Kyle Busch capitalizes on late caution for Richmond win
By Reid Spencer
April 28, 2012: Pulling away from Dale Earnhardt Jr. after a restart with eight laps left in Saturday night's Capital City 400 at Richmond International Raceway, Kyle Busch streaked to his fourth straight victory in the spring race at the .75-mile track.
      The win was Busch's first of the season and the 24th of his career, tying him with his brother, 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Kurt Busch, for 26th all-time.
     Tony Stewart, the race leader before the fifth and final caution for debris in Turn 2, lost ground on the restart and finished third. Denny Hamlin ran fourth, followed by Kasey Kahne.
    The race turned on the last caution, which Stewart said was called because of a plastic water bottle in Turn 2. Stewart was strong on long runs but uncharacteristically slow off the mark on restarts, and Busch took full advantage.
    The first step was beating Stewart off pit road during the final four-tire stop on Lap 388 of 400 and gaining control of the restart.
   "I don't know where that last caution came from, but it was our saving grace," Busch said in Victory Lane. "It was a gift. We came down pit road and (crew chief) Dave Rogers and the guys went to work and gave us a great pit stop, got me out front.
    "(That) gave me the lead so I could restart the race how I wanted to. That was the win right there."
    As he approached the finish line, Busch radioed to his crew: "What up, boys -- we're back!"
    It was a stellar weekend for the race winner, who won Friday night's Nationwide Series event as a car owner, with brother Kurt behind the wheel of the Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota.
    Earnhardt, who took over second in the standings -- five points behind series leader and 18th-place finish Greg Biffle -- experienced brake problems for much of the race, but used the late restart to improve his position after Stewart fell back.
   "We had some brake problems all race long," Earnhardt explained. "I had a great restart, and I ran really great for one lap, and the pedal went back to the floor. I just had to pump it up all the way down the straightaway and I didn't have any front brakes getting into the corner, so I couldn't get in real hard.
    "It would just get loose locking the rears up. So even with the brakes working, I think the No. 18 (Busch) was just a little bit better than us all night."
   Slow pit stops cost Stewart track position on more than one occasion, but it was the final caution that proved the undoing of the defending Cup champion, who has three Richmond victories but none since 2002.
   "When the caution is for a plastic bottle on the backstretch, it's hard to feel good about losing that one," said Stewart, who led Busch by more than a second when the yellow flag waved. "And we gave it away on pit road. So we did everything we could to throw it away; it got taken away from us.
   "That's the best car I've had at Richmond in a long time. So I'm really proud of that and (crew chief) Steve Addington, and I'm proud of our guys. But we've got some work to do on pit stops right now. I don't know what their malfunction was but I'm pretty ticked off about it tonight."
Source: NASCAR Wire Service
Denny Hamlin holds off Truex for Cup win at Kansas
By Reid Spencer
4/22/2012: Taking advantage of changing conditions Sunday at Kansas Speedway, Denny Hamlin held off Martin Truex Jr. over the final 30 laps to win the STP 400, his second victory of the season, his first at the 1.5-mile track and the 19th of his career.
    The victory was the 199th for cars bearing the No. 11, breaking a tie for the all-time lead with the No. 43, made famous by Richard Petty, who drove to 192 of his record 200 wins with that car number.
    Jimmie Johnson finished third, followed by Roush Fenway Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle. Truex moved into second place in the Sprint Cup series standings behind Biffle, who leads by 15 points.
    After a late round of green-flag pit stops put all the contending cars on the same sequence, the sun broke through the clouds for the first time all afternoon and changed the complexion of the race.
    To that point, Truex had been dominant, having led 173 laps, but the changing conditions made Truex's Toyota "wrecking loose" in the words of the driver. Hamlin passed Truex for the lead through Turn 4 on Lap 237 and began to pull away, with Johnson pursuing from the third position.
    To Hamlin, the sunlight was a welcome game-changer.
    "Whether it was coincidence or not, our car definitely seemed like, (relative) to the field, was better once the sun came out," Hamlin said. "I felt like our car lost a lot of grip when the sun came out, but I guess a lot of guys did when that happened. I felt like all day I was behind the 56 (Truex), and his car looked so superior to the field.
    "We just needed some kind of change -- weather or adjustments or something to get where he was at -- and we kind of got both of them. In overcast conditions, the cars run a little bit tighter, the grip level's higher in the racecar, and it's more of a track-position type race. When the sun's out, the drivers, in my opinion, are more prominent.
    "You move around, find the grip, do things in the car to make up for what you don't have. The slicker the conditions are, the better it tends to (be) for our race team. Luckily, we had that run in sunshine."
    As clouds covered the sun once again, however, Truex began to close on Hamlin and widen his advantage over Johnson. With 10 laps left, Truex trailed Hamlin by .772 seconds. Five laps later, Truex had closed to .489 seconds behind
    Truex tried to dive beneath Hamlin in Turn 3 twice in the final three laps but couldn't stick the pass.
     "Desperation," Truex said wryly. "I was a little bit faster than Denny at the end, but he was running against the wall right where I needed to be, and I was just trying to gain a little bit of ground.
     "It was desperation -- last-ditch effort -- just trying something. There was no chance to make it work."
      Though Truex's handling ills and Hamlin's surge to the front coincided with the appearance of the sun, Truex blamed his problem on a bad set of tires for the final run.
     "I'm just not really sure what to think of that last set of tires," Truex said. "The car had been really good all day, we put the last set on, and I was just wrecking loose for the first 20 laps of that last run.
    "Denny was able to get by me, and once he did, the race was over. The car got better longer in the run, and I was able to get back to him, but I'd get three or four car-lengths from him and pick up the aero push . . .
    "I guess if we can be this disappointed with second, it kind of shows how far we've come as a race team."
Source: NASCAR Wire Service
NASCAR Recap: Greg Biffle wins heated battle against Johnson for Texas victory
April 14, 2012 FORT WORTH, Texas -- Saving his equipment for the final green-flag run, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader Greg Biffle finally put a win on the board, cruising to a 3.235-second victory over Jimmie Johnson in Saturday night's Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
     Biffle took the lead on Lap 304 of 334 and pulled away to win his first race since Oct. 3, 2010 (at Kansas), his second at Texas and the 17th of his career. Johnson, who led a race-high 156 laps, scraped the wall trying to run down Biffle in the late going.
    "I just dug deep," Biffle said. "I knew I had to do it and kept trying and trying and trying. I knew the team would forgive me if I wrecked it trying to beat him, so I gave it all I had."
    Mark Martin came home third, followed by Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth. With Kasey Kahne finishing seventh and Dale Earnhardt Jr. 10th, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers ran in the top 10, but Biffle denied them their most coveted prize, a 200th Cup victory for team owner Rick Hendrick.
    The victory was the first in the Cup series for Biffle's crew chief, Matt Puccia.
    "I could say it's about time," said Biffle, who snapped a 49-race winless streak. "But I'm just thankful to be able to drive these cars, as fast as they are. We knew it was a matter of time that we were going to win one soon -- we've been running so good."
    From the moment he passed pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr. for the lead on Lap 180, Johnson was dominant, as Biffle chased the five-time champion lap after lap through three cycles of green-flag pit stops.
    Biffle frequently gained ground when Johnson hit traffic, but the margin would expand when Johnson got to clean air. The lead stayed at roughly one second -- give or take -- and by the time the race hit Lap 300, Martin in third at 7.8 seconds back was the only other driver within 10 seconds of the leader.
    With 34 laps left, however, Biffle turned up the wick. On Lap 304, as Johnson tried to work his way through traffic, the series leader made the pass for the top spot, streaking to the inside of Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet as the cars approached the start/finish line.
    Biffle said he was "foaming at the mouth" with Johnson in his sights, but he had to conserve fuel and save his tires for the first few laps of the final run after his last pit stop.
    "I was a little short on fuel, so I kind of lifted a little early and let the car roll down through the corners," said Biffle, who expanded his series lead to 19 points over Earnhardt and Kenseth. "When he started catching a little bit of traffic, that's when I started going.
    "I just pushed as hard as I could, and I was driving the thing sideways around the corner trying to catch him. I could tell I was catching him, and he had a little trouble with traffic."
     Johnson took issue with drivers of lapped cars -- particularly the No. 39 of Ryan Newman -- who Johnson felt failed to show the respect due a race leader.
    "When I caught lapped traffic, some guys that were multiple laps down didn't show much respect for myself, the leader," said Johnson, who posted his fifth runner-up finish against one victory at Texas. "Before I knew it, the 16 (Biffle) was there inside of me and got by.
     "We ran with him for the next eight or 10 laps, and then I made a mistake into (Turn) 3 and hit the fence. At that point, I just needed to make sure I brought it home. A great night, all in all. I certainly wish we could be in Victory Lane, but we'll try again next week."
    The race featured only two cautions and ended with a green-flag run of 234 laps. That was a race record, as were the average speed (160.577 mph), fewest number of cautions and fewest number of caution laps (10).
Notes: Hendrick put four cars in the top 10 for the first time since last year's spring race at Talladega. . . . Roush Fenway Racing earned its series-best ninth Cup win at Texas. . . . Both Johnson and Martin posted their 13th top-10 at TMS, Johnson in 18 starts, Martin in 23.
Source: Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service

