Category: RC NASCAR Cup

[media-credit name=”Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”252″][/media-credit]Jimmie Johnson captured the pole for Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway with a lap of 181.818 mph in 29.700 seconds in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet.

This was Johnson’s first pole since September 2010.

“It was a very comfortable lap; a very good lap. Qualifying has not been our strong suit over the last two years. So, I’m very happy to get this pole today. It’s a very cool race car and I’m very proud of our relationships with Lowe’s and all the great things they do.” Johnson said.

Last years inaugural polesitter and race winner Kyle Busch qualified second with a lap of 181.421 mph.

“It was alright. Certainly hoped for a little bit more there, but unfortunately didn’t achieve what we needed to. So, we’ll go into tomorrow’s night race with good pit selection and starting up front — which is good for us. Typically don’t qualify well, but this is a place that we like coming to and you need to qualify well at, so I’m glad we did that.” Busch said.

Denny Hamlin third, Kevin Harvick fourth and Ryan Newman qualified fifth.

Starting Lineup
Quaker State 400, Kentucky Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=17
===========================================
Pos.	No.	Driver	Make	Speed	Time
===========================================
1	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	181.818	29.7
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	181.421	29.765
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	181.147	29.81
4	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	180.367	29.939
5	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	180.337	29.944
6	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	180.228	29.962
7	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	180.222	29.963
8	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	180.204	29.966
9	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	180.036	29.994
10	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	179.964	30.006
11	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	179.754	30.041
12	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	179.509	30.082
13	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	179.337	30.111
14	51	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	179.206	30.133
15	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	179.075	30.155
16	22	AJ Allmendinger	Dodge	179.045	30.16
17	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	178.992	30.169
18	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	178.867	30.19
19	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	178.737	30.212
20	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	178.23	30.298
21	13	Casey Mears	Ford	177.825	30.367
22	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	177.801	30.371
23	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	177.02	30.505
24	195	Scott Speed	Ford	176.505	30.594
25	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	176.217	30.644
26	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	175.97	30.687
27	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	175.73	30.729
28	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	175.615	30.749
29	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	175.211	30.82
30	26	Josh Wise*	Ford	175.08	30.843
31	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	175.063	30.846
32	30	David Stremme	Toyota	174.757	30.9
33	34	David Ragan	Ford	174.695	30.911
34	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	174.402	30.963
35	98	Michael McDowell	Ford	174.402	30.963
36	23	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	174.345	30.973
37	119	Mike Bliss	Toyota	174.272	30.986
38	10	David Reutimann	Chevrolet	173.511	31.122
39	55	Michael Waltrip	Toyota	172.199	31.359
40	38	David Gilliland+	Ford	–	–
41	32	Ken Schrader+	Ford	–	–
42	36	Dave Blaney+	Chevrolet	–	–
43	33	Stephen Leicht*	Chevrolet	173.132	31.19

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”238″][/media-credit]Clint Bowyer held off Tony Stewart and won Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350race  at Sonoma, CA. This was Bowyer’s first win of the season and the first win since joining Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR).

“I’m super excited for everybody involved. To switch teams like I did was a huge risk and a chance for me, and it was a chance to showcase my talents.” Bowyer said.

The final yellow flag came out on lap 104 after Kyle Busch and Paul Menard spun setting up the final overtime green-white-checkered finish.

Bowyer restarted first with Kurt Busch running in second and Stewart in third. Busch had something broken in the rear of his car and Stewart had fresher tires.

Bowyer got a great restart and held off Busch through the final laps until Stewart made the pass on Busch during the final lap. Stewart made one last run on Bowyer for the lead before the finish line but he did not have enough of a run and was out of time.

“We started too far back, but I think myself and Brian Vickers probably had two of the best cars. Obviously the No. 51 (Kurt Busch) and the No. 15 (Clint Bowyer) were really strong all day too. Glad we got those cautions at the end that got us bunched up. That got us some spots.” Stewart said.

