Hendrick Motorsports 2010 Championship Notes
10TH TITLE: Hendrick Motorsports now is NASCAR’s all-time leader in NASCAR Sprint Cup owner championships with 10 after Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet team earned their fifth consecutive series title Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports previously was tied with Petty Enterprises, which earned nine Cup owner championships.
THE OTHER GUYS: With its fifth straight championship, Hendrick Motorsports becomes one of just four teams in major American professional sports to have scored five or more titles consecutively. The Boston Celtics posted eight NBA titles in a row starting with the 1958-59 season and ending in 1965-66. Hendrick now is tied with the New York Yankees, which earned five World Series rings from 1949-53, and the Montreal Canadiens, which scored five Stanley Cups from 1956-60.
COMPARISONS: In the major American professional sports leagues, Hendrick Motorsports’ 10 total Sprint Cup owner championships are tied for eighth behind the New York Yankees (27 World Series titles), Montreal Canadiens (24 Stanley Cups), Boston Celtics (17 NBA titles), Los Angeles Lakers (16 NBA titles), Toronto Maple Leafs (13 Stanley Cups), Green Bay Packers (12 NFL championships) and Detroit Red Wings (11 Stanley Cups). The St. Louis Cardinals own 10 World Series titles.
ALL-TIME CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 2010 Sprint Cup car owner championship is the 13th for Hendrick Motorsports across NASCAR’s three national series, extending the team’s all-time record. Richard Childress Racing ranks second among owners with 11 combined titles. In the car owner category, Hendrick has won 10 titles in the Sprint Cup Series and three in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Hendrick Motorsports also has won a NASCAR Nationwide Series driver championship, which came in 2003.
KNAUS SETS THE STANDARD: Chad Knaus is the only crew chief ever to win more than two consecutive Sprint Cup titles (he now has five in a row), and his championship total (also five) ranks him second all-time among crew chiefs in NASCAR history. Only Dale Inman (eight titles) has more.
FIVE-PEAT: Johnson is the first driver in NASCAR history to capture five straight Sprint Cup titles and the first champion in the Chase format to overcome a points deficit going into the final event. Johnson, however, is not the first driver ever to come back and win a championship. Most recently, Alan Kulwicki rallied from 30 points down going in to the 1992 season finale to win it all.
TWO TO GO: With a fifth title, Johnson breaks a tie with teammate Jeff Gordon to become the Sprint Cup championship leader among active drivers and third all-time. Johnson is two titles shy of NASCAR’s all-time leaders, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, who scored seven apiece during their Hall of Fame careers.
DRIVE FOR FIVE: Winning five straight championships is a first for Hendrick Motorsports, which previously was the only NASCAR team to have achieved four titles consecutively. In addition to Johnson’s 2006-10 run, Hendrick scored four in a row with Gordon (1995, 1997 and 1998) and Terry Labonte (1996). No other team has won more than three Sprint Cup championships in consecutive seasons.
DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK: Johnson isn’t the first driver in motor sports this year to come back from a points deficit and capture the series championship in the season finale. John Force (NHRA Funny Car), Sebastian Vettel (F1) and Dario Franchitti (IndyCar) join Johnson in coming from behind to capture their series championships in the final race of the season. Force trailed first by 37 points going into the Nov. 14 finale, when he rallied to win his 15th Funny Car title. Vettel made up 15 points in F1’s season finale on Nov. 14, while Franchitti overcame a 12-point deficit on Oct. 2 to capture the IndyCar championship in the last race of the season.
WINNING PERCENTAGE: Hendrick Motorsports is the most efficient team in major American professional sports, earning 10 titles since its inception in 1984 for a 37.04 all-time title-winning percentage. The Celtics rank second with 17 titles in 65 seasons (26.15 percent), while the Yankees are third with 27 World Series championships in 107 seasons (25.23 percent). Hendrick has won 10 of the last 16 Sprint Cup championships (1995-2010), putting the team’s title-winning percentage during that span at 62.5.
SINCE 1984: No other major American professional sports team has earned more championships than Hendrick Motorsports since 1984, the organization’s inaugural season. In that time, the Los Angeles Lakers have earned eight championships and the Chicago Bulls have collected six titles. The New York Yankees and Edmonton Oilers have scored five titles apiece.
STILL ROLLING: Hendrick Motorsports never has run a Sprint Cup campaign without winning a pole position (1984-2010). The team scored five this season, including two from Johnson.
APPROACHING 200: Hendrick Motorsports has posted at least one Cup-level win in 25 straight seasons (194 victories from 1986-2010), the longest active streak in NASCAR. The streak began Feb. 16, 1986, when Geoff Bodine won Hendrick’s first Daytona 500.
ANOTHER ONE FOR CHEVY: Chevrolet captured its 34th Sprint Cup manufacturers’ championship this season after winning 18 races. Johnson led all Chevy drivers with seven victories.
*When referencing “major American professional sports,” the following have been factored in: Major League Baseball, NASCAR, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League and the National Hockey League.
Hornaday Finishes Second at Homestead
Four-Time Truck Series champion battles Kyle Busch for win
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (November 20, 2010) — Ron Hornaday wanted to end 2010 on a high note. The No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Georgia Boot team had gone through much adversity in 2010 and entered Homestead with a goal of leaving those memories behind. Hornaday qualified ninth for the Ford 200 and battled his way to the front, leading 15 laps before succumbing to a hard-charging Kyle Busch on the final restart to finish the race in the second position.
