Results tagged “Atlanta Motor Speedway” from Haddock in the Paddock

The ways NASCAR teams cheat are impressive. Carl Edwards got caught with a missing lid on his car's oil reservoir after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It's just another in a long list of cheats who have won races in the history of NASCAR.
Jack Roush, the owner of Edwards' Cup team, opened some old wounds, bringing up one of the times Jeff Gordon was penalized for failing a post-race inspection. Geoff Smith, the president of Roush Fenway Racing, brought up the rocket fuel that was found in Michael Waltrip's new Toyota stock cars at last year's Daytona 500.
Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson have been caught with unapproved modifications to their cars during inspections before and after races. There are more, too many to list even on the world wide web.
Cheating is nothing new and part of the charm of NASCAR. Crew chiefs and teams get the rules and do their best to work within the parameters of those rules. They have no qualms about testing the boundaries of those rules either.
Greg Biffle, one of Edwards' teammates at Roush Fenway Racing, tried to explain how a lid could fall off an oil reservoir.
"We used to have quarter turn fasteners that hold the lid on and sometimes those would come loose," said Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. "In these cars we’ve had a severe vibration problem with the new car, which is mind blowing why we’ve had a vibration problem. You’ve heard us talk about it in Daytona. Most of the tests, they’ve worked on it. At Vegas, my leg was going to sleep. When we tested in Vegas, my lower calf hurt because the car was vibrating so bad. So, we’ve worked extremely hard on our transmissions, the drive shafts and rear gears to find this vibration and try to eliminate it. They think that’s what caused the lid to come off Carl’s car was the vibration."
Whatever. Elliott Sadler said that however the crew figured out to get the lid to come off was genius, almost sounded like he was upset his team didn't figure it out first.
One thing that is certain, all cheating aside, is that the Roush cars have been fast in the first three races of the year. Even David Ragan, the second-year driver of the No. 6 Ford for Roush, finished seventh at Vegas. And Travis Kavpil, whose getting his engines through a joint effort from Roush and his Yates Racing team, was eighth at Vegas.
“The greatest thing is if we weren’t there, Matt Kenseth probably would have won the race," said Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. "If Matt wasn’t there, Greg might have won the race. We’ve got the greatest cars out there in these Ford Fusions. We’re doing really well. We’re doing everything right."
Well, almost everything. Passing post-race inspections should be a priority for Edwards' team, or any team, from here on out. Mainly because it looks like NASCAR is going to take away precious bonus points for teams in the Chase if they fail post-race inspections.
"Obviously, these mistakes are not good that we made on pit road and that we made with that panel, but that’s what I’m excited about," Edwards said. "We’re three races in and we’ve got two wins and that’s the best start to any season that I’ve ever had in my life, so I feel like we’ve got a whole bunch to look forward to. I’m real excited about it.”

Jeff Gordon won the pole for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the first win of any significance for Hendrick Motorsports this year.
OK, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Bud Shootout and one of the Gatorade Duels at Daytona, and Jimmie Johnson won the pole at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, but only because rain washed out qualifying.
Three races into the Cup season and Hendrick has yet to win a race. Some teams have gone three years without a win, but Hendrick is the team that won 18 of the 36 Cup races last year, prompting some to ask what's wrong with the team.
“Oh, whatever. We don’t pay attention to that," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "We know what we are capable of doing and we’re three races in. I think it’s kind of silly to even think about that. When there is a lot of hype and expectations, those things happen."
Ryan Newman won the season-opening Daytona 500 for Penske Racing. Carl Edwards followed with wins at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana and Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Roush Fenwway Racing. Although the win at Vegas was marred when inspectors found a lid missing from the oil reservoir on Edwards' car after the race.
Gordon said other than the Roush cars, his cars have been the best in Cup.
"The 99 (Edwards) and the 17 (Matt Kenseth) last week and the 16 (Greg Biffle); those guys have been really strong," Gordon said. "Other than them, I feel like we’ve been the best. And so I’m not really concerned with that. I think if we keep running the way we’re running and if we can get to the finish line, we’re going to get our share of wins.”

After Carl Edwards lost 100 points in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers standings, Kyle Busch regained the top spot and is in first place for the second straight week.
Edwards, the winner of the Cup race at Las Vegas, was penalized by NASCAR when it was discovered that a cover was off the oil reservoir in his car during post-race inspections. Edwards, who was leading the Cup standings, dropped to seventh and Busch moved back into first.
“It means we’re No. 1 – right now," said Busch, driver of the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. "It’s kind of the same scenario as last week. We’re happy to be where we are in the points, but at this stage in the year it doesn’t mean as much as it will if we’re still here with a couple weeks left in the season."
Busch is coming off a disappointing 11th place finish at Las Vegas. He won the pole, but ran into some tire troubles late in the race.
"We just have to stay focused and stay on top of the car and the race track for the entire race," Busch said. "We need to put the whole thing together, and if we do that each week, I feel good that this team will be able to stay where we are in the points. But there’s a long way to go for sure.”
The car Busch's team is bringing to Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of Sunday's Cup race, has never raced. Busch tested the car at Atlanta last year and logged the fastest lap of the two-day session.
But he has never finished better than 12th in a Cup race at Atlanta and was 32nd in last year's March race at the track.
Busch did win a Craftsman Truck Series race at Atlanta last year and he will be racing in the Truck Series, Nationwide Series and Cup Series this weekend.
“I am excited. It’s a fun race track," Busch said. "We’ve never been able to finish that well here in a Cup car, so you’d think I should probably not like this place too much, but I do like it.
"It seems like there’s always a close battle right at the end. We’re doing triple duty again with all three series this weekend so hopefully we can be in some of those close battles at the end and hopefully even pull out a win or two, or three – who knows?”

