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  • Biffle captures the Bank of America 500 pole

    Biffle captures the Bank of America 500 pole

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”212″][/media-credit]CONCORD, NC – A cold night at Charlotte Motor Speedway set up qualifying for the Bank of America 500 to favor those that went late in qualify. At least that was the plan and for most of the night, the script was followed. That was until Greg Biffle rolled his 3M Ford onto the track. Biffle was the 32nd car onto the track, but when the dust had settled, Biffle found that his 193.708 lap had put him on the pole for Saturday night’s race.

    Joining Biffle on the front row will be former teammate Mark Martin. No one seemed to challenge Biffle until Martin rolled off as the next to last car to qualify. His lap seemed to put a charge into the crowd as many knew that his lap was quick.

    Series points leader Brad Keslowski found his Miller Lite Dodge could only manage a 20th starting position. Ryan Newman was able to put his car in the third starting position. However, at this point in the season, it is clear that the cream definitely rises to the top.

    Sprint Cup Chase contenders Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Kasey Kane completed the top ten, qualifying fourth through tenth respectively.

    On a day that started with the announcement that fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be out for the next two races due to a concussion, many wondered if replacement Regan Smith could manage to put the Mountain Dew car in the top ten. Unfortunately, Smith was only able to turn in a 26th starting position.

    Other notables, Kevin Harvick will start 11th, Jeff Gordon 13th and Tony Stewart 32nd.

    Nationwide Series regular Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified 29th and AJ Allmendinger returned to NASCAR putting his Phoenix Construction Chevrolet in the 38th starting position.

    Starting Lineup
    Bank of America 500, Charlotte
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=31
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 16 Greg Biffle Ford 193.708 27.877
    2 55 Mark Martin Toyota 193.361 27.927
    3 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 193.251 27.943
    4 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 193.043 27.973
    5 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 192.995 27.98
    6 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 192.919 27.991
    7 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 192.885 27.996
    8 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 192.85 28.001
    9 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 192.802 28.008
    10 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 192.644 28.031
    11 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 192.637 28.032
    12 20 Joey Logano Toyota 192.561 28.043
    13 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 192.212 28.094
    14 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 191.666 28.174
    15 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 191.605 28.183
    16 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 191.293 28.229
    17 43 Aric Almirola Ford 191.286 28.23
    18 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 191.279 28.231
    19 99 Carl Edwards Ford 191.245 28.236
    20 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 191.232 28.238
    21 78 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 191.225 28.239
    22 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 190.691 28.318
    23 195 Scott Speed Ford 190.691 28.318
    24 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 190.617 28.329
    25 34 David Ragan Ford 190.382 28.364
    26 88 Regan Smith Chevrolet 190.181 28.394
    27 13 Casey Mears Ford 190.027 28.417
    28 119 Mike Bliss Toyota 190.027 28.417
    29 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 189.987 28.423
    30 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 189.867 28.441
    31 30 David Stremme Toyota 189.687 28.468
    32 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 189.587 28.483
    33 98 Michael McDowell Ford 189.587 28.483
    34 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 189.52 28.493
    35 37 J.J. Yeley Ford 189.341 28.52
    36 38 David Gilliland Ford 189.255 28.533
    37 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 189.168 28.546
    38 51 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 189.142 28.55
    39 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 188.469 28.652
    40 32 Timmy Hill Ford 188.225 28.689
    41 93 Travis Kvapil+ Toyota 186.735 28.918
    42 36 Dave Blaney+ Chevrolet 186.322 28.982
    43 191 Reed Sorenson Toyota 189.102 28.556
  • Kenseth scores the win at Talladega in wild finish

    Kenseth scores the win at Talladega in wild finish

    [media-credit id=100 align=”alignright” width=”222″][/media-credit]Matt Kenseth scores a much needed victory in the Good Sam’s Roadside Assistance 500 by avoiding a last lap crash triggered by contact between Tony Stewart and Micheal Waltrip.

    After a clean and calm race, but the “big one” finally came on the final turn of the final lap. In an interview immediately following the race, Stewart took full responsibility for the crash saying he came down on Waltrip trying to protect his position.

    “I just looked in my mirror and saw them coming at me three-wide. I kind of let Tony have his spot there. It didn’t look like he had a big push behind him and lined up with Kevin and we pretty much stayed locked together there until we got to turn three and I thought it was gonna be a drag race to the finish. I didn’t know what was gonna happen and I’m still not sure what happened. Somehow I think Tony got turned and caused a big wreck.” Kenseth said.

    Waltrip, however, says “I don’t blame Tony at all.” going on to say anyone else leading would have done the same thing.

    “I just screwed up. I turned down and cut across Michael and crashed the whole field. It was my fault, blocking and trying to stay where I was at.” Stewart said.

