NASCAR Notebook: Keselowski Cracks Top 10 In Points

Brad Keselowski knows how to make an entrance. And an impact.

The Rochester Hills, Mich., driver ranks among the top 10 for the first time in the regular NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings entering Sunday’s “home” race at Michigan International Speedway. Keselowski finished fifth in points a year ago but qualified for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup as the first Wild Card.

A two-time winner in 2012 – and the best ranked among Wild Card aspirants entering last weekend’s Pocono race – Keselowski’s ascension into 10th place shook up the 11th through 20th segment of the standings.

Wild should describe the standings swings before this year’s Chase lineup is set Sept. 8 at Richmond International Raceway.

With six points separating positions 10 through 12 entering Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400, Keselowski’s hold on a Chase berth is precarious. Carl Edwards, a non-winner, is three points behind in 11th. In and out of the top 10 in 2012, Edwards last won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway more than a year ago and has struggled after losing last year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup title to Tony Stewart on a most victories tie-breaker.

Three points further back in 12th is Kyle Busch, whose April Richmond victory gives him present title to the No. 1 Wild Card position. Engine failure at Pocono – his second in two weeks – dropped Busch from ninth and factored into Keselowski’s rise into the top 10.

Ryan Newman currently holds the second and final Wild Card despite counting the same number of points – 398 – as Pocono winner Joey Logano. There are no ties in NASCAR. Deadlocks are broken by comparing drivers’ next-best finish (number of seconds, thirds, etc.). Newman, who won at Martinsville, has a second-best finish of fourth vs. Logano’s eighth (Dover).

Kasey Kahne’s momentum – seven consecutive top 10s and a Coca-Cola 600 victory – was broken at Pocono, where an accident relegated him to a finish of 29th. Kahne, however, is only 18 points behind Newman and Logano. Another victory – Kahne won at Michigan in 2006 – could give him the No. 1 Wild Card slot.

Marcos Ambrose is the remaining 2011 winner whose top-20 points position provides Wild Card eligibility. He’s obviously looking forward to the season’s two road races, the first of which comes June 24 in Sonoma, CA.

Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon is 22nd, nine points outside the top 20. Gordon likely needs two wins at minimum to qualify for his seventh consecutive Chase and eighth overall.

Kenseth Leads Roush Fenway’s Return To Home Turf

Different points leader, same team.

Roush Fenway Racing continues to top the standings for the 12th consecutive race – and 13th time this season – as Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth replaced teammate Greg Biffle following his seventh-place finish last Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

Kenseth, the 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, posted his 10th top-10 finish at Pocono while Biffle, slowed by engine-related problems, finished 24th – his worst result this season – and slipped to third.

“It’s better than being second,” said Kenseth, who has qualified for the Chase in seven of eight seasons under the post-season format.

Both drivers, along with Roush Fenway’s Edwards, figure to continue their duel at Michigan. Each has a pair of victories at the track. Edwards is the organization’s most recent winner in August 2008.

Driver Ratings suggest all three are among favorites to win Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400. Biffle and Edwards have identical Michigan Driver Ratings of 106.5. Kenseth is a close third at 104.7. No other contender has a rating in triple digits.

Roush Fenway’s Jack Roush long has been a dominant force at the organization’s home track. Roush Industries is located in the Detroit suburb of Livonia.

One more Roush victory will give the team its 12th Michigan win. It currently shares the top spot on the track’s winners’ list with NASCAR Hall of Famer Glen Wood, whose No. 21 Ford also is entered in Sunday’s race with 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne behind the wheel.

Roush’s first Michigan victory, one of four recorded by then-driver Mark Martin, came in August 1990. Martin’s five Michigan victories rank first among entered drivers. The 53-year-old veteran, now driving for Michael Waltrip Racing, comes off a second-place finish at Pocono.

Drought Notwithstanding, Earnhardt Enjoying Career Season

Lost in Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s weekly quest to break a 143-race winless streak that reaches its fourth anniversary this weekend in Michigan is one simple fact: Junior is on pace to have a career-topping season.

With his 11th top-10 finish of the 2012 season last Sunday at Pocono Raceway, Earnhardt is within one top 10 of matching his total output for last year. He’s on track, should the consistency continue, to record 28 top 10s by season’s end. His previous best, in both 2003 and 2004, is 21.

The driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet also has moved into second in the standings, 10 points behind Matt Kenseth.

Winning on Sunday – Father’s Day – would be emotional, to say the least. Following Earnhardt’s most recent Michigan win, on June 15, 2008, he paid tribute to his late father and seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Earnhardt.

“It’s special. You know, my daddy, he meant a lot to me. There’s a lot of people that I look up to that just happen to be great fathers themselves, role models for their sons,” he said. “It means a lot to me to do well on Father’s Day.”

Gibbs Dancing Toward Chase Berth

Though Joe Gibbs Racing has only one of its three cars inside the top 10 (the No. 11 of Denny Hamlin), there’s a pretty solid chance that all three cars will wind up in the Chase one way or another.

An unsung trio, JGR is the only team to place three cars in Victory Lane this season.

Hamlin – whose next win would be No. 200 for the No. 11 car – seems like a sure Chase lock. Currently fourth, Hamlin’s a healthy 81 points ahead of the top 10 Chase cutoff.

Plus, he has two wins, so there’s the Wild Card fallback as well.

Then there’s the case of Kyle Busch and Joey Logano.

Busch fell out of the top 10 last week, but still holds the No. 1 Wild Card spot. Logano, whose name had been absent of any Chase chatter, immediately earned proper recognition with his impressive Pocono win. He’s now third in the Wild Card standings.

The JGR freight train shouldn’t slow this weekend at Michigan, where it has won three of the last four races, including a sweep last year. In all, JGR has seven Michigan wins, which is tied for third at the two-mile track.

With Michigan Repave, Newman’s Record Will Likely Fall

One repave down, two to go. Pocono Raceway’s facelift produced one of the year’s most intriguing races. Kansas Speedway’s new surface won’t be tested in competition until October.

This Sunday, Michigan International Speedway takes center stage with its new coat of asphalt. Earlier Goodyear Tire tests produced lap speeds that were fast – over 200 mph – and if duplicated, would make the Detroit-area track the fastest among current lap records.

“It’s a very fast track but a very comfortable-feeling pace,” said two-time Michigan winner Jeff Gordon, who participated in the April test. “The track drives so similar to the way it did before and I believe it’s going to have multiple grooves.”

Ryan Newman set the current MIS record of 194.232 mph on June 18, 2005. The driver of Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 39 Chevrolet has been stuck on 49 career poles since last September, when he was the fast qualifier for the second time in 2011 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Only eight NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers have recorded 50 or more career poles.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Notes

Log onto Twitter.com/#NASCAR again this weekend for a complementary insider’s view of the action as it unfolds on the track and on Twitter. During the race on TNT, when fans click on #NASCAR, search for #NASCAR on twitter.com or visit twitter.com/#NASCAR, they’ll reach a Twitter experience where they will see the most relevant tweets from their favorite NASCAR drivers, teams, commentators, celebrities and racing fans and personalities. . … Milestones Watch: Jeff Gordon’s next top-10 finish will be No. 400. Once he reaches the milestone, he’ll be the fifth driver to do so. Also, with 17 laps led, Gordon will reach 23,000 career NSCS laps led. … Joe Nemechek will make his 600th NSCS start on Sunday, good for 23rd on the all-time list. … Austin Dillon will be making his second career NSCS start on Sunday in the No. 33 American Ethanol Chevrolet. He finished 26th in his debut, last October at Kansas. … Dale Earnhardt Jr., driving a special paint scheme this weekend in promotion of The Dark Knight Rises, will start his 450th NSCS start, which is 39th on the all-time list. … Heading into Michigan, Chevrolet (96 points) holds a 13-point advantage over Toyota (83) in the NSCS manufacturers’ standings. Ford has 71 points and Dodge has 58. … Kyle Larson made it 6-for-6 in different winners in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East when the Rev Racing/NASCAR Drive for Diversity driver picked up his first career NASCAR win at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, GA. … The Canadian Tire Series heads back to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park Saturday, this time running on the park’s oval. Points leader JR Fitzpatrick won on the road course in the season opener.

