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.
Justin Demelo wins OSCAAR Modified feature at Sunset Speedway
The OSCAAR Modifieds would see their fourth different winner of the season as Justin Demelo (No. 82 EMCO Waterworks, CAT Toromont and Demar Aggregates) would pick up his first career OSCAAR Modified feature victory.
Brad Pearsall would drive his No. 1B Performance Signs, Ponderosa Nature Resort, Hosking Race Engine and Performance Improvements Modified to victory lane in the first heat. Brandon Watson would finish second, followed by Barry Newman, Demelo, Chad Strawn and Dave Osbourne.
Gary McLean would drive his No. 8 McLean Industrial Design & Fabrication Ltd and McLean Farms Modified to victory lane in the second heat ahead of Davey Terry, Mike Westwood, Bobby Tolton, Branden Bullen and Ryan Dick.
Saturday night’s feature winner Brent McLean would win the third heat in his No. 7 Home Building Centre (Bowmanville), Pro FX Signs, RN Manufacturing and McLean Farms Modified. Brian McLean would finish second, followed by Shane Stickel, Dean Scott and Ted Patterson.
Justin Demelo would win the fourth heat ahead of Newman, Watson, Strawn, Pearsall and Osbourne.
After halfway through the fifth heat, Bullen would go for a spin. On the restart, Dick would spin Bullen around. Davey Terry would take the win in his No. 14 Wasteco, Castrol, Brennan Haulage and Keeler Electric Modified. Gary McLean would finish second, followed by Westwood, Tolton and Bullen.
Brent McLean would go for the daily double ahead of Brian McLean, Stickel, Patterson and Scott.
Come feature time, it’d be Brent McLean starting pole, followed by Brian McLean, Davey Terry, Gary McLean, Brandon Watson, Shane Stickle, Barry Newman, Justin Demelo, Brad Pearsall, Mike Westwood, Bobby Tolton, Chad Strawn, Ted Patterson, Dean Scott, Branden Bullen, Dave Osbourne and Ryan Dick.
The first caution would fly on lap one for Patterson going around on the backstretch. Meanwhile, Dick would stop on the back straightaway.
On the complete restart, Brian McLean would get sideways, catching Terry, causing Terry to make heavy contact with the inside retaining wall. Gary McLean would also make contact with Terry in the process. Behind them, Bullen and Osbourne would make contact with the wall. The good news is everybody would be okay.
So after the wreck, it’d be Brent McLean leading Brian McLean, Watson, Demelo, Stickle, Pearsall, Westwood, Scott, Tolton, Strawn, Patterson and Bullen.
On the restart, Brent McLean would once again pull ahead while Watson would pass Brian McLean on lap two. Patterson would start to spark as a result of his exhaust dragging; he would pull behind the wall. The third caution would fly on lap four for Tolton spinning. With 26 laps to go, Brent McLean would lead Watson, Brian McLean, Demelo, Stickle, Newman, Pearsall, Westwood, Strawn, Scott, Bullen and Tolton.
On the restart, Brent McLean would grab the lead ahead of Watson, Demelo and Newman. Demelo would then pass Watson for second on lap 7. On lap 10, the fourth caution would fly for Scott going around in turn four.
On the restart, Brent McLean would get the early advantage over Demelo, however Demelo would get alongside McLean on lap 12. Demelo would clear McLean on lap 13 to take the lead while Newman passed Watson for third. On lap 17, Pearsall would pass Watson for the fourth position. On lap 20, Brian McLean would bring his car down pit road. The caution would fly the next lap for Newman and Pearsall getting together in turn two. Westwood would pull his car off the track, done with mechanical problems.
With 10 laps to go, it’d be Demelo leading Brent McLean, Watson and Stickle.
Justin Demelo would hold on to the lead to take the win ahead of Brent McLean and Brandon Watson. Behind them, there’d be contact made between Stickle, Strawn, Pearsall and Tolton on the last lap in turn four. With that said, Branden Bullen finished fourth followed by Dean Scott.
