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Post by labontefanboy on Jan 12, 2014 22:31:57 GMT -5
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Post by labontefanboy on Jan 18, 2014 23:02:59 GMT -5
Samsung 500NASCAR went to the Lone Star state for round 7 of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season, hitting the high-banks of the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway for the Samsung 500. A relatively clean race saw one driver steal the show, but a plot twist near the end of the race had fans buzzing at the finish. Matt Kenseth, winner of 2 intermediate track races already this season, earned his first pole of the season with a blistering lap of 199.919 miles per hour in Friday qualifying, dominating the speed charts. Many experts pegged him to earn his 3rd victory of the season, but he was passed early by Kevin Harvick and never factored in the outcome, blowing an engine late. Harvick held the lead until an early caution came out for Dave Blaney and Michael Waltrip tangling in turn 3. The leaders took advantage of the yellow flag to make adjustments, and Jimmie Johnson led the field to the next restart. The next stint of the race saw no clear-cut dominance, as Johnson, Kvapil, Jeff Burton, and Harvick traded the lead 8 times until Burton finally pulled away on lap 43. His RCR teammate Harvick hung in the picture, however, and moved back in front for 20 laps until Burton retook the lead on lap 82. 2 laps later, Jeremy Mayfield took command and held it until Kurt Busch crashed in turn 3. The pit stops allowed Harvick to move back to the top spot, until being passed by Jeff Gordon on lap 97. Gordon surrendered the lead quickly to Casey Mears, who led briefly along with Elliott Sadler and Burton until Ryan Newman moved up front on lap 115. Newman then settled into a comfortable lead, holding the top spot all the way until green flag pit stops on lap 159. Mears and Johnson both led after the field recycled as Newman's crew dropped a lug nut, but it took just 19 laps for him to find it again, blazing past the #48 Chevy on lap 172. From then on, it was the Ryan Newman show. Newman methodically picked his way through lapped traffic, not caring one bit who he passed or how he passed them. Meanwhile, other lead lap cars behind him jostled for position and struggled to find good handling in dirty air, and then subsequently struggled much more than Newman to get past traffic. These factors allowed Newman to mount an astonishing 16 second lead by lap 293, blowing the field away even through a cycle of green flag pit stops. His lead was gone just 10 laps later, however, when Blaney spun around again. He maintained his lead through pit stops, but upon spinning his tires Jeff Gordon stole the lead on the restart. Just 1 lap later, chaos unfolded as Blaney's rough day continued, getting turned by Greg Biffle and igniting a hard wreck that sent Biffle upside-down and damaged the vehicles of Jamie McMurray, Scott Riggs, and Martin Truex Jr. Gordon held the lead on the lap 315 restart, and would proceed to hold on to it as Newman desperately tried to regain it. His efforts paid off, and the #24 team went to Victory Lane for the first time this season as Newman ended just 2 tenths of a second behind at the stripe as fans cheered on the DuPont car. Results:  Owner Standings:  Driver Standings: 
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2014 6:53:43 GMT -5
Plot twist near the end indeed! Rocket Man would've had it if not for that pile-up!
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Post by thatoneshredder on Jan 19, 2014 7:55:45 GMT -5
"I can't complain too much about this weekend. Yes, we once again failed to qualify one car, but the one that ran did an above-average job. If we could just get the 23 in the show, we'd be sitting well in the sport. Oh well, not much else I can say, on to the next one."
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Post by labontefanboy on Jan 19, 2014 14:28:32 GMT -5
Jack Roush post-race quote: "We're a little disappointed today. This is one of the tracks we circle on our calendars each year and we just didn't quite have it today. Matt got the pole but the warmer temperatures today really hurt the balance of his car and it cooked the engine, and then Greg got wrecked late. Todd finally got a decent finish so we're really happy about that and Carl really pulled together late in the race and got a lap back to finish 6th or something. We'll move on to next week and hopefully have a more consistent showing."
Carl Edwards post-race quote: "Not sure what the problem was with the Office Depot Ford Fusion today. We never found the right balance and we were either too tight or way too loose, and never found the middle ground. The good thing was that we were running a lap down but got ahead of the leader when that last caution came out and we got back on the lead lap. Then we had another crazy restart and I was fortunate to pick up several more spots so really made something out of nothing today, and I think that's a good sign for our Chase chances."
Todd Kluever post-race quote: "So so so happy to get a top 10. This season has been very difficult so far, and to finally put an entire race together and get a top 10 is huge for our confidence. Those first 4 races really made us think hard about what our program was about but today really validates all the hard work we've put in over the offseason. This is the beginning of good things and I think you'll see the Tide Ride in the top 10 a lot more in the coming weeks."
Greg Biffle post-race quote: "Not at all what we came here to do. We had one goal and that was to win the race. Ya know, we've had some decent runs this year but we are not even close to what we had last year. I don't know what the problem is, but we're having to spend a lot more time during the actual race experimenting as opposed to doing all that in practice sessions. Even before the wreck, we were terrible. I don't know what's going on right now with our team."
Matt Kenseth post-race quote: "That's a really disappointing way to end a race. You hate to blow an engine with like what, 14 laps to go? It's tough, because we just weren't at all where we thought we would be today after Friday. We really hoped to win the race after winning the pole but we were about a 10th place car. The warm weather really made the track slick so I think today will end up being valuable in the long run when we get to the summer, but you still hate to throw away so many points late in the race, especially with so many cars running at the end of it."
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Post by bsoyuz on Jan 20, 2014 8:36:21 GMT -5
DEI statement:
This was one of our worst weekends this season. We hope to recover all the way up, in the next race.
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Post by jbraun57 on Jan 20, 2014 11:52:57 GMT -5
RCR Statement:
Jeff went out there and showed that why we picked him up. A solid 3rd place finish for him, leading 34 laps and elevating him to 8th in the standings and best on the team. We wish him the best in looking for a contract for next year. Kevin also had a solid race, leading 43 laps en route to a 7th place finish. Clint is mastering this consistency thing. He finished 11th and is 9th in points. Kurt is just having a rough start as he wrecked again. Let's hope that he can start getting some better finishes and less accidents!
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