The Biggest NASCAR Storylines Ahead of the 2014 Sprint Cup Series at Dover II
The new Chase format has changed attitudes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup garage from points racing to winning, and as a result, it has produced two competitive and entertaining races at Chicagoland and Loudon.
In the past, the winning Chase philosophy was to have 10 conservative and error-free races, scoring enough points to be within shouting distance of the title at the season finale in Homestead. That was then and this is now, as teams are taking risks where they wouldn’t have in the past. They know that when the checkered flag falls Sunday at Dover, four drivers will be eliminated from the Chase field.
While several big-name teams have struggled, Team Penske has flexed its muscles, providing back-to-back wins in the first two races. Meanwhile, one driver means to show that even though he didn’t make the Chase field, he's still planning on winning races.
Are Tony Stewart’s personal issues affecting his racing more than he'd like to admit? And who does Kyle Larson think he is?
These stories and more will be on everyone’s radar this week at Dover, beginning with...
Team Penske Juggernaut Tramples the Chase Field
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The Team Penske duo of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano is making it look easy.
After winning the first two races in the 2014 Chase with apparent ease, both Keselowski and Logano could be unstoppable. Not only are they continuing their regular-season M.O. of qualifying well, their Ford Fusions are consistently the fastest cars throughout the race.
A big part of their success is that their cars are problem-free toward the end of the race, which gives Keselowski and Logano the luxury of driving where they want to on the race track while others struggle with ill-handling cars.
This isn’t just a racing organization running on eight cylinders, it’s supercharged. If this continues, we’ll likely see these two drivers as half the field in the four-car season finale.
Johnson Still Searching for That Championship Handle
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It’s likely that half of NASCAR’s fans are unhappy that Jimmie Johnson isn’t dominating the Chase like he did in the past, and the other half are ecstatic that he isn’t. Some fans have even blamed the drop in the sport’s popularity on the No. 48’s domination of the sport over the last decade.
Believe me, that's not true.
But no matter what side of the fence you’re standing on, you have to be curious as to why the Chad Knaus-led team, which in the past was unstoppable, isn’t doing it to everyone like it used to.
Johnson hasn’t visited Victory Lane since Michigan in June. That’s a long time for Mr. Six-Time to be absent from a place he’s grown accustomed to visiting on a regular basis during his NASCAR career.
Historically, this has been a postseason squad, one that saved the best until the last 10 races. So you have to figure that Johnson will keep himself in contention at least until the third round of the playoffs. Then, he and Knaus will have to bring their A-game to make it to the finals at Homestead.
Although JJ and Co. don’t look like a finals team right now, maybe this weekend at Dover, where Johnson is the defending race winner, we'll see this ship turn into the wind.
What's Keeping Kevin Harvick from Victory Lane?
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You have to figure that at some point Kevin Harvick’s luck is going to change.
It did earlier in the season when, after a win at Phoenix in March, his Stewart-Haas Racing team went through a period of five races where just about anything that could go wrong did. He broke his bad luck with a win at Darlington, but he hasn’t won since.
Bad luck isn’t Harvick’s problem now. And honestly, it’s hard to say exactly what is his problem right now.
When the issue was pit road miscues, he swapped pit road crews with team owner Tony Stewart. That didn’t completely solve the issue, as pit road miscues plagued Harvick in the Chase opener.
Then, at Loudon, it was a car that couldn’t get into or off of the corners well enough in the waning laps of the race that kept Harvick from winning. First eventual race-winner Logano got past him, then Kyle Larson did. Harvick had to settle for a third-place finish, which had to be a huge disappointment after he led a race-high 104 laps and obviously had the best car for 90 percent of the race.
Dover isn’t one of his better tracks. He’s winless there.
Maybe it’s Kansas then.
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Is It Game Over for Denny Hamlin?
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As far as the Chase goes, Denny Hamlin is in a very scary place. He’s 13th in points and just over the cutoff point of 12th for moving into the second round.
His Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has been fast for the first two races, with a sixth-place finish at Chicagoland and then a strong 32 laps led early at Loudon before mechanical issues put him four laps down to the race leaders.
Even though the philosophy for winning the Chase has changed, having just one bad race can still end your postseason. Hamlin had his bad race this past weekend at Loudon.
Of course, if his team can keep its head in the game, he could win at Dover, where Hamlin is winless but has two pole starts. The FedEx team just needs to put 400 error-free miles together and hope that one of the other guys has the kind of race day Hamlin and Co. just had.
You never know in NASCAR. That's why they run the races.
Jeff Gordon Needs a Win to Regain Lost Momentum
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OK, fellas. Just get up, brush yourself off and get back into the game.
Jeff Gordon was on his way to a top-five finish Sunday, but a Goodyear tire had other plans. Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet took a hard hit into the outside wall when a right front tire failed with 10 laps to go, forcing the four-time champion to make multiple stops on pit road to repair the damage. Gordon’s top-five finish was toast, and he ended up 26th.
