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  • Pastrana Devastated at Talladega

    Pastrana Devastated at Talladega

    Driver of the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, Travis Pastrana, led the way to green Saturday at the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. Pastrana came to Talladega 13th in the points standings.  Pastrana led the first four laps of the race before later being involved in a hard crash with No. 43 Pilot Travel Centers Ford driver, Reed Sorenson, on the backstretch of lap 73.

    When asked what happened, Pastrana said, “We were hooked up.  We were great.  I practiced with the 43 car and we had a strategy and that was to stay in the back after we can try to lead a lap.  I don’t know what happened, but we were up there in the front and got tangled up in somebody else’s mess.  We’ve got the two fastest cars on the track and for me to be out already is just stupid on my part.  I just want to thank Jack Roush and all the team for giving me a great weapon out there and I think we definitely could have put it on top if we just kind of had a little more patience.  I’ve just got to swallow my ego next time and stop being up front.  We could run a half-lap down and I think we still could have charged to the end, but now that’s over.”

    Commenting on how he can handle the high of leading his first green flag lap, and then being taken out by the accident, Pastrana said, “Honestly, it’s just stupid.  I just feel like a complete idiot because the race is still going on.  I’ve got to watch the rest of the thing and Trevor has a great car, but it would have been awesome to put our cars together.  I hope he wins for Roush and for my Monday morning conversation that we’re gonna have to have with Jack and explain to him why I crashed the car when all we had to be doing was sitting back.”

    Winning his first career pole and the first pole for the Roush Fenway Racing Ford team wasn’t enough to keep Pastrana from being hard on himself after he got caught in the crash. When asked if he was being too hard on himself, he responded, “Nowhere to go when the crash happened, but we shouldn’t have been there.  There’s no reason for us to have been there and that’s entirely my fault.  I knew Trevor was gonna be running up front, but we can be sitting a half-lap back and we still would have had a chance to go for the win.  We had a great car and could have met up with him later, but I didn’t stick to the strategy and that’s why I’m being hard on myself.  Much thanks to the crew.  Everybody worked really hard.  I learned a lot about drafting.  I learned a lot about racing these restrictor plate races.  I’m just bummed out.  I’ll always have the fact that I led the crew to the green, but you don’t get great cars every race.  You’re lucky to get the two best cars on the track on your team at any event for the year and to have that at this event and to be watching the race is just devastating.”

    Pastrana finished the Aaron’s 312 in 36th position, and will have his next chance at Victory Lane next Friday, May 10th, in the VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, NC.

  • Smith wins a Crazy Day at Dega!

    Smith wins a Crazy Day at Dega!

    Regan Smith won the Aaron’s 312 which was a  unbelievable race that include rain, darkness, wrecks and replays! Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top 5. NASCAR originally had Kahne win but the caution came out before the checkers waved making the #7 Tax Slayer Chevy the winner.

    The race went green after a long delay that started about 4:15 Central time. Travis Pastrana led the field to the green for the first career time in his short career.  Danica Patrick caused the first caution on lap 19 when her #34 Turner Scott Motorsports Toyota got turned by Kyle Larson and sent her in to the wall and the wet grass. she got damage to her splitter and tried to go back out but could not maintain speed to contend for a win and went to the garage. Austin Dillon was slowing before the caution and fell a lap down. He went on pit road and he had a spark plug issue but they fixed it.

    The second caution waved  when the #32 of Larson left rear tire exploded and basically half of his car was destroyed because of the tire. The No. 79 of Jeffery Earnhardt also spun during the Larson incident but he was able to drive away and head to pit road. Dillon was about to get the free pass but Mike Wallace got lapped right before the caution so he got the lucky dog.

    At half way, we have had 25 lead changes with Kahne and Logano leading most of the way. Pastrana and Trevor Bayne as well as Sam Hornish Jr and Smith were up there and will be in contention for the win. Elliott Sadler had some engine troubles with 49 to go as he radioed to his CC that “temperature is getting hotter and hotter, we need to check for water or something. Blowing oil everywhere, inside the car.”

    The third caution waved when the No. 43 of Reed Sorenson got turned by the #2 of Brian Scott and collected the No, 60 of Pastrana. Pastrana was just driving and was a innocent bystander. Sorenson got his back wheels airborne but did not flip. Pastrana took a really hard hit after getting hit by Sorenson from the turn 3 wall. Both were okay but both were done for the day.  Pastrana told ESPN that “Everything kind of happened really fast” and “me and Trevor should have still been sitting in the back.” He was really dejected but will learn from this for the future.

    4th yellow waved when the No. 00 of Blake Koch smacked the wall on the backstretch. He was drafting with Allgaier and Allgaier turned down and Koch was there.

    On lap 94, the big one happened. Johanna Long blocked Sam Hornish Jr into getting a spot on the high side and Hornish and Eric McClure got together. Mike Harmon, Scott, Nelson Piquet Jr, Bobby Gerhart, Long, Hornish Jr, Dexter Stacey, Robert Richardson Jr, Bayne, Tim Andrews and Ty Dillon were all involved.  There is also rain coming with darkness coming soon. NASCAR announced that they will cut the race by 10 laps so they can finish this before darkness.

    Yellow waved once again with two laps to go because of the No. 54 of Joey Coulter got turned by Allgaier and smacked the front stretch wall. He got out and was fine but NASCAR said this was be the only GWC they would have. And boy, what a GWC it was!

  • Pastrana grabs the Aaron’s 312 pole at Talladega

    Pastrana grabs the Aaron’s 312 pole at Talladega

    Travis Pastrana, driver of the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, captured the Coors Light Pole Award for the 22nd annual Aaron’s 312 NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Talladega Superspeedway.  This is Pastrana’s first pole in his first start at Talladega Superspeedway not to mention his first pole in 17 NASCAR Nationwide Series starts.

    When Pastrana was asked for his thoughts on his first pole, he responded, “It sounds like a dream come true.  Bringing the guys to the line at the green flag at Talladega is awesome, so I’m definitely excited.  I mean, this Roush Fenway team has worked so hard.  Chad (Norris), my crew chief, he’s like, ‘We’ve been putting everything together.  Let’s go out there and get this thing.’ He had a lot of confidence in myself and the car and it’s just awesome to be able to show the work these guys are putting together and I’m definitely really happy to be here.”

    Pastrana’s pole position is also Roush-Fenway Racing’s first NNS Coors Light pole at Talladega Superspeedway. Travis said, “Anytime Jack’s smiling, I’m smiling.  That’s a good deal.”

    When asked what a pole means from a team and driver standpoint, Pastrana said, “On the restrictor plate races it means you went out there and drove a perfectly clean lap and that your car and that your crew and that everybody was working together.  You picked the right line and did the right stuff, but mostly that you have a great team and a great car.  Winning the pole at a restrictor place race also means that you’re gonna have a lot of people that are willing to work with you come race day, so I’m excited about that.”

