Speedy Delivery: Hamlin Returns to Martinsville Victory Lane

When your trophy "absolutely, positively has to be there overnight", it's nice
to have connections at Fed Ex to get it to your front door (Google Images)

The 2015 Sprint Cup season had been a decent one for Denny Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. However, up until this weekend's race at Martinsville, Hamlin's biggest highlight of the year had been his shouting match with Danica Patrick following the Budweiser Duels at Daytona. But Martinsville Speedway has always been one of Hamlin's strongest tracks; he'd won there four times going into Sunday's STP 500. So this would be a great weekend for the Chesterfield, Va. driver to get his first win of the season.

Speaking of firsts, this weekend was also the first career Sprint Cup Series race for XFINITY Series standout Chase Elliott. Since he will assume the helm of Jeff Gordon's legendary No. 24 Chevy next season, team owner Rick Hendrick decided to run Elliott in a fifth entry for his team on a part-time basis with sponsorship from NAPA Auto Parts. With both of these drivers trying to prove something and Kevin Harvick gunning for his ninth consecutive top two finish, there were plenty of reasons to watch Sunday's race.

Joey Logano, who has been stellar in qualifying all season long, started on the pole. Flanked by Ryan Newman's No. 31 car, the field took the green in the last race before a long Easter weekend.

It didn't take long for things to get hectic, as early on Elliott's baptism by fire went south quick. On a restart, Brett Moffitt rear ended Elliott's No. 25 car, which ruined both of these young guns' days before they had even begun. The contact demolished Moffitt's front end and cause some damage to the nose of Elliott's car as well. The wreck cost Elliott his power steering and forced him behind the wall to try and rectify the issue, as well as replace the radiator, around lap 75. While the No. 25 returned to the track, Elliott finished his Cup Series debut in 38th, 73 laps down. Hopefully his next race at Richmond on April 25th goes smoother.


Martinsville was not kind to Chase Elliott (Google Images)

But it wasn't just Elliott who had a bad day at Martinsville. His Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr also had uncharacteristically bad days at a track normally dominated by HMS drivers. Johnson, who has a staggering eight Ridgeway grandfather clocks, battled a loose car from the start of the race and later on, had to stop on pit road so his crew could go under the hood to correct a steering issue. After winning at Martinsville last October, Earnhardt Jr was also looking to have a great day at the Virginia paper clip. However, a loose shifter caused him a major headache through most of the race. Junior said a bad vibration caused the shifter to break off "right at the top of the transmission." It was so bad, his crew actually handed him a screwdriver so he could try and make repairs from inside the car. But the shifter would turn out to be the least of his problems. On lap 228, Junior was collected in a wreck initiated when David Ragan spun Casey Mears. This cause the field to check up behind them and the No. 88 Chevy couldn't get slowed down quick enough.

Hendrick Motorsports was not the only team to have a bad day Sunday. Roush Fenway Racing also had an especially rough day at Martinsville. However, this is not uncharacteristic for what has long been Ford Racing's flagship team. Ricky Stenhouse Jr spun his No. 17 car twice before losing a tire on lap 207 and slamming the wall in turn one. This relegated Danica's boyfriend to a 40th place finish. Trevor Bayne also had a rough go. He spun early on lap 12 after losing a tire and was collected in a few late accidents. But Bayne and his No. 6 team were able to rebound and score an impressive 18th place finish. Roush Fenway's senior driver, Greg Biffle, had a very uneventful day. He wasn't very good, but they also weren't as bad as they have been. The No. 16 came home in 19th, but clearly all three RFR teams still have a ways to go to return to a competitive state this season.

But the best team at Martinsville was clearly Joe Gibbs Racing. Ragan, who is still filling in for the injured Kyle Busch, has been a solid replacement for one of the sport's most dominant drivers. But Martinsville was his best showing yet, as he battled through the pack from a 20th place start to finish fifth on the day. Ragan was one upped by teammate Matt Kenseth. When he drove the No.17 at Roush Fenway Racing, Kenseth never ran especially well at the Virginia short track. But Sunday, the 2003 champion started eighth and came home a solid fourth. But it was Hamlin who led 91 laps and overcame a couple of pit road penalties to win the race and show he still has what it takes to win at NASCAR's shortest track. He held off Team Penske teammates Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano for the win. They finished second and third respectively.


