Wednesday, July 30, 2014

What does Rick Hendrick do when two of his drivers are racing for the win?

   Longtime NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick found himself holding his breath a little near the end of Sunday's Crown Royal 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Why? Because it looked like two of his drivers - Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne - were going to battle down to the wire for the win.

   Gordon passed Kahne on a restart with 17 laps remaining to win for a record fifth time at the Brickyard.

   After the race, Hendrick was asked if he had any conflicting emotions regarding the battle between Gordon and Kahne.

   "When you have that situation, you just hope they don't wreck each other. Two cars, kind of the class of the field at that time. You hold your breath till they get apart," Hendrick said.  "I have a lot of confidence in our guys not to do that intentionally. I know Kasey, he needed a win. He ran awful good. But Jeff had the dominant car, so it all worked out. 

   "It's like having your two kids in a state championship, one is pitching, one is hitting, you go somewhere else than by your wife."

Check out the 2014 Summer Shootout champions at Charlotte Motor Speedway

   Six champions were crowned Tuesday night at the final round of the 21st annual Jack in the Box Summer Shootout Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Daniel Hemric, Joshua Brimecombe, Tom Pistone and Carson Ferguson were among the season champions. 
   Hemric, of Kannapolis, N.C., capped the series with his sixth Legend Car Pro division win of the season, charging through the field to claim the lead by Lap 7. He led the rest of the way to drive away from second place William Byron. Hemric clinched his third Pro division championship when he started the feature race.
    Ferguson entered the Legend Car Young Lions division race with a 52-point lead and left with both a victory in the night's race and the division championship. Ferguson, of Charlotte, sparred with Matt Thomas for first place during the first half of the 20-lap race but eventually took over the top spot on Lap 8 and stayed there until the end of the race.
   The Quaker Steak and Lube Legend Car Semi-Pro race was the tightest points competition of the night with three possible champions going into the race. Devin O'Connell led the division by only five points at the start of the night, with Brimecombe and Dillon Faggart close behind. Faggart, of Concord, N.C., took the checkered flag but it wasn't quite enough to edge out Brimecombe, also of Concord, who finished third and ultimately won the division championship.
   In other Legend Car action, Robby Faggart claimed his first win of the season in the Security Force Legend Car Masters division while Tom Pistone, of Mooresville, N.C., who won seven of 10 races, finished second and won his third series championship in a row.
   Jensen Jorgensen, a Stockbridge, Ga., native, began the race with a 17-point lead in the Bandolero Outlaw standings and finished in fourth place to capture his first championship.
   In the LiveWell Homes Bandolero Bandits feature, DJ Canipe, of Fallston, N.C., ruined Chandler Smith's pursuit of perfection, claiming the win for his first victory of the season. Smith, a Jasper, Georgia, native, started the race 54 points in front of Canipe, but his second place finish solidified the points championship for the 12 year-old.