    The Aaron’s 312 race on Saturday will be Pastrana’s eighth start for the 2013 racing season.  He has had top ten finishes this season at Daytona, Las Vegas and Richmond.  Pastrana has completed 1,394 out of 1,420 laps and is currently ranked 13th in the series points standings.

    Starting Lineup
    Aaron’s 312, Talladega Superspeedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/qual.php?race=8
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 60 Travis Pastrana Ford 176.5 54.255
    2 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 176.162 54.359
    3 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 176.071 54.387
    4 34 * Danica Patrick(i) Chevrolet 175.877 54.447
    5 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 175.868 54.45
    6 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Ford 175.771 54.48
    7 11 Elliott Sadler Toyota 175.732 54.492
    8 2 Brian Scott Chevrolet 175.587 54.537
    9 1 * Kurt Busch(i) Chevrolet 175.52 54.558
    10 54 Joey Coulter(i) Toyota 175.33 54.617
    11 5 Kasey Kahne(i) Chevrolet 175.324 54.619
    12 22 Joey Logano(i) Ford 175.269 54.636
    13 10 * Jeff Green Toyota 175.218 54.652
    14 99 Alex Bowman # Toyota 175.208 54.655
    15 43 Reed Sorenson Ford 175.202 54.657
    16 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. # Chevrolet 175.192 54.66
    17 33 Ty Dillon(i) Chevrolet 175.112 54.685
    18 77 Parker Kligerman Toyota 174.971 54.729
    19 32 Kyle Larson # Chevrolet 174.923 54.744
    20 7 Regan Smith Chevrolet 174.904 54.75
    21 20 Brian Vickers Toyota 174.77 54.792
    22 4 * Landon Cassill(i) Chevrolet 174.382 54.914
    23 14 Eric McClure Toyota 174.363 54.92
    24 19 Mike Bliss Toyota 174.16 54.984
    25 70 Johanna Long Chevrolet 174.119 54.997
    26 85 * Bobby Gerhart Chevrolet 173.998 55.035
    27 79 Jeffrey Earnhardt # Ford 173.859 55.079
    28 74 Mike Harmon 173.821 55.091
    29 55 * Jamie Dick Chevrolet 173.676 55.137
    30 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 173.573 55.17
    31 24 Jason White Toyota 173.387 55.229
    32 44 Hal Martin # Toyota 173.036 55.341
    33 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet 172.855 55.399
    34 0 * Blake Koch Toyota 172.762 55.429
    35 89 * Morgan Shepherd 172.367 55.556
    36 52 * Donnie Neuenberger Chevrolet 171.964 55.686
    37 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 171.927 55.698
    40 92 * Tim Andrews Ford 171.764 55.751
    38 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 171.594 55.806
    39 40 Josh Wise Chevrolet 171.024 55.992
    41 15 * Stanton Barrett Ford 170.561 56.144
    42 25 * John Wes Townley(i) Toyota 0 0
  • Kevin Harvick dives through field to win Toyota Owners 400

    Kevin Harvick dives through field to win Toyota Owners 400

    As the Toyota Owners 400 was drawing to a close, it looked like Kevin Harvick would catch Juan Pablo Montoya for the lead, making for a thrilling battle between them. However, all heck broke loose when a caution would come out with six laps to go when Brian Vickers would get into the wall.

    Under the caution, both Harvick and Montoya would make their way down pit road for tires, with most of the lead lap cars, while three cars stayed out. Jeff Burton would take over the lead on old tires, followed by Jamie McMurray and A.J. Allmendinger. Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart took two tires to restart fourth and fifth, followed by Montoya and Harvick who took four tires.

    Burton would get a good restart with Allmendinger trying to do a three-wide dive move for the lead, however as a result that bottled up the field. In the mess of three-wide passes down the backstretch, Harvick would make his way through the field to take the lead from Burton through turns three and four coming to the white flag.

    Harvick would lead the final lap to pick up his 20th career victory and his first of 2013.

    “I just want to thank everyone for their support,” Harvick said. “It’s been a tough start to the season. The cars have been really fast. A lot of people thought we’d lay down this year, but there’s no laying down with us.”

    Harvick announced before the season started that he would be moving to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. A lot of people believed that Harvick would be put in the “lame duck scenario” at Richard Childress Racing, not performing well all year.

    “It all worked out,” Harvick continued. “Sprint Cup racing is something that you need to take chances. The guys that stayed out took chances. We took a chance by pitting. We’ve been beat by tires this year so we made the call to come down pit road and Gil made a good call.”

    Clint Bowyer would slice his way through the field to finish second for his fifth top 10 of the season. Joey Logano finished third for his second top 10 in nine starts at Richmond.

    Juan Pablo Montoya, who was on the hunt for his first NASCAR victory, would finish fourth with Jeff Burton rounding out the top five.

    “We made the right call when we pitted and when we stayed out and we got the caution at the end. It was no brainer to take tires,” Montoya commented afterwards. “I think it hurt us that we restart on the outside and when you restart there, it just gets packed up. When you start on the outside, where can you go out there? we just got to be happy with this finish after the last couple of weeks.”

    Carl Edwards finished sixth, followed by pole sitter Matt Kenseth, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    Following the race, Kurt Busch would make contact with Matt Kenseth as he did not agree with Kenseth pushing him out of the way for seventh on the last lap. Then, Stewart would push Busch up into the outside wall following the race after contact on the restart. The pair would have a discussion in the pits afterwards.

    “For us, this was a solid run,” Busch said of his ninth place finish. “We were there. Some guys cycled ahead of us, we were able to get by them but all in all, it’s a great top five night for us. You could just tell.

    “Green white checkered, some guys took tires, some didn’t, it’s just a free for all. I don’t know what the 14 (Stewart) was upset about. I got hit form the side, from behind. I got hit, he got hit. Kenseth got into me there at the end so that’s why I wasn’t happy with him.”

    Points leader Jimmie Johnson finished 12th after being involved in a wreck with Stewart with 74 laps to go. Stewart would get loose underneath Johnson, causing both cars to spin. Kyle Busch would have no where to go, making contact with Johnson. Busch finished 24th. Johnson now leads Edwards by 43 points.

    The 400 lap race on the short track would see a total of 11 cautions throughout the evening.

    Josh Wise brought out the first caution on lap 45 after he went for a spin due to contact from David Gilliland. Wise finished 28th.

    Marcos Ambrose would not have a good night as he would have engine problems on lap 111 for the second caution. He finished 42nd. Ambrose wasn’t the only driver with motor problems as Michael McDowell would drop some fluid on the track for the third caution on lap 145. McDowell finished 41st.

    Defending series champion Brad Keselowski would bring out the fourth caution after he got into the outside wall with a flat tire. He would later be blackflagged for not meeting minimum speed after losing a cylinder. He finished 33rd.

    Greg Biffle would bring out the fifth caution with a spin due to getting loose off turn four on lap 232. He finished 36th.

    Travis Kvapil was the reason for the sixth caution with 109 laps to go due to hitting the wall. He would then bring out the seventh caution with 93 laps to go for being slow on the apron. Kvapil ended up 37th.