Kurt Busch finished third, Brian Vickers fourth and Jimmie Johnson finished fifth.

Kurt Busch drove hard and clean race for several laps, even nudging Bowyer for the lead several times. But Busch had something to brake in the rear of the car and Busch was unable to keep the pace needed to challenge for the lead in the final laps.

An emotional Busch summed up his day.

“It’s an amazing day, when you can do what we did. I’m a little choked up because A: We were in position. B: I was very considerate to Bowyer, who was going for his first win with the new team. And then C: which is most important, I made a mistake, I got into those tires in turn 11.” Busch said. “I’m just glad we brought it home third.”

High hopes for capturing their first victory of the season where in the minds of Marcos Ambrose and Jeff Gordon. Starting 1-2, both drivers led the race early and then has their own issues with handling and running out of fuel for Gordon.

Ambrose finished 8th.

“We missed it bad and we did good to recover and get a top-10 out of it. We will take it and move on. We got the pole and had a lot of speed; we just missed it for the race. We were slow. It was just terrible. We had no speed in the car and we paid the price.” Ambrose said.

Gordon battled back from 15th after his fuel issue to finish 6th.

“We went about a half-of-a lap too far there on that one run. I think we made the car a little bit better, and just used a little bit more fuel in that second run, and ran out unfortunately. It never fails, you run out just as you pass pit entrance. We were lucky to get back to pit road, and get it fueled up.” Gordon said. “Luckily we had enough laps to slowly work our way up into the top-10, I guess we ended up sixth.”

Last week’s winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. was running mid pack until the final restart. Earnhardt Jr. spun along with Aric Almirola, Regan Smith and several other cars. Earnhardt Jr. finished 23rd and falls one spot in the series standings to third, -14.

“We had new tires and we were running good and restarted 13th. So, if it had been somebody else getting wrecked at the end (instead of him) maybe we would have finished in the Top-10.” Earnhardt Jr. said.

Matt Kenseth’s 13th place finish was enough to move him into the lead in the series standings by 11 points over Greg Biffle, who finished 7th.

The race had two caution flags for 10 laps (lap 82 and lap 104), the fewest in track history for the Sprint Cup Series.

Unofficial Race Results
Toyota/Save Mart 350, Sonoma, CA
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=16
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	–	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	48
2	–	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	42
3	–	51	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	42
4	–	55	Brian Vickers	Toyota	40
5	–	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	39
6	–	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	39
7	–	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	37
8	–	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	37
9	–	22	AJ Allmendinger	Dodge	35
10	–	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	34
11	–	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	33
12	–	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	32
13	–	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	31
14	–	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	30
15	–	13	Casey Mears	Ford	29
16	–	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	28
17	–	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	27
18	–	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	26
19	–	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	25
20	–	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	24
21	–	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	23
22	–	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	23
23	–	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	21
24	–	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	20
25	–	195	Scott Speed	Ford	19
26	–	38	David Gilliland	Ford	18
27	–	34	David Ragan	Ford	17
28	–	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	16
29	–	32	Boris Said	Ford	15
30	–	26	Josh Wise *	Ford	14
31	–	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	13
32	–	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	12
33	–	249	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	11
34	–	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	10
35	–	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	9
36	–	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	8
37	–	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	7
38	–	10	Tomy Drissi	Chevrolet	6
39	–	7	Robby Gordon	Dodge	5
40	–	98	David Mayhew	Ford	0
41	–	33	Stephen Leicht *	Chevrolet	3
42	–	119	Chris Cook	Toyota	2
43	–	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	0

[media-credit name=”Credit: By Ezra Shaw, Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”245″][/media-credit]

Marcos Ambrose captured the pole for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma, CA with a lap of 95.262 MPH, 75.203 seconds around the 1.99-mile road course for his second pole in a row.

