thefinallap

on

cms_100616_14NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying – Bank of America 500
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, North Carolina
Thursday, October 6, 2016

1. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 196.029 mph.
2. (88) Alex Bowman(i), Chevrolet, 196.000 mph.
3. (24) Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, 195.759 mph.
4. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 195.228 mph.
5. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 195.228 mph.
6. (47) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 195.087 mph.
7. (78) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 194.826 mph.
8. (19) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 194.553 mph.
9. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 194.168 mph.
10. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 194.049 mph.
11. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 192.630 mph.
12. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 188.547 mph.
13. (10) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 194.161 mph.
14. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 194.007 mph.
15. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 193.966 mph.
16. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 193.868 mph.
17. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 193.791 mph.
18. (21) Ryan Blaney #, Ford, 193.736 mph.
19. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 193.722 mph.
20. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 193.625 mph.
21. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 193.209 mph.
22. (95) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 193.009 mph.
23. (41) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 192.205 mph.
24. (83) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 191.489 mph.
25. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 191.980 mph.
26. (34) Chris Buescher #, Ford, 191.829 mph.
27. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 191.544 mph.
28. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 191.530 mph.
29. (13) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 191.469 mph.
30. (44) Brian Scott #, Ford, 191.381 mph.
31. (15) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 190.954 mph.
32. (38) Landon Cassill, Ford, 190.617 mph.
33. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 190.564 mph.
34. (23) David Ragan, Toyota, 190.054 mph.
35. (7) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 188.864 mph.
36. (98) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 186.002 mph.
37. (46) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 185.976 mph.
38. (32) Jeffrey Earnhardt #, Ford, 185.039 mph.
39. (55) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 183.673 mph.
40. (30) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 183.343 mph.

–30–

on

cms_100616_15Oct. 6, 2016

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

CONCORD, N.C. – Kevin Harvick may have won the pole for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET on NBC), but Alex Bowman continued to open eyes as a substitute driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Touring the 1.5-mile speedway in 27.547 seconds (196.029 mph), Harvick knocked Bowman (196.000 mph) off the pole by a scant .004 seconds in the final round of Thursday evening’s knockout qualifying.

The pole was Harvick’s first at Charlotte, his first of the 2016 season and the 16th of his career.

“It was good in (Turns) 1 and 2, but I felt like I gave up a little something in (Turns) 3 and 4 coming to the checkered,” Harvick said of his lap in the money round. “This has just been a fun car to drive today. Hopefully we can get it dialed in race trim.”

Where Harvick gave up speed in the final two corners, Bowman likely lost the pole in the first two turns, where he drifted up the track slightly and scrubbed off just enough speed to fall short of Harvick by the minute fraction of a second.

Nevertheless, driving in place of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in six of the last seven races of the season while Earnhardt recovers from a concussion, Bowman stole the show.

“The Showman Bowman was fast tonight,” Earnhardt tweeted after the final round. Great job @AlexBRacing and @AxaltaRacing gang. P2 @CLTMotorSpdwy.”

Bowman, the fastest of the non-Chase drivers in time trials, recently posted his career-best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series finish, a 10th at Chicagoland Speedway. Though Bowman continues to show excellent speed as a substitute, he has no definite plans for next year.

But he came tantalizingly close to a monumental achievement on Thursday night.

“Honestly, we didn’t put the greatest lap together,” said Bowman, who ran the fastest lap of the day in the second round (196.200 mph). “In (Turns) 1 and 2, we were a little free in (into the corner) and didn’t really keep it on the bottom like I needed to.

“Turns 3 and 4 were really good. It means so much for Hendrick Motorsports to take a chance on me for these races. I’m really thankful to be here. I hate that we didn’t get the pole. We were so close. It’s definitely my best starting spot by a bunch, but you’d always like that pole.”

Chase drivers claimed eight of the top-12 starting positions, with Chase Elliott qualifying third, Kyle Busch fourth, Martin Truex Jr., seventh, Carl Edwards eighth, Denny Hamlin ninth, Joey Logano 10th and Jimmie Johnson 11th.

Chase drivers Matt Kenseth (17th), Austin Dillon (19th), Brad Keselowski (20th) and Kurt Busch (23rd) failed to advance to the final round.

“I don’t think anybody knew that we could go as fast as Bowman went in that second round,” Edwards said. “That kind of raised the stakes for everyone.”

