Carlos Contreras takes on NASCAR Nationwide Series Road Course Races with TriStar Motorsports
The Final Word – Great Father’s Day for Genevieve and Lydia’s Daddy at Michigan
Sunday was a time for remembering our fathers. For those of us still fortunate enough to do so, it was a day to call the ole boy up or drop by for a visit. It was a time for fathers to spend some time with their children or, if one happens to be Jimmie Johnson, a time to kick butt at Michigan and then spend some quality time with the daughters.
Correct me if I am wrong, but was it not just a few weeks ago some media clowns made up the story that we should all be wringing our hands in anguish as we wondered when, oh when, might Jimmie win a race? That was three wins ago. Soon, we should again be hearing how Johnson dominates all those other little darlin’s by winning all those titles, and what a nasty thing that is. Bite me. The only down side to Six Time’s day was that younger brothers Jarit and Jessie got to spend time with their dad while the older sibling was working his day job. It marked his first victory at Michigan in 25 tries.
Good race, great race commentary on TNT, as we watched the boys and girl slip sliding away in the early going. Early was all Travis Kvapil got as Brian Vickers lost traction, went for a slide, and wound up fileting the right side of T.K.’s ride on the opening lap.
Kasey Kahne and Reed Larson, who will be a dad when the big day rolls around next year, got tied up on the eighth lap. The odd man out was Martin Truex Jr, who needed three laps worth of repairs. At least all it will take to make the Chase is just a single ole win, probably. He sure is not going to do it on points. Kyle Busch, who has a win, was a solid 41st after his car developed some issues in the late going and needed a time out in the garage.
It was a good day for some, with Paul Menard and Kahne both in the Top Five. The usual suspects did well enough, but that did not include the likes of Greg Biffle (20th), Carl Edwards (23rd), Denny Hamlin (29th) or Austin Dillon (30th). In fact, Dillon tumbles out of the Sweet Sixteen. Clint Bowyer moves up and, believe it or not, Tony Stewart is just seven behind Biffle for that final spot. Three SHR boys could make the Chase yet.
Now, if the boy could only road race. Actually, Tony won at Sears Point twice, and a few years back so did Jimmie Johnson. Oh, did I mention Jeff Gordon has won there five times? As for those road course ringers some teams import, not a damn one has claimed this race in 25 attempts. I guess we know who’s their daddy.
Driver Wins – Points
SWEET SIXTEEN
1 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 522
2 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr – 2 – 514
3 – Joey Logano – 2 – 454
4 – Kevin Harvick – 2 – 447
5 – Jeff Gordon – 1 – 537
6 – Brad Keselowski – 1 – 490
7 – Carl Edwards – 1 – 462
8 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 446
9 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 435
10 – Kurt Busch – 1 – 315
11 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 513
12 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 454
13 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 440
14 – Paul Menard – 0 – 420
15 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 417
16 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 409
CONTENTERS & PRETENDERS
17 – Tony Stewart – 0 – 402
18 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 400
19 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 394
20 – Kasey Kahne – 0 – 391
21 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 384
22 – A.J. Allmendinger – 0 – 382
23 – Aric Almirola – 0 – 379
24 – Marcos Ambrose – 0 – 370
25 – Casey Mears – 0 – 342
26 – Martin Truex, Jr. – 0 – 331
27 – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 0 – 307
28 – Danica Patrick – 0 – 273
29 – Justin Allgaier – 0 – 269
30 – Michael Annett – 0 – 235
WISHING AND A HOPING
31 – Cole Whitt – 0 – 211
32 – David Gilliland – 0 – 209
33 – David Ragan – 0 – 190
34 – Reed Sorenson – 0 – 187
Why There is a 1% Chance of Seeing a NASCAR Driver in Haas F1
Since Haas F1 was given permission to join Formula 1 in April starting in 2015 (Later delayed to 2016), there has been constant speculation and rumor that Haas F1 is going to hire a current NASCAR driver, specifically one Danica Patrick, to drive one of their two cars in Formula 1.
The problem with that is that it’s a lot like if Tony Romo were to jump ship from the Dallas Cowboys to Manchester United FC.
It would be almost impossible for Danica to try and run F1. She has a sponsor, yes. But, even though some reporters would tell you otherwise, she has never driven anything quite like a Formula car. It is radically different from her former Andretti Green IndyCars under the surface. And even if this is ignored, remember that Formula 1 has all road courses- which Danica typically struggled at during her IndyCar career.
