2013 NASCAR race reviews and results

[RogerDuke]

And next weekend my nephew's marrying a lady who's last name is Gordon.

And no, she's not related to Jeff. I already asked.

Since it's Gordon's 42nd race at the Pocono's AND it's his 42nd birthday AND the Pocono's is in my home state of Pennsylvania AND Garrett is such a good friend, I guess I can be a Jeff Gordon fan for a day. GO JG!

[Garrett Duke]

And next weekend my nephew's marrying a lady who's last name is Gordon.

And no, she's not related to Jeff. I already asked.

Since it's Gordon's 42nd race at the Pocono's AND it's his 42nd birthday AND the Pocono's is in my home state of Pennsylvania AND Garrett is such a good friend, I guess I can be a Jeff Gordon fan for a day. GO JG!

Awww thanks Roger. Am glad to hear that Gordon has gained an extra fan for his birthday! So does it get crazy on race day in Pennsylvania?

[HossC]

So, the number 42 proves to be significant for Ricky as it's the number of the car that hits him on the first lap .

[RogerDuke]

So does it get crazy on race day in Pennsylvania?

I'm way up by Lake Erie near the Ohio line and the Poconos is the eastern end of the state. I do know a guy who lives near that area and he says it does get crazy in his area.....as far as traffic goes.

He's not a NASCAR fan so he doesn't get crazy and excited about them coming into town. I'm sure the local businesses go crazy over all the money that comes into the area.

It sure is taking a long time to clean up the track after Jimmie Johnson slammed into the wall.

Jeff Gordon is in third place as I type this!

[Garrett Duke]

Well I don't have a lot of time but did want to say something...

Today's race was full of ups and downs. A lot of tire issues. Denny Hamlin who is known to be good at Pocono (his first two wins were his first two starts at Pocono) had tire issues that sent him into the wall and out of the race. He ended up dead last in 43rd spot.

Towards the start of the race, Juan Pablo Montoya took out Ricky Stenhouse Jr...

Jimmie Johnson had the most dominant car during the first half of the race...only for his tire to go flat and he hit the wall. He struggled with his car after that and hung out in 30th spot for a long time, but after a lot of work and a lot of fight, he came home thirteenth.

Brad Keselowski had a fast car but when he took four tires, everyone took two tires and sent him back to fifteenth spot. He finished sixth today.

Danica Patrick was probably having one of her better races when she got into it with another driver and then took out Jeff Burton who also was having one of his better races of the season.

Kasey Kahne had a fast car towards the end of the race and one that was hard to catch. Though Jeff Gordon seemed to do just that and was able to pass him with a handful of laps to go until Matt Kenseth had some issues and hit the wall. On the final restart Gordon started on the inside and Kahne acted as if he had a bad restart but Kurt Busch was able to push him past Jeff Gordon. Kasey Kahne went on to win his second race of the season and Jeff Gordon came home second.

Was a pretty exciting race...and am happy with second, but gotta admit, having the win right there like that, was kinda disappointing not to get the win. But second place is a great finish...especially after starting twenty-second today for Jeff Gordon.

[HossC]

I ended up missing the last part of the race today, so thanks for the re-cap. I saw enough to see Ricky back out on track and making up places. In fact I saw it up to just after Danica's crash, and thought Ricky just stood a chance of beating her if her car damage proved terminal. I suppose I can't complain with 34th after being taken out on the first lap. Here's the full provisional results:

1 Kasey Kahne

2 Jeff Gordon

3 Kurt Busch

4 Ryan Newman

5 Dale Earnhardt Jr

6 Brad Keselowski

7 Joey Logano

8 Kyle Busch

9 Tony Stewart

10 Greg Biffle

11 Carl Edwards

12 Marcos Ambrose

13 Jimmie Johnson

14 Clint Bowyer

15 Martin Truex Jr

16 Jamie McMurray

17 Kevin Harvick

18 Mark Martin

19 Bobby Labonte

20 Aric Almirola

21 David Ragan

22 Matt Kenseth

23 Dave Blaney

24 Casey Mears

25 J.J. Yeley

26 Travis Kvapil

27 Timmy Hill

28 Juan Pablo Montoya

29 Landon Cassill

30 David Stremme

31 David Reutimann

32 Paul Menard

33 AJ Allmendinger

34 Ricky Stenhouse Jr

35 Danica Patrick

36 Jeff Burton

37 Joe Nemechek

38 Tony Raines

39 David Gilliland

40 Michael McDowell

41 Josh Wise

42 Alex Kennedy

43 Denny Hamlin

[Garrett Duke]

