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Happy Tuesday all....hope you had a great weekend.
Today In Nascar History
9/05/1955 Herb Thomas wins at Darlington, his 3rd win of the season and 43rd of his career.
9/05/1957 Gwyn Staley wins at Syracuse, his 2nd win of the season and 2nd of his career.
9/05/1958 Buck Baker wins at Charlotte, his 2nd win of the season and 38th of his career.
9/05/1960 Buck Baker wins at Darlington, his 2nd win of the season and 42nd of his career.
9/05/1966 Darel Dieringer wins at Darlington, his 3rd win of the season and 6th of his career.
9/05/1969 Bobby Isaac wins at Hickory, his 12th win of the season and 16th of his career.
9/05/1976 David Pearson wins at Darlington, his 9th win of the season and 96th of his career.
9/05/1977 David Pearson wins the Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway after front-runners Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip are involved in a four-car accident that Waltrip admits triggering. After the race, Yarborough calls Waltrip “Jaws,” a nickname that sticks for years.
9/05/1983 Bobby Allison wins at Darlington, his 4th win of the season and 78th of his career.
9/05/1993 Mark Martin, driving a Ford, wins at Darlington for his fourth consecutive victory – a feat that has been accomplished just seven times during NASCAR's modern era (1972 to present).
9/05/1999 Jeff Burton wins at Darlington, his 5th win of the season and 10th of his career.
"When Junior passed me for the lead, I couldn't see for two laps, there were so many flashbulbs going off."
-- Matt Kenseth on Speed's NASCAR Victory Lane
Thanks VCJ!
Quote of the Day
"I came here telling myself ‘you gotta win, you gotta win, you gotta lead laps. That’s all you can do if you want to make this Chase."
-Kasey Kahne after winning at California
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News gathered from multiple sources, including but not limited to: Jayski.com, Cup Scene Daily, Thatsracin.com, catchfence.com, nascar.com,
yahoo!, espn.com and others.
from Chip
Dear Momma: I wanted to take a minute to comment on Kyle Petty's performance in calling the Bush Series race last. Very good job and thanks for making the race more enjoyable for at least me. One question though. A while ago I remember an interview, after a crash, where Kyle said he wished that they would fill the track with water and stock it with fish. My question is trivia related - Where was that track? Does anyone remenber?
I have to agree Chip, I too, enjoyed hearing Kyle in the booth. He did a fantastic job. In answer to your quesion, if memory serves me, it was Bristol he was talking about. Am I right guys?
Benny's son wins at Myrtle Beach: Kevin Parsons [Benny's son] won the Carolina Labor Day 400 Myrtle Beach Mitsubishi Truck race by driving an entirely different line around the racetrack than anyone else. Parsons made his way through the pack by running a lane or better higher through the corners than anyone else. Once he made it to lead by passing Robert Powell others started to mimic his driving style and indeed started picking up speed. Powell once several car lengths back in 2nd place tried the high line and was able to close the gap on Parsons but was unable to make the pass with only a handful of laps left. By the time lap 48 rolled around of the 50 lap race nearly every driver on the track was attempting to run the "high line" that Parsons had discovered. One of the first drivers to adapt Parson's style was Bryan Blackwell who passed both Jimmy Herrington and Strom Altman at the same time on the high side.(Myrtle Beach Speedway), Kevin called Benny from victory lane.
Changes to the past champion provisional could be coming: NASCAR is looking at possibly altering the past champion's provisional for next year. There is no limit in the Nextel Cup Series for a past champion's provisional. In the Busch Series, a past champion can use it only once every eight races. "It maybe won't be the same amount of races, but it would be
something similar put in place," NASCAR Vice President of Racing Operations Steve O'Donnell said Sept. 2. He said NASCAR is still going through its rulebook and discussing any revisions for 2007 As far as a rumor that the top 35 locked-in owners might be decreased to top-30, O'Donnell said, "Nothing is finalized for next year. I think it's fair to say I feel pretty confident we'll be at top 35."(SceneDaily.com)
Total number of commercials: 151
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 81
Start time to record race/commercial periods: 7:54pm/et
End time to record race/commercial periods: 11:58pm/et
Total minutes: 244
Minutes of race broadcast: 171
Minutes of commercials: 73
(see full article at CawsnJaws.com)
FONTANA, Calif. - Matt Kenseth swept past Jimmie Johnson in the standings, breaking Johnson's 13-week hold on the spot.
Kenseth and Johnson are both locked in to the Chase For The Nextel Cup field, but Kenseth now heads to the determining race with a nine-point lead.
He finished seventh in the Sony HD 500 at California Speedway Sunday night compared to Johnson's11th to take the lead. Earlier in the weekend Johnson admitted he was watching Kenseth's Roush Racing team and its recent momentum. Back-to-back wins ushered the group into California.
"We've been gaining some points every week and that's a good thing," Kenseth said. "I'd love to leave [the next race at] Richmond as the point leader. I think it would help to go into the Chase as the leader, so that would be great."
Asked if he liked being the hunted for a change, Kenseth said simply that he'd like to get as far ahead as he can. Although his lead, should he hold it through Saturday's race at Richmond, would be trimmed to only five points, that would still be an advantage.
"Me and Jimmie are only nine points apart or something like that right now, so it's important for us to try to keep that point lead and get as many points as you can going into the Chase," he said. "We still definitely want to race him all night at Richmond and go there and try to race for a win and keep some momentum going."
FONTANA, Calif. - Dale Jarrett finished 10th in Sunday night's NASCAR Nextel Cup race, his best performance since the fourth race of the season.
Jarrett and his Robert Yates Racing team made a final stop for fuel with 56 laps remaining in the Sony HD 500, gambling that he'd be able to make it to the finish without another stop. He did so, earning the top-10 as other drivers were forced to the pits for fuel late in the race.
"We outran more [of them] than I thought," he said. "I was afraid before the day started that we couldn't outrun anybody, but they made a lot of changes with the car and made it better. We just got to a point where we were gonna finish 20th to 25th and we were gonna just go from there, but before we went back green on that last caution I asked if they wanted to come and top it off and they said that's what they were thinking."
Jarrett did and managed to nurse his car to the end.
"I had no idea we could make it from there, but when you get back there's no sense, you're not gonna pass all those cars at one time so I thought I would save as much as I could and maybe that would help."
It seemed to. The team now has back-to-back top-15 finishes. Jarrett climbed two spots to 24th in the standings.
By DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
Jeff Burton finished 16th Sunday and dropped three positions in the standings to 10th.
He’s only two points behind Mark Martin and 15 behind Tony Stewart, but he’s also now just 30 points ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne and the first in line for heartbreak at the 26th race at Richmond.
“It will be a dogfight for sure,” said Burton, who finished 15th at Richmond earlier this year. “But we'll go there and give it all we got and that's all we can do. I look forward to it. I'm excited about it. I feel like I'm going there with a good team.
Burton said his car struggled in the middle of the race at California, and even though the team got it better near the end of the race he couldn’t make up much ground.
“I'm not real happy with the way we ran,” Burton said. “Nobody is. We sure expected more than that. … We got beat by four or five cars that seemed to go the whole way on gas and we couldn't.”
Burton said he’s ready for the challenge.
“Pressure is when you don't have a chance in hell to do anything,” he said. “This isn't pressure. This feels good. We have a chance to have something good happen. It's still ours to win or lose; we've just got to get it done.”
For Sorenson, it was worth a shot
Reed Sorenson was doing everything he could do to get his No. 41 Dodge to make it to the end of the race on fuel, but he fell a lap and half short of pulling off a surprise for his first career Nextel Cup win.
“I know I wasn’t driving very hard,” the 20-year-old rookie said. “I wasn’t holding it open down the straightaway and I was lifting as early as I could.”
Sorenson would have been the third-youngest winner in Cup history if he could have made it, behind Kyle Busch and Donald Thomas. But it was not to be
“They told me we were two laps short,” Sorenson said. “Usually we run out before they say. Our engineer is usually pretty good, so he was right on target.”
Gordon bounces back from pit road miscue
Jeff Gordon was 25th on a restart on Lap 179 after having to make an extra trip to pit road to check for loose lug nuts on a tire, but he battled all the way back to finish fifth and move up a spot to fourth in the standings.
Gordon is now 102 points ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne, and after missing the Chase last year he can clinch a spot at Richmond by finishing 24th or better.
“It was a solid night for us,” Gordon said. “We did what we needed to do in the points. We are going to have to perform at Richmond, but this finish is going to make it a lot easier."
Gordon has finished 39th, 30th and 40th in his past three starts at Richmond.
“We have had our troubles at Richmond in the past but I am confident right now with the way our cars are driving and with the way the team is performing,” Gordon said. “I feel like we are going to turn Richmond around like we have these other tracks.”
Harvick on the brink
Kevin Harvick’s place in the Chase is not quite ensured, but he only has to finish 39th or better at Richmond to lock that up. He finished 15th Sunday after taking only a splash of fuel on his final stop.
“We were just a little bit too loose there,” Harvick said.
“We probably should have put two tires on, but that was my call.”
Kyle Busch trying not to knot his stomach
Kyle Busch finished eight Sunday and is now 95 points ahead of Kasey Kahne, fifth in the standings, going into Richmond.
He has finished fourth, fourth and fifth there in three career Cup starts and can clinch a Chase spot by finishing 22nd or better there on Saturday.
Busch said he tried not to worry about his points situation leading up the race here.
“You can't,” he said. “All you are going to do is upset your stomach and put everything else in an uproar. So you might as well just go after it when you get to Richmond.”
Stewart not comfortable with cushion
Tony Stewart wound up ninth Sunday night and has a 45-point edge over Kasey Kahne in the battle for a Chase spot.
“It is no ‘gimme’ by any means,” said Stewart. “We have been pretty good at Richmond but so have the guys who are with us in the Chase. We have one more week and we will see. I am not very comfortable at all, but if we go do what we normally do at Richmond, we should be all right.”
Stewart has four top-10 finishes in his past five Richmond starts.
"I think we just have to go out and do what we always do,” he said. “That is how we have won two championships and how we have been in the top-10 in points every year I have been in the series.”
Martin gets a little elbow room
Mark Martin said he wanted to come out of Sunday’s race higher in the standings than he was going in, which was 10th. He succeeded, barely, by battling back from some early race issues for a 12th-place finish.
“I still think we're in, but the battle is on and one thing that everybody can count on is that I'll go down fighting all the way,” said Martin, who moved up to ninth just two points ahead of former Roush Racing teammate Jeff Burton.
“Even if we don't make the Chase I am going to go down swinging all the way to the end,” Martin said. “It has been 19 years in that 6 car and I appreciate all the support of the fans and Jack Roush and these guys who work their heart out.
“I'm proud of finishing 12th tonight with the way our car went. It was a winner in the sun and lost its mind when it got dark. Those guys fought hard and pulled out a 12th-place finish. …All you can do is fight hard and that's what we've been doing.”
Clint Bowyer’s No. 07 pit crew earned the Checkers® / Rally’s® Double Drive-Thru Challenge win at California Speedway, helping boost the Richard Childress Racing driver to a third-place finish in Sunday night’s (Sept. 3) Nextel Cup race.
This is the third pit crew challenge win of the season for the No. 07 team, which is now tied with Tony Stewart’s team for second-place in the season-long standings. Bowyer’s crew also took the honors at Phoenix International Raceway in April and Watkin’s Glen International in August.
The crews of Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch are tied for the lead with four victories each.
"What can I say, these guys keep doing a great job,” said Gil Martin, crew chief for the No. 07 Chevrolet. “The over-the-wall guys were very consistent on pit road and their stops never fell off. Clint keeps doing a great job getting on and off pit road and getting in and out of his pit stall.
“We had a couple mistakes two weeks ago at Bristol and once again, these guys bounced back in a big way,” continued Martin. “We're tied for second with three wins in the Checkers/Rallys Double Drive-Thru Challenge and that means this Jack Daniel's team can compete with the best in the business."
The No. 07 over-the-wall crew consists of: Carey Wimbish (jackman), Dail Long (front-tire carrier), Shane Westerberg (front-tire changer), Dustin Stanley (rear-tire carrier), Jake Lind (rear-tire changer), Ron Liddell (gasman), Clint Almquist (catch can) and Troy Welty (windshield). The pit stop coordinator is Corinne Mauldin.
Bowyer’s Jack Daniels Chevrolet spent 332.959 seconds on pit road. The crew will be awarded the weekly $10,500 prize and an additional $105,000 will be presented to the pit crew with the most wins at the completion of the 36-race schedule.
The Checkers/Rally's Double Drive-Thru Challenge is in its second season with the Nextel Cup Series.
By Mike Harris, The Associated Press
FONTANA, Calif. -- Kasey Kahne knew exactly what he needed to do in Sunday night's Nextel Cup race at California Speedway.
