Nascar Fall 2010

8/8/2019 Nascar Fall 2010

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nascar-fall-2010 1/16



AP

NASCAR chase drivers pose foa photo after the Air Guard 400NASCAR Sprint Cup auto race aRichmond International Racewayin Richmond, Va., Saturday Sept.11. Drivers are from Left to rightop row, Denny Hamlin, MatKenseth, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle,Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, KyleBusch, Jeff Gordon, bottom row,Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Jimmie

Johnson, Clint Bowyer.

NASCAR

SPRINT CUP

POINTS

LEADERSy The Associated Press

hrough Sept. 11

1. Denny Hamlin, 5,060.. Jimmie Johnson, 5,050.. Kevin Harvick, 5,030.. Kyle Busch, 5,030.. Kurt Busch, 5,020.. Tony Stewart, 5,010.. Greg Biffle, 5,010.. Jeff Gordon, 5,000.

. Carl Edwards, 5,000.10. Jeff Burton, 5,000.11. Matt Kenseth, 5,000.12. Clint Bowyer, 5,000.13. Ryan Newman, 3,079.14. Jamie McMurray, 3,050.15. Mark Martin, 3,022.16. Juan Pablo Montoya, 3,017.17. David Reutimann, 2,986.18. Kasey Kahne, 2,932.19. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2,908.0. Martin Truex Jr., 2,884.

1. Joey Logano, 2,878.2. A J Allmendinger, 2,820.3. Paul Menard, 2,642.4. Marcos Ambrose, 2,565.5. David Ragan, 2,550.6. Brad Keselowski, 2,515.7. Scott Speed, 2,349.8. Sam Hornish Jr., 2,331.9. Elliott Sadler, 2,277.0. Regan Smith, 2,197.1. Bobby Labonte, 1,903.2. Travis Kvapil, 1,857.

3. David Gilliland, 1,710.4. Kevin Conway, 1,586.5. Robby Gordon, 1,536.6. Brian Vickers, 1,158.7. Joe Nemechek, 1,020.8. Max Papis, 907.9. Casey Mears, 885.0. Reed Sorenson, 884.1. Dave Blaney, 863.2. Mike Bliss, 836.3. David Stremme, 825.4. Bill Elliott, 800.

NASCAR

SPRINT CUP

SCHEDULE

WINNERSBy The Associated Press

Through Sept. 11

Feb. 6 — x-Budweiser Shootout (Kevin Harvick)

Feb. 11 — x-Gatorade Duel 2 (Kasey Kahne)

Feb. 11 — x-Gatorade Duel 1 (Jimmie Johnson)

Feb. 14 — Daytona 500 (Jamie McMurray)

Feb. 21 — Auto Club 500 (Jimmie Johnson)

Feb. 28 — Shelby American (Jimmie Johnson)

March 7 — Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta (Kurt Busch)

March 21 — Food City 500 (Jimmie Johnson)

March 29 — Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 (Denny Hamlin)

April 10 — Subway Fresh Fit 600 (Ryan Newman)

April 19 — Samsung Mobile 500 (Denny Hamlin)

April 25 — Aaron’s 499 (Kevin Harvick)

May 1 — Crown Royal Presents The Heath Calhoun 400

(Kyle Busch)

May 8 — Showtime Southern 500 (Denny Hamlin)

May 16 — Autism Speaks 400 (Kyle Busch)

May 22 — x-Sprint Showdown (Martin Truex Jr.)

May 22 — x-NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (Kurt Busch)

May 30 — Coca-Cola 600 (Kurt Busch)

June 6 — Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 (Denny Hamlin)

June 13 — Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 (Denny

Hamlin)

June 20 — Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Jimmie Johnson)

June 27 — Lenox Industrial Tools 301 (Jimmie Johnson)

July 3 — Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola (Kevin

Harvick)

July 10 — LifeLock.com 400 (David Reutimann)

July 25 — Brickyard 400 (Jamie McMurray)

Aug. 1 — Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 (Greg

Biffe)

Aug. 8 — Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen (Juan

Pablo Montoya)

Aug. 15 — Carfax 400 (Kevin Harvick)

Aug. 21 — Irwin Tools Night Race (Kyle Busch)

Sept. 5 — Emory Healthcare 500 (Tony Stewart)Sept. 11 — Air Guard 400 (Denny Hamlin)

Sept. 19 — Sylvania 300, Loudon, N.H.

Sept. 26 — AAA 400, Dover, Del.

Oct. 3 — Price Chopper 400, Kansas City, Kan.

Oct. 10 — Pepsi 400, Fontana, Calif.

Oct. 16 — Bank of America 500, Concord, N.C.

Oct. 24 — TUMS Fast Relief 500, Ridgeway, Va.

Oct. 31 — AMP Energy 500, Talladega, Ala.

Nov. 7 — AAA Texas 500, Fort Worth, Texas

Nov. 14 — Kobalt Tools 500, Avondale, Ariz.

Nov. 21 — Ford 400, Homestead, Fla.

x-non-points race



Hamlin rises to take the top seed RICHMOND, Va. (AP) —

enny Hamlin faced adversityefore he even had a chanceo live up to his billing as theopular pick to unseat Jimmieohnson as Sprint Cup cham-ion.

He tore a knee ligamentn a pickup basketball gamen January, just a few weeksefore the start of the season,o raise questions about hishysical ability to compete at

ASCAR’s highest level. Whene stumbled out of the gateith a series of confidence-test-

ing poor finishes, he was hitwith the snickering from nay-sayers who never believed hehad a title run in him from the

eginning.So when he announced in

arch he’d undergo immediateurgery to repair his anteriorruciate ligament, his champi-

onship chances were officiallyismissed.Only Hamlin refused to fade.

e instead rattled off five winsn 10 races — four of whichame after his surgery — andevived his title chances. And ven after he cooled off overhe summer, he turned it up ase closed in on the Chase forhe Sprint Cup championship.

Locked into a tie withohnson for the top seed inhe Chase, Hamlin claimedole possession Saturday nightith a dominating win at home

rack Richmond Internationalaceway. It came a week aftere had the car to beat in Atlantantil an engine failure droppedim to a last-place finish, andhe Richmond win pushed himnto the points lead for the firstime in his career.

“We’re tough right now,”Hamlin said after his series-best sixth win. “We’ve got themost wins and hopefully thatwill carry us for the rest of the season. At this point, I’dsay we could win at all of (thefinal 10 tracks). Never through

the course of my career had Ifelt that anywhere I show up, Icould win.

“Other than the exception of a road course, and I feel I couldrun top five there, I’ve neverfelt like I could win anywhere Iwent, until this year. Especiallyat this point now, the confi-dence level is pretty high.”

It better be if he plans on

being the last man standingat the end of the 10-race titlechase. The last four years havebelonged to Johnson, who hasmastered the Chase systemand been untouchable underthis format. Many a driver haschallenged him since 2006, but

nobody has yet to put togetherthe 10 perfect races needed todethrone Double J.

