Cup - Kyle Busch Wins Inaugural Kentucky Race

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Kyle Busch held off Jimmie Johnson on a late restart to win Saturday night's Quaker State 400, the inaugural Cup race at Kentucky Speedway.

Busch dominated the event, leading a race-high 125 (of  267) laps, but had to hold off Johnson on a restart with two laps to go to take home the trophy.  The pair entered Turn One side-by-side on the restart, but Busch had the momentum in the outside lane and pulled ahead coming out of Turn Two.  Johnson then had to contend with a hard-charging David Reutimann.  Reutimann passed Johnson for second place as they came to the stripe.

It was Busch's third win of the season, tying him with Kevin Harvick for the most in the Sprint Cup Series.  It was his 22nd career Cup victory, and his 99th victory in the three national series combined.

Ryan Newman finished fourth, followed by Carl Edwards.  Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, David Ragan, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon rounded out the Top 10.  (Race results)

It's never a good sign when the big story after a race is the traffic, but the race was a snoozefest until the end and the traffic jam was the mother of all traffic jams.  

It seems that Kentucky Speedway is just another 1.5-mile cookie cutter oval where aerodynamics are king.  The bumps in the track that were supposed to add drama didn't, and the only good racing came on the restarts.  There were long stretches of green-flag runs where the field got strung out and the leader, racing in clean air, checked out.

But the traffic jam was what will be remembered for years to come.  The line of cars stretched some 20 miles down Interstate 71 and track officials ran out of places to park cars.  After many spent hours trying to get to the track, they were turned away when officials began reversing the traffic patterns to get everyone out after the race was over.  Track owner Bruton Smith estimated that 15,000-20,000 ticket holders never made it in.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. continued his free fall in the points standings for the fourth straight week.  He pitted under green late in the race and took fuel only, then blew his left front tire as he re-entered the track.  The tire shredded and destroyed his fender, bringing out a caution on Lap 254.  Clint Bowyer spun and hit the wall just a couple of laps after the restart setting up the final two-lap sprint to the checkers.

With the win, Busch jumped two spots to take the lead in the series points standings, four points ahead of Edwards.  Harvick (-10) dropped two spots to third, followed by Kurt Busch (-18), Johnson (-19), Kenseth (-22), Gordon (-72), Earnhardt (-76), Newman (-86) and Denny Hamlin (-94).  Tony Stewart is just three points behind Hamlin for the tenth spot.  Bowyer dropped out of the Top 10 and is now 16 points behind Hamlin.  Ragan holds one wildcard spot for the Chase.  Keselowski is just three points behind Joey Logano for 20th place in the standings and the other wildcard spot.

Trucks - Busch Finds a Way to Win at Kentucky

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It didn't seem like Kyle Busch had the truck to win, but, after some great late restarts and some misfortune for most of the other contenders, he cruised to victory in Thursday night's University of Northwestern Ohio 225 at Kentucky Speedway.

Busch started in the rear of the field after missing the drivers' meeting, but quickly charged toward the front, finally taking the lead for the first time on Lap 61.  He led twice for 61 laps, including the last 18.  Toward the end, his was not the fastest truck, but most of the other contenders fell by the wayside.

Polesitter Johnny Sauter passed Busch for the lead on Lap 103, but broke a rear axle while trying to leave his pit on a green-flag stop on Lap 124.  About eight laps later, Austin Dillon challenged Busch for the lead, but his hood came loose and folded back over his windshield.  He had to pit to have it cut loose.

With ten laps to go, Charlie Vest spun.  He didn't hit anything, but NASCAR finally had to throw the caution because he was blocking the entrance to pit road and couldn't get the engine restarted.  About the time the caution waved, Steve Arpin spun straight toward Vest, but he finally had it running again and moved out of the way in time to avoid the collision.

