Matt Kenseth sign multiyear extension with Roush Fenway Racing.
November 21, 2008
Matt Kenseth signed a multiyear contract extension Thursday with Roush Fenway Racing to continue driving the No. 17 Ford.
The deal comes at the end of one of Kenseth’s most disappointing seasons: He failed to win a race for the first time since 2001, and his 11th-place finish in the standings was his lowest since that season.
But the 2003 series champion has been with Roush since 1998, winning 16 Sprint Cup races and 24 Nationwide Series races. His championship was the first for owner Jack Roush at the Cup level.
“It’s been a great 11 years at Roush Fenway Racing,” Kenseth said. “We’ve had a lot of success together including a championship and I’m really proud of that. I’m looking forward to the next few years and winning another championship with Roush Fenway.”
Roush also re-signed Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle this year, and the extension for Kenseth means either David Ragan or Jamie McMurray will have to leave the organization at the end of 2009. Roush currently has five Cup entries, but must scale it back to four to be in compliance with NASCAR’s car cap.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Hendrick Motorsports says Mark Martin is valuable part of team.
November 21, 2008
Alan Gustafson figures there is at least one way to legally circumvent NASCAR’s 2009 testing ban, at least partially.
No, the crew chief for the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet isn’t talking about private tests at non-NASCAR-sanctioned tracks.
His not-so-secret weapon is longtime NASCAR star Mark Martin.
Martin, who will turn 50 on Jan. 9, will replace Casey Mears in the fourth Hendrick entry in 2009, joining three-time reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, four-time title winner Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., the fans’ favorite, as part of the elite team.
Both Martin and Hendrick have made it clear that the longtime Cup star is returning to full-time status after two years of running partial schedules to try to get a championship. Martin has finished second four times.
With the testing ban, the timing of Martin’s return couldn’t have been better, as far as Gustafson is concerned.
“Going through tough economic times like this, there’s no driver I’d rather be working with than Mark Martin and no owner I’d rather be with than Rick Hendrick — he’s going to make the right moves,” Gustafson said last week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “And Mark’s so good in the car, he’s had so much experience and seen so many things, that he’s kind of like having a 130-pound data acquisition setup in our car.
“He’s going to be a big help to the 5 team and he’ll be a big help to all of Hendrick Motorsports.”
Gustafson got a sample of what Martin can bring to a team when the veteran racer tested in the No. 5 Nationwide car this fall.
“He’s so perceptive and understands the cars and how they work, the suspension, the tires, what line he needs to be on. Eventually, everybody gets there, but he gets it just like that,” the crew chief said, snapping his fingers. “The minute he runs a corner he knows it, so it gets you five minutes ahead or 10 minutes ahead. There’s nobody I’d rather be working with.”
As far as running private tests, Gustafson isn’t so sure that’s a good idea — even if he is with a team that can afford to do them.
“We’ve kind of been through this a little bit before,” he said. “The way that NASCAR tried to monitor it or regulate it before was to eliminate the use of tires that you would use at Homestead, or Texas or Phoenix, or wherever you choose. So we had to have alternate sources for tires, and everything we do goes to the tires, so that was really a tough thing for us.
“We never got a tire that worked well. We ended up making the cars worse, spent a lot of money and a lot of time going the wrong way. From that experience, if you’re not going to gain anything out of it, or you can’t correlate the loads or the tires doing it, you’re really not going to do yourself any favors.”
Gustafson said there might still be some private testing for specific purposes.
“You can go to Greenville-Pickens (in South Carolina) and test brakes, and you can go to Road Atlanta and shake down your road course car, I think that stuff’s going to go on and there’s some other places you’re going to have that happen,” he said. “But, just to go test for the sake of testing, I don’t see that happening. I don’t see an owner out here, or anybody out here in this economy, that’s got the money to go do that.
“So you’ve got to be smart. I want to put that money to good use. I don’t want to waste money just to say I’m out there testing.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
NASCAR stars Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth finish winless in 2008.
