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  • Dillon wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

    Dillon wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

    Austin Dillon, grandson of NASCAR owner Richard Childress, led 93 of 146 laps, including the final 35 laps on Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and won his second Camping World Truck Series race of the season.

    “My grandfather and dad had a very rough week,” Dillon said. “I think it was the roughest week of my dad’s career at RCR. My dad said that after the week he had that I had to come down here and win it. To come out here and do it is pretty awesome.” Dillion said.

    Dillion also became the youngest winner in all three national NASCAR series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    Johnny Sauter finished second, James Buescher third, Todd Bodine fourth and Matt Crafton finished fifth.

    Bodine’s fourth place finish increases his series standings to 262 points over Aric Almirola.

    “We didn’t win but it’s a good day for points because everybody we needed to worry about was behind us.  We’ll just go on to the next one in.” Bodine said.

    Crafton finished his eleventh consecutive top-ten finish of the season

    “It’s a great night for the entire team whenever we can both finish in the top five.  I didn’t want to come out here and finish second, especially to Johnny. I told him in the conference call this week if I was leading not to try to pass me on the outside because I’d make my truck awfully wide.” Crafton said.

    The second place finish marks the eighth top-five finish for Sauter in the last eleven races.

    “I hate finishing second.  We’re here to win, and to be that close and not get it done is frustrating. We’d have liked to win back-to-back races out here. We just missed out on it but we have some really good tracks coming up still.” Sauter said.

    Up next on the schedule, Martinsville Speedway on October 23.

    Unofficial Results

    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps Status
    1 1 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 195 10 146 Running
    2 4 13 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 170 0 146 Running
    3 2 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 170 5 146 Running
    4 5 30 Todd Bodine Toyota 160 0 146 Running
    5 3 88 Matt Crafton Chevrolet 155 0 146 Running
    6 13 51 Aric Almirola Toyota 155 5 146 Running
    7 9 18 Brian Ickler Toyota 146 0 146 Running
    8 17 7 Justin Lofton * Toyota 142 0 146 Running
    9 8 4 Ricky Carmichael Chevrolet 143 5 146 Running
    10 6 2 Ken Schrader Chevrolet 134 0 146 Running
    11 7 33 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 135 5 146 Running
    12 29 181 David Starr Toyota 132 5 146 Running
    13 12 125 Tayler Malsam Toyota 124 0 146 Running
    14 15 23 Jason White Dodge 121 0 146 Running
    15 23 119 David Mayhew Chevrolet 123 5 146 Running
    16 20 177 Jason Bowles Toyota 115 0 146 Running
    17 25 7 Tony Jackson Jr. Chevrolet 112 0 146 Running
    18 19 47 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 109 0 145 Running
    19 26 12 Mario Gosselin Chevrolet 106 0 145 Running
    20 24 15 Nelson Piquet Jr. Toyota 103 0 144 Running
    21 32 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb * Ford 100 0 144 Running
    22 34 1 Carl Long Chevrolet 97 0 143 Running
    23 30 46 Clay Greenfield Dodge 94 0 142 Running
    24 11 5 Mike Skinner Toyota 91 0 141 Running
    25 10 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 93 5 136 Running
    26 18 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 90 5 135 Running
    27 28 60 Narain Karthikeyan Chevrolet 82 0 108 Accident
    28 21 90 Donny Lia Toyota 79 0 84 Engine
    29 31 85 Brent Raymer Ford 76 0 80 Over Heating
    30 35 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 73 0 67 Wheel Bearing
    31 33 6 Lance Fenton Chevrolet 70 0 61 Susp.
    32 22 173 Rick Crawford Chevrolet 67 0 60 Over Heating
    33 14 162 Greg Pursley Chevrolet 64 0 10 Radiator
    34 27 93 Mike Garvey Chevrolet 61 0 8 Over Heating
    35 36 9 Justin Hobgood Toyota 58 0 3 Ignition
    36 16 120 Johanna Long Toyota 55 0 0 Transmission
  • Bowyer wins as Stewart runs out of gas

    Bowyer wins as Stewart runs out of gas

    Coming into the first chase race, not many had Clint Bowyer pegged as a true contender.  Following the race on Sunday at New Hampshire, however, that may have changed.

    After leading over one hundred laps through the first three-quarters of the race, Bowyer found himself back in the fifth position.  As the final 50 laps unfolded, Bowyer — while saving fuel — picked his way up to the second position and began his pursuit of Tony Stewart.

    [media-credit id=2 align=”alignright” width=”255″][/media-credit]On the final lap, Stewart ducked down to the bottom as his Chevrolet finally ran out of gas, allowing Bowyer to cost around to victory.

    With the win, Bowyer broke his 88-race winless streak in the Sprint Cup Series and jumped up ten spots to second in the points standings, trailing Denny Hamlin (who finished second) by 35 points going into the second week of the ten-race chase.

    Non-chasers Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt finished third and fourth, respectively. They joined Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch and Sam Hornish Jr. in rounding out the top-ten finishers for the Sylvania 300.

    Seven chasers finished outside of the top-ten, including three who finished outside of the top-20.

    After running out of gas, Stewart finished 24th.  Matt Kenseth finished 23rd and Jimmie Johnson finished 25th after both were involved in on-track accidents during the final half of the race.

