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DraftKings Fantasy NASCAR picks: Dover

I’m playing DraftKings this season and will be posting my picks here each week. Disclosure: If you want to play and sign up using this link, DraftKings will give my website a commission. Disclosure No. 2: I might be America’s worst daily fantasy player.

Last race’s results: Played the $3 Beginner Slingshot game. Finished 18th out of 200; won $10.

Season results: $26 wagered, $17 won in 10 contests.

This week’s contest: $0 free game due to Delaware state law restriction.

Dover picks:

— Kyle Busch ($10,400). It’s always dangerous to take the polesitter, but there are a lot of available laps to lead at Dover — and I want the people who are going to hog most of them. That would seem to fit Busch, among others.

— Martin Truex Jr. ($9,900). I’m going with Truex as my hammer. Last fall, Truex led 187 of the 400 laps — and I could see him with a similar performance on Sunday. He starts second, so he’ll have a good shot to pile up the laps led early in the race.

— Joey Logano ($9,200). This is pretty much a “He’s starting 26th and I want the position differential” play. It’s been a rough weekend for Logano, who seems to be lacking speed. But that team is capable of rebounding quickly. Maybe it’s not worth the high price to take the risk, but we’ll see.

— Ryan Newman ($7,200). I took Newman for one reason: He was the best driver remaining I could afford. Yes, I picked Newman to plug a hole — choosing him over similarly-priced Paul Menard, Ty Dillon and Trevor Bayne. There aren’t a lot of stats to back this up, other than Newman was faster than those drivers in practice. But this allowed me to take drivers like Busch, Logano and Truex — so that makes it worth it.

— Daniel Suarez ($7,100). I’m going with a value play here for a couple reasons. First, the Toyotas look fast this weekend — and this is a way to get one for cheap. Second, Suarez was 12th-fastest in 10-lap averages — so he clearly has a fast car. The downside (and a big one, perhaps) is he starts third.

— AJ Allmendinger ($6,200). A good value for a driver who was 14th in 10-lap average for final practice. Allmendinger starts 24th, but has been strong here in the past (he’s led more laps at Dover than he has at any other track).

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Brad Keselowski criticizes Kyle Busch’s behavior

Kyle Busch’s terse comments and microphone drop after a second-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 has sparked an ongoing debate about what the limits of passion are.

Busch said Friday he’s not always gracious, but said the actions are a reflection of how much he cares. In addition, some media columns have also expressed that view this week.

But longtime rival Brad Keselowski strongly refuted that notion on Saturday, saying anger and the hunger to win should not be linked.

“When the media comes out and says that’s a reflection of him having the most desire to win, it makes me want to throw up,” Keselowski said. “Not only is that a terrible message to send to anyone who is aspiring to be part of the sport, that’s a terrible message to send to anyone in general in this world — that (anger) is a reflection of your desire to win.

“When I look at teams and people in this sport, they all want to be associated with those who have the strongest hunger and desire and passion to be successful. That’s natural. And that message (of anger being an outlet for passion) is a terrible message that has serious effects — not just on our sport, but our society. Your desire to win could be expressed in a lot of other ways that are productive.”

Keselowski said the message he would send to his daughter or young people who are fans of his is that anger is “not by any of stretch of the imagination a true definition of the most desire, the most passion.”

“You want to show me desire and passion to win?” Keselowski said. “It’s what you do when nobody’s watching.”

This isn’t the first time Keselowski has weighed in on the issue this week.

Clearly, Keselowski and Busch don’t like each other much. But Keselowski’s comments seem to be going beyond targeting Busch in particular to make a larger point: He believes excusing such behavior will set a bad precedent for young people — drivers or otherwise — in times of adversity.

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Kyle Busch: ‘I’m Sorry, That’s Just Who I Am’

For all the talk about Kyle Busch changing and growing and maturing over the years, from Old Kyle to New Kyle to Family Man Kyle, the 2015 Cup champ never seems to go too long without doing something that pisses everyone off.

