NASCAR Notebook: Kahne Changes ‘Wild Card’ Picture

Kasey Kahne’s New Hampshire Motor Speedway victory was significant on several levels.

Kahne’s second win of the year puts him first in line for a Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup “Wild Card” berth although he’s not sure two victories will be enough to reach post-season play.

“Two helps, but three would put you in a real good spot. We’re going to stay after it,” Kahne said during Sunday’s post-race media interview.

Kahne’s victory dropped Kyle Busch to No. 2 “Wild Card” status and leaves one-race winners Ryan Newman and Joey Logano on the outside looking in.

Seven races remain until the Chase is set following Richmond International Raceway’s Sept. 8 event. Teams take their final weekend break of the season in preparation for the July 29 Crown Royal “Your Hero’s Name Here” 400 at the Brickyard (ESPN, 1 p.m. ET).

The two “Wild Card” spots go to drivers with the most wins ranked 11th through 20th in NASCAR Sprint Cup standings. Here’s a look at the current contenders (points position) and their history this year and in previous seasons at the remaining seven Race to the Chase tracks:

•Kahne (12th) – Two wins, five top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 2012. Five wins and Driver Rating of 86.6 in remaining races. In first season with Hendrick Motorsports, Kahne started slowly but has assembled top-10 streaks of seven and three races.
•Busch (13th) – One win, five top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 2012. Five wins and Driver Rating of 98.4 at remaining tracks, second best among “Wild Card”-eligible drivers leading 11.6% of laps (second best).
•Newman (14th) – One win, three top-five and five top-10 finishes in 2012. Four wins and Driver Rating of 83.3 in remaining races with average start of 9.5, best among all current top 20 drivers.
•Logano (16th) – One win, two top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 2012. One win – in June at Pocono Raceway – and Driver Rating of 72.5 at remaining tracks, next to last among “Wild Card”-eligible drivers.
•Carl Edwards (11th) – Two top-five and nine top-10 finishes in 2012. Winless streak reached 52 at New Hampshire. Chad Norris this week replaced Bob Osborne as crew chief. Nine wins and Driver Rating of 92.9, third among “Wild Card”-eligible drivers in remaining races. Plus 4.2 start/finish differential – best among “Wild Card” seekers.
•Paul Menard (15th) – Four top-10 finishes in 2012. One win – the Brickyard 400 a year ago – and Driver Rating of 61.5 at remaining tracks, last among “Wild Card”-eligible drivers.
•Jeff Gordon (17th) – Two top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 2012. Twenty-seven wins – including four at Indianapolis, most recently in 2004 – and Driver Rating of 98.6, best among “Wild Card”-eligible drivers at remaining tracks. Gordon’s last win came a year ago in Atlanta, the second-to-last stop in the Race to the Chase.
•Marcos Ambrose (18th) – Four top-10 finishes in 2012. One win – Watkins Glen International in 2011 – and a Driver Rating of 73.7 at remaining tracks. Ambrose has yet to win on an oval track but won the Coors Light Pole earlier this summer at Michigan International Speedway.
•Jeff Burton (19th) – Two top-five and four top-10 finishes in 2012. Two wins and Driver Rating of 83.6 at remaining tracks. Burton has not won since the fall of 2008 at Charlotte.
•Jamie McMurray (20th) – Three top-10 finishes in 2012. One win – Indianapolis in 2010 – and Driver Rating of 73.6 at remaining tracks.

The chances of a driver outside the top 10 or top 20 moving up a bracket have diminished. Tenth-place Brad Keselowski holds a 46-point lead over Edwards – virtually a full race. McMurray is 34 points up on 21st place held by Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teammate Juan Pablo Montoya.

Bonus Babies: Piling Up Wins Possible Key To Chase Success

One more win. That’s all Carl Edwards needed during the first 26 races last season. If any one of his four second-place finishes in last year’s regular season were first-place ones, he would be the reigning champion right now.

