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  • Hamlin Wins at New Hampshire- Just Like he Predicated

    Hamlin Wins at New Hampshire- Just Like he Predicated

    [media-credit name=”Noel Lanier” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Earlier this week Denny Hamlin told everyone via Twitter that he would win this week’s Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The proclamation came after a disappointing finish in Chicago where he ran out of gas and lost valuable positions in the chase for the Sprint Cup. Hamlin definitely backed up his predication with a dominating win as Jimmie Johnson came in second by almost 3 seconds and pole-sitter Jeff Gordon finished third. With his win Hamlin moved up to third in points only seven points behind the new leader Jimmie Johnson who now leads Brad Keselowski by a single point.  Fellow chase participants Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top 5.

    Hamlin’s weekend was somewhat disappointing when his qualifying efforts only secured him a 32ndstarting position.  On Sunday he was in the lead by lap 93 of the scheduled 300 lap event. From that point Hamlin dominated the race extending his lead to over six seconds at times. No one really challenged him for the lead although pit strategy did see Hamlin lose the lead in the pits, only to be out front in very short order. He led 193 of 300 laps securing the bonus point for leading the most laps.

    “It doesn’t hurt to have a little confidence in the team,” Hamlin said. “I said we were fast enough to make it up, and we were. I’ll have these guys back until I die. Just our team. These are lightning-fast race cars they’re giving me.”  About his prediction he said, “You don’t want to sound too cocky, but I knew what we were capable of. Our car was extremely strong, and I have a really good knack for this race track. The two together, with a crew chief like Darian, it’s a winning combination.”

    Jimmie Johnson said in the media center afterwards, “We just did all we could today.  We just missed a little bit of speed and the 11 seemed to have everybody covered.  And after that, we were the next‑best car and I just kind of ran there all day.”

    Jeff Gordon in the media center was happy with his results, “Yeah, it was a great performance.  Certainly helped qualifying on the pole, getting that No. 1 pit stall.  That was important.  We had good pit stops, good pit calls and strategy and then good adjustments. We weren’t very good at the start of the race, but we hung in there with our track position and then we made an adjustment about halfway through the race that wasn’t very good for the short runs, but it seemed to maintain pretty good on the longer runs.  So allowed us to get up there into fourth and then that restart, we were able to jump into third.”

    The race saw long green flag runs slowed only for a few caution periods all for debris on the race surface. The Sprint Cup Series will be in Dover Delaware next weekend.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Sylvania 300, New Hampshire
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=28
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 32 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 48
    2 20 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 43
    3 1 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 42
    4 12 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 40
    5 6 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 40
    6 15 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 39
    7 3 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 38
    8 18 20 Joey Logano Toyota 36
    9 4 55 Brian Vickers Toyota 36
    10 8 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 34
    11 16 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 33
    12 7 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 32
    13 14 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 31
    14 25 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 31
    15 11 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 29
    16 22 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 28
    17 9 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 27
    18 13 16 Greg Biffle Ford 26
    19 5 99 Carl Edwards Ford 25
    20 17 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 24
    21 22 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 0
    22 24 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 22
    23 19 43 Aric Almirola Ford 21
    24 21 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 20
    25 23 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 19
    26 29 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 18
    27 28 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 17
    28 2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 17
    29 26 34 David Ragan Ford 15
    30 34 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 14
    31 33 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 13
    32 37 38 David Gilliland Ford 12
    33 42 32 Mike Olsen Ford 11
    34 39 33 Stephen Leicht * Chevrolet 10
    35 43 30 David Stremme Toyota 9
    36 30 13 Casey Mears Ford 9
    37 31 98 Michael McDowell Ford 7
    38 27 195 Scott Speed Ford 6
    39 36 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
    40 41 36 Tony Raines Chevrolet 4
    41 40 37 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 3
    42 35 191 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 0
    43 38 179 Kelly Bires Ford 0
  • Dillon scores second career NASCAR Nationwide Series win at Kentucky

    Dillon scores second career NASCAR Nationwide Series win at Kentucky

    [media-credit name=”Adam Lovelace” align=”alignright” width=”216″][/media-credit]Austin Dillon, driver of the No.3 Advocare Chevrolet, started from the pole for the second time this year at Kentucky Speedway in the Kentucky 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race, with a speed of 177.264 mph and scored his second career win at Kentucky. “We have a hot rod. This car runs good here. I’ve figured something out with the line. I’m just very confident at this track”, said Dillon after his pole winning run.

    Points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. started second in the No.6 EcoBoost Ford. Sam Hornish Jr., driving the No.12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge for Roger Penske, started third.

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took the lead on the opening lap from Dillon and would lead early. NASCAR announced before the race that there would be a competition caution on lap 30 after heavy rains washed the rubber off the track over night. When the caution waved on lap 30, Stenhouse lead the field buy 1.593 seconds. During the pit stops for the caution, Stenhouse Jr. made contact with Eric McClure in the No.14 Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota, causing damage to Stenhouse Jr’s right front. Stenhouse would have to come in the pits to repair the damage and restarted in 28th spot. Stenhouse would later have to pit again for a flat tire, ultimately losing 3 laps to the leaders and finishing in 17th.

    Elliot Sadler, driving the No.2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing  passed Stenhouse for the points lead after Stenhouse Jr’s problems on the track. Sadler, who would experience steering problems during the race, ran in the top 5 most of the day and would go on to finish in fifth. Sadler now leads Stenhouse by four points followed by Dillon in third, 19 back from Sadler.

    Drew Herring, making his first Nationwide Series start of the year and driving the No.18 SportClips Toyota for Joe Gibbs racing ran with the leaders most of the day and recovered from a spin to score the first top 5 finish of his career.

    Sam Hornish, Jr. ran strong all day and finished in 2nd, followed by Brendan Gaughan in third. The rest of the top 10 were Cole Whitt in 6th, Michael Annett 7th, Justin Allgaier 8th, Ryan Blaney 9th, and Brad Sweet in 10th.

    Johanna Long, driving the ML Motorsports No.70 Keen Parts Chevrolet had a good run and finished in 12th place. Danica Patrick, with new crew chief Ryan Pemberton, finished in 14th. Kurt Busch, driving his brother’s Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota, started last on the field after missing qualifying due to the Sprint Cup Series racing in New Hampshire. He ran up towards the front of the field before burning up a rear gear and would finish the race in 28th position.