That includes Hamlin,who won at Richmond lastSeptember to steamroll his wayinto the Chase with a heightenedconfidence that had him certainhe could deliver a knockout punch to Johnson. Only reliabil-ity has always been an issue for

his Joe Gibbs Racing team, anda pair of engine failures put himon the ropes. Add in a subparfinish at Dover, a track that has vexed him most of his career,and driver error at California,and Hamlin fell off the championship pace and settled for a

disappointing fifth in the finalstandings.

But with two wins in thefinal five races, Hamlin provedthat when everything is click-ing, he could hold his own.

A huge part of this championship run will depend onhim and his maturity, which hasbeen questioned over his four- plus seasons in the Cup Series.

Hamlin will have to manage

the highs and the lows, not gecaught up in the hip Charlottenightclub he co-owns, and suc-cessfully manage the pressurethat comes from staring dow Johnson.

He’ll be equally dependenon his No. 11 crew, which doesa fantastic job of shieldingthemselves from distractionsbut is at the mercy of internalreliability issues at JGR.

Crew chief Mike Ford has astrategy to prepare each weeas if they are playing catch-upon the competition, so win olose come the Nov. 21 finaleat Homestead, his team won’have left anything on the table.They approached Atlanta anRichmond, the last two racesbefore the Chase, as if thechampionship had alreadystarted and the No. 11 Toyota

was the best car on the track iboth races.

Johnson had his hands fullwith Hamlin for part of las year’s Chase, and he has nodoubt that will again be the casethis year as Hamlin attempts toonce again fulfill the potentialhe was tagged with when JGRhired him before the 2006 sea-son.

“I look to how he ran in theChase last year. He was very, very strong through all of thoseraces and had a problem aCalifornia that kind of took himout,” Johnson said. “Maybe Itook for granted with how wellDenny ran last year that hewould just be there (in conten-tion). That’s been the reality tome, that he’s going to be one of the guys to race for it.”

APDenny Hamlin (11) does a burnouas he celebrates his win in theNASCAR Sprint Cup Series autorace, as Jeff Burton (31) passes byat Richmond International Racewayin Richmond, Va., Saturday.

AP

Denny Hamlin holds up six fingers for his sixth win of the year, following his victory in the NASCAR Sprint CupSeries auto race at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Va., Saturday.



2009—Finished fifth in series points.His four victories were tied for third-

est in the series, behind series champi-on Jimmie Johnson (seven) and runner-up Mark Martin (five). … Won at Poconoor the third time in eight starts on

August 3. The victory was an emotional

one for Hamlin after the recent deathsof his grandmother, Thelma Clark, andthe mother of tire specialist Patrick

ullen. … Won at Richmond on Sept.12, his first in eight tries at his hometrack … Won at Martinsville on Oct.25. … Led 200-plus laps three times(Martinsville, spring, in a second-placeinish), and Richmond and Martinsville

in victories. … Began the Chase seededourth, dropped as far as 11th (twice…is budding rivalry with rising Sprint

Cup driver Brad Keselowski became aopular storyline late in the season.

2008—Finished eighth in seriesoints. … Had one win, at Martinsville

spring event. … Made the Chase forthe third consecutive year.… Beststart of the season was on the pole atRichmond’s spring race, where he led381 laps before finishing 24th.

2007—Finished 12th in the seriesstandings. … Had one win (at New

ampshire summer race), 12 top fivesand 18 top 10s. … Made the Chase forthe second consecutive year. … Beststart of the season was on the pole at

artinsville.

2006—Finished third in seriesoints. … NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Raybestos Rookie of the Year.… Sweptboth 2006 Pocono races from the pole.… Completed first full season of com-

petition.

2005—Finished41st in series points. … Madehis NASCAR SprintCup Series debutat Kansas, start-ing seventh andfinishing 32nd. … Competed in sevenNASCAR Sprint Cup races and regis-tered three top-10 finishes at Charlotte,Martinsville and Texas. … Earned hisfirst pole at Phoenix in November.

HISTORY

Finished fifth in the 2005 NASCAR

Nationwide Series points with one topfive and 11 top-10 finishes. … Finished37th in 2004 NASCAR Camping WorldTruck Series points. … Made his firststart in one of NASCAR’s national seriesin the 2004 NASCAR Camping WorldTruck Series race at ORP, starting sev-enth and finishing 10th. … Hamlin isa product of the NASCAR Whelen All- American Series, where he collectednearly 50 wins from 2002-2004.

DENNY HAMLIN

Ranked

1st

Courtesy of NASCAR

Birthdate: Nov. 18, 1980Hometown:

Chesterfield, Va. YEAR-BY-YEAR

CUP SERIES RECAP

2009—Won fourth consecutiveseries championship, surpassing CaleYarborough (1976-78) for the longeststreak of consecutive championshipsin NASCAR history … Won seven racesfor a second consecutive season. … Had16 top-five finishes (tied for series-best

with teammate Jeff Gordon) and 24 top10s (one off Gordon’s series-high) …Won four Chase races, improving hisall-time series lead to 18 … Only driverto win four races during the 10-raceChase (three times: 2004, 2007, 2009). …Entered the Chase seeded third behindteammate Mark Martin, but took the points lead in the fourth Chase raceafter leading 126 of 250 laps and win-ning at Auto Club Speedway.… Led therest of the season. … Beat Mark Martinby 141 points for the title. … First racecar driver named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 78 years of theaward.

2008—Won third consecutive seriestitle, joining NASCAR legend CaleYarborough as the only drivers to accom- plish that feat. Yarborough’s titles camein 1975-78. … Finished with a series-high six poles. … Began the Chase forthe NASCAR Sprint Cup as the thirdseed. Took the standings lead after the

third Chase race, at Kansas, and neverrelinquished it, winning the title by 69 points over runner-up Carl Edwards. …Remains one of only two drivers (MattKenseth is the other) to qualify for allfive Chases. … Moved into 15th placeon NASCAR’s all-time win list with 40series wins. ... Led four year-end LoopData statistical categories – AverageStart (8.5), Average Position (10.1), LapsLed (1,959) and Percentage of Laps Led(18.3).

2 0 0 7 — W o nsecond consecu-tive series title. …Became first driversince HendrickMotorsports team-mate Jeff Gordonin 1997 and 1998to win consecutive series titles; also thefirst since Gordon in 1998 to win 10 racesin a season. … Became 15th driver towin multiple titles in NASCAR’s premieseries. … Became 14th driver in serieshistory to win consecutive titles. …Four consecutive wins late in the Chasefor the NASCAR Sprint Cup solidifie

title run. … Came from 68 points behinGordon following season’s 31st race towin title by 77 points over Gordon.

2006—Won the series title. … His24 top 10s led the series. … Spent all36 weeks of the season in the NASCARSprint Cup top 10. … Won Daytona 500.… Also won his first events at Talladega(in May) and at Indianapolis (in August).Other two victories came at Las Vegas

JIMMIE JOHNSON

Ranked

2nd

Courtesy of NASCAR

Birthdate: Sept. 17, 1975Hometown:

El Cajon, Calif. YEAR-BY-YEAR

CUP SERIES RECAP

AP

Jimmie Johnson runs in the back stretchduring the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series autorace at Richmond International Raceway inRichmond, Va., Saturday, Sept, 11.



