Surprising and Not Surprising: PIR Subway Fresh Fit 500
After one of the most exciting Daytona 500 finishes, the Cup Series promptly headed west to Phoenix International Raceway. Although it actually rained a bit in the Valley of the Sun, the second race of the NASCAR season, the Subway Fresh Fit 500, was filled with its own share of surprises.
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[/media-credit]Surprising: In contrast to the youngest winner, 20 year old Trevor Bayne, celebrating in Victory Lane after his Daytona 500 win last week, a 39 year old veteran driver was finally able to celebrate a victory, ending a 66 race winless streak. After receiving a big bear hug from team owner Rick Hendrick, the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, Jeff Gordon, stood relieved and overwhelmed with emotion in Victory Lane.
What seemed to mean the most to Gordon, in addition to beating Kyle Busch of course, was how the fans embraced his win.
“Man, we just beat Kyle Busch!” Gordon said after getting out of his race car. “Are you kidding me? Pinch me, pinch me.”
“I don’t really care how we do it because we just wanted to get to Victory Lane,” Gordon said. “But to do it that way, leading the most laps, and to see the fans’ reaction. What an awesome feeling it is.”
“God, it feels so amazing,” Gordon said. “I’ve got to say thanks to the fans.”
With the win at PIR, his 83rd, Gordon officially tied Cale Yarborough for fifth in NASCAR’s all-time win list. Gordon also catapulted up 21 spots in the points, now in the fifth position.
Not Surprising: It was not surprising that Kyle Busch, who had won both the Truck and Nationwide Series races at PIR, was right there nipping at Gordon’s heels in the final laps. Busch battled back from an early incident to give Gordon a run for his money, just coming short of the sweep by finishing as the runner up.
After paying homage to Gordon, Busch then apologized for getting into Carl Edwards, whose pole sitting race car was totally wrecked as a result of the contact.
“It was unintentional,” Busch said. “All that aside, we came through a lot of adversity and kept battling through everything that was thrown at us. There at the end, Jeff just had a better car than us and flat out passed me.”
Surprising: In a flashback moment to Daytona, there was actually a ‘big one’ at Phoenix International Raceway. Thirteen cars were involved, including the likes of Brian Vickers, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, David Ragan, Regan Smith and David Reutimann to name a few. The race actually had to be red-flagged in order to allow for the extensive clean up needed.
Clint Bowyer summed up his take on the ‘big one’ up best. “I’m pretty disgusted with the whole thing,” Bowyer said. “Our day is done.”
Not Surprising: Whether as a result of the big one or smaller skirmishes on the track, there were several drivers who were unhappy with one another, sparking the first rivalries of the season. One of the biggest differences of opinion occurred between Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch, who clashed in an early incident.
“In my opinion, this was the car to win,” Edwards said after his tussle with Busch. “That’s too bold a move to make early in the race. We had been in the running for the race win.”
Other cross words were exchanged between Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth after getting into one another.
“Matt wrecked us,” Vickers said simply. “It’s coming back to him.”
Surprising: One of the most surprising finishes was for NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. After receiving a penalty for entering too fast into his pit, sliding through his pit stall, and breaking a wheel off the jack, Junior rallied back for a top ten finish.
Not Surprising: Rick Hendrick’s wisdom in making his giant crew chief swap amongst the Hendrick drivers, sans Jimmie Johnson, certainly became evident at this race. Thanks to his pairing of Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the new duo was able to rally back from adversity, with Letarte serving as head cheerleader. And of course, the driver in Victory Lane, Jeff Gordon, credited his new crew chief pairing with Alan Gustafson, with getting him back to winning ways.
Surprising and Not Surprising: It was surprising, yet not surprising, that last week’s winner Trevor Bayne had such a difficult time at Phoenix. He wrecked his primary car in practice and had the same experience in his back up car in the race. Bayne hit the wall hard, bringing out the third caution in the race and totally destroying the rear end of his No. 21 Wood Brothers race car.
“I don’t know what happened,” Bayne said after the wreck. “That’s tough coming off of our high at Daytona to come to this, but we’ve got a great race team behind us.”
“We’ll be back at Vegas,” Bayne continued. “I hate it ended this way this weekend, but we’ll be back.”
Indeed all of the Sprint Cup drivers will be back and this time they will try their luck on the track in Sin City. The Kobalt Tools 400 will run at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 6th at 3:00 PM and will be broadcast on FOX and PRN.
Jimmie Johnson’s Third Place Finish Was a Championship Like Performance After Early Struggles
No matter how many times it looks like Jimmie Johnson is down and out, the five-time champion rises to the occasion.
