Surprising and Not Surprising: Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400
From oil pan issues for the cars of Joe Gibbs Racing to the end of probation for driver rivals Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, the Irish hills of Michigan once again saw plenty of action for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
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[/media-credit]Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 43rd annual Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Surprising: It was surprising that Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota, did not win last weekend at Pocono Raceway, a place that he had ‘owned’ for so many races in the past. But it was also surprising the Hamlin, who has been battling engine failures and other bad luck so mightily this season, finally put that behind him and took the checkered flag.
This was Hamlin’s first win of the 2011 season, although he has had six top-10 finishes to date. His previous win was sixteen races ago when Hamlin was the victor at Texas Motor Speedway in November 2010.
“We finished,” Hamlin said. “We got it done. It’s a big Father’s Day.”
Not Surprising: Since it was Michigan, Jack Roush’s backyard and Ford’s playground, it was not at all surprising that two drivers from that racing stable did well, scoring top five finishes.
Matt Kenseth, behind the wheel of the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford, driving as hard as his car would go while not wrecking on the final lap, finished in the runner up spot. His RFR teammate Carl Edwards, piloting the No. 99 Aflac ‘Now Hiring’ Ford and winner of the Nationwide race the day before, finished fifth.
This was Kenseth’s 15th top-10 finish in 24 races at Michigan International Speedway. This was also Kenseth’s eighth top-10 finish in 2011.
“We had a really fast car and thought we were going to have a chance to win,” Kenseth said. “I got back to Denny (Hamlin), but I could not get back around him. I tried everything I could, but I just could not figure out how to do it.”
For Edwards’ part, he just really wanted to win the Cup race, vowing to head all the way to the top of the grandstands just as he had in the Nationwide race, if he did. While he scored fifth instead of first, Edwards did extend his Chase points lead to 20 points over second place.
Surprising: Continuing with the Carl Edwards theme, it was most surprising to see the driver, who is usually most professional and an excellent spokesperson for the sport, call NASCAR out after the race.
“Track position is so important,” Edwards said. “Sadly, down force is such a big factor in these cars and I am really hoping that NASCAR will take the opportunity in 2013 to take down force away so the fans can see the guys race race cars and not race down force. That would be cool.”
Not Surprising: Neither oil pan troubles nor physical ailments could stop Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Snickers Toyota, from his appointed rounds. After complaining of nausea and pain in the center of his chest, Busch drove forward from his 24th place starting spot to finish third.
“He just had a little stomach ache,” Dave Rogers, crew chief, said. “We gave him some Tums in a bottle of water and it took care of it.”
Busch’s crew did have Scott Riggs standing by if needed, but when Busch was leading at the half-way mark of the race, there was no way he was ever going to get out of his car, not matter how poorly he felt.
“Kyle is pretty dedicated to this race team,” Rogers said. “He’s a pretty tough kid so I didn’t think he would get out.”
“I didn’t feel that bad,” Busch said. “It felt like I was running a 400 mile marathon running on my feet instead of in a race car.”
Although Busch has never won at Michigan International Speedway, this was his fourth top-10 finish in 13 races in the Irish hills. Busch’s third place finish mirrored his third place finish the previous week in the Pocono race.
“It wasn’t going to be a great day but we turned it into a good one,” Busch said. “Overall I’m happy with today; happy with the finish. If you finish third in the last 10 races every single race, you might win this thing, so we’ll take it.”
Surprising: The primarily poor performance of the Hendrick Motorsports team was fairly surprising. Five-time champion Jimmie Johnson spun on lap 8, bringing out the first caution of the race.
Johnson, driving the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, finished 27th and lost the second spot in the Chase standings, falling to the fifth position.
Johnson’s teammate, four-time champion and winner of last weekend’s race, Jeff Gordon, also did not fare very well in the Irish hills. Gordon, this week driving the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, started 31st and finished 17th, falling one spot in the points to the 12th and final potential Chase spot.
What was most surprising, however, were the harsh words HMS driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had for his teammate Mark Martin. The driver of the No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet made perfectly clear that he was not happy with being squeezed into the wall by the driver of the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.
“He just come on up and drove us into the fence,” Junior said of his teammate Martin. “He ran us flat in the wall.”
