Slip Sliding Away in Michigan

NASCAR used this second race in Michigan as another (and probable last) time to try out the even-lower downforce package that they are considering for 2017.  Consequently all of the teams were dealing with some unknowns.  This was a relatively safe time to do some testing for the future, given that this track is not in the Chase.

Carl's Arris Surfboard Camry unloaded with a bit less speed than he has usually shown this year.  His practice speeds were consistent, with 10th, 11th, and 9th places.  And the three rounds of qualifying were similar:  12th, 10th, and 9th.  It turns out that those positions were a glimpse into the future.

The common race refrain from everyone was "loose loose loose."  The 19 Toyota was so loose on the first lap that Carl had to react quickly to catch the car as it was sliding up the racetrack.  As a result, he fell from 9th to 13th by the time he completed his first lap around the track.  He continued to lose positions until he was all the way back in 17th by the time the competition caution on lap 20.

His always speedy pit crew got him a few spots on pit road, so he restarted in 14th on lap 25.  A few laps later his teammate Kyle Busch spun out just inside of him, sending the 18 car sliding through the grass.  Remarkably he did not get into Carl or hit anyone else, ending up with no damage to his car.  Considering how loose everyone was, you would have expected a lot of cars spinning out this afternoon, but the race did not play out that way.

When the race resumed on lap 29 following Kyle's spin, Carl restarted in the 11th spot.  The   race went caution free for 89 laps, so we saw the usual Michigan green-flag pit stops.  Carl told his crew chief that his car was too free on entry and had no speed in turns three and four.  Dave Rogers responded with a significant air pressure adjustment and a wedge adjustment to accompany the four tires and fuel.  But that did not have much effect on his position.  Both before and after that green-flag pit stop, he ran between 10th and 14th.

The green flag laps were broken up with a debris caution on lap 118.  The orange and white Arris car pitted for four more tires and fuel.  But following the caution, the car continued to fall back through the field.  Within 25 laps, he was back as far as the 17th position.

When the final caution flag waved 14 laps before the end of the race, Carl had advanced only three positions.  The team elected to stay out, getting Carl the best track position of the entire race.    With 9 laps to go, he restarted in 5th place.  On older tires, he did fall back a few positions, eventually crossing the finish line in 7th.  He maintained the 4th spot on the Chase grid but moved up one position in the drivers' standings, from 4th to 3rd.

The Gibbs cars as a whole did not show the power they have usually demonstrated.  Carl's 7th place finish was the best of the bunch, with his teammates coming home in 9th, 13th, and 19th.  It does make you wonder if they will not do as well next year with the new even-lower downforce package.  Of course, there are other explanations to consider as well.  Perhaps they have not yet taken the time and money to work on next year.  Or they have and they are simply not showing their hand to their competitors.  In any case, it makes me wish extra hard that Carl aces this year's championship run, while JGR continues to run strong.

Meanwhile, the race announcers were busy preparing for a new race winner.  With young Chase Elliott leading the race, they spoke eloquently about the history of the 24 car, and how nobody but Jeff Gordon has ever won a race with that car number.  They had the cameras trained on Rick Hendrick as he watched his rookie run up front.  They described the nail biting that his crew chief was going through, and imagined how proud his father would be.

Well, they got their new race winner, but they had the number backwards.  Without any cameras focused on Chip Ganassi, Kyle Larson in the 42 car finally did what everyone knew he would eventually do.  He crossed the finish line first and kept going, doing doughnuts right into the winner's circle, and launching himself into the Chase.  He was so exciting that he literally leapt into the arms of his teammates.  During his interview in victory lane, the adrenaline surge left his legs so weak that he slid to the floor.  Welcome to the contenders, Mr. Larson.

