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Tag: Kasey Kahne

  • NASCAR Issues Probation and Financial Punch to Richard Childress

    NASCAR Issues Probation and Financial Punch to Richard Childress

    [media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]
    Permanent Press
    NASCAR announced season long probation and a fine of $150,000 against Sprint Cup team owner Richard Childress for an altercation involving Kyle Busch Saturday night at Kansas Speedway.

    It was reported that Childress grabbed Kyle Busch, administered a headlock and punched him several times about the face. The attack took place in the garage after Saturday’s Camping World Series Truck race.

    Shortly after publishing its findings, NASCAR released a statement.

    “The penalty we have announced today for Richard Childress reflects NASCAR’s response to the incident at Kansas Speedway on Saturday. We feel this action is appropriate and are confident all parties involved understand our position on this matter and will move forward appropriately.”

    Speculation about what provoked the incident centers around Busch and his recent on track aggression towards Childress drivers and equipment.

    Busch, already on probation for incidents at Darlington Raceway, was cleared of any wrong doing in the most recent altercation.

    Childress, owner of Richard Childress Racing, also released a statement about the altercation.

    “First of all, I’m responsible for my actions, plain and simple. As you know, I am a very principled person and have a passion for what we do at Richard Childress Racing. I believe passionately in defending my race teams and my sponsor partners.”

    “In this instance, I let that passion and my emotions get the best of me. I accept the penalty NASCAR announced today and, as a company, we will now focus on this week’s races at Pocono Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway.”

    Speculation about what provoked the incident centers around Busch and his recent on track aggression towards Childress drivers and equipment.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover FedEx 400 Benefitting Autism Speaks

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Dover FedEx 400 Benefitting Autism Speaks

    Under threatening skies at the beginning of the race and with one caution for precipitation, the sun emerged and then beat down upon the Monster Mile at Dover, Delaware for the remainder of the race.

    Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks.

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    Surprising: It was surprising to see the comers and goers at Dover and in the end, to see who gambled and who did not. And in a town where the casino resides right next to the track, the gambling paid off, especially for those that either stayed out without tires or who took two instead of four.

    Mark Martin, driver of the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, was probably the biggest gambler, staying out on the last pit stop with no new tires to finish in the runner up position. This was his first top five of the season.

    “Lance McGrew and the GoDaddy.com team deserve this,” Martin said. “We just about pulled one off there. We finally had a good finish.

    Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Wiley X Sunglasses Ford, also gambled with a two tire stop, and finished his day in Victory Lane.

    “Obviously it was a great day for us and pretty exciting for us to win that way here at Dover,” Kenseth said. “I was happy we were able to pull it off.”

    The gambling also paid off in the point standings, with Kenseth jumping four spots to the sixth position and Martin moving up three spots to the 11th position.

    Not Surprising:  With so many drivers taking either no or just two tires, it was not surprising that the dominant cars throughout most of the race, including the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson and the No. 99 Aflac Ford of Carl Edwards, finished a bit further back in the pack in ninth and seventh respectively, after deciding on a four-tire strategy.

    This was  the second week in a row that Edwards and company took four tires and did not win. Both Edwards and Johnson, however, maintained their top standing in the points, first and second respectively.

    Surprising:  It was surprising just how different the Monster Mile treated teammates throughout the race. One of the best examples was the split between Richard Petty Motorsports teammates A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose.

    After starting from the outside pole, the ‘Dinger not only had high hopes for a great finish but he even fulfilled his wish of leading a lap. But instead of potentially contending for a race win, the engine on his Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Best Buy Ford gave up the ghost.

    “I don’t know, it was weird because it all happened at once and there was no sign of it,” Allmendinger said. “We were going to run them (the leaders) down and all of a sudden off (turn) two, it went.”

    “Honestly, it sucks,” Allmendinger continued. “I really wanted this for us and Ford and Best Buy and everybody, the King especially. I hate this.”

    On the flip side, his RPM teammate Marcos Ambrose, in the No. 9 Dewalt Ford, had a stellar day, finishing in the third spot.

    “I get a good feel on these concrete tracks,” Ambrose said. “On concrete, I think it’s the steep banking that helps me feel the tires.”

    “It was a great day and a really good call for two tires there at the end.”

    Not Surprising: The tale of two teammates continued with the results chasm between Brian Vickers, piloting the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, and his teammate Kasey Kahne in the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota.

    Vickers, who at the time of last year’s Dover race was in the hospital “with two IVs stuck in both arms”, finished fifth, while Kahne blew an engine and was out of the race.

    “This was a great team effort,” Vickers said. “I feel great. It was a special race.”

    Kahne, on the other hand, started fourth and was running in the top ten for much of the race, only to experience engine issues.

    “We had a great Red Bull Toyota,” Kahne said.”The car was really fast early on. I think I over-revved it so it may be my fault that it let go.”

