Jason Hathaway battles way to Hudco Electric Supply 300 win
Jason Hathaway would battle his way back to the front late in the race at Barrie Speedway to pass D.J. Kennington on lap 284 to win the Hudco Electric Supply 300. Hathaway had to survive a green-white-checkered finish to pick up his second victory of the season ahead of Kennington and J.R. Fitzpatrick.
“We had a really good race,” the driver of the No. 3 Snap-On Tools/Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge commented. “We led a bunch of laps. We had the best car and we won the race and that’s what we came here for.”
The caution flew with 30 laps to go for debris in turn one, it set up a final shootout to the checkered. The result was Hathaway, Fitzpatrick and Kennington all trading paint back and forth.
“He hammered on me pretty good,” Hathaway commented of Fitzpatrick. “I looked up and went, ‘Who is that guy?’ and it was J.R. so I knew not to take too much from it. He hit me pretty good a couple of times. Kennington and I got into each other a couple of times off of two there; pretty tight to get off of there. It’s alright. That’s why we’re here. It’s Barrie short track racing – you get after it.”
“I think none of us wanted to wreck each other,” Kennington commented. “It was just good hard racing. Jason came out on top; wish we would’ve. We’ll go get them at Kawartha.”
D.J. Kennington finished second to extend his points lead from three points to five points over Scott Steckly heading to the season finale in two weeks at Kawartha Speedway.
“In the big picture, we’re in good shape,” he commented. “The Castrol Edge team is vying for the championship here and hopefully we get it finished up at Kawartha.”
There was one point in racing where Kennington made slight contact with a lap car, though no harm no foul as both continued.
“These guys that you’re lapping are just having bad days and it’s up to you to get around them,” the driver of the No. 17 Castrol Edge Dodge commented. “I’ve been on the other end where I’ve been the lap traffic. It’s tough. It just makes it tougher with Barrie being a small place.”
J.R. Fitzpatrick finished third for his sixth top five of the season.
“Overall, it was a good day I guess,” the driver of the No. 84 Equipment Express Chevrolet said. “Track changed quite a bit from practice to the race. I was kind of good in practice so just let it alone not knowing what to expect. Then when we went out for the race, we were decent but not exactly where we want to be. We’ll take third for the year we’ve had, but not where we’d like to be.”
In speaking of the close racing at the end of the race, Fitzpatrick said that’s the way short track racing should be.
“Three guys that have a lot of respect for each other,” he added. “Obviously we each want to win the race so we beat and banged, it was good hard racing and nobody got wrecked and put on a good show.”
Helluva Good Pole Winner Scott Steckly finished fourth for his seventh top five of the season. Rookie Alex Guenette finished fifth.
Martin Roy finished sixth followed by Ryley Seibert, Mark Dilley, Ron Beauchamp Jr. and Joey McColm.
Last week’s race winner L.P. Dumoulin spent numerous laps behind the wall getting the rear end changed out of his Dodge after it went south. As a result, Dumoulin slips to fourth in points, 35 points behind Kennington.
Last year’s race winner Pete Shepherd was done on lap 41 after the ring gear went on his Dodge. Shepherd was looking for his third win of the season in his third start of the season.