"I came here telling myself, 'You've got to win. You've got to win. You have to go out there and lead laps,'" Kahne said.
The 26-year-old Cup star managed both in the Sony HD 500, earning his series-leading fifth win of the season and closing in on a spot in the Chase for the championship with one race remaining.
To do it, Kahne had to overcome a penalty, a series of challengers and a daring fuel gamble by rookie Reed Sorenson at the end.
"These guys fought back with great pit stops," Kahne said. "I just can't thank this team enough. They just worked their butts off to get us back in this Chase and at least now we have a chance going into Richmond next week."
Not even a penalty for speeding on pit road halfway through the 250-lap race could stop Kahne, who fell back briefly to 24th. His No. 9 Evernham Motorsports Dodge stuck with the leaders and, thanks to a two-tire pit stop on Lap 176 that got him up to second, Kahne was in position to drive past Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the lead after the green flag came back out on Lap 180.
After falling back again when several other cars made two-tire pit stops, Kahne outdueled new teammate Elliott Sadler to regain the top spot on Lap 197. But there was yet another challenge for the 26-year-old driver, who led a race-high 132 laps.
Several drivers, including Sorenson, tried to stretch their final tank of gas to the finish and the 20-year-old Sorenson, who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, almost pulled off his first victory and the first for the team since 2002. He took the lead on Lap 241 after most of the top cars pitted for a splash of gas and two tires.
Kahne, who gave up the lead when he made his final stop on Lap 238, found himself in fifth, nearly 14 seconds behind Sorenson. Kahne charged hard, grabbing second from rookie Clint Bowyer on Lap 247, but was still more than 7 seconds behind the leader.
But Sorenson lost his gamble, running out of gas starting Lap 249. Kahne zoomed past and raced away for the sixth victory of his career, beating Earnhardt to the finish by 3.428 seconds. Sorenson wound up 21st.
"You think a lot," Kahne said of all the ups and downs in the race. "You think about not making mistakes, not doing anything wrong. But you still have to be aggressive.
"We made a lot of good calls [Sunday night] and we definitely deserved this one."
Kahne had slumped badly after getting off to a tremendous start this season, with four wins in the first 15 races. Team director Kenny Francis was ecstatic after Sunday's win.
"That's the biggest win of the year so far," he said. "We have to race into this thing and the guys did a great job. Kasey did an awesome job driving."
Kahne started the night 90 points behind 10th-place Mark Martin and remained 11th in the battle for a spot in the 10-man Chase. But he will go to Richmond for next Saturday night's race just 30 points behind Jeff Burton, who fell behind Martin into 10th.
"This is all we could do," Kahne said. "We gained the most points we could possibly gain on a weekend. These other guys up there in the top 10, they're up there for a reason. You're not going to make that kind of a gain on them every week.
"I wasn't sure how far we'd be back, but 30's a lot closer than 90, and it could have been a lot worse than 90. It's a big jump. Anything can happen at Richmond. It's going to be a wild race there and, hopefully, we're on the good side of things."
Earnhardt, who has struggled on the 2-mile California oval in his last five starts, was very happy with his strong run this time.
"We're glad to get a second anywhere, especially in California and [on] this kind of racetrack," said Earnhardt, who failed to make the Chase last year. "We've really turned that around.
"I don't really get into the pressure of the Chase. The pressure is trying to run good, no matter what."
Bowyer held on for third place, followed by Carl Edwards, three-time California winner Jeff Gordon, rookie Denny Hamlin and new points leader Matt Kenseth.
Jimmie Johnson, who finished 11th on Sunday night, had led the standings for all but two weeks this season but now tails Kenseth by nine points. Those two remain the only drivers who have clinched berths in the 10-race Chase. Kevin Harvick remained third, but the rest of the top 10 was shuffled considerably.
Heading for Richmond, 72 points separate fourth-place Gordon from Burton, with Kyle Busch, Earnhardt, Hamlin, defending series champion Tony Stewart and Martin in between.
Sometimes in California you have to just grin and Bear it
By Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
... where does safety really fall in NASCAR's pecking order?
Listen, all of the improvements NASCAR has made during the past six years to make the sport safer are nothing short of impressive. We all know it. If you don't, you just haven't been paying attention. Just Google "NASCAR safety" and you'll find more than eight million entries.
The future? Three words: Car of Tomorrow.
Still, you have to wonder where safety falls on the priority list when the sanctioning body is willing to make drivers go into Turn 3 at one of NASCAR's fastest tracks nearly blind for what seems like nothing more than a prime-time slot -- in half the country.
It's not often when the majority of fans agree with Jeff Gordon, but I'd be willing to bet most did when he went on his rant about this during last night's telecast.
And while we're at it, is it really a night race when it finishes at 8:45 p.m. local time?
... was there a post-race discussion between Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch?
Gordon got Kyle Busch loose early in Sunday's race to gain a position. Much later, NBC broadcast the following quote from Gordon on his radio:
"I'm racing him the same way he's racing everybody else out here," Gordon said. "That was a lesson is what that was. He needs to learn from it."
What? Not all teammates are best friends? Say it isn't so.
THIS FAN WONDERS ...
... since when do three letters have the ability to make three syllables in an English word?
The public address announcer for the pre-race activities announced Mya (pronounced Mi-ya) as the singer for the national anthem.
The problem was that he pronounced her name as "May-ai-uh."
Don't they make sure the P.A. guy knows who is singing the most important song in this country?
-- Josh Mandich, Huber Heights, Ohio
... did Wally Dallenbach and Jerome Bettis share the most awkward televised "man hug" of all time?
Bettis was the guest on Wally's World on Sunday. After Bettis squeezed out of the car and playfully chased Dallenbach around for a while, Bettis came at Dallenbach for the man hug.
Unintentional hilarity ensued.
If you're a guy, you've gotta feel for Dallenbach a little here. We've all got that one friend for whom a handshake or a fist pound just isn't enough. If you're not someone who throws around the man hugs, it always feels a little like when Great Aunt Betsy came in for the face pinch when you were in elementary school.
If you're at a bar six or eight beers in, it's even worse.
By the way, that's the first time in my 20-year journalistic career that I've ever written the phrase "fist pound." Useless trivia, I know. Moving on:
... does Tony Stewart ever say no to a racing invitation?
It's probably one of the many things that makes Stewart a championship driver, and obviously anything done for charity is commendable, but it seems like lately every time Stewart gets in a car that's not a stock car, he ends up flipping like a pancake.
Can you imagine what invitations Stewart's turning down?
Yeah, Tony, this is Rex Barley from the All-American Grass Speedway here in Mud Puddle, North Dakota. We're having this race in a couple of weeks where we're running Big Wheels pulled by donkeys. I know it sounds crazy, but it's really competitive. Would you like to race?
Uh ... no.
... what are the other names that the No. 12 team gives its pit stops?
During one of the early pit stops Sunday, Marty Snider told us that Ryan Newman's team has started naming its strategies. In this case, they used "Cage Fighter," which Snider said was code for four tires and no adjustments.
For like 10 minutes after that, I couldn't get the picture of Ryan Newman as a cage fighter out of my head, but that's another column -- and probably reason enough for some therapy.
What do they call the other stops? "Pro wrestler?" "Over-the-hill boxer?" "Middle-aged bald guy who's a ninth-degree black belt and knows 47 ways to kill a guy?"
... was Jimmie Johnson really getting away from racing when he went to Alaska?
I'm sure it was beautiful and relaxing and all that, but if I'm a driver wanting to get away from the rigors of NASCAR, would I invite an NBC camera crew along to document my relaxation?
The opinions expressed are those solely of the writer.
NASCAR must be a Labor of love to watch twice a year from here
By B. Duane Cross, NASCAR.COM
California should not have two 500-mile Cup races -- and it's especially not deserving of the Labor Day weekend event.
The racing, in a word, is boring. Despite the drivers' ability to race three-wide, the track has not yielded to must-see TV -- and that's where the majority of Sunday night's crowd was, in front of the tube.
I'm not beating the drum for a return to Darlington for the first weekend in September; that ship has sailed. But there is a way to keep a left-coast presence in the Race for the Chase: Give a second date to Las Vegas.
OK, so the argument is that International Speedway Corporation owns California Speedway and it would be a cold day in Hades before ISC moved one of its races to a Speedway Motorsports Inc. track -- especially one with as much cache as the Labor Day event. Fair enough; ISC stockholders want to optimize their investment.
There are 19 Cup races held at ISC tracks: California (2), Chicago, Darlington, Daytona (2), Homestead-Miami, Kansas, Martinsville (2), Michigan (2), Phoenix (2), Richmond (2), Talladega (2) and Watkins Glen.
Six of those tracks are in the Race to the Chase: California, Chicago, Daytona, Michigan, Richmond and Watkins Glen.
Five of those tracks are in the Chase for the Nextel Cup: Homestead-Miami, Kansas, Martinsville, Phoenix and Talladega.
Others believe California would be a better race if 100 miles were lopped off. That's akin to putting a Band-Aid on a major gash. It's also short-sighted.
It's no secret that NASCAR would like to have California Speedway be the West Coast's beacon for stock-car racing. But the track is not conducive to edge-of-your-seat racing. The facility is top shelf, but fans do not buy a ticket to look at the façade; fans buy tickets (and watch on TV) for the on-track product.
Say Anything
"All you are going to do is upset your stomach and put everything else in an uproar."
-- Kyle Busch on fretting over the Race to the Chase, which has Pos. 4-11 separated by 117 points entering Richmond
Figuratively Speaking
9 -- Drivers in contention for the final eight spots in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
• Points leader Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson are the only drivers who have clinched a spot in the Chase. As for the rest of the top 10 (lap leader points not included) -- regardless of what 11th-place Kasey Kahne does:
• Kevin Harvick will clinch a spot by finishing 39th or better.
• Jeff Gordon will clinch a spot by finishing 24th or better.
• Kyle Busch will clinch a spot by finishing 22nd or better.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. will clinch a spot by finishing 16th or better.
• Denny Hamlin will clinch a spot by finishing 16th or better.
• Tony Stewart will clinch a spot by finishing seventh or better.
• Mark Martin will clinch a spot by finishing fourth or better.
• Jeff Burton will clinch a spot by finishing third or better.
Fast Facts
• Kasey Kahne's series-leading fifth victory -- he also won at Atlanta, Texas, Charlotte and Michigan -- marked the third weekend sweep this year: Kevin Harvick at Phoenix in April and Matt Kenseth at Bristol last week.
• Kahne's win is only the second time in NASCAR history that a weekend sweep has occurred on back-to-back weekends. Harry Gant was the first driver to post consecutive sweeps, winning both races at Richmond and Dover in September 1991.
• Kahne is the 10th different race winner in the past 10 races at California Speedway -- and the victory is the first by a Dodge driver at Fontana since the track opened in 1997. Jeff Gordon, with three wins, is the only driver with multiple victories at Cali.
Up Next
Richmond | 7 p.m. ET Saturday | TNT
• There have been nine different race winners in the past 10 races at Richmond. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is sixth in points -- 77 ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne -- is the only repeat winner during that time. Junior, who won at Richmond in May, and Tony Stewart lead all active drivers with three victories at RIR.
• Greg Biffle, who has started in the top 10 in six consecutive races at Richmond, is riding a streak of four consecutive top-10 finishes at the track, the longest current streak.
• Kyle Busch has three consecutive top-five finishes at Richmond, and his average finish of 4.3 is the best of all active drivers. Busch finished fifth in the May race, his worst finish in three starts at the .750-mile track.
Mailbag
C'mon, the mailman doesn't deliver on Labor Day. Enjoy the holiday.
Fantasy Perspective
• On the .750-mile configuration at Richmond, Rusty Wallace led 2,933 laps -- more than three times the total of any other driver. Jeff Burton, who is 10th in points -- 30 ahead of 10th-place Kasey Kahne -- leads active drivers with 874 laps led. Richmond used to be a .542-mile track, but was remodeled to its current size after the Feb. 21, 1988, race. Davey Allison won the first race on the current layout on Sept. 11, 1988. Only four drivers have started all 36 races on the three-quarter-mile configuration at RIR: Sterling Marlin, Mark Martin, Ken Schrader and Michael Waltrip.
And Finally ...
PARKSVILLE, British Columbia (AP) -- If you're interested in a three-hour tour, George Schultz has just the boat for you. For $89,400, you can buy the boat famous for setting aground on an uncharted desert isle to set the stage for the 1960s television classic Gilligan's Island.
The twin-diesel, 36-foot mahogany Wheeler Express Cruiser hit a reef in Hecate Strait as the former owner was taking the vessel down the coast from Alaska. Scotty Taylor of Parksville said the owner sold the 46-year-old boat to him for salvage on condition that he promise to restore it. Schultz, a boat broker, estimated that the work cost more than $180,000.
