What did Matt Kenseth's crew chief find inspiring in Sunday's race?

   On Tuesday, Jason Ratliff, crew chief for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Matt Kenseth, was asked about how calm and collected Kenseth appeared to be following what was likely one of his more disappointing days at the race track this season.

   Kenseth finished 23rd at Phoenix and has fallen 28 points behind Jimmie Johnson with just one race remaining. In the hours after the race, Ratliff was able to find something inspiring.

   Let him explain:

    "It was something that after I was away from the racetrack for a few hours thinking about, okay, what could we do better, how can we prevent those types of days from happening, especially in these types of situations where we're battling for championships, the one thing that struck me - after I was away from it for a little bit, that I was most impressed with was exactly what you just mentioned, and that is how Matt is able to keep his composure, and even though I know he's in that car just ready to chew the steering wheel off the thing because I know he's frustrated as the rest of it, he's as competitive as the rest of us, very disappointed, had high expectations going into Phoenix, and we still do going into Homestead," Ratliff said.

   "But he was very rational, even though he's disappointed. He keeps his composure and does a really nice job of putting things into perspective. I think a lot of that, again, is from his experience, but at the same time I think that's Matt's personality. I think he takes things in and thinks through them very well, and in the end he knows that nothing positive is going to come from me getting out of the car and stomping my feet, even though that's really what I want to do. So how do we take this situation, pull something positive from it, learn from it so we can be better in the future?

   "That was something for me as a crew chief, I've worked with a lot of different drivers, and that's something that was very inspiring for me as well as this race team. When you have a driver like that, I mean, that leads by example with that type of composure in the midst of adversity, it just goes a long way, you know."

 

Former Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne diagnosed with multiple sclerosis

   Former Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne, who is competing fulltime in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series this season, has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

   MS is an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord that can produce a wide range of signs and symptoms including both physical and mental and varying in degree.

 

   “I’ve never been more driven to compete,” Bayne said in a statement released Tuesday. “My goals are the same as they’ve been since I started racing. I want to compete at the highest level and I want to win races and championships. I am in the best shape I’ve ever been in and I feel good,” added Bayne.

 

   “There are currently no symptoms and I’m committed to continuing to take the best care of my body as possible. I will continue to trust in God daily and know that His plan for me is what is best."

   Bayne, who won the 2011 Daytona 500 while driving part-time for the Wood Brothers, was sidelined for over two months later that season with various symptoms, including nausea, fatigue and blurred vision.

   Bayne began feeling better after he received treatment for Lyme, a bacterial infection spread through the bite of the black-legged tick. He missed several races while undergoing multiple tests last summer and doctors searched for a cause.

   In January 2012, Bayne told reporters doctors believed he had contracted Lyme disease from an insect bite.

   Bayne returned to racing in June 2011 after missing five races and won the Nationwide race at Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 5 of that season.

   Last season, Bayne ran partial schedules in both the Nationwide and Cup series. This year, he returned to a fulltime ride in Nationwide and with one race remaining this season, has one win, six top-five and 20 top-10 finishes and is sixth in the series standings.

   Bayne, 22, has also made 11 Cup starts this season with the Wood Brothers with a best finish of 16th at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

X-Games star Travis Pastrana leaving NASCAR competition

   X Games star Travis Pastrana, who has been running a full season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season, posted a message to his Facebook account on Monday saying he would not be competing in NASCAR after this season.

   Here is the entire message:

   This past season of NASCAR has been an awesome experience. I have made a lot of great friends, had a lot of fun and gained a new appreciation for all aspects of this sport. Jack Roush and everyone at Roush Fenway Racing have gone above and beyond to try and help me succeed and I am truly grateful for their support. I would like to thank them and all of the other people who stuck behind me during the last two years as I tried to learn how to make a successful career in NASCAR. Its tough to step back now and prove the critics were right, but unfortunately my results were not good enough to get the sponsors I needed to appropriately fund next season. 

 

   My wife Lyn-z has been more then supportive of my foray into NASCAR, often times being my biggest source of encouragement and support. But as my wife had to take a step back from being a professional skater to let me chase my goals in racing, I too need to take a step back and look at my situation as a father and husband. The NASCAR schedule is grueling and takes enormous sacrifices from those you love to make work. With a lack of funding next year, now is my opportunity to sit back and offer support as she chases her goals. 

