Ryan Hunter-Reay scores Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Pole
On his final lap of the Firestone Fast Six qualifying session, Ryan Hunter-Reay laid down a lap of 1 minute, 7.8219 seconds to score the pole for the 40th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. It marks the sixth career pole for the driver of the No. 28 DHL Honda and his first pole award since Mid-Ohio in 2013. Hunter-Reay also is the only driver this season to make the Firestone Fast Six for both races.
The 2010 Long Beach winner finished second last week at St. Petersburg and felt that the work that his Andretti Autosport team put in during hte off-season switching from Chevrolet to Honda would pay off this year.
Hunter-Reay will be joined on the front row by teammate James Hinchcliffe, who qualified his No. 27 United Fiber & Data Honda, 0.1184 seconds off of Hunter-Reay. Hinchcliffe is looking for a solid run after a poor showing two weeks ago at St. Petersburg as a result of mechanical issues throughout the race.
KVSH Racing’s Sebastian Bourdais will start third as he looks for his fourth win on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street circuit. He will be joined in row two by Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing’s Josef Newgarden. Rookie Jack Hawksworth qualified fifth with Simon Pagenaud sixth. Pagenaud led the Friday practice sessions.
Defending series champion Scott Dixon qualified seventh, followed by Marco Andretti, Helio Castroneves, Justin Wilson, Carlos Munoz and Oriol Servia. Of note, there was only one Team Penske and one Target-Chip Ganassi Racing car in the top 12 with neither of them making it to the Firestone Fast Six.
Last week’s race winner Will Power failed to qualify for the second round of qualifying for only the second-time ever in his career as he missed round two by 0.0191 of a second. Power missed Q2 in Sao Paulo last year when he qualified 22nd.
Defending race winner Takuma Sato will start 15th as a result of a poor qualifying effort, and being penalized his two quickest laps as a result of qualifying interference in round one, group one qualifying. Juan Pablo Montoya suffered slight damage to his car after he got into the wall a bit near the end of qualifying. He qualified 16th.
The 80-lap race is scheduled to take place on April 13 at 4 p.m. EST with NBCSN showing the race live.
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Starting Line-up:
Row 1: Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe
Row 2: Sebastien Bourdais, Josef Newgarden
Row 3: Jack Hawksworth (R), Simon Pagenaud
Row 4: Scott Dixon, Marco Andretti
Row 5: Helio Castroneves, Justin Wilson
Row 6: Carlos Munoz (R), Oriol Servia
Row 7: Tony Kanaan, Will Power
Row 8: Takuma Sato, Juan Pablo Montoya
Row 9: Mike Conway, Ryan Briscoe
Row 10: Charlie Kimball, Mikhail Aleshin (R)
Row 11: Carlos Huertas (R), Sebastian Saavedra
Row 12: Graham Rahal
This Bud’s For You: Kevin Harvick dominates Bojangles Southern 500
When Kevin Harvick is not running well, he really suffers and has a terrible finish. However, when he is running well and able to dominate, it produces magical results. Tonight was a product of magical results as Kevin Harvick dominated the Bojangles Southern 500 in route to picking up his second victory of the season. Harvick is the only driver this year with multiple wins, guaranteeing himself a spot in the Chase without question.
“I want to thank everyone on this Budweiser Chevrolet – everyone who is part of this car,” Harvick commented. “We had to overcome a lot over the last few weeks, but we’ve had some real fast cars. We kept our heads down and working hard.”
It marks Harvick’s 25th career victory and his first at Darlington Raceway. Harvick also becomes the first driver to win from the pole at Darlington Raceway since Dale Jarrett in 1997.
Starting on the pole, Kevin Harvick dominated throughout the entire night (leading 238 laps) and looked to have the win in the bag when the caution flew with 10 laps to go for Joey Logano smoking. The leaders headed down pit road with Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon taking right-side tires to lead the group off. Harvick would come off fifth with four new tires on his No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet.
The restart would come with five to go with Jimmie Johnson pulling ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. with the lead while Harvick slipped by both Kenseth and Gordon to move into third. As the field came around for two laps to go, the caution flew once again for Travis Kvapil and Denny Hamlin having an incident down the backstretch. This set up a green-white-checkered finish.