“We had a great Georgia Boot Chevrolet,” said Hornaday after the race. “I’m just so proud of this team for sticking with it this year. I know we have had some really hard times, but we have battled through and our run this weekend really showed the strength of this team. We started off the weekend not great in practice, but we put our heads together and came up with a great plan. I just got too tight at the end of the race to have anything for Kyle [Busch]. However, this is a great run for our team and just a great way to end 2010. I can’t wait to get to Daytona.”
Hornaday began the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway from the ninth position. Mired in a large group of trucks early in the event, Hornaday radioed crew chief Butch Hylton that he was too tight in traffic. Hornaday settled into the ninth position until the first caution of the night waved on lap 30. The No. 33 team brought Hornaday down pit road for the first scheduled pit stop of the race for four tires, fuel, and an air-pressure and chassis adjustment. The No. 33 team performed a solid stop gaining Hornaday two positions, moving him to seventh for the restart on lap 35. Hornaday jumped up to the third position on the restart, battling Aric Almirola for second by lap 40. Hornaday took the second position briefly on lap 44 before falling back to fourth on lap 52.
The second caution of the night was displayed on lap 74. Under the caution, Hornaday reported to the team that the truck was still too tight, but the previous adjustment had helped. The team brought the No. 33 truck to pit road for the second scheduled pit stop of the night for four tires, fuel and another air-pressure and chassis adjustment. Another solid stop from the No. 33 team gained Hornaday two additional positions, placing him second when the race restarted on lap 80. Hornaday was informed prior to the restart that the caution had fallen right on the edge of the No. 33 truck’s fuel window, and was encouraged to save fuel when he had the opportunity. Falling to fourth on the restart, Hornaday quickly radioed the team that there was not a problem with the truck, but that he had messed up the restart and would get the spots back. As the No. 33 truck moved back into the third position, Hornaday asked spotter Rick Carelli to keep him updated on the lines the leaders were running so he could work to catch them. The caution waved for the third time on lap 88. The leaders chose to stay out under the caution period and Hornaday restarted the race on lap 93 in third position. The top six trucks battled fervently for the top positions swapping spots back and fourth until the caution was displayed once again on lap 104 as leaders Busch and Johnny Sauter both made contact with the wall.
Hornaday came to pit road for the last scheduled pit stop of the evening for four tires, fuel and a final air-pressure adjustment. With several trucks either staying on the track or taking two tires, the No. 33 truck restarted the race on lap 110 from the 12th position. Due to the differing strategies, trucks were four wide across Homestead-Miami Speedway. Hornaday rode the outside lane gaining six positions before the caution was once again displayed on lap 111 when the No. 72 truck took down four of the safety sand barrels at the end of pit road. The red flag was displayed for cleanup efforts at the end of pit road. The race restarted on lap 114 with Hornaday in the third position. Hornaday quickly made his way to the front, taking the lead on lap 116. With 10 laps to go Hornaday paced the field, but a hard-charging Busch appeared in his mirror. The caution came out for the final time of the evening on lap 126 when Hornaday’s KHI teammate Elliott Sadler spun in turn four. Hornaday took the outside lane for the restart on lap 130. Doing all he could to hold off Busch, the No. 18 was able to get a powerful side draft and get around the No. 33. Hornaday was unable to make it back to Busch to battle for the win. Hornaday ended the race in the second position and capped off the 2010 season seventh in the Truck Series point standings.
The victory marked Busch’s eighth Truck Series win of 2010. The remainder of the top five included Hornaday, Sauter, Todd Bodine and Almirola. The Truck Series now takes a two-month hiatus returning to Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway for the season opener on February 18, 2011.
ABOUT GEORGIA BOOT:
Since 1937, Georgia Boot has been a manufacturer and marketer of quality work and outdoor footwear. It is a division of Rocky Brands, a publicly traded company on Nasdaq® under the symbol: RCKY. For more information, visit www.georgiaboot.com.
About Kevin Harvick Inc.:
Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI), established in 2001 by Kevin and DeLana Harvick, is an 80,000 sq. ft. facility located in Kernersville, N.C. Home of the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship team, KHI enters 2010 in its seventh full year of competition with two full-time Truck Series teams and one full-time Nationwide Series team. Four-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday returns to the helm of the No. 33 Truck team looking for his fifth title and third championship for KHI (2009 and 2007), while Sprint Cup series stars Kevin Harvick and Elliott Sadler guide the No. 2 Truck team. Two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Harvick will again shine as the lead driver of the No. 33 Nationwide Series team as he continues to make his mark in motorsports and establish KHI as one of the top teams in NASCAR competition. For more information about KHI and its teams, please visit www.KevinHarvickInc.com.
Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes – NNS Race Final – Homestead
Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010
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Homestead-Miami Speedway
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Post-Race Quotes
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BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger) 2010 NNS Champion
“It’s been a long ride to get here. It’s been a good ride, a lot of fun. It’s pretty amazing. From just a few years back to not having a job in this sport and really thinking that I’d have to get a “real” job to being out here and winning the championship and establishing yourself. Hopefully, we can carry this success to the Cup side.”
