Furniture Row Racing’s response regarding Kurt Busch’s decision not to sign contract extension
Surprising and Not Surprising: IRWIN Tools Bristol Night Race
From NASCAR children National Anthem singing to cars colliding and tempers flaring, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 53rd annual IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Surprising: Disappointment surprisingly abounded atop the Chase leaderboard, with both point’s leader Jimmie Johnson finishing worse than 36th for the second week in a row and second place Chaser Clint Bowyer being spun out while in the lead, finishing 14th.
“This racing stuff happens,” Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet said after finishing 36th. “Luckily, we had a big point’s lead that we can kind of deal with right now.”
“We’ve locked into the Chase and certainly want to clean things up,” Johnson continued. “We’ll keep after it and be back again next week.”
Having once had been in the lead by over 70 plus points, Johnson is now just 18 points ahead of the second place driver Clint Bowyer.
“I felt like we had a shot at winning and then I got spun out by a lapper, of all things,” Bowyer said after the race. “It hit that left-front tire, and the car never turned the center (of the corners) as good the rest of the night.”
“I’m really just disappointed … because we had a really good car,” Bowyer continued. “Absolutely nothing went our way all night.”
Not Surprising: Although he has been a bit quiet over the last month or two, the resurgence of Matt Kenseth at Joe Gibbs Racing continued, with the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota rolling right into Bristol’s Victory Lane for the fifth time this season.
This was Kenseth’s 29th win in 496 Cup Series races and his third victory in 28 races at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“The last month and a half, two months has been a little bit more of a, I hate to say reality check,” Kenseth said. “We’ve struggled just a little bit more, haven’t quite had the speed so it was really, really encouraging this weekend to get to the track and be really fast.”
“It’s a huge win for us,” Kenseth continued. “The Bristol night race is one of the biggest races of the year.”
“I’m glad we were able to pull it off.”
Surprising: The driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet seemed surprisingly befuddled at the end of the race in spite of finishing runner up under the Bristol lights.
“I didn’t get it done,” Kasey Kahne said dejectedly. “We ended up second and it was a good point’s day but I didn’t figure out how to win the race.”
“I don’t know, I just don’t know,” Kahne continued. “I think at the end of the day I just don’t wreck people.”
This was Kahne’s ninth top-10 finish in 20 races at Bristol and his 11th top-10 finish of the season. He also moved up three positions in the Chase standings to the eighth spot.
Not Surprising: Joey Logano, riding the wave of momentum from last week’s race win at Michigan, not surprisingly proved, at least in his own mind, that he has the mettle to make it into the Chase.
The driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford finished fifth and moved up three spots in the points to the tenth position.
“We came from the back three times to get a top-five finish,” Logano said. “They can’t put us down and can’t keep us down.”
“We deserve to make this Chase and if we keep doing this on days that they’re trying to put us down, we deserve it.”
Surprising: Although admittedly hoping that the leaders would wreck each other so he could score the win, Juan Pablo Montoya surprisingly credited his third place finish to, of all things, a speeding penalty.
“I got caught speeding there with like 170 to go or something and that kind of hurt us,” the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “But I’ll tell you the truth, I think it helped us because if it would have played right, we probably would have run out of gas.”
“It made it more interesting,” Montoya continued. “I really cooked the front tires there at the end but it was fun.”
This was JPM’s fourth top-10 finish in 14 races at the Bristol Motor Speedway.
Not Surprising: Well, it was Bristol after all so, to no one’s surprise, there were a few tempers flaring, especially after a late race wreck took out many of the best cars, including some Chase contenders.
Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, who do have a history with one another, had a rather vigorous discussion on pit road after the wreck when Harvick pulled into Hamlin’s pit stall and Hamlin gave him a shove out of the box.
As a result, Harvick jumped out of his car and beat a path to the door of Hamlin’s car to have a few words about the incident.
“I just saw the No. 11 shoot across the track,” Harvick said. “He said the No. 56 got into him and so I just wanted to know what happened.”
“He just told me his version of it,” the driver of the No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet said. “It’s all good.”
“It’s Bristol racing.”
