NASCAR Fines The Wrong People, Networks Are NASCAR Dumbasses

Last weekend after the NASCAR Sprint Cup at Charlotte Motor Speedway, there was quite the fracas between drivers.  Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski were playing car tag and spinning each other on the track during the warm down laps.  Matt Kenseth charged up behind Brad Keselowski, in front of cameras, blind siding him and getting him in a headlock.  Word was that Hamlin and Keselowski were having an angry car chase through the garages, inches from pedestrians.

And after all that, NASCAR fines Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski (BK).

Oh, yes, after BK was spun, he bumped into Tony Stewart's rear bumper. In reply, Stewart put it in reverse and "floored" it, nearly demolishing the front end of BK's car.

Where do I begin?

There was concern on the air from drivers about the car wars game that went on, on the track, between Hamlin and BK. The think was, they were talking about getting hit while they were removing their helmets and safety gear.

I for one, for years, have worried about when drivers start dismantling their safety gear while they're still on the track and would look forward to the day that they are required to retain all gear in place, until they're off the racing and pit stalls surface.

It is just too dangerous to be pulling off your gear when there's the potential for someone to pull an ass-hat move while a driver sits unprotected.

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There is that anger that is always just under the skin of Tony Stewart. I presumed it was his temper, combined with something BK did, considering everyone seemed mad at BK.

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Then there was Matt Kenseth. Very unlike him, but he was unraveled and wanted a piece of BK. This, after damaging BK's car during a caution flag, in retaliation for something BK did to him.

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And finally, there was Hamlin and BK, including the quickie car chase through the garages. THAT seemed dangerous.

But Hamlin and Kenseth skated somehow while Stewart and BK got the fines, looking like NASCAR was turning a blind eye towards the part that Hamlin played in the situation.

But then there was the media coverage of the event after the fact.

First things first... if you're going to cover an event, have your reporter watch the last 30 minutes of any telecast before the start reporting bulls*!

Johnson vs. Kenseth vs Harvick at Homestead Boils Down To Luck

We're headed into the final weekend of the 2013 Sprint Cup season.  It's coming down to three teams who are mathematically within reach of that big trophy.

Matt Kenseth is 28 points behind Jimmie Johnson.  Harvick is 34 points behind the 48-car helmer.

By plain appearances alone, the championship is Johnson's to lose.

If Jimmie Johnson finishes 23rd or better in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400, the championship is his.  No matter what.  {24th or better if he leads a lap and 25th or better if he leads the most laps.}

Driver Ratings:

Looking at the season-to-date driver ratings.  Johnson: 110.3, Kenseth: 110.0, Harvick: 95.0

Homestead Speedway stats:

Average finishes:  Johnson: 15.3;  Kenseth: 17.6;  Harvick: 7.9.

Homestead Driver Ratings

Johnson: 95.1;  Kenseth: 106.0;  Harvick: 100.1

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Yet there's one more aspect that no one can calculate:

The one thing no one can predict is luck.  Luck could hold her hand and let the race run its course on Sunday. Or luck can take but a moment and ruin anyone's day.  Remember Mark Martin at Talladega a few years back, just before the green flag when his car veered left because his steering wheel broke?

The Tension

Yep, the tension that fans will be experiencing during the race will be based on what is going on around Jimmie Johnson.

Will a tiny $5 part go poof?

A tire go bad?

A competitor slip just enough to tweak a fender and ruin Johnson's day?

A pit road penalty?

Or even a silly error on Johnson's part.  He's made those over the last few years during the chase.  Keeping him out of contention.

Crap, even an extremely poorly placed bird shit could ruin his day.

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If I were Kevin Harvick, I might secretly hope that Johnson and Kenseth rub fenders and give each other flat tires, letting him cruise to the championship.  (Without the crash...  just tire going down kind of pit stops.  Many of them.) 

Because face it, if Harvick does well enough and by the freakiest of chances, both Johnson and Kenseth finish 42nd and 43rd... or far enough back...  well, it would be an interesting parting gift from Kevin to RCR.

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Despite the lack of a tight points race like seasons prior, there is still going to be tension in the air for Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick fans.  And more than likely the TV coverage is going to be annoying if you're a fan of any other driver because all cameras will probably be on the 48 car more often than not.  (To be honest, the TV guys have it tough trying to appease everyone...  but still.)

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(Photos via NASCAR/Getty Images)

With Three To Go, Who Has The Edge?