That’s the importance of bonus points. After race No. 26 at Richmond, all Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup-eligible drivers will have their points totals reset to 2,000. The top 10 will then have three bonus points tacked onto that total for each win accumulated over the first 26 races.

Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski, each with three wins, seem likely to earn a Chase berth and nab the nine bonus points that would go along with it.

Though no driver has mathematically clinched a Chase spot, the current cushions make that scenario seem likely. In other words, for most of the top-10 drivers, winning is all that matters. A few drivers to watch for over the final seven races in the Race to the Chase …

•Jimmie Johnson: The five-time champion has a higher driver rating – 100.5 – at the remaining seven tracks than any other driver.
•Denny Hamlin: Hamlin ranks second in Driver Rating (and has eight wins) at the remaining seven tracks. His next win will be No. 200 for the No. 11 car.
•Stewart: Stewart has more wins at the remaining seven tracks – 17 – than any driver currently in the top 10. He is also one of only three drivers with a Driver Rating over 100 at the next seven venues.

Indianapolis Special For These Drivers For Different Reasons

Paul Menard hopes lightning can strike twice – and he can catch it in a bottle.
Again.

Menard shocked the NASCAR Sprint Cup world a year ago with his victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where 14 of 17 previous winners were champions Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte and Bill Elliott.

The Brickyard 400 victory turned out to be the season’s high point for Menard, who finished 17th in the championship standings. It was his last of four top-five finishes and also Menard’s most recent. He returns for the July 29 race ranked 15th in points – and still in the running for a Chase “Wild Card” berth.

For Stewart and Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Ryan Newman, Indy is a homecoming. Both grew up in Indiana as did Gordon, who left his native California in early childhood to race open wheel cars in the Hoosier State.

Newman continues to pursue a milestone 50th Coors Light Pole. He’s won at least one pole at 16 different tracks – but not at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he’s qualified six times among the top five.

Junior’s Express Rolls On But There’s Still A Need For More Speed

Call it the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Express. It just keeps on rolling down the line.
With a fourth-place finish at New Hampshire on July 15, Junior extended his record streak of lead lap finishes to start a NASCAR Sprint Cup season to 19.

Standings leader Matt Kenseth held the previous mark of 14 in 2007.
Earnhardt and Kenseth have another connection this season – the championship race. Earnhardt moved back into the No. 2 spot in the standings with his eighth top-five finish, his best since posting 10 for the entire 2008 season, his first with Hendrick Motorsports.

Kenseth’s lead over Earnhardt with seven races remaining until the post season is 16 points. Each has won one race. Junior is 24 points ahead of third-place Greg Biffle, also a one-race winner.

Although Earnhardt remains optimistic about his title changes, he admits there’s work to be done before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins Sept. 16 at Chicagoland Speedway.

“We just need a tick more speed. We’ve gotten faster. We’ve found speed and improved,” he said. “You just need a little bit more to really be one of those dominant cars every week.”

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Notes

Even those outside the top 20 shouldn’t give up hope just yet. One look at Brad Keselowski’s 2011 season should calm some nerves. After 19 races last season, Keselowski ranked 23rd in points, and was 25 points outside the top 20. Over the final seven races in the 2011 Race to the Chase, Keselowski had two wins and six top 10s to capture the No. 1 Wild Card spot. His worst finish was 12th, at the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup cut-off race at Richmond. … No rest needed for iron man Kyle Busch. Busch is the only NASCAR Sprint Cup regular on the NASCAR Nationwide Series entry list for this weekend’s STP 300 at Chicagoland Speedway. … Four drivers have averaged a Driver Rating over 100 this season: Jimmie Johnson (107.0), Matt Kenseth (105.2), Greg Biffle (104.2) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (101.8).

Nationwide: Illinois Natives Allgaier, Patrick Light Up Their Home State

Expect the cheers at driver introductions to be extra loud for Illinois natives Justin Allgaier and Danica Patrick this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway for the STP 300. Both Allgaier and Patrick are securely in the top 10 in NASCAR Nationwide Series points 17 races into the season.

