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Category: RC XFINITY

Race Central NASCAR XFINITY Series news and information

  • Keselowski wins at Iowa!

    Brad Keselowski won the 5th Annual U.S. Cellular 250 for his 23rd victory in 198 NASCAR Nationwide Series starts. Keselowski led the last 35 laps en route for his third victory of the season.

    Sam Hornish Jr, Brian Vickers, Austin Dillon, who led the most laps but did not win for the second straight time at Iowa, and Kyle Larson rounded out the top-5.

    Drew Herring started on the pole for the first time in his short career for KBM as Kyle was in Pocono getting ready for the Sprint Cup race.  Herring led the first lap with Smith following right behind him. At lap 7, we already had five “start and parkers”.  Herring led the first 26 laps before losing the lead to Regan Smith.

    First caution waved on lap 53 when Herring spun it in turn 2 but did a complete 360 and drove away. Everybody came in for the first stops of the day and Smith came in first and came out first. Keselowski had a tire violation and had to restart at the end of the longest line.

    They went back to green on lap 59 with Smith in control. Brian Scott has been having a great run in the 4th spot. Kenny Wallace had to come into the pits due to a loose wheel and lost two laps in the process. On lap 81, Smith was approaching lap traffic and that was making Dillon get close to Smith and challenge him for the lead. Dillon was getting closer and closer and finally took over the race leader with 86 laps in the books.

    2nd caution came out on lap 141 when the #40 of Reed Sorenson blew up again. They all went to pitroad for their second stops of the evening and if they would of had 10-15 laps more, they could’ve made it to the end. Dillon led the field off followed by Smith, Hornish Jr Bayne and Brian Vickers rounding out the top-5.

    We went back to green on lap 146 and Dillon just pulled away. Allgaier had a problem and had to come to pit road for a tire problem. Larson radioed to his team that “I have a race car again!” He was up to 6th and flying on this 7/8 of a mile racetrack.

    Caution waved for the third time when the #60 of Travis Pastrana cut a tire in the corners of 3 and 4 and spun the “X Games” Ford out. Everybody came in for the last time and some drivers had a different strategy. Bayne only took two tires and came out with the lead. Vickers, Sadler, and Smith took two tires as well. Dillon took four and will restart 5th.

    They went back to racing with 45 to go and Bayne had a great start! He cleared Vickers out of one but Vickers fought back. Bayne led the lap with 3 wide behind them. Vickers cleared Dillon couple laps later and took the lead while Herring had a tire rub and was falling back fast. Bayne fell back to 5th after losing the lead to Vickers. Keselowski got up to second and was up to the bumper of Vickers with 36 to go and tried to take the lead with 35 to go in turn 1. He took the lead and cleared Vickers the next lap and sailed away.

    Caution waved once again for the 4th time when the #23 of  Richard Harriman spun it out on the front stretch. None of the front runners pitted but 12th position and back did starting with Regan Smith. He will restart 14th when they wave the green.

    We went back to green with 22 to go and Keselowski and Vickers battled for the leading heading into 1! Keselowski got the position followed by his teammate Hornish Jr. Scott and Parker Kligerman bumped fenders in turn 1 but both continued in the race. Hornish was trying to get up to Keselowski but could just not get there.

    Austin Dillon leads the point standings by 14 points over Regan Smith and Sam Hornish Jr.

  • South Bend Native Ryan Newman Wins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

    South Bend Native Ryan Newman Wins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

    Ryan Newman, from South Bend, Indiana won the 20th annual Crown Royal Presents The Samuel Deeds 400 at The Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday after starting from the pole and breaking the nine year old track record. Prior to his win, Newman, in the #39, Stewart-Haas Racing Quicken Loans Chevrolet had only scored two top 10 finishes at Indy in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. “I knew we had a good car. Starting on the pole and winning the race. Just an awesome day for us. This is a dream come true for me. I can’t wait to push my lips on those bricks”, said Newman after his win. “It will take a week or so for this to set in. Just a great run today. Happy it stayed green. We needed that. A great long-run car”, he added.

    Newman’s teammate and car owner, Tony Stewart, in the #14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, ran strong all day and finished in the 4th position. When asked about Newman’s win, Tony said “I can’t wait to give him a big hug and congratulate him. He did a great job all weekend. It was between him and the 48. I didn’t know what the strategy was going to be at the end. I just kept watching the jumbo-trons coming off (turn) four to see where he was at.”

