Race Weekend Central

The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2014 Quaker State 400 at Kentucky

Looking for the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How behind Sunday’s race? Amy Henderson has you covered each week with the answers to six race-day questions, covering all five Ws and even the H… the Big Six.

Who… gets my shoutout of the race?

After a tire issue, getting caught on pit road when the yellow flag flew, and being mired in traffic for much of the middle part of the race, you’d think a driver would be driving for a mediocre finish at best. But as he has done his entire career, Matt Kenseth found a way to be there when it counted. After running as low as 26th at the race’s midpoint, Kenseth clawed his way back until he was not only in the top 10, but was in the top five and looking for more. That ability, to seemingly materialize out of nowhere to give the frontrunners fits late in the game, has been the hallmark of Kenseth’s career. It’s why he’s a Cup champion, and it’s why he can’t be counted out unless he has a problem…and even then, if he can find his way back, he will.

What… beyond the teams’ control affected the action?

Too many times it’s been the same refrain: tires. This week at least six drivers had tire problems, some of them very costly. Denny Hamlin kicked it off when he slammed the wall and limped away from his destroyed car, finishing 42nd and last on a night where neither the stands nor the Cup field were full. Hamlin wasn’t alone, though; tire issues also plagued Kenseth, Kyle Larson, David Stremme, Casey Mears and AJ Allmendinger.

It’s time for NASCAR to make some decisions. Goodyear’s current tires are either harder than granite, making it difficult for cars to pass, or they’re softer but not reliable. Neither is an appealing choice, and there could and should be a solution. Even if competing tire companies couldn’t work (it works in other areas, like motor oils, where teams have a choice in brands), why not use a system similar to IndyCar’s, where there are a couple of different compounds, one more durable but with diminished grip and one with great grip that falls off quickly? Teams could either have to choose one tire to run at the beginning of a race weekend and adjust accordingly, or be required to run both at some point during the day. No, that won’t take care of every issue – teams would still have to manage tires – but it could open the door for better tires, and better racing as a result.

Where… did the polesitter and the defending race winner wind up?

Brad Keselowski certainly had a fast car in Kentucky, taking the pole on Friday afternoon and yarding the field on Saturday night, where he was the class of the field all night long. He should have finished the night in Victory Lane… and he did. Unfortunately for Keselowski, while he was there, he broke a champagne bottle on the trophy stand, necessitating a trip to the infield care center for four stitches and a clean uniform before his obligatory media center visit.

Kenseth didn’t look like he’d be a contender at the halfway point in the race. He was running 26th at a track where clean air is everything, and he’d already been bitten by some bad luck in the form of a flat tire. But Kenseth was merely down, not out, and by the end of the race, there he was, inside the top five and gaining. He finished a hard-fought fourth.

“About the middle of the race, Jason [Ratcliff] made some good adjustments and got the car a lot better,” Kenseth said, explaining his race and quick to credit his team.  “All weekend I felt like we were much more competitive than we’ve been lately.  Overall, it was a positive and you always want to be a little bit better and be up there at the end.  When we got that flat tire it got us a lap down and they did a good job coming back from that and getting some track position.”

When… did it all go sideways?

The frustration is evident on the radio, and while a driver throwing his team under the bus is never good for team chemistry, it’s becoming clear that for whatever reason, Kevin Harvick‘s pit crew just isn’t getting it done. Mistakes on pit road have been costly for Harvick this year, and it hasn’t been an isolated incident, but rather several issues that have led to frustration for the Stewart-Haas Racing driver, who’s had one of the fastest cars on track all year long. Whether the crew just isn’t gelling or they’re folding under pressure or something else entirely, something needs to change soon if the No. 4 team is going to put together the title run that the car and driver are capable of.

Why… did Keselowski win the race?

The Penske cars were clearly the class of field for most of the night, and while teammate Joey Logano‘s engine sputtered late in the race, Keselowski’s was running strong as the driver led 199 of 267 laps (Logano also led 37 circuits). Kyle Busch tried to run with Keselowski and led late, but the driver of the No. 2 Ford retook the lead with 20 laps to go and never looked back. It was one of those races where it was clear almost from the start which car was the one to beat, and by the time it was over, nobody was up to the challenge that Keselowski threw down.

