Brian Vickers wins the Carfax 400

This Sprint Cup Series win is the second for Vickers in a career that appears to be on the rise, the first for Red Bull Racing and the first victory for Toyota on the pavement of Michigan International Speedway. A fine day for crew chief Ryan Pemberton as well, it was his decision to keep Vickers on the track in fuel conservation mode, which can be a risky call at times. This time it turned out to be the right decision this time, moving Vickers up to 13^th in the Sprint Cup Series standings and just twelve points out of 12^th place. This win puts him in great position to possibly make it to the Chase and you have to give the gentlemen credit for making the decision and having the balls to stand behind it. Brian Vickers should probably buy him dinner tonight, to show him how much he appreciates the hard choices that Ryan has to make, race after race.

Carl Edwards finished fourth in the Carfax 400; Sam Hornish Jr. had a strong day and finished fifth, while Casey Mears had a strong day and finished sixth. Joey Logano finished seventh, Clint Bowyer eighth, David Reutimann was ninth and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top ten in the Sprint Cup Series Carfax 400.

“Image: Zuma Press”

Post from: EveryJoe

Brian Vickers Wins the Carfax 400

Brad Keselowski wins the Carfax 250 at Michigan International Speedway

Vickers was ahead of Busch as the two went into Turn 3 on second-to-last-lap of the competition and slipped in just ahead of Kyle. Busch went to the inside of Vickers and was starting to pull ahead but Vickers side-drafted off of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota and was able to force him down onto the apron on the race track as the two were approaching Turn 4. Keselowski went high with momentum the other two had been losing during their battle as he went around Turn 4.  The three racers were stacked three-high on the track as they approached the white flag signaling the final lap, but Keselowski’s momentum pulled him out in front of the other two and into the lead. Keselowski’s momentum and intelligent driving allowed him to have enough extra speed to beat his closest two competitors to the line by just 0.199 seconds but it was more than enough on this day.

Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers were both pretty hot and their battle continued on after the race but hopefully it’s nothing personal between these two fiery competitors. Kyle was probably just blowing off steam after he not only didn’t beat Vickers to the line but ended up in third after Keselowski’s brilliant display of intelligent racing. Busch still leads the series rankings by 339 points over Carl Edwards, so I expect him to cool off and just go back to racing.

This win is the third of the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series for Keselowski and he must be on cloud nine after winning in front of his home fans. Is there anything sweeter for a sports athlete than feeling the joy of winning in front of his friends, family and hometown fans?

David Ragan finished fourth in the Carfax 250, just ahead of Kevin Harvick in fifth, Ryan Newman in sixth and Justin Allgaier in seventh. Greg Biffle finished eighth; Jeff Burton had problems handling his car and finished ninth, while Paul Menard rounded out the top ten.

“Image: Zuma Press”

Post from: EveryJoe

Keselowski Wins Carfax 250

10. Matt Kenseth – 22 races – Last Win: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Fall 2007
9. Jeff Gordon – 27 races – Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Fall 2007
8. Greg Biffle – 29 races – Kansas Speedway, Fall 2007
7. Tony Stewart – 36 races – Watkins Glen International, Summer 2007
6. Jamie McMurray – 40 races – Daytona International Speedway, Summer 2007

5. Martin Truex Jr. – 45 races – Dover International Speedway, Spring 2007
4. Kevin Harvick – 57 races – Daytona International Speedway, Spring 2007
3. David Ragan – 60 races – No NSCS wins
2. Brian Vickers – 68 races – Talladega Superspeedway, Fall 2006
1. Elliott Sadler – 141 races – Auto Club Speedway, Fall 2004

Post from: EveryJoe

List of the Week: Longest Winless Streaks Inside the Top 20

With the cutoff for the Chase quickly approaching, a mere 5 races now separates us from the beginning of NASCAR’s playoff season. Yet, still, there is quite a bit of uncertainty in the air as to whom will be competing for a championship in the final 10 races and who will be racing to build momentum for the 2009 season. Only 80 points separates 7th place Kasey Kahne from 12th place Clint Bowyer, and only 46 points from Bowyer back to 14th place David Ragan. Even Brian Vickers all the way back in 16th still has a shot at this thing as he lingers 203 points out from the final Chase cutoff spot.

So, with 8 drivers still caught up in a tight race for those final 6 positions in the Chase, and 2 others still holding out hope, this week’s “List of the Week” is a look at each of the ten drivers’ average finish throughout races 22 to 26 on the Schedule – or, the final 5 races leading into the Chase, rather – since the inception of the Chase back in 2004. It should be noted, however, that of these 10 drivers, three of them – Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, and David Ragan – have not been full-time drivers through all four seasons that carried the Chase format, and these numbers reflect only race results from which the drivers were competing full-time.