That set up a restart with five laps to go.  Busch got a great restart, but Joey Coulter did not.  He dropped back and bunched the rest of the field up.  Nelson Piquet Jr., another contender, got pushed back in the middle of a three-wide pack.  He got into the rear of the other Brazilian in the race, Miguel Paludo, and they both went hard into the wall.

That set up the green-white-checkered finish.  Again, Busch got a great jump, but Jason White did not.  Busch cruised to victory.  Parker Klingerman, Brendan Gaughan and Todd Bodine got around White to finish second, third and fourth respectively.  White came home fifth.  (Race results)

It was Busch's first win at Kentucky Speedway, his fifth Camping World Truck Series win of the season and the 29th of his career.  It was his 98th national series win, third most all-time.  The race went 152 laps, two past the scheduled distance.

Ron Hornaday made the bonehead move of the race.  After a restart on Lap 76, he was challenging Cole Whitt for fourth place.  Hornaday got loose and came up into Whitt and they both went into the wall.  That would have been the end of it if Hornaday had stayed on the brakes, but he tried to straighten out his heavily damaged truck and keep moving.  He slammed Jack Smith into the wall, then slid down the track and took out John King and Josh Richards.

The series points standings were shuffled a bit.  Sauter stayed in first, and even gained three more points on Whitt (-23).  Dillon (-25) moved up a spot to third.  James Buescher (-32) and Klingerman (-35) each moved up three spots to fourth and fifth respectively as Hornaday (-37) dropped three spots to sixth.

Cup -- Penalties for Kyle Busch

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Kyle Busch's No. 18 car failed post-race inspection at Pocono Raceway.  In the past, penalties for such violations were announced on the following Tuesday, but NASCAR moved it up a day and announced Busch's penalties Monday.

The car was about 1/16th of an inch too low on the left front, violating Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-J (any determination by NASCAR officials that race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20-12.8.1B (body height requirements - car failed to meet the minimum front car heights) of the 2011 NASCAR rule book.

Busch was docked six driver points.  Car owner Joe Gibbs was docked six owner points.  Crew chief Dave Rogers was fined $25,000.  This is the first such technical violation since NASCAR adopted a new points system at the beginning of the season.

Busch finished third in Sunday's 5-Hour Energy 500.  He remains fifth in the series points standings, now 31 points behind Carl Edwards.

Cup - Gordon Wins at Pocono

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Jeff Gordon won Sunday's 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono Raceway.  His crew was able to get him out the pits ahead of Kurt Busch under caution on Lap 156 (of 200), then increased his lead on a later green-flag stop.  Gordon beat the elder Busch to the line by 2.965 seconds.

It was Gordon's 84th career Sprint Cup victory, tying him with Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison for third on the all-time wins list.  It was his second win of the season, solidifying his chances of making the Chase as at least a wild-card entry.  This is the first time since 2007 that Gordon has won multiple times in a season.  It was his fifth victory at Pocono, tying Bill Elliott for most wins at the track.

Kyle Busch was third, but his car failed post-race inspection.  It was too low in the front end.  Penalties should be announced Tuesday.  This will be the first penalty assessed under the new points system.  Jimmie Johnson was fourth; Kevin Harvick fifth.  (Race results)

Harvick tangled with Kyle Busch very early in the race, running him very low on the track on the front straightaway on the second lap, then bumping and banging with him a few laps later.  NASCAR stepped in and reminded both teams that they still had a week of probation left after their run-in at Darlington and warned them that they were being watched.  There were no further run-ins after that.

Harvick says that Busch "knows he's got one coming.  I just wanted him to think about it.   Busch said, "It's not my fight. He's trying to turn it into one."

It was a clean race.  There were just four cautions, all for debris.  Greg Biffle had the most interesting ride.  He spun coming out of Turn Three and went sideways through some traffic, past the commitment cone marking the entrance to pit road.  He didn't hit anything so the race stayed green.  Biffle pitted for four fresh tires and got back to it.

