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  • Viva Las Vegas!

    Viva Las Vegas!

    Viva Las Vegas! Sunday was a strong showing by the Sprint Cup boys. It wasn’t spectacular. It wasn’t boring. It was steady and strong racing. There were surprises. There were finishes that were expected. But the biggest surprise was probably the strong and dominating performance by two time series champion, Tony Stewart.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Going into the day, the odds on favorite was Matt Kenseth whose record setting qualifying lap was followed up by blistering fast practice speeds. Virtually all of the odds makers chose drivers of blue ovals to dominate and win the race.

    When the green flag dropped nothing could have been further from the truth. A Chevy bowtie lead the way for 163 laps with Tony Stewart showing the prowess he is known for in the cockpit of about anything with wheels. But a pit stop mistake, when an air hose curled, causing him to remove equipment from the pit box and then a late race 4 tire change would relegate the champ to a 2nd place finish.

    Carl Edwards was lurking. All day long he was lurking. He showed strength and speed at times but never quite showed his hand. He stayed just close enough to stay in touch with the leader. He could see him. He could watch him. He was at times faster than him. But he was bidding his time. When the final stop came, it was a two tire change and one can of fuel that would put Carl out in the lead by almost 2 seconds over the then 3rd place Stewart.

    Stewart would close but ultimately finish 1.24 seconds behind Edwards and his Scotts Ford Fusion. “The key to winning today was my team,” Edwards said. “These guys are unbelievable. It means a lot coming off Phoenix. I went home last week and didn’t know how things were going to go. You don’t get a good race car like that often. We had another one today.”

    A very disappointed Tony Stewart said, “We just gave it away,” he said. “We shot ourselves in the foot two weeks in a row.”

    Other surprises included a fiery explosion of an engine by Kyle Busch taking him out of contention on lap 108. A blown right front tire that ended last weeks winner Jeff Gordon’s day at lap 193. Neither driver was injured.

    Notable performances belonged to Marcos Ambrose who finished 4th in his Richard Petty Motorsports Stanley Tools Ford; a strong finish and the first top 5 for the Australian born driver on an oval race track.

    In 10th was possibly the feel good story of the day, Brian Vickers. After having to lay off most of last year with blood clots and heart surgery, Vickers finished a strong 10th.

    Once again, the National Guard Chevrolet of Dale Earnhardt Jr. turned in a very strong and promising performance. After starting the race in the 30th position, Earnhardt Jr. rallied to an 8th place finish and showed signs of breaking out of the slump that has claimed him since June of 2008. Earnhardt Jr., who hadn’t posted back to back top 10 finishes since July of 2010, stated his run was the first time in a long time in which he felt he could “beat the guys I was around.” It boosted his confidence – an often discussed subject for Earnhardt Jr. – and he admitted thinking that his relationship with Letarte was somewhat of a last chance.

    “Failure at this point is completely unacceptable,” he said. “I’ve got to put it all out on the line to make this work, because if it don’t work with him, I’ve got nowhere else to go. I’ve got no other options, really – other than to race myself into oblivion with my own team and Tony Jr and them guys.”

    “I want this to work. I want to race Cup. I want to be in the COT the rest of my career, and I want to be successful.”

    The glitz and glamor of Vegas gives way to a week off for the Sprint Cup teams. And maybe it’s a good thing for some to get their tempers under control before they enter the grand coliseum of racing at Bristol. I am of course referring to the altercation between Robby Gordon and Kevin Conway. The altercation it is believed came about as a result of tensions caused by financial lawsuits on both coasts involving Gordon, Conway and Conway’s sponsor Extenze. Witness’ say the tension came to ahead Friday afternoon in the garage when Robby and Kevin came to blows physically. Although the stories vary in what actually occurred, the one thing for certain is that Conway filed a criminal complaint following the altercation and went to NASCAR. NASCAR immediately took action putting Robby Gordon on probation. It has still to be announced how long that probation will be for.

    This week was not the most exciting racing we have seen. It was however steady old school racing. There were adjustments and strategies playing out all over the track. The fastest and best car didn’t win the race. But the car that did win the race wasn’t a fluke win. He was there all day. He earned it. He raced for it. And for those that worship in the tabernacle of the blue oval, it was too long coming.

    ~~~~~ *** ~~~~~

    Congratulations to Carl Edwards and the Scotts Fusion team of Roush Fenway Racing. Congratulations also to Mark Martin and his Turner Racing team on their NNS victory on Saturday. Also Congratulations to Danica Patrick, and her Go Daddy Chevrolet JR. Motorsports team for making history as the highest placing woman ever in a NASCAR race.

    That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.

  • Danica Patrick’s Best Career Finish of Fourth Shows Improvement in Learning Curve

    When Danica Patrick crossed the line fourth at the end of the Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, it marked here best career finish in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition.

    [media-credit id=41 align=”alignright” width=”295″][/media-credit]“We just worked so hard on the car this weekend,” Patrick said after the race. “Went from loose to tight to loose to tight with the same set-up at times. We had a lot of practice time, which was good, but kind of confused us along the way. Missed those lucky dogs and finally got one. I asked Tony (Eury ) Jr to take a big swing at it to make it tight, not a small one but a swing at it, and it wasn’t good at the beginning, but it was good at the end.”

    A lot of people say she lucked into it, which is partly true. The fuel strategy that played out at the end of the race allowed her to take a top 10 car to the top five. She didn’t luck into being into position though, as she had to fight for the lucky dog and was running inside the top 10 before the strategy broke out.

    “Qualifying wasn’t perfect, practice was up and down,” she said. “I was like, okay, we got a new car. Hopefully we can learn something so that way me and Aric (Almirola) can run up front at the next mile and a half.”

    Crew Chief Tony Eury Jr. had predicted before the race that she would finish in the top 10, considering how they’ve ran lately.

    “I mean, we’ve been really consistent – the finishes haven’t shown it,” Eury Jr. said. “It’s really easy for her to run in the top 15. If we can get everything right, we can run in the top 10 with this girl. Luckily we got luck with fuel mileage and got a top five out of this.”

    Last year at Las Vegas, she finished 36th following a crash, so this year was a marked improvement.

    The previous weekend at Phoenix, she finished 17th, which was to Eury’s expectations. He felt it was a good finish for her first start on the short track.

    “I mean, we were struggling in practice – I’m not going to beat around that bush,” Patrick said. “I qualified 20th and Tony Jr really just looked at the setup and made some good adjustments for today. We made a change there at the beginning the wrong way, but then the next stop Tony Jr made a change the right way and we kept adding a little bit of that. We got the Go Daddy car running good at the end. I think Tony was saying those were 11th and 12th place cars. I know a top 15 would be better, but realistically, a 17th place finish is a good for me considering how I was last year on these short tracks last year.”

    Even the week before that she showed growth as she finished 14th and led a lap after qualifying third; this is improvement from her 35th place finish last year.

    “I mean, I led a lap,” she said. “It was really cool that Clint pushed me. I would have loved to try and work with him, I just didn’t really know what to do, you know? I really ran up front most of the day. … I’m probably not to the point where if I pull out, people are going, ‘OK, she’s going, I’m going.’ That takes awhile to earn the trust and respect of the other drivers. I’m not mad at that, it’s just going to take time. It was a good experience. There was a lot to learn, and I did learn a lot. It was cool to finish all the laps.”

    “She did a good job today,” Bowyer said of how she ran. “She was fast enough to be up there. When you’re racing in that atmosphere, you’ve got to find a fast car.”

    Some say that things would have gone better had her spotter worked better with other drivers, which had Bowyer frustrated and unwilling to work with her again.

    When Patrick came into this deal, her number one goal was to learn about driving stock cars and everything she needed to know about it.

    Statistics prove that she has gone about doing that correctly as last year she had an average finish of 28th, while this year her average finish is 11.7.

    Near the end of last year, you could see improvement happening as she was working on learning the cars as she wanted to do. Clear evidence was shown in the season finale at Homestead-Miami when she took key lessons from her spotter TJ Majors, teammate Aric Almirola and crew chief Eury Jr.

    During that race, Almirola gave her tips on where to run which she took in carefully, though she also found herself questioning under a caution where to run to pick up the most speed. An example of her learning is shown through the following conversation with Almirola.

    Aric Almirola: Danica, you got to enter higher into three as there’s more grip there. At about where the caution lights are, you should try to enter the middle from there on.

