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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying – Axalta ‘We Paint Winners’ 400
Pocono Raceway
Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Friday, June 05, 2015

1. (41) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 177.599 mph.
2. (19) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 177.550 mph.
3. (78) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 177.522 mph.
4. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 177.211 mph.
5. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 177.200 mph.
6. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 176.526 mph.
7. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 175.967 mph.
8. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 177.676 mph.
THE FINAL LAP WEEKLY #361 CHRIS BUESCHER – POCONO PREVIEW
9. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 177.385 mph.
10. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 177.193 mph. Continue reading “2015 NASCAR CUP SERIES POCONO STARTING LINEUP – KURT BUSCH ON POLE”

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TSS_NSCS_EarnhardtJr_VL_050315LONG POND, Pa. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. is accustomed to being in select company. This weekend, he seeks to join NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison and Tim Richmond as the only drivers to win three consecutive races at Pocono Raceway.

But Earnhardt, who turned Friday’s fourth-fastest practice lap in preparation for Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1), knows three in a row is a lot to ask.

“It’s difficult to win one,” Earnhardt said. “We won those two races by having some great pit strategy. Steve (former crew chief Letarte) got real aggressive on his pit calls and I think that’s what definitely is going to put you in position to win.”

Earnhardt says the nature of racing at Pocono gives crew chiefs with cars strong enough to lead the race, the option of employing unusual pit strategies. This year, those calls will be up to his first-year crew chief Greg Ives.

“You kind of call this race in reverse,” Earnhardt said. “The tires are pretty tough here and durable, so there’s not a whole lot of fall-off and you can call a race sort of like a road course: Put yourself up front and it makes it pretty difficult to get around you if you’ve got a good car.

“Still, everything’s got to fall in the right place to allow you to make those choices. It worked out great for us last year. (But) we also had a fast car. We ran pretty well, but there were about eight of us in either of those races who could have won.”

If any factor is in Earnhardt’s favor, it’s Hendrick Motorsports recent run of success at Pocono. Hendrick has won the last five Sprint Cup events on the 2.5-mile triangle with Jeff Gordon (2012), Jimmie Johnson (2013), Kasey Kahne (2013) and Earnhardt (2014 sweep).

“We’ve got four fast cars,” Earnhardt said. “This is a horsepower race track where engines can make a difference and I feel like over the last several years, we’ve had one of the best engine programs in the sport. Your car really, really shines here and we’ve got some of the best equipment in the garage.”

Seven drivers, including Johnson (2004) and Denny Hamlin (2006) have won both Sprint Cup events at Pocono in the same season. But success one season hardly ensures success the next. Johnson went nine years after his sweep at Pocono and Hamlin has been up and down since 2006, although he did post consecutive victories in 2009 and 2010 Sprint Cup races.

“I kind of put sweeping here in the same box as sweeping at Daytona or Talladega,” Johnson said. “There are just so many circumstances out of your control at this track. … There are always long green-flag runs and varying strategies. The teams that don’t have the raw speed to race for the win will roll the dice. There are a lot of moving targets. It’s not just a straight-up downforce-style race and I think that increases the difficulty to win here regularly.”

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preseasonthunder_JimmieJohnsonJohnson said the NASCAR’s rules package remains the “hot topic” for the Drivers’ Council that met with NASCAR officials for the first time last weekend at Dover.

He says that although NASCAR has “lots of simulation and technology” to determine how cars will respond and compete on track, “we (the drivers) are living it inside the car. We just want to make sure our voice is heard and that the people that make the decisions know what is really going on in the car.”

Although Johnson is not one of the eight driver representative, Earnhardt is.

“I think it’s awesome because you’ve got all the NASCAR guys (together) that you want five minutes with,” Earnhardt said. “Everybody’s in the room to work together and everybody wants the same things – a healthy sport, racing as good as it can be and as safe as it can be.”

One thing Earnhardt doesn’t think will be left up to the drivers is changes to the race schedule. He sees that as a matter left to NASCAR’s governing body, teams owners and tracks. “I don’t expect to be in that conversation,” he said.

