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Tag: Ricky Stenhouse Jr

  • Stenhouse Jr. To Compete Full Time In Sprint Cup In 2013

    Stenhouse Jr. To Compete Full Time In Sprint Cup In 2013

    [media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”215″][/media-credit]Concord, NC- Ricky Stenhouse Jr, the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion, will take over the No. 17 Ford in the Sprint Cup Series beginning in 2013. Matt Kenseth and Roush Fenway Racing will part ways at the end of the 2012 season.

    “Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has more than proved his abilities on the race track,” said team co-owner Jack Roush. “We feel that he is not only a key piece of our team’s future, but a key piece of the future of the sport. Roush Fenway is an organization with a wonderful past and present, as well as an extremely promising future, and I can’t think of a better candidate than Ricky to usher in the next era of success for the team.

    “Of course, I’d like to thank Matt Kenseth for his many years of loyal service,” added Roush. “Matt has been an integral part of this organization for well over a decade, and we are extremely appreciative of his accomplishments and contributions to the team, and will always consider him a part of the Roush Fenway family.

    “We’re fortunate that we were able to tap into Matt’s potential and bring him on board many years ago, and I’m proud that together we were able to combine the tools and the resources of Roush Fenway with his talent and determination to forge a partnership that yielded a championship at the Cup level and all of his 22 Cup victories, including two Daytona 500 wins,” continued Roush. “The No. 17 is positioned extremely well this season, and I’m committed to providing the team the best resources to continue their run for the 2012 championship. I have no doubt that Matt will do his part.”

    Roush- Fenway Racing currently has three drivers in their development program. Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Trevor Bayne, 2011 Daytona 500 winner, and Chrris Buescher, ARCA driver who has won seven races in 42 starts. Buescher is also being trained for a future in Sprint Cup with Roush Fenway.

  • Logano Puts on Monstrous Nationwide Show; Stenhouse Jr. Wrecks Out of Points Lead

    [media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”223″][/media-credit]Joey Logano put a whipping on the Monster Mile, dominating most of the race and leading laps to score his first Nationwide win ever at the Dover track, as well as the coveted Miles the Monster trophy.

    Although strong throughout much of the race, Logano pitted under caution and had to battle back against teammate Ryan Truex in the last twenty laps to score the checkered flag.

    “I was frustrated as soon as the caution came out and we lost our track position,” Logano said. “Once we got to second and he (Truex) got caught in lapped traffic, I was able to pass cars, take the lead and get the win.”

    “When you lead it, think you gave it away, and then get the win, it’s good.”

    “It’s been four or five years and I have never gotten a win here,” Logano said. “It’s the coolest trophy you can win. It’s awesome to finally get it.”

    The driver of the No. 18 Dollar General Toyota led the parade of Joe Gibbs Racing drivers with teammates Ryan Truex and Brian Scott in second and third respectively.

    Although Truex gave a very gutsy performance to finish second, especially after just having had surgery for appendicitis, he was not a happy camper.

    He was particularly upset with lapped traffic, which slowed his run and allowed Logano to pass him.

    “I’m not happy,” the driver of the No. 20 Grime Boss Toyota said. “It’s second and I’m not happy with it.”

    “We had a winning car,” Truex said. “I hate to blame it on someone else, but it’s just stupid.”

    “I probably could have picked a better lane around them,” Truex said of the lapped traffic. “It’s just frustrating.”

    “I wish I could have got a win,” Truex said. “It was too close to come in second.”

    As unhappy as Truex was, the third member of the Joe Gibbs Racing triumvirate, Brian Scott was most pleased with his third place finish. Scott did admit, however, that he probably could learn some lessons from his younger teammates.

    “We had a really good Dollar General Toyota all day,” Scott said. “This one’s for JGR with a one, two, three finish.”

    “It’s fun to be up there and racing our teammates for the win,” Scott continued. “I’m a young kid myself at 24, but Ryan and Joey, who are younger than me, can show me a few things.”

    “Really happy to bring back a top-5 finish after all we’ve been through this year,” Scott said. “Hopefully, it’s a huge confidence booster for the team.”

    Kurt Busch, in the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports, finished fourth and Justin Allgaier, in the No. 31 Brandt Chevrolet, rounded out the top five. These two drivers, however, were none too happy with one other, having some words after the race on pit road.

    “We just agreed to disagree on a few things at the race track,” Allgaier said of the incident with Busch. “Great day for the Brandt Chevrolet.”

    “Glad we finished in the top-five; that was the first one for us this season,” Allgaier continued. “It was definitely a good day.”

    Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 American Ethanol/New Holland Chevrolet, was the highest finishing rookie, scoring the sixth spot.

    “It was a good run,” Dillon said. “We made sure our car was good for the race and it was.”

    “It was just way too tight in traffic,” Dillon continued. “We didn’t have the car to get up there like Joey did.”

    Troubles abounded, however, for points leader Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. when he lost control of the No. 6 Cargill Beef Ford Mustang and hit the wall hard on lap 27. The young driver took full responsibility for the wreck.

    “I just lost it,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “I wasn’t up on the wheel and just kind of riding around until that competition caution and just got behind on the steering.”

    “It was driver error, totally my fault,” Stenhouse continued. “We will have to go back take a weekend off and get ‘em at Michigan.”

    Stenhouse, Jr. was able to get back out onto the track but his car looked more like a modified car than a Nationwide car. He finished a disappointing 32nd and fell to second in the point standings, twelve behind Elliott Sadler.