    Danica Patrick: 10-4. Thanks a lot for the help

    Almirola: You can run wherever you want in one or two, you can run wherever you want on older tires. Just move up in three and four….(next caution)……You come in on the gray, which is fine. You then turn down away from it. You should try to stay along this black seam, unless you’re tight off.

    Patrick: I’ve been tight in the center. If I try to stay up there, it just pushes further up.

    Almirola: 10-4 See right here on this spot, I ease off the brakes and then here I drive off.

    Patrick: Thanks for showing me, Aric. I really appreciate it. I’m just trying to learn out here.

     

    At the end of the day through all of her learning, she finished 19th.

    Another thing that has helped Patrick is having Johnny Benson as her driver coach this year.

    This reflects back to last October where she said that she would like to have someone there to give her tips.

    “It would be nice if somebody could help me, whoever it is — I would take any help,” Patrick said on ESPN.com. “Like he [Mark Martin] said, you need somebody to get in the car and say this is the setup, go drive it after they’ve driven it. It’s one thing to say drive this line, do this or that, but when you don’t have maybe the car that can do that, it’s just words, so it would be nice for someone to throw me in a car after they’ve driven it so I get a real feel for it.”

    Patrick had spoken to Martin on two separate occasions as they spoke for about an hour when they first met at Phoenix Raceway in 2006 and then again following her wreck at Dover International Speedway. Now with Benson taking a full-time role there, it has certainly helped her.

    This year marks a big year for Danica Patrick as both her Nationwide Series and IZOD IndyCar Series contracts are up, which leaves her the choice to continue down this path of doing part-time Nationwide/full-time IndyCar, or go full-time Nationwide.

  • HOORAHS AND WAZZUPS: WHO CASHED IN AND WHO CRAPPED OUT IN LAS VEGAS

    HOORAHS AND WAZZUPS: WHO CASHED IN AND WHO CRAPPED OUT IN LAS VEGAS

    During the previous weekend at Las Vegas we witnessed the continuation of Roush inspired horsepower, we loved the sight of a well loved driver’s return to a Nationwide Series victory lane, we watched a huge improvement in an Indy car driver’s transition to stock cars and two drivers who weren’t getting along late last year really aren’t getting along now. With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin with:

    HOORAH to Carl Edwards for winning Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 marking his 19th NASCAR Sprint Cup career win and his second win at Las Vegas. Edwards and his Roush Fenway Racing team has now won three of their last five races after winning the final two events of the 2010 season.

    Edwards gets another HOORAH for his decision to donate his winner’s trophy to the Air Force’s Thunderbirds flying team headquartered at nearby Nellis Air Force Base. Edwards went on a high flying ride along with the Thunderbirds last Thursday and said “they taught me a lot about self discipline and about believing in what you can do. I can’t thank them enough.”

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

    WAZZUP with Tony Stewart’s pit road woes that cost the best car on the track a win at Las Vegas? During the course of a lap 155 pit stop, an air hose hung up on the back of the car and Stewart drug the impact wrench attached to it when he left his pit stall. The result was a return to pit road to serve a penalty and a huge loss in track position. The ensuing stop forced the team to only put on two tires in an effort to improve track position. Unfortunately that decision forced the team to take on four tires during their final stop, with 32 laps to go, due to extremely worn left side rubber. Edwards, on the other hand, had to option of only putting on two tires during his final stop and that turned out to be his winning edge.

    Stewart put on a hard charge to catch the new race leader but time simply ran out. After the race he came on the radio and said “somebody please tell me how we lost this race today.” The consolation here is the fact that Stewart left Las Vegas tied for the lead in the points standings with Kurt Busch.

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

    On the subject of frustrating pit stops, WAZZUP with the fuel issues that plagued driver Greg Biffle? His Roush Fenway Ford was considered a pre race favorite but a pit road miscue involving the new vented gas can turned his day in Las Vegas into an afternoon loaded with anger and frustration. There appeared to be a hang up in the gas can’s air vent tube which caused a long stop and a loss of track position. It also turned out that the tank wasn’t quite full. When Biffle returned to pit road for his next stop on lap 148, he literally coasted to his pit stall completely out of gas. There was yet another miscue with the gas can leaving the team to wonder if, again, the tank was completely full.

    An understandably angry Biffle, who was regulated to a 28th place finish three laps down, came over the radio and said “I hope all of you are feeling my pain, this is ridiculous.”

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

    WAZZUP with the Las Vegas luck suffered by pre race, and home town, favorite Kyle Busch last Sunday. The “Rowdy” one found himself having to dig out of an early race hole after a blown right front tire forced an unscheduled pit stop.

    That turned out to be the least of his problems. It’s very rare for Joe Gibbs Racing to suffer a blown engine. But Busch’s engine blew big time on lap 107 while belching smoke inside of the car. A despondent driver came over the radio and said “there’s flames in my face, load it up let’s go to the house.” Busch started the race leading the Sprint Cup points standings. His 38th place finish on Sunday caused a free fall to 14th in the points.

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

    HOORAH to NASCAR for their special effort towards honoring the late, and legendary, Wendell Scott during the Las Vegas weekend. Now regarded as a true pioneer in the history of NASCAR, Scott was the first African-American to officially enter a NASCAR Sprint Cup event, in Spartanburg-South Carolina, back on March 4, 1961. Scott advanced his legacy a giant step further on December 1, 1963 when he became the first African-American to win a NASCAR race in Jacksonville-Florida. NASCAR celebrated the 50th anniversary of Scott’s entry into the sport by issuing a special decal that was displayed on their Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series cars last weekend. His daughter, Deborah Scott, was at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to participate in this special remembrance.

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

    HOORAH to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for a well planned fan promotion that led to Sunday’s Sprint Cup race being a sellout. The fan base for Saturday’s Nationwide Series was also quite good. This lends additional credence to the popular theory that says Las Vegas deserves a second NASCAR weekend on the schedule. During the Fox Sports broadcast Darrell Waltrip said he would like to see a second Cup event in Las Vegas as the final race of the season which would lead right into champion’s week. I find myself agreeing with that.

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

    HOORAH to Mark Martin for his triumphant return to a Nationwide Series victory lane after winning Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300 in Las Vegas. Granted, he had some help when Brad Keselowski crashed on the final lap, but Martin put himself in position for the win by doing an outstanding job of conserving fuel during the latter stages of the race. Martin scored his 49th career win in the series.

    A HOORAH also goes to Turner Motorsports for scoring their first ever series win and backing that play with a one-two finish after Justin Allgaier finished second. Their other teams, driven by Jason Leffler and Reed Sorenson, also had strong finishes of ninth and 11th. Turner Motorsports also left Las Vegas with Sorenson leading the series’ championship points standings with team mates Leffler and Allgaier ranked third and fifth.

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

    WAZZUP with the horrible racing luck experienced by Brad Keselowski, and Roger Penske Racing, so far in the Nationwide Series? The trend started with the season opener at Daytona where Keselowski finished 30th following a crash. The news wasn’t any better a week later in Phoenix where the team finished 34th also due to a crash.

    But the absolute crushing blow came last weekend at Las Vegas. First off a practice crash forced the team to roll out their back up car. During the race Keselowski had to make up ground due to a pit road speeding penalty and then later just missed being caught up in someone else’s wreck by a matter of inches. Keselowski took command of the Sam’s Town 300 on lap 144. It appeared that he had removed the monkey on his back and was on the way to a win. That’s when the right front tire blew and sent his Penske Dodge hard into wall on the white flag lap. However the driver does deserve a HOORAH for limping his way under the checkers for a third place finish.

    Doing a little bit of math, that’s four wrecked race cars since February 19th. This is not a reflection on driver and team performance levels. This is just plain bad luck.

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

    WAZZUP with “Rowdy” Busch’s bonsai restart with 70 laps left in the race? During the course of a double file restart, Busch was lined up on the outside and then dived low all the way to the bottom of the apron in an effort to charge to the front. All of a sudden he moved up on the track and came perilously close to Brad Keselowski who barely had time to react to give him some racing room. Busch wound up sliding his Toyota across the infield grass and parked his car nose first into the inside turn one wall. After leading 81 laps of the race, a sure fire favorite to win had to take the car behind the wall and settle for a 30th place finish.

    However, Busch does deserve a HOORAH for taking full responsibility for the incident by saying “I screwed up, that’s why I run these, (Nationwide Series), races so I can learn something for tomorrow.”

