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  • Bowyer Stretches Fuel to Win; Gordon Nabs Second Wild Card Spot

    Bowyer Stretches Fuel to Win; Gordon Nabs Second Wild Card Spot

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”227″][/media-credit]Following weeks of build up and anticipation, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series arrived at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night for the final race before the Chase for the Championship.  Ten drivers arrived already locked-in to the Chase, including Tony Stewart who was assured of either a finish in the top ten or a wild card spot.  A select few, most notably Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon, were vying for tenth place or one of the two wild cards.  A handful others, including Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman, needed to win and get some help in order to have a chance.

    After more than a 90 minute rain delay, the race started under green/yellow flags in order to finish track drying.  The green flag flew for real on lap 6.  Jeff Gordon moved around pole-sitter Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to take the early lead, only to give it back soon after.  Earnhardt led the early laps until a competition caution flag flew on lap 46.  All of the leaders pitted for four tires and came back out pretty much in order.

    Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led the pack back to the green flag on lap 51. Following a caution for a spin by David Ragan, the field restarted again on lap 56.  Denny Hamlin made a strong move around the outside to take the lead away from Earnhardt on lap 60.  Those two cars were closely matched, as they swapped the lead several times.  After 100 laps, and still unswe threatening skies, Hamlin led Earnhardt, Clint Boyer, Jimmy Johnson, and Martin Truex, with those top five all within five seconds of each other.

    After a long green flag run, the caution flag came out for rain on lap 138.  All the leaders came down pit road for fuel and tires, with Hamlin beating Earnhardt out to maintain the lead.  With the rain increasing, NASCAR brought the cars down pit road under the red flag at lap 152.  While Hamlin and Earnhardt were the class of the field through this point of the race, Chase hopefuls Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose, Paul Menard, and Joey Logano were one lap down and quickly watching any chances of making the Chase get washed away with the weather.

    Or so we thought.

    On lap 137, the rain that haunted the weekend came again and put us under caution.  Some were short on fuel and everyone came in for 4 tires.  After the restart, on lap 152, the red flag came out for rain yet again.  It was a red flag for about 45 minutes or so, and at about 11:25 pm, the drivers were called back to their cars.  At 11:40, Dale Jr. took the lead on the restart from Denny Hamlin, but quickly fell back.

    At this point, all the wild card contenders were in the mid 20’s and a lap down, except for Kyle Busch, who was in 12th spot.  Things would change.  Big time.

    At the halfway point in the race, Denny Hamlin led the race.  However, for his JGR teammate Kyle Busch, the last 200 laps would be a struggle to say the least.  On lap 235, Clint Bowyer was trying to get around the lapped machine of Juan Pablo Montoya, made some contact and cut down Clint’s left rear tire.  He spun out the next lap coming off the front stretch and the caution came out.  Another wild card hopeful, Ryan Newman, had a penalty during his pit stop under that caution.  His crew let a tire get out of their pit box and they served a drive through penalty.  After yet another caution on lap 275 for rain, the aforementioned Ryan Newman took the lead with 100 laps to go on lap 300.

    Soon after, the 15 machine of Clint Bowyer, who spun out a little earlier in the race, took the top spot from Newman.

    Now here is where it gets interesting.

    Kyle Busch, who had the wild card position in hand at the time, went a lap down as well as Jimmie Johnson to the leader.  With 68 to go, Kyle came in for a routine green flag pit stop.  Or so he thought.  He had a hang-up on the right rear.  The tire changer missed a lug nut and that incident caused him even more time on the racetrack.  At this point, Jeff Gordon had the wild card position.  He made a pit stop, the final one of the race, on lap 42.  While everyone is cycling through green flag pit stops, the 11 of Denny Hamlin and 15 of Clint Bowyer were trying to stretch it to the end on fuel mileage.  The question was, could they do it?

    In the next 30 laps or so, Kyle Busch fell back rapidly, as Jeff Gordon climbed the leader board as it seemed with ease.  With 8 laps to go, Hamlin needed to pit for fuel because he couldn’t stretch his fuel mileage.  While that happened, Gordon was up to second position!  He controlled his own destiny for the wild card!  Clint Bowyer, with a 2 second lead over Gordon, was able to stretch it and won the race, Jeff Gordon clinched a chase spot with his remarkable night.

    While Gordon was interviewed during the red flag by ESPN reporter Vince Welch, he was so dejected.  “I was deflated.” he said after the race looking back on his night.  He went on to say,”I knew we had a good race car.  I don’t care where we’re gonna start in points were in it! … Man that as so much fun at the end.  That was amazing!”  Who could blame him?  He just had the drive of his life to come back from a horrible regular season to get into NASCAR’s playoffs by 3 points. Three!

    While there are winners, there are always losers.  A heartbroken Kyle Busch’s response was short and sweet.  “We missed it.  That’s it.  Plain and simple.”  Race winner Clint Bowyer was smug in victory lane.  He said with a smile, “Thank you Juan Pablo Montoya for wrecking me and winning me the race!”

    `This race was scheduled to start at 7:44 pm.  It started late, and ended at 1:30 am on Sunday morning.   For all those fans that stayed up and watched this historic race unfold before your very eyes, be happy that you did.  The chase field is set.  Chicago next week will be full of surprises, just like this weekend.  You’ll want to tune in the next 10 weeks.  It’s truly going to be a “chase for the championship”.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Federated Auto Parts 400, Richmond Int’l Raceway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=26
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 4 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 47
    2 2 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 43
    3 6 55 Mark Martin Toyota 41
    4 28 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 41
    5 17 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 39
    6 20 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 38
    7 10 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 37
    8 14 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 37
    9 23 16 Greg Biffle Ford 35
    10 13 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 34
    11 11 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 0
    12 21 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 33
    13 5 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 32
    14 1 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 31
    15 22 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 29
    16 15 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 28
    17 16 99 Carl Edwards Ford 27
    18 7 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 28
    19 12 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 25
    20 24 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 24
    21 9 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 24
    22 26 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 22
    23 25 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 21
    24 3 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 20
    25 29 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 19
    26 18 43 Aric Almirola Ford 18
    27 32 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 17
    28 30 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 16
    29 42 13 Casey Mears Ford 15
    30 8 20 Joey Logano Toyota 14
    31 35 38 David Gilliland Ford 13
    32 27 34 David Ragan Ford 12
    33 33 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 11
    34 37 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 10
    35 39 32 Ken Schrader Ford 9
    36 36 33 Stephen Leicht * Chevrolet 8
    37 31 30 David Stremme Toyota 7
    38 34 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
    39 38 23 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 5
    40 40 119 Mike Bliss Toyota 0
    41 19 98 Michael McDowell Ford 4
    42 41 26 Josh Wise * Ford 2
    43 43 191 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 0
  • Happy wins the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond

    Happy wins the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond

    [media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”213″][/media-credit]Kevin Harvick won the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 in Richmond International Raceway. This was Harvick’s sixth Nationwide Series win at Richmond and his first in the series since going to victory lane here since 2010.