Harvick finish 34th but maintained his fourth spot in the point’s standings while Hamlin finish 28th, well out of Chase contention in 25th in the point’s standings.
Surprising: In spite of some greetings from Smoke’s recovery bed, the Stewart-Haas Racing team had a surprisingly tough day. Mark Martin, subbing for the ailing Stewart, finished 20th with Ryan Newman right behind him in 21st and Danica Patrick in 26th.
“We had some tough luck and a few things that we could’ve done better, but we were pretty fast at the end,” Martin said. “That’s why I go home feeling good about it because we were able to improve the car and get it competitive.”
“This one is behind us and hopefully we’ll move ahead from here.”
“I really don’t know what happened there,” Newman, behind the wheel of the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet, said. “A couple of guys around us made contact and that triggered a big mess.”
“Our Quicken Loans Chevrolet was damaged pretty significantly; it was a handful to drive those last 50 laps with,” Newman continued. “I basically tried to just stay out of everyone’s way and bring the car to the finish.”
“There is nothing you can do about getting into the wall and having damage,” Patrick said. “We came back as best as we could and made the car as good as it was at the end.”
“We will take it and move on.”
Not Surprising: In spite of finishing top-10, Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Axalta Coating Systems Chevrolet, could only talk about opportunities lost at Bristol, especially after gaining just one position in the standings to the 13th spot.
“I think we were better than that,” Gordon said of his seventh place finish. “I don’t know if we had enough for Matt but we fought hard and gave it our best effort.”
“Gained points on 10th but not as much as we could have,” Gordon continued. “But we gained something.”
Surprising: While the Truex brothers were excited to be racing against one another yet again, both Ryan Truex, making his Cup debut, and Martin Truex, Jr. had surprisingly difficult days.
Young Ryan Truex spun and hit the wall, retiring his No. 51 Seawatch Chevrolet after 39 laps to finish 42nd in his first ever Cup effort.
Brother Martin had a very hard crash late in the race, causing him to finish 35th in his No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota. Although maintaining his wild card status thanks to his win, Truex Jr. also suffered in the point standings, losing two positions to 14th.
“We ran up towards the front all night,” Truex Jr. said. “Just disappointed.”
“They start wrecking and you’re an innocent victim,” Truex Jr. continued. “We didn’t deserve that tonight.”
Not Surprising: Another brother duo, this one with the surname Busch, had eventful days at Bristol as well, with Kyle Busch having to start from the rear of the field to finish 11th and Kurt Busch suffering wheel hub issues resulting in a 31st place run.
“Yeah, I guess we had a right-rear hub fail where the studs pulled through or they weren’t tightened,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Sealy Chevrolet said. “We just rode around.”
Kurt Busch lost three positions in the point’s standings, falling to the 12th spot. Kyle Busch remains in the fifth spot in the standings, 82 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.
Surprising: There was a surprising first-of-the season engine failure at Roush Fenway Racing and it happened to none other than the race lap leader Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford.
“I didn’t have any warning,” Edwards said. “The car was almost perfect and the engine ran awesome until it broke.”
“The engine ran great until it blew up, so if we run like that the rest of the year, it’s going to be awesome.”
Not Surprising: Marcos Ambrose finished top-10 for two weeks in a row and he said that the devil made him do it.
“That’s two top-10s in two weeks and we’ve got to take that,” the driver of No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion said. “Yeah, I guess a little bit of the Tasmanian Devil comes out in me at this track.”
“This is a really aggressive track and you’ve got to be aggressive all night,” Ambrose continued. “You’ve got to gnaw on that steering wheel and I just like getting up on the wheel like that.”
“These are good nights to test your mettle and see what kind of man or lady you are out there and get after it.”
The Cup Series will head next to Atlanta for the next to the last race before the Chase begins.
All-Star Race Venue Change?
Dale Jarrett this week suggested that the All-Star Race be moved from Charlotte Motor Speedway to Bristol. Stating that these drivers have all grown up on short tracks, I’m assuming he isn’t taking into account Danica Patrick or Juan Puablo Montoya, who both have not ever thought about driving short track or dirt track cars.
