Category: RC NASCAR Cup

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Series points leader Denny Hamlin starts eighth.

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

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

[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 12^th 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

[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

[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

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

[media-credit name=”Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”221″][/media-credit]Greg Biffle captures his second win of the season on Sunday in the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan Int’l Speedway.

Biffle was gaining on leader Jimmie Johnson with less than 10 laps to go.  With six laps remaining, Johnson slowed with an engine failure, bringing out the final caution of the day and giving Biffle the race lead.

“I thought that I knew I would be able to get him then. I was closing in on him and I don’t know if I would have got him in those eight laps or not but it would have been a hell of a run to the end.” Biffle said.

Biffle got a great restart and held off Keselowski for his 18^th career victory, third at MIS and the 609th Sprint Cup Series win for Ford.

“Junior gave me a huge push for that win. I have to thank him for that. I saw Brad laying back like always and he got a little jump on me. It probably would have been leveled out by turn one.” Biffle said.

With the victory Biffle reclaimed the Sprint Cup points lead by 20 over Roush Fenway Racing (RFR) teammate Matt Kenseth, who finished 17th after a late flat tire.

“We are going to make a run at the title.” said Biffle. “I know they don’t talk about us a lot, but they will when we get to Vegas.”

Keselowski finished second, Kasey Kahne third, Dale Earnhardt Jr. fourth and last weeks winner Marcos Ambrose finished fifth.

Pole sitter Mark Martin was dominating the race until Bobby Labonte spun in front of him, sending Martin sliding down pit road.  Martin slid down pit road into an opening on the inside barrier.  Martin’s car was essentially impaled by the end of the wall.  Martin was able to get out and walk away.

“That was a pretty freak angle that I got it. I’m not sure what you can do. It could have been really bad if I would have got into that hole a little deeper where it would have caught me in the door instead of the crush area back there.” Martin said.

On lap 76, Ambrose got into Regan Smith, sending him into the outside wall.

“Marcos Ambrose is just driving over his head. I don’t know if it is because he won last week, he’s got extra pressure or what. He’s been doing it all day. He’s almost wrecked four times that I’ve seen.  Unfortunately, four tires are better than two, and I was four.” Smith said.

“I didn’t mean to get into him. I got down in there and he came off my side of the car and I was trying to get out of there for him and just caught him on the way past. I feel bad for him. You can’t take it back, all you can say is sorry.” Ambrose said of the contact.

Hendrick Motorsports suffered four engine failures over the weekend.  Two with Johnson, one with Tony Stewart and one with Jeff Gordon.

On lap 95, Gordon suffers another setback in his chase hopes.  Gordon headed to the garage after his engine let go.

“A valve spring, just running along there and all of a sudden dropped a cylinder.  I was pretty sure that’s what it was.  Of course the No.14 had that same issue got our fingers crossed for all the other Hendrick engines out there.  This is a tough place on engines.  We rarely have these issues and it’s unfortunate to have this one here today.  It’s the kind of year we have been having.” Gordon said.

Stewart suffered engine trouble on lap 56.

“It’s uncommon to have a problem like this there. It’s not something I’m concerned about and having problems in the future with it’s just a bad day and like I said we have the best engine department in the world in my opinion.  Definitely in this series they did everything they could do.” Stewart said.

The series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway next Saturday night for the IRWIN Tools Night Race at 7pm on ABC.

Unofficial Race Results
Pure Michigan 400, Michigan Int’l Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=23
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	13	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	47
2	–	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	43
3	5	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	41
4	–	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	41
5	8	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	39
6	2	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	39
7	12	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	38
8	15	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	36
9	10	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	36
10	7	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	35
11	–	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	34
12	–	22	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	0
13	–	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	31
14	–	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	30
15	–	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	29
16	–	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	28
17	4	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	28
18	–	38	David Gilliland	Ford	26
19	–	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	25
20	–	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	24
21	–	18	David Reutimann	Toyota	23
22	–	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	22
23	–	34	David Ragan	Ford	21
24	6	21	Trevor Bayne	Ford	0
25	9	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	20
26	–	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	18
27	3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	18
28	11	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	16
29	–	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	15
30	–	51	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	15
31	16	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	13
32	14	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	12
33	–	32	T.J. Bell	Ford	0
34	–	30	David Stremme	Toyota	10
35	1	55	Mark Martin	Toyota	11
36	–	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	0
37	–	13	Casey Mears	Ford	7
38	–	10	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	6
39	–	98	Mike Skinner	Ford	0
40	–	26	Josh Wise *	Ford	4
41	–	23	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	3
42	–	191	Reed Sorenson	Ford	0
43	–	119	Jason Leffler	Ford	0

[media-credit name=”Credit: By Jared Wickerham, Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”233″][/media-credit]Marcos Ambrose battled it out with Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski in the final laps and won Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Finger Lakes 355 at the Glen at Watkins Glen International.

