Another Friday, another Sprint Cup pole for Kevin Harvick

By Oct 3, 2014, 7:16 PM EDT
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Kevin Harvick continues to set the standard in qualifying this season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver earned his eighth Cup pole of 2014 and his third consecutive Cup pole on the fast, 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway with a track record lap of 197.621 miles per hour.

But will this set him up for a critical victory in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 that would put him into the Eliminator Round in the Chase for the Sprint Cup?

Or is he in for more disappointment like he had one week ago at Dover – and at multiple other points this season?

Harvick feels that good luck is all he and his No. 4 team really needs. Indeed, it appears they have pretty much everything else down.

“I just feel like with a little bit of good luck, we can beat every car on the race track on any given weekend at any style of race track,” he told ESPN. “And that’s a really positive, good feeling to have as a race car driver.

“Our guys have a lot of confidence in what they’re putting on the race track, and everybody knows that if the chips fall right, we have the speed and the cars to do what we need to do.

“We’ve made adjustments with the reliability from the beginning of the year and the pit crew…Everything’s there. It’s just a matter of everything coming together on the luck side and we’ll just keep plugging away.”

Joining Harvick on the front row will be Brian Vickers, whose strong lap of 196.307 mph was still more than one mile per hour off Harvick’s pole run.

Seven other Chasers managed to get in the final round of qualifying and will be starting toward the front. This group is led by Joey Logano, who will be on the outside of Row 2 alongside the recently eliminated Aric Almirola.

Last week’s winner, Jeff Gordon, and Brad Keselowski are in Row 3 followed by Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Row 4. Non-Chase competitor Tony Stewart will join Kasey Kahne in Row 5, and Row 6 features Roush Fenway Racing teammates Greg Biffle (like Almirola, eliminated at Dover) and Carl Edwards.

But farther back, three Chasers in particular will be facing a tough climb on Sunday afternoon.

Denny Hamlin ran an identical time – a 27.873 – with Newman for the final advance position in the opening round, but because Newman had a higher Chase seed going into Kansas, Newman got to move to Round 2.

Hamlin will start 25th, just two spots ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth in 27th. And defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson will be in an even bigger hole, having to start 32nd following a spin in Turn 2 with about five minutes left in Round 1.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES AT KANSAS – Hollywood Casino 400
Qualifying Results
1. *4-Kevin Harvick
2. 55-Brian Vickers
3. 43-Aric Almirola
4. *22-Joey Logano
5. *24-Jeff Gordon
6. *2-Brad Keselowski
7. *18-Kyle Busch
8. *88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.
9. 14-Tony Stewart
10. *5-Kasey Kahne
11. 16-Greg Biffle
12. *99-Carl Edwards
13. 27-Paul Menard
14. 1-Jamie McMurray
15. 78-Martin Truex Jr.
16. 3-Austin Dillon
17. *31-Ryan Newman
18. 42-Kyle Larson
19. 15-Clint Bowyer
20. 47-A.J. Allmendinger
21. 51-Justin Allgaier
22. 9-Marcos Ambrose
23. 17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
24. 41-Kurt Busch
25. *11-Denny Hamlin
26. 13-Casey Mears
27. *20-Matt Kenseth
28. 95-Michael McDowell
29. 10-Danica Patrick
30. 36-Reed Sorenson
31. 38-David Gilliland
32. *48-Jimmie Johnson
33. 23-Alex Bowman
34. 98-Josh Wise
35. 40-Landon Cassill
36. 7-Michael Annett
37. 34-David Ragan
38. 83-J.J. Yeley
39. 26-Cole Whitt
40. 33-Timmy Hill
41. 37-Mike Bliss
42. 32-Joey Gase
43. 66-Mike Wallace
*Chase for the Sprint Cup contenders

With throaty roar, NASCAR Next Gen Camaro is taking Le Mans by storm on global stage

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
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LE MANS, France — The V8 engine of the NASCAR Chevrolet Camaro has a distinct growl that cannot go unnoticed even among the most elite sports cars in the world at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

When the Hendrick Motorsports crew fired up the car inside Garage 56, NASCAR chairman Jim France broke into a huge grin and gave a thumbs up.

“The only guy who didn’t cover his ears,” laughed seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

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France has been waiting since 1962 – the year his father, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., brought him to his first 24 Hours of Le Mans – to hear the roar of a stock car at the most prestigious endurance race in the world.

