The common theme in the second year of this Chase for the Sprint Cup format has been drivers talking about what they learned in the first year of NASCAR’s new elimination-style format.
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Busch, an eight-time victor in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Charlotte, is hoping to claim his first Sprint Cup win at Charlotte whenever the race does get underway.
“Charlotte is everybody’s home turf and you want to make it happen here”, said Logano in victory lane. “Everything kind of snowballed, you now?” he said in deadpan fashion. Despite qualifying on the pole and leading 73 laps early, Kenseth was plagued with problems throughout the race.
“I honestly don’t know”, Kenseth said of the accident on Lap 177.
My mistakes and they cost us today. We know we’ve got what we need over here and our team is as tight-knit as they get. “I was just pretty much on the bottom….” I’m proud of them.
Only the Richmond race was postponed from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, while the Michigan race was shortened by rain. And especially so in the second round, which includes Talladega in two weeks, the most unpredictable of the Cup Series tracks. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was holding his own but on lap 70 he slid up and made contact with the wall. Leader Logano came to the pits followed by much of the field as many drivers requested wedge changes to improve the handling.
“It was just hard work and a never-give-up attitude”.
Harvick is the defending race victor, and used his Charlotte victory a year ago to coast into the third round of the playoffs. Pit-stop errors knocked him off the pace before Kenseth bumped into Ryan Newman on Lap 176 while trying to negotiate traffic. The track’s inside and outside walls are now all covered by SAFER or tire barriers, as well.
Tact is not always Kyle Busch’s forte (right, with Joe Gibbs). Kenseth is now last in the standings of the 12 Chase drivers, 32 points out of the eighth place needed to advance.
Kenseth brought out another caution on Lap 242 after hitting the wall, causing substantial damage to the right side; he took his auto to the garage for further evaluation. He was also saluted at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, where a Gordon exhibit was unveiled last week. After the sanctioning body denied there was oil on the track when the race went back green. “One thing led to another and then another”. It was his first career win at Charlotte.
“Today, obviously, was a bad day”, he added in a classic case of understatement. Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray are now eliminated from the Chase. The voltage issues continued with the team telling Hamlin to switch between the two batteries, at times running both at the same time. “So, yeah, we’d like to go in there with a cushion”.
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His performance on Sunday also puts an exclamatory end to any discussion over who is No. 1 in the Mercedes paddock.