NCATS Barrie 9/8/13 Results
| Fin | Str | Car | Driver | Team | Laps | Points | B/Points | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 3 | Jason Hathaway | Snap-On Tools/Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge | 303 | 48 | 5 | Running |
| 2 | 3 | 17 | D.J. Kennington | Castrol Edge/Mahindra Tractors Dodge | 303 | 43 | 1 | Running |
| 3 | 7 | 84 | J.R. Fitzpatrick | Equipment Express Chevrolet | 303 | 42 | 1 | Running |
| 4 | 1 | 22 | Scott Steckly | Canadian Tire Dodge | 303 | 41 | 1 | Running |
| 5 | 11 | 39 | Alex Guenette * | Motos Illimitees/DLGL/Polaris Dodge | 303 | 39 | Running | |
| 6 | 10 | 90 | Martin Roy | Batteries Expert/Gamache/Veloce Dodge | 303 | 38 | Running | |
| 7 | 17 | 09 | Ryley Seibert * | Lake Excavating/EMCO Waterworks Dodge | 303 | 37 | Running | |
| 8 | 9 | 02 | Mark Dilley | Gaunt Collision/Leland/BDI Ford | 303 | 36 | Running | |
| 9 | 5 | 60 | Ron Beauchamp, Jr. | Mopar/Exide/Pennzoil Dodge | 303 | 36 | 1 | Running |
| 10 | 13 | 50 | Joey McColm | Canada’s Best Store Fixtures/Espar Dodge | 302 | 34 | Running | |
| 11 | 18 | 29 | Ray Courtemanche Jr. | La Cite De Mirabel Inc. Dodge | 297 | 33 | Running | |
| 12 | 14 | 28 | Dave Connelly | Schneider’s/Metro Dodge | 297 | 32 | Running | |
| 13 | 16 | 21 | Jason White | Bowers & Wilkins/Castrol Dodge | 297 | 32 | 1 | Running |
| 14 | 19 | 98 | Howie Scannell Jr. | OMVIC./K&B Auto Service Dodge | 288 | 30 | Running | |
| 15 | 4 | 56 | Larry Jackson | OMVIC/Touchwood Cabinets Dodge | 236 | 29 | Mechanical | |
| 16 | 8 | 47 | L.P. Dumoulin | WeatherTech Canada/Bellemare Dodge | 220 | 29 | 1 | Running |
| 17 | 15 | 5 | Noel Dowler | Emco, Rheem, Praxair Dodge | 182 | 27 | Electrical | |
| 18 | 12 | 97 | Hugo Vannini | VTI Motorsports Ford | 121 | 26 | Rear End | |
| 19 | 2 | 7 | Pete Shepherd III | National Exhaust/Rama Smoke Shop Dodge | 41 | 25 | Ring Gear |
Controversy In Richmond: Did MWR Deliberately Manipulate Chase Outcome?
There was a lot on the line at Richmond Saturday night but was it so much so that it would actually push a team to deliberately alter the outcome in order to benefit themselves? When you’re talking about a shot at the Sprint Cup championship; I’d say so. The awkward spin by Clint Bowyer and the suspicious Brian Vickers radio communication in the closing laps raised a lot of eyebrows and accusations started flying before the checkered flag even flew.
Team orders. It’s a phrase that makes all race fans cringe and a policy that has been unfortunately showcased at one point or another in every major motorsport and has most recently found its way into the world of NASCAR. Team orders drastically affected the outcome of the race to make the chase Saturday night leaving millions of fans outraged. The evidence against culprits aka Michael Waltrip Racing…well, it’s substantial. The orchestration of this shady move to get Truex Jr. into the chase looked pretty blatant and has NASCAR nation infuriated. Before we dive any deeper into this volatile controversy; here is the overwhelming evidence against Michael Waltrip Racing…
In-Car Camera & Audio of Clint Bowyer Leading Up To & During Spin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brrgyDs3CfE&feature=youtu.be
Very odd and conspicuous dialogue there….did you notice how awkward and controlled that spin looked? It did not appear to be an expert racecar driver getting loose while driving on the ragged edge. This caution gave Martin Truex Jr. another shot at making the chase with a late restart and he did just that. Newman went from on his way to victory and ensuring a chase berth to enduring the bitter feeling of defeat when he lost the WC in a tie with Truex. Ryan came within a few feet of making the chase One more corner and he would have taken 2nd position from Kurt Busch which would have given him the edge over Martin for the final Wild Card. Defending champion Brad Keselowski’s thoughts on the Clint’s spin…“Quite honestly, I don’t know what to think…” Race winner Carl Edwards saw this Bowyer clip in the media center and simply said, “that’s going to be a popular video.”
Brian Vickers Radio Communication With Five Laps Remaining
Team “We’re probably going to pit here on green” Brian: “Are you talking to me?” Team: “Yeah, we’re going to pit.” Brian: “What? I’ve got to pit? I don’t understand. Pit right now?” Team: “You’ve got to pit this time by. We need that 1 point.” Brian: “10-4. Do I got a tire going down?” Team: “Yeah”
I was giving MWR the benefit of the doubt until I heard this exchange. The “point” the team was referring to was for Joey Logano; not Martin Truex Jr…let me explain. Vickers was a full lap ahead of Joey before the green flag pit stop but finished a lap down and behind the No.22. There were no issues with the car that would explain the lost lap but this radio communication gives us the reason we feared. They wanted Joey to get that point because it would help him stay inside the top 10 in points. Why is that important? Because if Joey was outside the top 10 in points when the race ended; he would need to take Wild Card in order to make the chase…the Wild Card that would otherwise belong to Martin Truex Jr.
