Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Driver Wraps Up Regular Season at Federated Auto Parts 400
Date: Sept. 12, 2015
Event: Federated Auto Parts 400 (Round 26 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Richmond (Va.) International Raceway (0.75-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 6th/14th (Running, completed 399 of 400 laps)
Point Standing: 5th-seed in Chase (2,006 points, six out of first)
Winner: Matt Kenseth of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Budweiser “Make A Plan To Make it Home”/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), will officially begin defense of his 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship next weekend. He finished in 14th place Saturday night at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway to wrap up the Sprint Cup regular season having scored the most regular-season points since the introduction of the new points system in 2011.
Behind his back-to-back victories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway, 18 top-five finishes and 22 top-10s through the first 26 races of 2015, the defending Sprint Cup champion closed out the regular season with 978 points prior to the Chase driver points reset following Saturday night’s race. Harvick’s point total through the first 26 races surpassed the 914 regular-season points scored by Greg Biffle in 2012 and Jeff Gordon in 2014.
With the points reset to 2,000 for the 16 drivers who qualified for this year’s Chase, plus three bonus points for each regular-season victory, Harvick will begin the 10-race playoffs at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, fifth with 2,006 points, six behind four-time winners Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, and three behind three-time winner Joey Logano. Harvick began last year’s Chase tied for sixth in the standings before blazing to his first career Sprint Cup title behind playoff victories at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Phoenix and the Chase finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Saturday night’s regular-season finale at Richmond proved problematic for Harvick, who qualified sixth. He was able to maintain his position in the top-five over the opening 40 green-flag laps, and a stellar pit stop under the race’s first caution on lap 41 sent him back out on track third. But Harvick lost several positions when, during the next two pit stops under caution on laps 90 and 111, his crew experienced problems with the jack. He restarted 14th after the latter stop but then fought handling issues that ranged from loose immediately after four-tire stops to tight at the end of longer runs. Even lengthy front-end toe adjustments, which required three trips down pit lane under caution with just more than 100 laps remaining in the 400-lap race, couldn’t help Harvick finish on the lead lap.
“We were just way off,” said Harvick, who has led 1,450 laps thus far this season, second-most in his career to the 2,137 he led last season. “We were basically racing on three tires after 16 laps. The left-front tire kept wearing out, for whatever reason. But everybody on this Budweiser/Jimmy John’s team has done a great job in the regular season. Believe it or not, we’ve had our worst two races as a group come right here the last two seasons. We finished one-two here in the spring, but Kurt (Busch) and I were just a bit off tonight. I’m just glad we don’t have to run a Chase race here. I’ve been waiting for weeks to get to Chicago and get the Chase started. I know how much preparation and time everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing and especially Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and all our guys on our No. 4 team have put into these next 10 weeks. It’s what it’s all about. It’s a whole different way of racing, it’s a whole different mindset once you go into Chicago. It’s kind of a take-no-prisoners attitude. ‘I don’t like you and I know you don’t like me and that’s OK.’ You race like that on every lap, and you just go after it.”
Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet for SHR, finished 15th.
Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished 19th in her 108th career Sprint Cup start and her sixth at Richmond.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished 29th.
Kenseth won the Federated Auto Parts 400 to score his 35th career Sprint Cup victory, his fourth of the season and his second at Richmond.
Kyle Busch finished .951 of a second behind Kenseth in the runner-up spot, while Logano, Aric Almirola and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top-five. Denny Hamlin, Gordon, Brad Keselowski, Johnson and Clint Bowyer comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were six caution periods for 47 laps, with two drivers failing to finish the 400-lap race.
NASCAR recalibrated the points for the 16 Chase drivers as soon as the Richmond race was over, with each driver getting 2,000 points. Drivers also received three bonus points for each of their respective wins during the 26-race regular season. For drivers starting the Chase with identical point totals, their seed was determined by the traditional tiebreaker of best finishes beyond race victories.
Positions 1-11 in the Chase field were determined by the drivers with the greatest number of wins after the first 26 races. Positions 12-16 went to the drivers who, while winless during the regular season, were the highest in points.
Harvick qualified for the Chase by virtue of his two wins, at Phoenix and Las Vegas. This is Harvick’s sixth-consecutive Chase appearance and his ninth overall. He finished fourth in his Chase debut in 2006, 10th in 2007, fourth in 2008, third in 2010, third in 2011, eighth in 2012 and third in 2013, and he won the Sprint Cup championship in 2014.
Kurt Busch qualified for the Chase via his wins at Richmond in April and in June at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. He’ll start the Chase seventh with six bonus points. Busch finished the regular season ranked ninth with 781 points. This is Busch’s third-straight Chase appearance and ninth overall. He won the championship in his Chase debut in 2004, then finished 10th in 2005, seventh in 2007, fourth in 2009, 11th in 2010, 11th in 2011, 10th in 2013 and 12th in 2014.
Ranked in order of where their bonus points seeded them, the 16 drivers competing for this year’s championship are:
1. Jimmie Johnson (2,012 points)
2. Kyle Busch (2,012 points)
3. Matt Kenseth (2,012 points)
4. Joey Logano (2,009 points, -3)
5. Kevin Harvick (2,006 points, -6)
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2,006 points, -6)
7. Kurt Busch (2,006 points, -6)
8. Carl Edwards (2,006 points, -6)
9. Brad Keselowski (2,003 points, -9)
10. Martin Truex Jr. (2,003 points, -9)
11. Denny Hamlin (2,003 points, -9)
12. Jamie McMurray (2,000 points, -12)
13. Jeff Gordon (2,000 points, -12)
14. Ryan Newman (2,000 points, -12)
15. Paul Menard (2,000 points, -12)
16. Clint Bowyer (2,000 points, -12)
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule – the first race of the Chase – is the Sept. 20 MyAFibRisk.com 400 at Chicagoland. The race starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN.
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