    WAZZUP with Josh Wise and his wild ride through the infield grass? The Kobalt Tools 400 was barely underway when Wise’s Ford went sailing through the infield with such force all four wheels left the ground. It was a good thing Wise wasn’t playing golf. It would have taken forever to replace all of those divots.

    WAZZUP with the grass being there in the first place? I’ll agree that the finely manicured lawn makes for some nice looking landscaping and it really brings out the color of those custom painted corporate logos. But when a race car slides into that grass it’s like driving on ice and frequently a recipe for a major wreck. Perhaps it’s time, in the name of safety, for all tracks on the NASCAR schedule to place a layer of asphalt over the pretty grass.

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

    HOORAH to Danica Patrick for a job well done in the Sam’s Town 300. After going two laps down early in the event, she drove her way to a fourth place, lead lap, finish. The effort made her the first ever female driver to score a top five finish in a NASCAR Nationwide Series race. She’s also the highest finishing female driver in a NASCAR national touring series race. The previous record dates back to October 2, 1949 and was set by Sara Christian who finished fifth in a Sprint Cup event in Heidlberg-Pennsylvania.

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

    WAZZUP with that altercation between drivers Robby Gordon and Kevin Conway? On Saturday morning NASCAR announced that Gordon had been placed on immediate probation for an unspecified period and the decision was based on what they termed an “emergency action.” Robin Pemberton, NASCAR Vice President of Competition, said the precise term of Gordon’s probation would be announced on Tuesday. Conway was not placed on probation, but Pemberton did say that “Conway may not get a free pass either.” He also noted that no NASCAR official actually witnessed the incident and that it was Conway himself who notified them of the situation.

    There has been no real comments from anyone regarding this alleged altercation but it is known that Conway has filed an official complaint with the Las Vegas Police who are reported to be interviewing possible witnesses to determine if the investigation will be turned over to the Clark County District Attorney’s office who will decide if official charges will be filed.

    The hard feelings between these two drivers stems from last year when Robby Gordon Motorsports provided Conway, and his sponsor Extenze, with a car to drive for seven races. Gordon has since filed a California based lawsuit against Extenze citing non payment of their sponsor bill. Meanwhile Conway has filed a North Carolina based suit claiming Gordon owes him $27,000 in bonus money for winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year title. It’s believed that the presence of these dual lawsuits has made both drivers hesitate to officially comment on what happened last Friday in the Las Vegas garage. However, Gordon did reportedly state that he would pay Conway the $27,000 when he receives his $690,000 from Extenze. Gordon did acknowledge that there was a heated confrontation with Conway but said it was verbal.

    This incident has already launched a debate that raised the question why isn’t this incident covered by the “have at it boys” policy implemented by NASCAR early last year? There also seems to be a question regarding why wasn’t Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton punished for their nationally televised fight last year during the Texas race? The answers to those questions may come when we finally learn exactly what happened between Robby Gordon and Kevin Conway.

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

    Here’s some HOORAHS for this week’s NASCAR notable quoteables. The first two goes to the always fun Kyle Petty and some clever “Twitter” messages. A fan sent Petty a “Tweet” asking him if he thought there was a way for NASCAR to sanction a 24 hour endurance race. Petty replied “yes, it’s called Pocono.”

    In a second “Tweet” Petty wrote “if I were a driver still, in every interview I would try to work in a Charlie Sheen quote, just saying.”

    Carrying that line of humor one step further was Fox Sports’ NASCAR host Chris Meyers. Part of the network’s pre race show is the popular “gas and go” segment with Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond. Making it a point to let us know that they had not seen the questions in advance, Meyers said “these questions were locked up, much like Charlie Sheen’s sanity.”

    The absolute final WAZZUP of the week goes to ESPN NASCAR analyst Brad Daugherty for his efforts to sing Elvis Presley’s “Viva Las Vegas.” It was so bad that I’m amazed one of those famous Las Vegas Elvis impersonators didn’t charge into the ESPN booth to make him stop.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Las Vegas Kobalt Tools 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Las Vegas Kobalt Tools 400

    In the land of Elvis, craps tables, and show girls, the third NASCAR race of the season had more ups and downs than the roller coaster in the casino New York, New York. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from this weekend’s 14th annual Sprint Cup Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”290″][/media-credit]Surprising:  After jumping off the Stratosphere and flying with the Thunderbirds, Carl Edwards was back flipping his way into Victory Lane. This was Edward’s first win of the young 2011 season, as well as his 19th career win. He now sits third in the point standings.

    “I thought how cool would it be to go to Vegas, fly a bunch of women there in your private plane, race cars, and I did,” Edwards said. “I brought my mom, my mother-in-law, my daughter and Kate here and I’m having a blast.”

    “It’s just a joy to drive these race cars right now,” Edwards said.

    Edwards, however, has no intention of keeping his Kobalt Tools wrench trophy. He will be dropping it off at Nellis Air Force Base for his new friends from the Thunderbirds.

    “I’ve got to thank the Air Force, the Thunderbirds,” Edwards said. “They let me fly with them on Thursday and this trophy is going over there in their hangar.”

    “They taught me a lot about discipline and about believing in what you do,” Edwards said. “I can’t thank them and all our service men and women enough.”

    Not Surprising:  In contrast to the joy in Victory Lane and in spite of being the new Sprint Cup point’s leader, Tony Stewart was absolutely despondent over his second place finish.  Stewart was devastated to have led the most laps yet still not bring home the trophy.

    “Yeah, I’m real disappointed,” Stewart said. “I honestly think we had the car to beat today and we just gave it away.”

    As did many other drivers, Stewart and his team made a major mistake on pit road. Stewart’s taking the air gun out of the pit box cost him a drive through penalty and a restart at the back of the back.

    “I don’t know what happened on the pit stop there, but we had a miscue and a penalty and had to go to the back,” Stewart said. “Unfortunately it kind of dealt our cards for us. Just shot ourselves in the foot two weeks in a row now.”

    Surprising: The struggles of the Busch brothers, who had been headlining the point standings as they came home to Las Vegas, were most surprising. Early in the race, both Kyle and Kurt Busch went for spins.

    Kyle Busch had the worst brotherly luck, not only spinning but also wrecking and catching on fire.

    “I’ve been blowing tires, mowing grass, knocking walls down and setting balls of fire down the backstretch,” Busch said. “It’s really unfortunate. We had a great race car.”

    On the other hand, Kurt Busch who also took a spin, managed to rebound, finishing ninth. While brother Kyle plummeted to 14th in points, Kurt Busch maintained his second place standing.

    “We gave it all we had,” Busch said. “I came up just a little bit short in my hometown.”

    Not Surprising:  Juan Pablo Montoya, who has been quietly finishing races and creeping forward in the points, had another good race. JPM brought his unusually blue colored No. 42 Clorox Chevrolet in for a third place finish at Vegas.

    “Our car was very good all day,” Montoya said. “You know, we really needed a good result after last week and it was nice to get it here.”

    Surprising: There were some surprising drivers in the top ten, having good luck at Vegas. Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford, finished fourth. Martin Truex, out of the Michael Waltrip Racing stable, had a solid top-10s, bringing his No. 56 NAPA Toyota to the finish line in sixth place.

    Dale Earnhardt, Jr., having qualified deep in the field, continued to show his strength and the strength of the partnership with his new crew chief Steve Letarte. Much to the delight of Junior nation, the driver and team continued to work on their car throughout the race, finishing in eighth and maintaining the tenth spot in the point standings.

    “We made some great adjustments and the car just drove better and better,” Earnhardt, Jr. said. “I’m happy. It’s a fun team and I hope we keep doing well.”

    Another surprise was the finish of Brian Vickers in the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota. After a season away due to his battle with blood clots, Vickers finished top ten at Vegas.

    “Today was finally the good start to our season we needed,” Vickers said. “We made the most of everything today and got every drop we could out of the car. That’s all you can ask for.”

    Not Surprising: From the high of breaking his 66 race winless streak, the driver of the No. 24, this weekend in the traditional Dupont colors, experienced the low of crashing out of the race. Jeff Gordon seemed to have a fast car, running towards the front of the pack, until he hit the wall hard late in the race. Gordon finished 36th and fell to 19th in the point standings.

    “There was no sign whatsoever,” Gordon said of his on-track problem. “I just drove into turn three and hit the wall. I’m glad for the safer barrier here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.”