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2014nscsportraits_haas_childers_harvick_120414Stewart-Haas Racing Signs Crew Chief
Rodney Childers to Multiyear Contract Extension

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (June 5, 2015) – Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) has signed crew chief Rodney Childers to a multiyear contract extension, maintaining the successful pairing with 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick.

In his inaugural season as crew chief for Harvick and the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s team in 2014, Childers oversaw an outfit that won five races, scored eight poles and led 2,137 laps en route to the championship. The Childers-led squad became only the third Sprint Cup team to lead more than 2,000 laps in a single year since 2000, and of the 24 track qualifying records set during the 2014 season, the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s team accounted for six of them. No other team had more than four.

Childers and Harvick haven’t let up in 2015. They have a commanding lead in the championship point standings 13 races into the season thanks to two wins, nine top-two finishes and 12 top-10 finishes. They’ve also led 1,123 laps this season, or 25.99 percent of the laps available. The next closest driver in laps led this season is Harvick’s SHR teammate Kurt Busch, who has led 659 laps in his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS.

“Rodney Childers and Kevin Harvick set a new standard of excellence in 2014 that they’ve carried into this season. Keeping Rodney and Kevin together was a high priority, and we’re obviously very happy to have the two of them at Stewart-Haas Racing for many years to come,” said Tony Stewart, co-owner of SHR with Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation, the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America.

“I’ve always believed in investing in exceptional, individual leaders and then providing the resources necessary for them to pave their own path and deliver results. Rodney’s results speak for themselves, and we’re glad to have him helping this organization shape its future,” Haas said.

“I knew when I came to Stewart-Haas Racing that this was a special opportunity,” Childers said. “Kevin’s skills have always been evident, and his hunger and desire to be the absolute best he can be in every practice, qualifying session and race motivates our entire team. We have great leadership at Stewart-Haas Racing along with a deep commitment toward success, excellent people and strong partners. If you want to win, this is where you want to be, and I’m happy to be here for a long time.”

Childers is a native North Carolinian who turns 39 on June 7.

About Stewart-Haas Racing:
Stewart-Haas Racing is the title-winning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team co-owned by three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America. The team fields four entries in the elite Sprint Cup Series – the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Stewart, the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet for Danica Patrick, the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick and the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet for Kurt Busch. Based in Kannapolis, North Carolina, Stewart-Haas Racing operates out of a 200,000-square-foot facility with approximately 280 employees. For more information, please visit us on the Web at http://www.StewartHaasRacing.com, on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/StewartHaasRacing, on Twitter @StewartHaasRcng and on Instagram @StewartHaasRacing

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during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 9, 2015 in Kansas City, Kansas.
during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 9, 2015 in Kansas City, Kansas.

The comforting term “It’s still early” doesn’t really apply anymore – not when discussing opportunities to lock into the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Thirteen down, 13 to go. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular season officially reached its midpoint as the checkered flag dropped at Dover to give Jimmie Johnson his series-leading fourth victory of the season.

It was a storyline-rich first half…

· Nine different drivers have won a race, all but locking up a spot in the Chase.

· Kevin Harvick opened the season with five consecutive finishes of second or better. Dating to the end of the 2014 season, Harvick cobbled together a string of eight consecutive top-two finishes, the longest streak since 1975.

· Johnson is closing in on a hallowed NASCAR number – 76. That’s Dale Earnhardt’s career win total, which currently is good for seventh on the all-time list. Johnson’s four wins thus far puts his career total at 74.

· After a rough 2014, Martin Truex Jr. is in the midst of a career-year. Though still searching for his first victory, Truex is second in the points and is on pace to obliterate his career-high of 19 top-10 finishes. He currently has 12.

· Through 13 races, there have been a total of 55,701 green flag passes, the second-highest total through 13 races since the inception of loop data in 2005.

Each manufacturer – Chevrolet, Toyota and Ford – has at least two victories.