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.

Cup - Ragan Gets First Career Win at Daytona

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David Ragan cruised to his first career Cup Series win in Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Racing in the two-car drafts that have become commonplace at the superspeedways, the top four finished in single file. Ragan was pushed to victory by his Roush Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth.  The tandem of Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne didn't try to challenge the finish and finished third and fourth respectively.

A sedate race by Daytona standards turned treacherous at the end.  It took two green-white-checkered finishes and ten extra laps to settle this one.  With two separate wrecks occurring simultaneously on the final lap, NASCAR let it play out to the finish and didn't throw the caution until the leaders had crossed the line.

After three cautions in the first 50 laps, the race settled down into a long green flag run from Lap 53 to Lap 157.  Then with just three laps left to go, Kahne got together with his Red Bull teammate Brian Vickers, pushing Jeff Gordon up into Kyle Busch and Logano.  It was slight contact, but was enough to send Gordon sideways in traffic.  Gordon made a tremendous save to get the car straightened out again, but that brought out the caution and set up the first GWC attempt.

The first attempt didn't make it through Turn Two.  Racing three wide through the turn, Mark Martin drifted down on Logano, triggering the Big One.  Somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen cars were involved in various degrees.

They lined up again for a second GWC.  Ragan got a great push from Kenseth to stay out front, but Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin challenged.  Logano and Kahne went outside to make it three wide, and Newman and Hamlin were stranded in the middle and fell back.  On the final lap, Landon Cassill got together with Marcos Ambrose, triggering a multi-car crash.  As that one was playing out, Jamie McMurray got together with Dale Earnhardt Jr., triggering another melee closer to the front of the field.

Kyle Busch finished fifth, followed by Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Paul Menard, Juan Montoya, and A. J. Allmendinger.  (Race results)

Ragan atoned for a big mistake at the Daytona 500 in February.  Leading the field to green on a late restart, Ragan was penalized for changing lanes before he crossed the start/finish line, ending his chances for a win.

Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne's hopes for a repeat at the track ended early on Lap 5.  A push from Brad Keselowski hooked him into the wall and ended his day.

Carl Edwards's day also ended early.  On Lap 23, he was hooked by his Roush Fenway teammate Greg Biffle.  Biffle slapped the outside wall; Edwards slid through the infield and smacked the inside wall hard.  Edwards came into the race with a 25-point lead in the series points standings, but finished 37th and relinquished the lead to Harvick.

Harvick now leads Edwards by five points.  Kyle Busch jumped two spots to third, ten points behind Harvick.  Kurt Busch (-16) is fourth.  Kenseth (-22) is fifth.  Jimmie Johnson (-22) got caught up in the last-lap melees and finished 20th, dropping him three spots to sixth in the standings.  Earnhardt (-52) is seventh, followed by Gordon (-67), Clint Bowyer (-81) and Newman (-88).  With just nine races left before the Chase, Hamlin has closed to within three points of tenth.  Tony Stewart is just four points behind Newman now.  (Points standings)

Related articles

• Ragan may have saved his job (msn.foxsports.com)
• WINNERS & LOSERS: David Ragan and Matt Kenseth make Roush Fenway Racing the big winner at Daytona (scenedaily.com)

Cup - Kurt Busch Dominates at Sonoma

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Kurt Busch notched his first career road course victory Sunday, winning the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.  He made it look easy, leading 76 of the 110 laps (including the final 23) and crossing the finish line 2.685 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.

It was Busch's first Cup win of the season and the 23rd of his career, tying him with Ricky Rudd for 26th on the all-time wins list.

The real battle was for second place between Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards.  Both struggled early in the race, then seemed to appear out of nowhere at the end by staying out on old tires.  Gordon passed Edwards for second on the final lap.  Clint Bowyer finished fourth, followed by Marcos Ambrose.  (Race results)

The real story of the race was all the "boys, have at it" action going on behind Busch.  Juan Montoya played the part that Jeff Gordon played so well last year, tangling with everyone he got near.  Two incidents stand out:  On Lap 37, he tangled with Kyle Busch, shoving him off the track in Turn 11 and starting a multi-car pileup.  On Lap 104, he tried to force Brad Keselowski into the grass.  Keselowski returned the favor by spinning him out.

