Author: SM Staff

  • Alex Bowman wins ARCA Menards Pole Award for Mobile International Speedway

    Alex Bowman wins ARCA Menards Pole Award for Mobile International Speedway

    [media-credit name=”ARCA Racing Network” align=”alignleft” width=”345″][/media-credit]Last year, Alex Bowman impressed everybody as he won in both his ARCA Racing Series starts. So far this year, he has a 30th place finish at Daytona International Speedway. Bowman is now looking to turn things around at Mobile International Speedway.

    He is off to a good start as he led practice and won the Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell. He drove a qualifying lap of 17.547 seconds to put his No. 22 Dodge for Cunniongham Motorsports on the pole for the first time.

    “We have a great eBay Motors and St. Jude’s Dodge,” the 18-year-old from Tucson, Ariz said after qualifying. “I can’t thank all the guys at Cunningham Motorsports enough. I’ve always been terrible at qualifying, quite honestly, and for us to get a pole definitely shows how good the car is. We’ll definitely have a good race car tomorrow. Look for us up front.”

    Bowman credits the success to a test earlier in the year.

    “We came here and tested a few weeks ago, and it’s a pretty neat place,” he said. “It’s like Madison, and similar to Motor Mile (in Virginia).”

    16-year-old Chase Elliott will start his first ARCA race on the front row along side Bowman, driving the No. 9 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet. Elliott, the son of NASCAR Champion Bill Elliott, has turned heads so far with his success. Last year in the K&N Pro East Series, he scored three top-fives and six top 10s in 12 starts. In 2010, he scored 13 victories, 29 top-five finishes, 39 top-10s and six pole awards in 42 Late Model starts. One of the notable accomplishments was winning the Miller Lite Series at Mobile International Speedway.

    Starting third will be another rookie as Eric Jones will become the first 15-year-old to start an ARCA Racing Series race, driving for Venturini Motorsports.

    ARCA recently changed the age limit from 16-year-olds to 15-year-old for drives to compete on tracks one mile in length or shorter. To compete on tracks bigger than one mile, drivers need to be 18 years of age or order.

    “We started off on new tires and worked really hard on the whole package, the drivability of the car,” the Bryon, Michigan native said after practice. “It was fast, just not quite the feel we wanted. We worked through the whole practice and finally got what I wanted.

    Jones comes into the ARCA Series with a lot of success, as he won the 2011 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Championship, winning at Rockford Speedway and Owosso. He also won the prestigious Governor’s Cup, leading every lap in the super late model race in Florida.

    Brian Keselowski and Ryan Reed rounded out the top five, followed by Chad Hackenbracht, Brennan Poole, Matt Lofton, Cale Gale and Grant Enfinger. Nine-time ARCA Champion Frank Kimmel starts 11th with Southern short track star Bubba Pollard in 12th.

    The 200-lap, 100-mile Mobile ARCA 200 will begin at 2 p.m. Central tomorrow, with live timing and scoring and live audio coverage available at ARCARacing.com. WNTM Fox News Radio 710 AM (Mobile) and WTDR Thunder 92.7 FM (Talladega) will produce and air the broadcast for ARCARacing.com, and also air the race to a network of Alabama radio stations. The race is scheduled as the second of 20 this season.

  • Kasey Kahne Scores First Career Pole With Hendrick Motorsports

    Kasey Kahne Scores First Career Pole With Hendrick Motorsports

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Kasey Kahne scored the pole today during qualifying for the Kobalt Tools 400 earlier today.

    Kahne was one of fifteen other drivers to break the track record as well. Kahne is looking for a boost to his 2012 season. Kahne suffered accidents in both the season-opening Daytona 500 and the Subway Fresh Fit 500 last weekend in Phoenix. Kahne got caught up in one of many big wrecks at Daytona and wrecked on his own at Phoenix early in the race after getting loose off Turn 4. This is Kahne’s third career pole here at Las Vegas.

    Kahne ran his first race here in 2004 where he started from the pole. Kahne led 43 laps and finished second to eventual winner Matt Kenseth. He last won the pole in 2007, but suffered a crash late in the race when the 38 car of then driver David Gilliland sucked him around on the outside, putting the then #9 car in the wall. He has one other Top 5 finish at the track and that happened in 2006 when he finished in fifth. How will Kahne do on Sunday?

    Hometown favorite Kyle Busch (sort of) will start on the outside of the front row. The reason why I put “sort of” is that I remember last year when his motor exploded, I heard very loud cheers. I felt kinda bad for Kyle that day. He has one victory here which he got in 2009.

    Kevin Harvick qualified his #29 Budweiser Chevrolet in third. I’m seeing a new Harvick this year. He is qualifying a lot better here early in the season and he’s running up front. Harvick has never won here at Vegas, but came close in 2004 before running out of fuel, and finished second to Jimmie Johnson in 2010.

    Rounding out the rest of the Top 10 included: Earnhardt Jr., Bowyer, Johnson, Stewart, Logano, Biffle, and Martin Truex Jr.