    Kenseth and his Roush-Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle ran strong for most of the day.with Kenseth leading three times for a total of 33 laps. After a a poor start in the Chase, this strong run was just what they needed to regain some momentum for the remainder of the Chase. The downside for the No.17 team is that points leader Brad Keselowski finished a solid seventh and only lost ten points to the winner Kenseth leaving a distant 62 points back.

    Jeff Gordon also made it through the carnage unscathed giving him three top three finishes out of four Chase races, but he too only gained five points on the leader Keselowski, he did however gain four spots in the standings.

    A long list of Chase contenders including Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr were all involved in the last lap crash and took hits in the points.

    “If this was what we did every week, I wouldn’t be doing it. I’ll just put it to you that way. If this was how we raced every week, I’d find another job. That’s what the package is doing. It’s really not racing. It’s a little disappointing. It cost a lot of money right there.” Earnhardt Jr. said.

    Keselowski now has a solid 14 point lead over Johnson and six more back to Hamlin. They have now separated themselves from the rest of the Chase drivers, and seemingly will be the three that contend for the 2012 title.

    “That’s pretty big. I just feel lucky to survive Talladega.” Keselowski said.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Good Sam 500, Talladega Superspeedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=30
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 15 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 47
    2 6 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 43
    3 13 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 42
    4 25 34 David Ragan Ford 41
    5 5 16 Greg Biffle Ford 40
    6 28 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 38
    7 22 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 37
    8 36 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 37
    9 2 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 35
    10 26 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 35
    11 23 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 33
    12 9 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 32
    13 1 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 32
    14 21 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 31
    15 32 38 David Gilliland Ford 29
    16 31 32 Terry Labonte Ford 28
    17 17 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 28
    18 40 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 26
    19 8 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 0
    20 18 43 Aric Almirola Ford 24
    21 12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 24
    22 4 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 23
    23 3 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 22
    24 10 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 0
    25 11 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 19
    26 19 13 Casey Mears Ford 19
    27 20 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 18
    28 16 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 16
    29 39 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 15
    30 38 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 14
    31 34 98 Michael McDowell Ford 13
    32 14 20 Joey Logano Toyota 12
    33 30 30 David Stremme Toyota 11
    34 24 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 12
    35 43 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet 0
    36 7 99 Carl Edwards Ford 8
    37 41 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 7
    38 27 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 6
    39 29 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 6
    40 42 33 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 0
    41 37 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
    42 35 97 Timmy Hill Toyota 2
    43 33 26 Josh Wise * Ford 1
  • Kligerman scores first career win in the Fred’s 250 powered by Coca-Cola

    Kligerman scores first career win in the Fred’s 250 powered by Coca-Cola

    [media-credit id=100 align=”alignright” width=”211″][/media-credit]Parker Kligerman won his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) victory in Red Horse Racing’s “magic truck” at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday.

    “As you know, it’s been a long road to get to this victory. Two different teams and a lot of adversity, but today I was put with some of the best people I’ve ever worked with and some of the best people I’ve ever raced with. And, it starts at the top with Tom DeLoach (team owner) and this whole Red Horse Racing team. My crew chief Chad Kendrick right here and this entire team that we assembled mid-season to go after this championship when my situation changed.” Kligerman said.

    It wasn’t easy for Kligerman.  He battled through a bad pit stop, vibration and battery issues.

    “I can’t thank enough people for this win. There’s a ton of people that have made this possible to get to this point in my career. I can’t say enough about these guys. We fought every single possible thing you could fight. We had a vibration, we had a battery go down and had no alternator and we just went for it there at the end. Thank you to Johnny Sauter because he made that possible. That was pretty awesome. I can’t say enough about these guys. We’re going to go and fight for this championship for sure.” Kligerman said.

    This was the same truck that John King won with at Daytona International Speedway earlier this season. This was only Parker’s seventh start with Red Horse, but has been a threat to win each time out. Today also gave him his fifth top five in those seven starts.

    Kligerman started ninth and led once for two laps, the final two, the fewest led by a winner at Talladega.

    Johnny Sauter finished second, James Buescher third, Ty Dillon foourth and Timothy Peters finished fifth.

    After being released from the No.29 team earlier this year, Parker says he “…wasn’t sure if he would even still be in NASCAR” All of those worries are now over! He has made himself a solid championship contender in the NCWTS.

    Point leaders Ty Dillon and James Buescher seemed to be near each other all day and they finished the day with Buescher finishing third and Dillon finishing fourth, the points however remain the same showing Dillon with a one point advantage.

