Hot 20 over the past 10 – Kurt replaces Newman at SHR and could soon replace him in the Chase
It would appear that Tony Stewart is not the only dog who can bark in the SHR dog pound. Gene Haas not only has a share of the team, but his own money to spend on sponsorship, and he was not going to spend it on Ryan Newman. Kurt Busch was his man, and he got him. It might not have been what Stewart wanted, but without a sugar daddy of his own, Newman got shown the door and Kurt found himself a new team for 2014.
Ironically, Newman is the only one from the current roster with a Chase place, as he holds the second wild card spot going into Atlanta. Stewart is gone with his broken leg, while Danica Patrick has not been seen near the front much since February. Harvick remains hot as his swan song for RCR should be as a Chaser, while Busch needs to jump six track positions ahead of Joey Logano to move in himself for Furniture Row. If he does, that could very well mean Newman would be out of the mix, just to add insult to injury. The way things are going, with the Earnhardt Ganassi opening going to Kyle Larson, maybe Ryan could at least replace Kurt at Furniture Row. If nothing else, maybe Gene Haas could use a smart guy behind the counter. You know neither he nor Juan Pablo Montoya are going to end up as start and parkers.
Clint Bowyer takes over point this week, and while he has not been setting a blazing pace he has avoided any big disappointments since March at Fontana. The big mover this past week was Matt Kenseth, as his Bristol win powers him nine positions to the good, as runner-up Kasey Kahne jumps eight. Jimmie Johnson may still be the season leader, but his performance as of late has been ice cold. Picking up 13 big points in total over the past two races does not exactly equate into momentum.
Here are our hottest drivers over the past ten races.
| Name | Points | Pos | LW | Rank | W | T5 | T10 |
| Clint Bowyer | 351 | 1 | 2 | (2) | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Kyle Busch | 327 | 2 | 4 | (5) | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Kevin Harvick | 326 | 3 | 1 | (4) | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Matt Kenseth | 318 | 4 | 13 | (6) | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Joey Logano | 316 | 5 | 8 | (10) | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| Kurt Busch | 305 | 6 | 5 | (12) | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Greg Biffle | 303 | 7 | 10 | (9) | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Kasey Kahne | 301 | 8 | 16 | (8) | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Jimmie Johnson | 300 | 9 | 3 | (1) | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Martin Truex, Jr. | 299 | 10 | 9 | (14) | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Carl Edwards | 298 | 11 | 6 | (3) | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Ryan Newman | 296 | 12 | 7 | (15) | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Jamie McMurray | 284 | 13 | 12 | (16) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Brad Keselowski | 283 | 14 | 11 | (11) | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Jeff Gordon | 281 | 15 | 15 | (13) | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Dale Earnhardt, Jr. | 275 | 16 | 14 | (7) | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Marcos Ambrose | 269 | 17 | 17 | (21) | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Juan Pablo Montoya | 253 | 18 | 19 | (22) | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Paul Menard | 253 | 19 | 23 | (17) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Aric Almirola | 239 | 20 | 21 | (18) | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Jeff Burton | 236 | 21 | 20 | (20) | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Tony Stewart | 216 | 24 | 18 | (19) | 0 | 3 | 4 |
Crunching The Numbers: Atlanta
After three nights of battling in the bullring that is Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend, the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series head to Atlanta Motor Speedway for Labor Day weekend and more racing under the lights on the fast 1.5 mile speedway. With a track surface that is old and worn, having not been repaved since its reconfiguration in 1997, the track has gotten rave reviews from drivers who enjoy slipping and sliding around on the worn out asphalt. The Sprint Cup Series will have their shot at the track on Sunday night, while the Nationwide Series takes to the track the night before for their race.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – Advocare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Only two races remain until the cut-off for the Chase for the Sprint Cup and the points standings heading into this weekend’s race are still as tight as they were prior to Bristol. After having a 77 point lead just two weeks ago, Jimmie Johnson’s points lead has shrunk to 18 points over second place Clint Bowyer after finishes of 40th and 36th in the past two races. Both Johnson and Bowyer are locked into the Chase and with his win last weekend at Bristol, Matt Kenseth locked himself into the Chase as well. Several drivers are fighting for the remaining Chase berths, with only 24 points separating Kasey Kahne in eighth with defending champion Brad Keselowski in 11th. Two other former Sprint Cup champions, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon, are lurking just behind Keselowski, only six and 11 points back, respectively. The fight to make the Chase is going to come right down to the wire and how these drivers perform at Atlanta will go a long way in helping their Chase fortunes.