    Surprising:  Both cars in the Stewart-Haas Racing stable, including the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet of Ryan Newman and the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet piloted by Tony Stewart, were surprisingly bad at the Monster Mile.  In fact, Stewart deemed his car evil, finishing 29th, multiple laps down. Newman battled all day as well, taking the checkered flag in the 21st position.

    Stewart summed up the SHR day overall on one of his radio communications during the race, saying “I’ve got no (expletive) confidence in our team right now.”

    Not Surprising: Kyle Busch in the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota surprised no one in driving from the rear of the field due to an engine change to a fourth place finish.

    “Considering how far behind we started with the engine failure and how I ran it into the fence, it was a really good result,” Busch said.

    Surprising:  After a hard crash in the Nationwide run that ruined a potentially winning day, Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, had high hopes for redemption, starting in the fifth spot. Logano, however, brought out the first caution, spinning and hitting the wall. Logano’s car was not right for the rest of the race, again hitting the wall in the waning laps of the race to finish 27th.

    Not Surprising: Living up to the track’s nickname, there were some monstrous moments on pit road during the race in Dover. David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 UPS Ford, had an adventure getting to his pit, spinning, hitting the guard rail and then almost blocking the entrance trying to get his car pointed in the right direction.

    “I just locked up the rear brakes a little coming into the pits during the green flag stop,” Ragan said. “That’s the first time I’ve ever wrecked like that getting to pit road.”

    “I guess I pushed it a little too hard today.”

    Rookie Andy Lally, in the No. 71 Interstate Moving Services Ford, also had a pit misadventure, with a major slide down pit road late in the race. Lally finished in the 33rd position.

     

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Darlington Showtime Southern 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Darlington Showtime Southern 500

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”283″][/media-credit]Honoring one of NASCAR’s most historic race tracks, as well as celebrating their mothers, NASCAR’s most elite drivers battled the track dubbed as “too tough to tame.”

    Here is what was surprising and not surprising for the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway this Mother’s Day weekend.

    Surprising:  With his mother Lee unable to accompany him due to her work with animals impacted by the tornados in Alabama, a most surprised and emotional Regan Smith, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, finally got that elusive first Cup win.

    Smith led just eleven laps during the race. The 27 year old driver had his fastest lap at the end when it counted, just barely holding off a hard-charging Carl Edwards.

    With his voice choking and tears dotting his cheeks, Smith sincerely thanked his crew chief and his team for enabling him to finally achieve his dream to win a race.

    “I can’t believe it, you guys,” Smith said. “This is the Southern 500. We’re not supposed to win this thing.”

    “This race is so special and so meaningful,” Smith continued. “We were standing there looking at the names and the faces on the trophy, and you think, ‘My face is going to be there right next to these guys, and it’ll be there forever.’”

    Not Surprising:  After attending to the birth of his second child, son Michael, it was not surprising that Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 60 Aflac Ford for Roush Fenway Racing, continued his big week with a runner up finish at Darlington.

    “First of all, congratulations to Regan,” Edwards said graciously. “I’m sure that will feel good tomorrow, but right now, I wanted to win that race.”

    “I guess if I had to get beat, it’s all right to get beat by him,” Edwards continued. “We’re leading the points so we’ll just go to the next one.”

    Surprising: At the track where getting the infamous ‘Darlington stripe’ is more a question of when not if, it was surprising to see the number of problems on pit road instead of on the track.

    Several drivers had a tough time getting into their pit stalls, including Dale Earnhardt, Jr., driver of the No. 88 Amp Energy Sugar Free/National Guard Chevrolet, who just nicked the commitment cone coming in for his pit stop.

    Martin Truex, Jr., in the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, also had trouble getting to his pit box. Yet Truex was trumped by Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Turtle Wax/Menards Chevrolet, who spun into the pits ending up head first into his stall.

    Four-time champion Jeff Gordon, this week in his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, also experienced pit difficulties, dragging his gas man almost out of the pit stall on exit.

    His Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson was unlucky in his pit stall as well, hanging a lug nut on the No. 48 Lowes/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, and having to return to pit road for repairs.

    Not Surprising:  While it was not surprising that the ‘Lady in Black’ brought out the dark side of many drivers’ temperaments, it was Kyle Busch versus Kevin Harvick, rather than Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman, that took center stage after the race’s overtime finish.

    The two tangled dramatically on the track in the waning part of the race, trading pushes and shoves, which then carried over as both tried to make their way to pit road.

    Harvick struck first, blocking Busch’s entrance to pit road. Busch tried has best evasive action, going back onto the track and even backing up to get away from the driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet.

    Unhappy Harvick continued the pursuit, hopping out of his car to confront the driver of the No. 18 Wrigley’s Doublemint Camry. Busch had the last ‘word’, bumping Harvick’s driver-less car into the wall on pit road.

