The Final Word – Kentucky gives Kenseth his fourth as Johnson gives away a second
How do you win four races in a season? You Matt’er down of course, which is exactly what Mr. Kenseth did at Kentucky on Sunday. He might not have had the best car on the day, but he did when it counted as he claimed his 28th career victory. The victory moves him to fifth in the standings and, even more important, three bonus points up on Jimmie Johnson in re-calibrated Chase points.
Johnson, he of so many wins he can just give them away. He beat the late re-start at Dover, and wound up 17th. He spun out late at Kentucky, and came home ninth. He will be at 65 soon enough, so why rush? 182 laps leading and then just giving it away.
Dale Earnhardt Jr would not do that. Maybe early in his career, he might have, when he claimed 16 wins in his first 201 races. However, not since then. Not since the past 285 events have produced just three victories, the last one more than a year ago. Junior started from the pole, he was leading the race, but when the carcass of Denny Hamlin’s tire slapped him up side the splitter he was just glad to hang on to 12th.
Hamlin will not make the Chase. After his hurts, he keeps getting hurt points-wise and physically. He eventually crashed out, got his bell rung a little, and finished 35th. Hamlin has nine races to make up 44 points (to make the Top 20) and win a couple. It is not going to happen.
Brad Keselowski will not make the Chase. The defending champ with the big Twitter may be only 14 points out, but he has been deplorable over the past ten. He might have a couple of Top Tens, but he also finished 33rd at Richmond, 32nd at Darlington, 36th at Charlotte, and 33rd on Sunday. His next nine will have to be as awesome as the recent past has been awful.
For the first time in 35-years, since 1978, a Labonte failed to start a Cup race. With Bobby sat down in favor of A.J. Allmendinger, his streak of 704 consecutive starts came to a close. Allmendinger finished 22nd. I hope the feedback was worth it.
Rating Kentucky – 8/10 – It was a day late, but you hate to fly through the race as you might miss something the TNT crew brings up. I wish I had missed Carl Edwards’ guest selection from Saturday. Thanks to fellow writer Kelly Crandall, I did not, sharing the joy that is Turtleman. To be fair, she did indicate that it was a train wreck, but I still might have to remove Kelly as a Facebook friend. So, who will be on next week, Honey Boo Boo?
This Saturday night is the Firecracker 400 at Daytona. Johnson won there last spring, Tony Stewart a year ago, and Kenseth in the 2012 season opener. Jamie McMurray was second in Kentucky, and has won twice on the track at Daytona. Back in the Top 20, he sure could use a third about now. Enjoy the week!
Domination and the Future of NASCAR
It seems that the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season has been one long runaway season. Early on, it was Matt Kenseth dominating races. Then, it was Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports dominating. Drivers just seemed to run away from the field and leading huge chunks of laps, Sometimes they won and sometimes they didn’t, but it’s pretty clear that the new Gen6 car has been a problem for everyone but Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing—the ones who have dominated the races.
As I watched yesterday’s Kentucky race that was another domination affair with Johnson, I had to wonder why Hendrick and Gibbs always seem to get things figured out and become competitive. I remembered when the “Car of Tomorrow” was introduced that Kyle Busch in a Gibbs car won the first race at Bristol. I also have watched this year and have seen the same thing. Add to that the dominance of Matt Kenseth. One couldn’t say he was less than stellar at Roush-Fenway Racing—he did win a championship in 2003 and lots of races—but he never was as successful as this. His career best has been five races and he already has four in less than a half season. Are those organizations just that much better than everyone else or is something else going on?
Regardless, one has to wonder if a certain set of circumstances hadn’t come to pass. Johnson has been a rocketship in most races this year. If not for two restarts, one in which he was penalized and Sunday’s when he spun out plus his crash trying to overcome a leading Greg Biffle at Michigan, and Johnson has six wins and on his way to winning a record number of wins. Yes, Bill Elliott and Jeff Gordon have won double digit races in the past, but neither won that many races in such a short period of time. Such dominance is certainly not good for the sport. Is it the reason for the lack of attendance at tracks and lower television ratings? I have no way of knowing, but I would say it is one of the reasons. Richard Petty won 27 races a long time ago, and Bill Elliott dominated the superspeedways 30 years ago, but neither were as dominant when they raced. Others were competitive and won. Today, its Hendrick and Gibbs and the scraps go to Childress and Roush. It’s pretty obvious why Kenseth left his long-time employer. That’s where the success is, and he proclaims that every time he wins.