When I first heard this brought up, I took the typical approach of, “Why change something as historic as the All-Star Race?” Then I realized that the last several years that I have not enjoyed the All-Star event as much as I once did.
Perhaps this isn’t such a bad idea after all. I mean think back to this weekend’s race, we saw plenty of cautions, plenty of beating and banging on each other, tempers flared, and despite the fact that there wasn’t a ton of passing for the lead, there was still some and a good bit of drama as the laps wound down.
Granted true NASCAR fans don’t want a ton of carnage during a race, we mainly want to see meaningful passes, people getting held up in lap traffic, and the leaders trying to figure out how to navigate that lap traffic in a confined space. Drop in something like Bruton Smith did this year and give a bonus for winning each segment and we the fans win almost instantly.
Obviously the segments and rules would need to be tweaked a little bit to be more entertaining for a smaller venue. Whereas this year’s segments were twenty lap events in the first four sections, with one final ten lap shoot out, I would plead with anyone listening that they make the segments longer, work with Goodyear Tires and build some give up into the tires and then let the boys have at it. Let’s think outside the box a little more here since we are basically playing with house money and throwing things against the wall to see what sticks. Currently the only ones allowed into this star studded event are: Any driver that has won a race in that year or the preceding year, then any Sprint Cup All Star Race winner within the last ten years, Any Champion of the series in the past ten years, The top two finishers in the Showdown, and the fan vote winner, (whom is determined the night of the event).
Let’s expand the eligibility to anyone who has won a race in any of the three top touring series in the last five years. How great would it be to see a Ron Hornaday, or some rookie that snagged a victory in the Nationwide Series getting a one off deal to run in the All-Star Event? And since we are doing that, then obviously we have to let any champion in those three series in the past five years into the event as well. This will automatically give us an expanded field, if there are teams out there willing to take a run at that tasty thought.
Of course we would allow any Cup champion in the last ten years in, since that is what like three now? (Just kidding I know it’s four). I know I am just thinking loudly, and these things may seem like madness, but let’s play with this thought a little more. Let’s allow the top three finishers in the Sprint Unlimited All-Star Showdown Race presented by about seventy different sponsors whom we don’t even know, or whatever they plan to call it next year, I just call it the qualifying race for the All-Star Shootout.
The last rule on eligibility that I would make is a simple one, once you win the fan vote you are ineligible to win the fan vote again for three years. I am tired of seeing the same select few people win this part of the process before the night even gets started (Danica Patrick and Dale Jr, I am looking directly at you two).
Now to the matter of segment and race length, let’s start out slow and actually build towards something and learn a little from the trucks being on dirt this season. The first segment is twenty laps, and only green flag laps count, the second segment is thirty, and again only green flag laps count. The third segment would be forty-five laps, and a fourth segment would be fifty both with only green flag laps counting. I liked the idea of how where you exit pit road is where you line up, and a few years ago NASCAR gave us the fans a chance to participate a little more with each segment. At the beginning of each segment there would be a brief five minute voting process to determine the number of spots to invert at the end of the segment. This way the drivers and crew chiefs don’t know where they will be starting until the final sixty lap segment, which would be run for an extra payday for the drivers favorite charity. Let’s make it about giving back to the community that has been supporting this sport for so very long.
This would actually add a certain level of excitement back to the event, of course it would have to be run under the lights, if a driver is able to win all five segments then of course that team earns an extra million dollars for their favorite charity. Again I want this to be about the fans, because isn’t that what this event is supposed to be about? Isn’t the All Star supposed to be about giving us an extra layer of entertainment? Something extra for us to believe that our driver is simply the greatest person out there, would this instantly fix what is ailing NASCAR these days? Probably not, but it would at least give us something to cheer for again, and one final thought? Bring back the pit crew challenge the day before qualifying, show case the teams and let them factor heavily into the outcome of the event.
Kenseth takes win as Bristol wreaks havoc on Chase picture
Bristol Motor Speedway lived up to its reputation in the Irwin Tools Night Race on Saturday. When the dust settled and the smoke cleared, the series points standings had been shaken up and drivers who maybe thought they were in a safe position found themselves on the outside looking in. Other drivers now feeling safer after great runs.