    “It was tight racing after the restart there,” Busch said. “I gave him (Harvick) room but he came off the wall and lifted early and then drove in the back of me,”

    “It was just uncalled for, just unacceptable racing.”

    For his side of the story, Harvick had little to say as he emerged from the NASCAR hauler.

    “Obviously, we were just racing hard and doing what we had to do at the end,” Harvick said. “And things happen. That’s it.”

    Busch finished the race in eleventh, while Harvick came in 17th. Both drivers held position in the point standings, third and fifth respectively.

    Surprising: While Kurt Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, continued his struggles, wrecking his primary car during practice and not having much better luck in his back up car during the race, the other half of the Penske duo had a surprisingly good finish.

    Piloting the Blue Deuce, Brad Keselowski, mirroring Smith’s decision to stay out on the late caution, had a good run at race end, taking the checkered flag in third.

    “To have a chance at it I was going to have to get the first restart and I just wasn’t strong enough to do that,” Keselowski said. “I ended up giving Regan a whale of a push and once he cleared Carl, he was gone.”

    “I’m really happy for Regan and wanted to make sure that if I couldn’t win, he would and it looks like it worked out for him and his whole team,” Keselowski continued. “It’s a win for the underdogs tonight.”

    Not Surprising: Kasey Kahne, after qualifying his No. 4 Red Bull Toyota on the pole, was strong from the drop of the green flag to the end of the race. Although he led the most laps, Kahne also had a collision with the wall, which relegated him to a fourth place finish.

    “We were tight and we had to keep tuning the car up and fixing the car,” Kahne said after the race. “I killed the crush panel so I’m covered in fumes and rubber and stuff.”

    “We didn’t finish as good as we should have,” Kahne continued. “But fourth’s good for as hard as I hit the wall.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond’s Crown Royal 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Richmond’s Crown Royal 400

    After the sounds of the US Marine Drum and Bugle Corps playing the National Anthem and the command to start engines by surviving war hero and race namesake Staff Sergeant Matthew Hansen faded, Saturday night racing was officially underway at Richmond International Raceway.

    Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Crown Royal Presents the Matthew and Daniel Hansen 400.

    Surprising:  It was surprising to see just how quickly the pole sitter Juan Pablo Montoya, in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet, fell from his prime starting position into a world of trouble with Ryan Newman, piloting the No. 39 US Army Medicine Chevrolet.

    After some tussling back and forth for position, Newman had had enough with the ever assertive Montoya, sending JPM into the wall on Lap 106. Montoya returned to the track and on Lap 236 took his revenge. [media-credit id=5 align=”alignright” width=”258″][/media-credit]

    After being spun out by Montoya, Newman was definitely hot under the collar. “I can’t believe they’re not going to black flag that 42 car,” Newman said. “I’m going to take care of this after the race.”

    Newman did indeed head straight for the NASCAR hauler after the race to share his concerns and see what the sanctioning body had to say about the incident. Montoya, on the other hand, waved off the media, jumped on his golf cart and headed back to the motor coach lot without comment.

    Newman declared he just wanted the situation to be handled fairly by the sanctioning body.

    “I know that he (Montoya) ran up on me of (Turn) 2 there and I clipped him. I mean I’m not going to try to dump myself into the wall,” Newman said. “But to retaliate the way he did just didn’t show much class.”

    Not Surprising:  Since the track was Richmond, it was not surprising to see the Joe Gibbs Racing team at the front of the pack when the checkered flag flew. While Denny Hamlin had dominated the weekend, winning his own charity race as well as the Nationwide event, it was JGR teammate Kyle Busch, in his award winning M&Ms Pretzel Toyota, that led 235 laps including the final 84, to claim the victory.

    “This race tonight was a good one,” Busch said. “We knew if we could go through traffic, we could win.”

    “We just really got beat by our teammate,” Hamlin said. “He drove a great race. Our cars were dead equal. We just got beat.”

    Surprising: There were definitely some surprising names in the top ten finishers when the checkered flag flew at RIR. Both Red Bull drivers, Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, and his teammate Brian Vickers, behind the wheel of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, had good nights.

    Kahne, still smarting from his recent knee surgery, finished third and Vickers posted a tenth place finish.

    Another driver David Ragan, piloting his No. 6 UPS “We Love Logistics” Ford for Roush- Fenway Racing, had a strong car especially at the end of the race, finishing fourth.

    “It was a fun night,” Ragan said. “This is my favorite track to come to. Back in 2007, we finished third here and I have really liked the place since.”

    The final driver not usually in the top ten but with a great run at Richmond was AJ Allmendinger. With new sponsor Nautica on his No. 43 Ford Fusion, the ‘Dinger brought his car home in the seventh spot.