    The largest mover in series points was Bowyer.  However, No driver dropped more than Johnson or Stewart.  Behind Hamlin and Bowyer, Harvick and Kyle Busch held their third and fourth place points position.  Gordon gained three spots and not sits in fifth, trailing Hamlin by 75 points.

    Kurt Busch dropped one spot to sixth after finishing 13th.  Johnson, who came into the race ten points behind Hamlin in second place is now seventh in the standings, and trails by 92 points.

    Carl Edwards gained one spot and is now eighth, 95 points behind Hamlin.  Greg Biffle lost two positions and sits ninth in the standings.

    Jeff Burton stays in the tenth points spot, despite running out of fuel with one lap to go and finishing 15th.

    Stewart is now 11th after a five spot drop and Kenseth is 12th and trails Hamlin by 136 points.

    Note: Bowyer is used to starting off Chases with Victories.  He won the 2007 race at New Hampshire to solidify his spot inside of the elite Chase field.

    UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS

    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps
    1 2 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 195 10 300
    2 22 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 170 0 300
    3 4 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 170 5 300
    4 32 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 160 0 300
    5 27 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 155 0 300
    6 17 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 155 5 300
    7 7 0 David Reutimann Toyota 146 0 300
    8 24 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 142 0 300
    9 9 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 138 0 300
    10 15 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 134 0 300
    11 10 99 Carl Edwards Ford 135 5 300
    12 6 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 127 0 300
    13 12 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 124 0 300
    14 21 9 Kasey Kahne Ford 121 0 300
    15 13 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 118 0 300
    16 5 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 115 0 300
    17 14 16 Greg Biffle Ford 112 0 300
    18 1 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge 114 5 300
    19 20 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 106 0 300
    20 16 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 103 0 300
    21 19 19 Elliott Sadler Ford 100 0 300
    22 11 6 David Ragan Ford 97 0 300
    23 33 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 94 0 300
    24 3 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 96 5 300
    25 25 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 88 0 300
    26 29 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 90 5 300
    27 37 83 Reed Sorenson Toyota 82 0 300
    28 8 98 Paul Menard Ford 79 0 300
    29 26 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 76 0 298
    30 23 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 73 0 298
    31 30 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 70 0 297
    32 40 38 Travis Kvapil Ford 67 0 295
    33 39 37 David Gilliland Ford 64 0 295
    34 41 34 Tony Raines Ford 61 0 295
    35 31 20 Joey Logano Toyota 58 0 256
    36 28 82 Scott Speed Toyota 55 0 213
    37 42 71 Andy Lally Chevrolet 52 0 138
    38 18 13 Casey Mears Toyota 49 0 93
    39 43 9 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 46 0 89
    40 35 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 48 5 60
    41 36 55 Mike Bliss Toyota 40 0 55
    42 34 164 Landon Cassill Toyota 37 0 40
    43 38 46 Michael McDowell Dodge 34 0 29
  • Busch wins NCWTS at New Hampshire

    Busch wins NCWTS at New Hampshire

    Kyle Busch captured his fifth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) on Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  Busch passed James Buescher on the final restart with two laps remaining.

    Busch made heavy contact to the outside wall while passing Buescher for the lead.

    “I tried rubbing off on him and he was still there a little bit and it turned me in the wall.  It was a hard hit, it knocked my helmet crooked.  I wasn’t sure what I had getting down into turn three but those guys got to racing back there and the truck felt fine through three and four.  I was surprised really that it felt the way it did and we were just able to mosey around for the next couple laps and bring it home.” Busch said.

    Busch started from the pole and led eight times for 156 of the 175 laps run.

    “It was man, it was a close race.  Myself and Harvick just battled it out all day long.  I can tell you what, it’s nice to have a comfortable seat in the SFI Butler seat was comfortable today and going to have the same thing for tomorrow, so that’s good.  I can’t thank these guys and this team enough.” Busch said.

    Buescher finished second, Kevin Harvick third, Matt Crafton fourth and Austin Dillon finished fifth.

    Buescher was unhappy with Busch and flipped him off after the race.

    “He just drove us dirty and got the win.  Being that close is one thing, but getting it taken away from you like that is a totally different thing. If you’re faster, you’re going to pass him. You don’t have to race him so dirty and flat-out try to wreck you to try and get the lead and that’s what he did.” Buescher said.

    Todd Bodine continues to lead the unofficial NCWTS standings over Aric Almirola by 257 points.