    The ninth caution came out with 63 laps to go after Mark Martin got loose and got into Kasey Kahne, causing them both to spin. Vickers then made heavy contact with Martin. Martin finished 38th while Kahne finished 21st and Vickers finished 35th.

    Truex Jr. would bring the 10th caution out with 56 laps to go after going for a spin while battling for second with Kurt Busch.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Toyota Owners 400, Richmond
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/cup/race.php?race=9
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 17 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 47
    2 5 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 43
    3 7 22 Joey Logano Ford 41
    4 6 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Chevrolet 41
    5 16 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 40
    6 28 99 Carl Edwards Ford 38
    7 1 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 39
    8 34 43 Aric Almirola Ford 36
    9 14 78 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 36
    10 19 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 34
    11 3 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 33
    12 26 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 32
    13 29 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 31
    14 24 51 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 30
    15 15 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 29
    16 12 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. # Ford 28
    17 9 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 27
    18 21 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 26
    19 32 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 25
    20 20 34 David Ragan Ford 24
    21 4 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 23
    22 22 83 David Reutimann Toyota 22
    23 18 7 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 21
    24 8 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 21
    25 31 33 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 19
    26 13 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 18
    27 37 38 David Gilliland Ford 17
    28 27 35 Josh Wise(i) Ford 0
    29 30 10 Danica Patrick # Chevrolet 15
    30 40 13 Casey Mears Ford 14
    31 25 30 David Stremme Toyota 13
    32 39 36 JJ Yeley Chevrolet 12
    33 23 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 11
    34 42 32 Timmy Hill # Ford 10
    35 2 11 Brian Vickers(i) Toyota 0
    36 33 16 Greg Biffle Ford 8
    37 36 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 7
    38 10 55 Mark Martin Toyota 6
    39 41 87 Joe Nemechek(i) Toyota 0
    40 43 52 Brian Keselowski Toyota 4
    41 35 98 Michael McDowell Ford 3
    42 11 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 2
    43 38 19 Mike Bliss(i) Toyota 0
  • Lap by Lap: Toyota Owners 400 won by Kevin Harvick

    Lap by Lap: Toyota Owners 400 won by Kevin Harvick

    With late race pit stops and a late green white checkered, Kevin Harvick would go from seventh to first on the final restart to take the victory in the Toyota Owners 400.

     

    Lap 1 Kenseth leads off turn two

    Lap 4 Kenseth leads Gordon Vickers Bowyer Kahne Logano Truex Montoya Busch Martin

    Lap 6 Busch passes Montoya

    Lap 13 Bowyer passes Vickers

    Lap 16 Kahne passes Vickers

    Lap 22 Kenseth leads Bowyer Kahne Vickers Logano Truex Busch Montoya Gordon Martin

    Lap 25 Martin passes Gordon

    Lap 26 Ambrose passes Gordon

    Lap 32 Truex and Busch pass Logano

    Lap 33 Montoya passes Logano

    Caution lap 45 Joh Wise goes around after contact from Cassill. Wise was trying to dive underneath Gilliland. Leaders hit pit road. Kenseth leads Bowyer Vickers Montoya Truex Logano Kahne KuBusch Ky Busch. Reuitmann gets the lucky dog

    Restart lap 47 Kenseth pulls ahead of field once again going into turn one and two.

    Lap 49 Kenseth leads Vickers Truex Bowyer Montoya Kahne KyBusch Ku Busch Logano Martin

    Lap 52 KyBusch passes Kahne

    Lap 55 KuBusch passes Kahne

    Lap 74 Kenseth leads Vickers Truex

    Lap 77 Kenseth leads Vickers Truex Bowyer Montoya KyBusch KuBusch Kahne Logano Martin

    Lap 95 Kahne passes KuBusch; Johnson and Martin pass Logano

    Lap 98 Kenseth leads Vickers Truex Bowyer Montoya KyBusch Kahne KuBusch Johnson Martin

    Lap 101 Kahne passes KyBusch

    Lap 102 KuBusch and Johnson pass KyBusch

    Caution Lap 111 Marcos Ambrose slowed on the backstretch due to lack of oil pressure. Leaders head down pit road. Bowyer leads Vickers Kenseth Johnson Montoya Truex KuBusch off pit road.

    Restart lap 116 Bowyer gets the jump on the restart on the field, ahead of Kenseth and Vickers

    Lap 118 Bowyer leads Kenseth Vickers Montoya KuBusch Johnson Truex Keselowski Martin Harvick

    Lap 133 Bowyer leads Kenseth Montoya Vickers Johnson KuBusch

    Lap 136 Bowyer leads Kenseth Montoya Vickers Johnson KuBusch Truex Keselowski Martin Harvick

    Lap 141 Johnson and KuBusch pass Vickers

    Caution lap 145 debris as fluid suspected due to Michael McDowell having problems. Bowyer leads Kenseth Montoya off pit road. Reuitmann gets the lucky dog.

    Restart lap 154 Bowyer gets away on the restart

    Lap 157 Bowyer Kenseth Montoya KuBusch Johnson Martin KyBusch Vickers Harvick Truex

    Caution lap 158 Keselowski hits the wall in turn two. “Got a flat or something down the straightaway.” Vickers pits with Kahne, Stewart, Gordon, Stenhouse among others. Leaders stay out.

    Restart lap 168 Bowyer pulls ahead of Kenseth on the restart

    Lap 170 Bowyer leads Kenseth KuBusch Montoya Johnson KyBusch Harvick Martin Truex Logano

    Lap 184 McMurray passes Logano

    Lap 186 McMurray passes Truex

    Lap 208 Bowyer leads Kenseth KuBusch Johnson KyBusch Montoya McMuray Harvick Martin Edwards

    Lap 215 Edwards passes Martin

    Lap 216 McMurray passes Montoya

    Lap 217 Bowyer leads Kenseth KuBusch Johnson KyBusch McMurray Montoya Harvick Edwards Martin

    Lap 219 Kenseth passes Bowyer for the lead

    Lap 229 Kenseth leads KuBusch Johnson KyBusch Bowyer McMurray Montoya Edwards Harvick Martin

    Lap 231 Edwards passes Montoya

    Caution lap 232 Biffle goes for the spin after getting loose off turn four. Leaders hit pit road. Kenseth leads KuBusch KyBusch Johnson Bowyer McMurray Edwards

    Restart lap 240 Kenseth pulls ahead of the Busch brothers through turns one and two

    Lap 243 Kenseth leads KyBusch KuBusch Bowyer Johnson Edwards

    Lap 245 Kenseth leads KyBusch KuBusch Bowyer Johnson Edwards Montoya Martin Keselowski Stewart

    Lap 250 Harvick passed Stewart

    Lap 251 Edwards passes Johnson

    Lap 254 Busch looking for the lead by Kenseth, takes it going into turn three

    Lap 255 KyBusch leads Kenseth KuBusch Bowyer Edwards Johnson Montoya Martin Keselowski Harvick

    Lap 267 KyBusch leads KuBusch Kenseth Edwards Bowyer Montoya Johnson Martin Keselowski Harvick

    120 to go KyBusch leads KuBusch Edwards Bowyer Montoya Kenseth Johnson Martin Keselowski Harvick

    110 to go Keselowski goes to pit road with a vibration.