And this isn’t just another “screw Danica” article. The reality is that there are problems with every driver in NASCAR looking to make the switch. Most drivers came up on dirt ovals, while all F1 drivers come up running pavement road courses. Most drivers are simply too old. Danica, at 32, would easily be the oldest rookie in the field, and one of the older drivers in the field, period. Most drivers also are simply too big. This doesn’t mean at all that most are fatties, but Formula 1 drivers need to be much thinner, to the point where some drivers are eating less than the stereotypical model. And why would Haas get a driver with all of these disadvantages when he could get an experienced foreign driver while attempting to develop an American driver?
The reality is, in order to successfully make the switch to Formula 1 from NASCAR, something that has never been done, you’d need a once in a decade driver to agree to make the switch within about 5 years of being in NASCAR. After that, they aren’t making the switch. Over the past 25 years, only three drivers jump out to me as being that good: Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Kyle Busch (Although in his case it’s more in that his driving style would fit in perfectly in Formula 1).
If it were to happen, I’d be shocked and excited. But the reality is that it just isn’t going to happen in spite of how the media attempts to spin the news. Somehow Haas saying, “I think she would. I think she would. She would bring an awful lot of viewership. I think it would be great for America. I think she would be a great candidate. Whether that’s going to happen or not that’s, that’s, that’s … you know I think that’s kind of a long shot there, too,” turned into “At the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal last weekend, Haas said Patrick would be considered as a driver for the team.”
The reality is that Haas F1, when it starts out in 2016, will probably have a rookie and veteran who are both not American. Essentially, their job will be to develop the car until the right American comes along. Until then, it’s a waste of time pulling names out of a hat.
Surprising and Not Surprising: Michigan Quicken Loans 400
While the luck of the Irish hills was bestowed on the driver who made his way to Victory Lane for the first time ever in Michigan, here is what was surprising and not so surprising in the 46th annual Quicken Loans 400.
Surprising: While Kevin Harvick was certainly fast, coming in second in the race after a blistering pole run, he was even more than freakishly fast in the media center after the event.
Harvick, who was clearly unhappy with his race finish, had just one comment and was asked just one question during his media availability, which went like this:
“I mean, the car was fast, just wound up on the wrong side of all the strategy,” Harvick said. “We finished second, and that’s it.”
QUESTION. “Kevin, six of the top eight were Hendrick engines. This is a pretty big track in terms of horsepower. How well positioned are the Hendricks right now?”
“I think it’s pretty obvious. Self-explanatory. Good question,” Harvick answered and then exited the media center.
Not Surprising: Race winner Jimmie Johnson scored a first, second, third, fifth and eighth all at once with his trip to Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway.
The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Kobalt Tools Chevrolet checked MIS off his win list for the first time, moved up to second in the point standings thanks to his victory, scored his third win of the season solidifying his run for his seventh championship, and handed the fifth win in a row to boss Mr. Hendrick.
Johnson is also now eighth on the all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins list.
“Well, this is a great win for a lot of reasons,” Rick Hendrick, team owner, said. “One for here in Michigan for Chevrolet, and being a Chevrolet dealer and racing Chevrolets, this means a lot to win this race. It’s good to see Jimmie win after leading so many laps here and close the deal because we’ve run out of gas, broke motors, blown tires. I think I remember a couple times coming off of 4 and losing it. For him to be able to finish it off today, it was really good.”
“And again, to keep the streak going, get five, that’s great,” Hendrick continued. “This was a good race, and it just played out the way we needed it to play out. Everybody is really putting out a lot of effort right now, and it’s paying off.”
Surprising: Although Kyle Larson, behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, spun early in the race, damaging the back end of his car, he was the envy of the field as that very damage gave him a bit of down force advantage that propelled him into an eighth place finish.
“You know, the rear bumper, yeah, I’ve never had that happen before, and it happened so early in the race that I don’t know how it would have handled had I had a rear bumper,” Larson said. “Either way I think we would have had a really good car because we were good in practice, but it probably did help a little bit.”
Larson was the highest finishing Rookie of the Year candidate yet again.
Not Surprising: Paul Menard proved that Michigan was a track on which he could run well, winning the Nationwide race on Saturday and finishing fourth in the Cup race on Sunday.
“Yeah, we had a really solid Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevy all weekend, from the time we unloaded,” Menard said. “I actually got to go to Victory Lane yesterday with my daughter and my dad was here today, so it was a good Father’s Day weekend for sure.”
“The car, like I said, was fast all weekend. We needed some clean air at the end and the guys got me out front with some pit strategy and good pit stops and we came home with a top 5,” Menard continued. “So it was pretty good.”
Surprising: There was more spinning in the Quicken Loans 400 than at the Olympic men’s figure skating championship. Spinners in the event included Brian Vickers, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, David Ragan, Alex Bowman, Brett Moffit, Aric Almirola, and Denny Hamlin just to name a few.