Q. Congratulations, gentlemen. Brad, you actually clinched the championship last weekend. So what was it like coming to this race as the champion? Is it a precursor to what you’ll experience next year going to each race as the champion?
“It feels really good. Obviously, for us that meant we could come here and just take a gamble to win, and we did that. We took a pretty large gamble to win there towards the end. It didn’t quite pay off, but it felt good that we knew at the end of the day we didn’t leave anything on the table, and for that I’m very proud.
“Throughout the year I think if you look at the way we’ve raced, we haven’t raced in a championship mode for the most part. We’ve raced in a let’s go for wins mode. We took gambles at tracks like Atlanta and so forth. Those were gambles to win the race.
“Probably lost some spots because of that, but we’re all about doing what we can to win races. We kept that up and got even more aggressive with it here tonight.”
Q. What has Paul brought to the table for you?
KESELOWSKI: “What does Paul bring? I think he said it himself. The focus on just building fast race cars. So much of this sport revolves around speed. You’re crippled as a driver when you don’t have fast race cars.
“When you look through the sport’s history, fast race cars always set the precedent over so many other things. Even reliability and pit road and all of that. If you have a fast race car you can just overcome so many issues.
“And that’s what Paul brings to the table is the knowledge and guts to work hard and build those cars and not accept anything less than that. I think that’s what Paul brings to the table.
“Obviously, our relationship has developed throughout the year to where we have a lot of confidence in each other and that gives a little more clarity and allows us all to be very focused as well.”
Q. Brad, your experience this season in running for a championship, the consistency, the Top 5 record and all that, what do you take from this side of the equation that you think will make you a better Sprint Cup driver?
KESELOWSKI: “There are so many things you take on any given weekend. You can kind of magnify the picture and look at whether it’s one lap and one groove or one pit stop and how to get into pit road better. You can magnify it or you can expand it and look back as far as building a brand and a legacy of being able to win and what that does for your team and for your name for guys like Roger to continue to drive greater and bigger sponsors and so forth, or for guys on the pit crew or on the road, just to keep their spirits up or even to continue to bring new talent in and build depth throughout the company.
“I think there are multiple ways you can look at it. For me I look at it and try to keep that in mind and feel that that’s why this series is so valuable to me.
“It’s not just valuable to me, it’s valuable to us all. If I win, Roger wins, and if Roger wins, I win. So you try to keep that in perspective. That’s kind of how I feel about it and hopefully we’ll get the opportunity to run next year for the championship.
“Like Roger said, we made commitments to sponsors and that to do it, and I feel good about those commitments and surely intend on honoring them. Hopefully we’ll have the opportunity from a rules perspective to do just that.”
ROGER PENSKE (Chairman, Penske Corporation) “It’s amazing to think that we’ve raced so many times here and won races wheel, but to come back here and this be the site for the championship is unbelievable. When you think just a year ago when we decided to put this team together and Paul (Wolfe, crew chief) agreed to come on board and Brad and we talked to him and we said let’s build something from the ground, a whole new team. That’s what’s we’ve done this year. When you think about what Dodge went through, bankruptcy and said, “Stay with us, don’t leave us,’ and you can see today when you see Detroit and what’s happened. We’re so proud of representing that mark through the season. Seven wins in this series and a number of poles. Of course for Brad, a Michigan guy, I think that we brought this whole thing back to Michigan. That’s pretty important to us and the state. For me, it’s a real thrill. This goes down in something that I’ve tried so hard with on the Cup side and certainly this will be a preamble to what’s going to come in the future.
“I just thank everybody in the media and all our sponsors. More important is my name might be on the door, but it’s all those people that are behind that door, some 350 people, that make Penske Racing successful day in and day out. I just want to thank them for what they’ve done for me personally. Also thank my wife who has put up with me for 38 years coming to these races. So it’s been pretty special for me.
PAUL WOLFE (crew chief, No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Charger) “It’s pretty special time for all of us. It’s a first championship for a lot of us on this team and a lot of people at Penske Racing. I’m just grateful for the opportunity that Roger and Brad gave me to come onboard and start up this 22 team. It means a lot to me. All my guys have worked so hard this year. Starting up a new team, I don’t think we had any guys on our team going into December. To be able to come out here less than a year ago and win the first championship for Penske Racing just says a lot about all the guys that we put on this team. With all the help from great sponsors like Discount Tire, Ruby Tuesday’s; it was great to celebrate in victory lane with both of those guys this year. Every day I get more emotions thinking about it. I’m kind of a quiet guy. I don’t say a whole lot. It definitely means a lot and I’m just grateful for the opportunity for the two guys next to me. I think this is just a little bit of what we’ve got to look forward to in the future.”
Was there a point during the season where you said, you know, we’ve got a shot at this? You put together this brand new team and all of a sudden you’re in that position. Then, Brad, what is it that Paul brings to the table that makes you guys a championship team this year?
WOLFE: “Well, to be honest with you, obviously, as we put this team together over the winter, the expectations and goals everybody wants to win a championship. For me, personally, it was like, all right, I need to get in there and build some fast race cars and figure out how we’re going to win races. That was my number one goal.
