NASCAR Chase driver Brad Keselowski‘s bid for a win came to an early end when he wrecked on Lap 189 of the scheduled 267-lap Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Keselowski slid up in front of Denny Hamlin, got loose and Keselowski’s Ford Fusion was tapped in the rear by Hamlin’s Toyota Camry, sending the 2012 Sprint Cup champion flying.
The front end of Keselowski’s car was heavily damaged when it appeared to hit part of the concrete rumble strip near the entrance to pit road. His team is attempting to put the car back together and back on the racetrack.
Keselowski will now have to win or have a very high finish in next Sunday’s race at Talladega to be able to advance to the Round of 8 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
UPDATE: Keselowski returned to the track on Lap 219 with a new front end, but he also was scored 29 laps off the lead in 37th position. Two laps later, heavy smoke billowed from the rear of Keselowski’s car and he was ordered off the track, also bringing out a caution. Keselowski’s day was over at that point and he finished 38th.
“If my team keeps putting out this kind of effort, I’m not going to worry about today,”said Keselowski, who has four wins at NASCAR’s largest superspeedway. “We’re going to win another race or we’re going to race Talladega or other races. We’ll be fine.”
After wrecking and finishing 38th in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, Brad Keselowski left Kansas Speedway in 11th place in the Chase standings, 44 points behind series leader Jimmie Johnson and seven points below the Chase cutoff line heading to Talladega next Sunday.
But to hear Keselowski, a four-time winner at Talladega, he’s feeling very confident that not only will he have another strong finish at NASCAR’s largest superspeedway, but that he’ll also make the cut when the Round of 12 is whittled to the Round of 8 after next Sunday’s race.
“I don’t think it is a must-win situation; I am not worried about it,” the 2012 Sprint Cup champion said. “I am going to go there and bust my butt to try to win but I don’t think it is a must win yet.
“I like Talladega. Talladega has been good to me and I am going to drive my butt off and at the end of the day I have faith that if it is meant to be, it is meant to be. We can’t get down. There is a long way to go still.”
Keselowski had a promising race going at Kansas until he slid up in front of Denny Hamlin on Lap 189, got loose and Hamlin couldn’t slow fast enough to avoid hitting the rear of Keselowski’s car.
That contact sent Keselowski’s Ford Fusion sailing left, where it made heavy contact with the concrete rumble strip at the entrance to pit road, causing extensive damage to his front end.
“I don’t know what happened,” Keselowski said. “Days like today are going to happen to anybody and everybody in the Chase. It is about the effort you have when that happens.”
Keselowski lost 29 laps while in the garage as his team worked feverishly to install a whole new front end on his race car.
Unfortunately, he got back out on the racetrack when a huge plume of smoke came out from the back of his car, signaling the end of his day once and for all.
“The guys busted their butt to get me back out,” Keselowski said. “They put on a whole new front end. There must have been some kind of damage to the engine (that caused the heavy smoke) from the spin.
“It was running fine before that. I think it is just unfortunate. I am not going to say for sure what happened to cause the spin. We will move forward. If we keep getting the effort like they did to fix this thing we will be fine.
“If my team keeps putting up this kind of effort, I don’t worry about today. We will win another race. We will win Talladega and other races and be fine. … I am proud of my guys for doing their best to recover and we will move on to Talladega and give ‘em hell.”
Harvick, who led 74 laps, has won the second race in both rounds of the Chase so far. He won at New Hampshire in the first round.
“These races are hard to win and these guys are so good at the details,” Harvick told NBC Sports. “You put their backs against the wall and they get better.”
Harvick first took the lead on Lap 126 from Matt Kenseth, who led 116 laps before the halfway point before fading to finish ninth. Harvick then led 43 laps. In the middle of the race, a slow pit stop sent Harvick deep into the top 10, but Harvick returned to the point on the final restart. Edwards got into a tense battle with Busch, allowing Harvick to jump out to a 2.5-second lead.
Since the elimination format of the Chase debuted in 2014, Harvick has never been eliminated from a round.