    “It’s been a long time coming,” Harvick said in Victory Lane. ”I know the first 37 seemed a whole lot easier than No. 38.” Harvick said.

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished second, Kurt Busch third, Denny Hamlin fourth and Michael Annett rounded out the top-5.

    “I gave it all I had on the outside with Kevin there and that was a lot of fun racing him, last week and this week, we gave each other a lot of room and had a lot of fun doing it. Congratulations to them. I know they deserve this one as well as last week.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

    Stenhouse Jr. started on the pole but quickly lost it when he got a bad start and Dillon took the lead into turn 1. Dillon led the first lap and pulled away. Stenhouse Jr. got  shuffled back to seventh on lap 2 but quietly worked his way back up to second by lap 10. He took the spot away on lap 23 when Dillon got stuck trying to pass the lapped car of Derek White off turn 4.

    The first caution came out for the first time when the No.17 of Tanner Barryhill cut a tire in turn 2 and slammed the wall on lap 35. Everybody came in for the first pit stops. Sam Hornish Jr. came in and was free and got a wedge adjustment with some air pressure and only seven gallons of fuel. Dillon got in and said it was a little bit loose and got a track bar with four tires. Ryan Blaney only took two tires and gained 12 positions. Johanna Long lost nine spots due to having very little pit crew.

    Stenhouse Jr. lead the field back to the green flag on lap 45 with Dillon, Harvick and Hornish Jr. behind him. Stenhouse got a better restart and kept the lead after spinning his tires.  Hamlin lost a couple spots due to getting block in by Mike Wallace and had to back up to not hit him and his (Mike) pit crew. Stenhouse continued to lead but was getting challenged by Harvick on lap 67 in turn 1. Harvick got a little bit loose and moved up the race track but saved it and was still searching for the lead.  Harvick took the position when he pinned Stenhouse on the top side with lap traffic in front of him and could not go where. Harvick pulled away a little bit when he took over.

    After a long green flag run, the second caution waved on lap 110 when the Long cut a tire and slammed the wall in turn 2. She was having a great run until the last pit stop where she lost nine spots. She went behind the wall for repairs. They went in for the 2nd round of pit stops with the No.33 of Harvick leading them onto pit road. Dillon was tight in the turns and got a air pressure and a track bar as well as four tires and fuel. Busch got four tires and fuel with a wedge adjustment and a air pressure. Harvick was loose and got a chassis adjustment and a air pressure and was off.

    The restart happened on the lap 118 with Harvick leading. He cleared the field while they were, at one point, four wide on the front stretch. Hamlin got loose with Dillon and almost lost it on the front stretch but kept it together.

    The third caution waved when the No. 7 car of Danica Patrick got into the wall on the front stretch after contact with Brad Sweet. Sweet was on high side and Patrick got into him and smacked the wall. The third round of pit stops occurred with all the leaders coming in. Sadler came in and was tight and free in the turns. Busch said he was little tight but overall it was pretty good. Harvick also told his team that he was loose but it was getting better and they almost got it perfect.

    The green flag waved again on lap 150 with Harvick leaving. He got a great restart and pulled away from the field going into one and two. Hamlin looks like he has his car together and got second place and was looking for the lead. Busch passed Stenhouse Jr. for third and was looking for second.

    The green did not last long as the caution waved on lap 156 when the No. 12 car of Hornish Jr spun after his tire went down and barley smacked the wall. When he was coming down the track, Timmy Hill was trying to avoid it and missed and got the back of the Hornish car. It tore off all of the foam and and the fenders of the right side with foam all over the track. They red flagged the field to get all the debris cleaned up and so the cars wont run over it. Nobody came in during the last stop.

    The went back to green on lap 163 with Harvick leading.  Harvick clears in turn 3 and Stenhouse and Busch fight for second. Stenhouse cleared Busch in the next lap and set his sights on Harvick. Sadler got by Busch and was fighting with Stenhouse real hard for 2nd.

    Elliott Sadler was the victim of the of the fifth caution when Stenhouse and him. It looked like Stenhouse was just there and Sadler got loose and spun and backed it into the fence. The leaders were in the pit stops with Harvick leading them onto pit road. He said he was still loose and got a chassis adjustment while Stenhouse got the same thing. Dillon got 3/10th’s of a air pressure and four tires. Harvick beat Stenhouse barley to get the lead off  pit road.

    “I made a big mistake. I got in there a little bit too loose under Ricky.  We were in good position to win the race. I just got a little bit too impatient, I got a little too hard in my head.” Sadler said.

    They went back to green flag racing on lap 182 but it only lasted two laps when Brian Scott spun after getting help from Ryan Truex. Truex is a teammate to Scott when he races for Joe Gibbs racing.

    They went back to green on lap 201 with Stenhouse Jr. leading. Stenhouse, Harvick and Busch all went three wide into turn 3 with Busch taking the top spot. Harvick and Stenhouse continued to battle for multiple laps but Busch never pulled away. Harvick eventually got past Stenhouse and went to search for the top spot.

    While he was searching for the top spot Busch tagged Dexter Stacey and spun him into the grass. While Stacey was spinning, Harvick moved past Busch before the caution flag came out and got the lead away from Busch.

    The final restart occurred on lap 233 with Harvick leading. He got a terrific restart and never let go.

    Unofficial Race Results
    VA 529 College Savings 250, Richmond Int’l Raceway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=25
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 3 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 0
    2 1 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 43
    3 17 54 Kurt Busch Toyota 0
    4 6 18 Denny Hamlin Toyota 0
    5 13 43 Michael Annett Ford 39
    6 2 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 39
    7 11 51 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 0
    8 14 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 36
    9 27 22 Ryan Blaney Dodge 35
    10 20 20 Darrell Wallace Jr. Toyota 34
    11 15 30 James Buescher Chevrolet 0
    12 12 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 32
    13 10 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 31
    14 19 88 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 30
    15 9 44 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 29
    16 33 199 Ryan Truex Toyota 28
    17 5 60 Travis Pastrana Ford 27
    18 28 40 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 26
    19 30 19 Tayler Malsam Toyota 25
    20 23 38 Brad Sweet * Chevrolet 24
    21 31 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 24
    22 39 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet 22
    23 21 81 Jason Bowles * Dodge 21
    24 22 4 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 20
    25 26 108 Paulie Harraka Ford 0
    26 41 14 Eric McClure Toyota 18
    27 40 39 Dexter Stacey Ford 17
    28 7 11 Brian Scott Toyota 16
    29 24 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 15
    30 4 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 14
    31 32 41 Timmy Hill Ford 0
    32 8 70 Johanna Long * Chevrolet 12
    33 35 86 Kevin Lepage Ford 11
    34 42 124 Derek White Toyota 0
    35 34 117 Tanner Berryhill Toyota 9
    36 37 175 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 0
    37 43 100 Blake Koch Chevrolet 7
    38 38 171 Carl Long Chevrolet 6
    39 36 15 Matthew Carter Chevrolet 5
    40 29 42 Josh Wise Chevrolet 0
    41 25 47 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 0
    42 16 46 Chase Miller Chevrolet 2
    43 18 10 Jeff Green Toyota 1
  • Hamlin holds off Gordon and wins at Atlanta

    Hamlin holds off Gordon and wins at Atlanta

    [media-credit name=”Noel Lanier” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Denny Hamlin held off Jeff Gordon on Sunday and won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AdvoCare 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway. This was Hamlin’s fourth win of the season, the most of any driver thus far and places himself in position to top the standings when the 12-driver Chase starts after next weekend’s race at Richmond.

