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Brandon Watson scores Chase for the Colors win at Peterborough

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SM Staff
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For the fourth time this year, Brandon Watson would grace victory lane at the end of an OSCAAR Super Late Model event as he won the Chase for the Colors event at Peterborough. The win hands him the pole for the Autumn Colors Classic in October well extending his current points lead.

Rob Gibson wouldn’t start the night off well after his Sunset misfortunes as he spun on lap three of the first heat, making contact with the inside wall. Kevin Cornelius took the win ahead of Brandon Watson, Brent McLean, Shane Gowan, Glenn Watson and Jim Bowman.

Andrew Gresel won the second heat ahead of Derrike Tiemersma, John Owen, Todd Campbell, Tyler Hawn and J.R. Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick was driving Gary Passer’s Super Late Model after Fitzpatrick ran into some engine problems last week at Sunset Speedway.

Glenn Watson won the third heat ahead of Cornelius, Brandon Watson, McLean and Bowman. Gowan pulled off mid-way through the heat due to heavy smoke coming from his super late model; Gibson and Kyle Passer also hit pit road before the end of the heat.

J.R. Fitzpatrick won the final heat ahead of Tiemersma, Gresel, Owen, Campbell and Hawn.

Come feature time, Kevin Cornelius started pole followed by Derrike Tiemersma, Brandon Watson, Andrew Gresel, John Owen and Glenn Watson. There’d be a quick caution though as coming off of turn two on the first lap, contact between Tiemersma and Cornelius would result in a cut tire for Cornelius and the caution flag. In the stack up the front pair, contact was made throughout the field as other drivers – including Tyler Hawn – made their way down pit road.

On the restart, Brandon Watson grabbed the lead ahead of Tiemersma and Gresel when Owen and Glenn Watson battled for fifth. Owen got loose on lap two, allowing Glenn Watson and J.R. Fitzpatrick to slip past. Owen would pass Fitzpatrick back for the fifth spot on lap nine with Campbell passing Fitzpatrick for sixth on lap 13.

The second caution flew on lap 36 when Shane Gowan going around. With the dominant pace that Brandon Watson was setting, only four cars remained on the lead lap at this point – Brandon Watson, Tiemersma, Gresel and Glenn Watson. Owen ran in fifth, one lap down, followed by Campbell, McLean, Cornelius and Bowman. Hawn ran in ninth, two laps down, followed by Gowan.

The next 10 laps would run clean with everybody holding down their positions till Bowman would spin off of the corner. There’d be no caution as Bowman would keep it going, though fell another lap down to the leads.

The final 10 laps ran clean when Brandon Watson taking the lead over Andrew Gresel. Those two will be your front row when the OSCAAR Super Late Models return to Peterborough Speedway for Autumn Colors. Derrike Tiemersma finished third, followed by Glenn Watson and John Owen. Todd Campbell finished sixth, followed by Brent McLean, Kevin Cornelius, Jim Bowman, Shane Gowan and Tyler Hawn.

The next race for the OSCAAR Super Late Models is next Sunday at Kawartha Speedway.

CHEVY NSCS AT POCONO TWO: Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch Post Race Press Conf. Transcripts

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Kurt Busch ecstatic over team’s Pocono performance

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SM Staff
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Photo Credit: Gary Buchanan

There was no birthday celebration for Kurt Busch on Sunday at Pocono; in fact he almost forgot it was his big day.

But after 400 miles around the Tricky Triangle Busch was celebrating for a different reason. He finished third in his No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, but more importantly he brought the car home in one piece and closed out the day by finishing where he was capable of running.

“We executed really well today with pit strategy, the pit stops, two tires, four tires, and to be in position at the end. When the 48 [Jimmie Johnson] had their trouble and hit the fence and threw debris out on the track, we were even able to get into the pits before they closed them and get some tires on the car,” said the newly turned 35-year-old Busch.

“The way we made changes to the car, it just seems like the team is flowing really well, and I’m excited for this portion of the season, because we’re now getting back to all these tracks a second time, and we have fresh notes of working together on this Furniture Row Chevy team.”

Repeatedly on Sunday the word excited came from Busch about the prospects moving forward. Five races remain before the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins in Chicago and Busch still has the chance to be among those racing for the championship.

Over the next few weeks the NSCS visits tracks they’ve already been to this season, which Busch sees as an advantage. The time to be aggressive in their race day approach is now and they’ll know what they did wrong the first time around in hopes of capitalizing the second time.

“So even though we didn’t win, I feel good about this third place finish,” he said. “Even though we didn’t gain points, this was a championship effort type day.”

Busch, who won the championship in the inaugural Chase in 2004, is still searching for his first win of the 2013 season. There have been moments of closeness, strong cars and solid finishes. But there’s also been weeks of frustration and lost opportunities.

