Automotive

By Rick Minter/ Andrews McMeel Syndication

In today’s NASCAR world, where drivers often have to be able to bring sponsor money to get the good rides, Kurt Busch has proven once again that talent can carry a driver a long way.
NASCAR’s onetime bad boy was announced last week as the new driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet at Chip Ganassi Racing.

It’s the sixth team that has hired Busch in an 18-year career that has seen him score 30 race wins, 27 poles and the 2004 championship.

Busch’s partings with his previous teams weren’t always on the best of terms. He left Roush Fenway Racing after a 2005 season that saw him taken out of the car at Phoenix after an arrest for reckless driving prior to a race.

He quickly landed a ride with Roger Penske and continued to win races, but saw his final year with Penske marred by a verbal attack on highly respected reporter Dr. Jerry Punch — an incident captured on cellphone video and widely distributed via social media.
He moved to the team owned by maverick James Finch for 2012 and to the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team in 2013. In 2014, he joined Stewart-Haas Racing, and more issues surfaced later that year, with a domestic violence allegation that led to him being suspended by NASCAR in February 2015. He was reinstated after three races and won two events in 2015. He recently concluded his final season aboard that team’s No. 41 Ford.

Now he moves to Ganassi, where he replaced Jamie McMurray, who is expected to compete only at Daytona in February and has been offered a front-office position with the team.
Busch said on a teleconference last week that he sees the move to Ganassi’s two-car team — the other being the No. 42 driven by Kyle Larson — as a chance to continue winning races and competing for championships. He won one race this season, made the playoffs and finished seventh in the final Cup standings.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to go out and win races, to have a shot at the championship and to use my experience that I’ve gained over all these years with a group like Chip Ganassi Racing,” he said. “I feel like it’s a good mesh with Kyle Larson. Something that Chip and I talked about as far as the driver lineup and the way that we wanted to go into 2019 and attack and go right out of the gate and go for wins and get this program where it needs to be and what Chip has for his championship dreams.”

Ganassi said getting a driver with Busch’s credentials is a plus for his team.

“I think first of all I think, as anyone knows, it’s not oftentimes a NASCAR champion and a Daytona 500 winner comes available,” he said. “I think when somebody like that comes along, you’ve got to take a serious look at him. It didn’t take me long to say yes, when he became available. It helped that in addition to his talent behind the wheel, Busch could bring financial backing.

“To bring on somebody like Monster is something we are pretty happy about,” Ganassi said. “They have brought a lot to this sport of NASCAR, and I’m as excited as I’ve been in a long time to work with both of them.”

The team owner also said current sponsors McDonald’s and Cessna are still with the team.
Ganassi also said he likes the fact that Busch is known for getting directly involved in the preparation of the race cars and is a regular presence at the race shop.
“I think anytime you can have a veteran guy like that, that A. knows how to win races, but B. is a good guy in the locker room per se, I think that brings something to our team that I think will only enhance a young guy like a Larson or any of the other young guys we have that maybe don’t have the years of experience that put a little gray hair on me from time to time,” he said.

There’s been some speculation that Busch, age 40, will only be in the No. 1 for the 2019 season and then retire, and he didn’t exactly deny that when asked about it on the teleconference.

“If we come out of the gate gangbusters and we’ve got five wins by July Daytona, well, let’s talk about 2020,” he said. “I had always talked about 2019 and that being my 20th full-time year. That’s a number I had in my mind, but anytime you get an opportunity like this and now seeing everybody on the shop floor [at Ganassi’s team], you don’t know what is around the next corner as far as motivation and challenges.”

PHOTO CAPTION: Kurt Busch will drive the No. 1 Chevrolet at Chip Ganassi Racing. PHOTO BY Sean Gardner/Getty Images for NASCAR

With winter months soon ahead motorists are starting to prepare their motorcycles, choppers, dirt bikes, and ATV vehicles for winter storage.
Following a few simple steps for winterizing your motorcycle will prevent your bike from seizing on ignition.
Bikes and other motor vehicles should not only prepare their bikes for winter storage, but also for any non-riding period in excess of 1-2 months.

Proper preventative measure and maintenance ensure optimal engine health and function after storage.
The most common issues arising from motorcycle storage are body and parts rust, fuel contamination, battery drain, and engine corrosion.

This article will address the following issues:

Where to store your bike
How to cover your motorcycle(s)
Changing the oil
Preventing rust and other surface body defects
Disconnecting and storing the battery
Monitoring tire pressure
Preventing engine cylinder damage and corrosion
Using fuel stabilizer
Fluid change

Ideally your motorcycle or dirt bike should be stored in a temperature regulated environment with low humidity and away from UV light. Your local motorcycle dealer or bike shop may offer winterizing and storage service for a nominal fee. Most motorcycle enthusiasts will store their bike in their freezing garages which is why proper winter preparation and maintenance is necessary.

Covering any windows in your garage will prevent temperature changes and condensation from the sun’s radiant heat.
It is important to choose the right material for covering your motorcycle. Sheets absorb moisture and hold it against your motorcycle causing rust.