    Unofficial Race Results
    fred’s 250, Talladega Superspeedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=18
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 9 7 Parker Kligerman Toyota 47
    2 29 13 Johnny Sauter Toyota 43
    3 3 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 42
    4 1 3 Ty Dillon * Chevrolet 42
    5 8 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 40
    6 19 29 Ryan Blaney Ram 39
    7 6 18 Kurt Busch Toyota 0
    8 23 151 German Quiroga Toyota 36
    9 16 2 Tim George Jr. Chevrolet 35
    10 5 33 Cale Gale * Chevrolet 34
    11 32 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 33
    12 15 99 Bryan Silas * Ford 32
    13 27 27 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 0
    14 11 22 Joey Coulter Chevrolet 30
    15 31 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 29
    16 22 168 Clay Greenfield Ram 28
    17 30 176 Ryan Hackett Ford 27
    18 25 88 Matt Crafton Toyota 27
    19 21 32 Miguel Paludo Chevrolet 25
    20 2 23 Jason White Ford 25
    21 35 93 Chris Jones Chevrolet 23
    22 17 81 David Starr Toyota 22
    23 20 220 Rick Crawford Toyota 21
    24 13 6 Justin Lofton Chevrolet 21
    25 18 9 John Wes Townley * Toyota 19
    26 4 5 Aric Almirola Ford 0
    27 36 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Ram 17
    28 10 9 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 16
    29 12 84 Chris Fontaine Chevrolet 15
    30 24 1 Donnie Neuenberger Chevrolet 0
    31 14 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. Chevrolet 13
    32 34 7 Johnny Chapman Toyota 13
    33 7 11 Todd Bodine Toyota 11
    34 33 8 Ross Chastain * Toyota 10
    35 26 174 Mike Harmon Chevrolet 0
    36 28 225 Brandon Knupp Chevrolet 0
  • Kahne captures the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 pole at Talladega

    Kahne captures the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 pole at Talladega

    [media-credit id=100 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Hendrick Motorsports driver, Kasey Kahne turns the fast lap of 191.455 mph, to edge out Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) driver Ryan Newman by only .061 sec. to score the pole for Sunday’s Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500. This was Kahne’s third pole of the season.

    “It was a great way to start the weekend. We had a good car yesterday in practice, felt good in the draft, felt good around Jeff Gordon, we were pushing each other and stuff. Things are good so far. It would be great to start first; I have never qualified first at one of these tracks.” Kahne said just after turning the lap.

    This is the 32-year-old driver’s first career pole award at Talladega Superspeedway and first at any restrictor plate track.

    “It’s my first pole at this track and at this type of a race track so it feels pretty good. We have tried for a long time to win one here and this shows how awesome that car is thanks to Hendrickcars.com and Chevrolet and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports we have some fast cars this weekend.” Kahne said.

    Kahne comes into the race sixth in points, 32 points behind leader Brad Keselowski who will start 22nd on Sunday.

    Chase contenders Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart, and Greg Biffle round out the top five.

    “I’m blown away, shocked that we were top-three. Very, very proud of (Brian) Pattie (crew chief) and everybody on our 5-hour ENERGY Toyota with the support of the Avon Foundation and everything we’ve got going on. We haven’t been qualifying very good on these restrictor-plate tracks and today it caught me off guard.” Bowyer said of his qualifying run.

    Chase contender Jeff Gordon just missed the top five and will start sixth.

    “It was a solid lap and effort. This team always does such an amazing job in coming to the restrictor plate tracks. Obviously, being on the pole last time we were here we were hoping to be there again, but this late draw and the wind you just can’t ever tell what is going to happen. We didn’t get the pole, but it’s still up there where we need to be.” Gordon said.

    Travis Kvapil, who led the first practice session and one of only two drivers to break the 200 mph mark, will start 36th. A team member confirmed that the No.93 BK Racing Burger King car wasn’t good by itself, but runs well in the draft.

    Other notables – Matt Kenseth starts 15th, Jimmie Johnson will start 17th, Kevin Harvick will take the green in 21st.

    “I was just real disappointed in the speed. Honestly, you don’t know if you run a 49-flat or 51-flat, you can’t tell in qualifying, but I was just disappointed in the speed.” Kenseth said.

    Starting Lineup
    Good Sam 500, Talladega Superspeedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=30
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 191.455 50.017
    2 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 191.145 50.098
    3 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 191.119 50.105
    4 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 190.993 50.138
    5 16 Greg Biffle Ford 190.955 50.148
    6 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 190.848 50.176
    7 99 Carl Edwards Ford 190.784 50.193
    8 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 190.727 50.208
    9 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 190.662 50.225
    10 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 190.628 50.234
    11 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 190.465 50.277
    12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 190.427 50.287
    13 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 190.419 50.289
    14 20 Joey Logano Toyota 190.393 50.296
    15 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 190.37 50.302
    16 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 190.332 50.312
    17 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 190.298 50.321
    18 43 Aric Almirola Ford 190.298 50.321
    19 13 Casey Mears Ford 190.177 50.353
    20 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 190.17 50.355
    21 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 190.113 50.37
    22 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 189.778 50.459
    23 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 189.748 50.467
    24 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 189.74 50.469
    25 34 David Ragan Ford 189.616 50.502
    26 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 189.552 50.519
    27 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 189.38 50.565
    28 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 189.316 50.582
    29 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 189.025 50.66
    30 30 David Stremme Toyota 188.947 50.681
    31 32 Terry Labonte Ford 188.794 50.722
    32 38 David Gilliland Ford 188.727 50.74
    33 26 Josh Wise* Ford 188.649 50.761
    34 98 Michael McDowell Ford 188.638 50.764
    35 97 Timmy Hill Toyota 188.326 50.848
    36 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 188.296 50.856
    37 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 188.001 50.936
    38 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 187.986 50.94
    39 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 187.46 51.083
    40 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 186.991 51.211
    41 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 186.783 51.268
    42 33 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 186.289 51.404
    43 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet 185.942 51.5
  • Dillon takes NASCAR Camping World Truck Series pole at Talladega

