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Welcome to the Cup Scene Daily for
Vol. III,No.VIXII POST RACE EDITION
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Quote of the day: "I know it's going to be a black Monday at the shop, but I also know we're going to do an awful lot of laps in testing this week at Kentucky (Speedway) to figure out what was wrong. "- Dale Earnhardt Junior 7 DAY ARCHIVE SundayMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday INSIDE TODAY'S ISSUE: Junior's Hot Streak Cools Stewart admits he was nervous Much ado about nothing Racing back to flag brings a new warning Drivers defend tires, say racing will improve Fill it up Other bad Days After tough weekend, Gordon happy with 15th Drivers say scoring system is still a problem NASCAR says 3 abuse violations don’t add up to a dangerous trend Women of Craftsman Truck Series Feel Like 'One of the Guys' Everything I Need to Know About NASCAR I Learned From Judge Judy (and other media ramblings) Cup Scene readers speak out about the new point system
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Happy Birthday: Buddy Barnes, Mark Green, Ronnie Thomas, Mark Smith, Kirk Shelmerdine Matt Kenseth seems to be sending a message about NASCAR's new 26-10 championship rules, designed in large part because of his 2003 title runaway. He could still win a championship no matter what the rules.
And he is certainly making a mockery of the old saying that champions tend to have a letdown the following season, because yesterday for the second straight week Kenseth and crew chief Robbie Reiser blew away the competition - and braved a late-race surge by rookie sensation Kasey Kahne - to win the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 on a warm, sunny afternoon in front of 150,000. "It's been a fun two weeks, the most fun I've had in a race car in my life," Kenseth said. "We've just got an unbelievable team and unbelievable equipment. Man, this thing was fun to drive." Last season Kenseth was criticized for winning the title while winning only one race. Now he's back atop the standings, and he's already doubled his winnings. "I'm going to go home and watch the TV shows and see what some people say ... but no matter what, I've learned it's always something," Kenseth said, with a bit of an edge. "We ran Rockingham, and it would be hard for anyone to argue we didn't have the dominant car ... and all you saw in the headlines was that the caution didn't fall right, we weren't on the lead lap, and we shouldn't have won. "It's always something. But I'd rather have them talking about us doing so good than the other way around I guess." ``But I'd rather have 'em talking about me because we're doing so good than something else, I guess,'' Kenseth added, grinning. At Rockingham, Kenseth held off a challenge from rookie Kasey Kahne, winning by inches. This time, there was no one to challenge Kenseth after he moved past Kevin Harvick on lap 230 to regain the lead for the fourth and final time. The 23-year-old Kahne, in only his third Cup start since replacing longtime NASCAR star Bill Elliott in the No. 9 Dodge, wound up second again. He inherited the runner-up spot five laps from the end when Harvick ran out of gas and coasted to the pits. Harvick finished 21st. Kahne, who started from the pole, crossed the finish line 3.426 seconds - about half a straightaway - behind Kenseth's No. 17 Ford.
``To run second in these races is fine with me right now. We want to win, and we're going to win sometime.'' Tony Stewart finished third, followed by Jamie McMurray, Mark Martin, Elliott Sadler, Casey Mears, Kurt Busch and Rusty Wallace. The race was to be the first true test of the new combination of a shorter rear spoiler and softer tires, intended by NASCAR to make racing more exciting by allowing more passing. This race didn't look much different from the previous six on the 1 1/2-mile Las Vegas oval, with mostly single-file racing. There were 18 lead changes among 10 drivers, but many of them came during pit stop sequences and had nothing to do with passing on the track. Still, most of the drivers liked the changes. Kenseth was one of them, although he pointed out the new combination was a little hard to get used to. ``You used to be able to drive way in there with the tire that you couldn't hurt and a big spoiler, and it's hard to get yourself to lift enough so you don't abuse your tires and not drive in too hard,'' he said.