And you know what? As it turns out, that might not ever change.

That’s the theory Busch floated after winning the pole position Friday at Dover — five days after his much-publicized mic toss following a second-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600.

“Different people show their emotions in different ways,” he said. “Unfortunately for me, mine has never been very gracious — and I don’t know that it ever will be. I’m kind of learning that as the days go on. When my son (Brexton) is 2 years old, I see where it came from — it’s genetic.

“I’m sorry, that’s just who I am. That’s what I was given. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s probably the guy upstairs. I mean, I can probably get better and go to training and classes and everything else, but I don’t know. It is the way it is.”

Busch made the case those flashes of emotion don’t represent who he really is as a person, though — which is why sponsors, family and friends keep supporting him even in bad times. Look no further than Samantha Busch’s Instagram post this week to see another way he’s perceived.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to be blessed to be in the opportunity I’m in,” the driver said. “I’ve got great sponsors and partners that are with me, and they’ve stuck with me through a lot worse than what happened this week. And that’s through relationships.

“Those people that are close to me understand me and know me and know who I am outside the racetrack as a person and a friend, and that’s why I’m able to continue to have the relationships and the sponsorships that I do.”

As for why he was so upset at Charlotte, Busch said the time between his televised FOX Sports interview right after the race and when he arrived at the media center gave him time to stew over the missed opportunity.

For one thing, Busch said, he thought he was in position to win the race after passing Martin Truex Jr. and seeing Jimmie Johnson run out of gas (he believed Austin Dillon would also run out).

Then there was the fact a Coke 600 win slipped away — which would have given him three of the four NASCAR “majors” — as well as a Charlotte sweep that would have given him his first points win at his favorite track.

“There were a lot of things on the line that meant a lot to me and would have been special to me, but I guess I should care less about those sort of things and not show that sort of emotion,” he said.

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This is how dumb the NFL is

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is probably relieved today, since — let’s face it — he wanted no part of running a Philadelphia Eagles car next week at Pocono Raceway.

The diehard Washington Redskins fan already tried to plead his case several months ago to boss Rick Hendrick, who basically told him to get over it. After all, major Hendrick Motorsports sponsor Axalta had an important teachers initiative to promote — and this is how it chose to do so.

But now, thanks to a stupid NFL provision, the paint scheme won’t run at all. It’s the kind of policy corporate lawyers come up with just because they’re bored and want to justify their high salaries.

The NFL’s official reasoning, per the Eagles: There rules “states that club marks cannot be used in connection with the promotion or presentation of another sport.”

That seems like a stretch on the NFL’s part. It’s not like the Pocono race is called the “Philadelphia Eagles 400” or something. The logo was going to be on one race car for one race on a broadcast televised by NFL partner FOX Sports — during a time of year when the NFL isn’t even on TV!

The horror!

It’s hilariously sad that some dork in the NFL corporate office actually got upset enough about this to nix the entire thing.

The Eagles are going to be on the most popular NASCAR driver’s car in order to promote teachers who concentrate on STEM education? Send them a cease and desist immediately!

“Without doubt, we are deeply disappointed that the Axalta All-Pro Teachers car will not run,” a statement from Axalta said. “As a primary sponsor of Dale Earnhardt Jr., we were thrilled about plans for him to drive a car that gave the Axalta All-Pro Teachers program and STEM education more visibility by promoting the program on the track.”

The Eagles also said they were bummed.

“Having been reminded of the NFL’s policy, we understand and respect their point of view,” the team said. “While we are disappointed that we will not have the opportunity to increase the visibility of the Axalta All-Pro Teachers program through the Pocono 400 this year, we remain committed to supporting STEM curriculum and the educators who inspire our youth through our relationship with Axalta.”

So lame. The NFL is on top right now, so apparently officials feel they don’t need any additional publicity. But that won’t last forever, and disrespecting $4 billion companies like Axalta might make the journey much more painful on the way down.

