NASCAR at Chicagoland 2014: Winners and Losers from Myafibstory.com 400
The MyAfibstory.com 400 is in the books, as is the first race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and it was just as drama-filled as the NASCAR bigwigs had hoped.
Brad Keselowski ended up getting his second victory in a row and proving why he is at the top of the standings right now, and Jeff Gordon finished second to hold onto a shot at his fifth championship.
But there were surprises elsewhere as superstars such as Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were non-factors, and drivers not even in the Chase ended up contending for the win.
Here are the winners and losers from a great afternoon at Chicagoland Speedway.
Winner: The Revamped Chase
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The Sprint Cup Chase format has been completely revamped this year, and already there is some much-needed added drama to NASCAR's version of the playoffs.
While there was a full field of racers on the track at the Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, only 16 of the drivers had qualified for the Chase. After three races, only the top 12 drivers will move on to the next round of the Chase, meaning that the stakes are even higher than usual.
After his win, Keselowski automatically advances to the next round no matter what happens in the next two races.
Ryan Newman, AJ Allmendinger, Greg Biffle and Aric Almirola are currently Nos. 13-16 in the standings after Sunday's race and will need good showings the next two weeks to advance. Overall there is much more intrigue here at the end of the NASCAR season.
Loser: Hendrick Motorsports
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The Hendrick Motorsports drivers were so dominant for so much of this NASCAR season, that days like Sunday go down as a disappointment.
While Penske had the winner and the fourth-place finisher, only one of Hendrick's stars, Jeff Gordon, finished in the top 10. (Gordon finished in second place.)
Jimmie Johnson finished a disappointing 12th and fell to eighth in the standings, Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 11th and Kasey Kahne finished 13th.
All four drivers are still in position to move on to the next round of the Chase, but Johnson, Earnhardt Jr. and Kahne will be looking to take things up a notch next week.
Winner: Team Penske
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It was a marquee day for Team Penske, as Brad Keselowski ushered a beautiful through-the-middle pass with 16 laps to go to take the lead and never look back, and his teammate Joey Logano finished in fourth place.
Keselowski, who remains in his top position in the Chase standings, led the race for 62 laps and ended up getting his fifth win of the season, which ties his career best. It was also his second victory in a row.
He was overcome with excitement after a crazy race, and in typical Keselowski fashion, he told ESPN, "Means we're going to drink a lot more beer tonight."
Logano started the Chase in fifth place and moves up to third after his great showing.
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Loser: Carl Edwards
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Carl Edwards has two wins this year and began Sunday at No. 7 in the Chase standings, but after a disappointing Sunday that included engine troubles and a flat tire, he's down to 12th and in danger of not making it to the next round.
After leading the final Sprint Cup practice at the Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday, a 20th-place finish was particularly disappointing for Edwards.
According to a report by Speedway Media, Edwards knows he has to do better if he wants to make it to the next stage of the Chase.
"Our day was not good. We’ve got to be a little faster and we have to continue to have good luck. For us to advance we are going to have to rely on other people making some mistakes. All the while we are looking for more speed from our Fastenal Ford and if we can do that I think we will be alright but we have to stay afloat.
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Winner: Joey Logano's Lucky Debris
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We've already covered what a great day it was for Logano and Team Penske, but we haven't touched on how close his day was to being a complete disaster.
With a few laps to go, a piece of debris—a windshield tear-off from another car—flew into his front grille. His car began to overheat immediately, but the debris actually helped with the handling in the short term, and his engine waited until he crossed the finish line in fourth place to explode.
According to Toby Christie of Rubbings Racing, Logano knew that he got some help at the end of the race:
""I got lucky, actually," Logano said. "I got a nice big piece of debris on the grille there at the end, and it brought my car to life. It’s amazing how much more these cars turn when you can tape them up like a qualifying run."
All smiles aside, Logano knows just how fortunate he and his team are leaving Chicago.
"There’s no more water left in it, and whatever fluid was left was going to come out of it at the start finish line there off of four. But just great timing. Another lap, and it wouldn’t have been good," Logano explained.
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Loser: Aric Almirola's Engine
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The most heartbreaking story of the day had to belong to Aric Almirola, who was in sixth place with 30 laps to go when his engine blew up, keeping him from finishing the race.
Almirola was a long shot to make it to the next round of the Chase anyway, but he was looking great at Chicagoland, where he'd clearly gained a lot of experience by also racing in the Nationwide race.
But instead of having one of his best days on the racetrack, he had one of his worst, and now he's in 16th place in the Chase.
"I've never been so heartbroken," he said on ESPN after the race. "I've been saying all week that the only thing we couldn't do was have a big mistake, and we did."
Almirola's best shot at advancing to the next bracket in the Chase is to win one of the next two events and advance automatically.
Winner: Kyle Larson
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Rookie Kyle Larson was in the dreaded 17th spot in the Chase, just missing out on the postseason fun. But he was still in the field at Chicagoland, and he certainly made his presence felt.
Larson led 20 laps and was battling Kevin Harvick for position for most of the second half of the race. He was certainly in contention to get his first NASCAR win, but a few mistakes and an ill-timed caution flag doomed him. Still, he ended up finishing in third place and gained a lot fans along the way.
Second-place finisher Jeff Gordon had a lot of kind words for the 22-year-old after the race. "Really proud of Kyle Larson, such a young talent," he said on ESPN. "I really wanted to see him win that race."
Loser: Pit Crews
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There were a plethora of mistakes on pit road in this race, highlighting just how much pressure these guys are under.
Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth both found themselves trying to get extra speed going into pit road and ending up in a spin. Kasey Kahne had two speeding penalties on pit road on Sunday, as opposed to just one all year, per Motor Racing Network's Dustin Long.
Kevin Harvick, who took Tony Stewart's pit crew this week, had trouble in his second stop with the left rear tire and ended up having to come back in, which cost him a lot of track position.
Jimmie Johnson's rear tire-changer fell, adding precious seconds to his stop.
ESPN's Ricky Craven said it best on SportsCenter when he said, "You're not going to win the championship on pit row, but you sure could lose it."
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