Darrell Wallace Jr. earns the win at the Monster Mile

Darrell Wallace Jr. earns the win at the Monster Mile

 

Gresham crowned NASCAR K&N Series East Champion

 

Sept. 30, 2011

 

With five laps to go in Friday’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season finale, a whole bunch was hanging in the balance. Brett Moffitt was leading Darrell Wallace Jr. If he won the race, he might win the championship. But he was losing the grip, lap by lap. Meanwhile, series leader Max Gresham was trying to hold off Dale Quarterly, because if he fell too far back, he’d lose the championship.

 

But by the time there were four laps left, everything changed.

 

Moffitt’s right front tire let go and he crashed into the wall, sending Wallace on his way. Meanwhile, Gresham’s parameters switched from “drive for your life” to “just finish.” He did, and Gresham took the 2011 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship, while Wallace picked up the race win, becoming the first African American to ever win the pole and a race at Dover.

 

“It was an emotional win, especially for me, losing my uncle this past Saturday,” Wallace said. “I put his name over mine on the door, and he was riding shotgun with us. He’s the one who put us in Victory Lane.”

 

It was not a surprise to see Wallace up front. He had whipped the field in practice and  qualifying – he ran a full 1.3 miles per hour faster than the competition in qualifying, which is an eternity by NASCAR standards. But he collided with teammate Sergio Pena early in the race and had to deal with some damage that put him two laps down.

 

However, the 17-year-old driver felt he’d grown a lot this season, and he put that growth to good use in confronting the situation.

 

“I’ve learned to not get in over my head in tough situations like today,” Wallace said. “I had a little damage and I thought our day was over with. But I persevered and my team persevered, and we were able to come back to the top.”

 

Meanwhile, Gresham celebrated his series championship alongside Wallace. Leading by just 21 points following Moffitt’s win in last week’s race, Gresham had no room for error – at least, not until Moffitt gave him some.

 

“Once Brett took the lead, at that point we had to do what we had to do to finish third,” Gresham said. “And if that meant racing as hard as we had to, that’s what we had to do, because we had to finish third and we knew it. As soon as [Moffitt’s tire blew], it was just a big sigh of relief."

 

But for a while there, Gresham’s own car was worrying him a bit.

 

“Those last 10, 15 laps, I definitely had a bad vibration,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what it was. The last few laps there during the caution I was just shaking the car down because I knew something wasn’t right.  It was a good thing I didn’t have to race for position at that time, I could just ride the last three laps out and not have to worry about it.”

 

Gresham drives in the Joe Gibbs Racing developmental program, and his crew chief, Bryant Frazier, was Tony Stewart’s first crew chief when Stewart joined the team in 1998. Frazier was extremely proud of his latest young driver.

 

“He did exactly what we set out to do this year – be patient at times, drive hard when we need to, and win races,” Frazier said. “He ran every lap that the K&N Series ran this year, so that’s a testament in itself. Max has done a great job and this team has worked so hard all year long as a group. It’s just been a wonderful year, and that’s all a testament to Joe Gibbs Racing. There wasn’t a time this year where I couldn’t go to a Nationwide or a Cup crew chief and they wouldn’t give you an answer. That’s part of what makes this company as great as it is.”

 

At age 18, Gresham is now a NASCAR champion, and he’ll be right there with the big names at NASCAR’s awards banquet later this fall.

 

“It means everything in the world right now,” he said. “I have big stuff happening in the next week and I don’t even know what it is right now. To be a NASCAR champion is pretty much the biggest thing I wanted to do when I started racing, and now I am. This is as sweet as it could be right now.”

 

 

Carmichael not giving up on NASCAR goals

Carmichael not giving up on NASCAR goals

By Jared Turner

Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(September 29, 2011)

As an American Motorcyclist Association driver, Ricky Carmichael was anointed as the GOAT or "Greatest Of All Time."
Now in his third season in the Camping World Truck Series, the 15-time AMA champion is struggling just to be competitive.
After showing flashes of promise in his first two years in NASCAR's No. 3 division, Carmichael seemed primed for a breakout 2011 campaign. Paired with longtime sponsor Monster Energy and a Turner Motorsports organization that is on the rise, Carmichael expected this season to be big.
It has been big—mostly on disappointment.
Entering Saturday night's Kentucky 225 at Kentucky Speedway, Carmichael is a dismal 18th in the driver standings, next-to-last among drivers who have started every race this season.
The 31-year-old has been plagued by all manner of misfortune ranging from accidents to broken parts to sheer lack of speed.
It all adds up to a frustrating season for a much-heralded racer who is a lot more accustomed to winning than running mid-pack.
"We're definitely further behind this year than where we had wanted to be. There's no doubt about it," said Carmichael, who has one pole (Atlanta) but only four top 10s and no top fives in 19 starts. "It's frustrating. If I knew all the answers, we wouldn't be having the year that we're having."

Team owner Steve Turner clearly sees the need for improvement. Turner Motorsports announced on Tuesday that, effective immediately, the organization would swap its road crews for Carmichael's No. 4 team and the No. 32 team that features rotating drivers.
The change pairs Carmichael with crew chief Doug George this weekend as crew chief Mark Rette moves over to the No. 32 team.
"As we look ahead to next season, we're in the process of evaluating both programs," Turner said of the No. 4 and 32 teams.
Carmichael, the all-time wins leader in AMA history, knows he has to pick it up if he wants to reach his goals in NASCAR. And even though he remains plugged into the professional motorcycling scene, the Florida native insists there's no turning back.

"I know what it takes to win, I know how the bikes need to be and what's happening in that deal, but as far as my racing days are concerned, those days are long gone," said Carmichael, who retired from full-time professional motocross racing at the end of 2006. "I'm fortunate I got out of there with the success that I did and the safety that I have."
Carmichael still hasn't given up on achieving a high level of success in NASCAR, too, and he believes he has the talent and time to turn his fortunes around.
"In a nutshell, this year has been a year definitely to forget," he said. "There's no doubt about it. But you've got to be confident in your abilities and know what you can do, and keep driving forward, and maybe things will click."

Coming off strong Chicagoland run, Scott primed for Dover

Coming off strong Chicagoland run, Scott primed for Dover

By Lee Montgomery
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(September 29, 2011)

When Brian Scott won the pole and finished third in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway two weeks ago, there was a sense of achievement among his entire Joe Gibbs Racing team.

And Scott also wondered, where has this been all year?

"We've had performances that were in that range," Scott said. "There's been a handful of finishes like that that we should've had already. We've had bizarre things happen, stupid things happen. ... For us, it was a feeling of relief: 'Gosh, we finally have a whole race where nothing stupid happens.'

"And, too, it was a feeling of accomplishment that we marked down the finish where we wanted it."

The finish was his best of the season, his first with the powerhouse Gibbs team, and matched his best career result.