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Nationwide: Three’s A Charm: Sadler, Stenhouse And Dillon All Chasing The Title

A championship battle among the top three in the standings has broken out and with 12 races in the books, only 14 points separate the trio. Nothing fires up the competition in the NASCAR Nationwide Series like fresh pavement and high speeds, and this week the series heads north for the Alliance Truck Parts 250 on a freshly repaved MIS.

RCR’s Elliott Sadler is 12 points ahead of second-place Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and 14 points up on third-place Austin Dillon heading into the weekend.  Sadler’s consistency has been the key to his success: He has rallied off two poles, two wins, six top fives and a series-leading 10 top-10 finishes.

Sadler will be a force to be reckoned with at Michigan. He has made seven starts at the 2-mile speedway, posting four top 10s, including a seventh-place performance in last season’s event.

Stenhouse, on the other hand, must rebound. He has posted two consecutive finishes outside the top 25, resulting in the loss of the standings lead to Sadler. But Michigan could be the perfect remedy for Stenhouse. Jack Roush, his team owner, bases his Roush Industries in Livonia, Mich., making this a “home” race. He was arguably the strongest car in this race last year before being overtaken by his teammate and 2007 series champion Carl Edwards on Lap 116 of the 125-lap event. He finished 13th in his MIS Nationwide debut in 2010.

Let’s not forget Dillon has crashed the party as well. Dillon, a Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate, is just two points behind Stenhouse, and though he has yet to post his first series win, he has six top fives and nine top 10s this season. Dillon will pull double duty this weekend, making his second career NSCS start for RCR in the No. 33 American Ethanol Chevrolet. Dillon won the pole and finished fifth as a NASCAR Camping World Truck rookie at Michigan in 2010.

While Sadler and Dillon have more momentum heading into this weekend key NASCAR pre-race Loop Data categories point to Stenhouse as the driver to watch. Stenhouse is ranked third in the series in Driver Rating with a 108.8. He leads the series in Average Running Position at Michigan with a 7.076.

Logano Can Give Toyota First Series Win At Michigan

With Kyle Busch primarily focusing his NNS efforts on his Kyle Busch Motorsport’s No. 54 Toyota, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Joey Logano, has assumed the position of JGR’s NNS patriarch. It’s a role in which Logano seems quite comfortable.

Logano looks to build on his series-leading four wins – three in his last four races – Saturday at Michigan. He’ll also try to increase the lead of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series owner standings, which currently is 34 points over Sadler’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Logano comes in savoring his second career NASCAR Sprint Cup victory last Sunday at Pocono.

A win by Logano – or any other Toyota driver in the field – would be a big one. Toyota has yet to win at Michigan in the NNS. Different manufacturers have been represented by the last three winners. He was sixth in this race last year, running in the No. 20 JGR Toyota.

Little Gator Bites Back

Although he finished a career-best third in the 2011 NNS standings, Justin Allgaier was disappointed with his overall season. He felt, in his first year with Turner Motorsports, that he’d be a serious challenger for the championship. He did lead the points for three weeks and won his second career race. But Allgaier never truly got untracked.

Through the first nine races of 2012, it seemed as though momentum was still eluding Allgaier. He started with a 33rd-place finish at Daytona and, though he recorded four top-10 finishes in the next eight races to climb into the top 10 in the points, he couldn’t find the consistency needed to move in the standings.

But the pendulum may finally be swinging in Allgaier’s favor. He finished sixth at Iowa, his best result since last fall at Atlanta when he also was sixth. He followed that up with an eighth-place run at Charlotte and two weeks ago at Dover, logged his first top-five finish since last July, when he was fourth at Nashville. This is the first time since 2010 he has put together three consecutive top 10s. At Michigan, he’s got an average finish of 8.0 with one top five.

Allgaier headed to Macon Speedway in Macon, IL, on Tuesday night for NASCAR Night of Stars 2 to pilot his No. 31 BRANDT dirt modified car.