    Dillon takes NASCAR Camping World Truck Series pole at Talladega

    [media-credit id=100 align=”alignright” width=”186″][/media-credit]Ty Dillon came to Talladega Superspeedway with just a one point advantage over James Buescher in the series standings. If the twenty year old rookie driver is under any pressure, he isn’t showing it. Dillon took the top starting spot for Saturday’s Fred’s 250 powered by Coca-Cola with a lap of 177.291 mph. It was his third career pole in just twenty one starts in the series.

    Dillon is following in the footsteps of his older brother and making a name for himself in the series with an eye locked on one day piloting a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car for his grandfather, team owner Richard Childress (RCR).

    Jason White, driver of the No.23 Gunbroker.com Ford will start second, Buescher third, Aric Almirola fourth and Cale Gale starts fifth.

    Kurt Busch had to settle for the sixth starting spot after leading the final practice session.

    “I’m more of a rookie than all of the rest of these guys when it comes to the draft, because they’ve been doing it the last few years. The last time I did a restrictor plate truck race was back in 2000. It’s been a while.” Busch said.

    Other notables: Championship contender Timothy Peters and recent series winner Nelson Piquet Jr. will start eighth and fourteenth respectively.

    “It is handling good. We unloaded our Tundra and it was really good. We drafted just a little bit to save our equipment and that will give us a good solid starting position and as long as we can complete 94 laps we’ll be alright.” Peters said.

    The green flag will drop on the Fred’s 250 powered by Coca-Cola at 3:00pm Saturday.

    Starting Lineup
    fred’s 250, Talladega Superspeedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/qual.php?race=18
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 3 Ty Dillon* Chevrolet 177.291 54.013
    2 23 Jason White Ford 176.617 54.219
    3 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 176.598 54.225
    4 5 Aric Almirola Ford 176.246 54.333
    5 33 Cale Gale* Chevrolet 176.165 54.358
    6 18 Kurt Busch Toyota 175.684 54.507
    7 11 Todd Bodine Toyota 175.404 54.594
    8 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 175.394 54.597
    9 7 Parker Kligerman Toyota 175.343 54.613
    10 9 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 175.211 54.654
    11 22 Joey Coulter Chevrolet 175.199 54.658
    12 84 Chris Fontaine Chevrolet 175 54.72
    13 6 Justin Lofton Chevrolet 174.971 54.729
    14 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. Chevrolet 174.955 54.734
    15 99 Bryan Silas* Ford 174.831 54.773
    16 2 Tim George Jr. Chevrolet 174.751 54.798
    17 81 David Starr Toyota 174.592 54.848
    18 9 John Wes Townley* Toyota 174.576 54.853
    19 29 Ryan Blaney Ram 174.277 54.947
    20 220 Rick Crawford Toyota 174.16 54.984
    21 32 Miguel Paludo Chevrolet 174.134 54.992
    22 168 Clay Greenfield Ram 173.765 55.109
    23 151 German Quiroga Toyota 173.743 55.116
    24 1 Donnie Neuenberger Chevrolet 173.412 55.221
    25 88 Matt Crafton Toyota 172.737 55.437
    26 174 Mike Harmon Chevrolet 172.64 55.468
    27 27 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 172.351 55.561
    28 225 Brandon Knupp Chevrolet 172.274 55.586
    29 13 Johnny Sauter Toyota 172.004 55.673
    30 176 Ryan Hackett Ford 171.97 55.684
    31 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 171.217 55.929
    32 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 171.162 55.947
    33 8 Ross Chastain* Toyota 170.616 56.126
    34 7 Johnny Chapman+ Toyota 168.684 56.769
    35 93 Chris Jones+ Chevrolet 164.063 58.368
    36 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Ram 171.407 55.867

  • Brad Keselowski Tames Monster Mile for First Win and Points Lead

    [media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”230″][/media-credit]Brad Keselowski, driving the No. 2 Miller Lite  Dodge for Penske Racing, not only tamed the Monster Mile with his first ever win at Dover International Speedway, but also took the points lead, now five points over Jimmie Johnson.

    This was Keselowski’s fifth win of the season and his ninth career win. He has now won two of the three races so far in the Chase.

    “I’m happy for our day here obviously,” Keselowski said. “We certainly were a lot stronger here than we were in the past.”

    “I may not have had the best car but hung around in that top five, just kept creeping around and when you do that, you put yourself in position for good things to happen.”