UPDATE: Here’s what Earnhardt had to say about the NFL’s decision.

“I was disappointed because the opportunity to honor the teachers was going to be pretty cool learning about that connection that the Eagles have with that was going to be col.  We are still going to have some teachers at the race and some of the Eagles guys are going to come out.  Everything is kind of as is, except for the car.

“I do like the Axalta car we are going to run.  It’s going to look good out there and it’s really just unfortunate for Axalta and a good cross over promotion.  That would be pretty cool even though obviously, we joked around being Redskins fan and all that.  But it was going to be a pretty fun promotion and we are still going to try to maximize what opportunity we can with it.”

 

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Social Spotlight with Josef Newgarden

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Each week, I’ll be asking a member of the motorsports community about their social media usage. This week: Josef Newgarden of Team Penske’s IndyCar program. I spoke to Newgarden at Indianapolis Motor Speedway prior to the Indy 500.

I was just looking at your Twitter account. One thing that jumped out at me: You have only liked one tweet. Are you anti-like?

Well I guess everyone uses the platform differently, right? I’ve never really liked photos. I liked that one photo of all the helmets at the Indianapolis 500 lined up, which is a very cool photo.

You know, I’m like OCD almost. I’m either gonna like a ton of stuff or not like anything. I guess it’s weird that I have one like, but yeah, I’ve never really used it for that.

With Twitter, I more so use it for responding to people. It’s a great platform to answer questions — just cause people can ask you whenever — or just give out information about where you are or where you can meet, something like that.

I like a ton of tweets, because it’s my way of saying, “I acknowledge that.” But I always feel like if somebody was going to my account they’d see all these random-ass tweets that make no sense and have no order. So I kind of like your clean, uncluttered view.

Yeah, I mean that’s how I am. It’s very OCD I guess, but it’s just the way I’ve always been so I have not changed it. I’ll try to answer more, because I’m with you — a like is like an acknowledgment and it’s nice for someone to see that you like their post or that you at least saw it. But I try to answer as much as I can. I probably should answer a lot more, but if I’m gonna acknowledge it, I normally just answer to it.

Are you using Twitter as your newsfeed? Do you look at it every day in the morning?

Yeah, I do actually. I still think Twitter is probably the best social platform for quick news. (With) Facebook, you get kind of the same; it’s more blown up content and it’s kind of a bigger view of news. But Twitter’s really easy to just ramble through everything and it can always just give you a link to go somewhere to look at something bigger.

But yeah, I like it for (news). I like following informational sites (like) Wired.com if you wanna see something with tech. I mean it just can be any of these news outlets. I think it’s really helpful for that. So I like following it and then for me as a driver, I think it’s great for giving people information on what you’re doing or where you’re gonna be if there’s a meet-and-greet or something like that.

Now on the downside of this, Twitter can be sort of nasty at times. There are some trolls on there. How do you deal with that: Do you block people? Do you mute people? Do you just ignore it?

I just ignore it — I honestly do. I don’t even reply. There’s been a couple times where I’ve replied just cause I couldn’t help myself I guess, but I’ll never follow a reply. I’ll say something, have my two cents, and then just be done with it.

If it gets worse and starts spiraling out of control, I don’t continue. It’s literally one thing: That’s what I said (and leave it at that). And if I said something wrong, I’ll try to apologize, because it’s easy to get looked at wrong on social media for saying something that you didn’t mean or it had come across the wrong way.

But for the most part, I just ignore everything. There’s a lot of people that say a lot of stuff, and you just gotta be really good at just letting it go. I think that’s the best thing: To just let it go. And it’s probably the best way to handle it, cause these guys or girls, what they really want is a response. So if you don’t respond to them, it’s kind of the best thing to do, in my opinion.

We’ve all had situations where sometimes we’re following somebody and we’re like, “I don’t wanna follow this anymore. These tweets are irrelevant, they’re too much,” or whatever. How do you handle that? Do you just unfollow or do you mute people?