The first incident ended Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s day and started a feud between Tony Stewart and Brian Vickers.  Stewart pushed Vickers into the cars that were slowing in front of him, then spun him around.  Vickers got his revenge on Lap 87.  Stewart was challenging Busch for the lead when they came up on Vickers.  After Stewart went by, Vickers turned him when he slowed for Turn 11.  Stewart came to rest with his rear end up on the tire barrier.

Montoya also tangled with Kasey Kahne, trying to force his way through when there really wasn't anywhere to go.  The move spun Kahne, but also cost Montoya a few spots.  Joey Logano got together with Robby Gordon early in the race, leaving Gordon to ponder doing "a Richard Childress" on the younger driver.

Edwards increased his lead in the series points standings by five; he now leads Kevin Harvick by 25 points.  Harvick rebounded from a tough day to finish ninth.  Jimmie Johnson finished seventh, but climbed two spots in the standings to third, 33 points behind Edwards.  Kurt Busch climbed three spots to fourth, 34 points out.  Kyle Busch (-37) is now fifth, followed by Matt Kenseth (-52) and Earnhardt (-65), who dropped four spots in the standings.  Clint Bowyer (-77), Gordon (-93) and Ryan Newman (-98) round out the Top 10.

Related articles

• Stewart, Vickers tangle at Infineon (msn.foxsports.com)
• WINNERS & LOSERS: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin among victims of rough race at Sonoma (scenedaily.com)

Cup - Logano Takes the Pole at Sonoma

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Joey Logano grabbed the pole for Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.  Logano, who doesn't have much of a reputation as a road racer, turned a lap of 76.821 seconds (93.256 mph) on the 1.99-mile course.  Logano was as surprised as everyone else, "This is the last place that I figured we'd get a pole."

It was Logano's second career pole.  The other came at Bristol in March 2010.  Logano is the youngest driver (21 years, 1 month) to win a road course poll, besting Parnelli Jones (24 years, 9 months, 18 days) at Riverside in 1958.

Jamie McMurray (76.848 seconds, 93.223 mph) will start on the outside of the front row.  Paul Menard starts third, followed by Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman. 

Tony Ave, a road race specialist substituting for Travis Kvapil in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford, was the only driver to fail to qualify for the race.  (Race lineup)

Kurt Busch was trying to earn his fourth straight pole.  He led the first practice session, giving him the final run in qualifying, but he was a half-second off of Logano's time.  He starts eleventh.  McMurray was fastest in the second practice.  Brad Keselowski was fastest in Happy Hour.

Series points leader Carl Edwards canceled his plans to run the Nationwide Series race at Road America.  After a poor first practice and qualifying run, Edwards decided he needed the extra practice time at Infineon.  He starts 23rd Sunday.

Cup -- Hamlin Outruns Kenseth at Michigan

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Denny Hamlin got out of the pits first on the final stop of the day and held off Matt Kenseth in the closing laps to win Sunday's Heluva Good! 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Hamlin beat Kenseth to the line by 0.281 seconds for his first win of the season.  It was Hamlin's 17th career victory, putting him in a tie with Kevin Harvick, Marvin Panch and Curtis Turner for 44th on the all-time wins list.  It was Hamlin's second win at MIS.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. brought out the final caution of the afternoon on Lap 192 of 200.  His Hendrick Racing teammate Mark Martin pinched him up into the wall.  Moments later, a tire went down and Junior smacked the wall again.  He finished 21st, his worst showing of the year.

Hamlin was first out of the pits on the money stop, almost running down one of his crew members in the process.  Hamlin led the field to green with five laps to go.  Kenseth spun his tires on the restart, but got a great push from Carl Edwards allowing him to challenge Hamlin for the victory.  Hamlin's car was better on the short runs and he was able to hold Kenseth off.