According to the Gilligan's Island Web site (gilligansisle.com), the boat is the third of four vessels used in the show. Taylor's Minnow was used in the opening credits of the second season.
The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.
By Marty Snider, Special to NASCAR.COM
Well now that certainly changes things doesn't it?
Kasey Kahne proved that he is not giving up in his quest to make his first Chase for the Nextel Cup. I am happy for Kahne that he won Sunday night because for most of the weekend in California, Kahne looked miserable. He looked burdened.
I talked to Jeff Gordon about that very fact, being on the bubble and trying to make the Chase, he told me you have no idea how bad the pressure is. He also said that the best moment for him in 2005 was when he was officially out of the Chase and could finally enjoy racing and not worry about points (notice how their performance improved in the final 10 races last year also).
With that in mind, it's easy to see why the 26-year-old Kahne looks burdened, he is. Only Saturday night's race in Richmond will change that one way or the other. But the good news is that win or lose it will all be over in a matter of days.
Now to the question at hand. Can Kahne make up the final 30 points and make it into the Chase for the Nextel Cup? Again the task will much more complicated than just gaining 30 points. Just like they had in 2004, the Evernham team will be wired with constant championship scoring (not a normal feature for race teams) so they can tell where Kahne is in the championship standings after every lap.
They will be keeping an eye on the bottom half of the top 10 but most importantly, they will be intently pay attention to the 6 and 31 teams. Saturday night's race will likely boil down to a race between those three for two spots in the Chase.
At Richmond in May, Mark Martin had the best night of the three, leading laps and finishing sixth. Jeff Burton had a chance to win the race at the end but the team made the wrong call on pit strategy and finished 15th. Kahne had the worst finish but perhaps the best car of the three. The numbers say he finished 34th, but Kahne had a top five car that unfortunately had ignition problems, he finished the night several laps down.
With all of that said, I stick by what I said last week. I think the current top 10 are the Chasers that we will be talking about next week. But then again, Evernham Motorsports does have a flair for the dramatic when it comes to making the Chase at Richmond. One thing is for sure -- Kahne's win at California has made next Saturday night at Richmond a whole lot more intriguing.
Chase Preview?
The race in Fontana could very well have been a window into how the Chase might shape up. Many teams with a somewhat confirmed spot in the Chase "experimented" with chassis set-up packages that they would like to use in the final 10 races.
A track like California translates quite well to places like Kansas and Homestead. And with the Kansas race three weeks away and the Homestead test about a month away, now is the time to figure out what might and might not work there.
Some of those teams came away from California searching for a new direction, others already have checked one goal off the list which is a big step forward.
For the RCR teams, it wasn't chassis experimentation but engine testing. After losing two engines at Michigan two weeks ago, they had some issues to address at California. One of the problems was that Clint Bowyer's engine literally burned through all of its oil -- that's 5.5 gallons of oil in a 400-mile race. So how did they fix the problem in California? They simply increased the size of the oil reservoir on all of the RCR cars to six gallons and all went well.
Better for BGN
Back in June it was Kevin Harvick. In the last few weeks it has been Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards all deciding not to run the full Busch Series schedule next season.
Whether some people want to believe it or not, Cup Series drivers are a must if the Busch Series wants to survive. This past weekend in California was the perfect example. Only 44 cars entered the Busch Series race in California for 43 spots, 18 of those were Cup series drivers. You cannot convince me that somewhere out there are 18 drivers waiting to jump into a Busch car to run at a place like California to fill those spots. And despite the embarrassing crowd, those who did show up, no doubt showed up to see the Cup regulars duke it out. So the Cup guys are needed, that is understood. But Harvick, Bowyer and the others not making a go of it full-time next season is actually a positive for the Busch Series.
I've always thought of the Busch Series as the Chicken Little Series, every two years or so, "the sky is falling." I've heard it for years - "there's no new drivers out there, where are the up and coming drivers going to come from?" Busch Series owners go into a panicked frenzy as they search for the next "add water for an instant star." And yet every year there's inevitably a Kyle Busch, a Martin Truex Jr, or a Brian Vickers that shows up on the scene to establish himself as the sports next star. But if Cup drivers are filling the seats of the best cars full-time then how are we going to find a place the future talents to drive?
Cup drivers will always have a place in the Busch Series, as mentioned above they are needed -- to sell tickets, increase the television ratings and provide the best competition. But a part-time driving schedule for the sport's biggest stars is in everybody's best interests. The Cup stars will still be around the Busch Series just as much as they have been in the past, they just might be a little smarter about how they schedule their races.
The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
California
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
FONTANA, Calif. -- Both Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon each had their problems on pit road at Fontana, but neither driver lost any ground as a result.
Kahne was tagged for speeding during his pit stop after the Lap 155 caution. Kahne angrily disputed the penalty, telling crew chief Kenny Francis that if he sped down pit road, he was sure that Dale Earnhardt Jr. was guilty, too, because Earnhardt had closely followed him down pit lane.
After the penalty -- which dropped Kahne from first to 24th -- he adjusted his tachometer speed from 4700 (second gear) to 4600, and he made the final two pit stops without penalty.
Kahne got back almost all of his track position after Francis opted for just two tires during the race's final caution.
Gordon's left lugnuts loose on his stop on Lap 175, and he dropped from the top five to 25th after he had to make a second stop.
Gordon felt he could have competed with Kahne and runner-up Earnhardt without the lost track position.
"You know I hate we had our problems, because we had those guys in our sights," Gordon said. "I think would we not have had our problems, we would have been close to them and had a shot at them."
Because Gordon's car was good on long runs, the last 54-lap sprint under green helped him pass a lot of cars after he lost all that track position.
"I didn't doubt that we could get back up in the top 10, I just didn't know if we could get back in the top five," Gordon said. "There was a string of green-flag runs where we were able to put some good laps together and get some of those positions back."
Sadler rallies after pit accident
Elliott Sadler was spun on pit road by Ryan Newman during the Lap 83 caution, but he didn't lose a lot of track position because he was already stuck in mid-pack.
Sadler gambled on tires late and led briefly, but he faded to a 13th-place finish. Still, the run moved the No. 19 Dodge from 34th to 33rd in the owners standings, and Sadler has scored two top-15s in his three races with Ray Evernham.
Jarrett scores top-10 with fuel gamble
Reed Sorenson tried --and failed -- to run the final 54 laps on fuel, but two drivers (Clint Bowyer and Dale Jarrett) both scored top-10s after topping off during the last caution.
Bowyer finished third and Jarrett wound up 10th. It was Jarrett's first top-10 since Atlanta in March.
"We just got to a point where we were going to finish 20th, but before we went back green on that last caution I asked if we wanted to come and top it off and they said, 'That's what they were thinking,'" Jarrett said. "I had no idea we could make it from there, so I thought I would save as much as I could and maybe that would help.
"As we got down, we thought we were pretty close so with the way the season has been, why not try?"
Quotable
"There was probably zero discussion because of the track position. We weren't in great track position at that time. We had a good car and [crew chief] Tony [Eury] Jr. sort of knew there was a 90 percent chance you'd run out of gas."
-- Dale Earnhardt Jr., when asked whether his team considered trying to make it all the way on fuel
Let’s Do This One More Time
Amy Hair Cup Scene Daily
Just in case California wasn’t enough of a nail biter for you…we’ve got another one coming up in Richmond…don’t know if my heart can handle it…this race was nerve wracking enough!
I found myself pacing around the room, yelling at the television and pacing some more.
I watched as Matt Kenseth quietly shuffled his way into the top spot for the chase, leaving Jimmie Johnson a mere nine points behind. -(Cont'd from front page) And Kasey Kahne is still hanging out just beyond reach of the tenth place holder Jeff Burton. There are only thirty points between those two.
Carl Edwards has kissed the chase good bye for this year…but look for him to be up there in contention again next year, as this finish will make him even more determined to get there.
The boys in the middle all jockeyed positions through the night, and finally settled in for the chase with Harvick in third, followed by Jeff Gordon (4th), Kyle Busch (5th), Dale Earnhardt (6th), Jr., Denny Hamlin (7th), Tony Stewart (8th), and Mark Martin in ninth.
Twenty six points separate fourth through seventh, so look for these fellows to dance around a bit next week at Richmond. Only three points separate ninth and tenth…with the eleventh spot driver (Kasey Kahne) thirty points behind and scratching to get an over ride on that tenth place.
All this being said…if we step away from the numbers and the stats for a minute, and look at this race as if those didn’t matter…we’d find that all in all it was a good show out there, for most anyway.
We saw Robby Gordon lose his chance for a good finish when a tire took an early out and cost him dearly.
Another caution popped up when Brian Vickers tire apparently didn’t want to be in the race either and took the quickest way out…flat and done. Brian ended up a couple of laps down, but limped over the finish line in 41st place.
Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton’s cars had the look of drunken sailors when their cars almost took each other out…doing that little slide and wobble thing, but all was good…they shook it off and on they went.
The last twenty laps proved to be the test of the crew chiefs…do we have enough fuel or don’t we? Drivers went in one at a time; grabbing a slosh of gas and shooting their way back out. Reed Sorenson, a rookie doing good out there, ended up leading the race during that last segment, only to run out of gas and cross the finish line in twenty first place. The disappointment on his face told the whole story. Hang in there Reed; you were given a taste…soon to be a whole meal.
When the dust settled and we were watching the fellows all climb out of their cars, the sweat pouring in their eyes and down their necks, and their hands still shaking, you could see in their faces it was a very long, hot night. Add the tension of the chase in there and these boys were pretty much spent.
The reporters and television crews were jumping from driver to driver…determined to get those first words of relief or despair, all working to get the best interview. The champagne corks were popping over in victory lane as the less fortunate drivers were grabbing their bags and heading to the airport. Those of us at home were gathering our thoughts, trying to calculate and analyze faster than the commentators could spit the numbers out.
The night wound down and another week of at least a hundred different interpretations of how the final ten will look started popping up all over the Internet.
I think I’ll just wait and wonder...and get my answers next week at Richmond. And so we’ll pack our bags and head to the International Speedway for what will prove to be a knock down drag out race for the chase…are you ready? Sure you are….we’ve come this far…let’s push it to the end and get us ten drivers to prove they are the best. They’re ready…and they’re wishing Richmond was here already…but it will come soon enough...very soon indeed. See you then boys…and good luck to you all.
Your
Momma
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
"Don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Get the hell out of the race car if you've got feathers on your legs or butt. Put a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants wins't climb up there and eat that candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt – 1998
This list is authored by:
Sandra Monacelli
221 W. 57th Street 18B
Loveland, CO 80538
970/663-6967
9/05/1955 Herb Thomas wins at Darlington, his 3rd win of the season and 43rd of his career.
9/05/1957 Gwyn Staley wins at Syracuse, his 2nd win of the season and 2nd of his career.
9/05/1958 Buck Baker wins at Charlotte, his 2nd win of the season and 38th of his career.
9/05/1960 Buck Baker wins at Darlington, his 2nd win of the season and 42nd of his career.
9/05/1966 Darel Dieringer wins at Darlington, his 3rd win of the season and 6th of his career.
9/05/1969 Bobby Isaac wins at Hickory, his 12th win of the season and 16th of his career.
9/05/1976 David Pearson wins at Darlington, his 9th win of the season and 96th of his career.
9/05/1977 David Pearson wins the Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway after front-runners Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip are involved in a four-car accident that Waltrip admits triggering. After the race, Yarborough calls Waltrip “Jaws,” a nickname that sticks for years.
9/05/1983 Bobby Allison wins at Darlington, his 4th win of the season and 78th of his career.
9/05/1993 Mark Martin, driving a Ford, wins at Darlington for his fourth consecutive victory – a feat that has been accomplished just seven times during NASCAR's modern era (1972 to present).
9/05/1999 Jeff Burton wins at Darlington, his 5th win of the season and 10th of his career.
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KNUTZ!! JOKES!! CARTOONS
Whatever you call them, here is the place to enjoy them, all you KNUTZ for JOKES and CARTOONS fans. Join and post. Read and enjoy. What kind of jokes? What kind of Cartoons? Well, let's keep them kinda clean. PG and R is OK, all you KNUTZ, but lets stay clear of the HEAVY ADULT, OK?
JOIN now
KNUTZies and Laugh along with the rest of us. HAHAHAH---TEE HEE!!! ;-) giggle ;-)
Subscribe: bigjimsKNUTZ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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Quote of the
Month"When Junior passed me for the lead, I couldn't see for two laps, there were so many flashbulbs going off."
-- Matt Kenseth on Speed's NASCAR Victory Lane
Thanks VCJ!