“’We put a lot of effort into this road course program. I’m thrilled for my team and it takes a whole team to qualify on pole two weeks in a row.” Ambrose said.

Jeff Gordon had the fastest lap during the first practice session and was the last one to qualify. Gordon just missed the pole with a lap of 95.067 MPH.

“I thought it was a really good lap. To pick up from practice and have a good day like we did all day today with the Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet. You’ve got to give credit where credit is due Marcos (Ambrose) laid down a heck of a lap. We came up just a little bit short.” Gordon said.

Jimmie Johnson qualified third, Greg Biffle fourth and Martin Truex Jr. qualified fifth.

Last weeks winner at Michigan, Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified 19th.

“We had a little more speed than that for qualifying. The car was pretty comfortable. I think I was too conservative with my driving. But, it never helps when you spin out the run before the last run of practice (smiles); that knocks some time out of you.” Earnhardt Jr. said.

Starting Lineup
Toyota/Save Mart 350, Sonoma, CA
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=16
===========================================
Pos.	No.	Driver	Make	Speed	Time
===========================================
1	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	95.262	75.203
2	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	95.067	75.357
3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	94.795	75.574
4	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	94.722	75.632
5	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	94.686	75.661
6	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	94.679	75.666
7	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	94.632	75.704
8	51	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	94.557	75.764
9	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	94.524	75.79
10	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	94.509	75.802
11	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	94.503	75.807
12	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	94.319	75.955
13	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	94.269	75.995
14	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	94.209	76.044
15	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	94.206	76.046
16	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	94.199	76.052
17	22	AJ Allmendinger	Dodge	94.184	76.064
18	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	94.103	76.129
19	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	94.026	76.192
20	13	Casey Mears	Ford	93.991	76.22
21	55	Brian Vickers	Toyota	93.949	76.254
22	195	Scott Speed	Ford	93.913	76.283
23	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	93.84	76.343
24	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	93.824	76.356
25	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	93.732	76.431
26	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	93.728	76.434
27	38	David Gilliland	Ford	93.524	76.601
28	32	Boris Said	Ford	93.268	76.811
29	34	David Ragan	Ford	93.166	76.895
30	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	93.153	76.906
31	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	93.064	76.979
32	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	92.964	77.062
33	98	David Mayhew	Ford	92.833	77.171
34	7	Robby Gordon	Dodge	92.563	77.396
35	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	92.459	77.483
36	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	92.14	77.751
37	119	Chris Cook	Toyota	92.076	77.805
38	249	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	91.927	77.931
39	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	91.836	78.009
40	26	Josh Wise*	Ford	91.729	78.1
41	10	Tomy Drissi+	Chevrolet	90.579	79.091
42	83	Landon Cassill+	Toyota	89.341	80.187
43	33	Stephen Leicht*	Chevrolet	91.686	78.136

[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”175″][/media-credit]After going 143 races without a win, Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 93 laps on his way to winning the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. It marked the 19^th career win for the driver of the No. 88 Diet Mtn. Dew/The Dark Knight Rises/National Guard Chevrolet.

“This is incredible,” Earnhardt said. “I just didn’t know when it would happen. I knew it was going to happen, just didn’t know when.”

With the win, Earnhardt Jr. continues to stand as the only driver to finish in the top-10 in every race this season with 12 top-10s this year. It matches his top-10 total from all of last season. This win also marks Earnhardt Jr.’s first win with Steve LeTarte since the partnership began in 2011.

“This proves to us that our strategy is correct,” crew chief Steve LeTarte said. “You bring fast enough race cars, you don’t have to get out of your comfort zone too far and you don’t have to get super crazy with your pit strategy.  We say it all the time, you just need to put in hard work, hard work every Sunday and this helps us understand that we are not crazy; that our goals and what we have been trying to do has been working.”

When Keselowski pitted with 30 laps to go, handing the lead back over to Earnhardt Jr., who would lead the rest of the way.