“It’s hard to keep yourself motivated and perform at a high level, so to be able to come out and do it for three years says a lot about the character of this team and the things that they do,” Harvick said. “I’ve done a poor job (on restarts) the first half of the year. We struggled with some ratios and timing. We came up with some good ratios and things that really fit what we are doing.”
Harvick’s fourth win of the year gives him 35 Sprint Cup victories.
HOW KEVIN HARVICK WON: Harvick overtook Carl Edwards on the final restart with 30 to go and led the rest of the way unchallenged.
WHO HAD A GOOD DAY: Carl Edwards led 61 laps and earned his first top five since Kentucky in July … Joey Logano finished third a week after placing 36th at Charlotte … Jimmie Johnson followed up his Charlotte win with a fourth-place finish … Alex Bowman bounced back from early contact with Jamie McMurray and an unscheduled pit stop to finish seventh for his career-best finish and his second top 10 … A.J. Allmendinger finished eighth for his sixth top 10 of the season and his first since Bristol in August …Kasey Kahne‘s 10th-place finish gives him six top 10s in the last seven races.
WHO HAD A BAD DAY: Aric Almirola andDavid Ragan caused a caution on Lap 37 when they got together. Almirola finished 40th, Ragan in 36th … Jamie McMurray hit the wall on Lap 44 after making contact with Alex Bowman. McMurray finished 37th … Kyle Larson hit the outside wall on Lap 177 to bring out the caution. Larson finished 30th … Brad Keselowski was turned by Denny Hamlinas they exited Turn 4 on Lap 190. Keselowski went sliding through the frontstretch grass, receiving significant damage. Keselowski finished 38th, earning his first DNF since the 2015 Daytona 500 … Denny Hamlin finished 15th after having to pit three times under one caution for splitter damage and being called for three pit road penalties late.
Notable: The last four Kansas races have been won by a different driver … Chevrolet has won 11 of the 22 Sprint Cup races held at Kansas.
Quote of the Day: “With this format I had a big points gap coming in. With this format it is probably the smart thing to do but I don’t want to race like that. I want to race my guts out and go for wins. I don’t want to points race. I don’t care what the damn format is, I am going to give it my best.” – Brad Keselowski after finishing 38th
NEXT: Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. ET on NBCSN
Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick, who won Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway, are the only drivers guaranteed to advance to the Round of 8.
Johnson remains the points leader after the second race of the Round of 12, which concludes next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.
Joey Logano holds the eighth and final transfer spot. He’s tied with Austin Dillonwith 3,045 points. Logano owns the tiebreaker based on a better finish than Dillon in this round. Logano placed third Sunday.
FORT WORTH, Texas – The end of Tony Stewart‘s Sprint Cup racing career is less than six weeks away, but the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing has already gotten a taste of what the life of a full-time owner will be like.
‘The fun thing is I’ve been to a couple of the owners meetings and it’s pretty cool to sit in the room with Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi, Richard Childress and Joe Gibbs and those guys,” Stewart said Wednesday at Texas Motor Speedway.
But the three-time Sprint Cup champion said his attendance made the meetings with giants of the auto racing industry feel “like an episode of ‘Sesame Street.'”
“There’s one thing in the room that doesn’t belong and it’s not like the others and they point at me,” said Stewart, who was holding his annual “Smoke Show” Fantasy Camp benefiting Speedway Children’s Charities.
But even though he’s been co-owner of SHR since 2009, Stewart still doesn’t feel like an owner.
“I won’t say I’m a part of that group yet because I still feel like I’m just a driver right now,” said Stewart, who leaves his NASCAR driver’s seat behind on Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “To be able to work with those guys on behalf of the sport I think is going to be a lot of fun.”
“The thing that I’m most excited about with the drivers council is I feel like it’s a good group of guys in there right now,” Stewart said. “I feel like their mindset and their ability to work together for the reason and the right causes and goals.”
Stewart’s presence on the council has had an impact this season. NASCAR’s year-long odyssey regarding lug nuts began with Stewart’s rant about the issue in April.
Is there any opinion “Smoke” has kept to himself, waiting to drop on the drivers council right before he puts both feet into his role as an owner?