(Laughs) I think I’d go with the ignore thing again. I’ll see stuff I don’t like and I’ll just blow past it because I’ve gotten very efficient at scrolling fast. If I’m seeing stuff that I don’t wanna see, I’m just scrolling by it.

Even my girlfriend is like, “How are you even reading any of this?” And it’s literally just I’ll read one word and I’ll either like it or I don’t, so I just go past it. So I’ve not had to mute anyone, not really had to unfollow anybody because of that. I just ignore it.

What’s your take on Snapchat? I’ve seen you do some Snapchat takeovers, but do you have your own Snapchat account?

I can’t get into the Snapchat thing. I find it fascinating, because young kids now are — I mean, I’m a kid still I guess, technically — but you know, just young people that use Snapchat are so weird and hilarious, right? Like, people just have no shame. There’s no shame. And I don’t think people realize that if you put something on the Internet, it is permanent. OK? I don’t care if you delete it, it’s always there. You have put it out and into the world and it’s always in the world now. It’s gonna be there somewhere.

But people today, they don’t care. They love it. They want to share it. For me, I struggle because it’s like, Snapchat is a really constant thing. Like people want a photo here, photo here, video, video, video, like constantly little quick five-second blurbs.

So I feel like you’re missing out on the experience. I’d rather have one nice video or one nice photo of it and take the rest of the time to enjoy that experience. That’s why I can’t get into Snapchat.

That is true though. You go to a concert or something and everybody’s Snapchat is open. Or even here on 500 race day, I’m gonna walk around and anybody that’s under 20, they’re on Snapchat, and that’s the ultimate looking-through-your-screen thing.

Yeah, it’s a love/hate cause I’ve gotten sucked into the social media thing where I don’t post a ton — but I’m always on it. I’m always looking at it just cause I’m trying to understand it, what works, what doesn’t work, what people want to see, what they don’t want to see, what other people are doing. I get sucked into that game and I love and I hate it.

Social media is so great because it’s really a great tool, it’s awesome; the connectivity of it is amazing. But at the same time I also hate it because I just want to enjoy whatever I’m doing, you know? I want to be in the moment, in the present. I’m a little bit old school, I guess. It was almost nice when we didn’t have all this technology. So it’s a love/hate. I love technology, but I also hate it at the end of the day.

You said that you’ve tried to observe what works, what doesn’t, things like that. In your theory, what is your general philosophy on how much to share, what makes people respond to you, things like that?

I do think people want you to be real. I try to be as authentic as possible. Whatever I say is me; there’s no sugarcoating it. Maybe it’s a little bit politically correct sometimes, but it’s my opinion, so I’ll always be honest about that.

I’ve always tried to keep my personal life out it, which a lot of people think is a mistake because most people want to see the inside world that they normally wouldn’t, and that’s one of the nice things about social media — you get to see things that you wouldn’t normally get to see if you didn’t know a person, right

But I try to keep that separate. I use it much for more the professional side of, “Here’s what I’m doing professionally. Here’s what I’m doing in racing,” or it has something to do with racing. That’s all I use it for and I try to maximize that as best as I can.

I think I noticed that on your Instagram as well, because if you scroll through your Instagram feed almost everything is you at the track. It’s not stuff like, “Oh, here’s me doing this,” that kind of thing.

Yeah, pretty much. I use the platforms differently. Like Instagram I use more as an artwork page. I think it’s just beautiful photos of race cars, maybe some photos of me that people want to see within racing, but I normally like seeing photos of race cars myself, just really cool looking photos.

I’m a really big fan of photography actually. I’m not a great photographer, I’m not a photographer myself, but I really admire a lot of the photographers within the sport. Gosh, they get some awesome images sometimes, so I like sharing those and I also like seeing those.