Kenseth fought off a hard charging Kasey Kahne in the closing in a fantastic battle reminiscent of the Bristol of the past. Kahne pushed hard and took a couple shots, but refused to wreck Kenseth to get the win. After the race, Kahne talked about the battle, “I just couldn’t clear him, there was a couple shots I took, and I had to have been close because I could feel him on the right side of my car, I just didn’t clear, couldn’t figure out how to get by him. It’s disappointing not to win here.”
The night turned bad for defending champion Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, and Martin Truex Jr. All three were involved in a late race crash when Brian Vickers and Denny Hamlin got together collecting the trio.
Thanks to the fact that the top four drivers in the standings had trouble, Harvick maintained his points position in fourth, currently 61 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson who also had trouble tonight finishing 36th after being involved in a crash and spending time behind the wall for repairs.
Keselowski finished 30th tonight and fell out of the top ten. His teammate Joey Logano, coming off a victory last week at Michigan had another solid effort finishing fifth. Logano is now tenth, just four points ahead of Keselowski. Keselowski commented about the chase, “If you’re not in right now, I don’t care if you’re running eighth or you’re running 13th, every team is worried – not just mine.”
Martin Truex Jr. came into tonight in 12th place in the standings. Truex finished 35th causing him to drop to 14th, but with Logano moving inside the top ten, Truex currently has the first wildcard spot four points ahead of Ryan Newman.
Second place, Clint Bowyer, was made contact with Travis Kvapil while leading and ended up 14th. Bowyer now sits 18 points behind Johnson.
Third place, Carl Edwards, also had bad luck tonight after having one of the best performances of the season. Edwards led 119 laps, but broke a valve spring on a restart that eventually led to engine failure. It was the first DNF for a Roush-Fenway Racing car all season. Edwards finished 39th. Edwards maintains third in the standings, 53 points out of the lead. “We had a great car, probably the best car we’ve had in a long time.” “The engine ran great until it blew up, so if we run like that the rest of the year, it’s gonna be awesome.” Carl said after falling out of the race.
Winner Matt Kenseth, with his win tonight clinched a guaranteed spot the Chase. Kenseth sits sixth in the standings 85 points out of the lead.
Kahne’s second place finish allowed him to pick up three spots in the standings and moved inside the top ten. Kahne is now eighth in the standings, however, he is only 20 points ahead of eleventh place Brad Keselowski.
Kurt Busch’s streak of three top ten finishes came to an end. Busch started second and led 54 laps, but a loose wheel led to wheel stud damage and sent Busch behind the wall for repairs. The Furniture Row Racing Team also had a loose wheel problem at Bristol in the spring. Mistakes have cost the team several chances at good finishes and possible wins throughout the season.
Busch has been offered a contract extension with the team for next season, but he is also in talks with Stewart-Hass Racing to drive a fourth car next year. A move to SHR could give him the consistency he needs to find his way to victory lane.
Kyle Busch came up short in his bid to sweep the weekend. Kyle started 43rd , and fought his way close to the front. Busch finished eleventh and maintains fifth in the standings 82 out of the lead.
Just two races to go before the Chase starts, the mile and a half in Atlanta and another short track at Richmond. With the competition we have seen this season and the tight points battle between eighth and 13th, the Chase is nowhere near being settled.
The series now visits Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday night, Sept 1st at 7:30pm for the Advocare 500.
As win slips away Kahne notes, ‘I just don’t wreck people’
Bristol Motor Speedway is known for a lot of things and the bump and run is something that’s become famous at the bullring.
Saturday night however, Kasey Kahne opted out of that option, as well as the option to wreck Matt Kenseth, while racing for the win. He had plenty of opportunities over the race’s final 20 laps in which he caught Kenseth with a faster car, but was unable to make the clean move he wanted. Kenseth took home another victory as Kahne earned a first and second place finish at the track on the season.
“Seems that way. I’ve always really raced that way,” a clearly dejected Kahne said afterwards on how he’s a notably clean racer.
