This post begins with a bit of a disclaimer. With nearly two decades of journalism work, I've learned that the only cheering worth doing is cheering for a good story.
The Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday gave me plenty of reasons to cheer. I can say without shame that the duel between Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick over the closing laps had me screaming out loud with every pass attempt by the 4 car.
When the last attempt for the lead didn't stick, Logano got the separation he needed and held off Harvick to win the Bristol night race for the second year in a row.
And I'm still catching my breath more than an hour after the race ended.
The best story of the night came with (gasp) a Joe Gibbs Racing driver getting nowhere near Victory Lane. After his win at Michigan, Matt Kenseth lost an engine at lap 110 and finished 42nd.
Even with the disappointment, Kenseth delivered one of the funniest quotes of the night, if not the season on if there was any warning about the engine in his No. 20 Toyota:
“They never warn you. It would be cool if they would send you a text or something."
Ahh, NASCAR drivers can deliver the comedy when it's required, and that is good.
Kyle Busch led 192 laps, but didn't win. He rallied from a loose wheel, fell two laps down, got both back, including one earned the old-fashioned way with a pass of the leader. In the end, a pit-road speeding penalty at lap 432 was Busch's final downfall.
He still finished eighth and has a 46-point cushion over 31st-place Cole Whitt. I'll say it right now -- with two races left until the Chase, Kyle Busch can begin planning his championship push.
Whether he does anything with it is still to be determined.
Carl Edwards led 74 laps, but could only manage a 7th-place finish.
And pole-sitter Denny Hamlin was out front for 54 laps on the way to coming in third.
Among the other random thoughts from the "World's Fastest Half-Mile:"
-With the distractions of the impending shutdown of Michael Waltrip Racing, Clint Bowyer had a tremendous run. The No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota challenged for the lead on several occasions, but finished fifth and improved his chances at getting in the Chase.
Bowyer is still the last driver on the bubble, but his cushion on Aric Almirola improved to 35 points, a gain of 12 that will be key down the stretch.
There's not much room to wiggle, but staying as close to mistake-free as possible at Darlington and Richmond will be a big key to close the deal.
-Jeff Gordon got near the front for a while over the final half of his final Bristol race, but finished four laps down in 20th.
At this point, he's comfortably in the Chase, but a zero in the win column can't be an option.
-Will we have a Ryan Newman sequel? In his 500th career start, Newman finished 10th and is second among the five non-winners who would be in the Chase.
Heck, Paul Menard is an even more engaging possibility. Menard was 24th at Bristol and still hasn't been anywhere near the top 10 since finishing eighth at the Michigan race in June.
Menard's average finish since Michigan 1 is 15.8, yet he's only nine points behind his Richard Childress Racing teammate AND two ahead of Gordon.
Go figure.
-Thank goodness we have a week off. Time to process everything for the stretch drive, but we'll enjoy the Truck and Nationwide Series races in the meantime.
Speaking of the trucks, if you're not a Ryan Blaney fan, here's one huge reason why you should be.
When the Xfinity Series raced at Indianapolis, Blaney was two corners away from a win, but got passed by Kyle Busch and finished second.
The following week at Iowa would have made Taylor Swift smile. Blaney shook off that disappointment with a dominating effort at the U.S. Cellular 250, leading 252 laps (two more than the actual distance due to a green-white-checker finish) and picking up the win.
On the truck side, Blaney got bit by the Busch nightmare, finishing second -- again -- by .157 seconds.
And in another Groundhog Day moment, Blaney turned that misfortune around and found a way to win the UNOH 200 at Bristol on Wednesday despite -- get this -- falling back as far as 21st by lap 50 and not even sniffing the top 10 in the running order consistently until there were 50 laps to go.
Somehow, even after a 46-minute red flag for rain that came with 34 laps left, Blaney evened the score again and beat Busch. His final margin was .512 seconds.
Now you know why cheering for good storylines can work.
Followers and comments are welcome on Twitter @Tomzsports.
NEXT WEEK'S RACES
-XFINITY SERIES: Road America 180 Fired Up By Johnsonville, Road America (4.04-mile road course), Elkhart Lake, Wis., Saturday, 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 182.16 miles, 45 laps.
2014 champion: Brendan Gaughan
-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Chevy Silverado 250, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (2.5-mile road course), Bowmanville, Ontario, Sunday, 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT, Fox Sports 1. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 250 kilometers (157.4 miles), 64 laps.
2014 champion: Ryan Blaney.
Showing posts with label Irwin Tools Night Race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Irwin Tools Night Race. Show all posts
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Chase stress hits overdrive for some
On a bright, beautiful Sunday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway, the Pure Michigan 400 was as much about the continuing dominance of the Joe Gibbs Racing cars as it was about those who were fighting for their lives to be eligible to be in the Chase for the 2015 Sprint Cup title.
We didn’t have a change at the top. Matt Kenseth was dominant on the 2-mile oval, leading 146 of 200 laps and cruising to his third win of the season.
But what we saw toward the lower parts of the pack at Michigan was how some drivers saw their collars get just a little bit tighter after running into trouble on the track.
Among the casualties was Clint Bowyer. As if he didn’t have enough distraction with the Michael Waltrip Racing team situation hanging like a dark cloud over his head, the affable Kansas native got together with Ryan Newman at lap 127, hitting the inside wall after a spin at Turn 4. The damage done was more than enough to force the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota into a 41st-place finish.
