Kansas - Charlotte Recap

                                                                           “KANSAS”

KANSAS- The Nationwide Series entered October with a race in the Midwest. Austin Dillon (3) was able to take another Pole Position for the last race of the year in Kansas. Justin Allgaier (31) started beside Dillon on the front row. During this past week, Nelson Piquet Jr. (30) was fined $10,000 and is being forced to attend sensitivity training for a anti-gay slur that he posted on Instagram. Another driver that had some issues after Dover was Joey Lagono (22) who was docket 6 points for his car failing post-race inspection. The front of his race car was found to be too low.

During the race, there were eleven cautions that occurred on laps (4, 27, 38, 45, 53, 91, 118, 123, 133, 146 and 189). Regan Smith (7) led the most laps (87).

During the race, Kyle Busch (54) intentionally wrecked Brad Keselowski (22), causing Keselowski to spin and hit the wall hard. The damage to his car sent him off track for several laps to get repairs. With this intentional wrecking, Busch closed up the 34 point gap in the Owners Championship. During the multiple replays of this incident, it was very clear that Busch never let off the throttle, nor did he attempt to steer away from Keselowski while wrecking him. With a poor finish by the 22 team, the 54 team was able to close the gap to single digits. The excuse used by Busch for this intentional wreck was as follows: “He wrecked me at Walkins Glen last year”. Busch was parked for a race two years ago by NASCAR for intentionally wrecking Ron Hornaday in a truck race, during a caution. This is not uncommon for this driver, but the fact that NASCAR allowed this, is very troubling. After all was said and done, Busch made another statement that was clearly a “LIE”. He told reporters, “I have yet to wreck a person on purpose”.
Matt Kenseth (20) was not the dominant car in the race, but was able to pull off the win over Paul Menard (33).

The rest of the top ten were: Regan Smith (7), Kyle Busch (54), Justin Allgaier (31), Brian Vickers (20), Austin Dillon (3), Parker Kligerman (77), Brad Sweet (5), Trevor Bayne (6) and Elliott Sadler (11).

The Championship Points Leader changed hands in this race, as Austin Dillon (3) took over the lead by Eight points, over Sam Hornish Jr. (12).

The rest of the top ten are: Regan Smith (7) (-35), Elliott Sadler (11) (-43), Justin Allgaier (31) (-65), Brian Vickers (20) (-67), Trevor Bayne (6) (-85), Kyle Larsen (32) (-146) and Parker Kligerman (77) (-166).

The next race will be at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday night at 7 PM EST, on ESPN.


                                                             “Hollywood Casino 400”

KANSAS- The Sprint Cup Series showed up in Kansas for round number four of the Championship Chase. Kevin Harvick (29) was able to take the Pole over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (17). During the week, Penske resigned Brad Keselowski (2) and Miller to another contract extending their partnership through the 2017 season.

There was a record 15 cautions for 71 laps throughout the race, on laps (2, 43, 88, 119, 137, 148, 156, 171, 181, 188, 197, 201, 229 and 244). Four of these cautions happened on restarts. One of the cautions was even for a grass fire in turn one. The caution on lap 137 was for Ryan Newman (39) and Justin Allgaier getting into a wreck. The caution on lap 201 was Kyle Busch (18) and Carl Edwards (99) getting together.
Busch wrecked his car in the first practice on the very first lap. During the weekend, Busch wrecked three times. The final wreck hurt his chances for any Title hopes, as he fell nearly a race behind in points. Brother
Kurt Busch (78) did not have a much better weekend, as he wrecked his primary car in practice as well.

Kevin Harvick (29) was a dominant car in the race, as he led 138 laps. This was the most by all drivers. He was able to beat Kurt Busch for his third win of the season and his first win of the Chase.

The rest of the top ten were: Jeff Gordon (24), Joey Lagono (22), Carl Edwards (99), Jimmie Johnson (48), Paul Menard (27), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88), Marcus Ambrose (9) and Aric Almirola (43).

