Sprint Cup – Page 3

Watching NASCAR: No Groove at Bristol

August 24, 2012 by Greg Quick

A week after Jimmie Johnson had swept into the top of the Sprint Cup standings it looked as if he was about to add a bit of a lead to his position as he managed to reach the front of the pack at the Pure Michigan 400.

Leading with only nine laps to go was a major accomplishment for the driver that stared at the back of the race, and with a dominant car seemed destined to capture the checkered flag. Unfortunately his car decided to let him down and his engine failed with only six laps to go.

That opened the door for Greg Biffle, who not only won the race but took the points lead away, with Johnson dropping from 1st to 4th with his 27th place finish. Due to a late caution Biffle was forced to fend off Brad Keselowski, who came in second. Kasey Kahne came in third with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Marcos Ambrose filling out the top five.

Next Up: Irwin Tools Night Race
The teams are in for a short track as they hit Bristol and its .533 mile oval for the Irwin Tools Night Race, in a race that has a lot of promise. It appears that the track has been resurfaced to make it harder to run side by side. This was accomplished by grinding down the concrete in order to remove the top groove. I expect it will add to the banging and bumping and with so many drivers so close to the wild card spots for the chase, an increase in driver internal temperatures.

Broadcast: August 25, 7 pm ET ABC

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Series
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenesth -20
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -22
4) Jimmie Johnson -28
5) Brad Keselowski -47
6) Martin Truex Jr. -60
7) Clint Boyer -66
8 ) Kevin Harvick -85
9) Tony Stewart -95
10) Denny Hamlin -96

What could be better that racing on a track that shares your last name and leading the race by almost 20 car lengths with a lap to go? I guess winning the race would rank right up there in the top position because failing to win was what Jacques Villeneuve did in Montreal.

He resorted to the tried and true, yet unproven, tactic of turning on and off his motor in an effort to preserve gas, and while it may have achieved that it failed to preserve the lead as Justin Allgaier managed to slip past for the win with a little bump to help thins out. He was then also passed by Sam Hornish Jr. fourth was taken by Elliot Sadler and Ron Fellows followed in fifth.

There was oddity during the race that I, and the announcers, have never seen. A fan offended by who knows what, threw a show onto the track, which was subsequently run over by then race leader Danica Patrick.
While she said over the radio immediately after hitting the shoe that she was having issues with her steering, her crew chief later said that the shoe had no relationship to the parts problems that dropped her from race leader to a 27th place finisher. NASCAR has said that it still has the shoe.
http://youtu.be/UxQ4t-yZLPc

This Week: Food City 250
The Nationwide teams are again sharing the track with the Sprint drivers at the refurbished track in Bristol. It seems that in recent weeks there has been a bit of late bumping and with no top groove at Bristol, expect to see more of the same..

Broadcast: August 24, 7 pm ET ESPN

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -22
3) Sam Hornish Jr. -22
4) Austin Dillon -35
5) Justin Allgaier -68

Filed Under: Athlete to Follow, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, ESPN, Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Sam Hornish Jr., Sprint Cup Series, Tony Stewart Tagged With: NASCAR, Sprint Cup

Watching NASCAR: The Sprint Cup Heads to Michigan

August 17, 2012 by Greg Quick

Remember earlier this season there were complaints about dull races and that NASCAR should make some rule changes to bring excitement back? Seems like a long time ago, and was pushed further from memory with the tremendous race and finish last week at Watkins Glen.

Three abreast on a road track? I guess anything can happen and it did so on the last lap as Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose and Brad Keselowski fought almost down to the wire in the race. Busch hit some oil on the track, of which after race reports said there was a great deal of, and then bumped from behind by Keselowski.

That allowed for a two way fight that Ambrose won, with Keselowski, also having an oil on the track issue at just the wrong time, coming in second. The top five was filled out by Jimmie Johnson coming in third, followed by Clint Boyer and Sam Hornish Jr.

This Week: Pure Michigan 400
The race for the chase wildcard spots will be a key factor in the upcoming Pure Michigan 400 race at the 2 mile, D-shaped oval track at Michigan International Speedway. This should lead to some great bursts of speed that many fans might have missed last week.

Broadcast: August 19, 12 pm ET ESPN

NASCAR Twitter
Last weeks road race also led to a shakeup in the standings as Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped from 1st to fourth while Jimmie Johnson took over the overall points leadership, moving up three spots. Earnhardt’s late spin, pushing him to 28th in the race, cost him dearly in the standings.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Jimmie Johnson
2) Greg Biffle -1
3) Matt Kenseth -2
4) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -17
5) Brad Keselowski -44
6) Martin Truex Jr. -49
7) Clint Boyer -58
8 ) Tony Stewart -61
9) Kevin Harvick -67
10) Denny Hamlin -84

Nationwide Series
It seems that it was a weekend of seconds for Brad Keslowski as he managed it two days in a row, falling to Carl Edwards who beat him off a restart in a two lap sprint to the checkered flag. Edwards was racng in his first Nationwide race of the season, not a bad start!

