Austin Dillon’s weekend again marred by failed inspection
[media-credit name=”Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]Austin Dillon’s weekend at the Daytona International Speedway started with him defending his Kentucky win after his car failed post race inspection. It ended with him again having to defend his team after another failed inspection.
On Thursday Dillon stated the loose bolt on his winning No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet was not an advantage, nor intentional. It was something that happened during the course of the event and while some might take away from his win, he was confident that the true racers knew what happened.
Then on Friday he went out and laid down the fastest lap in qualifying. The pole would have been the third of his career and second straight. That was until Dillon’s car went through post qualifying inspection and was found to have an open cooling hose in the cockpit.
The car failed under section 20A-2.1J, the rule that stipulates what teams can do with the ductwork. It’s a no-no because it can be an aerodynamic advantage. Dillon’s time was disallowed, the pole award given to Ricky Stenhouse Jr., with Dillon moving to the rear of the field. He would however, get to keep his selection of pit stall since those had already been taken care of.
Speaking after the race was over Dillon acknowledged that his team made a mistake. But said that while crew chief Danny Stockman is already on probation because of trouble back in April with front bumper covers, and last weekend in Kentucky, he doesn’t see any serious penalties coming from NASCAR this week.
“I’m not concerned,” he said. “I think there was another car that went through tech and had the same problem we did and they caught it before they went through inspection. I wish they would have caught ours because it was a mistake that we made.
“The guys are from the Truck Series and you don’t have to tape up the duct inside. The hosed that was untapped was right beside to my AC hose and my AC hose wasn’t hooked either. It was a bummer because it was another mistake; it’s two in a row. It’s not fun and I know my grandfather [owner Richard Childress] was upset with the guys.
“It sucks because the guys work so hard, making these mistakes it’s just like, man we’ve go to stop doing that, we’ve got to be on our game. We were able to recover tonight; I think this was a good one for the guys. Have a torn up car, they’re not going to be fun fixing that but I’m sure they’ll be happy to after the last two weeks and things that have gone on after tech and stuff.”
When the green flag flew in Friday night’s Subway Jalapeno 250 Dillon had to come from the back of the field, 42nd. It never worried him though, knowing he had a fast enough car to eventually get to the front. It was all about making the right moves and finding the right drafting partners. Just as the team had done all season, it was about staying focused and being there at the end.
By halfway he was 16th and charging. The Big One at lap 65 took out 16 cars, but not Dillon. Having positioned himself just right that he was able to work his way through the mess and into contention. He was sitting third by lap 75.
Finally Dillon found the lead, on four different occasions for eight laps.
“It was a wild race, I think everybody going into it knew it was going to be like that,” Dillon said. “We were three wide for quite a while in that pack and the big one happened and my spotter Andy Houston did a great job. He did a good job of just ensuring me where to go and that kept our car clean and let us finish the race.”
A debris caution would set up the race’s conclusion, a green-white-checkered finish. Suddenly Dillon went from pushing eventual winner Kurt Busch and looking to make a move on the last lap, to being pushed by Michael Annett as the two tried to overtake Busch and Stenhouse.
“Coming down to the end it was great working with Kurt Busch, didn’t want to see that caution we had broken away from the pack a little bit there and it had us out front,” recalled Dillon. “And when it all happened there I got to thank Michael he did a great job of pushing me and sticking with me and when it comes to that you’re fighting for everything to get someone to go with you and somebody to trust and Michael did a good job of that. I wanted to thank him.”
It was only fitting for Dillon that with the way his week and weekend had gone it ended just as crazy. Just yards from the finish line, being pushed by Annett to a third place finish, Dillon spun through the grass. He ended up finishing fourth.
No harm, no foul though. The two laughed and talked about it afterwards. Both saying how happy they were to come away with top five finishes. As well as being two of the four drivers qualified for next weekend’s Dash4Cash $100,000 bonus at New Hampshire.
Even better for Dillon, he remains second in the NNS point standings. But has moved to within two points of leader and teammate Elliott Sadler. That’s barring any further penalties this coming week.
“It’s cool to be qualified for the Dash4Cash,” Dillon said. “It’s not fun coming across the checkered spinning out but we did it in the best fashion you can. And I told [ESPN] there’s not better feeling then coming to Daytona and coming to the checkered and having a run on the two leaders there at the end.