Tarps trap condensation by not allowing air exchange leading to rust. Another unfortunate problem with tarps is that they will often bond to your bike’s body paint in the cold and ruin the paint job when removed. Specially designed motorcycle covers prevent moisture absorption and allow air exchange.

Changing your oil to a winter grade oil will ensure easy start up in the spring. Even if you are not due for an oil change it is a good idea to perform an oil change as combustion created acid byproducts in motor oil which can corrode your motors inner surfaces.
Waxing your motorcycle before storage will create a protective barrier against rust and moisture. A light spray of WD-40 on engine parts and the frame will protect your bike against corrosion.
Batteries should be disconnected and removed from the bike to prevent current drain. Dead batteries are the most common start-up problem motorcycle enthusiasts face in spring.

Charging your battery every few weeks will maintain its charge Cold temperature inversely affects tire pressure; meaning that the colder
it gets the more the air in your tire compresses, lowering your tire pressurewhich causes premature wear. Continually monitor your tire pressure and use a motorcycle paddock, lift, or stand to raise your bike’s tires off the frigid garage floor.

Lubing your engine’s cylinder walls with engine oil will prevent corrosion and rust. Without lubricating your motorcycle’s cylinders premature ring and piston wear is a very real possibility.

Gasoline breaks down overtime creating compounds that clogs the fuel system. Filling your tank with fresh gas, draining your fuel line and carburettors, and adding fuel stabilizer will prevent gasoline from decomposing and prevent moisture collection.

Brake fluids are water-absorbing, or hygroscopic, by nature. If you haven’t changed your fluids in the past year or two chances are a good deal of moisture has been absorbed which can cause engine corrosion.

Following these steps will prevent problems with starting your motorcycle after the winter months.

By Rick Minter/ Andrews McMeel Syndication

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship wasn’t the only honor that Joey Logano collected last weekend. He also won the annual Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award.

The award program, now in its fourth year, honors NASCAR industry members for their philanthropy. Logano’s foundation was given $60,000, while the other nominees, driver Ryan Newman and Sonoma Raceway track president Steve Page, each received $30,000 for their respective charities.

In the six years since it was founded, the Joey Logano Foundation has been responsible for distributing $2.7 million to various charities, according to a Comcast news release.

Among its projects, Logano’s foundation formed the JL Kids Crew to help children with serious illnesses attend events at racetracks.
His charity’s Grant Funding Program also sends funds to organizations that assist the families of the sick, foster children and children of veterans.

During the recently completed NASCAR playoffs, Logano’s foundation helped nonprofit organizations in 10 different NASCAR markets through its Chasing Second Chances program.
Logano and his wife, Brittany, actually participated in an event in Florida the night before he won the Cup championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. His group took needy families shopping at a local grocery store to buy food for their Thanksgiving meals.
Newman was honored for his work with his Rescue Ranch organization, which he and his wife, Krissie, formed to promote respect for all animals, the earth and the environment.

Logano discussed his work with his foundation in a press conference held prior to him being announced as the winner.
“We talk about race wins, we can talk about how I’m a hard racer. That’s fine,” Logano said. “But when you take your helmet off, you become a different person.

“I think our whole industry does a great job of understanding that we’re all very fortunate and very blessed that God has given us the opportunity to do what we love.”

He said that his foundation work often reminds him of just how lucky he is.
“In our little la-la land out here in NASCAR world, it’s great, but we don’t see all the challenges a lot of times that people fight every single day,” he said. “We get mad and storm off after we blow a tire or we hit the wall, have a bad pit stop, pout away.

“Is it really that bad? I don’t think so. It’s OK. Life is still pretty good.”

He said he started a second chance program because of the second chance he got in his racing career when Roger Penske hired him to drive the No. 22 Ford after he’d gotten pushed out at Joe Gibbs Racing.

“Chasing Second Chances is a big piece of the foundation mainly because I’ve gotten a second chance in my career for racing with Team Penske after a not-so-good start of my career,” Logano said. “I know how different I handled a lot of situations being there the second time. Man, only if I had a second chance, I’d do things a lot different, right?

“God gave me the opportunity to do things different. I feel like I need to pay that forward, as well. Brittany does a great job helping me with that. I don’t have as much time to focus in on it as I’d like to. She does a great job of setting a lot of things up, working with everything.”

And he said he’s not in charity work to get recognition for himself.
“It’s about what you’re supposed to do,” he said.

During the winner’s interview after Logano won the championship, team owner Roger Penske mentioned Logano’s charity work and the honor he received for it from Comcast.

“That’s a side of him,” Penske said. “They had a lot of people that had delivered a lot back into the community, and I think that his commitment and the things that he has done gave him that championship.

“At the end of the day, as you get older, you say, that’s a real championship. We can race on the racetrack, we can win races, but to get that as a philanthropic person in NASCAR I think is pretty special.
“I think we couple that together, we’ve got an A-plus guy.”