    As the NASCAR drivers, teams and fans bid farewell to Sin City, all will have an off weekend next week. The Cup Series will be back in action at Bristol Motor Speedway, racing on Sunday, March 20th. The Jeff Byrd 500 will run at Bristol and will be broadcast at 1:00 PM ET on FOX.

  • Carl Edwards Wins The Kobalt Tools 400 For Third Win in Five Races

    Carl Edwards Wins The Kobalt Tools 400 For Third Win in Five Races

    On the final round of pit stops under green, Carl Edwards took two tires and that was the call of the race as he went on to win Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    “The key to winning today is my team,” Edwards said. “This Ford team is unbelievable. Everybody at Roush Fenway is great. It’s unreal. When you’re a kid, you think it’d be great to fly a bunch of woman and drive a racecar and I did. I flew my mother, my wife and my little girl out here and here we are.”

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”288″][/media-credit]Tony Stewart looked to have the win in the bag before a pit road penalty for leaving with equipment on lap 150 set him back. Stewart then took two tires on the next round of stops to get him back out front. However, that forced him to take four tires on the last round of stops while Edwards only took two. As a result, Stewart finished second.

    “Yeah, we just gave one away today,” Stewart said. “I just don’t what to say – we just gave one away. The Mobil Chevy was the best thing on the West Coast today. Second sucks.”

    Juan Pablo Montoya finished third, after having bad luck at Las Vegas the last couple of years.

    “It was a good day,” Montoya said. “We were a little bit off the pace. I thought we were closer. To get a top five at Vegas after what has happened the last few years here is amazing. This is amazing. We changed some guys on the pit crew and they did an amazing job.”

    Marcos Ambrose got his first top five for Richard Petty Motorsports as he finished fourth after running up front consistantly all day.

    ‎”Well, I think I can keep my jobs for a couple more weeks,” Ambrose siad. “Was real tight all day – first top five for RPM. Just got to thank Richard Petty for believing in me and giving me a shot. Todd Parrot is awesome on the pit box. Pit crew was good with pit stops.”

    Ryan Newman rounded out the top five. He was followed by Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers.

    Hometown hero Kurt Busch was hoping to get a win, though found himself spinning around on lap 102 and fighting back the rest of the race.

    “Yeah, we gave it all we had and the crew chief made a real good call to get us upfront there,” Busch said. “I wanted to get up there a little more than I should to lead for the hometown crowd, but you can’t do it. You got to race these races smart. We got in there and had Montoya on the outside and just spun around.”

    The finish has Kurt Busch tied for the points lead with Tony Stewart.

    His brother Kyle Busch had a rougher day as he had a flat tire on lap 95 and then blew up on lap 108.

    “Its really unfortunate,” Busch said. “We had a really good racecar. Unfortunately, you get within a five car length cushion and can’t close anymore. The car was running awesome before that and we had that tire go down and go us behind. Lucky for us we got the lucky dog and we were going to work our way through traffic and kablewy, it just broke.”

    The marks the third engine problem for Joe Gibbs Racing in two weeks as Joey Logano blew  up last week while Denny Hamlin changed engines before the race.

    Busch wasn’t the only one with a motor issue as Regan Smith blew his motor on lap 86.

    Motors weren’t the only issue during the race as a lot of drivers suffered flat right front tires. Last week’s winner Jeff Gordon was one of those as he blew a right front with 74 laps to go.

    “There was no sign whatsoever,” Gordon said. “We needed to free the car up and nothing we seemed to be doing was helping it. The day started off pretty good, way better than I thought we were going to be considering practice. Those last few runs we started to lose the handle and fall back and when I went in there, no warning. I was just glad that I had a safer barrier to hit.”

    David Gilliland blew his right front on lap 150.

    “Its tough,” Gilliland said. “We were running good today. We had a good car. We learned a lot of stuff with the mile and a half stuff. We’re still going to take a positive out of this and head to Bristol as we ran good there.”

    The Sprint Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway in two weeks.
    FINISHING ORDER
    1. Carl Edwards
    2. Tony Stewart
    3. Juan Pablo Montoya
    4. Marcos Ambrose
    5. Ryan Newman
    6. Martin Truex Jr.
    7. Denny Hamlin
    8. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
    9. Kurt Busch
    10. Brian Vickers
    11. Matt Kenseth
    12. Paul Menard
    13. David Reuitmann
    14. Kasey Kahne
    15. Clint Bowyer
    16. Jimmie Johnson
    17. Kevin Harvick
    18. Mark Martin
    19. A.J. Allmendinger
    20. Trevor Bayne
    21. Jeff Burton
    22. David Ragan
    23. Joey Logano
    24. Bobby Labonte
    25. Casey Mears
    26. Brad Keselowski
    27. Jamie McMurray
    28. Greg Biffle
    29. Mike Skinner
    30. Bill Elliott
    31. Robby Gordon
    32. Andy Lally
    33. Travis Kravil
    34. Dave Blaney
    35. Tony Raines
    36. Jeff Gordon
    37. David Gilliland
    38. Kyle Busch
    39. Regan Smith
    40. J.J. Yeley
    41. Michael McDowell
    42. Joe Nemechek
    43. Landon Cassill

  • Lap-By-Lap the Kobalt Tools 400

    Lap-By-Lap the Kobalt Tools 400

    GREEN FLAG is in the air as Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle will lead the field around for the first lap on the track.

    Lap 3 last week’s winner at Phoenix, Jeff Gordon powers past teammate Jimmie Johnson to take 13th. Biffle takes the lead.

    Lap 5 we see that two race lines are forming on the track. Biffle leads Kenseth by almost one second.

    YELLOW FLAG lap 9 as Robby Gordon who has been in the hot seat with NASCAR with an incident with another driver and on probation for the rest of the season, solo spins out in turn four but no contact.

    Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kurt Busch, David Reutimann and Dale Earnhardt Jr. remain on track while the majority of the leaders head down pit road. Kenseth is out first followed by Biffle, Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose and Joey Logano.

    GREEN FLAG lap 13 as Gordon leads the field back up to speed. Kenseth is off pace for some reason and has to head to pit road. Tony Stewart takes the lead by turn three.

    YELLOW FLAG lap 15 as Andy Lally is lightly tapped from behind by David Gilliland in turn two causing a solo spin. Robby Gordon is the lucky dog. Earnhardt Jr., Jamie McMurray and a few others head to pit road.

    GREEN FLAG lap 18 as Stewart and Kurt Busch bring the field back up to speed. Jeff Gordon tries a three wide move for the lead heading into turn one. Gordon slips back to 6th as he has to lift.

    Lap 22 Stewart pulls away from Kurt Busch by 8/10th’s. An early mover on the field is David Ragan currently 22nd from his start of 42nd. Clint Bowyer is on the move as well up 12 spots to 16th.

    Lap 25 your top ten drivers are Stewart, Kurt Busch, Montoya, Biffle, Ambrose, Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. Reutimann has been moving up in the field from his start of 25th.

    Lap 29 Jeff Gordon challenges Reutimann, or should we say the other way around as Reutimann passes Gordon. Kyle Busch follows Reutimann to take 7th.

    Lap 33 Matt Kenseth is down a lap in 41st. Kenseth is not the lucky dog though. Michael McDowell and Landon Cassill take their cars to the garage.

    Lap 36 Stewart leads the field by 3 seconds. Joe Nemechek takes his car to the garage.

    Lap 38 Carl Edwards takes 8th from Jeff Gordon.

    Lap 43 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne is currently 14th. Stewart increases his lead over 2nd place Kurt Busch to 3.7 seconds, 3rd place Biffle by 4.8 seconds, 4th place Montoya by 5.4 seconds and 5th place Ambrose by 6.5 seconds. J.J. Yeley takes his car to the garage.

    Lap 46 Kurt Busch heads to pit road. Lap 49 Reutimann is in for his stop. Those who made the first stop can go an extra 20 laps. Lap 51 Montoya and Jeff Gordon are in. Lap 52 Stewart is in, leaving Biffle to lead.

    Lap 53 Kasey Kahne is in for his stop along with Robby Gordon, McMurray, Regan Smith. Lap 54 Kyle Busch, A.J. Allmendinger, Edwards are in.

    Lap 55 many others head into pit road. Lap 58 as Kevin Harvick heads to pit road, Bayne’s tough racing hits him again as he is busted for speeding.

    Lap 61 pit stops for the leaders have completed out. Stewart is back in the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Biffle, Bill Elliott, Montoya, Reutimann, Edwards, Ambrose, Truex Jr., Logano, Gordon, Allmendinger, Paul Menard, Harvick, Brian Vickers, Kahne, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer round out the top twenty.