Mechanical problems were the big story of the day.  NASCAR changed the gear ratio which necessitated more shifting, adding to teams' woes.  Series points leader Carl Edward broke a valve and spent most of the day in the garage, finishing 37th, 141 laps down.  Both Stewart-Haas Racing cars, Tony Stewart's and Ryan Newman's, lost third gear.  Marcos Ambrose, Brad Keselowski and Juan Montoya also had transmission problems.

Denny Hamlin had a strong race car.  He led a race-high 76 laps and appeared to be on his way to his fifth win at the track.  But bad luck found him again, a common theme this season.  On a caution-flag stop on Lap 156, something sheared off the valve stem on his left rear tire.  He had to come all the way back around to change it and was mired back in the field.  A part of the shredded tire got wrapped around the brake lines, leaving Hamlin without brakes late in the race.  He finished a disappointing 19th.

The top seven positions in the series points standings remained the same, but Edwards's lead over Johnson shrank by 34 points.  Johnson is just six points behind now.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. (-10), Harvick (-11), and Kyle Busch (-25) round out the Top 5.  Kurt Busch is sixth, followed by Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Stewart and Newman.  Gordon moves up two spots to eleventh, just six points behind Stewart and Newman.

The Fight or Altercation or Whatever It Was

If you're a NASCAR fan, you're probably aware that there was an altercation between Richard Childress and Kyle Busch after Saturday's Truck race. I was trying to wait to say anything about it until I knew more about what happened. Finally, it looks like some facts are coming out.

Busch, who owns his own Truck team, was racing hard for fifth position with Joey Coulter, who was driving a Childress-owned truck. Coulter won the position, finishing ahead of Busch. On the cooldown lap, Busch pulled alongside Coulter and their trucks bumped.

It may or may not have been a congratulatory tap; Busch claims it was, several stories on the incident have said that Busch was showing his displeasure but I've haven't heard anything to see how they draw that conclusion. In any case, that kind of bumping is quite common on cooldown laps.

But Childress didn't like it.  He and Busch have had several disagreements over Busch damaging RCR equipment.  There has been some history between Busch and RCR drivers, most recently at Darlington with the pit road/unattended car incident.  After Saturday's Truck race, the 65-year-old Childress put the 26-year-old Busch in a headlock and punched him three times.

NASCAR president Mike Helton gave a statement Sunday morning in which he cleared Busch of any wrongdoing:  "We've concluded that the driver of the No. 18 truck, Kyle Busch, did nothing to provoke or to cause the reactions that, in our opinion, would have violated probation.  He did nothing that would have warranted the actions of Richard Childress."

Childress was not ejected from the track, but his movements were restricted during Sunday's STP 400.  He was not allowed on pit road.  It looks like more penalties might be forthcoming.  NASCAR met with Busch, Childress, and Joe Gibbs, the owner of Busch's Cup car, then issued a harsher statement than the earlier Helton statement, including...

"Richard Childress' actions were not appropriate and fell far short of the standard we expect of owners in this sport. We have met with Childress this morning and made our position very clear to him. Further, we expect he will make it clear to all in his organization to ensure this situation does not escalate any further. We will announce our actions [in] regard [to] this incident Monday.

"Kyle Busch remains on probation with NASCAR, and we continue to watch his actions carefully. However, we have determined that Kyle's involvement in this incident does not violate his probation, and no further action is required."

Busch and RCR driver Kevin Harvick are on probation until June 15 for the incident at Darlington.

NASCAR: Talladega Results

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeNSCS:  Amp Energy Juice 500

It took a few minutes but NASCAR finally decided that Clint Bowyer was the winner of Sunday's Amp Energy 500 at Talladega.  After a review of the videos and loop data, they determined that Bowyer was just ahead of his RCR teammate Kevin Harvick when the race ended under caution.