“I think we will get it sorted out,” Martin said in rebuttal. “I made a mistake.”
Dale Jr. finished 21st, his first finish out of the top-10 this season. Junior was, however, able to hold on to his third place in the points standings.
Mark Martin actually finished top-10, the best of all of the Hendrick Motorsports cars. He climbed one position in the points to 14th, just 20 points behind his teammate Jeff Gordon in the last Chase position.
Not Surprising: The majority of the Richard Childress Racing entries had a very good day at Michigan. Paul Menard, who has been struggling of late, had a terrific run, bringing his No. 27 Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet home in the fourth position.
Clint Bowyer also had a good day in the Irish hills. The No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet finished in the eighth spot.
Finally, ‘the Closer’ Kevin Harvick overcame adversity and a brush with the wall to finish 14th in his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet. Harvick leapfrogged over Dale Junior to lay claim to the second spot in the point standings.
Surprising: One of the best surprises of the day was the terrific run by young Landon Cassill, piloting the No. 51 Security Benefit/Thank a Teacher Today Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing. Cassill finished 12th, the best finish ever in his Cup career, tying the best finish for Phoenix Racing this season.
“That was a great day all around,” Cassill said. “We lost some track position early but fought back all day. We had a good break at the end.”
Not Surprising: With Hall of Fame inductee Bud Moore on his race car in celebration of the US Army’s 236th Birthday, Ryan Newman had an ‘Army Strong’ day, finishing sixth.
“It was a good finish for us,” Newman said. “We fought back hard.”
Newman’s teammate and owner Tony Stewart also had a favorable race result. The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet finished the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 in seventh.
Michigan….More Than Met the Eye
Michigan is one of the fastest tracks on the circuit. It’s wide enough to accommodate 4 wide racing. It’s forgiving because of that width. Yet Sunday’s race didn’t show that.
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[/media-credit]Michigan announced on Friday that the track will be repaved after the August race. The track is looking to avoid surface issues by repaving before they occur. It’s very responsible but one hopes that the reason they are resurfacing has nothing to do with the quality of racing that we have seen there over the last few years. Because if it is, it is a product of the Car of Today and the changes made to it and not the track itself.
Michigan is notorious for being a fuel mileage race. Fans as a rule do not like fuel mileage races. The strategy and the pit calls are lost on the long drawn out green flags. However, as was the case this past weekend, the racing at the track was quite exciting. The racing shown on TV was not. It seems impossible for the track to control both the actual event and the broadcast of the event to be sure that its facility is being shown in the best light.
The race itself was not without controversy. On Friday the oil pans of all three JGR teams were confiscated and tagged by NASCAR. The confiscated pans weighed in the neighborhood of 35 lbs a piece rather than the 5 of a normal oil pan. The added belly weight would have lowered the center of gravity of the car and improved it’s handling characteristics.
Although NASCAR’s statement only stated that the pans were removed and further penalties would be discussed early this week, it does bring to question the problem experienced by Kyle Busch’s JGR team last week. Could the added weight have caused the spring to fail? One of the pans did appear to have been used previously although there is no way to tell which team it belonged to. NASCAR did not further address this issue other than to say the pans were removed and it would be discussed early this week.
Many drivers however, did discuss the issue. The most notable was Jeff Gordon who stated that his team had been penalized a 100 points in the past for a fender flare that never even went on the race track. Other drivers cited similar incidents as well. It will be interesting to see what the end result of this controversy is as it will effect all three teams, drivers and crew chiefs.
The other controversy actually seemed minor at the time. In fact TV viewers never saw the actual incident only the after math. It occurred when the 5 of Mark Martin, got tight in the middle of the corner and drifted up into the 88 of teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr and put him in the wall cutting down a right front tire in the process. The incident occurred as Earnhardt was attempting to pass Martin for the 10th position on the track. Instead of having another consistent finish Earnhardt would be relegated to 21st position at the end of the race.
In post race Earnhardt was angry and disappointed stating, “I perceived that he didn’t know I was on the outside [of him],” Earnhardt said. “He knew I was up there, but he was just running hard. If the tables were turned, I would have been smarter and given him plenty of room, [more] than he did me.
