Joe Gibbs drivers stay in back of pack, advance in NASCAR Chase

Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch, drivers of very fast stock cars for the Joe Gibbs Racing team — drivers who are accustomed to running near the front in NASCAR races instead of behind Danica Patrick and Tony Stewart — finished 28th, 29th and 30th on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

They might have stopped for a quart of milk and a loaf of bread before the last caution period.

This was by design.

By dropping way back, the three were able to avoid the trouble that usually occurs at the front or the middle of the pack at Talladega and advance to the Round of 8 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with little drama.

Of course, it also caused more consternation among hardcore NASCAR loyalists who believe the Chase is rigged, or at least a bad way to decide the stock car racing championship of the world.

There’s this thing called the “100 percent rule,” one of the many amendments to the Chase that came about after Clint Bowyer spun out on purpose so teammate Martin Truex Jr. could sneak in.

The 100 percent rule states drivers must race at “100 percent of their ability with the goal of achieving their best possible finish …”

Kenseth, Edwards and Busch did not race at 100 percent of their ability to achieve the best possible finish at Talladega.

Remember the old TV series “Arliss,” about a sports agent who wanted to have “Here lies Arliss Michaels; he always gave 95 percent” engraved on his tombstone?

That was Kenseth, Edwards and Busch in Alabama.

Steve O’Donnell, a NASCAR vice president who spends part of every Monday defending NASCAR rules on Sirius-XM Radio, said the Gibbs drivers did not violate the 100 percent rule, even if they were only giving 95 percent like Arliss Michaels.

“The spirit of that rule is really to prevent somebody from intentionally allowing another teammate to do something that would not be really within the spirit of the rules of the race,” O’Donnell said on satellite radio. “In this case, we look at the strategy decision that the team made, and they executed it … in this case, that wouldn’t be something that violates that rule.”

Or, as Kyle Busch put it on Twitter after picking up a quart of milk and a loaf of bread at Talladega: “Don’t hate the player … Hate the game.”

NASCAR

— OK, so here’s one good thing about the Chase: The closing laps in Alabama produced one of those taut race-within-a-race scenarios, as Denny Hamlin — the only Joe Gibbs Racing driver who did not stop for milk and bread — beat Las Vegas’ Kurt Busch to the line by .006 of a second to finish third, thereby edging Austin Dillon for the final Round of 8 spot. Hamlin and Dillon finished tied for the last transfer position; Hamlin moved on, based on finishing higher than Dillon in second segment of three Chase races — or because Dillon refuses to remove his giant cowboy hat before TV interviews.

— Starting in 2017, full-time Sprint Cup drivers will be limited to 10 starts in the Xfinity Series and seven in the Truck Series and will not be allowed to race in either at the end of the season when championships are decided. In other words, fewer baseball-type rehab assignments.

LVMS

Linny White of Fontana, California, passed Las Vegas driver Dustin Ash with 30 laps to go and survived a late restart to win his second consecutive Super Late Models 150 at the Senator’s Cup Fall Classic at The Bullring. White was presented a $15,000 first-place check by U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., a former Bullring competitor. Other winners were Eric Richardson (Late Models), Zach St. Onge (South West Pro Trucks), Peyton Saxton (USLCI Legends), Jason Kiser (Super Stocks), Robert Schumacher (Bombers), Jesse Love and Toni Bredinger (USAC HPD Midgets), and Kayla Eshleman (Bandelero Outlaws).

ELSEWHERE

James Hinchcliffe, who drives for Henderson’s Sam Schmidt in the IndyCar series, survived Week 7 elimination on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars. Marcia Brady — aka former actress Maureen McCormick — and her Russian partner were shown the black flag. But unlike the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers at Talladega, no one accused Maureen McCormick of giving less than 100 percent. Not even Eve Plumb.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0325. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.