    Lap 72 currently there are 29 drivers on the lead lap. We have had 10 lead changes among 8 leaders. Stewart so far has led the most laps with 51.

    Lap 75 “5-Time” Johnson has slipped back to 24th and just a few cars separate him from leader Stewart. We hear that the #48 team might be trying a new setup like they did in Phoenix.

    Lap 81 Smith takes his car to the garage.

    Lap 83 in the garage we see Cassill, Nemechek, McDowell, Yeley and Smith. Down laps we see Lally, Tony Raines, Travis Kvapil, Elliott, Mike Skinner, Dave Blaney more than 2 laps down along with 1 lap down drivers of Kenseth, Robby Gordon, Bayne, Casey Mears, Brad Keselowski, Gilliland, Bobby Labonte and McMurray.

    Lap 90 Johnson has leader Stewart on his heels. Lap 91 Johnson falls a lap down.

    Yellow Flag lap 95 for debris after Kyle Busch tags the outside turn one wall with a flat tire. Kyle Busch is the first driver a lap down and the lucky dog. The caution was for debris. The leaders head to pit road. The race back is Stewart, Montoya, Kurt Busch, Biffle, Edwards and Jeff Gordon.

    Lap 100 the rest of the top twenty is Ambrose, Logano, Harvick, Truex Jr., Menard, Vickers, Allmendinger, Martin, Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin, Bowyer, Burton, Newman and Kahne. So far there have been 3 cautions. Stewart has led 77 laps so far among the 12 lead changes in the race so far.

    GREEN FLAG lap 101 as Stewart and Montoya get the show going again.

    YELLOW FLAG lap 102 as Kurt Busch was way loose in turn three and solo spins. It looked like Kahne was tapped from behind who spins as well and both drivers make it through without issues. Johnson is the lucky dog.

    GREEN FLAG lap 106 with Stewart along with Edwards, Biffle and Montoya in tow.

    CAUTION lap 108 as Kyle Busch’s car blows up and the inside fills with smoke. Ragan is the lucky dog. Bayne might have picked up some oil on the track as he bounces off of McMurray in turn two.

    Lap 114 we get to putt around the track for several laps to clean up the major oil on the track.

    GREEN FLAG lap 116 as Stewart and Biffle bring the field back up to speed. Stewart is off like a rocket and he is more than a half second in front of the field within two laps.

    Lap 119 we see that Johnson is not having a good handling day as he slips back to 17th. Lap 120 teammate Earnhardt Jr. is looking good at the time though as he runs up to the 9th position.

    Lap 125 your top ten drivers are Stewart, Edwards, Biffle, Montoya, Truex Jr., Harvick, Menard, Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Logano.

    Lap 130 Earnhardt Jr. takes 7th from Menard. Lap 135 Earnhardt Jr. is currently the biggest mover is Earnhardt Jr. up 26 from his race start of 33rd. Stewart runs 2 seconds in front of Edwards.

    Lap 140 it looks like Edwards is closing in on Stewart. The gap is down to 1.4 seconds. Biffle is 3.1 seconds back in 3rd. Green flag stops are coming soon.

    Lap 145 Harvick takes 5th place from Truex Jr. Earnhardt Jr. to 6th. Looks like an issue for Biffle as he is on fumes as his gas was not filled all the way. A bad break for Biffle as the team struggles to get the car started back up to get gas back into the engine.

    YELLOW FLAG lap 149 as Gilliland’s car shoots flames from the bottom of the car after his car slams into the outside turn two wall from a flat right side tire. Bayne is the lucky dog. The field heads to pit road. Stewart, Edwards, Harvick, Truex Jr. and Montoya are the top five out.

    Lap 150 we are up to 6 cautions, 13 lead changes among 10 leaders and 25 drivers on the lead lap. The top twenty drivers are Stewart, Edwards, Harvick, Truex Jr., Montoya, Earnhardt Jr., Menard, Logano, Vickers, Ambrose, Reutimann, Jeff Gordon, Johnson, Newman, Hamlin, Allmendinger, Kurt Busch, Burton, Martin and Bowyer.

    Big trouble for Stewart as NASCAR busts the team as he left with the air hose getting hung up on the back of the car and he will go to the back of the pack. Big heart ache for his team and Edwards will be on point.

    GREEN FLAG lap 156 as Edwards and Truex Jr. lead the field into turn one. Lap 165 Stewart has moved up into the top 20 in 9 laps, he is on a mission.

    Lap 167 (100 laps to go) as Edwards runs 2 seconds in front of Truex Jr.

    Lap 175 your top ten drivers are Edwards, Truex Jr., Montoya, Earnhardt Jr., Menard, Logano, Ambrose, Vickers, Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

    Lap 181 (86 to go) Stewart is up to 17th, no change in the top ten.

    80 to go as Edwards leads Truex Jr. by 2.6 seconds, 3rd place Montoya is 3.3 seconds back, Earnhardt Jr. 4.7 seconds back and 5th place Ambrose 7.3 seconds back. The last round of pit stops should be in about 15 laps.

    75 to go as pit stops begin and Biffle is on pit road.

    YELLOW FLAG lap 194 as Jeff Gordon will not win two weeks in a row as his right front tire and slams the outside turn four wall. Kenseth is the lucky dog. Bad break for Biffle as he is three laps down.

    A big swing on pit road as Stewart and his team take two tires to jump back into the lead position followed by Montoya, Truex Jr., Edwards and Earnhardt Jr.

    Lap 200 your top twenty drivers are Stewart, Montoya, Truex Jr., Edwards, Earnhardt Jr., Ambrose, Menard, Logano, Newman, Hamlin, Vickers, Johnson, Allmendinger, Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Harvick, Martin, Kahne, Bayne and Ragan. So far there have been 7 cautions, 17 lead change among 11 leaders and 23 drivers on the lead lap.

    Bowyer has the top speed of the day at this track with 205 mph. Stewart has led the most laps so far with 133. Earnhardt Jr. remains the biggest mover on the track.

    GREEN FLAG lap 203 as Earnhardt places some pressure on Edwards and Truex Jr. as they fight for 3rd place.

    Lap 204 (63 to go) as Hamlin is on the bounce back up to 8th. Earnhardt Jr. takes 4th from Edwards.

    60 to go as Earnhardt Jr. races on the inside of Truex Jr. for third place. 59 to go Earnhardt Jr. cannot complete the pass which allows Edwards to retake 4th from Earnhardt Jr.

    58 to go a Stewart drops the hammer to leave 2nd place Montoya and the field behind by 2.2 seconds.

    55 to go and the biggest mover changes to Hamlin who started from the back holds at 8th place.

    50 to go and your top ten drivers are Stewart leading Montoya by 2.8 seconds, 3rd place Truex Jr. runs 3.8 seconds back, 4th place Edwards is 4 seconds behind, 5th place Earnhardt Jr. 5.4 seconds, 6th place Ambrose 5.7 seconds, 7th place Newman 7.2 seconds back, 8th place Hamlin 7.9, 9th place Logano 9.2 and Menard 9.8 back.

    45 to go and we are in the window for last pit stops of the race. Edwards took 3rd from Truex Jr. a few laps ago.

    44 to go Hamlin passes Newman for 7th.

    40 to go Stewart leads by 3.6 seconds over Montoya who will be soon challenged by Edwards.

    35 to go with Stewart is 4.3 seconds in front of the field.

    32 to go as Stewart heads to pit road for the last stop. A four tire stop and he is off and going but could the pit stop be too long?

    31 to go Harvick, Martin, Johnson, Burton, Biffle. It looks like the others took four tires and minimal fuel. We see that Biffle’s team may have not got all the gas he needs.

    28 to go as Earnhardt Jr. is in followed by Newman.

    26 to go with Edwards, Logano, Truex Jr. Montoya coming in. Logano is busted for letting a tire go out of the box. Logano was having a good day too.

    23 to go as Reutimann heads to pit road, Edwards is the new leader with Montoya and Stewart 1.1 and 1.4 seconds back.

    20 to go Edwards holds his lead over Montoya by 1.5 and Stewart 2 seconds back.

    We have Edwards, Montoya, Stewart, Ambrose, Newman, Hamlin, Truex Jr., Earnhardt Jr., Vickers and Kurt Busch as the top ten.