2009—Finished 19th in series points.Had his worst points finish since 2002

21st). …Failed to win a race for a sec-ond straight year.… His 159 laps led werethe fewest of his career.… Finished 30thor worse 10 times … Failed to qualify forthe Chase for the first time since 2005.… Season appeared to start well as hewon the Budweiser Shootout. … Wassecond and in a strong position to wina second Daytona 500 when rain haltedthe race after 152 laps. … Was fourth atAtlanta three weeks later, but did notcrack the top five again until 21 raceslater, when he was runner-up at Atlanta.… Long-time crew chief Todd Berrierwas moved to Richard Childress Racingteammates Casey Mears and then Jeff

urton last season and former Clintowyer crew chief Gil Martin took over

or Harvick. Martin returns this season.

2008—Finished fourth in seriesoints, tying career-best points finish.

… 19 top-10 finishes tied for series’ fifth-best total. … Best race finishes wereseconds at Bristol spring race and theseason finale at Homestead. … Led 80laps at Richmond in September en routeto seventh-place finish. … Second con-secutive season of having no DNFs.

2007—Finished 10th in series points.… Started year in grand style, winningDaytona 500 by only .020-second over

ark Martin. … Qualified for Chase forthe NASCAR Sprint Cup, but highestadvancement in the Chase standingswas fifth. … Finished second in road-course race at Sonoma.

2006—Finished fourth in seriesoints. … Qualified for the Chase for

the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the first

time, and wonsecond NASCARNationwide Seriescrown. … Victory atWatkins Glen wasfirst road-coursewin in NASCARSprint Cup. ... Wonfirst Chase race, atNew Hampshire, to take over the series points lead. Engine problem the follow-ing week at Dover led to 32nd-placefinish and a drop to fifth in the Chasestandings. … Five victories included asweep of the two Phoenix races.

2005—Finished 14th in series points.

… Sole victory came at Bristol springrace. … Had poles at Talladega springrace and Richmond fall race. … Season-high points position was sixth, afterBristol win. … Fell out of contention forChase field with only one top-10 finishin the 10 races preceding Chase “cut-off”race at Richmond.

2004—Finished 14th in series points.… Scored career-best finish at Daytona500 with a fourth-place finish.

KEVIN HARVICK

Ranked

3rd

Courtesy of NASCAR

Birthdate: Dec. 8, 1975Hometown:

Bakersfield, Calif. YEAR-BY-YEAR

CUP SERIES RECAP

2008—Finished 10th in series points.… Made the Chase for the NASCARSprint Cup for the third time. … Finishedwith a career-best eight wins. … Set anew NASCAR record for the most winsin the three NASCAR national serieswith 21 (eight in NSCS; 10 in NNS andthree in NCWTS). … Started Chase asthe top seed but faltered in Chase’s firsttwo events to fall out of championshipcontention.

2007—Finished fifth in the seriesstandings. … Made the Chase for theNASCAR Sprint Cup for the secondtime. … Finished with one win, 11 topfives and 20 top 10s. … Won the firstCar of Tomorrow race at Bristol MotorSpeedway. … Announced a 2008 moveto Joe Gibbs Racing, leaving Hendrick

Motorsports.

2006—Finished 10th in series points.… Finished with one win, 10 top fives,18 top 10s and one pole. … Earnedfirst Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cupberth. … Victory came July 16 at NewHampshire. … Pole came in April atPhoenix International Raceway.… Spentonly four weeks out of the NASCARSprint Cup top 10, the first two follow-ing the season-opening Daytona 500 and

the first California event in February,and the next two following back-to-back June events at Michigan InternationalSpeedway and Infineon Raceway.

2005—Finished 20th in series points.… Won two races as a NASCAR SprintCup Series rookie, one of only six driv-ers with multiple rookie victories. …First victory came Sept. 4 at CaliforniaSpeedway. Second followed Nov. 13 atPhoenix International Raceway. … First

pole came Feb. 27at California. …Finished with ninetop fives and 13top 10s.

2004—Finished52nd in series points. … Ran sixraces, debuting in hometown of Las Vegas; started 18th and finished 41st… Best finish a 24th at California LaboDay weekend race.

HISTORY

Finished second in 2004 NASCARNationwide Series standings behin

champion Martin Truex Jr., but woRaybestos Rookie of the year title. …Made seven NASCAR Nationwide Seriesstarts for Hendrick Motorsports in 2003season, finishing second in debut aCharlotte fall event. … Also in 2003, wotwo ARCA events, driving for HendricMotorsports. … In 2002, finished eightin ASA standings. … In 2001 – his junio year in high school – made six NASCARCamping World Truck Series starts foRoush Racing; had two top-10 finishes.

KYLE BUSCH

Ranked

4th

Courtesy of NASCAR

Birthdate: May 2, 1985Hometown:

Las Vegas, Nev. YEAR-BY-YEAR

CUP SERIES RECAP

Jimmie Johnson (48) passes ClinBowyer (33) as Tony Stewart (14)closes in during the NASCARSprint Cup Series auto race aRichmond International Racewayin Richmond, Va., Saturday Sept.11.



2009—Finished fourth in seriesoints. … Rebounded from an uncharac-

teristically poor 2008 season to qualifyor his fourth Chase. … Won two races,

extending his streak to eight straightseasons with at least one victory. …Won at Atlanta in the spring for the sec-ond time, led 234 of 330 laps. …. Wonat Texas in the fall for the first time.… Led the series by remaining on thelead lap 93.46 percent of the time (9,806of 10,492 laps). … Made a huge jumpin Driver Rating from 73.8 in 2008. …Entered the Chase seventh in points.

2008—Finished 18th in seriesoints. … Had one win (June at Newampshire). … Posted five top fives and

10 top 10s. …Two runner-up finishes(Daytona 500 and November’s Phoenix

ace).

2007—Finished seventh in seriesoints. … Had two victories, at theugust Pocono race and the Augustichigan race. … Recorded six top fives

nd 14 top 10s … Earned one pole. …arned a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0

n his win at Pocono. … Led the mostiles in the series with 1,691.8 miles

ed.

2006—Finished 16th in series points.Had one victory, at Bristol spring

ace. … Recorded seven top fives and12 top 10s. … Tied for series-high withix poles. … With a win in the NASCARationwide Series, he became one of nly 16 drivers with a win in all threef NASCAR’s national series (NASCAR print Cup, Nationwide and Camping

orld Truck Series)

2005—Finished 10th in series points.

… Ended seasonwith three victo-ries (Phoenix in April, Pocono in July and Richmondin September). …Recorded nine topfives and 18 top10s. … Was runner-up in the Daytona 500. … Finished inthe top three in the season’s first threeraces. … Missed the final two races of the season after being suspended by carowner Jack Roush.

2004—Won the series champion-ship. … Finished with three wins, one

pole, 10 top fives, 21 top 10s and acareer-low three DNFs in 36 starts. …Earned 1,506 points during the inaugural10-race Chase for the NASCAR SprintCup, eight points more than runner-up Jimmie Johnson. Was 16th in the pointstandings following the Daytona 500,but spent remaining 35 weeks in the top10. … Was seventh following race No.26 at Richmond on Sept. 11, the cutoff point for the Chase. … Finished withone win, six top fives and nine top 10s.