On Sunday Johnson did it again in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 after his No. 48 Kobalt Tools / Lowe’s Chevrolet team were nowhere near the top of the charts during practice and qualifying. Many were quick to write him off and wonder what was wrong.
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[/media-credit]Except, when the checkered flag flew though Johnson was in the picture with a third place finish.
“We just struggled from Friday’s first practice session when we unloaded,” he said afterwards.
“We just been working on understanding the new stuff we have developed during the off-season in trying to get laps and reps.”
Heading into Sunday, Johnson had won four of the last seven races at the Phoenix International Raceway. But last fall he never led a lap and struggled early on but used fuel mileage strategy to finish in the top five.
Sunday, Johnson again wasn’t in typical form and while he did led laps, they came during cycles in green flag pit stops. As the race went on though the 48 team kept plugging away and the car got better. Moving from his 28th starting spot to the top 10 before firmly planting himself in the top three.
“We just needed laps,” Johnson said.
“The first half of the race we could not really get going, just way too loose and we pitted every caution that there was. And at one point we thought we were going to be out of tires because we came to pit road so many times.”
Johnson made it through the ‘Big One’ on lap 67 where 13 cars were torn up off turn two after Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth made contact and Vickers spun in front of the field. The race was red flagged and after it restarted Johnson said his team was able to tighten the car up and he started to find consistency that helped him become a contender for the win.
“We had a good day,” he said.
“On the short run I think the 18 and the 24 had us beat. Longer we went, the more our car kind of tightened up and I seemed to be a little closer to these guys. But third was really where we ran all day and where we deserved to finish.”
Johnson’s championship like performance followed teammate Jeff Gordon’s win. The two led the charge for Hendrick Motorsports who finished first (Gordon), third (Johnson), 10th (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and 13th (Mark Martin) after each of them encountered some sort of setback during the event.
That came after all of them struggled in qualifying and practice. To Johnson it was just further proof how the organization is so close in equipment.
“You could see that we are all in bed together and we all run the same stuff,” he said.
“During the off-season, the four crew chiefs worked really close together to find speed. We felt like at the end of last year we did not have the pace that we needed.”
Johnson came into 2011 as the only Hendrick driver to have won last year. Team owner Rick Hendrick swap three of the four teams in order to find the magic that all needed in order to get back to the results that the organization is used to.
With the so-called real season starting at Phoenix, Hendrick said he was worried after qualifying when all four teams started 20th or worse. But just like Johnson, every team was able to get better as the race went on.
“As a group we came here and started today with our tail between our legs,” said Johnson.
“It’s nice to finish up the day with one in victory lane and one in third. A good day for HMS.”
Following a wreck in the Daytona 500, his third place finish helps move Johnson up to 13th in the point standings, tied with Carl Edwards for the 12 position and a Chase spot. Next week he’ll head to Las Vegas where he’s the defending winner after outrunning Gordon on a battle of two vs. four tires.
This time though, Johnson watched as Gordon was the one celebrating and on a track that will be completely different when the Cup Series returns in a few months. As Johnson spoke of his day he watched as bulldozers were already starting to tear up the track for it’s repaving and reconfiguring.
While Johnson said he wanted to watch he knew he had to stay on track. That’s what his team did on Sunday after what started as a weekend that looked like it could go downhill fast.
They’re Back!!!!!!
Somehow at the end of the race in Phoenix, I understood how the little girl in Poltergeist felt when she looked at the TV and said, “They’re back!” Because that is exactly how this race felt. The power horses of NASCAR are finally back. After a painfully long and drawn out Speed weeks, we are finally back to racing and just let me say it felt good.
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[/media-credit]This week in Phoenix had to be difficult at best for the teams. The two day turn around to get the cars to Phoenix is a well orchestrated ballet to say the least. Everyone from the tandems of truck drivers to the paint and body guys are up against the clock. Two days to get the fastest and most well groomed fleet of race cars to the track is a fete that would exhaust the most dedicated of workers. Add to that, most teams were not taking one pair of cars, they were taking two pairs of cars because the trip back to Vegas is just too far to go home and come back.
The ballet was only the beginning of two of the hardest weeks in the NASCAR season. Once the cars arrived many teams found that were just a little off. The search for speed and handling began in earnest.
The power horses of HMS were seemingly the slowest of the field with practice times showing promise and qualifying times showing disappointment.
