Category: XFINITY Series

LAS VEGAS (March 5, 2011) – For the second consecutive NASCAR Nationwide Series race, long green flag runs forced teams to get what they could for a good finishes. Adding to that factor were some minor mechanical gremlins in the No. 23 Wildlife Conservation Society Dodge driven by Robert Richardson, Jr. in Saturday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The weekend started with an extra day of practice for the NNS teams with two sessions on Thursday. The team had some good runs, but encountered a mechanical problem that started to slow them down in the second session. On Friday, Richardson took part in the first, of two, sessions and the team found another problem that baffled them why the car handled the way it did in the turns.

The good news is they were able to find both problems before Saturday morning’s qualifying session. After laying down his two best two laps of the weekend, the No. 23 Wildlife Conservation Society Dodge lined up 33rd for the 200-lap race; which was eight positions better than their last LVMS visit.

At the drop of the green, Richardson didn’t have much time to see what he had because the first caution waved on lap three. From there, green flag runs had the leaders put others laps down by the 15th circuit around the 1.5-mile oval.

Saying the car was tight for most of the race, crew chief Walter Giles called for as many adjustments as possible on their limited number of stops. With green flag pit stops beginning on lap 35, Richardson waited it out until lap 52 for his first visit to pit road.

Richardson radioed to the crew his Dodge kept wanting to go high in the turns and wasn’t handling like it did earlier in the race. By the halfway point, another caution waved and the No. 23 Wildlife Conservation Dodge came down for massive adjustments to better the handling.

With the car now better on longer runs, Richardson was up to 25th and saying the nose wasn’t sticking to the track like he needed. Several cautions through the next 43 laps allowed for some “fuel only” stops and for tires and adjustments.

By lap 175, the McKinney, Texas native was now up to 23rd as one of only three drivers on the same lap. When the checkered flag waved, that’s where he would finish for his fourth visit at LVMS. That’s two finishing positions better than the prior race at Phoenix and 15 better than Daytona.

With that, he is now tied for 20th in driver’s points, and is only a handful of points from 15th place. The finish also propelled the R3 Motorsports entry from 31st to 28th in the all-important Owner’s Points.

The NNS is off for a weekend, but returns to action at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 19 for their next race.

Robert Richardson, Jr. quotes: “Again, not the finish this No. 23 Wildlife Conservation Society Dodge team deserves, but we did the best we could with the minor mechanical problems we had to overcome. The car was prepared great by Walter (Giles, crew chief) and the R3 Motorsports team. We just had some toe, shock and power problems that hampered our performance throughout the weekend.

“But, we’ll take the driver’s and owner’s points from this race and enjoy the weekend off. We have some catching up to do in the shop, so this break comes at a perfect time for our team.

“Speaking of the team, I would like to commend them for putting the No. 03 North Texas Pipe Dodge into the show with Charles Lewandoski driving. That was pretty cool to help get that ready and really showed we are all working together for the common goal of success at R3 Motorsports.”

Denny Hamlin (seventh) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Toyota driver Kenny Wallace (10th) earned his second consecutive top-10 in as many races.

Las Vegas-native Kyle Busch led 84 laps before being involved in an incident on lap 132 and was relegated to a 30th- place finish.

Michael Annett (13th), Brian Scott (14th), Steve Wallace (16th) and Ryan Truex (19th) were also in the 300-mile race around the 1.5-mile oval.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 7th Can you talk about your race? “We were pretty good, better than I thought we were going to be today. It seemed like we were a little bit off on speed all day yesterday. We got a little bit of that back today. I’m proud of everyone on the Interstate team. This is a new team and new crew chief and everything, so for me it’s a good experience to try to get this team on track.”

Did the race come down to fuel mileage strategy? “We just really had the wrong strategy there. We knew it was going to be close. I knew some guys were going to stretch it to make it. You just hope that it doesn’t come down to that and it did.”

