Defining moments in the season that decided Chase
Four can look back at moments that shifted momentum
By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
In the course of a season, each team goes through many peaks and valleys. That's understandable, given the level of competition, each team's success rate at different tracks and the length of the schedule.
But given the opportunity for 20-20 hindsight, it's possible to look back and see moments that could be considered a momentum shift either contributing to the success or failure of each team's chances of making the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
In the case of four teams -- two which made it, two which did not -- there were specific instances that proved to be a key to where they stood in the standings after Saturday night's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway, and not all occured on the racetrack.
Ryan Newman: Lap 21, Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
Newman was 30 points behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the 12th and final spot in the Chase field heading into Indianapolis. He qualified third and expected big things when the race started.
However, he quickly dropped back in the field with handling issues after the drop of the green, and his day went from bad to worse when he made contact with David Stremme in Turn 4, spun and made heavy contact with the wall, sidelining the No. 12 Dodge for the rest of the.
"I just got hit in the left rear quarter panel," Newman said. "Stremme tried sticking it underneath me when he shouldn't have and spun us around. It's unfortunate. We took a pretty good lick to the wall and ended our day."
Newman knew at the time, the resulting 42nd-place finish was a huge blow to his Chase hopes. He dropped behind Kurt Busch into 14th, 59 points behind Junior. Still, with six races remaining, he believed he could rally.
"It was definitely a devastating blow in more than one way, but we can come back," he said. "It's just a matter of how far we can come back now."
Newman did rally the next weekend at Pocono, finishing seventh. Unfortunately, Busch and Earnhardt finished first and second. And despite putting together four consecutive finishes of 16th or better, Newman steadily lost ground to Busch.
He was eliminated from Chase contention at California when he suffered engine problems and finished 39th.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Lap 63, Centurion Boats at the Glen
Earnhardt had been fighting engine issues at different times during the season, including a 34th-place finish at Indianapolis, but was seven points behind Kurt Busch heading to Watkins Glen.
Starting 14th, Earnhardt quickly showed he had one of the best cars on the track, moving up five spot in the first six laps and breaking into the top five at the midway point.
Running third with less than 30 laps to go, the caution flag came out for an incident involving Newman and Clint Bowyer. At exactly the same time, the No. 8 Chevrolet slowed on the track, a victim of another broken powerplant.
However, in this instance, Earnhardt took the blame.
"I think it was due to some of the downshifts I was doing during practice," Junior said. "We didn't turn anything over 10,000 rpm during the race, but during practice all weekend, I was having trouble with the car and struggling.
"I was using the downshift to slow the car down and get some speed out of the thing. We might have beat on the motor too hard this weekend, but [the engines] have been really good this year. We have had a lot of gremlins, but as far as failure in parts, rods and things like that, we haven't had them."
At the time, Earnhardt had confidence that he could make up the 100-point deficit.
"We're going to have our work cut out for us," he said. "This engine trouble here is going to make it much more difficult than what we were looking at last week. But we're going to keep trying. We've got to keep trying. If we don't try, we'll be pretty damned ashamed of ourselves. So we've got to keep working."
Junior was left outside looking in for the second time in three seasons, as his engine expired during the final laps at Richmond, once again while Junior was in contention.
Kevin Harvick: Lap 73, Centurion Boats at the Glen
With five top-10 finishes in six races heading into Watkins Glen, Harvick seemed to cement a spot in the Chase. He was running fifth when Juan Montoya dove down the inside in Turn 1 following a restart and was tapped from behind by Martin Truex Jr., setting off a chain-reaction accident that affected Harvick's momentum for several races to follow.
Harvick climbed from his damaged No. 29 Chevrolet and went helmet-to-helmet with Montoya. Later, Harvick had more to say about the incident.
"It's one of those things where [the car] was really good there at the end and it just felt like we'd saved our car enough to have a chance to win there," Harvick said. "And it all just goes up in smoke because some people get impatient. But I just hate it. I'm frustrated with [Montoya]. It just seems like he runs over somebody every week."