    Unofficial Results

    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps
    1 1 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 195 10 175
    2 5 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 175 5 175
    3 2 2 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 170 5 175
    4 11 88 Matt Crafton Chevrolet 160 0 175
    5 4 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 155 0 175
    6 8 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 150 0 175
    7 7 13 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 146 0 175
    8 6 51 Aric Almirola Toyota 142 0 175
    9 9 30 Todd Bodine Toyota 138 0 175
    10 17 47 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Chevrolet 134 0 175
    11 10 7 Justin Lofton * Toyota 130 0 175
    12 18 90 Donny Lia Toyota 127 0 175
    13 16 5 Mike Skinner Toyota 124 0 175
    14 19 23 Jason White Chevrolet 121 0 175
    15 12 181 David Starr Toyota 118 0 175
    16 14 60 Stacy Compton Chevrolet 115 0 174
    17 15 12 Mario Gosselin Chevrolet 112 0 173
    18 20 192 Dennis Setzer Chevrolet 109 0 172
    19 27 85 Brent Raymer Ford 106 0 172
    20 21 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 103 0 172
    21 24 164 Peyton Sellers Chevrolet 100 0 171
    22 31 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb * Ford 97 0 170
    23 29 1 Carl Long Chevrolet 94 0 170
    24 3 33 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 91 0 169
    25 25 89 Mike Harmon Ford 88 0 169
    26 33 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 85 0 169
    27 28 106 Tim Bainey Jr. Chevrolet 82 0 166
    28 23 46 John King Ford 79 0 165
    29 13 4 Ricky Carmichael Chevrolet 76 0 164
    30 22 171 Eddie MacDonald Ford 73 0 82
    31 26 93 Mike Garvey Chevrolet 70 0 21
    32 32 7 Butch Miller Dodge 67 0 16
    33 34 124 Chris Lafferty Chevrolet 0 0 13
    34 36 0 Brian Weber Chevrolet 0 0 11
    35 35 6 Donnie Neuenberger Chevrolet 58 0 4
    36 30 95 J C Stout Dodge 55 0 2
  • Denny Hamlin claims victory in Richmond

    Denny Hamlin claims victory in Richmond

    The Air Guard 400 from Richmond International Raceway was mixture of pride and prestige as NASCAR honored not only the 9th anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy but also the brave men and women of our armed forces and first responders to the horrific scenes of that horrible day.

    There were only three cautions throughout the evening the last of which for weather, however not even the brief rain shower would detour the determined teams as they battled to run the final race before the chase to conclusion.

    As the night raged on and the laps wound down the battling giants of NASCAR boiled down to the clash of the Richmond Titans. Kyle Busch, whose record at RIR has done nothing but improve, battled “Hometown Hero” Denny Hamlin for the top spot. Hamlin dodged the Busch bullet as the No 18 car began to give up the fight despite the driver determination.

    As the checkered flag flew the crowd at RIR came to life as Virginia’s own Denny Hamlin claimed not only the victory but also the points lead to start the “Chase”.

    Second place finisher Kyle Busch reflected on the closing moments of the race. “I felt like the 11 car was just ahead of us tonight and they deserved to win.” Busch said. Later he added, “We can’t be disappointed in a second tonight. We wanted to win, and we fought hard with Denny, but racing teammates clean like that, and not laying a bumper at all, just making sure that the Gibbs cars had a good, solid night, so that everything would be on our side heading into the chase next weekend. Hamlin praised the efforts of his team and his Gibbs racing teammates post race.

    “Kyle (Busch) put the pressure on us and he made a heck of a charge.” Hamlin said, about the closing laps. “Luckily for me he was a teammate because if it had been anyone else, he probably would have moved us.” “Really proud of Joey (Logano),” Hamlin later said. “It’s only a matter of time before he’s as competitive as Kyle Busch week-in and week-out, and that’s going to make both teams a whole lot stronger.”

    All Three Joe Gibbs Racing teams finished in the top four spots at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night, giving team president, J.D. Gibbs something to really smile about as the season enters chase format.

    “Just a big deal for us. I think with Denny and Kyle as well, and to watch Joey, all three in one night hopefully get some momentum built up for the Chase was a big deal for Joe Gibbs Racing, and we love coming back to Richmond.”

    Gibbs said. Jimmie Johnson finished Saturday night’s race third, and claimed the second seed in the Chase points standings. Joey Logano finished fourth, Marcos Ambrose was fifth, Clint Bowyer finished sixth, and Juan Pablo Montoya was seventh. They were followed by A.J. Allmendinger, Kevin Harvick, and Carl Edward who rounded out the top 10.

    TO READ OUR LAP-BY-LAP COVERAGE, CLICK THE LINK BELOW

    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/index.php/2010/09/11/lap-by-lap-hamlin-tops-the-charts-at-richmond/

    RACE RESULTS

    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps
    1 14 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 195 10 400
    2 32 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 170 0 400
    3 11 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 170 5 400
    4 6 20 Joey Logano Toyota 160 0 400
    5 13 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 155 0 400
    6 4 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 155 5 400
    7 2 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 151 5 400
    8 3 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 142 0 400
    9 20 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 138 0 400
    10 1 99 Carl Edwards Ford 139 5 400
    11 23 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 130 0 400
    12 22 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 127 0 400
    13 25 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 129 5 400
    14 12 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 121 0 400
    15 8 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge 118 0 400
    16 15 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 115 0 400
    17 34 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 112 0 400
    18 21 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 109 0 400
    19 5 0 David Reutimann Toyota 106 0 398
    20 19 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 103 0 398
    21 18 13 Casey Mears Toyota 100 0 398
    22 29 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 97 0 398
    23 26 6 David Ragan Ford 94 0 398
    24 31 82 Scott Speed Toyota 91 0 398
    25 17 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 88 0 398
    26 7 98 Paul Menard Ford 85 0 397
    27 36 19 Elliott Sadler Ford 82 0 397
    28 33 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 79 0 397
    29 10 9 Kasey Kahne Ford 76 0 396
    30 27 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 73 0 396
    31 42 83 Mattias Ekstrom Toyota 70 0 396
    32 24 16 Greg Biffle Ford 67 0 395
    33 28 71 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 64 0 395
    34 9 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 61 0 394
    35 38 38 Travis Kvapil Ford 58 0 393
    36 16 26 Jeff Green Ford 55 0 393
    37 39 37 David Gilliland Ford 52 0 393
    38 40 34 Tony Raines Ford 49 0 392
    39 43 9 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 46 0 324
    40 44 55 Terry Labonte Toyota 43 0 143
    41 41 7 Kevin Conway * Toyota 40 0 118
    42 30 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 37 0 61
    43 35 132 Jason Leffler Toyota 34 0 30
  • Harvick wins the Virginia 529 College Savings 250

