NSCS - Crown Royal Presents... 400 5/2

Kyle Busch's birthday surprise! A weekend sweep @ Richmond! Busch becomes just the 2nd driver to win a cup race on his actual birthdate. Win #3 and 4th top-10 finish this season for him and his 2nd career weekend sweep.

"It's an awesome win for us," Busch said. "It's really exciting to win on my birthday and to have my team enjoy it as much as I do. They're having a good time. We struggled for four weeks. It's been a struggle for us. We haven't finished where we want to. We made it happen here."

Kyle led 3 times for 53 laps. He took the lead from Jeff Gordon on lap 352 and held on until the checkered flag. Gordon led 4 times for 96 laps.

As the final 39 laps ran under the green flag, it allowed Kyle to protect and hold onto the lead. Tony Stewart was on fresher tires and closing in but just couldn't get up to Busch's bumper before time ran out. Stewart scored a runner up finish.

Even though Stewart has yet to score his first win as an owner/driver this season, he did just post his 7th top-10 finish in 10 races and his 4th top-5 finish in the past 5 races.

Jeff Burton had an on-track incident with the wall and help from Dale Earnhardt Jr on lap 213, but still comes home 3rd. "We were both kind of struggling," Burton explained. "I was on the out. I had gotten underneath him. He was pretty loose. Then I got loose. He got back underneath me. We drove into three. He just got loose and came up the track. I spun people out like that before. Just a racing incident. He was struggling. Looked really loose getting in the corner. Junior and I don't have any problems."

Stewart's driver Ryan Newman also scored a top 5 finish for Stewart-Haas Racing with a strong 4th place run. Newman led the race four times for a total of 45 laps. Newman has now moved into 10th position in the standings.

Mark Martin took a spin on lap 314 but still came back for a 5th place finish.

Sam Hornish Jr finished 6th followed by Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Denny Hamlin led the race-high 148 laps and looked like the one to beat at one point. After having problems in the pits under caution on lap 274, he could never quite recover. Hamlin finished 14th.

For (unofficial) race results, click here.

Right before the race, NASCAR on Facebook posted: Brian Vickers is on the pole at Richmond and trying to rid a streak of eight consecutive finishes of 24th or worse there. Green flag is at 7:43 p.m. ET. Vickers was then credited with leading the first 7 laps as they were run under caution. He was able to stay out front for a total of 20 laps but wasn't a factor in the race after that. Vickers finished 15th.

The caution on lap 356 caused by a spin from David Reutimann tied the record for the most caution flags @ Richmond with 15. Believe it or not, that was the last caution for the night.

There were 21 lead changes among 8 drivers:

B. Vickers 1-6; J. Gordon 7; B. Vickers 8-22; J. Gordon 23-72; D. Hamlin 73-95; Kurt Busch 96; J. Gordon 97-98; R. Newman 99-100; D. Hamlin 101-116; C. Bowyer 117-123; D. Hamlin 124-144; Kurt Busch 145-151; D. Hamlin 152-213; M. Truex Jr. 214-235; R. Newman 236-248; D. Hamlin 249-274; R. Newman 275-299; Kyle Busch 300-302; R. Newman 303-307; Kyle Busch 308; J. Gordon 309-351; Kyle Busch 352-400

Jeff Gordon took back the points lead by 10 points over Kurt Busch.

NNS - Lipton Tea 250 5/1

Kyle Busch won the Nationwide Series Lipton TEA 250 under the lights @ Richmond Friday night.

It marks Kyle's 24th victory in the series and his 3rd win plus 8th top-10 finish this season. It's also his 3rd win and 8th top-10 @ Richmond.

Kyle started 3rd; went to the front for the first time on lap 3 and would go on to lead 4 times for the race high 117 laps.

"I feel like tonight was a good night to get back on track," Busch said. "Tonight was a race that mattered and we had our biggest challenger behind us in Carl, so it was nice to beat him out, straight up, and we had some other issues with the car that we fought through."

Jason Smith/Getty Images

It could (obviously) turn out to be one of the best ways that Kyle could celebrate his birthday. Busch turns 24 on Saturday.

Edwards seemed like he might be one of the only contenders for Kyle over the course of the evening. Carl held on for a 2nd place finish saying, "he smoked me on the restarts. I did everything I could. That car that he's got there just runs really well on those restarts. I could probably do a little bit better job, but I did the best I could on that last one, and I couldn't get near him. But it's a great race car, and even though it's second, it's still a decent points day, and it's good to be this strong here at Richmond."

The polesitter, Matt Kenseth finished 3rd followed by Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, (Busch's teammate) Joey Logano, Mark Martin, rookie Michael McDowell, Jason Keller and Jason Leffler - rounding out the top 10.

For the complete (unofficial) results, please click here.

