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The Top Five: Breaking down the Michigan race

Five thoughts following Sunday’s rain-shortened race at Michigan…

1. Ford Sure

From Friday onward, there seemed to be no doubt this would be a Ford-dominated weekend. And…yep! It definitely was. Fords accounted for seven of the top eight finishers — including a Stewart-Haas Racing podium sweep (the first by a single team since 2008, according to ESPN).

We hear all the time about how much this track matters to manufacturers, which is pretty much a cliche at this point. It’s like, “Yeah, OK, we get it. Michigan is important to the OEMs.”

But it really is SO important to those who work in the auto industry, which makes an ass-kicking of this magnitude quite special to Ford.

“Man, it’s just an unbelievable start to the season with the wins and success we’re having,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance Motorsports. “(We) come here to our home track with our employees here watching with their friends and family — to have this performance and strength across all of our teams, to win the race, it’s just tremendous for all the company.”

Ford has been having a great season (eight wins in 15 races plus the All-Star Race), but Michigan was the most dominant of Ford days.

So why this track? Perhaps the most crucial factor at the sweeping 2-mile oval was the engines.

“It’s a real honor to drive the Roush‑Yates engines when you get to a place like this because you can be a lot easier on your car,” Harvick said. “Doug Yates and those guys, they like to make big horsepower on the big end of the motor and put a lot of effort into this particular race weekend.”

Kurt Busch said Michigan is about bragging rights, and he can see the importance when all the bigwigs from various departments show up. And aside from just the engine, it’s hitting on every facet that truly elevates an organization.

“It’s a team effort to not have any weaknesses,” he said.

2. Boy oh Bowyer

Clint Bowyer’s career renaissance continued with his Michigan win, and there are likely more to come before the season is over.

A year like this one following a long slump makes for some fun stats, including:

— Bowyer went from October 2012 to March 2018 (nearly 5.5 years) between wins. Then it only took less than three months until his next win.

— Bowyer has almost as many wins this year (two) as he had top-10s in 2016 (three).

— Bowyer has now led 308 laps this season, which is more than double the previous four seasons combined (145).

No wonder the guy is so happy lately.

“We’re going to drink a little bit tonight, by the way,” he said. “That’s going to happen. I know you guys are questioning it. It’s going to happen tonight.”

3. No Hail Mary

Another wild-card type race, another lost chance for a driver outside the top 16 in points to steal a playoff bid. There was no Chris Buescher or Aric Almirola stealing a rain-shortened win this time, as a driver who already had a win just got another one.

Kasey Kahne crew chief Travis Mack had his driver stay out initially, but then called him to the pits before the final restart when the rain didn’t come in time.

Aside from that, it seemed surprising no one actually tried to pull some crazy strategy — especially in the win-and-in era. What do some of these teams have to lose?

I asked Bowyer crew chief Mike Bugarewicz about that, but he seemed to think the strategy wouldn’t have worked.

“In one sense, if you do that, yeah, maybe you win the race,” he said. “But I think if you’re that far off — if you’re a 24th-place car — I don’t know you’re going to compete with the top five cars (on a restart), to be honest. Maybe you can hold them off for a lap.

“Look at Harvick on the inside of us. We felt like we were a very competitive car. Him on four tires, it was a battle from that point coming to the start/finish line on the first lap. I think a guy staying out with no tires, already kind of struggling in the race, would have been a real challenge to try to pull that off.”

Maybe so. But based on the success of Kahne and Paul Menard using track position and clean air to run up front earlier in the race, you would have thought somebody would go for it with the rain about to arrive at any second.

 

4. NASCAR got it right in the rain

A rainy weekend like this one makes for intense scrutiny on NASCAR calls, but officials pretty much nailed it.

OK, there was that mixup at the end of the race where the pace car came down pit road when it wasn’t supposed to. But that didn’t affect anything about the race, since officials were just trying to end it at that point.

Other than that, all the calls were correct — even in tough circumstances.

Let’s start with Xfinity. Officials got past the end of Stage 2 despite a soggy day, then restarted the race after a caution as rain started to fall — a ballsy move, to be honest. It could have ended badly if the field had wrecked in the wet, but instead the fans at least got a battle for the win before the race-ending weather caution.