    Harvick wins the Virginia 529 College Savings 250

    The Nationwide Series night life kicked into high gear at Richmond International Speedway with Kevin Harvick leading the field to the green friday night.  The series point leader going into the race, Brad Keselowski, started third with the hunger to extend the already large lead over Carl Edwards.

    The new Nationwide Series car at RIR made for a good show as the driver’s battled changes in track conditions and each other for the right to hold the trophy high in Victory lane.  

    While some drivers cursed the new machinery others applauded the good racing it provided under the Friday night lights.

    As the night got colder the action got hotter seeing Harvick, Keselowski, Kyle Busch, and Virginia native Elliott Sadler have their moments in the top spot. But by race end it was the determination of the pole sitting team that kept the wolves at bay. The win for Harvick put yet another feather in his Nationwide cap tying him with Mark Martin for the most wins in the series at RIR among active drivers.

    The point leader, Keselowski, pulled of a dramatic second place finish keeping his buffer for the points chase intact.  

    Trevor Bayne tied his best career finish with a third place run. “I was thinking about trying to hit the perfect corner and make the perfect lap and hoping for Harvick to make a mistake.” Keselowski told the media post race when asked about the closing laps.  “It was closer than we wanted it to be, that’s for sure. But I bet it was fun to watch” Harvick said when asked about the dramatic finish.

    “At that point all gloves were off,” Harvick said about hitting the wall coming to the finish. “I just gunned the throttle and was happy to hold on to it.” With one race of the weekend in the books Harvick looks on to the Cup Series event and the possible sweep of race weekend at Richmond International Raceway.

    Unofficial Results

    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps
    1 1 33 Kevin Harvick  Chevrolet 195 10 250
    2 3 22 Brad Keselowski  Dodge 175 5 250
    3 8 99 Trevor Bayne  Toyota 165 0 250
    4 23 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. * Ford 160 0 250
    5 18 32 Reed Sorenson  Toyota 155 0 250
    6 5 20 Denny Hamlin  Toyota 150 0 250
    7 2 21 Clint Bowyer  Chevrolet 146 0 250
    8 10 98 Paul Menard  Ford 142 0 250
    9 6 18 Kyle Busch  Toyota 143 5 250
    10 4 60 Carl Edwards  Ford 134 0 250
    11 21 7 Aric Almirola  Chevrolet 135 5 250
    12 14 12 Justin Allgaier  Dodge 127 0 250
    13 31 88 Elliott Sadler  Chevrolet 129 5 250
    14 9 38 Jason Leffler  Toyota 121 0 250
    15 7 26 Parker Kligerman  Dodge 118 0 250
    16 25 66 Steve Wallace  Toyota 115 0 250
    17 20 62 Brendan Gaughan  Toyota 112 0 250
    18 26 34 Tony Raines  Chevrolet 109 0 250
    19 16 87 Joe Nemechek  Chevrolet 106 0 250
    20 19 15 Michael Annett  Toyota 103 0 250
    21 12 1 Ryan Newman  Chevrolet 105 5 250
    22 17 16 Erik Darnell  Ford 97 0 250
    23 36 35 Jason Keller  Chevrolet 94 0 250
    24 29 70 Shelby Howard  Chevrolet 91 0 248
    25 37 23 Coleman Pressley  Chevrolet 88 0 248
    26 15 100 Ryan Truex  Toyota 85 0 248
    27 30 25 Kelly Bires  Ford 82 0 248
    28 32 9 Landon Cassill  Ford 79 0 247
    29 38 1 Mike Wallace  Chevrolet 76 0 247
    30 34 24 Eric McClure  Ford 73 0 247
    31 35 28 Kenny Wallace  Chevrolet 70 0 247
    32 42 5 Willie Allen  Chevrolet 67 0 247
    33 27 10 Tayler Malsam  Toyota 64 0 247
    34 13 104 Jeremy Clements  Chevrolet 61 0 246
    35 11 49 Mark Green  Chevrolet 58 0 246
    36 39 27 Hermie Sadler  Ford 55 0 245
    37 24 81 Michael McDowell  Dodge 52 0 245
    38 40 11 Brian Scott * Toyota 49 0 216
    39 41 168 Carl Long  Chevrolet 46 0 207
    40 28 40 Mike Bliss  Chevrolet 43 0 120
    41 33 89 Morgan Shepherd  Chevrolet 40 0 43
    42 43 73 Derrike Cope  Dodge 37 0 14
    43 22 156 Kevin Lepage  Toyota 34 0 6
  • Tony Stewart returns to Victory Lane for the first time in 2010

    Tony Stewart returns to Victory Lane for the first time in 2010

    He has not given up throughout the season so far, but victory had eluded Tony Stewart all year.  That denial was not the result of any lacking on the part of the driver or his team.  But this Labor Day weekend race would be the breakthrough as he climbed to fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points heading into the last race before the Chase.  The points were not a concern as he was already close to being locked into the Chase, but the win added those all important 10 bonus points.