    Caution 109 to go Travis Kvapil hits the wall. Leaders hit pit road. KuBusch leads KyBusch Edwards Kenseth Bowyer Montoya Johnson off pit road.

    Restart 105 to go Ku Busch gets the jump on the restart on Kyle Busch while Carl Edwards jumps into second

    101 to go KuBusch leads Edwards KyBusch Bowyer Johnson Harvick Kenseth Martin Montoya Stewart

    98 to go Edwards and KuBusch battle for the lead as Johnson passes Bowyer

    96 to go KuBusch leads Edwards KyBusch Johnson Bowyer Harvick Kenseth Martin Montoya Truex

    Caution 93 to go Kvapil slow on the apron. Leaders hit pit road. Some took two tires, some took four tires. Commitment violation on Busch Vickers and Cassil. NASCAR changes mind on Kyle Busch penalty with regards to the line.

    Restart 80 to go Kurt Busch and Edwards go into one side-by-side and Busch comes off turn two with the lead.

    74 to go KuBusch leads Edwards Kenseth…..Stewart and Johnson go around, Busch collected for the caution. Stewart gets loose and slides up to Johnson and Busch no where to go, hits Johnson. Some of the leaders pit, others stay out. Busch leads Edwards Kenseth Earnhardt Bowyer off pit road. Top six drivers stayed out.

    Restart 66 to go Montoya gets the jump on the restart ahead of Harvick and Truex

    64 to go Montoya leads Harvick Truex Keselowski KuBusch Kenseth Bowyer Martin Logano Burton

    63 to go Mark Martin and Kasey Kahne wreck on the backstretch. Mark got loose, Kahne underneath caused contact and both spun, Vickers hits Martin. Kyle Busch gets the lucky dog. Harvick gives up second spot to pit.

    Restart 57 to go Montoya leads the field off turn two ahead of Truex

    Caution 56 to go Truex goes for the spin after closing the door on KuBusch in a battle for second behind Montoya. “I was giving him the bottom; I guess he was just being impatient.” Truex on KuBusch

    Restart 51 to go Montoya gets the jump on the restart

    49 to go Montoya leads KuBusch Kenseth Bowyer Logano Almirola Gordon Harvick Edwards Keselowski

    42 to go Montoya leads KuBusch Kenseth Bowyer Logano Harvick Almirola Gordon Edwards Keselowski

    40 to go Harvick passes Logano for fifth

    38 to go Harvick passes Bowyer for fourth

    36 to go Harvick passes Kenseth for third

    30 to go Bowyer passes Kenseth for fourth

    23 to go Keselowski falls out of the top 20 as he is off the pace. He has dropped a cylinder.

    22 to go Montoya leads KuBusch Harvick Bowyer Kenseth Logano Almirola Burton Gordon Edwards

    Keselowski is given the blackflag due to not reaching minimum speed with being down 7 cylinders. 21 to go Montoya leads Kurt Busch & Harvick

    19 to go Harvick passes Kurt Busch for second.

    14 to go Montoya leads Harvick KuBusch Bowyer Kenseth Logano Burton Almirola Edwards McMurray

    Caution 6 to go Vickers gets into the wall. Leaders head down pit road. Edwards leads Stewart Montoya Harvick Kenseth off pit road. Burton stays out to take the lead.

    Restart Burton gets the restart Dinger goes for the dive but misses harvick makes his way around them and makes the pass on Burton for the lead.

    White flag.

    Kevin Harvick takes the win.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Toyota Owners 400, Richmond
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/cup/race.php?race=9
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 17 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 47
    2 5 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 43
    3 7 22 Joey Logano Ford 41
    4 6 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Chevrolet 41
    5 16 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 40
    6 28 99 Carl Edwards Ford 38
    7 1 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 39
    8 34 43 Aric Almirola Ford 36
    9 14 78 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 36
    10 19 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 34
    11 3 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 33
    12 26 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 32
    13 29 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 31
    14 24 51 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 30
    15 15 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 29
    16 12 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. # Ford 28
    17 9 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 27
    18 21 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 26
    19 32 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 25
    20 20 34 David Ragan Ford 24
    21 4 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 23
    22 22 83 David Reutimann Toyota 22
    23 18 7 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 21
    24 8 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 21
    25 31 33 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 19
    26 13 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 18
    27 37 38 David Gilliland Ford 17
    28 27 35 Josh Wise(i) Ford 0
    29 30 10 Danica Patrick # Chevrolet 15
    30 40 13 Casey Mears Ford 14
    31 25 30 David Stremme Toyota 13
    32 39 36 JJ Yeley Chevrolet 12
    33 23 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 11
    34 42 32 Timmy Hill # Ford 10
    35 2 11 Brian Vickers(i) Toyota 0
    36 33 16 Greg Biffle Ford 8
    37 36 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 7
    38 10 55 Mark Martin Toyota 6
    39 41 87 Joe Nemechek(i) Toyota 0
    40 43 52 Brian Keselowski Toyota 4
    41 35 98 Michael McDowell Ford 3
    42 11 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 2
    43 38 19 Mike Bliss(i) Toyota 0
  • Keselowski wins at Richmond!

    Keselowski wins at Richmond!

    Brad Keselowski won the 26th Annual ToyotaCare 250, his 21st victory in 196 NASCAR Nationwide Series races and his first victory of the season. Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers and Regan Smith rounded out the top 5.

    Keselowski started from the pole and cleared Busch into 2 but Busch did not let him go to far. Busch tried to get a slide job on Bad Brad but Sam Hornish Jr decided to make it 3 wide at the start finish line. Hornish cleared Busch going into one and led the race.

    The first caution waved when the No. 92 of Dexter Stacey went way too fast into turn 1 and had a pretty hard wreck into the safety barriers. He was okay but it was a lengthy clean up. They had a 5 minute red flag because of the fluid from the No. 92 but when they got that cleaned up, it was time for pit stops! The top 10 did not pit but Smith, Kenny Wallace, Elliott Sadler and others came in for fuel and tires.

    The race  went back to green on lap 41 with Hornish Jr leading. Harvick was  aggressive and got 2nd over Keselowski. Harvick closed in when Hornish got slowed up by lapped traffic on lap 70.  Harvick took the lead on lap 87 but on lap 88, Sadler was on a mission and took the lead one lap later.

    The 2nd caution came out when the No. 99 of Alex Bowman cut a right front tire on the backstretch. Most everyone came in for the 1st time of the day and got 4 tires and fuel and Sadler led them out of pit road.

    The green flag waved on lap 107 with Sadler leading them to the green. Sadler held them off but Harvick took the lead  on the backstretch and pulled away. On lap 144, Mike Wallace was spewing blue smoke out of the back of the car and he went to the pits and lost multiple laps.

