Sunday Cup Notebook:
Monster Takes Its Own Bite:
A piece of concrete extracted itself from the track surface of Dover (Del.) International Speedway Sunday afternoon during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ FedEx 400 stalled the race on Lap 159 for twenty-two minutes and 22 seconds.
The lap before, Jamie McMurray in the No. 1 Chevrolet SS pulverized what apparently was a piece of concrete from the track exiting Turn 2, which sent his automobile into the outside wall, justifying the fourth caution of the race.
Under the yellow, drivers were informing their teams of the situation, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., who keyed his radio and said, “Guys, the track’s coming up here in Turn 2.” NASCAR immediately responded to the situation by beginning repair efforts, where an epoxy type filler was used to cover the defected area.
NASCAR stood by their red flag protocol which meant no one could work on the No. 1 as long as the race had been paused. Keith Rodden, crew chief for McMurray’s team pleaded with NASCAR for an exceptional to the rule, hoping that this special circumstance would be classified different, but to no avail.
But, to NASCAR’s credit, McMurray when the yellow flag first waived did pull up to pit. NASCAR decided not to penalize the team for that infraction, which typically would be a one lap penalty. Meanwhile, McMurray who was running in the top-20 at the time of the crash rebounded from the situation to finish a respectable 13th.
I guess that the race track came up. And when I came off of the corner, it just felt like I hit something, obviously, heavy,” said McMurray. “Initially I thought I’d blown a tire out. When I hit it, it actually pushed the car to the right and I got into the fence a little bit. And as I slowed down, I couldn’t figure out first off, why I didn’t hit the fence harder, and then what happened. I didn’t see anything. It just hit the front end and ripped the splitter off and it pushed the car to the right. So, I’m not real sure.”
NASCAR via vice president of competition Robin Pemberton addressed the situation post-race.
“We’ve had issues of things like this in the past, and Martinsville comes to mind, some other things similar to that, and our policy is not to let them work on the car,” he said. “You may remember when we had an equipment failure, broadcast equipment failure, sometime back, and that affected the entire field of race cars, and at that time we did red flag and we did allow the teams to fix the damage that was caused by that equipment failure. But that is our normal policy, to not allow teams to work on their cars.”
When asked if NASCAR would give Dover (Del.) International Speedway any recommendations for the upcoming Chase race this fall: Well, the track doesn’t want things like this to happen any more than we do or the competitors do, so this isn’t a recommendation. I mean, you always go into a facility things happen, and that’s why we have that’s why we’re trained, we have people that are trained in these types of things, and that’s why the group is able to make repairs in 20 minutes or so.
“You always have to be ready for the emergencies and you don’t have to recommend because everybody wants to have the same perfect race day as they can.”
Sunday’s Cup winner Jimmie Johnson, whose won now the last two races praised the track for it’s effort to the situation.
“Whatever they put in that pothole worked awfully well,” noted the six-time and defending series champion. “Hats off to the track for the fix that they made.”
Additionally, pieces of the concrete shattered the glass along the Turn 2 walk-over bridge, which was also repaired during the red flag. Track and NASCAR officials decided to keep pedestrians
off the bridge until the race was concluded as a safety precaution.
Martin Truex Jr. Earns Best Finish With Furniture Row Racing:
A miserable start to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season saw some light at the end of the tunnel on Sunday afternoon at Dover (Del.) International Speedway for Martin Truex Jr. and his Furniture Row Racing team.
With eight out of 13 races outside the top-20 thus far in 2014, Martin Truex Jr. tallied his second top-10 finish of the season with a rewarding sixth-place finish in the FedEx 400.
The effort on Sunday was redeeming in more ways than one. Last weekend at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Truex Jr. easily was enjoying one of his best runs of the season. However, issues late in the race took him from contention of a top-10 finish and instead brought a 25th place finish.
Seven days later, Truex Jr. and the Denver, Colorado based team placed their best run since a 10th at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway in April. Truex Jr. also climbed to 25th in the championship point standings.
“All-in-all it was good day,” offered Truex Jr. “We battled from the beginning, lost the handling of the car for a while but Todd Berrier made some great calls throughout the race and we were able to finish strong.”
“You can just feel it that we’re heading in the right direction. We also had a top-10 car last week in Charlotte, but had a freak breakage occur with nine laps to go. We’re a new team and takes a while to get all the pieces of the puzzle in place. We’re learning about this car and how to be competitive with it. We’re getting closer and closer to finding that sweet spot. One constant we have had all year is excellent pit stops and today was a continuation of how good these over-the wall guys are. You know when you come into the pits there’s a good chance you’re going to gain spots.
“And all the dumb luck we’ve had didn’t bite us today. It almost bit us on Friday when a bird hit our car during practice and caused some damage to the left headlight area. We still have a ways to go but the feeling is upbeat knowing that we have more speed and can be more competitive. Dover has been good to me over the years and it was also a great feeling to bring home a strong effort at what I consider my home track.”
Next week, Truex Jr. heads to Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, where the team maneuvered two top-10 finishes last season with driver Kurt Busch, including a third place effort in the August race. Truex’s best finish at the 2.5-miel triangle is third, twice in 2007 for Dale Earnhardt Inc. and 2012 with Michael Waltrip Racing.
Solid Cup Debut For Michael Waltrip Racing Test Driver:
Realistically, Dover (Del.) International Speedway isn’t the idea place to make your NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut, but in Brett Moffit’s case, you have to take what you can get.
Without a full-time ride in 2014 after spending the last couple of seasons in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East with Hattori Racing Enterprises, Moffitt has spent his 2014 out of the headlines and as a test driver for Michael Waltrip Racing.
Two weeks ago, Moffitt was contacted by car owner Jay Robinson from Identity Ventures Racing about the opportunity to make his Cup debut at the track notoriously known as “The Monster Mile.” The connection though for Moffit and Jay Robinson Racing doesn’t go far.
MWR has an agreement to utilize the No. 66 when Jeff Burton or Michael Waltrip races. This weekend though, the Michael Waltrip Racing test driver wouldn’t be in a MWR car, he would be driving a vehicle similar to what IVR normal driver Joe Nemechek has been guiding all season. In retrospect though, IVR received much of their Cup car inventory from MWR.
Realistically, many expected the No. 66 Land Castle Title Toyota to struggle, but Moffit failed to let that happen. While the team showed mediocre speed during practice, Moffit qualified a solid 18th Friday afternoon.
Before taking the green flag on Sunday, Moffit was optimistic about completing all 400 Laps, but also stated that the motor that they had was OKAY, but not something of the big powerhouse teams. Still, they made it work.
During Sunday’s FedEx 400, the JRR team adjusted their No. 66 to the changing track conditions, but more importantly, Moffitt logged laps and stayed out of trouble to earn a respectable 22nd place finish, just four laps in the arrears.
“We are really happy with the results,” said Moffit. “We feel like we accomplished everything we set out to do and then some. I’m just hoping it leads to more opportunities.”
As for his future, that remains unset, including test.
“I’m not sure when I’ll be testing next,” he concluded.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