The points standings did not change much, but Matt Kenseth (20) is still the leader over Jimmie Johnson (48) (-3), Kevin Harvick (29) (-25), Jeff Gordon (24) (-32), Kyle Busch (18) (-35), Greg Biffle (16) (-44), Kurt Busch (78) (-47), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) (-54), Clint Bowyer (15) (-55), Joey Lagono (22) (-59), Carl Edwards (99) (-60), Ryan Newman (39) (-73) and Kasey Kahne (5) (-83).

The next race will be at Charlotte on Saturday night at 7 PM EST on ABC, for the Bank of America 500.


                                                                   “Dollar General 300”

CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA- The Nationwide Series showed up in Charlotte ready to put on a show, and provide lots of PINK to promote Breast Cancer Awareness. The race was scheduled for 200 laps, 300 miles. Four cup drivers attended this race in the NNS, Kyle Busch (54), Joey Lagono (22), Matt Kenseth (20) and Kevin Harvick (33) ran double duty on the weekend. Kyle Busch was able to take the Pole over Joey Lagono.

In Opening Ceremonies, Nik Wallenda provided the Invocation, Shannon Magrane sang the National Anthem. The Grand Marshall was the Senior Vice President of Dollar General Rhonda Taylor. Trevor Bayne (6) was the In-race reporter.

The first caution came out on lap 53, when Reed Sorenson (95) and Eric McClure (14) got together. Brian Vickers (20) tried to avoid the sliding cars in front of him, and ran into the rear of his teammate Elliott Sadler (11), who was exiting pit road. Three of the four cars involved in this incident had “PINK” paint schemes.

On lap 65, Elliott Sadler (11) brought out the second caution when he lost the rear of his car and crashed again. He already had a majority of the rear of the car missing, so he did not have any downforce left in the back of the car.

On lap 88, Jamie Dick (55) crashed his car for the third caution of the race.

On lap 113, the fourth caution came out for Eric McClure (14) wrecking, by backing into the outside wall.

The fifth and final caution came out on lap 156 for Jeffrey Earnhardt (79).

Kyle Busch (54) was able to beat a charging Austin Dillon (3) for the victory. The rest of the top ten were: Sam Hornish Jr. (12), Kevin Harvick (33), Matt Kenseth (18), Justin Allgaier (31), Joey Lagono (22), Trevor Bayne (6), Parker Kligerman (77) and Michael Annett (43). Hornish Jr. led the most laps of the race with 76.

The Championship Points standing are as follows: Austin Dillon (3), Sam Hornish Jr. (12) (-8), Regan Smith (7) (-52), Justin Allgaier (31) (-70), Elliott Sadler (11) (-78), Trevor Bayne (6) (-91), Brian Scott (2) (-93), Brian Vickers (20) (-97), Kyle Larsen (-157) and Parker Kligerman (77) (-174).

The Owners Championship lead changed teams as the 54 team now has a 4 point lead over the 22 team after NASCAR failed to penalize the 54 team for the intentional wrecking of the 22 team in Kansas. This was and is a huge failure by NASCAR allowing that to happen, then allowing the points to be swung from the 22 team having a 34 point lead, to now being 4 points behind.

The next race will be at Texas on November 2nd,  ESPN at PM EST.








                                                                       “Bank of America 500”

CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA – The Sprint Cup Series season is getting closer to the finally in Homestead. Jeff Gordon (24) was able to run a fast lap, to take the Pole for this race ahead of last week’s winner Kevin Harvick (29). Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) will start his 500th race at Charlotte, making his career one to remember for sure. He also celebrated his 39th Birthday this past week. During the Opening Ceremonies, Jim Daley provided the Invocation, Francessca Battisteli sang the National Anthem while Team Aerodynamics flew over the track in a v formation. Military members, Calvin James and Carl Boon were the Grand Marshall’s. Kurt Busch (78) was the In-Race Reporter. Some activities before the race included, family members Nik and Lijana Wallenda walking a 500 foot tight-rope across the track. They started on opposite ends, and met in the middle, where they passed one another by Nik stepping over the top of a squatting Lijana to complete the walk to opposite ends that they began at. Two first time starters will begin this race. Kyle Larsen (51) and Brian Scott (33) will have their hands full in the 500 mile race for their very first Sprint Cup Race. 334 laps will make up the 500 mile distance. In other news this week, driver Travis Kvapil (93) was arrested and charged with an assault and false imprisonment. He has stated that he is embarrassed for this, but was allowed to race.