It was a rough day for Dale Jr (88) at Martinsville too (Google Images)

Keselowski's runner up finish also meant that after leading a staggering 154 circuits, Harvick's streak of consecutive top two finishes ended at a very impressive eight. One other note on the day involved the No. 42 car of Chip Ganassi Racing. Kyle Larson fainted towards the end of an autograph session on Saturday and was taken to the hospital. He is awake and alert and doing just fine (in fact he was released late Monday night). However, he is still awaiting medical clearance to return to the drivers seat. This meant that Regan Smith reprised his role as the go-to substitute driver for Sunday's event. After spinning on lap 286, Smith was stopped in the middle of turns three and four and managed to not get hit b y a single car. This enabled the XFINITY Series regular to come home a solid 16th place in his first start since filling in for Kurt Busch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Danica Patrick also came home a very impressive seventh. This was her fifth career top ten, which ties her with former female driver Janet Guthrie for most top tens by a woman in NASCAR's top series.

This weekend is Easter Sunday, so there will be no NASCAR action till April 11th at Texas Motor Speedway and the Duck Commander 500. This race will be broadcast on regular old FOX (not FOX Sports 1) on Saturday night at 7:30 pm/et on April 11th.

Keselowski Upsets Busch's Drive for Perfect Weekend

Kurt Busch came within a lap of a perfect weekend (Google Images)

On Friday and Saturday at Auto Club Speedway, Kurt Busch led in every possible statistical category. He won the pole for Sunday's race, was the fastest in every practice session and was the fastest car in the best ten lap average category as well. As Busch said Sunday, all that was left was for him to do his job; put together a solid 400 miles and get his No. 41 Chevy to victory lane for the first time since Martinsville last spring. This being Busch's second race back from his indefinite suspension for a domestic violence charge that was never proven, a win would also go a long way towards putting that behind him as well.

But on a restart with two laps to go, Brad Keselowski passed Busch off turn two on the final lap of the race. Busch then overdrove his car off turn four, brushed the wall and allowed teammate Kevin Harvick to pass him for second. Busch's Chevrolet that had dominated the weekend was relegated to a third place finish.

It was a Stewart-Haas Racing front row, with Busch on the pole and Harvick starting second. While Busch was going for his first win of the year, Harvick was going for his third in a row and a sweep of NASCAR's west coast swing. While many drivers were able to contend with the duo, it appeared that either Harvick or Busch was going to see their die cast cars being towed on a trailer behind the woody wagon that sits atop the winner's trophy.

The first caution came out oddly enough on lap 24 for an incident involving Jeff Gordon and David Ragan. The two drivers had been racing hard and, apparently Gordon thought Ragan raced him a little bit too hard because he got close to Ragan's left rear and took the air off his spoiler, sending him spinning off turn four. Fortunately, Ragan didn't hit anything so he was able to keep moving.

Brad Keselowski celebrates his first Fontana win (Google Images)

This first caution might've been for a little on track disagreement, but the third one was for a bonehead move by Sam Hornish Jr's spotter, former race car driver Tony Raines. FOX played the audio and Raines cleared the No. 9 Ford to slide up on front of the No. 6 car of Trevor Bayne on lap 99. Only problem was that Bayne was still up to Hornish's right side door when he tried to clear the No. 6 car off turn two. Hornish said it best on his radio after the wreck, yelling at his spotter, "All clear, two back to the [No.] 38? Are you kidding me?" Apparently Raines is just as effective with a pair of binoculars as he was with a steering wheel.

The next few cautions were all for debris and, until the last few restarts, it looked as if Stewart-Haas or Joe Gibbs Racing was going to win. We've established how strong Busch and Harvick were, leading 65 and 34 laps respectively on the day, but JGR drivers Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth were just as effective. Both drivers have always been dominant at Fontana and this Sunday was no different. Hamlin led 56 laps in his No. 11 Camry and Kenseth led 43 laps in his DeWalt Toyota. But unfortunately, both of their days would soon go south in a hurry. Hamlin made contact with the wall that took a lot of the speed and the handle away from his car, making it almost impossible for him to hold the lead with Busch and Harvick on his heels.