10. Brian Vickers – 16th in pts – 21.5
9. David Ragan – 14th in pts – 21.2
8. Ryan Newman – 15th in pts – 17.9
7. Clint Bowyer – 12th in pts – 16.8
6. Greg Biffle – 8th in pts – 16.6

5. Kevin Harvick – 11th in pts – 15.6
4. Kasey Kahne – 7th in pts – 14.4
3. Denny Hamlin – 10th in pts – 12.1
2. Matt Kenseth – 13th in pts – 11.1
1. Tony Stewart – 9th in pts – 8.8

Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart also lead these drivers with the most wins during those races with 3 apiece; Harvick has 2 wins in the final 5 races leading to the Chase since 2004; and Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle each have a win to their credit as well.

Best Single Season Average Run Through Final 5 Races Leading to the Chase:
5. Kevin Harvick – 7.8 (2006)
4. Matt Kenseth – 7.6 (2006)
3. Matt Kenseth – 6.2 (2005)
2. Tony Stewart – 6.0 (2007)
1. Tony Stewart – 5.2 (2005)

Post from: EveryJoe

List of the Week: Bubble Drivers Race to the Chase

Rain played a large part in pretty much anything NASCAR tried to accomplish this weekend, and Sunday’s race at Pocono was no different. It was also one of the more interesting weekends in Carl Edwards’ professional racing career, that’s for sure. He had to squeegee the rain off his own windshield under caution during Saturday’s Nationwide Series race in Montreal (in which he finished 6th). Then, after both of the Sprint Cup practice sessions were rained out on Saturday, his team unloaded off the hauler on Sunday with a car that Crew Chief, Bob Osbourne, described as “experimental.” Then, they had to weed their way through a slieu of pit strategies that overcame the field when rain crept its way back into Pocono a little over past the halway point in the race, and in the end, it was Carl Edwards stretching his fuel en route to his fourth win in the Sprint Cup Series this season.

Jimmie Johnson was looking to continue his current hot streak when he started the day out on the pole, but it was Mark Martin from the 2nd spot that led the first 21 laps of the race, which saw three caution periods. The first came on the very first lap of the race when Kevin Harvick was spun by Joe Nemecheck, and then just 7 laps later, it was Kurt Busch going around in a single car spin. The third caution was brought out by NASCAR on lap 21 as a competition caution due to the teams not having the opportunity to run Saturday’s practice sessions as a result of inclimate weather.

The field pitted during the lap 21 caution, and Johnson was able to take advantage of a slow stop by the no. 8 team and came out front to take the lead. But, Mark Martin was able to comeback up through the field to take the lead on lap 36 and stayed out front all the way until lap 66, minus a few laps in which he surrendered the lead during a round of green flag stops. The fourth caution was brought out on lap 66 for debris, and this time it was Carl Edwards jumping out to the front.

Edwards held onto the lead until the next caution on lap 87 – also for debris, but it was again Jimmie Johnson’s team getting him out up front off of pit road followed by Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr, and Matt Kenseth. Edwards came out of the pits in 7th, and Mark Martin came out 17th. Carl later passed Johnson for the lead under green on lap 111.

Things started to get a bit more interesting when the race fell under caution on lap 127 due to rain – about 7 laps after the field cycled its way through a round of green flag stops. With pit road open, all but 19 cars decided to pit for fuel, including Edwards, Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Tony Stewart who led the field down pit road.

Kasey Kahne, the winner of the June race at Pocono, was handed the lead for the first time on the day by virtue of the leaders’ decision to pit, followed by Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, and Kurt Busch when the race was red flagged on lap 131 when the rain began to pickup.

The race restarted about a half hour later, and Joe Nemecheck and Paul Menard were the first to find out where the slick spots on the track were as they wrecked on lap 137 to bring out the 7th caution. Juan Pablo Montoya then blew his engine about 8 laps later, but NASCAR decided not to waive the caution. Kurt Busch inherited the lead on lap 158 when some of the cars in front of him started to make their scheduled green flag stops, but he was the next to work his way toward disaster after stretching his fuel out a bit too far, eventually running out of gas on lap 161. He was able to make it to pit road, but lost a ton of time on the track as a result.

Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson both found themselves back out in front momentarily as the 19 cars that stayed out during the rain caution all worked their way to the pits, but it was eventually Kasey Kahne back in the lead with 30 to go once they made their stops as well. Kahne continued to run the next 15 laps out front praying for the caution that never came, knowing that he would be forced to make one more pit stop while some of the other cars claimed that they could run the rest of the way without stopping.

