Motorsports FanHouse http://motorsports.fanhouse.com Motorsports FanHouse http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/media/feedlogo.gif Motorsports FanHouse http://motorsports.fanhouse.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Stewart, Montoya Tangle in Finalehttp://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/stewart-and-montoya-tangle-in-dramatic-nascar-finale/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/stewart-and-montoya-tangle-in-dramatic-nascar-finale/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/stewart-and-montoya-tangle-in-dramatic-nascar-finale/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya positioned themselves for a grand finale in NASCAR's Sprint Cup season-ender at Homestead Miami Speedway on Sunday. Montoya was set for a career-best points finish, with Stewart enjoying a great debut effort for his own new team.

Instead of finishing on a high note, the two veterans engaged in a spirited battle of fender-banging that resulted in both losing positions in the final championship standings.

Montoya started it with hitting Stewart's Chevrolet from behind. Stewart retaliated by coming down the race track and spinning Montoya out.

After almost a half-hour in the garage with his team making repairs to his No. 42 Target Chevrolet, Montoya returned to the track and promptly spun Stewart out, resulting in a two-lap penalty for Montoya, and a smashed-up car for Stewart.

Neither would comment after the race. However, Stewart's crew chief, Darian Grubb, approached Montoya's crew chief, Brian Pattie, in the garage after the race and said, "Sorry, dude.''

Pattie said he was dumbfounded how or why the whole dust-up started.

When Montoya made the final retaliation, Stewart came on the radio and said, "He got us,'' and Grubb responded, "Well, we deserved it.''

"We had the car going really good, we were really coming up through the field,'' Pattie said. "The part I'm frustrated with is I don't know how it all happened.

"I'm not mad though because I know where we're going, and we're going in the right direction.''

Grubb was a little more candid in his assessment.

"We weren't thinking about points, we were thinking about winning the race and then both of their common senses went out the window,'' Grubb said.

Stewart ended up 22nd in the No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet and dropped one place to sixth in the final standings after leading the championship at the end of the regular season. Montoya, the first non-American driver to qualify for the Chase for the Championship, finished 38th Sunday and lost two places in the standings, dropping to eighth in the final points -- still a career best for the former Indy 500 winner and Formula One star.

Sunday's winner Denny Hamlin, who was penalized in Saturday's Nationwide Series race for intentionally spinning out Brad Keselowski, joked afterward that he must have been an "inspiration" to Stewart and Montoya.

"I thought yesterday was worth it to me and maybe they thought today deserved it too,'' Hamlin said.

Stewart, Montoya Tangle in Finale originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:50:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>juan pablo montoyaTony StewartHolly CainSun, 22 Nov 2009 20:50:00 EST Johnson Wins 4th Straight Championship http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/johnson-wins-4th-straight-championship/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/johnson-wins-4th-straight-championship/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/johnson-wins-4th-straight-championship/#commentsFiled under: , ,

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) -- Jimmie Johnson was chasing much more than a championship.

He was also chasing NASCAR history.

The most dominant driver of this decade won a record fourth consecutive championship Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he raced hard to finish fifth when 25th-place would have gotten the job done.

In doing so, Johnson joined Richard Petty (7), Dale Earnhardt (7) and teammate Jeff Gordon (4) as the only drivers to win more than three titles.
More: Rick Hendrick Misses Finale | Stewart, Montoya Tangle | Final Standings

"The cool thing is, we're not done yet," he warned.

All he ever wanted was a chance to race against the very best. Maybe even win a race or two.

Never did he expect to be a champion.

Especially four times over.

"I grew up on two wheels in the dirt," the 34-year-old Californian said. "I had no clue I was going to end up here racing stock cars and doing something that had never been done before. To do something that's never been done in the sport, and love the sport like I do and respect it like I do and the greats -- Petty, Earnhardt, Gordon -- to do something they have never done is so awesome.

"And to win four championships in eight years, what this team has done -- this is unbelievable."

Johnson bulldozed his way into the record books, pouncing when the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship began to pull team owner Rick Hendrick into the record books with him. Johnson's title gave a record 12th overall championship to Hendrick, who was in North Carolina with a niece who was undergoing an emergency liver transplant.

In his absence, Johnson, Mark Martin and Gordon celebrated a 1-2-3 finish in the final points standings, just the second time in NASCAR history a team owner has swept the standings.

"Heavy hearts and prayers with the boss man and the family," Martin said, paying homage to Hendrick. "That sort of takes a little bit of the shine off of it. But congratulations to Hendrick Motorsports, to Jimmie Johnson -- Superman -- and to my team."

Superman, indeed.


Johnson now stands atop NASCAR as a one-man dynasty, much like Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Lance Armstrong in their sports.

Only Johnson hasn't been feted under a blizzard of confetti by himself. His mighty Hendrick team rules NASCAR the way UCLA once dominated the hardwood or Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls reigned supreme.

There's seemingly plenty of chances left for Johnson's tag-team with crew chief Chad Knaus to keep Hendrick and the No. 48 in the title hunt for another decade.

Johnson signed a five-year contract extension to drive for Hendrick through 2015, and Knaus has insisted the No. 48 team can keep this pace for the next several years.

Johnson doesn't want to take anything for granted along the way.

"I don't know if we'll win another championship," he said. "I feel in my heart we'll be competitive, but at some point in time, we won't be that team."

That's why Johnson never let up in pursuit of the championship. He raced hard for wins in nine of the 10 Chase races, and for all 400 miles at Homestead, where he threatened to try to run down the leaders to better his eventual fifth-place finish.

It made for a sometimes testy drive into history for Johnson, who was at times annoyed at rival drivers and even Gordon, the mentor and teammate who helped him land his job with Hendrick Motorsports.

Nobody gave Johnson anything, either. The other drivers raced hard around him all day, making Johnson earn every point in a race won by Denny Hamlin, who established himself as a driver to watch in 2010 by winning a career-high four races this season.

Hamlin also managed to keep pace with Johnson at times but fell out of contention with three DNFs.

"We're going to be there, I promise you," Hamlin said. "I promise you, the next couple years, we're going to win the championship. But right now, there's no one more deserving than Jimmie."

Johnson won seven races this season, four after the Chase began in September. In fact, since the Chase format began in 2004, Johnson has won 18 of 60 Chase races.

He's done it by almost never choosing the safe route. He did it just once this year, at Talladega when he ran near the back of the field most of the day to avoid the trouble at the Alabama track.

Only the joke was on him when his problems popped up a week later, at Texas, where he was wrecked on the third lap and lost 111 points from his cushion over Martin. It still left him with a cozy 78-point margin headed into last weekend's race at Phoenix, where he probably could have laid back and protected his lead.

Instead, he pounced and earned a dominating victory that set the stage for an easy Sunday.

"The pressure of winning the fourth didn't really hit me until hitting the wall at Texas," he admitted. "And then it was like 'Oh, man.' It was a great reality check."

Of course, he couldn't get off the gas.

After several tense laps chasing Gordon for fifth place -- Johnson at one point complained over his radio "I let him go, now why won't he just go somewhere!" -- he asked Knaus if he had enough time to catch Hamlin and the leaders.

Johnson didn't like being told no by his crew chief.

"Is that a dare?" he asked Knaus.

"No. That is a fact," Knaus replied.

So is Johnson's place in history, which seems to be undervalued despite 47 victories since 2002. He's never finished lower than fifth in the final standings and actually had a shot at winning the championship in 2004 and 2005 -- only to fall short in the finale.

"Jimmie is an incredible, incredible talent. He is the most underrated driver in this garage," Knaus said. "That guy can do things in a race car that I've never seen before. I hope this proves it to everybody."

His competitors insist time will take care of Johnson's legacy, but they continue to marvel at his success.

"If you would have told me four years ago that someone would win four championships in a row, I would have told you you were crazy," said Jeff Burton, who finished second in Sunday's race.

Even Gordon, who won four quick titles early in his career but has been shut out since 2001, is impressed.

"As a competitor, that Johnson ticks me off. As a friend, teammate, fellow car owner, they're amazing," Gordon said. "I never thought in my career, in my lifetime, I'd see somebody win four in a row. To see it happening right in front of your eyes makes it even more extraordinary."

By JENNA FRYER, AP Sports Writer

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
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Johnson Wins 4th Straight Championship originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>denny hamlinjimmie johnsonmark martinrick hendrickFanHouse NewswireSun, 22 Nov 2009 18:45:00 EST FanHouse Warmup: Homesteadhttp://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/fanhouse-warmup-homestead/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/fanhouse-warmup-homestead/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/fanhouse-warmup-homestead/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

The Essentials
Race: Ford 400
Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway
Time: Sunday 3:15 PM ET
TV/Radio: ABC, MRN Radio
Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing
Forecast: Mostly sunny, High 60s
Distance: 267 laps (400.5 miles)
Pole Winner: Jimmie Johnson
2008 Winner: Carl Edwards


The Storylines

Like Jimmie Johnson or not, and like the Chase or not, should Johnson go on to win his fourth career Sprint Cup championship Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway it would be completely worthy of every bit of the praises gien and the historical references noted.