    15 to go Edwards took a two tire stop and continues his lead and no closure from Montoya and Stewart.

    10 to go as Stewart closes in on Montoya for second. Both drivers are two seconds back.

    8 to go as Stewart begins to setup Montoya for the pass.

    7 to go Truex Jr. passes Hamlin for 6th. Ambrose is closing in on Stewart and Montoya.

    5 to go as Stewart takes 2nd place.

    4 to go Edwards leads Stewart by 1.5 seconds.

    3 to go Ambrose is on Montoya for 3rd place. Kenseth versus Vickers for 10th.

    2 to go as there is not enough time for Stewart to catch Edwards.

    WHITE FLAG for Edwards. Four clean corners for Edwards and…

    CHECKERED FLAG for Edwards.

    Your unofficial top ten drivers are Edwards, Stewart, Montoya, Ambrose, Newman, Truex Jr., Hamlin, Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Vickers.

    The race lasted for three hours. We saw 22 lead changes among 15 leaders. 22 drivers finished on the lead lap.

    Unofficial Race Results

    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps Status
    1 3 99 Carl Edwards Ford 47 1 267 Running
    2 15 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 44 2 267 Running
    3 23 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 42 1 267 Running
    4 2 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 41 1 267 Running
    5 8 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 39 0 267 Running
    6 9 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 39 1 267 Running
    7 17 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 37 0 267 Running
    8 33 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 36 0 267 Running
    9 22 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 36 1 267 Running
    10 19 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 34 0 267 Running
    11 1 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 34 1 267 Running
    12 18 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 33 1 267 Running
    13 25 0 David Reutimann Toyota 32 1 267 Running
    14 30 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 30 0 267 Running
    15 28 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 30 1 267 Running
    16 14 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 28 0 267 Running
    17 26 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 28 1 267 Running
    18 10 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 26 0 267 Running
    19 7 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 25 0 267 Running
    20 16 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 0 0 267 Running
    21 21 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 23 0 267 Running
    22 42 6 David Ragan Ford 22 0 267 Running
    23 6 20 Joey Logano Toyota 21 0 267 Running
    24 24 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 20 0 267 Running
    25 27 13 Casey Mears Toyota 19 0 267 Running
    26 20 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 18 0 265 Running
    27 11 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 17 0 264 Running
    28 4 16 Greg Biffle Ford 17 1 264 Running
    29 29 32 Mike Skinner Ford 0 0 262 Running
    30 37 9 Bill Elliott Chevrolet 14 0 262 Running
    31 38 7 Robby Gordon Dodge 13 0 261 Running
    32 40 71 Andy Lally * Chevrolet 12 0 261 Running
    33 39 38 Travis Kvapil Ford 0 0 261 Running
    34 34 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 11 1 260 Running
    35 41 37 Tony Raines Ford 9 0 258 Running
    36 13 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 9 1 193 Running
    37 35 34 David Gilliland Ford 7 0 147 Running
    38 5 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 6 0 107 Out
    39 12 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 5 0 77 Out
    40 32 46 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 4 0 45 In Pit
    41 43 66 Michael McDowell Toyota 3 0 41 In Pit
    42 31 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0 0 34 In Pit
    43 36 60 Landon Cassill Toyota 0 0 32 In Pit
  • What a Difference a Year Makes: Brad Keselowski Can’t Find Luck Even in Sin City

    What a Difference a Year Makes: Brad Keselowski Can’t Find Luck Even in Sin City

    A year ago Brad Keselowski could do no wrong in the Nationwide Series.

    After three races in 2011 though, Keselowski can’t catch a break. He was one lap away from going from worse to first at Las Vegas. After wrecking on Thursday in an unofficial practice session to being able to make it on fuel mileage, it all ended in turn one.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”285″][/media-credit]Up the hill the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge went and into the wall. Mark Martin went on to win the race.

    “I guess there’s a lot to talk about huh,” asked Keselowski after the race.

    “We started off this weekend and I didn’t think we were very good at all. We were atrociously bad and my team worked all weekend long and found speed in my car,” he said.

    He continued by saying he had about a fourth place car and that the team used strategy and smarts to get themselves in a position to win. Upon hearing everyone in front of him had to pit, Keselowski said he just ran his own race and waited until he was in the right position.

    “I was trying to conserve my stuff and watch Mark (Martin) behind and watch my gap; I felt like I did a good job of that. I felt like we had it (race win) but obviously didn’t. I didn’t push the car too hard that’s for sure. I must have run over something because (the tire) went down quick and I’m sure that I ran over something.”

    At first it was though that Keselowski had run out of fuel however his team reported that he was good to go to the end. The tire went down from what Keselowski and the team assume came from running over something off the No 81 of Donnie Neuenberger.

    He was still able to finish third.

    “Just one of them days where you do everything right and don’t win,” Keselowski said.

    “That’s the way it goes sometimes. I guess that’s why they call it racing because otherwise you’d go off the practice sheet and know who’d win the race. Obviously that’s not the way that it worked out today. I just feel bad for my guys.”

    The luck, or lack there of for Keselowski, is something he’s not used to. Just a few months ago he was celebrating his first Nationwide Series championship. Ever since the new season started in Daytona the series has seen Keselowski suffer through events he hasn’t seen in a while.

    In 2010 Keselowski beat the competition for the championship with impressive numbers. In 35 starts he had five poles, six wins, 26 top fives and 29 top 10s. Up into Daytona just a few weeks ago he hadn’t had a DNF in over 100 races. Then he had two back-to-back in the first two races this season.

    Daytona he was involved in a wreck. Phoenix last weekend he again ended up wrecked after a flat tire. And now Vegas where the team will leave with another beat up car.

    “We’ve had three-straight weeks in this Nationwide Series with three pretty good cars,” said Keselowski.

    “I thought that we had the car to beat at Daytona and got wrecked there. I felt like we had a decent car at Phoenix to run in the top five and blew a tire. I felt like we could have at least run in the top five and steal a win; it looked like we were going to and something happened. It’s got to come back around. We’re just on downside of the roller coaster; I’m ready for it to come back up.”

    To say he wasn’t pleased is an understatement. Not only was Keselowski upset for his team, but he didn’t appreciate the TV broadcast getting their information wrong in terms of what occurred with his tire.

    “TV would say that,” said Keselowski about him making contact with another car which cut his tire.

    “They got no idea what they’re talking about. I never touched him [Elliott Sadler]. You can tell I’m a big fan of TV, they get the facts straight about 10 percent of the time.”

    It’s all apart of racing and Keselowski knows that. He wrote as much on his Twitter page after the race was over. He also mentioned that he won a race like that in 2009 at Dover, so Saturday must have been his turn to have it go against him.

    Keselowski will have a chance for redemption tomorrow afternoon in the Sprint Cup Series event. He starts 20th in his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge.

  • Mark Martin Lucky in Vegas While Danica Patrick Makes History

    Mark Martin Lucky in Vegas While Danica Patrick Makes History

    Mark Martin, driving the No. 32 Dollar General for Turner Motorsports for the first time, not only was lucky with his fuel mileage but also took advantage of the bad luck of Brad Keselowski to win the 15th Annual Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    [media-credit name=”Gary Buchanan” align=”alignright” width=”239″][/media-credit]This was Martin’s 49th Nationwide win Series win, making him the seventh oldest driver to win a Nationwide race.

    “We only had one chance to win the race and that was to win it on fuel,” Martin said in the media center after celebrating his win in Victory Lane. “When I caught Brad, I realized that it was going to take all the gas I had to get past him.”

    “Trent (Owens) gave me great information,” Martin said of his crew chief, who scored his first win ever. “I managed to back off the throttle and wait to see if Brad (Keselowski) would make it or not.”

    “It worked out for us today,” Martin continued. “It was a great team effort. Turner Motorsports is doing such good work and I wanted to get in there and be a part of it.”

    “It was a real special win for us,” Martin said. “We got us another trophy and that’s all I care about.”

    Martin’s Turner Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier also had good luck in Vegas, scoring a second place win in the No. 31. This was Allgaier’s third top-10 finish in three races at Las Vegas and his second top-10 finish in 2011.

    “This was a really good finish for us because we battled through a lot of adversity,” Allgaier said. “To be able to come out of here one, two and to be able to be beat by Mark Martin, as much as I wanted to win the race there is only one person in the garage that I’d rather have beat me and it would be Mark.”

    “Mark is really cool.”

