Gary McLean continued to cement his name in the OSCAAR Hanover Holiday Modified history books in scoring the feature victory at Sunset Speedway on Saturday night.
McLean didn’t start off the night in victory lane, as he’d finish second to Max Beyore. Gary Elliott would finish third, followed by Brian McLean, Brent McLean, Davey Terry and Tommy Robb.
The second heat would feature some contact, as Shane Stickel went around virtue of Dustin Jackson. Tom Walters claimed his first career OSCAAR Modified heat win in his first modified career start, driving Branden Bullen’s modified. Lane Zardo finished second, followed by Ryan Dick, Jackson, Drew Stieler, Stickel, Bill Burrows and Bobby Tolton.
Birthday boy Davey Terry won heat three ahead of Elliott, Brent McLean, Gary McLean, Beyore, Robb and Brian McLean.
Dick won the final heat ahead of Stickel, Jackson, Walters, Zardo, Stieler, Burrows and Tolton.
Come feature time, Davey Terry would start pole ahead of Lane Zardo, Gary McLean, Gary Elliott, Max Beyore, Tom Walters, Tommy Robb, Dustin Jackson, Shane Stickel, Brent McLean, Brian McLean, Drew Stieler, Bill Burrows, Tommy Robb and Bobby Tolton.
Davey Terry would grab the early lead ahead of Zardo in his No. 14 Wasteco Modified, set to check out on everybody in search of his first career feature victory. Gary McLean would slip by Zardo to move into second on lap three, set to track down Terry for the top spot. His efforts would be made easy when the caution flew on lap four for Burrows spinning.
Terry would get a good restart, holding the two-time series champion behind him. terry would keep the lead steadily over McLean, while the action was set behind him. Over the course of the run, Zardo would continue to slip back, slipping outside of the top five as series regulars began to make their way up through the field.
Behind the top seven, though, things were intense for the rest of the field, with cars darting underneath each other, while others tried to slip past on the outside. The racing would come to abrupt stop when contact between Dick and Robb would result in a three-car pile-up in turn three involving Robb, Stickel and Harper. Each of the involved cars would be able to drive away, get repairs and restart at the rear of the field.
With 20 laps to go, Terry led Gary McLean, Elliott, Beyore, Brent McLean and Tom Walters. McLean would get a good restart, claiming the advantage ahead of Terry, beginning to check out on everybody. The gap stayed steadily somewhat close – till it looked as though something broke on Terry’s car, resulting in him dropping back quickly, falling through the field in the final eight laps. Terry’s problems didn’t help Elliott’s cause, as Elliott got caught up behind Terry, allowing Beyore and Brent McLean to slip past for position.
Gary McLean would be able to cruise home to victory and claim the victory while Max Beyore, Brent McLean and Gary Elliott rounded out the top-four. Dustin Jackson would hold off a strong late charge from Tom Walters to take fifth, while Lane Zardo, Ryan Dick, Tommy Robb and Davey Terry rounded out the top 10.
Justin Billington would hold off a strong late race charge from Josh Nicholson to score the Ontario Pro Challenge feature victory at Sunset Speedway.
Tim Shanahan would win the first heat ahead of Billington, Owen Smith, Ken Lillycrop, Peter Hattin, Bud Racing and Dan Alder.
Tim Norris won the second heat ahead of Nicholson, Dennis Thomson, Mike Westwood, Kyle Batty and Matt Marshall.
Billington would get the advantage of picking up a front starting spot, taking the lead early. Nicholson wouldn’t be far behind, working his way through to move up to the second spot. It was from that point that he began stalking Billington for the lead.
The pair wouldn’t be alone either in the closing laps, with Batty, Thomson and Westwood joining the fight. Slipping high and low around each other, the five made for a very entertaining feature in trading spots. The battle wouldn’t stay clean, though, as contact would send Westwood for the spin in turn two on the white flag lap. Both Westwood and Thomson would be sent to the rear for the green-white-checkered.
