Joey Logano Dominates in Michigan

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Joey Logano won the FireKeepers Casino 400 from Michigan International Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Logano dominated on his way to his first victory of the season, starting from the pole and leading 139 laps.

Logano said the victory was a testament to his team and their hard work throughout the weekend.

Photo courtesy Jerry Markland/Getty Images

“Perfect execution,” Logano said.  “We’ve been knocking on the door for a win here all season.  To see the execution this team had throughout the day, having the perfect weekend like this.  Starting on the pole, having good pit stops and staying up in the top two all race is a lot to be said about this team.”

NASCAR rolled out a new aero-package for this weekend, and Logano said his team figured the setup early in the weekend.

“Everyone did a great job understanding what this package was going to do, and put together a great racecar for me.”

Logano was challenged by rookie Chase Elliott late in the race, but he ultimately had to settle for a second-place finish.

“I did something dumb,” Elliott said.  “You can’t do dumb stuff and win these races.  This whole NAPA group has been working hard these past few race weeks, but that was all on me.”

Unofficial results:

1. Joey Logano

2. Chase Elliott

3. Kyle Larson

4. Brad Keselowski

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Carl Edwards

7. Tony Stewart

8. Austin Dillon

9. Jamie McMurray

10. Kurt Busch

11. Ryan Newman

12. Martin Truex Jr.

13. Kasey Kahne

14. Matt Kenseth

15. Trevor Bayne

16. Jimmie Johnson

17. Ryan Blaney

18. Paul Menard

19. Greg Biffle

20. Chris Buescher

21. Danica Patrick

22. David Ragan

23. Clint Bowyer

24. Ty Dillon

25. Landon Cassill

26. Aric Almirola

27. Cole Whitt

28. Michael Annett

29. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

30. Josh Wise

31. Reed Sorenson

32. Casey Mears

33. Denny Hamlin

34. Matt DiBenedetto

35. Regan Smith

36. Brian Scott

37. Jeffrey Earnhardt

38. AJ Allmendinger

39. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

40. Kyle Busch

Photo courtesy Kena Krutsinger/Getty Images

Weekly Pull List: 6/8/2016

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

IDW
Godzilla Oblivion #3

Marvel
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #6
All-New X-Men #10
Civil War II: Spider-Man #1
Daredevil #8
Darth Vader #21
Deadpool and the Mercs for Money #5
Guardians of the Galaxy #9
Star Wars: Poe Dameron #3
Venom Space Knight #8
Vision #8

Weekly Pull List: 6/1/2016

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

BOOM! Studios
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink #1

IDW
Godzilla Oblivion #3

Image
The Walking Dead #155

Marvel
Amazing Spider-Man #13
Civil War II #1
Deadpool #13
Invincible Iron Man #10
Moon Knight #3
Punisher #2
Spider-Man 2099 #11
Spider-Woman #8
Spider-Woman Omega #1

Titan
Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor #3

Martin Truex Jr. Dominates the Coca-Cola 600

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Martin Truex Jr. won the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, dominating NASCAR’s longest race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Truex led 588 of 600 miles, which is a record for the most miles led by a driver in any race.

Photo courtesy Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images

Truex was overcome with emotion in victory lane after winning his first race since June of last year.

“Just kind of sinking in now that we won the 600,” Truex said.  “It’s a big day, we’ve got the troops on the cars; a special weekend.  A whole lot of emotion.  It’s a weekend you dream about.”

Truex has had his share of misses this season, coming close to victory lane on numerous occasions.  He said he was inspired to keep going because of his longtime girlfriend Sherry Pollex, who has battled cancer over the past few years.

“Sherry, she gives me a lot of inspiration,” Truex said.  “We always keep fighting, we never give up.  We never quit, and we always keep digging.”

Jimmie Johnson raced with Truex for most of the night, and the six-time champion was impressed by how good Truex’s car was.  

“I kind of felt like he was playing with us,” Johnson said.  “He was so fast.  I would flat-foot turns 1 and 2, and have a nose on him.  He would drive right back by me going into turn 3.”

“I’m happy for Martin.  That team…worked awfully hard to get where they’re at.  It was very impressive.”

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Jimmie Johnson

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Brad Keselowski

6. Kurt Busch

7. Matt Kenseth

8. Chase Elliott

9. Joey Logano

10. Ryan Newman

11. Greg Biffle

12. Austin Dillon

13. Kyle Larson

14. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

16. AJ Allmendinger

17. Paul Menard

18. Carl Edwards

19. Jamie McMurray

20. Ryan Blaney

21. Danica Patrick

22. Kasey Kahne

23. Clint Bowyer

24. Tony Stewart

25. Trevor Bayne

26. Aric Almirola

27. Landon Cassill

28. Regan Smith

29. Brian Scott

30. Casey Mears

31. David Ragan

32. Matt DiBenedetto

33. Kyle Busch

34. Michael McDowell

35. Cole Whitt

36. Michael Annett

37. Chris Buescher

38. Josh Wise

39. Jeffrey Earnhardt

40. Reed Sorenson

Photo courtesy Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

Mark Martin Named to 2017 Hall of Fame Class

Mark Martin is among the five nominees for the 2017 Hall of Fame class, the NASCAR Hall of Fame announced on Wednesday.

