SHOW #435 – Hope you like Jimmie….We recap Martinsville, which means a Jimmie Johnson “Bonanza”, Jeff Gordon’s final race?, Smoke loses contest, drivers on Jeopardy, a Texas preview, and more Jimmie Johnson than even Kerry can handle, ha ha, just kidding. Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Toby Christie 
( Roughly 48:00 mins)
News
Jimmie Johnson’s win at Martinsville brings talk of seventh title to forefront
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Oct. 30, 2016
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Mr. Martinsville is back – and with him, a realistic shot at a record-tying NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
Winless at the .526-mile short track since the spring race of 2013, Jimmie Johnson ended his “drought” on Sunday with a victory in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 and earned a berth in the Championship 4 race, set for Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
In winning for the ninth time at Martinsville, the fourth time this season and the 79th time in his career, Johnson didn’t take the lead until he passed Denny Hamlin for the top spot on Lap 409 of 500.
In a race that featured two green-flag runs of more than 110 laps, Johnson pulled out to a lead of more than two seconds in the closing laps and finished 1.291 seconds ahead of charging Brad Keselowski, who passed Hamlin for second place on Lap 477.
Johnson said on Friday he has been trying to avoid thoughts of a possible seventh title that would tie him for the all-time lead with icons Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.
“I’ve been trying to ignore the conversation about seven, but now I can’t,” Johnson said in Victory Lane. “We’re locked in. It’s crazy to have a shot at seven now.
“I’ll probably lie to all of you guys and say I’m not going to think about it at all. But it’s inevitable. Fortunately, I don’t have to think about it for three weeks. But we’re going to enjoy this and savor it. We’re going to get our ducks in a row for Homestead.”
Hamlin led a parade of Joe Gibbs Racing drivers to the three positions behind Johnson and Keselowski, with Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch coming home third and fourth in a hotly contested race among teammates.
“We all had a top three car during the end of the race, and we ended up three, four, five,” Hamlin said. “That’s never happy.”
Not as fortunate was JGR driver Carl Edwards, who blew a tire and hit the wall on Lap 358 to cause the fifth and final caution. Edwards took his No. 19 Toyota to the garage for repairs and finished 36th, 23 laps down. He enters next Sunday’s second Round of 8 race 32 points behind Busch, who currently holds the last of the Championship 4 positions.
The afternoon was nearly as hard on the Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet entries of Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, whose handling deteriorated after the sun came out mid-race. Harvick, the 2014 champion, finished 20th and Busch 22nd. They are 16 and 18 points, respectively, behind Kyle Busch and in need of strong showings – if not victories – in the next two races.
Chase driver Joey Logano finished ninth and is fifth in the standings, four points behind Kyle Busch.
Johnson’s mastery of Martinsville may have returned in the closing run, but the day was anything but smooth for the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team. Johnson took a shot from Hamlin in the early going, and the contact produced a tire rub that required attention and knocked Johnson back to 25th for a restart on Lap 208.
Lap 358 brought a panic attack when Johnson slowed to a stop on the backstretch, having switched off the electronic control unit on his car. But after recycling the unit, Johnson came to pit road on Lap 366 and refueled for the final run, taking the green flag from the fourth spot.
“We lost track position through a couple of different means there at the first half of the race,” Johnson said. “Honestly, that caution with the No. 19 car (Edwards) put us in the catbird seat.
“I wasn’t sure I could get by the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) or the No. 11 (Hamlin), but we got going and I got by both of those guys. I thought ‘Man, I hope this stays green,’ because that really suits what our race car was doing all day long.”
Notes: AJ Allmendinger started fourth and finished 10th, his third straight top-10 showing. Allmendinger restarted from the rear of the field for the final green-flag run because he had to pit for fuel before pit road was open. He was the final driver on the lead lap… In what is likely his final race in a Sprint Cup car, Jeff Gordon came home sixth in his last substitute role of the season for Dale Earnhardt Jr… Polesitter Martin Truex Jr. finished seventh.