There were 10 cautions for 58 laps and 7 lead changes among 4 drivers: M. Kenseth 1-2; K. Busch 3-12; M. Bliss 13-70; K. Busch 71-94; M. Bliss 95-98; K. Busch 99-157; C. Edwards 158-228; K. Busch 229-250.

Kyle Busch extended his points lead over Carl Edwards by 82 points as the series heads out of Richmond.

Need For Speed Race Preview: Richmond

Ready for night racin' this weekend? NASCAR's @ Richmond; "America's Premier Short Track" as some people call it.

It's just race 10 of the season, but for the drivers eyeing the Sprint Cup trophy - now is the time to get up and go. Nearly 80% of the drivers who've been in the top 10 or 12 in the point standings following this spring Richmond race have gone on to to qualify for the Chase.

Points are tight.

-Ryan Newman is currently 13th in the standings - just 30 points behind 12th place driver, Matt Kenseth. Stats @ Richmond: 1 win, 4 top-5's and 8 top-10's in 14 starts

-Kasey Kahne sits 14th - 33 points out. Stats @ Richmond: 1 win, 2 top-5's and 5 top-10's in 8 races

-Dale Earnhardt Jr is currently 15th - 45 points outside of 12th place. Stats @ Richmond: 3 wins, 8 top-5's and 10 top-10's in 19 races

All 3 are past Richmond winners. Ryan Newman & Kasey Kahne each have 1 win and Dale Earnhardt Jr has 3 wins there. He's the one being picked the most for the win tomorrow night. He'll need to stay away from Kyle Busch. Both Richmond races last season involved some sort of on-track altercation between those two.

Dale Earnhardt Jr, Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson are tied for the most wins among active drivers @ Richmond with 3.

Kurt Busch currently leads the point standings for the first time since March 13, 2005. As we've discussed before, the first 4 drivers currently holding down the top 4 positions in the standings are all past champions - with a combined 10 championships between them.

Clint Bowyer is the defending race winner - in a race where we only saw 4 lead changes. A rarity. Btw, Bowyer is currently 8th in the standings.

Martin Truex Jr was fastest during the first practice session today.
2. Ryan Newman
3. David Reutimann
4. Kyle Busch
5. Dave Blaney

There were 2 incidents within the few minutes of the practice session. Juan Pablo Montoya and Dale Earnhardt Jr had contact at the start of the session. Earnhardt Jr's tire was cut down and he spun. Soon after, Greg Biffle went for a spin and slid into the infield. Both drivers suffered minimal damage.

Jimmie Johnson was fastest during Happy Hour.
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Brian Vickers
4. David Reutimann
5. Kurt Busch

400 laps = 300 miles. TV coverage for the Crown Royal Presents the Russ Friedman 400 begins at 7 tomorrow night on FOX. Green flag is expected at approximately 7:40.

At the time I was recording this today, Nationwide Series Qualifying was underway with less than 3 hours to go 'til the green flag @ 7:30 on ESPN2.

On Track - Friday 5/1

As we gear up for night racin' @ Richmond, there's been a lot going on at the track... during the daytime hours.

Cars were first out on the track beginning bright and early at 9 with Nationwide Series final practice. Kevin Harvick posted the fastest speed in his own Kevin Harvick Inc #33.
2. Carl Edwards
3. Mark Martin
4. Mike Bliss
5. Kyle Busch.

Martin Truex Jr was fastest during the first Cup practice session today.
2. Ryan Newman
3. David Reutimann
4. Kyle Busch
5. Dave Blaney

There were 2 incidents within the few minutes of the practice session. Juan Pablo Montoya and Dale Earnhardt Jr had contact at the start of the session. Earnhardt Jr's tire was cut down and he spun. Soon after, Greg Biffle went for a spin and slid into the infield. Both drivers suffered minimal damage.

Jimmie Johnson was fastest during Happy Hour.
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Brian Vickers
4. David Reutimann
5. Kurt Busch

Following Sprint Cup Happy Hour was Nationwide Series Qualifying followed by Cup qualifying.
Driving the CitiFinancial #16 Ford, Matt Kenseth won the Coors Light Pole Award for the Lipton TEA 250 at 124.821 mph. It's his 15th pole in 234 series races and his 2nd in the series @ Richmond.

Mike Bliss posted the 2nd fastest qualifying speed followed by Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Mark Martin and Scott Wimmer for the 1st 3 rows.

Brian Vickers won the pole position for the Cup Series 300-miler tomorrow night.

Drew Hallowell/Getty Images
"The car was unbelievable," Vickers said following. "I told the guys when I came across the line that it was a pretty good one. Whether it was going to be able to hold up, I wasn't sure".

Vickers turned a lap at 127.131 mph. The 2nd pole of the season for Vickers this season and since the Auto Club Speedway, Fontana. It's also Vickers' second pole @ Richmond. He still holds the track qualifying record from 5 years ago at 129.983 mph set on May 15, 2004.