Martin is joined by Benny Parsons, Rick Hendrick, Raymond Parks and Richard Childress in the 2017 class.

Martin, who was nominated for the second-straight year, is regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win a championship.  He has five runner-up finishes in the championship standings to four current and future Hall of Famers: Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson.

Photo courtesy NASCAR

Throughout a career that spanned parts of four decades, Martin had 40 career Sprint Cup Series victories and 56 career Sprint Cup poles.  Martin, however, never won NASCAR's biggest events, the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400.  He came close in 2007, finishing second to Kevin Harvick by .002 seconds in the Daytona 500.

Martin also had 49 career Xfinity Series victories, even though he never raced a full season in the series.  He held the record for most Xfinity Series wins before Kyle Busch won race No. 50 in 2011.  Along with 7 Truck Series victories, Martin has 96 NASCAR victories across the three national touring series, which puts him seventh on the all-time list behind Richard Petty, Busch, David Pearson, Gordon, Darrell Waltrip and Earnhardt.

Martin made his Sprint Cup debut on April 5, 1981.  After running off-and-on in the Sprint Cup Series for most of the decade, Martin teamed up with Jack Roush to become the first driver for Roush Racing in 1988.

Martin originally announced his retirement in 2005, with that year deemed his "Salute to You Tour."  But Roush needed a driver to fill the seat of the No. 6 car for 2006, so Martin returned for another full season.  Martin left Roush following 2006, and he raced a partial schedule for Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2007 and 2008.

In 2009, Martin returned to a full-time schedule with Hendrick Motorsports for the next three years.  In 2009, Martin picked up his final five career victories, and was part of a 1-2-3 team finish in the championship standings with Johnson and Gordon.

Martin retired following the 2013 season, after running a partial schedule for Michael Waltrip Racing in 2012 and 2013. 

Weekly Pull List: 5/25/2016

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

IDW
Back to the Future #8

Marvel
Amazing Spider-Man #1.5
Captain Marvel #5
Carnage #8
Daredevil #7
Deadpool #12
Doctor Strange #8
Drax #7
Extraordinary X-Men #10
Obi-Wan and Anakin #5
Spider-Man Deadpool #5
Star Wars #19
Totally Awesome Hulk #6
X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever #4

Titan
Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor #2
Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Year 2 #10
Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Year 2 #6

Joey Logano Wins the Sprint All-Star Race

Originally written for CLNS Radio. 

Joey Logano won the Sprint All-Star Race on Saturday night from Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Logano had to chase down Kyle Larson over the final 13 laps, and got by after Larson got loose and ended up slamming into the outside wall.  Logano said his car hadn’t shown the speed it was capable of until the end of the race.

 

Photo courtesy Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

“This Shell-Pennzoil Ford was fast from when we unloaded, but never showed our full potential the whole race,” Logano said.  “Eventually had a good restart and was able to get up towards the front and able to race with Kyle.”

“I knew he was going to run me hard, and I had to run him hard,” Logano said.

Larson said he thought he had the race won when he took the lead on the final restart, but that his car got too loose.

“I got clear right away, and I thought I could cruise,” Larson said.  “I was just getting looser throughout the race.”

“Just got loose and Joey caught me, he did a really good job side-drafting me.  I tried to hang on his quarter there, kind of like I did to Chase [Elliott] earlier today [in the Sprint Showdown], and I just got really loose as soon as I got into the corner.”

The race featured a new format, the brainchild of driver Brad Keselowski.  The race was split up into two 50-lap segments, with a mandatory 2-tire green flag pit stop during each segment, and then a final, 13-lap segment to decide the winner.  Before the final segment, the first 11 cars were forced to make a 4-tire pit stop, while the other cars on the lead lap were forced to stay out on old tires.  

The format confused some in the middle of the event, but Logano stressed the importance of being able to win the race, regardless of format.

“This is a race you always want to have on your resume, it’s just so special to say you’ve won the All-Star Race,” Logano said.  “It’s nice just to breakthrough and get a win.  I know it’s not for points, but it’s a nice momentum-builder going into the Coca-Cola 600.”

Unofficial results:

1. Joey Logano

2. Brad Keselowski

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

4. Carl Edwards

5. Kurt Busch

6. Chase Elliott

7. Trevor Bayne

8. Greg Biffle

9. Denny Hamlin

10. Kyle Busch

11. Kevin Harvick

12. Jimmie Johnson

13. Ryan Newman

14. Martin Truex Jr.

15. Danica Patrick

16. Kyle Larson

17. Jamie McMurray

18. Matt Kenseth

19. Kasey Kahne

20. Tony Stewart

Photo courtesy Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images