On a side note, never thought I'd say this but we need to get rid of SPEED (International) & get FOX Sports 1 on the cable providers, for the sake of having the up to date shows & certain apps using that as the guide going forward.
I mean I have no problem with the Daytona 500 repeating as it is now, but again for the sake of having the present channel in place.
Well we're ptrtty much cut from it here in Tobago. Once ESPN takes over the season around now we get nothing cause they refuse to list it. Notices speed is gone from here as well as Direct TV. I usually just watch the live ticker on nascar's site cause I'm so accustomed to not getting to see it anymore.
Trinidad is the same story. No ESPN. It wasn't so bad when they used to air the Chase races on ABC but since they switched most except night races to ESPN it's become a pain.
At least this Saturday's race is one of those 3 night races.
Kurt Busch - #78 FRR to #00(?) SHR Ryan Newman - #39 SHR to #31 RCR Juan Pablo Montoya - NSCS, IRL, USCR? JTG/Daughtery Racing - AJ Allmendinger replacing Bobby Labonte (3 yr contract) Austin Dillon - #3, #29? Kevin Harvick - #4 SHR Mark Martin - ? Furniture Row Racing - 2 car team? Earnhardt Ganassi Racing - Montoya out, Larson in (#42) Jeff Burton - ?
Beatin n banging at bristol tonight....p.s Please dont let kyle win again! Please dont let kyle win again! Please dont let kyle win again! Please dont let kyle win again! Please dont let kyle win again! Please dont let kyle win again!
The 2004 champion of NASCAR’s top series is returning to a premier organization, this time with a Stewart-Haas Racing team that won the 2011 championship with driver and co-owner Tony Stewart. SHR has called an announcement for Tuesday afternoon at the team’s Kannapolis, N.C., headquarters to unveil the driver who will join Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick beginning in 2014.
A 24-time race winner, Busch currently has single-car Furniture Row Racing in contention for a berth to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. That bid took a blow Saturday night in Bristol, Tenn., when a bad wheel hub knocked the Denver-based organization outside the top 10 in points. It was the latest in a series of miscues that have hampered the No. 78 team’s quest for a first playoff bid.
SHR’s pursuit of Busch has come to light in the past two weeks, and is being spearheaded by co-owner Gene Haas, who founded the organization before Stewart was brought on board. Haas will appear at SHR’s announcement at 2 p.m. ET Tuesday, along with team competition director Greg Zipadelli.
Last week at Bristol, Zipadelli made no secret that the team wanted Busch in a fourth car, even though a month earlier the organization had chosen not to retain current driver Ryan Newman for the 2014 season.
“Gene is obviously a partner who started this many years ago. He's always liked Kurt. We talked about Kurt last year, putting him in the 39 (car), and things just didn't work out,” Zipadelli said at Bristol. “It's really nothing that Ryan did wrong. He's done a great job, he's a good guy, heck of a driver. This just kind of got sprung on us 14 days ago or less, this kind of all came down.”
Busch isn’t the only major addition on SHR’s radar. The team is also bringing in crew chief Rodney Childers to oversee Harvick’s team beginning next season. Childers has won three Sprint Cup races with Michael Waltrip Racing, most recently last month with Brian Vickers. Monday was Childers’ last day with MWR.
There was no formal confirmation of any signings Monday by SHR, which deferred all questions to Tuesday’s announcement.
Joining SHR caps a career comeback for Busch, who was thrust into professional wilderness after the 2011 season when he split from Penske Racing. After nearly a full season of racing with cash-strapped Phoenix Racing -- with which he nearly won at the road course in Sonoma, Calif. -- the Las Vegas native joined Furniture Row Racing, who he’s carried into Chase contention. The team is currently 12th in points, but fifth in Wild Card standings because Busch does not have a victory on the season.
That quest for a first victory with Furniture Row -- and Busch’s first victory since October of 2011 with Penske -- has been hampered by issues beyond the driver’s control. A slow pit stop kept Busch from winning the Sprint All-Star exhibition, and a week later he suffered a dead battery while leading the Coca-Coca 600. Saturday at Bristol, he was again leading the race when he suffered what at first appeared to be a loose wheel, and turned out to be a bad wheel hub.
