The Biggest NASCAR Storylines Ahead of the Sprint Cup Series at New Hampshire II
Chicagoland Speedway race-winner Brad Keselowski was very happy to put his name on the grid in the next round of the 2014 Chase. His victory Sunday meant that his Team Penske squad could change gears for the next two weekends and maybe let someone else win.
Of course, that’s not likely to happen.
This weekend, the racing is at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where Keselowski swept both races in July.
The Chase opener, which is usually a snore and doesn’t offer much to talk about, was different this year. It produced a number of interesting storylines.
Here are the topics that will be on your radar in the days ahead.
Keselowski Inherits Role of Favorite in the Chase
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Back-to-back wins are impressive any time of the year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. But when you do it the way that Keselowski did it, winning the final race of the regular season and then the opening race of the Chase, it’s enough to get the competition to take notice.
Is this guy and his team that good? The answer is yes.
The rest of the Chase field, including the four Hendrick Motorsports entries, have to be thinking that Keselowski and his Paul Wolfe-led team are peaking at the right time of the year.
To come from the back of the field in a Sprint Cup race once is pretty good. To do it twice, like Keselowski did on Sunday at Chicagoland, means he’s got a fast race car. Of course, we all know there’s an awfully good driver behind the wheel who knows exactly where to put it on the race track and when to do it.
It’s a formidable combination that makes Keselowski and Co. the team to beat.
Now it's on to Loudon. The last time we saw Keselowski in the Granite State, he was drinking Miller Lite in Victory Lane.
Kevin Harvick Can't Afford Another 'Close but No Cigar' Race
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We’ve lost track of how many races this season that Kevin Harvick has had the dominant car, yet he ultimately didn’t win. His battle against Kyle Larson let Keselowski catch up to the two of them and deliver his “thread the eye of the needle” move to take the race lead—a lead he never relinquished.
“It was a fun day. I’m proud of all my guys on my Jimmy John’s Chevrolet for the job that they did and it’s a solid start to the Chase," said Harvick after the race.
Even though Harvick struck a somewhat conciliatory tone toward Larson after the race, when the rhetoric is generally about how proud you are of how the team performed and you admit to settling for a fifth-place finish in a championship where it’s all about the winning, it usually means you know you let one get away from you.
These are the races that a champion has to win. Harvick got distracted and let Keselowski, who had a better car than Larson, get past him.
This was Harvick’s one mistake in the Chase. He can't afford a second one.
Hendrick Motorsports Teams Have to Step It Up
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So much for the mighty, mighty Hendrick boys. Jeff Gordon was the sole Hendrick Motorsports driver to finish in the top 10 in the Chase opener.
Is that right?
I know, I thought the same thing. Didn't Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson both finish in the top 10? It sure seemed like they did. They ran there for much of the race.
But no, they didn't.
It’s not as if Gordon's stablemates were complete slackers. Junior, Johnson and Kasey Kahne finished 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively.
Gordon led 26 laps. His teammates? A total of zero laps led.
You can give Johnson a pass, because he’s never won at Chicagoland. But he does have three runner-up finishes (2004, ’08, 12). Junior and Gordon have both won there, in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Kahne has two third-place finishes in 2009 and 2012.
So, you have to wonder. What happened? It’s obvious that the No. 24 team is on top of its game. It has been since that pole at Watkins Glen. But the other three? And especially the No. 48 team? This is their time. This is when Johnson and Knaus kick ass and take names.
Nothing but top-10s or a win from here on out.
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Kyle Larson Is a Win Waiting to Happen
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We’d all like to know exactly what Gordon told Larson at the end of Sunday’s Chase opener.
They’ve both told their own version of the conversation. You have to think that Gordon told Larson that the Ganassi driver was the class of the field in that final run and he should have been like a rocketship on the restart where he was alongside Harvick.
Instead, Larson spent a good deal of time racing against the cagey veteran (Harvick) instead of putting him in his rearview mirror and, in the end, both he and Harvick were snookered by Keselowski.
Larson is one of those once-in-a-generation drivers, not unlike Gordon. Which explains why Gordon has such high praise for the young Californian.
“I’m really proud of Kyle Larson,” Gordon said in a post-race television interview. “Man, what a great effort; such a young talent. I really wanted to see him win that race because I like him.”
Larson is that good. And that win waiting to happen? It’ll come at one of the big tracks. I’m thinking it’ll be at Charlotte next month.
Roush Fenway Racing's Disaster at Chicagoland—a One Time Affair?
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Man, it was ugly.
How ugly was Roush Fenway Racing's performance in the Chase opener? You know, the same Chase that the organization has two drivers, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, competing in?
It was so ugly that the one RFR driver NOT in the Chase, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished higher (17th) than both Edwards (20th) and Biffle (23rd).
There were issues. Edwards had a flat tire early. And both Biffle and Stenhouse Jr. were just slow.
“To make this second round we will have to be perfect and have a little bit of luck,” said Edwards in a manufacturer media release after the race. “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.”
It's not a good thing when you have to rely on others' misfortune to advance in the Chase.
Bottom line: Roush Fenway Racing's 1.5-mile program is sketchy. Maybe it’s time for a lucky rabbit’s foot.
Open Seat at Petty Motorsports: Where Do I Send My Resume?
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In another of NASCAR’s “worst kept secrets” Marcos Ambrose has officially called it quits and is packing up his family to move back to Australia, where he wants his kids to enjoy the "Australian lifestyle"—whatever that means.
Before Ambrose could even get the words out of his mouth in a press conference at Chicagoland, the resumes had been piling up at Richard Petty Motorsports from drivers looking to replace Ambrose.
There’s a long list of candidates, headed by Sam Hornish Jr. and David Ragan, both loyal Ford drivers who have Cup experience.
Either one of those two drivers would be a perfect match for The King, although Ragan’s Southern roots might give him the edge. Both are good on equipment and both are race-winners, although Hornish’s wins have been in the Nationwide Series only.
The question remains as to sponsorship for the No. 9 car. That may hold up any forthcoming driver announcement, as sponsors usually prefer a say in who drives the car. The close relationship between Petty Motorsports and Ford will also figure in as to who gets the ride.
Is Jamie McMurray Ready to Play the Role of Chase Spoiler?
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During the opening laps of Sunday’s Chase opener, non-chase driver Jamie McMurray’s McDonald’s Chevrolet was on rails. It could go almost anywhere on the race track.
McMurray found that the top groove was the best for him, and he passed cars easily on his way to the front. He led 32 laps and figured early to be the driver who’d play the role of Chase spoiler.
But it’s easy to get in trouble while rim-riding the top groove, just inches from the wall, and eventually McMurray got burned and his No. 1 Chevy SS brushed the wall.
“My car was really good on the top, but it was easy to step-over the edge up there, which I did one time; thankfully it didn’t hurt the handling too bad,” McMurray said in a post-race media release. The former Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 winner finished ninth.
Had McMurray’s team been this good on a more consistent basis during the regular season, he would easily be on the inside of the Chase field instead of on the outside. Both he and teammate Larson have had fast hot rods in the closing races of the regular season, and it’s quite likely one (or both) will play the role of Chase spoiler before it's all over.
All quotes are taken from official NASCAR, team and manufacturer media releases unless otherwise stated.
Bob Margolis is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association and has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, the NHRA and Sports Cars for more than two decades as a writer, television producer and on-air talent.
On Twitter: @BobMargolis
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