Hal Martin’s Nationwide Debut Slowed by Brake Failure at Kansas
No. 44 American Custom Yachts Toyota Camry
NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES – RACE 30 OF 33 – KANSAS SPEEDWAY
Hal Martin’s debut in the NASCAR Nationwide Series showed potential for a promising finish, but a brake pedal failure in the early stages eliminated any hope for a solid finish at the Kansas Speedway. The Ragin’ Cajun, from Galliano, Louisiana, came into Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 with realistic hopes and expectations of a top 20 lead lap finish as he prepares for a Rookie-of-the-Year title run in 2013.
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Martin took advantage of Thursday’s elongated practice session, scuffing tires and learning the characteristics of his #44 American Custom Yachts Inc. Toyota. From the opening of the traditional practice sessions on Friday, Martin was ready to “Geaux” and posted the 16th quickest speed. In Coors’ Light Pole Qualifying on Saturday morning, Martin posted yet another solid lap, good enough for 16th fastest.
When the green flag dropped, Martin made an impressive save with a loose racecar in turn 1, and kept the American Custom Yachts Inc. Toyota out of major trouble. Martin quickly worked his way into the top 15 by lap 17. After successfully finding a rhythm and posting top 15 lap times, Martin’s brake pedal broke and forced the 26 year old to the garage for repairs. Martin rejoined competition before the one quarter mark in the event for additional seat time and to build a notebook with Tri-Star Motorsports for their upcoming outing at Texas Motor Speedway. Through the bulk of the 206 lap affair, Martin’s Toyota Camry showed speed capable of running well inside the top 15, and even posted lap times as fast as the leaders, before a late race incident forced a premature end to his day. The performance throughout his debut weekend at Kansas has the Ragin’ Cajun confident and looking forward to his second start at Texas Motor Speedway.
Hal Martin on Kansas Speedway
Are you pleased with the progress and experience you gained this weekend?
“It’s obviously not where we wanted to finish the day. When we came back out after the brake failure, we had a pretty good American Custom Yachts Toyota once we got tweaking on it. We were just racing hard at the end, trying to learn all I could out there. When I got underneath the no.8, we got pinched down and lost the air off the right side and spun out. I’m a lot more confident now going to Texas. Even though the result wasn’t where we wanted it, I learned a lot about driving these cars in traffic as well as by myself. We’ll carry what we had and learned this weekend and apply it to Texas.”
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Race Recap Date: October 20, 2012 Race: 30 of 33 Start: 16th Finish: 25th
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Crunch Time – Crucial stretch ahead for Keselowski
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[/media-credit]Through the first six races of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Brad Keselowski has done everything to put himself in position to win his first Sprint Cup Series title. The Rochester Hills, MI native has won two of the opening six races (Chicago and Dover) and his worst finish in the six chase races is 11th at Charlotte two weeks ago.
While as good as Keselowski has been in these opening six races, ultimately it is the last four race tracks that Keselowski has struggled mightily at. Judging by the numbers, Martinsville is the best remaining track for Keselowski. In five career races on the 1/2 mile oval, Keselowski has two top-10 finishes with a best finish of ninth in the spring race this year.
However in order to remain neck and neck with Jimmie Johnson all the way to Homestead, he will have to score his best runs at Texas and Phoenix. These are two tracks that have not served well for Keselowski in recent history. In eight career starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Keselowski has never scored a top-5 or a top-10 finish. In fact his best finish on the 1.5 mile oval is 14th back in the 2010 spring race. During that eight race stretch, he has led only 34 laps and has an average finish of 25.2. Phoenix has not been much better. In six career starts on the 1-mile oval, he has only one top-5 finish to go along with an average finish of 22.2.
To win this championship, Keselowski will have to have his best career races in the next four weeks. In fact he will have to match Johnson step for step on two of Johnson’s best tracks, Martinsville and Phoenix. But should Keselowski weather Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix, he will be in a position at Homestead to fight for the title. But if past history rears its head, this could be ultimately the stretch that Keselowski loses his shot at the title.
Chasing the Chase – Week 6: Fast Kansas does not mix-up the chase standings for the remaining four contenders
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[/media-credit]Matt Kenseth survived the “new” Kansas Speedway on Sunday. The fast, smooth new surface brought out a record 14 caution flags, a season high in the Sprint Cup Series.
Kenseth lead a race-high 77 laps, including the final 20 laps. This was Kenseth’s third win of the season and his second in the chase and his 24th career Sprint Cup victory.
“It really means a lot,” said an emotional Kenseth in victory lane. “I have to thank God for all of the opportunities and guidance. I want to thank Jack Roush, Robbie Reiser and Mark Martin; without those guys I would have never been at Roush Fenway Racing.” Kenseth said when asked what this win meant to him.