5 Poles and 1,000 Laps Led

The Cup series visits Bristol twice each year.  The second visit is planned to be a night race.  This year it was a night-day-night race.  It started at night on Saturday, but was red flagged for rain after only 38 laps.  Rescheduled to resume at lunchtime on Sunday, the weather did not cooperate until the middle of the afternoon.  By the time the race ended, it was nighttime on Sunday.

In preparation for this race, Carl's practice times ranked him 9th and 10th in practice.  But in qualifying, he and his teammates led the way.  The Stanley Camry advanced through all qualifying rounds.  The Gibbs cars grabbed four of the top five positions, with Carl earning his fifth pole of the season.

Carl's car ranged between pretty good and downright speedy.  Because he started on the pole, he got to choose which lane he would start in.  Believing that the rosin put down on the inside lane would prove to be advantageous, he selected the inside lane.  Apparently that was not the best option, as he fell back 6 spots in the first 18 laps.  When the race was suspended for the night, he was in 7th place.

When the race resumed on Sunday afternoon, he continued the backward slide until he found himself in the 12th spot.  But that is as far back as he would go.  He started to move back up through the field, getting back one position at a time.  It took about 120 laps until he got back into the lead, the result of a top notch pit stop that got him off pit road first.  He held the lead for about 25 laps, just enough for reach 1,000 laps lead at Bristol!

There were several cautions brought out by spins and collisions that collected innocent cars.  Other than debris hitting his grill during one of the cautions, Carl managed to avoid all of the on-track obstacles.  In spite of that, he struggled to get back to the lead.  He ranged from 2nd to 9th, finally ending the race in 6th place.  He fell one spot on the Chase grid, from 3rd to 4th, but moved up one position in the drivers' standings, from 5th to 4th.

Leading the Pole Championship Race

Carl had a pretty good car in practice, finishing the first practice in 4th and the second and final practice in 10th.  But he really shined (shone?) in qualifying.  He was second in the first round, then went one spot better in the second and final round, grabbing his 4th pole of the season and his 20th of his Cup career.  He swept the poles for the road courses this season and has more poles this season than any other driver.  If there was a championship handed out for pole positions, he would be in the lead!

With Carl starting on the pole combined with holding the best average finish of 8.4 at Watkins Glen, best of any active driver, this looked to be a good race for him.  He led for the first 25 laps, until green flag pit stops got underway.  That is when his luck changed.

One of the tire changers removed the front right tire and pushed it toward the wall to be caught by a crew member on the other side of the wall.  But the push was a little off kilter, so instead of the tire getting close enough to the wall to be grabbed, it wobbled in front of and around the 19 car.  So on lap 30, Carl had to do a drive through on pit road, the penalty for an uncontrolled tire, dropping him to 30th place. 

Between other drivers completing their green flag pit stops and Carl getting around slower cars, he got back up to 14th place by the time the caution flag came out on lap 47.  Rather than pitting, they chose to stay out, putting him up near the head of the field.  On lap 52, he restarted in 2nd.

 

The field had only barely restarted when a big wreck brought out the red flag, parking the cars for over 13 minutes.  Once the track was cleaned up and the cars were allowed to move again, the 19 team pitted for 4 tires and fuel.  With struggles to get fuel into the car, they ended up restarting in 23rd when the race went green again on lap 56. 

 

Once again the race had barely resumed when another wreck brought the caution flag back out.  This time we were involved, but fortunately the damage was not so bad that we had to go to the garage.  His crew got him fixed up and back on the track in 30th place for the restart on lap 59.

 

Again he gained ground, passing cars, maneuvering his Stanley Toyota up to 14th.  On lap 83, another wreck brought out the second red flag of the race.  When the track was cleaned up and the race resumed, Carl restarted in 14th.  He spent the remaining 15 laps ranging between 14th and 17th, finally crossing the finish line in 15th place.  He maintained the 3rd spot on the Chase grid and 5th in the drivers' standings.