But it's come after a bit of a disappointing season, as he's had only five top-10 finishes with the team that has dominated the series in recent years. Scott and the No. 11 Toyota team will look to continue that momentum this weekend at Dover International Speedway, which hosts the OneMain Financial 200 this weekend.

And could there be a better place for Scott? He has a victory in the Camping World Truck Series at Dover, in addition to having one of his 10 career top-10 finishes in the Nationwide Series at the 1-mile track.

"The next couple of racetracks we're going to, I have a lot of confidence at," Scott said. "I obviously have a very high level at Dover because I've won there and had good runs in both Nationwide and trucks there. And also, Kansas the week after that is a good track for me.

"To come off a race like Chicago and have a couple of good tracks in a row, I think we can really validate ourselves and our performance. We can make the whole team and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing feel better about our program going into next year."

Scott and the team, led by crew chief Kevin Kidd, have already begun working on 2012, knowing they're out of this year's title hunt. Scott is ninth in the points standings—and has been ninth or 10th since May.

"We started doing that about halfway through the season, knowing how disastrous our first half was," Scott said. "We said, 'OK, at a certain point we've got to realize we're out of the championship hunt. There's only a certain amount of good we can do this year, regardless of what happens. We need to start focusing on 2012 now.'

"We've tried to R&D stuff in practice, stuff we might not do in the championship battle because you give up practice time. It's really paid off. We've hit on some things that have been really exciting to drive here lately."

NATIONWIDE SERIE

 

Stenhouse Resumes Title Chase At Dover

Following an open week, the NASCAR Nationwide Series resumes its own late-season championship chase, highlighted this week at Dover’s “Monster Mile.”

 

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the driver standings leader, stayed in competition mode last week by hanging out in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage in New Hampshire. With six races to go, Stenhouse has a 14-point advantage over second-place Elliott Sadler. Every race at this stage is big but for Sadler, Dover is in the spotlight as Saturday’s event is sponsored by the same company – OneMain Financial – that adorns the hood of his No. 2 Chevrolet.

 

At this juncture, the attention is focused directly on Stenhouse and Sadler. Reed Sorenson, who’s been a standings leader multiple times this season in addition to a race winner, is ranked third, 47 points behind Stenhouse. But if there’s a shot at an epic late-season surge, Dover might be his launching point.

 

In 10 career races at Dover, Sorenson has six top fives and nine top 10s. His only hiccup was a 27th-place finish in 2007 when an accident took him out of contention. His average finish in five fall races is 5.2, including a fourth-place result in this race last year. He was third at Dover in May.

 

Stenhouse has improved each time out at Dover. He was 18th in his track debut in the 2010 spring race, finished 11th in this event last year and jumped to fourth in May. Sadler was sixth at Dover in May, his first top-10 at the track since a sixth-place finish in this race in 1997. Driving for JR Motorsports last fall, he was relegated to 31st due to an accident.

 

Truex Back In Form In Time For Homecoming

In the year since Ryan Truex won his second consecutive NASCAR K&N Pro Series East title and was officially awarded the 2010 crown at Dover, his home track, it’s been a strange journey for the native of Mayetta, NJ.

 

Truex, 19, began the 2011 season by graduating to the NASCAR Nationwide Series in a ride with Pastrana-Waltrip Racing, the team with which he won his K&N championships (then Michael Waltrip Racing). However after 10 races, that opportunity shifted, gearing more toward the preparation for team co-owner and action sports superstar Travis Pastrana to make his way into NASCAR.

 

Truex was given the green light to look for other options. And the landing spot has been nothing short of stellar as he makes his way home.

 

In early August, Truex, 19, signed a six-race deal with Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the No. 20 Toyota. Halfway through that schedule, he seems to have found his groove. He was 11th at Atlanta in his first race since June at Chicagoland. He backed that up with his career-best finish – fourth – in Richmond’s fall race. In his fall return to Chicago he was 13th. Each of those results was better than all but one of his finishes in those first 10 events (eighth at Richmond in May).

 

Truex was 18th in his series track debut at Dover in May and certainly would like to improve upon that result, especially as he watches – probably with some angst – his K&N title exchange hands to another young up-and-comer. Max Gresham, a JGR development driver, leads the standings by 21 points over Brett Moffitt, who happens to be a development driver for Michael Waltrip Racing. Moffitt, 18, has won the K&N race at Dover the last two years.

 

NNS Dover ETC

Michael Annett will make his 100th series start Saturday at Dover. The former hockey player-turned NASCAR driver made his series debut at Homestead-Miami in 2008. He’s currently 10th in the points and has six top-10 finishes. Coming into this season, he’d had a career total of six top 10s. … Timmy Hill continues to hold a slight edge in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings over his nearest competitor – and good friend – Blake Koch. Hill has a two-point lead over Koch with six races remaining. Koch needs a good result at Dover – where he finished a season-worst 43rd in May after an incident on the first lap – in order to put more pressure on Hill. Although he’s cut into Hill’s lead considerably over the summer months, Koch has finished better than Hill only once in the last five races.

CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES TO KENTUCKY

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

 

Dillon Brothers Set To Battle At Kentucky

Austin Dillon heads into Kentucky Speedway with a two-point command over James Buescher with six races remaining in the 2011 season.

 

This weekend Dillon will have one more competitor to keep his eye on – his 19-year-old brother.

 

Ty Dillon – who currently leads the ARCA Racing championship standings – is set to make his NASCAR national series debut on Saturday in the No. 21 Bad Boy Buggies/Realtree Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc.

 

The younger Dillon hopes to one day join his brother on the NCWTS wins list and join the star-studded list of brothers to visit victory lane:

Kurt Busch & Kyle Busch

Jay Sauter & Johnny Sauter

Terry Labonte & Bobby Labonte

 

Musical Chairs Bluegrass Style

Kentucky Speedway is one of two standalone events in the final six races of the season, making way for a plethora of drivers making the most of the available seat time.

 

While Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch compete for the NSCS championship in Dover - Ron Hornaday Jr. and Brian Ickler will man the wheel of their team’s respective entries.

 

Hornaday will move over to the No. 2 KHI Chevrolet from his familiar No. 33 colors in an effort to help Kevin Harvick Inc. maintain their 33-point lead in the NCWTS owner standings over Kyle Busch Motorsports.

 

Cale Gale will pilot the No. 33 KHI Chevrolet while Ickler returns to the No. 18 KBM Toyota for the first time since Iowa in July.

 

In addition, Dakoda Armstrong, Josh Richards and Ross Chastain return to the series after not competing at New Hampshire. 

 

Kentucky Victory Almost Always Leads To Championship Trophy

This weekend will mark the first time the series has competed at Kentucky Speedway twice in one season.

 

It is safe to say that the NCWTS championship contenders have had the 1.5-mile oval circled on their calendar since the series last competed at Kentucky in July. 