Gordon and his team have been through worse this season, so it’s likely they will just get up and brush themselves off and get back into the game. Crew chief Alan Gustafson is a strong leader, and he'll make sure his crew has its head in the right place.
As far as the 24 team is concerned, it's got the best driver, the best crew chief and the best car.
And it just might be right.
The Best Team Not in the Chase?
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You might think that Jamie McMurray is trying to make some kind of a statement.
And it might read something like, "I belong in this Chase."
His Chip Ganassi Racing team was a late bloomer this season, and that kept McMurray out of the Chase. But now McMurray is apparently trying to steal the show.
His fourth-place finish at Loudon was his fifth top-10 finish in the last six races. He might have had something for the top three had there not been so many restarts at the end of the race.
“All those cautions are fairly frustrating,” McMurray said in a post-race interview at Loudon. “I know it is fun to watch as a fan, but you are so panicked as a driver as to which lane you are going to get to restart in because that is critical.”
McMurray has been fun to watch, especially since he’s running better than most of the Chase field.
Dover isn’t one of his better tracks, so this weekend’s race could be a reality check. But given this team’s performance of late, McMurray could easily be up front running with the Chase regulars.
And he might just win.
Roush Fenway Racing Not Even Close
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This has been a forgettable season for the Roush Fenway Racing teams.
Even Carl Edwards’ two race wins and Greg Biffle making the Chase on points can’t erase the fact that they’ve been uncompetitive on most tracks, especially the 1.5-milers.
Just when they led us to believe that their strengths lie in the short tracks (Edwards won at Bristol in March), Loudon turns into a long afternoon of running mid-pack with other slower and ill-handling race cars.
From the way Edwards put it, he was glad to get out of Loudon with a 17th-place finish.
“It was a pretty tough day,” Edwards said in a post-race media release. "We’re still eighth in points, which is good. Now we’ve just got to go to Dover and survive and do a good job to make it to the next round while still working on our cars. It was a tough race and just one little mistake you wreck, so it’s pretty crazy.”
It’s not a good sign when your driver is talking about a good points day when he should be talking about winning.
Biffle is in danger of being eliminated, and Edwards sits ninth in points.
Are Distractions Having an Impact on Stewart's Performance?
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Tony Stewart’s season was already going to be one consumed by a slow recovery from critical injuries suffered in a racing accident last summer. It was unlikely that he would have made the Chase field given his mid-pack finishes in the early part of the season.
Just when Smoke was beginning to get his groove back, the tragic accident in upstate New York pushed it back. Way back.
The last thing on Stewart’s mind these days is missing the Chase, although one has to assume he's quite pleased with having two cars in the field (Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch). Still, it’s difficult to watch a great champion living with the emotional weight of the past six weeks resting heavy on his shoulders.
It would be great to see him running back up front with the leaders, but that’s probably not going to happen this season.
Homestead can’t come soon enough.
Rookie Kyle Larson Ready for His Seat at the Big Kids' Table
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Hey, what’s this guy trying to prove? Didn’t anyone tell him that a rookie in the Sprint Cup Series isn’t supposed to be good? It’s a good thing that Kyle Larson wasn’t paying any attention when he was given the speech given to all rookies that includes telling them not to have great expectations.
Apparently, someone must have told him to just go out and have some fun.
Larson has been a breath of fresh air in a series that needed it. Fans are being given the opportunity to experience a young, raw talent before fame, fortune and the adulation of millions eventually changes him.
When one of your biggest fans is four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, you know you’re pretty good. And for now, Larson is still a racer, and all he really cares about is winning races. It hasn't gone to his head—yet.
That’s what makes him so much fun to watch. He’s likely to win a race in his rookie season. He hasn't been that good at Dover, so I’m thinking it’ll be at Charlotte next month. But I could be wrong. Let’s wait and see.
Dover Track Is Dangerous Territory for Chase Field
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Dover International Speedway is aptly nicknamed “The Monster Mile.”
It’s fast, it's slick and when things happen, they happen fast and you’re likely to end up with a heavily smashed-up race car.
It may be the same length as New Hampshire Motor Speedway—one mile—but that’s where the comparison ends. Where NHMS is flat, with little to no banking, DIS is high-banked and all concrete. Think Bristol on steroids.
And the racing at Dover is better than at Bristol, because there’s more passing.
The speeds at Dover have gone up over the years, and with the new Gen-6 car, they’re unbelievably fast. In June, Keselowski won the pole with a one-lap average of nearly 185 mph, which means that speeds going into the corners are right around 200 mph. In person, it’s quite scary to watch.
What makes Dover special is that all of the big teams—Penske, Hendrick, Roush Fenway and Joe Gibbs—are good there, so it makes Sunday’s race the perfect setting for any Chase driver who needs a good day to get him into the next round.
All quotes and statistics 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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