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  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Goody’s Fast Relief 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Goody’s Fast Relief 500

    [media-credit name=”Brad Kepel ” align=”alignright” width=”277″][/media-credit]
    Martin Truex Jr. crashes into Kasey Kahne at Martinsville
    At Martinsville’s version of the ‘paper clip’, NASCAR’s elite made their own history at one of the most storied tracks on the circuit.  Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray both made their 300th starts of their careers and iron man Mark Martin made his 800th start of his career.

    Here is what was surprising and not surprising in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500:

    Surprising:  It’s not often when the duel for the second place finish is one of the most surprising, and exciting, moments of the entire race. But this second place competition just happened to be between NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and one of the sport’s rowdiest drivers Kyle Busch. Junior prevailed by the slightest of margins, less than 0.020 of a second.

    Both the driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet and the No. 18 Pedigree Toyota had great points days, with Junior climbing four spots to eighth and Busch taking the points lead.

    Not Surprising:  Now officially able to relinquish his former nicknames of ‘Happy’ and the ‘Bakersfield Basher’, Kevin Harvick, this week in his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet, can most decisively claim the nickname ‘The Closer.’ Harvick is the first repeat winner of the season and has now won back to back races in decisive passes late in the race.

    “Just an awesome day,” Harvick said. “I didn’t think we had the car to do that. I had a lot of fun racing with Dale Jr. and I hate to be the bad guy, but we’re in it to win it.”

    Surprising: The two dominant drivers of past Martinsville races were not the ones battling for the lead this year.  With 34 laps to go, Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet, made an uncharacteristic mistake, entering the pits too fast. He was forced to the tail end of the field, finishing in the 11th position.

    Denny Hamlin, oft the master of Martinsville, was one of the first to get to pit road, which bit him late in the race. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota had to take a wave around on Lap 473, relegating him to a 12th place finish.

    Not Surprising: To no one’s surprise, four-time Cup champion and seven time Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon had a strong day, finishing fifth in the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet. With his good run, Gordon also surpassed the ‘King’ Richard Petty and took the fourth spot in the all-time laps led category.

    “We did have a great day,” Gordon said. “We weren’t great at the beginning but we worked our way up. It was an awesome day to drive to fifth there at the end.”

    Surprising: The number of changing lanes before reaching the start finish line penalties, affectionately known as the ‘David Ragan faux pas’ after his Daytona mistake cost him the win, was definitely surprising. Penalized were Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, and Tony Stewart.

    It took Kenseth almost half the race to right his wrong. At the end of the day, Kenseth was able to salvage a sixth place finish in his No. 17 Crown Royal Ford.

    Martin was also able to redeem himself, finishing 10th in his No. 5 Quaker State/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet. Martin is now officially the eighth driver to reach the level of 800 starts in his racing career.

    The driver who came out on the short end of the changing lanes penalty stick was Tony Stewart. The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet finished a miserable 34th, several laps down.

    Not Surprising:  Short tracks usually equal short tempers and that was definitely the case at Martinsville.  Several drivers were unhappy with one another for the bumping, beating and grinding that occurred during the hard racing.

    Most notably was Paul Menard, who had been leading the charge for his new Richard Childress Racing team, only to get into it with Robby Gordon.

    Menard said that Gordon brake-checked him “out of apparent retaliation,” putting a hole in the radiator of the No. 27 NIBCO/Menards Chevrolet. Menard finished 38th, falling six spots to 13th in the point standings.

    Another byproduct of the hard racing that had tempers flaring was the usually unflappable Aussie Marcos Ambrose, who was definitely angry with Michael McDowell.

    “I don’t know what McDowell was thinking,” Ambrose said. “I got stuck on the outside and lost 20 positions just trying to get to the bottom and he just jacked me up and put me in the fence around lap 100. It was uncalled for and made for a very long day.”