Roush Fenway drivers dominated the race until Hamlin took charge at the end.  Greg Biffle led a race-high 68 laps, Edwards 39 and Kenseth 17.  Edwards had a lead of about 1 1/2 seconds when the final caution flew.  Hamlin led just eight laps.

Kyle Busch finished third for the second week in a row.  Paul Menard was fourth for his best finish of the season.  Series points leader Edwards was fifth, followed by Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin and Brian Vickers.  (Race results)

Jimmie Johnson had a rough afternoon.  He spun coming out of Turn Two on Lap 7 to bring out the first caution of the day.  He didn't hit anything, but blew three of his four tires and broke his front sway bar.  He lost two laps while his team made repairs and finished 27th.

Carl Edwards stretched his lead in the series points standings to 20.  Kevin Harvick finished 14th, but jumped two spots in the standings to second.  Earnhardt (-27) remains in third.  Kyle Busch and Johnson are fourth and fifth, both 29 points back.  They're followed by Kenseth, Kurt Busch, and Newman.  Hamlin finally cracked the Top 10 for the first time this season; he's now ninth, tied with Clint Bowyer 77 points behind Edwards.  Stewart is just one point out of the Top 10 now.

Cup -- Kurt Busch on the Pole, JGR Rules Violation at Michigan

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Kurt Busch won his third pole in a row, edging David Reutimann by three one-thousandths of a second Saturday to take the pole for Sunday's Heluva Good! 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Busch turned a lap on the two-mile track in 38.156 seconds (188.669 mph) to edge Reutimann's 38.159-second effort.  It was Busch's 15th career pole and the fourth in a row for Penske Racing.  Brad Keselowski started the streak at Charlotte in May.

Matt Kenseth will start third, followed by Brian Vickers and Regan Smith.  Series points leader Carl Edwards starts 23rd.  Tony Raines, Brian Keselowski and Mike Skinner did not make the race.  (Race lineup)


The oil pans for all three Joe Gibbs Racing cars -- those of Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano -- were confiscated by NASCAR during opening day inspection Friday.  The teams had to change out the oil pans before practice began Friday.  The confiscated parts were 25-30 pounds heavier than those normally used and could give an aerodynamic advantage by lowering the cars center of gravity.

Because the oil pans were never used in competition, NASCAR seems to be inclined to treat this as a simple case of failing to submit the part for approval.  In that case, the teams might be penalized financially, not by taking points away.

Jeff Gordon weighed in on Twitter...

All I'm going to say about Gibbs cars oil pan is that we had 100 point penalty for a flared left front fender that never went on track. #JGFri Jun 17 18:49:58 via Twitter for BlackBerry®Jeff Gordon
JeffGordonWeb

Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby explained that this would be similar to Michael Waltrip Racing using unapproved radiator mounts at Texas last year.  In that case, the crew chiefs were fined $25,000 and put on probation.

"The whole issue has absolutely nothing to do with whether the oil pans are legal or illegal," Darby said. "But, quite frankly...we never had the opportunity to make that decision.

"When we open the rulebook, we don't have to flip through pages to get back to the oil-pan section. We open the book and we stop on the first page and the very first paragraph says you've got to have stuff approved before you can use it. We don't have to make a judgment of the pan. We don't have to decide whether it's too heavy or too light. We don't have to decide if it's an aerodynamic device or not an aerodynamic device...

"The Hendrick fender flares [in 2007], every square inch of the car body, there's a drawing that supports how exactly it has to be," Darby said. "The wing mounts from Dale Earnhardt Jr [in 2007], those were an exact part that had to comply with the design drawings that were given to all the teams.

"Oil pans, the teams have flexibility to work on them with oil pickups, depths and a little bit of widths. There's some real basic parameters that surround the oil pans, but there is some leniency to work on an oil pan, much like you would have a leniency to port a cylinder head to your liking."

  Penalties will be announced Monday or Tuesday.