    The race had six cautions for 26 laps, with eleven lead changes among seven different drivers. Austin Dillon’s margin of victory was 1.059 seconds and he lead 65 of the races 200 laps.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Kentucky 300, Kentucky Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=27
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 1 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 47
    2 3 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 43
    3 6 33 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 0
    4 4 18 Drew Herring Toyota 41
    5 8 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 41
    6 15 88 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 38
    7 5 43 Michael Annett Ford 38
    8 10 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 36
    9 20 22 Ryan Blaney Dodge 35
    10 13 38 Brad Sweet * Chevrolet 34
    11 7 11 Brian Scott Toyota 33
    12 12 70 Johanna Long * Chevrolet 32
    13 19 30 James Buescher Chevrolet 0
    14 11 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 30
    15 18 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 29
    16 23 81 Jason Bowles * Toyota 28
    17 2 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 28
    18 17 44 Mike Bliss Toyota 26
    19 16 23 Jamie Dick Chevrolet 25
    20 22 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 24
    21 27 39 Josh Richards Ford 23
    22 24 14 Eric McClure Toyota 22
    23 33 19 Tayler Malsam Toyota 21
    24 30 40 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 20
    25 9 199 Alex Bowman Toyota 19
    26 21 8 Scott Lagasse Jr. Chevrolet 18
    27 32 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 17
    28 42 54 Kurt Busch Toyota 0
    29 40 41 Timmy Hill Ford 15
    30 25 4 Danny Efland Chevrolet 14
    31 42 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 13
    32 29 124 Benny Gordon * Toyota 12
    33 36 50 David Starr Chevrolet 0
    34 34 86 Kevin Lepage Ford 11
    35 37 52 Joey Gase * Chevrolet 9
    36 43 108 Mike Harmon Ford 8
    37 41 15 Carl Long Chevrolet 7
    38 38 100 Tanner Berryhill Toyota 6
    39 26 46 Chase Miller Chevrolet 5
    40 39 171 Matthew Carter Chevrolet 4
    41 31 47 Matt DiBenedetto Chevrolet 3
    42 35 42 Matt Frahm Chevrolet 2
    43 28 10 Charles Lewandoski Toyota 1
  • Dillon wins it for PopPop!

    Dillon wins it for PopPop!

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”237″][/media-credit]Austin Dillon won the Inaugural NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Kentucky 300 at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday. This is Dillon’s second win the the season and his NNS career.

    “This one wasn’t easy; there were a lot of good teams out here. These guys built an awesome race car.” Dillon said.

    Sam Hornish Jr. finished second, Brendan Gaughan third, Drew Herring fourth and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top 5.

    Dillon led the field to the green flag in a very sunny day. He went down into turn 1 and got loose which allowed Stenhouse Jr. to get by him and lead the first lap.

    The Caution waved on the next lap when the No.87 of Joe Nemechek spun on the back stretch and the yellow waved. He had to go to the back, as well as Kurt Busch, as they had to fly here from Loudon due to not qualifying the car. Busch made up all the way to 27th when the caution waved..

    Green Flag waved for the second time on lap 5 with Stenhouse Jr. leading them. Stenhouse Jr., Dillon and Hornish were all battling for the lead but Stenhouse Jr. led that lap. Hornish passed Dillon for second and was going for Stenhouse Jr. when the second caution came out when the No.38 of Brad Sweet spun off of turn 4. Stenhouse Jr. got a warning on the radio from NASCAR to pick up the pace on the restarts. He was very slow on the last one and other drivers were complaining. None of the leaders pitted because only 9 laps have been completed.

    Stenhouse Jr. led the field back to the green flag on lap 13 and was clear by the time he was in the backstretch. Busch was in 12th after he started in the back.  Stenhouse Jr. was pulling away from Dillon and Hornish Jr.

    The third caution waved as the competition yellow on lap 30.  Sadler was in saying he was little tight and says he might be hitting the splitter. He got two tires and a chassis adjustment  and was away. Hornish pulled in to his pit box and they pulled a spring rubber and got two tires and was away. Dillon also took two tires. Stenhouse Jr. got two tires as well but when he was leaving he hit Eric McClure door and it hurt the front of his car. He backed up and got back and fixed it.

    They restarted the race on lap 36 with Dillon taking the lead. Stenhouse Jr. was leading but got hit and restarted 28th. Dillon got a great restart and was racing with  Hornish as the two of them separated themselves from the other drivers.

    The fourth caution waved when the No.18 of Herring was spinning into the grass off of turn 4. He got help from Michael Annett. Nobody pitted during the caution as they had just pitted during the previous yellow.

    The green flag waved on lap 44 with a great restart! Dillon led the field but Justin Allgaier made it three wide with him and Hornish. Hornish took over the lead while Allgaier took second. Allgaier got loose in turn 1 the following lap and fell back to fourth. Hornish was cruising and thought he had a great lead but on lap 48.  Sadler took over the lead for the fifth lead change of the afternoon.

    Stenhouse Jr. hit the wall coming off of turn 4 battling for position with Danica Patrick and just ran out of room. He was very slow coming off of that and went to pit road to fix it. He went back onto the track but was two laps down and in the 32nd position. Stenhouse Jr. battled back and finished 17th.

    “Our first mistake was on pit road. The No. 14 came in there and knocked the right front end, which put us back in the pack. Then, we don’t handle very well, and I got loose and into the wall which cut a tire down. It was just one thing after another, but we rebounded to a 17th place finish.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

    After 42 laps of green flag racing, the fifth caution came out when the #19 car of Taylor Malsam spun as he was trying to avoid Jason Bowles when Bowles was coming in to pit road. Bowles was on the apron and was going in but Malsam was battling with Mike Wallace and got bumped by Wallace and  spun the thing around. All of the leaders came to pit as they would of had to come in the next to 5-10 laps. Sadler came in as the leader and said he he was pretty happy with the car. He got a air pressure and a slight chassis adjustment with four tires and he was away. Busch came in and they told him they were making big changes to his Monster Energy Toyota. He got a spring rubber out of the right front and a air pressure along with four tires and fuel and was off.  Dillon was in saying he was tight in the center so he got a small adjustment and four tires with fuel and beat the others off pit road.

    Dillon led the field back to the green with Sadler right behind him. Scott made it three wide with Hornish Jr. and made Hornish go very high and almost to the wall. Hornish almost hit him back but he is running for a championship. Dillon and Sadler were pulling away from the field as they were two and three wide. Sadler and Dillon went back and forth for the lead but Sadler eventually took over the top spot.

    On lap 130, Sadler was leading and all of a sudden Busch started to slow and he was spewing smoke out of the exhaust pipe. He said its been smoking for a couple times and it was not right. He got to pit road and the team said there was fluid coming out of the back of the car. He went behind the wall.

