Brad Keselowski Dominates in Richmond

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Brad Keselowski won the Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night to clinch the top seed in the Chase.

Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images

Keselowski was dominant in the race, starting from the pole and leading 383 of 400 laps.  He never fell lower than second throughout the entire race.  Keselowski said his car was so perfect he thought he was dreaming.

“It was just flying,” Keselowski said.  “We want to run for another cup.”

Keselowski won the 2012 Sprint Cup Championship, but failed to make the Chase last year.  He said his team seems poised to win the title this year following last year’s disappointment.

“I think last year was a kick in the butt…enough to push us all and push us to another level.  We didn’t progress enough last year and this year we really upped our game.”

Keselowski started the race on the pole, and he only gave up the lead to Kevin Harvick twice in the first half of the race.  But following a caution for debris on lap 125, Keselowski took the lead and led the final 275 laps on his way to the victory.

The race was slowed with 70 laps to go for a very unusual reason – a fan had climbed on top of the catchfence in Turn 4.  NASCAR had to throw a caution so that security could get the fan off the fence for his safety.

Unofficial results:

1. Brad Keselowski

2. Jeff Gordon

3. Clint Bowyer

4. Jamie McMurray

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Joey Logano

7. Kurt Busch

8. Jimmie Johnson

9. Ryan Newman

10. Aric Almirola

11. Kyle Larson

12. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

13. Brian Vickers

14. Kyle Busch

15. Tony Stewart

16. Danica Patrick

17. Kasey Kahne

18. Paul Menard

19. Greg Biffle

20. Austin Dillon

21. Denny Hamlin

22. Carl Edwards

23. AJ Allmendinger

24. Reed Sorenson

25. Martin Truex Jr.

26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

27. Marcos Ambrose

28. Justin Allgaier

29. David Gilliland

30. Cole Whitt

31. Casey Mears

32. Josh Wise

33. David Ragan

34. Landon Cassill

35. Mike Bliss

36. David Stremme

37. Michael Annett

38. Alex Bowman

39. Travis Kvapil

40. Joe Nemechek

41. Matt Kenseth

42. Ryan Truex

43. J.J. Yeley

Next weekend, the Sprint Cup Series heads to Chicagoland Speedway for the first race of the Chase.  The MyFibStory.com 400 is next Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST on ESPN.

Photo courtesy Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images

Fantasy Preview: Richmond 9/6

This Saturday, the Sprint Cup Series heads to Richmond International Raceway to settle the Chase field.  Below are my fantasy picks for the race.

Tier A
Clint Bowyer
Bowyer is always good at Richmond, and he returns to the track still needing a win to get into the Chase.  He returns to the race where he was involved in a scandal last year.  In that race, he spun in the final laps to help get his teammate, Martin Truex Jr., into the Chase.  He will be looking for redemption on Saturday night.

Bench:
Kurt Busch

Tier B:
Ryan Newman
Newman has been strong lately, and he will lock himself into the Chase on Saturday by finishing 41st or better.  With that weight off his back, I could see Newman running up front and contending for a good finish.

Greg Biffle
Biffle is the final driver on the Chase bubble, and he will need to be strong on Saturday.  He will need to finish ahead of Bowyer and Kyle Larson if he wants to get into the Chase on points.  I'd expect him to run well and maybe even contend for the win with his season on the line.

Bench:
Marcos Ambrose
Paul Menard

Tier C:
Austin Dillon
For once, I'm letting my own personal feelings take over instead of my better judgement.  If Dillon wins on Saturday, he'll lock himself into the Chase along with picking up his first career victory.  I would love to see that happen in Dillon's rookie year.  I don't expect him to win the race, but if he has a strong run I want to look like a genius with him on my fantasy team.

Bench:
Danica Patrick

My pick to win the Federated Auto Parts 400...Kevin Harvick

Photo courtesy Jeff Curry/Getty Images

The Federated Auto Parts 400 can be seen on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EST on ABC as the Chase field is set.