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.

Cup -- Keselowski's Fuel Strategy Pays Off at Kansas

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Brad Keselowski's fuel strategy paid off with a win in Sunday's STP 400 at Kansas Speedway.  Keselowski got 57 laps out of his final tank of gas and finished 2.813 seconds ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Just like last week's Sprint Cup race at Charlotte, a long green flag run at the end made it a fuel mileage race.  And also like last week, Earnhardt came up on the wrong end of the fuel strategy game.  Junior ran out of gas on the way to the win at Charlotte and coasted home with in seventh place.  This week, he finished second waiting for Keselowski to run out.

It was Keselowski's second Cup win; he got his first win at Talladega in April 2009, sixty races ago.  His previous best finish at Kansas Speedway was 13th in 2009.

Earnhardt should have had enough gas to move up and put some pressure on Keselowski.  Earnhardt made his last stop on Lap 215, five laps later than Keselowski.  But he was in fuel conservation mode at the end and didn't try to force the issue.  The same was true of  Denny Hamlin, who, like Earnhardt, also ran out of gas at Charlotte.  Hamlin also had to conserve at the end and finished third.

Jeff Gordon finished fourth.  Carl Edwards was fifth.  They were the top finishers among those that had to top off with gas in the closing laps.  (Race results) 

Tony Stewart appeared to have the winning strategy.  He pitted on the same lap as Keselowski and had a big lead, but his crew finally decided they didn't get enough gas in the car.  He pitted for a splash in the closing laps and finished eighth.

Polesitter Kurt Busch dominated, leading 152 of the 267 laps, including most of the latter stage of the race.  He didn't get the caution he was looking for, and his final splash of gas gave him a ninth-place finish.

Edwards's lead in the series points standings got four points larger.  He now leads Jimmie Johnson by 40 points.  Earnhardt moved into third place, just one point behind Johnson.  After an eleventh-place finish, Kevin Harvick dropped two spots to fourth, 43 points behind Edwards.  Kyle Busch is fifth, 60 points back.

Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman round out the Top Ten.  Hamlin is eleventh, just one point behind Newman, and Greg Biffle is just five points out.  Jeff Gordon could claim one wildcard spot in the Chase.  Keselowski is now seven points behind Paul Menard to crack the Top Twenty; if so, Sunday's win would make him eligible for the other wildcard spot.

Cup -- Harvick Snatches an Improbable Win

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There was no way NASCAR was going to top what happened today at Indy, right?  I don't know; they might have pulled it off. 

Kevin Harvick came out of nowhere to win Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway when Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran out of gas the last time down the backstretch.

Just like Indy, it came down to fuel mileage.  A lot of cars were running low on gas, and then there's a green-white-checkered finish to push the issue further.  Earnhardt and Kasey Kahne were on the front row for the final restart, both a long time past the last win and both running on fumes.  Kahne ran out of gas on the restart, stacking up traffic behind him.  There were a few cars sliding around and going in the grass, but nobody was hitting much of anything so NASCAR kept it green. 

Harvick dove down low around the jam and was suddenly in third.  Ahead of him was Denny Hamlin who was trying to chase down Earnhardt.  Earnhardt was about a half-mile from breaking a 104-race winning drought.  Then, coming down the backstretch for the last time, Earnhardt was suddenly out of gas; Hamlin too, and Harvick scooted by both of them to grab the win.  "We'll take them any way we can get them," Harvick said on the radio after the win.

David Ragan finished second, followed by Joey Logano, Kurt Busch and A. J. Allmendinger.  Earnhardt coasted home seventh, Hamlin tenth.  (Race results)

It looked like Greg Biffle might be headed for a classic Coke 600 victory.  His car was junk and the problems were mounting during the day, but when night fell the car came to him and he was gone.  But when Jimmie Johnson's engine blew to bring out the final caution with four laps to go, Biffle couldn't go the extra distance and pitted for gas just before the race went green again.  During the caution, Harvick got a gas-saving push from his RCR teammates Clint Bowyer and Paul Menard.  The green-white-checkered restart extended the race two laps past the regulation 400-lap distance.