Beginning next season, Busch returns to a level where he should be able to contend for race wins and championships with more regularity. SHR has won 19 times since Stewart became part-owner of the organization prior to the 2009 season, including one each this year by Stewart and Newman. Three-time NASCAR champion Stewart is out for the remainder of this season with a broken leg suffered in a sprint car crash.
An official announcement with team co-owner Gene Haas - the man behind the decision - is set for 2:00 pm/et Tuesday at SHR headquarters in Kannapolis, NC. Sources say SHR is attempting to obtain the #00 for Busch to use beginning next season in the Sprint Cup Series.
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ESPN and Turner Sports are talking with NASCAR about getting out of their broadcast rights agreement a year early, a move that could allow Fox Sports and NBC Sports Group to become the sports broadcasters next year. Its unlikely that the four TV companies will be able to reach a deal, sources say. But the fact that these types of talks are occurring is precedent-setting in an industry where live sports rights are held sacred. For at least the past decade, no rights holder has exited a major media agreement with a property early. ESPN and Turner executives told the series that they are interested in forgoing the final year of their contract. Fox and NBC executives told NASCAR that they are interested in picking up those rights. And sources say NASCAR executives are open to the switch. But any deal faces significant hurdles. Sources said it would have to be a complete switch, not a partial one in which Turner exits its six Sprint Cup races or ESPN exits part of its Nationwide Series season. That means it would require an agreement between four competitors ESPN, Turner, Fox and NBC and one property, which would be difficult to structure. ESPN and Turner Sports are willing to sell their rights back to NASCAR for some sort of compensation. Fox Sports and NBC Sports Group are willing to buy the rights from NASCAR, but they feel they should be compensated for letting ESPN and Turner Sports out of their deals early. As the middleman, NASCAR would have to navigate those opposing interests. Representatives from the four media companies, as well as NASCAR, declined comment. ESPN and Turner Sports have told NASCAR they are prepared to carry the races next year, but both would prefer avoiding that lame-duck status. Both opted not to submit final bids to retain NASCAR rights when the sport held TV negotiations last month, and they see upside in exiting their deals a year early.
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Kyle Larson will make the leap to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2014, replacing Juan Pablo Montoya at the wheel of the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet.
The team officially made the announcement at a news conference Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Larson, 21, will be the youngest driver to run a full schedule in NASCAR’s top division next season. The Asian-American phenom has been under contract to EGR since February 2012 and is in his first full season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, driving for Turner Scott Motorsports. He ranks eighth in the series standings with six top-five finishes in 23 starts.
Larson cut his teeth driving sprint cars in what remains a packed extracurricular racing schedule. He also sealed the 2012 championship in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East as he worked up the stock car ranks.
Larson scored his first national series victory last April, outrunning Joey Logano in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Rockingham Speedway.
Montoya, 37, will depart Earnhardt Ganassi after a seven-year tenure in the No. 42. The former Indy 500 and Formula One winner has two Sprint Cup victories with the team, one each on the road courses at Sonoma and Watkins Glen. The Colombian driver ranks 22nd in Sprint Cup points, with four top-five finishes in 24 races this season.
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Quick notes
-Martin Truex Jr. broke wrist at Bristol, racing at Atlanta -Denny Hamlin sprained thumb at Bristol, racing at Atlanta -Bobby Labonte broke ribs in bike incident, was to drive #51, replaced by Mike Bliss -AJ Allmendinger replaces Bobby Labonte in #47 JTG/Daugherty Racing (3 year contract)
Been an injury-fest this year in NASCAR -Bobby Labonte - ribs -Denny Hamlin - back, thumb -Martin Truex Jr. - wrist -Tony Stewart - leg
Silly Season catch up -AJ Allmendinger - to #47 JTG/DR -Bobby Labonte - from #47 JTG/DR to TBD -Brian Vickers - to #55 MWR -Juan Pablo Montoya - from #42 EGR to TBD -Kevin Harvick - from #29 RCR to #4 SHR -Kurt Busch - from #78 FRR to #TBD SHR -Kyle Larson - to #42 EGR -Mark Martin - from #55 MWR to TBD -Ryan Newman - from #39 SHR to TBD
Never seen a race delayed by pyro smoke before lol.
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Looks like Kyle pulled a Kevin, as in, where did he come from.