PHOTO: On the eve of the Cup championship, Joey Logano and his wife, Brittany, left, took 100 families shopping for Thanksgiving meals.
Photo Credits:Joey Logano Foundation

By Rick Minter/ Andrews McMeel Syndication

When Joey Logano was coming up through the racing ranks winning Bandolero and Legends races with ease long before he was old enough to legally drive on the highway, he was tagged with the nickname “Sliced Bread” — as in “the best thing since …”

But when he landed in the Cup Series in 2008 at the age of 18, and was quickly put in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing car that had been recently vacated by veteran Tony Stewart, he was unable to live up to the lofty — and, many felt, unrealistic — expectations.

After four full seasons with just two race victories and a best finish of 16th in the standings, he was shuffled aside at JGR to make room for Matt Kenseth.
On the recommendation of Brad Keselowski, team owner Roger Penske hired Logano and built the No. 22 team around the youngster, whom many had already written off at that point. Paired from the beginning with crew chief Todd Gordon, Logano blossomed into a major force on the Cup circuit.
His win in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday night — a victory that delivered his first Cup championship — was his 19th since joining Penske and the fifth time he’d finished eighth or better in the final standings.

Logano’s late-race charge to the championship was typical of the way he’s been at his best when so much was at stake. In fact, just to be in the Championship 4 at Homestead, Logano had to pull off an aggressive bump-and-run on Martin Truex Jr. on the final turn of the Oct. 28 race at Martinsville Speedway.
At Homestead, the race — and the championship — boiled down to a 15-lap shootout set up by a spin by Daniel Suarez that brought out the race’s final caution flag. The four championship contenders — Logano, Truex, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch — restarted on the first two rows.

Logano lined up beside Truex on the front row and lost the lead to him initially. But a daring pass to the outside with 12 laps remaining gave Logano a lead he would never relinquish. He simply drove away from Truex, Harvick and Busch — the “Big Three” drivers of the 2018 season — to win by 1.725 seconds over the runner-up Truex.
Penske said Logano’s late charge at Homestead was one of those situations where Logano is at his best.

“When it’s time to go, he’s the guy,” Penske said. “To me, I couldn’t ask for a better result and a guy that delivers it for the whole team.”
Crew chief Gordon seconded Penske’s comments: “You give [Logano] that opportunity of ‘Here it is — it’s right in front of you,’ he steps up to another level.”
Logano said in his winner’s interview that his maturing into an aggressive, successful driver is actually a harkening back to his earliest racing days.
“I just feel like I’m back to where I was growing up,” he said. “As the kid growing up, I was an aggressive racer, and I was able to win a lot of races.”
Then came the struggles. But he was able to use those dark days to his advantage.

“The opportunity to make mistakes is one of the best things that can ever happen to you,” he said. “I made a lot of mistakes … things I shouldn’t say or whatever it was, but there are no regrets, either, because that’s formed me into the man I am today. And if it wasn’t for each and every one of those mistakes, I wouldn’t be sitting here today, and I wouldn’t have the people around me, either, that have surrounded me.”

He said those tough times, especially at the end of his Gibbs tenure, were tougher than he admitted at the time.
“That was a pretty low point for me,” Logano said. “I was thinking about, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m not going to be a race car driver anymore and what am I going to do with my life, and this is awful,’ and next thing you know, there’s the 22 car and Roger Penske and Todd Gordon and an amazing race team all the way through that wants you to drive.
“Like I say, God works in some mysterious ways sometimes, and it just really worked out for me.”

Photo Caption: Joey Logano hoists the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup trophy at Homestead-Miami Speedway.Courtesy of Ford Performance

By Rick Minter/ Andrews McMeel Syndication

The four-driver field is set for the 2018 Championship Round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, which will be contested on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The circuit’s “Big Three” winners of the year — Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. — will go up against Joey Logano, who earned his spot by winning at Martinsville Speedway in the opening race of the Round of Eight, which concluded on Sunday at ISM Raceway near Phoenix.
The drivers will begin Sunday’s Ford 400 at Homestead tied in points at 5,000, and the highest finisher among those four will win the season championship.
Many in the sport have been predicting for several weeks that Logano and the Big Three would be the final four, but only Logano’s berth was certain entering Sunday’s Can-Am 500 at ISM Raceway near Phoenix.

Despite the advantages held by the Big Three due to playoff points they earned over the course of the season, there was drama aplenty from the drop of the green flag to the falling of the checkered at Phoenix.