They were not alone; many of the dominant teams who got awesome starts in Daytona struggled with either handling or speed. Red Bull and Jack Roush struggled heavily with Vickers and Ambrose and Kenseth and Biffle qualifying mid pack or worse.
The new qualifying system was a dud. It lacked the crisp pace of the old system. And made for a long day with two qualifying sessions taking up most of Saturday although the new procedure and the moving qualifying to Saturday was great for ticket sales it proved a long and boring TV broadcast.
That would be rectified when the cars took the track. Although the NNS race was barely watch able Kyle Busch proved himself to be the dominant horse in what turned out to be a one horse race until the last 20 laps. Try as he might Carl Edwards simply didn’t have the power to get around the Interstate Batteries Camry. But he did make it a great end of race battle that even with its drama could not rescue the rest of the race.
But the big dogs of the Sprint Cup made up for it in spades. The race was all racing and action from the drop of the green flag. The best of the best used up what was left of the old pavement in Phoenix in a big way. With 8 laps to go Jeff Gordon slipped to the inside of Kyle Busch and took the lead for the final time. He stretched it out and never looked back. Breaking his 66 race losing streak, the 4 time Champion proved why and how he got those 4 championships.
The stories of perseverance were numerous in the field from Kevin Harvick coming to finish 4thafter a lap 59 incident that involved Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin as well as the 29 Jimmy Johns car of Harvick.
Mark Martin showed his grace under pressure in his Go Daddy Chevrolet that featured messages from his fan base to come back with a right front corner that was more bearer bond than sheet metal to finish 13th.
The Lowes Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson struggled on pit road and on the race track relying on the skills of the 5 time champion to garner them a 3rd place finishing position.
The National Guard Chevrolet showed great improvement for another week, coming back from a speeding penalty, a broken wheel on the jack and a loose wheel that put them a lap down, perseverance and steady progression put Earnhardt Jr in a position to regain his lap and ultimately scoring a 10th place finish.
But the real heroes of this race were the crews of the 99 Subway Ford Fusion of Carl Edwards and the 33 Cheerios Chevrolet Impala of Clint Bowyer. With the front ends of those cars totally destroyed, they put them back together with new nose pieces and put their drivers back on the track to get those ever valuable points.
This race had its feel good story of the race as well, with Jeff Gordon snapping a long losing streak that had his confidence suffering at a low point. Gordon showed that the new match up with crew chief Alan Gustafson was indeed a match made in heaven. Both crew chief and driver showed the poise that made the 24 and its driver 4 time series champions.
The raw emotion in victory lane from the driver to the fans, his team and his car owner were palpable even from the couch thousands of miles away. You had to share his excitement and his relief. You had to respect the ability he had shown. And you had to cheer the humility of a man who could have easily said finally I knew it wasn’t me. Instead he was gracious and professional and showed the class that is essential for a champion of the sport.
This race is the closest we have had in a long time to the exciting sport of NASCAR that we grew up with. It was hard driving and refusing to lose attitudes against a track surface that in the words of Phoenix International Raceway president, Bryan R. Sperber was “used up”. Sperber stated that “Our goal for this project was to not radically change a track that’s celebrated by fans and drivers alike, but to utilize new technology to ensure great moments in the next chapter of racing history at PIR.” To orchestrate his point and commitment to racing the project began with the removal of asphalt before the Victory Lane celebration even ended.
The static has cleared on the television set and the cheers have died down. But the realization of the fact that they are indeed back will stay with us for a long long time.
~~~~~ *** ~~~~~
Congratulations to Kyle Busch and his Kyle Busch Motorsports team on their win of the truck series race, and to he and his Joe Gibbs Racing Team for a dominating win in the Nationwide Series Race. Congratulations to Jeff Gordon, Alan Gustafson and everyone at HMS for the victory in the Sprint Cup 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.
Last Week Must Have Been a Dream
Last week must have been a dream. I mean the euphoria of a new young star winning the biggest race of the season with a team that has few resources but a long history couldn’t possibly have happened. What we saw this week was the same old predictable story. Hendrick, Gibbs, and Childress cars usually go to the front and the rest end up at mid-pack. Today was no exception.
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[/media-credit]Part of the feel-good times of the last week had to do with what was a good story. A talented young man with a fresh face was the darling of the media. His story was with enough talent and enough determination, you can win races. Unfortunately, that’s not really true. You must have lots of money in addition to the other two. Today’s results, which will probably be repeated over and over this year, are proof positive that performance at restrictor plate tracks are no indication of what is going to happen in the other 32 races of the Sprint Cup series. At Daytona and Talladega, anyone can win. In the other races, not so much, and that’s a shame.