KURT BUSCH

Ranked

5th

Courtesy of NASCAR

Birthdate: Aug. 4, 1978Hometown:

Las Vegas, Nev. YEAR-BY-YEAR

CUP SERIES RECAP

2009 Finished sixth in series points.... Won four races, his most since 2006(five) ... Made the difficult transitionto driver/owner without a drop in on-track performance. Won Stewart-HaasRacing’s first event at the Sprint All-StarRace. ... Won points race at Pocono,Daytona (summer), Watkins Glen andKansas. ... His win on June 7 was thefirst by a driver-owner since RickyRudd (Martinsville) on Sept. 27, 1998.... A driver/owner had not led the pointssince Alan Kulwicki clinched the championship on Nov. 15, 1992 at AtlantaMotor Speedway. .. Win at Daytona on July 4 made him the first driver-ownerto win multiple races in a season sinceRicky Rudd (Dover and Indianapolis) in1997. ... Led the standings for 13 weeksentering the final regular season race at

Richmond, but entered the Chase forthe NASCAR Sprint Cup seeded secondto Mark Martin, who had four wins toStewart’s three at the time. ... Tied team-mate Ryan Newman by completing 99.77 percent of laps run in 2009. (10,492 wererun in 2009). ... Led the series with 370 points gained on road courses ... His11-season win streak leads all activedrivers.

2008 Finished ninth in series points.

… Posted one win, the 33rd of his careerbut his first at Talladega. … Finishedthird in dramatic Daytona 500, losinglead on final lap to Ryan Newman – hisnew teammate for 2009. … Announceddecision to leave Joe Gibbs Racing andbecome driver-owner for newly-formedStewart-Haas organization.

2007 Finished sixth in the series points. … Earned three wins, 11 top-five and 23 top-10 finishes. … Led 20

of 36 races for 980laps. … Won theBrickyard 400 forthe second time inhis career.

2006 Finished11th in series points. … Postedfive wins, three of which (Kansas Atlanta,and Texas) were races during the Chasefor the NASCAR Sprint Cup. … Had 15top-five and 19 top-10 finishes.

2005 Won second series champion-ship. … Ranked first in points head-ing into the Chase for the NASCAR

Sprint Cup. … Won five races (InfineoRaceway, Daytona, New Hampshire,Indianapolis and Watkins Glen) over aseven-race stretch. … His three poleswere at Daytona (July), Watkins Gleand New Hampshire (September). …The Daytona win was Stewart’s firs point-paying restrictor plate victoryWon Gatorade Duel qualifying race aDaytona to earn fourth-place startingspot in the Daytona 500. … Had sevetop-10 finishes in the 10-race Chase.

TONY STEWART

Ranked

6th

Courtesy of NASCAR

Birthdate: May 20, 1971Hometown:

Columbus, Ind. YEAR-BY-YEAR

CUP SERIES RECAP

AP

Driver’s Tony Stewart, left andDavid Reutimann joke around aftequalifying for the NASCAR SprinCup Irwin Tools Night Race aBristol Motor Speedway Friday, Aug. 20 in Bristol, Tenn.



By NASCAR.com

Even with the defendingour-time champion apparentlyounding into form and readyo unleash his best equipmentor the Chase for the NASCAR print Cup, the drivers compet-ng for this year’s title agree to

man that the Chase is moreide open than it has been

ince the start of the Jimmieohnson dynasty.

“I think that I’m capable of

inning it,” said Greg Biffle,river of the No. 16 Roushenway Racing Ford. “I thinkeff Burton’s capable of win-ing it. I think Tony Stewart isapable of winning it. I couldo down the list — you knowhat I mean?”You might think the two

rivers with the top two winotals this year would be theogical favorites.

After all, Denny Hamlinccumulated 60 bonus pointso start the Chase. After win-ing at Richmond, he entershe final 10 races 30 pointshead of regular-season leaderevin Harvick and Kyle Busch

three wins each) and 60 pointshead of the five drivers whoave yet to win a race thisear — Burton, Jeff Gordon,arl Edwards, Matt Kenseth

nd Clint Bowyer. Johnson, however, hasn’ton a race since he postedack-to-back victories atonoma and New Hampshire

n June, his fourth and fifthins of the season. After

aking the checkered flag atichigan, Hamlin endured a

10-race stretch peppered witheliability issues, the last of hich — an engine failure at

Atlanta — dropped him to 10thin the standings as the seriesheaded for the final regular-season race at Richmond.

Edwards, on the other hand,led the series in points scoredduring the 10 races leading upto the Chase.

Ever since the RoushFenway cars began incorporat-ing the front-end geometry fromRichard Petty Motorsports, aRoush affiliate, Edwards andBiffle have gone from also-rans to front-runners.

Neither can you ignoreHarvick, whose consistencyhas kept him at the top of thestandings for the 17 races pre-ceding the Chase.

Burton believes the titlewill go to the team best ableto turn up the wick when the

Chase begins.“Who’s going to step it up?”

Burton asked. “What team isgoing to falter? We’ve seen,especially with Roush and withTony Stewart’s deal, they’vestepped it up right here at the

right time. Can they continuethat? Who is going to step itup? It’s ‘go’ time. And whatteams are going to do it overthe next 10 weeks, that’s aquestion none of us know.

“I think all 12 of those peo-

ple could make a valid argu-ment that they are the one thacan step it up. That’s a loomingquestion. Who is going to beable to go fast enough? Whoconsistently is going to be ableto go fast?”

Drivers’ consensus: It’s wide open this year

AP

Jimmie Johnson, left,and Kasey Kahne,right, lead the field onthe opening lap of theNASCAR Sprint CupSeries auto race aMichigan InternationalSpeedway in Brooklyn,Mich., Sunday, Aug. 15.

AP

Driver Jimmie Johnson smilesafter qualifying on the pole forthe NASCAR Sprint Cup IrwinTools Night Race at Bristol MotorSpeedway Friday, Aug. 20.



Points1, Denny Hamlin, 5,060.

2, Jimmie Johnson, 5,050.

3, Kevin Harvick, 5,030.

4, Kyle Busch, 5,030.5, Kurt Busch, 5,020.

6, Tony Stewart, 5,010.

7, Greg Biffle, 5,010.

8, Jeff Gordon, 5,000.

9, Carl Edwards, 5,000.

10, Jeff Burton, 5,000.

Money1, Jamie McMurray, $5,466,976.

2, Kurt Busch, $5,464,010.

3, Jimmie Johnson, $5,338,436.4, Kevin Harvick, $5,164,351.

5, Kyle Busch, $4,861,478.

6, Jeff Gordon, $4,379,398.

7, Denny Hamlin, $4,292,228.

8, Tony Stewart, $4,269,900.

9, Carl Edwards, $4,096,479.

10, Matt Kenseth, $4,091,273.

Leaders

By NASCAR.com

RICHMOND, Va. — Mattenseth hadn’t even gottenack to pit road Saturday nightt Richmond Internationalaceway after taking theheckered flag in the Air Guard00, and he’d broken into aonologue that continued after

e’d come to a stop in the back-stretch staging area.