    Points leader, Jimmie Johnson started the race in 2nd and finished in the same spot, 2.657 seconds behind Newman. Johnson, in the #48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet took the lead from Newman after the first round of pit stops and would lead four times for 73 laps and extending his lead to 75 over Clint Bowyer in the points standings. Johnson’s final stop cost him the lead over Newman after a slow stop on pit road. “There’s definitely disappointment there. But that’s racing – it happens. I’ve given away a few out there this year too. Ryan was fast all day long. I can’t take anything away from him. He was plenty fast”, said Johnson when asked about the last pit stop. In regards to his car, Johnson said, “It wasn’t the easiest one to drive. I was real tight in and loose off. In traffic, it was a little tougher than I wanted. It was still an awesome race car. I just came up a little bit short today.”

    Third place finisher, Kasey Kahne, in the #5 Great Clips Chevrolet started 7th and scored his fifth top-10 finish in ten starts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “We kept falling back too far. It takes awhile to get back to the front. Congrats to Ryan. He had a big weekend. He deserved it. He needed it.” said Kahne.

    Matt Kenseth, in the Joe Gibbs Racing, #20 Dollar General Toyota continued his strong season finishing in the 5th position after starting the race in 13th. “We had really, really great pit stops from my Dollar General crew and Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) mad a great call to get us some track position. That’s really what got us our top-five. We didn’t have a car that good today. We were just off all weekend. We never hit is exactly right.” said Kenseth after the race.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. started in the 15th position and finished 6th after rebounding from an early unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel. Four time winner of this race, Jeff Gordon, finished in 7th, followed by Joey Logano, in the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford in 8th, 9th place finisher, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Kyle Busch in 10th.

    Remarkably, Ryan Newman is searching for a ride for the 2014 season. It was recently announced that Kevin Harvick would be moving over to the Stewart-Haas Racing team. Ryan said of his search for a new ride, “The biggest thing is confidence. We still got a championship to go after. We still got the Chase to chase.”

    The win was Newman’s 17th career win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. There were 3 cautions for 14 laps and 20 lead changes among 12 drivers. The average speed of the race was 153.485 mph and all 43 cars that started the race were running at the finish.

    2013 Crown Royal Presents the Samuel Deeds 400 at The Brickyard Results:

    1. Ryan Newman, Chevrolet

    2. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet

    3.  Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet

    4. Tony Stewart, Chevrolet

    5. Matt Kenseth, Toyota

    6. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet

    7. Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet

    8. Joey Logano, Ford

    9. Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet

    10. Kyle Busch, Toyota

    11. Martin Truex Jr., Toyota

    12. Paul Menard, Chevrolet

    13. Carl Edwards, Ford

    14. Kurt Busch, Chevrolet

    15. Jamie McMurray

    16. Marcos Ambrose

    17. Aric Almirola

    18. Denny Hamlin, Toyota

    19. Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet

    20. Clint Bowyer, Toyota

    21. Brad Keselowski, Ford

    22. AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet

    23. Mark Martin, Toyota

    24. Greg Biffle, Ford

    25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford

    26. Austin Dillon, Chevrolet

    27. Casey Mears, Ford

    28. Trevor Bayne, Ford

    29. David Reutimann, Toyota

    30. Danica Patrick, Chevrolet

    31. Travis Kvapil, Toyota

    32. Michael McDowell, Ford

    33. Landon Cassill, Chevrolet

    34. David Ragan, Ford

    35. David Gilliland, Ford

    36. Bobby Labonte, Toyota

    37. Dave Blaney, Chevrolet

    38. Josh Wise, Ford

    39. JJ Yeley, Chevrolet

    40. David Stremme, Toyota

    41. Joe Nemechek, Toyota

    42. Timmy Hill, Ford

    43. Jeff Burton, Chevrolet

  • Kyle Busch wins at Indy!

    Kyle Busch wins at Indy!

    Kyle Busch won the second Annual Indiana 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway  Busch lead 92 of the 100 laps in route to his fifth victory from the pole this season, breaking a single-season record for wins from the pole.

    Brian Scott finished 2nd  (Best career finish) followed by Joey Logano, Brian Vickers and Kevin Harvick.

    Busch won the Coors Light Pole Award with a track qualifying-record lap of 50.099 seconds, 179.644 mph. He lead them to the green flag and pulled away from the field. Justin Allgaier had his hood up on his car before the race and had to start at the rear. He went back to the garage on lap six. Busch led the entire way till the green flag stops on lap 30 when Trevor Bayne took the lead. Busch then retained the lead after they cycled thru the stops.  Busch, who had a six-second lead over Bayne, is down to a 4.9-second lead.

    The first caution waved on lap 50, which was halfway, for debris on the straightaway. Everybody came in for their stops except for Busch, Kenseth and Brian Scott. Ken Butler’s car had to stop on backstretch because he didn’t beat pace car off of pit road.

    We went back to green on lap 56 with Busch still leading. Busch had to come into pit little bit earlier then expected so he came in on lap 66, right when the caution came out. Reason for the caution? #12 of Sam Hornish Jr was blowing smoke on the backstretch and he went to the garage.  Everybody that did not pit, came in to get their car worked on. Vickers took two tires. Menard took two tires and makes a track-bar adjustment. Smoke visible from Regan Smith’s tailpipe and he has to take care of his car in order to maintain his point status.

