Chicago weekend

                                                          “Dollar General 300”

JOLIET, ILLINOIS- The race season is coming close to its end, and the Nationwide drivers came to Chicago to race 200 laps on the 1.5 mile track. Kyle Busch (54) was able to take the pole position. Kenny Wallace started his 900th start in the series on this day as well. There were a handful of Cup drivers entered into this race, as Busch, Kenseth, Harvick, Earnhardt Jr. and Lagono all had double duty on their minds. In
Opening Ceremonies, Jim Cornelison, from the Chicago Blackhawks, sang the National Anthem. Mary Winn Pilkington, of the Dollar General Corp. gave the command to start engines.

On lap 24, Joe Nemechek (87) stalled on the race track to bring out the first caution. A Debris caution was the reason for the second caution of the race. On lap 148, Travis Patrana (60) made a pit stop under green, and was penalized for speeding on exit.

The third caution came on lap 158, when Elliott Sadler (11) was ran into by Brett Butler (24) as he was attempting to make a stop on pit road. While slowing down to get on pit road, his car was run into the back end by Butler, creating severe damage to Butler’s car and plenty of damage to the rear of Elliott’s car.

Another Debris caution flew on lap 166. On lap 175, Rookie Kyle Larson (32) had his day go sour, when a tire failure sent him hard into the outside wall.

On lap 182, the sixth and final caution flew for Regan Smith (7) tagging and spinning Justin Allgaier (31).

After the final restart, Kyle Busch was able to pull away and win the race, after leading 195 of the 200 laps.

The rest of the top ten were: Joey Lagono (22), Sam Hornish Jr. (12), Austin Dillon (3), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88), Brian Vickers (20), Matt Kenseth (18), Parker Kligerman (77), Kevin Harvick (33) and Nelson Piquet Jr. (30).

The next race is on Saturday at Kentucky at 8 PM EST on ESPNEWS. The “Kentucky 300” is the next race.



                                                                           “Geico 400”

JOLIET, ILLINOIS- The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series began their “Chase for the Championship” at Chicago for their tenth season under this configuration for the title. Team Penske was able to take the front row, as Joey Lagono (22) took the Pole, with teammate Brad Keselowski (2) starting second. In Opening Ceremonies, Glenn Spoolstra provided the Invocation, and Danielle Bradley sang the National Anthem. The Grand Marshall’s for the race were actors/actresses of NBC “Chicago Fire”: Jesse Spenser, Taylor Kinney, Eammon Walker, David Eigenberg, Lauren German and Randy Flagler. Chicago Police Dept. Chief John Escante, Joliet Police Dept. Chief Brian Benton and Joliet Fire Dept. Chief Joe Formhals. A “Competition Caution” was scheduled due to the rain that was in the area throughout the day on lap 30.

In other news this week, NASCAR levied some hefty fines and sanction against Michael Waltrip Racing. It was decided by NASCAR after last week’s race that the MWR team intentionally caused the late race caution that enabled Martin Truex Jr. (56) to make it into the Chase. Truex Jr. was disqualified from the Chase and Ryan Newman (39) was placed into the Chase. All three MWR teams were docked 50 points, and Ty Norris was fined $300,000.00. He was also indefinitely suspended from NASCAR for his part in having his team fake a problem, sending Brian Vickers (55) to pit road, giving the points and position to Martin Truex Jr. That is why Truex Jr. made the Chase over Ryan Newman in a tie-breaker.

Jeff Gordon also lost out by one point in making the Chase. After further reviewing of the situation, NASCAR put Jeff Gordon (24) into the Chase as a thirteenth entry, making this year’s Chase one to remember for all that occurred in the final race at Richmond, setting the field for the final ten races of the year. NASCAR chairman Brian France said he had the authority to expand the field to 13 drivers for the first time since the format was implemented 10 years ago. Front Row Motorsports asked for a deal from Penske Racing in the closing laps of at Richmond and then helped make sure Penske's Joey Logano made the Chase field by having one of its drivers, David Gilliland, slow down, according to an Associated Press review of radio communications. France said NASCAR could not determine there was a bargain between Front Row and Penske, but still believed the move was necessary to protect the "integrity" of the series. He said both teams had been placed on probation for the rest of the season. "Too many things altered the event and gave an unfair disadvantage to Jeff and his team," France said. "More than anything it's just the right thing to do. There were just too many things that went on Saturday night." This was reported by NASCAR.