Thanks Hoss for coming to my rescue...again. Switched your driver Stenhouse Jr on my starting list for Fantasy NASCAR and look how he repays me?! He wrecks on the first lap...thanks to JPM. Do believe Stenhouse Jr was just a bit upset at ol Juan if you ask me. Then again, he isn't the first driver to get upset at Juan Pablo and probably won't be the last...

[RogerDuke]

I think they were having all those tire troubles because tires are round and the Poconos track is a triangle.

[Garrett Duke]

I think they were having all those tire troubles because tires are round and the Poconos track is a triangle.

KHEE Roger! Good one!

[HossC]

Here's the starting line-up for tomorrow's Cheez-it 355 at The Glen.

1. (9) Marcos Ambrose

2. (15) Clint Bowyer

3. (56) Martin Truex Jr.

4. (47) A.J. Allmendinger

5. (18) Kyle Busch

6. (1) Jamie McMurray

7. (27) Paul Menard

8. (2) Brad Keselowski

9. (22) Joey Logano

10. (20) Matt Kenseth

11. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya

12. (35) Michael McDowell

13. (78) Kurt Busch

14. (39) Ryan Newman

15. (55) Brian Vickers

16. (99) Carl Edwards

17. (16) Greg Biffle

18. (48) Jimmie Johnson

19. (5) Kasey Kahne

20. (11) Denny Hamlin

21. (38) David Gilliland

22. (31) Jeff Burton

23. (51) Owen Kelly

24. (33) Ron Fellows

25. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr.

26. (29) Kevin Harvick

27. (32) Boris Said

28. (24) Jeff Gordon

29. (14) Max Papis

30. (13) Casey Mears

31. (34) David Ragan

32. (43) Aric Almirola

33. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

34. (36) Victor Gonzalez Jr.

35. (10) Danica Patrick

36. (83) David Reutimann

37. (19) Alex Kennedy

38. (93) Travis Kvapil

39. (30) David Stremme

40. (7) Dave Blaney

41. (40) Landon Cassill

42. (87) Tomy Drissi

43. (52) Brian Keselowski

Just like Sonoma, the qualifying was done in groups. Tony Stewart's temporary replacement, Max Papis, starts in 29th (just behind some guy named Jeff Gordon ). Marcos Ambrose gets his first pole of the year, but he's usually strong at Watkins Glen. The ten top drivers all beat the previous lap record, proving the speed of the Gen-6 cars. I was suprised the see Keselowski's name at the bottom until I realized it was Brian and not Brad - he spun during qualifying and brings up the rear.

The action at Watkins Glen International starts at 1:00 PM ET on ESPN.

[Garrett Duke]

Well the race at Watkins Glen has just finished...the last road race of the season. No more right turns for the Sprint Cup this year. LOL.

Marcos Ambrose had won the last two Watkins Glen races and led from the pole to lead 51 of ninety laps before being shuffled towards the back due to pit road strategies. We had eight cautions today due to accidents and what not.

Jeff Gordon had fought his car all weekend and started the race 28th which put him on the defensive end before he went to pass on lap fourteen and violently spun into the wall and he was forced to call for a wrecker to pull him to the garage. He later came back out without a hood and a sad looking race car to finish 36th.

Later in the race Matt Kenseth spun Kasey Kahne out and into Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr was able to stay out, but both cars were pretty badly wrecked. Glad everyone is ok.

Race came back to green and Marcos Ambrose who by now was in tenth had a hard time getting started and Kevin Harvick bumped Max Papis (who was racing for Tony Stewart) who wrecked Marcos Ambrose and Brian Vickers out of the race.

After being wrecked out of a win last year at the last lap, Kyle Busch went on to win the race today.