    Is it just me or is Joey Logano on fire? Logano has a new crew chief this year in Jason Radcliff, who spent a long period of time serving as the crew chief for Kyle Busch during his Nationwide Series runs. Logano is running better than ever! I see Logano finally making the Chase this season. It is now his time after three seasons under Greg Zipadelli. Zipadelli now is Competition Director at Stewart-Haas Racing.

    Defending winner of this race, Carl Edwards, qualified his #99 in the 21st position as his Daytona 500 winning teammate, Matt Kenseth, qualified his #17 Best Buy Ford in 11th.

    Edwards is my pick to win this race, but you never know. My dark horse pick for this weekend is going to be Joey Logano. He has really showed me that he is ready to be a threat for the title.

    What do you guys think? Follow me on Twitter. http://www.twitter.com/SirRyanTheOHara or email me rosharppromotions@gmail.com. Enjoy the race!

    Starting Lineup
    Kobalt Tools 400, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=3
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 190.456 28.353
    2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 190.04 28.415
    3 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 190.014 28.419
    4 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 189.873 28.44
    5 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 189.807 28.45
    6 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 189.773 28.455
    7 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 189.667 28.471
    8 20 Joey Logano Toyota 189.62 28.478
    9 16 Greg Biffle Ford 189.5 28.496
    10 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 189.421 28.508
    11 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 189.208 28.54
    12 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 189.148 28.549
    13 55 Mark Martin Toyota 188.97 28.576
    14 22 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge 188.937 28.581
    15 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 188.91 28.585
    16 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 188.758 28.608
    17 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 188.712 28.615
    18 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 188.436 28.657
    19 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 188.16 28.699
    20 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 188.134 28.703
    21 99 Carl Edwards Ford 188.088 28.71
    22 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 187.754 28.761
    23 33 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 187.669 28.774
    24 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 187.663 28.775
    25 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 187.363 28.821
    26 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 187.305 28.83
    27 43 Aric Almirola Ford 186.987 28.879
    28 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 186.987 28.879
    29 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 186.78 28.911
    30 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 185.65 29.087
    31 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 185.644 29.088
    32 13 Casey Mears Ford 185.274 29.146
    33 26 Josh Wise* Ford 184.837 29.215
    34 38 David Gilliland Ford 184.685 29.239
    35 34 David Ragan Ford 184.388 29.286
    36 249 J.J. Yeley Toyota 184.37 29.289
    37 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 184.175 29.32
    38 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 183.949 29.356
    39 98 Michael McDowell Ford 183.861 29.37
    40 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 183.542 29.421
    41 32 Ken Schrader Ford 183.306 29.459
    42 37 Timmy Hill* Ford 182.877 29.528
    43 30 David Stremme Toyota 182.704 29.556
  • Kahne captures the Kobalt Tools 400 pole

    Kahne captures the Kobalt Tools 400 pole

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”208″][/media-credit]Kasey Kahne captured the pole for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a track record lap of 190.456 MPH (28.353 secs). This was Kahne’s 23rd career cup pole and his first since joining Hendrick Motorsports.

    “It was a good lap. We carried a lot of speed to the line in the Farmers Insurance Chevy. I got through (Turns) 1 and 2 really well. When I got to (Turn) 3, I was a little bit tight and just had a little more wheel than what I would have liked coming off of (Turn) 4 and back to the line. So I knew I was a little on the tight side. But I still felt like it was a good run and the Hendrick engine runs so well it pulls you there. That was a good lap. It was faster in practice today. We did a lot of race trim stuff and then we made a couple of runs right at the end.” Kahne said.

    Overall, 15 drivers broke Matt Kenseth’s record lap of 188.884 mph set in 2011.

    Kyle Busch qualified second. “The M&M’s Camry drove great. Dave(crew chief) and the guys did a nice job so hoping that second place starting spot is good for Sunday and keeps us up front with our track position.” Busch said.

    Kevin Harvick third. “Yeah, these guys on this Budweiser Chevy are making me look good on qualifying days.” Harvick said.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. fourth and Clint Bowyer qualified fifth.

    “I’m pretty happy with how we ended up. We struggled in qualifying last year and wanted to work on that this year and this is a good result, so hopefully we’re making some gains there.” Earnhardt Jr. said.