Kenseth's issues, however, were much more terminal. On a late pit stop, as he left his box after his crew dropped the jack, Kenseth broke a right rear axle. California has an asphalt pit road with concrete pit boxes. This means two different grip levels and going from one to the other can lead to things like broken axels or U-joints. But Kenseth was still in his box at the time his axle decided to quit, so as his jack man let the car down and Kenseth hit the gas, the timing was probably just right that the rear tires hit the ground spinning and overworked just caused the axle to snap. Kenseth was forced to limp down pit road and back to his box so his crew could replace the broken part, which relegated him to a 31st place finish. However, the 2003 champ did manage to stay on the lead lap. Hamlin finished 28th on the day, beating his teammate by a few positions.

But it was the final two restarts that caused the most controversy. NASCAR threw a caution with less than two laps to go for "debris" between turns three and four. This led Busch to radio to his crew, "WWE," likening NASCAR to the wrestling league, which is famous for staging the results of their fights. This set up a green white checker restart and, once the field took the green, close racing off turn two caused Kyle Larson's taillight panel to fly off his car. This led to another debris caution (good thing we could see the debris this time), and another green white checker restart. Busch had held his own on the final two restarts, but FOX's cameras cut to his crew chief, Tony Gibson and it looked like he was about to put his fist through his laptop.



Kevin Harvick had a very good weekend in Fontana (Google Images)

This set up one final restart. Just as he'd done all day, Busch got out to a decent lead coming to the white flag. But while Harvick was behind him in second, Keselowski snuck around the four car and coming off turn two on the last lap, Keselowski's No. 2 had slipped past the No. 41. Keselowski led just one lap all day, but it was the one that paid the most to lead. FOX panned over to Gibson one final time and the look of disappointment and sheer disbelief made you feel a little bit bad. I know it's Kurt Busch, but it's hard to see such a dominant car finish third. You can hear Busch talk to FOX Sports reporter Matt Yocum after the race here.

But it wasn't such a bad one for SHR. Beating his teammate for second by a bumper led Harvick to a pretty staggering statistic. It was Harvick's eight consecutive finish of either first or second place. For a driver who only won his first title last season, Harvick has been putting up numbers not seen since Jimmie Johnson won five consecutive titles. from 2006 to 2010. The No. 4 team with Harvick at the wheel and Rodney Childers on the box has been absolutely unstoppable since joining forces last season. They could well be the new Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus of the sport. Harvick's weekend was made all the more impressive by winning Saturday's XFINITY Series race in the No. 88 TaxSlayer.com Camaro for JR Motorsports.

NASCAR's west coast swing is done and now, the tour will head back east to race at the Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. This is normally a very entertaining and exciting race, made all the more interesting because it's Chase Elliott's Sprint Cup Series debut for Hendrick Motorsports. This will also be the first race broadcast live on FOX Sports 1 (which is a topic for a rant for another post). If you get FOX Sports 1 or you know someone who does, you can catch Chase's debut, and all of the tight, bumper banging, fender crunching action from Martinsville live at 1 pm/et on Sunday.

Blood Clots Sideline Vickers For Another Three Months

After returning at Las Vegas, Brian Vickers is forced out of racing again
due to blood clots (Google Images)

For the third time since 2010, Brian Vickers will be forced out of his race car due to small blood clots in his lungs. He had initially missed the first two races of the year due to this same health issue and had returned to the seat of his No. 55 Toyota two weeks ago, running the events in Las Vegas and Phoenix. It looked as if he worst was over and Vickers would be able to finish the year and try to contend for wins and a spot in the Chase.

But just days before this weeks Auto Club 400 in California, Michael Waltrip Racing announced Vickers would be sidelined for the event due to clots. The three-time Cup Series winner experienced chest pains when taking deep breathes on a flight to Los Angeles on Thursday. After seeing a doctor later that day, it was found that Vickers had several small blood clots in his lungs, meaning he was unable to race in Sunday's event. Up and comer Brett Moffitt was named as his replacement and no plans for the team were announced beyond the Fontana weekend.