In doing so, Johnson would join his teammate and mentor Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty as the only four drivers in NASCAR Sprint Cup history to secure four career championships. Additionally, Johnson would take sole possession of the NASCAR record for most consecutive championships -- a record he shared this season with Cale Yarborough at three.

In order for that to happen, Johnson has to first start the race to lock out Gordon from a championship effort and then finish just 25th or better to keep Mark Martin from having a chance at the title. He'll do so in a car that's got a nice winning track record in 2009.

Johnson's No. 48 will be Hendrick Motorsports chassis No. 48-553, the same machine Johnson won with at Indianapolis and California earlier this year.

Jeff Burton appears to be heading towards the off-season with a nice bit of hope that 2010 will be drastically different and hopefully drastically more successful than the 2009 season he and his Richard Childress Racing teammates endured.

Last week at Phoenix, Burton drove to a second-place finish -- his best of the season and just his fourth top-5 effort -- and Saturday afternoon at Homestead he paced the final practice session for Sunday's race. He'll line up 26th on the grid for the green flag in a brand new race car that has yet to see track time.

Kyle Busch is finally a champion in a NASCAR national series.

Busch, who won nine races in 2009 and finished 2nd 11 times, took home the Nationwide Series championship Saturday night by winning the last Nationwide Series race of the year -- though Carl Edwards made a crazy move on the last lap and nearly got by Busch.

Kevin Harvick and his wife Delana had a pretty good Friday night at Homestead.

Ron Hornaday, driving for Kevin Harvick Inc., won the Camping World Truck Series title -- his fourth title in that series -- while Harvick drove to victory lane in his self-owned truck. The result? A pair of burnouts on the frontstretch that produced enough smoke to rival a small wildfire.

FanHouse Warmup: Homestead originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:50:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Homestead-Miami+SpeedwayGeoffrey MillerSun, 22 Nov 2009 11:50:00 EST Championship-Worthy Seasons Not Enough for Jeff Gordon, Mark Martinhttp://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/championship-worthy-seasons-again-not-enough-for-jeff-gordon-ma/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/championship-worthy-seasons-again-not-enough-for-jeff-gordon-ma/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/championship-worthy-seasons-again-not-enough-for-jeff-gordon-ma/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Jeff Gordon Mark Martin NASCAR Sprint Cup Phoenix Hendrick 2009 FanHouseThe cloudy white smoke from Jimmie Johnson's marathon victory burnout at Phoenix International Raceway Sunday seemed to have a double meaning.

On one hand, it was a celebration for all that Johnson has done right in the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup as he marches towards an improbable fourth straight Sprint Cup championship in the season's final race next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

But on the other, it seemed to identify a brutal certainty for two of NASCAR's marquee drivers as once again Mark Martin's (2nd in points) and Jeff Gordon's (3rd) collective shots at NASCAR's biggest crown were figuratively going up in smoke.
More Coverage: Johnson in Cruise Control | Sprint Cup Standings

Gordon, of course, has somewhat of a "been-there-done-that" attitude towards championships thanks to the four he's collected in his Cup career, starting with his 1992 debut. Martin, though, appears to be heading towards his fifth career runner-up spot in the final season standings if he holds serve next Sunday at Homestead in relation to the competitors behind him.

Sure, it's imperative to mention in this column the fact that Johnson has yet to officially lay claim to the 2009 champion's trophy. His 108-point lead over Martin with one race remaining isn't a sure thing at Homestead, but it's the second-biggest lead Johnson has had going to Homestead as the championship leader.

Plus, he's yet to lose enough points at Homestead to lose the championship.

None of that makes it any easier for Martin to score the upset and win his first career Cup title.

Martin, though, has maintained all season that his 2009 campaign -- his first back from a few years of semi-retirement that saw him drive sparingly in the Cup series since departing Roush-Fenway Racing after 2006 -- hasn't been solely about winning the championship that has eluded him for so long.

Instead, Martin says, it's been about him learning to enjoy the sport of racing again and learning that every race is just a small part of the picture -- and that a bad finish or a bit of tough luck isn't a good reason to be mad for a week.

What's disappointing, though, is how the run that Martin has put together in the second part of the season -- and more notably the Chase -- will likely go for naught. Since an early crash at the July race in Daytona, Martin has tallied together two wins and 13 Top-10s in 17 races, and after the Chase began, Martin has finished out of the Top 10 just twice -- at Charlotte and after crashing at Talladega.


In total, Martin has earned the second-most number of wins in a season in his career (5) and that number is also good for second-most on the season behind teammate Johnson.

Like I said, Jeff Gordon is no newbie to the championship game. Gordon, though, hasn't taken home a title since 2001 (his fourth) and hasn't laid claim on the new Sprint Cup trophy since the Chase was instituted in 2004.

He's not even new to efforts of championship caliber failing to pan out. The most recent example was 2007 when Gordon earned a NASCAR-record 30 top-10s that season. He missed out on the title, though, thanks to Jimmie Johnson taking his second-career championship during a Chase system due to an abnormally strong final ten races.

This year wasn't as successful for Gordon. He lined up one win and 24 Top-10s in all (prior to Homestead, of course), which leaves him in third heading to the season's final race. Unfortunately for No. 24 fans with a fifth championship on their mind, Gordon's 169-point deficit to Johnson means that Johnson simply needs to take the green flag next week at Homestead for Gordon to be cut out of the picture once again (now the eighth straight year).

After Sunday's race, Gordon acknowledged that his team had improved significantly from a 2008 season without a win and less than 20 Top-10s. But trying to get even better (especially at the Chase tracks) would take a hard, hard response this offseason by the Steve Letarte-led team, if a title is to be reachable over No. 48 in 2010.

Fortunately, both Martin and Gordon won't need to look too far -- just across their team race shop, to be exact -- to measure their progress against the level Jimmie Johnson has set for what looks to be four straight years of NASCAR domination.

Championship-Worthy Seasons Not Enough for Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:20:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>jeff gordonmark martinPhoenix International RacewayGeoffrey MillerMon, 16 Nov 2009 02:20:00 EST Sprint Cup Crown Remains Jimmie Johnson's to Losehttp://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/12/2009-title-still-johnsons-to-lose/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/12/2009-title-still-johnsons-to-lose/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/12/2009-title-still-johnsons-to-lose/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Jimmie Johnson Sprint Cup NASCAR Phoenix 2009 Hendrick Jeff Gordon Jimmie Johnson Texas CrashThe chaos of Lap 3 last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway certainly tossed the NASCAR world into a frenzy.

When the dust settled, version one of the No. 48 Texas Chevrolet became version two and both Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon failed to add the word "clutch" to their 2009 resumes, one point about NASCAR's most dominant driver became exceedingly clear.

Jimmie Johnson, point being, is still the de facto guy to beat for the 2009 Sprint Cup championship -- and it's going to take plenty more Texas-like highly unlikely events to keep three-time from becoming four-time.

Johnson, for the the under the rock crowd, was tapped by an out-of-control Sam Hornish Jr. off of turn two at Texas in a lap 3 incident. Johnson's car sidestepped into a glancing shot off the outside wall before spinning back across the track and slamming the inside wall.

An hour and eight minutes later, Johnson was back on track with a rebuilt race car that struggled around the track but did finish. Johnson earned a 38th-place finish and just 49 points towards his championship effort.

Mark Martin, second in points before Texas, was in the most prime of positions to capitalize but couldn't ever get over the the hump during the 500-miler. Martin's team, though, played the fuel mileage finish well and came across the start/finish line for a fourth-place finish and collected 160 points.

It was enough to gain 110 points on Johnson, but a win would have meant so much more.

Jeff Gordon, the leader at that point in the race of Johnson's crash, could have taken a huge pre-Texas deficit of 192 and sliced into a 46-point Johnson lead had he stayed out front and earned a sweep of the Sprint Cup trips to Texas in 2009. Instead, he faltered and wound up 13th, trailing Johnson by 112 points with two races left.

The 70-point jump was Gordon's biggest gain on Johnson in the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup, but it wasn't near enough to put him back in serious contention for a fifth Sprint Cup championship.

Serious contention, of course, doesn't factor in Johnson hitting any walls in the final two races or otherwise ending up stopped in the garage area long before the race is over. Why? Because it just doesn't happen.

If you want to find a race in Chase that Johnson finished worse than what he did Sunday, you'll look back to the first race of the 2006 Chase. Johnson finished 39th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but managed to still win his first Cup title.

Since then and until Texas, Johnson's worst finishes have been a 24th at Talladega in '06, two 15th-place finishes at Texas and Homestead last season and three 14th-place finishes with two in 2007 at Dover and Charlotte and the other at Kansas in 2006. He's also got a13th-place finish at Dover in 2006.

Aside from those and Sunday's race at Texas, Johnson has scored a 29 top-10s in 38 Chase races.

Then, there's the fact that Johnson is heading to a track that his No. 48 team has excelled at. Phoenix International Raceway has hosted a Jimmie Johnson victory lane celebration three times in his career and he's picked up 7 top-5s and 10 top-10s at the Arizona 1-miler.