Michael Waltrip
NASCAR.com’s Alan Cavanna tweeted that Michael Waltrip walked up to Truex on pit road following the race and said, “You’ve got awesome teammates.” In a post-race interview, Michael had this to say…
“I don’t know…I didn’t hear any…I was busy monitoring who was doing what. I mean, I don’t think Bowyer spun on purpose. But I don’t know.” (He was then asked if it would be okay if Bowyer’s spin was intentional) “I don’t like to do what ifs. We’re just really grateful that we got two of our cars in the Chase. It would be a real bummer if our young organization only got one in and not the other.”
His older brother and 3-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Darrell Waltrip tweeted, “Watched on TV just like most of you, looked like typical #Nascar race at #Richmond, cars spinning, tires blowing, cautions, restarts, etc.” DW later tweeted, “Wasn’t at the race. I don’t have a radio so I don’t know what was said. If something inappropriate happened, I trust #NASCAR to handle it.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Was In Proximity Of Bowyer During Spin)
“He just spun right out. That’s the craziest thing I ever saw. He just came right around. He got…we were going into, through 3 and 4, and I don’t know if they can put up his brakes and his gas. We got all the technology. But he was hemming around on the brakes and jerking the car around, and then the thing just spun out. It was crazy. I don’t know what was going on. It was right there, I almost run into it, so I’m glad we were able to get out of there without any trouble.”
Clint Bowyer
“My car was tight as hell. (Jimmie Johnson) blew a tire and hit the wall. I’m telling you, I was the next one. That thing slid, what, maybe less than 10 feet and blew out, you know what I mean? Something was going on there. I’ve been doing this a long time. It is what it is. It’s unfortunate. I know it’s a lot of fun for you guys to write a lot of whacky things. Go ahead if you want to, get creative. But don’t look too much into it.”
Others React
In the media center, Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon refused to speculate but Ryan angrily acknowledged that an intentional spin would obviously upset him. Jeff tweeted Sunday morning saying, “Was feeling pretty bad about missing the #Chase but after seeing all the details coming out now I feel even worse for @RyanNewman39.” Country music superstar Blake Shelton who is a friend of Clint tweeted, “Y’all should follow @ClintBowyer!!! The definition of team player!!! #hero“ I interpreted that as him implying Clint’s spin was intentional in his eyes. A less than thrilled Tony Stewart was asked if he believes someone would spin out in order to help a teammate and he immediately said. “Yep. There’s a lotta money involved in making the Chase.” The feeling about the spin was unanimous among the ESPN commentators who cried foul and called out Clint which only fueled the fire as fans took to social media to voice their displeasure and argue their points. NASCAR was a trending topic on Twitter for nearly three hours following the race.
My Take
After seeing, hearing and reading all this; there is little doubt that Michael Waltrip Racing played the system in a blatant attempt to help Martin Truex Jr. procure a chase spot. There is conclusive audio evidence and numbers that prove MWR’s chicanery. Brian Vickers ran 40mph off the pace on the final lap for a reason we have yet to ascertain while Clint Bowyer was able to lose two laps as he appeared to dawdle in the pits after receiving very little damage in the now infamous spin.
MWR successfully coordinated their cars in what looked to be a well thought out and masterful plan to ensure a chase berth for Martin with the only flaw being that they failed miserably at making it look inconspicuous. But If NASCAR is going to let something like this slide with such overwhelming evidence out there, then why not take what you can and not care who sees? With everything at stake, if you leave the teams any wiggle room whatsoever; they will most certainly take it. That’s why it is crucial that NASCAR react and drop the hammer on this team. It’s not like MWR would be the only team to stoop to this level if necessary; they just happened to be the ones tempted by circumstance to take fate into their own hands. If NASCAR turns a blind eye to it, they definitely won’t be the last to give into that temptation.
NASCAR did say Sunday afternoon that they are taking some time to review the audio and video while they look for evidence of wrongdoing. It is standard protocol for NASCAR to review all races before they make them official but they will certainly pay extra attention to the area in question. Regardless of their decision; the damage has already been done. Should they do nothing though; they will basically be tacitly approving of teams making a mockery of the system. All drivers were warned in the drivers meeting to keep it “fair and square” but that apparently fell on deaf ears in the MWR camp. I will say this though…don’t attack Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers for simply doing what they’re told. The team should have never handed down these orders in the first place but if you know NASCAR won’t punish you for it; then why not? It’s like saying that if you rob a bank, it’s illegal but we won’t punish you for it.
