Hot 20 over the past 10 – Not even Kurt Busch could solve the problems at JTG-Daugherty from the driver’s seat
It has been since forever since Bobby Labonte had made this list. In fact, to include him, we would have to talk about the Hot 30, which would truly be a misnomer if I ever heard one. After blowing up on the opening lap at Sonoma, he even slipped a spot to sit one position and 21 points behind Danica Patrick over the past ten events. Labonte has been able to pick up just 15.2 points per race over the term. In short, his season sucks.
So, why am I a tad upset the 2000 champion gets parked this Saturday night? I mean, Bobby has not even finished ranked in the top ten since 2006. Since the 1996 Daytona 500 Labonte has answered the call, 704 consecutive races. That is just one short of Jeff Gordon, and third best all-time behind Ricky Rudd’s 788 consecutive string. That ends Saturday, and even that is not the reason I am upset.
The 49 year old, who won his 21st and final race back in 2003, he is being removed from the car in favor of A.J. Allmendinger. They want Allmendinger’s feedback on what they might be missing, how they might become more competitive. The winner of exactly zero Cup races is going to come up with a solution? A car that can not complete a single lap due to a blown engine needs another driver’s perspective on what the problems might be? Bobby Labonte has driven substandard cars since he left Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005, cars that seem to have gotten worse over time.
I strongly suspect the problems with the cars put forth by JTG-Daugherty Racing are the same experienced by James Finch, Mark Smith, Bob Keselowski, Joe Nemechek, Brandon Davis, Bob Jenkins, and Tommy Baldwin. They can not compete because, at present, they do not have the funding to do so. Labonte, Allmendinger, Kurt Busch, or the good Lord himself could not change that from the driver’s seat. Labonte’s streak comes to an end, and maybe mercifully so, because an owner can not accept where the problems truly reside. That is just this one man’s opinion.
The official standings show Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kyle Busch, and Brad Keselowski sitting in a Chase place, but that has nothing to do with how they have done lately. Junior remains 34 points to the good, while Kyle has a couple wins as a cushion, but neither are even warm right now. The defending champ is another story. He is ice cold at present, averaging less than 23 points per race over the past ten, is winless, and just nine points out of 11th.
Kurt Busch still sits 28 points out of the Chase, but after clawing back to finish fourth on Sunday he has climbed from 21st to 9th among our hot hands. He is gaining about five points per race on Keselowski, and with ten to go you never know.
| Name | Points | POS. | LW | Rank | W | T5 | T10 |
| Carl Edwards | 355 | 1 | 4 | (2) | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Kevin Harvick | 349 | 2 | 3 | (4) | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| Clint Bowyer | 349 | 3 | 2 | (3) | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Jimmie Johnson | 342 | 4 | 1 | (1) | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Martin Truex, Jr. | 327 | 5 | 9 | (10) | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Matt Kenseth | 309 | 6 | 5 | (5) | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Tony Stewart | 298 | 7 | 6 | (15) | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Ryan Newman | 284 | 8 | 14 | (18) | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Kurt Busch | 281 | 9 | 21 | (17) | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Greg Biffle | 280 | 10 | 10 | (7) | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Aric Almirola | 279 | 11 | 11 | (16) | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Jeff Gordon | 277 | 12 | 13 | (13) | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Joey Logano | 272 | 13 | 16 | (14) | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Jeff Burton | 272 | 14 | 8 | (20) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Juan Pablo Montoya | 270 | 15 | 12 | (23) | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Paul Menard | 266 | 16 | 15 | (11) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dale Earnhardt, Jr. | 260 | 17 | 20 | (6) | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Kyle Busch | 258 | 18 | 7 | (8) | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. | 248 | 19 | 18 | (19) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kasey Kahne | 246 | 20 | 19 | (12) | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Brad Keselowski | 229 | 23 | 22 | (9) | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Crunching The Numbers: Kentucky
After a weekend of turning left and right at the road courses at Sonoma and Road America, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series, joined by their NASCAR Camping World Truck Series counterparts, head back east to the 1.5 mile Kentucky Speedway for the second tripleheader of the season. This time around all three races will be under the lights of this oval that is a relative newcomer to the schedule, having only hosted all three series for the past two years.