Then came Sunday. Everyone woke up a bit surprised with a drastically changed overnight forecast (which is why NASCAR hadn’t moved the race up with the 24-hour policy). A Monday race was starting to look like a foregone conclusion.

But officials waited out the rain, dried the track as fast as possible and then got the race started. There was an initial hiccup at the end of Stage 1 — NASCAR said pit road would be open before quickly realizing there weren’t enough laps in the stage to do so, then restarted the race with one lap to go in the stage.

NASCAR’s Richard Buck later said that was in line with policy. First of all, pit road is closed with two laps to go in a stage; second, teams had asked NASCAR to avoid situations under caution that would result in a strategy shakeup. That’s the fairest thing for everyone, which actually makes sense.

And finally, NASCAR called the race at the right time. With rain arriving again, there’s no chance the track could have been dried before darkness fell (Michigan doesn’t have lights).

Sometimes it seems that NASCAR makes questionable decisions, but I agree with all the ones they made this weekend — particularly under pressure.

5. Up Next

With no underdog taking advantage of a rain-shortened race at Michigan, there are seemingly three wild card races remaining of the 11 regular season events on the calendar: Sonoma, Daytona and Watkins Glen.

After an off-week next weekend, it’s time for Sonoma. It’s tempting to think an AJ Allmendinger type could win there, but recent Sonoma winners who are still active have been names like Harvick, Kyle Busch and Truex. So actually, it may be one of the familiar faces in victory lane instead.

That would be another blow to the playoff hopes of drivers mired deep in the standings — Jamie McMurray (19th), Daniel Suarez (21st) and Ryan Newman (22nd) among them — who could really use a road course win to propel them into the final 10 races this fall.

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The Great Debate: A timeline of NASCAR’s high-drag rules package coverage

There’s currently an intense debate in NASCAR over the future direction of Cup Series racing. On one hand, a potential breakthrough with a high-drag/downforce rules package — first tried in the 2017 Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis and repeated in the All-Star Race in May — could keep the cars closer together and prevent the leader from getting away. On the other hand, a restricted race would not reward skill as much and go away from what the core of NASCAR Cup racing has been over the years (except for Daytona and Talladega).

Here’s a timeline of coverage related to this topic so far:

May 19, 2018: After the All-Star Race, I shared concerns and worries over the direction NASCAR would likely take following the success of the race via Periscope.

May 21, 2018: In the “Was it a good race?” poll, 84 percent of fans said they liked the All-Star race.

May 30, 2018: After watching the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600, I wrote a column wondering whether adding more downforce was the way to go in racing after all.

June 1, 2018: In the wake of Steve O’Donnell telling FS1 the package could be used in up to three points races this season, some of NASCAR’s top young drivers said they were unsettled by the thought of NASCAR making this package a mainstay in Cup Series racing. Here’s a recap of their comments.

June 8, 2018: Brad Keselowski elaborated on why the All-Star package should be used for that race only — and what the consequences might be if it becomes the standard. Here’s a clip I posted to YouTube:

 

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How I Got Here with John McMullin Jr.

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John McMullin Jr. is in charge of victory lane proceedings at many NASCAR races, including the 2017 championship race at Homestead. (Photo courtesy of John McMullin Jr.)

Each week, I ask a member of the racing community to explain how they reached their current position. This week, NASCAR Director of Industry Operations John McMullin Jr. — known to most as “Johnny Mac” — sheds some light on his career path in the sport.

Can you first tell us what your role is now for NASCAR and what you do on a given race weekend?

This is my 13th season with NASCAR. I’m the Director of Industry Operations for NASCAR. Basically, “Operations” is a very broad title. I’d say 80 percent of our workload is at the event, working with our tracks, our broadcast partners, our race teams, our partners, their sponsors — everything that goes into a race weekend logistically.

Some of the bigger assets at the track that we’re in charge of are the drivers meetings — the whole production of it, the introduction list (of VIPs), the layout, the video you see — and pace car rides. One of the more visible assets we control is running victory lane every single weekend for all three series — just the whole run of show and keeping everything going in a timely manner. So that’s obviously one of the more visible things that our job is. But we wear a lot of different hats.

Appropriate for the guy who is in charge of the hat dance.

