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By Sherri Breaton

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Denny Does It Again in KC

By Sherri Breaton


In a race that was full of engine problems, gas consumption issues and whining about the track’s service, Denny Hamelin led by crew chief Darian Grubb managed to stay alive and take home his second win in less than a month, his 19th of his career. Mother Nature was none too cooperative for the STP 400 held at the Kansas City Speedway. Sunday was cloudy, windy and unseasonably cold. 

Denny Hamelin wins the STP 400 in Kansas City
Photo courtesy of Nascar.com

 Kansas City is a fast track at the best of times and Sunday was no different even with the weather wreaking havoc on the engines of many. The average speed for Denny Hamelin was 144.122 mph, breaking the track record of 138.077 mph set by Greg Biffle in 2010. The cold conditions "likely played a factor," added Scott Maxim, director of track support for Hendrick Motorsports' engine program. "The average lap time was fast, so that's a contributing factor. It would be too early right now to speculate on the reason and the cause, but they're possibilities."



Kansas City Speedway
Photo Courtesy Nascar.com

I felt bad for Martin Truex Jr. When the race concluded he radioed to his crew "Sorry I let that one get away," after leading the race for 173 laps he wound up second. No wonder Sunday's result hurt so badly. At one point in the race he led by as many as 9 seconds. Jimmie Johnson gave him a run for his money but he still managed to stay in first when cars made their final round of pit stops under green. His final pit stop was a clean but it became evident that something wasn't right when he got back out on the track. He was radioing into his Crew chief Chad Johnston, who had made no adjustments on the car that he “couldn’t do anything”. That’s when Hamlin jumped out in front. Truex in his Michael Waltrip Racing Team Toyota did try a few daring moves to challenge Denny for the win but it wasn’t enough. Just as the sun began to shine, so did Denny Hamelin. Hamlin, joins defending Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart as the only drivers with two wins this season.

Final restart of the STP 400
Photo courtesy of Nascar.com

Jimmie Johnson failed to post a win yet again in 14 starts this season. Mr Hendrick is still dragging his box of hats around eagerly awaiting that 200^th win. “I was just watching from the third spot, hoping those guys would give me an opportunity," Johnson said. "I just wish I was closer to those guys to race for it”. The drought for Hendrick Motorsports is the longest since going 15 races without a win during the 2002 and 2003.

Matt Kenseth finished fourth and Greg Biffle, who holds the top stop on the leader board followed up his victory last week with a fifth-place run. Kevin Harvick was sixth, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne, giving Hendrick Motorsports at least three cars in the top-10 for the second straight week. Jeff Gordon had engine trouble late in the race and finished 21st. Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch rounded out the top ten finishers.

Worth mentioning is that for the second year in a row, Forbes magazine has ranked five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson the Most Influential Athlete in America.

Forbes determined its annual rankings by polling 1,100 adults about dozens of well-known athletes to measure the athletes' overall likeability as well as their appeal to marketers. Johnson was joined on the 2012 list by fellow Cup driver and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. and a third Hendrick driver, Jeff Gordon disappeared from the list altogether.

Jimmie Johnson
Photo credit Getty Images 2012

"It's just a huge honor," Johnson said. "Not only is it very good for me in my career and for what I do in my race car, but I think it's very good for NASCAR as well. Of all the athletes in America, to be ranked most influential, I'm very proud of the award and happy to receive it."

I am probably going to take some heat for saying this but am I the only who is ready to mute their televisions so I do not have to endure another moment of listening to Michael Waltrip? I don’t mind his brother at all. He get can a little boisterous here and there and does yammer on quite a bit but putting the two of them in the booth was a dumb idea. Personally I don’t think they should allow and driver/owner in the booth for commentary let alone this wind bag. To me this is the most blatant form of BIAS.

For the life of me I do not understand the logic in why Nascar is allowing a cup owner who operates 3 Toyota cars to be calling any cup race. It’s bad enough that we are subjected to his endless babbling, but wait let’s cut to a commercial that has Michael Waltrip in it!  How fortunate for Toyota or any of his sponsors to have him cheering their products and his drivers from the broadcast booth for the entire race. It’s like a 3 hour Michael Waltrip Infommercial. For the love of NASCAR, Fox Sports would you please put Jeff Hammond back in his seat at the Hollywood Hotel???

Next week we are off to Richmond Virginia for the Capital City 400.



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The Biff Brings it Home In Texas!

Greg Biffle wins the Samsung Mobile 500
at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday night.
Photo Courtesy of Nascar.com

 Greg Biffle robbed Rick Hendrick once again of his 200^th   career Cup win at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday night to end a winless streak of 49 races as he drove past Jimmie Johnson (who only lead 156 of 334 laps), with 30 laps remaining to capture the checkered flag at the Samsung Mobile 500. Poor Rick. That box of "200th victory hats" still awaits, yet second place is nothing to sneeze at and Jimmie and the rest of the Hendrick stable are holding their own so far this season! While as a die hard Hendrick Fan, it's hard to feel bitter about Greg Biffle winning the race. He is the younger generation of Nascar's Mark Martin. Plain and simple, he is a nice guy. He loves puppies. He puts out an annual calendar of Nascar drivers and their respective dogs; many of them rescues. He is an avid animal lover and he and his wife Nicole are huge supporters of local shelters and the need to find homes for strays. How can you not love them?