    We went back to green with 30 laps to go with Busch leading as usual. Logano was second and was actually keeping pace with Busch but is iffy on going the distance on fuel.

    The third caution waved on lap 84 when debris was on the racetrack. No.87 of Joe Nemechek cut a tire from that debris and had to come into pit road and get that fixed. Travis Pastrana got the free pass. Everybody but the top-7 cars pitted.

    We went back to green with 11 laps to go but that did not last long as Kasey Kahne and Trevor Bayne got together with couple other guys and bumped fenders heading into the turn and had grass go everywhere to cause the caution to go out.

    We went back to green and there was contact between Logano and Busch which made Brian Scott go to the lead. Busch was gaining a bunch of time and basically had to move Scott to take the lead and he pulled away for the win at the bricks!

    Austin Dillon leads the point standings by six points over Regan Smith.

  • Logano wins at Chicagoland!

    Logano wins at Chicagoland!

    Joey Logano won the third Annual STP 300, his 20th victory in 118 NASCAR Nationwide Series races. Logano’s 20th series victory ties him with Greg Biffle for 15th on the all-time wins list. Sam Hornish Jr, Austin Dillon, Elliott Sadler and Brian Vickers rounded out the top-5.

    Hornish Jr won the pole for his first time this year and led them to the green flag. They waved the it and right when they passed the start finish line, caution came out. The reason for it? The No.52 of Joey Gase had his oil pump came off which blew his engine and the yellow came out really early in this Sunday matinee.

    They really started the race on lap 8 with Hornish Jr clearing Sadler and leading the first green flag lap. By lap 33, Hornish Jr had a 1.494 over Sadler and a 4.676 second lead over Vickers. Hornish had lapped all the way up to 24th position.

    The second caution waved on lap 48 when the No.23 of Harrison Rhodes blew up on the bottom of turn 3. All of the leaders came into for their first pit stops of the day. Sadler barely beat Hornish Jr off pit road followed by Logano, Bayne, Vickers and Dillon. Hornish Jr got caught for speeding on pit road so the dominate car so far will have to restart at the back of the field.

    Sadler led the field to the green flag followed by Logano, Bayne, Vickers, Dillon and Crafton. Logano took the lead on the low side but Sadler got it back and Dillon overtook Logano for second. Hornish was up to 12th on lap 68 when he restarted in the back due to speeding.

    Sadler led at halfway and had a 1.699 cushion over Dillon, Logano and Vickers. Green flag pit stops occurred two laps later with the leading starting them. Sadler got some adjustments with four tires but had some trouble with the fuel and cost them some time. Scott, Dillon and Hornish Jr all came in a lap later. Hornish Jr had been flying and wanted no changes.

    Third caution came out when the No.60 of Travis Pastrana blew a tire and smacked the wall. There is nobody that can not make it all the way but Smith and Joey Coulter came in to top off.

    They went back to green on lap 119 with Dillon leading them to the stripe. Dillon continued with the lead but Sadler was right behind him looking for it. The green flag did not last long as the championship leader, Regan Smith, spun onto the front stretch grass and the yellow came out. All of the leaders came in to get as much fuel as they can get in. Logano only took two tires and came out with the lead. Dillon, Sadler and Hornish Jr followed him out of pit lane. Vickers lost five spots during that exchange.

    Kyle Larson led the field back to the green flag as he and Mike Bliss did not pit. They went back to green and Bliss just shot back into the field. Larson led for couple laps but then surrendered it to Logano. Logano led but Sadler got up to him and tried to take the lead back which made Hornish Jr get closer to make it a three way battle for the lead.

    The fourth caution waved for the No.19 of Bliss who spun out trying to get onto pit road. Everybody will be coming in to get their last stop for fuel and tires. Everyone took four tires but Sadler kept the lead off pit road. Vickers again lost spots on pit road. He does not have his regular pit crew as they are a sprint cup crew and have a bye week so they have the Red Horse Racing truck pit crew team.

    They went back to green with Sadler leading and it got crazy! Logano, Sadler and Hornish Jr all went three wide and Dillon tried to make it four wide! Hornish Jr took the lead when they are settled down but then the No.40 car of Reed Sorenson blew his engine and the caution waved once again.

    They went back to racing with 15 laps to go and Hornish and Logano were battling it out for the lead. Hornish was getting closer and closer but could just not finish the deal.