David Beats Goliath at Pocono

As we have come to expect, Dave Rogers brought Carl a fast Stanley Camry for the second Pocono race of the season.  All of the practices and qualifying rounds saw the 19 team in the top ten:  4th and 9th in the two practice sessions; and 1st, 2nd, and 2nd in the three qualifying rounds.  So they looked ahead to the race with a front-row starting position.

 

Mother Nature decided to throw a monkey wrench into the weekend schedule with stubborn Sunday rain.  The race was delayed until Monday morning, meaning that many of us (yours truly included) had to hide from social media and the news until we could watch a recording of the race.

Carl started out strong, running in the second position until the competition caution on lap 15.  His team opted for 4 tires when most other teams took 2, so he restarted in 14th.  Other than a quick caution for Truex putting his car into the outside wall, the race ran green for quite some time.  By the time the next caution flag waved on lap 60, Carl had moved his Toyota up to 6th.  He came off pit road in 3rd, but restarted 9th because a half a dozen cars did not pit.

 

On the restart, he fell back to 13th place.  During the next 35 laps, he ranged between 10th and 15th place.  Truex brought out the caution again on lap 99.  This time we did not pit, finally get back up near the front of the field in 4th place.

 

Mother Nature was not yet done with NASCAR, though.  On lap 131, with Carl in 8th place, the fog rolled in.  It was so thick you could not see across the raceway.  For several laps the cars continued to circle the track.  But as the raindrops started to fall, the race was red flagged and the cars were covered.  NASCAR waited some time before finally giving up and calling the race on lap 138 of 160.

 

During an interview after the race, Carl was disappointed that they could not complete the race, as he felt he had a car capable of better than an 8th place finish.  Coincidentally, that is the same finish he earned when the Cup series visited Pocono earlier this season.  He maintained the 3rd spot on the Chase grid, and moved up one position in the drivers' standings, from 6th to 5th.

 

While we always would prefer that Carl take the checkered flag and give us a backflip, it was fun to see that the race was won by Chris Buescher, a former teammate of Carl from his Roush days.  And Chris has Carl's former crew chief, Bob Osborne, sitting atop the pit box.  It was good to see him in victory lane once again.

 

This was Chris' first Cup win, and the first win by a rookie this season.  He is currently on loan from Roush to Front Row Motorsports, one of the underdog teams who try to battle with the big boys on a much smaller budget.  They do not get to taste victory very often, so it is especially sweet for them.  And the win is huge for their bottom line, both for the prize money as well as the increased interest from sponsors.

 

Chris' team now sits 6 points out of the top 30 in points.  If they can claw their way into the top 30, they will make the Chase.  If they do, that will have big repercussions from the bubble drivers trying to point their way into the playoffs, because one fewer spot will be available.  Carl may be safely in the Chase, but there will be plenty of storylines to watch between now and the middle of September.

A Hot, Unforgiving Brickyard

It was blisteringly hot and tropically humid in Indianapolis this weekend.  The air temperature reached into the 90s.  It often approached 120 inside the cars, even hotter when the cars were stationary.

Carl Edwards, as well as his Gibbs teammates, were fast in practice and qualifying.  Carl finished the first practice in 6th, the second and final practice in 5th, the first round of qualifying in 4th, the second round of qualifying in 3rd, and the third and final round of qualifying in 2nd.  Following that upward trajectory, it was only logical to anticipate that he would finish the race in 1st, right?

Although he began the race on the front row, he fell back to 6th place before the first lap was over, 7th place before the tenth lap was over.  But from there, he gradually recovered, gaining back one spot at a time, until on lap 64 he was back in the 2nd spot.  He was able to stay there for quite some time during lengthy green flag runs, clearly having one of the strongest cars in the field.

Cautions picked up with about 25 laps remaining.  While during previous restarts he had been the only car to even approach Kyle Busch's lead car, when the green flag flew on lap 134 he fell back from 2nd to 5th.  In conversation with Dave Rogers, his crew chief, Carl indicated that the outside lane was slick.

