Joe Gibbs Racing wins appeal against NASCAR
Following his win at Kansas Speedway, NASCAR deemed Matt Kenseth’s motor to be illegal. A connecting rod was found to be approximately 2.7 grams underweight when NASCAR weighed it during the tear down of the race winning No.20 car from Kansas. The other seven connecting rods were each a few grams to the good and perfectly legal. As a result, NASCAR dropped the hammer on the JGR team.
Today, Joe Gibbs Racing got the chance to appeal those penalties before the appeal board, and in quick sense, won their appeal.
Crew Chief Jason Ratcliff still has to pay his $200,000 fine, but will only be suspended for this weekend’s race at Darlington Raceway, rather than the original six week suspension.
Matt Kenseth will only lose 12 driver’s championship points, instead of the original 50. His Coors Light Pole Award will allow him to be eligible for the 2014 Sprint Unlimited. Also, his win at Texas – he will be able to use those bonus points accumulated when the Chase standings is set for the final 10 events. If he is in positions 11 through 20 in the standings, he will be allowed to use it towards gaining a Wild Card Position.
Car owner Joe Gibbs will only lose 12 championship car owner’s points, instead of the original 50. His owner’s license for the No. 20 car has been unsuspended, allowing him to earn championship owner’s points. Originally, it had been suspended for a six week period.
Instead of losing five manufacture championship points, Toyota will now lose seven points as a result of taking blame with regards to the rod.
“Tough week for everyone. No one wanted this to happen. We are going to work extremely hard with TRD to make sure this never happens again,” Gibbs said afterwards. “Right now, we just want to get back to racing.”
The panel that overheard the appeal consisted of Dover International Speedway CEO Denis McGlynn, former team owner Jack Housby and Stafford Speedway general manager Mark Arute.
“Our intensity and approach to inspecting engines will not change,” NASCAR spokesperson Kerry Tharp said. “While we are disappointed by today’s outcome, we stand firmly behind our inspection process. Today is one that we disagree with. We can’t be clearer than that.”
Tharp added that NASCAR cannot speculate on intention behind the infraction, but rather needs to look at whether the behavior is against the rules or not.
Busch and Craven were ‘two guys taking the gloves off’ at Darlington in 2003
It’ll be 10 years late next week since the thrilling finish between Kurt Busch and Ricky Craven at Darlington, but it still brings a smile to both their faces.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, both Busch and Craven retold of that magical day in which they crossed the finish line virtually linked together. Craven declared the winner by just 0.002 seconds, the closest in NASCAR history since the sport went to electronic timing and scoring, and a finish that was recently tied at Talladega in 2011.
“The most memorable part has to have been just the way the cars came to the finish line,” said Busch. “But to tell the story as many times as I have over the last 10 years, it gets better and better each year, it just puts a smile on your face when you know you gave it your all and the guy that you were racing, a competitor, he gave it his all, and the two of us put on a show.
“That’s what the fans want to see, and at the end of the day, two guys taking the gloves off, going after it and producing such a solid finish, I think we both knew right away we were part of something special.”
Busch did at least. For Craven, who now an ESPN broadcaster won’t be racing this weekend as the Sprint Cup Series heads back to the fabled speedway, it was just about winning. The victory was the second and last of his career.
“Well, I have to say that when I won, it was really all about winning at Darlington,” Craven noted. “It was absolutely that important, and the competitors that have competed at Darlington, they understand it’s different than anyplace we compete. It tests you in a way that other tracks don’t test you.”
Now retired and enjoying the NASCAR circuit from a different point of view, Craven has time to enjoy that moment so much more. It’s become a moment that will forever go down in history, along with being an instant talking point upon meeting Craven, as well as forever linking two fiery competitors in the process.
“The race has become much bigger to me than just the trophy. It wasn’t about on that day, it wasn’t being a fan of mine, it wasn’t necessarily about being a fan of Kurt, it was really about being a fan of racing, because since I’ve retired, it seems as though it’s all that anybody wants to talk about when I cross paths with them,” he said.
“What’s important to me, and maybe I hadn’t expressed it enough, is Kurt and I, like most competitors, we test each other every week, every seven days, and it’s not that important to be friends. You know, as competitors, it’s just not that important. But this race, this one day, has definitely brought Kurt and I together as friends, and I think that’s kind of unique, and it needs to be acknowledged.”
Darlington hasn’t seen a finish since the Busch vs. Craven battle. On that day Busch had a comfortable lead with five laps to go, but Craven started to chip away at it in large doses. With three laps to go he had caught Busch and that’s when the race took a memorable turn.
There was side-by-side racing, Busch hitting the wall, paint traded and cross over moves. Craven’s car was so strong in turns three and four that Busch was never able to get away and as they took the white flag Craven was filling his mirror and soon they were battling to be the first to the checkered flag, bouncing off each other and refusing to lose.
“The way Ricky and I raced, it’s amazing we didn’t wreck each other, and just hand the win over to a third place running guy,” Busch said. “That day it was Dave Blaney. To take the gloves off, I knew Ricky was going to catch me. I just knew it.