    Starting Lineup
    Kobalt Tools 400, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=3
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 190.456 28.353
    2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 190.04 28.415
    3 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 190.014 28.419
    4 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 189.873 28.44
    5 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 189.807 28.45
    6 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 189.773 28.455
    7 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 189.667 28.471
    8 20 Joey Logano Toyota 189.62 28.478
    9 16 Greg Biffle Ford 189.5 28.496
    10 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 189.421 28.508
    11 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 189.208 28.54
    12 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 189.148 28.549
    13 55 Mark Martin Toyota 188.97 28.576
    14 22 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge 188.937 28.581
    15 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 188.91 28.585
    16 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 188.758 28.608
    17 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 188.712 28.615
    18 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 188.436 28.657
    19 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 188.16 28.699
    20 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 188.134 28.703
    21 99 Carl Edwards Ford 188.088 28.71
    22 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 187.754 28.761
    23 33 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 187.669 28.774
    24 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 187.663 28.775
    25 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 187.363 28.821
    26 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 187.305 28.83
    27 43 Aric Almirola Ford 186.987 28.879
    28 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 186.987 28.879
    29 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 186.78 28.911
    30 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 185.65 29.087
    31 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 185.644 29.088
    32 13 Casey Mears Ford 185.274 29.146
    33 26 Josh Wise* Ford 184.837 29.215
    34 38 David Gilliland Ford 184.685 29.239
    35 34 David Ragan Ford 184.388 29.286
    36 249 J.J. Yeley Toyota 184.37 29.289
    37 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 184.175 29.32
    38 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 183.949 29.356
    39 98 Michael McDowell Ford 183.861 29.37
    40 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 183.542 29.421
    41 32 Ken Schrader Ford 183.306 29.459
    42 37 Timmy Hill* Ford 182.877 29.528
    43 30 David Stremme Toyota 182.704 29.556
  • Tony Stewart Looks To Repeat Last Year’s Championship Success

    Tony Stewart Looks To Repeat Last Year’s Championship Success

    [media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”189″][/media-credit]After winning a championship, the conventional way of thinking is to keep the team the exact same way and take the same attack approach.

    However, Tony Stewart went down a different route as at the end of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship season, he let crew chief Darian Grubb go. In exchange, he hired Steve Addington to become his crew chief for 2012.

    Stewart felt the change was necessary after how they ran for the majority of the year.

    “We kind of got in a slump last year and felt like we needed to make a change,” Stewart said during Texas Motor Speedway’s Media Day. “It’s definitely not uncommon in our sport to do that, but it seemed very odd to do it at the end of the year like that but we actually made the decision before the Chase started.”

    Many people forgot that before the Chase started, Stewart’s average finish was 14.23 while he sat ninth in points with no wins. He was also saying that his team didn’t belong in the chase with the way they were running as he knew they wouldn’t be able to contend.

    However, once they were in the Chase, it was like someone flipped a light switch as Stewart went on a terror, winning five of the 10 races and was crowned the champion.

    “We ran well during the year; we just hadn’t got that win yet,” Stewart said. “It seemed that anything that could go wrong went wrong. But it seemed like when the Chase started we finally got all that bad luck behind us. We started strong at Chicago and Loudon was a track where Ryan (Newman) and I had run well there in the spring, so the first win at Chicago was kind of a surprise. We expected to run well at Loudon but I don’t think we would have planned or could have predicted we were going to get three more wins after that. It was a remarkable run.”

    So far this season, Stewart hasn’t hit the magic stride yet as he finished 16th at Daytona due to a late race spin and 22nd at Phoenix due to a fuel pick-up issue.

    The communication between him and Addington is still being tweaked, but going good so far.

    “Like when I say, ‘it’s a little loose,’ he has to figure out how much a little means to me,” Stewart explained. “What is a little to me may be a lot bigger change to him. So it’s just figuring out when I say a little or a lot how much that actually is. I don’t think it will take really long. We worked really well together last weekend we just had some bad luck during the race. We had a solid day going.”

    Despite it being early in the season, Stewart knows he needs to make a charge soon.

    “There is really nothing to fall back on,” he said. “It’s nice knowing that we’ve got good notes; we’ve got good tracks coming up. Vegas was one last year where we had a dominant car and had a penalty with an air hose getting caught on the body work. It cost us a shot to win the race. It’s nice to go back to some of these tracks knowing we ran well at them. With this Chase format, you have 26 weeks just to get yourself in there so you can’t take it easy at the beginning of the year and think that you are going to waltz right into a spot in the Chase. You’ve got to get after it right away.”

    Stewart went and selected Addington based on his time spent at Joe Gibbs Racing.

    “I had known Steve through the (Joe) Gibbs (Racing) days when I was driving for (crew chief Greg) Zipadelli and (Steve) Addington was working for Kyle Busch,” Stewart said. “I had enjoyed working with him over there and when it came time to try and figure out who we wanted to look at I think it was a scenario where Steve was ready for a change and we were ready for a change. I think it was the right opportunity at the right time. I definitely knew Steve’s credentials because we had worked with him at Gibbs, so it seemed like a natural change for both of us.”

    Stewart also looked to expand his organization further by continuing to look at Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) by hiring Greg Zipadelli to be the Competition Director at Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) and to crew chief for rookie Danica Patrick. Zipadelli was the crew chief for Stewart during Stewart’s entire time at JGR and won two championships with him.

    It seemed like a natural selection for Stewart to hopefully bring success over to SHR. Beyond that, Zipadelli has helped Stewart transition from open-wheel to NASCAR so he was hoping that would choreograph over to helping Patrick.

  • Frank Kimmel Looks For First Trip Success at Mobile Int’l Speedway

    Frank Kimmel Looks For First Trip Success at Mobile Int’l Speedway

    [media-credit name=”arcaracing.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]For the first time in the 60 year history of the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, the series will be running on the half-mile oval located in Mobile, Alabama.

    One of the tracks that Mobile International Speedway has been compared to is Toledo Speedway, as both have a low degree of banking.