Less than 20 laps later, the field was restarting again.  Once more Carl was on the outside, this time in 4th place.  To get away from the slick outside line, he took the first opportunity to dive down into the inside lane, thinking that would solve his grip problem.  It was a good theory.  It just was not an accurate theory.

His car got loose in tight quarters, and he spun out.  Not only did he slam into the outside wall hard, he also collected a number of other cars.  The Stanley Toyota was damaged too badly to continue, so the 19 crew ended their day less than ten laps before the scheduled end of the race.  Sadly another DNF.  Once the race ended, he was listed in 35th place.

While he maintained the 3rd spot on the Chase grid, he fell back two positions in the drivers' standings, from 4th to 6th.  Good thing he has already clinched a spot in the Chase. 

While we feel badly that Carl did not contend for the victory and his chance at kissing the bricks, it is good to remember that he climbed out of that car and walked away without so much as a scratch.  He moves on to race another day.  Kudos to everyone responsible for the safety features that protect our favorite driver and his colleagues.

Goodbye Loudon, Hello Chase!

This is my 19th Carl Edwards blog, so I had hoped he would win all three practices, all three rounds of qualifying, and the pole, lead all 301 laps, and finally drive his SportClips Toyota Camry into victory lane.  It did not quite go as planned.

The car showed evidence of speed during practice, finishing the three sessions in 2nd, 1st, and 8th.  And he showed good long-run speed, flashing the 2nd fastest 10-lap average during the final practice session.  During the first round of qualifying, he posted the 9th fastest time, easily moving on to the second round.  But in the second round, his time was 13th fastest, 0.01 behind 12th place.  So he did not make it into the third and final round, settling for the 13th starting position, and at a track where position is critical because of how difficult it is to pass.

To complicate things even further, the team received their fourth warning of the season during inspection.  The penalty for that infraction is to lose the right to choose their pit stall based on their qualifying position.  So instead of being the 13th team to select a stall, they were 40th and last, getting the leftover stall.  That left them sandwiched between Ryan Blaney's #21 car and Alex Bowman in Junior's #88.

With two less experienced drivers and a large number of cars maintaining positions on the lead lap, Carl and his team found themselves in tight quarters.  One time Alex Bowman clipped the corner of Carl's car when trying to exit his pit stall.  Another time, Blaney's position in his stall had the 19 team blocked in, so Dave Rogers called an audible.  He changed what would have been a two-tire stop to a four-time stop, because they could not get out of their stall anyway, leaving them further back than they otherwise would have restarted.

Out on the track during much of the race, Carl's position ranged from a high of 4th to a low of 17th.  The better positions were often the result of adjustments made to the car followed by digging to gain spots on a restart.  The poorer positions were mostly the result of difficulties on pit road.  Not only did they struggle with the cars on either side of them, but the 19 crew had its own struggle when a tire got hung up on the fender.  But other than those situations, Carl mostly seemed to hang between 7th and 13th.

It was a typical Loudon race, with long green-flag runs at the beginning of the race, followed by a flurry of cautions as the race wound down and the drivers wound up.  The attrition rate during those last few cautions seemed to indicate that Carl might end up with a top ten finish after all.  But no.  On lap 284 out of 301, several cars ahead, someone checked up.  That was followed by Ryan Newman getting into Carl who got into Kasey Kahne who got into Kyle Larson.  Larson's car went sliding through the grass, clearly taking the worst of it.  Newman sailed through the mess pretty much unscathed.  Carl had to take his car down pit road a couple of times to get new tires and adjusted fenders, but he managed to stay on the lead lap.  When the race resumed on lap 290, he restarted way back in 23rd.  With only 11 laps left, he did not have much time to recover, but he did advance a few spots, finishing the day in 20th.