“We had a heck of a run going and Ricky blocked and I tried to cross him up and got hooked a little bit. I probably should have wedged it in there and crashed everybody. I got hooked back left. It was a fun race, that was a awesome feeling coming to it. I was smiling that whole last lap.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. grabs top five finish after rough night in Daytona
[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”215″]
[/media-credit]After suffering one of the worst slumps in his career since his rookie year back in 2010, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. continued his upward swing on Friday night at Daytona.
Stenhouse finished second in the Subway Jalapeno 250 in his No. 6 NOS Energy Drink Ford Mustang. It was his third straight top 11 finish after finishing no better than 25th in the three races before that. Finally having a night where everything went right and the team looked like the defending champions they are.
“It’s pretty cool,” Stenhouse said afterwards. “A couple years ago, I think our rookie season, we were third coming to the line when [Dale Earnhardt] Junior won. That was really exciting.”
Stenhouse’s night wasn’t exactly smooth though even though it started off with an inherited pole when Austin Dillon failed inspection. When the green flag flew Stenhouse would run up front and find drafting partners in Danica Patrick and Joe Nemechek.
But on lap 76 he spun Brad Sweet off turn four. The two had been tandem drafting when it became a case of bump drafting gone bad, Stenhouse anticipating Sweet making different move and getting him loose. Sweet would be done for the night, Stenhouse continued on but found more trouble on lap 82. This time it was contact with Jeffery Earnhardt going down the backstretch.
Earnhardt was not pleased and gave Stenhouse the one finger salute the next lap around. According to Earnhardt the shot that Stenhouse gave him in turns one and two was too aggressive and then going down the backstretch he hit him even harder. The contact sent Earnhardt around and collected Patrick.
“We ran up on him pretty quick,” said Stenhouse about the accident. “The 31 [Justin Allgaier] we were working together there, and the 15 [Earnhardt] was in front of us. I tried to get to the inside of him there going in one and he chopped us.
“I kind of pushed him out, trying to get him in front so I could hook back up with the 33 [Kevin Harvick] and then just caught him a little hard there. I hit him a couple of times in one and two, and then kind of thought he would drag the brake a little bit, but, then again, I probably should have known a little better.
“He didn’t practice that in practice – two car drafting – and he’s not out here with us every week, so I probably should have thought a little bit better before I did that.”
There wasn’t too much time for Stenhouse to dwell, he still had a shot to win the race. On the green-white-checkered finish Stenhouse pushed eventual winner Kurt Busch to the lead. Except, that was all he could do because the tandem of Austin Dillon and Michael Annett quickly closed from behind and ruined any chance Stenhouse had of making a move on Busch.
“Restarting 11th with a green-white-checkered and I got a really good restart, shot up the middle and it just kind of seemed like they parted,” recalled Stenhouse. “The 1 [Busch] was coming back and I knew he was fast and we were able to push all night. I felt like we had one of the best cars that could push, so getting hooked up with him I knew he would make the right decisions to get to the front, so I just pushed as hard as I could and there at the end I never even looked out the windshield.
“I was just making sure I was pushing him and looked in the mirror to see where the 3 [Dillon] and the 43 [Annett] were coming, and tried to block them. I was hoping they weren’t going to have as big of a run on us so that I could try to make a pass for the lead.”
It was Stenhouse’s first top five since he won at Iowa in May. After stumbling out of the point lead and into third, the finish will go a long way towards fighting back. Maybe Daytona will again end up being the turning point for Stenhouse’s season, just as it did in 2010, which saved is career.
Now with 16 races down and 17 to go in the season, Stenhouse still sits third in points. But he’s closed to within 18 points of the leaders heading into New Hampshire next weekend.
“For our first time with NOS Energy on the car, I think they’re happy,” Stenhouse said. “We got a very good run out of it and we’re gonna get back to winning here pretty soon.”
Tristan Vautier Leads Final Firestone Indy Lights Practice for Toronto 100
[media-credit name=”IndyCar.com” align=”alignright” width=”333″]
[/media-credit]Rookie Tristan Vautier continued to show his strength, despite his lack of experience, by leading the second practice for the Firestone Indy Lights at the Exhibition Grounds in Toronto. He would lead with a lap of 1:04.7297 minutes.