November 20, 2008
Former Cup champions Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth ended the 2008 season winless.
For four-time champ Gordon, it was the first time since 1993, his rookie year, that he has not won. Kenseth’s last victory came here at Homestead a year ago.
“We need to be better,” said Gordon, who finished fourth Sunday in the 2008 season finale at Homestead. “There are just moments of greatness. We just can’t ever pull it all together. That’s where we know we’ve got to get better and that’s what we’re focusing on in the offseason.”
Kenseth ended the season with a disappointing 25th-place finish after leading several times in the race.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Tony Stewart ends great 10-year run with Joe Gibbs Racing.
November 20, 2008
A ninth-place finish was not the way Tony Stewart envisioned his last race with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Stewart, who will leave the only team he has driven for in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series to become a driver/owner next season, sat in his familiar orange No. 20 Toyota for a few extra minutes Sunday after the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“I was frustrated,” said Stewart, who lost the lead when he had to pit for gas 11 laps from the finish.
“It was awesome to be leading there with 20 laps to go and driving away from the field,” the two-time Cup champion said. “We did everything we could do. The good thing is that we finished competitive tonight. We didn’t win the race, so we didn’t accomplish what we wanted to accomplish, but they knew we were here and we showed why we’ve been champions and won 33 races with this team.”
It was an emotional day for Stewart.
It began with longtime sponsor Home Depot handing out 40,000 orange cards to spectators. When the cards were flipped over, they spelled out “Thanks Tony for 10 great years.”
Then, before he got into his car for the start of the race, Stewart shared hugs with each member of his crew, including Greg Zipadelli, the only crew chief he has had since arriving at JGR in 1999.
“I just appreciate everything that Zippy and these guys have done, and it’s hard,” Stewart said. “I’m leaving a group that I have been used to working with 38 weeks a year for 10 years. It’s always hard to do that. I guess if we all didn’t like each other it would make it a lot easier to be where we’re all at tonight.”
Asked if he was thinking about 2009 yet, Stewart said, “Not yet. I want to congratulate (2008 champion) Jimmie Johnson and spend time with these guys right now. Tomorrow is tomorrow and we will worry about that tomorrow.”
Stewart wasn’t the only driver making his final start before switching teams.
Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman is leaving Penske Racing to become Stewart’s teammate at the new Stewart-Haas Racing, Casey Mears is moving from Hendrick Motorsports to Richard Childress Racing and Reed Sorenson is leaving Chip Ganassi Racing to race for Gillett Evernham Motorsports.
“The way we ran tonight, I’m glad that the season is over,” said Newman, who finished 21st. “Despite our run tonight, I’m very, very grateful for the opportunity that Roger (Penske) has given me over the last several years.”
Mears finished eighth and Sorenson 31st.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
NASCAR’s Hall of Fame Racing planning staff cuts for 2009.
November 18, 2008
Hall of Fame Racing, the NASCAR team owned by Arizona Diamondbacks executives, will cut its staff even if it secures sponsorship to run a full 2009 season.
HoF general manager Tyler Epp said Tuesday employees were told no one will be laid off before the end of November, as team officials search for more funding. But with 44 employees for a single-car operation, Epp said the team is overstaffed.
“The reality is we ran 39th in points this year and personnel changes are going to be made,” Epp said. “And we simply have too many people for a one-car team. We’re going to have a reduction no matter what happens.”
HoF is one of many small NASCAR teams being squeezed during this economic crisis. Sponsorship is extremely difficult to find and operating costs in NASCAR are at all-time high. Without outside funding or a merger with another team, many small organizations are in danger of shutting down.
Epp said the team is close on several possibilities, but a merger with another small NASCAR team is not likely at this time. The team has partial sponsorship from DLP HDTV for next season.
Hall of Fame originally was formed by former Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach, but they sold their interest in the team last year to Diamondbacks executives Jeff Moorad and Tom Garfinkel. Moorad is the Diamondbacks’ chief executive officer, and Garfinkel is the chief operating officer.
