NASCAR Notebook: Consistency Marks Johnson’s Rise

For Jimmie Johnson, it’s on course, steady as she goes.

Two second-place finishes launched him into the lead in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup entering Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.

Johnson is a single point ahead of Chicagoland winner Brad Keselowski. But lurking in third, just seven points behind, is Denny Hamlin, who came within two races and a couple of missteps of denying Johnson his fifth NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2010.

The script is slightly different. But the same actors are in place.

Johnson’s run to title No. 5 might have been considered miraculous – at least statistically. The California native overcame a huge disadvantage, a 25th-place finish in the Chase opener, but quickly rebounded.

Two races later, following a victory and a runner-up finish, Johnson was the points leader. Johnson reeled off four consecutive top-10s but was overhauled by Hamlin’s Texas triumph – a race in which Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus ordered a mid-race swap of over-the-wall crews with those servicing Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon to preserve a top-10 finish.

Johnson left Ft. Worth facing a 33-point deficit, which he cut to 15 in Phoenix. His second-place finish to Carl Edwards in the Homestead-Miami Speedway finale – in which Hamlin finished 14th – clinched the championship.

But we could be getting ahead of ourselves – maybe.

Johnson isn’t likely to predict a Dover victory, but no current driver has a better resume at the “Monster Mile.”

Johnson led 289 of 400 laps in June’s FedEx 400, posting a record-matching seventh victory at the one-mile, concrete-surfaced track. He shares the mark with NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Bobby Allison. Like Petty, Johnson won his first two Dover starts. Those seven victories make Dover his most prolific track.

Twice, in 2009 and 2010, Johnson won the AAA 400 en route to his fourth and fifth titles. He’s won four of the last seven Dover races – including a season sweep in 2009.

His Dover-leading Driver Rating of 120.6 is a full 10 points higher than that of his nearest competitor. Johnson has run a whopping 5,170 laps in the top 15 – 86.1% of the 8,404 times he’s circled the “Monster Mile” in 21 starts.

Over the past eight races, Johnson has led 54% of the laps contested (1,719/3,200).

This Year’s Hamlin Not The Driver Who Missed In 2010

Denny Hamlin’s near miss in 2010 – a championship lost in the final race – can be summed up in two words: wasted opportunity. A season-leading eight victories. Wasted. Catching and passing the then four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion with two races remaining: Wasted.

Hamlin’s demeanor, after thrashing the competition into submission Sunday at New Hampshire, suggests the outcome could be different if this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is a rerun of 2010.

Hamlin isn’t five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson’s closest rival. Not yet. He goes to Dover’s AAA 400 third in the standings – seven points behind Johnson and a deficit of six to Brad Keselowski.

But Sunday’s performance, a 32nd-place start to the lead in less than a third of the race on a 1.058-mile flat track deemed among the most difficult on which to pass en route to this season’s fifth victory, has the feel of another Hamlin-Johnson shootout. Johnson finished second.

In 2010, Hamlin and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota backed up their No. 1 seeding with a second-place finish in New Hampshire. He held the points lead with a ninth at Dover – his second-most troublesome track – where Johnson won. Hamlin slipped to second in the standings with a 12th-place finish in Kansas but continued to shadow Johnson, aided by a win at Martinsville among four top-10 finishes. A second Chase win in Texas – in which the No. 11 car’s crew out-performed Johnson and Chad Knaus both on track and pit road – gave Hamlin a 33-point lead.

Misplayed strategy at Phoenix and an early accident at Homestead left Hamlin believing the title had been given away rather than taken by Johnson. That malaise appeared to carry over into last season, in which Hamlin won just once and finish ninth in points.

How Hamlin handles Sunday’s AAA 400 will determine – in the short term anyway – whether a Johnson-Hamlin duel is fact or illusion. Hamlin’s Dover performance leaves much to be desired: a pair of fourths his best finishes, 15th-best Driver Rating (78.6), 18th-best Average Running Position (18.3) and an average finish of 20.5 in 13 starts.

Hamlin finished 18th at the “Monster Mile” in June as Johnson notched his ninth Dover victory.