    While luck was on the side of Martin and Allgaier, Brad Keselowski had some of the worst luck of the Vegas Nationwide race weekend. According to Keselowski, the weekend started bad and ended even worse.

    “We started off this weekend and we were atrociously bad,” Keselowski said. “My team worked all weekend long and found speed in my car.”

    “From there we used great strategy and smarts to get in position to win the race,” Keselowski said. “I was trying to conserve my stuff and felt we had it, but obviously didn’t.”

    “I just ran over something because it went down pretty quick,” Keselowski said of his blown tire. “It was just one of those days where you do everything right and don’t win. That’s why they call it racing.”

    “I just feel bad for my guys,” Keselowski continued. “We’ve had three great cars in the last three races and something has happened. It just has to come back around. We’re on the down side of the roller coaster and I’m ready for it to come back up.”

    While Martin took the checkered flag, Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 7 GoDaddy.com for JR Motorsports crossed the finish line in the fourth position, making her own brand of history as the highest finishing female ever in a NASCAR national series. With Patrick’s fourth place finish, she topped the record of Sara Christian, who finished fifth in 1949.

    “I guess that’s something I don’t think about,” Patrick said when asked about her history-making run. “I don’t think about trying to be the highest finishing female. I just think about trying to win the race.”

    “It was a good day,” Patrick, running in just her 16th race, said. “We just had a good car. I knew it from the beginning of the race.”

    “We worked so hard on the car this weekend and we did have a lot of practice time, which was good,” Patrick said. “I missed those lucky dogs like three more times and we finally got it.”

    “It allowed me to be consistent at the end, cautious and not over drive,” Patrick said. “It was a good day for GoDaddy and JR Motorsports.”

    Trevor Bayne, the Daytona 500 winner, rounded out the top five for the Sam’s Town 300. After a fairly chaotic run last weekend at Phoenix, Bayne felt most fortunate to have been so close to the front of the field.

    “It was cool to get a top-five out of that,” Bayne said. “You take them how you get them.”

    “It is awesome for these guys to get a top-five and we probably didn’t deserve it,” Bayne continued. “But we saved gas and put ourselves in that position. I can’t wait to watch the tape on this one.”

    Carl Edwards, who had been so dominant in the early part of the race, finished in the sixth position. Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Jason Leffler and Kenny Wallace rounded out the top ten.

    Reed Sorenson maintains the Nationwide Series points lead, with Ricky Stenhouse and Jason Leffler following closely behind in second and third respectively. Danica Patrick and Justin Allgaier round out the top five in the point standings.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Sam’s Town 300, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
    March 5, 2011 – Race 3 of 34

    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps Status

    1 – 32 Mark Martin Chevrolet 0 0 200 Running

    2 – 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 42 0 200 Running

    3 – 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 0 0 200 Running

    4 – 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 40 0 200 Running

    5 – 16 Trevor Bayne Ford 39 0 200 Running

    6 – 60 Carl Edwards Ford 0 0 200 Running

    7 – 20 Denny Hamlin Toyota 0 0 200 Running

    8 – 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 36 0 200 Running

    9 – 38 Jason Leffler Chevrolet 35 0 200 Running

    10 – 9 Kenny Wallace Toyota 34 0 200 Running

    11 – 30 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 33 0 200 Running

    12 – 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 32 0 200 Running

    13 – 62 Michael Annett Toyota 31 0 200 Running

    14 – 11 Brian Scott Toyota 30 0 200 Running

    15 – 88 Aric Almirola Chevrolet 29 0 198 Running

    16 – 66 Steve Wallace Toyota 28 0 198 Running

    17 – 19 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 27 0 197 Running

    18 – 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 26 0 196 Running

    19 – 99 Ryan Truex * Toyota 25 0 195 Running

    20 – 14 Eric McClure Chevrolet 24 0 194 Running

    21 – 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 23 0 193 Running

    22 – 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Dodge 22 0 193 Running

    23 – 97 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 21 0 193 Running

    24 – 15 Timmy Hill * Ford 20 0 193 Running

    25 – 28 Derrike Cope Chevrolet 19 0 190 Running

    26 – 81 Donnie Neuenberger Dodge 18 0 189 Running

    27 – 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 17 0 181 In Pit

    28 – 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 0 0 168 Running

    29 – 70 Shelby Howard Chevrolet 15 0 165 Running

    30 – 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 0 0 130 In Pit

    31 – 79 Jennifer Jo Cobb * Ford 13 0 127 Running

    32 – 141 Carl Long Ford 12 0 83 In Pit

    33 – 40 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 11 0 72 Out

    34 – 27 J.J. Yeley Ford 0 0 25 Out

    35 – 25 Kelly Bires Ford 9 0 14 In Pit

    36 – 55 Brett Rowe Chevrolet 8 0 12 In Pit

    37 – 24 Kevin Lepage Ford 7 0 11 In Pit

    38 – 39 Josh Wise Ford 6 0 10 In Pit

    39 – 52 Daryl Harr Chevrolet 0 0 8 In Pit

    40 – 103 Charles Lewandoski * Dodge 4 0 6 In Pit

    41 – 168 Tim Andrews Ford 0 0 4 In Pit

    42 – 44 Jeff Green Chevrolet 2 0 2 In Pit

    43 – 87 Kevin Conway Chevrolet 0 0 2 In Pit

  • For Andy Lally, NASCAR Has Always Been His First Love

    For Andy Lally, NASCAR Has Always Been His First Love

    Andy Lally, known as one of the best road racers in the world with three Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona wins under his belt, has always had just one dream. He has always wanted to run the NASCAR circuit.

    “This is where I’ve always wanted to be,” Lally said of his foray into the NASCAR ranks. “My first race car toys, everything I’ve ever watched on TV was always NASCAR. This was my first love and always where I wanted to go.”

    [media-credit name=”CIA Photography/TRG Motorsports” align=”alignright” width=”240″][/media-credit]Lally grew up idolizing many of the NASCAR greats back in the day. His initial racing heroes included Bobby Allison, Neil Bonnett and Morgan Shepherd.

    “When I got my first go kart when I was 12 and started racing, right around that time was when Davey Allison came on the scene,” Lally said. “He then became my new favorite driver and was my first real racing idol and hero.”

    Lally would have loved to have followed his NASCAR idols onto the track, but he and his family had no racing background. His soccer coach introduced him to a local car dealer, Walter Simonendinger, who took Lally under his wing and introduced him to road racing instead.

    “We were just doing local, regional events, but it got me out of a go kart and into a car,” Lally said. “He mentored me for about three years and helped me along until I was able to get rides in more of a national series. That’s how the road racing route took hold.”

    “I’ve always wanted to give NASCAR a shot but all my opportunities have been up that ladder,” Lally continued. “It’s hard to make a lateral move.”

    After establishing himself in the sports car world, Lally then began to work his connections to try to make his NASCAR dream a reality. In fact, Lally became a bit of a nag, particularly with Kevin Buckler, TRG team owner, to get his shot behind the wheel of a stock car.

    “We started working together in the Rolex Series in the end of 2004,” Lally said of his association with Buckler. “We clicked right away and started winning races right away.” A lot of this NASCAR program came about from me bugging Kevin (Buckler).”

    Lally admits that he is humbled and even a little bit frustrated as he makes the transition from road racing star to stock car racing student. But he readily says that he is tackling his NASCAR career with his “eyes wide open.”

    “I know how good these guys are,” Lally said of his Cup competitors. “I know that it would have been better to go do a couple years of Nationwide and really learn these tracks. But the opportunity came with TRG to give Sprint Cup a shot.”

    “I’m 36 and I’m not getting any younger,” Lally continued. “This may be my only shot. I plan to make the most of it, learn and do the best I can for TRG in the equipment we have here.”

    While Lally and his team are making the most of their opportunity, they are surely doing it on a shoe string. They currently have just two cars in their fleet, constantly keeping their fingers crossed for their equipment, as well as for some much needed sponsorship.

    “This will be my first full year in Cup if we can maintain,” Lally said. “We still need to maintain and I have to do a good enough job that they want to keep me and we have to find sponsorship.”

    Speaking of that all important sponsorship dollar, Lally and TRG have secured a new sponsor that joined them for the Daytona race and will be with them for a few more.

    “Eco Fuel Saver, the world’s best fuel additive, came on for us at Daytona and they just signed on for five more races,” Lally said. “Hopefully we can get something sorted out real soon so we can announce full season sponsorship.”