    “The first run tonight, we were a little off, but the leaders could not get away.” said Stewart. “I struggled on restarts all night, but the pit crew deserves all the credit tonight.”  “we had top 5 and top 10 cars all year,” explained Stewarts crew chief Darien Grubb, “But tonight the whole program came together.”

    Following Stewart across the line were Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch in fifth.  “I felt we had a car as good or better than we have had all season,” said Carl Edwards, “really for maybe a season and a half.  I’m really proud of my guys, the last pit stop was spectacular.  That’s probably the best pit stop I’ve ever had.”  Jimmie Johnson in a post race interview expressed real confidence , “You know, I think that the run where the 9, the 99 and myself were running three wide basically, if I could have got the lead at that point, I would have checked out and if there were no cautions, I think I would have won.”

    Denny Hamlin brought the field to the green flag with Ryan Newman on the outside.  They battled hard, but Hamlin held off Newman until lap 16 when the #39 US Army car moved out front.  But Newman’s run was short changed just 9 laps later as Hamlin raced on by to retake the lead. Newman was not Hamlin’s only concern as Tony Stewart slid past Hamlin for the lead on lap 52. The Stewart – Hamlin battle would continue over the next 75 laps as the two former teammates would swap the lead nine times.

    The race would have a long green flag run leading up to the first caution for debris on lap 134.  On the restart, it was Carl Edwards charging hard getting passed Hamlin for the lead on lap 141. The second caution would follow just four laps later as a smoking #11 car would come spinning down the front stretch. Bad luck would prevail for Hamlin as an expired engine would bring his night to an end.  The caution led to a round of pit stops by the leaders where Tony Stewart retook the lead coming off pit road on lap 148. 

    The green flag that flew on lap 152 would be short lived as Greg Biffle and Ryan Newman made contact coming of turn four. As Biffle spun down off the turn, Elliott Sadler was unable to clear Biffle. Sadler was unable to move his car and the incident ended his night.  Biffle would head straight for the garage for major repairs.  Newman pitted several times during the 9 lap caution to make repairs. Those efforts by the #39 crew kept their driver on the lead lap. 

    The race went back green on lap 161 with Stewart still out front, but it seemed like Jimmie Johnson  but suddenly came to life as he surged past Stewart on lap 162 to lead the race for the first time. Stewart was not to settle for that as he dogged Johnson for the next 8 laps when he retook the lead on lap 170.  Stewart would stay out front until pit stops on lap 250, where Carl Edwards would beat Stewart off pit road for the lead.   As the leaders pitted later, Kurt Busch gambles and stays out hoping for a caution as he takes the lead on lap 273.  He would fight hard, but17 laps later, Kasey Kahne would  finally get by for the lead.

    The caution would fly again on lap 295 as Brad Keselowski would hit the wall in turn two, bringing another round of pit stops where Carl Edwards would once again win the race off pit road. As he had done so many times this night, the #14 of Stewart was not to be denied as he retook the lead on lap 301 for the final time.

    At the end of the night, ten of the top 12 contenders are locked into the Chase heading to Richmond. Only Clint Bowyer and Greg Biffle have a mathematical possibility of being eliminated, but the chances for either of them to miss is extremely rare. After the race, Matt Kenseth commented on the Chase lock in when he said, “It’s good to be locked in, that’s what the goal at the beginning of the season.  But we really need to work on our program now to get better for the Chase.”

  • Jamie McMurray claims victory for JR Motorsports

    Jamie McMurray claims victory for JR Motorsports

    Kasey Kahne brought the field to the green flag for the Great Clips 300, NASCAR Nationwide Series  race at Atlanta Motor Speedway Saturday night with a near blinding sun off of turns one and two. With pressure from the start from Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman, Kahne steadfastly held his line and prevailed for the first 3 laps before Bush would get by.

    But Kahne was not about to give up as he dogged Busch, taking the lead back on lap 11. Kahne could not hold on up front as Bush moved past him again on lap 25.  As the 50 lap mark approached Jamie McMurray was charging forward and moved past Kahne to take second place.  The first caution of the race came for debris on the front stretch on lap 43. The race went green again 4 laps later.

    Busch held onto the lead as Michael McDowell spun in turn 2 on lap 61 bringing out the races second caution.  Following pit stops McMurray emerged the leader as the green flag flew on lap 64. McMurray’s lead  only lasted  5 laps as Kevin Harvick roared past to become the fourth leader on lap 70. Harvick fought hard to stay out front and managed to hold off the field until Kyle Busch took over once again on lap 122.
    With 50 laps to go in the race the top five included, Busch, McMurray, Harvick, Edwards and Keselowski.

