The whole endeavor is based on horsepower and the subsequent speed, so it’s no wonder things can change in a hurry.
A week ago, we were coming off a sweep of the Round of 16 by three of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Toyota drivers. While they were dominating, NASCAR’s best-ever multi-car team — Hendrick Motorsports — was taking on water.
One of the Hendrick drivers fell out of the playoffs and the other three were looking like seat-fillers, movie extras, roadside scenery — whatever unflattering description you prefer.
They were all better than poor ol’ Josh Berry, however. Berry had somehow managed to finish last in ALL THREE races in the Round of 16. You didn’t even see something like that back during the dark days of start-and-park strategies before the charter system ended that charade.
(Do your own research, but trust me, it was sadly comical, or comically sad — take your pick.)
Anyway, here we are a week later, one race through the Round of 12, and the Hendrick drivers already have more combined top-10s in this round than they did in all of the previous.
Josh Berry came within a second going worst to first.
And the Gibbs drivers all hate each other.
OK, that’s overly dramatic, but let’s assume there will be a memorandum of understanding coming this week.
There you go, you up to speed? No? All right, here we go …
First Gear: Josh Berry doesn’t finish last!
Let’s start with the latest change in leadership. When Roger Penske clears his throat and sits up in his seat, things often happen.
While Rick Hendrick’s cars were back on track at New Hampshire, the Captain’s crew was at full sail on the one-miler. When you include Penske’s officially unofficial No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford, the team finished 1-2-3 in pole qualifying and 1-2-4 on race day.
Winner Ryan Blaney, Berry the runner-up, and fourth-place Joey Logano combined to lead 273 of the 301 laps.
Berry, coming off his unfortunate three-peat in the Round of 16, led 10 of those laps, including a seven-lap run late in the day before Blaney regained the lead and eventually finished nine-tenths of a second ahead of the No. 21.
But we might as well point out how incredibly close Berry came to making it four straight cabooses when Brad Keselowski showed off his lack of geometry skills on Lap 119. On a restart, Kez tried to make an inside lane where an inside lane is unavailable and mayhem ensued.
Berry was just behind the multi-car spin class and snuck by on the high side by inches. Frankly, it looked like less than an inch. Daniel Suarez didn’t sneak by, and he left New Hampshire with last place clanking along behind him.
Second Gear: Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs will have a talk
The above restart came on the heels of a caution caused by this week’s drama at Gibbs Racing.
The Gibbs team has three drivers still competing for the Cup championship (Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe) and one that didn’t make the playoffs (Ty Gibbs).
Turns out, Gibbs found himself just ahead of Hamlin and Bell at New Hampshire early in Stage 2. Gibbs isn’t a big guy, at all, but he apparently knows how to widen his Toyota. Hamlin finally had enough of it, forced the issue, and Gibbs went for a spin.
After the race, Hamlin suggested he and Bell are out there trying to win a championship for Bell’s grandpa — that’d be Joe, of course, the team owner — and young Ty needs to be a more thoughtful teammate.
You might think this would be a good time for Joe Gibbs to raise hell. Maybe, in a flashback to his football coaching days, he’d make the fellas stick around to run some sprints. Well, you don’t know Joe Gibbs. Coach Joe makes Ward Cleaver look like a hot-head.
Said Joe, post-race: “Those guys will get together on their own and figure it out.”
He’s not exactly Mike Ditka.
Best guess: Don’t look for Ty to be doing anymore Ryan Newman impressions when leading his teammates.
Third Gear: Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, William Byron don’t stink anymore
Is Hendrick Motorsports back in form and ready to motor ahead toward a 15th Cup Series championship?
It’s all relative, as they say.
Normally, three top-10s and nothing better than a third might make for a quiet flight home for the boys of HMS. But maybe not when you consider just how bad they finished in the first three races of the playoffs. Look back at their Round of 16 results …
Kyle Larson: 19-12-32.
Chase Elliott: 17-3-38.
William Byron: 21-11-12.
Alex Bowman: 31-26-8 (and eliminated from the playoffs).
Sunday at New Hampshire, the team’s three remaining playoff drivers finished third (Byron), fifth (Elliott) and seventh (Larson).
Sure, bad luck and old-fashioned circumstances played roles during the Round of 16. And finishes of third, fifth and seventh don’t necessarily mean a return to form — a form that’s been lacking for quite a while now, by the way.
This coming weekend at Kansas might give us a clearer picture of this team. Back in the spring, Larson won at Kansas and led 83% of the laps.
Fourth Gear: Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain meet on NASCAR playoff bubble
It’s never too early to talk about the bubble, right?
After New Hampshire, Chase Briscoe and Ross Chastain are bubbling — Briscoe on the good side, Chastain the bad.
Ross the Boss sits in ninth place, 12 points behind Briscoe. Joining Chastain on the outside currently are Austin Cindric (19 points out of eighth), Tyler Reddick (-23), and Bubba Wallace (-27).
With everyone now pointed toward Kansas City, it seems like a good time to point out that Chastain, Reddick and Wallace have all won at Kansas Speedway in the past few years. A win is the surest way to bounce over the bubble.
— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