Harvick’s Homestead berth, which he appeared to have secured last week through a win at Texas, was nullified by a penalty for an illegal spoiler.
He bounced back by winning the pole at Phoenix and dominating early. A flat tire just before the end of the race’s first stage caused some damage to his No. 4 Ford and put him a lap down, but he battled back and eventually finished fifth, earning his spot by virtue of his accumulated points.
Kyle Busch was in the safest spot of the Big Three entering Phoenix. For much of Sunday’s 312-lap race, Busch, who also lost a lap at one point, appeared to be content to maintain his points position so he could advance to Homestead. But in the latter laps of the race, he surged forward, took the lead from Erik Jones with 36 laps remaining and won for the eighth time this season — tying Harvick for the series lead — and the 51st time in his Cup career.
Truex had a so-so day, finishing 14th, but his points cushion put him in position to go to Homestead and defend his 2017 title.
Logano needed his Martinsville win in the biggest way as he blew a tire early and crashed, leaving him 37th in the finishing order.
Other drivers in the Round of Eight mounted serious challenges for a race win that would have put them in the final four. But, ultimately, each fell short.
Almirola made the front row for the race’s final restart, but his No. 10 Ford was no match for Busch, and he fell to fourth at the finish.
Both Chase Elliott and Kurt Busch had cars capable of winning, but both were collected in a Lap 269 crash that ended their playoff runs.
Denny Hamlin, already eliminated from playoff contention, slid into Busch just after a restart to start the wreck, and Elliott was hit by the spinning car of Busch and wound up 23rd.

Elliott said in a post-race interview that it was his own fault for being back in the pack in the first place, due to an earlier speeding penalty on pit road.
“Don’t speed before that and you don’t get caught back there in the back. It was completely my fault, and when you make mistakes like that, you get put behind, and that’s when you get wrecked.”

Also eliminated from the playoffs were Almirola, who needed a win at Phoenix to advance, and Clint Bowyer, who was in a similar position and wrecked early on, finishing 35th.
Kyle Busch said his late surge to victory was a matter of taking advantage of the opportunity provided him when his fellow playoff drivers had problems.
“A lot of crazy things happened there at the end and got us in position to where we could capitalize on that, and it feels good to go into next week with a win under our belt and hopefully do it again,” he said.

Brad Keselowski made a late charge at Busch but fell short and finished second, with Kyle Larson taking third.
Busch said that looking ahead to Homestead he believes the Championship Four is as competitive as it’s ever been.
“I don’t know how you could pick a favorite, necessarily,” he said. “Harvick has won [at Homestead], we’ve won there, the 78 [Truex] has won there. Harvick has beat us all. I beat Harvick the year I won. Truex beat both of us last year. …

“I would predict this is the best four, the closest four that have been in our sport in a long time.”

Photo: Kyle Busch unleashes a burnout after earning his eighth Cup win of the season and the 51st of his career. By Sean Gardner/Getty Images for NASCAR

By Rick Minter/ Andrews Mc Meel Syndication

As the Monster Energy Cup Series drivers head into the final two races of the 2019 season, the year’s dominant driver is leading the points standings and coming off a powerful performance in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Kevin Harvick scored his league-leading eighth win of the season, and the 45th of his career, with a near-perfect drive. He won both of the opening 85-lap stages and led 177 of 377 laps, including 38 of the final 45 circuits, to take the victory over Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Erik Jones and Kyle Larson.
Playoff drivers Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola and Martin Truex Jr. took positions six through nine, respectively, with Austin Dillon completing the top 10.
Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., who with Harvick make up the Cup circuit’s “Big Three” drivers this season, both suffered numerous setback in Sunday’s race, but were able to hold their spots among the top three in the standings, mostly because of the playoff points they’ve accumulated over the course of the season.
Truex recovered from having to start in the rear due to an engine change, loose wheels during the race and a pit-road penalty to finish ninth and remain third in the points standings heading into this weekend’s race at ISM Raceway in Phoenix.

Busch also fell laps down due to a loose wheel and a speeding penalty. He rejoined the lead lap near the end of the race but finished 17th.
The bottom four playoff contenders are in must-win positions heading into Phoenix if they want to be among the final four at Homestead on Nov. 18.
Tony Stewart, who co-owns the Stewart-Haas Racing team that still has all four of its drivers — Harvick, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola and Clint Bowyer — in the playoffs, said he’s not surprised how the playoff field looks at this point.

“The reality is we knew, everybody knew, when they started the playoffs that those first three spots were already for the most part taken, unless they had a natural disaster happen,” he said. “From our standpoint now, we got one [Harvick] in. There’s one more race left. We’ve got one more opportunity to get one more of those three in.”
While many feel that Harvick’s domination on Sunday indicates that he’ll be the driver to beat in the finale at Homestead, Stewart is more cautious in his approach.
“I don’t even know how you have a favorite,” he said. “When you think of the reality of what Homestead is, you’re loading all your chips into one race. You never know what can happen. There are still 40 cars in the race, four of them racing for a championship, and 36 guys that can make a mistake and change the outcome of the event.”
But, Stewart added, Harvick is plenty capable of winning his second Cup title.

“I like the fact that we got Kevin Harvick there,” he said. “That’s a guy that — I don’t care who he’s up against — that’s a guy you kind of want with the ball in the bottom of the ninth.”
At Texas, a track similar in length and shape to Homestead, Harvick showed that he and his team have the speed to win the title.
His only real challenge in the closing laps came from Blaney, the runner-up, who was able to briefly wrestle the lead from Harvick on the next-to-last restart but was unable to keep it.

