NASCAR takes to the Dirt Track

            For the first time in over 40 years, a NASCAR race will be run on a dirt track.  Where will it be run?  Ohio’s Eldora Speedway owned by Tony Stewart.  When will it take place?  Wednesday night, July 24^th.

            The last time a NASCAR race was run on dirt was September 30^th, 1970 at State Fairgrounds Speedway in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Richard Petty won that race driving a Plymouth. The CarCash Mudsummer Classic is the first time NASCAR has returned to the surface since that time.

            The ½ mile dirt oval is owned by Tony Stewart where he talked to NASCAR almost half-jokingly asking to see if there could be a race held there.  Eventually talks commenced and the end result is the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will run the race in two days under the lights.  The standard lineup of cars for the Truck Series is 36 trucks, but due to the track not being able to accommodate all 36 trucks, the lineup was trimmed to 30.

            The qualifying procedures for the race will be very different compared to the standard qualifying routine for NASCAR.  It will start off with a standard two lap qualifying session to determine the starting order for the qualifying heat races.  There will be five qualifying races, each consisting of eight laps each.  Five trucks will transfer from each race.  At the end of these qualifying races, there will be 25 trucks locked into the show. The next five trucks will qualify for the race in a Last Chance Race.  This race will be a little bit longer and the top four advance to the race.  The last person to start will be a champions provisional.  If all the past series champions entered have already qualified, the driver finishing 5^th in the Last Chance Race will start the race.

            Will this be a success for NASCAR?  We all will find out Wednesday night.

Matthew Colan

Handy Chevrolet

Chevy Wins at Dover

            Jimmie Johnson has essentially owned the Dover Motor Speedway in recent years, winning four of the last nine races at the Monster Mile.  It looked like Jimmie was going to have a chance at winning his fifth race in the past four years, but a late race penalty would cost him at his chance to win.

            Jimmie started the race in the 24^th spot.  He was fighting an ill handling race car and would

eventually fall a lap down to Kyle Busch.  Johnson would eventually get his lap back and begin a charge to the front.  He was able to work his way up to 6^th when arguably the strongest car of the day, Matt Kenseth blew his engine and brought out the caution.  Johnson took the lead when the green flag dropped again.  At that point, the five-time champion began to run away from the rest of the pack, and a win seemed inevitable.

            At that point, Denny Hamlin blew a right front tire and brought out the caution.  Juan Pablo-Montoya took two tires on his pit stop, which would put him in the lead at the restart.  Johnson would restart 2^nd.  At the restart, Montoya delayed the start, but Johnson didn’t. Johnson flew by Montoya and broke the rule saying he couldn’t pass the leader on the restart.  Johnson tried to give the position back to Montoya, but after a half a lap, he just kept on racing.  NASCAR black flagged him and made him go through a drive thru penalty.

            This put Montoya in the lead with laps beginning to wind down. However, he was battling a loose race car which slowed him down.  Tony Stewart in the number 14 Chevrolet passed him with less than four laps to go. Stewart would go on to win the 48^th race of his career with Montoya finishing 2^nd.

            This was another good weekend for Chevy.  At Dover the top three drove a Chevy.  Finishing in 4^th was the first Toyota, Kyle Busch.  The first Ford was Brad Keselowski finishing right behind Kyle.

Matthew Colan

Handy Chevrolet

Chevrolet Takes Two out of Three Memorial Day Races

            Memorial Day weekend is a weekend all race fans look forward to.  That is because three big races occur on the same day.  The day of races starts off in Europe with the Grand Prix at Monaco. Then at noontime begins the greatest spectacle in racing, the Indianapolis 500.  In the evening, the longest race in NASCAR starts, the Coca-Cola 600.  Chevrolet got victories in the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 taking two out of the three Memorial Day races. There were no Chevy entries in the Grand Prix, so naturally a win in that race wouldn’t occur.

            The grand prix at Monaco would go to Mercedes driver, Nico Rosburg.  Rosburg got the pole position to start the race and would go on to lead all 78 laps and score a victory for Mercedes.  Sebastian Vettel of team Red Bull would finish second, almost four seconds behind Rosburg.  Mark Webber finished third six seconds behind the leader.  Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil would round out the top five.

            The 97^th annual Indianapolis 500 began with Ed Carpenter on the pole.  This race smashed previous records of the race.  There were 68 total lead changes, breaking the previous record of 34 set in 2012. 14 different drivers would go on to lead the race, which broke the record set in 1993 with 12 different leaders. This year also had the most cars finishing the race than any other previous Indy 500.  27 cars were running at the finish, breaking the record of 26 that was set all the way back in 1911. This was also the fastest Indianapolis 500 ever run with an average speed of 187.433mph.

            The winner of the 500 would go to Chevy driver Tony Kanaan.  This was TK’s 12^th try and winning the biggest Indy car race of the year and he finally was able to do so.  Rookie Carlos Munoz finished 2^nd, followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti and Justin Wilson to finish up the top 5. Chevrolets took seven of the top 10 spots at Indianapolis.

            Once the Indianapolis 500 was over, it was time to get ready for the Coca-Cola 600, the longest NASCAR race of the year.  Denny Hamlin, in the number 11 Toyota was the pole sitter for the race, who would later go on to finish 4^th.  The first half of the race was run mostly under green with Matt Kenseth becoming the guy to beat.  After a miscommunication with his team and pitting early, the caution came out and that set him back in the pack.  This would prove costly as a Jimmie Johnson spin would get Matt hit from the back, and that would end his hopes at winning the 600.

            Cautions continued to wave for subsequent wrecks and debris.  The most spectacular would probably be when Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Aric Almirola went three wide, down the front stretch.  Mark went a little low and touched the right rear of Almirola’s car sending him towards Jeff Gordon and causing a six car wreck. 

            After that, the race went under green for awhile with Kasey Kahne in the number five Chevy taking the lead by a large margin.  However a debris caution would come out with 14 laps to go.  Everybody elected to pit except Kahne.  This would be Kasey’s downfall as Kevin Harvick on fresh tires passed him on the restart and would continue on to win the race. Kasey Kahne finished second and Kurt Busch finished third.  The first Toyota was Denny Hamlin finishing fourth.  Joey Logano was the first Ford in the finishing order at fifth.

            It was a great weekend for race fans and for Chevrolet.  Now we have to wait another year until the next set of Memorial Day races.

Matthew Colan

Handy Chevrolet