Kasey Kahne Is The Star Of this Tale

 What a day for sports! For the joy that Memorial Day Sunday brings to a Sports Fan, it takes away on Monday. We were treated to two of the best races I've seen lately(I missed the Monaco GP), a Golf Championship from Colonial, NBA 
Western Conference Championship game one, and a dandy Sunday Night Baseball match-up. I don't know about you, but my remote control was busy until almost midnight.

Image Courtesy Yahoo Images

Both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca Cola 600 were very good races. The Indy cars have went through a Chassis Change that produced a record 34 lead changes among ten different leaders. The change produced one of the best Memorial Day races I've seen in a while. After an early pit road incident, race winner Dario Franchetti drove to the front and withstood a last lap move by Takuma Sato to take the Checkered Flag, putting his name on the Borg Warner Trophy for a third time. Team Target's owner Chip Ganassi would not fare as well at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

If you read my blog from yesterday, I had told you  that the driver who could keep up with the track changes the best would drive to Victory Lane. I also told you to watch out for Kasey Kahne and the Farmers Insurance #5 Chevrolet. Kasey and Crew Chief Kenny Francis knew early in the evening that they had a Rocket Ship, and all they would need to do is make minor adjustments, stay close to the leaders, and the track would eventually come to them.

And come to them it did.  With 40 laps remaining, Kasey Kahne took his Hendricks Motorsports Chevrolet to the front, and took a lead that he would not relinquish until the checkered flag flew.

If you were watching the broadcast as I was, when they showed pictures from the cockpit, you could see Kasey looked to be on a Sunday afternoon drive in the park instead of leading a pack of cars around Charlotte Motor Speedway at 185  Miles Per Hour. His car was hooked up and on a rail.

Kasey Kahne's victory Sunday Night was the 13th of his career and the 1st while working for his new boss Rick Hendrick, who now has win 201 in the bag. After a shaky start to the 2012 season and some bad luck, Kahne has posted seven top ten finishes in as many races and pulled into 15th place in the standings, 123 points behind leader Greg Biffle. He now has that all important win under his belt to at least contend for a Wild Card berth in the chase.

I look for Kasey Kahne and the #5 car to have another win or two before seasons end. Kasey has always had a ton of talent, and now he is in equipment that he can contend for a Sprint Cup Title with. With former Hendricks Champion Jeff Gordon having a bad year, I'm sure the rest of the garage area didn't want to have to deal with another Super Star from that stable. But here it is, another legitimate annual contender.

The #5 Hendricks car has not seen a Cup Championship since Terry Labonte hoisted the trophy at Atlanta Motor Speedway at the end of the 1996 season.

Follow Me On Twitter @Spin_47

Charlotte: A Tale Of Two Tracks

In tonight's Coca Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, the drivers who are more able to keep up with the changes the track will go through in the transition from evening to night time, will stand the best chances of driving to Victory Lane. To win Nascar's longest race of the season, one will have to pay as much attention to the track conditions as his or her rear view mirror.

With the record heat and humidity in the Concord, North Carolina area this year, the task will be even more demanding. As the Green Flag drops around 5:30 PM, the track will start out very loose, and begin a gradual tightening as the race proceeds into the evening. When the sun finally sets and they are under the lights, the track will tighten up considerably.

Image Courtesy Yahoo Images

The drivers will have to continually monitor the handling of their race cars, and report these changes to crew chiefs, who will have to modify the chassis set ups  and tire pressures to keep their drivers competitive on the track. Drivers who are late in recognizing handling problems can get behind early, and put their team in a hole they can't get out of.

The History 300 that ran on Saturday did not provide much feedback to Rookies, as it finished before sundown. The All Star race last Saturday started and finished under the lights, thus not revealing secrets to what the transition will be like tonight. The onus will be entirely on the driver/crew chief team, and their ability to adapt.

The Coca Cola 600 started out in 1960, and for the first 24 years was known as the World 600. It was designed to be a 600 mile event to compete on Memorial Day with the Indianapolis 500. The auto manufacturers jumped on board to show the world how their cars could hold up on a race of this length.

Lights were installed in 1992 and the track owners, wanting to capture the magic of  The Winston, and responding to fans who were tired of the heat, moved the race to a Night event. They tinkered with the start times, and settled on 5:30 to apease Fox Television's request to be finished in time for their 10PM news broadcast.

Once the start time was set, the folks at Indianapolis agreed to start the Indy 500 at 11 AM so that drivers competing in both races would have time to make the commute back to Charlotte in time for the Green Flag. This hasn't been necessary for the past few years, so the Indy 500 has moved back to a noon start.

Jimmie Johnson and the Lowes Chevrolet team is one of the best in the business at making adjustments on the track. Jimmie has a firm grasp on his car's performance and, Chad Knaus seems to always know what he needs to do, to keep his driver happy. I don't look for anything different tonight. With the #48 Team hitting on all eight right now, and with Victories at Darlington and last weeks All Star race, I think they are the team to beat.

Look for challenges from his Hendrick Motorsports teammates however. Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon are always a threat at Charlotte. This of course, is barring more Bad Luck for the #24 team. Dale Earnhardt Jr. tends to have trouble with fast changing track conditions, and I don't look for him in Victory Lane tonight. In 13 starts in the Coke 600, his average finish is 19.5, and his highest finish being a 4th place finish. He finished 3rd in a fall race, but has never won a full length race here.

Danica Patrick finished 13th in the History 300 on Saturday afternoon. With the top four positions going to Cup drivers, I view it as almost a 9th place finish. She rolls off in the 40th position tonight, and I don't look for much out of her. Hopefully she will get what she need the most, laps in her Go Daddy Chevrolet on a difficult track, and not get wrecked out early.

