NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Phoenix
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[/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.
1. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski took charge of the point standings with a win at Phoenix, while Jimmie Johnson crashed hard into the wall late. With one race remaining, Keselowski leads Johnson by 22 points.
“It’s all over but the tweeting,” Keselowski said. “The race at Phoenix had so many acts of stupidity, from drivers and NASCAR officials alike, I’m not sure what had more ‘characters’—the race itself, or one of my tweets.”
2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson’s bid for a sixth Sprint Cup championship took a blow at Phoenix, where a late tire problem sent the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet into the wall late. Johnson finished 32nd, while Brad Keselowski came home 6th and took over a nearly insurmountable lead in the point standings.
“We just cut a tire at the most inopportune time,” Johnson said. “Up until that point, it was a ‘Goodyear.’
“We aren’t conceding anything. However, it’s a bad sign when you see a fat lady singing about throwing in the towel.”
3. Clint Bowyer: Jeff Gordon took out Bowyer with three laps to go at Phoenix, in response to contact initiated by Bowyer earlier in the race. Bowyer later tried to confront Gordon in the garage, sparking a brawl between crew members of both team.
“Did you see me racing to accost Gordon in the garage?” Bowyer said. “I put the ‘sprint’ in ‘Sprint Cup’ and the ‘rage’ in ‘garage.’
“Luckily for Gordon, Michael Waltrip was holding me back. It’s certainly not the first time Michael’s been seen hugging a man.”
4. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished second in the AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix, posting his 14th top 5 of the year. Hamlin is fifth in the point standings, 62 out of first.
“It’s a case of ‘too little, too late,” Hamlin said. “But I can look forward to next year for comfort. I’ll spend the next four months much like my pregnant girlfriend—‘expecting.’”
5. Kasey Kahne: Kahne started fourth and finished fourth at Phoenix, posting his 12th top-5 result of the year. He is third in the point standings, 50 behind Brad Keselowski.
“NASCAR penalized Jeff Gordon with a vengeance,” Kahne said. “He was docked 25 points and fined $100,000. I believe before he commits such an act again, he’ll think long and hard. In other words, he’ll ‘pre-meditate’ before he does it.”
6. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished 14th at Phoenix, behind Roush Fenway teammates Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards, who finished 7th and 11th, respectively. Kenseth is sixth in the point standings, 74 out of first.
“People can criticize Jeff Gordon all they want,” Kenseth said, “but I think he showed exceptional driving skill. Like a true professional, he hit all his ‘marks.’”
7. Greg Biffle: Biffle finished seventh at Phoenix, posting his 20th top-10 result of the year. He is seventh in the point standings, 78 out of first.
“NASCAR promoted the ‘Boys, have at it,’” policy,” Biffle said, “and they got what they asked for—the ‘Boy Wonder’ versus the ‘Bow’ Wonder.’”
8. Kevin Harvick: Harvick won for the first time this season, taking the AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix. The win came just days after Harvick announced he will drive for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.
“Along with Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman,” Harvick said, “my addition will give Stewart-Haas three of the most ornery drivers in NASCAR. Stewart likes playing ‘grab ass’ with me, and he definitely ‘grabbed’ an ‘ass’ when he signed me.”
9. Jeff Gordon: After contact by Clint Bowyer damaged his car, Gordon retaliated by intentionally wrecking Bowyer, taking out Joey Logano in the process and nearly collected Brad Keselowski. The incident sparked a brawl in the pits, and on Monday, NASCAR docked Gordon 25 points and fined him $100,000.
“I let my emotions get the best of me,” Gordon said. “That just happens to be the only sighting of the ‘best of me’ since my last Sprint Cup title in 2001.
10. Kyle Busch: Busch came home third in the AdvoCare 500, his third straight top-3 finish and sixth of the Chase.
“I’m certainly encouraged for next year by my Chase performance,” Busch said. “After not making the Chase, I was saying, ‘Wait ‘til next year.’ Now, I’m saying, ‘Can’t wait ‘til next year.’”
Chasing the Chase – Week 9: Keselowski takes points lead; Johnson blows and Gordon has had enough
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[/media-credit]Kevin Harvick snapped a 44-race losing streak on Sunday in the AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. This was Harvick’s first win of the season and the 19th of his career.
“Gil did a great job of keeping us in the track position game and made our car better all day, and the further we got towards the front, the better the car handled. They made good adjustments, and there at the end we had a couple restarts and Kyle chose the bottom and we were able to drive around the topside of him and then get control of the race really.” Harvick said.
