2013 Advocare 500 - NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Here now we head to Atlanta for the only race of the season at the 1.5 mile Quad-Oval. Last year's event saw Denny Hamlin edge out to a comfortable win over Jeff Gordon who finished 2nd in the event. With the latest news of Kurt Busch moving to Stewart-Haas Racing for the 2014 Season, will this affect his partnership in any way for Furniture Row Racing? Hopefully not. Anyway, Entry List Time:

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/standings/results/2013/advocare-500.html

1 Jamie McMurray Joplin, Missouri Chevrolet Bad Boy Buggies Felix Sabates
2 Brad Keselowski Rochester Hills, Michigan Ford Miller Lite Roger Penske
5 Kasey Kahne Enumclaw, Washington Chevrolet Farmers Insurance Linda Hendrick
7 Dave Blaney Hartford, Ohio Chevrolet Sany Tommy Baldwin Jr
9 Marcos Ambrose Launceston, Australia Ford DeWalt Richard Petty
10 Danica Patrick Roscoe, Illinois Chevrolet GoDaddy.com Gene Haas
11 Denny Hamlin Chesterfield, Virginia Toyota Sport Clips J.D. Gibbs
13 Casey Mears Bakersfield, California Ford GEICO Bob Germain
14 Mark Martin Batesville, Arkansas Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1 Margaret Haas
15 Clint Bowyer Emporia, Kansas Toyota TBA Rob Kauffman
16 Greg Biffle Vancouver, Washington Ford 3M Jack Roush
17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Olive Branch, Mississippi Ford Best Buy John Henry
18 Kyle Busch Las Vegas, Nevada Toyota M&M's Joe Gibbs
19 Mike Bliss Milwaukie, Oregon Toyota Plinker Tactical Randy Humphrey
20 Matt Kenseth Cambridge, Wisconsin Toyota The Home Depot / Husky Joe Gibbs
22 Joey Logano Middletown, Connecticut Ford Shell-Pennzoil Walter Czarnecki
24 Jeff Gordon Vallejo, California Chevrolet Drive To End Hunger Rick Hendrick
27 Paul Menard Eau Claire, Wisconsin Chevrolet Menards / Moen Richard Childress
29 Kevin Harvick Bakersfield, California Chevrolet Jimmy John's Richard Childress
30 David Stremme South Bend, Indiana Toyota Widow Wax-Lean1 Brandon Davis
31 Jeff Burton South Boston, Virginia Chevrolet Caterpillar Richard Childress
32 Timmy Hill Port Tobacco, Maryland Ford OXY Water Frank Stoddard Jr
33 Austin Dillon Welcome, North Carolina Chevrolet AdvoCare Joe Falk
34 David Ragan Unadilla, Georgia Ford Racetrac Hot Boiled Peanuts By Peanut Patch Bob Jenkins
35 Josh Wise Riverside, California Ford MDS Systems Jerry Freeze
36 J.J. Yeley Phoenix, Arizona Chevrolet United Mining Equipment Allan Heinke
38 David Gilliland Riverside, California Ford Long John Silver's Brad Jenkins
39 Ryan Newman South Bend, Indiana Chevrolet Aspen Dental Tony Stewart
40 Landon Cassill Fairfax, Iowa Chevrolet Hillman Racing Mike Hillman Sr.
42 Juan Pablo Montoya Bogota, Colombia Chevrolet Target Chip Ganassi
43 Aric Almirola Tampa, Florida Ford TBA Richard Petty
47 AJ Allmendinger Los Gatos, California Toyota Scott Products Tad Geschickter
48 Jimmie Johnson El Cajon, California Chevrolet Lowe's Dover White Jeff Gordon
51 Bobby Labonte Corpus Christi, Texas Chevrolet Phoenix Construction James Finch
55 Brian Vickers Thomasville, North Carolina Toyota Aaron's Dream Machine Michael Waltrip
56 Martin Truex Jr Mayetta, New Jersey Toyota NAPA Auto Parts Michael Waltrip
78 Kurt Busch Las Vegas, Nevada Chevrolet Furniture Row-Beautyrest Barney Visser
83 David Reutimann Zephyrhills, Florida Toyota Burger King / Dr. Pepper Ron Devine
87 Joe Nemechek Lakeland, Florida Toyota TBA Andrea Nemechek
88 Dale Earnhardt Jr Kannapolis, North Carolina Chevrolet National Guard 'Race to Achieve' Rick Hendrick
93 Travis Kvapil Janesville, Wisconsin Toyota Burger King / Dr. Pepper Ron Devine
95 Scott Speed Manteca, California Ford Leavine Family Racing Bob Leavine
98 Michael McDowell Glendale, Arizona Ford Phil Parsons Racing Mike Curb
99 Carl Edwards Columbia, Missouri Ford Subway Jack Roush

Stenhouse gets his first pole before his first top ten

oxymoron wrote:Stenhouse gets his first pole before his first top ten

Hasn't that happened before? Loy Allen Jr comes to mind...

RetrogradeRenegade wrote:

oxymoron wrote:Stenhouse gets his first pole before his first top ten

Hasn't that happened before? Loy Allen Jr comes to mind...

But I don't think Stenhouse is going to DNQ for Richmond.

(Loy Allen DNQ'ed the first Richmond race in 1994)

RetrogradeRenegade wrote:

oxymoron wrote:Stenhouse gets his first pole before his first top ten

Hasn't that happened before? Loy Allen Jr comes to mind...

Stenhouse's girlfriend comes to mind too.

RetrogradeRenegade wrote:

oxymoron wrote:Stenhouse gets his first pole before his first top ten

Hasn't that happened before? Loy Allen Jr comes to mind...