There you go. Very appropriate . So yeah, we handle a lot of requests. I can’t even think of all the different things I’ve asked to do, help out with during the race weekend. But Dave Finley (managing director of NASCAR series marketing) who was my first boss, I always steal his line: He said we were “E to E” — everything to everyone at the track. If you needed something, you’d probably start with the Ops team first and you’d probably get it handled.

For those who are reading this and might be like, “Wow, that’s an interesting job. I wonder how he got there,” how did your career path get started? Did you have any racing roots growing up?

I did. I actually grew up in the sport. I grew up in Daytona Beach. My father was the president and general manager of MRN all through the 80s and then into the late 90s. So I grew up right in the midst of it.

And then my mom, she’s been at NASCAR for almost 37 years now. She was Bill France Jr.’s executive assistant for 26 of those years until he passed in 2007. She’s still with the company. So I grew up in it.

I was a fan. Never had any aspirations of going to work or being a driver one day, even though I enjoyed it. I played baseball. But when my A-ball career was done, I needed a job in my mid-to-late 20s.

I started at the very bottom as a runner for FOX at the 2002 Daytona 500, filling water coolers, picking up cigarette butts in the compound, driving people around and just kinda worked my way up with NBC. Did some utility work, and then Steve Stone hired me at what was then NASCAR Images.

I worked on the very first SPEED Stage show in 2004, the inaugural season of the SPEED Stage. I did audio and some other things around the stage, and met Rutledge Wood — who was our DJ in between shows. So to watch his career path is quite funny, since we kind of started around the same time.

But I started eying a job in NASCAR and Dave Finley’s Operations group was something that I really liked what they did. They were very visible, and I started talking to him and was fortunate enough that my mom worked for Bill France Jr. And when he had an opening, I had the opportunity and in January 2006, that’s when I started.

John McMullin Jr. with Rob Gronkowski in victory lane at the 2017 Daytona 500. McMullin manages the flow and procedures of victory lane at the tracks. (Courtesy John McMullin Jr.).

Let’s back up for a minute. So growing up in Daytona Beach, especially with both your parents being involved in the sport, I assume you went to races and things like that when you were little. Did you ever have a consideration for working in it, or it just wasn’t on your radar at all?

I was so caught up in stick and ball sports growing up. But I enjoyed it. Obviously twice a year when NASCAR was racing in Daytona, I was there, I was a huge fan. I got amazing access as a kid, and the old MRN offices were in the actual infield in Daytona — this was years before they moved to Charlotte — and I spent a lot of time running around the old garage area, even when there was nothing going on, and enjoyed it.

But growing up in Daytona, it’s not like the Charlotte area where you have the opportunity to run go karts and stuff. So I was more of a baseball player. But still loved the sport.

So you mentioned baseball. How far did you go in your career? What did you play?

I played college ball at North Florida Community College. Was not a good student. It wasn’t that I wasn’t smart, but I was very lazy with my classwork — and I paid for it. I had several scholarship offers to D1 schools that I couldn’t take advantage of. Baseball is tough, they only get about 12 or 13 (scholarships) — at least back then — so once they saw you didn’t have the grades, they passed and they moved on unless you were a first-round draft pick.

So I had to go the community college route, did that, and like I said, I wasn’t much of a school guy. I had the opportunity to sign with an independent league team in A-ball out of Springfield, Illinois, and played with them. So I got a taste of what the minor league baseball life was like until I blew my arm out. That’s when I needed a real job.

So you mentioned that you sort of worked your way up through the broadcast side of it, and then got a chance on the operations side. So once you get that foot in the door with NASCAR and you start doing things, what is the path like to evolve to this point? Obviously, it sounds like you’re asked to do all sorts of things, many miscellaneous things that might not be in your job description.

Going back to when I started in TV with FOX, the SPEED channel and NBC, I did other sports (as well). I was on the Thursday Night Football crew with Doc Punch; I was a stage manager for a couple seasons. So I wanted to be in TV.

I grew up in high school doing PA announcing at the basketball and football games. I liked the radio side growing up around MRN and learned that the TV thing is pretty cutthroat, and I didn’t have the prettiness to be in front of the camera. And I learned real quick how the TV world is. It’s tough. Everybody’s kind of gunning for each other, even people who are your friends. It’s a tough world, so I kind of learned real quick that maybe that wasn’t for me.