Kahne and Mark Martin both made their final stops with 15 laps to go, handing the lead over once again to Carl Edwards as they watched their premonition come true. Edwards run out to more than a 6 second lead over Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson as he crossed the line to pickup his fourth win of the season.

Knowing that he couldn’t catch Edwards for the lead, Stewart backed off the throttle in the closing laps to conserve fuel, but still ran it hard enough to finish 2nd. Johnson ran out of gas right as he crossed the finish line in 3rd, and from there, things started to get ugly as a ton of cars behind him started to bobble as they ran out of gas as well. Kevin Harvick – who worked all day long to rebound from his spin on lap 1 – kept enough fuel in the tank to finish 4th, and 5th place went to one of the guys chasing him in the points, David Ragan.

Clint Bowyer overcame a long day of struggles to walk away with a 6th place finish. Behind him in 7th and 8th were Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin, both of whom made up a ton of ground despite having to make earlier stops under the green. In 9th was Jamie McMurray, who now has back-to-back top-ten finishes to his credit. And, 10th place went to Jeff Gordon, who ran out of gas after crossing the line and had to be pushed around the track by his Hendrick teammate, Casey Mears.

Other Notables:
Matt Kenseth finished in 11th. He made his final stop with 16 laps to go after he and Crew Chief, Chip Bolin, originally planned on trying to stretch their fuel out ….. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 4th coming going through the final turn, but ran out of gas just before the line and had to coast his way to the finish. He wound up 12th ….. Greg Biffle and Ryan Newman finished 13th and 14th ….. Denny Hamlin had previously finished no worse than 6th in his first five trips to Pocono, but wound up 23rd after his car got away from him late in the race. He was running 9th when he made his final stop of the day with 26 laps to go ….. Brian Vickers fell victim to a disappointing 28th place finish after running up in the top-15 for most of the day ….. The no. 18 team for Joe Gibbs Racing appeared to have finally gotten the flat track program turned around for Kyle Busch, as he ran inside the top-five late in the race. But, he ran out of gas and was forced to pit with just two laps to go, and they were unable to get his car restarted. He finished 36th.

Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. remain 1st and 2nd in the points standings, but Carl Edwards’ win moved him up two spots to third overall.  Jimmie Johnson held onto 4th, while Jeff Burton’s 21st place run dropped him down to 5th. Kevin Harvick came into the race 2 points out of the final Chase spot, but his top-five effort was enough to move him up to 11th in the standings, while Matt Kenseth gave up two spots and now finds himself on the outside looking in. He’s no 11 points behind 12th place Clint Bowyer.

the Grades:
the Race:  84%
the Drama:  94%
Coverage:  92%
Pre-Race:  90%

Overall Grade:  88.2%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Recommended Reads:
- Carl Edwards Captures 4th Victory of the Season in Pocono (Racing for the Win)
- Live on Type Delay: Pocono II, Part One (Rev Jim’s Rants ‘n’ Raves)

Post from: EveryJoe

Rating the Race: Pocono – Pennsylvania 500

Lock of the Week – Denny Hamlin – Outside Top Fifteen – No points
Sleeper Pick – AJ Allmendinger – Outside Top Fifteen – No points
Steer Clear of – Kevin Harvick – Top Five – (Minus) 20 points

Roc’s Picks (Pocono):
1. Jeff Gordon – 10th – 38.5 points
2. Jimmie Johnson – 3rd – 41.5 points
3. Denny Hamlin – 23rd – No points
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr – 12th – 36 points
5. Carl Edwards – 1st – 41 points
6. Jeff Burton – 21st – No points

Lock of the Week – Denny Hamlin – Outside Top Fifteen – No points
Sleeper Pick – Mark Martin – Top Ten – 7 points
Steer Clear of – Clint Bowyer – Top Ten – (Minus) 15 points

Head-to-Head:
TZ – 99.5 points (3,378 cumulative)
Roc – 149 points (3,325 cumulative)

Do You NASCAR Fantasy League
Standings After Pocono:
1. TMAX Racing
2. Dalli’s Mom
3. Super Smokers
4. Bruce’s Team of Bits
5. Team Legacy
6. Vanilla Thrillaz
7. raracing
8. AlexRyan
9. Jimmie’s Rockets
10. do you nascar