Sprint Cup Series – Quaker State 400
As the Sprint Cup Series heads into Kentucky Speedway for a Saturday night showdown under the lights, the series reaches an important milestone for the season. This weekend’s race marks the beginning of the 10 races before the start of the “Chase for the Sprint Cup”. The so-called “Race for the Chase” sets off a mad dash for drivers trying to accumulate wins and rack up points to either make the Chase or improve their position in the standings for a better seed once the Chase starts. There are also a couple of unknowns surrounding this race since the teams have a slim notebook on setups for this track since it has only been on the schedule since 2011 and the Gen6 makes its Kentucky debut this weekend as well.
| Driver | Races | Win | Top 5 | Top 10 | Pole | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
| Brad Keselowski | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 147 | 7.0 | 4.0 |
| Jimmie Johnson | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 3.0 | 4.5 |
| Kyle Busch | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 243 | 1.5 | 5.5 |
| Matt Kenseth | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 16.5 | 6.5 |
| Denny Hamlin | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 63 | 14.5 | 7.0 |
| Kasey Kahne | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11.5 | 7.5 |
| Jeff Gordon | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11.5 | 7.5 |
| Carl Edwards | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16.0 | 12.5 |
| Martin Truex, Jr. | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Kevin Harvick | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.5 | 13.5 |
Who To Watch: As one of the only two winners at Kentucky and the defending race winner, Brad Keselowski has found a way to get around the 1.5 mile oval better than anyone else, with his one win, one top five, two top tens, 147 laps led, and an average finish of 4.0. Five-time Sprint Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, comes in right behind Keselowski with one top five, two top tens, one pole, 21 laps led, and an average finish of 4.5. Kyle Busch, the inaugural race winner at Kentucky, falls in just behind Keselowski and Johnson with one win, one top five, two top tens, 243 laps led, and an average finish of 5.5.
Others who run well at Kentucky include: Matt Kenseth, with two top tens and an average finish of 6.5; Denny Hamlin, who could really use a win to boost his Chase hopes, with one top five, one top ten, 63 laps led, and an average finish of 7.0; Kasey Kahne, with one top five, one top ten, one lap led, and an average finish of 7.5; and Jeff Gordon, with one top five, two top tens, and an average finish of 7.5.
Nationwide Series – Feed The Children 300
As the second half of the weekend tripleheader, the Nationwide Series has been running at Kentucky since 2001 and moved to two races per year at the track last season. Only two Sprint Cup Series regulars will be running on Friday night and if the Nationwide Series regulars can get past those two drivers then a Nationwide Series regular should find their way to Victory Lane. For even more incentive for a Nationwide regular to run well in this race, this is the qualifier for the first “Dash 4 Cash” race at Daytona. The top four finishers among Nationwide Series regulars at Kentucky will have a shot at a $100,000 bonus in the race next week at Daytona.
| Driver | Races | Win | Top 5 | Top 10 | Pole | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
| Austin Dillon | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 257 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Brad Keselowski | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 132 | 11.0 | 3.6 |
| Sam Hornish, Jr. | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| Elliott Sadler | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 101 | 7.0 | 6.3 |
| Justin Allgaier | 5 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 29 | 6.2 | 9.0 |
| Kyle Busch | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 311 | 12.2 | 9.8 |
| Cole Whitt | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12.5 | 10.0 |
| Trevor Bayne | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.0 | 11.3 |
| Michael Annett | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 13.0 | 11.8 |
| Brad Sweet | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16.5 | 13.0 |
Who To Watch: Austin Dillon made his first two starts at Kentucky in 2012 and has a perfect record thus far at the track with two wins, two top fives, two top tens, two poles, 257 laps led and an average finish of 1.0 in his two starts. If Dillon can continue his Kentucky magic, the No. 3 Chevrolet will be tough to beat Friday night.
Others to keep an eye on include Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, who will be running all three races during the weekend, with one win, four top fives, five top tens, 132 laps led, and an average finish of 3.6 in five starts; Sam Hornish, Jr., with one top five, two top tens, five laps led and an average finish of 4.0 in two starts; Elliott Sadler, with two top fives, three top tens, one pole, 101 laps led, and an average finish of 6.3 in three starts; Justin Allgaier, with two top fives, four top tens, 29 laps led, and an average finish of 9.0 in five starts; and Kyle Busch, who is always a threat in these Nationwide Series races, with one win, three top fives, three top tens, 311 laps led, and an average finish of 9.8 in five starts.
