The Final Word – Ambrose was slick as Busch saw one slip, sliding away
[/media-credit]Watkins Glen’s storyline consisted of two things; a great finish and a lot of bad things happening to good people. Kyle Busch was one of the day’s better entries, was leading on the last lap, but when he struck oil he was not as thrilled as Milburn Drysdale was when Jed Clampett did the same. After Bobby Labonte’s engine went south, he started pebbling the track with the black gold like a Minnesota curling ice maker, which was hard to spot but real easy to grease up the tires. No one saw the stuff, but they felt it.Kyle Busch felt it, went wide. Brad Keselowski felt it, and slid into Busch to erase the leader from the equation. Marcos Ambrose charged up from third, did a little beating and banging as the pair went sliding through the mud, the blood, and the beer, with the man from Snowy River coming out ahead. For Ambrose, he was career win number two as he became the king of the Glen again and gave the King, Richard Petty, another win as a team owner.
So, did NASCAR’s non-call cost Busch a victory, one that might have locked him into the Chase? Yup. The trouble is, no one actually saw oil on the track even though everybody suspected it was out there. I mean, it was either oil or the track turned real icy in one of those Day After Tomorrow sort of weather change moments, but Dennis Quaid was nowhere to be found. However, with the race down to its final lap, it was too late. Busch was out and they let the boys fight it out to see who would endure. It was the right call, though Jeff Gordon would disagree.
Gordon has a win, had the final wildcard spot coming in, but he slipped behind both Ryan Newman and Kyle Busch when he slipped on the slick that final lap to wind up 21st instead of within the Top Ten. With four races to go before the deadline, Gordon is ten behind Newman and four off of Busch.
The rest of the wrecks did not much matter. Brian Vickers is looking to return full time next year, but blew up three laps in. Jamie McMurray was 7th, but a tire blew to conclude his day. Pole sitter Juan Pablo Montoya broke something up front and was gone by the midpoint. Denny Hamlin went from 6th to adios when his engine packed up. Tony Stewart was second, but spun off to oblivion. Dale Earnhardt Jr was in a top ten fight, but spun his way to outside the Top Twenty. It made things entertaining, unpredictable, and kept us watching, but it all did not mean much as far as who hunts for the title and who does not.
The Top Ten remain our Top Ten. Kasey Kahne’s two wins gives him one wildcard spot. Newman has the other, with he, Busch and Gordon in the only points battle that matters. Carl Edwards is six points up on Newman, but still can’t capitalize as he remains winless. Ambrose and Joey Logano still have a shot, but they need at least one more win. They have Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta, and Richmond left to do just that.
Heading to Michigan this Sunday, ten are pretty much locked in yet ten others still have a shot. If McMurray, in 20th, can win two of the final four, even he could slip in. Yet, Jamie has never won at Michigan. Kyle Busch did at about this time one year ago. Carl Edwards did in 2008 and 2007. So has Newman and Gordon…and Kasey Kahne. It should be an interesting race. Enjoy the week.
Third consecutive top three finish moves Hornish closer in Nationwide title fight
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[/media-credit]Since things changed dramatically in the Penske Racing camp back in early July at Daytona, no one would have thought differently if Sam Hornish Jr.’s performance started to slip. The Nationwide Series driver quickly found himself going from worrying solely on his championship hopes to doing double duty for the past month. Sometimes flying from state to state, bouncing between cars and teams.
That could have happened but Hornish hasn’t missed a beat. His NNS is still on the right track as he contends for the championship; gaining on the leaders, again, Saturday following another top five finish. Coming after Hornish captured his first NASCAR pole earlier in the day.
“Little wild. I raced with Carl [Edwards] and Kyle [Busch] most of the day and they were beating each other up pretty good,” Hornish said afterwards. “I had fun having the ability to be in the front row seat to it and the benefit of it a couple times. It’s nice to have cars that run as good as they do, the Penske guys are really continuing to go above and beyond with what they give as far as racecars go.”
His third place finish came after a hard fought and fun day for Hornish. He led 15 laps and was running behind Cup drivers Edwards, Busch and teammate Brad Keselowski for much of the event. Never finding himself far out of their tire tracks, ready to pounce if the door opened. He was there on a restart with less than five laps to go, sitting third but found himself unable to advance. Settling for being the highest finishing NNS regular and his first top 10 at Watkins Glen but his ninth consecutive top 10 finish.
The worst part of Hornish’s day being that he couldn’t deliver Penske a win when his cars led the most laps – 59 of the 82. Yet, he knows that third is nothing to sneeze at, especially behind Cup drivers. Feeling he’s “got to be happy” with what he earned but always wanting more.
“You have some of the best guys in the business, plus the points don’t matter to them, so you have a double threat,” said Hornish on racing Cup drivers. “The restarts were the biggest thing. Just trying to get through the restarts, I felt like we probably gave up a few positions here and there just trying to be overly cautious. That’s what you have to do.
“I felt like today was the day that we were going to have an opportunity to gain on the championship points lead. When we have days like this and can be smart about the things that we do, it always helps to have a good handling racecar to allow you to do that. We need to win races but we know we need to get top-fives and be consistent before that happens.
“You don’t need to win every race to win the championship. You just have to be smart and that’s what we’ve done so far.”
Winless this season, Hornish is using the road courses as his ace in the hole. Whereas his competition has found Victory Lane, Hornish continues to outrun them on the left and right hand tracks. He did so in Road America back in June, finishing fifth, and at Watkins Glen.
Good news is that the series has another one next weekend. Montreal is the third and final road course on the NNS schedule. Heading into the event the No. 12 PPG Dodge team sit third in points, a career best, just 24 markers behind the leader. The closest they’ve been all season.
It will be even closer if Hornish can find himself in Victory Lane for the second time in his NNS career. But in order to do that, he’ll need to better execute late race restarts. On Saturday he was outsmarted by the competition, specifically Edwards the leader, whom he felt slowed the restart down. Hornish wanted to go and started to, only to have to check up as Edwards took off.
“Racing there with Brad and Carl and Kyle feels good when we can take our PPG Dodge and be that competitive,” said Hornish. “I’m really thankful for what the guys at the Penske shop do to these cars. The engine shop today gave me a great car.
“I made a mistake on a shift and didn’t know if the engine was going to make it all day long. I’m thankful for Nationwide Insurance for what they do for the series. A great day for sure.”
Edwards won the race. Hornish won in the bigger picture. Something that seemed a bit of a long shot when the season started, yet he continues to slowly climb, scratch and claw his way back to the top. Fighting for a championship in one series and fighting for a second chance in another.