I fell in love with being around NASCAR, being around the track every weekend, being in the mix — whether it was on pit road holding an RF pointer for “Stoley” (David Stolen) or “Goat” (Brad Hutton) who are still running cameras these days, being around the crew guys, being in victory lane with the drivers. So that’s when I saw that Ops job.

Now being the director and having hired three or four different people, I honestly look for those ex-college athletes. I think it lends a lot to what we do — the workload of being able to balance school, practice, games, that kind of stuff. And then just being able to stay level and calm in pressure-packed situations — which we have a lot of through television and radio, being that our schedules are minute-by-minute, down-to-the-second schedules. Or running a pre-race or running a victory lane, all eyes are on you and people are looking for answers. Being able to stay even-keeled, I think that athletic background really lends to what we do. So I think maybe that kind of was my connection that drew me into Ops.

As part of John McMullin’s job, he manages pace car rides for VIP visitors — like Peyton Manning, shown here. (Courtesy of John McMullin Jr.)

I was going to ask you about that because most of the time I see you, it’s in victory lane. It’s the Daytona 500, it’s absolute chaos. You’re the center of the storm and you’re directing it. You’re saying, “This is what needs to happen next.” How long did it take you to evolve your skills to where you have that command where people are listening to you and are able to direct things like a conductor of a crazy orchestra?

Yeah. Victory lane is by far, of all the duties we have in Ops, it’s the one that takes you the longest to learn. Like you said, it’s controlling the chaos. These guys fight hard every single week to get to victory lane, so when they get there, they’re excited. But there’s also a run of show, whether it’s broadcast and sponsor elements and things the track needs. So sometimes the drivers are a little distracted. So that is a hard part to learn. It took a couple of years to master, but it’s all just two things: One, the confidence and knowing what to do, and Two, I was blessed with a very loud voice — which people comment on all the time.

But you know how crazy these scenes are. You have to be loud, and when you’re loud, they listen. If you’re soft-spoken or you’re not too confident in what you’re saying, they’re not going to pay attention to you. They’re going to be more interested in cracking back their beer or spraying their water. So that part is a lot of fun, being there. I get to be there most weekends. And just after years of doing the job, the drivers being familiar with you, the crews, their familiarity helps you out a lot. It just takes time.

I’ll mention Brad (Keselowski). Brad is always one that gets on me. He’s like, “Hey man, I just won. Let me relax and enjoy this. Stop trying to make me do the next thing.” So we’ve had a lot of give and take with each other there. But if they don’t know you or they haven’t seen you around a long time, it’s kind of hard to get them to do what you want them to do right then. So that’s definitely been perfected over the years, and I still enjoy it.

I feel like Brad has that reputation for being one of those people who takes a bit of a longer time to get through all his photos and go to the media center. Tony Stewart, it seemed like he used to completely do his own thing. I don’t know how you would wrangle some of these guys. Would you have to like yell at people in your situation?

You know, there’s a fine line. You want to let them enjoy the moment, obviously someone like Tony, now when (Kevin) Harvick wins or one of his drivers wins, they wanna talk. They want to download what just happened and they want to talk to their crew chiefs. So you kind of pick and choose your moments when to interrupt them, give them a few minutes, but then you kind of step in as politely as possible and they’re usually all pretty good about it. And that’s another thing that takes time, too, just knowing when to step in and when not to step in.

That sounds like a fine art. Where should somebody get their start if they are interested in eventually working up to where you are today?

I think definitely a marketing background at school. I wouldn’t even say communications is a bad thing to have, too,  just because we’re the face of NASCAR at the track a lot dealing with people — whether it’ll be a driver, a race fan, a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or a celebrity or an athlete. I mean, we’re usually kind of right there in the mix.

It still makes me laugh after 13 years that NASCAR classifies our account executive operations job as an entry-level position, because I’d be hard-pressed to find an entry-level job that allows you to not only be face-to-face with the brass of NASCAR, but our drivers and you mentioned the celebrities and athletes (who come to races as VIPs).

There’s a lot of perks to our job that might not see a lot of the financial success right away, but there’s a lot of fun things we can do. You’re in front of a lot of important people throughout the industry, and if you’re good at what you do, our track record in Ops speaks for itself of everybody that’s went on (to move up the ladder) — whether it’s mostly in this industry or outside this sport. They all got their start in Ops.

