WWW. ATHLONSPORTS.COM INSIDENASCAR » LOGANO LEADS THE CHASE » A SAFER TALLADEGA A WEEKLY SPIN AROUND THE WORLD OF RACING » FROM BUD TO BUSCH FOR HARVICK » TESTING AT MICHIGAN DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY SAVINGS NO MATTER YOUR RIDE. Some discounts, coverages, payment plans and features are not available in all states or all GEICO companies. Motorcycle coverage is underwritten by GEICO Indemnity Company. Boat and PWC coverages are written through Seaworthy Insurance Company, a Berkshire Hathaway affi liate, and through other non-affi liated insurance companies, and are secured through the GEICO Insurance Agency. GEICO is a registered service mark of Government Employees Insurance Company, Washington, D.C. 20076; a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary. GEICO Gecko image © 1999-2015. © 2015 GEICO NUMBERS GAME 8,000 With a spectacularly fast car, Logano simply had to escape the mishaps that plagued his competitors at Charlotte Motor Speedway. All photos by Action Sports, Inc. Talladega Superspeedway announced during the Charlotte weekend that the track recently completed an 8,000-linear foot expansion of SAFER Barriers at the AVOIDING TROUBLE behemoth superspeedway. The addition means that all of Talladega’s interior and exterior walls are now covered by the Joey Logano’s Mistake-Free Day Leads to Victory Lane at Charlotte energy-absorbing wall systems ahead of oey Logano had a fast car in Sunday’s rain-delayed The challenge got tougher when Earnhardt was one of several next week’s Sprint Cup, Camping World Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. cars to slap the wall in Turns 1 and 2 on a Lap 190 restart following Truck and ARCA races at the track. The But he also had another advantage: a day free of cleanup of Justin Allgaier’s broken radiator. Earnhardt and several addition is a direct result of the sport mistakes or bad luck. others claimed NASCAR hadn’t adequately cleaned the track, reacting to Kyle Busch’s crash at Daytona J “Any time you have a race car that fast you just causing cars to slip on oil, though NASCAR denied that there was in February that left the Joe Gibbs Racing hope that something doesn’t go wrong,” still oil on the track. driver with a broken leg and foot. Logano said after the race, probably not entirely Geofrey Miller Earnhardt’s woes left him with a 28th-place inish aware of how accurate he was. Athlon Sports contributor and a 19-point deicit to the Chase cutoff line of eighth. When Logano crossed the finish line, some 20 @GeofreyMiller Kyle Busch saw his chances at a front finishing hours after the originally scheduled green flag that position dashed by a strange accident coming to was called off the night before due to incessant pit road just before the oil incident. Busch, running precipitation, he secured a win that guaranteed him third at the time, made a move to pit road while Logano and then- advancement to the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs. But he second Kyle Larson stayed on track. But at the last minute, Busch also managed to avoid falling victim to all sorts of the trouble that and Larson changed plans and the result was a crossover crash at will make the next two weeks a lesson in stress management for his the entrance of pit road. Larson spun and Busch sustained heavy fellow championship contenders. damage. Sunday at Charlotte, as many races at the venerable 1.5-mile Busch couldn’t explain what happened to cause the incident but TRACKS ON TAP track have been since its 2006 repave and in the current generation lamented how his poor luck comes at a detriment to his crew. SPRINT CUP SERIES of high-downforce Cup cars, was largely processional. Track “They don’t deserve to be put in these situations year in, year position was mostly influenced by pit road speed and strategy. The out, but we are for some reason,” Busch said after finishing 20th. Race: Hollywood Casino 400 race rewarded those who played conservative hands and those who “But it’s tough and we’re going to have to battle through with what Track: Kansas Speedway simply didn’t mess up. we’ve got right now. I can’t say enough about what they did on pit Location: Kansas City, Kan. Many drivers with still-alive championship aspirations did just road getting us back salvageable.” Date: Sunday, Oct. 18 the opposite. TV: 2:15 p.m. ET, NBC Matt Kenseth held an early lead with a No. 20 that showed SPRINT CUP STANDINGS enough speed to contend for the win all day. Kenseth, though, fell Layout: 1.5-mile oval back in the pack after leading 72 of the first 76 laps when a four- DRIVER (WINS) POINTS BEHIND DRIVER (WINS) POINTS BEHIND Turns/Banking: 4/20º 11. Dale Earnhardt Jr. [2] 3016 -32 tire pit stop under caution went against the grain of his competition 1. Joey Logano [4] 3048 -- Oct. 2014 Winner: Joey Logano 2. Kevin Harvick [3] 3042 -6 12. Matt Kenseth [5] 3003 -45 that either stayed on track or changed just right-side tires. 