How… did the little guys do?

Tommy Baldwin Racing; Michael Annett & Reed Sorenson (No. 7 Pilot Flying J Chevy & No. 36 Theme Park Connection Chevy): This team, and Annett in particular, have shown marked improvement this year. This week, Annett has his best finish on a non-restrictor plate track, finishing 18th. Clearly, he’s bringing more than just money to the table. Sorenson still needs to pick his performance up a notch, but his 27th-place run this week was at least solid and uneventful, the kind of finish that gives teams something to build on.

Germain Racing; Mears (No. 13 GEICO Chevy): The No. 13 team made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear on Saturday night. After losing a lap because he was forced to pit for a flat tire, Mears struggled to find the handling he was looking for, at one point saying on the team radio, “We haven’t done anything but make it worse every time we’ve made an adjustment.” Eventually, the team hit on something, though, and Mears climbed into the top 20. A broken shock mount late meant that Mears had to fight the car for the closing laps, but he was able to hang on and finish 20th despite the night’s issues.

JTG-Daugherty Racing; Allmendinger (No. 47 Scott Products Chevy): Allmendinger’s finish absolutely does not reflect his night. He clearly had a top-15 car and ran there for most of the night. He ran inside the top 10 for a while, but had to hit pit road when he felt a tire going down, and a yellow flag came out, taking away too much valuable track position for the No. 47 to make up, and Allmendinger had to settle for 22nd, a disappointing result considering the way his night was headed.

HScott Motorsports; Justin Allgaier (No. 51 Brandt Chevy): Intermediate tracks are the toughest for the small teams, and it seems that finding the right amount of grip is especially difficult for many of them at these tracks. The No. 51 team searched for grip all night, but never quite found what Allgaier needed. He still had a fairly decent day, finishing 24th, but this team is still looking for the improvement they need overall.

BK Racing; Alex Bowman & Cole Whitt & Ryan Truex (No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota & No. 26 Speed Stick Gear Toyota & No. 83 Burger King Toyota): Whitt is beginning to show himself as an anchor for this team, finding some solid finishes even when his teammates struggle. This week Whitt led the team with his 28th-place run, nothing Earth-shattering, but he is providing the team some needed stability. Truex and his team felt like they made some positive gains in handling throughout the night. He tweeted after the race,

Top 25s may not sound like much, but if BK could consistently post some of them, it would show marked improvement. Bowman struggled once again as he continues to adapt to Cup cars, but he spun on lap 153 and unfortunately collected three top-10 cars at the same time. Both Bowman and Truex will need some time and seasoning in the Cup series before they’re able to really help the team make a turnaround.

Phil Parsons Racing; Josh Wise (No. 98 Ford): This team continues to have some fairly strong finishes, considering they have very little information to go on from many tracks, as they operated as a start and park organization until 2014. For a team with little experience and little funding, top-30 runs are a fair start, and Wise was able to do that this week on a tough track. They’re doing something right.

Front Row Motorsports; David Ragan & David Gilliland (No. 34 Taco Bell Ford & No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford): Gilliland fought his car for much of the night, but spent another week as his team’s top finisher with his 30th-place result, but four laps down hardly felt like a good night for the No. 38 bunch. Ragan struggled as well, finishing 31st and tweeting after the race about the difficulty of a bumpy Kentucky Speedway:

Circle Sport; Stremme & Landon Cassill (No. 33 Thunder Coal Chevy & No. 40 Snap Fitness Chevy): Cassill had the kind of night you’d expect from him and his team on this type of track; he finished five laps down in 32nd after searching for grip for much of the night. But the good news was that his team continues to attract some sponsorship interest as they continue to do more with less than many of their peers. Stremme was one of many drivers with tire woes during the race, and he spun in turn 4, but he managed to save it with minimal damage. He had been running three laps down when the spin happened and fell back further afterward, finishing 10 laps down in 35th.

