Dover Storylines: 2013 AAA 400

Three of last four Dover fall winners have won Sprint Cup 

NASCAR Storylines for Week of Sept. 23, 2013

Call Matt Kenseth untouchable; at least, so far.

Kenseth, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, heads to Dover International Speedway for Sunday’s AAA 400 (2 p.m. ET ESPN, MRN Radio, SiriusXM Satellite Radio) bidding to become the first driver to win the opening three races of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™.

The season’s top winner with seven victories – a career best – Kenseth twice has won at Dover’s “Monster Mile.” His first trip to the track with his current team, however, was less than successful. Kenseth finished 40th in June, the victim of engine failure.

Seven-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson likely is the greatest road block to Kenseth and Chase history. In two of Johnson’s five NASCAR Sprint Cup title seasons – 2009 and 2010 – the Californian captured Dover’s Chase race.

Tony Stewart was the most recent competitor to open the Chase with back-to-back victories in 2011. He finished 25th at Dover but rebounded to win his third NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.

Sam Hornish and Austin Dillon take their red-hot NASCAR Nationwide Series championship battle to Dover on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET ESPN2, MRN Radio, SiriusXM Satellite Radio); a track on which Dillon owns a statistical edge over the points leader. Joey Logano seeks his fourth consecutive Nationwide victory at the track in hopes of extending the owners championship lead for Penske Racing’s No. 22 Ford.

It’s homecoming week for Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan, the 2003 winner of Saturday Smith’s 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM Satellite Radio). Five members of the current top 20 – including last week’s NASCAR Nationwide Series winner Ryan Blaney – will be making their first series appearance at the 1.5-mile track.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES – AAA 400, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2 P.M. ET ON ESPN

Kenseth Pursues Record Third Victory To Open Chase
Matt Kenseth goes to Dover International Speedway bidding to become the first driver to open the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ with three consecutive victories. Unlike Chicagoland and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where the 2003 champion won for the first time, Kenseth has two victories on Dover’s “Monster Mile,” in 2011 and 2006. Engine failure knocked Kenseth out of Dover’s June race.

Kyle Busch Grooves Best Chase Start
With consecutive second-place finishes, Kyle Busch is off to his best Chase start. He ranks second in the standings, 14 points behind Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth. Busch was fourth in Dover’s June event and led 302 laps en route to a seventh-place finish in last September’s AAA 400. Busch’s two Dover wins came in 2010 and 2008.

Johnson Latter-Day Master Of Dover’s ‘Monster Mile’
No Chase driver has performed better at Dover than five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, whose seven victories – most among active drivers – include Chase wins in 2009-10. Johnson, who trails leader Matt Kenseth by 17 points, has led his last 12 Dover starts with top-10 finishes in nine of his most recent 10 races on the concrete-surfaced track.

Dover Chase Winners Claim Three of Past Four Sprint Cup Titles
A Dover Chase victory is no guarantee of a NASCAR Sprint Cup championship but recent history leans in that direction. The Dover winner has gone on to claim the title three times: Brad Keselowski in 2012 and Jimmie Johnson in 2009-10. On the flip side, Tony Stewart overcame a 25th-place finish to win his third title in 2011.

Biffle Says It’s Far From Being Three-Driver Chase Shootout
Matt Kenseth has opened a wide lead over 10 of his 12 Chase rivals. Greg Biffle, who finished third in New Hampshire, predicts it’s far from being a three-driver shoot-out. Roush Fenway Racing partners Carl Edwards and Biffle rank fourth and fifth, 36 and 38 points behind Kenseth. In 2006, Jimmie Johnson rebounded from eighth after two races – erasing a 136-point deficit that roughly translates to 32 markers under the current format.

McMurray Appears Ready To Repeat Chase ‘Spoiler’ Role
Jamie McMurray didn’t qualify for this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ but his New Hampshire performance – a fifth-place finish in a car damaged in an early-race accident – suggests he could repeat a “spoiler” role he enjoyed twice previously at Charlotte in 2010 and Talladega in 2009. Kasey Kahne is the most recent non-qualifier to win a Chase race at Phoenix in 2011.

- NASCAR

Driver Chassis Selections: California Pepsi Max 400

By Jeff Wackerlin, MotorRacingNetwork.com

1. Jimmie Johnson: Won in February after leading 101 laps; Winner of the last three fall races; 5.5 average finish and 11 top 10s in 15 starts; 2.8 average finish in the five races with the COT; Best average finish (6.3) and second in laps led (115) in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 580) that he won with at Las Vegas; This car most recently finished 35th at Bristol.

2. Denny Hamlin: 23.2 average finish in five races with the COT; Won the pole last fall, but finished 37th after a crash; Only top five (third) came in the 2008 Labor Day weekend race; Finished 29th in February to raise his average finish to 18.2 in nine starts; Leads all drivers with 141 laps led in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010; Eighth-best average finish (10.7) on 2-mile speedways this season; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 276) that he won with at Richmond last month.

3. Kevin Harvick: Coming off best finish in 16 starts after leading 27 laps in February; Second-place finish lowered his finishing average to 12.4 in the five races with the COT; Third in average finish (7.3) and laps led (115) in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 288) that he won with at Michigan in August.

4. Carl Edwards: 6.6 average finish in the five races with the COT; 13th-place finish in February ended a streak of five consecutive top 10s; Won the 2008 February race after leading 64 laps; Seventh-best average finish (9.3) on 2-mile speedways this season; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 702) that he finished second with at Atlanta in September.

5. Jeff Gordon: Three-time Auto Club winner; Last win came in 2004; Second in laps led with 608; Fourth-best average finish (8.4) in the five races with the COT; 20th-place finish in February ended a streak of two consecutive runner-up finishes; 17.0 average finish in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010.

6. Kurt Busch: 14.2 average finish in the five race with the COT; Has finished ninth or better in five of his nine starts with Penske Racing, including the last three races; Fifth in laps led (61) in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010; 16.3 average finish on 2-mile speedway.

7. Kyle Busch: 10.4 average finish in the five races with the COT; Led 11 laps and finished 14th in February; Best finish in five starts with Joe Gibbs Racing came in the 2009 February race in third; Won the 2005 Labor Day weekend race with Hendrick Motorsports; 17.3 average finish in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 280) that he finished 18th with at Michigan in August.

8. Greg Biffle: Winner of the 2005 spring race; Finished 10th in February for fifth top 10 in 15 starts; Fifth-best average finish (10.2) in the five races with the COT; Fourth-best average finish (7.7) and fourth in laps led (66) in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 571) that he finished fourth with at Michigan.

9. Jeff Burton: Finished third in February to lower his average finish in the five races with the COT to 18.8; 46 laps led in that event are his only laps led on 2-mile speedways this season; Ninth-best average finish (11.7) in the three races on 2-mile speedways this year; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 317) that he finished eighth with at Pocono last month.

10. Tony Stewart: 10.2 average finish in the four races with the COT; 7.3 average finish in three starts with Stewart-Haas; Best finish is a pair of fourth-place finishes with Joe Gibbs Racing back in 1999 and 2001; Second-best average finish (6.7) in the three races on 2-mile speedways this season; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 564) that he most recently finished sixth with at Michigan in August.