Richmond, the cutoff raceto set the 12-man field for theChase, has a different post-race

rocedure than any other eventon the Sprint Cup schedule, thusthe stop on the backstretch.

ut Kenseth wasn’t wasting anytime before addressing his con-cerns.

Kenseth’s patient discourse,to which his Roush FenwayRacing crew chief, Jimmy

ennig, succinctly responded,was part apology and part anal-ysis of their car’s performance

through the night, which rangedrom a 12th-place start to their

14th-place finish.“I’d feel really good right

now if we had finished some-where between fourth and sev-enth — that’s what I thoughtwe had,” Kenseth said. “But wedropped all the way down to14th and don’t know why, sothat’s a little frustrating.

“I’m a little disappointed

how we ended up. We ran alot better — we qualified reallygood and we ran really com-

etitive for two-thirds of therace. It’s just the last third wedidn’t run very good, so we’reust talking about that, trying toigure that out.”

But as disappointed asKenseth was with the result— only ninth-best of the 12 menhe’ll begin racing next weekend

at New Hampshire for the startof the Cup Series’ champion-ship — he had to be thrilled tobe back in the Chase for thesixth time.

“Glad we’re in [the Chase], sohopefully we can start off nextweekend and get a good finish— get a good start,” Kenseth,the 11th seed, said. “It’s good

to be in there [but] it’s all what you do when you get there.

“Not to be ‘Debbie Downer,’but [11th] in points isn’t thatspectacular, so you need to dosomething when you get there.The saving grace is everyone’scaught up and we’re 60 pointsout of the lead. We’ve got thatclosed up, so now we’ve got togo perform.”

Even though Kenseth racedinto the top five right at theone-third mark of Saturdaynight’s race, he didn’t maintainit and that’s got him and his No.17 team concerned.

“About three runs from theend, on a long run we werereal fast and got up to fourth,”Kenseth said. “We drove up to

like fourth and I thought wewere probably going to runaround fourth, best-case sce-nario — maybe a little betterif we made good adjustments— but seventh or eighth, worst-case scenario.

“Every run for the last threeruns, we just kept getting worseand dropping back and dropping back; I don’t really knowwhy.”

Kenseth’s apology to hiscrew related to him not giv-

ing them the best feedback tofix the car, to which Fennigresponded: “Your feedbackwasn’t the problem.” But what-ever it was, Kenseth acknowl-edged they had to take their performance up at least a stepto contend for his second Cupchampionship, to go with thelast pre-Chase title, which hewon in 2003.

“You have to beat all thosegood guys up in the top five orsix every week,” Kenseth said,assessing what it would taketo win this Chase. “I think youhave to be consistently top-fiveor under and on your worstdays finish in the top 10 andon your best days contend forsome wins. That’s about it. Younever know exactly what it’sgoing to take until they get intoit.”

Kenseth suffered through a

sub-par 2009 season but stillwas in a Chase-qualified spotwhen the green flag fell atRichmond. But he was outrunthat night by Brian Vickers andmissed the cut for the first timein six Chases.

Team owner Jack Roushthinks his three Chase con-tenders, which also includesCarl Edwards and Greg Biffle,should be able to compete.

“This business has highs andlows, and last year, with Mattmissing his first Chase, was alow,” Roush said. “The thingthat’s happened is we’ve gotsome of our brightest peoplewith the 17 and Matt is certainlyone of the ones with the mostexperience from the drivingstandpoint — he and Greg are virtually tied from when theycame into the company.

Kenseth needs more to contend

AP

NASCAR driveMatt Kenseth,front, passes JamieMcMurray, back,to take the lead onthe 398th lap othe NeighborhoodExcellence 400Sunday, June 4,2006, at the Dove

Speedway in Dover,Del. Kenseth wonthe race.

AP

This is a May 16, 2009 file photo showing Matt Kenseth standing byhis car before the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star auto race at

Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.



Biffle glad to put Richmond behind By NASCAR.com

RICHMOND, Va. -- Considering head just struggled to a 32nd-place finish,reg Biffle appeared to be in a remark-

ably good mood following Saturday’s AirGuard 400 at Richmond InternationalRaceway.

Maybe that’s because he was gladsimply to have survived the wild night.When he was first asked to explain whathappened to produce such a disappoint-ing finish, the driver of the No. 16 Ford

laughed and initially responded with aquestion of his own.Despite his struggles in the race at

Richmond, Greg Biffle likes his chancesin the Chase.

“You got a lot of time?”Biffle was fortunate that he had

clinched a spot in the 12-driver Chaseor the Sprint Cup field early in the race

when Jason Leffler retired to the garageafter 30 laps.

Biffle, who needed only to finish

42nd, was in trouble even before thegreen flag dropped.“So we’re pulling off pit road, and

my helmet just fills with smoke,” Bifflesaid. “It completely fills with smoke aswe’re pulling off pit road and makingour parade laps around the track -- and’m about to die. An electrical fire was

all I could smell, and I don’t know what’son fire.

“It was something in my helmet blow-er that caught fire and burnt up. So Iopen my visor and got that unhooked-- and then the race started.”

His troubles were far from over, how-ever.

“When the race started, we werereally, really loose in,” Biffle said. “Weworked and worked and worked on itevery chance we got in pit stops -- andthen all of a sudden we got really, reallytight. I didn’t know why for the longesttime, and they asked me what the tem-

erature was and I said 170 degrees. Wewere like, ‘What’s up with that?’

“We hit a piece of debris at some timeor another and knocked a big hole in theupper part of the nose, up on the shelf where they couldn’t see it. So we werefighting aero -- and on this short trackwith the nose being completely open, it’snot going to drive worth a damn.”

After getting repairs to the nose of his car, he thought he might finally havea chance to get back in the race. He wasmistaken.

“Once we got that fixed, we took awave-around. And as I’m going aroundon the wave-around, I get a flat right-front tire,” he said. “So we pit comingto the green. Well, you have to take thegreen on the track before you pit. We pitcoming to the green and NASCAR penal-izes us for it.

“I’m waiting for next week. Let’s talkabout Loudon.”

That’s what enabled Biffle to be so

good-natured about Richmond, despiteall his difficulties. The slate gets wiped virtually clean heading into the Chase.By virtue of the 10 bonus points heearned for his one victory this season, atPocono, Biffle is only 50 points behindtop-seeded Denny Hamlin and 40 behindNo. 2-seed Jimmie Johnson heading intothe first of 10 Chase races at NewHampshire.

“We’re only 40 points behind the lead-ers right now. So we’re excited aboutthat,” said Biffle, who is the No. 7 seed.“We won the first two Chase races in‘08, so we feel like we can at least get adecent start to the Chase.

“We’ve got eight-and-a-quartergreat race tracks for us in the Chase.Talladega is a crapshoot; Martinsvilleis like Richmond for me -- sometimesgood, sometimes bad. Hopefully, wecan have a good day there; we finished

10th there in the spring. We’ll just fighlike dogs at those places, but other thathose we feel like we can run with allthese guys everywhere else.”

Maybe he’ll be able to smoke the fielin a different way next time out.