    “That’s what this 2 team has done the last few months.”

    “That was the type of performance we needed to stay in this championship and we showed today that we’re going to continue to be there every week,” Paul Wolfe, crew chief for the race winning car, said. “This was another small step to the ten races and I’m proud to be able to come out of here in the points lead.”

    One driver that needed a great run actually got it at the Monster Mile. Jeff Gordon, behind the wheel of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, held on to finish in the runner up position.

    “I thought it was a solid effort,” Gordon said. “Our car was good right from the start.”

    Gordon admitted he had a car that was better on the long runs, but that actually helped when it came time to finish up the fuel mileage racing.

    “We struggled on the short runs,” Gordon said. “We started really struggling on the restarts and losing positions.”

    “But that played to our favor because we could come in and top off,” Gordon continued. “It gave us the opportunity not to have to save fuel.”

    “I thought me and Mark Martin were going to be battling for the win”, Gordon said. “We just got a little too tight at the end.”

    Although Gordon is still 48 points out in the Chase, he has moved forward into the tenth spot after race three of the Chase.

    “This is nice to follow up with what we had last week,” Gordon said. “We’re just taking a few steps in the Chase each week.”

    “It was a great day all around.”

    Wily veteran Mark Martin, behind the wheel of the No. 55 Aaron’s 2000th Store/Bronx NY Toyota, finished third for Michael Waltrip Racing.

    “I don’t know if everybody really noticed but we had a rocket ship,” Martin said. “Super fast car.”

    “We battled from behind all day,” Martin continued. “We were just passing cars left and right.”

    “It was a hard fought battle by a great race team,” Martin said. “I had a really, really fast race car.”

    “It feels really good, regardless of the points, to run good.”

    Jimmie Johnson, in the No. 48 Lowe’s /Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, not only lost the points lead but had to finish off the race in fuel saving mode, for fourth.

    “It’s a tough situation to be in, but I’m more focused on the big prize,” Johnson said. “I’m very happy we got to the finish line.”

    “We had clean air but I had to give it up because of saving fuel,” Johnson continued. “Today we were fourth, which is not bad.”

    Johnson acknowledged that it was difficult to let cars pass, especially those Chase competitors, just to have to save fuel.

    “It’s tough,” Johnson said. “But you have to race on all fronts and we had a decent day today.”

    Once known as ‘Concrete Carl’, the driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford finally had a good day on the concrete banks of the Monster Mile, finishing fifth.

    “That was a decent run for us,” Edwards said. “We had a lot of good luck.”

    “If I can’t be winning the race, I enjoy seeing the battle out there,” Edwards continued. “We’ve got some work to do and we have to keep working on these cars.”

    “We didn’t drop the ball and we had some fun,” Edwards said. “It’s fortunate we came home top five.”

    Some Chase contenders salvaged a fairly decent day; however others had dramatically difficult days. Among the latter was Matt Kenseth, who hit the wall twice and finished a miserable 35th in his No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Ford.

    “Today was a struggle,” Kenseth said. “This is probably the worst we’ve run here for as long as I can remember.”

    “From the first lap on the track to the last lap on the track, we were pretty much junk.”

    Kenseth had the distinction of being the worst finisher of the Chasers and fell into the basement position in 12th, now 72 points behind leader Keselowski.

    Other Chase contenders fared better than Kenseth, including Martin Truex Jr., who finished sixth; Denny Hamlin in eighth; Clint Bowyer in ninth; Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in eleventh; Kevin Harvick in the 13th spot, and Kasey Kahne who finished 15th.

    The remaining Chase drivers, Greg Biffle, who had a tire issue and a major meltdown, and Tony Stewart, who was just off all day, finished 16th and 20th respectively at Dover International Speedway.

    Unofficial Race Results
    AAA 400, Dover Int’l Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=29
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 10 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 47
    2 7 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 43
    3 26 55 Mark Martin Toyota 41
    4 11 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 41
    5 15 99 Carl Edwards Ford 39
    6 3 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 38
    7 5 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 39
    8 1 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 37
    9 2 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 36
    10 14 20 Joey Logano Toyota 34
    11 25 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 33
    12 17 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 0
    13 13 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 31
    14 16 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 30
    15 9 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 29
    16 6 16 Greg Biffle Ford 28
    17 18 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 27
    18 27 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 26
    19 21 43 Aric Almirola Ford 25
    20 24 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 24
    21 8 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 23
    22 19 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 22
    23 28 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 21
    24 20 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 20
    25 4 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 0
    26 35 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 18
    27 39 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 17
    28 38 10 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 0
    29 33 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 15
    30 31 34 David Ragan Ford 14
    31 30 13 Casey Mears Ford 13
    32 42 38 David Gilliland Ford 12
    33 41 32 T.J. Bell Ford 0
    34 40 36 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 10
    35 12 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 9
    36 22 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 8
    37 23 26 Josh Wise * Ford 7
    38 32 98 Michael McDowell Ford 6
    39 37 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
    40 34 195 Scott Speed Ford 4
    41 43 37 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 3
    42 36 23 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 2
    43 29 191 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 0
  • Piquet Jr. wins the Smith’s 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

    Piquet Jr. wins the Smith’s 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photography, Inc.” align=”alignright” width=”217″][/media-credit]Nelson Piquet Jr. won Saturday nights NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) Smith’s 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Piquet Jr. passed Matt Crafton on the final lap and captured his second win of the season.