    “Sometimes in these races, you have to get a little lucky,” Allmendinger said. “We have been on the bad end before with good cars so I will take luck over skill any day.”

    Not Surprising:  Although mightily struggling for much of the race, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson found his inner rally and finished eighth.

    “We had a good finish out of it but it was a long, long night,” Johnson said. “We got the car semi-competitive and then finally got some strategy, got back on the lead lap and we went from there. So, frustrating night but a good points night.”

    Surprising: Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon had a surprisingly bad night. Gordon yet again found a non-safer barrier wall and wrecked into it driver’s side first.

    The crash on Lap 301 also collected Paul Menard, Mark Martin, David Reutimann, Bobby Labonte, Jamie McMurray and Matt Kenseth.

    “It knocked the wind out of me,” Gordon said after his visit to the infield care center. “I seem to find the worst angles of walls.”

    “What a shame,” Gordon continued. “The Dupont Chevrolet was so strong. With 100 laps to go everyone was losing their patience including me. I just wish they had a safer barrier there.”

    Not Surprising: Unfortunately, it was not surprising that Team Penske continued their struggles. Kurt Busch, in the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, had all kinds of trouble, from the initial wreck involving Montoya, continuing throughout the race. Teammate Brad Keselowski, in the Blue Deuce, was also involved in several crashes. Busch finished 22nd and Keselowski finished 36th.

    Surprising:  After returning to the lead lap via the ‘lucky dog’ process, Dave Blaney, with his newly committed sponsor Golden Corral on his No. 36 race car, managed to move forward at the end of the race to finish 13th, his season’s best. Blaney, racing not start and parking for Tommy Baldwin Racing, has now locked himself into the top 35, firmly ensconced in 32nd in the point standings.

    Not Surprising: Carl Edwards had another strong run, posting a fifth place finish in his No. 99 Scotts EZ Seed Ford. He also maintained the top spot in the point standings, nine points over second place Jimmie Johnson and thirty points ahead of race winner Kyle Busch in third.

    “That was a lot of work,” Edwards said. “I think that feeling of fifth here tonight will be replaced with the points lead feeling in a little bit and that will feel better.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Aaron’s 499 at Talladega

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Aaron’s 499 at Talladega

    At one of the longest tracks on the NASCAR Cup circuit, 2.66 miles to be exact, where lead changes abound and Dale Earnhardt still rules with ten wins, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    [media-credit name=”Steven Iles” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Surprising:  Whether you call it the two car tango, dancing with the cars, friends with benefits, flying united, or Noah’s Ark racing, it was most certainly the pairs competition at ‘Dega this year. In comparison to the Daytona 500 to start the season, it was also most surprising how committed the pairs were to one another at Talladega.

    Dale Earnhardt, Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Amp Energy Chevrolet, summed it up best. “We all had commitment phobia in the past. But in this situation, you had to commit and make sacrifices, just like in a relationship.”

    Not Surprising:  There was no doubt that overcoming that commitment phobia was key to the race finish. Channeling their inner Talladega Nights characters Ricky Bobby and Cal Naughton, Jr., Dale Earnhardt, Jr. pushed his teammate Jimmie Johnson, in the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet, to the checkered flag, scoring the closest margin of victory record at just .002 seconds.

    As both drivers shouted “Woo hoos” on their radios, congratulating each other and even sharing the checkered flag, Johnson scored his 54th career victory, tying Lee Petty, NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, for ninth on the all-time Cup Series win list.

    Johnson’s win moved him two spots ahead in the point standings. He currently sits in the second spot, just five points behind leader Carl Edwards.

    The other half of that tandem duo, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. also surged forward in the point standings. Junior moved up three spots to claim the third position, just 19 points behind Edwards and 14 points behind Johnson.

    Surprising: While it was surprising that there was technically no ‘big one’ and thankfully no cars went airborne, there were a few spectacular wrecks and even more amazing saves. Ryan Newman, in the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet, laid claim to the biggest saves of the day, two of them in fact, calling on all of his dirt track racing experience to do so. After his first save, Newman was not so lucky on his second save, flat spotting all his tires and relegating him to a 25th place finish.

    Not Surprising:  While some drivers were busy saving their cars, other drivers not usually at the front got their chance to shine. Dave Blaney, behind the wheel of the No. 36 Golden Corral Chevrolet, almost had to make good on the sponsor’s offer to let kids eat free if he finished in the top ten. After leading several laps, Blaney unfortunately got turned by Kurt Busch, lost the draft and finished 27th.

    Andy Lally, rookie driver of the No. 71 Interstate Moving Services Ford, also had a big day. Known primarily for his Rolex racing skills, Lally found his place in the draft and finished 19th for TRG Motorsports.