Michigan and Sonoma easily come to mind. In both races Busch led laps and was a contender until taking himself out of the picture. Sunday there was no mishaps, no missteps, just a solid car and run that moves them to 13th in points. He’s just 11 markers out of the top 10 and a Chase spot.

“We just need to have nice, solid races and execute just like today,” Busch said about making the Chase.

“What’s amazing is we finished 14th last week [at Indianapolis] and gained one point. We finished third this week and gained two points, it’s so tight. When you’re running against Jeff Gordon, a four-time champion, [Brad] Keselowski, a champion from last year is in this mix, [Greg] Biffle is strong, [Martin] Truex won earlier at Sonoma, this group of guys are all Chase material.”

Busch finished fourth at Sonoma in June and the NSCS heads to their second and final road course next weekend in Watkins Glen. Using one of their tests at The Glen in preparation of the upcoming event earlier this season, Busch noted his confidence in arriving with a car that will have qualifying and race speed. While he’s never won a Cup race the track – he does have two Nationwide wins there – Busch has stepped up at the left and right handed tracks.

He also has multiple victories at three of the four tracks leading up the Chase.

“For us, we’re just putting the blinders on and worried about the 78,” Busch notes about the next five weeks and his competition, “I’m just excited to go back to these tracks a second time and execute with the mistakes we made the first time around.”

Kasey Kahne Pays Tribute to Jason Leffler in Pocono Victory Lane

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SM Staff
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Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet, came from the eighteenth starting spot to finish first in the GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway.

And in the midst of his celebration in Victory Lane, he took a moment to pause and pay tribute to his friend Jason Leffler, with whom he had ridden home with before and after the last Pocono race prior to Leffler’s fatal sprint car accident.

“This summer has been tough on some racers,” Kahne said. “I thought about it on my way up here because Jason flew up and back with me.”

“It was tough and there are so many people that were good friends with Jason so I wanted to mention him.”

This was Kahne’s 16th victory in 345 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, his second victory in 2013, and his second victory at Pocono. He advanced one position in the point standings to the eighth spot.

“I felt like our Farmers Insurance Chevrolet was the best car,” Kahne said. “Once I cleared Jeff (Gordon), that was pretty much the race.”

“To come here and dominate the race and get the win was really cool,” Kenny Francis, crew chief said. “We were all about to jump off the box when Kasey made that pass.”

Jeff Gordon, who suffered that fateful pass by teammate Kasey Kahne, celebrated his birthday by finishing runner up in his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet.

This was Gordon’s 29th top-10 finish in 42 races at Pocono and his ninth top-10 finish of the season.

“He was super-fast all day,” Gordon said of Kahne. “Those guys deserved and earned that win today.”

“We had them though,” Gordon continued. “We had the position and got a good restart and I’m pretty disappointed that I allowed him to get to the outside of me in Turn One.”

“That’s the advantage you have of being second, just like the restart before that where I had a little bit of an advantage being in second and got position on him,” Gordon said. “I thought that last restart I did everything I needed to do and I looked in my mirror and I really thought that the inside lane got a good run. I thought all I needed to do was get the bottom but man, he caught me by surprise and blasted by me.”

“And in that scenario, it just kills your momentum.”

While Gordon was disappointed, he was definitely counting his blessings, especially as it pertains to the point standings and getting into Chase contention.

“I feel fortunate to come in second,” Gordon said.  “I feel like we had a great day all in all and I’m very proud of that.”

“That’s something we can build a lot of momentum on,” Gordon continued. “Yeah, I’m frustrated right now because we had a shot at it and I know how important wins are, but second is a great points day for us as well.”

Gordon moved up one spot in the point standings up to the ninth position.

Fellow birthday boy Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet, finished third. And for him it felt like a victory, having conquered some of the demons that had plagued the team.

“It was definitely a run that we were able to close the chapter on having little problems here and there,” Busch said. “What I mean by that is that we executed really well today.”

“It was pit strategy, pit stops, two tires, four tires and all to be in position at the end,” Busch continued. “When the 48 had their trouble, we were even able to get into the pits before they closed them.”

“It just seems like the team is flowing really well and I’m excited for this portion of the season because we now get to go back to all these tracks a second time and we have fresh notes,” Busch said. “So, working together, what I’m happy about is that we’re small but we can shoot from the hip a lot and make up a lot of ground by being aggressive.”

“Even though we didn’t win, I feel good about this third place finish because this was a championship effort.”

This was Busch’s 14th top-10 finish in 25 races at Pocono and he moved up one position to 13th in the point standings.

Ryan Newman, coming off the race win at the Brickyard, continued riding the momentum wave with a fourth place finish in his No. 39 Haas Automation 30th Anniversary Chevrolet.