  • Kyle Busch Thanks Lord, Wife, and Gas Man for New Hampshire Nationwide Win

    Kyle Busch Thanks Lord, Wife, and Gas Man for New Hampshire Nationwide Win

    Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, was giving thanks in Victory Lane to everyone from his higher power, lovely wife and probably his gas man for helping him survive three green-white-checkered restarts to score the Nationwide Series win in the CNBC Prime’s The Profit 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    This was Busch’s 58th victory in 258 Nationwide Series races, his seventh win in 2013, and his fourth victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

    “We didn’t want to have those late restarts,” Busch said. “We felt like we just had enough fuel to make it to the end and then everything keeps happening where guys keep wrecking and spinning to cause the cautions.”

    “Besides the hiccup on pit road, we showed our strength and am just glad we were able to take the checkered flag first,” Busch continued. “All in all, we had a great race car today.”

    Busch and his crew chief Adam Stevens admitted that fuel was of paramount concern, especially with the multiple green-white-checkered restarts. But they were able to not only have enough to do a burnout but also to drive the car into Victory Lane.

    “I knew we had a buffer of fuel but I didn’t know exactly how much,” Stevens said. “When you get down to the small numbers, the calculations get a little bit fuzzy.”

    “We kept him out there as long as we felt safe to set it up for that situation at the end,” Stevens continued. “That’s what sealed the deal for us.”

    “We pitted two laps after Brian (Vickers, runner up)  so that was part of it,” Busch said. “Brian and the No. 3 car were racing really hard to beat each other too.”

    “That all just compounded the fuel situation,” Busch continued. “I bet you there’s still probably a couple of gallons left in our tank.”

    Busch also tied Sam Ard’s record for wins from the pole in a season set in 1983, with this his fourth win from the Coors Lite Pole in 2013.

    “Wow, every time I get in Victory Lane there’s some sort of record that I tie or break,” Busch said. “That’s cool.”

    “Sam was a huge part of the sport and so there’s been a lot of records that I’ve been able to tie or break of his,” Busch continued. “It’s been fun to do.”

    “We still pay heritage to those that have made this sport and it is guys like Sam that have done a lot of great things for the sport,” Busch said. “Even down the road, maybe somebody’s going to break my records.”

    “Records are always made to be broken so we’ll see who will be better than me.”

    Brian Vickers, behind the wheel of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, finished in the runner up spot. This was his second top-10 finish in three races at New Hampshire and his ninth top-10 finish of the season.

    “It was a good run,” Vickers said. “The guys did their homework back at the shop and we had a good starting spot.”

    “We had a really fast car until we had the overheating issue,” Vickers said. “I got some trash on the grill and that definitely hurt us.”

    “Once we got that off the grill when the caution came out, we were much better,” Vickers continued. “But the third green-white-checkered, we started to run out of gas and I completely ran out coming to the finish line.”

    Austin Dillon captured not only the third place, his second top-10 at New Hampshire, but also secured the $100,000 Dash for Cash winnings for himself and the No. 3 AdvoCare Chevrolet team.

    “This race played out exactly like last year’s did for us,” Dillon said. “We didn’t get the track position we wanted after the first stop and then had a four-tire stop and the car just came to life.”

    “Super excited to win the Nationwide Dash for Cash,” Dillon continued. “With all those restarts and so close on fuel, I just thank the good Lord above for keeping fuel in that thing for us.”

    Brian Scott, driver of the No. 2 ShoreLodge Chevrolet, finished fourth and then a bevy of Ford Mustangs, driven by Michael Annett, Trevor Bayne and Sam Hornish Jr., finished fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

    “This was a great run for Richard Petty Motorsports,” Annett, driver of the No. 43 Pilot Travel Centers Ford, said. “We came back at Charlotte after the injury and just had the worst racing luck I’ve had since I’ve been in the Nationwide Series.”

    “Finally, nothing stupid happened and we kept our nose clean and brought home a top-five.”

    “We were 15th with five to go so to come out sixth was a good day,” Bayne said. “Overall it wasn’t a great day though because I felt like we had a car that could win the thing.”

    “To come out of here sixth, I will take it.”

    “Our Ford Mustang was awesome today,” Hornish Jr. said. “We were really good on a long run.”

    “We didn’t have any fall off which would have made us really good but we just didn’t get the run we needed to toward the end.”

    Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 99 SchoolTipline.com Toyota, was the highest finishing rookie, scoring the tenth spot in the race.

    “I think if anybody would have told me I would be sitting in the media center after how we were in practice and at the beginning of the race, I would have laughed,” Bowman said. “We never gave up and my crew chief made a lot of good calls and some people decided to take themselves out at the end.”

    “So, we were able to capitalize on the opportunity and come home in tenth.”