Don’t Forget Us: Chase Not Just A Two-Horse Race

If Brad Keselowski were to receive a grade for his NASCAR Sprint Cup career at Dover International Speedway, the report card might read “incomplete.” With just five Dover starts, Keselowski has yet to finish among the top 10.

He finished 12th in Dover’s spring race – eight positions higher than a year ago during Keselowski’s initial Chase appearance. The Michigan driver likely will have to do much better than that to keep his second-place ranking, one point behind Jimmie Johnson.

Keselowski, however, may build on his then-Penske Racing teammate Kurt Busch’s victory in last year’s AAA 400.

Fourth-place Tony Stewart must shake off his recent Dover blues. The two-time Dover winner’s last top 10 (ninth) came in the spring of 2010. He repeated last year’s Chase finish of 25th in June, the victim of a 12-car accident on the race’s ninth lap.

June’s performance at Dover International Speedway may help define what could be a career season for Dale Earnhardt Jr. By matching or eclipsing that fourth-place finish – one of 18 top 10s in 2012 – Earnhardt could cut into his 26-point deficit to Johnson. The seventh-place driver has a single victory in Dover, coming in 2001.

Go Time: Slow Starters Need To Kick Into High Gear

For the likes of Greg Biffle, Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth, it’s go time.
Though none of the three have slogged through completely wretched Chase starts, they’re not exactly blowing the doors off the place either.

Biffle, ninth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings, has finished 13th and 18th to open the Chase. Truex, in 10th, has finished ninth and 17th. Kenseth, in 11th, has finished 18th and 14th.

In the Chase era, the lowest points position of an eventual championship after two Chase races is eighth, by Jimmie Johnson in 2006. In all seasons, the eventual champion was fifth or better after the first two Chase races. In five of the nine Chases, the eventual champion was either first or second.

In other words, another mediocre finish could deflate championship hopes altogether.

Biffle is a two-time Dover winner in 2005 and 2008, seasons in which he finished second and third in points. His Driver Rating of 104.2 ranks fourth best.

Truex, from nearby Mayetta, N.J., scored his only NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at the “Monster Mile” in 2007. He also is a two-time Coors Light Pole qualifier including last year’s AAA 400 and finished seventh in June.

Kenseth has won twice most recently in the spring of 2011. He stands second in four Loop Data categories including Driver Rating (110.5) and Average Green Flag Speed (143.630 mph). Kenseth finished third in June’s Dover race.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Notes

Brian Dawkins, former hard-hitting safety for the Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos, will be the grand marshal for Sunday’s race. Martin Truex Jr., an Eagles fan, will wear a Dawkins-themed helmet during the event. …  Danica Patrick will make her seventh start of the season and first at Dover. Patrick is coming off her best finish thus far, a 25th at Chicagoland Speedway after starting 41st. … Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who will run a full schedule for Roush Fenway Racing in 2013, will make his third career start this weekend. Stenhouse finished 20th in the season-opening Daytona 500 earlier this year. He took home an 11th in his debut for the Wood Brothers in the 2011 Coca-Cola 600. … NASCAR released the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule. Click here to see the schedule in its entirely. … Ali McDonough of Wilmington, DE, is going to get a VIP experience at Dover as one of four national finalists for the 2012 Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award, given annually to a NASCAR fan who has had an impact on children in the local community. McDonough will get a pace car ride and garage tour and will meet Joey Logano, and other NASCAR Toyota drivers. McDonough’s chosen charity, The Andrew McDonough B+ (Be Positive) Foundation, will receive $25,000 from The NASCAR Foundation. The national winner, chosen by a fan vote on NASCAR.com/award, will receive $100,000 for his or her charity and be recognized at the awards banquet in Las Vegas in Nov. 30.

Nationwide Series: Truex Returns To His Home Track – This Time For The Win

With 48 laps remaining in June’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Dover International Speedway, Mayetta, N.J., native Ryan Truex – brother of two-time series champion Martin Truex Jr. – took the lead in the race en route to what looked to be a first career win. In dominant fashion, he clicked off 43 of the remaining 48 laps at the point until getting caught in late-race traffic. His then-Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano passed him with five laps to go.