It looked like Keselowski would pull this one out after he managed to pull even with Edwards but after a bit of banging Edwards broke away for the win. The top five was filled out with Sam Hornish Jr. in third, then Rickey Stenhouse Jr. and Ron Fellows.

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

This Week: NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge
Once again the Nationwide drivers will be at a different track than their Sprint Cup brethren, heading north of the border to Montréal for the NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. This will be the second week in a row on a road course, so the drivers will be use to the constant turns involved. The 2.71 mile course has 14 turns, so last week’s experience at Watkins Glen will be appreciated.

Broadcast: August 18, 2 pm ET ESPN

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -13
3) Sam Hornish Jr. -24
4) Austin Dillon -29
5) Justin Allgaier -74

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., ESPN, Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Sam Hornish Jr., Sprint Cup Series Tagged With: NASCAR, Nationwide, Sprint Cup

Watching NASCAR: The Pocono’s Tricky Triangle Awaits

August 3, 2012 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Some changes at the top of the Sprint Cup last week as it roared into the Brickyard, and Jimmy Johnson once again showed his love for the track by dominating the race and winning there for the fourth time in his career. He and Jeff Gordon are now tied with four wins apiece at the Brickyaed, a race that has only been running for less than two decades.

Pocono's Tricky Triangle

Despite a very strong showing all race JJ found himself looking at the back of Greg Biffle’s ride after a caution as Biffle beat him out of the pits to take the lead. Biffle took two tires to JJ’s four. That only lasted a lap or so and even with a second caution he pretty much had clear sailing the rest of the race.

Points leader Matt Kenseth fell from the top spot after being taken out of the race in a late by Joey Logano, dropping him to 35th in the race as Dale Earnhardt Jr. secured the top spot for himself after a very steady first half of the season, driving wise. The top five was filled out with Kyle Busch in second, followed by Biffle, Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon.

Next Week-Pennsylvania 400
The teams will be out at Long Pond at the Pocono Raceway for the Pennsylvania 400. Run on the 2.5 mile tri-oval it should make for some fun, wide opening racing.

Broadcast
Aug. 5, 12 noon ET ESPN

Car News
It sounds like there will be a new look for the cars next year as NASCAR has approved the designs for next generation Chevrolet SS, Dodge Charger, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry models that will be seen on the track next year.

While the issue of meeting aerodynamic standards was very important, the most interesting fact is that NASCAR, and the auto companies, are taking a step back to their roots. The next generation cars will look very much like the street models that are available to the general public, something that has been a thing of the past for some time. Looking forward to Daytona next year to see them.

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 Standings
1) Dale Earnhardt Jr
2) Matt Kenseth -14
3) Greg Biffle -22
4) Jimmy Johnson -27
5) Denny Hamlin -64
6) Kevin Harvick -78
7) Martin Truex Jr. -78
8 ) Tony Stewart -79
9) Brad Keselowski -82
10) Clint Bowyer -88

Nationwide
There were several controversial issues at the Indy 250 last weekend, all having to do with something that on the face of it seems pretty innocuous, spinning your tires. At the start of the race it looked as if Kyle Busch jumped the start over pole winner Kasey Kahne to take the immediate lead but NASCAR ruled that Kahne was spinning his tires.

This was repeated late in the race when Brad Keslowski, the leader at that point, appeared to spin his tires on a restart and Elliott Sadler shot past him for the lead. However on this ruling NASCAR said that while there was some spinning, it was not the cause of Elliott’s lead on the restart. This resulted in Sadler getting black flagged and finishing out of the top 10. He was notably upset after the race over the ruling and his Nationwide points lead was significantly whittled down as well.

Hornish finished second, Ty Dillon was third, Denny Hamlin was fourth and Austin Dillon fifth. Sadler continues to lead the series standings by one point over Austin Dillon.

Nationwide Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Austin Dillon -1
3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -13
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -28
5) Justin Allgaier -75

It is starting to seem that Danica Patrick’s most familiar move on the track is hitting a wall, literally not figuratively. She accomplished this feat once again at the Indy 250 last weekend. Unlike a number of people I know I do not actively root against her, but it seems that this is an increasingly common result in her race, with wrecks at Daytona and elsewhere this season.