Johnson's worst outings at Phoenix have been a pair of 15th-place finishes in 2002 and 2005. In the Chase races that have seen him go on to be champion, though, Johnson has averaged a gaudy finish of 1.3 with two wins and a second-place finish.

That can't be heartening for Martin and Gordon.

In terms of points, Johnson's critical number of the next two weeks is 318.

Mark Martin, if he won the next two races and lead the most laps, would earn 390 points. If Johnson earns the 318, there's nothing Martin could do to prevent the championship. Going to third in points with Jeff Gordon (and pending Martin has a mediocre run in the next two weeks) Johnson needs to score just 278 points to overcome a Gordon domination of the final two races.

The magic finishing position number for Johnson is 4th pending two Martin wins and 8th pending two Gordon wins.

As it turns out, Johnson's finish at Texas might have been comparable to watching an underdog football team run back the opening kickoff of the second half in a marginally close game with a top-ranked squad. Sure, the brief hope of an upset crosses everyone's minds. All too often, though, the expected becomes the reality -- with or without SEC football officials patrolling the sidelines.

Jimmie Johnson showed he's just as vulnerable to misfortune as any other driver in the field at Texas, but just as good, dominant football teams do -- he and the rest of the No. 48 team are highly, highly unlikely to let the losses keep mounting.

Sprint Cup Crown Remains Jimmie Johnson's to Lose originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:55:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Phoenix International RacewayTexas Motor SpeedwayGeoffrey MillerThu, 12 Nov 2009 12:55:00 EST Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Dickies 500http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/09/sprint-cup-ns-and-qs-dickies-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/09/sprint-cup-ns-and-qs-dickies-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/09/sprint-cup-ns-and-qs-dickies-500/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Notes, quotes and a dash of commentary from a NASCAR weekend in Texas.

Kurt Busch Texas Motor Speedway NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase Penske RacingWhat a difference a crew chief makes.

Kyle Busch, a Sprint Cup nobody in the last few weeks, rocketed back to his expected form with new team leader Dave Rogers calling the shots Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. Busch had the dominant car and led 232 of 334 laps before a fuel miscalculation or a blind shot at a win kept him from making history by being the first driver to win three races in one weekend.

And strangely, Busch's old form of letting his crew chief do the post-race talking returned, too.

Busch, credited with an 11th-place finish after running out of fuel with 2.5 laps left, skirted all media on his quick dash out from Texas -- leaving Rogers to stand in the garage area and try to explain what happened on his end.

But what about Kyle? Was he disappointed to miss out on doing a NASCAR first? Or was he late to a race somewhere else?

Kyle Busch fans, I guess you'll never know.

Sunday's margin of victory for Kurt Busch was a whopping 25.686 seconds, thanks to him stretching the fuel mileage game in his No. 2 Dodge.

Since NASCAR's inception of electronic timing in 1993, Kurt Busch's winning margin at Texas was the largest of any race in that time period. That 1993 season featured another fuel mileage race with a large margin of victory as Morgan Shepherd took the win -- his last career Sprint Cup win -- at Atlanta Motor Speedway by some 17 seconds in the Wood Brothers No. 21 car.

Of all the work Jimmie Johnson's crew performed on what was otherwise a completely trashed race car after his lap 3 crash, it's surprising they left out one huge detail: a massive Lowe's decal on the new hood.

NASCAR has long been the sport with sponsors and logos in every imaginable spot, so you'd think the team would just naturally have a replacement nose at least covered with a Lowe's decal -- or even just have a big one ready to peel and stick on the hood.

After all, think about all of the cool marketing approaches Lowe's could use had the No. 48 donned a logo. I'm thinking about pitches involving teamwork, quality repair and, of course, the Lowe's motto of "Let's Build Something Together."

Why do I have a feeling that's something Hendrick Motorsports will have figured out for next weekend -- just in case?

You've got to be happy for Michael McGee, the agriculture education teacher from Broken Bow, Okla.

McGee randomly chose Kurt Busch to take Sunday's race win after the 23-year-old advanced through race sponsor Dickies' American Worker of the Year contest. As a result, he won a cool million bucks.

As a guy who has spent more than my fair share of time in the agriculture education world, it was a cool moment to see a person in a profession that can make a big difference on the lives of his students thanks to a real world education that ag ed can offer. As with so many thankless jobs, the pay is very often not that great.

How does McGee plan to spend the money? He told ESPN after the race that he'd like to pay off his house and maybe build a covered horse barn because he raises horses on the side. There's something to like about a guy who wins money and plans to spend it in a responsible fashion, I say.

On Twitter during Sunday's race, a lot was made about the teamwork amongst Hendrick Motorsports teams to get Jimmie Johnson's car back on the track -- despite teammates Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon being the closest contenders to taking advantage of Johnson's misfortune.

HMS team members wearing colors from all four teams were shown helping with different parts of Johnson's mangled race car.

Sure, there's some element of cooperation going on there, but people should remember that the paychecks at Hendrick Motorsports come from Hendrick Motorsports -- not Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson or Mark Martin. As a result, those crew guys are going to work on anything under the Hendrick Motorsports banner -- not just one car or another.

Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Dickies 500 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:24:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Texas Motor SpeedwayGeoffrey MillerMon, 09 Nov 2009 18:24:00 EST FanHouse Warmup: Dickies 500http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/08/fanhouse-warmup-dickies-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/08/fanhouse-warmup-dickies-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/08/fanhouse-warmup-dickies-500/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

The Essentials
Carl Edwards Texas Motor Speedway Dickies 500 Roush Fenway Racing 2009 Sprint Cup NASCAR NovemberRace: Dickies 500
Where: Texas Motor Speedway
Time: Sunday 3:15 p.m. EST
TV/Radio: ABC, PRN Radio
Twitter: @FanHouseRacing
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, Low 70s
Distance: 334 laps (501 miles)
Pole Winner: Jeff Gordon
2008 Winner: Carl Edwards

The Storylines

Ladies and gentleman, there was nothing wrong with last week's race at Talladega -- if you ask Tony Stewart or NASCAR.

This week, each of them blamed the fan uproar solely on the media (mainly ESPN) for ultimately putting such ideas about the bad racing at Talladega into the heads of fans. Race fans, Stewart and NASCAR feel, were induced with propaganda by television to believe that they were getting shafted by NASCAR.

So, what to make of that?

I'll agree -- ESPN's Talladega broadcast was probably over the top with its insinuations that drivers were staging a boycott of some sort by running single file. That had more to dothough with drivers not wanting to wreck more than wanting to make a statement to the NASCAR brass in the control tower.

But the fact remains: problems are evident with Talladega and they need a solution -- and that's not just another media type trying to influence an dose of fans against NASCAR.

In this new era of the Budweiser Shootout field not being determined by pole winners, the fact that Jeff Gordon has yet to win a pole before this weekend at Texas in 2009 has gone a bit unnoticed.

To be fair, Gordon -- by virtue of the old rules related to past winners of the Shootout and what not -- would have been qualified for the exhibition season-opener already in the old format, but had he gone all of 2009 without starting on the pole it would have stopped a streak previously tallying 16-straight seasons of qualifying at least once on the pole.

Yes, Gordon started up front a few times early in the season when he was the point leader and rain washed out qualifying, but it only counts officially when NASCAR allows teams to take laps. So, thanks to Texas, Gordon makes it 17-straight seasons in winning a pole.

Carl Edwards won eight times in 2008, and two of those came during his season sweep of the '08 Sprint Cup races at Texas Motor Speedway.

You can bet that he'd like to get back in the winning column -- he's yet to find victory lane in 2009 after just missing out on the 2008 title -- and there's no better place to do it for Edwards than Texas.

Kyle Busch could make history on Sunday if he's the one to take the checkered flag.

He'd be the first driver in NASCAR history to win three races during the same race weekend. Busch took the 1st-place honors during Friday night's Camping World Truck Series race and in Saturday's Nationwide Series race at TMS.

Also, it would make a crew chief a winner during his first race on the pit box for the second time in 2009. Dave Rogers assumed duties as Busch's crew chief this week after Steve Addington was removed from the position.

Earlier this season, Drew Blickensderfer -- say that fast, like, twice -- was leading Matt Kenseth during his first race as crew chief when Kenseth won the season-opening Daytona 500. Kenseth then won the second race of the year at California, leaving Blickensderfer batting 2 for 2 in his career.

FanHouse Warmup: Dickies 500 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Texas Motor SpeedwayGeoffrey MillerSun, 08 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST Sprint Cup N's & Q's: AMP Energy 500http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/04/sprint-cup-ns-and-qs-amp-energy-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/04/sprint-cup-ns-and-qs-amp-energy-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/04/sprint-cup-ns-and-qs-amp-energy-500/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

Notes, quotes & commentary from a NASCAR weekend at Talladega.

What a weekend it was, huh? Yes, I do have some comments and ideas about the overall product at Talladega this week. I'm going to wait, though, until the end of this post. First, the finer notes on Sunday.

Can anyone make sense of NASCAR's pit road penalties? Had Sunday's race been at another track where track position isn't so easily gained like it is at Talladega, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart and eventual race winner Jamie McMurray would have been downright hosed.