    Caution number three came out on lap 148 when Trevor Bayne slid up high on the backstretch just as Ryan Newman was going high to pass him. The contact sent Bayne spinning into the inside wall. As the leaders pitted on lap 149, it was Jamie McMurray once again taking the lead, where he stayed until the fourth caution came out on lap 169 when Reed Sorenson spun on the backstretch.

    As the leaders came in for their final pit stops, Brad Keselowski stayed out to take the lead.  However, with fresh tires, Jamie McMurray made quick work of Keselowski taking the lead for the final time. Staying out front, holding off Kyle Busch in the closing laps, McMurray brought the #88 car to Victory Lane for his first NASCAR Nationwide Series win of the year. Busch was followed across the line by Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.  Rounding out the top ten were Joey Logano, Jason Leffler, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    The win was McMurray’s eight win in 179 career NASCAR Nationwide Series races, his last win came at Darlington Raceway on November 13, 2004.  This was his second win and fourth top ten at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    Unofficial Results

    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps
    1 7 88 Jamie McMurray  Chevrolet 190 5 195
    2 2 18 Kyle Busch  Toyota 180 10 195
    3 5 60 Carl Edwards  Ford 165 0 195
    4 8 33 Kevin Harvick  Chevrolet 165 5 195
    5 18 16 Matt Kenseth  Ford 155 0 195
    6 10 20 Joey Logano  Toyota 150 0 195
    7 12 10 Jason Leffler  Toyota 146 0 195
    8 4 1 Ryan Newman  Chevrolet 142 0 195
    9 9 98 Paul Menard  Ford 138 0 195
    10 13 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. * Ford 134 0 195
    11 6 7 Josh Wise  Chevrolet 130 0 195
    12 15 22 Brad Keselowski  Dodge 132 5 195
    13 20 12 Justin Allgaier  Dodge 124 0 195
    14 16 21 Clint Bowyer  Chevrolet 121 0 195
    15 17 40 Mike Bliss  Chevrolet 118 0 195
    16 33 62 Brendan Gaughan  Toyota 115 0 195
    17 14 42 David Gilliland  Dodge 112 0 195
    18 23 35 Jason Keller  Chevrolet 109 0 193
    19 1 38 Kasey Kahne  Toyota 111 5 192
    20 39 34 Tony Raines  Chevrolet 103 0 192
    21 32 15 Michael Annett  Toyota 100 0 192
    22 35 9 John Wes Townley  Ford 97 0 191
    23 29 5 Willie Allen  Chevrolet 94 0 191
    24 11 99 Trevor Bayne  Toyota 91 0 191
    25 40 28 Kenny Wallace  Chevrolet 88 0 191
    26 27 27 Brad Baker  Ford 85 0 190
    27 26 81 Michael McDowell  Dodge 82 0 190
    28 30 11 Brian Scott * Toyota 79 0 189
    29 25 87 Joe Nemechek  Chevrolet 76 0 189
    30 36 24 Eric McClure  Ford 73 0 188
    31 34 26 Brian Keselowski  Dodge 70 0 184
    32 41 70 Mark Green  Chevrolet 67 0 183
    33 42 23 Robert Richardson Jr.  Chevrolet 64 0 170
    34 3 32 Reed Sorenson  Toyota 61 0 166
    35 37 66 Steve Wallace  Toyota 58 0 139
    36 22 1 Mike Wallace  Chevrolet 55 0 100
    37 21 91 Chase Miller  Chevrolet 52 0 19
    38 28 90 Danny O’Quinn Jr.  Chevrolet 49 0 15
    39 43 89 Johnny Chapman  Chevrolet 46 0 11
    40 31 52 Kevin Lepage  Chevrolet 43 0 3
    41 24 92 Dennis Setzer  Dodge 40 0 2
    42 19 43 Kevin Hamlin  Ford 37 0 2
    43 38 136 Jeff Green  Chevrolet 34 0 1
  • Spin to Win- Bodine Wins at Kentucky

    Spin to Win- Bodine Wins at Kentucky

    Todd Bodine experienced the rare “spin and win” Friday evening during the “Built Ford Tough 225” at the Kentucky Speedway.

    Bodine was in the lead when Kyle Busch passed him to the outside coming off turn four, possibly taking the air off of Bodine’s truck causing the spin. Bodine spun in front of the entire field but kept the truck off the wall and out of harm’s way.  Since he flat spotted the tires he pitted for fuel and tires and moved to the rear of the field.

    The race would go green the rest of the way and the leaders needed fuel as Bodine nursed his throttle to save fuel.

    In victory lane Bodine was not happy with Busch saying, “I’d like to thank Kyle for driving dirty and pushing us down. That made us get the gas. Unfortunately, I’ve always had a lot of respect for Kyle,” Bodine said. “Slowly but surely I’m losing it.” Those comments apparently angered Busch who went to victory lane and had a discussion with Bodine.

    “We didn’t get into the fence with the spin,” Bodine said. “So our misfortune became our fortune tonight.   Spinning out was what gave us the fuel to get to the end because we didn’t get into the fence. The guys did a great job fixing the truck and everything fell the way we needed it. The race went green the whole way and everybody else had to pit under green.”