Jeff Gordon turned a lap at 126.844 - good for second and outside the front row. Denny Hamlin starts 3rd followed by Martin Truex Jr, Jeff Burton, Mike Bliss, Mark Martin, Scott Speed, David Reutimann and Ryan Newman - with top 10 starting spots.

Safety concerns addressed

From (today) Monday, April 27th:

NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Hunter responds to safety concerns from yesterday's race @ Talladega Superspeedway.

"In regards to Sunday's late race incident at Talladega Superspeedway, it's extremely unfortunate that a few fans suffered minor injuries. No one wants anyone to get hurt while attending one of our events and our thoughts are with each of the fans injured this weekend.

Safety is, and always will be, NASCAR's No. 1 priority, and we are glad that each of the safety devices at Talladega yesterday worked properly, including the roof flaps and the catch fence. As most of you know, we are constantly evaluating safety initiatives. It's something we do every day we are at the racetrack, and it's something we do every day at the R&D center.

We tried letting the competitors police themselves when it comes to blocking and bump drafting. After reviewing all of those procedures, we might have to start making some judgment calls of our own and penalize, issue penalties for drivers who blatantly block and abuse the bump drafting.

We are going to take whatever measures we need to in order to ensure the races are as safe as possible for everyone.

One of our primary goals over the years is to build a restraining fence that keeps the cars and parts and pieces out of the spectator areas. And nothing is bullet proof from yesterday from what we saw yesterday, the fence, the retaining fence did what it was supposed to do; it threw the car back on the racetrack. There was some debris that went in the grandstand that, fortunately, did not invoke serious injury.

So we will analyze the fence and make sure that it did what it was supposed to do. We think it did. If there's something that we come up with, as we analyze this accident, we will certainly put it into play. We will make it as safe as we humanly can.

I might add that there have been multiple changes in the size of the restrictor plates over the years, both for safety and competition reasons.

As a matter of fact, we have changed the size of the plate during the course of the race weekend before, and we make it clear, we have different sized plates with us at every event, and we make it clear that the final plate size is not officially determined until the conclusion of the final practice."

Rick Humphrey, track president of the Talladega Superspeedway said on Monday: officials will evaluate the catch-fence system involved to see whether it needs to be heightened.

"We'll look at everything to see what we can do to prevent this," Humphrey said."Racing is a dangerous sport in general. Certainly, Talladega has created some very exciting racing and exciting finishes and along the way there have been some incidents that people have been rather outspoken about.

The racing here is unique. I don't think anything drastic needs to happen. We'll continue to have discussions to see what, if anything, needs to be done. The answer is not to blow the place up and start over."

Seven fans seated in the grandstands were injured as a result of flying debris from Carl Edwards' crash. None of the injuries were reported as life threatening. Two women were taken to Birmingham hospitals. They were airlifted not due to the severity of their injuries, but due to traffic congestion outside of the track. One woman taken to UAB Hospital was listed in fair condition on Monday. The other woman was taken to Brookwood Hospital in Birmingham for treatment of a medical condition, but no further details have yet been released. The other injured fans were treated at the track and released.

Update 4/29: The Associated Press is reporting a teenage female was released from a UAB Hospital on Wednesday after having reconstructive surgery to repair a broken jaw due to flying debris from Carl Edwards' car crash @ Talladega.

NCWTS - O'Reilly Auto Parts 4/27

Mike Skinner won the rain delayed and rainy O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 @ Kansas Speedway on Monday. His first win of the season, 26th career and the first for the team since becoming Randy Moss Motorsports last summer. NASCAR called the race after 132 laps, 35 laps short due to persistent rain.

“Randy, we got it buddy,” Skinner said. “We got us one. It’s really, really cool. We’ve got a lot of effort to build this program.”

Skinner led the race-high 67 laps taking the lead on a restart on Lap 119, passing Stacy Compton. Skinner and the rest of the field had stopped under caution. Skinner only took fuel. Ron Hornaday Jr had led the previous 24 laps and had to stop twice, once for four tires and once for fuel. He came out of the pits ninth. Hornaday led twice for 58 laps and looked like he was the one that could give Skinner the biggest challenge for the win.

Johnny Benson finished 2nd followed by Brian Scott, Ron Hornaday Jr and Brian Ickler.

There were 10 cautions for 51 laps and 7 lead changes among 4 drivers: R. Hornaday Jr. 0; M. Skinner 1-6; R. Hornaday Jr. 7-40; M. Skinner 41-87; B. Scott 88-90; R. Hornaday Jr. 91-114; S. Compton 115-118; M. Skinner 119-132.

For complete (unofficial) race results, click here.

Mike Skinner takes over the points lead. Heading into Kansas, Kyle Busch held the lead, but was unable to compete @ Kansas. Skinner leads the standings by 25 points over Ron Hornaday Jr. Kyle dropped 5 positions to 6th, 119 points behind Skinner.