    Surprising:  At a short track like Martinsville, big wrecks are not the norm. But there was a monster of a hard hit when Martin Truex, Jr. lost his brakes and pummeled himself into the wall, taking innocent bystander Kasey Kahne with him.

    The hit was so intense that the race had to be red flagged while repairs were made to the safer barrier. Thankfully the drivers of both the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota and the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota were able to walk away from the incident.

    “I thought, oh man, this is going to hurt,” Truex said of the wreck. “Thanks to NASCAR and everybody who built the SAFER barriers. Ten years ago, I wouldn’t be standing here.”

    Not Surprising: As loud as the Truex/Kahne wreck was, in contrast the quietest mover in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 was Juan Pablo Montoya. The driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet started in the 27th position and, without fanfare, worked his way towards the front to finish fourth. JPM is also quietly working his way up the leader board, advancing one position to seventh in the point standings.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Auto Club 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Auto Club 400

    From the moment Sugar Ray Leonard dropped the green flag for the pole and outside pole sitters, Juan Pablo Montoya in his fiery red No. 42 Target Chevrolet and Denny Hamlin in his No. 11 FedEx Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, expectations were high at the fourteen degree banked, wide open track in Fontana, California.

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Victor Decolongon/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”273″][/media-credit]Here is what was surprising and not surprising in the purposely shorter Auto Club 400, down in length by 20% and 100 miles from last year:

    Surprising:  After an absolutely dominant performance by Kyle Busch, who led the most laps at 151 and ascended to 29th on the all-time laps led leader list surpassing Fireball Roberts, and a late race charge by Fontana favorite Jimmie Johnson, one driver led less than a lap and took the checkered flag.

    Bakersfield, California native Kevin Harvick finally got that coveted first win at his home state track, Auto Club Speedway. Reminiscent of his racing idol the late, great Dale Earnhardt, Harvick sported his own brand of intimidation, bumping Jimmie Johnson just enough to rattle him so Harvick could slip by for the win on the last lap.

    “Well we had them all beat last year and I gave it away,” Harvick said in a Budweiser-soaked Victory Lane. “What a great day.”

    “All these guys did a great job on pit road,” Harvick continued. “Gil (Martin) made the right call. We held those guys off and our car just kept going.”

    “Today we had a fast car and the circumstances played in our favor.”

    This was Harvick’s 15th victory, putting him in a tie with Ernie Irvan for 48th on NASCAR’s all-time Cup Series win list. This was team owner Richard Childress’ 95th Cup Series win, but the team’s first ever win at Auto Club Speedway as well.

    Not Surprising:  It was not surprising to see five-time champ Jimmie Johnson, piloting the very familiar No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, finish in the runner up position. This was Johnson’s 10th top-two finish in 17 races at Auto Club Speedway.

    “It reminded me of last year in the spring race,” Johnson said. “We just couldn’t hold him off.”

    “I knew he was coming,” Johnson said of Harvick. “If I could have got by the 18 a lot sooner, it might have been enough, but I was way loose and driving my butt off.”

    “Just glad it turned out to be a decent day.”

    Surprising: In spite of losing the race after being so dominant, it was surprising to see this ‘new’ Kyle Busch take it all in stride. Busch stood calmly by his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, waiting to share his thoughts on his third place finish and his first top ten finish in the past four races at Auto Club Speedway.

    “We gave the race away today unfortunately,” Busch said. “We seemed to be losing the handle on that last set of tires and couldn’t get the right speed I needed.”

    “I can’t say enough about the guys on pit road and the guys back at the shop,” Busch continued. “They got us in position but unfortunately I couldn’t get the job done today.”

    “I just didn’t have what it took there at the end.”

    Not Surprising: After having a chance at the race win and falling back, it was not surprising to see Tony Stewart pitch his gloves off after the race and stalk out of his car to his hauler, waving off any media who dared approach him. Stewart, who had run in the top five most of the day, making daring pit calls with his crew chief to stay out when others pitted for tires, faded back to finish 13th.