Harvick quickly motored by him on the final restart to seal the win.
Harvick said he raced with the same intensity at Texas that he will at Homestead in two weeks.
“We swing for the fence every week,” he said. “The only way you can control anything is to win. …
“When you go to Homestead, you’re going to have to win the race, most likely. Every year the champion has won the race. You have to have a winning mentality to approach the week in and week out.”

PHOTO CAPTION: Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart celebrates with his winning driver in Victory Lane at Texas.
Facebook.com/TonyStewart

By Rick Minter/ Andrews McMeel Syndication

Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway provided the NASCAR world with some badly needed drama as the Monster Energy Cup Series enters its final three weeks of the 2018 campaign.

Joey Logano employed a classic bump-and-run maneuver on Martin Truex Jr. on the final turn of Sunday’s 500-lapper on the tight, paper-clip-shaped half-mile and took the lead — and the win — from Truex, who now has gone 78 career short-track races in the Cup series without a victory. The victory, Logano’s first at Martinsville, assures him of a spot among the four drivers who will decide the Cup championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway in three weeks.
An angry Truex promised payback in a nationally televised post-race interview and vowed that he, not Logano, would be the 2018 champion.

NASCAR fans and participants in the sport immediately took to social media to debate the fairness of Logano’s move, with most in agreement that, whether they sided with Logano or Truex, the day’s events made them want to see more short tracks on the Cup schedule.

For his part, Logano, who led a race-high 309 laps and lost the lead with a little over one lap to run before regaining it at the finish line, said he didn’t do anything unusual for a last-lap battle for the win on a short track like Martinsville.
“My goal was not to wreck [Truex] in any way,” he said. “My goal was to win the race. I don’t want to win by dumping somebody. I want to win by making a move.

“That was the classic bump-and-run. That was the move that our sport and Martinsville, in particular, was built on.
“I think I owe it to my race team to do everything I can to win a race, get another shot at winning a championship. That’s my job. They did their job today. I had to do my mine.”
Logano’s car owner, the respected veteran Roger Penske, said he saw nothing wrong with his driver’s move.
“I think Joey drove a great race,” Penske said in the winner’s interview. “He didn’t knock [Truex] off the race track. It was side-by-side racing at the end. You could see that. Nobody lifted. “I want to make sure people know my position: I thought it was fair, I thought it was square, and Joey deserved the win.”
Truex, obviously, disagreed.
“[Logano] won the battle, but he didn’t win the damn war,” he said. “I’m just not going to let him win it. I’m going to win it.”
Truex said he raced Logano clean in the closing laps only to be treated otherwise on the final lap.

“I was next to him for six laps,” he said. “I never knocked him out of the way. We were going to race hard for it in my book. I cleared him fair and square. We weren’t even banging doors for me to pass him. He just drove into the back of me and knocked me out of the way. That’s short-track racing, but what goes around comes around.”
Denny Hamlin moved from third to second as Logano and Truex rubbed each other en route to the checkered flag, while Kyle Busch finished fourth and heads to Texas Motor Speedway with the series points lead. Brad Keselowski finished fifth after battling his fellow Team Penske driver Logano for the lead in the final 100 laps.

PHOTO CAPTION: Joey Logano celebrates a Martinsville win and a berth in the championship in Victory Lane.
BY Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images for NASCAR

By Rick Minter/ Andrews McMeel Syndication

With NASCAR’s Big Three of the 2018 season off their usual pace in the Monster Energy Cup Series playoffs, Chase Elliott has stepped up as the hottest driver on the circuit of late.
In Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, Elliott took his third win of the season — and the third of his career — after Kevin Harvick was penalized for speeding on pit road on his final stop of the race.

With Harvick out of the picture, Elliott took the lead when the cycle of pit stops ended and led the final 44 laps to take the victory over Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr. Harvick recovered to finish 12th.

Sunday’s race also was the cutoff race for the Round of 12 in the Playoffs, and the four eliminated from championship contention were Larson, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski and Alex Bowman.
But the Big Three of Harvick, Busch and Truex are still in the driver’s seat as far as the playoffs are concerned, largely due to the playoff points they accumulated throughout the season via race wins (five points each) and stage wins (one point each).

The Big Three combined to win 17 of the 26 regular-season races, with Harvick winning seven, Busch six and Truex, the defending champion, four.
Since drivers carry playoff points all the way to the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, they’re still atop the standings due to those points. Busch leads all drivers with 55, while Harvick has 54 and Truex 38. Elliott is fourth with 18.

So far in the playoffs, of the Big Three, only Busch has won, at Richmond, while Elliott has won at Dover and at Kansas. Brad Keselow-ski won the playoff opener at Las Vegas, with Ryan Blaney winning on the Roval at Charlotte and Aric Almirola victorious at Talladega.
Elliott’s crew chief, Alan Gustafson, said in the winner’s interview at Kansas that the points advantage that Harvick, Busch and Truex enjoy will be hard for Elliott and others to overcome in the next four races.