    Series veteran Frank Kimmel is hoping the comparison is true in hopes of scoring career win no. 75. Kimmel currently sits second on the all-time ARCA Series win list with 74 victories behind Iggy Katona. Kimmel scored the first victory of his career at Toledo Speedway, Mobile’s sister track, and says he feels real comfortable at Toledo.

    “It makes me feel more confident that I can get up on the wheel from the get go,” Kimmel says. “I mean, face it, at the end of the day, a short track is a short track – if you can’t get up on the wheel, it’s going to be a rough day for your team.

    Kimmel has also been doing his homework as he enlisted help from short track legend Bubba Pollard.

    “Bubba is a legend down here on the Panhandle of Florida and Alabama,” Kimmel explains. “His results speak for themselves in late models and super late models at both Mobile and Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, so I knew who to call when it was time to pick someone’s brain on track facts and logistics. He gave me a lot of great pointers going into this weekend. I’m also looking forward to chatting with our own Grant Enfinger – since this is his home track, he knows the ins and outs too. It’s a little different, I usually have guys coming to me to find out about tracks as the veteran!”

    Practice is set to happen on Friday March 9th from 1:30-5pm CT with Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell that night at 7pm CT. The race will take place on Saturday March 10th with pre-race coverage beginning at 1:30 CT. Speed will not share this race live, but ARCARacing.com will have live timing and scoring.

  • Kvapil’s future is still in doubt

    Kvapil’s future is still in doubt

    Getting a job in the Sprint Cup Series is tough as it is. The economy doesn’t help either.

    Travis Kvapil is a former Camping World Truck Series champion. One would believe teams would be throwing themselves at him after his departure from Penske Racing several years back at the completion of the 2005 season.

    For the past few seasons, Kvapil drove for the underfunded Front Row Motorsports team. FRM is owned by Bob Jenkins, who owns a series of restaurants such as Taco Bell, Long John Silver, and other multi-million dollar businesses.

    At the end of 2011, rumors swirled around the garage about David Ragan signing with FRM once he was released from his former team Roush Racing. Eventually, Ragan signed with FRM. The team also resigned David Gilliland and Josh Wise in the team’s second and third cars, leaving Kvapil without a job heading into 2012.

    “That was tough, last year we didn’t have the results we hoped and by the end of the season we put some good runs together. But speaking for them, they were looking at different sponsorship opportunities and eventually landed with David Ragan and they had more sponsorship for things like that and it was a decision they made and they had to look at all opportunities and they’re definitely looking better,” said Kvapil on what made him leave FRM.

    Lucky for Kvapil, a new team was forming out of the defunct Red Bull Racing shop.

    Kvapil reached out to one of the new owners, sparking talks across the board as both sides were interested in working with one another.

    “It all happened pretty quick, but it was a bit of a process for them,” said Kvapil. “It took longer than they expected to get everything together and we didn’t get everything going and the green light until February first, but we have great equipment and some really good people with guys that work really hard.”

    It was announced that Kvapil will drive the car after the Daytona 500 where David Reutimann drove the No. 93 Toyota Camry to a 26th place finish in the team’s debut. But, it remains unclear if he will step behind the wheel for every race, or he will be replaced by Reutimann in the select races where he does not drive for Tommy Baldwin Racing.

    “It’s not a done deal from what I’ve been told. They’ve talked to me about David Reutimann running for the team, but I think that’s still to be determined as time gets closer to those races. Hopefully, I can go out there and run competitively and have a chance of staying in the car,” said Kvapil.

    But, if Kvapil is replaced by Reutimann, it could mean the partnership may last only one year, if that.

    “They’ve been straight up with me from day one. They might do something with David in those races, they might not, they didn’t promise me anything that they can’t do. I knew the deal going into it so either its 26 races or the rest of the races,” Kvapil said. I’m thankful for the opportunity. They didn’t promise me more than 26 races, but there’s a possibility of running 35.”

    The last time Kvapil qualified for all 36 races was back in 2008, the year he drove for Yates Racing, finishing 23rd in the standings. After the first six races in 2009, Kvapil was released from Yates as the team eventually shut down, due to sponsorship woes.

    This time around, Kvapil’s situation is different, much different.

    With a possibility of being replaced in several races, Kvapil has to focus on himself more than ever.

    “I think it’s harder for the team to work with multiple drivers as the relationship between the driver and the team takes some time to build and you’re changing drivers then you kind of mess up the chemistry,” said Kvapil on whether or not it’s a good idea for BK Racing to split the No. 93 Burger King Toyota throughout the 2012 season.

    Expectations for the new team are rather high, well at least according to Kvapil. He believes the team is capable on finishing in the top 25 on a weekly basis and eventually, making it to the top 20.

    Fortunately enough, Kvapil took a car which qualified 41st and turned a bad run into an exceptional one as he drove up to 19th place by the time the checkered flag flew this past Sunday at the Phoenix International Raceway. The team proved they’re at the track to run competitive and not just ‘start and park’ like many expected.

    Kvapil will head into the Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend with a renewed outlook on what it takes to run upfront. He and teammate Landon Cassill are ‘dark horses,’ but the two have much to prove.