Tony Stewart finished second for his seventh top-10 finish of 2012.

“We had a fast car all week until the happy hour session last night, and you know, we just couldn’t get ahold of the racetrack,” Stewart says. “But I’m really proud of Steve Addington and our engineers.  They did a great job overnight and we started the day pretty much toward the front and never really lost that track position all day.  We had a pretty good car that we could pass with.  It was hard to pass, but it wasn’t impossible.  But like I say, I was really, really proud of our guys.”

Matt Kenseth would finish third for his 17^th top 10 in 26 starts at Michigan. Kenseth still leads the points, now four points ahead of Earnhardt Jr.

“We were fortunate to qualify good and the first couple restarts were not great but finally got our way to the front,” Kenseth says. “We had a good fuel-only stop will and led a few laps, got behind in the pits, got behind that one time taking more fuel I guess than everybody else and resurfaced seventh and hard for me to get going on the bottom.  As soon as we pitted under the green, the next stop, we caught a yellow, so we got a lap down. So from there, it was a battle back but we got the car pretty good at the end and we were able to make a pretty good charge and salvage a pretty good day out of it.”

Greg Biffle finished fourth with Johnson fifth, who made his way back up to top five after starting last due to an engine change. Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports team found some engine wear issues after the additional practice on Saturday night.

During practice on Thursday and Friday, the left side tires were blistering. As a result, NASCAR made the decision to bring in new left side tires, while giving the teams an extra practice session on Saturday evening.  Newman also changed his motor after this session, finishing 15^th despite running in the top 10 in the middle of the race.

Meanwhile, other drivers ran into engine problems during the race including Josh Wise, Trevor Bayne and Kyle Busch. It marked the third straight engine issue for Busch.

As a whole, Joe Gibbs Racing did not have a good day.

On a lap 124 restart, Joey Logano would wreck when he tried to avoid David Gilliland. Gilliland got into the wall and when Logano tried to avoid hitting him, he got loose and spun back across the track into the wall, collecting Gilliland and Kasey Kahne.

“We were just restarting there on the outside of the 14 (Stewart) behind the 17 (Kenseth),” Logano said. “There was a slower car up there and I just tried to get around him and got loose or tagged. But we’re not going to let that get us down. We’ve been on a roll lately.”

Then on lap 134, Denny Hamlin would go for a spin, tearing the car apart. When he came down pit road, something underneath the car caught fire, bursting him into flames. He would get out uninjured with the help of Biffle’s and Newman’s team.

“Defiantly got to thank all the crew guys that got me out,” Hamlin said. “Just a tough day. Thought we could run three or four, but just a tough day.”

Next weekend, the Sprint Cup series hits the Sonoma Raceway road course.

 

Unofficial Race Results
Quicken Loans 400, Michigan Int’l Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=15
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	17	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	48
2	8	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	43
3	6	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	42
4	3	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	41
5	10	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	39
6	28	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	39
7	13	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	38
8	21	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	37
9	1	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	36
10	2	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	34
11	42	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	33
12	16	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	32
13	25	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	32
14	19	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	31
15	5	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	29
16	31	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	28
17	15	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	27
18	32	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	26
19	20	22	AJ Allmendinger	Dodge	25
20	24	13	Casey Mears	Ford	24
21	33	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	24
22	18	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	22
23	38	34	David Ragan	Ford	21
24	22	33	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	0
25	36	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	20
26	39	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	18
27	35	38	David Gilliland	Ford	18
28	12	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	16
29	14	55	Mark Martin	Toyota	16
30	26	51	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	14
31	40	32	Ken Schrader	Ford	13
32	34	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	12
33	4	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	11
34	11	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	10
35	9	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	9
36	41	10	Tony Raines	Chevrolet	8
37	43	249	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	8
38	27	98	Michael McDowell	Ford	6
39	29	119	Mike Bliss	Toyota	0
40	37	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	0
41	23	23	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	3
42	30	26	Josh Wise *	Ford	2
43	7	21	Trevor Bayne	Ford	0

 

[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”394″][/media-credit]Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the final 30 laps on his way to ending his 143 race winless streak.