“The 18 [Busch] and the 4 [Harvick] have a pretty significant point advantage,” Gustafson said. “As well as they run, getting past them via points is probably a stretch. I mean, it’s possible, but probably a stretch.”

Even so, Elliott’s recent performances indicate that he’s not only getting some breaks in races that didn’t go his way early in his career, but also becoming a driver capable of winning multiple races and contending for championships. Elliott can assure himself of a spot among the four who will race for the championship at Homestead by winning one of the next three races.
Gustafson said his young driver is poised to do just that because, among other things, he now has the confidence he can win after finishing second eight times before his first victory came at Watkins Glen in August.

“I don’t feel like [Elliott’s] personality has changed, this, but I think now when he looks at that opportunity, he is looking at it more: ‘Yes, I can do this,’ [instead of thinking about] the hundred things that can go wrong.”
Elliott acknowledged he needs to win a race in the Round of Eight to advance to the championship round at Homestead. And if that happens, he’ll need to win there to be the champion.
“I think that needs to be the mindset, for sure,” he said. “I think every week has to be pressure-packed. You have to keep the pressure on yourselves. If you were to make it to Homestead, you have to pretty much win Homestead. I think you have to have that mentality every week.”

PHOTO CAPTION: Chase Elliott celebrates in Victory Lane following his triumph in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
PHOTO CREDITS: Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images for NASCAR

By Rick Minter/ Andrews McMeel Syndication

Aric Almirola entered Sunday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway having endured more than his share of heartbreaking disappointments this season. At the wheel of the No. 10 Ford at Stewart-Haas, he finally got a good break, and with it snapped a string of 149 winless races dating back to his first Cup win, in July 2014 at Daytona.
Almirola, who came close to winning at Daytona, New Hampshire and last week at Dover, before having his hopes dashed in the closing laps, appeared destined to finish behind one of his Stewart-Haas Racing teammates at Talladega.
The four SHR drivers — Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Almirola — dominated the race from the start, often occupying the top four spots.
But when a wreck involving Alex Bowman, William Byron and J.J. Yeley with two laps remaining sent the race into overtime, fuel mileage became a turning point in the race.
Harvick, who had led 46 laps and was set to restart on the front row, ran dry coming to the green flag for the final restart. And Busch, who had led 108 circuits, saw his engine sputter due to low fuel coming off Turn Four with the lead on the final lap. That opened the door for Almirola, who surged forward and took the win over Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano.
The 193rd and final lap was the only one Almirola led all day, and it delivered SHR its 11th win of the season, with Harvick accounting for seven, Bowyer two and one apiece for Busch and Almirola. It also marked the third straight race that a driver won for the second time in Cup, with Ryan Blaney winning on the Roval at Charlotte and Chase Elliott claiming victory at Dover.
“This is so awesome! It’s Talladega!” Almirola said as he climbed from his No. 10 Ford.
“Four or five times this year I feel like we’ve had a shot to win and haven’t been able to seal the deal. To come here, a place that I love — I won an Xfinity race here last year — I just love racing at Talladega.”
Almirola also thanked his team and the employees at Roush Yates Racing, where engines are prepared for the Ford teams.
“There are 400 employees back at Stewart-Haas Racing. There are close to 200 employees at Roush Yates’ engine shop. Thank you,” he said. “This was an incredible race for us. We [SHR drivers] were so committed to each other and so organized, and nobody in the field could touch us. It was us against the field. What an impressive run. I’m just proud to be the one on top today.”
The finishing order also scrambled the playoff standings heading into Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway, where four drivers will be eliminated from championship contention as the playoff field is reduced to eight.
The four drivers currently below the cutline are Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman.
Sunday’s race didn’t produce a “Big One” multi-car crash that often occurs at Talladega, but other incidents and fuel issues affected the playoff standings, as six playoff drivers, including former champions Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski, finished outside the top 25.