Like my father used to say, I don’t have a dog in this hunt. The racing was good on Sunday—back in the pack. Three wide and sometimes four wide was the rule. It was a surprise ending with many drivers who usually are forgotten, making it interesting despite the commentators telling us every five minutes (between the many commercials) where the usual suspects were. It’s just the way it is. Last week we saw a new face win, and it was glorious and the way NASCAR used to work. Today, there is a very rigid pecking order. It’s Hendrick, Gibbs, Roush and Childress tied for third, and Waltrip. Yes, David Ragan won at Talladega, but that’s restrictor plate racing—an entirely different animal. What NASCAR needs is more competition among many competitors. Is that the answer? I think its part of a bigger problem, and there are many solutions. Most of this is out of control to NASCAR. It’s up to the teams to catch up. Whether they do or not is the future of NASCAR.
B. Watson wins OSCAAR Super Late Model Feature; Baker crowned Don Biederman Memorial Champion
At the end of the second of the two 50 lap features this weekend, Brandon Watson would pick up the victory in his No. 9 The Smart Exchange – Propane Cylinder Exchange, Ken MacKinnon Construction, Barrie Frame & Alignment, and Knightworks Design Super Late Model. Kevin Cornelius finished second, while Dwayne Baker finished third.
With their finishes from Saturday night (Baker, Cornelius, Watson), it’d make it a three-way tie for the Don Biederman Memorial title. Baker would be crowned Don Biederman Memorial Champion with Cornelius second and Watson third, using the finish of Saturday’s feature to determine the tie-breaker. It marks the first Don Biederman victory for the driver of the No. 48 Zancor Homes, Innisfil Machine and Welding and Baker Performance Parts Super Late Model.
The cautions would fly early with the Super Late Models as on the first lap of the first heat, Shane Maginnis would spin George Wilson. Then on the last lap, Wilson would spin Andrew Gresel, collecting J.R. Fitzpatrick.
Baker would pick up the win ahead of Maginnis, Todd Campbell, Kyle Passer, Ethan Courneyea and Gresel.
In the second heat, there’d be contact on lap one between Derrike Tiemersma and Tyler Hawn, resulting in damage for both cars. Then on lap 10, Shane Gowan would hit the inside wall. Gowan would bring out another caution on lap 13 for a spin. Kevin Cornelius would pick up the victory behind the wheel of his No. 17 Halton Crushed Stone, Lee Sand and Gravel, Alliston Transmission and McColl Racing Enterprises Super Late Model ahead of Sean Cronan, Brad Corcoran, Jim Bowman and Gowan.
In the third heat, Brandon Watson would drive to victory lane ahead of Rob Poole, Jeff Hanley, Glenn Watson, John Owen, Brandon Vanderwel and Craig Stevenson.
The top four from each heat would transfer directly to the A-Main. Everybody else would have to run the b-main, but would all make the field virtue of the number cars.
John Owen would win the B-feature in his No. 2 John Owen Performance Engines, DRV Quality Masonry – Port Hope and Durmach Super Late Model. Gresel would finish second, followed by Tiemersma, Fitzpatrick, Wilson and Courneyea. Hawn and Gowan did not make the call for the b-main.
Virtue of their qualifying effort, the line-up would look like this: Dwayne Baker, Kevin
Cornelius, Brandon Watson, Shane Maginnis, Sean Cronan, Rob Poole, Todd Campbell, Brad Corcoran, Jeff Hanley, Gary Passer, Glenn Watson, John Owen, Andrew Gresel, Derrike Tiemersma, J.R. Fitzpatrick, George Wilson, Brandon Vanderwel, Ethan Courneyea, Tyler Hawn, Craig Stevenson and Jim Bowman.
