Bittersweet Champagne: Quaker State 400 recap & Daytona preview (A NASCAR commentary)

    Quaker State 400 recap

    

We should've popped them bottles with some Redd's instead, guys. 

           If you sum up Brad Keselowski's weekend at Kentucky, it's that "it's just right" on the third try. After two crushing losses in both the Camping World & Nationwide races, Kes pretty much took control of a race that was his for the taking on Saturday night by leading 199 of 267 laps (Penske Racing as an organization led 236 of 267 laps with Joey Logano lead 37 circuits.) It was a dominating effort by the 2 team scoring its second victory of the season, virtually locking them into the Chase for the Sprint Cup....then he bust his hand on a champagne bottle, which required four stitches; though, Brad doesn't think that'll stop him from racing at Daytona this weekend. As for teammate Logano, he lost a cylinder in the closing laps, but was able to finish 9th despite a fading engine. Hendrick Motorsports had all of the drivers finish in the top-10 for the third consecutive week, led by Dale Earnhardt Jr's fifth-place finish. Jeff Gordon was sixth, Kasey Kahne was 8th & Jimmie Johnson in tenth. Roush had two drivers in the top-20 with Greg Biffle (14th) & past week winner, Carl Edwards (17th) proving that his two wins haven't fixed much at that organization. Ryan Newman (3rd) got his first top-5 of the season since Race 26 at Richmond, where he also finished third. Stewart-Haas Racing had 4 drivers finish in the top-25 with Kevin Harvick leading the way at 7th and Joe Gibbs Racing featured Kyle Busch (2nd) & Matt Kenseth (4th) scoring top-5, but Denny Hamlin finished last in the field with a crash off turn 4 due to a flat right-front tire. Kenseth's night was pretty eventful, to say the least, as he recovered from a flat-tire of his own and salvaged a great finish out of it.

           As for the race itself? I didn't enjoy it because of how strung out it gotten and everyone seemed to have a hard time passing. Some of it has to do with the aerodynamics, some of it has to do with the track's age. If they've paved the track, I'd probably be uttering these same concerns; it's just hard to make moves because the action gets so strung out after restarts.

Will Earnhardt Jr Sweep Daytona?

           Jimmie Johnson broke a 31-year streak for race sweeps with his wins in the Daytona 500 & the Coke Zero 400. The last individual before him to perform a rare feat was Bobby Allison in 1982. Jr hasn't been dominating DIS since the days of Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, when you expecting the 8 & 15 cars in contention for wins; but, that's what happens when everyone else around got better at the restrictor plate racing. Now, this isn't to say that he hasn't been in contention for these races, it's that it became difficult to produce usual results back in the early 2000s. Sweeping isn't easy, since, there are always going to be things out of your control, which is what every driver is always up against. Since 1959, there have been five Cup sweeps at Daytona in those 55 years of racing at Daytona International Speedway. Plus, the night has belonged to Tony Stewart more than anybody. In the last 10 Daytona night races, Tony Stewart has won 4 of them; most recently in 2012. Jr's last (and only) win in this event was in 2001, which is one of his more popular wins. But, CAN HE pull off a sweep? I say no because it's simply a rarity to pull off an outcome like that. Sure, he won in February under weird circumstances (They raced in the evening because of precipitation), led 54 of the final 70 laps (Carl Edwards & Greg Biffle both led 8 laps in spurts) and won, but again, sweeps don't happen often. They're outliers. Wonderful outliers that JJ produced last year, so there's a modicum of respect for it. But, Dale Jr has some high odds to overcome if he were to win on Saturday night.

           Prediction

            

            Jr has a shot as long as he's in position to win it. Given that he has the 2nd best average finish, it wouldn't be surprising to see him up there contending for a victory, but I say Jeff Gordon takes this one on Saturday night. Jr will probably get a top-5, which would match his total for the last two seasons for Hendrick Motorsports (10 top-5 finishes in '12 & '13). I expect this race to have a similar pace as that of this year's Daytona 500. Expect a long run where everyone is feeling out the track and the handling, then things will get tight in the closing stages. Yeah, it'll be one of those races, and people don't like that kind of racing when you have to wait for the good stuff.