“Didn’t really have a championship on my mind. It was building fast race cars and winning races. As we got into the season and had the back to back wins at Talladega and Richmond, and kind of seeing how the points were shaking out. That’s probably around that time I was like well, you know, I think we have a shot at this championship.
“As Brad touched on a little earlier, I can’t say that we approached any weekend different as we found ourselves in the points lead there. I don’t remember what race we had the points lead. But we didn’t really approach the weekend different from the way we called the race, from the way we set up the race cars.
“I’m not going to say Brad might not have been driving smart or careful, not putting himself in bad situations which he does a really good job of not doing that. But we went out to win races and to win six races is a pretty good stat.
“You look at the 18 and you might think well, they won 12, so six doesn’t seem like a lot. So they set the bar high. So I feel like for a first year team to come out here and win six of them is pretty big. So just like I said, proud of the effort and it’s kind of my take on it.”
SAM HORNISH JR. (No. 26 Alliance Parts Dodge Charger) Finished 21st “We didn’t have a very good car most of the night. We were way too tight, but somehow we managed to make a solid run to the end. We got caught on old tires late in the race and lost some spots to finish 21st. We ran inside the top 15, the top 10 parts of the night. We just didn’t have anything to run with the leaders at the end of the race.”
JUSTIN ALLGAIER (No. 12 Verizon Wireless Dodge Charger) Finished 11th
“A bit of a frustrating night. I was trying to come up through the field after we got some early damage that set us back. We made some pit calls that I thought were really good and I guess the 88 decided he couldn’t’ leave well enough alone from last week and wanted to get some more. It’s a shame. We got put in the fence early in the day and had to come back from it. I felt that we did a good job in the pits and out on the race track making spots up. We may have pitted too early there at the end. It’s such a tough call and we knew that we needed to take tires and we pitted. Sure enough, it got us to the front, but it wasn’t enough at the end. It was a solid 11th-place finish. I’ve got to thank all the Verizon Wireless Dodge guys at the track and at the shop. It’s been an awesome few years at Penske Racing and I’m very thankful for the opportunity to race for them.”
PARKER KLIGERMAN (No. 42 GetMoreVacations.com/Bandit Chippers Dodge) Finished 13th “Our No. 42 Bandit Chippers Dodge Charger was really good tonight. This was the first Nationwide race that I’ve started up front, ran top 10 the whole race and had awesome pit stops up until the second to last stop where we dropped a lug nut. That dropped us back. For a small team like this to run with the big dogs is great. We know that we’re fighting above our weight. They (the crew) did a great job all night long.”
TOYOTA NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Post-Race Notes & Quotes Homestead-Miami Speedway
Kyle Busch earned his 13th win of the season in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Homestead- Miami Speedway.
Busch’s win enabled Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) to earn its third straight NNS owner’s championship — the second consecutive title for the No. 18 Camry. The No. 20 Camry earned the title in 2008.
Busch led seven times for a race-high 153 laps (of 200) at the 1.5-mile oval.
Camry drivers earned 17 series victories in 2010 and have won 54 races since the manufacturer joined the series in 2007.
Joey Logano (seventh), Brendan Gaughan (eighth) and Jason Leffler (10th) also earned top-10 results for Toyota.
Other Camry drivers in the field included Martin Truex Jr. (12th), Reed Sorenson (14th), Steve Wallace (15th), David Reutimann (16th), Cole Whitt (17th), Brian Scott (18th), Michael Annett (24th), Kasey Kahne (38th) and Kevin Lepage (41st).
Eight Toyota drivers ended the season in the top-15 in the unofficial NNS driver points, including Busch (third), Logano (eighth), Leffler (ninth), Wallace (10th), Gaughan (11th), Sorenson (12th), Annett (13th) and Scott (14th).
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 1st Can you describe what it means to you to earn your second win and owner’s championship this weekend at Homestead? “You don’t right now. You just come out here and enjoy it. All of these guys from Joe Gibbs Racing, everybody from Z-Line Designs — Jim and Monica (Sexton, Z-Line Design owners) are here to help us celebrate. This Toyota was fast, man. I just can’t thank these guys enough. They do a great job at Joe Gibbs Racing — the chassis shop, the body shop, everybody. They put it all together for us in these last three seasons. It’s a shame to see this car go, but we’ve got a new priority here next year. It will be fun. It will be a new challenge for us. I can’t thank NOS Energy Drink enough, Combos, M&M’s, Interstate Batteries, Nationwide Insurance for a great series. This has been so much fun. It’s been cool to come out here and enjoy and celebrate with all of these guys. They deserve to celebrate as much as anybody. I can’t thank the fans enough of course.” What happened on the last pass for the lead? “It was a battle. Kevin (Harvick) was a great race tonight and he had a great race car. I just can’t thank these guys at Joe Gibbs Racing enough — the engine shop, the chassis, bodies, everybody that builds these race cars. All of the guys that are standing here behind me that come out here and pit these things. They do a wonderful job and they deserve to celebrate and they deserve to celebrate long and hard for this one. Being the owner’s champion is really special to us. That’s what we set out to do at the beginning of the year. A great race out there. (Kevin) Harvick was strong and I just got a good restart there on that last one. I had to work for it, it wasn’t easy. I started getting tight there at the end of the race, but I had just enough there to beat him out.” Would you have thought you would win 13 races in 2010 at the beginning of this year? “I would’ve said I wish. I thought eight or nine (wins) is doable, but 13 that’s really hard to do. I couldn’t do it without all of these guys. I’m going to be selfish and say that I wish we had 15, you know, because I feel that we could’ve won that many this year. We’ve had a few taken away from us, but it wasn’t due to lack of effort. These guys gave it their all. Now we can go to the banquet on Monday night and have a really good party with all of us on stage too.” Do you think you win tomorrow’s Cup race and sweep all three races this weekend? “The Cup car is pretty good. I like it. Dave (Rogers, crew chief) has done a really nice job. It’s just going to be all about patience and coming through the heat of the day. We’re going to have a lot of sun out there tomorrow and it’s going to be hot and it’s going to be slick so you’ve got to have a car that definitely handles well at the beginning of the run, but one that definitely handles well at the end of the run as well.”