Camping World Truck Series – UNOH 225
For the first time in three weeks, the Camping World Truck Series heads back to the track to kick off the weekend tripleheader with their race on Thursday night. As in the Nationwide Series race, a couple of Sprint Cup regulars, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, will be running this race to try and complete the tripleheader weekend. With that in play, we will see a battle between the up and comers that are regulars in this series and the Sprint Cup regulars that have reached the upper echelon of the sport. Who will win out between the two? Tune in Thursday to find out.
| Driver | Races | Win | Top 5 | Top 10 | Pole | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
| Kyle Busch | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 177 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| James Buescher | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 188 | 10.5 | 7.3 |
| Joey Coulter | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 47 | 8.0 | 7.8 |
| Ty Dillon | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7.3 | 8.0 |
| Ryan Blaney | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 16.0 | 11.0 |
| Ron Hornaday, Jr. | 10 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 141 | 10.9 | 11.6 |
| Matt Crafton | 14 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 36 | 11.2 | 11.6 |
| Johnny Sauter | 6 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 50 | 6.7 | 12.3 |
| Timothy Peters | 9 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 14.3 | 15.7 |
| Brad Keselowski | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 22.7 | 16.7 |
Who To Watch: Kyle Busch leads all active drivers at Kentucky with one win, one top five, three top tens, 177 laps led and an average finish of 4.7 in three starts at the track. 2012 Truck Series champion James Buescher comes in just behind Busch with two wins, three top fives, five top tens, 188 laps led, and an average finish of 7.3 in six races. Joey Coulter, driver for Kyle Busch Motorsports, is next with one top five, three top tens, one pole, 47 laps led, and an average finish of 7.8 in four starts. Ty Dillon also has a good record with two top fives, two top tens, three laps led, and an average finish of 8.0 in three starts.
Others to keep an eye on include rookies Jeb Burton and Darrell Wallace, Jr, both of whom have never raced at Kentucky and Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski, who will be driving his own team’s truck and trying to capture the Truck Series win that has eluded him thus far in his career.
Making the Most of A Second Chance
AJ Allmendinger’s story is an amazing one; something Hollywood movies are made of and I firmly believe that there is so much more to this impressive resurgence that has yet to come to fruition. AJ comes from an open wheel background and made his name known in CART. Since that debut in the 2004 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, AJ has been forced to endure some fairly dark days and also enjoy a few unbelievable ones.
Before joining the big leagues, he won championships in the International Kart Federation, Barber Dodge Pro Series and in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship. AJ found little success in his first two seasons racing CART, but all that changed when he joined forces with Gerry Forsythe in preparation for 2006. He won his first race in just his 5th start with the team and went on a tear winning three races in succession. He went on to win five races that year and finishing 3rd in the standings to Justin Wilson and Sebastian Bourdais. During the year, he also made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (CWTS) debut at Loudon finishing a respectable 13th which he followed up with an impressive 5th at Talladega.
He was pushed up the ranks by Red Bull way too fast in my opinion and after just three CWTS starts, he found himself in Cup. The new team and rookie driver AJ Allmendinger obviously struggled in 2007 with a best finish of 15th in 17 starts. He also made a few appearances in Nationwide and Trucks that year nearly winning a Truck event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. After failing to make a handful of races early on in 2008, he was temporarily replaced by Mike Skinner to help teach him. It worked very well as his results immediately improved posting his first career top 10 finish at the Cup level in the Brickyard 400. The team released him towards the end of the year though; a move that confused many people and didn’t make much sense. In 2009, he raced full-time for what is now known as Richard Petty Motorsports. He started his tenure with the team off very well finishing 3rd in his first ever Daytona 500. Only three other drivers in history have performed so well in their first race at the legendary track.
2009 was a decent year for AJ but 2010 was even better winning his first pole at Phoenix and bringing home a solid top 20 points finish. In 2011, he continued to improve and most saw his first Cup victory just over the horizon. A top 15 points finish and 10 top 10’s made it his best season to date and unfortunately, his last full-time season for the foreseeable future. Roger Penske saw something in AJ and put him behind the wheel of his No.22 for the 2012 season; a life changing year for the young racecar driver.