| Driver | Races | Win | Top 5 | Top 10 | Pole | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
| Jimmie Johnson | 21 | 3 | 11 | 13 | 0 | 440 | 8.6 | 11.1 |
| Jeff Gordon | 39 | 5 | 16 | 25 | 2 | 1280 | 12.3 | 11.9 |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr | 25 | 1 | 8 | 11 | 2 | 632 | 16.2 | 12.5 |
| Matt Kenseth | 24 | 0 | 8 | 14 | 0 | 253 | 21.6 | 12.7 |
| AJ Allmendinger | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 27.9 | 14.4 |
| Carl Edwards | 15 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 345 | 10.3 | 15.1 |
| Greg Biffle | 18 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 291 | 12.5 | 16.0 |
| Denny Hamlin | 13 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 314 | 13.4 | 16.2 |
| Brian Vickers | 15 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 16.2 | 16.4 |
| Jeff Burton | 35 | 0 | 8 | 14 | 0 | 104 | 25.3 | 16.5 |
Who To Watch: After two dismal finishes in the past two weeks, Jimmie Johnson has to be happy to be heading to Atlanta this weekend since his stats at the 1.5 mile track are tops in the series. In 21 starts, Johnson has three wins, 11 top fives, 13 top tens, 440 laps led, and an average finish of 11.1.
Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., fall in second and third with their stats at Atlanta. Gordon has 39 starts, with five wins, 16 top fives, 25 top tens, two poles, 1280 laps led and an average finish of 11.9. In 25 starts, Earnhardt Jr., has one win, eight top fives, 11 top tens, two poles, 632 laps led, and an average finish of 12.5.
Besides the Hendrick Motorsports contingent, others who run well at Atlanta include: Five-time winner in 2013, Matt Kenseth, with eight top fives, 14 top tens, 253 laps led, and an average finish of 12.7 in 24 starts; A.J. Allmendinger, with two top tens, one lap led, and an average finish of 14.4 in seven starts; Carl Edwards, with three wins, eight top fives, 10 top tens, 345 laps led, and an average finish of 15.1 in 15 starts; and Greg Biffle, with three top fives, nine top tens, one pole, 291 laps led, and an average finish of 16.0 in 18 starts.
NASCAR Nationwide Series – Great Clips/Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway
With 10 races remaining in the Nationwide Series schedule, the points standings remain tight after Bristol with just 39 points separating the top five in points and the gap for Sam Hornish, Jr. over second place Austin Dillon sitting at just six points. None of the top five in points has been able to win at Atlanta heading into this weekend, so if any of the championship contenders find themselves in Victory Lane or find trouble on Saturday night, the points standings could be shaken up once again.
| Driver | Races | Win | Top 5 | Top 10 | Pole | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
| Austin Dillon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 6.0 |
| Joey Logano | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10.5 | 6.0 |
| Cole Whitt | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12.0 | 8.0 |
| Kevin Harvick | 11 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 376 | 8.2 | 8.5 |
| Justin Allgaier | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 20.0 | 10.2 |
| Kasey Kahne | 11 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 95 | 10.5 | 10.6 |
| Sam Hornish Jr | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5.5 | 12.0 |
| Kyle Busch | 9 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 490 | 3.4 | 13.9 |
| Michael Annett | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 23.5 | 16.2 |
| Brian Scott | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21.3 | 17.0 |
Who To Watch: With the points lead up for grabs, Austin Dillon has to be happy to be at Atlanta this weekend since he has the best stats of the series at the track. In his lone start at Atlanta last season, Dillon started ninth and finished sixth.
Sprint Cup regular Joey Logano, driving the dominant No. 22 Ford this weekend, falls in just behind Dillon with two top tens in two starts, giving him an average finish of 6.0.
Others to keep an eye on include: Cole Whitt, with an eighth place finish in one start at the track; Kevin Harvick, with one win, six top fives, eight top tens, 376 laps led, and an average finish of 8.5 in 11 starts; Justin Allgaier, with one top five, two top tens, 15 laps led, and an average finish of 10.2 in four starts; Kasey Kahne, with four top fives, seven top tens, one pole, 95 laps led, and an average finish of 10.6 in 11 starts; and points leader Sam Hornish, Jr., with one top ten, one lap led, and an average finish of 12.0 in two starts.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park
With the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series headlining at Atlanta, the Camping World Truck Series heads to Canada for their inaugural race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park near Toronto, which also is the first race for the series outside of the United States and marks the return to a road course for the first time since 2000. This race is basically a toss-up since only one driver in the field, Ron Hornaday Jr., has previous Truck Series road course experience, so this will be an interesting race to see who will become the inaugural race winner. The Trucks will take to the track for their race on Sunday afternoon, prior to the Sprint Cup Series race from Atlanta later that night.
