Category: RC XFINITY

Reed Sorenson had enough fuel to make it to the finish line to win Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide race at Road America.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”234″][/media-credit]Justin Allgaier was leading when the final yellow flag came out on the final restart in the third attempt. But Allgaier ran out of fuel before making it to the finish line. Unable to keep pace lap speed, Allgaier surrendered the lead to Sorenson.

At the same time, Ron Fellowes did not slow when the final yellow flag came out and passed both Sorenson and Allgaier before getting behind the pace car. Fellows appeared to have won the race until NASCAR reviewed the tapes a saw that Fellows did not slow when the caution light was displayed, giving Sorenson back the lead and the win.

Carl Edwards passed teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with less than 10 laps remaining in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Alliance Truck Parts 250 at Michigan International Speedway (MIS) in route to his fourth NNS victory of the season.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”229″][/media-credit]“Ricky Stenhouse is a driving machine and here comes Jack Roush. Jack got us some fuel miles and we couldn’t dare run out of fuel with that Ford Focus out front in the pace car, it is all about fuel mileage today. Jack leaned her down and we didn’t need it, it was great. Mike Beam did a great job with the strategy. I didn’t think I was going to get by Ricky. I cannot drive any harder than that. That was as hard as I could drive to get by him. He is going to be a force to be reckoned with.” Edwards said.

Edwards won by 1.669 seconds over Stenhouse Jr. and the two teammates gave Roush Fenway Racing a 1-2 finish.

Edwards and Stenhouse also combined to lead 100 laps and Roush Fenway scored its 21st NASCAR win at its ‘home track’ of Michigan. It was the fifth win for the organization at MIS and the fifth win for Roush Fenway this season in the Nationwide Series.

“Our Tender Ridge Mustang was really fast for about 15 laps and then we got really tight. On that last restart I just tried to get as far out there as we could and didn’t quite get far enough. We just got too tight. Carl caught us. It was a good day for us. We definitely wanted one more spot. I gave it everything it had, we just got too tight.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

Kyle Busch finished third, pole-sitter Paul Menard fourth and Trevor Bayne finished fifth.

With his second place finish, Stenhouse Jr. took over the series point standings by two over Elliott Sadler.

“I guess that is a good thing for us for sure for the championship but it doesn’t do anything for us not winning. I feel like earlier in the year we gave some wins away, definitely some top-fives. We are right there where we need to be we just have to cap it off.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

Justin Allgaier walked to victory lane at the Chicagoland Speedway after winning the STP 300 by having just enough fuel to pass the slowing car of leader Carl Edwards who had run out of fuel heading into the final turns. Allgaier’s car rested on the front stretch empty of fuel but Allgaier had the checkered flag in his hand for the walk to victory lane.

As Allgaier sped past Edwards his own car also sputtered and ran out of gas so he pulled down to the apron of the track with Edwards following. They both crossed the finish line before Trevor Bayne, making his first start since being hospitalized with a mystery illness in April, did under his own power at full speed. There was a lapped car in front of Bayne and initially Allgaier thought he was the winner. “I thought it was Trevor,” he said.

Allgaier said, “Jimmy Elledge has made great calls all year long. I’m having a blast. To get a win in Illinois is just great. It doesn’t get much better than this. It’s a pretty awesome day.”

Bayne said afterwards, “I could have won this thing. I should have stopped conserving fuel a little earlier. But we’ll take this third place. I feel good.”

Aric Almirola and Jason Leffler rounded out the top 5.

Carl Edwards dominated the race for the for 2/3 of the race but battled with the Kevin Harvick Inc cars driven by Elliott Sadler and owner Harvick. Sadler had a great run but elected to get fuel and tires as the laps were winding down. Reed Sorenson’s sixth place finished allowed him to take the lead in the series points from Sadler by 2 points.

Danica Patrick ran in the race and finished 10^th, on the lead lap after getting a “lucky dog” lap back earlier in the race after going  a lap down to the leader.

CHARLOTTE – Matt Kenseth was the last car to qualify this morning for the 30^th running of the Top Gear 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It looked as though Kenseth would start from the pole on Saturday but fell just short and started third.

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Kenseth made sure that the same didn’t happen at the end of the race. Carl Edwards was leading in the closing laps, Kenseth was able to slip by Edwards with five laps to go and pull away for the victory. This was his Kenseth’s first Nationwide Series win of the season.

“What a great day for Fastenal and Ford Mustang.  It was intense there. I cleared Carl the one time and he passed me right back. We had new tires and were able to get him there at the end. It was the first time I’ve driven a Mustang out there and just had a blast. I’m glad Trevor is feeling better and will be back next week, but I had a blast driving for him today.” said Kenseth in victory lane.

“It really wasn’t easy,” added Kenseth. “But the cars are just really fast. It feels good to beat Carl. He’s really one of the best out there and when you can beat him, you know you had a good game.”

Last week’s winner, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr sat the fast time in qualifying with a speed of 186.994. He led the first 41 laps, giving the lead over to Edwards. Stenhouse finished fourth.