And good or bad as it relates to your particular driver, the rule that nabbed them just isn't fair.

The four drivers ended up in a sticky situation when they dropped from 190-plus mph to Talladega's pit road speed of 65 mph on lap 50 to make a pit stop. As they did so, Kurt Busch blew a tire and murdered the pit road commitment cone just in front of them before spinning through the grass.

Jeff Gordon, originally with the aforementioned drivers, swerved back on track and didn't pit after worrying that the caution flag would negatively affect his team's decision to pit. But the other drivers, yards from the pit road commitment line when Busch spun, continued down pit road and some made their pit stops.

Upon further review, NASCAR determined that the four had entered pit road while it was closed -- replays showed the red light activated before they crossed the pit road commitment line, meaning they had indeed done so. The penalty was to restart at the tail-end of the field.

But come on, had those guys made aggressive maneuvers to stay off pit road as Gordon had, they would have all piled up in a hot mess of bent metal. How is it smart for NASCAR to think that the drivers should have made such an ill-advised maneuver?

It's not, frankly, and someone will soon get burned on the rule at a track where it matters like, say, Texas Motor Speedway, the site of this weekend's race.

You've got to feel bad for Joe Nemechek after he was a part of Sunday's first caution.

Nemechek, who is trying to keep his race team afloat this season by pulling the start-and-park pattern, was intending to run his Nemco Motorsports car the distance on Sunday and maybe squeeze out a decent finish to earn some more cash for his generally unsponsored team to keep it racing.

But Paul Menard's tire had another idea as it exploded in turn two on lap 6, shooting Menard into the side of Nemechek and both into the wall. Nemechek wound up 43rd and went home with a destroyed race car.

Do you want to accuse Jamie McMurray of winning a fluky race? Go ahead, but not only does he not care, the stats from the race don't back it up. McMurray led 32 laps Sunday to take home five extra points for leading the most.

Mark Martin came with a completely different attitude to Talladega than his normal "I hate this place" shtick. It worked so well that Martin completed all but one lap and spent time sliding on his roof.

Dude can't catch a break at these restrictor plate joints, I suppose. He did, though, reason on why Talladega has reared into a big, ugly monster that fans love or hate (and from the sound of those comments, its mostly hate right now).

"It used to be we'd come here and it'd be all about speed and power," said Martin, talking about the difference between then and today's uniform set of rules designed with mostly safety in mind, before he identified what's to blame for Talladega's controversies. "Technology has brought us to this."

Very true. And sadly, technology doesn't exactly allow us too many things to fix it.

As promised, some ramblings and questions about Talladega, as a whole. Agree or disagree as you wish.

♦ Single-file lines are not new at Talladega. If you remember back to the fall of 2007 with the same car, Jeff Gordon led all of one lap that day after the race got crazy near the end. But before that, there was plenty of guys (i.e. Gordon) riding in the back to stay out of trouble and single-file lines in the middle of the race.

Heck, I even posted about it on Oct. 8, 2007:
For much too long Sunday, it was obvious drivers were scared to be aggressive or dice for the lead. Single-file packs and drivers purposely staying at the back of the pack to avoid trouble just doesn't cut it at this level.

Jeff Gordon managed to pull off the race win by sailing through the draft after a restart with eight laps to go but for a large majority of Sunday's race, Gordon rode around at times five to seven seconds behind the leader with teammate Jimmie Johnson and other Chase contenders.

That's not racing. That's riding.
Sounds eerily familiar to Sunday, doesn't? Like I said, single-file lines aren't new at Talladega, and we really can't blame NASCAR's no bump drafting in the corners edict for it.

♦ Do you think the fact that Jimmie Johnson skirted through the messes of Talladega and came out with what is really an insurmountable point lead had any factor on fan frustration?

I really think that's part of the case. Had Jimmie wrecked, it might have changed the whole rest of the season. You get the feeling people were banking on that.

♦ Ryan Newman is right. NASCAR Sprint Cup cars don't need to be taking off on their own. Something needs to be engineered -- bigger roof flaps? -- to keep them on the ground.

♦ People that think racing at Talladega without restrictor plates would solve everything couldn't be further from the truth. Going faster means race cars fly better. And when cars fly, they don't have control. And when you don't have control, you don't know where they'll land.

Therein lies the complete problem with going faster at Talladega.

♦ After much thinking about the subject, I think I've nailed down the frustration I felt after Sunday's race. It's simple: Talladega is too predictable in its unpredictability.

Other race tracks have different types of races nearly every visit and there's often quirks that are completely unexpected. NASCAR fans like quirks and the unexpected -- it makes things exciting and fresh to watch.

But at Talladega (I'm not lumping Daytona into this) the formula is simple: Ride, ride, pass, ride, ride, crash, race, crash, checkered flag.

We've gotten so used to the "Big One" and extraordinary crashes that they've become just ordinary and an off-shoot winner -- we should have had three in-a-row going to back to last season's terrible call to rob Regan Smith of the win -- happens more often than not now.

Simply, we've seen three-wide racing so much that we expect it and its not massively thrilling to the longtime viewer. And for the drivers, they've reached the point where they realize that nothing counts until the checked flag waves. Why, then, would they want to ride in peril for three hours?

Can you blame them? I can't.

It's not a good show for the fans, and there's no incentive for the drivers. That leaves one variable on the table: NASCAR.

Love it or hate it, Talladega has reached an interesting point with problems -- not the safety ones -- that really have no clear cut answer.

Sprint Cup N's & Q's: AMP Energy 500 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:14:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Geoffrey MillerWed, 04 Nov 2009 11:14:00 EST Johnson's Fourth Title in Full Viewhttp://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/01/jimmie-johnsons-fourth-title-in-full-view/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/01/jimmie-johnsons-fourth-title-in-full-view/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/01/jimmie-johnsons-fourth-title-in-full-view/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Jimmie Johnson Talladega 2009 Sprint Cup Chase Hendrick MotorsportsA car length here, a lane change there and one incredible pit call.

No matter what it was, Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team seemed to do it right on a mild then wild Sunday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway -- even when it looked like holding par in the point standings wasn't going to happen as the laps clicked off and the drama kept rising around the 2.66-mile wildcard.

But when the cars stopped flipping and the smoke stopped rising, Johnson -- to the chagrin of plenty -- stood alone in his pursuit of the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup with what amounts to be an insurmountable lead with an unstoppable team.

All week -- actually, make that every race of the Chase so far -- other drivers, fans and us media types have looked at Sunday's race at Talladega from the mindset that it would be Johnson's calling card to come closer to the rest of the field. It would be his kryptonite because, come on, no one can really dominate as much the No. 48 without issue, right?

Well, we were right -- but just not enough.

Johnson's finishing average prior to Talladega in the six races that had previously comprised the Chase was a measly average of third. After his sixth-place Talladega effort? Johnson's average finishing position rocketed to 3.43.

Kidding aside, once again everything seemed to work out for Johnson.

Riding in the back of the lead pack with just five laps to go, Johnson stayed high to avoid Ryan Newman's flipping car from just five spots ahead of him and then avoided Tony Stewart's slowing race car on the outside. More important, though, was the pit call that crew chief Chad Knaus made as soon as the caution came out.

Follow FanHouse RacingJohnson ducked to pit road when it first opened, grabbed fuel, and returned to the race track. The red flag was displayed almost immediately thereafter, and the several of the drivers who didn't pit then but needed to ran out fuel when the caution resumed.

It was an unusual circumstance as NASCAR typically will put out the red flag before it opens pit lane, and Knaus jumped on the chance to take on fuel while the others, like teammates Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon, didn't. Johnson was initially skeptical of the call until cars ahead of him started dropping like flies to get fuel. By the restart, he was in the Top-10.

Johnson, though, wasn't out of the woods quite yet when Kurt Busch got turned sideways off of turn four as the field approached the white flag when racing had started again. Busch spun sideways and clipped Scott Speed -- the car drafting off Johnson's rear decklid to set off a 13-car pileup that ended the race a lap from the end.

Johnson and Knaus had then accomplished exactly what they had hoped to do by driving to a sixth-place finish and not giving up any ground in the Chase to his teammate Martin. Martin, thanks to a finish that saw him flip over, instead lost pivotal ground to Johnson.

The No. 48 now has a lead in the point standings of some 184 points over Martin in second. The number is large enough that should Johnson finish 10th or better in the remaining three races, there's not a soul who can catch him.

For a guy that's averaged that finish of 3.43 so far in the Chase, the odds seem to be pretty well in the favor of Johnson becoming the first four-peat champion in NASCAR's history -- leaving the competition with one question.

When's Daytona?

Johnson's Fourth Title in Full View originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:36:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>jimmie johnsontalladega superspeedwayGeoffrey MillerSun, 01 Nov 2009 19:36:00 EST Ryan Newman Blasts NASCAR After Fliphttp://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/01/ryan-newman-blasts-nascar-after-flip/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/01/ryan-newman-blasts-nascar-after-flip/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/01/ryan-newman-blasts-nascar-after-flip/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Ryan Newman flipsRyan Newman left Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday obviously sore and presumably irritated after flipping violently in a late-race crash near the end of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' AMP Energy 500.

