Chicagoland Speedway

Watching NASCAR: The Chase Week 2-The Sylvania 300

September 21, 2012 by Greg Quick 2 Comments

What a difference a week makes, I imagine that once the drivers are behind the wheel a race is a race, aside from the various differences in the track that they will be running on that day. However in the last week before the Chase, Jeff Gordon needed a very good finish to make it and Kyle Busch needed a solid race to keep Gordon out and stay in the Chase himself. It did not work out for Busch.

A week later Gordon hits the wall and Busch is a top five finisher. I guess all sports have their “what could have been” moment and this is certainly one of them. However in a week when the standings were shaken up quite a bit this was only one of the story lines for the first race, but considering how close everyone was at the start, points wise, that is not too surprising.

Brad Keselowski emerged as the winner in Chicagoland in a great race that had him duel for the lead and manage to outrace Jimmie Johnson for the checkered flag, with Johnson complaining that Keselowski violated pit road rules however no penalty was called. Johnson finished second. The rest of the top five was filled out by Kasey Kahne, Busch in fourth and Ryan Newman in fifth.

In other news it looks like AJ Allmendinger has completed NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program and has been reinstated by NASCAR. Good luck.

This week: The Sylvania 300
It’s back to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway and its 1.058 mile oval for the second of the ten races to the Sprint Cup Championship with the Sylvania 300

Broadcast: September 23 at 1 pm ET ESPN

Twitter

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Brad Keselowski
2) Jimmie Johnson -3
3) Tony Stewart -8
4) Denny Hamlin -15
5) Kasey Kahne -15
6) Clint Boyer -15
7) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -17
8 ) Greg Biffle -19
9) Martin Truex Jr. -21
10) Kevin Harvick -24
11) Matt Kenseth -26
12) Jeff Gordon -47

Nationwide Series

Rickey Stenhouse Jr. and Elliott Sadler traded places at the top of the Nationwide leaderboard last week as Stenhouse managed his fifth win of the season, pushing him nine points ahead of Sadler in the standings.
http://youtu.be/1n-dzoISQkk

After some early dueling with a few drivers, most notably Kyle Busch, Stenhouse had the dominate car and cruised to the win and the lead. He last led the series back in early June but is the current champion, and is looking tough to beat at this point with two wins and two seconds in the last four races.

Busch came in second and the rest of the filled was filled out by Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski and Paul Menard in the fifth spot.

This Week: Kentucky 300
The Nationwide drivers are once again going their own way this week and will be racing in the Kentucky 300 at the 1.5 mile tri-oval Kentucky Speedway.

Broadcast: Sept. 22 at 3:30 pm ET ESPN

1) Rickey Stenhouse Jr.
2) Elliott Sadler -9
3) Austin Dillion -34
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -57
5) Justin Allgaier -107

Filed Under: Chicagoland Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., ESPN, Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, Kentucky Speedway, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Rickey Stenhouse Jr., Sam Hornish Jr., Sprint Cup Series, Tony Stewart Tagged With: ESPN, NASCAR, Nationwide, Sprint Cup

Watching NASCAR: The Chase Begins at Chicagoland

September 14, 2012 by Greg Quick 2 Comments

Richmond delivered on the promise of a wild race with racers dropping as much as 5 positions in the standings or rising as much as seven spots as a wild end to the regular season and now onto the race to the crown.

The culmination of the 26 races that comprise the qualifying round for the Chase seems like it went by in a flash, and no doubt that the drivers on the cusp that did not make the final cut as well as the ones that squeaked in will look back at the little things that either cost them or benefited them.

The final race prior to the Chase featured Jeff Gordon in a poorly handling car, falling a lap down and yet managing to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship by finishing second, edging out Kyle Busch for the last wild card sport. Busch finished 16th.

Clint Boyer, in a rain plagued race, and the field trailed Denny Hamlin for much of the race as he seemed to have the dominate ride vying with Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the lead. Late in the race there was some jockeying for the lead but Boyer bulled his way to the front and as they say, never looked back for the win. The top five was filled out with Mark Martin in third followed by Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth.

Other interesting news is that NASCAR is considering providing a bonus for the regular season point’s leader. The reasoning can be seen quite clearly in the standings chart below where Greg Biffle finished first in points and yet is ranked fifth in the Chase.