    Yet in spite of being the new points leader, Elliott Sadler was also not amongst the happy camper drivers as far as his finish.

    “Our run today was not what we were looking for,” Sadler said. “To finish seventh is kind of disappointing.”

    “We had to fight back from a lucky dog but definitely not the day we wanted at Dover,” Sadler said. “We have homework to do before we come back in the fall.”

    “We are the points leader and we’re very happy to be back in the points race,” Sadler continued. “But we know as a team that the 6 car is going to run good every week and is not going to have problems every week.”

    “But it does feel good to be back in the middle of this thing,” Sadler said. “As a team, we just have to keep fighting and keep improving.”

    Unofficial Race Results
    5-hour Energy 200, Dover International Speedway
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=12
    =========================================
    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
    =========================================
    1 2 18 Joey Logano Toyota 0
    2 1 20 Ryan Truex Toyota 43
    3 5 11 Brian Scott Toyota 41
    4 9 54 Kurt Busch Toyota 0
    5 7 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 40
    6 11 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 38
    7 6 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 37
    8 3 33 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 0
    9 14 30 James Buescher Chevrolet 0
    10 15 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 34
    11 23 43 Michael Annett Ford 33
    12 12 22 Parker Kligerman Dodge 0
    13 10 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 31
    14 19 88 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 30
    15 30 81 Jason Bowles * Toyota 29
    16 20 19 Tayler Malsam Toyota 28
    17 28 14 Jeff Green Toyota 27
    18 27 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 26
    19 21 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 25
    20 13 199 John Wes Townley Toyota 0
    21 34 23 Jamie Dick Chevrolet 23
    22 18 39 Josh Richards Ford 22
    23 22 38 Brad Sweet * Chevrolet 21
    24 32 50 T.J. Bell Chevrolet 20
    25 – 4 Brad Teague Chevrolet 19
    26 36 52 Joey Gase * Chevrolet 18
    27 29 40 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 17
    28 – 124 Tim Bainey Jr. Chevrolet 0
    29 35 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 15
    30 17 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 14
    31 26 41 Timmy Hill Ford 0
    32 4 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 12
    33 8 44 Mike Bliss Toyota 11
    34 – 174 Mike Harmon Chevrolet 10
    35 37 171 Matt Carter Chevrolet 9
    36 – 175 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 0
    37 24 42 Josh Wise Chevrolet 0
    38 16 47 Scott Speed Chevrolet 0
    39 25 10 Kevin Lepage Toyota 5
    40 31 108 Tim Andrews Ford 4
    41 – 15 Blake Koch Chevrolet 3
    42 33 46 Matt DiBenedetto Chevrolet 0
    43 – – – – 0

  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Passionate About Racing, Points Battling and Singing

    [media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”234″][/media-credit]Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has many passions, from sporting his Nationwide championship belt buckle from last year to racing hard in his No. 6 Cargill Beef Ford against the likes of Elliott Sadler and Austin Dillon for the points lead in this year’s Nationwide season.

    But who knew that he had another secret passion?

    “I really like to sing,” Stenhouse said. “I sing a lot, but I’m not really good at it.”

    “I like country music,” Stenhouse continued. “I know a lot of lyrics but I can’t get them to come out the right way.”

    “I karaoke to myself in the cars, but not on the stage or in front of anybody.”

    Unfortunately, the young Roush Fenway Racing superstar did not have much to sing about after last weekend’s race in Charlotte. He finished the History 300 in the 26th position after suffering mechanical problems.

    “You’ll have those bad races,” Stenhouse said philosophically. “We started out the season with a bad race at Daytona and then we had nine good races after that, with the worst finish being sixth.”

    “We kind of had a stumble last week,” Stenhouse continued. “Charlotte, I feel like normally I would be disappointed and look at the bad things that happened.”

    “But I feel like we got to look at the positives, in that we were really fast and we were able to learn some stuff when we got back out,” Stenhouse said. “Our guys changed a transmission and drive shaft in twenty green flag laps.”

    “So, all in all, there were a lot of things that were really good about our day and one little bad thing in that we didn’t get the result that we felt we could have.”

    Stenhouse also credits his ability to put things behind him as a major saving grace in the midst of his racing passion. Although he admitted that he does give himself just a little bit of time to brood after a bad session.

    “You put it behind you and go on,” Stenhouse said. “You have to take one race at a time, especially because it is a long season.”

    “The way I generally look at things is that I reflect on it for a day and then move on,” Stenhouse continued. “So, Sunday, I thought about it and Monday I was thinking about Dover.”

    Stenhouse Jr. is also pretty passionate about points racing, especially since it is with his nemesis Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet. He currently has a 13 point advantage over Sadler in the point standings.

    “We always want to outrun him,” Stenhouse said of Sadler. “We want to be the highest finishing Nationwide guy each week.”

    “We want to win every week and beat all the Cup guys,” Stenhouse continued. “We’ve done it this year at the companion races and that always feels a little better.”

    “We’re focused on beating everybody, not just the 2 though,” Stenhouse said. “Like I said, when we race, we’re both going to be right there.”

    Stenhouse Jr. also acknowledged that he might not just be racing the No. 2 car exclusively for the championship. One other challenger may well be Austin Dillon, in the No. 3 American Ethanol/New Holland Chevrolet, racing for his grandfather on the Richard Childress team.

    “He’s definitely there every week, running really strong and really consistent, like we knew he would,” Stenhouse said of Dillon. “He’s really good and has a lot of seat time and has run a lot of these race tracks.”