When the green flew for the restart, Johnson spun his tires on the bottom, which allowed Earnhardt Jr. to get away and pull ahead as the leader. Harvick would get by Johnson and begin to set his sights on Earnhardt when the caution flew to set-up a second green-white-checkered. Kurt Busch brought out the caution when he got loos and contact from Clint Bowyer sent him into the inside retaining wall.
On the second green-white-checkered, Earnhardt would pull ahead of Harvick in turns one and two, though Harvick got to the outside of Earnhardt in turn four and took the lead. Harvick then led the rest of the way on his way to victory.
“We needed those green-white-checkereds for the fact that I was able to get good restart and they were spinning the tires,” Harvick noted. “I knew if I got a run off two that I’d be on the outside down in turn four. It’s a good night. It’s the southern 500!”
Earnhardt Jr. would finish second for his third runner-up finish since winning the Daytona 500 in February. It also marks his career-best at Darlington, beating the fourth place runs that he got in 2002 and 2008.
“He had the best car and the best tires,” Earnhardt Jr. commented. “I maybe should’ve ran the top in three and four to make him race me harder for it. These guys did a great job on this car and it’s great to have this run as I normally don’t run that well here. it was a good night.”
Jimmie Johnson overcame his 26th starting spot to finish third despite struggling early in the race and requiring multiple pit stops under a lap 40 caution to work on the car.
“So thankful that my guys keep working and keep trying,” Johnson commented. “The first quarter of the race the car was far off. Chad took some swings at it and got this car where it needs to be. I hadn’t been upfront but everyone said to take the outside. Dale said afterwards that it was a bad call and certainly that push from the 4 (Harvick) helped. It probably would’ve been better for us if it stayed green there.”
Matt Kenseth, who started 25th, cracked the top 10 mid-race and was able to keep himself up there to finish fourth.
“It seemed like the inside row was better but Kevin started on the top and he was just able to get right out there and away with having more tires,” Kenseth said. “Overall, it was a good night.”
Greg Biffle rounded out the top five, followed by Kyle Busch. Busch got into the wall multiple times throughout the night, requiring extended service on pit road to adjust the toe on his Toyota. Gordon would finish seventh to keep the points lead, now one point ahead of Kenseth.
“We had a really strong racecar,” Gordon commented. “Everything was going really well. Kevin having that number one pit stall heped and he was fast – but I thought we were better at times. That last run, we started fading and I got into the wall a little bit. From there, we made some mistakes and fell back a couple times.”
Rookie Kyle Larson was eighth, followed by Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and Austin Dillon.
While Larson and Dillon fared well, their fellow rookies did not as Ryan Truex, Michael Annett and Cole Whitt brought out cautions throughout the night for incidents. However, Darlington didn’t just bite the rookies as Travis Kvapil and Paul Menard also suffered some issues tonight, as well.
With short track racing at Richmond International Raceway around the corner in a couple of weeks, there will be some drivers to watch.
Aric Almirola and Danica Patrick bumped off each other multiple times, with Patrick spinning Almirola on lap 221. On the flip side, A.J. Allmendinger and Dillon bumped off each other causing a tire rub for Allmendinger. Luckily, a cuation came out shortly after so he could pit for repairs. Allmendinger expressed frustration on the radio, saying that he was going to wreck Dillon.
Darlington Raceway Celebrates Its Past & Looks Ahead to a Bright Future
Darlington Raceway is an integral part of NASCAR history. Many of those who have conquered the Lady in Black went on to become legends of the sport including Bill Elliott.
Elliott is a five-time winner at Darlington Raceway, NASCAR’s 1988 Champion and has always been a fan favorite. His son Chase, who won the Nationwide Series race Friday night in his first appearance at the famed track, is a perfect example of the future of NASCAR. Chase currently drives the No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.
Darlington Raceway track president Chip Wile announced plans Saturday to celebrate its beginnings and look ahead to the next generation of drivers who will make new history and add to the mystique of the track, beginning in 2015.
“Our history defines us,” he said. “Without history we wouldn’t know where we’ve come from or where we’re going. NASCAR legends and loyal fans have all played a role in defining Darlington Raceway. Together, we’re celebrating where we came from and where we’re going.”
As part of the celebration, Bill and Chase Elliott were introduced Saturday as the “face” of the program. Wile, along with Bill and Chase, talked about future plans which will include a retro ticket design for the 2015 Bojangles’ Southern 500 and a Classic merchandise product line that will focus on previous decades and will be available for purchase.
