Parity…….Not These Days

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August 5, 2013

field_tms_holloway — Photo Credit: Mike Holloway

Want to know what’s killing NASCAR? Maybe is the lack of parity. It isn’t talked about much these days, but years ago it was a topic of conversation. If one team for one brand became dominant, the sanctioning body would step in to make thing equal. In those days, it was important to level the playing field for all brands. You see brand was important. I thought it had come full circle by now, but I was wrong.

Today, Chevrolets led 135 of the 160 laps in the race at Pocono Raceway. One team dominated and that was Hendrick Motorsports, who led more than 100 laps of the 135. In the end Hendrick finished 1-2 and Jimmie Johnson led another 40+ laps until his unfortunate brush with the wall. It’s almost like the HMS drivers have an unfair advantage. For the record, Ford drivers led 18 laps and Toyota driver led only nine laps.

The great argument is that the other teams need to catch up, and I’ve been a proponent of that argument, but from the start, it was obvious that Johnson was far superior to anyone else in the field. Once he was out of contention (and to note that he continued on to finish 13th when it was all over even after suffering much damage to his car), It was Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon, not to mention Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who took up the company banner. Yes, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex led, but it was futile. The class of the field was the HMS cars. It was like they were only teasing Roush-Fenway, Richard Childress Racing, and the various Toyota teams.

Yes, the racing was good. Keselowski made a dynamic run to the front, but finished sixth. The battle between the 2012 champ and Kahne was entertaining, but in the end it was Hendrick vs. Hendrick. Even when Richard Petty won 27 races so long ago, there was a chance that your favorite drive might have a chance. That’s not the case anymore. Is that something that would encourage fans to come to races and watch on television? I think now.

Is there a solution? No, but it speaks volumes about the state of the sport when longtime fans turn the TV off or watch MLB when it becomes obvious what the outcome is going to be. It’s not parity, it’s more like domination. It is what it is. When Bill Elliott did it in 1985, it was said that it would surely end. And it did. I see no end to this now. And it is something that will go on for many years. I do think it has a lot to do with the lack of attendance. My only wish is that when the analysts continue to harp on why the sport and cite the economy, they might look at the competition. Of course they won’t.

NO. 24 GUNNING FOR NO. 5 AT 2.45-MILE TRACK

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August 5, 2013

Brandon Watson scores Chase for the Colors win at Peterborough

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SM Staff

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August 5, 2013

For the fourth time this year, Brandon Watson would grace victory lane at the end of an OSCAAR Super Late Model event as he won the Chase for the Colors event at Peterborough. The win hands him the pole for the Autumn Colors Classic in October well extending his current points lead.

Rob Gibson wouldn’t start the night off well after his Sunset misfortunes as he spun on lap three of the first heat, making contact with the inside wall. Kevin Cornelius took the win ahead of Brandon Watson, Brent McLean, Shane Gowan, Glenn Watson and Jim Bowman.

Andrew Gresel won the second heat ahead of Derrike Tiemersma, John Owen, Todd Campbell, Tyler Hawn and J.R. Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick was driving Gary Passer’s Super Late Model after Fitzpatrick ran into some engine problems last week at Sunset Speedway.

Glenn Watson won the third heat ahead of Cornelius, Brandon Watson, McLean and Bowman. Gowan pulled off mid-way through the heat due to heavy smoke coming from his super late model; Gibson and Kyle Passer also hit pit road before the end of the heat.

J.R. Fitzpatrick won the final heat ahead of Tiemersma, Gresel, Owen, Campbell and Hawn.

Come feature time, Kevin Cornelius started pole followed by Derrike Tiemersma, Brandon Watson, Andrew Gresel, John Owen and Glenn Watson. There’d be a quick caution though as coming off of turn two on the first lap, contact between Tiemersma and Cornelius would result in a cut tire for Cornelius and the caution flag. In the stack up the front pair, contact was made throughout the field as other drivers – including Tyler Hawn – made their way down pit road.

On the restart, Brandon Watson grabbed the lead ahead of Tiemersma and Gresel when Owen and Glenn Watson battled for fifth. Owen got loose on lap two, allowing Glenn Watson and J.R. Fitzpatrick to slip past. Owen would pass Fitzpatrick back for the fifth spot on lap nine with Campbell passing Fitzpatrick for sixth on lap 13.

The second caution flew on lap 36 when Shane Gowan going around. With the dominant pace that Brandon Watson was setting, only four cars remained on the lead lap at this point – Brandon Watson, Tiemersma, Gresel and Glenn Watson. Owen ran in fifth, one lap down, followed by Campbell, McLean, Cornelius and Bowman. Hawn ran in ninth, two laps down, followed by Gowan.