    “He’s in really good equipment and has someone to learn from like Elliott,” Stenhouse continued. “I think he’s going to be there all year.”

    “Right now, everybody’s talking about Elliott and me but Austin is not that far out,” Stenhouse said. “One bad race for us or for Elliot and I and he is right there in it.”

    “It will be a tough battle all year.”

    Stenhouse Jr. will next unleash his racing and points battling passion on the Monster Mile, a track where he has not quite had the finishes that he would have liked.

    “Dover’s been good to us but we haven’t been the best,” Stenhouse said. “We’ve been really fast in practice but kind of missed it in the race.”

    “We’ve had some good luck and finished in the top-five,” Stenhouse continued. “This race last year, we were probably an eighth place car and finished fourth after the wreck coming to the front straightaway.”

    “There’s things we need to do to get better,” Stenhouse said. “It’s a fun race track and I really enjoy it.”

    “There’s  a lot of things you can do like move your car around or change your line on the race track to improve your car,” Stenhouse continued. “We’ve led laps here, just not at the right time.”

    Stenhouse Jr. is not, however, as passionate about racing on the concrete. But he also realizes that everything that challenges him at the Monster Mile affect the other drivers as well.

    “We’ve struggled a little bit on the concrete,” Stenhouse said. “We’ve been decent at Bristol and at Dover, but just haven’t been really, really great.”

    “The concrete creates some challenges as far as the seams and the expansion joints so it gets a little rough,” Stenhouse continued. “But I like tracks that are a little rough that makes it fun and really challenging.”

    “The way I look at it is that it’s the same race track for everybody so it really doesn’t matter,” Stenhouse said. “If it’s a problem for one, it’s a problem for everybody.”

    Stenhouse’s final passion was fulfilled prior to his ever setting foot on the track at Dover. He got to participate in the local golf tournament raising money for autism awareness.

    “I don’t have any family members or anything like that with autism but I was able to play in the Drive for Autism golf tournament and had a lot of fun doing it,” Stenhouse said. “It was my first time there and to meet all the kids and to try to find a cure, it was really cool to be a part of it.”

    “It was a great atmosphere and I won’t miss it ever again.”

     

  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr. continues to improve and impress

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. continues to improve and impress

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”227″][/media-credit]In a sport that’s constantly changing, one thing’s starting to remain the same. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is dominating the Nationwide Series.

    The defending champion and current point leader has been setting the pace early in the season. Picking up where he left off in 2011 and had it not been for a last lap crash in Daytona while racing for the win, Stenhouse might be even further ahead.

    Before Saturday’s History 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway he was sitting pretty with nine top 10 finishes in 10 races. In the last nine races Stenhouse hadn’t finished outside the top six.

    It’s what’s helped him storm into victory lane three times, including his third consecutive at Iowa to remain undefeated, quickly quieting the talks of Elliott Sadler’s hot start and championship hopes. If anyone wants to win races and the big trophy, they’ll have to go through the Mississippi native.

    What an incredible rise for Stenhouse, whose story has been well documented. In the car, crashing the car, out of the car and then boom, it suddenly clicked. Once back in the car it was as if a different driver was behind the wheel.

    A 16th place point finish in 2010 and Rookie of the Year honors to winner and champion the following year. Now he’s looking to become the first driver since Martin Truex Jr. in 2004-2005 to win back-to-back titles.

    As the season continues to progress, Stenhouse continues to improve. He’s constantly thinking and thinking like a veteran, wondering how the team could get better. While leading two weeks ago in Iowa he seemed to be upset when telling crew chief Mike Kelley that something had to be done about the grille opening.

    His No. 6 Ford Fusion was running hot even in clean air. However, Kelley said that Stenhouse had what he had and they’d have to deal with. No, said a calm Stenhouse, for future reference to be worked on back at the shop.

    Team owner Jack Roush has long made smart decisions for his company. It’s why he’s won so many races and championships across the three national series. But pairing Stenhouse with the veteran Kelley will prove to be one of his best.

    Kelley has an impressive resume of his own, working with many different Roush drivers and finding victory lane with a few of them. He’s the perfect fit for the young Stenhouse, who never fails to mention how he keeps him calm, cool and collected.

    Reining him back in when he gets too far ahead of himself, refocusing him on what needs his attention. Every driver needs that voice in their ear, the person who knows exactly what to say and when to say. Stenhouse has plenty of that on his team, from spotter Mike Calinoff high atop the roof, who continues to coach him every week to Kelley, making the calls atop the pit box.

    The belief and confidence they have in each other has become a major part in their success. When Kelley sings Stenhouse’s praises and how he’ll become a superstar in the sport, he genuinely believes in his driver.

    The longer the two are together the more they’ll accomplish. There’s plenty of racing left in 2012, yet it’s never too early to start talking about the future. Stenhouse’s will be bright and regardless if he wins his second NNS title this season, a case could be made that he should be going Cup race next season.

    Of course sponsorship will determine his plans. It almost kept Stenhouse from defending his NNS title this year but Roush stayed committed to getting him on track. Now he needs to find a way to not only keep him with his organization but keep him racing and moving forward.

    The worst thing would be for Stenhouse to stall out and not climb up the ladder, as he should be. Clearly talented enough to win it’s a shame that a company hasn’t come along and attached themselves to Stenhouse for the long haul.

    Bass Pro Shops has done so with Austin Dillon and OneMain Financial has to Elliott Sadler. And if there is ever such a thing as the complete package or a sponsors dream, wouldn’t Stenhouse fit that bill?