    Bodine, who has won three of the last five series events said, “You never give up. We had a good enough truck to get through the field and pass those guys. I started pedaling with about 20 to go to save fuel and we had enough to get to the end,” Bodine said.

    Second place went to Johnny Sauter which was his second straight top five  and third one in the past four races.

    “The guys made a great call to bring me down (pit road) to get gas and tires there,” Sauter said. “We kind of had a hunch we would be going green the rest of the way there. I argued with them and they made the right call. We had a fourth-, fifth-place truck the all night and we got second out of it. We just have to keep going on to our next race and I think I am pretty damn good there so I may win that race.”

    Busch dominated the race after taking the lead on lap 55 , leading the most laps. He appeared to be ready to dominate the race like he had at Bristol and Chicago the prior tow outings. The problem was his truck needed fuel and he surrendered the lead when he pitted for fuel with 23 laps remaining in the race.

    Other notables were Aric Almirola (3rd)  who earned his sixth consecutive top-10 finish. Almirola is second in points, 261 back. Jason White (4th) tied his best finish of the season and Ricky Carmichael (5th) earned his third career top-five finish and scored his second-best finish this season. He had finished 4th earlier this season in Dover.   

    Busch finished the race in 7th.

    Unofficial Results

    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps
    1 14 30 Todd Bodine  Toyota 190 5 150
    2 2 13 Johnny Sauter  Chevrolet 175 5 150
    3 5 51 Aric Almirola  Toyota 165 0 150
    4 13 23 Jason White  Ford 160 0 150
    5 9 4 Ricky Carmichael  Chevrolet 155 0 150
    6 12 17 Timothy Peters  Toyota 150 0 150
    7 4 18 Kyle Busch  Toyota 156 10 150
    8 26 39 Ryan Sieg  Chevrolet 142 0 150
    9 1 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 143 5 149
    10 10 88 Matt Crafton  Chevrolet 134 0 149
    11 7 7 Justin Lofton * Toyota 130 0 149
    12 16 60 Stacy Compton  Chevrolet 132 5 149
    13 3 5 Mike Skinner  Toyota 124 0 149
    14 20 181 David Starr  Toyota 121 0 149
    15 24 192 Dennis Setzer  Chevrolet 118 0 149
    16 29 12 Mario Gosselin  Chevrolet 115 0 149
    17 27 85 Brent Raymer  Ford 112 0 149
    18 6 90 Donny Lia  Toyota 109 0 148
    19 15 2 Shelby Howard  Chevrolet 106 0 148
    20 21 177 Miguel Paludo  Toyota 103 0 148
    21 36 244 Will Kimmel III Ford 100 0 148
    22 11 31 James Buescher  Chevrolet 97 0 148
    23 30 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb * Ford 94 0 147
    24 32 46 Clay Greenfield  Dodge 91 0 147
    25 18 41 Steve Park  Toyota 88 0 147
    26 31 6 Carl Long  Chevrolet 85 0 147
    27 19 172 John Jackson  Chevrolet 82 0 147
    28 22 47 Jeffrey Earnhardt  Chevrolet 79 0 146
    29 8 33 Ron Hornaday  Chevrolet 81 5 146
    30 35 1 Chris Lafferty  Dodge 73 0 141
    31 34 57 Norm Benning  Chevrolet 70 0 130
    32 23 182 Paddy Rodenbeck  Chevrolet 67 0 91
    33 17 187 Chris Jones  Chevrolet 69 5 41
    34 25 93 Mike Garvey  Chevrolet 61 0 10
    35 33 7 Butch Miller  Dodge 58 0 4
    36 28 95 Tim Andrews  Dodge 55 0 2
  • Said wins at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

    Said wins at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

    Boris Said recovered from an early spin and won the Nationwide race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday. This was the Said’s first Nationwide victory and his second in NASCAR.

    Max Papis passed Said entering the final chicane for a split second, but Papis got a little loose entering the turn, giving Said just enough to get beside of Papis and the momentum to carry him to a .012 second margin of victory, the fifth-lowest all-time and closest since 1998 at Homestead.  

     Jacques Villeneuve finished third, Brad Keselowski fourth and and Paul Menard finished fifth.  

    Robby Gordon appeared to have race in hand if his fuel didn’t run out. During the final green-white-checkers restart he ran out of gas, dropping him to 14 position, two laps down.  

    Marcos Ambrose and Carl Edwards both dropped out of the race with mechanical problems.  

