Closest Finish in Camping World Truck Series History

Kyle Busch Wins Mountain Dew 250 Fueled by Fred’s in Closest Finish in Camping World Truck Series History


 The closest finish in the history of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series took place at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, with three drivers crossing the finish line within three-thousandths of a second of each other.
Kyle Busch won the Mountain Dew 250 Fueled by Fred’s, fishtailing across the line 0.002 seconds ahead of Aric Almirola. Johnny Sauter came in third, another thousandth of a second off the pace.
The finish was so close that even the drivers involved were not entirely positive what had just occurred.
“I was wondering, ‘Did I win? What happened?’ ” Busch said. “It was just crazy there at the end.”
Sauter was equally perplexed.
“When I got to the finish line, I thought I’d won,” Sauter said. “We missed the win by 2 or 3 feet.”
When the three drivers came out of Turn 4 and headed into the trioval, Almirola was in the lead with Busch in second and Sauter third. Busch said he initially was content simply to stay behind Almirola and push him to the victory, since Almirola did the same thing for Busch in last year’s Truck Series race at Talladega.
But Busch said as they neared the finish line he began to lose control of his truck because Sauter was so close behind him. So Busch pulled out of line to the low side, and his momentum carried him past Almirola. In the process the two trucks made contact, and Busch found himself battling to keep his truck from spinning out of control
“At that point you just have to stay in the throttle and keep digging,” Busch said. “As loose as my stuff was through there, I was trying to save it and get away from those guys and not spin out.
“It was crazy and it was a battle. I was just trying to keep the thing straight.”
Almirola said he did not expect Busch to sit back and hand him the victory simply because he had helped push Busch to a win here last year. But he was extremely disappointed to have lost in such a close finish.
“It’s every man for himself when you come to the checkered flag. I understand that,” Almirola said. “I tried to do everything I could to protect the lead as long as I could. I hate to lose one like that. I feel like I let these guys down, but I don’t know what else I could have done.”
While Busch was passing Almirola on the low side, Sauter was attempting to do the same thing up high. He said he briefly lifted off the throttle as the trucks came out of turn four, then accelerated and tried to use the momentum to slingshot into the lead.
“I’m kind of mad at myself, because I mistimed it,” Sauter said. “I was trying to make a last-minute run at them, but I just mistimed it a little bit. It’s a tough one to swallow.”
For the race fans, however, the finish was as good as it gets. Busch said it was another example of the exciting racing that Talladega Superspeedway regularly provides.
“It’s pretty amazing the way this place races and what happens and how close the finishes can be,” Busch said. “That was a cool one.”
Tomorrow dreams will be made, and broken, at Talladega Superspeedway.
Jamie McMurray, a non-Chase driver, shocked the crowd by winning the 2009 AMP Energy Juice 500. Can another upset be in the making? Don’t miss the wild card in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. NASCAR action kicks off with the Mountain Dew 250 fueled by Fred’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, Oct. 30 and continues with Race Number Seven in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the AMP Energy Juice 500, Oct. 31. To experience it all, call 1-877-Go2-DEGA or visit www.talladegasuperspeedway.com.

GRAND-AM ROLEX SERIES 2011 SCHEDULE

Jan. 29-30

Rolex 24 At Daytona
Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.

March 5
Grand Prix of Miami
Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Fla.

April 9
Porsche 250
Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala.

May 14
Bosch Engineering 250
Virginia International Raceway, Danville, Va.

May 30
Memorial Day Classic
Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Ct.

June 4
Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen
Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y.

June 25
Road America
Elkhart Lake, Wis.

July 9
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Monterey, Calif.

July 24
New Jersey 250
New Jersey Motorsports Park, Millville, N.J.

Aug. 13
Crown Royal 200
Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Aug. 20
Montreal 200
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Sept. 17
EMCO Gears Classic
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio

Nationwide drivers—and Mark Martin—shake down new car at Charlotte

Nationwide drivers—and Mark Martin—shake down new car at Charlotte


By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(October 13, 2010)

CONCORD , N.C. —NASCAR's Nationwide drivers got their last chance at a dress rehearsal Wednesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Wednesday's two practice sessions were the final shakedown for NASCAR's new Nationwide car, which will race for the fourth and final time this year in Friday's Dollar General 300 at Charlotte before becoming the series' full-time car in 2011.
"All in all, the practices were going well," said Nationwide Series director Joe Balash. "I think a number of the teams were testing quite a few different items on the cars.
"I would say we're very pleased with how the four events have gone so far for the Nationwide Series new car. We've had good turnouts at all four (practices), we've had very competitive races. … As far as the overall car processes going into next year, I don't think we're going to make very many tweaks at all in the rulebook, as far as the car's construction and those types of things are concerned."
One tweak that could come sooner than later is a change to the gear used at Charlotte . Cars were running closer to 8,000 rpm Wednesday, as opposed to a more typical 8,400.
"We're showing about 300 or 400 rpm less what we would show normally," said Justin Allgaier, fourth in the series standings and, as such, the top Nationwide-only driver. "I don't think it's a matter of (wanting to go) faster. I think it's just getting the engine in more of an operating range where we're normally used to. When we do that, we don't have to push it as hard."
Mark Martin spent Wednesday morning shaking down Danica Patrick's car for JR Motorsports. It was the first trip in the new Nationwide car for the series' career victory leader, and it got his juices flowing.
"I haven't driven one of these cars before," said Martin, whose lap at 177.567 mph was fifth fastest in the session. "I'm friends with (JRM owners) Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and Tony (Eury) Jr., and I thought this would be a good experience for me to work with them a little bit. It was fun. I really like to help when I can. It helps them and it helps Danica. They have some telemetry to look at now."
"I had a lot of fun. I learned a little bit. My brain will be kicked into overdrive now on how to make this new Nationwide car a little better. I don't have any plans to race one but any kind of challenge and anything that makes me think will make me a better driver in any car. It was a good exercise for the brain. And it will be fun to work with Tony and Dale and bounce the ideas off of them that I have. JR Motorsports has a good baseline for this new car and I feel like I was able to provide a good baseline on where the car was and how to improve it even more."
Patrick took over for Martin just after noon and posted a best lap of 171.217 mph before the lunch break.
Though principals from Nationwide teams met Tuesday morning at NASCAR's research-and-development center, Balash said the majority of the time consisted of a marketing presentation by series sponsor Nationwide. Several competition details came out of the meeting—a limit of 10 certified chassis per Nationwide car number, for example, but issues dealing with the Nationwide points system and the Sprint Cup drivers' eligibility of the series championship remain unresolved.
"It's under a full review," Balash said. "When we get to the right answer, we're going to push some answers as soon as we can, but we're not going to push for something and not have it be the right answer. We've taken a lot of suggestions from a lot of people, and now that we have those suggestions, we've got to work through the math and history to see what that looks like.
"We have never said that we're not going to have double-duty drivers in the series, so the question is what type of format do you use to have double-duty drivers in the series. There's a lot of suggestions and a lot of input, and we've got to work through those."