Tag: Kyle Busch

Three races down and on the heels of the fourth. So far it has been a run for Matt Kenseth with Jimmie Johnson squeezing in closer at Dover. Kenseth won the first two away from Richmond.

Dover was an interesting run as Johnson and nine other CHASE drivers filled the Top 10 at the checkers. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. started from the pole but could not overcome an early pit road mistake and was chasing the lead from that point on to finish 2nd. Jeff Gordon, the “Lucky 13th” following the MWR shake-up at Richmond, finished 4th. Kyle Busch finished 5th but remains in the number 3 slot for total points.

Jimmie Johnson and the Hendrick/Lowes #48 moved up to the #2 points slot, now sandwiched between Joe Gibbs Racing Kenseth and Kyle Busch.

Kansas is next up and Kevin Harvick will start from the front. Harvick and Gordon are both 39 points off the lead in 4th and 5th place in The CHASE.

Seven races remain, including Kansas. It is these next few, likely through the tough, little track at Martinsville at the end of the month, that can determine if the Top 3 remain as the main battle. However, luck and nerves can still shake it up. One or two bad races for some mixed with really good runs for others could see more drivers in the points squeeze moving forward. It would make for a good show for the fans if those points gaps tightened!

The race, and The CHASE, is ON! We’re looking forward to seeing it up close as they return to our neck of the woods at Martinsville. Until then, like you, we’ll be keeping an eye on who moves up, and back, over these next weeks.

Go Racing – We’ll see you there!

Chase For the NASCAR Sprint Cup Clinch Scenarios for Richmond

10 Drivers Vie for Five Remaining Spots (Compiled by NASCAR)

 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 2, 2013) – Below are the 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup clinch scenarios for Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway, the final race before the Chase field is set. Six drivers have clinched top-10 spots in the Chase: Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth. Kasey Kahne, on the strength of two wins, has clinched at least a Wild Card spot.

Four drivers control their top-10 clinching destiny. Regardless of the finishes of any other driver… (more…)

Road racing. It was a full weekend of road courses from cheap chumps all the way up the ladder to NASCAR.

Grand-Am and American Le Mans were at Road America which is interesting on several levels. The two series are combining for 2014 and running the same weekend showcased both series in action. They were still split over Saturday and Sunday but fans were shown both through the paddock, practices and racing.

NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup were racing Watkins Glen, the second road coarse on their schedule and the last for the season. There is still debate about a road course in “The Chase” but that is likely several laps away.

Grand-Am and NASCAR were given a bit of a shake for these races as Tony Stewart (Stewart-Haas #14) was injured earlier in the week in a sprint car rollover crash. This left the #14 without a driver at “The Glen” and points hole where Stewart was (11th before Watkins Glen). The rush to fill that seat landed on Max Papis who is currently driving Grand-Am but also has time in Sprint Cup cockpits. That left Papis’ seat as a fill-in at Road America which put Kenny Wilden in as a co-driver with Papis’ usual partner, Jeff Segal.

How did the replacements run? Segal and Wilden put the AIM Autosport Ferrari into a GT Class 4th place. Max Papis drove Stewart’s #14 to a 15th place finish which, all things considered, wasn’t too bad as he started 29th.

Kyle Busch won at “The Glen”. BMW was the big winner at Road America as Starworks put theirs in for the Prototype Class and Turner put theirs in for GT. (more…)

If you’ve ever wondered how they follow your favorite driver down the track at speed then it is likely, if you watched the Coca-Cola 600, that you now know…

The same answer also explains why your DVR does not have the last laps of the race…

A camera on cables and wheels is on a motorized pulley system that can run at speed with the cars down the track. The belt that drives the camera down the length snapped and the loose ends feel to the track slicing through the front of the #18 and tangling the drive and brakes of the #9.

Other cars may have experienced other damage from the downed belts and ropes which had to be gathered and removed from the racing area. NASCAR red-flagged the race but also set in motion a rare instance of allowing crews to check and fix their cars. Red flag rules keep teams from working but in this case the stop was unrelated to the racing and was a result of systems in place to show us the racing. (more…)

Jimmie Johnson won the Sprint All Star race. The five time Cup Champion took home the one million dollar prize with the #48 LOWE’S Chevy Crew and goes in the books as a four time winner of the event.

That about sums it up.

Except for the math of adding a million dollars to the ledger…

And the rain delay…  And two “rookies” on the grid…  And two brothers sharing the lead only to fall back…

There wasn’t much on the track for fans looking for chash-n-dash action. There was much hype coming in over rivalries and who might, or might not, bump another into a spin to make that final run for the checkered flag and the bank. For the most part, it was your typical “rubbin’ is racin” brand of driving. A few scraped or bounced or bumped but there wasn’t too much that will set the 2013 race into a “yeah, I was there!” memory. (more…)

Front Row Motorsports made the last lap run around to take the one and two spots at Talladega.

However, there was more going on at the Aaron’s 499. Some rain held it back. Some cars got tangled. Some tempers were tugged.

You could leave it at that as it sums up the day at Talladega. Everything else is just marbles next to the outside wall.

Or is it…?

The “Big One”, the Talladega Shuffle that seems to always come, happened early at lap 43 as Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne bumped and spun involving 14 other cars in the high speed bumper dance. Busch said over the radio it was his fault with the move on Kahne that set it in motion.

However, fast forward to the latter laps and you get the “Big One – The Sequel”. The #17 of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. scraped the wall bouncing J.J. Yelley into the #78 of Kurt Busch and the ride begun… (more…)

Are they really that much better?

And if so, do they have to still prove it?

The ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond International Raceway was a good race for the Cup drivers that ran it. Make no mistake. They ran it. Start to finish the front of the field was Sprint Cup.

Well, Elliott Sadler did get up and towed the field for a time and he is full time Nationwide but he also has a winning past with the Cup series. Sadler, however, is at least running the NW series full time so points matter for the #11.

The rest of the NW field was chasing for the 5th spot most of the time as Sam Hornish, Jr., Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Sadler  traded off the tow for the run of the ToyotaCare 250. (more…)