With three races to go, NASCAR is calling the race for the championship the closest race in NASCAR history.  That's a little unfair considering that pre-new-points era, the points structure was so different that it's like comparing how fast light is, versus how fast a car is. 

For example, in their "One race to go" chart, they have Darrell Waltrip 2 points over Richard Petty as the closest points margin.  This was back in 1979.

The next closest is 3 points with Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart.

But Carl and Tony's gap is three positions apart by today's standards, while the Waltrip/Petty gap was less then one position.

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			W	t5	t10
Matt Kenseth	2294		7	10	18
Jimmie Johnson	2294		5	14	21
Jeff Gordon	2267	-27	1	8	17
Kevin Harvick	2266	-28	3	8	18
Kyle Busch	2258	-36	4	16	20
Clint Bowyer	2239	-55	0	9	17
Dale Earnhardt Jr	2238	-56	0	7	19
Greg Biffle	2236	-58	1	4	13
Kurt Busch	2219	-75	0	10	15
Carl Edwards	2218	-76	2	9	16
Joey Logano	2209	-85	1	10	16
Ryan Newman	2188	-106	1	6	16
Kasey Kahne	2170	-124	2	9	12

But be it as it may, if tied is close, so be it.  It's a great tension builder, that's for sure.  And mathematically, everyone is still in it.  But realistically, I'm looking at everyone who is one-race's worth of points within the lead.  And that narrows it down to the top-5 drivers.

But both point leaders, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson are 27 points ahead of the next guy, Jeff Gordon, so the focus is on these guys.

But even though Jimmie and Matt are tied, with the tie-breaker going to Matt, Jimmie has caught Matt because four races ago, he was 9 points out of first.  And Jeff Gordon was 39 points out of first.

If you do the math, Jeff is coming on strong and Jimmie is overtaking Kenseth.

But these next three tracks can make or break these guys.

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So how did my predictions from earlier in the chase do?

I was looking at Johnson, Harvick and Kyle Busch as contending for the championship.  Well at least my selected drivers are in the top half of the field.

And Johnson is leaning on Kenseth, keeping him honest or more conservative.  Depending on how you look at it.  Either way, it should be interesting when Homestead comes around.

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With Six Races To Go, Who Do You Think Will Win It?

Back on Sept 23rd, I was touting my theoretical perspective that the top points leaders going into the Chase for the Cup will be the top contenders for the 2013 Sprint Cup Championship.

My perspective was to look at the points before they got reseeded into the Chase.  With that said, before Richmond, the top-five drivers in points were

Jimmie Johnson,
Clint Bowyer,
Kevin Harvick,
Carl Edwards and
Kyle Busch

But by virtue of top-ten finishes, I took a stand and narrowed my choices down to Johnson, Ky Busch and Logano.

Hmm.

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Then this is how they looked after Richmond, seeded into the Chase:

       
1         Matt Kenseth
2         Jimmie Johnson
3         Kyle Busch
4         Kevin Harvick
5         Carl Edwards
6         Joey Logano
7         Greg Biffle
8         Clint Bowyer
9         Dale Earnhardt Jr
10         Kurt Busch
11         Kasey Kahne
12         Martin Truex Jr

(Obviously, that was before Truex got the boot!)

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And after a race or two, here's what the points looked like after New Hampshire:

Matt Kenseth 2111
Kyle Busch (-14)
Jimmie Johnson (-18)
Carl Edwards (-36)
Greg Biffle (-38)
Kevin Harvick (-39)
Kurt Busch (-40)
Jeff Gordon (-42)
Ryan Newman (-47)
Clint (I didn't spin) Bowyer (-48)
Dale Earnhardt jr. (-62)
Joey Logano (-69)
Kasey Kahne (-71)

Look at that 14 point spread between 1st and 2nd!

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After Week 2, The Chase Points Unfold

I said a few weeks back that despite loading up the Chase field with 12 (13 this year, thanks to Chase-Gate) drivers is almost a moot point.  The top 3 to 5 guys in points headed into Richmond are the guys to beat.

Back then I sorted out the drivers via how they've performed via top-5 and 10 finishes.

I ended up looking at Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, by virtue of their top-10 finishes.  And if my stats would stay faithful, I "suggested" that this would be Kyle Busch's year, barring horrid luck.

Now, after two races in the books, the top-12 positions are splaying out nicely.

My Logano suggestion has panned out... he's 69 points behind Matt (Let's win the first two races) Kenseth.  69 points is pretty big, but not insurmountable yet.

My other two choices are hot on the tail of Kenseth, that being Kyle Busch (14 back) and Johnson (18 behind Kenseth).