Martin Truex Jr. finished second and also finished second in the spring race. Truex Jr. moved up one position to 6th, 43 points behind.
“Proud of the guys on the NAPA Toyota — they never gave up. Just kept digging all day long. That’s a good run for us, for sure. Just a little bit too tight there at the end there to run with Matt. A good run and we’ll go on to Martinsville.” Truex Jr. said.
Kasey Kahne finished fourth after a late miscue. Kahne was trying to save fuel (while in the second position) and the car would not re-fire. He did not retain his position while running under caution and NASCAR placed him in 6th place on the restart.
“Yes, it just wouldn’t re-fire. Disappointing. But we got through there. We had a good car; we got back to fourth.” Kahne said. “It was a little loose there taking off. It was coming to me and getting good there at the end. We just weren’t close enough at that point in time. But still, a solid day.”
Tony Stewart, who overcame both a spin during the race and a pit road penalty for leaving his stall with equipment still attached to his car, finished fifth.
“Our guys led by Steve Addington, they never gave up today. Really proud of the effort they gave. That’s how we won a championship last year, by never giving up.” Stewart said.
Clint Bowyer finished sixth and maintained fourth in the standings, 25 points behind.
“We’ve just got to keep digging. You’ve got to keep gaining on them. I was hoping to gain a little bit more than that, but we had a solid day and just frustrating though.” Bowyer said after being asked what his plans were for the upcoming races.
Brad Keselowski finished 8th and holds onto the series points lead by seven points over
Jimmie Johnson with only four races remaining.
But it was not without its close calls for the two front runners. Keselowski went in-between two wrecking cars without any damage.
“I’m glad to have survived the carnage and brought back a decent car. Whew! Just a tough day.” Keselowski said.
Johnson was back in the field after a caution flag and spun himself back into the outside wall while trying to make a pass. The damage looked to bad to make repairs on pit road, but crew chief Chad Knaus called him to pit road to get a look at the car first. It turned out to be the cal that saved the team from a serious setback. It was not pretty after several pit stop, but Knaus radioed to Johnson, “That looks good, man. They did a much better job than I thought they would. There’s really nothing wrong with that thing.” Johnson finished 9th.
Jeff Gordon finished 10th, Kevin Harvick 11th, Denny Hamlin 13th and Greg Biffle finished 27th after a hard crash.
Hamlin remains third in the standings but lost 5 more points to the lead. Hamlin is now 20 points behind.
“’This is a race where when you’ve got the other guys you’re racing finishing eighth and ninth, you’ve got to beat them, especially wrecked race cars. We just shot ourselves in the foot a lot today.” Hamlin said. “We’ll just try to rebound at Martinsville. It’s been a good track for us. And not a complete destroyed day, but we’ll try to make the best of it.”
Official Chase Standings/Stats
After race 6 of 10
Hollywood Casino 400, Kansas Speedway
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 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 17.5 | 5.7 | 1756 | 1757 | 2250 | 0 |
| 2 | Jimmie Johnson | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 10.2 | 6.2 | 1757 | 1757 | 2243 | -7 |
| 3 | Denny Hamlin | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 13.7 | 9 | 1756 | 1757 | 2230 | -20 |
| 4 | Clint Bowyer | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 5.5 | 8.8 | 1755 | 1757 | 2225 | -25 |
| 5 | Kasey Kahne | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5.5 | 7.8 | 1753 | 1757 | 2220 | -30 |
| 6 | Martin Truex Jr. | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 10.2 | 9.5 | 1756 | 1757 | 2207 | -43 |
| 7 | Tony Stewart | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 20.8 | 12.2 | 1752 | 1757 | 2203 | -47 |
| 8 | Jeff Gordon | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 10.8 | 11.7 | 1678 | 1757 | 2199 | -51 |
| 9 | Matt Kenseth | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 12.3 | 13.8 | 1726 | 1757 | 2195 | -55 |
| 10 | Kevin Harvick | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 17.7 | 12.3 | 1753 | 1757 | 2191 | -59 |
| 11 | Greg Biffle | -5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9.7 | 14 | 1714 | 1757 | 2188 | -62 |
| 12 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 23.2 | 21.3 | 1308 | 1757 | 2128 | -122 |
*Note: These stats consist of only the final 10 chase races.
(http://www.speedwaymedia.com/cup/chase.php)
Biggest loser(s) after race 6: Greg Biffle. After the hard crash, Biffle dropped five spots in the standings.
Biggest gainer after race 6: No real standout, but Bowyer gains three more points on the leader.
Biggest movers after race 6 (+/-): With the win, Kenseth moves up two spots to 9th in the standings.
Crash Course: 10/22: Kansas Recap
SpeedwayMedia.com’s Brad Keppel and Ed Coombs will recap the weekend in NASCAR and update the latest Chase Standings after Kansas.