    “I wanted this one real bad. The car faded a little bit, but the pit crew won me that race. That’s what a championship team is all about. This year, I think we have it all.” Hamlin said.

    Jamie McMurray brought out the final caution flag of the night after hitting the wall on lap 320. Setting up a shootout between Hamlin, Gordon, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr.

    Gordon bumped Hamlin for the lead on the restart and then went high entering turn-1. Hamlin was able to stay in front and hold off Gordon on the final lap and captured his first win at the speedway and the 21st of his career.

    “I should have just run into the back of him going into three and move him up the race track and we would have been sitting in victory lane right now and counting another win. This Chase is too important for me to be in it and not to make a move like that….I wouldn’t have wanted to wreck him but I would have liked to have that one over again.” Gordon said.

    Keselowski finished third, Truex Jr. fourth and Harvick finished fifth.

    “A solid night here at Atlanta and proud of the effort. Got some good consistency and some great cars and it feels good to be locked into the Chase, too.” Keselowski said.

    On lap 269, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman and Sam Hornish Jr. all were involved in a crash on the backstretch. Johnson and Newman both had heavy damage and went to the garage. Johnson finished 34th and Newman finished 35th.

    “I think the 48 just ran out of room and it was unfortunate. We have one chore to do with the U.S. Army team and that is to go into Richmond and win. We have done it before and we can do it again.” Newman said.

    Carl Edwards lost his engine on lap 264. Edwards finished 36th.

    “It started making noise about 25-30 laps ago and it’s just hard to put into words. That’s just how our season has been going and I don’t know what the reason is. We treat these engines like gold and we hardly ever have engine troubles.” Edwards said. “These guys do a great job, Doug Yates and everyone at Roush Yates Engines. But we’ll go to Richmond and go win that race and somehow maybe a miracle will happen. We’ll make the Chase and go win this championship. That’s our mission.”

    Next week at Richmond International Speedway shapes up to be a shootout between Kasey Kahne (751 pts), Kyle Busch (746pts), Gordon (734pts) and Edwards (720pts). Kahne and Bush currently hold the wild card spots. Kahne has two wins and Busch and Gordon both have one.

    Unofficial Race Results
    AdvoCare 500, Atlanta Motor Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=25
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 7 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 48
    2 5 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 43
    3 21 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 41
    4 28 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 41
    5 24 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 40
    6 3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 39
    7 35 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 37
    8 18 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 36
    9 4 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 35
    10 6 55 Mark Martin Toyota 34
    11 15 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 0
    12 26 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 32
    13 16 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 31
    14 27 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 30
    15 2 16 Greg Biffle Ford 30
    16 32 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 0
    17 10 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 27
    18 9 20 Joey Logano Toyota 26
    19 25 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 25
    20 40 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 24
    21 33 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 23
    22 1 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 23
    23 11 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 21
    24 20 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 20
    25 22 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 19
    26 41 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 18
    27 30 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 17
    28 14 34 David Ragan Ford 16
    29 23 10 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 0
    30 42 32 T.J. Bell Ford 0
    31 29 38 David Gilliland Ford 13
    32 13 43 Aric Almirola Ford 12
    33 19 13 Casey Mears Ford 11
    34 8 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 10
    35 17 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 9
    36 12 99 Carl Edwards Ford 8
    37 36 195 Scott Speed Ford 7
    38 34 249 Jason Leffler Toyota 0
    39 31 30 David Stremme Toyota 5
    40 39 23 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 4
    41 43 37 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 3
    42 38 191 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 0
    43 37 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
  • Stenhouse wins a wild one!

    Stenhouse wins a wild one!

    [media-credit id=99 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) NRA American Warrior 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Stenhouse passed Kevin Harvick with one lap and half to go to win his fourth race this season and his first race at Atlanta.

    “We had a great Cargill Beef Mustang and the engine was strong under the hood. Doug Yates has been working really hard on that. I just had to get down on him as tight as I could. I’m glad we could make the end of the race interesting because he killed us for the first 194 laps. He killed us, but it was cool to get him on that restart. Kevin is a great driver and it was fun to go up against him.” Stenhouse said.

    Stenhouse Jr. now has six career NNS victories and all have come in Mustang (three at Iowa, one each at Las Vegas, Texas and Atlanta).

    Brad Keselowski finished second, Kevin Harvick third, Elliott Sadler fourth and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-5.

    “I tried to make a move on Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) coming to the white and he blocked it so I figured I’d just give him a push and he took that push and just ran with it and got in front of Kevin (Harvick). I couldn’t keep back up with him. Maybe if I had another lap but who knows.” Keselowski said.

    Kyle Busch captured his first pole as a team owner and led the first lap. Harvick started third and was not happy because he felt Busch delayed the start of the race and told his crew chief that he would just wreck the No.54 if he did that again.

    The No.52 car of Joey Gase slammed the wall into one and two.  It looked like it was a mechanical issue and nobody came into the pits only because only three laps had been run. Blake Koch took his No.00 to the garage.

    They restarted the race with Stenhouse leading them to the green. Stenhouse cleared everybody into turn 1 with drivers going three wide to get as many positions as they could. The green flag did not last long when the No.41 car of Fain Skinner was spraying oil everywhere on the backstretch. Nobody went down to the pits because they only have five sets of tires and they didn’t want to waste them.

    On lap 12, drivers Carl Long, Josh Wise, Mike Harmon, Chase Miller and J.J Yeley had already started and parked.

    They restarted on lap 16 with Stenhouse being the on the top spot. Stenhouse gets a little ground on the leaders while Harvick, Busch and Kahne were fighting for second. Harvick ended up with the spot. Harvick was closing into turn 4 and on lap 18 he took the race lead coming out of two. Harvick just flew past everybody and by lap 45, he was over 10 seconds from second place of Stenhouse.