Brad Keselowski keeps cool, scores repeat Bristol win
3/18/2012: As he completed the final lap of his victory in Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Brad Keseloswki needled Paul Wolfe, his crew chief.
"Paul, are you nervous?" Keselowski radioed to Wolfe, his voice exuding of confidence. As he crossed the finish line six car-lengths in front of runner-up Matt Kenseth, Keselowski allowed himself an excited whoop.
The driver of the No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge scored his second straight win at the .533-mile short track and the fifth of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career.
Martin Truex Jr. came home third, followed by Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers, as Michael Waltrip Racing drivers claimed positions three through five. Vickers scored the top-five in his first Cup action since his contract with Red Bull Racing ended last year.
Jeff Burton, Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson and Paul Menard completed the top 10.
If Keselowski remained cool on the racetrack, criticism for his victory last August definitely made him hot and provided additional motivation for Sunday's victory.
In last year's night race, Wolfe picked a pit stall that would allow Keselowski to accelerate out of his pit and gain time and positions before the next timing line. To offset that advantage, NASCAR added two timing lines on each side of pit road for Sunday's race, shortening the segments between lines.
When Keselowski heard critics say he won the race because of the timing line advantage, it irked him.
"I got on Twitter, and I got kind of PO'd at some people that said I won it because of the timing line," Keselowski said. "I knew this Blue Deuce was fast enough to win the race last fall with or without timing lines. It feels so good just to prove it here in the spring race.
"This car here, this brand-new car that Penske Racing built -- everybody back at the shop did a phenomenal job. The last few races have been really good, and I knew we had a shot at winning one if we closed the deal. Matt didn't make it easy."
Keselowski and Kenseth had run away from the rest of the field and were battling for the lead when Tony Stewart's Chevrolet smacked the Turn 3 wall on Lap 478 to bring out the fifth caution of the race.
Unlike a restart earlier in the race, Keselowksi chose the outside lane for a restart on Lap 484 -- after considerable discussion with Wolfe -- and cleared Kenseth off the second corner. From there on, it was smooth sailing.
"Yeah, he screwed that up," Kenseth joked about the lane choice. "He should have started on the bottom for me. Unfortunately, he didn't. I don't know. I couldn't run on the bottom, and Brad was really strong on the bottom of (Turns) 1 and 2.
"I was thinking I could run outside of him (after the restart), but he would roll through there so fast you could never get a run on him. I think he liked the bottom of 1 and 2, but I could never get around on the bottom of 1 and 2, so that was the right thing to do, to start on the top and leave me on the bottom -- for him."
An early wreck wiped out several strong cars, including those of Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose and Kyle Busch. Contact between the Chevrolets of Regan Smith and Kahne -- after Kahne's spotter and cousin Kole Kahne had told the driver he was clear -- sent Kahne spinning and triggered the chain-reaction.
The Chevys of Kevin Harvick and Smith also sustained damage. Even Keselowski's Dodge was nicked in the wreck -- but obviously not to his detriment.
Source: NASCAR
Denny Hamlin holds off Harvick to win Cup race at Phoenix
by Reid Spencer
3/04/2012At the racetrack that dashed his championship hopes in 2010, Denny Hamlin found redemption in Sunday's Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
    In his second race with 2011 Sprint Cup championship crew chief Darian Grubb on his pit box, Hamlin held off Kevin Harvick in a 53-lap green-flag run to finish the 312-lap race at the one-mile track and took over the series points lead for the first time since surrendering it in the final race of 2010 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
    Harvick lost fuel pressure with fewer than two laps left but had enough momentum to retain the second position, 7.315 seconds behind the race winner.
    Greg Biffle came home third, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski. Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Gordon, pole-sitter Mark Martin and Joey Logano completed the top 10.
    Hamlin surged into the lead after a restart on Lap 254, passing Harvick and pulling away. Ryan Newman's hard contact with the Turn 4 wall two laps later caused the seventh caution of the afternoon, but Hamlin again stretched his advantage over Harvick after a restart on Lap 260 and held on the rest of the way.
    "I don't know where this came from," Hamlin said. "We were solidly off in practice. We were off, but we kept getting it better and closer and closer to being competitive, but I had no idea that we were going to fire off like we did today."
    With an opportunity to secure his first title in the next-to-last race of 2010, Hamlin led a race-high 190 laps but fell victim to pit strategy from other teams, finished 12th and lost 18 points of a 33-point advantage over Jimmie Johnson. A week later, a shell-shocked Hamlin spun early and saw the championship escape him.
    Hamlin admitted there might have been a lingering malaise in 2011, when he made the Chase for the Sprint Cup as a wild card and finished ninth in the standings but didn't come close to matching his 2010 stats.
    "We just never got going (in 2011)," Hamlin said. "Yeah, maybe there was a hangover effect for the first half of the year -- you can claim that -- but it didn't have anything to do with how bad I ran the last 10 races. We just didn't have it all together . . .
     "We've still got work to do. I'm going to push for more and more and more -- things within our racecar -- that's the attitude you've got to have to stay on top, and when I come back here, it just puts 2011 to rest. That year is done. It's a year I'd just as soon forget about, and we're focused on winning a championship."
    Jettisoned by Tony Stewart in favor of Steve Addington despite leading the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing team to its first Cup championship -- and Stewart's third -- Grubb savored the victory as much as Hamlin did.
    "I guess you could say it is a little bit of vindication, but I really don't think that way," Grubb said. "I try to just think the high road all the time. I feel like I came into a very good situation. Mike Ford (Grubb's predecessor) built one heck of a team here with the No. 11 car.
     "I'm proud to be able to come in here and lead this bunch of guys."
Source:  NASCAR Wire Service
Jimmie Johnson's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Team Penalized For Infractions At Daytona
Feb. 29, 2012: NASCAR has issued penalties, suspensions and fines to the No. 48 team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, as a result of rules infractions found on Feb. 17 during opening day inspection for the Daytona 500.
    The No. 48 car was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4J (any determination by NASCAR officials that race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules detailed in Section 20 of the rule book or has not been approved by NASCAR prior to the event); and 20-2.1E (if in the judgment of NASCAR officials, any part or component of the car not previously approved by NASCAR that has been installed or modified to enhance aerodynamic performance will not be permitted – unapproved car body modifications).
    As a result, crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec have been suspended from the next six (6) NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship events, suspended from NASCAR until April 18 and placed on NASCAR probation until May 9. Additionally, Knaus has been fined $100,000.
    Driver Jimmie Johnson and car owner Jeff Gordon have been penalized with the loss of 25 driver and 25 owner points, respectively.
Source: NASCAR Media
News - NSCS Recap: Kenseth holds off Earnhardt Jr., survives to win bizarre Daytona 500
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
Feb. 27, 2012: DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Finally, nothing out of the ordinary happened.
     In a Daytona 500 that featured the first postponement in its history, a ball of fire from a racecar vs. jet dryer collision under caution and a surfeit of wild action in the closing laps, Matt Kenseth won his second Daytona 500 when the tandem of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Greg Biffle couldn't catch the race winner in a green-white-checkered-flag finish.
     Earnhardt made a slingshot move around Greg Biffle to run second in the 54th running of the Great American Race at Daytona International Speedway. Biffle came home third, followed by Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton, as a late caution necessitated two extra laps beyond the scheduled 200.
    Paul Menard, Kevin Harvick, pole-sitter Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and Mark Martin completed the top 10.
    Earnhardt hooked up with Biffle and pushed the No. 16 Ford after a restart on Lap 201, but the pair could not make headway against Kenseth who moved to the front of the field and stayed there.
    Earnhardt expected Biffle to pull out and make a move, but the move never came.
    "I was waiting and waiting," Earnhardt said. "It looked like he might have been trying to make a move on the back straightaway, but nothing materialized there. Then we came off (Turn) 4, and I kind of waited till the last minute for him to have his opportunity to try to pass Matt, and nothing was happening, so I just pulled out and went around him."
    Kenseth had plenty of power at the finish, despite problems with the cooling system that plagued him early in the race.
    "We had a lot of problems -- it was spewing water," said Kenseth, who notched the 22nd NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of his career. "I have to give a lot of credit to (engine builder) Doug Yates and the guys at the engine shop. We had great horsepower.
    "I could get a pretty good start on the bottom and either Denny or Dale Jr. could push me for a while and then they just couldn't stay attached and I would get away from them just in time to get in front of Greg, and the two of us together could make some unbelievable speed. I have to thank Greg. We worked together really good all day long. He had a really fast car all day as well."
    A multicar wreck on Lap 188 thinned the herd considerably, taking out a handful of competitive cars. Jamie McMurray spun wildly near the entrance to Turn 1, and the chain-reaction collision wiped out the cars of Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne and Aric Almirola and damaged the machines of Edwards and Tony Stewart.
    Another melee on Lap 196 set up the overtime. After contact from Joey Logano's Toyota, the Ford of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. caromed into Stewart's Chevrolet, turning the defending Cup champion sideways and igniting a pinball-style wreck that also involved Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman.
    A strange weekend that saw the first weather postponement in the history of the Daytona 500 got downright bizarre during a round of pit stops under caution late in the race.
     Juan Pablo Montoya brought his No. 42 Chevrolet to pit road under caution on Lap 160, complaining of transmission issues. His car fell victim to a strong vibration when he returned to the track, and Montoya slid out of control at the entrance to Turn 3 and slammed into a jet dryer, which was against the outside wall, blowing the track.
    The collision ignited the jet fuel in the dryer and set both vehicles ablaze. Montoya and the driver of the service vehicle both escaped the wreckage, but the latter -- Duane Barnes, from Michigan International Speedway -- was taken to nearby Halifax Medical Center for further evaluation.
    "Something failed in the rear of the car, and the car just spun into the jet dryer," Montoya said after a visit to the care center. "I left the pits and felt a really weird vibration, and I came back in and checked the rear end and (they) said it was OK, and I got into the backstraight and we were going in fourth gear but wasn't going that fast.
    "Every time I got on the gas, I could feel the rear squeezing. When I was telling the spotter to have a look how the rear was moving, the car just turned right."
    NASCAR red-flagged the race as safety vehicles arrived on the scene and track workers attempted to put out the fire.
    "There's going to be a big speed bump heading into Turn 3," crew chief Steve Letarte told Dale Earnhardt Jr., fearful that the blaze would melt the asphalt. "I will be shocked -- shocked -- if we can get
     Letarte was wrong.
     Safety workers cleared the scene by hoisting the remains of the jet dryer on a tow truck with a boom to prevent further damage to the asphalt. After a stoppage of two hours, five minutes and 29 seconds, the event resumed just before midnight ET.
     The race was barely one lap old when contact from the front bumper of Elliott Sadler's Chevrolet turned the No. 48 Chevy of five-time champion Jimmie Johnson hard into the outside wall near the exit from the tri-oval.
     Unable to avoid the wreck, David Ragan plowed into the side of Johnson's car. Neither Johnson nor Ragan was able to continue; they retired from the race in the 42nd and 43rd positions, respectively.
    The cars of defending race winner Trevor Bayne, Danica Patrick and Kurt Busch were severely damaged in the melee and all three headed to the garage for extensive repairs and later returned to the track.
    "The steering's off," Patrick said, as she brought the No. 10 Chevy to pit road. Her crew repaired the rear suspension, but Patrick was 62 laps down when she reappeared on Lap 66. She wound up 38th in her Sprint Cup debut.
Notes: Martin Truex Jr. won the $200,000 bonus for leading the race at the halfway point . . . The top four drivers when Juan Montoya hit the jet dryer were Dave Blaney, Landon Cassill, Tony Raines and David Gilliland, none of whom had come to pit road with the rest of the lead-lap cars. Irreparable damage to the track or an ill-timed rain cell could have made a winner of Blaney. . . . Edwards and Kyle Busch had to restart from the rear when the race resumed for removing tear-offs from their windshields under the red flag.
Source: NASCAR
Tony Stewart takes the 1st as Kenseth zooms to victory in Gatorade Duel No. 2
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla (Feb. 23, 2012) - Tony Stewart is familiar with the way to Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway. The three-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion picked up his 17 victory at the famed 2.5-mile superspeedway with a win in today’s Gatorade Duel at Daytona Race No. 1. . The win puts the driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet second on the all-time list of winners at Daytona. He led three times for a total of 21 laps in the 60-lap race to set the field for the 54th running of the Daytona 500.
    TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER: “Luckily I haven’t tore this one up yet so the guys haven’t had to work as hard as they did on the Shootout car. This Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy has been awesome all weekend. We have a great starting spot for the (Daytona) 500. This thing has been fast so we are hoping to be there at the end on Sunday.”
    Matt Kenseth easily won the 2nd race of the day. This marks the third time a Ford driver has won a Gatorade Duel qualifying race that has been a 150-mile event. Elliott Sadler (2006) and Kasey Kahne (2010) are the others.
    MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Best Buy Ford Fusion; “We just had a big run there. Jimmie Johnson gave me a huge push there and that really worked nice for me the whole race there. Without that push it would have never gotten done. Greg (Biffle) lost his drafting partner. We were able to separate him and the 78 and we had such a huge run that Greg was kind of a sitting duck. I was going so fast with Jimmie’s push that we were able to make it past.”
Source: Ford & Chevrolet
Biggest Race Culminates Retro-Fitted Speedweeks
Speedweeks 2012 has gone back to school – old school.
2/23/2012: Daytona International Speedway’s signature competition, pack racing, returned with a vengeance during last weekend’s Shootout at Daytona.
The race ended with another Daytona cornerstone, Kyle Busch’s slingshot pass of Tony Stewart at the start-finish line.
It also marked the end of a format. The Shootout returns to its roots in 2013, primarily a battle among Coors Light Pole winners. Carl Edwards, set to start on the pole for Sunday’s 54th Daytona 500, is the first to punch his ticket to next year’s Speedweeks curtain-raiser.
Speed also made its reappearance. Edwards qualified at over 194 mph, fastest in more than a decade. Thirty-nine drivers taking part in time trials posted speeds faster than Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s pole run of 2011.
Also announced: Next year’s Speedweeks will dip into its past for a special, non-points race for NASCAR’s roots racers from its touring divisions and Whelen All American Series. A 0.4-mile track will be set up on Daytona’s Super Stretch, evoking memories of days when drivers like NASCAR Hall of Famer Richie Evans converged on the World Center of Racing to race their modifieds and sportsman stock cars.
Stewart, an old-school racer, is looking forward to Sunday’s Daytona 500 with greater enthusiasm than in seasons past. A three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, Stewart hopes to fill one of his few missing career achievements on Sunday: a Daytona 500 victory.
He, as well as the other 42 starters, recognizes that a Daytona 500 win is a career-maker, as it was for Trevor Bayne, the surprise winner of last year’s Great American race.
Questions, as always, abound:
•    Can Bayne repeat in the iconic Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford?
•    Can Danica Patrick, the first female driver to compete in the Daytona 500 since 2002 and just third in history, become this year’s surprise winner?
•    Will there be a seventh consecutive first-time Daytona 500 winner of NASCAR’s biggest race?
•    Will Hendrick Motorsports score its 200th victory on the sport’s largest stage?
Source: NASCAR
NASCAR’s Brian France Says Sport Is In A Very Good Place
Industry To Build On 2011 Success, Introduce EFI, Restore Pack Racing
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 26, 2012) — NASCAR and its stakeholders intend to build on the success of 2011 as the new season begins with the Feb. 26 Daytona 500 and other Speedweeks events at Daytona International Speedway.
    In his State of NASCAR remarks delivered during the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway on Thursday, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said, “The sport is in a very good place and we’re going to work even harder to achieve the very best things for the sport of NASCAR well into the future.”
    France pointed to initiatives begun a year ago – a simplified points structure in all three national series and a “Wild Card” twist in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ that placed a greater emphasis on race victories – which culminated in what France called “a championship battle that will be talked about for decades to come.”
    While the 2012 season will be one of continuity rather than major change, NASCAR will introduce electronic fuel injection into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and implement rules designed to restore traditional “pack racing” at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
    “We have had a breathtaking number of close finishes at those tracks, but the fans want a mixture of styles including a return to a more traditional ‘pack racing’ and that close side-by-side competition that’s unique to Talladega and Daytona,” France said. “NASCAR and the teams are working hard on this and based on the test earlier this month, we’re encouraged that we’re making progress.”
  France also said the sanctioning body continues to operate on a more collaborative method of maintaining and growing the industry by taking into consideration the thoughts and needs of teams, tracks, media partners and especially its fans. “The goal of this effort is to help us better serve our great fans, grow our audience and ensure that our sport stays relevant, vibrant and highly-valuable to sponsors and other partners critical to the health of NASCAR,” said France.
    “The industry has never been more united in growing the sport.”
    France said the organization is “very encouraged” by increased television ratings across its three national series – NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He also pointed to attendance gains at a number of venues. “While we are still in a tough economic climate that is still difficult, we are pleased with some positive steps we saw last year,” he said.
    France and Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s vice president, competition and racing development, touched on how EFI and the introduction in 2013 of re-styled NASCAR Sprint Cup cars from Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Toyota will make the sport more relevant to manufacturers and technology companies.
    “EFI excites the manufacturers and technology companies,” said France, responding to questioning about NASCAR’s embrace of technology. “To attract new companies (to the sport), we’ve had to take a little different view of that.”
    Ford earlier this week unveiled its 2013 Fusion prototype with the other OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to follow in the near future. A closed test of the cars is scheduled early next month with additional testing to follow before final specifications are drawn.
    “This is certainly a milestone in our sport,” said Pemberton. “We’ve worked very closely with the manufacturers on the new car and the four new models are simply outstanding.
    “I think the fans are going to love them and it is going to be such a positive step in helping our race cars become more and more relevant with our fans past, present and future.”
    Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood previewed next month’s 54th Annual Daytona 500. He and his staff are committed to building on the enthusiasm of the 2011 season – and last year’s race that made 20-year-old winner Trevor Bayne a household name.
    “We kicked off the (2011) season with energy and enthusiasm and that’s our goal for this year,” said Chitwood. “We want to produce that kind of event again.”
     Daytona’s season begins Saturday with the running of the 50th Annual Rolex 24. The twice-round-the-clock race, most of which can be seen live on SPEED beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET, kicks off the 2012 GRAND-AM Rolex Series campaign.
    Thursday’s event at the NASCAR Hall of Fame also introduced the 2012 Drive for Diversity class which will compete in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and at selected NASCAR Whelen All-America Series tracks for Rev Racing.
    They are Jorge Arteaga, 25, Aguascalientes, Mexico; Mackena Bell, 21, Carson City, Nev.; Trey Gibson, 19, Easley, S.C.; Ryan Gifford, 22, Winchester, Tenn.; Kyle Larson, 19, Elk Grove, Calif.; and Bryan Ortiz, 22, Bayamon, Puerto Rico.
Source: NASCAR
NASCAR Changes the Rules after Day 2 of Preseason Thunder At Daytona International Speedway
Jan. 13, 2012: As with any test, especially one as important as 2012 Preseason Thunder at Daytona, getting it right and being open to make adjustments is key. 
    After the late afternoon practice session on Thursday, NASCAR announced changes for today’s test session with an increase in the diameter of restrictor-plate openings from 1/32nd of an inch to 15/16ths inches, adding an estimated 26 horsepower to the engines.
    In addition, they lowered the pressure relief valve settings from 30 pounds per square inch to 25 psi and narrowed the grille openings of the cars, thereby decreasing airflow to the engine. Both measures were designed to decrease the number of laps one car can push another without overheating.
      As stated by NASCAR officials, this is not only a test for the teams but for NASCAR as well. 
     “Our goal and our responsibility is to try to make decisions so that racing is as good as everybody expects it to be or better during the Daytona 500,” said NASCAR President Mike Helton, addressing the media during the lunch break of today’s session.
    “We watch the speeds and everybody knows we watch the speeds and there’s a balance between what we’re comfortable with,” Helton said.
    NASCAR asked drivers to participate in a pack drafting session during the afternoon session to assist in the gathering of information teams and officials were looking for in hopes to be able to apply to a baseline when we come back for Speedweeks next month.
    “We did some drafting, which is very interesting,” said four-time NASCAR series champion Jeff Gordon.  “With the smaller spoiler and restrictor plate, cars have a lot of power, a lot of speed and that has changed things a bit.”
    Following the afternoon session, NASCAR conferred with its notes and decided to implement additional changes for Saturday, the third and final day of Preseason Thunder.
     Changes implemented included the closing of the bottom of the radiator opening; reducing radiator pressures approximately four pounds and a return to the restrictor plate used in Thursday’s test session.
“We're going to continue to work on aero packages and plate sizes and all types of things from now until the day we sign back in here at Daytona,” said Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton.
Source: NASCAR Media
2012 Shootout Event At Daytona Lineup Announced
Speedweeks Opener Features Deep And Talented Field
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Dec. 14, 2011) – In what could be the deepest and most talented field to date, NASCAR announced Wednesday the list of eligible competitors for the 2012 Shootout.
     The 34th annual season-opening event launches Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, Feb. 18 with a start time set for 8:10 p.m. FOX and MRN will broadcast live nationally. Criteria are based upon the following qualifications, with eligibility based on a driver having been active in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series during the 2011 season:
·               The highest ranked 25 competitors in 2011 NSCS driver points
·               Previous winners at Daytona, including the Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola, and Shootout events
    “By taking the top 25 competitors in last year’s driver points and combining that with former race winners at Daytona, you have all the ingredients for an extremely deep and talented field of drivers for the 2012 Shootout,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. “When you take a look at the roster of drivers that this entails, I have to believe this is one of the most competitive fields that have ever been assembled for this event.”
     The race distance will again be 75 laps (187.5 miles), consisting of two segments – 25 and 50 laps. Both green-flag laps and yellow-flag laps will count. Between segments there will be a 10-minute pit stop allowing teams to pit to change tires, add fuel and make normal chassis adjustments. Crews will be permitted to work on cars and will be allowed to perform functions they would do on a normal pit stop in a regular NASCAR Sprint Cup event. All work must be performed on pit road or in the garage. Changing of springs, shock absorbers or rear-ends will not be permitted.
    Starting positions will again be determined by a blind-draw at the annual Shootout Draw Party on Friday, Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. on the SPEED stage in the Midway, outside Turn 4.
    The Shootout – a “non-points” event for NASCAR Sprint Cup competitors – was first held in 1979. Kurt Busch is the defending race champion.
Drivers eligible for the 2012 Shootout include:
2011 Top 25 Driver Points
Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr.Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, AJ Allmendinger, Greg Biffle, Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr., Marcos Ambrose, Jeff Burton, Juan Pablo Montoya, Mark Martin, David Ragan, Joey Logano, Brian Vickers,