What looked to be a shining moment in a young driver’s career instead ended in a tough learning experience, but he’s back.

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Truex continues to get better each time he gets behind the wheel. He has made nine series starts this season, posting one top five, four top 10s and an average finish of 15.2. Truex sat on the pole and finished second at Dover in June. His pre-race Driver Rating at the one-mile speedway is ranked eighth in the series at 106.5. He has spent 90.5% of his laps completed in the top 15 and has an average running position of 7.058 in his three starts at Dover.

Truex’s biggest competition will be defending winner Logano, a Middletown, CN, native, who has the series’ most wins this season with six. Logano has made seven starts at Dover, posting one win, three top fives, four top 10s and an average finish of 7.3.

Busch Looks To Extend Eight-Year Winning Streak

Kyle Busch is on the verge of doing something he hasn’t done since 2003 – complete a season in which he doesn’t win a race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Busch, the all-time wins leader in the NNS with 51, has visited victory lane at least once every year since 2004. During his eight-year streak, he has six multiple-win seasons. In 2010, he finished with a career-high 13 victories.

As the series heads to Dover for the OneMain Financial 200, Busch finds himself in an unfamiliar position. In 16 races, he has zero wins, four top fives, eight top 10s and five finishes outside the top 20. Accidents and equipment failures have caused a lot of his bad luck.

One factor different this season from the previous eight is that he is driving his own equipment – the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota. He shares seat time with his brother, Kurt Busch, who won in the car at Richmond in April.

With Kyle’s success at Dover (three NNS wins with the most recent coming in 2010), he could capture his first win of 2012 and continue his streak.

NASCAR Nationwide Championship Still Up In The Air

The NNS points battle is as close as ever as evidenced by the second change atop the standings in as many weeks.

Going into last Saturday’s Kentucky 300, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led Elliott Sadler by nine points with Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Austin Dillon 34 points back.

After a solid sixth-place performance, Sadler leapfrogged Stenhouse, who finished 17th, in the standings. Dillon swept both Kentucky races, this time beating Sam Hornish Jr. to the checkered flag by 1.059 seconds. Dillon’s second victory of 2012 allowed him to close the points gap on both Sadler and Stenhouse.

Heading into the OneMain Financial 200 at Dover, Sadler leads Stenhouse by four points with Dillon 19 points back. Hornish (-46) and Justin Allgaier (-103) round out the top five.

In nine trips to Dover, Sadler has one pole and four top 10s. Stenhouse has visited the one-mile track six times and has two top fives. In Dillon’s only other trip to the track he placed sixth. In two Dover races, Hornish’s best finish is 13th, while Allgaier’s best finish in seven visits is fifth.

NASCAR Nationwide Series Notes

Fans looking to get a more intimate look at Dover will have that chance during the OneMain Financial Open Track Session Saturday, Sept. 29, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Ticket holders for that day’s NNS race may enter the track at Gate 18 and roam the front stretch of the Monster Mile. As an added bonus, Sadler, driver of the No. 2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet, as well as teammate and two-time series champion Kevin Harvick and team owner Richard Childress, will stop by to participate in a free question-and-answer session for fans during the event from 10:30 to 10:45 a.m. … The OneMain Financial 200 this weekend at Dover has the last five K&N East Sunoco Rookies of the Year entered: Alex Bowman (2011), Darrell Wallace Jr. (2010), Ryan Truex (2009), Austin Dillon (2008) and Joey Logano (2007). Wallace is in the No. 18 car owned by Joe Gibbs, the current owner standings points leader by 13 points over Richard Childress Racing’s No. 2 car.

Camping World Trucks: Buescher Hopes This Movie Has Different Ending

For James Buescher, it’s déjà vu all over again.

A year ago, he went to Las Vegas Motor Speedway trailing eventual champion Austin Dillon by three points. Saturday night’s Smith’s 350 finds Buescher in the same position – but behind yet another Dillon.

