Keselowski Wins in California, Stewart-Haas Dominant

Originally written for CLNS Radio. 

Brad Keselowski made a last lap pass to steal a win in the Auto Club 400 on Sunday.

Keselowski was able to get the surprise victory on a weekend that saw Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick dominate.  Busch led every practice and won the pole for the race, while Harvick qualified second.

 

Photo courtesy Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

“I knew the 4 [of Harvick] and 41 [of Busch] had kind of been the class of the weekend, and those cars…definitely deserved to win,” Keselowski said in victory lane.  “We kind of stole one today.”

Debris brought out a caution with just two laps to go, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.  While many of the leaders took two tires, Keselowski and his team took four.  When a caution came back out during the first attempt at a GWC, Keselowski was able to put his four tires to good use, outrunning Harvick and Busch for the victory.  

Busch said he understood the outcome was just a product of the racing at Auto Club Speedway.

“We just got hung out on the yellows at the end,” Busch said.  “On that last restart I just didn’t get the job done.  Brad outmuscled us with four tires.”

Harvick, who got his eighth-straight top 2 finish, said it all came down to the amount of cautions at the end of the race.

“The second restart doesn’t come about and two tires was the right call,” Harvick said.  “You never know how the strategy’s going to work out, and you’re kind of on both sides of the fence there as to what you should or shouldn’t do.”

Unofficial results

1. Brad Keselowski

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Kurt Busch

4. Paul Menard

5. Ryan Newman

6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

7. Joey Logano

8. Martin Truex Jr.

9. Jimmie Johnson

10. Jeff Gordon

11. Aric Almirola

12. Justin Allgaier

13. Carl Edwards

14. Tony Stewart

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

16. Austin Dillon

17. Kasey Kahne

18. David Ragan

19. Danica Patrick

20. Chris Buescher

21. Jamie McMurray

22. Brett Moffitt

23. Casey Mears

24. Cole Whitt

25. Landon Cassill

26. Kyle Larson

27. Brian Scott

28. Denny Hamlin

29. Trevor Bayne

30. Clint Bowyer

31. Matt Kenseth

32. Greg Biffle

33. Alex Bowman

34. AJ Allmendinger

35. David Gilliland

36. Josh Wise

37. J.J. Yeley

38. Michael Annett

39. Jeb Burton

40. Mike Bliss

41. Brendan Gaughan

42. Matt DiBenedetto

43. Sam Hornish Jr.

Photo courtesy Robert Laberge/Getty Images

Weekly Pull List: 3/18/2015

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

Titan
Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #6

DC
Batman Eternal #50

Marvel
All-New X-Men #39
Amazing Spider-Man #16.1
Cyclops #11
Guardians Team-Up #3
Hulk #13
Loki: Agent of Asgard #12
Magneto #16
Moon Knight #13
Princess Leia #2
Silk #2
Storm #9
The Punisher #16
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #3
Wolverines #11

Kevin Harvick Dominates at Phoenix

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Kevin Harvick won the CampingWorld.com 500 on Sunday for his fourth consecutive victory at Phoenix International Speedway.

Photo courtesy Robert Laberge/Getty Images

Harvick’s victory was his seventh-straight finish of first or second, the first driver to match those numbers since Richard Petty did it in 1975.  Harvick’s consistency has squashed any talk of a championship hangover for the No. 4 team.

“It’s almost scary how well things are going,” Harvick said in victory lane.  “I think when you look at the start of this year, we just know each other so much better.  We have a lot of things different than what we had last year.”

Harvick, following his win last weekend at Las Vegas, was a favorite heading into the weekend that saw the driver race on one of his best tracks.  He said racing in the XFinity Series race on Saturday helped set up his good run Sunday.

“The restarts were just really slippery, and I learned that in the race yesterday,” Harvick said.  “You had to really maintain your entrance speed and really slide the thing through the center of the corner to try to keep it pointed off.”

The race also saw the return of Harvick’s teammate Kurt Busch, who was reinstated by NASCAR on Wednesday following a three-week suspension for a domestic violence incident with his ex-girlfriend.

Busch finished fifth on Sunday, and said the finish was a testament to the strength of his team.