    Green flag pit stops started on lap 138 when the No.99 of Alex Bowman came in telling his team he was looking for more grip. This is second career start with last week being the first. He got four tires and fuel and was away. Allgaier also came in saying he was free in and tight in the middle and off.  He got a adjustment and four tires and fuel and was away.

    A couple of laps later, Sadler, who was leading at the time, saying his steering was locking up. He said he had to come in right away. His crew chief, Luke Lambert, told him to come in right now and that is what he did. He got four tires and they said they hoped they fixed the problem and they were gone. Dillon came in right behind them and Dillon got told that he was going to be held for a couple more seconds to pack the tank with fuel. Bowman came back in with smoke coming from the back of his car.  Dillon took the lead after the pit stops cycled out because Sadler’s team had a long stop due to the locking of the power steering.

    Right after green flag pit stops occurred, the No.14 of McClure spun coming out of turn 4 and spun into the grass on the front stretch. He drove away but this will bunch the field up. Sadler was one of the three cars that only came in. Sadler got two tires and was off. There was only nine cars on the lead lap so this didn’t hurt them.

    They went back to green with 34 laps to go with Dillon in the lead. Cole Whitt got a good restart and took second from Gaughan. Gaughan then took it back and Whitt had to protect the third spot from Hornish Jr. Hornish Jr eventually got the spot and was fighting for second with Gaughan.

    Sadler, who went in for tires on the last caution, restarted in 9th and drove up to fifth position.

    Sadler now holds a four point lead in the series standings over Stenhouse Jr.

    “We just lost power steering. Nobody could touch us today we were so freaking fast, but about 10 laps before that last green flag pit stop with about 50 laps to go, I lost power steering and the car was really locking up on me. It wouldn’t go left, it wouldn’t go right. I couldn’t correct the car, so I really had to drive it safe and straight into the corners. It’s hard to keep up that way, but I’m proud of my guys. We got the points lead back and we’ll head on to Dover.” Sadler said.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Kentucky 300, Kentucky Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=27
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 1 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 47
    2 3 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 43
    3 6 33 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 0
    4 4 18 Drew Herring Toyota 41
    5 8 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 41
    6 15 88 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 38
    7 5 43 Michael Annett Ford 38
    8 10 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 36
    9 20 22 Ryan Blaney Dodge 35
    10 13 38 Brad Sweet * Chevrolet 34
    11 7 11 Brian Scott Toyota 33
    12 12 70 Johanna Long * Chevrolet 32
    13 19 30 James Buescher Chevrolet 0
    14 11 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 30
    15 18 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 29
    16 23 81 Jason Bowles * Toyota 28
    17 2 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 28
    18 17 44 Mike Bliss Toyota 26
    19 16 23 Jamie Dick Chevrolet 25
    20 22 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 24
    21 27 39 Josh Richards Ford 23
    22 24 14 Eric McClure Toyota 22
    23 33 19 Tayler Malsam Toyota 21
    24 30 40 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 20
    25 9 199 Alex Bowman Toyota 19
    26 21 8 Scott Lagasse Jr. Chevrolet 18
    27 32 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 17
    28 42 54 Kurt Busch Toyota 0
    29 40 41 Timmy Hill Ford 15
    30 25 4 Danny Efland Chevrolet 14
    31 42 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 13
    32 29 124 Benny Gordon * Toyota 12
    33 36 50 David Starr Chevrolet 0
    34 34 86 Kevin Lepage Ford 11
    35 37 52 Joey Gase * Chevrolet 9
    36 43 108 Mike Harmon Ford 8
    37 41 15 Carl Long Chevrolet 7
    38 38 100 Tanner Berryhill Toyota 6
    39 26 46 Chase Miller Chevrolet 5
    40 39 171 Matthew Carter Chevrolet 4
    41 31 47 Matt DiBenedetto Chevrolet 3
    42 35 42 Matt Frahm Chevrolet 2
    43 28 10 Charles Lewandoski Toyota 1
  • Dillon Captures Second Straight NNS Kentucky Speedway Pole Award

    Dillon Captures Second Straight NNS Kentucky Speedway Pole Award

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Sean Gardner/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”231″][/media-credit]Richard Childress Racing driver will make his seventh front-row start of the season in the Kentucky 300 at 4 p.m.

    SPARTA, Ky., – Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Dillon became the second driver to earn back-to-back NASCAR Nationwide Series Kentucky Speedway pole awards this afternoon with a 177.264 mph (30.463 seconds) lap.

    Dillon posted the third quickest Kentucky qualifying run in NNS track history and is the first in track history to earn back-to-back series pole awards in the same season. He will make his third consecutive and seventh front-row series start of the season at 4 p.m., in the Kentucky 300.

    He reeled the June 29 Feed The Children 300 Kentucky pole with a 172.199 mph (31.359 seconds) lap and led a series track-record 192 of 200 laps while setting a new series track record for widest margin of victory at 9.828 seconds.

    “That was a heck of a lap. I was impressed with that. I bobbled a bit, so there might be some speed there we could have gotten back.

    “I’m looking forward to today’s show. It’s going to be a fun one. We have had a hot rod. This car runs good here. I’ve figured something out with the line. I’m just very confident at this track,” Dillon said.

    He will share this afternoon’s front row with NNS championship leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who will make his eighth front-row start of the campaign. He turned a 175.399 mph (30.787 seconds) lap. The Roush Fenway Racing driver earned his third career Kentucky Speedway NNS top-10 finish with a ninth-place Feed The Children 300 result earlier this season.

    Second-place championship contender Elliott Sadler qualified eighth with a 173.611 mph (31.104 seconds) effort. He will make his third career NNS Kentucky start today. He placed ninth in this season’s Feed The Children 300 and fifth in his 2011 NNS track debut.

    Tickets and infield Fan Zone passes for this afternoon’s race are available at the Kentucky Speedway gates.