11. Matt Kenseth: Best track on the circuit based on wins (3); Third in laps led with 468; Second-best average finish (6.2) in the five races with the COT; Sixth-best average finish (8.7) in the three races on 2-mile speedways this season; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 707) in the Pepsi Max 400.

12. Clint Bowyer: 13.0 average finish in the five races with the COT; Coming off second consecutive top 10; Has yet to finish outside the top 20 in nine starts; 14.3 average finish in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 324) in the Pepsi Max 400.

13. Ryan Newman: 21.0 average in the five races with the COT; Engine failure in February raised his finishing average to 26.3 in three starts with Stewart-Haas; 30.3 average finish in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010.

14. Jamie McMurray: 23.0 average in the five races with the COT; Won the pole and finished 17th in first track start in an Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet in February; 20.3 average finish in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 1016) that he finished 15th with at Atlanta last month.

15. Mark Martin: 1998 win was one of six top fives in 18 starts; Finished 40th in his track debut with Hendrick Motorsports after engine failure; Finished fourth in last two races to give him an average finish of 16.0 in four starts with the COT; 16.0 average finish in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 595) in the Pepsi Max 400.

16. Juan Pablo Montoya: 18.2 average finish in the five races with the COT; Led 78 laps in this event last year en route to a third-place finish; Finish was only top 10 in seven starts; Engine failure in February raised his overall average finish to 21.4; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 1003) that he last finished ninth with at Atlanta.

17. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 29.4 average finish in the five races with the COT and Hendrick Motorsports; Posted four top fives in previous 12 starts with Dale Earnhardt, Inc; 19.3 average finish in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 612) that he finished 22nd with at Atlanta.

18. David Reutimann: 15.8 average finish in the five races with the COT; Only top 10 in seven starts came in the 2008 Labor Day weekend race; 16.3 average finish in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010.

19. AJ Allmendinger: 25.2 average finish in four starts with the COT; 17.7 average finish in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010.

20. Joey Logano: Coming off first top 10 (fifth) in three starts; 15.0 average finish; Fifth-best average finish (8.3) in the three races on 2-mile speedways in 2010. 

DRIVER NOTES & QUOTES: Pepsi Max 400 at California

KYLE BUSCH'S APPROACH HEADING INTO CALIFORNIA: “Each week, you have to put the last week behind you and look ahead, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. I do that if I won the previous week, or if we didn’t have the kind of finish we were hoping for. As for the upcoming races, I feel really good about a lot of the tracks coming up because they are all places we ran pretty well at the first time around this season. As everyone knows, Talladega is such a wild card. But, we ran well in Charlotte in the spring – top-five, I think. We ran well at Martinsville before a late caution hurt us a bit on strategy. We had strong runs at Texas and Phoenix, but not the finish we wanted in Phoenix. So, with the exception of Talladega, where anything can happen, we have some good tracks coming up and, hopefully, we can bring home some strong finishes.”

KASEY KAHNE ON COMPARING CALIFORNIA WITH OTHER TRACKS: “It’s hard to compare tracks to each other. I think California was built to be like Michigan but they’re pretty different tracks. California doesn’t have a lot of banking but it is a pretty fast track. I think, like every track, getting the car to handle in the corners is the biggest thing. It’s a two-mile track and the front and back stretches are pretty long.”

CLINT BOWYER ON SUCCESS OF RCR TEAMS AT CALIFORNIA: “Yeah, we were very good out there for the spring race, so, hopefully, we can carry that on. It’s one of those hit or miss tracks for me, but coming off that spring race, I have a lot more excitement. I think we have a lot better equipment and our cars have changed a bunch since then. I think we can improve a lot.”

CLINT BOWYER CHASSIS CHOICE: Bowyer will pilot chassis No. 324 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This is a brand new No. 33 racer that will be put through its first paces in this weekend’s 400 miler.

JEFF BURTON ON CONFIDENCE FROM FINISHING THIRD IN FEBRUARY AT CALIFORNIA: “It certainly does. We ran really well in the second half of the race. The first half of the race we struggled a little bit with handling and Todd (Berrier,crew chief) kept working on the Caterpillar Chevy and made it better. I got busted for speeding on pit road and, for some reason, that turned our day around. We took off right after that. We had to restart last and got up to sixth quickly. So, that definitely gives me confidence. Fontana is a demanding race track but it’s fun to drive and I think we carry the momentum over to this weekend’s race.”

BURTON CHASSIS CHOICE: Burton will pilot chassis No. 317 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built new this season, this is the same Caterpillar Chevrolet Burton drove to an eighth-place finish at Pocono Raceway in August and to a 24th-place result at Michigan International Speedway just two weeks later after being involved in a wrong place, wrong time incident with under 50 laps remaining.

KEVIN HARVICK ON THE CHASE HEADING INTO CALIFORNIA: “We feel good about where we are right now. We had a great car at Kansas and finished third. That’s what got us here. We have been consistent and had solid top-five finishes all year. So, we just have to keep doing those things, keep our cars in contention running up front, lead some laps and grab those bonus points when we can, and we’ll see where we are when we get to Homestead.”

HARVICK CHASSIS CHOICE: Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 288 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Earlier in the year, this Chevrolet scored a win at Michigan International Speedway in August. Additionally, Harvick scored runner-up finishes at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and at Auto Club Speedway, finished ninth at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, and finished seventh at Dover International Speedway in May. The Shell-Pennzoil team raced this chassis three times in the latter part of the 2009 season, finishing 18th at Charlotte Motor Speedway, fifth at Texas Motor Speedway and third at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

JAMIE McMURRAY CHASSIS CHOICE: Chassis #1016. The No. 1 team will bring chassis #1016 to Auto Club Speedway this weekend. This chassis was first used a month ago at Atlanta where McMurray qualified 12th and finished 15th.

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA CHASSIS CHOICE: Chassis #1003. Pattie and the No. 42 Target team are bringing chassis #1003 to Auto Club Speedway this weekend marking the fourth time this chassis has been used in 2010. The team last used this chassis at Atlanta in September where Montoya started eighth and finished ninth. Montoya also ran this chassis at Chicagoland where he qualified 10th and finished 16th and in the Coke 600 where he finished 38th due to an on-track incident.

CARL EDWARDS ON ATLANTA: “We had a really good run at Kansas and the strength of the Roush Fenway organization is as good as it’s ever been. We’re going to California which is a track we’ve had a lot of success at, and we’ve run very well as a team there. This is a track on the Chase schedule that I feel very confident at and feel like we have a great shot at a win there.”

EDWARDS CHASSIS CHOICE: Chassis: RK-702 Most recently raced at Atlanta where he finished second.

MATT KENSETH ON RACING AT FONTANA: “Fontana is typically a good track for me and the No. 17 team, so it’s good to travel there this weekend, especially after a strong run at Kansas last week. I really feel like we’ve been steadily improving on our program lately, so heading to Fontana where our team has run well at in the past, should hopefully mean another great run. Our Crown Royal team is focused on taking it one week at a time in order to make sure we get the finishes we deserve. Fontana is a down force track where aerodynamics comes into play, but our Roush Fenway organization really prepares for these kinds of tracks, so I’m looking forward to Sunday’s race.”