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Currently fifth in the standings 73 points out of first, Allgaier is still in the mix but is close to being in a now-or-never scenario as far as his championship hopes. He’s on a streak of four consecutive top-10 finishes – and seven in his last eight races – including his first top fives of the year, fifths at Dover and Kentucky. In four career races at Chicago, Allgaier has three top-10 finishes. He has a pre-race Driver Rating of 97.8 and an Average Running Position of 9.9.

Patrick hails from Roscoe, IL, and finished 10th in this event last season. She is currently ninth in the standings, 215 points back from leader Elliott Sadler coming off a solid run at New Hampshire, where she finished 14th.

Halfway Point: Championship Races Continue To Get Better With ‘Pick-A-Series’ Rule

Since the advent last year of the “pick-a-series” rule where drivers in NASCAR’s national series declare the series in which they’ll accumulate championship points, the NNS has had consecutive seasons during which the championship has been its closest at the midway point since 2005. Then, 79 points separated first through fourth in the rankings. At this stage last year, the top four were within 37 points of the leader. From 2006-10 (under a different point system), an average of 474 points were between first and fourth place at the halfway mark.

As the series heads to the first of two races at Chicagoland Speedway, the contenders list is growing with three drivers within 32 points of the lead. Elliott Sadler has a three-point advantage over Austin Dillon, his Richard Childress Racing teammate. Reigning series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is 16 points back while resurgent Sam Hornish Jr., 32 points behind, is very much still in the hunt.
Among those, Dillon, 22, may be poised for the biggest second half. With a series-leading 10 top fives and tied with Sadler atop the leaderboard with 13 top 10s, the Sunoco rookie keeps fighting despite point penalties that may have destroyed the confidence of other young drivers. He’ll make his series track debut at Chicago but has great notes after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race there last fall. That win was key in his championship run.

But don’t count out Sadler or Stenhouse just yet. Sadler’s consistency is unmatched; he has a series-leading season-to-date Average Running Position of 7.437 and Driver Rating of 106.4. He has made five starts at Chicago, posting a best finish of sixth last fall. Stenhouse, on the other hand, has finally righted his ship rallying off three consecutive top-10 finishes. He has made three starts at Chicago with an average finish of 13.6.

Dash 4 Cash Heavyweights Ready To Fight For The Prize In Round Two

Chicagoland hosts the second of four consecutive NNS “Dash 4 Cash” races where the highest finisher (not necessarily the winner) among the four eligible drivers for this race – Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse, Sam Hornish and Elliott Sadler – will take home a $100,000 bonus in addition to his race purse. Indianapolis and Iowa round out the 2012 D4C races.

Dillon won the first $100,000 D4C bonus last week at New Hampshire with his third-place finish, best among the eligible drivers.

When asked what he would do with the money, Dillon said with a chuckle, “I think I am going to get a pool. Maybe I’ll be smart like my grandpa (Richard Childress) and invest it somehow.”

Dillon is the remaining driver with a chance at $1 million should he capture the bonus at Chicago and the Brickyard on July 28 and then win outright at Iowa.

The bonus winner from Chicago automatically advances to Indianapolis. The next three highest finishers among series regulars from Chicago also are eligible for the bonus at Indianapolis.

NASCAR Nationwide Series Notes

Penske Racing announced this week that Ryan Blaney has joined the organization and will compete in the No. 22 Dodge in selected NNS events. First up is Iowa Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 4, then Richmond International Raceway and Kentucky Speedway. …  NNS all-time wins leader Kyle Busch is the only NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver competing in the NNS this weekend at Chicago. He leads the series in wins at Chicago with two.  … “It’s going to be a little different racing on Sunday but it will put us in front of a large audience, which will be pretty exciting,” Jason Bowles said. His MacDonald Motorsports has never been inside the top 20 in the owner standings this far into the season. … Former NNS crew chief for Trevor Bayne and Roush Fenway Racing, Chad Norris, has been called up to take the place of Bob Osborne in the NSCS for Carl Edwards and the No. 99 team.