The team had a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing, but Epp said the agreement most likely will not carry into 2009 as the team searches for a new partner. Depending on whom they lease their motors from — and JGR is still a possibility, Epp said — the team could also have a manufacturer switch.
HoF started in Chevrolets, then moved to Toyotas with Gibbs. J.J. Yeley began the season driving the No. 96, but was replaced late in the year by Ken Schrader. JGR phenom Joey Logano also ran two races in the car.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
NASCAR expects huge layoffs due to weak US economy.
November 18, 2008
The glitz and glamour surrounding NASCAR’s championship-deciding race roared on at Homestead-Miami Speedway as if nothing was amiss.
Lucky fans still lined up for their pre-race garage tours, celebrities and CEO’s crowded pit road and the champagne flowed following Jimmie Johnson’s record-tying third consecutive title.
Yet it felt a little flat.
Above all the pomp of Sunday’s season-finale hung an air of uncertainty and, in some cases, sheer panic. Team members quietly passed around resumes, looking to latch on at stable organizations. Others worried that the checkered flag at the end of the race would also signify the end of a steady paycheck.
Mass layoffs are expected throughout the NASCAR this week, as team owners from all three national series adjust to the economic crisis. It’s difficult to say how many will be put out of work, but some guess as many as 1,000 will lose their jobs.
The cutbacks are most evident at the top-level Sprint Cup Series, where layoffs began a mere two months into the season when BAM Racing stopped showing up at the track. Then Chip Ganassi let 71 people go when he cut down to two cars in July.
The numbers have steadily grown since, reaching all the way to the elite teams of NASCAR. Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing — three teams that combined to grab nine of the 12 spots in the Chase for the championship — have all gone through a round of layoffs in the past month.
It all paled to last Wednesday, when Dale Earnhardt Inc. gave pink slips to 116 employees so it could ease the way for a merger with Ganassi.
“It’s gut-wrenching to make those decisions,” DEI president Max Siegel said.
Several other teams will probably share that experience this week.
Sponsorship woes have put famed Petty Enterprises and the Wood Brothers on shaky ground, while the bottom might well be about to drop at Bill Davis Racing. The team won the Truck Series championship with Johnny Benson on Friday night, but the owner struggled to muster even a small celebratory smile.
“The entire economy, worldwide, is something that I don’t think many of us … certainly myself, has never seen in 40 years of business,” Davis said.
People are angry and confused that after almost a decade of growth, the sport has turned so fast.
Some resentment is directed at NASCAR, which finds itself trying to help its teams while not creating a welfare system. Unlike most professional sports leagues, NASCAR doesn’t have franchises and all its participants are viewed as independent contractors free to come and go as they please.
So chairman Brian France isn’t about to start floating loans of credit to keep teams in business. The sport is and always will be a survival of the fastest and fittest.
But France and his staff are willing to look at cost-cutting measures, and just last weekend suspended all testing in 2009 to help teams save millions of dollars. The decision comes with consequences: If there’s no testing, teams no longer need employees dedicated to that part of the program.
It’s a given that NASCAR’s business model is best suited for NASCAR and its direct employees, and it should be noted the sanctioning body has no current plans for staff reductions. Car owners knew the rules when they decided to enter this big-time level of auto racing, and they can’t fault NASCAR if their businesses are now failing.
At some point, when those once employed by DEI or any other prominent team look for someone to blame, they need to consider this: Bad business decisions and mismanagement have as much to do with team stability as the crumbling economy does.
“We’ve all overspent,” seven-time series champion Richard Petty said. “We all had it so good we just kept going forward without saying, ‘What if it goes bad?’ ”
As the layoffs by Hendrick, Gibbs and Roush demonstrate, not every team that is downsizing is in financial crisis. Some are simply tightening the bulging staffs they created in their climb to the top. Teams added specialists to prepare for the Car of Tomorrow, which was meant to be phased in, but went to full-time use this season ahead of schedule. Now that teams are using one model of car instead of two, shop production has decreased and there’s not as much work to do.