    Green Flag Pit stops started to occur with the No.88 of Cole Whitt came in and got four tires. Stenhouse came in and got a chassis adjustment and four tires. He was two tight everywhere but especially in turns 1 and 2.  Sadler went down pit road complaining about his right rear was gone. He also said that he was too loose and he wanted a air pressure adjustment and four tires and he was gone. Keselowski took a trip down the pits and said he was free in to three and other then that, he was fine. He got four tires but was speeding on pit road and had to come down again. When he was coming down to serve the penalty, he was speeding again and had to come in for a stop and go. Harvick was on pit road and he was very happy! He got four tires and no changes and was on his way. Kahne came in saying he was loose in the right rear but other then that, he was tight everywhere. They fixed him and he was on his way. He also sped on pit road and all sped coming into to serve his penalty.

    About five laps later after green flag stops, Caution cam out for the third time. Reed Sorenson and Robert Richardson Jr. were battling for position and it looked like Sorenson moved up and Richardson Jr. tapped his corner panel. There was only seven cars on the lead lap with Whitt making the eighth by getting the lucky dog.  Busch came in and got a rubber in the right front. Harvick stayed out and trapped all the people who were one lap down, due to green flag pit stops.

    They restarted the race on lap 72 with Harvick still leading. He just has a rocket ship and just blew past everybody into turn 1. Travis Pastrana got up to 9th place and is having a very good run. Keselowski is running 17th and he has told his team he is bad loose.

    They had the fourth caution of the race when the No.18 of Denny Hamlin blew a tire in turn 2. The leaders cam in to pit for their second stop of the night! Stenhouse came in wanting to put a rubber in saying he has no right rear grip. Allgaier came in and said he was tight and had no side bite. He got a wedge and a air pressure with four tires and was off. Sam Hornish Jr came in and was free and wanted a air pressure adjustment. He got that four tires and fuel. Our leader went in and said exactly what he said last time: He loves it! He got four tires, fuel and left.

    Harvick lead them to the green flag and pulled away just like he has done the entire night! On lap 104  Harvick’s lead was about 6.5 seconds. He has had a magic car tonight.

    The fifth caution cam out on lap 107 when the No.38 of Kahne cut a tire and shredded it all over the track. Kahne was two laps down due to the pit road penalties. – Allgaier, Michael Annett, Pastrana and a few others drop onto pit road under the caution. The leader of Harvick did not. They will all need to make one more pit stop before the night is over.

    The green flag went back to green with Harvick leading and he pulled away like he has done all day. He has had amazing car and yesterday he wrote on twitter that he was having a okay car in cup and had to work on his NNS car. Well I think he worked on it!

    Harvick lead for six more laps until the next caution came out when the No.14 of Eric Mcclure cut a tire in turn 2. This has been the third tire cut. The leaders came down to pit stop for their 2nd to last pit stop. Stenhouse Jr came in and got four tires and was a five on a scale of 1 to 10 loose. He also got fuel and was out of  there. The No.3 car of Austin Dillon says his car is the best that they have had today. He got four tires and fuel and was the second off pit road. Harvick got four tires telling the crew not to change anything but tires and fuel. Pastrana did not pit and will be the leader when we get back to green.

    Pastrana lead the field back to the green but that didn’t last long. Harvick went three wide into one and gotten the top spot and started to pull away from the No.99. Stenhouse was trying to catch up but Harvick is too dang fast. Pastrana was running ninth with 32 laps to go when he hit the wall with a tire going down.  It was the fourth tire down tonight!

    Final green flag pit stops came with 26 to go with the No.54 of Busch as the first one to come in. He said he just could not find the car today. He got some wedge and four tires with some fuel and was leaving right when Harvick was starting with his pit stop. Harvick said the car is amazing and all he wanted was four tires and fuel and he was gone. Stenhouse got in right behind Harvick and got a chassis adjustment with four tires and fuel. Sadler came in and got a chassis adjustment. He said he was still loose in and he didn’t want any changes.

    Everybody went in to pit except for Keselowski and Allgaier. They were both trying to wait for a caution so they can come in and get fresher tires. They got it. The caution came out for debris in turn 1 with Allgaier breathing a sigh of relief on his radio. They down on pit road and got fresh tires.

    They went back to green with eight laps to go with Kevin Harvick leading. Stenhouse was trying to catch him but there was wreck behind them. James Buescher got a little high, Patrick hit the bumper and turned him. Patrick then went down and collected Mike Bliss who spun and collected Kyle Fowler.

    harvick had the dominate car all night, but Keselowski pushed Stenhouse to the lead in the final lap and Harvick drifted back to finish third.

    “The 22 is gonna be a great Ford teammate next year. He pushed us down that front straightaway. He had the new tires on and definitely helped us get to the win.” Stenhouse said.

    Unofficial Race Results
    NRA American Warrior 300, Atlanta Motor Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=24
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 – 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 47
    2 – 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 0
    3 – 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 0
    4 – 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 40
    5 – 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 40
    6 – 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 38
    7 – 54 Kyle Busch Toyota 0
    8 – 88 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 36
    9 – 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 35
    10 – 43 Michael Annett Ford 34
    11 – 11 Brian Scott Toyota 33
    12 – 18 Denny Hamlin Toyota 0
    13 – 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 31
    14 – 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 30
    15 – 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 29
    16 – 81 Jason Bowles * Toyota 28
    17 – 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 27
    18 – 19 Tayler Malsam Toyota 26
    19 – 4 Danny Efland Chevrolet 25
    20 – 40 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 24
    21 – 14 Eric McClure Toyota 23
    22 – 44 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 22
    23 – 30 James Buescher Chevrolet 0
    24 – 124 Benny Gordon * Toyota 20
    25 – 108 Kyle Fowler Ford 19
    26 – 199 Travis Pastrana Toyota 19
    27 – 50 David Starr Chevrolet 0
    28 – 38 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 0
    29 – 70 Tony Raines Chevrolet 0
    30 – 171 Matthew Carter Chevrolet 14
    31 – 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet 13
    32 – 198 Reed Sorenson Ford 12
    33 – 15 Timmy Hill Ford 0
    34 – 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 10
    35 – 10 Jeff Green Toyota 9
    36 – 100 Blake Koch Chevrolet 8
    37 – 41 Fain Skinner Ford 7
    38 – 46 Chase Miller Chevrolet 6
    39 – 174 Mike Harmon Chevrolet 5
    40 – 42 Josh Wise Chevrolet 0
    41 – 171 Carl Long Chevrolet 3
    42 – 47 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 0
    43 – 52 Joey Gase * Chevrolet 1
  • Ty Dillon Wins Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 200 Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway

    Ty Dillon Wins Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 200 Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Wesley Hitt/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”234″][/media-credit]HAMPTON, Ga. (Aug. 31, 2012) – Rookie Ty Dillon made anything but a rookie move to pass veteran Atlanta Motor Speedway ace Kyle Busch for his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win Friday in the Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 200.