That’s sort of what I use Instagram for, which really is what Instagram was originally made for: It’s a photo-sharing site. Twitter is more just, you can post a photo that doesn’t have to be beautiful; it’s just information, right?

Sometimes I try and be kind of random on my Twitter. I do try to show people my random side, which everyone I think has to some degree. You know, you’ll be eating fries or whatever one day and like you’ll have a thought on French fries and you just wanna share that. It has nothing to do with anything; it’s just a random sentence. I’ll sometimes do that on Twitter as well.

Is Facebook going the way of the dinosaurs like MySpace, or do you think that has a life?

I think it has a life, I just think it has an older life. That’s where all the moms, the grandfathers — it’s all old, you know? That’s not a bad thing: everyone has to have a demographic. I think Facebook’s just become more of an older demographic. There’s a place for that; you want to share with those types of folks as well. So I still get on it.

I look at Facebook and see a lot of things that’s going on. I do find it interesting (that) Facebook video has become very cool. For me, it’s become more of a younger reason to use it just because you don’t want to go to YouTube and search stuff; it’s really easy to see popular videos on Facebook now. I think they’ve done a great job with that. So if I use Facebook, it’s either to look at videos or to post a video. That’s, I think, one of the more useful tools for it.

From a sponsor standpoint and a team standpoint, are they telling you, “Hey, we want to see you on here, we want to see you doing this?” Is there a lot of that that goes on?

Yeah, for sure. I think you have to temper it. I think with either sponsorships or teams, you kind of measure your marketability. You measure how sell-able you are, how popular you are. It’s kind of terrible, but it’s just the way it is nowadays: everyone puts a value on social media. And so you have to have a presence almost, you’re forced to because of those factors, but I think I try to stay true to myself.

If there’s something I don’t wanna do on it, I just don’t do it. If it’s something that a sponsor really wants me to do and I don’t love it, then I try and spin it into something that is more authentic to me. I think that is always more impactful than just putting up an ad. You put up an ad and people can see it immediately like, “This is just a posted tweet that someone wanted you to put out.” And no one wants that — no one wants to see it. It’s not gonna help the company at the end of the day. So you gotta make it authentic and real, and I think that resonates a lot better with people.

Do you have one or two favorite people to follow on Twitter that people may not be following themselves right now?

I gotta say, probably the greatest person on Twitter, and I think a lot of people would agree, is Dale Earnhardt Jr. Now, he does the exact opposite of what I do — but he is a master at it. If you’re gonna go full-in and you’re gonna show people your world, I don’t think anyone has done it better than Dale Jr. He really masters it well. I think he’s fun to follow. For me, that’s why you follow someone on social media, is for that kind of stuff that I just said I don’t wanna do — and he’s probably the best at it. So I enjoy following him.

I just enjoy following all of the drivers because you get to see what everyone’s up to, whether it’s Jimmie Johnson or other NASCAR guys or it’s the IndyCar drivers like Scott Dixon. I enjoy following motorsports. Fernando Alonso, it’s been fun to follow him. Obviously, this is a new journey for him at Indianapolis so it’s interesting to see how he perceives the event, how he shows people the event. So I love following drivers.

Again, I like following news feeds, just different tech sites, any sort of news outlet that’s gonna give you good information on stuff that you’re interested in. I follow all those types of stuff.

Thanks to Dover International Speedway for sponsoring the 12 Questions and Social Spotlight over the past couple months. If you’re planning to attend the Dover race this weekend, please consider using my ticket link.

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12 Questions with James Hinchcliffe

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The series of 12 Questions driver interviews continues this week with IndyCar’s James Hinchcliffe, who is currently 10th in the series standings after getting caught in a crash Sunday in the Indy 500. I spoke with Hinchcliffe in the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports garage at Indianapolis a few days before the race.

1. How much of your success is based on natural ability and how much has come from working at it?

I would say 50/50. I’m definitely not one of those insanely naturally talented people. Let’s put it this way: My first go-kart race was horrendous. Like you didn’t put me in a go-kart and I was like instantly fast. I had to work at it. I had to figure out how to be fast.