KENNY WALLACE, No. 09 Federated Toyota Camry, RAB Racing with Brack Maggard Finishing Position: 10th How was your race? “It looked like we had ourselves a 13th place car all day and at the end we were 14th on the end of the lead lap and Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief) called a hell of a race. My car was better on the long runs, I couldn’t go real fast on the short runs. I got up to like 11th and then they said, ‘Okay, you have to save fuel.’ They told me I had to let off a second a lap. So, I was running like half to three-quarter throttle. Two weeks in a row a top-10. That was the hardest thing I had to do, was let two cars pass me. It was a deal where we could have probably finished eighth or ninth, but we might have ran out of gas. The pay off was to get a points base laid down and get the year rolling, so this should help.”

Did you stop for fuel in the closing laps? “No, we stopped for fuel on the very last pit stop and packed it full of fuel. We were a 13th place car, but we got 10th on fuel mileage. We gave up probably ninth to slow up. There was a lot of Toyota technology that went into this. That’s what my wife tells me at least. She said all the engineers were down in our pits really helping us. We’re an underdog team. If it weren’t for the Toyota research and the two or three engineers running around during the weekend — I feel like Rocky Balboa. I told everyone I’m going to run good this year because I have a good car. I think we have a top-15 car and if we do everything right, then we turn into a top-10 car. As the year goes on, if we do everything right we might win one. Right now, we’re here. Man, Kenny Wallace got two top-10s on the lead lap.”

MICHAEL ANNETT, No. 62 Pilot Travel Centers/Flying J Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Finishing Position: 13th How was your car in the race? “We had a really good car, unfortunately it came down to some people didn’t have to stop. The number is not the number we want but we know how well we ran and these guys know. I made a couple mistakes on pit road, two today and you have to get used to racing again and making up time in the right spots. Making up time in the right spots to help us rather than hurt us. It was fun to be up there all day. We ran a lot better than the numbers are going to show. That’s just a fuel mileage deal.”

Does having a strong performance give you confidence for the upcoming races? “Definitely, any time you can drive around these Cup guys in the cars that you see in the top-five every weekend throughout the race. If you’re passing them, you might not beat them that day but you know you have the car that can. It’s just putting everything together and I’ll do better on my part. The team, they were right there today, I don’t know if they can do much better.”

BRIAN SCOTT, No. 11 Shore Lodge Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 14th

STEVE WALLACE, No. 66 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Finishing Position: 16th

RYAN TRUEX, No. 99 Pastrana-Waltrip Racing Toyota Camry, Pastrana-Waltrip Racing Finishing Position: 19th

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 30th What happened to take you out of the race? “I just got a really big run off the top side and switched down to the bottom and thought I had a clear track down there and then the 22 (Brad Keselowski) came down a little bit to block. I didn’t want to run into him so I gave him a little more room and got into the grass. I knew you’re not supposed to get in the grass, I’m not that stupid. I thought I could hold on to it at least and then once we got sliding through the grass there, I tried to lock it down and get it back straight and got into the inside fence. Another tough day in Vegas.”

Can you take us through what happened on the race track? “I had a really big run off the top and I didn’t want to go to the outside, I wanted to kind of get down and be on the bottom so I could get into the white line in turn one. I didn’t even make it that far. I got to the bottom of the 22 (Brad Keselowski) I guess and he came to block a little bit. I didn’t want to run into him so I went into the grass and I know the grass typically doesn’t work so I looked kind of stupid doing that. Tried to hang onto it, and just couldn’t get it back straight in enough time and got into the inside wall. I hate it for the guys and all the guys at Z-Line Designs and everybody that was out here cheering for us today. Unfortunately I screwed up and that’s why I run these races — so I can learn and not do it tomorrow.”

Would you have taken four tires on that last pit stop if you could redo that stop? “Yeah, it was a point in the race where we needed to do that. It doesn’t matter that we were back that far, you still have 70-something laps to go. I just thought I have a great opportunity, a big run here I might as well capitalize on it and get past two cars while I can right now and not waste any more time then I have to.”

Saturday, March 5, 2011 Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sam’s Town 300 Post Race Quotes NASCAR Nationwide Series

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) Finished Third “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. We weren’t anywhere near as fast as the top three, but we were a fourth-place car and from there used great strategy and smarts to get ourselves in position to win the race. I drove up through the field and leveled off about sixth knowing that everyone in front of us was going to have to pit. 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. Just one of them days where you do everything right and don’t win. 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. We’ve had three-straight weeks in this Nationwide Series with three pretty good cars. 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.”