    “I’m so happy and so excited, and I finally did it, I won a NASCAR race,” said Dillon, grandson of legendary NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, son of former NASCAR driver Mike Dillon, and brother of current NASCAR Nationwide Series contender Austin Dillon. “My whole life has revolved around NASCAR and RCR and our team. My whole dream was just to win a race in NASCAR and eventually maybe one day become a champion. I accomplished one of my goals tonight; it just feels so great.”

    Dillon came close last week, running in the top five at Bristol before running out of fuel with three laps remaining. He was afraid tonight was going to be a repeat performance, as he would have run out of fuel without the benefit of that last caution. But the caution did come out at lap 106 of 130 for debris on the track, and Dillon stopped for fuel.

    He came out of the pits first, with Busch second, a lead that didn’t last a single lap after the restart. But Dillon kept searching for a way to get past the wily veteran, then dove low with six laps to go, relegating Busch to the high line.

    “I couldn’t be more prouder than what he accomplished tonight,” Childress said. “To watch him race, and watch how he kept searching for the groove and moving around … he looked like he was a pro out there.”

    Even racing against a pro. Busch has won four events in his eight starts, never finishing outside the top 10. But the veteran had nothing for the rookie who forced him high, where his truck was helpless, tagging the wall as Dillon streaked past him underneath.

    “They were just a better truck; they had a lot better handle on the bottom of the race track than we did, especially throughout the longer runs,” Busch said. “Then when it’s time to race, a guy catches you and you’ve got to go up to the top, and you try to push and you get sideways and get into the fence. There’s no room to catch it up there. It was all I could do to try to push as hard as I could; I didn’t have anything to hold onto.”

    Busch has finished second, third and second for the last three years consecutively, and while that sounds like a fantastic record for most drivers, it left Busch extremely frustrated Friday in Atlanta.

    “We’ve run the same thing for three years and got beat by same truck for three years,” Busch said. “It gets a little old. It’s like Groundhog Day today.”

    It might have felt that way to Busch, but not for proud papa Mike Dillon.

    “You want to get them out there and give them everything it takes to do it,” Dillon said. “And then when they accomplish it, it’s hard to put into words. It’s like a kid getting up there to hit a ball on their first time at bat, you just want them to make contact … and he hit it out of the park tonight.”

    Racing action continues with Saturday’s NRA American Warrior 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race and Sunday’s AdvoCare 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Seats are still available by calling the Atlanta Motor Speedway ticket office at 877-9-AMS-TIX (877-926-7849), 770-946-4211 or by visiting www.atlantamotorspeedway.com.

    Unofficial Race Results
    J. Foxworthy’s GC 200, Atlanta Motor Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=14
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 1 3 Ty Dillon * Chevrolet 47
    2 4 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 0
    3 3 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 42
    4 9 7 Parker Kligerman Toyota 41
    5 13 5 Aric Almirola Ford 0
    6 17 4 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 38
    7 14 22 Joey Coulter Chevrolet 38
    8 5 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. Chevrolet 36
    9 10 88 Matt Crafton Toyota 35
    10 15 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 0
    11 12 29 Ryan Blaney Ram 33
    12 6 13 Johnny Sauter Toyota 32
    13 8 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 31
    14 20 6 Justin Lofton Chevrolet 31
    15 18 33 Cale Gale * Chevrolet 30
    16 7 32 Miguel Paludo Chevrolet 28
    17 23 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 27
    18 24 81 David Starr Toyota 26
    19 22 9 John Wes Townley * Toyota 25
    20 16 8 Ross Chastain * Toyota 24
    21 21 11 Todd Bodine Toyota 23
    22 30 8 Max Gresham * Chevrolet 22
    23 29 98 Dakoda Armstrong * Toyota 21
    24 28 99 Bryan Silas * Ford 20
    25 26 92 Chad McCumbee Chevrolet 19
    26 33 84 Chris Fontaine Chevrolet 18
    27 31 275 Caleb Holman * Chevrolet 17
    28 2 2 Tim George Jr. Chevrolet 16
    29 11 23 Jason White Ford 15
    30 19 9 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 14
    31 35 93 Chris Jones Chevrolet 13
    32 25 7 Johnny Chapman Toyota 12
    33 27 174 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 0
    34 34 27 Stephen Leicht Chevrolet 0
    35 32 0 Blake Koch Ford 0
    36 36 38 Dennis Setzer Chevrolet 8
  • Stewart Wins Pole for AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway

    Stewart Wins Pole for AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Tyler Barrick/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”234″][/media-credit]HAMPTON, Ga. (Aug. 31, 2012) – Fresh off his helmet-throwing performance last weekend, Tony Stewart won the pole for Sunday’s AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a lap of 29.787 seconds (186.121 mph).

    “That pole is 100 percent due to Ryan Newman,” Stewart said of his teammate, who had qualified earlier in the evening and was able to tell Newman exactly how to set his car up. “He walked back down there to help us before we went out and said there’s a ton of grip out there, you’ve just gotta do it. I was having a hard time convincing myself that’s what I was gonna do.”

    Stewart said Newman convinced him to try the high line on turns three and four of his warm-up lap and decide on his way to the start/finish line.

    “That’s about 2½ seconds,” Stewart laughed. “I’m not sure if we’d have run the line I’d planned on running we’d have been that fast. It’s awesome having a teammate like. I don’t ever remember being here and seeing anybody run up at the top like he did.”

    It was Stewart’s first pole position at the fast superspeedway and his 14th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole. Newman will start inside row nine after qualifying 17th.

    “I’m definitely known as a qualifier,” Stewart said. “I want to run a good lap every time, but I know the bigger prize is on Sunday. It doesn’t mean I don’t want poles, I just don’t normally get them.”

    Greg Biffle will start outside the front row after turning a lap in 29.863 seconds (185.643 mph).

    “It sort of hurts to qualify second like we did today,” Biffle said. “You know, you ask any driver after qualifying, and they could give you 100 reasons why and what they could have done better. I got down in the middle of one and two and hesitated to push the gas down; I thought the car was loose and waited and waited and thought I was gonna have to run a second lap to make up for it. I come by and they told me I was on the front row. I wish I could do it over again, but it was a great lap to put us on the front row. It gives me a lot of confidence for Sunday, both for track position and for pit selection.”

    Kyle Busch will start third with a lap of 29.888 seconds (185.493 mph).

    “Qualified third here the last few times,” Busch said quickly before jumping into his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series machine for the Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 200. “Can’t get enough to get the pole, but whatever. Just missed a little bit. We’ll see what we get in the race.”

    Danica Patrick will start 23rd, her best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start of the year.

    Alpharetta’s Joey Logano will start the race 9th and Unadilla (Ga.) native David Ragan will start 14th. Failing to qualify were Mike Bliss, Josh Wise, Stephen Leicht and Michael McDowell.