    Surprising: After running so well together and finishing first and second respectively in the Nationwide race, it was somewhat surprising to see how badly Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Pretzel Toyota, and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano, behind the wheel of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, fared while working together.

    On lap 140, Logano tapped Busch, sending him spinning and bringing out the fourth caution. The impact was so intense that Busch’s right side tires lifted before spinning, landing him driver’s side against the retaining wall.

    “Joey (Logano) and I worked great all day,” Busch said. “I got spun out – it was nothing Joey did wrong.”

    “It’s just a product of what we’ve got,” Busch continued. “So far, at every restrictor-plate race, I’ve been spun out.”

    Not Surprising: Since dynamic duos were all the rage, it was not surprising that other pairs fared well together. Clint Bowyer, in the No. 33 BB&T Chevrolet, and Kevin Harvick, behind the wheel of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet, both out of the Richard Childress stable, pushed each other to top-ten finishes.

    In addition, Hendrick Motorsport teammates Jeff Gordon, driving the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet while battling a nasty cold, and Mark Martin, piloting the No. 5 Carquest/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, also were committed to each other to finish third and eighth respectively.

    Finally, Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards, point leader and expectant father, and Greg Biffle, who just re-signed with sponsor 3M and RFR, were also locked together throughout the race. Edwards finished sixth and Biffle came in right behind in seventh.

    Surprising:  Red Bull had a most surprisingly bad day at the Talladega Superspeedway.  Brian Vickers, in the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, spun and hit the wall as a result of contact with Landon Cassill, bringing out the first caution of the race.

    Teammate Kasey Kahne, in the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, got involved in the second wreck of the day, caught up in an incident started by the collision of teammates Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski. Kahne’s car burst into flames from the oil and the driver was still reeking of smoke in the infield care center before being checked out and released.

    Not Surprising: It was not just the drivers that had to dodge and weave in order to stay out of harm’s way this weekend, with tornado warnings throughout the area prior to the race. But in typical NASCAR fashion, the drivers, fans and all their families stuck together, looking out for one another and working together to ensure everyone’s safety.

    And in that spirit of camaraderie, happy Easter wishes to all, that is until the next race at Richmond, the Crown Royal 400, on April 30th.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Texas Samsung Mobile 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Texas Samsung Mobile 500

    [media-credit name=”(c) CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”279″][/media-credit]With the honors of hosting the first night race of the 2011 season, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

    Surprising:  Although Matt Kenseth was dominant for most of the race, when the checkered flag flew for him, the usually stoic driver of the No. 17 Crown Royal Black Ford for Roush Fenway Racing was surprisingly emotional.

    “After two years, I didn’t know if I’d be back here,” Kenseth said in Victory Lane. “I’ve been so blessed in my life with a beautiful family, a great team and I do what I love for a living.”

    “I haven’t had something like this for a long, long time,” Kenseth continued. “I have lost a lot of close ones at this track. It feels good to be able to close it out.”

    Kenseth’s win ended a 76-race drought dating back to his win on February 22, 2009 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. This was Kenseth’s 19th career win.

    Not Surprising:  From his 29th starting position, it was not surprising that Kevin Harvick just could not continue his consecutive win streak this weekend at Texas.  The driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet was entangled in a pit road problem early in the race from which he never recovered, finishing 20th.

    “Our first two pits stops pretty much ruined our day,” Harvick said. “The 00 and 20 wrecked in front of us trying to leave pit road, so we had to stop, back up and move around them.”

    Surprising: Speaking of those pit road incidents, it was surprising just how influential pit road problems were during this race. On the first stop with everyone in the pits, it looked more like bumper cars than the usually smoothly choreographed tire changes and refueling.

    Both David Reutimann and Joey Logano sustained damage on pit road due to collisions and Dave Blaney got his No. 36 Accell Construction Chevrolet completely turned in the wrong direction due to a spin into his pit stall.

    One of the costliest pit road problems, however, was the too fast entering speeding penalty that was assessed to Tony Stewart late in the race.

    “Sorry, I knew I did it,” Stewart told his crew after being advised of the penalty on lap 276 of the race. Prior to the penalty, Stewart had overcome a collision in the pits at lap 11 to lead twice in the race for a total of 12 laps.

    “You know, it took almost the whole race to crack the top-10, so to be in the position we were in there at the end, I guess is a good thing,” Stewart said. “But when you’re in that position and you can’t capitalize, it’s pretty frustrating. Speeding on pit road didn’t exactly help the cause either.”

    Not Surprising:  Just as in the Nationwide race, the race was relatively clean and green. The only major crash again involved Martin Truex, Jr., who for the second week in a row hit the wall hard. This time instead of Kasey Kahne buffering his hit as at Martinsville, Truex, Jr. took innocent bystanders Mark Martin and Regan Smith with him for a wild TMS ride.