Prior to the season commencing, he took part in the 24 Hours of Daytona having an epic battle with sports car legend Allan McNish late in the going. Over the radio, McNish was told to keep harassing Allmendinger who would crumble under the pressure. Well, Allan got alongside him and AJ’s NASCAR senses must have kicked in as he proceeded to door slam the Scottish driver at 150mph around the high banks of Daytona International Speedway. Allmendninger won the race and shocked the racing world; a race that would solidify him as a truly talented racecar driver and gain him credence among his fellow competitors. He looked one of the best road racing has to offer in the eyes and he did not blink. A large contingent of fans and media members believed he would finally win and maybe even make the chase in his first year with Penske. Allmendinger nearly won Martinsville finishing a career best 2nd to Ryan Newman but his promising Cup career came to a grinding halt on July 7th, 2012.
He failed a drug test due to an imprudent decision and was indefinitely suspended from competition by NASCAR. The positive test results were due to him unknowingly taking Adderall; an amphetamine used to treat ADHD that a friend told him was an energy pill. He was subsequently released from Penske Racing and he then went through NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program resulting in the complete abatement of his ban from competition. He made his return at Charlotte in October finishing 24th for Phoenix Racing. He’s run a handful of Cup races since then for the team with his best race coming at Phoenix earlier this year ending the race 11th. He will also make five starts for JTG in 2013 sharing the ride with Bobby Labonte.
Roger Penske refused to give up on AJ and put him in an Indycar for select races this year. He blew the world away in the Indy 500 leading 23 laps and finishing 7th. The only thing stopping him from snagging a potential victory was when his seat belt unfastened itself half-way through the event and he was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop. The very next week at Belle Isle, he was knocked right back down by the humbling sport of auto racing crashing heavily in both duel races before he even completed a lap.
His next start for Roger came at Road America in the NASCAR Nationwide Series; his first race in that division in nearly five years. The morning of the race, he tweeted that he dreamed he won the event and he actually ended up winning the pole for the race a few hours later. He raced hard, battled fiercely and found himself in contention in the closing laps as he tried to hang on after a barrage of late race cautions. Both sides were beaten and battered but he was still pushing…that is until Billy Johnson knocked him off the road and took the lead sending AJ back to 5th or 6th. It didn’t rattle him though as he immediately began taking positions back aggressively. He muscled his way up to 3rd and set his sights on Johnson. In a remarkable show of talent and tenacity, he drove from 3rd to the back bumper of Johnson in one corner sending him off the track and out of way. AJ Allmendinger would not be denied and in the end, he took the war scarred No.22 to victory lane! It was his first win ever in NASCAR and quite an emotional one at at that.
With the fans roaring and Twitter blowing up, AJ didn’t waste any time thanking the man that made this day possible; Roger Penske. We thank you too Roger for giving this phenomenal young talent another chance. AJ Allmendinger is a very rare breed; not too many drivers are capable of winning in open wheel, sports cars and stock cars. I believe we will see him in a full-time Cup car in the future and we will certainly see him in victory lane again.
He did more than win a race at Road America; he made a powerful statement. He made it known to the world that he is here to stay and isn’t going anywhere. He will not back down, he will persevere and he will succeed. He’s revived a career that seemed doomed less than a year ago and with help from the very man that was forced to fire him nonetheless. We should all respect this man very much not only for the raw skill he possesses but for his determination and against all odds; he is still living the NASCAR dream.
Labonte’s streak to end, JTG/Daugherty under fire
You have to go all the way back to the last race of the 1992 season to find a race that Bobby Labonte did not compete in. That is a streak of 704 consecutive starts. Labonte did start two races in 1991 driving an Oldsmobile owned by his father, but did not start again until the 1993 Daytona 500 driving the Maxwell House Ford for Bill Davis. This weekend, however, that streak will come to an end.
Since 2011, Labonte has driven for JTG/Daugherty racing. Results have been less than stellar, to say the least. In 88 starts with the team, Labonte has only scored one top-5 finish and two top-10’s.