Bowyer was in the inside lane being pushed by Juan Montoya.  Harvick was on the outside with David Reutimann glued to his back bumper.  As they came to the stripe to take the white flag, Harvick was inches ahead, but a few seconds later, when the caution came out and the field was frozen, Bowyer was just ahead of Harvick.

It was Bowyer's fourth career win, his first at a restrictor-plate race, and his second of the Chase.  Montoya finished third, followed by Reutimann and Joey Logano.  (Race results)

Bowyer and Harvick almost weren't there at the end.  On Lap 141 (of 188) Bowyer got into the rear of Marcos Ambrose in Turn Two, turning him in front of Harvick.  Both RCR cars suffered front-end damage, but were able to continue.  Harvick made a lengthy pit stop to put tape on the nose of his car.

The race was tame by Talladega standards.  There were just five cautions, and one of those was for debris.  The only accident that would come close to being a "Big One" was the wreck that brought out the final caution and ended the race a couple of miles too soon.  A. J. Allmendinger got the worst of that one.  He spun, flipped up on his side, and slammed hard (still on his side) into the inside wall.  Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Scott Speed, and David Gilliland were also involved.

On Lap 134, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who led a race-high 24 laps, tried an ill-timed bump draft on Jeff Burton.  The contact put Burton into the wall, where he collected Earnhardt, finishing both of their days.

Kyle Busch pushed his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin to the front and was in position to win, but got shuffled back at the end of the race and finished 25th.  All of the Roush Fenway Chasers -- Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, and Greg Biffle -- suffered the same fate.  They finished 16th, 17th, and 19th respectively.

Denny Hamlin's day almost became a disaster to ruin his championship hopes.  On Lap 77, while cruising around in the back of the field to stay out of trouble, he lost contact with the pack and fell out of the draft.  Running by himself, he fell behind quickly at the rate of about four seconds per lap and was eventually lapped on Lap 105.  Once he got back in the main pack, he was able to stay up near the front, and eventually got his lap back during the caution for the Bowyer-Harvick-Ambrose incident on Lap 141.

It was a three-man race for the championship coming into this race, and it's an even tighter three-man race now.  In fact, this is the closest race between the top three contenders with three races to go since the Chase format started.  Jimmie Johnson, who finished seventh, increased his lead over Denny Hamlin, who finished ninth, from six to 14 points, but Harvick is now just 38 points behind Johnson.   Jeff Gordon, who finished eighth, jumped back ahead of Kyle Busch to fourth in the standings, but he's 207 points out.  (Points standings)



NCWTS:  Mountain Dew 250

Kyle Busch beat Aric Almirola to the line to gain a controversial win in Saturday's Mountain Dew 500 at Talladega.  Busch's margin of victory was 0.002 seconds, the closest in Camping World Truck Series history and tying Ricky Craven's win over Kurt Busch in a Cup race at Darlington in 2003 for the closest win in the three national series since the introduction of electronic timing in 1993.

Johnny Sauter finished third, followed by Matt Crafton and Ricky Carmichael.  (Race results)

They came out of the final turn in a single-file line with Busch seemingly ready to just push Almirola to the victory, but Sauter went low and Busch went down to block.  Sauter gave Busch a push, then moved up high and the three crossed the line side-by-side-by-side.  That final push from Sauter got Busch out of shape and his left tires went below the yellow line, out of bounds, as he struggled to keep control.  That had Almirola's team complaining that Busch should have been disqualified.  NASCAR let it slide.

It was Busch's sixth Truck Series win of the season, his second at Talladega, and the 22nd of his career.

The Big One came on Lap 91.  Grant Enfinger bumped series-leader Todd Bodine, turning him and triggering a wild wreck that saw Ron Hornaday's truck flip several times before coming to rest on its roof.   Bodine finished 18th and took a big hit in the points standings, but still has a comfortable 216-point lead over Almirola with just three races remaining.

