You’ve got your Monster Mile in Dover and you’ve got your Hot Mile in Phoenix, but they are seeking to work a little magic on the mile in Loudon, New Hampshire. Kyle the Magnificent hopes he can continue pulling out of his hat the kind of results that have seen him win two of the last three events.
Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished ninth in the Quaker State 400, recording his 13th top 10 of the year. “Junior’s wasn’t the only car that was ‘unstoppable,’” Johnson said. “Those Joe Gibbs Racing cars were as well, and it had nothing to do with brakes.
After dealing with inclement weather, qualifying cancellation due to rain, weepers on the track and a new aero package, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts at Kentucky Speedway.
Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished third at Daytona as a massive crash developed back in the field as the leaders crossed the finish line. Hendrick teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the race while HMS cohort Jeff Gordon took sixth.
“That scared the hell out of me.” “That scared the hell out of me.” With those post-race words, race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. summarized exactly how every fan felt as they watched the end of the Sunday night/Monday morning race at Daytona.
With those post-race words, race winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. summarized exactly how every fan felt as they watched the end of the Sunday night/Monday morning race at Daytona.
Johnson finished sixth at Sonoma, passed by eventual winner Kyle Busch with six laps remaining. Johnson is fourth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 70 out of first. “Maybe we should have pitted during that final caution,” Johnson said. “But we had a strategy and we wanted to stick to it.
Win and you are in, or so the saying goes. Well, not if it is only your fifth race, 16 events into the season. However, running together a string of 10 straight Top Fifteens or better is easier than taking one of these contests, and Kyle Busch checked that off his “to do” list at Sonoma Sunday.
With this win, Kyle tied Kevin Harvick for 23rd on the all-time wins list. This is Busch’s first win this year; his last victory was March 23, 2014. There are 800 starts between the brothers and this is the first time they finished one-two.
In the first-ever 1-2 finish in the series by the Busch brothers, Kyle Busch beat Kurt Busch to the finish line by .532 seconds to win for the first time since returning from an 11-race absence because of a broken right leg and left foot sustained in a Feb. 21 accident at Daytona International Speedway.
Rain. Just bloody lovely. Who, outside of California, really needed the wet stuff all that bad? When Alfred, Lord Tennyson said, “Bright and fierce and fickle is the South, And dark and true and tender is the North,” he obviously was not talking about the rains of Michigan. Those black clouds still managed to tease one driver into dreams of winning delights, just before breaking his heart.