Carl Edwards finished 16th, but extended his points lead to 36.  Harvick moved up three spots to second.  Johnson finished 28th and fell to third, 37 points back.  Earnhardt remains fourth, 43 points back.  Kyle Busch dropped two spots to fifth, 53 points back.  Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman round out the top 10.  (Points standings)

NASCAR Basics: Impound Races

Image by fdtate via FlickrOn a typical NASCAR race weekend, Sprint Cup drivers will get some practice time in and qualify Friday, followed by more practice Saturday and the race on Sunday.  Crewmembers can set up the cars for qualifying, then dial in a race setup.  For an impound race, NASCAR usually shifts to Saturday qualifying, then impounds the cars from after qualifying until the start of the race.

At one time impound races comprised over half of the races on the Cup schedule.  It was supposed to be a cost cutting move, a balance between the teams that could afford to set up the car twice, once for qualifying and once for racing, and those who had to make due with just one setup.

The number of impound races has been pared down to just a few -- currently, the two Talladega races and the July Daytona race.  Television networks, sponsors, track officials and fans wanted to see more on-track activity on a race weekend.  Secondarily, the rules seemed to be hurting the poorest teams the most, the ones the rule was designed to help.

The richer teams were able to be more liberal with their setups.  Since they were in the Top 35 in owner's points and therefore locked into the race, they didn't have to strain to get all the speed they could in qualifying.  The poorer teams, who were more likely to be go-or-go-homers having to get into the race on speed, were forced into qualifying setups that they had to change into race trim on pit road during the race.

When a car is impounded, two crewmembers are allowed in to turn off the electrical switches, take out the radio, check air pressures and cover the cars.  They must then leave the garage.  On race day, two crewmembers are allowed in to get the car ready for the race.  They can connect the oil heater, open the hood, prime the oil system, start the car, move the car out of the garage, open the oil cooler pressure valve if needed, start the engine, close the hood, check and adjust air pressures, tighten the wheels, put the radio back in the car, put in a water bottle, adjust the tape on the front of the car, replace equipment batteries, and add a limited amount of fuel.  All other work is forbidden except with NASCAR authorization which is rarely granted.

NASCAR: NSCS -- Fontana: Pepsi Max 400 Results

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Tony Stewart earned his first career victory at Auto Club Speedway, winning Sunday's Pepsi Max 400.  Jimmie Johnson began pulling away from the rest of the Chase field in the quest for his fifth straight championship.

Stewart's championship hopes were on life support after the first two Chase races.  After four, he suddenly finds himself back in contention again.  He was buried back in the field throughout the first half of the race, but his crew made the right adjustments and the car came to life in the second half.  It was Stewart's second win of the season and the 39th of his career, putting him in a 17th-place tie with Tim Flock on the all-time wins list.

The race turned on a debris caution on Lap 183 (of 200).  Paul Menard and Regan Smith took two tires and led the field to green on the restart with 13 to go.  Stewart got by Smith a lap later to take the lead, but another caution soon flew when David Ragan slid up the track and pinched Kurt Busch into the wall.  That set up a two-lap shootout and Stewart and Johnson led the field to green.  Stewart took the high line and got a good push from Clint Bowyer to keep him ahead of Johnson.  Bowyer and Johnson battled side-by-side through the final lap for second as Stewart pulled away to win by 0.466 seconds.

Bowyer won the battle and nipped Johnson at the line for second.  Kasey Kahne was fourth.  Ryan Newman was fifth.  (Race results)

After the race, Bowyer seemed disappointed with a second-place finish.  He blasted NASCAR for the debris caution, claiming that he would have won easily if the race had stayed green.

Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon finished seventh, eighth, and ninth respectively to keep Johnson in sight in the championship hunt, but it wasn't easy for any of them.  Harvick and Gordon overcame pit road speeding penalties.  Hamlin had to start the race in the rear of the field after his crew changed his transmission after qualifying.