    “I’m OK,” Mark Martin, driver of the No. GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, said. “I didn’t see the pile up in front of us. Just racing.”

    “Unfortunate deal for the NAPA Toyota,” Truex, Jr. said. “We were struggling but we were running our butts off.  Once you make mistakes and you get desperate, you just get yourself in trouble.  It sucks having this two weeks in a row.”

    Surprising: Texas Motor Speedway may just be the surprising turning point for young Roush Fenway driver David Ragan. After qualifying well and being in position to even win in several of the past races, Ragan, who started the Samsung Mobile 500 from the pole position, finally got a good finish.

    Ragan brought his No. 6 UPS Freight Ford to the checkered flag in the seventh position. His top-ten finish also moved him up to 17th in the point standings.

    Not Surprising:  Just as the Fords were strong all day at Texas Motor Speedway, claiming five of the ten finishing spots, Carl Edwards in his No. 99 Scotts Ford proved his ‘Iron Man’ status yet again.

    Edwards overcame stomach problems to finish in the third position and claim the points lead in the process. The driver blamed his physical ailments on a new rice and bean dish that his mother had cooked for him prior to the race.

    “I’m all hopped up on Pepto Bismol,” Edwards said in the media center after the race. “I hate to throw my mom under the bus but she cooked something last night that I don’t think was too good.”

    Surprising:  Behind the wheel of the No. 9 Stanley Ford, Marcos Ambrose had one of his best oval track efforts in his career, finishing sixth. This was the second top-ten finish on a mile and a half track this season for the Richard Petty Motorsports ace from down under.

    “I’m very proud of the Stanley boys for putting together this result,” Ambrose said. “We’re starting to really click on these intermediate ovals. It’s great to be running out in the front of the pack and it gives us a lot of confidence moving forward,”

    Not Surprising: Dale Jr. had yet another consistent run and finish. The driver of the No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet gained the most positions in the race and finished in seventh.

    Most impressive is his continuing climb in the point standings, this time gaining another two positions to claim the sixth spot as a result of his top-ten finish. Junior is no doubt looking forward to next weekend’s race at Talladega Super Speedway, where he is not only wildly popular but also has outstanding plate racing skills.

  • 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.

  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the Pole for Scott’s EZ Seed 300

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the Pole for Scott’s EZ Seed 300

    Carl Edward’s jumped to the provisional pole as he went out 22nd qualifying for Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race with a speed of 125.052 mph. But the idea of Edwards grabbing both poles was short lived.

    [media-credit name=”Joe Dunn” align=”alignright” width=”106″][/media-credit]Two cars later, Edwards’ teammate Trevor Bayne pushed Carl to the outside as he posted a lap of 125.461 mph, .050 seconds faster. A few spots later, it was Jason Leffler hitting the top spot with a speed of 125.939, but the very next car out would be Edwards’ and Bayne’s teammate Stenhouse Jr. who took the top spot for the day with a speed of 126.071 mph. This will be Stenhouse Jr’s second pole of his career, the first one coming at Iowa in 2009. This will be his third top 10 start in 2011 and his third race at Bristol.

    When the qualifying session was complete, Edwards was bumped back to 7th. Start on the outside of the front row will be Leffler, followed by last year’s winner Justin Allgaier, Bayne, and Kyle Busch starting 5th. Rounding out the top 10 will be Elliott Sadler, Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne and Joey Logano.

    Only one car will miss the race, Chris Lawson who crashed during his qualifying run. It should also be noted that these cars did qualify on the tires from yesterday as they had no practice on the new tires.

  • Lap by Lap: Too Tough To Tame 200 won by Kasey Kahne

    Lap by Lap: Too Tough To Tame 200 won by Kasey Kahne

    Rookie Cole Whitt took the pole for the Too Tough To Tame 200 with a new track record, followed by Kasey Kahne, Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton and Austin Dillon.
    Chad McCumbee, Chris Fontaine and Chris Lafferty were the trucks that did not make the field.

    “Turn 1 racing just brought this awesome truck, I want to keep this red bull truck at the front and keep it there. These guys built an awesome truck….We’ve come back a long ways since missing the race at Daytona. I’m proud of this team.” – Cole Whitt, pole sitter

    [media-credit name=”NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”240″][/media-credit]Crafton leads Clay Rogers by 1 point in the points standings, followed by Witt and Sauter

    “Charlotte was special, but Darlington would be bigger. So much history here, so hard to win, it’d be awesome to win here.” – Matt Crafton

    Cole Whitt leads the field to the green

    Caution lap 1 Paludo, Papis and Kravil all spin as people slow in front

    Restart on lap 4

    Lap 5 – Cole Whitt leads Kahne, Timothy Peters, Crafton and Ron Hornaday

    Lap 7 – Chase Mattioli spins, no caution

    Lap 14 Caution – Brad Sweet hits the wall. He had issues in qualifying as he spun on his second lap. Norm Benning gets the lucky dog.