Quote of the Day
"I came here telling myself ‘you gotta win, you gotta win, you gotta lead laps. That’s all you can do if you want to make this Chase."
-Kasey Kahne after winning at California
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Comments from the Peanut Galleryfrom Chip
Dear Momma: I wanted to take a minute to comment on Kyle Petty's performance in calling the Bush Series race last. Very good job and thanks for making the race more enjoyable for at least me. One question though. A while ago I remember an interview, after a crash, where Kyle said he wished that they would fill the track with water and stock it with fish. My question is trivia related - Where was that track? Does anyone remenber?
I have to agree Chip, I too, enjoyed hearing Kyle in the booth. He did a fantastic job. In answer to your quesion, if memory serves me, it was Bristol he was talking about. Am I right guys?
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Welcome To 4-all
Take It From The Name!!
This is A Group For EveryThing!!!
Prayer Pages, Jokes, Graphics, A Game or Two.
Everyone is Friends Here.
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This is A Group For EveryThing!!!
Prayer Pages, Jokes, Graphics, A Game or Two.
Everyone is Friends Here.
Please subscribe here: 4-all-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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Bits and PiecesBenny's son wins at Myrtle Beach: Kevin Parsons [Benny's son] won the Carolina Labor Day 400 Myrtle Beach Mitsubishi Truck race by driving an entirely different line around the racetrack than anyone else. Parsons made his way through the pack by running a lane or better higher through the corners than anyone else. Once he made it to lead by passing Robert Powell others started to mimic his driving style and indeed started picking up speed. Powell once several car lengths back in 2nd place tried the high line and was able to close the gap on Parsons but was unable to make the pass with only a handful of laps left. By the time lap 48 rolled around of the 50 lap race nearly every driver on the track was attempting to run the "high line" that Parsons had discovered. One of the first drivers to adapt Parson's style was Bryan Blackwell who passed both Jimmy Herrington and Strom Altman at the same time on the high side.(Myrtle Beach Speedway), Kevin called Benny from victory lane.
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Hermie Sadler teams with Hometown sponsors at RIR: Virginia native Hermie Sadler will be carrying colors of a Virginia based company as #00 MBA Motorsports teams up with Richmond Electric Supply, Co., based in Richmond, for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 this weekend at RIR. Sadler and Richmond Electric President Darryl Harman, Sr. met a couple weeks ago at a Charity golf outing in Richmond, and by the end of the day, had made a deal for the race at Richmond. "We hit it
off right away", said Sadler of his relationship with Harman. "He is a big race fan, and represents what I like in a person and company. RESCO is a family owned local business much like our race team. It will be fun for us to team up at RIR and try and beat the odds." MBA Motorsports will also carry associate sponsorship from The Haven Inn, a NASCAR themed restaurant located in Norfolk, Virginia. Dave Willis, who owns The Haven Inn with his wife Lynne, was a crew member for a Dodge Weekly Racing Series team for over 10 years. Also this weekend at RIR, Sadler, the 1993 Busch Series Rookie of the Year, will attempt to make his first Busch Series start of the season in the #28 Chevy owned by Jay Robinson. For more information go to sadlerfanclub.com.(PR)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fireball to be honored in Augusta: Streets surrounding the
former Augusta International Raceway will be named for former champions Glenn "Fireball" Roberts and Dave MacDonald at the third annual "Celebrating Georgia's Racing Heritage" on Sept. 9 at 10 a.m. For information, go to augustavintagenationals.com. The track held one Cup Series [then Grand National] on November 17, 1963 with Fireball Roberts winning the race, followed my Dave McDonald, Billy Wade, Joe Weatherly and Ned Jarrett.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Testing at Homestead set: The final of six testing dates have been set, with testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway being held Monday, October 16 thru Wednesday, October 18, 2006. Team usually are allowed to choose any two fo the three dates to test, not all three. Testing is free and open to the public, from 9am until 5pm/et, from the Speedway’s Club Level Seats.(Homestead-Miami Speedway site),
although the site says "both days", unless it is just Mon and Wed for some reason, but testing is usually a three day deal.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dodge from Charger to Challenger in 2007? UPDATE no: The Dodge Charger has been a disappointment on the track, although that is probably more a reflection of problems within the various Dodge teams and the company's racing hierarchy than any significant technical issues. Several teams balked at running the Charger earlier this year, preferring to run the older Intrepid, even though Dodge wasn't selling that brand any more. Now it appears likely that in 2007 Dodge's NASCAR teams could be marketed under the Challenger logo, rather than the Charger brand. NASCAR has approved a new Dodge nose for next season. But the Challenger isn't expected in dealer showrooms until 2008, so Dodge would have to
speed up its introduction.(Winston Salem Journal)(9-3-2006) UPDATE - No: The new Dodge nose recently approved by NASCAR for 2007 will be based on the current production model Charger and not the new Challenger being introduced in 2008, according to NASCAR officials. Dodge team owners sought the change for the nose after they felt that was the area of the Charger that was causing the models to be less competitive than Chevrolet or Ford.(Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Earl' drives a pace lap: Jason Lee, star of the NBC sitcom "My Name Is Earl" [and a Jayski Fave show] was the honorary pace car driver, driving ahead of Todd [they mean Brett] Bodine on the track. Sunday's race [at California Speedway] was the first for him. "Indy, I like a lot, and Formula One," said Lee. "I've seen some races up in Canada. I
get to drive the pace car, that's pretty exciting. That's the kind of stuff you think about when you're a kid." Ethan Suplee, who plays Lee's brother Randy on the show, was also in attendance. "Randy, can you believe we're actually here? We're at NASCAR," Lee said in character. "What are the odds on Ricky Bobby winning this race?" Suplee replied, also in character, a reference to Will Ferrell's movie "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."(Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Ties to be included in The Chase: NASCAR announced Saturday that its championship format would be changed to include the top 10 drivers and ties, beginning this year. That means that anyone tied for 10th after the Richmond race next week would be graduated to the 10-race championship chase. The chase system, instituted in 2004, has largely been accepted by the competitors, although some observers consider it artificial and contrived. Under the format, the 10
drivers leading in points after Richmond are re-ranked at five-point increments, then turned loose to run for the season title under traditional points. No one else is eligible. "We are updating the rule book," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said. "If there are two drivers tied for 10th, there'll be 11 drivers in the chase. If there are three drivers -- any ties for 10th -- they're 10th." The reason, Poston said, is that "we didn't think tie-breakers worked in this. The way the rule book was written, you could be tied for 10th place but out of the top 10 because of traditional tiebreaking methods." There was some suggestion from NASCAR last year that such a device would be appended to the playoff, but the matter never came up. This year, Poston said, the update is official. NASCAR chairman Brian France suggested in the summer that small changes could be made to the chase format. Poston said Saturday that NASCAR is still evaluating other changes and that an announcement of
other amendments would not be made until next year.(Speed Channel) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Great News for Bobby Hamliton: There's more good news for Bobby Hamilton - he came of Thursday's biopsy operation in Nashville with a clean bill of health - no trace of cancer in his lymph nodes. Hamilton has been fighting cancer with a rigorous regime of chemotherapy and radiation since the disease was diagnosed in February.(Winston Salem Journal)
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Commercial breakdown for the Sony HD 500 race: from cawsnjaws.com:Total number of commercials: 151
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 81
Start time to record race/commercial periods: 7:54pm/et
End time to record race/commercial periods: 11:58pm/et
Total minutes: 244
Minutes of race broadcast: 171
Minutes of commercials: 73
(see full article at CawsnJaws.com)
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Kenseth passes Johnson in standingsFONTANA, Calif. - Matt Kenseth swept past Jimmie Johnson in the standings, breaking Johnson's 13-week hold on the spot.
Kenseth and Johnson are both locked in to the Chase For The Nextel Cup field, but Kenseth now heads to the determining race with a nine-point lead.
He finished seventh in the Sony HD 500 at California Speedway Sunday night compared to Johnson's11th to take the lead. Earlier in the weekend Johnson admitted he was watching Kenseth's Roush Racing team and its recent momentum. Back-to-back wins ushered the group into California.
"We've been gaining some points every week and that's a good thing," Kenseth said. "I'd love to leave [the next race at] Richmond as the point leader. I think it would help to go into the Chase as the leader, so that would be great."
Asked if he liked being the hunted for a change, Kenseth said simply that he'd like to get as far ahead as he can. Although his lead, should he hold it through Saturday's race at Richmond, would be trimmed to only five points, that would still be an advantage.
"Me and Jimmie are only nine points apart or something like that right now, so it's important for us to try to keep that point lead and get as many points as you can going into the Chase," he said. "We still definitely want to race him all night at Richmond and go there and try to race for a win and keep some momentum going."
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Jarrett earns first top 10 since March FONTANA, Calif. - Dale Jarrett finished 10th in Sunday night's NASCAR Nextel Cup race, his best performance since the fourth race of the season.
Jarrett and his Robert Yates Racing team made a final stop for fuel with 56 laps remaining in the Sony HD 500, gambling that he'd be able to make it to the finish without another stop. He did so, earning the top-10 as other drivers were forced to the pits for fuel late in the race.
"We outran more [of them] than I thought," he said. "I was afraid before the day started that we couldn't outrun anybody, but they made a lot of changes with the car and made it better. We just got to a point where we were gonna finish 20th to 25th and we were gonna just go from there, but before we went back green on that last caution I asked if they wanted to come and top it off and they said that's what they were thinking."
Jarrett did and managed to nurse his car to the end.
"I had no idea we could make it from there, but when you get back there's no sense, you're not gonna pass all those cars at one time so I thought I would save as much as I could and maybe that would help."
It seemed to. The team now has back-to-back top-15 finishes. Jarrett climbed two spots to 24th in the standings.
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Burton drops back onto bubble, predicts a dogfight at Richmond By DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
Jeff Burton finished 16th Sunday and dropped three positions in the standings to 10th.
He’s only two points behind Mark Martin and 15 behind Tony Stewart, but he’s also now just 30 points ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne and the first in line for heartbreak at the 26th race at Richmond.
“It will be a dogfight for sure,” said Burton, who finished 15th at Richmond earlier this year. “But we'll go there and give it all we got and that's all we can do. I look forward to it. I'm excited about it. I feel like I'm going there with a good team.
Burton said his car struggled in the middle of the race at California, and even though the team got it better near the end of the race he couldn’t make up much ground.
“I'm not real happy with the way we ran,” Burton said. “Nobody is. We sure expected more than that. … We got beat by four or five cars that seemed to go the whole way on gas and we couldn't.”
Burton said he’s ready for the challenge.
“Pressure is when you don't have a chance in hell to do anything,” he said. “This isn't pressure. This feels good. We have a chance to have something good happen. It's still ours to win or lose; we've just got to get it done.”
For Sorenson, it was worth a shot
Reed Sorenson was doing everything he could do to get his No. 41 Dodge to make it to the end of the race on fuel, but he fell a lap and half short of pulling off a surprise for his first career Nextel Cup win.
“I know I wasn’t driving very hard,” the 20-year-old rookie said. “I wasn’t holding it open down the straightaway and I was lifting as early as I could.”
Sorenson would have been the third-youngest winner in Cup history if he could have made it, behind Kyle Busch and Donald Thomas. But it was not to be
“They told me we were two laps short,” Sorenson said. “Usually we run out before they say. Our engineer is usually pretty good, so he was right on target.”
Gordon bounces back from pit road miscue
Jeff Gordon was 25th on a restart on Lap 179 after having to make an extra trip to pit road to check for loose lug nuts on a tire, but he battled all the way back to finish fifth and move up a spot to fourth in the standings.
Gordon is now 102 points ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne, and after missing the Chase last year he can clinch a spot at Richmond by finishing 24th or better.
“It was a solid night for us,” Gordon said. “We did what we needed to do in the points. We are going to have to perform at Richmond, but this finish is going to make it a lot easier."
Gordon has finished 39th, 30th and 40th in his past three starts at Richmond.
“We have had our troubles at Richmond in the past but I am confident right now with the way our cars are driving and with the way the team is performing,” Gordon said. “I feel like we are going to turn Richmond around like we have these other tracks.”
Harvick on the brink
Kevin Harvick’s place in the Chase is not quite ensured, but he only has to finish 39th or better at Richmond to lock that up. He finished 15th Sunday after taking only a splash of fuel on his final stop.
“We were just a little bit too loose there,” Harvick said.
“We probably should have put two tires on, but that was my call.”
Kyle Busch trying not to knot his stomach
Kyle Busch finished eight Sunday and is now 95 points ahead of Kasey Kahne, fifth in the standings, going into Richmond.
He has finished fourth, fourth and fifth there in three career Cup starts and can clinch a Chase spot by finishing 22nd or better there on Saturday.
