NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Atlanta
Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.
1. Kyle Busch: Busch took the lead in the pits during the final caution at Atlanta and sped away on the restart to win the AdvoCare 500. It was Busch’s fourth win of the year, tied with Jimmie Johnson and one behind Matt Kenseth.
“How about Trucks Series driver Max Papis getting slapped by a woman after the race in Ontario on Saturday,” Busch said. “Max is a veteran of open-wheeled racing, and now is a veteran of open-handed slapping. No one was more offended by this than my brother Kurt—he’s no fan of bitch-slapping.”
2. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth fell a lap down midway through the Advocare 500 but recovered to finish a solid 12th for Joe Gibbs Racing, as teammate Kyle Busch took the win. Barring a win by Jimmie Johnson or Busch next week in Richmond, Kenseth will be the top seed when the Chase For The Cup begins.
“We’ll definitely start at the top of the Chase,” Kenseth. “I’m just thrilled to be in it. You know, there are five Chase spots still open, so there will be a lot of clinching at Richmond, particularly among the buttocks of the drivers vying for those five spots.”
3. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished 28th at Atlanta, four laps down, after sustaining damage in a restart on lap 32 when Jeff Gordon spun his tires, backing up those behind him. It was Johnson’s third consecutive finish outside the top 28, a situation made more palatable by his four wins this year.
“I’ve had the same engine problem for the last three weeks,” Johnson said. “It seems to be stuck in reverse. Luckily, I have four wins, because I surely need something to ‘fall back’ on.”
4. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer was leading on lap 193 when his engine let go, relegating him to a 39th-place finish in the AdvoCare 500, his worst result of the year.
“We were running an experimental engine package,” Bowyer said. “I like to call it ‘The Clint Bowyer Experiment.’ That was also the name of my country and western band; unfortunately, it never ‘blew up.’”
5. Kevin Harvick: Harvick posted his 13th top-10 finish with a ninth at Atlanta, leading the way for Richard Childress Racing in the Jimmy Johns No. 29 Chevrolet.
“Most importantly,” Harvick said, “I clinched a spot in the Chase. I was so excited, I called Tony Stewart and said, ‘I’m in!’”
6. Carl Edwards: Edwards led 68 laps at Atlanta, but fell a lap down late and finished 18th, just behind Roush Fenway teammates Greg Biffle and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in 15th and 16th, respectively.
“I had a spirited battle with Jeff Gordon for the lead midway through the race,” Edwards said. “I’m not sure why Gordon is so angry. I know his hauler caught on fire on its way to Atlanta, and I know it had to get hot in there. Maybe he’s still ‘steamed.’”
7. Joey Logano: Logano’s No. 22 Penske Ford was the dominant car at Atlanta, leading 78 laps, but lost the lead in the pits during the final caution. With only 12 laps to catch Kyle Busch in the lead, Logano fell short and settled for second.
“It was a good day for me,” Logano said, “but not a good one for my teammate Brad Keselowski. He lost two cylinders, three if you count the Sprint ‘Cup’ as a cylinder.”
8. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt finished eighth in the AdvoCare 500, posting his 14th top-10 result of the year. Still winless on the season, Earnhardt looks for a final chance for victory at Richmond.
“It’s crunch time for me at Richmond,” Earnhardt said, “therefore a great time for Nestle to pay me for an endorsement. Now, I need to finish 32nd or better to clinch a spot in the Chase. Luckily, I don’t need a victory to qualify for the Chase. ‘IN’ is practically the same as ‘WIN,’ it just lacks a ‘W,’ just like me.”
9. Martin Truex, Jr.: Driving with a broken wrist sustained last week at Bristol, Truex battled his way to a third in the AdvoCare 500. He is 13th in the points standings and currently holds one of the two wildcard spots for the Chase.
“My cast melted during the race,” Truex said. “And if things don’t go right for me at Richmond, I could be a ‘cast off’ from the Chase.”
10. Kasey Kahne: Kahne finished 36th at Atlanta after traffic backed up on a lap 32 restart, damaging the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevy. He has clinched at least a wildcard spot in the Chase, and looks to better his seeding with a win in Richmond.