 

Green flag

Lap 1: Marcos Ambrose pulls out to the early lead

Lap 2 Ambrose leads Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick as Kurt Busch spins on the backstretch

Restart lap 5 – Biffle tries to make the move on Ambrose, though Ambrose pulls off with the lead down the back

Lap 6 Biffle to the lead

Lap 7 Bayne with motor problems

Lap 8 Biffle leads Ambrose, Logano, Kahne, Kenseth, Harvick, Almirola, Stewart and Mark Martin

Caution lap 10 Josh Wise blew up

Restart lap 16 as Biffle keeps Ambrose behind him

Lap 20 Biffle leads Ambrose, Logano, Kenseth, Almirola, Kahne, Stewart, Harvick, Martin and Bowyer

Caution lap 26 – competition caution due to new left side tires, new pavement and rain……Leaders come down pit road…..Ambrose leads Kenseth, Logano, Martin, Kyle Busch and Harvick off pit road

Restart lap 31 and Ambrose pulls out to the early lead

Lap 34 Kenseth to the lead

Lap 37 Kenseth leads Ambrose, Martin, Biffle, Stewart, Logano, Bowyer, Busch, Allmendinger, Almirola

Lap 43 Keselowski passes Almirola

Lap 49 Ambrose passes Kenseth in traffic for the lead

Lap 50 competition caution….leaders pit…..Biffle leads them off pit road

Restart lap 56

Lap 59 Biffle leads Ambrose, Martin, Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski, Montoya, Kenseth, Hamlin, Bowyer and Stewart

Lap 69 Ambrose and Earnhardt Jr. both pass Biffle to move up to first and second; Earnhardt Jr. passes Ambrose for the lead

Lap 72 Earnhardt Jr. leads Ambrose, Biffle, Martin, Keselowski, Montoya, Stewart

Lap 78 Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. both make pit stops

Lap 81 A.J. Allmendinger pits as there’s a caution for debris – foam from the safer barrier…..leaders hit pit road…..Earnhardt Jr. leads Stewart, Bowyer and Gordon off pit road

Restart lap 87 as Stewart passes Earnhardt Jr. on the restart

Lap 89 Stewart leads Earnhardt Jr., Bowyer, Gordon, Biffle, Ambrose, Newman, Logano, Martin and Menard

Lap 90 Newman and Logano pass Ambrose

Lap 91 Martin, Keselowski, Menard and Montoya pass Ambrose

Lap 92 Stewart leads Earnhardt Jr., Bowyer, Gordon, Biffle, Newman, Logano, Martin, Keselowski and Menard

Lap 101 Kyle Busch pulled behind the wall with a motor problem.

Lap 102 Stewart leads Earnhardt Jr., Bowyer, Gordon, Biffle, Newman, Logano, Martin, Keselowski and Montoya

Lap 105 Earnhardt Jr passes Stewart for the lead

Lap 114 Montoya and Kenseth pass Keselowski as Keselowski pits

Lap 115 Logano and Newman pit

Lap 119 Kenseth, Johnson, Earnhardt Jr., Biffle, Ambrose, and Kahne pit, along with a bunch of others. Montoya takes the lead

Lap 120 Gordon and Truex pit

Caution lap 121 Kurt Busch spins…….Montoya pits while Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. stay out

Restart lap 126 Earnhardt Jr. takes the lead from Gordon around the outside through turn two…….Logano tried to avoid Gilliland (who got in the wall) and then got loose, turing back into the wall, collecting Gilliland and Kahne.

Restart lap 133 as Earnhardt Jr. keeps the lead through turns one and two.