It was also rumored that Harvick will be leaving Richard Childress Racing to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.
“We have 2012, we have 2013, and regardless of what happens on a business side of things, Richard Childress and myself will always be friends, good or bad, and may agree to disagree.” Harvick said.
Besides the race winner, the AdvoCare 500 came down to two “wow” moments. One with Jimmie Johnson and the other with Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer.
Brad Keselowski finished 6th and Johnson finished 32nd after blowing a right front tire and hit the outside wall. Johnson had to take the car to the garage for repairs, resulting in Keselowski holding a 20 point lead in the series standings heading into the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“My initial thought was that I heard he blew a right-front tire and I was thinking what conspiracy theorists are going to come up with a theory on this one and then you realize that the same thing could happen to you.” Keselowski said. “Obviously there are no guarantees. We could go to Homestead and have the same problem and Jimmie, you know, takes the point lead back over. No guarantees but very proud to have that points lead heading into next week.”
Keselowski clinches his first NASCAR Sprint Cup championship with a finish of 15th or better; or 16th and at least one lap led; or 17th and the most laps led, even if Johnson wins and leads the most laps.
Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer made slight contact with less than 5 laps to go. Gordon has a possible left rear going down and got into the wall. Gordon waited for bowyer to come back around and intentionally wrecked Bowyer.
The contact resulted in a 15 minute red flag for clean up on the track and a all out brawl in the garage between No.15 and the No.24 crew members.
“Things just got escalated over the year, and I’d just had it. Clint has run into me numerous times, wrecked me, and he got into me on the back straightaway and pretty much ruined our day. I’ve had it, fed up with it and I got him back.” Gordon said.
Bowyer tired to join in after exiting his car, but he was too late at that point. Both drivers and their crew chiefs were called to the NASCAR hauler.
“It’s pretty embarrassing. For a four-time champion, and what I consider one of the best this sport’s ever seen to act like this is pretty ridiculous.” Bowyer said.
Bowyer finished 28 and Gordon finished 30th.
Gordon was fined $100,000, docked 25 championship driver points and put on probation until Dec. 31st along with crew chief Alan Gustafson for “at all events, crew chief assumes responsibility of his driver, car owner and team member”. Rick Hendrick, owner of the No. 24, was docked 25 owner points. Brian Pattie, crew chief of the No. 15, was fined $25,000 and placed on probation until Dec. 31st for the same reason as Gustafson.
Denny Hamlin finished 2nd, Kasey Kahne 4th, Greg Biffle 7th, Matt Kenseth 14th, Tony Stewart 19th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 21st, Martin Truex Jr. finished 43rd after having engine issues from the start of the race.
Official Chase Standings/Stats
After race 9 of 10
AdvoCare 500, Phoenix Int’l Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/cup/chase.php
| Pos. | Driver | (+/-) | Wins | Top-5 | Top-10 | Bon. | Avg St | Ave Fin | Laps | Ttl Laps | Points | Bnd |
| 1 | Brad Keselowski | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 17.7 | 5.3 | 2910 | 2911 | 2371 | 0 |
| 2 | Jimmie Johnson | -1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 9.7 | 7.9 | 2873 | 2911 | 2351 | -20 |
| 3 | Kasey Kahne | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 7.2 | 8.8 | 2906 | 2911 | 2321 | -50 |
| 4 | Clint Bowyer | -1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 6.8 | 10.2 | 2902 | 2911 | 2319 | -52 |
| 5 | Denny Hamlin | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 11.3 | 12.1 | 2876 | 2911 | 2309 | -62 |
| 6 | Matt Kenseth | -1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 12.4 | 12.8 | 2880 | 2911 | 2297 | -74 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 12.2 | 12.3 | 2868 | 2911 | 2293 | -78 |
| 8 | Kevin Harvick | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 17.9 | 12.9 | 2880 | 2911 | 2285 | -86 |
| 9 | Tony Stewart | -1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 18 | 13.8 | 2903 | 2911 | 2284 | -87 |
| 10 | Martin Truex Jr. | -1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 8.9 | 15.1 | 2600 | 2911 | 2260 | -111 |
| 11 | Jeff Gordon | -5 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 11.4 | 13.4 | 2822 | 2911 | 2256 | -115 |
| 12 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 22.3 | 19.7 | 2460 | 2911 | 2211 | -160 |
*Note: These stats consist of only the final 10 chase races.