    Restart Lap 19

    Lap 21 – Whitt Kahne Buescher Sauter Hornaday Crafton Sadler Peters Dillon Kligermann

    Lap 25 – Whitt Kahne Buescher Hornaday Sauter Sadler Crafton Peters Dillon Bodine

    Caution Lap 26 Brendan Guaghan goes for a spin
    PIT STOPS
    Lots of people are saying the visibility are terrible as some take two tires, some take four tires.�
    Race off pit road: Sadler, Dillon, Busch, Buescher, Hornaday, Kligermann, Bodine and Peters. Leader Cole Whitt had a long pit stop as his team had lug nut issues.

    Restart lap 30

    Caution lap 35 Dustin Johnson plows the wall after getting loose underneath Jeffrey Earnhardt.

    Restart Lap 40 – Sadler leads

    Lap 41 Kahne to the lead, Sadler drops back to fourth with Buescher second and Dillon third. Sadler says he got a bad start, thanks to his teammate Ron Hornaday getting up under him

    Lap 50 – Kahne Buescher Sadler Bodine Hornaday Dillon Sauter Peters Whitt Carmichael

    Lap 53 – Chase Mattiolli into the wall again – no caution

    Lap 54 – Sauter and Peters have both passed Dillon, putting Dillon back to eighth. Dillon says the truck is tight and then loose late in the corner. Dillon only took two tires while most of the leaders took four. Sadler was the other one with two tires.

    Lap 58 – Caution for debris

    Restart Lap 62 Cole Whitt leads the field to the green after taking two tires

    Lap 63 – Kasey Kahne takes the lead from Cole Whitt in turn 1

    Lap 64 – James Buescher to the lead

    Lap 69 – Pole Sitter Cole Whitt drops through the field with his two tires – now back to seventh

    Lap 70 – Kahne back to the lead.

    Lap 72 – Kahne Buescher Bodine Hornaday Sauter Dillon Sadler Crafton Peters and Whitt

    Lap 74 Caution – Nelson Piquet Jr into the wall, Joey Coulter and Jason White wreck behind them. Looks as though Piquet had a flat tire, which caused him to get into the wall. Coulter and White looked to try to slow behind them, both getting hit from behind and then hitting near the inside wall.

    “Just somebody spun out in front of us and with the sun going over the wall, it got hard to see and I just got run into from behind. I’m sure it was nobody’s fault, just a blind spot on the track. It was just starting to get fun as I was just starting to learn this place.” – Joey Coulter

    David Starr gets the Lucky Dog

    Restart lap 79

    Lap 82 – Kahne Hornaday Bodine Buescher Sauter Dillon Crafton Sadler Peters Gaughan

    Lap 87 – Pole Sitter and Rookie Cole Whitt has dropped a cylinder

    Lap 88 Caution – Chase Mattoilli into the wall for the third time

    Sadler first off pit road with two tires while most take four tires. Crafton had to come back down pit road as he had a loose lugnut. Johanna Long gets the lucky dog.

    Restart lap 96 with Sadler leading, though Kahne gets the lead from him before the end of the lap.

    Caution Lap 97 – Ricky Carmichael wrecks as Nelson Piquet Jr. and Johanna Long wreck behind him. Carmichael wrecked first and then behind him, Piquet and Long made contact, which cut both their tires. Piquet went up into the outside wall while Long plowed into Carmichael as she couldn’t steer the truck around him. There was a sevne-minute red flag to clean up the wreck.

    “Yeah, I’m alright. We were fast in race trim all day long. Coming from behind, we qualified horrible – you put yourself in a hole and we never got caught up from there. Finally I think I know what I am doing and having to come from behind makes it tough.” Carmichael, who said he either got loose or someone hit him.

    Max Papis gets the lucky dog

    “We had a really good truck and we finally got our lap back. Our team worked hard on the truck and hopefully we can get the truck fixed for Nashville as sponsorship is low…..I think another truck hit the wall and I think I hit him as he came down a little bit.” Johanna Long

    Restart 45 to go

    43 to go Tayler Malsam down pit road for unscheduled stop. He was slow down the backstretch. He said on twitter that they blew the motor.

    41 to go Joey Coulter brings truck back on track to make laps after earlier incident.

    39 to go Cole Whitt must have fixed motor issue on pit road as he has moved his way back up to 11th. The problem he was having was the throttle stop.

    33 to go Kahne leads followed by Hornaday, Bodine, Sadler and Peters

    29 to go Caution for Debris as some of the leaders pit while most stay out, including leader Kasey Kahne. The record for cautions is 10, which was set in 2004 when Kahne won then.