Others (criteria in parentheses)
Bill Elliott (Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400, Shootout), Geoff Bodine (Daytona 500, Shootout), Derrike Cope (Daytona 500), Michael Waltrip (Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400), Jamie McMurray (Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400), Trevor Bayne (Daytona 500), Terry Labonte (Shootout), Ken Schrader (Shootout),
Source: NASCAR
PENSKE RACING AND KURT BUSCH MUTUALLY AGREE TO SEPARATION
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (December 5, 2011) – Penske Racing announced today that it has reached a mutual agreement with driver Kurt Busch to end its driver/race team relationship, effective immediately.   
    The team will evaluate its options for the driver of the No. 22 Sprint Cup Series car in the future while Busch will seek new opportunities with another race team.
    "I appreciate the victories that Kurt has brought Penske Racing and our sponsors over the past six years," said Roger Penske. "While I am disappointed that Kurt will not be racing for our team in the future, both Kurt and I felt that separating at this time was best for all parties, including our team and sponsors. I wish Kurt the best in his future racing endeavors."
    “I am grateful to Penske Racing for six very productive years,” said Busch. “Together we won a lot of races -16 in all. Leaving a great organization and a lucrative contract is not easy, but it’s an important step for me and allows me to take a deep breath to work on things that can make me a better driver and a better person. I want to personally thank Roger Penske for the opportunity that he has given me.”
Source: Penske Racing
NASCAR: SHR names Steve Addington crew chief for Tony Stewart
As we first first reported last Wednesday!
KANNAPOLIS, N.C., (Nov. 28, 2011) – Steve Addington, winner of 16 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races as a crew chief, has been named to the same position for three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart and the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 team of Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) effective immediately.
    The Spartanburg, S.C., native is only the third crew chief Stewart has had during his 13-year Sprint Cup career, and it comes just a week after Stewart captured the 2011 Sprint Cup title.
    “I know Steve well and I know how he goes about setting up a racecar,” said Stewart, who worked with Addington from 2005 through 2008 during his time at Joe Gibbs Racing. “My comfort level with him is already strong. He balances the technical part of our sport with the real-world experiences we get at the track, and that will allow for a smooth transition as we prepare to defend our title in 2012.”
     Addington has served as crew chief for Bobby Labonte (2005), J.J. Yeley (2006-2007), Kyle Busch (2008-race No. 33 of 2009) and Kurt Busch (2010-2011) during his ongoing Sprint Cup career. Twelve wins were scored with Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing and four wins were notched with older brother Kurt during his most recent tenure at Penske Racing.
    Prior to rising to the elite Sprint Cup ranks, Addington spent 15 seasons as a crew chief in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, 11 of which came with driver Jason Keller where the duo won 10 races, 11 poles and scored 69 top-five and 122 top-10 finishes.
    “Tony and I are a lot alike and we’re able to push each other,” Addington said. “I saw how he worked when we were at Gibbs together and I’m not surprised at all at the success he’s created at Stewart-Haas Racing. He expects a lot and he knows a lot. His talent behind the wheel is obvious, but his ability to motivate and get everyone to believe that whatever goal they set is attainable is something every crew chief wants, and I plan to make the most of it.”
    Addington has proven he can win with all kinds of drivers at all kinds of tracks. From the quiet and low-key drivers of Keller and Mike Bliss, whom Addington worked with in the Nationwide Series, to the competitive personalities of Kyle and Kurt Busch, Addington has steered his pilots to victory, and he’s done so at every conceivable type of racetrack – superspeedways, road courses, intermediates and short tracks.
    “Steve has proven himself everywhere he’s been,” Stewart added. “Our expectation when we unload each weekend is to win, and that’s Steve’s expectation, too. Getting there is never easy, but we’ve both been around long enough to know what it takes to be successful.”
    Addington replaces Darian Grubb, who served as Stewart’s crew chief since the inception of SHR in 2009.
    “Darian was a very important part of the success we’ve had at Stewart-Haas Racing,” Stewart said. “I’m very proud of everything he helped accomplish, especially this year when we all rallied to win the championship. He’s a great person and I know he’ll continue to be successful in this sport.”
Source: Stewart-Haas Racing
Penske Racing Statement Re: Homestead
If you didn't see the video of Kyl;e Bush and ESPN's Dr. Jerry Punch google it then you will understand this Penske Press Release better.
11/22/2011: Penske Racing extends its apologies to Dr. Jerry Punch, our media partners and our sponsors and fans for Kurt Busch's inappropriate actions in Homestead on Sunday.  These actions do not represent Penske Racing and are inconsistent with the company's standards for behavior, respect for others and professionalism. This matter is being reviewed internally with no further comment at this time.
Source: Penske Racing
Tony Stewart Wins 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship
With “Walk-Off Win,” Stewart Takes Third Title At Homestead
Homestead, Fla. (Nov. 20, 2011) – Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Tony Stewart went from all-time great to legend, capturing his third career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in grand fashion – a number that places him among a short list of historic NASCAR figures.
With a victory in Sunday’s Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Stewart became the seventh champion to win the season finale in his championship season. He out-dueled runner-up Carl Edwards in a finale befitting a championship showdown, tying Edwards in points – but winning the championship on a tiebreaker. Stewart’s five wins bested Edwards’ one, clinching the title for Stewart.
Stewart won his first championship in 2002 and second in 2005. The Indiana native now joins David Pearson, Lee Petty, Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough – all NASCAR Hall of Fame members or inductees – as three-time champions. Nine drivers in NASCAR Sprint Cup history have won three or more championships.
    Stewart entered the season-ending race trailing Edwards by three points. It marked the second consecutive season and fourth time since the inception of the position-based points system in 1975 the champion has overcome a points deficit entering the final race.
     Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing with Gene Haas, is the first driver-owner to claim the championship since Alan Kulwicki in 1992. The 2011 season is the organization’s third under its current ownership.
    Stewart failed to win a race during the 26-race regular season. But he quickly caught fire, winning the first two races of the Chase, at Chicagoland Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He ultimately won five times – twice on consecutive weekends – to break the record for most Chase wins in a single season. Stewart has won 11 times in Chase history, second only to Jimmie Johnson’s 20.
    Entering Sunday’s season finale, Stewart had led the points just twice in 2011, ironically after Edwards’ only victory in Las Vegas and following the fall race at New Hampshire. He finished the year with 44 career victories, tied for 15th on the all-time wins list.
    Those wins wound up trumping Edwards’ consistency during both the regular season and the playoffs. Stewart’s nine top-five and 19 top-10 finishes trailed Edwards, however, the series-high five wins ultimately were the decisive factor in the championship’s outcome.
Souce: NASCAR Media
WWE HALL OF FAMER SGT. SLAUGHTER TO SERVE AS GRAND MARSHAL FOR FORD 300
MIAMI— WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter will be the Grand Marshal for Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series championship race, the Ford 300, at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  Track President Matthew Becherer made the announcement.
    “I am really excited to start the Ford 300,” said Slaughter.  “Ricky, Elliott, Justin and Aric have made the 2011 Nationwide Series special and I can’t wait to see who is named champion once the checkered flag is waved and history is made.”
    Sgt. Slaughter is truly one of a kind. A former U.S. Marine, he earned his famous ring name during the service. Once he began his professional career, he would certainly solidify that name, intimidating adversaries and fans alike in his trademark drill sergeant attire. He remains one of the WWE’s most recognizable figures and comes to South Florida in advance of WrestleMania XXVIII, which will take place at Sun Life Stadium on April 1.  Following his retirement from full-time competition, he spent some time as WWE Commissioner and today serves as a WWE Ambassador.
    “Sgt. Slaughter is a huge racing enthusiast,” said Becherer.  “I am sure he’ll put his full effort into giving the ‘Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines,’ command and it’ll be a lot of fun for the fans Saturday night.”
Source: Homestead-Miami Speedway