NASCAR: NNS -- Fontana: CampingWorld.com 300 Results

Image via WikipediaMake it an even dozen for Kyle Busch.  He picked up the victory Saturday in the Nationwide Series race at Fontana to extend the record he set last weekend for most series wins in a season to twelve.

Busch battled hard to keep the lead on the final restart then gradually pulled away from the field to win the CampingWorld.com 300, crossing the finish line 1.034 seconds ahead of Brad Keselowski.  Kevin Harvick was third, followed by Carl Edwards and Joey Logano.  (Race results)

It was Busch's fourth victory at the two-mile track and the 42nd of his career.  He is now just six wins behind Mark Martin for the Nationwide Series career win record.

Busch overcame a pit road speeding penalty on Lap 87 (of 150).  That dropped him back to 15th, but he worked his way through the field and was back in the lead on Lap 112.  This was Busch's third victory of the season after a speeding penalty.

Harvick, who led a race-high 86 laps, had a better car than Busch on the long runs, but was frustrated by slow pit stops that cost him positions.  He came into the pits with the lead on Lap 134 (of 150) but came out sixth.  Two cautions in the final 17 laps kept him from challenging Busch for the win.

Danica Patrick, starting her eighth Nationwide race and her second at Fontana, was having her best run of the season until misfortune struck again.  Just after a restart with the field still tightly packed, Patrick was running 17th, looking for her first Top 15 finish and her first lead lap finish.  She got too close to James Buescher and squeezed him into the wall.  A lap later she got close to Buescher again and he turned into her rear, turning her into the wall.  Ricky Carmichael and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also got caught up in the incident that brought out the sixth and final caution and set up the five-lap dash to the finish.  Patrick would finish 30th.

Keselowski should start clearing out a space in his trophy case.  He now leads Edwards by 384 points in the series standings with just five races to go.

NASCAR: NSCS -- Kansas: Price Chopper 400 Results

Image by fdtate via FlickrGreg Biffle cruised to victory and Jimmie Johnson took over the Chase points lead in Sunday's Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Biffle ran in the top 10 most of the day, but fought an ill-handling car.  After the team made some adjustments, he took off and finally grabbed the lead on Lap 188 (of 267).  That didn't last long; Jamie McMurray and Paul Menard opted for two tires on a yellow-flag stop and came out first and second.  Menard got past McMurray and soon had Biffle on his tail.  Biffle blew past Menard on the backstretch on Lap 207 (of 267).  He briefly relinquished the lead about 30 laps later to make a green-flag pit stop, but was back in front after the field cycled through stops and held it over the final 29 laps.

It was the Biff's 16th career win and his second of the season.  He joins Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart as the only two-time Cup winners at Kansas Speedway.  Biffle also picked up a $100,000 bonus from Ford Racing boss Jamie Allison.  On Saturday, Allison promised to pay the bonus to any Ford Chase driver -- Biffle, Carl Edwards, or Matt Kenseth -- who won one of the final eight races of the season.

Stewart, who was 162 points out of first coming into this race, declared Saturday, "I have dug myself a pretty big hole" and said he was in "go-for-broke" mode.  He was behind Biffle in second in the closing laps, but first Johnson, then Kevin Harvick battled their way past him.  While all that was going on, Biffle just extended his lead and beat Johnson to the finish line by 7.638 seconds.

The top seven finishers were all Chase drivers.  Harvick finished third, followed by Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth.  The other Chasers fought ill-handling cars and did not fare as well.  Denny Hamlin finished 12th.  Kurt Busch was 13th, Clint Bowyer 15th and Jeff Burton 18th. (Race results)

Kyle Busch finished 21st, worst of all the Chasers, after two on-track incidents with David Reutimann.  On Lap 52, Busch was running behind Reutimann coming out of Turn Two.  It looked like Reutimann got loose and lifted off the gas, and Busch got into his rear, spinning him into the wall.  On Lap 155, with Busch running in the top 10 and Reutimann several laps down, Reutimann pulled alongside Busch and slammed him up against the same wall.  Reutimann spun again from the contact, but did considerable damage to Busch's car.  Busch and crew chief Dave Rogers finally decided against taking the car to the garage, and just nursed it along the rest of the way to get what they could.