    Great seats are still available for Sunday’s AdvoCare 500. For tickets or more information call the Atlanta Motor Speedway ticket office at (877) 9-AMS-TIX, (770) 946-4211 or visit www.atlantamotorspeedway.com.

    Starting Lineup
    AdvoCare 500, Atlanta Motor Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=25
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 186.122 29.787
    2 16 Greg Biffle Ford 185.648 29.863
    3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 185.492 29.888
    4 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 185.319 29.916
    5 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 185.307 29.918
    6 55 Mark Martin Toyota 185.232 29.93
    7 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 185.22 29.932
    8 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 185.139 29.945
    9 20 Joey Logano Toyota 185.084 29.954
    10 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 185.053 29.959
    11 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 184.997 29.968
    12 99 Carl Edwards Ford 184.93 29.979
    13 43 Aric Almirola Ford 184.874 29.988
    14 34 David Ragan Ford 184.738 30.01
    15 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 184.609 30.031
    16 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 184.566 30.038
    17 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 184.48 30.052
    18 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 184.425 30.061
    19 13 Casey Mears Ford 184.082 30.117
    20 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 184.07 30.119
    21 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 184.058 30.121
    22 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 183.747 30.172
    23 10 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 183.673 30.184
    24 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 183.643 30.189
    25 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 183.509 30.211
    26 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 183.412 30.227
    27 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 183.388 30.231
    28 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 183.37 30.234
    29 38 David Gilliland Ford 183.364 30.235
    30 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 183.333 30.24
    31 30 David Stremme Toyota 183.037 30.289
    32 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 182.886 30.314
    33 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 182.759 30.335
    34 249 Jason Leffler Toyota 182.675 30.349
    35 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 182.627 30.357
    36 195 Scott Speed Ford 182.549 30.37
    37 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 182.38 30.398
    38 191 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 182.189 30.43
    39 23 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 182.141 30.438
    40 83 Landon Cassill+ Toyota 181.224 30.592
    41 93 Travis Kvapil+ Toyota 180.527 30.71
    42 32 T.J. Bell+ Ford 180.457 30.722
    43 37 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 182.069 30.45
  • Tempers Flare, Hamlin wins at Bristol

    Tempers Flare, Hamlin wins at Bristol

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”242″][/media-credit]After three previous races during the first weekend on the “new” Bristol surface, everyone was still uncertain what the annual Bristol night race would bring to the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Denny Hamlin found the right groove, was in the right position, and drove a great race to get his third win of the season and his first at the famed Bristol Motor Speedway.

    After eight laps with polesitter Casey Mears leading the way, caution number one of the night came out for Ken Schrader when he spun. Nobody pitted on that caution. After bringing out a previous caution, Sam Hornish Jr. brought out another caution. During the pit stops, Juan Montoya took only two tires and was able to keep his track position up inside the top ten.

    Throughout the whole night, the very high line was the place to be. Some cars, including Hamlin and Clint Bowyer, were able to run the bottom line and pass other cars, but mostly everyone else ran the top most of the night.

    On lap 148, David Ragan spun out and laid down some oil on the track. The leader at the time, Kasey Kahne, slipped in the oil and got into the wall with his right side. He came into the pits to repair some damage and ended up losing a lap. He rebounded to finish in ninth place.

    On the restart on lap 158, everyone who pitted on that caution was clumped into the middle of the field because the field was on two different pit strategies.

    A few laps after the restart, Montoya and Ryan Newman had some contact and it sent Newman into the inside retaining wall. Jeff Burton was also involved. Burton had such a great run going for him. That’s pretty much been the story of his season.

    “I saw Ryan (Newman) got in trouble and he started spinning. He looked like he was going to stay against the wall, and so I committed to the bottom and then he started in and I couldn’t get turned back to the right. It was pretty disappointing.” Burton said.

    On lap 206, Hamlin took the lead away from Dale Earnhardt Jr. That was the first time Hamlin was out front and we truly saw how fast his car was. After a couple more cautions involving Aric Amorila and Brad Keselowski, Johnson took over the top spot.

    On lap 322, Kurt Busch and Regan Smith got together and brought out another caution.

    Now, here’s when things start to get interesting.

    Battling for the lead on the restart, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart made some contact and both of them went into the wall. Stewart “Smoke” was furious. Stewart then waited for Kenseth to come down pit road and once he did, he threw his helmet at the hood of Kenseth’s car.

    “I was expecting it. I’ve seen that for awhile. I was expecting it and it didn’t really bother me. It wasn’t gonna hurt it any worse.” Kenseth said about Stewart throwing the helmet at his car.

    “We weren’t that great of a race car. But we were definitely faster than that after that restart. I checked-up twice to not run over him (Kenseth) and I learned my lesson there; I’m going to run over him every chance I’ve got from now ‘til the end of the year……. every chance I’ve got.” Stewart said.

    With 100 laps to go, the running order was Martin Truex Jr., Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Edwards and Kevin Harvick.

    On lap 413, Casey Mears brought out a caution. The leaders pitted and they were all good to go till the finish. Except for Carl Edwards., his crew chief called him in to pit, but he didn’t come in. He would need to stretch his fuel.

    “I made the decision to stay out, which in hindsight that was the wrong decision because we probably would have finished better than we are right now, but I wanted a chance to win the race.” Edwards said.

    On lap 434, Danica Patrick was turned by Regan Smith. Patrick was running pretty well and was on the lead lap at Bristol in her first time there racing in the Sprint Cup Series.

    “We’re all racing hard. This is Bristol and this is why people love this track is because you see a lot of that and you see tempers flare. It’s usually part of the broadcast and when they describe what’s going to happen. It was just a bummer because I really felt like the GoDaddy car was going to get a solid, maybe a top 20 finish and on the lead lap.” Patrick said.

    With 38 laps to go, Hamlin took the lead from Edwards on a slide job move. It was all smooth sailing from there.

    After the win, crew chief Darian Grubb said, “It was a great night. […] A great team effort and a great racecar.” In victory lane, Hamlin said, “I can’t even tell you. This is my biggest win. It just hauled the mail. This is just a big win, I don’t know how else to explain it. […] Were not done winning yet. Big day, big win.”

    This was win No.200 for car number 11, and it was one of the most special.

    Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jr. also clinched spots in the chase for the sprint cup.

    The crowd at Bristol was huge, and I’m sure that they enjoyed a great, old school Bristol beatin’ an bangin’ race.