“It’s frustrating. I wish I knew — the car just came around going into (turn) three,” Brian Vickers said after spinning early in his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota. “I was trying to back the corner up and was taking it easy and just got loose and it just came around from me.”
“I saved it all the way up to the wall and I thought I had it saved and ultimately it just came around and I lost it,” Vickers continued. “I didn’t have that experience all weekend. The car was just really loose getting into (turn) three and that was it.”
Not Surprising: Well, it was Michigan after all, so not surprisingly at least one driver deemed his day a ‘blue collar’ kind of day.
“Yeah, we just didn’t have the speed really all weekend to be a front runner in the sense of contending to win based on speed,” Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford for Team Penske, said after finishing third. “But the guys did a great job with execution. I thought we executed really well.”
“We had a lot of good restarts, pretty decent on pit road today,” Keselowski continued. “Solid strategy, just — I told somebody before, Joey Logano told us, we were talking before the race started, we needed a good blue collar day today, and that’s of what today was for us.”
“We kind of trudged through it and came away with another top three effort, which is good but not great.”
Surprising: Unlike most of his races recently, Kasey Kahne was actually able to battle back from adversity to finish top-five in his No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet.
‘Yeah, it was tough,” Kahne said. “I was struggling for a while and then we got it and then we were on a good strategy there at the end. We were pretty competitive with the guys in front of us.”
“Yes, we really needed that, especially where we started getting in Larson’s wreck there at the start of the race,” Kahne continued. “We kind of got going from there. We made a lot of adjustments. It took about an hour and a half to get our car right with different adjustments and things.”
“It was a battle, it wasn’t easy today.”
Not Surprising: Two former Indy Car racers were just feeling ‘lucky’ in this week’s NASCAR race. Juan Pablo Montoya, making his NASCAR return, and Danica Patrick both partook in the ‘lucky dog’ experience, leading to a 17th place finish for Patrick and an 18th place finish for JPM.
“We started the race really, really loose and we were not really expecting that based on practice,” Montoya, behind the wheel of the No. 12 SKF Ford for Team Penske, said. “It’s hard because we went from practice to the race without really changing that much and it was awful. We were kind of catching up and we did a good job.”
“I got the lucky dog and we were getting better and then I think we went a little too far with the car at the end, but we’re learning and understanding a little more.”
“We were pretty good,” Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet, said. “The guys did a good job on the adjustments, and it was fun to drive. The race seemed to go by quick.”
“We needed a little bit of track position, but it was a good day for us,” Patrick continued. “Thanks to GoDaddy and everyone on my team, we continue to get better.”
Surprising: At a track that they have owned in the past, Roush Fenway Racing had an incredibly bad day. RFR drivers Greg Biffle finished 20th, Carl Edwards 23rd and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 27th.
“That was a big struggle,” Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford, said. “It was pretty tough but we worked hard and didn’t quit.”
“Fortunately we have a win to get us into the Chase, but we’ve just got to get better as a group,” Edwards continued. “That’s the way it is.”
Not Surprising: After another run of bad luck, suffering damage from a Lap 8 accident that led to a 37th place finish, there is no other driver that is looking forward to Sonoma more than Martin Truex Jr.
“When luck is not on your side, there’s not much you can do,” Truex, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet, said. “I don’t know what to say right now.”
“We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s disheartening because we felt that we had a potential top-10 car but didn’t get a chance to show it. When you have an accident that early it sure makes for a long day.”
“I mean a very long day.”
Truex is, however, the defending champ of the California road course where the Sprint Cup Series will battle next. The Toyota – Save Mart 350 race will be run on Sunday, June 22nd at 3:00 PM ET.
Jason Hathaway outduels Dilley to Budweiser 300 victory at Chaudière
After Steve Mathews led the final 64 laps, it’d be all Jason Hathaway and Mark Dilley as the pair traded the lead for the rest of the 300 lap event. Dueling side-by-side on the quarter-mile oval, both drivers fought hard all race long, though it was Hathaway that’d come out on top, putting his No. 3 Rockstar Energy Drink/HGC Chevrolet in Budweiser 300 victory lane.
“It was a great track,” Hathaway commented. “I’ve been pretty pumped since the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series announced that we were coming to Chaudière here. Heard great things about the place and it didn’t disappoint as it was a great show. Glad we had a little green-white-checkered as I didn’t want to stink up the show too bad. Mark Dilley and I put on a good show at the end.”
Hathaway’s victory at the inaugural NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race at Autodrome Chaudière marks his third victory in his last five series starts and his fourth career victory overall.