Busch said he tried not to worry about his points situation leading up the race here.
“You can't,” he said. “All you are going to do is upset your stomach and put everything else in an uproar. So you might as well just go after it when you get to Richmond.”
Stewart not comfortable with cushion
Tony Stewart wound up ninth Sunday night and has a 45-point edge over Kasey Kahne in the battle for a Chase spot.
“It is no ‘gimme’ by any means,” said Stewart. “We have been pretty good at Richmond but so have the guys who are with us in the Chase. We have one more week and we will see. I am not very comfortable at all, but if we go do what we normally do at Richmond, we should be all right.”
Stewart has four top-10 finishes in his past five Richmond starts.
"I think we just have to go out and do what we always do,” he said. “That is how we have won two championships and how we have been in the top-10 in points every year I have been in the series.”
Martin gets a little elbow room
Mark Martin said he wanted to come out of Sunday’s race higher in the standings than he was going in, which was 10th. He succeeded, barely, by battling back from some early race issues for a 12th-place finish.
“I still think we're in, but the battle is on and one thing that everybody can count on is that I'll go down fighting all the way,” said Martin, who moved up to ninth just two points ahead of former Roush Racing teammate Jeff Burton.
“Even if we don't make the Chase I am going to go down swinging all the way to the end,” Martin said. “It has been 19 years in that 6 car and I appreciate all the support of the fans and Jack Roush and these guys who work their heart out.
“I'm proud of finishing 12th tonight with the way our car went. It was a winner in the sun and lost its mind when it got dark. Those guys fought hard and pulled out a 12th-place finish. …All you can do is fight hard and that's what we've been doing.”
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Bowyer's team earns pit crew challenge win at CaliforniaClint Bowyer’s No. 07 pit crew earned the Checkers® / Rally’s® Double Drive-Thru Challenge win at California Speedway, helping boost the Richard Childress Racing driver to a third-place finish in Sunday night’s (Sept. 3) Nextel Cup race.
This is the third pit crew challenge win of the season for the No. 07 team, which is now tied with Tony Stewart’s team for second-place in the season-long standings. Bowyer’s crew also took the honors at Phoenix International Raceway in April and Watkin’s Glen International in August.
The crews of Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch are tied for the lead with four victories each.
"What can I say, these guys keep doing a great job,” said Gil Martin, crew chief for the No. 07 Chevrolet. “The over-the-wall guys were very consistent on pit road and their stops never fell off. Clint keeps doing a great job getting on and off pit road and getting in and out of his pit stall.
“We had a couple mistakes two weeks ago at Bristol and once again, these guys bounced back in a big way,” continued Martin. “We're tied for second with three wins in the Checkers/Rallys Double Drive-Thru Challenge and that means this Jack Daniel's team can compete with the best in the business."
The No. 07 over-the-wall crew consists of: Carey Wimbish (jackman), Dail Long (front-tire carrier), Shane Westerberg (front-tire changer), Dustin Stanley (rear-tire carrier), Jake Lind (rear-tire changer), Ron Liddell (gasman), Clint Almquist (catch can) and Troy Welty (windshield). The pit stop coordinator is Corinne Mauldin.
Bowyer’s Jack Daniels Chevrolet spent 332.959 seconds on pit road. The crew will be awarded the weekly $10,500 prize and an additional $105,000 will be presented to the pit crew with the most wins at the completion of the 36-race schedule.
The Checkers/Rally's Double Drive-Thru Challenge is in its second season with the Nextel Cup Series.
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Kahne wins at California, inches closer to ChaseBy Mike Harris, The Associated Press
FONTANA, Calif. -- Kasey Kahne knew exactly what he needed to do in Sunday night's Nextel Cup race at California Speedway.
"I came here telling myself, 'You've got to win. You've got to win. You have to go out there and lead laps,'" Kahne said.
The 26-year-old Cup star managed both in the Sony HD 500, earning his series-leading fifth win of the season and closing in on a spot in the Chase for the championship with one race remaining.
To do it, Kahne had to overcome a penalty, a series of challengers and a daring fuel gamble by rookie Reed Sorenson at the end.
"These guys fought back with great pit stops," Kahne said. "I just can't thank this team enough. They just worked their butts off to get us back in this Chase and at least now we have a chance going into Richmond next week."
Not even a penalty for speeding on pit road halfway through the 250-lap race could stop Kahne, who fell back briefly to 24th. His No. 9 Evernham Motorsports Dodge stuck with the leaders and, thanks to a two-tire pit stop on Lap 176 that got him up to second, Kahne was in position to drive past Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the lead after the green flag came back out on Lap 180.
After falling back again when several other cars made two-tire pit stops, Kahne outdueled new teammate Elliott Sadler to regain the top spot on Lap 197. But there was yet another challenge for the 26-year-old driver, who led a race-high 132 laps.
Several drivers, including Sorenson, tried to stretch their final tank of gas to the finish and the 20-year-old Sorenson, who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, almost pulled off his first victory and the first for the team since 2002. He took the lead on Lap 241 after most of the top cars pitted for a splash of gas and two tires.
Kahne, who gave up the lead when he made his final stop on Lap 238, found himself in fifth, nearly 14 seconds behind Sorenson. Kahne charged hard, grabbing second from rookie Clint Bowyer on Lap 247, but was still more than 7 seconds behind the leader.
But Sorenson lost his gamble, running out of gas starting Lap 249. Kahne zoomed past and raced away for the sixth victory of his career, beating Earnhardt to the finish by 3.428 seconds. Sorenson wound up 21st.
"You think a lot," Kahne said of all the ups and downs in the race. "You think about not making mistakes, not doing anything wrong. But you still have to be aggressive.
"We made a lot of good calls [Sunday night] and we definitely deserved this one."
Kahne had slumped badly after getting off to a tremendous start this season, with four wins in the first 15 races. Team director Kenny Francis was ecstatic after Sunday's win.
"That's the biggest win of the year so far," he said. "We have to race into this thing and the guys did a great job. Kasey did an awesome job driving."
Kahne started the night 90 points behind 10th-place Mark Martin and remained 11th in the battle for a spot in the 10-man Chase. But he will go to Richmond for next Saturday night's race just 30 points behind Jeff Burton, who fell behind Martin into 10th.
"This is all we could do," Kahne said. "We gained the most points we could possibly gain on a weekend. These other guys up there in the top 10, they're up there for a reason. You're not going to make that kind of a gain on them every week.
"I wasn't sure how far we'd be back, but 30's a lot closer than 90, and it could have been a lot worse than 90. It's a big jump. Anything can happen at Richmond. It's going to be a wild race there and, hopefully, we're on the good side of things."
Earnhardt, who has struggled on the 2-mile California oval in his last five starts, was very happy with his strong run this time.
"We're glad to get a second anywhere, especially in California and [on] this kind of racetrack," said Earnhardt, who failed to make the Chase last year. "We've really turned that around.
"I don't really get into the pressure of the Chase. The pressure is trying to run good, no matter what."
Bowyer held on for third place, followed by Carl Edwards, three-time California winner Jeff Gordon, rookie Denny Hamlin and new points leader Matt Kenseth.
Jimmie Johnson, who finished 11th on Sunday night, had led the standings for all but two weeks this season but now tails Kenseth by nine points. Those two remain the only drivers who have clinched berths in the 10-race Chase. Kevin Harvick remained third, but the rest of the top 10 was shuffled considerably.
Heading for Richmond, 72 points separate fourth-place Gordon from Burton, with Kyle Busch, Earnhardt, Hamlin, defending series champion Tony Stewart and Martin in between.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kahne wins shootout as
Menard runs out of fuel
By Mike Harris, The Associated Press
FONTANA, Calif. -- Kasey Kahne outdueled Paul Menard in an exciting Busch Series shootout Saturday night that ended with Kahne in California Speedway's Victory Lane and Menard coasting across the finish line out of fuel.
That dropped both of them out of the top 20, but the drivers ahead of them all had to pit for gas before the end and that left Nextel Cup star Kahne and Busch Series regular Menard to fight it out at the end.
The top two swapped the lead several times in the final 10 laps, with Kahne moving on top for the final time on Lap 148. It looked like Menard was ready to make another run at the leader on the final lap when he suddenly slowed on the backstretch, out of fuel.
"It was a great battle," said Kahne, who wound up with enough gas left to do some post-victory burnouts for the fans. "It was gutsy. I didn't know if we would make it.
"We were both saving fuel and both trying to make it to the end, save fuel and race each other. But the bottom line is to make it to the finish."
Menard shrugged off the disappointing finish.
"I knew we would have to be lucky," he said. "We shook the dice and got a top five, which is a lot better than I think we would have."
Kahne, 11th in the Cup points, needs to move up at least one spot to make it into the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship. He said there is at least one lesson that he can carry over from the Busch race into Sunday's Sony HD 500:
"How to save fuel," he said. "We had a top-five car for sure with no fuel mileage. We ended up winning."
Cup regulars, known as Buschwhackers, have now won 25 of the 27 Busch races this season. Menard earned one of the victories by Busch drivers.
Runaway series leader Kevin Harvick also stretched his last tank of gas and wound up second despite an ill-handling car that caused him trouble throughout the race, Mark Martin, who dominated much of the race before a late gas stop knocked him out of the lead, came back to finish third, just ahead of the coasting Menard.
Martin, who led a race-high 88 laps, was disappointed that race strategy cost him a shot at the win.
"It's just the way some of these races go," he said. "My car was incredible all night and I had new tires on it. If we had had a few more laps, it would have been no contest."
Harvick, the 2001 Busch champion, now has a virtually unbeatable 567-point lead with eight races to go.
Leaves Fontana with career-best, runner-up finish on 2-mile ovals
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
FONTANA, Calif. -- If and when Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes the Chase for the Nextel Cup, he can point to his performances at Fontana and Michigan as major reasons why.
NASCAR holds four races a year at the high-speed, low-banked 2-mile tracks, and those particular ovals have historically been a struggle for Earnhardt.
In 2005, when Earnhardt famously failed to qualify for the Chase, he didn't finish better than 17th in any of the four races at Fontana and Michigan.
But Dale Earnhardt Inc. made vast improvements to its superspeedway bodies in the offseason, and Earnhardt didn't finish worse than 11th in the four races on 2-mile tracks in 2006.
"This is my best finish here," said Earnhardt, who moved from ninth to sixth in the points. "We are happy to get a second anywhere, but especially here at California. These kind of racetracks -- we have really turned these around."
Earnhardt spent 201 of the 250 laps in the top 10, but he struggled mightily on short runs. Fortunately for him, the race was stopped only seven times, and four of those cautions were for debris.
The race was caution-free for the final 54 laps, and Earnhardt picked off 13 cars during that run.
Despite the runner-up finish, Earnhardt felt the engine in his Chevrolet wasn't optimal, and he maintained his momentum by running the high line for most of the night.
"I think we're down on power to some of the other teams, so running that top line really keeps the momentum up and makes it really launch off the corners," Earnhardt said.
Earnhardt is only 47 points ahead of 10th-place Jeff Burton with one race to go until the Chase begins, but the series hits Richmond next week.
Earnhardt won at Richmond in the spring for his only victory of the season. His season nearly unraveled in July, when he suffered back-to-back last-place finishes to fall to 11th in the standings.
Much of his resurgence can be traced to Indianapolis, where he struggled badly but salvaged a sixth-place finish with pit strategy. Since then, he has notched three top-10s in four races.
"We're peaking at just the right time, and we want to keep that momentum going where we can put ourselves in position to win the Chase," Earnhardt said. "We've got all of the tangibles to win -- the team, the cars, the driver and the pit crew -- so we'll see if we can keep it going."
By Mike Harris, The Associated Press
FONTANA, Calif. -- Kasey Kahne outdueled Paul Menard in an exciting Busch Series shootout Saturday night that ended with Kahne in California Speedway's Victory Lane and Menard coasting across the finish line out of fuel.
That dropped both of them out of the top 20, but the drivers ahead of them all had to pit for gas before the end and that left Nextel Cup star Kahne and Busch Series regular Menard to fight it out at the end.
The top two swapped the lead several times in the final 10 laps, with Kahne moving on top for the final time on Lap 148. It looked like Menard was ready to make another run at the leader on the final lap when he suddenly slowed on the backstretch, out of fuel.
"It was a great battle," said Kahne, who wound up with enough gas left to do some post-victory burnouts for the fans. "It was gutsy. I didn't know if we would make it.
"We were both saving fuel and both trying to make it to the end, save fuel and race each other. But the bottom line is to make it to the finish."
Menard shrugged off the disappointing finish.
"I knew we would have to be lucky," he said. "We shook the dice and got a top five, which is a lot better than I think we would have."