Three Points, two men, one championship RACE
Either Tony Stewart or Carl Edwards will be crowned NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday
11/14/2011 MIAMI— Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart will head into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup finale this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway with only three points separating the two.
     “We couldn’t ask for a better Championship scenario at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend — a one-race winner takes all shootout,” said track president Matthew Becherer. “This is going to be a battle all the way to the end on Sunday and everyone that I talk to is choosing sides.  I think the atmosphere is going to be electric.”
    Edwards, who now has had sole possession of the championship lead for the past six races, finished second, one position ahead of Stewart at Phoenix. The points margin remained unchanged after Stewart led the most laps for the third time in the last four races, with 160.
    "Every point counts right now," Stewart said. "That’s why we raced Carl (Edwards) so hard and Kasey (Kahne) so hard. We led enough laps to lead the most laps today so we’re going for every single point we can get right now.”
    All other drivers were eliminated from championship contention following Phoenix setting up a storied battle between Edwards and Stewart this Sunday in the Ford 400. The three point margin between first and second going into the final race is the closest since the inception of the Chase in 2004.
    "Couldn't ask for any more," said Edwards, who led 27 laps at Phoenix. "It's neat to go to Homestead and race it out. I'm sure these guys are going to be good down there. They're fast on the mile and a half's. I love that place.”
    Edwards has no wins in the Chase, but now heads to one of his best tracks where he's the defending Ford 400 winner.
     "I really enjoy racing there," Edwards said about Homestead-Miami. "The cool thing about Homestead, we're going to go there, you're going to be able to move around, pass, not get hung up as badly in traffic as you can at other racetracks. For the sport in general, I don't think there's a better place to go than Homestead to fight for this championship."
     Although he has not visited Victory Lane since March at Las Vegas, Edwards has finished outside the Top 10 only once (11th at Talladega last month) since late August. His average finish in nine races in the Chase is 5.2.
    Stewart, who is shooting for his third Cup Series title, continued his tear in the Chase with his fifth consecutive Top 10, which includes two of his four wins in the Chase.
    “We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing," Stewart said. "We have a third and two wins in the last three races so we’re going to keep the pressure on him (Carl Edwards) and we’ll make him sweat it out."
    If the championship winds up in a tie at the checkered flag in Sunday's Ford 400, Stewart will take the championship based on wins.
    Only one finish guarantees Carl Edwards his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship – a victory in Sunday’s season-finale Ford 400. Just three points separate points leader Carl Edwards and second-place Tony Stewart, a margin so tight, no other finish would clinch the title for Edwards regardless of where Stewart finishes. Stewart owns the tie-breaker (best finishes), and therefore could tie and win his third series championship. Tickets for this year’s Ford Championship Weekend—Nov. 18-20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway—are on sale NOW. For ticket information, visit HomesteadMiamiSpeedway.com or call (866) 409-RACE.
     Edwards’ three-point lead roughly translates to 13 points under the previous points system. That makes it the closest margin between first and second going into the final race in Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup history, and third-closest since the inception of the position-based points structure in 1975.
    Last year, Homestead-Miami Speedway served as host to a one-race shootout to decide what was the closest Sprint Cup Championship Chase in NASCAR history. Denny Hamlin entered Ford Championship Weekend with a 15-point lead over four-time reigning Champion Johnson and just a 46-point margin over Kevin Harvick.
    It all ends here. This year, Homestead-Miami Speedway will crown NASCAR’s Champions for the 10th consecutive year during Ford Championship weekend.
How the Championship Contenders have done at Homestead-Miami Speedway:
     Stewart: In 12 starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Stewart has two wins (1999, 2000) along with three Top 5 and six Top 10 finishes. He has 0 DNF (did not finish) results and has led 385 of 3209 laps. His average starting position is 14.4 with a finishing position of 12.4.
    Edwards: In seven starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Edwards has two wins (2008, 2010) along with four Top 5 and six Top 10 finishes. He has 0 DNF (did not finish) results and has led 385 of 3209 laps. His average starting position is 13.4 with a finishing position of 5.7.
Source: Homestead Miami Speedway