    Starting Lineup
    Kentucky 300, Kentucky Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/qual.php?race=27
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 3 Austin Dillon* Chevrolet 177.264 30.463
    2 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 175.399 30.787
    3 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 174.424 30.959
    4 18 Drew Herring Toyota 174.255 30.989
    5 43 Michael Annett Ford 174.098 31.017
    6 33 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 174.008 31.033
    7 11 Brian Scott Toyota 173.941 31.045
    8 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 173.611 31.104
    9 199 Alex Bowman Toyota 173.483 31.127
    10 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 173.294 31.161
    11 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 173.143 31.188
    12 70 Johanna Long* Chevrolet 172.966 31.22
    13 38 Brad Sweet* Chevrolet 172.745 31.26
    14 54 Matt Crafton Toyota 172.717 31.265
    15 88 Cole Whitt* Chevrolet 172.563 31.293
    16 23 Jamie Dick Chevrolet 172.199 31.359
    17 44 Mike Bliss Toyota 171.772 31.437
    18 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 171.767 31.438
    19 30 James Buescher Chevrolet 171.423 31.501
    20 22 Ryan Blaney Dodge 171.352 31.514
    21 8 Scott Lagasse Jr. Chevrolet 171.135 31.554
    22 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 170.821 31.612
    23 81 Jason Bowles* Toyota 170.122 31.742
    24 14 Eric McClure Toyota 170.068 31.752
    25 4 Danny Efland Chevrolet 170.014 31.762
    26 46 Chase Miller Chevrolet 169.993 31.766
    27 39 Josh Richards Ford 169.886 31.786
    28 10 Charles Lewandoski Toyota 169.337 31.889
    29 124 Benny Gordon* Toyota 169.088 31.936
    30 40 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 168.94 31.964
    31 47 Matt DiBenedetto Chevrolet 168.413 32.064
    32 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 168.219 32.101
    33 19 Tayler Malsam Toyota 167.921 32.158
    34 86 Kevin Lepage Ford 167.827 32.176
    35 42 Matt Frahm Chevrolet 166.801 32.374
    36 50 David Starr Chevrolet 165.649 32.599
    37 52 Joey Gase* Chevrolet 165.563 32.616
    38 100 Tanner Berryhill Toyota 165.223 32.683
    39 171 Matthew Carter Chevrolet 164.484 32.83
    40 41 Timmy Hill Ford 164.419 32.843
    41 15 Carl Long Chevrolet 164.239 32.879
    42 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 164.189 32.889
    43 108 Mike Harmon Ford 158.362 34.099
  • Buescher Completes a NCWTS Kentucky Speedway Two-Race Sweep with a 201-Mile Victory

    Buescher Completes a NCWTS Kentucky Speedway Two-Race Sweep with a 201-Mile Victory

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Sean Gardner/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”231″][/media-credit]Turner Motorsports driver becomes the first to take back-to-back NCWTS Kentucky Speedway wins

    SPARTA, Ky. – Turner Motorsports driver James Buescher became the first driver to earn back-to-back Kentucky Speedway NASCAR Camping World (NCWTS) victories by leading 64 of 134 Kentucky 201 laps and guiding his No. 31 truck beneath the checkered flag 1.292 seconds ahead of Parker Kligerman in the No. 7 Red Horse Racing truck tonight.

    Ty Dillon took third in the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 truck, his teammate Joey Coulter crossed the finish line third in the No. 22 machine and Brian Scott rounded out the race top five in the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports ride.

    Buescher entered the pits fifth on Lap 81 during the sixth caution of the race to take on two tires and fuel. Coulter brought his leading truck in for service during the same cycle. His crew packed the fuel cell full and took on four tires.

    The No. 31 truck emerged from the stop, took over the race lead under caution on Lap 83 and denied late threats from the pole winner Coulter and Kligerman through the closing 50 circuits following the Lap 85 restart.

    “We’ve had some tough breaks this year, so to be able to win races when you have the opportunity is really cool. Robbie Fast was my spotter tonight, Jeff Dickerson is up in New Hampshire. He (Fast) was spotting for me in Texas, and at the first Iowa race. We had those two races robbed from us, so it was cool to finally win with him.

    “(Crew Chief) Michael Shelton made an awesome call to only take two tires at the end and get that track position. Clean air was really important to us tonight, and once we got the truck out front it was on kill,” Buescher said.

    He also becomes the first driver to earn two NCWTS Kentucky victories in the same season and the second to earn two career series victories at the track. Ron Hornaday Jr., leads the series in Kentucky Speedway victories with three.

    He charted his fourth victory along with his ninth top-five and 11th top-10 finish of the season. He advanced from third to second in the series standing and will take the Sept. 29 green flag at Las Vegas Motor Speedway trailing championship leader Ty Dillon by four points.

    Kligerman raced in the 15th position on Lap 8 and mounted a resilient charge to take second by Lap 130. He closed out the 16th event of the season with his sixth top-five and 11th top-10 finish.

    He will enter the Las Vegas race fourth in the championship standings and 30 points behind Dillon.

    “We had an awesome number seven Red Horse Racing truck, then, we spun out racing for third. You can’t do that and win one of these races.

    “We came back and drove around them all. That was insane. This is a championship caliber team. It’s our championship for the taking. We’re just going to go win and lead the most laps,” Kligerman said.

    Dillon charted his second third-place NCWTS Kentucky Speedway finish of the season along with his fifth top-five and 14th top-10 showing of the season. He surrendered four championship points to second place tonight, but was pleased with his team’s effort.

    “Three top threes in a row, what more could you ask for? James ran a good race and our Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevy was great. We had a good truck tonight. We were really fast on a couple laps, but on long runs, we would just get too tight. We’re on a roll right now. The only way we’ll get any better is to win, and that will come,” Dillon said.

    Racing continues tomorrow at 4 p.m., with the NASCAR Nationwide Series Kentucky 300. Tickets and infield Fan Zone passes will be on sale at speedway ticket booths 10, 15 and 20 at 9:30 a.m. Gates open at 10:30 a.m., and Kentucky 300 qualifying commences at 12:35 p.m.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Kentucky 201, Kentucky Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=16
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 8 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 48
    2 5 7 Parker Kligerman Toyota 42
    3 3 3 Ty Dillon * Chevrolet 41
    4 1 22 Joey Coulter Chevrolet 41
    5 10 18 Brian Scott Toyota 0
    6 1 13 Johnny Sauter Toyota 38
    7 14 6 Justin Lofton Chevrolet 37
    8 12 32 Miguel Paludo Chevrolet 36
    9 11 88 Matt Crafton Toyota 35
    10 23 9 John Wes Townley * Toyota 34
    11 16 29 Ryan Blaney Ram 34
    12 6 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. Chevrolet 32
    13 25 101 Jake Crum Chevrolet 31
    14 22 9 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 30
    15 34 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 29
    16 30 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Ram 28
    17 29 7 Jeff Agnew Chevrolet 28
    18 17 2 Tim George Jr. Chevrolet 26
    19 4 33 Cale Gale * Chevrolet 25
    20 19 23 Jason White Ford 24
    21 13 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 23
    22 28 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 22
    23 9 8 Max Gresham * Chevrolet 21
    24 33 27 Travis Miller Chevrolet 20
    25 24 5 John King * Ford 19
    26 15 119 David Mayhew Ram 0
    27 18 214 Brennan Newberry Chevrolet 17
    28 27 8 Ross Chastain * Toyota 17
    29 26 99 Bryan Silas * Ford 16
    30 7 11 Todd Bodine Toyota 14
    31 20 4 Dakoda Armstrong * Chevrolet 13
    32 32 93 Johnny Chapman Chevrolet 12
    33 21 38 Chris Jones Chevrolet 11
    34 35 84 Chris Fontaine Chevrolet 10
    35 36 137 Dennis Setzer Chevrolet 0
    36 31 0 Blake Koch Ford 0
  • Gordon captures the Sylvania 300 pole at New Hampshire

    Gordon captures the Sylvania 300 pole at New Hampshire

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”244″][/media-credit]Jeff Gordon captured the pole for Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with a lap of 134.911 MPH (28.230 secs). This was Gordon’s second pole of the season.