    Winner? Becoming a regular occurrence. Champion? Didn’t take long to knock that off the list. Decent reputation? So far so good, he hasn’t gotten into a fight with anyone or become famous for his radio highlights.

    And Stenhouse continues to soar in popularity with the fans and there are no tougher critics than the fans. But Stenhouse has a lot of support.

    It could be because he’s the ultimate success story or the fact that he can go toe-to-toe with the Sprint Cup drivers. Either way Stenhouse lets everyone know that he’s a contender on a weekly basis.

    Just further proof of how far Stenhouse has already come. When things started to go wrong in the past, he openly admitted to letting it bother him during the race and how he would be unable to let it go. Refocusing and earning finishes they were capable of became difficult.

    Now though, Stenhouse uses every opportunity to learn, filing information away for later. Thinking smarter, acting smarter and becoming a dangerous threat. Pushing the car to its limit but never crossing the line. Battling back to win even when he felt the car wasn’t good enough or needed too many adjustments.

    Kurt Busch, 2004 NSCS champion, said after Iowa that Stenhouse was getting really good. Many others have echoed the same sentiment, most likely after Stenhouse has gotten the best of them. Mark Martin did as much early this year in Las Vegas, calling it a beat down.

    And so, Stenhouse continues to beat down those who doubted him. Those who try to dethrone him. But he’s the real deal and continues to show that he’s going to be in this sport for a while to come. This time two years ago, that didn’t seem likely or realistic for Stenhouse.

    So for all those still on the fence about him, still searching for a driver to root for or just want to see one of the little guys to succeed, no better time to start paying attention. Because Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s story is one that continues to be written and it’s one that will go down as one of the best in NASCAR history.

  • Tough day in Charlotte cuts Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s point lead by 21

    Tough day in Charlotte cuts Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s point lead by 21

    [media-credit id=38 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Just as quickly as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. entered the picture on Saturday in the History 300 at Charlotte, he left it.

    Stenhouse finished 26th in his No. 6 EcoBoost Ford after the transmission went south on lap 65. He’d qualified third and was running in the top 10 when he felt something go wrong and had to pit. The team eventually headed to the garage to fix the issue before Stenhouse was able to rejoin the race.

    “I think the U-joint between the driveshaft and the transmission broke first,” said Stenhouse afterwards. “We’re gonna have to go back and look at it. It was a new driveshaft, new everything, so it was a tough day. Our Ford EcoBoost Mustang was by a far a top five car and had a chance to win for sure, so we can take that from today and go on.

    “Our mile and a half program this year has been really strong and it was strong again here today. We went back out and tried to learn some things for our Cup guys and learn some things for us the next time we come back here. We had a really fast car there at the end, so all in all, it was obviously a tough day for points, but we’ve got to hang out hat on we were really fast.”

    Stenhouse said he began to feel a vibration in the car while under caution. But when he came down pit road he didn’t see anything and went back on track for the restart. That’s when it finally broke and TV cameras caught a piece of metal fly out from underneath his machine.

    It took the team 21 laps to repair the car to be able to send Stenhouse back out to salvage any points they could. Stenhouse had entered the day 34 points ahead of second place Elliott Sadler and on an impressive streak of not having finished outside the top six in the last nine races.

    After Saturday though, Stenhouse’s point lead sits at 13 over Sadler as he suffered his worst finish since the season opening race in Daytona. Certainly not what the team had in mind coming off their third win of the season last weekend in Iowa and driving the same car they had won with in Texas last month.

    It was a fast car, so fast that even while Stenhouse was multiple laps down he was racing amongst the leaders. That didn’t go over well with his competition, specifically Richard Childress and his driver Austin Dillon.

    As Stenhouse came up and passed Dillon the young driver shouted over the radio that if he was able to get to Stenhouse he was going to hit him. Childress agreed, saying Stenhouse would have deserved it and then used a five-letter word to describe the champion. Dillon was unable to ever get to Stenhouse’s back bumper.

    For Stenhouse though, it’s apart of racing and he has no regrets. He knew exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it at that point in the race. And while others might have said it wasn’t appropriate, Stenhouse won’t apologize for it.

    “I’m just letting them know we’re here to win,” said Stenhouse of actions. “We pulled away by more than a straightway. I was respectful of the guys – the 20 [Joey Logano] and the 30 [James Buescher] – I was respectful to them because they were battling for position there at the end.

    “I got to them and could have passed them, but I backed off and rode around. We’ve got to go out and get every lap we can and if that means running as hard as we can, we’re trying to learn, I’m not gonna just ride around.”

    He further defending himself by saying he would never put others in jeopardy and put himself in a position where someone would end up wrecked. Stenhouse was just looking to see how fast his car was and what he could do with it in traffic. Unfortunately he had to do so in that position instead of contending for the win.

    But the defending champions aren’t panicking. Their competition knew they were there Saturday and Stenhouse feels confident it will be more of the same going forward. The NNS heads to Dover next weekend where Stenhouse finished fourth last season.

    “It doesn’t at all,” said Stenhouse when asked if his outlook changes now. “We’re gonna go out to win every week. We’ve been fast at Dover every single time we’ve been there.

    “We’re going to win. That’s what we do every week and I think we’re gonna have a shot at it next weekend.”

  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Captures the Nationwide Series Pole at Darlington Raceway

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Captures the Nationwide Series Pole at Darlington Raceway

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”224″][/media-credit]Stenhouse Jr. won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 30th annual VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway on Friday afternoon.