Brad Pearsall would finish sixth, followed by Bobby Tolton, Chad Strawn, Mike Westwood and Barry Newman.
Gary McLean would finish 11th, followed by Brian McLean, Ted Patterson, Dave Osbourne and Davey Terry. Ryan Dick would be credited with a 16th place finish.
In post-race technical inspection, Dean Scott was disqualified so he drops to the bottom of the running order, moving everybody who finished behind him up a spot.
NASCAR BTS: Samantha Busch’s Adventures in Food, Fitness, Fashion and Philanthropy
While NASCAR driver and team owner Kyle Busch is busy on the track, his wife Samantha is having adventures of her own, from food and fitness to fashion and philanthropy.
This week’s NASCAR Behind the Scenes (BTS) focuses on the myriad of activities that this Busch bride of two and half years is juggling and loving every minute of it.
Although petite herself, one of Samantha Busch’s loves is food and cooking, with special emphasis on healthy eating even while on the racing road. She specializes in foods that are quick and easy to prepare in small spaces, such as their motor home.
“The recipes took off when Kyle was in Texas running around with his plate of food,” Samantha Busch said. “I’ve done some video blogs on healthy options and Kyle’s favorites.”
“That’s been really great that people see that you can cook in a little space and in a quick amount of time.”
Busch admits that while she loves to eat healthy and experiment with interesting types of food, she has to try some stealth moves to get the ‘good stuff’ into her husband’s food, as he is not quite so adventurous.
“I tried making zucchini pasta, which was interesting,” Busch said. “It was good but I’m Italian and although it was healthy, it just wasn’t quite pasta.”
“I gave it a try though,” Busch continued. “Food wise, Kyle wouldn’t do the zucchini pasta by any means.”
“So, I have to sneak spinach into his pasta sauce and vegetables into things.”
Samantha Busch does have a dream when it comes to food and her love of cooking. And she would even include her own ‘weird’ food interests in that particular dream.
“One day I hope to put all my recipes together,” Busch said. “I would love to do a cookbook and maybe due that as a fundraiser for the Kyle Busch Foundation.”
“It would also be cool to also have the fans submit their recipes.”
“But I’d need a whole section for me because I eat really weird food,” Busch said. “I usually make myself something and then Kyle something because I eat wacky food.”
“I eat things like tofu and unprocessed soy beans,” Busch continued. “My mom always used to mix things together so I just pile stuff together.”
“I’ll need a whole section on weird, healthy stuff.”
In addition to her weird, healthy food habits, Samantha Busch is also a fitness fanatic. And she does all of her exercising in spite of being on the road and in a motor home for the better part of every weekend throughout the year.
“In Daytona, an RV show from the Travel Channel is coming because they recognize that I do an awful lot, especially exercising, in the little space in our motor home,” Busch said. “I started doing more video blogs, keeping them short and easy, to help people with the proper form needed in working out.”
“Then, I pin the workouts I create on Pinterest, which has been amazing.”
Samantha Busch said that both she and Kyle also enjoy golfing as their newest workout regime, as well as taking their dogs for walks.
One area in which Samantha Busch has become well-known for is her fashion sense, dressing well at an affordable price. She does her fashion research and especially enjoys her design work, whether it is Kyle Busch Motorsports gear or styling shoes on pit road.
“This year I did a dress collection through the Social Dress Shop at the Kyle Busch Motorsports fan club event, which was huge,” Busch said. “We had a lot of our partners there and they were there showing off the dresses and Just Fab, the shoe company, I work with was also there.”
“I also did a new design that launched there,” Busch continued. “It’s a ‘54’ shirt and it’s summery with different colors.”
“Coming out of the ‘54’ is a picture of Kyle doing a burnout,” Busch said. “And this went out really well because all the lady fans were checking it out.”
“With our KBM stuff, it’s been great,” Busch continued. “I’ve taken over the whole women’s collection there.”