The first incident appeared accidental, though Busch might have just gotten impatient and decided to move Reutimann out of the way.  The second incident was clearly intentional.  It seems like there was already some bad blood between the two drivers.  After the Bristol night race in August, where the pair finished 1-2 with Busch winning, Busch said,

Reutimann was fast, and he was good, and I’m not going to say why I beat him because then he’ll fix it, but it has to do with behind the wheel...He wasn’t driving the place right. I’m sorry. If he fixes how to drive this place, he’d be right there with me.

Reutimann took exception on a radio show later that week, saying it was "the stupidest comment I've ever heard anybody say."

“I don’t know if [it was] the fact that his Superman cape was flying out the back when I was behind him and I couldn’t see or what the deal was. We got beat fair and square. That’s what it comes down to. We just got outrun. Professor Busch, maybe he can start a driving school at Bristol and the rest of the field can join in and go and [he can] show all of us what we’re doing wrong. I need help.”

Reutimann also hinted that he and Busch had had run-ins before.

“It all comes down to the fact that we just don’t like each other very much,” Reutimann said on the show. “It has been a while. We just don’t like each other, and we agree we don’t like each other and we’re both fine with it.”

In any case, on a day when most of the other Chase drivers were finishing high up on the leaderboard, the second incident took Busch out of contention and put a serious damper on his title hopes.

Wrestler Ric Flair was always fond of saying, "To be the man, you've got to beat the man," and Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 team showed why they're the men to beat Sunday.  The four-time champ was running 21st at the mid-point of the race, but the team kept working to make the car better and Johnson kept running them down for his second-place finish.

“Honestly, I drove 400 miles with my tongue hanging out – just sawing at the wheel trying to get everything I could. Very pleased to have walked that fine line and didn’t make any mistakes. My crew did the same. [Crew chief] Chad [Knaus] called a great race. We needed all those things to work together in order to get a good finish and we did that.”

Johnson's efforts were good enough to put him in first in the points standings, just eight points ahead of Hamlin, who slipped to second.  The standings are a lot tighter after this race with nine drivers within 101 points of the lead.  Harvick (-30) and Edwards (-53) jumped two spots to third and fourth respectively.  Gordon (-58) jumped three spots to fifth.  Kurt Busch (-70) dropped two spots to sixth.  Brother Kyle (-80) dropped four spots to seventh.  With the win, Biffle moved up one spot in the standings to eighth, but more importantly knocked 55 points off his deficit; he's now 85 points behind Johnson.  Burton (-101), Stewart (-127), Kenseth (-149) and Bowyer (-252) round out the Chase field.

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NASCAR: NNS -- Kansas: Kansas Lottery 300 Results

Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Joey Logano got by Kyle Busch on the next-to-last restart with seven laps remaining, and a big push from Brad Keselowski on the final restart helped him seal the deal in Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Kansas Speedway.

Mike Wallace was a few laps short on fuel, but seemed to be trying to stretch it to the end.  He finally thought better of it and pitted after Trevor Bayne spun off in Turn Two to bring out the seventh caution of the afternoon.  That gave the lead to Busch on the restart, but Logano got inside of him and forced him up the track.  Busch had to lift and Logano took the lead, but Aric Almirola crashed in Turns Three and Four one lap later to set up the final restart with just two laps to go.

Logano took the high line and got a big push from Brad Keselowski to stay in front of Busch and the rest of the field for the win.  It was Logano's eighth career Nationwide win, his second of the season, and his second in just three starts at Kansas.

Keselowski got by Busch off the final corner to take second.  Busch finished third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. fifth.  (Race results)

Busch, who led a race-high 64 laps, showed his displeasure with Logano's pass by bumping him in the rear after the final caution flew.