KENSETH CHASSIS CHOICE: Primary: RK-707 (brand new chassis).

GREG BIFFLE ON CALIFORNIA: “I really can’t wait to get to California. I love that track partly because we’ve had success there but also because it’s a lot of fun and it is fast and challenging. A lot of strategy comes into play at California and that usually makes it interesting too. I also really like going out west because I get to see my family. My mom usually comes to most of the west coast races and it’s always good to get to spend time with her. Last weekend’s race was a pretty big win for this team. It would be great to make it two in a row this weekend in California.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON ON BEING ABLE TO EXCEL AT CALIFORNIA “As a driver you always have to search around on the race track and try to find a line or some type of rhythm that will help the balance of your race car. That’s what we do. I feel that growing up on the dirt (off-road racing) really helped me with that skill set. You don’t have a chance to come in and adjust on your car or work on it and it a lot of cases on the dirt, especially in the stuff I raced, all you worried about was going in a straight line over jumps. The corners, you had to figure that out as a driver. I think I fall back on that experience a lot. Last weekend was great for our team because last-minute decisions before qualifying gave us the speed we needed to win the race. Decisions that we made Saturday night in the motor home lot working on our race car, gave us the car to win the race on Sunday. So, I’m very proud that amongst the pressure last second, we made the right decisions and made the right calls and won the race. It was a good weekend for our race team; a good lift for us.”

Primary Car History – Chassis No. 580
Date Event Start Finish
02/28/2010 Las Vegas 20 1
04/19/2010 Texas 4 2
05/22/2010 All-Star 7 13
06/13/2010 Michigan 3 6
08/21/2010 Bristol 1 35

Backup Car History – Chassis No. 553
Date Event Start Finish
07/26/2009 Indy 15 1
10/10/2009 California 3 1
11/22/2009 Homestead 1 5
02/21/2010 California 7 1

CARFAX 400 Driver Notes & Quotes: Michigan Speedway

MARK MARTIN ON REJOINING THE TOP 12 IN POINTS: "We knew this was going to be a fight for us. And it's definitely not over. We gained points in Pocono, and we gained again in Watkins Glen. We have got to keep doing that. This team is improving every week; we just have to keep that going in Michigan this weekend. It's a good feeling to be back in there, but it's not at all a relief. We have four races to go. Anything can happen. We can't slip up. We can't have a bad day. We've got to keep moving forward."

MARTIN ON HIS CHANCES OF GAINING MORE POINTS THIS WEEKEND AT MICHIGAN: "I think, if you look back at how we improved at Indianapolis and how we improved at Pocono, that we have to look at Michigan as another track where we can build momentum and gain some points. We're taking the same car this weekend that we took to both of those tracks. It's my favorite car in the whole Hendrick stable. So that gives me a little confidence, too. Anything can happen though, and we need to be prepared for those anythings."

MARTIN MICHIGAN CHASSIS CHOICE: Gustafson has chosen Chassis No. 5-550 for Sunday's race at Michigan. This is the same chassis that Martin drove to a seventh-place finish at Pocono Raceway two weeks ago. In July, Martin raced this car to an 11th-place finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

DENNY HAMLIN ON THE HUGE GROUNDS HIS TEAM HAS RECENTLY MADE AT MICHIGAN: "Absolutely, this is a track where we never ran very well early in my career, we struggled and had some bad luck. It was also a combination of my comfort level and just not being able to get the car where we needed it. I think it was June of last season that we came here with a new car and a new set up and it clicked. We were fast off the truck and finished third and it was a turning point for us in a lot of ways. We came back in August and ran in the top ten and then really hit on it when we came back this year and dominated a race probably as much as I ever have. It was a great day for us so that definitely gives us confidence coming back to a track."

HAMLIN MICHIGAN CHASSIS SELECTION: The FedEx team will unload Chassis JGR 253 this weekend in Michigan. This car scored a tenth-place finish at Michigan in August of 2009. JGR 267 will serve in backup duty.

CLINT BOWYER ON THE PRESSURE HE AND HIS TEAM ARE FEELING AS THE CHASE NEARS: “The pressure is definitely there, but with the way our cars are running, we’re still looking ahead. We took a hit in the points the last two races, but I’m not too worried just yet. There are still four races left, all at different tracks. So, there’s a lot of racing left and plenty of time to get a lot of things accomplished. We just need to focus on each race, individually, and perform like we’re capable of performing. Our finishes the last two races are not necessarily signs of how good are cars have run. We’re better than those results and we just need to prove by finishing well the next few weeks.”

BOWYER ON WHAT HAPPENED IN JUNE'S MICHIGAN RACE WHERE HE FINISHED 22ND: "Michigan has been one of those tracks that we’ve always run well at. We always have some ups and downs as far as crazy, off-the-wall things that happen to us. We had a top-ten run going last time, but we pitted while others stayed out. We ended up in the fence and had a horrible finish. You never know how these races will shake out. These multiple attempts at green-white-checkered allow guys to get two laps back, put tires on, race their way into the top ten and knock you out of the way in the process. There are a lot of things that are happening and you have to play your cards right throughout the whole race, not just half of it. If we can do that, we’ll be successful.”

BOWYER MICHIGAN CHASSIS SELECTION: Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 315 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This is a brand new Chevrolet Impala that will be put through its first paces this weekend.

JEFF BURTON ON WHY HIS TEAM HASN'T FARED WELL AT MICHIGAN: “Michigan has been our worst race track. It has been a track where we have struggled and have not been good at all. It has pushed us, tricked us and made us mad. But, it’s a place where we have to find a way to improve. We had some circumstances and have been in some situations that made the finishes look worse than they really were. I like going to Michigan because it’s a fun race track. It gets pretty slick and there’s a lot of options and those are the places I tend to run well on. We took a step forward in the spring and we ran well. That was a step forward from what I’ve been doing there and I hope to be able to improve on that. Michigan has really been one of our weak points.”

BURTON MICHIGAN CHASSIS SELCTION: Burton will race chassis No. 317 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built new this season, this is the same Caterpillar Chevrolet Burton drove to an eighth-place finish at Pocono Raceway on August 1.

KEVIN HARVICK ON WHY RCR TEAMS ALWAYS SEEM TO STRUGGLE AT MICHIGAN: “I don’t know. We just struggle finding a balance in the car. Obviously, we have great horsepower and that’s not a problem. Our cars are great week in and week out, but for whatever reason, we find it tough to find a balance on the car – whether it’s too loose or too tight. It’s a fun race track. I really enjoy going there and you have a lot of options as a driver to be able to move from the top to the bottom of the race track. It’s a fun place to go, so, hopefully, this time we can turn it around.”

HARVICK MICHIGAN CHASSIS SELECTION: Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 288 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Earlier in the year, this Chevrolet scored a runner-up finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and at Auto Club Speedway finished ninth at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and finished seventh at Dover International Speedway. Additionally, Harvick raced this chassis three times in the latter part of the 2009 season, finishing 18th at Charlotte Motor Speedway, fifth at Texas Motor Speedway and third at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

DALE EARNHARDT JR. ON BRINGING BACK THE SAME CHASSIS FROM JUNE: “Lance (McGrew, crew chief) and the guys unloaded a great car last time at Michigan. We’ve had some good runs with this car. I enjoy going to Michigan because it’s so wide. It has a lot of different grooves, and we can move around and find places to run on the track. We like coming here because it’s in the backyard of the manufacturers. Hopefully we’ll get a win for Chevrolet.”