“I’m going to save that for when I get out of the car at Homestead I think,” Stewart joked at TMS. “The hard part is I wish we could tell you guys all the stuff that’s discussed in it but it’s not the right thing to do.”
Stewart is “proud” of what the council has accomplished in it first two years and is a little surprised at how unselfish its members have been.
“It would be really easy in our sport to be selfish and try to work on things that you think are going to benefit you,” Stewart said. “But the driver council does a really good job of not doing that. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised about that, but I guess to a certain degree a little bit I was surprised that everybody really cared more about the sport than they were about what their individual organizations were working on.”
Hard to believe, perhaps, but Sunday’s
Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway will mark the halfway point in
the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Following are the six biggest
surprises so far in the first four races Chase:
Young money out early
In the last three races of the Sprint Cup
regular season, Kyle Larson won at Michigan, finished third at
Darlington and was runner-up at Richmond. He was the hottest driver
coming into the Chase, but never finished better than 10th in the Round
of 16 and was quickly eliminated.
Dillon still in the hunt
Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Dillon
was the lowest seed to advance out of the Round of 16. Dillon came into
the Chase as the No. 15 seed, but made it to the Round of 12 despite a
best finish of eighth with no laps led in the first three Chase races.
But he’ll have his work cut out for him after a 32nd-place finish at
Charlotte.
The Charlotte calamity
Who could have predicted that so many good
drivers would encounter serious problems at Charlotte Motor Speedway?
Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, two of the Chase favorites, had engine
failures, while Joey Logano and Kyle Busch had front-tire issues and a
bunch of Chase drivers got taken out in a crash on a late-race restart.
No JGR wins yet
In the 26-race Sprint Cup regular season, all
four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers won at least twice, with the team scoring
a total of 11 race victories. In the Chase, Matt Kenseth has had a pair
of runner-up finishes and three top fives, while his JGR teammate Kyle
Busch has finished eighth or better in all four races. And while Martin
Truex Jr. won two of the first three Chase races, it’s a bit of surprise
that a JGR car hasn’t visited Victory Lane yet.
Hendrick cars are fast
After a terrible summer and a long winless
streak, the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets have picked up steam across
the board. Not only did Jimmie Johnson score a dominating victory at
Charlotte, he has led the most laps in the playoffs so far. Chase
Elliott has a pair of third-place finishes and after missing the Chase,
Kasey Kahne has averaged a 7.75 finish in the four Chase races so far.
Alex Bowman has run well in the No. 88, too. We’ll see if this continues
through the Chase. Photo: Robert Laberge
No miracle run for Stewart
In his last full season as a Sprint Cup
driver, Tony Stewart seemed poised to make the kind of improbable
championship run that he did in 2011, when after going winless in the
regular season he won five of 10 Chase races and his third title. Alas,
it was not to be. Stewart didn’t have a single top-1o finish and was
eliminated in the first round of the Chase.
CONCORD, N.C. — As smoke poured from his engine and the leaders sped away, Denny Hamlin lamented his fate.
“Denny Hamlin luck in the Chase,’’ he radioed his team. “That gets you every time.’’
Just when it seemed as if the top eight
Chase drivers could relax after four foes suffered misfortune Sunday,
Hamlin saw his comfortable points bulge waste away quicker than a before
and after picture.
He was one of five Chase drivers to
finish 30th or worse at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He became the oddity
that could throw this Round of 12, which includes a cutoff race at
Talladega Superspeedway, into chaos.
Before Hamlin’s woes, it appeared the top eight Chase drivers would hold a healthy advantage on the four — Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick — who suffered from miscalculations, miscues and mischievous machinery.
Just before Hamlin’s engine blew while running second, he had a 31-point lead on those outside a transfer spot.
At that point, it appeared as if Dillon
and Elliott would be 19 points out of the cutoff spot. In the two
previous years of the elimination format, only one driver more than 15
points out of the final transfer spot after the opening race in the
second round advanced. That was Brad Keselowski. He did so by winning at Talladega in 2014. No one so far back made it on points.
After Hamlin’s woes put him in the final
transfer spot in the standings, Dillon and Elliott found themselves only
three points behind him.