Newman, who was uninjured, was trapped in the car for almost 15 minutes as safety crews cut him out from exactly the type of wreck he had warned NASCAR against after an amazing crash involving him and Carl Edwards at the same track in April. And after being checked out of the infield hospital, Newman didn't hesitate to get on NASCAR again.

"Drivers used to be about to race each other and respect each other," said Newman. "Guys like Richard Petty, David Pearson and Bobby Allison -- all those guys have always done that. I guess they [NASCAR] just don't think much of us [drivers] anymore."
More Coverage: Amp Energy 500 Results | Sprint Cup Standings
Jimmie Johnson's Fourth Title in Full View

With five laps to go in the race, Newman got spun sideways on the backstretch before his No. 39 lifted off the ground, flipped on its roof, slid up the track's banking into the retaining wall and slid back down before tumbling multiple times. The car landed on its roof and safety officials were quickly on the scene.

Because they could determine Newman was not seriously injured, workers methodically attached Newman's car to a tow truck to turn it right side up. After gently setting it back on all four wheels, the workers cut away the roof of Newman's car to get him out.

All of this occurred as NASCAR put the rest of the field under the red flag, effectively putting a temporary stop to the race.



As Newman spoke -- he said he was sore -- he looked visibly shaken from the incident.

"I'm just really disappointed," said Newman. "We had the race back here in the spring and I complained about the cars getting airborne. Ironically, I'm the guy who gets airborne. I wish NASCAR would do something. That's not something anyone wants to see.

"It's probably the closest thing to being stuck in a tomb and not being able to get out -- all my body weight was pressed up against my head. ... I respect NASCAR. I just wish they respected me."

Just minutes later after the red flag was withdrawn for Newman's crash -- it included his teammate Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose, Kevin Harvick and others -- the race got underway again for a two lap, green-white-checkered finale but made it less than a lap under green before a bigger wreck, and yet another flipping car, ended the race.

Jamie McMurray, driving in his final season for Roush-Fenway Racing, scored the win after being in front at the point of caution after Kurt Busch was turned sideways by April's winner Brad Keselowski off of turn four. Busch's sliding car caught several others in the pack including Mark Martin.

Martin's car was hit in the right-rear, turned sideways, and tumbled across the front-stretch before coming to a stop on its wheels. As Newman did, Martin emerged without injury.

After the race -- one that ultimately left Martin with hardly a shot at catching teammate Jimmie Johnson for the championship thanks to his 28th-place finish (unofficially) -- Martin was quite contrite about the result.

"I just hope everybody enjoyed the show," said Martin.

To make the easy bet, I'd say more than a few -- especially those behind the wheel of crashing cars -- didn't.


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Ryan Newman Blasts NASCAR After Flip originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:39:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>ryan newmanGeoffrey MillerSun, 01 Nov 2009 16:39:00 EST FanHouse Warmup: AMP Energy 500http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/01/fanhouse-warmup-amp-energy-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/01/fanhouse-warmup-amp-energy-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/11/01/fanhouse-warmup-amp-energy-500/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

The Essentials
Race: AMP Energy 500
Where: Talladega Superspeedway
Time: Sunday 1:00 p.m. EST
TV/Radio: ABC, MRN Radio
Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing
Forecast: Sunny, High 60s
Distance: 188 laps (500 miles)
Pole Winner: Jimmie Johnson
2008 Winner: Tony Stewart
The Storylines

Consider this as NASCAR's version of laying down the law, but with one problem -- will they actually enforce it?

NASCAR made big noise Sunday morning at Talladega when they told drivers in the pre-race meeting that bump drafting in today's race while racing through the corners would not be permitted. And to back up the rule, they promised to even swipe a victory away if a driver was found to be in violation.

It's a tough rhetoric that we've heard before from NASCAR, but this time it seems like they mean business.


NASCAR is trying to avoid, ultimately, what happened at Talladega back in April when Carl Edwards' No. 99 turned into a 3,200-pound pinball on the final lap. Some catchfencing along the frontstretch was the only thing that kept Edwards from sailing into the packed grandstands -- though parts and pieces did injure fans.

NASCAR wants to eliminate the phenomenon that has creeped up with the Car of Tomorrow platform that allows two drivers to pair up -- one pushing the other -- and fly hundreds of yards ahead of the competition. That's what happened with Edwards' situation after Edwards was pushed to the lead and then Brad Keselowski tried to pass him.

I do get what NASCAR is trying to do, but come on -- do they think such rules will prevent a wreck? I don't see it making much of a difference in the probability of a nasty crash today at the 2.66-mile behemoth of a race track but I do foresee one problem: the potential for a huge controversy at the end of the day thanks to NASCAR's judgment call.

We'll see how it works.

We know exactly what you're rooting for in the 2009 championship if you're not so much of a Jimmie Johnson fan, and Talladega might just provide the necessary ingredients to make the 2009's recipe a little better for you.

Jimmie knows it, his competitors know it, you know it and I know it: Talladega is the biggest of wildcards in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and more than likely the last best shot for anyone to come within striking distance of three-time.

Of course, Jimmie Johnson fans hate the talk of people wanting him to fall back to the competition and that's certainly something you can't blame them for. They want their boy to win. The good news for the No. 48 supporters? Just walk on nails for three or so hours Sunday and if Johnson makes it to the end in respectable position -- pull out those credit cards for some championship gear.

The Talladega weather already showed some love to Johnson after qualifying on Saturday morning was rained out.

Johnson, by nature of leading the points, will get to start from the pole on Sunday and had the number one choice of a pit stall. He took pit stall number one -- the last one on pit road towards turn one.

Teammates Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon (No.'s 2 & 3 in points) both opted for a garage opening in front of their stall for an easy exit from a stop and an easy place to pull in and fix a damaged race car.

Enjoy the race.

FanHouse Warmup: AMP Energy 500 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:36:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Talladega+SuperspeedwayGeoffrey MillerSun, 01 Nov 2009 11:36:00 EST Allmendinger Deserves DWI Suspensionhttp://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/29/allmendinger-deserves-dwi-suspension/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/29/allmendinger-deserves-dwi-suspension/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/29/allmendinger-deserves-dwi-suspension/#commentsFiled under: ,

A.J. Allmendinger DUI DWI Richard Petty Motorsports NASCAR Talladega Sprint Cup ToyotaNASCAR and Richard Petty Motorsports look a little more spineless today.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver A.J. Allmendinger was arrested for DWI early Thursday morning in Mooresville, N.C., after being pulled over and blowing a .08 on a Breathalyzer test -- the legal limit for intoxication in the state. Cited for a misdemeanor, Allmendinger will appear in court on the charge in December.

Allmendinger, though, won't be facing any music from his RPM team or NASCAR -- the same organization that will suspend crew members for racing with an illegal part.
More Coverage: Allmendinger Breath Tested Before Practice

It should be noted that, yes, NASCAR did acknowledge that Allmendinger did something wrong by placing him on probation for the remainder of the calendar year. Consider the move a whole lot less than a slap on the wrist if Allmendinger manages to avoid doing anything particularly stupid in the next two months.

But, further, consider this: within the two sentences NASCAR released Thursday about Allmendinger's punishment, it only mentioned that he broke the catch-all rule in NASCAR's rule book -- rule 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing). Not once is it mentioned that he was punished for the DWI.

It's almost like the broom and rug are fully ready for covering purposes.

The story at Richard Petty Motorsports isn't any better.

The team said Thursday that Allmendinger will participate in all racing, media and sponsor-related activities this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. Team co-owner and namesake Richard Petty acknowledged in a statement that he's "disappointed" in Allmendinger but that "A.J. has taken full responsibility for his actions and will work to make this right."

Up until this season, Petty has long had a stand against alcohol companies being involved with his racing endeavors. His stand was such that he wouldn't participate in beer-sponsored pole awards or a second-tier NASCAR series formerly sponsored by Anheuser-Busch.

A merger this season, though, with George Gillette's operation brought Kasey Kahne's No. 9 Budweiser-sponsored team into the Petty fold -- and Petty enjoyed a public drink of wine in victory lane following Kahne's June win at Infineon Raceway located inside the heart of California's wine country.

That all, of course, is neither here nor there when it comes to Allmendinger's situation, but it is interesting to see the reaction -- or, lack thereof -- from a team and an owner that used to take such an anti-alcohol stand.

Don't get me wrong -- this isn't a piece dedicated to bad-mouthing those who earn drunk driving offenses or one defending them either. They are an extremely serious matter but can, at times, happen to unsuspecting people. For all we know, Allmendinger may try to beat the charge based on his blood-alcohol level being so close to the legal range. We'll find that out in December.

But Allmendinger is a NASCAR driver doing things on a race track that at their primal level mimic what happens on the roadways of America. And unfortunately for NASCAR drivers, there's no apples-to-apples discipline comparison between them and the stick-and-ball athletes of the NBA, NFL or MLB. That's the nature of the beast when what you get paid to do is drive a race car instead of catch a football for a living.

Because of that, somebody, anybody, needed to come down on Allmendinger with a little more force. Allmendinger needed to be suspended from Sunday's race at Talladega.