However, Sunday morning brought some news that no one wanted to hear. Vickers announced on Fox's pre race show that he would be on Xarelto, a blood thinning medication that has sponsored the driver the last two seasons, for the next three months. Vickers was asked Sunday if he felt this could lead to the end of his career, Vickers told NBC Sports, "Am I worried? Yes. Have I given up hope? No. Whatever happens I couldn't have been more happier to be in [the No. 55] car the past two weeks. By no means have I given up. I don't know what's next. I know I'm going to be on blood thinners for three months and after that I'm going to do all I can to get back in the race car."



Vickers celebrates his most recent Sprint Cup win at New Hampshire
in 2013. Hopefully it isn't his last (Google Images)

Vickers first had issues with clots in 2010 when he drove the No. 83 Toyota for Red Bull Racing. Before the spring event at Dover, he was found to have clots in his legs and lungs and because of this issue, he missed the remainder of the season. Vickers had surgery to place a patch over a hole in his heart that was believed to be the cause of the issue. But prior to this season, it was found that Vickers body was rejecting the patch and he had to go under the knife again to replace it. This resulted in his missing the Daytona 500 and the following week's event at Atlanta. He race the last two weeks in Las Vegas and Phoenix until being sidelined again for the same issue this weekend.

The issue here isn't so much Vickers racing with clots, as it is with him racing while on the medication he requires. Auto racing can, at times, be a contact sport. So if he was to be involved in an accident that gave him so much as a paper cut while on blood thinners, the results could be fatal.

Provided Vickers is out for three months and is then medically cleared to return, that would mean the soonest he would be back would be any of the June races at Pocono, Michigan or Sonoma. Clearly this is the best case scenario and, if he cannot return before that here's hoping it doesn't take any longer than that for Vickers to return to the seat of his No. 55 Camry.

Race fans are a passionate bunch and most have drivers they love and drivers they hate. But Brian Vickers never really seems to fall into that latter category much. He's a talented driver who hasn't really had many good opportunities since leaving Hendrick Motorsports after 2006. And coupled with his recent health problems, he hasn't had a lot of chances to prove that he's a top tier driver. But love him or hate him, the great thing about NASCAR nation is that it's also a family. And Vickers will no doubt have the support of everyone in the garage and everyone in the grandstands as well as he continues his long and daunting road to returning to perfect health, as well as to racing.

Let's all hope he returns to both sooner than later.

Harvick Scores Impressive Fourth Consecutive Win in Phoenix

'Happy' Family: Kevin Harvick poses in victory lane with his wife, DeLana
and his son, Keelan (Google Images)

Certain drivers have a knack for racing at certain race tracks. As the saying goes, there are horses for courses. For example, there was a while where Jimmie Johnson could not be beaten at Charlotte Motor Speedway. From May 2004 until May 2007, Johnson's worst finish was fifth. The rest of his finishes in that time frame were either wins or second place finishes.

When it comes to racing at Phoenix International Raceway, Kevin Harvick was always a dominant force. He scored four wins and 11 top ten finishes in the 22 starts he made there in the No. 29 car for Richard Childress Racing. But once he moved to Stewart-Haas Racing last season, Harvick is undefeated at Phoenix International Raceway. He got his last win at RCR at Phoenix in 2013 and his first win for SHR in last year's spring event. He also won in the fall event last season helped advance him to the championship finale and net him his first Sprint Cup championship. Now, after winning in Las Vegas one week ago, Happy Harvick scored two in a row by winning Sunday's CampingWorld.com 500 at PIR from the pole position.

Joey Logano, who won the Daytona 500 and has been competitive in every other race so far this year, flanked Harvick as the field took the green on  Sunday. While the race got off to a smooth start, it didn't take long for the first wreck of the day to happen. As the field came off turn four, after just one lap, Brian Vickers was cleared by spotter Roman Pemberton to slide up towards the wall coming off the corner. The only problem was that he wasn't as clear as Pemberton made it sound and Vickers clipped the front of Jimmie Johnson's Chevy and sent his No. 55 Toyota into the outside wall. The right front suspension was destroyed and the Aaron's Dream Machine was relegated to a 41st place finish.

Good thing Jr has Nationwide on his side (Google Images)

Tony Stewart was the winning car owner on the day, but the day inside his Bass Pro Shops SS went about as well as Brian Vickers' day. On lap 78, Stewart's car picked up a push off turn four and slid up into the No. 51 of Justin Allgaier. This spun Stewart backwards and sent him backwards into the outside wall, damaging the rear of his car. And when Paul Menard tapped him, the right side of the car made contact with the wall as well. Stewart finished a disappointing 39th on the day.