Keselowski extended his lead in the points standings to 374 points over Carl Edwards, who finished 14th.  That's an almost insurmountable lead with just six races remaining in the season.

Ricky Carmichael made his Nationwide Series debut, finishing 18th.

NASCAR: NNS -- Dover: Dover 200 Results

Image via WikipediaKyle Busch dominated Saturday's Nationwide race at Dover, the Dover 200, leading 192 of the 200 laps and picking up his eleventh series win of the season,  That broke the single season series record set by Sam Ard in 1983 and matched by Busch last season.
 
Busch is rapidly closing in on Mark Martin's all-time record for series wins.  Martin has 48; Busch's win Saturday was his 41st.

Busch beat his JGR teammate Joey Logano to the finish by four-tenths of a second.  Carl Edwards was third, followed by Reed Sorenson and Kevin Harvick.  (Race results)

Edwards cut 53 points off of Brad Keselowski's lead in the points standings, but still trails by 320 points with just seven races remaining.  Keselowski finished 17th.  Busch (-500), who has competed in just 23 of the 28 races this season, is third in the standings, followed by Justin Allgaier (-764) and Paul Menard (-817).

Danica Patrick prepared for the Monster Mile by competing in Friday's K&N Pro Series East race.  She led a few laps and finished sixth to earn her first NASCAR top-10 finish in the low level series.  But Saturday was "another character-building day".  She botched her qualifying run and started 42nd in the 43-car field, was a lap down 17 laps into the race, then blew a tire and hit the wall on Lap 71.  She went to the garage for about 90 laps to repair the damage, then returned to finish 35th, 94 laps down.

Elliott Sadler was involved in the scariest incident of the afternoon.  He spun in the middle of Turns Three and Four on Lap 136, backed into the wall and came to a stop in the middle of the track at the exit of Four. Rookie Drew Herring, who was having radio issues, didn't see him until it was too late and plowed into the front end of Elliott's car.  The race was red-flagged for almost eleven minutes to clean up the debris, but both drivers walked away.

NASCAR: Loudon Results

Image via WikipediaNSCS: the Sylvania 300

Clint Bowyer's fuel gamble paid off.  Tony Stewart's did not.

Coming out of Turn Four with the lead on Lap 299 (of 300) with the white flag in sight, Tony Stewart ran out of gas.  Clint Bowyer, who was also running on fumes, flew past him on the frontstretch and held off Denny Hamlin over the final lap to win the first race in the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sunday's Sylvania 300 at Loudon, New Hampshire.

Bowyer ran out of gas while doing his victory burnout and had to be pushed to Victory Lane by a wrecker.

Bowyer didn't back into the win.  He dominated the race, leading seven times for a race-high 177 laps, but a sputtering carburetor gave him problems on restarts, forcing him to drop back until he could get the car up to speed.

Denny Hamlin also had issues.  On Lap 214, Hamlin was rolling through Turn Four when Carl Edwards slid up the track into him causing him to spin.  That dropped Hamlin from third to 22nd, but sent him to pit road, allowing him to avoid the fuel issues of the cars that were ahead of him at the end.

Bowyer crossed the finish line 0.477 seconds ahead of Hamlin.  Jamie McMurray finished third, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Kevin Harvick struggled all day with handling problems and slow pit stops, but rallied to finish fifth.  Stewart coasted around to finish 24th, the last car on the lead lap, a swing of 94 valuable points in the championship race.  (Race results)

The win snapped an 88-race winless streak for Bowyer dating back to the May 2008 race at Richmond.  It was Bowyer's third Cup win and his second at Loudon.  His first Cup win came in the 2007 Sylvania 300.