On the restart, Justin Billington was able to hold serve, fending off every attempt by Josh Nicholson to claim the victory. Kyle Batty finished third, followed by Owen Smith and Mike Westwood.
It has been a fantastic season for Dale Earnhardt Jr., arguably one of his best in many years. Saturday night, the Irwin Tools Night Race, however, left a little to be desired.
On lap 162, Earnhardt was caught up in someone else’s wreck. Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin made contact sending Hamlin, who was leading, spinning into the retaining wall collecting Earnhardt during the melee.
The No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports crew made repairs, which included replacing the door foam. Earnhardt was able to make a few additional laps, but the team made the decision to park the car on lap 176.
The Steve Letarte led crew used the incident to be prepared for the Chase in case the same type of repair was needed. The main concern was finding a way to quickly replace the door foam. Letarte told his crew to “take a mental image” of the repair in case the situation occurs again.
Earnhardt came into this weekend’s race sitting second in the points standings, only three points behind leader, Jeff Gordon.
Photo Credit: Mike Holtsclaw/Speedway Media
Earnhardt was asked what happened to cause the accident, and replied, “I couldn’t see what happened to Denny (Hamlin), but he got turned around or something and was coming up the track. There was a lot of smoke so I couldn’t really judge the speed of his car to know whether I needed to be going up there and go around him on the top. I had to make that choice. I just went ahead and went to the top and ended up getting into him. It wasn’t too hard of a hit just did a lot of damage and tore the lower (control arm) off the left-front. We are going to have our hands full when we get it back out there. We are going to try to fix it, but I don’t know. Obviously we are many laps down. We will see if we can run a decent speed.”
From 1995 to 2001, Jeff Gordon was the man to beat in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing. During this time period he accumulated stats that are comparable to any driver in the history of the sport.
In this seven year stretch he amassed 56 wins, 133 top fives, 165 top tens, 37 poles and, last but not least, four series championships. His best year coming in 1998, where he scored a career high 13 wins.
Of course, with all of this success, came the hatred from many race fans. Especially since this seemed to signal a changing of the guard from the legendary Dale Earnhardt, who was the iconic representative of the blue collar southerner, to this new, clean-cut kid from Indiana.
One reason for the success of Jeff Gordon, other than his obvious talent behind the wheel, was Ray Evernham. Evernham was Gordon’s crew chief through the glory days. The man behind the decision of bolt turned on the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets.
Evernham seemed invincible on top of the pit box. Strategy appeared to be his second nature. Then, of course, there was the infamous T-Rex car he entered in the All-Star race. NASCAR instructed him to never bring that back to the track and to this day, very few people really know what was in that car that made it so fast.
The most important thing that Gordon and Evernham had was not that fast cars, and split second decisions on pit strategy, or even the countless hours spent creating new ways to outpace the ever increasing competition of NASCAR’s premier series – it was the chemistry – the magic.
Gordon and Evernham, “spoke the same language”. Many times it seemed that Ray knew what Jeff needed before Jeff did. They had that rare magic that many teams and duos only dream of. They were the 27 Yankees, the 72 Dolphins, or the 96 Bulls. We have only seen a few times in the history of NASCAR. The domination of Inman and Petty comes to mind, and of course, Knauss and Johnson.
After the departure of Evernham from Hendrick Motorsports, Gordon’s success was more like a mere mortal. Though for the next couple years he ran well, and managed a championship under the direction of Robbie Loomis, he didn’t have that ability to dominate like he did with Evernham.
One could argue that the team was still riding the wave of success that Evernham had created. They were still using ideas and technology that was designed by Evernham. As the sport evolved, however, victory lane became harder and harder to find.
Steve Letarte was able to regain some success with Gordon, but disaster struck in 2008 as Gordon went winless. We began to hear rumblings from fans that Gordon was washed up, or his heart wasn’t in it, or maybe he was just ready to retire and live out his days with his supermodel wife.