    With his eighth place finish, Regan Smith, driver of the No. 7 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet, now has a five point advantage over Sam Hornish Jr. in the point standings. The Nationwide Series will next race at Chicagoland Speedway next week.Kyle

  • Lap by Lap: Subway Firecracker 200 won by Matt Kenseth

    Lap by Lap: Subway Firecracker 200 won by Matt Kenseth

    Matt Kenseth would take the lead late in the Subway Firecracker 200 at Daytona International Speedway and hold the field off on a late-race restart to take the victory.

     

    Lap 1 Brian Scott pushes Travis Pastrana to the lead

    Lap 3 Scott switches with Pastrana to lead……Austin Dillon blows by with a couple others in toe. Dillon is being pushed by Elliott Sadler

    Lap 4 ColeTrickle….I mean Kurt Busch to the lead with a shove from Hornish

    Lap 5 Dillon to the lead with a shove from Logano

    Lap 11 Hornish leads with help from Logano

    Lap 25 Vickers-Smith trying to get by the Penske duo for the lead. Penske duo Hornish-Logano holds on to the lead.

    Lap 38 leaders cycle through stops with Vickers grabbing the lead with help from Smith

    Lap 40 Hornish-Logano go back to the lead ahead of Vickers-Smith

    Lap 44 Vickers-Smith trying to go by Hornish-Logano for the lead. Penske duo pull ahead again.

    Lap 49 caution for debris. Leaders hit pit road for tires and fuel. Hornish leads Logano Vickers Sadler Smith KuBusch Kenseth Larson Allgaier and Buescher off pit road.

    Restart 48 laps to go Hornish-Logano lead early, though Sadler-Cole Trickle (Kurt Busch) grab the lead down the backstretch

    47 to go Hornish-Logano outside, Sadler-Trickle inside

    46 to go Hornish-Logano pull ahead with Kenseth-Allgaier in toe

    44 to go Hornish-Logano ahead of Vickers-Smith

    36 to go Buescher Larson KuBusch Hornish Logano KyBusch Whitt ADillon TDillon Nemechek Scott

    35 to go Cole Trickle (Kurt Busch)-Rowdy Busch lead

    34 to go Hornish-Keselowski lead

    30 to go Sorenson blows up. Leaders pit, Logano leads Hornish Smith Vickers Sadler Kenseth Dillon Larson KuBusch

    Restart 23 to go Vickers-Kenseth leads the field

    22 to go Vickers-Kenseth Logano-Smith………….Kenseth gives Vickers a shot, Vickers goes for the ride through the grass. No further contact, no caution

    21 to go Larson-Allgaier leads Dillon-Trickle

    19 to go Kenseth-Buescher leading Hornish-Logano

    18 to go Hornish-Logano pull ahead of Kenseth-Buescher

    13 to go Kenseth-Buescher leads ahead of the field

    12 to go Kenseth-Buescher leads Dillon-Kligerman / Hornish-Keselowski

    11 to go Kenseth-Buescher side-by-side with Hornish-Keselowski as Mike Wallace is slow. Caution flies as he stops in turns three and four.

    Restart 7 to go Hornish-Logano get slightly separated as Kenseth-Buescher pull ahead of the field

    6 to go Hornish-Logano to the outside of Kenseth-Buescher for the lead. Kenseth-Buescher keep the lead….Dillon goes for the lead to the outside of Kenseth……..Pastana thinks he can fit in hole but ends up crossing Whitt’s bumper. Jeffery Earnhardt, Dick, Pastrana, Richardson Jr., Jason White, McClure, Stacey collected

    Red flag to clean up the mess.

    When restart Kenseth ADillon Buescher Kligerman Sadler KyBusch Smith Hornish Logano KuBusch Larson Allgaier TDillon.

    Restart 2 to go Kenseth-Buescher pull ahead of the field ahead of Sadler

    Final lap. Kenseth-Buescher lead ahead of the field.

    Kenseth Buescher Sadler KuBusch ADillon Larson Hornish Smith Logano Bayne KyBusch Allgaier Vickers

  • Brad Keselowski wins rain shortened Feed The Children 300

    Brad Keselowski wins rain shortened Feed The Children 300

    Brad Keselowski led 59 laps en-route to victory in a rain shortened Feed The Children 300 at Kentucky Motor Speedway. The light rains came on lap 170, just 30 laps shy of the end. Within thirty minutes of NASCAR calling the race, the skies opened up, and heavy rains with wind and lightning began. NASCAR definitely made the right call ending the race when they did.

    Keselowski who started 19th in his Discount Tire Ford Mustang methodically worked his way through the field and waged a fantastic battle with Kyle Busch near the mid-point of the race. The win gave the 29 year old defending Sprint Cup Series champion his second victory and fourth top-5 of the season. It was also his second victory at the Kentucky Motor Speedway. Keselowski pointed out after the race, “I don’t see any difference in the track tomorrow. I think you will see the same – very similar racing whether it is Nationwide or Cup.”