J.D. GIBBS, president, Joe Gibbs Racing How much does it mean to your organization to win another owner’s championship? “It’s a huge deal for us. You kind of look back, and we started it in the first year with Bobby Labonte. All we learned over the years was what not to do and what to do. Watching Kyle (Busch) and Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) and those guys coming together, and Brad (Coleman) in there as well, it’s just a blessing for us.”
JOE GIBBS, team owner, Joe Gibbs Racing How exciting is this for your organization to win its third straight owner’s championship? “We’re thrilled. I think that’s been well documented. Our struggles the first years in Nationwide Series and how hard it was for us. I really appreciate Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief), the team here, Brad (Coleman) — Safeway Driving Schools. I also want to say thanks to Combos, Interstate Batteries and NOS. It’s really hard to put together a team like that to allow us to race in the Nationwide Series. But with Kyle (Busch), we really appreciate it. We’re thrilled to be a part of it. J.D. (Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing president) works mostly on the Nationwide side, and I take the credit for it. In any case, it’s a thrill for us and I appreciate it. One thing I left out front, too, is Toyota. I really want to make sure that the championship there and what they’ve done for us, we couldn’t be up here if it wasn’t for Toyota. I really appreciate them.”
JASON RATCLIFF, crew chief, No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing How exciting is it for your team to win another owner’s championship and end the season with a win? “It was obviously a tremendous blessing for us to have the opportunity to be close to winning another owner’s championship with Kyle (Busch) and Brad (Coleman) this year in the car, both of them did an outstanding job. Last week, we felt like we had a pretty good — as far as the point’s lead goes last week — we had some trouble at Phoenix, kind of like we did last year. So it’s very gratifying to come into Homestead and have the kind of run that we had tonight. We were able to close the deal. The guys again did a great job on pit road. The guys, the mechanics that turned the wrench on this car, they did a great job preparing it at the shop. Lot of effort went into this car this week, lot of studying, lot of notes, and it paid off for us in the end.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 GameStop/MASTIFF Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 7th How was your race today? “We ran eighth or ninth all day. The car went from too loose and can’t drive the thing to being so tight that you can’t go anywhere. We were at both ends of the spectrum today and didn’t go anywhere. It’s disappointing to end the season that way.”
BRENDAN GAUGHAN, No. 62 Aspen Dental Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Finishing Position: 8th
JASON LEFFLER, No. 10 ABF U-Pack Moving Toyota Camry, Braun Racing Finishing Position: 10th
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Diamond Waltrip Racing Finishing Position: 12th
REED SORENSON, No. 32 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Braun Racing Finishing Position: 14th
STEVE WALLACE, No. 66 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Finishing Position: 15th
DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 11 Rexall/Dollar General Toyota Camry, Braun Racing Finishing Position: 16th
COLE WHITT, No. 84 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position: 17th
BRIAN SCOTT, No. 09 Shore Lodge Toyota Camry, RAB Racing Finishing Position: 18th
MICHAEL ANNETT, No. 15 Germain.com Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 24th
KASEY KAHNE, No. 38 Great Clips Toyota Camry, Braun Racing Finishing Position: 38th What happened to take you out of the race? “It looks like (Justin) Allgaier just lost it to me. I’ve been in a couple of his wrecks this year as far as the Nationwide side goes. I passed the 99 (Martin Truex Jr.) on entry and I was passing the 22 (Brad Keselowski) and I was on the inside so I went left. I wish I would’ve went right — I probably could’ve missed it. It was just a bad decision or the track was kind of blocked out. Our Great Clips car was fast and I think we were going forward. It’s just kind of discouraging that our race is over.”
KEVIN LEPAGE, No. 56 Sunshine Plumbing/Mitchell Swaback Charities Toyota Camry, Mac Hill Motorsports Finishing Position: 41st
Lofton Ends Rookie Season On High Note; Seventh In Miami
Justin Lofton closed out his rookie season in the Camping World Truck Series with a strong top-10 finish on Friday night at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Lofton started the Ford 200 season finale from the sixth position and despite a few challenges, including a flat tire, Lofton ended the year by crossing the finish line in seventh.
“I can’t say enough how proud I am of Mark Rette and all of the guys on the No. 7 visitpit.com team. We grew together as a team all year and it feels real good to close out the season with another top-10,” Lofton said.
After taking the green flag, Lofton remained within the top-10 through the first 30 laps before dropping his No. 7 Toyota Tundra down pit road for his first pit stop of the evening. Shortly after taking the restart, Lofton drifted back in the field, maintaining within the top-15 through the next round of pit stops on lap 75.