“I’m also working with Social Dress Shop, which is a local online company that sells dresses,” Busch said. “They let me choose these budget chic dresses, everything under $80, for their collection.”
“I’m hoping one day I can design with somebody,” Busch continued. “That would be my ultimate goal, especially shoes.”
“To have an affordable trendy shoe line would be the ultimate.”
Probably most important, however, at least to Samantha Busch is her passion for philanthropy and making kids dreams come true, from ice cream parties to building basketball courts, through the Kyle Busch Foundation.
Busch also has innovated unique ways to raise money, from putting sheet metal up for auction on eBay to having fans donate gift cards used to support wish-granting activities for needy children.
“Last year Kyle won the ‘Toyota Dream Build’ with ‘Rowdy Camry’ so that was amazing,” Busch said of another unique fundraising effort. “So, we’ve had that extra money to go out and help.”
“We focus not on giving kids the necessities but giving them the fun stuff that they miss out on,” Busch continued. “That’s where the money goes because we focus on allowing the kids to be kids.”
“The biggest thing when people ask what to do is for people to send gift cards,” Busch said. “This past Christmas, we bought 400 individual Christmas gifts for kids with the gift cards.”
Samantha Busch has been especially grateful for all that the fans have done to support the work of the Kyle Busch Foundation for children in need.
“We’ve done well with the fans support,” Busch said. “It’s really humbling.”
“On our fan club day, one guy came in and gave us his whole paycheck for the day,” Busch continued. “We’ve had little kids come in and give us our allowances and you hate to take it but it’s so sweet.”
“Our Foundation has thrived through fan support and word of mouth,” Busch said. “When they see the kinds of things we do for kids, they want to keep helping.”
With all of her passions, whether food, fitness, fashion or philanthropy, the one thing that keeps Samantha Busch grounded is her love of family, especially now that her parents have moved closer. And of course, she has her eyes on a family of her own, someday down the road.
“It’s great having my mom and dad close to us,” Busch said. “They are huge helps which has freed up more time for me to do more of the Foundation work and more blogs and videos.”
“I don’t know how I did it before,” Busch continued. “They’re always doing something.”
“So between my mom and I we’re really OCD so everything is all lined-up and color-coded,” Busch said. “Kyle comes home and he’s like “Whoa, what went on here?”
“When he goes out of town, my mom spends the night with me and we organize some part of the house,” Busch continued. “We’re kind of weird like that.”
So, what about that question of when the stork will be bringing a little Busch to Kyle and Samantha?
“Yes, everybody’s big question is when we’re going to have kids,” Samantha Busch admitted. “One day.”
“We always talk about it but we haven’t decided,” Busch continued. “But when we do, I’m not going to say anything either.”
“We both really want kids,” Busch said. “I love kids.”
“We want to have our own kids obviously but we also talk about adopting,” Busch continued. “I think that would be amazing.”
“My dad came from Italy and grew up in a very poor town,” Busch said. “So, it would be really cool to go back there and adopt from there.”
Until that time, however, Samantha Busch will continue to focus on her love of food, fitness, fashion and philanthropy. And she loves being busy every minute.
“I like having stuff to do,” Busch said. “KBM is expanding so that keeps me busy.”
“Last year, we got a new house so we’re just about done with the redecorating,” Busch continued. “We love traveling, going late model racing, and being with family.”
“We love to just keep going along.”
For more information about the adventures of Samantha Busch, visit www.samanthabusch.com and the www.kylebuschfoundation.org.
Tires the Tale in Kentucky
In a sport where there are many ways to win and lose a race, there seemed to be one common factor at the Kentucky Speedway on Sunday.
It was a factor that ended the day of a few of the race favorites in the Quaker State 400, ending their day harder than others. And for Matt Kenseth and the No. 20 Dollar General team, it was the one factor they didn’t think was going to get them to Victory Lane.
Tires, oh tires what those Goodyear’s will do.