The rest of the Chase contenders had terrible days.  After his run-in with Ragan, Kurt Busch limped home in 21st place.  That was two spots ahead of Jeff Burton, who ran yet another lackluster race.  Kyle Busch's engine blew on Lap 155; he finished 35th.

After all their past success at Fontana, it was surprising to see the whole Roush Fenway Racing organization's title hopes go up in smoke.  Greg Biffle's engine blew just 40 laps in, giving him a 41st-place finish.  Just a few laps later, Carl Edwards lost power and had to be pushed to the garage.  The trouble was finally traced to a distributor problem and he returned to the track to finish 34th.  Matt Kenseth also had engine problems.  His car was smoking badly at the end, but he nursed it home to finish 30th.

Johnson now leads Hamlin by 36 in the points standings.  Harvick (-54) and Gordon (-85) are the only other drivers within 100 points of the four-time champion.  With his win and the other Chasers' misfortunes, Stewart climbed five spots in the standings to fifth.  He is now 107 points back with six races remaining.  Kurt Busch (-140), Edwards (-162), Burton (-177), Kyle Busch (-187), Biffle (-215), Kenseth (-241) and Bowyer (-247) round out the Chase field.

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: Kansas Preview

Image via Wikipedia
The Camping World Truck Series is idle until October 23, so there are just two races on the schedule this weekend -- both at Kansas Speedway, just outside of Kansas City, Kansas.  The Nationwide Series race, the Kansas Lottery 300, takes place Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET (ESPN2).  The Sprint Cup race, the Price Chopper 400 presented by Kraft Foods, kicks off Sunday at 1 p.m. ET (ESPN).

The Cup race is the third in the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup.  After his dominating win last week at Dover, Jimmie Johnson seems like the odds-on favorite to win his fifth straight Cup championship, but he still trails Denny Hamlin by 35 points.  And six other drivers are still within 83 points of the lead, so a lot can happen between now and Homestead in November.

Two points to keep in mind:  since the Chase format began, no driver who has led in the points after two races has gone on to win the championship, but no driver has ever had as big a lead as Hamlin after two races.

Greg Biffle (-140), Tony Stewart (-162), Matt Kenseth (-165) and Clint Bowyer (-235) are technically still alive for the championship, but on life support.

Bowyer, who had his 150-point penalty upheld Wednesday after failing inspection at the R&D Center after his win at Loudon, still has one final appeal left with NASCAR chief appellate officer John Middlebrook.  Bowyer is convinced that he has no chance of winning that final appeal and therefore has no chance of winning the championship this year.  He is vowing to help his RCR teammates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton, and might end up doing a little research and development on the track for them.  Meanwhile, an analyst who testified for RCR at Wednesday's appeal showed that the wrecker that pushed Bowyer to Victory Lane could have caused the inspection violation.  Dr. Charles Manning of Accident Reconstruction Analysis called NASCAR's arguments against his analysis "a bunch of malarkey."

It will be an all-Richard Petty Motorsports front row Sunday.  Kasey Kahne turned a lap in 30.920 seconds (174.644 mph) in Friday's qualifying session to grab the pole.  His RPM teammate Paul Menard will start in the second spot after his lap of 30.951 seconds.  It will be the first time two Petty cars will lead the field to green.  It's the 19th pole in Kahne's career and his third for the season, tying Jamie McMurray for the series lead.

Jeff Gordon starts third, followed by Joey Logano and Greg Biffle.  Only four Chasers start in the top 10 -- in addition to Gordon and Biffle, Kenseth starts eighth, and Kurt Busch starts ninth.   Hamlin starts 12th, Stewart 14th, Kyle Busch 19th, Johnson 21st, Burton 23rd, Harvick 24th, Bowyer 27th and Carl Edwards 31st.

