After a boring Saturday night race at Richmond the Chase field is set. Most of the race looked like follow-the-leader. The drivers seemed to all cautiously proceed toward the finish line. It was painfully boring. As the end of the race approached a bit of action ensued, only a little bit.
Ryan Newman took over the lead late in the race and the controversial moment occurred shortly thereafter. Clint Bowyer suddenly spun out for no apparent reason, bringing out the caution. A relatively slow pit stop put Newman in fifth position for the restart and put Carl Edwards in the lead with only a few laps to go. Carl beat the leader (Paul Menard in the 27) to the start-finish line and kept the lead.
Newman missed the Chase by not winning the race. Clint Bowyer’s teammate Martin Truex Jr. was able to restart and finish in a better position which put him in the Chase (along with a tie-breaker – he had a second place finish earlier in the season which broke the tie in his favor). The radio chatter shortly before the spin was strange and a little suspicious with Clint getting asked if his arm was starting to hurt and told to ‘itch it’. Then he spins which changed the course of the race. Such an uproar followed that NASCAR is going to investigate the incident, though it seems a cursory response to the ballyhoo. I’m guessing they will find they don’t have sufficient evidence to punish Clint and they didn’t have sufficient cause to punish Carl for jumping the restart.
It’s interesting that it was reported that Carl asked about jumping restarts during the driver’s meeting. The previous night at the Nationwide race Keselowski jumped the start, beating Brian Scott to the finish line and winning the race. Dale Jarrett had no problem with Keselowski jumping the start and not getting punished (the same way he had no problem with Jimmy getting punished for jumping the start several months ago). Conversely, on Sunday, he was virtually jumping up and down, outraged that NASCAR didn’t call Carl on jumping the restart. Of course, he had a dog in the fight. His son is spotter for Newman’s team.
This restart thing keeps coming up, so I imagine NASCAR might modify the procedure next season to try to resolve the issue. Certain drivers, like Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards are notorious for jumping restarts. Rarely are they even cautioned for it. Brad also likes to drag his brakes and cause the second place car to either beat him to the finish line or end up spinning the tires on the restart. If the drivers refuse to follow the rules, then NASCAR will have to step in and make changes.
Jimmie had another bloody awful night – alternator cable issues, a blown tire – just awful. He started at the back since he missed practice and qualifying. He stayed home Friday with the new baby, Lydia, and Chani. He was able to make it to the 20s before seeming to stall out. Then the problems began. He’s been having pretty bad luck the past few weeks. I hope his luck becomes excellent for The Chase.
The 2013 NASCAR Chase For The Sprint Cup field is as follows:
Carl Edwards
Jimmie Johnson
Clint Bowyer
Kevin Harvick
Kyle Busch
Matt Kenseth
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Kurt Busch
Greg Biffle
Joey Logano
Kasey Kahne (wild card – 2 wins)
Martin Truex Jr. (wild car – 12th postion)
Kenseth has the most wins, with five, and is the top seed. Carl ended up finishing first in the points after Jimmie’s nightmare night pushed him back to second place.
So, Jeff Gordon will not run for the championship this year, nor will Ryan Newman, 2012 Champion Brad Keselowski, Smoke (Tony Stewart) is out for the rest of the year recovering from a broken leg that required surgeries, so he missed the Chase.
I was pleased to see Joey, Kasey and Martin make the Chase. Joey has worked hard and had some phenomenal runs. The same can be said for Kasey and Martin. These guys have worked really hard throughout the season and frequently had really bad luck. I mean Martin is driving with a broken wrist. Joey was bullied/harrassed by Denny Hamlin for the first half of the season. These guys have really overcome quite a few obstacles to get there. I would’ve liked to have seen Jeff Gordon in the Chase, but think he needs a crew-chief change to improve his season.
Bunny D and I have a theory. Well I have a theory and she went along with it. I believe Kharv stole the golden horseshoe when he ‘outed’ it and gave it to Kelan as a training tool. I believe Lydia might be able to charm it away from Kelan and return the good fortune to the 48 team. More than anything NASCAR I hope the 48 team will be Sprint Cup Champions at the end of the season.
The racing was so boring on Friday and Saturday nights I can’t get up the gumption to actually bother with the truck race from Iowa this weekend.
In NASCAR news this week:
- Burton is out at RCR. The 31 car will have a new driver in 2014 as Jeff Burton announces he will not return . According to the story he and RC accelerated a plan for Jeff to go part-time. Rumor has it Ryan Newman will take over the ride.
- Stremme is out of the 30 after Richmond. Due to irreconcilable differences Cole Whitt will be in the 30 car after the final race of the regular season. It seems David Stremme and the general manager os Swan Racing couldn’t agree on the future direction for the car. I’m guessing a few start and parks are in its future.
- Bobby Labonte will miss the Richmond race. Bobby continues to recover from the three broken ribs suffered during a cycling accident.
- Jimmy Johnson is a father for the second time. Lydia Norris Johnson was born at 2:02am September 6, 2013. Mother and daughter are said to be doing fine. Regan Smith practiced and qualified the 48 car on Friday.
- Smoke is back at the track. Doctors have cleared Tony Stewart to return to the track while he recovers from a broken leg.
Nationwide Series Headlines:
Camping World Truck Series Headlines:
- Canadian Series driver Mike Skeen’s girlfriend has been banned indefinitely after slapping Max Papis in the face after the Truck Race in Ontario.
- Ross Chastain wins his first CWTS pole.