GoFAS Racing; Travis Kvapil (No. 32 CorvetteParts.net Ford): Add Kvapil to the list of small-team drivers whose biggest problem at Kentucky was tire and handling woes. At one point, he told his team on the radio, “I can go faster but I don’t really want to; we’re abusing it enough already.” Sometimes that’s a smart move, because, while it may have cost Kvapil a better finish, it also may have saved him from a blown tire and a resulting crash. Sometimes knowing what your limits are is an important part of the game.

Jay Robinson; Joe Nemechek (No. 66 Toyota): Over-faced and underfunded, this team continued its 2014 struggles at Kentucky, finishing 28 laps down in 38th, the last finisher still running. That they aren’t parking early is something, but an owner in over his head and a driver past his prime probably aren’t going to produce a Cinderella story anytime soon.

About the author

Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.

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JohnQ

Am I wrong or did attendance, which is obviously down again this year, appear to be particularly sparse at Kentucky? If so, does anyone have any particular theory as to why. PS: Please do not say the economy (which seems to have left baseball and football in fine shape) or my head will explode and my poor long suffering wife will have to mop up the mess.

KB

Lost many folks at first race, races are snoozefests, location over saturated, 1.5 mile cookie cutter, looks like a dump, litigated into a date that never should have gone there. Etc, etc

kb

Said it once I will say it again, Kevin Harvick is am hugely unlikable person. I don’t care, is rants are on par with Kurt Busch. Not acceptable no matter what profession you are in. In life negative rants do not equate to positive feedback, promoting better job performance and confidence. I read here once somebody said the pit crew should keep him on jacks or take the tires off and walk away. It could not happen to a nicer guy. Doesn’t seem there is a mature figure in the organization to set him straight, but given his age he should know better. Nobody is saying he doesn’t deserve his frustration, it is a sign of a good man how you handle it.

Bill B

Well said. Harvick has always been a punk and he doesn’t seem to be learning how to better deal with adversity as he ages.

JohnQ

I used to teach combat pistol shooting to law enforcement officers. When a shooter was doing particularly well I would walk up behind him and start calling him names and scream at him to shoot faster. As expected he would start throwing rounds off target. The point was to teach the shooters that raising the stress level made the task more difficult. The more Harvick screams the worse his pit crew problems will become.

Bill B

JohnQ,
Four years ago when Kentucky had their first Cup race the parking and road issues were insurmountable. Many ticket holders were turned away, others were extremely late by the time they got through the gauntlet. The common refrain from most was “I will never go back there again”. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. So basically they pissed off their customers and most aren’t coming back.

GinaV24

Yeah, “happy” harvick is obviously an ironic nickname for a guy who never seems very happy. I agree that ranting at your “staff” which is what the pit crew amounts to in this case, is not an effective way to motivate anyone.

Glad that I only watched the race on TV. If I had spent $ and time to go to that boring mess, I’d have been really annoyed. of course, I feel that way at most NASCAR races these days with the exception of going to Martinsville – that is fun!

Joe

I wrote Harvick off as a decent person after watching the old TV series that followed certain drivers 24/7 to get a behind the scenes look at them. The episode I watched showed Harvick pushing his then girlfriend from behind and when she stumbled he giggled like a little girl. PUNK!

GinaV24

I remember watching that series, too and thinking much the same thing.

Upstate24fan

I don’t think multiple tire compounds will work on NASCAR ovals. Teams will always use the softer compound with more grip and speed. Indy only uses multiple compounds on road and street course, not on the ovals.

Russ

But F1 has multiple compounds and each team is required to run each compound at some point during the race. This puts the strategy in the hands of the teams which is the way it should be. On the other hand at Le Mans they run the same set of tires sometimes for 2-3 fuel stops. No problem with speed differential. In short there are multiple approaches to the issue. But doing the same thing as is being done now isnt goint to solve anything.

kb

I remember on that show, he let his large dogs relieve themselves in the garage (poor dogs) and he just took a shovel (a large shovel) and would chuck the large masses into his poor neighbors yard. Classy family. And he wasn’t respectful to the humans either. Kinda sealed the deal for me.

Dan

Hey kb I remember seeing that episode too with him tossing the dog crap over into the neighbor’s yard. How would you like living next to him? What a bonehead.

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