    Crafton was leading heading into the final lap after a restart. Piquet Jr. went low on the final lap and made the pass. Piquet Jr. also won in the Nationwide Series race at Road America in June and the Truck Series race at Michigan in August.

    “I have no idea what happened. I had to give it a last try, I stuck it in there and God gave me a little bit more grip on the inside and we made it. It feels great. We really needed this win. Probably the best win of my career.” Piquet Jr. said.

    Crafton finished .223 seconds behind Piquet Jr. and remains winless this season.

    “That sucks. Just plain and simple sucks. We had a great truck. We were really good on the second run and the third run we got really loose and the thing was really good right there at the end.” Crafton said.

    Polesitter Joey Coulter finished third, Brendan Gaughan fourth and Todd Bodine finished fifth.

    Ty Dillon finished 10th and holds a one point lead over James Buescher with five races remaining.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Smith’s 350, Las Vegas
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=17
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 13 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. Chevrolet 47
    2 4 88 Matt Crafton Toyota 43
    3 1 22 Joey Coulter Chevrolet 43
    4 6 2 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 0
    5 10 11 Todd Bodine Toyota 39
    6 15 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 38
    7 12 33 Cale Gale * Chevrolet 37
    8 2 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 37
    9 3 18 David Mayhew Toyota 0
    10 5 3 Ty Dillon * Chevrolet 35
    11 7 32 Miguel Paludo Chevrolet 33
    12 9 29 Grant Enfinger Ram 33
    13 16 23 Jason White Ford 31
    14 19 9 John Wes Townley * Toyota 30
    15 17 98 Travis Pastrana Toyota 0
    16 21 99 Bryan Silas * Ford 28
    17 18 5 Ryan Reed Ford 27
    18 33 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 26
    19 14 7 Parker Kligerman Toyota 26
    20 8 6 Justin Lofton Chevrolet 24
    21 11 13 Johnny Sauter Toyota 23
    22 24 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 22
    23 22 214 Brennan Newberry Chevrolet 21
    24 32 165 Chris Lafferty Chevrolet 20
    25 23 8 Ross Chastain * Toyota 19
    26 28 27 Travis Miller Chevrolet 18
    27 20 9 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 17
    28 30 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Ram 16
    29 34 84 Chris Fontaine Chevrolet 15
    30 25 7 Johnny Chapman Toyota 14
    31 27 93 Dennis Setzer Chevrolet 13
    32 26 25 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 0
    33 29 38 Chris Jones Chevrolet 11
    34 31 200 Clay Greenfield Ford 10
  • Logano wins the OneMain Financial 200 at Dover

    Logano wins the OneMain Financial 200 at Dover

    [media-credit name=”Tammyrae Benscoter” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Joey Logano won the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) OneMain Financial 200 at Dover International Speedway on Saturday for his seventh win of the season and 16th of his career.

    Logano dominated the race by leading 184 of the 200 laps.

    “I told Adam (Stevens, crew chief) that my monster trophy from last time was lonely and needed a friend — so I’m glad I was able to get one for him. This was the last race for SportClips for the year so I was happy to be able to get them another victory.” Logano said.

    Paul Menard finished second, Michael Annett third, Elliott Sadler fourth and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 5.

    Darrell Wallace Jr. started on the pole for the first time in his career. He was looking for a spot better then yesterday when he finished second in the K&N East Series. He led the into turn one but Justin Allgaier took over the lead on the backstretch and led the first lap. Wallace Jr. fell back to third, behind Logano.  Logano took over the lead from Allgaier on lap 14 and Brian Scott moved all the way up to 17th after starting 38th.

    The first caution waved on lap 45 for the competition caution due to overnight rain. All of the leaders came in to pit. Sadler came in saying he was tight in the center and loose off the turns. He got a adjustment and four tires with fuel and was off. Kasey Kahne took some strategy and only took two tires to win the race off pit road. Logano said he started the race very tight but it quickly went to loose, especially on landing. He got a adjustment, four tires and fuel and left the pits.

    Kahne led them to the green but got quickly booted out of the way on the restart. Logano planned it perfectly and took the lead into the turn 1 and pulled away from Kahne. Kahne held the second spot while Allgaier and Busch got together and bumped finders but both were able to continue.