Post from: EveryJoe

Fantasy Follow-Up: Pocono

Coming off of a terrible weekend at Indy, you can bet that NASCAR’s feeling the pressure to make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible at Pocono this weekend, and if the trip here back in June is any indication, then things should be just fine. It’s also a big weekend for the teams, as Pocono is only the second track on the schedule that the series has already traveled to once before this season, and this is about the time of year that you really begin to see how much some of these groups have been able to learn from the first six months of the season. More importantly, however, is the fact that there are now only six races remaining before NASCAR determines their top-12 competitors that will go onto compete in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Recent Winners:
2008 – Kasey Kahne
2007 - Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon
2006 – Denny Hamlin (x2)

Recent Polesitters:
2008 – Kasey Kahne
2007 – Dale Earnhardt Jr, Ryan Newman
2006 – Denny Hamlin (x2)

The Usual Suspects:
All the top drivers in our sport have that track that they seem to “own”, and if that’s the case, then Denny Hamlin owns Pocono. 2 of his 4 career victories came at Pocono when he swept there during his rookie campaign in 2006, and since then he’s ran a staggering 6th, 3rd, and 3rd. With those numbers, he holds far and away the best average finish and highest driver rating here amongst all active drivers.

Jeff Gordon has four wins at Pocono, which runs second to only Bill Elliott for the series lead. The no. 24 team has had their share of struggles this season, but a 5th place run last weekend at Indianapolis may have given Gordon’s group enough momentum to improve on the 14th place run they had here back in June. Gordon had three consecutive Poncono finishes inside the top-five prior to that race.

Kurt Busch is a guy that you’ve always got to watch out for when we come here. He’s a two-time winner at the track, and absolutely dominated this race last Fall when he set the record for leading the most laps (175) at Pocono. He also has five finishes of 8th or better in the last six Pocono races, five of which are finishes of 1st or 2nd. He finished 8th here in June.

Kasey Kahne came into the June race with one top-20 finish in the previous six Pocono races, but absolutely dominated that race. He took the pole, led the practice sessions, and then went onto lead the most laps en route to picking up his first Pocono victory ….. Jimmie Johnson, fresh off an Indy win, is also a two-time Pocono winner with an average finish of 10.3 and 7 top-ten’s in his last 9 visits to the track. He finished 6th in the June race ….. After winning here in the Spring of 2003, Tony Stewart’s Pocono numbers took a dive as he rattled off four consecutive finishes of 29th or worse. Since then, however, he’s managed to turn things around with five straight top-ten’s before a pit road misque ruined a perfectly good day for Smoke after running near the top-five all day in the June race, which resulted in a 35th place finish.

the Unusual Suspects:
It’s beginning to get hard to keep thinking of Brian Vickers as a sleeper pick – especially considering that he’s not even eligible for the Sleeper in my own Six-Pack Challenge – but, until he’s able to get a couple W’s on the board, or at least put together a series of runs near the top-five, that’s exactly how he’ll continue to be treated. Regardless, Pocono is not only one of his better tracks, but he’s also one of the better drivers here. He’s earned 4 top-five’s in the last 7 Pocono races, which culminated in a 2nd place run here in June.

Bobby LaBonte is a 3-time Pocono winner, but his move to Petty Enterprises a couple seasons back has relegated him out of the weekly contenders list and into the occasional sleepers group. But, the team’s been able to gain some momentume with Bobby behind them, as was evidenced with a solid run last week. They also ran good at Pocono in the June with an 11th place finish.

If you’re looking for a true sleeper pick this week, though, look no further than AJ Allmendinger. AJ’s been a steady hand behind the wheel ever since he got his driving duties handed back to him over at Team Red Bull, and he’s made the most of it. He also earned his first career top-ten last week at Indy, but he looked as though he was going to accomplish that feat earlier in the year right here at Pocono. But, alas, he faded in the closing segments of the race and wound up 12th. Still, the team’s getting better each and every week, so don’t be surprised to see AJ walk away with another top-ten this weekend.

the Unusual Slackers:
Though he does have two top-ten’s at Pocono to his credit, Pocono has also presented its share of challenges for Clint Bowyer. The third year driver for Richard Childress Racing finished 21st and 41st in his first two starts here back in 2006, but was able to rebound with a pair of top-ten’s last season. He finished 39th here in June.

Not that anyone’s likely to put too much stock into it, Kyle Busch has only 2 top-ten finishes through 7 races at Pocono, and hasn’t finished in the top-five since his first race here back in 2005. In fact, his average finish of 20.0 is actually worse than JJ Yeley’s average of 19.5. But, then again, some of Kyle’s best runs this season have come at some of his worst tracks – historically speaking, anyway.