“I had power steering issues, and lap after lap he’s ticking away not two-tenths to three-tenths, he’s ticking away a half a second quicker than us. And it was just, all right, if you can do the math, you now he’s going to catch you with about two to go, three to go, and I’m like I don’t know what I’m going to do when he catches me. But he doesn’t know I’m going through all this hardship, so maybe I can catch him by surprise and at least juke him for a lap and a half.”
Craven admits that Busch did catch him by surprise, by racing him as hard as he did going into turn one. And Craven didn’t know that Busch was battling his car, just that he was battling to keep the lead and the win.
“It’s pretty clear that with two or three to go, we both made the decision that we’re going to win this race, and we went about it in different ways,” Craven said
“But in the end, it just came down to a few inches. You don’t script it. It’s not something that you plan for. It’s not something that, as much as I want to say that all my short track days back in New England prepared me for it, they didn’t. For the last few laps, I can tell you there were two guys that emptied the tank. And it’s the only reason I can explain Kurt walking across the garage to join me in Victory Lane and celebrate is because he had emptied the tank, like I had.
“And, hell, at the end of the day, what is there to complain about? You did everything you could do. I mean, really, I think that’s what that race represents.”
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Talladega
Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.
1. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished fifth at Talladega in the rain-delayed Aaron’s 499 at Talladega. His lead in the Sprint Cup point standings is now 41 over Carl Edwards.
“What an ending!” Johnson said. “It reminded me a lot of former NASCAR driver Kimi Raikkonen’s NASCAR skills—it was a ‘wild Finnish.’”
2. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished third in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega, losing the lead on the final lap as David Ragan grabbed an unlikely win. Edwards is second in the point standings, 41 out of first.
“Ragan came out of nowhere,” Edwards said. “And that’s probably where he’ll return.
“As one of NASCAR’s manliest of men, I’d like to comment on the NBA’s Jason Collins announcing that he’s gay. I think NASCAR is ready for a homosexual driver. She better be really hot, though.”
3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt slipped through the chaos of a wreck six laps from the to salvage a 17th at Talladega. He moved up two places to third in the point standings to third, and trails Jimmie Johnson by 46.
“I was just happy to see the finish line,” Earnhardt said. “It was a war of attrition. That’s not to be confused with the “War Of Attrition,” which, according to many of my fans, was won by the South.”
4. Kasey Kahne: Kahne was taken out at Talladega when Kyle Busch sent him spinning on lap 44, triggering the ‘Big One’ that eliminated 13 cars from contention. Kahne finished 42nd and fell one place in the point standings to fourth, 46 out of first.
“Busch used to drive the No. 5 car,” Kahne said. “And, as of lap 44 at Talladega, so did I.”
5. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer suffered significant damage in a big crash six laps from the end at Talladega, but managed to wheel the No. 15 Toyota to an 18-place finish. He is fourth in the point standings, 67 behind Jimmie Johnson.
“Brad Keselowski wasn’t too happy with the way the cars lined up on the final restart,” Bowyer said. “So he took to Twitter to whine. I hear he changed his Twitter handle to “sshole.” Sunday’s result must have left a sour taste in his mouth. That gives him the ‘tart’ of a champion?”
6. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished fifth in the rain-interrupted Aaron’s 499 at Talladega, posting his fourth top 5 of the year. The defending Sprint Cup champion is fifth in the point standings, 69 out of first.
“For a while,” Keselowski said, “it appeared the race would be much like our rear housing at Texas—‘shortened.’
“NASCAR denied our appeal for penalties incurred for illegal parts at Texas. And they surely didn’t Tweet their response. Oh no. It came on paper, and it was called a ‘cheat sheet.’”
7. Kyle Busch: Busch triggered a huge lap 44 wreck in the Aaron’s 499 when he tried to move around the No. 5 Chevy of Kasey Kahne. The pileup wiped out 13 cars, including Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, and Tony Stewart. Busch eventually finished 37th and is now ninth in the point standings, 98 out of first.
“Kurt may be the older brother,” Busch said, “but now, several drivers are calling me the ‘Big One.”
8. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth led 142 of 192 laps on the day, and led at the green-white-checkered finish, but finished eighth after the Front Row Motorsports duo of David Ragan and David Gilliland zoomed to the front.
“I’ve been a lame duck,” Kenseth said, “and I’ve been intimidated by the Aflac duck. On Sunday, I was a sitting duck there at the end.
“Former Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron drove the pace car for Sunday’s race. There was talk that his girlfriend, Katherine Webb, would drive the pace car. That fell through, because David Gilliland refuses to follow a woman.”
9. Aric Almirola: Almirola finished 10th at Talladega in the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford. He is now seventh in the Sprint Cup standings, 90 out of first.
“You just never know what’s going to happen at Talladega,” Almirola said. “There were a lot of ‘unknowns,’ like the parts used by Penske and Joe Gibbs.
10. David Ragan: Ragan, pushed by Front Row Motorsports teammate David Gilliland, won the Aaron’s 499 in improbable fashion, outgunning Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Matt Kenseth in an exciting green-white-checkered finish.