NSCS - Aaron's 399 4/26

Another 1st time winner @ Talladega! Brad Keselowski won his 1st Sprint Cup Series race in a wild, wild finish! Where do we start with this one?! It's definitely worth another watch:



With one lap to go, Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr were out in front with Carl Edwards and Keselowski hooked up on the outside and coming quick. On the white flag, Edwards took the lead thanks to a big push from Keselowski. Closing in on the finish line, things went crazy in a split second:
- Edwards tried to block Keselowski
- the 2 cars touch
-Edwards went airborne forcing him to crash into Newman and then a hard hit into the safety fence.
-Keselowski crosses the finish line followed by Dale Jr.
-Edwards gets out of his car and runs across the finish line to 'officially' finish the race
- On the cool down lap, Kyle Busch bumps into Keselowski - spinning him

We're going to be talking about this finish for a long time to come.

It's Keselowski's 1st victory in just 5 Sprint Cup Series races.

"I was here to win and I've got no other reason to be here than to win and put these guys in victory lane. Holding your line was the way to do it, and I'm sorry it caused a wreck and sorry for those that are hurt. But that's just the situation with the rules and the way it is, and either way, it was a great show, and I hope the fans had fun with it. This is NASCAR racing at its finest. This was a great show. I really hope everyone enjoyed it, because I had fun." - Brad Keselowski

Dale Jr finished 2nd followed by Ryan Newman, Marcos Ambrose, Scott Speed, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Brian Vickers, Joey Logano and Jeff Burton. Carl Edwards is credited with a 24th place finish. 23 cars finished on the lead lap with Edwards scored as the first one lap down.

For the (unofficial) finishing order, click here.

Who would've thought "The Big One" would happen on lap 7?



15 were involved that included: (then) Points Leader Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Casey Mears, Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Elliott Sadler, Carl Edwards, Scott Riggs, Brian Vickers, Mark Martin, A.J. Allmendinger and David Gilliland. The accident started in the front of the field from contact between Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon as they entered the corner. The bump forced Gordon's car up the track and those behind them had no where to go.

"It's Talladega. You expect it," Gordon said from the garage following the crash. "You just hope to survive it."

Gordon went on to finish 37th. He slipped one in the point standings - 5 points behind new leader Kurt Busch.

With 9 laps to go, there was a 10 car accident triggered by a bump from Denny Hamlin to the polesitter Juan Pablo Montoya that collected Jimmie Johnson, Bobby Labonte, Jeremy Mayfield, Martin Truex Jr, Michael Waltrip, David Stremme, Sam Hornish Jr and Robby Gordon, who crashed hard into the inside safer barrier wall.

There were 9 cautions for 33 laps and 57 lead changes among 25 drivers:

J. Montoya 1-4; D. Earnhardt Jr. 5; J. Montoya 6; D. Ragan 7-8; J. Andretti 9; G. Biffle 10; J. Logano # 11-13; M. Truex Jr. 14-17; J. Montoya 18; Kurt Busch 19-20; D. Hamlin 21; J. Burton 22; D. Hamlin 23; J. Burton 24-27; Kurt Busch 28-29; R. Newman 30; Kyle Busch 31-43; S. Speed # 44; Kyle Busch 45-47; D. Earnhardt Jr. 48-49; M. Kenseth 50-52; D. Earnhardt Jr. 53-61; M. Waltrip 62; M. Truex Jr. 63-74; D. Hamlin 75-76; J. Montoya 77; D. Earnhardt Jr. 78-79; J. Johnson 80; D. Hamlin 81-82; S. Hornish Jr. 83-85; J. Nemechek 86; P. Menard 87-88; D. Hamlin 89-91; J. Johnson 92; D. Hamlin 93-110; D. Earnhardt Jr. 111-113; M. Truex Jr. 114-115; J. Logano # 116; M. Truex Jr. 117-120; B. Vickers 121-122; M. Truex Jr. 123-124; C. Edwards 125; Kyle Busch 126-133; E. Sadler 134-136; Kurt Busch 137-139; D. Hamlin 140; C. Mears 141-142; J. Burton 143; D. Earnhardt Jr. 144; Kurt Busch 145; D. Earnhardt Jr. 146-147; J. Mayfield 148; Kurt Busch 149-153; Kyle Busch 154-171; M. Kenseth 172-177; R. Newman 178-186; C. Edwards 187; B. Keselowski 188


Note: Seven fans seated in the grandstands were injured as a result of Edwards' crash. None of the injuries were being reported to be life threatening. Six were treated and released. Two women were taken to Birmingham hospitals. They were airlifted not due to the severity of their injuries, but due to traffic congestion outside of the track. It is believed one broke her jaw and the other was being treated for an existing medical condition.