    For the entire BK Racing organization, the plan is to run the entire season with Cassill in the No. 83 with Kvapil and possibly Reutimann in the No. 93 with cars from the former Red Bull Racing team. How will they fare remains to be seen. They are off to a strong start, continuing this will easily look themselves in the top 35 in owner points by Bristol.

    As a pure racer, Kvapil is determined to revamp his career once again. He is off to a strong start in 2012. His season may progress in a positive or negative way. But, it’s the chance he needed to prove he didn’t forget how to drive considering he outran both FRM drivers, Ragan and Gilliland on Sunday at Phoenix.

  • RCR Brings Force to Reckon With in Nationwide Series

    RCR Brings Force to Reckon With in Nationwide Series

    [media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]The headlines were going crazy last season when Kevin Harvick Incorporated (KHI) announced that it was closing its doors at the conclusion of 2011. The result of that closure saw KHI’s Nationwide Series program be put under Richard Childress Racing.

    The merger was met with some questions, however, they have been quickly answered this far into the season. After the second race of the season, Elliott Sadler leads the point standings, 10 points over rookie teammate Austin Dillon. Sadler won the last race at Phoenix International Speedway while Dillon and Kevin Harvick finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

    The win marked a special win for Sadler as he hadn’t been to victory lane in one of NASCAR’s top three divisions since 2010 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The win also marked a bit of revenge for last year as despite finishing second in points, the season was considered disappointing due to no victories.

    One of the first moves that was made when Sadler made the shift from KHI to RCR was a change in his crew chief. Richard Childress partnered Sadler with Luke Lambert, who was the crew chief for Clint Bowyer last year in the Sprint Cup Series. Childress felt the partnership was perfect based on what he saw Sadler needed in a crew chief and how Lambert could benefit from a couple seasons spent in Nationwide.

    Sadler now hopes to carry the momentum from the win into Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    “Momentum is huge in this sport,” he said. “Our team is so strong and so focused that I know the win last week at Phoenix will just add to our drive. We have one goal, and that is to win the championship, and I think this week we will continue to go along with our game plan. It was such a great feeling to be in Victory Lane, and I am so proud of our team and excited to home a win for OneMain Financial and Richard Childress Richard Childress.”

    The win marked some reassurance for Sadler as he was at first concerned when Harvick told him of the switch.

    “When Kevin first came to me and said, ‘Look, I’m going to sell my team to Richard. We’re going to run the team out of his shop’. I said, ‘Where is that going to leave me?’,” Sadler explained. “He said, ‘Elliott, the last time I ran for RCR, we won 13 races. You’re going to be okay.’

    “When you’re affiliated with the Cup teams and the simulation programs that they have and when you’re on the same campus, you feed off of it. We race against the Cup affiliated teams all the time – Roush and Gibbs – so it just puts us on an even playing field.”

    In the past couple of years, the Nationwide Series has been dominated by Roush Racing, Penske Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing – all three teams having a cup affiliation.

    “I think Kevin and Delana did a great job with the Nationwide,” Childress commented after Phoenix. “But running against what Jack, Gibbs, Penske have, they weren’t quite there and that was the difference. I think Kevin once he saw that, wanted to come back. I think the difference is having a cup affiliation. I had the Cup crew chiefs scanning the three radios telling me what was going on. Now that we’re back in Nationwide, I think it helps back to the Cup due to the cars being so similar except for the motor.”

    The success now puts pressure on the team to keep it going, as stated by Brendan Gaughan, who will run his first Nationwide race of the season.

    “I’m really excited to race for such a great organization,” he said in the team preview. “The only downside, if there is one, is that now it’s my turn to keep the hot streak going that RCR has started off the season with.”

    As the season continues, there’s no question there will be a continued battle between Joe Gibbs Racing, Jack Roush, Roger Penske and Richard Childress for the championships. It’ll all be about who can put the best package together, and right now, Childress looks to have the upper hand. It’s also known that this isn’t his first rodeo as he has won five championships in the Nationwide Series.

  • NOTES FROM THE NASCAR NATION: WHO’S GOING TO CASH IN AT LAS VEGAS?

    NOTES FROM THE NASCAR NATION: WHO’S GOING TO CASH IN AT LAS VEGAS?

    [media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]All eyes with be on the bright lights of Las Vegas when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series makes its annual visit, to the city that never sleeps, for Sunday’s running of the Kobalt Tools 400. NASCAR racing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway offers features a blend of hard racing to the checkers combined with the element of fuel mileage and who saved enough of the finish.

    It’s also about a massive amount of fun for the fans. From the special events waiting for them at the speedway to the shows and the casinos, let’s face it: Las Vegas and NASCAR simply belongs in the same sentence. Don’t be too surprised if you look over and see one of your favorite Sprint Cup drivers sitting at a slot machine next to you.

    THE STORY BREAKDOWN

    One of the major stories you will hear about this weekend is “penalty watch.” We’re all still waiting to see how the appeal process will turn out for Jimmie Johnson’s #48 team. It’s been well documented that Daytona was a disaster for this five time championship team. Between the lap two crash and the harsh penalties from failing a tech inspection, this team began the 2012 season standing in a very large hole.