 

And for good reason - six out of 11 previous winners have gone on to win the championship in the same season.

 

Greg Biffle kicked off the trend in 2000 when the series ran their inaugural race at the speedway before capturing his first series championship.

 

Mike Bliss and Bobby Hamilton followed in 2002 and 2004.

 

Most recently Johnny Benson (2008), Ron Hornaday Jr. (2009) and Todd Bodine (2010) have all visited victory lane at the Bluegrass State before hoisting the championship trophy several months later.

Points Lead Changes Hands Yet Again With Dillon Taking No. 1

Points Lead Changes Hands Yet Again With Dillon Taking No. 1

Another race; another championship lead change.

Austin Dillon backed up his Chicagoland victory with a runner-up finish to Kyle Busch in New Hampshire to reclaim the top spot in the standings. Dillon holds a two-point lead over former No. 1 James Buescher with six races remaining.

Dillon led once previously after August’s Pocono stop but surrendered the spot when he finished 22nd at Michigan.

The New Hampshire race marked the ninth time this season the championship lead has changed hands. Johnny Sauter, leader on 10 occasions, remains a close third, seven points behind Dillon. Timothy Peters and Ron Hornaday complete the top five.

Fans will see a double dose of Dillon this week as the 2010 Sunoco Rookie of the Year’s younger brother, Ty Dillon, is set to make his NASCAR Camping World Truck debut. The younger Dillon, age 19, is the current ARCA championship leader and will step into his older sibling’s truck when Austin Dillon moves to the NASCAR Nationwide Series next year

KHI Sale To Eddie Sharp Racing Enables Legacy To Move Forward

Kevin Harvick Inc., arguably the series’ most successful team over the past decade, will be no more after the checkered flag falls at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.

The good news, however, is the organization will live on as part of Eddie Sharp Racing which announced its purchase of KHI’s assets last week. Two of the Harvick team’s trucks will be competing fulltime under Sharp’s ownership with drivers yet to be named. Sharp currently fields the No. 6 Chevrolet with Justin Lofton at the wheel.

"We are ready to take this opportunity head on to utilize what Kevin and DeLana (Harvick) have built,” said Sharp. “It was a marriage made in heaven, because we were ready to move forward at ESR, and this opportunity worked out perfectly. With KHI, you have a turnkey, successful program at the ready.”

Added Harvick, “Our main concern when we decided to do what we did with KHI was to do everything we could to keep everything on the track. With Eddie acquiring the two teams that’s going to give everybody the opportunity to move forward.”

KHI has won two NASCAR Camping World Truck titles with Hornaday in 2007 and 2009 and owner championships the same seasons. Its 39 wins stand No. 2 on the all-time series victory list.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Etc.

Saturday’s Kentucky 225 marks the first time the Sparta, Ky. track has hosted two events during the same season. Kyle Busch won the first stop in July. … No NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points-eligible drivers are entered in this week’s race. Hornaday is due to drive KHI’s No. 2 Chevrolet, the owner championship leading team, with Cale Gale taking the helm of the No. 33 Chevrolet. Brian Ickler will drive Busch’s July-winning No. 18 Toyota. … Brendan Gaughan was the series’ highest points eligible finisher in July with a third-place performance, his best of the season. … Busch’s New Hampshire victory was his 30th in 99 series starts. Hornaday, the only other series driver with more wins (49) required 131 starts to reach win No. 30 at Charlotte in 2007.

Pressure Builds For Contenders As Final Stretch Approaches

Pressure Builds For Contenders As Final Stretch Approaches

The pressure cooker is whistling, which means with six races to go on the NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule, time is running out for the top three championship contenders. Only 14 points separate series standings leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  and second place Elliott Sadler; while 47 markers stand between third-place Reed Sorenson and the standings lead.

Consistency and the acquisition of bonus points have been the keys to Stenhouse’s success this season. He has accumulated a series’ high 22 bonus points and has posted two wins (Iowa sweep), 12 top fives, 20 top 10s and three Coors Light poles.   

Stenhouse’s late season dominance is backed up by his season-to-date Loop Data stats. He leads all championship contenders in five major Loop categories: Driver Rating (107.1), Average Running Position (8.296), Laps in the Top 15 (4,790 laps), Fastest Lap Run (526) and Laps Led (424 laps). 

If recent history is any indication, Stenhouse’s outlook is bright. Of the three championship contenders – Stenhouse, Sadler, Sorenson – Stenhouse has the best average finish at the upcoming six tracks with an 11.6 compared to Sorenson’s 14.7 and Sadler’s 22.0.

Dover is the first of the remaining six races of the season and Stenhouse has improved each time out at the one-mile speedway. He was 18th in his track debut in the 2010 spring race, finished 11th in this event last year and jumped to fourth in May.  His average finish at Dover is 11.0 and his pre-race Driver Rating 91.4.

Saturday’s event is sponsored by the same company – OneMain Financial – that adorns the hood of Elliott Sadler’s No. 2 Chevrolet. Sadler finished sixth at Dover in May, his first top-10 at the track since a sixth-place finish in this race in 1997. Driving for JR Motorsports last fall, he was relegated to 31st due to an accident. His average finish at Dover is 15.0 and his pre-race Driver Rating is 83.3 – both are the worst among the top three championship contenders.

Dover Provides Great Stepping Stone In Sorenson’s Championship Hopes

There is nothing like a great comeback.

Reed Sorenson, currently third in the standings 47 points back from Ricky Stenhouse Jr.,  has the opportunity to kick off his own comeback and make a run at the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship this weekend at Dover.

In 10 career races at Dover, Sorenson has six top fives and nine top 10s. His only hiccup was a 27th-place finish in 2007 when an accident took him out of contention.  His average finish in five fall races is 5.2, including a fourth-place result in this race last year. He was third at Dover in May.

Sorenson leads Stenhouse and Sadler in pre-race Driver Rating (100.9), Average Running Position (9.240), and Laps in the Top 15 (1,722 laps) 85.4% at Dover. 

A lot of Sorenson’s success this season is due to his ability to move through the field and his season-to-date Loop Data stats back that up. He leads all championship contenders in Quality Passes (1,013) and Green Flag Passes (1,531).

In three of the last six tracks on the schedule, Sorenson has the best average finish amongst Stenhouse and Sadler – Dover, Charlotte and Texas.

Ryan Truex Comes Home As Rookie Standings Remain Close

In 2010 Ryan Truex, a native of Mayetta, N.J., won his second consecutive NASCAR K&N Pro Series East title and was officially awarded the crown at Dover International Speedway, his home track.

Truex, 19, brother of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr., began the 2011 season driving for Pastrana-Waltrip Racing, the team with which he won his K&N championships (then Michael Waltrip Racing). However after 10 races, that opportunity shifted, gearing more toward the preparation for team co-owner and action sports superstar Travis Pastrana to make his way into NASCAR.