Martin Truex Jr. appeared to be getting this Pocono thing down a little earlier in his career, finishing 24th, 10th, and 3rd in his first three Pocono starts, but has since ran 22nd and 17th ….. Kevin Harvick has only 2 career top-ten’s through 15 career starts at Pocono, but oddly enough, he also only has six finishes outside of the top-15. His average finish at the track is 16.1 ….. Greg Biffle hasn’t finished in the top-ten here since the Spring of 2006, and has finished 24th, 30th, 23rd, and 15th since then. He hold an average finish of 18.8 at Pocono.

Best Driver Ratings (from racingone.com):
1. Denny Hamlin – 130.4
2. Kurt Busch – 113.5
3. Tony Stewart – 102.2
4. Ryan Newman – 98.7
5. Brian Vickers - 97.9

Best Average Finish (from racingone.com):
1. Denny Hamlin – 2.8
2. Jeff Gordon – 10.0
3. Jimmie Johnson – 10.3
4. Mark Martin – 11.6
5. Brian Vickers – 13.0

Pocono Facts:
- 5 of the last 6 Pocono races have been won from the front row, with Jeff Gordon being the only exception when he won from the 18th starting position in the Spring of 2007. 35% of all the Pocono races have been won from the front row.
- The deepest starting position the race has ever been won from was Carl Edwards from 29th back in 2005.
- Jeff Gordon leads all full-time active drivers with wins at Pocono with four. Bill Elliott has the most all-time with five. Elliott is entered for the race, but will have to qualify on time, as he has no more past champions provisionals remaining.
- Mark Martin has 19 top-five’s and 27 top-ten’s at Pocono, but has never won a Sprint Cup race there.
- A Cup race at Pocono has finished with only 2 drivers on the lead lap on two separate occasions – most recently in 1982.
- There have been six season sweeps at Pocono in the past. Kasey Kahne will have an opportunity to make it seven this weekend.
- Hendrick Motorsports leads all teams with Pocono victories, counting 11 of them to their credit.
- Kurt Busch holds the record for the most laps led in a race at Pocono with 175 of them in the Fall of 2007.

Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner – Denny Hamlin
2nd Place – Kurt Busch
3rd Place – Jimmie Johnson
4th Place - Tony Stewart
5th Place – Brian Vickers
6th Place – Kasey Kahne

Lock of the Week – Denny Hamlin
Sleeper Pick – AJ Allmendinger
Steer Clear of – Kevin Harvick

Be sure to check out the Recap from the Pocono 500 held at Pocono Raceway back in June.

Also, check out the following video of the closing laps from the 2007 Pennsylvania 500:

Post from: EveryJoe

Race Preview for Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono

For those of you that had the misguided pleasure of watching this past weekend’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, chances are that you were extremely disappointed with the product that NASCAR and Goodyear brought to the table … and, the drivers and their crews were no different. Perhaps the closed door meeting from NASCAR a couple months back asking the drivers to keep the verbal car bashing to a minimum may have warded off some of the overly eccentric tyrades similar to what we heard from Tony Stewart when he bashed Goodyear following the Atlanta race, but nonetheless, many of the Sprint Cup Series’ top faces expressed disappointment in the finished product following the Allstate 400.

Here are some of the quotes from the teams concerning Goodyear’s tire package that they brought to Indy:

Matt Kenseth: “This is one of the two biggest races of the year and to never have this tire here before and not come and do an open test and to work on these things and work on these tires, it’s pretty darn disappointing. We had a great car. I feel bad for the fans. We’re running three-quarters speed because we’re worried of the tires blowing out and they blow out every eight laps.”

Ryan Newman: “It was a ridiculous race. There was no racing involved, other than mandatory cautions. It’s disrespectful to the fans. That’s not the way NASCAR racing is supposed to be.”

Jeff Gordon: “It’s embarrassing and disappointing. I’ve never seen anything like this, and I’m really sorry that it happened in such a big race like the Brickyard.”

Jamie McMurray: “I got really mad in the middle because they were letting us run until the tires were blowing up, and I’m like, ‘You can’t put us in that situation.’ You’ve got to throw the caution before we blow a tire because if someone gets hurt, we could have prevented that.”

Brian Vickers: “The problem is not one thing. We’ve seen all year long that this car is a lot worse on tires. I think everybody has to raise their hand and take some responsibility here. We have to really think about where we’re going and how we’re going to do it.”

Chad Knaus: “There are really only five things that keep a car on a racetrack. That’s four tires and downforce. Everybody has to realize that this car has about 50 percent of the downforce we had in the past.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr: “That’s the most bizarre race I’ve ever run. I was just glad we got through it with no real chaos. I’m ashamed, but there wasn’t much we could do.”