Kenseth appeared to have the fastest car all day. Several times the winner built leads of up to four seconds before caution flags erased the margin. He was leading Stewart by about 20 car lengths when Kevin Lepage's blown engine dumped oil on the track on Lap 183. The leaders made their final pit stops on lap 184 and an uncharacteristic slow stop by his Roush Racing crew left Kenseth seventh for the restart on Lap 193, with Harvick in the lead. ``If there was ever a time to have a bad one, that was the time to get a little behind,'' Kenseth said of the slow stop. ``We actually adjusted the car a little bit and made it better.'' Kevin Harvick took the lead with 98 miles left during the final exchange of pit stops under the last yellow of the day. When the green flag flew,Kenseth set sail after the leaders. He gained two positions on the first two laps, was third on Lap 209 and passed Stewart for second on Lap 221. He regained the lead with 57 miles to go and held it the rest of the way. "Usually we're better on long runs, but today we had a car that was unbelievably fast on short runs and still as fast as anybody on the end of a long run," Kenseth said. Harvick ran out of gas the last lap and finished 21st. "We knew we weren't going to make it," crew chief Todd Berrier said. "That was the first time I've ever had anybody say 'Save fuel,'" Kahne said. "I was like 'how?' But obviously we saved enough. "This has been an awesome weekend. We had a close battle with Tony Stewart. It's fun to race with him. He got me a little loose getting into turn three with three or four to go, but I was able to save it and keep racing. "We've got lots of confidence and we're gaining more. To run second in these races is fine by me. Obviously we want to win, and we will win soon." "It's a long season and there's a lot to go, but Matt and Kasey are off to a strong start," Jimmie Johnson said. The victory was the eighth of Kenseth's Cup career and vaulted him into the series lead one race earlier than he took the top spot for good in 2003. He leads Stewart by 88 points going to the next race at Atlanta. "They've finally got some motor," crew chief Robbie Loomis said. "All those years Matt had to run without motor he had to work on making his car drive good, and now he's got motor, too." Sunday's race was disappointing for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who led the points after winning the Daytona 500 and finishing fifth at Rockingham. Earnhardt struggled throughout the day, spending considerable time in the garage area before coming back out to salvage 35th place. Earnhardt fell to seventh, 125 points behind Kenseth. Ryan Newman cut a right-front tire, narrowly stayed off the wall, but finished 27th. "We were terrible," team boss Don Miller said. "It's really slick, and hard to race side-by-side, probably because of the shorter spoiler," Jamie McMurray, who finished fourth, said. "It just seemed that the car wanted to get really loose. I don't know that it's better, I don't know that it's worse.
"Even if the racing's not better, when the caution came out, we all pitted, that's the best part. Nobody stayed out, or just put two tires on. You had to pit and you wanted to put four tires on. I like that. And knowing that somebody running 30th can't stay out and somehow luck into getting up there.
Tony Stewart was one of the few who could challenge: "I'll be honest, I was nervous coming into this weekend. This race was so important to us after that bad race at Rockingham. It's a big weight off the team's shoulders to know we've got a good package. We've got a lot to look forward to at Atlanta."
"I think the package is working. But we should wait one more week to be sure. But I could race those guys. You could move around and keep yourself close. My gut feeling is the package is better."
"Last year a lot was said about whether we won the championship in style or whether we backed into it," car owner Jack Roush. "We didn't have much to work with last year. But now we have an equal car, and it's now a level playing field.
And Roush thanked fellow engine man Robert Yates for helping pump up his engines, by perhaps as much as 40 horsepower. "We've had a chance to put together the best elements of both programs, and we're about 80 percent of having everything together," Roush said. "There was more improvement by marrying these two programs than in the new cylinder heads. I think we'll have the new cylinder heads ready for the California race (May 2), possibly by Texas (April 7)."
"I think if you look at different teams throughout the year, there are different tracks that guys are just really good at. Matt Kenseth has always been very strong here at Vegas. We were in a similar mode when we'd go to Richmond and Dover. But there are different teams that find different packages that work for them really well when they get to certain venues. This is one place where Matt and Robby (Riser, crew chief) always have a good package for and they just keep making it better and better. It's just up to all the other teams to try and find out what we've got to do to get caught up to them." said Tony Stewart of Roush.
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Last Race: UAW DaimlerChrysler 400
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Race statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 128.790 mph.
1. Matt Kenseth, Ford |
POINT STANDINGS 1. Matt Kenseth, 5232. Tony Stewart, 435 3. Elliott Sadler, 405 4. Jeff Gordon, 404 5. Kurt Busch, 400 Slideshow:
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