“The track is very bumper and very tricky, a lot of different kinds of corners, so it’s tricky to set the car up, it’s tricky to go from corner to corner changing your approach because some corners have a concrete patch, some of them are good, some braking zones are rough, some are smooth, so it’s very interesting,” he says. “Definitely interesting to work with the engineer on the car because there’s a lot to do and from a driving standpoint it was very challenging because of the heat, the bumps and everything, so very exciting, it’s very competitive, very tight at the front, so I think tomorrow is going to be very exciting.”
He says the only concern on his mind is they don’t know what the weather will be like due to an expected rain shower in the morning.
Sebastian Saavedra was second, a tenth off of Vautier.
“It’s an amazing track,” he says. “I always have a lot of fun to come back. The pavement is very smooth through the backstretch going into the first hard braking point, it’s actually a big benefit in a way that we can go a lot later and brake even harder than we used to.”
Saavedra says that should make both the Firestone Indy Lights and IZOD IndyCar Series races exciting as it will be a great passing zone. He added that turn nine is another tricky spot and why this track is hard to be “perfect” on.
“It’s one of those places that you’ll never have a perfect car and that’s what makes it so fun, as you cannot set up a car specifically for one corner,” he says. “It’s like half of a car for the complete track. So it’s fun, challenging, physical, and it’s a perfect combination for a good weekend.”
Another rookie cracked the top five as Carlo Munoz was third, five tenths off of Vautier.
Last race’s winner Esteban Guerrieri was fourth while Oliver Webb rounded out the top five.
Fresh off his announcement about his new full-time ride, Peter Dempsey was sixth, followed by Gustavo Yacaman, Victor Carbone, David Ostella and Juan Pablo Garcia.
Dario Franchitti Leads Final Practice at Honda Indy Toronto
[media-credit name=”Johnathan Ferrey/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”304″]
[/media-credit]Three-time IZOD IndyCar Series Champion Dario Franchitti would lead the final practice for the Honda Indy Toronto at Toronto’s Exhibition Grounds. He would run a total of 11 laps for the session, leading with a lap of 1:00.2786 and an average speed of 104.813. The lap was six tenths quicker than the lap he ran to lead the opening session.
Rookie Simon Pagenaud would run second, a tenth off of Franchitti’s time. Franchitti’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon would be third, two tenths of a second off.
Following his practice one problems in turn eight followed by pit lane issues, Justin Wilson would bounce back to finish the second session fourth. However, the practice didn’t go without problems as he would make contact with the tire barrier in turn eight.
Penske Racing’s Ryan Briscoe rounded out the top five, followed by teammates Helio Castroneves and Will Power. Mike Conway was eighth, followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay and Takumo Sato.
Josef Newgarden would run into more problems this practice to go along with his first practice problems as the car would stop in turn four. Newgarden says that the team suffered a fuel issue problem, the same problem as experienced in the opening practice.
“Conditions should be quite a bit different for the rest of the race weekend though so hopefully we haven’t lost much,” he adds. “The team’s going to find the problem tonight and we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
Graham Rahal would also find trouble as he would spin in turn six.
“Overall, I would say, it’s been a tough day,” he says. “We’re struggling to find a balance in the car. This is a place we always run well, and I think we will get stronger tomorrow. I feel we just have a lot to improve on. We didn’t quite get a new tire-run in there at the end after we spun. It just kind of hurt the tires and we had to go from there.”
Hometown hero James Hinchcliffe would miss the second session following problems in the first session as he would have an engine failure. As a result, the team was forced to change motors and he will now suffer a 10-grid spot penalty come qualifying on Saturday.
“Unfortunately, today is a day to forget really,” Hinchcliffe says. “It’s too bad what happened in the second session because with the first session not going smoothly, we were really looking to make some gains.”
He added that he will look towards teammates Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay’s notes to get ready for qualifying tomorrow. Despite the disappointment on the day, there is a positive thought….
“Last time we got an engine penalty we were able to come back and finished on the podium,” he comments. “So we may be down but we’re certainly not out.”
Also suffering a 10-grid spot penalty for unapproved motor changes are Simona De Silvestro and Tagliani.
Dario Franchitti Leads Opening Practice at Honda Indy Toronto
[media-credit name=”Johnathan Ferrey/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”304″][/media-credit]Defending race winner Dario Franchitti would lead the opening practice for the Honda Indy Toronto at Toronto’s Exhibition Grounds. He would run a total of 14 laps for the session, leading with a lap of 1:00.8972 and an average speed of 103.749.
His Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon would be second, four hundreths of a second off of Franchitti’s time.
Rookie Simon Pagenaud continued to shine with the third quickest lap, a tenth off of Franchitti. Tony Kanaan and Will Power would round out the top five.
EJ Viso was sixth, followed by Ryan Briscoe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves and Takumo Sato.
Rookie Josef Newgarden would run into problems as he would stall on the course during the opening minutes of practice. It was reported after practice that he suffered a fuel issue.
Viso would also have problems during practice as he got off the course in turn three while Graham Rahal spun in turn six. Rahal was 11th in practice.
During the practice, there’d also be an incident on pit lane involving the car of Justin Wilson and the pit crew for Sebastian Bourdais.
“I came down pit lane and the car refused to go into neutral,” Wilson says. “So I was stuck in first, I couldn’t get neutral, and on top of that, these carbon brakes don’t work when they’re cold, so was hard on the brakes and I couldn’t stop. At the last second, I tried to dive into the wall to take speed off, but those guys were there and had no idea I was coming and even diving to the wall I still hit them. I really hope they’re okay.”
Dr. Michael Olinger, INDYCAR Medical Director, released that Chuck Homan of Dragon Racing was treated and released from St. Michael’s Hospital after his leg was evaluated. Michael Cole of Dale Coyne Racing and David Martin of Dragon Racing were treated and released from infield care center. Raffi Aroyan was transported to St. Michaels for further evaluation of his ankle.
Wilson’s car sustained the damage following contact with the wall in turn eight.
“I turned the corner and saw that the track was blocked and that Tag (Alex Tagliani) was in the wall,” he adds. “I couldn’t stop, so rather than hit him head-on, I just turned back and hit the wall. It was just a horrible session. We’ll just have to regroup and hopefully get back out for the next session.”
Wilson would end practice with the slowest time while Tagliani was 13th with Bourdais 17th.
Hometown hero James Hinchcliffe would also suffer problems during practice as he would have an engine failure. As a result, the team was forced to change motors and he will now suffer a 10-grid spot penalty come qualifying on Saturday.
Kurt Busch wins wild Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona
[media-credit name=”Credit: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”228″]
[/media-credit]Before the green flag even flew in the Subway Jalapeno 250 on Friday night at the Daytona International Speedway there had already been fireworks.
Danica Patrick in a way called her shot. Saying she wasn’t going to bet against herself while her team said it was the night that she broke through. Unfortunately her night ended like her others at Daytona, wrecked.
Then in qualifying last weekend’s winner, Austin Dillon, went out and won the pole. His celebration was short lived. Dillon failed post-qualifying inspection because of an open cooling hose in his Chevrolet. He failed under section 20A-2.1J and had his time disallowed and moved to the rear of the field. Any further penalties will be announced early next week.
When the race went green it didn’t take long for the action to get exciting even though drivers quickly made their way into the tandem style drafting. Pairing after pairing took their turn at the front, seeing only two cautions and 12 drivers having led by halfway.
During much of the second half of the event the Busch brothers, Kyle and Kurt, often found themselves the leaders with Kurt leading on six different occasions for a race high 23 of 101 laps. But fan favorite Patrick soon arrived and began to flex her muscle, making moves without any drafting help at times.
Then came the Big One on lap 65, which would change the complexion of the race. As Mike Wallace slowed in turn two the hard charging pack behind him had nowhere to go. When the smoked cleared 16 cars involved including Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Mike Wallace, Clint Bowyer and other favorites.
Kurt Busch came out with damage as well but it wasn’t enough to keep him out of contention. The James Finch team taped up their No. 1 Chevrolet and watched Busch fight back through the field. Whether his car was spewing water or losing its drafting help, Busch continued to fight and found himself near the front when it mattered most.
A debris caution three laps to go set up the races finish. A green-white-checkered finish that saw Stenhouse push Busch past the tandem of Dillon and Annett. Then as Busch crossed the finish line Dillon spun behind him, collecting Kyle Busch, Johanna Long and Jason Bowles.
It was the second win for Busch in 2012 but his first for Phoenix. In April he delivered Kyle Busch Motorsports their first career NNS win. It was also the first time Busch had won at Daytona and the 23rd win of his career. But, Friday night in Daytona it was all about the little team who could.