Truex was given the green light to look for other options. In early August, Truex signed a six-race deal with Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the No. 20 Toyota. Halfway through that schedule, he seems to have found his groove.

Truex was 11th at Atlanta in his first race since June at Chicagoland. He backed that up with his career-best finish – fourth – in Richmond’s fall race. In his fall return to Chicago he was 13th. Each of those results was better than all but one of his finishes in those first 10 events (eighth at Richmond in May).

He finished 18th at Dover earlier this season and has a pre-race Driver Rating heading into this weekend of 83.1.

Timmy Hill continues to hold a slight edge in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings over his nearest competitor – and good friend – Blake Koch. Hill has a two-point lead over Koch with six races remaining. Koch needs a good result at Dover – where he finished a season-worst 43rd in May after an incident on the first lap – in order to put more pressure on Hill. Although he’s cut into Hill’s lead considerably over the summer months, Koch has finished better than Hill only once in the last five races.

NASCAR Nationwide Series Etc.

Michael Annett will make his 100th series start Saturday at Dover. He’s currently 10th in the points and has six top-10 finishes. Coming into this season, he’d had a career total of six top 10s. … Brian Scott posted his first series Coors Light pole at Chicagoland Speedway and went on to match his series career-best finish of third. He hopes to continue his success this weekend at Dover a track he has run well at. In three starts he has one top-10 finish. He also won at Dover in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2009. … “Concrete” Carl Edwards goes for the Dover sweep having won earlier this year in May.

Busch spanks rivals in New Hampshire truck race

Busch spanks rivals in New Hampshire truck race

 

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

 

(September 24, 2011)

 

LOUDON, N.H.—The Magic Mile gave Kyle Busch a chance to show his mastery.

 

Busch started from the pole and dominated Saturday’s F.W. Webb 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a race in which only six Camping World Truck Series entries finished on the lead lap.

 

Busch, who led 165 of 175 laps, crossed the finish line 3.816 seconds ahead of runner-up Austin Dillon to post his sixth win in 14 starts this season and the 30th victory of his career. Kevin Harvick finished third, followed by Ron Hornaday Jr. and Johnny Sauter.

 

Busch led the first 130 laps and didn’t surrender the top spot until he came to pit road for tires and fuel on Lap 131. That handed the lead to Dillon, who didn’t pit until Lap 135.

 

By the time pit stops cycled through, Busch had opened his advantage over Dillon to nearly six seconds. Harvick was running third at that point, more than 12 seconds back.

 

Busch had led every lap in a Nationwide race at Phoenix earlier this year, but both he and crew chief Eric Phillips said the prospect of doing that in two different series in the same year didn’t affect their decision to pit earlier than Dillon did.

 

“I never thought of that, actually,” Busch said. “But that’s cool. Certainly, Phoenix and Loudon, when I can hit it right, I can hit it right. The cars are really, really good. Today was no different. I don’t know what Eric’s strategy was to pit—I won’t say that early, but to pit early.”

 

Phillips didn’t want to see a repeat of last week’s race at Chicagoland, which Dillon won.

 

“I came early, because I didn’t want to see what we tried to do last week, taking two tires,” Phillips said. “I think we had about 13 seconds on third, when I decided to come to pit road, and Austin was right there with us. So I felt like, if I came early, that would kind of force Austin’s hand and some of the other guys.

 

“Kyle was really good getting on an off pit road, and we were able to run a second faster almost for about eight laps there before Austin pitted, and we had almost (six) seconds when it finally cycled between us. That paid off.”

 

Though Dillon closed the gap over the final 30 laps, Busch was able to cruise to the win, breaking a string of five straight Chevrolet victories in the series. Dillon now is atop the truck standings by two points over James Buescher, who finished seventh, the first driver one lap down.

 

Over the closing laps, Dillon kept the big picture in mind—his quest for the series championship.

 

“I wish we could have come out a little closer to him off pit road,” Dillon said. “I lost a little time getting onto pit road, and that hurt us. But we came out leading the points with six (races) to go. We’ll focus on that, and we’re happy with this finish.”

 

F.W. Webb 175 Winner: Kyle Busch

Race Fast Facts
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
16th Annual F.W. Webb 175
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sat, September 24, 2011 @ 05:03 PM Eastern
Race Winner: Kyle Busch
Age: 26
Team : No. 18 - Toyota/Traxxas Toyota
Owner: Kyle Busch
Crew Chief: Eric Phillips
Kyle Busch won the 16th Annual F.W. Webb 175, 

his 30th victory in 99 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races. 

Busch ranks second on the all-time series wins list. 
This is his sixth victory and 12th top-10 finish in 2011.
Busch led 165 laps, the most in a 175-lap

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at New Hampshire.
This is his third victory and sixth top-10 finish in seven races

at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This was his third consecutive win at NHMS.
Austin Dillon (second) posted his second top-10 finish in three races

at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  It is his 11th top-10 finish in 2011.
Kevin Harvick (third) posted his fifth top-10 finish in six races 

at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Miguel Paludo (10th) was the highest finishing rookie.

New Hampshire Could Be Hornaday Best Chance at 50

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

 

New Hampshire Could Be Hornaday Best Chance at 50

Ron Hornaday Jr. has accomplished just about everything possible in the NCWTS during his 14-year career – including a record four series championships.

 

Hornaday is one victory away from capturing his 50th NCWTS win – a feat no one else has accomplished.

 

With seven races remaining in 2011, New Hampshire Motor Speedway could be Hornaday’s best chance at capturing the elusive victory before season’s end.

 

In 10 starts at the 1.058-mile oval, Hornaday has three victories (1996, 2007 & 2008) and currently holds bragging rights as the only driver in the series to win more than twice at the speedway.

 

He has two wins (Texas & Atlanta) this season. He has led an impressive 9,344 laps in his truck series career.

 

Bonus Points Could Be Deciding Factor in NCWTS Championship

It is hard to remember that James Buescher and his Turner Motorsports team failed to qualify for the second race of the season (Phoenix).

 

Since then Buescher has earned 15 top-10 finishes (13 of them consecutive) and maintains the standings Championship lead with seven races remaining. 

 

The Texas native holds a mere three-point lead over second place contender Austin Dillon followed by Johnny Sauter – six points back.

 

But one thing Buescher is lacking is bonus points.

 

In 18 races this season, Austin Dillon has earned the most bonus points with 16 followed by Sauter with 15 and Buescher with nine.

 

A driver earns three bonus points for a win, one for leading a lap and one for leading the most laps in a race.

 

Chevrolet Seeks First Manufacture Championship Since 2005

It is no secret that Toyota has dominated in championship form in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in recent years winning three driver championships and an impressive five-straight manufacture titles.

 

However, this season has proven different – Chevrolet wants the title back.