Definitely having a passion for events (helps) and obviously crowds can’t bother you, things like that. But I think marketing is a big thing for sure. Like I mentioned, someone who’s an athlete is someone I’ve always looked at because of the calmness effect there that you can bring to the job and not be too high, not be too low.

Yeah, that’s super interesting. And by the way, what are your parents’ names?

My mom is Geri McMullin and then John McMullin Sr. — so I’m a Jr. He’s still freelance with productions; anytime the K&N Series is on TV, he acts as the TV liaison — the bridge between race control and the broadcast. Karen Masencup did it a couple years after my father, but he was actually the first TV liaison and he was the one talking to — whether it be to Barry Landis (from FOX) or Sam Flood (from NBC) in the production trailer about what’s going on competition-wise up in race control. You know, why this caution was thrown or what are they thinking (with a call). So he’s still involved in the sport.

My mom, like I said, 37 years, that’s a long time. She’s seen a lot. She can write a really good book if she wanted to; she would never do it. But I’m just very blessed to grow up in the sport and have the opportunity that the Frances gave me — a washed-up pitcher who didn’t have a college degree.

And let me make that clear, you’re not getting hired by NASCAR unless you have a college degree. I was very, very fortunate to grow up around Bill France Jr., and I still appreciate and am thankful for the opportunity he gave me many years ago. I always told him, “I’m a lifer in this sport until you guys get rid of me,” so I’ve never forgotten that.

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12 Questions with Joey Logano (2018)

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The series of weekly driver interviews continues with Joey Logano of Team Penske. I spoke with Logano last weekend at Pocono Raceway. These interviews are recorded as a podcast but are also transcribed for those who prefer to read.

1. How often do you have dreams about racing?

I have dreams a lot about racing. I recently had a dream in Charlotte that it started raining during the race, so I got out of the car, went back to the hauler to get some food and the race started back up without me. And I went running back onto pit road and my team was changing out my seat and they were putting Paul Menard’s seat in.

So I woke up and of course it was raining — like in real life it was raining — and I was like, “Oh my God, am I actually missing this?” And I was nervous. Usually I have dreams about missing things. Which is probably why I’m early to everything in my life.

That’s a good policy though.

Yeah. I like being early. I get really nervous about being late.

2. If you get into someone during a race — intentional or not — does it matter if you apologize?

Yes, I think it matters. I don’t know about apologizing, but what I’ve learned at least is sometimes it helps just to talk about it. You know? Say, “Hey, here’s what happened.” And if it’s good or bad, at least you know what happened. Talk about it.

A lot of times those conversations aren’t really good, especially if it’s recent, like if it just happened. It’s usually not a good conversation, but I’ve learned in life sometimes the tough conversations are the best ones.

3. What is the biggest compliment someone could give you?

I’d say the biggest compliment would be something about your integrity or who you are as a person. I think a good job, pat on the back doesn’t really hold much. But when someone talks about your character, it probably holds more value to me. Someone that knows me that says something about my character means the most.

Not somebody on Twitter or something?

I appreciate everyone on Twitter and their opinions. But it’s hard to know somebody from just social media alone, which is why I try to do things that show who I am more often, whether you like it or not. Sometimes I think social media, it’s all about the posts, it’s about what you put up — and a lot of people post things that aren’t real life sometimes. And I’m not talking about racing and all that, but just in general. People always post the good days, they don’t post the bad days or the work that gets to that post you put up. So I always take social media with a grain of salt when I look at other people’s stuff.

4. NASCAR comes to you and says they’re bringing a celebrity to the track and they want you to host them. Who is a celebrity you’d be really excited to host at a race?

(Deep sigh) I don’t know. (Thinks for a moment)

That was a big sigh. Are you not real big on celebs?

Not really. I mean, I think it’s great we’re bringing celebrities to the racetrack, that means there’s a lot of great things that come along with that for our sport. Honestly, I kind of live in my own little world sometimes. I get excited about meeting people — a lot of times athletes, because I like asking them a bunch of questions. Most of the time, I ask about their life and how they handle pressure and how they handle the family and work and putting all that together — what they do, how they prep for a game. I really enjoy meeting athletes more than probably anyone.