WERE YOU OK ON FUEL AT THE END OF THE RACE? “We were really good on fuel. I think that we had a solid five laps past a green-white checkered. We were really good on fuel. It just wasn’t meant to be. I’ll have to ask the guys how much I had left, probably a solid five, 10 laps from what I calculated.”

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES

Sam’s Town 300 March 5, 2011

Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Qualifying Note: Carl Edwards put Mustang on the pole for the first time with a time of 26.669 and lap speed of 181.824 in qualifying for the Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The pole marks the first for Mustang since becoming the full time NNS car for Ford this season. For Edwards it was his 22nd pole in 214 NNS races, tied for 5th most all-time.

CARL EDWARDS on his pole qualifying run – “That was a great run, we were screaming fast out there. Like I said before, this Mustang deserved to be in victory lane today. It was crazy fast and it looks so cool out there. Putting it on pole for the first time is cool, but it would have been even better to complete it and get it in victory lane.”

TREVOR BAYNE – As Seen on TV HD Vision Aviators Ford (Finished 5th) “It was cool to get a top-five out of that. You take them how you can get them. It is awesome for these guys to get a top-five and we probably didn’t deserve it. We saved gas and put ourselves in that position. We pitted when we needed to and had a good pit strategy. We just went too far from our practice to the end of the race. We adjusted it too much. It was hard to hang on to. I thought I was going to crash about six times. I can’t wait to watch the tape on this one.”

CARL EDWARDS – Roush Clean Tech Ford (Finished 6th) “This Mustang belongs in victory lane. These guys did a really good job. I wondered if those guys were going to stretch it from that stop and they did. I did all I could and my guys did all they could. We made the right decisions on the set up and hindsight is easy to say we should have stopped but if we had gotten a caution at the end we would have won this thing by a mile. That is racing though.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – As Seen on TV Easy Feet Ford (Finished 8th) “It is really disappointing. We had a top three or four car all day long, even when we were really loose there at the beginning and had to hang on to it. We made some good adjustments and might have gone a little too much but I could drive it hard. We just got beat on fuel mileage today.”

Trevor Bayne and the No. 16 Roush Fenway team had a strong run going last weekend in Phoenix and looked to be the highest finishing Nationwide points contender, before cutting a tire down late in the race, hitting the wall and being forced to settle for a 31st-place finish. Bayne and the No. 16 team will look to rebound this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Bayne finished sixth a year ago.

Bayne in 2011 Starts: 2 Top 5s: – Top 10s: 1 Top 15s: 1 Poles: – Avg Start: 7 Avg. Finish: 20.5 High Finish: 10   Bayne at Vegas This will be only Bayne’s second start at the 1.5-mile oval of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Last season he started 18th and finsihed sixth in his first try at LVMS. He will look to build on that performance this weekend. 

Roush Fenway Nationwide Effort At Las Vegas Roush Fenway Racing has won five times in the Nationwide Series at LVMS, most recently in 2009 with Greg Biffle. Roush Fenway Nationwide cars have finished inside the top 10 in an impressive 71.4 percent (25 )of their 35 starts in the series and inside the top five almost 50 percent of the time (15). All in all, Roush Fenway has won 14 times in NASCAR competition at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

  Bayne Looks to Bounce Back at Las Vegas Bayne had a strong run going last weekend in Phoenix and looked to be the highest finishing Nationwide points contender, before cutting a tire down late in the race, hitting the wall and being forced to settle for a 31st-place finish. Bayne and the No. 16 Roush Fenway team will look to rebound this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Bayne finished sixth a year ago.

  Bayne at Vegas This will be only Bayne’s second start at the 1.5-mile oval of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Last season he started 18th and finsihed sixth in his first try at LVMS. He will look to build on that performance this weekend. 

  Roush Fenway Nationwide Effort at Las Vegas Roush Fenway Racing has won five times in the Nationwide Series at LVMS, most recently in 2009 with Greg Biffle. Roush Fenway Nationwide cars have finished inside the top 10 inan impressive 71.4 percent (25)of their 35 starts in the series and inside the top five almost 50 percent of the time (15). All in all, Roush Fenway has won 14 times in NASCAR competition at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

  Quoting Trevor:   On Las Vegas : “We had strong run there last year and finished sixth in the race. I think we have great cars and a hard working team with Chris Andrews and all the guys on the No. 16 Roush Fenway team. We have a burning desire to win a championship and we are committed to working towards that each week.