Kahne, 11th in the Cup points, needs to move up at least one spot to make it into the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship. He said there is at least one lesson that he can carry over from the Busch race into Sunday's Sony HD 500:
"How to save fuel," he said. "We had a top-five car for sure with no fuel mileage. We ended up winning."
Cup regulars, known as Buschwhackers, have now won 25 of the 27 Busch races this season. Menard earned one of the victories by Busch drivers.
Runaway series leader Kevin Harvick also stretched his last tank of gas and wound up second despite an ill-handling car that caused him trouble throughout the race, Mark Martin, who dominated much of the race before a late gas stop knocked him out of the lead, came back to finish third, just ahead of the coasting Menard.
Martin, who led a race-high 88 laps, was disappointed that race strategy cost him a shot at the win.
"It's just the way some of these races go," he said. "My car was incredible all night and I had new tires on it. If we had had a few more laps, it would have been no contest."
Harvick, the 2001 Busch champion, now has a virtually unbeatable 567-point lead with eight races to go.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Junior clears another hurdle en route to ChaseLeaves Fontana with career-best, runner-up finish on 2-mile ovals
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
FONTANA, Calif. -- If and when Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes the Chase for the Nextel Cup, he can point to his performances at Fontana and Michigan as major reasons why.
NASCAR holds four races a year at the high-speed, low-banked 2-mile tracks, and those particular ovals have historically been a struggle for Earnhardt.
In 2005, when Earnhardt famously failed to qualify for the Chase, he didn't finish better than 17th in any of the four races at Fontana and Michigan.
But Dale Earnhardt Inc. made vast improvements to its superspeedway bodies in the offseason, and Earnhardt didn't finish worse than 11th in the four races on 2-mile tracks in 2006.
"This is my best finish here," said Earnhardt, who moved from ninth to sixth in the points. "We are happy to get a second anywhere, but especially here at California. These kind of racetracks -- we have really turned these around."
Earnhardt spent 201 of the 250 laps in the top 10, but he struggled mightily on short runs. Fortunately for him, the race was stopped only seven times, and four of those cautions were for debris.
The race was caution-free for the final 54 laps, and Earnhardt picked off 13 cars during that run.
Despite the runner-up finish, Earnhardt felt the engine in his Chevrolet wasn't optimal, and he maintained his momentum by running the high line for most of the night.
"I think we're down on power to some of the other teams, so running that top line really keeps the momentum up and makes it really launch off the corners," Earnhardt said.
Earnhardt is only 47 points ahead of 10th-place Jeff Burton with one race to go until the Chase begins, but the series hits Richmond next week.
Earnhardt won at Richmond in the spring for his only victory of the season. His season nearly unraveled in July, when he suffered back-to-back last-place finishes to fall to 11th in the standings.
Much of his resurgence can be traced to Indianapolis, where he struggled badly but salvaged a sixth-place finish with pit strategy. Since then, he has notched three top-10s in four races.
"We're peaking at just the right time, and we want to keep that momentum going where we can put ourselves in position to win the Chase," Earnhardt said. "We've got all of the tangibles to win -- the team, the cars, the driver and the pit crew -- so we'll see if we can keep it going."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many defying the odds by
not being clones these days
by Monte Dutton
Gazette Sports Writer
FONTANA, Calif. — The tracks and the cars get more and more alike, but thank goodness NASCAR officials haven’t yet been able to insert some microchip in the skulls of the drivers.
Of course, NASCAR has done everything shy of mind control. Free speech has been limited somewhat by all the financial entanglements. All the drivers who once fought authority found out that authority always wins.
Every time a driver markets a brand of barbecue sauce through a company headed by Brian France, the noose gets tighter. Every time his charitable foundation falls under the umbrella of the NASCAR Foundation, it compromises his right to dissent. The foundation is an ingenious way for NASCAR to get credit for every dime anyone in the sport donates to any worthwhile cause, and there’s plenty of administrative money to siphon off the top.
But, defying all odds, these guys actually aren’t just alike. Dale Earnhardt Jr. actually is an interesting guy. He gets his opinions mostly from someone other than Jim Hunter. As Mike Skinner said of Earnhardt Jr., “He certainly isn’t the milkman’s son, is he?”
Kevin Harvick has a snide sense of humor. He could trade barbs with Don Rickles. He laughs easily, sometimes even at himself.
Tony Stewart has a keen sense of humor, one that is often overlooked in light of his radioactive temper. If Stewart’s head were a nuclear reactor, Iran would be trying to buy it. He has a tender side, of course. Even lions nurse their young.
The Busch brothers could return to Las Vegas and perform Norm Crosby’s nightclub routine without having to learn the script. Just last week, Kurt invented the word “momentimous.” Come to think of it, I could use a momentimous-cheese sandwich myself.
When Mark Martin reaches 70, he’s going to replace Wilford Brimley in TV ads. Carl Edwards could be in the movies, playing Buck Rogers or Superman or the Flash. Once, when Jack Roush was asked what he saw in Edwards, he said, “He’s certainly the best gymnast.”
Robby Gordon will one day be governor of California. Why? Because Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger have already been governor here, and Robby’s just as flaky. Like Gov. Schwarzenegger, Robby has no idea what he wants.
And yet, according to Matt Kenseth, “Everybody who runs in our sport in Nextel Cup has common traits and abilities. Obviously, they can all drive stock cars and can compete on all the tracks we compete on and be competitive or they wouldn’t be in this sport at all.”
Well, that’s true. It’s hard to be a stock-car racer if you can’t race stock cars.
As Earnhardt Jr. said, “It takes guts to keep your right foot down.” As Brian Vickers said, “You’d be surprised what air can do at 200 miles an hour.”
And as Jeff Gordon once memorably misspoke, “Either way you look at it, it equivalates to money.”
by Monte Dutton
Gazette Sports Writer
FONTANA, Calif. — The tracks and the cars get more and more alike, but thank goodness NASCAR officials haven’t yet been able to insert some microchip in the skulls of the drivers.
Of course, NASCAR has done everything shy of mind control. Free speech has been limited somewhat by all the financial entanglements. All the drivers who once fought authority found out that authority always wins.
Every time a driver markets a brand of barbecue sauce through a company headed by Brian France, the noose gets tighter. Every time his charitable foundation falls under the umbrella of the NASCAR Foundation, it compromises his right to dissent. The foundation is an ingenious way for NASCAR to get credit for every dime anyone in the sport donates to any worthwhile cause, and there’s plenty of administrative money to siphon off the top.
But, defying all odds, these guys actually aren’t just alike. Dale Earnhardt Jr. actually is an interesting guy. He gets his opinions mostly from someone other than Jim Hunter. As Mike Skinner said of Earnhardt Jr., “He certainly isn’t the milkman’s son, is he?”
Kevin Harvick has a snide sense of humor. He could trade barbs with Don Rickles. He laughs easily, sometimes even at himself.
Tony Stewart has a keen sense of humor, one that is often overlooked in light of his radioactive temper. If Stewart’s head were a nuclear reactor, Iran would be trying to buy it. He has a tender side, of course. Even lions nurse their young.
The Busch brothers could return to Las Vegas and perform Norm Crosby’s nightclub routine without having to learn the script. Just last week, Kurt invented the word “momentimous.” Come to think of it, I could use a momentimous-cheese sandwich myself.
When Mark Martin reaches 70, he’s going to replace Wilford Brimley in TV ads. Carl Edwards could be in the movies, playing Buck Rogers or Superman or the Flash. Once, when Jack Roush was asked what he saw in Edwards, he said, “He’s certainly the best gymnast.”
Robby Gordon will one day be governor of California. Why? Because Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger have already been governor here, and Robby’s just as flaky. Like Gov. Schwarzenegger, Robby has no idea what he wants.
And yet, according to Matt Kenseth, “Everybody who runs in our sport in Nextel Cup has common traits and abilities. Obviously, they can all drive stock cars and can compete on all the tracks we compete on and be competitive or they wouldn’t be in this sport at all.”
Well, that’s true. It’s hard to be a stock-car racer if you can’t race stock cars.
As Earnhardt Jr. said, “It takes guts to keep your right foot down.” As Brian Vickers said, “You’d be surprised what air can do at 200 miles an hour.”
And as Jeff Gordon once memorably misspoke, “Either way you look at it, it equivalates to money.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Changing minds
By Jerry Bonkowski, Yahoo! Sports
FONTANA, Calif. – When it comes to the biggest pessimists in NASCAR, I consider myself right up there with Mark Martin.
And true to form, I arrived in California last week with lots of doubts.
I doubted Kasey Kahne would make any significant movement in trying to get into the Chase. I doubted California Speedway would have more fans than the mediocre turnout in February. I doubted Dale Earnhardt Jr. would have a good race at a track that has been his worst on the Cup circuit.
As I prepare to leave the West Coast and head back east to Richmond for the final Chase qualifier this coming Saturday, I have to make a confession: I'm no longer a doubter.
After what I saw in Sunday's Sony HD 500 here in Fontana, I'm done being a pessimist. I've been converted into an optimist – well, at least for the next week or two.
Neil Diamond wrote it, The Monkees made it a big hit and now you can add me to the list: "I'm a believer."
There now is no doubt in my mind that Kahne will make the Chase. So, too, will Junior – well, probably.
And California Speedway, which on Sunday had less than 10,000 empty seats – a major accomplishment considering the roughly 25,000 unfilled spaces back in February – is on its way to becoming one heck of a racing venue.
Sure, one race does not an overall success make, but Sunday night's event went a long way toward changing my mind about a lot of things. In short, I've seen the light.
Let's start with race winner Kahne, who came into Sunday's event 90 points behind 10th-ranked Mark Martin with just two races to catch up.
Kahne got going by winning Saturday night's Busch Series race, and then Sunday's Cup win put things in a completely different light. He now leaves California not just with a series-leading five wins, but also with just a 30-point deficit to 10th-ranked Jeff Burton.
"This is all we could do," Kahne said. "We did everything possible. We gained the most points we could possibly gain on a weekend. We cut [the spread between himself and 10th place] down.
"I came here telling myself, 'You gotta win, you gotta win, you gotta lead laps. That's all you can do if you want to make this Chase.' You can't expect to win. You can't expect to lead the most laps just because you want to. It's way too tough competition. We just hit everything right this weekend. It was a huge weekend."
Kahne will head to Richmond with pretty much the same mindset. If he still falls short, it won't be for wont of trying.
"We just need to do our best next weekend and see where the points end up," Kahne said. "Hopefully, we'll be on the right side of it. Hopefully, if we lead laps and run up front again, it's going to be close, but it should be exciting, that's for sure."
Then there's Earnhardt Jr., who I've said all season long was not going to make the Chase. Sure, anything can happen at Richmond, but after his strong effort last week at Bristol and again Sunday in SoCal, coupled with the fact that Earnhardt won at RIR in the spring, I admit I'm waffling.
With a 77-point edge over Kahne, Earnhardt certainly is well-positioned to make the Chase. He by no means is a lock, but I will concede that he sure seems headed in that direction and will likely do it – barring some mechanical failure or wreck next Saturday night.
Junior thinks the same thing.
"Anything can happen to you if you get involved in crashes or … something stupid," Earnhardt said. "So we'll try to be smart."
Despite now being sixth in points, Earnhardt still is vulnerable. Only 102 points separate fourth-ranked Jeff Gordon from Kahne, with Kyle Busch, Earnhardt, Denny Hamlin, defending Cup champion Tony Stewart, Martin and Burton in between.
"Any of those guys can knock you out; it ain't so much about Kasey," Earnhardt said. "Kasey might make it and somebody else gets knocked out. … Whoever does make the Chase deserves it, and I hope we're a part of that program."
And then there's Sunday night's host setting, California Speedway. After taking a tremendous amount of criticism for how poor the last two races were here, track president Gillian Zucker can be proud for putting on one heck of a show both on and off the race track.
With a nearly full house, coupled with what wound up being one hell of a race, the two-mile high-speed oval vaulted several places upwards in the rank of the circuit's best tracks. While certainly not in the same class as Daytona or Indianapolis, California would appear well on its way to gaining more prominence.
When former NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. put Zucker in charge of California Speedway 14 months ago, he gave her an edict to make the track the Daytona of the West. Like a young athlete learning how to make it in track and field, Zucker fell on her face trying to leap over big hurdles in her first year, but after Sunday, she seems to have hit her stride.
She pulled off what many thought was impossible.
Sunday's strong on-track action aside, the facility's new $10 million Fan Zone, increased amenities for fans and better traffic ingress and egress have made it a viable destination for race fans. And Zucker still has several more plans on the drawing board to make the fan experience even more rewarding.
"I think our strategy has always been to grow the audience and the attraction of NASCAR and the hype of this race and turn it into something that's really, really powerful for Southern California, and I think we're very effectively doing that," Zucker said. "When it will sell out, I know it will.
