Kyle Busch continues Charlotte success with strong top five
[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”246″]
[/media-credit]With every lap and every race Kyle Busch runs at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, it becomes one of his better racetracks.
Good news if Busch plans to contend for the championship since Charlotte is not only in the Chase but several other mile-and-a-half tracks are as well. Busch and his No. 18 M&M’s team continue to improve their program and Sunday night was another step in the right direction.
After leading 55 laps and spending nearly all 400 laps in the top-10, Busch came home with a third place finish. In the last two Charlotte races Busch hasn’t finished worse than third and has led 166 laps. His last nine races are even more impressive: besides a wreck in the Coke 600 last year, Busch hasn’t finished worse than eighth and has four third place finishes.
The only thing missing is a win.
“Man, I want to win at Charlotte so bad,” said Busch when asked about it. “This stinks – second, third, fourth every single time here. It’s a little frustrating being able to finish in the top five like that all the time when you are that close.
“It’s also good to finish like that. We just need to carry on that momentum. This a good race for us so we can bring back some good notes for when we come back in October.”
The finish marks the 10th time Busch has finished in the top-10 in his 17 starts at Charlotte. But for all the success that he’s earned there with wins in the Camping World Truck Series (4) and the Nationwide Series (6), it hasn’t carried over – yet.
He and his team though did many things right during the Coca-Cola 600. His car was one of the few that stayed fast during day and into the dark night, not fading off and needing many adjustments.
After starting 21st he quickly found a comfortable spot in the top-10 and the only concern for the team was keeping up with the changing track conditions. Every time he came to the attention of his crew on pit road they never flinched and quickly got him back out onto the track.
With the race going into long green flag runs, that certainly helped. At times it appeared his car was better on shorter runs before losing positions the longer a run went on. According to Busch though, a driver could then search around on track and make a line work where others weren’t.
“It took so long for the cars to slow down to a certain point that then you could make speed up on the top side,” Busch said. “I could do that but it just took so long in the run to get to that point. If you went up there too early, you’d lose spots.
“I did that a couple times today. It’s 600 miles here. It’s the Coke 600 – that’s what you get.”
The finish moves Busch to eighth in points and while he would certainly like to win, he knows getting locked in the Chase is a priority. The way the month of May has been going, he’s hasn’t finished outside the top four, Busch is putting up a strong fight for a Chase spot.
It’s a good change for a team who found themselves behind when the season started. Not performing to standard and leaving many questioning if something was wrong. Now they’ve moved from 16th to the top-10 in points.
Busch loves what he sees from behind the wheel. His team is getting stronger, the cars are getting faster and they’re closing in on what they need to win.
“I think we’re good,” said Busch about his team. “We’re definitely a contender each and every week. We’re just not winners yet. I wish we knew what it was to get us to that point. There’s just a little bit of something lacking – whether it’s speed or whether it’s longevity in the runs.
“It seems like we can have one or the other and we have to put it all together. The guys did a great job – Denny [Hamlin] finishing second, we run third so that’s really good for us. We’ll move on and go to Dover and see what we can get there.”
The Final Word – Things really do go better with Coke, according to Kahne
[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]Okay, maybe they are right, whomever they might be. 600 miles might be too long a race, but the final 70 of the 400 laps provided some pretty good action. The Coca Cola 600 gave Kasey Kahne his first win as a Hendrick driver, his 13th of his Cup career, three of which have come in NASCAR’s Charlotte crown jewel event. Not a bad way to celebrate his 300th race.
Kasey might not be in the top ten just yet, but the victory has him sitting in the final Chase place as we speak. Brad Keselowski, who was fifth on Sunday, has the other spot reserved for winners, while the usual suspects continue to hold down positions of their own. Okay, as long as the usual suspects do not include Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, or Kurt Busch. Bowyer could still make it on points, but the way things are going the others will need wins between now and Richmond. When it was over, the top ten in the standings were the top ten on the track, with the exception of Jimmy Johnson, Tony Stewart, and the 12th place Martin Truex, Jr. Their places were taken by Kahne, Keselowski, and Jeff Gordon, in 7th.
Back in the day, some drivers would win a race by a number of laps, not seconds. We had a taste of that this weekend, as only nine cars ran the full 400 laps. If it weren’t for a few debris calls to bunch them up, it could have even fewer. To say that Ned Jarrett’s 1965 Southern 500 win, by 19 miles over Buck Baker, was a race is like saying a confrontation between Mike Tyson and my sister would be considered a fight. On second thought, I don’t think Cindy would kick his ass too badly.
Stewart, who would wind up 25th and three laps down, got tagged coming into the pits by Keselowski. Smoke backed up, did a little spin to turn the car around before smoking them up to perform a little sideways shuffle to get his car back into position for servicing. As for Keselowski, he spent some time paying less attention to his driving and more on getting his crew to tell Mr. Stewart that it was an accident, he was sorry, and that he did not want to be sent flying into the fence.
Flying down the track was Johnson’s gas man. Johnson finished a lap down in 11th, but he could have done better if not for one pit stop. Jimmie pulled out, but the gas can did not. Brandon Harder left the pits like a toddler trying to walk a Great Dane on a leash, sending the big fella flying, flipping, and bouncing. Helmets became a part of the crew’s attire in 2002, but I’m still not sure how much padding there is in those fire retardant suits. My guess is, not enough.
They move over to Dover as the road show heads north to Delaware. Bowyer will be trying to move up, Edwards will be trying to stay where he is, and others will be hunting down a checkered flag. Favorites on Sunday, based on history, would include Johnson, Edwards, and Gordon, while the Busch brothers, Matt Kenseth, and Greg Biffle have wins there in recent years. In short, the guy who wins probably won’t need it was bad as some of the rest, unless his name is Jeff. Enjoy the week.
