwards -12, 6) Jeff Gordon -14, 7) Denny Hamlin -15, 8) Kasey Kahne -31, 9) Matt Kenseth -32, 10) Brad Keselowski -50, t-11) Jimmie Johnson -57, t-11) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -57, 13) AJ Allmendinger -946, 14) Greg Biffle -961, 15) Kurt Busch -979, 16) Aric Almirola -992.
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.
Never Fear, The Underdogs Are Here: Charlotte Edition
Are you a fan of a driver from a smaller team? Do you ever see one of these guys on the race results and wonder how he got there? NASCAR's small teams may not get much airtime during the race broadcast, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to talk about. Each week, Amy Henderson takes a peek into how the little guys fared in the race and picks three who stood out.
Underdog Selection No. 1: AJ Allmendinger for JTG-Daugherty Racing; started 26th, finished 12th
Allmendinger's title hopes may be over (and realistically, they're not ready to contend for one). However, he's still riding a Chase high, taking home a top-15 finish this week. Now 13th in points, he's the best of the drivers who were eliminated from contention after Dover, and is achieving the one thing the other two Richard Childress Racing-affiliated small teams have failed to find: consistency. This team has come a long way in a year.
Underdog Selection No. 2: Justin Allgaier for HScott Motorsports; started 16th, finished 15th
Allgaier's second-half improvement continued this weekend as he was strong from the get-go. He started 16th and by the end of the night, Allgaier had his career-best finish at a track that's notoriously tough on the underfunded. Allgaier has had a strong rookie season; there have been plenty of bumps in the road (remember, his team has ownership that's also new to the series) but he's clearly taking what he learns at each track and improving the second time around.
Underdog Selection No. 3: Landon Cassill for Circle Sport; started 32nd, finished 23rd
This team sometimes wonders why their driver has not been snapped up by a larger team, but they're glad he hasn't. Cassill was impressive at Charlotte, racing his way to 23rd place, ahead of several better-funded drivers. The team is finding sponsors on the hood more often than not these days, and their driver has shown that's he's worth taking a chance on.
Underdog Pick of the Week-Talladega II: Casey Mears for Germain Racing
Mears had some bad luck at Charlotte, when contact from Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. sent him to pit road twice for repairs, but he's an outstanding plate racer who could easily have a couple of wins at Daytona or Talladega if luck had been on his side. He finished fourth at Daytona in July and nobody is hungrier to prove himself right now. If Mears can avoid trouble, he could easily score a top 10 at 'Dega... maybe more.
Is your favorite driver among NASCAR's underdogs? Are you frustrated with the lack of coverage they receive during the race broadcasts? Amy has all the small teams covered each and every week in The Big Six. Be sure to check it out to see how your favorites fared!
Letter of the Race: Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte was brought to you by the Letter A for "Anger." A number of drivers simply lost their cool, and it wasn't just those involved in the post-race shenanigans. The pressure is on, and for some, it's clear they're cracking. - Phil Allaway
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Sidebar Stories
by Michael Mehedin
"Everybody on our team has just continued to build better race cars and we know that we've had the cars to run up front and lead laps and do the things that we need to do. Things just haven't gone right and we've made some mistakes; things haven't gone right ore than not. But I just want to thank Budweiser and Jimmy John's and Sprint and all the fans for everything that they do. Outback and Chevrolet and everybody on this car. This was the night that we needed to win. I don't want to go to Talladega next week." - Kevin Harvick, race winner
"I'm really proud of that finish and really proud of that effort. Kevin (Harvick) got out there on us after that green flag stop. It looked like we were going to be second. I didn't want to see another restart, because every time we start on the inside, we seem to lose positions; there at the end, and the whole race. We were just trying to tune to make it better. We got off a little bit and lost some track position. I had some terrible restarts. But there at the end, four tires and good adjustments and good restarts and we were able to get right up in the thick of it. Kevin was tough. I knew when he got out in front it was going to be hard to beat him. But, how about this drama? I'm telling you, this new format has created some serious drama! I'm glad I'm not in it this time. I'm really happy about this second (place finish). It doesn't make us, by any means, comfortable going into next week, but a lot better than it could be." - Jeff Gordon, finished second
"Well, we've actually been good all year. I don't know that we've put the finishes together, but our McDonald's Monopoly Chevy was really good tonight. I looked up at one point and I was in second; and Kyle (Larson) was catching me in third. I give a lot of credit to all the guys in the shop and the engine department and everything that goes into getting our cars here. We struggled in practice but they did a great job of putting the right set-up in it and then adjusting all night long. It was a good night for the whole group." - Jamie McMurray, finished third
"We weren't that good tonight. This Pennzoil Platinum Ford just didn't have any speed. We were off in the beginning, but it was a great call by Todd Gordon at the end. He gave me four tires at the end and let me be aggressive. The pit stop was great there at the end and we gained a couple spots and then got the outside lane and was able to let it rip. We picked up quite a few spots on that last restart and came home with a fourth-place finish after all of that. We'll take that. The last couple of years I haven't been very fast here, so I've got to figure that out." - Joey Logano, finished fourth
"Anytime we were second and we thought we had a chance to win — then we would come in the next time and go back out and we would be a 15th-place car. These things are so finicky on pit stops — it's been that way all year long for us. I don't know what the heck is going on or what we're doing. I saw the 22 (Joey Logano) car in my rear view mirror once all night and the rest of the times he wasn't even close enough to be in my rear view mirror and he beats us. That's just the way the luck goes — I guess they have plenty of luck on their side right now. It's frustrating when you're running good enough that you should be able to challenge better for better finishes and we just can't." - Kyle Busch, finished fifth
"Finishing sixth is a good finish, but I'm disappointed because I thought I had a good shot at winning. I just got excited trying to catch the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) when he was in the lead and I scraped the wall and messed up the aero and I was really tight after that. That green-white-checkered really helped us out. Still disappointed because I thought we had a good enough Target Chevy to win this race." - Kyle Larson, finished sixth