“I’ve never had that happen like thabefore,” Biffle said of the fire that brokeout inside his helmet. “First of all, iabout made me sick and I still feel kinof bad after breathing that all night long.It sucks when it goes out on the paradelaps -- because you know you’ve goabout four hours of breathing only theair that’s inside the car.

“I was nervous whether it was goingto continue to burn, because we woulhave had to come in right away to fix it.But when I shut it down, the fire wenout.

That’s the way it goes sometimes, Iguess. It was an eventful night.”

AP

Greg Biffle, right, waits in the pits while his crew works on his car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series IRWIN Tools Night Raceat Bristol Motor Speedway Friday, Aug. 20, in Bristol, Tenn.

AP

Kevin Harvick runs down the front stretchduring the Virginia 529 College Savings250 NASCAR Nationwide Series auto raceat the Richmond International Raceway inRichmond, Va., Friday, Sept. 10. Harvicwon the race.



By NASCAR.com

In physics, momentum is defined ashe measure of the motion of a bodyqual to the product of its mass andelocity. But is there another kind of omentum in racing? Jeff Burton was asked that question

his past Friday at Richmond, and hisnswer was somewhat surprising.

“I don’t believe in momentum,”urton said. “... I think momentum isn overused word. It’s being good at theight time.

“... I believe that the reason that wealk about momentum is because theeam is doing all the right things andhat makes their finishes good. Theyon’t finish third this week and secondext week because they finished thirdhis week. They finish second next weeknd third this week because they got aood program going and they’re takingdvantage of that.”

So is Denny Hamlin really carryingomentum from his dominating win at

ichmond into this year’s Chase for the print Cup? Even though there wereumerous stories to that effect, the sta-

tistics don’t necessarily bear out thesame conclusion.

In fact, with three finishes of 34th orworse in his past five races, Hamlin’saverage finish of 23.4 in that span is notonly the worst of any of the 12 driversin this year’s Chase, it’s the worst in theseven-year history of the format. OnlyGreg Biffle -- who stumbles into the

Chase with back-to-back finishes of 36thand 32nd -- comes close, with a five-raceaverage finish of 20.8.

If momentum were a factor, CarlEdwards and Kyle Busch should be theones most mentioned. Edwards’ five-race average finish is 6.4, with Busch(6.8) close behind.

And that’s where Burton’s views onmomentum come into play.

Since the Chase format was insti-tuted in 2004, carrying momentum into

the 10-race “playoff” has had decidedly

mixed results. For Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson, it paid off. But forBusch in 2008, momentum was a ficklemistress.

First, the success stories. Stewartcame into the 2005 Chase with fiveconsecutive top-10 finishes, includinga victory at Watkins Glen. And at NewHampshire, he picked up right where heleft off, leading 173 of 300 laps and fin-ishing second to future teammate RyanNewman. His only misstep of the Chase

came at Charlotte, where he finished

25th. But he promptly strung togetherfour top-10s in a row to give himself a52-point cushion heading into the sea-son finale.

In 2007, Johnson parlayed back-to-back victories at Fontana and Richmondinto a dominating performance in theChase, where his worst finish in anyrace was 14th. His four consecutive vic-tories, beginning at Martinsville, eventu-ally overwhelmed Jeff Gordon and ClintBowyer.

But Busch’s 2008 nightmare may

prove Burton’s theory. Heading into tha year’s Chase, Busch had won eight racesand his average finish in the previousfive races was a sparkling 5.4.

But disaster struck early in the firsrace, as a track-bar bolt came loose anmade Busch’s car virtually undriveable.He finished 34th, then 43rd one weelater at Dover with engine woes, torpe-doing any hopes he had of winning thetitle.

That same season, Hamlin cameinto the Chase with high hopes, com-ing off three consecutive third-placefinishes. But poor finishes at Dover anTalladega put an premature end to hisChase chances.

On the other hand, Hamlin need onlyto look at Johnson’s 2009 season fo possible inspiration. Johnson had littlemomentum heading into the ‘09 Chase, particularly after finishes of 33rd aMichigan and 36th at Atlanta, givingcredence to the opinion of many thathe championship would be a wide-ope

affair. Johnson made the critics look foolish,

rattling off seven consecutive top-10s,including victories at Dover, Fontanaand Charlotte. And even with a miser-able day at Texas, he was well on hisway to a fourth championship in a row.

So should you believe in the idea of momentum? Burton would rather puhis trust in preparation.

“It is about being mentally preparefor this time of year,” Burton said. “It is

about being physically prepared.“... Ten races is an eternity. A lot of

stuff happens in 10 races. We’re goingto have to keep our eye on the ball tobe able to move the ball and change oustrategy, change what we’re doing oany given lap, any given week, for anygiven race.”

And a final thought from Joan Welsh:“If you’re coasting, you’re either los-ing momentum or else you’re headedownhill.”

Burton: Momentum nothing but good

AP

Driver Jeff Burton sits in his car as he waits to practice for Sunday’s Emory Healthcare 500NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., Saturday,September 4.

AP

Kyle Busch gets out of his car after the Air Guard 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup raceat the Richmond International Raceway inRichmond, Va., Saturday, Sept. 11.



2009—Finished seventh in seriesoints. … Had 10 top fives and 16 top

10s, but failed to win a race for the firstime since he became a full-time Sprintup driver in 2003. … Led the series

n the “Closers” loop data category,mproving 80 total positions in the last

10 percent of laps of each race. …ntered the Chase 12th in series points.

Had three consecutive top 10s atexas, Phoenix and Talladega.

2008—Finished third in series points.Became the first driver to win the

irst two races in the Chase for the ASCAR Sprint Cup (New Hampshirend Dover). … Rebounded to make thehase after two consecutive non-Chaseeasons. … Significantly improvedear-end Driver Rating – 93.4 compared

o 76.4 in ’07.

2007—Finished 14th in series points.Won at Kansas to pick up win in

ifth consecutive season. … Led sevenaces for a total of 78 laps. Led 37 lapst Kansas, a personal high for the sea-

son. … Earned only pole of season atAtlanta in October.… Finished 13th at

omestead after winning three straightraces at the track.

2006—Finished 13th in series points.… Won Darlington race for the sec-ond consecutive season. … Win at

omestead was his third consecutiveat the track. … Captured poles at LasVegas and Richmond (May). … Led themost laps in a race four different times.… Put together streak of seven consec-utive top-10 finishes in June and July,the longest such streak of his career.

2005—Finished second in series

points. … Captureda series-highsix wins at AutoClub (February),Texas (April),

Darlington (May),Dover (June),Michigan (June)and Homestead(November). … Win by 0.017 secondsover Mark Martin at Homestead wasthe closest finish of the year and theeighth-closest since the advent of elec-tronic scoring in 1993. … Began theChase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup insecond place.

2004—Finished 17th in series points.… Captured his first career pole at theseason-opening Daytona 500. … Wontwo races – the August event at Michiganand the season finale at Homestead.… Became second driver in historyto complete the full NASCAR SprintCup Series and NASCAR NationwideSeries schedules in the same season.… Finished third in the final NASCARNationwide Series standings with fivewins.

