Category: Race Central

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Matt Kenseth made his run to the front in the final laps with Jimmie Johnson pushing him.

Then leader, Greg Biffle pulled up to block the duo but both cars had too much momentum and pulled to the inside of Biffle, took the lead and Biffle went on to win the Gatorade Duel No. 2 at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday.

“We just had a big run there. Jimmie Johnson gave me a huge push there and that really worked nice for me the whole race there. Without that push it would have never gotten done.” Kenseth said.

This was also Roush Fenway’s first duel victory.

“It got a little dicey there at the end. I could have probably blocked a little bit more than I did, but that’s not the time to block right there for that win.” Biffle said.

Dave Blaney, Joe Nemechek and Tony Raines took the final three spots in the Daytona 500.

See Also:
Stewart wins Gatorade Duel 1

Unofficial Race Results
Gatorade Duel 2
February 23, 2012 | Exhibition

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Tony Stewart, the three-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion picked up his 17 victory at Daytona International Speedway with a win in the Gatorade Duel No. 1 under caution flag conditions.

“This Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy has been awesome all weekend. We have a great starting spot for the (Daytona) 500. This thing has been fast so we are hoping to be there at the end on Sunday.” Stewart said.

The race ended under caution after Danica Patrick crashed on the bachstretch. Patrick crashed very hard on the backstretch after contact with Aric Almirola. Almirola got loose and came down into Patrick, sending her spinning into in the side wall. Patrick was ok and walked to the ambulance under her own power.

“It happened really quickly. I guess you can always imagine when you get down to the end of the race everyone is on each other’s doors really close. It’s just kind of what happens at the end of the race. Unfortunately, I was part of it.” Patrick said.

On Lap 52, Michael Waltrip crashed on the backstretch after losing control while making the transition from the apron onto the race track. Waltrip hit the outside wall hard and was out of the race and was eliminated from Sunday’s race.

“I just went the wrong way and lost the car. I feel like I let everybody down. I raced my way to the front and then I let them down. It’s just really hard. I don’t know what to say. It’s just sad. Thankful to my team and Aaron’s for giving me the opportunity and hate that I let everybody down.” Waltrip said.

Juan Montoya, Paul Menard and David Gilliand are involved in an early accident on lap 9 between Turns 1 and 2.

“Just a product of this hybrid tandem-pack racing. All the rule changes are just making a big mess of what was a pretty good race. I’m hoping to survive on Sunday.” Menard said. “If I say my mind right now; NASCAR is trying to dictate physics. Physics says two cars are going to push and they’re trying to make rule changes to keep us from doing it, so it is kind of a hybrid of pack racing and tandem racing. It is causing a pretty unsafe situation.”

“It is what it is, you know. I don’t want to get involved in whose fault it is. It is part of restrictor plate racing.” Montoya said.

Gilliand had minor injuries.  “I feel good, I am fine. I cut up my hand on my helmet and I had to get it stitched. I am fine, just disappointed.”

Michael McDowell and Robby Gordon transfer into the Daytona 500.

“It’s amazing. I’ve been here once before and made the race. I had to qualify in and I’ve been on the outside looking in too, so just know that this is extremely special not just for me and my family, but for our whole team.” McDowell said.

See Also:
Matt Kenseth wins Gatorade Duel 2

Unofficial Race Results
Gatorade Duel 1
February 23, 2012 | Exhibition

[media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”241″][/media-credit]Kyle Busch wouldn’t say that he impressed himself in the way that he won Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout but he thought it was pretty cool.

After what sure were going to be hard wrecks on two different occasions Busch was able to save his No. 18 M&M’s Camry from trouble and win the season opening race for the first time in his career. Whereas he should have been on a hook in the garage Busch beat defending champion Tony Stewart coming off turn four in a photo finish, 0.013 seconds.

“Man, it was exciting from where I was at a few times certainly,” Busch said afterwards. “Can’t say enough about all these guys, bringing out a backup car like that making another fast M&M Camry out of Joe Gibbs Racing, come out here and winning the thing. First time might have been luck. I’m going to say the second time was all skill.

“It was interesting from my seat. I was steering, stabbing, braking, gassing, everything in between, trying to keep the thing straight, get it back under control.”

The first of Busch’s trouble came on lap 48 when Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson got into him in turn two. Busch’s car slid down the apron and Busch was able to regain control twice as it tried to get sideways. In doing so he and the drivers who slowed behind him lost ground to the leaders who sped away. The caution never flew and Busch was left playing catch up.

“Hard to say whether you impressed yourself,” said Busch. “Never thought about that. It was certainly cool. I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t recommend everybody do it everyday. But certainly it got my attention. I was just glad that I was able to pull through it, to be honest with you, to be able to straighten it back out, keep going. Check my mirror. Everybody was stabbing the brakes, trying to slow down, thinking I’m going to wreck. We got it back going, they’re like, huh, all right.”

That included Stewart who had a front row seat. The three-time champion said it was one of the coolest things that he’s ever seen and that it was also cool to see a driver come back from big moments such as those during the race and win. Even though it would be at his expense in the end.