    Busch has dominated the Nationwide Series this season scoring six wins, ten top-5’s in eleven starts. Busch looked to be on cruise control early on the event, pulling out over a three second lead. When asked about how his car handled today, Busch replied, “A couple of runs ago we started getting tight, but the guys here have done a stellar job today being able to give me a race car capable of running up front the way we have.” Busch ended up fifth at the end of the day.

    Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Elliott Sadler, who has had an up and down season, scored a much needed second place finish. Sadler was also the first driver to become eligible for the Dash 4 Cash promotion announced at the speedway earlier in the day. Today’s finish was Sadler’s ninth top-10 finish of the season.

    Sadler’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brian Vickers was not talked about much during the race, but managed a fourth place finish which made him eligible for the Dash 4 Cash as well. It also gave JGR three cars in the top five.

    Camping World Truck Series driver, Matt Crafton, made an impressive debut in his first Nationwide Series start. Crafton, driving the Richard Childress Racing Menards Chevrolet, ran near the front for the whole race and led eight laps. A 25 second green flag stop due to running out of gas as he entered pit road put him behind, but he managed to work his way back to the front and scored a very respectable third place finish. Crafton will drive the No. 33 two more times this season, again at Kentucky and at Chicago

    Austin Dillon who was heavily favored coming into this weekend, started on the pole with a fast lap of 175.758 mph over two full mph over Travis Pastrana who started second. Dillon jumped out to an early lead was tracked down by Busch. Dillon wound up sixth at the end of the day.

    Series points leader Regan Smith ran in the top-10 all day, but a broken suspension part sent him behind the wall. He came back out on the track 17 laps down. Smith ended up a disappointing 30th after a 32nd place finish after last week at Road America. Smith’s points lead dropped from a series record (under the new points system) 58 to a mere eight points over Sam Hornish Jr who finished ninth, and just a mere three more points back to Justin Allgaier who finished 13th.

    The series’ next stop will be the Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday July 5.

  • Dinger Dominates at Road America!

    Dinger Dominates at Road America!

    AJ Alimendinger “Dinger” won the fourth Annual NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Johnsonville Sausage 200 Presented by Menards at Road America.  This is Alimendinger’s first career win in NASCAR.

    Justin Allgaier, Parker Kligerman, Owen Kelly and Sam Hornish Jr rounded out the top 5.

    Alimendinger won the pole early Saturday morning for his first career pole in the NNS in nine starts. Dinger lead the first lap and pit strategy already was in the works. Alex Bowman, Trevor Bayne and some others came in on lap-1 to top off the fuel.

    The first caution waved when the No.18 of Michael McDowell stopped on the racetrack in turn-5. He was one of the favorites in this race.  Only three of the front runners came in to pit as everybody has a different strategy.

    They went back to green on lap 6 with Dinger still leading and McDowell headed to the garage. Dinger got his tires locked up and went into the grass and Billy Johnson took advantage and got the lead from him. Kelly took second while Dinger went back to the third spot.

    The top-3 all came in on lap 15 and got four tires and fuel and when all of them were leaving pit road, the caution came out for the No.53 of Andrew Ranger. Ranger stopped on the racetrack and had to get towed in which resulted in the caution to be waved. This is a good break for Johnson and Austin Dillon since they both had speeding penalty and have to come back to pit road. Sadler and others that have not pitted, went in and got their pit stops completed. During the caution, Brian Vickers is called back to pit road for a missing lug nut.

    We went back to green on lap 19 after a long caution flag due to drivers figuring out where they should be starting for the restart. Nelson Piquet Jr wheel hopped into the corner and ran into the back of Brian Scott and just smashed the front of his car.

    Caution came out on lap 30 when the driver in second place, Kelly, stopped in turn-5. He was another front runner who had a great shot at winning. He ran out of fuel and he got fuel before the pace car got back to the pit lane so he did not lose a lap.  Most everybody came in except for Hornish Jr. which stayed out due to getting a bonus point for the point race.

    They went back to green with 17 laps to go and Dinger took back the lead with Smith right behind him. Hornish Jr. went in right as the green flag waved but then got a speeding penalty so it did not work out for Hornish.

    The caution waved when the No.32 of Kyle Larson was involved in two incidents. He went hot into the turn and got into the No.5 of Johnny O’ Connell and then spun trying to avoid the No.21 of Brendan Gaughan.

    The caution waved again when the 75 of Kenny Habul got loose and got into the grass and put debris on the racetrack.  Back to green and Dinger got into the No.16 of Johnson and Johnson got loose, Dinger got around him. Dinger had a pretty big lead but the No.51 of Jeremy Clements smacked the tire barriers and the caution waved with five laps to go.