*Earnhardt also participated in a 3-driver testing session at Indy back in April to test various tire packages, to which he stated, “When I tested here they were wearing out (after) five laps, too.”

Carl Edwards: “I knew when there wasn’t any rubber laying down on the track — I couldn’t see any rubber on the track — I thought we were in trouble there. I know everybody was hoping that it would get better by Lap 30 or 40, but I knew we were in trouble then.”

Anonymous Tire Specialist: “The rubber coming off the tire was too fine. It was like sugar. That’s why the track never rubbered up. The whole back of the tire was dust. And everyone could see the fans leaving by Lap 100. It was the most disgusting display I’ve ever seen at a racetrack. The fans that come back deserve half-price tickets.”

Don’t let the criticism misguide you, though. While everyone throughout the garage area was disappointed with what took place at Indy, most everyone applauded the reactionary methods that NASCAR took to keep the race safe and err on the side of caution – literally.

Jeff Burton: “Early in the race we were running three-quarter speed. Late in the race, we ran hard and we had faith in NASCAR to throw the caution. NASCAR did a great job today under adverse situations. I don’t know what they could have done better. I know that NASCAR and Goodyear are going to take a lot of heat for this but you have to also look at the other side of it. There was no evidence that the situation was getting better during practice so NASCAR did the right thing and did a really good job of throwing the cautions. They responded to a problem and I give them credit for that.”

Bobby LaBonte: “It was a wild race out there, without a doubt. You had to pick when you wanted to race hard to pass someone and the rest of the time you just had to bide your time to save your tires. We knew this would be the case going in and NASCAR did a great job with what they had. My car was actually handling pretty good. It was just a little loose, but I was happy with the balance. My pit crew has to get a lot of credit today. This was the most consistently fast day we’ve had all year on pit road. They picked up a lot of positions for me.”

And, of course, as one might expect, Greg Stucker – Goodyear Director of Race Tire Sales – and Robin Pemberton – NASCAR’s Director of Competition – both had their hands full following the race.

Greg Stucker: “Obviously, the tread wear didn’t improve as we thought it would over the course of the afternoon. We don’t have the answer as to why that didn’t happen, so we’ve got to go back and look at that and try to figure out how to make it better. This is the same compound we raced last year and the wear improved over the course of the day to the point where we could run the full stops. That didn’t happen today, so we need to understand why. I don’t think anyone likes to race like this — us included. We’re going to try to figure out what we need to do to make it better, so that’s what we’re here for.”

Robin Pemberton: “I can’t say enough how sorry we are, and it’s our responsibility, being NASCAR, that we don’t go through this situation again. We’ve already got after it, and we’re moving forward with a plan to get ahead of the situation so we don’t go through this again. Once again, I think that it deserves to be said that the race didn’t come off like we had hoped. The fans didn’t get what they exactly wanted, and we’ll do everything in our power, and it won’t happen again, I can tell you that much. We’re going to put a lot of effort toward it and get a better plan moving forward.”

Video of the interviews with Robin Pemberton and Carl Edwards following the race:

Post from: EveryJoe

As Expected, Drivers Disappointed With Goodyear Tires at Indy

With only two accidents and one blown engine, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard in Indianapolis Motorspeedway still managed to see 11 caution periods during the 160-lap event because of tire issues …. that’s the story of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race, and unfortunately that story overshadows the one of Jimmie Johnson winning the pole award and going on to pick up his second career victory at the Brickyard.

NASCAR knew that they were likely to experience tire issues, but they weren’t sure just how bad it would be. They had a competition caution scheduled within the first 15 laps of the race, but they didn’t need to use it thanks to Michael Waltrip spinning into the Turn 2 wall on lap 4, and then Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick wrecking on lap 14.

Dale Earnhardt Jr, who had already made a pit stop under green, inherited the lead on lap 17 when he stayed out as the rest of the leaders came into pit. He was able to hold onto the lead until his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, passed him on lap 25, and that’s when the troubles started for Junior. The next lap Earnhardt’s car was bobbling around the track as he lost a ton of positions before finally pitting on lap 27 with a right rear tire going down, putting him a lap down.

On the following lap, Mark Martin came down pit road when he thought he might have a tire going down, and then on lap 29, Juan Pablo Montoya’s right-rear blew, spreading debris all over the track. NASCAR then brought their first competition caution out on lap 30, and it was the points leader, Kyle Busch, leading the charge off of pit road to assume the race lead.