A path finally opened when NASCAR developed its Next Gen car, which debuted last year. France worked out a deal to enter a car in a specialized “Innovative Car” class designed to showcase technology and development. The effort would be part of NASCAR’s 75th celebration and it comes as Le Mans marks its 100th.

Once he had the approval, France persuaded Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear – NASCAR’s winningest team, manufacturer and tire supplier – to build a car capable of running the twice-around-the-clock race.

The race doesn’t start until Saturday, but NASCAR’s arrival has already been wildly embraced and France could not be more thrilled.

“Dad’s vision, to be able to follow it, it took awhile to follow it up, and my goal was to outdo what he accomplished,” France told The Associated Press. “I just hope we don’t fall on our ass.”

The car is in a class of its own and not racing anyone else in the 62-car field. But the lineup of 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button and Johnson has been fast enough; Rockenfeller put down a qualifying lap that was faster than every car in the GTE AM class by a full three seconds.

The Hendrick Motorsports crew won its class in the pit stop competition and finished fifth overall as the only team using a manual jack against teams exclusively using air jacks. Rick Hendrick said he could not be prouder of the showing his organization has made even before race day.

“When we said we’re gonna do it, I said, ‘Look, we can’t do this half-assed. I want to be as sharp as anybody out there,” Hendrick told AP. “I don’t want to be any less than any other team here. And just to see the reaction from the crowd, people are so excited about this car. My granddaughter has been sending me all these TikTok things that fans are making about NASCAR being at Le Mans.”

This isn’t NASCAR’s first attempt to run Le Mans. The late France Sr. brokered a deal in 1976, as America celebrated its bicentennial, to bring two cars to compete in the Grand International class and NASCAR selected the teams. Herschel McGriff and his son, Doug, drove a Wedge-powered, Olympia Beer-sponsored Dodge Charger, and Junie Donlavey piloted a Ford Torino shared by Richard Brooks and Dick Hutcherson.

Neither car came close to finishing the race. McGriff, now 95 and inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame in January, is in Le Mans as France’s guest, clad head-to-toe in the noticeable Garage 56 uniforms.

“I threw a lot of hints that I would like to come. And I’ve been treated as royalty,” McGriff said. “This is unbelievable to me. I recognize nothing but I’m anxious to see everything. I’ve been watching and seeing pictures and I can certainly see the fans love their NASCAR.”

The goal is to finish the full race Sunday and, just maybe, beat cars from other classes. Should they pull off the feat, the driver trio wants its own podium celebration.

“I think people will talk about this car for a long, long time,” said Rockenfeller, who along with sports car driver Jordan Taylor did much of the development alongside crew chief Chad Knaus and Greg Ives, a former crew chief who stepped into a projects role at Hendrick this year.

“When we started with the Cup car, we felt already there was so much potential,” Rockenfeller said. “And then we tweaked it. And we go faster, and faster, at Le Mans on the SIM. But you never know until you hit the real track, and to be actually faster than the SIM. Everybody in the paddock, all the drivers, they come up and they are, ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ and they were impressed by the pit stops. We’ve overachieved, almost, and now of course the goal is to run for 24 hours.”

The car completed a full 24-hour test at Sebring, Florida, earlier this year, Knaus said, and is capable of finishing the race. Button believes NASCAR will leave a lasting impression no matter what happens.

“If you haven’t seen this car live yet, it’s an absolute beast,” Button said. “When you see and hear it go by, it just puts a massive smile on your face.”

For Hendrick, the effort is the first in his newfound embrace of racing outside NASCAR, the stock car series founded long ago in the American South. Aside from the Le Mans project, he will own the Indy car that Kyle Larson drives for Arrow McLaren in next year’s Indianapolis 500 and it will be sponsored by his automotive company.

“If you’d have told me I’d be racing at Le Mans and Indianapolis within the same year, I’d never have believed you,” Hendrick told AP. “But we’re doing both and we’re going to do it right.”

Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Fans gather around the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that is the Garage 56 entry for the 100th 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe (Chris Graythen/Getty Images).

General Motors is celebrating the achievement with a 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition and only 56 will be available to collectors later this year.

“Even though Chevrolet has been racing since its inception in 1911, we’ve never done anything quite like Garage 56,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “A NASCAR stock car running at Le Mans is something fans doubted they would see again.”

The race hasn’t even started yet, but Hendrick has enjoyed it so much that he doesn’t want the project to end.

“It’s like a shame to go through all this and do all this, and then Sunday it’s done,” Hendrick said. “It’s just really special to be here.”