    Restart with 25 to go

    24 to go Todd Bodine passes Ron Hornaday for second

    22 to go Kahne Bodine Hornaday Buescher Whitt Sadler Dillon Crafton Goess and Sauter make up the top 10.

    21 to go Crafton passes Dillon for seventh

    19 to go Sauter passes Goess for ninth
    Kahne Bodine Hornaday Buescher Whitt Crafton Sadler Dillon Sauter and Goess

    17 to go Peters passes Goess for 10th. Peters took four tires under the previous caution while most of the leaders stayed out.

    11 to go Crafton has passed Sadler for sixth

    9 to go Kahne Bodine Hornaday Buescher Whitt Crafton Sadler Dillon Sauter and Peters

    8 to go Ron Hornaday reported a bad vibration a couple of laps ago.
    CAUTION 8 to go as Jeffrey Earnhardt makes contact with the outside wall – This ties the record for the most cautions in a Camping World Truck Series race at Darlington at 10. The record was set in 2004 when Kahne won.

    “That’s our last chance right here. He’s got a little vibration. We’ve overcome some adversity as we had to go to the back after that wreck at the beginning. I just want to thank the guys at the shop as we’ve had to overcome a lot of adversity. We’ll take a shot at the 18 truck this start.” – Todd Bodine’s crew chief Mike Hilman Jr.

    Bodine says his right front tire feels like its bouncing up the track.
    “We’ll see what we got for him. The main thing is we got to get to that checkered flag…..Espically on these old tires, it’s really easy to spin the tires and that’s where the difference comes in. If you don’t spin them and he does, then you got him down there. If I don’t make any mistakes, which I’ve been known to make, then we’ll be in good shape.” – Todd Bodine

    “Yeah, it just seems that helps in one and two and down the backstretch.” – Kasey Kahne on choosing the outside lane.
    “We just got to get through the gears and get out there…..We’ll see what we can do as these guys at Kyle Busch Motorsports build awesome trucks.” – Kasey Kahne
    Kyle Busch is watching from Cancun, Mexico while on vacation, and is watching it in Spanish, despite not being able to understand a thing.

    Restart with 4 to go

    3 to go Dillon falls back through the field as he gets loose, Bodine gets loose and falls back, allowing Hornaday to pass him

    2 to go Kahne starts to stretch out his lead

    Checkered Flag: Kasey Kahne wins the Too Tough To Tame 200. In his four truck starts, he has three wins a second place finish.

    Ron Hornaday finished second, followed by Todd Bodine, Matt Crafton, and James Buescher rounding out the top five. Peters was sixth, followed by Sadler, Whitt, Sauter and Starr.

    “I mean, I came into this weekend wanting to win as that was the plan. This is a tough series to win in and on the restart with Todd, he drove me all the way up to the wall and I think he got himself loose there. I want to thank Kyle Busch for letting me drive this truck and all of Kyle Busch Motorsports for working so hard on this truck. Eric Phillips was great to work with…..I will buy them vacationing time to drive this truck, again.” – Kasey Kahne

    “I owe everything to Jeff Hensley and this entire team working so hard on this truck. I got into the wall in practice causing them to work harder and then got into somebody on pit road. Your brother (Elliott Sadler) spun his tires and I got into the back of him. Kahne was pretty tough; we got to figure out what he does.”

    “Kasey was going to be tough and we both spun the heck out of tires. I drove into one and about wrecked. These trucks are so aerodependent as I don’t know how I didn’t wreck with that truck on my tail. Ron did what any veteran would do and legged back there. I am loving the Truck Series. We didn’t want third, second would’ve been better but we’re back.” – Todd Bodine

    “We had a problem on pit road and to come from shotgun where we were with 46 to go to here is pretty good.” – Matt Crafton

    Crafton leads Whitt by 6 points in the standings, followed by Peters, Rogers and Sauter.

    FINISHING ORDER
    1 Kasey Kahne

    2 Ron Hornaday Jr.

    3 Todd Bodine

    4 Matt Crafton

    5 James Buescher

    6 Timothy Peters

    7 Elliott Sadler

    8 Cole Whitt

    9 Johnny Sauter

    10 David Starr

    11 Clay Rogers

    12 Shane Sieg

    13 Justin Lofton

    14 Parker Kligerman

    15 Austin Dillon

    16 Ryan Sieg

    17 Travis Kvapil

    18 Max Papis

    19 Craig Goess

    20 Jeffrey Earnhardt

    21 Dusty Davis

    22 T.J. Bell

    23 Jamie Dick

    24 Justin Marks

    25 Brendan Gaughan

    26 Norm Benning

    27 Miguel Paludo

    28 Joey Coulter

    29 Tayler Malsam

    30 Ricky Carmichael

    31 Johanna Long

    32 Nelson Piquet

    33 Jason White

    34 Chase Mattioli

    35 Justin Johnson

    36 Brad Sweet