 

   I hate to quit and I hate to fail, but sometimes things work out as they should. I've never been able to figure out the finesse required in pavement racing and that is disappointing, but I'm looking forward to driving more rally and racing more off-road trucks and there will be some announcements on those fronts shortly! My wife is excited to get back to skating on the Nitro Circus Live Tour and I'm excited to spend some quality time with my girls. 

 

   Thank you to all my fans for the support and I hope to see each of you at an event in the near future.

 

   TP

Carl Edwards did everything right. Well, almost.

  

   Carl Edwards and his No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing team had seemingly played the perfect strategy in Sunday's AdvoCare 500k at Phoenix International Raceway. The team got was running up front and when it came time for a final round of green-flag pit stops, Edwards short-pitted and was among the first to fill up with gas.

   When the green-flag stops had cycled through, Edwards was the leader and it appeared he had a victory in the bag. He did - but was a little over a lap short, as he ran out of fuel as just as he was about to take the white flag which signals the start of the final lap.

   After the race, Edwards was asked about the race's conclusion and if he had any indication he was close on fuel.

   Here was his answer:

   "I did not think we were that close. I saved just a little bit, but Kevin (Harvick) was catching me just a little bit too much and I thought I better just keep going. In hindsight, I definitely should have tried to save more, but we thought we were a lap to the good," he said.

   "It's gonna take me a little while to get over this one. We did everything right, we just didn’t calculate the fuel correctly and I’m as big a part of that as anyone. We’re all in this together, so we’ll just go to Homestead and win it.

   "Jimmy (Fennig, crew chief) talked to me about saving a little bit to have some extra, and I did that a couple of laps, but Kevin closed in and was obviously not saving fuel. There at the end we were a lap-and-a-half short or so and that’s tough, but we had an awesome car.  We did everything right, we just miscalculated that one part and that’s NASCAR. You’ve got to be perfect."

 

NASCAR says no penalty likely after confrontation in Truck series practice

   NASCAR does not plan to issue a penalty to Truck series driver Darrell Wallace Jr. for physically confronting fellow driver Chad Frewaldt after a wreck in Thursday night’s practice session and slapping at his helmet while Frewaldt sat in his truck.

   Frewaldt met with Truck series director Chad Little after the incident while Wallace met with both Little and Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s vice president of competition.

   Wallace had just passed the much-slower moving Frewaldt exiting Turn 4 when Frewaldt hit Wallace in the left-rear. The contact resulted in both drivers wrecking. Wallace immediately walked over to Frewaldt’s truck, reached in the window and struck Frewaldt.

   “Tempers were flaring,” Pemberton said. “We’ve talked to both drivers and feel like the situation is resolved.”

 

   You can see a video of the incident here.

 

No joke: Could former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty run for Congress?

   According to an article on RollCall.com, former NASCAR driver and now Fox Sports TV analyst Kyle Petty could be a candidate for U.S. Congress in 2014 in North Carolina.

    The district would be the one currently represented in North Carolina by Republican Howard Coble, who announced Thursday this would be his last term.

    In the article, Petty is listed among several possible Republican candidates for the seat. Petty's father, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Richard Petty, lost a race for N.C. secretary of state in X1996.

   UPDATE: A representative for Petty called Roll Call on Friday morning and said the former NASCAR driver was not planning to run for the U.S. House District 6.

   You can read the entire article here.
 

How Brad Keselowski helped jump start Carl Edwards' 2013 season

   NASCAR drivers Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards have never been the best of friends. In fact, they have a very public feud in 2010 that resulted in several nasty wrecks as part of on-track incidents.

    The dynamic between the drivers was bound to be tested this season when Penske Racing moved to the Ford camp, where Edwards makes his home at Roush Fenway Racing. At the least, the two drivers would be involved in some information sharing.

    As the Sprint Cup Series sets to return to Phoenix International Raceway this weekend, Edwards was asked about his victory in the spring race at the track. And some of the credit for the win went to an unexpected source.

    "The biggest thing that helped us at Phoenix was our pit crew. We had awesome pit stops and kept coming out three or four spots ahead of where we were running and that ultimately is what won us the race," Edwards said. "The other thing that helped was Brad Keselowski on that last restart really pushed me out there. That was the second race in a Ford for Brad and for him to do that and give us that little bump it really meant a lot.”

   Asked how his relationship with Keselowski has evolved this season, Edwards said: "I think, not just between me and Brad, but between me, Brad, Joey - all the Penske guys and Roush - it has been a good relationship. At the end of the day, we have seen that we can all benefit by helping one another and that is huge. The more we can work together, the better off we will be.”