Joe Nemechek, Mike Bliss and Jason Leffler failed to qualify for the 43-car field.  (Race lineup)

Kansas Speedway is a 1.5-mile, D-shaped tri-oval.  There are several tracks of differing sizes with a very similar layout on the Cup circuit.  When the track first opened, the racing was fairly boring because drivers could only run in one groove and it was so hard to pass.  As the surface has aged, the track has become multi-grooved and the passing is much easier.  There have only been nine Cup races at Kansas Speedway.  Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart lead all drivers with two wins each. 

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NASCAR: NSCS -- Dover: AAA 400 Results

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Jimmie Johnson took a big step towards his fifth straight Sprint Cup championship this weekend at Dover.  Johnson won the pole, led five times for a race-high 191 (of 400) laps and beat Jeff Burton to the finish line by 2.637 seconds.

It was Johnson's sixth career win at Dover, most among active drivers, and his third victory in the last four races at the track.  It was Johnson's sixth win of the season and the 53rd of his career.  Johnson has now won 19 of the 62 Chase races he has been in.

Johnson passed Kyle Busch for the lead on Lap 337 and held it until a green flag pit stop on Lap 363.  After the field cycled through stops, Johnson was back in the lead again and pulled away for the win.


Five of the top 6 finishers were Chase drivers.  Kurt Busch overcame a speeding penalty to finish fourth, followed by Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch.  Joey Logano finished third to break up the streak.  (Race results)

A. J. Allmendinger seemed to be the only driver who could compete with Johnson.  He started second and led three times for a career-high 146 laps, but a flat tire put him two laps down.  He rallied to a tenth-place finish.

How quickly the tide can turn in NASCAR.  Last week at Loudon, Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer were running 1-2 in the closing laps and looked like strong Chase contenders.  Stewart ran out of gas just before taking the white flag and fell to 24th.  Bowyer won, but was penalized 150 points when his car failed inspection.  At Dover, the misfortunes continued.  Both drivers were caught speeding on pit road and couldn't make up their laps.  Stewart finished 21st; Bowyer 25th.  Now, both drivers are virtually out of the title hunt.

Matt Kenseth got on the brakes too hard trying to get on pit road and blew a tire.  He finished 18th.  After his second mediocre finish in two Chase races, his title hopes are just about done too.  His Roush teammate Greg Biffle finished just behind him in 19th.  He was on pit road when a caution came out and lost a lap as a result.

Jeff Gordon had a good run, but lost a lot of time on the final pit stop when a tire changer dropped a lug nut.  His car was too loose at the end, and he fell back to finish eleventh.  Kevin Harvick also had handling problems at the end and finished 15th.

Denny Hamlin was quite satisfied with a ninth-place finish at one of his worst tracks.  That allowed him to hang on to the series lead in the points standings.  Johnson moved up four spots to second, 35 points back.  Kyle Busch remains in third, 45 points back.  Kurt Busch (-59) climbed one spot to fourth.  Harvick (-65) dropped three spots to fifth.  The top eight -- including Edwards, Burton and Gordon -- are within 83 points of Hamlin.

Hamlin had an eventful few days at Dover.  He made quite a few disparaging comments about Richard Childress Racing to the media Friday regarding Clint Bowyer's penalty and the excuses offered up.  Harvick took exception and purposefully ran into Hamlin during a practice session Saturday.  Both drivers took their cars to the garage to bang out the sheet metal.  Since they were 1-2 in points at the time, they had side-by-side stalls in the garage and took the opportunity to air out their differences in a little shouting match.  JGR president J. D. Gibbs later told Hamlin something along the lines of "The next time you have a thought, keep it to yourself."

Meanwhile, RCR's appeal of the penalties is set for Wednesday.  The numbers are not on their side.  There have been 132 appeals since 1999.  88 were upheld, and only 42 were reduced or overturned.  In two cases, the penalties were increased.  No penalties have been overturned in six appeals this season.  If RCR loses the appeal they can make one final appeal to the NASCAR chief appellate officer, John Middlebrook.