I guess like Tom Brady or somebody would be cool to talk to. But just because I’m a New England fan. No one else really sticks out in my mind, because a lot of times, it’s fun to invite people to the racetrack — but you’re still doing your job, so you never really have time to meet them. I’d rather have the time to go to dinner and actually get to know somebody than just like, “Hey, thanks for coming out, I’ll shake your hand, cool to meet ya.” That doesn’t really get anywhere to me.

5. In an effort to show this is a health conscious sport, NASCAR decides to offer the No. 1 pit stall for an upcoming race to the first driver willing to go vegan for one month. Would you do it?

Oh yeah.

Really?

So my wife and I watched this documentary called What The Health. Don’t ever watch it, because it scared the crap out of us. (Laughs) And we did go vegan for about two weeks until we said, “What are we doing?” (Laughs) I needed a hamburger. So that was the end of that. But yeah.

So with that being said, I’ve kinda done it already somewhat. If there was like a pot of gold at the end like a first pit stall, yeah. I think let’s do it.

Most people have said no to that?

Yeah, most people said absolutely not, no way. Which I thought was kind of surprising.

There’s still a lot of things you can eat.

Yeah. And a lot of that food is disguised to taste good.

It’s not that bad. If you put enough barbecue sauce on something, you can make anything taste good. (Laughs)

6. It’s time for the Random Race Challenge. I’ve picked a random race from your career and you have to tell me where you finished. This is the 2014 Michigan spring race for Cup.

Hmm. Is that the one I won? I think I won 2015 there. I think we won that race? No…

No, I don’t make it that easy on you.

Top five?

No.

Seventh?

The answer is ninth. You started ninth, finished ninth, you led 29 laps at one point. Jimmie Johnson won. You finished behind Kyle Larson and ahead of Clint Bowyer. That’s all I know.

Eh. I don’t remember that. (Laughs)

Are you typically good at remembering races or not?

No. Not at all. That’s why I have to write notes and have to rewatch races to remember what happened. I don’t even remember the last time we were at Pocono (in 2017).

7. Who is the best rapper alive?

(Crinkles his face while thinking.) Honestly, I don’t know many rappers.

I wish the face you just made could have translated to the interview.

Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, I listen to a lot of different types of music, and I’ll listen to some rap — but it’s more like older rap, like 90s to early 2000s. But I don’t know. I’m not into music a whole bunch to know that. Like I said, I live in my own little world sometimes, and I don’t really know what’s going on.

8. Who has the most punchable face in NASCAR?

You, for asking the question. How’s that sound? (Laughs)

I’m surprised nobody said that yet. I think I actually do have a punchable face. I’m worried about it at times when I look in the mirror.

If someone’s going to ask that question, you’re probably going to get punched in the face.

That’s fair. I think I might get off this golf cart now though.

(Laughs) Has anyone answered me for that?

I feel like somebody probably has, but I can’t remember. (Editor’s note: It was Martin Truex Jr.)  I feel like somebody said you because it happened to you (with Kyle Busch last year).

It didn’t happen to me.

Oh, that’s right. He missed.

I slipped it. If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a punch. Isn’t that how it went? If you can dodge a ball?

I thought at the time you were just saying you didn’t get punched — but you actually didn’t?

No! I did an interview after. You didn’t see it on my face, did you?

No, but I just thought you were trying to save face.

Not my face, at least. I know that.

I believe you.

I will say that the camera did show that it looked like (Busch connected). I will say that.

It was like The Matrix where you’re like barely getting out of the way.

It was close. I think I felt some breeze. Just a cool breeze. (Laughs)

9. NASCAR enlists three famous Americans to be involved with your team for one race as part of a publicity push: Taylor Swift, LeBron James and Tom Hanks. Choose one to be your crew chief, one to be your spotter and one to be your motorhome driver.

I’m gonna say LeBron James is the crew chief.

You like sports guys, so you want him.

Yeah, I feel like he’s gonna have a little sports insight.

I’m gonna put Taylor Swift as the spotter because she’s got a good voice, and that’s a talking job and she’s a singer, so that makes sense. And then Tom Hanks is gonna drive the bus and we’re gonna hang out and have a good time together.

10. What is the key to finding the best pre-race bathroom?

Some places, they don’t have a really good place to go. But whatever’s closest when you get off the truck after the parade lap — you just (go to) whatever’s closest.