By Rick Minter/ Andrews McMeel Syndication

Last fall at Dover International Speedway, Chase Elliott led a race-high 138 laps and was poised to get his first Monster Energy Cup Series victory, only to see Kyle Busch pass him for the win with two laps to go.
On Sunday at Dover, it was Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola who were left empty-handed, as Elliott took control on a late restart in the Gander Outdoors 400 and led the final 11 laps to get his second win of the season and a guaranteed advance to the third round of the Cup Series playoffs.
Harvick was the first to see his hopes dashed. A valve stem of a tire was cut during a pit stop on Lap 319 after he’d led a whopping 286 laps and won both stages.
His Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Almirola quickly took over and led 64 of the next 75 laps and was four laps from victory when another teammate, Clint Bowyer, wrecked and brought out the caution flag.
As Almirola and the rest of the leaders headed to pit road for fresh tires, Elliott stayed on the track and took the lead, but on worn tires.
On the restart, Almirola, then running sixth, bounced off the wall attempting to take third place and triggered a five-car crash that collected four other playoff contenders — Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr.
After a brief red flag to clear the track, the green flag flew for an overtime run to the finish. Elliott took the lead from Denny Hamlin at the drop of the flag and sped away to get the win, with Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Erik Jones and Kurt Busch completing the top five.
Elliott, who like his father, Bill Elliott, had eight runner-up finishes before scoring his first Cup win, said the lessons learned in past disappointments — like the one at Dover last fall — helped him seize the moment at Dover on Sunday.
“[The earlier losses] definitely make you learn for sure, and it makes you appreciate a day like [Sunday] more,” Elliott said in his winner’s interview. “I can assure you if last year wouldn’t have happened, I wouldn’t appreciate it as much as I do today. When you have those hard days, that certainly makes you learn and gives you no choice but to grow up a little bit.”
The decision by Elliott’s crew chief Alan Gustafson to stay on the track at the end meant that Elliott’s tires had 50 laps on them, while his challengers behind him had fresh rubber. But Elliott said he supported the call all along.
“I actually thought it was the move,” he said. “I was shocked that those other guys didn’t stay out there with only seven laps to go. … I’m glad they didn’t, so it worked out for me.”
While Elliott was celebrating, there was a mix of reactions from the drivers who saw their chances of victory at Dover slip away.
Harvick recovered from his tire troubles to finish sixth and retain the points lead heading into Talladega, but Almirola finished 13th and dropped to ninth in the standings, outside the top eight who will advance after two more races.
For Almirola, it was yet another opportunity to win that slipped away at the end, just like at Daytona, Chicago and New Hampshire earlier this year.
“We’ve had so many opportunities and been so close and had the car to win and been in position and, I don’t know, it just seems to not come through,” he said. “I don’t know. I’m frustrated and mad and angry.”

Photo Caption: Chase Elliott emerges from his No. 9 Chevrolet after performing a burnout to mark his win at Dover.
by Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR

By Rick Minter/ Andrews McMeel Syndication

For many a NASCAR fan, the fall race on the 1.5-mile oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway had become just another race on a “cookie cutter” racetrack, as several of the Monster Energy Cup Series events are run on tracks very similar to Charlotte.
With at-track attendance and interest on the decline, Marcus Smith, the track’s president, and others in his company — with the blessing of NASCAR officials — decided to step way out of the box and create a track that was part road course and part of the aforementioned oval.
The 17-turn, 2.28-mile Roval track uses parts of the 1.5-mile oval at Charlotte and a radically redesigned infield road course.
For the first 103 laps of Sunday’s Roval experiment, the race was different, but not the kind of event that would have people talking NASCAR at water coolers across the country on Monday.
But the last six laps delivered the kind of drama that Roval backers were hoping for when they transformed the infield of the 59-year-old track.
On a restart with six laps remaining, Brad Keselowski, who had led the previous 29 circuits, drove off the track and into the Turn One barrier, taking five other contenders for the win with him.
After a red-flag period for clean-up, the green flag flew for a three-lap dash to the checkered flag with two former champions — Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. — leading the way.
Truex held the lead until the duo were within sight of the checkered flag, but Johnson made a desperate move into the final turn, lost control of his car and bounced into Truex, knocking them both around.
That opened the door for third-running Ryan Blaney to scoot by and get his first win of the season over Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Alex Bowman and Kurt Busch.
But the drama didn’t end with the Johnson/Truex spin. With the Roval race being the cutoff event for the first round of the playoffs, four drivers faced elimination, and it wasn’t until all the cars had crossed the finish line that the four losers were determined.
Among them was Johnson, who fell to eighth place and wound up tied for the 12th and final transfer spot with Kyle Larson and Aric Almirola. Johnson wound up the odd man out due to the tiebreaker of best finishes in the opening playoff round. Also eliminated were Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin and Austin Dillon.
Larson, who led a race-high 47 laps before being swept up in the 15-car crash on Lap 105, made the most dramatic run to the finish as he was able to overtake the spinning Jeffrey Earnhardt despite heavy damage to his own car. Almirola also had to gain spots in the final three laps in his banged-up No. 10 Ford.
Truex blamed Johnson for making a move that he said had no chance of succeeding.
“[Johnson] just over-drove it and was never going to make it and used me as brakes and turned us both around,” Truex said. “It sucks. We could have raced side-by-side off the last corner for a win, and that would have been cool. The fans would have been digging it, but instead we finished 14th and he’s locked out of the playoffs.
“I guess that’s what he gets.”
Johnson said a playoff berth wasn’t on his mind when he attempted to wrestle the lead from Truex.
“I wish I wouldn’t have been so focused on a race win and I could have transferred and kept my championship hopes alive,” he said. “But we had such a good car and just one of those split-second decisions to race for the win instead of for the points and it bit me.”
Blaney acknowledged that he wouldn’t have won had Truex and Johnson not wrecked.
“They were so far ahead I wasn’t even really trying, and then I saw them kind of close to each other through the oval track in [Turns] Three and Four and I was like, ‘Oh, something might happen here,’” he said in his winner’s interview. “They touched just trying to win the race, and I was lucky to sneak through there.
“That’s not how you really want to win them. I’d rather go out and dominate the race and win by a lap, but you’ve got to take them how you can get them nowadays.”
For Smith, the track president, the last-lap drama exceeded his expectations for the Roval.
“I think it was incredibly exciting,” he said. “The roar from the fans was all I needed to know that that was the moment that everybody will remember for a long time.”