    Lally has also signed himself up this year to compete for NASCAR’s Rookie of the Year in the Cup Series. Ironically, as with last year, he is the only driver to be running for the rookie honors for the 2011 season to date.

    “It’s an honor to go for such a prestigious honor,” Lally said. “But I’m not going to play it up and I’d love to have more competition than I do right now.”

    Lally admits that his first two races in the elite Cup Series have been filled with challenges. At Daytona, he was running in the top fifteen before being caught up in a wreck and at Phoenix, he again was one of the unfortunates involved in that race’s ‘big one.’

    “We’re looking forward to getting a good, clean one here at Vegas,” Lally said. “The harder you work the luckier you get and we’re working hard here.”

    Whether lucky in Vegas or not, Lally just wants to make his NASCAR dreams come true.

    “If I can keep on going and at least make a name for myself working real hard and trying to go fast, then wonderful,” Lally said. “I’d love to stay here.”

    “This means the world to me,” Lally said passionately. “I know we are the Davey in the David and Goliath story right now.”

    “That’s how a lot of my opportunities have come down and I’ve been able to make the best of it,” Lally said. “I’m going to try to make this another one of those stories.”

  • Gambling in Vegas: Mark Martin Wins the Sam’s Town 300

    Gambling in Vegas: Mark Martin Wins the Sam’s Town 300

    Most people on the street are worried about saving gas so they do not spend a lot of money, considering the price of fuel. During today’s Sam Town’s 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Mark Martin saved his fuel the best to get his 49th career Nationwide Series win.

    “Well, Trent Owens deserves that one – all the credit for it,” Martin said in victory lane. “He made the right calls and the only chance we had was to save, save and I just decided that I wasn’t going to run out of gas. With 2 to go, I decided to step on it as I figured I was close enough to be able to do it.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]”I can’t believe it. I don’t care how hard you try, you can’t win this things.Then when its time, it just happens.”

    Coming the white flag, it looked as if Brad Keselowski would be able to make on fuel. However, he had a flat tire and ended up in the wall.

    “He was slowling quite a bit so I knew he was having fuel trouble or something so I stepped on it and tried to catch him.” Martin said.

    The win marked the first ever win for Steve Turner and Turner Motorsports, as Turner bought Braun Racing from Todd Braun last year. They were able to play the strategy card after they pitted with 62 to go to check the tires after being in the middle of a wreck.

    “We know we got in the wall so we needed to pit and look at our tires,” crew chief Trent Owen said. “Mark did a great job saving the fuel there.”

    Mark Martin’s teammate Justin Allgaier finished second.

    “I can’t say enough about everybody at Turner Motorsports and the Hendrick power under the hood,” Allgaier said. “These Chevys are running strong. I can’t say enough for what these guys are building. This is the most fun series that I’ve ever been around. Congratulations to Mark. That guy has got a lot of knowledge and is really helping our team.”

    Brad Keselowski, after getting into the wall, finished third.

    “We were about four to five laps good for fuel and he came on the radio and asked if he needed to save and I said he was good,” Todd Gordon, crew chief for Keselowski. “We must have just run something over as we’d run two fuel runs in the right sides before. He came on the radio and said he had a flat as we came across the finish line.”

    Finishing fourth was Danica Patrick, becoming the highest finishing women in NASCAR Nationwide Series history. She topped her best career finish of 17th that she got last week at Phoenix.

    “Just we worked so hard on the car this weekend,” Patrick said. “Went from loose to tight to loose to tight with the same set-up at times. We had a lot of practice time, which was good, but kind of confused us along the way. Missed those lucky dogs and finally got one. I asked Tony Jr to take a big swing at it to make it tight, not a small one but a swing at it, and it wasn’t good at the beginning, but it was good at the end.”

    After starting 17th, she worked her way to just outside the top 10, and then into the top 10, before employing the fuel strategy to seal a top five finish.

    “Qualifying wasn’t perfect, practice was up and down,” she said. “I was like, okay, we got a new car. Hopefully we can learn something so that way me and Aric (Almirola) can run up front at the next mile and a half.”

    “I mean, we’ve been really consistant – the finishes haven’t shown it,” crew chief Tony Eury Jr. said. “Its really easy for her to run in the top 15. If we can get everything right, we can run in the top 10 with this girl. Luckily we got luck with fuel milage and got a top five out of this.”

    Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne finished fifth using the same strategy, after finding trouble earlier. Bayne’s teammate and pole sitter Carl Edwards finished sixth after running in the top five most of the day.

    “For Mark to win on fuel milage, its real frustrating for Mike Beam and I,” Edwards said. “It’s just frustrating as we’re trying to find marketing partners for all three cars.”

    Denny Hamlin finished seventh, after also running up front all day.

    “Its tough,” Hamlin said. “Once I saw we weren’t going to win the race, I backed off incase a caution came to save the tires. We were so equal in the long run, but thats part of racing. You have the right fuel milage, the right everything to be able to win.”

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Jason Leftler and Kenny Wallace rounded out the top 10.

    It looked to be another Kyle Busch show at the beginning as he led the majorty of the first half, though wrecked on lap 71 after getting stuck back in traffic.

    “I had a really big run off the top,” Busch said. “I didn’t want to go to the outside. I came down to the white line as I wanted to be there going into turn 1 and never got there. The 22 came down to block and I went down to the grass to try to avoid hitting him and I looked pretty stupid going down there. I made a mistake. That’s why I run these races. I take what I learn here and carry it forward.”

    Reed Sorenson, who finished 11th, leads the Nationwide standings now, 2 points over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. They are followed by Leftler (-5), Patrick (-13), Allgaier (-16), Bayne (-24), and Almirola (-26).

    Unofficial Race Results
    Sam’s Town 300, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
    March 5, 2011 – Race 3 of 34
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps Status

    1 – 32 Mark Martin Chevrolet 0 0 200 Running

    2 – 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 42 0 200 Running

    3 – 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 0 0 200 Running

    4 – 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 40 0 200 Running

    5 – 16 Trevor Bayne Ford 39 0 200 Running

    6 – 60 Carl Edwards Ford 0 0 200 Running

    7 – 20 Denny Hamlin Toyota 0 0 200 Running

    8 – 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 36 0 200 Running

    9 – 38 Jason Leffler Chevrolet 35 0 200 Running

    10 – 9 Kenny Wallace Toyota 34 0 200 Running

    11 – 30 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 33 0 200 Running

    12 – 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 32 0 200 Running

    13 – 62 Michael Annett Toyota 31 0 200 Running

    14 – 11 Brian Scott Toyota 30 0 200 Running

    15 – 88 Aric Almirola Chevrolet 29 0 198 Running

    16 – 66 Steve Wallace Toyota 28 0 198 Running

    17 – 19 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 27 0 197 Running

    18 – 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 26 0 196 Running

    19 – 99 Ryan Truex * Toyota 25 0 195 Running

    20 – 14 Eric McClure Chevrolet 24 0 194 Running

    21 – 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 23 0 193 Running

    22 – 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Dodge 22 0 193 Running

    23 – 97 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 21 0 193 Running

    24 – 15 Timmy Hill * Ford 20 0 193 Running

    25 – 28 Derrike Cope Chevrolet 19 0 190 Running

    26 – 81 Donnie Neuenberger Dodge 18 0 189 Running

    27 – 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 17 0 181 In Pit

    28 – 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 0 0 168 Running

    29 – 70 Shelby Howard Chevrolet 15 0 165 Running

    30 – 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 0 0 130 In Pit

    31 – 79 Jennifer Jo Cobb * Ford 13 0 127 Running

    32 – 141 Carl Long Ford 12 0 83 In Pit

    33 – 40 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 11 0 72 Out

    34 – 27 J.J. Yeley Ford 0 0 25 Out

    35 – 25 Kelly Bires Ford 9 0 14 In Pit

    36 – 55 Brett Rowe Chevrolet 8 0 12 In Pit

    37 – 24 Kevin Lepage Ford 7 0 11 In Pit

    38 – 39 Josh Wise Ford 6 0 10 In Pit

    39 – 52 Daryl Harr Chevrolet 0 0 8 In Pit

    40 – 103 Charles Lewandoski * Dodge 4 0 6 In Pit

    41 – 168 Tim Andrews Ford 0 0 4 In Pit

    42 – 44 Jeff Green Chevrolet 2 0 2 In Pit

    43 – 87 Kevin Conway Chevrolet 0 0 2 In Pit