Now, there are two Chases. Those in the
top seven can take fewer risks because the penalty of losing points
could be critical with Talladega looming in two weeks. The bottom five,
including Hamlin, are in a race among themselves for the final transfer
spot if they can’t win this weekend at Kansas or the following week at
Talladega.
“All I can do is try to run as fast as I
can,’’ Hamlin said. “I won’t be able to control what any of my
competitors do. All I can do is try to go to Kansas and try to win, go
to Talladega and try to win.’’
Last year, Hamlin’s luck saw him fail to
advance from the second round. He entered the cutoff race at Talladega
second in the standings, 18 points ahead of the cutoff. He failed to
make transfer after an issue with the roof hatch and then was collected
in a last-lap crash.
Teammate Kyle Busch
had it worse in 2014. Busch was second in the standings, 26 points
ahead of the ninth place, the first driver outside a cutoff spot
entering Talladega and was eliminated after a crash when hit from behind
by Dillon.
Logano, who finished 80 laps behind the
leaders Sunday after suffering two tire issues and slamming the wall
twice, joked that if he had finished only two laps down, “I could have
had a good points day.’’
Had he done so, he would have finished
23rd instead of 36th and those extra 13 points would have put him in the
final transfer spot instead of Hamlin.
That’s how volatile Sunday was for some
Chase contenders. Now, it impacts decision drivers and crew chiefs will
make the next two weeks.
“We’re not in must-win, but we’re in can’t-screw-up mode,’’ Logano said.
HAIRY SITUATION
Blake Koch thought he’d have some fun after making the inaugural Xfinity Chase.
He decided to mimic hockey players who grow beards during the playoffs and do it for NASCAR’s version of the playoffs.
Truth be told, Koch, figured he’d have
the beard for only the first three races and then could shave, but he’ll
keep it going after advancing to the Round of 8 after Sunday’s race at
Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“I’m a pretty optimistic person, but I
expected us to make the Chase, not to really transfer to the next group
of eight,’’ he said. “That’s really tough to do. If I would have known
that, I wouldn’t have set to growing this Chase beard because it’s going
to get long now.
“I thought it was going to be a three-week beard. It’s going to be an eight-week beard, at least, maybe nine weeks.’’
Koch advanced with a team that has 16
employees and moved shops during the season. They prepared cars for
Dover in May with flashlights because their new shop didn’t have power
yet.
“I think that’s definitely the biggest story of the first round, Blake and his guys making the second round,’’ said Elliott Sadler,
who advanced to the Round of 8 via his win at Kentucky Speedway. “The
start-up team and where Blake came from last year to this year,
congratulations, that to me is a job well done.’’
PIT STOPS
— Kurt Busch
and Brad Keselowski are tied with the best average finish in the eight
races on 1.5-mile tracks. Both have a 7.0 average. Keselowski finished
seventh on Sunday; Busch eighth. Three of the last six races, including
the season finale at Homestead, are on 1.5-mile tracks.
— For the first time in this Chase, there
were multi-car accidents. In the first three Chase races, there were
seven cautions for spins or accidents. All had been single-car
incidents. Sunday, two of the five cautions for accidents featured
multiple cars, including the 12-car incident off a restart.
— Last year, Joey Logano and Kevin
Harvick were 1-2 in the points after the opening race in the second
round. This year, they are 11th and 12th.
— Kasey Kahne’s third-place finish was his best result since his win at Atlanta in Sept. 2014 — a span of 77 races.
— Danica Patrick’s 11th-place finish Sunday was her best result of the year. Her previous best was 13th at Dover in May.
— Five of the top-10 finishers Sunday were drivers not eligible for the title. They were Kasey Kahne (finished third), Ryan Newman (fourth), Kyle Larson (fifth), Tony Stewart (ninth) and Jamie McMurray (10th).
— Tony Stewart’s ninth-place finish snapped a streak of seven consecutive finishes of 13th or worse.
— Michael McDowell’s 14th-place finish was his second top-15 result in his last four starts.