    Green flag waved with four laps to go and Dinger leading. They restarted cleanly but in turn 5, Kligerman got loose and smacked into Kelly which smacked the No.7 car of Smith who bumped the No.16 of Johnson. That was not the caution though. The caution was for the No.26 of John Young who stopped between turns 5 and 6.

    Green flag waved with two to go with this being the first GWC. Dinger had a good lead and was pulling away but Kelly spun out Annett and Larson got into Kelly. Papis also spun in turns 7 and 8. This will be the No.2 green-white-checkers now.

    Dinger led the field to the second and he pulled away and had enough fuel to win his first career race in NASCAR.  Max Papis slaps Johnson, who still had his helmet on to receive the slap.

    Start position in parentheses)

    1. (1) A J Allmendinger, Ford, 55 laps, 150 rating, 0 points, $59,325.

    2. (4) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 55, 103.2, 43, $43,225.

    3. (3) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, 55, 89.1, 42, $33,925.

    4. (2) Owen Kelly, Toyota, 55, 126.8, 41, $28,275.

    5. (8) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, 55, 108.4, 40, $23,775.

    6. (9) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 55, 94.4, 38, $23,425.

    7. (13) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 55, 101, 37, $21,825.

    8. (17) Cole Whitt, Toyota, 55, 90.4, 36, $20,100.

    9. (22) Elliott Sadler, Toyota, 55, 87.9, 35, $20,825.

    10. (14) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 55, 80, 34, $20,775.

    11. (26) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 55, 73.8, 0, $13,475.

    12. (12) Johnny O’Connell, Chevrolet, 55, 92.2, 32, $19,400.

    13. (31) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 55, 68.7, 31, $19,300.

    14. (29) James Buescher, Chevrolet, 55, 58.9, 0, $13,175.

    15. (7) Billy Johnson, Ford, 55, 113.3, 30, $18,575.

    16. (19) Travis Pastrana, Ford, 55, 71.1, 28, $19,025.

    17. (10) Max Papis, Chevrolet, 55, 88.3, 27, $18,925.

    18. (28) Kenny Habul, Toyota, 55, 52.8, 26, $12,825.

    19. (25) Stanton Barrett, Ford, 55, 54.3, 25, $18,750.

    20. (18) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 55, 71.3, 24, $19,375.

    21. (6) Nelson Piquet Jr., Chevrolet, 55, 80.5, 23, $18,625.

    22. (37) Kevin O’Connell, Chevrolet, 55, 38.3, 22, $18,585.

    23. (24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 55, 61, 21, $18,550.

    24. (15) Alex Bowman, Toyota, 55, 49.2, 20, $18,490.

    25. (40) Dexter Stacey, Ford, 55, 37.2, 19, $12,895.

    26. (32) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ford, 55, 44.4, 18, $18,385.

    27. (35) Eric McClure, Toyota, 55, 40.5, 17, $18,350.

    28. (34) John Young, Dodge, 55, 51.7, 16, $12,320.

    29. (21) Andrew Ranger, Dodge, 55, 60.2, 15, $12,285.

    30. (11) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 55, 63.7, 14, $18,540.

    31. (27) Kyle Kelley, Chevrolet, 54, 54.4, 13, $18,195.

    32. (16) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 54, 90.9, 12, $18,150.

    33. (23) Mike Bliss, Toyota, overheating, 53, 64.8, 11, $18,120.

    34. (5) Michael McDowell, Toyota, 52, 58.3, 0, $18,100.

    35. (20) Michael Annett, Ford, accident, 50, 66.7, 9, $18,068.

    36. (38) Derek White, Toyota, oil leak, 37, 30.9, 8, $17,255.

    37. (33) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 31, 37, 7, $17,235.

    38. (39) Tony Raines, Toyota, rear gear, 20, 28.7, 6, $11,216.

    39. (30) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, engine, 7, 30.3, 5, $11,075.

    40. (36) Jeff Green, Toyota, brakes, 2, 29.2, 4, $10,975.

     

  • Threat of Rain a Recipe for Exciting Nationwide Finish at Michigan

    Threat of Rain a Recipe for Exciting Nationwide Finish at Michigan

    As rain loomed over Michigan International Speedway, every driver scrambled for position, and every crew chief formulated a strategy in an effort to beat Mother Nature.  Several teams elected not to pit in an effort to gain track position hoping to be at the front of the pack in case a red flag fell on the field.   A timely caution gave No. 7 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet driver, Regan Smith the track position he needed to grab his first victory at Michigan International Speedway.

    Winning the 22nd Annual Alliance Truck Parts 250 is Smith’s second victory this season after winning the Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway, and is his third victory in 116 NASCAR Nationwide Series races.  JR Racing driver, Smith, has finished in the top-10 in eleven consecutive races.  He now leads Sam Hornish Jr. by 58 points in the Nationwide Series points standings.