    Caution waved for the 3rd time with 101 to go because of the No 74 of Juan Carlos Blum smacked the wall coming off turn 4.  The leaders came in to pit and Harvick led them off pit road with Vickers gaining 3 spots and Reed Sorenson losing 4 spots.

    Green flag waved once again and Keselowski took over the lead from Harvick! Busch was 3rd but Harvick was closing on Keselowski with 86 to go. Harvick took over the lead with 80 to go but got caught up in lap traffic.

    The 4th caution waved with No. 17 of Tanner Berryhill spinning in the middle of turn 1. All of the leaders came in for what could be their last stop. Harvick went out of pit road first and lead them to the green followed by Sadler, Busch and Keselowski.

    Green was waved once again with 54 to go and Harvick pulled away from Busch and Keselowski. Trevor Bayne got a penalty for changing lanes but before he could serve that, the caution came out for the #98 of Kevin Swindell who had a flat left rear tire and spun it off of 2.

    Green flag waved with 41 to go and Keselowski and Harvick were beating and banging but Keselowski took over the lead right when a big wreck caused the caution flag to wave! Austin Dillon went hard into turn 4 and collected Justin Allgaier. Scott was able to drive away while Allgaier was getting repairs on pit road.  Dillon saw his car get taken off the track by the tow truck.

    34 laps to go was when the green flag waved and Harvick and Keselowski were battling with Busch right behind them. Harvick and Keselowski were battling and Busch just went to the high side and took over Keselowski and Harvick at once, to take the lead! Mike Wallace was having smoke come from his car and was ordered to come to pit road. He did but then went back out and was still smoking which made NASCAR put out the caution.

    Green was waved with 16 to go and Busch just shot out of there like a cannon! It did not last long because Mike Wallace was smoking again from his No. 01 machine.  Keselowski retook the lead with 10 to go and Harvick took 2nd away with 9 to go and put his sites on the No. 22. Harvick is to his bumper with 4 to go but could not get past him and Keselowski broke Busch’s streak of 3 in a row!

    After the race, Brian Scott and Nelson Piquet Jr got into a altercation which Piquet kicked Scott in the groin before getting separated by their crew members.

    Unofficial Race Results
    ToyotaCare 250, Richmond Int’l Raceway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=7
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 1 22 Brad Keselowski(i) Ford 0
    2 4 33 Kevin Harvick(i) Chevrolet 0
    3 2 54 Kyle Busch(i) Toyota 0
    4 9 20 Brian Vickers Toyota 40
    5 16 7 Regan Smith Chevrolet 39
    6 14 11 Elliott Sadler Toyota 39
    7 3 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Ford 38
    8 18 32 Kyle Larson # Chevrolet 36
    9 17 60 Travis Pastrana Ford 35
    10 10 43 Reed Sorenson Ford 34
    11 30 77 Parker Kligerman Toyota 33
    12 7 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 32
    13 20 19 Mike Bliss Toyota 31
    14 23 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. # Chevrolet 30
    15 13 70 Johanna Long Chevrolet 29
    16 15 16 Ryan Reed Ford 28
    17 22 5 Jeffrey Earnhardt # Chevrolet 27
    18 21 98 Kevin Swindell # Ford 26
    19 19 4 Landon Cassill(i) Chevrolet 0
    20 8 2 Brian Scott Chevrolet 24
    21 27 8 Scott Lagasse Jr. Chevrolet 23
    22 26 0 Michael McDowell(i) Toyota 0
    23 25 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 21
    24 28 44 Hal Martin # Toyota 20
    25 31 24 Blake Koch Toyota 19
    26 37 14 Eric McClure Toyota 18
    27 12 99 Alex Bowman # Toyota 17
    28 40 17 Tanner Berryhill Chevrolet 16
    29 39 74 Juan Carlos Blum # Chevrolet 15
    30 33 79 Joey Gase Ford 14
    31 11 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 13
    32 38 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet 12
    33 36 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 11
    34 35 40 Josh Wise Chevrolet 10
    35 6 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 9
    36 5 29 Kenny Wallace Toyota 8
    37 32 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 7
    38 34 92 Dexter Stacey # Ford 6
    39 29 42 JJ Yeley(i) Chevrolet 0
    40 24 10 Jeff Green Toyota 4
  • Kenseth Wins From Pole in Second Straight STP 400

    Kenseth Wins From Pole in Second Straight STP 400

    Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) STP 400 at Kansas Speedway was won by polesitter Matt Kenseth. This was Kenseth’s second win and the fourth top ten finish for Kenseth since joining Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR). Kenseth lead four times for 163 laps.

    Kenseth held off a hard charging Kasey Kahne by 0.150 seconds in the 3 hour race. “It’s funny, we had a big time softball game last week and we were talking about it a little bit. He’s (Kasey Kahne) finished second to us a couple times. Man, I really thought he had me and our car started getting loose into turn three and I got really loose getting into three with about five (laps) to go. I actually did it twice in a row and thought we were going to get beat.”

    Second Place Kasey Kahne stated that his car felt good all weekend and that they only made a few small changes. Kahne credited the track as being “really fast for our cars.” This was Kahne’s sixth top ten finish in 12 races at Kansas and his fifth top ten in 2013. “I felt really good. I thought we were pretty decent yesterday in practice, so today we started 28th and just had to really had to take our time. I felt the cars were really edgy at the start and took a while. But as the race went on we made some good adjustments, the track rubbered in pretty nicely and we made our way up to the front. It was a good race for us. We were very close at the end battling with Matt. Felt like Vegas all over again. Just kinda of felt like really similar to that in how I could catch him but couldn’t really do anything once I got close. It made my car a little bit looser.”

    Third Place went to five time champion Jimmie Johnson. Johnson posted his 12th top 10 finish in 14 races at Kansas Speedway and maintained his points lead by 37 points over Kahne. “We had a strong performance, solid on pit road. I think Chad’s strategy today was flawless. About two stops from the end we started to get a little tight , and it was the first time I was tight so we probably didn’t react as much as we should have, just trying to  be cautious because the car was so loose at other times in the race. And it just lacked a little bit there at the end,” said Johnson.

    Fourth Place was Martin Truex Jr. “I was so loose going into turn three all day with that wind. I tried everything and the only thing I could do was creep in there nice and straight to the white line. Otherwise, it would just try to spin out. I think some of it was the wind and I think a lot of it is just that it’s a lot warmer today than it was all weekend in practice, ” revealed Truex Jr.

    Fifth Place was Clint Bowyer who says the keys were in track position. “This track is slick, it’s treacherous. You have to stay in track position. I was proud of Brian Pattie, his strategy and the way he called the race was great. Kept us up front for the most part. All those restarts were crazy. It got pretty wild there for me. I slipped up and got loose in and about got into Biffle and ruined our day. All in all, top five finish at home for our 5 hour energy Toyota – I will take it and go on.”