    But these distractions clearly has not impacted Jimmie Johnson’s ability to focus on the task at hand. He proved that with a strong run at Phoenix last week that elevated the team from 44th to 37th in the points standings. Had it not been for a pit road situation, involving a loose wheel, he likely would have won the Phoenix event.  He’s heavily favored to win the Las Vegas race and still favored to win the championship despite the Daytona disaster.

    **********************

    If a strong sense of human emotion still means anything in NASCAR racing, then Jeff Gordon has 20 great reasons to win at Las Vegas this Sunday. It’s the 20th anniversary of the marketing team of Gordon and Dupont Automotive Finishes. Gordon’s #24 Chevrolet will be adorned by a special paint scheme this weekend, created by NASCAR artist Sam Bass, to commemorate the occasion.

    It was believed by many that Dupont took a Las Vegas sized gamble when they signed with Gordon back in 1992. That was 85 Sprint Cup wins and four NASCAR championships ago. Apparently the gamble paid off in a very big way.

    ************

    2012 also marks the 25th anniversary of team owner Jack Roush in NASCAR racing and, after winning at Daytona with Matt Kenseth, this special occasion is off to a special start. It could get better because Roush Fenway Racing has some phenomenal numbers at Las Vegas. In 14 Sprint Cup events, held there, RFR drivers have won seven of them.

    Roush driver Carl Edwards is the defending race champion. It’s also the last time this driver has found victory lane. Edwards is heavily favored to end that year long win less streak this Sunday.

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    If fuel mileage becomes an issue at Las Vegas, and it wouldn’t be the first time if it did, then expect to see a variation from the traditional approach to saving fuel due to the presence of the new electronic fuel injection, (EFI), engines. After what Tony Stewart went through last weekend at Phoenix, it’s a safe bet that no one is going to try the traditional turn the engine off and on maneuver. It seems that the EFI electronic system just can’t handle that.

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    THE LAS VEGAS BREAKDOWN

    So, who’s going to cash in at Las Vegas and who’s going to tap out? For the answer to that question we turn to the professional Las Vegas number crunchers from the World Sports Exchange, (WSE).

    Topping the WSE list is the aforementioned Jimmie Johnson at 6 to 1 odds. Let’s face it, this driver has Las Vegas numbers to beat. That includes a series high four wins along with four top five finishes and five top tens along with a very healthy average finish ratio, (AFR) of 10.6. By the way, Johnson also tops the WSE list as their favorite to win his sixth Sprint Cup championship.

    He needs to improve his points situation, 37th, following the season opener at Daytona. The other motivation here for Johnson is the fact that his long time primary sponsor, Kobalt Tools, is also the race sponsor. That tends to make a driver dig a little harder for the win. He also wants to be the one to give team owner Rick Hendrick his 200th Sprint Cup win.

    Joining Johnson at 6 to 1 odds is the Las Vegas hometown hero Kyle Busch. The youngest Busch brother, ranked ninth in the points standings, also brings some impressive Las Vegas numbers to the table that includes two wins, two top fives and three top tens in eight starts. He also has a decent AFR of 15.0 at his home track.

    At 7 to 1 is Carl Edwards who is absolutely a pre race favorite as well as the defending race winner. Ranked seventh in the current points, Edwards has some great numbers at Las Vegas including two wins, two top fives, three top tens and a healthy AFR of 11.0. Also remember that Edwards drives a Roush Fenway Ford and that team seems to excel at Las Vegas.

    The WSE has Tony Stewart listed at 8 to 1 who’s 15th in the points due to the aforementioned fuel mileage move at Phoenix last weekend. “Smoke” is still seeking his first win at Las Vegas but does have five top fives and eight top tens. He also has a 13.8 AFR. His Steve Addington led team is expected to be strong again this weekend and, at 8 to 1, Stewart is another rock solid wager consideration.

    Next on the WSE’s list is the dynamic duo of Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick at 10 to 1 odds. Again, Gordon would love to get his second win at Las Vegas in honor of Dupont’s 20th anniversary with his team. Like his team mate, Johnson, he also wants to be the one to give the boss that important 200th win. It’s no secret that Rick Hendrick has been transporting a large bag of racing caps, commemorating win number 200, for quite some time and Gordon would love to pass those hats out while his car is parked in victory lane. Gordon is currently ranked 22nd in the standings, due to a blown engine at Daytona, and he’ll want to improve that situation. He has six top fives at Las Vegas and a 14.9 AFR. He also has a series leading driver rating of 112.1 there.

    Kevin Harvick is off to a solid start in the still young 2012 season and is ranked third in the points. He’s still seeking his first win at Las Vegas, but he does have three top fives, four top tens and a 13.2 AFR. Here’s yet another driver and team that’s wager worthy.