    It’s his first pole in only three starts at Darlington Raceway and his fifth pole in 82 NASCAR Nationwide Series starts.

    Denny Hamlin will start the race in second position.  This is Hamlin’s fourth top-10 start in 2012 and his fourth top-10 start in seven races at this track.

    Austin Dillon will begin the race in third place and was the fastest qualifying rookie. It marks his ninth top-10 start in nine races this season.

    Kurt Busch and Joey Logano round out the top five starting positions, starting in fourth and fifth place respectively.

    Starting Lineup
    VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200, Darlington
    http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/qual.php?race=9
    ===========================================
    Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
    ===========================================
    1 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 173.546 28.336
    2 18 Denny Hamlin Toyota 172.784 28.461
    3 3 Austin Dillon* Chevrolet 172.65 28.483
    4 54 Kurt Busch Toyota 172.378 28.528
    5 20 Joey Logano Toyota 172.354 28.532
    6 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 171.92 28.604
    7 11 Brian Scott Toyota 171.698 28.641
    8 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 171.357 28.698
    9 38 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 170.821 28.788
    10 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 170.253 28.884
    11 33 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 170.2 28.893
    12 44 Mike Bliss Toyota 169.807 28.96
    13 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 169.725 28.974
    14 30 James Buescher Chevrolet 168.758 29.14
    15 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 168.497 29.185
    16 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 168.169 29.242
    17 136 Ryan Blaney Chevrolet 167.859 29.296
    18 50 T.J. Bell Chevrolet 167.157 29.419
    19 39 Josh Richards Ford 167.152 29.42
    20 40 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 167.066 29.435
    21 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 166.953 29.455
    22 43 Michael Annett Ford 166.653 29.508
    23 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 166.366 29.559
    24 42 Josh Wise Chevrolet 166.337 29.564
    25 199 Travis Pastrana Toyota 166.186 29.591
    26 14 Jeff Green Toyota 165.984 29.627
    27 124 Casey Roderick* Chevrolet 165.956 29.632
    28 23 Jamie Dick Chevrolet 165.95 29.633
    29 46 Chase Miller Chevrolet 165.464 29.72
    30 19 Tayler Malsam Toyota 165.448 29.723
    31 41 Timmy Hill Ford 165.32 29.746
    32 81 Jason Bowles* Toyota 165.298 29.75
    33 47 Scott Speed Chevrolet 165.264 29.756
    34 10 Tony Raines Toyota 164.965 29.81
    35 15 Blake Koch Chevrolet 164.413 29.91
    36 4 Danny Efland Chevrolet 164.391 29.914
    37 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 161.36 30.476
    38 175 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 160.339 30.67
    39 174 Mike Harmon Chevrolet 159.481 30.835
    40 88 Cole Whitt* Chevrolet 158.73 30.981
    41 52 Kevin Lepage Chevrolet 158.255 31.074
    42 108 Matt Frahm Ford 156.323 31.458
    43 70 Derrike Cope Dodge 152.158 32.319
  • Michael Annett Is Flying High Yet Under the Radar

    Michael Annett Is Flying High Yet Under the Radar

    [media-credit name=”Photo Credit: Phil Cavali” align=”alignright” width=”172″][/media-credit]At Texas Motor Speedway, Michael Annett scored his second top-10 and fifth top-15 finish in just six races with his new team, Richard Petty Motorsports. And with that good run, he officially moved up two spots to fifth in the Nationwide Series point standings.

    Yet, as high as the young driver of the No. 43 Pilot Flying J Ford Mustang is flying early in the season, he still is very much under the radar in a series dominated by the likes of veteran Elliott Sadler, reigning champ Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., up and comer Austin Dillon, and Danica Patrick.

    “To me, that’s how I’ve lived my whole life,” Annett said. “Even when I played hockey growing up, I never did anything outlandish.”

    “I was just the guy that got the job done,” Annett continued. “That’s pretty much my M.O. and how it’s been for me in my racing career.”

    Although flying under the radar so far this season, the new Richard Petty Motorsports driver has had some impressive initial success, especially with his recent run at Texas. Annett finished ninth, rebounding from running into a lapped car and taking advantage of the lights going out at the speedway.

    “We probably could have won the race if I hadn’t run into a lapped car,” Annett said. “But I loved it when the lights went out because we were overheating and getting ready to pit.”

    “So, I liked that the lights brought out the caution,” Annett continued. “The whole night was about overcoming adversity, so to come out ninth and to see the guys faces with a top ten finish, it was cool.”

    Annett also contributes his early success at Richard Petty Motorsports with the team’s affiliation with Roush Fenway Racing, particularly in light of their driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. winning last year’s Nationwide championship.

    “I think the success started with what Roush Fenway built last year with the championship and the relationship we have with them,” Annett said. “That partnership is huge.”

    “At Texas, we unloaded and we were close but we were still missing a little bit,” Annett continued. “To be able to go and talk to the No. 6 team and use some things they found, it’s just a huge advantage to us.”

    In spite of early success at Richard Petty Motorsports, the reality for Annett was that he had to make a difficult  transition rather abruptly when his former team, Rusty Wallace Racing, shut down at the end of last year due to lack of sponsorship.

    “It was definitely tough, very unfortunate and a testament to the economic times,” Annett said of the demise of his former team. “They couldn’t find a sponsor for Steven (Wallace) with 5-Hour Energy leaving.”

    “Rusty said he didn’t want to do it out of his pocket,” Annett continued. “So, the month before Daytona, they announced they were shutting down and we had to go find a place to race.”