It’s always kind of funny for us, because there’s always fans around because fans are smart enough that they figure it out this is where everybody’s going and they sit there and wait. And it’s kind of weird because they want to shake your hand. And I’m gonna be honest with you — I wash my hands, but I don’t see every driver washing their hands in there afterward. And then I see them (going for the handshake) and I’m like, “That’s…um…” and I go for the knuckles on the way out because I don’t want a chance for the germs.

So this is a public service announcement.

Yes. Go for the knuckles. Do that. (Laughs)

11. NASCAR misses the highlight reel value brought by Carl Edwards’ backflips and decides a replacement is needed. How much money would they have to pay you to backflip off your car after your next win?

I’m not sure if I’m capable. I’ve never tried to do a backflip, not even on a trampoline or anything because I’m really scared of landing on my head and my neck. I’ve got a long neck, I’m afraid I’m gonna snap my neck. (Ryan) Newman probably wouldn’t have this problem at all. (Laughs)

But I think you have to look at it and say, how long is it gonna put you out of work? So if it’s gonna put you out your whole career, you need whatever the rest of your career is. Like if it’s gonna paralyze you, the rest of your career is paid. If it’s gonna put you out for three months, then you have to look at that, too. So I think you have to look at worst-case scenario, and that’s what it would cost.

12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next interview. Last week was Alexander Rossi and his question was: What do you think of Danica?

I think Danica is a pioneer in our sport from a women’s standpoint in the things that she was able to accomplish. I think what she brought to our sport as far as eyeballs that watched it, a lot of fans came from it, and I think the improvement and the hard work she put into it is admirable.

Obviously, as a woman in our sport has a lot of challenges. I think she overcame a lot of them. Honestly, I think she earned a lot of respect in here that no one really cared if she was a boy or girl or whatever. I don’t think it really mattered at the end. So I look up to her for that, because I think there was a lot that comes with that.

And I also kind of like how she’s smart enough to realize that racing is something that is sometimes here today and gone tomorrow, and she has put herself in position to invest into her future outside of motorsports. I don’t think all athletes do that, so that’s impressive to see. She’s got the wine thing, she’s got some clothing stuff. I think that’s admirable as well. So I think she’s done a lot. I think she should be proud of her career and proud of what the next steps are.

The next interview I’m doing is with a yet-to-be-determined NASCAR driver. Do you have a question I can ask him?

I thought about this a while ago, I was reading one of these articles, and I thought, “Man, I’ve got a good question for next time I do this.” And now I’ve completely forgotten. (Laughs)

That wasn’t the setup I thought you were going for.

I know! I completely forgot. So I’m trying to think of something.

How about, “What do you think of Joey Logano?” (Laughs hysterically) That could be funny. From Joey Logano!

So “What do you think of me?”

I think that’s an alright question. “What do you think of Joey Logano?” (Laughs) I think that’s kinda funny. (Laughs)

Previous 12 Questions interviews with Joey Logano:

— April 7, 2010

— Feb. 23, 2011

— March 7, 2012

— Feb. 28, 2013

— Feb. 26, 2014

— July 1, 2015

— March 9, 2016

 

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The Top Five: Breaking down the Pocono race

Five thoughts following Sunday’s Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway…

1. Three’s Company

Every NASCAR fan knows two drivers have been the best this season: Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. They’ve combined for nine wins, 50 playoff points and approximately two gazillion laps led.

Quietly, though, Martin Truex Jr. has been close all season — just not quite with “winning speed,” as he put it last week.

But now, after winning Sunday at Pocono? It suddenly looks like Truex is right there with the top two.

“I would say we had winning speed today for sure,” Truex said. “… Today was the first weekend in awhile — even though we’ve been finishing good — that everything made sense. We had a game plan and everything went the way we thought it would, and it was just a smooth weekend. It felt like we were doing all the little things right.”

Yes, clean air and track position benefited the No. 78 car late in the Pocono 400. Busch couldn’t track him down despite having four fresher tires.

But as crew chief Cole Pearn noted, Truex was running third in Stage 1 and was able to pass both Busch and Harvick for the stage win. And in the final stage, the trio was running nose to tail — just unable to make any passes because they were all so close in speed.

So to Pearn and Truex, that showed the 78 car has made gains.

“It hasn’t come without hard work, I promise you that,” Pearn said.

With 14 races down, three drivers have hogged 11 of the wins. Only Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer and Austin Dillon have gone to victory lane aside from those three (and two of those were superspeedway wins).

