Carl Sputters, Harvick Wins in Phoenix Racin with Russ By RUSSELL SCHMIDT For the final several dozen laps of Sundays NASCAR Cup race in Phoenix, all signs pointed to Carl Edwards taking his third checkers of the season, until the final lap. As Kevin Harvick followed Edwards through the white flag, the big blue Ford slowed dramatically with a silent engine handing Harvick his fourth win of the season. The main focus on the day were all eyes on the performance of points leaders Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth. Johnson started the weekend in top form by earning yet another pole, but an auspicious start could have sidelined the five-time champ as the field bunched up on the opening lap. Johnson was able to regain his composure and move towards the front while Kenseth was on a disastrous path of his worst Chase performance of the year. The No. 20 Toyota team just could not get the car to perform correctly to stay with the leaders or even reach them. Pit stop after pitstop didnt improve Kenseths car. Numerous conversations between driver and crew chief netted nothing more than, “I have nothing in the pits that can help you,” said Kenseths crew chief mid-race. Johnson also survived a second scare late in the race when Harvick, Edwards and Johnson tried to zoom through the backstretch side-by-side when Edwards and Johnson touched sending both high on the track and sideways. Both recovered and were on track to record a top-five until Edwards ran out of the go-juice on the final circuit, netting the Roush driver an undeserving 21st place finish. Harvick went on to capture the checkered flag with Kasey Kahne, Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kurt Busch sweeping the top five spots. Kenseth drove Miss Daisy to a dismal one lap down 23rd place, falling 28 points behind Johnson with just Homestead left on the schedule. Johnson merely needs a 23rd place finish to grab his sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup title. Can he do it? My crazy eight fortune teller says, “All signs point to yes!” Nationwide Kyle Busch was once again the leader of the full-time Cupster pack in dominating this weeks Nationwide run in Texas. The latest checkers was Buschs 12th out of the past 25 races this season. He and Brad Keselowski along with Justin Allgaier and Trevor Bayne led laps, but no one came close to the 169 led by the Gibbs Toyota. Others among the top five finishers included Allgaier, Austin Dillon, Smith and Sam Hornish Jr. The finale in Homestead will see if Dillon can survive a narrow eight point lead over Hornish Jr to capture his first Nationwide title. Camping World Trucks Seventeen-year-old Eric Jones rewrote the record books on Friday night in Texas by becoming the youngest driver to ever win a Camping World truck race. He certainly beat some of the best drivers out there, among them, all-time feature winner Ron Hornaday and current points leader Matt Crafton. The young man dominated the night race by leading several times for 84 laps, besting another young driver Ross Chastain who led three times for 63 circuits. Brendan Gaughan, Ty Dillon and Crafton capped the top five finishers. Crafton is on the verge of earning his very first NASCAR title with a comfortable 46 point lead over Dillon. At this point, as soon as Crafton hits the start button for the final race, hell be declared the 2013 champion. From Rumorville Among several rules changes for NASCAR next year is the idea of reducing Sprint Cup engines some 90 horsepower. Im all for it. Why not? Perhaps it will make a difference in the lack of passing with the latest car configuration. How about you? What do you think? Drop me a line. Veteran racer Bobby Labonte may have run his last Sprint Cup race on Sunday with A.J. Allmendinger taking over this weekend in Homestead and on into next year driving the No. 47 Toyota. Labonte, a Nationwide and Cup champion does not rule out testing the Camping World Truck series before finally hanging up the ole helmet. Thats it for this week. Next weeks RWR will wrap up the NASCAR finales in all three divisions in Homestead, Florida along with other racing news from around the globe. Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at [email protected]
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 02:31:02 +0000
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