“He is older than me, been racing forever and knows a lot more than I’ll ever get, or he has forgotten more stuff than I’ll never know. Still, I take better care of people than that.”
Shortly after making his statement, Mark Martin arrived at the 88 hauler and went inside to discuss the incident with Earnhardt and crew chief Steve Letarte. After the brief discussion Earnhardt had calmed significantly, stating, “I want to finish where I’m supposed to finish, and that really didn’t happen today, so I was real PO’d about it,” Earnhardt said. “Mark came and gave me a good explanation and I believe it and it’s the end of it. … I got the air screwed up around him and he got real tight off of [Turn] 2 and pushed into the wall.
“He was off the gas when we got together. There was nothing he could do.”
Martin accepted the blame for not realizing Earnhardt was that close.
“I would have given him room if I’d known he was there,” Martin said. “It was too late. I had my front wheels cut and I let off the gas and that’s all I could do at that point. My mistake. My mistake.
“I don’t have a history of having problems. I don’t think I have one now. … I feel like I give everybody on the race track respect. I made a mistake.”
Although Earnhardt Jr accepted the apology and the explanation, Social Media and fan based websites showed that Jr. Nation was not nearly so forgiving. “I lost a ton of respect for him when he pulled the Brett Favre act a few years ago with Roush and again with HMS in regards to retirement and what little respect I had left the building today with that explanation he gave. And where the heck was his spotter to tell him he was NOT clear to slide up on in there. Like Jr said he was careless and he cost Jr big time today. I will never look at MM the same way again or trust him as a teammate.” Another response was, “It was not the first time he has tried to that to Jr in the race, only the last time he really did knock him into the wall. In my opinion he had it out for him from the very beginning of the race, he’s a jealous old prune. He knew he was there, I do not buy his excuse.”
Martin’s on track mistake wasn’t the only one of the race. The televised broad cast was well in a word boring. The progress of the top 10 cars were the entire broadcast. Although, according to fans that were actually at the track the side by side racing was fierce from 10th back. The broadcast was basically a commercial break interrupted by the race. The fans at home were subjected to an 11 commercial average break every 5 minutes of racing. The race was the shortest points race thus far being just over 2 hours. I am sure that TNT was more than a little upset at the number of commercials they didn’t get to run during the shortened length of the race.
More and more fans are leaving the sport. The stands at Michigan were vastly empty. In a town that stands home to the big 4, between unemployment and a lack of competitive racing they choose to spend their dollars elsewhere. Sadly, it’s at most every track on the circuit. But with the broadcast media being the point of exposure for most fans one must question NASCAR’s attention to it. Surely someone watches the TV broadcast? Don’t they? Surely someone reads the print media sites. Surely someone heard Carl Edwards plea of fix the car so we can race other cars and drivers and not down force. Surely someone heard him say track position should not be the deciding factor in a race. Is it that they don’t care or is that truly an echo that we hear across the sport?
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Congratulations to Denny Hamlin and his Fed Ex Toyota Team on their victory at Michigan in the Sprint Cup Series.
Congratulations to Carl Edwards and his Fastenal Mustang team on their victory in Michigan in the Nationwide Series.
That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.
Is it just me, or is Denny Hamlin no Rory McIlroy?
Denny Hamlin wins his 17th Cup victory at Michigan…yaaa. I mean, Yaaaah! Oh, who am I kidding? There are some you love, some you don’t mind, and there are some days you wouldn’t mind if the television went out. Sunday was one of those days.
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[/media-credit]Still, 17 wins is not bad territory for a 30 year old driver to find himself. I mean, he is just one back of Dale Earnhardt, Jr, tied with Kevin Harvick, and one better than Greg Biffle on the career ladder, a trio of guys who have made a much bigger imprint on the NASCAR landscape. I mean, has anyone ever seen anybody standing up and cheering “Denny, Denny.” Okay, maybe family members, but when it comes to terms of endearment, Hamlin is no Rory McIlroy. Still, you don’t have to be popular to outrun Matt Kenseth to the stripe, just talented. For trivia lovers, the win moved the #11 to within one (198-197) of the famed #43 for the winningest car number in NASCAR history. Hamlin shares his wins with the likes of Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough, who claimed 84 wins between them in that auto. Can’t remember who that guy was who drove for most of the #43 victories, but I’m sure it will come to me.