1 Kyle Busch

2 Brad Keselowski

3 Martin Truex Jr.

4 Carl Edwards

5 Juan Pablo Montoya

6 Clint Bowyer

7 Joey Logano

8 Jimmie Johnson

9 Kurt Busch

10 A J Allmendinger

11 Jamie McMurray

12 Casey Mears

13 Kevin Harvick

14 Ryan Newman

15 Max Papis

16 Greg Biffle

17 Paul Menard

18 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19 Denny Hamlin

20 Danica Patrick

21 David Ragan

22 Boris Said

23 Matt Kenseth

24 Owen Kelly

25 David Gilliland

26 Jeff Burton

27 Dave Blaney

28 Landon Cassill

29 Alex Kennedy

30 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

31 Marcos Ambrose

32 Brian Vickers

33 David Stremme

34 Kasey Kahne

35 Ron Fellows

36 Jeff Gordon

37 Aric Almirola

38 Michael McDowell

39 Brian Keselowski

40 Travis Kvapil

41Victor Gonzalez Jr.

42Tomy Drissi

43 David Reutimann

We are back to turning left only next Sunday at Michigan. Heads up...I will be out of town next weekend so it is looking like I will miss the race (sadly) but w ill keep you updated once I read up on the race.

On a positive note...before the race, they had said that Tony was hoping to be getting out of the hospital after he got done watching the race. A step in the right direction on Smoke.

[HossC]

Well that was a more exiting race than two weeks ago, and better than Sonoma (IMHO). I wish there were a few more road courses like Watkins Glen on the calendar.

I guess I've got to be happy with Ricky's 18th place after starting 33rd and spending most of the race around 30th. Do you think Tony Stewart would've done any better than Max Papis's 15th?

Nothing personal, Garrett, but I'm surprised that Jeff Gordon's car was allowed back on track with the whole front bodywork missing. Surely the exposed engine and wheels, coupled with the lack of the hood flaps if the car spins, must raise some safety issues. At least he wasn't going to suffer from overheating or a blocked grille .

I think ESPN need to watch a few F1 races before locating their camera positions for next year's race. On road courses like Watkins Glen you can get better shots of overtaking with cameras mounted higher up and looking down on the action. This isn't really an issue on ovals as they have the stands to work from.

[Garrett Duke]

Well that was a more exiting race than two weeks ago, and better than Sonoma (IMHO). I wish there were a few more road courses like Watkins Glen on the calendar.

I guess I've got to be happy with Ricky's 18th place after starting 33rd and spending most of the race around 30th. Do you think Tony Stewart would've done any better than Max Papis's 15th?

Nothing personal, Garrett, but I'm surprised that Jeff Gordon's car was allowed back on track with the whole front bodywork missing. Surely the exposed engine and wheels, coupled with the lack of the hood flaps if the car spins, must raise some safety issues. At least he wasn't going to suffer from overheating or a blocked grille .

I think ESPN need to watch a few F1 races before locating their camera positions for next year's race. On road courses like Watkins Glen you can get better shots of overtaking with cameras mounted higher up and looking down on the action. This isn't really an issue on ovals as they have the stands to work from.

Am glad that you are a fan of F1, Hoss and that you like your coverage better than NASCAR. I am not a fan of ESPN's coverage but mainly due to the announcers who make comments like Rusty Wallace's today about how "Gordon was so upset with his car that he wrecked it." Hmmm, yeah sure, Rusty. Gordon May have struggled with his ill handling race car ALL weekend long, but I can guarantee you that Gordon didn't wreck it on purpose like Rusty made it sound like he did.

Hoss...believe it or not, Gordon is NOT the first one to be out driving a car that looks like that. Or end a race with a car without the hood. I am sure he was perfectly well within limits of NASCAR's expectations. As long as he was able to keep it up to speed...which he was...there wasn't a problem. As for safety concerns, the only thing Gordon was missing was the hood and front side of his car. The roof flaps are on top of the roof...Glad you found so me humor in it.

Max did a good job driving Stewart's car to fifteenth position. Am sure it isn't easy taking over someone else's ride in a series where he doesn't normally race in and have to work with a team he has never worked with before. Stewart is a great road racer, drives in that car every week, and works with his team week in and week out. I do believe Stewart would have a better shot at a better race in his car than Papis or anyone else.