Notes: Danica Patrick will start 13th, her second-best effort this year after qualifying 11th at Sonoma in June. Patrick just missed advancing to the final round; Johnson edged her for the 12th and final position by .012 seconds… Hendrick Motorsports continued to show improved speed, putting all four of its cars in the top 12 (with Kasey Kahne in 12th joining Bowman, Elliott and Johnson). Hendrick-powered cars claimed four of the top five spots on the grid, with Harvick on the pole and Tony Stewart fifth.

on

Parker KligermanSHOW #431 – Guest: Parker Kligerman – We recap the Monster Mile at Dover, Dale Earnhardt Jr. feels better, Goodyear Tire Testing!, Brendan Vs. Brandon, Top 11 driver stats (for some reason) Charlotte preview, plus Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Chase Elliott. Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Toby Christie  iHeartRadio_Logos( Roughly 48:00 mins)

DOWNLOAD HERE

Continue reading “The Final Lap Weekly NASCAR Radio Podcast – #431 – Parker Kligerman – Charlotte Chase Preview”

on

dover2_nscs_keselowsk_johnson_100216October 2, 2016

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

The No. 2 Fords of Brad Keselowski and the No. 22 of Joey Logano weren’t flashy, and they didn’t have the speed to challenge frontrunners Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson in Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover International Speedway.

But Keselowski finished fourth and Logano sixth as the Team Penske drivers advanced comfortably into the Round of 12 of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. And now that all drivers start the round with 3,000 points after a reset, Keselowski and Logano are back on equal footing.

“Overall, we did what we had to do,” Logano said. “The points are back to zero, and we can head to the next round and try to get a win. Every track is different. Dover is obviously a beast of its own. It’s a very cool race track, but everything is so different compared to where we’re going to go next week to Charlotte and then Kansas and Talladega.

“They’re all going be a lot different for sure, but we’ll take what we learned here for next year, and I’m sure there are some things that we can apply to the next race, but most of it is kind of track-specific.”

Last year, after the first points reset, Logano swept the three races in the Round of 12.

“It’s nice to have the reset,” he said. “We weren’t bad off in points at all, but to have the reset – we didn’t have the bonus points going into this round, so it’s nice to be at zero with everyone and be able to try to get ourselves a win and get through or have some nice, solid days like we had today to give us some kind of cushion by the time we get to Talladega.

“We’re ready to go, and now we’ll just wait to see what happens.”

on

dover2_nscs_adillon_kubusch_100216October 2, 2016

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

AUSTIN DILLON ADVANCES IN CHASE WITH PEAK PERFORMANCE AT DOVER

DOVER, Del. – A catastrophe at New Hampshire could have knocked Austin Dillon out of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup—if the driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing had let it.

But Dillon and crew chief Slugger Labbe came to the elimination race at Dover International Speedway with a fast car and the perseverance to score Dillon’s first finish of better than 20th at The Monster Mile.

In fact, Dillon ran eighth in the Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover, the second car one lap down in a race that ended with a 202-lap green-flag run and Martin Truex Jr. with a 7.527 winning margin. But for Dillon, who had to resort to a backup car a week earlier after a wreck in practice at New Hampshire, eighth was more than good enough.

Dillon advanced to the Chase’s Round of 12 by 11 points over Tony Stewart, who finished 13th on Sunday. While Stewart’s hopes for a fourth championship in his final season of Sprint Cup racing ended at Dover, Dillon grabbed the final berth in the Round of 12 and will continue in NASCAR’s 10-race playoff.

“We wrecked a car in practice (at New Hampshire) and we had to use a backup car, an older car that wasn’t our primary that we wanted to have,” Dillon said. “We just stayed focused. And once again God has blessed us. I’m still awestruck, because things like this just don’t happen.

“I’m proud to be going on to the final 12 and having race cars that are capable of moving on. I have three really solid tracks coming up (Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega), and I am going to drive the wheels off of it and have fun.”

Dillon didn’t learn his running position in the points until the final laps of the race.

“I don’t care how many it was, whether it was 12 or 11 or 2 or 1, as long as we’re in the next round,” he said. “It feels good. It’s time to knock some more of these guys out, because we’ve got this opportunity, and I want to say that we’re going to be the underdog in this next round, so let’s go do it.”