Said Stewart, “He had to catch it three times before he saved it. You get 3400 pounds moving like that, to catch it once was pretty big, to get away from it and catch it again was big and the third time was big. That’s three big moments in one corner and he never quit driving. There’s a lot of guys that wouldn’t have caught that. He did a fantastic job with that save.”

Busch chuckled when hearing about Stewart’s praise and said that it was probably because of the shower of sparks that flew. To Busch though he had gotten lucky and it was hard to explain.

Then it happened again with two laps remaining. This time it was Jeff Gordon who got into Busch and as Busch again went into a long slid and save Gordon went back up the track and collected others. He ended up flipping and barrel rolling towards the entrance of pit road.

“Three and four with Jeff Gordon behind me, I got him pushing on me through one and two making me really loose,” described Busch. “I’m glad the straightaway came when it did because otherwise I was going to spin out. He got back on me a few more times on the straightaway moving me around, I think trying to move me out of the way. Getting into three, hit me again, hit me on the left rear corner, spun me out. I don’t know what the deal was there.”

The lengthy caution gave Busch plenty of time to head to pit road for more repairs before lining back up for the restart. NASCAR had deemed the race not yet to be over and there would be a green-white-checkered finish.

“It was a lot going on,” he said. “It’s so hard to explain everything you do, but you’re doing it all at the same time. That’s just the way it is. Certainly I was like, ‘Man, that was pretty lucky the first time.’ It happened the second I’m like, ‘Well, I guess I’m lucky again. We’ll see where we end up when the checkered flag flies.’”

On the restart Busch was eighth but coming to the white flag was already on the back bumper of Stewart who he pushed to the lead and away from the field. Using the two-car tango Busch and Stewart were able to separate from the field and decide the race themselves as Busch pulled off the pass coming off turn four and to the finish line.

The victory was the first for both Busch and Toyota in the event but fifth for Joe Gibbs Racing. It was also the closest finish in Budweiser Shootout history and it gave Busch a nice shot in the arm after how his 2011 season ended.

“It is great that we were able to come out first race back in the M&M’s car and get back to victory lane,” he said. “It means a lot to myself and this team, Joe Gibbs Racing. Can’t say enough about all the support around, M&M’s being back, us being able to get to victory lane like we did, carry that Toyota right through victory lane like we did.

“Certainly there’s situations and stuff like that that got really tense out there and really hectic. You’re not sure how you’re going to come out of it sometimes. You just do the best you can with what you got going on at that particular moment, try to come through it. Sometimes we were pushing three rows deep, I was in the middle, I thought I could spin out on the straightaway.”

Busch though, as many others enjoyed Saturday’s racing, which was back to the big pack instead of two-by-two for the entire event. While he says that it may have looked crazy it was because of how short the race was and that next weekend’s Daytona 500 will either be as crazy or boring as the drivers make it. At the end though when it comes to deciding the winner, things will be just as interesting.

“There’s going to be moments like that in the 500,” he said. “There’s going to be more cars. It’s going to be 50 times more pressure packed at the end of the race like that and more intense because it is the Daytona 500. There’s going to be guys going for everything that it’s worth.”

[media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”238″][/media-credit]Kyle Busch pushed Tony Stewart to the lead in the final laps of Saturday night’s exhibition Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway. Then Busch ducked to the outside of Stewart as they headed to the finish line.  Busch edged Stewart by .013 seconds to win the 2012 Budweiser Shootout.

Busch drove and incredible race with two spectacular saves to stay in contention to win the race.  “I don’t know how many times I spun out, but I didn’t spin out, you know?” Busch said in victory lane.

The final save from Busch came after contact from Jeff Gordon.  Busch spun on the inside while Gordon went high and into 3-wide traffic.  Gordon slid on his side for approximately 1,000 feet before barrel-rolling to a stop on his roof.  While upside down, Gordon climbed out the window and said this was the first time in his career he’d been on his roof.  Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray are also involved.

The 75-lap race was marred by two big accidents after it appears the big pack racing is back and NASCAR has successfully split up the two-car tandem racing.

The first big one came out on lap 9 in turns 1 and 2.  Michael Waltrip, Paul Menard, Mark Martin, David Ragan, Matt Kenseth, Juan Montoya and several others were involved.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Budweiser Shootout, February 18, 2012  – Exhibition

Tony Stewart continued his relentless drive on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway and did exactly what it took to win his third Championship title, win!

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”218″][/media-credit]“Are you kidding me? We said all week we’d just go out and win the race and didn’t have to worry about what (Edwards) did. If this doesn’t go down as one of the greatest championship battles in history, I don’t know what will.” Stewart said.

Stewart overcame a hole in the grill, rain delays, and made over 100 passed on the track in route to his fifth win of the season and the chase.

Edwards, who started the race with a three-point lead in the standings, led a race-high of 119 laps and finished in second place, tying Stewart in the series standings. But the tiebreaker was race wins, Edwards had one, Stewart five, so Stewart won the 2011 Sprint Cup Series Championship.

“This night is about Tony Stewart. Those guys rose to the occasion, and they beat us fair and square. That is all I had. We came here and sat on the pole, led the most laps and Tony still managed. That’s it. That’s all I got at the end. That’s as hard as I can drive.” Edwards said.

Stewart also became the first owner and driver to win the championship since the late Alan Kulwicki did it in 1992.