“Personally it’s great to get back to them and produce a result like this on our first day back,” Busch said.  “To run up there, to almost lead a lap…the way that we raced today was with heart.  I think there could have been enough good will in the tank to bring home a win, but Kevin’s tough.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Jamie McMurray

3. Ryan Newman

4. Kasey Kahne

5. Kurt Busch

6. Brad Keselowski

7. Martin Truex Jr.

8. Joey Logano

9. Jeff Gordon

10. Kyle Larson

11. Jimmie Johnson

12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

13. Carl Edwards

14. Paul Menard

15. Austin Dillon

16. Matt Kenseth

17. AJ Allmendinger

18. Justin Allgaier

19. Aric Almirola

20. Casey Mears

21. David Ragan

22. Landon Cassill

23. Denny Hamlin

24. Clint Bowyer

25. Cole Whitt

26. Danica Patrick

27. Greg Biffle

28. Trevor Bayne

29. David Gilliland

30. Alex Bowman

31. J.J. Yeley

32. Brett Moffitt

33. Mike Bliss

34. Jeb Burton

35. Matt DiBenedetto

36. Josh Wise

37. Brendan Gaughan

38. Alex Kennedy

39. Tony Stewart

40. Sam Hornish Jr.

41. Brian Vickers

42. Michael Annett

43. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Photo courtesy Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Weekly Pull List: 3/11/2015

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

Image
The Walking Dead #138

DC
Batman Eternal #49
Batman: Arkham Knight #1
Detective Comics: Endgame #1

Marvel
All-New X-Men #37
Amazing Spider-Man #16
Amazing Spider-Man Special #1
Ant-Man #3
Captain Marvel #13
Deadpool #43
Fantastic Four #644
Guardians Team-Up #2
Howard the Duck #1
Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man #11
Nova Annual #1
Silver Surfer #10
Spider-Gwen #2
Spider-Man and the X-Men #4
Spider-Man 2099 #10
Star Wars #3
Superior Iron Man #6
Wolverines #10

Weekly Pull List: 3/4/2015

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

Image
Saga #26

Titan
Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #8
Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor #9

DC
Batman Eternal #48
Detective Comics #40
Grayson #8
Green Arrow #40
Harley Quinn #15

Marvel
All-New Hawkeye #1
Angela: Asgard's Assassin #4
Guardians Team-Up #1
Hulk #12
Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #10
Princess Leia #1
Return of the Living Deadpool #2
Rocket Raccoon #9
Spider-Woman #5
Wolverines #9
X-Men #25

Jimmie Johnson Wins at Atlanta

Originally written for CLNS Radio. 

Jimmie Johnson won the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 from Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Photo courtesy Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Johnson was dominant during the race, leading 92 of 325 laps.  He said his car was extremely fast, which proved to be the difference when racing Kevin Harvick, who led a race-high 116 laps.

“I had a blast racing with the 4 [of Harvick], he was awfully strong today,” Johnson said.  “I think track position there at the end just kind of set things in place, and we got the restart we needed to and cleared the 88 [of Dale Earnhardt Jr.] and off we went.”

The race was the first real test for teams this season as NASCAR rolled out its new rules package.  The new rules are similar to NASCAR stock cars before the debut of the Car of Tomorrow in 2007. 

Prior to the start of the season, many people believed the new rules would play right into Johnson’s driving style, and Johnson said his team stepped up to the challenge.

“I’m just so excited that…this new team could understand what I was complaining about and what I didn’t like about my racecar,” Johnson said.  “We had some troubles on pit road, but once we kind of got through and got by the 19 [of Carl Edwards], that allowed us to get track position.”

Unofficial results:

1. Jimmie Johnson

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

4. Joey Logano

5. Matt Kenseth

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. AJ Allmendinger

8. Brett Moffitt

9. Brad Keselowski

10. Ryan Newman

11. Aric Almirola

12. Carl Edwards

13. Paul Menard

14. Kasey Kahne

15. Casey Mears

16. Danica Patrick

17. Regan Smith

18. David Ragan

19. Trevor Bayne

20. Justin Allgaier

21. Sam Hornish Jr.

22. David Gilliland

23. Alex Bowman

24. Clint Bowyer

25. Greg Biffle

26. Kyle Larson

27. Michael McDowell

28. Brendan Gaughan

29. Michael Annett

30. Tony Stewart

31. Mike Bliss

32. Josh Wise

33. Joe Nemechek

34. J.J. Yeley

35. Jeb Burton

36. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

37. Cole Whitt

38. Denny Hamlin

39. Austin Dillon

40. Jamie McMurray

41. Jeff Gordon

42. Ron Hornaday Jr.

43. Landon Cassill

Photo courtesy Jerry Markland/Getty Images

Weekly Pull List: 2/25/2015

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

Image
Chew #46
Sex #20

Titan
Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #5

DC
Arkham Manor #5
Batman #39
Batman Eternal #47
The Flash #39
Gotham by Midnight #4

Marvel
All-New X-Men #38
Amazing Spider-Man #15
Amazing X-Men #17
Daredevil #13
Darth Vader #2
Deadpool #42
Fantastic Four #643
Inhuman #12
Spider-Gwen #1
Spider-Man and the X-Men #3
Spider-Man 2099 #9
Superior Iron Man #5
Wolverines #8