This Week: Geico 400
Now the Chase begins with the Geico 400 at the 1.5 mile, tri-oval Chicagoland Speedway. As the Chase begins I am always interested in watching the drivers that are not involved because it often seems that they have as big an impact, intentionally or not, in the standings as everybody tries for the championship. Will somebody seek revenge on a earlier mixup harm a drivers chances in the next few races? I guess we will see.

Broadcast: Sept 16, 1 pm ET ESPN

Twitter

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Denny Hamlin
2) Jimmie Johnson -3
3) Tony Stewart -3
4) Brad Keselowski -3
5) Greg Biffle -6
6) Clint Bowyer -6
7) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -9
8 ) Matt Kenseth -9
9) Kevin Harvick -12
10) Martin Truex Jr. -12
11) Kasey Kahne -12
12) Jeff Gordon -12

Nationwide Series

Kevin Harvick has gotten the monkey off his back by breaking a 30 race losing streak by winning at Richmond, a track that he obviously likes as it is his sixth career win there. With a powerful car and some smooth driving he was a dominate car on the track for the bulk of the race only occasionally being challenged.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. tried to take a few shots but failed and then engaged in his own battle for second, edging out Kurt Busch for that position, with Busch taking third. The last two positions were taken by Denny Hamlin and Michael Annett.

This Week: Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola

Broadcast: Sept. 15, 3 pm ET ESPN

Nationwide Standing
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -1
3) Austin Dillon -30
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -50
5) Justin Allgaier -95

Filed Under: Athlete to Follow, Chicagoland Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., ESPN, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Sam Hornish Jr., Sprint Cup Series, Tony Stewart Tagged With: ESPN, NASCAR, Sprint Cup

Watching NASCAR: Sprint is Off, Nationwide Running at Chicagoland

July 20, 2012 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

A bad call was good news for Kasey Kahne last week at Loudon as rival Denny Hamlin’s miscommunication with his crew chief opened the door for Kahne’s second cup victory of the season. While leading in a dominating car, Hamlin went in for a pit stop during a caution and a misunderstanding led his pit crew to change all four tires rather than the two he was expecting.

While Hamlin returned to the track in 13th place due to the extra time it took, he almost made it all up with a rousing charge that saw him close to second place but the race ended before he could manage to regain the top spot. He led half of the laps during the race. After Hamlin the top 5 was filled out by Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski.

The results were great news for Kahne because it gave him a major boost for the Chase as he moved from 16th to 12th position. After the previous weeks second place he appears to be finding his stride at the right time of the season. Hamlin also managed to move up two places with his second place finish.

http://youtu.be/k814NNNqnoo

No race this week

Twitter– Instead of pointing to a number of Twitter addresses as we have in the past it seems to make much more sense just to send you to a site that appears to have consolidated a who’s who of racing twitter addresses instead. So head over here for a list.

Sprint Cup Series Standings
1) Matt Kenseth
2) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -16
3) Greg Biffle -40
4) Jimmie Johnson -51
5) Denny Hamlin -79
6) Kevin Harvick -85
7) Tony Stewart -89
8 Martin Truex Jr. -90
9) Clint Bowyer -93
10) Brad Keselowski -94

The Nationwide race last week in New Hampshire saw Brad Keselowski win the checkered flag with a major assist from Amber Cope, who effectively blocked then race leader Kevin Harvick in heavy traffic, a move that enabled Keselowski to slip past Harvick for the lead and eventually the win.

Cope, who was a lap down at the time threw the winning block with about 20 laps left after Harvick had led for the last 30 laps. He was fuming about the rookie move and made his displeasure well know in his after race comments. The top five was filled out by Kevin Harvick in second followed by Austin Dillion, Sam Hornish Jr. and Rickey Stenhouse Jr.

This Week: STP 300
While Sprint Cup is off this week, Nationwide will be going forward with the STP 300 held at Chicagoland Speedway’s 1.5 mile tri-oval track. It seems that tempers from the Cope move, as well as a few other bumps from last week this could be a great day of racing.

Broadcast
July 22, 2 pm ET ESPN

Nationwide Cup Leaders
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Austin Dillion -3
3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -16
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -32
5) Justin Allgaier -73

Filed Under: Chicagoland Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., ESPN, Greg Biffle, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr., Tony Stewart

Watching NASCAR: The Chase Week 2-The Sylvania 300

Watching NASCAR: The Chase Begins at Chicagoland

Watching NASCAR: Sprint is Off, Nationwide Running at Chicagoland

Sign up for our Email Newsletter

Search the MSR Site

e-reports