    Unofficial Results

    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps
    1 5 9 Boris Said Ford 190 5 77
    2 9 33 Max Papis Chevrolet 175 5 77
    3 2 32 Jacques Villeneuve Toyota 170 5 77
    4 8 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 165 5 77
    5 7 98 Paul Menard Ford 155 0 77
    6 3 20 Joey Logano Toyota 150 0 77
    7 17 7 J.R. Fitzpatrick Chevrolet 146 0 77
    8 21 26 Parker Kligerman Dodge 142 0 77
    9 24 12 Justin Allgaier Dodge 138 0 77
    10 20 99 Trevor Bayne Toyota 134 0 77
    11 30 24 D.J. Kennington Ford 130 0 77
    12 10 18 Brad Coleman Toyota 127 0 77
    13 40 28 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 124 0 77
    14 16 207 Robby Gordon Toyota 126 5 75
    15 37 40 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 118 0 75
    16 35 5 Victor Gonzalez Jr. Chevrolet 115 0 75
    17 33 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 112 0 75
    18 39 182 Tomy Drissi Dodge 109 0 75
    19 41 70 Mark Green Chevrolet 106 0 75
    20 4 60 Carl Edwards Ford 113 10 73
    21 6 38 Jason Leffler Toyota 100 0 72
    22 14 16 Colin Braun * Ford 97 0 68
    23 29 10 Tayler Malsam Toyota 94 0 67
    24 23 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. * Ford 91 0 67
    25 36 15 Michael Annett Toyota 88 0 64
    26 22 23 Alex Kennedy Chevrolet 85 0 64
    27 19 62 Brendan Gaughan Toyota 82 0 62
    28 27 197 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 79 0 57
    29 31 87 Paulie Harraka Chevrolet 76 0 55
    30 15 88 Ron Fellows Chevrolet 73 0 53
    31 34 159 Kyle Kelley Chevrolet 70 0 51
    32 13 100 Patrick Carpentier Toyota 67 0 50
    33 1 147 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 69 5 50
    34 32 34 Tony Raines Chevrolet 61 0 46
    35 42 21 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 58 0 45
    36 25 35 Tony Ave Chevrolet 60 5 37
    37 12 81 Michael McDowell Ford 52 0 34
    38 18 66 Steve Wallace Toyota 49 0 20
    39 11 27 Andrew Ranger Dodge 46 0 13
    40 26 11 Brian Scott * Toyota 43 0 8
    41 38 89 Brett Rowe Chevrolet 40 0 3
    42 43 136 Jeff Green Chevrolet 37 0 1
    43 28 43 Justin Marks Ford 34 0 0
  • Busch wins at truck series race Chicagoland

    Busch wins at truck series race Chicagoland

    Kyle Busch held off two late challenges for the lead from Todd Bodine and won Friday night’s Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

    After coming off a remarkable weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he swept all three races, he continued winning even during the rare Sprint Cup off-weekend.   Busch led three times for 121 (of 154) laps en route to his fifth victory of the season, the second straight truck series race and the 20th of his career.  

    Bodine finished second, Ron Hornaday Jr. third, Johnny Sauter fourth and Justin Lofton finished fifth.  

    “It was really fun out there tonight. This Toyota Tundra was awesome tonight. It was so fun racing Todd (Bodine) like that. He had enough to hang with us, he just didn’t have enough to get by us there.” Busch said.  

    Bodine holds a 236-point lead in the series standings over Aric Almirola, who finished in sixth place.  

    “It was good racing with him (Busch). It’s fun to race with a guy you can trust. Of course, he was having to trust me because I was one the behind. It was a good night. I can’t complain.” Bodine said.  

    “I built the points lead back up to where it was before Bristol.   Another good run. You hate to run second, especially to Kyle (Busch), but we’ll take it and we’ll go to the next one.” Bodine said.  

    Unofficial Results

    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps
    1 4 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 195 10 154
    2 1 30 Todd Bodine Toyota 175 5 154
    3 7 33 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 170 5 154
    4 5 13 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 160 0 154
    5 10 7 Justin Lofton * Toyota 155 0 154
    6 8 51 Aric Almirola Toyota 150 0 154
    7 18 88 Matt Crafton Chevrolet 146 0 154
    8 21 173 Rick Crawford Chevrolet 142 0 154
    9 2 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 143 5 154
    10 12 21 David Starr Chevrolet 139 5 154
    11 11 23 Jason White Chevrolet 130 0 154
    12 3 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 127 0 154
    13 14 84 Chris Fontaine Chevrolet 124 0 154
    14 9 60 Narain Karthikeyan Chevrolet 121 0 154
    15 19 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 118 0 153
    16 17 90 Brad Sweet Toyota 115 0 152
    17 22 7 Tony Jackson Jr. Chevrolet 112 0 151
    18 25 41 Steve Park Toyota 109 0 151
    19 26 12 Mario Gosselin Chevrolet 106 0 150
    20 20 15 Johanna Long Toyota 103 0 150
    21 15 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 100 0 147
    22 29 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb * Ford 97 0 147
    23 16 5 Mike Skinner Toyota 94 0 143
    24 34 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 91 0 142
    25 32 47 Lance Fenton Chevrolet 88 0 142
    26 35 1 Jerick Johnson Chevrolet 85 0 138
    27 33 6 Ken Butler III Chevrolet 82 0 137
    28 13 4 Ricky Carmichael Chevrolet 79 0 86
    29 24 186 Jamie Dick Chevrolet 76 0 58
    30 30 46 J C Stout Dodge 73 0 53
    31 6 2 Shelby Howard Chevrolet 70 0 28
    32 23 187 Chris Jones Chevrolet 67 0 17
    33 36 93 Mike Garvey Chevrolet 64 0 15
    34 28 89 Mike Harmon Ford 61 0 7
    35 31 85 Brent Raymer Ford 58 0 4
    36 27 95 Tim Andrews Dodge 55 0 2