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| SHR started up front... |
Stewart-Haas Racing took
teamwork to a new level Sunday, dominating the 1000Bulbs.com 500 from start to finish.
SHR drivers Kurt Busch, Clint
Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola swept the top four spots in qualifying Saturday,
and only an ill-timed, late-race caution prevented them from finishing in the
exact same order in Sunday’s race.
The Ford teammates implemented
their organizational marching orders to perfection, slipping into single-file
formation at the drop of the green flag and working together in a similar
fashion on restarts to claim the top four finishing positions in the each of
the race’s first two stages. Steadfastly refusing to budge off the advantageous
inside line and resisting the urge to race each other for position, Busch, Bowyer,
Harvick and Almirola were able to pull away from their less-organized
competition, dominating the way few ever have in NASCAR’s notoriously tumultuous
restrictor plate era.
Not since Hendrick Motorsports posted a 1-2-3 finish in the 1997
Daytona 500 with drivers Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and
Ricky Craven has an organization so dominated a race on one of NASCAR’s largest
tracks.
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| ...and finished up front at Talladega. |
Stewart Haas was poised to
sweep the first four finishing positions Sunday, holding a comfortable lead over
the remainder of the field until Alex Bowman walloped the Turn 4 wall and
brought out the caution flag with just three laps remaining, sending the race
into overtime. Already pushing the envelope on fuel (as was virtually the
entire pack), SHR’s master plan suddenly turned sour. All those laps at the
front of the field left the Stewart Haas contingent shorter on fuel than the
competition. Harvick was forced to pit road by fluctuating fuel pressure under
caution, only to have Busch sputter dry while leading on the final lap. That
handed the win to Almirola, with Bowyer finishing second; both of them
virtually on fumes.
“I’m really proud of everybody
at Stewart-Haas Racing,” said a disappointed Harvick afterward. “(My car) sputtered
on fuel pressure and dropped down in the red. (We) did the right thing coming
in and pitting and not taking a chance. Sometimes it doesn’t all go as planned.”
SHR’s competition director
Greg Zipadelli told reporters that he preached cooperation in the days leading
up to the race, after disappointing results the previous week at Dover.
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| Almirola advances to the Round of 8. |
“Last week, we didn’t do a
great job of executing as a group,” admitted Zipadelli. “We could have had the
same result. (This week), everybody said, ‘We need to help each other, work
together and show everybody that we are teammates.’ I felt like our cars
were strong enough that if we did that, we would have a very strong day.
“Honestly, we pay these guys
every week to be selfish, take care of themselves, run as hard as they can,
finish as high as they can (and) win as many races as they can,” he added. “But
everybody gave and took today. We came in here with (Almirola and Bowyer)
needing stage points and everybody
executed perfectly. At the end of the race, (it was) ‘Let’s do everything
we can to help each other.’
“Everybody knew the
circumstances.”
Almirola’s second career MENCS
victory locked him into the playoff Round of Eight with one race still remaining
this weekend at Kansas Speedway. Harvick is virtually assured of advancing as
well, hovering 63 points above the cutoff line. Kurt Busch is 30 points to the
good, with Bowyer now 21 above the cutoff.
“We’re good to the next round
points-wise,” said Harvick afterward. “That was really our goal coming into
today; to try to do everything we could to put ourselves in a position to go to
Kansas and just race. That’s great for the team, to give the guys a mental break
in this part of the season (and) just go to Kansas and be able to race the car
and not have to worry about points.
“We did a great job today and
wound up in a good position for Kansas. It’s all about survive and advance
at this point.”
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