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Steady 88 Leads Fast Hendrick Group
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has three top-three finishes, and the rest of Hendrick Motorsports has had bad luck despite having some of the fastest cars as a group. As Dale Jr. said, “I’m happy with the way our car is running. I can’t believe the 5 and the 24, they have been fast, the 5, sitting on the pole and he has been fast everywhere. He was killer fast at Phoenix. The 24 has been lightning fast at a lot of places. Jimmie is always quick everywhere. So they just had really bad luck. I think we actually have more speed as a group, as a whole, than we did last year.”
Earnhardt, who moved to second in the points standings – six behind Greg Biffle – hasn’t ranked this high this far into the season since 2008.

Hendrick Motorsports continues to seek its 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup victory.

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Mikey Likes It
Michael Waltrip Racing still has three drivers in the top 10 in owner points and two in the top nine in the driver standings. Martin Truex Jr. is one of four drivers with four top-10 finishes, along with Biffle, Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson.

Truex’s surge shouldn’t surprise many. The New Jersey native finished the 2011 season with five top 10s in the last six races.

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Bonus points can be the difference between qualifying for the Chase and missing the cut after race No. 26 at Richmond International Raceway in September. The top four drivers in the bonus point category after six races represent four different manufacturers. They are Tony Stewart, 11 and Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski with eight points apiece. Keselowski is the only one of the quartet outside the current top 10 (12th) but has a leg up on a “wild card” qualifier with his victory at Bristol Motor Speedway last month.

Speaking of wild cards, Keselowski’s Penske Racing teammate AJ Allmendinger got painfully close to tossing his helmet in the ring as he finished second at Martinsville. The finish did move the Los Gatos, Calif. driver into 20th in points – a ranking that would make Allmendinger eligible to exercise a “wild card” should he get to Victory Lane.

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Kahne’s second Coors Light Pole of the season at Martinsville moved him ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates with the most fast qualifying performances – 18 – since 2006. Jimmie Johnson has 17 and Jeff Gordon 16. Unfortunately for Kahne, fast on pole day hasn’t translated to finishing well on race day. He failed to lead a lap at Martinsville, just as he did at Las Vegas.

“I am upset that we haven’t run great this year, but we are great on Friday and Saturday, we were fast again today, and we have the speed so when it’s our time we will be ready to take advantage of it,” said Kahne, who slid to 31st in NASCAR Sprint Cup points following his engine failure at Martinsville.

Kahne isn’t the only “big name” driver outside the top 20: Gordon is 21st, Jamie McMurray is 24th and Kurt Busch is 26th.

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SHOW #196 – Guests: Miss Sprint Cup Kim Coon & Mike Hembree Plus we recap Martinsville, preview NOTHING (off weekend) discuss the high speeds at the Michigan tire test and more. Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Toby Christie
(About 49 mins)

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Continue reading “The Final Lap Weekly #196 – Miss Sprint Cup Kim Coon and Mike Hembree”