GREG BIFFLE

Ranked

7th

Courtesy of NASCAR

Birthdate: Dec. 23, 1969Hometown: Vancouver, Wash.

YEAR-BY-YEAR

CUP SERIES RECAP

2009 Finished third in series points.… Won at Texas (spring), leading 104of 334 laps. … Victory was his firstsince 2007, when he claimed six vic-tories and finished second in series points. … His 16 top fives tied team-mate/series champion Jimmie Johnsonfor the series lead. … His 25 top 10sled the series. … Finished second inraces eight times. … His average finish-ing position of 10.2 led the series. …Won the pole at Martinsville and haswon a pole in 17 consecutive seasons.… Led the standings for nine weeks,but not after the 12th race of the sea-son at Charlotte Motor Speedway. ….Spent 30 of 36 race weeks in the topthree points positions. … Began theChase seeded 6th, but after finishing15th at New Hampshire, used finishes

of sixth (Dover), second (Kansas and Auto Club), fourth (Charlotte) and fifth(Martinsville) to assume third place. …Leads the series with 581 consecutivestarts, one ahead of Bobby Labonte.

2008 Finished seventh in series points. … First season since rookie year of 1993 without a win – a streakof 14 seasons, the longest such activestreak entering 2008. … Poles came atspring Atlanta and Martinsville events,

and at fall Dover and Texas events. …Won a pole for the 16th consecutive year, good for third place behind DavidPearson (20) and Richard Petty (18)for consecutive seasons with at leastone pole.

2007 Finished second in series points.… Finished with six wins, 21 top fives,30 top 10s and seven poles. Top fives,top 10s and poles were series highs.… His second career series runner-

up finish. … TiedDale Earnhardtfor sixth onNASCAR’s all-timewins list on April

21 at Phoenix; sur- passed him thenext week, on April29, at Talladega. …Phoenix win was first at that track.… Had two wins and eight top 10s iseason’s final 10 races, finishing 77 points behind Hendrick Motorsportsteammate Jimmie Johnson.

2006 Finished sixth in series points. …Returned to the Chase for the NASCAR

Sprint Cup following a year’s absence.… Wins came at Infineon Racewayand Chicagoland Speedway; the lat-ter his first victory at Chicagoland. …Poles came during the Chase, at DoveInternational Speedway and PhoeniInternational Raceway.

2005 Finished 11th in series points.… Won four races, including his thirDaytona 500, and the season sweep aMartinsville Speedway.

JEFF GORDON

Ranked

8th

Courtesy of NASCAR

Birthdate: Aug. 4, 1971Hometown: Vallejo, Calif.

YEAR-BY-YEAR

CUP SERIES RECAP

AP

Tony Stewart does a burnout to cel-ebrate winning the NASCAR SprinCup Series auto race at AtlantaMotor Speedway in Hampton, Ga.,Sunday, Sept. 5.



2009—Finished 11th in series points.Went winless after leading the series

ith nine victories in 2008 and finishingecond in series points. … Led 103 of 200aps in finishing second at Pocono onune 7. … Was third at Atlanta on Marchand Aug. 10 at Watkins Glen, both of hich were won by Tony Stewart. …

roke a bone in his foot playing Frisbeeefore the Atlanta fall race but did notiss any time.

2008—Finished second in seriesoints. … Won a series-high nine races.

Won three races, with a total of ight top-10 finishes, during the 10-racehase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. …ed seven year-end Loop Data statisti-

cal categories – Driver Rating (108.6),Average Finish (9.5), Percentage of Laps

in the Top 15 (78.6), Laps in the Top15 (8,426), Fastest Laps (1,091), GreenTimes Passed (1,818) and Average Mid-Race Position (10.3).

2007—Finished ninth in series points.… Won three races, ending 52-race win-less streak. Wins came at Michigan(June), Bristol (August) and Dover(September). … Win at Bristol securedsecond career appearance in Chase forthe NASCAR Sprint Cup. Started as

ourth seed in Chase. … Led 12 racesor a total of 515 laps. … Was in the top10 in points for the final 26 weeks of theeason.

2006—Finished 12th in series points.Experienced sophomore slump,

oing winless after winning four races inookie campaign. … Finished the seasonith 10 top five and 20 top-10 finishes.

Spent the final seven weeks of theeason in 12th place, his highest posi-

tion in the stand-ings all year. …Best finish wassecond at Michigan(August) and Dover

(September).

2005—Finishedthird in series points. … Entered the Chase for theNASCAR Sprint Cup in eighth place. …Won four races, including a sweep of the races at Atlanta in March (his firstseries career win) and October. Alsowon at Pocono in June and Texas inNovember.… Captured his first career pole at Auto Club in September.

2004—Finished 37th in series points.… Finished with one top five, five top 10sand two DNFs in 13 starts. … Succeeded Jeff Burton in the No. 99 after Burtonmoved to Richard Childress Racing in August. … Started 13 of the final 14races, the exception being the Octoberevent at Lowe’s Motor Speedway; thatday, Edwards finished ninth in theNASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

CARL EDWARDS

Ranked

9th

Courtesy of NASCAR

Birthdate: Aug. 15, 1979Hometown: Columbia, Mo.

YEAR-BY-YEAR

CUP SERIES RECAP

2009—Finished 17th in series points.… It was his worst points finish since2005 (18th). … Failed to win a race forthe first time since 2005. … Finished theseason strong with season-best runner-up finishes at Phoenix and Homestead.… His team won the Sprint Pit CrewChallenge. … Had just three top-10

starts, his best finish at Richmond.

2008—Finished sixth in series points,… Qualified for the Chase for theNASCAR Sprint Cup for the third time.… Won races at Bristol in the springand Charlotte in the fall. … Led 58 lapsen route to Charlotte win. … Led seriesstandings for four consecutive weeksin the spring. … Had top-10 finishes infirst five Chase events. … Announcedat season’s end new sponsorship for

2009 by CAT, the company that former-ly sponsored his brother, 2002 Daytona500 champion Ward Burton.

2007—Finished seventh in series points. … Made Chase for the NASCARSprint Cup for second time. … Third- place finish in Daytona 500 began astrong early-season run; had five top-five finishes in first seven races, cappedby his 19th career victory, at Texas. …Ended season strongly, with top 10s in

five of the last six events.

2006—Finished seventh in series points. … In big rebound season, quali-fied for the Chase for the NASCARSprint Cup for first time. … Started onthe pole for two of the series’ majorevents – the Daytona 500 and the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. … Victoryat Dover in September was first victorysince October 2001 at Phoenix. TheDover win vaulted Burton to the top

of the Chasestandings, a position heheld for fourweeks. … Fell

out of titlecontention atMartinsville,when anengine problem led to a 42nd-place fin-ish – and a plunge to fifth in the Chasestandings.

2005—Finished 18th in series points.… Only three top-five finishes, witseason’s best finish a second place athe Bristol night race in August. …

Best starting position was sixth in theseason-opening Daytona 500; that starresulted from a runner-up effort in oneof the two 150-mile qualifying racesfor the 500. … Highest standing in theseries points was 15th after an 11th- place finish at Daytona in July.