Edwards ‘passed a lot of cars’ while rallying for Charlotte top-10
[media-credit id=38 align=”alignright” width=”242″]
[/media-credit]Carl Edwards was plenty thankful that Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway was the longest race of the year.
Edwards and his No. 99 Fastenal team had to use that time to battle back from an early pit road miscue. In what could have been one hot, long and frustrating night, Edwards and company stayed calm, cool and collected to come back and finish ninth. It wasn’t lost on Edwards afterwards just how far he had come.
“We passed a lot of cars,” he said. “I don’t know how many cars we passed, but we passed a bunch of them. I thought Greg [Biffle, teammate] was gonna get the win for Fastenal, that would have been really neat, but we struggled. We had that loose wheel. I think Matt [Kenseth, teammate] had a loose as well, so we’ll have to figure out what was going on there.
“And then at the end I got in a line of cars and everybody’s cars were pretty fast so it was hard to make up any ground. I thought we had a shot at winning early in the race because we were really fast. We had a lot of troops here and a lot of folks being honored and hopefully we put on a good show for them.”
If anything Edwards put on a show for his team and fans. After pitting on lap 149 for a loose wheel he fell one lap down and ran 33rd. With caution flags few and far between, Edwards was unable to find himself in the lucky dog position until right before halfway.
While he would never make it to the lead, Edwards found himself back in contention with 100 laps to go. But as he watched Biffle lead the most laps, Edwards fought to find the right balance for his car. Yet, he continued to march through the field and into the top-10.
“Truly, I don’t think anymore passed more cars,” said Edwards about his progress under green flag conditions. “We went from 28th to somewhere around 12th and then went all the way back to 32nd or 33rd, and then got all the way back up to ninth. People say we can’t pass, we can pass but we needed 700 miles or 800 miles.”
But the race’s 600 miles were just enough. Kasey Kahne earned his first win of the season, something Edwards said was hard earned. He on the other hand is still searching for his first win since Las Vegas in March of 2011.
Sunday night was a good run for the team, who are trying to not let the disappointment of last year’s Chase loss hang over their heads. Some call it the second place curse, and when comparing how Edwards ran in 2011 to how he’s currently running, there might be something to it.
He’s not as dominant as he once was. But he’s not as bad as he could be. There’s just still room for improvement. All three Roush-Fenway cars finished in the top 10 on Sunday and Edwards saw how fast his teammates were and how fast he should be. It makes his finish “hard to swallow.”
Even more so since Biffle and Kenseth have already won races this season and sit first and second in points. According to Edwards they need to figure out how to make his car go that fast.
Edwards remains 10th in points after picking up his eighth top-10 finish of the season. Edwards will take it but he wants more. The strength of his team was tested during the year’s longest race, and they passed with flying colors.
Now it’s a matter of closing the deal and there will be plenty of opportunities ahead. Edwards has won at each of the next three tracks on the schedule.
“I was pleased with one or two runs in the middle of that race,” Edwards said when asked if he was happy. “I thought, ‘OK, this is it. We’re back to top form here,’ and then for some reason at the end the balance wasn’t as good, so I think we have some things to work on.
“But our whole Roush Fenway team showed a lot of strength. I think the Fords taking the front row in qualifying was great. Greg led the most laps, it appeared to me. Every time I looked at the scoreboard I was jealous of him, but I hope we can go to Dover and get that win.
“There couldn’t be a better track coming up than Dover.”
RPM finds little success at Charlotte
[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”254″]
[/media-credit]A hopeful weekend for Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) turned bad by a lousy finish for the No.9 and a disappointing finish for the No.43 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Aric Almirola started the weekend off by capturing his first career Sprint Cup Series pole and to make things even sweeter for RPM, Marcos Ambrose qualified second.
Both drivers started off strong and exchanged the lead back and forth. Eventually Greg Biffle would pass Ambrose for the lead. Ambrose would go on to lead more laps later in the race but never seemed to recover after falling back through the field during the first 112-lap green-flag run.
With the pole, Almirola choose the number one pit stall for easy access in and out of the pits. That never seemed to come into play for the No.43 team.
Ambrose’s night turned bad when his car started experiencing brake issues. His front brake was severely locked up and was difficult to drive. After Ambrose’s team made repairs, he was able to continue but was multiple laps down due to the time spent behind the wall.
Later A.J Allmendinger experienced similar issues to what Ambrose was experiencing. That comes as a shocker to most people because Allmendinger drives a Dodge, Ambrose drives a Ford and Penske and Richard Petty Motorsports aren’t partnered with each other. This was just one of those coincidences that happens with stock cars driving at speeds near 200 MPH.
After all the trouble Ambrose experienced, he ended up finishing 32nd, 33 laps down. Ambrose commented on how the problems he experienced today are like the issues that the RPM organization is experiencing this season by saying “this is just how are season is going.”
Almirola ended up having one of his best Sprint Cup career finishes, 16th. Almirola is continuing to make strides in the right direction for his future in the Sprint Cup Series.
“I think the guys on pit road did a great job. We’ll take it. It’s 16th. It’s not great, but it’s improvement and that’s the one thing we’ve been talking about and working on is we’ve normally been running 23rd, so now we’re running 16th, so that’s improvement. If we can just keep doing that all year and I think if we can start building a notebook, when we come back to this place, now I’ve got a whole race in a Cup car here under my belt.” Almirola said.
RPM looks to have a better race at Dover International Speedway. Dover is historically a good track for all of RPM.