No, Allmendinger isn't a bad guy and yes, he's acknowledged the mistake he made. A DWI, though, is a mistake someone can only make so many times before it drastically affects the life of someone else. For all we know, Allmendinger was lucky that didn't happen in the wee hours of Thursday morning in North Carolina.

NASCAR sent a message this season by (rightfully or wrongfully) suspending Jeremy Mayfield for his alleged drug abuse, and they should have sent a message again on Thursday saying that driving offenses -- especially alcohol-related ones -- are absolutely not tolerable.

Instead, we're left with what boils down to be an ugly comparison of punishments.

A crew chief pushes the car measurements too far and ends up with a big fine and six-race suspension. A driver drinks a little too much at the dinner table and gets arrested for DWI? "Don't do it again, son."

Something, my friends, doesn't add up there.

Allmendinger Deserves DWI Suspension originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:53:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>a.j. allmendingeraj allmendingerGeoffrey MillerThu, 29 Oct 2009 19:53:00 EST Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Tums 500http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/27/sprint-cup-ns-and-qs-tums-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/27/sprint-cup-ns-and-qs-tums-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/27/sprint-cup-ns-and-qs-tums-500/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Notes, quotes & commentary after 501 laps around a Virginian paperclip.

I get what NASCAR is trying do, I really do.

They want these races to be dramatic, to make good television and perhaps provide a sense of danger to fans like ESPN's Ed Hinton believes they crave. It's no different than any other sport, movie or story -- dramatic moments bring eyeballs.

But at some point, NASCAR needs to get a whole lot better at not allowing a stalled race car to sit in peril at the start/finish line in the name of a dramatic finish.

That's what happened Sunday when John Andretti spun and couldn't get his No. 34 re-fired along the frontstretch at Martinsville Speedway on the final lap. It's also what happened just over a month ago with A.J. Allmendinger at New Hampshire.

Neither incident resulted in the hapless drivers being hit by the oncoming race cars, but the law of averages doesn't seem to bode well for their safety if these incidents turn into a regular thing. It's just easy to see how a driver back in the pack may misjudge a move, not hear a spotter or get turned while slowing down into the stopped race car.

NASCAR's right to allow a finish to play out as much as possible, but I just think they are taking "as much as possible" a little too far.

Jeff Gordon's crew chief Steve Letarte tried an 'experiment' early in Sunday's race that I'm still undecided about.

Gordon came to the pits on lap 46 under caution while leading and took on just two tires. He emerged from pit road still leading, but soon fell back in the leaderboard after the advantage of four fresh tires was immediately apparent and didn't start to make ground again until a lap 90 caution brought the field back to pit road.

Letarte, we can assume, was looking to find out if a two-tire pit stop would be a good tool to use later in the race for track position if necessary and found that its benefits would last all of about two laps if cars directly behind had four fresh Goodyears. After the call, Gordon led just eight more laps on the day and never led again except for a lap under green flag pit stops.

Should Letarte have made the move? In hindsight -- which we know is always 20/20 -- it's easy to say no because Gordon never really competed for the lead again.

But on the same note, the information turned out to be extremely valuable in determining if a two-tire pit stop could be a valuable asset for track position. It wasn't.

Live and learn, I suppose.

Surprisingly, Kyle Busch's fourth-place finish on Sunday was his best appearance at Martinsville since 2007.

Since that point, Busch has had three finishes at the short track of 24th or worse -- an anomaly for Busch considering his two best tracks over his career in terms of finishing position are the other short tracks on NASCAR's schedule, Bristol and Richmond.

The finish likely had no bearing, however, on crew chief Steve Addington's future with Joe Gibbs Racing in a role other than crew chief.

Did you catch Denny Hamlin's Twitter shout-out in the post-race interview?

Hamlin mentioned the fans of his Twitter account -- look him under http://www.twitter.com/DennyHamlin -- in his victory celebration and later tweeted "That's what I'm talking about!!! Whooo!! I told ya we would win another!"

Hamlin rolled out his official Twitter page a few weeks ago and has already surged to over 5,000 fans. Now if only the FanHouseRacing Twitter could get as much love...

Because I've yet to include a quote in this edition -- unless quotes from Twitter count -- of "N's & Q's", I'll leave you with my favorite driver saying of the Martinsville weekend, courtesy of Mr. Matt Kenseth.

"I thought I did a bad job and thought I ran into about everything," said Kenseth. "I had some issues on a couple of restarts and we struggled on our last pit stop, so all of those things considered, to finish 14th is really good."

Hey Matt: talk to Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Kasey Kahne -- I'll bet they feel the same way. A walk in the park 500 laps at Martinsville is not.

Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Tums 500 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:21:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Martinsville+SpeedwayGeoffrey MillerTue, 27 Oct 2009 13:21:00 EST FanHouse Warmup: Tums 500http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/25/fanhouse-warmup-tums-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/25/fanhouse-warmup-tums-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/25/fanhouse-warmup-tums-500/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

The Essentials
Race: Tums 500
Where: Martinsville Speedway
Time: Sunday 1:30 p.m. EST
TV/Radio: ABC, MRN Radio
Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing
Forecast: Mostly sunny, High 60s
Distance: 500 laps (263 miles)
Pole Winner: Ryan Newman
2008 Winner: Jimmie Johnson
The Storyline

Jeff Gordon's last, best hope to stay in Jimmie Johnson's zip code for the 2009 championship might just be Sunday at Martinsville Speedway for two reasons -- the perks from his second-place qualifying run and Jimmie Johnson's mediocre starting spot.

And for their teammate Mark Martin splitting the point difference between Johnson and Gordon in the standings, a fourth-place starting effort might also be critical to bridging the 90-point gap between the No. 48 and No. 5.


Johnson, by his standards, had a rough day at Martinsville on Friday. The team never found speed in the car despite otherwise good handling and he wound up 15th in qualifying -- edging out a particular advantage for Gordon and Martin at the small, half-mile paperclip that is Martinsville Speedway.

Martinsviille's pit road ends off of turn two and oftentimes the shape leads to an advantage for pit stalls with an opening behind or in front of it. Otherwise, drivers can get blocked in and just a few lost seconds can translate into bunches of lost spots on pit road.

Ryan Newman, the polesitter, took the last and best stall on pit road while Gordon opted to move back to pit stall No. 11 due to the front edge of the pit stall bordered by the garage access lane. Martin, qualified fourth, chose pit stall No. 8 without any openings around it while Johnson took a stall before the start/finish line.

Most accounts would put Johnson's pit selection as a bad one, but the car in front of him is a card-carrying member of the start-and-park club in NASCAR -- meaning there's a good possibility that Johnson won't be dealing with any traffic in front of his pit stall on Martinsville's tight pit lane. His biggest problems, though, will come when he's trying to exit pit road and evade cars swinging out in front of him.

Another problem Johnson might find on Sunday -- above I'm just assuming he'll move up from 15th and be in contention for the win at some point (a risky proposition, I know) -- is the rain Martinsville had on Saturday. Not once did the No. 48 -- or any other Sprint Cup team -- get on the track for any practice on Saturday, meaning there might be some concern in Johnson's camp based on the qualifying run and him being stumped about why the car didn't run faster.

Unfortunately for the rest of the field, Chad Knaus is stll Johnson's crew chief. He's in good hands.

Johnson's lead in the points at the moment is steep -- the 90 ahead of Martin, 135 ahead of Gordon and 155 to Tony Stewart (he starts 13th) -- and there is a lot of risk for Johnson at Martinsville thanks to silly, mundane things like flat tires or brake failures. But such risk has been successfully avoided by Johnson on the way this three-straight titles.

Take, for instance, that Sunday's starting spot is Johnson's worst since April 2007 when he started 20th. That day? Johnson first sniffed the lead on lap 405 of 500 before grabbing it for good with 60 to go to take one of his many wins at Martinsville.

Need you know more?

Enjoy the race.

FanHouse Warmup: Tums 500 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:57:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Jeff GordonJimmie JohnsonMark MartinMartinsville SpeedwayGeoffrey MillerSun, 25 Oct 2009 09:57:00 EST Jeremy Mayfield: 'I Was Worth More ... As A Failed Drug Test'http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/23/jeremy-mayfield-i-was-worth-more-as-a-failed-drug-test/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/23/jeremy-mayfield-i-was-worth-more-as-a-failed-drug-test/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/23/jeremy-mayfield-i-was-worth-more-as-a-failed-drug-test/#commentsFiled under:

Jeremy MayfieldIn his first national one-on-one television interview, suspended NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield continued to deny drug use and accused NASCAR of using him as a "a good pawn who wasn't going to cost them any money at all.''

Mayfield, who was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR for testing positive in a pair of drug tests this May, made the assertions on ESPN's Outside the Lines show, which will air Sunday at 9 a.m., hours before the green flag drops for the Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville, Va.

It's been widely reported that the positive test revealed use of methamphetamine, something Mayfield has denied. He claims the tests were a "false positive," the result of his use of Adderall, a prescription drug for attention-hyperactivity disorder, combined with the common allergy medication, Claritin-D.