It’s been the Busch and Harvick show until now, but it seems they might have to make some room on the marquee.

2. Truex 2017 vs. Truex 2018

Truex being a low-key guy can kind of fool you into thinking he’s more chill about the racing than he really is. Actually, he knows what’s up.

For example: Truex was able to rattle off a stat about the number of quality passes he made in the Coke 600 (91) and knew the precise number of races where he’s had crashes vs. races that resulted in top-fives (four vs. nine).

That’s a pretty solid point that has been lost in the wake of Harvick and Busch’s dominance. Truex already has nine top-fives (every race he didn’t crash) and didn’t get his ninth top-five last year until Watkins Glen.

So in Truex’s mind, the No. 78 team’s performance hasn’t been that far off what it was in his 2017 championship season. The difference is the amount of adversity it has had to overcome in some races — like on pit stops, for example.

“We’ve had more battles this year,” Truex said. “Last year, it was almost like we couldn’t do anything wrong. This year, we’ve had to really work a lot harder for it, but I feel like we’re still right there, and today was a perfect example.”

As the summer goes on, it may turn out Truex is able to firm up his playoff points and go on a similar run to what he did last year. If it’s circumstances that have been holding him back, then watch out.

“Sometimes you can have the best of everything, and if things don’t go your way it’s impossible,” he said. “Today we did all the little things right and had a little bit of luck on our side as well, and that’s what it takes at this level.”

3. Poconope

Cup and Xfinity used two completely different aero packages this weekend, with a speed difference of roughly 20 mph. Either way, the result was the same: Once the leader got into clean air, he was hard to pass.

Busch had four fresh tires and two late restarts to try and get the lead from a driver who was on older tires, but he couldn’t do it. Track position won out.

“It was a little disappointing the tires didn’t mean anything more than they did there at the end,” Busch said. “Guys that had 10, 11 laps on their tires were able to still outrun us and beat us (despite) us having fresher rubber. Clean air was king.”

Look, here’s the thing: As much as everyone talks about rules packages or tires or whatever it may be, it’s pretty difficult to put on an entertaining show when you’ve got a track with mind-numbing straightaways (long enough to land an airplane!) connected by turns that weren’t exactly designed to promote passing.

Maybe it’s just that Pocono, for its odd charms, isn’t conducive to great racing. Side-by-side action and passes for the lead can happen here — especially on restarts — but they’re often the exception rather than the rule.

4. More work to do

Chevrolet put three drivers in the top seven (and five in the top 11) at the Coca-Cola 600, which sparked conversation about whether the manufacturer was starting to make gains.

After Pocono? Well, hold that thought.

Kyle Larson finished second, but he was the only Chevy in the top seven. Jimmie Johnson seemed to be getting a bit closer to contention (and drove his butt off), but he still only finished eighth.

Once again, the Fords and Toyotas collectively seemed to be a step ahead of the Chevrolet teams — as has been the case all season.

However, there’s some good news for Chevy: With 12 races until the playoffs are set, four Chevy drivers are in the top 16. That’s not terrible. Kyle Larson is ninth in points, Jimmie Johnson is 12th and Chase Elliott is 13th — plus there’s Dillon’s victory that already gave him a playoff spot.

In addition to that, Alex Bowman is only nine points behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for the final position on points.

So even though a Chevy driver hasn’t won since the Daytona 500, the manufacturer might still end up in decent shape when it comes to potential playoff representation.

5. Up next

It’s been all about two drivers dominating the season, and now there might be three — as we mentioned above.

But wait! What if there was a FOURTH driver in the title hunt? Well, if there was someone else to challenge the frontrunners, it would be Larson (although he’s not out there saying that yet).

“I’m the only one that doesn’t have a win in the front four,” he said. “Three of those guys are definitely head over heels better than the rest of us, but I think from fourth- to sixth- or seventh-best car, it’s pretty close.”

But what if he did have a win? This seems like a good time to mention his name, because next week’s race is at Michigan — a 2-mile track. And guess what Larson’s record is in the last five races on 2-mile tracks (Michigan and Fontana)? The answer is first, first, first, first, second — including three straight wins at Michigan!

So at this time next week, the conversation might be all about how it’s four drivers who seem to be head and shoulders above the rest — not just two (last week) or three (this week).