In today’s race, Jeff Gordon started 20th and his teammate Jimmie Johnson started 28th, but I knew that didn’t make any difference. More often than not both are in the top five and fighting for the win at the end. It didn’t hurt anything that some of their major competition was wiped out in what seemed to be senseless hard racing in the early stages of the race, but even if Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, and Jeff Burton had survived, the results may have been the same.
Regardless, Jeff Gordon broke a 66-race losing streak and found it exhilarating. Watching Mr. Gordon celebrate is like watching a child celebrating a new bicycle. He really gets into it. Congratulations are in order, and in many ways, he was a new winner since it had been nearly two seasons since he had won. It doesn’t change the casual fan’s attitude toward our sport, however.
It has long been my opinion that fans are bored with the same faces winning every week. Of course, these are not the fans of those who seem to dominate, but general fans. These general fans, who were so excited about the 2011 season one week ago, probably didn’t stick around for the end of the race. It was “business as usual” today. The top five consisted of three Hendrick Motorsports cars (remember, HMS fingerprints are all over Tony Stewart’s two car team), a Richard Childress Racing car, and a Joe Gibbs Racing car. The same old faces. You know the ones that have won the last five championships, six out of the last 10, and 10 of the last 16. That my friend is domination. Prior to that Richard Petty won a couple in a row and Dale Earnhardt did it a couple of times, but never to this extent. Rick Hendrick is such a fixture in victory lane that on youngster in the neighborhood, who is a star student in his 5th grade class, asked me, “Does he own NASCAR or something?” I bit my tongue.
Of course, it’s not Mr. Hendrick’s fault that others can’t keep up. He has the resources and will to do what he does. And I believe he will continue to be successful for many years to come. I just wonder how the fans will react after the wild celebration of last week. When Jamie McMurray won, there was a subtle bump, but things got back to normal quickly. Maybe the Trevor-mania will continue and boost attendance and ratings for a long time, but I fear by mid-summer we’ll see the same problems in television ratings and track attendance. Yep, last week must have been a dream.
Gordon finally ends winless streak at Phoenix
Jeff Gordon dominated Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway leading 138 of the 312 laps run. This was Gordon’s first Sprint Cup Series win since April 5, 2009 at Texas Motor Speedway.
“Are you kidding me? Pinch me man, pinch me.” Gordon said.
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[/media-credit]Gordon passed Kyle Busch with eight laps remaining and stretched his lead from there, ending his winless streak at 66 races.
“I drove in deep into (Turn) 1 and got to him and I could tell he was having to really get after it right then; and then I got underneath him and got off of (Turn) 4 and I knew coming down the front straightaway that he was going to kind of pinch me down into (Turn) 1 and he did and I got a little loose. Then I just drifted up the track and I didn’t know what was going to happen at that moment but when they said we were ‘clear’ then I just went.” Gordon said of the pass for the lead.
“I don’t really care how we do it, we just want to get to victory lane. But to do it that way and to see the fans reaction. I mean we beat Kyle Busch. We were the only one’s to beat Kyle Busch this weekend and he’s so tough to beat. What a race car. Just so thankful.” Gordon said.
Gordon also ties Cale Yarborough with 83 wins, fifth on the all-time list.
“Oh, my gosh. I’m such a huge fan of Cale’s. And one of the first conversations I ever had with anybody when they came to the Cup series was Cale Yarborough. He wanted me to drive his car and I actually tested his car. A lot of people don’t realize way, way, way back. He’s just an amazing race car driver. I’ll be honest. I didn’t know if we were ever going to get past 82 (wins).” Gordon said.
Busch finished second, Jimmie Johnson third, Kevin Harvick fourth and Ryan Newman finished fifth.
“I think he was on a mission today, that’s for sure and when Jeff Gordon has a good car and he has the opportunity to beat you, he’s going to beat you so. There’s no doubt about that. He’s my hero and I’ve always watched him and what he’s been able to accomplish over the years. It’s no surprise that he beat us.” Busch said.
On lap 50, the Daytona 500 champ Trevor Bayne gets into the wall. Bayne’s no. 21 car suffers a lot of damage to the rear and headed to the garage. Bayne finished 40th.
“I don’t know what happened. We were battling with the 13 car a little bit and I don’t know if it was the 38 car behind us or who, but something happened. Either I came up or he poked his nose in there at the last second on the top of us getting into one. After that, there was nothing we could do. I tried to stay in the gas and keep it turning, but it just backed into the wall.” Bayne said.