It is too early to get too warm and fuzzy about the points, with 11 races to go before the invites to the ball go out. Even leader Carl Edwards is not yet a sure thing. However, the win moves Hamlin into the top ten, and a spot in the Chase, with that victory all important should he slide out by the time they leave Richmond in September. As things stand today, Clint Bowyer holds down tenth, Jeff Gordon sits with the first wild card placing, and Brad Keselowski would have the other. With this new format for those wishing to contend for a title run, a win is a really big deal leading to the deadline.
So, if Michigan didn’t set my heart a flutter, what are the chances this weekend might? Well, they have some right to go along with the left as they hit the road course at Sonoma, just north of San Francisco. In 22 races, there has never been a winner there that I could not appreciate. Last year it was Jimmie Johnson, five times it was Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt claimed it back in 1995. So, what are the chances Hamlin will win even there? He was 34th last year, but 5th in 2009. Who knows, maybe I’ll embrace the boy to my bosom yet. Maybe I’ll reach six feet, my hair will return, Bill Gates will have cause to ask me for a loan, Richard Childress will ask me to be the new driver of the #3…
HOORAHS AND WAZZUPS: A FED EX SPECIAL DELIVERY TO THE IRISH HILLS OF MICHIGAN
Over the previous weekend we watched a heavily favored championship contender finally locate victory lane again not to mention finally finding the top ten in the points standings. Oh yeah, there may also be a temporary, but highly significant, rise in the cost of oil pans for Toyota Camry’s in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin with:
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[/media-credit]HOORAH to Denny Hamlin for parking his FED EX/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the victory lane of Michigan International Raceway following the Heluva Good Sour Cream Dips 400. After winning eight races last year, Hamlin and this team was heavily favored to be a major contender for this year’s Chase For The Championship. But the team got off to a horrible start and last Sunday finally found their first win of the year.
However, the team was showing some signs of regaining their strength and clawed their way back to 12th in the points. That Fed Ex special delivery to victory lane allowed Hamlin to elevate the team to ninth in the standings and it appears that this pre-season favorite may be back on track again.
Hamlin led the final eight laps of the race and collected $202,200 in prize money. That’s a good thing because team owner Joe Gibbs may need some of that money to pay the anticipated cost increase of three oil pans confiscated by NASCAR last Friday.
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WAZZUP with those heavy weight oil pans confiscated from all three of the Joe Gibbs Racing cars last Friday? This situation began during a pre-practice NASCAR tech inspection when it was determined that the oil pans were unapproved parts. Basically what that means is: all parts on a Sprint Cup car has to be on an official list maintained by the NASCAR technical officials. The Gibbs teams replaced the oil pans with the approved models and were allowed to go out onto the track for practice. While the possibility of some sort of penalty might be coming towards the Gibbs organization, NASCAR officials honestly didn’t anticipate that penalty might include the loss of driver and owner points.
However, by Friday afternoon the plot to this story developed a very interesting twist. The standard size oil pan for a Sprint Cup car weighs approximately four pounds. The weight of the three pans removed from the Gibbs cars weighed between 20 to 30 pounds. It was theorized by many that these unusually heavy pans could allow the Gibbs teams to remove or relocate the standard weights on the car thereby creating an unfair handling advantage.
It’s likely that a decision regarding penalties will be handed down by NASCAR on Tuesday. It’s also likely there will be a highly significant rise in the cost of oil pans.
HOORAH to a great question raised relative this issue during a media press conference last Friday. JGR driver Denny Hamlin was asked if he thought “Fed Ex delivered the wrong pans to the race shop.” Hamlin just replied “Nope.”
HOORAH for the fact that this latest round of embarrassment for Joe Gibbs Racing can’t, in no way, be blamed on the behavior of Kyle Busch.