Ty Dillon holds a four-point advantage, although it can be argued momentum this time around has shifted in favor of the challenger. Dillon has never competed at the 1.5-mile track and Buescher just completed a season sweep at Kentucky Motor Speedway, where he fashioned his fourth victory of the year – all of them on intermediate speedways.

Las Vegas wasn’t kind to Buescher in 2011. He finished 21st, unable to take advantage of Austin Dillon’s only finish outside the top 10 (17th) over the season’s final five races.

Ron Hornaday Jr., winless so far this season, is the defending Smith’s 350 champion. Other previous winners entered are Todd Bodine, Brendan Gaughan and Johnny Sauter, who scored his first series victory at the track in 2009.

Sauter finished fourth a year ago, Bodine fifth and Gaughan ninth.

Final Exam Time For Pastrana In Las Vegas

Finally, the student gets to compete with the professor.

Matt Crafton has worked extensively with action sports icon Travis Pastrana as he continues to broaden his NASCAR racing experience. This week both will be on track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, on the same team and in equal experience.

Pastrana will make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut in the No. 98 Toyota fielded by ThorSport Racing. His teammates will be Crafton and past Smith’s 350 winner Johnny Sauter.

“I have been working with Matt Crafton for some time now and I have always wanted to drive the same machine that he drives,” said Pastrana, who has done spot races this season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. He led his first NNS laps at Richmond and has a best finish of 13th at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “Running in the truck series is going to be a huge help with my learning process to run in NASCAR. And it should be a lot of fun.”

Pastrana will pull double duty, also competing in Saturday’s Sylvania SilverStar zXe Global RallyCross Championship.

Mayhew Moves To KBM; Reed Debuts With A Cause

David Mayhew, who finished seventh in last year’s Smith’s 350, this week becomes the latest to belt into the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 Toyota.

Mayhew, a native Californian living in Bakersfield, most recently competed for Brad Keselowski Racing and was a NASCAR Camping World Truck pole winner in 2011 with Kevin Harvick Inc.

Mayhew is the seventh different driver in what’s become an R&D exercise for the 2010 owner champion. Brian Scott logged the organization’s 50th top five with a fifth-place finish last week at Kentucky Speedway.

Fellow Bakersfield resident and ARCA competitor Ryan Reed is set to make his NCWTS debut in the Richie Wauters Motorsports Ford. Reed, 19, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) in February 2011 and initially told by doctors his racing career was over.

Armed with the passion and determination to fulfill his dreams, Reed shifted his focus and poured all his energy into managing his health and educating himself on the disease. He uses his racing platform and personal story to inspire others living with T1D to continue living life to its fullest through Ryan’s Mission (RyansMission.org).

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Notes

NCWTS champions have won 10 of 15 Las Vegas races. … Series rookies won back-to-back in 2009 (Sauter) and 2010 (Austin Dillon). There have been three first-time winners at LVMS: Sauter, Shane Hmiel (2004) and David Starr (2002). … There have been five consecutive different winners and 13 different winners in the past 14 LVMS races. … Six races remain on the schedule, three of them on 1.5-mile tracks – Las Vegas, Texas Motor Speedway and Homestead Miami Speedway.

Home Tracks Roundup

Kyle Larson gave Rev Racing its second win of the season and eighth over the last two years with his victory Saturday in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The 20-year-old from Elk Grove, Calif., member of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity, moved within three of points leader Brett Moffitt as the series heads to Dover Friday. The top four drivers, including Corey LaJoie and Chase Elliott, are within 13 points of each other with three races remaining.

Two Champs Crowned

Lee Pulliam, 24, from Semora, N.C., wrapped up his first NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship. Pulliam, who competed in an asphalt Late Model in the southeast, won 22 times in 38 starts after finishing third in the series last year. Pulliam and the rest of the top 10 in the final standings earned locked-in spots to the Late Model portion of the UNOH Battle At The Beach next February at Daytona. … DJ Kennington won for a record seventh time this season to claim his second NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 title in three years at Kawartha Speedway Saturday. Kennington outdistanced runner-up J.R. Fitzpatrick by 27 points.