Caution lap 134 Denny Hamlin goes for a spin and then catches fire on pit road after he got touched by Ryan Newman

Restart lap 141 and Earnhardt Jr. pulls them around turn one

Lap 144 Earnhardt Jr. leads Stewart, Gordon, Bowyer, Biffle, Kenseth, Montoya, Johnson, Edwards, Ambrose

Lap 146 Mark Martin passes Ambrose for 10^th; Biffle passes Bowyer

Lap 147 Johnson passes Montoya

Lap 149 Earnhardt Jr. leads Stewart, Gordon, Biffle, Bowyer, Kenseth, Johnson, Montoya, Edwards, Martin

Lap 156 Earnhardt Jr. leads Stewart, Gordon, Biffle, Bowyer, Kenseth, Johnson, Edwards, Martin and Montoya

Lap 159 Kenseth passes Bowyer

Lap 160 Biffle passes Gordon

Lap 162 Johnson hits pit road as Earnhardt Jr. leads Stewart, Biffle, Gordon, Kenseth, Bowyer, Edwards, Martin, Montoya and Ambrose

Lap 163 Earnhardt Jr. and Stewart pit, handing the lead over to Biffle. Gordon, Edwards, Truex and Harvick also pitted.

Lap 164 Ambrose and Newman pit.

Lap 165 Biffle and Montoya pit, handing the lead over to Bowyer.

Lap 166 Dillon and Bowyer pit, handing the lead over to McMurray.

Lap 167 McMurray pits, handing the lead over to Keselowski over Burton and Earnhardt Jr.

30 to go Keselowski and Burton pit, handing the lead to Earnhardt Jr.

24 to go Earnhardt Jr. leads Stewart, Biffle, Johnson, Kenseth, Gordon, Martin, Bowyer, Montoya

18 to go Earnhardt Jr. leads Stewart, Biffle, Johnson, Kenseth, Gordon, Martin, Bowyer, Montoya, Ambrose

15 to go Johnson and Kenseth pass Biffle

9 to go Kenseth passes Johnson

7 to go Biffle passes Johnson

5 to go Bowyer, Montoya and Ambrose pass Martin

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins followed by Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson

[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”240″][/media-credit]Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended his 143-race winless streak on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway in the Quicken Loans 400 in dominating fashion.

“I know you guys have been waiting on that one. I know I have.” Earnhardt Jr. radioed to his crew after winning.

After the cycle of pit stops, on lap 171 Earnhardt Jr. regained the lead by almost 2 seconds and was able to build up a lead of 5.393 seconds in route to his 19th career Sprint Cup series victory.  Earnhardt Jr’s last win was here at Michigan on June 15, 2008.

“That was a great race. We just had a really good car. Those last 15 laps were the longest laps ever.” Earnhardt said.

Earnhardt Jr. also narrowed the lead in the series standings and now trials Matt Kenseth by four points.

“This [win] was for them. We appreciate their loyalty. We wouldn’t have made it back to victory lane without them.” Earnhardt Jr. added.

Tony Stewart led some near the middle of the race and was “taking no prisoners”. He finished second.

“Dale had the fastest car all day.” Stewart said. “It’s not a national holiday, guys. This morning they were celebrating his fourth anniversary of his last win, so I guess we’re all in a state of mourning now, because he’s broke that string now, so I don’t know what we’re all supposed to think.” Stewart added.

Kenseth finished third, Greg Biffle fourth and teammate Jimmie Johnson finished fifth.

“It was kind of a long day. We were pretty good in the beginning of the race and got shuffled back and it was tough to work traffic today. They got the setup good on the last two runs and had good pit stops and we were able to stand on the gas and work our way up there to third.” Kenseth said.

Biffle ran of front for most of the race and traded the race lead with polesitter Marcos Ambrose but kept having tire issues.

“I am a little disappointed because we couldn’t run the car as hard as we needed to. The right rear kept coming apart on us. I could only run it as hard as I could. I am really excited for Junior. What a great day for him to win on. There has been a lot of pressure on him and I am glad he won.” Biffle said.