Side note, the 2014 #55 Aaron's Toyota Camry has been revealed (for a while now):
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Oh & this happened post race, Camping World Truck Series from the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park between Max Papis & driver Mike Skeen's girlfriend
Max claims he suffered a dislocated jaw as a result. She has since been banned indefinitely from NASCAR events & fined $2500. Max is considering legal action.
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Jeff Burton out of the #31 CAT Chevy for 2014, looking to run part-time from 2015.
Juan Montoya looking to be the lead candidate for the #78 Furniture Row Chevy after visiting their shop during the week.
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Congratulations are in order for the Johnsons. Jimmie & his wife Chandra welcomed a to be named baby girl at 2:02am Friday 6 September. 5lbs, 10 ounces, 19" long.
Jimmie will not practice nor qualify the car Friday but will race on Saturday night.
NASCAR trending this morning, not necessarily a good thing/for the right reasons.
Clint Bowyer/Michael Waltrip Racing sure are looking suspect right about now. Unfortunately NASCAR's unofficial stance at this point is that everything is fine so nothing is likely to come of it.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR is reviewing evidence to determine if Michael Waltrip Racing deliberately attempted to manipulate the outcome of the race that set the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field.
NASCAR President Mike Helton told The Associated Press before Sunday's Truck Series race at Iowa that officials in the scoring tower did not immediately see anything to believe Clint Bowyer's spin with seven laps remaining at Richmond was suspicious.
It brought out a caution with Ryan Newman leading Saturday night and poised to claim the final berth in the 12-driver Chase field. Instead, it set in motion a chain of events that led to Bowyer teammate Martin Truex Jr. earning the final berth and Newman losing both the race and a spot in the Chase.
When Bowyer spun to bring out the caution, Helton said race control, located in a suite above the track, could not determine if it was done deliberately to aid Truex.
"We didn't see anything that indicated that anything like that was taking place. And it's natural when everything was as close as it was between who was going to get in and not go in to scratch your heads and try to figure out and wonder why," Helton said. "But we didn't see anything initially (Saturday) night that indicated that, but certainly we'll go back through all the video and everything to be sure, because we take the responsibility very serious to be sure that it's — that everybody has had a fair chance."
An ESPN replay that included communication between Bowyer and his team implied the spin was deliberate. Bowyer was shown the video after the race and denied he spun intentionally, a claim he repeated throughout the post-race activities.
"We had a flat tire or something. It just snapped around," Bowyer said, later adding, "I know it's a lot of fun for you guys to write a lot of wacky things. Go ahead if you want to, get creative. But don't look too much into it."
But the in-car audio framed the situation as his crew goading him into spinning his car to bring out the yellow while Newman, who was battling Truex for the second wild-card berth in the Chase, was leading the race.
"Thirty-nine is going to win the race," Bowyer was told over his radio.
"Is your arm starting to hurt?" crew chief Brian Pattie asked. After a pause, Pattie said, "I bet it's hot in there. Itch it."
Bowyer's car then spun.
NASCAR did not have access to that audio until after the race, and it is presumably among the materials Helton was reviewing Sunday.
Also, it became apparent early Sunday morning that Bowyer and teammate Brian Vickers further aided Truex by taking a dive over the final three laps.
The race resumed with three laps to go and four-time series champion Jeff Gordon poised to claim the 10th spot in the Chase, with Joey Logano in line for the second wild-card.
But Bowyer and Vickers both made pit stops that helped Logano improve his finishing position enough that he claimed the 10th Chase berth, thus eliminating Gordon from contention. It freed up the wild card for Truex, and Gordon was not eligible for the wild card.
The AP reviewed team communications for both Bowyer and Vickers on Sunday, and Vickers was told by MWR general manager Ty Norris to pit because "we need that 1 point."
"We're probably going to pit here on green," Norris says.
"Are you talking to me?" a surprised Vickers asks.
Vickers continued to question the call, at one point asking, "I don't understand, pit right now?"
"You've got to pit this time. We need that 1 point," Norris replies.
"10-4. Do I got a tire going down?" Vickers asked.
Vickers then pitted as the field went green. When he asked after if his crew found anything with the tire, Norris replied, "I'll see you after the race, Brian, I owe you a kiss."
Bowyer's radio communication is not as verbose, but he pitted twice after his spin, and the team called him down pit road for a third time with no explanation as the field went green.