    “This car has been awesome in qualifying trim all day long. I just give a lot of credit to this Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet team. Don’t forget to text Hunger to 50555 to continue to help this great cause. What an awesome effort, great lap. It felt good. The car got off the corner really strong and I thought that it would be really close and as tight as these times are you just never know.” Gordon said.

    Gordon shaved his mustache after a parts failure struck him down during the Chase-opening race at Chicagoland last Sunday. At New Hampshire, a clean-shaven Gordon hopes to get back in the championship hunt. But he has a huge up hill battle to accomplish that goal.

    Kyle Busch qualified second with a lap of 134.753 MPH.

    “That was a pretty good lap from where we were earlier in the day with the M&M’s Camry. Dave (Rogers, crew chief) and the guys did a really good job making some good changes to it to make it pick up speed. I felt like the car had decent balance, just needed more grip to make speed. They did a good job of that.” Busch said.

    Tony Stewart qualified third.

    “It seemed like it got better grip the second lap. Just took a little longer for the tires to come in.” Stewart said.

    Brian Vickers qualified fourth and Carl Edwards qualified fifth.

    “We had a pretty good lap with our Aflac Fusion, which is very good, and now we just go race. We’ll tune in the race car tomorrow in practice, but the track is very fast right now.” Edwards said.

    Last week’s winner and the series points leader Brad Keselowski, qualified 15th.

    “We’re just missing a little bit in qualifying trim and I think we’ll have it in the race.” Keselowski said.

    Starting Lineup
    Sylvania 300, New Hampshire
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=28
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 134.911 28.232
    2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 134.753 28.265
    3 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 134.568 28.304
    4 55 Brian Vickers Toyota 134.482 28.322
    5 99 Carl Edwards Ford 134.354 28.349
    6 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 134.179 28.386
    7 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 134.098 28.403
    8 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 133.934 28.438
    9 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 133.872 28.451
    10 22 Dave Blaney Dodge 133.863 28.453
    11 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 133.854 28.455
    12 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 133.825 28.461
    13 16 Greg Biffle Ford 133.647 28.499
    14 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 133.637 28.501
    15 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 133.614 28.506
    16 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 133.6 28.509
    17 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 133.567 28.516
    18 20 Joey Logano Toyota 133.544 28.521
    19 43 Aric Almirola Ford 133.301 28.573
    20 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 133.128 28.61
    21 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 133.11 28.614
    22 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 133.021 28.633
    23 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 132.966 28.645
    24 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 132.85 28.67
    25 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 132.799 28.681
    26 34 David Ragan Ford 132.72 28.698
    27 195 Scott Speed Ford 132.595 28.725
    28 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 132.558 28.733
    29 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 132.356 28.777
    30 13 Casey Mears Ford 132.195 28.812
    31 98 Michael McDowell Ford 131.929 28.87
    32 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 131.633 28.935
    33 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 131.442 28.977
    34 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 131.18 29.035
    35 191 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 130.963 29.083
    36 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 130.837 29.111
    37 38 David Gilliland Ford 130.792 29.121
    38 179 Kelly Bires Ford 130.64 29.155
    39 33 Stephen Leicht* Chevrolet 130.367 29.216
    40 37 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 130.229 29.247
    41 36 Tony Raines+ Chevrolet 128.359 29.673
    42 32 Mike Olsen+ Ford 126.153 30.192
    43 30 David Stremme Toyota 129.882 29.325
  • Keselowski wins chase race no.1 at Chicagoland Speedway

    Keselowski wins chase race no.1 at Chicagoland Speedway

    [media-credit name=”Noel Lanier” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Brad Keselowski won the opening race for the chase on Sunday at the Chicagoland Speedway. Keselowski held off Jimmie Johnson during the final 35 laps and won his fourth race of the season, eighth of his career and the first at Chicagoland.

    “The Miller Lite Dodge today was great. It seemed like this race was about 20 laps longer than I wanted it to be but either way, it worked out and we got us some Miller Time here. We’re in victory lane race one in the Chase. It feels like round one of a heavyweight title bout. You know it’s good to win it, it feels great, but there are a lot of rounds left. It’s a good start but a long ways to go.” Keselowski said.

    Keselowski took over the series points standings by 3 over Johnson.

    Johnson led a race-high of 171 laps and finished second, 3.171 seconds behind the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge.

    “Its ten long races and a lot can happen, so to come out of here in second is a great day and of course we want to be over there in victory lane, that is just a given but we will take this second and we will go on to the next one and I am real happy for where this Lowe’s team is right now.” Johnson said.

    Kasey Kahne finished third, Kyle Busch fourth and Ryan Newman finished fifth.

    On lap 188, Jeff Gordon, while running fourth, had his throttle stick while entering turn 1. Gordon had heavy right side damage and took it to the garage for repairs. Gordon finished 35th and now sits deep in the series standings, 47 points out of the lead.

    “The return spring broke. It didn’t go wide open; it just didn’t come back. Just enough to cause it to carry enough speed in there where I locked the brakes up and went into the wall. It’s disappointing.” Gordon said.

    On lap 169 a right front shock fell off of Matt Kenseth’s No.17 Ford. Kenseth falls back to 24th place. Kenseth was able to pit and make repairs on lap 191 and he finished 18th.

    “A shock fell off I guess. I guess it didn’t get tight. We had a brake line get loose at Bristol and a shock fall off today so obviously we have to get to the bottom of that.” Kenseth said.

    The series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next week for the Sylvania 300.