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: NSCS -- Richmond: Air Guard 400 Results

Image by sidehike via Flickr
Denny Hamlin put in a dominating performance at his hometown track, Richmond International Raceway, Saturday night to win the Air Guard 400 and clinch the top spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.  Hamlin led six times for a race-high 251 laps (of 400), including the final 69, and held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch in the closing laps.

It was Hamlin's second win at the track; he has now won consecutive September Richmond races.  It was his series-leading sixth victory of the season and the 14th of his career.

Hamlin beat Busch to the finish line by 0.537 seconds.  Jimmie Johnson finished third, followed by Joey Logano and Marcos Ambrose.  (Race results)

Greg Biffle clinched his spot in the Chase on Lap 48 when Jason Leffler retired to the garage.  That guaranteed Biffle at least 42nd place in the race, all he would need if Ryan Newman, the 13th place driver, could win and lead the most laps.  Biffle finished 32nd, five laps down.

Clint Bowyer came into the race needing to finish 28th or better to guarantee his spot in the Chase.  He started fourth, led three times for 33 laps, and finished sixth.

Newman finished eleventh and never led a lap.

All in all, it was pretty uneventful for a Richmond race -- no Chase drama and only three cautions on the night.  David Reutimann blew a tire and spun to bring out the first yellow on Lap 55.  Terry Labonte, who failed to make the race in Friday qualifying but replaced Mike Bliss in the No. 55 Prism Motorsports car, brought out the second caution when he blew a tire and hit the wall on Lap 145.  The final caution came out on Lap 226 for some light rain on the track.

The victory gives Hamlin the top seed in the Chase, putting him ten points ahead of Jimmie Johnson going into next week's race at Loudon, New Hampshire.  The points are reset now with each Chaser getting 5000 points plus ten bonus points for each victory in the "regular season."  This is the first time Hamlin has led the points standings in his career.

The Chase seedings:
1.  Denny Hamlin  5060
2.  Jimmie Johnson  -10
3.  Kevin Harvick  -30
4.  Kyle Busch  -30
5.  Kurt Busch  -40
6.  Tony Stewart  -50
7.  Greg Biffle  -50
8.  Jeff Gordon  -60
9.  Carl Edwards  -60
10. Jeff Burton  -60
11. Matt Kenseth  -60
12. Clint Bowyer  -60

NASCAR: Richmond Preview

Image by Bristol Motor Speedway & Dragway via FlickrNASCAR is on a tight schedule at Richmond International Raceway this weekend.  The Sprint Cup race, the Air Guard 400, is set for 7:30 p.m. ET (ABC).  The Nationwide race, the Virginia 529 College Savings 250, is already underway (ESPN2).  The Camping World Truck Series is off this weekend; they'll be back next weekend at Loudon.

Unlike past years, there's not a lot of drama going into this final race of the "regular season" over who will make the Chase.  Ten drivers have already qualified.  If 13th place Ryan Newman wins Saturday night and leads the most laps, earning the maximum 195 points, Greg Biffle needs to finish 42nd or better and Clint Bowyer needs to finish 28th or better to make the Chase field.  Bowyer leads Newman by 117 points in the points standings.

Carl Edwards earned the pole for Saturday night's race in the just completed qualifying session.  Edwards ran a lap of 21.13 seconds (127.762 mph), edging Juan Pablo Montoya (21.18 seconds, 127.455 mph).  A. J. Allmendinger will start third, followed by Clint Bowyer and David Reutimann.  Bobby Labonte needed to use the past champion's provisional to make the field.  That meant that the provisional wasn't available for brother Terry, who was making his first attempt with a new team, Stavola Labonte Racing.  Michael McDowell, Todd Bodine, Scott Riggs and Brian Keselowski also failed to make the 43-car field.  (Race lineup)

Mattias Ekstrom will be driving the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota.  The two-time German Touring car champ made his NASCAR debut in June at Infineon Raceway.  This will be Ekstrom's oval debut. Brian Vickers is scheduled to be back in the car next season.