“Just call Gilliand and I the ‘Aero-Dynamic Duo,’” Ragan said. “I haven’t got that big of a ‘push’ since Jack Roush showed me the door.
“FRM is a small-time operation with nothing near the budget of the large teams. Not only did we accomplish the Talladega sweep with inferior equipment, we did it with legal equipment.”
The Final Word – Talladega, a place where all your dreams can come true
Talladega, where we watched Matt Kenseth dominate, where we saw Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards contend, and where we watched a lot of cars torn up. It is also where we saw two cars from an underfunded operation charge up from out of nowhere to claim the top two spots at the finish line.
David Ragan, with help from team mate David Gilliland, changed the storyline for this one at the last minute on Sunday, one that also featured a 226 minute rain delay. In the end, it was all about the have nots having their moment as Front Row Motorsports and owner Bob Jenkins celebrated their first ever victory after nine years of trying. With Josh Wise finishing 19th, they had three in the Top Twenty. No Mickey, no Goofy, no Cinderella castle, but definitely a Cinderella ending.
That was not so for some big names who got caught up in big crashes. Outside the Top 25 on the day were a long list of drivers we might have expected to be challenging for the win. Tony Stewart, at 27th, was the best of a lot that included Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin (with Brian Vickers providing backup), Joey Logano, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Kasey Kahne. They were not happy, with Newman particularly upset about the whole deal. Then again, he had Kurt Busch flipping over and on top of his car as Newman got involved in his third Talladega wreck in his last eight attempts.
As an observer, I liked what I saw. I liked the shocking ending to the race, I liked seeing part timer Michael Waltrip finishing fourth, I liked that they outlasted the rain and finished the race, and, God forgive me, I liked the carnage. It was damned exciting, and who doesn’t like some excitement? Okay, a lot of excitement. There is just one problem, and only one that I can see. These drivers are not cartoons characters, they are not gladiators out there to spill blood for our amusement. Maybe having them drive in the dark to conclude the affair might not have been the best of ideas.
The actual race timed in at 3 hours and 26 minutes, or about 20 minutes shorter than the rain delay. It took more than seven hours from start to finish, starting at 1pm local time with sunset Sunday at about 7:30pm. Dusk is a concept that does not last very long in the south, so it had to have been dark enough so that anyone on the highway had their lights on, a feature not part of the package for those out on the track. There is a reason they were going to have just one green-white-checker, for the light was fading fast. Was it too dark? Only those behind the wheel know for sure.
Rating Talladega – 9/10 – As someone seeking television entertainment, I got everything I wanted, with the exception of the long rain delay. Bob Jenkins probably would have rated this an 11. Next on the calender is the Lady in Black, Darlington, and the Southern 500 this Saturday night. Enjoy the week.
Burton’s Cup Future Rests Solely on His Performance
As a new generation of drivers enters the Sprint Cup Series, the veterans are finding it tougher and tougher to remain competitive. Other than a few breakout weekends, Jeff Burton hasn’t been much of a threat over the past few seasons. Every year, Burton gets the pre-season hype as a potential breakout driver for the upcoming season. The expectations are high until about Phoenix and then they die down since Burton can no longer remain consistent during each race. A new crop of drivers has begun to enter the RCR stable and it’s just a matter of time that the new talent takes over the veteran’s rides.
To still have a ride with a top-tier Cup team is something that indicates RCR still has hope that Burton can once again be competing for wins each weekend. Burton still has the talent, but he needs to show us that. By running up front and winning races, he’ll once again emerge as a threat. If he doesn’t do that soon, he may be run over by the new generation of NASCAR drivers.
Richard Childress has gathered a great group of young drivers who definitely have a future in the Cup Series. Pretty soon, those drivers will be looking for Cup rides and Childress isn’t going to say “not now.” He’s going to want the future of his organization running in the top level of NASCAR as soon as possible and he’ll bump out the veterans as needed.
Over the past few seasons, Burton has become the odd-man out at RCR. He’s the oldest, has the longest amount of time since his last win, and he hasn’t been competing for the Chase regularly like his teammates have. With Kevin Harvick moving to Stewart-Hass next season and Paul Menard having a family sponsor, Burton has become the anchor of the team. A smart move by RCR would be to boot Burton out and bring in some new talent, but Childress will give Burton a chance to prove himself before he leaves.
This season could be the most important of Burton’s career since he needs to be contending with the front-runners on a regular basis. If he can do that, his career will keep moving along at RCR. Strong performances and wins will also boost Burton’s resume as he fights for a longer-stay at RCR. Without those credential boosters, Burton could be out of a ride following this season.
The only thing that should matter to Burton this season is success. With it, he may get a new contract after this season. Without it, he could be looking at free agency at the end of the season. Success now is very important to Burton’s future since not many teams will be looking for a veteran driver in the middle of NASCAR’s youth-movement.
Anything could happen and he could wind up back at RCR next season, but it isn’t likely unless he has good performances throughout the remainder of the season. It is all up to Burton to decide what his future looks like. He has the ability to shape it how he would like, but if he chooses to just run well enough to get by; he may be a man with few options after this season. He needs a wake-up call now and if his performance level doesn’t change, his Cup career won’t last very much longer.