"It was a good rebound for the problems that we had missing the wreck and broken jack. These guys don't give up, I don't give up. Just proud to fight back, had some fun, just didn't have the best car on the short run there at the end when we needed it. To go from where we were with 120 (laps) to go 18th to seventh wasn't too bad." - Ryan Newman, finished seventh
"It was a heckuva a green-white-checker and I hope the fans enjoyed that. It was pretty fun for us. We had a good finish for our Fastenal Ford. It was a big weekend. We appreciate all the fans coming out here. It's fun racing here at Charlotte and now we get to go to Talladega and have a little fun. We've got 20 points on ninth-place so it went pretty well for us. It was just a wild night all around. We'll go on to Talladega, but I'm just glad we got out of here clean. I don't think we made any enemies, so we'll go have some fun at Talladega and hopefully make the next round." - Carl Edwards, finished eighth
"I would call it a really good effort. The lap times were there. We were running second at halfway. As the night progressed, different weaknesses show up. This was a new setup underneath the car. It is tough to know exactly how to dial it in when you are working with a new setup. It was a free-for-all at the end. We were running eighth, we came in for tire and ended up finishing 11th, and so that maybe wasn't the right call. But all-in-all, it was nice to run up front with the guys, and to show a turn in the right direction from where we had been running." - Kurt Busch, finished 11th
"We beat ourselves tonight. I had to drive back to pit road twice and that was costly. We had a fast hot rod that could run up front, but those two extra stops for a loose lug nut and a vibration prevented us from having another top-10 or top-five finish. Considering all that happened tonight, we did come away with a decent result but we expected more." - Martin Truex, Jr., finished 14th
"First off, the Detroit Genuine Parts Ford was good today. I thought we were gonna have a fourth or fifth-place run and just didn't catch a break in so many different ways, but I'm really proud of everyone at Team Penske. Through the whole sequence of events – I think the 20 car got in back of me on one of the restarts, it was just a racing deal and I wasn't mad at him. But when the last yellow came out he got the wavearound and when he came by he swung at my car and tore the whole right-front off of it. When we restarted fifth with no right-front on it, we fell all the way back to 16th and it ruined our day. That gave us a big Chase hurt, which is unfortunate, and then for some reason after the race the 11 stopped in front of me and tried to pick a fight. I don't know what that was all about and he swung and hit at my car, so I figured if we're gonna play car wars under yellow and after the race I'll join too. Those guys can dish it out, but they can't take it. I gave it back to them and now they want to fight, so I don't know what's up with that." - Brad Keselowski, finished 16th
"Besides the race, he (Brad Keselowski) knew I was out there and on that restart wrecked me. I guess I shouldn't have went out there. Really the safety — he was doing something with Denny (Hamlin) there and I don't know if he was mad at him. I had my HANS off and my seat belts off — and he clobbers me at like 50 (mph). With the accidents and stuff that we've had around here — the race is over and we're trying to come back to pit road. If he wants to come and talk about it like a man then go do that, but to try to wreck somebody on the race track and to come down pit road with other cars and people standing around with my seat belts off and drive into the side of me is just inexcusable. There is no excuse for that. He's a champion and he's supposed to know better than that. I don't really know, I don't have anything else good to say." - Matt Kenseth, finished 19th
"We had a real bad vibration and broke a transmission shifter off. We only had third and fourth gear there and lost a lap trying to get off pit road on a green-flag stop. We had a pretty good car; a top-10 car. The vibration issue was causing a lot of balance issues, and grip issues. But, we had a good enough car to run in the top 10. This isn't what we need to do. I don't know." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished 20th
"Something with the motor [put us out]. I had a really good car. It's too bad, awesome car, we had a pit stop problem and went to the back, but drove our way back up into the top 15 or so. We definitely had a top five car, just unfortunate. Something let go in the motor. [I did get a] little bit [of a warning]. It vibrated for a while and then the vibration got better and that is never good when the vibration goes away. It got better for like 10-15 laps and then it just locked up off of [turn] 2." - Paul Menard, finished 42nd (Blown Engine)
"It's been one of those years. It never happens when you need to be put out of your misery and you have a fender knocked off it and you're just riding around praying for something to blow up so you can go home early. I was actually having fun out there, marching my way up through the field — had a good car and it blew up. That's kind of been our storyline this whole camp with both organizations this year. It's frustrating, but in all fairness they're working their tails off trying to get us where we need to be so we can get back to winning races and sometimes blowing up is part of that process." - Clint Bowyer, finished 43rd (Blown Engine)
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud – Charlotte Chase race 5 – Wrestlemania 31
by Mike Neff
Pace Laps: KyBu Riding Steady, NHRA Week, F1 Sochi, and More
by the Frontstretch Staff
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the Bank of America 500
by Summer Bedgood
How Charlotte Has Become the Most Important Race in the Chase
by Michael Mehedin
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In the 1987 Talladega 500, Morgan Shepherd dropped out early with engine problems, completing only ten laps and finishing 39th. Even if Shepherd's No. 26 Buick had managed to go the distance, Shepherd wouldn't have been in the car at the finish. Why was that so, and who would have replaced Shepherd?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: In 1986, Cale Yarborough entered the Oakwood Homes 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway as the defending champion of the event. However, his defense of the trophy barely got past the one-quarter mark before it ended. What happened?
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 Greg Davis
-- Fan's View Commentary by S.D. Grady
-- Numbers Game: Bank of America 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: Charlotte-Talladega Edition by Brad Morgan
We'll take a look at which drivers are looking good as just five races remain in the Cup Series season.
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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