He did it THREE times before he got his first (and only) Top 10

http://www.racing-reference.info/driver/Loy_Allen_Jr.

And that may have saved Brad K's chase chances

Okay wtf. I turn on the tv to see Kahne blow up...why? ;_;

Allmendinger once again blowing Labonte out of the water.

Bowyer had the engine blew up while leading. That sucks for him.

TRD is gonna have a talk after that failure

Well, they did say that Bowyer's engine was an experimental one for this race...

Oh boy, does Keselowski's engine sound sick. There is something seriously wrong with the bottom end of his engine.

Jimmie is really having bad luck!!!

Kyle loses Nationwide race

Wins Cup race

That race was long and boring. At least Jimmeh didn't win. Good job by Gordon not wrecking the thing.

A Ky. Busch-Logano 1-2. A nightmare come true.

That sound you hear is AJ nailing the coffin down.....

Also, Denny Hamlin tries verbally dumping on Kyle over the radio on how bad the 18 is at Atlanta and Kyle goes and wins the race. I laughed.

Wow, this race was a downer.

Good race. End result flat out sucked though.

Jeff Gordon's radio tirade about Carl Edwards was pretty entertaining.

Looking at the standings...

In the Chase:
Jimmie Johnson
Clint Bowyer
Kevin Harvick
Carl Ewards
Kyle Busch
Matt Kenesth
Kasey Kahne (2 wins lock him in a wildcard spot, could still reach the Top 10)

Top 10... for now:
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Joey Logano
Greg Biffle (though if I am looking over things correctly, either Logano or Biffle is pretty much locked in anyway, but it could go either way if something crazy happens)
Kurt Busch

Positions mentioned do not consider bonus points
- Jeff Gordon is 6 points out of 10th.  Win and he's in, or finish around 6 spots better than Kurt Busch, as long as Kasey Kahne doesn't leap frog them both, and finish 10 ahead of Busch.
- Martin Truex is 15 points out of 10th.  Win and he's in looks like his best scenario, otherwise, just keep Newman within his sights, if not in front of him
- Ryan Newman is 20 points out of 10th.  Same thing, win, and he's in.
- Brad Keselowski is still in it, though he is 28 points out.  If he wins, and Newman and Truex can finish far enough behind (I would believe around 7th or worse for Newman, 12th or worse for Truex), he takes a wildcard spot.  If all hell were to break loose between Kurt busch, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex, and Ryan Newman, he could theoretically still get in via Top 10, but I wouldn't bank on that if I were him
- Jamie McMurray is 41 points out of 10th, but if he wins, and Truex and Newman have bad days, he could make it in.
- Paul Menard's only way to get in the chase is to win, and hope Truex bows out before the start and parkers do (46 points out from Truex), and Newman pretty much does similar (41 points out from Truex).  Safe to write him off.

If I am wrong anywhere, please correct me, thanks

crl wrote:Jeff Gordon's radio tirade about Carl Edwards was pretty entertaining.

I've heard they talked it over after the race.

Ok, going over driver by driver...

- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: 750 points, 0 wins.  Clinches chase spot by finishing no worse than 32nd (Gordon would own the tiebreaks, if he wins, 1-0 in favor of Gordon, if he finishes 2nd, it would become 3-1)
- Joey Logano: 729 points, 1 win.  Clinches chase spot by finishing no worse than 11th (Gordon would own the tiebreak if he wins, 2 2nd place finishes to Logano's 1)
- Greg Biffle: 727 points, 1 win.  Clinches chase spot by finishing no worse than 9th (Gordon would own the tie break if he wins, 2 2nd place finishes to Biffle's 1)
- Kurt Busch: 719 points, 0 wins.  Clinches chase spot if he wins the race.
- Jeff Gordon: 713 points, 0 wins.  Clinches chase spot if...
-- He wins the race
-- Finishes 4-8 spots ahead of Kurt Busch, depending on laps led, and Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, or Jamie McMurray finishes far enough behind to not leapfrog him (not gonna get into that math)
- Martin Truex, Jr.: 704 points, 1 win.  Clinches chase spot if he wins the race
- Ryan Newman:  699 points, 1 win.  Clinches chase spot if...
-- He wins the race
-- Since Truex owns the tiebreakers (he has finished 2nd and 3rd place, Newman hasn't), Newman must finish 4-8 positions ahead of Truex, depending on laps led
- Brad Keselowski: 691 points, 0 wins.  Clinches chase spot if...
-- He wins, and Truex finishes no better than 12th (equal in wins, equal in 2nd's, Truex has more 3rd place finishes, 3-2), and Newman finishes no better than 6th (equal in wins, Keselowski has more 2nd place finishes, 1-0)
-- Could make Top 10, but that requires calamity from Newman, Truex, Kahne, Gordon, Busch or Biffle or Logano
- Jamie McMurray: 680 points, 0 wins.  Clinches chase spot if...
-- He wins, and Truex finishes no better than 23rd (equal in wins, equal in 2nd's, Truex has more 3rd place finishes, 3-0), and Newman finishes 17th (equal in wins, McMurray has more 2nd place finishes, 1-0)
-- Even more calamity than Keselowski has to have happen to see a Top 10 points spot
- Paul Menard: 658 points, 0 wins.  Clinches chase spot if he wins, leads the most laps, and Truex finishes 43rd without leading a lap (2nd best finish Truex owns the tiebreaker in, 2nd to Menard's 4th), and Newman finishes 39th if he leads laps, or 40th if he leads the most laps (2nd best finish Newman owns the tiebreaker 3rd to Menard's 4th).

Again, if I am wrong, just lemme know.  I probably goofed something up along the way, but that's what I can see with the scenarios