“Well it was a good run no doubt,” Newman said, in spite of some pit road challenges. “Big for Quicken Loans and their ‘Bring it Home’ sweepstakes.”

And of course Newman reminded all that Bloomin’ Onions would be available for all at Outback on Monday.

Rounding out the top-five was Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the No. 88 National Guard Youth Foundation Chevrolet.

“We had a good car but not as good as it needed to be,” Junior said. “We just didn’t have the edge that we needed.”

“I want to thank my guys who did a good job on strategy and pit stops.”

While Chevrolet dominated the top five, team Penske flew the Ford team colors, with Brad Keselowski finishing sixth and Joey Logano finishing seventh.

“We were close to the 5 and 24 but they were probably a tad faster,” the reigning champ and driver of the No. 2 Redd’s Apple Ale Ford said. “Damn, we were just a little bit short.”

“We were a lot better than we finished,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford said. “Seventh isn’t bad but I thought we were a top-three car today.”

“We just have to keep our heads in the game and keep trying to make up points.”

Both Logano and Keselowski each moved up one position in the point standings, with Logano now in 17th and Keselowski now in wild card contention in 12th.

Kyle Busch was the highest finishing Toyota. He brought the No. 18 M&M’s Peanut Butter Toyota to the checkered flag in the eighth spot.

“We were just a little bit off today,” Busch said after starting from the outside pole. “It seemed like we could get going good on restarts and it would drive well for a few laps, then we couldn’t keep up as well on the long run.”

“That’s about all we had.”

Points leader Jimmie Johnson had a very eventful day in his No. 48 Lowe’s Planes Chevrolet, but battled back to a 13th place finish after blowing a tire and hitting the wall. In spite of all that, Johnson actually increased his points lead over Clint Bowyer to 77 points.

“Yeah, my day kept needing to be calibrated as the day went on,” Johnson said. “I really felt like we had a shot to win, unfortunately blew a tire off of Turn One and ended those hopes there.”

“We worked on the car and got it better,” Johnson said. “Then I hit the wall so hard that it knocked a spark plug wire off the spark plug.”

“They were able to get everything hooked back up and the engine took off,” Johnson continued. “Off we went and salvaged a very nice finish.”

 

Strong 3rd-Place Finish Keeps Busch in Chase Contention

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SM Archive
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Toyota NSCS Pocono Post-Race Notes & Quotes

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SM Archive
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CHEVY NSCS AT POCONO TWO: Post Race Notes and Quotes

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SM Archive
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Ford Pocono 2 Cup Post Race

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Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick Have Kids In Mind at Pocono

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SM Staff
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In addition to tackling the ‘Tricky Triangle’, testing schedules, and making the championship Chase, the stars of NASCAR, from Jeff Gordon to Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick, also took some time to talk kids in the midst of their on-track activities.

Even Miss Coors Light Rachel Rupert got into the kid-friendly act after qualifying was completed for the GoBowling.com 400.

Jimmie Johnson, Pocono pole-sitter, five-time champion and current points leader, was all about kids when it came to talking about the new paint scheme on his No. 48 Lowe’s Planes Chevrolet, which features all kinds of kid-friendly characters from the new Disney movie ‘Planes’.

“The paint scheme is really cool,” Johnson said. “It’s great to have them on the race car.”

“It gets my daughter excited.”

Johnson also had the future fans of the sport of NASCAR on his mind as well, especially hoping that his cool new paint scheme might just attract the next generation.

“The way I became a fan was going to the race track as a kid,” Johnson said. “If we can capture young eyes and have them watch a race for whatever reason, if it’s a cartoon that they enjoy or a movie from Disney that they enjoy, it’s helpful.”

“It’s fun to have the car look different and everything that kind of spins off from it,” Johnson continued. “We have had very fast race cars when we have had the Disney movies on our race car.”

“I think it’s good for all of us.”

Johnson almost sounded like a kid himself when he talked about meeting comedian Dane Cook, star of the animated film ‘Planes’ and voice of the character Dusty, a little crop duster with a ton of heart. Johnson is also pretty stoked for the ‘Planes’ inspired flyover as well.

“Excited for the opportunity that Dane Cook is going to be here this weekend, which will be fun,” Johnson said. “I’m sure he will make some people smile and laugh.”

“From what I understand, the fly over is going to be exciting too with the plane from the movie,” Johnson continued. “All in all, just a fun way to tie it all in.”

“I think it’s good for the track, good for Lowe’s, good for myself, good for NASCAR and hopefully we get some new young fans out of it.”