It Must Be the K: Kenseth, Kahne Finding Each Other Near the Front Often This Season
These two drivers have been in close proximity at the front of the field on numerous occasions this season. At the conclusion of three races so far in 2013; Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne have been involved in very exciting battles for the win. So far, it has turned out better for Kenseth than Kahne. Kahne however, is always on his bumper while looking for a way around. They have been two of the best in 2013 and when the laps wind down; you often see why.
Saturday Night during the Irwin Tools Night Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway another episode in this series took place. Over the course of the final 10 laps, another hard fought battle occurred. So far it has been Kenseth getting the better of Kahne, but Kahne keeps getting closer.
Mile and a half tracks have been the location for two of these battles. With the 1.5 mile Atlanta Motor Speedway coming up this weekend, another chapter of this friendly rivalry may emerge.
This storyline had its start during the Kobalt Tools 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway back in March. That Sunday featured the first mile and a half race of the season and it didn’t disappoint. As the laps were winding down, a determined Kahne started hunting down the leader, Matt Kenseth. Kahne inched closer and closer to Kenseth, but he wasn’t able to catch him in time. That led to Kenseth celebrating his first win with his new team and it started a theme for some finishes in 2013, Kenseth verse Kahne.
Two different paint schemes didn’t change a thing at the Kansas Speedway where this fight for the win was on again. The same story played out as in Las Vegas, but the closing laps were much closer this time around. The final turns gave Kahne his chance, but Kenseth wouldn’t have it, therefore denying the No.5 another win.
That showdown took place during the third mile and a half race of the year. Two out of those three events came down to Kenseth and Kahne which made it a prominent trend so far in the season. The trend took a few months off before returning to Bristol last weekend.
The closer action at the Bristol Motor Speedway created a tighter battle on the high banks. It turned out to be one that had reminders of Las Vegas and Kansas written all over it.
Bristol’s fight for the finish took place for more than ten of the closing laps. As the two chased each other around, Kahne had open windows, but he wasn’t able to take advantage of them. His usually nice demeanor ultimately decided the finish which had him settling for second to Kenseth, again. Making it the third time on the season that these two have duked it out for the victory
A friendly battle has developed and another fight for the finish among two championship hopefuls could be in the works considering the makings of the three so far. Atlanta, Chicagoland, Kansas, Charlotte, Texas, and Homestead-Miami are all mile and a half’s, making them potential grounds for the next episode of Kahne verse Kenseth.
Why you ask? It is because the first two events in this storyline took place on 1.5 mile circuits. Both drivers seem to run well during those events and with six left on the schedule, more between these two is bound to come. The best chance of another battle occurring will be during the AdvoCare 500 on Sunday Night at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Two of the hungriest competitors in the garage could meet up at the front again to produce another action-packed dash to the finish.
Dillon, Buescher, Burton and Hackenbracht to run Canadian Tire Series race at CTMP
With this being the first race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWT) at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (CTMP), some drivers are trying to get the upper-hand and get some extra laps on the track versus their competition. NASCAR has arranged four practice sessions in total before the race for the truck regulars, but there’s a four-some that are looking for more.
Ty Dillon, James Buescher, Jeb Burton and Chad Hackenbract are all entered in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Pinty’s presents the Clarington 200 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park this weekend. The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series practices and qualifies alongside truck practice and qualifying on Saturday. Then on the Sunday, the NCAT race is run prior to the NCWT race.
Beyond getting some laps, though, these drivers will be looking for the win as they will be running in top-tier series equipment.
For Ty Dillon, he will be running the No. 4 for Fitzpatrick Motorsports for the second time this season. Dillon ran the car earlier this year in May and came home with a solid seventh place finish. Dillon is one of the drivers that enters the weekend with some road course experience due to the ARCA Re/Max Series experience.
Fitzpatrick Motorsports currently houses the No. 84 Equipment Express Chevrolet for J.R. Fitzpatrick and Fitzpatrick is the all-time leader in race wins on the road course with three.
James Buescher will be driving the No. 24 Dodge for 22 Racing as a teammate to Scott Steckly in his Canadian Tire Series debut. When Buescher’s Turner-Scott Motorsports teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. laid down the base line test laps for NASCAR to share information with the teams, Buescher was there to view the track and watch his teammate.