It's not uncommon in NASCAR for teammates to help each other with track position, so on its face, the calls for the two MWR drivers to pit aren't that egregious. But added with Bowyer's spin, fans were crying foul on MWR's actions, especially since it cost both Gordon and Newman spots in the 10-race Chase.
MWR co-owner Michael Waltrip was calling the Truck race for Fox Sports 1 on Sunday and declined to comment to AP, saying he was too busy preparing for the broadcast.
Gordon posted on Twitter that he felt bad for both drivers.
"Was feeling pretty bad about missing the #Chase but after seeing all the details coming out now I feel even worse for @RyanNewman39," he tweeted on Sunday.
Newman downplayed the significance of Bowyer's spin because he said his pit crew still had a chance to put him in position to win the race after the caution.
"They are teammates. I don't know if he looked at the scoring pylon, knew I was leading, it doesn't matter," Newman said after the race. "If that was the case, I'll find out one way or the other. At the same time, we still had the opportunity to make our own destiny and win it on pit road, and we didn't. That being said, we're out."
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AP Sports Writer Luke Meredith in Newton, Iowa contributed to this report
Wont lie was thinking the same thing when he spun out.Kinda suspicious & stupid to talk about doing it on the radio then do it a few seconds later,especially with nascar monitoring the radio.Maybe he thought as he was so close to dale it would look like he bumped him but the camera showed they didnt touch.Wonder what will be the outcome of this.
NASCAR handed down harsh penalties to Michael Waltrip Racing on Monday, resulting in Martin Truex Jr. being eliminated from the second Wild Card berth for the Chase due to a loss of points and Ryan Newman moving into the Chase as the second Wild Card participant.
MWR teams (No. 15 Clint Bowyer, No. 55 Brian Vickers and No. 56 Truex Jr.) were each penalized with the loss of 50 championship driver points and 50 championship owner points after its actions in Saturday night’s regular-season finale at Richmond International Raceway. In a press release, NASCAR said that MWR "was found to have violated Section 12-4 (actions detrimental to stock car racing). With the penalties, Truex's point total is reduced to 691 points, dropping him to 17th place in the points standings and eliminating him from the second Wild Card position. As a result, Newman moves up to be the second Wild Card participant in the Chase. NASCAR also fined MWR $300,000 and indefinitely suspended Ty Norris (MWR Executive Vice President/General Manager and spotter for the No. 55 car for violating Section 12-4. The three crew chiefs, Brian Pattie (No. 15), Scott Miller (No. 55) and Chad Johnston (No. 56) have all been placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31.
“Based upon our review of Saturday night’s race at Richmond, it is our determination that the MWR organization attempted to manipulate the outcome of the race,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. “As the sport’s sanctioning body, it is our responsibility to ensure there is a fair and level playing field for all of our competitors and this action today reflects our commitment to that.”
The 10-race Chase begins Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway with the Geico 400 (2 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Bowyer’s spin with seven laps remaining in the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond set off a chain of events that directly impacted who qualified for the 12-driver postseason field. Additionally, Vickers’ unscheduled pit stop in the late going allowed Joey Logano to gain a position, helping him race his way into the top 10 in points and freeing up a Wild-Card spot, one of which had gone to Truex.
At the point of Bowyer’s lazy slide off turn 4, Newman led the race and was poised to grab one of two Wild-Card berths if he could capitalize for his second victory of the season. That would have denied one-win Truex the opportunity to snag a Wild-Card spot.
But Bowyer’s spin brought out a deciding final caution. A sluggish pit stop from Newman’s No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing team allowed Carl Edwards to leave pit road first and pull away to the checkered flag on the final restart with three laps remaining.
A review of in-car audio later revealed Bowyer hearing from spotter Brett Griffin that Newman was leading, then comments from his crew chief, Pattie, saying, “Is your arm starting to hurt? I bet it's getting hot in there. Itch it.”
Half a lap later, Bowyer’s No. 15 Toyota spun to force the final caution period.
“My car was tight as hell,” Bowyer said after the race when asked about the team radio communications. “48 (Jimmie Johnson) blew a tire and hit the wall. I'm telling you, I was the next one. That thing slid, what, maybe less than 10 feet and blew out. You know what I mean? Something was going on there. I've been doing this a long time. It is what it is. It's unfortunate. I know it's a lot of fun for you guys to write a lot of wacky things. Go ahead if you want to, get creative. But don't look too much into it.”