    Unofficial Race Results
    IRWIN Tools Night Race, Bristol Motor Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=24
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 8 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 47
    2 37 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 43
    3 11 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 41
    4 22 55 Brian Vickers Toyota 41
    5 9 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 40
    6 10 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 38
    7 23 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 37
    8 4 20 Joey Logano Toyota 38
    9 12 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 36
    10 7 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 34
    11 15 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 34
    12 16 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 33
    13 28 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 32
    14 36 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 30
    15 13 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 29
    16 14 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 28
    17 26 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 27
    18 41 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 26
    19 3 16 Greg Biffle Ford 26
    20 18 38 David Gilliland Ford 24
    21 1 13 Casey Mears Ford 24
    22 27 99 Carl Edwards Ford 23
    23 30 98 Michael McDowell Ford 21
    24 33 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 20
    25 17 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 20
    26 25 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 18
    27 21 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 18
    28 20 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 16
    29 43 10 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 0
    30 2 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 14
    31 39 249 Jason Leffler Toyota 0
    32 24 34 David Ragan Ford 12
    33 6 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 11
    34 29 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 0
    35 5 43 Aric Almirola Ford 9
    36 19 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 8
    37 31 30 David Stremme Toyota 7
    38 32 26 Josh Wise * Ford 6
    39 40 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
    40 38 33 Stephen Leicht * Chevrolet 4
    41 35 23 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 3
    42 42 32 Ken Schrader Ford 2
    43 34 119 Mike Bliss Toyota 0
  • Logano wins the Food City 250 at Bristol

    Logano wins the Food City 250 at Bristol

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”223″][/media-credit]Joey Logano won the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway after a one hour delay due to rain.  Logano led three times for 81 laps and captured first career Bristol win. This is Logano’s sixth NNS win of 2012 and the 15th NNS victory of his career.

    “Man, it feels like it’s been a long time coming, but we finally got a victory here at Bristol. There are a lot of tracks that I’d like to win at, like all of them, but this is one of those places where I’ve always wanted to win and we’ve been so close over the years. We should have won this race last year and we should have won here in the spring. Now, we can leave here and say we are Bristol winners.” Logano said.

    The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Toyota extended its lead in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Owner’s point standings by 13-points over the No. 2 of Richard Childress Racing (RCR)and a 32-point lead over the No. 6 of Roush-Fenway Racing (RFR).

    Ricky Stenhouse, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top-5.

    “It was a real good night for the Monster Energy Camry. All these guys — they worked hard, they did a good job and we missed a little bit of something tonight — kind of like last year.” Busch said.

    Trevor Bayne started on the pole with a colorful paint scheme in honor of Pat Summitt and her Lady Vols. Summitt was the grand marshal and waved the green flag for “her car” to start the race! Bayne led for about a turn when Logano took the lead from the high side and started to pull away.

    Lap five was when the first caution flag when the No.31 of Justin Allgaier got turned into the wall from Dillon in turn 2. Allgaier was not happy and tried to run him down.  But he had a flat tire and spun into the outside wall in turn four and tore the back of his car off.  Allgaier came into the pits and his crew chief was not happy. “He just flat wrecked us!”.

    Nobody came in to pit because they could not fuel the car till lap 50 due to the competition caution.

    They restarted the race on lap 11 with Logano, Bayne, Brian Scott, Stenhouse Jr. and Dillon in the top-5. Everyone got a great restart and Bayne got a good run off of two and took the lead. He was getting challenged from his teammate of Stenhouse who is driving a NOS Energy paint scheme. Stenhouse Jr. was trying to get the lead but Logano was sneaking up and challenged Stenhouse Jr.

    The second caution arrived on lap 25 when Brad Keselowski smacked the wall when he was behind the lap car of Brad Teague and Scott had a run and bumped him in 3 and 4. Keselowski went in and had tons of splitter damage but also got docked a lap because he fueled the car up before the competition caution.

    They went back to green on lap 32 but it didn’t last long. One lap later the No.31 of Allgaier cut a tire and threw some debris on the track. The only person that hit pit road was the No.20 when he radioed his crew chief saying he thought a tire was going down. They took four tires and was on there way. He restarted in the 28th position.

    They went back to racing on lap 40 with Sadler as the race leader with Bayne, Dillon, Stenhouse Jr.and Busch as the top-5. Sadler cleared Bayne for the lead with Stenhouse Jr. following.

    The fourth yellow was waved on lap 45 when the No.81 car of Jason Bowles spun on the front stretch. Bowles drove away and went to pit road to get some fresh tires. The leaders went to pit road and NASCAR decided to make this the competition caution.  Bayne came in and was complaining of being two free and got only right side tires and was off. Busch could not drive in on the bottom and got a air pressure adjustment with four tires and fuel.  Sadler got an adjustment and fuel only.  Sadler won the race off pit road.

    They got the green flag once again on lap 54 with Stenhouse Jr. leading. Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Blaney did not pit and were first and second. Stenhouse Jr. cleared Blaney and was on his way. Blaney was getting freight trained and was out of the top-5 within 3 laps!

    Brian Scott was in the wall on lap 63 when the No.54 of Busch just flat out turned him on the backstretch. Scott, who drives for Joe Gibbs racing, is kinda like a teammate to Busch since Busch drives for Joe Gibbs in the Sprint Cup Series. Scott went to the garage due to damage to the front bumper.

    They went back to green on lap 69 with Stenhouse Jr., Sadler, Kevin Harvick, Kahne and Logano as the top-5. Stenhouse Jr. was opening a gap to second place of Kasey Kahne when Kahne passed Sadler and Harvick and was looking for the lead. Logano was getting more and more speed and passed Kahne for second and was challenging for the race lead. He was trying and trying but could not get it done. He finally took the lead when the lapped down cars were in front of the leaders and Logano made them as a pick for Stenhouse Jr.

    They had a long green flag run until lap 113 when the No.41 of Fain Skinner spun and the caution came out. All the leaders came on to pit road in what could be the final stop of the night. Stenhouse Jr. came in and was reporting he was loose in and tight off and got four tires and fuel. Logano was too loose and got a air pressure and four tires and fuel. Bayne was describing his car as “snappy loose” and got also the four tires and was on his way. Blaney came in for his first stop and got four tires and fuel and said the car was fine. Harvick let the race off pit road with only taking two tires and fuel.

    They went back to green on lap 122 with Harvick leading. Harvick was looking good but you can never count out the No.18 and his teammate Sadler.

    Logano took the lead from Harvick on lap 170 but the caution waved on lap 173 when the No.24 of Benny Gordon spun out off turn 2.

    They went back to racing on lap 180 with Logano and Harvick still battling side by side. They were beating and banging for multiple laps and Harvick was trying to hold him off but then Logano took over the top spot on lap 215 due to what else? Lap Traffic! He was pulling away till the caution came out on lap 228 when the No.99 of John Wes Townley cut a tire and was slowing on the backstretch.

    Harvick had to go in during this caution due to being out of fuel and he would lose a lap. Harvick eventually got the lap back and finished 15th.

    They went back to green on lap 235 with Logano leading. Logano pulled away with a dominant restart and looked to be on his way to victory until the caution came out on lap 242 when Dillon got loose and collected Bayne.