    Logano continued to lead when they reached the half way point with only one caution due to the competition caution. Logano has led 80 of the 100 laps that have been completed and has lapped all but 19 cars. Allgaier, Kahne,Busch and Dillon rounded out the top 5

    The second caution waved with 84 laps to go when the No.51 of Jeremy Clements was smoking from his left front tire.  It was a possible wheel bearing that snapped or broke. Everybody will be really close of making it to the end with fuel but everybody will come in. Logano led them in telling his crew he wanted to turn better. He got a slight air pressure adjustment and four tires and fuel. His Crew Chief, Adam Stevens, told him to save fuel as they are very very close to the finish. Busch followed him in telling Mike Beem he was a too loose and wanted a spring rubber out of the left rear. He also got tape on the nose while they put in that very valuable fuel and four tires. Allgaier stopped in his pit box saying he had no rear grip. He got four tires and an adjustment and beat everybody off of pit road.

    The green flag waved on lap 124 with Logano leading them to the strip. He was trying to pull away but Allgaier was not letting him go away and kept with the No.18.  He got within car lengths of Logano but his left rear tire started smoking going into one and they had to go behind the wall for repairs.

    With 36 laps to go, Sam Hornish Jr told his crew,  he is coming to them because his right rear was down. They came on in and fixed it but he fell to 18th, one lap down after running second before that problem.

    The third Caution came out when the No.39 of Tim Andrews started smoking and blew his engine. No lead laps cars came in due to track position and so few laps to go.

    Green flag waved with 18 laps to go with Logano leading. Kahne missed a shift or did not go at the restart which stacked up the whole inside line. They all went 3-4 wide to avoid him. Kahne fell all the way back to 12th after the restart.

    Stenhouse Jr. and Dillon bumped fenders going into 3 and 4. Stenhouse Jr. finished 9th and Dillon finished 10th.

    Stenhouse Jr. is now nine points behind the series points leader Sadler.

    “This hasn’t ever been one of our best race tracks, so I guess out of the ones left this was the one we didn’t think we would be the greatest at, but we’ve got some great race tracks left. Last week might have been a disappointing finish, but we had a dominating car so we can hang our hat on that. Today, we can’t really hang our hat on anything, so we’ll just go on.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

    Unofficial Race Results
    OneMain Financial 200, Dover Int’l Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=28
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 – 18 Joey Logano Toyota 0
    2 – 33 Paul Menard Chevrolet 0
    3 – 43 Michael Annett Ford 41
    4 – 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 40
    5 – 54 Kyle Busch Toyota 0
    6 – 88 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 38
    7 – 11 Brian Scott Toyota 37
    8 – 38 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 0
    9 – 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 35
    10 – 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 34
    11 – 19 Mike Bliss Toyota 33
    12 – 20 Darrell Wallace Jr. Toyota 32
    13 – 22 Ryan Blaney Dodge 31
    14 – 199 Ryan Truex Toyota 30
    15 – 44 Jeff Green Toyota 29
    16 – 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 28
    17 – 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 27
    18 – 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 26
    19 – 30 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 25
    20 – 81 Jason Bowles * Dodge 24
    21 – 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 23
    22 – 124 Blake Koch Toyota 22
    23 – 27 J.J. Yeley Ford 0
    24 – 41 Timmy Hill Ford 0
    25 – 23 Jamie Dick Chevrolet 19
    26 – 14 Eric McClure Toyota 18
    27 – 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 17
    28 – 4 Brad Teague Chevrolet 16
    29 – 39 Tim Andrews Ford 15
    30 – 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 15
    31 – 40 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 13
    32 – 52 Justin Jennings Chevrolet 0
    33 – 70 Tony Raines Dodge 0
    34 – 86 Kevin Lepage Ford 10
    35 – 108 Danny Efland Ford 9
    36 – 175 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 0
    37 – 171 Carl Long Ford 7
    38 – 46 Chase Miller Chevrolet 6
    39 – 42 Josh Wise Chevrolet 0
    40 – 100 Michael McDowell Toyota 0
    41 – 47 T.J. Bell Chevrolet 3
    42 – 15 Kelly Bires Chevrolet 2
    43 – 10 Charles Lewandoski Toyota 1
  • Denny Hamlin Scores First Ever Pole At Monster Mile

    Denny Hamlin Scores First Ever Pole At Monster Mile

    [media-credit name=”Gary Buchanan” align=”alignright” width=”216″][/media-credit]At a track that has been admittedly been monstrous in the past to him, Denny Hamlin pulled off the fastest qualifying lap of his Monster Mile career, scoring his first ever pole at Dover International Speedway.

    Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota grabbed the pole with a fast lap of 22.599 seconds at a speed of 159.299 mph. This is Hamlin’s third pole of the season but his first ever at Dover in 14 races at the Monster Mile.

    “That was an amazing run,” Hamlin said. “Definitely wasn’t what I expected, but it sure feels good to get a pole here.”

    “Our car was really strong in race trim and really wasn’t all that good in qualifying trim,” Hamlin continued. “Hopefully this is a good sign of things that will give us a strong run here on Sunday.”