On lap 59, Carl Edwards gets into the wall after contact with the No. 18 and also collects Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon.
“I’m not exactly sure what happened. I’ll have to talk to Kyle about it. I thought at first he was just frustrated and he turned left to get back in line and he didn’t know I was there, but I watched the tape and I think he really did get loose. He hit me hard and I was left with nothing. I got rammed to the infield.” Edwards said.
On lap 67, a huge wreck broke out on the backstretch, bringing out the red flag. Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton where some of the drivers involved in the 13-car accident.
“17 just wrecked us. Door-slammed us coming out of the corner of Turn 2, 67 laps into a very, very long race. Felt like it was unnecessary and sure it will come back to haunt him.” Vickers said.
“Just stupid. Driving like it’s the last lap, it looked to me like. Man, we keep this up we’re going to have about four cars at the end of all these races.” Bowyer said.
“I didn’t know there was an incident. I was surprised when I got out of the car and everybody said he was mad at me. I’m not sure for what. Maybe I’ll watch the replay and see something different, but from where I was he kind of held me close to the middle of the corner on the restart, which you should, and I came off the corner and I never even felt us touch.” Kenseth said.
The series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Kobalt Tools 400 on March 6th.
Unofficial Race Results
Subway Fresh Fit 500, Phoenix In’tl Raceway
February 27, 2011 – Race 2 of 36
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Pts. | Bon. | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 20 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | 48 | 2 | 312 | Running |
| 2 | 4 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 43 | 1 | 312 | Running |
| 3 | 28 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 42 | 1 | 312 | Running |
| 4 | 17 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 41 | 1 | 312 | Running |
| 5 | 14 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 40 | 1 | 312 | Running |
| 6 | 3 | 4 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | 38 | 0 | 312 | Running |
| 7 | 18 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 38 | 1 | 312 | Running |
| 8 | 2 | 22 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | 37 | 1 | 312 | Running |
| 9 | 15 | 43 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | 35 | 0 | 312 | Running |
| 10 | 35 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 34 | 0 | 312 | Running |
| 11 | 12 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 34 | 1 | 312 | Running |
| 12 | 24 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | 33 | 1 | 312 | Running |
| 13 | 23 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | 31 | 0 | 312 | Running |
| 14 | 7 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 30 | 0 | 312 | Running |
| 15 | 9 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | 29 | 0 | 312 | Running |
| 16 | 30 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | 28 | 0 | 312 | Running |
| 17 | 13 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 27 | 0 | 312 | Running |
| 18 | 27 | 13 | Casey Mears | Toyota | 26 | 0 | 312 | Running |
| 19 | 22 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | 25 | 0 | 312 | Running |
| 20 | 10 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 24 | 0 | 312 | Running |
| 21 | 21 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | 23 | 0 | 310 | Running |
| 22 | 29 | 34 | David Gilliland | Ford | 22 | 0 | 310 | Running |
| 23 | 39 | 9 | Bill Elliott | Chevrolet | 21 | 0 | 309 | Running |
| 24 | 36 | 32 | Mike Skinner | Ford | 0 | 0 | 308 | Running |
| 25 | 42 | 37 | Tony Raines | Ford | 19 | 0 | 306 | Running |
| 26 | 25 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | 18 | 0 | 276 | Running |
| 27 | 16 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | 17 | 0 | 260 | Running |
| 28 | 1 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | 17 | 1 | 252 | Running |
| 29 | 26 | 0 | David Reutimann | Toyota | 15 | 0 | 246 | Running |
| 30 | 19 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | 14 | 0 | 238 | Running |
| 31 | 41 | 71 | Andy Lally * | Chevrolet | 14 | 1 | 237 | Running |
| 32 | 31 | 7 | Robby Gordon | Dodge | 12 | 0 | 236 | Running |
| 33 | 6 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | 11 | 0 | 213 | In Pit |
| 34 | 5 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | 10 | 0 | 213 | Running |
| 35 | 8 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 9 | 0 | 126 | In Pit |
| 36 | 11 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | 8 | 0 | 125 | In Pit |
| 37 | 38 | 46 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | 7 | 0 | 72 | Out |
| 38 | 37 | 60 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | 0 | 0 | 68 | In Pit |
| 39 | 40 | 38 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | 0 | 0 | 66 | Running |
| 40 | 33 | 21 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 0 | 0 | 49 | Running |
| 41 | 34 | 66 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | 4 | 1 | 43 | In Pit |
| 42 | 43 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | 2 | 0 | 27 | Out |
| 43 | 32 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | 0 | 0 | 22 | Out |
