You know what they say, it only takes a few to ruin it for the many.
It seems that after a few incidents with Kyle Busch, NASCAR is pondering the “Boys have at it” stance, and trying to determine where the line should be drawn when it comes to letting the drivers settle things amongst themselves.
It wasn’t just Kyle Busch, but also incidents with Brian Vickers “fencing” Tony Stewart onto a pile of tires at Infineon an then again, Vickers raging vendetta against Matt Kenseth at Martinsville. (If you remember that race, that was a pretty piss-poor move on Vickers part… blatant and arrogant.)
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NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton feels that generally speaking, the self-policing policy is working. It would only be the intent of a few that are making headlines from the sport.
He also pointed out that he’s also aware of differences like retaliations at a small track vs a high-speed track, and takes everything into consideration.
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At one point, drivers weren’t sure where the line lay, as far as having gone too far with their need for retaliation.
Common sense says one thing, but in the height of competition, it can become an entirely different beast.
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Find out who won a few NASCAR Loopies awards, how many years Sprint has renewed their title sponsorship for and the specials on SPEED that are focused on the NASCAR HoF inductees!
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I have a collection of press releases sitting in my inbox so I thought I’d share some of these items.
Sprint Extends Their Contract
First up, NASCAR and Sprint have extended their relationship with each other, through the year of 2016. And that’s a good thing, considering how some sponsors aren’t fully committing to sponsorships within the sport.
So to Sprint, thank you for re-upping and remaining the entitlement partner to NASCAR.
Sprint Nextel has been the NASCAR title sponsor since February of 2004.
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NASCAR’s Loopies
NASCAR has put together what they call The Loopies, or their fifth annual Best-Of-Loop Data from the 2011 season. That’s right, the statistical look at some milestones in on-track performance.
And they added a new category that is funny and interesting, that has to do with Brad Keselowski.
But first some simple Loop stats:
“There were 131,989 green flag passes this season, the most since NASCAR started recording the stat in 2005. Though not Loop Data, there were also an average of 27.1 lead changes and 12.8 leaders per race, both Cup Series records.”
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Going into Texas Motor Speedway this weekend, the battle for the NASCAR 2011 championship is getting interesting. At least it looks like it is.
First up, the schedule for Texas:
NSCS
- Next Race: AAA Texas 500
- The Place: Texas Motor Speedway
- The Date: Sunday, Nov. 6
- The Time: 3 p.m. (ET)
- TV: ESPN, 2 p.m. (ET)
- Radio: PRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
- Distance: 501 miles (334 laps)
NNS
- The Race: O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge
- The Place: Texas Motor Speedway
- The Date: Saturday, Nov. 5
- The Time: 12:55 p.m. (ET)
- TV: ESPN2, 12 p.m. (ET)
- Radio: PRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
- Distance: 300 miles (200 laps)
NCWTS
- The Race: WinStar World Casino 350K
- The Place: Texas Motor Speedway
- Date: Friday, Nov. 4
- The Time: 8 p.m. (ET)
- TV: SPEED, 7:30 p.m. (ET)
- Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
- Distance: 220.5 miles (147 laps)
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The top five drivers in the standings have curiously interesting stats. Though Matt Kenseth is 36 points behind Carl Edwards with only three races to go, all it would take is a fluke of a flat tire or even some from of karma from all the fender carnage that Edwards dished out last year and suddenly, Kenseth wouldn’t be that far back!
Looking at driver ratings, here’s how the top 6 spots shake out statistically…
| Driver |
[Driver Ratings Rank] |
| Matt Kenseth |
1st |
| Tony Stewart |
2nd |
| Jimmie Johnson |
4th |
| Carl Edwards |
5th |
| Kevin Harvick |
14th |
| Brad Keselowski |
32nd |
But those are driver ratings that also score various factors like laps led, quality passes and a few other things that to me, don’t rate. To me, looking at the average finish of these drivers and see what’s going on there….
| Driver |
Average Texas Finish |
| Matt Kenseth |
9th |
| Jimmie Johnson |
10th |
| Tony Stewart |
13th |
| Kevin Harvick |
13th |
| Carl Edwards |
16th |
| Brad Keselowski |
24th |
Depending on weather, how the car unloads, and various other unknown factors, these stats could mean absolutely nothing. The above average finishing spots are only a few points apart. Nothing huge and nothing that statistically threatens Edwards.
What I’d like to see is combining these stats with practice speeds and qualifying that that may very well be quite telling.
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This last weekend, NASCAR‘s TUMS Fast Relief 500 race from Martinsville mixed up the drivers points standings quite a bit…
The big surprise was that Carl Edwards pulled one out of his back pocket and found himself finishing 9th. But other contenders for the Cup had unfortunate finishes and dates with the wall, dropping themselves farther back in the points.