EARNHARDT JR CREW CHIEF LANCE McGREW ON MICHIGAN BEING A FUEL-MILEAGE RACE: “It’s very strange because even in the (NASCAR) Nationwide Series, they changed the length of the race to try to make it not be a fuel-mileage race, and it still always comes down to that. I don’t know if it’s just luck, but it doesn’t make any sense why it always seems to come down to it but it always does. It’s not like we always have an even number of pit stops. I guess probably more than anything else, there are not usually a lot of cautions, so you’re going to stretch it the most you can because track position still means a lot just like everywhere else. It just kind of works out that way.”

MCGREW ON WHY EARNHARDT LIKES CHASSIS NO. 88-599: “We’ve had success with this car, but it’s not vastly different than any of our other cars. We’ve used this car at racetracks that he (Earnhardt) really enjoys going to, and it just happened that we ran the same car at those events. We have made some substantial changes to it since the first Michigan race. Even though we felt like we were really good there last time, as a company we are going in a direction that we feel like is going to make us even better this time.”

GREG BIFFLE ON RACING AT MICHIGAN: I love Michigan. It is my favorite track on the circuit and I’m really looking forward to going there. I like Michigan because I’ve had success there with wins in the Sprint Cup Series and the Truck Series. I also like that you can race three and four wide at a down force track. As a driver, you have so many options. You can run the bottom, middle or top. It is a strategy race and fuel mileage often comes into play – sometimes in your favor and sometimes not. I just like the way the track is laid out and I think you see good racing there.”

BIFFLE CREW CHIEF GREG ERWIN ON MICHIGAN AND CHASSIS CHOICE: “Well, we’d obviously love to give Ford their second cup win of the season in their own backyard this weekend in Michigan. We are taking the car we raced at Chicagoland earlier this year. We had a top-five run going at that race before the engine failure left us with a 35th-place finish. This is a race where pit strategy is important and fuel mileage is usually a factor. You also have to watch for overheating because there can be a lot of trash blowing around at this track. We need a good finish this weekend and I feel like we can get it done in Michigan.”

MATT KENSETH ON RACING AT MICHIGAN: “I consider Michigan one of my favorite tracks on the Cup circuit. I always enjoy going to Michigan since it’s the Midwest and we’ve had some good runs there in the past. Success at Michigan is about having a car that handles well since it’s a big sweeping track with plenty of room and lanes to pass. If you can get your car to handle the right way, you can have a lot of fun racing there. Racing at Michigan is also significant because it’s the headquarters for Roush Industries and Ford Motor Company, so it’s always a big weekend for us at a place we consider one of our home tracks.”

KENSETH MICHIGAN CHASSIS: Primary: RK-672 (last raced at Charlotte)

KYLE BUSCH ON IF HE HE'S LOOKING FORWARD GOING BACK TO MICHIGAN: “I know Denny (Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 JGR Toyota and the winner of the June event at Michigan) is really looking forward to going back there because he’s going to take the same car, same stuff, same everything (EDITOR NOTE - HE'S WRONG). Myself and Dave (Rogers, crew chief), we’re going to take a new car there and try to shake down a new Interstate Batteries Camry. We feel like we only have one really, really good racecar for the Chase. We need to find a second one. You can’t go into a 10-race stretch with one bullet. We’ve got a little bit of work ahead of us, but we’re hoping this week at Michigan we can find a good racecar. We’ve got some work ahead of us to find some good tuning tools to work within the Chase. We’ll try to keep ourselves locked into it here the next four races and then go fight them at the end.”

TONY STEWART'S APPROACH HEADING INTO THE LAST FOUR RACES BEFORE THE CHASE: “You have to be cautiously aggressive. You still have to keep in mind that if you take a chance and don’t finish a race, that you’ll lose a lot of points, and the 10 bonus points you thought you might gain for the Chase won’t happen either. You have to do the same things that have gotten you to victory lane in the past. You can’t afford to take too many unnecessary chances. The main thing for us is to do the things we’ve been doing to keep us in position where we can win races each week and get those bonus points for the Chase.”

STEWART ON HOW HE'S BEEN ABLE TO STAY CONSISTENT SINCE FINISHING 23RD ON MAY 8 AT DARLINGTON AND SINCE, FINISHING OUTSIDE THE TOP-10 ONLY TWICE: “We’re getting our cars better, and that’s what I’m happy about. I’m not really that worried about the points. I mean, it’s not like we’re comfortable because we’re not locked in yet. So, you still have to worry about it, but I’m more worried about what we’ve got if we get to the Chase. It doesn’t matter if we get to the Chase and don’t have anything to run for a championship with. We’ve got to just keep plugging away. We’re not all the way there, but we’re gaining on it and that’s encouraging. This is the time of the year when you want to be building momentum and not losing it. We’ve had some strong runs here recently. I’m hoping that trend is going to keep going. If it does, I’d much rather be in this situation than leading the points when it doesn’t get you anything.”

New Hampshire Driver Notes & Quotes: Lenox Industrial Tools 301

MARTIN TRUEX JR ON WHY NEW HAMPSHIRE FITS HIS DRIVING STYLE: "I kind of cut my teeth there. It was my first big track I ever raced on. I raced in the Busch North (now K&N Pro Series East) Series and won some races in that division when I was driving for my dad’s team. I’ve even raced a modified there. My first big NASCAR win came at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the Nationwide Series and it led to a championship. It’s an important place in terms of my career. It’s a place I have raced a lot. I have always enjoyed it. When you like a place, usually you do better at it."

TRUEX JR ON LAST WEEKS INCIDENT AT SONOMA: "It’s very frustrating that we put so much effort in what we do and it takes one guy’s mistake to screw it up for you. It is really going to hurt our chances to make The Chase. The 42nd-place finish is going to kill us. The NAPA team continues to do a great job. Our cars are running fast. It was by far the best car I have ever driven at Infineon Raceway. We had a great run going. I really thought it was going to be a good day for us. It just stinks when someone screws it up for you. I wish in our situation that things were different. I wish that we were in a position where what happened to us on Sunday wouldn’t cost us a chance to make the Chase. All we can do is go back to work and keep working hard. Hopefully this kind of stuff doesn’t happen again. We’ve had a couple of bad weeks. We didn’t run as well as we should have at Charlotte. We got in the late-race wreck at Pocono. At Michigan we didn’t run as well as we should have. This past weekend we were really good and were wrecked. It just seems like when we run well, we still do not get the finishes. That’s what we are missing right now. We still need to work on that."

DALE EARNHARDT JR. ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: "New Hampshire is one of the smaller tracks we go to, and I like racing on the shorter, flatter tracks. There's multiple grooves you can run there. You can go low and high and move around trying to find different things to make the car better. The trick is getting the car to roll through the center of the turns. We had a real good setup there last year so I'm looking forward to going back there."