“Our Fastenal Mustang was pretty solid all day. It was a top-five car all day, just not good enough to win.” Stenhouse said.

Kyle Busch was strong in the early running, but ended up with a third place finish. Two drivers that were in the top five all day ran into bad luck in the closing laps.

“We had a really good car there in the beginning and through the middle stages of the race. Unfortunately, we just weren’t fast enough there at the end.” Busch said.

Kevin Harvick was strong all day, but a front left fender rub, the result of a green flag restart, forced Harvick to pit road. He was able to battle back for a 16^th place finish.

Kasey Kahne started 22^nd, but showed that he had a strong car, working his way into the top five, but he had to pit with 10 laps to go for fuel and then got penalized for speeding on pit road. Kahne finished 22^nd.

Reed Sorensen finished fifth. The remainder of the top ten were Brad Keslowski, Steve Wallace, Brian Scott, Aric Almirola and Elliott Sadler.

Toytota Camry driver and 2007 Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen made his NNS debut and finished 27th.

“It really turned out to be a really bad day with the handling just because I couldn’t get the car to turn and had to almost stop in the corners because it was pushing all the time. The same thing happened in the first and second practice and then we could improve it in the second practice, but somehow something is not right.” Raikkonen said.

As for his future plans, “My plan was always to do these first two races and then I have to go back to Europe and do some Rallies and then we will see what happens.”

Cole Whitt finished 15th in his NNS debut driving the No. 99 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Pastrana-Waltrip Racing.

“We had a good car for about two laps and that’s about it. I don’t know what happened. We had a really good race run car yesterday, but — I don’t know — it just slipped away from us here today. We just could never get the thing freed up.” Whitt said.

Sadler remains the points leader, but only by one point over Stenhouse and two points over Sorenson.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. held off Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski to win Sunday’s NASCAR Nationwide series (NNS) John Deere Dealers 250 race at Iowa Speedway.

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”260″][/media-credit]Stenhouse Jr. took the lead from Roush Fenway teammate Edwards on the restart with 18 laps to go and never looked back. Stenhouse Jr. drove his No. 6 Blackwell Angus Ford Mustang to his first career NASCAR victory in 51 starts and is also the first NNS series regular to pick up a victory this season.

Stenhouse Jr. led 41 laps and Edwards led 33 laps in the 250 lap event.

“That last caution I was doing some real praying for a good restart. Iowa was not my favorite place but it is now. We crashed three cars last year here and to come back this strong with these same No. 6 guys means a lot. We had Blackwell Angus on the car and that’s awesome. I just can’t thank Nationwide and this series and all the fans that came out here today enough for this opportunity.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

“The Ford Mustangs were fast today. I asked for an adjustment late that I should not have and I got really loose. Ricky was loose to, but he just did a really good job.” Edwards said.

The win also gave Roush Fenway a one-two finish.

“Just awesome! Ricky Stenhouse is going to be a factor in this stock car racing for many years to come; certainly long after I’m gone and I’m glad to be here for day one for him.” said team owner Jack Roush.

Brad Keselowski finished third, Reed Sorenson fourth and series points leader Elliott Sadler finished fifth.

“A solid effort by the Discount Tire Dodge team today. This is a great facility and a fun track to drive. The fans here are amazing and it creates a great atmosphere for racing. Our car was good, but not great. The two Fords were really fast today and we just didn’t have enough at the end to make a run at them. A strong day for our race team and I’m happy for Ricky  to get the win. He’s a class act and has worked his tail off to enjoy this win.” Keselowski said.

Sunday also marked the first time three women ran the same NNS race. Jennifer Jo Cobb along with the Cope twins, Angela and Amber were making their first starts at Iowa. Cobb finished 26th, Angela finished 28th and Amber was 32nd.

The series heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway next week for the Top Gear 300.

Unofficial Race Results
John Deere Dealers 250 presented by Pioneer, Iowa Speedway
May 22, 2011 – Race 12 of 35
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Pos. Driver
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1 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2 Carl Edwards
3 Brad Keselowski
4 Reed Sorenson
5 Elliott Sadler
6 Kenny Wallace
7 Michael McDowell
8 Justin Allgaier
9 James Buescher
10 Austin Dillon
11 Steve Wallace
12 Drew Herring
13 Michael Annett
14 Jeremy Clements
15 Scott Wimmer
16 Joe Nemechek
17 Aric Almirola
18 Mike Bliss
19 Mike Wallace
20 Morgan Shepherd
21 Blake Koch *
22 Robert Richardson Jr.
23 Eric McClure
24 Daryl Harr
25 Dennis Setzer
26 Jennifer Jo Cobb *
27 Brian Scott
28 Angela Cope
29 Josh Wise
30 Timmy Hill *
31 Luis Martinez Jr.
32 Amber Cope
33 Jason Leffler
34 Ryan Truex *
35 Carl Long
36 Johnny Chapman
37 Mike Harmon
38 Brad Teague
39 Tim Andrews
40 Chase Miller
41 Charles Lewandoski *
42 Tim Schendel
43 Brett Rowe