Camping World Trucks: Peters Predicts Consistency Alone Won’t Win Championship

It’s not quite midseason but NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings leader Timothy Peters already is looking ahead at the job to be accomplished.
Peters became the season’s eighth different winner in nine races on July 14 at Iowa Speedway. He finally made it to Victory Lane after posting second-place finishes at Daytona and Kansas. Peters has finished outside the top 10 just once – 11th – and carries a 5.4 average-finish into Saturday’s event at Chicagoland Speedway.

A year ago, Austin Dillon won the title by averaging a finish of 9.3. According to Peters, that won’t cut it.

“With 22 races, bonus points are going to be critical,” he said.

The point system also supports Peters’ thinking. A year ago, 15 of 25 races were won by drivers who were not points eligible in the NCWTS. They removed a significant number of bonus points from the equation, thus enabling Dillon and others to contend for the title with lesser finishes. So far, the landscape is different. Just two “outsiders” – Kevin Harvick at Martinsville and Kasey Kahne at Rockingham – have won in 2012.

With the participation rate of NSCS and NNS competitors expected to be lower than a year ago, the trend of NCWTS points-eligible drivers occupying more Victory Lanes should continue. Brendan Gaughan and Mike Harmon are the only non-NCWTS points eligible drivers entered this week.

Ageless Hornaday Eyes Milestone At Chicagoland

You could say Ron Hornaday Jr. is back. Problem is he never really left.
The 54-year-old Hornaday came within a restart of winning the American Ethanol 200 at Iowa Speedway, ultimately finishing second. The drive was his best since winning his 51st series race last September in Las Vegas and the top finish for the sophomore team of Joe Denette Motorsports.

You might say Hornaday has “hung around” – finishing on the lead lap of eight of nine races. He has scored a top-10 finish in four of his last six starts and stands seventh in the standings.

“It’s a big leap and a big gain for a new operation team,” said Hornaday of his Iowa finish. “That shows a good sign we’re on the right track.”

Hornaday has run three times at Chicagoland Speedway, finishing 10th in September. His best finish, driving for the former Kevin Harvick Inc. organization, is a third in 2010.

Just about every start is some sort of milestone for Hornaday, who won the Keystone Light Pole for the series’ first race in Phoenix in 1995. The American Ethanol 225 at Chicagoland will mark his 310th start, third all-time to Rick Crawford (331) and Terry Cook (314). By completing 73 laps, the Palmdale, CA, veteran will reach 50,000 laps run in the NCWTS. That works out to over 52,300 miles – or more than twice around the world.

Magic Number For Bodine Is 200

Todd Bodine will make NASCAR history at Chicagoland, becoming the first driver to start at least 200 races in each of the sanctioning body’s three national series. By starting the American Ethanol 225, Bodine will have 766 NASCAR national series starts: 241 in NASCAR Sprint Cup, 321 in NASCAR Nationwide and 200 in trucks. He stands 20th on the all-time national starts list. Bodine’s truck series resume is full of impressive numbers:

•2 championships
•22 victories
•7 poles
•90 top-five finishes
•121 top-10 finishes

Bodine finished second (2009-10) in three previous starts at Chicagoland.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Etc.

Chicagoland’s Victory Lane will see a new face Saturday since its two previous NCWTS occupants – Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon – aren’t competing in the American Ethanol 225. … Matt Crafton prefers to see himself as late-blooming title contender rather than spoiler but regardless, the ThorSport Racing driver continued his surge in the points with a third-place finish in Iowa. Crafton’s third consecutive top-five finish moves him to within one point of fifth in the standings (Parker Kligerman). … Crafton’s teammate Johnny Sauter is within two points of the top 10 following a fourth in Iowa, his third straight top-10 effort.