    With that finish, Stewart ended a four race streak of top-10 finishes at Auto Club Speedway. The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for the team that bears his name also fell three spots in the point standings to the sixth spot.

    Surprising: Unfortunately, the engine woes that have been plaguing Joe Gibbs Racing continued this weekend. Young Joey Logano had to start at the back of the pack due to an engine change, clawing his way back up to a 25th place finish.

    Even more devastating was the engine failure of Denny Hamlin, who had been the outside pole sitter and who looked to be a contender early in the race. After nursing his wounded car along and then going a lap down, Hamlin finally gave it up and headed to the garage.

    “We’ve got to go to work and figure out how to get the reliability back,” Hamlin said. “Our engine department has got to go to work.”

    “It was a slow death for our car today.”

    Not Surprising:  Sadly the curse of the first lap leader continued at Auto Club Speedway. In 21 races at the track, the first lap leader has never gone on to win the race.

    This was the case for Juan Pablo Montoya, who started off in the pole position and led that first deadly lap. Montoya had his struggles but did manage to rally back for a top ten finish, keeping him solidly in eighth position in the point standings.

    Surprising:  Both Red Bull teams had amazingly good runs in Fontana this weekend. Brian Vickers, in the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, finished eighth while teammate Kasey Kahne, in his No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, followed right behind in the ninth position.

    “Well, we wanted to win,” Vickers said. “But this is just what the Red Bull 83 team needed.”

    Not Surprising: Carl Edwards, who has been so dominant this season, finished sixth. With his good run, Edwards was able to assume his place on top of the points leader board, now officially the first repeat points leader in five races this season.

  • The Last Word on Bristol, as Kyle W(inner) Busch again sweeps Tennessee

    The Last Word on Bristol, as Kyle W(inner) Busch again sweeps Tennessee

    [media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]So, what did we learn at Bristol?

    Well, we learned that Kyle Busch is one hell of a driver. Okay, if we had been in a coma the past couple of years, that might have been a revelation. He wins on Saturday, wins on Sunday, and his Bristol tally includes four Cup wins in his last five attempts there, two straight Nationwide wins, and don’t forget the three in a row he has rung up in the trucks. I’m guessing ole Rowdy kind of likes Bristol.

    We learned that if Carl Edwards knew his final shot at getting by Busch was with about thirty laps to go, he would not have been so clean in making the attempt. It is not that Edwards doesn’t mind using some muscle to make a pass, just ask Brad Keselowski. However, if you move a guy you got to leave the guy to avoid payback, but Busch was the one who rode off into the sunset. Edwards had to settle for second, which gives him three runner-up tallies to go with a couple of wins in his last six starts.

    We learned that Jimmie Johnson has not won a race in a dozen tries. However, before we start resizing the crown worn by Bristol’s third place finisher, Five Time hasn’t exactly been slumming it out there. Of those 12, he has been a Top Three guy six times, with eight Top Fives and 10 Top Tens. If that is a slump, there are a bunch of drivers who would love to be so mired.

    We learned that Jeff Burton’s problems continue. 20th at Bristol was the best he has done since he was 19th at Phoenix last fall. The Virginian sits 30th in the standings, almost fifty positions out of Chase contention. If all the gold is in California, he better find himself the mother lode next weekend.

    We learned that bad things happen to good people at Bristol. Burton’s problems made him a pylon out there with a loose wheel, which resulted in Trevor Bayne, David Reutimann, and Denny Hamlin beat up and scrambling for crumbs for the rest of the day.

    We learned that Juan Pablo Montoya’s loose wheel at the mid-point of the race was the beginning of the end for him. Later, when Kasey Kahne got loose and log-jammed the field, the resulting mess made sure Montoya, Bayne, and Jamie McMurray finished outside the Top 20. When Clint Bowyer’s engine blew up, he went from crippled to dead to 35th.