Before pulling down pit road for another stop, Lofton reported that through the last run, the truck was “uneasy in the corner.” Due to the handling, crew chief Mark Rette called for a wedge adjustment, four tires, and fuel. After the stop however, the team noticed that Lofton had a right rear tire going down. Since the team was unaware of the deflating tire at the time of the pit stop and the chassis adjustment, the handling of the truck remained a bit off.
Luckily, another caution flag waved just 10 laps later, allowing Lofton to pit again on lap 88. The team again swapped out tires, added fuel, and redid the wedge adjustment.
With a repaired race truck, Lofton took the restart from the 19th position for the restart on lap 93.
As the next yellow waved on lap 105, Lofton stayed out as other lead lap cars opted to pit. With only 10-lap old tires, Rette made the call to keep his driver on track. The call moved the rookie racer to third on the board with just 24 laps left to run.
The field then saw a red flag period following a single truck incident, which brought the restart with just 20 laps remaining.
The trucks with fresher tires however, were able to maneuver by Lofton as he slipped from third to eighth. Despite a call over the radio that the rear end of the No. 7 Toyota was lacking the right feel, Lofton dug in and reclaimed a position in the final laps to close out the season in the seventh spot.
The finish boosted him one position in the final driver standings, leaving the California native 12th in the final rundown. He ended the season with four top-five and eight top-10 finishes, with a best showing of third in Dover.
FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES – Ford 300
PAUL MENARD – No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion (Finished 9th) – “We were gonna run between fifth and ninth anyways, so we did a little tire conservation and tried to save a set to the end just to make it interesting and wound up ninth. That’s kind of where we were gonna run anyway, so we figured we would roll the dice and try a little something and wound up about the same spot. The car was pretty good all night. It had a hole in the nose right at the end and about the last 30 laps it got real tight, but that’s kind of where we ran all night.”
WITH SO MANY CAUTIONS WAS IT HARD TO FIND A RHYTHM TONIGHT?
“We definitely had a long-run car and not a short-run car for sure.
The cautions hurt us. It seemed like it took us five laps for the car to start turning and then once it would start turning the caution would come out and that hurt us. It just took us a while to get going.”
COLIN BRAUN – No. 16 Con-way Freight Ford Fusion (Finished 29th) – “I thought we had a decent run going there. We kind of got tricked with the way we had our pit strategy going. We ended up having to put the set of tires on that we made our qualifying run on and started the race on, and it just didn’t have the grip we thought it was going to, so I kind of got back there in traffic. We just got racing with people we probably shouldn’t have been racing with, but you’ve got to get after it and be aggressive. It’s disappointing, though, that somebody wouldn’t cut you a little bit of a break.”
RICKY STENHOUSE, JR. – No. 6 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion (Finished 4th)
— “It was awesome for CitiFinancial to back us like that, and it was pretty cool for Blackwell Angus Beef. It was special to win the Raybestos Rookie of the Year. It is a huge honor. We came back from adversity there early in the season. We came here wanting to win this race which is why we took tires at the end and we just didn’t get there quite enough.”
ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE GUYS THAT DOESN’T WANT TO SEE THE SEASON END? “10-4 on that. I wish we could have started the year where we are right now. This is good momentum going in the offseason for this whole team. Jack Roush has done an awesome job with this team. It has been a fun year and I learned a lot.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 60 Copart Ford Fusion (Finished 6th) — “We had a really good car. We got t-boned there off of two where a guy lost it and hit us in the right rear. It is just the way it goes sometimes.
That car was super fast tonight though; it is a shame how fast it was for that to happen. It was an awesome night for Ricky (Stenhouse) and for us to finish fourth, fifth, sixth is not a bad night at all.”
TREVOR BAYNE – No. 17 Roush Fenway Ford Fusion (Finished 5th) — “That is an awesome way to come to the end of the season. I was thinking about that coming off the last corner, thinking about how we have three months to think about this last race. I am glad it was a good one for us. It could have been a really bad one because we got into the fence there running around 6th or 7th and we were really tight. I got out of the corner and cut down the tire, it took off and I got the wall. After that, the first caution after that we were terrible. We were really fighting it and I don’t know what was wrong with it. We came back in and they worked on it and God must have done some doctoring on it because it came to life again. We were able to drive to the front and stay there after everybody took tires. We were able to stay up front and bring this thing home fifth.”
YOU AND RICKY MAYBE SHOWED EVERYONE THE FUTURE OF ROUSH FENWAY RACING TONIGHT . “I sure hope so. If we can run like that every weekend it would be exciting. It was wild because I would look up and I would be fifth and he would be 10th and then we would flip spots and end up finishing fourth and fifth. I am really proud of him for winning Rookie of the Year. Carl finished right behind us which shows the consistency of the cars. I am really happy with everyone here at Roush Fenway to battle back like that and get us that type of run.”
TIMOTHY PETERS CLOSES THE SEASON WITH A 17TH PLACE FINISH AT HOMESTEAD MIAMI SPEEDWAY
Peters wraps up 2010 by earning sixth place in the Camping World Truck Series driver points standings. His achievements will be honored at the banquet on Monday night.