CONCORD, N.C. – Pit stops long have been a determinant in Sprint
Cup race outcomes, but the 2016 playoffs have featured the flip side of
the over-the-wall warriors who win races. Execution hasn’t been the storyline as much as the errors that can spell doom even for a dominant car. “I think now it’s certainly harder to be able to make up from those mistakes on pit road,” defending series champion Kyle Busch
said Thursday after practice at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “There’s risk
versus reward in everything we do, but pit road especially with the
extra segments and timing zones.” Since NASCAR generally doubled the timing sections at virtually all tracks three months ago, speeding penalties have spiked, and the trend has continued during the playoffs — but with a twist. The teams with the fastest cars also are among those making the most mistakes in the pits. Of the 13 pit infractions committed in the Round of 16 by Chase for
the Sprint Cup contenders, more than half belonged to the cars that have
demonstrated the most speed during the regular season. All four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers –Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth – committed pit penalties during the first three races of the playoffs. But the plight of Jimmie Johnson
has been most indicative of the immense downside of pushing the pit
limits with a stronger car. Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet has been faster
since the playoffs started, but his finishes aren’t reflecting it
because of two costly penalties. He led a race-high 118 of 270 laps at Chicagoland Speedway but was 12th
after speeding while exiting on a stop with 36 laps remaining. At Dover
International Speedway, he led 90 laps after taking the lead from
winner Martin Truex Jr. just before halfway but finished a lap down in seventh when his crew was penalized for going over the wall too soon. Truex has said Johnson’s car virtually was equal to his before
serving a pass-through punishment. It highlights the thin line between
gaining a spot that could mean a win and advancement to the next round,
or a disastrous penalty that could mean elimination. While there has been increased chatter about whether drivers should
embrace “points racing” — essentially playing it safe for top-10
finishes instead of going for broke. But Johnson’s Dover punishment raises another vexing question: Should pit crews also be erring on the more conservative side? “No, I don’t even want to think about that stuff,” Edwards said with a
grimace when asked about it. “Everybody just has to go do their jobs
the best they can, and you can’t give up any speed. It’s so competitive
that (if) you a lose a spot or two on pit road being conservative, at
the end of the day, (that) could be as bad as being fast and just having
one bad pit stop.” With Saturday’s Bank of America 500 starting the Round of 12, the
competitiveness also is expected to ratchet up with four fewer
contenders. “You can’t be conservative I guess is the short answer,” Edwards
said. “With less people, and arguably faster people, there’s less room
to give up any spots. The 12 guys racing for these eight (transfer)
spots could be first through 12th in finishing order in these first two
races. “If you’re a little bit conservative, it’s really easy to run 10th,
and you just can’t do that. We’re planning on being as fast as we can
be. The word ‘conservative’ hasn’t come up at our shop this week.” Busch said drivers have focused on “rolling time” – the distance
between the last timing line before a pit stall and the first line after
it – in order to improve speed on pit stops. Among the best has been
Johnson, but the six-time series champion also has been busted six times
for speeding this season, ranking him among the top 10 violators. “Jimmie’s been really good at that,” Busch said. “He’s probably been
one of the top-two or three all year long on rolling times, but they
also have the pit road speeding penalties to go along with it throughout
the year So there’s a fine line there, and there’s a balance that
you’ve got to be able to withhold in being able to be successful.”
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nearly a year after a retribution-seeking Matt Kenseth sent Joey Logano’s championship hopes crashing into a wall, Logano admits he would have changed one thing about what happened between the two drivers.
He would have called Kenseth.
A year ago, Kenseth spun after contact from Logano in the final laps at Kansas during the Chase as they raced for the win. Logano celebrated. Kenseth seethed.
Kenseth said that day that Logano’s decision “strategically” wasn’t the best. Logano called it hard racing, noting how Kenseth blocked him.
But any comments they made were done through the media. Logano admitted he wasn’t sure what good a call would do, fearing Kenseth was “going to be more mad (and) I could make this worse.’’
So Logano never called, never texted and never reached out to Kenseth, who stewed and made his move three weeks later at Martinsville.
Already upset after contact with Logano’s teammate, Brad Keselowski, Kenseth later turned his wrecked car into Logano’s. Kenseth’s move took Logano out of the lead, costing Logano a possible win and advancement to the championship round. Logano’s Chase ended in that round.