    We learned that when the smoke had cleared, it was that other Busch who was our points leader as Kurt heads west up by one over Edwards. They have a sizable gap over Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, and Paul Menard, who has a pair of Top Tens in four starts. Kyle, Jimmie, and Juan are right behind, with Dale Earnhardt Jr and Mark Martin rounding out the top ten. Jeff Gordon’s win at Phoenix would give him a invite to the party, while Kasey Kahne would get his only because Bayne isn’t turning his Daytona gold into a glass slipper.

    We have learned that the track at Fontana might be sunny but, Lord help me, it more often provides a cure for insomnia than it does excitement. However, there is one guy who just loves the Auto Club Speedway in California. Tony Stewart may have won there last October. Bristol’s fourth place finisher, Matt Kenseth, may have three out there. Even Edwards was the man at Fontana three years ago. However, the guy to watch is Jimmie Johnson, who has claimed four of the last seven they have run there. Maybe that poor, luckless fellow can finally end the heartbreak and break out of his slump. His worst finish in his last ten Fontana starts? Eleventh. Oh, the humanity. Enjoy your week.

  • Fairy Tales Do Come True, Just Ask Trevor Bayne, Daytona 500 Winner

    Fairy Tales Do Come True, Just Ask Trevor Bayne, Daytona 500 Winner

    For Trevor Bayne, fresh off his 20th birthday and in only his second race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, dreams really do come true.  Bayne became the youngest winner of “The Great American Race”, the Daytona 500.

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”281″][/media-credit]”I keep thinking I’m dreaming, I really do,” Bayne said in Victory Lane. “We said a prayer before the race and this just shows how powerful God is and the good job these guys did on this race car. This is just incredible.”

    “I drove down here in my F150 and I was planning to drive back, but I think someone else will have to drive it back for me,” Bayne said, acknowledging that he must now do his Daytona 500 duties in New York City as the race winner. “I guess I will have to call someone to get some clothes down here.”

    “This is so crazy,” Bayne continued. “I felt a little undeserving, but I’m just glad that I got to be the guy behind the wheel to get the win.”

    Bayne’s team owners Eddie and Len Wood were beside themselves after the win. It was so emotional that they both, particularly Eddie Wood, had to stop talking several times to get their tears in check.

    “It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” owner Eddie Wood said, with a hitch in his voice. “We’ve struggled just to make the Daytona 500.”

    “It’s unbelievable we are sitting here,” Wood continued. “Trevor Bayne did such a good job. Now he is a Daytona 500 winner.”

    Donnie Wingo, Bayne’s crew chief, was also elated at his driver and team’s success.

    “I couldn’t be happier and the job the kid done today, you couldn’t ask for anything else,” Donnie Wingo, crew chief, said. “At the end, he did what he needed to do.”

    “He just might be the next big deal.”

    The race not only left Trevor Bayne and his car owners and crew chief shaking in disbelief, but many of the other drivers as well. There were a record 74 lead changes, a record 22 different race leaders, and a record 16 cautions in the event.

    “I’ve never run one like that,” veteran Terry Labonte, driver of the No. 32 U.S. Chrome Ford Fusion, said. “It’s a good thing the race wasn’t much longer because we were about done.” Labonte finished the race in the 15th position.

    Just as in the Bud Shootout and the Gatorade Duels, this running of the Daytona 500 necessitated a dance partner, with all cars running in the now familiar duo pack. The tandem racing put even more pressure on the spotters, who were not only having to guide their drivers around the track but strategize on the spotter stand as to who to partner up with next.

    “It was a pretty crazy day overall,” Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, said. “Everything was just all over the place and pretty nuts.”

    Busch had his own set of challenges, spinning early in the race on lap 4 after getting tagged by his pusher, who was at the time Michael Waltrip.  Busch managed to recover and snag a top-ten finish, scoring in the eighth spot.

    Another major factor in the race was engine failure, especially given the hotter ambient temperature at Daytona. Both Kevin Harvick and Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton lost their engines, an anomaly for sure for ECR engines.