 

With 10 wins this season Chevrolet currently holds an eight point lead over Toyota (eight wins) with seven races remaining in 2011.

 

Last season Toyota won four of the final seven truck series events while Chevrolet took home victories in the other three.

Kligerman's confidence restored after tough 2010

Kligerman's confidence restored after tough 2010

By Jared Turner

Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(September 22, 2011)

It all seemed so easy at first for Parker Kligerman.

One qualifying attempt for a Nationwide Series race. One pole.

Not bad for a then-19-year-old kid whose full-time gig was driving in the less heralded ARCA Series.

"I turned to my crew chief at the time and said, 'What's for lunch?'" Kligerman recalls playfully asking after winning the pole in his first ever Nationwide Series appearance back in 2009.

Kligerman, now 21, was pretty sure his surprisingly stellar qualifying lap for that October's race at Kansas Speedway could only mean he had the goods to roll with NASCAR's big boys.

"I walked around like, 'Oh man, if we get to do this again or full time, we'll just dominate,'" he remembers thinking.

The feeling didn't last.

Kligerman's very next time out in a Nationwide Series car—the 2009 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway—he failed to qualify (although he drove in the race for a different team).

Three more DNQs followed in 2010, a season in which he only made 15 qualifying attempts. And suddenly, Kligerman faced the reality that competing in one of NASCAR's national series wasn't as easy as it had seemed at first.

The Penske Racing development driver's confidence was shaken, too.

"In this sport all you have is confidence—confidence in your ability and confidence in the decisions you make on the racetrack," Kligerman said. "And when you go through a tough time you lose a lot of that. And when you lose it, the best thing you can do for yourself is to find a way to achieve it again and get it back."

The Connecticut native got a fresh start in 2011 with the opportunity to run for Brad Keselowski Racing in the Camping World Truck Series. And an enjoyable run it has been.

Eighteen races into a full 25-race schedule for the team owned by Penske Racing Sprint Cup driver Brad Keselowski, Kligerman is eighth in the points standings on the strength of seven top 10s, including runner-up finishes at Texas and Kentucky.

Fresh off a fourth-place outing last weekend at Chicagoland Speedway, Kligerman rolls into New Hampshire Motor Speedway for Saturday's F.W. Webb 175 believing that his first win could be just around the corner.

"The guys are building great trucks, we're qualifying up front, we're running up front, we're challenging guys like Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch each week and that kind of gets me thinking, 'Hey, wait, we're going to break through here pretty soon,'" Kligerman said.

Kligerman's lone Nationwide outing of this season—at Bristol last month—was also successful as he finished ninth and on the lead lap.

That performance, coupled with his solid truck series campaign, has made Kligerman's outlook closer to where it was on that day almost two years ago in Kansas.

"Midway through 2010 I was probably at a point where I thought, 'What the heck am I doing here?'" he said. "By the time I got to where I am now again midway through this season I felt, 'Hey, I belong here again.' I knew it all along. It's just I had to prove it to myself."

Odds Good Hornaday’s Milestone 50th Victory Could Come at Loudon

Odds Good Hornaday’s Milestone 50th Victory Could Come at Loudon

Could Ron Hornaday Jr. capture his milestone 50th victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway?

Short answer: yes.

Hornaday owns the best record of any NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver at the Magic Mile. He won the track’s first event in 1996, broke its string of 11 consecutive different winners in 2007 and became NHMS’s first back-to-back winner the following year.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is one of 30 different tracks on which the 53-year-old California competitor has won. A New Hampshire victory was part of Hornaday’s championship resume in two seasons – 1996 and 2007. Four series champions – Hornaday, Johnny Benson, Travis Kvapil and Jack Sprague have won at the track.

“You've really got to have the whole package at this race track to come through the field. Track position is critical, so hopefully we will have a fast Chevrolet in qualifying and be able to start up front," said Hornaday of the Loudon track – one of two tracks where he owns three victories.

Hornaday’s one of two drivers with multiple victories in Saturday’s F.W. Webb 175. Kyle Busch is the other – and Busch is going for his third consecutive victory.

There will be a 13th different New Hampshire winner if neither Hornaday nor Busch wins Saturday’s race. None of the other 10 previous winners are among currently entered drivers. Kevin Harvick Inc., which will field entries for Hornaday and Kevin Harvick, is the only active owner with more than one victory at NHMS.

Buescher’s Off Night Tightens Points Standings Again

James Buescher has become the third driver to lead series championship standings after back-to-back races but his hold on the No. 1 spot is tenuous at best.

Buescher had an “off” night at Chicagoland Speedway finishing 11th with an ill-handling truck. The performance snapped a season-best streak of 13 consecutive top-10 finishes and allowed previous leaders Austin Dillon and Johnny Sauter to close within three and six points of the lead respectively.

Dillon scored his second win of the season – and the first of his career with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Harvick and Busch in the field.

“This is the biggest win of my career, I think,” said the 21-year-old Dillon following his fourth career win. He entered the season’s 18th race third and bypassed Sauter, who finished sixth. “I ran up there racing with Kyle and Harvick.”

Timothy Peters, like Buescher, had a tough night at Chicagoland finishing 17th. He remains fourth in the points standings but 20 off the lead. Hornaday completes the current top five, 47 points behind Buescher.

Fortunes For Several Intertwined In New Hampshire

Call the F.W. Webb 175, “All in the (Racing) Family.” NASCAR remains a close-knit group as evidenced by the following:

•           Dillon’s spotter, Andy Houston, won the race in 1998.

•           Sauter’s brother, Jay, won the 1997 event driving for Richard Childress Racing which fields Chevrolets for rival Dillon.

•           Peters’ Red Horse Racing competition director Terry Cook won the race in 2002.

•           Cook drove for K Automotive, a Keselowski family operation. Bob and Kay Keselowski’s son Brad owns the Dodges seating Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Parker Kligerman.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Etc.

Kyle Busch Motorsports announced that two-time defending NASCAR Mexico Series Champion German Quiroga will make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut in the F.W. Webb 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday, Sept. 24. Quiroga has signed a one-race deal to pilot KBM's No. 51 Toyota Tundra with sponsorship from Telcel. … Steve Arpin won his first series Keystone Light Pole Award at Chicagoland Speedway. Arpin, making just his fifth appearance, is the 14th different pole winner of the season and second Turner Motorsports driver to snag the No. 1 starting spot. Teammate Ricky Carmichael sat on the pole in Atlanta. …  Blake Feese returns to Turner’s No. 32 Chevrolet at New Hampshire. He finished fourth in the truck Sept. 2 in Atlanta. … Rookies Nelson Piquet Jr. and Kligerman finished third and fourth in Chicago. The two account for a combined seven top-five finishes in 2011 with each accounting for second-place performances. The Sunoco rookie battle remains tight with Cole Whitt leading Joey Coulter by eight points. … Jimmy Villeneuve, truck chief of Piquet’s No. 8 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet, will be heading home this week to race in front of family and friends during the F.W. Webb 175. Originally from Auburn, N.H., Villeneuve got his start in racing working on Super Late Models at a local short track, Lee USA Speedway.