Stewart continues Chase run with Texas win
Edwards finishes second, but sees lead shrink to just three points
FORT WORTH, Texas 1`1/6/2011: -- Tony Stewart backed up his smack talk with a convincing victory in Sunday's AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the eighth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
    With his fourth victory in the Chase and the 43rd of his career, Stewart put a dent in runner-up Carl Edwards' series lead, scoring maximum points (48) to trim Edwards' advantage from eight to three points with two races left in the season.
    Kasey Kahne ran third, followed by Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
    Stewart had led 142 laps by the time Joey Logano's Toyota dropped oil on the backstretch on Lap 261 of 334, causing the fourth caution of the race. Edwards, Stewart and the five cars behind took right-side tires only on Lap 263.
    Edwards got a huge jump on the restart on Lap 267 and pulled away to a lead of more than one second before NASCAR called the fifth caution on Lap 270 for debris in Turn 3. The first 13 cars stayed out under the yellow, and Stewart stayed with Edwards on a restart on Lap 275, moving around the No. 99 Ford to the outside.
    Notes: Subbing for Kyle Busch, who was parked by NASCAR for wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution in Friday's truck race at Texas, Michael McDowell finished 33rd, three laps down. ... Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman were eliminated from title contention.
Source: NASCAR

NASCAR: Kyle Busch apoligizes for his actions in Texas
    The following is a letter written by Kyle Busch to his fans, sponsors, teammates, competitors and fellow members of the racing community.
To all,
    I've had a lot of time today to sit and reflect, and try to put my thoughts into words as best I can.
    I want to sincerely apologize for my actions during Friday night's Truck Series race at Texas.
    I apologize to my fans, all my sponsors, everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports.
    After talking with my team, it's great to have their support and encouragement to assure me that there are better days ahead. Even though this took place while driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, I am sorry for how difficult this has been for everyone associated with Joe Gibbs Racing's Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series teams.
      I'd also like to apologize to Ron Hornaday Jr., and everyone associated with the No. 33 team in the Truck Series.
    I understand why I was taken out of the car for the rest of the weekend. NASCAR officials had to act, and I accept their punishment and take full responsibility for my actions.
    As a racecar driver, the hardest thing to do is to sit on the sidelines listening to cars on the track when you know you should be out there competing. For this, I have no one to blame but myself.
    Through a lot of support from the people around me, I feel like I've made a lot of strides this year, but this was certainly a step backward. Moving forward, I will do everything I possibly can to represent everyone involved in a positive manner. However, I know my long-term actions will have more of a bearing than anything I say right now.
Sincerely,
Kyle Busch
Source: Kyle Busch Motorsports

Busch out at Texas.  Driver parked for remainder of racing weekend for Truck Series actions
November 05, 2011: NASCAR took an unprecedented step Saturday morning at Texas Motor Speedway when it parked Kyle Busch for his remaining two races for "aggressive driving" in Friday night's Camping World Truck Series race.
    Even though NASCAR has a small history of parking drivers across two series' lines for egregious actions, a penalty affecting all three national series has never been levied.
    The penalty also was unique in that on Friday night, Busch was driving for his own Kyle Busch Motorsports team, while earlier Friday, Busch qualified Joe Gibbs Racing cars 17th for Sunday's Sprint Cup race and second for Saturday's Nationwide race.
    NASCAR president Mike Helton met with the media for a little more than 10 minutes just after 8:45 a.m. local time and said a group of NASCAR officials had met "15 or 20 minutes ago" in the NASCAR office trailer with Busch and his Cup and Nationwide series owners, Joe and J.D. Gibbs.
    Michael McDowell, who previously has driven Nationwide cars for JGR, practiced Busch's car in Saturday's opening Cup practice. Josh Wise, who will start 42nd in the Nationwide O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge, practiced McDowell's regular Cup car, the No. 66 Toyota of HP Racing.
    Friday night's incident began when Busch and Truck Series championship contender Ron Hornaday, while racing for second and third positions on Lap 14, made contact in Turns 1 and 2. The caution flew and Busch ran into Hornaday in Turn 3, then turned Hornaday head-on into the outside wall.
     NASCAR immediately parked Busch and continued that process Saturday morning by invoking Section 9-12 in its rule book, which states, "A NASCAR Supervisory Official may direct a Competitor to cease competition, to leave the racing premises, or to bring the car to the pit and/or garage area for a specified number of laps, and/or a specified time penalty, for the balance of the Race, or future NASCAR Races, if it is necessary to do so in order to promote the orderly conduct of the NASCAR Event(s). Such a directive will be given only in extraordinary circumstances, as determined by the NASCAR Supervisory Officials. It will not be deemed or construed to be a disqualification, suspension or other "penalty" within the meaning of Section 12 and is not appealable under that Section."
    The two most notable previous occurrences of cross-series sanctions were in 2002, when Kevin Harvick was parked from a Sunday Cup race at Martinsville Speedway for actions in Saturday's Truck race. In 2007, Robby Gordon was parked for a Sunday Cup race at Pocono Raceway for his actions in Saturday's [Nationwide] event in Montreal.
Source: NASCAR.com

Stewart passes Johnson for third Chase victory
MARTINSVILLE, Va. October 30, 2011 -- Tony Stewart passed Jimmie Johnson on a restart with three laps left in Sunday's Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway and held off Johnson's desperate bid for the win on the final lap.
     The victory was Stewart's third in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and vaulted him into second place in the standings, eight points behind leader Carl Edwards. Stewart won for the 42nd time in his career.
   "He'd better be worried," Stewart said of Edwards after the race. "That's all I can say. He's not going to have an easy three weeks."
     There are three races left in the Cup season -- at Texas, Phoenix and Homestead. Stewart has four Cup wins at those tracks, Edwards six.
     Miraculously, after twice being lapped on the race track, Edwards salvaged a decent run and retained his lead in the Chase standings with a ninth-place finish, as his two closest pursuers entering the race, Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski, both experienced late trouble and finished 31st and 17th, respectively.
    Edwards also brushed out Stewart's trash talk.
    "He's wound up -- he won the race," Edwards said. "We'll see what happens at Texas. I feel like we're going to go there and we're going to have as good a shot to win as anyone. This track [Martinsville] has been really, really tough for me.
    "Tony and those guys have obviously won three Chase races. When I sat in here on Friday [in the media center], I told you guys that I thought he was one of the guys that could win this race and be a guy that you have to beat for the championship, and he's proven that. We'll have fun. We'll go race hard. They're going to have to race us, too. I'm excited about the next three races."
    Stewart's response? "I don't care what he says. We're going to go after him for the next three weeks."
    Jeff Gordon ran third followed by Kevin Harvick, who climbed to third in the standings, 21 points behind Edwards. Denny Hamlin came home fifth, with Jeff Burton sixth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. seventh.
    Stewart brought his car to the pits under caution on Lap 416, thinking he might have a flat tire from contact with Harvick's Chevrolet after a Lap 413 restart. Stewart was 21st when the field took the green flag on Lap 420, but a two-tire call during a caution on Lap 459 got the No. 14 Chevrolet off pit road in the fifth position for a restart on Lap 463.
    By the time Brian Vickers wrecked for the fifth time to bring out the 18th and final caution -- three short of the track record -- Stewart had worked his way to second in time for the three-lap run to the finish.
    Johnson led the field to the restart on Lap 498 of 500, but Stewart managed to beat him from the outside. Johnson said he thought about leaning on Stewart through the first corner but thought better of it.
    "When I was inside of Tony, I went down in the corner and thought that eight tires would be a lot better than four," said Johnson, who trimmed seven points off his deficit to Edwards and is now 43 behind. "I changed my mind. With where he is in the points, what's going on, the fact we raced throughout the day today, [and] he never touched me, I had a hard time doing that."
    "I think it would have been great," interjected Gordon.
    "Jeff probably would have won the race if I would have done it," Johnson said. "I couldn't bring myself to do that. He got by. I tried to be smart. That's typically how I race guys. I don't run over people to get positions."
    After a wild first half of the race had settled into a 97-lap green-flag run after the midpoint, Hamlin squeezed past Gordon on Lap 320 and stayed out front in traffic until David Gilliland's spin caused the 10th caution of the race.
    That started a spate of cautions that gave Harvick and Stewart a chance to move to the front with two-tire calls -- and allowed Edwards to return to the lead lap under the 12th caution with a free pass for the highest-scored car one lap down.
     At the drivers' meeting before the race, NASCAR announced that any driver intentionally causing a caution by stopping on the racetrack will be penalized three laps. The rule is in effect for at least the rest of the season, though the number of laps could vary according to the size of the race track.
Source: NASCAR