“If you looked at where we were a year ago, we were running two different kinds of cars,” owner Jack Roush said. “So that required a staffing increase for most of the teams that enabled or justified a reduction. Most of our reduction was in the area of car building.”
But it’s not going to end there, and it’s likely to get much worse. Attendance is down at most tracks, sponsorships are harder to come by and the Big Three automakers are in deep financial trouble.
France said a little more than a week ago that NASCAR “won’t live or die” by a manufacturer pullback or pullout. But many teams most certainly will, and the trickle-down effect will be devastating to those who rely on racing to pay the bills.
“This is the way they pay their mortgages,” driver Jeff Burton said. “And this is the way they pay their car loans and send their children to school and pay their bills.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Jimmie Johnson wins record tying 3rd consecutive Cup title.
November 16, 2008
Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus never slowed down enough to consider what a record-tying third consecutive championship would mean to their legacy.
Don’t count on them doing it now.
After tying Cale Yarborough’s 30-year mark as the only driver with three championships in a row, Johnson and his crew chief were already thinking about going after No. 4.
“I could go race again next week and start the season and go for four,” Johnson said after Sunday’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “It’s on our minds. It’s not that we’re chasing a number, we just know what we’re capable of. We know we can do better. It’s a search to do the best we can.”
Knaus, the first crew chief in series history to win three in a row, even offered to report to work Monday morning to start their pursuit.
He was only partly kidding.
“We want four. Why not? That’s why we’re here,” Knaus said. “We can definitely bid for four. Give me a reason why not.”
Carl Edwards could certainly offer a reason or two after winning Sunday’s race — his series-best ninth victory of the season — only to fall 69 points short of wresting the Sprint Cup trophy away from Johnson. Edwards led a race-high 157 laps, and won despite running out of gas as he crossed the finish line.
Johnson won the title by finishing 15th.
“We won more races than Jimmie (seven), and we ran with him when he won,” Edwards said. “I know they’ll enjoy this championship, but they knew we were here.”
Indeed they did, constantly looking in the rearview mirror as Johnson chased Yarborough’s mark.
Yarborough won his three titles 30 years ago, under a different scoring system and in a very different NASCAR. He accomplished his feat when drivers scraped together the cash they needed to race, and the champion was the guy on top at the end of a long grueling season.
Johnson’s titles have been won in the glitzy new Chase to the Championship format, where the best 12 drivers compete over a 10-race sprint to the title.
Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team have mastered the system, proving themselves unbeatable in their pursuit of Yarborough’s mark. They’ve won their titles with consistency — he finished outside the top 10 just twice in this Chase, a 15th-place finish at Texas — and by winning eight of the last 30 Chase races.
They’ve also gotten very rich along the way: Johnson has won more than $2 million in the 10 Chase races this year. Yarborough earned a combined $1.63 million in all three of his championship seasons.
Although the industry was keenly aware of its front row seat to history, the celebration seemed subdued because of the economic crisis that’s finally found its way to NASCAR. The Big Three automakers are crumbling, car owners are struggling to find sponsorships, and widespread layoffs are expected Monday, when teams could combine to let go up to 1,000 employees.
Just this weekend, NASCAR said it would suspend all testing next year to help teams save millions in their 2009 budgets.
“The real risk is race teams folding,” said Jack Roush, Edwards’ car owner. “The bigger concern I’ve got is we keep the racing affordable, the race teams affordable for the sponsors, and we’re able to keep these other race teams in business.”
Had this crisis hit earlier, and the testing ban was in place this season, Johnson very well might not have won the title. He struggled at the start of the year in adapting to the full-time use of NASCAR’s current car, so he and Knaus embarked on an aggressive testing schedule that helped them catch the competition by late summer.
By the time the Chase began in September, Johnson drove right past them.
“It’s what we work for, it’s what we do,” Knaus said. “We don’t want to do anything but race and win races and win championships.”