“I’m not sure what I’d do if I was slapped by a woman,” Kahne said. “I’m sure my decision would be made easier were she wearing leather and chains, though. Like most drivers who want to be the best, I’m into domination.”
Animosity between Stewart and Haas over fourth car unfounded
For those who might have believed, and eaten up, that there was trouble brewing at Stewart-Haas Racing between co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, would have been sorely disappointed after listening to Stewart address the media on Tuesday.
An upbeat and healthy looking Stewart spoke for the first time on Tuesday since the sprint car accident that broke the tibia and fibula in his right leg, ending his Sprint Cup Series season.
Stewart said his recovery is coming along as schedule and doctors have diagnosed him with a full recovery by February, when he’ll be able to climb back aboard his No. 14 Chevrolet. It hasn’t only been Stewart’s injury that has kept SHR in the news however, as an announcement last week has made the company the most talked about on the circuit.
Kurt Busch will be at SHR next season in a fourth car. Brought in by Haas and in a car that will be funded with is name on it, Haas made some interesting comments last week. Since that time speculation has run wild as to whether Stewart, who was injured as the deal come about and was finalized, was completely on board with the decision. That speculation ended when Stewart made sure to set the record straight.
“It wasn’t as dramatic as he made it sound,” Stewart said about Haas’ comments.
“When Gene came to me about the fourth team, he told me on a Monday, and then on Thursday I was told that they had a contract ready. So it definitely moved a lot faster, but in that time frame there were a lot of meetings in three days. And the biggest thing was having Greg Zipadelli sit there and say we can do this and we can get it done in a time frame. That was my concern. It wasn’t that I was against the idea of what Gene had in mind.”
Much has been written and spoken about Haas saying he was going to sign Busch regardless of what Stewart wanted. Yes, Haas is used to working on his own, a one-man show and success story from CNC Racing. Stewart might be the first real partner he’s ever had and had to work with.
Busch is a driver that Stewart knows is fast every weekend and has just as much desire to win a race as he does. He called Busch a huge asset to the organization and he and a fourth car are something that Stewart is 100 percent behind.
It’s also something Haas wanted since the day SHR began. And Haas has become more engaged as the years gone on, wanting his hand in things and to take direction. Which is what he did with signing Busch, on his time and dollar. It was just a matter of when it was all going to come along and when it did, Stewart was against the timing of it.
“It was just me getting caught up more than anything, and when he asked me about it, I wanted to make sure that we had the time – the timing is very tight, and we’re going to have to get a lot done in a short amount of time to accomplish this,” Stewart continued about the deal.
“We never argued about it. He asked my opinion, and it was just Gene being – Gene was so excited about doing this and having his hand involved in it, and that’s great. For me as his partner, I love seeing him engaged now. I’m really proud of him for being as active in this process as he was. I was just worried about the time frame, and that’s what he hired me for.”
SHR now has to build an expansion in order to fit all four cars under the same roof. It won’t be complete however, until this time next season. Construction has already begun on the project. There’s also the job of putting together a new team, more work for the company as they focus on getting one car, Ryan Newman, in the Chase.
And Newman, Stewart wanted to add, has not been deceived as some in NASCAR believe. A fourth car was out of the question when Stewart said it was back in New Hampshire, but things changed when Haas decided weeks later in Indianapolis – upon hearing Busch was going to be available – that he wanted him. What Haas wants is what Stewart wants as well and they’re moving forward with excited and on good terms for 2014 and beyond.
“This is something that he came up with and it happened all at once, and Gene had made the decision that he wanted to make a change. We’re partners in this, and Gene wanted to make a change, and I’ve got to go with that,” Stewart said.
“The rest of it about everybody’s perception that we’re fighting and arguing, there was never one argument between us. I just expressed my concern about the timing of it, and it was no more elevated than the conversation you and I are having right here. It was literally trying to figure out the facts of can we feasibly do this in the time frame that we have and can we do it to the level that we want to accomplish in that short amount of time.”