    Fortunately for Annett his long-time sponsor, Pilot Flying J, stuck with him and gave him the opportunity to seek out another team. He was especially pleased when Richard Petty Motorsports ended up being one of the teams interested in him.

    “I’m definitely blessed to have Pilot as a partner that I’ve had since I’ve started racing,” Annett said. “That enabled me to go to other teams and when I went to Richard Petty Motorsports, it just felt right.”

    “It felt like a family, listening to Richard (Petty),” Annett continued. “He and I saw eye to eye on everything and it felt right.”

    Annett said it hit him how fortunate he was to be with Richard Petty Motorsports when he and the team went out for their first race together at Daytona in the Drive4COPD 300.

    “It’s funny,” Annett said. “It didn’t hit home to me until Daytona when Richard (Petty) was standing on one side and Dale Inman on the other side, both giving me pointers before I got into the car.”

    “And all I could think was ‘this is crazy,’ Annett said. “I’ve ridden on the plane with Richard and talked to him and the best way to put it is that I’m blessed. It’s pretty cool.”

    The other ‘cool’ discovery for this low-key driver was his new crew chief at Richard Petty Motorsports, Philippe Lopez.

    “I had no idea about Philippe Lopez before this season started,” Annett said. “His name got brought up and I didn’t know a thing about him.”

    “When I asked around, there is always somebody who doesn’t like somebody, but not one person had anything bad to say about Philippe,” Annett continued. “That’s pretty cool.”

    “From Daytona to now, there hasn’t been one mechanical problem and his confidence on the radio is huge,” Annett said. “It’s been a really good relationship.”

    After his strong run at Texas with his new crew chief and team, Annett will have another off-weekend before heading to Richmond International Raceway next weekend for the NASCAR Nationwide Series 250.

    “Richmond is one of those tracks that I’ve struggled at,” Annett said. “But each time, we go back, I get better.”

    “I think I finished 11th or 12th last time so if I crack the top-10, I know that we’ll have had a good race,” Annett continued. “At Richmond, if you get the right car, you can come out of there with a top-5 or a win.”

    Yet even with his impressive start to the season and in spite of having total upheaval in his team, the young driver is not one often mentioned in the Nationwide Series discourse.

    “I don’t mind it, but I worry more about the guys on the team because I want them to get the credit they deserve,” Annett said. “I was hoping that at Daytona when Dale Jarrett started talking about me that would be the start of things.”

    “But I’ve fallen back into my old ways of just getting my job done, under the radar,” Annett continued. “But where we finish and the results will show themselves.”

    “And if they want to talk about us, they will,” Annett said. “My guys still know I’m driving my butt off for them and they’re doing the same back to me.”

  • Elliot Sadler Wins 30th Annual FORD EcoBoost 300

    Elliot Sadler Wins 30th Annual FORD EcoBoost 300

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]60% Chance of rain?…No way. On an absolutely beautiful March day here in Bristol, Tennessee, Elliot Sadler has claimed his second victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in Thunder Valley.

    It looked like a Joe Gibbs Racing day early but a late-race call by Crew Chief Lucas Lambert that was the call of the day to score the win for the OneMain Financial team. After taking the pole earlier this morning in NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying, Joey Logano flexed his muscles early in the 300-lap stanza, leading the first 66 laps. His No. 18 Game Stop/Turtle Beach Toyota was lightning fast early, but it was Owner/Driver Kyle Busch that was able to climb through the front-runners to knock off his Sprint Cup teammate for the point position.

    Another 40 laps went by before Logano again set the pace for the Ford EcoBoost 300 when he again found the front for the second time of the day. It was all Logano for 119 laps today…the challengers, Roush Fenway’s Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. that would mix things up late in the race. Bayne found the front on lap 160 and participated in one of the best battles of the day with teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The battle for the lead lasted around 20 laps between the two teammates with Stenhouse coming up victorious for the point position on lap 224.

    It was a late-race caution that left Crew Chiefs with the biggest decisions of the day. It was Luke Lambert that made the right call to stay out with less than 30 laps to go in the Ford EcoBoost300. The majority of the leaders chose to come to Pit Road for fresh tires for the 27 lap dash to the checkered flag.  His driver, Elliott Sadler was able to hold off the likes of Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski following the race’s final restart on lap 273 of 300 to earn his second victory here at the high-banks in Thunder Valley.

    Sadler recalled his win here in 2001 by taking the same strategy today; ” He (Lambert) reminded me that I won a race here in 2001 by doing the same thing,” said Sadler. The driver of the No. 2 OneMain Financial Chevy was joined in victory lane by his parents whom had never been in attendance for one of his NASCAR victories. “Luke made a great call to stay out,” elaborated Sadler.

    Lambert was in attendance here at Bristol for Sadler’s previous win at the .533 mile short track, although he was just a Senior in High School. “I was here, and i watched it, but i was definitely a spectator,” commented Lambert. ” I do study all the history of our driver and what track we’re going to and everything else — but I was here for that one. And I was pretty young.”

    The win marks Sadler’s second of the season, and fourth straight top-10 finish this season.

    Despite having a strong car all day, Kasey Kahne took the runner-up spot to Sadler. Veteran driver and former Bristol race-winner Brad Keselowski took the third spot. Pole-sitter and lap leader Joey Logano ended up fourth with Dale Earnhardt Jr, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Justin Allgaier, Trevor Bayne, Kevin Harvick, and Ryan Truex rounding out the top 10.

    Danica Patrick brought her No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevy home two laps down to the leaders in 19th despite starting 27th here in Thunder Valley.