What makes this particular crash so interesting is that she has said that she is considering returning to the Indy 500 next season. This along with her expected promotion to the Sprint Cup Series and possibly running select Nationwide races as well. I have to wonder how well she will be accepted in the Sprint Cup Series if she continues to her crashing ways?

This Week-US Cellular 250
The Nationwide teams head to the Corn Belt in Iowa for the U.S. Cellular 250 presented by the Enlist Weed Control System at the Iowa Speedway. While also on a tri-oval like the Sprint race the following day, but several states away, this track is much smaller, coming in at .876 miles.

Broadcast
Aug.4, 7:30 pm ET ESPN2

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, ESPN, Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Pocono Raceway, Sam Hornish Jr., Sprint Cup Series Tagged With: NASCAR, Nationwide, Sprint Cup

Watching NASCAR this Week: The Quaker State 400

June 29, 2012 by Greg Quick 1 Comment

Clint Bowyer dominated the Sonoma racetrack at last weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma yet still had to withstand a strong performance from Kurt Busch to earn the green flag. He led 71 of the 119 laps in a race that witnessed few cautions and 8 lead changes and which had an average speed of 86 mph, or as a friend said, lap car speeds.

It was a near thing for Bowyer as he ran out of gas at the end of the race and had to walk to victory lane. Busch, in an unsponsored car fell back at the end and the top 5 was filled out with Tony Stewart finishing second followed by Busch, Brian Vickers and Jimmie Johnson.

Quaker State 400 at the Kentucky Speedway.
Next up is the Quaker State 400 at the Kentucky Speedway. The track is a 1.5 mile tri-oval and will be the site of a great deal of speculation as to Matt Kenseth’s future. At the end of the season his contract with Roush Fenway Racing expires and will not be renewed. He is slated to be replaced on the team by Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

So far this season Kenseth has one victory and eight top five finishes and is the leading point’s leader. ESPN is reporting that now Kenseth is claiming that he has a deal for 2013 but is declining to say where. Let the second guessing begin-or is it still at first guessing level?

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.

Broadcast
June 30 at 6:30 pm ET on TNT

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Matt Kenseth
2) Greg Biffle -11
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -14
4) Jimmie Johnson -25
5) Tony Stewart -63

Nationwide’s Road America race last week was won by Nelson Piquet Jr., a race that I missed because ESPN decided to broadcast it like something the late LeRoy Neiman would have painted (my cable company is having trouble with some ESPN broadcasts).

Piquet ran a solid race but at least some of the news has to do with Jacques Villenueve how was dominating for a time and racing for a top finish still on the last lap. Then on the last lap to go he was pushed into the grass and came back on the track and collided with Danica Patick, spinning her out from the 5th place position she was in-she eventually finished 12th. The top five was filled out by Michael McDowell in second, then Ron Fellows, Max Papis and Sam Hornish Jr.

Feed the Children 300 at Kentucky Speedway

Broadcast
June 29 7 pm ET ESPN 2

Nationwide Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Austin Dillion -11
3) Rickey Stenhouse Jr. -23
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -34
5) Cole Whitt -75

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, ESPN, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr., Sprint Cup Series, TNT, Tony Stewart Tagged With: NASCAR, Sprint Cup

NASCAR Faces Fast Track at Quicken Loans 400 Race

June 15, 2012 by Greg Quick 4 Comments

I turn on a race a little bit late and what do you know, half a dozen cars are already out and a number are laps down already — that’ll teach me to watch the clock better. The Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR had some bumping at the start and some at the end.

Joey Logano ended the race by giving Mark Martin a bit of a love tap that enabled him to win a race that he started from the pole position, and action that seems to be increasingly rare in NASCAR these days and which had not yet been accomplished this season until last week.

By pushing past Martin with just three laps to go Logano managed to secure his first win of the season and left Martin with the second spot. The crowd was filled out by Tony Stewart in third, Jimmie Johnson in fourth and the fifth spot was taken by Denny Hamlin.

Quicken Loans 400
This week the teams head to Michigan International Speedway for the Quicken Loans 400 up in the Irish Hills. This will be a very interesting race due to the new surface on the track. Speeds are very high, according to ESPN, and some drivers have spoken out about safety concerns. I seem to recall a few years ago another track that had been resurfaced suffered from peeling during a race, but I could be mistaken.