Harvick wound up 36th and dropped to 10th in the standings. He followed that with three shaky finishes -- a 15th at Michigan, a 16th at Bristol and 14th at California -- before rallying for seventh at Richmond to lock down the final spot by 201 points over Earnhardt.
"Everything in between, we've just had a lot of things go wrong," Harvick said. "Hopefully, we've got all that out of the way, a solid top-10 run and overcome a lot of things, so it's nice to start back at ground zero with everybody and only be a few points behind."
Kurt Busch: Lap 271, Autism Speaks 400
Busch was ninth in the standings heading to Dover, where he qualified 12th and was running sixth behind Tony Stewart when the two cars slammed into each other several times along the frontstretch.
Busch then pulled his No. 2 Dodge alongside Stewart's car in the pits two laps later, narrowly missing a crewman in the process. That incident led NASCAR to park Busch for the remainder of the race. He wound up 42nd, and coupled with a 100-point penalty, he dropped all the way to 17th and seemingly out of contention.
But in Busch's case, it's what didn't happen that might have played the biggest factor in his ability to make the Chase. NASCAR could have suspended Busch for a race, a move that would have had a major impact on the rest of his season. Instead, Busch was allowed to drive the next weekend at Pocono.
Despite crashing his primary car in practice, Busch was able to rally for a 16th-place finish but was encouraged by the improvement his team was making.
"We were working our way up through," he said. "At times we were as fast as the leader. At other times, we weren't quite as quick. Track position is important and we kept getting a little bit at a time."
With just three top-10s before his Dover meltdown -- including crashing while racing for the lead in the Daytona 500 -- Busch's fortunes turned around when the series returned to Daytona. He wound up third behind the Jamie McMurray-Kyle Busch photo finish, reeled off a sixth at Chicagoland, followed by a dominating victory at Pocono that vaulted him into the Chase to stay.
Even getting caught up in a multi-car accident on Saturday night couldn't faze the 2004 champion, who heads into the Chase with confidence and momentum.
"Since the beginning of July it's felt like a very solid race team," Busch said. "We're poised to be at threat in this deal. We have fast racecars. We have consistency and we have patience. And the best thing is we have that experience."
Four can look back at moments that shifted momentum
By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
In the course of a season, each team goes through many peaks and valleys. That's understandable, given the level of competition, each team's success rate at different tracks and the length of the schedule.
But given the opportunity for 20-20 hindsight, it's possible to look back and see moments that could be considered a momentum shift either contributing to the success or failure of each team's chances of making the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
In the case of four teams -- two which made it, two which did not -- there were specific instances that proved to be a key to where they stood in the standings after Saturday night's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway, and not all occured on the racetrack.
Ryan Newman: Lap 21, Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
Newman was 30 points behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the 12th and final spot in the Chase field heading into Indianapolis. He qualified third and expected big things when the race started.
However, he quickly dropped back in the field with handling issues after the drop of the green, and his day went from bad to worse when he made contact with David Stremme in Turn 4, spun and made heavy contact with the wall, sidelining the No. 12 Dodge for the rest of the.
"I just got hit in the left rear quarter panel," Newman said. "Stremme tried sticking it underneath me when he shouldn't have and spun us around. It's unfortunate. We took a pretty good lick to the wall and ended our day."
Newman knew at the time, the resulting 42nd-place finish was a huge blow to his Chase hopes. He dropped behind Kurt Busch into 14th, 59 points behind Junior. Still, with six races remaining, he believed he could rally.
"It was definitely a devastating blow in more than one way, but we can come back," he said. "It's just a matter of how far we can come back now."
Newman did rally the next weekend at Pocono, finishing seventh. Unfortunately, Busch and Earnhardt finished first and second. And despite putting together four consecutive finishes of 16th or better, Newman steadily lost ground to Busch.
He was eliminated from Chase contention at California when he suffered engine problems and finished 39th.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Lap 63, Centurion Boats at the Glen
Earnhardt had been fighting engine issues at different times during the season, including a 34th-place finish at Indianapolis, but was seven points behind Kurt Busch heading to Watkins Glen.
Starting 14th, Earnhardt quickly showed he had one of the best cars on the track, moving up five spot in the first six laps and breaking into the top five at the midway point.