NASCAR Nationwide Series Notes

NNS teams return to action this week at MIS, the first of what will be a 16-race stretch in the schedule. The teams will receive extended practice time on Michigan’s new surface. Three practices are scheduled on Friday. Qualifying order will be based off the last two practice sessions. … Brad Keselowski, the 2010 series champion, returns to the series at MIS for the first time since Charlotte, where he won his first race of the year. A native of Rochester Hills, Mich., he’s won two of the last three races at his home track. … Brad Sweet’s entry in the No. 38 Turner Motorsports Chevrolet marks the first time he’ll have run consecutive races in his NNS career. Sweet comes off his first career World of Outlaws win for Kasey Kahne Racing, last June 8 in the Clay County Cup in Spencer, Iowa.

Camping World Trucks: Sauter, Crafton, ThorSport Frustrated No Longer

Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton were frustrated over (and growing tired of) answering questions about their top-to-bottom of the standings spiral in the first four months of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season.

Suggestions swirled that ThorSport Racing’s switch from longtime manufacturer Chevrolet to Toyota somehow had monkey-wrenched the gears of the series’ longest-running, full-time organization.

Sauter and Crafton’s performance June 8 at Texas Motor Speedway put an end to those questions. Starting 20th and 10th, respectively, in a field set via the series rule book, the pair finished first and second.

The one-two finish was the second for ThorSport, duplicating the Sauter-Crafton run of September 2009 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Sauter’s first of five NCWTS victories.
Absent his 2012 struggles, just one finish higher than 24th, Sauter’s Texas performance could have been predicted. He had the dominant truck a year ago, got to the finish line first but was penalized for a final restart violation.

Redemption? Absolutely.

“There’s no sweeter vindication,” said Sauter, whose last victory came in 2011’s rain-abbreviated season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “I couldn’t be prouder of [crew chief] Joe Shear and the guys at ThorSport. The driver’s only a small part of the equation. That truck could pretty much drive itself.”

Seventh Different Winner Sets Season-Opening Record

Seven different winners to begin the 2012 season and counting. And that’s a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series record.

Sauter’s Texas Motor Speedway victory eclipsed 2004 as the most competitive beginning of 17 previous campaigns. Ironically, the Fort Worth event produced that season’s first repeat winner, Dennis Setzer.

Sauter is the third driver to win both this year and last, joining Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne. The 2012 season has produced three first-time winners – James Buescher, John King and Justin Lofton. Dover winner Todd Bodine broke a winless drought dating to 2010.

Among last year’s winners yet to visit Victory Lane are Crafton, four-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. and Timothy Peters. Poised to possibly score breakthrough wins are Sunoco Rookie of the Year leader Ty Dillon, Parker Kligerman, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Joey Coulter.

Dillon, Kligerman and Piquet all have posted second-place finishes. Coulter’s third place – a virtual photo finish with Crafton in Texas – was a career best for the 2011 Sunoco Rookie of the Year.

Lofton Extends Points Lead With Another Top 10

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings leader Justin Lofton’s season can be defined by one word: solid.

Lofton and his Eddie Sharp Racing team continued their near-flawless performance in Texas leading the most laps and scoring a seventh consecutive top-10 finish. The numbers tell the tale. Lofton’s Driver Rating of 108.3 is second best only to fourth-place Buescher (112.6). The Californian, one of five to complete all 1,174 laps of competition, has spent a NCWTS leading 96.1% of those serials among the top 15.

Lofton hadn’t led a lap until last month’s Charlotte race, which he won, but has been out front for 121 laps over his past three starts. That ranks No. 3 to Buescher and Piquet.
The off-road champion led the standings by a single point entering last week’s Texas race and emerged with an advantage of five. Lofton finished ninth to current runner-up Peters, who was 11th.

Rookie sensation Dillon led as late as the 134th of 167 laps before finishing seventh and, 12 points behind in third, also recorded his seventh straight top 10. Buescher and Kligerman complete the top five in the standings.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Notes

Brendan Gaughan finished fourth, his first top five since last year’s June stop at Kentucky Speedway, to pace the three Texas winners in the field. Hornaday was 12th while engine-related issues sent Todd Bodine to the garage after completing only 31 laps. … Wauters Racing owner Richie Wauters fielded a two-car late model effort in Tuesday’s race at The Milwaukee Mile for his son Spencer and Aric Almirola. … NASCAR Camping World Truck teams take a two-week break before Kentucky Speedway hosts the Thursday, June 28, UNOH 225.