NASCAR Nationwide Series Official Race Results from Daytona

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES OFFICIAL RACE REPORT No. 16
12TH ANNUAL SUBWAY FIRECRACKER "250"
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

Daytona Beach, FL - July 5, 2013
2.5-Mile Oval
100 Laps - 250 Miles Purse: $1,265,183

Matt Kenseth won the Subway Firecracker 250 Powered by Coca-Cola, his 27th NASCAR Nationwide Series victory. Prior to the green flag, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reason indicated: No. 70 (driver change), No. 77 (unapproved adjustments).

TIME OF RACE: 1 hour, 43 minutes, 56 seconds   AVERAGE SPEED: 145.767 mph   MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.189 second(s)

COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Austin Dillon (178.934 mph. 50.298 secs.)

3M LAP LEADER: Matt Kenseth (16 Laps )

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Fin	Car			Series	Bonus		Laps
Pos	No	Driver	Laps	Points	Points	Status	Led
1	18	Matt Kenseth	101	0	0	Running	16
2	34	James Buescher	101	0	0	Running	1
3	11	Elliott Sadler	101	42	1	Running	2
4	1	Kurt Busch	101	0	0	Running	2
5	3	Austin Dillon	101	40	1	Running	5
6	32	Kyle Larson #	101	39	1	Running	2
7	12	Sam Hornish Jr	101	39	2	Running	61
8	7	Regan Smith	101	37	1	Running	1
9	22	Joey Logano	101	0	0	Running	3
10	6	Trevor Bayne	101	35	1	Running	1
11	54	Kyle Busch	101	0	0	Running
12	31	Justin Allgaier	101	33	1	Running	1
13	20	Brian Vickers	101	32	1	Running	4
14	19	Mike Bliss	101	30	0	Running
15	43	Michael Annett	101	29	0	Running
16	44	Cole Whitt	101	28	0	Running
17	2	Brian Scott	101	28	1	Running	1
18	77	Parker Kligerman	101	26	0	Running
19	87	Joe Nemechek	101	25	0	Running
20	99	Alex Bowman #	101	24	0	Running
21	30	Nelson Piquet Jr #	101	23	0	Running
22	51	Jeremy Clements	101	22	0	Running
23	4	Landon Cassill	101	21	0	Running
24	14	Eric McClure	101	20	0	Running
25	55	Jamie Dick	101	19	0	Running
26	98	Kevin Swindell #	101	18	0	Running
27	33	Ty Dillon	101	0	0	Running
28	5	Brad Sweet	101	16	0	Running
29	85	Bobby Gerhart	101	15	0	Running
30	70	Jeff Green	99	14	0	Running
31	74	Mike Harmon	99	13	0	Running
32	23	Robert Richardson	96	12	0	Accident
33	79	Jeffrey Earnhardt #	96	11	0	Accident
34	60	Travis Pastrana	95	11	1	Accident	1
35	24	Jason White	95	9	0	Accident
36	52	Joey Gase	90	8	0	Running
37	1	Mike Wallace	87	7	0	Engine
38	92	Dexter Stacey #	76	6	0	Axle
39	40	Reed Sorenson	70	5	0	Engine
40	89	Morgan Shepherd	21	4	0	Rear Gear

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Caution Flags: 4 cautions for 16 laps. [Beneficiary in Brackets]
49-52 (Debris Backstretch [77]);
72-77 (Fluid On The Track [14]);
91-93 (Car #01 Stopped On Track [23]);
97-99 (Car #79, 23, 24, 60, 44, 55 Accident Turn 4 [Red Flag 9 Mins 49 Secs.] [85]).

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-Bruce - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Official Race Results From Kentucky

The 3rd annual Quaker State 400 from Kentucky Speedway turned into an interesting race for an oval, once it got started.

The race was rained delayed from Saturday evening to Sunday at noon, but then it got off without a hitch.  Sort of.

The early excitement was contributed to, I'm sure, because no one was set up for daytime racing.  And though we usually don't see a ton of excitement on these mile and half ovals, Kentucky gave us quite the show Sunday, if you look at the cautions that came out during the race:

Caution Flags: 10 cautions for 42 laps. [Beneficiary in Brackets]
32-35 (Competition [34]);
39-42 (Debris (Turn 4) [11]);
44-46 (Car #18 Spinout (Turn 2) [36]);
49-51 (Car #2, 7, 16, 27, 33, 78, 93 Accident (Turn 1; Red Flag: Lap 49, 18:37) [35]);
89-94 (Debris (Backstretch) [17]);
108-112 (Debris (Turn 1) [13]);
149-154 (Car #11 Accident (Turn 4) [24]);
196-199 (Debris (Backstretch) [10]);
243-246 (Car #55 Accident (Turn 3) [10]);
248-250 (Car #48 Spinout (Turn 2) [34]).