Bowyer, who wound up third in the regular-season Sprint Cup standings before the Chase points were re-seeded, had clinched his berth in the Chase three weeks earlier at Bristol Motor Speedway. Truex tied with Newman for the final Wild-Card berth, clinching it on a tiebreaker until NASCAR's ruling on Monday.
The most recent investigation of a suspicious spin came in September 2011, when Paul Menard looped his car at Richmond to force a yellow flag and create an opportunity for Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick to win the race. NASCAR officials said that their review showed no evidence that Menard had spun deliberately.
In March 2004, Dale Earnhardt Jr. admitted in post-race interviews that while driving with a loose wheel, he intentionally spun his car to cause a caution period at Bristol. After his admission, NASCAR deducted 25 driver and owner points (under the former points format) and fined Earnhardt $10,000.
NASCAR also fined Kurt Busch $10,000 after the May 2002 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race after he admitted he spun out Robby Gordon to intentionally force a yellow flag in hopes of bettering his chances to win.
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Jeff Gordon wrote:Feel bad for Truex. He got in under controversy now out due to it. But the guy who started all of this not effected at all??? Don't agree!
Jeff Gordon wrote:Take me out of this completely. At this point all that matters to me is if NASCAR decides to fix this, then fix it completely!
Ryan Newman wrote:I am proud that NASCAR took a stand with respect to what went on Saturday night at Richmond. I know it was a tough decision to make. With that being said, myself, Matt Borland (crew chief) and this entire No. 39 team are looking forward to competing for the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
Marty Smith wrote:When I asked @MartinTruexJr56 after RIR his thoughts on spingate, he looked at me like I was insane. He honestly had no idea. Sucks for him
Michael Waltrip wrote:This wasn't a master plan or about a spin. It's about a split-second decision made by Ty to try to help a teammate. I stand by my people.
Tony Stewart wrote:“Obviously, we’re very pleased with NASCAR’s decision to provide Ryan Newman’s rightful place in this year’s Chase. NASCAR was put in a very difficult position Saturday night at Richmond, and we commend the sanctioning body for taking the time to do the necessary due diligence to ensure that the right call was made.
Michael Waltrip Racing wrote:We apologize to #NASCAR, our fellow competitors, partners and fans who were disappointed in our actions.
& what about Jeff Gordon specifically?
As someone else said on Twitter, if NASCAR was the Titanic they would only close 1/2 of the water doors
Michael Waltrip Racing (full statement) wrote:What occurred on the No. 55 radio at the end of Saturday night’s race in Richmond was a split-second decision made by team spotter Ty Norris to bring the No. 55 to pit lane and help a teammate earn a place in the Chase. We regret the decision and its impact. We apologize to NASCAR, our fellow competitors, partners and fans who were disappointed in our actions. We will learn from this and move on. As general manager, Ty Norris has been an integral part of Michael Waltrip Racing since its founding and has my and (co-owner) Rob Kauffman’s full support.
Maybe NASCAR should have tossed the more active suspect in the Michael Waltrip Racing caper, Clint Bowyer, out of the Chase along with more passive teammate Martin Truex Jr. Monday night.
That would have made room, justly, for the second victim of Bowyer's team-ordered shenanigans at Richmond, Jeff Gordon, and not just the most blatant victim, Ryan Newman.
NASCAR took the 12th and final wild-card berth away from Truex via a points penalty and gave it to Newman, who likely would have won it fairly, along with the Richmond race Saturday night, without Bowyer's spin.
Yet Bowyer's eighth seed in the Chase remains intact.
Gordon also lost enormously to the spin, lost a Chase berth via the point standings, to Joey Logano, by a single point. One. You can't blame Logano or his Team Penske. They had nothing to do with this.
So Gordon is due compensation, a Chase berth. You can't take it from Logano, so leave him in and take a second berth from MWR. Take MWR down entirely, totally out of the Chase. Take Bowyer's berth away and give it to Gordon.
Not that Bowyer wasn't following team orders -- or, hrrmph, strong team suggestions. And not that MWR didn't play other sleazy chess, bringing third teammate Brian Vickers in for a pit stop to Vickers' surprise, and even Bowyer himself for another stop, all apparently aimed at improving Truex's finish in the race and his Chase chances.