The great surprise for Tony Stewart fans was his battle to take the lead and win the race in front of Jimmie Johnson. Johnson could have dumped Stewart coming out of turn 4, headed for the checkers, but he didn’t. I was impressed by his self-control in the matter. Besides, he might have had to back his car into the wall if he did win! (D’oh!)
The finishing positions of the Chase Contenders looked like this:
| FIN |
DRIVER |
| 1st |
Tony Stewart |
| 2nd |
Jimmie Johnson |
| 3rd |
Jeff Gordon |
| 4th |
Kevin Harvick |
| 5th |
Denny Hamlin |
| 7th |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
| 9th |
Carl Edwards |
| 10th |
Ryan Newman |
| 14th |
Kurt Busch |
| 17th |
Brad Keselowski |
| 27th |
Kyle Busch |
| 31st |
Matt Kenseth |
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With NASCAR headed to the tight confines of the classic and timeless 1-mile paperclip track called Martinsville, we have numerous factors to ponder.
First and foremost is to remember the loss of so many from the NASCAR family so many years ago. That is something we will never forget.
But Martinsville is also known for the tight racing it produces and the frustrated tempers that can explode later.
Looking at our NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase Contenders coming into this Wheel-man’s track, even if Carl Edwards has been practicing on the simulator, or if he does poorly, statistics say he won’t be threatened too much by the 2nd and 3rd place contenders, though the 4th through 7th place drivers might be able to shore up their point spread a bit, if luck is on their side.
If any of these top-5 contenders win, each story will be a unique and fantastic story in and of themselves.. with Keselowski actually in the top-5, with Kenseth lurking with top-10 finishes, as is Harvick… And then there’s Stewart… he’s capable, but is his equipment? Regardless, I believe one of them will be the man who will be known for having dethroned Jimmie Johnson.
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Below I look at each of drivers NASCAR season driver rating, and then compare and show their numbers as related to the track…
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NASCAR has done it… they’ve made enough adjustments over the last few years and they have finally unpacked the pack of cars that we have been used to seeing over the years at Talladega.
But is that good or bad? We now have tandem drafting, with its own hazards, as the back car can’t see what the front car sees, or reacts to.
And that was seemingly what happened in several incidents at the Good Sam Club 500 at Talladega. With 72 lead changes amongst 26 drivers, Carl Edwards extended his championship points lead up to 14 points today.
And as you can see, the drafting and some race incidents impacted the Championship contenders…
FINISHING CHART for the ‘Good Sam Club 500:’
| Finishing |
CAR # |
DRIVER |
|
| Pos. 1 |
33 |
Clint Bowyer |
|
| Pos. 2 |
31 |
Jeff Burton |
|
| Pos. 3 |
36 |
Dave Blaney |
|
| Pos. 4 |
2 |
Brad Keselowski |
Chase Contender |
| Pos. 5 |
83 |
Brian Vickers |
|
| Pos. 6 |
4 |
Kasey Kahne |
|
| Pos. 7 |
14 |
Tony Stewart |
Chase Contender |
| Pos. 8 |
11 |
Denny Hamlin |
Chase Contender |
| Pos. 9 |
115 |
Michael Waltrip |
|
| Pos. 10 |
56 |
Martin Truex Jr. |
|
| Pos. 11 |
99 |
Carl Edwards |
Chase Contender |
| Pos. 18 |
17 |
Matt Kenseth |
Chase Contender |
| Pos. 25 |
88 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Chase Contender |
| Pos. 26 |
48 |
Jimmie Johnson |
Chase Contender |
| Pos. 27 |
24 |
Jeff Gordon |
Chase Contender |
| Pos. 32 |
29 |
Kevin Harvick |
Chase Contender |
| Pos. 33 |
18 |
Kyle Busch |
Chase Contender |
| Pos. 36 |
22 |
Kurt Busch |
Chase Contender |
| Pos. 38 |
39 |
Ryan Newman |
Chase Contender |
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This weekend, we have the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series leagues hitting up Talladega Superspeedway. Specifically, we’re looking at the Cup Series winding down and who will win the championship. I have schedules, some thoughts, then point standings and at the bottom, some Talladega-specific stats for the top-12 spots.