NASCAR also claimed that Clint Bowyer (15) intentionally spun out, while Ryan Newman was leading the race. After the pit stops were made, Newman was no longer the race leader, nor did he win the race. After the race ended, the fans spoke up and out very strongly to NASCAR. Everyone spoke loudly about the removal of all MWR cars from the Chase, putting Gordon and Newman into the Chase in their spots. Near the end of the week, there was even more suspicions that Joey Lagono’s team may have also taken actions to get Lagono into the Chase for the first time in his career. It was speculated that team owner Roger Penske had made a deal with Furniture Row’s team Kurt Busch to help get Lagono into the Chase. This was never proven, but NASCAR made no decisions to dock the team or remove Lagono from the Chase. Manipulating the outcome of a pivotal race was NASCAR’s reason for taking such dramatic actions against the teams involved, as they stated they would not accept this form of cheating in the sport. NASCAR officials had warned in the pre-race driver meeting against competitors attempting to influence the outcome of the race as 10 drivers began Saturday night competing for five available spots in the Chase — "We knew there was potential for this going into this race ... it's like we saw there was potential for fire, but nobody grabbed the extinguisher," Newman said — so Newman said he's eagerly awaiting the results of NASCAR's investigation. This was also reported by NASCAR. Ryan Newman also has some press release this week, as he will drive for RCR next season. Penske and Front Row got a slap on the wrist with probation and a new rule banning digital radios and anyone but the spotter from the roof.

On lap 31, the Competition Caution was thrown. On lap 78, Kurt Busch (78) was penalized for speeding on pit road, and he was forced to make a drive through penalty.

The second caution came out on lap 108, when Cole Whitt (30) spun out, due to a wet race track. The rain began to fall, and a “Red Flag” was thrown on lap 110. Some five hours later, the race would get the restart once again. In the first segment of the race, Joey Lagono (22) and Jimmie Johnson (48) had led the majority of laps. Lagono led 32 and Johnson led 40 laps.

After the restart, on lap 121, the third caution came out for Juan Montoya having a tire failure, that tore the rear corner panel off of the car. There was plenty of debris to get cleaned up, as the rear corner exploded from the tire falling apart.

At the mid-point of the race, the top ten were: Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Johnson, Almirola, Vickers, Gordon, Kahne, Harvick, Earnhardt Jr. and Lagono.
The fourth caution came on lap 149, when Joey Lagono apparently had an engine starting to smoke. Justin Allgaier (51) was then spun out by Landon Cassill (40) to bring the caution out.

On lap 154, Cole Whitt (30) had a bigger problem, as his car started on fire on the race track. Another caution fell near lap 169, and Earnhardt Jr. ended up with front end damage after cars stopped on pit road, creating a jam up. Jr. would need many stops to tape up the nose of his car. His night only went downhill from there. Shortly after the restart, Brian Vickers (55) had an engine failure.

 Near lap 177, Joey Lagono’s night ended with another engine failure. Less than twenty laps later, David Reutimann (83) also had an engine failure. The fact that the race ran over one hundred laps before the rain caution sat all the cars for over five hours, could be the cause of the engines failing later in the race.

On lap 224, Earnhardt Jr.’s night ended with an engine failure as well. Jr. had just taken the lead on lap 221, when his engine failed yet again this season. On lap 225, Timmy Hill (32) also retired after an engine failure. There was a caution thrown on lap 227.

The final caution came on lap 241, when Cole Whitt had an engine failure. Denny Hamlin (11) also had his night shortened with an engine failure. (NOTE- I missed the end of the race, and found it strange that Cole Whitt would have returned to the race, after his car was on fire at one point. Maybe NASCAR reported this wrong, but that is what was written in the race outline I read)

On the final restart of the race, Matt Kenseth (20) received a “Great” push from Kevin Harvick (29) that launched him out front, where he never looked back and won the race over teammate Kyle Busch (18). This was Kenseth’s sixth win of the season, and a great start for the chase. Kenseth made the statement after the race, that he owes Harvick for the great push he gave him at the last restart. Kenseth led the most laps as well with 89 led.

The rest of the top ten were: Kevin Harvick (29), Kurt Busch (78), Jimmie Johnson (48), Jeff Gordon (24), Brad Keselowski (2), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (17), Clint Bowyer (15) and Ryan Newman (39). Other notables were: Danica Patrick (10) finished on the lead lap in 20th spot. Hamlin was 33rd, Earnhardt Jr. was 35th and Lagono was 37th.

The point standings are as follows: Kenseth (leader), Busch (-8), Johnson (-11), Harvick (-15), Edwards (-23), Busch (-23), Gordon (-24), Newman (-28), Bowyer (-28), Kahne (-31), Biffle (-31), Lagono (-52) and Earnhardt Jr. (-53).

The next race will be on Sunday at New Hampshire at 3 PM EST on ESPN. The “Sylvania 300” is the next race.