"I guarantee you that I want it to happen more quickly than anybody else. But I think it's exciting the progress we're making, the kind of value we're providing for fans and the way they're responding to it. We see it, we feel it and I think that we're well on our way."
As I leave Southern California, I hope I don't disturb my fellow passengers on my airplane flight back east with my humming and whistling. Or even some soft whispering about Kasey, Junior and Gillian:
"I'm a believer. Not a trace of doubt in my mind."
Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski is Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR columnist.
By Jerry Bonkowski, Yahoo! Sports
FONTANA, Calif. – When it comes to the biggest pessimists in NASCAR, I consider myself right up there with Mark Martin.
And true to form, I arrived in California last week with lots of doubts.
I doubted Kasey Kahne would make any significant movement in trying to get into the Chase. I doubted California Speedway would have more fans than the mediocre turnout in February. I doubted Dale Earnhardt Jr. would have a good race at a track that has been his worst on the Cup circuit.
As I prepare to leave the West Coast and head back east to Richmond for the final Chase qualifier this coming Saturday, I have to make a confession: I'm no longer a doubter.
After what I saw in Sunday's Sony HD 500 here in Fontana, I'm done being a pessimist. I've been converted into an optimist – well, at least for the next week or two.
Neil Diamond wrote it, The Monkees made it a big hit and now you can add me to the list: "I'm a believer."
There now is no doubt in my mind that Kahne will make the Chase. So, too, will Junior – well, probably.
And California Speedway, which on Sunday had less than 10,000 empty seats – a major accomplishment considering the roughly 25,000 unfilled spaces back in February – is on its way to becoming one heck of a racing venue.
Sure, one race does not an overall success make, but Sunday night's event went a long way toward changing my mind about a lot of things. In short, I've seen the light.
Let's start with race winner Kahne, who came into Sunday's event 90 points behind 10th-ranked Mark Martin with just two races to catch up.
Kahne got going by winning Saturday night's Busch Series race, and then Sunday's Cup win put things in a completely different light. He now leaves California not just with a series-leading five wins, but also with just a 30-point deficit to 10th-ranked Jeff Burton.
"This is all we could do," Kahne said. "We did everything possible. We gained the most points we could possibly gain on a weekend. We cut [the spread between himself and 10th place] down.
"I came here telling myself, 'You gotta win, you gotta win, you gotta lead laps. That's all you can do if you want to make this Chase.' You can't expect to win. You can't expect to lead the most laps just because you want to. It's way too tough competition. We just hit everything right this weekend. It was a huge weekend."
Kahne will head to Richmond with pretty much the same mindset. If he still falls short, it won't be for wont of trying.
"We just need to do our best next weekend and see where the points end up," Kahne said. "Hopefully, we'll be on the right side of it. Hopefully, if we lead laps and run up front again, it's going to be close, but it should be exciting, that's for sure."
Then there's Earnhardt Jr., who I've said all season long was not going to make the Chase. Sure, anything can happen at Richmond, but after his strong effort last week at Bristol and again Sunday in SoCal, coupled with the fact that Earnhardt won at RIR in the spring, I admit I'm waffling.
With a 77-point edge over Kahne, Earnhardt certainly is well-positioned to make the Chase. He by no means is a lock, but I will concede that he sure seems headed in that direction and will likely do it – barring some mechanical failure or wreck next Saturday night.
Junior thinks the same thing.
"Anything can happen to you if you get involved in crashes or … something stupid," Earnhardt said. "So we'll try to be smart."
Despite now being sixth in points, Earnhardt still is vulnerable. Only 102 points separate fourth-ranked Jeff Gordon from Kahne, with Kyle Busch, Earnhardt, Denny Hamlin, defending Cup champion Tony Stewart, Martin and Burton in between.
"Any of those guys can knock you out; it ain't so much about Kasey," Earnhardt said. "Kasey might make it and somebody else gets knocked out. … Whoever does make the Chase deserves it, and I hope we're a part of that program."
And then there's Sunday night's host setting, California Speedway. After taking a tremendous amount of criticism for how poor the last two races were here, track president Gillian Zucker can be proud for putting on one heck of a show both on and off the race track.
With a nearly full house, coupled with what wound up being one hell of a race, the two-mile high-speed oval vaulted several places upwards in the rank of the circuit's best tracks. While certainly not in the same class as Daytona or Indianapolis, California would appear well on its way to gaining more prominence.
When former NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. put Zucker in charge of California Speedway 14 months ago, he gave her an edict to make the track the Daytona of the West. Like a young athlete learning how to make it in track and field, Zucker fell on her face trying to leap over big hurdles in her first year, but after Sunday, she seems to have hit her stride.
She pulled off what many thought was impossible.
Sunday's strong on-track action aside, the facility's new $10 million Fan Zone, increased amenities for fans and better traffic ingress and egress have made it a viable destination for race fans. And Zucker still has several more plans on the drawing board to make the fan experience even more rewarding.
"I think our strategy has always been to grow the audience and the attraction of NASCAR and the hype of this race and turn it into something that's really, really powerful for Southern California, and I think we're very effectively doing that," Zucker said. "When it will sell out, I know it will.
"I guarantee you that I want it to happen more quickly than anybody else. But I think it's exciting the progress we're making, the kind of value we're providing for fans and the way they're responding to it. We see it, we feel it and I think that we're well on our way."
As I leave Southern California, I hope I don't disturb my fellow passengers on my airplane flight back east with my humming and whistling. Or even some soft whispering about Kasey, Junior and Gillian:
"I'm a believer. Not a trace of doubt in my mind."
Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski is Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR columnist.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We Wonder...
Sometimes in California you have to just grin and Bear it
By Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
... where does safety really fall in NASCAR's pecking order?
Listen, all of the improvements NASCAR has made during the past six years to make the sport safer are nothing short of impressive. We all know it. If you don't, you just haven't been paying attention. Just Google "NASCAR safety" and you'll find more than eight million entries.
The future? Three words: Car of Tomorrow.
Still, you have to wonder where safety falls on the priority list when the sanctioning body is willing to make drivers go into Turn 3 at one of NASCAR's fastest tracks nearly blind for what seems like nothing more than a prime-time slot -- in half the country.
It's not often when the majority of fans agree with Jeff Gordon, but I'd be willing to bet most did when he went on his rant about this during last night's telecast.
And while we're at it, is it really a night race when it finishes at 8:45 p.m. local time?
... was there a post-race discussion between Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch?
Gordon got Kyle Busch loose early in Sunday's race to gain a position. Much later, NBC broadcast the following quote from Gordon on his radio:
"I'm racing him the same way he's racing everybody else out here," Gordon said. "That was a lesson is what that was. He needs to learn from it."
What? Not all teammates are best friends? Say it isn't so.
THIS FAN WONDERS ...
... since when do three letters have the ability to make three syllables in an English word?
The public address announcer for the pre-race activities announced Mya (pronounced Mi-ya) as the singer for the national anthem.
The problem was that he pronounced her name as "May-ai-uh."
Don't they make sure the P.A. guy knows who is singing the most important song in this country?
-- Josh Mandich, Huber Heights, Ohio
... did Wally Dallenbach and Jerome Bettis share the most awkward televised "man hug" of all time?
Bettis was the guest on Wally's World on Sunday. After Bettis squeezed out of the car and playfully chased Dallenbach around for a while, Bettis came at Dallenbach for the man hug.
Unintentional hilarity ensued.
If you're a guy, you've gotta feel for Dallenbach a little here. We've all got that one friend for whom a handshake or a fist pound just isn't enough. If you're not someone who throws around the man hugs, it always feels a little like when Great Aunt Betsy came in for the face pinch when you were in elementary school.
If you're at a bar six or eight beers in, it's even worse.
By the way, that's the first time in my 20-year journalistic career that I've ever written the phrase "fist pound." Useless trivia, I know. Moving on:
... does Tony Stewart ever say no to a racing invitation?
It's probably one of the many things that makes Stewart a championship driver, and obviously anything done for charity is commendable, but it seems like lately every time Stewart gets in a car that's not a stock car, he ends up flipping like a pancake.
Can you imagine what invitations Stewart's turning down?
Yeah, Tony, this is Rex Barley from the All-American Grass Speedway here in Mud Puddle, North Dakota. We're having this race in a couple of weeks where we're running Big Wheels pulled by donkeys. I know it sounds crazy, but it's really competitive. Would you like to race?
Uh ... no.
... what are the other names that the No. 12 team gives its pit stops?
During one of the early pit stops Sunday, Marty Snider told us that Ryan Newman's team has started naming its strategies. In this case, they used "Cage Fighter," which Snider said was code for four tires and no adjustments.
For like 10 minutes after that, I couldn't get the picture of Ryan Newman as a cage fighter out of my head, but that's another column -- and probably reason enough for some therapy.
What do they call the other stops? "Pro wrestler?" "Over-the-hill boxer?" "Middle-aged bald guy who's a ninth-degree black belt and knows 47 ways to kill a guy?"
... was Jimmie Johnson really getting away from racing when he went to Alaska?
I'm sure it was beautiful and relaxing and all that, but if I'm a driver wanting to get away from the rigors of NASCAR, would I invite an NBC camera crew along to document my relaxation?
The opinions expressed are those solely of the writer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cross' Words
CaliforniaNASCAR must be a Labor of love to watch twice a year from here
By B. Duane Cross, NASCAR.COM
California should not have two 500-mile Cup races -- and it's especially not deserving of the Labor Day weekend event.
The racing, in a word, is boring. Despite the drivers' ability to race three-wide, the track has not yielded to must-see TV -- and that's where the majority of Sunday night's crowd was, in front of the tube.
I'm not beating the drum for a return to Darlington for the first weekend in September; that ship has sailed. But there is a way to keep a left-coast presence in the Race for the Chase: Give a second date to Las Vegas.
OK, so the argument is that International Speedway Corporation owns California Speedway and it would be a cold day in Hades before ISC moved one of its races to a Speedway Motorsports Inc. track -- especially one with as much cache as the Labor Day event. Fair enough; ISC stockholders want to optimize their investment.
There are 19 Cup races held at ISC tracks: California (2), Chicago, Darlington, Daytona (2), Homestead-Miami, Kansas, Martinsville (2), Michigan (2), Phoenix (2), Richmond (2), Talladega (2) and Watkins Glen.
Six of those tracks are in the Race to the Chase: California, Chicago, Daytona, Michigan, Richmond and Watkins Glen.
Five of those tracks are in the Chase for the Nextel Cup: Homestead-Miami, Kansas, Martinsville, Phoenix and Talladega.
Others believe California would be a better race if 100 miles were lopped off. That's akin to putting a Band-Aid on a major gash. It's also short-sighted.
It's no secret that NASCAR would like to have California Speedway be the West Coast's beacon for stock-car racing. But the track is not conducive to edge-of-your-seat racing. The facility is top shelf, but fans do not buy a ticket to look at the façade; fans buy tickets (and watch on TV) for the on-track product.
Say Anything
"All you are going to do is upset your stomach and put everything else in an uproar."
-- Kyle Busch on fretting over the Race to the Chase, which has Pos. 4-11 separated by 117 points entering Richmond
Figuratively Speaking
9 -- Drivers in contention for the final eight spots in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
• Points leader Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson are the only drivers who have clinched a spot in the Chase. As for the rest of the top 10 (lap leader points not included) -- regardless of what 11th-place Kasey Kahne does:
• Kevin Harvick will clinch a spot by finishing 39th or better.
• Jeff Gordon will clinch a spot by finishing 24th or better.
• Kyle Busch will clinch a spot by finishing 22nd or better.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. will clinch a spot by finishing 16th or better.
• Denny Hamlin will clinch a spot by finishing 16th or better.
• Tony Stewart will clinch a spot by finishing seventh or better.
• Mark Martin will clinch a spot by finishing fourth or better.
• Jeff Burton will clinch a spot by finishing third or better.
Fast Facts
• Kasey Kahne's series-leading fifth victory -- he also won at Atlanta, Texas, Charlotte and Michigan -- marked the third weekend sweep this year: Kevin Harvick at Phoenix in April and Matt Kenseth at Bristol last week.
• Kahne's win is only the second time in NASCAR history that a weekend sweep has occurred on back-to-back weekends. Harry Gant was the first driver to post consecutive sweeps, winning both races at Richmond and Dover in September 1991.
• Kahne is the 10th different race winner in the past 10 races at California Speedway -- and the victory is the first by a Dodge driver at Fontana since the track opened in 1997. Jeff Gordon, with three wins, is the only driver with multiple victories at Cali.
Up Next
Richmond | 7 p.m. ET Saturday | TNT
• There have been nine different race winners in the past 10 races at Richmond. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is sixth in points -- 77 ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne -- is the only repeat winner during that time. Junior, who won at Richmond in May, and Tony Stewart lead all active drivers with three victories at RIR.