    At 12 to 1 odds you will find the highly interesting duo of Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth. As the newest member of Hendrick Motorsports, Kasey Kahne’s bad luck, in the first two events of the season, has him at a disappointing 32nd in the points. However, when you combine this driver with long time crew chief Kenny Francis along with the resources from Rick Hendrick, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t turn into a super team. Kahne is also looking for his first visit to the Las Vegas victory lane. He has two previous top five finishes and a 14.9 AFR.  If you’re into long shot wagers, then Kasey Kahne is worthy of your consideration. The law of averages says the bad luck mini streak has to turn around somewhere and it might be at Las Vegas.

    The fact that Matt Kenseth is rated at 12 to 1 seems rather surprising because of the past numbers he’s compiled at Las Vegas. He’s a two time winner there with five top fives, six top tens and a very healthy 11.7 AFR. He’s currently fourth in the points and is still carrying the momentum from winning his second Daytona 500 last month. He’s also driving one of those powerful Roush Fenway Racing Fords who has won seven of the 14 Cup races at Las Vegas. This is an outstanding long shot wager consideration because, at 12 to 1 odds, Kenseth is highly capable of becoming a Las Vegas bookie’s worst nightmare.

    Looking now at the WSE’s middle tier, Greg Biffle leads a trio of drivers at 20 to 1. Biffle is off to a great start this year and is currently ranked second in the points. He also another member of that powerful Roush Fenway Racing organization.

    Also in the 20 to 1 group is fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr who is also seeking his first win at Las Vegas. Then again, Earnhardt simply wants to rid himself of that troublesome win less streak that dates back to 2008. He also would like to be the driver that gives Rick Hendrick that 200th win.

    Also in this 20 to 1 group is Brad Keselowski. He’s only had three starts at Las Vegas and is still seeking his first top ten finish there. He’s ranked this high because he’s “Bad Brad” and, on any given weekend, he’s more than capable of surprising us all.

    Turning now to the WSE’s lower tier, the trio of Martin Truex Jr, Ryan Newman and A J Allmendinger are rated at 30 to 1. At 35 to 1 you will find another trio led by Clint Bowyer along with Las Vegas home town hero Kurt Busch and previous Las Vegas winner Mark Martin.

    The WSE Las Vegas rankings closes with a 40 to 1 trio led by two time Las Vegas winner Jeff Burton along with Juan Pablo Montoya and Joey Logano.

    If you do not see your favorite driver’s name on this week’s WSE rankings then they are automatically ranked at 8 to 1 odds. Surprisingly, this includes the name of Denny Hamlin who won last weekend’s race at Phoenix, currently leads the Sprint Cup points standings and has a healthy 11.7 AFR at Las Vegas. Also, let’s consider that the team of Hamlin and new crew chief Darian Grubb is off to a very strong start this year. That alone makes Hamlin a strong wager consideration.

    Now for the disclaimer: NASCAR wants us to remind you that these odds rankings should be viewed for informational and entertainment purposes only. They neither encourage, nor condone, the placing of wagers on their races.

    Not meaning to be overly sarcastic here, but that’s a very tough point to sell when the race is being held at Las Vegas.

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    THE RACE BREAKDOWN

    The Kobalt Tools 400 will be 267 laps/400.5 miles around the Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s 1.5 mile oval.

    The race has 45 entries vying for the 43 starting berths. Ten of those entries are on the go or go home list. These teams are not guaranteed a starting berth because they are currently outside of NASCAR’s top 35 in owner’s points. These ten teams will have to depend solely on qualifying speeds to make Sunday’s race.

    The Las Vegas Motor Speedway was officially opened in 1996. The first NASCAR sanctioned race, a K&N Pro Series West event, was held in November of that year and was won by Ken Schrader. The first Las Vegas Sprint Cup event was held in 1998 and was won by Mark Martin. Since that time there has been 14 Sprint Cup races held at Las Vegas that has sent eight different winners to victory lane. Jimmie Johnson tops the win list with four. Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth each have two wins at the speedway. Roush Fenway Racing tops the team win chart and has won seven of the 14 Cup races at Las Vegas including the first three races in a row.

    Track position is always going to be a valuable commodity in any NASCAR Sprint Cup race and that also applies to racing at Las Vegas. Matt Kenseth holds the track qualifying record, 188.884 MPH, set in March of last year. Kyle Busch was the first driver to score a Las Vegas win from the pole position back in 2009. Six of the 14 Las Vegas Cup races have been won from starting positions within the top ten while four have been won from starting berths outside of the top twenty.

    The speedway was reconfigured, to include progressive banking, in 2006. The four corners are now banked at 20 degrees. The front stretch, measuring 2,275 feet long, and the backstretch, 1,572 feet, each have nine degrees of banking. The speedway presently has grandstand seating to accommodate 142,000 plus fans.

    Weather is not expected to be any concern regarding Sunday’s race. The Las Vegas weekend forecast calls for sunny skies with daytime highs between 72 and 75 degrees.

    A NASCAR weekend in Las Vegas is famous for a high number of driver meet and greet with the fans. Dial up www.lvms.com for all of the details.

    The Kobalt Tools 400 will be broadcast live by Fox Sports beginning with the pre race show at 230 pm eastern time. The race re-broadcast will be on Wednesday, March 14th, on SPEED beginning at 1230 pm et. PRN, Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite NASCAR Radio Channel 90 will carry the live radio broadcast of the race.

