Saturday, May 2, 2009
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, April 27, 2009
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.
“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.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
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