Jeff Gordon passed Busch for the lead on lap 36, but Johnson passed his teammate on the next trip around the track to take the lead for the second time of the day. About this same time, NASCAR reported that the next scheduled competition caution would take place on lap 47, but a few of the cars just couldn’t stretch it that far. Mark Martin pitted on lap 46 when he felt the tire cords vibrating in the car, Sam Hornish Jr. went a lap down when he was forced to pit with a tire issue, and Carl Edwards lost several positions on the track when he had to slow his car down because he, too, thought he was having a problem.

The big blow, though, was on lap 47. Just prior to NASCAR waiving their scheduled competition caution, Matt Kenseth blew a right rear tire that sent him spinning and literally shredded the rear end of his car. Kenseth had started up inside the top-ten and was viewed by many as one of the favorites to win the race, but the unfortunate circumstances put a shoddy end to his day.

Kyle Busch once again led the field off of pit road, this time followed by AJ Allmendinger in second. Both cars took only two tires, while Jimmie Johnson continued to take four tires on each stop. The four tires proved to be key, as Johnson once again worked his way up to the front on lap 62 and stayed there until the next competition caution, which came on lap 65. Dale Earnhardt Jr. received the Lucky Dog award under this caution, finally putting him back on the lead lap.

Allmendinger, who stayed in second place through the entire previous run on just two tires, once again went with just two right-sides and won the race off of pit road to take the lead. He continued his strong run and held onto the lead for a few laps, but was eventually passed by Johnson on lap 72. Two laps later Brian Vickers, who was running in the top-ten at the time, was forced to make his way down pit road with engine troubles as he was unable to turn the full RPMs.

Johnson still had the lead when the next competition caution waived on lap 82, but Martin Truex Jr. short-pitted just prior to the caution flag and inherited the lead by staying out while the leaders pitted. The lead was short-lived, however, as Carl Edwards made quick work of Truex and passed him for the lead on lap 87, and three laps later it was Johnson back to the front.

Caution number 7 was another competion caution on lap 97, and this time it was Elliott Sadler taking the lead for the first time despite hanging around near the top-five for the entire day, but lost the lead during the restart on lap 105 when Jeff Burton made his move to the front after starting all the way back in 32nd. Just after Burton took the lead, though, Brian Vickers – who had recently returned to the track – finally blew his engine, bringing the field under caution for the 8th time.

The leaders stayed out on the track having run only one lap on their set of tires, and they didn’t finally get restarted again until lap 113. Burton was still in the lead at the time, but three laps later it was Johnson again up to the front. He stayed there until the next competition caution on lap 121. This time it was Denny Hamlin taking two tires to get off of pit road first, and for the first time of the day, Johnson struggled to get past him despite having four fresh tires underneath him.

Hamlin held onto the lead through the ensuing caution on lap 133, and then NASCAR presented their final competition caution on lap 149, setting up a shootout to the finish. With the majority of the teams opting for just two tires on pit road, Hamlin’s crew had a slow stop and sent him out in third with Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards coming out ahead of him.

The final restart came on lap 154, and Johnson was able to hold off Carl Edwards for the final 7 laps of the race to get his second Brickyard victory with Edwards finishing 2nd and Hamlin in 3rd. Elliott Sadler earned his best finish of the season in 4th, and Jamie McMurray finished off a strong run in 5th. Jeff Gordon slipped a little in the latter portions of the race, but still went onto finish in 6th. 7th place went to Kasey Kahne, who rebounded nicely after his team spotted a cracked header on his car in the first segments of the race. Greg Biffle scored his best Indy finish by crossing the line in 8th. In 9th was Jeff Burton, and AJ Allmendinger finally scored his first ever top-ten finish by finishing 10th.

Other Notables:
After running a lap down earlier in the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. rebounded to a 12th place finish ….. Indiana-native, Ryan Newman, was scored in 13th ….. Points leader, Kyle Busch, wound up with his worst Indianapolis finish in 15th ….. Patrick Carpentier was scored as the highest rookie in the race. He finished 18th ….. In what will be his final Indianapolis appearance with Joe Gibbs Racing, Tony Stewart – a two time winner of this event and one of the favorites heading into the weekend - finished with an extremely disappointing 23rd place run.

The top three spots in the standings remained unchanged, and both Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton were able to gain very minimal ground on Kyle Busch for 1st place. Johnson’s win, however, moved him up a position past Carl Edwards into 4th, as Edwards now drops to 5th. Denny Hamlin gave himself a little bit more of a cushion as he moves up four spots into 8th, and Kasey Kahne jumped up two positions to 9th. Clint Bowyer’s 19th place run was enough to move him from 13th to 12th in the standings and into a Chase position, while his Richard Childress Racing teammate, Kevin Harvick, dropped down 4 spots to 13th. Only 100 points separates 7th place Greg Biffle from Kevin Harvick, and Harvick is only 2 points out of 12th.