This was Ambrose’s second career NSCS win and the second straight at Watkins Glen.

“It just feels so good to be back in Victory Lane. Thank you to Sprint, Stanley, DeWalt, MAC Tools, Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports and everybody that gets us here. It just feels so good. This year is pure joy. It’s a great day.” Ambrose said in victory lane.

Keselowski held onto second, Jimmie Johnson third, Clint Bowyer fourth and Sam Hornish Jr. finished fifth.

Johnson’s third place finish was enough to take over the series points lead by 1 point over Greg Biffle, who finished sixth.

“Those last two laps were just out of control with the oil down. You are studying the road trying to see if you can see an oil trail and there really wasn’t a large visible one to dodge. But you could feel the oil on your tires and slipping and sliding and then guys are spinning all over. It was chaos, but I’m glad we got back to the finish line, finished third very solid day for this Lowe’s team.” Johnson said.

Busch had built up a size able lead with two laps remaining until everyone started slipping on oil. Busch slipped and that allowed Keselowski and Ambrose to quickly catch-up and make a 3-car battle for the lead.

Keselowski got into Busch in the esses, causing him to spin. The final lap Keselowski and Ambrose slipped, bumped and traded the lead until the final turn in which Keselowski got loose again and Ambrose pulled away and won.

“I was the first one to slip in the oil and it was just getting worse and worse. You could tell the car was staying out there because the oil was moving around the race track and you just take your chances. You’ve got to commit at that point in the race and it was great racing with Kyle and Brad. They’re the two best guys to race. It’s just awesome fun and that’s the way racing should be and we got the No. 9 Stanley Ford in Victory Lane.”

Busch got his car back on track and finished seventh.

“Well the 47 broke, you can see him, he just went by smoking, he left oil down all over the track. Kyle hit the oil and it allowed the 2 car to get to us and he kind of raced us the way he raced us.” Dave Rogers, crew chief of the No.18 said.

Jeff Gordon was also a victim of oil. Gordon struggled all day with his setup but the team finally got it working and he was back into the top-10 until the final lap when he slipped in oil and spun out.

“Oil all over the race track, it’s pretty ridiculous they don’t want to end a race under caution and put that many cars in jeopardy. I had no idea that there was oil out there. I knew there was all kinds of havoc happening all around, but it was a great effort by our Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet.” Gordon said.

Gordon finished 21st.

“To work that hard all day long, come all the way from way back all the way up into the top 10 and have it taken away because they don’t want to throw a caution it’s pretty disappointing.” Gordon said.

“It’s just unfortunate that that gets taken away from you because NASCAR doesn’t want to end the race under yellow (caution). I understand. You want to keep it entertaining and give the winner a shot at it but there are a lot of other things going on our there too. I think they completely disregarded that and hey, it’s over now. We’ll move on.” Gordon added.

Unofficial Race Results
Finger Lakes 355 at the Glen, Watkins Glen Int’l
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=22
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	5	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	47
2	4	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	43
3	3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	41
4	8	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	40
5	17	22	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	0
6	15	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	38
7	2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	39
8	24	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	36
9	13	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	35
10	9	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	34
11	6	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	33
12	22	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	32
13	20	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	31
14	18	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	31
15	19	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	29
16	30	13	Casey Mears	Ford	28
17	21	195	Scott Speed	Ford	27
18	29	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	26
19	7	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	25
20	34	38	David Gilliland	Ford	24
21	12	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	23
22	32	34	David Ragan	Ford	22
23	35	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	21
24	42	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	20
25	25	32	Boris Said	Ford	19
26	39	33	Stephen Leicht *	Chevrolet	18
27	26	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	17
28	16	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	16
29	36	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	0
30	28	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	14
31	27	51	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	13
32	14	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	12
33	1	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	12
34	23	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	10
35	41	249	Jason Leffler	Toyota	0
36	31	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	8
37	11	98	Michael McDowell	Ford	7
38	38	26	Josh Wise *	Ford	6
39	10	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	5
40	37	10	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	4
41	40	119	Chris Cook	Toyota	3
42	43	30	Patrick Long	Toyota	2
43	33	55	Brian Vickers	Toyota	1