When Edwards won back-to-back races at Atlanta and Texas to take a bite out of Johnson’s points lead, Johnson rebounded with a win at Phoenix last week to make Sunday’s drive a mere formality. He needed only to finish 36th or better to win the title, but got off to a rocky start when he qualified 30th.
He wasted no time driving through the field at the start of the race, and picked up at least one position a lap at the start. He would have finished higher, but he stopped for fuel near the end.
Edwards pushed it to the limit, knowing he had to win the race, lead the most laps and pray for Johnson to have some trouble to win his first title. But he was a gracious runner-up, and after his trademark celebratory backflip, he walked over to Johnson’s passing car on the track to congratulate him.
“At least we can lay our heads down tonight and know we won some races and just got beaten by a true champion,” Edwards said.
It was the second consecutive night Edwards won the race, yet still came up empty in the championship bid. He won Saturday night’s Nationwide Series event, but came up 21 points short of champion Clint Bowyer. Edwards’ win Sunday chopped 72 points off Johnson’s margin.
Kevin Harvick finished second and was followed by Jamie McMurray and Jeff Gordon, who finished the year winless for the first time since his 1993 rookie season. But the four-time series champion didn’t let his own struggles dampen his Hendrick teammate’s celebration, as Gordon walked to the victory stage to offer his congratulations.
Bowyer finished fifth and was followed by Kasey Kahne, Travis Kvapil and Casey Mears.
Tony Stewart, in his final ride for Joe Gibbs Racing after a successful 10-year run, wound up ninth after giving up the lead late in the race to pit for fuel.
“We didn’t win the race, but they knew we were here and we showed why we’ve been champions and won 33 races with this team,” said Stewart, who is leaving to run his own race team next season.
Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top 10.
Matt Kenseth, who won the 2003 series championship in the final year of the old points system, led late but ran out of fuel and finished 25th in his first winless season in seven years.
“We just can’t seem to get things to go our way,” said Kenseth, who was frustrated teammate Edwards could stretch his gas but he could not. “I don’t understand how he can make power and still get that much better fuel mileage than us. I had such a big lead, I was just riding around.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Clint Bowyer wins 2008 NASCAR Nationwide series title.
November 15, 2008
Carl Edwards won the season-ending Ford 300 on Saturday night, but came up 21 points short in his attempt to overtake Clint Bowyer for the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship.
All Bowyer had to do to keep Edwards from winning a second straight title in the second-tier series was finish in the top eight. He did that easily, taking fifth to stay on top of the standings, right where he has been most of the year despite winning only one of 35 races.
“We’ve been consistent,” Bowyer said after climbing out of his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. “We did the things it takes to win championships. I want to thank Richard for giving me the opportunity.”
Edwards wrested the lead from Kyle Busch late in the race and stayed out front to the end of the 200-lap event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He earned his seventh Nationwide victory and kept Busch from recording a record 11th series win.
Edwards did all he could in his No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, other than getting the five-point bonus for leading the most laps, but it wasn’t enough.
“We’ve raced a long time, we’re both from the Midwest and he’s a good competitor,” Bowyer said of Edwards. “He’s last year’s champion and it feels really good to beat him.”
It was a disappointing finish for Edwards, who faces even bigger odds Sunday trying to make up a 141-point deficit against Jimmie Johnson in the Sprint Cup finale. Johnson can wrap up the title by finishing 36th or better, no matter what Edwards does.
“Man, that’s a great win, to be able to hold off that 18 (Busch’s No. 18 Toyota), as strong as that group has been,” Edwards said. “It’s no good to finish second, but I know Clint will be a great champion.
“Tonight went about as well as it could and, no matter what happens tomorrow, we’re going to go into the offseason knowing we’re going to be really good next year.”
Both Edwards and Bowyer, another Cup star, had consistent seasons. The difference was Bowyer rolled up 29 top-10 finishes and finished every race, while Edwards had 22 top-10s and failed to finish two races.