I think if you’re at this level, you have a certain degree of natural talent for sure, but no doubt I had to work pretty hard to kind of figure out how to do this well.

What happened in the first go-kart race?

I got lapped on the third lap of the race, and it was pretty horrendous. I think by my fourth go-kart race when I was still being lapped my dad was like, “If this isn’t fun for you anymore, we can stop.” I’m like, “No, no. I am determined to figure out how to go quickly here.”

2. In general, what’s your pitch for people to become fans of yours?

Oh man. I guess, “Like attracts like.” I’m a fan of this sport. I’ve been on the other side of the fence, I’ve been the kid with a Sharpie and a hero card. I try to relate to fans like that as a fan, because even though I’m on the other side of the fence now, I’m still a die-hard fan of racing and I try to exude that and show that to my fans and show them the appreciation that we have for them in supporting us. 

3. What is the hardest part of your job away from the racetrack?

Probably the travel. Just the amount of time that you’re away from home, away from family, the amount of time you spend at airports and hotels and rental cars and lines for buses going to rental car centers. People think travel is very glamorous — and it can be sometimes — but that’s probably the biggest drain on you and probably one of the hardest parts.

Do most of the drivers not have jets in IndyCar?

No, we’re not quite rocking on the jet level. There’s a couple floating around out there, but that’s not a typical way of travel for an IndyCar driver.

4. A fan spots you eating dinner in a nice restaurant. Should they come over for an autograph or no?

Yeah for sure, as long as they are polite about it. I think manners are important no matter what the scenario is. But I understand and accept that part of my job is being a public figure and that’s one of the sides of it. People are gonna recognize you and I like connecting with fans, so if they see me at a restaurant and they want a picture, then sure — just come up and ask.

5. What’s a story in IndyCar that doesn’t get enough coverage?

I feel like with the emergence of social media, even the smallest stories get broadcast out there one way or another. But I don’t think we talk enough about how Scott Dixon is the greatest IndyCar driver alive and maybe of all time when it all comes down to it.

No one’s gonna talk about it yet because he’s still driving, and there’s still guys like Mario (Andretti) and AJ (Foyt) walking around the paddock, so no one’s gonna say that when they’re still around. But 20 or 30 years from now — hopefully AJ and Mario are still around, but if they’re not, when Scott’s retired…hopefully he’s retired by then, but that guy can probably race until he’s 70 and still win. (But) I think you’re gonna see a lot of guys start talking about him in that way.

Guys like Mario will tell you that back in their day, it was different because the disparity between the good teams and the bad teams was much bigger. You had to have the right chassis, the right engine, the right tires and you were racing against four or five other really good guys. Now we have 15 guys that can win races in any given weekend for any team, and to be as consistently dominant and up front as Scott has for the last 15 years, I think it’s a pretty remarkable feat and I think that even guys like Mario would appreciate that.

6. Who is the last driver you texted?

Maybe Conor (Daly)? (Looks at phone) Uh…Alex Rossi. He was the last driver I texted.

Are you a frequent texter with other drivers?

Yes. (Scrolls through phone) I was also texting Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan this morning. I texted Conor last night. Charlie Kimball, we chat a lot. Yeah, I talk to a lot of drivers.

7. Do you consider race car drivers to be entertainers?

I think all sportsmen, in a certain vein, are entertainers. Obviously in the racing world, they really try to bring up the rivalries and the reason they do that is because it’s entertaining to fans. But sports are entertainment, so yeah, I think if you’re a pro athlete, in some degree you are an entertainer.

8. What is your middle finger policy on the racetrack?

In the heat of the moment, man, anything goes. I would be super hypocritical to sit here and say that it’s inappropriate to use your middle finger on the track.

Has that evolved over the years, or has your policy remained consistent?