    “Starting from the pole will help us in tuning our car throughout the day,” Hamlin said. “Obviously track position is going to be very, very crucial and we’ve got to do everything we can to keep that.”

    “We’ve got a car that’s very capable of staying in the front and hopefully we’ll have a shot to win.”

    Hamlin humbly credited his crew chief Darian Grubb for his pole winning qualifying effort.

    “I think there’s a lot of drivers out there that could be able to do what I do with the cars that Darian has been giving me the last few weeks,” Hamlin said. “I’m going to give him pretty much all the credit and ride his back as long as it will hold me.”

    The second and third qualifying positions belonged to Michael Waltrip Racing teammates Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex, Jr.

    “It was good,” Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota, said. “When you’re that close, it’s disappointing because you know just if you could have put the gas down that much more anywhere around the race track, you’d of had the pole.”

    “I will save that for another day.”

    Bowyer posted his 12th top-10 start of 2012 and his fifth in 14 races at the Monster Mile.

    “It’s a good day for us,” Martin Truex, Jr., driver of the No. 56 NAPA Toyota, said. “It’s been a good weekend so far.”

    “The NAPA Toyota was about perfect,” Martin Truex Jr. continued. “Had to lift off turn four and gave it to him.”

    “The car was awesome.”

    This was Truex’s sixth top-10 start at Dover International Speedway and his 13th in 29 races this season.

    Sam Hornish, Jr. sat on the pole briefly but was relegated to a fourth place qualifying run in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger.

    “The lap was OK,” Hornish said. “From inside the car, I thought that we put together a pretty solid lap.”

    “Our race runs yesterday didn’t have the speed that we needed, so I’m really happy that I qualified well.”

    Kyle Busch, in the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, rounded out the top-five in qualifying at Dover. Busch had his hands full, with the car wiggling during the lap.

    “I really don’t know what I did wrong,” Busch said. “It stepped out and I just had to catch it and wait and go after it the second lap.”

    “Just glad we were able to have a strong second lap.”

    While the qualifying lap may have been a bit squirrelly, Busch said he might just have the car to beat on race day.

    “I think we’ve definitely got a top-three car right now,” Busch said. “I think we’re one of those in the top elite.”

    Ten of the twelve Chase drivers qualified in the top-13 positions during the time trials, with Hamlin in first, Bowyer second, Truex Jr. third, Greg Biffle sixth, Jeff Gordon seventh, Kasey Kahne in ninth, Brad Keselowski in tenth, Jimmie Johnson in eleventh, Matt Kenseth in twelfth and Kevin Harvick in thirteenth.

    Chase drivers Tony Stewart qualified 24th and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. qualified 25th.

    Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., making his first Cup start in the No. 6 Cargill Ford, qualified 17th and Danica Patrick, in the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, qualified 38th.

  • Hamlin captures the AAA 400 pole at Dover

    Hamlin captures the AAA 400 pole at Dover

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”217″][/media-credit]Denny Hamlin captured the pole for Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway with a lap of 159.299 mph.

    “That was an amazing run. Definitely wasn’t what I expected, but it sure feels good to get a pole here. Our car was really strong in race trim and really wasn’t all that good in qualifying trim. Hopefully, this is a good sign of things that will give us a strong run here on Sunday.” Hamlin said.

    Hamlin, who has an average finish of 20.5, hopes have a better finish on Sunday with the top starting spot.

    “For me to qualify on a pole that doesn’t reward my style and obviously having a car as strong as it is. It’s a good thing that Darian (Grubb, crew chief) is as good as he is at setting up race cars. I just think that we have things rolling right now and we just are taking it one week at a time.” Hamlin said.

    Clint Bowyer qualified second with a lap of 159.264 mph.

    “It was good. It’s just a little bit too loose, kind of knew that. You knew what you were fixing to be up against when you were watching everybody run. It looked like everybody was skating around on the top of the race track. We (Martin Truex Jr.) were both kind of talking and I was too loose in (turns) one and two, but because of that the car turns really good and you’re almost on the bottom too much in (turns) three and four and then you get over there three-quarters of the way around and the thing will get tight and lose the nose on you.” Bowyer said.

    Martin Truex Jr. third, Sam Hornish Jr. fourth and Kyle Busch qualified fifth.

    “The Shell/Pennzoil Dodge was really good. The guys have worked hard to give me a fast car. Our race runs yesterday didn’t have the speed that we needed, so I’m really happy that I qualified well.” Hornish Jr. said.

    Chase drivers Greg Biffle qualified sixth, Jeff Gordon seventh, Kasey Kahne ninth, Brad Keselowski 10th, Jimmie Johnson 11th, Matt Kenseth 12th, Kevin Harvick 13th, Tony Stewart 24th and Dale Earnhardt Jr. starts 25th.

    “We were not very good in practice. I don’t know what to expect. We struggled all weekend really. We just haven’t had real good speed.” Earnhardt Jr. said.