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WAZZUP with the disappointing finishes from all four of the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet’s? This is especially true of Jimmie Johnson and his #48 team. “Jimmie Five Time” has never one a race at Michigan. He still hasn’t. Early on, after only nine laps into the race, Johnson suffered an uncharacteristic, and unassisted, spin out. He left the pits a lap down but with a broken sway bar. The next caution flag, and the lucky dog pass, put him back on the lead lap at least for a moment. But that broken sway bar had to be replaced on pit road and Johnson now found himself at the back of the pack two laps down. He had to settle for a 27th place finish and fell from second to fifth in the points
WAZZUP with the eerie darkness in the eyes of crew chief Chad Knaus when these things happen to his team? Sometimes he resembles some evil character in a modern day horror movie. I’ve often wondered if you can turn into a pillar of salt just by looking into those dark pupils.
Hendrick driver Jeff Gordon was basically not a factor at all in the race and finished 17th. The lone Hendrick bright spot was Mark Martin’s ninth.
But WAZZUP with the Hendrick Motorsports bright spot becoming somewhat involved with robbing team mate Dale Earnhardt Jr of another top ten finish? The unintentional incident saw Martin’s car sailing up high on the backstretch directly in front of Earnhardt who scraped the wall to avoid rear end contact. Unfortunately that wall contact involved some right front tire damage. The tire eventually blew and Earnhardt found himself scraping the wall again. Earnhardt was the class of the Hendrick field of cars but had to watch a sure fire top ten turn into a 21st place finish. He still remains third in the standings but, had this incident not have happened, he would have taken over second due to Johnson’s problem.
After the race Earnhardt raised more than a few eyebrows when he commented on being “pissed off” due to a careless act. Fear not Junior Nation fans, Mark Martin will make quick work of smoothing over the waters at Hendrick because that’s what a class act like Martin does.
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HOORAH to Roush Fenway Racing for their one-two finish in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Michigan. Carl Edwards passed team mate Ricky Stenhouse Jr in the waning laps for his 33d career win in the series.
HOORAH to Stenhouse for another strong Nationwide Series performance. How good is this kid getting? Remember last year when we all thought Jack Roush was going to fire him for wadding up too many race cars? What a difference a year makes.
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In some final thoughts this week HOORAH to team owner Jack Roush for a great observation regarding NASCAR’s “have at it boys” policy and his fellow team owner Richard Childress.
During a post race interview on Saturday, after his Fords finished one-two in the Nationwide Series race, Roush was asked about the altercation between Kyle Busch and Richard Childress, following the NASCAR Truck race at Kansas, and was specifically asked if he felt the Childress $150,000 fine was too high.
“It was pretty high,” Roush said adding “I guess that pretty much puts the nail in the coffin on the have at it boys.” Roush further suggested that maybe the big difference here was the fact that the Childress vs Busch incident wasn’t so much of a case of have at it boys but was more of a ” boy and a man” situation. “I am not sure, maybe that is different than the boys having at it. Kyle has been been pretty rough on my cars over a period of time and for Richard to stand up for himself is OK,” he said.
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HOORAH to the country music group Emerson Drive and the Acapella Chorus Team from the U.S. Army for outstanding renditions of “The National Anthem.” I’ve always admired acapella performances because I have a keen sense of how important perfect pitch and timing are to these performances. These guys were right on the mark last weekend.
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HOORAH for this week’s “Twitter” moments provided by Toyota driver Denny Hamlin. Participating in a fan chat fest Friday night, Hamlin was asked: “prior to becoming a full time race driver, what was the worst job you’ve ever had?” Hamlin replied: “I worked at a Subway( sandwich shop).” There has been no noted rebuttal comments from either fellow driver Carl Edwards, a Subway spokesman, or Jared the ultimate company representative.
During that same “Twitter” session a fan asked Hamlin: ” what’s the first thing you do in the morning after you wake up?” Hamlin replied: ” Pee ! ” This question came from a female fan and, surprisingly, there was an absence of the traditional question: boxer, briefs or commando?
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WAZZUP with the “Now Hiring” logo on the rear quarter panels of Carl Edwards’ AFLAC Ford? Okay, I know this is a promo for the team sponsor but you have to consider the coincidence of that logo being on the car at a time when Edwards is in contract negotiations with his team, is considered to be the number free agent from the 2011 silly season and is rumored to being courted by Joe Gibbs Racing.
I assume that AFLAC is “now hiring” insurance agents and not personal assistants for the duck.