There were only two cautions for 10 slowed-down laps, both for debris, and the race finished with a record 234 consecutive laps of green-flag racing.

At the end of the race Biffle said his hands were hurting from fighting the wheel through the wind. He expressed that there were no major incidents because every driver was dealing with the same conditions and maybe more cautious because of the.

The aforementioned Mark Martin finished third in a Michael Waltrip-owned Toyota, followed by Jeff Gordon, then Roush driver Matt Kenseth. Polesitter Martin Truex Jr., another Waltrip car, was sixth after leading 69 . Kasey Kahne, the first-year Hendrick driver, finished seventh ahead of another Roush driver, Carl Edwards. Harvick and Earnhardt rounded out the top 10.

Kasey Kahne winner of the Camping World Truck Series Race
At Rockingham
photo courtesy of Nascar.com

Incidentally, Kasey Kahne had an even more impressive weekend aside from his finish at Texas last night. Kasey climbed through the field after starting in the back to win Sunday's Camping World Truck Series race at Rockingham Speedway, the first NASCAR race at the track since 2004. I feel very confident that Kasey will continue to shine once again on the track. He has had a rough few years but change is about to come for the young gun! My friend Patti lights candles every Sunday I swear!

Next week, Kansas Motor Speedway! Another track on my bucket list!

By Sherri Breaton

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Newman Wins, Hendrick Team Has Disappointing Day

Ryan Newman Wins the Goody's Fast Relief 500
Photo via Nascar.com 

All of the puzzle pieces were intact for a spectacular historic 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup victory for Hendrick Motorsports in Sunday's Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. The team won its very first race in 1984 here and were looking to capitalize on this beautiful sunny day in Virginia. Mr. Hendrick was all smiles watching his stable of drivers have a great run. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon already have 13 Martinsville victories between them.  The duo was a force to be reckoned with again today leading 440 of the scheduled 500 laps.

Then the proverbial bottom fell out.

The beginning of the end for this race for the Hendrick
Team
Photo courtesy of Nascar.com

A late race caution came just as Gordon had taken over the lead from Johnson. On the green-white-checkered restart, Johnson was on the outside and Gordon on the inside with Clint Bowyer behind who got shoved by Ryan Newman. Bowyer made the “wtf” move of the race deciding to go three-wide under Gordon in Turn 1. Johnson inevitably squished into Gordon, who in turn got into Bowyer. Goodbye victory lane for all three of them as they could not recover from the resulting wreck. Ryan Newman, in the Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet came out of virtually nowhere and held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. and AJ Allmendinger on the next and final restart. Gordon, who had led 328 laps, finished the race 14th, two positions behind Johnson, who led 112 laps. Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamelin, Matt Kenseth, Eric Almirola, Newman’s team mate/owner Tony Stewart rounded out the top ten.

Although Jr. had a fantastic showing once again, karma does not seem to be on Kasey Kahne’s side! Kahne, who had been racing in the top five, drove into the garage during the caution and later parked his car with engine failure, continuing what has been a gut wrenching season for the Hendrick driver.

Needless to say as a Team Hendrick fan this was not a good race. Martinsville has always been a sentimental place as this was the track that Rick Hendrick’s son Ricky, along with his brother John and his twin daughters along with 6 others died in a plane crash enroute to the track. The team always tries to pull together a win here in honour of all those lost. Today was not the day.

While many were angry with Bowyer’s bonehead move, many more were angry with the #10 driver David Reutimann. Following several laps of him hobbling around at ridiculously low speeds, he inexplicably drove past pit road and stalled on the front stretch. It was this move that caused the chain reaction mentioned early that took out the race leaders - all in the name of points.

Reutimann himself was genuinely unimpressed with his actions stating, “I don't even know how the race ended up finishing, but I just hate that I was involved in anything that changed the complexion of the race so I got to apologize to the guys that it affected.” He should have gotten out of the way and pitted. If nothing else, safety of all things comes to mind!

All that aside, congratulations to Ryan Newman on his 16th victory in 374 career race starts. The last time Ryan won was in New Hampshire July 2011. Tony Stewart probably has a smile a mile wide tonight and rightfully so!! 

Greg Biffle is still sitting on top of the leader board with, *GASP* Dale Earnhardt Jr. in SECOND place! I cannot believe my eyes! It’s about time we see him start to shine again!

Next week is an off week so that the teams may celebrate Easter with their families, then its on to the land of ten gallon hands and lots of bull (well riding anyway)...TEXAS!!! 

Ryan Newman does a victory burnout in the
#39 Outback Steakhouse Chevy
Photo via Nascar.com

Ryan Newman winner of the
Goody's Fast Relief 500
Photo via Nascar.com

By Sherri Breaton

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