• Greg Biffle, who has started in the top 10 in six consecutive races at Richmond, is riding a streak of four consecutive top-10 finishes at the track, the longest current streak.
• Kyle Busch has three consecutive top-five finishes at Richmond, and his average finish of 4.3 is the best of all active drivers. Busch finished fifth in the May race, his worst finish in three starts at the .750-mile track.
Mailbag
C'mon, the mailman doesn't deliver on Labor Day. Enjoy the holiday.
Fantasy Perspective
• On the .750-mile configuration at Richmond, Rusty Wallace led 2,933 laps -- more than three times the total of any other driver. Jeff Burton, who is 10th in points -- 30 ahead of 10th-place Kasey Kahne -- leads active drivers with 874 laps led. Richmond used to be a .542-mile track, but was remodeled to its current size after the Feb. 21, 1988, race. Davey Allison won the first race on the current layout on Sept. 11, 1988. Only four drivers have started all 36 races on the three-quarter-mile configuration at RIR: Sterling Marlin, Mark Martin, Ken Schrader and Michael Waltrip.
And Finally ...
PARKSVILLE, British Columbia (AP) -- If you're interested in a three-hour tour, George Schultz has just the boat for you. For $89,400, you can buy the boat famous for setting aground on an uncharted desert isle to set the stage for the 1960s television classic Gilligan's Island.
The twin-diesel, 36-foot mahogany Wheeler Express Cruiser hit a reef in Hecate Strait as the former owner was taking the vessel down the coast from Alaska. Scotty Taylor of Parksville said the owner sold the 46-year-old boat to him for salvage on condition that he promise to restore it. Schultz, a boat broker, estimated that the work cost more than $180,000.
According to the Gilligan's Island Web site (gilligansisle.com), the boat is the third of four vessels used in the show. Taylor's Minnow was used in the opening credits of the second season.
The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So far, Kahne able to fight through
pressureBy Marty Snider, Special to NASCAR.COM
Well now that certainly changes things doesn't it?
Kasey Kahne proved that he is not giving up in his quest to make his first Chase for the Nextel Cup. I am happy for Kahne that he won Sunday night because for most of the weekend in California, Kahne looked miserable. He looked burdened.
I talked to Jeff Gordon about that very fact, being on the bubble and trying to make the Chase, he told me you have no idea how bad the pressure is. He also said that the best moment for him in 2005 was when he was officially out of the Chase and could finally enjoy racing and not worry about points (notice how their performance improved in the final 10 races last year also).
With that in mind, it's easy to see why the 26-year-old Kahne looks burdened, he is. Only Saturday night's race in Richmond will change that one way or the other. But the good news is that win or lose it will all be over in a matter of days.
Now to the question at hand. Can Kahne make up the final 30 points and make it into the Chase for the Nextel Cup? Again the task will much more complicated than just gaining 30 points. Just like they had in 2004, the Evernham team will be wired with constant championship scoring (not a normal feature for race teams) so they can tell where Kahne is in the championship standings after every lap.
They will be keeping an eye on the bottom half of the top 10 but most importantly, they will be intently pay attention to the 6 and 31 teams. Saturday night's race will likely boil down to a race between those three for two spots in the Chase.
At Richmond in May, Mark Martin had the best night of the three, leading laps and finishing sixth. Jeff Burton had a chance to win the race at the end but the team made the wrong call on pit strategy and finished 15th. Kahne had the worst finish but perhaps the best car of the three. The numbers say he finished 34th, but Kahne had a top five car that unfortunately had ignition problems, he finished the night several laps down.
With all of that said, I stick by what I said last week. I think the current top 10 are the Chasers that we will be talking about next week. But then again, Evernham Motorsports does have a flair for the dramatic when it comes to making the Chase at Richmond. One thing is for sure -- Kahne's win at California has made next Saturday night at Richmond a whole lot more intriguing.
Chase Preview?
The race in Fontana could very well have been a window into how the Chase might shape up. Many teams with a somewhat confirmed spot in the Chase "experimented" with chassis set-up packages that they would like to use in the final 10 races.
A track like California translates quite well to places like Kansas and Homestead. And with the Kansas race three weeks away and the Homestead test about a month away, now is the time to figure out what might and might not work there.
Some of those teams came away from California searching for a new direction, others already have checked one goal off the list which is a big step forward.
For the RCR teams, it wasn't chassis experimentation but engine testing. After losing two engines at Michigan two weeks ago, they had some issues to address at California. One of the problems was that Clint Bowyer's engine literally burned through all of its oil -- that's 5.5 gallons of oil in a 400-mile race. So how did they fix the problem in California? They simply increased the size of the oil reservoir on all of the RCR cars to six gallons and all went well.
Better for BGN
Back in June it was Kevin Harvick. In the last few weeks it has been Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards all deciding not to run the full Busch Series schedule next season.
Whether some people want to believe it or not, Cup Series drivers are a must if the Busch Series wants to survive. This past weekend in California was the perfect example. Only 44 cars entered the Busch Series race in California for 43 spots, 18 of those were Cup series drivers. You cannot convince me that somewhere out there are 18 drivers waiting to jump into a Busch car to run at a place like California to fill those spots. And despite the embarrassing crowd, those who did show up, no doubt showed up to see the Cup regulars duke it out. So the Cup guys are needed, that is understood. But Harvick, Bowyer and the others not making a go of it full-time next season is actually a positive for the Busch Series.
I've always thought of the Busch Series as the Chicken Little Series, every two years or so, "the sky is falling." I've heard it for years - "there's no new drivers out there, where are the up and coming drivers going to come from?" Busch Series owners go into a panicked frenzy as they search for the next "add water for an instant star." And yet every year there's inevitably a Kyle Busch, a Martin Truex Jr, or a Brian Vickers that shows up on the scene to establish himself as the sports next star. But if Cup drivers are filling the seats of the best cars full-time then how are we going to find a place the future talents to drive?
Cup drivers will always have a place in the Busch Series, as mentioned above they are needed -- to sell tickets, increase the television ratings and provide the best competition. But a part-time driving schedule for the sport's biggest stars is in everybody's best interests. The Cup stars will still be around the Busch Series just as much as they have been in the past, they just might be a little smarter about how they schedule their races.
The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.
Sunoco Pit Move
California
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
FONTANA, Calif. -- Both Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon each had their problems on pit road at Fontana, but neither driver lost any ground as a result.
Kahne was tagged for speeding during his pit stop after the Lap 155 caution. Kahne angrily disputed the penalty, telling crew chief Kenny Francis that if he sped down pit road, he was sure that Dale Earnhardt Jr. was guilty, too, because Earnhardt had closely followed him down pit lane.
After the penalty -- which dropped Kahne from first to 24th -- he adjusted his tachometer speed from 4700 (second gear) to 4600, and he made the final two pit stops without penalty.
Kahne got back almost all of his track position after Francis opted for just two tires during the race's final caution.
Gordon's left lugnuts loose on his stop on Lap 175, and he dropped from the top five to 25th after he had to make a second stop.
Gordon felt he could have competed with Kahne and runner-up Earnhardt without the lost track position.
"You know I hate we had our problems, because we had those guys in our sights," Gordon said. "I think would we not have had our problems, we would have been close to them and had a shot at them."
Because Gordon's car was good on long runs, the last 54-lap sprint under green helped him pass a lot of cars after he lost all that track position.
"I didn't doubt that we could get back up in the top 10, I just didn't know if we could get back in the top five," Gordon said. "There was a string of green-flag runs where we were able to put some good laps together and get some of those positions back."
Sadler rallies after pit accident
Elliott Sadler was spun on pit road by Ryan Newman during the Lap 83 caution, but he didn't lose a lot of track position because he was already stuck in mid-pack.
Sadler gambled on tires late and led briefly, but he faded to a 13th-place finish. Still, the run moved the No. 19 Dodge from 34th to 33rd in the owners standings, and Sadler has scored two top-15s in his three races with Ray Evernham.
Jarrett scores top-10 with fuel gamble
Reed Sorenson tried --and failed -- to run the final 54 laps on fuel, but two drivers (Clint Bowyer and Dale Jarrett) both scored top-10s after topping off during the last caution.
Bowyer finished third and Jarrett wound up 10th. It was Jarrett's first top-10 since Atlanta in March.
"We just got to a point where we were going to finish 20th, but before we went back green on that last caution I asked if we wanted to come and top it off and they said, 'That's what they were thinking,'" Jarrett said. "I had no idea we could make it from there, so I thought I would save as much as I could and maybe that would help.
"As we got down, we thought we were pretty close so with the way the season has been, why not try?"
Quotable
"There was probably zero discussion because of the track position. We weren't in great track position at that time. We had a good car and [crew chief] Tony [Eury] Jr. sort of knew there was a 90 percent chance you'd run out of gas."
-- Dale Earnhardt Jr., when asked whether his team considered trying to make it all the way on fuel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE VIEW FROM FANVILLE
Let’s Do This One More Time
Amy Hair Cup Scene Daily
Just in case California wasn’t enough of a nail biter for you…we’ve got another one coming up in Richmond…don’t know if my heart can handle it…this race was nerve wracking enough!
I found myself pacing around the room, yelling at the television and pacing some more.
I watched as Matt Kenseth quietly shuffled his way into the top spot for the chase, leaving Jimmie Johnson a mere nine points behind. -(Cont'd from front page) And Kasey Kahne is still hanging out just beyond reach of the tenth place holder Jeff Burton. There are only thirty points between those two.
Carl Edwards has kissed the chase good bye for this year…but look for him to be up there in contention again next year, as this finish will make him even more determined to get there.
The boys in the middle all jockeyed positions through the night, and finally settled in for the chase with Harvick in third, followed by Jeff Gordon (4th), Kyle Busch (5th), Dale Earnhardt (6th), Jr., Denny Hamlin (7th), Tony Stewart (8th), and Mark Martin in ninth.
Twenty six points separate fourth through seventh, so look for these fellows to dance around a bit next week at Richmond. Only three points separate ninth and tenth…with the eleventh spot driver (Kasey Kahne) thirty points behind and scratching to get an over ride on that tenth place.
All this being said…if we step away from the numbers and the stats for a minute, and look at this race as if those didn’t matter…we’d find that all in all it was a good show out there, for most anyway.
We saw Robby Gordon lose his chance for a good finish when a tire took an early out and cost him dearly.
Another caution popped up when Brian Vickers tire apparently didn’t want to be in the race either and took the quickest way out…flat and done. Brian ended up a couple of laps down, but limped over the finish line in 41st place.
Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton’s cars had the look of drunken sailors when their cars almost took each other out…doing that little slide and wobble thing, but all was good…they shook it off and on they went.
The last twenty laps proved to be the test of the crew chiefs…do we have enough fuel or don’t we? Drivers went in one at a time; grabbing a slosh of gas and shooting their way back out. Reed Sorenson, a rookie doing good out there, ended up leading the race during that last segment, only to run out of gas and cross the finish line in twenty first place. The disappointment on his face told the whole story. Hang in there Reed; you were given a taste…soon to be a whole meal.
When the dust settled and we were watching the fellows all climb out of their cars, the sweat pouring in their eyes and down their necks, and their hands still shaking, you could see in their faces it was a very long, hot night. Add the tension of the chase in there and these boys were pretty much spent.
The reporters and television crews were jumping from driver to driver…determined to get those first words of relief or despair, all working to get the best interview. The champagne corks were popping over in victory lane as the less fortunate drivers were grabbing their bags and heading to the airport. Those of us at home were gathering our thoughts, trying to calculate and analyze faster than the commentators could spit the numbers out.
The night wound down and another week of at least a hundred different interpretations of how the final ten will look started popping up all over the Internet.
I think I’ll just wait and wonder...and get my answers next week at Richmond. And so we’ll pack our bags and head to the International Speedway for what will prove to be a knock down drag out race for the chase…are you ready? Sure you are….we’ve come this far…let’s push it to the end and get us ten drivers to prove they are the best. They’re ready…and they’re wishing Richmond was here already…but it will come soon enough...very soon indeed. See you then boys…and good luck to you all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Championships have always driven me to win races. That 3 car pulling
into the track would cause people to look around and wonder what we were doing, to see how to beat us."
-Dale Earnhardt
-Dale Earnhardt
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, that's all for today. Until the next time, I remain,Your
MommaLife should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
"Don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Get the hell out of the race car if you've got feathers on your legs or butt. Put a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants wins't climb up there and eat that candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt – 1998
"It's nothin' personal, it's just
racin'
-Dale Earnhardt Sr.
-Dale Earnhardt Sr.
This list is authored by:
Sandra Monacelli
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