From a somewhat comfortable cushion as the 16th and last driver who would be in the Chase field, Bowyer saw a 50-point margin over Aric Almirola get sliced by more than half. With Almirola finishing 14th on Sunday, he gained a renewed sense of hope and closed the gap to just 23 points with still three races left to run.
As we’ve discussed with Kyle Busch – more on him shortly – there are no more mulligans left for anyone. It’s go time.
Adding to the pressure for Bowyer, Kasey Kahne saw a 15th-place finish turn into something more like a victory. He moved within 26 points of the last spot in the Chase field.
How good was Sunday’s result for Kahne? The No. 5 car had an average finish of 31st in the last six races, including 43rd at Pocono and 42nd at Watkins Glen.
Yet thanks to one competitor’s misfortune at Michigan, Kahne still has hope over the final three races before the Chase begins.
And then there’s Kyle Busch, who turned the misfortune of starting from the rear of the field (40th) after a Saturday practice crash into an 11th-place finish Sunday. He moved up a spot in the standings to 29th and increased his cushion on 31st from six to 23 points.
Even though Busch is weaving his way up the standings faster than a sprinter on a jet ski, there’s still one tiny part of the skeptical side of my brain that says the Las Vegas native won’t be able to keep up the pace.
So far, he’s proven everyone wrong, but any misstep – a wreck, pit road speeding penalty, blown engine, worn tire – could set all the momentum back into the mud.
And more importantly, anyone without a win in the top 30 who gets to Victory Lane over the next three races could spoil everything. Austin Dillon put a scare into some camps Sunday, leading 19 laps before finishing fourth.
But whatever happens from Bristol to Darlington to Richmond, the only guarantee is the final run to the Chase will require good working running shoes.
We didn’t have a change at the top. Matt Kenseth was dominant on the 2-mile oval, leading 146 of 200 laps and cruising to his third win of the season.
But what we saw toward the lower parts of the pack at Michigan was how some drivers saw their collars get just a little bit tighter after running into trouble on the track.
Among the casualties was Clint Bowyer. As if he didn’t have enough distraction with the Michael Waltrip Racing team situation hanging like a dark cloud over his head, the affable Kansas native got together with Ryan Newman at lap 127, hitting the inside wall after a spin at Turn 4. The damage done was more than enough to force the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota into a 41st-place finish.
From a somewhat comfortable cushion as the 16th and last driver who would be in the Chase field, Bowyer saw a 50-point margin over Aric Almirola get sliced by more than half. With Almirola finishing 14th on Sunday, he gained a renewed sense of hope and closed the gap to just 23 points with still three races left to run.
As we’ve discussed with Kyle Busch – more on him shortly – there are no more mulligans left for anyone. It’s go time.
Adding to the pressure for Bowyer, Kasey Kahne saw a 15th-place finish turn into something more like a victory. He moved within 26 points of the last spot in the Chase field.
How good was Sunday’s result for Kahne? The No. 5 car had an average finish of 31st in the last six races, including 43rd at Pocono and 42nd at Watkins Glen.
Yet thanks to one competitor’s misfortune at Michigan, Kahne still has hope over the final three races before the Chase begins.
And then there’s Kyle Busch, who turned the misfortune of starting from the rear of the field (40th) after a Saturday practice crash into an 11th-place finish Sunday. He moved up a spot in the standings to 29th and increased his cushion on 31st from six to 23 points.
Even though Busch is weaving his way up the standings faster than a sprinter on a jet ski, there’s still one tiny part of the skeptical side of my brain that says the Las Vegas native won’t be able to keep up the pace.
So far, he’s proven everyone wrong, but any misstep – a wreck, pit road speeding penalty, blown engine, worn tire – could set all the momentum back into the mud.
And more importantly, anyone without a win in the top 30 who gets to Victory Lane over the next three races could spoil everything. Austin Dillon put a scare into some camps Sunday, leading 19 laps before finishing fourth.
But whatever happens from Bristol to Darlington to Richmond, the only guarantee is the final run to the Chase will require good working running shoes.
-The XFINITY series hit the second of three straight road courses Saturday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course near Columbus, and Regan Smith scored his ideal payback after his dustup with Ty Dillon, bumping Alex Tagliani out of the way in the closing laps and winning the Nationwide Children's Hospital 200.
Best lesson from the moment: Instead of letting the frustration of past injustice tear him up inside, Smith did what he had to do to get his car to the checkered flag first. Dillon was still a factor late, finishing third, but any gain on those at the top of the standings is a good gain.
Smith is fourth in the standings and trails Chase Elliott by 26 points, while Dillon is one point further up the line in second place.
-And from the "I should have paid attention" department: Kyle Busch denied Ryan Blaney another victory, this time in Saturday's Camping World Truck Series race at Michigan. The final margin was only .157 seconds, but it was an encore that probably felt like light years away to Blaney.
The kid shook off his disappointment of Indianapolis and won at Iowa. With the series hitting Bristol in rapid-fire fashion Wednesday night, it gives Blaney the ideal scenario. If he's on the entry list, don't be surprised if the young man finds a way to get himself back in the winning groove once more.
Followers and comments are welcome on Twitter @Tomzsports.
NEXT WEEK'S RACES
Bristol Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval), Bristol, Tenn.
-SPRINT CUP: Irwin Tools Night Race, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m, PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local PRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 500 laps, 266.5 miles
2014 champion: Joey Logano
-XFINITY SERIES: Food City 300, Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local PRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 300 laps, 159.9 miles.
2014 champion: Ryan Blaney
-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: UNOH 200 presented by ZLoop, Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT, Fox Sports 1. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 200 laps, 106.6 miles
2014 champion: Brad Keselowski
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