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
- Next Race: Good Sam Club 500
- The Place: Talladega Superspeedway
- The Date: Sunday, Oct. 23
- The Time: 2:00 p.m. (ET)
- TV: ESPN, 1 p.m. (ET)
- Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
- Distance: 500 miles (188 laps)
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NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
- The Race: Coca Cola 250 Powered by Fred’s
- The Place: Talladega Superspeedway
- Date: Saturday, Oct. 22
- The Time: 4 p.m. (ET)
- TV: SPEED, 3:30 p.m. (ET)
- Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
- Distance: 250.04 miles (94 laps)
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Jimmie Needs to Points Race (Play if Safe)
Coming into the superspeedway, Carl Edwards has a five-point lead over Kevin Harvick coming into Talladega, and Jimmie Johnson‘s mistake that put him into a wall at Charlotte dropped him five spots, down into 8th, and 35 points out of first. If Talladega strikes at him like it does when those big wrecks happen, we could be writing off Jimmie Johnson’s chances for the NASCAR title for 2011.
Carl Edwards Should Worry
Coming into Talladega, Edwards has the points lead, but this track does not like him. Looking at Loop Data, this is his worse track, with a driver rating of 67.8, an average finish of 20th.
But that’s how dancing with this track can be. And it can be ugly to points leaders:
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With the NASCAR‘s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway in the books, it looked like another points blender event in The Chase, and we’re suddenly starting to see a pattern developing with the top 6 spots in The Chase for the Cup. And one of those patterns involves the last ten races and a certain blue & silver car team turning it on.
Jimmie Johnson won the Hollywood Casino 400 as he paced the field, while forty-two other cars jockeyed for positions behind the blue & silver Lowe’s Chevy No. 48 car for the entire race. And Jimmie Johnson winning moved himself 2 more spots up the points standings, putting him in third place, only 4 points out of first.
And after Kansas, there are now only nine teams within one race’s worth of points (43, not counting bonuses) behind the points leader.
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Here’s how it’s looking after Kansas:
1st: Despite straggling along all day, Carl Edwards managed a 5th place finish and that was good enough to propel him 1 spot up the standings into the points lead.
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Two races into NASCAR’s Chase for the Cup. Can Tony Stewart be called the sleeping dragon which awoke? Or Denny Hamlin, the little train that couldn’t?
One friend I know over at WOMR suggests that like the mythical Phoenix, Tony Stewart has risen from the ashes of his 2011 NASCAR season. He also thinks that Denny Hamlin is down and done in The Chase.
As far as the Kyle and Kurt, well, he says the leaves are starting to fall off the two Busch’s.
I can’t argue with Leon’s thoughts. They’re all valid, but as long as any team is within 24 points of the lead, ANYTHING can happen to swap things up. That for me, is the magic cut off point.
In fact, after race one, the magic cut-off was 48 points behind the lead. The difference between 1st and last place finishing spots. But as the contenders progress through The Chase, that number gets a bit smaller each race. But for anyone outside of 30 points down, I am not holding my breath!
Technically, one has to be within 48 points of the leader to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but realistically, for someone to be 48 points out, they would have to win, get bonus points, and the guy that was 48 points in front of them would have to falter and come in last. Seriously?
Going into Dover:
| 1 |
Tony Stewart |
2094 |
Leader |
| 2 |
Kevin Harvick |
2087 |
-7 |
| 3 |
Brad Keselowski |
2083 |
-11 |
| 4 |
Carl Edwards |
2080 |
-14 |
| 5 |
Jeff Gordon |
2071 |
-23 |
| 6 |
Kyle Busch |
2068 |
-26 |
| 7 |
Matt Kenseth |
2068 |
-26 |
| 8 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
2068 |
-26 |
| 9 |
Kurt Busch |
2066 |
-28 |
| 10 |
Jimmie Johnson |
2065 |
-29 |
| 11 |
Ryan Newman |
2060 |
-34 |
| 12 |
Denny Hamlin |
2028 |
-66 |
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I don’t know if you heard, but as NASCAR qualifying was charging along, Brian Vickers had the pole, and then, with five cars left to qualify, the rain came. That’s in this second race of the 10-event final rounds pursuit , the Chase for the Sprint Cup or just called, The Chase!
Juan Montoya had declined to take to the track at that point, with a light drizzle, and Montoya was noted in saying that
“Send out the No. 48, if he’s so brave.”
Talk about nerves being frazzled by weather! I was worried for Vickers, after all their hard work, it might go by the wayside, but then they got qualifying back under way and Ryan Newman ended up snagging the pole.
Here’s where the Chase drivers sit in the field after qualifying:
Ryan Newman (1st),
Kurt Busch (5th),
Kevin Harvick (6th),
Jeff Gordon (7th),
Kyle Busch (8th),
Jimmie Johnson (10th),
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (12th),
Brad Keselowski (16th),
Tony Stewart (20th),
Carl Edwards (23rd),
Matt Kenseth (27th) and
Denny Hamlin (28th).
(Race Lineup )
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