Grades:
the Race:  40%
the Drama:  75%
Coverage:  62%
Pre-Race:  90%

Overall Grade:  56.4%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Post from: EveryJoe

Rating the Race: Indianapolis – Allstate 400

Before I get into this week’s topic, I would like to point out that Bruce Simmons, who normally joins us here in our weekly “Loose in Turn 3″ segment representing Bruce’s NASCAR Bits ‘n’ Pieces, will to be joining us this week as he is off in San Diego on a separate venture at the moment. He will be returning with us next week, but in his place today is our guest blogger, one of DYN’s very own loyal readers, Rocky Akins. I’d like to give a special thanks to Roc for filling the gaps for us this week, and as a bonus, he even brought in this week’s topic of discussion for us.

Now, onto business. Earlier this week NASCAR announced that they would be implimenting new rules in the Nationwide Series that would restrict the horsepower that the engines can produce by limiting the airflow. The amendment they put in place states, verbatem:

“At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing less than 4.470 inches must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.125-inch diameter holes. At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing of 4.470 inches or more must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.100-inch diameter holes. Unless otherwise authorized, the carburetor restrictor will be issued by NASCAR.”

The change comes after several months of complaining from teams of other manufacturers, particularly Chevy and Ford, as well as from several conspiracy theorists that watch weekly from the grandstands or from the comfort of their living room. The complaints finally drove NASCAR to conduct two dyno tests on the engines, one following the race at the Milwuakee Mile, and the other after a couple weeks ago at Chicagoland. The Milwuakee tests revealed a significant horsepower advantage for Toyota, but after Chicago, NASCAR tested ten cars – 3 from Toyota, 3 from Chevy, 2 Ford’s, and 2 Dodge’s. David Reutimann’s car topped the testing charts, and Kyle Busch – the eventual race winner – tested second.

Q: NASCAR recently placed restrictions on the engines in the Nationwide Series, limiting the airflow, and therefore putting a restriction on the horesepower. Should we expect to see similar measures be implimented into the Sprint Cup Series, and if so, when?

TZ: I think it all depends on next year, to be honest. If the Toyotas – particularly Kyle Busch – start to run away with things again in 2009, then yeah, I think NASCAR will start considering such moves. But, to be honest, I think their decision for the Nationwide Series was purely a financial one. From everything (credible) that I’ve read, the only true advantage that Toyota has had is that they didn’t have to upgrade their long-term engine packages. They came into stock car racing with an idea of what they wanted to do, and it turned out to be much better than what the other manufacturers were running. Chevy and Ford started making gripes, but in reality, they are fully capable of putting out the same product, but they don’t want to put forth the extra buck for the sake of the NNS. Notice that it’s not Toyota’s running away by a mile in the Cup Series, just Kyle Busch. That tells me that they’ve put forth the effort to upgrade in Cup.

Roc: I agree T.Z. Kyle’s car is wicked fast on all restarts, and he is the guy to beat every week which we’re not really seeing from the other Gibbs cars. Toyota will spend a bunch of money to be at the top, and with all the other corporations really in finacial trouble, I look for nascar to find a way to even out the field in Cup, too. I haven’t seen the rating this year, but as you know I’m pretty die-hard. But, there were a couple races that I just couldn’t watch, having certain cars that dominate every week hurts the sport  a lot more than it helps it so I look at early next year a horsepower change to be in effect.

Charlie:  The Nationwide Series horsepower initiative was put in place  to help save the teams money. Toyota experimented – all on their own by the way – in 2007 with making engines for the Craftsman Truck Series that lasted for more than one race between rebuilds. Johnny Benson actually won races with those motors as I recall. It is not surprising that Toyota has an edge there. In Cup, NASCAR will always play with things to level the field. It might be carburetors or it might be spoilers or splitters. Ido not believe that NASCAR will limit engines in the Cup Series across the board.

the Rest of the Discussion:
Tony Stewart, currently tenth in Sprint Cup points, is 49 markers ahead of 13th place Clint Bowyer. Four drivers, icluding Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne, within 49 points of each other with only three spots up for grabs. Who doesn’t make it to the Chase?

Be sure to visit On Pit Row as the three of us wrap up this week’s conversation by debating amongst ourselves to answer the above question concerning the Chase. And, just because Bruce isn’t with us this week is no reason not to continue giving his site some love, so don’t forget to continue checking out his Bits ‘n’ Pieces to get the latest and greatest on all that is NASCAR. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Post from: EveryJoe

Toyota’s Horsepower Just Got Real Loose in Turn 3