    Unofficial Race Results
    GEICO 400, Chicagoland Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=27
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 13 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 47
    2 1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 44
    3 6 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 41
    4 21 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 40
    5 20 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 39
    6 29 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 39
    7 10 20 Joey Logano Toyota 37
    8 4 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 36
    9 18 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 35
    10 9 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 35
    11 16 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 0
    12 35 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 32
    13 22 16 Greg Biffle Ford 31
    14 15 55 Mark Martin Toyota 30
    15 11 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 29
    16 8 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 29
    17 2 43 Aric Almirola Ford 28
    18 3 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 27
    19 5 99 Carl Edwards Ford 25
    20 14 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 0
    21 12 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 24
    22 37 34 David Ragan Ford 23
    23 28 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 21
    24 32 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 20
    25 41 10 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 0
    26 23 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 18
    27 17 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 17
    28 40 38 David Gilliland Ford 16
    29 26 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 15
    30 39 32 T.J. Bell Ford 0
    31 38 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 13
    32 30 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 12
    33 42 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 11
    34 7 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 10
    35 19 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 9
    36 27 13 Casey Mears Ford 8
    37 36 33 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 0
    38 43 26 Josh Wise * Ford 6
    39 31 30 David Stremme Toyota 5
    40 33 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
    41 25 195 Scott Speed Ford 3
    42 34 119 Mike Bliss Toyota 0
    43 24 98 Michael McDowell Ford 1
  • Ryan Blaney, 18, sets truck series youth mark with Iowa win

    Ryan Blaney, 18, sets truck series youth mark with Iowa win

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Sean Gardner/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”242″][/media-credit]Sept. 15, 2012

    NASCAR Wire Service

    NEWTON, Iowa — Ryan Blaney, 18, withstood a series of late-race restarts to become the youngest winner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, prevailing in Saturday night’s American Ethanol 200 Presented by Hy-Vee at Iowa Speedway.

    Blaney, making just his third truck series start, held off a final charge by Ty Dillon, who snared the points lead with a runner-up finish. The youngster, who drove a Brad Keselowski-owned truck to Ram’s first win in the series since 2008, celebrated in Victory Lane with his father, Sprint Cup series driver Dave Blaney.

    “This is pretty incredible,” said the younger Blaney. “. . . It’s unbelievable — hopefully, we can get us a few more here.”

    Said Dave Blaney: “He does so good and catches on so quick. It’s fun to watch.”

    The 20-year-old Dillon, who closed to finish .168 seconds behind Blaney at the checkered flag, lauded the teenager’s poise in the frantic final stretch.

    “I wanted it bad there at the end,” Dillon said. “We were coming, but Ryan Blaney, he’s an amazing driver. I’m glad we didn’t have to race against him all year this year. He’s a great guy and he really deserves this.”

    Todd Bodine, who also praised the younger Blaney as “a chip off the old block,” finished third for his first top-five finish since his victory at Dover International Speedway on June 1. Johnny Sauter and Cale Gale completed the top five.

    Dillon started the night third in the standings, but capitalized on rough nights by his closest rivals. Timothy Peters, who won the truck series’ first event of the season at Iowa in July, fell from the points lead after a crash in the 34th lap. Peters squeezed Matt Crafton on the exit of turn four, forcing both trucks into the wall.

    Peters remained on the lead lap despite several stops for repairs, but faded further after a late stop to replace a faulty battery and cool an overheating engine. He salvaged a 19th-place finish, two laps down.

    James Buescher was in line to snatch the points lead from Peters until his spin with six laps to go brought out the last of nine caution periods. He finished 17th, one lap off the pace.

    The standings shuffle put Dillon atop the heap by eight points over Peters with Buescher 11 points off the top.

    First-time pole starter Parker Kligerman led 107 of the 200 laps, but was bitten by pit strategy that forced him to stop for service during the race’s longest green-flag stretch. Kligerman rallied to as high as fourth place in the running order before spinning with 21 laps left. He wound up 23rd, three laps down.

    RACE RESULTS

    1. (2) Ryan Blaney, RAM, 200, $37600.

    2. (9) Ty Dillon #, Chevrolet, 200, $25,065.

    3. (15) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 200, $21,710.

    4. (4) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 200, $16,200.

    5. (6) Cale Gale #, Chevrolet, 200, $13,975.

    6. (3) Nelson Piquet Jr., Chevrolet, 200, $11,650.

    7. (17) Drew Herring(i), Toyota, 200, $11,150.

    8. (18) Jeff Choquette, Chevrolet, 200, $8,675.

    9. (12) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 200, $10,875.

    10. (8) Miguel Paludo, Chevrolet, 200, $12,100.

    11. (22) Ross Chastain #, Toyota, 200, $10,775.

    12. (19) Jason White, Ford, 200, $10,650.

    13. (14) Joey Coulter, Chevrolet, 199, $10,600.

    14. (21) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 199, $10,550.

    15. (16) John Wes Townley #, Toyota, 199, $11,275.

    16. (11) David Mayhew(i), RAM, 199, $10,550.

    17. (5) James Buescher, Chevrolet, 199, $10,225.

    18. (24) Bryan Silas #, Ford, 198, $10,100.

    19. (10) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 198, $10,000.

    20. (26) Justin Jennings, Ford, 198, $8,325.

    21. (23) Brennan Newberry, Chevrolet, 198, $7,550.

    22. (25) Tim George Jr., Chevrolet, 197, $8,450.

    23. (1) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, 197, $10,625.

    24. (32) Wayne Edwards, Chevrolet, 196, $7,250.

    25. (34) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 194, $7,375.

    26. (35) Benjamin Reynolds, Chevrolet, 194, $7,200.

    27. (20) August Grill, Chevrolet, Battery, 188, $7,150.

    28. (33) Todd Peck, Chevrolet, Oil Leak, 179, $7,125.

    29. (27) Ryan Lynch, Chevrolet, 173, $7,100.

    30. (31) Jennifer Jo Cobb, RAM, Radiator, 171, $7,575.

    31. (13) Justin Lofton, Chevrolet, Accident, 94, $7,050.

    32. (28) Caleb Roark, Chevrolet, Accident, 94, $7,025.

    33. (7) Ron Hornaday Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 68, $7,000.

    34. (30) Chris Jones, Chevrolet, Brakes, 5, $6,975.

    35. (36) Chris Lafferty, Ford, Transmission, 3, $6,950.

    36. (29) Dennis Setzer, Chevrolet, Overheating, 2, $6,909.

    RACE STATISTICS

    Average Speed of Race Winner: 88.285 mph.

    Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 58 Mins, 56 Secs.

    Margin of Victory: 0.168 Seconds.

    Caution Flags: 9 for 54 laps.

    Lead Changes: 7 among 6 drivers.

