Bowyer penalty delivers big hit to Chase hopes

Today may be only Wednesday as this post is being made, but there's even more madness to sort through in regards to the Chase standings.
The biggest insanity came with the announcement that Clint Bowyer was docked 25 points by NASCAR for a P4-level violation, according to the lovely rule book, in opening inspection after Chicagoland Speedway.
The reason: an illegal track bar. There were four sections that were discussed in the violation, so rather than try to explain them here myself, I'll gladly defer to an article written by MRN Radio's Pete Pistone. Each part of the violation is described there.
Bowyer was 19th in the MyAFibRisk.com 400, so he fell to 15th in the points. Even after Kevin Harvick's bad race, Bowyer is now behind the defending Sprint Cup champ in 16th after the penalty was figured in.
Of course, Michael Waltrip Racing -- a team in its final nine weeks of Sprint Cup competition -- is planning to appeal. When you go from only six points behind 12th to 31 back, there's nothing to lose when a chance to advance is at stake.
And while Harvick is still 22 behind Jeff Gordon, the important priority lies ahead for both drivers.
It clearly involves one word. Winning.
As good as Harvick has been this season -- he's finished in the top 10 in 22 of the 27 races -- it would figure the champ doesn't have nearly as much to worry about as Bowyer does despite the post-race shoving match he tried to get into with Jimmie Johnson at Chicagoland.
Bowyer hasn't won a Cup race since Charlotte in October of 2012, 104 races ago. With a deficit this large now, pending the outcome of the penalty appeal, even back-to-back top-5 runs may not help.
The driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota for MWR had his last top-5 run at Bristol last month and was third at Sonoma prior to that.
It's unfortunate the penalties were handed down at this point in the season, but favorites should never be played. NASCAR's rule book may be baffling even to those who cover the Sprint Cup series on a full-time basis, but when something's done wrong, there's no gray area when the right to hold a shiny checkered-flag trophy is on the line.
Follow Tom Zulewski on Twitter @Tomzsports.

Michael Waltrip Racing spins into oblivion

The "Shot Heard 'Round the World" was one of Major League Baseball's iconic moments. Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca gives up a three-run homer to Bobby Thomson, and the words were screamed into the public consciousness by New York Giants radio man Russ Hodges.

"The Giants Win the Pennant! The Giants Win the Pennant!"

That was in 1951. Fast forward nearly 62 years later, and the antithesis of that moment in NASCAR was spoken something like this:

"Got something wrong with your arm? Itch it!"

Clint Bowyer was the man who heard those words from the spotter's stand on a warm September night at Richmond International Raceway and ignited the mother of all stunning controversies that ended up with tragic consequences for everyone involved.

As of Wednesday, the two-year saga of Michael Waltrip Racing ended sadly with Bowyer announcing his departure from the team at the end of this season. The exit means MWR will not field any Sprint Cup teams on a full-time basis in 2016.

The biggest reason why came on that night at Richmond. It should have never come to this point.

To review: Bowyer spins with seven laps to go, basically untouched. The third member of MWR that season was Brian Vickers. He pitted after Bowyer's spin and knocked Jeff Gordon back just enough in the final running order to deny him a Chase berth.

Martin Truex Jr. got in on a tiebreaker, but the berth was taken away by NASCAR and given to Gordon. MWR was fined $300,000, all three drivers were docked 50 championship points before the Chase reset, and saddest of all, NAPA, which had been with Michael Waltrip as far back as 2001, pulled its sponsorship from the team.

No money coming in means no chance to compete effectively on or off the race track. 

Waltrip didn't have a stellar career as a NASCAR driver, but he did win the Daytona 500 twice -- in 2001 and 2003. Only 10 of his fellow racers can make that claim in their careers.

As a race team owner, he was in a world of hurt from the jet fuel controversy at Daytona (ironically) in 2007. All three of the team's cars were found to have used an "illegal oxygenate fuel additive" to increase the cars' performance.

When the dust settled, Waltrip, David Reutimann and Dale Jarrett were all docked 100 points. That was small potatoes in comparison to Spingate.

If the sponsors go away, the speed demons don't get to play anymore. It's a cruel reality for which Michael Waltrip has only himself to blame.

Follow Tom Zulewski and add your comments on Twitter @Tomzsports.

JGR qualifies top three spots at Michigan

Normally over the course of the last two months, I've offered mainly full-length posts discussing whatever's on my mind about NASCAR. Today, mainly because I didn't see anything published on this in my local paper this morning, it's time for a simpler tack.

Three of the four Joe Gibbs Racing cars ruled qualifying for Sunday's Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Matt Kenseth won the pole, Denny Hamlin will start second and Carl Edwards will go off from the No. 3 position.

As for the fourth car, Kyle Busch didn't fare too badly himself. He will start sixth.

And with Sunday's race, the comparison of speed with the high-drag rules package comes into play. Right now, the only marker we can go on is qualifying speed from when they last raced at Michigan two months ago.

Kasey Kahne was the pole winner on the 2-mile oval at MIS in June with a speed of nearly 202 mph (201.992). Kenseth's pole run came in at 197.488, so that's about 4.5 mph lost. The real test of understanding how the cars will behave when it counts doesn't come until all 43 are on the track Sunday afternoon. 

With more room to race at Michigan, the feeling I have is a bit more confident than what I saw from Indianapolis. Getting to a lead car is one thing, finishing off the pass will be something worth watching, especially if it works.

Here is the official race lineup for Sunday's Pure Michigan 400...

Stats to watch for: Toyota has four wins at Michigan, but none since Kyle Busch in the August race in 2011. More importantly, the race winner can come from just about anywhere in the field.

In the last 10 races in the Irish Hills, the average starting position of the one who's ended up in Victory Lane is 11.7. Kurt Busch qualified 24th when he won in the rain in June, too.