And you have to love restarts, that's for sure.  Or, at least I hope you did.
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And the action proved to be pretty decent up front.  The restarts were pretty exciting with the race getting on in laps, the restarts had more and more cars 3, 4 and 5 wide in all the restart excitement.  At least until turns one or two sorted things out.

And I was surprised by the number of drivers that led laps on Sunday:

Lap Leaders: 11 lead changes among 6 drivers.
Earnhardt Jr-pole,
Edwards 1-31,
Earnhardt Jr 32,
Gilliland 33,
Earnhardt Jr 34-42,
Johnson 43-94,
Kenseth 95-108,
Johnson 109-149,
Mears 150,
Edwards 151-154,
Johnson 155-243,
Kenseth 244-267.

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As the laps wound down, I was sure Jimmie Johnson would prevail and make this another ho-hum finish, but alas, rather than boring us, he got himself spun out with very few laps to go, and gave the race over to Matt Kenseth!  (All while Johnson still recovered and managed to work his way back up through the laps, finishing 9th.)

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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES OFFICIAL RACE REPORT No. 17
3RD ANNUAL QUAKER STATE "400" PRESENTED BY ADVANCE AUTO PARTS
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY

Sparta, KY - June 30, 2013
1.5-Mile Oval
267 Laps - 400.5 Miles Purse: $5,088,336

Failed to qualify: n/a
Race Comments: Matt Kenseth won the Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts, his 28th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.
TIME OF RACE:3 hours, 2 minutes, 7 seconds AVERAGE SPEED:131.948 mph MARGIN OF VICTORY:0.699 second(s)
COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Dale Earnhardt Jr (183.636 mph. 29.406 secs.)
3M LAP LEADER: Jimmie Johnson (182 Laps) 

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Fin	Car			Series	Bonus		Laps
Pos	No	Driver	Laps	Points	Points	Status	Led
1	20	Matt Kenseth	267	47	4	Running	38
2	1	Jamie McMurray	267	42	0	Running
3	15	Clint Bowyer	267	41	0	Running
4	22	Joey Logano	267	40	0	Running
5	18	Kyle Busch	267	39	0	Running
6	78	Kurt Busch	267	38	0	Running
7	56	Martin Truex Jr	267	37	0	Running
8	24	Jeff Gordon	267	36	0	Running
9	48	Jimmie Johnson	267	37	2	Running	182
10	29	Kevin Harvick	267	34	0	Running
11	5	Kasey Kahne	267	33	0	Running
12	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	267	33	1	Running	10
13	9	Marcos Ambrose	267	31	0	Running
14	39	Ryan Newman	267	30	0	Running
15	43	Aric Almirola	267	29	0	Running
16	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	267	28	0	Running
17	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr #	267	27	0	Running
18	13	Casey Mears	267	27	1	Running	1
19	31	Jeff Burton	267	25	0	Running
20	14	Tony Stewart	267	24	0	Running
21	99	Carl Edwards	267	24	1	Running	35
22	47	AJ Allmendinger	267	22	0	Running
23	10	Danica Patrick #	267	21	0	Running
24	51	Austin Dillon	267	0	0	Running
25	30	David Stremme	267	19	0	Running
26	34	David Ragan	265	18	0	Running
27	83	David Reutimann	263	17	0	Running
28	38	David Gilliland	262	17	1	Running	1
29	32	Ken Schrader	262	15	0	Running
30	27	Paul Menard	259	14	0	Running
31	55	Brian Vickers	240	0	0	Accident
32	36	J.J. Yeley	165	12	0	Engine
33	2	Brad Keselowski	153	11	0	Running
34	16	Greg Biffle	151	10	0	Running
35	11	Denny Hamlin	147	9	0	Accident
36	33	Landon Cassill	104	0	0	Accident
37	87	Joe Nemechek	95	0	0	Vibration
38	98	Michael McDowell	84	6	0	Electrical
39	35	Josh Wise	77	0	0	Electrical
40	7	Dave Blaney	62	4	0	Accident
41	19	Mike Bliss	57	0	0	Vibration
42	93	Travis Kvapil	47	2	0	Accident
43	44	Scott Riggs	6	0	0	Transmission

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-Bruce
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