I think it’s been pretty consistent. I’ve probably, definitely, very unfortunately fallen into a pattern of using it more than I used to, and I don’t know why that is. It’s probably not the best thing.

I got yelled at last year. I used it in a race and Max Papis pulled me aside to scold me for it, and he was like, “Fist is fine, or whatever Italian (gesture with the hand under the chin) is fine, or like number one finger is fine — just not that one!”

And then the next time I stuck my hand out of the cockpit, it was one finger, but it wasn’t the one he wanted me to use.

9. Some drivers keep a payback list in their minds. Do you also have a list for drivers who have done you a favor on the track?

Definitely. The big thing is when you find yourself in a situation — and it’s unfortunate but it happens in racing — where your race hasn’t gone well and you’re laps down. You’re taking care of the guys that are running for the race win and just running for positions, not trying to be the guy who’s three laps down trying to race you just as hard as if you were going for it.

That goes a long way, and there are definitely some drivers that have the experience to know that, “Look, this does me no good, it hurts you and ultimately makes you mad at me” kind of thing, and some guys just don’t get that. So when someone does you a favor when they’re in a position that they can’t really improve and they can help you out — or at least not get in your way — you definitely make a point to go to them after the race and be like, “Thanks buddy, I owe you one.”

10. Who is the most famous person you’ve had dinner with?

Lady Gaga.

Holy crap, that’s pretty big. What was that like?

It was awesome! That was actually after the (Indy) 500 last year. We went and had dinner with her at St. Elmo’s here in Indy, and yeah, she’s just a super cool girl. She was asking a lot of questions about racing. She was interested and fascinated by the whole thing. She’d been in the two-seater with Mario and the whole deal, so yeah — a very cool dinnertime chat.

11. What’s something about yourself you’d like to improve?

You can always improve as a driver. This is one of those sports (where), and a lot of athletes say the same thing, you never stop learning. In such a competitive environment, there’s always something you can do better. There are four or five different aspects of my game that I would spend, and I do spend a lot of time on, trying to improve — and I don’t think that will ever stop.

12. The last interview I did was with Jamie McMurray. He wanted to know: Fernando Alonso has come here and sucked up a lot of the attention so far. What do you make of all that, and how do you think he’s done so far?

I certainly understand it. The fact that we’ve got a guy that is in the conversation for greatest living racing driver giving up their crown jewel event, and in his very unique circumstances, the best chance he has at a good result all year, to come here and do the Indy 500. He’s not a guy who grew up in North America, he’s not a guy that grew up dreaming to race in IndyCar, but still, the Indy 500 has that much allure and is that important to racing drivers all over the world.

So I certainly understand why there’s a lot of attention around it. You know, we fully support him being here. It benefits us as much as anything else, and so it’s great in that sense.

How’s he doing? Annoyingly well. (Laughs) This is a very, very different thing than what he does on a weekly basis and it’s unlike anything he’s ever done. He’s put himself in some situations in practice that would frighten some more timid racing drivers, but you can tell this guy is the real deal. I mean, he got in those situations, dealt with it, got up to speed very quickly, got comfortable very quickly in traffic — which is the hardest part — and he put himself on one of the best teams since the new car came out in ’12, statistically the best team here at the Speedway. And he put himself in a really good position to do very well on Sunday, so it’ll be interesting to see.

I don’t know who the next interview is going to be with, but it will be some NASCAR driver. Do you have a question I might be able to ask him?

That was a good question from Jamie. I liked that one. I was expecting more like, “Are you a boxers or briefs kind of guy?” or something goofy. But as we’re going a little bit deeper and insightful in that sense…

Talking about great racing drivers, you’ve got Jimmie Johnson, who is gonna try and break the record for number of championships. It’s a two-part question: A. Do you think Jimmie will get the record? And B. How many championships do you think Jimmie will retire with when he finally decides to hang up the helmet?

This 12 Questions interview is sponsored by Dover International Speedway. If you’re thinking of attending the Dover race this weekend, please consider using my ticket link. Thanks!