Steckly (No. 22 Canadian Tire Dodge) is the current points leader, leading D.J. Kennington by four points following Antoginish. Steckly has never won at CTMP, though had a career-best of third last year and has four top-fives in seven starts on the road course.
Chad Hackenbracht will be driving the No. 27 Jacombs Motorsports car as a teammate to series rookie Alex Gunette. Hackenbracht will be making his first career Canadian Tire Series start this weekend in anticipation for his third NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start. Like Dillon, Hackenbracht has some road course experience virtue of his time spent in ARCA.
Speaking of Gunette, he will be driving the No. 39 Motos Illimitées/DLGL Dodge as he looks to break the tie for first between himself and Ryley Seibert in the rookie standings. Gunette had a career best second place finish in his last series start at St. Eustache, Quebec. He didn’t fair too well in May at CTMP as he finished 27th.
Lastly, Jeb Burton will be driving the No. 7 State Water Heaters Dodge as he looks to make his first carer Canadian Tire Series start as well. Burton has stuck to ovals for his career so this will mark the first time the son of Ward Burton has found himself on a road course. However, he has proven to be quick at adapting to new situations in his rookie season with a win, three top fives and seven top 10s in 13 starts this year.
The No. 7 State Water Heaters Dodge is normally piloted by Pete Shepherd. Shepherd has run a limited schedule the past five years due to lack of funding to run the full schedule. However, Shepherd has been really successful. In the two races that Shepherd has run this year at Delaware and CTMP’s oval, Shepherd won both of them. No pressure for Burton, right?
Looking at the caliber of rides that these four drivers are running, it will be interesting to see how much the added track time helps them, as well as whether one of them can beat one of the series regulars for the win. With Fitzpatrick, Steckly and Gunette in the field (as mentioned above), plus series regulars that include D.J. Kennington, Andrew Ranger, Kerry Micks and Jeff Lapcevich, you can promise that it will be exciting.
Bristol Rewind: All the Action Plus Drama at Stewart-Haas
The smoke cleared after the weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, and there were surprises upon surprises. After an exciting NASCAR Camping World truck race in which Kyle Busch just edged out Timothy Peters on the last lap, it was followed up with Busch dominating the Nationwide Series race. What happened on Sunday was different, if not pleasing.
It all started on Thursday for me. Arriving in Bristol on Thursday, the first order of business was setting up the camping trailer. Unfortunately, a freak accident happened and I somehow broke my ankle. I cannot tell you what happened. It happened too fast. My weekend was a long saga of pain. I made it to the track, but not without making things worse. I didn’t have credentials for this race, something I plan to have in the future, but I still could watch on television. I was within sight of the track even if I couldn’t get inside. It was a very frustrating weekend.
Carl Edwards had the car to beat and he demonstrated it all night. A good crowd, not a sellout as in years past, but good, saw Edwards the class of the field until his engine failure. That left the race to Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne to decide. What resulted was a colossal battle. In former days, before the track was changed to progressive banking several years ago, it would have meant a tap to the rear of the car, in this case Kenseth’s, and a drive by. It didn’t happen on this night. Kenseth and Kahne battled side by side for much of the last 50 laps, but little touching took place. Kenseth prevailed and rolled to his fifth win of the year and a probable first seed in the final playoffs that we have come to call The Chase.
It was a great show, but what was going behind the scene was the biggest story. Apparently Gene Haas, co-owner with Tony Stewart of Stewart-Haas Racing had made a decision. Earlier in July, SHR made a business decision to let Ryan Newman go because they couldn’t afford to run a four-car team because of sponsorship. Enter Haas. With Stewart on the shelf with the broken bones from a extra-curricular race, Haas made the decision to hire Kurt Busch for the fourth team that was impossible on a month before. One has to consider that either this didn’t set well with Stewart or that he was in on it from the beginning.
Regardless of what happens next (Stewart didn’t attend the news conference today to announce Busch’s hiring due to a doctor appointment), it appears that someone has a lot of explaining to do, especially to Ryan Newman. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, what will happen to Ryan Newman? The consensus is that he will end up at either Richard Childress Racing or Furniture Row, just vacated by Kevin Harvick who also left for SHR or Furniture Row to replace Busch. Furniture Row has a news conference on Friday to announce their driver, so that seems to be out. One also has to consider that Jack Roush has expressed interest in Newman. It’s all a little foggy now.
Just like it has been for several years, all this overshadowed the racing at Bristol. It was a good weekend. The racing was good and the crowd came back somewhat. The bigger story might be what happens next.