Richard Childress Racing Reaches 100th Win
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 23, 2011) – With its sixth victory of the 2011 season, by Clint Bowyer at Talladega Superspeedway, Richard Childress Racing reached historic NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win No. 100, a major milestone in the storied history of one of NASCAR’s most prolific teams. It was the team’s 12th win at Talladega, which puts it atop the all-time wins list at the historic track.
    Richard Childress Racing started its trek to the top of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 1969, as a single-car team with its driver also its owner. Richard Childress paired his business acumen with driving skills that produced results. Childress finished his driving career with six top fives and 76 top 10s.
    But it was when Childress took the back seat that Richard Childress Racing exploded. It earned its first win in 1983 at Riverside International Raceway with driver Ricky Rudd. A year later, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt joined the organization fulltime, and the rest – as they say – is history.
    Earnhardt won six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships and 67 races while flying the Richard Childress flag.
     Now, the team has reached another milestone, and another accolade – 100 victories. RCR has won with seven different drivers, at 22 different tracks. Below is a timeline of Childress’ notable and milestone victories on its way to 100:
1 – On June 5, 1983 at Riverside, Ricky Rudd earned RCR’s its first victory. He led 57 laps in the event.
11 – RCR won its first Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, on May 25, 1986 with Dale Earnhardt driving.
23 – RCR won its first Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. On Sept. 6, 1987, Dale Earnhardt led 109 laps en route to his own milestone – victory No. 30.
50 – On July 3, 1993, Earnhardt won the Daytona International Speedway night race. He led 110 laps for his 57th career victory.
59 – RCR won its first Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On Aug. 5, 1995, Earnhardt won the second running of the Brickyard 400. RCR has won three Brickyard 400s in all, with Earnhardt, Kevin Harvick in 2003 and Paul Menard in 2011.
64 – RCR won its first Daytona 500. In an emotional – and memorable – victory, Dale Earnhardt finally reached Daytona 500 Victory Lane on Feb. 15, 1998. It took Earnhardt 20 tries to get there.
84 – RCR won its second Daytona 500, with Kevin Harvick on Feb. 18, 2007.
Source. NASCAR Media

Bowyer Slingshots Past Burton For Talladega Win
By Reid Spencer Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(October 23, 2011) TALLADEGA, Ala.—It was a swan song for a lame duck.  Clint Bowyer surged past Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton through the tri-oval on the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway to win Sunday’s Good Sam Club 500.
     Bowyer, who will leave RCR for Michael Waltrip Racing next season, beat Burton to the finish line by .018 seconds to record his first victory of the season and the fifth of his career.
    Dave Blaney, pushed by Brad Keselowski, ran third, with Keselowski taking the flag in fourth in a race that saw only five drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup finish in the top 24.
    Red Bull Racing teammates Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne finished fifth and six, followed by Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Michael Waltrip and Martin Truex Jr. Carl Edwards came home 11th and extended his lead in the Chase to 14 points over Matt Kenseth, who finished 18th.
    A six-car wreck on Lap 104 did major damage to the Chase chances of Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. As the lead pack of cars sped through the tri-oval, a push from Marcos Ambrose turned Richard Petty Motorsports teammate AJ Allmendinger, triggering a crash that crumpled the hood of Harvick’s Chevrolet and knocked in the driver’s side of Busch’s Toyota.
    Harvick lost two laps during multiple pit stops to repair his car, and Busch spent 11 laps in the garage before bringing his hobbled car back on track on Lap 118.
    Two early incidents broke up potent drafting combinations. On Lap 67, Joey Logano spun off Turn 4 in close quarters with Trevor Bayne, who was trying to get to pit road. Before Logano could complete another lap, his left front tire exploded, destroying the left front fender of his Toyota.
     That left Busch, who had been drafting with Logano, to pair up with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin, a prospect considered so unlikely before the race that the organization hadn’t established radio channels that would allow Busch, Hamlin and their spotters and crew chiefs to communicate freely.
     Stewart lost his partner, teammate Ryan Newman, when Newman spun off Stewart’s bumper in the tri-oval. With heavy front-end damage, Newman lost a lap on pit road as his team repaired the car and two more laps on the racetrack before taking his car to the garage after 97 laps.
     Coincidentally, Stewart then teamed with Logano, who was driving the No. 20 Home Depot car that carried Stewart to Cup championships in 2002 and 2005. Logano pushed Stewart to the lead on Lap 101, before the pileup in Turn 1 on Lap 104 ended the brief partnership between Hamlin and Busch and changed the complexion of the race and the Chase.
Source: NASCAR Media

Martin leads strong Hendrick effort in 'Dega quals
October 22, 2011 7:29 PM, EDT   If Sunday's Good Sam Club 500 at Talladega Superspeedway goes the same way Saturday's qualifying session did, Rick Hendrick should have an excellent chance to pick up his 200th Sprint Cup victory.
    Mark Martin paced four Hendrick cars in the top six starting spots, posting a lap of 181.367 mph (52.799 seconds) to win the pole for the sixth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Martin narrowly edged teammate and five-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson (181.360 mph) by two thousandths of a second.
    The Coors Light pole award was Martin's second of the season and the 51st of his career, eighth on the all-time list.
    "I really want to make sure that I give 100 percent of the credit to, first, the organization of Hendrick Motorsports for the incredible work that they do on restrictor-plate racing cars," Martin said. "But also [crew chief] Lance McGrew and the GoDaddy.com team took the same parts and pieces that the three teammates had and managed to put down just a little bit quicker lap.
    "It is a competition. Someone asked me [Friday] about the pole, and I said, 'Yes, sir, we're going for it.' It's a competition, too, and we try to win every single competition there is, no matter what it is. Of course, the race is a bigger, more important competition, but this is still for pride -- and I'm proud of my team for the great work they have done."
    Daytona 500 winner and Ford driver Trevor Bayne (181.011 mph) qualified fourth as the only non-Chevrolet driver in the top seven. Clint Bowyer will start third after a lap at 181.243 mph. Jeff Gordon (180.918 mph) qualified fifth, followed by Hendrick teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. (180.905 mph).
    Chase leader Carl Edwards will start ninth. Other Chase drivers are as follows: Ryan Newman 10th, Matt Kenseth 11th, Tony Stewart 12th, Kevin Harvick 13th, Kurt Busch 14th, Brad Keselowski 16th, Denny Hamlin 31st and Kyle Busch 34th.
    Bayne was delighted to drive the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford at another restrictor-plate track.
    "I think that shows how much work the 21 guys put into these cars, and they do a great job on the superspeedways, and the work shows up here," Bayne said. "It's all about speed, and our car has it."
    Geoffrey Bodine, Scott Speed, T.J. Bell and Josh Wise failed to qualify for the 43-car field.
Source: NASCAR

Kenseth outruns Busch for Charlotte victory
Former champ asserts his position in Chase; Johnson knocked out by late wreck
CONCORD, N.C. -- Spare Matt Kenseth the toilet humor. October 16, 2011 12:58 AM, EDT The driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford was delighted to win Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway with new sponsor Fluidmaster on his car -- make that with any sponsor on his car.
    In a race that saw five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson suffer a Chase-changing accident in the final 20 laps, Kenseth pulled away from Kyle Busch and teammate Carl Edwards during a 12-lap run to the finish and notched his third victory of the season and the 21st of his career.
    Kenseth finished .968 seconds ahead of Busch, with Edwards coming home in third, miffed by the way Busch raced in Turn 2 as the two were contesting second place in the closing laps.
    Kenseth climbed to third in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings halfway through NASCAR's 10-race playoff in an event that was as much an audition as a triumph for the 2003 Cup champion. With Crown Royal leaving as primary sponsor of his car after the current season, Kenseth needs financial backing for next year.
     That's why he didn't mind the puns about Fluidmaster, which makes systems designed to conserve water when toilets are flushed.
    "After all the toilet jokes about my restarts, we finally got a good one today," said Kenseth, who got the jump on Busch on the last restart of the race, on Lap 323 of 334. "Thankfully, we got a good one there at the end.
    "Crown Royal -- it's not too late to come back. We don't have any sponsors for next year, so this should be a good audition. And Fluidmaster for being on this week -- it was a great night for us."
    Kenseth is seven points behind Edwards, who expanded his Chase lead to five points over sixth-place finisher Kevin Harvick.
     "That's good, but it only matters where you are in the last lap at Homestead [in the season finale]. But it's been a great five races, and it feels great to win."
     Busch, who led a race-high 111 laps, wasn't elated with second, but considering that he started at the rear of the field after an engine change, Busch had reason to feel encouraged.
     "It was the best run we've had here in a while, but we still came up short," Busch said. "We've got to keep finishing like this. It's not that hard. We finally finished where we ran -- except we didn't. We still lost a position, which is four points essentially, because you get three bonus points for winning a race.
    "It's frustrating, but we'll take it, and if we can finish second here on out, we might win this deal."
     Edwards was upset by the line Busch took as they raced for second after the final restart -- and Edwards told Busch as much after the race.
     "We should definitely be racing each other hard," Edwards said. "It's just that there's a difference between racing hard and then cutting across a guy's nose.
    "What I told Kyle is I just wonder why, coming off of Turn 2 when I got underneath him, that he drove down instead of going up to the wall like we would normally do. And I just let him know that next time that happens, I'll just stay where I'm at and he can drive across my hood and wreck himself.
    "It just surprised me. Now he told me that he didn't mean to do it, and so I got to believe that, but I don't know what else there is to say about it. Just it's racing, and we didn't wreck, and we're going to race hard like that -- that's just how I saw it."
    Busch had his own explanation.
    "I got loose, and it was steering me down the track instead of my butt going up the track, and I was just trying to hold on and not do anything. Then I side-drafted him to stay alongside of him down the backstretch, and that was it. I was trying to keep my position."
    Running in close quarters with Ryan Newman on Lap 316, Johnson slid sideways and slammed nose-first into the Turn 2 wall. With a 34th-place finish, Johnson fell from third to eighth in the standings, 35 points behind Edwards.
    "I'm OK -- that one stung for sure," Johnson said after the wreck. "Just thankful to have safe race cars, safe walls, softer walls, and everything did its job. Pretty big impact. Unfortunate that we wrecked. We got into Turn 1 and the 39 [Newman] was real tight on my outside and pulled me around. From there on I was just hanging on."
    Johnson's hopes for a sixth consecutive title may have started circling the bowl -- and that's a toilet joke Kenseth might actually enjoy.
Souce: NASCAR

