How about that for a week? First, Joe Gibbs Racing was successful in their appeal of the penalties handed down by NASCAR for an illegal engine part. Then to end the week the drivers of its two cars, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin, finished first and second in the Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway.
Racing for the first time this season without their crew chiefs, Kenseth and Hamlin felt no effects. Hamlin who started last week’s race at Talladega only to jump out of the car at the first opportunity, was able to stay in his car and finish a very strong second to his teammate Kenseth. For Kenseth it was his third victory of the year and it served notice to Jimmie Johnson that there is another Cup contender out there to deal with.
For all the world it looked like Kyle Busch had the field covered leading 265 of 367 laps Saturday night at the track that’s too tough to tame. Busch’s only challenger appeared to be the Hendrick Motor Sport car driven by Kasey Kahne. Kahne and Busch were racing side by side for the lead late in the race and it appeared at first glance that Busch got into the rear quarter panel of Kahne and spun him. Upon further review the two cars did not actually make contact. Busch’s car was so close to Kahne’s it took all the air off the rear end which caused the accident.
Never the less, Kahne was none too happy about it. “He screwed up again. It was the third time this year that he’s screwed up. I never ran into the guy before. It’s just crazy.”
Feel free to give me a follow on Twitter – @JimLaPlante, as well as the site – @LastWordOnSport.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? Find more info at our “Join Our Team” page.
Photo credit: flair.wittysparks.com, cc
Busch did seem to feel bad and when asked by his Crew Chief if his car was all right he just replied, “Yeah.”
With Kahne out of the picture the race seemed to be for second place. With about 20 laps remaining Busch began to run slower laps and it appeared he was losing the handling of the car. With 13 laps remaining it was obvious that something was wrong and Kenseth was able to easily drive by Busch’s car. In the last 13 laps Busch went from the lead to sixth place.
Busch did not make himself available to the press after the race. His crew Chief Dave Rogers said after the race, that his right rear tire had a gash in it. The tire held only 12 pounds of pressure in it when the car returned to the garage. That would explain the loss of handling.
For Kenseth, the victory moved him up one spot in the Sprint Cup standings into third in the standings. He is 59 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson who finished the night in fourth place just behind third place finisher and Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon. For Gordon it was his 700th consecutive Sprint Cup Race and a badly needed top 3 finish.
The Sprint Cup standings still have Johnson on top by a very comfortable margin. Carl Edwards is second, 44 points behind the leader followed by Kenseth, Earnhardt (-64 pts), Boyer (-74 pts) and Kahne (-97pts).
The series moves on to its All Star weekend in Charlotte in a non-points race. The event is scheduled to start at 7:30 Saturday night and can be seen on the Speed Channel. The format is four 20-lap segments with optional pit stops, and then a mandatory four-tire pit stop for the final 10-lap segment.
Here are the drivers scheduled to race in the All Star event and how they qualified.
The drivers who won a race in 2012 or 2013: Marcos Ambrose, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, David Ragan and Tony Stewart.
All-star winners since 2003: Kurt Busch (2010), Mark Martin (2005).
The top two finishers from the Sprint Showdown: That race is run prior to the All Star event and features all drivers who have not qualified for the All Star race.
Sprint Cup Champions since 2003: Those drivers already qualified.
The top driver in online/mobile app fan voting: The driver must finish on the lead lap in the Showdown race and also have a car in raceable condition.
My picks for the All Star Race:
- Jimmie Johnson
- Carl Edwards
- Matt Kenseth