Brian Scott Heads Into Off Week On Cloud Nine

Brian Scott Heads Into Off Week On Cloud Nine

Being a teammate with Kyle Busch in the NASCAR Nationwide Series – all while trying to make a name for yourself – can leave little room in the limelight. When Brian Scott signed with Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2011 season, the deal brought a great opportunity for Scott to prove himself, but it also brought on a very high level of expectations.

A rocky start welcomed Scott to JGR. His season began with a 34th-place finish at Daytona due to engine failure, followed by three more Did Not Finish (DNF) results throughout the first parts of the season. 

But every so often amongst these hard times, Scott would show flashes of what it takes to have success in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. This past weekend, from start to finish, Scott’s perseverance morphed into success. After posting his first series career Coors Light pole at Chicagoland, he went on to match his series-best finish of third. 

Despite the early-season hard luck, Scott has been able to crack the series’ top 10 driver standings for the second time in his career, and has been ranked among that class since the March race at Bristol (he’s currently ninth).

Scott has the seventh best season-to-date Driver Rating amongst championship contenders (83.6) and his Average Running Position is 14.254 for the season. 

Though Dover was the sight of one of his four DNFs this season, it is one of his best tracks on the schedule. He won his first national series race there in 2009 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and has one of his 10 career NASCAR Nationwide Series top-10 finishes there.

Close Points Battle Simmers During Open Week As Stenhouse Still On Top

As the NASCAR Nationwide Series heads into a late season open week, the closest points battle in five years continues to simmer.

For the eighth consecutive week, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has been atop the series standings, but though he notched another top-10 finish at Chicago, his points lead shrank by two points. He now holds a 14-point advantage over second-place Elliott Sadler. Stenhouse is riding the longest stretch of time this season that a points leader has held the coveted top spot. This season Stenhouse has posted two wins (an Iowa sweep), 12 top fives, 20 top 10s and three Coors Light poles. 

Stenhouse’s late-season dominance is backed up by his season-to-date Loop Data stats. He leads all championship contenders in five major Loop categories: Driver Rating (107.1), Average Running Position (8.296), Laps in the Top 15 (4,790 laps), Fastest Lap Run (526) and Laps Led (424 laps). 

With Sadler sitting 14 points out of the lead, and third-place Reed Sorenson, 47 points behind Stenhouse, the tandem only have a six-pack of races left to catch Stenhouse. Next on the docket is Dover, which may prove to be where the two drivers can make their run. Sadler has made seven series starts at Dover posting three top 10s and has a pre-race Driver Rating of 83.3. He finished sixth there in May. In 10 series races at Dover, Sorenson’s average finish is 7.2. He has never finished below seventh in a Dover fall race and was fourth in this event last year. He finished third in May and he also leads the top three contenders in pre-race Driver Rating at Dover with a 100.9.

Stenhouse has three starts at Dover posting his best start (second) and finish (fourth) earlier this season at the one-mile speedway. Stenhouse pre-race Driver Rating is 91.4.

Keselowski Another Example Of Ladder System Success

NASCAR’s many developmental series have been referred to as a ‘ladder system’ for aspiring drivers to climb throughout their careers in motorsports. Brad Keselowski is the latest product of such a system. The 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion is coming off one of his most dominating performances in the series. He led 158 of the 200 scheduled laps on his way to the victory at Chicagoland Speedway and posted his third career perfect Driver Rating of 150.0.

Keselowski is a prime example of how hard work through the different national series can lead to a successful career in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for young, up-and-coming drivers. For example, Roush Fenway Racing drivers, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne, both of their success in the NASCAR Nationwide Series have led to starts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Another driver using the ladder system to his advantage is NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Austin Dillon, who plans to make his jump to the NASCAR Nationwide Series after finding success in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

The past two series champions – Keselowski and Kyle Busch – have “given back” to the system. Both have started to feed the ladder system by starting teams in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and given opportunities to young drivers. Keselowski has fielded a truck for Parker Kligerman and Busch has fielded a truck for Josh Richards this season.

NASCAR Nationwide Series 

Timmy Hill (180 points) and Blake Koch (178) continue to battle for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title. Hill will look to hold on to the lead as the series gets back into gear at Dover on Oct. 1 where he finished 22nd compared to Koch’s 43rd-place finish earlier this season. … The series owner standings are still led by Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 team, but the No. 60 team of Roush Fenway Racing closed the gap to 30 points with six races to go.

Keselowski dominates in Nationwide win at Chicagoland

Keselowski dominates in Nationwide win at Chicagoland

 

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

 

(September 17, 2011)

 

JOLIET, Ill.—A full schedule of double-duty driving didn’t hurt Brad Keselowski, who won Saturday’s Dollar General 300 Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway in a prelude to his debut Sunday in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

 

Keselowski won his third Nationwide race of the season and the 15th of his career, cruising to a decisive victory over Carl Edwards, whose chances at a victory evaporated when his No. 60 Ford ran out of fuel moments before a scheduled pit stop on Lap 124 of 200.

Polesitter Brian Scott came home third, followed by Aric Almirola and Sam Hornish Jr. in a race that saw 10 cars finish on the lead lap. Series points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. held the top spot in the standings with an eighth-place finish.

 

Keselowski, who qualified sixth for the Cup race before taking the green later in the afternoon, held a 10-second lead over Edwards after a round of green-flag pit stops late in the race and cruised through the final 30 laps.

 

During the early and middle portions of the race, Keselowski and Edwards—the only Chase drivers in the field—took turns dominating.

 

Keselowski wrested the lead from Scott on Lap 2 and stayed out front—with the exception of one lap under caution—until Edwards passed him in traffic on Lap 90.

 

“I’m going to take every one of those freakin’ lapped cars and wreck ’em,” Keselowski vented, after one of the back markers failed to give him a lane to pass and facilitated Edwards’ move to the lead.

 

By the time Keselowski made a green-flag pit stop for tires and fuel on Lap 115, Edwards had extended his advantage to three seconds. Edwards waited until Lap 124 to pit—one lap too long, as it turned out.

 

He ran out of fuel on the way to his pit stall, and by the time the crew completed his service and his engine refired, Edwards was nine seconds behind Keselowski and in fifth place when the cycle of stops was complete.

 

Edwards immediately began to chip away at Keselowski’s advantage, narrowing the margin to 6.188 seconds by Lap 141. Later in the run, however, Edwards’ charge stalled, and on Lap 155, he was running third behind Keselowski and Scott, 5.635 seconds behind the leader.