[HossC]

Am glad that you are a fan of F1, Hoss and that you like your coverage better than NASCAR. I am not a fan of ESPN's coverage but mainly due to the announcers who make comments like Rusty Wallace's today about how "Gordon was so upset with his car that he wrecked it." Hmmm, yeah sure, Rusty. Gordon May have struggled with his ill handling race car ALL weekend long, but I can guarantee you that Gordon didn't wreck it on purpose like Rusty made it sound like he did.

I missed that comment about JG. The coverage of NASCAR is definitely different to F1, but they are quite different sports. They have less cars in F1, but more cameras, and some very slick editing at times. If you watch one of the F1 races on one of the older courses (contemporary with Watkins Glen where they used to race), maybe you'll see what I mean about the camera angles. You'll also notice an absence of features like "Crank it up" that the previous NASCAR broadcaster (was it FOX or TNT?) had each week. I also get frustrated by the frequency of commercial breaks. Today I nipped away from the screen when a commercial break started, and returned only a few minutes later, just in time for the next break. There can't have been more than two minutes of coverage between breaks!

Hoss...believe it or not, Gordon is NOT the first one to be out driving a car that looks like that. Or end a race with a car without the hood. I am sure he was perfectly well within limits of NASCAR's expectations. As long as he was able to keep it up to speed...which he was...there wasn't a problem. As for safety concerns, the only thing Gordon was missing was the hood and front side of his car. The roof flaps are on top of the roof...Glad you found so me humor in it.

I wasn't suggesting that JG did anything illegal, and was sure I'd seen it before, but couldn't remember specific examples. It just looked dangerous to me with everything exposed - less crumple zone and nothing to contain a fire. BTW. the roof flaps may be on the roof, but the hood flaps are on the hood:

"In the Gen-6 car, the roof flaps are much larger and the previous “cowl flaps†were moved onto the hood proper. The hood now extends up to the windshield and there is no cowl anymore."

Full article here. Picture credit USA Today.

[Garrett Duke]

I think you were reffering to the race on TNT...they had commercial breaks every other minute...or perhaps every other lap. ESPN is a little better. "Crank It UP" was a FOX feature...one that I love having. Then again, I love it when the races are on FOX. To me the announcers are more positive about everyone, less commercial breaks, and they are or seem to be excited to be there and know their stuff. I really wish all the races were on FOX. My opinion...of course.

As for the roof flaps...well I better read more closely. I read that part of your post a couple of times and thought it said roof flaps...but doh me. Obviously Gordon was missing some safety there and didn't have all of his car. Trust me, Gordon wasn't happy about it. I don't know if you heard his interview after the accident, but that was the most disappointed and the most depressed I had ever heard him. It was very hard for me to see him so down, so disappointed, and so depressed about it. Normally he tries to put a smile on, tries to put some positive spin on it. There was none of that today. He was upset to have to race what is left of his car the rest of the race. All I know is that it had to be OK with NASCAR otherwise the officials wouldn't have let him back on the track, they would have back flagged him. Which they didn't...have seen other cars out there (not today) that looked like his car so I think as long as all the inside parts are working great and they can keep the car up to speed, they are OK to bring it back out on the track.

[RogerDuke]

I spent the weekend in Syracuse New York at my nephew's wedding and these are the first results I've seen from the race.

Thanks for posting everything here.....it's too bad it wasn't better news.

[Garrett Duke]

I spent the weekend in Syracuse New York at my nephew's wedding and these are the first results I've seen from the race.

Thanks for posting everything here.....it's too bad it wasn't better news.

Hope you had fun at the wedding.

You are welcome...and yeah, I wish I had better news to share. Onto next week.

[HossC]

Heads up...I will be out of town next weekend so it is looking like I will miss the race (sadly) but will keep you updated once I read up on the race.

With Garrett out of town, I guess the preview's down to me, so here's the starting lineup for Sunday's Pure Michigan 400 from the Michigan International Speedway.