The next 10 laps would run clean with everybody holding down their positions till Bowman would spin off of the corner. There’d be no caution as Bowman would keep it going, though fell another lap down to the leads.

The final 10 laps ran clean when Brandon Watson taking the lead over Andrew Gresel. Those two will be your front row when the OSCAAR Super Late Models return to Peterborough Speedway for Autumn Colors. Derrike Tiemersma finished third, followed by Glenn Watson and John Owen. Todd Campbell finished sixth, followed by Brent McLean, Kevin Cornelius, Jim Bowman, Shane Gowan and Tyler Hawn.

The next race for the OSCAAR Super Late Models is next Sunday at Kawartha Speedway.

CHEVY NSCS AT POCONO TWO: Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch Post Race Press Conf. Transcripts

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August 4, 2013

Kurt Busch ecstatic over team’s Pocono performance

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August 4, 2013

20130713172411-dcedf704-me — Photo Credit: Gary Buchanan

There was no birthday celebration for Kurt Busch on Sunday at Pocono; in fact he almost forgot it was his big day.

But after 400 miles around the Tricky Triangle Busch was celebrating for a different reason. He finished third in his No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, but more importantly he brought the car home in one piece and closed out the day by finishing where he was capable of running.

“We executed really well today with pit strategy, the pit stops, two tires, four tires, and to be in position at the end. When the 48 [Jimmie Johnson] had their trouble and hit the fence and threw debris out on the track, we were even able to get into the pits before they closed them and get some tires on the car,” said the newly turned 35-year-old Busch.

“The way we made changes to the car, it just seems like the team is flowing really well, and I’m excited for this portion of the season, because we’re now getting back to all these tracks a second time, and we have fresh notes of working together on this Furniture Row Chevy team.”

Repeatedly on Sunday the word excited came from Busch about the prospects moving forward. Five races remain before the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins in Chicago and Busch still has the chance to be among those racing for the championship.

Over the next few weeks the NSCS visits tracks they’ve already been to this season, which Busch sees as an advantage. The time to be aggressive in their race day approach is now and they’ll know what they did wrong the first time around in hopes of capitalizing the second time.

“So even though we didn’t win, I feel good about this third place finish,” he said. “Even though we didn’t gain points, this was a championship effort type day.”

Busch, who won the championship in the inaugural Chase in 2004, is still searching for his first win of the 2013 season. There have been moments of closeness, strong cars and solid finishes. But there’s also been weeks of frustration and lost opportunities.

Michigan and Sonoma easily come to mind. In both races Busch led laps and was a contender until taking himself out of the picture. Sunday there was no mishaps, no missteps, just a solid car and run that moves them to 13th in points. He’s just 11 markers out of the top 10 and a Chase spot.

“We just need to have nice, solid races and execute just like today,” Busch said about making the Chase.

“What’s amazing is we finished 14th last week [at Indianapolis] and gained one point. We finished third this week and gained two points, it’s so tight. When you’re running against Jeff Gordon, a four-time champion, [Brad] Keselowski, a champion from last year is in this mix, [Greg] Biffle is strong, [Martin] Truex won earlier at Sonoma, this group of guys are all Chase material.”

Busch finished fourth at Sonoma in June and the NSCS heads to their second and final road course next weekend in Watkins Glen. Using one of their tests at The Glen in preparation of the upcoming event earlier this season, Busch noted his confidence in arriving with a car that will have qualifying and race speed. While he’s never won a Cup race the track – he does have two Nationwide wins there – Busch has stepped up at the left and right handed tracks.

He also has multiple victories at three of the four tracks leading up the Chase.

“For us, we’re just putting the blinders on and worried about the 78,” Busch notes about the next five weeks and his competition, “I’m just excited to go back to these tracks a second time and execute with the mistakes we made the first time around.”

Kasey Kahne Pays Tribute to Jason Leffler in Pocono Victory Lane

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August 4, 2013

Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet, came from the eighteenth starting spot to finish first in the GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway.

And in the midst of his celebration in Victory Lane, he took a moment to pause and pay tribute to his friend Jason Leffler, with whom he had ridden home with before and after the last Pocono race prior to Leffler’s fatal sprint car accident.

“This summer has been tough on some racers,” Kahne said. “I thought about it on my way up here because Jason flew up and back with me.”

“It was tough and there are so many people that were good friends with Jason so I wanted to mention him.”

This was Kahne’s 16^th victory in 345 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, his second victory in 2013, and his second victory at Pocono. He advanced one position in the point standings to the eighth spot.

“I felt like our Farmers Insurance Chevrolet was the best car,” Kahne said. “Once I cleared Jeff (Gordon), that was pretty much the race.”