Unofficial Race Results
Quicken Loans 400, Michigan Int’l Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=15
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	17	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	48
2	8	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	43
3	6	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	42
4	3	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	41
5	10	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	39
6	28	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	39
7	13	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	38
8	21	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	37
9	1	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	36
10	2	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	34
11	42	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	33
12	16	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	32
13	25	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	32
14	19	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	31
15	5	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	29
16	31	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	28
17	15	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	27
18	32	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	26
19	20	22	AJ Allmendinger	Dodge	25
20	24	13	Casey Mears	Ford	24
21	33	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	24
22	18	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	22
23	38	34	David Ragan	Ford	21
24	22	33	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	0
25	36	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	20
26	39	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	18
27	35	38	David Gilliland	Ford	18
28	12	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	16
29	14	55	Mark Martin	Toyota	16
30	26	51	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	14
31	40	32	Ken Schrader	Ford	13
32	34	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	12
33	4	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	11
34	11	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	10
35	9	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	9
36	41	10	Tony Raines	Chevrolet	8
37	43	249	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	8
38	27	98	Michael McDowell	Ford	6
39	29	119	Mike Bliss	Toyota	0
40	37	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	0
41	23	23	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	3
42	30	26	Josh Wise *	Ford	2
43	7	21	Trevor Bayne	Ford	0

[media-credit name=”Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Marcos Ambrose captured the pole for Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan Int’l Speedway with a record lap of 203.241 MPH (35.430 seconds).

This was Ambrose’s first career Sprint Cup Series pole and he also broke the track record previously held by Ryan Newman (194.232 MPH) in 2005.

“I left a little bit out there. I got greedy into turn three. The Stanley team at Richard Petty Motorsports did an outstanding job for us. This is a really great hot rod and I am proud to represent them. We get to start in the front and that is all you can ask for.” Ambrose said.

The top-40 cars in qualifying beat the old qualifying record and nineteen broke the 200 MPH mark on Saturday.

The last pole winner to break 200 mph was Bill Elliott in 1987 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Kevin Harvick qualified second, Greg Biffle third, Kasey Kahne fourth and Ryan Newman qualified fifth.

“I got about all I could get I think out of the car. I thought there would be more grip in one and two so I backed it down a little bit in three and four and it might have cost me.” Biffle said.

Trevor Bayne had to qualify to start on Sunday and he qualified seventh.

“I am still shaking man that is fast out there. I wish I could have got a little more out of it but I just didn’t trust it on entry. It got a little loose on me and was more free than yesterday. Not sure if that is the track or the heat. I wish I could have drove in a little deeper. I think I could have got another tenth or so. It isn’t a bad starting spot though. We will take a top-10 here.” Bayne said.

A left-side tire issue has made NASCAR add an evening practice session to be held after the NASCAR Nationwide race on Saturday. NASCAR’s vice president of competition, Robin Pemberton said that the speeds in excess of 200 mph plus the blistering of left-side tires on some cars in Friday’s two practice sessions have caused Goodyear to bring 1,200 new left-side tires from a North Carolina warehouse in on Saturday morning. The change was made to keep “safety and competition in mind” and to reduce speeds.

“We just trust that NASCAR and Goodyear know enough about the tire we’re putting on that the problem doesn’t migrate over to the right side. I hope that’s the case.” Jack Roush said.

However, qualifying on Saturday was done with the original tire.

“We are going to try the tire change tonight and see how our car adapts to that.” polesitter Ambrose said.

Clint Bowyer is unsure what the new left-side tires will bring.

“It’s going to be tough to pass anyway, but we’ll just see what the tire brings. It’s going to be a lot harder, it’s going to be more of a bear than we even had before. The grip level is going to be down, but only time will tell how bad it interrupts our cars.” Bowyer said.