  • Dillon and Stenhouse Lead the ‘Young Gun’ Movement Return to NASCAR Nationwide Series

    Dillon and Stenhouse Lead the ‘Young Gun’ Movement Return to NASCAR Nationwide Series

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”227″][/media-credit]Through the past five years, there were many concerned NASCAR fans with regards to how they saw the second-tier divisions going. Concerned fans were questioning both series as they saw a lack of young drivers competing in the divisions.

    So far this year, the Nationwide Series looks to have defied the concept as seven drivers in the top 10 in points are considered ‘young guns’.

    For drivers coming into the divisions like Ty Dillon, it gives them hope for the future.

    “They kind of got away from having individual names that led that series,” Dillon says. “Now we’ve got young guys in each series that are developing their way from the trucks to the Nationwide and now to Sprint Cup. It’s really cool to see that and gives you hope as a driver making your way up the rankings. I’m glad to see more individuality in each series, so it’s really nice.”

    Currently, veteran Elliott Sadler leads the standing with a win that came at Phoenix International Raceway. However beyond his position, a group of hungry young drivers follow.

    21-year-old Austin Dillon currently sits second in points, 15 points behind Sadler. So far in the first three races of the season, he has finished fifth, fourth and seventh. This marks Dillon’s first season in the Nationwide Series after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship in 2011. Dillon got his start in racing at the age of 15 racing Banderos after seeing them run at Charlotte Motor Speedway with his brother.

    24-year-old Ricky Stenhouse Jr. currently sits third in points, 17 points behind Sadler. In the first two races of the season, he finished 19th and third while winning last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This marks Stenhouse’s third full-time season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series after winning the championship last year. He chose to stay in the Nationwide Series an extra year to therefore learn more.

    “Knowing what I want in a race car on the stock car side of it and knowing what these races take to be better throughout the whole race, and the right adjustments and just learning more about the race cars in itself,” Stenhouse says. “I can tell you everything about a sprint car, but there are so many parts on these stock cars that I’m still not 100 percent familiar with so I think to learn last year and so far in my stock car career I’ve been learning what I need for the race car to go fast. Now I want to learn the set-ups and things like being able to come into the pits and say, ‘Hey I need this’ and help the crew chief out instead of just telling him, ‘Hey I need to be tighter, fix it.’ So there are a lot of things I just want to get better at.”

    21-year-old Trevor Bayne currently sits fourth in points, 19 points behind Sadler. In the first three races of the season, he has finished 11th, seventh and fourth. This marks Bayne’s third season in the Nationwide Series after winning the Daytona 500 last season. Bayne is looking to run the full schedule to continue to gain experience, however it will depend if Roush-Fenway Racing can secure sponsorship.

    20-year-old Cole Whitt currently sits fifth in points, 22 points behind Sadler. In the first three races of the season, he has finished fourth, 13th and sixth. This mark’s Whitt’s first season in the Nationwide Series after turning heads last year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Whitt moved into the truck series last season after shocking fans by becoming the youngest USAC National Midget Champion in 2008.

    The average age of these four drivers is 21.5, so it is definitely showing proof that ‘young gun’ phase is back.

    One reason that you’re seeing the young gun phase come back is big teams are going back to taking a chance on younger drivers, rather than trying to reel in the money from big companies. Dillon drives for Richard Childress Racing, Whitt drives for JR Motorsports while both Stenhouse Jr. and Bayne drive for Roush Racing.

    Going after inexperienced, unknown drivers can present problems in finding sponsorship. Dillon was able to find sponsorship, as he has made a name for himself by being the grandson of Richard Childress. Whitt has been able to find sponsorship via having NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. as his car owner. Stenhouse has just found sponsorship for the year, while Bayne is not as lucky. Sponsors aren’t as willing to chance on a young driver as they do not have a proven background. With drivers running for big teams, it can sometimes be enough to per sway a sponsor.

    As the season goes forward, it will be interesting to watch how the young drivers do in comparison to the veterans and Sprint Cup Series drivers who dip in the series. So far the Nationwide Series-only have the upper hand as they have won the first three races of the season.

  • Smoke and Mirrors in Vegas But Mostly Just Smoke

    Smoke and Mirrors in Vegas But Mostly Just Smoke

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”180″][/media-credit]The lights, the anticipation, the atmosphere of chance, the courage to gamble, it was Vegas and it was all about Smoke and mirrors. Ok maybe just Smoke.

    The Sprint Cup race had a very exciting ending, a daring move from a skilled and popular champion to hold off the challenge from a determined fellow competitor, the race in it’s entirety was rather long and drawn out. Unless of course you were a Dale Jr fan. If you were a member of JR. Nation you were still flying high over the strength and dominance shown by the 88 early on in the race, leading the first 70 laps in a dominating fashion. But a pitstop for 4 tires when the rest of the field took 2 mired the 88 back in the field and he just couldn’t quite recover. “We’re just a little bit disappointed,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Our car was tight at the start of the race, and we were fast. But I knew before the end of the race I was going to have to free my car up.

    “I never let (crew chief) Steve (Letarte) do it. I never told him enough and gave him enough freedom, I guess, to feel like he needed to free the car up. Every time we got in traffic, our car was just really tight.”