Baker and Cornelius would be side-by-side for lap one, with Baker taking the lead on lap two off of turn four. Baker and Cornelius would run one-two while Maginnis and Brandon Watson battled for third behind them. Maginnis would take third on lap four ahead of Watson and Rob Poole.
On lap 11, the top 10 ran single file with Baker continuing to lead ahead of Cornelius, Maginnis, Brandon Watson, Poole, Cronan, Passer, Owen, Tiemersma and Corcoran. The first battle for position would be for 14th between Campbell and Gresel, with Gresel and Fitzpatrick getting by Campbell on lap 12. Hanley would crack his way into the top 10 on lap 16 with a pass on Corcoran. Tiemersma would move up to eighth on lap 18 with a pass on Smith. Smith would drop out of the top 10 on lap 20 after being passed by Hanley and Wilson.
The first caution would fly on lap 29 after Passer would get sideways off of turn four, making contact with the side of Glenn Watson, causing Watson to hit the outside wall. Passer would get into the inside wall, collecting Gresel and Stevenson. Under the caution, Bowman would head down pit road.
With 31 laps to go, it’d be Baker leading Cornelius, Maginnis, Brandon Watson, Poole, Cronan, Tiemersma, Hanley, Owen, Fitzpatrick, Wilson, Corcoran, Gresel, Passer, Wilson, Hawn and Vanderwel.
On the restart, Cornelius would get by Baker for the lead before the second caution would fly for Corcoran spinning. So on the restart, it’d be Cornelius leading Brandon Watson, Baker, Maginnis, Cronan, Poole, Hanley, Tiemersma, Owen, Wilson, Campbell, Gresel and Passer.
On the restart, Cornelius would clear Brandon Watson for the lead while Campbell would start smoking. He would receive the black flag and make his way to pit road. At lap 35, it’d be Cornelius leading Watson, Maginnis, Baker, Poole, Tiemersma and Cronan. Tiemersma would pass Poole for fifth the next lap, with Hanley getting by Cronan for seventh. Hanley would then get alongside Poole for sixth, when the caution would fly at lap 40 for Fitzpatrick spinning. Under caution, Vanderwel would make his way down pit road. With 10 laps to go, it’d be Cornelius leading Watson, Maginnis, Baker, Tiemersma, Poole, Hanley, Cronan, Owen, Wilson, Gresel, Fitzpatrick, Passer, Hawn, Corcoran and Bowman.
On the restart, Brandon Watson would grab the lead from Cornelius while Baker and Maginnis battled side-by-side for third. Baker would pass Maginnis with 8 laps to go. On lap 43, there’d be another caution as Owen would run into problems. So with 8 laps to go on the restart, Watson would lead Cornelius, Baker, Maginnis, Tiemersma, Poole, Hanley, Gresel, Wilson and Fitzpatrick.
On the restart, Brandon Watson wouldn’t go, giving Cornelius the jump. Cornelius would then slow up, causing Baker to get into the back of him, followed by everybody getting into each other behind them. The result would be Cornelius catching the front stretch wall with the left front corner while Baker would get spun around. Due to it being a false restart with Watson not going, they would give everyone their spots back for the restart.
The second attempt at a restart would be a go as Watson would grab the lead while Cornelius and Maginnis battled side-by-side for second. Cornelius would pass Maginnis with six laps to go, with Baker passing Maginnis the next lap for third. Maginnis would head down pit road with a flat tire with five laps to go.
Brandon Watson would hang on to grab the victory for his third win in four races so far this year. Kevin Cornelius would finish second, followed by Dwayne Baker, Derrike Tiemersma and Jeff Hanley.
Andrew Gresel would finish sixth, followed by George Wilson, Rob Poole, Tyler Hawn and Gary Passer.
Sean Cronan would finish 11th, followed by Brad Corcoran, J.R. Fitzpatrick, Ethan Courneyea, Jim Bowman, Shane Maginnis, John Owen, Todd Campbell, Brandon Vanderwel, Glenn Watson, Craig Stevenson and Shane Gowan.