In the end, it’s a shame that such a spectacular night of racing action was overshadowed by this unfortunate situation and no matter what NASCAR does; the bitter taste left in the mouths of fans, drivers and teams won’t rescind anytime soon. Oh…and the sponsors are fired up too. Quicken Loans (Newman sponsor) posted this on their Facebook page; “We were so close last night and that last caution hurt us. Something didn’t look right about it but you be the judge.” Then PEAK (Bowyer sponsor) posted on their Facebook these two words that shows their feelings about the whole deal pretty plainly; “Phoenix. 2012.”
The integrity of NASCAR is at stake here in the midst of one of the most profound controversies in recent memory and it occurred on one of the biggest nights on the schedule. You know that infamous part of the rule book so commonly quoted by NASCAR – “Actions Detrimental To Stock Car Racing?” That’s basically what Michael Waltrip Racing is guilty of. Something needs to be done about this because nothing will drive fans away quicker than team orders being tolerated. I’ve always been one to say that controversy and the free publicity that comes out of it is never a bad thing but this is one of those rare circumstances when I feel the complete opposite…it’s borderline embarrassing for the NASCAR community.
Disdain for Michael Waltrip Racing won’t cease anytime soon for thousands of incensed and unforgiving NASCAR fans and I’m sure a seething Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman won’t soon forget this either. I like Clint Bowyer, I like Brian Vickers and I like Michael Waltrip but what they did at Richmond is incredibly unsportsmanlike. I hate writing negative stories but this is one issue that just can’t be ignored. We now head to the first race of the chase on the heels of a huge controversy that is far from over. I wouldn’t be surprised if lingering anger and frustration from the drivers done wrong may lead to some on track retaliation as they seek racing justice the old fashioned way.
The Final Word* – Who wins NASCAR’s Cup title matters less than that MWR does not
Carl Edwards jumps the late re-start and NASCAR says nary a word as he beats Kurt Busch for the win at Richmond. Yet, that is not the story of the week. Carl may have stole three bonus points for the Chase, may have kept Busch from taking his Furniture Row team to Victory Lane, but few fans were lost to the non-call. What happened a few laps earlier to bring out that caution with seven to go, well that is entirely another matter.
With seven to go, Ryan Newman is leading the race. If he managed to hold off Kurt Busch he would have earned his second win and a place in the Chase. Kasey Kahne was outside the Top Ten, but with two wins the first wild card spot was his. Jeff Gordon held the 10th spot as they ran, moving Joey Logano out, and Martin Truex Jr found himself potentially with no hope for a wild card if Newman won or Logano finished outside the Top Ten in points. What to do, what to do?
Truex had a team mate already locked in the Chase in Clint Bowyer. In-car audio shows Bowyer was informed of the situation on the track, that “the 39 is going to win the race.” About 20 seconds later, we heard the comment “well that kinda sucks.” We heard Bowyer asked “is your arm starting to hurt” and if the car was getting hot inside. The in-car video shows Bowyer shortly after jerking the wheel going through the turn, we saw him spin out, and we heard him claim that Dale Earnhardt Jr got into him. We also heard Junior say it was the “craziest thing I ever saw.”
“He was hemming around on the brakes and jerking the car around” and he wondered if NASCAR might take a look at the telemetry to see exactly what took place. Earnhardt said he almost got in to him. Almost. The resulting spin caused Bowyer to come into the pits, and sit. And sit. We also saw team mate Brian Vickers slowing down to within 20 mph of pace car speed on the final lap. Bowyer finished 25th on the day, 2 laps down with Vickers 24th, a lap down. This help ensure the 23rd place Logano, also a lap down, got the spots he needed to finish a point ahead of Gordon in the top ten in points. Newman’s pit crew messed up the last stop so he dropped from first to fifth for the re-start and finished third on the day. Truex was within four positions of him to make the Chase on a tie-breaker. .
A lot of fans seem rather upset with how things went down at Richmond. Even if NASCAR decided to lay penalties of any kind, it would not change the fact that Newman and Gordon are out and Truex is in. They could park Bowyer for a race to ruin his title hopes, I guess, but you know they won’t. Was it illegal or did they simply take advantage of the rules, or lack of them? Was it unethical? I guess that all depends on what your ethics are.