“To come here and dominate the race and get the win was really cool,” Kenny Francis, crew chief said. “We were all about to jump off the box when Kasey made that pass.”

Jeff Gordon, who suffered that fateful pass by teammate Kasey Kahne, celebrated his birthday by finishing runner up in his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet.

This was Gordon’s 29^th top-10 finish in 42 races at Pocono and his ninth top-10 finish of the season.

“He was super-fast all day,” Gordon said of Kahne. “Those guys deserved and earned that win today.”

“We had them though,” Gordon continued. “We had the position and got a good restart and I’m pretty disappointed that I allowed him to get to the outside of me in Turn One.”

“That’s the advantage you have of being second, just like the restart before that where I had a little bit of an advantage being in second and got position on him,” Gordon said. “I thought that last restart I did everything I needed to do and I looked in my mirror and I really thought that the inside lane got a good run. I thought all I needed to do was get the bottom but man, he caught me by surprise and blasted by me.”

“And in that scenario, it just kills your momentum.”

While Gordon was disappointed, he was definitely counting his blessings, especially as it pertains to the point standings and getting into Chase contention.

“I feel fortunate to come in second,” Gordon said. “I feel like we had a great day all in all and I’m very proud of that.”

“That’s something we can build a lot of momentum on,” Gordon continued. “Yeah, I’m frustrated right now because we had a shot at it and I know how important wins are, but second is a great points day for us as well.”

Gordon moved up one spot in the point standings up to the ninth position.

Fellow birthday boy Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet, finished third. And for him it felt like a victory, having conquered some of the demons that had plagued the team.

“It was definitely a run that we were able to close the chapter on having little problems here and there,” Busch said. “What I mean by that is that we executed really well today.”

“It was pit strategy, pit stops, two tires, four tires and all to be in position at the end,” Busch continued. “When the 48 had their trouble, we were even able to get into the pits before they closed them.”

“It just seems like the team is flowing really well and I’m excited for this portion of the season because we now get to go back to all these tracks a second time and we have fresh notes,” Busch said. “So, working together, what I’m happy about is that we’re small but we can shoot from the hip a lot and make up a lot of ground by being aggressive.”

“Even though we didn’t win, I feel good about this third place finish because this was a championship effort.”

This was Busch’s 14^th top-10 finish in 25 races at Pocono and he moved up one position to 13^th in the point standings.

Ryan Newman, coming off the race win at the Brickyard, continued riding the momentum wave with a fourth place finish in his No. 39 Haas Automation 30^th Anniversary Chevrolet.

“Well it was a good run no doubt,” Newman said, in spite of some pit road challenges. “Big for Quicken Loans and their ‘Bring it Home’ sweepstakes.”

And of course Newman reminded all that Bloomin’ Onions would be available for all at Outback on Monday.

Rounding out the top-five was Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the No. 88 National Guard Youth Foundation Chevrolet.

“We had a good car but not as good as it needed to be,” Junior said. “We just didn’t have the edge that we needed.”

“I want to thank my guys who did a good job on strategy and pit stops.”

While Chevrolet dominated the top five, team Penske flew the Ford team colors, with Brad Keselowski finishing sixth and Joey Logano finishing seventh.

“We were close to the 5 and 24 but they were probably a tad faster,” the reigning champ and driver of the No. 2 Redd’s Apple Ale Ford said. “Damn, we were just a little bit short.”

“We were a lot better than we finished,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “Seventh isn’t bad but I thought we were a top-three car today.”

“We just have to keep our heads in the game and keep trying to make up points.”

Both Logano and Keselowski each moved up one position in the point standings, with Logano now in 17^th and Keselowski now in wild card contention in 12^th.

Kyle Busch was the highest finishing Toyota. He brought the No. 18 M&M’s Peanut Butter Toyota to the checkered flag in the eighth spot.

“We were just a little bit off today,” Busch said after starting from the outside pole. “It seemed like we could get going good on restarts and it would drive well for a few laps, then we couldn’t keep up as well on the long run.”

“That’s about all we had.”

Points leader Jimmie Johnson had a very eventful day in his No. 48 Lowe’s Planes Chevrolet, but battled back to a 13^th place finish after blowing a tire and hitting the wall. In spite of all that, Johnson actually increased his points lead over Clint Bowyer to 77 points.

“Yeah, my day kept needing to be calibrated as the day went on,” Johnson said. “I really felt like we had a shot to win, unfortunately blew a tire off of Turn One and ended those hopes there.”

“We worked on the car and got it better,” Johnson said. “Then I hit the wall so hard that it knocked a spark plug wire off the spark plug.”

“They were able to get everything hooked back up and the engine took off,” Johnson continued. “Off we went and salvaged a very nice finish.”