2004 Finished 18th in series points.… Began ninth season with RousRacing but moved to Richard ChildressRacing following the Watkins Glen race

JEFF BURTON

Ranked

10th

Courtesy of NASCAR

Birthdate: June 29, 1967Hometown: South Boston, Va.

YEAR-BY-YEAR

CUP SERIES RECAP

AP

NASCAR driver Scott Speed’s cacatches on fire as he enters piroad during the NASCAR EmoryHealthcare 500 auto race athe Atlanta Motor Speedway inHampton, Ga., Sunday, Sept. 5.



AP

Denny Hamlin, right, and RyanNewman, left, lead the pack tothe first turn at the start of theNASCAR Sprint Cup Series autorace at Atlanta Motor Speedway inHampton, Ga., Sunday, Sept. 5.

2009—Finished 14th in series points.Failed to qualify for the Chase for

he first time since its inception in 2004.Held the 12th and final Chase spot

ntering the final regular season race atichmond, but finished 25th and fell to

14th. … Won the first two races of theeason (Daytona, Auto Club), with first-

ime crew chief Drew Blickensderfer,ut had just five top fives in the ensu-

ing 34 races. … Became just the fifthdriver to open a NASCAR season withconsecutive wins. He joined MarvinPanch (1957), Bob Welborn (1959),David Pearson (1976) and Jeff Gordon(1997).… Kenseth passed Elliott Sadleron the last lap of green-flag racing andwaited out a rain delay that became arain-shortened victory in the Daytona500. The race was halted after 152 laps.

2008—Finished 11th in series points.… Top finish was second at Dover onSept. 21. … Had five top-10 finishes dur-ing the Chase. … Ended streaks of win-ning at least one race in six consecutiveseasons and finishing in the top 10 in thestandings in six consecutive seasons.

2007—Finished fourth in seriesoints. … Finished in the top 10 in

the standings for six consecutive sea-

sons, tied with Jimmie Johnson for themost. … Won two races – Auto Club(February) and Homestead. Won at leastone race in six consecutive seasons. …

ed a lap in 20 different races, leadingthe most in four of them.

2006—Finished second in seriesoints. … Won four races – Auto Club

Speedway (February), Dover (June),ichigan (August) and Bristol (August).

… Won back-to-back races (Michigan

and Bristol) forthe second timein his career.…Tied for theseries high with

15 top-five fin-ishes. … Onlyspent one weekoutside thetop 10 (finished 15th in seasonopeningDaytona 500). … Was either first or sec-ond in points for 27 of 36 weeks. … Led1,132 laps, second among all drivers.

2005—Finished seventh in series points. … Led a career high 1,001 laps… With 12 races to go before the Chase

for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, rallied from24th place in the standings and 320 points out of 10th, to make the Chase.

2004—Finished eighth in series points. … Finished with two wins, thosecoming back-to-back early in the yearat Rockingham and Las Vegas. … Hiswin at Rockingham was a photo finishwith eventual Raybestos Rookie of theYear Kasey Kahne. … Began the 10-raceChase in fifth place and finished eighth.

MATT KENSETH

Ranked

11th

Courtesy of NASCAR

Birthdate: March 10, 1972Hometown: Cambridge, Wis.

YEAR-BY-YEAR

CUP SERIES RECAP

2009—Finished 15th in series points.… Failed to win a race for the secondtime since he became a full-time driverin 2006. … Had top fives in three of thefirst six races (second at Las Vegas),but finished 36th or worse in three of his next six, falling from second to 17thin the standings. He peaked at 14th for

one week the rest of the season.

2008—Finished fifth in series points. … Won Richmond spring race.… At season’s second Richmond event,secured berth in the Chase by finishing12th. … Posted top-10 finishes in half of Chase’s 10 races. … Finished withno DNFs for second straight season.

2007—Finished third in series points. … Started from the pole and

got first series victory to lead off theChase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, atNew Hampshire, to move from 12thto fourth in Chase standings. Led 222of 300 laps. … Moved into third inthe Chase after a runner-up finish atKansas, the Chase’s third race, andretained that spot the remainder of theseason. … First pole in the series cameat Darlington.

2006—Finished 17th in series points,

in first full NASCAR Sprint Cup season.… Started year with impressive sixth- place finish in Daytona 500. … Was inthe series standings’ top 10 for firstfour weeks of the season. … Got firsttop-five finish (fifth) at Phoenix springrace. … Qualified on the outside polefor the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, atIndianapolis Motor Speedway.

2005—Finished 69th in series points,having run one race, at Phoenix in

April wherehe started25th and fin-ished 22nd. … Amid a runner-

up season inthe NASCARN a t i o n w i d eS e r i e s ,announced plans in October for a moveinto NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2006.

HISTORY

Competed full-time in the NASCARNationwide Series in 2004 and ’05,finishing as series runner-up in ’05. …Raced in NASCAR Midwest Series i

2003. … Won NASCAR Weekly SeriesMidwest Region championship in 2002.… Also won two NASCAR DodgeWeekly track titles in 2002. … Begaracing at the age of five; raced moto-cross for nine years with more tha200 wins.

NOTEWORTHY

Bowyer caught the eye of legendarycar owner Richard Childress followinga 2003 ARCA race at Nashville wherehe finished second.

CLINT BOWYER

Ranked

12th

Courtesy of NASCAR

Birthdate: May 30, 1979Hometown: Emporia, Kan.

YEAR-BY-YEAR

CUP SERIES RECAP



AP

Carl Edwards drives into Turn 1 asMartin Truex Jr. follows during theNASCAR Sprint Cup Series autorace at Atlanta Motor Speedway inHampton, Ga., Sunday, Sept. 5.



AP

A team of Goodyear officials chectires and tire temperatures after arun by Aric Almirola in Jeff Gordon’srace during NASCAR tire test-ing at Talladega Superspeedway,Tuesday, Aug. 24, in Talladega, Ala.



AP

Clockwise from top left: NASCAR driver Ricky Craven (41) of Newburgh, Maine, flips intothe catchfence in turn one of the Talladega Superspeedway during the Winston Select 500on Sunday, April 28, 1996; The car of Greg Sacks sails over Lake Speed’s wrecked car atPocono International Raceway during the A.C. Spark Plug 500 NASCAR race in Long Pond,Pa., July 23, 1989; Michael Laughlin, Jr., driver of car 45, crawls from his flaming autoafter he hit turn four during a qualifing race for the Jiffy Lube Miami 300 Saturday, Nov.2, 1996; The Pontiac of J.D. McDuffie flips over and crashes on top of Jimmy Means car,bottom, during the sixth lap of the Budweiser at the Glen NASCAR race in Watkins Glen,N.Y. Driver McDuffie, a NASCAR veteran, died in this accident in Turn No. 5 on August11, 1991.

NASCAR’s Steve Wallace, left,brings his car to a stop after beinginvolved in a crash during Aaron’s312 Nationwide Series auto raceat Talladega Superspeedway inTalladega, Ala., on Saturday, April26, 2008.AP

HE ART OF THE CRASH

Date post:	10-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	jfenster7540
View:	217 times
Download:	0 times

Nascar Fall 2010

Documents