1 Joey Logano

2 Kurt Busch

3 Jimmie Johnson

4 Mark Martin

5 Jeff Burton

6 Juan Pablo Montoya

7 Dale Earnhardt Jr

8 Denny Hamlin

9 Brad Keselowski

10 Kyle Busch

11 Clint Bowyer

12 Matt Kenseth

13 Jeff Gordon

14 Aric Almirola

15 Kevin Harvick

16 Greg Biffle

17 Martin Truex Jr

18 Trevor Bayne

19 Carl Edwards

20 Paul Menard

21 Ryan Newman

22 Ricky Stenhouse Jr

23 David Gilliland

24 David Ragan

25 David Reutimann

26 Marcos Ambrose

27 Austin Dillon

28 Danica Patrick

29 Jamie McMurray

30 Bobby Labonte

31 Kasey Kahne

32 Scott Speed

33 Casey Mears

34 Timmy Hill

35 J.J. Yeley

36 David Stremme

37 Joe Nemechek

38 Travis Kvapil

39 Brendan Gaughan

40 Josh Wise

41 Johnny Sauter

42 Dave Blaney

43 Landon Cassill

I missed the qualifying this week - personally, I think it would be easier if it was always the day before the race, and NASCAR.com didn't hide the schedule information until after it had taken place! When I dug a little deeper into the schedules I found that one page listed qualifying at 2:40 PM ET, and another at 3:40 PM ET - both pages are on NASCAR.com, so what chance do I have? You can read what happened here.

There are some unusual paint schemes this weekend (I wouldn't recognize Jeff Gordon's car in white and blue) - you can see some of the others here. The page even includes a time-lapse video of Regan Smith's Nationwide car having its graphics applied.

The race is tomorrow (Sunday) at 1:00 PM ET on ESPN.

[HossC]

Garrett's not going to be happy - Jimmie Johnson is starting at the back after crashing his primary car in Saturday practice. He's joined at the back by Jamie McMurray who's had to swap engines.

[RogerDuke]

Well, we're a little past the half way point and Jeff Gordon is in 17th place, Jimmie Johnson is out of the race, Dale Jr is in 6th and Kurt Busch is the leader.

[RogerDuke]

Jeff Gordon was in 17th at half time and finished 17th when it was all over.

Joey Logano was the winner (his first this season) after nearly running out of fuel on the last lap.

Logano snapped a 44 race streak of no first place finishes.

Kevin Harvick finished second and Kurt Busch was third.

There sure were a lot of lead changes today!

[HossC]

To fill in a few of the details, the race started with three cautions in the first 17 laps - nothing major, just spins. One of the early spinners was Auston Dillon in Tony Stewart's car, but he recovered to finish 14th. Jimmie Johnson made good progress through the field, but his engine let him down with only about a quarter of the race gone. I enjoyed watching Ricky Stenhouse Jr creep up to 10th place, but his progress was halted when he hit the wall on lap 71. It took about three cautions for him to make the lap back, and although he briefly got past Jeff Gordon in the last run, he eventually finished 19th. He had a fast car today, and should've got a top ten finish if he hadn't hit the wall.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had to got to the garage after hitting the wall on lap 135 whilst running 7th. Kyle Busch had spins on laps 157 and 173 - both bringing out cautions. Several of the top ten were tight on fuel at the end, but only Mark Martin (who'd got caught out by an earlier caution during green-flag pit stops) had to dive into the pits for a top-up - he was leading at the time! As Roger said, there were plenty of lead changes, and although Joey Logano did lead the most, he only managed 52/200 laps. Jimmie Johnson managed to lead three before his retirement, so at least he picks up a point for that.