In spite of that disappointing finish, he did maintain the 3rd spot on the Chase grid and 4th in the drivers' standings.  And it is official; Carl is now firmly in the Chase!  His spot is clinched as a result of the race at Loudon.  Comparing his points with the number of races left before the Chase gets underway, mathematically he cannot fall out of the top 30.  The best news of the weekend!

His teammate Matt Kenseth took the checkered flag, moving the Gibbs organization into position for the third most wins in the Cup series, eclipsing the Roush organization.  Quite an accomplishment, given what a short period of time JGR has existed, as compared to the lifespan of the other organizations. Once the race was over and the television show moved into the interview portion, the broadcasters had the chance to talk to Coach Gibbs about this accomplishment as well as how this year's successes set them up for the Chase.  During this interview, one of the announcers said something like "you have done well with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Matt Kenseth."  That observation leads me to ending my weekly column with this note:

Dear Kyle Petty,

It may interest you to know that about a year and a half ago, the Gibbs stable added a fourth team piloted by a young up-and-coming driver by the name of Carl Edwards.  This young man from Columbia, Missouri, has previously had some success in both the Truck and Xfinity (then Nationwide) series.  Since arriving in the Cup series, he has won a few races.  Well, more than a few, actually.  He has enough wins to put him in the top ten most wins of active drivers.  Over the several years that he has been in Cup series, he has come close to winning the championship on a couple of different occasions.  I predict he will do wonderful things in the future.  Perhaps you could consider putting him on your radar.

Sincerely,
Every Carl Edwards' fan who weeps when he is overlooked

Lessons Learned in the Bluegrass State

We have become used to Dave Rogers unloading a speedy car for Carl, but this weekend the car was exceptionally fast.  He logged the fastest time in three of the four practices.  The only practice session he did not "win" was the second session that was shortened due to weather.

Unfortunately qualifying was rained out.  Until very recently they would set the field based on speeds from the first practice session, but NASCAR realized that policy would create a bad situation for the non-charter teams in position to make the Chase.  So just last weekend they changed the rule to instead set the starting grid based on owners' points.  It was a very practical change that just happened to work against Carl in this case.  His fastest time in the first practice session would have given him the first position at the start of the race (and the best pit stall).  But his fifth place position in the owners' points was not a bad starting spot anyway.  And Kurt Busch, who lined up in third place, had to drop to the back at the start of the race.  So when all was said and done, Carl took the green flag in third place.

Once that green flag dropped, Carl immediately moved up to 2nd.  But then he fell back all the way to 8th.  Thus began the pattern of the day.  He would gain a bit here, lose a few spots there, but never falling out of the top 15.  On some restarts he would fall back, on others he would dive to the bottom and charge ahead.  Carl said that his car drove much differently than it had in practice.  Everybody was learning about the new Kentucky track surface "on the job."  Sometimes tight, sometimes loose, using more brake than usual for an intermediate track.

The learning curve was particularly painful for quite a few drivers.  Both experienced and rookie men found themselves in the wall from tires going down or in the garage from competitors getting loose and taking them out.  It created quite a bit of stress for the teams on the Chase bubble.

Then the cautions settled down and the evening turned into a fuel mileage race.  Carl started saving earlier than many of the other teams.  Several cars came down pit road for a splash of fuel in the last few laps, but the 19 team saved well enough to make it to the finish line.  Unfortunately so did one other car.  Carl finished in 2nd place, but if the race had been one more lap longer, I bet he would have won!

Carl maintained the 3rd spot on the Chase grid, and moved up one position in the drivers' standings, from 5th to 4th.

The worst part of the race took place in the parking lot, where a pickup truck went up in flames.  The fire was so intense that it damaged the cars parked on either side of it.  A grill was perched in the bed of the truck, leading to the suspicion that it was likely the cause of the fire.  However, a post on Twitter indicated that the fire started in the cabin of the truck and emergency responders pulled someone out of there.  Whatever the cause, the result was a bigger mess than what was accumulating in the Cup garage.

Fire in the Parking Lot