    Harvick denied any forewarning of his engine failure, saying “No, it just let loose.”

    “I just blew water out of the bottom of the thing,” Harvick continued. “I hadn’t done anything different.”

    Burton echoed his teammate’s sentiments about the engine failure.

    “We are asking a lot out of the engines here for sure,” Burton said. “These are tough situations. I thought we were well within our limits but maybe not.”

    It would not be a Daytona 500 without the “big one” and this was delivered at lap 29 of the race.  Fourteen cars were involved, including three of the Hendrick teammates Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Mark Martin, taking them for the most part out of race contention.

    Dale Earnhardt, Jr., in the spotlight due to the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of his father’s death at Daytona, also had a good run, at least until the final laps of the race when a crash took him out of contention. Earnhardt came in 24th, after claiming the pole, wrecking in practice, and starting from the rear of the field.

    “We run good,” Earnhardt, Jr. said. “I had as much fun as I could under the circumstances. It was wild.”

    Carl Edwards took the runner up spot to Bayne’s fairy tale ending.

    “Trevor, he did a good job of blocking the bottom,” Edwards said. “All day we waited and waited, trying not to tear up the race car.”

    “There at the end, it almost worked out perfectly,” Edwards continued. “We didn’t have a chance to be able to mount up a real charge on him.”

    “I think that I can tell you that second place in the Daytona 500 feels way worse than any other position I’ve ever finished in the Daytona 500,” Edwards said. “But that is made better by listening to Trevor and how excited he is. He is really a nice young man, a great guy to represent this sport with this win.”

    David Gilliland, veteran Bobby Labonte, and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five in “The Great American Race.” The rest of the top ten included Juan Pablo Montoya in sixth, Regan Smith in seventh, Kyle Busch in eighth, Paul Menard in ninth, and Mark Martin, who rebounded from the big one to finish tenth.

    Unofficial Race Results

    Daytona 500, Daytona International Speedway

    February 20, 2011 – Race 1 of 36

    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps Status
    1 31 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 0 0 208 Running
    2 12 99 Carl Edwards Ford 42 0 208 Running
    3 5 34 David Gilliland Ford 41 0 208 Running
    4 6 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 41 1 208 Running
    5 25 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 40 1 208 Running
    6 4 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 39 1 208 Running
    7 27 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 38 1 208 Running
    8 39 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 37 1 208 Running
    9 1 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 36 1 208 Running
    10 34 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 34 0 208 Running
    11 35 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 34 1 208 Running
    12 42 9 Bill Elliott Chevrolet 32 0 208 Running
    13 3 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 31 0 208 Running
    14 18 6 David Ragan Ford 31 1 208 Running
    15 37 32 Terry Labonte Ford 30 1 208 Running
    16 16 7 Robby Gordon Dodge 29 1 208 Running
    17 15 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 28 1 208 Running
    18 2 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 27 1 208 Running
    19 29 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 26 1 208 Running
    20 36 77 Steve Wallace Toyota 0 0 208 Running
    21 38 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 24 1 208 Running
    22 20 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 24 2 206 Running
    23 11 20 Joey Logano Toyota 21 0 206 Running
    24 13 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 21 1 202 Running
    25 17 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 19 0 199 Running
    26 21 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 19 1 198 In Pit
    27 24 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 17 0 189 Running
    28 23 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 17 1 173 Running
    29 8 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 16 1 166 Running
    30 10 0 David Reutimann Toyota 14 0 164 Running
    31 30 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 13 0 160 Running
    32 7 38 Travis Kvapil Ford 0 0 153 In Pit
    33 33 71 Andy Lally * Chevrolet 11 0 149 Running
    34 26 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 10 0 133 Running
    35 14 16 Greg Biffle Ford 9 10 126 Running
    36 32 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 9 1 92 Out
    37 19 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 7 0 82 Running
    38 40 37 Robert Richardson Jr. Ford 0 0 45 Running
    39 22 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0 0 29 In Pit
    40 9 115 Michael Waltrip Toyota 4 0 28 In Pit
    41 41 192 Brian Keselowski* Dodge 3 0 28 Running
    42 28 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 3 1 22 Out
    43 43 46 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 1 0 10 Out
  • Kurt Busch Wins First Gatorade Duel; Bill Elliott and JJ Yeley Race Into the Show