The Final Lap Weekly NASCAR Radio Podcast – #434 Blake Koch – Martinsville Preview
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SHOW #434 – Guest: Blake Koch – We recap the thrilling elimination race from Talladega Superspeedway Blah! Dale Jr. reads Dr. Suess, NASCAR finally listens to us, plus we preview Martinsville. Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Toby Christie ( Roughly 48:00 mins)
DOWNLOAD HERE
2017 Less Cup driver participation in Xfinity and Truck Series
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NASCAR Updates Driver Participation Guidelines for 2017
New Guidelines Further Elevate Next Generation of Stars; Strengthen Series Identity
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (October 26, 2016) – In an announcement that will put an even brighter spotlight on the next generation of stars and bolster the identity of all three of its national series, NASCAR announced on Wednesday driver participation guidelines for the 2017 season. The new guidelines limit the number of events a premier series driver can race in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Starting next season, premier series drivers with more than five years of full-time experience will be eligible to compete in a maximum of 10 races in the XFINITY Series and seven races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Additionally, drivers with more than five years of full-time premier series experience will be ineligible to compete in the final eight races in each series, as well as the Dash 4 Cash races in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. The final eight races are comprised of the regular season finale and the entirety of the Chase in each series.
Drivers earning premier series points in 2017 also are not eligible to compete in the 2017 NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship Races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“The updated guidelines will elevate the stature of our future stars, while also providing them the opportunity to compete against the best in professional motorsports,” said Jim Cassidy, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations. “These updated guidelines are the result of a collaborative effort involving the entire industry, and will ultimately better showcase the emerging stars of NASCAR.”
Drivers with more than five years of full-time experience in the premier series still can run for an XFINITY Series or Camping World Truck Series championship, provided they have declared for championship points in the respective series.
Wednesday’s announcement signals the next step in NASCAR’s driver participation guideline evolution. Prior to the 2016 season, NASCAR announced that members of the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field would be ineligible to compete in the 2016 Championship Race in both the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In 2011, NASCAR implemented a rule requiring drivers to select one of the three national series in which to collect championship points.
Truex, Keselowski see championship hopes go up in smoke
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Oct. 23, 2016
By Mike Hembree
NASCAR Wire Service
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Two drivers who were among the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season’s most productive winners won’t be in the race for the championship.
Former champion Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr., winners of four races apiece this year, fell out of Sunday’s Hellman’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway with blown engines and failed to qualify for the Round of 8 with four races remaining on the schedule.
Also knocked out of the championship group Sunday were Austin Dillon and rookie Chase Elliott.
The Chase will continue next weekend at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.
Keselowski was racing in the lead group with 44 laps to go Sunday when the engine in his Ford expired. He was in the lead when paper became trapped on his grille, forcing him to give up first place to Ryan Blaney in an effort to control water temperature in his car. The engine blew a lap after he dropped to second.
Keselowski, who led 90 laps (twice the total of race winner Joey Logano), described his car as “really strong” but added that he “definitely kept finding debris. I thought I got it cooled off and only got it slight over (maximum safe temperature), but I don’t know.”
A sour engine 41 laps into the race was the gremlin that wrote an end to the championship hopes of Martin Truex Jr. and the Furniture Row Racing team.
Truex entered the race in the middle of the Chase group but saw his run toward the Homestead finale fizzle in a plume of smoke. The DNF was only the second of the season for Truex, who won the pole for Sunday’s race.
“To barely make it to the first pit stop hurts,” said Truex, a Championship 4 driver last season. “It’s the way it goes some days. Some things you just can’t explain.
“TRD (Toyota Racing Development) has done a great job with our engines all year long with no failures, and our plate-track engines have been great — no failures. I’m sure it was a part failure or some unforeseen circumstance, and that makes it hurt a little bit worse even. All in all, we can’t hang our heads, and we have a lot to be proud of. This is going to make us stronger.”
Dillon’s failure to advance to the Round of 8 perhaps was the toughest to swallow. He finished in a tie for the eighth and final spot but lost it to Denny Hamlin via tiebreaker. Hamlin’s narrow third-place finish Sunday was higher than Dillon’s best finish (sixth) in the second round.
Dillon finished ninth Sunday.
“We did everything we could,” Dillon said. “It’s heartbreaking, obviously. I just tried to get as many spots as I could. I made it up there and had my teammates behind me. We just weren’t able to pull it off.”
Elliott, who needed a win Sunday to advance in the Chase, led nine laps, but his Chevrolet wasn’t as strong over the second half of the race. He finished 12th.
“We were able to lead some laps and stay up front for a good portion of the race,” Elliott said. “We couldn’t work our way back at the end – couldn’t get our lane to go. When it was time for something to happen, everybody was in a big rush.”