    Lap Leaders: P. Kligerman 1-28; J. Buescher 29-35; P. Kligerman 36; D. Herring(i) 37-55; J. Lofton 56-60; P. Kligerman 61-138; J. Sauter 139-150; R. Blaney 151-200.

    Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): P. Kligerman 3 times for 107 laps; R. Blaney 1 time for 50 laps; D. Herring(i) 1 time for 19 laps; J. Sauter 1 time for 12 laps; J. Buescher 1 time for 7 laps; J. Lofton 1 time for 5 laps.

    Top 10 in Points: T. Dillon # – 561; T. Peters – 553; J. Buescher – 550; P. Kligerman – 530; M. Crafton – 518; J. Coulter – 515; J. Lofton – 511; N. Piquet Jr. – 492; J. White – 448; R. Hornaday Jr. – 447.

  • Stenhouse “School’s” them at Chicagoland!

    Stenhouse “School’s” them at Chicagoland!

    [media-credit name=”Noel Lanier” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Dollar General 300 at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday.  This was his fifth win this season and the seventh of his career.

    “This is cool. I felt like we should have been here last time. It is good to get redemption after a dominating performance last time. We didn’t have a dominating car until that last run. Mike kept making good calls and I put us a little behind stalling it on pit road. We had to drive up to the front but Mike gave us a Blue Bird Mustang that could do it. I have to thank all the fans for coming out. It was a lot of fun out there today.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

    Stenhouse Jr. also captured Roush Fenway Racing’s first ever NASCAR win at the 1.5-mile tri-oval of Chicagoland Speedway.

    “That was a lot of fun and to get Jack’s(Roush) first win at Chicago is pretty cool.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

    Kyle Busch finished second, Austin Dillon third, Brad Keselowski fourth and Paul Menard rounded out the top-5.

    “We had a really good car. It ran well throughout the race. It was fast. I thought that there wasn’t anybody back there that we had to deal with and then the No. 6 (Ricky Stenhouse) came out of nowhere there at the end. I don’t know where he came from, but he had a fast race car. Really excited about that run. We had a solid run. Ran up front most of the race. Was able to capitalize on a good finish there.” Busch said.

    Joey Logano brought the field down to the green flag as he won his 200th pole in NASCAR. Stenhouse Jr. started second but got loose and fell back to fourth on the first lap of the race. Stenhouse Jr. continued to fall as he was trying to find grip on the high side.

    The first caution came out on lap 4 when the No.39 of Dexter Stacey spun on the front stretch and threw dirt all over the racetrack. He came in and got four new tires and was out and away. None of the front runners came in due to only four laps being run.

    They went back to green on lap 8 with Logano back in front of the field. Sam Hornish Jr tried to take the top spot away on the backstretch but Logano took it back but Hornish Jr. took it back and lead that lap for that bonus point. Logano took over the top spot, while Dillon, Busch and Hornish went three wide on the start finish line. Logano stretched out to a 1.2 second lead on lap 12 while Sadler and Dillon, who are both in the title race, battling for the fourth spot.

    The second caution waved when Brad Sweet spun coming out of turn four and spun into the grass. He was okay and came in and got tires and went back out. All of the leaders came in with Logano  leading them in. Stenhouse said he was tight off the center and got a air pressure, four tires and fuel. Busch got to his stall and said he was tight off and wanted a air pressure adjustment. He got that and four tires with fuel and was off. Logano said he was tight off the center and got a air pressure adjustment and four tires with fuel. Logano came in with the lead and out with the lead. Dillon gained two spots and came out second.

    They restarted the race on lap 45 with Logano getting a great restart. Dillon did not and Busch was pushing him to get up to speed. Logano was pulling away as Cole Whitt got together with Justin Allgaier. Allgaier got away but his exhaust pipe touched Whitt’s left rear tire and cut it down. Whitt was slowing to get on to pit road but missed it and spun on the front stretch to cause the 3rd caution. Whitt came in and barley beat the pace car off pit road by about ten feet.

    They went back to green on lap 51 with Logano getting another good restart. Stenhouse was on the high side and did not get a good restart. Logano was pulling away when Stenhouse Jr, Dillon, Hornish and Busch all battling for second place. Busch took over the spot. Busch then took over the race lead on lap 63 with Dillon right behind him. They battled for several laps with Logano a little ways back. Dillon took over the top spot five laps later and pulled away.

    Green flag pit stop starting on lap 95 with Logano coming in reporting he was feeling a vibration. He couldn’t take it anymore and was coming in. He got four tires and fuel and was on his way. Sadler came in saying he was tight in the center but it was getting better. He got four tires and fuel and was away. Busch stopped in his pit stall and told his team he was tight in the center and was loose on the exit. He got a trackbar and air pressure along with four tires and fuel and drove away.  Stenhouse followed him into the pits saying he was mostly tight. He got a wedge and a air pressure adjustment and was off. The leader came in and told his crew chief his car was pretty good. He only wanted four tires. Dillon retained the lead with Logano, Busch, Stenhouse and Sadler in the top-5.

    The forth caution waved on lap 120 when the No.24 of Benny Gordon was slowing on the apron in turns 3 and 4. It looked like he broke a suspension. All of the leaders came in with Dillon leading them in. Dillon said he was just about perfect and just give me four tires and fuel. Logano said he was too free on exit and want to turn better. He got four tires and a wedge adjustment and was off. Busch came in saying he wanted more turn in the front from the entry to the middle. He got a air pressure, four tires and fuel and was away. Stenhouse said he wanted more right side grip. He got wedge out and the trackbar went down as well as four tires. He was about to leave when he couldn’t no get it started and lost valuable positions. He went in the pits third and restarted in 11th.

    They went back to green on lap 130 with Logano back on top. He led the field into turn 1 and was clear of them on the backstretch. Lap later, Michael Annett got loose and tapped Allgaier’s quarter panel and bumped him into the wall. Allgaier saved up but lost a lot of track position. Busch passed Dillon on lap 134 and took over the top spot one lap later. Dillon followed Busch passed Sadler but could not stay with Busch as he pulled away.

    The fifth caution came out when Jason Bowles was slow and could not maintain minimum speed. All of the lead came in to pit road which could be there last stop of the day. Stenhouse Jr. came in saying he want to have this car stay the same but he wanted a little more grip. He got a track bar and was gone. Dillon got a round of wedge out of the right rear and a air pressure with four tires and fuel. Sadler said he was free on exit and was tight off the center of 3 and 4. He got a wedge with four tires and fuel and came out of the pits ahead of Dillon and Stenhouse Jr.