    This set up a green white checkered where Logano pulled away for the final time for the victory.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Food City 250, Bristol Motor Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=23
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 – 18 Joey Logano Toyota 0
    2 – 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 43
    3 – 54 Kyle Busch Toyota 0
    4 – 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 40
    5 – 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 40
    6 – 88 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 38
    7 – 136 Ryan Blaney Chevrolet 38
    8 – 43 Michael Annett Ford 36
    9 – 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 35
    10 – 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 34
    11 – 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 33
    12 – 19 Tayler Malsam Toyota 32
    13 – 44 Mike Bliss Toyota 31
    14 – 38 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 0
    15 – 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 0
    16 – 60 Trevor Bayne Ford 29
    17 – 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 27
    18 – 81 Jason Bowles * Dodge 26
    19 – 39 Josh Richards Ford 25
    20 – 86 Kevin Lepage Ford 24
    21 – 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. Chevrolet 0
    22 – 124 Benny Gordon * Chevrolet 22
    23 – 199 John Wes Townley Toyota 0
    24 – 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet 20
    25 – 15 Timmy Hill Chevrolet 0
    26 – 4 Brad Teague Chevrolet 18
    27 – 14 Eric McClure Toyota 17
    28 – 41 Fain Skinner Ford 16
    29 – 70 Johanna Long * Chevrolet 15
    30 – 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 14
    31 – 52 Joey Gase * Chevrolet 13
    32 – 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 0
    33 – 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 11
    34 – 11 Brian Scott Toyota 10
    35 – 40 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 9
    36 – 174 Rick Crawford Chevrolet 0
    37 – 171 Carl Long Chevrolet 7
    38 – 175 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 0
    39 – 50 David Starr Chevrolet 0
    40 – 42 Josh Wise Chevrolet 0
    41 – 108 Tim Andrews Ford 3
    42 – 10 Jeff Green Toyota 2
    43 – 46 Chase Miller Chevrolet 1
  • Rain cancels Cup qualifying; Mears on the IRWIN Tools Night Race pole

    Rain cancels Cup qualifying; Mears on the IRWIN Tools Night Race pole

    Rain delayed and then cancelled NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying on Friday and Bristol Motor Speedway.

    Saturday night’s lineup was set by the first practice session that was held on Friday. Casey Mears had the quickest lap of 122.209 MPH and will be the polesitter for the IRWIN Tools Night Race.

    “It’s exciting. I think for our team, Germain Racing, it’s been a long couple of years. It’s been good, but the team has really grown in strides and we’ve made a lot of big improvements this year. We still have a lot to learn and still have a lot to grow, but it’s a big shot in the arm for our team for sure.” Mears said.

    Brad Keselowski starts second.

    “You know Bristol is always about track position but I have had cars here in the past where you could pass and get your way up to the front. I’m not going to complain either way. I’m just happy to have a fast race car and I think the Miller Lite Dodge is another fast race car coming to Bristol.” Keselowski said.

    Series points leader Greg Biffle third, Joey Logano fourth and Aric Almirola starts fifth.

    “Certainly I think the rainout could help us because it could put some guys further back in the field than they probably would have qualified, so that could make a little bit of a difference at the beginning of this race, but, overall, 500 laps the fast cars are gonna be at the front at the end.” Biffle said.

    Starting Lineup
    IRWIN Tools Night Race, Bristol Motor Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=24
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 13 Casey Mears Ford N/A N/A
    2 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge N/A N/A
    3 16 Greg Biffle Ford N/A N/A
    4 20 Joey Logano Toyota N/A N/A
    5 43 Aric Almirola Ford N/A N/A
    6 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet N/A N/A
    7 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet N/A N/A
    8 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota N/A N/A
    9 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford N/A N/A
    10 18 Kyle Busch Toyota N/A N/A
    11 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet N/A N/A
    12 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet N/A N/A
    13 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet N/A N/A
    14 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet N/A N/A
    15 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota N/A N/A
    16 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet N/A N/A
    17 17 Matt Kenseth Ford N/A N/A
    18 38 David Gilliland Ford N/A N/A
    19 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet N/A N/A
    20 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet N/A N/A
    21 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet N/A N/A
    22 55 Brian Vickers Toyota N/A N/A
    23 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota N/A N/A
    24 34 David Ragan Ford N/A N/A
    25 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet N/A N/A
    26 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet N/A N/A
    27 99 Carl Edwards Ford N/A N/A
    28 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet N/A N/A
    29 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge N/A N/A
    30 98 Michael McDowell Ford N/A N/A
    31 30 David Stremme Toyota N/A N/A
    32 26 Josh Wise* Ford N/A N/A
    33 83 Landon Cassill Toyota N/A N/A
    34 119 Mike Bliss Toyota N/A N/A
    35 23 Scott Riggs Chevrolet N/A N/A
    36 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota N/A N/A
    37 33 Stephen Leicht* Chevrolet N/A N/A
    37 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet N/A N/A
    39 249 Jason Leffler Toyota N/A N/A
    40 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota N/A N/A
    41 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota N/A N/A
    42 195 Scott Speed Ford N/A N/A
    42 32 Ken Schrader Ford N/A N/A
    43 10 Danica Patrick Chevrolet N/A N/A
  • Peters dominates the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series UNOH 200 at Bristol

    Peters dominates the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series UNOH 200 at Bristol

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Timothy Peters dominated the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday night. Peters led all 204 laps run in route to his second victory of the season and the fifth of his career.

    “Oh man, what an awesome feeling. First, I want to apologize to the guys at home for the burnout and hurting the truck. Thank you guys for an awesome Toyota Tundra. These guys right here worked their butts off like they do week in and week out.” Peters said.

    With this win, Peters became first NCWTS driver since 1997 to lead every lap in a race.

    Peters takes over the series points lead by 17 points over James Buescher, who finished seventh.

    Peters’ Red Horse Racing teammate, Parker Kligerman finished second, Ross Chastain, who captured his career best finish was third, Joey Coulter fourth and Brendan Gaughan finished fifth.

    Ty Dillon ran out of fuel on the final restart while running in the top-5. Dillon finished 21st and falls to third in the series standings, 25 points behind.

    Brad Keselowski also ran out of fuel on the final restart and finished 25th.

    “On the last restart I didn’t the chance. It ran out of fuel so I don’t know; really confusing. I should have had a good 30 or 40 laps of fuel left. Something happened so we’ll have to go back and figure out what it was.” Keselowski said.

    The No. 33 of Cale Gale came up the track and touched the No.11 of Todd Bodine in turn-2, cutting down Bodine’s tire as he entered turn-3. Bodine spun into the outside wall and slid back down the track with heavy damage.

    “Pretty much the same thing that’s happened all year. Cale (Gale) just pushed and got into the left-rear (tire) and cut the left- rear down. This racing is so close and so competitive — the kids without experience don’t know that there’s a lot of times that you have to let off.” Bodine said.

    The series heads next to Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday August 31st for the Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 200.