Speaking of backing into the wall, Dale Jr saw his promising day go south when he lost a right rear tire on lap 181. This sent his car backwards into the wall and the contact made Stewart's wreck look like a gentle tap. The entire rear end of the car was demolished and, to quote Jr's spotter T.J. Majors, "the whole tail piece [was] missing." On his way back to the Phoenix garage area, the right rear wheel actually caught fire. After a very consistent start to the year, Jr and new crew chief Greg Ives were relegated to a last place finish Sunday. But one thing that Jr Nation can take solace in is the fact that even though the No. 88 finished 43rd Sunday, they can only improve next weekend at Auto Club Speedway.

It was a very similar wreck to one that he had at Atlanta back in 2007 when a loose left rear fell off his No. 8 Chevy and sent him backwards into the outside wall. The impact in that wreck was much more violent, but both accidents were similar nonetheless.

This race also showed that the year of the underdog is set to continue. Jamie McMurray and his team pulled some late pit strategy to try and beat Harvick, but the best the No. 1 team could come away with was position No. 2. After a strong run in Las Vegas, Ryan Newman and his head wrench Luke Lambert finished third on the day. It might have looked like a fluke at the time, but the No. 31 team is doing a good deal to disprove that they backed into coming within one finishing position of winning last year's title. Martin Truex Jr also keeps proving the competitive level of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevy. The Denver-based race team came home a very impressive seventh on Sunday afternoon.

Kurt Busch returned to the drivers seat at Phoenix (Google Images)

But perhaps the biggest story of the weekend was Kurt Busch's return to racing. Like his boss Tony Stewart, Busch had teammate Kevin Harvick's setup under his No. 41 car. The difference is that Busch made it work and came home fifth. It was a very impressive run for the driver who was suspended recently for committing domestic violence. Busch has since been exonerated by the Kent County family court in Delaware. He has completed NASCAR's Road to Recovery program  and, pending he complies with any and all legal requirements that might arise from here on out, the sanctioning body elected to reinstate Busch.

You can hear Busch's thoughts on his impressive run here.

Next week, NASCATR will make one more stop on the left coast before returning back east to race at Martinsville. Kevin Harvick will be looking to win three races in a row on the year when the green flag falls at Auto Club Speedway at 3:30 pm/et Sunday. He will no doubt be hard to beat, but with drivers like Johnson and Logano hot on his heels, it should definitely be fun to watch the rest of the field try and topple a very dominant Harvick.

Harvick Hits Jackpot in Vegas; Johnson Goes Bust

Kevin Harvick was "freaky fast" in his win in Las Vegas (Google Images)

When it comes to hitting the Strip in Las Vegas, many people would rather be lucky than good. The same applies to the drivers racing in Sunday's Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Jimmie Johnson won both practices on Saturday, and looked as if he was going to win the race on Sunday, but luck became a serious factor and it was Kevin Harvick who wound up in victory lane after scoring two consecutive runner up finishes at Daytona and Atlanta.

The first race of what has been dubbed NASCAR's "West Coast Swing", was fairly uneventful aside from a few wrecks by a few big names. Unfortunately, the sanctioning body's plan to put tapered spacers on the motors of the Sprint Cup cars and take some speed and horsepower away hasn't improved racing as much as anticipated. Jeff Gordon was slated to start on the pole, but after getting wrecked by Danica Patrick in happy hour, Gordon was forced to start at the rear of the field. This meant that second place starter Joey Logano got out to an early lead. Just like at Atlanta one week ago, Logano's No. 22 Ford looked like the car to beat, leading a total of 47 circuits on the day. But also like Atlanta, Logano also faded as the race went on and the early dominance of the No. 22 team didn't mean much when push came to shove and the laps wound down.

As the race got closer to the end, we saw some tempers flare. With 75 laps to go, Kasey Kahne got squeezed into the turn four wall by Carl Edwards. Then, going into turn one, Kahne drove back down the track into Edwards, clearly to retaliate. Edwards spun out, went to the garage and stated the wreck was "definitely his fault" and that he got sucked into Kahne's car by some dirty air. But these two weren't the only competitive cars to have trouble.