Tuesday, Logano talked about that incident and what he’s learned since.
“I think you grow from every situation you’re put in,’’ he said at a media event promoting Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “In all honesty, what would I do different? I probably would have picked up the phone. Maybe we would have disagreed then and nothing changed, but at least I called. I didn’t know what I was going to say, and I didn’t think it was anything he wanted to hear.’’
Logano said his attitude also has changed in recent years.
He admits his attitude used to be more like “I’m here to win, and I don’t care if someone doesn’t like me.’’
“I over-communicate more,’’ Logano said. “If someone gave me extra room on the race track one day, I make sure they know, thank you.’’
Logano said he texted Stewart a thank you note after Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway. Stewart’s pit stall was in front of Logano. Because Logano was in front of Stewart throughout the race, Logano would exit his stall when Stewart was still in his under caution. Logano said Stewart gave Logano “plenty of room” to exit his stall.
Logano also become more friendly to other drivers, particularly younger drivers in the series.
“It has been fun to build those relationships up and create those friendships,’’ he said. “It’s easier now because a lot of the guys are my age. You have a lot in common. You’re able to talk to them about stuff that is not racing, which is kind of fun.’’
Logano admits they’re still competitors and things can happen between them but he now better knows how to diffuse a tense situation and prevent it from escalating.
DOVER, Del. – Exchanging hugs with team members, Austin Dillon pumped a fist skyward and shouted what could be the mantra for his No. 3 Chevrolet. “That’s all we want – another shot!” Dillon exclaimed. “Next round, baby!” The Richard Childress Racing driver was the surprise qualifier for
the Round of 12 in Sunday’s Citizen Solider 400 cutoff race, but the
biggest surprise might have been how Dillon advanced in the Chase for
the Sprint Cup. He finished eighth – his first top 10 in seven starts at the 1-mile
oval where his previous best was 20th – and emphatically proved his
championship bid was deserving of continuing after a 400-mile race in
which several title rivals faltered. The former Xfinity and Craftsman Truck series champion, who hadn’t finished higher than 20th in the points during his first two seasons in Sprint Cup, said it simply ranked as the biggest moment of his career. “It’s amazing,” said Dillon , who had entered the race five points
out of the final transfer spot. “It’s huge for RCR. I want to keep
upsetting these guys, man. “There’s a lot of guys in this that don’t think that we should be here, and I’m proud to be that car that’s here.” Dillon wrapped up the final transfer spot by comfortably finishing 11 points ahead of Tony Stewart, whose final shot at a championship ended with a nondescript 13th. Dillon’s two biggest threats for advancement seemed to be Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray,
but the Chip Ganassi Racing Chevys both were out of contention before
the midpoint. Larson, who had a five-point cushion on McMurray and
Dillon entering the race, had a loss of power and hit the wall in a
25th-place finish. McMurray finished last with an engine failure. Even if they’d been at full strength, though, Dillon still would have
been a threat with a car that he said was good enough to finish in the
top five. After a mediocre practices Friday and Saturday, his car “came
to life in the race” – particularly after the second pit stop. “That’s when we really made it all up,” he said. “We made the Chase through that run.” It was a major turnaround from last weekend at New Hampshire Motor
Speedway, where Dillon crashed his primary car, stated in a backup and
flirted with a disastrous finish until rallying for 16th and setting up his impressive performance at Dover. “We just stayed focused, and once again, God just blessed us because
I’m still awestruck,” he said. “Things like this just don’t happen. I’m
proud to be going on to the final 12 and having race cars that are
capable of keep on moving on.” It’ll get much tougher from here. Dillon will be an overwhelming
underdog battling for one of eight spots in the next round against Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson. It’s a formidable list. But for Dillon, it’s another shot — and it’ll begin at Charlotte
Motor Speedway, which Dillon says his is best track on the circuit. “I’ve got three really solid tracks coming up,” he said of Charlotte,
Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superpseedway (where he finished third in
May). “I’m going to drive the wheels off it and have fun while we’re
here.”