Early in the going Denny Hamlin suffered his first of what would be two tire failures on the day. While running fifth he cut down a right front and had to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 36. As Hamlin was headed for the pits on the exit road, the carcass of his tire came off the No. 11 and rolled back onto the racetrack.
Right into oncoming traffic of the leaders, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson. The Hendrick Motorsports teammates got the worst of it, the tire bouncing off the front of Earnhardt Jr.’s car then hitting the front of Johnson’s. Both suffered damage but while Johnson was able to go on and dominate the race, Earnhardt Jr. faded for the rest of the day and fought for a 12th place finish.
“You just fix it and keep going. The guys did a god job on pit road all day long working on it and trying to fix everything,” Earnhardt Jr. said afterwards. “I’m not sure we got everything back where it is supposed to be, but we did well enough to get a decent finish out of it.
“Just proud of how hard the team worked … Can’t do anything about what happened out there on the race track with that casing. They worked hard on it to get it right, and get it good enough where we could run well. So, they deserve a lot of the credit today.”
After the race when Earnhardt Jr. had pulled into the garage, his helmet wasn’t even off as he quickly jumped out of his machine to survey the damage. Thinking it had been a lot worse when it happened than it actually was, with crew chief Steve Letarte chalking the whole thing up to bad luck for the pole-winning car.
The bad luck bug wasn’t done however, as it struck Hamlin again on lap 147. Trying to salvage his season, Hamlin was running in the top 10 again. Looking for top fives and wins, in hopes of somehow managing to make his way into the Chase. Blowing another right front tire isn’t going to help his cause.
Hamlin hit the wall hard in turn four, banging his knee and telling TNT after being released from the infield care center that he had gotten his bell rung. Many were concerned when it was reported that Hamlin might have been injured during the wreck, but he made it known that he was doing fine.
“I felt pretty good about the way we were racing today. We were with the right track position, we could run with everybody except for maybe the 48 [Johnson],” Hamlin said of his day and chances for the Chase moving forward.
“We’re just trying to win races and that’s what my job is for the rest of the year is to try to win and do the best I can for my sponsors and my team. Really the biggest thing I was pushing for was to get my team into the Chase. Had an opportunity owner’s points wise to get into the Chase and this is obviously another hit.”
The 35th place finish leaves Hamlin 25th in points. He and car owner Joe Gibbs were adamant as well that he would continue racing for the remainder of the season, and not step out of the car to avoid further injury.
And so as tires continued to be the downfall for others, Johnson was dominating. No worse for the wear after the damage he suffered from Hamlin’s errant tire carcass, Johnson led a race high 182 of the scheduled 267 laps. No matter who the competition was behind the Lowe’s Chevrolet, there was no catching him on this day.
Until everything changed, as it always does, when a caution came out with less than 25 laps to go. The leaders came down pit road for the final stop, Johnson’s team giving him two fresh tires as they had for much of the event. Except this time, he wasn’t first off pit road as the eventual winner, Kenseth, took fuel and no tires to grab the spot.
The restart with 21 laps to go put Kenseth in the lead with no tires, Johnson and many of the other leaders on two tires. That would be the last time Johnson saw the leaders as he spun in turn one after the restart, getting loose all on his own. Receiving four tires from his team on a subsequent caution, Johnson made a mad dash through the field and finished an incredible ninth.
But it wasn’t the two tires, no tires call that had him upset. Johnson screamed over the radio repeatedly that Kenseth had slowed down the restart and stacked the field up, causing him to spin and lose his shot at the win. Calling for Kenseth to be penalized, Johnson was left to take him lumps and move on. He later told reporters that Kenseth broke pace car speed, which drivers aren’t supposed to do, but something NASCAR isn’t calling penalties on.
Holding off the rest of the field on a final restart, Kenseth took his old tires to Victory Lane – saying he was confused on why Johnson would be upset – for the fourth time in 2013, the first at Kentucky. He now leads the series in wins and with seeding would be the leader when the Chase started.