Media and fans in attendance were also treated to a first look at an old school designed No. 9 Bill Elliott car which will be used to promote the endeavor.
Another interesting element of the program will feature stories from fans who are encouraged to share their ideas and their unique stories at darlington1950@darlingtonraceway.com
“Tell us your Darlington story,” said Wile. “If you have ideas about how Darlington Raceway and NASCAR can celebrate our history and embrace our future, please let us know.”
Will Power looking for second straight win in Long Beach
When it comes to street and road courses, there are few that can say that they’ve got more wins than Will Power as Power always seems to impress when both left and right turns come into play.
After struggles hurt his championship chances last year, Power is hoping that this year street and road course success coupled with some solid oval performances to his first ever Verizon IndyCar Series Championship.
So far, the driver of the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet is off to a good start as he picked up the win last weekend at St. Petersburg with a dominating performance as he led 74 laps on his way to victory. Power carries that momentum from the west coast to the east coast, posting a solid fifth quickest time in the Friday practice session.
“It’s not a bad day for Verizon Team Penske, but we need to find a bit more,” Power noted post-practice. “It’s ridiculously tight, but there’s a bit of a gap to (Simon) Pagenaud and (Sebastien) Bourdais. I don’t know what they’re doing, but it seems to be working for them. It’s hard work, and it was an unbelievable day. Tomorrow when we put on red tires for the first time, we know we’ll be faster, but it’s always a bit of an unknown because it changes the car.”
While Power may be off right now, don’t count the Australian out of contention as he has two wins and four podiums in his last six starts in California. If you add in the fact that he’s won three of hte last four events, Power is on a roll of momentum. However , while success may be sweet, Power says you can’t get to be comfortable with as you have to keep working hard.
“There’s so many good teams, good drivers,” he commented. “It’s just a good thing. It’s a good kick in the ass to have some bad runs. Not actually lack of pace, but just to have some bad runs, be in the back of the field. You just reset, just realize that you can’t leave anything on the table. You just can’t.”
RACEDAY: Kevin Harvick Feeling Jaunty; Pursuing Southern 500 Triumph
Darlington Raceway’s moniker ‘Too Tough To Tame’ certainly is fitting for Kevin Harvick driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.
The 2007 Daytona 500 champion, Harvick, is still held winless in Darlington. He’s experienced 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at the challenging 1.366-mile speedway, but has only posted three top five and six top-10 finishes.
However, remarkably, he’s only received one DNF (Did Not Finish) on his resume at Darlington, but still has yet to score the ultimate goal: winning.
“This is one of those, I guess, what would refer to as a crown jewel race.” Harvick explained on Friday in the media center. “(This) is one that’s not sitting in our trophy case, not only that, but it’s just Darlington and this is what NASCAR racing is all about.”
On Saturday at Darlington – during ‘Knockout Qualifying – Harvick saved his tires, as your not able to change tires during the session, and eventually qualified a 26.802 en route to his seventh career Sprint Cup Series pole.
“It all worked out,” Harvick expressed following his pole-winning lap time. “Knockout qualifying paid off for us today. We were able to save the best for last.”
Harvick, with the best starting position for Saturday’s race, is aiming for his first career triumph at Darlington, in his first-career start at the historic track with Stewart-Haas.
“To win here would mean a lot,” Harvick furthered commented. “Hopefully we can keep it together for 500 miles, I believe we have a really fast car and (just) everything has gone well all weekend.”
Harvick’s also already, almost, confirmed his placing in this season’s Chase, after winning at Phoenix International Speedway, giving him and crew chief Rodney Childers to gamble for victories.
However, the past few weekends the team’s been restricted from visiting victory lane after having mechanical failures.
“Since we’ve already won and obviously we feel like we have given away some wins with the failures, (we) just need to keep going about our business.” Harvick explained about the struggles this season, “I think (winning the pole) is good medicine for everybody and proof that everybody just works week to week on what they need to work on and last week is over.”
The Bojangles Southern 500 pre-race show begins at 5:00 PM EST on FOX and Harvick will lead the field to the green flag at 6:45 PM EST – follow @MarshallGabell on Twitter for live updates of the action.