“It’s not tonight that decided this championship,” Edwards said. “It’s an all-season thing. We’ve got a great team here and on the Cup side. There’s no shame in finishing second.”
The 29-year-old Bowyer, who started the night with a 56-point lead, fell out of the top 10 several times in the first half of the race. He actually trailed Edwards in points several times, but his team used a two-tire pit stop during a caution just past the halfway point to get its driver into the top five, and he managed to stay there the rest of the race.
The last of eight caution flags in the race came out with nine laps remaining, making things a little more nervous for Bowyer.
“I knew Clint had to be sweating those last few laps knowing some of those guys behind him had (fresh) tires,” Edwards said. “But he did a good job of staying where he needed to be.”
The last four laps were run under the green flag and none of the top five positions changed as Edwards pulled away from Busch.
Bowyer said it was a nerve-racking race.
“The whole race we were three-wide, in traffic, behind, trying to catch up,” he said. “Carl did a good job of keeping the pressure on us. But we knew we had to just stick with it and stay smart, and that’s what we did.”
The driver championship was the fifth for Childress in the developmental series.
Rookie Joey Logano, Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, started from the pole and finished 10th. That wrapped up the car owner points championship for Gibbs in the No. 20 Toyota, a car also driven at times this year by Busch, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin. Bowyer wound up second in owner points, 12 behind.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Johnny Benson wins 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title.
November 15, 2008
A two-tire stop and a late decision to stay on track during a caution period were just enough to give Johnny Benson the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title by seven points over Ron Hornaday on Friday night in a race that went to overtime.
Todd Bodine won the Ford 200, but all eyes were on the championship contenders as Hornaday tried desperately to make up ground after falling behind in the pits during the final caution at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“Tonight was tough,” Benson said. “Tonight was about (crew chief) Trip Bruce and making the calls he did. … Trip said early on we might not be the fastest, but it was going to be the smartest one that won it. And that’s what it came down to — Trip’s calls.”
Bruce said it was obvious Hornaday had a better truck most of the night.
“They made a mistake,” the crew chief said. “I think they would have beat us if they stayed out. But we ran hard to the end and it’s our championship.”
Hornaday led early in the race, with Benson falling several positions behind. But Bruce’s decision to put only two tires on Benson’s Toyota truck during a caution on lap 92 of the event scheduled to go 134 laps vaulted Benson from ninth to his first lead of the night.
He and Hornaday swapped positions several times until Mike Skinner’s shredded tire brought out another yellow flag on lap 125. During the ensuing caution period, runaway leader Kyle Busch pitted and Hornaday’s crew chief Rick Ren brought his driver’s Chevrolet onto pit road for a four-tire stop, while Bruce kept Benson on the track.
When the race was restarted, Benson was sixth and Hornaday 13th. It appeared three-time and defending truck champion Hornaday would catch Benson, but rookie Tayler Malsam crashed on lap 132, forcing a two-lap overtime. Hornaday ran out of time.
“I was frustrated,” Hornaday said of the four-tire stop. “My radio wouldn’t work. I didn’t want to stop. My truck was good enough to stay out, but they kept telling me to come in and I had no choice. Then it hurt me that a lot of those guys only took two tires.
“It was a good call, but it didn’t work. I ran out of laps.”
Benson still looked a little surprised to be the champion after celebrating in Victory Circle.
“I was kind of crying down the backstretch but, hopefully, I’m over it,” he said. “My wife kept telling me that I only had to win by one. … That was my approach going into the race.”
It took NASCAR several minutes to determine that Benson, the 1995 Nationwide — then Busch — Series champion, won this title.
“I’m just so happy for (truck owners) Bill and Gail Davis,” said Benson, who will not return to the team next season. “It took them a long time for them to tell me who actually won it, but I’m pretty happy now. This means a lot.”
Sprint Cup star Busch built a lead of more than five seconds midway through the race, fell back after a pit stop and retook the lead before pitting again during the late caution.