  “We had a good run going last weekend, but we didn’t get the finish after the tire went down. All we can do is worry about this week and keep our attention focused on the goal at hand.

  “We know that we have to click off strong finishes every week and it starts this weekend at Las Vegas . We have to take it one race at a time and hopefully we can get the ball rolling with a solid performance at a track that I really like to race on and that Roush Fenway has had a strong history at. We’d love nothing more than to add to that history this weekend.”

JR MOTORSPORTS TEAM PREVIEW   No. 88 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet / No. 7 Go Daddy Chevrolet

EVENT – Sam’s Town 300 (200 laps / 300 miles)

TRACK – Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile tri-oval)

DATE – Saturday, March 5, 2011

TV / RADIO – ABC (coverage begins at 3 p.m. EST) / PRN (broadcast begins at 2:30 p.m. EST)  

Aric Almirola No. 88 TaxSlayer Chevrolet

“It’s been an unfortunate couple of weeks for our TaxSlayer.com team. I’m anxious to get to Las Vegas, where I’m hopeful we can turn this thing around and get back to the business of competing for a championship. I’ve said all along that’s what we’re here to do, and we’ve gotten behind the eight ball a little bit. We’re as good as any team in this garage.”

“Vegas is not only a great destination for a race, but it’s a fun track to drive. The variable banking gives you options on what line to work around the track. There are also some bumps getting into the corner that can affect the car’s stability, so it’s a place where you’ve got to remain focused.”

Danica Patrick No. 7 Go Daddy Chevrolet

“Phoenix was a tough one, that’s for sure. But you know what, we were able to come out of there with the car in one piece, and we put together another improved race with the Go Daddy car. That’s what this year is really going to be about, seeing continued improvements.

“Now it’s off to Las Vegas and I just want to try to keep things moving forward. I specifically remember the trouble we ran into in Vegas last year with lapped traffic. It was one of those deals where I was still so new to this type of racing that we got mixed up in something, which could have easily been avoided. I want to make sure we can avoid that type of trouble and just have another decent day with the Go Daddy team.”

JR MOTORSPORTS NOTEBOOK –

VEGAS BREAKTHROUGH – JR Motorsports’ first victory as a company came in Nationwide Series competition at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Mark Martin on March 1, 2008. After qualifying 17th, Martin led 12 laps en route to his 48th career victory. JRM has two top-fives and three top-10 finishes in eight starts there. 

TEAM JRM POINTS POSITION – Patrick and the Go Daddy team are currently ranked fourth (-20) in the driver point standings. Aric Almirola is ranked sixth (-22) in driver points.   ALMIROLA AT VEGAS – Almirola has three starts in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, earning three top-10 finishes. He has averaged a finish of 8.0 and led four laps. Almirola also owns three starts at the Sprint Cup level at the 1.5-mile facility. 

PATRICK AT VEGAS –This marks Patrick’s second Nationwide Series start at Las Vegas. Last spring she started 37, and finished 36th, after a crash 86 laps into the event.   DANICA’S 2011 NNS SCHEDULE – Patrick will compete in 12 Nationwide Series races in 2011, including the next two events at Las Vegas and Bristol. The remainder of her schedule features races at Chicagoland Speedway (June 4), Daytona International Speedway (July 1), Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (Aug. 20), Richmond International Raceway (Sept. 9), Kansas Speedway (Oct. 8), Texas Motor Speedway (Nov. 5), Phoenix International Raceway (Nov. 12), and Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 19). GoDaddy.com will sponsor 11 of Patrick’s 12 races with Tissot returning as a primary sponsor for the Chicagoland event.   NEW JRM RACING WEBSITE–JRMracing.com is the digital home of the JR Motorsports NASCAR Nationwide Series race teams. Visit it for more information about the company, its history, and drivers, including Aric Almirola, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick and Josh Wise. Watch exclusive video content, including pre and post race reports with drivers and crew.