“I don’t have any experience doing it for one [wrecking someone], and for two, that’s just kind of how I’ve always raced. I think more than anything it’s just discouraging when other guys, like Matt in his case at Watkins Glen, watching that afterwards, all he had to do was lift, and he didn’t because he didn’t want to get passed from behind or whatever the situation was.
“It wasn’t a mistake like he got loose or anything, he just didn’t lift and wiped us out and those kind of things are discouraging because that’s not how I race, but at the same time, more times than not, Matt races me clean.
“I don’t know – I think at the end of the day I just don’t wreck people.”
Two weeks at Watkins Glen Brad Keselowski fought the internal battle of wrecking Kyle Busch for the win. It was also in that race that Kenseth got into Kahne, igniting the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s fire again about the way the Joe Gibbs Racing team has raced him this season.
Which is why no one would have thought any different – besides Kenseth followers – if Kahne was to take this opportunity to get one back. After all, he’s finished second to Kenseth twice prior to Bristol. He’s been wrecked four times by JGR cars.
His attempt to sweep the BMS races for 2013 came up short, but Kahne moved back up three spots in the points to eighth. Two races remain before the Chase starts and he would love to have more bonus points for seeding. Except he was unwilling to earn those Saturday by going against his own personal code, even if he might have fought the decision afterwards.
“I had already tried to clear him on a slide job and he just didn’t brake and stayed in the gas and we were going to hit each other,” Kahne said about the exciting side-by-side battle with Kenseth.
“I don’t know how all that was going to work out. I needed a win bad, but I also needed a finish, and I just didn’t do anything crazy. I just basically ran as hard as I could, tried to pass him two different times and ran on his bumper and hoped he’d screw up, and he really never did.”
The late battle was an instant classic as the two fought hard for what would have been a big win. Kahne had the better car and the strategy to have gotten into the position, charging when it mattered most. But in the end, it was more of the same in the Kenseth versus Kahne battle.
“It was a great night for us, good points and things,” Kahne noted, “but yeah, I wish I could have figured out how to get by him.”
Best run of season for Labonte comes up short at Bristol
Bobby Labonte and the JTG/Daugherty team have been in the news a little more than usual lately. The team owners came under fire from fans in June when they sat former series champion, Labonte out of the car for the race at Michigan in favor of journeyman driver, AJ Allmendinger.
The reason the team cited for the change was their lack of performance and the need to get another perspective from a driver that has proven himself to be fast in several different cars. Though the team stressed the fact that Labonte was their driver and that he was not being permanently replaced, the fans still felt Labonte had been done a dis-service.
Labonte started the Michigan race driving the No. 51 for Phoenix Racing. He crashed out on lap one, however, when he collided with Jeff Gordon. To make matters worse, in the eyes of the fans, two weeks later the team put Allmendinger back in the car again at Kentucky. This time Labonte did not enter the event, thus ending the second longest start streak in NASCAR’s top series.
The team’s decision, though not a popular with fans, seems to have paid off. Allmendinger performed well in the car, scoring a 19th, a 22nd, and managed a top-10 at Watkins Glen, a feat the team had not achieved in some time.
The team put the information gathered from the experiment with Allmendinger to work. Labonte has ran better than his average in several races. Labonte qualified 23rd for the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol, which was close to his best starting position of the season, 20th at Sonoma.
Labonte worked his way toward the front and with the help of some pit strategy, made it to the top-5 and stayed there for over 80 laps. Bad luck strikes the No. 47 on lap 176, however, when leader Clint Bowyer got together with Travis Kvapil and spun on the frontstretch. Labonte had nowhere to go and slid into the side of the No. 15. After spending 53 laps behind the wall, Labonte made it back out to earn valuable series points. Labonte finished 38th.
One thing was evident, however, the team has heart and is still putting forth an effort to improve and do as well as possible in a tough sport. They could have easily given up, packed up and beat the traffic out of Bristol, Tennessee, but they chose not to do that. I believe the top-20 finishes that team owner Brad Daugherty indicated they were looking for are just around the corner.