Enjoy the race, and be sure to remember the Heroes who died so you could enjoy this Great Holiday and Great Race!

Follow Me On Twitter @Spin_47

The Fan Vote Was Right On

What ended Saturday Night at Charlotte Motor Speedway with Jimmie Johnson doing a semi victory lap with Car Owner Rick Hendrick standing and waving to a crowd of well wishers, started with something that made me proud to be a Nascar fan.

Don't get me wrong, I know that if Dale Earnhardt Jr. had not driven his way into the All Star Race by finishing second in the Sprint Showdown earlier in the evening, he would have been voted in by the fans, and I probably wouldn't be writing this particular blog today. But by him racing in, the vote fell to one of my all time favorite drivers, Bobby Labonte.

Image Courtesy Yahoo Images

Most of the newer fans see him today, driving the JTG #47 Toyota, which is a small one car team owned by Tad Geschickter, and don't know how he dominated the Cup series for almost a decade in the Joe Gibbs Interstate Pontiac currently driven by Kyle Busch. The 48 year old driver from Corpus Christi, Texas has 21 Sprint Cup wins and has started on the pole 27 times in a career that has seen 665 races. He has 115 top 5's and 201 top 10's and a remarkably low 95 DNF's.

Bobby won a Cup title in 2000, finishing 265 points ahead of second place Dale Earnhardt. In 1996 Bobby won the season ending Napa 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway from the pole and, celebrated in victory lane with brother Terry who son the Winston Cup Championship. The Labonte brothers are the only brothers in Nascar history to have both won a championship.

During his decade of prominence, Bobby Labonte owned the Atlanta Motor Speedway. He had 6 wins in 37 starts on this track, three more than any other other track on the circuit. He had 12 top 5's here and 13 top 10's.

For reasons I'm not sure of, at the end of the 2005 season, Bobby asked to be let out of his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing and promptly signed on to drive the famed #43 at Richard Petty Motorsports. His attempt to restore dignity to the struggling race team ended in 2008 with some decent starts, but a lot of hard luck finishes.

Bobby, was in my opinion,  the masters of fast track racing. This was evident at places like Atlanta, Michigan, Pocono, Daytona and Talladega. He never got a victory at Daytona, but finished 2nd. in 2000 to Dale Earnhardt in his only 500 win. Bobby struggled in short track racing, with only one win coming at Martinsville in 2002. I think had he mastered the short tracks, he would have won a few more Cup titles.

Bobby Labonte is, and has always been a consumate champion in this sport and continues to be one of my favorite Drivers on the circuit today. Thanks again Nascar fans for voting him into Saturday Nights All Star Race, where he finished 19th. in most likely his last appearance in this event.

 Follow Me On Twitter @Spin_47

Finally: 200 Wins For Rick Hendrick

Image Courtesy Yahoo Images

I know that with the "Lion's Share" of  the first 199 wins, Jeff Gordon would want to give Rick Hendrick Number 200, but the bad luck that has plagued the Drive To End Hunger Dupont Chevrolet this season, would continue on this night at Darlington. Jimmie Johnson, however, was on a mission Saturday Night in the BoJangles 500 to get that elusive 200th win for his boss.

The Racing world has been waiting since October to  have this celebration, that everyone knew was coming, and it couldn't have come at a better time, on a beautiful Saturday Night with all the Mom's in attendance at the place where modern stock car racing began. This was the perfect place at the perfect time. It was only fitting that The Lady In Black would provide the setting.

Jimmie Johnson, in his Lowes Chevrolet would not be denied in a race that started out to be a battle of tire management, and ended up being decided by fuel management. After a late race caution, Martin Truex who was a force to be reckoned with all night in his Napa Auto Parts Toyota, came down pit road for tires and a load of  Sunoco fuel, found himself back in the pack 10 places in back of the leaders who didn't pit. This is a mistake that took him out of contention.

During three subsequent cautions, The Lowes Chevrolet was deep in fuel management mode, turning his engine off and coasting, only starting it as necessary, to keep up with the pace car. This was necessary to hold off a hard charging Tony Stewart, who had not been a factor until late in the race. Tony would run out of fuel on the last lap, and finish behind Denny Hamlin in third place.  Smoke said in an interview after race that his fuel pressure was dropping during the one-to-go, which was evident as he pulled his Office Depot Chevy down on the apron, to keep his gas tank level. His presents occupied Denny Hamlin long enough to let Jimmie Johnson get a lead he would not relinquish.

Jimmie Johnson ended a win-less streak that went back to the Hollywood Casino 400 in October of  last year. After a controversial start at Daytona in February, where he was fined and docked 25 Driver Points, and a Lap 1 crash in the Daytona 500, rendered a 42nd place finish, JJ has been on a mission to get back into contention. His win Saturday night pushes him up three positions to share 5th  with Martin Trues Jr, only 39 points behind Leader Greg Biffle.

Car owner Rick Hendrick had to make two trips to Nascar,s arbitration board, where he pleaded his case, and got Jimmie Johnson's 25 points restored, as well as fines and suspensions reversed for his Crew Chief and Car Boss. This vaulted the Lowes Chevrolet back into contention, and Jimmie Johnson has done the rest.

The Victory Lane celebration included interviews from all who had contributed to the 200 win milestone, including Geoff Bodine who was the first, at Martinsville in 1984. The Speed Channel festivities included past Hendrick drivers Darrel Waltrip, Rickey Rudd and Terry Labonte. Nascars most successful owner was heralded by all who has been part of his storied career in this sport. Everyone to a man lauded the fact that when you work for Rick Hendrick, you become part of his family, and anytime you needed anything, you could always call, and he would be there.