Weekly Pull List: 9/3/2014

Because of the holiday this week, I'll have to wait until Thursday to pick up my comics from my local comic shop.  But whenever you get to pick them up, all the comics available this week can be found on Comixology, and any breaking comics news is on Comic Book Resources.

DC
Batman Eternal #22

Marvel
All-New Doop #5
Deadpool vs. X-Force #4
Death of Wolverine #1
Hawkeye vs. Deadpool #0
Legendary Star-Lord #3
Moon Knight #7
Original Sin #8
Rocket Raccoon #3
She-Hulk #8
Spider-Man 2099 #3
The Punisher #10
The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #15
Uncanny X-Men #25
X-Men #19

Be sure to pick up...

Deadpool vs. X-Force #4
This series has been so much fun, I'm pretty sad to see it end.  But if you read on down, you'll see that the next Deadpool miniseries is right around the corner!

Death of Wolverine #1
I'm pretty excited for this series, if not just to get rid of whiny Wolverine.  I really like him as a character, but ever since he lost his healing factor he's been pretty annoying.  You know he'll have a hero's death, so stay tuned to see how Marvel kills off one of their most beloved characters.

Hawkeye vs. Deadpool #0
This series has "fun" written all over it.  They won't really be fighting each other, rather trying to fight crime while attempting to outdo one another. If that doesn't get you excited, you don't know what fun is.

Original Sin #8
This is the big finale!  I've really enjoyed this series, and I'm pretty intrigued to see how it ends.  It will be interesting to see how this shakes up everything in the Marvel Universe going forward. 

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment below with the books you're picking up this week!

Kahne Clinches Chase Spot in Atlanta

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Kasey Kahne won the Oral-B USA 500 from Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday night to clinch a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Kahne had to survive a wild finish that included two green-white-checkered finishes, but he was able to get a good restart when it mattered.

Photo courtesy Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

“On those restarts, I didn’t know what would happen,” Kahne said.  “I had good restarts all night, and I struggle with restarts, so that’s big.”

Kahne said he started the weekend on the slow side, but that his team was able to adjust throughout the weekend to make his car faster.  Kahne also said he was excited to be in the Chase with his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates.

“We’ve had kind of a downer year at times…I’m pretty pumped to be here.”

Kevin Harvick started on the pole, and he dominated early and often throughout the race.  He led the first 83 laps, before Denny Hamlin took the lead during a round of pit stops under caution.

Hamlin led the field to the following restart, but Harvick worked his way back to the lead within 20 laps.  

Hamlin picked up the lead again following a caution on lap 117 for a spin by Ryan Truex.  

Hamlin led the field back to the green flag on lap 122, and he led until Marcos Ambrose blew an engine two laps later.

Under the lengthy caution, Matt Kenseth stayed out to take the lead. He led the field to the green flag on lap 135, but he could not hold off Kurt Busch, who took the lead on the next lap.

Kenseth took the lead again on lap 158, but gave the lead back to Harvick on lap 165.

Harvick pitted on lap 172, but the caution came out while he was on pit road.  Tony Stewart, making his return to racing following the death of Kevin Ward Jr. on August 9th, blew a right-front tire and hit the wall.

Kenseth and Harvick stayed out under the caution, and they led the field to the green flag on lap 180.  Three laps later, Harvick worked his way around Kenseth to take the lead.

The caution came out for debris on lap 209, and once again Harvick lost the lead on pit road.   Kenseth led the field to the green flag on lap 215.

Harvick took the lead again on lap 228, and he led until he pitted under green on lap 258.  While Harvick was on pit road, the caution came out for debris once again.

Harvick led the field to the green flag on lap 264, and he pulled away from the rest of the field.   When it looked like Harvick would run away with the victory, Brad Keselowski hit the wall while some drivers were making green flag pit stops.

Hamlin won the race off pit road, and he led the field back to the green flag.  Going through Turns 1 and 2, Kahne went high to take the lead, and Harvick followed.  

Kahne pulled away from Harvick, and it looked like he had wrapped up his Chase berth.  But with just two laps to go, Kyle Busch turned Martin Truex Jr. into the wall, sending the race into overtime.