Jeff Gordon, who will be celebrating his 42nd birthday at Pocono this weekend, also had kids on his mind. In fact, he even speculated if his own children, daughter Ella and son Leo, would follow in his footsteps to become racers in their own rights.

“My daughter, I kind of want to wait and see what kind of interest level she has,” Gordon said of Ella potentially jumping behind the wheel of a race car. “Just knowing the things she’s interested in, I don’t see her being one, but she is very competitive.”

“My son just loves race cars already at a very young age,” Gordon continued. “He reminds me of myself.”

Gordon also admitted that Leo reminds him of himself in terms of initially not being interested in being in a race car, but then once in it, falling absolutely in love with it.

“I never wanted to get behind the wheel of a car and I was always like ‘no, no, no, no,” Gordon said. “But when you got me in it, I loved it and I was good at it.”

“That’s kind of how he is,” Gordon continued. “Not really the first one to just go jump in at it, but once he does, he’s pretty excited about it and he does very well.”

“I think both kids will driver a race car at some time and then to me, it’s introducing them to it and seeing what kind of interest level they have and whether they’re enjoying it and whether they’re good at it and go from there.”

Gordon admitted that, if his children do race, he will be one of those worrying parents as he watches each of them compete.

“It’s nerve-wracking for me to consider and think about that option because every parent that I talk to says that it’s like the worst torture you could ever have because you’re just no in control,” Gordon said. “That’s your child so you have this fear of just them not winning or getting hurt, all these things that you didn’t think about when you were doing it.”

Even Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet got into the mix of kid talk, although it was certainly not about any children of her own.

Patrick was sharing her discussions with the new CEO of GoDaddy Blake Irving when the subject of kids came up in the mix of the new business relationship talk.

“We’ll Blake loves racing which is good,” Patrick said. “He’s got a lot of great ideas and a lot of big plans for GoDaddy.”

“His son is really into cars and that’s always a good thing when someone like that likes racing,” Patrick continued. “But you know, it’s still about making that relationship work and making sure there is a return on investment for what they’re doing.”

So, is the next generation of NASCAR fans, drivers and sponsors ready? If Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Danica Patrick have anything to do with it, the future of the sport does indeed seem kid-friendly, at least for this race weekend at Pocono.

Gary McLean scores second straight win at Chase for the Colors at Peterborough

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SM Staff
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Gary McLean scored his second straight OSCAAR Modified win at Peterborough Speedway in the Chase for the Colors event. The win gives McLean the pole for Autumn Colors, as well as allows the defending series champion to extend his points lead.

It was a wreck-filled night for the Modifieds and it began in the first heat when Darryn Wright spins, collecting Brian McLean on lap one. Then, Branden Bullen would get into Mike Westwood. Brent McLean won ahead of Gary McLean, Brad Pearsall, Brian McLean, Westwood and Wright.

Josh Gruntz would win the second heat in his first start of the season ahead of John Harper, Shane Stickel, Dave Osbourne, Dean Scott and Davey Terry.

Brad Pearsall won the third heat ahead of Gary McLean, Brent McLean, Brian McLean, Wright, Bullen and Westwood.

Shane Stickel won the fourth and final heat ahead of Terry, Harper, Scott, Gruntz and Osbourtne.

In the feature, Gary McLean started pole followed by Brent McLean, Shane Stickel, Brad Pearsall, Josh Gruntz, John Harper, Dean Scott, Dave Osbourne, Darryn Wright, Mike Westwood, Branden Bullen and Brian McLean.

Gary McLean would take the early lead ahead of Brent McLean, Pearsall, Stickel and Gruntz as Terry pulled off due to motor problems. Brian McLean would then pull off following problems earlier in the event. The caution would fly when Osbourne spun in turn three.

On the restart, Gary McLean pulled ahead once again, leading Brent McLean and Pearsall while Gruntz got by Stickel for fourth. The caution would fly once again when Scott would go around. Then on the front stretch, Scott and Osbourne would display their displeasure with one another, resulting in Scott in the front stretch wall. Both cars would done for the night.

On the restart, the wrecks continued as Pearsall got into Brent McLean, causing Pearsall to get sideways. The result was the field checking up and collecting Harper and Gruntz in the night. Gruntz would suffer enough damage for his modified to take two tow trucks to tow it off. So with 11 laps to go, Gary McLean led Stickel, Bullen, Wright, Westwood, Harper and Brent McLean.

Gary McLean grabbed the lead on the restart ahead of Stickel while Bullen and Wright ran side-by-side for third. Bullen held Wright off to keep the spot while Brent McLean began his climb through the field.

Gary McLean grabbed the win ahead of Shane Stickel so they will be your front row come Autumn Colors. Brent McLean made it all the way back to third, followed by Branden Bullen and John Harper. Wright and Westwood rounded out the cars still on track.

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