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the highest finishing rookie in 11th.  Stenhouse commented, “It was fun. We started up front, ran up front, lost our track position and then got it back and was able to lead some laps. We pitted under green and it really got us when the caution came out, but, all in all, I think we can take a lot of positives from this weekend. We were fast in practice, fast in qualifying and made the car better through the race and that’s what it’s all about is making your car better throughout the race and I think we did that today. The Zest Ford Fusion was the one to beat there at the end, but we didn’t have the track position to finish it off.”

    The race had eight caution flags for 40 laps with eight leaders and 13 lead changes.  The most notable being an incident involving Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. “I watched the 18. He was spinning out and I saw it the whole time. I saw he got loose and thought, ‘Ok he’s gonna come back across,’ and he didn’t. It looked like he was gonna stay up there because he kind of slapped the wall with the right side after he hit it the first time, so I’m like, ‘Alright, I’m gonna gun it and get by him here,’ and as soon as I committed to that I saw him start coming back down. At that point you’re just lined up to him and hit him a ton. I’m fine. It’s just unfortunate for the AAA guys. They deserve better than that. We were working hard on getting our car better. We weren’t gonna gain many points this weekend, but we were gonna try to rally for the best possible finish we could get out of it. But it’s not good for us “

    Kyle Busch commented, “Spun twice on our own. Just don’t know what to do with Kansas.” When asked about the lack of grip on the surface, Busch responded, “Yeah, absolutely no grip, for me anyways. But, you know you are running third and doing fine, car a little tight and you spin out. I don’t know what to do with that and then we’re back in traffic all day. Traffic is way worse. Just trying to get back up to the front and making some gains, but car just snaps out from under you in every corner.”

    Post race inspection is all clear there were no issues.

    Unofficial Race Results
    STP 400, Kansas Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/cup/race.php?race=8
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 1 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 48
    2 27 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 42
    3 21 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 42
    4 7 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 41
    5 10 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 39
    6 33 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 38
    7 14 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 37
    8 6 43 Aric Almirola Ford 36
    9 8 55 Mark Martin Toyota 35
    10 12 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 34
    11 3 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. # Ford 34
    12 17 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 32
    13 43 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 31
    14 9 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 31
    15 13 78 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 29
    16 23 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 29
    17 2 99 Carl Edwards Ford 28
    18 20 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 26
    19 11 16 Greg Biffle Ford 25
    20 15 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 24
    21 18 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 23
    22 41 51 Regan Smith(i) Chevrolet 0
    23 28 38 David Gilliland Ford 21
    24 34 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 20
    25 25 10 Danica Patrick # Chevrolet 19
    26 36 35 Josh Wise(i) Ford 0
    27 19 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Chevrolet 17
    28 31 83 David Reutimann Toyota 16
    29 39 33 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 15
    30 26 34 David Ragan Ford 14
    31 16 11 Brian Vickers(i) Toyota 0
    32 38 30 David Stremme Toyota 13
    33 37 32 Timmy Hill # Ford 11
    34 30 13 Casey Mears Ford 10
    35 40 36 JJ Yeley Chevrolet 9
    36 32 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 8
    37 4 12 Sam Hornish, Jr.(i) Ford 0
    38 5 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 6
    39 22 22 Joey Logano Ford 5
    40 24 81 Elliott Sadler(i) Toyota 0
    41 35 19 Mike Bliss(i) Toyota 0
    42 29 98 Michael McDowell Ford 2
    43 42 7 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 1
  • Matt Crafton Wins Crash Fest At Kansas Speedway

    Matt Crafton Wins Crash Fest At Kansas Speedway

    Matt Crafton stormed to the victory for the Camping World Truck Series tonight, holding off Joey Coulter in the late stages of the race.  This is Crafton’s first win of the 2013 season and fourth top 10 finish.

    “It’s huge,” Crafton said. “Yesterday we were 18th average on the second practice and we were a 20th place truck at best — to be honest.  They changed so much on this truck — you always hear people say it, but they changed four springs, sway bar, sway bar arms — I mean tons of stuff.  There’s a bunch more stuff that they changed that would probably lose everybody, but they made a whole sale change and what that comes down to is teamwork and believing in each other and then going out there and doing it.”

    It was Crafton’s first win since 2011 at Iowa.  Crafton took the lead with 42 laps to go with a three-wide pass and held off the charge of Joey Coulter to take the win.

    “The show was so awesome — it was a great race,” Crafton continued. “My spotter told me where Joey (Coulter) was a little bit and he had a very, very fast truck.  I think track position was everything and it was whoever got out front.  We contemplated and contemplated on that last restart because we had talked about it earlier on the red flag — where would you start if you were leading this race at the end?  They said the outside early and then the yellow comes out and we’re leading and I said, ‘Where do you guys want to start?’  They said, ‘That’s up to you.’  (Carl) Joiner (crew chief) thinks inside and I went outside.  Then he could blame me after that.  The bottom — you could get sucked around so easy and I wanted to be on the outside to be able to control it.”

    Joey Coulter would hold on for second for his first top five of the season.

    “It was wide open out there, doing whatever I could do,” Coulter said. “I could pull him off a corner, it all equaled out. Great day for the 18 tundra. Everybody did an awesome job on pit road. We got caught a lap down but we’re able to get back and Harold – he pulled off some great pit strategy.”

    Rookie Ryan Blaney passed Brendan Gaughan in the final trip down the backstretch while points leader Johnny Sauter finished fifth.

    Defending champion and pole sitter James Buescher would lead the most laps – 55 – on the way to finishing sixth. It marks his first top 10 of the season. Darrell Wallace Jr. would finish seventh, followed by Ty Dillon, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Timothy Peters.

    The race was a crashed filled event with 11 cautions, that saw only 17 cars out of 36 starters finish the race. The most frightening of those incidents came on lap 121, involving Todd Bodine, Brennan Newberry and Bryan Silas and resulted in a 12 minute red flag to clear the track of debris that covered nearly one whole end of the track.

    Sauter continues to lead the standings, 12 points ahead of Matt Crafton.

    Unofficial Race Results
    SFP 250, Kansas Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=4
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 6 88 Matt Crafton Toyota 47
    2 11 18 Joey Coulter Toyota 43
    3 19 29 Ryan Blaney # Ford 41
    4 8 62 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 40
    5 4 98 Johnny Sauter Toyota 39
    6 1 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 40
    7 15 54 Darrell Wallace Jr. # Toyota 38
    8 5 3 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 37
    9 13 9 Ron Hornaday Jr. Chevrolet 35
    10 18 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 34
    11 12 77 German Quiroga # Toyota 34
    12 14 60 Dakoda Armstrong Chevrolet 32
    13 31 81 David Starr Toyota 31
    14 23 5 Tim George Jr. Ford 30
    15 3 4 Jeb Burton # Chevrolet 30
    16 28 68 Clay Greenfield 28
    17 33 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Chevrolet 27
    18 27 63 Justin Jennings Chevrolet 26
    19 21 99 Bryan Silas Ford 26
    20 17 14 Brennan Newberry # Chevrolet 24
    21 10 13 Todd Bodine Toyota 23
    22 36 21 Spencer Gallagher Chevrolet 22
    23 30 27 Jeff Agnew Chevrolet 21
    24 16 19 Joey Logano(i) Ford 0
    25 9 8 Max Gresham Chevrolet 19
    26 34 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 18
    27 7 51 Kyle Busch(i) Toyota 0
    28 25 6 Danny Efland(i) Chevrolet 0
    29 24 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 15
    30 35 7 Jamie Dick(i) Chevrolet 0
    31 2 32 Miguel Paludo Chevrolet 14
    32 20 7 John Wes Townley Toyota 12
    33 29 84 Mike Harmon(i) Chevrolet 0
    34 26 93 Chris Jones Chevrolet 10
    35 22 38 JJ Yeley(i) Chevrolet 0
    36 32 0 Scott Saunders 8
  • Lap by Lap: SFP 250 won by Matt Crafton