"You use me as an example to let everybody know who may have already tested positive for marijuana, cocaine, or whatever, that they haven't got anybody for, and it puts the fear of God in everybody in the whole sport,'' Mayfield said in a brief transcript released Friday by ESPN.

"I was worth more to them as a failed drug test then I am as a driver, owner for my own team.''

NASCAR's Managing Director of Corporate Communications, Ramsey Poston said Friday that the sanctioning body had no comment yet and would wait to view the entire interview.

Mayfield, the first Sprint Cup driver to be suspended under a new NASCAR drug testing policy, has tested positive for drugs four times according to NASCAR. The latter two came in July, the same week he was briefly reinstated by an appeals court. Mayfield never raced after his initial suspension May 9 and has sold his team's equipment to help finance his ongoing court battle with NASCAR.

The latest two positive tests allegedly revealed methamphetamine levels consistent with that of a chronic user and Mayfield's stepmother has said she has witnessed the driver use the drug dozens of times in the past 10 years. He says she is lying and has since filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her in the 2007 death of his father.

In the program segment, ESPN asked an expert whether Mayfield's explanation for the false positive was plausible.

"No, they could never be confused for methamphetamine in a confirmation,'' said Dr. Anthony Butch, whose laboratory performs drug testing for U.S. Olympic athletes.

As for his career, Mayfield acknowledges in in the interview that he is finished in NASCAR -- except to be the fall-guy for other marquee drivers, who he says use illegal recreational drugs.

"I wish I could sit here and say, 'No, it's not over,' but realistically, I would have to have a sponsor, or my own team, or find a ride, and all of those are virtually impossible with the baggage that comes along with me now,'' he said.

Jeremy Mayfield: 'I Was Worth More ... As A Failed Drug Test' originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>drug testJeremy MayfieldNASCARHolly CainFri, 23 Oct 2009 12:45:00 EST Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Banking 500http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/19/sprint-cup-ns-and-qs-banking-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/19/sprint-cup-ns-and-qs-banking-500/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/19/sprint-cup-ns-and-qs-banking-500/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Kasey Kahne might have had the only car to really challenge Jimmie Johnson on the longer runs Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, but a late pit stop and a bad set of tires didn't let that situation play out.

"The tires we took on the last stop shook and didn't turn," said Kahne after the race in which he led 67 laps. "I guess that was our bad set for the night."

That didn't mean that Kahne was making excuses for coming up short with a third-place finish -- his best result since a win at Atlanta in September. Instead, he was stating the obvious.

"We were the best car at times, but the final run when it counted, we weren't," said Kahne. "Jimmie [Johnson] showed up and beat us all."

It seems that a mention in last week's N's & Q's provided a nice boost of momentum to Casey Mears again this week. (OK, maybe not...)

Anyways, Mears followed up an 11th-place finish last weekend at Auto Club Speedway with a 7th-place effort at LMS on Saturday night. LMS, of course, is the site of Mears' only career win in 2007.

Mears, though, was feeling that the finishes were finally starting to back up some strong race cars that didn't finish where they should have over the past few races.

"We've had some really strong runs over the last six races and we finally have the finish we deserve," said Mears. "We're really starting to click as a team and we're looking forward to carrying this momentum over to the final five races of the season."

Mears' teammate Clint Bowyer had the best night of the oft-struggling Richard Childress Racing group with a 6th-place finish -- a sign that the team is starting to turn the corner in terms of competitiveness. Unfortunately for Casey, though, team owner Richard Childress acknowledged this weekend that his No. 07 car is having trouble attracting sponsorship -- leaving the door open to the chance that Mears won't have a ride with RCR in 2010.

Current sponsor Jack Daniel's announced last month that they'll be leaving the sport at the end of the season.

The official stated attendance for Saturday night's Sprint Cup action at LMS was 105,000 -- a number that is dwarfed by the nearly endless grandstands around the 1.5-mile speedway.

But when you stop to think about the situation, it's not a big surprise that LMS was having trouble getting tickets sold to near capacity for the fall race. Not only was the weekend a cloudy, cold and often rainy mess, but the NASCAR Banking 500 was the third Sprint Cup event at the track this season when you count the Coca-Cola 600 and the Sprint All-Star Challenge.

Toss in the big NHRA weekend at the track and you're looking at a bunch of racing options that you're trying to get local fans to throw hefty amounts of money at to attend. Let's face it: this economy just isn't going to support such spending.

I'm not saying that the Charlotte market is oversaturated with racing or that the quality isn't there on the race track -- the end of Saturday night's race had me on the edge of my seat -- but that it's understandable that tickets aren't easy to sell at the moment.

News flash: Joey Logano is still, in fact, a rookie and a 19-year-old kid.

Just look at what Logano had to say after finishing fifth on Saturday night after a late-race duel with Jeff Gordon.

"I had a blast," said Logano. "Racing a world class champion race car driver like that, running door to door for a fourth-place finish -- that was a bunch of fun. It's still really cool to me. I'm still a rookie on this whole deal. To be racing Jeff Gordon, I never thought that day would happen."

It's kind of refreshing to know that he's still getting a kick out of turning laps with the best of the best, huh?

The top-five was Logano's best finish in the Sprint Cup Series since his win at Loudon in May.

Kurt Busch, fresh off a 10th-place finish at LMS, is starting to see a trend develop in NASCAR -- particularly in the first five races of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

"You get into a marathon-type pace early on and then you have a 100-yard dash at the end," said Busch. "It's almost like clockwork."

Fortunately for NASCAR, they didn't have to endure any criticism for a phantom debris caution after Max Papis lost an engine latein Saturday night's race. That caution led to two more before a 20-or-so lap green flag stint to the finish.

Busch acknowledged that such a pattern makes it easier to know what a car will need to win at the end.

"The team that has the car to make that short run at the end is going to be successful," said Busch.

Based on their two Chase wins in 2009, it's apparent that Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus knew that beforehand.

Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Banking 500 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:38:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Geoffrey MillerMon, 19 Oct 2009 22:38:00 EST Jeff Gordon Just Misses Late Winhttp://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/18/jeff-gordon-just-misses-late-win/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/18/jeff-gordon-just-misses-late-win/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/18/jeff-gordon-just-misses-late-win/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

The Jeff Gordon of old was back for a few laps Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway -- but even that wasn't enough to stop the competition's worst nightmare.

Lined up side-by-side coming off of turn four, Gordon sat to the outside of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson as the field took its final restart of the night with 17 laps to go. As was the case with the previous two restarts that had quickly turned to cautions in the back of the pack, nearly everyone expected Johnson to have the advantage as made the left-hand arc into turn 1.

But the No. 24, with a full head of a steam, wasn't ready to let Johnson take the lead so easily.

Gordon ran side-by-side with Johnson for the next lap and at the flagstand, Johnson narrowly held the lead. Gordon wasn't done.

Circling through turn 3, Gordon, on the outside, pinched Johnson down low just enough for Johnson's rear end to wiggle up the track -- shooting Gordon to the top spot again as they passed the start/finish line with 15 to go with Johnson in close pursuit.

Gordon, who had already led twice earlier in the evening and finished with a 3rd-most total of 64 laps led, proceeded to hold the lead after another circuit around the 1.5-mile track was complete. It was becoming evident, though, that Gordon was going to need some incredible luck or other intervention to keep the lead as Johnson began to line up again right on Gordon's bumper.

Not only was Johnson's car dominant compared to Gordon's, but crew chief Steve Letarte put just two fresh tires on Gordon's car during the final pit stop in an effort to gain track position. The goal succeeded as Gordon came in to the pits fading to the back of the top-10 and came out third.

Johnson, though, had four fresh tires and the difference in grip between the two Hendrick cars was evident as Gordon turned into turn 3 on lap 320. Gordon's car slid towards the wall while Johnson stuck to the bottom and motored by to take the lead for the fifth and final time.

Gordon's chances at winning -- something that would have brought Gordon closer to Johnson by at least 15 points in the Chase for the Sprint Cup -- were gone as he continued a slide to an eventual fourth-place finish. Such a finish is likely better than one he would have garnered by grabbing four tires on the last pit stop instead.

"We put two tires on and that was a great call by Steve (Letarte)," said Gordon. "I think Steve called this race perfectly tonight and we gave it a shot."

But Gordon didn't think a "shot" meant contending for a race win -- or making a pass of Johnson in the late stages.

"I couldn't even believe I got the lead on the restart and was able to get by Jimmie when he got loose and we were racing really hard," said Gordon.

The moment turning out to be to good to be true wasn't surprising, though.

"I knew it was just a matter of time before my two tires would give up and it did," said Gordon, referring to when he slid up the track as Johnson went by.

Despite Johnson's complete domination, Gordon's team has easily been one of the best in the past few weeks. After a disappointing 15th-place run at Loudon, Gordon has carried an average finish of 3.5 in the last four races -- just off Johnson's astounding 3rd-place average in that same span. The big difference, though, has been race wins.

Gordon did all he could to grab one of those away from Johnson on Saturday at LMS, but Johnson still reigned when the burnout smoke cleared. Sure, it was impressive to see Gordon fighting for yet another win, but you get the picture that even that won't be enough -- yet again.