Jimmie Johnson's luck ran out in a big way in Las Vegas (Google Images)

In a strange twist of bad luck, Johnson led 45 laps early on in the Kobalt 400. But on lap 90, he was forced to surrender the lead to Harvick and come to pit road due to a vibration. It was later determined that a bead had blown on his right front tire. Drivers don't use a lot of brakes at Las Vegas, so this was a really strange occurrence. Normally excessive brake heat can melt a tire bead, but because this is a mile and a half oval, Johnson must've simply gotten a bad tire. Johnson's bad luck continued on lap 172 when his right front went soft again. Only this time, it gave no warning and he couldn't save his car. The No. 48 went into the turn one wall once the tire blew out and collected the No. 26 car of Jeb Burton when Burton slowed to miss Johnson and was rear ended by Gordon. After repairs from that wreck, the No. 48 lost another right front due to damage from his previous wreck and he went into the wall in turns three and four. This caused Johnson to lose 31 laps and relegated the six time champion and four time Vegas winner to a 41st place finish on the day.

Because Johnson and Logano couldn't stay competitive, it was Harvick's race to lose. And he did everything but. The defending Sprint Cup Series champions led a whopping 142 laps on the day en route to their first win of the season. Also, with teammates Danica Patrick and Tony Stewart continuing to run mid pack and Kurt Busch suspended for the foreseeable future, the duo of Harvick and Rodney Childers is proving to be just as potent as ever and the No. 4 team is still carrying the Stewart-Haas Racing banner as high as they did last season. Just like the No. 48 team a few years ago, Harvick and Childers have shown no signs of letting up on the competition and they will be hard to beat this year and, more than likely, years to come.

But while Harvick didn't need much luck to win this weekend, there were a few drivers who don't get much press who got some great finishes for the second week in a row. The runner up in Sin City was Martin Truex Jr. That's right, the No. 78 car finished second. Aside from their win with Regan Smith at Darlington in 2011, this is the best overall season that Furniture Row Racing has had to date. They have yet to finish outside the top ten so far in 2015 and they are currently fourth in points. The season is still very young, but seeing Truex and this team win a race or two wouldn't be that strange. That would also mean that his team would make the Chase for the first time since making it with Kurt Busch in 2013.


Fear the beard: Can Martin Truex Jr win and make the Chase in 2015?
(Google Images)

Another pleasant surprise from Las Vegas was the No. 47 team of AJ Allmendinger. He came home in sixth place, a finish made all the more impressive because the Dinger battled the flu all weekend. Like Truex, Allmendinger is up there in the standings; a very impressive fifth place. The JTG Daugherty team is also looking to repeat the feat they accomplished last year at Watkins Glen; win a race and qualify for the Chase. Again, the season is only three races old, but both Truex and Allmendinger are proving that 2015 could be the year of the single car team.

Next weekend, the Sprint Cup Series heads to the Phoenix International Raceway; a track that Harvick swept last season and has been nothing short of dominant at for quite some time now. But provided Johnson's luck turns around, seeing the No. 48 car in victory lane wouldn't be that much of a stretch either. But maybe, just maybe we could see a driver like Truex or Allmendinger taking the checkers first on Sunday. It's hard to know who will claim victory Sunday, but with the diversity we've seen so far in the top ten this year, it will be interesting to see what happens. Tune into FOX at 3:30 pm/et to see who will be victorious in the Arizona desert.

Johnson Asserts Dominance at Atlanta, Wins First of the Year

Jimmie Johnson takes the checkered flag at Atlanta (Google Images)

The race at Atlanta Motor Speedway appeared to be a continuation of the finish at Daytona the week before. Daytona 500 champ Joey Logano won the pole position and 500 runner up Kevin Harvick was the dominant car in final practice. But there was also a major hiccup in qualifying that meant many of the top contenders were forced to start at the rear of the field; cars that could potentially contend with Logano and Harvick.

NASCAR said that the issue was caused by teams pushing the envelope and getting too close to the edge as far as specifications, but when 13 drivers (including Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart) don't get to make a lap because they are forced to go through tech multiple times, it's really hard to pin that on the teams. The sanctioning body and their need for laser accurate tolerances on these cars is just as much to blame. Kenseth went as far as to say his No. 20 team would've missed the race if NASCAR was going off of this year's points.