Chevrolet wins NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Manufacturers’ Cup for ninth year running
Title is 35th for Chevrolet since 1950

DETROIT – (Oct. 9, 2011) – Jimmie Johnson, with his win in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, clinched the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Manufacturers’ Cup for Chevrolet, which now has won the title 35 times.
    “Chevrolet is a huge partner at Hendrick Motorsports,” said Johnson. “We're a marketing tool for them, and the fact that we're out winning on Sundays will hopefully sell cars on Monday, like we've always discussed. It's a proud moment for myself. All I've ever raced is a Chevrolet, so to be part of them winning another manufacturer's championship means a lot to me personally, and I'm a Chevy dealer. Rick (Hendrick) obviously has a lot of dealerships, and the pride that what we do on the racetrack and how we carry ourselves, how we win races and championships, we can feel that energy in the store. It really does help the brand. So happy to do it.”
    Chevrolet won its first Manufacturers’ Cup in 1958, and now with the 2011 Cup secured, Chevrolet has equaled its previous run of nine consecutive titles achieved in 1983-1991.
    "Chevrolet is extremely proud of winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Manufacturers' Cup for the 35th time," said Jim Campbell, US Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. "This is an accomplishment that requires tireless dedication from everyone who is involved - drivers, team owners, crew chiefs, team members and engineers, as well as the dedicated professionals who contribute to our program. And, we certainly appreciate the support we’ve received from all of our fans and customers as Chevrolet wins its ninth consecutive title.” Mark Kent, Director, GM Racing, was also thrilled with this achievement. “Winning the 2011 Manufacturers’ Championship in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the ninth time in a row is an amazing feat for our outstanding teams, drivers, and owners,” said Kent. “It is also a remarkable accomplishment for our motorsports engineers here as we record our 35th Manufacturers’ Cup. We proudly congratulate and salute all who contributed to this award-winning effort.”
     With six races remaining on the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, seven different drivers have contributed to Chevrolet’s 14 victories this year: Kevin Harvick (four), Jeff Gordon (three), Jimmie Johnson (two), Tony Stewart (two) and, Paul Menard, Ryan Newman and Regan Smith (one apiece).
    The 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup battle heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the 31st race of the season. Harvick sits second in the standings, just one point out of the lead. Johnson jumped to the third position, only three points behind Harvick.
    Chevrolet drivers have won 27 championships, including each of the last six (Tony Stewart, 2005; Jimmie Johnson, 2006-10). Chevrolet’s first drivers’ championship was won by Buck Baker in 1957.
Source: Team Chevy Racing press release

Johnson dominates the field for victory at Kansas
Scores second win of 2011, now third in standings as Edwards takes top spot
  KANSAS CITY, Kan October 09, 2011:  Jimmie Johnson answered all questions about his readiness to contend for a sixth consecutive Sprint Cup title with a dominating performance in Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
    Johnson held off hard-charging Kasey Kahne in a green-white-checkered finish set up by Jeff Gordon's blown engine on Lap 265. Johnson beat Kahne to the finish line by .548 seconds in a race that went five laps past its scheduled distance of 267 laps.
     The victory was Johnson's second of the season, the 55th of his career and the 20th in 74 career Chase races. He left Kansas tied with Rusty Wallace for eighth on the all-time Cup win list.
    Brad Keselowski came home third, followed by Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards, who salvaged a top-five finish despite falling a lap down earlier in the event.
    A caution for debris on Lap 205 ended a green-flag run that began with a restart on Lap 90 and included two rounds of green-flag pit stops. Before the yellow flew, Johnson had built a lead of more than 12 seconds over second-place Tony Stewart, and Edwards, Chase co-leader entering the event, had fallen one lap down in 16th position.
     Edwards got his lap back, however, when Landon Cassill's spin through the tri-oval grass on Lap 220 brought out the fourth caution. Edwards got a free pass back to the lead lap as the highest-scored driver one lap down. Pit stops under the yellow with 47 laps left took fuel conservation out of the equation.
Source: NASCAR Media

Restarts golden as Busch wins Dover shootout
Busch, runner-up Johnson each gain five spots in Chase; Harvick, Edwards lead

DOVER, Del. October 02, 2011 -- Thank you, Kurt Busch said, after screw-ups by Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards put Busch in position to win Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.
    While Busch celebrated his second victory of the season and the 24th of his career in Victory Lane at the Monster Mile, runner-up Johnson and third-place Edwards sat in the nearby media center castigating themselves in the post-race news conference.
    Johnson stumbled on the last two restarts of the race, allowing Busch to take and retain a lead he held for the final 42 laps. Edwards trashed his own winning chances by speeding on pit road in a timed section he and crew chief Bob Osborne had discussed specifically before the race.
    In a sense, though, all three drivers were winners. Busch, Johnson and Edwards took advantage of the struggles of Tony Stewart, who led the series after wins in the first two races of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
    Fighting the handling of his No. 14 Chevrolet throughout the afternoon, Stewart lost his advantage in the standings by finishing 25th, two laps down. That left Edwards and 10th-place finisher Kevin Harvick tied for the series lead, with Stewart and Busch each nine points back and Johnson alone in fifth, 13 points behind Harvick and Edwards.
    Kasey Kahne ran fourth Sunday, followed by Chase drivers Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch. A.J. Allmendinger, Clint Bowyer, Marcos Ambrose and Harvick completed the top 10.
    Busch and Johnson, who had tangled at Pocono and Richmond during NASCAR's 26-race regular season, raced each other cleanly Sunday with Chase points on the line.
     For Busch, the victory was redemption after a frustrating 22nd-place finish a week earlier at New Hampshire.
    "It was just perfect execution today, with pit stops and with making the car better during the race," Busch said. "I couldn't be happier right now. To win a Sprint Cup race in the Chase, this is what it's all about. This is the playoffs.  "We had everything go wrong for us last week. We had everything go right for us this week. We just need nice smooth races from here."
    Johnson passed Harvick for the lead on Lap 195 and began to assert his dominance. With crew chief Chad Knaus adjusting the No. 48 Chevrolet to rapidly changing track conditions, Johnson was the class of the field.
   It helped Johnson's cause that his primary opposition had issues on pit road. Edwards, who led 116 laps before Johnson took over, received his first speeding penalty in the Cup Series this season after a green-flag stop on Lap 245.
    Edwards spun his tires after shifting from first to second gear and, thinking he needed to go faster, sped up as he exited pit road -- too much according to NASCAR timing and scoring. It wasn't until Lap 300, when J.J. Yeley's Ford smacked the wall to bring out the eighth caution, that Edwards' No. 99 Ford got a free pass back to the lead lap as the highest-scored lapped car.
    "It was a great day, other than that feeling I had when I ruined it there on pit road," Edwards said. "That's about as small as you can feel in a race car. We talked about it before the race. We looked at the pit-road speeding lines and that last line. ... Bob and I actually discussed the last section. It's 25 feet, 8 inches long, and we talked about that run and how I was not going to speed through it, and I just blasted right through it.
    "We were very, very fortunate. As frustrated as I am with myself for messing that up, I'm really, really grateful for the gift that was given to us with that caution and the ability to come back up there. And the other thing that was really important to me was my guys sticking behind me, because they had every right to be really, really upset with me. So it ended up being a good finish."
     Johnson led from the restart on Lap 306 until Mike Bliss spun off Turn 2 to cause the ninth caution, but Busch grabbed the top spot moments after a restart on Lap 359 and kept Johnson at bay until Greg Biffle's collision with the frontstretch wall on Lap 361 brought out caution No. 10.
     On Lap 366, Busch once more got away from Johnson on the restart and maintained a margin of five car-lengths as Edwards surged past Kahne into third place on Lap 370.
    "I did a really good job, up until those last two [restarts]," Johnson said. "I have to say, when you're the leader, you have a small advantage, because you go when you want. I blew it by spinning the tires. Kurt got a good launch, and we were door to door going into [Turn] 1, and he was able to get by on the outside.
    "And then the next one, I was going to try to do that same thing back to him, and I was just trying to time it when he was going to accelerate. And I didn't time it right. And I had too big of a gap, and fell in behind him going into Turn 1.
   "I put it on me, because the starts I had earlier in the day, regardless of the lane, leading or not -- I cleared them typically going into 1 so, it's on me."
Source: NASCAR.com

NASCAR Announces 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Schedule
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 28, 2011) – NASCAR announced today the 2012 schedule for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, with a lineup featuring a number of adjustments from the 2011 edition.

    "We believe the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule will once again provide fans with what they’ve come to expect every season – the world’s most exciting and competitive form of motorsports," said Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO. "Next year’s schedule has a few adjustments that we think will be good for the fans and good for the overall flow of the season. One thing will remain constant, however, and that’s the intense competition we see week in and week out from our drivers and race teams."
    One of those adjustments takes place during NASCAR’s playoffs – the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – and could affect the strategy during the championship run. Talladega Superspeedway’s Chase event moves up two weeks to Oct. 7, becoming the fourth race in the Chase. Often labeled as the wild-card track in the Chase, Talladega’s grueling test is now staged during the first half of the Chase.
    Talladega swaps its Chase date with Kansas Speedway (Oct. 21) to accommodate Kansas’ repave, scheduled for after the track’s spring event. As such, Kansas’ spring date has also been moved. Kansas now will be the eighth race of the season on April 22. Talladega’s spring event moves to May 6, and Dover International Speedway’s spring event returns to its traditional spot on June 3.
    As previously announced, the season-opening Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway will start one week later with the running of the preseason "non-points" Shootout at Daytona on Feb. 18. The 54th annual Daytona 500 will run on Feb. 26.
    The race dates for Phoenix International Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway have likewise been moved a week later, to March 4 and March 11, respectively.
Two other featured adjustments to the 2012 schedule:
Texas Motor Speedway’s spring date will be moved to April 14, to accommodate the traditional open week for the Easter holiday.
Daytona’s summer event and Kentucky Speedway’s race will swap weekends in 2012, as the July 4th holiday falls mid-week next year. Kentucky’s race will be June 30; Daytona will run on July 7.
    As in past years, FOX will broadcast the first 13 races of next year’s schedule. TNT will follow, broadcasting the next six. ESPN/ABC will broadcast the final 17 events. Race start times will be announced at a later date.
    NASCAR will also release the 2012 schedules for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at a later date.