By Rick Minter/ Andrews McMeel Syndication

Brad Keselowski’s three-race win streak on the Monster Energy Cup Series came to an end on Saturday night at Richmond Raceway as the season’s Big Three drivers reclaimed their spots at the top of the pecking order.
Kyle Busch came back from a disappointing 39th-place qualifying effort to take the lead from Keselowski with 37 laps remaining and score the win. Kevin Harvick finished second, and Martin Truex Jr., who won the first two stages and appeared to have the fastest car, came back from a pit-road penalty to finish third.
It was the first time this season that the Big Three have all finished in the top three in a race.
The win was Busch’s seventh of the season, tying him with Harvick for the series lead. Truex has four wins this year and Keselowski three.
It also was Busch’s 50th Cup win, which tied him with Hall of Famers Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett for 11th place on the Cup circuit’s all-time wins list. It also assures him of advancing to the second round of the Cup playoffs, which begins after the upcoming race on the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Playoff drivers swept the top 12 finishing positions at Richmond, with the other four all finishing inside the top 20.
Busch, Keselowski and Truex enter the upcoming weekend at Charlotte worry-free. Harvick, who wrecked early at Las Vegas in the playoff opener, has a good chance of being among the 12 drivers advancing to the second playoff round, as he’s 57 points ahead of 13th-place Clint Bowyer, thanks to the playoff points he accumulated throughout the season.
The bottom four drivers in the standings after the Roval race will be eliminated from the playoffs.
That foursome currently consists of Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones.
Busch, in his winner’s interview, explained why so many drivers are worried about the Roval.
“I think everybody is just nervous because it’s very slick,” he said. “When you go to the Roval, though, you’re just on edge the entire time. It feels like ice. You’re never comfortable. …
“I think a lot of guys will have different mentalities going in this week and what they expect and what they are looking to achieve. We’ll go in there with a good mindset and a good attitude about it, and hopefully it’ll come out well for us.”

By Rick Minter/ Andrews McMeel Syndication

For most of the 2018 Monster Energy Cup Series season, the weekly storylines were about the Big Three of Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., who combined to win 17 of the first 23 races.
But in the past three weeks, Brad Keselowski has emerged as the driver to beat in the 10-race playoffs, as his win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday was his third in a row, following wins at Darlington and Indianapolis in the final two races of the regular season.
Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford hasn’t appeared to be the fastest car in any of his three wins, but between quick work by his crew, good race tactics from crew chief Paul Wolfe and determined effort from the driver, he’s been able to beat the Big Three as well as the rest of the field.
Truex, who finished third in spite of his No. 78 Toyota being the fastest car for much of the South Point 400, said Keselowski has found a lucky horseshoe.
“Obviously, he hasn’t led the most laps in any of those races, and he showed up at the end with good pit stops and good short-run speed,” Truex said. “He’s hot right now. He’s on a streak.”
At Las Vegas, Keselowski led 75 laps to Truex’s race-high 96 and took the lead for good with 22 laps remaining. He was the dominant driver from that point forward, as six caution periods in the final 50 laps turned the end of the race into a series of short sprints.
Keselowski excelled on restarts to take the victory, the 500th in major-league motorsports for team owner Roger Penske. Kyle Larson finished second ahead of Truex, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola and Kyle Busch, as playoff drivers swept the top seven finishing positions.
Harvick, who entered the race as the points leader, was one of eight playoff drivers who finished 19th or worse.
Still, Keselowski said he’s not ready for the conversation to shift to a “Big Four” that includes him.
“I feel like we’re proud of this win, but it’s one win in a long grind, and there are nine weeks of long grinding left,” he said. “In 2014 we won the first race, I think, in Chicago, and that was terrific. … But we were eliminated out of the playoffs four or five weeks later. … You look too far ahead, you get in trouble.”
Keselowski also said he agrees with Truex’s comments that he’s been extremely fortunate the past three weeks.
“I feel like we stole the last three races,” he said. Keselowski and other drivers said the heat on Sunday at Las Vegas, measured at more than 100 degrees, was hard on drivers, crews and fans.
“I’ve heard stories about living in an oven before, and I think I’ve lived it now,” he said. “This was a mentally grueling race because when you get hot, when you’re stuck in those situations and then you add the chaos of the restarts and all those things come together, it really tests you and challenges you mentally, and our team was able to make the most of that.”

Photo Caption: Team Penske drivers Joey Logano, left, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski celebrate the team’s 500th victory in motorsports following Keselowski’s win at Las Vegas.
By Matt Sullivan/Getty Images for NASCAR