    Kurt Busch Wins First Gatorade Duel; Bill Elliott and JJ Yeley Race Into the Show

    On a balmy Thursday afternoon in the heart of NASCAR racing, Kurt Busch went two for two at Daytona, wining  the first of two Gatorade Duel races after his Bud Shootout victory.   JJ Yeley, who had to race his way into the show, did just that, along with veteran driver Bill Elliott.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”238″][/media-credit]”This is just an incredible  Speed Weeks,” Busch said.  “I just don’t want it to end.  We just keep doing everything right and it’s just amazing to be able to do this, find the right drafting partners out there to make it happen.”

    “This is sweet,” Busch continued.  “It’s amazing what partnerships can do out on the race track.  When two guys can think the same way without saying a word, things are going to happen for those two guys.”

    Busch also paid tribute to young driver Regan Smith, in the No. 78 for Furniture Row Racing, who successfully pushed not only Busch to victory but many of the other drivers who were in the lead throughout the race.  Busch also gave credit to Brad Keselowski, his teammate with whom he has tested and who he  hopes to partner with  in the race on Sunday.

    Bill Elliott, who has been having a very good weekend so far between his own performance and the signing of his son Chase by Hendrick Motor Sports, also raced his way in on time.  Given that, Michael Waltrip, Daytona 500 winner from ten years ago, has a guaranteed starting spot in this special anniversary year.

    “Coming in today we had a little bit of a cushion,” Elliott said.  “But the key thing is when you get two really good cars working together, they’re going to be hard to beat.  This is the same thing you’re going to see Sunday.”

    JJ Yeley, driver of the No. 46 Red Line Oil Chevrolet, also raced his way onto NASCAR’s biggest stage.  The driver, who had to have surgery to fuse his neck just last fall, was thrilled to have made the show.

    “It’s awesome,” Yeley said.  “I’ve never had to make the race on my own without being locked in.  The stress that comes with not being locked in is tough and to know we had a lot of help out there, especially with Marcos Ambrose, we got where we needed to be.”

    From the drop of the green flag, the race mirrored the Bud Shootout, with drivers almost immediately finding a partner and buddying up.  Further back in the field, the drivers raced as a pack, at least for a bit,  until finding their ideal mate.

    Ryan Newman was the first driver to have problems early in the race, getting a nudge and going for a spin.  Newman was able to recover, however, and ended the race in the tenth position.

    While the duos found their speed together, some swapping back and forth was indeed needed to keep the engines cool, just as NASCAR had intended.  Also interesting in this first true race on the new surface at Daytona was the fact that no teams had to take tires, most pitting for their sole stop to take fuel only.

    The only other caution came late in the race for Michael McDowell, the driver of the No. 66  MRO HP Racing Toyota.  McDowell’s chances at a place in the Daytona 500 expired in a huge puff of smoke, forcing a green white checkered finish.

    But when the green flag flew for the final laps of the race, Busch, being pushed by Smith, emerged as the front runner, taking the checkered flag.  With his win in the first Duel race, Busch will now move up into the pole position with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. having to go to the back of the field due to a practice wreck.

    “It’s just going to be one of those moments in time that I’ll remember for a long time, leading the field to green,” Busch said.  “I’ll just make sure to massage my calf so I don’t cramp up with Regan Smith behind me.”

    With Kurt Busch as victor, Regan Smith, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top five finishers.  Juan Pablo Montoya finished sixth, AJ Allmendinger finished seventh, and Mark Martin, Paul Menard and Ryan Newman completed the top ten in the first Duel race.