    Make sure you reset your clocks, one hour forward, this weekend. Whether you’re going to be attending the race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, or watching on television, you will not want to miss a single lap of the Kobalt Tools 400.

  • Turn 10 Renamed to Honor Wheldon

    Turn 10 Renamed to Honor Wheldon

    [media-credit name=”Rendering of the memorial” align=”alignright” width=”122″][/media-credit]As construction crews continued work on the 1.8 mile, 14 turn temporary street circuit that runs along the waterfront of downtown Saint Petersburg, race officials announced that turn number 10 would be renamed in honor of two-time Indy 500 champion and local resident, the late Dan Wheldon.

    Tim Ramsberger, the Vice President and General Manager of the Honda Grand Prix said, “This is the corner where Dan made the pass to take the lead, and win the inaugural Honda Grand Prix in 2005; it’s only fitting that this corner should be named in his honor”.

    The Mayor of Saint Petersburg, the Honorable Bill Foster proclaimed that this portion of roadway shall be forever known as Dan Wheldon Way; A street sign was unveiled and will become a permanent fixture along the waterfront of Saint Petersburg.

    Plans for a permanent memorial to not only honor Dans’ memory, as well as the other past winners of the Honda Grand Prix of Saint Petersburg were also announced at this dedication.

    Weldon’s’ wife Suzie thanked not only the race organizers, but the City of Saint Petersburg for the help, and support she and her family have received during these difficult times.

  • Mark Martin and Martin Truex Jr. lead a resurgent MWR into Las Vegas

    Mark Martin and Martin Truex Jr. lead a resurgent MWR into Las Vegas

    [media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]For Mark Martin the 2012 season is about mixing success in with having fun during his limited schedule. For Martin Truex Jr. the 2012 season is about revisiting the winner’s circle in hopes of contending for a championship.

    Sunday in Phoenix the Michael Waltrip Racing drivers took a big step in the right direction. The 53-year-old Martin started on the pole for the 52nd time in his career and in his second race with MWR. The No. 40 Aaron’s Dream Machine had failed to qualify in Daytona with team owner Michael Waltrip behind the wheel but all was forgotten thanks to Martin.

    Truex on the other hand started 25th in his No. 56 NAPA Filters Toyota. But he and Martin made their presence known at the front of field. Martin led lap one from the pole before finding a comfortable spot inside to the top 10.

    He never ventured far from the top spot and during the second half of the race found himself back in the top three but it was Truex who held the lead. As Martin ran the fastest laps on the track and climbed toward the front, Truex was using pit strategy to lead laps.

    In the end though, track position and electronic fuel injection (EFI) problems took away their shot of winning. Truex brought home a solid seventh and Martin followed close behind in ninth.

    “It was a good day for our NAPA Filters Toyota,” said Truex. “We fought track position all day long. Finally at the end we had a little bit better tires than some of the guys and knew we could make it on fuel and were able to go the distance there, so that helped a little bit.

    “We were just really fast at the end on new tires. We were able to get the lead and with no tires and 20 lap tires were able to check out and leave them. It’s just a shame we had to pit. I’m not sure how those guys made it – there’s no way we have made it from there. We’ll work on that. I’m really pleased with the team and the car. We fought hard all day and got us a good finish.”

    Truex found it hard to pass on Sunday but when his No. 56 was in clean air he was as fast as the best cars on the track. Truex said it was fun to be able to drive away from Kevin Harvick, who had led a race high 88 laps.

    And more importantly for Truex, he was proud of his team. A downfall of theirs last year was a strong start only to sputter to the finish. On Sunday they were able to come from behind and make their differing strategy work and earn them the finish they deserved.

    Martin on the other hand, in his first race with MWR in what’s expected to be a 25-race season, started off right with a pole and ended it right with a top 10 finish. Not yet ready to retire he comes to MWR from Hendrick Motorsports where he won races and finished second in the 2009 championship.

    But now he’s back to running a limited schedule, much like he did when he was at Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2007 and 2008. Still with the fire to compete, Martin just wants to win and have fun as he continues his transition through the sport.

    “Proud of the effort and any time you get a top 10 with this group of guys, you have to say it’s a reasonable run,” Martin said. “We had a little more than that, maybe not quite enough to win, but definitely a shot at a top five.”

    Only the start of a long season, Sunday in Phoenix left two of the three MWR drivers excited about what’s ahead. Clint Bowyer’s day ended early when he a blew a tire and had to come down pit road. Just laps later the same happened and this time it sent Bowyer into the turn four wall. He finished 30th and sits 17th in points.

    Next comes the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas where Truex has never won but Martin has visited victory lane in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series. They sit sixth and seventh in points respectively.

    “I’m proud to drive these things and looking forward to the rest of the year with cars that have speed like this,” said Truex.

    Martin shared in his teammates excitement about what MWR has and what was to come. Optimism is the word Martin used, saying things look good.

    “Kudos to Michael Waltrip Racing,” Martin said. “This is going to be a lot of fun.”