The mastermind, or at least the man responsible, if you go by NASCAR's indefinite suspension of him, might have been MWR general manager Ty Norris. But maybe Bowyer's unit of the team should have been a bigger part of the massive punitive damages NASCAR has announced so far, because evidence suggests Bowyer's unit was more active. Bowyer was the man whose spinout detonated all of this.
In retrospect, it appears Gordon earned a berth as Newman did, and then was robbed as Newman was.
NASCAR took a step back from the precipice on credibility Monday night. But it's all still teetering. Imagine allowing Bowyer to go through the Chase. Imagine the booing, the hooting, the necessary media rehashing and commentary, every moment that Bowyer's car turns a tire on every lap.
Just the presence of an MWR car in the playoffs could be an enormous embarrassment to NASCAR. Let alone the very idea of Bowyer winning the whole thing. Imagine … Imagine … Imagine …
All the mainstream public has ever looked down its nose at NASCAR about -- all the perceptions of sleaze, cheating, contrivance, manipulation, rigging, real or not -- looms here, now, in this singular issue.
Meticulous as NASCAR is over a few grams of weight of a connecting rod in an engine, or a couple of millimeters of body height in an inspection, it all could go for naught, all totaled, all penny-wise, all pound-foolish, under an avalanche like this.
Our Marty Smith has sources who say this isn't over -- that, for example, the fines against MWR might not be just $300,000, but $300,000 per car for three cars, totaling $900,000. But that's only money, which of course means little if anything to NASCAR teams nowadays.
I hope this isn't over. I hope it isn't even close to over.
I hope, come the Chase opener at Chicagoland on Sunday, we'll see not only Newman but Gordon in the playoffs, where they belong. I hope we'll see the only fair outcome of all this.
I hope, even for the sake of MWR and Bowyer, that not even they will have to endure the sheer mortification of going through these playoffs.
#15-Clint Bowyer stumbled through an uncomfortable interview during a Tuesday afternoon edition of ESPN's SportsCenter, his first public comments since Michael Waltrip Racing was given the largest penalty in NASCAR history. Bowyer, who largely was unaffected by the penalty despite a suspicious spin that triggered a controversial sequence of events, apologized several times during the interview. But when pressed on why he was apologizing, Bowyer danced around the question.
"No, let's not dig too much into this," Bowyer said when asked if his apology referred to the spin. "I've dealt with a lot of opinions and a lot of things that happened. I gave my interview after the race as to what happened. We've been penalized with the biggest penalty in NASCAR history and we're going to get through this as a race team." Bowyer acknowledged calling to apologize to Ryan Newman ("I felt horrible," he said) and also apologized to any fans "who don't agree and are upset." But pushed to explain his comments further, Bowyer refused to explain himself. "It's a bad deal all the way around for MWR," he said. "Again, we've been penalized for this, we stand by our actions, we own up to them and we're going to get through this together and go on."
Bowyer said he'd enter the garage at Chicagoland this weekend like normal and approach it as he does every weekend, though he admitted the events of the past few days would make it "harder." "I don't want this story to be the story of the Chase," he said.
Hendrick Motorsports team owner Rick Hendrick said he was just as mad as his driver, #24-Jeff Gordon, over the penalties NASCAR handed down Monday night regarding Michael Waltrip Racing's attempt to manipulate the outcome of Saturday night's race at Richmond, Va. Hendrick went on to say, "Jeff Gordon got robbed. On to the Chase and try to win it." Gordon, and his wife, Ingrid Vandebosch, posted several messages on Twitter following NASCAR's announcement expressing their displeasure with the decision. Gordon was in position to make the Chase in the closing laps by finishing in the Top 10 in points but with MWR's cars pitting and pulling off the track and losing positions Joey Logano ended up with claiming a position in the Top 10, leaving Gordon out. Gordon went on to say, even he was taken out of the equation, he didn't agree with NASCAR effectively allowing Bowyer to contend for the series championship with no further penalty.
brickman wrote:Please dont let kyle win again! Please dont let kyle win again! Please dont let kyle win again! Please dont let kyle win again! Please dont let kyle win again! Please dont let kyle win again!
As far as the restart rules, I like the suggestion Elliot Sadler made a while back. Instead of restart zones, let the start/finish line be the restart line. If that was the case then the leader would/should never be beaten to the start/finish
Damn son 