“I didn’t roll the dice, Jason [Ratcliff, crew chief] did. I thought he was slightly crazy when that happened,” said Kenseth in Victory Lane on his team’s gutsy tire call.
“I didn’t think there was any way that we were going to hold on for that win. He made the right call at the right time and those guys got it done.”
Tires, oh tires what that rubber can do.
Kenseth Wins Delayed Quaker State 400
Matt Kenseth’s crew chief, Jason Ratcliff gambled late in the Quaker State 400 at the Kentucky Speedway and took no tires and only fuel when the caution came out on lap 240 of 267. Jimmie Johnson, the dominant car of the day, had taken two tires and was lined up behind Kenseth. After the restart on lap 247 Johnson uncharacteristically spun out in front of the entire field bringing out the caution for the last time.
When the field went back to green Kenseth held off a hard charging Jamie McMurray who finished second. Clint Bowyer finished third, Joey Logano fourth and Kyle Busch fifth. Brother Kurt Busch finished sixth.
The fireworks started early when Kurt Busch made a dive bomb move under last year’s winner, Brad Keselowski, slid up the track and sent Keselowski up the track and in front of traffic. Keselowski’s car pin-balled across the track and into multiple cars bringing out the red flag for crews to clean up the mess. Greg Biffle was collected as was Dave Blaney and others. Keselowski said, “I know he didn’t intentionally wreck me, but it’s just one of those things. A chain of events with the way the cars drive, and the track has that really bad bump down there, and we all know it. There’s no reason to go down there, but he still did.” With the wreck happening only 47 laps into the race he said, “We were trying to get patient, because it looks like we’ll get the whole race in before rain, and there’s no reason to drive like an animal. Apparently, I’m the only one that got that memo.”\
Kenseth said about the gamble and his part in that gamble, “I didn’t roll the dice, Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) did. I thought he was slightly crazy when that happened. First of all, I just have to thank the Lord for putting me here… this is such a great team and great opportunity for me. It’s just been an unbelievable season and year of my life honestly. Jason did a great job — I didn’t think there was any way that we were going to hold on for that win. He made the right call at the right time and those guys got it done.”
Ratcliff said, “I kind of knew that if we could get Matt (Kenseth) position that he would make a good fight out of it and he obviously did. We got a couple good restarts there.”
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Matt Kenseth |
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Jamie McMurray |
|
3 |
Clint Bowyer |
|
4 |
Joey Logano |
|
5 |
Kyle Busch |
|
6 |
Kurt Busch |
|
7 |
Martin Truex Jr |
|
8 |
Jeff Gordon |
|
9 |
Jimmie Johnson |
|
10 |
Kevin Harvick |
|
11 |
Kasey Kahne |
|
12 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr |
|
13 |
Marcos Ambrose |
|
14 |
Ryan Newman |
|
15 |
Aric Almirola |
|
16 |
Juan Pablo Montoya |
|
17 |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr |
|
18 |
Casey Mears |
|
19 |
Jeff Burton |
|
20 |
Tony Stewart |
|
21 |
Carl Edwards |
|
22 |
AJ Allmendinger |
|
23 |
Danica Patrick |
|
24 |
Austin Dillon |
|
25 |
David Stremme |
|
26 |
David Ragan |
|
27 |
David Reutimann |
|
28 |
David Gilliland |
|
29 |
Ken Schrader |
|
30 |
Paul Menard |
|
31 |
Brian Vickers |
|
32 |
J.J. Yeley |
|
33 |
Brad Keselowski |
|
34 |
Greg Biffle |
|
35 |
Denny Hamlin |
|
36 |
Landon Cassill |
|
37 |
Joe Nemechek |
|
38 |
Michael McDowell |
|
39 |
Josh Wise |
|
40 |
Dave Blaney |
|
41 |
Mike Bliss |
|
42 |
Travis Kvapil |
|
43 |
Scott Riggs |