HOMESTEAD, FL. (Nov 19)- As the 2010 season drew to a close, Timothy Peters was determined to get one last solid finish to end the year on a high note. Arriving in Florida on Thursday afternoon, the team went to work on the #17 to give Peters a competitive truck for the race. He qualified 15th for the Ford 200. When the race started on Friday night, hopes were high for a finish that reflected the solid year the Red Horse Racing team had experienced. Winning the season opener at Daytona, Peters wanted to “book-end” his season with another win in the last event. Despite the efforts, the #17 Toyota Tundra was a hand full all night. Peters battled a tight condition that persisted for most of the 134-lap event. Halfway through the race, a right front flat caused the #17 to make contact with the wall. Peters was able to rally back to a 17th place finish and end the year with his head held high.
Peters hit the track for the first time during practice on Thursday evening. Fourth quick overall the team felt they had their truck in good shape for the race. Rain showers moved into the area and postponed the final practice until Friday morning. After the final session, Peters and the #17 team felt confident in their Toyota Tundra for the season finale event under the lights at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
When the green flag dropped, Peters knew he had only one more opportunity in 2010 to get back to Victory Lane. With his eye on the prize, he went to work, moving up to the 11th spot by lap four. He radioed the team that his Tundra was tight getting into turn one and in the center of turns three and four.
The first caution came out on lap 30 and crew chief Jeff Hensley brought his driver to pit road.
Picking up four fresh tires, fuel, track bar and air pressure adjustments, Hensley promised Peters he was making a big swing at fixing the tight condition.
Peters restarted 12th on lap 35 and raced his way back to the 11th spot on lap 60. Another caution on lap 74 prompted the team to bring Peters back to pit road. Not seeing enough improvement in the truck, Hensley called for another round of changes. Peters picked up four fresh tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments. He lined up ninth for the restart.
Taking the green again on lap 80, Peters was trying to work his way further into the top-10. On lap 88, the right front tire of the #17 went flat and, at the speeds Peters was running, caused him to slide up the race track and into the outside wall. The contact wasn’t too severe but Peters came to pit road for fresh tires. The team changed just right side tires and repaired the right front damage as best as they could on pit road.
Peters lined up 23rd for the restart on lap 93. Knowing his truck was faster than where it was running, he was determined to get back the spots he had lost. Peters moved into the 21st position just before another caution waved on lap 103. Peters headed back to pit road for fresh left side tires on lap 105. The team also made a track bar adjustment to help the condition of the truck. He restarted 18th on lap 110. With time running out and only 24 laps remaining, Peters refused to give up. He climbed to the 16th spot on lap 111, just as another caution came out. Debris on the race track brought out the red flag so clean-up crews could make sure the track was clear.
Racing resumed on lap 114 and Peters restarted from the 16th spot. He clawed his way to 12th by lap 118. Another late caution came out on lap 126 setting up another restart. With only four laps remaining, Peters restarted 11th. The tire combination on the truck was making it very loose late in the race and Peters was really struggling to drive it. In the final laps he slipped back to the 17th spot before the checkered flag fell. Disappointed with the results of the night, Peters was happy to reflect on the great 2010 season he had experienced. With one win, two poles, 16 top-10 and five top-five finishes, it was a great year for the #17 Red Horse Racing team.
“It’s kind of sad coming to the last race of the year,” Peters said. “This has been an awesome season. Winning Daytona right out of the gate and picking up two poles, it really has been a great year. We were lucky enough to capture five top-five and 16 top-10 finishes. Obviously I wish we could get the points back that we lost to mechanical failures but that’s just how it goes sometimes. It doesn’t take away from the success we had this year. Now we need to carry the momentum we built this season into next year.”
Busch wins the Ford 300 as Keselowski and Joe Gibbs Racing are crowned champs
Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick fought back and forth all day for the lead. However, after Busch took the lead with 22 to go, he never looked back as he got his second win of the weekend.
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[/media-credit]The win marked his record-setting 13th Nationwide win of the season and 43rd of his career.
The win also gave Joe Gibbs Racing their third owner’s championship in a row.
“I don’t know,” Busch said about putting it in perspective. “You don’t right now. You just keep doing it and enjoying it.”
Harvick came home second.
“I didn’t want to see it,” Harvick said of the final restart. “Once you get the lead, it’s fun to get that clean air. We were already getting tight and once we got to that point, we just got real too tight.”
Keselowski finished third after already clinching the champion two weeks earlier.
“It’s just so special,” Keselowski said. “It’s not just for me, but for everybody that works on these cars and supports us.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished fourth to win the Rookie of the Year Title after struggling at the beginning of the season.
“It’s awesome,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “It’s been a tough season and to get it turned around, it’s pretty cool.”
Trevor Bayne rounded out the top five for his first top five with Roush-Fenway Racing.
“This is exciting as we get to go into the off-season now knowing we’re a top five,” Bayne said. “We had to fight back after getting in the wall.”
Pole sitter Joey Logano finished seventh.
Meanwhile, Danica Patrick scored his first top 20 finish in NASCAR and first finish on the lead lap after starting fifth.
“Why am I so upset?” Patrick asked herself afterwards. “‘Cause I was working my ass off to try to get by that 09 car and I couldn’t get by. I’m not contending for wins so I’ve got to find the little victories and I’m mad. We qualified really well and there are a lot of positives, but I’m still mad.”