3. Martin Truex Jr. [1] 3041 -7 13. Jamie McMurray 2130 -918 XFINITY SERIES “I feel like I really messed up,” Kenseth told his crew after the 4. Denny Hamlin [2] 3040 -8 14. Jimmie Johnson [4] 2092 -956 stop as he started to struggle in traffic. “If we had stayed up front, 5. Carl Edwards [2] 3039 -9 15. Paul Menard 2083 -965 Race: Kansas Lottery 300 we’d still be there.” 6. Kurt Busch [2] 3039 -9 16. Clint Bowyer 2082 -966 Track: Kansas Speedway Instead, Kenseth’s day — and possibly his bid for a championship 7. Jeff Gordon 3037 -11 17. Aric Almirola 801 -2247 Date: Saturday, Oct. 17 8. Brad Keselowski [1] 3035 -13 18. Kasey Kahne 771 -2277 — unraveled. On Lap 179, Kenseth tried to clear Ryan Newman TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN exiting Turn 4 three laps after a restart but didn’t leave enough 9. Ryan Newman 3029 -19 19. Kyle Larson 742 -2306 Oct. 2014 Winner: Brad Keselowski room. Newman’s front end caught the right rear of Kenseth’s 10. Kyle Busch [4] 3025 -23 20. Greg Bifle 726 -2322 Camry, bounding both cars off the wall with Kenseth’s No. 20 CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES sustaining heavy damage. The Joe Gibbs Racing team tried to XFINITY STANDINGS TRUCK STANDINGS Race: Fred’s 250 Powered by Coca-Cola repair it, but Kenseth struggled with handling problems. On Lap DRIVER (WINS) POINTS BEHIND DRIVER (WINS) POINTS BEHIND 241, a damaged suspension piece finally broke. Kenseth slapped 1. Chris Buescher [2] 1055 -- 1. Erik Jones [2] 701 -- Track: Talladega Superspeedway the Turn 3 wall, demolishing what was left. He finished 42nd. 2. Chase Elliott [1] 1029 -26 2. Matt Crafton [4] 697 -4 Date: Saturday, Oct. 24 Kenseth wasn’t alone in the disappointment department. Dale 3. Regan Smith [2] 1021 -34 3. Tyler Reddick [2] 685 -16 TV: 1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1 Earnhardt Jr. advanced to the second round by one point and left 4. Ty Dillon [1] 1017 -38 4. Johnny Sauter 650 -51 2014 Winner: Timothy Peters Charlotte again being in the position of playing catch-up. Contact 5. Darrell Wallace Jr. 943 -112 5. Daniel Hemric 596 -105 6. Elliott Sadler 942 -113 6. Timothy Peters 595 -106 with Carl Edwards early in the race — Edwards cited the lack of 7. Daniel Suarez 927 -128 7. Cameron Hayley 584 -117 passing opportunities for his insistence in not giving Earnhardt 8. Brian Scott 901 -154 8. John Wes Townley [1] 565 -136 more room — sent the No. 88 into the wall and caused a tire rub. 9. Brendan Gaughan 893 -162 9. Ben Kennedy 545 -156 Earnhardt was later forced to pit for the issue and struggled through 10. Ryan Reed [1] 798 -257 10. Spencer Gallagher 504 -168 the rest of the day in a bid to get back on the lead lap. RULES TEST AT MICHIGAN With the official Sprint Cup competition package for Busch and Busch Light beer brands. Harvick’s car will now carry Busch’s blue and white 2016 still set to be revealed, NASCAR scheduled a test session for Oct. 20 at Michigan for 12 races next year, down from 20 races with Budweiser sponsorship this season. The International Speedway to fine tune and finalize what changes will be made. Denny decrease on Harvick’s car comes despite the No. 4 winning last season’s championship and Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Chris Buescher are scheduled to work through various aero- serving as an odds-on favorite to repeat this season. Harvick’s other sponsors, including dynamic and handling variations being considered by NASCAR. It’s expected NASCAR Jimmy John’s, are expected to fill the gap next year. will make a 180-degree pivot and mandate a low-downforce package for most of the STRESS FREE Joey Logano’s Charlotte win also meant he was the early winner of 2016 events in a bid to improve passing. The sanctioning body is nearly a month be- a de facto sweepstakes offering a prize of no stress in the second round’s final race hind last year’s announcement of the current season’s technical rules. at Talladega Superspeedway. The race — it follows this weekend’s event at Kansas BUSCH IN, BUDWEISER OUT IN 2016 An announcement at Charlotte Motor Speedway Speedway — is the ultimate wild card in the Chase thanks to the huge packs and NEWS & NOTES last Thursday revealed that Kevin Harvick’s primary sponsor Budweiser would be impossibility of driving away from the field.