Broadcast
June 17, 12 pm ET on TNT

Twitter Feeds
#NASCAR- the new NASCAR curated site
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NationwideNNS-Nationwide Official Twitter
@NASCAR_NNS-NASCAR Nationwide feed
@Poconoraceway-Pocono Raceway
@PRNLive-Performance Racing Network
@EdHintonESPN-ESPN Columnist Ed Hinton
@nascarnowespn-ESPN2 NASCAR
@siriusxmnascar- Sirius XM:
@SPEED-Speed
@Nascar_TNT-TNT’s feed

The leader board remains tight, with a bit of shuffling from last week’s standings, with leader Biffle dropping to third, but still only 16 points out from the lead.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Matt Kenseth
2) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -10
3) Greg Biffle -16
4) Denny Hamlin -19
5) Jimmie Johnson -20

Nationwide Series
The Alliance Truck Parts 250

Broadcast
June 16 3:30 pm ET ABC

Last week was an off week so no changes since the Dover race on June 2. The Alliance Truck Parts 250 will be the race of choice for those rooting on the Nationwide crews, and the Sprint crews that often race side by side at the events.

Nationwide Standings
1) Elliot Sadler
2) Rickey Stenhouse Jr. -12
3) Austin Dillon -14
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -50
5) Justin Allgater –78

Filed Under: ABC, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle, Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr., TNT, Tony Stewart Tagged With: NASCAR, Sprint Cup

Will Darlington’s Walls be a Factor in the Bojangle’s Southern 500 ?

May 11, 2012 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Sometimes it is good to listen to the announcers, although I am pretty sure none of the drivers in last week’s Sprint Cup race at Talladega were in a position to do so, at least those that were still left on the track as the race had its final green flag for an overtime sprint to the checkered flag..

If the drivers had that luxury front runner Matt Kenseth, who shot out into a big lead without the benefit of teammate Greg Biffle to give him a push. He was in that position at the end due to a nine car pileup that happened with just four laps to go.

As the Fox Sports announcers were questioning the tactics here came rivals Brad Keselowski who with a big push from teammate Kyle Busch shot past him into the lead with a lap to go. Busch, judging from the post race interview sounded like he then expected that he would be able to pass Keselowski at the end, but failed.

This was Kieslowski’s second win of the season followed by Busch, Kenseth, Kasey Kahne and Biffle rounding out the top five.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenseth -7
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -9
4) Denny Hamlin -27
5) Kevin Harvick -45

This Week’s Race
This Saturday the teams head to Darlington Raceway for the Bojangle’s Southern 500 on the 62 year old historic track. The oval course has a distance of 1.366 miles and gget ready for some up the wall driving.

There is an interesting reason that Darlington is more egg shaped than a true oval. When the course was being modified to accommodate the up and coming NASCAR races a local property owner down near turns 3 and 4 did not want his fishing hole disturbed so the course was narrowed down at that end.

Broadcast
May 12, 6 pm ET on Fox

Twitter Feeds
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NationwideNNS-Nationwide Official Twitter
@NASCAR_NNS-NASCAR Nationwide feed
@NASCARONFOX-Fox Sports feed
@AllWaltrip-3 Time NASCAR Champ and Fox announcer
@PRNLive-Performance Racing Network
@EdHintonESPN-ESPN Columnist Ed Hinton

Nationwide Series
Broadcast
May 11th at 6:30 pm ET on ESPN 2

Last week’s race was also what you would expect from Talladega, with a number of crashes including a major one that left driver Eric McClure with a concussion and internal bruising, but he was out of the hospital on Monday and will not be behind the wheel tonight.

The race had a much better ending for Joey Logan, who with five pas to go shot into the lead past Kyle Busch to win the Aaron 312. The win was Logano’s second of the season and the first second of the weekend for Busch.

The race resulted in some shuffling in the leader board as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ran third and took the points lead from Elliott Sadler while Cole Whitt was fourth, with Dale Earnhardt Jr taking the firth spot.

I seemed to have missed the real fun however. I rushed out of the house as the checkered flag dropped and missed Danica Patrick put Sam Hornish Jr. into the wall with a ‘tap’ on the cool down lap. He had bumped her earlier in the race. She claims that t is all behind them and that she apologized to Hornish, Roger Penske the car owner and talked with Nationwide Series director Joe Balash. She was not penalized and finished 13th in the race, Hornish 12th.

Tonight they will be running the VFW Sports Clip Help a Hero 200 under the lights, so sit back, have a beer and watch the action as you relax yourself into the weekend.

Nationwide Standings
1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2) Elliott Sadler -5
3) Austin Dillon -35
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -60
5) Cole Whitt -77

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Darlington Raceway, ESPN, Fox Sports, Greg Biffle, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr. Tagged With: NASCAR, Sprint Cup

Watching NASCAR: No Groove at Bristol

Watching NASCAR: The Sprint Cup Heads to Michigan

Watching NASCAR: The Pocono’s Tricky Triangle Awaits

Watching NASCAR this Week: The Quaker State 400

NASCAR Faces Fast Track at Quicken Loans 400 Race

Will Darlington’s Walls be a Factor in the Bojangle’s Southern 500 ?

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