“Mark and I – we always race each other clean,” Hathaway continued. “We’ve known each other a long time and have a lot of respect for each other. We ran a couple late model shows together so guess it paid out in the end.”
Mark Dilley would finish second in his first start of the 2014 season for the 27th top-five finish of his career. Pole sitter Steve Mathews finished third, followed by Scott Steckly and L.P. Dumolin.
2013 Rookie of the Year Alex Guenette finished sixth, followed by D.J. Kennington and J.R. Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick, who won the season opener at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, had to fight back after being spun while running second with 10 laps to go. Noel Doweler and Jason White rounded out the top 10.
There would be multiple incidents throughout the day as the caution flag flew five times over the course of the 300 laps. One of the bigger incidents involved Anthony Simone as he had a good run going before being spun by Guenette, and then being hit by Ray Courtemanche Jr. Alex Tagliani also got caught up in an incident or two as he finished 14th in his NASCAR Canadian Tire Series oval debut.
Heading to Circuit ICAR for the Jiffy Lube 100 presented by La Petite Bretonne on July 6th, Fitzpatrick leads Dumoulin by five points.
NASCAR Canadian Tire Series pres. by Mobil 1-Budweiser 300 Unofficial Results:
1. (3) Jason Hathaway, Dutton, Ont., Chevrolet, 301 laps, 56.876 mph.
2. (6) Mark Dilley, Barrie, Ont., Ford, 301.
3. (1) Steve Mathews, New Liskeard, Ont., Ford, 301.
4. (14) Scott Steckly, Milverton, Ont., Dodge, 301.
5. (5) L.P. Dumoulin, Trois-Rivières, Que., Dodge, 301.
6. (7) Alex Guenette, Terrebonne, Que., Dodge, 301.
7. (10) D.J. Kennington, St. Thomas, Ont., Dodge, 301.
8. (11) J.R. Fitzpatrick, Ayr, Ont., Chevrolet, 301.
9. (13) Noel Dowler, Sherwood Park, Alta., Chevrolet, 301.
10. (15) Jason White, Sun Peaks, B.C., Dodge, 300.
11. (12) Hugo Vannini, Repentigny, Que., Ford, 298.
12. (8) Andrew Ranger, Roxton Pond, Que., Dodge, 295.
13. (17) Erica Thiering, Sherwood Park, Alta., Dodge, 293.
14. (4) Alex Tagliani, Lachenaie, Que., Dodge, 283.
15. (2) Anthony Simone, Holland Landing, Ont., Dodge, 281.
16. (9) Joey McColm, Ajax, Ont., Dodge, 269.
17. (16) Ray Courtemanche Jr., Montreal, Que., Dodge, 166, accident.
Hometown Success Eludes Brad Keselowski Again
Brad Keselowski’s schedule always has a circle around his home track, Michigan International Raceway, a venue where victory has continually eluded him, making this weekend’s Quicken Loans 400 a distinctive race, as he yearned for his first win at the track where he grew up as a spectator.
Though, after 400 grueling miles, Keselowski was unable to seize the trophy and finished a respectable third position behind runner-up Kevin Harvick and the victor, Jimmie Johnson.
“We just didn’t have the speed really all weekend to be a front runner in the sense of contending to win based on speed,” Keselowski explained in the media center. “We kind of trudged through it and came away with another top three effort, which is good but not great. We want the wins, especially here at Michigan. That would mean a lot.”
Keselowski, 30, isn’t willing to settle with the podium effort, however, he’s still content with the consistency his organization has possessed through the season.
“We didn’t run as well as we wanted to, but we certainly didn’t run poorly,” Keselowski expressed. “Like I said, it was a good day, not a great day. Third is nothing to hang your hat on. We have consistency, which is good.
“Unfortunately it doesn’t mean much right now at this time of the year in the sense of points,” he continued. “But it does mean a lot to us in the sense of overall morale and our ability to really make a push as the fall comes for the Chase. That’s important to us, even if it might not show a tangible result in the short-term.”
Keselowski, though, is beginning to fret over the dominance that Hendrick Motorsports has shown the past month. Still, despite being behind at this juncture, he is confident his Penske Racing Team will be able to contend.
“We’ve got work to do to get there,” Keselowski admitted. “Thankfully we’ve got — I can’t remember, 12, 13 weeks until the Chase starts, and I know we’ve got some stuff coming up for that, but I think we’ve got at Penske, I think we’re right there, kind of just maybe a half a nose behind the Hendrick cars or Hendrick-powered cars, whatever you want to call them. But we need just a little bit more, and if we can do that, I really feel like we can kind of have a strong march over the fall and have a shot at running for the championship.”
Keselowski now prepares for lefts and rights at the challenging Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, a circuit where he’s had his ups and downs.