The teams will have their banquet this Monday at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel to celebrate their accomplishments. The top five drivers and teams from the Nationwide Series will be joined by the top five drivers and teams from the NASCAR Camping World Series for the second straight year. Those top five drivers in both series will be featured on stage, while positions sixth-10th will be recognized for their accomplishments.
Also, for the second consecutive year, SPEED personalities Rick Allen and Krista Voda will host the banquet. Additionally, comedian Tom Papa will entertain the crowed.
The banquet will air on SPEED on Friday December 3, 2010 from 7:00pm-9:00pm EST as a lead-in to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Awards Banquet, also on SPEED.
Then in 90 days, the Nationwide Series will begin the 2011 season with the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday February 19th.
Quieting the Critics: Matt Kenseth Set For Top Five Finish in Chase Standings
When Matt Kenseth and his No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion team made the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship back in September, his fans didn’t hear the congratulations of being among the top 12 in the playoffs. They didn’t hear about how Kenseth was among the best in the business for this season who would be competing in the toughest 10 races of NASCAR.
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[/media-credit]No, what they heard was that Kenseth shouldn’t have been in the Chase at all.
It has been a rare season for a man that has built a career on consistency, although at the start of the 2010 season it looked like Kenseth was going to be in typical form. Through the first five races he had five top 10 finishes, the worst of those being an eighth place in the season opening Daytona 500.
Working with new crew chief Todd Parrott brought not only confidence and excitement, but also optimism. They finished second in Atlanta in March and then third at Dover in June after leading for 15 laps.
Now through the first 16 races run Kenseth led in nine of those events, but then things started to get rocky. By mid-June as the team sat seventh in points, Parrott was released from his crew chiefing duties.
Team owner Jack Roush felt the team wasn’t hitting on things during the race weekend or learning in the practice sessions.
In came Jimmy Fennig. Kenseth and Fennig already had a pre-established relationship and a good one. While things weren’t going to change overnight, the hopes were high that the crew chief search was over.
“You hate changing stuff around all the time because it’s hard to get any kind of consistency going … it’s hard to build on stuff,” said Kenseth.
Through the summer months the team continued to ride the roller coaster. The next six races resulted in finishes of 12th or worse before a fifth place at Michigan before the Chase started just weeks later.
To some they squeaked by and made it in. To others they were taking the place of more deserving teams such as Jamie McMurray who a strong case was made for. Kenseth and the entire Roush-Fenway organization never stopped working though and they knew that it was a only a matter of time before they became factors.
In the third race of the Chase, Kansas, he led 26 laps and finished seventh. The following week at California where he’s won at before he started third, led 29 laps and 40 laps remaining while he ran in the top 10 the engine started to go sour. He finished 30th and sat 11th in points, still facing the critics that said he would finished 12th in points.
Over the last few weekends though, those critics have gotten quieter.
Kenseth finished sixth at Charlotte, 15th at Martinsville, and 16th at Talladega after leading 12 laps. Now they quietly sat eighth in points as the focus and attention turned to the top three in the championship battle.
Entering Texas only twice this season had RFR been able to celebrate victories, both coming from Greg Biffle. None of their three drivers, Kenseth, Biffle or Carl Edwards was going to win the title as all three were enduring their own struggles in the Chase.
Texas though is one of Kenseth best racetrack and he came with one half a lap of winning his first race since February of 2009. Biffle dominated the race and Edwards had won the Nationwide Series race the day before.
Next came Phoenix where Edwards swept the weekend and Kenseth earned another top 10 finish. Entering the final weekend of the season the team that had fought all year long was sitting fifth in the championship standings.
Yes, fifth.
Winless and with a pole, they’re among the drivers that have been in the spotlight all season long. The 14 top 10s and six top fives they’ve complied is the worst of any driver in the Chase, but through the elimination of mistakes and wrecks it’s helped their points climb.
Before the Chase they led just 35 laps. In nine races of the 10 in the Chase, they’ve led 72 laps.
“All our cars [Roush-Fenway] seem to be faster the last few months, so lately it seems things have been going better,” said Kenseth at Homestead.
“Last week [Phoenix] I thought we had a shot at it without having that pit road penalty on our last pit stop,” he said. “It feels like we’re gaining momentum and things are smoother and cars are quicker and we’re understanding each other probably a little better.”
Sunday at Homestead will mark Kenseth’s 400th career start in the NSCS. He’s reflected only a little, just to think about former crew chief Robbie Reiser whom he once drove for and then won a Cup title with in 2003.
But there’s not time to reflect too much, because to Kenseth it’s just another race and the last race to get a win this season. He’s only ever gone winless in a season once before, that was 2008. He’s start from the lucky No. 13 spot at a track that has been dominated by the company he drives for and where he won in 2007. There’s nothing like ending the season on a high note, even though it’s in the back of his mind that if something does go wrong he could potentially finish 11th in points.
“It’s been a disappointing few years for me and probably for the team as well,” he said. “I feel like if we can get through Sunday without problems and run as good as I feel we’re capable of and finish fourth of fifth in the points, that’s a highlight of our year, something to hang on our hat on.”
It would be hard to question whether he deserved to be in the Chase then.