I almost forgot about MWR’s beginnings, the illegal fuel additive discovered in Waltrip’s own car in qualifying for the 2007 Daytona 500. Toyota did not like that then, so I wonder how this will play considering their corporate culture in Japan? I wonder what a man of principle like Joe Gibbs, also part of the Toyota family, thinks of how this went down? All I can say, for myself, I do not care if MWR, Waltrip, Bowyer, Truex, Vickers, or even Toyota ever win another damn race.
Rating Richmond – 8.5/10 – With all that was at stake, with drivers coming and going as far as their fate was concerned for the Chase, along with the controversial conclusion, it was damned entertaining to watch.
We must give credit where credit is due. If what took place is how we believe it took place, it was masterful manipulation of a situation in a relatively short period of time in order to pull this off. You could say it was brilliant. I just do not have to like it or respect it. As a fan, it gives me a car brand, a team owner, and a bunch of drivers I do not have to respect or support. If they have the same luck in the Chase as Jimmie Johnson has had over the past few weeks, with finishes of 40th, 36th, 28th, and 40th, it would put a big ole smile on this face. It would appear that to be one of my favorites, all you need to do is drive a Chevy or a Ford and not be part of MWR. Except for Logano, and I still like Kyle Busch and Coach Gibbs. Maybe Toyota just needs to rethink the company they keep.
Some thought Stewart-Haas was bringing in the bad boys of racing under one umbrella next season. Me thinks that honor goes to MWR, from top to bottom. Now, to make this one fan a happy man, let us commence to beat and bang on those boys in the black hats from Chicago right through to Homestead this fall. Trusting Karma to do her worst, let the games begin. Enjoy the week.
*This was written last Sunday, just as NASCAR is reportedly investigating the spin. This might not be the “Final Word” after all on the events at Richmond, depending on the outcome of that investigation.
The 2013 Chase – What Has Changed?
Just three years ago, the Chase looked a lot different than what we’re faced with in 2013. Back in 2010, the Chase field was made up of Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson, and Clint Bowyer. Today, Hamlin, Stewart, Gordon, and Burton didn’t make the cut. Replacing them is Martin Truex, Jr., Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Joey Logano.
It is almost a changing of the guard. Sure, Hamlin is young and will be back as will Stewart hopefully, but Gordon? For the second straight year, it came down to the last race for the four time champion. Is his run over? I wouldn’t count him out, given the resources of Hendrick Motorsports, but it may be time to say that his star is dwindling a bit. It happens to everyone and every team.
Hidden in all of this is the madness of how the final ten races are seeded. In 2013, the point leaders went into the Chase based on the standings after Richmond. It wasn’t enough that the Chase was born after Matt Kenseth’s championship in 2003 when Kenseth only had one win, the seating was tweaked to include a bonus point system that took into consideration the number of wins a driver had. The theory was that wins should be considered. The bonus points goes against anything in sports. It’s like giving the Cincinnati Reds or Los Angeles Dodgers bonus points for winning the most games. It’s unheard of in the annals of sports. Thus, Carl Edwards who won the regular season points race is going to be fifth in the final seeding going into the final standings going into the Chase. Matt Kenseth will be seeded first and Jimmie Johnson second because of their wins. Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, and Martin Truex, Jr. got in because of wins, and Jeff Gordon and reigning champion Brad Keselowski were lift out because they didn’t win. How would the 2013 Chase look different because of that rule?
The wins rule only continues to give the advantage to the super teams (Hendrick, Richard Childress Racing, Roush-Fenway, Penske, and Joe Gibbs Racing). In the old system, it was consistency that counted, and wins were rewarded because a race was won. These days, qualifying for the championship run has more to do with the regular season 26 races and more to do with the ability to win races. It’s a noble attempt, but a lot of good teams get left out. My theory has always been that only a few really good teams will have a chance anyway, but this lets teams who really didn’t have a good season, but had a couple of wins the advantage. Only drivers of the previously mentioned super teams have a chance. Regardless, the field (including two cars from Roush-Fenway, three from Hendrick, one from Penske, two from Michael Waltrip Racing, three from Joe Gibbs Racing, and one from Furniture Row—nine from the super teams). The consistency from the first 26 races gives us a clue on who will be the 2013 champion. Just like always.
Of course there is always a chance that a miracle can happen, just like 2011 when Tony Stewart stormed back to win when all odds were against him. I don’t really see that happening this year. If a team is not in the top six, it’s likely that they will fall to the wayside. With all the changing and tweaking of the “playoff,” will it really make any difference? Money talks and we will see that in the 2013 Chase.
