By the numbers: The 2013 Chasers at Kansas - MotorSportsTalk

The Chase for the Sprint Cup heads into America’s Heartland this weekend for the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, marking a return to the intermediate tracks that make up the majority of NASCAR’s playoff run.

Last weekend at Dover, Chase leader Matt Kenseth came back to Earth with a seventh-place finish but will likely be the favorite at Kansas, where he triumphed over fellow Chaser Kasey Kahne in the spring. Dover winner Jimmie Johnson came up third behind the pair and may be up for another strong run as well this weekend.

The one to watch may well be Kyle Busch, who has had many struggles on this particular 1.5-mile oval. This past spring was particularly brutal for him at Kansas; during that weekend, he wrecked his primary car in practice, crashed out of a Camping World Truck Series event, and spun twice in the Sprint Cup race – with the second spin ending in a collision with Joey Logano.

At the risk of stating the obvious, he can’t afford another struggle here versus his main title rivals – Kenseth, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, and Johnson, the five-time Cup champion. Here are the Kansas statistics for each of the 13 Chase contenders, as provided by NASCAR.

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MATT KENSETH (LEADER, 2,149 points)
Two wins, six Top-5s, nine Top-10s
Average Finish: 14.8 in 15 races
Average Running Position: 9.5, third-best

JIMMIE JOHNSON (Second, -8 points)
Two wins, six Top-5s, 12 Top-10s
Average Finish: 7.6 in 14 races
Average Running Position: 7.4, Series-best

KYLE BUSCH (Third, -12 points)
Two Top-10s
Average Finish: 22.4 in 12 races
Average Running Position: 18.4, 19th-best

KEVIN HARVICK (Fourth, -39 points)
One Top-5, six Top-10s
Average Finish: 12.8 in 15 races
Average Running Position: 12.7, ninth-best

JEFF GORDON (Fifth, -39 points)
Two wins, eight Top-5s, 10 Top-10s
Average Finish: 11.1 in 15 races
Average Running Position: 9.7, fourth-best

GREG BIFFLE (Sixth, -41 points)
Two wins, seven Top-5s, nine Top-10s
Average Finish: 10.1 in 14 races
Average Running Position: 8.2, second-best

RYAN NEWMAN (Seventh, -48 points)
One win, three Top-5s, four Top-10s
Average Finish: 18.1 in 15 races
Average Running Position: 20.9, 24th-best

CLINT BOWYER (Eighth, -51 points)
Two Top-5s, five Top-10s
Average Finish: 13.1 in 10 races
Average Running Position: 15.2, 15th-best

KURT BUSCH (Ninth, -55 points)
Three Top-10s
Average Finish: 17.9 in 15 races
Average Running Position: 14.8, 14th-best

DALE EARNHARDT JR. (10th, -57 points)
One Top-5, six Top-10s
Average Finish: 16.4 in 14 races
Average Running Position: 16.1, 17th-best

CARL EDWARDS (11th, -65 points)
Four Top-5s, eight Top-10s
Average Finish: 11.3 in 12 races
Average Running Position: 12.5, seventh-best

JOEY LOGANO (12th, -66 points)
Average Finish: 26.1 in eight races
Average Running Position: 24.2, 32nd-best

KASEY KAHNE (13th, -78 points)
Three Top-5s, six Top-10s
Average Finish: 13.9 in 12 races
Average Running Position: 13.9, 11th-best

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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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