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Monte Dutton column: Turns Out The Thief Was Dillon

Esteemed racing writer and author Monte Dutton is covering the Coca-Cola 600 for this website. Here’s his final post from the weekend.

By Monte Dutton

When the wrong guy wins, it’s interesting. It’s not exciting. Wrong guy, interesting, beats right guy, boring. It’s similar to the way a flush beats a straight.

What if it’s the wrong guy, once removed? All the more fun for the wee hours.

Austin Dillon won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday night and Monday morning. He drove No. 3. It’s been a while for No. 3. Talladega in 2000. Cat named Earnhardt.

“It hasn’t sunk in, by no means,” Dillon said.

Later, he added, “To be quite honest with you, we had an argument, full-on, face-to-face, with my grandfather, this week, about the performance of the car.”

Cat named Childress. Richard Childress. Won six championships (out of seven) with the cat named Earnhardt. He’s got a pair of grandsons who like to go fast. One never went faster.

“We’re not down,” Childress said. “We’ve got everything we need to win.”

“We did our job,” Dillon said. “We had a chance to win, and we did what it took to do so. The 600 is a lengthy race, and you can’t afford mistakes. We didn’t make them.”

Martin Truex Jr. dominated the race. He finished third.

“Two out of the past three (600s), we lost it on (fuel) mileage,” said Truex, who was gracious.

Jimmie Johnson was the chief suspect in the impending theft. What he wound up stealing was 17th place, citing first gas and then lack thereof.

Dillon? Dillon? Where’d he come from? The far side of Johnson, that’s where.

It appeared as if the thief in the night with enough gas in the getaway car was Johnson. Johnson’s crew chief is Chad Knaus, Super Genius. For once, Knaus was Wile E. Coyote, not James Bond. Johnson’s Chevy crashed into a canyon floor because his Acme parachute was an anvil.

Okay, Johnson’s Chevy ran out of fuel. Dillon’s didn’t. Who knew Dillon, the Roadrunner, was lurking in the shadows, waiting to go beep-beep?

Truex was supposed to be the Roadrunner. He wasn’t supposed to lose. The Roadrunner is a cartoon. It’s not supposed to be complex. The Coca-Cola 600 wasn’t a whodunit. It was a who-won-it. Truex led 233 of the 400 laps. Last year he led 392 laps. He won that one.

If watching the wrong guy win strikes your fancy, the Coca-Cola 600 was the race for you.

Kyle Busch was so overjoyed to finish second that he threw a tantrum in the media center. After basically daring anyone there to give him an opportunity to bite off their head, he slinked away to a nearby swamp to feed on lizards.

Six words he spat out. “I’m not surprised about anything. Congratulations.”

Then there was a crashing sound.

This was the most valuable race in the regular season. The race drivers were like truckers. They got mileage (especially Dillon). The race had four segments, not three, which, in turn, meant it awarded three sets of bonus points, not two. It’s a step in evolution. Before 2004, all races were created equal. Then playoff races became gold. Now the Coca-Cola 600 is silver, but only by a little.

The night’s first and almost only excitement occurred on the 20th lap, when apparently something approximating a manhole cover, or, more likely, a gong, clanged out from under Jeffrey Earnhardt’s Chevrolet and very nearly brought another, driven by Chase Elliott, to a stop. Brad Keselowski’s Ford struck Elliott’s Chevy, and it wasn’t a tap. One day Elliott may drive a tank, but a stock car can’t withstand such fierce impact.

Later the track went wet for one hour, 39 minutes, 56 seconds.

All those Air Titans were scarcely needed. Truex mopped the track with the rest of the field.

Into all lives, some rain must fall. For the Coke 600, though, it wasn’t in the budget. The thunder rolled, and the lightning struck. Ladies and gentlemen, there is lightning in the area! Just being the longest stock car race in the world wasn’t enough. God was in a whimsical mood.