    Lap by Lap: SFP 250 won by Matt Crafton

    Matt Crafton would make a three-wide move with 30 laps to go to grab the lead and held Joey Coulter off in the final laps to win the SFP 250 for his first victory of 2013, the third for ThorSport Racing in four races this year.

     

    Lap 1 Buescher and Paludo side-by-side for the lead. Buescher clears Paludo off of turn four

    Lap 4 Buescher leads Paludo Burton Sauter Dillon Ky Busch Crafton Gresham Coulter Bodine

    Lap 8 Crafton passes Busch

    Caution lap 13 as Kyle Busch gets loose, going for a spin while getting loose underneath Ty Dillon. Leaders had down pit road for fuel. Paludo leads Buescher Coulter Crafton off pit road.

    Restart lap 20 Paludo and Buescher side-by-side for the lead. Agnew gets into the wall but continues on

    Caution lap 23 Spencer Gallagher goes for the spin as Paludo and Buescher were still side-by-side for the lead

    Restart lap 27 Buescher with the advantage through turns one and two as Paludo and Coulter are side-by-side for second

    Caution lap 28 John Wes Townley goes around and gets into the wall. Coulter got sideways – saved it but bunches up the field. Ty Dillon got sideways – saved it; Townley gets sideways and wrecks. “How does it feel you dumb ass? The carburetor is really bad at idle and cracking throttle for 15-20 percent,” says Ky Busch

    Restart lap 34  Buescher and Paludo are side-by-side for the lead. Leaders get loose while battling for the lead and Paludo gets into the wall hard. Caution is back out. The No. 07 gets the lucky dog.

    Restart lap 39 Crafton and Buescher side-by-side for the lead. Buescher clears Crafton in turns one and two.

    Lap 44 Buescher leads Hornaday Ky Busch Quiroga Logano Coulter Gaughan Wallace Crafton Dillon. Newberry serves a penalty for changing lanes before the restart

    Lap 46 Wallace Jr. passes Gaughan

    Lap 48 Busch passes Hornaday for second

    Lap 50 Buescher leads Busch, Hornaday, Quiroga, Logano, Coulter, Wallace Jr., Gaughan, Crafton, Dillon

    Lap 58 Coulter and Wallace pass Logano; Crafton passes Gaughan

    Lap 60 Sieg slow on the backstretch apron

    Lap 61 Buescher leads Busch Honaday Quiroga Coulter Wallace Logano Crafton Gaughan Dillon

    Lap 62 Buescher checks up for the lap track of Gallagher, allowing Busch to go by for the lead

    Lap 64 Busch leads Buescher Hornaday Quiroga Coulter Wallace Logano Crafton Gaughan Dillon

    Lap 73 Ky Busch, Gaughan, Buescher, Hornaday head down pit road. Quiroga to the lead.

    Lap 74 Quiroga and Crafton head down pit road. Hornaday busted for speeding, has to serve a pass through. Darrell Wallace Jr. to the lead.

    Lap 79 Wallace Jr. leads Jeb Burton. They have yet to pit due to pit stops earlier in the race.

    Lap 81 Wallace Jr. pits, hands the lead to Jeb Burton

    Lap 83 Caution comes out for debris. Jeb Burton and bunch pit under caution. Dillon leads Burton Peters and Bodine off pit road. Plenty of trucks to take the wavearound. Busch gets the lucky dog.

    Restart lap 88 Dillon and Burton side-by-side for the lead.

    Lap 89 Dillon clears Burton coming out of turn two

    Caution lap 90 Quiroga gets loose and takes Kyle Busch with him to the wall. Coulter gets the lucky dog.

    Restart lap 96 Jeb Burton clears Ty Dillon for the lead in turns one and two

    69 to go Sauter got loose and took Gresham up to the wall; Buescher chases Burton down for the lead

    67 to go Burton leads Buescher, Dillon, Blaney, Bodine, Peters……Logano to pit road with engine issues “Oil pump belt”

    66 to go Burton leads Buescher, Dillon, Blaney, Bodine, Peters, Crafton, Wallace, Sauter and Gaughan

    65 to go Jeff Agnew got into the wall but keeps it going.

    Caution 64 to go debris as Agnew stops on the backstretch. Top 9 stay out as Gaughan is first driver to head down pit road. Coulter also pits.

    Restart 59 to go Burton and Buescher side-by-side for the lead. Caution as David Starr has a flat and Spencer Gallagher runs into the back of him. Leaders head down pit road.  Coulter leads Burton Blaney Gaughan Peters Wallace off pit road.

    Restart 49 to go Coulter and Gaughan battle for the lead as Burton spins the tires. Burton comes back and grabs the lead from Coulter off of turn four.

    Caution 48 to go Newberry got loose under Bodine, sending them both to the wall. Silas then makes hard contact with Bodine. Ron Hornaday gets the lucky dog.

    47 laps left. JebBurton Coulter WallaceJr Gaughan Buescher Crafton Blaney Peters Sauter Dillon Quiroga Hornaday

    Restart 42 to go as Burton and Coulter are side-by-side for the lead. Coulter with the lead ahead of Burton off of turn four

    41 to go Burton dives under Coulter for the lead but gets loose, dropping back. Wallace up to second behind Coulter.

    37 to go Coulter leads Wallace, Buescher, Gaughan, Crafton, Blaney, Burton, Sauter, Peters and Dillon

    Caution 36 to go Justin Jennings runs into problems. Got loose and went for a spin. Top seven stay out as Burton is the first to pit.

    Restart 31 to go as Coulter and Wallace are side-by-side for the lead

    30 to go Crafton makes a three-wide move for the lead past Coulter and Wallace as Burton goes around for a spin in turns three and four

    Restart 26 to go as Crafton and Coulter are side-by-side for the lead. Coulter gets loose, allowing Crafton to have the advantage

    22 to go Crafton leads Coulter Gaughan Blaney Sauter Buescher Wallace Dillon Hornaday Peters

    13 to go Wallace passes Buescher

    3 to go Buescher passes Wallace back

    FL Blaney passes Gaughan in turn two.

    Matt Crafton wins. Coulter. Blaney Gaughan. Sauter. Buescher. Wallace Jr. Dillon

    Sauter leads Crafton by 12 points

    Unofficial Race Results
    SFP 250, Kansas Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=4
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 6 88 Matt Crafton Toyota 47
    2 11 18 Joey Coulter Toyota 43
    3 19 29 Ryan Blaney # Ford 41
    4 8 62 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 40
    5 4 98 Johnny Sauter Toyota 39
    6 1 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 40
    7 15 54 Darrell Wallace Jr. # Toyota 38
    8 5 3 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 37
    9 13 9 Ron Hornaday Jr. Chevrolet 35
    10 18 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 34
    11 12 77 German Quiroga # Toyota 34
    12 14 60 Dakoda Armstrong Chevrolet 32
    13 31 81 David Starr Toyota 31
    14 23 5 Tim George Jr. Ford 30
    15 3 4 Jeb Burton # Chevrolet 30
    16 28 68 Clay Greenfield 28
    17 33 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Chevrolet 27
    18 27 63 Justin Jennings Chevrolet 26
    19 21 99 Bryan Silas Ford 26
    20 17 14 Brennan Newberry # Chevrolet 24
    21 10 13 Todd Bodine Toyota 23
    22 36 21 Spencer Gallagher Chevrolet 22
    23 30 27 Jeff Agnew Chevrolet 21
    24 16 19 Joey Logano(i) Ford 0
    25 9 8 Max Gresham Chevrolet 19
    26 34 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 18
    27 7 51 Kyle Busch(i) Toyota 0
    28 25 6 Danny Efland(i) Chevrolet 0
    29 24 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 15
    30 35 7 Jamie Dick(i) Chevrolet 0
    31 2 32 Miguel Paludo Chevrolet 14
    32 20 7 John Wes Townley Toyota 12
    33 29 84 Mike Harmon(i) Chevrolet 0
    34 26 93 Chris Jones Chevrolet 10
    35 22 38 JJ Yeley(i) Chevrolet 0
    36 32 0 Scott Saunders 8
  • Kenseth captures the STP 400 pole at Kansas; Breaks up Ford front row

    Kenseth captures the STP 400 pole at Kansas; Breaks up Ford front row

    On a very difficult day that was cold and windy the boys of summer came to play at Kansas.

    Cars of every make and every team carried a remembrance of those injured or lost in the Boston Marathon Bombings. From Swan Racing and Stewart Haas to Hendrick Motorsports the decals varied from ribbons to the logo of Boston Red Sox. Missouri driver, Carl Edwards reflected on the tragedy, “I know I can speak for all of Roush Fenway Racing in saying that our thoughts are with everyone there that’s not only suffered, but all the confusion that’s going on. I don’t think anyone really understands exactly what’s happened yet, and without sounding cliché what Roush is doing is trying to do something to help. Steve Newmark and Jack Roush put together a program where Jack is gonna donate some money to a cause up there to try and help with whatever they need help with, and then we also pledged $100 for every lap that one of the Roush Fenway leads at the race track this weekend.”

    The sentiments were echoed by Jimmie Johnson whose Hendrick Motorsports team has a close tie to the tragedy, “I would assume everybody has seen the press release, but last night the shooting that took place unfortunately has some attachment to Hendrick Motorsports. Someone in the engine shop it was his brother, Andrew Collier’s brother, Sean was tragically killed last night. Still a lot of questions going on obviously if anybody has had a chance to watch the new today there still is a lot of chaos taking place in Boston. Trying to gather all that is going on, but a very sad time. My thoughts and prayers are with the Collier family. I certainly know that it is the same thing for all of Hendrick Motorsports. We are one big family and it’s sad and unfortunate to see a fellow teammate and his family going through such a tough time.”

    The qualifying for the Sprint Cup cars went off with only one casualty. That casualty was Jeff Gordon. Gordon lost the rear of the car coming out of two and hit the wall with both ends of the car. The No.24 team immediately pulled down the backup car. Gordon, would take the champions provisional to start tail end of the field.

    “I was committed. We have been tight, and I wasn’t tight. It felt great coming to the green and I was pretty happy with it through (turns) three and four and I got down into (turns) one and two and I arced it in there just the way I wanted to and got to the yellow line and started picking up the throttle and it just slowly came around. For a second I thought I was going to save it. I lit the tires up to keep it from hitting too hard and now we have a car and an engine that are pretty much done and it’s been a while since I wrecked qualifying.” Gordon said.

    The pole was won by Matt Kenseth with a time of 28.145 seconds/191.864 mph around the 1.5 track.  This was Kenseth’s ninth career pole and the first of the 2013 season.

    The outside front row belongs to Columbia, Missouri native Carl Edwards with a time of 28.162 seconds/191.748 mph.

    The top-4 qualifiers broke the track record in qualifying.

    Joe Nemecheck was the lone car to not qualify for the race.

    Starting Lineup
    STP 400, Kansas Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/cup/qual.php?race=8
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 191.864 28.145
    2 99 Carl Edwards Ford 191.748 28.162
    3 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. # Ford 191.734 28.164
    4 12 Sam Hornish, Jr.(i) Ford 191.401 28.213
    5 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 190.853 28.294
    6 43 Aric Almirola Ford 190.779 28.305
    7 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 190.651 28.324
    8 55 Mark Martin Toyota 190.282 28.379
    9 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 190.221 28.388
    10 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 190.134 28.401
    11 16 Greg Biffle Ford 190.067 28.411
    12 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 189.78 28.454
    13 78 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 189.534 28.491
    14 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 189.221 28.538
    15 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 189.195 28.542
    16 11 Brian Vickers(i) Toyota 189.182 28.544
    17 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 189.155 28.548
    18 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 189.023 28.568
    19 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Chevrolet 188.758 28.608
    20 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 188.679 28.62
    21 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 188.442 28.656
    22 22 Joey Logano Ford 188.317 28.675
    23 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 188.311 28.676
    24 81 Elliott Sadler(i) Toyota 187.996 28.724
    25 10 Danica Patrick # Chevrolet 187.774 28.758
    26 34 David Ragan Ford 187.441 28.809
    27 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 187.37 28.82
    28 38 David Gilliland Ford 187.279 28.834
    29 98 Michael McDowell Ford 187.272 28.835
    30 13 Casey Mears Ford 186.922 28.889
    31 83 David Reutimann Toyota 186.909 28.891
    32 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 186.728 28.919
    33 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 186.657 28.93
    34 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 186.561 28.945
    35 19 Mike Bliss(i) Toyota 186.528 28.95
    36 35 Josh Wise(i) Ford 186.419 28.967
    37 32 Timmy Hill # Ford 185.688 Owner Points
    38 30 David Stremme Toyota 185.65 Owner Points
    39 33 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 185.274 Owner Points
    40 36 JJ Yeley Chevrolet 185.185 Owner Points
    41 51 Regan Smith(i) Chevrolet 184.818 Owner Points
    42 7 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 183.811 Owner Points
    43 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 0 Owner Points