LANCE McGREW, EARNHARDT JR'S CREW CHIEF ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: "You have to have a good-handling car to be successful at New Hampshire. It's a flat racetrack so it's difficult to get the car where it rotates in the center like you want and you still have enough forward bite to get off the corners and be happy. It's very difficult to pass there so track position again is at a premium as usual."

EARNHARDT JR. CHASSIS CHOICE: This weekend, crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 crew will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-589. This is a brand-new chassis that has not been raced or tested.

JEFF BURTON CHASSIS CHOICE: Burton will pilot Chassis No. 280 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built new for 2009, this RCR Chevrolet was put through its first paces at Chicagoland Speedway last July where the 17-year veteran was credited with a 37th-place finish after being collected in a late-race multi-car incident. Burton then piloted this No. 31 racer at Kansas Speedway where he finished 23rd before posting a runner-up finish at Phoenix International Raceway in November. In 2010, this RCR-prepared Chevrolet returned to PIR in April where the Todd Berrier-led team finished 25th after a penalty for pitting outside the pit box halted their forward progress before rebounding nicely at Richmond International Raceway in May by posting a fourth-place finish.

BURTON ON EPOOR RUNS LAST SEASON DESPITE LOTS OF PAST SUCCESS AND THOUGHTS ON THIS WEEK: "Well, anytime you have those types of finishes, it's very disappointing. But, I can tell you that I am very optimistic about going to New Hampshire this year based on how well we ran at Phoenix and Richmond. I haven't won there in a long time and it would mean a great deal to me to win the LENOX Industrial Tools 301. LENOX has been a great partner of ours for a long time so for me, personally, I would like to get back to Victory Lane at Loudon."

KEVIN HARVICK CHASSIS CHOICE: Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 304 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This Chevrolet is brand new for 2010, and was used by the No. 29 team at Phoenix where Harvick finished 13th, and at Richmond where Harvick finished third.

HARVICK'S THOUGHTS ON NEW HAMPSHIRE THIS WEEK: "We ran well there last year, but there was a big wreck on a restart with us running seventh. That was the story of the year last year. I enjoy the flat tracks, but the worst we ran this year was at Phoenix, so I hope that's not an indication of what Loudon will be like for us. I think we should go up there and run really well based on how we have run all year. We are going to have weeks where we are a little off, and those are the days when you have to make something happen and get a top-10 finish, and we have been able to do that this year.

CLINT BOWYER CHASSIS CHOICE: Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 303 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built new in 2010, Bowyer drove this Chevrolet Impala to a seventh-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

BOWYER ON HIS 2007 WIN BEING ONE OF HIS CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: "Definitely, but it seems like we haven't had a good run since then. We need to make sure we get out of there this time with a solid finish. Last year we were in the money and just got taken out of it at the end."

MARK MARTIN ON HIS WIN LAST YEAR AT NEW HAMPSHIRE: "Starting the Chase off like that, that was just incredible. I'd never won at New Hampshire before. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) gave me an amazing race car, and then he made a great pit call to get us to the front. Once we were up there, it wasn't easy. We had those restarts at the end with Juan (Pablo Montoya) breathing down my neck. We held them all off, and on tires that were quite a bit older than theirs, so it was just a huge accomplishment."

MARTIN CHASSIS CHOICE: Gustafson has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-588 for Sunday's race. This is the same chassis that Martin drove to a fourth-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway on April 10 earlier this year.

MATT KENSETH ON RACING AT NEW HAMPSHIRE: "New Hampshire is a track that has always been a challenge for me and I feel like it hasn’t been one of my better tracks on the circuit, but statistically speaking, we seem to be pretty consistent here. We have good finishes at Loudon, but I feel like we haven’t really had a chance to chase down a win there. New Hampshire is a track where it’s fairly difficult to pass, so you’ll see teams use pit stops and pit strategy to advance their way through the field on Sunday. Racing at Loudon is unique, and it’s definitely a track that makes us work hard to get a solid finish."

KENSETH CREW CHIEF TODD PARROTT ON NEW HAMPSHIRE AND CHASSIS CHOICE: "We are bringing the same car we ran at Phoenix and Richmond earlier this season because those are two tracks that we compare notes to when we’re preparing for New Hampshire. At Phoenix we had a top-10 finish, while at Richmond we finished 13th, which I still consider that a great run for this car. We didn’t get the finish we wanted last weekend at Sonoma, but I think that we can have a solid weekend at Loudon for our Crown Royal Black team based on our performance so far this season at similar tracks."

CARL EDWARDS ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: "We are headed to New Hampshire, home of Fenway Sports Group, this weekend. There is a lot of pride on the line for all of us Roush Fenway drivers when we head that way. We’ve run really well at New Hampshire, we just haven’t been able to run well there lately. This is an important race for us for a number of reasons, but mostly because this is the first race of the Chase the next time we come back so it would be great to run well and take those notes back for the second race up there."

EDWARDS CHASSIS CHOICE: The No. 99 Aflac team will be bringing RK-647 this weekend to New Hampshire. Edwards raced this Ford Fusion at Phoenix in April where he started ninth and finished seventh.

Matt Kenseth Bringing His Vegas Lucky Charm To Texas This Week

Matt Kenseth doesn't have the great Charlotte test times with the new spoiler on that some of the other contenders have, but what he does have is great past Texas history and a great car this week. As for his history, an average finsh position of 9.3 is tops among all drivers at Texas and has also led a track record 497 laps. Kenseth has also led a lap in eight of the last 10 Texas races.

Speaking of leading laps, he'll be bringing his same chassis that ran near the front for much of the day in Las Vegas. Since Texas is so similar to Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Charlotte, it serves well to look back at some of the like-track performances and see who was the best combined on the first two runs thus far. Kenseth is the only driver to finish in the top-5 of both Vegas and Atlanta. He's a good look this week with high odds.

Kenseth on racing at Texas Motor Speedway:
"Texas to me is a track that’s more about real racing and making sure that you have a car that handles better than the rest of the guys, so that you can make sure you’re the fastest car around the track every lap. I’m a little unsure about how the spoiler change may effect the racing action this weekend heading into Texas. I don’t foresee any big changes, but we won’t know until we get all the cars on track for practice. Texas is a track that I really enjoy a lot and we’ve been very successful here, so I always look forward to racing at Texas Motor Speedway."

Crew chief Todd Parrott on racing at Texas Motor Speedway:
"There is a new tire for this weekend at Texas, as well as the fact that we’re running the spoiler for the first time, so there are a lot of unknowns this weekend. The guys in our engineering and wind tunnel programs have put in countless hours to make sure that we have as much data as we head into this 1.5-mile high-banked track. We’re taking the same car we ran at Las Vegas and I have a lot of confidence in that car since we ran up front all day. I love Texas and have been fortunate enough to have won some races there, so I’m optimistic for this weekend."

Texas Samsung Mobile 500 Odds & Ends

At Texas Motor Speedway
compiled by Mike Forde
NASCAR Media Services


History
· Construction began in 1995.
· The first NASCAR race was a NASCAR Nationwide Series event on April 5, 1997.
· The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was on April 6, 1997.