Here's the provisional result:

1 Joey Logano

2 Kevin Harvick

3 Kurt Busch

4 Paul Menard

5 Clint Bowyer

6 Marcos Ambrose

7 Kasey Kahne

8 Jeff Burton

9 Greg Biffle

10 Carl Edwards

11 Juan Pablo Montoya

12 Brad Keselowski

13 Ryan Newman

14 Austin Dillon

15 Matt Kenseth

16 Martin Truex Jr.

17 Jeff Gordon

18 Aric Almirola

19 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

20 Denny Hamlin

21 Trevor Bayne

22 Jamie McMurray

23 Danica Patrick

24 David Ragan

25 Casey Mears

26 David Stremme

27 Mark Martin

28 Travis Kvapil

29 Timmy Hill

30 Dave Blaney

31 Kyle Busch

32 Landon Cassill

33 Brendan Gaughan

34 Joe Nemechek

35 Bobby Labonte

36 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

37 David Gilliland

38 David Reutimann

39 Josh Wise

40 Jimmie Johnson

41 Scott Speed

42 Johnny Sauter

43 J.J. Yeley

[Garrett Duke]

Thanks everyone for filling in for me while I was gone and helping out. It means a lot to me. Just wish I came home to better results...LOL. Thanks again.

[Garrett Duke]

Well we are racing at Bristol this weekend...or if you are in the truck series, you raced at Bristol last night (Kyle Busch won). Not only are they racing at Bristol (my FAVORITE track!) but they are also racing Saturday night! Bet y'all can't guess who is excited?!!!! I AM!!!! Night racing at Bristol = NASCAR heaven! LOL. This race probably ranks right up there with Daytona 500 for me...and you all know how big the Daytona 500 (NASCAR's Superbowl!) is!

The race will be at 7:00 EST (I think) on ABC...though you may want to check your local listings. I have read on Facebook that in some areas the NASCAR coverage will be interrupted due to preseason football. I checked mine and my listing still shows the race and not football. (Which I am glad for...I'd be beyond upset if I missed the race for football. And yes...even if it was the Bears football game (which they play tomorrow night...) I would still be mad.)

Here is a video of a NASTY wreck at Bristol several years ago...think I read 1990 where Michael Waltrip connected hard against the concrete wall which cut his car in half. If you don't believe in miracles, you better watch a GREAT miracle happen as Michael Waltrip is able to walk away from one of the nastiest wrecks I have yet seen (in video) as they literally had to pick his car off the track, piece by piece. Just too scary...hope we don't see anything like this Saturday night...

Dang, both Mikey and Darrell looks so young in this video...

[HossC]

I only got to see the end of qualifying yesterday, and was too tired to post the starting line-up last night - sorry.

Denny Hamlin gets pole for the IRWIN Tools Night Race. Kyle Busch starts from the back after clipping the wall on his first lap, doing a U-turn to get a run-up at the second lap, and then clipping the wall harder (see the video here). Jimmie Johnson was another driver who had to do a U-turn, but he managed 17th. It's good to see Jeff Gordon back in his regular colors (I didn't take to last week's blue/white paint scheme), but he could only qualify 32nd.

1 Denny Hamlin

2 Kurt Busch

3 Carl Edwards

4 Brian Vickers

5 Matt Kenseth

6 Joey Logano

7 Kasey Kahne

8 Ryan Newman

9 Martin Truex Jr

10 Aric Almirola

11 Mark Martin

12 Brad Keselowski

13 Jimmie Johnson

14 Marcos Ambrose

15 Kevin Harvick

16 Juan Pablo Montoya

17 David Ragan

18 Ryan Truex

19 Dale Earnhardt Jr

20 Jamie McMurray

21 Paul Menard

22 Danica Patrick

23 Bobby Labonte

24 Clint Bowyer

25 David Gilliland

26 Michael McDowell

27 Ricky Stenhouse Jr

28 Josh Wise

29 Greg Biffle

30 Casey Mears

31 David Reutimann

32 Jeff Gordon

33 Landon Cassill

34 J.J. Yeley

35 Ken Schrader

36 Dave Blaney

37 Joe Nemechek

38 David Stremme

39 Travis Kvapil

40 Tony Raines

41 Jeff Burton

42 Scott Speed

43 Kyle Busch

Don't forget that it's a night race, tonight (Saturday) at 7:30 PM ET on ABC.

I know Garrett likes night races and Bristol Motor Speedway. I don't have a problem with night races other than they're really late here when you consider the time difference.

This weekend also sees F1 at one of my favorite tracks, Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. They've had wet and dry weather for the practice sessions, so there may well be some rain to spice up the qualifying and race action. The race itself starts at 8:00AM ET tomorrow.