    They green flag waved with 30 laps to go with Sadler leading. Busch took over when he got a great run off of one with Sadler getting challenged by Hornish Jr. and Dillon. Sadler got passed by both Stenhouse Jr. and Dillon and radioed to his team that his car was “junk”!

    Stenhouse Jr. and Dillon both passed Hornish Jr. for second with there sights set on the race leader Busch. Stenhouse Jr. got to Busch’s back bumper and passed him for the lead with 19 laps remaining.  But Busch was not giving up. Busch tried to get around him but Stenhouse Jr. pulled away and never let go of the lead.

    Sadler came into the race with a one point lead in the series standings and now trails Stenhouse Jr. by nine points.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Dollar General 300, Chicagoland Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=26
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 – 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 47
    2 – 54 Kyle Busch Toyota 0
    3 – 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 42
    4 – 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 0
    5 – 33 Paul Menard Chevrolet 0
    6 – 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 39
    7 – 43 Michael Annett Ford 38
    8 – 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 37
    9 – 18 Joey Logano Toyota 0
    10 – 11 Brian Scott Toyota 34
    11 – 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 34
    12 – 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 32
    13 – 44 Mike Bliss Toyota 31
    14 – 88 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 30
    15 – 38 Brad Sweet * Chevrolet 29
    16 – 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 29
    17 – 30 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 27
    18 – 19 Tayler Malsam Toyota 26
    19 – 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 25
    20 – 199 Kenny Wallace Toyota 24
    21 – 70 Johanna Long * Chevrolet 23
    22 – 40 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 22
    23 – 23 Jamie Dick Chevrolet 21
    24 – 39 Dexter Stacey Ford 20
    25 – 14 Eric McClure Toyota 19
    26 – 41 Juan Carlos Blum Chevrolet 18
    27 – 4 Danny Efland Chevrolet 17
    28 – 81 Jason Bowles * Toyota 16
    29 – 124 Benny Gordon * Toyota 15
    30 – 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 14
    31 – 10 Jeff Green Toyota 13
    32 – 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 12
    33 – 15 Timmy Hill Ford 0
    34 – 28 Tony Raines Chevrolet 0
    35 – 52 Joey Gase * Chevrolet 9
    36 – 100 Blake Koch Toyota 8
    37 – 171 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 0
    38 – 171 Matthew Carter Chevrolet 6
    39 – 174 Mike Harmon Chevrolet 5
    40 – 47 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 0
    41 – 42 Josh Wise Chevrolet 0
    42 – 46 Chase Miller Chevrolet 2
    43 – 108 Tim Andrews Ford 1
  • Johnson captures the GEICO 400 pole at Chicagoland

    Johnson captures the GEICO 400 pole at Chicagoland

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Tyler Barrick/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”231″][/media-credit]Jimmie Johnson captured the pole for Sunday’s GEICO 400 at Chicagoland Speedway with a lap of 182.865 MPH (29.530 secs).

    This was Johnson’s second pole of the season and 27th of his career.

    “It’s too early in the Chase to be over-the-top excited or down-and-out if you didn’t qualify like you wanted to today. Qualifying makes the race so much easier for you. You know you’re pit stall is going to be right and clearly track position at the start of the race is going to be in your favor.” Johnson said.  “I’m very happy that we got a pole. Qualifying isn’t typically my strong suit but we laid down a good one today.”

    Aric Almirola qualified second with his new crew and crew chief.

    “Todd Parrott brought me a really good car this weekend. It was good in race trim and as soon as we swapped over to qualifying trim it felt just as good.” Almirola said. “There are a lot of people motivated right now at Richard Petty Motorsports for sure. Todd Parrott and his whole crew coming over to our car has been great. This week there has been a lot of work going on in the shop and a lot of people with a lot to prove, myself included.”

    Matt Kenseth third, Dale Earnhardt Jr. fourth and Carl Edwards qualified fifth.

    “We wanted to go out a little earlier in the day when we thought the track would be a little cooler and that was Jimmy’s strategy and we took advantage of that and got a decent lap and a good starting spot.” Kenseth said.

    Earnhardt Jr. had to make a engine change and will start in the back on Sunday.

    “Yes, we have to change the engine and go to the back of the field. I don’t think we are super concerned. We had a great car in practice and qualified really well so we showed we have good speed. Fortunately, this is a race track that there are multiple pit strategies and it’s not a really simple straight forward pit strategy to call.” said crew chief Steve Letarte.

    Series points leader Denny Hamlin starts eighth.

    “Going out late it’s tough to really get a good lap. It will only be a tenth or so off the pole. I left that much on the race track. So, we’re excited about the speed this car got.” Hamlin said.

    Starting Lineup
    GEICO 400, Chicagoland Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=27
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 182.865 29.53
    2 43 Aric Almirola Ford 182.636 29.567
    3 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 182.334 29.616
    4 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 182.07 29.659
    5 99 Carl Edwards Ford 182.045 29.663
    6 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 181.971 29.675
    7 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 181.953 29.678
    8 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 181.928 29.682
    9 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 181.855 29.694
    10 20 Joey Logano Toyota 181.629 29.731
    11 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 181.616 29.733
    12 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 181.525 29.748
    13 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 181.507 29.751
    14 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 181.354 29.776
    15 55 Mark Martin Toyota 181.257 29.792
    16 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 181.251 29.793
    17 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 181.05 29.826
    18 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 180.989 29.836
    19 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 180.874 29.855
    20 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 180.729 29.879
    21 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 180.705 29.883
    22 16 Greg Biffle Ford 180.523 29.913
    23 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 180.463 29.923
    24 98 Michael McDowell Ford 180.276 29.954
    25 195 Scott Speed Ford 180.21 29.965
    26 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 180.12 29.98
    27 13 Casey Mears Ford 180.048 29.992
    28 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 179.94 30.01
    29 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 179.892 30.018
    30 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 179.671 30.055
    31 30 David Stremme Toyota 179.575 30.071
    32 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 179.569 30.072
    33 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 179.539 30.077
    34 119 Mike Bliss Toyota 179.533 30.078
    35 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 179.456 30.091
    36 33 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 179.438 30.094
    37 34 David Ragan Ford 179.265 30.123
    38 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 178.986 30.17
    39 32 T.J. Bell+ Ford 177.003 30.508
    40 38 David Gilliland+ Ford 176.702 30.56
    41 10 Danica Patrick+ Chevrolet 176.189 30.649
    42 36 Dave Blaney+ Chevrolet 176.033 30.676
    43 26 Josh Wise* Ford 179.164 30.14