Notebook
· There have been 18 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Texas Motor Speedway, one per season from 1997 through 2004 and two races per year since 2005.
· Four drivers have competed in all 18 Texas races: Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin.
· Jeremy Mayfield was the first pole winner, in 1998. Qualifying for the inaugural race in 1997 was canceled.
· Jeff Burton won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
· 12 drivers have scored poles, led by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bobby Labonte, Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon with two.
· 15 drivers have won races, led by Carl Edwards, with three. Jeff Gordon won at Texas for the first time, last season. Gordon has won at every track he has run except Homestead-Miami Speedway.
· 14 of 18 races have been won from a top-10 starting position. Only one has been won from the pole (Kasey Kahne in 2006).
· Matt Kenseth started 31st en route to his victory at Texas in 2002, the deepest in the field that a race winner has started.
· Both Jeff Burton (1999) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2000) scored their first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Texas.
· Five of the last seven races have had a margin of victory under one second.
· Matt Kenseth (9.3) is the only active driver to average a top-10 finish.
· Roush Fenway Racing leads all owners in victories, with seven. Hendrick Motorsports is second, with three wins.
· There has been one season sweep, by Carl Edwards in 2008. Edwards is looking to break a 43-race winless drought.

NASCAR in Texas
* There have been 27 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Texas.
* 72 drivers in NASCAR’s three national series (all-time) have their home state recorded as Texas.
* There have been seven race winners from Texas in NASCAR’s three national series:

Texas Motor Speedway Data
Race #: 8 of 35 (4-18-10)
Track Size: 1.5 miles
Race Length: 501 miles
· Banking/corners: 24 degrees
· Banking/straights: 5 degrees
· Frontstretch: 2,250 feet
· Backstretch: 1,330 feet

Driver Rating at Texas
Tony Stewart 106.1
Matt Kenseth 105.0
Carl Edwards 99.7
Kyle Busch 98.6
Jimmie Johnson 96.1
Denny Hamlin 95.6
Greg Biffle 95.4
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 94.4
Kurt Busch 93.8
Jeff Gordon 91.4
Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2009 races (10 total) at Texas.

Qualifying/Race Data
* 2009 pole winner: David Reutimann (190.517 mph, 28.344 secs.)
* 2009 race winner: Jeff Gordon, 146.372 mph, 4-5-09)
* Track qualifying record: Brian Vickers (196.235 mph, 27.518 seconds, 11-3-06)
* Track race record: Carl Edwards (151.055 mph, 11-6-05)

Pit Window: Every 50-55 laps, depending on fuel mileage.

Las Vegas Preview: Childress and Hendrick Should Be Good Again

by Micah Roberts

VegasInsider.com

Bright light city gonna set my soul

Gonna set my soul of fire

Got a whole lot of money that’s ready to burn

So get those stakes up higher.

Ya'll know the rest......Viva Las Vegas!

NASCAR is back in Vegas and everyone in their world couldn’t be happier. It’s like a mini-vacation after a long speed weeks at Daytona and then having to sit through a dreadfully boring weekend at Fontana. Vegas couldn’t have come at a better time.

The upper brass at NASCAR are probably happy to see Vegas too. Last week’s awful showing at the California Speedway, a track that barely holds 80,000, made the top series of the sport look like a can’t miss sporting event like a WNBA matinee.

All Las Vegas does is add the glitter and lights to already fantastic event. It dresses up the event like the perfect present wrapped by a department store. Mix in the Neon Garage of Las Vegas Motor Speedway which has become like a Disneyworld of the Auto Racing world and there aren’t many better places for the fans to watch a race, all 150,000.

It’s a mystery how Vegas still only has one race a season while Fontana has two, not just from the capacity aspect, but obviously by what the fans have shown. Aren’t we in the new age of NASCAR where they are listening to what the fans say and react accordingly? Not sure there is a better example of fans saying what’s on their mind than 55,000 showing up for a race that seats 80,000 outisde of the biggest Metropolis' in America.

Beyond all the fans words, they should take note of what the drivers, crews, and most of all, their wives say about Vegas. Bristol is a great race event, but it sure is tough to do anything else while the race is in town. It’s the big fish in a little pond there, where as Vegas is the perfect mix for the race to take center stage, but still big enough to get a little lost in the city if you want to.

"I love this city. It's probably my favorite place we go, says Mark Martin who won the inaugural event in 1998, “I don't know what it is, because I'm not a real 'go-out' kind of guy. But the atmosphere is so great here. You can do anything at any time of day. It's open 24 hours. There are shows and great food. It's just an exciting place to be."

For Kevin and DeLana Harvick, they will be celebrating their ninth wedding anniversary on Sunday. The couple got married in Las Vegas in 2001, two days prior to Harvick scoring his first career NASCAR Cup Series top-10 finish, an 8th-place finish in Vegas. The couple will celebrate by having dinner at the same local restaurant they visit each year, a tradition that began on their first anniversary.

Had they been married at the storied racing grounds of Daytona, that annual dining experience may have been at the Bob Evans across the street.

Beyond all the spas, nightlife, and great dining, the racing has also been pretty good, especially since the track reconfigured the banking to make the track run more like the SMI sister-tracks of Charlotte, Atlanta, and Texas giving it a faster edge compared to the relatively flat banking it used to have that had no real drama at the end of races, just lots of long green flag runs.

“Vegas is a fast track, much more like Charlotte since they made the changes to the track a few years ago. It’s unique in that the transitions are different than other intermediates but you get really close racing,” Denny Hamlin said.

“The track changes over the course of the race so the driver can usually find a place where the car works. It’s a fun track and I think the fans get a good show.”

Last weeks race at California was good from the stand point that it showed us all who was going to be real good at the horsepower required down force tracks. We knew Martin and Jimmie Johnson would be good coming in to that race, but the real surprise was the trio of Richard Childress cars who flexed their muscles under the hood all day.

It wouldn’t have been a surprise to see any one of the Childress cars win last week after seeing them in practice consistently putting up good times in both average speeds and single lap times.

All of that power from last week should carry over into Las Vegas this week. Harvick and Jeff Burton will be bringing in brand chassis’ this week while Clint Bowyer will be using his car that raced at Indianapolis and Kansas.

Even though many of the Vegas races were under the old format of the track, Burton is still the top dog when it comes to Vegas on the basis of his two wins and a career average finish of 9.8. In his last two seasons under the new format, Burton finished fifth and third.

It’s a little bit of a gamble to make a wager on a driver using a first time car without seeing it practice, but hey, this is Vegas! Burton is listed at 15 to 1 at the Las Vegas Hilton Super Book. Based on the complete change his entire team has made along with his past success, nearly tasting victory last week, Burton looks pretty live this week.

Harvick has two top-5 finishes on the track over his career along with four other top-13 finishes. His new chassis shouldn’t be too much of a concern either because everything Childress has put into the No. 29 car since the Chase started last season has been pretty good.

Harvick is a free-agent next year and despite rumors of the Childress-Harvick relationship being strained, winning cures a lot of that. By giving Harvick the goods as Childress has done, and not letting him languish in a jalopy like some owners do with lame-duck drivers, it shows that Childress wants him to do well and keep him.

Look for Harvick and Burton to both have great runs Sunday with Bowyer a little behind but still in the top-10.