    If you were a Jimmie Johnson fan you were more than likely not using much of the seat of your chair. Johnson whose car was lightening fast and very very consistent, started in the 43rd position and worked his way as high up as first. But he could not hold that position and finished 2nd to the current reigning Cup Champion Tony Stewart. “We had a great race car all day long. I wish we could have had this KOBALT Tools Chevrolet over in Victory Lane for the KOBALT race. But, we’ll just have to try it again next time. Great race car. To be out here in a back-up (car) and to drive from dead-last to the lead, and then finish second is pretty awesome. Hate coming up short. Glad to be on the West Coast and see all my fans. Look forward to doing it again soon,” stated Johnson.

    The man of the day was “The People’s Champion” Tony Stewart. He earned that title with moves like the three wide pass for the lead on Brad Keselowski, who had an EFI system failure on the last restart and finished 4 laps down to the field. Stewart who had only taken 2 tires was aware of the 4 tire cars behind him, “I had to go man (laughs). I knew that Matt (Kenseth) had four tires and Greg (Biffle) and those guys had better tires than we did. I knew as long as we could get to clean air we could at least hold them off for a little bit. I just didn’t know we were going to be able to hold them off for the whole run.”

    Hold them off he did to win on one of three tracks he had never won on in his 45 career victories. But perhaps the biggest sigh of relief came not from the driver but from his crew chief. Steve Addington was feeling the pressure of assuming the role of crew chief of a championship team. “I’m going to tell you, everybody has been awesome. Nobody put the pressure on me except myself. I really didn’t realize how much I’d put on myself going to work for the championship team the very next year. It’s been a lot of pressure. I think that even when Tony feels good about the car, I’m still questioning. He’s just like, Relax, dude, it’s going to be all right.”

    The new EFI system again showed itself to have a bug or two still needing to be swatted. Brad Keselowski reported via twitter that,” Just to be clear. On the last restart, the engine ran out of fuel, the fuel tank still had gas. This means, the fuel system had a problem. 2 & 22 car broke fuel pumps. Fuel pump stopped delivering fuel. Important for me, to defend my 2 team today. Great strategy & speed, we had the numbers crunched right… Just need some (work) on fuel system.”

    This is the third race with the new EFI system and there have been issues in all three races. McLaren insists their system is not to blame and that it is a matter of a lack of education. If that is truly the case, then as the creator and provider of the system is it not their responsibility to train and educate the teams on the system its short comings (all systems have short comings) and its strengths? Should they not be responsible for teaching the engineers to trouble shoot the system? Should they not be working with drivers and teaching them signs and symptoms of an impending problem so that it can be headed off before it becomes terminal?

    I understand coming into the modern world. I understand that change is essential for the survival of the sport. I understand that if we don’t take care of the planet we live on we will be trying to find down force to race on the moon. But it appears to me that McLaren brought their attitude of we can do nothing wrong with them from F1. Truth their stuff was not bullet proof over there either. Don’t misunderstand I think the system is awesome and can be made workable and easy for these teams. But the answer according to McLaren themselves lies in the education of the people using the system. It’s time now, three races in, for NASCAR to say ok we have had another problem it’s time for you to come over here and sit down and teach and train. If that doesn’t happen soon, the likelihood of a catastrophic occurrence will continue to grow.

    The other piece of this scenario is that fans watching at home were never informed of what happened to Brad Keselowski or AJ Allmendinger’s cars. We were just told they were laps down suddenly after seemingly having the cars go away. That lack of disclosure makes the picture fogged and cloudy.

    I mean we are all use to the lack of bias from the booth. The announcers have their favorites and like every other fan make sure you know it. Three times in the last 30 laps DW said that Jimmie Johnson was just going to drive by Tony Stewart when he cleared traffic because he had the best car on the track and it was a back up car. Larry McReynolds could not allow JR. Nation to share their drivers glory during the 70 laps of dominate racing by the 88, saying he was not convinced because they couldn’t put a whole race together. Mike Joy made sure we knew during the last stretch of the race that Tony Stewart had never won at Vegas even though he had a heartbreaking finish a  year ago that Jimmie Johnson had won numerous times.

    But not one time other than to comment that Keselowski’s Blue Deuce was falling through the field like a rock did they ever tell us what happened to it or what they had had to do to fix it that put him 4 laps down to the field.

    The purpose of the commentators is to inform and fill in the gaps that we can’t see or hear from home. It is not to shove their favorites and opinions down our throats. Now please note I have the greatest respect for Darrell Waltrip but he tends to speak first and see what happened or is going to happen later. McReynolds it seems would rather choke to death on a chicken bone than say anything nice about Dale Earnhardt Jr or his Steve Letarte lead 88 team. It would seem that Mike Joy feels equally as strong about Tony Stewart and the Office Depot/Mobil 1 team. This particular broadcast team seems to have forgotten that their job is not to color the race or the fans opinion of it, but instead to bring it to you from a perspective that you don’t have sitting at home.

    The race was not incredible. It was consistent. It had highs and lows. The end of the race was once again incredible. But it was the last 35 laps of the race. The first 232 laps were well unremarkable unless you are a member of Jr. Nation and then the middle 162 were unremarkable. NASCAR needs to find a way to put a whole race together. Maybe next week in Bristol that will happen.

    Congratulations to Tony Stewart, Steve Addington and all of the Stewart Haas team on their victory. Smoke showed once again why he is one of the top 5 drivers in the world today. Congratulations to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and his Roush Fenway Team on their Nationwide Series Victory. And ok for my own personal feelings here Congratulations to Joey Saldana on his victory at the World of Outlaws Napa Know How So Cal Showdown and also to Dustin Morgan and Danny Wood on their wins in the ASCS Sprint Car competition in Yuma this weekend.

    That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.