In 2011, there was a personnel shake-up at Hendrick. Crew chiefs and other team members were moved around. Gordon would now have to get to know a new crew chief, Alan Gustafson.
Gustafson had been working for Hendrick for several years, and took his turn atop the pit box for Kyle Busch, and Mark Martin. Now, he was charged with trying to get Gordon back to championship format. Problem is, were the critics right, was his heart still in it? Did he still have the ability to drive at the level he did before? After all, it had been ten years since his last championship and 13 years since his iconic 1998 season.
Gustafson was up to the challenge. After going winless for the second time in his career in 2010, Gordon visited victory lane three times in 2011. He followed that up with two wins in 2012, and one in 2013. It was then when the sharks began to circle once again. Maybe it was time for another crew chief? Maybe he should just retire. He has back issues that prevents him from racing hard. These are the rumors that were swirling.
One thing that always gave a person doubt that any of this were true was something Ray Evernham said at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the spring of 2014. He was meeting with media members just outside of the media center in somewhat of an impromptu press conference. Ray had just rejoined Hendrick Motorsports as a consultant.
He was asked by many about what was wrong with Gordon. He told stories of how tough Gordon is. How he won a race once, and when he got out of the car, he had a hole in the center of his hand. The pain of gripping the wheel must have been unbearable, but Gordon stayed strong.
He also praised the ability of Gustafson. He seemed to think he was the right man for the job. As the season has progressed, it seems he was right.
Gordon has been strong this season. But, he seemed different somehow around the halfway mark of 2014. He seemed more confident. He was running strong, finishing races, and competing for wins. He has more bounce in his step and he constantly brags about his team. Gordon one again looks like the Gordon of the late 1990’s.
He is proving that he can still drive a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car. He is a threat to win every week. Always near the top of the speed charts in practice and qualifying and he is doing it on many different types of tracks. He is also the current series points leader, has already visited victory lane three times and is locked into the post season Chase for the Championship.
Of course, many believe the difference was the return of Ray Evernham to the organization. He must have walked in a saved the day. Not true, says Evernham. In a recent interview on Sirius-XM radio, he said he is only giving some guidance to the teams and that they have the tools and the people to make it work. He once again, bragged about the ability of Gustafson. He talked about how smart he is as a crew chief and how smart Gordon is as a driver.
Photo Credit: Mike Holtsclaw/Speedway Media
On Saturday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway, Gustafson commented on the renewed success of Gordon and what has led to that success, “Well I think really if you go back to the end of last year, we were running really well and had gotten to the position that we were competing at a high level to win every week, and probably the last twelve to fourteen races of last year and ever since then we’ve just been building. That was really the big step, that we’ve been building since then, you know and improving every week, improving every week. So, we made some changes last year, and we made some personnel changes – some philosophy changes and we all got together and a were frustrated at our lack of performance through the summer and we knew we had to change it and we put a lot of initiatives in place and I think now you’re seeing the benefits of that. You know a lot of hard work and I know it’s kind of a cliché and you hear it all the time – you know is there one thing? But it’s everything – to run as well as we are running to win in this sport, you’ve got to have everything working and we’ve got that going on right now.”
He also addressed the talk about Ray Evernham, and the fact that people think he is the reason for the success this season saying, “You I’m not worried about the credit, that’s not what’s important and the thing about Ray is that Ray has been a big supporter of mine and that’s one thing – when you have a guy like that that comes back and you know there’s times you go through struggles and you go through ups and downs – for him to come to me and say look man you’re doing the right thing, just believe in what you’re doing and continue to push forward, you know that helped me out alot. And you know, that was what he did and he came in and evaluated our team and he supported me to the end. So he doesn’t think he had a whole lot to do with it, but I think he influences us in a positive way. Ray’s a special person and you know, I’m happy to work with him and I’m happy to learn from him and you know it’s not about the credit, it’s about the (number) 24 team being successful and he’s got a part of that too.”