The favorite of the race is Jimmie Johnson at 9 to 2, as he should be. This guy is just flat out awesome in Vegas, winning on both configurations while winning three straight Vegas races from 2005-07. The last two seasons Johnson has struggled out of the gate as the team tinkered with his cars to finally get them in Jimmie-shape during his Championship runs.

This season they came out swinging early with the win last week. Whether it was luck or not, the reality is that Johnson had one of the best cars in practice that was well deserving of the win. He also had used a proven winning car from the 2009 season. This week Johnson will be using a brand new chassis which could give reason to pick against him, at least until we some practice times.

Denny Hamlin has quietly put together a pretty good Vegas resume in his four races that has him averaging an 11th-place finish with a best run of third in 2007. Hamlin, looking to build on some kind of success early on after having two poor runs to start the year, has brought in his best handling chassis from his garage.

The choice is a little curious because they don’t seem to correlate, but the bottom line is wins. He’ll be using his winning rides from Pocono and Martinsville this week. The wins alone are something to take serious notice of and make him a solid candidate to win.

Mark Martin has nine top-10 finishes in Las Vegas. His 40th-place finish last season was more a matter of him getting familiar with his new team and we see how that eventually turned out. Martin will contend for the win again this week. He’ll be using his chassis that finished fourth at Texas last season.

Other notes:

Joey Logano may have officially turned the corner as a top flight Cup series driver. He’s got a year under his belt, a nice feud going with Greg Biffle, and a great support system that will give him good rides on a weekly basis. It looks like he’s going to be in contention for wins and we’ll talking much more about him weekly. This week he’s bringing his car that finished 14th at Richmond and 12th at Martinsville.

The Ganassi-Earnhardt crew came into California with all kinds of great expectations and then sat on the front row making everyone take notice that they had something special going on for 2010. But then the race didn’t turn out well and no one is talking now. It’s possible they could rebound nice this week in Vegas.

Montoya has brought his car from Miami last season that ran well but was involved in a mid-race incident. McMurray will be using his chassis from last years runs at Atlanta, Texas, and Miami where he had a best finish of 9th-place at Miami among the three.

The power Montoya showed last year throughout the season is still fresh on my mind and until I see otherwise for a duration of time, I will continue to believe that he is a contender on these type of tracks. For McMurray, his only non-restrictor plate win of his career came on a track like this in Charlotte while subbing as a driver for Chip Ganassi.

Dale Earnhardt Jr had a tough week in California. We found out that his stuff wasn’t as a good as Martin’s, who they share a garage with at Hendrick Motorsports. He looked almost exactly like the Junior we saw being led by Tony Eury Jr before eventually making the change to Lance McGrew.

This week he’ll be bringing in the first chassis McGrew completely built himself, with no Eury Jr fingerprints on it, and it‘s a pretty good one. He ran this car last year at Texas and was running sixth but a late race desperation fuel gamble didn’t payoff making the finish look worse than it should be with a 25th-place finish. He needs a good race here!

We don’t have any mentions of Fenway-Roush Racing’s drivers yet despite having six of the 12 wins on the track. We indirectly talked about older Roush drivers like Martin and Burton who combined to win three of those, but no Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, and Matt Kenseth who are all within the top-8 of all-time performers in Vegas.

Both Biffle and Kenseth looked good in Califronia, but not good enough to win at any juncture unless getting lucky with rain. Vegas could be a different story, but they looked at lot like last years version more than hoped for new and improved version of 2010.

Kyle Busch will be looking for his third straight Vegas pole and second straight Vegas win. The folks at the Hard Rock Hotel are still talking about the party he threw his teams last season after winning. Last week he got better as the race went on and showed a lot of patience by taking what the car would give, a sign that he may be ready to unseat Johnson this year as the champ. It’s a long season, and he loves to win as many as he can, but I think he learned a valuable lesson of how to miss the chase last season.

TOP 5 Finish Prediction:
1) #31 Jeff Burton (15/1)
2) #5 Mark Martin (7/1)
3) #18 Kyle Busch (8/1)
4) #29 Kevin Harvick (15/1)
5) #48 Jimmie Johnson (9/2)



Odds courtesy of the Las Vegas Hilton Super Book

SHELBY AMERICAN
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2010

JIMMIE JOHNSON 9-2
MARK MARTIN 7
JEFF GORDON 10
KYLE BUSCH 8
DENNY HAMLIN 12
JUAN MONTOYA 15
TONY STEWART 12
CARL EDWARDS 18
GREG BIFFLE 15
KURT BUSCH 18

KASEY KAHNE 25

CLINT BOWYER 15
KEVIN HARVICK 15
JEFF BURTON 15
BRIAN VICKERS 25
MATT KENSETH 20
DALE EARNHARDT JR 30
JOEY LOGANO 40
RYAN NEWMAN 30
MARTIN TRUEX JR 60
DAVID REUTIMANN 60
JAMIE McMURRAY 60
DAVID RAGAN 75
BRAD KESELOWSKI 100
MARCOS AMBROSE 100
SAM HORNISH JR 100
AJ ALLMENDINGER 200
ELLIOTT SADLER 300
PAUL MENARD 500
BOBBY LABONTE 500
REGAN SMITH 500
SCOTT SPEED 300
TRAVIS KVAPIL 500
FIELD 100

California Auto Club Speedway Facts: Auto Club 500

compiled by Mike Forde

NASCAR Media Services

History
· Groundbreaking for California Speedway, as Auto Club Speedway was originally known, took place in November 1995.
· The first race at Auto Club Speedway was a NASCAR K&N Pro Series, West race won by Ken Schrader on June 21, 1997.
· The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was held on June 22, 1997 and won by Jeff Gordon.
· September 2004 was the first night race at Auto Club Speedway and that also was the first year both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide Series ran two races in a season there.
· The track name was changed to Auto Club Speedway in February 2008.

Notebook
· There have been 19 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Auto Club Speedway since the track opened in 1997.
· Four drivers have competed in all 19 races: Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Joe Nemechek.
· Joe Nemechek won the pole for the inaugural race in 1997.
· There have been 13 different pole winners, led by Kurt Busch (three). Brian Vickers and Jeff Gordon each have two poles.
· Twelve different drivers have posted victories. Jimmie Johnson leads all drivers with four wins. Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth each have won three races.
· Hendrick Motorsports has won eight races, more than any other team.
· Nine of the 19 races were won from starting positions outside the top 10; only one has been won from the pole (Jimmie Johnson in 2008). The most prolific starting position is third, with three victories.
· Matt Kenseth won the 2006 spring race from the 31st starting position, the deepest in the field that a race winner has started.
· Three active drivers have averaged a top-10 finish: Carl Edwards (6.6), Jimmie Johnson (5.8) and Matt Kenseth (9.3).
· Kyle Busch won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup pole (2/05) and first race (9/05) at Auto Club Speedway.
· Jimmie Johnson won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at ASC on April 28, 2002.

NASCAR in California
· There have been 126 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in California:
· 410 NASCAR drivers have their home state recorded as California.
· There have been 33 race winners from California in NASCAR’s three national series.