Recently, team owners Brad Daugherty and Tad Geschickter have decided they need to do something to improve the performance of the team. With five races coming up in the schedule in which the car would be un-sponsored or under-sponsored, the decision was made to take Labonte out of the car in favor of AJ Allmendinger in an effort to get a new perspective and feedback on what the team needs to do to make improvements.
The decision to remove Labonte from the car was not popular with many fans. On Tuesday, Daugherty and Labonte addressed fans in an online chat session hosted on the team’s website.
One of the first things announced was that Labonte would not only not be in the 47 car this week, but he also would not be racing at all, thus ending the second longest active consecutive start streak. Labonte was also removed from the car at Michigan two weeks ago, but picked up a one race deal with Phoenix Racing, an effort that kept the streak alive.
Some fans in the chat session were outraged by this fact and instantly began blaming the team for not supporting their driver. It would seem the fans are more concerned with the streak than Labonte is. Labonte commented, “I have had a couple offers this morning, but have declined them because I don’t want anybody else that has an opportunity to do what I do, what they love, to have to sit on the sideline for my sake.” Removing the possibility of a last minute deal over the weekend, he also pointed out, “I will not be at the track this weekend.”
Daugherty was asked if the “fan uprising” affects his decision at all. He replied, “No. The fan uprising doesn’t affect me at all. We have to continue to conduct business the way that it will be best for our company. Tremendous amount of respect for Bobby, but we have to remember that his streak would have ended years ago before we gave him the ride. The fan uprising is just a handful of people and that doesn’t direct the way that we do our business. We obviously love our fans and need them to do what we do, but at the end of the day we have to make the decisions that are best for our company.”
Labonte defended his team and team owners, commenting, “We have great sponsors here at JTG Daugherty, and we have a great race team. There are a lot of committed people that work here. Our sponsors are what keep us funded and racing. Our owners juggle all of the balls in the air at all times. We don’t question how our sponsors run their business.”
Daugherty re-iterated the team’s support for Labonte saying, “In the end, Bobby is our driver and we hope this process will enhance his ability to get back up front.” He continued later saying, “I’m huge Bobby Labonte fan, have been for a long time. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him and his character. We are very lucky to have Bobby as our driver.”
Daugherty seemed to be pleased with the results from the first race with Allmendinger. When asked about what the team had learned he said, “The biggest thing we learned was the pickup torque of our engines is not quite where we want it to be. We also learned our car is a lot tighter than we’d like it to be, robbing it of speed. Valuable information that we have stalled out over the past few weeks and he was able to give us great feedback.”
The team currently purchases engines from Triad Racing Technology. Toyota Racing Development (TRD) supplies engines for the top tier Toyota teams such as Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing. Daugherty pointed out, “We believe TRD provides an excellent product and at this point TRD has told us that they don’t have the room to provide us with an engine set.”
Without the ability to receive engines from TRD, and with little or no support from Toyota, I asked Daugherty if there was a current effort to create an alliance with a larger team. Daugherty replied, “Yes, we have had conversations and we are trying to figure out what would be the best move for us going forward. We came out of the MWR situation simply because we were all struggling. Obviously, they have fixed a lot over at MWR so someone like that may be a suitable partner again. We will have to see.”
Labonte also commented, when asked what the team needed, “We probably need an alliance with another team. That would be a start.”
Smaller teams forming alliances with larger teams seems to be the new trend in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Furniture Row Racing has recently found success after forming a strong alliance with Richard Childress Racing.
It seems that Brad Daugherty and Tad Geschickter are making a legitimate effort to improve their team’s performance. Their support for Labonte has been consistent and direct. This situation is just another example of how NASCAR racing is a business. Race teams have to make decisions based on technical information, facts, budgets and the needs of their sponsors and business partners. Major decisions cannot be based on emotions or the desire to keep streaks alive. No one in this sport would have a bad thing to say about Bobby Labonte. He is a man of proven ability and character. The fact that many fans are upset over him being removed from the car temporarily is evidence of that. Those factors, however, are not enough to be successful when competing against the best of the best.
The JTG/Daugherty team seems to be committed to their driver and also seriously committed to becoming a better race team. It is this writer’s opinion that they are doing what they need to do to accomplish their goals.