    No. 32 Cessna Chevrolet driver, Kyle Larson, posted his first top-10 finish and matched his career-best finish at Michigan International Speedway by finishing in second behind Smith.  This marks his eighth top-10 finish in 2013.

    Driver of the No. 33 Menards/Rheem Chevrolet, Paul Menard, posted his seventh top-10 finish in eight races at Michigan International Speedway by finishing third in Saturday’s race.  Primarily competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Saturday’s race marked Menard’s first NASCAR Nationwide Series start this season.

    Another Sprint Cup Series regular,  Kyle Busch, finished the race in fourth position.  When crew chief of the Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Adam Stevens, was asked if it was a difficult race to call knowing that rain was in the area, he responded, “The radar showed the rain here pretty much all day.  It wasn’t hitting the ground.  I’m glad we got to run the full distance—it took a while to make some progress, but we did and we got the car better.  We just weren’t going to make it any better on pit road.  I really felt like if we could have had a good restart on the last restart that we were in the catbird seat, but the last two restarts just didn’t go our way.  I felt like we had the balances good and we were going to get it, but we were just missing something with overall speed—kind of missing it in qualifying and missed it today in the race too.  All in all, we finished and we don’t have a scratch on it so we’ll take it.”  This marks Busch’s eleventh top-10 finish in fourteen NASCAR Nationwide Series starts this season.

    The rain around the Michigan International Speedway did not cooperate with the No. 77 Bandit Chippers Toyota of Parker Kligerman.  Kligerman’s crew chief, Eric Phillips, molded his team’s race strategy on the high possibility of rain causing the race to be red flagged.  Kligerman did not pit when he had the opportunity gambling on the fact that the rain would come before they ran out of fuel.  It was a gamble that did not pay off.   The No. 77 team finished in 25th when they were forced to pit under green.  When asked if he was praying for rain while leading, Kligerman commented, “Yeah, we played it perfectly for that situation and I’m not down on Eric (Phillips, crew chief) or anyone about that.  I was fully for it, but it sucks when you run top-five all day.  This Bandit Chippers Camry right in front of a Bandit Chippers home crowd and a car that could win on speed alone and –we drove away from the field there—and it just didn’t go our way.  There was debris everywhere the last 20 laps.  Of course, no one threw a caution, so we ran out of fuel and finished wherever we finished.  Disappointing day result-wise, but a lot of positives in terms of the speed we had in our Camry and we’ll get them next time.”

    At a track where fuel strategy races are common, today’s chess match with Mother Nature put an interesting twist on things that left some teams frustrated  as Regan Smith declared check mate at the end of the day.

  • Dillon Makes Nationwide Series History at Michigan

    Dillon Makes Nationwide Series History at Michigan

    Driver of the No. 3 AdvoCare Chevrolet, Austin Dillon, captured the Coors Light Pole Award for the 22nd Annual Truck Parts 250 at Michigan International Speedway.  With a qualifying lap of 37.523 seconds, 191.882 mph, Dillon broke the track qualifying record of 190.375 mph, which he set at Michigan last year.  This is Dillon’s seventh pole in 57 NASCAR Nationwide Series races. Today’s pole award marks Dillon’s fourth consecutive pole, which sets a NASCAR Nationwide Series record.  Dillon’s previous three poles came at Charlotte, Dover, and Iowa with top ten finishes in both Dover and Iowa.

    Dillon’s Richard Childress Racing teammate, Paul Menard, will be starting in 2nd position. The 22nd Annual Alliance Truck Parts 250 marks Menard’s first NASCAR Nationwide Series start of 2013.  This is the fourth top-10 start out of eight races at Michigan International Speedway.

    RAB Racing driver, No. 99 Alex Bowman, was the fastest qualifying rookie for the 22nd Annual Alliance Truck Parts 250.  Bowman will be starting in fifth position driving his St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital Toyota.

    Last week’s winner of Iowa’s Dupont Pioneer 250 and newlywed, Trevor Bayne, will be starting in fourth position in the Roush Clean Tech Ford.  Bayne has six top-10 finishes this season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and is currently 9th in points standings.

    Nationwide Series points leader and driver of the Taxslayer.com Chevrolet, Regan Smith, didn’t fare as well in qualifying for the 22nd Annual Truck Parts 250.  He will be starting in 20th position with ten top-10 finishes this season and one win at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Sprint Cup Series regular, Kyle Busch, who has dominated the Nationwide Series this season will be starting in 14th position in his Monster Energy Toyota.  No. 54 Busch has won three Nationwide Series pole awards, and has had nine top-10 finishes with six wins in 2013.  Busch has one win and four top-10 finishes at Michigan International Speedway.

    The green flag will fall on the 22nd Annual Alliance Truck Parts 250 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan on Saturday at 2:15 pm EST.