Kurt Busch had an ill-handling car and was involved in two incidents.  On Lap 221, he got together with Jeff Burton and they both spun.  That resulted in Jimmie Johnson getting into the rear of Kyle Busch, causing those two to spin as well.  Later, on Lap 241, Kurt Busch slid up the track into Joey Logano, putting him into the wall.

Johnson later developed a vibration and had to make an unscheduled stop for tires, putting him a lap down.  He couldn't get the lap back and finished 25th, worst of the Chase drivers.

Burton ran out of gas seconds before Stewart, but got it re-fired enough to finish 15th.

Matt Kenseth struggled mid-pack all race and was spun by Brad Keselowski  .  He finished 23rd.

With one Chase race down and nine to go to crown a champion, Hamlin stretched his lead in the point standings to 35.  He now leads Bowyer, who moved up ten spots into second place.   Harvick (-45) remains in third.  After finishing ninth, Kyle Busch (-62) remains in fourth.  Jeff Gordon (-75) finished sixth and moved up three spots to fifth.  Johnson (-92) dropped five spots to seventh.  Stewart (-124) dropped five spots to eleventh.


NCWTS:  TheRaceDayRaffleSeries.com 175

Kyle Busch drove into James Buescher and the wall to win Saturday's Camping World Truck Series race at Loudon.

The race was a battle between Busch and Kevin Harvick, but Buescher snuck in there at the end and almost came away with his Truck Series win.

On Lap 166 (of 175), Harvick forced Busch up the track and Buescher dove underneath the two to take the lead.  Busch took the lead and the race on a restart on Lap 174.  Buescher restarted on the outside and led Busch into Turn One, but Busch battled ahead coming out of Turn Two.  Before he was clear, he moved up the track into Buescher's left front, then slapped the outside wall.

Busch beat Buescher to the finish by 0.280 seconds.  Harvick, who traded the lead with Busch fourteen times, finished third, followed by Matt Crafton and Austin Dillon.  (Race results)

After the race, Buescher took exception to Busch's tactics:

"He just went to the fence," Buescher said. "He wasn't clear at all. He drove like he had no truck on his outside, and he hit my left front and ended up in the wall. He just drove us dirty and got the win, and we hung in for a second-place finish."

 Todd Bodine finished ninth and has a commanding 257 point lead over Aric Almirola, who finished eighth, with just six races to go.  (Point standings)

NASCAR: Richmond - NNS: Virginia 529 College Savings 250 Results

Image by Bristol Motor Speedway & Dragway via FlickrKevin Harvick held off a hard-charging Brad Keselowski to pick up the victory in Friday night's Nationwide Series race at Richmond, the Virginia 529 College Savings 250.  It was Harvick's third Nationwide win of the year and the 37th of his career, third all time in the series.  It was Harvick's fifth Nationwide win at Richmond, tying him with Mark Martin for most series wins at the track.

It was an impressive performance by Harvick and Keselowski, the series points leader, in the third race in the new Nationwide car.  Harvick led a race-high 170 laps.  Keselowski fell two laps down around the midpoint of the race due to problems on pit road, but rallied to take the lead from Kyle Busch on Lap 163 (of 250).  Harvick took the lead from Keselowski on Lap 197, and held him off the rest of the way.  It was a close thing though.  Lapped traffic allowed Keselowski to close in on Harvick in the final laps and challenge him for the win.  Harvick slapped the wall on the next-to-last lap, but managed to hang on and cross the finish line 0.256 seconds ahead of Keselowski.

Trevor Bayne finished third, tying a career best in the series.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fourth, followed by Reed Sorenson.  (Race results)

Kyle Busch was going for a record 11th Nationwide Series win of the season, but had problems on a pit stop on Lap 205.  The nozzle broke off on one of the gas cans and Busch drove away with it still stuck in the car.  Penalized for taking equipment from the pits, Busch restarted 21st, but rallied to finish ninth.

Keselowski increased his lead in the Nationwide point standings to 373 over Carl Edwards, who finished tenth.