Johnson had an eventful race a year ago at Chicagoland Speedway.
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Simon Pagenaud gave Roger Penske an IndyCar championship to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the most storied organization in motorsports.
So why was Johnson smiling when he fielded questions from reporters during Thursday’s Ready.Set.Chase Launch Event in Chicago?
“Although understandably disappointed by how things played out, Elliott’s third place finish gave him encouragement for moving on and trying to advance into the next round of the Chase”. He won the Southern 500 two weeks ago as he got off pit road ahead of Kevin Harvick, who had been the race’s dominant auto.
“He’s cheap but, man, he can definitely punch out the results”, Busch said. “I feel awful for these guys. We were fast and I think that is something to be happy about and we can move forward to Loudon with some motivation, I think, and get ready to get going”. “They have a huge engineering staff”, Johnson said.
“There’s some tracks that suit guys better”, Hamlin said. “We certainly want to take our No. 18 M&M’s/Interstate Batteries Toyota to the winner’s circle”.
Smoke show: True to form with the rest of his career, Tony Stewart’s final season hasn’t been without its speed bumps. He has just two wins this year for his smallest total since he also won twice during the 2011 season.
The only driver to make every Chase since NASCAR’s playoff format started in 2004, Johnson seeks his seventh Cup title. “Anybody can have trouble or not get races put together”. Johnson finished 12th, but his vehicle also failed laser inspection and he could plummet in the points standings. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver now finds himself 15th in the Chase standings, on the outside looking in for a berth in the second round.
Last week, NASCAR revised its penalty system so it could strip the privileges that come with a finish – such as automatic advancement in the Chase – if a vehicle failed inspection by a particularly large amount.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg celebrated his 200th Formula One start by taking victory in the Singapore Grand Prix and regaining the championship lead from teammate Lewis Hamilton. Four will be eliminated after each of 3 three-race rounds, leaving the final four drivers to settle the championship November 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.
Personally, I expect Kyle to advance to the finals at least. “I think the only way to get through those type of things is to have experience with it and kind of learn how to deal with it and understand that, ‘Hey, this isn’t the end of the world, we can overcome it'”.
There were positives to take away from the almost-win. I passed him once earlier. “I don’t know if you could really rank them”. So Kyle has always had the physical skills, and now he’s got the mental skills to succeed.
Part of Busch’s growth in how he handles himself emotionally came from last season. “For me, there isn’t a whole lot outside of racing”.
Busch would like to join that exclusive fraternity before his racing days are over.
With only two laps – three miles – to try and get back into the lead.
“This is a mental game”, Logano said.
Elliott’s auto was about a half-turn from ideal from the get-go.
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“And make sure I’m ready to go and focused at Homestead to go out and win that race”.