Running third with less than 30 laps to go, the caution flag came out for an incident involving Newman and Clint Bowyer. At exactly the same time, the No. 8 Chevrolet slowed on the track, a victim of another broken powerplant.
However, in this instance, Earnhardt took the blame.
"I think it was due to some of the downshifts I was doing during practice," Junior said. "We didn't turn anything over 10,000 rpm during the race, but during practice all weekend, I was having trouble with the car and struggling.
"I was using the downshift to slow the car down and get some speed out of the thing. We might have beat on the motor too hard this weekend, but [the engines] have been really good this year. We have had a lot of gremlins, but as far as failure in parts, rods and things like that, we haven't had them."
At the time, Earnhardt had confidence that he could make up the 100-point deficit.
"We're going to have our work cut out for us," he said. "This engine trouble here is going to make it much more difficult than what we were looking at last week. But we're going to keep trying. We've got to keep trying. If we don't try, we'll be pretty damned ashamed of ourselves. So we've got to keep working."
Junior was left outside looking in for the second time in three seasons, as his engine expired during the final laps at Richmond, once again while Junior was in contention.
Kevin Harvick: Lap 73, Centurion Boats at the Glen
With five top-10 finishes in six races heading into Watkins Glen, Harvick seemed to cement a spot in the Chase. He was running fifth when Juan Montoya dove down the inside in Turn 1 following a restart and was tapped from behind by Martin Truex Jr., setting off a chain-reaction accident that affected Harvick's momentum for several races to follow.
Harvick climbed from his damaged No. 29 Chevrolet and went helmet-to-helmet with Montoya. Later, Harvick had more to say about the incident.
"It's one of those things where [the car] was really good there at the end and it just felt like we'd saved our car enough to have a chance to win there," Harvick said. "And it all just goes up in smoke because some people get impatient. But I just hate it. I'm frustrated with [Montoya]. It just seems like he runs over somebody every week."
Harvick wound up 36th and dropped to 10th in the standings. He followed that with three shaky finishes -- a 15th at Michigan, a 16th at Bristol and 14th at California -- before rallying for seventh at Richmond to lock down the final spot by 201 points over Earnhardt.
"Everything in between, we've just had a lot of things go wrong," Harvick said. "Hopefully, we've got all that out of the way, a solid top-10 run and overcome a lot of things, so it's nice to start back at ground zero with everybody and only be a few points behind."
Kurt Busch: Lap 271, Autism Speaks 400
Busch was ninth in the standings heading to Dover, where he qualified 12th and was running sixth behind Tony Stewart when the two cars slammed into each other several times along the frontstretch.
Busch then pulled his No. 2 Dodge alongside Stewart's car in the pits two laps later, narrowly missing a crewman in the process. That incident led NASCAR to park Busch for the remainder of the race. He wound up 42nd, and coupled with a 100-point penalty, he dropped all the way to 17th and seemingly out of contention.
But in Busch's case, it's what didn't happen that might have played the biggest factor in his ability to make the Chase. NASCAR could have suspended Busch for a race, a move that would have had a major impact on the rest of his season. Instead, Busch was allowed to drive the next weekend at Pocono.
Despite crashing his primary car in practice, Busch was able to rally for a 16th-place finish but was encouraged by the improvement his team was making.
"We were working our way up through," he said. "At times we were as fast as the leader. At other times, we weren't quite as quick. Track position is important and we kept getting a little bit at a time."
With just three top-10s before his Dover meltdown -- including crashing while racing for the lead in the Daytona 500 -- Busch's fortunes turned around when the series returned to Daytona. He wound up third behind the Jamie McMurray-Kyle Busch photo finish, reeled off a sixth at Chicagoland, followed by a dominating victory at Pocono that vaulted him into the Chase to stay.
Even getting caught up in a multi-car accident on Saturday night couldn't faze the 2004 champion, who heads into the Chase with confidence and momentum.
"Since the beginning of July it's felt like a very solid race team," Busch said. "We're poised to be at threat in this deal. We have fast racecars. We have consistency and we have patience. And the best thing is we have that experience."