Kenseth led the field to the green flag on the first green-white-checkered, and they only made it to Turn 1 before the caution came out once again.  Harvick was turned by Joey Logano and hit the outside wall.

Kenseth led the field back to the green flag on the second green-white checkered, and Kahne shot through the middle and raced Kenseth side-by-side for an entire lap.  Kahne finally cleared Kenseth and ran away to take the victory.

Unofficial results:

1. Kasey Kahne

2. Matt Kenseth

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Jimmie Johnson

5. Carl Edwards

6. Danica Patrick

7. Ryan Newman

8. Kyle Larson

9. Aric Almirola

10. Greg Biffle

11. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

12. Jamie McMurray

13. Kurt Busch

14. Joey Logano

15. Brian Vickers

16. Kyle Busch

17. Jeff Gordon

18. Paul Menard

19. Kevin Harvick

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21. Michael Annett

22. Casey Mears

23. Martin Truex Jr.

24. Austin Dillon

25. Ty Dillon

26. Justin Allgaier

27. David Ragan

28. David Gilliland

29. Reed Sorenson

30. Cole Whitt

31. Landon Cassill

32. J.J. Yeley

33. Josh Wise

34. Brett Moffitt

35. Alex Bowman

36. Ryan Truex

37. Joe Nemechek

38. Clint Bowyer

39. Brad Keselowski

40. AJ Allmendinger

41. Tony Stewart

42. Marcos Ambrose

43. Mike Bliss

It all comes down to next weekend when the Sprint Cup Series heads to Richmond International Raceway.  The Chase field will be set at the Federated Auto Parts 400 next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.

Photo courtesy Jonathan Moore/Getty Images

Fantasy Preview: Atlanta 8/31

This Sunday, the Sprint Cup Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Oral-B USA 500.  The race can be seen on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. EST.  Below are my picks for the race.

Tier A
Kevin Harvick
Harvick won the pole for Sunday night's race, and he has been strong all weekend.  After dominating Saturday night's Nationwide Series race, Harvick will be looking for the weekend sweep on Sunday night.

Bench:
Matt Kenseth

Tier B
Martin Truex Jr.
Truex is one of those drivers still looking for his first win of the season.  Truex is normally strong on the 1.5 mile tracks, and I expect him to run towards the front on Sunday night.

Brian Vickers
Vickers is also looking for his first victory, and he should be strong this weekend.  He qualified 19th, but he should finish well inside the top 15.

Bench:
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Jamie McMurray

Tier C
Danica Patrick
Patrick finished 21st in this race last year, but she has been getting much better over the course of this season.  If she has some good luck on Sunday night, Patrick could finish with a top 20.

Bench:
Jeff Burton

My pick to win the Oral-B 500...Kevin Harvick

Weekly Pull List: 8/27/14

All the comics available this week can be found on Comixology, and any breaking comics news is Comic Book Resources.


Image
Saga #22
Sex #15

Titan
Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #2

DC
Batman Eternal #21
Batman/Superman #13
The Flash #34
Harley Quinn #10
Secret Origins #5
Sinestro #5

Marvel
All-New Ultimates #7
All-New X-Men #31
Amazing Spider-Man #1.4
Avengers #34
Cyclops #4
Fantastic Four #9
Guardians of the Galaxy #18
Inhuman #4
Original Sin: Thor and Loki #4
Savage Hulk #3
Silver Surfer #5
Wolverine #12
Wolverine and the X-Men #8

Be sure to pick up...

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #2
This series started off really well, and it was able to capture the magic of David Tennant's time as the Doctor.  Be sure to pick this up quick, as it will sell out pretty fast like it did last month.  Plus, everyone will be ready for some new Who after last week's premiere episode with the 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi. Allons-y!!

Amazing Spider-Man #1.4
This is the final issue in this early Spider-Man story.  It's been pretty awesome so far, but it has been a little confusing.  They've put this story in the past, but put in some modern touches, like cellphones and the computer.  Last time I checked, those definitely did not exist in the 1960's.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to comment below with the books you're picking up this week!