Sunday, June 24, 2018

Truex Tricks the Field for Sonoma Win

Originally written for CLNS Media.


Martin Truex Jr. won the Toyota/Save Mart 350 from Sonoma Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
Truex had a dominant car throughout the race and led 62 of 110 laps, but he had to use pit strategy to take the lead for the final time.

10 laps before making his final pit stop, Truex’s crew chief called him to pit road, but told him to stay out at the last second.  After hearing the call, Kevin Harvick pitted and was forced onto a different pit strategy.

Truex said he trusted crew chief Cole Pearn’s judgement.

“It’s all Cole,” Truex said.  “I’m cool with whatever he wants to do…a lot of trust in him.”
Once he had the lead, Truex was far enough ahead of Harvick that he was never challenged for the lead over the final 20-lap run.

Truex said he was worried a caution would come out in the closing laps and ruin their strategy.

“Honestly, all you’re doing is hoping that a caution doesn’t come out,” Truex said.  “Just hoping for no cautions and don’t make any mistakes.”

Harvick said he didn’t blame his team for calling him to pit road after they had been tricked by Truex.

“We all make mistakes…we all do things split-second that aren’t right after it all happens,” Harvick said.  “We had a shot today…and I was just too hard on the car the first couple stages.”

Unofficial results:
1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Clint Bowyer
4. Chase Elliott
5. Kyle Busch
6. Kurt Busch
7. Erik Jones
8. Aric Almirola
9. Alex Bowman
10. Denny Hamlin
11. Jimmie Johnson
12. Chris Buescher
13. Brad Keselowski
14. Kyle Larson
15. Daniel Suarez
16. Austin Dillon
17. Matt DiBenedetto
18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
19. Joey Logano
20. Kasey Kahne
21. Michael McDowell
22. David Ragan
23. Parker Kligerman
24. Ryan Newman
25. William Byron
26. Paul Menard
27. Trevor Bayne
28. Justin Marks
29. Darrell Wallace Jr.
30. Gray Gaulding
31. Chris Cook
32. Tomy Drissi
33. Ty Dillon
34. Ryan Blaney
35. Cole Whitt
36. Cody Ware
37. Jamie McMurray
38. AJ Allmendinger

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Bowyer Wins Rain-Shortened Michigan Race

Originally written for CLNS Media.


Clint Bowyer won the rain-shortened FireKeepers Casino 400 from Michigan International Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Rain delayed the start of the race on Sunday by over two hours, and it threatened the track throughout the race.  The rain finally arrived and ended the race on lap 133 of 200 while Bowyer was out front.

Daniel Shirley/Getty Images
Bowyer’s team used pit strategy to get to the front, taking only two tires on the final pit stop while the rest of the field took four tires.

Bowyer said he was nervous when he was the only driver to take two tires.

“When he said two tires…I don’t know,” Bowyer said.  “Especially when I looked in the mirror and everyone else took four.  When you come out that far ahead of everybody else, you know you’re on a mission for a gamble.”

On the final restart, Bowyer had to hold off his teammate Kevin Harvick, who had led the most laps throughout the race.  Bowyer said he knew holding off Harvick would be a challenge.

“Being on the same tires with Kevin on a restart, you know what you’re up against,” Bowyer said.  “He was so much faster than me in 1 and 2.  I got down to 3 and 4 and I had to chop him off and take his line away.”

Harvick said he was surprised Bowyer’s car was so fast with just two fresh tires.

“Clint had a good restart,” Harvick said.  “I hadn’t restarted against a car that was as good as his and just a foot from clearing him there.”

“If you’re going to lose one in the rain and give it away, you might want to give it to your teammate.”

Unofficial results:
1. Clint Bowyer
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Kurt Busch
4. Kyle Busch
5. Paul Menard
6. Brad Keselowski
7. Joey Logano
8. Ryan Blaney
9. Chase Elliott
10. Jamie McMurray
11. Aric Almirola
12. Denny Hamlin
13. William Byron
14. Austin Dillon
15. Erik Jones
16. Alex Bowman
17. AJ Allmendinger
18. Martin Truex Jr.
19. Darrell Wallace Jr.
20. Jimmie Johnson
21. Ty Dillon
22. Ryan Newman
23. Kasey Kahne
24. Chris Buescher
25. Michael McDowell
26. Ross Chastain
27. Corey LaJoie
28. Kyle Larson
29. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
30. Daniel Suarez
31. Gray Gaulding
32. Landon Cassill
33. Matt Kenseth
34. DJ Kennington
35. Timmy Hill
36. Matt DiBenedetto
37. BJ McLeod
38. David Ragan
39. Garrett Smithley

Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

Monday, June 4, 2018

Weekly Pull List: 6/6/2018

All the comics available this week can be found on ComicList, and any comic book news is on CBR.

BOOM! Studios
Go Go Power Rangers #10

Marvel
Ben Reilly the Scarlet Spider #19
Deadpool #1
Star Wars #49

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Truex Wins at the Tricky Triangle

Originally written for CLNS Media.


Martin Truex Jr. won the Pocono 400 from Pocono Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Truex had a strong car and ran up front for most of the day.  After winning Stage 1, a pit road miscue forced him to restart in the back of the pack.
Bryan Nicodemus

Truex was able to work his way through the field throughout the second segment, and took the lead away from Kevin Harvick in the final segment.

After staying out on a late pit stop, Truex took the lead and had to hold off Harvick, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch over multiple late-race restarts.

Truex’s crew chief Cole Pearn said there was some concern when most of the field pitted under the late caution.

“When only four of us stayed out, it was a little bit more of a concern at that point,” Pearn said.  “In practice we were able to re-fire really well on older tires…that kind of gave us some optimism at least.”

11 of the first 14 races this season have been won by Truex, Busch and Harvick, and Truex said he was excited to beat the best drivers for the victory at Pocono.

“It’s always fun to win, but especially when you beat the best guys out there,” Truex said.  “Once we got in clean air, this thing was a rocket ship.”

Unofficial results:
1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Kyle Larson
3. Kyle Busch
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Brad Keselowski
6. Ryan Blaney
7. Aric Almirola
8. Jimmie Johnson
9. Joey Logano
10. Chase Elliott
11. Paul Menard
12. Austin Dillon
13. Matt Kenseth
14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
15. Jamie McMurray
16. David Ragan
17. Chris Buescher
18. William Byron
19. Kurt Busch
20. Clint Bowyer
21. Michael McDowell
22. AJ Allmendinger
23. Ty Dillon
24. Daniel Suarez
25. Ryan Newman
26. Cole Custer
27. Alex Bowman
28. Ross Chastain
29. Erik Jones
30. Cole Whitt
31. Landon Cassill
32. JJ Yeley
33. Gray Gaulding
34. Derrike Cope
35. Denny Hamlin
36. Kasey Kahne
37. Matt DiBenedetto
38. Darrell Wallace Jr.

Sarah Crabill/Getty Images