Jeff Gordon Just Misses Late Win originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:41:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Hendrick+MotorsportsJeff+GordonJimmie+JohnsonLowes+Motor+SpeedwayGeoffrey MillerSun, 18 Oct 2009 23:41:00 EST Cruise Control: J.J. Extends Chase Leadhttp://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/17/cruise-control-johnson-extends-chase-lead/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/17/cruise-control-johnson-extends-chase-lead/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/17/cruise-control-johnson-extends-chase-lead/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Jimmie JohnsonCONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Jimmie Johnson completed the perfect weekend with a win at Lowe's Motor Speedway to take control of the championship standings.

The three-time defending series champion raced to his third victory in the Chase for the Sprint Cup on Saturday night, extending his lead to 90 points over teammate Mark Martin.

More Coverage: Race Results | Sprint Cup Standings

Seeking a NASCAR-record fourth consecutive Cup championship, Johnson led every practice session and won the pole to complete yet another dominating run at Lowe's. He has been the driver to beat at the suburban Charlotte track since early in his career, and the victory was the Lowe's-sponsored driver's sixth on the 1.5-mile oval.

"Man, we pulled off a perfect weekend and we've always wanted to do that," Johnson said in his first Victory Lane visit at the track since 2005.

Matt Kenseth was second, followed by Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon, Johnson's teammate at Hendrick Motorsports.

Martin, who started the race 12 points behind his teammate in the standings, finished 17th in part because of front-end damage received when he ran into the back of Juan Pablo Montoya on an early restart.

It was that kind of night for several title contenders, as eight of the 12 finished outside the top 10 in a rare off night for the Chase drivers.

Montoya, who was third in the standings and just 58 points out of the lead at the start of the race, dropped to sixth and is now 195 points out. He damaged the front and back ends of his car on the restart problem with Martin and Clint Bowyer, and fell two laps down trying to get pit road for repairs.

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Jimmie Johnson does a burnout on the front stretch grass after winning the NASCAR Banking 500 auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
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    Jimmie Johnson does a burnout on the front stretch grass after winning the NASCAR Banking 500 auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

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    Jimmie Johnson, left, stands with his wife Chandra, right, before the start of the NASCAR Banking 500 Sprint Cup Series auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

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    Jimmie Johnson drives out of turn four during the NASCAR Banking 500 Sprint Cup Series auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

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    Jimmie Johnson (48) and Mark Martin (5) lead the field at the start of the NASCAR Banking 500 Sprint Cup Series auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

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    Greg Biffle (16) spins in front of Ryan Newman and David Reutimann during the NASCAR Banking 500 auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

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    Greg Biffle (16) spins as Mike Bliss (71) drives past during the NASCAR Banking 500 Sprint Cup Series auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

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    Crew members perform a pit stop on driver Kasey Kahne's car during the NASCAR Banking 500 Sprint Cup Series auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

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    CONCORD, NC - OCTOBER 17: Crew members work on the #88 /AMP Energy Drink/National Guard Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (not pictured) during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on October 17, 2009 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

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    CONCORD, NC - OCTOBER 17: Scott Speed, driver of the #82 Red Bull Toyota, pits during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on October 17, 2009 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR) *** Local Caption *** Scott Speed

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    CONCORD, NC - OCTOBER 17: Crew members work on the #11 FedEx Office Toyota, driven by Denny Hamlin (not pictured) during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on October 17, 2009 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

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Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards both blew motors, Greg Biffle was in a late spin and Tony Stewart never contended.

That left it up to Kahne and Gordon to chase down Johnson, and despite some thrilling late restarts, neither came close.

Gordon finished fourth, but lost ground to Johnson in the standings and is now 135 points out as only Martin is within shouting distance of the champion. Johnson will take the cushion into Martinsville, where he's won five of the last six races.

Johnson has six victories this year and 46 overall -- 17 in Chase races.

By JENNA FRYER, AP Sports Writer

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

Cruise Control: J.J. Extends Chase Lead originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>jimmie johnsonFanHouse NewswireSat, 17 Oct 2009 23:40:00 EST Banking 500 Chat Recaphttp://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/17/banking-500-live-chat-6-pm-et/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/17/banking-500-live-chat-6-pm-et/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/17/banking-500-live-chat-6-pm-et/#commentsFiled under: , ,

FanHouse readers joined Holly Cain at Lowe's Motor Speedway for a trackside chat before the green flag dropped for the Banking 500. The race marks the halfway point of NASCAR's 10-race Chase for the Championship playoff.

Check out what topics the chat included, as readers asked questions about championship contenders and contributed their own opinion.

Banking 500 Chat Recap originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Holly CainSat, 17 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST Let's Face It: Johnson Is Unstoppablehttp://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/11/lets-face-it-johnson-is-unstoppable/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/11/lets-face-it-johnson-is-unstoppable/http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2009/10/11/lets-face-it-johnson-is-unstoppable/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Jeff Gordon gave Jimmie Johnson a handshake in victory lane to congratulate his teammate on yet another win, but really, it just symbolized what most NASCAR fans have to be fearing -- it's time to throw in the towel yet again at the feet of King Jimmie.

Johnson led 126 of 250 laps in Sunday's Pepsi 500 in Fontana, Calif., and overcame a dramatic final 20 laps that saw him bounced from the lead by Gordon. No matter. Johnson shot back by just a few laps later and then ran away from the field for the win.

It wasn't a surprise, really, that Johnson won. But it's a surprise to realize that pending crazy circumstances, there's not a team in NASCAR that can top the No. 48.
More Coverage: Pepsi 500 Results | Sprint Cup Series Standings

Need proof? Just go through the list of guys who were chasing Johnson, and trying to stop his pursuit of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, during Sunday's race outside of Los Angeles.

Gordon, the second-place finisher, was quite straight to the point after the race.

"We finished second," Gordon said,"but I feel like we were in a second-class category. We're good, but we're not good enough."

His final question in his post-race conference, though, really left an idea of what Gordon will be gnawing on during his long flight back home on the East Coast. What exactly, a reporter asked, is the difference between the No. 24 and No. 48, knowing the fact that they are based out of the same garage?

Gordon shook his head, grimaced and paused.

"Ask the tech center," said Gordon in a low voice. "I don't know. I really have no idea."

Talk about sounding defeated.

Gordon, though, did gain two spots in the Chase standings and now sits 105 points behind Johnson in first.

Juan Pablo Montoya shared Gordon's frustration.

"It's incredible," said Montoya. "I have four top-5's in a row, and I'm losing ground to the leader."

Incredible, indeed.

Montoya's worst finish in the Chase is fourth -- something he's done three times including Sunday's race. Yet, he's 58 points behind Johnson in third.

It's almost unfair.

"It'd be nice if we could get a freakin' win soon," said Montoya.

It seems that Jimmie Johnson has other plans. He is, after all, batting .500 in the win column in this season's Chase.

Mark Martin finished fourth Sunday and fell from the Chase lead for the first time. He's now a mere 12 points behind Johnson -- though you get that feeling that its more like 1,200.

Tony Stewart finished fifth after a day that saw him a lap down and as low as 30th at one point. The finish certainly staved off his elimination, but he's fourth in points and 84 markers back of the No. 48. Not that the team owner is giving up.

"This team never quits," said Stewart after his comeback day. "Never has, never will."

Certainly, Stewart's attitude is nothing short of noble. There's still opportunities for Johnson to have troubles -- for reference, see Denny Hamlin's mistake Sunday at ACS that left him with a 37th-place finish -- in the final six races. But after watching this story unfold for three straight years, can we really expect anything different to happen?

I certainly don't think so, but more importantly, it seems like some of the drivers don't think so.

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Jimmie Johnson's crew celebrates after Johnson won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' Pepsi 500 auto race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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    Jimmie Johnson, center, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' Pepsi 500 auto race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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    Jimmie Johnson's crew celebrates after Johnson won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' Pepsi 500 auto race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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    Jimmie Johnson kisses his wife, Chandra, as they celebrate his victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' Pepsi 500 auto race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

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    FONTANA, CA - OCTOBER 11: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway on October 11, 2009 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR) *** Local Caption *** Jimmie Johnson

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    FONTANA, CA - OCTOBER 11: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway on October 11, 2009 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR) *** Local Caption *** Jimmie Johnson

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    FONTANA, CA - OCTOBER 11: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's/Jimmie Johnson Foundation Chevrolet, crosses the finsih line to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway on October 11, 2009 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images for NASCAR) *** Local Caption *** Jimmie Johnson

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    FONTANA, CA - OCTOBER 11: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, races during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway on October 11, 2009 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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    FONTANA, CA - OCTOBER 11: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, races during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway on October 11, 2009 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jimmie Johnson

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    FONTANA, CA - OCTOBER 11: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, races during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway on October 11, 2009 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jimmie Johnson

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    FONTANA, CA - OCTOBER 11: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway on October 11, 2009 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images for NASCAR) *** Local Caption *** Jimmie Johnson

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Let's Face It: Johnson Is Unstoppable originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Auto Club SpeedwayGeoffrey MillerSun, 11 Oct 2009 20:40:00 EST