One thing is clear when speaking with Gustafson, Evernham or anyone from the Hendrick organization, they seem to be focused on the team interest, not self-interest. They are working well together and it shows in the results on the track and in the attitude of everyone off the track.
That mysterious magic is hard to find, but it seems that Alan Gustafson, Jeff Gordon and the entire No. 24 team may have found the something even more rare – a second chance at magic.
On a restart with six laps to go, Ryan Blaney would get the advantage on Kyle Busch and then held off Busch’s final charge to win the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. It marks Blaney’s second career victory in the Nationwide Series, following his first career win at Kentucky Speedway.
Restarting second on the bottom when the preferred groove all night had been the top, Blaney would hit the gas as soon as he saw the second set of lines that make up the restart box, getting the advantage ahead of Busch heading into turn one.
“Kyle didn’t go on the last restart – he said his tires were jacked up – and we got to the second line and I went,” Blaney said. “Luckily we were able to hold him off. Great Mustang all night. We lost track position early, but were able to make it back up.”
Busch would hold on to finish second and commented post-race that he feels the leader has the biggest disadvantage on the restart and the third-place car of Dillon was right up his bumper.
“NASCAR doesn’t police it – 22 laid back, was going five mph,” Busch added in the media center. “Next time I’ll just lock all four up & stack the field up. It’s a single lane racetrack, you can’t (bleep) pass here; it’s pathetic.”
Blaney’s night didn’t go without incident as he got loose while underneath Kyle Larson racing for fourth, getting loose and sliding up, spinning Larson out. The incident would then turn uglier when Larson’s teammate Dylan Kwasniewski would be left with nowhere to go, but into the back of Larson.
“First of all, I have to apologize to Kyle Larson. I just got loose on the bottom and got into him,” Blaney started off his victory lane speech with.
“The 22 was faster than I was for sure,” Larson said. “The spotter said they were looking for a caution so I was racing hard to keep the spot. We raced side-by-side into four, and then went into one and simply drove us in the wall. The 22 ruined our day, and also ruined our teammate’s day as Dylan had a good run going.
“I know Ryan is a good kid – it’s just frustrating. It’s short track racing, I know it wasn’t on purpose – I just got in the wall and it made me mad.”
Chase Elliott would finish third to keep the points lead, now 13 points ahead of his teammate Regan Smith. Ty Dillon and Regan Smith rounded out the top-five, and would have a post-race discussion with regards to how they raced each other in the closing laps.
“I just don’t like how he raced all night,” Smith commented. “There was three or four times that he drove me in the fence. Everybody else could race me without touching me so I wanted to tell him what I thought. He said he was getting tight, so the next time I get by him I’ll fence him and say that I got tight.”
“Fourth in points – 28 out and I’m trying to get all I can for my guys as they deserve it,” Dillon said. “We just got a little tight, but proud of guys. It’s Bristol. A little bump is a bump – it’s racing. Nobody got tore up.”
Brendan Gaughan was sixth, followed by Kevin Harvick, Erik Jones, James Buescher and Chris Buescher.
The race would start a little later than scheduled due to rain, though it was filled with action as the caution flag flew nine times for multiple incidents. The first involved John Wes Townley as he spun on the frontstretch; Townley was hoping to have a good run after missing a couple races due to a hard wreck in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards. Hermie Sadler would get into the wall at lap 85, before Chad Boat, David Starr and Tanner Barryhill all got together at lap 112.
The incident at lap 184 will be one that sticks out for Elliott Sadler as he would suffer right front damage after making contact with Timmy Hill as Hill spun on the frontstretch. The result would be a pair of flat tires later in the race, resulting in a 29th place finish for the championship contender. The final caution would come with 10 laps to go due to contact between Jamie Dick and Mike Bliss, setting up the final restart that changed everything.
Chase Elliott will now lead his fellow drivers into Atlanta Motor Speedway next Friday night as he hopes to score a hometown victory.