It appeared he might get to the front again, but the last caution flag slowed him down and he wound up fourth as Bodine passed rookie Brian Scott for the win and Kevin Harvick, Hornaday’s truck owner, finished third.
A year ago, Hornaday overcame Skinner’s 29-point lead in the final race to win his third title when the leader got caught up in a crash. This time, the longtime NASCAR star fell just short.
“Ron’s truck was really good, but it came down to pit strategy at the end and that’s the way it goes,” the disappointed Harvick said. “But I think everybody is happy for Johnny. He’s been so close before.”
Bodine, a former series champion, was surprised to find himself in Victory Circle after making a late-race pass on Scott to take the lead.
“We had a troublesome race truck,” Bodine said. “They got us a lot of spots on pit road. The fastest truck doesn’t always win, and that’s the way it was tonight.
“If those other guys hadn’t pitted, we’d have probably run no better than second.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Reutimann wins first pole for 2008 NASCAR finale at Homestead.
November 15, 2008
Carl Edwards got the jump on Jimmie Johnson in qualifying for the NASCAR finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday.
Edwards, facing a daunting 141-point deficit heading into Sunday’s Ford 400, qualified fourth, trailing only first-time pole winner David Reutimann, rookie Scott Speed and Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth. Johnson, who needs only to finish 36th or better on Sunday to wrap up his third straight Sprint Cup title, will start a disappointing 30th.
It’s only the seventh time in 36 races this season that Johnson has started 20th or lower. The good news for Johnson is his worst finish in any of those races was 33rd in the August race at Bristol.
Edwards, who knows his chances of winning the title mainly hinge on Johnson having a parts failure or crashing, shrugged off the gap between them in qualifying.
“We just race as hard as we can,” Edwards said. “No matter what happens to Jimmie, we have to run very well to have a chance to win this championship.”
The qualifying discrepancy does give Edwards one other edge, since pit selection is based on qualifying.
“Pit selection will be big — not as big as other places, though, because you can pass so easily here,” Edwards said. “But I’ll take whatever I can get. This will make it a little easier to sleep tonight and have a little confidence going into the race.”
Before qualifying, Johnson was asked what he needs to do this weekend.
“We’ve got to finish 400 miles,” Johnson said. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m ready to get on track.”
“It’s been a busy week and (I’m) just really eager to get in the car and get into what I do and what this team’s about and what we like to do, which is drive that car and make it fast.”
Even after his disappointing lap in qualifying, Johnson didn’t appear too concerned.
“Oh well, we’ll roll with it,” Johnson said. “I had some trouble coming to the green (flag) and lost some time, so it’s probably not the qualifying effort that we wanted.
“But we had a great practice and have a great car and we’ll be just fine. We’ll just kind of run from there and see what we get.”
The previous best start for Reutimann in 63 Cup races for Michael Waltrip Racing was second this summer at Bristol.
“It feels great,” said Reutimann, whose fast lap was 171.636 mph. “It gives us a good starting position, so I’m pretty excited about that.
“Our team is a second-year organization and, last year, we were just worried about getting in races, much less winning a pole. Our team has come a very long way.”
Speed, making only his fourth Cup start, swapped cars with Red Bull teammate Brian Vickers this week, assuring Speed of making the race in the top-35 No. 83 Toyota. The former Formula One driver didn’t need the help.
“We didn’t exactly get a lot of laps in practice,” Speed said. “I think that helped us. We didn’t have enough time to mess it up.
“I just drove it in the corner and it stuck. No magic.”
Vickers, driving the team’s No. 84, which needed to qualify on speed, had no problem, either. He put the car into the field in 20th.
Kenseth is the defending race champion.
Rounding out the top 10 were Kevin Harvick, David Ragan, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Reed Sorenson and Martin Truex Jr.
Tony Stewart, making his final start for Joe Gibbs Racing before moving to his own Stewart-Haas Racing team, qualified 13th.
Ken Schrader, Max Papis and Sam Hornish Jr. failed to qualify.
Hookscenter.com wire report.