2012 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES SCHEDULE

Date Site Network
2/18 Daytona International Speedway (Shootout) FOX
2/19 Daytona International Speedway (Daytona 500 Qualifying) FOX
2/23 Daytona International Speedway (Duel) SPEED
2/26 Daytona 500 FOX
3/4 Phoenix International Raceway FOX
3/11 Las Vegas Motor Speedway FOX
3/18 Bristol Motor Speedway FOX
3/25 Auto Club Speedway FOX
4/1 Martinsville Speedway FOX
4/14 Texas Motor Speedway FOX
4/22 Kansas Speedway FOX
4/28 Richmond International Raceway FOX
5/6 Talladega Superspeedway FOX
5/12 Darlington Raceway FOX
5/19 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (Charlotte Motor Speedway) SPEED
5/27 Charlotte Motor Speedway FOX
6/3 Dover International Speedway FOX
6/10 Pocono Raceway TNT
6/17 Michigan International Speedway TNT
6/24 Infineon Raceway TNT
6/30 Kentucky Speedway TNT
7/7 Daytona International Speedway TNT
7/15 New Hampshire Motor Speedway TNT
7/29 Indianapolis Motor Speedway ESPN
8/5 Pocono Raceway ESPN
8/12 Watkins Glen International ESPN
8/19 Michigan International Speedway ESPN
8/25 Bristol Motor Speedway ABC
9/2 Atlanta Motor Speedway ESPN
9/8 Richmond International Raceway ABC
9/16 Chicagoland Speedway ESPN
9/23 New Hampshire Motor Speedway ESPN
9/30 Dover International Speedway ESPN
10/7 Talladega Superspeedway ESPN
10/13 Charlotte Motor Speedway ABC
10/21 Kansas Speedway ESPN
10/28 Martinsville Speedway ESPN
11/4 Texas Motor Speedway ESPN
11/11 Phoenix International Raceway ESPN
11/18 Homestead-Miami Speedway ESPN

NASCAR: Sprint Cup Loudon 300 race report
Stewart makes it two in a row with New Hampshire win
LOUDON, N.H.— September 25, 2011 -- After climbing from his winning car Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Tony Stewart made the understatement of the year.
     "We’ve got a shot at this thing," said Stewart, who by taking the checkered flag in the Sylvania 300 became the second driver to win the first two races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in the same year.
    In a dramatic reversal of fortune, Stewart won the race—and grabbed a seven-point lead in the Cup standings over 12th-place finisher Kevin Harvick—when Clint Bowyer ran out of fuel with fewer than three laps to go.
    "If that’s not a flip-flop from last year, I don’t know what is," Stewart radioed to crew chief Darian Grubb after crossing the finish line.
    Stewart led last year’s Chase race at the Magic Mile but handed the victory to Bowyer when he ran out of fuel on the final lap.
   With his second straight victory, his second of the season and the 41st of his career, Stewart has more than a shot at the title. The 2002 and 2005 Cup champion, who downplayed his own chances entering NASCAR’s 10-race playoff, now has to be considered the favorite.
    Brad Keselowski parlayed pit strategy into a second-place run, and Greg Biffle, who won the first two Chase races in 2008, came home third, followed by Jeff Gordon and Brian Vickers. Matt Kenseth, David Ragan, Carl Edwards, Juan Pablo Montoya and Regan Smith completed the top 10.
     "I know exactly how (Bowyer) feels right now," Stewart said. "I saw him slow down down the back, and I thought, ‘Oh, no, you’re kidding me.’ That’s not the way you want to win, but we’re in the Chase now, and we’ve got to get everything we can get."
    Bowyer failed to complete the final two laps and finished 26th.
    A caution for Landon Cassill’s spin on Lap 156 played right into Gordon’s hands just past the halfway point in the 300-lap race. By putting off their pit stops as long as possible, Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin and Ragan were the only drivers on the lead lap when the yellow flag flew.
    Gordon, who led a race-high 78 laps, Martin and Ragan came to pit road on Lap 158, giving them the latitude to finish the race on one more stop. The caution also benefited Keselowski, who had pitted before the caution on Lap 154 but within a one-stop window.
    A long cycle of green-flag stops that began with Kahne’s visit to pit road on Lap 217 shuffled the running order. Kahne was the leader on Lap 247 but soon surrendered the top spot to Bowyer, who had stopped on Lap 226.
    With 40 laps left, Bowyer—in fuel conservation mode—led Stewart, Gordon, Kahne and Biffle, with Martin, Keselowski, Ragan, Denny Hamlin and Montoya chasing. Hamlin, who also ran out of fuel, finished 29th.
    Keselowski felt his team got maximum performance out of a car that probably would not have run second if fuel consumption hadn’t been a factor. Keselowski, now third in the standings and 11 points behind Stewart, also marveled at how far he has come in a short time.
    "It’s funny, because 10 races ago, we left Loudon here 23rd in points," Keselowski said. "Who’d have ever thought we’d be third in 10 weeks? It’s been a good road to travel down the last few weeks, and today was no exception.
    "We weren’t the fastest car—I’d be lying if I tried to tell you we were—but we made good adjustments to our car, got it to where it was a good, solid top-10 car and drove up to fourth or fifth there with 100 to go, 80 to go, whatever that was. … All in all, I felt like we earned the majority of our good fortune."
    With eight race left in the Chase, only three drivers—Harvick, Keselowski and Edwards (14 points back)—are within 20 points of Stewart.

News - NSCS Race Recap: Harvick Wins; Earnhardt, Stewart, Hamlin Clinch Chase Spots
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service (September 10, 2011)
   RICHMOND, Va.—As far as the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup was concerned, nothing changed during Kevin Harvick’s victory in Saturday night’s Wonderful Pistachios 400 at Richmond International Raceway—but what happened between the green flag and the checkered flag was astounding.
   For the record, Harvick won his fourth race of the season and the 18th of his career as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin secured the final Chase spots they held provisionally entering the race—but not without considerable angst in the process.  Harvick beat Jeff Gordon out of the pits after a stop under caution on Lap 385 of 400 and drove away from the four-time champion. Carl Edwards passed Gordon for the second spot and challenged Harvick for the win, but Edwards ran out of time, finishing .139 seconds back.
   With four victories each, Harvick and Kyle Busch are the top seeds for this year’s Chase.  "The guys on pit road had just a great last pit stop and were able to get us the track position," Harvick said. "I struggled on the restarts getting going with the (gear) ratios that we had, so to be in control of that last restart I felt was pretty important, to get going.  "That last run there, we were actually too tight—Carl was actually a little bit better—and then, with about three or four laps to go, I just locked it on the bottom and hoped for the best there. So it all worked out."
   Gordon ran third, followed by David Ragan and Kurt Busch. Kyle Busch, Stewart, Ryan Newman, Hamlin and Mark Martin completed the top 10.
   Edwards led 113 laps and dominated the middle stages of the race but lost track position when he failed to pit with other lead-lap cars under caution on Lap 310.  "I don’t know why we didn’t pit," Edwards said. "I think (crew chief) Bob (Osborne) thought that there was going to be another caution. We were kind of getting caution after caution (a track-record-tying 15 cautions for 85 laps, all told), and we just thought more guys would stay out.  "We were still running third when the next caution came out (on Lap 384), and we still should have had … I should have been able to win that race. I just didn’t get a good enough restart, didn’t get by Jeff to have a lap or two once I got to Kevin. We learned a lesson."
   This race had everything, far beyond the dash to the finish. It had a heroic effort from Hamlin, who recovered from a hard hit on Lap 8 to secure a spot in the Chase for the sixth straight year.
   It had suspense, as Earnhardt, his Chevrolet also damaged in that Lap 8 wreck, fought hard to hang on to a position in the top 10 in the standings—and succeeded when attrition turned the numbers in his favor.  "We just kept working it and trying to fix the car," said Earnhardt, who finished 16th and wound up 10th in the standings. "It was tore up pretty bad in the front end, had a lot of camber, was really loose in (into the corners) and wouldn’t turn in the middle.  "But we worked on it and worked on it. … I’m proud to be in the Chase. I feel like I’m a good enough driver to be in the Chase—my team is good enough to be there."
   It featured a solid job from Stewart, who stayed out of trouble to qualify for the Chase for the seventh time.
   It saw a renewal of the Kurt Busch-Jimmie Johnson rivalry, as the drivers took turns knocking each other into the Turn 2 wall. Busch got the better of the exchange by far, coming home fifth to Johnson’s 31st.
  The race was not yet eight laps old when a massive pileup in Turn 3 sent shock waves through the brains of some of the most notable Chase hopefuls.  Racing side-by-side with polesitter David Reutimann, Clint Bowyer spun and stacked up the field behind him. Earnhardt’s Chevrolet plowed into Bowyer’s, and Hamlin, trying to protect his wild-card spot, slammed hard into the outside wall.  Hamlin lost a lap during a succession of pit stops but regained it with a free pass under a subsequent caution. When the field restarted on Lap 44, Hamlin was 39th and Earnhardt was 21st.  Both recovered, Hamlin in spectacular fashion, as his crew took advantage of 34 caution laps in the first 61 circuits to repair the No. 11 Toyota and prevent the front splitter from dragging the asphalt.  "It was amazing how we were able to battle back," Hamlin said. "This car is absolutely destroyed. Any other racetrack, we would be down 20 laps, but they just worked on it. It’s amazing how fast they got this car, considering the circumstances. We had to put an inch worth of packers (shims) in the right front, just to get (the splitter) off the ground."
   In addition to Harvick and Kyle Busch, seven other drivers went into Saturday’s race locked into the Chase: Johnson, Edwards, Gordon, Newman, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski.
   The 10-race Chase begins Sept. 18 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill
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