When Kasey Kahne is good at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he's really good. But when he's bad, he's really bad.
Kahne has four top-fives at Atlanta, including a win in 2006, in nine career Cup starts at the track. But he has three finishes of 35th place or worse in those nine races.
After a sixth-place at Las Vegas on Sunday, Kahne is third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings, and is having the best start of his Cup career.
"It feels really good especially after the year we had last year," said Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Dodge for Gillett Evernham Motorsports. "This is the best we've ever started a season and I think it speaks a lot in regards to the changes that we made within the team during the last several months."
Elliott Sadler, Kahne's teammate, is in the top 10 in the Cup standings and Robby Gordon, who is working with Gillett Evernham Motorsports, is 21st in the Cup standings after NASCAR overturned its penalty against the driver after the Daytona 500.
Kahne credits his crew chief, Kenny Francis, and his team for the turnaround from a year ago.
"Last week's race in Las Vegas is proof that we've made some pretty big gains this off season," Kahne said. "We started pretty far back and even lost a lap but we were able to get back to finish sixth. I don't think that's something we could have done last year. Now we just need to get a win. We have a lot of momentum going right now and I'm just looking forward to getting to the race track every week."
Kahne was not feeling well during the race at Las Vegas and that carried over to the test at Phoenix earlier in the week. Kahne said he is feeling better, but as of Wednesday, he was still not 100 percent.
"I feel good. I actually didn't feel bad after the first couple days, but I was really tired," Kahne said. "I can get by on six to eight hours of sleep and feel good. I was getting 10 and 11 hours of sleep last week and I still felt tired. I think getting more sleep is helping and I'll be ready to go this weekend -- looking forward to it."

Ryan Newman, winner of the Daytona 500, has always qualfied well at Atlanta Motor Speedway. For once, he would like to finish well.
Newman has won seven poles at Atlanta, site of Sunday NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, and has started first in six straight Cup races at Atlanta.
But his best finish has been fifth. That came in 2004.
"My qualifying record hasn’t transferred to my racing record, and I’m not sure why," said Newman, driver of the No. 12 Dodge for Penske Racing. "We have some top 10s, but we’ve also had some not so great runs there. I hope we learned a lot from our test there last fall that will help us out this weekend. Our Alltel team wants top fives and top 10s each weekend, so that’s our goal.”
Newman is second in the Sprint Cup Series standings. His team is bringing a new car to Atlanta, its most recent track time coming during a test at Lowe's Motor Speedway in North Carolina last year.
“Our first goal is that we would like to continue Ryan’s history of qualifying success at Atlanta," said Newman's crew chief Roy McCauley. "Just because Ryan has a solid history at the track in qualifying, it doesn’t put more pressure on us. We want to qualify well so that we can pick a good pit, which benefits the entire team and therefore benefits Ryan during the race. Our goal is to do as good as we can as a team. We know Ryan’s qualifying history at the track and we know that we have the capability of giving him a car that can qualify on the pole.”

Kevin Harvick has gone from 14th to eighth to fourth in his past three races. That all adds up to a fourth-place spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings.
Harvick won the first race of his Cup career at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was in his third start, in the car and for the team that was Dale Earnhardt's. Earnhardt died on the final lap of the Daytona 500 that same year.
“The circumstances that we won the first race under… we won’t ever forget that moment just because of everything that went on," said Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. "When I start thinking about it, it brings those same chills back that I got when I won that race. I know that I can’t do that again and that’s obviously because of the circumstances. Those are the kind of situations as professionals you dream about. You look for that opportunity to take those moments and try to capitalize on them.”
Since that win in 2001, Harvick has only one top 10 finish. That came in his second race at Atlanta in 2001. He's been lucky to finish in the top 20, his best finish coming last year in October at Atlanta. He was 15th.
The car his team is taking to Atlanta is the same car Harvick raced at Fontana, where he finished eighth. He was fourth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. He is also encouraged by his team's test at Atlanta last year.
“I think our cars were night and day different from where we are now," Harvick said. "It will be interesting to take the cars back and see where we are compared to the competition. Our speeds were comparable during the test, but the cars just weren’t comfortable to drive. As we have progressed with this car everything we tested with in Atlanta doesn’t even exist anymore. We have advanced tremendously since that test so I am interested to see where we line up to the competition this weekend.”

Jimmie Johnson won both Cup races at Atlanta Motor Speedway last year. He has three wins and eight top-fives in 13 career Cup starts at Atlanta, site of Sunday's race.
But he's 0-for-3 this year in Cup races and coming off a 29th-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
He doesn't need to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta, but he does need a decent showing.
“It was definitely a disappointment, but no one is down about it," said Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "It just makes us that much more determined. We have a lot of talented mechanics and engineers back at the shop that won’t stop until they figure out what was going on with the car. Sometimes you can learn a lot more from overcoming setbacks than you do from your successes. We’ll get it figured out. One thing this team doesn’t do is give up.”
Johnson's team is making an unusual choice for the Atlanta race. The car his team is taking to the track has yet to race, but the team's back-up car finished second in the Fontana race a couple weeks ago.
“This is a big weekend for Lowe’s and Kobalt Tools, and for our team," said Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "We’re looking to bounce back from last weekend, we’ve got a chance to make it three in a row at Atlanta and we’re running a Kobalt paint scheme, so we’ve got a lot of motivation to do well.”