The first caution flew on lap 25, when JJ Yeley (36) slapped the wall. During the stops, Kyle Busch (18) began to leave his pit box and the front tire changer had already started removing lug nuts from the tire. He ran around the track and back onto pit road to have the lugs re-tightened. He fell from 6th to 35th at the restart.

On lap 62, Mark Martin (14) was down a cylinder on the engine. This is one of the Hendrick Engines and the engine in Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) car has already had temps reach 260, due to a piece of paper. Near lap 75, green flag stops began for all the leaders. At this point, the four Hendrick cars have all led laps.

On lap 84, the engine blew on Martin’s car, bringing out the second caution. During the stops, Brad Keselowski (2) left his pit box dragging the jack. He had to return to his pit stall to get it out from under the car. Joey Lagono (22) had to return to the pit road, for missing lug nuts. Unfortunately, both Penske cars had issues at the same time.

At the restart on lap 91, all four Hendrick cars were in the top four positions. On lap 127, another round of green flag stops began with Denny Hamlin (11) being the first to stop.

At the halfway point in the race, the top ten were: Kahne, Johnson, Busch, Earnhardt Jr., Gordon, Edwards, Busch, Newman, Kenseth, and Hamlin.

On lap 173, a caution flew and brought all the leaders to pit road. Kasey Kahne stayed the leader, as he was the dominant car in the first half with ease.

On lap 224, Kevin Harvick (29) began a round of green flag stops by the lead lap cars. Only 15 cars left on the lead lap after all the stops were made, with first time Cup driver Kyle Larsen being the first car one lap down in 16 spot. Johnson and Kahne have been the two fastest cars, with Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. both falling back, almost out of the top ten. On lap 253 or so, Kyle Larsen lost an engine, the second Hendrick engine to fail in this race. For his very first race in Cup, Larsen was driving a great race and will definitely be a contender in years to come. Near lap 300, Kyle Busch began complaining that he had troubles with his race car. He stated that the engine was starting to lay over (fail). The exact reason for him claiming this was never discovered, as he did not lose any speed throughout the rest of the race.

The race ran green most of the night, with the final caution coming out for unseen debris on lap 304. Most of the leaders only took a splash of fuel and two tires, while a handful took four tires. The race appeared to be well in the hands of a Hendrick driver, but the difference in tires took the win away from the team, as Brad Keselowski (2) was able to outrun the Hendrick cars for the victory over Kasey Kahne (5). This was the first time since Charlotte in 2010, when Jamie McMurray won, that a non-Chase driver won a race in the Chase. This was Keselowski’s tenth Cup Win of his career.

After the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke to the media, stating he did not understand what happened to his car. He was strong in the first half, then, the car changed severely. His crew Chief Letarte also made errors in judgment that hurt his chances at a victory at Charlotte. Four Chase drivers finished outside the top ten. (Biffle, Earnhardt Jr., Bowyer and Busch)

The rest of the top ten were: Matt Kenseth (20), Jimmie Johnson (48), Kyle Busch (18), Kevin Harvick (29), Jeff Gordon (24), Ryan Newman (39), Denny Hamlin (11) and Carl Edwards (99). Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) finished P15, Danica Patrick (10) finished P20. Kasey Kahne (5) led the most laps in the race with 138.

The points did not change much with this race, as the leaders all finished in the top ten spots over all. There are still four drivers within one race of the leader in points. They are: Johnson (48) (-4), Harvick (29) (-29), Gordon (24) (-36) and Busch (18) (-37)

The next race will be at Talladega next Sunday at 1 PM EST on ESPN