Auto Club Speedway Data
Race # 2 of 36 (2-21-10)
Track Size: 2 miles

· Race Length: 250 laps/500 miles

· Banking/Corners: 14 degrees
· Banking/Frontstretch: 11 degrees
· Banking/Backstretch: 3 degrees

Driver Rating at Auto Club Speedway
Jimmie Johnson 122.3
Matt Kenseth 109.7
Carl Edwards 104.3
Kyle Busch 102.9
Jeff Gordon 100.3
Greg Biffle 99.8
Tony Stewart 97.6
Mark Martin 97.4
Kasey Kahne 94.8
Kurt Busch 94.1
Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2009 races (10 total) at Auto Club Speedway.

Qualifying/Race Data
2009 pole winner: Brian Vickers (183.439 mph, 39.250 secs.)
2009 race winner: Matt Kenseth (135.839 mph, 2-22-09)
Track qualifying record: Kyle Busch (188.425 mph, 38.248 seconds, 2-27-05)
Track race record: Jeff Gordon (155.012 mph, 6-22-97)

Estimated Pit Window: Every 40-44 laps, based on fuel mileage

Budweiser Shootout Final Practice Driver Rating

by Micah Roberts

Saturday’s Budweiser Shootout at Daytona signals a shift in seasons throughout the sporting world. It’s a sign that football is one game away from beginning a long hibernation and pitchers and catchers will be soon reporting for spring training.


The Shootout is a non-points 75-lap race and gives fans a thrill as an appetizer for next Sunday’s Daytona 500. Everyone will get to see right away how some of NASCAR’s new, more loosely interpreted, rules will unfold before the season opener.

The race involves the best of the best in NASCAR taking the 12 Chase drivers from last season, past Cup Champions, past Bud Shootout winners, past Daytona 500 winners, past Daytona Coke Zero 400 winners, and the rookie of the year winner from the previous season.

Because NASCAR cut back costs to help the smaller teams, there was no pre-season practice at Daytona or Las Vegas for the second consecutive year.

Thursday’s Budweiser Shootout practice at Daytona was the first time we were all able to see how some of those changes would affect the racing and right away we got a quick answer in the first of two practice sessions. Two of the NASCAR changes were tested immediately.

The first dealt with bump-drafting and NASCAR allowing more of it in the plate races. Late in the session, Joey Logano bump drafted Denny Hamlin into the rear of Martin’s car wrecking a total of six cars. Hamlin, Martin, and Jamie McMurray will all be forced to use back-up cars in the race.

The next change tested was NASCAR’s new policy in their tolerance of drivers showing more personality and emotion on the track with less repercussions. Both Hamlin and Martin agreed that it was just one of those racing things negating a situation that usually is a recipe for some finger pointing, new policy or not.

In the second session, one of the few jalopies on the race track, driven by John Andretti, slowed causing Juan Pablo Montoya to got into the back of Kurt Busch in a chain reaction that led to Busch crashing into the wall. Busch will go to a back up for Saturday’s race.

The fastest in the first practice session was Jeff Burton who ran 19 laps with the quickest coming in at 193.303 mph. Before McMurray wrecked, he had came in with the second fastest lap just ahead of the favorite to win the race, Kyle Busch.

In the final practice Kasey Kahne led the way with the fastest lap of 191.673 mph. He ran only two laps but seemed happy afterwards when he twittered, “Bud car is pretty fast! Feel pretty good.”

There is nothing better than knowing your driver likes his car when the practice results already said so. What’s even better is when your driver is faster and you find 20 to 1 to win the race like Kahne’s odds were in Las Vegas sports books prior to the practice sessions.

Following Kahne was Ken Schrader with the second fastest lap. Schrader is using his past Bud Shootout wins from 1989 and 1990 to qualify in the race using Scott Speed’s car.

Rounding out the top three in times for the final session was last years Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth.

The best current driver in this short Saturday special race format has been Tony Stewart. Over the last nine years Stewart has won three times and has an average finish of 4.1 over the same span. In the last four seasons, Stewart’s worst finish has been third place which is why he is just a notch below Kyle Busch as the pre-practice favorite to win at 7 to 1.

Kyle Busch has had best overall restrictor plate car over the last two seasons while driving a Joe Gibbs Toyota which has made him the 6 to 1 favorite. Even though Busch’s best finish has only been seventh in his three previous starts, he still has two plate win in the last two years overall and likely should have had at least two more.

Where a drivers starts means very little in Saturday’s race, as is the case with all restrictor plate races. Last season was the perfect example. Only 28 cars started the Budwesier Shootout and the eventual winner, Kevin Harvick, started in the last row out of the No. 28 position. This race is wide open with several candidates to win.

Busch Like Saints in Super Bowl

Since Kyle Busch is from Las Vegas, the sports betting capital of the world, and he is the favorite to win Saturday’s Budweiser Shootout and next weeks Daytona 500, his thoughts on the Super Bowl merit some exposure.

“I think the Saints are going to beat the Colts. They both have really good offenses, and Peyton Manning is playing out of his mind right now, but I just think this is the Saints’ year. Their offense has really come together, and the defense is playing better than some had expected. As for a score, I say Saints 31, Colts 28 in a tight game.”

Pretty good analysis Kyle, but he may be in trouble with the score as he's in the same boat with me. I had almost the same score with the Saints winning 31-24.

What Goes Into The Final Driver Rating?
Each week I will provide an analysis of my top rated drivers to do well in the race based on the following criteria:
* Practice sessions leading up to the weekend’s Sprint Cup race
* Chassis information on what was brought to each track by each team; good or bad
* Driver tendencies at certain tracks
* Recent and past history for each driver at each track
* Decipher poor past results with what really happened, good car - bad luck?

These weekly ratings should help assist in final betting strategies with odds to win, driver match-ups, and prop plays, as well as help in NASCAR fantasy leagues.

Restrictor plate races are the most volatile and also the easiest to win at with not having the best car. The weekly drivers rating will hold the truest at all other tracks away from Daytona and Talladega.

Roberts Top-10 Post Practice Driver Rating
Budweiser Shootout
Daytona International Speedway
Saturday, February 6, 2010 5:10 pm (PT) TV:FOX

Rating - Driver - odds - notes
1. Tony Stewart 7/1: 3-time winner of event, 4.1 avg finish in last 9 starts
2. Kyle Busch 6/1: 2 plate race wins last 2 years with Gibbs, should have more
3. Jimmie Johnson 9/1: ‘05 winner of event, 2 plate wins, HBO should motivate him more
4. Jeff Burton 20/1: 1 plate win, Childress team much improved and should make chase
5. Denny Hamlin 12/1: won ‘06 event as rookie, Gibbs plate power, ACL injury shouldn't matter
6. Kasey Kahne 20/1: In Ford with Roush alliance. Roush 2 plate wins. Kahne fast in final practice
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr 10/1: 2-time winner of event, 2010 to be good year. Loves plate racing
8. Jamie McMurray 20/1: won fall Daytona race last year. Looked fast early on in car that wrecked
9. Kevin Harvick 13/1:  won event in ‘09, won Daytona 500 in ‘07. Childress cars going to be good
10. Mark Martin 10/1: won event in ‘99, 2 career plate wins at Dega
* Harvick was out with the flu - Clint Bowyer drove in 1st practice with Burton in 2nd practice