Regan Smith started off the 2014 season with a bang. On a late-race restart at Daytona in February, he passed Brad Keselowski in the final few feet with help from Trevor Bayne to win his lone event of the season.
Some drivers just sneak up on you, and so far in 2014, Brian Vickers has been one of those drivers. He’s quietly put together some strong runs, including his fourth-place finish in Talladega this week. Vickers wasn’t totally stealthy on Sunday; he did lead three times during the race. The No. 55 team does still have some holes to patch (they’re not yet consistent enough to be a title threat), but Vickers sits 10th in points. That’s ahead of race winners Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, as well as three-time champion Tony Stewart and teammate Clint Bowyer. Vickers still needs to win to lock down a Chase spot, but he’s making a case for that happening.
Denny Hamlin won the first two segments of the race and, even though he was at the back of the pack late in the event, was still the car to beat. Hamlin grabbed the lead for good on lap 74 and held off a charge by Brad Keselowski to claim his second Sprint Unlimited victory.
They say it takes a combination of luck and skill to be successful in racing, and nobody took that to heart in the Unlimited more than Kyle Busch. After getting together with Brad Keselowski in the final segment, Busch looked to be toast—but somehow managed to hang on to his racecar and contend for the win. He had an almost identical wild ride in the 2012 version of the Unlimited and won that one. He didn’t quite get there this time, finishing third to teammate Denny Hamlin, but Busch again treated fans to his amazing car control. The luck factor also worked in Busch’s favor as the rest of the field avoided his spinning Toyota. But Busch was both lucky and good in this one.
So Brad Keselowski ended Kyle Busch’s streak and Kevin Harvick stole one. That sums up the action from Richmond this past weekend, right? Whatever. That’s like saying that _The Sound and the Fury_ was a book about a family in the South. Here’s a look at something other than the winners from this past weekend.
*Happiness Is…Carl Edwards*
Edwards joined the broadcast team of ESPN in covering the Nationwide race this past Friday. In seasons past, he had come across as stilted and offered little in the way of commentary that was insightful or impactful. It had seemed that he was playing up to some kind of construct of what he thought an announcer should be, rather than being himself. Of course, who knows what the producer might be babbling in his ear during a race as well, but wooden and laconic are typically not attributes one aspires to in sports broadcasting.
Brad Keselowski’s 2013 was off to a solid, if unspectacular start; eight races in the Sprint Cup Series had yielded four top fives and seven top 10s, but recent weeks had found him less and less a part of the conversation when it came to victories. Despite entries in every Nationwide Series race to that point, he had only managed two top-5 finishes, while fellow Cup regular Kyle Busch ran away with the majority of the first six races.
Exiting Kansas, one thing is for sure: Jimmie Johnson is going to be a force to be reckoned with in 2013.
Not that he isn’t usually a factor. His five straight Sprint Cup titles, from 2006-’10 aside, Johnson has finished in the top five in points during a full season in the series every year but one, when he managed _only_ sixth in 2011.
He was in the fight to the end with Brad Keselowski last season, but the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet was edged out after finishes of 32nd and 36th to end the year. For 2013, Johnson appears to be taking no prisoners in his quest for a sixth championship. Of course, once one makes the Chase, the field is equaled a bit, so even if he accumulates a, say, 100-point lead over second, much of that vanishes after race 26.
Seems like there’s always a lot of discontent around NASCAR when Jimmie Johnson is merely winning, let alone leading the points.
*Key Moment* – The caution flag flew on lap 219 when *Brad Keselowski’s* rear bumper cover flew off his car in Turn 4. When the pit stops on that final caution of the race were completed, *Matt Kenseth* was the first car off pit lane and the rest of the day was all but academic.
*In a Nutshell* – From Friday morning, *Matt Kenseth* had the car to beat at Kansas this weekend. Everyone tried. No one could.
Two series, three violations among four teams, seven suspensions, 81 driver and owner points, and $250,000 in fines. Those are the results after NASCAR penalty day this week after the sanctioning body saw the violations at Texas and Rockingham.
Sprint Cup driver Martin Truex, Jr.’s No. 56 Toyota was found to be too low in post-race inspection, and though Truex’s second-place finish will stand, Truex was docked six points and his crew chief fined. Also in the Cup garage, NASCAR confiscated the rear-end housings from the Nos. 2 and 22 cars of defending Cup champion Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. Because of new rules pertaining directly to those parts, plus a perceived intent to gain an illegal advantage, Keselowski and Logano lost 25 points apiece, and their crew chiefs, Paul Wolfe and Todd Gordon were suspended for six points races and the All-Star event, along with both car chiefs, team engineers, and Penske Racing Competition Director Travis Geisler.
*NASCAR has announced the penalties for three teams following last week’s pre- and post-race failures. Martin Truex Jr. was fined six points and crew chief Chad Johnston was $25,000 and placed on probation until June 5th. Meanwhile, Penske Racing teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski were each docked 25 points and both of their crew chiefs were suspended for the next six races, though they will be in Kansas as Penske Racing is appealing. Are these penalties fair? Why or why not?*
Amy: The Truex penalty was fair, provided they couldn’t prove something broke. If the rear ends on the 2 and 22 were illegal, the penalty is fine. But NASCAR has not said what was illegal, or how it was discovered, so we’ll never really know.
Summer: I guess all the penalties were “fair”, though I think it’s ridiculous how sensitive NASCAR is with these cars. Let me put it this way. I thought the points penalty and fine were OK, but the fact that they suspended as many people as they did with Penske seemed excessive.