 

Dollar General 300 Pole Winner: Brian Scott

Qualifying Fast Facts
Chicagoland Speedway
11th Annual Dollar General 300 Powered by Coca-Cola 
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sat, September 17, 2011 @ 01:13 PM Eastern
Coors Light Pole Winner: Brian Scott
Age: 23
Team : No. 11 - Shore Lodge Toyota
Owner: J.D. Gibbs
Crew Chief: Kevin Kidd
Brian Scott won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 

11th Annual Dollar General 300 Powered by Coca-Cola 

with a lap of 30.552 seconds, 176.748 mph.
This is his first pole in 70 NASCAR Nationwide Series races.

His previous best start was third at Auto Club Speedway on Feb. 20, 2010.
This is his first pole and 11th top-10 start in 2011.
This is his first pole in three races at Chicagoland Speedway.
Brad Keselowski(i) (second) posted his 17th top-10 start of

2011 and his third in six races at Chicagoland Speedway.
Paul Menard(i) (third) posted his first top-10 start at Chicagoland Speedway. 

It is his fifth in five races this season.
 Ryan Truex (fourth) was the fastest qualifying rookie. 

Dillon snookers Harvick with two-tire call to win at Chicagoland

Dillon snookers Harvick with two-tire call to win at Chicagoland

 

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

 

(September 16, 2011)

 

JOLIET, Ill.—With a two-tire call on a late-race pit stop, Austin Dillon stole Friday night’s Fast Five 225 Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway from Kevin Harvick, who had dominated the event until the last round of stops.

 

Dillon won his second race of the season and the fourth of his career. Harvick came home second, almost five seconds behind Dillon. Nelson Piquet Jr., Parker Kligerman and Kyle Busch completed the top five.

 

Harvick had led 99 laps by the time he came to pit road for his final stop on Lap 129 of 150.

 

Harvick took four tires, and that decision allowed Busch (who pitted on Lap 130) and Dillon (who came to pit road on Lap 131) to cycle out ahead of Harvick.

 

As Busch and Harvick battled for the second position, Dillon began to pull away, opening a lead of more than 4.7 seconds over Harvick with seven laps left.

 

Fast Five 225 Winner: Austin Dillon

Race Fast Facts
Chicagoland Speedway
3rd Annual Fast Five 225
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Fri, September 16, 2011 @ 10:05 PM Eastern
Race Winner: Austin Dillon
Age: 21
Team : No. 3 - Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet
Owner: Richard Childress
Crew Chief: Danny Stockman, Jr.
Austin Dillon won the 3rd Annual Fast Five 225, his fourth victory in 

45 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races.
This is his second victory and 10th top-10 finish in 2011. He won in July

 at Nashville Superspeedway.
This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in two races at 

Chicagoland Speedway.
Kevin Harvick(i) (second) posted his first top-10 finish in one races at

 Chicagoland Speedway.  It is his sixth top-10 finish in 2011.
Nelson Piquet Jr.  (third) posted his first top-10 finish in one races at

 Chicagoland Speedway.
Nelson Piquet Jr. (third) was the highest finishing rookie.
James Buescher leads the point standings by 3 points over Austin Dillon.

Fast Five 225 Pole Winner: Steve Arpin

Qualifying Fast Facts
Chicagoland Speedway
3rd Annual Fast Five 225
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Fri, September 16, 2011 @ 04:27 PM Eastern
Keystone Light Pole Winner: Steve Arpin
Age: 27
Team : No. 32 - Mike's Hard Lemonade Chevrolet
Owner: Steve Turner
Crew Chief: Doug George
Steve Arpin won the Keystone Light Pole Award for the

3rd Annual Fast Five 225 with a lap of 30.768 seconds, 175.507 mph.

This is a new qualifying record for the series at Chicagoland Speedway.
This is his first pole in five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races.
This is his first pole and second top-10 start in 2011.

His previous best start was fourth at Texas Motor Speedway in June.
This is his first pole in one races at Chicagoland Speedway.
Kevin Harvick(i) (second) posted his sixth top-10 start of 2011 and his first

in one races at Chicagoland Speedway.
Parker Kligerman  (third) posted his first top-10 start at Chicagoland Speedway. 

It is his 13th in 18 races this season.
Parker Kligerman  (third) was the fastest qualifying rookie. 

Hill, Koch battling hard for Nationwide rookie title

Hill, Koch battling hard for Nationwide rookie title

By Lee Montgomery
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(September 15, 2011)

Some of NASCAR's best have won the rookie title in the Nationwide Series, from Jeff Gordon to Kevin Harvick to Greg Biffle to Kyle Busch to Carl Edwards.
Timmy Hill and Blake Koch are hoping to add their names to that list. Hill and Koch are locked in a tight battle for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award in the Nationwide Series as they fight to follow current points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as the series' top rookie.
Both Hill and Koch drive for small, underfunded teams, and this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway for the Dollar General 300 and at most other races, their goal is the same: Finish.
Hill, who missed the season-opener at Daytona because he wasn't of legal NASCAR driving age (18), leads the rookie points by two over Koch based on a season of consistency. He's dropped out of only two races, and while he hasn't finished higher than 11th, he's only finished lower than 30th four times.
"Going into it, we knew everybody wasn't really going to trust me, and I kinda had to prove myself," said Hill, who drives for Rick Ware Racing. "My main goal was to get laps and show the drivers that even though I was an 18-year-old kid that I was a respectful driver. I was there not to wreck cars but to get the job done and prove that I was going to be there for a long time."
He's not wrecked out of a single race this season, with a best finish of 11th at Road America.
Koch, who is eight years older than Hill but has a similar experience level because of a late start in racing, has four DNFs this year for MacDonald Motorsports, two for crashes. Like Hill, Koch has to throttle himself back to take care of a small fleet of racecars.
"You've got to understand that this is also a business, and to make it in this sport, you have to drive smart and know what situation you're in," said Koch, who is in Jimmy Means' car at Chicago because his regular team had a prior sponsorship commitment to Scott Wimmer. "We're in a situation where we have two racecars—three at the most at times—and we can't afford to take one out of the rotation. I don't feel like it's difficult to hold back, only because I want to go to the next weekend. I understand the situation I'm in. I'm not a driver who is trying to make a name for himself overnight in one race."
The rookie scoring system is complex, with the best 16 finishes counting toward the season title. It starts with points being awarded to each rookie relative to the others, but it also includes bonus points for a top-10 finish and for where a rookie finishes in the final season standings. Plus, a panel judges each rookie based on conduct on and off the track.
Hill and Koch admit they often pay attention to each other during a race weekend, knowing how important the rookie award would be.
"If we unload pretty good, and we're flirting with the top 20, I really don't pay attention to where Timmy's at," Koch said. "I pay more attention to how I can get to the top 15. If we unload, and we're pretty far off and we have what we have, then my new race is the 15 (of Hill)."
Said Hill, "It's kind of funny: It seems like every track we go to, we're within one or two spots on the practice chart—same thing for qualifying and same thing for the race. We're normally nose to tail. We're right there with each other pretty much every race."