Once the field had been set and the track had been dried, the race went green on a drizzly Sunday afternoon and the Vortex Theory (proven by Darrell Waltrip, Ph. D.) took effect and kept any future rain showers away. The race was uneventful early on and was dominated by Harvick and Logano, though Dale Earnhardt Jr was a strong contender the entire way.

Aside from a few early problems, the biggest of which was Austin Dillon losing a tire on lap 60. This sent his No. 3 Chevy spinning into the turn two grass and, while trying to get himself going again in the rain soaked earth, Dillon looked more like a rally racer than a stock car driver. His car was coated with mud that I'm sure made the second year driver wish Atlanta had a car wash in the garage area. But while there were not many other early wrecks, it was fun to watch the drivers who were forced to start at the rear of the field work their way to the front. Early on the race looked like the second episode of the Joey Logano Show, but once Harvick and Johnson made their way up to the front, this quickly turned into a race.


Jeff Gordon's demolished car getting hauled away (Google Images)

Restarts were also very exciting all day long. Because the pavement at Atlanta is so worn out, drivers came in to get four tires on every caution and they were forced to try and get all they could get on every restart before their tires wore out. A fresh set of Goodyear Eagles was good for about five laps or so and this led to some hectic jockeying for position after pit stops. The most interesting restart occurred with 70 laps to go and a bunch of good cars saw their days end in a could of smoke.

Coming off turn two after taking the green, Denny Hamlin got loose at the front of the pack and spun in front of traffic. Jamie McMurray spun to avoid him and collected the No. 24 of Jeff Gordon. The four time champion almost had the wreck cleared until McMurray clipped him and sent him spinning towards the inside wall. This wreck also reignited a controversy that wasn't even a week old. Following Kyle Busch's violent wreck at Daytona last week, Atlanta Motor Speedway added 130 ft of SAFER barrier around their facility... except they missed a spot. The spot where Gordon's car hit Sunday.

After climbing from his car, Gordon was visibly upset, yelling at nearby safety officials and emphatically gesturing towards the concrete wall where he hit. "I am very frustrated with the fact that there are no SAFER barriers down there," Gordon said after his hit. "I knew it was a hard hit. I was like 'man I can't believe...' I didn't expect it to be that hard. Then I got out and I looked and I saw 'oh wow, big surprise I found the one wall here on the back straightaway that doesn't have a SAFER barrier. I don't think we can say anymore after Kyle's incident at Daytona. Everybody knows we have to do something and it should have been done a long time ago. All we can do now is hope they do it as fast as they possibly can.

It's no surprise Gordon was so angry. He has battled back problems the last few years and those issues have not been helped by the fact that when he spins, he has a real knack for finding concrete walls. Two examples that come to mind are his hard hit at Las Vegas in 2008 and at Richmond in 2011.

Harvick led the most laps on the day, a total of 116, Logano led 84, but it was the man in the middle, Johnson led 92 circuits, who nobody could catch once he got out front. It looked as if the six time champ was about to run away with the win until a big wreck with 20 laps to go led to a nine minute red flag and one last shot at taking down the No. 48 car.



Austin Dillon goes dirt tracking in the No. 3 car (Google Images)

Going into turn three, Joe Nemechek's No. 34 car came down on Greg Biffle's No. 16 Ford. This cause the track to be blocked and a good number of drivers, including Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Regan Smith and Kyle Larson, to pile into the wreck.

Once the track was cleared and the race went back green, Dale Jr made a run at taking the win away from his teammate, but once Johnson got clear of Jr's No. 88 car, he was gone just like before and there was no catching him. Harvick managed to net the runner up spot for the second week in a row, Junior scored third and Logano and Kenseth rounded out the top five finishers. Honorable mentions also go to the No. 78 team of Martin Truex Jr and the No. 47 team of AJ Allmendinger who came home sixth and seventh respectively. A very great job by a couple of single car teams.

After an eventful weekend in Atlanta, Johnson and the Sprint Cup tour travel to Las Vegas to begin the annual west coast swing. After a trip to Sin City, the circuit will travel to Phoenix and Fontana before returning east to Martinsville Speedway. And this stretch of racing all begins this weekend at 3:30 eastern on FOX with the Kobalt 400 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway.