Category: Race Central

Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway in what was a thrilling end to a great race. Busch beat Kyle Larson by .023 seconds.

Larson finished second, Brian Vickers third, Sam Hornish Jr. fourth and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-5.

Allgaier led the field to the green flag and led the first lap at the Bullring of Bristol. Jeff Green was the first start and park when he took his No.10 car to the garage. Dillon and Keselowski made contact with each other but both continued on the race track.  On lap 24, Allgaier was approaching lap traffic and the No.7 of Smith caught up to him but could not complete the pass.

The first caution waved on lap 27 when the No.55 of Jamie Dick spun it and did a 360 but was okay and drove away. They went back to green on lap 31 with Allgaier continuing to lead.

The second caution waved on lap 60 when the No.5 of Brad Sweet spun it out on the backstretch. Sweet has had a tough weekend as he had a huge wreck with Joey Gase in practice and had to go to a backup car. Pit stops occurred for the first time this afternoon with all of the leaders coming in. The unique thing is, at Bristol, there is half of the pit road on the front stretch and half of the pit road on the back stretch. Bayne and Brian Scott only took 2 tires and will lead them to the green flag.

Green Flag was waved and Bayne led them around the track. Bayne led for eight laps before he got pressured by Busch for the top spot. Elliott Sadler was not having a good day and he got lapped on lap 75 telling his crew “That it will not run good and continued to fall back and on lap 88, he went to the garage after getting black flagged by NASCAR.

The third caution waved on lap 107 when the No.55 of Dick got spun by Vickers and then Nelson Piquet Jr had no room to go and t-boned into Dick’s car.  Busch, Keselowski and Smith stay out while Harvick and Bayne come in so it will be interesting to see what will happen.

They restarted on lap 118 with Busch leading  but was only 5 laps till the next caution coming out when the No.51 of Jeremy Clements slapped the wall in turn 2, sending debris down on the track. None of the leaders came in to pit.

Lap 130 they restarted and Busch continued to lead in the KBM Monster Energy ride but had to hold off the Discount tire car of Keselowski.

Lap 164 was when the yellow waved again for a big wreck in turn 1. The 70 of Brad Teague got into the No.44 of Hal Martin and collected Jeffery Earnhardt and Austin Dillon. Reed Sorenson also had some damage. All of the leaders came in and Keselowski led the field off of pit road. Allgaier was too fast exiting and had to go to the back of the field for the restart.

They restarted the race and Smith and Keselowski were battling it out for the lead. That did not last long as the caution came out once again for debris.

The restart came on lap 183 with Smith,Keselowski and Harvick all battling for the lead. Smith and Keselowski were battling and caught a lap car and bumped fenders and Smith feel back to 4th. Keselowski was battling a tire rub and it finally blew out on the backstretch and Harvick over took the lead. Keselowski came to pit road to repair the car and the caution came out for debris the following lap.

The green waved with 100 to go and Harvick cleared Busch as he was battling Hornish Jr for second. Busch finally cleared him and set his sights on the No.33.  Busch finally got to his bumper with 67 to go but could not finish the pass. Busch then tried the low side but could not work.  They finally got into lap traffic and were really close in couple of turns but they both raced safely and Busch took the lead with 58 to go. Larson was getting faster and faster each lap and finally got to the leaders and were 3 wide battling for the lead when the lap car of Robert Richardson JR got in the way and Larson bumped into him. Larson got little damage but it will not hurt him and he will be alright.

The caution waved for the 8th time when the No.00 of Jason White blew a tire. Nobody came in except for Harvick, who was 2nd, and Smith. It will be Busch vs Larson on the restart.

Restarted the race with 27 to go and Busch kept the lead. Larson tried to get Busch loose but held his car off of the No.54 and let him go. Harvick, who came in to pit road during the caution, has made up three positions since the restart.

Larson ran the fastest lap of the race with seven to go and was on Busch’s bumper with six to go. Larson got to the corner of Busch’s car but did not wreck him on the final lap and Busch won it by .023 seconds!

Ducking through lap traffic, taking any line they could to get to the line and bumping along the way, Kyle Busch would beat Kyle Larson to the line by 0.023 seconds. It marks Busch’s second Nationwide Series victory of 2013.

Green flag – Allgaier clears Dillon on the outside as pole sitter through turns one and two

Lap 2 Allgaier leads Dillon and Smith. Nemechek gets shot up, scrapes wall and continues.

Lap 4 Smith passes Dillon for second

Lap 15 Allgaier leads Smith Dillon Keselowski and Harvick

Lap 25 Allgaier leads Smith Keselowski

Caution lap 26 Jamie Dick spins. Brad Sweets get the free pass. Leaders stay out.

Restart lap 33 Allgaier once again pulls ahead, leaving Smith to battle for second with Harvick.

Lap 34 Harvick passes Smith for second.

Lap 38 Allgaier leads Harvick Smith Keselowski…..Sadler gets shuffled out of the groove, gets into the wall. No caution.

Lap 41 Allgaier leads Harvick Smith Keselowski Ky Busch Hornish Dillon Scott Bayne and Larson

Caution. Lap 60. Brad Sweet goes for a spin. Been a tough weekend for the young driver. Suffered a hard wreck in practice. Leaders head down pit road for pit stops. Bayne leads Scott Allgaier Ky Busch off pit road. They took two tires.

Restart lap 66 Bayne leads while Scott and Ky Busch battle for second. Sadler loses multiple spots with mechanical issues.

Lap 71 Bayne leads Ky Busch Scott Smith Harvick Keselowski Allgaier Hornish Larson and Vickers

Lap 73 Ky Busch alongside Bayne for the lead.

Lap 76 Larson, Vickers, Sorenson, Dillon all pass Hornish for position while Ky Busch uses the lap car of Brad Teague as a pick to take the lead past Bayne

Lap 84 Keselowski passes Scott, Harvick and Smith

Lap 85 Ky Busch leads Keselowski Bayne Scott Smith Harvick Larson Allgaier Dillon and Vickers. Sadler to pit road with motor problems.

Caution Lap 106 Jamie Dick and Nelson Piquet Jr. wreck hard on the front stretch. Looks like Vickers gave Dick a tap coming up off of turn four. Dick was a lap car. Top two stay out with some of the other leaders. Kevin Harvick was the first person (3rd) to pit.

Restart lap 119 Ky Busch holds the lead.

Lap 122 Jeremy Clements gets into the wall.

Caution lap 123 debris from Clements brings out caution.

Restart lap 129 Ky busch drives out ahead of the field, leading Keselowski

Lap 131 Ky Busch leads Keselowski Harvick Dillon Allgaier

Lap 134 Ky Busch leads Keselowski Harvick Dillon Allgaier Smith Hornish Bayne Vickers Larson….Keselowski has caught up to Kusch’s rear bumper

Lap 137 Dillon gets loose through the corners, falls back to sixth as he is passed by Allgaier and Smith

Lap 142 Vickers and Larson pass Bayne

Lap 143 Hornish passes Dillon for sixth

Lap 148 Ky Busch leads Keselowski Allgaier Harvick Smith Hornish Dillon Vickers Larson Bayne

Halfway.

Lap 160 Caution Sorenson, Dillon, Jeffery Earnhardt, Hal Martin – Martin spins across the track after going across Teague’s nose, comes up across the track and collects the rest. Martin expresses his displeasure with Teague, showing a clapping motion. Martin slid up across Teague’s nose, wasn’t quite clear. Martin was on lead lap. Teague is eight laps down. Leaders head down pit road. Keselowski leads Ky Busch Harvick Allgaier off pit road. Allgaier suffers a penalty for being too fast on pit road, has to restart at the tail end.

Restart lap 172 Keselowski and Busch side-by-side for the lead.

Lap 173 Keselowski leads as Busch fights for second with Smith.

Lap 174 Keselowski leads Smith Busch and Harvick

Lap 177 Keselowski and Smith battle for the lead side by side….Caution for debris. Leader determined to be Keselowski by last scoring loop. Keselowski leads Smith Busch and Harvick. Austin Dillon gets the lucky dog. He made an extra pit stop the last time to work on the front end after earlier damage. Both Keselowski and Harvick hit the piece of debris – sway bar arm.

Restart lap 184 Keselowski and Smith side-by-side for the lead.

Lap 185 keselowski with the slight advantage at the line as Harvick looks for second past Smith.

Lap 189 Smith gets loose under Keselowski, saves it and falls back to fourth. Keselowski has a tire rub. Keselowski leads Harvick Busch while Hornish and Smith battle for fourth.

Lap 193 Keselowski leads Harvick

Lap 194 Keselowski blows the tire, gets into the wall and bounces off Harvick. Harv leads Ky Busch and Smith

Lap 195 Caution for debris.

Restart 100 to go Harvick grabs the lead ahead of Busch

94 to go Harvick leads Ky Busch Hornish Larson Smith Vickers Scott Allgaier Buescher Bayne

76 laps to go Harvick leads Ky Busch Larson Hornish Smith Vickers Scott Allgaier Buescher Bayne

68 laps to go Harvick and Ky Busch are side-by-side for the lead. Harvick stays ahead of Ky Busch.

62 laps to go Ky Busch gets by Harvick for the lead through lap traffic

60 laps to go Ky Busch leads Harvick Larson Hornish Smith Vickers Allgaier Scott Buescher Kligerman

45 laps to go Ky Busch, Harvick and Larson find themselves in the midst of a three-way battle for the lead. Larson made slight contact with a lap car, continues on.

39 to go Ky Busch leads Harvick Larson Hornish Smith Vickers Allgaier Scott Buescher Kligerman

Caution 35 to go Jason White up against the tire after a flat tire. Ky Busch stays out, Harvick pits. Harvick says he’s terrible on the bottom and felt right to pit as he would restart there. Smith and Harvick to pit road, the rest stay out.

28 to go .. KyBusch Larson Hornish Vickers Allgaier Scott Kligerman Harvick Smith CBuescher Dillon Bliss Bowman.

Restart 27 to go Larson and Busch side-by-side for the lead. Busch clears him off of turn four, Larson second.

23 laps to go Harvick passes Hornish for fifth. Ky Busch leads Larson Vickers Scott Harvick Hornish Allgaier Smith Buescher Kligerman

13 laps to go Harvick and Scott both get up by the wall. Hornish passes them both.

10 laps to go Smith passes Allgaier

Lap cars ahead, Busch takes bottom, Larson takes top…..Busch wins by inches as they bump across the line

Ky Busch. Larson. Vickers. Hornish. Harvick. Smith. Buescher. Kligerman. Allgaier. Scott.

Sam Hornish Jr won the 17th Annual Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for his first win of the season and his second career Nationwide Series win.

“This feels awesome. The car was great. One of the things I said when we did the ride around was what a great crowd we had here. I didn’t know until this morning that this was the Sam’s Town 300. It is kinda cool that I was able to win it. I have to thank all the people at Penke Racing and Roush Yates engines for giving us this opportunity.” Hornish said.

Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, Trevor Bayne and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top-5.

Vickers started on the pole after they cancelled qualifying and had practice instead due to practice getting rained out yesterday. Austin Dillon led the practice and was the fastest in the 10 lap averages.  Vickers led the first lap and got a couple car lengths over Dillon in the first few laps. Brad Keselowski radioed to his crew chief that the car was kinda weird and felt that they did not tighten all the tires but he radioed back saying it was fine after a couple laps.

First caution waved very early in the race on lap 4 when the No.14 of Eric McClure blew up on the back of turn 2 and onto the backstretch. Nobody came into pit due to being so early in the race.

The race restarted on lap 8 with Vickers still leading. Dillon overtook Vickers on the backstretch and led the following lap by a nose. Vickers overtook Dillon and retained the lead on lap 10. Keselowski took the lead over Vickers on lap 21 and drove away after Vickers got loose from the bumps in turn 1 and Keselowski took advantage. Dale Jr, who started 32nd, was up to 15th on lap 24.

The second caution waved for the competition caution due to the rain yesterday and since they only had practice today, they wanted the teams to check tire wear, handling and other things.  All of the lead lap guy came and and most people took four tires except for Bayne and Regan Smith who took two tires. Dale Jr gained four spots on pit road coming out 10th while Brian Scott lost four positions and came out 9th.

Green Flag waved on lap 41 with Bayne leading and Busch made it three wide into turn one to gain as many spots as possible . Bayne led the lap but it was not easy as Smith and Vickers were coming in a hurry.

The third caution waved on lap 55 when the No.87 of Joe Nemechek got together with the No.01 of Mike Wallace. Wallace hit the bumps in turn 1 and slide up the track into Nemechek. Nobody in the top 10 came in except for Bayne. Some Cars looked like they were coming in but faked it and left Bayne out to dry. He will restart 15th.

Smith restarted on lap 61 but was three wide with Hornish Jr and Vickers onto the backstretch. Hornish took the lead on lap 62 while Vickers and Smith were battling for second.

The fourth yellow flag is out on lap 81 when the No.23 of Robert  Richardson Jr got loose in turn 2 and spun out but did not hit anything. Everybody came onto pit road and some hit some different plans then others. Bayne and Kyle Larson took fuel only and came out with the lead while Dillon, Alex Bowman, Nelson Piquet Jr and Scott all took two tires. The leaders, Hornish and Keselowski, took four tires and both lost six places.

We went back to green only for a lap when the two leaders got together and both smacked the wall. Bayne got loose and got the left rear of Larson and got both of them in trouble. Larson has got some pretty good damage while Bayne has got right side damage. Bayne response to the wreck? “This kid(Larson) is going to learn a lesson one of these days.” Larson was heard saying on his radio “Did I do anything wrong?” “I didn’t do nothin’ wrong there, did I? His crew told him he did nothing wrong.

“We have to take bad days, and this should have been a 12th place day after we wrecked, and we finished fourth. We had a chance to win it at the end and didn’t get position on them. I am really proud.” Bayne said after the race.

Dillon restarted the race on lap 92 with Vickers right bedside him as the leader due to the crash of Larson and Bayne. Dillon got overtook by Vickers on the backstretch on lap 93 but Hornish went passed Vickers on lap 94 and pulled away.

On lap 118, Keselowski came in and said something was not right and got four tires and fuel. He reported earlier in the race that he thought he had a loose wheel but he could deal with it. He came in and got some stuff our of the grill and it settled the temps down. It did not fix it though as his splitter was falling apart and had to come to the pit road to repair it on lap 136.  When asked about what caused the vibration, Keselowski said ““I don’t know. We don’t know or we would have it fixed by now. It is disappointing because the Discount Tire Ford was really fast. It looks like my teammate Sam Hornish is really fast. Something just broke in the mid part of the race and we couldn’t figure it out. It kept getting worse and worse. Something was broke in the front end. It just wasn’t going to run in lap speed and something eventually broke really big going down the straightaway and we needed to get off the track before we got somebody else wrecked or brought out a yellow. It is just really unfortunate.”

Caution came out on lap 138 for debris right after the No.77 of Parker Kilgerman went to the garage. Most of the drivers were happy because it was about time for green flag pit stops. They came down and got four tires and fuel and Busch came out first. Everybody was told save fuel as it will be really close if they need to make one more stop or if they can make it to the finish. Earnhardt Jr. came in and got fuel with one to go in order to make it all the way.

Race restarted with Busch leading and Vickers right beside him. Vickers took the lead as Busch got high into four. They continued to battle for the lead for multiple laps until Vickers got really lose in one, from the bumps, and slide back to third while Hornish was getting pressure on Busch for the top spot. Hornish took the lead the next lap.

Just when we thought everybody was going to have to save fuel, the caution comes out. The No.8 of Scott Lagasse Jr spun out on turn 1 and onto the banking to bring out the 6th caution of the afternoon. Brad Sweet got the free pass and none of the leaders came in but Travis Pastrana, Ty Dillon and couple others came in and made assure that they would make it to the finish on fuel.

We went back to green with 13 to go and Busch leading. As they battled for the lead, They were wrecking behind them. Joey Gase got together with Larson sending them both into the wall. Larson”s car was on fire and he got out and was okay as Gase drove his car to pit road. Dale Jr will get the free pass to make 14 cars on the lead lap. Larson finished 32nd.

Hornish Jr led the field to the green with seven laps to go with Busch right besides him. Busch and Hornish Jr were side by side by the start finish line but Hornish cleared Busch into turn 1 and never looked back.

Sam Hornish Jr. would dominate on the way to winning the Sam Town’s 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to score his second career Nationwide Series victory. The win allows him to keep the Nationwide Series points lead.

Green flag and Brian Vickers leads ahead of Trevor Bayne

Lap 2 Vickers Bayne, Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski

Lap 3 Vickers A Dilon Bayne Keselowski, Parker Kligerman, Brian Scott, Sam Hornish Jr., Justin Allgaier, Ty Dillon….Eric McClure brings out the first caution with a huge trail of smoke

Restart lap 8 Vickers leads them off of turn two with Dillon in toe…..Dillon gets the run down the backstretch and gets alongside Vickers.

Lap 9 Dillon leads at the line with Vickers to his inside followed by Keselowski. Vickers grabs the lead back through turns three and four

Lap 10 Vickers Dillion Keselowski Bayne Scott Allgaier Kligerman Hornish Jr. Smith Sadler

Lap 11 Keselowski passes Dillon for second

Lap 12 Kligerman, Hornish Jr. and Smith pass Allgaier

Lap 14 Sadler passes Allgaier for ninth

Lap 15 Vickers leads Keselowski Dillon Bayne Scott Kligerman Hornish Jr Smith Sadler Allgaier

Lap 22 Keselowski passes Vickers for the lead

Lap 28 Keselowski leads Vickers Dillon Bayne Scott Hornish Kligerman, Kyle Busch, Smith and Sadler….Ky Busch passes Kligerman seventh

Lap 31 Daryl Harr blackflagged for not meeting the minimum speed – he has made it to pit road. Smith passes Kligerman for eighth.

Lap 35 Competition yellow due to lack of practice with the weather situation.  Pit stops. Bayne leads Smith Keselowski Vickers Dillon Hornish Ky Busch Sadler Scott and Earnhardt Jr. Top two drivers took two tires while the rest took four.

Restart lap 42 Bayne and Smith side-by-side for the lead while its two, three-wide behind them.

Lap 43 Bayne leads while Smith and Vickers are side-by-side for second

Lap 44 Bayne Smith Vickers Hornish Keselowski, A Dillon Ky Busch Sadler Scott, Ty Dillon

Lap 47 Ky Busch passes A Dillon for sixth; Earnhardt Jr. passes Ty Dillon for 10^th

Lap 50 Dillon passes Ky Busch back for sixth…….Bayne Smith Vickers Hornish Keselowski A Dillon Ky Busch Sadler Scott Earnhardt Jr.

Caution lap 56 Joe Nemechek wrecks with the No. 01. Bayne pits from the lead with some of the mid-pack cars. Smith takes over the lead.

Restart lap 61 Hornish makes it three-wide on the restart with Smith and Vickers. Smith and Hornish go side-by-side for the lead into turn three. Hornish clears Smith off turn four.

Lap 62 Hornish leads ahead of Vickers and Smith.

Lap 63 Hornish leads Smith Vickers Keselowski Ky Busch A Dillon Scott Sadler Earnhardt Jr and T Dillon

Lap 64 Vickers passes Smith for second

Lap 66 A Dillon passes Ky Busch for fifth

Lap 69 Keselowski passes Smith for third

Lap 71 Hornish leads Vickers Keselowski Smith A Dillon Ky Busch Scott Sadler Earnhardt Jr and T Dillon

Caution lap 81 Robert Richardson Jr. goes for a spin. Leaders hit pit road. Bayne leads Larson A Dillon Vickers Bowman Piquet Jr Hornish Scott. Some took two tires, some took fuel only, some took four tires.

Restart lap 87. Bayne and Larson side-by-side for the lead. Both drivers get into the wall off of turn four while racing for the lead. Bayne got loose and up into Larson. Caution comes out. Dillon and Vickers were side-by-side behind them.

Restart lap 92 Vickers restarts of the leader, clears Austin Dillon through turns three and four.

Lap 93 Hornish passes A Dillon for second

Lap 94 Hornish passes Vickers for the lead, ahead of A Dillon, Bowman, Keselowski, Ky Busch, Sadler, Smith, Piquet Jr. and Ty Dillon.

Lap 95 Keselowski passes Bowman for fourth.

Lap 97 Smith passes Sadler for seventh; Allgaier passes Piquet Jr and Ty Dillon for ninth

Lap 98 Scott passes Piquet Jr and Ty Dillon for 10^th

Lap 100 Busch and Smith pass Bowman; Scott passes Allgaier

Lap 102 Hornish leads Vickers Keselowski A Dillon Ky Busch Smith Sadler Bowman Scott and Ty Dillon

Lap 125 Keselowski running into major issues, made a couple of pit stops. Hornish leads Vickers.

Lap 136 Keselowski is back down pit road with splitter and shock issues, to go with their temperature issues.

Lap 137 Kyle Busch passes Vickers for second. Parker Kligerman goes behind the wall. Caution for debris. Kyle Busch leads Vickers Hornish A Dillon Smith Sadler T Dillon Scott and Bayne off pit road. “It popped out of gear. It’s okay. I just have a cut left rear tire…..Sorry guys. That was stupid on my part.” – Kligerman

Restart lap 145 as Vickers and Kyle Busch are side-by-side for the lead. Earnhardt Jr. came on pit road as everyone to green with a flat left rear tire.

Lap 147 Ky Busch Vickers A Dillon Hornish Sadler Smith Scott Bowman Bayne T Dillon

50 laps to go Vickers and Ky Busch side-by-side for the lead. Hornish passes Dillon for third

49 laps to go Ky Busch holds Vickers off, Hornish grabs second from Vickers

48 laps to go Hornish and Ky Busch side-by-side for the lead.

47 laps to go Hornish grabs the lead ahead of Ky Busch Vickers Sadler Dillon

46 laps to go Keselowski to the garage.

36 to go Hornish leads Ky Busch and Vickers

34 laps to go Hornish leads Ky Busch Vickers Sadler A Dillon Scott Smith Bayne T Dillon Bowman

28 laps to go Bayne passes Smith for seventh

19 to go Smith passes Bayne back for seventh

Caution 18 to go Scott Lagasse Jr. goes for a spin after getting loose. Brad Sweet gets the lucky dog as he just went a lap down to leader Sam Hornish Jr. Top seven stay out as the back half pits. There are 13 cars on the lead lap with Sweet getting the lucky dog.

Restart 13 laps to go Hornish and Busch are side-by-side for the lead as Kyle Larson wrecks on the backstretch to bring out the caution. Joey Gase was slow, got hit by Ryan Seig…Gase then hit Larson, sending Larson into the outside wall. Earnhardt Jr. gets the lucky dog. On restart will be Hornish KyBusch Sadler Bayne Vickers Bowman ADillon Scott TDillon Smith Pastrana Piquet Sweet DaleJr

Restart 8 laps to go Kyle Busch and Hornish side-by-side for the lead.

6 laps to go Hornish to the lead ahead of Ky Busch through turns one and two

5 laps to go Hornish leads Ky Busch while Bayne and Sadler are side-by-side for third

4 laps to go Vickers makes it three-wide with Bayne and Sadler off of turn four

3 to go Vickers passes Bayne for third. Piquet Jr. scrapes the wall

2 to go Hornish leads Ky Busch Vickers

Sam Hornish Jr. wins at Las Vegas. Kyle Busch. Vickers. Bayne Sadler A Dillon Smith Bowman Scott Pastrana T Dillon Sweet Piquet Earnhardt Jr