Despite team's demise, Hornaday focused on another title run

Despite team's demise, Hornaday focused on another title run

By Jared Turner

Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(September 14, 2011)

On Sept. 2, Ron Hornaday stood in victory lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway celebrating a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win.

One week later, Hornaday got a call from team owner Kevin Harvick saying he'd be out of a ride at season's end.

Oh, how circumstances can change in just one week.

Hornaday, like most everyone else in the NASCAR garage, had heard talks that Kevin Harvick Inc. might fold its truck series operation.

So when the call came earlier the same morning that Harvick formally announced his plans to sell KHI's trucks and exit the series, the four-time series champion wasn't caught off-guard.

But Hornaday did think back on how just a few days earlier he basked in the joy of victory, one that thrust him back into the title discussion as the truck series heads to Chicagoland Speedway for Friday night's Fast Five 225.

"Nothing surprises me in this business, but I'm sure I definitely made it much harder for Kevin to call me that morning and tell me what he was doing, because we had just won that race and finished 1-2," said Hornaday, who beat occasional KHI driver Clint Bowyer to the finish line.

Hornaday's Atlanta win moved him up four spots to fifth in the standings, 48 points out of the lead, with eight races left.

While he feels for the KHI employees who soon will be without jobs, Hornaday hopes his teammates can avoid the inevitable distractions enough to make a serious bid for the title.

"They've got to put food on the table and everybody knows that," he said. "So I'm sure in the back of their mind they're looking at, 'Who am I going to call? Am I spending my Saturday and Sunday at the racetrack looking for a job talking to other teams?' I wouldn't blame them if they did, but we've still got to try to keep this thing focused."

Hornaday is also focused on finding a job for 2012. But with the economy sluggish and sponsorship dollars harder than ever to find, he isn't banking on one.

"A lot of people are talking and we're talking back and forth, but nowadays you've got to bring money, and I've never been in that atmosphere," Hornaday said. "When I raced for Earnhardt (Dale Earnhardt Inc.), it was Napa. When I raced for Harvick (in 2005), we had Goodwrench. I've never had to go out and look for a sponsor. That's something new to me."

Hornaday, 53, also knows time isn't on his side and that his age could hurt his quest for a quality seat. He isn't ready to retire, however.

"My office is in that truck," Hornaday said. "Trucks don't pay all that much. I don't have millions of dollars saved up like some of these guys do, so I've still got to race and I still want to race. I enjoy it, I'm not going out there riding for a paycheck, I'm still trying to win races. The day I'm out there starting and parking and all that stuff, it might be retirement time."

Camping World Truck Series Notebook

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

 

Title Would Ice Cake For ThorSport Racing’s Season

 

It’s been a busy summer for ThorSport Racing. Two projects down and one to go.

The Sandusky, Ohio, team moved into its spacious new headquarters about a month ago, giving ThorSport arguably the series’ largest, most state-of-the-art facility.

More recently, owners Duke and Ronda Thorson announced that drivers Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter had inked new contracts and again will be driving the No. 88 and No. 13 Chevrolets in 2012. The team previously signed Dakoda Armstrong to drive its No. 98 Chevrolet and chase Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors.

 "Clearly with all the exciting things we’ve had going on in the 2011 season, having all of our drivers back in 2012 just continues the good news here at TSR," said David Pepper, team manager. "We're excited about getting all of our drivers and teams together in 2012 so that we can compete for poles, race wins and top fives into the future."

Project No. 3 would be a championship. Both Sauter and Crafton have taken turns leading the standings through the season’s first 17 races. Sauter currently is second, 12 points behind James Buescher while Crafton ranks seventh.

Both drivers figure to be contenders in Friday night’s Fast Five 225 at Chicagoland Speedway. Sauter and Crafton each have a career victory on a 1.5-mile intermediate style speedway, and rank seventh and eighth in Chicagoland Driver Rating at 100.2 and 99.3, respectively. Sauter has finished fourth and fifth in his two starts at the Joliet, Ill. track. Crafton was the Keystone Light Pole starter in 2009 and finished seventh a year ago.

“When we do the right things, we win races. When we win races, we get that much closer to championships. We're hoping to be the 'team to catch' going into Homestead in a few months," said Sauter.

 

Two Winning Streaks On the Line For Owner Championship Rivals

 

Count on what’s become a bitter struggle for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owners’ championship to continue at Chicagoland Speedway. Kevin Harvick Inc.’s standings leading No. 2 Chevrolet and Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 18 Toyota are separated by 36 points. Both organizations are hoping to extend winning streaks in Friday night’s race.

•     Harvick, who sat out the Sept. 2 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, has won his past three starts at Pocono Raceway, Michigan International Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway. A KHI truck has won each of the past four races – Ron Hornaday Jr. having notched career victory No. 49 won in Atlanta.

•     Busch is a two-time defending winner of the Fast Five 225. He enters the race virtually untouched in a variety of Loop Data categories. Busch, with a Driver Rating of 148.2, leads or shares the lead in 10 of the rating’s components. In 2009, Chicago was Busch’s second of five wins in consecutive starts for Billy Ballew Motorsports.

•     The two trucks have dominated the 2011 season with five drivers posting a combined 12 victories.

 

Just Gaining The Top 10 Worthy Goal For One-Time Contenders

 

With eight races remaining in 2011, the championship contenders have separated themselves from the pack. Pre-season goals for many drivers and teams will go unmet and expectations lowered going down the homestretch. A hoped-for title is now a run for a finish among the top 10.

•           Todd Bodine and Parker Kligerman, ninth and 10th, are separated by just two points. For Bodine, his post-championship season has been a disappointment. Kligerman, a Sunoco rookie, is doing better than many might have expected.

•           Three drivers, two veterans and a rookie, hold positions 11 through 13. David Starr needs 31 points to catch Bodine. Nelson Piquet Jr. and Brendan Gaughan share the same totals – 482 points – and trail Starr by 11.

•           Jason White, Max Papis, Ricky Carmichael and Justin Lofton are unlikely candidates to reach the top 10. Still, two points are the difference between 14th (White) and 17th (Lofton).

 

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Etc.

 

Rockingham Speedway’s announcement of an April 15, 2012, race completes the series’ appearance on every 1995 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series track, the season in which the trucks made their debut. … Hornaday, bidding for win No. 50, finished third a year ago at Chicagoland Speedway. He led two laps en route to 11th in 2009. … Piquet, Miguel Paludo and NASCAR Mexico Series driver Jorge Arteaga will participate in an autograph session from 12:30-1:30 p.m. CT Friday in Chicagoland Speedway’s Hispanic Fan Zone.