“We just won at Daytona!” shouted Busch in Victory lane. “I got these guys at Phoenix, this is unbelievable. Passion and heart, that’s all I can give. That’s all I can do right now. And to do this for James Finch, this is awesome. To be an underfunded team, to come out only four times a year – we’ll be at Indy in a few weeks – it’s amazing to do what we can with a little team and to preserve.
“And Ricky Stenhouse, in a Ford, thanks to him, this Chevrolet is in Victory Lane. Thanks to Nationwide and these fans. Running this series gives me a lot of confidence but it’s just passion and heart. That’s all I can give right now.”
There was no shortage of emotion from Busch or the Phoenix team.
“I’m a racer. I don’t know much about anything else. There’s time when you get caught up in marketing or PR and everything else that goes along with it, but you’ve got to do all the steps in this day and age.
“I keep saying I grew up 30 years too late, I still haven’t grown up, even though I’m 33. But back in the 80s, that’s what this team reminds me of. It’s family. And you go hard or you go home.”
Stenhouse finished second and Annett third, earning his best career NNS finish. They were also two of the four drivers who became eligible for the Dash4Cash program along with Dillon and Sadler. They’ll race for $100,000 bonus next weekend in New Hampshire.
Going into New Hampshire, Sadler remains the point leader over Dillon. Stenhouse still sits third.
The Subway Jalapeno 250 also set a record for lead changes and leaders. There were 42 lead changes and 16 leaders, the previous record had been 38 lead changes among 16 drivers back in February.
| Unofficial Race Results | |||||
| Subway Jalapeno 250, Daytona Int’l Speedway | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=16 | |||||
| ========================================= | |||||
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Points |
| ========================================= | |||||
| 1 | – | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 2 | – | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 42 |
| 3 | – | 43 | Michael Annett | Ford | 41 |
| 4 | – | 3 | Austin Dillon * | Chevrolet | 41 |
| 5 | – | 18 | Joey Logano | Toyota | 0 |
| 6 | – | 2 | Elliott Sadler | Chevrolet | 39 |
| 7 | – | 31 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | 38 |
| 8 | – | 44 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | 36 |
| 9 | – | 41 | Timmy Hill | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 10 | – | 12 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | 35 |
| 11 | – | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Chevrolet | 34 |
| 12 | – | 70 | Johanna Long * | Chevrolet | 32 |
| 13 | – | 4 | Danny Efland | Chevrolet | 31 |
| 14 | – | 81 | Jason Bowles * | Toyota | 31 |
| 15 | – | 19 | Tayler Malsam | Toyota | 29 |
| 16 | – | 39 | Josh Richards | Ford | 28 |
| 17 | – | 23 | Robert Richardson Jr. | Chevrolet | 27 |
| 18 | – | 14 | Eric McClure | Toyota | 26 |
| 19 | – | 82 | Blake Koch | Dodge | 25 |
| 20 | – | 108 | Bryan Silas | Ford | 0 |
| 21 | – | 40 | Erik Darnell | Chevrolet | 23 |
| 22 | – | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | 23 |
| 23 | – | 54 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 0 |
| 24 | – | 38 | Brad Sweet * | Chevrolet | 20 |
| 25 | – | 199 | John Wes Townley | Toyota | 0 |
| 26 | – | 20 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 0 |
| 27 | – | 124 | Casey Roderick * | Toyota | 17 |
| 28 | – | 33 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 29 | – | 88 | Cole Whitt * | Chevrolet | 16 |
| 30 | – | 15 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Ford | 14 |
| 31 | – | 7 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | 14 |
| 32 | – | 11 | Brian Scott | Toyota | 12 |
| 33 | – | 136 | Bobby Santos | Chevrolet | 11 |
| 34 | – | 30 | James Buescher | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 35 | – | 22 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | 0 |
| 36 | – | 1 | Mike Wallace | Chevrolet | 9 |
| 37 | – | 52 | Joey Gase * | Chevrolet | 7 |
| 38 | – | 174 | Mike Harmon | Chevrolet | 6 |
| 39 | – | 50 | T.J. Bell | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 40 | – | 46 | Chase Miller | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 41 | – | 42 | Josh Wise | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 42 | – | 47 | Stephen Leicht | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 43 | – | 10 | Jeff Green | Toyota | 1 |
